llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 105 paired oral tests: a literature review agustinus hardi prasetyo iowa state university, usa hardi@iastate.edu doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.suppl2110 received 2 may 2018; revised 5 june 2018; accepted 12 june 2018 abstract this paper reviews the studies on paired oral tests in the last ten years (20072017). using the search facilities in iowa state university’s library, nine articles from some journals in the field of applied linguistics were chosen based on the inclusion criteria. those journals are language testing, language assessment quarterly, applied linguistics, and procedia – social and behavioral science. three reasons why paired oral tests are better than interview test or individual format test are then discussed. those are promoting and improving students’ interactional competence, creating students’ co-constructed discourse, and providing insights for better scale development and rater training. paired oral tests provide opportunities for students to interact with peers in the tests, enable them to practice and improve their interactional competence. paired oral tests also enable students to co-construct their discourse, even though there is an issue of grading the scores individually or collaboratively. the last is, more information about students’ and raters’ perception were gained that helps improve the rating scale and inform rater training. this paper is concluded with the call for more studies on paired oral tests to provide more insights into this complex process of creating co-constructed discourse and how to validly and reliably test both its process and product. keywords: pair oral test, interactional competence, co-constructed discourse introduction this paper intends to review studies conducted on paired oral tests or paired speaking tests in the last ten years (2007– 2017). paired oral tests are one type of task formats for assessing oral communication where the test takers are paired as equal speakers to have a discussion with each other (ockey & li, 2015). a trained rater or raters may or may not participate in the discussions. it is different from group oral tests, where more than two students are involved in the discussions, or individual format tests, where only one students who interacts with a trained rater or an assessor. in this paper, i would like to argue that pair oral test is more beneficial than oral proficiency interview in terms of promoting and improving students’ interactional competence, creating students’ co-constructed discourse, and providing insights for better scale development and rater training. to conduct the review, several articles which studied paired oral test in some journals in applied linguistics field were selected. the inclusion criteria for the articles are that these llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 106 articles should be published in and after 2007, the topic is paired oral test, and those articles should be empirical research articles. theory using inclusion criteria above and the key words “paired oral test” and “paired speaking test”, i searched the articles through “quick search” facility of the iowa university library’s online database. besides using the quick search facility, i also used article indexes & databases and e-journal facilities to search for the articles. in fact, i also visited the websites of several journals in applied linguistics field and check the titles and the abstract of the articles which were published from the first issue of 2007 until the last issue of 2017. nine articles were found and then selected from these following journals in applied linguistics fields: language testing, language assessment quarterly, applied linguistics, and procedia – social and behavioral science. some of the articles found were not included since they were not empirical research articles. some of them were also not included since they discuss interview type of tests or group oral tests. in the following sections, i will discuss why paired oral tests are more superior than interview tests or individual format. theory application students’ interactional competence all the studies reviewed in this paper mentioned that one of the advantages of paired oral test over individual format or interview type of oral test is that test takers perform better in paired oral test. constructed within a sociocultural theory, brooks (2009) compared the quantitative and qualitative differences in performance when the same test takers interacted with examiners and when they interacted with their peers in a test of oral proficiency. her study was guided by these two questions: how does test-taker performance differ depending on whether the interlocutor is a tester or another student, and what are the features of interaction in the individual and paired formats? (p. 346). she claimed that test takers who participated in paired format scored better than when they participated in the individual format (when they interacted with an examiner). moreover, the qualitative analyses of the interactional discourse elicited during paired oral tests showed that more interaction, negotiation of meaning, and complex output were produced. test-takers employed more features of interaction (17 features) in paired test, while in the individual format the test takers employed 10 features of interaction. moreover, from the conversation analysis conducted by the researcher, it was found out that the interaction was more asymmetrical in nature, similar to that in an interview. this result supported the findings of previous studies that pair format is better than interview or individual format in terms of students’ performances. a study conducted by laborda, juan, and bakieva (2015) also yielded similar result. they conducted a study to test the construct of the new spanish university entrance examination (pau) where an experimental paired oral tests format was conducted with potential participants of pau. laborda et al. concluded that co-construction of output resulted from paired oral tests format llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 107 supported the development of students’ interactional competence and improved individual student’s performance. they further claimed that in paired oral tests, test takers tended to support their peers’ responses. this might have a significant effect on the students’ performances. moreover, the atmosphere was relaxing since it was their friends they were addressing. the test takers tended to speak better and more so the length of their discourse also increased. galaczi (2008) conducted a study that investigated the relationship between the score of interactional competence that the test takers received in their paired oral tests and their pattern of interaction in their co-constructed discourse in paired oral tests. she found out that there were three patterns of interactions in the discourse: collaborative, parallel, and asymmetric. in collaborative interaction, the test takers were mutually and equally engaged in the interaction. it means that they were actively engaged in the co-construction of discourse. the second is parallel interaction, where the students were not mutually nor equally engaged in the interaction. it is like “solo vs. solo” interaction. in the third interaction, asymmetric interaction, one of the participants was dominant, while the other was passive. she also found that there was a significant correlation between the students’ score in their interactional competence and their pattern of interactions. test takers who were mutually and equally engaged, who were actively coconstructing their discourse were proven to have higher scores in their interactional competence than those test takers who had parallel or asymmetric interaction. in another study, may (2009) also showed clearly that paired oral test could elicit features of interactional competence, including conversation management skills, that cannot be captured or even do not exist in interview or individual oral type of test. those features of interactional competence can be best elicited through tasks involving test takers’ interaction. all these studies then show that paired oral test helps promote and improve test takers’ interactional competence. in the following section, i will discuss the next feature of paired oral test that makes it better than individual format test: the creation of students’ co-constructed discourse. the creation of students’ co-constructed discourse the term interactional competence was first coined by kramsch (1986) who argued that since the interactional discourse is co-constructed by participants involved in it, the responsibility for that discourse cannot be assigned to just one participant involved in that discourse construction. or in a paired oral test setting, the score of interactional competence cannot be assigned to just one test taker, but it must be shared equally by all the test takers involved. this paired oral test setting then creates an opportunity as well as a challenge. on one hand, paired oral tests enable the creation of rich and more authentic discourse, which resulted from the process of negotiating meaning and not just information transfer. on the other hand, it raises the issue of validity and fairness. how valid is the score of interactional competence awarded to the test takers? how fair is the score awarded? what if one participant of the paired oral tests was low or weak in terms of their interactional competence or linguistic ability? ducasse and brown (2009) and may (2009) conducted a study about these issues viewed from the raters’ perspectives. ducasse and brown (2009) reported llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 108 the findings of verbal protocols of teacher-raters who observed the paired oral test discourses. these verbal protocols gave insights on what raters were focusing on when rating paired oral examinees. the focus of their study was therefore on the construct of interaction. the findings reveal that the raters observed and identified in the students’ co-constructed discourse in paired oral tests three main categories of interactional features: non-verbal interpersonal communication (which has two subcategories: gaze and body language), interactive listening (with two subcategories: supportive listening and comprehension), and interactional management (with also two subcategories: horizontal and vertical management). the definition of the construct of effective interaction between examinees in paired oral tests should therefore take into account these interactional features, since those are what the raters are considering when rating the examinees. also, those interactional features should be considered in the development of rating scales. the results of their study then provide insights on how to create more valid and fair test scale to assess students’ interactional competence depicted through the creation of co-constructed discourse. a similar study conducted by may (2009) who also argued that since the interaction in a paired oral or speaking test is intrinsically co-constructed in nature, giving shared scores for the test-takers’ interactional competence is one way of acknowledging it. her study showed that it is difficult for raters to assign scores to test takers, especially when their nature of interaction is asymmetrical, where one participant is dominant and the other is passive. she suggested that in order for the paired oral tests to be fair and valid, each test taker still should still receive a separate score for accuracy, fluency, and range (p. 417) if those two previous studies discussed the students’ co-constructed nature of paired oral tests from the raters’ perspectives, bennett (2012), davis (2009), and lazaraton and davis (2008) discussed it from test takers’ perspectives. lazaraton and davis (2008) argued that test takers bring their language proficiency identity (lpid) to the test tasks, and this identity is fluid. it means the test takers’ identity changes, depending on who their interlocutor is. in their study, using the notion of “positioning”, they found that the test takers’ lpid can manifest in the talk by “do being proficient”, “do being interactive”, “do being supportive”, and “do being assertive”. do being proficient and do being interactive mean that the overall proficiency that the test takers show synergistically and collaboratively positions them as competent english users, therefore they deserve high scores on the paired oral test. do being supportive and do being assertive take place in a talk involving a more proficient speaker with a weaker one. they also deserve high scores with those identities. based on the results of their study, lazaraton and davis recommended that the test takers should be tested twice with different partners to find out what their true lpid is. davis (2009) in his study found that the proficiency level of test takers’ interlocutor or partner in a pair oral test has no effect on the test takers’ performance. higher-proficiency test takers were generally not harmed by interacting with a lower-level test taker. however, lower-level student did not greatly benefit from working with a higher-level peer either, at least in terms of score. he also found that in his study, most of the conversations produced llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 109 collaborative interaction. this supported galaczi's (2008) study, that there is a global pattern of interactions in the test takers’ co-constructed discourse, namely collaborative interaction (where the test takers are mutually and equally engaged), parallel interaction (where both speakers are equal, initiated and developed topics, but not mutual, which means they are not engaged with each other’s ideas), and asymmetric interaction (where one speaker is passive and the other is dominant). bennett (2012) also found that interlocutor’s linguistic ability has little or no influence on the test taker’s performance. in fact, based on the post-test questionnaire, the test takers felt satisfied with the pairing. the last benefit of paired oral tests that i would like to discuss is the insights and understanding of better scale development and rater training gained from studies conducted on paired oral tests. insights for scale development and rater training galaczi (2014) conducted a study on interactional competence within varying proficiency levels, in this case cefr proficiency level. the data of her study were 41 average pairs selected from the 84 video-taped test taker performances on the test taker interaction task at cefr levels b1 to c2 or four proficiency levels. the term average here refers to test takers who had a mark 3-4 band (from a 1-5 band scale) on the cambridge english interactive communication scale. she employed a mixed-methods approach (creswell, 2014), combining a contrastive analysis technique and quantitative coding of the data. the research question of her study was “what features of interactional competence in test-taker discourse are salient at different oral proficiency levels?”. the results of contrastive analysis showed that several interactional features distinguish proficiency levels. the test takers in the four proficiency levels were engaging in the three key interactional features: topic development, listener support, and turn-taking management. this study then gave insights to the conceptualization of the interactional competence construct by providing useful descriptive interactional features which could supplement the already available interactional competence scales and descriptors. other studies reviewed in this article also argued that their studies will give insights into the development of scale and rater training. may’s (2009) study is claimed to provide insights into raters since it investigated raters’ perceptions on whether they considered separable the individual contribution to interactional patterns in paired oral tests. may claimed that her study will provide insights into the development of rating scales which can capture the complexities of interactional competence in a paired oral test, and the training of raters to deal with asymmetric interactions. ducasse and brown’s (2009) study, which collected raters’ verbal reports, also reported that, since they were recording what the raters were focusing on when they were rating the co-constructed discourse in paired oral tests, their study will give valuable information concerning interactional features and descriptors which should be taken into consideration when interactional competence rating scales are developed. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 110 conclusion to conclude this paper review, many further studies still need to be conducted to unravel the complexities of interactional competences and coconstructed discourse created by the students in the paired oral tests, and to create paired oral tests which are more construct valid, reliable, authentic, practical, interactive, and impactful (bachman & palmer, 1996), as well as to measure the interactional competences and the discourse validly and reliably. references bachman, l. f., & palmer, a. s. (1996). language testing in practice: designing and developing useful language tests. oxford: oxford university press. bennett, r. (2012). is linguistic ability variation in paired oral language testing problematic? elt journal, 66(3), 337–346. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccr066 brooks, l. (2009). interacting in pairs in a test of oral proficiency: coconstructing a better performance. language testing, 26(3), 341–366. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265532209104666 creswell, j. w. (2014). research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). london: sage publications. davis, l. (2009). the influence of interlocutor proficiency in a paired oral assessment. language testing, 26(3), 367–396. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265532209104667 ducasse, a. m., & brown, a. (2009). assessing paired orals: raters’ orientation to interaction. language testing, 26(3), 423–443. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265532209104669 galaczi, e. d. (2008). peer–peer interaction in a speaking test: the case of the first certificate in english examination. language assessment quarterly, 5(2), 89–119. https://doi.org/10.1080/15434300801934702 galaczi, e. d. (2014). interactional competence across proficiency levels: how do learners manage interaction in paired speaking tests? applied linguistics, 35(5), 553–574. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amt017 kramsch, c. (1986). from language proficiency to interactional competence. the modern language journal, 70(4), 366–372. https://doi.org/10.2307/326815 laborda, j. g., juan, n. o. de, & bakieva, m. (2015). co-participation in oral paired interviews: preliminary findings of the openpau project. procedia social and behavioral sciences, 191, 559–563. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.04.614 lazaraton, a., & davis, l. (2008). a microanalytic perspective on discourse, proficiency, and identity in paired oral assessment. language assessment quarterly, 5(4), 313–335. https://doi.org/10.1080/15434300802457513 may, l. (2009). co-constructed interaction in a paired speaking test: the rater’s perspective. language testing, 26(3), 397–421. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265532209104668 ockey, g. j., & li, z. (2015). new and not so new methods for assessing oral communication. language value, 7(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.6035/languagev.2015.7.1 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 58 exploring peer-assessment practice in graduate students’ academic writing ema wilianti dewi, joko nurkamto, and nur arifah drajati universitas sebelas maret emawiliantidewi@student.uns.ac.id, jokonurkamto@gmail.com and nurarifah_drajati@staff.uns.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2019.220106 received 12 january 2019; revised 21 february 2019; accepted 18 march 2019 abstract this study aims to explore the practice of peer-assessment in academic writing. the current researchers find it urgent to investigate academic writing because it has rigid rules that can sharpen writers' critical thinking. the products of academic writing need to be assessed. peer-assessment is one of alternatives used to assess students’ learning outcomes and monitor students’ progress in the class. this research is a case study. data were collected from the first semester students, who joined an academic writing class, of the graduate program of a university in surakarta. the findings show that peer assessment practice can be effective as one of the assessment tools to measure students' writing in the academic writing class. keywords: academic writing, assessment, case study, peer-assessment introduction assessment practice has to be implemented in every class. in understanding the outcomes of learning, assessment activity is carried out in the class. according to topping (2009), peer-assessment requires students to think critically and deliberate the score which is appropriate for their friends. peer-assessment allows the students to consider successfulness of the outcomes of learning, including worth, value, and quality of others of similar education status (topping, 2000). typically, the students review their peers’ performance with one or several assessment scales, comments, or a combination of both. peer-assessment, as suggested by min (2005), can provide opportunities for writers with different strengths to do positive interaction both in oral and written communication, including questioning, responding, and instructing. the students are responsible not only to provide grades but also to interact with each other to deliberate the grades in the end. the peer-assessment, seen from min (2005), provides opportunity for the students as the participants of peer-assessment activity to work in peer, with the aim of exchanging the information that they need and they have. the students had a chance before considering the score, value, or feedback during the practice of peer-assessment. the peer-assessment activity requires the students, as assessors or assesses, to use a rubric, which will become a tool to help them realize the aspects of learning. by knowing the standards of assessment that they involved in, the students can easily do the evaluation of their own capacity and their friends. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 59 some researchers have conducted research on peer-assessment. zhao (2014) focused on the implementation of peer-assessment for efl writing. he directed the implementation of peer-assessment under the different teachers’ intervention strategies. the research was a case study with 18 participants. the results suggested that the students were satisfied with the teacher’s support strategies. the students agreed that the training supported by the teacher improved the efficiency of peer-assessment itself. the students felt that the training of peerassessment affected the nature of peer feedback in two ways, namely grammar and wording. cheng, et al. (2015) conducted case study research that focused on the role of feedback on students' writing performance during online peer-assessment activities. this research focused on the content of peer-feedback messages that are provided after the implementation of peer-assessment. the researchers found that cognitive feedback messages were more helpful for the students' writing than the affective feedback and metacognitive feedback. the participants of this research likely got benefits from the cognitive feedback, although the affective feedback also helped them. iraji, et al. (2016) argued that providing the opportunity for the students to use peer and self-assessment was needed to help and influence to improve students’ argumentative writing. the students could construct better writing products when the teacher provided alternative assessment techniques. the results of this study showed a significant change in the experimental group; therefore, the findings can help efl teachers who like to help students develop strategies for students’ learning, find strengths and weaknesses of their own, become independent learners and develop their own self-regulation. students’ attitude in practicing peer-assessment was investigated by zou, et al. (2017). this research was conducted under the case study research method. the researchers found that positive attitude has a significant negative impact on one predictor of peer assessment participation. the procedural rationality of peer assessment may discourage students’ peer assessment participation. peer assessment is a form of collaborative learning in which the students learn with and from each other as peers. a study which is similar to the present research was conducted by fristiara, et al. (2018). they conducted research on assessment, particularly self-assessment in academic writing of higher education students. the research found that the students realized the important roles of self-assessment for evaluating their strengths and weaknesses in writing. the previous studies underscore the role and value of peer evaluation in efl writing instruction, generally in terms of developing the learners’ writing ability, writing performance, and autonomy in learning. furthermore, they found the perception of the teacher and students about the peer-assessment. this study similarly investigates the perception of the students, but in the setting of academic writing for graduate students that is more challenging and has more rigid and complex aspects of writing. moreover, although self-assessment helped the students to give themselves feedback, the students still needed other people's review and feedback. it can be concluded that the implementation of peerllt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 60 assessment in writing class is important. thus, this research intended to find and to complete the understanding and views of peer-assessment since this kind of assessment is one of the alternative assessments. the concept of peer-assessment for academic writing peer-assessment shows a crucial role in writing (arzanoosh, 2013). peerassessment supports the writing teacher and lecturer to help their students accept more feedback on their paper as well as give students practice with a range of skills important in supporting language development and the ability of writing. peer-assessment may not only have one aim when it is applied in the classroom. the lecturer has the opportunity in deciding the objectives of practicing peerassessment in the class. for example, peer-assessment activity aimed to save lecturer’s assessment time or other costs while other assessment activities aimed to add cognitive and metacognitive values for participants. cheng et al. (2015) reveals that affective, cognitive, and metacognitive peer-assessment activity affects students’ performance development. the focus or general purpose of peer-assessment can be in two orientations, namely formative orientation and summative orientation. karami and rezaei (2015) argue that formative peer-assessment provides feedback and intends to fill the gap between ‘current and desired performance’. the needs of learners are crucial in the formative peer-assessment while the results are important in the summative peer-assessment. topping (2017) argues that peer-assessment is done by peers, who have similar status. although most peer-assessment occurred between students in the same year of study, some studies of peer assessment of professional skills and behaviours cut across years. in courses with many mature students, the ages and life experiences of the participants could prove very different results, even in a "same year" project. the few cross-year studies were likely to place the more advanced students in the role of assessor and to involve unidirectional assessment. method the current study was carried out in an academic writing class at a university in surakarta in the academic year of 2018/2019. the lecturer of academic writing course facilitated the students to do the academic writing activity with two kinds of assessment, namely self-assessment and peer assessment. there were 24 participants from the first-semester graduate students who enrolled in the academic writing class and involved in this peer assessment activity. the data of this study were gathered from academic writing students and the documentation of the peer assessment on academic writing. in this present study, the data were in the form of students’ information, perception, attitude, and behavior. the intended data were collected qualitatively through observation, interview, and documentation. the peer assessment activity carried out here was the activity when the students exchanged their questions regarding their problem in writing academic articles with their peer. this activity was done on june 7, 2018. the researchers used the qualitative method in this research which focused on case study since this research intended to describe the implementation of peer-assessment in the academic writing class. the focus of the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 61 case study is on a contemporary phenomenon within a real-life context (yin, 2014). the researchers focused on the process of the application of peerassessment as the assessment tools to assess students' writing and students' behavior during the peer-assessment practice in the class. findings and discussion peer-assessment practice in academic writing class and the difficulties of practicing peer-assessment are presented as follows: peer-assessment practice in academic writing class the researchers found that the implementation of peer assessment in academic writing class obtained positive feedback from the students. hyland (2000) highlights peer-assessment as a formative developmental process that gives the opportunity for writers to make discussion with their texts and learn another perspective of the text interpretation. the peer assessment activity was done in several meetings but the researchers used one meeting to be discussed here. the students are required to propose some questions regarding their difficulties of writing academic articles. then, they needed to find their peer to share those questions. the students felt comfortable to propose questions rather than to share it with the lecturer. most of the students wrote more than three questions related to their own problems in writing an academic article. the answers provided by peers were written freely according to their understanding of the questions. the lecturer gave the time for the students to answer the questions that they got from their peer. some of the students asked the lecturer when they had the problem answering the questions. the role of the lecturer in this activity was as the facilitator and the lecturer had to be ready when the students asked her/him questions. the most frequent questions proposed by the students were about how to write the instruments for their research. here are the samples of the questions: how to obtain a proper instrument for the research? is there any way to recognize an invalid instrument? how to validate it? (participant 1) there were some questions which were similar to the questions above and the students that acted as the peer needed to answer the questions. spiller (2012) argued that students can help each other to make sense of the gaps in their learning and understanding and to get a more sophisticated grasp of the learning process. students are becoming involved in assessment in more and more ways. the most frequently encountered variety, however, is peer assessment. this takes many forms, often takes place in the context of group work and frequently entails the provision of feedback (falchikov, 2005; falchikov, 2007; falchikov & goldfinch (2000). from the interview, the students tended to seek further understanding about the materials and they needed to find the supporting ideas that support their own understanding or help them to comprehend better. one student from this class explained: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 62 "doing peer assessment activity helps me understand the things that i have not to understand yet and help me to strengthen my point of view about something". the students had the freedom to share their opinion about everything they had in their mind which was beneficial to broaden their understanding of the things that they learned in the class. in answering their peer's questions, the students felt free and they enjoyed sharing their opinion with lack of anxiety and inconvenience. they tended to be more informative in answering their peer's questions in this peer assessment activity. they tended to give more detailed explanation to their peers rather than to explain in front of the class. this is the example of students’ answers: actually, it is based on what kind of research method that you used. i have read in some books that for quantitative research the more participants the better the result that we get (n>30) while for qualitative research the fewer participants the better result we get since we need to get data in depth. (participant 2) from the student’s answer above, it can be seen that in the implementation of peer assessment, the students can share the knowledge that they had known to the others. they can help their friend solve the problem. students’ difficulties in practicing peer-assessment before conducting peer assessment activity, the lecturer discussed the activity with the students. this is to ease the process of peer assessment activity. as suggested by spiller (2002), the lecturer needs to make sure the criteria for any piece of peer assessment clear and fully discussed with students or negotiated with them if circumstances are appropriate. some students enjoyed proposing questions to their peer. they had the freedom to ask everything they needed to know. but, there were some difficulties faced by the students when it turned to the answers to those questions. the interviewees taught that they felt insecure to make the wrong answer regarding the questions proposed by their peer. participant 2 explained: i am afraid if i give the wrong answer to my friend’s questions although i have read the materials related to those questions. (participant 2) likewise, participant 4 stated that: i am not sure about my answer, but i've tried my best to give the answer to my peer's questions. (participant 4) the difficulties of the students in conducting peer assessment was on answering their peer's questions. the lack of knowledge became the major factor that made the students unsure of their answer, but in answering the questions they tried to connect their background knowledge with the questions. some students llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 63 revealed the answer with sources related to the materials that their peer's need to know. the lecturer minimized the difficulties in the peer assessment activity by introducing the term of peer assessment to the students. the lecturer explained the things that they were doing and helped everyone to understand and to commit to the technique. giving ample time was the best way to cope with difficulties in conducting peer assessment activity. since writing was regarded as a complex skill, answering the questions about the writing skills was also a complex activity. it is in line with sadler (2008) who states that assessing is a complex skill. thus, the assessment activity needs time to develop. conclusion the results showed that implementation of peer assessment in an academic writing class can be regarded as an interactive way of assessing students’ performance. students enjoyed being involved in the peer assessment activity. the students seemed to have more freedom in asking questions related to what they do not know and they can find the solutions related to the problems they faced when writing the academic articles. the difficulties arise when the students were confused to answer their peer's questions but these difficulties can be solved by asking the questions to the lecturer. the difficulties in answering the questions proposed by the peers will encourage the students to think critically and recall their memories regarding the materials that they have read before. peer assessment activities make the students share ideas in an enjoyable situation. the lecturer will help students face the difficulties through questions asked by students. it can be a new source of information for the lecturer to prepare materials for the next meeting. references abidin, n. a., & sahdan, s. (2015). peer assessment: a challenge in the new generation. advanced science letters. 23(2): 908-911. doi:10.1166/asl.2017.7434 azarnoosh, m. (2013). peer assessment in an efl context: attitudes and friendship bias. language testing in asia, 11(3): 1-10. retrieved on april 9, 2018 from http://www.languagetestingasia.com/content/3/1/11 cheng, k., liang, j. & tsai c. (2015). examining the role of feedback messages in undergraduate students' writing performance during an online peer assessment activity. internet and higher education, 25: 78–84. doi: 10.1016/j.iheduc.2015.02.001 crusan, d. & matsuda, p. k. (2018). classroom writing assessment. the tesol encyclopedia of english language teaching. doi:10.1002/9781118784235.eelt0541 falchikov, n. (2005). improving assessment through student involvement. new york: routledge falmer. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 64 falchikov, n. (2007). rethinking assessment in higher education. london: kogan page. falchikov, n. & goldfinch, j. (2000). student peer assessment in higher education: a meta-analysis comparing peer and teacher marks. review of educational research, 70(3): 287-322. doi:10.3102%2f00346543070003287 fritiara, c., sumardi & drajati, n. a. (2018). self-assessment: its roles for higher education students in academic writing class. els journal on interdisciplinary studies on humanities, 1(3): 357-365. retrieved on november 2, 2018 from http://journal.unhas.ac.id/index.php/jish hyland, k. (2000). hedges, boosters and lexical invisibility: noticing modifiers in academic texts. language awareness, 9(4): 179-197. doi:10.1080/09658410008667145 hyland, k. (2004). second language writing. new york: cambridge university press. hyland, k. & diani, g. (2009). academic evaluation: review genres in university settings. hampshire: palgrave macmillan. iraji, h. r., enayat, m. j., & momeni, m. (2016). the effects of selfand peer assessment on iranian efl learners' argumentative writing performance. theory and practice in language studies, 6(4): 716-722. retrieved on june 4, 2018 from http://www.academypublication.com/ojs/index.php/tpls/article/view/tpls060716722 karami, a. & rezaei, a. (2015). an overview of peer assessment: the benefits and importance. journal for the study of english linguistics, 3(1), 93-100. doi:10.5296/jsel.v3i1.7889 meek, s.e.m., blackemore, l., & marks, l. (2016). is peer review an appropriate form of assessment in mooc? student participation and performance in formative peer review. assessment and evaluation in higher education. 42(6): 1000-1013. doi:10.1080/02602938.2016.1221052 min, l. & tu, y. (2005). peer-and-self assesment to reveal the ranking of each individual’s contribution to a group project. journal of information systems education, 16(2): 197-205. retrieved on june 4, 2014 from https://web.a.ebscohost.com richards, j. c. (2017). curriculum development: in language teaching (2nd ed.). cambridge: cambridge university press. sadler, d. r. (2009). indeterminacy in the use of preset criteria for assessment and grading. assessment & evaluation in higher education, 34(2): 159–179. doi:10.1080/02602930801956059 spiller, d. (2012). assessment matters: self-assessment and peer assessment. new zealand: wāhanga whakapakari ako. topping, k. j. (2009). peer assessment. theory into practice. 48: 20-27. doi:10.1080/00405840802577569 topping, k. j., smith, i. f., swanson, i., & elliot, a. (2000). formative peer assessment of academic writing between postgraduate students. assessment & evaluation in higher education, 25(2): 149-169. doi:10.1080/713611428 topping, k.j. (2017). peer assessment: learning by judging and discussing the work of other learners. interdisciplinary education and psychology, 1(1): 1 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 65 17. retrieved on june 4, 2018 from https://riverapublication.com yin, r. k. (2014). case study research design and methods (5th ed.). thousand oaks: sage publication inc. zhao, h. (2014). investigating teacher-supported peer assessment for efl writing. elt journal. 62(2): 155-168. doi:10.1093/elt/cct068 zhao, h. (2018). exploring tertiary english as a foreign language writing tutors’ perceptions of the appropriateness of peer assessment for writing. assessment & evaluation in higher education, 1–13 doi:10.1080/02602938.2018.1434610 zou, y., schunn, c. d., wang, y & zhang, f. (2017). student attitudes predict participation in peer assessment. assessment & evaluation in higher education, 43(5), 800–811. doi: 10.1080/02602938.2017.1409872 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 43 swear words and their implications for english language learning-teaching kristina andang and barli bram sanata dharma university kristina_andang@yahoo.com and barli@usd.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.suppl2105 received 28 march 2018; revised 2 may 2018; accepted 30 may 2018 abstract this study attempts to explore the frequency of use of swear words and their implication for english language learning-teaching. swear words or expletives are usually considered negative or rude to be used even in the united states or united kingdom as english-speaking countries. in english language learning-teaching, swear words become part of linguistic studies and socio-cultural knowledge for teachers and students. this study aims to resolve two questions, namely first, what swear words have the highest frequency based on coca and second, what implications of the frequency of swear words are for learners and teachers of english. data were collected from a survey conducted using facebook, which is a social medium used widely in both the united states and indonesia for more than 13 years, and were retrieved from the corpus of contemporary american english (coca), more precisely the frequency of swear words. the results of this study are expected to give knowledge on english language learning-teaching in a cultural context. keywords: expletive, swear word, profanity, english language learning-teaching introduction english profanities or swear words have been long considered as offensive language in english speaking countries, such as the united states and united kingdom. the profanities are considered taboo and inappropriate to be spoken out during television live performances or formal broadcasts. swearing words or the profanities are considered inappropriate and offensive since some of the profanities refer to genitals and intercourse. in the united states, the federal communications commissions (fcc) manages and administers the broadcastings and has been strictly supervising aired programs. this study brings the profanities used by the united states’ facebook users and the corpus of contemporary american english (coca) to discover the frequency of the profanities used. facebook as a social media account is widely used by both the unites states and indonesia. the facebook survey conducted by chris kirk from slate website had resulted in the orders of profanities used in facebook during the year 2013. for the comparison, the frequency of english profanities spoken by the american would be collected from coca. in indonesia, as a country which teaches english as the international language, the profanities are sometimes put aside from the language teaching. it is mailto:barli@usd.ac.id llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 44 assumed that the english teachers also consider the profanities as bad languages which would not be significant for the english language teaching and brings negative impacts on the students’ speech and behavior. however, as a part of language and culture teaching, the knowledge about english profanities more or less would enrich students’ knowledge about how to use proper language. this study also aims to answer two research questions. first, what swear words or profanities are used the most frequently based on coca? second, what are the implications of the frequency of swear words for english language learning-teaching? there are about 90 profanities in english which are considered inappropriate to be spoken out even in a daily conversation. in the united states’ recorded programs, the performers who used profanities would be censored with beepsounds. the english profanities commonly refer to genitals and intercourse activities (for example, dick, cock, and pussy) which cause these profanities are banned during the television performances of live shows, even in formal occasions. the profanities are in its synonyms with the swear words, curse words, or the f-words (consists only of four alphabets). dewaele (2004) says that “some swearwords and taboo words (s-t words) are the verbal equivalent of nitroglycerine”. in daily conversations, if speakers use swear words in an appropriate way, it is likely that they may cause embarrassment to (non)native speakers of the target language, english. based on dewaele’s argument, it is assumed that indonesian english teachers also consider lessimportant to teach, even a glimpse, of the english profanities. bad languages would bring bad impacts on the students’ speaking skills. however, the researcher believes that there are indonesian english speakers, albeit the numbers could be at the least, use profanities in their daily conversation, both online or offline. cultural knowledge on the language being studied becomes inevitable, including the profanities (matthew, 2013, p. 38). interestingly, some swear words are also used as infixes; in this case, the term ‘infix’ may refer to “a free morpheme or an independent word which is inserted into or attached inside a word, as in absobloodylutely, guaran-damn-tee and fan-fucking-tastic” (bram, 2011, p. 25). “swearing is influenced by pragmatic (contextual) variables, such as the conversational topic, the speaker-listener relationship, including gender, occupation, and status, and the social-physical setting of the communication …” (jay & janscewitz, 2008, p. 272). profanities are the forms of spontaneous reaction people would utter when they experience emotional events or seeing, watching, hearing, and listening to unusual events. some people could hold-up swearing or barely swearing, but other people may freely swear words as their feelings’ reactions. dewaele (2004) reiterates that “the study of s-t words among multilinguals is located at the intersection of and contributes to research in bilingualism, psychology, pragmatics, second language learning and emotions”. jay and janschewitz (2008, p. 269) state that “judgments of rudeness are not only determined by the propositional content of swear words but by a sense of what is appropriate in a particular situation”. it may concluded that fluent speakers of english can also use swear words appropriately. a survey conducted by kirk llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 45 (2013) about the swear words used online via facebook had resulted in different categories of age-groups, genders, countries, and personal preferences. offensiveness also becomes unavoidable impact of swearing words (goddard, 2015: pp. 2-3; stone, mcmillan & hazelton, 2015). on virtual chat or conversation such as facebook, the profanities would tend to create misunderstanding and offensiveness to the opponents. virtual conversation on facebook tends to be distorted in meanings due to lack of facial expressions and tone of voice which in direct conversation would be clearer for other people. method this descriptive, qualitative study used kirk’s survey on the facebook users in the united states during the year 2013. kirk’s survey results had indicated the profanities used by different genders, regions, age-groups, and countries (as the comparison for the profanities used in other english-speaking countries). to discover the frequency used by written or spoken users (offline users), the researcher uses the corpus of contemporary american english data base. the coca data base was updated until december 2017 which would give up-to-date results of occurrences of swear words. findings and discussion the data were obtained from kirk’s survey on facebook during the year 2013. the survey resulted in the order of profanities mostly used by the american during the year 2013. there are twenty profanities out of nineties profanities resulted as the most frequently used profanities on facebook. as a comparison, the researchers used coca to collect the frequencies of swear words. for the additional frequency of occurrence is the united kingdom data. the frequency of profanities based on the facebook survey and coca are displayed as follows: table 1: frequency of profanities used by online users no. us profanities uk profanities us occurrence (coca) 1. shit fuck 15684 2. fuck shit 10186 3. damn bloody 17418 4. bitch piss 5937 5. crap bitch 3961 6. piss crap 1774 7. dick cock 17284 8. darn cunt 1902 9. cock damn 1396 10. pussy dick 1172 11. asshole bastard 2192 12. fag bugger 338 13. bastard fag 3836 14. slut pussy 762 15. douche bollocks 137 16. bloody slut 10742 17. cunt arsehole 350 18. bugger darn 314 19. bollocks asshole 90 20. arsehole douche 24 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 46 based on coca’s frequency of the profanities, the order of the most frequent profanities could be shown as follows: table 2: the frequency of profanities according to coca no profanity occurrence 1. damn 17418 2. dick 17284 3. shit 15684 4. bloody 10742 5. fuck 10186 6. bitch 5937 7. crap 3961 8. bastard 3836 9. asshole 2192 10. darn 1902 11. piss 1774 12. cock 1396 13. pussy 1172 14. slut 762 15. cunt 350 16. fag 338 17. bugger 314 18. douche 137 19. bollocks 90 20. arsehole 24 as shown in table 2, the words damn, dick, shit, bloody, and fuck were the five most frequent profanities used by the offline users based on coca, ranging from 10,000 times up to 17,418 times. the word bitch is on the sixth, which appeared about 5,937 times. the other profanities, ranging from 32,000 times up to 3,961 times, were asshole, bastard, and crap. the profanities, such as darn, piss, cock, pussy, slut, cunt, fag, bugger, douche, bollocks, and arsehole were considered less frequent, ranging from 1,000 times down to only 24 times. in both the united states and united kingdom, the words fuck and shit seemed to be the most popular (top two) profane words used on facebook (table 1).this finding had answered the first research question about the profanities’ frequency of occurrence based on coca. the word bloody surprisingly has a high frequency of occurrence (10,742 times) for the word bloody is popularly used by the british rather than the american. in chris kirk’s another survey results (the profanities used according to the countries), the word bloody was in the least occurrence in the united states and canada (placed in the sixteenth and fifteenth), while in the united kingdom, the word bloody placed in the third most frequent profanity. for corpus of contemporary american english refers to american-english language, it is quite surprising to obtain the frequency of occurrence for the word bloody. then, the researcher also assumed that the six-most frequent profanities according to coca, namely damn, dick, shit, bloody, fuck, and bitch were largely used (both online and offline) due to its one-syllable pronunciation. as the profanities have its relationship with the speaker’s emotional reaction (jay & llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 47 janscewitz, 2008) at the time of speaking or seeing things around them, onesyllable profanities are considered instant, spontaneous and easy to pronounce in the unpredictable or surprising events. on the facebook account conversation, it is easier and faster to type one-syllable expletives to react or to respond others’ uploaded status, photos, or videos. as the additional comparison, the top ten profanities occurrence in the united kingdom also placed the one-syllable words (table 1). these one-syllable profanities also well-known with the term f-word; consists of only four alphabets. the word damn is considered easy to pronounce profane word and when it is referred to bahasa indonesia, the meaning is quite acceptable for daily uttered profane word. in bahasa indonesia, the word damn means “sial/sialan” and does not refer to any human genital or intercourse activities. the researcher assumed that in the united states’ online or virtual conversation, using the profane word damn is considered quite polite since it has the neutral meaning. it is different with the word dick which refers to male genital and shit, which refers to human’s feces. the word fuck refers to sexual intercourse activities while the word bitch, which means a female dog, sounds harassing to women when it is spoken by both a male and female to other females, especially in distorted media, such as facebook (herring & kapidzic, 2015: p. 1, guvendir (2015, p. 2). note that the word fuck could be used for cultural knowledge in english language teaching. the word fuck does not stand alone for its history in the battle of hastings, in the mid-century of england. cechova (2006) says that the history of hastings battle which designed today’s united kingdom. the word fuck stands for fornication under the consent of the king. it would be wise for indonesian english teachers for teaching such a history for the better knowledge would prevent indonesian students from carelessly adopting the profanities. other profanities with one-syllable pronunciation, such as crap, darn, piss, cock, slut, cunt, and fag may not be familiar for the american daily or virtual speaking. the two-syllable pronunciation profanities, such as bastard, asshole, pussy, bugger, douche, bollocks, and arsehole might have been used in direct conversation (offline). the two-syllable profanities are sometimes combined with nouns or other adjectives to comment on certain emotional events experienced by the speaker. table 3: examples of two-syllable profanities with nouns/adjectives no. two-syllable profanities combination sentence examples 1. bastard tricky + bastard (adj.) marlon brando is such a tricky bastard. 2. pussy pussy + boy (n.) adrian is a pussy boy. 3. bugger an old + bugger (adj.) i do not want to see that old bugger here anymore. 4. douche douche + bag (n.) don’t be like a douche bag! 5. bollocks cranky + bollocks (adj.) mr. snowman has been acting like a cranky bollocks! 6. arsehole fat (adj.) + arsehole what is that fat arsehole doing here? other profanities that could be seen through the american movies, such as mother-fucker, dick-head, scum-bag, and son of a bitch, seemed to be less used on facebook due to its three or four-syllable pronunciation and impracticality to be llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 48 typed fast on virtual chat. personal preferences also play important roles in the choice of profanities used by americans. then, this cultural knowledge about english would be beneficial for indonesian students because when the engage in a conversation, they would be able to choose proper language. english teachers in indonesia also need to enrich their teaching with cultural knowledge related to the profanities because today’s students have more access to foreign cultures and life style. the english profanities have the cultural background in which teacher and students must be aware of when it is used in direct or indirect conversation. by having sufficient knowledge on the language, people would be best placing them in any occasion. conclusion learning a foreign language also learns its cultures, whether positive or negative. the english language also brings its cultures which need to be studied by learners, including indonesians, to improve their english proficiency and better understand the cultural aspects of the target language. this study is expected to be beneficial for english teachers in indonesia and see the profanities from the positive perspectives. teaching language, including its rude or impolite vocabulary/lexical items would never mean giving negative influences to the students. today’s students could open access to any source which contain profanities. when english language learning-teaching already enriches students with sufficient knowledge on how to use the language, the researchers are convinced that it could be an extra advantage for better english language learningteaching. references bram, b. (2011). major total conversion in english: the question of directionality. phd thesis, victoria university of wellington. google scholar. cechova, h. (2006). usage and origins of expletives in british english. a diploma thesis. brno: masaryk university press. chirico, r. (2014). damn! a cultural history of swearing in modern america. durham, nc: pitchstone publishing. dewaele, j.m. (2004). the emotional force of swearwords and taboo words in the speech of multi-linguals. journal of multilingual and multicultural development 25(2/3), pp. 204-222. dewaele, j. m. (2017). self-reported frequency of swearing in english: do situational, psychological and sociobiographical variables have similar effects on first and foreign language users? journal of multilingual and multicultural development, 38(4), 330-345. goddard, c. (2015). “swear words” and “curse words” in australian (and american) english. at the crossroads of pragmatics, semantics and sociolinguistics. intercultural pragmatics, 12(2), 189-218. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 49 güvendir, e. (2015). why are males inclined to use strong swear words more than females? an evolutionary explanation based on male intergroup aggressiveness. language sciences, 50, 133-139. herring, s.c., & kapidzic, s. (2015). teens, gender, and self-presentation in social media. international encyclopedia of social and behavioral sciences. oxford: elsevier. jay, t. & janschewitz, k. (2008). the pragmatics of swearing. journal of politeness research, 4, 267 – 288. lancker, d.v. & cummings, j.l. (2016). expletives: neuro-linguistic and neurobehavioral perspectives on swearing. brains research review, 31, 83– 104. matthew, i.b. (2013). cross cultural contexts in english language teaching. lingua didaktika, 7(1), 38-43. sood, s.o., antin, j. & churchill, e.f. (2011). using crowdsourcing to improve profanity detection. association for the advancement of artificial intelligence. (www.aaai.org) stone, t.e., mcmillan, m. & hazelton, m. (2015). back to swear one: a review of english language literature on swearing and cursing in western health settings. aggression and violent behavior, 25, 65–74. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 414 book review: achieving new directions in second language classroom through multiple intelligences approach title : multiple intelligences in the classroom (4th edition) isbn : 978-1-4166-2509-4 author : thomas armstrong publisher : acsd page : 243 pages luisito manalansan nanquil bulacan state university, philippines correspondence: luisitonanquil@gmail.com doi: 10.24071/llt.v23i2.2674 received 22 june 2020; accepted 14 august 2020 introduction the workplace in today’s world requires the most essential skills needed to achieve its mandated functions and objectives. gone are the days when the primary requirement was to complete a degree and pass the interview. most companies nowadays need competencies and skills that can help them attain sustainability and progress. this paper aims to review and discuss the impact of multiple intelligences approach and theory in building the foundation skills of learners in the classroom setting. the article thoughtfully describes the contents of the materials while the researcher connects his reflections and experiences. other important thoughts were discovered by the researcher as he examined the approach and theory applied to the classroom environment. moreover, since the context is english language teaching, the researcher focused his thoughts on the practices, observations, and perspectives within the said area. readers in all fields should take some time to understand information about multiple intelligences because it is imperative in many situations. literature review shearer (2013) developed multiple intelligences diagnostic assessment scales which is regarded as the single best tool for assessing students’ multiple intelligences and is related to simple observation, which is readily available to all. price-mitchell (2015) holds that research in cognitive psychology applied to education supports the belief that children benefit from instructional approaches that help them ponder on their learning processes. in connection with multiple intelligences, archer (2015), illustrated a student diagnosed with adhd who has a penchant and performs well in highly stimulating environment matched in a job as a firefighter or an emergency room worker; meanwhile, a student diagnosed with asd who has a number/logic smart knack for llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 415 computers and coding may find jobs related to information technology field (wang, 2014). polya (2014) introduced heuristics as a loose collection of strategies, rules of thumb, guidelines, and suggestions for logical problem-solving. examples of heuristic strategies include finding analogies to problems people want to solve, breaking down various parts of the problem, and proposing possible solutions to the problem. polya further added that heuristics provides students with informal logical maps to help them find their way around the unfamiliar academic field. the cited materials and texts clearly depict the value of multiple intelligences in the classroom and the workplace. as revealed by the stories and explanations of the sources, if properly assessed and monitored, the intelligence can bring students to heights of success. the need to infuse multiple intelligences alongside other approaches and strategies can make a difference in second language teaching. the language teacher only needs to get sufficient information and background of the mi theory and approach to make learning environment engaging. it is hoped that future studies may include practical situations dealing with mi and other essential skills that may help boost the performance of schools and industries. discussion the first chapter is the foundations of mi theory. here, the historical background of multiple intelligences is tackled and presented to give readers a glimpse of how a theorist conceptualized this area. the eight intelligences are enumerated and briefly introduced to provide a smooth and comprehensible lecture for the readers and language teachers. chapter 2 holds mit theory and personal development where readers are gaining the chance to identify their intelligence; hence, it would be easier on their part to acknowledge the intelligence of their students. the next chapter is describing intelligences of students in which the language teacher can point out and describe the most developed intelligence of his students. an inventory of mi is furnished in this chapter which can be used by the teacher to assess the most dominant intelligence of his students. chapter 4 is teaching students about mi theory. it equips language teachers with the essential method of how they can introduce intelligence and vocabulary to talk to their pupils and students. through instructional approaches, the language teacher can engage students in the metacognitive activity. chapter 5 focuses on mi theory and curriculum development where teachers are fed and taught on how knowledge of intelligence can be used in developing curriculum and adapting relevant methods of instruction. in this part, multimodal teaching is covered, which is now a global concern since the pandemic has hit the world. chapter 6 is the mi theory and teaching strategies. here, language teachers are immersed in the possible strategies that can work in the esl classroom linked with the intelligence of the efl/esl students. next is, mi theory and the classroom environment for chapter 7 and is closely related to chapter 8, which is mi theory and classroom management. both of these chapters inform the target audience on the preparation and procedures in handling individual differences and diversities of the learners influenced by their intelligence. chapter 9 holds the mi school which is sending a strong message to schools that all students who come to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 416 classrooms deserve holistic training and activities to develop further their existing multiple intelligences. chapter 10 which is mi theory and assessment explains how educators and experts can address issues in the classroom by providing suitable and relatable assessment tools to students. in chapter 10, authentic assessment of student experiences is expounded well. this part plays a significant role in harnessing the intelligence of students who show up to school and study. different tools are recommended in this chapter, and all language teachers and educators have many things to take from this part. chapter 11 mi, neurodiversity, and special education helps people understand “disabilities” in a broader context. educators now can understand that children with special needs possess strengths in many bits of intelligence. chapter 12 mi theory, personalization, and deeper learning discusses the application of multiple intelligences approach to improve the quality of instruction. chapter 13 mi theory and new learning technologies creates the window of opportunity for teachers to better understand how multiple intelligence strategies can be applied to technology and innovation especially in this time where online and distance education is emerging. chapter 14 mi theory and existential intelligence leads readers and researchers on the discussion of existentialism and other beliefs about life, religion and so on which are not easy to explain. ultimate questions about life and existence are underscored here. chapter 15 mit theory and its critics offers a major review of the criticisms of mi and key misconceptions. chapter 16 mi theory around the globe talks about the international progress and influence of mi in the educational scene. further, this chapter explains and describes the place of mi in academic, individual, and community levels. multiple intelligences theory provides ideas and insights to all professionals. among them are the teachers or educators who would like to understand better the problems and issues affecting learning in the classroom. in the same manner, language teachers can view similar aspects and situations when it comes to delivering lessons and assessing the performance of their students. with a picture of how mi works among students, language teachers can easily improve their instructional materials, lesson plans, and assessment tools making sure that a holistic and effective learning atmosphere is existing in schools. a huge change in policymaking may happen if only educators and officials of the education department may collaborate and discuss the possible enhancement of policies and curriculum. the curriculum contains all the topics and activities intended for a semester or entire academic year. hence, with the inclusion of multiple intelligences approach, curriculum designers and educators could come up with a more customized course outline and curriculum based on the learning needs and prevailing intelligences in the classrooms. the researcher/reviewer also believes that lesson plans must be anchored on multiple intelligences approach to help learners discover their potentials and cultivate the intelligences they possess. this simple but helpful step can help build a connection between academe and industry because if intelligence is recognized llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 417 and developed, schools could send graduates to companies and industries carrying the skills, competencies, and intelligences needed in the actual worksite. language teachers and linguists are aware of the many issues and variables occurring in the esl classroom. a lot of factors are believed to be vital in the development of language skills. at some point, studies are mentioning the presence of mi as a factor to consider for successful teaching. conclusion several classroom cases showed failure or frustration in achieving learning outcomes even if the language teachers have done their best to facilitate and evaluate the learning experiences of students. it is the intention of the reviewer/researcher to analyze the book of armstrong and assess possible insights and practices beneficial to language teachers and other educators in their quest for quality instruction. this paper reflects a lot of classroom realities, challenges, and transitions about how mi approach and instructional strategies should be implemented in the language settings. other specialties in the classroom may attempt to blend the mi approach with other perspectives and practices which could enhance teaching-learning aspects or domains. if all educational centers and institutions will adopt multiple intelligences theory, learners could get the chance to explore their potentials and develop their work skills. creativity and resourcefulness of language teachers could also be linked to the existing needs, intelligences, and learning strategies of the students. if the teacher has a clear background of the aforementioned variables and traits, most likely they could create and promote learning opportunities in the second language classroom. what follows this scenario is the feasibility and adaptability of the instructional materials that language teachers could creatively design for their students. the researcher is recommending the book of thomas armstrong as an effective resource material to all teachers (not just language teachers) because of the forceful, substantial, and scholarly inputs needed by them in holding and nourishing classes across grade levels. the messages from the text clearly indicate how intelligences should be handled and processed fruitfully and meaningfully by teachers. knowing this theory will assist and inspire teachers to develop effective instructional materials they could use in their classes. references archer, d. (2015). the adhd advantage: what you thought was a diagnosis may be your greatest strength. new york: avery. armstrong, t. (2018). multiple intelligences in the classroom (4th ed.). alexandria, usa: acsd. polya, g. (2014). how to solve it: a new aspect of mathematical method. princeton, nj: princeton university press. price-mitchell, m. (2015, april 7). metacognition: nurturing self-awareness in the classroom. edutopia. retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/8pathways-metacognition-in-classroom-marilyn-price-mitchell. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/8-pathways-metacognition-in-classroom-marilyn-price-mitchell https://www.edutopia.org/blog/8-pathways-metacognition-in-classroom-marilyn-price-mitchell llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 418 shearer, b. (2013). multiple intelligences inspired! a common core toolkit (2nd edition). kent, oh: mi research and consulting. wang, s.s. (2014, march 27). how autism can help you land a job. wall street journal. available:https://www.wsj.com/articles/sb100014240527023044184045794 65561364868556. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 199 language assessment literacy development: a student-teacher’s experiences in teaching practice program agustinus hardi prasetyo iowa state university hardi@iastate.edu doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.210209 received 13 june 2018; revised 22 august 2018; accepted 1 september 2018 abstract the development of a student-teacher’s language assessment literacy was viewed through her experiences in conducting teaching practice in one of the senior high schools in yogyakarta, indonesia. an interview was conducted to explore the experiences taking place in the teaching-practice in relation to the language assessment literacy development. it was found out that the experiences were understood as mostly dealing with administrative tasks and there is a need of more knowledge in administrative matter in teaching and assessment. from the results of the study it was obvious that further studies need to be conducted to explore the role of teaching-practice in the development of student-teaching language assessment literacy. more participants and multiple data collection methods in a longitudinal study are needed to help student-teachers to be more assessment literate, which in turn helps them to be better teachers. keywords: administrative tasks, language assessment literacy, teaching practice introduction assessment is an integral part of teaching. however, studies have shown that many teachers do not have enough knowledge and skills on how to assess their students. the teachers’ lack of knowledge and skills on assessment will disadvantage their students and render teachers less accountable towards stakeholders. it is therefore necessary to explore the teachers’ educational measurement knowledge and the skills to apply that knowledge to measure students’ achievement. this study is aimed to discover the language assessment literacy/lal of student-teachers of english language education study program, sanata dharma university, indonesia. these particular participants and their setting were chosen since not many studies have been done to explore their language assessment literacy. this study therefore will fill in the gap in the literature. the term assessment literacy was first coined by stiggins (1991) who defined it as a fundamental understanding of educational assessment and skills to apply such knowledge to measure student achievement. in the field of language assessment, fulcher (fulcher, 2012) proposes the most detailed working definition of language assessment literacy (lal). to date, despite the agreement that lal is necessary for language teachers, there has been little consensus among assessment experts on llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 200 what knowledge, skills, and principles (davies, 2008) that teachers should master in order to be assessment literate, or what components of lal should be taught and prioritized (harding & kremmel, 2016; taylor, 2009). assessment literacy has gradually been considered as an integral part of teachers’ professionalism (popham, 2004, 2011; schafer, 1993; stiggins, 1995) due to the pivotal role of assessment in students’ learning (black & wiliam, 1998, 2010; xu & brown, 2017). popham (2004) even argued that assessment illiteracy is a form of professional suicide considering the vital role assessment plays in students learning. however, many studies have shown that teachers are unconfident in assessing their students (volante & fazio, 2007) and lacking in knowledge and skills of educational assessment, and they are in the need of proper training (deluca, lapointe-mcewan, & luhanga, 2016; herrera & macías, 2015; malone, 2011; stiggins, 1999). in order to address this problem, several studies have been conducted to find out what training and knowledge are needed for teachers to be assessment literate. using the survey form they designed for three types of stakeholders (language teachers, language teachers training, and language testing experts. i.e. who are involved in item writing) in language testing and assessment (lta), hasselgreen, carlsen, and helness (2004) identified training needs of those stakeholders in the countries across europe to offer subsequent training in the field. the researchers reported that there is a need for more formal education and training in language testing and assessment among those stakeholders. they also reported that most lta activities (using statistics, assessing culture, integrated skills, establishing validity, and assessing productive skills) were carried out by teachers who have no training in these activities. in response to hasselgreen et al.’s call for more research on teachers’ assessment literacy, vogt and tsagari (2014) conducted a similar study built on hasselgreen et al.’s research by including additional european countries and exclusively targeted foreign language teachers (see also tsagari & vogt, 2017). their results show that according to the participants, the lta literacy of foreign language teachers across europe is not very well-developed. the majority of those teachers had received either “a little” or “no” training at all, and they believe that their training has not sufficiently prepared them for their work. this study’s results then corroborate hasselgreen et al.’s study. several studies conducted to study both pre-service and in-service teachers’ assessment literacy also yield similar results (mertler & campbell, 2005; deluca, chavez, bellara, & cao, 2013; campbell, c., murphy, j. a. & holt, j. k. , 2002, mertler, c. a., 2003, and plake, 1993 as cited in mertler, 2009) which show that those teachers do not seem to possess high, or even adequate, levels of assessment literacy. researchers have also noted that there is comparatively little research on teachers’ current assessment practices from which professional learning programs to encourage teacher assessment literacy can be constructed (brindley, 2001; harding & kremmel, 2016; mertler, 2009). moreover, little research has been conducted on teacher candidates’ assessment practice when they are conducting their field experiences in schools. while in fact, finding out what teacher candidates experience in terms of designing and implementing classroom-based assessment in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 201 their teaching practice or field experience will help avoid the phenomena of testing the students the way they were tested (deluca et al., 2013). teacher candidates’ field experiences can influence their perception of assessment and their assessment decisions, as well as many other instructional decisions (clark, 2015; heafner, 2004). this case study therefore is aimed at describing and interpreting what happens during teaching practice or field experience in secondary schools in relation to teacher candidates’ language assessment literacy development. as i mentioned in the beginning of this paper, assessment is an integral part of teaching. teachers will not be able to help their students or themselves to learn, if they do not have the knowledge and related skills to assess their own and their students’ learning. therefore, teachers should be assessment literate. even though assessment literary has a vital role in teachers’ teaching and students’ learning, many studies have shown that teachers do not have the required knowledge and skills to be considered assessment literate. the same studies also shown that teachers need training and support to be assessment literate. therefore, in this study, i would like to explore how student-teachers of english language education study program (elesp) develop, design, and implement their assessment plan. in that way then i will be able to see whether they have the knowledge and skills to design an appropriate assessment plan. later, i will observe them doing their teaching practice when i can observe the way they assess their students. since pragmatism is the paradigm of this study, i will use multiple methods to answer the research questions. the following are the research questions guiding this study: central question: what happens in teaching practice or field experience in secondary schools in relation to teacher candidates’ language assessment literacy development? subquestions: 1) how do student-teachers of english language education study program develop their assessment plan (formative and summative assessment) in their teaching practice in the local secondary school? 2) how do student-teachers of english language education study program implement their assessment plan? 3) in what ways do development and implementation affect assessment literacy, if at all? 4) how does the school as a system, where those student-teachers do their teaching practice, support their professional development for assessment literacy? method interview was employed to answer the research questions above. one studentteacher of english language education study program, sanata dharma university, indonesia who has just finished her field experience (teaching practice) was chosen to be interviewed. the interview was conducted in bahasa indonesia via text-based whatsapp application. considering the distance and time difference between the interviewee and interview, all the questions were all at once posted in the whatsapp for the interviewee to answer whenever it is possible for her to respond. this llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 202 technique allows the interviewee to have more time to think about her responses and allows the interviewer to ask further questions on her responses that need further clarification. the interview protocol that i used consists of two parts. the first part contains the consent form asking the interviewee whether she is willing to voluntarily participate in this study. once she confirmed that she was willing to participate, then the second part was posted in the application. the following is the interview protocol: (1) dear participant, first of all, i need to get your consent for this interview. before that, let me give you some information about this study. this is a small study looking at english language education study program (elesp) students’ language assessment literacy and the role of teaching practice/ppl in the development of elesp students’ language assessment literacy. some questions will be about your experiences designing and implementing assessment when you are doing your teaching practice. some other questions will be about the role of teaching practice, elesp lecturers, and the courses you have taken before you took teaching practice. your identity will not be revealed in any document published related to this data gathering. do you agree to participate in this interview? (2) the following are the questions you need to respond: 1. i believed that you have just finished your teaching practice program. would you please describe your responsibilities in the program? 2. in terms of assessment, how do you go about planning and implementing your assessment plan? i mean, would you please share your experiences in designing and implementing your assessment (formative and summative) plan? 3. do your lecturers and teacher-supervisor guide you in designing and implementing your assessment plan? how do they go about doing it? 4. do you think you are ready to do your teaching practice especially in relation to conducting assessment for your students’ learning? why? it took two days for the interviewee to respond to these questions. once she replied, i followed up with several questions for further clarification and examples. the complete transcript of the whatsapp interview as well as its translation can be found in the appendix. thematic analysis was applied to analyze the transcript of the interview. i followed braun and clarke's (2006) step by step procedure of thematic analysis to analyze the interview transcript. first, i transcribed the interview. this was easy since the interview was conducted using text-based whatsapp desktop application, so what i need to do just copied and pasted the interview/chat into word processor. then, i translated the interview transcript into english. this helped me to understand it deeply since i had to read the original transcript over and again to ensure that i did not miss the original meaning of the conversation. then, using maxqda 12 software, i coded the transcript and found 48 codes. the codes were informed by the research questions that i have formulated, so this kind of coding was deductive in nature. i then compiled and collated those codes into some themes llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 203 in order to provide insights and deeper understanding on what happened during teaching practice in relation to student-teacher language assessment literacy development. findings and discussion based on the themes found in the interview transcript, what happened in the teaching practice program was that this student-teacher dealt with mostly administrative tasks. from the day one she entered the school, until the last months of the teaching-practice program, most of the tasks were administrative. even in their teaching and in the assessment design and implementation, she dealt with administrative matter. her concern in the assessment design was how to design rubric to assess attitudes, skills, and knowledge correctly using the template given by the vice headmaster in curriculum. she thought that she was not prepared enough to design a lesson plan and its rubric since her lecturer did not teach her. she even suggested that elesp lecturers should equip their student-teacher with more detailed knowledge on how to write lesson plan, especially in terms of designing and writing those rubrics. in terms of designing the assessment, she received little help from her teacher supervisor and lecturer since she was considered competent enough to design it. she was also trusted to teach grade xii students. usually, student-teachers generally were given opportunity to teach grade x students. in fact, some secondary schools only allow student-teacher to teach grade x students. it shows that she gained trust from her teacher supervisor, so she was given the opportunity to teach not only one but two classes of grade xii. in terms of assessment implementation, she implemented her assessment as mostly formative assessment in the form of quizzes, comprehension questions, and assignments to check her students’ understanding of the materials. she became more competent in her assessment literacy, even though only in terms of understanding the template to design rubric to assess attitudes, skills, and knowledge through collaboration with fellow student-teachers from other study programs, who happened to be more well-informed than her in terms of some administrative tasks dealing with teaching (writing yearly program and semester program) and assessment (writing rubrics). in terms of the teacher supervisor and lecturer’s support toward the studentteacher’s language assessment literacy development, the student-teacher in this particular school received little support since she was considered competent enough to conduct her own teaching and her own assessment. it can be seen from the interview that only minor suggestions or revision were provided by teacher supervisor and lecturer concerning her assessment design. one of the limitations of the study is that only one participant was involved in this study which might not provide a complete picture of what was happening during teacher practice in terms of elesp student-teachers’ language assessment literacy development. this participant conducted her teaching practice program in one of the most favorite state senior high schools in yogyakarta. it is situated in a rural area, and it is considered as one of the best schools in terms of the implementation information technology. other contexts of elesp teachingllt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 204 practice program (rural vs. urban schools, senior vs. junior high schools, senior vs. vocational high schools, private-based vs. state-owned schools) were not represented. conclusion more qualitative studies need to be conducted to explore and better understand the role of teaching practice in the development of student-teachers’ language assessment literacy. multiple methods of data collection (interview, lesson plans, assessment materials, video-recorded teaching performances, observations, reflective journals, among others) and a longitudinal study must be employed to provide a more complete picture of what is happening in the teaching practice program. it is necessary therefore to conduct more studies on this area since teacher candidates’ field experiences can influence their perception of assessment and their assessment decisions, as well as many other instructional decisions (clark, 2015; heafner, 2004). the other limitation was the data collection technique. the data were collected through interview using text-based whatsapp application which might limit the interaction and depth of the interview. since the participant was quite busy (it was toward the end of the semester with a lot of deadlines) and considering the time difference, the distance as well as the quality of the internet will not guarantee the smooth quality of long-distance video or even phone call, so text-based chat was chosen. however, the synchronous nature of text-based chat allows both the interviewee and interviewer ample time to think about the responses and further follow-up questions which can facilitate more meaningful interaction. references black, p., & wiliam, d. (1998). assessment and classroom learning. assessment in education: principles, policy & practice, 5(1), 7–74. https://doi.org/10.1080/0969595980050102 black, p., & wiliam, d. (2010). inside the black box: raising standards through classroom assessment. phi delta kappan, 92(1), 81–90. https://doi.org/10.1177/003172171009200119 braun, v., & clarke, v. (2006). using thematic analysis in psychology. qualitative research in psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa brindley, g. (2001). outcomes-based assessment in practice: some examples and emerging insights. language testing, 18(4), 393–407. https://doi.org/10.1191/026553201682430102 clark, j. s. (2015). “my assessment didn’t seem real”: the influence of field experiences on preservice teachers’ agency and assessment literacy. journal of social studies education research, 6(2), 91–111. https://doi.org/10.17499/jsser.91829 davies, a. (2008). textbook trends in teaching language testing. language testing, 25(3), 327–347. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265532208090156 deluca, c., chavez, t., bellara, a., & cao, c. (2013). pedagogies for preservice assessment education: supporting teacher candidates’ assessment literacy llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 205 development. teacher educator, 48(2), 128–142. https://doi.org/10.1080/08878730.2012.760024 deluca, c., lapointe-mcewan, d., & luhanga, u. (2016). approaches to classroom assessment inventory: a new instrument to support teacher assessment literacy. educational assessment, 21(4), 248–266. https://doi.org/10.1080/10627197.2016.1236677 fulcher, g. (2012). assessment literacy for the language classroom. language assessment quarterly, 9(2), 113–132. https://doi.org/10.1080/15434303.2011.642041 harding, l., & kremmel, b. 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(1993). assessment literacy for teachers. theory into practice, 32(2), 118–126. https://doi.org/10.2753/jei0021-3624440303 stiggins, r. j. (1991). assssment literacy. phi delta kappan, 72(7), 534–539. stiggins, r. j. (1995). assessment literacy for the 21st century. phi delta kappan, 77(3), 238–245. stiggins, r. j. (1999). evaluating classroom assessment training in teacher education programs. educational measurement: issues and practice, 18(1), 23–27. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-3992.1999.tb00004.x llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 206 taylor, l. (2009). developing assessment literacy. annual review of applied linguistics, 29, 21–36. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0267190509090035 tsagari, d., & vogt, k. (2017). assessment literacy of foreign language teachers around europe: research, challenges and future prospects. papers in language testing and assessment, 6(1), 41–63. retrieved from http://arts.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/2349928/6_1_si3tsag arivogt.pdf vogt, k., & tsagari, d. (2014). assessment literacy of foreign language teachers: findings of a european study. language assessment quarterly, 11(4), 374– 402. https://doi.org/10.1080/15434303.2014.960046 volante, l., & fazio, x. (2007). exploring teacher candidates’ assessment literacy: implications for teacher education reform and professional development. canadian journal of education, 30(3), 749–770. https://doi.org/10.2307/20466661 xu, y., & brown, g. t. l. (2017). university english teacher assessment literacy : a survey-test report from china. papers in language testing and assessment, 6(1), 133–158. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 260-269 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 260 semantic and axiology of 7 years song as english material choice for young learners qurrata’ain and sulis triyono universitas negeri yogyakarta qurrataainmahfud@gmail.com and sulis@uny.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2019.220210 received 6 september 2019; revised 20 september 2019; accepted 1 october 2019 abstract the implication of curriculum 2013, the song is one of the topics to achieve the goal of learning. learning through song emphasizes that the teacher should know the best song choice based on the axiology and semantic meaning. not all the song can be as material for students. the teacher should evaluate based on level of the students. a song, there were a meaning that would be expressed and moral values so that it will be interested to find out what the song’s lyric want to deliver. some people often sing a song without know the explicit and implicit meaning of the lyric. there was also an existence of value. this research focuses (1) to analyze the lexical and contextual meaning in song lyric and (2) to know the implication of values that found in “7 years” lyric by lukas graham (2) to evaluate 7 years whether or not to be as teaching material. this research used descriptive qualitative method. the object of the research was 7 years by lukas graham. the researcher found lyric and analyze the lexical and contextual meaning. then, it was related with the implication of axiology in semantic analysis of song’s lyric “7 years” by lukas graham. the finding of semantic analysis, there are 35 for lexical meaning and 14 for contextual meaning. then, for the lexical meaning is so different with contextual meaning. by knowing lexical and contextual meaning, it would make the listener understand and the meaning which delivered of song lyric by lukas graham. there is an implication of axiology in semantic analysis of lyric “7 years”. this song contains esthetic and ethic based on the axiology theory. the axiology contained in song lyric can be material for students. it tells about the story of writer starting the writer was born till his father died. all of the life experiences contain in song lyric. keywords: semantic analysis, axiology, 7 years, song lyric introduction a language is the most important tool to communicate. a language is not only use for communicating. it used to know what the language express, idea, thought etc. teaching english to young learners cannot be seen only as teaching a language in classroom. the challenges process of teaching language to consider the social and cognitive development (dzanic&pejic,2016). based on the purpose of the curriculum 2013, to teach a language there are several methods or techniques. one of them is using a song. a song can help the process of learning language for the students. however, the people have sensitivity in sound and interested of song. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 260-269 261 song also can help the students doing the repetition of the sentence contained. it will make them to reflect use the sentence in daily life. according to brewster et al (2002) there are many advantages of leaning language through a song. the first is the song contains linguistic resource. this is very important to introduce the students about a new language. the second advantage is a song relates to affective or psychological resource. the students can motivate to learn language. the last is cognitive resource, it refers to a song brings students to concentrate and develop their memory of new language. songs as the material in teaching english for x students song is a part of poetry that may be used to express by singing. this research investigated the semantic analysis and to know the implication of axiology in song lyric. each song lyric has a massage. song is a composition for voice and musical instrument (agung et al, 2016). based on the yastanti and setiawati (2018) song lyric is one of the creation has a deep meaning that try to deliver for the listener. in song lyric also has the value. it refers to implication of the axiology. all of words, phrases, in a song lyric need to be understood to catch what the information conveyed in song lyric (oktariani et al, 2018). the use of song in learning language should consider several things. they are (1) the level of the students (2) kind of songs (3) the complexities of language (4) moral deliver. not all the songs can be as teaching material. by using song as teaching material, it can be something interesting for students. there are some advantages of the use song as proposed griffee (1998) (1) songs can be useful to teach vocabulary (2) songs serve to listen material (3) song can be used to grammar practice (4) songs tell various cultures. songs is a best treat for students to learn a language. the teachers have to know how to prepare and select song. according to nurhayati (2012) there are several stages to prepare and select a song. the first a teacher should know the aims of curriculum 2013. the second stage, the teacher decides the learning objectives. the third, teacher also has to analyze a song. it relates to moral value or linguistic features of a song as well as the meaning of a song. axiology for teaching and learning philosophy and linguistics have a close relationship. philosophy is "the mother of science". language studies were not first conducted by linguists but by philosophers. to solve all the problems that exist in daily life, they use analysis of language for example like a form of causality and so on. linguistics has branches of science, one of which is semantics. there are three fundamental foundations that are always a reference in philosophy, namely ontology, epistemology and axiology. this research focuses on axiology. axiology is the foundation used to discuss the value of usefulness of the value of knowledge. in this case, we will try to uncover how the implications of axiology in sociolinguistics. axiology is a branch of philosophy that discusses value theories and tries to describe good and good behavior (rukiyati & darmiyati, 2016: 35). axiology is also related to the value of the usefulness of science (suriasumatri, 2009) so that the principle of axiology is derived in many branches of science. one of them is the field of linguistics. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 260-269 262 linguistics is the science of language. linguistics makes language the object of study. this research is also wanted to know the implication of axiology and semantics’ analysis. the teacher can be song of lukas graham as one of the teaching material for the students in classroom. axiology is the science of values. axiology is a branch of philosophy of science that discusses theories about value and tries to describe goodness and good behavior (rukiyati & darmiyati). value is something that is attached to something that is very meaningful in human life, especially regarding the goodness and goodness of things. value is something abstract. the essence of value is in language we often hear the term assessment. value in english is value which means price, appreciation, meaning that price is attached to something or appreciation of something. everything is always rated. it is the human who gives the depth value so that it contains value. because of that value, the object has a value. however, how the criteria of the object have value. the theory of value is divided into two, namely ethical and aesthetic values. ethical values are values that discuss and discuss the merits of human actions. the coverage in ethical values is there is a measure of universally good actions that apply in society, are there norms and so on. while aesthetic values are values that are related to artistic creations and experiences about the arts. values are the main focus in axiology. for example, it is said to steal, stealing is an evil ethical value. and the person who committed it was convicted. the value of the use of science depends on the people who use it. ethical development is divided into two, namely descriptive ethics and normative ethics. the basis of axiology is divided into two, namely objective and subjective. objective is the assessment of something done as it is in accordance with the state of the object being assessed. the second is subjective, namely the assessment of something where in the assessment process there are elements of intuition (feeling). in human life cannot be separated from the values that exist. besides the value, the language also could not separate in social system. in selection of the material teaching, the teacher cannot separate with the axiology. axiology refers to value. based on the value of song lyric, the student can learn the positive thing. it emphasizes on teacher to select the english material properly. it is not because the song is popular but also about the value contain. semantic analysis in song lyric as human being, we talk each other by using language. to understand the humanity, one must to understand the nature of language (fromkin et al;2007). language could not be separated with language and meaning. the existence of the potential meaning is obvious. the meaning of word, phrase, sentence, and clause is most important to be analyzed. it is a way to understand what the massage delivered. some people have own perspective in making meaning. this reason becomes why the research considers in semantics’ analysis and wants to know the implication of axiology or value. based on the halliday theory, semantics is the study of language that concerned in meaning. semantics can be analyzed by the lexical meaning and contextual meaning. finding meaning of a word by using dictionary is common activity. the meaning of dictionary is lexical meaning. it relates with the real meaning. the lexicology is llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 260-269 263 the branch of linguistics that identified about the vocabulary. lexical meaning is a term that used to “word meaning” based on dictionary words. fromkin (2007) stated that the lexical semantics as a part of the subfield meaning of words and the relationship meaning among words. meanwhile, the semantics refers to a study of the meaning of words, it attemps to focus on lexical and contextual meaning (yule, 2010; miarsih et al, 2018). a song is any poem that has explicit meaning. this study is not only focused on semantic analysis. there is a value of the song. that is very important to analyze, a song is always listened by people in the world. the semantic analysis will relate to the implication of the axiology or value in song lyrics. song is a part of music. there are many bands or singers. one of the solo singers is lukas graham. lukas graham has several popular songs that influenced other people. one of the songs is 7 years. this study tries to find the lexical and contextual meaning. the result of the lexical and contextual will give an implication of the axiology that contains in song lyric. in song lyric of 7 years, people can find some the contextual meaning which wants to tell to the listener. it will make the meaning of song lyric clear. therefore, this study has aim to give the explanation of the semantic meaning and implication of axiology of the song lyric. this research built on previous research about song lyrics (i.g. vitria,2013; alafar,2016; risdianto, 2016; miller,2017, yastanti&setiawati,2018) the research about song lyrics analysis for example ambiguity, denotative and connotative meaning etc. the novelty of this research focuses on semantic analysis which combined with axiology implication. method this research used descriptive qualitative. the qualitative method was a procedure of a research which results in descriptive data. the object of this research was a text of lyric “7 years” by lukas graham to interpret the meaning depends on lexical and conceptual meaning. the researcher took a lyric in website https://www.letssingit.com/lukas-graham-lyrics-7-years-b2wds4t. then, the researcher analyzed the lexical and conceptual meaning. to find out the meaning of lexical, researcher used oxford learners’ dictionary edition four to look up the words list. the writer uses structural and semantic analysis to find out the meaning representation, which construct the unity of song. findings and discussion the findings of the lexical meaning and contextual meaning after analyzing the data, there are lexical meaning and contextual meaning found in 7 years song lyric. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 260-269 264 table.1 calculate the data number and percentage no semantic analysis percentage 1 lexical 36 72% 2 contextual 14 28% the researcher found the line in song lyric to be analyzed. those several lines would be analyzed by the lexical meaning. #datum1 my momma told me the word told is a past tense of tell. for a line in song lyric, meaning of the told is corresponding with the real meaning of the word. it can be said that the meaning found to lexical meaning. #datum2 i’m still learning about life the verb of this part of song lyric line is am still learning. it contain the real meaning that the writer of song lyric try to learn about his life. the meaning of am still learning is corresponding with the real meaning of the verb. it can be said that the meaning found to lexical meaning. the researcher found the line in song lyric to be analyzed. those line would be analyzed by the contextual meaning. #datum 1 go make yourself some friends in first datum, there was a word “make” indicated for the lexical meaning. based on the lexical meaning, “make” has meaning such as form something by putting parts together, combining substances, create, cause something to exist or come about, bring about, constitute, amount to, manage to arrive at a place within a specified time, and catch. the lexical meaning is a meaning that listed in dictionary. but if the sentence was seen by the context of song lyric, it means someone should find friends so that she/he did not feel alone. #datum 2 it was a big big world the second datum contains in song lyric is “big big”. these words involves based on lexical are considerable or size, extent, considerable of important or seriousness, and often ironic generous. according to the contextual meaning is related with a world is widely but we always thought we were bigger than the world. we live in the biggest world so that we can find anything there. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 260-269 265 #datum 3 pushing each other to the limits the next datum is “pushing”. pushing means exert force on something in order to move them away, move forward by using force, compel, and promote the use, sale. based on the contextual where there are many people tried to force the limits in the world and we can learn easy. #datum 4 by eleven smoking herb that word “eleven” in lexical meaning is the number order but if we are seen by the contextual. by eleven smoking herb means someone do smoking many times because in lyric song he does not know what he should do. #datum 5 and drinking burning liquor the word “burning” based on lexical meaning is very hot, on fire, intense, very keenly, deeply felt. but the context “and drinking burning liquor” means someone drinks alcohol. #datum 6 to make that steady figure the lexical meaning in “steady” word means firmly, supported, balanced, not shaking or moving, regular, even and continuous in development. based on the contextual, to make that steady figure means how someone changes his life and becomes a rich man. #datum 7 my story got told the word “got” in lexical meaning means come to have, succeeded in attaining, achieving, experiencing, obtain, reach or cause to reach. if we see by the contextual of lyric song “7years” this sentence to tell that someone in lyric song has a story to tell. #datum 8 i only see my goals the word of “see” based on lexical meaning is perceive with the eyes, discern visually, discern, deduce after reflection, and understand. based on the contextual means someone in lyric song focuses on goal that he/she want to reach. he never believed about failure. #datum 9 'cause i know the smallest voices in lexical meaning “smallest voices” means the voice that cannot hear others but in contextual is about the someone just hear the voice of himself/herself that can make he/she be spirit to alive in the world. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 260-269 266 #datum 10 we're still roaming the word of roaming means bat, cruise, kick around, range, gad about. it relates with lexical meaning but if we see the contextual meaning roaming in this lyric song means someone always try to see to make dreams come true. she/he always looks for. #datum 11 my woman brought children for me the word “brought” means take or go with something to a place, cause something to be in a particular state. it relates with lexical meaning but based on the contextual the woman as his wife already had been pregnant and born children for him. #datum 12 i got my boys with me the word ‘got’ in lexical meaning is come to have, succeed in attaining, achieving, experiencing, obtain, reach or cause to reach but based on the contextual means someone in song lyric has sons that will accompany him/her. #datum 13 at least those in favor in lexical meaning “favor” means approval, support, liking for someone, act of kindness beyond what is usual, and a small inexpensive gift. while the contextual means someone already had the good children. #datum 14 some are still out seeking glory the word of “seeking” in sentence as part of lyric song is attempted to find, desire, obtain, achieve whereas the “glory” means high renown, great beauty, praise, and worship. based on the contextual of song lyric is about some of his/her boys try to find identity of them. from the finding and discussion above, the lexical meaning and contextual meaning is different. if we see the lexical meaning. it could not relate and the massage of song lyric could not deliver in an appropriate and good way. the most important is massage of song lyric making many people know and take benefits of song lyric. when the word as sentence form, it could be change the meaning of the word itself. there were 14 sentences that contained in lyrics and there were several word proving that meaning by lexical and context. it will be different. the implication of axiology in semantic analysis axiology is a study that related with value. it will be esthetic and ethic. axiology is as a part of fundamental question based on philosophy. philosophy is also interlinked between the linguistics because linguistics was born in philosophy. it seems like the philosophy is a mother of science included linguistics itself. this llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 260-269 267 research will explain the implication of axiology in song lyric after the researcher did semantic analysis of song lyric. the first, this song lyric “7 years” told about the getting older. in first stanza of song lyric, the writer wanted to tell when he was seven years old, his mama told him to find some friends so that he did not feel lonely. sometimes, the people thought they were bigger than a big world. some people can easy to learn. smoking herb and drinking burning liquor do not make people rich. then, in eleven years old, we should find a wife. we had a dream to write a song. but, in twenty years old, he was lonely but can see his goals. the writer also showed that will he has a lot of children who can warm her? it happened when he was sixty years old. the implication of axiology in semantic analysis of songs’ lyric is about the value of song’s lyrics. this song teaches other people to love her parents especially father because they will be a father soon. the next is about, the struggle of the children that want to see father but the father was died. besides that, the song “7 years” has the esthetic as a beautiful and touching song. it contains the moral value to listener. life is like a circle. song lyric by lukas graham has an axiology. each song has an explicit and implicit message that would deliver. a song also considers the esthetic and also ethic. thus, it is surely existed the implication of axiology of song lyric. the moral values in lyric song can be help people take an experience for a song. there are many benefits of songs namely to listen enjoy and also songs could make people learn anything for song lyrics. generally, song lyrics contained about love, said, life, struggle, mad, etc. all the expressing is written by song lyrics. based on the result of semantic analysis, the dominant meanings construct a song lyrics is lexical meaning. however, a song lyric also contain the contextual meaning to express the feelings of the song lyric. it tries to construct the unity of resource to make a meaning and the axiology express from the meaning choices. the structure of the song lyric also gives an influence for the axiology. song lyric has aesthetic and value construct to feel deep meaning of song lyric for the listener. every song writer has own tendency and stylistic to write a song. 7 years of lukas graham as teaching material based on the semiotic analysis and the axiology analysis, the song can be used as teaching material. there are many new vocabularies and also a song tells about how a son loves his father so much. he regrets for not spending much time with his father. it can be a lesson for students to more love their parents. besides that, the students can be analyzed about the grammar, function, lexicogrammatical etc. the teacher should be chosen the teaching material based on authentic material such as a song. the students can be achieved learning outcomes to communicate using a language in daily life conclusion the purpose of this study is to find out the lexical meaning and contextual meaning of lyric “7 years” and also to know the implication of axiology and semantic analysis. it was found that there is implication of axiology and semantic analysis. in song lyric contains 14 of contextual meaning out of 50 words and the lexical meaning contains 35 out of 50 words. the dominant of song lyric uses lexical meaning. 7 years llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 260-269 268 is about getting older and massage for the listener to love the parents especially father before he was died. each song has an axiology whether esthetic or moral value. it will make the listener enjoy to listen a song and comprehend what the massages delivered by the song. the most important is when the word omitted in sentences. sometimes, it will be changed the lexical meaning so we have to translate with the contextual to get the appropriate meaning delivered. each song lyric has a massage for those listeners. thus, 7 years by lukas graham is to make the listeners impression when they listening lyric. 7 years tells about the getting older, started from seven years old till sixty years old which contained about love, life and struggle be a son till a father too. this song is made to tribute for lukas graham’s father. then, based on the semantic analysis, social function, linguistic features and also axiology contain in song lyric. this song is 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(2010). the study of language (4th ed). new york: cambridge university press. http://lpp.uad.ac.id/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/251-rifki-1568-1574.pdf https://journal.stkipnurulhuda.ac.id/index.php/channing/article/view/466 https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2017.180 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319107668 https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/147420663.pdf http://ejournal.bsi.ac.id/ejurnal/index.php/wanastra llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 11 using english movie as an attractive strategy to teach senior high school students english as a foreign language maria asumpta deny kusumaningrum abstract the major purpose of this paper is to reveal how to implement english movies in teaching english as foreign language to senior high school students. english as foreign language is implemented as the compulsory subject to learn in senior high school in indonesia. unfortunately, beyond the implementation, the fact that not all pupils enjoy learning english occurs. realizing that fact, teacher should find a strategy to attract students’ attention to learn efl. moreover, using english movies to teach english can be the answer. in the application, teacher can use english movies to teach four skills. they include listening, speaking, and also writing skills. by using english movies, teacher can also teach grammar and introduce new vocabulary to students. furthermore, the belief that everyone loves watching movies strengthens the teacher’s confidence to use english movies as an attractive strategy to teach english as a foreign language to senior high school students. keywords: english movies, english as a foreign language, four skills a. introduction english as a foreign language is implemented as the compulsory subject to learn in senior high school in indonesia. the aim of the implementation is to achieve the informational level of literacy which expects students to be able to use english to access accumulated knowledge and use english in informal and formal contexts. unfortunately, beyond the implementation, the fact that not all pupils enjoy learning english occurs. besides learning a new language, the existing teaching method which merely transfer knowledge takes part in forming the stressful environment to students. considering the boredom atmosphere experienced by students during the teaching and learning process, the knowledge cannot be received effectively. moreover, the goal of the teaching and learning process will not be achieved. to answer this problem, senior high school teacher is expected to find a creative strategy to apply in the teaching and learning process. teacher is challenged to be able to apply an attractive strategy in his/her english class. there are some ways to make an attractive teaching and learning process. teacher can use flash cards and english songs to teach and involve students to learn english. however, there is another fun strategy to implement in teaching english to senior high school students in indonesia, namely through using english movies. by using english movies to teach english, teacher does not only facilitate a visual or audio aid to students, but teacher also facilitates them with both audio and visual elements at the same time. besides, teacher can use a movie to teach students several skills including listening, speaking and writing. other benefits in implementing english movies in teaching and learning 12 process can also be gained. in addition, the belief that everyone loves watching movie strengthens the teacher’s confidence to use english movies as an attractive strategy to teach english as a foreign language to senior high school students. an inappropriate strategy implemented in teaching english as a foreign language to senior high school students often comes as a problem. the teacher-centered way of teaching which usually occurs in class in which teacher merely transfers knowledge without considering senior high schoolstudents’ attention span is ineffective. the following assignments or quizzes make them bored during the teaching and learning process. the boring environment experienced by senior high school students, therefore, contributes to the level of success students experience in learning. it was explained earlier that english movies facilitates teacher to teach several skills at the same time, including listening, speaking, and writing, and also provides enjoyable learning environment in learning grammar and vocabulary. therefore the major focus on this paper is how to implement english movies in teaching english as a foreign language to senior high school students. considering the importance of an attractive strategy to teach senior high school students, this paper intends to address a question: how are english movies implemented to teach english as a foreign language to senior high school students? this paper is aimed at providing information about how english movies are used as an attractive strategy to teach english as a foreign language to senior high school students. this strategy of using english movies for teaching and learning activity also considers about its benefit. therefore, this paper also states the benefits of using english movie as an attractive teaching and learning strategy. b. review of literature as stated by agustin in her paper entitled competence, process, and assessment standards: towards autonomy in elt, there are four literacy levels implemented in curriculum based competence. they are performative, functional, informational, and epistemic level. performative level is implemented in elementary school, whereas functional level is applied in junior high school. she goes on to say that informational level is implemented in senior high school whereas epistemic level is applied in university. since this paper focuses on the senior high school, therefore informational level as the literacy level implemented in senior high school will be discussed in depth. according to agustin, in the informational level, learners are expected to: • use english to access accumulated knowledge. • use english in informal and formal contexts. by considering the goal to achieve in teaching senior high school students, teacher should be able to apply appropriate techniques and strategy. however, it is not an easy job for teachers. besides focusing on the goal to reach, teachers should also pay attention to their students. as an example, teacher should be able to comprehend the characteristics of senior high school students. by understanding the characteristics of students, teacher can maximize the success of teaching and learning process. as cited in www.ierg.net, senior high schoolstudents generally have some characteristics, such as: • they are interested in learning activities • they need opportunities for selfexpression • they want to take individual responsibility for learning and progress towards targets using english movie as an attractive strategy to teach senior high school students .... llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 13 • they have attention span between eight to fourteen minutes. understanding the goal to achieve in senior high school grade and general characteristics of the students, teacher can start to find, choose and apply an appropriate strategy to apply in teaching efl to senior high school students. one strategy that can be implemented in teaching efl to senior high school students is by using english movies. according to louis pugliese, a lecturer in educational psychology california state university, northridge, movie is an exiting way to learn english, since it gives not only the matter of pronunciation, but also a lot of other unspoken parts of english language. c. discussion 1. the implementation of english movie in class activity to conduct an attractive english teaching and learning process for senior high school students, teacher can use english movie. in the implementation, before teacher starts conducting teaching and learning activity by using western movie, there are some points to consider. the points are: • first, teacher should consider the audience of english movie. since the audiences of the movie are senior high school students, teacher is expected to choose the movie which is appropriate to watch. directly, it insists teacher to watch first the movie for making sure whether the movie is suitable for students or not. • second, teacher should consider the content of the movie. teacher should be careful to play movie containing certain religious or race issue. if teacher still wants to play the movie in any reasons, before turning the movie on, teacher can give some notes to students. it aims to avoid the misconception and misunderstanding among students in responding the movie. • third, teacher should consider the appropriateness between movie and the level of students. since the movie will be played for senior high school students, teacher can choose movie which does not contain too much slang words and idioms, except for some reasons. there are some english movies suggested to implement such as groundhog day, freaky friday and nine to five. those movies are considered as suitable movies to use in teaching senior high school students since besides they do not contain much slang, the movies are funny and easy to follow. moreover, they also have deeper underlying messages which can lead to good discussions. • fourth, teacher should consider the relation between movie and the syllabus of senior high school. teacher should be creative in relating the movie and topic discussed based on the syllabus. for example, when the basic competence states the topic discussed is asking for information, teacher can play certain scene which shows how people ask for information. thus, it is no doubt that the movie really supports the syllabus. • fifth, teacher should consider time of course and time needed to play the movie. since it is senior high school, time allocation for one meeting is 45 minutes. let’s say that in a certain day, english subject has 2 meetings. it means that the subject can be conducted in 90 minutes. by realizing that fact, it is almost impossible for teacher to play the entire movie. it is based on the consideration that commonly movie lasts for 90 minutes 14 or more. if teacher still forces to play an entire movie, then there is no time for class discussion. teacher should remember that teacher is not showing the movie, but by the movie teacher is teaching english to senior high school students. besides, it is possible for students to get bored. because of that, teacher should choose a movie which less in less than 90 minutes, such as mr. bean the series. another possibility is that teacher can only play several scenes which have strong correlation to the topic discussed in the meeting. • sixth, teacher should consider the existence of supporting media to play the movie. before starting the lesson, teacher should make sure whether the supporting media such as computer set or lcd has already been provided or not; whether the supporting media can work well or not. in the application, teacher can use english movies to teach four skills. they include listening, speaking, and also writing skill. by using english movie, teacher can also teach grammar and introduce new vocabulary for students. a. listening skill since it is obviously seen that movie can produce audio elements, teacher can use english movie to teach senior high school students listening skill. moreover, in the implementation, teacher can divide class activity into three parts. they are pre-watching, while-watching, and postwatching. in pre-watching, teacher can ask students whether they have already known the movie or issues related to the movie they will watch. after doing the pre-watching, teacher can play the movie in the while-watching part. after watching the movie, teacher can post students worksheets containing some questions which are related to the movie. furthermore, the implementation of those three parts can be seen in the following example: topic : narrative text movie title : groundhog day 1. pre-watching :  teacher delivers some questions orally to students about their knowledge of groundhog day tradition, such as : 1. have you ever heard about groundhog day? 2. do you know what country celebrating groundhog day? 3. do you know when groundhog day is celebrated?  after students respond to the questions, teacher starts to introduce students the movie. for example, teacher can ask students some questions such as: 1. what will you do when you wake up in the morning, you find that it is the same day like yesterday and experience exactly the same events that happened the day before? could you imagine it? 2. do you know bill murray? 3. have you ever watched groundhog day movie? 2. while-watching :  teacher plays a movie entitled groundhog day.  teacher plays the movie without showing its indonesian subtitle.  teacher asks students to take notes while watching movie. 3. post-watching :  after watching the movie, teacher can start asking students’ using english movie as an attractive strategy to teach senior high school students .... llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 15 opinions about the movie. teacher can ask, “what do you think about groundhog day movie? is it interesting?”  having heard students’ responses, teacher leads to individual task for students.  teacher distributes a worksheet containing some comprehension questions related to the movie. the worksheet can contain several questions such as: 1. what is phil connors’ profession? 2. where are phil connors and his team asked to go to cover groundhog day celebration? 3. what happens to phil when he wakes up in the morning? 4. what does rite suggest to do when phil explains the situation to him? 5. what does phil do during his stay in punxsutawney phil? b. speaking skill in addition to listening skill, teacher can use english movies to teach speaking skill. just like in listening skill, in its implementation, teacher can also divide the class activity into three parts. they are pre-watching, while-watching, and post-watching. since the objective in speaking skill is for the students to be able to speak english accurately, fluently and contextually, teacher should focus more on students’ speaking activities. for that reason, in post-watching, teacher can ask students to work in group. the implementation of the whole activity can be seen as follows: topic : narrative text movie title : mr. bean in room 426 part 1 1. pre-watching :  teacher asks the students about their experiences in the holiday, such as : 1. where did you spend your last holiday? 2. what did you do in this place you went to? 3. how did you get there? 4. who did you go with? 5. what was your most memorable holiday? why?  after students respond to the questions, teacher starts to introduce students to the movie they will watch. for example, teacher can ask students some questions such as: 1. do you know mr. bean? 2. have you ever watched his movie? 3. do you love watching mr. bean’s movie? 2. while-watching :  teacher plays mr. bean’s movie entitled mr. bean in room 426 part 1.  teacher plays the movie without viewing the indonesian subtitle.  teacher asks students to take notes while watching the movie. 3. post-watching :  after watching the movie, teacher can start to ask students’ opinions about the movie. teacher can ask, “what do you think about mr. bean’s movie? is it interesting? funny?”  teacher asks students to work in group of three and create dialogues for the receptionist, mr. bean and the bellhop. after that, practice the dialogues among the receptionist, mr. bean and the bellhop. 16 as the follow-up activity, teacher can ask some groups to perform the dialogues in front of the class. in responding to the performances, it is possible for the teacher to give several feedbacks in the students’ pronunciation or diction. in spite of the activity mentioned above, teacher can use english movies to teach some common expressions used in english, such as expressing happiness and sympathy. what teacher can do is choose and play certain scene showing any expressions of happiness or sympathy. then, teacher can ask students to find the expressions of happiness or sympathy as many as possible in the scene. after that, based on the expressions they got, students can work in pair and make a short conversation. c. writing skill by using english movies, teacher can also teach writing skill. in writing skill, teacher still can implement the same movie like in speaking skill, which is mr. bean in room 426 part 1. teacher can also implement same activities of pre-teaching and whilst-teaching such as in speaking skill. however, in the postwatching, students can have different assignment to do. for example, each student has to construct writing as the summary of mr. bean in room 426 part 1 movie. if time is limited for students to accomplish it, then they can continue writing at home based on the notes they took while watching the movie. as the follow-up activity, students can work in pair and do peer-editing in order to check the correctness of grammar, diction, spelling and other minimum requirements in writing. d. grammar it is obviously seen that by using english movies, teacher can teach listening, speaking and writing skill. nevertheless, in spite of those three skills, teacher can also use english movies to teach grammar. for senior high school students, learning english grammar has its own challenge. since there are many grammar rules to remember, students often experience stress. in addition, grammar teaching which focuses only on the grammar theory and exercises will rob the students of the chance to have fun grammar learning. the stressful environment, therefore, influences negatively on their successto receive the lesson. students who are already in stressful and boredom environment will not be easy to receive the lesson. if they are bored, unconsciously, they will refuse the lesson. then, they will ignore the lesson and prefer to do an activity they like, such as falling asleep in the middle of lesson, chit-chatting with friends, or even skipping the class. realizing that fact, teacher should find a strategy to attract students’ attention to learn grammar. moreover, using english movies to teach english grammar can be the answer. still using the same movie like in speaking and writing skill, mr. bean in room 426 part 1, teacher can teach sentences using ‘going to’. what teacher needs to do is playing the movie and before another event comes in the scene, teacher can pause the movie and ask, “what is mr. bean going to do?” then, teacher can lead a class discussion based on it. besides teacher can also teach tenses such as present continuous by using english movies. for example, after several times, teacher pauses the movie and ask to students, “what is mr. bean doing?” following the question, teacher can start to teach present continuous based on the movie, for example by using english movie as an attractive strategy to teach senior high school students .... llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 17 producing the sentence: “mr. bean is driving on his yellow car” and after that analyzing the structure of sentence. e. new vocabulary implementing english movies in teaching english as a foreign language to senior high school students can also improve students’ vocabulary. students not only get fun learning environment, but they also get new vocabulary from the movie they watch. teacher can conduct teaching vocabulary by playing english movies without showing the indonesian subtitle. teacher can also ask students to write strange words in the movie for them. after watching the movie, teacher can ask some students to share what new words they learned from the movie. following the activity, and as the individual task, teacher asks students to find the indonesian meaning of the new words. however, in the implementation, teacher can also make word specification in teaching vocabulary. for example, teacher can use movie entitled groundhog day. the main character in the movie, phil connors, works as a meteorologist. based on the information from the movie, teacher can ask students, “what is phil connors’ profession?” after that, teacher can begin to introduce other professions. f. advantages using english movies can be an attractive strategy to teach english as a foreign language to senior high school students. it can be used to teach listening, speaking and writing skill. besides, it provides fun learning environment to teach grammar and vocabulary to students. in the application, there are some other benefits to gain. they are: 1. english movies present more natural language, since the speakers in the movie are native speakers. because of that, students can learn how to pronounce the words appropriately. 2. english movies provide students a lot of contexts which can help them to learn how to use such expressions appropriately and contextually. 3. students love watching movies. fun learning environment gives them motivation to learn english as a foreign language. 4. students can also learn english culture. while watching english movies, students can see cultural aspects included in the plot to illustrate social customs such as table manners to weddings and funerals, holidays, and celebrations. thus, students’ understanding in cross cultural communication is also improved. g. disadvantages besides giving some benefits, the implementation of english movies in teaching efl to students also gives some disadvantages. they include: 1. while the movie is playing, students try to understand word by word instead of the main point of the movie. this may frustrate the students. therefore, before playing the movie, teacher should explain clearly what the students have to do. thus, students can enjoy watching the movie and learning english at the same time. 2. if the movie takes too much time to play, it is possible that students will get bored. to anticipate that, teacher should consider the length of the movie to watch or break the movie into several segments. 18 3. english movies can be american or british movies to give students different varieties of english. different varieties entail different pronunciation and vocabulary. these differences may make students confused. therefore, before or after watching the movie, teacher can explain or lead a class discussion about the english variety used in the movie. 4. the limited facilities in school can also pose an obstacle in teaching efl using movies. if school has an english laboratory, then teacher can play the movie in the lab. however, if the school does not have an lcd or big screen tv, it is almost impossible to play the movie in the class. in addition, the activity might disturb the teaching and learning process of other classes. c. conclusion english as a foreign language is implemented as the compulsory subject to learn in senior high schoolsin indonesia. the aim of the implementation is to achieve the informational level of literacy which is expected from students to be able to use english to access accumulated knowledge and use english in informal and formal contexts. unfortunately, beyond the implementation, the fact that not all pupils enjoy learning english occurs. besides the students should face a new language for them to learn, the existing teaching style which merely transfers knowledge contributes to the stressful environment in class. the classroom environment contributes to the success of students’ understanding of the lessons. it will not be easy for students who are in a stressful and boring environment to comprehend the lesson. if they are bored, unconsciously, they will resist any lesson. realizing that fact, teacher should find a strategy to attract students’ attention to learn efl, for example by using english movies. moreover, using english movies to teach english is fun. in the application, teacher can use english movies to teach four language skills. they include reading, listening, speaking, and also writing skills. by using english movies, teacher can also teach grammar and introduce new vocabulary to students. furthermore, the belief that everyone loves watching movies strengthens the teacher’s confidence to use english movies as an attractive strategy to teach english as a foreign language to senior high schoolstudents. references h t t p : / / w w w. e s l c a f e . c o m / i d e a / i n d e x . cgi?display:998385852-2522.txt http://www.eslpartyland.com/teachers/ film/previews.htm h t t p : / / w w w . i e r g . n e t / c o n f s / 2 0 0 4 / proceedings/kusumarasdyati.pdf http://www.teflasia.com/teacher-talk/ using-movies-in-the-classroom/ h t t p : / / w w w . t e f l l o g u e . c o m / i n t h e classroom/everybody-loves-movies. html h t t p : / / w w w . t e f l l o g u e . c o m / i n t h e c l a s s r o o m / u s i n g m o v i e s i n classwithout-sound.html using english movie as an attractive strategy to teach senior high school students .... llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 27 distinguishing entailment and presupposition under negation test gatri asti putri indarti els sanata dharma university (gatriasti@gmail.com) abstract distinguishing entailment from presupposition is quite difficult because their semantic relation seems to be similar. both entailment and presupposition have an automatic relationship based on the context. however, those semantic relations can still be differentiated by using negation test to show whether a pair is entailment or presupposition. this research focuses on sentences and utterances. thus, this research aims to analyze and test pairs of entailment and pairs of presupposition by using negation in utterances. the data were twelve comic strips from the internet and they were analysed by using a negation test. the analysis shows that negation test is useful to test entailment and presupposition in the comic strips. it can be concluded that the difficulty of distinguishing pair of entailment and presupposition in the comic strip using negation test has been successfully solved. in this case, negation test is suitable to test entailment and presupposition. this research can be developed further by other researchers to distinguish entailment and presupposition by using another test if the negation test cannot be used to any further extent. keywords: entailment, presupposition, negation test, comic strips a. introduction entailment and presupposition are semantic relations that hold between sentences of a language. both of them are related to meaning based on the notion of truth or truth-based approaches. the truth relates to the fact of the world that can be shown by a true or a false statement. on the other hand, entailment and presupposition still have different truth relations.in addition, entailment and presupposition are not easy to differentiate on some cases. they can be confusing, but both of them can be differentiated by using a negation test in which the first sentence or utterance is negated. this paper discusses the entailment and presupposition under negation test. entailment and presupposition are important in one’s life because it requires a linguistic competence that is owned by someone. if someone states a statement, then other people can have different thoughts based on their understanding of a given statement when they interact with other people. thus, this research focuses on the analysis of entailment and presupposition using negation test and shows whether the negation test can be used to test the difference between entailment and presupposition or not. in this research, the researcher is interested in testing pair of utterances in the comic strips of garfield the cat. the researcher chooses the comic strips because they are now popular and provide interesting drawings with the writing that can give sense of humor. therefore, the researcher hopes that this research can help people understand the difference between entailment and presupposition, especially by using negation test. 28 b. literature review entailment and presupposition are semantic relations that are not easy to distinguish. therefore, this section discusses the two semantic relations and the negation test used to distinguish between them. the first semantic relation is entailment. it is a relationship that applies between two sentences, where the truth of one implies the truth of the other because of the meanings of the words involved (goddard, 1998:17). based on lyons (1995:117), entailment plays an important role in all theories of meaning held between sentences. the examples of entailment can be seen below. (1) achilles killed hector (p) (2) hector died (q) the first sentence, p, necessarily implies or entails the second sentence, q. if achilles killed hector, then it is necessarily that hector died. lyons (1995) describes that entailment is a relation between p and q in which p and q are the variables. if the truth of q necessarily follows the truth of p (and the falsity of q necessarily follows the falsity of p), then p entails q. the symbol for the relation of entailment is double-shafted arrow or single-shafted arrow (=› or →). saeed (2009) gives the composite truth table for entailment as follows. table 1. composite truth table for entailment entailment p q t → t f → t or f f ← f t or f ← t from the table, the arrows (→ and ←) are to show the direction of a relation “when…then…”. then, the first line above is read “when p is true, q is true”, and the last line is read “when q is true, p can be either true or false”. the table also shows that only the truth of the entailing sentence or the falsity of the entailed sentence has consequences for the other sentence. when p is false, q can be either true or false; if people knew that achilles killed hector, people would not know whether hector was dead or alive. when q is true, p can be either true or false; if people know that hector is dead, that does not tell anything about whether achilles killed him or not. the sources of entailment are lexical and syntactic source. the example above shows lexical because there is a relationship of entailment between (1) and (2) deriving from the lexical relationship between kill and die. the meaning of kill contains the meaning of die. this can also be called as hyponymy between lexical items that can be a regular source for entailment between sentences. the other source for entailment is syntactic, in which the sentences can be in active or passive versions of the same sentence. below are the examples of a syntactic source for the entailment. (3) the etruscans built this tomb. (4) this tomb was built by the etruscans. the relationship of entailment gives details on paraphrase like in (3) and (4). those sentences have the same set of entailments or they mutually entail each other (saeed, 2009). furthermore, synonymy can also be expressed as entailment in terms of truth relations. the examples of synonymy are as follows. (5) alice owns this book. (6) this book belongs to alice. from the examples, (5) is synonymous with (6) which means the same as (5) entails (6) and (6) entails (5). in addition, the truth value of (5) and (6) is the same. if the sentence in (5) is true, then (6) is also true. while, if the sentence in (5) is false, the sentence in (6) is also false. distinguishing entailment and presupposition under negation test llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 29 contradiction is also the semantic relation that can be defined in terms of entailment. the sentence can be said as contradictories if it can entail the negation of the other (smith and wilson in ja’far, 2008). the examples of contradiction are shown below. (7) no one has led a perfect life. (8) someone has led a perfect life. from the examples, whenever (7) is true, (8) must be false, and whenever (8) is true, (7) must be false. in the entailment, if it is related to daily life, actually people do not need to check any fact in the world to deduce the entailed sentence from the entailing sentence because people have already had their own knowledge to understand the sentence relation of entailment. the second semantic relation is presupposition. saeed (2009) points out that presupposition means making assumption(s) of a sentenceor an utterance. potts (2014) also adds that the presuppositions of a sentence or an utterance are the pieces of information that thespeaker assumes (or acts as if she assumes) in order to be meaningful in the current context. presupposition has two concepts from the two candidates; frege and strawson (katz, 1973). the first concept is that a presupposition is a condition under which a sentence expressing an assertive proposition to state a truth or a falsehood. the other is that the presupposition of a sentence logically follows from the sentence and also its negation. from the two concepts, it can be understood that the concepts deal with the truth of presupposition and also the negation of the sentence. based on the concepts, semanticists, including saeed (2009) can construe two approaches used in a presupposition. the first approach is from semantic point of view. sentences are viewed as external objects and meaning is as an attribute of sentences. the semantic presupposition is related to conventional aspects of the meanings of specific words and constructions. the second approach is from the pragmatic point of view. it views sentences as the utterance of individuals engaged in communication.the pragmatic presupposition is purely speaker actions. in other words, the importance of the approaches to presupposition is to know the listener’s knowledge. the examples of presupposition can be seen below. (9) john’s brother has just got back from texas. (10) john has a brother. the sentence (9) presupposes the sentence (10) and it can be explained that john has a brotheris part of the assumed background of john’s brother has just got back from texas. table 2. composite truth table for presupposition presupposition p q t → t f → t t or f ← t table 2 shows that if p (the presupposing sentence) is true then q (the presupposed sentence) is true, but if p is false, then q is still true. then, if q is true, p can be either true or false. from the example, it is true that john’s brother has come back from texas, and it is also true that john has a brother. if it is false that john’s brother has come back from texas, the presupposition that john has a brother still survives. finally, if it is true that john has a brother, it does not tell anything about whether he has come back from texas or not. indeed, both entailment and presupposition need knowledge to 30 understand the sentence relation. leech (1981) adds that both are types of meaningdependence held between one sentence or utterance and another. therefore, it needs knowledge to get the idea of what the sentence means or whatsomeone says. moreover, these two semantic relations are sometimes difficult to identify. thus, saeed (2009) provides a negation test in which if an entailing sentence is negated, then the entailment fails, but negating a presupposing sentence allows the presupposition to survive. the other examples of entailment pair and presupposition pair are as follows. (11) i saw my father today. (12) i saw someone today. (13) the mayor of liverpool is in town. (14) there is a mayor of liverpool. the relation of the sentence in (11) and (12) is as entailment. the sentence i saw my father today entails the sentence i saw someone today. to make it more specific, my father entails someone. otherwise, the relation of the sentences in (13) and (14) is as presupposition. the sentence (13) presupposes the sentence (14) and it can be explained that there is a mayor of liverpool is part of the assumed background of the mayor of liverpool is in town. to prove that they are the entailment pair or presupposition pair, firstly the entailing sentence in (11) and the presupposing sentence in (13) above are negated as follows. (15) i didn’t see my father today. (16) the mayor of liverpool isn’t in town. the entailing sentence in (11) that is negated in (15) no longer entails (12) and sentence in (12) no longer automatically follows from the preceding sentence or probably it is true. on the other hand, the presupposing sentence in (13) that is negated in (15) still has the presupposition. thus, negating the entailing sentence destroys entailment, whereas, negating the presupposing sentence does not affect the presupposition. in addition, burton-roberts in carston (1998)considers that a negation operator does not cancel presuppositions. it can be concluded that the aim of the truth of entailment and presupposition is to know the meaning of a sentence and to know the conditions under which that sentence is true. moreover, in relation to the truth, negation test can be used to test those semantic relations. tremper and frank (2013) assume that the negation test can help to distinguish the closely related verb relations of a sentence or utterance. c. methodology this research concerns with the semantic field. it is to describe the nature of entailment and presupposition under negation test in sentences and utterances. the comic strips of garfield the cat became the data of this research. the researcher found some sources in some books, articles and other sources to support the analysis. the researcher collected the data from the internet in http://reallifeglobal.com/ learn-english-comic-strips-garfield/, on may 4th, 2015. after collecting the data, the researcher analysed the twelve comic strips. to analyse the data, the researcher used a negation test for the entailing utterances and the presupposing utterances. then, the researcher got the result showing they were included either entailment or presupposition, gave the analysis, and drew conclusion. d. findings and discussion the discussion focuses on the entailment and presupposition in comic strips of garfield the cat. the characters are garfield (the cat), jon as the owner, and odie distinguishing entailment and presupposition under negation test llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 31 (the dog). the comic strips and the utterances produced by each speaker are shown below. 1. (a) frankly, i don’t know how you can eat cat food. (b) like this. the context of the first comic strip describes that jon is curious to know how garfield eats food. it can be assumed that jon wants to know whether garfield has the same characteristic as the other animals or has different way to eat cat food. garfield looks annoyed with jon and garfield shows him the way of eating cat food. when jon knows that garfield takes the food and eats it like a man, jon is very surprised to see it. the first comic strip shows that when the first utterance is negated, then the negative sentence becomes positive. thus, the sentence becomes frankly, i know how you can eat cat food. if it is related to the second utterance, then the new utterance is still related to the utterance like this. whether the owner of the dog knows or does not know is not the problem since the fact in 1 (b) still shows the way how garfield eats cat food. thus, the first comic strip is called presupposition. 2. (a) how’d you like to be a bear, garfield? (b) don’t be ridiculous. in the second comic strip, jon thinks that garfield has the same character as a bear, then jon offers garfield to become a bear since garfield likes to sleep a lot. garfield thinks that jon is making a joke and garfield answers that it is ridiculous because garfield is a cat and cannot become a bear. a few minutes later, garfield starts to sleep and jon just looks at garfield, but jon is not surprised at it anymore. the second comic strip is described as presupposition. the first utterance can be negated into how wouldn’t you like to be a bear, garfield?. the negated utterance does not affect garfield’s statement in don’t be ridiculous. in relation to the negated utterance, it means that garfield is a cat and indeed, he is not a bear. then, it can still be true if garfield states don’t be ridiculous. thus, this is called presupposition. 3. (a) i’m going shopping. (b) hand over your man card. the third comic strip is understood that jon really wants to go shopping, but garfield asks him first to give his man card. garfield’s statement shows a joke. when garfield asks the man card means that jon is not a man since the men commonly do not have the activity of shopping. it can be stated that if a man acts like a woman, people can jokingly ask for the man card, implying that they are no longer a man. the third is entailment. the utterance in 3 (a) can be negated into i’m not going shopping. then, if the utterance in 3 (b) is related to the negated utterance, it affects the utterance in 3 (b). when a man wants to go shopping, his friend can ask for the man card, but if the man does not want to go shopping, his friend cannot ask him for the man card since he does not have intention to go shopping like a woman. then, this pair of utterance can be called entailment. 4. (a) i want you to lose weight, and i mean now! (b) yes, sir. the context of the fourth comic strip explains that jon wants garfield to lose weight. jon thinks that garfield weighs too much and garfield’s response is only by saying yes showing that garfield agrees with jon. the first utterance of the fourth comic strip becomes i don’t want you to lose weight, and i don’t mean now as the negated utterances. if it is related to 4 (b), the negated utterance is still accepted. when the first 32 speaker says i don’t want or i want, it is not affected yes, sir as the second utterance. therefore, the utterance in 4 is named presupposition. 5. (a) looking forward to dinner? (b) how can you tell? the comic strip in 5, jon knows that garfield is waiting for dinner. garfield’s expression shows that he really needs food for dinner. then jon makes sure garfield by asking whether he is looking forward to dinner or not and garfield feels annoyed of jon’s question. from garfield’s response, garfield seems angry to jon because jon does not provide anything to eat or drink. the utterance in 5 can be described as presupposition. when the first utterance in 5 (a) is negated into not looking forward to dinner?, the negated utterance can still be related to the second utterance in how can you tell?. the first speaker makes sure that the second speaker does not look forward to dinner and the second speaker can still respond how can you tell? because it can be assumed that the first speaker knows the feeling of the second speaker. thus, the utterance in 5 can be said as presupposition since the negated utterance does not affect the second utterance in 5 (b). 6. (a) i think maybe you should cut down on the snacks, garfield. (b) we’re being a bit over reactive, aren’t we? the context of the sixth comic strip can be described that both jon and garfield act over reactive since garfield has run out of something and he acts too much, and jon thinks that garfield needs to cut down on the snacks since garfield eats up the food stock. the comic strip in 6 is described as entailment. it is known that if the first utterance is negated into i don’t think maybe you should cut down on the snacks, garfield, then this negated utterance does not relate to the second utterance anymore because there is no expression showing the excessive act or overreaction in a negated utterance. therefore, the utterance in 6 is called entailment. 7. (a) i just heard a joke. (b) ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! in this comic strip, jon has just got a joke and he intends to tell garfield about it, but before telling the joke, garfield laughs as if jon has told him about the joke. jon thinks that garfield probably is foolish, but garfield thinks that it may be funny since when jon says the word a joke, spontaneously garfield laughs. it can be assumed that a joke is something funny that can make people laugh. therefore, garfield laughs first before jon explains the joke to him. the seventh comic strip shows entailment. if it is tested, the first utterance can be negated into i just did not hear a joke. then, if it is related to the second utterance, it becomes strange to laugh since the first speaker does not have a joke and it is impossible to use ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! as a reply. the second utterance is not appropriate for the negated utterance. thus, the utterance in 7 is called entailment. 8. (a) they built a hotel on it (the meadow). (b) you could hang out in the lobby. the context of this comic strip shows that jon wants to enjoy his day in the meadow. unfortunately, he goes back with full of the disappointment. he cannot find the meadow because the constructors build a hotel on it. garfield thinks and suggests jon to hang out in the lobby as a good solution. the comic strip in 8 shows that it is presupposition because when the first utterance is negated becoming they did not build a hotel on it (the meadow), it still becomes a part of the second utterance in which the word you as the first speaker can distinguishing entailment and presupposition under negation test llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 33 still hang out in the lobby. then, there is no problem whether people build a hotel or not. it has no effect on the second utterance in 8 (b). 9. (a) i hate mondays. (b) this is your conscience speaking. it’s not nice to hate mondays. look at it as starting a fresh week with a clean slate. in this comic strip, it is clearly described that garfield hates mondays. he is too lazy doing activities on mondays. the clock gives garfield spirit and convinces garfield that doing activities on mondays can become a fresh week to start his day. however, garfield is still lazy and does not care about what the clock says. the utterance in 9 (a) is tested by negating it into i don’t hate mondays. the negated utterance is tested and related to the second one in 9 (b). the second utterance in 9 (b) can be divided into three points of utterance; this is your conscience speaking, it’s not nice to hate mondays, and look at it as starting a fresh week with a clean slate. if the first point of utterance is related to the negated utterance, then it still has a relation between i don’t hate mondays and this is your conscience speaking. it does not affect whether garfield hates mondays or likes mondays because it is a matter of conscience. therefore, for the first point is described as presupposition. then, if the negated utterance i don’t hate mondays is related to the second point of utterance it’s not nice to hate mondays, it can be still called presupposition since both of the utterances has the same meaning. the meaning is that someone likes mondays. the third point of utterance in look at it as starting a fresh week with a clean slate can also be the presupposition of the first utterance i don’t hate mondays. it shows that when someone likes mondays, it means that he/she has to think positively as a fresh week. thus, the relation of 9 (a) and 9 (b) is named presupposition. 10. (a) perfect! (b) ah, technology. the comic strip in 10 gives details that jon calls a friend and the problem arises. jon gets difficulty in catching the voice of his friend on the telephone. it probably has no signal. then he finds a way to make the voice clear by changing his position upside down. in other words, jon finds the way out to solve the problem in order to make it perfect. garfield just considers it as a matter of technology that occasionally can make people crazy because of it. this comic strip shows presupposition because when the utterance in 10 (a) is negated into not perfect!, it does not affect the second utterance. no matter what jon says perfect! or not perfect!, garfield’s utterance is still acceptable. in relation to the second utterance, if jon says not perfect, then it also means that the technology can result any kind of problem. 11. (a) trying to figure life out makes my head hurt. (b) try having nine of them to figure out, pal. in this comic strip, jon grumbles about his life and he tries to figure life out but once he thinks about it, he has got a pain in his head. garfield seems relaxed and comments on jon’s statement. garfield thinks that a life of a man has the same as a life of a cat. since a cat has nine lives, garfield asks jon to find nine of them to figure life out. garfield’s statement makes jon feel annoyed because garfield does not know what actually a life is and how to deal with it. the eleventh comic strip is described as presupposition. the utterance in 11 (a) is negated into trying to figure life out does not make my head hurt. this negated utterance 34 still has relation to the second utterance in try having nine of them to figure out, pal. it can be stated that when jon tries to figure life out and his head becomes hurt or not, it does not affect the second utterance. when garfield asks jon to try having nine of them to figure life out, it can be still related to the negated utterance. the utterance trying to figure life out does not make jon’s head hurt shows that garfield still can ask jon to try having nine of them to figure out. then, this is called presupposition. 12. (a) make a wish! (b) like that ever works. the context of the last comic strip describes that garfield has his birthday. jon and odie give a surprise by bringing him a birthday cake and ask him to make a wish. garfield thinks that it is impossible to happen after making a wish. he is not sure that his wish can be true. a few moments later, someone is ringing the bell and all of them are questioning, especially garfield. he thinks that possibly his wish may be true after making a simple wish. the last comic strip shows entailment since when 12 (a) is negated becoming don’t make a wish, the second utterance affects the first utterance. it can be explained that when jon, the owner of garfield, asks garfield to make a wish, the utterance like that ever works makes sense of the first utterance. while, when jon asks garfield not to make a wish, the second utterance like that ever works is not quite good to support the first utterance. the first utterance can affect 12 (b). thus, it is described as entailment. the analysis in comic strips of garfield the cat is found that number 3, 6, 7 and 12 are entailment and number 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, and 11 are presupposition. therefore, from the analysis, the researcher has tested that negation test is helpful to distinguish a pair of entailment and presupposition in the exercises and the comic strips. e. conclusion to sum up, assuming something can be confusing for people who are the second speaker because they have different ideas. occasionally people as the second speaker can have a little misunderstanding because they do not share the same idea as the first speaker. therefore, they need to know the truth of something written or uttered as in entailment and presupposition and is necessary to understand the difference between the semantic relations between them. the difference between those two semantic relations can be proved by using a negation test. when an entailing sentence is negated, it cannot entail the following statement or sentence. however, when a presupposing sentence is negated, it still follows the following statement or sentence. these semantic relations hold between sentences of a language. thus, differentiating between those two semantic relations is important for people in order to understand a language by assuming the statement properly. in this research, the researcher found some pairs of entailment and some pairs of presupposition in the comic strips. in the comic strips, there are eight pairs of presupposition and four pairs of entailment. based on the analysis, the researcher has successfully distinguished pair of entailment and presupposition. for further research, it is expected that other researchers can conduct better research related to the test used to show pair of entailment and pair of presupposition using different data. if the negation test cannot be used to test entailment and presupposition, then another test can be applied. references carston, robyn. (1998). negation, ‘presupposition’ and the semantics/ pragmatics distinction. cambridge: distinguishing entailment and presupposition under negation test llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 35 cambridge university press: 309-350. journal of linguistics, vol. 34, no. 2, september 1998. available at http:// www.jstor.org/stable/4176477 (may 25th, 2015). goddard, cliff. (1998). semantic analysis: a practical introduction. oxford: oxford university press. hurford et.al. (2007). semantics: a coursebook. cambridge: cambridge university press. ja’far, areej as’ad. (2008). entailment and presupposition. babylon university: 7.available at http://www. u o b a b y l o n . e d u . i q / u o b c o l e g e s / fileshare/articles/entailment%20 &%20presupposition.pdf(may 25th, 2015). katz, jerrold j. (1973). on defining “presupposition”. the mit press: 256260. linguistic inquiry, vol. 4, no. 2, 1973. available at http://www.jstor. org/stable/4177770 (may 25th, 2015). leech, geoffrey. (1981). semantics: the study of meaning(second edition – revised and updated). harmondsworth: penguin. lyons, john. (1995). linguistic semantics: an introduction. cambridge: cambridge university press. potts, christopher. (2014). handbook:presupposition and implicature. stanford linguistics: 3. available at http://web.stanford. edu/~cgpotts/manuscripts/pottsblackwellsemantics.pdf(may 25th, 2015). saeed, john. i. (2009). semantics (third edition). the united kingdom: willeyblackwell. tremper, galina, and anette frank. (2013). a discriminative analysis of finegrained semantic relations including presupposition: annotation and classification. dialogue & discourse, vol 4, no. 2, 2013. available at http:// elanguage.net/journals/dad/article/ download/2892/3584 (may 25th, 2015) ---. (2012). learn english with comic strips – garfield the cat. available at http:// reallifeglobal.com/learn-englishcomic-strips-garfield/(may 4th, 2015). 36 appendices 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 distinguishing entailment and presupposition under negation test llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 37 appendices 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 38 cover vol 18 no1_april 2015 isi llt_vol 18_no 1_april 2015_save as vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 1 technology and young learners fidelis chosa kastuhandani elesp sanata dharma university chosakh@yahoo.com abstract nowadays, technology can be accessed by everyone easily, including young learners. this article discusses three things; the first is the discussion of what characteristics young learners have, the second discussion is about what kinds of technologies that could be integrated into classroom activities, and the third discussion is about how to weave ict into young learners’ classroom setting. employing ict in teaching english to young learners, indeed, provides challenges for teachers to overcome. by far, the most useful resources in the classroom are the students themselves. keywords: technology, young learner, ict introduction younger learners are growing up with technology, and it is a natural and integrated part of their lives. for these learners the use of technology is a way to bring the outside world into the classroom. these learners are called digital native, a term that has been coined to refer to someone who grows up using technology, and who thus feels comfortable and confident with it. young learners, in this article, refer to children from the first year of formal schooling (five to six years old) to eleven or twelve years of age. these early years of schooling are a time of rapid physical, social, emotional and intellectual growth. as children progress through these early years they gain more independence as learners and benefit from learning strategies that meet their individual needs. they develop a broader range of social skills and become more aware of the world in which they live. these young learners, more than ever before, engage with information and communication technologies as powerful learning tools within and outside their classrooms. they are interested in and quickly become adept at applying new technologies. this article is divided into three parts. the first is the discussion of what characteristics young learners have. these characteristics are important since by understanding the characteristics of the learners, teachers could choose the kind of technologies s/he could use to support the teaching-learning processes. the second discussion is about what kinds of technologies that could be integrated into classroom activities. however, since the term “technology” covers all the things ranging from blackboard to world wide web (dudeney & hockly, 2007) in this article i will limit the discussion on the use of information and communications technology (ict) in classroom settings. the third discussion is about how to weave ict into young learners’ classroom setting. here, i would like to share the ideas of using ict in teaching listening, speaking, reading, and writing to young learners. young learners’ characteristics the way children learn a foreign language, and therefore the way to teach it, obviously depends on their developmental stage (phillips, 2003). caregivers and teachers should be able to provide developmentally appropriate instruction. they must be aware of children’s basic physical and psychological needs. brazelton and greenspan (2000) as cited in linse (2005) propose that such awareness is needed since children require and deserve professionals who interact with them vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 2 in appropriate ways based on the child’s social/emotional, physical, cognitive, and moral development. by being aware of what children can and can’t do developmentally, teachers are better able to provide appropriate learning experiences for their young learners. observing the child’s development enables teachers to provide the young learners tasks which are within their reach, tasks where they will succeed and experience success. this success, furthermore, gives them the confidence to attempt tasks which are progressively more difficult. the younger the learners are, according to phillips (2003), the more holistic learners they will be. younger learners respond to language according to what it does or what they can do with it, rather than treating it as an intellectual game or abstract system. further, younger learners have the advantage of being great mimics, are often unselfconscious, and are usually prepared to enjoy the activities the teacher has prepared for them. however, there are some points a teacher should consider: 1. the activities should be simple enough for the children to understand what is expected of them. 2. the task should be within their abilities: it needs to be achievable but at the same time sufficiently stimulating for them to feel satisfied with their work. 3. the activities should be largely orally based. 4. written activities should be used sparingly with younger children. children of six or seven years old are often not yet proficient in the mechanics of writing in their own language. furthermore, linse (2005: 4-5) in her book, citing mcclellan and katz (2001), mentions several attributes of children’s development. to mention some, emotionally and socially, a child is usually in a positive mood; is not excessively dependent on adults; enters ongoing discussion; and shows interest in others. the attributes of cognitive development include can follow instructions; understands the concept of symbols such as numbers and letters; is interested in academic content; likes reading or being read to; likes playing with words, numbers, or abstract symbols; and can follow a sequence of events. furthermore, physically a child can demonstrate muscle control and coordination to do certain activities. therefore, by recognizing the characteristics of young learners, a teacher should make adjustments on what technologies will help her/him in achieving the goal of learning processes. further consideration on the appropriate development of children could also provide her/him specific information on the physical and psychological needs of the learners to gain the best possible result of learning. icts for classroom use the use of ict to support young learners is becoming increasingly common place in the mainstream and specialist classroom. the value of using ict is considerable and works on a variety of levels to support both teaching and learning. the motivational aspect of ict is clear. learners who are very new to learning a new language find activities on the computer that they can do instantly. also they feel that here is something that they can do, and often as well as, if not better than, their peers. creative use of ict in the classroom can promote inclusion and reflect cultural and linguistic diversity. learners who have had very little experience of using ict can engage in exciting activities that are accessible with even very limited english language knowledge. similarly ict literate pupils can explore ict based activities that are not dependent on an equivalent level of fluency in english. learners can present and share their work which has positive motivational effects and raises selfesteem. the use of multimedia in presenting information is an important way of supporting access for the learner. ict gives us the means to add pictures, sound and video, to use key visuals and graphic organizers, and to use the wealth of content rich sources from a range of vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 3 cultures, that can be found on the internet. the use of word processing technology opens up an infinite range of opportunities. the combination of spoken, written, visual and picture support gives the learner the scope to engage in meaningful curriculum focused activities at a linguistic level that is matched to their level of english language development. however, the challenge is to know which software and hardware is available. there are a lot of ict tools that can be used to enhance the teaching and learning process in classroom settings. however, in this article i focus on four ict tools mostly available everywhere. the tools are word processor, presentation tool, the internet, and technology-based courseware. word processor word processor can be used in many inventive ways, by both teachers and students. teachers can prepare, create, store, and share materials for their classes by using a word processing program, and learners can use a word processing program both in and outside the classroom, to practice writing skills, grammar and other language points, as well as to present their work. there are various kinds of possibilities that can be achieved by exploiting word processors to meet the needs of learning objectives for encouraging young learners to practice using the language. the first possibility of using word processors is for creative writing. learners can work together with documents that can be exchanged easily between pairs or groups of learners, and between learners and teachers, encouraging both teacher corrections, and peer correction and revision. however, there is a consideration regarding the use of word processors with young learners. young learners might have different levels of typing skills. this difference could play a large part in performance anxiety and in the pace at which activities are carried out. teachers, therefore, should pay attention not putting too much pressure on the learners to perform too quickly. starting with simple activities and getting the learners used to the mechanics of word processing before moving on to the more creative side will be a good grounding in the writing process. presentation tool presentation tool also can be used in many ways. the accessibility of this presentation program to include sound, animation, video, and text provides various possibilities for both teachers and students to exploit. teachers can also prepare, create, store, and present animated materials for their classes, and learners can use the program to practice various kinds of language exercises and to present their group work project, for example, to the whole class interestingly with the help of projectors. the possibilities to add sound, video, animation and text in presentation slides bring about possibilities for teachers to make animated materials for in and outside classroom activities. in class, teachers could use projector to present the material for the whole class to see and even teachers could also make an audio story so that learners can read and listen to the story outside the classrooms. the internet there is a large and constantly expanding collection of resources on the web, at a variety of levels and covering an amazing array of topics. the web is a source of content which can be used as a window on the wider world outside the class and a readily available collection of authentic material. however, using the internet in the language classroom has many other tangible benefits. the multimedia possibilities allow teachers to introduce content in diverse ways and thus appeal to the learning styles or ‘intelligences’ of more children (lewis, 2004). further, he also proposes that the internet is also highly motivating. information on the internet is enormously diverse and not organized in any linear way. it can be used to encourage independent learning and creative thinking skills, as children can make more decisions about how to approach the information. vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 4 however, dudeney and hockly (2007) mention that teachers of young learners with low levels of language proficiency should consider the choice of websites that will provide the learners with understandable language and contexts. choosing the right websites can go some way towards raising the learners comfort levels. websites which are more suitable for lower levels will include:  websites with simple, clearly presented texts.  websites with non-linguistic data which is easy to interpret.  websites with visuals.  elt websites, where the content has been written, edited and prepared with this audience in mind. (dudeney and hockly, 2007) besides websites, the internet also provides other facilities that can be exploited for language learning purposes. the first is search engines; the tool is almost directly analogous to a telephone directory, or any other database of stored information. people search for a name or a title, and the directory gives them more information about the entry. the second tool is email. email is one of the most used and useful ict tools today. email allows teachers to communicate with learners outside the classroom, for example setting, receiving, marking and returning homework and other written assignments. by using email, learners can do keypal projects – email projects set up between learners in different classes or countries. the third tool is chat. chat has the potential to link students around the world, in real time. it is a technology that many learners will often be familiar with and will use in their social lives. and the last one being discussed here is blogs. a blog is essentially a web page with regular diary or journal entries. it allows learners to connect, to communicate, and to collaborate online. technology-based courseware often, a course book is accompanied by a cd-rom. a cd-rom is a cd that contains multimedia files that are programmed to use text, images, audio and video to provide interactivity. cd-roms accompanying courses typically have content related to each course unit, providing young learners with extra reading and listening materials, recording functionality to practice pronunciation and speaking, and with grammar and vocabulary activities like matching vocabulary to definitions, drag and drop exercises, gap-fills, crosswords, and so on. weaving ict into classroom setting in this section, i will discuss the possibilities of weaving the aforementioned technologies in young learners’ classroom setting. i will divide this section into four, in accordance with the language skills being covered: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. further, i also would like to share some ideas on how to use technology in supporting the teaching process of those skills. considering the learning channels the young learners have – auditory, tactile, and visual – teachers should try to present information using all three learning channels. fortunately, presenting materials incorporating all those learning channel is possible by using the technology in an effort of supporting teaching and learning process. listening young children listen to a variety of voices and sounds that are around them. linse (2005) proposes that the relationship between listening and speaking is clear because they are both oral skills. by listening, children are preparing to replicate the sounds when they speak. in addition, there are specific listening skills which can lay the foundation for reading instruction because by developing good listening skills, children are able to match the sounds with the corresponding symbols when they decode words. there are many classroom techniques and activities that can be done in improving the learners’ listening skill. there are tpr activities, tpr songs and finger-plays, tpr storytelling, tpr drawing, syllable clapping, rhyming word activities, and minimal pairs (linse, 2005). here, teachers could use presentation tool to teach, for example, minimal pairs. vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 5 minimal pairs are two words that differ in only one sound. for example, ship and sheep are minimal pairs. one way to practice minimal pair distinction is to have the learners listen to two words and tell whether they are the same or different. in order to make it more meaningful, pictures can be used. teachers create two presentation slides for the minimal pairs. one slide is for ship and the other is for sheep. an audio file, further, can be attached in the slide in order that when the learner clicks the mouse, the pronunciation is heard. if the learner clicks the mouse the second time, the next slide will appear showing an image of sheep and the pronunciation of the word. using images and sound in the practice of minimal pairs could bring the word more meaningful for the learners. ship sheep speaking speaking activities are an important part of any young learners’ classroom and are often considered the focal point of instruction. when teaching speaking, it is important to choose activities which match the objective of the course. there are several techniques and activities that can be done in a speaking class. they are audio-lingual method, dialogues, using puppets to introduce dialogues, fishbowl technique, communicative language teaching, games, talking and writing box, teaching pronunciation, and error correction (linse, 2005). in order to be able to teach pronunciation to learners aged 6 years of age, a teacher could use presentation tool to create the material. here, teachers could use tongue twisters to teach pronunciation to children learning english as a second or foreign language. for example, the teacher chooses sally sells seashells at the seashore and peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. if peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where’s the peck of pickled peppers that peter piper picked? children will adore tongue twisters because they perceive saying the sounds as a game or a challenge. sally sells seashores at the seashore peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. if peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where's the peck of pickled peppers that peter piper picked? vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 6 the example above consists of two presentation slides. when the first slide appears, the learners should practice the tongue twister until they can pronounce the sentence fluently. further, after the learners succeeded to master the first slide, the learners could simply click to open the next slide. to make it more meaningful and provide correct pronunciation of the sentence, teachers could also add audio file to the slides. the internet also provides numerous tongue twisters that are available. reading reading comprehension refers to reading for meaning, understanding, and entertainment. it involves higher-order thinking skills and is much more complex than merely decoding specific words. teaching children how to derive meaning as well as analyze and synthesize what they have read is an essential part of the reading process. teaching children to read requires children’s ability to read in their own language. if children can read in their own language already, even if it is written in a different script, teaching them to read in english would not be as difficult if they cannot read even in their own language. however, the teaching situation is the most important factor when deciding how teachers should teach reading. there are two main approaches to teaching reading in english according to slattery and willis (2001). the first is look and say. teachers often use ‘look and say’ as part of vocabulary teaching. so when children learn to say a new word they learn to read it. teachers can help children with whole word recognition by using printed material as much as they can in the classroom. the second approach is phonics. children need to recognize sounds and letters. it is better not to teach the names of letters when starting to teach reading, as some of the letters of the english alphabet no longer match the actual sounds of the language. when teachers use phonics, they are teaching children the way the letter sounds, not the name of the letter. integrating technology into teaching reading to children can be done by letting the students play a game called 'clever parrot'. the children have to repeat like a parrot. but they must be clever parrots and only repeat the word on the card. the teacher’s job is making a presentation slides with certain word on each slide. star moon to play the game, the teacher opens the presentation slide so that the children can see the word on the slide and mentions all the words on the slides. the children have to look at the slides and listen carefully to the teacher’s words. when a certain slide appears, the children repeat the word that is on the card when they hear it mentioned by the teacher. the other idea about using technology in reading class is playing label game. here, the teacher creates a document which has forms in it by using a word processor. the teacher inserts a picture on the document and makes forms on every object in the picture. the idea is that during the game, the children can type in the name of the object in the forms and finish if there is someone who has finished vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 7 completing the picture. then, the teacher could check whether the children have input the correct name for each object. writing like the other three language skills, writing is about meaning. early writing activities such as copying, tracing, and making letter shapes are handwriting practice. finding the letters for computer work is a matter of recognition and developing keyboard skills. however, children always have to think about the meaning of what they are writing. and whatever the lesson focus on – handwriting practice or keyboard skills or expressing meaning or a combination – children should enjoy the activity and feel successful. to make the children recognize and develop their keyboard skills, a teacher could employ a word processor to teach them writing. the children could copy/type from memory the word/phrase that matches the picture, write a label, finish the word, type the whole word, copy/type the names of all the people in the story, copy/type the story in the right order, copy the phrase/sentence putting in the missing word, or have writing race game. the idea of integrating technology in writing class is by using process writing approach. there are five steps done in process writing. the first step is prewrite. children are given an opportunity to prepare to write and to collect their thoughts and ideas. the second step is write. the children are writing down all of their ideas. they do not worry about form or corrections or even the order. the objective is to get the ideas on paper as quickly as possible. the next step is revise. the initial piece of writing is examined and reworked so that the ideas are logical and flow together. the fourth step is edit. the children (with the help of their teachers or classmates) proofread their work to make sure that there are not any content errors or grammatical or spelling errors. meanwhile, the last step is publish. the writing piece is rewritten in a published or presentable form, on a computer so that it can be displayed or shared. furthermore, the children could post their writing in their own blogs or the class blog so that everybody, including the parents, could read their piece of writing. another idea on integrating ict into writing class is grounded on the fact that children love to find out about other children. lots of children around the world are learning english. so the children could write to other children anywhere in the world, not just to children whose mother tongue is english. writing to penpals is actually a very practical way to use english and it lets children see the real value of learning another language – to communicate and find out about other people. when children do this they are learning about other attitudes and ways of doing things. they are not just practicing their english; they are opening their minds to the rest of the world. this writing can be done by using email and chat function of the internet. however, here the teachers’ role is to observe and guide the children so that they are not writing to the wrong person. teachers should make sure they know who the children are writing to. if children become aware that english can be used to talk to or write to people in different countries, they will begin to understand why they are learning this new language. conclusion employing ict in teaching english to young learners, indeed, provides challenges for teachers to overcome. however, by far, the most useful resources in the classroom are the students themselves. through their thoughts and experiences they bring the outside world into the room, and this is a powerful resource for teachers to draw on. although without using any educational technology teachers can still survive and students can get various language experiences, educational technology will provide the tools to enhance the teaching learning process. the integration of technology into teaching learning process requires only vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 8 teachers’ creativity to employ technology to support their efforts. furthermore, computers and the internet are not replacements for classroom teaching as we can see from the discussions above. many people believe that the technology can ‘do’ things to help the language learning process. in fact, technology can do nothing. only when the technology is combined with offline activities does it reach its enriching potential. references dudeney, gavid & nicky hockly. (2007). how to teach english with technology. essex: pearson education limited. dudeney, gavin. (2005). the internet and the language classroom: a practical guide for teachers. cambridge: cambridge university press. harmer, jeremy. (2007). the practice of english language teaching. 4th ed. essex: pearson education limited. lewis, gordon. (2004). the internet and young learners. oxford: oxford university press. linse, caroline t. (2005). practical english language teaching: young learners. new york: mcgraw-hill esl/elt. phillips, sarah. (2003). young learners. oxford: oxford university press. shrum, judith l. & eileen w. glisan. (2005). teacher’s handbook: contextualized language instruction. 3rd ed. boston: thomson higher education. slattery, mary & jane willis. (2001). english for primary teachers: a handbook of activities & classroom language. oxford: oxford university press. llt journal 2014 pages 1 to 3 front.pdf llt journal 2014 fixed backup vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 9 new literacies: some implications for language teachers monica ella harendita elesp sanata dharma university monica.harendita@gmail.com abstract the ever-changing development of digital technology has become a scapegoat that exacerbates literacy. in scrutinising this issue, this article counters the simplistic view on literacy. instead, it views literacy as socially, culturally and historically constructed. therefore, the traditional definition of literacy, which is the ability to read and write, may not fit the digital age. this article discusses how digital technologies have reshaped the nature of literacy. after discussing literacy, and the internet in general and web 2.0 in particular, this paper presents some implications for language teachers in dealing with the “altered” literacy practices. first, critical literacy should be embedded in classroom practices so as to make students critically evaluate the free-flowing information on the internet. second, language teachers should nurture participatory culture of the students by encouraging collaboration among them. keywords: new literacies, digital technology, language teachers introduction the vast development of digital technology has influenced many aspects in this contemporary world. of those aspects, one significant notion that may have been affected is literacy (gee, 2002). literacy has undergone a long process throughout history and is seen as a fundamental aspect of education. in the past, literacy was associated mainly with reading and writing, particularly those dealing with printed materials. the types of literacy practices focusing on reading and writing in print-based materials are worth examining in the digital age in which information is extensive. it becomes more complex with the development of web 2.0 which allows any internet users to participate and collaborate in content making. in response to this phenomenon, criticisms viewing that this is threatening literacy have accordingly risen. however, this may not be the case. in fact, the advancement of digital technology such as the internet has reshaped literacy practices. consequently, new literacies arising from the ever-changing internet and web 2.0 have brought about some important implications for language educators. thus, this essay will provide a brief elaboration of literacy and web 2.0, as well as the implications of changed literacy practices that language teachers may consider. literacy, which traditionally refers to the ability of reading and writing, may be seen as the foreground which enables knowledge to be obtained and spread within society. gee and hayes (2011) identify literacy as a “delivery system for oral language” (p. 15). although oral language can contribute to information transmission and knowledge development, literacy is the one which provides artefacts in academics. it is through which knowledge can be reserved, referred to, and, as a result, make it possible to transform and develop according to the advances in life. literacy serves as one key aspect in educational practices (hartman, marsink, & zheng, 2010). in some countries across the world, literacy is regarded as “a precondition of successful transition to becoming a postindustrial economy and a knowledge society” (knobel & lankshear, 2011, p. 14). furthermore, it is not only a concern in educational practices, but also a focus in educational research (lankshear & knobel, 2011). literacy, therefore, is central to education. vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 10 lliteracy usually signifies deeper implications than the incapability of reading and writing. graff (2011) argues that “illiteracy is stigma” (p. 24) which means that being literate requires a struggle to acquire the ability to read and write as well as to unstick the label of unworthiness and unproductiveness. it is closely associated with poor and marginalized society (lankshear & knobel, 2011). nonetheless, there has been a new approach to literacy which sees literacy as social practices that “can only be understood when they are situated within their social, cultural, and historical contexts” (gee et al., 1996, in lankshear & knobel, 2011, p. 13). similarly, graff (2011) supports this sociocultural perspective of literacy by stating that literacy is “historically founded and grounded” (p. 45). leu, kinzer, coiro, and cammack (2004) record how socio-historical contexts in the past had an impact on literacy. in different parts of the world, the nature of literacy has been regularly shaped by the changing social forces. leu et al. (2004) pinpoint the social forces in the medieval age in england and its colonies. at that time, as european churches had undergone post-transformation, resulting in more widespread printed books and texts, particularly the religious ones. considered as a threat to the autocratic governments, printing presses were then restricted. another exemplification of the interconnectedness of literacy and social forces can be seen through the case of democracy development in the united states and other countries. the advance of democracy has resulted in the establishment of schools which are expected to ‘create’ literate people to take part in building the countries and nations (kaestle, damon-moore, stedmen, tinsley, & trollinger, 1993; mathews, 1966, as cited in leu et al., 2004). apparently, different social forces have shifted literacy practices. in this era where technology development is enormously increasing, literacy needs to be redefined because seeing literacy as an ability to read and write seems too simplistic. a new and expanded characterization of literacy should take into account some changes that occur in the society and different contexts in which literacy is situated. so as to know how literacy is positioned in this era, the following paragraphs will first briefly describe some types of web 2.0 before moving to how those types of digital technology have an impact on literacy practices. the emerging web 2.0 web 2.0, a more sophisticated term for the-internet-as-children-and-youngpeople-know-today, retains characteristics which differ from world wide web (www) or web 1.0. while web 1.0 seems to deliver information through one-way communication, this new type of technology allows internet users to collaborate and participate. some of web 2.0 well-known applications include blogs, wikis, and social networking sites. as graff (2011) states that literacy itself has changed in regard to its environment. thus, in order to examine what is changing, it is essential to see the nature of the three abovementioned online environments. blogs are short for weblogs or in a literal meaning can be “a log or record of information presented as a date-ordered template” (davies & merchant, 2009, p. 84). according to lankshear and knobel (2011), blogs were first introduced in early 1990’s, “as websites listing annotated hyperlinks to other websites” (p. 144). they further state that blogs were initially used to allow bloggers to introduce other interesting sources to other internet users by putting the links on their blogs. however, in this digital era, people can have diverse purposes for writing on blogs. brooks (2008) points out that blogs have “become a form of confessional where anyone and everyone spills the beans on their work, relationships, schoolteachers, parents and themselves” (p. 23). in this sense, blogs may also serve as a reflective journal or a diary. the next application which will be briefly discussed is wikis. a wiki, according to lankshear and knobel (2011) is “a collection of webpages whose content is typically organized around a particular purpose, topic, or theme” (p. 157). wikipedia, as an example of wikis, vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 11 seems to be the most well-known encyclopaedia in the internet. the registered users of wikipedia are able to write and edit the entries. while general websites are usually under a certain person’s or group’s control, a wiki’s content is not controlled by a webmaster (lankshear & knobel, 2011). therefore, wikis seem to be one channel in which users can actively participate in knowledge production and/or sharing. another type of web 2.0 application which may be very popular, particularly among young people, is social networking sites (sns). sns, such as facebook and myspace, are “digital spaces or platforms formally dedicated to facilitating a range of connections between people” (lankshear & knobel, 2011, p. 182). boyd and ellison (2007) in griffith and liyanage (2008) list several shared features that facebook and myspace have, including constructing a profile, providing a list of connected users, and viewing as well as crisscrossing the list of connections with the other users. moreover, through sns, internet users can set up online communities and create affinity space (gee & hayes, 2011) where they can meet people of the same interests. implications of the emerging web 2.0 and new literacies for language teachers despite various manifestations of literacy practices using the internet and web 2.0 technologies, fasher-herro and steinkuehler (2009) point out that literacy is still seen as being able to be measured through written texts and conventional reading programs. they further state that schools in the us have increased the amount of time to teach reading and writing to the grade four students, yet, the reading literacy has not improved. this is similar to what hartman, et al. 2010 point out, stating that the decline in reading assessment is seen as crisis in the us. technology, alas, has been claimed as one of the triggering causes. it is incontestable that the growing technology has imposed some bad effects on some literacy practices. however, this is may not be a real crisis since it is not supported by empirical evidence and the assumption seems to overlook the development of computer technology which results in changed mode of communication (hartman, et al., 2010). to some points, the affordances of web 2.0 have altered the way that students learn. in this context, students refer to generation y and z (brooks, 2008) or digital natives (prensky, 2001), who were born in the era where technology innovations have extensively and significantly affected social life and thus enable them to acquire the technological skills naturally. closely attached to learning, literacy practices have also diverged in regards to the shift from printbased materials to digital materials. traditional literacy practices may not fit in anymore in this era. in this era of technology, “young people need to become capable and competent users of both print and other forms of meaning enabled by new technologies” (kalantzis, cope, & cloonan, 2010, pp. 61-62). it thus has broadened the literacy concept “to not only include traditional literacies, reading and writing print text for example, but also reflect the needs of students living and learning in a digital world” (sylvester & greenidge, 2009, p. 284). this new concept suggests the diverse types of literacy and the predisposition to see literacy as multiple. accordingly, a term like ‘new literacies’ or ‘multiple literacies’ have been coined to refer to different types of literacies in the digital age. as much as the time the students invest in their practices outside the classroom, the implications have not been widely considered in classroom literacy practices. in light of this, there should be some considerations, such as encouraging critical literacy and participation, to be taken in classroom literacy practices in order that the students can contribute in contemporary society. educators should encourage students’ critical literacy due to some critiques on the openness of web 2.0 which has made it possible for any users to create content and speak their voice via web 2.0 tools. consequently, the ample information in the internet has resulted in vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 12 knowledge overflow which may make students overwhelmed. on the one hand, it can provide them with useful information that they really need. on the other hand, too much information may lead to confusion as some may be irrelevant to what they are actually trying to search. moreover, interactivity and openness may be the most salient characteristics of web 2.0. as a result, many internet users are able to use the online spaces to freely create and share particular contents, such as writing, images, sounds, and videos without being concerned about their expertise in certain fields. accordingly, they can produce knowledge and many of them are becoming ‘pro-ams’ or professional amateurs (gee & hayes, 2011). thus, other issues rising along with the development of web 2.0 are accuracy and authors’ expertise, e. g. in wikis (carrington, 2009). besides, another aspect that might need to be highlighted is the neutrality of information. online texts may be tendentiously written to accommodate certain purposes, particularly related to commercial or political drives. therefore, considering the overflowing information, the concern about accuracy, credibility, and neutrality of information, there is a growing need to accommodate critical literacy in classroom literacy practices which may differ from that of traditional printed materials. in the same vein, sylvester and greenidge (2009) argue that “the internet has initiated critical reading skills not typically required in traditional texts” (p. 284). critical reading will help the students to be able to evaluate the relevance as well as the accuracy and reliability of the information. any power relation influencing how certain information is delivered, which might include the political, economic and ideological interests (selwyn, 2009, in asselin & moayeri, 2011), can also be uncovered through critical evaluation. online critical literacy may assist the students to become aware of neutrality by, for example, examining the sites if they are affiliated with particular political groups or companies to notice any biased perspectives. furthermore, critical literacy is needed in facing the ubiquity of hyperlinks that have been claimed to make internet users read superficially without going into deeper level of reading (carrington, 2009). compared to printed materials requiring readers to go through the texts to be able to make sense of what is written, the presence of hyperlinks in online texts enables the readers to easily navigate to other related information even before they have not finished reading the whole texts. literacy therefore becomes jeopardized if internet users read superficially and think that they already comprehend something well. in light of this, being critical is also essential to prevent students from reading superficially and may bring them closer to indepth understanding. in addition, in nature, printed materials retain a number of differences from online texts. rarely are website contents written in a plain text without being added by images, hyperlinks, and videos. due to this rich type of texts, online texts have been multimodal, requiring different skills in reading the information. kress (2003) in fasher-herro and steinkuehler (2009) argue that “books simply cannot provide the same level of multimodal production” (p. 56). it becomes more multifaceted when taking multimodal texts into account, implying the need to consider the images, videos, and sounds embedded in the text. therefore, reading in the contemporary world takes up critical, visual, and traditional literacy to be addressed in classroom literacy practices (brooks, 2008). another aspect which needs attention is the nature of web 2.0 which opens the gate of participatory culture. rather than merely envisaging students as consumers of information, new literacies view students as producer of knowledge. web 2.0 has also challenged the conventional idea of teacher as a “gatekeeper of knowledge” (fahser-herro & steinkuehler, 2009, p. 55) as anyone can contribute to knowledge production and sharing. in view of that, power relation between student-teacher is also distinct from that of traditional classrooms (asselin & moayeri, 2011) because students themselves can be the teachers of their peers. vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 13 similarly, fahser-herro and steinkuehler (2009) point out that “literacy practices surrounding web 2.0 technologies call for knowledge construction in a collaborative, production-oriented, somewhat nonlinear manner with access to knowledge mediated by its users” (p. 56). accordingly, there should be a shift in viewing knowledge from individual intelligence to collective intelligence (lankshear & knobel, 2006, in asselin & moayeri, 2011). students should be encouraged and facilitated to actively participate and collaborate with other students in order to produce and share information. although the role of teachers in classroom practices tends to change, leu, kinzer, coiro, and cammack (2004) emphasise that their roles are becoming more important. teachers should be aware of the new forms of literacy developing among students and embrace the practices. it is also pivotal to note that physical presence of computers or gadgets will not necessarily guarantee that a class has embarked on a pedagogy based on the new literacies perspective. therefore, selfreflection questions should be addressed to language teachers whether they have facilitated literacy practices which encourage students to participate and collaborate in the emerging web 2.0. familiarizing students with type of web 2.0 technologies and giving them sufficient time to explore it can be the starting point before students plunge into participatory culture, in which they do not merely consume web 2.0 but also contribute to its development. some practices that might be done include creating or editing blog’s content, and video-making through which they can work together with their peers to create a particular project and then publish it so they can share it with other students elsewhere. consequently, in order to be able to assist students in working with web 2.0 technologies, teachers have to experience and gain some background knowledge of how the technologies work. teachers’ exploration and familiarisation with the technologies may also uncover what aspects can prevail or fail to support certain learning practices. nonetheless, there has been a concern about the technology gap between teachers and students (fahser-herro & steinkuehler, 2009). according to the national center for education statistics (nces) 2009, in the us, some important issues for educators include access and internet connection speed (in fahserherro & steinkuehler, 2009. these matters, thus, should be addressed along with the incorporation of digital literacy practices in the classroom. concluding remarks on the whole, it can be seen that the internet has a significant impact on the society and education, particularly on literacy which is central to education. literacy practices have shifted from traditional to digital ones along with the development of the internet and web 2.0. as a result, the word ‘new’ has been attached to the word literacies denoting a perspective in seeing literacy. this essay has attempted to provide implications for language teachers, particularly that of reading and writing, to assist students in contributing in knowledge society. first, critical literacy should be embedded in classroom practices so as to make students critically evaluate the free-flowing information on the internet. second, language teachers should nurture participatory culture of the students by encouraging collaboration among them. yet, positive views around the benefits of the internet and web 2.0 technologies to literacy practices cannot stand alone without acknowledging the jeopardy that they may retain. as a matter of fact, there are some other issues closely related to the growth of technologies, such as cyber safety and copyright. therefore, it also becomes the responsibilities of teachers to have a profound understanding of how technologies work and what might put students into risk to be able to assist them to make the most of their being online. vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 14 references asselin, m., & moayeri, m. (2011). the participatory classroom: web 2.0 in the classroom. literacy learning: the middle years, 19(2), i-vii. retrieved march 20, 2012 from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=gale%7ca259959929&v=2.1&u=monash&it=r&p=aone& sw=w brooks, k. (2008). an impossible passion: young people, contemporary popular culture and reading. access, 22(3), 19-28. retrieved march 15, 2012 from http://search.informit.com.au/fulltext;res=aeipt;dn=172002 carrington, v. (2009). from wikipedia to the humble classroom wiki: why we should pay attention to wikis. in v. carrington & m. robinson (eds.), digital literacies: social learning and classroom practices (pp. 65-79). london: sage publications ltd. davies, j., & merchant, g. (2009). negotiating the blogosphere: educational possibilities. in v. carrington & m. robinson (eds.), digital literacies: social learning and classroom practices (pp. 81-93). london: sage publications ltd. fahser-herro, d., & steinkuehler, c. (2009). web 2.0 literacy and secondary teacher education. journal of computing in teacher education, 26(2), 55-62. retrieved march 20, 2012 from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=gale%7ca215514784&v=2.1&u=monash&it=r&p=aone& sw=w gee, j. p. (2002). new times and new literacies. in m. kalantzis, g. varnava-skoura, & b. cope (eds.), learning for the future: new worlds, new literacies, new learning, new people. australia: common ground publishing pty ltd. gee, j. p. & hayes, e. r. (2011). language and learning in the digital age. new york: routledge. graff, h. j. (2011). literacy myths, legacies, and lessons: new studies on literacy. new brunswick, new jersey: transaction publishers. griffith, s, & liyanage, l. (2008). an introduction to the potential of social networking sites in education. in i. olney, g. lefoe, j. mantei, & j. herrington (eds.), proceedings of the second emerging technologies conference 2008 (pp. 76-81). wollongong: university of wollongong. hartman, d. k., morsink, p. m., & zheng, j. (2010). from print to pixels: the evolution of cognitive conceptions of reading comprehension. in e. a. baker (ed.), the new literacies: multiple perspectives on research and practice (pp. 131-164). new york: guilford press. kalantzis, m. cope, b. & cloonan, a. (2010). a multiliteracies perspective on the new literacies. in e. a. baker (ed.). the new literacies: multiple perspectives on research and practice (pp. 131-164). new york: guilford press. lankshear, c. & knobel, m. (2011). new literacies: everyday practices and social learning. berkshire: mcgraw hill & open university press. leu, d.j., kinzer, c.k., coiro, j.l., & cammack, d. w. (2004). toward a theory of new literacies emerging from the internet and other information and communication technologies. in theoretical models and processes of reading. (5th ed.). international reading association. prensky, m. (2001). digital natives, digital immigrants. on the horizon, 9(5): 1-6. retrieved march 17, 2012 from http://www.scribd.com/doc/9799/prensky-digital-natives-digital-immigrants-part1 sylvester, r. & greenidge, w. (2009). digital storytelling: extending potential for struggling writers. the reading teacher, 63(4), 284-295. doi: 10.1598/rt.63.4.3 http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=gale%7ca259959929&v=2.1&u=monash&it=r&p=aone&sw=w http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=gale%7ca259959929&v=2.1&u=monash&it=r&p=aone&sw=w http://search.informit.com.au/fulltext;res=aeipt;dn=172002 http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=gale%7ca215514784&v=2.1&u=monash&it=r&p=aone&sw=w http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=gale%7ca215514784&v=2.1&u=monash&it=r&p=aone&sw=w llt journal 2014 pages 1 to 3 front.pdf llt journal 2014 fixed backup llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 23 content instructor as surrogate esl teacher: a survey on perception, knowledge and willingness ahmad nazri abdullah centre for international languages, universiti malaysia perlis, malaysia ahmadnazri@unimap.edu.my doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2019.220103 received 27 december 2018; revised 4 february 2019; accepted 12 march 2019 abstract in a normal university curriculum, students have to fulfil a minimum of 120 credit hours before they can graduate with a bachelor’s degree; of these, about 6 to 9 credit hours are usually reserved for esl classes where students are taught the necessary language skills for use within the academic ambience or for future communication in the workplace. the amount of time reserved for language instruction might not be enough to really prepare students for the rigor of real-life academic and workplace demands. it is felt that the huge amount of time utilized for content-based subjects might serve as a valuable platform for language acquisition to take place if content instructors have the necessary language skills and if they can be made to view their role as surrogate esl instructors. this paper sets out to gauge content instructors’ perception of their mastery of english, the role they can play as surrogate esl instructors and their willingness to do so. a total of 24 content instructors from a technical university were selected as participants to provide the necessary information. results indicate that most of the respondents perceived themselves as not apt to act as surrogate esp instructors due to shortcomings in their language proficiency. keywords: esp, surrogate teachers, content instructors, language acquisition introduction a lecturer’s main duty is to disseminate knowledge to his students within a classroom setting, the lecture theatre or laboratory. the main criterion for a candidate to be given a tenured position as a lecturer is to have the proper paper qualifications, the higher the better. other criteria might include having the necessary soft-skills like leadership quality, team spirit, creativity, research acumen, and communication ability. the latter is especially essential since a lecture is meant to be delivered orally; despite the advent of technology into the classroom, human factor still plays a prominent role in lesson transmission. in most countries throughout the world, mastery of english is deemed essential for use as the medium of classroom instruction despite it being a second or foreign language. this is especially true in malaysian universities. normally, within the university curricula, students have to enroll in a few english classes to help them master the language, either for academic purposes or for workplace communication. despite the inclusion of these classes some feel that they are not enough to help students become proficient in the language. these llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 24 classes can only do so much within a limited timeframe accorded them to be really effective. in a normal university setting that requires students to enroll in a minimum of 120 credit hours to graduate, most probably only 6 to 9 credits are reserved for english classes—the rest are meant for content subjects. imagine the potential and value these content courses have as surrogate language classes where students can stand to learn new words and new phrases, how to pronounce them and how to use them within their proper perspective where the esl instructor might not have knowledge of. content-based classes can also be fertile grounds for genuine academic writing to take place. content instructors have a far more crucial role to play than just disseminating content knowledge; they can play the role of the surrogate esl instructors if their mastery of the language is good. hence, this paper aspires to look into the perception of content instructors’ view of their mastery of the language and the role they can play as surrogate esl instructors. it is hoped that results that accrued can be used for future planning and serve as guidelines for pedagogic enhancement that can benefit students in the long run. in malaysia, english is a compulsory subject in all government-linked schools, encompassing both primary and secondary levels; and at the tertiary level, allocations are made for english to be one of the core subjects to be taken by students as part of the graduation requirements. normally, tertiary institutions require students to enroll in two to three english language courses before they graduate. students would be required to enroll for a certain english course based on their sijil pelajaran malaysia (spm) results or the malaysian university english test (muet). these university-required english courses are either english for academic purposes (eap) or english for occupational purposes (eop) in nature and passing them with at least a grade of c is compulsory. eap and eop fall under the general rubric of english for specific purposes (esp). english for specific purposes (esp) is the teaching and learning of english as a second or foreign language where the general aim is for the learners to use english in a particular area. in the past, the teaching of english for specific purposes was basically prompted by the need to communicate across languages in areas such as trade and technology. hitherto, esp has now expanded to encompass other areas such as english for academic purposes (eap), english for occupational purposes (eop), english for vocational purposes (evp), english for medical purposes (emp), english for business purposes (ebp) and english for legal purposes (elp) (belcher,2009). in teaching esp courses, it would be good if esp practitioners have both language skills and content knowledge to meet specific needs of the learners. in esp teaching, stern (1989, 1992) identifies four main objectives: proficiency, knowledge, affective, and transfer. basturkmen (2006), on the other hand, ascertains five objectives in esp teaching: (i) to reveal subject-specific language use; (ii) to develop target performance proficiencies; (iii) to teach underlying knowledge; (iv) to advance strategic competence; and (v) to nurture critical awareness. in meeting the aforementioned objectives, dudley-evans and st. john (1998) propound that the esp teacher has several roles to play: as a teacher; as course designer and material provider; as researcher; as evaluator; and as collaborator. fulfilling these roles can sometimes be a bit daunting for the esp practitioner. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 25 basturkmen (2010) cautions us that language instructors might be teaching an esp course that they have little knowledge of the subject matter. in their study on the readiness level of 62 english lecturers in malaysian polytechnics to teach esp courses, sarimah and sanmugam (2015) discovered that more than 80 per cent of the respondents say they are not ready for the task and need further training. this scenario is not restricted to malaysia alone but occurs in other countries as well (abdulaziz et al., 2012; cenaj, 2015; li, 2012; maria christina, 2018; nguyen & pham, 2016; venkatraman & prema, 2007). as mentioned earlier, one of the roles of the esp practitioner is to be a collaborator. according to bojović (2006), subject-specific work is normally best approached through cooperation with subject specialist. collaboration can be where esp trainer tries to know more about the subject syllabus in an academic context or the tasks that students have to do in a work ambience. it can also comprise specific partnership so that there is some adaptation between specialist studies or activities and the language. it might involve the language teacher specifically preparing learners so that they can follow lessons in lectures or classrooms. another option is that a specialist checks and comments on the content of teaching materials that the esp teacher has prepared. the ultimate teamwork is where a subject expert and a language teacher pair up to teach a class such as in content-based instruction (cbi). content-based instruction, which is based on the communicative language learning approach, is one of the well-known approaches to language teaching and content instruction which involves both subject and language teachers teaching the same subject. the three most common types of cbi are the sheltered model, the adjunct model and the theme based model (brinton, 2003; brinton, snow, & wesche, 1989; grabe & stoller, 1997; littlewood, 1981). coltrane (2002), however, recognized the “territorial challenges” that can result from inclusive co-teaching. he states that esl teachers may unintentionally adopt the role of “classroom paraprofessional” as it can be problematic for some teachers to have an equal playing field of collaboration. creese (2002) explored collaboration between esl and content teachers and witnessed subject teachers demonstrating control and possession of their subject area while the observed esl teachers did not show similar sense of ownership of language objectives in the content area classroom. she also noticed that esl teachers were not really teaching their own language content but were rather accelerating learning. this is certainly not desirable. therefore, we need to look at the issue from another perspective. we can look into the possibility of making content-based classes as a platform where language acquisition takes place where the subject specialist can teach content materials and also aspect of language peripherally, to assume the role of the surrogate language teacher. but this would depend on his language proficiency and readiness to do so. in the early eighties, tracy terrell and stephen krashen developed the natural approach to language teaching and distinguished between language learning and language acquisition. according to them, learning involves formal instruction and new knowledge or language forms are represented consciously in the learner's mind, frequently in the form of language rules and grammar, and the process often involves error correction. acquisition happens in an environment that requires llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 26 meaningful interaction and meaningful input (krashen & terrell, 1983). many papers have been written and researches were done to elaborate and substantiate on the duo’s claims (ibrahim, 2013; ibrahim & asrar, 2007; liu, 2015; matamorosgonzález, 2017; mendoza, 2016; sam, 2016; shiela mani, 2016). the corollary here is, in a content classroom where students are following a lecture in english on a subject within their field of specialisation, any reference to elements of language will occur within an environment where there are meaningful interactions and this then becomes meaningful inputs. in a formal esp classroom, sometimes the language instructor is teaching elements of language which, to students, can seem somewhat contrived and out of their actual context and they would not see their relevance; but if students see elements of language occurring within an environment where they are being used in their proper context, then there is a greater chance that they will internalize the new information and use it correctly rather than they being taught about it in the language classroom. two areas in which content instructors can help students with aspects of language are the meaning of words and pronunciation. take for example the use of the word “inert”. a language teacher might know the meaning of the word and can give examples of how it is used in the general context but might not be able to give a good example within the engineering context. it all depends on how much knowledge he has of engineering matters. but an engineering lecturer when talking about the “inert” quality of a substance will be able to do so with great precision in his lecture and he will be able to show examples within their proper context as well. this is a matter of acquisition and the use of meaningful input. if the engineering lecturer is able to pronounce the word properly then student will learn how to do it aptly. if the lecturer’s command of grammar is good then he can talk about parts of speech as well. but this, to a large extent, would depend on the willingness of the content instructors to act out the role of the surrogate language teacher and his perceived state of readiness. method twenty-four lecturers teaching content-based courses were chosen from universiti malaysia perlis (unimap) to complete a specially designed questionnaire. these lecturers were attending a one-week english language course in order to be given full tenure as lecturers at the university. it is assumed that since they are attending an english-language course then they would see the relevance and the importance of teaching elements of english to students incidentally while teaching their own subject matter. some of them are completely new to teaching and some have been teaching in other universities prior to joining universiti malaysia perlis. at unimap, most courses are taught in english due to the presence of international students who are enrolled in engineering or business-related courses. the questionnaire is divided into four parts: part 1-demographic; part 2 use of english by content specialists in the workplace and its perceived importance; part 3content specialists’ perception of their language proficiency; and part 4 content specialists’ awareness and willingness to act as surrogate language teachers. the questionnaire is 4-pages long including introductory notes and has a total of 25 items, some of which are not applicable to all respondents depending on whether their answer to a certain question is a “yes” or “no.” the questionnaires llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 27 were manually distributed at the end of the course and respondents were given ample time to respond. the instrument was designed to be completed within 10 or 15 minutes by the respondents. data were tabulated manually and descriptive statistics was used to discuss findings in the discussion section. findings and discussion table 1 below shows the job title, gender, qualifications, number of years teaching in university and main area of teaching / specialization. the results accrued from respondents’ answers to part 1 (q.1-5) of the questionnaire. table 1 demographic data of respondents job title: lecturer (11) senior lecturer (13) gender: male (20) female (4) qualifications: master (11) phd (13) total number of years teaching in university: 1-5 years (13) 6-10 years (8) 11-15 years (3) more than 15 years (0) area of teaching /specialization: analog system networking electronic engineering manufacturing process electrical engineering robotic information civil engineering chemical engineering membrane technology materials engineering control system renewable engineering as we can see from the table above, most of the lecturers have less than 10 years teaching experience with only 3 who stated that they have more than 11 years of teaching experience. the following table shows respondents’ perception of their use of english in the workplace, its importance and if they have co-workers who use english only in the workplace. the results accrued from respondents’ answers to part 2 (q. 6-9) of the questionnaire. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 28 table 2 use of english in the workplace and its importance 6. what percentage of your work is conducted in english? please write down a rough estimate in the space below. about 029% 0 about 3049% 6 about 5079% 6 about 80-100 % 12 7. do your coworkers include people who communicate in english only? yes 13 no 11 8. if you answered yes above, how often does your job require you to communicate with them? never 0 a little 2 somewhat 3 a lot 8 9. how important is it to have a high level of english proficiency to perform your job effectively? not important 0 little importance 1 somewhat important 8 very important 15 half of the respondents (12) say that 80 to 100 per cent of their work requires the use of english. one-fourth (6) say that english is used 50 79 per cent in the job they do and the rest (6) indicate it is between 30 to 49 per cent. slightly more than half of the respondents (13) indicate that their co-workers include people who communicate with them only in english and, out of these, 8 say that they have to communicate a lot with their english-only colleagues, 3 say somewhat and 2 indicate a little. slightly more than half (15) agree that english is a very important tool for them to have in order to perform their job effectively, while a third (8) say somewhat important and one saying it is of little importance. the following table shows respondents’ perception of their mastery of the four language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing in english. the results accrued from respondents’ answer to part 3 (q. 10-15) of the questionnaire. table 3 respondents’ perception on the four english language skills skills/ rating excellent good satisfactory listening 3 12 9 speaking 0 10 14 reading 3 10 11 writing 2 9 13 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 29 it seems that in all four skills, most of them indicate that they either have good or satisfactory command of the language. when asked if they feel that they need help to improve on their language skills (q.15), only a small number (2) say “no” while the rest (22) say “yes.” the following table gives a summary of the rest of the survey questions (q.16 – 25) on content specialists’ awareness and willingness to act as surrogate language teachers. table 4 respondents’ perception on their ability and willingness to be surrogate language instructors 16. to what extent would you agree that content instructors must have a good command of english to teach in their area of specialization? strongly agree (12) agree (12) disagree (0) strongly disagree (0) not sure (0) 17. do you feel that your english is adequate to impart knowledge in the classroom using the language? no (0) yes (19) not sure (5) 18. do you have to struggle for the right words when you are teaching in english? never (1) sometimes (18) most of the time (5) not sure (0) 19. do you feel that you have a good command of english to help students improve their language skills? no (2) yes (13) not sure (9) 20. do you feel that if your spoken english is stronger you can make lessons better? no (1) yes (14) not sure (9) 21. do you give students written assignment in english? no (0) (go to q. 23 25) yes (24) (go to q. 22 25) 22. do you take into account grammatical mistakes when you are assessing the written assignment? no (9) yes (15) 23. do you think the teaching of english should be done by language instructors per se? no (4) yes (15) not sure (5) 24. do you sometimes feel that you are playing the role of the english teacher? no (5) yes (10) not sure (9) 25. have you had the experience of assisting students learn something about english in the past? no (22) yes (2) results show that all respondents agree that a good mastery of english is important in delivering lectures, and most feel that their english is adequate to impart knowledge in the classroom using the language even though sometimes they llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 30 have to struggle somewhat to search for the right words to deliver the message. slightly more than half of the respondents feel that they have a good command of english to help students improve their language skills and feel that if their spoken english is better than they can make lessons more effective. all of them say that they give written assignments to students in english but some do not care that much for grammatical mistakes when students turn the assignments in for marking. to the pointed question of whether they think the teaching of english should be done by language instructors per se, slightly more than half say they think it should be so, and almost all responded that they have never had the experience of assisting students learn something about english in the past. this paper set out to gauge content instructors’ perception of their mastery of english, the role they can play as surrogate esl instructors and their willingness to do so. results garnered show mixed response from them. having a good command of english is important in their job since some of them have to communicate with peers in english and definitely they have to deliver lectures in the language. they must have a good command of spoken english to do both. fifteen of them say they think the teaching of english should be the sole responsibility of their esp peers while 5 are not sure. this speaks volumes about their willingness to be surrogate esp teachers even though sometimes they “feel” they have been playing that role. they are mostly reluctant to assume the role of surrogate language teachers due perhaps to their response in table 3 above, where quite a number of them feel their language skills are only satisfactory. most feel they need help to improve on their own language skills. when almost all of them say they have never had the experience of assisting students learn something about english in the past then we can somehow assume that the job of teaching elements of the language to students can be quite alien to them. conclusion even though the postulation from the survey is that most content instructors are not willing to act as surrogate language instructors perhaps due to their lack of mastery of the language, but this does not mean that they cannot be trained to become one in future. the relevant persona in the language department can moot the idea of making content instructors as surrogate language teachers by helping them improve on their language skills and by showing them, for example, how small things like how to spell and pronounce words by content instructors in their lecture can help language acquisition to take place in a relevant and conducive environment, unlike that in the language classroom where lessons might be a bit contrived and sometimes might not fit the actual need of the learners. a class on grammar might even be very beneficial to the content instructors. it is good to note that all those surveyed give written assignments to students in english and it would be beneficial to esp instructors to have access to them and see how students use language within their actual context outside the language classroom. the survey was done only on a small sample, and it is felt that having a wider number of participants might provide a clearer picture on the issue. getting feedback from those with more teaching experience might add a different perspective to the issue. adding more questions as to how the language department llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 31 can help content instructors improve their 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(2012). change from a general english teacher to an esp practitioner: issues and challenges in pakistan. interdisciplinary journal of contemporary research in business, 4(1), 434-465. abukhattala, i. (2013). krashen's five proposals on language learning: are they valid in libyan efl classes. english language teaching, 6(1), 128-131. basturkmen, h. (2006). ideas and options in english for specific purposes. new jersey: lawrence erlbaum associates. basturkmen, h. (2010). developing courses in english for specific purposes. basingstoke: macmillan. belcher, d. (2009). what esp is and can be: an introduction. in d. belcher (ed.), english for specific purposes in theory and practice, 1-20. ann arbor: university of michigan press. bojović, m. (2006). teaching foreign language for specific purposes: teacher development. proceedings of the 31st annual association of teacher education in europe, 487-493. brinton, d. 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(2007). developing a set of competencies for teachers of english in engineering colleges, english for specific purposes world. issue 3 (16), vol. 6. retrieved june 6, 2017 from http://www.espworld. info/articles_14/india.htm. venkatraman, g. & prema, p. (2007). developing a set of competencies for teachers of english in engineering colleges. english for specific purposes world, 3(6), 16. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 198-208 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 198 an analysis of students’ writing skills: focus on grammatical and discourse competence dini hadiani and nia nuryanti permata politeknik manufaktur bandung, indonesia dinibhs@polman-bandung.ac.id, nia@polman-bandung.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2019.220206 received 31 march 2019; revised 5 june 2019; accepted 3 september 2019 abstract this paper presents an analysis of the students’ writing skills. it is believed that writing is a powerful device to reflect language structure and to promote language learning. however, many students still experience difficulties in writing since it requires the appropriate grammatical and textual structures. therefore, this study tries to analyse the students’ writing skills that will help them to improve their communicative competence. data were obtained through documentation of students’ texts and interviews. the theories of systemic functional linguistics, explanation text, and communicative competence were employed as the framework of the text analysis. the findings revealed the social function, the generic structure, the linguistic features, and also the grammatical and discourse competence in students’ explanation texts. it was concluded that the students perceived the importance of the use of correct grammar and textual structure in their writing. regarding some grammatical mistakes in students’ explanation texts, it is recommended that teacher give explicit teaching and more exercises to them so that the students’ communicative competence can be developed. keywords: writing, grammatical competence, discourse competence, systemic functional linguistic, explanation text introduction many studies have revealed that writing is important for engineering students (clement, murugavel, & murugavel, 2015; donnell, aller, alley, & kedrowicz, 2011; hadiani & permata, 2017; mulia & krisanti, 2014; riemer, 2007; surya, 2015). most studies consider writing as an essential language skill for engineering students since it is used to perform various communicative tasks in formal and informal situations. it is also a powerful tool to reflect language structure and to promote language learning (d'andrea, 2010). however, many students still encounter difficulties in writing as it requires the grammar mastery and organisation (hadiani & permata, 2017; saravanan, prakash, & selvakumar, 2018). thus, providing practical resources in teaching writing is needed. this can be problematic since improving students’ writing skills may include developing linguistic and communicative competence. developing students’ communicative competence in terms of writing skill requires several instruments, in that teachers, can support the students with mailto:nia@polman-bandung.ac.id llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 198-208 199 exposures to reflect the language in all the competence areas. concerning grammar, the students should be given practices on the grammatical features of the text. in terms of sociolinguistics, the students should be able to determine the readers of their texts. regarding discourse, the students’ text should have the features to show coherence. with regards to strategy, the students should be able to prefer the genre appropriate to their needs (d'andrea, 2010). explanation text is essential for engineering students as it is a factual text used to explain phenomena, and to answer the questions of how and why, which are not only used in science for natural process, but also common in industry for explaining technological processes (gerot and wignel, 1994; derewianka, 2004; martin and rose, 2008). in addition, cullen and pudwill (2002) argue that engineers are often asked to give technical explanations on product design or manufacturing processes. it indicates that engineering students should be able to write a technological explanation text related to the engineering field. however, writing an explanation text is not easy for efl students. the students were reported to experience problems in writing an explanation text (ting & campbell, 2013). for indonesian efl students, the explanation text is considered a new type of text, so the availability of the text samples is still limited. this impacts on students' understanding of the text, leading to a different interpretation of how an explanation text should be written. studies regarding the students’ explanation texts based on systemic functional linguistic have revealed the students’ ability in writing explanation text in terms of structure and language features. common problems encountered by the students are the incorrect use of grammar and the limited use of textual structure (martínez lirola, 2015; ting & campbell, 2013; hadiani & fatonah, 2018). these lead to the failure of forming the purpose of an explanation text. utilising the appropriate grammar and textual structure plays an important role in constructing an effective explanation text. it can be inferred that the students’ understanding and mastery in grammatical and discourse competence can be viewed from the students’ text analysis that can be used to improve the students’ communicative competence. based on the elaboration of the students’ difficulties in using the appropriate grammatical and textual structures in explanation text, this study is designed to investigate the students’ explanation text in sfl perspectives and its impact on the students’ grammatical and discourse competence. therefore, this study aims to look into the students’ explanation text with regard to lexico-grammar analysis (mood, theme, and transitivity). by carrying out the text analysis, it is expected that the students’ grammatical and discourse competence in writing can be generated. communicative competence and systematic functional linguistic communicative competence has long been considered important in second and foreign language learning (hymes, 1972; canale and swain, 1980; canale, 1983; savignon, 1997). this term is related to the language user’s grammatical knowledge of syntax, morphology, phonology as well as social knowledge about the appropriate ways to use utterances (hymes, 1972). it includes grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence. the first area, grammatical competence, is concerned with sentencelevel grammar in which it governs the understanding and knowledge of using the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 198-208 200 grammar, syntax, and vocabulary of a language (canale, 1983). it deals with the ability to use the correct words, the rules of sentence structure, the punctuations, and the spellings, etc. discourse competence, on the other hand, deals with intersentential relationships. it is the understanding of how ideas are connected, and how to interpret language based on its context. in writing, discourse competence can be found in the use of connectors, so that the text is coherent and meaningful (eggins, 2004). meanwhile, sociolinguistic competence is the knowledge of having an awareness of the social rules of a language (savignon, 1997). whereas, strategic competence deals with the experience to observe the problem in communication and how it is fixed (canale, 1983; savignon, 1997). the notions of systemic functional linguistic (sfl) and communicative competence (cc) have been considered fundamentally different in terms of meaning-making and choice making. sfl is a system that focuses on making meanings and producing meaningful communication (halliday, 1985). whereas, communicative competence deals with the ability of language user’s on grammar, syntax, morphology, phonology as well as social knowledge about the appropriate ways to use utterances (hymes, 1972). it can be stated that cc focuses on learning to talk that sees language as an expression rather than a source of meaning. however, many scholars believed that sfl could be used to support the development of someone’s communicative competence (royce, 2007; rodrigues and williamson, 2010). it can be inferred that communicative competence is a subtype of sfl in which the use of its approach in teaching will support the students’ grammar learning in meaningful communication. sfl helps to improve communicative competence, which is essential for the students in learning languages. explanation text explanation genre as a scientific text includes social function, generic structure, and linguistic features (swales, 1990; anderson and anderson, 1997; gerot and wignel, 1994; derewianka, 2004). the social function of the explanation genre as the first element of the genre is to communicate how something happens, elaborating steps or any other procedures on how something is done, or why it occurs. it focuses on the steps rather than things. therefore, the purpose of an explanation text is to inform each step of the process and to provide reasons (gerot and wignel, 1994; anderson and anderson, 1997; derewianka, 2004). the second element of a genre is the generic structure which requires explanation texts to provide components such as a general statement to inform about the thing being explained and a sequenced explanation of why or how something occurs (gerot & wignel, 1994). there are two steps for constructing a written explanation according to anderson and anderson (1997), derewianka (2004), and martin and rose (2008). it is initiated by a general statement about the event or thing as the first step. then, it is continued by pointing out a series of sequenced activities that tell how or why. to make a good explanation text, the writer has to consider some linguistic features in composing the text as the third element of the genre. these are generalised non-human participants, action verbs, passive voice, and timeless simple present tense. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 198-208 201 metafunctions in explanation texts in analysing the students’ text concerning its coherence and meaningfulness, this study draws on the generic structure, social function, and linguistic feature of the explanation text. furthermore, the elaboration of the students’ explanation text will be based on the sfl perspectives namely interpersonal, textual, and experiential metafunctions. interpersonal metafunction is concerned with how language is used for interacting in the form of talking or writing between interlocutors. the explanation text is mainly to inform how something is done. hence, the purpose of the communicative exchange is giving information that is mostly written in the declarative form (eggin, 2004; thompson, 2014). the realisation of interpersonal metafunction is using mood structure consisting of mood, finite and residue (eggins, 2004). the mood element includes of two parts; the subject, realised by a nominal group, and the finite which is usually a part of the verbal group (gerot & wignel, 1994; eggins, 2004). the finite (lexical verb) is commonly written/spoken in present tense (verb i) such as produce, create, make, etc. modality to show ability, possibility, and necessity might appear in several parts of the clause. in terms of residue, it is formed from predicator (non-finite verb), complement (noun or nominal group), and adjuncts in the form of adverbial group, and a prepositional phrase (halliday, 1994; gerot & wignell, 1994; eggins, 2004). the experiential metafunction is realised by transitivity system in which ideas and experience are represented through choices of participants, processes, and circumstances (halliday, 1994; martin and rose, 2008). therefore, the analysis focuses on the grammar of the clause as a representation (eggins, 2004; halliday, 1994). explanation text is generally informing an event or a thing. therefore, it is concerned with action and reaction. in the english transitivity structure, clauses can be analyzed for a process type (material, mental, behavioral, verbal, existential, and relational). material processes such as the words, ‘hit,’ ‘put,’ ‘process,’ ‘maintain,’ etc. are commonly used in the explanation text since they show physical action. thus, the role of the participant is as an actor in the process. nevertheless, passive voice construction is usually used to focus on the activity done instead of someone who does the action. in addition, the verbs such as ‘are’ and ‘is’ which refer to the process of establishing an identity and assigning a quality are also found in the explanation text. these words mark the relational process. hence, the participants act as carrier, token, or value. the textual metafunction of language deals with how the text is created in the form of talking or writing to shape the text. this concept utilises the structure of theme and rheme (gerot & wignel, 1994; eggins, 2004). the theme is recognized as the elements which come first in the clause. this element is what the clause is about, and it serves as the point of departure of the message from the previous one. however, theme is not always the subject of a clause, but it is the left-most important constituent of the clause (gerot & wignel, 1994). meanwhile, rheme refers to the rest part of the clause. the theme can be classified into several types. the first type is topical theme in which it appears in the form of subject (noun or nominal group), and it is considered as unmarked topical theme, whereas a topical theme which is not the subject is known as a marked topical theme llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 198-208 202 (gerot & wignel, 1994). another type of theme is a textual theme in which it functions to relate the clause to its context. it can be set out in the form of conjunctive adjuncts (first, then, next, after that, etc.) and conjunctions (but, and, or, etc.). regarding the explanation text, the conjunctive adjuncts as the textual structure are used to keep the text cohesive and coherent. method this study is aimed to explore how student’s explanation text is analysed based on sfl perspectives. by utilising a qualitative case study approach, the data were collected through the documentation of students’ texts and interview. the students’ explanation texts were used as the first method of data collection. the writings were deliberately chosen from six students’ explanation text during english class at the fifth semester of one state polytechnic in bandung, indonesia year 2017/2018. the six writings represented the high, mid, and low achievers. the students were asked to write an explanation text about a tool, an instrument, or a machine that they can find in their workshop after they had three meetings discussion on writing the explanation texts. the texts were then analysed in terms of the social function of the explanation text generated by gerot and wignel (1994), anderson and anderson (1997), and derewianka (2004) that is to communicate how something happens, elaborating steps or any other procedures on how something is done. after that, the analysis was continued by identifying the generic structure in students’ texts as suggested by gerot and wignel (1994), anderson and anderson (1997), and derewianka (2004) which covers a general statement, and a sequenced explanation of why or how something occurs. then, the students’ explanation texts were analysed based on the linguistic features at the clause level; interpersonal, experiential, and textual metafunctions. the results of text analysis were then fitted to the theory of communicative competence, especially grammatical and discourse competence. the interview with the participants of the study as the second source of data was carried out after the students’ explanation texts had been analysed. it was used to obtain more in-depth data on the students’ perspective about the process of writing explanation texts and to justify the data elicited from text analysis. for this reason, semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions (frankel & wallen, 2007) were chosen to get the information required ( field & morse in emilia, 2005). the content and procedures of the interviews were arranged based on the data obtained from the text analysis. each student was given questions based on their experiences during the process of writing the explanation text. in addition, bahasa indonesia as the participants’ native language was used to make the participants easier to elaborate on their answers. the interviews were recorded by tape recorder. the interview data were inserted while discussing the main data resulted from the text analysis. findings and discussion this section presents the analysis of students’ explanation text in sfl perspectives, with regard to interpersonal, experiential, and textual metafunctions. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 198-208 203 the results will be used to interpret the students’ grammatical and discourse competence in their writing. the first step of genre analysis is done by analysing the generic structure of the students’ explanation texts. theoretically, explanation text includes a general statement, and a sequenced explanation (anderson & anderson, 1997; derewianka, 2004; martin and rose, 2008). the result of the analysis is illustrated in table 1 below. table 1. the generic structure of the students’ explanation text text general statement sequenced explanation 1 √ √ 2 √ √ 3 √ √ 4 √ √ 5 √ √ 6 √ √ based on table 1, it can be seen that the students’ explanation text has fulfilled the structure of explanation text. regarding the social function, explanation text is a text which informs about how something is done (anderson and anderson, 1997; derewianka, 2004; martin & rose, 2008). it can be said that the students’ ability to write the explanation text with regards to its structure and organisation is considered sufficient. the students argued in the interview that they were able to write the generic structure of the explanation text since it was taught previously. it indicates that giving explicit teaching on the theory of explanation genre will improve the students’ awareness and also their ability in writing an explanation text. the analysis of mood structure in the students’ explanation texts is carried out to identify interpersonal metafunction. these can be found in the form of clauses and sentences. there is a total of 96 clauses in 60 sentences found in students’ explanation texts. almost all of the sentences (58 sentences or 97%) are positive declarative. it points out that the students are aware that the readers are the recipient of information (eggins, 2004). the dominant use of declarative sentences in students’ explanation texts reflects the characteristic of explanation text in which to give information. moreover, the students mostly employ present tense with verb 1 in the clauses in spite of errors they make in the tense form. the most common errors are the inappropriate use of verb 1 in the text. the students write: ‘the machine process the workpiece when it finishing’. the first finite uses present tense, but it is incorrect. since the subject is singular, the finite should take an additional ‘s’. on the second clause, there is no complete finite. since the complement is in ‘ing-form’, the finite should take the verb ‘is.’ these show that the students still have problems differentiating the types of verbs in their writing. it was found from the interview that for the low achiever participant, they admitted that they did not know and they did not understand how to use the correct types of verbs in sentences. it means that the teacher should work harder to give them some extra exercises and explicit teaching on the use of type of verbs in sentences. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 198-208 204 in addition, the students also use modal finite in the clauses. the modal finite can, may, will in an explanation text are applied to express the students’ opinion towards a specific utterance in the text whether it is to indicate ability, necessity, or possibility. however, there is an improper form of modal finite in the students’ explanation texts. in the text, the student writes ‘the coil will changed’ which is considered inaccurate. the predicator ‘change’ which appears to be written as ‘changed’ after the modal finite ‘will.’ the students admitted in the interview that they did not know that they should use an infinitive verb after modal finite. meanwhile, some others admitted that they knew that they made mistakes, and the error was caused by their carelessness. it indicates that errors in students’ writing can be caused not only by the students’ inability but the students’ carelessness as well. the experiential metafunction analysis is carried out to recognise how reality is presented in the language. based on the review, it can be outlined that majority of clauses in the students’ explanation texts are written in material process (78%) followed by relational process (21%) and verbal process (16%). the dominant use of material processes in the students’ explanation text shows the students’ understanding of the social function of the explanation text which is to inform how something is done. they are written in words to present physical action. the students, in their texts, applied the material processes such as maintain, put, create, check, prepare, mark, place, rotate, repeat, and hit. the verbs are categorized as dynamic verbs which signal the doing which are in line with gerot and wignel (1994), and anderson and anderson (1997) who state that explanation texts occupy the use of material processes. in addition, the huge number of passive voice such as ‘is set’, ‘is checked’, etc. also demonstrates the students’ comprehension that the explanation text focuses on the actions on how something is done instead of pointing out who does the actions. it indicates that the students have tried to apply the linguistic features of explanation text showing technological processes by using passive voice (martin and rose, 2008) although there were still some errors in its construction. moreover, the students also use relational process such as ‘is,’ and ‘are’ to show the entity or the state of being. the use of relational processes in their explanation texts indicates that the students have been able to adapt with the linguistic features of the explanation texts by using relational processes (derewianka, 2004; gerot & wignell, 1994; martin & rose, 2008). nevertheless, the errors in the form of the verb still occur. taking, for example, the student writes ‘after that the molten glass is cutted slowly’. as the clause is in the passive voice, the construction of verb form should be the verb ‘to be’ followed by the verb in past participle form (verb 3). this is in line with the study conducted by (ting & campbell, 2013) who state that students employed inaccurate construction of passive voice in their explanation texts. this is possibly due to the students’ misunderstanding of the use of the structure of sentences. the textual metafunction is extracted to identify the topic of the clause through theme and rheme structure (gerot & wignell, 1994; thompson, 2014). the result of the analysis shows that the clauses are mostly written in proper noun which can be categorized into unmarked topical theme. the students probably want to show that the subject of their explanation text is an important object, so it llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 198-208 205 appears in a proper noun such as ‘trafo,’ ‘the workpiece,’ etc. the rheme of unmarked topical theme will be consequently the informing agent of the theme that could be in the form of a definition, an explanation, or an opinion. however, some students produced marked theme in their explanation texts which are mostly in the form of sequence markers. this is relevant to the characteristics of an explanation text which is to inform how something is done. most clauses are marked by the sequence markers such as first, after that, then. the students tend to show that they are explaining the process of how something is done. it can be said that the students have attempted to give precise information which forms a coherence in their explanation texts by employing the sequence markers (ting & campbell, 2013). the text analysis shows that the students have tried to write the explanation text by using the generic structure and organization of the text appropriately. the interpretation of students’ grammatical and discourse competence is taken from the result of text analysis from sfl perspectives, with regards to interpersonal, experiential, and textual metafunction. based on the result of text analysis, it was found that in general the students’ grammatical and discourse competence is considered satisfactory. it can be seen from the students’ ability to use the correct grammar and textual structure to mark discourses in their texts. the students still made several errors in their writing. from the students’ texts, it can be found that students made more errors in grammar (75 % that represents 21 errors) than in textual structure (25% that represents 7 errors). in terms of grammatical competence, students made mistakes in using the verb type (38%), passive voice construction (33%), modal auxiliary (19%), and spelling (10%). these show that some students still have difficulties in using the correct grammar, in this case, sentence structure in their writing. however, these errors are mostly made by the low achiever students. it was revealed from the interview that the students do not understand the rules of sentence structure in terms of tense and passive voice construction. it indicates that the teacher should provide the students with more exercises and explicit teaching related to this issue. meanwhile, concerning the discourse competence, the students employed conjunction such as ‘and’, ‘but’, and ‘or’ and the conjunctive adjuncts such as ‘first’, ‘to begin with’, ‘then’, and ‘next’ as the textual structure in their explanation text to make their text coherent and meaningful. however, some errors were still found in the students’ texts specifically in using the correct conjunction and reference in their sentences. from the analysis, it can be said that some students still encounter some difficulties in using the correct cohesive devices in their texts to make them coherent and meaningful. the preferred solution is that the students should be given more exercises and explicit teaching related to the problems faced during the process of writing. conclusion this study has examined the students’ explanation texts in sfl perspectives intended to improve the students’ communicative competence. the results show that the students have fulfilled the criteria of the explanation text by employing the elements of generic structure in their texts. whereas, with regards to the linguistic llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 198-208 206 features, the students have been able to identify the types of verb appropriate with the characteristic of the explanation texts in spite of some errors in verb type, passive voice construction, modal verb, and spelling. the dominant use of declarative sentences as the mood choices is considered relevant to the characteristic of the explanation text. the transitivity structure analysis shows that the clauses are dominated by material processes. in the theme-rheme structure, the clauses are mostly written in unmarked topical theme. based on the text analysis, it can be inferred that in terms of grammatical competence the students could be categorised satisfactory, even they still have difficulties in using the correct grammar of type of verbs, passive voice construction, and spelling, for example. meanwhile, regarding discourse competence, the students have been able to use conjunctions and conjunctive adjuncts in their explanation text to keep the text cohesive and coherent. it should be stated that analysing students’ text analysis can reveal the students’ grammatical and discourse competence. in conclusion, students realised the importance of the use of correct grammar and textual structure in their writing. in terms of teaching-learning practice, learning writing is not a single shot activity. it should be carried out regularly and intensively. thus, to create a meaningful writing class, it might be suggested that teacher and student continue active communication both inside and outside the classroom. concerning the grammatical mistakes in the students’ explanation texts, it is recommended that the teacher give explicit teaching and more exercises to them so that the students’ communicative competence can be improved. references anderson, k. & anderson, m. (1997). text types in english 1. south melbourne: macmillan education australia. canale, m. & swain, m. (1980). theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. applied linguistics, 1(1), 147. canale, m. (1983). from communicative competence to communicative language pedagogy. language and communication. london: longinal, 2-27 clement, a., & murugavel, t. (2015). english for employability: a case study of the english language training need analysis for engineering students in india. english language teaching, 8(2), 116–125. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v8n2p116 cullen, b. & pudwill, l. (2002). presentations in the technical english classroom. bulletin of nagoya institute of technology, 53, 57-64. d’andrea, l.p. (2010). using writing to develop communicative competence in the foreign language classroom. belt journal. 1(3), 139-146 derewianka, b. (2004). exploring how texts work. rozelle: primary english teacher association donnell, j. a., aller, b. m., alley, m., & kedrowicz, a. a. (2011). why industry says that engineering graduates have poor communication skills: what the literature says. asee annual conference and exposition, conference proceedings, 22.1687.1-22.1687.13. retrieved from https://peer.asee.org/18809 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 198-208 207 eggins, s. (2004). an introduction to systemic functional linguistics. london: pinter emilia, e. (2005). a critical genre-based approach to teaching academic writing in a tertiary efl context in indonesia. fraenkle, j.r., & wallen, n.e. (2007). how to design and evaluate research in education (6th ed.). boston:mcgraw hill. gerot, l. & wignel, p. (1994). making sense of functional grammar. cammeray: antipodean educational enterprises. hadiani, d., & permata, n. n. (2017). engineering students’ need of communication skills. journal of english in academic and professional communication (jeapco), 4(2), 30–42 hadiani, d., & fatonah. (2018). transitivity analysis of students’ explanation texts. the 12th malaysia international conference on english language teaching (micelt) conference proceedings, 335 342 halliday, m.a.k. (1985). systemic perspectives on discourse, 1, 1-15. halliday, m.a.k. (1994). an introduction to functional grammar (2nd ed.). london: arnold. hymes, d. (1972). on communicative competence. sociolinguistics, 269293, 269293. martin, j. & rose, d. (2008). genre relations: mapping culture. london:equinox publishing ltd. martinez lirola, m. (2015). the use of genre theory for improving writing proficiency skills in explanations. íkala, revista de lenguaje y cultura medellín, colombia, 20(2), 189-204. doi: 10.17533/udea.ikala.v20n2a04 mulia, k., & krisanti, e. (2014). communication skills course: enhancing presentation and proposal writing skills of chemical engineering students. asee annual conference and exposition, conference proceedings, (121) riemer, m. j. (2007). communication skills for the 21st century engineer. global journal of engineering education, 11(1). rodrigues, s., & williamson, g. (2010). three primary science podcasts: illustrating the contextual and staging dimensions of language in podcasts. in multiple literacy and science education: icts in formal and informal learning environments (pp. 70-83). igi global. royce t. d. (2007). multimodal communicative competence in second language contexts. new directions in the analysis of multimodal discourse, 361–403 saravanan, j. prakash, a. & selvakumar, r.s. (2018). writing skills of engineering students of government and self-financing colleges: a comparative study. indonesian journal of efl and lingusitics, 3(1), 47 – 65 savignon, s.j. (1997). communicative competence: theory and classroom practice texts and contexts in second language learning. new york: mcgraw-hill. surya, w. (2015). employers’ needs for employability skills of engineering graduates in indonesia. upi international conference on technical and vocational education and training (tvet), (3), 223–227 swales, j. (1990). genre analysis english in academic and research settings. cambridge:university press. thompson, g. (2014). introducing functional grammar third edition. newyork: routledge. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 198-208 208 ting, s.h., campbell, y.m., law, l., & poh, h. (2013). explanations without a purpose? genre-based instruction and academic writing. journal of academic language & learning, 7(1), a26-a39. llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 51 cohesive devices in learners’ writing ratnasari nugraheni english language studies graduate program sanata dharma university abstract in esl context, learners may have less attention to the use of conjunctions. in fact, the use of conjunctions in l2 learners’ writings is crucial since it is one type of cohesive devices. this paper aims to find the cohesive devices of conjunctions used by the learners. through analyzing eight learners’ essays, the writer found 37 forms and 12 types of conjunctions in the learners’ essays. the most significant form of conjunctions was‘and’, whereas the most significant types of conjunction was‘addition’. moreover, the writer also found some inappropriate use of conjunctions, which are grouped into five, namely, unclassified, wrong mechanism, l1 interference, wrong forms of conjunctions, and grammatical error. keywords: cohesive device, conjunction, and writing a. introduction non-native speakers of english commonly face a problem related to the use of cohesive devices while they produce essays in second language (l2). the term “cohesive device”, in this paper, only points out to one type of it, that is, conjunction (see halliday and hasan, 1976; fernald, in funk and wagnalls, 1904, in roen, 1984; fahnestock, 1983). some experts may recognize conjunction as a transition word (see winterowd, 1970). some examples of words or phrases which are categorized as conjunction or transition word are‘therefore’, ‘on the otherhand’, and ‘furthermore’ (roen, 1984). those words or phrases function to connect two sentences or more in a paragraph or two paragraphs or more in an essay. in other words, conjunction helps author to clarify her or his ideas by giving example, effect, explanation or others. conjunction simply becomes a bridge to join the main idea and supporting idea in a paragraph or essay. the use of appropriate conjunction in an essay allows readers to grabthe author’s idea successfully. this becomes one of the indicators that the author’s writing is cohesive and coherent (see meyer, 2005; murray and geraldine, 2008; williams, 2003). for l2 learners, to compose a good cohesive and coherent essay is not easy. regarding conjunction, sometimes, l2 learners will transfer their l1’s form or structure into l2. when l2 learners do it, the learners’ writing will sound awkward. hence, the use of conjunction in someone’s writing gives a great impact on reader’s comprehension. although the use of conjunction is important in writing, there is still a few papers concerning on the issue, especially in l2 learner’s writing. in fact, there is no doubt that l2 learner’s writing still produces many mistakes on the use of conjunction. sometimes, a l2 learner is confused to use the right form or type of conjunctions for certain cases. when learner has a little knowledge upon conjunction, learner will use his or her sense to choose the conjunction words. the use of sense, in this case, may lead learner to choose inappropriate conjunction words. therefore, it will lead to the misinterpretation for reader since the essay is not enough understandable. 52 since the use of conjunction as cohesive device is important, the writer conductsresearch upon the use of conjunction cohesive device in learner’s writing, in this case, in the form of essay. the paper aims to inquire about the conjunction type commonly used in learner’s writing using one research problem, that is, ‘what conjunction cohesive devices do learnersuse in their writing?’. the information upon the type of conjunction cohesive device used in learner’s writing helps the writer to investigate the influence of l1 in the students’ l2 writing. in order to obtain the answer, some underlying theories will be discussed, such as the definition of cohesive device, type of conjunction, and principle of l2 cohesive and coherent writing. b. cohesive devices: conjunctions the essential thing about cohesive device is its function in text. the operational definition of cohesive device can bediscerned from the word ‘cohesion’. “cohesion is the linking of elements of the text through repetition (or redundancy) of information at the semantic, syntactic, and discourse structure levels” (cox et al., 1990: p. 49). cohesive device is used as a linking elementto bridge sentences in a paragraph or an essay. halliday and hasan (1976) also have similar definition that cohesion occursto bind sentences together in order to hold the inherent meaning in the connected sentences. when it is omitted in an essay, the reader will have difficulty in understanding the meaning. hence, cohesive device is important both to readers in constructing the meaning from an essay and to the author in creating an essay that can be easily comprehended. hassan and halliday (1976) classified cohesive devices into four, namely reference, substitution, lexical continuity, and conjunction.this paper will only discuss conjunctions. in this case, conjunction expresses certain meaning which presupposes the presence of other components in the discourse. in other words, conjunction delivers the cohesive relationship in such a way that it meets the logical framework in constructing the author’s ideas as unity. hassan and halliday (1976) categorize cohesive device into four basic types: additive, adversative, causal, and temporal. additive conjunction is a cohesiverelation where author groups sentences together under the heading of additive. the relation is structurally in the form of coordination, the ‘and’ form and the ‘or’ form. the simple additive conjunctions appears using ‘and’, ‘or’, ‘in addition’. when additive attempts to give further explanation in the previous meaning, adversative attempts to bring the converse meaning which is contrary to expectation from the content of what is being said, or from the communication process, and speaker-hearer situation.the adversative conjunction usually uses the words, ‘but’, ‘yet’, ‘in fact’, and ‘however’.on the other hand, causal conjunction are expressed using ‘so’, ‘thus’, ‘hence’, ‘therefore’, consequently’, ‘accordingly’, ‘as a result (of that)’, ‘in consequence (of that)’, and ‘because of that’. then, the temporalconjunctionrelates two successive sentences in which their relation in external terms as content are a sequence in time. one sentence is simply subsequent to another. the relation is signaledwith ‘then’, ‘next’, ‘finally’, and ‘meanwhile’. winterowd (1970 & 1975) categorizes the conjunction, also called transition words, into seven: coordinate, observative, causative, conclusive, alternative, inclusive, and sequential (see fahnestock, 1983; roen, 1984). words that signal coordinateinclude ‘and’, ‘furthermore’, ‘in addition to’, ‘also’, ‘too’, and ‘again’. to signal observative relationships, author can use ‘like but’, ‘yet’, ‘however’, and ‘on the cohesive devices in learners’ writing llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 53 other hand’. causative can be recognized by word ‘for’. conclusive may be signaled‘with so’, ‘therefore’, ‘thus’, and ‘for this reason’. ‘or’signals alternative. inclusive is expressed with a colon. words like ‘first’, ‘second’, ‘third’, and ‘fourth’signal sequential relationships. fahnestock (1983) summarizes the classification of conjunction from those theories of conjunction or transition word into two, continuative relation and discontinuative relation. words include in continuative relation having relation upon ‘sequence’, ‘restatement’, ‘exemplification’, ‘premise’, ‘conclusion’, ‘similarity’, and ‘addition’. in continuative relation, the relations are categorized into ‘replacement’, ‘exception’, ‘concession’, ‘denied implication’, ‘contrast’, ‘alternation’, and ‘anomalous sequence’. sequence is the simplest relation of time order. the order of the two sentences suggests the order of the two actions or events or states they specify. restatement employs when the second of two sentences or clauses in sequence can say essentially the same thing as the first, though in different words and usually in greater detail. exemplification occurs when a sentence can be related to the immediately preceding one because it gives an example of the set introduced in the first. premise happens whena second sentence can be related to the one before it as a reason, a cause, or an explanation. conclusion suggests a second sentence or clause can follow as a consequence, inference, or entailment from the one before it, which is then a premise. similarity happens when the second of two sentences or clauses can make a point or report an action analogous to the one in the sentence before it. the last one is addition. a second sentence or clause can follow the one before it simply as another point, another thing to be said. this “next thing” must bear some relation to the preceding point, as for instance by being another item in some series, but it is never as close as a deliberate comparison or one of the other kinds of connections just discussed. replacement occurs when the second of two clauses or sentences can make a point intended to replace the first, to discriminate or differentiate or make a clarifying distinction for the reader. exception happens when the first of two sentences establishes a set, the second can exclude something from that set. concession occurs when the second of two clauses or sentences may acknowledge an apparent if not real contradiction of the first, or it may qualify the first. denied implication is a conclusion acts as a statement that follows from the clause or sentence which precedes it, but the second of a pair of clauses or sentences can reject or deny an apparent implication of the first. contrast happens when the second in a pair of clauses or sentences can point out facts or inferences that differ from those just mentioned. alternation happens when the second of two sentences or clauses can offer a choice which would exclude the first. alternation is perhaps not strictly the negative or opposite of addition. anomalous sequence happens whenever a simple sequence is the implicit connection between two sentences, time transition words are not necessary. but whenever any anomaly in time order exists between two sentences or clauses, an explicit transition word is necessary, and the language is filled with words and phrases to signal the more complex time relationships of simultaneity (e.g. “meanwhile”), going backwards in time (e.g. “before”), and hurrying forward in some unpredictable way (e.g. “five years later”). c. writing in l2 holloway (1981) proposes three semantic theories employed to teach writing, namely, the case grammar approach to language, ‘given-new’ contract approach, 54 and cohesion approach. since the focus of this paper is on cohesion, the writer only highlights the cohesive approach. holloway (1981) states that cohesive approach discerns that a paragraph does not only refer to a grammatical structure focusing on the use of grammar patterns in the whole paragraph. this approach merely discerns the unity of a paragraph as a semantic structure. in a nutshell, the connectedness between the previous sentence and the next sentence within a paragraph is essential. in l2 context, writing an essay may import or shift the insight of l1 principles (kroll, 1991). it means that l2 learners cannot avoid their l1 habits in writing. this is the reason why l1 form can appear in the learners’ writing. it shows that writing in l2 is a big task so that writing always becomes the last activity in integrated language learning, after listening, speaking, and reading. kroll (1991: 261) states that, “producingsuccessful written text is a complex task which requires simultaneous control over a number of language system as well an ability to factor in considerations of the ways the discourse must be shaped for particular audience and a particular purpose.” kroll’s statement shows that teacher should pay much attention to their learners in teaching writing. many factors and details should be considered so that coherence and cohesion in writing can be achieved. in this case, cohesion in writing can be reached through the appropriate use of conjunctions. many l2 learners may make mistakes in using conjunctions in their sentences. d. methodology in order to investigate the use of conjunctions in l2 learners’ writing, the writer conducted research. in this research, the writer employed content analysis method. content analysis is a systematic attempt to examine some forms of verbal or image communication such as newspapers, diaries, letters, speeches,movies, or television shows. it defines the process of summarizing and reporting written data – the main contents of data and their messages (cohen, manion, morisson, 2007). in this paper, the data used were the written forms, i.e. learners’ essays. to examine the problems in learners’ writing and find the conjunctions used in learners’ writing, the writer collected eight essays produced by eight learners. the learners were lecturers of universitas pembangunan nasionalyogyakarta who had been studying ‘academic writing’ for almost threemonths, from february to april 2015. they intensively studied academic writing in 18 meetings.the data used were learners’ mid-term projects, in the form of essay. they submitted their essays at the end of march. external/internal internal (unless otherwise specified) additive additive, simple: additive and, and also negative nor, and .. not alternative or, or else complex, emphatic: additive furthermore, in addition, besides alternative alternatively complex, deemphatic: after incidentally, thought by the way apposition: expository that is, i mean, in other words exemplification for instance, category thus comparison: similarly likewise, similarly, in the same way dissimilar on the other hand, by contrast adversative adversative ‘proper’: simple yet, though, only containing but ‘and’ however, emphatic nevertheless, despite this contrastive: avowal in fact, actually, as a matter of fact contrastive (external): simple but, and emphatic however, on the other hand, at the same time correction: of meaning instead, rather, on the contrary of wording at least, rather, i mean dismissal: closed in any case in either case, whichever way it is open-ended in any case, anyhow, at any rate, however it is causal causal, general: simple so, then, hence, therefore, emphatic consequently, because of this causal, specific : reason for this reason, on account of this result as a result, in consequence purposes for this purpose, with this in mind reversed causal: simple for, because causal, specific: reason it follows, on this basis result arising out of this purpose to this end conditional (also external): simple then emphatic in that case, in such an event, that being so generalized under the circumstances reversed otherwise, polarity under other circumstances respective: direct in this respect, in this regard, with reference to this reversed otherwise, in polarity other respects, aside from this cohesive devices in learners’ writing llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 55 external/internal internal (unless otherwise specified) additive additive, simple: additive and, and also negative nor, and .. not alternative or, or else complex, emphatic: additive furthermore, in addition, besides alternative alternatively complex, deemphatic: after incidentally, thought by the way apposition: expository that is, i mean, in other words exemplification for instance, category thus comparison: similarly likewise, similarly, in the same way dissimilar on the other hand, by contrast adversative adversative ‘proper’: simple yet, though, only containing but ‘and’ however, emphatic nevertheless, despite this contrastive: avowal in fact, actually, as a matter of fact contrastive (external): simple but, and emphatic however, on the other hand, at the same time correction: of meaning instead, rather, on the contrary of wording at least, rather, i mean dismissal: closed in any case in either case, whichever way it is open-ended in any case, anyhow, at any rate, however it is causal causal, general: simple so, then, hence, therefore, emphatic consequently, because of this causal, specific : reason for this reason, on account of this result as a result, in consequence purposes for this purpose, with this in mind reversed causal: simple for, because causal, specific: reason it follows, on this basis result arising out of this purpose to this end conditional (also external): simple then emphatic in that case, in such an event, that being so generalized under the circumstances reversed otherwise, polarity under other circumstances respective: direct in this respect, in this regard, with reference to this reversed otherwise, in polarity other respects, aside from this table 1. the summary table of conjunctive relation by halliday and hassan (1976: 242-243) the data were collected and classified through the use of observation sheets in the form of tables. firstly, the writer analyzed the conjunction words in the learners’ essays. in this case, some words which were classified as conjunctions were highlighted.secondly, the writer made sure the conjunctions using fahnestock’s categories (see table 2) since the classifications are meticulous. the use of hasan and halliday’s categories (see table 1) were also employed since all conjunctions 56 which were found, in some cases, were not classified in the fahnestock’s categories. lastly, the writer listed some inappropriate use of conjunctions in the learners’ essays and started to analyze those conjunctions. the codes were used to group those inappropriate conjunctions. thus, it was easy to determine the analysis of the typical use of theinappropriate conjunctions (see table 3 and 4). table2.the summary table of conjunctive relation by fahnestock (1983: 409) table2.the summary table of conjunctive relation by fahnestock (1983: 409) e. findings and discussion 1. types of conjunctions eight essays had been meticulously analyzed. the writer had counted that 126 cohesive devices of conjunctions were found (see table 1). student a produced 16 conjunctions, whereas student b produced 11 conjunctions. for student c, 26 conjunctions appeared in the essay. student d generated 19 conjunctions and student e had 23 conjunctions. student f, g, and h consecutively produced 7, 13, and 11 conjunctions. out of 126 conjunctions, 37 forms and 12 types of conjunctions appeared in eight learners’ essays. the 37 forms of conjunctions usedin the learner’s essays were whereas, because and, therefore, although, and as, and so, in conclusion, besides that*, actually that*, also, besides, so, or, for evidence, at the other side*, first, second, third, actually, then, so that, though, eventhough*, consequently, currently, since, firstly, as, secondly, as a conclusion*, but, even, still, however, on contrary*, in other word*, and in addition. those conjunctions were categorized into some types, namely sequence, restatement, exemplification, premise, conclusion, addition, anomalous sequence, concession, denied implication, contrast, alternative, and adversative-contrastive. among 37 forms of conjunctions, the most frequently appearing conjunction in the learners’ essays was and, which was 39 in total. the word becausealso appeared 12 times in the essays.both words, and andbecause appeared more than 10 times, while the other conjunctions occurred fewer than 10 times. the possible reason for the most frequent words is because the use cohesive devices in learners’ writing llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 57 of both words in l2 is similar to the use in l1.when learners are familiar with the use of the words, they will not avoid the use of the words. ringboom (2007, in ellis 2012), states that “learners, consciously or not, do not look for differences, they look for similarities wherever they can find them (p.355)”. ellis (2012) named the situation as facilitation or positive transfer in which leaners will transfer the familiar form of l1 in l2. moreover, compared to the other cohesive devices, both conjunctions, andandbecause,are also commonly used in spoken mode. learners did not meet any difficulties toexpress cohesion using both forms. thus, learners will employ both conjunctions in their writing task. besides, the most significant type of conjunctions appeared in learners’ writing was addition. the conjunctions categorized in additionwere 53 words in total, whereas the other categories were fewer than 20 words. addition type of conjunctions appeared for almost 50% because the use of word andwas also significant, which was 39 words. the word and should be noticed because this conjunction was categorized in addition type. thus, the addition type of conjunctions was significantly used in learners’ writing. 2. inappropriate use of conjunctions another finding of this research is the use of inappropriate conjunctions in learners’ writing. 32 cases of inappropriate conjunctions were found. inappropriate use of conjunctions refers to the learners’ mistakesand uncommon use in using conjunctions in l2.theinappropriateuse of conjunctions may have similar mistakes or characteristics from one case to another. in one case, two types of inappropriate used of conjunctions may occur. the cases were grouped into five categories of inappropriate conjunctions, namely, unclassified, wrong mechanism, l1 interference, wrong forms of conjunctions, and grammatical error (see table 3 and 4). table 3. the inappropriate use of conjunctions (1) code group description cases i unclassified the classification is different from halliday and hasan’s and fahnestock’s examples. 4 ii wrong mechanism writing mechanism is wrong. 18 iii l1 interference the form of conjunction is false since the l1 form appears in l2 (target language). 5 iv wrong forms of conjunctions the conjunction words use the wrong form. 5 v grammatical error grammatical is incorrect. 11 total 43 58 table 4. the inappropriate use of conjunctions (2) types of inappropriate used of conjunctions may occur. the cases were grouped into five categories of inappropriate conjunctions, namely, unclassified, wrong mechanism, l1 interference, wrong forms of conjunctions, and grammatical error (see table 3 and 4). table 3. the inappropriate use of conjunctions (1) code group description cases i unclassified the classification is different from halliday and hasan’s and fahnestock’s examples. 4 ii wrong mechanism writing mechanism is wrong. 18 iii l1 interference the form of conjunction is false since the l1 form appears in l2 (target language). 5 iv wrong forms of conjunctions the conjunction words use the wrong form. 5 v grammatical error grammatical is incorrect. 11 total 43 table 4. the inappropriate use of conjunctions (2) student no. sentences code a 1. debt financing involves borrowing money without collateral that must be repaid, whereas equity is a raising money by issuing additional share to an investor. i 2. thereforeusing debt can improve the wealth of stockholders or company, although debt financing can improve bankruptcy risk. ii, iii 3. using debt can reduce corporates tax return. interest on the debt can be deducted on the companys* tax return, because paying interest add to the actual cost of the company, and as a consequence reducing earning before taxes, and so it reducing corporates tax return. ii, iii 4. debt does not dilute the owners ownership in the company, because the lender does not have a claim to equity in the business. ii 5. in conclusion, although debt financing can increase bankruptcy risk for stockholders, using debt can get advantages such as: reducing corporates tax, does not diluting the ownership proportion stockholders, and increasing wealth of stockholders. iii b 1. besides that the expansion of oil palm plantation is not one of the way to gain a high foreign exchange. v 2. actually that there are many ways to gain the purpose which do not decrease environmental quality. v 3. besides that the main function of forest to adsorb co2 will decrease significantly, the fact cause increasing air pollution. v 4. in conclusion. indonesia should be stopped converting forest to oil palm plantation because will raise negative impact to environment. ii, v 5. for evidence, you were often purchased something in supermarket that not planning before. i student no. sentences code 6. at the other side, marketer said that his effort was satisfied the customer needs. iv 7. then vary of measurement method facilitatequantification ofqualitativevariables. ii 8. so thatcustomer needscanbe knownthoughonlytendency. v 9. so thateachcustomerfacilitated inidentifying andobtainingthe required product. v 10. alsoknown thatmarketersare alreadyworkingbeforethe product existsandis not overeventhough its sellingoccurs. ii, v 11. so thetruthcan bepresentedinthispaper. ii c 1. most of active volcanoes stay in java, and they produce huge amount of mineral as nutrient source for plants. ii 2. population growth should be maintained in a low growth level to avoid food lack, since the capacity of production increase of rice, as a main food, is very limited. ii 3. they need more than just food, and farming is not an interesting job any more for young generation. ii 4. as a conclusion, comprehensive programs on agriculture, population, and environment are crucial to be maintained. iv d. 1. because, death sentence gives a sense of justice for the victims , the law in indonesia does not give drug dealers punishment that has deterrent effect , and drug dealers will be a burden to goverment* if they only be given life sentence. ii 2. besidedestroy the lives of users , the drug can destroy another person who is not using drug through transmission illness of the user, such as hiv and hepatitis. iv 3. there is an opinion that deterrent effect of sentence to death is ineffective , because the execution is closed . ii 4. although not able to remove all the dealers , at least able to reduce them becausethey scare to die. v 5. currently, drug dealer still dare to carry out the transaction , despite of imprisoned. i 6. even those who had been sentenced to death also dare to trade drug in prison because not immediately executed. v e 1. analyze and weigh the impacts of drugs that are very harmful to society , both in health and social life, even lead to death . i 2. still many drug dealers make transaction even in prison . ii 3. what does more appropriate punishment for drug dealers beside the death sentence? iv f. 1. on contrary, when the fuel price is down, the price of necessity is not down automatically. iv 2. people did not receive the increase of their income, but they forced to pay more for their main necessity. ii, iii g. 1. in other word, customer loyalty contributes to company’s benefits. ii 2. it meant, to be success company must serve product and service to satisfy customer, give open, honest, and complete information to make customer trust, and maintain company’s customer. v h 1. this event leads to creation of a new variety of food plants, espescially* paddy that has high productivity, butrequaires* excessive fertilizer. ii, iii, v 2. therefore the harvest from organic farming system is safe and healthy because it is free from pesticide’s residue. ii 3. in conclusion there are many benefits that can be reached by organic agriculture system. ii total 36 cohesive devices in learners’ writing llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 59 unclassified refers to the group of sentences where the classification is different from halliday and hasan’s and fahnestock’s examples. in this case, four cases were classified into this type, such as the b5 case (see table 4). case b5: for evidence, you were often purchased something in supermarket that not planning before. in b5 case, the conjunction word was for evidence. in halliday and hasan’s and fahnestock’s categorizations, there is no such conjunction. however, it can be accepted as conjunction of cohesive device since the use of it functions to bridge the next sentence with the previous sentence. wrong mechanism refers to some cases in which the writing mechanism of the conjunctions is considered wrong. this can also be called as mistakes produced by learners. the form of mistakes was related to the mechanism in using punctuations such as coma, full stop, and etc. moreover, 18 mistakes happened because of misspelling, such as in d3. case d3: there is an opinion that deterrent effect of sentence to death isineffective, because the execution is closed. case d3 shows that the use of because is correct but the writing mechanism is incorrect. in this case, the author should not put acomma before a conjunction. when the word because appears in the middle of a sentence, the use of comma is not needed. l1 interference causes a wrong l2 sentence because the form of conjunction in l2 is transferred from the l1 form. kroll (1991) states thatwriting an essay may import or shift the insight of l1 principles. in this group, 5 cases are determined as l1 interference, such as in a3 case. case a3: using debt can reduce corporates tax return. interest on the debt can be deducted on the companys* tax return, because paying interest add to the actual cost of the company, and as a consequence reducing earning before taxes, and so it reducing corporates tax return. student no. sentences code 6. at the other side, marketer said that his effort was satisfied the customer needs. iv 7. then vary of measurement method facilitatequantification ofqualitativevariables. ii 8. so thatcustomer needscanbe knownthoughonlytendency. v 9. so thateachcustomerfacilitated inidentifying andobtainingthe required product. v 10. alsoknown thatmarketersare alreadyworkingbeforethe product existsandis not overeventhough its sellingoccurs. ii, v 11. so thetruthcan bepresentedinthispaper. ii c 1. most of active volcanoes stay in java, and they produce huge amount of mineral as nutrient source for plants. ii 2. population growth should be maintained in a low growth level to avoid food lack, since the capacity of production increase of rice, as a main food, is very limited. ii 3. they need more than just food, and farming is not an interesting job any more for young generation. ii 4. as a conclusion, comprehensive programs on agriculture, population, and environment are crucial to be maintained. iv d. 1. because, death sentence gives a sense of justice for the victims , the law in indonesia does not give drug dealers punishment that has deterrent effect , and drug dealers will be a burden to goverment* if they only be given life sentence. ii 2. besidedestroy the lives of users , the drug can destroy another person who is not using drug through transmission illness of the user, such as hiv and hepatitis. iv 3. there is an opinion that deterrent effect of sentence to death is ineffective , because the execution is closed . ii 4. although not able to remove all the dealers , at least able to reduce them becausethey scare to die. v 5. currently, drug dealer still dare to carry out the transaction , despite of imprisoned. i 6. even those who had been sentenced to death also dare to trade drug in prison because not immediately executed. v e 1. analyze and weigh the impacts of drugs that are very harmful to society , both in health and social life, even lead to death . i 2. still many drug dealers make transaction even in prison . ii 3. what does more appropriate punishment for drug dealers beside the death sentence? iv f. 1. on contrary, when the fuel price is down, the price of necessity is not down automatically. iv 2. people did not receive the increase of their income, but they forced to pay more for their main necessity. ii, iii g. 1. in other word, customer loyalty contributes to company’s benefits. ii 2. it meant, to be success company must serve product and service to satisfy customer, give open, honest, and complete information to make customer trust, and maintain company’s customer. v h 1. this event leads to creation of a new variety of food plants, espescially* paddy that has high productivity, butrequaires* excessive fertilizer. ii, iii, v 2. therefore the harvest from organic farming system is safe and healthy because it is free from pesticide’s residue. ii 3. in conclusion there are many benefits that can be reached by organic agriculture system. ii total 36 60 the sentence has three conjunctions. all conjunctions are not appropriate so that the sentence fails to sound like the target language (l2). in this case, the mistakes are not only caused by l1 interference. two cases happened in the sentence. the mistake which occurs in the word because is the same as in d3 case. in l1, because is translated as karena. the transitional signalsand as a consequence and and soare incorrect because the author imposed the l1 principle into l2. in l1, and as a consequence was used because the author translatesthe words dan sebagai konsekuensi, whereas and sowas translated directly from dan kemudian. it is clear that l1 interfered in l2 learners’ writing. the wrong form of conjunctions mean the wrong use of conjunction words. five cases are included in this type. for instance: case c4: as a conclusion, comprehensive programs on agriculture, population, and environment are crucial to be maintained. the conjunction used as a cohesive device wasas a conclusion. in this case, the author made a mistake. in l2, as a conclusion is not common. instead of as a conclusion, the author should put in conclusion. in the cambridge dictionary (2008), the word in conclusion is commonly used instead of as a conclusion. grammatical error is the last type of inappropriate use of conjunctions. there were 11 cases in this group. for example: case b9: so that each customer facilitated inidentifying and obtaining the required product. in this case, the use of so that was incorrect. the word so that does not begin a sentence. the word so that should be put in the middle of a sentence. in this case, the author might make mistake in breaking the sentence. the author may have another independent clause before this sentence. f. conclusion it is clear now that the use of conjunctions as cohesive devices is important in writing. through investigating eight essays, the writer found 126 conjunctions. out of 126, 37 forms and 12 types of conjunctions appeared in eight learners’ essays. the 37 forms of conjunctions in the learner’s essays were whereas, because and, therefore, although, and as, and so, in conclusion, besides that*, actually that*, also, besides, so, or, for evidence, at the other side*, first, second, third, actually, then, so that, though, eventhough*, consequently, currently, since, firstly, as, secondly, as a conclusion*, but, even, still, however, on contrary*, in other word*, and in addition. those conjunctions were categorized into some types, namely sequence, restatement, exemplification, premise, conclusion, addition, anomalous sequence, concession, denied implication, contrast, alternative, and adversativecontrastive. besides, the writer also found that some conjunctions were used inappropriately in the learners’ writing. the writer found 32 cases of inappropriate use of conjunctions. the cases were grouped into five categories of inappropriate use of conjunctions, namely, unclassified, wrong mechanism, l1 interference, wrong forms of conjunctions, and grammatical error (see table 3 and 4). most cases show that the inappropriate use of conjunctions is the impact of l1 which appears in the target language (l2). thus, it may trigger the learners to make mistakes (see table 4). the inappropriate use of conjunctions give implication in the teaching of writing in l2. learners may produce essays which are not cohesive and coherent because of the inappropriate use of cohesive devices in learners’ writing llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 61 conjunctions. through this research, teacher can emphasize the use of cohesive devices, especially conjunctions. teacher can pay attention to certain features of conjunctions in l2. the mistakes also alarm the teacher to allow students to do peer editing. the finding of this research can be a resource to help teacher in teaching and learning writing in the esl context. references cohen l., manion l. and morrison k. (2007). research method in education. london: routledge. cox, b. e., shanahan, t., and sulzby, e. (1990). good and poor elementary readers’ use of cohesion in writing. reading research quarterly, 25, 47-65. ellis, r. (2012). the study of second language acquisition (2nd ed). oxford: oxford university press. fahnestock, j. (1983). semantic and lexical coherence. college composition and communication, 34 (4),400-416. halliday, m.a.k., and hasan, r. (1976). cohesion in english. hongkong: longman. holloway, d.w. (1981). semantic grammars: how they can help us teach writing. language studies and composing, 32 (2), 205-218. kroll, b. (1991). teaching writing in the esl context. teaching english as a second or foreign language, 245-261. meyer, a. (2005). gateways to academic writing: effective sentences, paragraphs, a n d essays. new york: longman. murray. n. and geraldine, h. (2008). writing up your university assignments and research projects: a practical handbook. berkshire: the mcgraw-hill companies. roen, d.h. (1984). coherence in writing. the english journal, 73 (5),35-36. wiliams, j.m. (2003). style: ten lessons in clarity and grace. new york: longman. winterowd, w.r. (1970). the grammar of coherence. college english, 828835. winterowd, w.r. (1975). the contemporary writer: a practical rhetoric. new york: harcourt brace jovanovich. 62 cover vol 18 no1_april 2015 isi llt_vol 18_no 1_april 2015_save as llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 12 the implementation of process approach combined with screencast-o-matic and bookcreator to improve students’ argumentative writing anak agung putri maharani and made hery santosa ganesha university of education, indonesia agungputrimaharani@gmail.com; mhsantosa@undiksha.ac.id correspondence: agungputrimaharani@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.v24i1.2516 received 10 april 2020; accepted 1 october 2020 abstract within the 21st-century learning framework, pupils are demanded to argue more reasonably over the massive information that they receive. this study was conducted due to the imperative function of argumentative writing skills within this century by utilizing innovative argumentative writing approaches combined with screencasting and bookcreating projects. involving 31 sophomores in english language education study program, a descriptive qualitative research design was utilized. their progress in argumentative writing classroom and views were gauged to reach the conclusion. threefold methods of collecting data were administered; observation, interview, and questionnaire. the collected data from, afterward, were filtered, presented, analyzed, and verified. it was found that the use of the process approach combined with screencast-o-matic and bookcreator had a crucial contribution to argumentative writing development. the participants responded positively towards the implementation of the process approach combined with screencast-o-matic and bookcreator. keywords: argumentative writing; process approach; bookcreator; screencast-omatic introduction within the 21st century, teaching and learning are filled with challenges and opportunities. it is the effect of globalization which brings new scenarios of the political, social, cultural, and economic sectors that dependable on the contributions of pupils. singh (1991) argues that in regarding education to deal with rapid changes at the twenty-first century’s threshold, innovation, technology, and research are obligatory tools of education. it emerges an assumption on which the education role for the future is construed which is about the consequences and imperatives for the development of education. in this case, education is the lead which plays a major role in the growth and future development. to be proficient and global citizens who cooperate and collaborate with many people around the world, one must become competent users of english (hidayati, 2018). being skillful in english assists people to communicate and express what llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 13 they have in mind properly. even though all english skills are in fact important regarding communication, but related to the 21st century, people nowadays write as never before – in print and online form (yancey, 2009). stuart (2019) argues one very old skill that seems to be only increasing in importance is writing even though much fuss was made about newfangled twenty-first-century skills. powell (2012) states that writing is always a technology of explosive force, a cultural artifact based not in nature (whose rules we did not create) but sprung from the human mind. additionally, writing is the lens through which literate people perceive the world, feel the world, hate the world, love the world, defy the world, and imagine change. at the university level, one important type of writing learned is argumentative writing. as vygotsky (1986) as cited in neff-van aertselaer (2013) pointed out argumentation is a pivotal societal interaction key point as well as for the individual’s cognitive development. pupils who deal with creating a paper for daily routine tasks or thesis usually get involved in an argumentative writing atmosphere. they do it because a paper deals with fresh or up-to-date and original ideas, and it must be based on resilient and convincing argumentation. furthermore, argumentative skill is indispensable when pupils engaged in a professional working environment wherein they have to convince and persuade colleagues related to their professions in well-behaved argumentation (hasani, 2016). the purpose is to convince, obtain an adhesion, justify a way to see facts, refute interpretations about an event, as well as encourage readers to change an opinion about a subject (maharani, 2019). unfortunately, the argumentative essay is the most complex and challenging essay amongst others since it needs critical thinking skills (pei et al., 2017). whatever the writing types are, they have been regarded as difficult to teach and learn both for the teachers and learners in the efl context (rubiyah et al. (2018). additionally, blankenship and margarella (2014) argue a writer must master indirect communication ability, language structure, writing techniques, and the ability to extract ideas from the text. gonye et al., (2012) argue that the complexity of writing activity requires systematic and well-ordered thinking of pupils which finally will be the way of their behavior. furthermore, all pupils do not enjoy learning english writing (kusumaningrum, 2015). moreover, antika (2014) as cited in indrilla and ciptaningrum (2018) states that in indonesia, the learning of writing which frequently occurs in the classroom is dominated by teachers within the teaching practice. the new understanding of efl writing classroom is that writing instruction must emphasize more on writing activity rather than writing theory. too much theory in writing leads to passivity and reluctance on connecting prior knowledge, creativity, and idea to form a quality writing product. the goal of every pupil when they have a writing assignment is to produce good writing (chandra & ignasia, 2018). it means that writing needs a process to produce a product (febriyanti et al., 2018). it is in line with indrilla and ciptaningrum (2018) who state that the perspective in the teaching and learning process, writing should be changed from using the teacher-cantered approach to the student-centered approach. to support the student-cantered approach and promote autonomous and collaborative learning, technology in efl writing classrooms is imperative. the immersion of technology in the teaching and learning process provides an abundance of opportunities for learners to study independently and collaborate with llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 14 their peers (warni et al., 2018). technology in writing enables learners to write and share information everywhere and every time (gamble, n & easingwood, 2000). the use of technology narrows the boundaries of distance and time as offered by traditional writing. it has been further argued that with the advanced technology in learning and the emphasis on the importance of learners’ independence in finding the proper solutions towards problems, teachers should make adjustments and changes to student-cantered learning. twofold applications can be used which meet the requirement of nowadays writing trends, namely screencast-o-matic and bookcreator. first of all, the screencast-o-matic is a free and intuitive tool to record video and edit it. this tool is intriguing since learners can create a screencast video with the screen recorded. it means that they can capture their screen and narrate it to customize the video. other features provide are learners can edit the video and publish it. in efl writing classroom, this application is not only used as a playful tool but also can assist the lecturer in teaching especially in discussing the materials of the day, and giving interesting verbal and written feedback on the screen towards the learners’ writing. then, bookcreator is, on the other hand, a free and simple internet-based application that helps learners to create enticing digital books. differ with screencast-o-matic, this application can be accessed by connecting to the internet. the learners create their argumentative writing product and decorate it as creative and innovative as possible. bookcreator is a brand new application that the lecturer brought into the efl writing class even though its emergence is not the newest internet-based tool. what makes the book creator becomes intriguing is the feature it provides to learners. they can share their book, send messages, and publish their work in a forum to be read by other members. this application, in this study, was used as the medium to publish the learners’ writing product after they experienced a collaborative discussion session as well as obtained feedback recorded by screencast-o-matic. then, in operating and collaborating the aforementioned applications as well as in dealing with the writing challenges, the writing class requires proper the implementation of process approach as the way to conduct the efl writing class. coffin et al., (2003) recommend a process approach to constructive writing which consists of pre-writing, drafting, reflecting, peer or tutor reviewing, revising, and publishing. it has been advocated that the process approach to english writing teaching is in contrast with the traditional product-oriented method of teaching writing, thus brought to a new insight that this approach has been generally accepted and applied by english teachers in their english writing classroom (sun & feng, 2009). to wrap up, the potential use of technology to support the enhancement of learners’ argumentative writing encourages the researcher to investigate the use of technology for english writing inside and outside the classroom. therefore, in line with the previous elucidation, research on innovating the efl writing classroom by using screencast-o-matic and bookcreator which were immersed within the process approach to delve the learners’ argumentation towards surrounding latest issues was conducted. it was, subsequently, intended to investigate the argumentative writing of the learners as well as to gauge their responses towards the combination of these innovations. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 15 based on the aforementioned elucidation, the research questions can be formulated as follows: first, how was the impact of process approach implementation combined with screencast-o-matic and bookcreator towards the learners’ argumentative writing in efl writing classroom? second, how were the learners’ responses towards the implementation of the process approach combined with screencast-o-matic and bookcreator towards the learner’s argumentative writing in efl writing classroom? method this present study was designed as a descriptive qualitative study. the respondents were 31 sophomores in class 3a who had enrolled in the essay writing course in english language education study program (hereafter, elesp), faculty of teacher training and education, mahasaraswati denpasar university. to collect a rich set of data, the method of data collection involved the use of observation, in-depth interview, and questionnaire. thus, based on the method of collecting the research data, the researcher administered three kinds of research instruments, namely observation sheet, interview guidance, and questionnaire. the observation involved the interaction of all participants offline and online. offline interaction was done in the classroom where the participants discussed their writing progress. in contrast, online interaction was mostly done outside the writing classroom because the researcher and the participants had discussed the writing progress by collecting all writing products (microsoft word form) in the google classroom forum. moreover, screencast-o-matic was used to deliver the materials as well as give feedback towards the learners’ argumentative writing posted on the google classroom forum. responses were also gained in the discussion forum section in bookcreator. in that site, the researcher jotted down the phenomenon that happened especially in the bookcreator forum. the findings from observation and the concept of the process approach, screencast-o-matic as well as bookcreator were detailed into questions that made up the interview. the guided questions were constructed from three main points; the learners’ opinion about the new concept of learning and writing, learner autonomy, and the intensity of using technology. the interview was targeted to 10 respondents who were identified as being interested in further follow up. further, to gain the respondents’ responses towards the implementation of the process approach wherein bookcreator and screencast-o-matic were conducted, the questionnaire was administered via accessing google form questionnaire. it was targeted to all respondents of the study. this questionnaire was administered in an attempt to figure out the learners’ perception of the implementation of the process approach combined with screencast-o-matic and bookcreator. twofold aspects that had been adapted from yujing (2015) were used to construct the items of the questionnaire namely, meaningfulness and competence. each dimension was developed into 5 items; therefore, there were 10 items overall. all items were structured with responses varying from strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, to strongly disagree. afterward, the data collected from conducting observation, interview, and questionnaire were reduced, presented, analyzed, and verified (miles & huberman, 1994). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 16 findings and discussion essay writing course is a compulsory 4 credit course that must be taken by the sophomores in the odd semester. in a week, the course was conducted twice, and, especially in the observed writing class, the course was conducted on monday and wednesday. each meeting was allocated in 100 minutes. the core lesson was the argumentative essay. it has been stated that the researcher administered 3 distinctive research instruments to gain purposeful and sufficient data in answering the research questions. they were observation sheet, interview guidance, and questionnaire. the observation sheet was used to jot down every detail of teaching and learning process both inside and outside the writing classroom. the interview session was used to collect data about the learners’ perceptions towards the implementation of the process approach and the technology tools. finally, the questionnaire provides quantitative data related to the learners’ responses. the threefold instruments were used to answer the formulated research questions; a) how was the impact of process approach implementation combined with screencast-o-matic and bookcreator towards the learners’ argumentative writing in efl writing classroom? and b) how were the learners’ responses towards the implementation of process approach combined with screencast-o-matic and bookcreator towards the learner’s argumentative writing in efl writing classroom? the findings which answered the questions can be explicated as follows. the impact of process approach implementation combined with screencast-omatic and bookcreator towards the learners’ argumentative writing in efl writing classroom the impact of the process approach combined with screencast-o-matic and bookcreator was firstly issued by the observation. it was focused on the process and progress that the respondents experienced in writing class through getting involved in the process approach combined with screencast-o-matic and bookcreator forum. it was done in 2 meetings where each meeting happened in 100 minutes. jotting down every detail phenomenon helps the researcher in elucidating the result of the investigation. the first offline efl writing classroom was divided into 3 cohorts, namely pre-activity, whilst activity, and post-activity. generally, in the pre-activity, the researcher initiated the class by posing a question related to the material. a video about the rubbish issue presented to get the learners’ curiosity and build their argumentation. it was continued to whilst activity where the researcher applied the process approach. amongst the 5 steps, the step of the process approach which was firstly conducted was the prewriting. prior to pre-writing, they have introduced the art of argumentative writing. it was done through familiarizing them with basic terms of argumentative which allow them to practice establishing the relationship between claims, reasons, and evidence; and analyzing an author’s use of argument in a text; therefore, they were able to formulate an argument with a claim and counter-claim as well as reach a logical conclusion. afterward, individually, the learners were instructed to search for relevant yet intriguing free topics as their argumentative writing. they, then, were grouped into several groups which consisted of 5-6 members. they discussed and commented on each preferred topic. this activity was done to ensure that all learners finally llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 17 chose the proper topic to be developed into draft argumentation. after that, the next activity was pre-writing wherein the learners wrote down every idea that came up in their mind related to the chosen topic. after writing the points attentively, they deleted or revised the inappropriate ones, and its outcome was a better outline. the writing process in the first meeting ended in outlining. in teaching writing, it is believed that the process approach is in contradiction with the traditional product-oriented approach. it has been pointed out by harmer (2007) and badger & white (2000) that an effective method for teaching writing needs appropriate approaches. stanley as stated in sun & feng (2009) argues that the process approach treats all writing as a creative act that necessitates time and positive feedback to be done well. therefore, it is impossible to have the steps of the process approach in a solely 100-minute meeting. in the post-activity, the learners and the researcher discussed the obstacles they found and the writing process they underwent. further discussion was done to find the proper solution to the faced obstacles. here, the researcher also informed the learners to develop their outline into a draft. then the material would be posted on the google classroom forum which was delivered in the form of screencast-o-matic video. by having a video lecture, the lecturer’s instruction in the class is lesser; therefore, more communicative activities are created (afrilyasanti et al., 2017). similar to the first meeting, in the second offline meeting, three cohort activities were done. the pre-activity initiated the lesson. on this occasion, the learners were told to recall their experience of the writing process in the first meeting. the integration of technology in this meeting broadens their insights about the benefits of technology within learning. cahyani & cahyono (2012) state that learners are able to connect classroom learning and outside language use by means of the technology, and; therefore be stimulated to use the target language. the learners were, furthermore, asked to share their thoughts on the screencast-o-matic video on delivering the materials. most of them said that it was a new way to visualize and hear the materials at the same time. next, in whilst activity, the learners were instructed to work in pairs. they exchanged their draft, and they were supposed to comment on others’ drafts. various feedback is also given by several learners voluntarily themselves to write their handwriting on the board. then, all classmates were told to contribute to giving feedback to improve the writing potency of the volunteers. the researcher also gave feedbacks and highlighted what the learners have achieved and done during the activity. after giving comments, they returned their work, and they revised theirs based on the researcher’s feedbacks and their fiends’ feedbacks. they continued the writing step onto revising their draft. in the post-activity, the learners were instructed to polish their revised draft to be final writing products. it was posted on the google classroom forum to be given feedbacks by the researcher through screencast-o-matic video. the learners demand the feedbacks which used as the reference of correcting and revising since they had been able to improve their writing quality as well as their performance (zainuddin, 2004) in the next meeting, they brought their final product. the meeting was focused on scrutinizing the screencast-o-matic videos which presenting the evaluation of the writing product. after watching the video and getting the explanation, all learners (outside the classroom) started to create and decorate their own book in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 18 bookcreator. the writing product was broken down into several pages which were constructed based on the organization of the argumentative writing (introduction, body, and conclusion). the posted decorated assignment in bookcreator was given feedback wherein all learners contributed within the bookcreator online discussion forum. the interaction in the online environment decreases the barrier of delivering feedbacks or revealing opinions. cahyono & mutiaraningrum (2015) argue pupils enrich their language complexities and knowledge originated from the online learning environment interaction. additionally, the pupils’ writing quality is certainly enhanced in line with their attempts to comprehensibly communicate within the text-based online environment. the learners’ responses towards the implementation of the process approach combined with screencast-o-matic and bookcreator towards the learner’s argumentative writing in efl writing classroom the students’ responses in regard to their perceptions towards the use of process approach in writing and the technology tools were deeply yielded through the interview session. ten respondents were included in the interview. the interview was done after offline classroom and online individual discussion is done. the obtained findings through conducting interview resulted in the following discussion: 1. new concept of learning and writing that learners obtain by using the combination of process approach combined with screencast-o-matic and bookcreator the learners experience a new concept of learning and writing which led them obtained insights and knowledge through following the continual steps of writing, sharing, and giving feedback. a study by graham & sandmel (2011) indicates that the process writing approach significantly contributes a crucial role in any serious effort to reform writing instruction in the writing classroom. in writing classroom, as stated by li & razali (2019), a persistent practice that is consistent with stages leads to a good writing habit that will be mirrored through a piece of adequate final writing. further, it is also a necessity that writing should be taught as an enjoyable and meaningful developmental process rather than just merely focusing on the final product. zhou (2015) points out the process writing approach focuses on providing pupils the opportunity to discuss topics and share the ideas with peers as well as regards the activity as a recursive writing process that intertwines planning, drafting, and revising. moreover, it is always enticing to work with technology when dealing with writing. they could share their ideas, feedback, and watch new strategies in scrutinizing the writing product. they also said that having written feedbacks deactivated their interest to delve their writing potency. thus, they preferred watching and hearing the feedbacks through the video rather than seeing the handwritten of the peers or the lecturer on their writing. furthermore, they argued that posting feedbacks online helps to better their grammar. vikneswaran & krish (2015) figure out that online platform assisted the pupils to gain free spellcheck and grammar check features. in return, it reveals that the online class page is an effective tool as it enables the pupils to produce coherent writing pieces online and offline. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 19 2. the learner autonomy in writing they argued that they were more independent in continuing their own writing progress. as stated by yeung (2019), compared with the other approaches in writing, theoretically, the process approach holds the major potential in supporting the learner autonomy development. additionally, hayland (2000) states that following the process and getting peer feedback, teacher feedback and selfevaluation play integral parts in developing autonomous writers. on the other hand, wulandari (2015) reveals that writing assisted by online activity through the internet can promote autonomous yet collaborative learning as the students rely much on themselves in learning. yujing (2015) argues that the intense use of the internet in writing increases autonomy and self-reported learning. their gadgets and personal computer have become the primary tools in assisting themselves to be better in writing. in the past, they used their gadgets to do personal chatting or searching for materials via google. however, the use of bookcreator and screencast-o-matic changed their perception in which writing could be done without the traditional paper and pen strategy. it is in line with benson et al., (2002) who reveal that web-based e-learning has resulted in changes related to the instructional design for formal training. 3. the intensity of using technology in process approach implementation in relation to the intensity of using technology, the learners said that they had frequently accessed the website. they merely checked the notifications or comments they got from others. the use of the website in learning has been argued to provide huge impacts on their learning. to delve the learners’ responses towards the implementation of the process approach combined with screencast-o-matic and bookcreator, the questionnaire was administered. the result could be wrapped up in the following table: table 1. the summary of the pupils’ responses response (%) strongly agree agree neutral disagree strongly disagree participants 42 34 10 6 8 it could be seen that most pupils strongly agreed to the implementation of the process approach combined with screencast-o-matic and bookcreator in developing their writing. most of the pupils accepted the innovation in efl writing classrooms to support their writing. it is proven by the pupils’ active participation during class. they were increasingly more creative in expressing their ideas. dokchandra (2018) figures out that the lessons using the process approach eliminated the pupils’ negative views about writing. it is therefore worthy to note that the feedback provided to the pupils’ writing product is not simply in the forms of symbols or short phrases indicating if the checked parts are correct or incorrect, but long sentences to explain why the errors are counted. graham & sandmel (2011) point out several potential advantages to the process approach in writing. first of all, the learners are scaffolded to plan, draft, and revise to yield quality writing which promotes the cognitive process of the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 20 learners. second, the steps in the process approach provide instruction in writing through mini-lessons, conferences, and teachable moments which result in the quality of writing enhancement. third, since collaboration, learner autonomy, personal responsibility, personal attention, and a positive learning environment are highlighted in process approach implementation, the learners’ motivation is gradually increased. thus, it can be wrapped up that the steps of the process approach facilitate the value of the learners’ learning progress. the immersion of technology is also effective in a writing activity. it is in line with tham (2016) who believes that peer review can be a more immersive experience with online feedback compared to traditional written feedback as its boundary can make more efficient use of any communicative resources everywhere and every time. conclusion to wrap up, the result of this study recommends the use of the process approach combined with screencast-o-matic and bookcreator for teaching argumentative writing within the 21st century. the success of the process approach combined with screencast-o-matic and bookcreator depends largely on their collaboration, including process modeling of how to write arguments, analytical scoring rubric, pupils’ self-monitoring, and judgment of the argumentation procedure, and feedback from the lecturer and peers. to revive the use of process approach combined with technology in argumentative writing, it is of vital concern for educators to search for possible means in focusing on process approach and technology within efl writing. to ensure that the students’ argumentative writing will be best performed, the process approach and the implemented technology have to be rejuvenated to its best form and performance. additionally, technology is surely not an absolute replacement for the classroom because it will be beneficial if educators combine it with meaningful offline and online activities to fathom its potential. references afrilyasanti, r., cahyono, b. y., & astuti, u. p. 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(2015). an empirical study on the application of process approach in nonenglish majors’ writing. english language teaching, 8(3), 89–96. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v8n3p89 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 124 an approach in teaching writing skills: does it offer a new insight in enhancing students’ writing ability nidya indrilla and dyah setyowati ciptaningrum yogyakarta state university nidyaindrilla19@gmail.com and dyah_ciptaningrum@uny.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.210201 received 17 march 2018; revised 14 august 2018; accepted 10 september 2018 abstract this paper aims to reveal the effectiveness of scientific approach in the teaching writing skills. this research used a quasi-experimental design. the population was grade viii students of redion school. two classes were randomly selected as the sample. they are class 8b which used scientific approach as the experimental group, while class 8d becomes the control group which used conventional approach. the data were collected by using writing test. the data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics with the spss 20 for windows computer program. the results were as follows: (1) there were significant differences in the writing achievement among the students taught by using the scientific approach and conventional approach, (2) the use of the scientific approach was more effective than that of the conventional approach in teaching writing skills. keywords: scientific approach, teaching writing skills, writing achievement introduction the effective learning of writing allows the students to learn easily and fun. in consequence, this needs the teacher’s roles to assist and guide the students in order to achieve the learning objectives. for instance, the teacher has the roles in choosing and using an appropriate approach to the learning process of writing. unfortunately, in indonesia, in practice, the learning of writing that often occurs in the classroom is dominated by teachers (antika, 2014). this viewpoint is usually called as the learning using a teacher-centered approach or a conventional approach. the learning activities in the classroom are spent by the teacher in explaining the lesson, whereas the learners take notes and listen to the teacher (chang, 2011). the traditional approach is not effective to educational solutions that should refer to the active learning (kompa, 2012). therefore, this perspective in the process of teaching and learning writing should be changed from using the teacher-centered approach to the student-centered approach. one learning approach based on the student-centered approach is scientific approach. the effectiveness of the scientific approach has been often examined in the separate/independent studies on different scopes and contexts, e.g. (astuti, 2015; komariah, 2016; oktarina, 2014). however, the effectiveness of the scientific approach specifically in the teaching and learning of writing in different contexts llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 125 needs further exploration. therefore, in this current research, the scientific approach was investigated to know its effectiveness in the teaching writing of recount text. writing skill writing is how person communicates his or her thoughts and feelings by visible signs, understandable not only for himself but also for all other people. it means that when one writes, she or he can express her or his feelings and thoughts, from words into sentences and sentences into paragraphs which have meaning (siddiq, 2013). thus, writing is defined as a ‘process of thinking’ (rukayah, 2014). hence, writing is as linguistic communication, since this language skill is used to communicate to each other (quirk et al., 1985; rukayah, 2014). for the students, writing skill is a significant skill to be possessed by the second language learners (javed et al., 2013) because it gives positive impacts on the students’ life. unfortunately, the learners’ still have difficulties in writing, such as the problems of language, cognitive and content (wigati, 2015). in this case the teacher is a very important part in the process of teaching writing. as educators, teachers must ensure that their students learn something useful, beneficial and lasting for their future. three roles of the teacher in the teaching and learning process of writing are as a motivator, a resource (giving clarification and facilitation), and a feedback provider (harmer, 2002). therefore, the teacher has full responsibilities and significant roles in the teaching and learning process of writing. teaching writing skill usually, in the classroom, the teaching writing is frequently seen as a way of finishing the homework and assignments, especially at the elementary and intermediate levels (byrd, 2011). the learning activity in the classroom is spent by the teacher in explaining the lesson, whereas the learners take note and listen to the teacher (chang, 2011). this viewpoint is usually called as the learning using a teacher-centered approach or a conventional approach. it is clearly in contrast with the opinion which said that the learning is a constructive process, where the learners construct actively the knowledge, and not received passively from the teacher (pardjono, 2002). in consequence, piaget and dewey’s theories refused this traditional learning approach (pardjono, 2002) because it is not effective to educational solutions that should refer to the active learning (kompa, 2012). thus, the teacher has to select and apply the appropriate learning approach to teach the material. literally, specifying what approach will be used in learning is an important thing for teachers because an approach is defined as someone's perspective toward the learning process (rusman, 2014). therefore, applying the suitable approach can help and affect the successful of teaching writing in the class. there are two kinds of the learning approaches, namely teacher-centered approach and student-centered approach (al-zu’be, 2013). teacher centered-approach or conventional approach the teacher-centered approach generally uses a traditional approach which is based on the behaviorist theory. it is claimed that behaviorism concept that recommends stimulus-response became a prominent paradigm in the learning system in the last third of the twentieth century (ortega, 2013). hence, this llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 126 approach is called ‘focus on forms’ approach (ellis, 2009). nevertheless, the implementation of conventional approach gives the positive impact, such as teachers can organize students’ activities in the classroom and recognize their characteristics (al-zu’be, 2013). thus, this approach still has the magnetism to be used by some teachers in the teaching and learning processes. for instance, in indonesia, the teacher still dominates the whole teaching and learning process in the classroom (antika, 2014), mainly in teaching writing. on the other hand, this approach also has the weaknesses. it tends to make the learners passively receive information only from the teacher (ahmed, 2013), limits the students’ ability to think creatively (li, 2016), and puts the learners as the learning object and the teacher as the only one source of learning in which it has classical learning activities (rusman, 2014) where the learners only do and finish some assignments and homework (byrd, 2011). furthermore, the teacher-centered approach represents the passive learners and the active teacher (al-zu’be, 2013) in which the learners take notes and listen to the teacher and the teacher delivers the knowledge to them (chang, 2011), thus, the learners do not have an opportunity to engage in the activities appropriate with their wants and interests (rusman, 2014). therefore, the teacher-centered approach is not fit to apply in the teaching and learning processes considering the students have different abilities and characteristics (antika, 2014), especially in teaching of writing skill. as the results, the students’ achievement yields the unsatisfactory results and ineffective learning. hence, the traditional approach is not effective to educational solutions that should refer to the active learning (kompa, 2012). therefore, this paradigm should be changed to the studentcentered approach to make the learners more active in developing their knowledge and abilities. scientific approach the students-centered approach means the learners as the learning subject (rusman, 2014). one type of the learning approaches based on the studentcentered approach is scientific approach. in this 2013 curriculum, the use of the scientific approach becomes famous in the education field in indonesia. initially, this approach has been used in science, but recently it is almost applied in all school subjects. the scientific approach is defined as the learning way to facilitate the students to gain the knowledge and ability. the scientific approach is based on the concept of science where someone knows what will one does, how it will be done, and what the goals or results want to be achieved. science pushes the students to have curiosity, rewards creativity, and promote their spirit to ask the question, because it is intended to negate anxiety in the process of teaching and learning, particularly in the second language learning like english (kessler, 1992). hence, tang et al. (2010) assumed that ‘doing science’ in the scientific approach becomes magnetism in the learning as an easy innovation to do. therefore, kessler (1992) called science as a powerful approach to combine science and language learning. a learning theory underlying the scientific approach is the bruner’s theory which stated that the students study and construct the knowledge through the cognitive process (hosnan, 2014). furthermore, this approach emphasizes the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 127 students on the learning process to seek the knowledge rather than to transfer it. in the scientific approach, the learning process aims to support and to assist the students' learning process in finding and in using their knowledge (saefuddin & berdiati, 2014). therefore, in implementing this approach, the students are expected to be able to think critically (komariah, 2016). the scientific approach is suitable to teach the english language, especially writing skill, because it aims to train the students in communicating ideas, particularly in writing (hosnan, 2014). it means that this approach is effective to promote the students’ language skills, particularly in writing skill. this is reinforced by the results of studies which stated that the use of the scientific approach is more effective than that of the traditional approach (suharyadi, 2013) and it could improve the students’ learning activities and develop their characteristics of responsibility (oktarina, 2014). then, based on the result of research conducted by syahid and tuharto (2015), they found that scientific approach was an effective approach in teaching mathematics. therefore, the use of the scientific approach is expected to be a better approach to teaching english, especially in writing skill. in implementation of the scientific approach, the learning process applies the science steps in constructing the knowledge in order to make the students think creatively. there are five steps offered by the scientific approach, namely observing (to know the learners' curiosity), questioning (to develop creativity and curiosity of the students), exploring (to obtain more information about the object/data), associating (to analyze the data.), and communicating (to convey the results to others) (saefuddin & berdiati, 2014). those stages can help and assist the students in the learning process becomes the active learners and the teacher. therefore, the use of the scientific approach is expected to be able to affect the students' ability in writing and to make the process of teaching and learning writing becomes effective. method this research used a quasi-experimental design with a type of posttest-only control group. the population was all grade viii students of redion school (pseudonym). the sample was two classes that were established using the cluster random sampling technique. it was divided into one experimental group and one control group. it can be seen in the following table 1. table 1. the sample of research classes groups treatments 8b experiment scientific 8d control conventional the data were collected by using tests (posttest) in the form of writing composition. the tests aimed to measure the students’ ability in writing of recount text and the effectiveness of the treatments. the writing tests were given to the experimental group and the control group. to obtain the scores of the students’ writing, the raters used a writing rubric. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 128 the validity of the instruments was obtained through content validity. therefore, the researcher asked an expert judgment to verify the validity of the instruments. for the reliability, inter-rater reliability was used in which two raters were chosen to assess the scores of the students’ writing, both the pretest and the posttest. then, the scores were calculated by using intraclass correlation (icc) in spss 22 for windows. icc was divided into 5 levels: small (0.00-0.25), low (0.26–0.49), moderate (0.50– 0.69), good (0.70–0.89), and excellent (0.90-1.00) (volistiana, 2014). based on table 2, the results of icc on the posttest got high values (i.e .968, .984) with the excellent correlation rate. thus, the high-reliability coefficient of rating showed that the results of each rater were consistent or reliable in giving scores (sujarwanto & rusilowati, 2015). therefore, based on the results, the raters gave the consistent/reliable scores in assessing the students' writing. table 2. the results of icc icc results post single measures .968 excellent average measures .984 excellent findings and discussion the data were analyzed statistically through descriptive statistic and inferential statistic. the descriptive analysis of the pretest and posttest results have been shown in the statistical data in table 3. table 3. the results of pretest and posttest min max mean post 8b (sa)* 83 95.5 89.66 8d (conv)* 65.25 83.25 74.94 *note: sa: scientific approach; conv: conventional approach referring to table 3, it presented the differences in the posttest scores of two groups. after giving the treatments, the posttest scores of each group yielded quite satisfying results with the mean scores of 89.66 and 74.94 respectively. for the inferential statistic, the data were analyzed through the statistical tests, they are normality distribution test, homogeneity of variance test, and t-test (independent samples test) in spss 22 for windows where the conclusions were drawn at level 0.05. they were presented in table 4. table 4. the results of the inferential statistics sig. results normality distribution posttest sa .200 * p>0.05 = normal conv .170 p>0.05 = normal homogeneity of variance posttest .513 sig. > 0.05 = homogeneous t-test .000 sig. < 0.05 = significant difference referring to table 4, the result of the normality distribution test showed that the data distribution of the pretest and posttest for the control group and the experimental groups were normal. then, it also can be concluded that the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 129 variances of the groups were homogeneous. thereafter, it is continued to the ttest. the results of t-test presented that the sig. value(p-value) was less than sig. level(α)(0.05) (0.000<0.05). in conclusion, there is a significant difference in the students’ achievement in writing of recount text among the students taught by the scientific approach and those taught by using the conventional approach to the eighth-grade students of redion school. discussion the process of learning writing is focused on the students’ activities (learning process) rather than the learning product. it should be designed well in order to give the experiences and understanding to the students in learning writing. thus, they role is as the constructors of meaning, not as the receivers the meaning (baker et al., 2009). thus, it needs the appropriate learning approaches to assist the teacher and the learners in the process of teaching and learning writing. theoretically, the learning approaches like scientific approach are two effective approaches that can be applied in teaching and learning writing. therefore, this study aimed to reveal the effectiveness of the scientific approach in teaching writing of recount text at the eighth-students of redion school. in conclusion, the use of the scientific approach was more effective than that of the conventional approach. in this study, the researcher investigated the effectiveness of the scientific approach in the teaching of writing skill at grade viii students of redion school. this approach theoretically was believed as the effective approach. therefore, the next section discussed the findings to verify the theories of the effectiveness of the scientific approach. the effective learning was achieved if 75% of students reach a predetermined score of minimum criteria of mastery learning or kkm (syahid & tuharto, 2015). in this study, the predetermined value of minimum criteria of mastery learning is 75. the results of the posttest score pointed out that over 75% of the students from class 8b had scores above the kkm value, but from class 8d only half of the students got scores above 75. thus, it caused the change of the means scores of two groups in which class 8b that used the scientific approach had the mean score of 89.66 and class 8d which used the conventional approach got the mean score of 74.94. it meant that the learning writing which used the scientific approach was effective, but the learning writing which applied the conventional approach was still less effective. then, based on the result of t-test in table 4, it shows that the students' achievement in the writing of recount texts who were taught by using the scientific approach and those taught by using the conventional approach had a significant difference, with the mean difference of 14.72. this was in line with the result of research which found that the scientific approach and the conventional approach had the significant difference, with the mean difference of 11.97 (astuti, 2015). therefore, the use of the scientific approach was more effective than that of the conventional approach in teaching writing of recount texts. in this study, initially the class situation was very noisy, the students were passive learners, and the teacher could not control them well. they even could not create a recount text and did not understand what the recount text is. however, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 130 after applying the scientific approach with some activities, they were active, had mutual interaction among them, and could produce a recount text. the students also participated physically and mentally in developing the knowledge (sarwanti, 2016). in addition, the scientific approach could promote the students’ traits, expressed their thoughts, acquired satisfactory achievements, and had the chance to train their writing ability (javed at al., 2013). therefore, in this study, it can be said that the use of the scientific approach is more effective than that of the conventional approach. it also confirms the result of study which stated that this approach is more effective than the conventional approach or teacher-centered approach (astuti, 2015; suharyadi, 2013). although the researcher had trained the teacher, the teacher was still nervous and looked awkward. eventually, in the first meeting, the scientific approach was not fully implemented by the teacher because the teacher still unconsciously mixed the steps of the scientific approach to the conventional approach. this was indicated by the result of teacher’s interview where the teacher said that it was difficult for him to understand every step in the procedures of the scientific approach (komariah, 2016). however, at subsequent meetings, the teacher began to understand the stages of the scientific approach and fully applied it during the process of teaching and learning writing. therefore, the scientific approach can promote the teacher’s motivation. unlike the scientific approach, the conventional approach was less effective to teach the writing of recount texts. this approach did not have particular steps in its implementation. in practice, the teacher only used the textbooks and notes (muhlison, 2011). it means that the traditional approach presents students with the minimal activity where the students only sit and listen to the teacher. moreover, the implementation of the conventional approach (e.g. drilled method and memorized the lesson) resulted in limited students’ knowledge (li, 2016). in fact, the students have to practice rather than sit and listen to the teacher (zohrabi et al., 2012), and they also need rooms for their personal growth (ahmed, 2013). the positive side of the conventional approach lies on the teacher who can entirely control the class and activities in orderly fashion (al-zu’be, 2013). this statement was in contrast with the reality of this study because the students were very noisy and the class situation was difficult to manage by the teacher. hence, the conventional approach was an inefficient approach to solve the problems in education, and it was contrary to the active learning concept (li, 2016). it also focused on the teacher-centered approach that was not efficient compared to the student-centered approach (zohrabi et al., 2012). therefore, the results indicated that the use of the conventional approach was less effective in teaching writing skill compared to the other two approaches. conclusion this research has explored how the effectiveness of the scientific approach in teaching writing skill. the results can be summarized as follows: (1) there is a significant difference in the students’ achievement in writing of recount text among the students taught by using the scientific approach and those taught by using the conventional approach to the eighth-grade students of redion school, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 131 and (2) the use of the scientific approach was more effective than that of the scientific approach in teaching writing of recount texts. in a nutshell, the processes of teaching and learning writing need a creative teacher and active learners. a creative teacher surely chose and used a good approach to make students to be more interested and want to learn writing. by focusing on the students or commonly known as the student-centered principle, like the scientific approach, the students are able to develop their whole abilities, potential, achievement and behavior through meaningful and useful activities, thus their knowledge would be more worthwhile for their life. therefore, the scientific approach indeed offers a new insight in enhancing the 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(2012). teacher-centered and/or student-centered learning: english language in iran. english language and literature studies, 2(3), 18–30. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 180-190 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 180 teachers’ feedback on english syllabus with local values for elementary students ika puspitasari1, devinta puspita ratri2, and peptia asrining tyas3 1 2 3 universitas brawijaya, indonesia ikapuspitasari@ub.ac.id, devinta@ub.ac.id, peptia@ub.ac.id doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.2697 received 30 june 2020; accepted 4 february 2021 abstract the elimination of english subject for elementary school in curriculum of 2013 which has been regulated under the government of the republic of indonesia’s regulation number 32 year 2013 about the alteration of government regulation number 19 year 2005 about national standard of education affects on the absence of syllabus as guideline for teaching and learning process. therefore, on previous study, a set of english syllabus for elementary school was developed to provide english teachers with guideline in teaching. to provide students with closer exposure on local character building, the syllabus was developed based on local value. in the process of syllabus development, try out was done to get feedback on its implementation on the syllabus in the teaching process. moreover, feedback from teachers’ forum toward the syllabus was also obtained. the feedback received becomes a valuable input toward the improvement of the english syllabus. keywords: teachers’ feedback, english syllabus, local values introduction the elimination of english subject for elementary school from curriculum of 2013 has been an issue which leads to some problems. this can be seen from the ministry of education decree number 21 year 2016 about the content standard of primary and secondary education which excludes english from the subjects offered for elementary school students. in reality, it has been proven that english has provided communication skills needed for everyone upon seeing the importance of it, many elementary schools still offer english subject as extraculicular that is included in regular schedule and is made compulsary for all students. english subject, although excluded form curriculum, becomes one of the subjects that the students have to take the examination on to determine their graduation form elementary school. besides, the english score also becomes one of the requirements to enroll junior high school. thus it intriques a question as to how a student can master and pass the test and achieve minimum score if she/he is not taught english? responding to the chaos resulted from english subject elimination, ministry of education has recently issued a sircular letter stating that now schools have the authority to include english as local-content subject. whatever its position is, english needs to have syllabus as a guidance for teachers. mailto:ikapuspitasari@ub.ac.id mailto:ikapuspitasari@ub.ac.id mailto:devinta@ub.ac.id llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 180-190 181 this complex problem which can affect many parties needs appropriate solutions. one of the solutions is the development of applicable english syllabus as a guideline to be used by all elementary schools so that the materials taught in elementary schools are the same. therefore, a firm guideline in the form of syllabus and teaching materials in the form of textbook is on requiry. syllabus is needed since it is more confined to the local context and is grounded on the accounts and records of the real events in the classroom as the curriculum implemented in the teaching and learning is adjusted to the situation of their own (nunan, 1988). in addition, local values are chosen as the soul of english syllabus as they can enhance students awareness on the local identity though they are learning foreign language. learners will not only be motivated from a theoretical perspective, but will also find it much easier to learn english from local cultural material that is directly in line with their schema or background knowledge (nault, 2006; khan, 2016; kristiawan, 2012). teaching language without the local context in which it is likely to operate, the teaching may prove to be quite boring, irrelevant and un-contextual and resulting in no outcomes (khan, 2014). in this study, local values can be defined as "ideas, value, or local view that is wise, full of wisdom, good-value embedded and followed by society" (nurrahmawati, 2013). therefore, by integrating the local values into the teaching of english, the teaching and learning of english will prepare young learners to be the next generation of this country who can learn international language which is widely used and at the same time preserve their culture as well. thus, the english materials that will be based on the local values are expected to accomodate young learners to learn the language and possess strong local character which means that they will not be losing their nationalism in so doing. in the prior study, english syllabi for grade 1 to grade 6 students of elementary school with local values has been developed by ratri and puspitasari (2019). to make sure that the syllabi are suitable for teaching and learning in elementary level with its local values-based design, feedback toward the syllabus from user is really vital. for this purpose, questionnaire was distributed to teachers in the effort of the betterment of syllabus as the guideline for the teachers later. prior to the development of english syllabus, try out was also conducted and it revealed the lack of english syllabus developed based on the observation of the practice of the syllabus. this study tried to figure out the teachers’ feedback toward the english syllabus with local values for elementary school. teachers’ feedback is significant as unsuccessfulness in the educational process of teaching and learning can be triggered by theoretically injudicious top-down adjustment that pay no attention to practitioners’ and other stakeholders’ perception (namaghi, 2017). therefore, to avoid the failure, teachers’ feedback was taken into account to bestow ample of improvement toward the syllabus. the feedback given is not only about the materials, but also about media used on teaching learning that needs to be concerned. besides, the details feedback toward the syllabus was also given by teachers. all elements in teaching process should be considered to integrate local values in the english syllabus for elementary students. the feedback toward syllabus is also taken into account on what should be improved to make it better and more applicable in the real teaching. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 180-190 182 review of related literature one of important factors included in a syllabus is teaching materials. materials are described in a very simple way as "any structured explanation of the techniques and activities to be used in classroom teaching" (brown, 1995). such a description is wide-ranging that it includes books, lesson plans, audio-visual supports, games, or any kind of operation which can be utilized for the purposes of language teaching and practice. instructional materials are so pivotal for use in the academic process of the teaching and learning be it held inside or outside the classroom as they serve as sources for presentation material, sources of activities that promote communicative interaction, references source for students, sources of stimulation and ideas for activities in the classroom, and as syllabi from which the objectives of the learning that have been determined is reflected on, as well as a support for novice teachers who are still striving to gain confidence (cunningsworth, 1995). therefore, instructional materials play crucial role in syllabus. teaching instructions and materials are not only to provide students with knowledge, but far more beyond. instructional activities at schools, by nature, incompass processes to sharpen students’ abilities, skills, and character buildings which are supposed to prepare students to be highly competitive generation to respond the challenges of posed to them in the global and modern eras (anggraini & kusniarti, 2015). hence, teachers are entailed to prepare english materials not only to provide students with knowledge and skills but also to build students’ character. sugiyo & purwastuti (2017) stated that “character education is closely related to these components: moral-tradition knowledge, moral reasoning, affection and altruism, as well as moral tendency”. character building shaped in indonesian setting for young learners have been widely discussed by cultivating local wisdom which could potentially shape the characters of the nation as well as the identity of the nation because local wisdom covers the local wealth that contains policies or life view points (wahab, 2012). local wisdom will equip students with good deeds in the middle of globalization and modernization era which tend to offer something instant. the introduction of local wisdom to students could be done by integrating it to the english teaching materials. english teaching materials are not supposed to only present theories, but also set examples and provide opportunities for students to explore further knowledge and skills. only then will this enable students to develop their firm characters at their growing stages. consequently, students are more well-prepared to be ready and competitive being in the globalization and modernization eras, as well as becoming more mature integrating local wisdom in instructional activities into the teaching of foreign language helps students to keep their real identity as indonesian though they learn foreign language (albantani & madkur, 2018). the application of this concept is not only to equip the students with linguistic competence but also to provide them with cultural competence. there has been a question raised on why the local wisdom needs to be involved in the teaching of foreign language. in response to the question, meliono (2011) stresses that education is one of the suitable media that is precise and effective to generate a young generation who is able to create an inquiring mind, wise, open-minded, and constructive attitude. this general values of local wisdoms can be both explicitly and implicitly implanted into the process of teaching and learning aspects: materials, instruments, methods and so forth. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 180-190 183 besides, in local wisdom formulation, there should be also nationalism aspects as a unifying tool for the variety of ethnics existing in indonesia. at the time being, in the curriculum 2013, the affective emphasis and thematic integrative learning would provide support for character education in foreign language learning. learning that is both integrated and contextual practices can contribute in capturing indigenous issues within the culture. foreign language learning is highly relevant based on contextual learning to apply. unfortunately, the integration of local values in english teaching for young learners is challenging as english subject is excluded for elementary curriculum since 2013. however, it is still offered as extracurricular as many parties still believe that english is a vital course to be mastered by young learners. the urgency of learning english at primary school is considered fundamental by chern (2003) for the purposes of cultivating international viewpoints while students are learning english and to take maximum advantage of students’ critical period for language learning. however, pinter (2006) and paul (2003) noted that unlike many second language (l2) learners, young english as a foreign language (efl) children who have limited opportunity of english exposure and language use or have no immediate need or strong motivation to use or learn english, thus those will contribute to students’ less motivation in learning english. therefore, the exposure of english outside classroom is one of essential keys for success english learning. however, english learners have usually been taught the target language in a classroom situation (hanania & gradman, 1977). to make the materials more understandable, the english materials for young learners are arranged gradually. the grading refers to the term in which the materials are organized in the syllabus or coursebook, including the ordering of items and the pace at which the students progress through the course (cunningsworth, 1995). therefore, to promote learning for young learners, graded materials is one of the important factors to develop syllabus. after the implementation of english teaching, assessment is the significant factor to be concerned. assessing young language learners is different from testing adults. assessing english for young learners cannot be delivered discrete by skills, it can be tested integrately by formal or informal test. findings from rea-dickins and gardner suggest formal and informal tets can be performed in assessing young learners, it aims to examine the language targets that young learners may be expected to achieve (chou, 2014). method this study is a survey by design. survey is frequently used to help describing and exploring the behavior of human that this design is commonly used in social research (singleton and straits, 2009). survey research was chosen as the design as it helped in attaining information from individuals obtained from their responses to questions raised (check and schutt, 2012). in doing so, survey study can make use several instruments and one of them is questionnairre. thus, this study on teachers’ feedback on english syllabus with local values for elementary school students incorporated questionnaire as the instrument. as many as 50 teachers were voluntarily involved in this research as the respondents. those teachers are teaching english in all different grades in almost all elementary schools in the city of batu, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 180-190 184 in east java province. they were, under their consent, requested to complete the questionnaire on their responses to the syllabus for english for the first to sixth grades of elementary students. since they were teaching different levels, those teachers were responsible to respond to certain syllabus for particular grade. however, it is important to note that most of those teachers are teaching in some grades within the schools so some schools have only two teachers and each of them is responsible to handle two or three grades. once the data were obtained, they were to be analyzed by classifying and describing the data to gain understanding on the syllabus offered. the results of which would provide insights as to whether or not revision is necessary for the betterment of the product which in this case is in the form of the syllabus. findings and discussion english syllabi with local values have been developed and they need feedback from english teachers who will use the syllabus for the implementation of english teaching and learning in the future. therefore, feedback from teachers was earned by means of questionnaire that was distributed during the focus group discussion held. feedback from teachers about the syllabus is summed up in the table below. table 1. feedback on syllabus no. factors feedback 1. curriculum 1. the themes presented in the syllabus are suitable with the themes presented in curriculum 2013 2. the basic competence should be in line with the curriculum 2013 2. materials 1. the materials is suitable with students’ level. 2. there is still mentioned about tense pattern, grammar should be given inductively in skills. 3. in one theme, there should be mentioned 4 skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing) 3. local values 1. the local values are integrated in the materials in many ways (culture, good habits, local habits, local materials) 2. theme 7 in grade 5 is not suitable with local values since the theme is the 7 wonders. 4. assessment 1. the assessment needs to be more specific into 4 skills (reading, listening, reading and writing) 2. the syllabus uses thematic as in curriculum 2013, therefore, the assessment should be in line with core competence 3 and core competence 4 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 180-190 185 the feedback is categorized as 4 factors, they are curriculum, materials, local values, and assessment. curriculum is the essential thing in developing the syllabus. the current curriculum inserted in the syllabus with local values should be the next concern. since indonesia applies curriculum 2013, the syllabi developed are based on the themes presented in curriculum 2013 for elementary school (ratri & puspitasari, 2019). next, basic competence presented in the curriculum 2013 should be clearly pictured in the syllabi. therefore, the purpose of the teaching and learning is in line with the curriculum. the next one is about the materials presented in the syllabus. the data obtained indicates that the materials employed are suitable with the level of the students. it is graded from easy to difficult level. the grading is aimed to trigger the learning process through the materials ordering and the speed of students’ improvement (cunningsworth, 1995). therefore, graded materials is one of essential factors which is to be concerned in developing this syllabus for stimulating learner for young leaners. besides, the development of the materials also needs to take sequencing the activities into account. tomlinson (2013) stated that the activities in the materials can be flexible in the sense that readiness activities precede experiential activities and there are strong underlying reasons in doing so such as positioning intake response first before inpt response. it is with expectation that students will progress from what they have previously comprehended to what they are supposed to think about. futhermore, teachers feedback concerns on the giving tense pattern for elementary students. there are still some spots of the syllabus mentioning about tense pattern explicitly. it should be avoided since teaching grammar for young learners should be given inductively in skills (ratri et al, 2018). it is quite hard for elementary students to think of something which is not in a concrete area of students’ thinking like grammar. grammar, for young learners, develops at their own pace depending on the quality and quantity of the language exposure and the mediator (brumfit et al, 1991). therefore, grammar will be given integrated in the language skills offered which are reading, listening, writing and speaking while giving language input more frequently for students. in accordance with that, the following feedback about materials stated that it the materials developed for each language skill should be clearly stated in the syllabus. other than that, local values which are the soul of all materials in the syllabi has been integrated well. the local values are integrated in the materials in many topics (culture, good habits, local habits, local materials). however, one of the themes in grade 5 is not suitable with local values since the theme is the 7 wonders. it is suggested that the theme is changed into something available locally. in accordance, septy (2016) mentioned that cultural awareness/understanding may become an important issue in english communicative competence. especially for young learners, the more local the materials are, the more familiar they are for the students. therefore, materials selection which is really close to the students experience is highly demanded to make it possible for the students to relate to their real world. besides, this cultural resource could relate to the process of character building (albantani & madkur, 2018). therefore, the culturally based resources have to be considered in selecting teaching-learning materials. then, lessons from local wisdoms, in particular, may be taken from the content of local legends, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 180-190 186 folklores, special places in the village, certain traditional/monumental objects, building, rivers, mount/hill, forest, and the like. the lessons from local wisdom may contain particular meaning of norms and values to understand. the essential values of local wisdom can be delivered through social context which is to be specific through educational pedagogical to the communicant, namely cognitive (know about something), affective (formation attitude), and conative (behavior, act to do something) (selasih & suhardana, 2018). the assessment is the next entity that is considered to be a concern from teachers’ feedback. teachers evaluated that the assessment presented in the syllabus was too global. thus, it should be made more specific for each skill (listening, writing, speaking, and reading). in this case, the reasearchers do not share the same ideas on assessment issue for young learners since assessing young learners can be integrated and can be through formal and informal way. findings from rea-dickins and gardner (2008) suggest that it is not always appropriate to use informal classroom tests as research tools. formal tests may need to be used to examine the language targets that young learners may be expected to achieve. informal test like games, songs and stories were used to facilitate pupils’ learning and memorisation of english vocabulary; it was essential to use formal tests to examine how much the pupils had learned by the end of the course (chou, 2014). moreover, mckay (2006) highlighted several particular demands and recommendations regarding testing young learners, such as brief and varied tasks, pictures, and attractive typography. the syllabi developed use thematic based that is in accordance with curriculum 2013. therefore, the assessment should be in line with core competence 3 and core competence 4 presented in curriculum 2013. feedback on try out try out was done in 2nd, 3rd and 5th grades. this try out was conducted in one meeting in each class to perform a topic in the syllabus developed based on local wisdom. feedback was given toward the implementation of the syllabus. the feedback given is summed up in the following table. tabel 2. teachers’ feedback on try out no. criteria feedback 1. materials a. the topic delivered is suitable with local wisdom b. some materials presented in the try out does not really match with local values. 2. teaching method a. method used is really fun and engaging 3. teaching scenario a. it reflects local values in teaching elementary students. b. the teaching and learning is fun and involving local values in its process. 4. media a. most pictures used as media (flashcard) shows vocabulary which is close to students’ real life, some of them should be more local. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 180-190 187 5. students’ response a. students are engaged to teaching and learning process b. students respond positive in the teaching process the feedback of try out done three times in different classes shows that there are five aspects to be discussed, namely: media, materials, teaching method, teaching scenario, and students’ response. the teaching and learning was fun with the integration of local wisdom. the materials with local wisdom are given by exposing more materials on things which are really close to students’ real life. it aims to get students understanding more to the topic discussed since they know or get into it on daily basis. the local values help them to grab the materials better since they facilitate students to learn things that are dear and familiar to them. feedback for betterment was also given by the teacher-observer. it mentioned that the materials given to the students involve local values. yet, some of the topics of the materials were not something the students are familiar with in real life. the feedback was intended for 2nd grade students which was about animals. the unit discussed turtle and the teacher found that the animal was not something that was common for students in their real life. as the suggestion, teacher proposed for a change from turtle to more familiar animals such as rabbit or hen. overall, the local values integrated in the instructional materials can promote character education which is an attempt to establish morality as a pillar of life that is valuable, meaningful and efficient, as well as a basis for creating a decent society that is just and loving and has moral principles, viewpoints, moral thinking, decisions and selfknowledge (lickona, 1991). the local values will secure indonesian people's good lives in today's globalization and information age (sugiyo & purwastuti, 2017). teaching scenario used in the try out inloves local values where life skill is inserted there. life skills are an instructional orientation that aims to make any aspect of learning meet the demands of orientation. educators are attempting to prepare, coordinate, execute and assess learning outcomes by also concentrating on life skills, while learners are preparing to acquire and master life skills in order to live independently or to maximize the use of potential / self and environmental resources. consequently, life skills must be owned by every component of learning, especially by educators who interact directly with learners through the learning preparation based on life skills content (selasih & sudarsana, 2018). moreover, the media used in the classroom is flashcard representing vocabulary and words of which students are acquainted with in real life which in turn promote the local wisdom. furthermore, the media should also be in line with the materials given. beside the enjoyable media, students’ response toward the teaching process in try-out session showed good attitude since they enjoyed the activities in english class. they were actively enganged in teaching process and they took pleasure to be involved in the activities. conclusion english language teaching could be suspected to open access for foreign cultures to infiltrate. this situation may create conflict with local/national cultures and values/norms of indonesia. upon the development of english syllabus with the local wisdom, teachers’ feedback is highly demanded for the betterment of the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 180-190 188 syllabus. feedback focuses on the media, materials, method, and assessments with the integration of local values. therefore, with the integration of local values, it is important to take into account of how students keep maintaining their identity and integrity reflected in their characters as well as their spirit of nationalism. after the syllabi were revised based on the teachers’ feedback, the development of english textbook with local values based on the syllabus would be conducted for the following research in contributing good english teaching and learning process without setting aside indonesians students’ core culture and values. however, views on cultural competence in the globalization era is worth to be explored as world now becomes a “big community” with english as lingua franca. further researcher is recommended to investigate the effectiveness of insertion multicultures to english language teaching. references albantani, a. m., & madkur, a. 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(2011). materials development in language teaching. united kingdom: cambridge university press. tomlinson, b. (2013). developing materials for language teaching. united kingdom: bloomsbury. vygotsky, l. s. (1986). thought and language. cambridge, ma: mit press. wahab, a. a. (2012). pengelolaan pendidikan berbasis kearifan lokal. in prosiding seminar nasional ilmu pendidikan. program pascasarjana universitas negeri makassar. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 12 using debate activities to develop indonesian high school students’ speaking skills astri wulandari and ouda teda ena sanata dharma university astriwulandari1994@gmail.com and ouda@usd.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.suppl2102 received 2 october 2017; revised 23 may 2018; accepted 31 may 2018 abstract this research explores the use of debate activities which are implemented in an indonesian high school. the aim of this research was to find out students’ perception on the use of debate activities in improving students’ speaking skills. the participants of this research were eight students participating in a debate extracurricular club in a public school. it was a descriptive-qualitative research. the data were collected through observations, questionnaires, and interviews. there were three observations in the debate activities. after that, the researchers distributed the questionnaires to the students. interviews were conducted with eight students. the research result showed that debate activities enriched students’ vocabulary, improved students’ confidence, and helped students to become better public speakers. keywords: debate, speaking skills, descriptive-qualitative introduction a new global trend is taking place and people, especially the young generation has to adjust to the new trends. zarefsky (1996) explains that society undergoes a shift in the economy from “dominance by the manufacture to dominance by information” (p. 5). consequently, good communication skills play a critical role. the future or at least today, young people face greater competitive pressures in numerous aspects of life, for example, in college, communities, or workplaces, where they are required to have good communication skills. the most obvious example is that today’s world obtaining employment is not at all easy, therefore only those who are well-equipped and multi-skilled will be able to remain competitive. zarefsky (1996) further states that today, employers and career counselors consider communication skills to be important in placing employees in a particular position, and this applies in any field of work (p. 5). grice and skinner (1995) explain that the important factors for college graduates in getting a job are oral communication and listening skills. consequently, the young generation should equip themselves with various skills, including oral communication so that in the future, they will stand out as applicants for a job because of their outstanding communication abilities. it is reaffirmed by treece (1978) that success in career, no matter in what occupation, position, or organization will rely heavily on the ability to effectively communicate and this is possibly exceeding the necessity of any other skills (p. 4). mailto:astriwulandari1994@gmail.com mailto:ouda@usd.ac.id llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 13 grice and skinner (1995) say that there are three benefits of studying public speaking. firstly, public speaking provides personal benefits such as helping people succeed in college, becoming more informed, and gaining self-confidence as well as self-esteem. secondly, public speaking gives professional advantages such as enhancing the chances to obtain employment and helping people build a successful career. finally, public speaking provides public benefits by helping people interact with each other so that they can play their roles in the society (p. 25). jerry seinfield stated that even though possessing public speaking skills is undoubtedly beneficial, there are a great number of people who feel insecure or even terrified when they have to speak in public (as cited in grice and skinner, 1995, p. 35). debate can develop students’ public speaking skills. it gives students opportunity to expand debating skills, such as english proficiency, logical and critical thinking, public speaking, and ability to formulate, present, and defend arguments (freely, 1969, p. 30). since competitive debating aims to convince the judges that a certain team’s argument is better, it gives the opportunity to use analytical, critical thinking and public speaking skills which are useful in daily life. the debate extracurricular has been carried out for some years in some schools in indonesia. therefore, the students experienced the debate activities and they have formed a perception of the activities. this research is concerned with the students’ perception of the implementation of debate activities in improving speaking skills. the research question is presented as: how do debate activities improve students’ speaking skills? literature review speaking goh and burns (2012) state that “speaking is a combinatorial skill” (p. 13). it requires the ability to fulfill the various communicative demands through the efficient use of the spoken language. second language speaking requires knowledge of the target language as a system of making meaning and an awareness of the contextual demands of speaking. it also calls for the use of various skills of using speech effectively and appropriately, according to the different communicative purposes. goh and burns (2012) indicate speaking skills include the ability to use a range of strategies to composite for gaps in knowledge and ineffective speaking skills (p. 67). according to harmer (2002) “if students want to be able to speak fluently in english, they need to be able to pronounce phonemes correctly, use appropriate stress and intonation pattern and speak in connected speech” (p. 343). sometimes, the speakers from different first languages have problems with different sounds. in this part, teachers must facilitate the students by showing the right pronunciation through demonstration and explanation. it is abstruse for students to recognize rising and falling tones patterns. in this part, teachers should give students opportunities to recognize such moods on an audio tract. then, get the students to imitate the way the mood is articulated. according to harmer (2002) “fluency is also helped by having students say phrase llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 14 and sentences as quickly as possible, starting slowly and then speeding up” (p. 343). some important points in public speaking are understanding the topic and ability to develop the content. a speaker must know the topic they talk about, as grice and skinner (1995) suggest, “a primary, vital requirement for preparing any speech is to know exactly what to do” (p. 16). a speaker can do kind of a small research to have a deeper understanding of the topic. nicholls (1999) states that research sources are divided into primary and secondary sources (p. 50). primary sources are the people with whom the researchers have direct contact, by letter, telephone, or face-to-face. secondary sources are almost always written, such as books, reports, journals, or newspaper. after knowing the topic, a speaker can decide the number of main ideas that will be covered. a speaker should know the audience’s needs and wants so that the speech can attract the audience’s attention. however, a speaker needs to limit the ideas and check to make sure that the ideas are relevant to the main topic. according to nicholls (1999), a speaker can start by writing an outline to generate the ideas (p. 66). the speaker can use the brainstorming or mind-mapping methods, then the speaker will learn to think in a more creative way and ideas will flow. nicholls (1999) recommended five steps to develop the speech content. “first, write a rough draft. second, refine the draft, adding illustrations and changing words. third, rewrite the speech into spoken english, shortening sentences and changing words. fourth, rehearse the speech aloud. fifth, make alterations in order to fit the time slot” (p. 66). a speaker cannot deliver a speech which does not have supporting materials. effective supporting materials help the speaker to prove their statements to the audience. a speaker cannot deliver a speech do not have supporting materials. grice and skinner (1995) note that a speaker uses supporting materials to get three purposes: clarity, vividness, and credibility (p. 154). clarity refers to the accuracy of the messages. the audience should get the right messages. then, vividness is to help the audience remember the key ideas in the speech, as grice & skinner (1995) suggest “vivid supporting materials are striking, graphic, intense, and memorable” (p. 156). based on cambridge dictionary, credibility is the fact that someone can be believed or trusted. in this content, credibility refers to be believability of a speaker and their sources. debate freely (1969) points out that debate encourages effective speech composition and delivery (p. 35). freely (1969) also claims that debate is an ideal arena for students to develop coping mechanisms allowing them to manage their speech anxiety (p. 35). according to quinn (2005), by joining a debate event, the students will have opportunities to know others and gain insights (p. 23). the students can speak up and argue with others in public through debate. debate is well known as arguing ideas between two opposite sides. in school environment, debate is known as one of english competitions is held by many institutions. debate consists of argument for and against a given proportion. debate helps students to defend their opinion and express their feeling, so it is a good practice to speak english fluently. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 15 according to quinn (2005), debating gives the chance to meet new people and new ideas (p. 23). debate gives opportunities the students to stand up and argue with someone in public. debate facilitates the students to discuss their ideas and try to defend their opinion to others. also, debate has interaction role in each practice. that fact shows debate improves students’ attitude in public. based on definitions above, the researchers summarize that debate is a communicative interaction that involves different perspective and builds critical strong arguments. debate facilitates the students to enrich their vocabularies through comprehending the issue and how the way they defend their perspectives. also, students have to speak up their ideas fluently and grammatically correct. those definitions and facts above proved that debate is a good strategy to improve speaking skills. freely (1969) points out that debate composes arguments which are favor and against a particular statement (p. 169). debates are categorized: substantive and educational debates. substantive debate is aimed to establish facts, values, or policy and the debaters usually have interesting on the topic. meanwhile, an educational debate is held to give educational opportunity for students. according to kennedy (2007), debate is an instructional strategy enhances learning particularly, in areas of mastering in content and active engagement, developing critical thinking skills, oral communication skills, oral communication skills, and empathy (p. 57). mastering in content and active engagement means students have to be actively analyzing and discussing the issue in debate session. they cannot passively absorb whole information. they have to re-think their own thinking then share and discuss with their team. also, debate is a right place to measure students’ responsibility of comprehension for individual and teamwork. kennedy (2007) points out “developing critical thinking skills means critical thinking skills used in debate are defining the problem, assessing the credibility of sources, identifying and challenging assumptions, recognizing inconsistencies, and prioritizing the relevance” (p. 58). developing oral communication skills means debate gives many experiences for students to analyze, deliver, and organize speeches quickly and correctly. oral communication skills can not get by theory but by practice. developing empathy means that even when the debaters have different perspectives on an issue, they still listen each other. through debate, students are able to learn how to be open-minded to see another perspective. this fact proved that students develop empathy by debate. parliamentary debate is a debate system that is used in school debate competitions in indonesia. the debate extracurricular used asian parliamentary debate for the training activity. this debate system was conducted by two groups, each group has three people. the rules for all speakers were as follows: -the speaker can speak for 7 minutes -the speaker can accept points of information between the 1st and 6th minute -the speaker can present rebuttals, examples and new analysis llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 16 -the speaker can make new arguments (except whips government whip and opposition whip) the rules for opposition reply, government reply: the speaker can speak for 4 minutes the speaker cannot accept points of information the speaker cannot make new arguments, rebuttals, examples or analysis. he or she must only compare and analyze things that have already been said in the debate. method the data obtained were presented in the form of a descriptive explanation. according to fraenkel and wallen (2015), descriptive research explains things the way they are (p. 218). in this study the writers did not have any control over the already existing data. first the writers distributed the questionnaire to debate extracurricular members. the questionnaire was used to obtain necessary information about facts, such as their opinion and thought of a new technique to develop their speaking ability especially the skills related to speaking in a public setting. this study was conducted in an indonesian public school. the writers chose debate extracurricular of the school because the debate teams were good and had won many titles from school debate competitions. the participants of this study were members of debate extracurricular club. the research subjects were students participating in the extracurricular debate club because the members had already experienced english debates. observation seeks to discover what people think and do by watching them as they express themselves in various situations. observation used to be popular in educational research because it requires no preparation and no apparatus. there were three observations in the study. first observation observed the instructor and students’ condition during the extracurricular activities. questionnaires were distributed during a meeting. the second and third observations were done to observe the students’ improvements. extensive field notes were made to observe all potentially relevant phenomena (johnson & christensen, 2012). the writers analyzed the obvious evidence to produce a core description of the experience. questionnaire was distributed and interviews were conducted. the questionnaire consists of three parts. the first part consists of ten close-ended questions. second part asked students’ activities which can improve their english skills. the last part asked them to rate their own english skills. in this study, the interviews were used to obtain further information from the participants in giving the answers in the questionnaire. findings and discussion in the first observation, the researchers distributed questionnaires to eight members of extracurricular debate club. the questionnaire contained 10 closeended questions. the questionnaire helped the researchers to understand the students’ perceptions on the use of debate activities in improving their speaking llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 17 skills. the questionnaires showed that most students displayed a relatively strong relationship between debate and speaking skills. the results of the questionnaire are presented in the table 1 table 1. students’ perceptions on debate no statements strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree 1. i join the debate extracurricular because i want to improve my speaking skills. 62.5% 37.5% 0 % 0 % 2. i join debate extracurricular because i think my english is quite good. 25% 37.5% 37.5% 0 % 3. the teacher lets me speaking english during debate extracurricular. 50% 50% 0 % 0 % 4. i am confident to speak english in front of my friends. 0 % 87.5% 12.5% 0 % 5. i always make outlines before speaking in front of audience. 25% 75% 0 % 0 % 6. debate extracurricular helps me to improve my speaking skills. 62.5% 37.5% 0 % 0 % 7. i have improvements in each meeting of debate extracurricular. 12.5% 75% 12.5% 0 % 8. the debate extracurricular helps me to know many new english vocabularies. 25% 75% 0 % 0 % 9. i enjoy the activities in the debate extracurricular. 50% 50% 0 % 0 % 10. i repeat to learn the material of debate extracurricular at home. 12.5% 50% 37.5% 0 % the second part of questionnaire indicated students’ opinion on activities which can improve their speaking skills. students had many ways to improve their speaking skills. therefore, the researchers prepared activities list which students do in their daily life. the activities there were done the most by students in their daily life to improve their speaking skills were listening to music and watching movies or english tv programs. there were a lot of english songs, movies and tv programs. the students easily found those songs and movies from the internet. besides, seven out of eight students liked to read english articles in their free time. nowadays, they could access news from different news portals via their smartphones. the other activity which was done by the students to improve their speaking skills was speaking english with their friends. this activity helped students a lot because they could practice to speak in english. the last activity was chatting with foreigners via social media that were done by three students. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 18 the third part of questionnaire surveyed the quality of students’ speaking skills. the researchers asked the students to rate their speaking skills. however, the researchers not only studied the students’ speaking skills quality from the questionnaire result, but also from observations. from this part, the researchers found that most of the students, seven out of eight students, rated their speaking skills as good. the researchers also conducted interviews with each of the eight members of extracurricular debate club. this method was used to understand information from the students better and to understand the speaking level of each student. it was a free interview therefore the researchers could assess students’ vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar competence. the researchers observed the debate extracurricular for three times. the researchers made an observation sheet to help the observation process. the observation sheet contained six statements about the debate activities. debate activities and public speaking according to kennedy (2007), debate gives many experiences to students to analyze, deliver, and organize speeches quickly and correctly (p. 43). five out of eight students checked strongly agree column and three out of eight students checked agree on column in the questionnaire. all of them agreed that debate activities helped them to improve their speaking skills. besides, the students stated that debate developed the habit for the students to think before speaking. all of the students stated that they made outlines before speaking. in the interviews, students stated that it was impossible to talk in front of the public without an outline. their statements were in line with nicholls’ (1990) idea that a speaker should start by writing an outline to generate the ideas before speaking in public (p. 66). debate also facilitated them to keep abreast with the latest issues. the teacher asked them to read every day. reading many articles also developed their critical thinking. according to kennedy (2007) debate develops critical thinking. they could not absorb the information without reaffirming it. the teacher encouraged the students to discern information from the media, such as news websites, television programs, or social media. according to grice and skinner (1994), speakers use supporting materials because of three purposes: clarity, vividness, and credibility (p. 154). students were encouraged to read the news from reliable sources. the students said that trust-worthy information could help them to support their opinion later when they debate. the other reason why they needed to know the world’s development was because the topics which were used were parliament topics. beside encouraging students to follow the world’s development, debate also made the students to study the english materials at home. five out of eight students studied the debate materials at home. they also read any articles related to the topic, so that they gain new information and perspective about the issue. the students stated that rereading the materials at home were important because they learned the issue better. all of the members in the extracurricular debate club stated that they made outlines before speaking in public. they wrote their main ideas on their outline to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 19 help them speak. after they wrote the main ideas, they said that they could develop the ideas while speaking. the debate members developed the four-step sequence proposed by grice and skinner (1994) which included signpost, state, support, and summarize. their main ideas were the signposts. after that they developed their main ideas into statements, so that the audience understand their points. to convince the audience, they supported their statements with some evidence. at the end, they made the summary to conclude their speech. debate activities and vocabulary enrichment all of the students agreed that debate activities helped them to enrich english vocabulary items. two students strongly agree and six agree that their vocabulary increased. lepper (1988) indicates that “teachers could help students develop their speaking ability by making them aware of the scripts from different situations so that they can predict what they will hear and what they will need to say in response” (p. 13). the debate activities helped students to express their ideas in english more. in an act of communication, the students are influenced by their environment. it is proved by the members of extracurricular debate club. the students believed that if they talked to each other in english, they could enrich their vocabulary items, fix their pronunciation, and reduce the pauses when talking. they believed that their community supported them to improve their speaking skills. the feedback from their peers and teachers was also valuable to improve their speaking skills. peer and teacher feedback was always positive so it encouraged the students to further improve their speaking skills. debate activities and students’ confidence most research participants stated that debate activities boosted their confidence. one student stated that debate activities did not promote confidence. during the debate activity preparations, the teacher helped students to develop various strategies to deal with different communication situations that they may encounter outside of the classroom. speaking is a combinatorial skill (goh & burns, 2012). to be able to speak clearly, students should have enough vocabulary, be fluent, and master grammar. they also needed to be able to pronounce phonemes correctly, use appropriate stress and intonation pattern and speak in connected speech (hammer, 2002). therefore, the teacher trained the students to improve the above mentioned components. most students stated that the preparation and debate activities helped them improve their pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. however, there was one student who stated that the activities did not improve his or her pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. conclusion most of the research participants stated that debate activities helped them to become better public speakers, enriched their vocabulary, and boosted their confidence. debate activities encouraged them to read more information related to the topics of the debate. they also concluded that having more information boosted their confidence. reading different articles with various topics had also llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 20 helped them to build their vocabulary knowledge. teachers’ and peers’ feedback has helped them to have better pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary knowledge and skills. this study is limited on observing the students’ debate activities. therefore, the researchers expect that the future researchers will implement and design this teaching technique and observe the results so that any strengths and weaknesses can be identified. references altman, s., valenzi, e. & hodgetts, r. m. (1985). organizational behavior: theory and practice. orlando: academic press, inc. ary, d., jacobs, l. c. & sorensen, c. (2010). introduction to research in education (8 th ed.). belmont: wadsworth cengage learning. fraenkel, j. r., wallen, n. e. & hyun, h. h. (2015). how to design and evaluate research in education (9 th ed.). new york: mcgraw-hill education. freely, a. j. (1969). argumentation and debate (2 nd ed.). belmont: wadsworth publishing company. george, j. m. & jones, g. r. (2005). understanding and managing organizational behavior. upper saddle river, nj: pearson education, inc. gibson, j. l., ivancevich, j. m., donnelly, j. h. & konopaske, r. (2009). organizations behavior, structure, processes. new york: mcgraw-hill irwin. goh, c. & burns, a. (2012). teaching speaking: a holistic approach. new york: cambridge university press. grice, g. l. & skinner, j. f. (1995). mastering public speaking (2 nd ed.). massachusets: allyn and bacon. harmer, j. (2001). the practice of english language teaching. new york: longman. johnson, b. & christensen, l. (2012). educational research: quantitative, qualitative, and mixed approaches (4 th ed.). thousand oaks, ca: sage publications, inc. kennedy, r. (2007). in-class debate: fertile ground for active learning and the cultivation of critical thinking and oral communication skills. international journal of teaching and learning in higher education, p. 42-44. kreitner, r. & kinicki, a. (2008). organizational behavior (8 th ed.). new york: mcgraw-hill irwin. anonymous. (2010). roles of speakers in the asian parliamentary format. retrieved on may 16 th , 2017, from http://www.new.learndebate.net/asianparliamentary lepper, m.r. (1988). motivational considerations in the study of instruction. cognition and instruction 5(4), p. 289-309. nicholls, a. (1999) mastering public speaking: how to prepare and deliver a successful speech and presentation. hongkong: grolier intl. quinn, s. r. (2005). debating. brisbane: international debate education association. wahyuni, s. (2012). qualitative research method: theory and practice. jakarta: salemba empat. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 language and language teaching journal http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 46 materials and (language) learning environment based on montessori concepts christina kristiyani central china normal university, china the united board scholar for ph.d. in education majoring curriculum and teaching methodology (2016-2019) ckristiyani@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.210105 received 13 january 2018; revised 10 february 2018; accepted 10 march 2018 abstract montessori education is widely spread in almost all countries in the world. even though this school is meant for all kinds of learners including “normal” learners, the montessori education concepts used in montessori schools will be very supportive education for children with special needs. therefore, the schools which adopt montessori education concepts can facilitate inclusion, especially with the concepts of ‘i can do it myself.’ inclusive education needs to be carefully prepared and implemented by schools. the movement brings about some challenges for teachers. this paper explores the environment and materials based on montessori education concepts. the environment and materials are suitable for all types of learners and thus can be an option to be implemented in the inclusive education setting. teaching materials rooted in montessori education concepts indeed cater all ages and embrace the needs of all students. keywords: inclusive education, environment, learning materials, montessori education concept introduction dealing with the movement of inclusive education, today’s teachers have to meet the “diverse needs of all students” (baker, 2005, p. 51) including those with special needs. and that is not easy. there are many aspects to think about to implement teaching in the inclusive education. lapp, flood, fisher, sax, and pumpian (1996, p. 580) pointed out some questions, fears, and assumptions faced by the teachers; how to support students with all types of disabilities, whether they are qualified to address learnings, emotional, and physical challenges, whether they are cheating the students with disabilities, or cheating other students academically or socially (1996, p. 580). they further concluded that those teachers encounter personal dilemma; they embrace the philosophy but have difficulties with the implementation. in fact, these kinds of fear of cheating the students with disabilities, or cheating other students academically or socially should not hinder the implementation of the inclusive education since there is a clear statement from unesco about the curriculum flexibility mentioning that “28. curricula should be adapted to children’s needs, not vice-versa. schools should therefore provide llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 47 curricular opportunities to suit children with different abilities and interests.” and “29. children with special needs should receive additional instructional support in the context of regular curriculum not a different curriculum” (p. 22). lapp et al. (1996, p. 580) state that there were some labels of integration model of education, namely “full inclusion, inclusive education, heterogeneous schooling, or supported education.” however, in this paper, any of those labels are name inclusive education only. many studies have revealed different successful and fail stories related to inclusive education and still there have been pros and cons on this concept of education; among others are studies done by roger, soodak, and norwich. roger (2007, p. 55) mentions some parents’ negative feeling resulted from the expectation of mainstream education. soodak (2003) and norwich (2014) mention the benefits of inclusion related to teachers’ flexibility to identify classroom management policies and practices that promote diversity and community. department for education and skills of the united kingdom (2004) as mentioned by hodkinson (n.d., p. 253) underlined that the “major success criterion of inclusion policy was that learning environment should value and welcome all children.” one of the education concepts whose learning environment obviously welcome all children is montessori education concepts. theory gutek mentions that montessori education is based on “the liberty of the pupils in their spontaneous manifestations” (2004, p.108). a montessori education is an educational approach developed by italian physician and educator maria montessori. the reason why students with special needs develop successfully when learning using montessori concept is that the concepts developed by dr. maria montessori are based on her “continuous observation of the movements and abilities of children with all manner of social, emotional, physical and cognitive disabilities” (fidler, 2007, p. 36). she, therefore, designed specific “pieces of apparatus to stimulate sensory-motor activities through which children’s brains and muscles would work in integrated coordination, resulting in better selfregulation, social skills, confidence and independent thought and action” (fidler, 2007, p. 36). with her background in medical area, maria montessori “developed a deep interest in children with learning disabilities ….” (casavera montessori school, 2007). montessori believed in the value of manipulative materials and age-sensory stimulation in helping disabled students. she created a very different environment. “the new environment empowered her disabled students to take care of themselves and learn sufficient skills to pass a public examination for “normal” children” (casavera montessori school, 2007). therefore, children with special needs may benefit from montessori educational philosophy and carefully structured montessori environment. montessori philosophy covers many aspects. however, this paper is only going to describe materials and environment set in montessori education concept and explain why they are suitable for certain types of learning disabilities. in addition, the discussion is limited to materials rooted from the montessori llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 48 education concepts for three types of disabilities namely hearing impairment, dyslexia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (adhd). theory application education environment setting in montessori education concept montessori believed that moving and learning were inseparable. therefore, learners must involve their entire body and use all their senses in the process of learning. they need to be given opportunities in the learning process for looking, listening, smelling, touching, tasting, and moving her body (american montessori society, 2016). that is why the environment is also set to facilitate the belief. the environment of montessori education is commonly in the same design in any montessori school. for specific additional environment setting related to each disability, if any, will be elaborated under each further section. gutek (2004, pp. 108 -110) describes the general montessori education environment setting as follows. there should be enough playground with a garden. there is open-air space to have direct communication with the schoolroom. the furniture of the classes is designed for certain purpose and is very easy for young learners to move. there should be tables for two children as well as for one child if they need to work alone. it is also facilitated with a washstand equipment, upper and lower shelves. the classes are provided with a series of long low cupboard for the reception of the didactic materials. and the rooms are equipped with attractive pictures. the classroom should present not only “social progress but also universal human progress and are closely related to the elevation of the idea of motherhood, to the progress of woman and to the protection of her offspring” (p. 110). a b c d figure 1. some environment settings in montessori education (private collection) a. shelves to store the materials, b. examples of materials, c. student’s story time with circle seat arrangement, d. another shelf to store the materials llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 49 montessori materials for three different disability types this section explores montessori materials for learners with hearing impairment, dyslexia, and attention deficit hiperactivity disorder (adhd). hearing impairment is a degree of deafness (fidler, 2010, p. 42). learners with this disability have problems with language and communication (fidler, 2010). to help them in learning the language and to communicate, montessori materials called cued speech can be beneficial. in many other educational concepts, lipreading activities will be used. however, if the communication is learned through lip-reading activities, the learners will not learn as meaningful as through cued speech. fidler mentioned that “lip-reading involves a lot of guess-work and is very tiring” (2010). whereas, using cued speech, learners can comprehend “the whole of the spoken language” without guessing. so, how does the cued speech work? it clarifies the lip patterns of normal speech by using eight hand shapes and four positions together with the lip patterns of normal speech. it allows parents and teachers to use their own language in a visual form and in its entirety, thus giving hearing impaired children full to the language. figure 2. teacher cueing a story (fidler, 2010) brenner (2005, p. 39) explains that cued speech is the use of eight hand shapes in four positions in combination with the lip shapes of speech to make the phonemes of speech visible. this cued speech can be used with any language. therefore, it is also good to teach reading. brenner continues that since “cued speech has a phonetic base, it dovetails nicely with the phonetic approach used in the montessori classroom, and has been proven to greatly increase the literacy of people who are deaf” (2005, p. 39). figure 2 shows a teacher uses cued speech to help her narrate the story for the learner and figure 3 is examples of cued speech. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 50 figure 3. examples of cued speech dyslexia is disability related to difficulty with words (fidler, 2004, p. 32). it is a learning difficulty that hinders learning mainly affecting literacy skills (2008, p. 38). fidler mentions that “dyslexic children can learn effectively but often need a different, multi-sensory teaching approach, …” (2004, p. 32). the children might feel many difficulties, some of which are “poor speech development, hesitant reading, misreading, leading to poor comprehension, erratic spelling, sequential difficulties, e.g. setting dates or event in order, confusion between left and right, difficulty dressing, poor organization and/or time management, difficulty organizing thoughts clearly” (fidler, 2004, p. 32). the purpose of having classrooms with various kinds of equipment is to have balanced stimuli of senses for the learners. so by “touching the letters and looking at them at the same time, fixes the image more quickly though cooperation of the sense”. then, the activities related to the use of eyes, namely seeing, looking, observing, become reading whereas the things related to hand activities are for writing. dealing with dyslexic learners, materials should aim to train them to develop and coordinate their motoric skills (in this case hand) and their eyes. as a result, they will be ready to read with trained eyes and to write with a more trained hand. further, there are also materials rooted in montessori education concepts which can support the learners’ speaking and writing development for learners with dyslexia. first, pincer, lifting and lowering movements using knob-bed and knob-less cylinders and jigsaws. second, whole arm and hand bowing movements tracking left to right across the body mid-line with the long rods and number rods. third, squeezing and directing the hand during scissor work. fourth, matching, grading and sequencing; refining perception and classification skills using geometric or botany cards. fifth, practical life involving spooning, pegging, twisting, turning and scribbling movements (fidler, 2004, p.33). the montessori education concept also highlights the written and oral language development. the material used is the shape and sounds of lower case letters, as shown in figure 4. after the dyslexic students develop their muscles for writing, students can learn the shape and the sound of lower case letters. montessori materials use the color pink or red for consonants and blue for vowels llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 51 (fidler, 2004, p.33). the learners can be asked to do the following activities, namely tracing and sounding out letter shapes on sandpaper letters; in rice, flour or jelly, with paint and in the air during dance; identifying the initial sounds of everyday objects; playing ‘eye spy’, using only a small tray of phonically correct objects to maintain control of error; identifying letters within the environment, for example on alphabet friezes, in books and on name labels (2004, p. 33). figure 4. learning the lower case (source: fidler, 2004, p. 34) the next materials are the tracing apparatus known as the insets for design. the learners can be trained to avoid left and right confusion and develop the neurological pathways for reading and writing (p. 34). figure 5. the insets for design to support reading & writing development (fidler, 2004, p. 32) learners build on their understanding of initial sounds and early blends as they work through reading materials, which include a graded range of phonically correct words. as children match words with objects and pictures, identify similar sets of words and build on their early sound-blending skills, they: refine the association of visual and muscular-tactile sensations with the letter sound; recognize, compare and perceive the meaning of the string of letters which combine to form words; consolidate their learning through language: their spoken words, or reading, and their actions when successfully matching objects or pictures to written words, confirm their understanding of the meaning of words. in this way, montessori children have ongoing opportunities to develop and refine their ability to use the words purposefully in meaningful activities, which llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 52 increasingly reflect their understanding (p. 35). in addition, montessori botany materials, as shown in figure 6, help children master perception and classification skills in addition to promoting language development (fidler, 2004, p. 34). as children progress through the foundation stage and into primary schooling, the range of montessori language and grammar materials for construction and comparison of words, and for composition of sentences both orally and in writing, offers good, progressively structured support for learners with dyslexia (p. 35). further, learners with dyslexic tendencies can also be helped by using sandpaper letters, large moveable alphabets to be models of literacy teaching, sequencing, rhyming activities, and memory games (2008, p. 38). another important aspect in supporting reading ability for learners with dyslexia is the choice of reading topic and contents. the topic should be of the learners’ interests so that they will be encouraged to read. in addition, the contents of the reading are essential too. complicated spellings and the appearance of idioms might not be a good choice for the learners with dyslexia. (p. 35) figure 6. aids to identify the initial sounds of everyday objects (fidler, 2004, p. 34) this type of disability is related to development issues. the learners with adhd have problems in controlling their own actions and responses, problems in concentrating and disregarding distractions, problems in integrating sensory perception and problems in participating acceptably during social interactions (fidler, 2003, p. 22). the montessori education concept underlines the need to have correct environment for those learners because there is “no ‘cure-all’ for adhd as each child has a unique set of responses to neuropsychological and environmental triggers” (2003, p. 22). therefore, there is a need to have parental, school, and society supports for them. and in the school, montessori proposed good concepts, among which are the following. first, montessori education set the environment for social training. it is better for adhd learners not to be in the competition setting. so having mixed age group will give lack of competition environment as well as provide shared learning in school. this support successful contacts among peers and children will learn appropriate behavior and adaptive skills (fidler, 2003, p. 22). second, concerning the behavior management, montessori education highlights the concept of discipline through “a rule of life”. they are called a known routine. so the school must set up a good routine to follow but the routine llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 53 should extend out into society (fidler, 2003, p. 22). for example, cleaning up spills, lead the children to respond a socially appropriate way. some montessori materials related to motor skills development can also be used to help students develop their motor skills, focus their attention as well as develop a good self-esteem for themselves. the following materials and activities, using beads for training the fine motor skills as well as the learners’ concentration. in addition, pencil work also trains hand and eye control for the learners as shown in figure 7. all montessori materials are designed in multiple physical concepts and multisensory support, the weaker areas are compensated for (fidler, 2008, p. 38). in addition, they can be done from the elementary to high school and can be used repeatedly. elementary and high school materials build on the earlier montessori materials foundation. learners in higher grades move gracefully into abstract thinking, which transforms their learning. the montessori materials support responsible interactive learning and discovery (american montessori society, 2016). figure 7. left, fine motor skills development; right, hand & eye control with pencil work (fidler, 2003) those materials discussed previously are available in montessori classes and are used by all learners including learners with disabilities. gutek (2004, p. 154) mentions that the same didactic materials used by disabled learners “makes education possible” and when it is used by other ‘normal’ learners, it “provokes auto-education.” in other words, the materials can be options for inclusive education. conclusion the common setting for montessori education concept is classrooms equipped with “a range of multi-sensory literacy aids through which children make audio, visual and motor observations.” teaching materials rooted in montessori education concepts indeed cater all ages and embrace the needs of all llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 54 students. the materials are designed as natural as possible that they may represent the use of our education to the real world context. references american montessori society. (2016). montessori learning materials. retrieved from https://amshq.org/montessori-education/introduction-tomontessori/montessori-learning-materials baker, p. h. (2005). managing student behavior: how ready are teachers to meet the challenge? american secondary education, 33(3), 51-64. brenner, k. (2005). montessori and cued speech: diane therriault’s life changed forever after a car accident. madras, maa: theosopical publishing house. casavera montessori school. (2007). children with special needs: community living toronto. retrieved from http://www.casaverams.com/page.php?id=child donovan, h. (2008). the dyslexic child. madras, maa: theosopical publishing house. fidler, w. b. (2003). attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a practical montessori response. madras, maa: theosopical publishing house. fidler, w. b. (2004). dyslexia: a practical montessori response. madras, maa: theosopical publishing house. fidler, w. b. (2007). why do children with special needs thrive in montessori schools? madras, maa: theosopical publishing house. fidler, w. b. (2010). hearing impairment. madras, maa: theosopical publishing house. gutek, g. l. (ed.). (2004). the montessori method, the origins of an educational innovation: including an abridged and annotated edition of maria montessori’s the montessori methods. lanham, md: rowman & littlefield publishers, inc. hodkinson, a. (n.d.) . inclusion ‘all present and correct?’ a critical analysis of new labour’s inclusive education policy in england. in journal for critical education policy studies, 11(4), 242 – 262. retrieved on october 18 th , 2016, from http://www.jceps.com/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/11-4-12.pdf. lapp, d. f., james., fisher, d., sax, c., & pumpian, i. (1996). point-counterpoint: from intrusion to inclusion: myths and realities in our schools. the reading teacher, 49(7), 580-584. retrieved on october 18 th , 2016, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20201667 norwich, b. (2014). how does the capability approach address current issues in special educational needs, disability and inclusive education field?. journal of research in special education needs, 14(1), 16-21. rogers, c. (2007). experiencing an ‘inclusive’ education: parents and their children with ‘special educational needs.’ british journal of sociology of education, 28(1), 55-68. retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/30036184 soodak, l. c. (2003). classroom management in inclusive settings. theory into practice, 42(4), 327-333. retrieved n october 18 th , 2016, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1477396 llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 125 students’ written production error analysis in the efl classroom teaching: a study of adult english learners errors ronauli sihombing indonesia university of education ronaulisihombing@student.upi.edu astri khoirun nissa indonesia university of education astrisirait@student.upi.edu amelia estrelita indonesia university of education amel_rainism@yahoo.com abstract errors analysis has become one of the most interesting issues in the study of second language acquisition. it can not be denied that some teachers do not know a lot about error analysis and related theories of how l1, l2 or foreign language acquired. in addition, the students often feel upset since they find a gap between themselves and the teachers for the errors the students make and the teachers’ understanding about the error correction. the present research aims to investigate what errors adult english learners make in written production of english. the significances of the study is to know what errors students make in writing that the teachers can find solution to the errors the students make for a better english language teaching and learning especially in teaching english for adults. the study employed qualitative method. the research was undertaken at an airline education center in bandung. the result showed that syntax errors are more frequently found than morphology errors, especially in terms of verb phrase errors. it is recommended that it is important for teacher to know the theory of second language acquisition in order to know how the students learn and produce theirlanguage. in addition, it will be advantages for teachers if they know what errors students frequently make in their learning, so that the teachers can give solution to the students for a better english language learning achievement. keywords: adult learners, errors analysis, efl classroom teaching, written production. a. introduction in the study of second language acquisition, errors analysis has become one of the most interesting issues because in second / foreign language learning, error correction has become one of the important teaching processes. actually few teachers know a lot about error analysis and related theories and they often take so negative attitudes toward errors that they could not tolerate and tend to correct them as soon as they could find any (fang & xue-mei, 2007). as the result, the students often feel upset since they find gap between themselves and the students for the errors the students make and the teacher’s understanding about the error correction. studies conducted on the speech and writing of adults second language mailto:ronaulisihombing@student.upi.edu mailto:astrisirait@student.upi.edu students’ written production ... 126 learning found that the majority of errors made by the students are inter-lingual errors (dulay, burt & krashen, 1982). it means that students still find a gap between their l1 and l2, and ln rather than errors produced as the reflection of their mother tongue. the study of contrastive analysis has come to a further research for this issues. so, as the alternative of contrastive analysis, the study of error analysis has been conducted. research on error analysis have been conducted in different levels and areas. tulldahl (2004) conducted research on analysis of errors in the written production of swedish adolescent learners of english and it is found that errors are produced by learners making faulty inferences about the rules of the new language. it occurs when the learners is unmotivated, lacking in confidence, or concerned with failure. research on error analysis and the efl classroom teaching (khansir, 2012 and fang & xue-mei, 2007) found that the learner of english as a second language is unaware of the existence of the particular system or rule in english language. so, it is suggested that teachers should employ different and flexible error treatment strategies in accordance with the teaching objectives, students’ linguistic competence, their affective factors and the effectiveness of the error correction. the study of error analysis on students’ with disabilities also have been conducted previously, of which is dyslexia students (tops, et al., 2012). it is found that higher education students of dyslexia made on average twice and many spelling errors. it is seldom found that teachers know the theory of second language acquisition, including how the students produce errors, what errors the students make, and how to handle the errors. therefore, the present research aims to investigate what errors students make in writing production of adult learners by employing these two research question: “what errors students make in writing production?” the significances of the study is know what errors students make in writing and teachers can find solution the errors the students make for a better english language teaching and learning. error analysis was established in the 1960s by stephen pit corder and colleagues or over 40 years (tulhadl, 2004). error analysis was an alternative to contrastive analysis. error analysis showed that contrastive analysis was unable to predict a great majority of errors, although it is more valuable aspects have been incorporated in to the study of language transfer. as lado in (gass & selinker, 2008) states that one way of fulfilling the injunction to check hypothetical problems against actual learner production was to refocus on learner errors from which developed an approach called error analysis. error analysis is a type of linguistic analysis that focuses on the errors learners make that is not viewed solely as a product of imperfect learning; hence, they are not something for teachers to throw their hands up in the air about (gass & selinker, 2008). gass and selinker (2008) adds that, “focus on errors is the beginning of the field of second language acquisition, which at this point is the beginning to emerge as a field of interest not only for the pedagogical implications that may result from knowing about second language learning, but also because of the theoretical implication for fields such as psychology (in llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 127 particular learning theory) and linguistics” (pp. 102). therefore, it can be concluded that study on error analysis is one of interesting topics in second language acquisition study. dulay, burt and krashen (1982) suggest that errors are flawed side of learner speech or writing and they are parts of conversation or composition that deviate from some selected norm of mature language performance. there are two purposes of studying learners’ errors proposed by dulay, burt and krashen (1982), they are: 1) providing data from which inferences about the nature of the language learning process can be made and 2) indicating to teachers and curriculum developers which part of the target language students have most difficulty producing correctly and which error types detract most from a learner’s ability to communicate effectively. researchers have found that like l1 learners’ errors, most of the errors l2 learners make indicate they are gradually building an l2 rule system. there are some errors made by the students. politzer and ramirez in (dulay, burt and krashen, 1982, pp. 138) propose among the most common errors: 1) omitting grammatical morphemes, which are items that do not contribute much to the meaning of sentences, as he hit car; 2) double making, a semantic feature (e.g. past tense) when only one marker is required, as in she didn’t went back; 3) regularizing rules, as in women for women; 4) using archiforms-one form in place of several-such as the use of her for both she and her, as in i see heryesterday. herdance with my brother; 5) using two or more forms in random alternation even though the language requires the use of each only under certain conditions, as in the random use of he and she regardless of the gender of the person of interest; 6) misordering items in construction that require a reversal of word-order rules that had been previously acquired, as in what you are doing?, or misplacing items that may be correctly placed in more than one place in the sentence, as in they are all the time late. many error taxonomy have been based on the linguistic item which is affected by an error. these linguistic category taxonomies classify errors according to either or both the language components and the particular linguistic constituent the error affects. language components include (pronunciation), syntax and morphology (grammar), and discourse (style). adult studies conducted on the speech and writing of adults learning english as a second language have reached similar conclusions, namely, that the majority of non-phonological errors observed for adults do not reflects the first language (dulay, burt and krashen, 1982). 8% to 23% of the adult errors may classified as interlingual. interlingual errors are errors which can be attributed to the native language, for example, they involve cross-linguistic comparisons (gass and selinker, 2008). brown (1993) differentiates between mistakes and errors. a mistake is a performance error that is either a random guess or slip in that it is a failure to utilize a known system correctly. native speakers are normally capable of recognizing or correcting such mistakes, which are not the result of a deficiency in competence but the result of some sort of breakdown in the process of production. an error is a noticeable deviation, reflecting the competence of the learner. it is a systematic deviation made by the students’ written production ... 128 learner who has not yet mastered the rule of the target language. the learner can not do a self-correct to an error because it is a product reflective of his or her current stage of l2 development, or underlying competence (larsen, 1992). a great deal of the work on error analysis was carried out within the context of the classroom as one of the purpose of pedagogical remediation (gass and selinker (2008). there are some steps taken in conducting error analysis (gass & selinker , 2008 and ellis, 1997). 1) collect data, the data can be collected in the form of both written and oral data. 2) identify errors, to identify errors we have to compare the sentences learners produce with what seem to be the normal or correct sentences in the target language which correspond with them. 3) describes errors, there are several ways in describing errors. one way is to classify errors in to grammatical categories, another way might be to try to identify general ways in which the learners’ utterance differ from reconstructed target-language utterances 4) explain errors, the identification and description of errors are preliminaries to the much more interesting task of trying to explain why they occur. 5) remediate / error evaluation, based on the kind and frequency of an error type, we can carry out pedagogical intervention. b. research method this chapter reviews the research methodology. it includes research design, site and participants, research instruments, data collection and data analysis. the study employed qualitative method. in order to gain in-depth understanding of an issue, qualitative research methodology is best suited (hamied & malik, 2014). in addition, by applying qualitative research, the quality of relationships, activities, situations and materials can be emerged (fraenkel, wallen & wallen, 2012).the research was undertaken at an aviation academy in bandung by deploying purposive sampling. the participants were 10 adult learners at the academy. the participants were selected based on the level of their english proficiency in the academy, namely at the students at the end of the term. tthe researcher decided to choose them as participants for the reasons that they have learned for a particular time until the end of the program. the data were collected by asking the students to retell the story they had watched first in the form of story-telling. the use of preselected story presented to a learner in either written, picture or video have been widely used as technique in narrative language elicitation (doughty & long, 2007). larsen and larsenfreeman in doughty & long (2007) also add that non dialogue files have been used to elicit l2 english production. the students were triggered by giving a movie to watch. the collected data were analyzed based on the research questions by using miles and huberman qualitative data analysis. it consists of data reduction that refers to the process of selecting, focusing, simplifying the data in written up transcription. then the data are displayed in the form of extracted text and finally, the data are concluded and verified (miles & huberman, 1994). data analysis adapted from politzer and ramirez in dulay, burt and krashen (1982) who categorized errors in to two categories, morphology (indefinite article, possessive case , third person singular, and past participle) and syntax (noun phrase, verb phrase, verb and verb llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 129 construction, word order, some transformations). c. findings and dscussion the written data were extracted for analysis based on both linguistic category and surface strategy taxonomy adapted from politzer and ramirez in dulay, burt and krashen (1982). the results can be seen in the table below. table 1. linguistic category taxonomy and surface strategy taxonomy linguistic category and error type a. morphology 1. indefinite article incorrect 2. possessive case incorrect 3. third person singular verb incorrect  failure to attach –s 4. simple past tense incorrect a. regular past tense  omission of –ed b. irregular past tense  substitution of simple non-past  regularization of to be 5. past participle incorrect 6. comparative adjective / adverb incorrect learners’ error (she) was not invited to celebrate prince and snow white (‘s wedding) a littel baby who want to ... once upon a time tell (tells) about evil queen, snow white and prince charming she is revenge (revenged) to snow white the prince kiss (kissed) the snow white this story show (showed) about love and have (had) a child named emma because she think (thought) that .... evil queen come (came) and giving (gave) a curse (3×) and then snow white have (had) a child named emma the movie begin (began) the prince kiss the snow white the story always give (gave) a new action in every season atmosphere in the cathedral is (was) very happy before evil queen is (was) coming. evil queen is (was) very angry students’ written production ... 130 b. syntax 1. noun phrase a. determiners  omission of the article  use of wrong possessive  use of wrong determiner b. nominalization c. number d. use of pronoun  omission of possessive pronoun e. use of preposition 2. verb phrase a. omission of verb  omission of main verb  omission of to be b. use of progressive tense  omission of to be c. agreement of subject and verb  disagreement of subject and verb person  disagreement of subject and verb number d. use of the pronouns  omission of the subject pronoun once upon a time is a story (about) snow white and prince charming they (their) name is snow white and prince charming once upon a time is the story about a (omit ‘a) lovers. on the wedding day snow and (her) true love and then the story is (get) better so that all (be)happy the story of once upon a time (was) very interesting to watch that story (was) in a castle the story (was) very interesting it (is) telling about evil queen named regina they (their) name is (are) snow white and prince charming them is (they) married once upon a time is the story about (omit ‘a’) lovers every crime have (has) .... (the story / it) telling about evil queen named regina evil queen is very angry because her (she) was not invited to celebrate prince and llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 131  omission of object pronoun 3. verb-and-verb construction  omission of adjective clause 4. word order 5. some transformation a. negative transformation b. question transformation c. there transformation d. subordinate clause transformation 6. passive sentences 1. problems with formation of passive sentences  active order but passive form  passive order but active form 2. inappropiate use of passive snow white once upon a time tells (us) the story two people named snow white and prince charming once upon a time tells the story of an evil queen named regina (who) is eager to get revenge the movie begin begin (when) the prince kiss the snow white the new born child snow white and prince charming must hide a little baby who want to take by evil queen the baby is name (named) emma swan. the data showed that the students made errors in the terms of morphology and syntax. the errors in morphology include possessive case incorrect, third person singular verb incorrect (including failure to attach –s), simple past tense incorrect both in regular past tense (omission of –ed) and irregular past tense (substitution of simple non-past), and regularization of to be. while the syntax errors including noun phrase in term of the use of determiners (omission of the article, use of wrong possessive, use of wrong determiner, use of pronoun, and omission of possessive pronoun), verb phrase including omission of verb (omission of main verb, omission of to be), use of progressive tense (omission of to be), agreement of subject and verb (disagreement of subject and verb person, disagreement of subject and verb number), use of the pronouns (omission of the subject pronoun and omission of object pronoun), verb-and-verb construction (omission of adjective clause), passive sentences (problems with formation of passive sentence; active order but passive form and passive order but active form). students’ written production ... 132 d. conclusion and suggestions the errors analyzed in the present study were morphology and syntax errors. it is concluded that syntax errors are more frequently found, especially in terms of verb phrase error, like the omission of main verb, omission of to be, subject verb agreement, and subject number agreement. the rest are in the terms of building passive sentences and verb-and-verb construction. the errors in terms of morphology are about the errors in possessive case, the use of regular and irregular past tense, and to be regulation. it is recommended that it is important for teacher to know the theory of second language acquisition to know how the students learn both young and adult learners. in addition, it will be an advantages for teachers if they know what errors students frequently made in their learning, so that the teachers can give solution to the students for a better language learning achievement. references brown, h. d. (1993). principles of language learning and teaching. san fransisco: prentice hall regents. doudgty, c. & long, m. h. (2007).the handbook of second language acquisition. california: blackwell. dulay, h., burt, m., & krashen, s. (1982). language two. new york: oxford university press. ellis, r. (1997). second language acquisition. new york: oxford university press. fang, x., & xue-mei, j. (2007). error analysis and the classroom teaching. us-china review college of foreign languages liaoning normal universities, 4(9). pp. 1014. fraenkel, wallen & hyun, h. h., (2012). how to design and evaluate research in education. new york: mc graw hill. gass, m. & selinker, r. (2008). second language acquisition: an introductory course. new york, ny: routledge. larsen, d., et al. (1992). an introduction to second language acquisition research. london: longman. khansir, a., a. (2012). error analysis and second language acquisition. academy publisher, 2(5). pp. 10271032. malik, r. s., & hamied, f. a., (2014). research methods: a guide for first time researchers. bandung: upi press tops, w. et al. (2014). spelling in adolescents with dyslexia: errors and modes of assessment. journal of learning disabilities, 47(4). pp. 295-306. tulldahl, k., d. (2004). study and analysis of errors in the written production of swedish adolescent learners of english comparing the evolution of a class at two different points in time. teacher training programme. swedish: linkoping university. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 11 stylistic analysis of english imperative command mood transfer to javanese yune andryani pinem and fauzia fahmi yuniarti nasution sekolah tinggi teknologi kedirgantaraan, yogyakarta j.andryani@gmail.com and fauzianasution29@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2019.220102 received 13 november 2018 ; revised 13 january 2019; accepted 10 march 2019 abstract imperative mood (im) for javanese is strongly related to social status determining language choice. triglossia of ngoko, madya and krama are pictured in language use as well as prosodic features of pitch contour. to look at how english im transfers to javanese is the purpose of this research as well as how this process influences variant of pitch contours produced by javanese speaker. this is a comparative study highlighting difference and similarity visualized by javanese and english pitch contours with similar semantic meaning to be analyzed in pragmatics stylistic framework. imperative to command (ic) cannot take place in bottom-up situation in javanese for social reason which puts imperative to request (ir) and imperative to invite (ii) as substitutions. using sound production of javanese from jogja and solo on english and javanese imperative, intonation pattern from both languages is analyzed using praat and described in pitch range. findings of this research display cultural background of javanese in im which may be useful for english pronunciation class. keywords: pitch contours, imperative mood, comparative, pragmatic stylistics introduction as part of language learning process, study of sentence – syntax – will be on the list along with words, phrases and others. imperative is one of sentences which can be identified in structure by the absence of subject. appearance of this sentence can be observed in morphology and syntax form. beside of sentence structure in morphology and syntax, imperative can be differentiated from other types of sentence by paying attention on its sound production which is imperative intonation and on its punctuation mark which is exclamation at the end of the sentence. this term is described by verhaar (2006:257) and rahardi (2005:79) as a strategy to make interlocutor to do or not to do thing mentioned on the speech such as: pergi(lah)! (indonesian) and go! (english). demanding level on imperative sentence can be also varied based on its structure (ramlan, 2005) as 1) command, 2) invitation, 3) request, and 4) prohibition or semantic features of obligation, permission, acceptance and wish in english imperative (lapeyre, 1993). in aviation, imperative can be found both on written and verbal announcement all over the airport, aircraft and hangar. as instruction, this type of sentence can be found on manual and standard operational procedure. those instructions are written in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 12 english as aviation standardized language but can be also bilingual accordingly to the airport local language. application of imperative sentence context or imperative mood (im) is strongly related to high-low level of demand which is determined by authority factor and relationship between speakers as sociolinguistic variables. this is what han means by imperative illocutionary interpretation in correlation with construction of sentence structure reflecting mood and force (han, 1999). different level of demand is affected by speaker authorities, which is defined by one of language function to differentiate social status level in the community. this variety level of demand can make imperative sentence either really demanding which is considered rude/full of authority or pleading which is more polite pictured by the concept of face-threatening acts (fta). therefore, command imperative or directive force (jary and kissine, 2016) obviously has the highest level of demand on the other hand request imperative has the highest level of demand. in pragmatic for the purpose of politeness, indonesian imperative divided into 5 (five) moods can be utilized differently by employing particular linguistic element. politeness in indonesian imperative is considered necessary if we bear social status in mind between the interlocutors. those elements are including (rahardi, 2005) the additional of suffix –lah, marker to lower status of tolong, harap or mohon, phrase of sudilah kiranya or diminta dengan hormat, marker of politeness of silahkan, diperkenankan or biarlah, marker to invite of ayo, coba or mari. in similar, these pragmatic elements are pictured by marker coba (kurniawati, 2013), mangga and nggih in javanese or please, will you and some other modals (frank, 1972:58) in english with word distribution difference in syntax (nasution, 2015). communication style in pragmatics to employ language based on level of social status can be found in javanese with triglossia krama inggil/alus, krama lugu/ngoko alus and ngoko lugu. the occurrence comes in order from the highest to the lowest considering social level of speaker or also known as language stratification (unggah ungguh basa). as one of the biggest population of user in indonesia, javanese language is considered as national heritage. geographical origin is known in cultural centre territory (special region of yogyakarta and surakarta) as the central of mataram kingdom. whilst this language exists all over java island with several styles or variations, it is also varied as result of assimilation of the spreading of its speaker through government transmigration program to all over indonesia. no doubt, english has different construction of imperative sentence from indonesian since they have different system and cluster. therefore, to avoid difficulty in teaching-learning process, particularly in learning english as foreign language, contrastive analysis can be utilized. by comparing target language with student native language, potential pattern which causes problem in learning can be predicted and anticipated. imperative sentence is not only marked by characterized marker in syntax, but also in sound production which may lead to different certain intonation. for english learner from javanese background (l1), javanese dialect in this intonation is unavoidable especially by looking at its language cluster (protollt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 13 austronesia) which shares none with english history (proto-germanic). automatically, one language is different to another. interference of l1 toward l2 has been found in studies of javanese speaker in producing english sound. among those studies, several topics raised based on contrastive and comparative method which are applied toward both languages. in pronunciation, phonology element being highlighted are pronunciation shift (laila, 2012), interdental affricative and alveolar approximant (dewi, n.d.) (dewi, 2014), vowel duration (perwitasari et al, 2015), monophthongs production (fakhrunnisa, 2015) and english consonants (luviya, 2016). other element being observed is speech community influence (sudrajat, 2016) and perspective toward both languages (amalia et al, 2018). to look at how english imperative mood especially in imperative to command transfer to javanese and how javanese native speakers produce them in prosodic features is the objective of this study. finding of this study may be beneficial to describe and anticipate potential problems for javanese students in learning this english imperative mood. method this was both theoretical and field study. from sastra.org, all possible transfer from 10 english ic to javanese ic, ir and ii were consulted and generated. this was for theoretical research which was the first and foremost data to be used as tool on further phonology field research. all data collected were analyzed linguistically on pragmatics especially related to face threatening act and politeness. for the phonology field research, 5 jogja-solo javanese respondents were selected to produce and record all english and javanese im. this selection was done carefully by considering their family tree both from father and mother line. this consideration was taken to maintain the originality of culture and to minimize assimilation of culture as occurs in border area. these selected respondents were chosen from other javanese who are not qualified for having one or two of his/her family on line who is no longer jogja-solo javanese. each of respondents produced 10 english im along with its 2 versions of its javanese im variation (ngoko and krama). total 150 sound productions were recorded and collected from 5 respondents which were later stored into several categories of sentences. these categories were based on position of vi (initial, second and final) and on numbers of syllable (1, 2 and 3 syllables). using praat, the highest and lowest pitches were determined in hertz. these pitches were data to be analyzed and later to be drawn in a conclusion. next, the difference between the highest and the lowest were calculated to know the distribution of intonation produced by all respondents. findings and discussion pragmatic stylistics, analysis beyond the language on language structure looking at prosodic features which are pitch contours on english imperative mood (im) of javanese speakers, one must pay attention on inter-lingual factors constructing the respondents. mood is what really matters to javanese since there is three-level of language (triglossia of ngoko, madya and krama) determined by llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 14 social status of its recipient. 5 (five) categories of english im which are imperative 1) to command (ic), 2) to advise (ia), 3) to invite (ii), 4) to prohibit (ip) and 5) to request (ir) can be applied differently in javanese. in applying imperative sentence, ic and ia are commonly designed in topdown situation which means that this comes from someone older (hss: higher social status) to younger person (lss: lower social status). in javanese culture, one cannot simply command other with higher social status since it is considered impolite. regardless language transfer process between english and javanese, for the purpose of politeness in pragmatics, you don’t command yet you request, which in this case; javanese puts different im in usage. in the contrary, one with hss can easily command other with lss. therefore, language properly used is ngoko which is the lowest among triglossia. bottomup situation occurs when one applies ir putting him/her in lss. lowering speaker status in ir and honoring the second speaker enhances possibility the one’s request to be accepted. in addition, imperative marker ‘please’ in english is frequently replaced by ‘mangga’ or ‘tulung’ which means ‘help’ (nurhayati and mulyani, 2006:133) or ‘ngapunten’ in javanese which gives the sense of guilty feeling in semantic and showing strong hesitation in pragmatics. in ir, not only javanese puts ‘ngapunten’ as marker, but there is also tendency to elongate the sentence such as ‘nyuwun tulung’ which means ‘ask for a help’ for fta and honoring purpose. the longer the sentence, the more its’ politeness level as occurred in indonesian. in a situation where someone with hss give an order to someone lower (ic occurrence), both in english and javanese imperative style may occur as in table 2. social status of the speaker on this conversation is higher than the addressee as from a teacher to a student, a senior to a junior, parents to a son/daughter or a superintendent to a subordinate. table 1 imperative transfer process from english to javanese english (ic) javanese ic (top-down) ngoko ir (bottom-up) krama bring the bags gawakna tase tulung bektakaken tasipun open the door bukaken lawange tulung bikaken lawangipun hurry up cepeta mangga enggal stop mandhega mangga kendel sit down linggiha mangga lenggah switch off the light pateni lampune ngapunten, pejahaken lampu menika wake up tangia bapak, wungu, pak get out metua mbah, medal rumiyin wash your cloth kumbahen klambimu nggirahi agemanipun, bu stand up ngadega panjenengan jumeneng source: www.sastra.org several distinctive characteristics can be found to depict imperative in javanese in form of suffix after a directive force. those suffixes adding give imperative meaning on verb. among of suffixes in ngoko, there are suffix-na (gawakna), llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 15 suffix-en (bukaken, kumbahen), suffix-a (cepeta, mandhega, linggiha, metua, ngadega), and suffix-i (pateni). in krama, suffix can be found are –aken (betakaken, bikaken, pejahaken) and –i (nggirahi). table 2 english and javanese imperative to command language imperative sentence distinctive im feature english (ic) “bring the bags” verb imperative (vi) in directive force javanese (ic) “gawakna tase” vi (ngoko) + suffix –na javanese (ir) “tulung bektaken tas menika” “nyuwun tulung bektaken tasipun” politeness marker + vi (krama) + suffix –aken (1a) asking marker + politeness marker + vi (krama) + suffix-aken (1b) imperative feature found to depict ‘bring the bags’ in javanese is suffix-na after a directive force. this force is represented by gloss in ngoko (‘gawa’ or ‘bring’). however, there is a difference when someone with lss wishes to give an order to someone higher. this is where im switches from ic to ir. requesting imperative occurs as in table 2. this is defined as a wish because this situation will never occur in a normal javanese context. speakers of this imperative context are the same with what can be found on table 1, yet in opposite direction (bottom-up) as from a student to a teacher, a junior to a senior, a son/daughter to parents or a subordinate to a superintendent. in bottom-up situation, there will be a noticeable change showed by the appearance of krama vi which is higher in language level replacing gawa (ngoko) to bekta (krama). along with this changing diction, the sentence is also elongate into more than 2 words by additional adverbs functioned as distinctive im feature signing the transition of im (command to request/invitation) in javanese. these features have different meaning based on various markers as follows: (1a) politeness marker as the language switch from ngoko to krama in vi (gawa to bekta), the sentence elongates by the presence of javanese adverbs. instead of merely saying ‘gawakna’, distinctive im feature uses two words with additional politeness marker ‘tulung’ means ‘please help’ or ‘please’ to the vi. this marker is available to use in any javanese ir to increase politeness level in requesting someone to do or don’t do something. (1b) asking marker + politeness marker second version of javanese ir adds ‘nyuwun’ means ‘asking for’ in front of politeness marker, which only means that the latter is more polite than the first because it is longer. in additional, not only imperative distinctive feature, but there is also a shift from a single noun ‘tas’ into phrasal noun ‘tas menika’ or suffix-e ‘tase’ into suffix-ipun ‘tasipun’ to give politeness impression when pointing the noun. in context, different impression between both glosses in ngoko and krama llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 16 javanese which means ‘the bags’ can be portrayed by the usage of index finger facing downward (tase) and thumbs or open palm facing upward (tasipun and tas menika) toward the referent noun. table 3 english imperative to command and javanese imperative to request and to invite language imperative sentence distinctive im feature english (ic) “switch off the light” vi javanese (ir) “ngapunten, tulung pejahaken lampunipun” guilty marker + politeness marker + vi (krama) + suffix –aken (2) english (ic) “stop”; “hurry up”; “sit down” vi/phrasal vi javanese (ir) “mangga kendel”; “mangga enggal”; “mangga lenggah” invitation marker + vi (krama) (3) english (ic) “wake up”; get out”; “stand up”; “wash your cloth, mum/madam” vi/phrasal vi javanese (ir) “bapak, wungu, pak”; “mbah, medal rumiyin”; “panjenengan manga jumeneng” “nggirahi agemanipun, bu” honorific marker (hm) + vi (krama) or verb (krama) + repetitive hm (4a) hm + vi (krama) + rumiyin (first, ahead) (4b) vi (krama) + suffix-i + honorific marker (4c) (2) guilty marker ‘ngapunten’ directly can be translated as ‘sorry’. therefore by having this term in an imperative sentence gives semantic meaning of apologizing. in pragmatic, this state shows strong hesitant from the speaker toward the addressee of asking or telling him/her to do something. again, this gives clear stratification between the speakers. having this marker elongates the sentence since there are still politeness marker and vi with suffix afterward. the usage of ‘pejah’ is representing the highest gloss of krama which are ‘mati’ (switch off) in ngoko. (3) invitation marker instead of using directive words, in transfer process of english ic with single gloss, javanese invitation marker is added in imperative represented by lexicon ‘mangga’ means ‘go ahead’. this occurrence of invitation marker is caused by hesitation to use only single word to ask someone older to do something. this marker has similarity with ‘please’ in english to avoid fta toward addressee. basically, by only putting this marker in front of any command along with krama gloss will increase politeness level in imperative. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 17 (4) honorific marker another marker used to give politeness in ic is the occurrence of address form before (‘bapak’ (‘dad’ or ‘sir’) or ‘mbah’ (‘grandma’ or ‘granddad’ since it is genderless) for specific term or ‘panjenengan’ (formal ‘you’ or ’vous’ in french) for general term 4a) and after (‘bu’ means ‘mum, mam or madam’ 4b) krama verb. as in the occurrence of invitation marker, this address form also functions to save a hss addressee from fta of being asked to do something using only a single word by a lss imperative operator. to say directive illocutionary force toward a hss addressee along with his/her address form will honor him/her and therefore switch ic to ir in javanese. further, there is also a tendency to repeat the address in a shorten version as a way to put the addressee more in higher position. (‘bapak wungu, pak’→ bapak tobe shortened as pak. second version of this usage of hm is the additional final of rumiyin which closely means ‘first’ or ‘ahead’ (4b). this word is an act of positioning the interlocutor as the first to honor her/him therefore is also considered as honorific marker. finally, in addition, the word ‘nggirah’ means ‘wash’ is followed by suffix-i to give imperative meaning to order (4c). what to keep in mind about these markers is that they are all interchangeable as adverb. there is no boundary to keep a certain marker in particular sentence only, yet it is free to be used in other sentence. therefore, for one imperative order, one can have several variations of sentences according to his/her language style. im switch during language transfer although word-to-word transfer is possible from english ic to javanese, yet, because of social level and politeness purpose, english ic must be switched to other im in javanese. this shift is necessary to keep the conversation as natural as in real javanese context. direct transfer from english ic to javanese ic will give awkward and unusual situation when it occurs in bottom-up circumstance. not only by the word choice and im switch, but in context many times this change is also pictured by body gesture (bowing toward the addressee) and low tone sound. ‘stop’ → ‘mandega’ → ‘mangga kendel’ [english command/ec] → [ngoko command/ngc] → [krama invitation/kri] ‘get out’ → ‘metua’ → ‘bapak, wungu, pak’ [english command/ec] → [ngoko command/ngc] → [krama request/krr] picture 1 im switch in english-javanese transfer proses english ic javanese ic javanese ir javanese ii llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 18 b. pitch contours profile beside those linguistic elements to indicate im, imperative sentence can also be recognized by the prosodic feature of pitch contours. english im sound production is depicted on pitch, which is transcribable in tobi as h*!h-l% (jeong and condoravdi, 2018). as mentioned earlier, ic and ir have difference in tone. hypothetically, the first can be louder/higher in pitch than the latter considering direction of the order whether top-down or bottom-up. however, this may depend on vi configuration as nuclear of the sentence, whether sentence-initial or final (feldhausen, brehm, & lausecker, 2014). for im transfer from english to javanese, there are three positions of vi based on mood‘s interpretation on sentence structure. pitch h/l range 150 imperative sentences both in english and javanese are produced and recorded by 5 native jogja-solo javanese. in both language, each respondent produce by merely reading the sentence without any additional context as to whom the sentence is addressed. however, since there is an indicator in the body of the sentence represented by gloss, in javanese imperative sentence, each respondent is able to create context spontaneously and act out the sentence as in normal situation. each of production in sentence is measured in hertz to know the highest and the lowest pitch score. in a diagram, all high and low pitches are presented as follows: picture 2. as depicted by picture 2, maximal pitch for all english ic production is higher than minimal pitch in average. however, there is one condition where maximal pitch is lower than average maximal pitch in overall. it is presented by pitch contour in english im ‘wash’ (199.33 hz) which is produced by r1 who is a male. even though this particular vi is in one syllable, this occurrence happens in more than one syllable imperative sentence ‘wash your cloth’. since sound production is 100,00 200,00 300,00 400,00 500,00 600,00 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 p it ch i n h e rt z english imperative command by javanese respondent high low llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 19 affected by its surrounding, it is common to have declining in pitch in a longer sentence. it is supported by the fact that regardless his low maximal pitch compared to others, this respondent constantly produces lower minimal pitch (130.74 hz) in exactly the same vi. different phenomena can be found in abnormality of r1 when producing ‘bring’. this vi is also in one syllable, but come in a longer sentence ‘bring the bags’. it results in a significant range between high and low pitch (513.08/79.95). there is also one range production which is quite different. it is pitch range produced by r3 – a female – with h/l range between 425.15 hz and 220.90 occurred on more than one syllable vi ‘wake up’. picture 3. there is not much that picture 3 can portray except that there is a consistency of pitch range produced by all respondents. this is not so surprising since this occurrence reveals in more than one syllable of vi. of course there will be a tendency to retreat sound on that position therefore the high pitch will be withdrawn by the low and on reverse. as in english imperative, r1 reveals substantially lower high pitch compared to others. repetitively, he does this to a series of three syllables vi. however, he also shows a very distinctive range of h/l on javanese ‘gawakna’ from ‘gawakno tas kuwi’ (372.18/97.83) and ‘bukaken’ from ‘bukaken lawange’ (416.39/77.58). in average, this range difference is more than ten times bigger in number compared to his closest h/l range on ‘ngadega’ (191.23/161.07). this condition is also triggered by length of sentence. both ‘gawakna’ and ‘bukaken’ appears in a longer syllables of a complete sentence ‘gawakna tase’ and ‘bukaken lawange’, while ‘ngadega’ although emerges in 3 syllables yet it is only one in one word of imperative sentence. similar with this circumstance, other respondents also give the identical pattern of ‘gawakna’ and ‘bukaken’. 50,00 100,00 150,00 200,00 250,00 300,00 350,00 400,00 450,00 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 p it ch i n h e rt z javanese ngoko imperative by javanese respondent high low llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 20 picture 4 surprisingly, r1 who is a male respondent produces repetitively lower high pitch production on javanese krama compared to other respondents. however, looking at low pitch position, it can be said that both male respondents are able to maintain relatively close low pitch production between above 50 hz to less than 150 hz. nevertheless, r5 depicts significantly different range of pitch. by considering range pattern between high and low pitch production, r5 shows a substantial range on vi on imperative sentences with more than two words. this difference of ranges are demonstrated on ‘jumeneng’ (417,66/69,15), ‘medal’ (355,41/90,86) and ‘kendel’ (306,44/90,87). it seems that r5– while constantly maintain lower pitch tend to put distinctive range of high and low pitch in long imperative sentences to make his sentence more politely. picture 5 50,00 100,00 150,00 200,00 250,00 300,00 350,00 400,00 450,00 500,00 0 10 20 30 40 50 p it ch i n h e rt z javanese krama imperative by javanese respondent high low 50,00 100,00 150,00 200,00 250,00 300,00 350,00 400,00 450,00 500,00 1 ,0 0 3 ,0 0 5 ,0 0 7 ,0 0 9 ,0 0 1 1 ,0 0 1 3 ,0 0 1 5 ,0 0 1 7 ,0 0 1 9 ,0 0 2 1 ,0 0 2 3 ,0 0 2 5 ,0 0 2 7 ,0 0 2 9 ,0 0 3 1 ,0 0 3 3 ,0 0 3 5 ,0 0 3 7 ,0 0 3 9 ,0 0 4 1 ,0 0 4 3 ,0 0 4 5 ,0 0 4 7 ,0 0 4 9 ,0 0 h/l english h/l ngoko h/l krama llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 21 looking at the distribution of each difference of high and low pitch produced in english, javanese ngoko and javanese krama, clearly that each respondent has his/her own style in delivering imperative sentence. however, it can be seen that range high pitch to low pitch in english and ngoko ic – pictured by the black and orange line – has too much irregularity. it can be sometimes bold and noteworthy, yet in other production it can be insignificant. this free style in english ic is considered normal because with no category in social level, it is function to give order to interlocutor. on the other hand, imperative sentence in krama consistently are able to be maintained in small range of high pitch and low pitch except for r5 who does this to make his imperative krama more politely. therefore, having the same randomness in pattern, javanese ngaka is the closest in intonation for english ic transfer, while javanese krama may represent other im in english. conclusion in order to make it as natural as possible, english ic transfer to javanese can be done in three different ways. first, direct command mood can be transfer into javanese command mood in ngaka which occurs in top-down situation. in bottom-up situation, it is considered impolite to order someone in higher status, therefore im changes to requesting and inviting. this change of im represented by the occurrence of krama vi, several distinctive im features and elongate sentence. from irregularity of high/low pitch range shared by english and ngoko ic, it can be generated that even though all respondents does not have any context in mind about each imperative sentence, yet all are able to put similarity between giving an order in english with giving an order in ngoko. without context, it is clear that english ic and javanese ngoko is similar in intonation pattern showing that speech community does not put any border between high-low social status and imperative command is meant to be delivered freely with no social boundaries. in contrast, because of difference in gloss, all respondent are able to set abstract context in mind about giving an order in bottom-up situation. spontaneously, all respondents are able to maintain intonation in low pitch as a sign of respect toward interlocutor. in addition to this phenomenon, there is also a repetitive small range of difference between high and low pitch in general. this research limits at the possible transfer of english ic to javanese and how it can be seen in the production of intonation. however, this study is still potential to develop more by looking at socio-pragmatic features of english ic affecting in the production of intonation. there is also phonological rule in short and long sentence that may affect in the position of highest and lowest pitch which has not being observed in this exploration. references amalia, s. d., laila, m., & adityarini, h. (2017). the place of javanese english among globally known varieties of englishes in asia. urecol, 123-128. retrieved on 31 july 2018 from http://journal.ummgl.ac.id/index.php/urecol/article/view/1181. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 22 brehm, a., lausecker, a., & feldhausen, i. (2014). the intonation of imperatives in mexican spanish. proceedings of the 10th international seminar on speech production (issp), köln (germany), 5-8. carretero, l. m. (1993). a semantic-pragmatic analysis of the english imperative. estudios ingleses de la universidad complutense, (1), 55-68. dewi, p. p. (2014). an analysis of interference from javanese in the pronunciation of ᶿ, ᶞ and  in english by the students of faculty of letters in gajayana university. eltics: english language teaching and english linguistics, 1(1). fakhrunnisa. (2015). indonesian-javanese student’s pronunciation of english monophthongs. faculty of adab and cultural sciences. uin suka yogyakarta. a graduation paper. frank, m. (1972). modern english: a practical reference guide. new jersey: prentice-hall. han, c.-h. (1999). the structure and interpretation of imperative mood and force in universal grammar. outstanding of dissertation, university of pennsylvania. jary, m. & kissine, m. (2016). when terminology matters: the imperative as a comparative concept. linguistics, 54(1), 119-148. jeong, s. & condoravdi, c. (2018). imperatives and intonation: the case of the down-stepped level terminal contour. 35th west coast conference on formal linguistics, 214-223. somerville, ma: cascadilla proceedings project. kurniawati, d. w. (2013). a contrastive analysis of imperative sentences between english and javanese language. graduation paper. salatiga: stain. laila, m. (2012). pronunciation quality of javanese of esl students in producing the english sound: a case study of javanese esl students in tertiary level. uns journal of language studies 57, 1(1). luviya, s. (2016). mispronunciation of some english consonants by javanese students in english literature of sanata dharma university. doctoral dissertation, sanata dharma university. nasution, f. f y. (2015). analisis kontrastif kalimat imperatif bahasa indonesia dan bahasa inggris. doctoral dissertation, universitas gadjah mada. nurhayati, e. & mulyani, s. (2006). linguistik bahasa jawa: kajian fonologi, morfologi, sintaksis dan semantik. yogyakarta: bagaskara. perwitasari, a., klamer, m., witteman, j., & schiller, n. o. o. (2015). vowel duration in english as a second language among javanese learners. international conference on phonetic sciences. rahardi, r. k. (2005). pragmatik: kesantunan imperatif bahasa indonesia. yogyakarta: erlangga. ramlan, m. (2005). ilmu bahasa indonesia: sintaksis. yogyakarta: cv. karyono. sudrajat, a. (2016). an analysis of english pronunciation based on student speech community at english education study program. english education program. teacher training and education faculty. university of lampung. verhaar, j. w. m. (2006). asas-asas linguistik umum. yogyakarta: gadjah mada university press. llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 19 feminist refiguring of la malinche in sandra cisneros’ never marry a mexican dian natalia sutanto els sanata dharma university (dian_natalia_s@yahoo.co.uk) abstract la malinche, the mistress of spanish conquistador hernán cortés, has evolved from a historical figure into mexican national myth that connotes all the negative aspects of woman’s sexuality in mexican and mexican-american culture. sandra cisneros in her never marry a mexican reinterpretsla malinchein a more positive light and points out how women sexuality can be the site for women empowerment.by drawing on insights from feminist theories on motherhood, marriage, and incest taboo, this study identifies the way cisneros revises the negative image of la malinche as a dupe, passive and submissive mistress. this study identifies that cisneros has created a strong protagonist character named clemencia, who exerts her subjectivity and claims for her sexual agency totransgress patriarchal construction of woman passive sexuality, imposition of maternal identity as asexual mother and taboo on incestuous relationship. cisneros’s la malinche is no longer depicted as the victim duped by the patriarchy, but as the survivor who is able to preserve her sense of herself in the dominating patriarchal world. keywords: feminist refiguring, la malinche, mexican-american literature a. introduction sandra cisneros is a hispanic american novelist, short-story writer, essayist, and poet whose works bring the perspective of mexican american women into the american literary mainstream. in her short story never marry a mexican, one of the short stories in the collection women hollering creek, cisneros reinterprets historical figure that has constructed the sexual and maternal identities of mexican and mexican-american women, la malinche the whore, lover of foreigners, mistress, and traitor. the figure of la malinche has been connoted negatively in mexican culture as a representative of native land conquest by spain in particular, and outsiders in general. la malinche was an aztec woman who became the translator and mistress of the sixteenth century spanish conquistador hernán cortés. her role as cortes’ translator had significantly contributed to the downfall of aztec and imposition of spanish rule over the native peoples. besides, as cortes’ mistress, la malinche had borne a son for cortés, don martin, the first mestizo, or mexican, thus ushering the pollution of native ancestry with european blood. la malinche indeed had unique positions both as the creator and the destroyer. on the one hand, she was considered as the mexican eve or the mother of the mexican race. on the other hand, her sexual complicity with the white man had brought the downfall of her native culture. la malinche has been seen with shame and contempt by the mexicans because of her role in the destruction of the native culture. the figure of la malinche has come to represent the rape of the indigenous people and their land by the spanish conquistadors in mexican and mexican-american mythology 20 (wolfe, 2013).la chingada, the ‘penetrated one,’ is commonly associated with la malinche (wolfe, 2013:7). la malinche has been an iconic mythical figure behind the construction of the gender stereotype in mexican and mexican-american culture in which men are seen as dominating and active, whereas women are submissive and sexually inactive. in contemporary mexican and mexican-american culture, la malinche is iconic for women who depend on men for social advancement, conformity and security and are later left violated or abandoned (campbell, 2004). moreover, according to krauss negative interpretation on the figure of la malinche in mexican national myth has been responsible for the men’s low perceptions of women which are evident in the nation’s current high rate of infidelity and domestic violence (campbell, 2004). during the 1970s the paradigm of la malinche as the victim is prevalent among mexican and mexican american feminist writers (townsend, 2006). however, in the 1980s and 1990s a number of feminist writers adjusted this notion that la malinche perhaps is not entirely victimized, but a resourceful and intelligent survivor (townsend, 2006). recent mexican-american feminist writers have endeavored to recover la malinche’s negative image as a traitorous whore by claiming her power as a strong female figure who is able to survive between the two worlds and disrupt patriarchy. according to cypress, la malinche’s role as translator and white man’s spokesperson has disrupted the patriarchy on both the indigenous and european sides (wolfe, 2013). her language ability has helped her to negotiate her power between the spanish and indian culture and thus, helps her to survive. moreover, her maternity is interpreted by the feminist writers in a more positive light because it has created the new mixed-blood race, the mexican. cisneros’s never marry a mexican joins that of many feminist writers who attempt to reinterpret the figure of la malinche in the positive light a survivor, rather than as a victim of patriarchal domination. cisneros is particularly interested in revising the negative representation of la malinche as a passive and submissive mistress. she creates a female protagonist, clemencia, who shares some similar characteristics with la malinche. similar to la malinche who lives between two worlds and cultures, the spanish and the indian, clemencia also lives between two cultures, the mexican and american. both of them are working as translator to mediate the communication between the two cultures. both of them are the mistress of white man and suffer from betrayal. the difference is that, to revise the negative image of la malinche as a dupe, a passive and submissive mistress, cisneros creates clemencia as a strong woman who exerts her sexual agency and transgresses the patriarchal construction of woman passive sexuality and maternal identity. in never marry a mexican cisneros points out that women sexuality can be the site for women empowerment. cisneros’s la malinche is no longer depicted as the victim duped by the patriarchy, but as the survivor who is able to preserve her sense of herself in the dominating patriarchal world. b. feminist refiguring of la malinche in sandra cisneros’ never marry a mexican never marry a mexican is told from the perspective of the heroine, clemencia, in a form of monologue to recount her inharmonious family life and her sexual life and affair with married men. clemencia is born from a mexican father and a mexicanamerican mother. because of the cultural discrepancy, her family life is not harmonious. her chicana mother cannot meet the gender using english movie as an attractive strategy to teach senior high school students .... llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 21 expectancy of his father. as a mexican, his father demands for a typical submissive wife and mother. being unhappy as mexican’s man wife, clemencia’s mother always warns her for never marrying a mexican. never marry a mexican, my ma said once and always. she said this because of my father. she said this though she was mexican too. but she was born here in the u.s. and he was born there and it’s not the same, you know. (cisneros, 1991: 68) defying the expected gender role, clemencia’s mother cheats on her father while her father is sick and bedridden. her mother has an affair with a white man, the foreman at the photofinishing plant where she works. her mother’s agency and transgression of patriarchal prescribed gender role and racial difference certainly impresses clemencia, thus she follows her mother’s defiance. she follows her mother ‘s counsel for not marrying a mexican man which she arbitrarily interprets and expands to include all latino men. mexican men, forget it. for a long time the men clearing off the tables or chopping meat behind the butcher counter or driving the bus i rode to school every day, those weren’t men. not men i considered as potential lovers. mexican, puerto rican, cuban, chilean, colombian, panamanian, salvadorean, bolivian, honduran, argentine, dominican, venezuelan, guatemalan, ecuadorean, nicaraguan, peruvian, costa rican, paraguayan, uruguayan. i don’t care. i never saw them. my mother did this to me. (cisneros, 1991: 69) clemencia has misinterpreted her mother’s counsel because what her mother means as mexican is the mexican descent like her father. she arbitrarily interprets it that it is okay to have an affair with a white man as her mother does. hence clemencia follows her mother’s defiance by having an affair with his art teacher, a married white man named drew. this affair has deeply affected clemencia because she comes to love drew deeply. however, for drew, clemencia is just his la malinche, his courtesan, his mistress, his sexual object that does not need to be committed to and can be abandoned anytime he wishes. after his wife has borne a son, he makes love with clemencia for the last time before he breaks the liaison. this betrayal deeply affects clemencia’s love life in the future. besides being betrayed by drew, clemencia has also been betrayed by her mother. after marrying her white lover, her mother becomes powerless under her white husband’s domination. her new husband and son take over clemencia family’s house. clemencia and her sister are soon ousted from their own house. clemencia feelsbetrayed by her mother submissiveness. she cannot accept that her mother has cheated her father and abandoned her family just for being dominated by another man. she witnesses how marriage is complicit with patriarchy to oppress women. marriage and nuclear family become primary patriarchal institutions to enslave woman sexually, physically, emotionally, and economically. according to rowland and klein (1996) the enslavement can be done through physical manifestation in assault, economic manifestation in male control of resources and decision-making, ideological control through the socialization of women and children, and control on women’s energy in emotional and physical servicing of men and children the enslavement of clemencia’s mother by her new husband is manifested in the male control of economic resources and decision-making that make clemencia and her sister get ousted from their own house. 22 having betrayed both by her white lover and her mother, clemencia decides to never submit herself into marriage. so, no. i’ve never married and never will. not because i couldn’t but because i’m too romantic. marriage has failed me, you could say. not a man exists who hasn’t disappointed me, whom i could trust to love the way i’ve loved. it’s because i believe too much in marriage that i don’t. better to not marry than live a lie. (cisneros, 1991: 69) here clemencia is being sarcastic about marriage by claiming that she is too romantic and believes too much in marriage. having affair with a married man and witnessing his infidelity to his spouse and also the powerless of women within marriage (drew’s wife and her mother), she defies marriage and claims her agency as an independent single woman who has freedom to express her sexuality. in the story it is told that clemencia makes her living as a freelance translator, substitute teacher and painter. after breaking up from drew, she continues her affairs with many married men. she perceives her status of mistress as power and agency to express her sexuality without being subordinated under patriarchal domination as happened in the role of wife. in this aspect, it can be seen how cisneros reverses the negative stereotype of la malinche as passive mistress and sexual object of male desire into active and aggressive sexual subject. cisneros empowers clemencia status as mistress by allowing clemencia to exercise her sexuality aggressively in her affairs. even though, in the eyes of his lovers, she is just their la malinche, a mistress and sexual object, it is clemencia who actually takes control on them. i’ve witness their infidelities, and i’ve helped them to it. unzipped and unhooked and agreed to clandestine maneuvers. i’ve been accomplice, committed premeditated crimes. i’m guilty of having caused deliberate pain to other women. i’m vindicative and cruel and i’m capable of anything. (cisneros, 1991: 68) from the above passage, it is only with clemencia’s consent that her affairs are conducted. she is no longer the victim of male desire. without a doubt, she asserts her complicity in the liaison. when clemencia is still having affair with drew, her sexual aggressiveness is foregrounded by cisneros. when we forgot ourselves, you tugged me. i leapt inside you and split you like an apple. opened for the other to look and not give back…you were ashamed to be so naked. pulled back. but i saw you for what you are, when you opened yourself for me...when you slept, you tugged me toward you. you sought me in the dark. i didn’t sleep….i was taking you in that time. (cisneros, 1991: 78) from the above passage, it is certain that drew’s la malinche is no longer the ‘la chingada’ the penetrated one, but the penetrator. in this scene, cisneros reverses the role. clemencia’s sexuality is masculinized, whereas drew’s is feminized. certainly, cisneros reinterpretation of the figure of la malinche is not simply done by reversing the gender binaries, but allowing clemencia to move forth and back between the binaries. besides appropriating masculine traits in expressing her sexuality to drew, ambiguously, clemencia is also expressing her maternal instinct in it. rather than treating drew as a dominating man, clemencia treats him as powerless child that has to be embraced and protected by her. clemencian fuses her maternal instinct with sexual desire. using english movie as an attractive strategy to teach senior high school students .... llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 23 you’re almost not a man without your clothes. how do i explain it? you’re so much a child in my bed. nothing but a big boy with needs to be held. i won’t let anyone hurt yo. my pirate. my slender boy of a man. (cisneros, 1991: 78) the fusion of maternal instinct with sexual desire is subversive due to its transgression of patriarchal notion of asexual mother who has pure maternal love untainted by sexual desire. clemencia also expresses her maternal instinct in her sexual intercourse with drew during the night drew’s wife is giving birth his son. she positions herself in parallel to the birth process. while his mother lay on her back laboring his birth, i lay in his mother’s bed making love to [drew]. (cisneros, 1991: 75) she symbolizes her sexual intercourse with drew as the act of impregnation, conceiving and giving birth in the same time. clemencia always thinks of drew’s son as her pseudo-son. your son. does he know how much i had to do with his birth? i was the one who convinced you to let him be born. (cisneros, 1991: 74) … you could be my son if you weren’t so light-skinned. (cisneros, 1991: 76) clemencia has reenacted this imitation of birth many times with her other lovers “and it’s not the last time i’ve slept with a man the night his wife is birthing a baby. why do i do that, i wonder? sleep with a man when his wife is giving life, being suckled by a thing with its eyes still shut. why do that? it’s always given me a bit of crazy joy to be able to kill those women like that, without their knowing it. to know i’ve had their husbands when they were anchored in blue hospital rooms, their guts yanked inside out, the baby sucking their breasts while their husband sucked mine. all this while their ass stitches were still hurting.” (cisneros, 1991: 76-77) through parallel imagining on the pleasure of coitus and the pain of birth giving, clemencia is defying patriarchal ideology and mocking the woman who has been deceived to fulfill maternal instinct; one has to be a biological mother, the one who conceives and suffers from giving birth. clemencia asserts that she can also fulfill her maternal instinct through her liaison with their husbands. she can express her maternal instinct without becoming a biological mother and suffering the pain of giving birth. clemencia resists the patriarchal imposition of maternal identity as a biological mother. therefore, besides resisting the institution of marriage, clemencia also resists motherhood as patriarchal institution. adrienne rich (1986) argues that motherhood has been the most pervasive patriarchal institution to control and subordinate women. motherhood has been imposed by patriarchy as the ideal of womanhood that must be embodied by every woman. patriarchy imposes that it is only through motherhood that women can achieve full self-realization of their maternal instincts, while in fact women are confined within domestic sphere and excluded from public sphere. for clemencia patriarchal institution of motherhood is not the only channel to realize her maternal instinct because it can be actualized in various forms, and in her case it can be actualized through her affairs. moreover, clemencia shows that to be (imaginary) mother should not in conflict of being sexual. she fuses 24 sexual desire with maternal instinct to subvert patriarchal ideology that reifies motherhood as an innate of pure and chaste maternal instinct.clemencia’s maternal instinct is always imbued with sexual desire that it is almost impossible to demarcate the two. the fusion of sexual desire and maternal instinct enacted by clemencia fits to weisskopf ’s concept of maternal sexuality, that is, a woman’s sexual feelings or behaviors while she is involved in tasks normally associated with motherhood (1980). clemencia enacts this maternal sexuality during her coitus with her drew and drew’s son whom she imagines as her sons. rossi proposes that the strict demarcation between maternity and sexuality is connected to male dominance (weisskopf, 1980). asexual motherhood is patriarchal myth to control women’s sexuality toward their own children. to secure patriarchal system the internalization of asexual motherhood is very important because it effectively prohibits incestuous relationship. by depicting the fusion of sexual and maternal instinct in clemencia’s affairs, cisneros attempts to subvert patriarchal oppressive myth that has alienated mother from their own sexuality and body. accordingly, clemencia’s sexual affairs have been crucial for her to actualize her sexual and maternal identity while in the same time transgressing and subverting patriarchal ideology. another revision done by cisneros on the figure of la malinche is her agency to take revenge for betrayal. la malinche in cisneros’ work is no longer a submissive victim who is silent in enduring malebetrayal and humiliation. cisneros’ la malinche has turned into one of the furies who seeks for vengeance. the first revenge is done soon after drew breaks their affair in his house. clemencia deliberately announces her presence to drew’s wife by putting her gummy bears in the most private belongings of drew’s wife. i went around the house and left a trail of them in places i was sure she would find them. one in her lucite makeup organizer, one stuffed inside each bottle of nail polish. i untwisted the expensive lipsticks to their full length and smushed a bear on the top before recapping them. i even put a gummy bear in her diaphragm case in the very center of that luminescent rubber moon. why bother? drew could take the blame…i got a strange satisfaction wandering about the house leaving them in places only she would look. (cisneros, 1991:81) however, clemencia’s attempt to separate the spouses fails. drew’s wife chooses to ignore her presence and his husband’s affair. it is clearly seen when clemencia deliberately calls drew at dawn once, drunk on margaritas, i telephoned (drew) at four in the morning, woke the bitch up. hello, she chirped. i want to talk to drew. just a moment, she said in her most polite drawing-room english. just a moment. i laughed about that for weeks. what a stupid ass to pass the phone over to the lug asleep beside her. excuse me, honey, it’s for you. when drew mumbled hello i was laughing so hard i could hardly talk. drew? that dumb bitch of a wife of yours, i said, and that’s all i could manage….excuse me, honey. it cracked me up. (cisneros, 1991:77) in the above passage clemencia is laughing and mocking the submissiveness of drew’s wife. rather than invoking conflict into her household, drew’s wife chooses to ignore the fact of her husband’s treachery. having failed to break up drew’s household, clemencia finds another way to have her revenge that is by seducing drew’s son. using english movie as an attractive strategy to teach senior high school students .... llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 25 i sleep with this boy, their son. to make the boy love me the way i love his father. to make him want me, hunger, twist in his sleep, as if he’d swallowed glass….i can tell from the way he looks at me, i have him in my power. come, sparrow. i have the patience of eternity. come to mamita. my stupid little bird. i don’t move. i don’t startle him. i let him nibble. all, all for you. rub his belly. stroke him. before i snap my teeth. (cisneros, 1991:82) by choosing this kind of revenge, clemencia has extremely transgressed the patriarchal strongest taboo on incestuous relationship between mother and son. adrienne rich (1976) states that motherson incest has been the strongest and most consistently taboo in every culture because mother-son relationship is considered as regressive, circular and unproductive that hinders the son’s further development to make his way to the world of patriarchal law and order. incest taboo has been constructed by patriarchy as the mechanism to enforce discrete and internally coherent gender identities within a heterosexual frame (butler, 2007). butler explains further that incest taboo is necessary to establish basic patriarchal kinship structure and identification to gender identities. the incest taboo that bars the son from the mother and thereby instates the kinship relation between them is a law enacted “in the name of the father.” similarly, the law that refuses the girl’s desire for both her mother and father requires that she take up the emblem of maternity and perpetuate the rules of kinship. both masculine and feminine positions are thus instituted through prohibitive laws that produce culturally intelligible genders. (2007:38) as explained by mitchell(1974), basic kinship structure requires three types of family relationship: consanguinity (brotherssisters), affinity (husband-wife), and descent (father-son). incest threatens to disturb basic kinship structure if it is not socially and culturally prohibited. mitchell argues further that incest taboo is “the subjective expression of the need for exogamy” (1974:373). exogamy is the basis of society because it is a form of reciprocal exchange of values between kinships. exogamy expands and builds alliance between kinships that sustains the societal structure. in the exogamy system women become family commodity for exchange with other families to expand the patriarchal kinship alliances. it is due to these reasons that patriarchy prohibits incest. cisneros’s portrayal of clemencia’s sexual relationship with drew’s son whom she always considers as her pseudo son symbolizes clemencia’s transgression on the patriarchal interest in terminating a mother-son liaison. clemencia’s affair is also the modification of oedipus complex. the mother is no longer the object of the son’s desire, but she asserts her agency of sexuality in seducing her own son for desiring her. c. conclusion cisneros’s reinterpretation of la malinche through her character clemencia has subverted patriarchal construction of passive female sexuality,imposition of maternal identity as asexual mother and taboo of incestuous relationship between mother and son. without being confined into patriarchal institution of marriage and motherhood, clemencia asserts her subjectivity and claims her agency in expressing the fusion of her sexuality and maternal instinct in her role of mistress. the figure of mistress is no longer seen as the passive and the victimized, but the one who controls and is liberated from patriarchal oppression. 26 references campbell, tether a. (2004) a victimized women: la malinche. retrieved in may 21, 2015 from www.eiu. edu>historia>campbell.pdf cisneros, sandra. (1991). woman hollering creek and other stories. new york: random house. butler, judith. (2007).gender trouble: feminism and the subversion of identity. new york and london: routledge. mitchell, juliet. (1974).psychoanalysis and feminism: a radical reassessment of freudian psychoanalysis. new york: basic books. rich, adrienne. (1976). mother and son, woman and man. the american poetry review, 5(5), 6-13. retrieved november 27, 2015, from http:// www.jstor.org/stable/27775366. rowland, robyn and renate klein. (1996). radical feminism: history, politics and action. in dianne bell and renate klein (eds.), radically speaking: feminism reclaimed. north melbourne: spinifex press. townsend, camilla. 2006. malintzin’s choices: an indian woman in the conquest of mexico. mexico: mexico up. weisskopf, susan(contratto). (1980). maternal sexuality and asexual motherhood. signs, 5(4), 766782. retrieved in november 27, 2015, from http://www.jstor.org/ stable/3173841. wolfe, andrea powell. (2013).refiguring la malinche: female “betrayal” as cultural negotiation in the short stories of maría cristina mena[electronic version].label me latina/o iii(1), 1-23. retrieved may 20, 2015, from labelmelatin.com./ w p c o n t e n t / u p l o a d s / 2 0 1 3 / 0 4 / andrea-powell-wolfe-refiguringla-malinche-female-betrayal-ascultural-negotiation.pdf. using english movie as an attractive strategy to teach senior high school students .... llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 1 semantic change type in old javanese word and sanskrit loan word to modern javanese hendy yuniarto1 prof. dr. marsono, s.u.2 hendyyuniarto@yahoo.com abstract this research aims to describe type classifier of semantic change and to explain the factors causing semantic change. this research was conducted with a qualitative-descriptive approach. the research method is conducted by comparing the meaning of words from the old javanese and sanskrit loan wordto modern javanese. the collection data is done by looking for words that the meaning suspected change in old javanese dictionary. words meaning determined precisely by tracing to the old javanese text. furthermore, words meaning are compared to present time meaning through modern javanese dictionary. in addition, searching modern javanese meaning are also using javanese news on the internet pages. the analysis of this research is to classify old javanese words and sanskrit loan words meaning that undergo change to modern javanese. it’s also explained why the change in the word meaning can occur. the result shows that, semantic change of old javanese words and sanskrit loan words to modern javanese can be classified into seven types, involving widening, narrowing, shifting, metaphor, metonymy, pejoration, and euphemism. in addition, the result shows that semantic change can occur because of some factors. psychological factor concerning emotive and taboo, and polysemy. religion spreading, the growth of science and technology, the socio-political development, and the needs of a new name. keywords: semantic change, old javanese, sanskrit loan word, modern javanese, semantic change classification, factor causing semantic change 1 student of the linguistics post-graduate program, faculty of cultural science, gadjah mada university 2 thesis advisor, professor of the linguistics post-graduate program, faculty of cultural science, gadjah mada university a. introduction every language that living in a civilization must experience a change. language changes can occur in vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, and meaning (trask, 2005:2). meaning changes can occur in any language because language move on all the time like a wave. from that concept changes of the is an interesting research to be done. this paper discusses the meaning changes of javanese language. the main focus of this study is the meaning change of old javanese and sanskrit loan words to modern javanese. research in meaning changes is a diachronic linguistics research or reviewing historical linguistic meaning over time (campbell, 1998:4). the linguistic scholars have examined meaning change classification. champbell (1998:254282) classifies the type of changes that include the expansion of meaning, narrowing, metaphor, metonymy, sinekdoke, pejoration, amelioration, taboo, hyperbole, and litotes. 2 problems from the above description is about how the meaning change of words from old javanese and sanskrit loan to modern javanese can be classified. the next problem are the factors that cause changes in the meaning of words can occur. based on the problems, this study aims to describe the types of meaning change of words in the javanese language and explain the causes. the benefit of this research is theoretically to contribute to the study of meaning change in a language and to know types of meaning change and the causes. b. related literature gonda (1952) classify the change of meaning of sanskrit loanwords into indonesian. classification meaning change are restriction and expansion of meaning, metaphor changes, and euphemisms. supriyadi hamam (2010) in his dissertation entitled the meaning of sanskrit loanwods in standard thai and javanese from socio-cultural perspectives discusses changes to the meaning of the sanskrit language of thailand and the change of meaning of sanskrit into javanese. the discussion of the meaning of these changes include the classification or classification changes meaning and comparison of changes in the meaning of the sanskrit to thailand and java. classification of changing the meaning of the sanskrit to thailand, among others, restrictions or narrowing of meaning, meaning expansion, and changes of meaning. the classification of the change of meaning of sanskrit into javanese among other restrictions or narrowing of meaning, meaning expansion, and changes of meaning. c. theoritical framework this research using historical linguistics approach which tracing the meaning evolution of a word. the term semantics (taken in the sense of diachronic), is the study of meaning evolution, it also includes an investigation or at least touch on the issues concerning the process of losing, loss, survive, and sometimes even the revival of speech units, up led to the creation of new forms and new words (gonda, 1952:328). a. word and meaning concept in the dictionary we can see the words which is free from the context. each word has a one meaning or more. meaning attached to each word is a reciprocal relationship. leech (1974:10-27) divides meaning into seven types: conceptual meaning, connotative meaning, stylistic meaning, affective meaning, reflective meaning, and thematic meaning. reflective meaning, stylistic, and affective incorporated within the scope of associative meaning. b. conponential meaning analysis concept meaning in each word has a number of components. each component is a features that distinct. the term of meaning component analysis is often used for describing the meaning of the word that analysis into contrastive elements (leech, 1974:98). in the analysis of the components used sign (+), (-). sign (+) is used to express the meaning of components that owned by a word. sign (-) is used to express componential meaning that are not owned by a word. c. meaning change type the meaning change type in this research divides in two criteria, conceptual and association. conceptual meaning include widening, narrowing, and shifting. association meaning include changes in the meaning of metaphor, metonymy, pejoration, and euphemism. d. method of the study the research is limited to javanese words included in sanskrit loan words in the dictionary of zoetmulder (1982) semantic change type in old javanese word and sanskrit loan word to modern javanese llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 3 and mardiwarsito (1990). this research conducting by using seven javanese texts including those in the dictionary that dates from about the 10th century until the 15th century. modern javanese data source is javanese language dictionary of poerwadarminta (1939) and prawiroatmojo (1994), while the text as the source of modern javanese are several web pages. the data sources can be itemized as follows. old javanese dictionary modern javanese dictionary old javanese texts modern javanese web pages • zoetmulder (1982) (kjk) • mardiwarsito (1990) • poerwadarminta (1939) • prawiroatmojo (1994) • roorda (1847) • ramayana (ry) • a r j u n a w i w ā h a (aw) • a r j u n a w i j a y a (awj) • n ā g a ra k r t ā g a m a (nag) • sutasoma (sut) • b h a r a t a y u d h a (by) • bhomāntaka (bk) • www.manteb.com • www.panjebarsemangat.co.id • www.romansecuil.blogspot.com • www.harianjogja.com the method of analysis is done by comparing the old javanese and modern javanese words that undergo meaning change. the next step is to classify the meaning changes. the last step is to explain why the change of meaning can occur. the overall method shows that this research is descriptive qualitative research that describes and explains the change in meaning. e. result a. meaning change classification from old javanese and sanskrit words into modern javanese this research divides semantic change into two criterion, conceptual and association . 1) conceptual meaning change conceptual meaning (sometimes called the meaning of ‘denotative’ or ‘cognitive’) in the broad sense is considered a central factor in the communication language (leech, 1974:19). the conceptual meaning change can be divided into three types, widening, naroowing, and shifting . these types is described as follows. (a) widening widening is the meaning changes which is meaning in the present more widely used than the previous meaning (ullmann, 1972:230). the old javanese word bela is a verb which means “compassionate manner suicide, risking his life to someone or for someone else”(zoetmulder, 1982:239; mardiwarsito, 1990:113). the word bela found in old javanese text quote as follows. • sangkěp sang māntra mantri saha bala bala lawan wallabhana kang pwabela. (aw 7.1) “all the kings and followers ready, the minister and the powerful army, all of them risk their lives”. now the word bela in the modern javanese means “condolences or share his misery”. meaning change that occur in the word bela is widening. here is an example of a sentence using the word bela in modern javanese. • pagelaran seni digelar ing alun-alun kutha temanggung kanthi lakon ki ageng mangir kang nyritakake perjuangane ki ageng mangir jrone mbelani rakyate. (http://manteb.com/berita/4763/) 4 “art exhibition held in the town square with the play ki ageng mangir which telling ki ageng mangir struggle to defend its people”. the meaning change of bela can be seen through componential changes. the components of the change are as follows. word old javanese componential meaning bela [+ act] [+ sympathy] [+ done by wife or forces] [+ gives life] [+ done by belly piercing with dagger or splash down into fire] [± with procession ceremony] [+intended for husband or king] modern javanese componential meaning [ + act] [ + sympathy] [ + can done by everyone] [ ± gives life] [ + taking any action of sympathy] [+ can be intended for anyone] (b) narrowing narrowing or restriction occurs when the coverage is now more limited meaning than when in the past (ullmann, 1972:228). the old javanese word layat is a verb which mean “go to, leave” (zoetmulder, 1982:998; mardiwarsito, 1990:314). the meaning of layat can be seen by quote in following text. • sarāt maling awěh layat awědi riśakti sang prabhu. (by 1.5) “all the thief disappeared scared away because of the king’s power”. layat changes it’s meaning as in java modern mean “go to the people who were left to die” (poerwadarminta, 1939:256; prawiroatmojo, 1994:259). here are examples of layat that used in a modern javanese sentence. • korban kang arep mulih lannglayat bapake kang tinggal donya iki kakira ora eling amarga ngombe jamu kang ditawakake dening pelaku aksi bius. (http://manteb.com/berita/1027/) “victims that go home and mourn the deceased father can not remember because herbal drink offered by the perpetrators of trafficking”. narrowing meaning of the word layat can also known through it’s componential changes. the representation of componential changes are as follows. word old javanese componential meaning layat [+ act] [+ go from one place to another place] modern javanese componential meaning [+ act] [+ make a visit of condolence] semantic change type in old javanese word and sanskrit loan word to modern javanese llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 5 (c) shifting a word on the progress of time will experience meaning shifting so now little to know the meaning of the beginning, even did not know the meaning of beginning again. the word rabi in the old javanese word is a noun meaning “wife, couple” (zoetmulder, 1982:1470; mardiwarsito, 1990:455). the word rabi found in old javanese text quote as follows. • tan huningān sinandhing i rabinya mangamĕr anisik sake wuri (aw 15.14) “not ignored when next to her wife, caressing, hugging from behind”. kata rabi mengalami pergeseran makna sebagaimana pada saat ini kata tersebut dalam jawa modern memiliki makna “menikah” (poerwadarminta,1939:515). kata rabimengalami perubahan kelas kata, jadi kelas katanya berubah yaitu dari nomina ke verba. berikut ini contoh pemakaian kata rabidalam kalimat jawa modern. • sasuwene yang-yangan, tersangka kang wisrabi iku tau moto korban kang lagi wuda nganti ping pindho. (http://manteb. com/berita/5043/) “during courtship, a suspect who has been married even take a picture of victim when was naked two times”. meaning change of the word rabi also involves change of the meaning componential. componential change can be represented as follows. word old javanese componential meaning rabi [+ spouse] [+ wife] modern javanese componential meaning [+ act] [+ get married] 2. association meaning change meaning changes in associative criteria include metaphor, metonymy, pejoration, and the and euphemism. these types are described as follows. (a) metaphor a metaphor shows changes between two things that are based on the perceived similarity (fortson, 2003:648). the old javanese word pěgat is a verb means “broken, finished, and perfect” (zoetmulder, 1982:1333; mardiwarsito, 1990:417). the meaning of pěgat is known by the following text citations. • wwantěn boddha mahāyanabrata pěgat ring tantra yogīswara. (nag, 68.2) “there is a mahayana buddhists, who had been perfect in tantra and the leader of the yogi”. pěgat experience meaning change of metaphor that removes the sense of breaking into a divorce. in the modern javanese we now that pěgat has a meaning “divorce” (poerwadarminta, 1939:482). here is the examples of pěgat in modern javanese citation. • nanging wanita kang duwe anak 1 kasebut dipesthekake wis dadi randha amarga dipěgat dening bojone ing saperangan taun kepungkur. (http://manteb.com/ berita/389/) “but women who have a child likely have been widowed since divorced by her husband a few years ago”. change in the meaning componential of pěgat can be represented as follows. 6 word old javanese componential meaning pěgat [+ act] [+ cutting acquiaintance with] [+ finish] [+ complete] modern javanese componential meaning [+ act] [+ cutting acquiaintance with spouse] [ + divorce] (b) metonymy when a piece of something stands for the whole thing or when something associate on something else for each other is metonymy (janda, 2006:21). kalpataru is a sanskrit loan word as nouns in old javanese means “one of the five trees in indra’s paradise or tree of abundance” (zoetmulder, 1982:446). kalpataru found in the following text. • wwantěn ramyaracana śūnya kāwakanya, ngkaněng kalpataru paran sang arya pārtha.(aw 17.3) “there is a beautiful building, quiet, and alone, that’s the arjuna toward to kalpataru tree”. in the development of the modern javanese, the word kalpataru mean “an award in the form of golden trees that dedicated to province”. the use of kalpataru in a sentence is as follows. • kanggo kalpataru jawa timur nampa anugrah cacah 2, saka 10 penghargaan kalpataru kang dibagekake. (http:// w w w . p a n j e b a r s e m a n g a t . c o . i d / j awa t i m u r m b o ro n g p e n g h a r g a a n lingkungan-taun-2011) “for kalpataru east java received a gift as much as 2, from 10 pernghargaan distributed”. changes in the meaning of kalpataru can be represented as follows. word old javanese componential meaning kalpataru [+ tree] [+ myth] [+ hindu] modern javanese componential meaning [+ appreciation] [+ tree] [+ gold colouring] [+ symbol] (c) pejoration a word that changes the meaning of pejoration have more negative value than in the past. in old javanese, babu is a noun mean “mother or elderly woman who worked as a nanny” (zoetmulder, 1982:183; mardiwarsito, 1990 : 104). babu found in the following quote. • tiga pahutangan ing janma mānusa haneng bhūloka, bapa babu bhathāra. (kjk 183) “three place that human owe on earth, father, mother, and god”. in the modern javanese, babu has meaning “worker devoted to his master” (poerwadarminta, 1939:23). here is an example of a sentence using the word babu in modern javanese. semantic change type in old javanese word and sanskrit loan word to modern javanese llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 7 • uripmu isih klebu beja, katimbang dadi babu ing manca, kurang bejane dipilara. (http://www.panjebarsemangat.co.id/ geguritan-322012) “your life is fortunate, rather than a lowly worker abroad, if less fortunate will tortured”. changes in the meaning of babu can be represented as follows word old javanese componential meaning babu [+ mother] [+ women] [+ old] [+ caretaker] [negative value] modern javanese componential meaning [+ worker] [+ low status] [+ negative value] (d) euphemism euphemism is an expression that refers to any act or event someone has doubts as to say plainly as fears making mistakes or painful. in old javanese a word gusti is a noun mean”lord, noble, or a particular group in society official palace” (zoetmulder, 1982:564). gusti is found in old javanese text excerpt as follows. • tandha mwang gusti wadwā haji muwah ikang amwang tuhan ringyawābāp. (nag 9.2) “the ministers, nobles, the king and the king’s servants are very much in the outside”. gusti changes it’s meaning as euphemism in modern javanese. gusti has extra meaning to the use for the refinement of “god” (poerwadarminta, 1939:157). here are examples of gusti in a modern javanese sentence. • mbak uci nyuwun tambahing donga lan pangestu, mugi tansah nampi berkahing gusti, tansah sehat lan benjing dados lare ingkang bekti dhateng gusti. (http:// www.panjebarsemangat.co.id/lucia-eka) “uci pleading prayer and blessing, may always accept god’s grace, always healthy and tomorrow being a dutiful son to god”. changes in the meaning of gusti can be represented as follows. word old javanese componential meaning gusti [ + class] [ + nobleman] [ + nobleman addressing] modern javanese componential meaning [ + class] [ + nobleman] [ + nobleman addressing] [ + addressing for god] 8 b. causes of changes in old javanese word meaning and sanskrit into modern javanese factors that causing changes in the meaning of old javanese and sanskrit words into modern javanese is divided into two: internal factors and external factors. 1) psychological factor ullmann (1977:200) mentions that the psychological factor is one of the factors causing the change of meaning. psychological factors covering emotive factors and taboos in it. wuyung in old javanese means “peace of heart disorders, grief, anger, sorrow”. later, the meaning changes in modern javanese “falling in love.” (a) polysemy campbell (1998:268) states that meaning changes must pass through a stage polisemi. a word starts with an original meaning, then gained an additional meaning and even the original meaning can be lost. alternatively in a change of meaning, in the form of a word polysemy may lose one or more meanings. the first stage is when a word has a meaning a. the second stage is a word have additional meanings that have meaning a and b. the third stage is a word to change the meaning of the loss of meaning that only the left only has meaning in a word. an example is the word tambak in old javanese meaning “wall.” next steps, tambak means “retaining wall of fish in the water”. stage last words lose their meaning embankment wall earlier, so at the present time has a meaning “fish pond the river or the sea “. (b) spreading religion the spreading of islam in java is one of the important cultural changes in javanese society. in connection with the change of language, particularly changes the meaning of words in the javanese language, some words change in the meaning caused by the spreading of islam. a word ngaji “reading and studying religious texts, especially the hindu-buddha” experience meaning changes to modern javanese which mean “reading and studying religious texts, especially the religion of islam “because it changes the meaning of the majority of transitional religions, from hinduismbuddhism to islam. (c) the development of science and tachnology the development of science and technology resulting a word can have a meaning related to the renewal of the technology compared to the reference old meaning . when new technology is found then a new reference will added. old javanese word daluwang “bark” change it’s meaning to odern javanese dluwang mean “paper” is an example of innovation in the field of technology. at first bark called daluwang in old javanese texts are used as a cover or cloths. it is also used as clothing in hindu religious ceremonies (pigeaud, 1967:35-36). (d) the development of social and politics in context with the change of meaning, there are several words changes it’s meaning caused by social and political development. old javanese word buruh “mercenary” change it’s meaning become “paid workers” because of rising social and political community. (e) the need for a new name the human thought continues accordance with their needs, whereas a new invention also need a new word or naming for communication (pateda, 2001:167). thoughts, ideas and concepts are unlimited but the words are limited so people need new words. at first in old javanese, a word brěm is a liquor made from fermented rice. but in the end brěm semantic change type in old javanese word and sanskrit loan word to modern javanese llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 9 in modern javanese is used to name the new concept as the food of fermented rice compaction without alcohol. f. conclusion meaning changes in the old javanese and sanskrit word can be generally classified into two categories, namely conceptual and associations. conceptual includes three types of meaning extension, narrowing, and shifting. association includes four types, namely metaphor, metonymy, pejoration, and euphemism. the change of meaning due to several factors. some of these factors are psychological factors that include factors taboo and emotive factors, polysemy, religious development, the development of science and technology, social and political developments, and the need for a new name. references champbell, l., & mauricio j. m. 2007. a glossary of historical linguistics. edinburg: edinburg university press. gonda, j. 1952. sanskrit inindonesia.nagpur: the internationalacademy of indian culture. leech, g. 1974. semantics. england: penguins books. mardiwarsito. 1990. kamus jawa kuna indonesia. flores: nusa indah. pateda, m. 2001. semantik leksikal. jakarta: pt rineka cipta. pigeaud, t. 1967. literature of java.volume 1. leiden: the hague, martinusnyhoff. poerwadarminta,w.j.s.1939. baoesastra djawa. batavia: j.b wolter’s uitgevers maatschappij n. v. groningen. supriyadi, h. 2010. the meanings of sanskrit loan words in standard thai and javanese from socio-cultural perspectives. disertasi.nakhorn pathom: mahidol university. trask, r.l. 2005. language change. london and new york: routledge. ullmann, s. 1972. semantics an introduction to the science of meaning. oxford: basil blackwell. _______________. 2007. pengantar semantik (diadaptasi oleh sumarsono). pustaka pelajar: yogyakarta. zoetmulder, p.j. 1983. kalangwan: sastra jawa kuno selayang pandang, terjemahan dick hartoko. jakarta : djambatan. _________, p.j. 1982.old javanese-english dictionary, jilid 1 dan 2.netherlands: kitlv. cover vol 16 2013_rep isi llt_vol_16_2013_a_save as isi llt_vol_16_2013_b_save as llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 191 swear words in bad boys ii: a semantic analysis johan tobias kristiano and priyatno ardi sanata dharma university johan.tobi@gmail.com and priyatnoardi@usd.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.210208 received 10 august 2018; revised 17 september 2018; accepted 2 october 2018 abstract english movies have become a medium for the global spread of english swear words. however, not all people from non-english speaking countries know and understand the literal meanings of these words. this qualitative research aims to figure out the semantic referents of swear words in the film bad boys ii. content analysis was employed as its method. the results of this study show that nine semantic referents of swear words were used in the movie, namely sexual references, profane or blasphemous, scatological and disgusting objects, animal names, ethnic-racial-gender slurs, psychological-physical-social deviations, ancestral allusions, substandard vulgar terms, and offensive slang. thus, bad boys ii has a vast variety of swear words. keywords: swear word, semantic referent, bad boys ii introduction as english is considered to be an international language, the use of english is increasing in many countries including indonesia. english has become one of the obligatory subjects in schools and it can be heard in daily conversations, especially among the young generation. not every indonesian is fluent in english and uses english fully in their daily conversations. however, it cannot be denied that sometimes indonesian people insert some english vocabularies in their utterances. english swear words are among the vocabularies used by indonesian people. the use of swear words is spread mostly through social interactions. jay (2000) states that children may acquire swear words in their vocabulary even as soon as they start to speak. children acquire the swear words from what they hear and learn to use them through social learning. people whose native language is not english acquire english swear words through more-or-less the same way. they learn the words from daily conversations or other media, such as english movies, and imitate the words in their speech. this study focuses on the semantic referents of swear words in an english movie entitled bad boys ii. the underlying reason for this study is that the use of swear words is often taken connotatively rather than denotatively (wajnryb, 2005; goddard, 2015). it is also the reason why there are relatively few semantic studies on swear words. goddard (2015) states that most linguists consider swearing to belong to the field of pragmatics rather than semantics. it can also be assumed that mailto:johan.tobi@gmail.com llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 192 people who only imitate english swear words do not really understand the literal meanings of the swear words that they utter. an english movie has been chosen as the object of the study since english movies are a popular medium that helps to spread the use of english around the globe, including the use of english swear words. swear words can be described as the lexicon of offensive language (jay, 2009) and are usually considered inappropriate and to be avoided by certain cultures (wajnryb, 2005). meanwhile, the action of uttering swear words is called swearing. to be specific, jay (2000) describes swearing as “the utterance of emotionally powerful, offensive words or emotionally harmful expressions that are understood as insults” (p. 9). the connotative use of a swear word is what is considered offensive (allan & burridge, 2006). the words used in a swearing utterance function to express certain emotions. those emotions may be negative emotions (e.g. anger, shock, frustration (ljung, 2011)), positive emotions (e.g. joy, joke (jay, 2000)), or as a response to pain (stephens, atkins, & kingston, 2009). to avoid using swear words and in order to be polite and less offensive, people often use euphemisms in their speaking. euphemisms are described as words chosen to replace any word that is considered offensive or unpleasant for the listener (jay & janschewitz, 2008; jay, 2009; gao, 2013; finn, 2017). a euphemism is usually used to lessen the inappropriateness of the reference, such as to sexuality, death, body products, and so forth. as an example, the phrase make love will be preferred to fuck in a conversation between mixed participants (jay & janschewitz, 2008). euphemisms can also enable a speaker to talk about ideas that may have been avoided had a more offensive word been chosen (bowers & pleydell-pearce, 2011). mohr (2013) states that “a euphemism is the opposite of swearing” (p. 197) as it hides the swear words which emphasize the feelings expressed. however, as the context of the swear words and their substitutions are still the same, using a euphemism is still considered to be swearing. utilization of a euphemism is propositional swearing, which is done intentionally and in full awareness (finn, 2017). although swear words are usually used connotatively, it is also possible that the literal meaning of a swear word is also offensive. for example, some english swear words contain body excretion or sexual intercourse meanings that are taboo in some cultures and should be avoided (gao, 2013). this demonstrates that different standards of the offensiveness of a word may apply to different cultures. besides body excretion and sexual intercourse, there are many other topics that are discussed using swear words. according to napoli and hoeksema (2009), religion, health, sex, and bodily excretion are four big topics for swear words. ljung (2011) also provides some other themes for swear words, such as mothers, animals, death, prostitution, ethnic backgrounds, and levels of intelligence. another classification of the literal meanings of swear words is from jay (2009), who distinguishes swear word referents into nine categories, namely sexual references, profanity or blasphemy, scatological and disgusting objects, animal names, ethnic-racial-gender slurs, psychological-physical-social deviations, ancestral allusions, substandard vulgar terms, and offensive slang. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 193 sexual references are related to sexual acts (e.g. fuck), sexual anatomies (e.g. cock, dick, cunt), and sexual deviations (e.g. motherfucker, cocksucker). profane and blasphemous swear words refer to religious terms (e.g. jesus christ or damn), while scatological and disgusting objects refer to faeces (e.g. crap), excretion organs (e.g. asshole), excretion processes (e.g. shitting), and body products (e.g. piss). swear words may also be in the form of animal names (e.g. bitch, monkey) and ethnic-racial-gender slurs (e.g. nigger, fag). psychological-physical-social deviations are also often used as swear words (e.g. moron, pox, whore). ancestral allusions are swear words which involve or relate with family relationships and ancestors (e.g. son of a bitch, bastard). substandard vulgar terms are vulgar words of which the constructions are below the satisfactory standard of language (e.g. on the rag, fartface). lastly, offensive slang refers to offensive substandard words that are invented to ease communication (e.g. bang, suck). method this qualitative study employed document analysis as its method. the object of this study was bad boys ii, a film that was released in 2003. bad boys ii was chosen as this movie contains many swear words in its dialogue. the data gathering process included the listing of all the swear words uttered in the dialogue. to check whether the listed words were swear words, the words were compared to the list of swear words from wiktionary.org, www.cs.cmu.edu, www.noswearing.com, an encyclopedia of swearing, and the big black book of very dirty words. since there were some swear words which were used more than once in the dialogue, only one of each word was taken to be analysed. in analysing the data, the classification from jay (2009) was used as the base of the classification. to determine the semantic referents of the swear words, some dictionaries and an encyclopedia were used, namely merriam-webster, cambridge dictionary, longman dictionary of contemporary english, oxford dictionary of english, oxford dictionary of slang, and an encyclopedia of swearing. some meanings of the swear words were also checked using www.urbandictionary.com. since www.urbandictionary.com is not a legitimate source to validate the meanings of the swear words, the researchers conducted several adjustments in consulting the meanings. since it was possible to get some different meanings for a swear word from this website, the researchers chose the meaning with the suitable context for the utterance. then, the meaning with the most “likes” was chosen with the assumption that it was the meaning which most people agreed on. findings and discussion after analyzing the dialogue of bad boys ii, the researchers found that the characters of this movie uttered swear words 449 times. those utterances consisted of 53 different swear words. the researcher categorized the referents of the swear words from bad boys ii into nine categories based on jay’s (2009) theory. the categories are sexual references, profanity or blasphemy, scatological and disgusting objects, animal names, ethnic-racial-gender slurs, psychologicalllt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 194 physical-social deviations, ancestral allusions, substandard vulgar terms, and offensive slang. all of the nine categories of semantic referents of swear words were found in this movie. profane and blasphemous referents was the category with the most words (12). the category with the least amount of words was ancestral allusion with only one swear word. sexual references the researcher found six swear words containing sexual references in bad boys ii. there were variations of the word fuck (fuck, fucks, fucking, fucked, fucker), motherfucker, motherfucking, fucking mother, tit, and titties, which were classified into sexual references. the variations of the word fuck were used 108 times in the movie, which made it the second-most used swear word after shit. this could indicate that the use of the word fuck is more flexible than the other five sexual-related swear words. the swear word motherfucker was listed in this category not only because it contains the word fuck, but also because it is considered to be a deviant sexual act (jay, 1992). ljung (2011) considers this word to carry both sexual and mother themes, with the mother theme being more dominant. the word motherfucking is the adjective form of motherfucker. this can be seen from the functions of the word motherfucking in the dialogue, which were as adjectives of dislike and emphases in which the swear word preceded a noun. the phrase fucking mother has more or less the same meaning as motherfucker. the researcher considered that the speaker of this swear word intended to say motherfucker instead of fucking mother as this expression is quite rarely heard in movies. besides, the speaker of this word was a russian character whose first language was not english. the words tit and titties have the denotation of a sexual organ. these words refer to a woman’s breast. although there were some other swear words denoting sexual organs found in the movie, only these two words that were put in this referent. the other words belong to the category of substandard vulgar terms. profane and blasphemous profane and blasphemous swear words refer to religious terms or references (hughes, 2006). there were 12 swear words of this referent in the movie. all of those served as profanity or without any intention to attack a certain religion or belief. this finding was similar with what mahayana (2017) found, which is that blasphemy was not used in bad boys ii. the swear words included in this category were christ, damn, devil, gee, god, goddamn, gosh, hell, jeez, jesus, jesus christ, and lord. while god, devil and hell are general terms for some religions, the words christ, jesus, jesus christ, and lord are more familiar to christianity. the words damn and goddamn are related to condemning or provoking a divine power. euphemisms were used in the words gee, jeez, and gosh. gee and jeez were substitutions for the use of the word jesus, while gosh replaced the use of the word god. such euphemisms might be used as the speaker avoided using the word jesus and god in swearing for fear of them feeling inappropriate. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 195 scatological and disgusting objects there were 6 swear words in bad boys ii movie which referred to scatological and disgusting objects. scatological and disgusting objects refer to excretion and bodily products (jay, 2000). excretion organs and other things that are considered to be disgusting by most people are also included in this referent. the words containing this referent were ass, butthole, crap, piss, shit, and shithole. the words shit, bullshit, and crap are excretion products. piss is also an excretion product, but the movie used derivations of this word, which were pissed and pissing. these two words have the sense of an excretion process rather than the product. the words ass, butthole, and shithole denote organs or body parts that are related to an excretion process. jay (2009) actually uses the word ass as an example of animal names referent since ass can denote an animal as well. however, these days the use of the word ass in this context has been replaced by the word “donkey” (hughes, 2006). the researcher put this word into the scatological referent category since it commonly denotes a human body part in its modern use. besides, the word ass is the american version of the british word arse, which also denotes the same human body part. even though butthole and shithole denote the same excretion organ, shithole also has another meaning. shithole has developed into a slang word used to refer to an unpleasant place. shit was the most frequently employed swear word in this movie as it was uttered 114 times. the high frequency of this word in the dialogue may be explained by ljung’s (2011) statement that “shit is a very useful word used as an expletive interjection …, and as an expletive epithet in utterances …, and also in other expressions … ” (p. 38). this is also an indication that the word shit has flexible functions. animal names some animal names were also used as swear words in the dialogue of bad boys ii. there were five animal names which were used as swear words, they were bitch, dog, jackal, pussy, and rat. the word bitch means female dog, while jackal is an animal which looks like a dog and eats dead animals. pussy, which is often used to refer to a woman’s genitals, also refers to cats. lastly, the word rat refers to a species of rodent. the animal name chosen for a swear word is usually influenced by the addressee’s behavior (allan & burridge, 2006). an example is that the word rat, which is often considered to be a pest, was used to describe one of johnny tapias’ men named roberto, who often caused problems. ethnic-racial-gender slurs the researchers found five swear words containing this referent in bad boys ii. however, none of them was a gender slur. those words were ethnic and racial slurs, such as black, gringo, negro, nigga, and nigger. the words black, negro, nigga, and nigger share the same meaning of a group of people who have dark pigmentation. the word nigger is a modification of the term negro. furthermore, the word nigga is a variation of the word nigger. even though it was used several times to express anger in name-calling swearing, this word is less offensive than nigger as it is commonly used in communities of black people. this is supported by the fact that the word nigga was only used between black characters of the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 196 movie. the word nigga is considered to be a sign of identity and solidarity among african-american people (allan & burridge, 2006). the word black, however, is occasionally considered to be an offensive word that is less insulting. allan and burridge (2006) suggest that the word black “… should probably be marked as orthophemistic …” (p. 84), meaning it is usually considered to be straight talk rather than an offensive word. in this movie, this word became offensive because it was used in an unfriendly suggestion swearing, “kiss my black ass.” from these four words, the word nigger is considered to be the most offensive. meanwhile, the slur gringo is derived from a spanish word. the offensiveness of the word gringo is still debatable. the researchers browsed through some forums on the internet and found that some people claimed that this word is commonly used by its native speaker without any derogatory meaning. in the other hand, some who had experienced being called gringo felt insulted by this word. psychological-physical-social deviation there were six swear words in this referent in bad boys ii. however, the researcher found examples of all three of the sub-categories within this referent. the swear words from the movie which belonged to this referent varied between dumb, fool, freak, lunatic, maniac, punk, and stupid. the words connoting psychological deviation are dumb, fool, freak, lunatic, maniac, and stupid. these words denote psychological states or levels of intelligence. the terms dumb and freak also have physical deviation meanings, dumb means unable to speak and freak means a person with strange physical attributes. meanwhile, only punk belongs to the category of social deviation. punk belongs to the social deviation referent as it denotes a certain culture or social group. using its archaic meaning, punk is a word for prostitute. jay (1992) states that these referents are often employed as insults. he adds that they function “… to hurt the person directly through the particular word or phrase” (p. 8). in this movie, the researchers found that the use of these referents was not limited to direct insults. it was also used to describe a third party, which means it did not directly insult the person. moreover, there were also some uses of this referent to describe something. ancestral allusions there was only one phrase that belonged to the ancestral allusion referent, son of a bitch, and it was only used three times in the movie. this phrase allures to the relation between a male addressee and his mother. this is supported by ljung (2011), who states that this phrase contains the “mother” theme, and jay (1992), who argues that it is commonly directed to male addressees. jay’s argument was demonstrated by the finding that son of a bitch was only used between male characters in this movie. substandard vulgar terms wardhaugh (2006) states that substandard english sounds like poorly arranged utterances. therefore, the swear words from bad boys ii which were below the satisfactory standard of english were put in this category. five substandard vulgar terms were found in the movie. the swear words with this referent were the suffix –ass (big-ass, little-ass, freak-ass, kick-ass, dumb-ass, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 197 thick-ass, and grown-ass), bullshit, cock diesel, dickhead, and shit-storm. these words were considered substandard as their uses in the sentences could not be taken as grammatically correct. moreover, these swear words contain vulgar terms, which lines up with jay’s (1992; 2000) explanation that vulgar terms are often related to sexual acts, body parts, products, and processes. the suffix –ass was used in the movie by compounding it with the preceding words. this suffix functioned as an intensifier or to create a new meaning (as in kick-ass). bullshit and shit-storm, which carry the same vulgar term shit, have different meanings. bullshit means something nonsensical, and shit-storm means a big problem. meanwhile, cock diesel and dickhead contain sexual organ terms in their constructions, yet they do not contain the same meaning. the phrase cock diesel is for a very muscular or stout person. on the other hand, dickhead means a stupid or contemptible person. offensive slang out of all of the swear words in bad boys ii, seven of them were offensive slang. the swear words belonging to this referent were ball, bang, bimbo, gangbanger, hump, screw, and scumbag. corroborating jay (1992)’s statement that slang as a new vocabulary is developed to ease communication, slang was used as a new label or a new name for something that already existed. these slang words found in the movie were used as new labels for something, such as the word balls to refer to a man’s genital parts. the words bang, hump, and screw are other terms relating to sexual intercourse. screw can also mean “to make a mistake” or “to make a mess of something.” slang is also used to refer to a person with certain attributes, such as the word bimbo for an attractive but stupid woman, gangbanger for a member of street gang, and scumbag for an unpleasant person. in its other use, scumbag also means a contraceptive. conclusion from this research, it was found that bad boys ii employed 53 different swear words in its dialogue. it was also found that all the nine semantic referents of swear words from jay (2009) were referred by those swear words. the profane and blasphemous referent was the referent with the most words (12 words) and ancestral allusion was the least referred with only one word. the swear words used in this movie also varied in terms of their offensiveness. not only were the offensive words used in the dialogue, but some less offensive words in the form of euphemisms were also found. the research results show that bad boys ii contains a wide variety of swear words, both in the expansiveness of its vocabulary and in the offensiveness of the words themselves. references allan, k., & burridge, k. (2006). forbidden words: taboo an the censoring of language. new york: cambridge university press. bowers, j. s., & pleydell-pearce, c. w. (2011). swearing, euphemisms, and linguistic relativity. plos one, 6(7), 1-8. finn, e. (2017). swearing: the good, the bad & the ugly. ortesol journal, 34, 17-26. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 198 gao, c. (2013). a sociolinguistic study of english taboo language. theory and practice in language studies, 3(12), 2310-2314. goddard, c. (2015). “swear words” and “curse words” in australian (and american) english at the crossroads of pragmatics, semantics and sociolinguistics. intercultural pragmatics, 12(2), 189-218. hughes, g. (2006). an encyclopedia of swearing. new york: m.e.sharpe. jay, t. (1992). cursing in america. philadelphia: john benjamins. jay, t. (2000). why we curse. philadelphia: john benjamins. jay, t. (2009). the utility and ubiquity of taboo words. perspectives on psychological science, 4(2), 153-161. jay, t. (2017). we did what?! : offensive and inappropriate behavior in american history. santa barbara: greenwood. jay, t., & janschewitz, k. (2008). the pragmatics of swearing. journal of politeness research, 4(2), 267-288. ljung, m. (2011). swearing: a cross-cultural linguistic study. london: palgrave macmillan. mahayana, i. m. (2017). offensive languages in bad boys 2. kulturistik, 1(1), 4655. mohr, m. (2013). holy sh*t: a brief history of swearing. new york: oxford university press. napoli, d. j., & hoeksema, j. (2009). the grammatical versatility of taboo terms. studies in language, 33(3), 612-643. stephens, r., atkins, j., & kingston, a. (2009). swearing as a response to pain. neuroreport, 20(12), 1056-1060. wajnryb, r. (2005). expletive deleted: a good look at bad language. new york: free press. wardhaugh, r. (2006). an introduction to sociolinguistics. oxford: blackwell. . llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 1 violations of grice`s maxims in the prince and the pauper movie antonius waget english language education study program sanata dharma university abstract proper responses must be provided interlocutors to make conversation productive and meaningful. however, interlocutors do not always provide proper responses because they do not even know conversation rules. grice coins 4 maxims as general rules to govern daily conversation. the maxims are quantity, quality, relevance, and manner. conversation occurs in the real daily interaction also in arts including movies. the prince and the pauper movie is one of the media for human daily conversation. some parts of the movie contains violations of grice`s maxims by the characters. based on this background, the writer intends to explore violations of grice’s maxims in the movie and analyze the purposes of the violations. to achieve these objectives, the writer formulates two research problems: (1) which of grice`s maxims are violated by the addressees in the prince and the pauper movie? (2) for what purposes do the addressees violate the maxims? the base of this research is a movie script as document. thus, the writer uses document analysis as the method of this research. grounded on the analysis, the writer finds that the characters, especially prince, tom canty, king, and the earl of hertford in the movie dialogues violate the four of grice`s maxims. when failing to provide sufficient information, telling lie to their addressers, providing irrelevant glosses, and failing to be true, brief, univocal, and orderly, they respectively violate maxims of quantity, quality, relevance, and manner. moreover, the writer finds that the characters violate the maxims in order to mislead the counterparts, be polite, save face, avoid discussion, and communicate self-interest. keywords: grice`s maxims, maxim violations, the prince and the pauper movie. a. introduction in a conversation, an addressee is expected not only to understand the content and intention of the utterance, but is also expected to provide a particular response to addresser`s speech act. the response should be mutually dovetailed with the addresser`s utterance. in other words, the addressee`s utterance must have the same content and intention with the addresser`s (skinner, 1948, p. 33). by so doing, both addressee and addresser make the conversation productive and meaningful. in order to have a productive and meaningful conversation, the speakers need certain rule helping them provide their responses accordingly. h. paul grice comes up with his four maxims to govern the speakers to provide their speeches productive and meaningful. this study basically employs pragmatics as the main trajectory of linguistics area to cover the analysis on maxim violations in speeches made by characters in the prince and the pauper movie. leech (1992, p. 19) says that pragmatics deals with “how the utterances have meanings in situations.” in favor of the statement above, yule (1996, p. 3)claims “pragmatics is the 2 study of contextual meaning.” consenting these ideas, sandra, ostman, and verschueren (2009, p. 67) say “pragmatics provides the specific meaning, given a reference in time, place, and other contexts.” the above claims emphasize how speakers organize their utterances in accordance with who they are talking to, where, when, and under what circumstances.in this sense, the language meaning is determined within situation or context of the conversational speech. b. review of related literature in order to support this paper, the writer would like to review four related literatures that consists of four points. they are cooperative principle, politeness principle, and face principle. each of the four theories is explained as follows. 1. cooperative principle in order to guide interlocutors in conversation, grice (2004) posits a general rule called cooperative principle. the principle says “make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged” (grice, 2004, p. 45). commenting on this paradigm, saeed (2003, p. 204) calls cooperative principle as “a kind of tacit agreement by speakers and listeners to cooperate in communication.” the principle contains four maxims, which are also called grice`s maxims.the maxims are quality, quantity, relevance and manner(grice, 2004, p. 48). maxim of quantity is concerned with the amount of information to be provided in a conversation (dornerus, 2005, p. 5). this means that when providing ideas, speakers should provide their sufficient and specific supporting details. grice (2004) coins two sub-maxims falling under the category of quantity: “make your contribution as informative as required (for the current purposes of the exchange)” and “do not make your contribution more informative than required” (p. 45). in this sense, speakers should provide information that is as much helpful to them as it is for their addressees. thus, the information should be neither too little nor too much. the maxim of quality deals with the matter of giving the right information (dornerus, 2005, p. 5). this maxim requires speakers to genuinely and sincerely provide information. the information should be as truthful and as convincing as required. grice (2004) postulates two sub-maxims falling under the category of quality: “do not say what you believe to be false,” and “do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence” (p. 47). this means that when giving information, the speaker should be honest. by the same token, the speaker should provide enough proof supporting his/her information or argumentation. maxim of relevance is concerned with the relevance of information provided by speakers. in a conversation, addressers and addressees should make their exchanges dovetailed mutually. in this category, grice (2004) only places a single sub-maxim, namely “be relevant” (p. 46). dornerus (2005, p. 5) underlines that maxim of manner deals with “matter of being clear and orderly when conversing. ”this maxim comprises four sub-maxims, namely “avoid obscurity of expression,” “avoid ambiguity,” “be brief,” and “be orderly” (p. 46). this paradigm clearly discloses that speakers are supposed to provide information that is clear, concise, univocal, and orderly. in other words, speakers should not make wordy utterances with multiple ways of interpretation. 2 politeness principle leech (1992) is the first sociolinguist who criticizes grice’s cooperative principle. in connection with speech content, he takes grice’s cooperative principle for granted that violationsof grice`s maximsin the prince and the pauper movie llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 3 it enables one participant in a conversation to communicate on the assumption that the other participant is being cooperative,” (p. 82). in this respect, the cooperative principle regulates interlocutors in providing their contributions. on the other hand, in connection with social and psychological orientation, leech rejects the cooperative principle because “it cannot explain why people are often so indirect in conveying what they mean” (1992, p. 80). grounded on his criticism aforementioned, leech (1992, pp. 131-133) postulates a politeness principle that is to coexist with grice’s cooperative principle to solve the problem. he claims that grice`s maxims are violated in conversations because the speakers tend touphold politeness. there are six sub-maxims embodied in his politeness principle. (1) tact maxim (in impositives and commissives) (a) minimize cost to others [(b) maximize benefit to others] = imply less cost to others and imply benefit to others (2) generosity maxim (in impositives and commissives) (a) minimize benefit to self [(b) maximize cost to self ] = imply less benefit to self and imply cost to self (3) approbation maxim (in expressives and assertives) (a) minimize dispraise of others [(b) maximize praise of others] = avoid saying unpleasant things about others (4) modesty maxim (in expressives and assertives) (a) minimize praise of self [(b) maximize dispraise of self ] = avoid saying pleasant things about self (5) agreement maxim (in assertives) (a) minimize disagreement between self and others [(b) maximize agreement between self and others] (6) sympathy maxim (in assertives) (a) minimize antipathy between self and others [(b) maximize sympathy between self and others]. 3 face saving in a face-to face talk, speakers tend to say things in a wordy way, dishonestly, and ambiguously. goffman (2008) pointedly states that in order to save face, speakers tend to “employ exaggeration, circumlocutions, deceptions, and irrelevance glosses so that the others’ facesare preserved” (p. 17). he defines face as an individual’s “image of self delineated in terms of social attributes – albeit an image that others may share as when a person makes a good showing for his profession or religion by making a good showing for himself ” (goffman, 2008, p. 5). in this sense, face refers to a speaker’s self esteem depicted in daily interaction. referring to this, brown and levinson (1987, p. 61) define face as “something that emotionally invested, and that can be lost, maintained, or enhanced, and must be constantly attended to in interaction.” c. results and discussion as mentioned earlier, the writer analyses the prince and the pauper movie to observe what grice`s maxims are violated and to examine the purposes the addressees violate the maxims. the aim is to answer two research problems, namely what grice`s maxims are violated and what purposes of the violations found in the movie by looking at the conversations between the characters. the movie contains a lot of dialogues with violations of grice`s maxims, which 4 will become a rich sample for the analysis. the setting creates the possibility of maxims violation on the addressees` utterances. the violation occurs within the circumstances of the royal family and in those of the peasant’s life. 1 violations of grice`s maxims in the prince and the pauper movie the writer uses grice`s theory of cooperative principle to answer the first research question, namely which grice`s maxims are violated in the prince and the pauper movie. four characters: prince, tom canty, king, and the earl of hertfordare employed because they are the characters violating the maxims the most. they violate all of the maxims. what makes difference is, as seen in the table, the frequency of the occurrences of the violation and who employs the violation in the 24 dialogues. when failing to provide sufficient and supporting information and contribute information more than is required,the speakers violate the maxim of quantity. when providing information, the speakers may tell a lie or fail to back up their statements with enough evidence, they violate the maxim of quality. when deliberately making their information irrelevant to the purpose of the exchange, the speakers violate the maxim of relevance. when providing wordy utterances with multiple ways of interpretation, the speakers violate the maxim of manner. table 4.1: maxim violation by the characters in the prince and pauper movie maxim character number quantity prince (1), tom canty (5), king (-),and the earl of hertford (2) 8 dialogues quality prince (-), tom canty (2), king (-),and the earl of hertford (-) 2 dialogues relevance prince (1), tom canty (2), king (2), and the earl of hertford (5) 10 dialogues manner prince (2), tom canty (1), king (1), and the earl of hertford (-) 4 dialogues total 24 the table shows that the maxims (quantity, quality, relevance, and manner) are respectively violated 8, 2, 10, and 4 times. the characters involved in the dialogues are the prince, tom canty, the king, the earl of hertford, doctor 1, and fr. andrew. the characters that violate the maxims are prince, tom canty, king, and the earl of hertford when taking roles as addressees. the prince violates maxims of quantity (1), relevance (1), and manner (2). tom canty violates the maxims of quantity (5), quality (2), relevance (2), and manner (1). the king violates the maxims of relevance (2) and manner (1). the earl of hertford violates the maxims of quantity (2) and relevance (5). a. violations of maxim of quantity in the prince and the pauper movie this maxim deals with the amount of information in a conversation. it requires speakers to contribute sufficient information as is required (grice, 2004, p. 45). however, in point of fact, speakers cannot always fulfill the maxim. it is clearly seen in dialogues 1. dialogue 1 context: dialogue 1 takes place at cathedral, the coronation place. after all of the violationsof grice`s maximsin the prince and the pauper movie llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 5 coronation attendances leave the cathedral; it is only the prince and tom canty. realizing that tom canty has done a great job of being a prince, edward tudor,the real prince, calls tom canty to sit down next to him. however, tom canty wonders if he as a proletariat deserves sitting next to him. the prince assures tom canty that it does not matter. [1] prince : tom [2] tom canty : yes, sire, your higheness [3] prince : come here [4] tom canty : yes sir, they are gone? [5] prince : sit down. [6] tom canty : are you sure it`s all right? [7] prince : you sat down all the time when your were king, so i suppose it won`t matter now. the response [7] in dialogue 1 apparently violates the maxim of quantity. the reason is the prince fails to make his contribution as informative as is required and fails to make his contribution more informative than the situation requires (grice, 2004, p. 45). tom canty’s question [6] mostly demands the prince for a short response as stated in his last sentence [7], namely i suppose it won`t matter now. however, what tom canty receives from the prince is a too wordy answer as said in the beginning containing the urchin’s action of replacing him as a king while he was out of the palace. tom canty actually does not need such unnecessary answer. grice considers such an answer as wasting time (grice, 2004, p. 46). the prince’s wordy description gives rise to implicature that he very well understands tom canty’s situation and psychological strains while he was out of the palace. now, the prince wants to minimize tom canty`s inferiority and maximize praise of him (leech, 1992, p. 123). besides that, the prince wants tom cantyto feel untroubled by fear. in this sense, the prince deliberately violates the maxim of quantity in order to express his politeness and save tom canty`s face. b. violationofmaxim of quality in the prince and the pauper movie maxim of quality enjoins speakers to provide true information (grice, 2004, p. 46). thus, the speakers must be honest with their utterances when providing information. in addition, speakers have to back up their contributions with clear evidence or they would be stamped liars. dialogue 2 shows evidence of the violations by telling white lies. dialogue 2 context: dialogue 2 takes place at fr. andrew’s office. instead of begging farthings for his father, tom canty decides to play royal installment with his friends on a playground. seeing that, the cruel father gets very angry, beats and flings him onto the pond of mud then ruthlessly leaves him there. soon after that, tom canty comes over to fr. andrew’s house. he still looks gloomy with some traces of tears running down his cheeks, blisters on his arms, and mud on all over his body and shabby clothes. seeing such a weird appearance, fr. andrew asks him. [1] fr. andrew: thomas, have you been crying? [2] tom canty: no, sir. it’s sweat. you see, i’ve been running. the response [2] in dialogue 2 illustrates that tom canty fails to fulfill the maxim of quality, which demands him to be honest and true when providing his contributions. tom canty’s response contradicts the experience he has just faced. as a matter of fact, based on tom canty’s own real experience, the traces of tears still running down his cheeks is evidence that he has been crying. 6 the implicature could be drawn here that by providing utterance [2], tom canty wants to say yes, sir, i have, or yes, sir, i have been crying. however, he does not dare to say so. conversely, he denies it by obviously telling a white lie, no, sir. it’s sweat. even, tom canty prolongs his white lies by saying you see, i’ve been running. nevertheless, tom canty cannot prove this last utterance because he really only comes straight from the playground where he is beaten and flung by his cruel father. based on these facts, by saying you see, i’ve been running, tom canty wants to say, as the implicature, you see, it is true, i have been crying. tom canty’s answer [2] in this respect also gives rise to implicature that, in front of fr. andrew, he wants to appear as someone who is worthy of being loved by his father. by employing white lies, he tries to save face. moreover, by deliberately saying white lies, tom canty wants tomake himself look good and loveable by his father. in so doing, fr. andrew gets misled into thinking that nothing wrong has happened to him and takes it for granted that he has been running and the traces on his cheeks are sweat (grice, 2004, p. 49). c. violation of maxim of relevance in the prince and the pauper movie grice (2004) posits one maxim called “be relevant” (p. 46). this maxim governs speakers to produce a mutually dovetailed conversation. however, it is not every time speakers abide by the maxim as seen in dialogues 3. dialogue 3 context: dialogue 3 takes place in the prince`s bedroom. soon after the king dies, the earl of hertford comes over to tom canty in the prince`s bedroom. thinking that tom cantyis the real prince, the earl of hertford urgently has tom canty designate him as the lord high protector in a short and simple ceremony. whereas, tom canty wants to immediately go home in offal court since feeling more and more uncomfortable with the royal life. [1] tom canty: can i go home now, please? [2] earl of hertford: permit me, your majesty. repeat after me, and when you have finished strike my shoulder with your sword. this extract conversation illustrates a violation of maxim of relevance. the earl of hertford`s whole answer [2] does not match tom canty`s request [1]. the type of tom canty`s question [1] is open requiring an alternative answer yes or no.thus, the relevant answer supposed to be provided by the earl of hertford isyes, you can go home now, or no, you can`t go home now,or no, you can`t go home until you have finished strike my shoulder with your sword. the earl of hertfort`s gloss permit me, your majesty implies that he still believes that tom canty is the real prince of wales. being a prince, his home is the palace; there is no other place for him. thus, he does not allow tom canty to go anywhere. the gloss repeat after me implies that the earl of hertford very well memorizes the rite formulation of designation and it is assumed that tom canty does not know the formulation. striking the shoulder of the installed person with a sword closes the official ceremony. that is the reason why the earl of hertford says to tom canty, when you have finished, strike my shoulder with your sword. dornerus (2005) says that one of the purposes of violating maxim of relevance is to communicate the speakers` interests (15). it is clear that from the discourse, the earl of hertford violates the relevance maxim in order to communicate his own interest by ignoring tom canty`s inquiry violationsof grice`s maximsin the prince and the pauper movie llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 7 and protracting the proper answer. the earl hertford`s interest is an installment of being a lord high protector. d. violation of maxim of manner in the prince and the pauper movie in his book entitled logic and conversation, grice (2004) underlines that speakers in their conversations “have to avoid obscurity of expression, avoid ambiguity, avoid unnecessary prolixity (be brief ), and be orderly” (p. 46). thus, maxim of manner deals with perspicuousness of disclosures provided by speakers. when giving information, speakers must avoid unnecessary redundancy, obscurity, and ambiguousness. however, as a matter of fact, speakers cannot always carry out the requirements. it is clearly seen in dialogue4. dialogue 4 context: dialogue 4 takes place at the king’s bedroom. while talking with the prince, the king snatches a piece of biscuit from the prince’s hand and eats it. soon after that two of his doctors come over. to them, the biscuits could deteriorate the king’s health. seeing the king in an unsound state eating biscuit, one of them interrogates him. hearing the unexpected doctor 1’s interrogation, the king feels offended and furious. in this situation, the king disorderly and obscurely answers the doctors. [1] doctor 1: your majesty, can that be a biscuit? [2] king : (looking at the doctors with angry eye and loudly shouting at them) what do you think it is, the archbishop’s head? arrr…. the king’s response [2] in the form of question to doctor 1’s rhetorical question [1] depicts a violation of maxim of manner because he utters an obscure and disorderly response. doctor 1 only wants to know if it is a biscuit eaten by the king. thus, the king is supposed to answer only yes, it is or yes, it is a biscuit or no, it is not or no, it is not a biscuit. since the king knows what he is eating is a biscuit, he should say yes, it is or yes, it is a biscuit as a proper answer. nevertheless, the king hurls doctor 1 a question, what do you think it is, the archbishop’s head? the king, in this respect, evokes his answer obscure. when saying arrr…., the king makes his gloss disorderly and more obscure. the gloss, arrr…., does not make sense but perplexes the doctors. since the king fails to avoid obscurity and uphold the response orderly, he violates the maxim of manner. the king deliberately contributes such an obscure and disorderly utterance in order to avoid getting into an argument. if the king had said that what he eats was biscuit, he then should provide the argument, for example the reason he eats the biscuit, the benefits of eating the biscuit, et cetera. since the king fails to avoid obscurity and uphold the response orderly, he violates the maxim of manner. after all, the king deliberately contributes such an obscure and disorderly utterance in order to save face(goffman, 2008, p 17). if the king has said that what he eatsis biscuit, he then gets himself into a debate that is losing his face amongst the society. if the doctors knew that it is biscuit, the doctors would impose on him a stricter rule, for example no food containing wheat at all or no food in the bed. the stricter rule would lose his face as a king for the whole english empire. thus, in order to save face, the king deliberately does not say the word biscuit. 2. purposes for the maxim violations the core aim of this part is to address the second research problem, namely for what purposes do the characters violate the maxims. in order to solve this problem, the writer elaborates three theories, namely cooperative principle coined by grice (2004), 8 politeness principle coined by leech (1992), and face principle coined by goffman (2008). each theory provides the reasons speakers violate grice’s maxims. besides that, the writer employs dornerus’ viewpoint of the purposes for violating the maxims. a. misleading counterparts tom canty, in dialogue 2, is inclined to produce statement, which misleads fr. andrew as his counterpart in conversations. realizing that fr. andrew would ask him for more information leading to the truth if he only said no, sir. this thought triggers him to mislead fr. andrew by immediately adding false and unnecessary glosses, namely it’s sweat. you see, i’ve been running. grice(2004, p. 49) underlines that misleading counterparts is one of the purposes of the maxims violations in daily exchanges. misleading in this sense means that the speaker gives wrong information to counterpart and makes the counterpart believe it or take it for granted. grounded on the state of believing each other, fr. andrew believes tom canty and takes his convincing gloss for granted. in so doing he believes that no accident has happened to tom canty or nothing has happened between tom canty and his father and he does not need to see tom canty’s father. tom canty’s false information impresses fr. andrew to think and believe that he has a good and loving father. b. being polite leech (1992, pp. 81-82) claims that in a particular situation, speakers may violate grice’s maxims by changing unpleasant topic of conversation or adding additional unnecessary glosses or even tell white lies in order to be polite. in dialogue 1, the prince deliberately provides additional information, you sat down all the time when your were king, in his proper answer, i suppose it won`t matter now. by minimizing tom canty`s feeling of inferiority and maximizing tom canty`s praise of him, the prince wants to show his politeness towards tom canty. c. saving face saving face is one of the aims the speakers want to reach when violating grice’s maxims. goffman, (2008, p. 17) claims that by employing exaggeration (quantity) or deceptions (quality) or circumlocutions (manner) irrelevance (relevance) in a face-to face talk, speakers violate grice’s maxims in order to preserve their self-esteem or dignity. the characters, the prince, tomcanty, and king in the prince and the pauper movie violate grice’s maxims of quantity, quality, and manner in order to save their own faces and others’ (brown & levinson, 1987, p. 61). when providing the long gloss in dialogue 1, you sat down all the time when your were king, so i suppose it won`t matter now, the prince tries to bluntly and honestly say to tom canty his appreciation for replacing him as the prince while he was out of the palace. it is the time for the prince to give tom canty security and maintain his self-esteem as a real ordinary person. thus, by providing the wordy utterance, the prince wants to save tom canty`s face. tom canty, in dialogue 2, violates maxim of quality in order to save his own and his father’s self-esteem as a good child and father (brown & levinson, 1987, p. 61). tom canty does not want to disgrace his father in front of fr. andrew by revealing his father’s evil doing towards him. tom canty also does not want fr. andrew to see him as a troublesome boy. by concealing all the things that have happened to him on the playground, tom canty saves his father’s face and his own. posing doctor 1 a rhetorical question in dialogue 4, the king tries to save his face, which was threatened by the doctor’s critical question, your majesty, can that be a biscuit? if the king had honestly answered the question yes, it is biscuit, he would find himself in violationsof grice`s maximsin the prince and the pauper movie llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 9 trouble, guilty, and lost face. thus, the safe response is a rhetorical question. however, the question becomes obscure when the king adds another question that seems irrelevant, the archbishop’s head? the king means archbishop fisher who does not agree with his marriage with katherine of aragon in 1534 (mayer, 1989, p. 235). the king and his followers were even excommunicated from rome. it can be understood why the king makes such a disclosure. the king feels that the doctoris as strict and cruel as archbishop fisher. the king finds himself restricted in front of the rules and laws from the doctor and the archbishop. d. avoiding discussion in truth, in a conversation, speakers may encounter an unpleasant discussion. in order to avoid getting into unpleasant situation, speakers deliberately provide disordergloss and more obscure (goffman, 2008, p. 17). when interrogated by doctor 1, in dialogue 4, the king finds himself in an unpleasant situation. realizing himself eating biscuits containing wheat, the king straight away in a high tone poses the doctor a rhetorical question what do you think it is, the archbishop’s head? if he had said what he is eating was a biscuit, the doctor would ask him about the biscuit, the reason he is eating it, what he is feeling, et cetera. when posing this gloss, the king hopes that the doctor gives him an answer, which frees him from discussion. e. communicating self-interest dornerus (2005, p. 15) says that violating maxims in order to communicate self-interest is one of the goals to be reached by speakers in their conversations. dialogue 3 shows that the earl of hertford purposely violates the maxim of relevance to communicate his self-interest. his interest is to be designated as the lord high protector in england. in order to reach his goal, the earl of hertford deliberately ignores tom canty’s request of leaving for his home in offal court. d. conclusion grounded on the research, the writer comes up with two conclusions. the first conclusion is that the four charactersinthe prince and the pauper movie – prince, tom canty, king, and the earl of hertford –on purpose violate all of grice’s maxims. the maxims being violated are quantity, quality, relevance, and manner. when providing insufficient, dishonest, irrelevant, and unclear information, the characters respectively violate the maxims of quantity, quality, relevance, and manner. the character who violates the maxims most is tom canty. in 24 dialogues, he 10 times violates the maxims. the maxim he violatesthe most is maxim of quantity. the second conclusion is that in certain situation, the four characters cannot prevent themselves from violating grice’s maxims. the characters tend to intentionally violate the maxims in order to achieve certain purposes. by intentionally violating the four maxims in order to mislead counterpart, be polite, save face, avoid getting into an argument, and communicate self-interest. references brown, p. & levinson, s. c. (1987).politeness: some universals in language usage (3rd ed.). cambridge: cambridge university press. dornerus, e. (2005). breaking maxims in conversation a comparative study of how scriptwriters break maxims. in desperate housewives and that 70’s show. retrieved on october 10th, 2012, fromhttp://www.kau. divaportal.orgsmash-getdiva.pdf. goffman, e. (2008). interaction ritual: essays on face-to-face behavior. far hill, nj: pantheon books. grice, h. p. (2004). logic and conversation. berkeley: university of california. 10 leech, g. n. (1992). principles of pragmatics. london: university of lancaster. mayer, t. f. (1989).thomas starkey and the commonwealth: humanist politics and religion in the reign of henry viii. cambridge:cambridge university press. saeed, j. i. (2003). semantics (second ed.). malden, ma: blackwell publishing ltd. sandra, d., ostman, j.o., verschueren, j. (eds.) (2009). cognition and pragmatics. amsterdam: john benjamins publishing company. skinner, b. f. (1948). verbal behavior.new york: appleton century crofts inc. yule, g. (1996).the study of language (4thed.). cambridge: cambridge university press. violationsof grice`s maximsin the prince and the pauper movie cover vol 18 no1_april 2015 isi llt_vol 18_no 1_april 2015_save as llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 98 efl classroom and learner’s perception on direct transmission scaffolding averina purnomo and ignasia yuyun kristen krida wacana university, jakarta averina.2014ude005@civitas.ukrida.ac.id and ignasia_y@ukrida.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2019.220110 received 16 august 2018; revised 15 march 2019; accepted 26 march 2018 abstract this study explored the learners’ perception on the use of direct transmission and scaffolding in the efl classroom through a semi-structured interview. in this study, the constructivist view was narrowed to scaffolding. the method used by the higher education in indonesia was still dominated by the situation where the lecturer acted as the knowledge provider. however, some lecturers have let go of the control in the classroom and give the opportunity for the learners to explore more. in this situation, the lecturers’ job is to assist the students and provide help (scaffold) if it is necessary. this study also employed a pre-test and post-test as a part of triangulation data to see the result from another perspective. the findings showed that the learners claimed in understanding and remembering the lesson more in scaffolding. however, the test showed that the learner’s score improved more in direct transmission. keywords: constructivist, direct transmission, efl, scaffolding introduction in the teaching and learning process, the teacher may have her or his own approach to help the learners to reach the aim of the lessons. when it comes to the approaches used by the teacher, pressley et al. (2003) mentioned that there are two overarching approaches, direct transmission and constructivist approach related to the teaching processes. direct transmission view is also seen as a teacher-directed approach in the classroom (pressley et al., 2003). meanwhile, constructivist view by vygotsky (1896-1934) emphasizes the situation when the learners have to actively participate in acquiring knowledge (bada, 2015; oecd, 2009). the method used by the higher education in indonesia is still dominated by the situation where the lecturer as the one who delivers the material (kurdi, 2009). in other situations, some lecturers have let go of the control in the classroom and give the opportunity for the learners to explore more. group work is mostly used by the lecturers for the learners to learn and acquire the knowledge by themselves. while the learners do the task in a group, the lecturers’ job is to assist the students and provide help (scaffold) if it is necessary. however, there are some lecturers who stick in the conventional way of teaching. taking these phenomena into account, the question about the learners’ perception about direct transmission and scaffolding used in efl classroom appears. mailto:ignasia_y@ukrida.ac.id llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, october 2019 99 direct transmission direct transmission is known as an old yet useful method in english language teaching (elt) and mostly utilized in colleges (shah & saeed, 2015). it is also known as a teacher-directed approach in the classroom (pressley et al., 2003). this concept shapes the teacher provides the well-structured and comprehensible knowledge, demonstrates accurate solutions for solving the problems, and maintains conducive atmosphere inside the classroom (oecd, 2009; pressley et al., 2003). in this method, the sequence of the lesson is in order, starting with the explanation and demonstration, learners exercise activity, and feedback (schunk & zimmerman, 2003). however, the important points of the material covered is based on the teacher’s consideration (reynolds & miller, 2003). in the other word, there is a reassurance that the essential points will be delivered to the learners (pressley et al., 2003). as the teacher has a deliberation in covering and arranging the content of the lesson, unrelated or irrelevant material can be avoided (farooq, 2013) and the learners will not miss the important information. however, in this method, the learners are passive (haydey, zakaluk, & straw, 2010) as their role in this method is to get or receive the knowledge (xu, 2012). as, it is also known as teacher-directed or teacher-centered approach in the classroom (pressley et al., 2003), it shares the same condition wherein teacher-centered approach the learners are also positioned as a passive receiver and the teacher as the knowledge provider (zohrabi, torabi, & baybourdiani, 2012) or the center in the classroom (idris, 2016). there are some other downsides to direct transmission than making the learners passive. bowers and flinders (1990) mentioned that the discussion in this method often makes the learners bored and there is only one student interacting with the lecturer at a time (cited in pressley et al., 2003). in the study conducted by shah and saeed (2015) the majority of the teachers prefer to go with the traditional method of teaching despite it makes the learners passive and unmotivated as they see it as easier and safe method to be applied. on the other hand, the learners prefer the modern method of teaching where the opportunity for being more active involve more in the classroom discussion is higher (shah & saeed, 2015). for the language proficiency improvement, zohrabi, torabi, and baybourdiani (2012) conducted a study which resulted in the significant improvement of the language proficiency under the teacher-centered learning despite the score is lower that learner-centered learning which shows a slight advancement. the same result appears in ganyaupfu (2013) study where the learner’s assessment score in teacher-centered learning shows a significant difference than the other methods. scaffolding the constructivist view emphasizes on the learners as a party who actively gaining the knowledge on their own inside the classroom (bada, 2015; oecd, 2009) as they are also required to explain their thinking (pressley et al., 2003). this belief is also used as the root of the learner-centered approach where the learners are also having the responsibility in acquiring the knowledge instead of being passive (idris, 2016). it is mentioned that the learners will absorb the knowledge best if it is found by the learners’ self. in return, the learners shall be given time to think before the teacher will show or guide them on how a problem was solved llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 100 (oecd, 2009). pressley et al. (2003) mentioned that the guidance provided by the teacher in this view is known as scaffolding. scaffolding is a theory of teaching strategy which is arisen from the constructivist lev vygotsky’s sociocultural theory in which it is related to the zone of proximal development (zpd) concept (hussain, 2012). zpd refers to the distance between what an individual can achieve by oneself and what the individual can achieve with the assistance from others (gibbons, 2015; samana, 2013). gibbons (2015) mentioned that scaffolding is not just a help which is given to the learners, but it is a specific help which leads the learners into a new mastery, notion, and extent of understanding. however, pressley et al. (2003) stated that the process of guiding the learners to find the understanding takes more time than direct teaching. vygotsky’s theory (cited in santoso, 2010) emphasizes on the importance of social interaction for the learners to gain the meaning about something during the learning process and the source for the learner’s mental process which comes from the social activities. therefore, vacca and levitt (2008) asserted that in the classroom with a scaffolding, the interaction is not only between the teacher with the learners but also among the learners in order to complete the tasks which demanded to them. a study by alake and ogunseemi (2013) shows that learners who are taught by using scaffolding proclaim a significant improvement in their academic achievement than the learners who are taught with the traditional method or teaching. in other studies related to scaffolding, scaffolding is claimed as unsuccessful or ineffective, especially during the interaction between the learners. kayi-aydar (2013) stated that even though a low english proficiency learner is able to provide the scaffold for the peers, but it is seen as inefficient due to the domination problem in the process and the peers who are being less responsive. similar case is shown by samana (2013) as the learners with low english proficiency are not being able to manage the amount of the assistance, give a deeper explanation, and improve the learning like the scaffolding which is given by the teacher. these studies are also in contrast with alake and ogunseemi (2013)’s finding which indirectly stating about the success of scaffolding through the increasing of the learners’ academic performance. method this study was an exploratory research as it was designed to discover and gain insights toward a specific situation or phenomenon. in this context, it was to investigate the learner’s perception of the use of direct transmission and scaffolding in the efl classroom. however, the data related to the learners’ perceptions on the benefits was supported by the result of pre-test and post-test which acted as the triangulation of the data. the participants were 6 students from the first semester of english department in a private university located in jakarta. the selection was based on the consideration of having the less exposure of the english language through the lessons which used english as the medium of its instruction. the participants of this study were those who’s ept score under 500. it was due to the academic standard llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, october 2019 101 set by the english department in one particular institution for taking thesis and graduation requirement which is 500. the participants were divided into two groups, direct transmission (dt) group, and scaffolding (sc) group. there were 27 skills delivered in their respective designed class for five meetings with two hours for each session. in order to know the learners’ perception of both direct transmission and scaffolding, the teaching strategy was reversed in the last meeting. in other words, the direct transmission group received scaffolding for the teaching strategy and the scaffolding group experienced the learning with the direct transmission. in this meeting, two additional skills were taught. after the participants received the treatment, experienced both of the direct transmission (dt) and scaffolding (sc), also did the post-test, an in-depth interview was conducted to gain their perception on both of the direct transmission and scaffolding. the participants were scheduled to have a one-on-one interview and asked the guidance interview question which could be seen in table 1. table 1. semi-structured interview questions guidance aspects questions general perspective you have experienced both scaffolding and direct transmission, how do you think about them? efficiency (critical thinking, which one gives you more opportunity to learn more? benefit, time) which one that you think have more benefits for you? what are they? in the context of time, which one is the most efficient to be conducted? and which one that is taking a long time? explain. preference which one that you prefer? direct transmission or scaffolding? why? lesson comprehension which one that makes you understand about the lesson more? explain. strength and weakness what are the strength and weaknesses of direct transmission and scaffolding according to your experience? findings and discussion general perspective four out of six participants were under the impression that scaffolding allowed them to be more active as they tended to explore and find the information on their own. in scaffolding, it feels like we have to find out what we are going to learn, the teacher is only a facilitator, and we find out by ourselves what we know about this and that. (dt2) scaffolding is more fun since we have to be active in searching for the information. (sc3) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 102 one participant asserted that scaffolding is better than direct transmission as it required them to think. scaffolding is better than direct transmission as it requires us to think. it makes me still remember about the material a bit. (sc1) one participant stated that scaffolding as two ways of interaction, required them to think critically, and provided an opportunity to improve their speaking skill. scaffolding is two ways of interaction; it makes us thinking directly and critically. in sc we are also need to speak and if i have any wrong pronunciation, i can get it corrected. (dt1) five participants described the direct transmission used in the classroom positioned them to be the receiver when all of the knowledge came from the teacher. in direct transmission we only receive and our brain is blank. i forgot already the material that uses dt. (sc1) direct transmission is like one way of teaching from the teacher and all the material (explanation) is from the teacher. (dt2) out of all answers, sc2 described that the use of direct transmission in the classroom provided more understanding due to the learning characteristic possessed by sc2. direct transmission makes me understand more because i’m the type that i have to be explained first for me to understand. (sc2) efficiency (critical thinking, benefit, time) all participants stated that the classroom with scaffolding gave them the opportunity to learn more and activated their critical thinking as they were required to think in order to analyze a problem. scaffolding, because we are forced to be the focus in thinking and ability to analyze whether something is correct or not. if it is wrong, we have to find out the correct one. we are also forced to remember the things from the past (the use of background knowledge). (sc3) scaffolding, because we can be more active in answering the questions not just receiving the information, also we can do the analysis like seeing at which part that is wrong or the answer. (sc1) all participants picked scaffolding as the one which provided them more benefit. being active in acquiring the knowledge was mentioned as one of the benefits provided by the use of scaffolding in the classroom by half of the participants. however, three participants claimed that scaffolding made them remember the material of the lesson more. other than being active, it helps me to remember as well. (sc1) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, october 2019 103 in scaffolding, i can explore on my own. also, we have to think about how to get the answer by trying to remember the lesson in the past. because i make the effort to find the answer, it lingers more as well. (sc2) in addition to the benefit of the use of scaffolding, two participants claimed to understand the material more with scaffolding. scaffolding, it is fun. it makes us learn more since we are more active and it makes me grasp the content of the material more. (dt3) scaffolding, because we are forced to think critically and it makes me understand more. (dt1) one participant declared that he/she was able to explore and the class with scaffolding was not monotonous. these two aspects were seen as the benefit of scaffolding. scaffolding, because we are not limited to explore, not monotonous, we are forced to learn and based on the students’ pace. while in direct transmission the limitation is set and we are just directed into that way. (dt2) all participants agreed that the class with scaffolding was taking more time than the class with the direct transmission. three participants reasoned that they took more time to do the thinking process in the class with scaffolding. scaffolding takes more time because we are required to think and the thinking process cannot be fast. (sc3) direct transmission is more efficient (in the matter of duration) because it is directly taught. while in scaffolding, we need to think and discuss first something. (dt2) preference four participants preferred the scaffolding since it was not monotonous, required them to be active, and gave them the opportunity to do more exploration. scaffolding, for the same reason (makes me active). (sc3) scaffolding, because it is not monotonous and we can explore more. in dt i feel like there is a limit and i cannot explore more. (dt2) sc3 also picked direct transmission added with the other two (dt1, sc2) for it did not require them to think or talk. yet, dt1 and sc2 claimed that they remembered the material more in the class with scaffolding. i prefer direct transmission because i do not have to speak at all and if i do not understand, it would not be shown. but, in scaffolding, i grasped the content more quickly and since i have to speak, it makes me remember about it. (dt1) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 104 direct transmission, it’s because i don’t have to make effort to think. but in this context scaffolding makes me understand and remember more. (sc2) lesson comprehension five participants pointed out that the scaffolding provided them with a better understanding and claimed that the information lingered on more with the use of scaffolding. scaffolding, since being forced to think at the moment makes me remember more, while in direct transmission we only listen to the explanation and it makes me sleepy. (dt1) scaffolding, because it lingers more in our brain than the one that being explained. if we find things ourselves, it will be like we remember it somehow. (sc3) dt2 claimed to be able to grasp the knowledge quickly with the direct transmission. yet, the scaffolding was mentioned to make the knowledge lingered on more than the ones used the direct transmission. for the matter of understanding and understand it fast it will be with direct transmission because it is all directly given. but, scaffolding is more memorable since we find out things on our own, so i remember it more. (dt2) strengths of direct transmission four participants appeared to agree that the strength in the class with direct transmission was in its time efficiency. during the treatment, the skills taught by using the direct transmission finished sooner than the one with the scaffolding. it is faster in the matter of time. (sc1) for the time, it’s more efficient and we can get the answer right away. (dt2) dt1 and dt3 mentioned that the strength in the direct transmission fell on the concept where the knowledge was coming from the teacher. however, they stated a different reason regarding that concept. only listening to the explanation, i think it is the strength because i don’t have to do or speak anything. (dt1) because everything is from the teacher, so we gain the right information and only need to memorize it. (dt3) weaknesses of direct transmission two participants argued that the weakness of direct transmission was related to the information. it appeared to be easily forgotten when it was delivered by using direct transmission. for the material, it’s not really clear, like it is just passing by. (sc1) the material can be easily forgotten. (sc2) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, october 2019 105 meanwhile, two participants mentioned that direct transmission positioned them as a passive learner. it makes us less active. (dt3) the students are passive. (sc3) for the rest of the participants, one commented that the direct transmission made the learner felt bored. another participant stated that the class with direct transmission limited the learner to explore. it makes me bored. (dt1) it is monotonous and there are some limitations for us to explore. (dt2) strengths of scaffolding two participants remarked being active as the strength of the scaffolding. meanwhile, three participants were interested in how they were able to remember and understand the material more in the class with scaffolding. we are forced to think straight at the moment and be active. (dt1) it is fun and helps me to remember. (sc3) the strength of the scaffolding stated by one participant was that it provided more opportunity to explore. it’s not monotonous and the opportunity to explore is bigger. (dt2) weaknesses of scaffolding five participants agreed that the weakness of the scaffolding fell on the time spent for the learners to gain the information. it takes more time. (sc2 & dt2) it requires a longer time. (sc1) out of the five participants, two added that the confusion the learners faced when they were trying to explore as the weakness of scaffolding. it takes more time. also, since it is like more independent, i don’t know which one is right and wrong. there are some moments when i feel confused about scaffolding. so, it’s like we need, must, to be directed more to know the right answer. (dt2) time and the information we have at the first may not correct and still need a direction and help more from the teacher to know the correct one. (dt3) one participant claimed being forced to think and speak in the class with scaffolding as a weakness due to the reluctance of being asked to utter the answer or the thought out loud. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 106 i have to think and speak. (dt1) in summary, scaffolding is generally preferred by the learners than direct transmission for its opportunities and benefits. there are some claimed benefits from scaffolding that are not found in direct transmission. those benefits are the opportunity to be active in the classroom and to explore the knowledge more in scaffolding. it is also claimed by the participant that those benefits make them remember about the lesson and material more. as a part of the data triangulation, the participants’ pre-test and post-test result were used to provide a different insight of this finding related to the benefit that the learners gained from direct transmission and scaffolding. in order to see the improvement of the participants in their respective class, the score which was being compared here was taken only from the 27 skills in 27 questions. the result could be seen in table 2. table 2. pre-test and post-test’s mean in direct transmission and scaffolding ls pre-test post-test preand post-test mean dt dt1 7 14 6.67 dt2 10 17 dt3 2 8 mean 6.33 13.00 sc sc1 9 16 4.00 sc2 10 12 sc3 5 8 mean 8.00 12.00 table 2 reveals that the learners’ english proficiency score test improve more in direct transmission than in scaffolding. the mean of pre-test and post-test recorded for scaffolding is 4.00 which is lower than direct transmission which is 6.67. it shall be taken into consideration that this improvement may be caused by another factor, for instance, the exposure of english from other classes, out of the context of this study. as an english department’s students, the participants of this study also required to attend some courses with english as the medium of instruction (emi). therefore, the exposure they receive from those courses may also affect the improvement of the learners’ english proficiency in this study. in order to know whether english exposure from other classes with emi will contribute to the learners’ improvement in this study, a further research related to this matter shall be conducted. as a part of the finding in this study, this result is consistent with the finding by zohrabi, torabi, and baybourdiani (2012) and ganyaupfu (2013) who reported that the learners’ achievement in direct transmission or teacher-centered method shows a significant improvement than the other methods. the lower mean of scaffolding than direct transmission is in contrast with alake and ogunseemi (2013)’s study. in their study, scaffolding is reported to proclaim the learners’ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, october 2019 107 significant improvement in their academic achievement in scaffolding compared to the traditional method or teaching. however, the role of the english language in the place where the study was taken place needs to be put into a consideration. the studies which direct transmission show more improvement was taken place in the country where english is as a second and foreign language. in the opposite, alake and ogunseemi (2013)’s study was taken place in the country where english is their official language. there are several possible reasons for why the improvement in the classroom with scaffolding is lower despite it is favored by the learners. similar to the reason of ineffectiveness proposed by kayi-aydar (2013), the domination of one particular learner in the process may be one of the reasons also found in this current study. excerpt 1 sc3: okay. this one as, more than, as… is it? is this right? sc4: omit the subject and the be-verb. sc3: this one is here… more than…right? sc1: this one… yes yes yes yes yes yes.. sc3: yes, i’m right? sc1: yes yes yes sc3: yas yes yas yes sc1: just stick it -- excerpt 2 sc1: next, skill 46 sc3: adjective sc1: yes. use basic adjective and adverb correctly. the first one is adjective, write adjective. adjective, uh..thethe formula. subject plus to be plus adjective sc4: noun, subject plus to be plus adjective plus noun sc3: uh-huh sc1: the second one is without noun, just subject plus to be plus adjective sc3: there is two formula? sc1: yes -- excerpt 3 instructor : so? why is it? sc1 : omit the adjective clause subject and the be-verb. instructor : yes, that’s right. next? sc1: although she feels a bit sick, the student will attend the class, becomes although feeling a bit sick, the student will attend the class. instructor: why? sc1: if there is no be-verb, omit the subject and change the verb to the – ing form. instructor: yes llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 108 the three excerpts above are taken from different meetings of the classroom with scaffolding. it can be seen in excerpt 1 that during the group work activity the basic user learners (a1 and a2) rely on the independent user learner (b1) whose english language proficiency score is the highest among them. in another group activity in excerpt 2, the independent user learner dominates the group discussion and dictates the basic user learners. during a discussion with the teacher in excerpt 3, only the independent user learner actively joins the discussion. excerpt 1 proposes another reason for the lower improvement in the classroom with scaffolding especially in the context of students-students interaction. it is compatible with samana (2013) that the learners with low english proficiency are not being able to manage the amount of the assistance and give a deeper explanation to the peers during the group work. correspondingly, the higher improvement in the classroom with direct transmission in improving the learners’ english proficiency score is conceivably due to the situation where the teacher is the center of the classroom. the learners are provided with all the important information about the lesson. it is stated by pressley et al. (2003) that the advantage of direct transmission is the reassurance of the essential points to be delivered to the learners. moreover, when the teacher has a deliberation in avoiding unrelated or irrelevant information (farooq, 2013) that the learner might not be able to do during the group work. in the final analysis of this study, the learners’ english proficiency score improve more in the classroom with direct transmission than scaffolding. it is despite the fact that scaffolding is more favored by the learners. all things considered, the learners face some obstacles in the classroom with scaffolding unknowingly. it starts with the dominating problem during the classroom activity and the situation in which the peers tend to rely on the dominant one. in dealing with this matter, the teacher needs to encourage the learners to involve more in the group activity and motivated them to be more active in gaining the information. in other words, the teacher needs to embolden the learners to not completely rely on the more knowledgeable one. more importantly, the learners may not be ready for the scaffolding in which they are expected to explore more on their own and the help of the peers. to this extent, the learners are used to be taught with direct transmission or teacher-directed the classroom where the teacher has a big involvement in the classroom and each of the teaching and learning process. conclusion scaffolding is preferred by the learners as it provides several advantages that are not found in the direct transmission. however, the learners’ english proficiency score increase more in the direct transmission. scaffolding is asserted to give more opportunities for the learner to be active and able to explore more in the classroom. even though it is more time consuming than the direct transmission, the lesson taught by scaffolding is claimed to be absorbed faster and lingered longer in the learners’ mind than the ones taught by direct transmission. nevertheless, the leaners’ improvement score in the classroom with scaffolding turns out lower than the improvement score in direct transmission. there are some possible reasons for llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, october 2019 109 the result of the learners’ english proficiency score improvement. the learners encounter some problems unknowingly despite they enjoy being taught by the scaffolding. the problems include the domination problem in the classroom and the learners tend to rely on the more knowledgeable leaner to complete the tasks. as correspondingly, the higher improvement on direct transmission in improving the learners’ english proficiency score is conceivably due to the situation where the teacher delivers all the important and essential information to the learners as the knowledge provider. references alake. e. m. & olatubosun, o. 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(2012). teacher-centered and/or student-centered learning: english language in iran. english language and literature studies, 2(3), 18–30. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 171-181 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 171 the students’ perceptions on a test of english proficiency as graduation requirement kacung arif rohman, haris budiana, and nurani hartini universitas swadaya gunung jati, indonesia arifrohman1002@gmail.com, riezbud@gmail.com, and nuranihartini@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2019.220204 received 8 august 2019; revised 20 august 2019; accepted 10 september 2019 abstract tep, test of english proficiency, is a type of english test which is held regularly by language center (lc) of universitas swadaya gunung jati (ugj) cirebon based on the rector’s decree as policy. it becomes one of the requirements for the students who are going to graduate from higher education. this research intends to 1) explore the students’ perception on a test of english proficiency and 2) find out about how is the implementation of tep. the writers conducted a case study with 288 students as the respondents. they come from different majors and faculties. there are four techniques of collecting data: 1) interviews, 2) observation, 3) questionnaires, and 4) documents. to get the valid data, the writers used triangulation of sources to cross check and compare data. an interactive model (data collection, data display, data reduction, and conclusion) is used to analyze data. the research findings reveal that the students’ perceptions on tep can be classified into three aspects: tep activity, test instrument, and preparation while the implementation of tep such as a registration system, information system, proctoring, and facilities get satisfactory responses from the students. keywords: students’ perceptions, a test of english proficiency, graduation requirement introduction english as a means of communication is widely used around the world. people use it for many purposes such as economic, culture, social, tourism, education etc. it has a fundamental role to connect people to all over the world. it proves how important it is. moreover, today we are in the industrial revolution 4.0 era. mastering english is a must especially in the field of education. one of the most frequent topics discussed in learning english is proficiency. language proficiency is as an endless discussion because it has a broad aspect to cover. proficiency deals with what the students can do with language in speaking, writing, listening, and reading skill (actfl, 2012). the recent study conducted by english first on english proficiency index 2018 showed that indonesia stands in 51 ranks of 58 countries in the world or 13 ranks of 21 asian countries. moreover, it said that indonesia is categorized as low proficiency (ef epi, 2018). it’s ironic when indonesia is facing the asean economic community and the industrial revolution mailto:arifrohman1002@gmail.com mailto:riezbud@gmail.com mailto:nuranihartini@gmail.com llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 172-182 172 4.0 era. especially indonesia is also predicted as the world’s 10th-largest economy in 2030. english proficiency is one of the tools to reach it. in some places, many educational institutions issued the policy on language proficiency either in indonesian higher education or in other countries such as in thailand (jaturapitakkul, 2013), taiwan (pan and newfields, 2012), and hongkong (qian, 2007). universitas swadaya gunung jati (ugj) as one of private universities in cirebon-indonesia also issued the policy on a test of english proficiency as graduation requirement to improve the quality of students’ learning outcome, especially in language proficiency. commonly, the policy has set the minimum score for graduates depending on the scoring system used for the test. the students must pass the minimum score or passing grade, so they will get a certificate as proof that they’ve passed the test. pan (2009) argued that a test of english proficiency as graduation requirement has both positive and negative impacts. for positive impact, it is as an evaluation for educators to make effective curricula and a lesson plan to meet students’ needs while the negative impact is that the students are under pressure because they must pass the test. generally, policy makers, educators, stakeholders used a test as an assessment to find out or measure the result of an agenda or program after it has been implemented. brown (2003) briefly explained a test as a system to measure students’ ability, knowledge, or performance in a given area. meaning that a test is a powerful tool to measure the students’ ability in such language for instance, english. in addition, bachman and palmer (1996) argued that language tests can be an important instrument to provide advice that focuses on language teaching. furthermore, they explained that tests can give a proof of the result of teaching and learning process, and hence response to the usefulness of teaching and learning process itself. the test effect on teaching and learning is known as washback (hughes, 1989). on the other hands, many researches have been conducted in language testing and assessment, touching upon a spacious range of important issues such as washback of english test (li et al, 2012), the contribution of language proficiency on students’ academic success (yan and cheng, 2015), validity, reliability, practicality, and washback of the test (kirkpatrick and hlaing, 2013), and efl examination boards (fan and jin, 2013), however the writers found a few studies conducted in indonesia focusing language testing, such as a study conducted by susanti (2014). she concerned the washback after the students faced the test of english proficiency. another study is conducted by yuyun et al (2018). this study investigated the students’ main problems during a test of english proficiency, then it was followed by strategies. none of those studies discuss the students’ perceptions toward language testing as graduation requirement. for that reason, this research is proposed to fill in the gap by addressing the following two research questions: 1. what are the students’ perceptions on a test of english proficiency as graduation requirement? 2. how is the implementation of test of english proficiency? llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 172-182 173 literature review perception perception deals with psychology study, which relates to the study of behaviour and mental processes. all human beings are given five senses such as eyes as a sense of sight, nose as a sense of smell, ears as sense of hearing, skin as sense of touch, and tongue as sense of tasting. those five senses, according to belch (2004), provide impressions of the world, which psychologists call perception. to give better understanding of perception, some experts gave the definition. schacter, et al (2009) defined perception as the organization, identification, and interpretation of a sensation in order to form a mental representation. in other sides, kasschau (2003) said that perception is the organization and interpretation of information from the senses into meaningful experiences. in addition, wittig (2001) explained that perception is the interpretation of the information received. considering the previous definitions given by experts, the writers can conclude that perception is the organization and interpretation of the information received from the senses in order to form meaningful experiences. test of english proficiency when we discuss the test, it cannot be separated from the assessment because the test is one of the assessment forms. dorobat (2007) explained that assessment is ways to get students’ information on their ability or achievement. it can be assumed that the way to assess the students’ ability or achievement can be in the form of an interview, observation, a questionnaire, reviewing students’ work, test, etc. according to brown (2003), a test as a system to measure students’ ability, knowledge, or performance in a given area. the test is also questions that have the attribute of right and wrong. in the field of education, testing is fundamental since it gives a greatly powerful influence in society. therefore, mcnamara and roever (2006) said that testing in education is an attempt to measure a person’s knowledge, intelligence, or other characteristics in a systematic way. in line with previous definitions, zainal and mulyana (2007) defined a test as a question, an assignment, or a set of assignment which is planned to obtain information of certain education. from those definitions, it can be summarized that a test is a method of measuring students’ ability, knowledge, intelligence, or performance in a systematic way which is planned to obtain the information of certain education. there are many types of test as it is explained by harris and mccann (1994), brown (2003), and alderson, et al (1995) such as language aptitude test, progress test, summative test, entry/placement test, diagnostic test, proficiency test. in this research, the type of the test is the proficiency test or test of english proficiency. it is used to test students’ ability with different language backgrounds or to show whether or not the students have reached a given level of general language ability. basically a test of english proficiency is not a new phenomenon in the education institution, especially in higher education. many education institutions issued the policy to maintain or control students’ language proficiency by using the standardized test such as toefl, ielts, toeic etc, but many others use their own english test product such as general english proficiency test (gept) developed by the language training and testing center in taiwan (shih: 2008) or llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 172-182 174 tep entry and tep exit developed by language center of ugj. in general, there are two main functions when such institution used a test of english proficiency. first, it is used for an entry requirement for new students and second, it is used for exit requirement. according to shih (2010), the implementation of english test based on policy with graduation benchmark has the effects for the students in both advantages and disadvantages. the advantages are: 1) the policy could prod the students to study; 2) there was competition among universities; 3) the school authorities could claim that students’ proficiency has reached a certain level; and 4) certificates were critical for students to get a job, while the disadvantages are: 1) students needed to pay for taking the test; and the requirement might defer the students’ graduation. the same findings are also revealed by pan’s study (2009). it reported that there are both positive and negative washback in the english certification exit requirement. for positive washback, the government has a significant impact on college english education by allocating a considerable amount of funding to increase the pass rate of college students who earn certificates; students scores reveal what skills must be improved so that educators can design more effective curricula or lesson plans to meet students’ need; and students are encouraged to take english study more seriously because they might not be able to graduate if they do not pass the test. for negative washback, teachers are concerned that the requirement might lead to teaching to the test; the requirement put the students under pressure because they won’t graduate if they don’t pass the test; and the students focus on the materials tested although the materials are not applicable in real-world situations. in addition, the proficiency test also affects other things such as the relationship between language proficiency and students’ academic success. yan and cheng (2015) said that language proficiency had a moderate effect on the students’ academic success. the same view is also proposed by martirosyan et al (2015). they reported that there were significant differences in the academic performances of students with different english language proficiency levels and students who speak multiple languages. furthermore, wilson and komba (2012) said the more proficient in english the students are, the better they are in academics. in other sides, xiao (2015) argued that students’language proficiency will effect on their pragmatic competence. method the writers use case study as the method of this research. according to ary et al (2010), case study is a kind of ethnographic research study that concerns on a single unit, such as one individual, one group, one organization, or one program. in addition, they also explained that the goal of this method is to get a detailed description and to understand the entity (the “case”). in other sides, young in singh (2006) explained that case study is an exploration and analyzing of the life of a social unit. it can be a person, a family, an institution, culture group, or even an entire community. in short, it can be said that case study is in depth investigation into a certain phenomenon that happens in individual, group, organization, and/or llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 172-182 175 program. a case study is considered as an appropriate method because the writers want to explore the students’ perception and find out about the implementation of tep. this research was conducted from january to march 2019. the subjects of research are fourth grade students of ugj. there are 288 students coming from different faculties as the subjects of research. they are chosen because they are the object of the policy or, in other words, they have an obligation to take a test as graduation requirement. the writers use purposive sampling as the method of the sample in this research. ary et al (2006) argued that researchers who conducted qualitative research are purposeful in selecting the subject of research and setting. furthermore, they stated that researchers decide on purposive samples which are thought to be to be satisfactory to present maximum comprehension and to understand what they are studying. there are four techniques of collecting data used in this research. first, interviews. the writers interviewed some respondents such as the first vice of rector as policy maker, staff of language center as implementor of policy, and the students as the object of the policy. second, observation. the writers observed the implementation of tep when it is done regularly. third, questionnaire. the writers gave a questionnaire to test takers or students after they have done tep. and fourth, documents. the writers analyze the document that related to a test of english proficiency. after the writers got data, then they analyzed them using an interactive model by miles and huberman (1994). it consists of data collection, data display, data reduction, and conclusion. to ensure the trustworthiness of this research, triangulation is used to confirm the truthfulness or the validity of research findings as it is proposed by creswell (2007). according to patton (2002), there are four types of triangulation: a) methods triangulation; b) triangulation of sources; c) analyst triangulation; and d) theory/perspective triangulation. in this research, the writers used triangulation of sources. findings and discussion this section provides the findings related to research questions as follows: research question 1 what are the students’ perceptions on a test of english proficiency as graduation requirement? the first research question reports on how the students perceive a test of english proficiency as graduation requirement. the following table is the result of questionnaires given to test takers that illustrates the students’ perception in percentage. table 1. the students’ perceptions on a test of english proficiency no students’ perceptions responses (sa) (a) (n) (d) (sd) 1 test of english proficiency motivates you to study english. 38,19 % 52,08 % 8,33 % 1,38 % 0 % llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 172-182 176 no students’ perceptions responses (sa) (a) (n) (d) (sd) 2 test of english proficiency is beneficial. 39,72 % 53,31 % 6,96 % 0 % 0 % 3 test of english proficiency isn’t obstacle to follow academic activities. 28,12 % 48,61 % 18,05 % 4,16 % 1,04 % 4 test of english proficiency is easy to do 6,09 % 17,56 % 64,15 % 10,75 % 1,43 % 5 the passing grade of test of english proficiency is 450 for english educational department and 400 for non-english educational department. 17,07 % 47,03 % 29,61 % 5,57 % 0,69 % 6 the important of special treatment such as training or course before doing test of english proficiency 34,49 % 42,85 % 20,90 % 1,39 % 0,34 % *note: (sa): strongly agree, (a): agree, (n): neutral, (d): disagree, (sd): strongly disagree from table 1, the writers clasify the result of questionnaires into three main aspects; (1) tep activity which is represented by statements number 1, 2, and 3, (2) test instrument used in tep which is represented by statement number 4, and (3) the preparation which is represented by statement number 5 and 6. the discussions of each aspect are as follows: test of english proficiency is an activity held regularly by language center based on the policy that obligates the students to take it as graduation requirement. this policy has been implemented for more than two years since it was issued in 2015. based on the result of questionnaires in number 1, 2, and 3, they reveal that in general the implementation of tep gets positive responses from the students. for example: tep motivates the students to study english. the students’ responses are (sa): 38, 19 %, (a): 52,08 %, (n): 8.33 %, (d) 1,38 %, and (sd): 0 %. the same finding has ever drawn by li et al (2012). they said that collage english test motivated the students to make a great effort to learn english. in addition they explained that many students seem to have motivation to put more effort on the language skills in the test. the result of questionnaires is in line with the following interview transcript: “it can motivate students because we need english. moreover it becomes our soft skill” in addition to tep as a motivation for the students, tep is also beneficial for the students. the students’ responses are (sa): 39,72 %, (a): 53,31 %, (n): 6,96 %, (d) 0 %, and (sd): 0 %. according to shahomy (2001), the results of the test llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 172-182 177 have harmful effects on the students as they can create winners and losers, successes and failures, rejections and acceptances. the test score is one of indicators to place the students in class levels, for granting certificates and prizes, for determining whether or not the students will be allowed to continue in future studies, for deciding on professions, for entering special education classes, for participating in honor classes, for getting accepted to higher education and for obtaining jobs. the result of the interview also shows the same idea with the questionnaire. “it is beneficial because it will be attached with the graduation certificate and english test certificate” the last is that test of english proficiency isn’t obstacle to follow academic activities. the students’ responses are (sa): 28,12 %, (a): 48,61 %, (n): 18,05 %, (d) 4,16 %, and (sd): 1,04 %. it proves that tep isn’t obstacles for the students, although they have to take tep before they graduate from higher education. from these students’ responses, it can be drawn that tep is beneficial activity because it motivates them to study english in order to pass the passing grade needed. the interviewee argued that the implementation of english test is not an obstacle for the students whereas it can be a starting point for them to study english although they aren’t from english education department. “actually, it isn’t an obstacle for us. it depends on the students’ motive. this test is not only the obligation but also it is a must to do because if we look from our educational background, we all are not from english education department but there is a time for us to study english, motivates us to study” the second discussion deals with the test instrument. based on the statement “test of english proficiency is easy to do”, the students’ responses are (sa): 6,09 %, (a): 17,56 %, (n): 64,15 %, (d) 10,75 %, and (sd): 1,43 %. neutral is the most dominant response from the students. since the test instrument for tep is used regularly to test the student, the validity and reliability must be kept. hsu (2009) argued that it is crucial to guarantee the validity and reliability of the tests employed. furthermore, she explained that validity refers to the extent to which a test measures what it is intended to measure and not what it is not designed to measure and reliability is basically concerned on how consistently the test does what it is supposed to do. the last discussion focuses on treatment. the students’ responses toward the important of preparation before doing the test of english proficiency are (sa): 34,49 %, (a): 42,85 %, (n): 20,90 %, (d) 1,39 %, and (sd): 0,34 %. based on this result, it shows that preparation such as training or course is important for the students before they take tep. the policy also has set the passing grade for the english educational department (450) and non-english educational department (400). the students’ responses toward this passing grade are (sa): 17,07 %, (a): 47,03 %, (n): 29,61 %, (d) 5,57 %, and (sd): 0,69 %. from the three aspects discussed above, it can be summarized that the students perceive the test of english proficiency as a beneficial activity because it motivates llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 172-182 178 and attracts the students to study english in relation to materials or skills tested in tep. moreover, the policy also has set the passing grade for each department and the students are encouraged to have a good preparation before they take the tep. besides, the validity and reliability of test instruments must be kept because they are used regularly to test the students. research question 2 how is the implementation of test of english proficiency? this research question deals with how a test of english proficiency is implemented regularly by language center of ugj. in this research, the writers explore four aspects that relate to the implementation of tep. those aspects are 1) registration system, 2) information system, 3) proctoring, and 4) facilities. the following table is the result of questionnaires which reveals students’ satisfaction toward the implementation of tep. table 2. the implementation of a test of english proficiency no the implementation of test of english proficiency responses (vs) (s) (u) (vu) 1 the registration system of test of english proficiency in language center 51,39 % 47,55 % 1,04 % 0 % 2 the information system (test schedule and publishing score) done by language center on test of english proficiency 43,55 % 50,52 % 5,92 % 0 % 3 proctoring during test of english proficiency 55,20 % 44,09 % 0,34 % 0,34 % 4 the facilities of test of english proficiency (class, speaker, timer, etc) 49,30 % 44,09 % 5,90 % 0,69 % *note: (vs): very satisfied, (s): satisfied, (u): unsatisfied, (vu): very unsatisfied registration system is one of the important parts in tep. since language center as the operator of tep used offline or on the desk system, the students have to register tep to the office. based on the result of the questionnaires, the students’ responses toward registration system are (vs): 51,39 %, (s): 47,55 %, (u): 1,04 %, (vu): 0 %. another aspect of the implementation of tep is an information system. this information system deals with how language center informs the students about test schedule and score. language center has three ways to informs the students using fp: pusatbahasaugj, ig: pusatbahasa.ugj, and wa. the students’ responses toward information system are (vs): 43,55 %, (s): 50,52 %, (u): 5,92 %, (vu): 0%. the third aspect of the implementation of tep is proctoring. the job of proctor during the implementation of tep is to distribute the test and answer sheet, to set timer, to keep the process of tep. the results of the questionnaires are (vs): 55,20 %, (s): 44,09 %, (u): 0,34 %, (vu): 0,34 %. the last aspect is facilities. language center provides many facilities to support the implementation of tep such as class, speaker, times, pencil, eraser. these facilities are provided to make the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 172-182 179 implementation of tep run well. it can be seen from students’ response toward facilities: (vs): 49,30 %, (s): 44,09 %, (u): 5,90 %, (vu): 0,69 %. the successful implementation of tep can be drawn into four aspects: the registration system, information system, proctoring, and facilities. from the explanation above, vs and s are the dominant responses coming from students. it indicates that the implementation of tep done by language center can run well. conclusion this study is intended to explore and investigate the students’ perceptions on tep and the implementation of tep. the research findings reveal that the students’ perceptions can be classified into three aspects: 1) tep activity; 2) test instrument; and 3) preparation. tep activity based on the students’ perceptions is a meaningful and beneficial activity that motivates the students to learn english. since a test instrument is used to test the students regularly, the validity and reliability must be kept. furthermore, to pass the passing grade or minimum score, the students needs a preparation such as training or course that concerns on materials tested by tep. another research finding on how a test of english proficiency is implemented reveals that most of the students perceive satisfaction toward the implementation of tep in several aspects such as: a registration system, information system, proctoring, and facilities. references actfl. 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(2007). test dan assesmen di sd. jakarta: penerbit universitas terbuka llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019, pp. 46-57 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 46 efl peer feedback through the chatroom in padlet angela bayu pertama sari universitas bina sarana informatika angela.abp@bsi.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2019.220105 received 21 january 2019; revised 22 february 2019; accepted 5 march 2019 abstract this research was conducted to achieve two objectives. the first one is to give the vivid explanation about the peer feedback practice through padlet chatroom. secondly, it was carried out to dig out the students’ responses toward that practice. it was conducted within qualitative descriptive research by employing observation and open-ended questionnaires of 70 non-english university students as its data collecting technique. then, qualitative data analysis was utilized by the researcher. the results revealed padlet usage is a new thing for most of the students, yet they can use it easily because it is user-friendly and cost-free. moreover, anonymity becomes one of the prominent features in padlet chatroom. the students find it more convenient as being anonymous in giving and receiving feedback due to the freedom of expressing the students’ feedback without worrying about their friends’ sense of emotion. the last finding showed that the peer feedback practice through padlet chatroom had met five principles out of seven principles that are proposed as the basic requirements of feedback practices. keywords: padlet, peer feedback, ict, efl learning introduction numerous advantages have been gained through the integration of ict in efl learning. it has been confirmed by several studies that are conducted by balaji and chakrabarti (2010), haythornthwaite (2006), and warschauer (1995) as cited in espitia et al. (2013) claiming that ict uses has provided potential benefits for the english foreign learning in the educational context. moreover, the developments of the technologies have carried new chance and facilitated the learning process (bishop & elen, 2014). it becomes a current trend, especially in higher education to make use of ict for the improvements of learning (garrison & kanuka, 2004). the educators are encouraged to upgrade their style of teaching and adjust it with the millennial students learning trend that is tightly bound to the technology and internet. to be more specific, this research takes padlet online platform as the object of discussion. padlet is an online platform that looks like a blog enabling the users to share, edit, collaborates with each other through the internet connection. in similar words, padlet becomes a media to have a discussion and social interaction with others that is all happen over the internet connection (cole, 2009 as cited in lowe & humphrey 2018). mailto:youremail@xxxx.com llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019, pp. 46-57 47 this research examines the possible correlation between the use of padlet for the english foreign language learning in higher education. due to padlet’ advantage in accommodating the social interactions, the researcher specifies the scope of this research into the use of padlet for doing peer feedback in the speaking activities in efl learning. peer feedback is pivotal that enables the students’ improvements through the dynamic of social interaction and sharing (liu et al., 2001). regarding those points, two research questions an investigated in this study: 1. how is peer-feedback through chatroom in padlet conducted in efl learning? 2. what are the students’ responses of the peer-feedback through chatroom in padlet? literature review padlet for efl learning some researches have been revealed the benefits of using padlet for language learning, one of which is its advantage in increasing the students’ interest and motivation in learning. richardson (2009) as cited in jabar & ali (2016) claimed that online website application is able to enhance the learning process since the students currently have a natural sense to be attracted to technology. the application of padlet in efl learning is getting more popular. it is reported that this online platform is commonly used in a seminar, small teaching sessions to stimulate conversation, facilitate open call questions and opinion and engage the students’ participation (lowe & humphrey, 2018). padlet is a unique tool with its excellence as being a virtual interaction wall based on the specific instructional task that is so constructive for the efl learning (weller, 2013). to be more specific, the chatroom is the feature of padlet that is used in this research. it enables the students to have chat interaction without acknowledging their identity. thus, this activity that happens through padlet chatroom is anonymous. regarding students’ interaction, it is necessary since language is all about interactions of a human being. thus, padlet is a suitable instrument to establish collaborative learning that boosts the language practice in a written form. it is in line with bound and prosser (2002) as cited in lowe, and humphrey (2018) noted that the process of learning does not happen in isolation; in fact, their peers play a great role on it. collaborating the students’ interaction over the online spaces is also becoming common in the education field (wheeler, 2009). peer feedback as the focus of this research that occurs in the online platform of padlet chatroom brings lots of benefits. kahiigi et al. (2012) explained that peer feedback through the collaborative online platform circumstance gives access to the students to see their friends’ feedback and provide-receive feedback with ease and flexibility. peer feedback a theory of constructivism by vygotsky (1978) as cited in bijamin (2013) stated that “mind develops through one’s interaction with the world around him/her”. he claimed that a process of learning is not an individual one, but it is more about the interaction in a particular social setting. on a conclusion, peer activity in class is a cardinal method to enhance the students’ learning, since it gives llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019, pp. 46-57 48 students an opportunity to scaffold knowledge and skills that occurs within social interaction and sharing (lie et al., 2001). yang et al. (2006) added that peer feedback gives lots of benefits in the process of improving students’ critical thinking, establishing learners’ autonomy and stimulating students’ interaction. besides, hyland (2000) stated that peer feedback motivates the students to be more active in classroom participation. it makes the students be less passive and less teacher-dependent. furthermore, the activity of giving and receiving feedback allows the students to practice the language skills that they are currently learning (lundstrom and baker, 2009). in this study, students’ writing skill is the focus of discussion. it is due to the peer feedback that the students give and receive are all done in padlet chatroom which enables them to give input in the form of writing. writing activity during the peer feedback is beneficial for the learning. it is supported by pena-sha and nicholls (2004, p.245) noting that the written communication among peers that is done in the written form becomes more potent because writing activity requires more elaboration and language awareness rather than immediate and spontaneous thinking like what it occurs in the spoken one. thus, writing peer feedback form is perceived to be able to accommodate a broader scope of language practice. as the core of the research, there are seven principles of feedback practice that is proposed by nicole and macfarlane-dick (2006): 1. support informing what good performances are (goal, criteria, expected standards) 2. help to develop the students’ self-reflection and self-assessment 3. give clear and good-quality of information about the students’ learning process 4. stimulate the teachers and peer discussion about the learning 5. motivate students’ positive belief and self-esteem 6. give a chance to fill the gap between the current and the expected performance 7. serve the students about information to help shape the teaching (p.205) method this research is a descriptive qualitative study. the subjects of the research are 70 non-english university students in using the padlet online platform in efl learning. they are students from psychology major in sanata dharma university, indonesia. this research utilizes direct observation in class to gain information about the research subject. note taking and documentation was done to record the data. moreover, open-ended questionnaires that are email-based were distributed to those 70 students to support the data. some theories related to feedback, one of which is nicole and macfarlane-dick (2006), peer feedback and padlet usage is collaborated to gain a thorough analysis. the researcher employed a method of qualitative data analysis by renner, m., & taylor-powell, e. (2003). it proposed five steps in analyzing the qualitative data in the form of open-ended questionnaires: 1. understanding the data 2. focus and limit the analysis based on the research goal llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019, pp. 46-57 49 3. categorize information 4. identify and relate the patterns and connection between categories 5. data interpretation – compiling into one holistic analysis findings and discussion the procedure of padlet usage in efl learning activities facilitated by padlet platform was instructed into the general english learning for psychology students in sanata dharma university. it is according to holzweiss (2014) who claimed several online tools that teachers may integrate into the classroom learning to enhance students’ learning engagement. one of the collaborative online tools is padlet. the teacher asked the students to do peerfeedback towards the video project that their friends made. shields (2014) proposed some learning activities by integrating padlet, and peer feedback is one of which. afterward, having watched their friends’ english video project that is played through lcd projector in the classroom, the students are individually asked to access padlet chatroom through the online address link that was shared by the teacher. padlet is a web 2.0 tool for students’ interaction on a virtual wall in the online platform and has been able to accommodate the simple instructional tasks in the classroom setting (weller, 2013). then, the peer-feedback was conducted through the chatroom in padlet which requires personal mobile phone and internet connection. the identity of the students is anonymous. according to the data from observation, it is seen that the students were having fun when they were in the process of learning. although they all had activities with their mobile phone, but the chatroom in padlet created a huge bound and connected them all. how fun the practices with padlet chatroom was indicated by the students’ laugh and their high interest in typing feedback in the chatroom. the overview of the padlet chatroom is illustrated in the following figure: figure 1. screen capture of the chatroom in padlet llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019, pp. 46-57 50 students’ familiarity and capability of padlet usage in efl learning the result showed that there are many the students have not been familiar yet in using padlet tools in the english learning. it is revealed in the following figure: figure 2. students’ familiarity with using padlet it is surprising to find out that most of the students in the percentage of 91.4% are less familiar with the padlet which becomes one of the web tools that is popular in the education field especially in the higher education. it is in line to what has been said by lowe & humphrey, 2018 stating that padlet has been popular amongst lecturers. however, the students are still less likely having interaction with padlet. despite that students’ unfamiliarity in using padlet, it is seen that the students found no major obstacles in using padlet. in a similar word, padlet operation is easy for the students in the classroom setting. it is shown in the table as follows: figure 3. students’ capability in using padlet the research result showed that the majority of the students in the percentage of 81.4% found no difficulties in using padlet. they admitted that padlet is easy to use and user-friendly. it is supported by fuchs (2014), claiming that padlet is a useful device in the informative-collaborative classroom because it is compatible with various types of different tools and it requires no particular skill or knows llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019, pp. 46-57 51 how. also, byrne (2015) as cited in manowong (2017) identified “padlet” as one of the collaborative learning devices that is costs no fee for its service. thus, both the teachers and all students get no obstacle to dealing with the padlet access. nevertheless, there are a few students in the percentage of 18.6% who felt that padlet is hard to operate. the summary of the students’ reason shows that the obstacle came from the technical issues that are the low internet connection and the weak performance of their mobile devices. it is normal to encounter that phenomenon in this padlet-based learning since the internet connection and the website online page are something that we can’t always rely on, primarily when it is used for the massive number of users at the same time. confidentiality in giving-receiving peer feedback through padlet the activity of giving-receiving peer feedback is done anonymously. it means that the students’ identity as the giver of feedback is confidential. it becomes one of the features in the padlet online tool, especially in the chatroom one. according to the research result, it is shown that the students prefer the confidentiality/ anonymity in the process of both giving and receiving feedback. it is illustrated in figure 4 and figure 5. figure 4. students’ preference in giving feedback figure 5. students’ preference in receiving feedback llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019, pp. 46-57 52 a few numbers of students prefer peer feedback’s giver identity (identified names) figure 4 and figure 5 illustrated that there are 15.7% and 32.9% of the students who prefer to show their names in giving and receiving feedback. the summary of their reasons are due to the social interaction among their peer group, they want to be known and to know the identity of the feedback’s givers. constructive comments can establish positive social interaction. it is supported by yang et al., (2006) who claimed that peer feedback is beneficial in developing and social interaction among students. however, it won’t be run well if the students are anonymous. how they can interact with they did not know who the feedback’s givers are and their identity in giving the feedback. next, the reason is that of the students’ self-control; when it is anonymous, a few of the students say harsh words and give feedback that is not related to the context of learning (not serious), and too many jokes. it is proven in the padlet chatroom that some jokes, harsh words, informal indonesian terms appeared there. to be worse, the teacher can do nothing to control them since the students’ names were not identified in that chatroom. a big number of students like to be anonymous in giving and receiving peer feedback (unidentified names). compared to the identified-name ones, the number of students who prefer to be anonymous is more significant. it is seen in figure 4 and 5 that there are 84.3% and 67.1% of the total respondents prefer anonymity. the respondents’ reasons are related to the preference of having more freedom. by having more freedom, the students feel to be able to express their critical thinking more deliberate and free since they do not have to worry whether they hurt their friends feeling or not because their identity is concealed. by having that freedom, the students critical thinking in the process of peer-feedback is developed and get the advantage from it (yang et al., 2006). moreover, by being anonymous, the quality of information is highly valuable since the students do not have to be limited to the feelings of their friends. the peer-feedbacks runs more objectively by delivering high-quality information to the students about their english performance (nicole and macfarlane-dick, 2006) students’ responses in the classroom activity of using padlet chatroom figure 6. padlet as the preferable media in peer feedback activity the summary of the open-questionnaires result showed that the least preferable media in giving feedback is through written on paper. the students who chose this llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019, pp. 46-57 53 media argued that by using this conventional media which is paper, provides them a media to keep the results on their own as their archives. they felt that they need it so that they can re-read, contemplate and re-evaluate themselves again through the written feedback that they got. the percentage of the students who prefer written paper peer feedback is at the rate of 13%. however, the rest of the students who did not belong to this category said that this media is not paper-friendly (may cause global warming), takes time and old-fashioned. moreover, the teacher cannot have any control and access to the result of the peer feedback since the results were submitted to the students and owned by them. the second least preferable category is through direct spoken peer feedback. it is seen that there is 17% of the total students prefer to express their peer feedback orally and directly. the summary of their reasons showed that it is because the spoken language can express what they want to evaluate their friend more precisely regarding its emotional. in this case, the students believed that spoken way has a more emotional impact toward the peer feedback. then, the other reason is they prefer the spoken one because the students want to practice their speaking skills during the peer feedback activities. nevertheless, the teacher perceived that there are some drawbacks to this method. it took time to listen to the peer-feedback one by one and all students cannot equally get a chance to speak up due to the time limitation. the preferable media in the peer feedback activity is through the chatroom in padlet. a significant number of students in the percentage of 70% perceived that padlet is an excellent media for them to express and deliver their peer feedback. several reasons came up from the students’ perspective. the first one is that they felt that padlet makes the peer feedback run more effective and efficient due to its online platform. it did not take much time to see the feedback result, can be accessed by the whole students in class with an equal chance to participate in and also paperless. it is supported by several experts saying that that technology-based media enhances learning and support the teaching to be student-centered (attwell, 2010 as cited in jabar & ali, 2016). moreover, it is also claimed that padlet online chatroom platform can produce rapid feedbacks that make the action to be timeefficient (deraadt, toleman, and watson, 2005). furthermore, the teacher felt that the chatroom in padlet could be easily accessed by both all the students and the teacher. thus, it makes the teacher have the control and monitor the process of peer feedback activity (lowe & humphrey, 2018). students’ responses to the quality of peer-feedback in padlet figure 7. students’ responses to the padlet peer-feedback quality llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019, pp. 46-57 54 according to the research result illustrated in figure 7, it is revealed that most of the students in the percentage of 89% considered that the quality of the peer feedback conducted through padlet chatroom is qualified and satisfying. the summary of their responses are covered as follows: (1) they felt positive about what their friends’ evaluations are, (2) they got compliments and constructive comments that makes them happy (3) the peer feedback result is presented interactively since it was expressed in the online chatroom. it is supported with velandia et al. (2012) explaining that classroom activities that are based on the current information and communication technologies is believed to become an effective learning tool that can encourage new students’ interests. nevertheless, there is 11 % of the total students who thought that they are not satisfied with the peer feedback result that was conducted through the chatroom in padlet. the summary of the reasons showed that it was because the peer feedback results were containing bias due to the in-objective peer feedback, some jokes and silly words that were appeared in the chatroom and the feeling of ashamed and hurt. this finding is in line with saito and fujita (2004) who revealed that there are some biases associated with peer feedback including friendship (in-objective and jokes) and also the impact of the negative feedback on the students’ future performance. furthermore, a study conducted by tsui and ng (2000) discovered that some students prefer teacher feedback than peer feedback. the primary reason is that the students perceive that teacher is the one who is qualified to give them with constructive evaluation and comment. thus, the teacher is considered as the only figure who has authority for providing the proper feedback. the further discussion will be based on the theory of seven principles for feedback practice (nicole and macfarlane-dick, 2006). the theory claimed that there are seven basic requirements for the feedback activities. according to the research result, there are two principles, according to nicole and macfarlane-dick (2006), out of 7 that did not exist in the practice of peer feedback by using padlet chatroom. the first one (nicole and macfarlane-dick, 2006) is clarifying what good performance is (the goal, criteria, expected standards). there is no elaboration of what good performance is. the peer feedback mostly talked about appraisal and critics; and there is no further explanation about the goal, criteria and expected standard. most of the students appreciated what their friends did whether it was good, fair or poor. it is proven in the students’ responses who are many of them said “good job”, even the teacher said it so. thus, there is poor clarification of what good performance is. the other principle (nicole and macfarlane-dick, 2006) that did not exist in the padlet peer feedback activities was the high-quality information to the students about their learning. since the peer feedback was conducted in the chatroom, the quality of the feedback is considered to be not complete enough due to the chat style feedback that made the students do peer feedback just in several phrases or only one sentence. it is seen in the chatroom that there is a few number of students who expressed their feedback more than one sentence. thus, the highquality information about their learning was not found in the padlet peer feedback activities. in spite of those two principles that did not exist in the padlet peer feedback, five principles governed. the first one is facilitating the students’ self-assessment llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019, pp. 46-57 55 and development (nicole and macfarlane-dick, 2006). it is seen that the students become more aware of what things that they have to improve. it is seen in the several responses such as (1) “the feedback could improve me to become a better person in making videos or on being a talent”, (2) “positive one it can be something that we can learn for better”, (3) “i think, i need to do better”, and (4) “baik untuk evaluasi diri = good for self-evaluation”. the second one is encouraging teacher and peer dialogue around learning process (nicole and macfarlane-dick, 2006). it is seen in the chatroom that the dialogue occurs in a fun way. it is identified in the responses: (1) “i think it's good if it just for fun”, (2) “from me it is so funnn”, (3) “so funny i like funny” and (4) “its felt great to have such a positive community”. it created a favorable situation where the students and their peer along with the teachers are motivated to establish dialogue related to the learning process. they have actively participated in the chatroom that was identified in the number of chat appeared in the chatroom. the third principle that appeared is the encouragement of positive motivational beliefs and also increasing self-esteem (nicole and macfarlane-dick, 2006). it was indicated in the responses (1) “i think its good, and there are many supportive comments” (2) “i love all the comment. i just wanna say thanks for all my friends that already comment on my video”, (3) “can give something constructive” and (4) ‘more positive and pleasant feedback”. some of those responses revealed that the students are more encouraged and motivated with the feedback that they got. thus, it may increase their self-confidence and self-esteem from the process of learning that they have done. the forth principle existed in the padlet peer feedback activity is the opportunity to close the gap between current and desired performance (nicole and macfarlane-dick, 2006). the result from the students’ responses revealed that they learned new insights or lesson from the “(1) saya senang dengan setiap komen dari teman-teman saya karena hal itu membuat saya bangga akan hasil saya dan dapat memperbaiki hal yang kurang= i’m happy with every comments given by my friends because those comments makes me proud of what i have done and can improve the things that still need improvements” and (2) “aku jadi tau what the results in my video, is it good or not= i can know what the result of my video was”. those responses illustrated how the students learn something about the result of their project, so that it bridged the gap between their current project result and the expected result. the fifth principle that was found in this study is giving information to the students that can be the source of supporting the teaching process (nicole and macfarlane-dick, 2006). the results of the peer feedback were mostly expressed in the english language. this became an excellent media for the students to provide them with a source of english teaching and learning. not only the content of the feedback that was important, but also the grammar, vocabulary, and other elements of written expression appeared in those feedbacks. that kind of implied language elements in the written feedback can be the source of writing skill-oriented learning. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019, pp. 46-57 56 conclusion the emerging technology-based learning is getting more popular in efl learning. padlet online application is one of which. the research result shows that although the students have not been familiar yet with padlet chatroom, they can use it with ease. moreover, the result of the peer feedback activities in padlet chatroom revealed that the students prefer the anonymity in that activity since they can express their feedback more freely and the students also feel that the feedback givers’ are not important, the content instead is much more important. then, the research results also showed that chatroom in padlet becomes the most preferable media in giving peer feedback that is presented in the percentage of 70% because it is fun that is conducted via mobile phone, time efficient (can collect huge number of feedback in a quick time), accessible for both students and teachers. principally, that activity also covers 5 principle of feedback practices which are: (1) improving self-assessment through the reflection of feedback that the students’ get; (2) stimulating discussion among students and teachers through the online chatroom; (3) increasing self-esteem from their friends’ appraisal and constructive comments; (4) bridge the gap of current and expected result of the students’ work; and (5) providing a source of teaching process from the students’ english written feedback in the 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http://hdl.handle.net/10552/3322 wheeler, s. (ed.). (2009). connected minds, emerging cultures: cybercultures in online learning. iap. yang, m., badger, r., & yu, z. (2006). a comparative study of peer and teacher feedback in chinese efl writing class. journal of second language learning, 15(3), 179-200. http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.jslw.2006. 09.004 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 156-170 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 156 efl teachers’ attitudes on gender differences in school achievements belaid louiza and sarnou hanane university abdelhamid ibn badis-mostaganem, algeria laboratoire étude de genres, langues et diversités sociolinguistiques and laboratoire dimensions socio-pragmatique et pragma-linguistique dans les manuels scolaires de langues étrangères en algérie belaidlouiza38@yahoo.com and bh_sarnou@yahoo.fr doi:doi.org/10.24071/llt.2019.220203 received 27 may 2019; revised 12 june 2019; accepted 3 septerber 2019 abstract this work assesses the perspectives of teachers on genders’ classroom performance. its objective targets to discover the challenges faced in teaching foreign languages. english is a foreign language that instructors encounter difficulties to teach especially to a population whereby their linguistic background does not help in using the language properly. to this end, our research questions enquire about the obstacles that impede efl teachers receiving a positive feedback from learners. as a research instrument, a questionnaire is handed to forty six teachers in tissemsiltalgeria. the results exhibit weaknesses in dealing with pupils especially in using the language in an oral or a written task, besides the violent behaviour of males in the classroom which is regarded as a hindering factor to manage the classroom, communicate with learners and teach effectively. keywords: gender performance; foreign language; english; linguistic background; positive feedback. introduction the english language, as a lingua franca, year by year is becoming the most essential code in all fields. individuals collapse with this language wherever they are. teaching the language for learners who do not have a linguistic background in using it is intricate. hence, our study investigates the attitudes of teachers towards pupils disinterest in english. its objective inquires for the weaknesses that they face in teaching the foreign language. in an efl context, many factors intervene in the mediocre level of genders; it could be psychological whereby they feel anxious to participate or ask questions; cultural in which males’ participation will make their counterparts resemble them to females, or linguistic in which their level in languages is decreased. the aforementioned factors might arise discrepancy in achievement between pupils in the classroom which needs a professional intervention of teachers to reduce stereotypes, differentiation, fear, and so forth, and attempt to attract the learners’ attention according to their different needs and mailto:belaidlouiza38@yahoo.com mailto:bh_sarnou@yahoo.fr llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp.156-170 157 interests, particularly when it comes to discipline problems in the classroom which obstruct the learning process and create discomfort in class. goofing-off in the classroom first of all, adam (2004), jones and jones (2007), in their work, discuss the different tools that would help educators in the classroom. they claim that pupils learn by doing; they like being active and interactive. the key towards pupils’ success is when they enjoy what they are learning, teachers enjoy what they are teaching and an improvement in performance would be achieved. right from the start, on the first day of school, the classroom will either belong to the teacher or it will belong to the pupils and become under their control (willms, 2003; varga, 2017). in fact, teachers attempt to adopt a learner centred approach in their classes; this approach focuses mainly on the pupil who is considered as a responsible pole for his/her learning as it enhances the learners’ linguistic skills (boudehane, 2015). the teacher, in this context, is considered as a facilitator or a guide in the learning process and emphasizes that learning takes place outside the classroom without his/her interference. this entails the active involvement of learners in their own learning, be autonomous, responsible and self-regulated. (mizell, 2010; tavallali & marzban, 2015) actually, as long as classroom management is concerned, ‘goof-off’ is a term which represents the careless category of learners in the classroom; that is to say, if the teacher checks on one group, the other groups are goofing off (brady, 2003). a ‘goofer’ is a person who evades work or responsibility. pupils, who talk to each other in the classroom while the teacher is explaining, are considered as goof-offs. passing notes, sharpening a pencil, gazing out of the window, scrawling in a paper, exaggerated laughing in class, and so forth, are all forms of goofing-off (jones & jones, 2007) these attitudes are purposeful to avoid paying attention or prevent doing an exercise in the classroom. an attentive teacher can recognize this category, though this phenomenon is highly noticed at the back of classrooms mainly by male pupils. jones and jones believe that “a typical classroom is simply inefficient due to dawdling, passivity and goofingoff. goofing off kills more learning time and generates more teacher stress then all of the “serious” disruptions that are the subject of the school discipline code” (p. 7) the pupils’ behaviour in the classroom reflects their learning achievement and the extent to which teachers, especially novice ones, are capable to diminish disruptive behaviours and engage them in the classroom is questionable (goss, sonnemann & griffiths, 2017). notably, goofers’ behaviours have an impact on teachers and learners whereby their attitudes distract their counterparts from paying attention and impede, as well, their teachers from explaining the lecture and waste time in punishment, which most of the time is inefficient. (brady, 2003) evidently, the typical way for a novice or an experienced teacher to avoid goofing off is ‘location’; that is to say, if teachers maintain a close distance to pupils, their behaviour will be amended and vice versa. teachers have to walk around the classroom, among pupils, as they supervise; being passive in one place for so long, or in the front is not appropriate. the rearrangement of tables is very important; the appropriate organization of the furniture in the classroom enables the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 156-170 158 instructor to reach any pupil, hence he/she can have control over all learners. (brady, 2003; oliver & reschly, 2007; garrett, 2008) input versus output theory second of all, the input that is presented to learners is another element that has an impact on the learners’ feedback. its difficulty or simplicity influences the way pupils perceive knowledge. the teacher‘s role is to facilitate, as possible as he/she could, information for learners to understand the lectures and respond to assignments respectively. an essential part in language development entails a transformation of the input into learner output. thus, adam (n.d.) claims that the learning outcome will be “a mixture of knowledge, skills, abilities, attitudes and understanding that an individual will attain as a result of his or her successful engagement in a particular set of higher education experiences” (p. 2) it is quite important to understand that the learning outcome is what the pupil is expected to do at the end of each lecture or course; his/her positive or negative feedback reflects on the extent to which the input is well acquired, understood or completed during the learning process period. (adam, nd) “in the context of classroombased language to learning and teaching, it is the task of the teacher to help learners reach a desired level of linguistic and pragmatic knowledge/ ability that addresses their needs, wants, and situations. in order to carry out such a task, the teacher should be aware of the factors and processes that are considered to facilitate the language development” (kumaravadivelu, 2006, p. 25) in fact, language input stands for a written or an oral data or corpus of the target language in which pupils are exposed to through various sources. this entails the existence of two conditions: availability and accessibility (sárosdy et al. 2006). the input could be either available to learners at school by their teachers, or they should look for it themselves by making research through books or internet. therefore, it is any information that the learner is exposed to, he/she is going to internalize, comprehend, retain or discard. in this vein, we recognize three types of input. inter language input speaking about the etymology of the term, it was coined by the american linguist larry selinker; for clarity, inter language is a kind of linguistic system used by language learners who are learning a second or foreign language. it is the still developing language of learners. psychologically speaking, it represents a framework that is activated in the brain when the individual is in the process of learning another language; as tarone (2006) articulates: “the adult secondlanguage learner never achieves a level of facility in the use of the target comparable to that achievable by any child acquiring the target as a native language” (p. 747). thus, the inter-language is perceived as an independent linguistic system, different from the pupil’s ‘mother tongue’ and the language that is being learned, but associated to both of them by inter-lingual identifications in the brain of the learner. this latter cannot be performed or grasped as good as the first language and this is because the mother tongue is acquired unconsciously (al ghazali, 2006; cruz, 2015) unlike the second or foreign language which needs llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp.156-170 159 efforts and consciousness to use the language rules appropriately (nation, 2014; rezaee & farahian, 2015) simplified input not all information is easily understood, thus the simplified knowledge is a sort of language that is simplified grammatically and lexically in which teachers, textbook writers and competent speakers of the language use it in and outside the classroom while addressing language learners. this simplified version is understood by all pupils of high and mediocre level of the language. this latter is very significant among pupils when they are in the process of learning a foreign language that is distinct linguistically from their native language. it facilitates communication, comprehension and production. for this reason, language clarity is needed in a context where english is a foreign variety. though it helps comprehension, but it has not yet been proven to facilitate language acquisition. (ellis, 1993) non-simplified input this type refers to the language of competent speakers or natives without any kind of simplification; that is to say, the variety which is generally used in the media (tv, radio, newspaper) each of these sources of input can have various forms: spoken, written, formal and informal. individuals are exposed to this genre of input from these sources at different points in their learning experience and in varying degrees. jones and jones (2007) claim that the difference between teachers is not how the curriculum is followed, but in the process of organizing the learning activity; professional teachers concentrate on how to create an activity to enable learners to perform and interact, either through mastering a skill or the ability to express a concept. in this vein, jones (2007) have proposed two distinct methods that are followed by instructors to enhance the process of learning; the first way is as follows: input, input, input, inputoutput, meanwhile; the second method is sequenced as: input, output, input, output, input, output. they argue that it is preferable to opt for the second order to avoid problems of forgetting, misunderstanding and confusion; it helps learners to be more active and interactive in a way that raises their involvement in the classroom. the input hypothesis krashen (1989), in his work, states that we acquire language when we comprehend messages. “i argue that the best hypothesis is that competence in spelling and vocabulary is most efficiently attained by comprehensible input in the form of reading” (p. 440) this hypothesis suggests that when we mention the device of language acquisition, language is acquired unconsciously; when this happens the learners will not realize that they are actually acquiring because one’s conscious “focuses on the message, not the form” (p. 440). for this reason, the implicit llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 156-170 160 knowledge could be processed by an individual brain if the approach adopted to transmit this latter has the intention to raise the sense of reflection in learners, thus the “acquired knowledge is represented subconsciously in the brain” (ibid) similarly, in alatis’s work (1991) it is asserted that in order to acquire a language, the input hypothesis is compulsory “we acquire language by understanding messages, that ‘comprehensible input’ (ci) is the essential environmental ingredient in language acquisition. comprehensible input is necessary for language acquisition, but not sufficient” (p. 409) the learner of a language should be open to the input in the sense that the acquirer has already the aspect of i+1 whereby he/she has a prior knowledge and he/she is ready to acquire or learn. in this prospect, the background knowledge is important in learning the language; at least it eases the process of introducing a foreign language into the learner’s schemata. if learners already have access to the foreign language, the instruction of teachers will not seem complicated, if not, problems of misunderstanding might arise. “if acquirers rely only on the informal environment, or readers read only authentic texts, progress at first may be slow, since very little of the input will be comprehensible. as acquirers make more progress, the input becomes more comprehensible, and the acquisition becomes more linear, until it flattens out again at the advanced level” (alatis, 1991, p. 411) output output is any information that a learner is able to perform or answer in oral tasks, written tasks, or even in physical motion (bahrani, 2013; younesi & tajeddin, 2014). this latter enables him/her to repeat and recall the information that was already taught. trial and error are a significant part of the learning process; throughout the action of producing, speaking or writing language, the learner will realize his/her errors to correct them and confirm the information for its validity. in this respect, the output is the only proof in which learners will be able to detect their level of comprehension. therefore, swain (1985), as cited in donesch-jezo (2011), assumes that “it is only during the production of the second language (in speech or writing), that the learners can notice that they are not able to say what they want to say in the target language” (p. 11) researchers like nation (2007) and schmitt (2008) explain that the interest of learners in learning any language is the process of comprehension and gaining knowledge, thus this latter could be referred to as ‘meaning-focused’. a number of conditions are required in order for the ‘meaning-focused’ phase to be achieved. first, pupils should be familiar with the input, either through reading or listening. second, the pupils are interested in the presented input and are willed to understand it. third, only a small proportion of the language should be unknown, i.e. learners should have a rich linguistic background in the foreign language. forth, pupils should be able to comprehend the ambiguous words in a given context. fifth, pupils are exposed to many resources and large quantities of input. in this vein, nation (2007) estimates that, “the meaning-focused output strand involves learning through speaking and writing using language productively. typical activities in this strand include talking in conversations, giving a speech or lecture, writing a letter, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp.156-170 161 writing a note to someone, keeping a diary, telling a story and telling someone how to do something” (p. 3) for this reason, motivating pupils in performing different tasks that cover many competencies and skills and including all learners in classroom interaction are instances of encouragement to enable them produce language effectively. accordingly, the input and the output are strongly associated as they have a mutual influence on each other. actually, harmer (2003), as cited in sarosdy et al. (2006), demonstrates this relationship claiming that information becomes stored in the learners’ brain and turn to be an acquired knowledge, i.e. the output transforms to become an input in itself. this latter does not come from the teacher in form of feedback or introducing the topic only, but from learners as well when they participate in the classroom, when providing a comment or a feedback, from learners themselves when they are capable to correct their mistakes from the classroom discussion. the final cycle ends up by either producing a piece of writing or through participation to correct an oral activity. figure 1. the input-output transformation cycle; cited in sarosdy et al. (2006, p. 50) method the current investigation used a survey design as a quantitative approach that is organized and focused; it enables us to collect reliable findings and replicable information. in this study, the data were collected from a questionnaire which was a mixture of close ended and open ended questions. the open-ended questions require the respondents to give answers from their own perspectives. conversely, close ended questions are limited to yes/no questions and sometimes multiple choices are provided as well to serve the overall objective of this investigative work. aim of the study the major purpose of this research work is to assess the extent to which failure in english classes exist in the secondary schools of tissemsilt-algeria; what factors might intervene in the process of learning and further we propose some recommendations for improving performance (written and oral) in our efl context. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 156-170 162 within this pre-designed purpose, the researchers endeavor to answer the following questions: what are the major difficulties that english language teachers face? how performance is perceived from both genders (males, females)? are there any differences among educators in teaching english in terms of teaching experience and gender? participants considering the whole population is intricate and sometimes impossible. this work has included forty six teachers out of the whole population from different secondary schools in tissemsilt-algeria. their experience in teaching english diverges from one year to twenty two years; from novice to experienced teachers. like pupils’ number gap, females are more than males in the classroom; the female teachers of english outnumber males as well, in which 87 % are females whereas 13% are males. their age is from 26 to 40 years old and their diplomas are distinct by system, some belong to the classical system and others hold lmd diplomas; that is to say, a classical promotion have studies for four years, whereas the lmd studies last for three years to hold a license degree in the specialty, or five years to obtain a master degree. instruments the choice of the questionnaire, as a research tool in this work, aims to provide opportunities for the researcher to obtain data concerning the performance of genders in the english language subject in secondary schools, especially in final classes. thus, we administered a questionnaire to the teachers of secondary schools, especially those who teach english, which were selected randomly, from the province of tissemsiltalgeria. the questionnaire is split into two sections, the first section revolves around the teachers’ experience and entry profile, and the second section concentrates on the difficulties they face in teaching english and the factors that could decrease learners’ achievement. data collection and analysis actually, our population was selected during a training day in the city which was organized by the inspector of english in the province of tissemsilt-algeria. we first asked the permission of the inspector to give us some time to introduce our research topic. later, we asked them to collaborate with us, and then we administered the survey to the sample which was present in this training. the necessary instructions and information was provided for them. it was ensured that their answers are used only for academic purposes and kept anonymous. the data were collected through two sections; the first section involves some descriptive information about the participants’ age, gender, teaching experience and academic degree; whereas the second part includes their role in the classroom and the challenges they encounter in an efl context. findings and discussion prior to the main study, the copies of the questionnaire were given to 46 teachers of english in order to be familiarized with the difficulties they face in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp.156-170 163 teaching english, and what factors, from their perspective and experience, might contribute to the low performance of pupils in foreign languages. the questionnaires were completed fully and collected. the main findings of the research exhibit the interference of many variables beyond the variables that can be predicted in didactics. a quantitative analysis is counted upon to reach these results. table 1.teachers’ selection of codes languages number percentage arabic 29 63% french 10 22% english 07 15% total 46 100% figure 1.1 educators’ language choice in the classroom in order to teach a foreign language, the educator should be qualified in using the language, but teaching this latter to pupils, who the english language is not their mother tongue, and are already familiar with other varieties, sounds challenging. first of all, as clarified in figure 1.1 above, 63% of teachers chooses arabic as an alternative code to explain the lecture if some concepts are not well understood; 22% of the sample selects french to explain ambiguity; meanwhile, only 15% uses english. arabic and french are alternatives which are parts of the algerian pupils’ identity; in other words, they represent distinct codes which are engraved in pupils’ and teachers’ linguistic repertoire; they always go back to these previously mentioned varieties in order to clarify any implicature. it is noteworthy to mention that not all algerian pupils’ are well versed in french especially in rural areas or even learners who have a poor linguistic background; for this reason, instructors find themselves obliged to use arabic (the mother tongue) and not msa (modern standard arabic) to clarify ambiguities and ease the process of learning. second of all, when teachers were asked about whether they use information and communication technologies or not, 85% notes that they use them whereas 15% does not. table 2 below clarifies teachers’ technology frequent usage in the classroom. even though, the majority leans on technological aids, but not always in which 70% sometimes backup the lecture with icts, mainly the projector and the arabic 63% french 22% english 15% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 156-170 164 laptop. meanwhile 28% rarely uses it but only 2% always does. the majority of teachers thinks that it is difficult to use icts in a crowded classroom; more than that, it is a waste of time because the projectors are not fixed in the classroom, but need to be brought from the administration and take a lot of time to turn them on in the classroom. further, the overhead projectors are limited only to the teachers of sciences and physics who use it often; in this regard, their accessibility is not always available for the teachers of english. table 2. icts regular utilization in the classroom frequency rarely % sometimes % always % icts degree of use in the classroom 13 28% 32 70% 1 2% figure 2.1 icts usage in class third of all, the first step in learning any language requires the mastery of the four skills, i.e. listening, speaking, reading and writing. our sample insists on the fact that not all these skills are well improved by the language learners. they are weak in the written production in terms of lexis and grammar. in this perspective, all teachers agree with the fact that speaking is better than reading, writing and listening. thus, 74% indicates that oral participation is acceptable in comparison to written contribution in which only 26% opts for it; though, their oral contribution is not satisfactory to a great extent, especially in terms of pronunciation. according to teachers, pupils misspell words, and that is why they prevent participating in order not to be embarrassed in front of their classmates. figure 3.1 below clarifies the pupils’ best classroom skill performance. 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% always sometimes rarely llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp.156-170 165 table 3. pupils’ best classroom contribution the language skill pupils’ performance percentage oral skill 34 74% written skill 12 26% total 46 100 % figure 3.1 learners’ best skill performance forth, in the classroom context, pupils are expected to respond to their teachers’ questions or comment on any topic that is raised. to assess learners’ comprehensibility of the input, they are required to have a written examination to be evaluated upon. notably, the majority of teachers believes that performance is not alike between male pupils and females, in which 87% argues that females achieve better than males in english, whereas 13% states that males are good performers. they link this high performance of females to their number in the classroom and their interest in learning. by contrast, males’ mediocre performance is due to their indifference, especially if their number in the classroom is low. they refuse participating in order not to be resembled to females and be marginalized by their male counterparts respectively. table 4. and figure 4.1 below show the gap of performance among female pupils and male pupils from the perspective of our selected population. table 4. the genders’ performance gender the pupils’ participation percentage female pupils 40 87% male pupils 06 13% total 46 100% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% oral writing llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 156-170 166 figure 4.1 the participation of males and females in english classes as long as classroom management is concerned, male pupils are categorized to be the most discipline problem contributor in the classroom in comparison to female pupils. 85% of teachers points out that whenever there is a discipline problem, males are the reason; they sit at the back of the classroom to disrupt. 13% of teachers indicates that both genders are involved in the discipline problem, whereas 2% blames females. the goof-off pupils in this context are males; their attitudes in the classroom are an impediment for the teacher to create a suitable atmosphere where the pupils could feel comfortable in learning. this latter is associated to the large number of pupils in the classroom which is an obstacle for teachers to transmit the message appropriately and be able to reach all pupils in traditional seating arrangements. figure 5.1 below determines the higher rate of male pupils who are responsible of disruptive attitudes in the classroom. table 5. the classroom’s most disobedient gender options genders’ disruptive behavior % male pupils 39 85% female pupils 01 2% both genders 06 13% total 46 100% 87% 13% genders' best performance female pupils male pupils llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp.156-170 167 figure 5.1 genders’ classroom discipline first of all, on the basis of our work, 76% of teachers agrees with the fact that algerian secondary schools could witness a future gender gap, whereas 24% disagrees with this latter. their arguments are distinct though they all cast in the same mold. they clarify that girls are more enthusiastic and interesting in learning the english language subject. their number might promote their performance and excludes boys from classroom participation and academic accomplishment. all teachers link this latter to male pupils’ delinquency and absence of interest in learning, because they have other expectations different from that of females. second of all, males, according to many teachers, are becoming lazy and less interested in learning; all they are searching for is the easiest and the quickest way to gain money. hence, they copy what other males do -the category that is excluded from schoolto feel independent and self-satisfied. male pupils have negative attitudes toward english, which is the most affective and psychological factor that results in their poor performance in english. they are unresponsive because they think they will not have the opportunity to find decent jobs and contest females in the workplace; for this reason, they think about joining the army. third of all, the majority of teachers in this work complains from discipline problems and how to manage the classroom, though the number of pupils in the class is not shocking, but “goof-offs” as jones (2007) labeled exist. the majority of respondents disapproves male pupils’ behavior in the classroom arguing that they are not motivated to learn the languages basically because their social status and linguistic background do not help. speaking about the linguistic background, the pupils’ level in english is mediocre, what proves this is their misunderstanding in the classroom which compels the educator to use other varieties to explain the lecture other than english. when the pupils find it difficult to understand what their teachers are speaking about, they feel bored and lose attention; consequently, they make troubles in the classroom to break monotony. since icts are not used all the time and not in an effective way, classrooms can be considered as a “traditional setting” whereby pupils feel tiresome and disinterested. as long as the input comes from limited resources, though simplified, but this might reduce the chances of learners to improve their english language skills. pupils are skillful in using digital tools; we can say that there is a cultural 2% 85% 13% 0% females males both llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 156-170 168 collision between the 21st century learner and the school in which it provides courses which are most of the time traditional. in fact, the input is provided via the use of icts, it is clear for pupils who have a high level in english, otherwise the teachers attempt to simplify the information using different varieties as french and arabic; however, the use of the arabic language (first language) is higher in comparison to french and english. in the light of all that has been found, to improve pupils’ performance in the english language subject in the secondary schools, and based on the findings of this work, our sample is proposing the following: 1. a better contact should be established with pupils and their parents, as well as be familiar with their cultural background and social situation. 2. the teaching strategies should be differentiated; sticking to one approach might create a mediocre level and monotony among pupils. using visual aids and establishing games and quizzes are essential. 3. the addition of extra hours after school to cover the weaknesses of learners. 4. communication is a must between the educators and their learners; this could create a bridge to minimize misunderstanding. 5. it is prerequisite to sensitize pupils about the reason behind teaching this foreign language to attract their attention. 6. integrating learners in classroom activities through linking the tasks with real life situations. 7. providing secondary schools with laboratories and amphitheatres to teach the different skills of language, especially listening. 8. minimizing the number of pupils in class is a first step of amelioration. 9. involving male pupils is difficult especially with their small number, thus establishing classes for males separated from females would help in enhancing their achievement. 10. creating more innovative and engaging learning environments. 11. creating new teaching techniques and methods that encourage male pupils' involvement and participation in class activities. conclusion actually, teaching is a sacred profession but a challenging mission. educating a foreign language like english is a difficult task, especially if pupils’ status and social background do not help. thus, our work is an endeavor to search for the difficulties that the teachers of the secondary schools in tissemsilt encounter when teaching english. the majority of our sample puts emphasis on the high performance of females and the low performance of males. goof-offs are shaped by male pupils in the classrooms, they are considered as a delinquent category whose job is to distract their teachers from transmitting the message. though icts are used, but not all the time, this is due to their unavailability in the school. more importantly, pupils’ linguistic background does not assist their educators to use only english during lectures, but arabic and french are used alternatively to simplify the input. it is noteworthy to mention that separating male pupils from females is a suggested solution that could help in motivating males to perform better in learning a foreign language. this latter is proposed because all teachers agree with the fact llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp.156-170 169 that disinterest is what describe male pupils’ psyche at the secondary schools of tissemsilt. in a nutshell, teachers and parents play a significant role in the lives of learners, they need motivation and encouragement to perform better, but most importantly communication, because this latter could break the ice and enable both genders to do their best. references adam, s. 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(2014). effects of structured input and meaningful output on efl learners' acquisition of nominal clauses. iranian journal of applied linguistics, 17(2), 145-167. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 354 using pictureassisted lexical input approach to teach vocabulary to the post-lingual deaf students rahmat soe’oed1, *maria teodora ping2, and abdul rais thamrin3 mulawarman university, indonesia mr.soeoed@yahoo.com, mariateodoraping@fkip.unmul.ac.id and arthamrin131291@gmail.com *correspondence: mariateodoraping@fkip.unmul.ac.id doi: 10.24071/llt.v23i2.2569 received 30 april 2020; accepted 27 may 2020 abstract english has been one of the compulsory subjects for special schools in indonesia. however, there have been a rather limited number of studies conducted regarding the teaching of english under the framework of special education. responding to this gap, this current study aimed at investigating whether a particular language teaching approach called ‘lexical input approach’ assisted by series of pictures could provide a desirable effect on post-lingual deaf students’ vocabulary mastery. this research employed a pre-experimental single subject with a multiple base (a-b-a-b) design. the sample included three 8th grade junior high school students with the similarity of ages and hearing-loss history. the primary data in this study were taken by using assessments and analysed statistically by calculating the percentage of data points exceeding the median (pem). the findings indicated that there was an improvement in the students’ vocabulary scores after the treatments (from 41/ novice advanced category to 46 and 51/ novice high category). thus, it could be concluded that using picture-assisted lexical input approach was effective to improve english vocabulary mastery for post-lingual deaf students. keywords: lexical input approach, post-lingual deaf, vocabulary mastery introduction students with disability need more specialized instructions to help them acquire and master any languages for their daily communication. in indonesia, english has been a compulsory subject that must be learned by all students, including students with special needs. unfortunately, while the curriculum seems to be carefully and thoughtfully constructed for the normally developed students, it is a different case for students at special schools. despite the fact that there have been a growing number of students with special needs being able to go for an inclusive education at normal schools, most of them still enrol in special schools. furthermore, these students, including the ones with deafness, have to learn english as a foreign language in the same way their normally developed counterparts are required to do (adi and fadhilah, 2017). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 355 post-lingual deaf students are special in the way that they do not have a problem with their language production system yet their language stock is rather limited. the language processing for post-lingual deaf students is different from that of the pre-lingual ones. this is due to their deafness which appears after language acquisition and stabilization (lazard, innes-brown and barone, 2014). since they can no longer rely on their hearing as means of receptive communication, the post-lingual deaf people must adapt and use strategies that “benefit from visual images” (birinci, 2014). moreover, when they learn languages, they cannot learn verbal/ oral language elements and skills i.e. speaking, listening and pronunciation and mostly focus on building the written language skills and elements such as reading, writing, grammar and vocabulary. therefore, knowing the importance of mastering vocabulary for comprehension and communication, teachers dealing with post-lingual deaf students might have to resort to the strategies or techniques which can best facilitate their students’ vocabulary learning through visual aids/ images. one of the approaches that can possibly be implemented to teach and learn vocabulary through visual aids/ pictures is the lexical input approach. a number of empirical studies conducted in different contexts have indicated the effectiveness of this particular approach especially in terms of teaching english language skills and components such as vocabulary (verspoor and winitz, 1997; kavaliauskienë and janulevièienë, 2001; karoly, 2005; ping, 2007, 2012; zu, 2009; supardi, 2016; abdulqader, murad and abdulghani, 2017; attya, qoura and mostafa, 2019). however, there is yet a related study focusing on the implementation of this approach to teach students with special needs, in this case post-lingual deaf students. thus, addressing this gap, this research was conducted with a specific objective to investigate whether the lexical input approach assisted by pictures would be effective for enhancing the post-lingual deaf students’ vocabulary mastery. moreover, to provide clear scopes, the research questions addressed in this research were formulated to reach the following objectives: 1). implementing picture-assisted lexical input approach to teach english vocabulary to the post-lingual deaf students; and 2). finding out whether the implementation of pictureassisted lexical input approach had a significant effect on the post-lingual deaf students’ vocabulary mastery. the lexical input approach the lexical input approach was primarily based on krashen’s hypothesis (1983), arguing that meaningful input is “one of the most important things we have to consider in language acquisition”. the meaningful input itself might be in the forms of components of different lexical fields taught through implicit instruction, focusing on a particular lexical field. in addition, it was also developed based on some important principles of the lexical approach proposed by lewis (1993). the lexical approach was conceptualized by lewis (1993) as “developing learners' proficiency with lexis, or words and word combinations” and that "language consists of grammaticalized lexis, not lexicalized grammar". lewis (1997) argued that language fluency and accuracy could be reached mostly by retrieving and combining ready-made chunks of language, thus the ability to chunk language would be a crucial aspect for understanding how language functions. moreover, several studies have been conducted related to lexical llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 356 (input) approach effectiveness for language learning focusing on various grammatical and lexical aspects such as the use of collocations and lexical chunks (verspoor & winitz, 1997; kavaliauskienë and janulevièienë, 2001; karoly, 2005; ping, 2007, 2012; zu, 2009; supardi, 2016; attya, qoura and mostafa, 2019). however, only two of these previous studies made use of pictures to convey the lexical (input) approach, i.e. verspoor and winitz (1997) and ping (2007, 2012). verspoor and winitz (1997) did two experiments investigating the effect of vocabulary instruction using the lexical input approach as a strategy for providing comprehensible input to the non-native learners of english participating in a 15week esl program at an american university. the students were assigned to listen to audio tapes accompanied by booklets with texts and pictures and could learn at their own pace during the treatment. the findings indicated that the students who learned by using this approach achieved better than the students who did not. while this approach did not emphasize on the teaching of forms or grammatical structure either explicitly or implicitly, giving input only was found to be effective to improve the grammar mastery of the students (verspoor & winitz, 1997). meanwhile, ping (2007; 2012) used pictureassisted lexical input approach in an experiment to teach english grammar and vocabulary to the non english department university students in indonesia. different from the study done by verspoor and winitz (1997), the input in ping’s study was conveyed through a computer mediated program. this computer mediated program was chosen in the place of teachers so that the participating students could get native speaker input and work at their own pace (i.e. self-directed learning). moreover, the computer program used in the treatment of this experimental study delivered sufficient amount of meaningful input supported by both audio and visual aspects (sound and pictures). the findings revealed that lexical input approach conveyed through a computer mediated program had a statistically significant effect on students’ grammar and vocabulary achievement. in addition, the participating students seemed to be more motivated when learning grammar and vocabulary through the computer mediated program (ping, 2007; 2012). therefore, taking into consideration the basic rationale as well as the research procedures, this current research would specifically replicate the studies conducted by verspoor and winitz (1997) as well as ping (2007, 2012). however, the main difference would lie on the subject (i.e. the other two studied normally developed esl and efl students whereas this research would study efl students with disabilities) and the type of experimental study (i.e. classic experimental versus single subject design). post-lingual deafness post-lingual deafness is a unique case of hearing impairment because postlingual deaf students have attained speech and language patterns some time before they lost their hearing abilities (bala & rao, 2004). thus, the language processing and development of post-lingual persons/ students are different from the prelingual ones because they were not born deaf. nevertheless, due to the impairment, they can neither understand speech without visual cues nor rely on their hearing as a means of receptive communication. in addition, the duration of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 357 the deafness contributes to the severity of speech intelligibility deterioration (shimizu, sakaguchi, iwasaki, arai, mano, kawano and shirai, 2019). students with post-lingual deafness have to use the more visual mode receptive communication such as lip reading, sign language and text reading. as casey and wolf (1989) stated that for these students, visualization ability, which is one of the visual literacy competencies, and the ability to understand and communicate process play an important role in their language development. taking this knowledge into account, teachers who teach these students have to select some appropriate methodologies or approaches which are focusing on visualization ability instead of auditory system in order to develop communication skills and also their previous language stock (schemata). teaching vocabulary to post-lingual deaf students using the pictureassisted lexical input approach based on the abovementioned concepts, the lexical input approach could be considered as one of the approaches to be implemented for teaching language skills and elements, particularly vocabulary, to post-lingual deaf students. the focus of this approach is on developing learners’ proficiency with words and word combinations which can be conveyed through various modes such as visual/ pictures as appropriate input. furthermore, teaching vocabulary by using pictures has been a familiar practice in the classroom, including for the students with hearing impair or hard-of hearing conditions. in addition to the use of realia or the real-life objects, pictures have been considered as effective to present vocabulary particularly at the beginner level, in which the pictures are used to explain the meaning of words or to create situations and concepts. birinci (2014) investigated the effectiveness of using visual materials in teaching efl vocabulary to deaf students in turkey. the findings of her study implied that using visual materials gave better results than the use of sign language. meanwhile, another study done by gallion (2016) revealed that the flash card combined with picture and sign language provided better results of vocabulary gain for students with hearing impairment. furthermore, as previously mentioned, the post-lingual deaf students do not have any cognitive barriers in acquiring the language. yet, the hearing disability they have might hinder them from getting necessary information, including the words and meaning of words, successfully. therefore, the picture-assisted lexical input approach in this study would be used specifically as a vocabulary acquisition device for post-lingual deaf students. the concept of comprehensible input was also added to the framework underlying this study, as the lexical input approach itself was originally developed based on krashen’s input hypothesis. moreover, the input-based approach to language learning has been recommended by a number of other prominent efl figures such as nation (2007) who included it in his four strands model of english language learning, day & bamford (1998) as well as renandya & jacobs (2016) who have worked immensely on comprehensible input in the framework of extensive reading and listening activities. particularly in the indonesian context, renandya, hamied & sukamto (2018) have also endorsed an input-based approach to promote proficiency. thus, the conceptual framework for this study can be illustrated by the figure below. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 358 figure 1: teaching vocabulary by using picture-assisted lexical input approach to post-lingual deaf students method the research design employed in this research was single subject design. according to fraenkel, wallen and hyun (2019), single subject designs are adaptations of the experimental time series design, commonly used to study the changes in behaviour and individual exhibit after exposures to an intervention or treatment. this type of research is also considered as appropriate for researchers who would like to study children with disabilities, with only a small number of participants available. specifically, the design used in this research was the multiple base a-b-a-b design, in which the data were collected on several subjects with regard to a single behavior (fraenkel, wallen and hyun, 2019). this design was chosen primarily because the dependent variable (vocabulary mastery) was not expected to return to the prior condition after the intervention (christ, 2007) and the multiple baselines created could be used as a control. in the so-called baseline phase, the students’ vocabulary mastery prior to being taught by using picture-assisted lexical input approach was observed and assessed. meanwhile, in the intervention phase, vocabulary teaching and learning were done by using picture-assisted lexical input approach; optimizing the visual aids (texts and pictures) while minimizing the sign language use. then, the students’ mastery was measured by using a written vocabulary assessment. this research took place at a junior high school for students with special needs and disabilities located in samarinda, the capital city of east kalimantan province, indonesia. the students enrolled in this school were mixed in the same classes regardless of their needs and disabilities. in a similar fashion to its regular junior high school counterparts, this school has also followed the national curriculum for special education. however, in practice, especially for the english lessons, the teacher had only provided the students with materials for the fifth sixth graders of primary school and most of the time the instructions had been given personally (one-on-one teaching) by relying heavily on the sign language use. moreover, the teacher herself graduated with a bachelor of education degree majoring in english language and received some formal training related to teaching students with special needs and disabilities. in line with the research problems formulated in this study, the participants of the research consisted of the eight grade students with post-lingual deafness. three students were further selected purposively based on the sampling criteria comprehensible input (visualised words and words combination) lexical input approach with pictures as acquisition device acquired knowledge (word forms and meanings) vocabulary mastery llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 359 namely the similarities in age (15 years old) and hearing loss history (around 10 years). in addition, all three students had learned to communicate by the sign language since their primary school years. in this study, the primary data, which indicated the students’ vocabulary mastery, were measured by a written assessment, particularly in the form of a dynamic assessment. dynamic assessment explores the process of language learning through the moments of co-construction of mutual understanding and learning as well as focused on the interaction with unfamiliar situations in social and cultural setting (bagnato, 2007). furthermore, the approach in dynamic assessment employed in this study included the following: 1) test-mediate-(re)test; 2) examination of changes between baseline testing and re-testing and 3) careful observation learning behaviours exhibited during mediation (teaching) sessions, which were deemed suitable to use in the context of this current research with post-lingual deaf students (bagnato, 2007). the written assessment was prepared in the forms of pictorial vocabulary items, which was relevant with the topics being discussed during the teaching and learning activities (both for the treatment and baseline periods). the instances of the assessment items accompanying the instructional materials are illustrated by the following series of pictures: pic #1: pic #2: figure 2: examples of picture series in order to avoid misunderstanding in analyzing the data obtained from the assessments, a couple of specific scoring systems were prepared. a specific vocabulary rating scale, which included the measurement of two vocabulary depth aspects namely ‘grammar forming words’ (i.e. form) and ‘vocabulary’ (i.e. meaning), was used both in the baseline and intervention phases. furthermore, the language proficiency level and standards in scoring from the american foreign service institute (fsi) were adopted, as follows: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 360 table 1: language proficiency level and standard in scoring the quantitative data in this research were collected during the total of 16 meetings. each meeting was divided into four different phases, in which every phase consisted of four meetings: two phases were considered as the first and second baseline whereas the other two were considered as the first and second intervention. the general data collection procedures were implemented as follows: 1. in the first and second baseline phases, the teaching and learning activities i.e. using the sign language proceeded normally without any intervention. the students’ activities were observed and their vocabulary mastery was assessed. 2. in the first and second intervention phases, the teacher taught the students using the picture-assisted lexical input approach, focusing on both the form and meaning of the vocabulary being discussed which also included the pronunciation. in this step, the teacher elaborated the picture one by one only assisted by written instructions without using the sign language. moreover, the teachinglearning process, the students as well as the teacher’s activities were observed and eventually the students’ learning was assessed. furthermore, the main data analysis technique used in this research was a statistical test called “percentage of data points exceeding the median” (pem). according to ma (2006), pem analysis approaches data by using the median of phase a (baseline) scores as the basic comparison, as opposed to the highest data point. this would bring about a number of advantages, which include using more collected data, controlling the effect of outliers, and allowing for the calculation of meaningful standardized effect size. ma (2006) also categorised the interpretation of pem scores ranging from 0 to 1 as follows: table 2: pem score category range interpretation 0.9 to 1 highly effective treatment 0.7 to 0.9 moderately effective treatment less than 0.7 questionable or not effective treatment no score level of prof. description 1 > 34 i novice normal 2 35 – 44 ii novice advanced 3 45 – 55 iii novice high 4 56 – 66 iv intermediate normal 5 67 – 77 v intermediate advanced 6 78 – 88 vi intermediate high 7 89 – 99 vii proficient normal 8 100 103 viii proficient advanced 9 104 – 107 ix proficient high llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 361 as implied above, the data in this single subject research were not distributed to find out the mean score. since the data were taken from several treatments, the median score of the data was calculated in the first place to measure the effect size of the data. the formula of median used in this research was as follows: note: mdn = median b = lower real limit of median score = half the cases/the number of sample p = the number of interval = the number of frequency before the median ⨍ = frequency of median class findings and discussion the data in this research were obtained in the forms of quantitative scores and also the visual representation of the students’ vocabulary learning progress. the following graph will illustrate overall students’ vocabulary mastery before and after being taught by using picture-assisted lexical input approach: figure 2. multiple baseline graph of students’ vocabulary mastery the blue line was identified as the first student’s performance progress, the red line was identified as the second student’s progress whereas the green one was the third student’s progress. furthermore, the students’ vocabulary mastery before being taught by the picture-assisted lexical input approach (the baseline condition), is indicated by table 3 below. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 362 table 3: students’ vocabulary mastery before the treatments. students median pem score language proficiency level s1 41 0.75 novice advanced s2 41 0.50 novice advanced s3 41 0.75 novice advanced after the treatment phases, the students’ vocabulary mastery development can be seen in table 4 below. table 4: students’ vocabulary mastery after the treatments. students median deviation pem score language proficiency level s1 46 0.25 1 novice high s2 51 0.25 0.75 novice high s3 46 0.25 1 novice high according to both tables above, there were some differences in the students’ scores before and after the treatments. in the first phase, reflecting the initial condition of the students prior to being taught by the picture-assisted lexical input approach, the mastery had not reached the good category, in which the median score of the students was 41. this score was classified into the novice advanced category in vocabulary mastery. in addition, this score also influenced the pem score of the students. based on the pem scores of 0.5 and 0.75, the previous teaching learning experiences of these students might have seemed to be rather ineffective in promoting their vocabulary mastery, as these scores could be interpreted as ‘’questionable/ not effective’’ and ‘’moderately’’ effective categories (see the previous table 3). after the treatments, there were 2 students who got a median score of 46, namely s1 and s3. based on this score, both of them could be categorised into the highly effective treatments since their pem scores increased about 0.25 from the first baseline. furthermore, it also classified them into the novice high category for language proficiency level. meanwhile, the median score of s2 also increased 0.25 from the previous condition which brought s2 into the moderately effective treatment category. hence, all students eventually had the same level of language proficiency level that was novice high. in addition to the overall data, a visual analysis of each student’s progress in the form of a line graph was also done to support the analysis and interpretation of the numerical data regarding their respective vocabulary mastery, as follows. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 363 figure 3. visual analysis of student 1’s vocabulary mastery progress it could be seen from the line graph that in the first baseline (initial condition), student 1 started with a rather low score of vocabulary (20 out of 100) and then at the end of the first treatment, it increased into 50 (after reaching 60 at two data collection points). the score dropped to 40 at the beginning of the second baseline but then gradually improved and reached 70 by the end of the second treatment. the highest score that s1 achieved was 80 at one point during the second treatment. meanwhile, student 2’s vocabulary mastery progress is visualized by figure 4 below. figure 4. visual analysis of student 2’s vocabulary mastery progress the line graph shows that student 2 got the score of 30 at the beginning of the first baseline (the initial mastery), the score increased to 40 at the beginning of the first treatment, reaching the highest score of 50 at two assessment points before dropping back to 40 when starting the second baseline. the highest score of s2, i.e. 80, was found at one assessment point during the second treatment and the final vocabulary mastery score obtained by s2 at the end of the treatment period was 70. as for student 3, the vocabulary mastery progress during the experiment can be displayed as follows. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 364 figure 5. visual analysis of student 3’s vocabulary mastery progress the line graph revealed that the initial vocabulary mastery of student 3 was similar to student 2, in which both obtained the score of 30 out of 100. the score of s3 went up to 40 at the beginning of the first treatment and the highest score was 60 during this phase. the vocabulary mastery of s3 tend to be stable at the scores of 40-50 in the second baseline and improved steadily until reaching the highest score of 80 at the end of the second treatment phase. based on the analysis of both individual and overall data above, it could be implied that the treatment by using the picture-assisted lexical input approach was statistically effective in promoting the post-lingual deaf students’ vocabulary mastery development. thus, the ha (alternative hypothesis) formulated in this study was accepted and the ho (null hypothesis) was rejected. more specifically, ma (2006) stated that if treatment was ineffective, data point would be continually fluctuating around the middle line. the quantitative data of this research indicated that the improvement and the scores did not fluctuate in the middle line or median line, which implied that the treatments were relatively effective. furthermore, these findings were generally in line with the findings of previous studies concerning the effect of picture-assisted lexical input approach on efl students’ vocabulary mastery, most notably the ones done by verspoor & winitz (1997) and ping (2007; 2012) which were done with the typical normally-developed students. it can be thus argued from the current findings of this study that this input-based approach might work with all types of students or learners, including the ones with physical disabilities. regarding the effectiveness of using pictures in english vocabulary instructions for students with hearing impair/ deafness, the findings of this study were also found to conform the results of previous studies, in particular those of birinci (2014) and gallion (2016) despite the differences in the teaching approaches. birinci (2014) argued that the use of visual materials (pictures) was more effective than the use of sign language whereas gallion (2016) stated that the combination of the two brought the most effective results. in this study, the treatment procedure was almost similar to birinci’s in a way that there was no sign language involved in the process. the lexical input approach used in the treatment phases were then statistically tested as giving out a better improvement llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 365 than the baseline phases in which the sign language was used. however, since this study did not make an effort to combine of the sign language and picture as what was done by gallion (2016), a direct comparison on the effectiveness of these two approaches cannot be appropriately done. conclusion to conclude, the empirical findings of this research have revealed that the picture-assisted lexical input approach could potentially promote post-lingual deaf students’ efl vocabulary mastery. based on these findings, it is therefore recommended that teachers who are dealing with post-lingual deaf students implement this particular approach in addition to the traditional method of teaching, namely using the sign language, in order to develop students’ vocabulary mastery in a more effective way. eventually, since this study could yet properly address the possibility of conveying the picture-assisted lexical input approach in combination with the sign language, future researchers are encouraged to try this alternative out and then assess its effectiveness. references abdulqader, h., murad, i., & abdulghani, m. 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(2014). the effectıveness of vısual materıals in teachıng vocabulary o deaf students of efl. accessed online in january 2018 on http://www.openaccess.hacettepe.edu.tr:8080/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11655 /1924/f3518298-0475-4e18-83fb-dd15321f44c0.pdf;sequence=1 casey, h. v., & wolf, j. s. (1989). developing visual literacy among academically able fifth‐grade students. roeper review, 12(2), 86-91. doi:10.1080/02783198909553242 christ, t. (2007). experimental control and threats to internal validity of concurrent and nonconcurrent multiple baseline designs. psychology in the schools, 44(5), 451-459. day, r., & bamford, j. (1998). extensive reading in the second language classroom. cambridge: cambridge university press. fraenkel, j. r., wallen, n. e., & hyun, h. h. 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(2016). esp (english for specific purpose): teaching legal english using lexical approach. proceedings of the fourth international seminar on english language and teaching (iselt-4), verspoor, m., & winnitz, h. (1997). assessment of the lexical-input approach for intermediate language learners. iral: international review of applied linguistics in language teaching, 35. zu, f. (2009). using lexical approach to teach vocabulary. us-china foreign language, 7(8), 44-47. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 231-245 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia a reader response approach in collaborative reading projects to foster critical thinking skills truly almendo pasaribu and yuseva ariyani iswandari sanata dharma university tr.almendo@gmail.com and yuseva@usd.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2019.220208 received 24 june 2019; revised 15 august 2019; accepted 5 september 2019 abstract reading has become a major concern of efl educators. reading does not only help students learn foreign languages, but it is also believed that it has a strong link with critical thinking skills. a reader response approach in collaborative works, adapted from literary theory, is believed to be beneficial for the students. therefore, this study aims at investigating the answers to these two questions: (1) how are the collaborative reader responses implemented in critical reading and writing ii? and (2) to what extent does reader response approaches promote students’ critical thinking skills? with these questions in mind, the researchers collect the data by involving 24 participants from crw ii (critical reading and writing) class. the data gathered from classroom observations, online archives and students’ reflections are analyzed descriptively, using qualitative case study method. it is hoped that the implementation of this approach can be useful not only to improve students’ reading skills, but also to provide more opportunity for students to exercise their critical thinking skills. keywords: reader response theory, group projects, critical thinking skills introduction a study revealed that in 2016 indonesia ranked 60 out of 61 countries in terms of reading interest (miller & mckenna, 2016). reading then has become a major concern of educators. in the university context, reading first language (l1) texts can be hard for some students and it can be more painful for efl students to read foreign language (l2) reading materials. one main reason is due to students’ low reading interest, which automatically influences their reading habit. a research on students’ reading habit was conducted by iftanti in 2012. her participants were 546 students of english departments from five different state universities in east java. she focused on their quantity of reading practice as a parameter of reading habit. the result indicates that 68.49% of the participants have low reading habit mainly due to inadequate reading exposure, limited linguistic, and cultural knowledge of the texts that hinder them from comprehension. therefore, it is vital that language teachers help students develop their reading interest and habit. reading provides not only linguistic information, but this activity can also offer rich cultural insights of the language they are learning. it is confirmed by grabe and stoller who considered reading as the “central way to learn information” (2001). 231 http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt mailto:tr.almendo@gmail.com mailto:tr.almendo@gmail.com mailto:yuseva@usd.ac.id llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 231-245 232 reading can be defined as “a complex ability to extract, or build, meaning from a text”. reading does not only help students learn language, but it is also believed that it has a strong link with critical thinking skills. mohammadi, heidari, and niry (2012) find out that extensive reading encourages students to use metacognitive strategy which shows low positive correlation with students’ critical thinking ability. however, eftekhary and kalayeh (2014) argue that there is actually a strong correlation between extensive reading and critical thinking skills. these skills are highlighted by ristekdikti proposing that learning should focus on four goals of higher order thinking skills, including critical thinking skills. critical thinking skills are considered a necessity to face 21st challenges. with the advent of technology, information can be easily accessed through the internet. students who fail to analyze and evaluate myriad information can easily fall into hoax. receiving information is not learning because students should be able to evaluate the information. paul (1992) argues that critical thinking is beyond recalling information because it involves one’s ability to analyze and evaluate the cognitive processes. elder and paul (1994) add that this is the ability to take charge of the thinking processes and to evaluate them. a more recent study, masduqi (2011) mentions critical thinking involves meaning negotiation in the classroom discussion. a more recent work by hughes ( 2014) mentions some elements of being critical, namely: understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. his arguments concludes the arguments by former researchers who suggest that being critical deals with the ability to question, analyze and evaluate the thinking processes of the mind. considering the importance of critical thinking skills, foreign language teachers should provide learning environment which encourage students to practice their higher order thinking skills (hots). this need should be well-addressed in critical reading and writing ii, a subject offered to the 4th semester students of english language study program, sanata dharma university. after completing this course, the students are expected to develop critical thinking skills on a variety of issues and write responsive, analytical, and argumentative responses to the texts. generally, there are three phases in reading classes, namely: pre-reading activities, whilst-reading activities, and post-reading activities. the activities implemented in these phases can be designed to promote high order thinking skills, including critical thinking skills. with these goals in mind, the students are encouraged to make collaborative reading response. studies mentioned the positive links of reading and critical thinking skills (eftekhary & kalayeh, 2014, liaw, 2007, and mohammadi et al., 2012). one effective approach to motivate students to read is reader-response approach. writing reading response requires students to choose a text and give responses through writing. it is developed from reader response theory which is considered effective to engage readers in reading and responding to the text (chou, 2015). chou (2015) further argues that reader response journal motivates and fosters students’ engagement. furthermore, lee (2012) also suggests that students experience meaningful learning when they are engaged in reading response activities. in contrast with chou, biglari (2017) conducts a quantitative study and finds that reader response does not improve students’ comprehending or llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 231-245 233 vocabulary, but it decreases students’ anxiety. the finding is partially contradictory with the findings of other studies (chou, 2015 and lee, 2012). however, this research assumes that if reader response succeed in decreasing students’ anxiety, students will be more motivated to exercise their critical thinking skills through reader response. when students collaborate to give responses, they are to engage in receiving, analyzing and evaluating information as well as distributing tasks among the group members. using collaborative reading response activities in the classroom hopefully may not only increase students reading interest, but also develop their critical thinking skills. reader response theory reading is a vital skill in learning a foreign language. studies indicate that the implementation of reader response theory is vital to keep the students engage with the text (kelly et. al. 1996, roessing, 2009, lee: 2012). it helps students interact with the texts from a personal perspective (kelly et. al. 1996), helps them to organize ideas (cohen, 2007; mcintosh, 2006), reduces anxiety (bilgari, 2007) and promotes critical thinking (carlisle, 2000; gonzales and courtland, 2009; mizuno, 2005) studies have elaborated some benefits of reading response theory in promoting thinking skills. carlisle (2000) finds out how reader response provides opportunities for students to give personal critical responses. his finding is in line with gonzales and courtland’s study (2009) showing relationship between reader response and critical thinking skills. this approach, according to mizuno (2015), results in a positive effect on reading cognitive processes. it is assumed that indonesian students who study english will benefit from this approach as it helps students to engage with the texts, allows students to express personal interpretation of the texts, and encourages critical thinking skills. to fill the gap of these studies, further research on the implementation of reader response theory in indonesian setting should be conducted. critical thinking skills writing and reading skills are usually taught separately in efl classes. however, recent studies have elaborated benefits of integrating reading and writing. from reading, students gain new information related to both linguistic and socio cultural knowledge. readers constantly make meaning by reading process (day & bamford, 2002). after reading l2 sources, students are able to analyze and synthesize the texts. in other words, students can give their responses in the form of writing. zhao and hirvela (2015) found out that understanding the complex reading and writing relationship is crucial for successful textual production. the english language education study program of sanata dharma university offers critical reading and writing ii for the fourth semester students. this course is designed to facilitate students to access into a large amount of reading through which students acquire information, which thus enhances the progress of their knowledge and the development of their critical thinking skills. in addition, this course involves the skills to plan the building up of information, the skill to create llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 231-245 234 mind mapping and the skill of note taking, summary making and syntesizing. the skills are integrated to develop critical reading skills on a variety of educational and social issues and to write responsive, analytical, and argumentative essays in response to social enterprises. critical thinking is an old topic, but it is still a debatable topic among scholars. it can be traced back to socrates’ era. he emphasizes on the importance of questioning methods (masduqi, 2011). paul (1992) argues that critical thinking is beyond recalling information because it involves one’s ability to analyze and evaluate the cognitive processes. elder and paul (1994) add that this is the ability to take charge of the thinking processes and to evaluate them. a more recent study, masduqi (2011) mentions critical thinking involves meaning negotiation in the classroom discussion. a more recent work by hughes (2014) mentions some elements of being critical, namely: understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. his arguments concludes the arguments by former researchers who suggest that being critical deals with the ability to question, analyze and evaluate the thinking processes of the mind. educators must provide environment which encourages students to build critical thinking skills to meet the challenges of the 21st century. students should be able to exercise high order thinking skills, including critical thinking skills. cromwell (in masduqi, 2011, p. 193) mentions that “the main purpose of advanced education is the enhancement of student thinking.” teachers should consider more than grammar rules or vocabulary, but should prepare students to exercise their higher level of thinking skills. studies have highlighted the importance of critical thinking skills in language learning. however, research on how a reader response theory in collaborative projects encourages students to exercise their critical thinking skills in indonesian context has not been explored widely. the respondents of this study are students who are equipped to teach english when they graduate. it is vital to encourage them to exercise their critical thinking skills. therefore, this study emphasizes on the importance of giving opportunities for students to do collaborative reading projects by questioning, analyzing, evaluating and sharing information in groups. collaborative activities in learning language are considered beneficial (pastor & perry, 2010; ning, 2011; pasaribu, 2016). these activities place learners as the center of the learning process. when students discuss the goals, plans and targets in groups, they interact with the thinking process of other students. when working in groups students may also clarify, compare and analyze information—skills which are needed to think critically. this approach is also believed to reduce anxiety of high anxious students. when working with peers, students tend to express their ideas. this is in line with pasaribu’s study (2016) arguing that students gain more self-esteem when they receive feedback from their friends. sastrapratedja (2013) and pastor and perry (2010) also consider working in groups as an effective learning strategy because it is less threatening and less formal than lectures. collaborative approach in language learning also boosts students’ motivation. a study by hurst et. al. (2006 in ning, 2010) articulate how enthusiastic the students are when joining the journal discussions in groups. when working in groups, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 231-245 235 students are actively involved in the interactions among group members. ning (2010) also mentions that it “builds up a well-structured and supportive learning environment”. therefore, this approach provides a highly motivating environment for the learners. in this study, students are to work in groups when responding to the text they choose. because each student has different roles, they see the tasks from different perspectives. not only do they need to explore linguistic or social knowledge of the discourse, but they also have to exercise their collaborative skills in doing the projects. although some studies have investigated the importance of extensive reading and critical thinking, there has been only little research has been done to figure out how collaborative reader response encourage students to exercise their critical thinking skills in indonesian context. therefore, this study aims at finding out how using collaborative reading response can help indonesian students exercise their critical thinking skills. to investigate the link between these two variables, this study involves students from critical reading and writing ii class, english language education study program, sanata dharma university. this study discusses related documents which cover reading skills, reader response theory, and critical thinking skills. furthermore, it also elaborates the methods used in elaborating the collaborative reader response activities and how they foster students’ critical thinking skills. method to elaborate the answers to the research questions, this study used a qualitative method in collecting the data. by using this method, the researchers analyzed verbal data. the research was conducted in the english language education study program of sanata dharma university involving 24 crw ii students. the first research goal--elaborating the implementation of a reader response approach in collaborative reading projects—was investigated qualitatively by observing the class, analyzing students’ posters and students’ reflections. the second research question related to the link between a reader response approach and critical thinking was investigated by scrutinizing the students' reflections. the researchers developed the questions based on hughes (2014) and ennis weir (1985) to know how students assessed their own critical thinking skills. finally, the data were compared and contrasted with other similar studies in the discussion section. findings and discussion students may face difficulties not only because they have low reading interest, but they may have limited linguistic and cultural knowledge of the texts which can hinder them from comprehension. however, they need to deal with these challenges because reading does not only help students learn language, but it is also believed that it has a strong link with critical thinking skills. tasks may encourage them to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 231-245 236 read and develop their critical thinking skills. ellis in thomas and reinders (2010) mention that task-based learning involves “making meaning, real-world authentic language use, focus on four language skills, learners in cognitive skills and communication-based learning outcome.” on the other hand, reader response approach encourages students not only to interpret the writers’ purposes in creating the text, but they also create meaning by using their background knowledge when interacting with the text. in this case, readers are encouraged to play an active role in interpreting the meaning of the texts. this table shows how task-based learning goes hand in hand with reader response approach. table 1. task-based learning and reader response approach task-based learning reader response approach involving a plan planning in doing the project making meaning playing an active role in interpreting the meaning of the texts real-world authentic language use reading authentic english texts focusing on any or four language skills focusing on language skills. engaging learners to use cognitive skills giving a positive impact on the cognitive process of reading communication based learning outcome (reinders, 2010) in this study, students are to work in groups when responding to the text they choose. because each student has different roles, they see the tasks from different perspectives. not only do they need to explore linguistic or social knowledge of the discourse, but they also have to exercise their collaborative skills in doing the projects. critical thinking skills are considered a necessity to face 21st challenges. with the advent of technology, information can be easily accessed through the internet. students who fail to analyze and evaluate myriad information can easily fall into hoax or false news. on the contrary, critical students are able to analyze and evaluate information they get from the texts. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 231-245 237 figure 2. reader response 1 in the first reader response activity, the teacher prepared a set of graded reading texts focusing on expository texts, divided the students into groups and gave instructions to them. afterward, they individually chose a text from the set of graded readers. they did some vocabulary and reading comprehension activities. after reading and doing individual activities, the lecturer divided them into groups of four students. they shared the information they have learnt and chose an article they wanted to respond to. after deciding the texts for their reading response e poster project, they worked collaboratively by dividing roles in the groups. one student became the leader of the group who assigned roles and distribute responsibilities to the members of the group. the roles of the students in a group are the word wizard who finds new words and make them into sentences; the inspector who searches social and cultural information about the text; and a navigator who reflects on the text by connecting the texts with their experiences. the focus of the second reader response activity was different. it focused on narrative texts. the teacher gave an example of a short story, divided the students into groups, and gave instructions to them to read and discuss the short story and find other short stories from recommended website on the internet. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 231-245 238 figure 3. reader response 2 after choosing a short story individually, they shared in a group of four. they discussed the plot and characters of the short story they chose. after deciding the texts for their reading response narrative e-poster project, they chose a project leader. the leader assigned roles and distributed responsibilities to the members of the group. the roles were similar to the first reading response project: a leader, a word wizard, an inspector, and a navigator. the purposes of making this project were to help students to be able to identify conflicts in the stories, use new words and evaluate writers’ purposes. after making the posters, the students presented them to the class. reader response 3 focused on argumentative texts, so the teacher gave examples of argumentative texts. the topic that the teacher gave is was “standardized test”. the first article supported standardized test and the second one questioned the benefits of standardized tests. the students read the articles, made a mindmap of the text, found two controversial articles with contradicting points of view from the internet. the students discussed their mindmap in groups and chose one article from the members of the group that they found thought-provoking. in this third project, they needed to evaluate the text and choose one side with which they agreed more. like the other projects, they presented their posters. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 231-245 239 figure 4. reader response 3 through these cycles, the students were active in constructing meaning of the text inside the classroom and outside the classroom while they were doing group projects. as suggested by masduqi (2011), critical thinking involves meaning negotiation. students were given responsibilities to see the text from different perspectives, the word wizard constructed the meaning from the text, the navigator constructed the meaning from their experience and the inspector constructed the meaning from the social and cultural information of the text. the challenges identified were that the students as a team had to make up their mind and united each idea into one agreed idea. they also had to make good sentences, so the audience would not feel confused. the benefits were that they tried to make a good teamwork and provided new information for some team members. furthermore, the reflection written by the students revealed that group discussion enriched their understanding towards texts. besides, they could play active roles in meaning negotiation, which trained them to practice critical thinking skills. reader response and critical thinking skills bloom’s taxonomy has been continuously updated including by his students (anderson & krathwohl, 2001 as cited by xu (2011)). hughes (2016) introduces stages of learning: understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. students are considered able to exercise their critical thinking skills when they do these stages of learning. the terms which are introduced by hughes (2006) have similarities with the classification synthesized by anderson and krathwohl as cited by xu (2011)). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 231-245 240 table 2. stages of critical thinking skills remembering retrieving, recognizing, and recalling relevant knowledge from long-term memory. understanding: constructing meaning from oral, written, and graphic messages through interpreting, exemplifying, classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, and explaining applying carrying out or using a procedure through executing, or implementing. analyzing breaking material into constituent parts, determining how the parts relate to one another and to an overall structure or purpose through differentiating, organizing, and attributing evaluating making judgments based on criteria and standards through checking and critiquing. creating putting elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganizing elements into a new pattern or structure through generating, planning, or producing. the students were motivated to read the text of their own choice. when reading the texts, they were required to summarize what they read. they were challenged to extract the main ideas of the texts. specifically, they were asked to make outlines from the paragraphs in the texts and make summaries using their own words. when they found difficult words, they needed to share using their own sentences to the whole class. after the projects, the students were asked to evaluate their ability in exercising critical thinking skills. the students were able to identify the main arguments in reading response project #1 (expository texts) and reading response project#3 (argumentative texts). they also stated that they identified conflicts in reading response project #2 as highlighted in their reflections below: 1. i should read again and again to understand the story, i get much information. 2. before making the posters, i need to make sure i understand the story by reading it for several times. 3. i have to understand the story because there are a lot of unfamiliar words that i have to know in order to understand the story 4. all of us read the story first. we read the story while identifying the conflicts in the story. after that we discuss it together to decide what llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 231-245 241 sentences will be written on the poster. then we do they analyzing step to make sure that we have the same understanding. 5. the story makes me realize that there are lots of cultural and social differences between one country and another, even abou some trivia things that sometimes we really didn’t give attention to. for example, the story mentions about some tribal hat that is originally from america. sometimes we didn’t really care about it, unless it becomes viral. that is why we should read as many books or articles as possible so that we can be aware about others. one major problem that hindered comprehension was the lack of vocabulary as stated in data 3. therefore, the students were motivated to list difficult vocabulary found in the text and put them into sentences (see data 6). in this case the students applied the story by making sentences using difficult vocabulary from the text. 6. the challenges are we, as a team must make our minds, our idea become one big idea, which is mean our idea. we had to made a good sentences, so that the audience will not feel confused. the benefits are, try to make a good team work, try to provide the information that maybe not all of us have already know about that. in addition, they could express their feelings related to the texts and apply the values they found in the text with their life. in this case, a student mentioned that she had to be responsible in whatever she did. 7. having found the moral values, i try to apply them in my life. i discuss it with my group members to evaluate our findings and opinions. 8. i apply the story in my life that we have to be responsible about what we do. but i pity them because they have to work hard in ten years but eventually the necklace was imitation. 9. from her presentation she further explained that it is fine to admit that we were wrong as long as we were responsible for it. reader response approach put the readers in the central place of meaning interpretation. this interpretation might enter into readers’ awareness (rosenblatt, 2004) and influence their responses and real life applications. analyzing involves identifying the organization of ideas in the texts. when students are able to analyze texts they are able to relate one part to the others or relate the text to other texts. they can also read between the lines to know the writer’s purpose in writing the text. one student stated that they could analyze the aspect of the text (9). in reading narrative texts they could also identify the conflict in the story (10). some students also were able to relate one text to other texts. they analyze that narrative texts share some similar patterns (11). 10. afterward […], i analyze the intrinsic and extrinsic aspects. 11. all of us read the story first. we read the story while identifying the conflicts in the story. after that we discuss it together to decide what sentences will be written on the poster. 12. i connect the story “mist girl” with the legend from indonesia. the short story has a similar plot with “jaka tingkir”, a story from indonesia so i can predict the end of the story. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 231-245 242 data 12 indicates that reader response allow reading to happen from a socio cultural context (brooks, 2006). the students’ culture and reading history influences their analysis of the text shown in the responses (beach, 1993). students were developing their thinking skills by analyzing materials from their backgrounds and reading history. when students were given goals, in this case reader-response projects, they worked together to analyze the texts. the group can bridge their information gap in reading particular text with their peers. students were also encouraged to share their evaluation of the text to their peers. they further evaluated how the texts made them feel. 13. i think the poster fosters my evaluating thinking skills, since i can connect it with my personal life.. i compare the values of the story with real life experiences. 14. i think if i am the character (matilda), i will do the same thing. it is going to be different in the first step to solve it. maybe i will tell the owner first and discuss the solution together so that it will not be a burden for everyone. 15. by presenting the poster we knew that we shouldn’t do what bill weaver do. we should think about the future event that will occur if we did something. but i didn’t blame bill at all, because he couldent clearly think about what he did because he is too tired. 16. i connect the text with what is happening in our society. i feel heartbroken when i hear some news about thieves who are being hurt physically. it seems like our society is already blinded by wrath and twisted justice. the statements shows how students engaged actively with the authentic texts they read. through text evaluation, they had active interactions with the texts and they shared them to their peers. in other words, reader response approach allowed students to develop social engagement with their peers. the final phase of this collaborative project was creating posters and presenting them to the class. the students were to work together with their friends in making posters to report the summary, new vocabulary, social context of the texts, and the connection between personal life and the texts. the students were motivated in creating the poster because they were active in organizing ideas so that the poster covered all the elements required for the projects. since the students shared mutual goals, they confirmed their understanding of the text and integrated their perspective with that of their peers. the students did not only engage with the texts, but they also engaged with different perspective from their peers in making the posters (data 17). 17. last but not least, the fun and challenging part, creating the poster. it is fun because we use our creativity, and it is challenging at the same time to pour our ideas clearly and concisely to the posters. 18. finally to foster my critical thinking we need to create the foster after we understand, apply, analyze and evaluate the story. 19. the activity fosters my ability to create a poster. how to make the poster interesting for people i think about the things i should write in the poster. should i add pictures or anything that support the poster and its content? llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 231-245 243 the reflections showed how students were motivated in doing the poster. they were guided through the project to reproduce the meaning of the text. as reflected in data 18 and 19, they did not passively receive the information in the text, but they also provided summary and written responses of the texts through posters. zhao and hirvela (2015) found out that understanding the complex reading and writing relationship is crucial for successful textual production. readers actively constructed meaning of the text (tyson, 2006) from different social and cultural perspectives, which can be an indicator of critical thinking skills. conclusion reading skills are not only central to learning a language, but they are linked with thinking skills. accordingly, a reader response approach was adapted in critical reading and writing ii so that students did not only enjoy reading, but also exercised their critical thinking skills. in this approach, readers play central roles in negotiating and constructing meaning. this approach was implemented in three e-poster projects. students worked in groups with different roles: leaders, word wizards, inspectors, and navigators. they read the texts with different purpose in mind and they shared what they learnt from the text to the group. after group discussion, they created posters and presented them to friends in the class. the activities were considered beneficial in improving students’ motivation to read and critical thinking skills. they were able to understand the texts, apply difficult words in their own sentences, analyze the parts of the texts, evaluate the texts and their understanding, and finally reproduce meaning of the texts by creating posters. further studies should focus on sets of authentic texts which are available for different students with different reading skills. furthermore, how this reader response approach can finally enhance students’ reading habit needs to be taken into account for future research. references beach, r. (1993). a teacher’s introduction to reader response theories. urbana, il: national council of teachers of english. biglari, n. (2017). an investigation into the effect of reader response approach on efl learners ’ reading comprehension. vocabulary retention and test anxiety, 7(8), 633–643. brooks, w. (2006). reading representations of themselves: urban youth use culture and african american textual features to develop literacy understandings. reading quarterly research, 41(3), 372-392. doi: 10.1598/prq.41.3.4 carlisle, a. (2000). reading logs: an application of readerresponse theory in elt. elt journal, 54(1), 12–19. http://doi.org/10.1093/elt/54.1.12 cohen, j. (2007). a case study of a high school english-language learner and his reading. journal of adolescent & adult literacy, 51, 164–175 chou, i. (2015). engaging efl students in e-books using reader-response theory, 15(2), 167–181. day, r., & bamford, j. (2002). top ten principles for teaching extensive reading. reading in a foreign language, 14(2), 136–141. retrieved from http://www.nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/october2002/day/day.html eftekhary, a. a., & kalayeh, k. b. (2014). the relationship between critical http://doi.org/10.1093/elt/54.1.12 http://www.nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/october2002/day/day.html llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 231-245 244 thinking and extensive reading on iranian intermediate efl learners, 623–628. elder, l. & paul, r. (1994) critical thinking: why we must transform our teaching. journal of developmental education, 18(1), 34-35. hughes, j. (2014). critical thinking in the language classroom. oxford: eli. iftanti. e. 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(2006). enhancing engagement in reading: reader response journals in secondary english classrooms. language and literacy: a canadian educational e-journal, 8, 1–11. retrieved from: http://www.langandlit.ualberta.ca/winter2006/mcintosh.htm miller, j.w. and mckenna, m. c. (2016). world literacy: how countries rank and why it matters. new york: routledge mohammadi, e. n., heidari, f., & niry, n. d. (2012). the relationship between critical thinking ability and reading strategies used by iranian efl learners, 5(10), 192–201. http://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v5n10p192 ning, h. (2011). adapting cooperative learning in tertiary elt. elt journal, 65(1), 60–70. http://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccq021 pasaribu, t. a. (2016). students’ writing anxiety: causes and effects of a moodle based writing course. kotesol proceedings, 87–96. pastor, m. l. c., & perry, d. (2010). the collaborative approach in content and language integrated learning. revista alicantina de estudios ingleses, 23, 69– 81. paul, r. w. (1992). critical thinking: what every person needs to survive in a rapidly changing world. santa rosa, ca: foundation for critical thinking roessing, l.j. (ed.). (2009). the write to read: response journals that increase comprehension. thousand oaks, ca: corwin press. rosenblatt, l. (2004). the transactional theory of reading and writing. in r. ruddell, r. & unrau, n. (eds.), theoretical models and processes of reading, 1363-1398, newark, de: international reading association thomas, m. & reinders, h. (2010). eds. task-based language learning and teaching with technology.new york: continuum tyson, l. (2006). critical theory today: a user-friendly guide (2nd ed.). new york, ny: routledge xu, j. (2011). the application of critical thinking in teaching english reading. theory and practice in language studies, 1(2), 136–141. http://doi.org/10.1177/1362168812457539 http://doi.org/10.15639/teflinjournal.v22i2/185-200 http://www.langandlit.ualberta.ca/winter2006/mcintosh.htm http://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v5n10p192 http://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccq021 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 231-245 245 http://doi.org/10.4304/tpls.1.2.136-141 zhao, r. & hirvela, a. (2015) undergraduate esl students’ engagement in academic reading and writing. reading in a foreign language 27( 2), 219– 241 http://doi.org/10.4304/tpls.1.2.136-141 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 276-278 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 276 book review title : explicit learning in the l2 classroom: a student-centered approach isbn : 978-0-415-70706-0 author : ronald p. leow publisher : new york, routledge, 2015 page : 282 pages hardi prasetyo iowa state university, united states of america hardi@iastate.edu doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2019.220212 received 12 june 2018; revised 6 june 2019; accepted 21 september 2019 this book provides a theoretically framed and empirically supported approach to support explicit learning (learning with awareness) in l2 development with a link to learning in the classroom setting. it approaches explicit l2 learning from five perspectives: theory, methodology, empirical work, model building, and pedagogy. it is theoretically based on mentalist or psycholinguistics sla which posit that l2 development is more cognitive in nature. it also reviews studies which were motivated by cognitive accounts of sla, more specifically studies on explicit l2 learning. it provides teachers with a model of l2 learning process in instructed sla, and researchers with reviews on data elicitation procedures (online and offline) in sla research. this book is written with novice teachers and researchers in mind, therefore it is both theoretical and practical in nature. the book is divided into three sections, preceded by an introductory chapter which reviews history of sla research and the theoretical foundations. the first section, consisting of 4 chapters, discusses theoretical foundations from non-sla fields which inform sla fields, focusing on the role of attention and awareness in l2 learning. the second and third section review research methodology in studies about attention and awareness in l2 research. the author discusses three online (i.e., reaction time, eye-tracking, and think aloud protocol) and two offline (i.e., verbal reports and stimulated recall) data-elicitation procedures. the fourth and the last sections focus on the models of explicit teaching in l2 classrooms and pedagogical implications of explicit l2 learning in l2 classrooms. since this book is about explicit l2 learning, therefore the author first presents in chapter 1 what l2 learning is and how this book is framed theoretically. the author then discusses what changes concerning students’ role in l2 learning in the sla field, from the theoretical and pedagogical approaches to learning in the 1960s to the current empirical emphasis on implicit learning in sla. then in chapter 2, the author presents a preliminary framework of a fivestage learning process, from processing input (stage 1) to processing product (stage 5). the author emphasizes the distinction between learning as a process llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 276-278 277 (e.g., the processing of input to become intake) and learning as a product (e.g., l2 knowledge). this framework enables the readers to know which stage along the learning process the construct of learning is being discussed and investigated. chapters 3 and 4 discuss the role of attention and awareness in learning from non-sla fields (cognitive science, cognitive neuroscience, and cognitive psychology). understanding what non-sla fields inform sla facilitates readers to critically appraise the relevance or irrelevance of non-sla theories and findings to sla. chapter 5 surveys the role of attention and awareness in nine theoretical foundations in sla. for each theory, the author first describes the role of attention and awareness, followed by key features of the theories in question and his own reflective comments. it provides readers with critical evaluation on those theories. however, not each theoretical foundation was treated equally in this chapter. for example, mclaughlin’s cognitive theory, and robinson’s model of the relationship between attention and memory, and surprisingly swain’s output hypothesis suffer from lack of detail attention on theoretical elaboration and previous studies conducted using this theoretical foundation, something that this author did well on other theories. as a survey chapter, as the author claims, it should provide a balanced overview of all those theories. section 2 discusses the methodological issues in researching explicit learning. chapter 6 explores internal and external validities in research design. 17 and 4 criteria to achieve high internal and external validities are presented respectively. those criteria include randomizing participants to experimental and control groups, exposing both groups to the same materials, and optimizing the reliability and validity of the measurement. these criteria are followed by a clear exemplification. the author also presents some suggestions for novice researchers to minimize the limitation and achieve the highest possible internal and external validities. however, the author could have done more for novice researchers, especially l2 teachers, since this book as the author argues has direct link to l2 classroom learning and teaching. more practical suggestions for l2 teachers conducting research in classroom or school settings should be provided (e.g., what l2 teachers as novice researchers should do dealing with ethics and fairness in research, what l2 teachers should do to ensure that two intact classrooms as their research participants start from the same baseline, how to collaborate with more senior researchers, etc.). in chapter 7 section 2 the author defines the construct of learning (i.e. learning as process and product). he also adds kinds of learning (i.e. item vs. system learning) and type of processing (implicit vs. explicit) in the discussion of construct of learning. then, he discusses online measurements to measure learning processes, and offline measurements to measure learning products. he explains those measurements further in chapter 8. three online (i.e., reaction time, eye-tracking, and think aloud) and two offline (i.e., verbal reports and stimulated recall) measurements or data-elicitation procedures are elaborated. for each dataelicitation procedure, a succinct introduction of the typical procedure is presented followed by its benefits. section 3 reviews studies on three major topics in explicit learning: attention, implicit versus explicit learning, and depth of processing. chapter 9 on attention llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 276-278 278 starts with a reminder of the assumption that the mind is a processor, while chapters 10 and 11 discuss explicit and implicit learning, and depth of processing in sla. chapter 9 also reviews four strands of research (simultaneous attention to form and meaning, input/textual enhancement, processing instruction, and interactional feedback), with their theoretical underpinnings based on the role of attention/noticing and which are implemented to promote l2 development in the classroom setting. in chapter 11, the author presents the definition and highlights the role of deep processing. then, he reviews the concept of deep processing in cognitive psychology as well as online and offline data collected in sla research to support the conclusion. next, he relates several relevant concepts (e.g. levels of awareness) to the concept of depth of processing. the operationalization of depth of processing for lexical and grammatical items is also provided. the l2 readers (who are teachers and novice researchers) however will benefit more if the subchapter on operationalization of depth of processing can be more directly related to practical classroom activities to help l2 students learn, since as the title suggests, this book is “a student-centered approach”. section 4 presents the model of explicit learning. three processes are detailed following the five-stage learning process framework: input processing stage (from input to intake), intake processing stage (from intake to l2 knowledge), and knowledge processing stage (from l2 knowledge to production). the first stage can be further separated into three phases: attended intake, detected intake, and noticed intake. in the second stage, intake processing stage, linguistic data can be proceeded either to a low or high-level processing. in the low-level processing, the data are kept in the l2 system without conceptual learning. in the high -level processing, the data could stimulate previous knowledge and further processing could be automatized. in the knowledge processing stage, a learner could monitor their production in relation to their l2 system. section 5 conceptually describes the psycholinguistics-based e-tutor which can suggest receptive and productive tasks to attract learners' attention to the target items, provide concurrent feedback, and encourage deep cognitive processing. the author argues that such learning platforms could optimize explicit learning by supporting awareness and deep processing. this book provides more detailed discussion on explicit l2 learning, one aspect of sla research covered in ellis’ book (2008). this book then serves as a useful “further reading” for chapter 9, 10, 15, and 16 of ellis’ (2008) book. it is recommended that a more comprehensive, encyclopedic reference on sla, like ellis (2008), or an introductory book on sla (e.g., mitchell, myles, & marsden, 2013), should be discussed first before reading this book, so that readers will have more thorough and comprehensive understanding of sla fields before they go further focusing on one specific aspect of sla that they like. references ellis, r. (2008). the study of second language acquisition (2nd ed.). oxford: oxford university press. mitchell, r., myles, f., & marsden, e. (2013). second language learning theories (3rd ed.). new york: routledge. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 241 authorial presence in english research articles by native and non-native english scholars adelia januarto, tofan dwi hardjanto universitas gadjah mada, indonesia 1adeliajanuarto@mail.ugm.ac.id, 2deha@ugm.ac.id correspondence: adeliajanuarto@mail.ugm.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2020.230204 received 9 march 2020; accepted 6 april 2020 abstract in this corpus-based study, we address the issue of authorial presence in english research articles (ras) by native and non-native english scholars or writers in the field of second language writing. our purposes are to compare the frequencies of authorial presence and to examine discourse functions of authorial presence in the native and non-native english scholars’ ras. to achieve these purposes, 48 ras were collected from two scopus-indexed journals, namely journal of second language writing and assessing writing. our finding suggests that native and non-native english scholars are different in terms of the degree of visibility in which native english writers are more visible than their non-native counterparts in their ras. furthermore, our functional analysis of authorial presence indicates that native english writers use more self-references for different purposes such as to describe research procedures, show the organization of the texts, but fewer selfreferences to guide readers through the texts than their non-native english peers. these differences might be caused by the idea of writer-responsible culture in native english writers’ ras, and international publication context in non-native english writers’ ras. besides, these findings may be invaluable to material designs in english writing, especially in indonesia, to assist students as novice writers to consider their explicit presence in their ras. keywords: authorial presence, research articles, l2 writing introduction the use of first-person pronouns as the linguistic realization of authorial presence has become a subject of debate for many years in academic writing such as theses, dissertations, and research articles. on one hand, people problematize the existence of first-person pronouns in academic writing because this linguistic realization of authorial presence implies the subjectivity of the writers while academic writing is required to be objective. the use of first-person pronouns on academic writing defocuses readers from the ideational contents which the writer seeks to convey. as a result, some academic manuals (e.g., johnson, 2016; macmillan & weyes, 2007; rizvi, 2005; wood, 2001) advocate the avoidance of first-person pronouns which signals authorial presence in their academic writing in favor of objectivity or neutrality. the avoidance of such authorial presence is commonly realized by the frequent uses of passive voice and non-human subjects mailto:adeliajanuarto@mail.ugm.ac.id mailto:deha@ugm.ac.id llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 242 which are claimed to focus readers on the object under study, not the writers. on the other hand, such impersonal strategies, especially passive voice, which seems to convey objective tones are not free from criticisms as well. dunleavy (2003) and hinkel (2003) on the impersonal style on academic writing suggest that eliminating first-person pronouns contributes to vagueness and wordiness of a sentence, as the subject of a sentence is unclear, especially in the case of the agentless passive voice. as a consequence, this area in academic writing indicates that the use of first-person pronouns in academic writing is problematic. since written academic discourse is now widely seen as the embodiment of writer-reader interaction (hyland, 2001, 2005), self-mention which represents social interaction plays two important roles in written academic discourse. first, first-person pronouns enable a writer to construct his/her impression of credibility as a researcher in a particular area. the credibility is usually materialized by the use of explicit self-mention i or we so the writer indicates that s/he holds the responsibility for his/her view on the materials. second, first-person pronouns may also serve to promote solidarity to the readers by bringing readers into the research. the pronouns selected to achieve such purpose are usually inclusive we in which the writer treats the audience of the article equally as if both participants hold the same view related to the interpretation of materials. studies to date have shown that first-person pronoun indicating explicit authorial presence varies depending on some aspects such as writers’ nativity and disciplinary convention. it is now well-accepted that not only do disciplines influence the use of first-person pronouns, previous studies also indicate that nativity also contributes to the difference, such as authority and visibility. to name a few, previous studies (e.g., al-shujairi, 2018; behnam, mirzapour, & mozaheb, 2014; carciu, 2009; dontcheva-navrátilová, 2013; işık-taş, 2018; martínez, 2005) have investigated authorial presence about nativity in english ras of various disciplines such as chemistry, applied linguistics, sociology, and business management. overall, the findings of their studies suggest that nonnative english writers use more or fewer self-references than their native english counterparts do so that the results may be inconsistent. regarding this issue, we aim to compare how native and non-native english scholars utilize self-references in their english-medium ras, and to understand the discourse functions of each self-reference signaling presence in their ras. in analyzing the authorial presence, we draw on biber, johansson, leech, and conrad’s (1999) grammatical categorization of first-person pronouns and tang and john’s (1999) discourse functions of first-person pronouns. the underlying reason for choosing biber et al.’s (1999) categorization is because it covers all english grammatical cases which enable us to explore and collect all types of english first-person pronouns in our corpus. besides, we consider tang and john’s (1999) model in comparison to others (e.g., hyland, 2002; kuo, 1999) due to its more general taxonomy which is potentially more accommodating for new sub-categories of discourse functions such as to show an intra-textual relation and to highlight the focus of discussion. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 243 first-person pronouns as the realization of authorial presence the first-person pronoun grammatically belongs to a subgroup of noun class indicating a speech role as or referring to the speaker/writer (heath, 2004; huddleston & pullum, 2005). the speech role itself denotes what position a participant in an interaction takes, such as a speaker, hearer, or non-participant referent that can be categorized into first, second, and third-person respectively. in general, the first-person pronouns which are the linguistic resource to manifest authorial presence can be seen in table 1 as follows, but the pronoun we is problematic. table 1. english first-person pronouns (biber et al., 1999) person case nominative accusative possessive reflexive determiner pronoun singular i me my mine myself plural we us our ours ourselves the plural we have several referents such as a speaker and the audience, people in general, a group of speakers without the audience. the first two referents consider the addressee and the writers as one group while the last does not, and thus the prior belongs to inclusive we while the latter belongs to exclusive we. unlike the singular pronoun i whose referent is clear, i.e. the speaker/writer, the pronoun we, therefore, is vague concerning its multiple referents. first-person pronouns as the linguistic realization of authorial presence in academic writing are complex, as they do not only refer to the referent but also inform multiple identities which the pronouns perform (e.g., see işık-taş, 2018; károly, 2009; tang & john, 1999). regarding the identities signified by the linguistic resources, tang and john (1999) propose a taxonomy of discourse functions of self-mentions in academic writing (see table 2) by building on ivanič’s theory on aspects of writer identity (1998). their taxonomy of discourse functions encompasses six roles or identities, such as representative, guide, architect of the essay, recounter of the research process, opinion holder, and originator. table 2. identities/functions of self-references, adapted from tang and john (1999) identities explanation examples least powerful representative to represent a group of people or people in general “the english that we know today reflects many centuries of development (script 6).” guide through the essay to help readers in the interpretation of the text “let us now look at some examples of j[amaican] c[reole] compared to standard british english (sbe) (script 26).” architect of the essay to show how the text is organized and outline the materials “in this essay, i will discuss the bastard status of english […] (script 16).” llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 244 most powerful recounter of the research process to recount research procedures or methods “i tape recorded a conversation with each co-researcher […] (ivanic, 1998).” opinion-holder to express personal views or attitudes “i agree with fairclough (1992b) […] (ivanic, 1988). originator to convey knowledge claims “to me, the phrase embodies the whole evolution process of the language to its present day status (script 8).” research methods this corpus-based study consisted of 48 english ras (24 ras written by native writers and 24 ras written by non-native writers) in the field of second language writing. a small specialized corpus was considered for our study because it allows corpus researchers to see a particular type of discourse (flowerdew, 2004), i.e. written academic discourse in research articles. l2 writing was selected as our samples because previous studies have not dealt with authorial presence in this field while this field might not just inform us what their studies demonstrate about l2 writing but also how expert writers in l2 writing who aware of authorial presence use this option in practice. in addition, the english ras which were employed as our data were obtained from assessing writing and journal of second language writing, which were chosen based on three criteria, i.e. the scope of l2 writing, english-medium publication, and scopus-indexed status. for the article selection, moreover, we applied some criteria, such as empirical articles in favor of its aimrd (abstract, introduction, methods, results, and discussion) structure, native and non-native writers, and the number of writers (single and multiple authorship). the aimrd structure allows us to see what a self-reference serves concerning where the personal pronoun or other selfreferring term is found in a particular section such as showing their responsibility for the selection of procedures in the method section. moreover, since the concept of the nativity is problematic here, following previous studies (carciu, 2009; işıktaş, 2018; mur-dueñas, 2007), we considered writers’ nativity from their affiliated institutions which are located in english-speaking countries. as a result, the corpus samples of native writers can be seen as follows. table 3. the size of nw and nnw corpus journals articles total (in words) assessing writing (asw) 24 172,051 (mean: 7,169) native writers (nw) 12 86,451 non-native writers (nnw) 12 85.600 journal of second language writing (slw) 24 194,430 (mean: 8,101) native writers (nw) 12 98,648 non-native writers (nnw) 12 95,782 total 48 366,481 (mean: 7,635) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 245 since we aim at exploring native and non-native english tendency in using authorial presence and examining discourse functions of authorial presence, both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed. the quantitative analysis for the first objective assisted with wordsmith tools 5 (scott, 2008) to see the frequency of personal pronouns in each journal and each group of writers. we searched authorial presence with first-person pronouns according to biber et al.’s (1999) categorization and self-referring terms such as writer, writers, researcher, researchers, author, and authors in the corpus. each frequency of the authorial presence was normalized to 100,000 words. next, the chi-square (χ2) test was also done with minitab 19.2 (minitab, 2019) to examine whether the differences between frequencies of self-references in nw and nnw ras were statistically significant. after finishing the calculation of the frequency distribution, the discourse functions of authorial presence were calculated and explained based on tang and john’s (1999) classification so that we could see the functions of selfreferences with their co-text more comprehensively. findings and discussion native and non-native writer’s differences in the corpus table 4. frequency distribution in the nw and nnw corpus (per 100,000 words) selfreferences nw nnw total raw norm. raw norm. raw norm. i 151 81.58 67 36.94 218 59.48 my 20 10.81 13 7.17 33 9.00 me 24 12.97 9 4.96 33 9.00 mine 1 0.54 0 0.00 1 0.27 we 341 184.23 307 169.26 648 176.82 our* 183 98.33 129 71.12 312 85.13 us 18 9.72 30 16.54 48 13.10 researcher* 30 16.21 53 29.22 83 22.65 author 2 1.08 0 0.00 2 0.55 total 770 415.99 608 335.20 1378 376.01 note: nw = native writers, nnw = non-native writers, norm. = normalization table 4 shows the degree of authorial presence in nw and nnw ras by the frequencies of self-references. as seen in table 4, normalized frequencies of selfreferences in english ras indicate that nws use self-references more than nnws do. these self-references in nw and nnw ras occur respectively 415.99 and 335.20 cases per 100,000 words. this quantitative result, in general, suggests that nws with the linguistic resources show a slightly higher degree of visibility. moreover, our result for the significance test on self-references across two groups of writers shows that the difference is statistically significant (df = 6, χ2 = 23.91, p = 0.001). in our findings, furthermore, the frequencies of the subjective pronoun i in the two groups show the most striking difference. a possible explanation for more than twice occurrences in nnw ras might be that the writers consider this llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 246 singular pronoun impolite in the sense that they do not involve readers (myers, 1989) so they choose to use more plurals to be inclusive. the quantitative analysis further shows that the self-reference researcher(s) is more prevalent in nnw ras. this might because nnws who use this third-person reference want to give an impression of objectivity without completely detaching themselves from the texts, or the uses of this resource might be associated with writing practices in their particular academic cultures. in general, despite inconsistent with isik-tas’ (2018) and behnam et al.’s (2014) findings in the field of sociology and chemistry, our overall result for nw and nnw differences in using self-references in l2 writing ras agrees with dontcheva-navrátilová’s (2013) finding which shows the higher frequency of self-references in nw ras than in nnw in the context of international publication. given the fact that applied linguistics and the field of l2 writing are closely related (silva & leki, 2004), the similarity between our quantitative finding and dontcheva-navratilova’ is hardly surprising. therefore, in line with dontcheva-navratilova, the lower frequency of self-references in nnw might also indicate the influence of their non-anglophone academic literacies on their l2 writing ras. discourse functions of self-references in nw and nnw corpus in this section, we demonstrate whether or not self-references stated in table 4 were employed to achieve similar discourse functions in nw and nnw ras. in addition to the quantitative analysis presented in table 5, we also explain the discourse functions of self-references qualitatively to provide a more complete picture of authorial presence in our corpus. here, we acknowledge that it is difficult to provide a qualitative analysis with a contrastive approach since both groups use the same devices and similar functions; what makes them different is to what extent self-references are used to serve discourse functions. as a consequence, our explanation of discourse functions of authorial presence relies on a qualitative approach without any intention to compare nws and nnws. moreover, before going further to table 5 on the different discourse functions of self-references between nws and nnws, we will briefly remind what first-person pronouns and other self-references can serve in ras based on tang and john’s (1999) taxonomy. firstly, first-person pronouns, especially inclusive, can function as a representative when they are used to denote a group of people, and as a guide through the ra when the inclusive pronouns referring to both writers and their readers serve to navigate readers in understanding the text. similar to guide, the architect of the ra is also concerned with directing readers but one main difference of architect from guide lies on the fact that architect is the text-oriented whereas guide through the ra is reader-oriented. thus, personal pronouns and self-referring terms (the researcher(s), the author(s), and the writer(s) are considered as an architect when they are utilized to purely organize text. additionally, the two high-risk functions, viz, opinion-holder and originator. between these two and even the rest types, the originator is the most facethreatening function because authorial presence is associated with knowledge claims and findings which are new to the disciplinary literature so the writers are llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 247 explicitly exposed to readers’ negative evaluation. opinion-holder, on the contrary, is concerned with the writers’ role to state a personal view. table 5. discourse functions of self-references in nw and nnw corpus functions/identities nw nnw raw norm. raw norm. representative 15 8.13 10 5.51 guide through the ra 17 9.18 70 38.59 architect of the ra 200 108.05 146 80.49 recounter of the research process 379 204.76 275 151.61 opinion-holder 92 49.70 68 37.49 originator 67 36.20 39 21.50 total 770 415.99 608 335.20 note: nw = native writers, nnw = non-native writers, norm. = normalization table 5 shows preferences on what authorial identities nws and nnws seek to construct based on the discourse functions of self-references. as seen in the table, we can note that there are three differences between nws and nnws. nws use more self-references to recount research procedures (204.76 vs. 151.61 occurrences) and structure their ras (108.05 vs. 80.49) than nnws. however, self-references in nw ras which are used to guide readers through their ras are less prevalent than in nnw ras (9.18 vs. 38.59). these suggest that while nws employ a more personal approach in organizing texts and describing their research process to show their more concerns on the textual organization and procedural decisions, nnws are more facilitative to their readers given the higher frequency of self-references to help readers in the interpretation of their scholarly texts. furthermore, the more prevalent self-references to structure texts and describing research procedures in nws are likely attributable to the idea of anglophone writer-responsible culture (see hinds, 2001) to clarify messages and show their responsibility for selected procedures, whereas the high frequency of selfreferences to guide readers in nnw ras might be influenced by international publication context in which nnws make attempts to persuade readers through guiding them to their preferred interpretation. dontcheva-navrátilová’s (2013) study, however, shows the opposite in which nws use more self-references for guiding readers and structuring texts but fewer self-references for recounting research procedures. she explains that guiding readers and structuring texts agrees with nw academic literacy which highlights the reader-oriented character. she, furthermore, believes that the underlying reason for more prevalent self-references in nnw ras is that nnws opt for creating a more personal approach when recounting research procedures. regarding dontcheva-navrátilová’s findings, the differences between our findings and hers are surprising. first, given the fact that the fields of study on which we focus are different, i.e. applied linguistics and l2 writing, our difference in terms of discourse functions of self-references in english ras, particularly on recounting research procedures and helping readers in interpreting ras, might be llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 248 to some extent influenced by the disciplinary factor. thus, our difference might reflect xia’s (2018) study which demonstrates discipline as one contributing factor for differences of discourse functions. second, we believe that the similarity of findings between ours and dontcheva-navrátilová’s finding in terms of organizing scholarly texts could be caused by the shared awareness of the importance of signposts to indicate the logical structure of ras in the field of l2 writing and applied linguistics. representatives first-person pronouns in english ras by both native and non-native scholars are related to their discourse functions which represent what identities are constructed by the scholars. in the corpus, writers construct the least facethreatening identity, ‘representatives’, by using sources such as inclusive we and inclusive our. inclusive plural pronouns here are chosen to represent people in general (example 1) and writers’ disciplinary community (example 2 and 3). (1) the launch of the digital age has ushered in a growing demand for our capacity to produce, manipulate, and interpret visual and graphical representations of information (lowrie & diezmann, 2007). (asw12nnei) (2) that is, we have not as yet fully understood in detail how the features of effective writing develop among students and therefore, we have not been able to articulate that development. (asw13nei) (3) […] a further exploration of the effects of intertextual processing manifested in discourse synthesis and multiple-text comprehension in both l1 and l2 settings could advance our understanding of the multifaceted nature of integrated writing and offer insights into instructional and assessment practices. (slw19nnei) these examples show that how ra writers position themselves to construct ‘representatives’ through inclusive our and we with linguistic resources which involve cognition (e.g. understood and understanding) or ability (e.g. capacity) in the introduction section. these uses of inclusive plural pronouns in the examples are related to typical ‘moves’ of introduction (see dudley-evans, 1986, p. 135; swales & feak, 2014, p. 331) in ras such as establishing a research territory by suggesting the relevance of their studies to either the society or their disciplinary community (1); highlighting a knowledge gap (2); and suggesting the significance of their own study (3). aligning themselves to the society or their disciplinary community through pronouns in the introduction section helps them emphasize the persuasive effect when creating a research space so they can promote the novelty of their researches to the readership. guide through the ras writers make themselves explicitly visible in texts through the use of we, but this pronoun, in addition to the writers, also refers to readers. the readerinclusive pronouns in the english ras are aimed to draw readers’ involvement in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 249 the interpretation of the texts, and with this linguistic resource. in these following examples, we show the role of inclusive we and our in guiding readers to the writers’ preferred reading. (4) an outstanding finding was that unlike previous studies, our study revealed a significant relationship between the holistic rating of composition quality and complexification at multiple levels of syntactic organization: the sentential, the clausal, and the phrasal level. (asw08nned) (5) aggregating the distinct decision-making behaviors, we can detect a progression of the raters’ distribution of attention to textual features corresponding to the official assessment criteria. (asw05ner) (6) for example, in table 7 we can see that, keeping wm at the average, grade 7 students were 3.86 times more likely to score higher on task 4 listen-write than grade 6 students [….] (slw14ner) in example (4) to (6), the inclusive pronouns, which occur in the results and discussion section, play important roles in suggesting how their ras are better read. in the case of example (4), a single writer uses inclusive our to seek cooperation from and at the same time to involve her readers in the interpretation so they can arrive at the same conclusion about the data. in other words, the writers seek to navigate their readers to their preferred interpretation of evidence. architect of the ras unlike previous discourse functions of self-references that focus on the use of inclusive pronouns, discourse function which constructs the ‘architect’ persona is realized through exclusive self-references such as i, exclusive we, and the researchers. the architect of the ra itself by definition denotes a writer’s role to compose and organize a scholarly text (tang & john, 1999, p. s28). furthermore, as noted in table 2, this identity is constructed when writers organize their own texts and outline what they aim to discuss by involving the aforementioned selfreferring devices. in our corpus, we found that this identity is involved in several ways to construct ‘architect’: section structure, cross-reference, and outline of the ra. (7) qualitative results from dse1, dse2, and dse3 typify raters’ attention to textual features; so, in the results section, i focus on these findings. (asw01nem) (8) as we mentioned previously, many rubrics do not consider evidence of fairness, or how independent raters utilize the rubric (hawthorne, bol, & pribesh, 2017). (asw15ned) (9) the researchers wanted to see whether (1) modeling was more effective than self-practice, and (2) collaboration was more effective than working alone in enhancing students’ detection, revision, and commenting skills. (slw09nnei) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 250 from example (7) – (9), self-references are involved in signposts, expressions showing text structures. in particular, the self-reference i in example (7) is used to structure the text by highlighting what is being the center of the writers’ interest in the section results. in addition to section structure, the pronoun we in example (8) is used when the writers show the internal relation between one part of the text to the other. the self-reference the researchers along with the verb in example (9) serves to give an overview of their problems in general. recounter of the research process writers exploit pronoun i, exclusive plural pronoun we, and the researchers to describe research procedures. with this alignment to research procedures, they seek to show their role as ‘recounters’ who did the research process and made their procedural decision. in our corpus, moreover, we found that self-references, which mainly occur in the methods section, can help writers in explaining their methods, especially data collection (example 10 and 11) and data analysis (example 12 and 13). (10) before the program, i spent four weeks observing 20 sessions of the ce course in the five teachers classes (four sessions per teacher). (slw07nnem) (11) from the twenty-one students who attended the first class, i asked four multilingual writers to attend follow-up individual one-hour interviews in november/december 2016 (interview 1). (slw17nem) (12) for multi-trait average scores, the researchers employed the same g study approach as the holistic scores since a single score averaged over multi-trait sub-scores was used for analysis. (asw18nem) (13) an additional coder who was a university english teacher with an australian master’s degree in teaching english as a second language was invited to work with us on examining the student drafts and wcf. (asw24nnem) the uses of authorial presence, which are realized through self-references in example (10) and (11), enable them to underscore their unique personal roles in the process of collecting data. next, in example (12) and (13), self-reference the researchers and us are used to describe data analysis procedures, but interestingly, instead of using personal pronoun we, the writers in example (12) use the thirdperson perspective through the researchers to mention themselves when describing and justifying his methodological decision. it seems that writers as narrators of their research use this alternative self-reference in the methods section because they aim to highlight their role as researchers who chose the methodological approach with the detachment of their research as their preferred choice so they can maintain their objectivity. opinion-holder by making selves explicitly visible in the ras through self-references in expressing personal opinions or attitudes, writers expose themselves to criticisms llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 251 because this identity, opinion-holder carries a highly face-threatening degree (işık-taş, 2018, p. 31). and unlike ‘recounters’ which typically occur in the methods section, this identity we found in the corpus is widespread in introduction, methods, and discussion. (14) the shared processes identified in our data deserve consideration in developing and using scores from integrated assessment. (asw14ned) (15) we argue that much of the research on writing assessment has omitted an important element: fairness. (asw15nei) (16) as discussed below, we believe that the developmental progression proposed by biber and colleagues represents a useful means of hypothesizing the syntactic development of maturing academic writers in english [….] (slw16nei) (17) we assumed that a writing task that required summarizing ideas in a source reading passage, of the kind that now features in most major english proficiency test [….] (slw22nnem) in our corpus, we identified that writers use exclusive we and our to make themselves visible and at the same time to express their personal opinions on their own method (14), previous studies (15), a theory (16), and a topic of discussion (17). furthermore, in the conveyance of opinions, the self-references which typically co-occur evaluative verbs such as deserve, argue, believe, and assume are employed to strengthen the persuasive effect of the evaluations. originator writers use linguistic resources such as first-person pronouns to express their knowledge claim about a subject matter. in the corpus, exclusive pronoun we are commonly used with verbs found while exclusive pronoun our are frequently used with study and research to indicate knowledge claims. (18) for each statistic, we found the value at the 90th percentile for each data set, and then took the average of the 90th percentile values over all the samples. (asw16nem) (19) in our study, there was no indication in any of the cases that students were expecting their teacher not to provide wcf. (asw24nner) (20) by contrast, in our research the teachers provided much more indirect feedback than direct feedback, with individual practice seen to be determined by whether the teachers believed they or the students were responsible for learning. (slw13ned) (21) despite the clear differences in the design of both interventions, we only found trends towards significant differential development. (slw24nned) as seen in these examples, the pronouns we and our occur in the method, results, and discussion sections to report their findings and to emphasize their role as people who contribute findings to their disciplinary community, and at the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 252 same time, showing presence when conveying findings indicates the ownership of the findings. as a consequence, making selves visible can enable them to gain recognition for their personal contribution. to serve this function, however, making selves explicitly visible is risky to their own face because stating findings or claims is the most assertive function (hyland, 2002, p. 1103). conclusion and implications in this study, we have provided evidence in the field of l2 writing that degree of visibility is influenced by nativity, and authorial presence is useful to achieve various purposes in their academic writing. regarding nw and nnw differences in making themselves explicitly visible, our quantitative analysis suggests that even though there is a small difference between the two groups in which nws are more visible in internationally reputable journals, our statistical measurement yields a significant difference. such differences could be caused by the influence of nnw cultures on their english ras. moreover, we also note that authorial presence in nw and nnw ras shows differences in the use of selfreferences to recount research procedures and to structure ras. two possible factors are contributing to the differences of such discourse functions such as anglophone academic culture, viz, writer-responsible for the first two functions. moreover, we also note that nnws are more facilitative in terms of navigating their readers throughout their texts than nws given nnw higher frequency of self-reference for guiding readers. what we have found in our study about authorial presence between nw and nnw ras, in general, can contribute to our understanding of how nws and nnws are different in international publication context even in one discipline. nonetheless, given the relatively small numbers of samples, generalizing the findings to a broader area should be done with caution. future studies, therefore, are suggested to validate our findings with larger samples from multiple disciplines to show whether there is a cultural and disciplinary interplay. it is also possible to complement future studies with interviews to obtain “insider ‘emic’ approach” (swales, 2019) on why academic writers use self-references in their ras. furthermore, our findings here may contribute to the english academic writing courses, particularly in indonesian higher education. as we have shown, expert writers in l2 writing explicitly show their visibility through self-references despite the different degrees about their nativity. thus, this study cannot only exemplify the extent to which indonesian novice writers can use self-references in english writing but also show them how the expert writers use self-references to achieve particular functions. references al-shujairi, y. b. j. 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(2018). a cross-disciplinary corpus-based study on english and chinese native speakers’ use of first-person pronouns in academic english writing. text & talk, 38(1), 93–113. doi:10.1515/text-2017-0032 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 134 english language anxiety of pre-service teachers: causes and coping strategies truly almendo pasaribu and monica ella harendita sanata dharma university trulyalmendo@usd.ac.id and meharendita@usd.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.210202 received 2 july 2018; revised 18 september 2018; accepted 1 october 2018 abstract anxiety in language teaching and learning is not considered a new issue, yet there has been little information as to how english pre-service teachers in indonesia experience and overcome anxiety. the research aimed at addressing two questions: 1) what are the possible causes of english pre-service teachers’ anxiety? and 2) how do english pre-service teachers manage anxiety when teaching? this research employed both quantitative and qualitative methods. the data were collected from questionnaires and focus group discussion. the results show that several factors contributing to pre-service teachers’ anxiety, namely: confidence, english skills, preparation, lesson delivery, students’ profiles, evaluation and classroom management. in tackling the problems, the participants applied personal, professional, social, and institutional coping strategies. recognizing the causes of anxiety and strategies to face it can be one step forward to reduce teaching anxiety. keywords: english language teaching, anxiety, pre-service teachers introduction english teaching practice is one of the most important aspects in english language education study program since they need opportunities to learn from real schools. however, because they lack classroom experience, some may experience difficulties and problems resulting in anxiety, which hinders them to give a successful teaching performance. hortwitz (1986) pointed out that many non-native language teachers experience anxiety in their target language classroom. english pre-service teachers (pts) may also encounter difficulties during the practicum because of their minimum experience in using the target language. for example, they may feel nervous speaking the foreign language in the classroom. being nervous or being anxious can be brought by uncertain reasons. previous studies have documented that learning process is influenced by language anxiety (carroll, 1963; horwitz and young, 1991; and gregersen, 2003), so pts might also be affected by language anxiety as they are also language learners. some research exists regarding pts’ anxiety in classrooms. kim and kim (2004) documented that factors influencing pts’ anxiety are limited english proficiency, lack of confidence, lack of knowledge about linguistics and education, insufficient preparation, being compared to native teachers, fear of mailto:trulyalmendo@usd.ac.id llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 135 negative evaluation and lack of teaching experience. establishing that anxiety is present in the efl classrooms, it is vital for researchers to identify the causes that trigger anxiety and also the strategies used by the pts to cope with it. although anxiety is not considered a new issue, there has been little information as to how indonesian pts’ experience and overcome foreign language teaching anxiety has been experienced. it is then crucial to explore this issue by addressing two questions: 1) what are the possible causes of indonesian pts’ anxiety in teaching english? and 2) how do indonesian pts manage anxiety when teaching english? theories studies have investigated the causes of anxiety in the classrooms. yoon’s study (2012) examined 52 students’ practicum in the university in seoul, korea. the factors of anxiety in his research were the fear of using english in the class, pts’ confidence, class preparation, and efforts to overcome the anxiety. however, takashi (2014) argued that english teachers’ self-perceived language proficiency levels may not necessarily be related to their anxiety about teaching english. because there is a complex relationship between non-native english teachers’ perceived language proficiency levels and their anxiety about teaching english, he pointed out the importance of investigating complex causes of anxiety in language teaching context. some other studies focus on the strategies to cope with anxiety in language teaching. sameephet and wanphet (2013) investigated the successful anxiety management strategies, namely: positive thinking, self-talking and calming down. in addition, costa and kallick (2000) mentioned another type of coping strategies, i.e. self-reflection, which enabled pts to draw meaning from their teaching experience, identify the problems and gain more confidence. some studies (norris, larke, & briers, 1990; martin & yonder, 2000) argued the importance of administrators or supervisors in helping the students to cope with teaching anxiety. this study focuses on anxiety alleviating strategies which can be classified using murray-harvey categories (1999). the above mentioned strategies suggested by sameephet and whanphet (2013) can be categorized into murray-harvey’s personal coping strategies. another category is related to professionalism. to avoid stress, pts prepared for lessons and responsibilities related to teaching. some pts also managed their anxiety by turning to their social networks, e.g. family and friends. finally, this framework emphasized that supports from academic supervisors and institutions played important roles in helping teachers with anxiety. this research uses theories from previous studies to analyze the data obtained from questionnaires and focus group discussion. method to answer the research questions, this research employed a mixed-method. creswell (2003, p. 12) stated that “in mixed methods research, investigators use both quantitative and qualitative data because they work to provide the best understanding of a research problem.” the first research question was investigated quantitatively by distributing questionnaires related to pts anxiety when teaching english. as explained previously, the causes of language teaching anxiety varied among students, so the researchers also conducted focus group discussion of 7 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 136 pts to explore more detailed information. to answer the second research question, the researcher analyzed the data from the narrations of the participants. the researchers took notes and highlighted pts’ meaningful experience, especially their strategies to cope with foreign language teaching anxiety. the research was conducted in the english language education of sanata dharma university. the survey was planned to involve 50 english as a foreign language (efl) pts. however, because of time limitation, this study analyzed only 30 pts who returned the questionnaires by august 2016. in september 2016, there were seven pts involved in the discussion: three pts with the lowest level of anxiety and four pts with highest level of anxiety. the discussion was held near the campus of sanata dharma university. findings and discussion causes of pts’ anxiety the students experienced anxiety when they taught english in a real classroom situation. the pts found out that anxiety results in restless movement, inability to sleep, and inability to speak smoothly. based on previous studies, this feeling stems from several causes like confidence, pre-service teachers’ language skills, preparation, lesson delivery, the situation or the condition of the students, evaluations, and classroom management (yoon, 2012 and kim & kim, 2004). the analysis revealed and discussed the frequencies of those anxiety indicators experienced by the pts. confidence table 1 shows that 16 pts (53%) got nervous when they spoke in classroom. only five pts were shy. the table also revealed that 18 pts had high expectations on their teaching performance. furthermore, half of the respondents showed that they relaxed when they were about to teach. finally, the data show that only 9 pts didn’t feel sure about themselves in the class. table 1. pts’ confidence no. statements 1 2 3 4 % % % % 1 i get nervous when i speak in classroom 3 43 53 0 2 i feel shy when speaking english in front of students. 10 73 17 0 3 i feel very comfortable in speaking english. 7 33 57 3 4 when i’m on my way to language class, i feel very sure and relaxed. 10 40 50 0 5 i never feel quite sure of myself when i am speaking in the class. 0 70 27 3 notes: 1: strongly disagree, 2: disagree, 3: agree, 4: strongly agree from these statements related to pts’ confidence, most pts were nervous not because they were shy, but because they had high expectations on their performance. this factor also appeared in the focus group discussion. the pts had high anxiety in the first few meetings because of the unfamiliarity of the class, so they had no idea of both the teachers’ and the students’ expectations. this is in line with what sameephet and wanphet (2013, p.79) found in their study that llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 137 “anxiety can relate to expectations”. one of the participants admitted that she was so anxious that she couldn’t sleep. she had high expectations because she wanted to meet her teacher’s expectations. to deal with this problem of the participants discussed the importance of elaborating the students’ expectations. 1) i gave the students a piece of paper to write down their expectation. and they expect reward in the class. (p4) knowing the students’ expectations in the class helped her to alleviate the mood of the class. in her case, the students expected reward for students with best marks. she realized that giving rewards to students may not always be positive because the students might focus on the rewards rather than the subjects. she found that giving rewards sometimes can be beneficial, particularly to increase the students’ motivation. english language skills table 2 shows that 17 pts (56%) were worried to explain the lesson in english. moreover, there were 22 pts who worried that they may need to explain advanced vocabulary. the table reveals that most respondents (77%) pts were afraid that they would not know how to teach certain grammatical rules. in addition, the table shows that 14 pts (47%) became more nervous realizing that they have made errors. there were 17 respondents (57%) who were afraid that their english was not as good as the regular english teachers. table 2. english language skills n statements 1 2 3 4 % % % % 6 i worry when i explain the lesson in english. 10 33 53 3 7 i worry that i may need to explain advanced vocabulary. 3 23 70 3 8 i am afraid that i will not know how to teach certain grammatical rules. 10 13 67 1 0 9 when i realize i have made errors, i become more nervous. 0 53 47 0 10 i am afraid that my english is not as good as the regular english teachers. 7 37 50 7 notes: 1: strongly disagree, 2: disagree, 3: agree, 4: strongly agree table .2 shows that most pts (77%) were afraid of not knowing certain grammatical rules. it is followed by statement 7 which indicates that students were anxious about explaining advanced vocabulary. from these data, we could argue that the students’ mastery of english language skills influences their anxiety. pts students were worried about their lack of linguistic mastery. preparation as seen in table 3, only 4 pts (13%) became more nervous when they prepared more for english class. when preparing the materials, more than half of the respondents (67%) were anxious about maintaining a good standard of preparation. there were 16 respondents (53%) who were afraid when they needed to write detailed lesson plans. 17 pts (57%) were anxious when they had to develop suitable sources/materials for the lessons. most respondents (87%) mentioned that they were worried if the lesson was not interesting. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 138 table 3. preparation n statements 1 2 3 4 % % % % 11 the more i prepare for english class, the more nervous. 10 77 13 0 12 i am anxious about maintaining a good enough standard of preparation. 0 33 60 7 13 i am afraid when i need to write detailed lesson plan. 10 37 40 13 14 i am anxious when i have to develop suitable sources/materials for the lessons. 10 33 57 0 15 i am worried if the lesson is not interesting. 0 13 63 23 notes: 1: strongly disagree, 2: disagree, 3: agree, 4: strongly agree the data show that the pts wanted to make the lessons/materials interesting for the students. most pts also worried about having enough preparation because they wanted to give interesting materials to the students. the fgd showed that they were having difficulties in preparing the lesson plan. 2) the most complicated thing is making the syllabus and the lesson plan for the class. (p5) although some pts experienced difficulties in preparing the lessons, statement 13 revealed that the pts didn’t become more nervous when preparing the lessons. in fact, they considered preparation as one strategy that helped them cope with anxiety. lesson delivery twelve pts (40%) worried when they introduce new topics to my students. more than half of the respondents (67%) were afraid that they could not deliver abstract concept to my students. most pts (73%) feared that that they couldn’t get the students’ attention when they delivered their lessons. most pts (70%) feared that they couldn’t meet the goals of the lesson plan when teaching. there were 21 respondents (70%) also were afraid that they could not give appropriate feedback to the students. table 4. lesson delivery n statements 1 2 3 4 % % % % 16 i worry when i introduce new topics to my students 3 57 40 0 17 i am afraid that i cannot deliver abstract concept to my students. 3 30 60 7 18 i fear that i can’t get the students’ attention when i deliver my lessons. 0 27 53 2 0 19 i fear that i cannot meet the goals of the lesson plan when teaching. 0 30 63 7 20 i am afraid that i cannot give appropriate feedback to the students. 0 30 67 3 notes: 1: strongly disagree, 2: disagree, 3: agree, 4: strongly agree most pts feared of not being able to grasp the students’ attention in the class. pts gave great importance to getting students’ attention as it was a way to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 139 achieve the expected goals. this is in line with merc (2011) who found out that many pts noted that when they were able to get the students’ attention, they could meet the success levels they desired. as indicated from the data, the respondents were also anxious of not being able to meet the goals of the lesson plan. students’ profiles one important factor in determining the success of the learning process is the students’ context. in relation to the students’ profiles, there were 22 pts (73%) anxious about possible problems in the class with individual learners’ misbehavior/bad behavior. more than half of the respondents (53%) were anxious that their students would not respect them in the classroom. moreover, some pts (57%) were anxious when their students asked them difficult questions. there were 20 pts (67%) anxious about the strategies to give each learner the attention he needed. most respondents (73%) were anxious that their students unable to follow the lessons as shown in table 5. table 5. the condition of the students n statements 1 2 3 4 % % % % 21 i am anxious about possible problems in the class with individual learners’ misbehavior. 3 23 60 13 22 i am anxious that my students will not respect me in the classroom. 3 43 40 13 23 i am anxious when my students ask me difficult questions. 3 40 47 10 24 i am anxious about how to give each learner the attention to each students’ needs. 3 30 57 10 25 i am anxious that my students unable to follow the lessons. 3 23 53 20 notes: 1: strongly disagree, 2: disagree, 3: agree, 4: strongly agree the condition of the students in the classroom is proved to be one significant cause of pts’ anxiety. in the microteaching class, the pts taught their classmates whose english are generally at the same levels. but in the real classroom situation, the pts should face students with different levels of english and diverse behaviors. one of them complained about the difficulties in getting the students interested in the subject: 1) i teach at a vocational school. the students i taught were close minded. they did not think that english is important. i had to teach english from the very basic. (p3) 2) the students had zero motivation to learn english. they preferred playing football than learning. (p6) these two pts worried about being unable to motivate the students. kim and kim (2004) revealed that poorly motivated students can ruin the class atmosphere. they were anxious that this would be an obstacle to carry out successful teaching and learning process. most pts also experienced pressure from individual learners’ misbehavior. the fgd shows that one respondent was shocked when she heard that one student llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 140 swore bad word in front of her. she felt humiliated by that incident. another pt was insulted by a student’s inappropriate gesture, which was done to make other students laugh. the behavior of the students toward the pts increases the anxiety. evaluation most respondents (80%) worried about not passing the practicum. the table shows that 20 pts (67%) were anxious about being observed and evaluated by their supervisors/teachers while teaching. most respondents (80%) were anxious with their supervisors/teachers’ expectation. on the other hand, less than half of the respondents (37%) feel anxious when they were observed by their peers. there were 18 pts (60%) who were anxious when their supervisors/teachers gave them a verbal evaluation of their teaching practice. table 6. evaluations n statements 1 2 3 4 % % % % 26 i worry about not passing the practicum. 0 20 60 20 27 i am anxious about being observed and evaluated by my supervisors while teaching. 7 27 47 20 28 i am anxious with my supervisors’ expectation 3 17 47 33 29 i feel anxious when i am observed by my peers. 13 50 27 10 30 i am anxious when my lecturer gives me a verbal evaluation of my teaching in front of my peers. 0 40 47 13 notes: 1: strongly disagree, 2: disagree, 3: agree, 4: strongly agree the findings show that pts were anxious about failing the practicum. they feared that they would fail the teachers’ and supervisors’ expectations. 1) the school teacher had different style of teaching from me. she limited my space in the class. she didn’t allow me to handle the class. she didn’t approve materials that i considered “fun”. she thought that games in the classroom were a waste of time. i felt stupid after being evaluated by the teacher. (p6) 2) i was afraid of making mistakes because i was observed by my school teacher. i was so nervous that i couldn’t speak smoothly. (p2) 3) i don’t know whether i should be grateful for having a supervisor who is very detailed. he expected me to be an excellent teacher. he told me about his disappointment of other pre-service teachers. so i felt burdened and anxious. (p4) participant 6 had difficulties because her space was limited by the school teacher. she felt uncomfortable being criticized by the teacher. participant 2 was also nervous when being observed by the school teacher because he was scared of failing the class. merc (2011) also reached similar conclusion that the presence of university’s supervisor resulted in great anxiety. another participant in fgd llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 141 mentioned that her supervisor, who was her lecturer, commented, questioned and criticized every detail that she wrote in the lesson plan. he did that because he had a high expectation that the pts become extraordinary teachers. although the preservice teacher learned a lot, she also experienced anxiety thinking about being evaluated by a supervisor with high expectation. in accordance to this study, rieg, paquette, and chen (2007) also argued that teachers’ high expectation could be a contributing factor to students’ anxiety. classroom management most respondents (73%) were anxious that they could not have the full control of the class. in addition, there were 21 respondents (70%) who were worried when teaching english because the classes were crowded. most respondents (73%) worried that they could not manage the time to deliver the materials. a half of the respondents (50%) felt uncomfortable with the noise level in their class. there were 16 pts (53%) worried when they had to enforce discipline to the students. table 7. classroom management n statements 1 2 3 4 % % % % 31 i am anxious that i cannot have the full control of the class. 0 27 50 23 32 i am worried when teaching english because the classes are crowded. 0 30 60 10 33 i am worried i cannot manage the time to deliver the materials. 0 27 67 7 34 i feel uncomfortable with the noise level in my class. 0 50 40 10 35 i worry when i have to enforce discipline to the students. 7 40 43 10 notes: 1: strongly disagree, 2: disagree, 3: agree, 4: strongly agree pts believed that they did not have as much power as the teachers. they were anxious that they could not control the class and they could not manage the time well. one of the pts mentioned that one time she was angry at one student who sang during the examination. it demotivated the class, which worried her. she felt bad being angry at the students. one of the pts also confessed that when the teacher of the class was not around, the students would behave badly. when unable to control the class, he ignored the students who were busy by themselves. strategies in managing pts’ anxiety students felt that being anxious hindered them from giving their best. therefore they used different ways in tackling these problems. they managed their anxiety using personal, professional, social and institutional coping strategies. personal coping strategies murray-harvey (1999) mentioned that there are five categories under personal coping strategies, namely: cognitive strategies, physical strategies, behavioral strategies, emotional strategies and rational strategies. the fgd reveals that some pts used some personal coping strategies, specifically cognitive llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 142 strategies, to alleviate their anxiety. the strategies are using humor, planning and preparing, getting close with the students, talking positively, rewarding the students and accepting their being nervous as a part of their learning process. a. humor humors are myriad in the classrooms’ walls. both students and teachers find jokes amusing. some pts which were interviewed believed that humor eases the distress and the awkwardness in the classroom. 2) i don’t like a very serious class, so i tried to break the tension by using humor. (p3) 3) when we are anxious we can be awkward, which leads to making mistakes. but it is relieving to laugh together with the class when it happens. i experienced a technical problem in the class. i forgot to plug the cable and i got panicked. they noticed this silly thing and we laughed together. (p7) participant 3 (p3) mentioned the advantage of using humor. he used this strategy because he felt that humor would help students relax. participant 7 (p7) mentioned a strategy that she used to make the class merrier, that is by laughing at herself. she used self-deprecation. she laughed at something she did that was hilariously wrong. humor is generally considered as an effective tool that enables us to redirect negative feelings and turn them into laughter b. positive talk ronan and kenall (1997) mentioned negative self-talk was more influential on increasing anxiety levels than positive self-talk was on decreasing anxiety levels. however, one respondent mentioned that positive self-talk was effective in reducing his anxiety. 4) when it comes to me, i think as positively as i can. i think positively that i can do it. (p2) he believed that positive thinking would decrease anxiety. this is in line with buchler’s study who argued that “adding positive self-talk to the anxiety-reducing techniques proved to be a beneficial strategy for many of the students.” (2013, p. 150) c. acknowledging the state of being nervous one respondent mentioned that she did not try to avoid being nervous because she considered it as a learning process. instead, she mentioned that she was nervous in front of the class. 5) i did not have specific strategies to deal with anxiety because i think that anxiety is a part of being human. from my experience in joining the choir, i learnt not to focus on my anxiety, the more i think about the strategies to deal with anxiety, the more anxious i get. i don’t want to be more afraid. i eliminate thinking about it and i smile to the class. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 143 i admit that i’m anxious in front of the class. it turns out that they show their sympathy and listens to me. (p3) when she felt anxious, she acknowledged this feeling. she tried to see this feeling as a part of learning. she accepted that she feared teaching the students and she let the students know how she felt. similarly, takahashi (2014) also argued that acknowledgement of being anxious might play a key role for pts to deal with their anxiety. professional coping strategies besides personal coping strategies, murray-harvey (1993) also mentioned that there are three categories under professional coping strategies related to knowledge, skills and qualities of the teacher. several strategies appeared in the fgd related to building skills and building positive relationships with the students. a. planning and preparing having adequate preparation and planning is one of the professional coping strategies in reducing anxiety (as also suggested by yoon, 2012). pts in the fgd discussed the importance of preparation and planning. 6) i prepare plan a and plan b. i was taught in the microteaching class that we should always have plan b because not all things work as planned. i prepared more exercises and activities in the class. i tried to find other sources to help them study. (p4) 7) i asked information from my experienced seniors so i can anticipate the materials. by knowing the materials, i can prepare or study until i master the materials (p6) participant (4) and participant (6) believed in that the better the preparation, the better the result. moreover, participant 4 prepared two plans, in case the first plan did not go smoothly. some pts believed that both planning and preparation were the keys to success. the discussion showed two ways of preparation: the first one is by finding other sources and the second one is by getting help from more experienced people. b. adapting with the students one respondent felt that she didn’t want to be a teacher. due to that fact, she acted not as the teacher, but she positioned herself as the students’ older sister. she did that because she felt that the closer your relationship to the students is, the less anxious you are. 8) i don’t want to be teacher, but i need to teach. so i position myself as the students’ older sisters. i considered them as my little brothers, so why should i be anxious of my own brother. i used quotes to attract their attention. they loved the quotes so the ask more of them (p7). from this excerpt, we see that she was proactive in getting herself close with the students. furthermore, she did not only use quotations that were related to the students’ life, but she also talked to them outside the class and acted as their siblings. having positive relationship with the students helped her reduce the anxiety. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 144 c. rewarding the students another cause of anxiety was some students felt that they were anxious of unable to control the students’ behavior. to deal with that, they believed that giving rewards to the students would help them managing the class. 9) to deal with anxiety and control the students in the class, i prepared some rewards. the students were struggling to get the rewards. (p4) 10) when i was unable to control the class, i used the reward system as thought in amt (approaches, methods and theories in teaching languages). the reward for the class is watching movies together. (p2) the students believe that rewards would make the students more motivated and more cooperative in the classroom. knowing that students would behave after they prepare the reward, the students felt less anxious. social coping strategies sharing the problems to their social supports, like friends and family, could be a way to reduce anxiety. this strategy also appeared in the discussion, as shown in the following excerpt: 11) i learned from my boyfriend about the techniques to make my students interested. i share my feelings to him. (p6) 12) i was confused when i needed to explain about questions. i got headache to prepare the materials because i don’t think the students can handle grammar lesson well. i have a friend who is a lecturer. i am really close to him. i considered him as my family. he also experienced the same problems and he gave me enlightenment by comparing indonesian and english question patterns. (p3) both students realized that sharing with friends with similar experience help them reduce the anxiety. p6 felt comfortable to share her feelings to her closest friend that she was frustrated by the teacher. because they had similar experience, she also learned from her boyfriend about the techniques in making the students interested. p3 mentioned that he shared the problems to a friend who could give solutions to him. he shared his problems to a lecturer from different university and got useful ideas from him. institutional coping strategies although the students realized that they had to be active in managing their anxiety by themselves, they also seek help from institutional authority. one respondent felt empowered by her supervisor. 13) the good thing from my school teacher is that she gives me space to handle my classroom. she told me that the class is under my watch and she allowed me to manage the class. (p5) 14) i share my problems to my advisor. i told him that i was afraid. he told me that he would guide me. he calmed me down. i saw pak gun llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 145 taught us calmly. he guided me by saying that everything would flow well. he told me to relax. (p6) 15) my advisor gave me constructive advice that can slightly reduce my level of anxiety. (p2) we can see that participant 5 felt good because the school teacher gave her freedom to handle the class. in addition, participant 6 felt that talking to her university supervisor was helpful. instead of judging her, he provided positive advice to make calm her down. participant 2 was also encouraged by constructive advice given by his supervisor. these findings are in line with other studies that emphasize on the importance of administrators or supervisors in helping the students to cope with teaching anxiety (norris, larke, & briers, 1990; martin & yonder, 2000). accordingly, institutional level supports play an important role in reducing students’ stress. due to that fact, it is crucial that supervisors provide positive supports and non-threatening evaluation for the students. conclusion from both the questionnaires and the focus group discussion, it can be seen that the causes of english preservice teachers’ anxiety were their confidence, english skills, preparation, lesson delivery, students’ profiles, evaluation, and classroom management. as inexperienced teachers, they tended to feel unconfident with their own teaching. expectations set by themselves as well as the teachers and supervisors added more pressure which resulted in an increased level of anxiety. as english is not their first language, they also felt anxious about their mastery of english grammar. other significant factors which contributed to their anxiety included fear of not being able to get the students’ attention and to make the lessons interesting. in tackling the problems, the participants applied personal, professional, social, and institutional coping strategies. all those four strategies were taken to help the pts manage and cope with their anxiety. by identifying the causes of anxiety, teacher educators are expected to be able to prepare pts better before their placement. teacher education programs should also help pts through the provision of personal and meaningful guidance and supervision. hence, it is hoped that they will be less anxious when they teach in schools. teaching practicum in schools, therefore, should be considered as a rewarding experience rather than an unnerving one. references astika, g. 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(2012). experienced and novice iranian teachers’ perceptions as to the effect of intrinsic factors on teacher efficacy. basic research journal of education research and review, 1(1), 04-14. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 246-259 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 246 the impact of using audio-visual aids on teaching listening among iranian pre-intermediate efl learners ehsan namaziandost and mehdi nasri islamic azad university, shahrekord, iran e.namazi75@yahoo.com and me_nasri@yahoo.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2019.220209 received 24 june 2019; revised 15 august 2019; accepted 5 september 2019 abstract this paper explored the impacts of audio-visual aids among iranian preintermediate efl learners on teaching listening. the investigator chosen 40 homogeneous pre-intermediate learners to accomplish the study's goals and split them into two equal groups. the experimental groups (n=20) and a control group (n=20) were the two groups. then an understanding of listening pre-test was administered at the start of the course to evaluate the listening comprehension of the respondents. the investigator performed the therapy on the experimental individuals after the pre-test. the eg was instructed using genuine video during the therapy sessions, while the cg used compact disc (cd) audio as the most common teaching aid used by esl educators in learning. the investigator administered a post-test after the therapy that lasted 15 sessions to determine the impact of audiovisual aids on teaching listening. t-tests of independent and paired samples were conducted to evaluate them when the information was obtained. the findings showed that the learners of the eg instructed using genuine video obtained greater listening outcomes than those taught by an audio compact disk (cd). the study's consequences indicate that using audio-visual aids can help efl students grow their understanding of listening. keywords: audio-visual aids, authentic video, teaching listening introduction despite the reality that it is perceived essential to listen to second or foreign language (nasri, namaziandost, & akbari, 2019; wolvin & coakley, 1996), there is a lack of understanding on the most proficient method to create listening ability among students and instructors (graham, 2006; namaziandost & nasri, 2019). listening has additionally gotten less research consideration than different abilities (vandergrift, 1997). thinking about this issue, this field appears to require a lot of increasingly exploratory investigations which may give us instructive standards about method of learning and listening-related study. listening in correspondence implies an urgent task. it is recognized that hearing takes up 40-half of the complete moment spent on conveying; speaking, 25-30%; perusing, 11-16%; and composing, about 9% (mendelsohn, 1994). despite the reality that education of listening perception has been ignored in one manner or another for quite some time and has shown inadequately part of english in countless efl programs (namaziandost, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 246-259 247 rahimi esfahani, & ahmadi, 2019), listening is currently considered as a much significant aptitude in efl classes and furthermore in sla look into. listening is a working method of comprehension and constructing meaning from both verbal and non-verbal texts (nunan, 1998). therefore, it ought not be named as an inactive expertise. this presumption could be developed in such a manner that learners externally seem to demonstrate a language laboratory discreetly, hear some pre-recorded exchanges, and compose the responses to certain inquiries identified with the oral improvement (namaziandost & nasri, 2019). it is obvious, at that point, that listening isn't as detached as it has been professed to be as it requests various muddled procedures with respect to the students. in typical listening research facility classes, understudies hear some out instructive listening tapes received for their level (namaziandost & ahmadi, 2019). in spite of the fact that these materials are profitable, it is by all accounts a hole between what students listening to in the lab and what they truly listening ordinary discussions, in actuality. there must be an answer for extension this gap. this exploration was begun on the grounds that the essayist was worried about the poor consequences of instructing tuning in to english to pre-halfway understudies. one of the fundamental capabilities in the curriculum that understudies need to learn is to have the option to comprehend spoken and composed writings communicating expectations and petitions, proposals, offers, sentiments/musings and their reactions. these understudies are relied upon to have the option to impart their emotions in relational discussions precisely and smoothly. they additionally must almost certainly react to other individuals' sentiments and articulations properly. the following essential competency for these understudies is to have the option to develop spoken and composed writings for communicating expectations and supplications, recommendations, offers, feelings, considerations and their reactions. these understudies are additionally required to have the option to react suitably to the implications inside the past spoken and composed writings, precisely and fluidly (namaziandost, rahimi esfahani, nasri, & mirshekaran, 2018). for the most part, understudies cannot efficiently accomplish these vital skills. for esl students where their introduction to english is restricted, listening standards are particularly difficult. in order to adapt to these problems, educators need to appropriately arrange their listening exercises before the class. they have to painstakingly plan their showing methodologies so as to effectively move the listening materials and aptitudes to their esl listening understudies (keshmirshekan, namaziandost, & pournorouz, 2019; nasri, biria, & karimi, 2018). this examination intends to upgrade the utilization of real recordings to attempt to beat a portion of the listening troubles experienced by the understudies. in view of a meeting with the english educator at iranian private establishments, it was discovered that they had attempted a few strategies to manage this issue. for instance, they had effectively attempted an immediate strategy to upgrade the understudies' listening abilities. in any case, it appeared that that strategy did not altogether help build up the understudies' listening capacities. the informative llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 246-259 248 methodology and the task-based methodology had likewise been attempted in the study hall by empowering distinctive listening rehearses as far as short and long discussions with the understudies. despite the fact that these methodologies had improved the understudies' talking capacities, it appeared that the understudies still experienced issues in understanding the discussions or chronicles if the data was not well-known to them (abedi, keshmirshekan, & namaziandost, 2019; nasri & biria, 2017). subsequently, this prompted a data hole between the accounts and the understudies. so as to upgrade the understudies' listening abilities, the creator chose to focus on the utilization of credible recordings as broad media helps to enable the understudies to figure out how to listening and comprehend communicated in english better. the use of audio-visual aids has risen significantly in language education these days. ahmad (2013) refers to some learning resources that can be regarded as wide media helps viz: television programs, video films, movies, synchronized sound slide projectors, pcs and pc instructions helped. asokhia (2009) has formed a compound word from sound and visual that is the term different media. sound materials allude to those that can be heard and recorded in documents, tapes or cds of computerized sound. for an esl study classroom, every recorded exchange, speech, or hearing english can be sound material. visuals are materials that can be seen as images at that stage, blurbs, illustrations, recordings, diagrams, streak cards and obviously films. this investigation stressed the utilization of video as a broad media help for improving understudies' listening abilities particularly the utilization of bona fide recordings. this medium was chosen to improve the understudies' commonality with typical paces of communicating in english by local speakers. nunan (1999) points out that students ought to be bolstered as rich an eating routine of real information as could reasonably be expected. he states that on the off chance that they just ever experience thought up discoursed and listening writings, their learning errands will be made progressively troublesome, in actuality. thusly, it is significant for students to listeningto and to peruse valid materials, without a doubt whatever number of various types as would be prudent. all the more significantly, this examination was not exclusively done to research the proficiency of utilizing bona fide recordings for showing tuning in, yet in addition to see the understudies' accomplishments for every angle or sub-ability of tuning in subsequent to being educated by utilizing real recordings. this study aimed to answer the following question: is there any significant difference in listening achievements among students taught listening using authentic videos and those who are taught using audio-compact discs (cds)? literature review listening listening has been described by various experts. chastain (1971) portrayed tuning in as the ability to fathom neighborhood talk at conventional speed. morley (1972) said hearing includes sound-related isolation, structure of the auditory language, selecting fundamental data, recalling it, and associating it with the methodology between sound and hugeness. listening to modifications in meaning llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 246-259 249 from sound detachment to aural recognition, according to postovsky (1975). goss (1982) depicted listening as a way of understanding what is heard and coping with it in lexical components that can be attributed to centrality. bowen, madsen, and hilferty (1985) showed knowledge of the oral language is listening. understudies hear oral speech, define distinct sounds into lexical and syntactic units, and understand the message. listening is a way of tolerating what the speaker sa ys, creating and displaying meaning, organizing and responding centrality with the speaker, and creating criticality through intrigue, imagination, and compassion. as purdy (1997) has shown, listening is the route to tolerate, make meaning out of, and offer clarification as nonverbal messages to be spoken. rost (2002) defined listening as an amazing clarification methodology where group of people enhance what they hear with what they know for sure. listening makes us know our particular environment, as illustrated by rost (2009), and is one of the fundamental components of creating convincing correspondence. there are two unmistakable procedures or techniques associated with tuning in; the procedure top-down and the procedure base-up. benet (2012) composed a mix or double procedure for listening. the two processes are going on all the while and are interrelated in this way. members of the audience use' base up' handling when using etymological teaching to understand a message's meaning. they produce meaning from lower-level sounds to phrases to syntactic links to lexical consequences in order to reach the last message (hashemifardnia, namaziandost, & sepehri, 2018). base up preparing enables understudies to perceive lexical and articulation highlights to comprehend the content. because of their instant focus on language constructions at word and phrase levels, base-up operations are particularly helpful for lower-level understudies that need to expand their collection of languages. morley (1991, celce-murcia, 1991) said that when studying turned out to be increasingly mindful of etymological highlights of the information, at that point the speed and precision of seeing and preparing aural information will increment. in order to generate basic handling, it is possible to approach understudies in order to acknowledge individual sounds, word boundaries and focus on syllables gatherings, listening for inflection designs in articulations, distinguish linguistic structures and capacities, perceive constrictions and associated discourse and perceive connecting words (azadi, biria, & nasri, 2018). 1. listening for the main idea understanding the basic idea in a voiced listening entry is a substantial listening capacity along these lines, which is a substantial perusing capacity to understand the concept of thinking in a composed chapter. the basic thought is the real purpose of an announcement or section (morley, 1991, in celce-murcia, 1991), it is the general expansive idea of the significant number of words communicated. it's the gigantic idea, with no littler subtleties or additional inconsistent information. the passage theme phrases contain basic ideas that are expressed frequently first. it is extremely normal for the listening segment in the national final examination (ujian akhir nasional) to have general thought investigations in the hearing material. such inquiries can be formulated in a variety of ways, for example, in order to distinguish the theme, the subject, the essential thought, or the principle thought, the understudies can be approached. these investigations are really the key llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 246-259 250 point that the speaker is trying to cross-examine in what he says in the account. (hosseini, nasri, & afghari, 2017; namaziandost, sabzevari, & hashemifardnia, 2018). 2. listening for general understanding (listening for gist) listening to such' general' understanding methods does not end with each phrase and does not look at all that the presenter consolidates into the substance (brown, 2006). by requesting understudies to verify the record energetically before jumping into it for detail, teachers assist them gain a particular knowledge of what it is about. this will assist them when they listen to ongoing data (namaziandost, nasri, & rahimi esfahani, 2019). noteworthiness examining and tuning in is undoubtedly not an indifferent choice to get the "substance" of something. the reader or group of viewers chose not to cope with everything first, but to use their getting ready powers to get the hugeness of what is being said, for example to a more prominent degree a top-down perspective. 3. listening for specific information this sub-ability is linked when listening to something by the understudies as they need to discover a particular snippet of information. they understand in advance what kind of thing they want to explore so they can ignore other information not intriguing them. model, adjust to a climate projection to get some climate-related responses in your nation piece. instead of settling for meaning, understudies usually go to expressed content when specific subtleties are needed (brown, 2006; namaziandost, abedi, & nasri, 2019). they may listen to the news, perhaps concentrating when they come up with the particular thing that interests them. because of comprehension, they can quickly look through a film audit to find the chief's or star's name. in both times, the understudies virtually ignore the different information until they start catching wind from the specific thing they are tuning in for. the use of authentic materials many analysts have maintained the use of bona fide materials in the study hall. one of the main experts to suggest this idea was krashen in 1982 who brought up the bona fide learning encounters that offer students an opportunity to secure the objective language. in addition, clarke (1989) stated that the language of this current truth is the thing that should be submitted to learners in view of the fact that the language is strong towards the student and represents real goals and conditions. as they represent how the language is used in bona fide correspondence, real materials should be displayed to the language learners along these lines. the use of lawful products can also upgrade the nature of the understudies with language kinds and their use in interchanges. experts in the use of bona fide materials attest that in the earliest stages of language teaching learners should be introduced to real materials (miller, 2005; namaziandost & shafiee, 2018). they claimed that early presentation of authentic texts would help understudies to later produce useful processes for increasingly complicated undertakings. also, herron and seay (1991) composed that using valid materials makes it prepared to find real language teaching materials for undergraduate studies. the findings of the inquiries described above have shown that from many points of perspective lawful materials can be llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 246-259 251 useful. such materials familiarize themselves with how language is actually used and enhance their overall language skills as well as enhancing perusal and listening skills, open skills and lexical and complicated data (namaziandost, rahimi esfahani, & hashemifardnia, 2018). 1. the use of video as an audio-visual aid an assortment of audio-visual (av) helps are presently being utilized for creating listening capacity. a few examinations have taken a gander at the viability of av for training tuning in as this paper plans to do. as referenced before, there are numerous preferences of utilizing recordings as indicated by different specialists. moreover, a few specialists have utilized dvd motion pictures as inspiration for showing getting the hang of listening e. g. lord (2002). he examined the utilization of dvd highlight films in the efl homeroom to rouse understudies to figure out how to listeningto english. he analyzed and evaluated the utilization of subtitled versus non-inscribed movies with various student levels. what's more, created choice criteria for picking suitable movies. he utilized dvd highlight films since dvd offered an assortment of uncommon highlights, including intelligent menus, dramatic trailers, off camera discourse, everyday language and captions and prompt scene get to. research has demonstrated that dvd highlight movies give agreeable language learning chances to understudies. the instructor ought to pick suitable length films, either complete ones or fragments, which are deliberate and custom-made to understudies' adapting needs and capability levels. both inscribed and non-subtitled movies advantage understudies in different ways. an instructor can go for various parts of language, by utilizing the two kinds of motion pictures on the other hand. english-inscribed movies are a rich wellspring of instructional material that give genuine models and fantastic substance in oral correspondence (mirshekaran, namaziandost, & nazari, 2018). kretsai (2014) examines the effect of using video materials to teach college understudies listening skills. the motivations behind this examination were: (1) promoting the listening skills of university understudies focusing english with the use of video materials, and (2) assessing the demeanors of understudies towards the use of video materials to show listening skills. at thanks in university, thailand, the participants of this inquiry were 41 first-year english true understudies in the second semester of the academic year 2012. they were selected by uneven fundamental examination. the examination was conducted over 20 periods of instruction. in this examination, the one-bunch pretest-posttest setup was performed. the outcomes demonstrated the understudies' english listening cognizance capacity expanded essentially subsequent to learning with recordings and understudies had uplifting frames of mind towards utilizing recordings in showing listening aptitudes. fachmi (2014) explores adequacy of utilizing elucidating recordings in getting the hang of tuning in. this exploration is planned to decide effect of utilizing unmistakable video in picking up tuning in to discover understudies' capacity in getting the hang of tuning in from the start year of smk islamiyah ciputat. the technique utilized in this exploration is the semi try different things with pretest posttest control gathering structure. in light of the discoveries of this examination, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 246-259 252 it very well may be closed the utilization of enlightening recordings to pick up listening significantly affects understudies' listening capacity. method participants this investigation included 40 learners who were looked over classes at an english language foundation. they took a situation test and their capability was resolved as pre-middle of the road level through oxford quick placement test (oqpt). these learners were male, running in age from 14 to 19. at that point they were separated into two equivalent gatherings. the students were arbitrarily separated into two groups of 20, one experimental and one control group. instrumentation the main instrument which was used in the present investigation to homogenize the members was a capability test. this test was oqpt which was replied by every one of the members in the present examination. this instrument was utilized to accumulate data on the students' capability. the subsequent instrument was a listening pre-test. to acknowledge ebb and flow members' listening appreciation level, an analyst made pre-test was structured dependent on the understudies' materials. it was a listening perception trial of 40 target things including filling the spaces, genuine or false things, and numerous decision things. after the treatment, an adjusted adaptation of the pre-test was utilized for the posttest as the third instrument of the present examination and it was given to the members to evaluate their listening appreciation after the treatment time frame and to quantify the effects of intuitive input on their listening cognizance expertise. validities of the pre-test and post-test were affirmed by two english specialists. they were steered among 10 pre-middle of the road efl students and their reliabilities records were determined through kr-21 equation and they were 0.89 (pre-test) and 0.91 (post-test). procedure the investigator administered the oxford placement test to recognize the amount of homogeneity of the participants in order to obtain appropriate information from the respondents. then the pre-test of listening comprehension was given to evaluate the listening comprehension of the respondents at the start of the course. after the pre-test, the researcher practiced the treatment on the both groups. the treatment took 15 listening sessions, each one hour. all groups had the same materials and time of instruction. the eg was taught by using authentic videos as an audio-visual aid and the cg, by contrast, was taught using the audio recording usually used by the teacher for teaching listening. in spite of the different methods, both groups had similar materials provided by the researcher. finally, a post-test of listening comprehension was employed after ten-session treatment to gather data. after collecting the data, they were analyzed through spss software, version 25. data analysis procedures for addressing the exploration questions, subsequent to get-together the required information the specialist dissected the information with the assistance of spss (statistical package for social science) programming variant 25. at long last, independent and paired samples t-tests were raced to discover the viability of broad llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 246-259 253 media helps on showing tuning in and furthermore to contrast the presentation of control group with experimental group. findings and discussion this segment breaks down the information gathered dependent on the information accumulation technique of area three. free samples t-test and paired samples t-test were utilized to examine the information; the outcomes are accounted for in the accompanying tables. table 1. descriptive statistics (pre-test) groups n mean std. deviation std. error mean pretest eg 20 13.5500 .80948 .18101 cg 20 13.2250 2.02273 .45230 table 1 shows the descriptive statistics in the pre-test for both experimental and control groups. as the findings show, both organizations in the pre-test conducted nearly equally. table 2. independent samples t-test (pre-test) levene's test for equality of variances t-test for equality of means f sig. t df sig. (2tailed) pretest equal variances assumed .836 .366 .667 38 .509 equal variances not assumed .667 24.934 .511 based on table 2, the meaning value (.667) is greater than 0.05, so there is no important distinction between the experimental pre-test and control groups (p<0.05). in the pre-test, both children had nearly the same listening ratings. table 3. descriptive statistics (post-test) groups n mean std. deviation std. error mean posttest eg 20 18.6750 .71221 .15925 cg 20 15.5750 1.01664 .22733 table 3 reports the control and trial experimental’ scores in the post-test; as it is demonstrated obviously over, the mean of test bunch in the post-test is 18.6750and the mean of control gathering is 15.5750. it very well may be presumed that the real recordings as a various media help positively affected the test members' listening. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 246-259 254 table 4. independent samples t-test (post-test) levene's test for equality of variances t-test for equality of means f sig. t df sig. (2tailed) posttest equal variances assumed 3.411 .073 11.16 9 38 .000 equal variances not assumed 11.16 9 34.0 29 .000 since the sig. (.000) is not exactly the 0.05, the distinction between the posttrial of trial and control gatherings is critical at (p<0.05). as per the aftereffects of the independent samples t-test, the eg understudies who were encouraged utilizing genuine recordings performed essentially superior to the cg understudies who were shown utilizing sound materials as it were. table 5. paired samples t-test (pre vs. post-test) mean std. deviation std. error mean t df sig. (2tailed) pair 1 eg. post – eg. pre 5.12500 1.28631 .28763 17.818 19 .000 pair 2 cg. post – cg. pre 2.35000 2.49262 .55737 4.216 19 .000 since the sig. is littler than the 0.05, the distinction between the pre and the post-trial of the control gathering is critical at (p<0.05). the subsequent t-test demonstrates that the sig. is not exactly the 0.05, the distinction between the pre and the post-trial of the exploratory gathering is huge (p<0.05). in this way, there was considerably more improvement in the eg contrasted with the cg. the eg, showed utilizing bona fide video, got a substantially more critical improvement than the cg, instructed utilizing sound reduced circles (cd), the typical listening help utilized by the educator for instructing listening. conclusion the post-test findings and the eg's independent t-test were greater at a very fundamental point than the cg's, suggesting that the use of real video affected the listening skills of the understudies vehemently. from the eg's data review of the pretest and posttest, it will generally be seen that tuning in for unambiguous information was the most updated listening sub-mastery after using credible video as a broad media help. disregarding the way that the other listening sub aptitudes, tuning in for llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 246-259 255 the central considerations, tuning in for the substance, and tuning in for point by point information similarly extended, tuning in for unequivocal information improved more by and large than the other listening sub-capacities. using authentic video in the language study lobby can be extremely going after for the learners, yet it was in like manner even more captivating all the while. this could be a direct result of the way that using true blue video may bring life into the substance and the point for them that engaged them to make huge relationship on the planet past the examination corridor. as indicated by the examination of the discoveries and the exchanges, utilizing valid video as a broad media help was an effective strategy for improving educating of tuning in. in any case, a few confinements may emerge when applying this guide. the author recommends further examinations be finished utilizing an assortment of credible recordings so as to get more data about their viability for instructing picking up tuning in just as for the other english abilities so as to improve our insight about the utilization of bona fide video. the aftereffects of this examination likewise feature the significance of enhancing reading material and their going with materials with increasingly valuable assets. homeroom instructors need to understand the impediments of the course readings they use in their classes and try endeavors to make up for their inadequacies. study hall educators could overhaul their insight about language instructing and open themselves to the most present educational improvements and new instructing materials. instructors could be urged to supplement their course books with extra materials that they think about valuable to their understudies. broad media helps can urge students to effectively partake in class as it was appeared in the various media gathering and can build their inspiration toward homeroom exercises. in the light of these discoveries, language educators, particularly in efl settings, can fuse true video-taped materials into their language training forms, pursue its standards in the l2 homeroom, furnish l2 students with rich conceivable info, connect with them in intelligent exercises or beneficial language use, for example, instructor understudy talks, little gathering discourses, pretends, semi-organized meetings, and commonsense evaluation errands, award them realistic remark or data on the information highlights, raise students‟ mindfulness towards pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic parts of logical skill, and help them make huge gains in sober minded capacity in the fl study hall. in the use of video, instructors should be well prepared and how best to abuse their inalienable interest points in a teaching domain. in addition, video substance assurance should be suitable to the level of english ability of understudies. to stimulate them to know, the substance's purposes should be linked to their interests and their experience information. certified video material should be selected intentionally to guarantee that the amount of inconvenience is adequate and that the substance is critical to the study. it is not advisable to use accounts with difficult language or ungrammatical or missing structures. this fuses chronicles in which the verbally transmitted language may contain multiple irksome or unneeded phrases and explanations of interest in english, or the beat, tone and phonological structures have distinct characteristics from the first language of the understudies that might contribute to misinterpretation or make it difficult for non-nearby crowds to appreciate the substance. as such, understudies probably will not isolate the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 246-259 256 decreased or split language types whilst seeing the chronicles in all probability. also, lynch (1998) further clarified that when the talking rate is excessively quick, audience members won't have sufficient opportunity to process the total messages. this implies they will concentrate more on lexical or syntactic preparing than the importance of the content. in this way, they would not get every one of the messages passed on. further research could look to depict carefully what educators ought to definitely do with these recordings in their own homerooms. it is likewise prescribed different examinations be led to research how understudies be prepared to utilize such visual materials in their language learning. in addition, educators ought to urge their understudies to utilize true recordings in their learning inside and outside the class, exuding from the benefit these materials are exceptionally gainful in encouraging dominance of english. educators additionally need to improve their capacity in processing recordings' substance in instructing english to change the manner in which a given thing is exhibited. this differing exertion will at last feature usefulness and attainability of genuine recordings, in an offer to utilize them viably in course books, considering how to incorporate such assets and to use them to reinforce students' oral execution. this will probably conduce to authorizing new schedules depending vigorously on legitimate materials, in an undertaking to build up the efl students' prosodic fitness. references abedi, p., keshmirshekan, m. h., & namaziandost, e. 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(1997). what is listening? in m. purdy, & d. borisoff (eds.), listening in everyday life. a personal and professional approach. lanham, md: university press of america. rost, m. (2002). teaching and researching listening. london: longman. rost, m. (2009). teacher development interactive: listening. white plains. ny: pearson longman. wolvin, a. & coakley, c. g. (1996). listening. boston: mcgraw-hill llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 614 swearing: forms, referents, functions, and users raynesta mikaela indri malo and vindya donna adindarena universitas kristen wira wacana sumba, indonesia raynesta@unkriswina.ac.id; vindyadonna@unkriswina.ac.id correspondence: raynesta@unkriswina.ac.id doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i2.2634 received 4 june 2020; accepted 29 october 2021 abstract this study attempts to investigate the use of swearing in waingapu, indonesia. this is a descriptive study that tries to describe the forms, referents, functions, and users of swearing. data is collected through recording, questionnaires, and interviews. the finding shows that there are 123 forms of swearing with most swearing referred to parts of the body of 'women' and ‘genitals'. other referents of swearing are activities, animals, circumstances, objects, kinship, spirts, and profession. besides, this study becomes proof that swearing is not only used to express anger but also to express other positive feelings. this study also reveals that age, sex, and length of stay do not determine one's knowledge of swearing. however, it reveals that men use swearing more than women. keywords: swearing, sumba, forms of swearing, referents of swearing introduction the use of swearing in everyday life is often seen as a negative thing because it brings the impression that someone who does it is uneducated, not religious, obscene, and rude (wang 2013). this was also supported by research conducted by ljung in 1986 which showed that the use of swear words reflected bad behaviour, lack of one's education, and lack of one's language skills (shakiba 2014). swear words, which usually used interchangeably with taboo words, are offensive language (jay 2009). the collins cobuild dictionary defines ‘swear’ as the use of language that is considered to be rude or offensive and that people use it usually because they are angry (lingea lexicon 2002). in bahasa indonesia, ‘maki’ or ‘to swear’ also refers to the use of rude language because of anger (anon 2016). they are emotionally harmful expressions that are understood as insults (jay 1999). as it is usually motivated by fear, distaste, or hatred, swear words or tabooed are considered to be offensive, both to the people addressed and to the people overhearing their use (allan and burridge 2006). that is the reason why, in some cultures, swearing is considered as inappropriate and must be avoided from using (wajnryb 2005). however, many people are always tempted to use swear words because they also, in fact, have a positive meaning. wang (2013) revealed that swearing has a negative as well as a positive function, which is to express one's emotions or feelings, to give verbal pressure to others, to show solidarity in groups, and as an llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 615 act of aggression against others. swear words are not always used as insults. they permit a speaker to express strong emotions and/or produce an emotional impact on a listener. the impact can be positive, as in joking and sexual enticement (jay 1999), joy and joke (jay 2000), or it can be negative, as in name-calling and sexual harassment (jay 1999), and in anger, shock, and frustration (magnus ljung 2011), or as a response to pain (jay and janschewitz 2012). similar to that, mohr (2013) also stated that swearing has become more prevalent and less taboo in society. mohr defined swear words as the best words to express extreme emotion, both negative and positive emotions. people use many different swearwords to express negative emotion such as aggression, insult, one-upmanship, and denigration and also positive expression for example love and friendship, and the surprisingness or awesomeness of life experiences (mohr 2013). studies on the use of swearing in indonesia also show comparable results. the study conducted in surabaya to examine the use of swearing or abusive words by citizens of surabaya as speakers of surabaya’s javanese dialect revealed that swear words can function to express different things, both positive emotions (admiration, intimacy, and joy,) and negative emotions (anger, resentment, disappointment, humiliation, distrust, and hatred). swearing can also function to show other feelings such as regret, sadness, shock, shame, and pain. most swear forms are in form of words and phrases. they are usually used in sentences or not in sentences but in a context where speakers need to express emotions. words and phrases are parts of linguistic units which also contain other units such as phoneme elements, morphemes, sentences, paragraphs, and discourses. ‘words’ is the smallest unit of the form (of sentences) that can stand alone and have meaning. a word is formed from a combination of letters or a combination of morphemes, and a combination of letters and morphemes (finoza 2007). for example, chairs, tables, and come. these three words are referred to as 'words' because even though they stand alone, they still have their respective meanings. based on the presence or absence of affixes, the word is divided into unbending words, for example come, and affixed words, for example, coming. traditionally, words are divided into classes or types of words which also usually known as part of speech. the main parts of speech are verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, determiners, conjunctions, prepositions and pronouns (oliva, meehan, and colombres 2018). phrases are linguistic units at a level between the word and the clause (aarts, chalker, and weiner 1993). phrases do not contain predicates and have not formed clauses or sentences. the online dictionary of kamus besar bahasa indonesia also gives a similar definition, namely, a phrase is a combination of two or more words that are non-predictive (anon 2016). this group of words is formed from a combination of 2 or more words that form new meanings. the most common types of phrases are noun phrase, verb phrase, adjective phrase, adverb phrase, and prepositional phrase. as people use language to communicate ideas and opinions, to show feelings, to seek information, and for many other reasons, it is important also to find ways through which people can fully understand each other to fulfill their needs. to understand each other means that people should know and understand the meaning of language uttered by other people. language meaning itself, for llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 616 example the meaning of the swear words and phrases, refers to the thing that the language represents, refers to what is intended or indicated by the language. “when people talk about what a word or phrase means, they may have in mind either its dictionary definition or its referent in a particular context” (kroeger 2018). meaning is the relationship between the language we use and the object it indicates. it is what is signified by the words and phrases (eastwood 2002). in communicating with each other, people need to have the same concept of the meaning of a particular word or phrase or sentence to successfully understand each other. the phrase the bitch may refer to a female animal, but also can refer to a female human being. it means that the word bitch has two meanings. context then becomes an important part of communication which determines the way the listener understands what the speaker says. the meaning however is something inside the language. it is a set of words that explains language form (words, phrases). “the meanings of words and sentences in a language can safely be taken as known to competent speakers of the language. native speakers of languages are the primary source of information about meaning…… the basic data concerning meaning” (hurford, heasley, and smith 2007). this statement is also true related to the referent of language. native speakers of the language are the best sources to identify the referents of language forms, words, phrases, sentences, used in different contexts. further from the meaning of a language, we have a referent. ferdinand de saussure (1974), as cited in saeed, stated that words stand in a relationship to the world, or our mental classification (2003, p.12). kreidler (2013) mentioned that “some pieces of language refer to something, real or fictitious, outside of language. any such linguistic form is a referring expression and what it refers to is its referent”. a referring expression is part of the language, for example, a word, that is used as if it is related to a thing outside the language, whether it is a living or dead entity(ies), a concept(s), real or fictitious. the thing to which a referring expression is related to is called the referent. a referent is something to which a language refers to in the real world. “the relationship by which language hooks onto the world is usually called reference” (saeed 2003, p.12). although there are hundreds of taboo words and phrases, the semantic range of referents that are considered taboo is limited in scope. jay classified swearing forms based on semantic references. the referents are sexual references (blow job, cunt) and on those that are considered profane or blasphemous (goddamn, jesus christ), scatological referents and disgusting objects (shit, crap, douche bag); some animal names (bitch, pig, ass); ethnic-racial–gender, slurs (nigger, fag, dago); insulting references to perceived psychological, physical, or social deviations (retard, wimp, lard ass); ancestral allusions (son of a bitch, a bastard); substandard vulgar terms (fart face, on the rag); and offensive slang (cluster fuck, tit run) (jay 2009). winiasih (2010) also revealed the various referents of swear words, namely circumstances, animals, frightening creatures, objects, parts of the body, kinship, activities, professions, food, places, ethnicities and nations, and sound imitations. rahayu (2015) in her study on the use of swearing in comments toward political news on facebook found out that swear forms that refer to parts of the body, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 617 which closely related to sexual activity and swear forms that refer to sexual activities, are more impolite or rude rather than those that refer to animals. ljung (2011) categorized the referent into themes of swearing, where the swearing vocabularies are drawn from. there are major themes such as the religious/supernatural theme, the scatological theme, the sex organ theme, the sexual activities theme, and the mother (family) theme, and also minor themes such as prostitution, certain illnesses and death. swearing is used by people of a certain language from different layers of backgrounds. the research conducted in north sumatera took data on the use of swearing from the daily lives of speakers in the form of spoken language and also from written language derived from books written in batak toba language (napitupulu 2014). in a study conducted by winiasih (2010), the data sources obtained were from the use of swearing in some warung (small restaurants), markets, houses of speakers, pavilions of flower gardens, schools, boarding houses, gardens, internet cafes, community centres, fields, crossroads, security post, and office. it shows that swearing is not only used in "free" or non-formal places but can also be used in a place with a formal situation, such as in the office. gender and status or position also influence the use of swearing. jay said that men use more swearing than women with the same job, while people with high positions use less swearing than people with lower positions (jay and janschewitz 2008). men also tend to swear more in public than women (jay 2009), (gati 2014). knyazyan also proved that swearing is behaviour more frequently engaged in by males than by females (knyazyan 2016), (jay and janschewitz 2012). gati (2014) revealed that, specifically for women, the function of swearing are “to communicate an expression of anger, surprise, or as an interjection”. children also use swear words. “swearing emerges by age two and becomes adult-like by ages 11 or 12. by the time children enter school, they have a working vocabulary of 30-40 offensive words” (jay and janschewitz 2012). although children might not know the exact meaning of the swear words, the use of swear words in early age exists and they learn it from early age parents, peers, and siblings. however, “younger children are likely to use milder offensive words than older children and adults” (jay and janschewitz 2012). this study aims to analyse the use of swearing in waingapu, a city located in kabupaten sumba timur. it is a complex society culturally because the citizens come from various places of origin. the majority are the native east sumbanese people. others come from other parts of sumba island, other islands in provinsi nusa tenggara timur, or other parts of indonesia and even foreigners. these people use several languages in daily communication, such as bahasa indonesia and other regional languages depending on the area of origin and the ability of the speakers, such as kambera (the language of east sumba), other vernaculars in sumba islands or other islands, and english. this cultural complexity leads to various forms of language use, such as the use of swearing. this research is interesting in the way that it studies the use of swearing in a local area where it has never been studied before. future research on the use of swearing “must sample younger speakers and more diverse communities and ethnic groups (jay 2009). as taboos on language have been found since the ancient era but are still used globally in modern days, it is important to study their uses from various cultural backgrounds in a different era of time. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 618 method this qualitative study analyzed the swear forms gathered through the data provision. this research was carried out in waingapu, the capital city of kabupaten sumba timur in nusa tenggara timur. the data collection was done through questionnaires and recording. firstly, there were fifty (50) respondents chosen to fill out questionnaires. they came from different ages and backgrounds, ranging from high school students, university students, teachers, lecturers, civil servants, and private sector employees, as well as daily-paid workers. all respondents living in the city of waingapu with a long period of stay varying from 1 month to 60 years. the respondents were asked about (1) their knowledge of swearing, what swear forms that they know and use. the swear forms collected from this stage were classified based on where the languages originally come from. (2) the functions of the swear forms, and (3) how frequent they use swearing. secondly, there were informants chosen to be interviewed to obtain data about the meaning and referent of the swear words. there was a key informant who was chosen. he is an adult male native speaker of bahasa indonesia and bahasa kambera, who uses and understands both languages very well in everyday communication. there were also 2 other informants chosen later during the analysis because the researcher found out that there are some swear forms that come from other languages besides bahasa indonesia and bahasa kambera. the first is an adult male informant who understands languages from timor island, while the second is an adult female informant who understands bahasa lio, a language from flores island. for the swear forms in the english language, the collins cobuild dictionary was used to consult meanings. findings and discussion 123 forms of swearing were found through the data collection. to identify the lexical units and the referents of the swear forms, it is important to understand the meaning of every single form of swearing. the meaning of the 123 swear forms were gained through the interview with the informants. based on the meanings, the swearing forms were then classified into their lingual units and their referents. forms of swearing based on lingual units data analysis shows that from the 123 forms of swearing, 71 are in forms of words and 52 are in forms of phrases. swear words can be in the form of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and exclamations. from the four forms of words, noun dominates with 56 words. meanwhile, there are only 7 verbs, 4 adjectives, and 4 interjections. figure 1 shows the comparison of swearing in the forms of words. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 619 figure 1. grouping of swear words by word class figure 2 below shows that out of 5 types of phrases, there are 3 types of phrases used in swearing, namely nominal phrases, verb phrases, and adjective phrases. of these three phrases, the nominal phrase dominates with 39 phrases. meanwhile, there are only 12 verb phrases and 1 adjective phrase. figure 2. grouping of swear phrases based on phrase types the results above show that nouns both as words and as phrases are the most dominant forms of swearing. this is closely related to the referent of the swearing, which mostly related to objects or nouns. referents of swearing based on the results of data analysis, it was found that there are 8 types of swearing referents, namely 1) activity, 2) body parts, 3) objects, 4) animals, 5) circumstances, 6) kinship, 7) spirits, and 8) professions. figure 3 below shows the percentage for each referent. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 620 figure 3. percentage of each referent of swearing the graph above shows that 61% of swearing refers to parts of the body, both animals and humans. furthermore, 15% of swearing has referent to activities, 8% has an animal referent, 6% refers to condition or circumstances, 7% has objects referent, 2% refers to relatives or kinship, and 1% has spirits and professions referent. the graph above clearly shows that in the majority, people in waingapu know or use swearing that refers to body parts. the most commonly used form of swearing is the category of parts of the body. data of this research shows that there are 75 forms of swearing which refer to parts of the body which then can be grouped into 3 groups: parts of the human body, parts of the animal body, and parts of the spirits. however, the first group, parts of the human body, is the richest category where 65 forms (87%) are included in, while the other two groups, respectively, only have 12% or 9 forms of swearing and 1% or 1 form of swearing. further, the 75 swear forms can also be grouped based on the body parts that become referents. 88% is related to genitals or is associated with sexual activities such as the penis and vagina, and 12% refers to other body parts such as the head and teeth. the chart below shows that percentage. figure 4. percentage of swearing that refers to parts of body it should be noted that for human body parts as well as animal and devil’s body parts, the widely used forms are those related to genitals. forms such as bongga lau (dog’s penis), lahu mbuti (monkey’s genital), telle bongga (female llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 621 dog’s genital), or lahu mamarung (devil’s genital) are examples of animal and devil’s body parts related to genitals which are used for swearing. for the human body parts, the 65 forms are further classified into 3 groups based on gender, namely women, men, and neutral. neutral in this case refers to both sexes or in other words, can refer to the female or male body parts. this classification shows that 50% have referent to female body parts such as kapai (women’s genital), kubu (vagina’s hole), mai pung puki (mother’s genital), and ngandu manu (women’s clitoris), 36% refers to the male body parts such as lasu (penis), ollo (men’s genital), lahu (men’s genital), and na wuattamu (your penis), and 14% is neutral or can refer to both female and male body parts such as gigi (teeth) and monyong (mouth jutting forward like a dog's mouth). the data (see the appendix) also shows that there are strange forms such as pepe kom bapa and telle kom bapa. the literal meaning of these two phrases is 'your father's vagina'. pepe and telle both refer to the female genitals or vagina. even so, both of these phrases are categorized into groups of a male body part because the two words are followed by the word bapa which means 'father'. this swear phrase is used to refer to the male/father's genitals. these forms are doublehumiliation forms in which one uses genitals to swear and at the same time says that the listener's father is having a transgender identity as shemale because the female identity is attached to the male’s body by the speaker. as the first category explained above, activity as the second referent group also shows that sexual activity related to women is the most widely used swear form. the data illustrate that there are 17 swear forms that refer to an activity or something carried out by someone. of these 17 uses of swearing, 16 have referents of sexual activity, while one form, the fuck off has a slightly neutral meaning because it does not affront sexual activity. furthermore, the 17 forms of swearing above are divided into 4 groups based on the referent relationship with the particular gender. this means that there are activities that involve women, men, animals, and neutral (both men and women). figure 5. percentage of each swearing group based on the relationship of the referent with a particular gender the graph above shows that out of the 17 uses of swearing which refer to an activity, 44% refers to activities involving women. the use of words like 'ina', and 'mai' means 'mother' and therefore related to women. furthermore, 17% refers to activities involving men, 33% refers to activities that can involve anyone, both women and men, and 6% refer to activities involving animals. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 622 genitals and sexual activity are widely used because these forms are referring to very personal parts of someone which are not usually talked about in public. for some, these forms might be too sacred or vulgar to be a topic in public discussion. the use of these forms in public shows that speakers want to threaten the face of the listener. this arises because the sacred or vulgar body parts of someone are stated in public, regardless of the aim of the speaker, which then embarrass the listener. however, as the forms related to genitals and sexual activity are too many, it can be inferred that they are used frequently and probably not only for negative purposes, such as to express anger or to humiliate others, but also to express positive attitude such as intimacy. sacred things that are too frequently discussed, especially in improper contexts, become not sacred anymore. the third group contains swear forms that refer to objects. the results of data analysis show that out of 123 swearings, there are 7% or 8 forms that refer to objects. five swearings refer to human excrement, dirt, or shit such as tai and poe, 1 swearing refers to the carcass of an animal (bangke), and the 2 others refer to objects related to cooking supplies. both phrases cuka garam and cuka minyak refer to objects related to cooking. however, these two phrases are usually used as swearing. if examined more closely, the word "cuka" has a resemblance to the word "cuki" which means "to have sex". the word 'cuka' is likely to be an option to refine or lessen the harshness of swearing. someone might want to curse or swear with the word “cuki” but don't want to sound rude, so the word “cuka” is chosen. the addition of the word 'garam' or 'minyak' is just an extension of the word into a phrase. objects such as mentioned above are usually used to swear because the speaker wants to put the quality of the objects as the quality of the listener. for example, forms such as poe, tai, taiko koro, taiko lau, and shit which all refer to human excrement are basically having a bad quality of bad smell and dirty. another example is the word bangke which implies the quality of something useless and has a bad smell. the fourth group of swearing referent includes forms that refer to animals. similar to the previous group, these forms of swearing are usually used by speakers who consider that the person, he/she is speaking to, or the object being discussed has the character or resembles the animal. rahayu (2015) says that swearings that refer to the animal are usually used metaphorically (p.69). this means that only certain traits of the animal have similarities with the individual or a condition that is targeted for abuse. there are 10 forms of swearing that have animal referents such as anjing (dog), babi (pig), bongga mate (dead dog), monyet (monkey), and kerbau (buffalo). the next category is the swear forms that refer to circumstances. wijana (in rahayu, 2015) reveals that forms of swearing that refer to unpleasant conditions are the most commonly used (p.68). broadly speaking, three things can or may be related to this unpleasant situation, namely mental state, a condition that is not blessed by god or religion, and the conditions associated with unpleasant events. the results of this study indicate that 7 swearings have referent to a situation. 6 of them refer to the mental state of being insolent (kurang ajar), stupid (bego), crazy (gila), jerk, and bastard (bangsat). the word sial refers to an unpleasant situation or event or an unlucky situation. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 623 kinship is the next referent group. there are 3 swear phrases in this study that refer to relatives or kinship, namely kom nene, mai ni, and mother fucker. the first phrase means 'your grandmother'. the word 'kom' is a short form of the phrase ‘kau punya’ means ‘your’ in english, which in the dialect of the people of the city of waingapu is shortened to 'kom'. the word 'nene' means 'grandmother'. forms that related to kinship usually refer to those who teach about life to the younger generation, parents and grandparents. these individuals are usually respected in the family. as they are respected, it is taboo to talk about them in improper ways. however, to swear or to express negative feelings toward the listener, indonesian speakers usually use those kinship terms (wijana 2004). these forms found in this study similar to the form in bahasa indonesia such as kakekmu (your grandfather) or javanese mbahmu (your grandmother). the second phrase mai ni consists of the word 'mai' which means 'mother' and 'ni' which means 'this'. this phrase if interpreted literally means 'this mother'. however, in its use in public communication, this phrase is considered as swearing because, in addition to being influenced by the tone of voice when used by the speaker, the use of the word ‘mai’ is indeed intended to show that the speaker wants to speak roughly about the mother of the interlocutor. this phrase is also a short form of the phrase 'pukimai ni' which, as previously explained, "puki" refers to the female genitals or vagina, in this case, the genital of the mother of the interlocutor. the third phrase motherfucker is a swearing that originated comes from the english language. this meaning is categorized as referring to kinship because there is the word 'mother' at the beginning. this form of swearing is used to insult the interlocutor by mentioning that the mother of the other person is a fucker or who does sexual activities. analysis of this study also revealed one form of swearing that has referent on the spirit. the swear word is setan. this word comes from bahasa indonesia, which means ‘satan’ in english. it refers to an evil spirit who always tempts people to do evil. for this reason, the word 'setan' is used as swearing at the other person to match the other person with the devil that the other person also has the same characteristics as the devil. for the record, there is one form of swearing that also actually refers to a spirit that is lahu mamarung. ‘mamarung’ is a word that comes from kambera language in east sumba, which means "spirit". however, this phrase is included in the category of swearing that refers to parts of the body because the word ‘mamarung’ is preceded by the word 'lahu' which refers to the ‘penis’ or male genitals. the last group is the swear forms that related to a profession. for example, in the word pek that is found in this study. the word ‘pek’ itself actually refers to 'pepek' or vagina or female genitals and is included in groups of body parts. however, in waingapu, the use of this word has experienced a shift in meaning. ‘pek’ means a woman who is said to sell her body or a prostitute. the form that is also often used is perempuan pek. prostitutes themselves are professions that are considered low and forbidden by religion so that they are often used by people to express their annoyance to a particular woman. people or opponents who are said to be perempuan pek are not necessarily in fact prostitutes. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 624 use of swearing swearing is always linked to negative behaviour and is used to express anger or other similar feeling or attitude. however, as it has been studied in different cultures and places, there is evidence which shows that swearing is also used to express other emotions and attitude. through this study, the use of swearing is also revealed and the results prove that swearing is used for many other functions. figure 6 below shows 14 functions or uses of swearing. figure 6. function of swearing from the data in the graph above it can be seen that two uses of swearing that are being occupied the most, to express anger and to express intimacy. in terms of meaning, these two functions refer to two very contradictory things. on the one hand, anger refers to someone's displeasure towards others, and on the other hand, intimacy refers to a close or intimate relationship between someone and others who have feelings of pleasure towards one another. twenty-one percent of the respondents uses swearing to express their anger. this function is a function with the largest percentage. this shows that anger is the main reason people use swearing in communication. it means that people use swearing when they have anger or feel unhappy about something. several forms of swearing are used in a very large portion for this function, namely anjing, pukimai, puki dia punya mai, cukimai, and kapai ina. although the word anjing is referring to an animal (dog) and is regarded as ‘not rude’ by respondents, the other 2 swearings, which refer to female genitals or vagina and 2 others which refer to sexual activities involving mothers or women, are felt to be 'very rude'. fifteen percent of the respondents uses swearing to express their intimacy toward others. there are several forms of swearing which are mostly used for this function, namely lau, lahu, lolo, lasu, and telor. all of them refer to male genitalia or penis. however, respondents feel these four forms as ‘rude’ only, less rude that swearing related to women’s’ genital. other functions from the graph above also show that swearing is not used merely for expressing anger or other similar attitudes such as showing hatred and insulting others. swearing is also used to show positiveness for example to show intimacy, excitement, surprise, and admiration. there are also other negative llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 625 functions which are not caused by anger, such as to show disappointment, pain, shame, regret, distrust, and sadness. identity of respondents: their knowledge and use of swearing age, sex, and the length of stay of the respondents do not affect their knowledge about swearing in this case their inventories of swear forms. when respondents are grouped based on age, sex, and length of stay, the result shows that there are no significant differences of knowledge between respondents of different ages, sexes, and length of stay in waingapu. it means that each person can have knowledge of swearing regardless of those 3 identities that they may bear. one’s knowledge of swearing might be gained through involvement with the societies or communities where that person lives, spend time in everyday life, such as workplace and school. as jay stated, children may acquire swear words in their vocabulary even as soon as they start to speak. children acquire the swear words from what they hear and learn to use them through social learning (jay 1999). when a speaker lives in a society or in a community where using swear words is a normal phenomenon, that person will gain knowledge of the usage of swearing. however, sex plays an important role when dealing with how frequent one uses swearing. to measure the frequency, there are 4 categories used (1) never, (2) sometimes, (3) often, and (4) always. data analysis shows that more women who "never" used swearing at 45% compared to men at 27%. in the second frequency category, "sometimes", the ratio is between 31% and 34% where more men who "sometimes" use swearing. the 3% difference in this category shows that the level of use of swearing by men and women in this category does not differ much. in the third frequency category, "often", a significant difference is shown between 17% and 24%. this data shows that more men 'often' use swearing. in the last frequency category, "always", the ratio is between 7% of women and 15% of men "always" use swearing. this shows that more men always use swearing than women. this result proves that men tend to swear more than women and is in line with result show by knyazyan in a study about male and female profanity in english anecdotes (knyazyan 2016) as well as the study of jay and janschewitz on the pragmatics of swearing (jay and janschewitz 2008). conclusion the analysis shows that there are 123 forms of swearing used by people in waingapu. classified based on the lexical units, there are 71 words and 52 phrases. for the words category, there are 56 nouns, 7 verbs, 4 adjectives, and 4 interjections. for phrases, there are 39 noun phrases, 12 verb phrases, and 1 adjectival phrase. it is important to highlight the use of swear in the form of nouns, both as words and as phrases. in sum, 95 swear forms related to nouns. this phenomenon is related to the fact that most of the swearing have nouns as their referent. the noun itself is linguistically defined as a word that refers to a person or a thing or object. it is proved by the result of this study, which reveals that there are 8 referents of swearing namely 1) parts of the body, 2) activities, 3) animals, 4) circumstances, 5) objects, 6) kinship, 7) spirts, and 8) profession. six referents, not including activities and circumstances, are those categorized as nouns lexically. (wang, 2013) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 626 parts of the body are the most used referents, ranging from parts of the human body, parts of the animal body, and parts of the spirits. it is also very important to underscore two intriguing facts related parts of the body that firstly, 88% of the 75 swearings are related to genitals or are associated with sexual activities such as the “penis” and “vagina”, and 12% refer to other body parts such as the head and teeth. secondly, for the swearing that refers to human body parts, 50% refer to female body parts, 36% refers to the male body parts, and 14% are neutral or can refer to both female and male body parts. the 50% percent that refers to female body parts are all related to female genitals, such as vagina and clitoris. this study becomes another proof that swearing is not only used to express anger. swearing can also be used to express other feelings which are positive. besides, this study reveals that age, sex, and length of stay do not determine one’s knowledge of swearing. however, it reveals that men use swearing more than women. references aarts, b., sylvia, c., & edmund, w. 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(2010). pisuhan dalam basa suroboyoan: kajian sosiolinguistik. universitas sebelas maret surakarta. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 66 teaching literature with tough topics in elt class: bullying and bigotry novita dewi sanata dharma university novitadewi@usd.ac.id; novitadewi9@usd.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2019.220107 received 16 november 2018; revised 9 january 2019; accepted 20 february 2019 abstract literature is an important vehicle to teach character building in language education. sensitive topics like bullying and prejudice in literary works are helpful to promote understanding and empathy toward others. this article aims to discuss two short stories, namely “all summer in a day” by ray bradbury and “shame” by dick gregory that can be used to increase students’ critical thinking, conscience, and compassion in language learning. the first half of the article examines the rationale for using short stories with such topics to impart values in language learning. the other half explores the significance of the two stories to use in elt class. the article concludes that studying literature is, by default, practicing character education and that good support and reinforcement for that purpose can be done by addressing delicate issues that sometimes may appear harsh and unpleasant. keywords: bigotry, bullying, empathy, short stories introduction the wealth of scholarships on the use of literature in teaching language have mostly focused on its benefits (ghosn, 2002; showalter, 2003; vural, 2013), limitations (akyel, & yalcin, 1990; o'sullivan, 2017), and practical application (shelton-strong, 2011; burke, csabi, week, & zerkowitz, 2012). the proliterature circle argues that literature provides appealing and authentic materials to motivate students whilst broadening their cultural awareness that is part-andparcel in language learning. meanwhile, those who are unlikely interested in using literature in elt claim that unfamiliarity and difficulty of the language used in literature may thwart the students, especially the beginners. it would seem, however, that inclusion of literary works like poems, short stories, novels, etc. in elt remain popular, thanks to practitioners who continually search and share their lived-experience and praxis in using literature to develop teaching methodology as well as to sustain passion in literature. added to this enduring interest of using literature in elt is today’s emphasis on the learner-centered teaching paradigm. teachers no longer ask the students an outmoded question on literature’s relevance to life. the question is now changed into: “what is the story’s relevance to your life?” this article therefore attempts to engage in the debate on the kind of literature that is relevant to students’ life. it should be born in mind that the chief purpose of mailto:novitadewi9@usd.ac.id llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 67 elt is to enable students to think creatively and analytically about the english language. the discussion will focus on two sampled short stories to help students understand and appreciate literature by increasing their empathy, sensitivity, and understanding of human experiences as they learn english. when the students are assigned to analyze, interpret, and evaluate the stories, it is important that they grasp what the texts mean, how they shape meaning, and why such meaningmaking takes place. in other words, this article intends to show the relevance of using the chosen short stories to develop students’ competence, conscience, and compassion. the texts to begin with the précis of the first story, “all summer in a day” is a story about a pupil named margot, recently arrived from earth via tunnel’s exit, who becomes the target of intimidation by her classmates in an elementary school on the planet venus because she says that she remembers having seen the sun. life on venus is all rain and heavy showers except for one day in seven years when the rain stops and the sun is observable. margot can still recollect her vision of the sun a few years shorter than her classmates who may forget their experience of seeing the sun when they were only two years old. out of jealousy, margot’s classmates then isolate and mock her because she can tell the warmth of the sun and write poems about it. on the day when the rain is predicted to stop, the school children lock margot up in a cupboard. the rain does stop and the sun appears to the delight of the children who celebrate the rare cosmic event by screaming, running, and playing about heartily that they forget all about margot. when the rain starts to fall again, they remember margot and quickly unlock her. they regret and feel pity on margot for having to wait for another seven years to enjoy the sun again. next, the second story, “shame,” is also a story of growing pain. written by dick gregory, it tells of the fatherless richard, an afro-american child who has a crush on his classmate, the rich, clean, and smart helene tucker. growing up in profound poverty, richard goes to school with no breakfast and hardly learns anything there. he wears his only clothes that he has to wash, dry off, and put on again to school only to see helen. despite everybody’s disapproval of his behavior, richard is like any ordinary boys who demand recognition and attention from the loved ones until one day he learns about shame. it is the day when his teacher calls out each name of the students whose father would like to donate how much money to the community chest for the poor black families in the neighborhood. richard would like to donate the money he already saved in bigger amount than helen’s father to impress the girl, but the teacher leaves out his name. she, in contrast, makes the little boy embarrassed by her comments that the donation is for people of similar social status with richard and that he does not even have a father. the shame he encountered at a young age has deeply impacted his life until he is 21 and has his own family. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 68 the context “all summer in a day” and “shame” are classroom stories set in different time and place. however, the stories can be related to indonesian current school situations whereby bullying and bigotry sometimes occur to different levels of intensity. based on the review made by the judicial watch society of the indonesian university, perpetrators of robbery, murder, threats, blackmail, etc. that occurred in 1.276 district court rulings in 2010 to 2015 were low-educated youngsters between 15 and 34 years old (wijaya, 2017). juvenile delinquency has increased from just mischief mediocre (or fad) to criminality owing to unfulfilled desire for recognition or money. greater crimes like destruction and robbery which are more prevalent nowadays are resulted from intense law-breaking exposure through film, news, social media, and direct association or with the criminals (unayah & sabarisman, 2015), to say nothing of psycho-social problems like the youth’s craving for self-esteemed and peer pressure (hidayati, 2016). most studies conclude that character education from parents and schools since the early years is of supreme importance. here we see that children’s capacity to bully and hate other people who look different can manifest to greater crimes in the future. another serious issue is bigotry. just as the venusian school children in the story dislike margot who comes from different planet, little richard’s classmates and his teacher loathe him for his skin-color and poverty. given the rising xenophobia throughout the world, educators are at the forefront to instill the values of tolerance and pluralism for the young people. intolerance and “othering” has started to tear away the pluralistic fabric of indonesian society for the past three years. it is easy to call to mind that some private universities in yogyakarta were accused of religious proselytization to students of different beliefs by muslim hardliners in 2016; they demanded that the universities display no billboards showing picture of hijab-worn female students. fortunately, recent studies show that respect toward others’ belief among students can still be kept at bay. for example, tolerance is still upheld among students across religions in three universities in yogyakarta, thanks to the inter-religious dialogue sessions held by each university (khasanah, 2017); university bulletin promoting religious harmony can help fight back radicalism in cilacap (purnomo, 2017); and a broad game based on one local wisdom from the moluccas works well to promote tolerance among the youths (tangidy & setiawan, 2016). thus being said, there is no exaggeration to affirm that the two american short stories discussed can serve as precautionary tales. given the simple narratives and less than 2.000-level vocabularies (adolphs & schmitt, 2003), both stories can appeal students in elt class. the text-in-context at first, “all summer in a day” reads like a familiar school prank story. a closer reading of the story shows that the author is in doubt of technology when it outweighs humankind. known more by the millennial generation as the author of a novel made into a 2018 hollywood dystopian movie fahrenheit 451, ray bradbury is a science-fiction story teller, whose fantastic but sometimes weird imagination helps people to reflect on the importance of empathy and how the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 69 lack of it is precarious. bradbury’s stories depict human thirst of knowledge and inventions but at the same time they warn the evil of technology (panasenko & šestáková, 2013). following the seminal work “the artistry of bradbury” (reilly, 1971), several studies cited reilly’s conviction that bradbury’s penchant for technology allows the author to create diverse characters in their relation with technology, such as mass exploitation (mcgiveron, 1996) and human being’s emptiness (fry, 2003) especially seen in bradbury’s fahrenheit 451. imagine, for instance, a man whose habit of walking along the pedestrian at night is considered odd and antisocial in 2053 in bradbury’s other famous short story “the pedestrian”. when the man is arrested for giving unsatisfactory answers to interrogation by an automated police car; and when in his hysteria he is robotically taken to a psychiatrist, bradbury seemingly questions technology that prevails over humanity. nobody walks in all-automated, pre-set, and unemotional society of 2053. it seems here that being different is not tolerated. the theme of excluding someone who is different from the rest of the group is repeated in “all summer in a day” discussed herein. in the beginning, the school children ostracize margot for she is different. they scorn her first-hand experience with the sun’s glory and warmth similarly felt by people on earth. on the planet venus with rains every day, margot’s experience is abnormal and intolerable to accept. formerly planned as a practical joke by locking margot up in a closet as a punishment, this incident dearly costs her. the poor girl is punished for her belief and denied the long awaiting moment of the sun’s arrival. here we see that children have the capacity of becoming cruel and criminal. this is harsh, but at the same time the event helps transform the children. bradbury’s story allows readers to see the students’ transformation: they formerly bully margot but later regret their wrongdoing and feel sorry and sympathetic to her. presumably, their treatment to margot will be different hereafter. told in the first person narrator, “shame” is yet another bullying story with a school setting, but this time the teacher is the bully. the story is set in the author’s own time when african americans were hardly considered noteworthy people in the society. in his essay about dick gregory and other afro-american authors, arnez says “to be a negro in white america is to be branded as a lesser mortal. yet even against these tremendous obstacles, the negro has forged a culture which americans of every race are only now coming to understand and to appreciate” (1969, p. 61). in the story under discussion, the narrator has to wait for years to recover from his bully experience by his teacher. the fact that he thence can forgive and forget makes the story a lesson of empathy. reading literature, saying “no” to bully and bigotry research shows that ample opportunities are available to teach character education in elt while fostering students’ linguistic and literature competencies (e.g. gunawan, 2014; mariani, 2016; & ilyas, 2016). this part is to discuss the educational aspects of the two short stories when taught with three pillars in ignatian pedagogy applied in jesuit education, i.e. competence, conscience, and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 70 compassion in mind. competence is the students’ ability to analyze the intrinsic elements of the short stories (plot, setting, character, theme, point of view, figurative languages, symbols, etc.) and to identify the literary devices (symbolism, allusion, imagery, etc.). by conscience, it means that the students are able develop their habits of reading while increasing their creativity and innovation for their own joy of learning as well as cultivation of their personal reflexivity and societal sensitivity. compassion is one distinct feature in reflective teaching that helps students develop the capacity to be in solidarity with the other people’s suffering. by reading different literature throughout the world, the students may manifest in their life greater concerns, empathy, and respect for others with which they work toward god’s greater glory (dewi, 2014). in order to achieve all of this, the use of literature in elt should be geared toward human life quality. the view of literature being a social laboratory is rather outdated now because of the multiplicity of meanings – a reading concept introduced by poststructuralist thinking. the discussion of characters in literary works involves critical thinking. here, the students are not to lay judgments that a is good, b is bad, and c is neutral, and so forth. instead, teaching literature in elt class should enable students to see that a and b so behave because of some reasons that ask for other people to understand. why c is neutral, likewise, should become the students’ query. it is noted here that building a character means doing good and positive things with which a person exercises her/his conscience. there are times when character traits overlap with personality traits, e.g. being honest but insensitive may make someone comes across as impolite (pines et al., 2006, p. 1). bullying and bigotry shown in the two stories are among delicate problems that young people often encounter in their daily experiences. by examining the character (means persona) in the short stories, the students can learn about showing empathy toward others. the six pillars of character are useful to detail the discussion, namely trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, caring, fairness, and citizenship (character counts!). these values are indeed the practical manifestation of religious values which are frequently emphasized in indonesian curriculum as critically looked into in elt owing to its evaluation mechanics (e.g. mambu, 2014; mambu, 2015). trustworthiness trustworthy is a character trait to instill as early as possible. someone is trustworthy if other people can count on her/him. in “all summer in a day,” margot is not trustworthy in the eyes of her classmates. neither is the narrator in “shame” according to his teacher. margot eventually gains trust when the venusian children experience the sun. like margot’s classmates, richard’s teacher distrusts him. she is annoyed by his behavior when protesting why his name is left out: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 71 she turned toward the blackboard. “i don’t have time to be playing with you, richard.” “my daddy said he’d...” “sit down, richard, you’re disturbing the class.” “my daddy said he’d give...fifteen dollars.” she turned around and looked mad. “we are collecting this money for you and your kind, richard gregory. if your daddy can give fifteen dollars you have no business being on relief.” “i got it right now, i got it right now, my daddy gave it to me to turn in today, my daddy said...” “and furthermore,” she said, looking right at me, her nostrils getting big and her lips getting thin and her eyes opening wide, “we know you don't have a daddy.” (gregory, p. 2) on the one hand the narrator is wrong for lying that his “father” would like to donate some amount of money. on the other hand, he is not truly at fault either because he genuinely wants to give the money albeit his infatuation to helen. at this point, elt students can learn about conscience. they can reflect on how today’s young people measure their self-esteem from the many “like” hits they get on the social media. in attempting to gain putative acceptance, they go the extra mile to publish online photos or news on their make-believe actions, hence they lack trustworthiness. respect respect is taken to mean honoring other people either for their achievement/rectitude or dissimilarities. it is a key to prevent bully in bigotry. margot is cast differently from the rest of the class. “she was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away, and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost” (bradbury, p. 2). she gains no respect because she is different. they hated her pale snow face, her waiting silence, her thinness, and her possible future. “get away!” the boy gave her another push. “what're you waiting for?” then, for the first time, she turned and looked at him. and what she was waiting for was in her eyes. “well, don’t wait around here!” cried the boy savagely. “you won’t see nothing!” (bradbury, p. 3) like margot, richard in “shame” is outcast because he is different from his affluent classmates due to his ethnicity and abject poverty. going to school with empty stomach makes him unable to stay focus. he fails to earn his teacher’s respect, thus: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 72 the teacher thought i was a troublemaker. all she saw from the front of the room was a little black boy who squirmed in his idiot’s seat and made noises and poked the kids around him. i guess she couldn’t see a kid who made noises because he wanted someone to know he was there. (gregory, p. 2) it is not wrong for the narrator to ask his teacher why she gives him no chance to participate in the community chest. the teacher insults him by revealing his identity as a fatherless child. this incident left the narrator a painful experience because thereafter he is weighed down by shame. he recounts how reluctant he is to attend the school christmas dinner, to ask rotten peaches from mr. ben or mrs. simmons’ spoonful of sugar, and to get food from the relief truck. he recapitulates once more: “yeah, the whole world heard the teacher that day-we all know you don’t have a daddy” (gregory, p. 4). the teacher gives richard no respect although the young boy wants to earn self-respect by his donation attempt. it is clear here that people affected with lack of respect can lead to low selfesteem. lack of respect is a growing problem in society that elt can effectively address through these simple short stories with challenging topics. responsibility responsibility is an important character trait that makes other people able to count on us. a person is responsible when any duty entrusted to her/him can be completed. margot is responsible as a child to obey the decision made by her parents in leaving the earth planet. she does not quit school despite the distressing situation. like a captive, she is alienated in her new school environment but the 7year-old-girl has to stay on. the author says: there was talk that her father and mother were taking her back to earth next year; it seemed vital to her that they do so, though it would mean the loss 80 of thousands of dollars to her family. (bradbury, p. 2) responsibility is, in one way or another, present in little richard’s personality. this seven-year old boy makes an effort to go to school by wearing clean clothes. his daily routine is making sure that his clothes are ready despite the trouble involved as follows. the pipes were frozen again, there was no water in the house, but i washed my socks and shirt every night. i'd get a pot, and go over to mister ben’s grocery store, and stick my pot down into his soda machine and scoop out some chopped ice. by evening the ice melted to water for washing. i got sick a lot that winter because the fire would go out at night before the clothes were dry. in the morning i'd put them on, wet or dry, because they were the only clothes i had. (gregory, p. 1) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 73 the readers are told later that he, too, is responsible to earn money since he cannot rely on his widowed mother: “i’d been out hustling all day, shining shoes, selling newspapers, and i had goo gobs of money in my pocket” (gregory, p. 3). with the money richard attends to his own little enjoyment. he says, “bought me a bowl of chili for fifteen cents, and a cheeseburger for fifteen cents, and a pepsi for five cents, and a piece of chocolate cake for ten cents” (gregory, p. 3). elt students can therefore learn about responsibility from the child’s characters in both stories. caring caring is showing concern and kindness to others. neither bullying nor bigotry may occur if people care. though poor, richard is a caring person. despite his ulterior motive, richard saves money to enable him to contribute to helping the needy. thus when his teacher says that the money is for people of his kind, she negates the idea and possibility that poor people can care for one another. here, elt students learn to exercise their conscience about caring for others. near the end of the story, the narrator gives another sad incident about his failed attempt to help his fellow citizen; this time is a wino. this homeless man is beaten to bleed for not paying the 25-cent-food he ordered. little richard intends to pay for him from the money collected from selling newspapers and shining shoes, but the wino, feeling offended refuses it outright, saying: “keep your twenty-six cents. you don’t have to pay, not now. i just finished paying for it.” (gregory, p. 3) although the narrator old man later apologizes, the narrator cannot help lamenting, “i was pretty sick about that. i waited too long to help another man” (gregory, p. 4). here, beneath the story is gregory’s pretext: the society comprises of people who are selfish and ignorant. they do not care and unwilling to help each other. indeed, care and compassion seem to overlap in “shame.” if loving is caring, helen, the “light-complexioned little girl with pigtails and nice manners” (gregory, p. 1) cares for richard and she can feel the pain of the black boy after being humiliated by the teacher. the narrator says, “helene tucker turned around, her eyes full of tears. she felt sorry for me. then i could not see her too well because i was crying, too” (gregory, p. 3). compassion is palpably felt by the whole class for he says that “everyone had heard what the teacher had said, everyone had turned around and felt sorry for me” (gregory, p. 3). a lesson about caring is also seen in the final paragraph of bradbury’s short story when the children feel sorry for having unlocked margot and given her no chance to see the sun. compassion is shown because the formerly malicious venusian kids turn to feel pity for margot. caring is significant in every learning process. the success of elt by way of cooperative learning method, for example, largely depends on learners who are llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 74 willing to cooperate with, care for, and learn from each other as shown by research in countries like vietnam (tuan, 2010), china (ning, 2010), taiwan (pan & wu, 2013). similarly, in sanata dharma university alone, several case studies in the use of cooperative learning in elt confirm the finding that reflective teaching-learning helps to develop students’ cognition and affection (ardi, 2017; ferianda & mukarto, 2017; & kuswandono, 2017). as such, the two stories are reflective. fairness to be fair is to give impartial treatment without discrimination. bullying and bigotry are two social ills caused by lack of fairness. the two stories here provide elt class with theme of social (in) justice. bradbury wrote “all summer in a day” in 1959 at the height of us vs. ussr spaceship race. the short story tells us of a competition between earth power and that of the other planet. although seemingly margot is lost in the race, her classmates in the end give in. margot sticks to her conviction about the warmth of the sun, while others hardly remember the sun’s glory. unfairly, they lock margot up although in the end they acknowledge that margot is right and they are wrong. they thus repent, if too late. bradbury wants readers to ponder upon the meaning of fairness and the value of competition in the age of technology. in “shame,” fairness is not shown at all. the wino orders some food but refuses at first to pay until he is tortured. it is not unfair either for mister williams the restaurateur to treat the poor man this way for the food of its worth: mister williams jumped over the counter and knocked the wino off his stool and beat him over the head with a pop bottle. then he stepped back and watched the wino bleed. then he kicked him. and he kicked him again. (gregory, p. 4) the narrator sees this injustice and says, “leave him alone, mister williams. i'll pay the twenty-six cents” (gregory, p. 4). the story depicts the society’s incapability to feel for others. a lesson of compassion is clear herein. citizenship citizenship is simply defined as the status of being a citizen in a state. but in character education, it means “to conduct oneself in accordance with the rights, duties, and privileges of being an inhabitant of a geographical location by means of birth or naturalization” (huitt, 2005). written in 1964 by a humorist, civil rights activist, and social critic, “shame” invites the readers to see how american society at that time denied the rights of the black people their status as the united states citizens. gregory was committed to helping the oppressed to voice out their rights without insulting their dignity. although little richard’s action to top up the welfare money is reproachable for its hidden reason, he makes an attempt to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 75 perform his duty as a good citizen of the class. elt students can again learn about conscience and compassion from the character in the final part of the story when he tries to help the wino for the meals. in “all summer in a day,” citizenship is purely for inhabitants of venus, not for an earth immigrant like margot. the school children of the host planet, however, do not use their citizenship wisely. they behave what they like. they hardly respect diversity. margot is not a good venusian citizen either because of her alienation. she refuses to play games and sing joyful songs in class, thanks to the awkward social situation that leads to her depression. thus, the discussion on citizenry in an elt class allows the students to empathize with refuges, victims of civil war and/or natural disasters, and many other oppressed people. conclusion this article has shown that two american short stories, namely “all summer in a day” by ray bradbury and “shame” by dick gregory, are suitable to be used in elt class. the vocabulary level and linguistic complexity in both short stories is of upper-intermediate level. thus, it can help students to develop their cognitive skills as well as to spark their interest in literature without discouraging them. this study has also shown that the narrative of two children aged 7 being bullied by their respective classmates is appropriate to read critically and contextually to enhance students’ competence, conscience, and compassion. through the two stories, it is revealed that bullying and bigotry can occur in early childhood. it is worrying that young people learn to hate others simply because they are of different culture/habit, ethnicity, and social class. reading each story, elt students can reflect on six golden traits proved useful in studying english, namely trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, care, and citizenship. it is at this particular point that character education is important to be incorporated into elt through short stories with various themes including the heartbreaking ones. this article therefore is supportive of using literature in elt for purposeful language learning with which each student can ask transformative question mused about at the start of this article, i.e. the story’s relevance to her/his own life. references adolphs, s. & schmitt, n. 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(2017). most crimes in jakarta committed by youngsters: research. the jakarta post https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2017/06/22/mostcrimes-in-jakarta-committed-by-youngsters-research.html. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 70 dealing with speaking anxiety: a case study of the implementation of sidang akademi at a school in central java hilarius raditya priambada purba and slamet setiawan universitas negeri surabaya, indonesia hilarius.18033@mhs.unesa.ac.id and slametsetiawan@unesa.ac.id correspondence: hilarius.18033@mhs.unesa.ac.id doi:10.24071/llt.v24i1.2647 received 10 june 2020; accepted 22 october 2020 abstract speaking skill becomes a very important issue in second language acquisition. among the four english skills being developed, speaking is crucial for students. speaking anxiety is one of the burdens experienced by the students so that the exploration of the willingness to communicate is needed to maintain the problem. moreover, in the indonesian context, english is still a second/ foreign language so that when the student is required to speak in public using english the problem will be double. this research discussed the implementation of sidang akademi (academic preliminary meeting) in a private senior high school in central java as an obligatory activity for the students. this research employs a qualitative study specifically a case study. the result of the study presents that the implementation of the activity causes the student to experience speaking anxiety caused by many factors. there are also some ways in managing speaking performance conducted by the student in the implementation of the activity. keywords: speaking skill development, speaking anxiety, public speaking activity introduction speaking skill becomes a crucial issue in second language acquisition. it insists that as one of the four english skills being developed, speaking is pivotal for students (bright & mcgregor, 1970). speaking skills can directly contribute to the academic development of many second language learners and other far-reaching areas (goh, goh, & burns, 2012). however, the speaking activity designed in class not yet sufficient for helping to develop speaking skills for the student. the deliberate design of the learning process for encouraging students to do a lot of talking in class activity might be, often, insufficient teaching of speaking as a language of communication skill (goh et al., 2012). some studies have revealed the burdens about which the student thinks to be the most influential factor when they are exposed to present a public presentation as part of ways in improving their speaking skill. speaking anxiety is one of the burdens they are experiencing so that the exploration of the willingness to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 71 communicate is needed to maintain the problem (amiryousefi, 2016; macintryre, 2007; öz, demirezen, & pourfeiz, 2015; riasati, 2018; subekti, 2018, 2019a, 2019b; toyama & yamazaki, 2018; yashima, macintyre, & ikeda, 2018). moreover, in the indonesian context, english is still a second/ foreign language (crystal, 2003) so that when the student is required to speak in public using english the problem will be double. in addition, the exploration of a compulsory public speaking activity and willingness to communicate hasn’t been sufficient in the indonesian efl context as they are mostly about the investigation using the flsa (foreign language speaking anxiety) scales or another predetermined category. nonetheless, the studies conducted in this field only focus their study on the phenomena of speaking anxiety experienced by the student inside the classroom process, in this case, the english teaching and learning process (j. dewaele & dewaele, 2018; j. m. dewaele, 2019; fanhong, 2019). furthermore, all of which hasn’t explored the phenomena of developing speaking class in a formal course outside the formal teaching and learning process in the classroom. in the meantime, there is a public speaking activity attempted to develop students’ speaking skill outside the classroom context. the development has been done, through a formal course. however, this program hasn’t been explored academically/ empirically so that the writer intends to study the phenomena regarding the development of students’ public speaking skills and the problem they face during the process. therefore, the objective of this study is to explore the phenomena of speaking anxiety experienced by the students at a senior high school in central java regarding the implementation of the public speaking activity, namely sidang akademi (academic preliminary research), and how they manage to overcome the problem. theory of communication and public speaking communication theory the meaning that relies on the message is not value-free. griffin (2012) argues that communication is a relational process that demands others to respond as the result of creating and interpreting messages. nonetheless, human communication, in its implementation, carries on a motive to reveal as the ends (herrick, 2008). people maintain communication to share their feelings and thoughts to meet other validation in a form of mutual understanding. in so doing, the communicator is successful to bring their messages in the process. nevertheless, the message that is carried on the process of communication has been planned, invented, constructed, crafted adapted, and adapted based on the situation where the communication takes place. therefore, the message brought in the communication process is not value-free as it is crafted, in such a way, to be coherent with the context. griffin (2012) proposes that in the communication process, there is a thing to maintain as a mutual conception that means the need for a record of a message that can be analysed by others. furthermore, a message carried on in a communication process contains a symbol for the sake of meeting the goal of obtaining agreement and raising consciousness (griffin, 2012; herrick, 2008). the people’s relationship or closeness is mattered in carrying on the symbol beyond the words uttered in the process (griffin, 2012; herrick, 2008). nonetheless, bonding between two or more people is demanded in communication as one of the components (griffin, 2012). as messages are presented not to mean things but rather than the people who, by llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 72 the process of interpretation, mean the words. thus, as the communication takes place between two or more people, it is prominent if the relationships between the communicators are essential to promote the nature of the connection unless it isn’t called a good communication. the product of effective communication results in the cognitive, emotional, and behavioural reactions of people to meet mutual understanding (griffin, 2012; herrick, 2008). communication process communication is what people develop to fulfil their needs. every communication has a motive (griffin, 2012; herrick, 2008). that motive is what to achieve in the process. the process, furthermore, is an attempt of acting information (mehl, 2017). communication has a broad context, but, in this context, the writer is to pay attention to human communication. human communication is to make sense of a thing so that people can have a mutual understanding and value to share. people will conduct verbal and nonverbal communication to create meaning as the goal of communication (mehl, 2017). in the process of communication, mehl (2017) proposes some models of communication as the element in conducting the process. communication is for making sense. the steps require people to activate their prior knowledge. the information that people obtain while operating their five senses guides people to be able to identify the structure and pattern to know what the information is about. after making sense of it, it brings people to share through communication. communication allows people to share what they know and what they want people to know. people can enable multimodality such as through music, art, clothing, and other media to convey what we think and feel to others. next, communication is about creating meaning. it is an interactive process in which people attempt to be able to meet the goal (osborn, osborn, & osborn, 2012). thus, communication is a means of making meaning. finally, the form of communication is the other thing to consider about which forms a verbal and nonverbal message. people employ many media or tools or ways or multimodality in order to present thought, concept, object, and experience. besides, symbols are crafted to help people obtain meaning that is acceptable and understandable (griffin, 2012; mehl, 2017). rhetoric theory the general purpose of public speaking is to maintain the performance in front of the audience so that the argument given in the speech can really persuade the audience through the well-organized idea and the validity sense so that the speech can be attractive to the audience. it is clearly stated by the greek philosopher aristotle in his theory of rhetoric (hendrikus, 1991). he divides his theory into three main categories simply called ethos, pathos, and logos. the ethos or credibility means that the speaker might be heard if he can convince the audience through the idea that he presents and the credibility of the speaker so that the audience might consider the speaker as worth listening to the listeners. pathos or emotional is the ability of the person to persuade by appealing to the audience’s emotion. in addition, the language choices also matter to give the good persuasion so that the listener might be convinced. logos or logical means that the speaker has to possess a good reasoning technique. this technique reflects the knowledge of the speaker as the reason is the heart of the argumentation. thus, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 73 if in the process of public speaking the speaker has these kinds of abilities, the point of the argument seems convincing and therefore the audience might really attract the speaker by the speech that they convey. maintaining the performance in the public, for instance, the public speaking requires the speaker to engage the audience as they are demanded to interact with others through the message they bring upon. the process demands the speaker to share a message through a public physical environment that permits both the speaker and the audience to be, collectively, engaged by listening and responding at the current moment that resulting in a persuading context by comprising emotions and thoughts (crick, 2017; herrick, 2008). crick (2017) and herrick (2008) argue that the participation between the speaker and the audience, are demanded to result in successful public speaking. the public speaking activity requires the maintenance of both speaker and listener to be in an interrelated situation so that the sharing of the message will take place. therefore, the process of communication facilitates people to have a mutual state of understanding. rhetoric is proposed as the art, in such a condition, that the process results in the achievement of intelligibility through the structured composition of symbol, of mutual understanding about the meaning set on the symbol through a thorough structures management. principles of public speaking public speaking is an activity that attempts the more people will result in having a mutual concept toward. osborn et al. (2012) propose public speaking as a collaborative process that brings such a consequence that it needs people to interact with one another since the process happens by the involvement of two or more people. the process demands an interactive activity to facilitate the speaker to acknowledge himself to the listener, share knowledge to attain trust, or be accredited as a worth-listening speaker and assure the listener by considering the information they present. people interpret the information they obtain meaning that there is a collaborative process within the process. besides, joint production is attempted to result in an agreement between speaker and listener (griffin, 2012; osborn et al., 2012). in presenting the message in a public setting, to comprehend the elements of it may assist the speaker to promote a successful speech. osborn et al. (2012) suggest seven elements in public speaking as the required elements to comprehend within the process. the first is the speaker who happens to carry on the oral message for the public. moreover, it comprises the message as the essential point of the presentation that is defined as a goal to accomplish in the process in a way that the message can be brought well. third, people should comprehend the circumstance underpinning the reason why the speaker speakers and listeners gather to respond to the speech. next, it must come to such a consideration about the physical and psychological contexts where a speech is presented, namely the setting in public speaking. besides, as public speaking is a collaborative process, it demands the audience as an important element to consider. furthermore, interference is another thing to consider that is known as distractions or burdens that may disrupt the process of communication. as a final point, the process requires feedback as the element covering the perception of the audience’s reaction to the information or message presented within the process. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 74 giving a public presentation needs people to be included in the activity to involve in a sustainable process. in so doing, osborn et al. (2012) propose that public speaking is a dynamic process (osborn et al., 2012). nonetheless, some standards should be comprehended within the public presentation. the first is the need to consider the identification process prior to the presentation. in order to continue to the next step, a preliminary activity is the first thing to do. this process allows the people who involve in the process to anticipate the gap that can be in a form of the issue of individual, cultural, racial, and so on. second, a good speaker is required to bring the process by considering ethical communication. the ethic permits people to discern the right or wrong of a public speaking behaviour that defining whether it is good or bad. the next is the accountable knowledge to promote within the process. it is about the knowledge about the issues, information, latest improvements, and local applications that may be pertinent to the topic. these standards must precede the share of knowledge as the goal to accomplish. on the other hand, “quoting out of context” is somewhat desirable to avoid that leads to the different meaning or understanding as to the result of distorted information. finally, it demands the consideration of originality that the speaker should avoid plagiarism in the practice as they claim other’s thoughts or ideas. foreign language anxiety the development of public speaking is a pivotal skill to achieve success. however, the implementation of the activity has confirmed to result in communication anxiety (osborn et al., 2012). several studies show that most people, in the process of language acquisition, experience anxiety as a part of the process, especially in presenting a public speech or communication (fadilah, 2018; subekti, 2018, 2019a, 2019b). besides, even the professional is reportedly dealing with such anxiety in the practice. the fact that public communication is an interactive process that requires more than one person in the process (griffin, 2012; osborn et al., 2012) brings such consequences that an ideal public speaking has to encounter in the process. the process allows others to examine or judge what we convey. such conditions become the main reason why anxiety walks side by side with the public speaking process (osborn et al., 2012). however, people will be trapped in such language anxiety unless they develop some steps to be able to deal with it. a communicator is demanded to recognize anxiety as a normal process that, deliberately, drives people to seek for the best technic they are most suitable with (grice & skinner, 2010). the anxiety cannot be avoided but rather to manage is what the authors propose. after considering it, people are entitled to channelling the anxious energy into a more constructive attitude that assists in the process of public communication. furthermore, the increase of l2 speaking anxiety has provoked as it plays a significant effect on the development of the skill. galajda (2017) argues that the study in this field, under the umbrella of second language acquisition, has provoked interest since anxiety is perceived to be the factor persuading the learner’s performance. speaking anxiety is seen as a trait or condition shaped by the situation or situation-specific that leads to such a state influencing the performance (galajda, 2017; macintryre, 2007; yashima, macintyre, & maiko, 2018). long (2015), yu (2011), swain (2000) in amiryousefi (2016) propose that in learning the language, the process needs to facilitate learners to implement the language for the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 75 communication process. moreover, foreign language anxiety has steered the student to be unwillingly engaged in the process of communication (amiryousefi, 2016; galajda, 2017). as the result, the student may lead to more reluctance they experience during the process. in so doing, the condition brings them to an ineffective speaking development process, in the sla context, in the bigger scope. nevertheless, a related study by nerlicki (2011) as cited in (galajda, 2017) confirms that some factors in the communication context lead to the speaking anxiety that come before and during the process of public presentation. there are some influencing factors bringing people to suffer speaking anxiety. for instance, the influencing factors before the process of communication are learner’s personal disposition, how they perceive the process of teaching and learning, learning history, and the situation where the communication takes place. nonetheless, there are also factors that influence their performances during the process of giving a speech or present in public such as the lack of linguistic competence and the direct feedback or critics given by the teacher. another study by piechurska-kuciel (2011) as cited in galajda (2017) presents that test anxiety leads people to the fear of negative evaluation as well as communication apprehension. besides, the fear of negative evaluation performs in a social context where a person, involvement, and participation are required. the conditions, aforementioned, come as results of the perception and expected standards that are directed to a negative state in one’s willingness to participate in any communication or social acts. the condition is also caused by a high level of communication apprehension (galajda, 2017). these factors have driven the learner to experience nervousness, fear, and apprehension in the process of communication. method this research discussed the implementation of sidang akademi (academic preliminary meeting) in a private senior high school in central java as an obligatory activity for the students. this activity is one of the maintained activities that are, at the same time, typical activities, attempted by the school to fulfill the curriculum developed in the school that is the developmental curriculum. the implementation of this activity is worth thorough exploration and study as every student there is fostered to develop and improve the ability to present their idea through a public presentation or public speech. pertaining to this activity, the school encourages its students to develop their speaking english skills that are then interesting to explore. nevertheless, the researcher investigated the phenomena by comprehending the implementation of the activity for the third-grade students as they are encouraged to implement the process by using english as the language to present. generally, this research is a qualitative study as the researcher attempts a rich description and analysis of the phenomena. specifically, this research is classified as a case study. case study research is a qualitative approach in which the researcher focuses on a bounded system over a period of time, through detailed, in-depth data collection and reports the description of a case as well as case-based themes (creswell, 2007). in accordance with that, a case study is an appropriate format in conducting and exploring the studies of language learning (mcdonough & mcdonough, 1997). according to creswell (2007), the involvement of multiple sources of information is suggested to grab the complete illustration of the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 76 phenomenon being investigated and thus, triangulation takes its role as an important aspect in the qualitative study. the sources of data are in a form of observation, documents and reports, interviews, and audio-visual material. this study is, generally, aimed to be able to give insight and explanation regarding the implementation of the activity and the problem of speaking anxiety that may follow as the result of the employment of sidang akademi (academic preliminary meeting). the study was aimed to study the implementation of sidang akademi and the phenomena of speaking anxiety as the following impact. yin (2009) proposes that the focus of the case study approach is to prompt the answer to “how” and “why” aspects of the phenomenon under study. in collecting the data, the researcher collected the data from multiple sources of data to perform the triangulation of the data to meet research reliability and validity. nonetheless, a number of sources of data help to meet a fuller understanding of the phenomena under study (bogdan & biklen, 2003). the researcher conducted the observation process on the saint ignatius loyola class. moreover, to clarify and obtain the experience in the implementation of the activity, the researcher conducted a focus group discussion with eleven students as the participants. furthermore, the researcher also obtained the data of the implementation from the minutes of the activity that reflected how the activity was conducted and the students’ performance during the implementation of the activity. findings and discussion from the data gathering process, the researcher obtained information related to the objective of this study. as stated clearly at the beginning, this study explores the phenomena of speaking anxiety as the following impact of the implementation of the activity, namely sidang akademi, as well as the way to manage the performance to be able to perform well during the public presentation. in presenting the data of the study, the researcher divides the result into two parts. the first part is “speaking anxiety in sidang akademi” and the second is “the student’s performance management”. to come up with the theme, the researcher conducted the data reducing process by choosing the information based on the code to summarizing the segment of data (bogdan & biklen, 2003). here, the data display as follows. speaking anxiety in sidang akademi sidang akademi has been designed as a compulsory activity developed by a school in central java to develop students’ speaking skills both in indonesian and english. students in the first and second grade in the school implement the activity using indonesian as the language to conduct the process. whereas, the students in the third grade are encouraged, in the implementation, to manage their performance, as well as their english mastery for the whole process for them, is conducted in english. this condition brings students to experience more pressure in the process of preparing the material and during the process of the activity. the following data present some information to be the source of their anxiety during the implementation of the activity. through the group discussion process, a student revealed that he hadn’t performed well. this phenomenon happened as the participant admitted that he stuttered when he presented what he had prepared as he was anxious. it is in line llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 77 with osborn et al. (2012) that speaking in public has something to do with the cause of public speaking anxiety. this data was also in line with the observation that stated that students tend to be nervous during the presentation. this was because the student, during the presentation, produced some inappropriate gestures showing that they didn’t seem to enjoy the presentation as well as pausing in the middle of the presentation. the gestures that indicate them to be anxious was that they smile without any reason, distracted themselves by touching part of bodies or things in their surroundings. when the student was failed to promote themselves as a good presenter that wasn’t worth listening to, the audience would respond negatively by not paying attention to the presenters and doing other activities. this form of anxiety is perceived to be the factor influencing students’ performance (galajda, 2017). this was also confirmed by a participant who said that the participants tended to give a bad response when they didn’t perform clearly and stuttered. this is in line with the rhetoric theory proposed by aristotle. one of the keys in public speaking is the ethos or credibility meaning that if the speaker can convince the audience through the idea that he presents that determines whether or not the speaker is worth listening (hendrikus, 1991). the unnecessary movement or gesture may be the result of how the student perceived the situation in which the communication takes place and the process of language learning (nerlicki, 2011 as cited in galajda, 2017) another problem of anxiety was when the student failed to find the same diction of such words to replace the diction that they didn’t know. a student said that she had prepared the material for the presentation, but suddenly she forgot the term and she failed to replace it with another term as she had limited vocabulary. another student confirmed this by saying that he couldn’t find a similar term to convey the message. this condition brought them to experienced stuttering when presenting or pause the presentation to think for a while about the term to use in the presentation. nonetheless, a student presented that he would find it difficult to arrange a good sentence as he had to figure out the best grammar for the context in his speech. moreover, a student added that pronunciation was another thing bringing them to speak confidently. meanwhile, sometimes she had to pause to manage her pronunciation and to find the way to pronounce correctly. thus, in this case, the problem of anxiety came as a result of the minimum level of english mastery. this is also confirmed by a study from nerlicki (2011) as cited in galajda (2017) that lack of linguistic competence is the source of speaking anxiety. another thing to be the source of anxiety was the lack of knowledge about the topic being presented. a student confirmed that she experienced anxiety when she knew nothing about the topic that she presented. although she had prepared the material, she was not familiar with the topic. nevertheless, even when she had found the material or source, she ended up being confused as the material was not supportive/ relevant to the topic or she failed to connect the topic and the source she obtained. this student confirmed that the factor of lack of vocabulary didn’t appear to affect her in the implementation, rather than how to convince the audience employing the material she had prepared. this is in line with the study conducted by nerlicki (2011) and piechurska-kuciel (2011) in galajda (2017) who propose that learner’s disposition, how they respond to the language learning process and the speaker’s expectation results in speaking anxiety. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 78 another student presented that the source of anxiety came from the response given by the facilitator of the activity. he revealed that that thing represented direct assessment from the facilitator. the anxiety came when they were afraid of the direct assessment. in line with this, the direct comment said by the facilitator during the presentation came into account. this is in accordance with the concept that the judgment that was given by others also brings the people to experience speaking anxiety (osborn et al., 2012). a student confirmed that he was ever stopped in the middle of the presentation because the process didn’t meet the facilitator’s expectations. this brought the student to experience anxiety as they were directly assessed. this is in line with the concepts proposes by nerlicki (2011) and piechurska-kuciel (2011) in galajda (2017) who emphasize the direct correction given by the teacher such as sudden interruption and test anxiety bring people to a result of fear of negative evaluation that also become the factor regarding speaking anxiety. well, this is also indicated the unclear goal that they share within the implementation of the activity. being engaged in the process is also important to be able to follow the process. meanwhile, a student presented in the process of the discussion that she had a lack of focus when she had to present the material she had prepared. she admitted that the pressure in the presentation, actually, influenced the engagement to the process. the impact made the failure to rebut the opponent in the debating process. she added that during the process, she had to memorize what she had prepared and also figured out what she wanted to convey. nevertheless, self-perception plays an important role in the process of giving a speech in public. it was presented by the student how self-perception affected the way she presented in public. she would mostly compare herself to the other presenters that made her feel less than them. she observed her colleagues on how they managed their presentations and, some of them used slides-show to assist them in the presentation. she felt inferior as she didn’t make it the way others managed their presentation. this shows that selfesteem and self-perception, truly, help the student in dealing with their presentation as well as preventing speaking anxiety. these phenomena are also with the concepts saying that leaner’s disposition, how they perceive the language learning process, and the speaker’s expectation of the process will be the factor bring speakers to experience speaking anxiety (nerlicki, 2011; piechurska-kuciel, 2011 as cited in galajda, 2017) one thing to be the most reason that would affect the student on whether or not they experienced speaking anxiety was preparation. the preparation dealt with collecting material, time management, making drafts, and practice to present. three participants said that the lack of practice made them failed in the process of presentation. this was because they felt unready for what they were going to present during the implementation of sidang akademi. another reason was that the time was limited to prepare the whole presentation as they had to manage their study as well. the example was the student had to prepare the material within the examination week so that the preparation couldn’t be optimal. this is in line with the theory proposed by nerlicki (2011) and piechurska-kuciel (2011) as cited in (galajda, 2017) who propose personal character and perception toward the learning process determine the process of speaking in public and whether or not it brings one to experience speaking anxiety. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 79 the student’s performance management in order to be able to perform well, there were some ways or techniques prepared by the student in their presentation. this section is to show the exploration about which the student managed the whole thing regarding their giving speech in public. the first thing to do was exploring the material related to the topic or theme of the presentation. in the implementation of sidang akademi, there were some topics or themes explored every week. the student, based on the division, presented different topics for every meeting. during the process of data collection, the exploration of the material was important. a student said that he would likely take as many as possible sources to support his presentation. another student would look for connection and comparison of the topic and the issues that happened globally to make it contextual. another student tried to find experts or qualified sources to know about the topic and be able to present a qualified presentation based on the source. another student prepared his presentation by looking at the important role in that field to observe what it was like to present such material. he referred to oprah winfrey as he got to present a talk show. he admitted that oprah had shown how to make a talk show interesting and what language used by her to manage her show. in addition to the student preparation, some of the participants said that the exploration of material and the making of a script or draft would likely be done in indonesia. they used indonesia first to make it clear about what they want to present. these are also suggested by aristotle in giving a speech public to meet the logos or logical. it is the way speakers are demanded to possess the good reasoning technique reflecting the knowledge of the speaker as the reason is the heart of the argumentation (hendrikus, 1991). when it came to the presentation, the student would mostly prepare media that could support their material. this is in with grice & skinner (2010) who suggests seeking the best technic that people are most suitable for in order to be able to perform well. people would likely do so to grab the audience’s attention. a student said that he made a powerpoint slide show to make her presentation run well. another student would use a blackboard and marker to explain to the audience about the topic. the way students develop such a way in their presentations is in accordance with mehl (2017) suggesting that verbal and nonverbal communication to create meaning as the goal of communication. besides, a student said that the interaction between presenter and audience was important that was also proposed by aristotle as pathos or emotional meaning how the presenter convince by appealing to the audience’s emotion (hendrikus, 1991). interaction allowed the process to run interactively and made the presentation done well. when the interaction happened, a positive one, they would be less anxious so that they could present the material well as they can come to persuasion by involving emotions and thoughts (crick, 2017; herrick, 2008). this is in line with the concept proposed by griffin (2012) that the communication process demands a thing to be held as a mutual conception. so the attempt of making an interaction is the way how the student tried to propose a concept to be received by others to meet a conception. nonetheless, interaction making is the way to meet a relational bonding between two or more people as it is one of the components of communication (griffin, 2012; osborn et al., 2012). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 80 conclusion after presenting the information about the factors influencing students to experience speaking anxiety and the way the student managed their performance, it can be concluded that the obligatory speaking activity namely, sidang akademi brings them to feel the speaking-anxiety during the performance. such anxiety was indicated by the stuttering happened when presenting and also the making of unnecessary movements that distract the performance. nonetheless, many factors are influencing their performance in sidang akademi. they were a minimum level of english mastery or lack of linguistic competence, lack of knowledge about the topic, the response that was given by the facilitator, not engaged to the process, the feeling of inferiority, and their readiness to speak in public by preparing the presentation. whereas, the student also employed some ways to manage their performance. they were the use of media to help to convey the presentation by using a powerpoint slide show, blackboard, and marker. besides, the student also maintained the interaction between the presenter and the audience to make the process run interactively. references amiryousefi, m. 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(2009). case study research: design and methods (4th ed.). california: sage inc. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 168 textual and linguistic characteristics of research article abstracts wirada amnuai, pansupa kotuta, and maythinee duangprasertchai rajamangula university of technology isan, nakorn ratchasima, thailand wamnuai@gmail.com; pansupa_kotuta@windowslive.com; maynee7765@gmail.com correspondence: wamnuai@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2020.230113 received: 03 february 2020; accepted: 14 april 2020 abstract one of the most important parts of a research article is abstract. with limited space and words, writing english abstracts is a challenging task for inexperienced efl writers. analyzing the rhetorical structures and linguistic features of abstracts is a practical and effective way to assist unskilled writers in writing their abstracts correctly and provide them with a clearer insight into the genre. the present paper analyzes the rhetorical structures and linguistic features of english abstracts written by thai authors. data were collected from 30 applied linguistics abstracts published in six tci-indexed journals. verb tenses, voices, and interpersonal devices in the abstracts were examined. the findings showed that the product move was the most frequent. the occurrence of verb tenses and voice varied according to the moves. both active and passive voice appeared frequently in the method move. the frequency of attitudinal markers was higher than that of other interactional resources. it was found in the present study that the employment of rhetorical moves with their linguistic characteristics and metadiscoursal devices can be a useful tool for thai writers to write their research article abstracts in the field of applied linguistics. besides, the findings will serve as a guideline for teachers in designing genre-related materials for teaching efl learners. keywords: textual organization, move, research article, abstract introduction an abstract is an important section of a research article (ra) since it is used to capture the essence of the whole article. by reading the abstract, readers can learn some of the key points contained in a journal article. however, it is a challenging task for unskilled authors, especially non-native writers of english, to write abstracts in english. this is because writers need to establish their main claims and also present themselves as competent members of a language community (hyland, 2005) in a language that is not their mother tongue. since english has now become a lingua franca for international communication, being able to write an abstract in english is one of the requirements for international publication or academic conferences. it is now common that an english version of an abstract should be published even when the articles are written in languages mailto:wamnuai@gmail.com mailto:pansupa_kotuta@windowslive.com llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 169 other than english (lorés, 2004; martín, 2003). this practice makes the english abstract a vital part of international ra publications. analyzing the rhetorical structures of ra abstracts and their linguistic realization serves as one of the approaches for providing a clearer and deeper understanding of the abstract genre. a move analysis model has been gradually established and applied to assist inexperienced authors in acquiring a better understanding of the rhetorical structure of ra abstracts. the move analysis, as stated by swales (1990), encompasses a type of communicative event serving a particular communicative purpose used by a particular discourse community. a sequence of distinct moves to realize the overall communicative purpose of an abstract varies according to the genre which is a socially recognized way of using language by members of the same discourse community (hyland, 2002). moves can be realized by certain lexical features and grammatical constructions. therefore, the linguistic features of an abstract are important and play a vital role in a move-based analysis. to fully understand the structure of abstracts, most move-based research studies tend to identify not only the use of moves, but also the linguistic realizations of each move, such as tense, voice usage, and metadiscoursal markers (indrian & ardi, 2019; liu & huang, 2017; suntara, 2018; tseng, 2011; walková, 2019; zhang, thuc, & pramoolsook, 2012). as stated by salager-meyer (1992) and santos (1996), moves are realized by different linguistic resources. for example, the present tense was extensively employed in abstracts to convey a summary of the articles while the past tense was found to be used in concluding the research findings (cooley & lewkowicz, 2003). furthermore, some research studies (see amnuai, 2019a; tseng, 2011; zhang et al., 2012) found that present tense was used to give some background knowledge of the research being conducted while past tense was applied to state the methodology and present the results of the research. each move can be classified based on its linguistic realizations, such as grammatical subject, tense and voice usage (pho, 2008). as demonstrated in a comparative study by amnuai (2019b), only the present tense was found in the purpose move in the international corpus while in the thai corpus this move was expressed using both present and past tenses. therefore, analyzing the rhetorical moves and key exponents used to realize these moves will broaden efl students’ knowledge of the genre-based approach to academic writing. in this regard, learners will be benefitted from being able to differentiate the rhetorical moves of abstracts and their linguistics features, and this will help them to have a clearer picture of how abstracts are constructed. it is clear that a move analysis involves the identification of the communication purposes of particular text units and that each move should be realized by using certain linguistic resources, such as tense, voice and metadiscoursal devices. there has not been any study that focused on these issues, particularly with an analysis of applied linguistics ra abstracts written by thai writers in english. therefore, two research objectives were set to fill this gap. the first was to find which rhetorical moves are used by thai writers when writing their abstracts in english. the second was to investigate how those rhetorical moves are realized linguistically. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 170 the results of the analyses will reflect the rhetorical structures and their linguistic realizations employed in the abstracts written by thai writers. this will provide practical guidelines for authors who are interested in writing and publishing their research articles in english. methods data collection the corpus of the present study was compiled from 30 english abstracts written by thai authors in the field of applied linguistics. the abstracts that were written with foreign co-authors were excluded. the abstracts were selected from international journals published by well-known universities in thailand. the journals can be accessed via an electronic database. six journals were selected, including (1) humanities, arts and social sciences studies, (2) journal of studies in the english language, (3) learn journal: language education and acquisition research network, (4) pasaa, (5) suranaree journal of social science, and (6) the new english teacher. these journals were qualified for the analysis because they were classified in tier 1 and asian citation index (aci) indices, which were ranked by the thai-journal citation index center (tci), and can be tracked through https://tci-thailand.org/. in addition to these two recognized indices, pasaa journal has also been included in the scopus index. using purposive sampling, five ra abstracts were taken from each journal. the abstracts chosen from these journals were published during the years 2016-2019. all of the ras selected were constructed using the conventional section format of introduction-method-result-discussion/conclusion. data analysis to analyze the moves in the abstracts, hyland’s (2000) model (see table 1) was adopted. this widely-used framework is appropriate for analysis since it has been developed from the analysis of a large number of abstracts (800) across eight fields. furthermore, it has been used as a model for move analyses in many studies (e.g. amnuai, 2019a; darabad, 2016; li & pramoolsook, 2015; zanina, 2017; zhang et al., 2012). this model contains five moves, namely introduction, purpose, method, product, and conclusion, which fully cover the communicative functions of the abstracts in the field of applied linguistics. the cut-off points for move classifications were based on kanoksilapatham (2005)’s criteria, which classified the frequency of occurrence of each move ranging from obligatory, to conventional, and to optional (i.e. 100%, 60%-99%, and less than 60% of the corpora, respectively). table. 1 hyland’s (2000) move model move function introduction establishes the context of the paper and the motives for the research. purpose indicates the purpose, thesis or hypothesis, and outlines the intentions behind the paper. method provides information on the design, procedures, assumptions, approach, data, etc. https://tci-thailand.org/ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 171 product states the main findings or results, the argument, or what was accomplished. conclusion interprets the results, examines the implications, draws inferences, and points to applications or wider implications. the analysis of the metadiscoursal devices was based on hyland (2005). five interactional metadiscoursal types were identified in the present study (see table 2). in hyland and jiang’s study (2018), the metadiscoursal device was divided into two types (interactive and interactional resources). the first type includes a group of resources that “allow the writer to manage the information flow to establish his or her preferred interpretations” (hyland & jiang, 2018, p. 20). the second type is centered on “the participants of the interaction and display the writers’ personae and a tenor consistent with community norms” (hyland & jiang, 2018, p. 20). however, the present study focused on only the interactional devices because these devices express the author’s opinions to involve the reader in the arguments or to mark the degree of intimacy with his or her readers through language. in the present study, besides tense and voice, interactional devices were also included in the analysis. these linguistic features are important since previous studies found that these features discouraged non-native learners when writing research articles (e.g. flowerdew, 2001; pho, 2008; walková, 2019). as shown in their study, thai postgraduate students faced difficulties in writing academic papers because of having a low proficiency in english. their limited knowledge of the grammar for academic writing as well as their limited word used in the fields also contributed to their writing difficulties (srikrai, et al., 2016). each abstract was analyzed in terms of its rhetorical moves and linguistic features (tense, voice, and metadiscourse) manually and then the results were coded and compared. to avoid any subjectivity in coding the moves, and in the identification of the moves and linguistic features, they were analyzed independently by the researchers. the agreement between the identification of the moves and their linguistic realizations needs to be identical in terms of frequency and position. when there were disagreements on identifying moves and their linguistic realizations, a discussion took place. the results of the analyses are presented in terms of frequencies and percentages. table.2 hyland’s (2005) metadiscourse metadiscourse function examples hedges to withhold the writer's full commitment to a proposition might/perhaps/possible/about boosters to give emphasis, force or show writer's certainty of a proposition in fact/definitely/it is clear that attitude markers express the writer's attitudes to a proposition unfortunately/i agree/surprisingly engagement markers to refer to something explicitly or to build a relationship with the reader consider/note that/you can see that self-mentions explicit reference to author(s) i, we, our, my, etc. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 172 results and discussion analysis of the textual organization the results for the frequency of moves with their percentages are in table 3. table 3. frequency of moves in the abstracts move frequency percentage introduction (i) 23 77% purpose (p) 21 70% method (m) 27 90% product (pr) 29 97% conclusion (c) 15 50% *structuring the presentation (sp) 5 16% as shown in table 1, the five moves proposed by hyland (2000) were found in the present study. the frequencies of the moves for the introduction, purpose, method, and product moves ranged from between 60-100 percent. only the conclusion move was optional as its frequency of occurrence was 50 percent. it was found that five of the abstracts contained a certain communication function which signaled to the readers what the article contained (see example 1). this new move was called structuring the presentation (sp). its position was at the end of the abstracts and it always consisted of one or two sentence(s). according to nwogu, (1997), the occurrence of a new move should be about 50 percent regularly. however, the present study did not discard the new move even if its occurrence was less than 50 percent. this is because its function reflects some important characteristics of the genre of applied linguistics abstracts. its frequency of 16 percent (5 abstracts) in the corpus was particularly significant for understanding the rhetorical structures used by thai writers. the high frequency of occurrence of the product move was also found in previous studies. its frequency reached nearly 80 percent in some other applied linguistics corpora (e.g. can, karabacak, & qin, 2016; pho, 2008; ren & li, 2011; suntara & usaha, 2013). for example, the frequency of this move was one hundred percent in a corpus of applied linguistics ra abstracts conducted by pho (2008). the presenting results move was relatively high at over 80 percent, such as in agricultural abstracts in zang et al. (2012), tourism (ahmed, 2015), dental abstracts (vathanalaoha & tangkiengsirisin, 2018), and an ict abstracts (amnuai, 2019a). this implies that this move is an important part of an abstract and should be applied in nearly all disciplines. therefore, it is essential for the writing of an abstract. example 1 the pedagogical implications were also suggested. (abstract 15) move ordering pattern the five ordering patters for the most linear moves in the present study are presented in table 3. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 173 table 3. five most frequent linear move sequences move frequency 1. i-p-m-pr-c 6 2. i-p-m-pr 4 3. i-m-pr-c 3 4. p-m-pr-c 3 5. p-m-pr 3 table 3 presents the ordering patterns in the abstracts of the corpus. five linear move sequences were found. the preferred sequence was the linear i-p-mpr-c pattern. this is different from hyland’s (2000) study which found that pattern number 5 (p-m-pr) was the most frequent structure in his large corpus. from the findings of the present study, it can be seen that thai authors prefer to develop their abstracts in the linear sequence of “i-p-m-pr-c”, that is, the abstract begins with the background information and then states the objective of the study. the methodological usage and the research findings were then subsequently described. finally, the abstract ended with the conclusion in which the results were interpreted and their wider implications suggested. this implies that the thai authors were likely to adopt the conventional structure when writing their ra abstracts. in a similar study conducted by vathanalaoha & tangkiengsirisin (2018), the ideal pattern of “i-p-m-pr-c” showed a relatively high frequency in their international dental ra abstracts. they found that abstracts published in international journals were formed in the five linear patterns beginning with giving the background, stating the purpose, describing methods, presenting results, and ending with a conclusion while abstracts written by thai dental authors were different. by contrast, the abstracts of thai dental authors started with the purpose followed by methods, results, and the conclusion. the introduction move was used less often in their study. the linear i-p-m-pr-c structure in the present study is dissimilar to ahmed’s (2015) study. he found that the nonlinear pattern was found more frequently than the linear pattern which he believed may have been affected by the application of moves in organizing abstracts in that particular discourse community. also, types of research design, as well as the authors’ style, were the causes of variations in the order of the moves (almed, 2015). the results show 11 non-frequent move patterns as delineated in table 4. they show the variety of structures used in applied linguistics abstracts. interestingly, there were five embedded patterns where the authors tried to merge two moves within a sentence. the combined moves were the purpose and method moves. it was found that all the embedded moves were constructed as complex sentences. therefore, only the independent clauses of the sentences were counted for the frequency of the moves. the embedded structure is shown in example 2, where the purpose move (italic) was used to start the sentence and followed by the method move (bold). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 174 example 2 (purpose move) to understand more about the roles of english in a print advertisement in thailand, (method move) this study analyses the language used in 100 facial cosmetic advertisements available in thai magazines. table 4. non-frequent move patterns structure move frequency linear 1. i-p-pr 1 2. i-m-pr 1 embedded 3. i-p+m-pr 4. i-p+m-pr 5. p-m-m+pr-c 6. m-i-p+m-pr-c 1 1 1 1 new moves 7. m+p-m-pr-sp 8. i-p-m-pr-c-sp 9. p-sp 10. i-m-pr-sp 11. i-p-m-pr-sp 1 1 1 1 1 in the present study, a new move was found and named “structuring the presentation.” the function of this newly added move was to guide readers towards the points presented in the research article. five abstracts contained this new move and they were structured in different forms. however, these five abstracts were similar in one respect, namely, that the new move was at the end of the abstracts. two possible reasons can be used to explain this. first, the authors tried to persuade the readers to continue reading the whole paper or, secondly, they might have had only a limited space in the abstract for that information. therefore, the authors preferred to leave out this information in the abstracts because the readers would read it in the paper. although the present study shows a limited frequency for the use of the new move, it nonetheless reflects the rhetorical structure of ra abstracts generated by thai writers. tenses and voice usage the following section presents the findings concerning the tense and voice used in the corpus. table 5. verb tense frequency in each move in the corpus move types i p m pr c sp total total number of abstracts containing move types 23 21 27 29 15 5 100 past tense 1 11 23 23 1 59 present tense 18 11 4 8 14 5 60 present perfect tense 7 7 future tense 1 1 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 175 active voice 12 21 8 20 12 73 passive voice 4 2 7 1 14 active + passive voice 6 11 7 3 27 as shown in table 5, the present simple tense was the most frequently used tense in all five moves, especially in the introduction and conclusion moves. this high frequency of the present simple tense in the introduction and conclusion moves can be explained by the fact that the authors tried to relate their studies to the field and referred their findings to the discourse community. it was found that the present perfect tense was used only in the introduction move. this is because the function of the introduction move is to establish the context of the paper, provide the background to the study and show the importance of the topic to the community. using the present tense adds the effect of liveliness and contemporary relevance (swales & feak, 2004). in their study, swales and feak (2004) found that abstracts in the hard sciences, such as physics, chemistry, and astrophysics, are likely to use the present tense more often than the social sciences. conversely, the present tense was the most frequently used tense in the present study. the shift to a dynamic and active tone by using the present tense could to some extent be the result of the thai authors trying to make their research lively and fresh to their readers. the past tense was the second most frequently used tense in the corpus. it was frequently used in the method and product moves. such a high frequency correlated with that reported in previous research studies (alhuqbani, 2013; kanoksilapatham, 2012; lim, 2006; zang, et al., 2012). according to their functions, these two moves are used to address work that has been completed at the time of writing, thus the style of writing of these two moves is likely to require a direct and objective tone. the method move aims to describe the methods employed and the product move aims to show the results of the study, which leaves little opportunity for the authors’ argumentation or comments. therefore, the use of the past tense was relatively higher than that of the other tenses. the use of the active voice was much more frequently used than the passive voice and it occurred in nearly all moves. however, the passive voice was found frequently in the method move. it was found that the combination of active and passive voices was the second most frequently used pattern in the corpus. generally, writing texts in the active voice is considered to be easier for understanding than the passive voice (lorés, 2004; swales, 1990), and the passive voice is frequently used to depersonalize information (weissberg & buker, 1990). the writers in the present study tried to avoid the agent by placing the emphasis on the methodology procedure and how the treatment was carried out or how the instruments were used. tu and wang (2013) and hanidar (2016) found that the passive voice was the preferred choice for describing research methods in various fields. analyzing a large number of abstract corpora in four disciplines (biology, mechanical engineering, linguistics, and medicine), hanidar (2016) reported that the passive voice was found in all fields but with different degrees of frequency. these findings illustrate the need for focused instruction in academic writing llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 176 classes on raising english language learners’ awareness of the conventions in using verb tenses and voice when writing abstracts for publication. interactional resources the interactional metadiscoursal devices suggested by hyland (2005) were found in different numbers according to the types of the move, as shown in table 6. table 6. interactional metadiscoursal devices i p m pr c sub-total hedges 3 0 0 4 4 11 attitudinal markers 8 0 0 7 8 23 boosters 1 0 0 2 4 7 sub-total 12 0 0 13 16 total 41 table 6 shows the use of metadiscoursal devices in the abstracts written by thai authors. there were a total of 41 devices in a corpus of 30 abstracts. only three 3 out of 5 interactional resources proposed by hyland (2005) were found in the present study. the most frequent interactional resource used by thai authors in table 6 was attitudinal markers, and its usage was comparatively high in the introduction, product and conclusion moves. the second most frequently used type was the hedge and then, thirdly, the booster. based on the number of overall occurrences, two types of metadiscoursal devices (engagement markers and selfmentions) were not found in the present study. however, gillaerts and van de velde (2010) and hyland (2005) reported that interactional resources played an important role in ra abstracts. to some extent, the findings are similar to the study of zang et al. (2012), who found that the distribution of the hedge and the attitudinal markers was quite high in agricultural abstracts. hyland and jiang (2018) examined the tendency to use metadiscoursal devices in journal articles in four disciplines over the past 50 years. interestingly, they found a dramatic fall in the interactional markers in the field of applied linguistics. they also revealed that there had been a significant decrease in the number of interactional metadiscoursal devices in the soft fields. their findings demonstrated that authors tried to show their objectivity in presenting research papers, especially in the field of applied linguistics. the reason behind this trend might be the influence of the guidelines and manuals on abstract writing set by the journals, which require an objective style (gillaerts & van de velde, 2010). it can also be due to the authors’ lack of linguistic expressions for communicating their viewpoints and relationship with their readers (zang et al., 2012). for these reasons, interactional metadiscoursal devices should be one of the instructional topics for writing classes, especially in efl contexts. the employment of the 3 resources (hedge, attitudinal marker, and booster) in only 3 moves in the present study must be the result of the functions of the moves. as we know, introduction and conclusion moves aim to give great importance to the authors’ perspectives on their research or the previous literature related to their llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 177 studies. this may be the reason why attitudinal markers and hedges were used. however, these findings are different from a study by zang et al. (2012), which found that there were no metadiscoursal devices in the product move. but, in the present study, all three types of devices were found in the product move but with different degrees of usage. although the function of the product move is to state the main findings of the research, the thai authors appeared to add or reveal their personal views using the hedge, attitudinal marker, and booster, as shown in examples 3, 4, and 5 respectively. these usages demonstrate how thai authors construct their abstracts in the field of applied linguistics. example 3 more importantly, under the sub-types of citations, the international scholars tended to use considerably more non-integral structures, including source and identification, while the integral structure, verb-controlling, seemed substantially preferred by thai scholars. (abstract 3) example 4 the pearson correlation coefficient between vocabulary size and years of study was significant and positive yet relatively weak (r=.201, p<.01) which indicated that years of study were partly related to vocabulary size. (abstract 5) example 5 these were motivated by their sensitivity to a person of higher status and the thai values of being caring and considerate, showing gratitude, and being modest. tes, however, differed significantly from tts noticeably in their use of direct strategies. (abstract 15) furthermore, the omission of two other types of resources (engagement markers and self-mentions) is interesting. in academic writing, authors have a choice of presenting themselves to the readers in explicit or implicit ways (walková, 2019). however, the thai authors in this study did not interact with their readers by using any personal pronouns. this finding is in line with zang et al. (2012), who found that only one abstract used the self-mention device. in contrast, liu and huang (2017) obtained different results. they found that the trend of using self-mention markers increased in economics abstracts written by chinese authors. walková (2019) also reported that the use of authorial reference in ras written by native english writers was higher than that of l2 english writers. the native english authors used self-mention when stating their research procedures while the non-native english authors employed this device when announcing the purpose, intention, or focus of the study. although in the past three decades, explicit self-reference has not been widely used in academic writing as papers using the device might be rejected for publication, first-person pronouns have gradually been acknowledged as “a powerful means by which writers express identity by asserting their claim to speak as an authority, and this is a key element of successful academic writing” (hyland, 2002, p. 11). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 178 the findings of the present study demonstrated how thai authors wrote abstracts in the field of applied linguistics. they were not likely to communicate directly to their readers by using self-mention devices or engagement markers although it is possible to use them in mentioning the authors themselves or in addressing readers directly. this is because using personal pronouns can shorten the distance between the authors and their readers (swales & feak, 2004). to some extent, these results might provide a practical guideline for assisting inexperienced thai authors or non-native writers to write their research abstracts effectively. conclusion the analysis of 30 abstracts written in english by thai authors in the field of applied linguistic yielded some useful information. five moves proposed by hyland (2005) were found with different degrees of frequency. the product move was ranked number one which was followed by the method move. the third rank was the introduction move and the purpose move was the fourth in rank with a frequency of 70 percent of the corpus. the least frequent was the conclusion move with a frequency of 50 percent. the new move “structuring the presentation (sp)” was only found in five of the abstracts (16%). the linear ordering pattern (i-p-mpr-c) was the most frequently used structure in the corpus. the thai authors tended to use the present tense in writing their abstracts, especially in the introduction and conclusion moves. the past tense in the passive form was frequently used in the method and product moves. the attitudinal marker was the most frequent interactional resource used by the thai authors to communicate with their readers. the results show that only three metadiscoursal devices (hedge, attitudinal marker, and booster) were employed in the corpus. the conclusion move showed a very high usage of these devices. the findings are expected to have pedagogical implications for the integration of a genre-based approach with linguistic features in terms of tense, voice, and interactional resources in various aspects of writing. the rhetorical organization and their linguistic realizations found in the present study can be actively incorporated into the programs or curriculum for thai undergraduates or higher levels of studies, for example, in research writing courses for those who find it difficult to write well-structured ra abstracts for publication. that means teachers can incorporate the research findings of the rhetorical moves, linguistic features as well as the interactional metadiscoursal devices in their teaching materials by providing genre-based tasks or activities to raise students’ awareness of the necessary rhetorical organization and its linguistic realizations. such provisions would provide students with opportunities to experience the genre and the linguistic resources of ra abstracts and make them more sensitive to the styles of language usage set by their discourse community. references ahmed, s. 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(2012). moves and linguistic realizations: english research article abstracts by vietnamese agricultural researchers. asian esp journal, 8(2), 126-149. llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 73 moodle-based learning model for paragraph writing class mega wulandari sanata dharma university megawuland@gmail.com abstract today’s language classroom is vastly different from that of the twentieth century. the trends in language learning are moving forward in a way as to empower language learners to interact with others. time and place boundaries are transcended by internet-based media to facilitate the interaction they are eager to make. language teachers must now be able to utilize internet for language learning, especially in writing class because most learners assume that writing skill is the hardest part of language to learn, which require learners to practice intensively in order to gain mastery. moodle (modular, object-oriented, dynamic, and learning environment) is one of many internet-based media through which teachers can work with students, whether in distance mode or as a supplement to face-to-face teaching. there are four basic things teachers and students can do with moodle, namely: storing, communicating, collaborating, and evaluating. considering those potentials, this research aimed at developing a moodle learning model of paragraph writing at the university level. the result of the research was the theoretical model and the iconic moodle learning model. the theoretical model presents the moodle features that were selected according to their suitability with the theory of paragraph writing as well as with the call principles and gagne’s nine events of instruction. the iconic model was developed by making some revisions based on the results of the expert validation and the user validation. the iconic learning model could be accessed on www.writing2pbi.mdl2.com. keywords: call, paragraph writing, moodle, learning media a. background technology nowadays has grown so advanced that almost every aspect of life is inevitably touched by the advancement of technology, including education. in line with the increasingly rapid technological developments, especially after the internet was invented in 1993, new innovations in learning are also created which involves the integration of education and technology. a learning which utilizes internet network is now familiar with elearning (hrastinski, 2008). elearning is arguably one of the most powerful responses to the growing need for education which offers practicality, authenticity, flexibility, and interactivity through internet, overcoming time and travel constraints of conventional placebased face-to-face education (warschauer, 1997). internet can also promote autonomous yet collaborative learning. young, et al (1995), for example, predicts that the internet will not isolate students, but will enhance learning. he writes: one of the most important educational experiences is collaboration. in some of the world’s most creative classrooms, computers and communications networks are already beginning to change the conventional relationships among students moodle-based learning ... 74 themselves, and between students and teachers, by facilitating collaborative learning (p. 200). warschauer, et.al. (2000) mention five main reasons to use the internet for english teaching. taken together, these reasons help bring english teaching alive (authenticity, literacy, interaction, vitality, and empowerment). in the era of autonomous yet collaborative learning that has been carried out hastily nowadays, especially in higher education, students are expected to be able to rely much on themselves as well as to assist one another in their learning. while teachers should find a way to accommodate meaningful learning in order to produce more successful learners, students should seek another means of studying outside the classroom so as to eventually be more active and autonomous learning. it complies with theory of constructivism proposed by vygotsky. constructivism is the idea that a learner is an active learner who constructs a personal base of knowledge and understanding (vygostsky, 1999). e-learning in constructivism context will be: set of manageable, content-rich, knowledgesharing and collaborative tools. one of the tools which meets those requirements is moodle, which stands for modular object oriented dynamic learning environment. moodle, a free and open-source system, is emerging as a more and more popular option to teachers with novice computer background. although moodle is not considered as the newest internetbased tool, its ability to enable learners to enter a virtual classroom to access learning materials with low budget yet rich in contents is still recognized. what makes moodle so interesting are the useful features that can facilitate learners to share links, send personal message and publish their work in a forum to be read by others. the product specification is explained through four basic things teachers and students can do with moodle, namely storing, communicating, collaborating and evaluating. the next issue is related to the language learning. the prevailing language for communication on the internet is english. this may be a result of the internet origin’s, as well as english’s role as the lingua franca (castells, 2007). as far as language is concerned, writing in particular has emerged to be the most important skill in day-to-day life. writing skill plays an important role in the globalization era since the transfer of information and knowledge is done by sharing of pieces of writing. since writing is a productive skill, it requires the students to practice a lot to attain mastery. paragraph writing is one of the obligatory subjects offered in the second semester by english language education study program (elesp) of sanata dharma university. paragraph writing gives students theories and practices on how to write good paragraphs. students will be introduced to the concept of a good paragraph which includes writing good topic sentence, supporting sentences, and concluding sentence. students also need to consider other aspects, i.e. concept of unity and cohesion. frequently, due to large classes, teachers and individual students often have insufficient opportunities to communicate in the classroom to enhance their writing. to address that issue, moodle with its great potential to cross those boundaries can be a suitable tool to overcome those problems. llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 75 b. methodology the research method employed was education research and development (r & d) method. borg and gall (1983: 772) stated that “educational research and development (r&d) is a process used to develop and validate educational products”. moreover, the goal of r & d was to take the research knowledge and incorporate it into a product that could be used in school (borg and gall, 1983:771). it also complies with the addie instructional design model which underwent the following process: analysis-designdevelopment-implementationevaluation. therefore, this research used addie instructional design model as framework. firstly, in the analysis phase, the learning problems and learner characteristics are identified. analysis also considers the audience’s needs, lacks and wants. secondly, design phase was executed by deciding learning objectives and lesson planning. after the general objectives had been formulated, the next step was choosing teaching activities and features selection in moodle. afterwards, the implementation of the moodle learning model in paragraph writing was conducted to provide experience of the newly developed model. finally, in order to obtain relevant and appropriate materials and learning strategy, the designed learning model needed to be evaluated to ensure the validity. this phase consists of formative and summative evaluation. formative evaluation was done by asking feedback from a number of experts in paragraph writing and computerassisted language learning in order to validate the learning model. the researcher chose four lecturers of the english language education study program with distinct areas of expertise to evaluate the product based on their area of expertise. therefore the evaluation was called “expert validation”. on the other hand, the summative evaluation was conducted to gain feedback from the students. they were expected to evaluate the learning model through their response towards the statements and questions presented in the questionnaires and interview. therefore, this phase was called “user validation”. the five steps addie’s design model proposed can be seen in the following figure: figure 1 : addie model (braxton, bronico, looms, 2000) c. discussion 1. analysis phase the analysis phase was conducted to collect information about the need in paragraph writing class by interviewing the paragraph writing lecturer, distributing questionnaires to the targeted users and analyzing existing e-learning sites to be able to develop an appropriate moodle learning model for the students. a. interview with paragraph writing lecturer to begin with, an interview with a lecturer of paragraph writing was conducted to collect the data. the data include students’ proficiency, the applied teaching strategies, students’ characteristics and teaching media. in the interview, the lecturer implied moodle-based learning ... 76 that the students’ language proficiency, particularly their vocabulary mastery and punctuation, was quite low. the lecturer has attempted to assign students to do peer reviewing or do consultation with the lecturer before submitting their final draft. however, because of the large classes, the lecturer and individual students often have insufficient opportunities to communicate in the classroom and communication outside the class may not occur because a lack of suitable office hour, busy schedules, or simply shyness on the part of the students. the lecturer thinks that the student might need a media which facilitates them to have such interaction outside the classroom. in addition, students often made mistakes on the grammar use. in-depth explanation of the grammar use was needed to overcome this problem. the lecturer usually went over the common errors to be discussed in class after he finished correcting all the submitted compositions. the lecturer admitted that it usually took more than one week to finish the correction. another finding of this research was the fact that occasionally students could hardly decide the topic sentence of the compositions. topic sentence plays a role as a determiner of what a composition is about. students were confused in formulating the opening and closing sentences, how to produce acceptable good sentence for a particular kind of composition. to overcome this problem, the lecturer managed students to form a group, then to have a group discussion. this way, students had possibility to collaborate with other students in developing their ideas. the lecturer still utilized traditional face to face media in his classes, such as textbooks, additional grammar exercises, and sometimes pictures. once the lecturer using made an attempt to utilize blogs and emails in supporting students’ writing process, but the lecturer found difficulties in organizing student’s blogs and creating links to student’s personal blogs. to connect the lecturer with students’ blogs, he should learn html coding which he found overwhelming and thus he thought it’s very difficult for him to evaluate student’s compositions. furthermore, using email for writing was another intricate thing. this time, the students only make use of emails for sending or submitting tasks which had not finished while the teaching/learning process were conducted at classroom. the emails sent by students were often mixed up with the lecturer’s personal emails. afterwards, he stopped using blogs and emails since it was considered troublesome. in conclusion, the lecturer expected an instructional material design which maximizes function of internet as one of the facilities provided by the university. the lecturer needs a media whose ability to provide students with interactive features, provide students with feedback in a short period of time, provide students with unlimited resources, facilitate them to communicate to each other in finishing tasks, and a media which relatively easy to access and simple to navigate. b. analyzing the existing e-learning websites in order to analyze and investigate the needs of good educational websites characteristics, the researcher reviewed several english writing websites, e.g. bbc blast (http://www.bbc.co.uk/blast/writing llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 77 /), english biz (http://www.englishbiz. co.uk/), just a bit: writing in small chunks! (http://edtech2.boisestate.edu/croni nv/ 502/syllabus_overview.html), tefl.net (http://www.tefl.net/), writing prompts (http://writingprompts.tumblr.com/) , grammar girl (http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.co m/). the result of this part was the ideal needs response of a moodle learning model for paragraph writing. since the moodle learning model would be used online and accessed by means of computer, the learning model would exceptionally have interesting visual design and effective presentation nature. the product combined pictures and color in an ideal amount of highlight relationships and aid learning without being distraction. it complies with the call principle which states that the students will be highly motivated to access a website with interesting visual design. the learning model broke down the lessons into an ideal number of small frames that allow the students to make choices and apply the principle of effective paragraph writing. the learning model also employed and presented affable font efficiently for its learning texts as well as instruction to allow longer learning endurance and so that they do not clutter the screen and discourage students. these needs responses are ideal because they answered directly to the subject and students needs as well as promoting the use of effective, efficient and attractive principles for further development. c. an interview with targeted students an interview with several first year students also conducted to gain information about their expectation toward the learning model. when they were asked about their expectations of an ideal e-learning for paragraph writing class, most participants expressed that they fancied a class which: (a) provided numerous interactive practices for evaluating their writing skill, (b) had systematic, relevant, and interesting learning materials in form of multimedia content, (c) provided online dictionary, (d) provided downloadable and printable materials, so that they can learn those at home, and (e) is easily navigated. 2. design phase after obtaining the necessary data, the researcher then developed the framework of the materials to be designed, which consist of the general objective and competence standard of the materials, the learning topics, the learning indicators, and the organization of the subject content. the framework was formed based on the result of investigating the paragraph writing syllabus (kpe 154) and the available literature on writing. from the syllabus the researcher noted that the general purpose of paragraph writing lessons is giving students opportunities to practice their writing skills to produce a good paragraph. during the course, students will be introduced to the concept of a good paragraph which covers topic sentence, supporting sentences, and concluding sentence. students also need to consider other aspects, i.e. concept of unity and cohesion. the moodle learning model then is designed to accommodate that objective. the goal of the moodle learning model is to provide students with a practical and efficient approach to learning skills, strategies and knowledge that are necessary for succeeding in content coursework. moodle-based learning ... 78 another goal of the learning model is to provide opportunities for students to explore their opinions, discuss their ideas, and share their experiences through written communication. having stated the general objective, the researcher then determined how to measure whether or not the competences have been mastered by specifying the learning indicators. learning indicators define the performance students should be able to demonstrate in order to be categorized as having achieved the competences standard. indicators can also be used to construct tests for measuring students’ progress as well as the guidelines for selecting tasks and learning materials. the learning indicators for each topic are presented in table 1. table 1. title and learning objectives unit title learning objectives 1. paragraph organization in the end of the course, the students are able to:  recognize the elements of a paragraph  understand the organization of the paragraph model  identify the function of each elements of a paragraph  analyzing the model of a paragraph  create a mindmap to help them determine topics to write  write an outline 2. topic sentence in the end of the course, the students are able to  identify the two parts of the topic sentence, namely topic and controlling idea  figure out the general idea as the topic sentence for a paragraph  write the topic sentence in a complete sentence using the topic and controlling statement for provided paragraph. 3. supporting sentences & concluding sentence in the end of the course, the students are able to:  recognize the characteristics of supporting sentence and concluding sentence  identify suporting sentences and concluding sentence to form a paragraph  arrange jumbled sentences into a good paragraph  write a paragraph using all the elements learned and post it in web forum  criticize friend’s paragraph in term of organization (elements), grammar, idea, and vocabulary.  revise their paragraph based on obtained feedbacks 4. unity and coherence in the end of the course, the students are able to:  recognize the important aspects of a paragraph, namely unity and coherence  identify unified or unified paragraph  identify whether the paragraph is coherent or not llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 79 unit title learning objectives  write a paragraph using all the elements learned and post it in web forum  review and criticize friend’s paragraph in term of organization (elements), grammar, idea, vocabulary, unity and coherence  revise their paragraph based on obtained feedbacks 3. development phase after the general objective, competence standard and unit have been formulated; the next step was choosing teaching activities. each unit was broken down into four main sections: module zone, exercise zone, forum zone, and links zone. the division of the sections was based on the call principle alive (authenticity, literacy, interaction, vitality and empowerment). the summary of the call principles which served as the underlying theory for choosing the learning activities is presented in table 2. table 2: call principles as the basis of choosing learning activities no. call principles learning activities name of section 1 authenticity students are able to access examples and downloadable material. module zone 2 vitality students are able to access materials, theories 24 hours a day. module zone 3 interactivity students are able to publish/share their paragraphs, provide feedback for their peers, discuss and consult with both peers and the lecturer. forum zone 4 literacy students are able to access pre-selected links to relevant websites and videos links zone 5 empowerment students are able to assess their understanding through some numbers of exercises. quiz zone figure 2: course objectives on moodle moodle-based learning ... 80 a. module zone the first selected feature of moodle was the resource feature in the form of page, label, file, folder and url. it was in line with the call principle of authenticity and vitality. the internet can inject an element of authenticity and vitality into teaching and motivate students as they communicate in a medium that is flexible, content rich, and connected to their real-life needs (warschauer, 2000). it is presented in module zone section. in this section, the researcher provided knowledge oriented activities to prepare the students by encouraging them to activate or obtain relevant types of knowledge. this allows learners to proceed to the activities from their own experience which allow the learning to become meaningful to them. this page presents materials, theories and paragraph models that are essential to build students’ knowledge about the paragraph’s nature. this page also provides downloadable materials in form of pdf or ppt files which they can save for future recalling. b. quiz zone the second feature that was selected was quiz feature. this feature was able to support the call principle of empowerment. it would enable the students to set their own pace that suits them in learning without disrupting other students. it is presented in exercise zone section. this section aims to measure students’ understanding on the discussed topic. this page contains exercises of the learned topic in several kinds of exercises, namely multiple choice, cloze test, gap-filling, picture describing, and arranging sentences. this page also provides obtained score and the lecturer’s feedback after students attempted the quiz. the lecturer can fully control the deadline and timeframes for assignments, quizzes, forums, chats, etc. for example, the lecturers can set deadlines or timeframes when assignments must be completed, whether students can re-submit their figure 3: module zone llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 81 assignments, and also restrict access to learning tasks once the deadline has passed. figure 4: multiple-choice exercise figure 5: quiz feedback for incorrect answer figure 6: writing exercise moodle-based learning ... 82 figure 7: short answer exercise c. forum zone the next selected feature from moodle was forum. this feature served a represent the call principle of interaction. according to call principle, interaction is the major means of acquiring a language and gaining fluency (warschauer, 2000). forum would expand interaction among the students and the teacher. it is presented in forum zone section. chat feature would be also added to serve the principle of interaction. this feature would be connected to the lecturer’s mobile phone, thus would give student fast response anytime they meet difficulties. all the compositions posted are kept in one threaded forum and can be read by the students from any computer connected to the internet. each member of the team is assigned to review on the partner’s compositions to insure proper structure of the compositions posted in the moodle. students were asked to give comment on their friends’ paragraphs using thread feature (or reply feature). the comments involve ideas development, organization, grammar, and punctuation. this exercise practices the evaluation skill of the students. the lecturer also contributes to their learning by giving comments as evaluation thus can be the basis to edit and revise their compositions. moodle can give students an opportunity to edit and revise the compositions or if some new information wants to be added in the previously posted compositions. finally, the completed and revised compositions are posted in different folder in the forum for grading. it is aimed to observe how their writing has changed over time. llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 83 d. links zone the ability to read, research, and publish on the internet helps students to master the skills they will need for academic and occupational success. it promotes one of the call principles, namely literacy. the main benefit for teachers to use moodle is that they will be able to provide direct links to relevant websites and resources. ease of use of moodle enables regular updating of links and materials therefore, links zone section was created. the link zone section serves as an extension of the writing materials. this section lists all the available pre-selected links to relevant websites or videos. links for website will open in a new window, while for the video; it is already embedded in the website. this additional feature enables students to acquire further content knowledge related to theme of the writing material that may promote further learning. figure 8: forum zone figure 9: link zone and embedded video moodle-based learning ... 84 4. implementation after developing the learning model, it was then implemented to the targeted users in five meetings of the paragraph writing course, covering the structure of paragraph writing. initially, the students were familiarized with the online setting by being informed on how to use moodle and what they would do in moodle before the implementation got started which was in product dissemination seminar: let’s moodle it held by the graduate program of english language study sanata dharma cooperated with seamolec. it was important to do in order to avoid students from being overwhelmed by any possible technical issues. the guideline that was specially made to ease students in navigating the site was distributed. therefore, every student could refer to the guideline when having problem in accessing the site. afterward, the students sign up to enroll at the online course. after logging in, the students could find detailed instructions provided in each unit section. students were given the chance to familiarize themselves with moodle and all the features as well as additional widgets provided in the moodle. students were able to review the lesson taught in the classroom through the features provided in the learning model. after that, the students were required to work on the exercises on how to write effective topic sentence, supporting sentences and concluding sentence. students could also download all materials and power point slides. they were also encouraged to share their writing and gain as much feedback as they could possibly get by posting their writing in the forum feature. 5. evaluation phase the data for this subsection is acquired from the evaluation of the material design by distributing the evaluation questionnaires. there are two parts that will be discussed in this subsection, namely the descriptive statistics of respondents’ opinions on the designed materials and the respondents’ comments and suggestions on the designed materials. after the data were calculated and analyzed, it was found that the results were satisfying. from the respondents’ opinions on the designed materials, it was found out that the average point of the central tendency is 4.3 from the scale 5.0. it indicates that the designed materials are good and acceptable for semester 2 students of english language education study program. however, there was a need to conduct more exploration on the existing part of the design based on the respondents’ comments and suggestions. (see appendix 1) furthermore, the researcher analyzed comments and suggestions on the designed model by providing the respondents four open-ended questions. from the open-ended questions, the respondents stated that the designed materials had a very interesting layout, varied llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 85 activities, and the materials could develop students’ evaluation skill through peer commenting using moodle. all participants stated that the presentation of the materials was good and attractive. the layout and pictures could support the content of the materials and could persuade students to review the materials at home. however, there was a need to conduct more exploration on the existing part of the design based on the respondents’ comments and suggestions. the respondents’ comments and suggestions are presented in table 3. table 3: call principles as the basis of choosing learning activities no. parts of the mistakes types of mistakes suggestions 1 instruction too brief instruction provide clearer instruction to illustrate the tasks 2 learning indicators unclear learning indicators the learning indicators should be measurable and observable 3 font too small font font in modules might be enlarged 4 advertisement ads may shift away students’ focus and attention find a free hosting 5 links unrelated links specify the links as it will help students to get more focused first of all, two participants stated that more detailed instructions should be added in every section of the unit, because the brief instructions were not clear enough to give vivid description on what to do. second, the learning indicators should be presented on the website because they would serve as the guidelines for the students. the learning indicators should be measurable and observable. the third, the font in modules might be enlarged, such as the title, so the students will easily be attracted. the forth, the ads may shift away students’ focus and attention. however, it would be much better to find a free hosting which can host the moodle without advertisements. the fifth, some links are not in line with learning writing, the participant suggest to specify the links as it will help students to get more focused. the last suggestion is that one expert participant questioned the absence of chat room in the site. however, other expert stated that the use of yahoo messenger is sufficient and can be said to be the valuable point of this site. as respondents suggested that some instructions were not well formulated, the researcher then revised the instructions. in order to ease students to understand so as to encourage them in following the instructed tasks, the researcher made exhaustive yet easilyunderstood instructions which is divided into several parts; what to write, what to post, and how much moodle-based learning ... 86 points will be earned. instructions were then added in every section of the unit and exercises so that the students would know what they were supposed to do without relying too much on the lecturer to give the instructions. by this being made, it opposed the idea that using technology in teaching merely transferring the whole in-class activities into digital version. the idea of e-learning should serve as enabling students to achieve their personal objectives autonomously. the screen shot of the first revision could be seen in figure 10. related to the ads which may shift away students’ focus and attention, the researcher found software named adsblock which can be used for eliminating the ads from the website hosting the learning model prototype. by installing the software on every computer device used to access the moodle, no advertisements will appear to distract students’ focus. furthermore, related to the participants’ comment on the provided links, the researcher has eliminated any unrelated links and added some subsidiary links from which the students could obtain some extra references. in conclusion, by revising and improving the site based on the evaluation, the ideal design of moodle-based learning model for paragraph writing is achieved. d. conclusions all features were developed and put under the four sections created to help showing the flow of the course. those four sections were module zone, exercise zone, forum zone, and link zone. 1. module zone section required the students to study theory on the topic being learned it also gave the students access to download the learning materials. 2. the exercise zone section contained the exercises evaluate the users understanding of the materials given. the exercises offer additional practice in correctly and effectively building sentences and a paragraph. 3. the forum zone section serves as a place for students to post and share their writing. this page makes all students’ compositions viewable to the whole class members and thus can facilitate the students in comparing and reviewing peers’ compositions. 4. link zone section allows both students and lecturer to share links to relevant internet figure 10: revised version of the instruction llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 87 resources in form of webpages or videos sorted by topics created by the instructor. the expert validation questionnaires were distributed to the lecturers of the english language education study program of sanata dharma university and one moodle user from monash university, australia. after the data were analyzed, it was found that the mean from 24 statements was 4,3 out of 5. the results of the expert validation had implied that theoretical model had been satisfactorily designed and developed, which was then called as the iconic model prototype. references borg, w. r. &gall, m. d. (1983). educational research: an introduction. new york: longman, inc. castells, m. (2007).rise of the network society. 3 vols. vol. 1. cambridge, ma: blackwell publisher. harstinski, s. (2008). asynchronous & synchronous e-learning. paper presented at the 28th international conference on information systems, montreal, canada, december 9-12 2007 vygotskii, l.s. (1978). mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes. cambridge, ma: harvard university press warschauer, m. (1997).computerassisted language learning: an introduction. tokyo: logos international warschauer, m, shetzer, h., & meloni, c. (2000). internet for english teaching. virginia: teachers of english to speakers of other languages, inc. young, mark r., bruce r. klemz, and j. william murphy. (2003). enhancing learning outcomes: the effects of instructional technology, learning styles, instructional methods, and student behavior. journal of marketing education 25.2: 130-142. appendix 1. the descriptive statistics of expert validation no. statements frequency of points of agreement central tendency 1 2 3 4 5 n m 1. the learning indicators in the lesson plan are in line with the basic competences and standard competences. 1 4 5 4.8 2. the site provides learners with the clear knowledge of the program objectives. 1 4 5 4.8 3. module a. the explanation of the text type has been well described in the module. 1 2 2 5 4.2 b. abstract concept of paragraph writing (principles, rules, structure, etc) are illustrated with concrete and specific 2 2 1 5 3.8 moodle-based learning ... 88 no. statements frequency of points of agreement central tendency 1 2 3 4 5 n m examples c. the language features are presented in accordance with the type of text being discussed. 2 3 5 4.6 d. model text can help students to get an overview of the types of text being discussed. 2 3 5 4.6 e. multimedia features (video, animation, pictures) help learner build their understanding on the concept of paragraph writing. 2 3 5 4.6 f. downloadable materials in form of ppt and pdf enrich students knowledge on the concept of paragraph writing 1 4 5 4.8 4. exercise a. the exercises are able to support the topic being discussed. 1 4 5 4.8 b. the instruction of the exercises are clear and easy to follow 1 4 5 4.8 c. the types of exercises are varied, thereby obviating the students from boredom in doing the exercises 3 2 5 4.6 5. forum a. the forum instructions are clear and easy to understand. 1 2 2 5 4.2 b. the forum activity is able to improve the learners writing ability. 2 3 5 4.6 c. the forum activity is related with the discussed topic. 1 4 5 4.8 d. the forum activity motivates the learners to do peer reviewing. 2 3 5 4.6 6. drop a visit a. the provided links can be accessed flawlessly. 2 3 5 4.6 b. the provided links can can gain attention and maintain motivation of the learners while helping learners understand the materials deeper. 5 5 5 7. a. the moodle learning model is appropriate to be implemented for second semester students of english education study program 2 3 5 4.6 8. the moodle learning model provides learners with frequent and varied learning activities that increase learning success. 1 3 5 4.8 9. the web provides supporting tools (dictionary, ym chat, comment box, etc) 1 3 5 4.8 llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 89 no. statements frequency of points of agreement central tendency 1 2 3 4 5 n m 10. the moodle learning model is easy to navigate (provide clear instruction) 1 4 5 4.6 11. the moodle learning model is free from technical problem. 2 3 5 4.6 12. the moodle learning model has a consistency (colour, layout, font and capitalization) are consistent from screen to screen. 1 4 5 4.8 13. generally, the learning model is well designed 3 2 5 4.4 total 4 42 81 total score 554 good mean 4,3 moodle-based learning ... 90 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 164 socio-pragmatic profiling on english imperative at the airport yune andryani pinem sekolah tinggi teknologi kedirgantaraan correspondence: j.andryani@gmail.com doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.2662 received 19 june 2020; accepted 10 march 2021 abstract regardless of its function to order someone to do or not do something, commanding and requesting are different on socio pragmatics basis. related to the dual-service of security and comfort at the airport, authority and politeness entailed in an imperative utterance can be expressed differently according to the context. social backgrounds including gender, occupation, and job experience or training of 6 aviation workers portray various expressions and pitches of 5 imperative operators in 10 different situations divided by level of danger. profiling on implicature over those backgrounds is described by locating stress point switches on the expression given. keywords: imperative, implicature, intonation, profiling, socio-pragmatic introduction imperative as one of the sentence types has conventional expression of commanding or requesting. sharing the same force of requiring to make/order someone to do or not do something, imperative is not necessarily exclusively interpreted as commands. this interpretation is varied in more specific subtypes in several languages such as command, invitation, request, prohibition (ramlan, 2005), and allowing in indonesian (rahardi, 2006) or obligation, permission, acceptance and wish (lapeyre, 1993) or threats and dares (takahashi, 2004) in english with difference in pragmatics or sociolinguistics property. an explicit difference can be seen between imperative force exertion of commanding and requesting in pragmatics. the first is based on psychosocial influence of authority exerted by the speaker (01) which is attached to the imperative operator. meanwhile, the latter is related to politeness to save the ego of the hearer (02) from face-threatening act (fta). the ability to differentiate imperative pragmatic as a real form of imperative means has been set as an indicator of 01’s level of politeness in communicating toward 02. this pragmatically imperative choice is strongly related to context (rahardi, 2006). authority and politeness have been proven as two opposite poles. adaptation strategy done in audio-visual translation in a corpus of expression translation of video games “half life 2” to persian is for the purpose of politeness. however, transfer to imperative sentences is done to represent the power of the main character (touiserkani, 2015). in tembang dolanan, straight directive speech is considered full of force and no politeness but indirect directive speech is meant to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 165 lessen force and encourage willingness to obey the order (winarti et al., 2015). in a bottom-up situation where 01 is considered lower in social status, politeness is needed more than authority. requesting is done by students as lower status of 01 toward their teacher mostly in form of interrogative and some in declarative to make it more polite (nadar, 1998). influenced by javanese speech level, commanding is transformed into requesting and inviting along with language shifting into the higher level of diction and lower pitch tone when it is addressed toward high level status of 02 (pinem & nasution, 2019). consequently, it is common that whenever the urge of authority in an imperative sentence emerges, politeness is overlooked and vice versa. politeness in the service industry is an obligation as part of hospitality attached to service and facilities, which the price pays for such as accommodation hotel and airport service, tourism and many other related services. polite, care and tolerant are some characteristics mentioned as elements which are vital in the hospitality industry (langvinienė & daunoravičiūtė, 2015). in tourism services provided by javanese practitioners, various politeness acts are able to be implemented with similarity and difference toward tourists whose backgrounds are western, indonesian and javanese interchangeably. this is claimed to be successful because the service operator has javanese cultural background and practices triglossia of ngoko-madya-krama (purnomo, 2011). for business purposes, a research and development approach is implemented to observe the need of spa therapists in hotel and resort on hospitality english (nugraheni, 2018). this has been one of the major concerns of angkasa pura (ap) as facility provider at the airport to provide safety, security and comfort standardization (visi, misi dan nilai angkasa pura airports, 2019). for this reason, ap requires these authority and politeness as part of aviation security (avsec) officer skills (aviation security tingkat basic, 2016). this dual-service skills is influencing for slightly more than 50 percent in giving customer satisfaction at the airport (sufiani, 2019). in fact, this kind of service is not only provided but also evaluated in quality by other institutions such as bank (pramana & rastini, 2016), tax office (fuadi & mangonting, 2013), hospital (nurrizka & saputra, 2011)and many other public facility providers. paying attention to strategies, markers and context is common in delivering politeness. as strategies, the interlocutor can merely use requesting (sukarno, 2018; syahri, 2013)or choosing the most proper pronoun to address his/her addressee (mahmud, 2011; susanto, 2014). context as background to deliver it can be found in translating qur’anic imperative verses (al farisi, 2018), responding compliment (sukarno, 2015), competing on debate (rosari, 2016) or showing cultural identity in mindset (sudaryat, 2015). politeness in imperative can be found in additional gestures as markers such as in laos. triggered by dualism pragmatics conflict of over-telling and under-telling imperative on social communication in laos, big-gestures of large movement, full arm and eye gaze are used by infants to say “where” or “which one”. meanwhile, small-gestures are utilized to add important reference to the speech. (enfield et al., 2007). low considered native language of vietnamese compared to english projects, its left phrase-structure is rather low in imperative, interrogative and modal construction (duffield, 2013). this shows correlation between high-low position of language and illocutionary features. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 166 intonation has been mentioned many times as one of the markers occurring or even relating to imperative illocutionary variations as appeared between downstepped level terminal contour (dlt) and imperative sentence types (jeong & condoravdi, 2018). even though this intonation on imperatives has been proven to display not necessarily more tonal variation circumstantially on (semi-) spontaneous speech than lab speech in mexican spanish (feldhausen et al., 2014) but it is illustrated significantly different in utterance of argentinian spanish while producing imperative commands and requests (gabriel et al., 2010). while imperative command is typically pictured in h+l* l% nuclear configuration, this imperative utterance is illustrated as l+h* +l followed by l% boundary tone on imperative requests. however, lack of deeper discussion on how different social backgrounds of the speaker may vary intonation on imperative based on the urge of either authority or politeness. social background can also affect one’s intonation in utterance. for instance, a study finds that separate parts (frontal, temporo-parietal and subcortical) of brain lesions in patients’ right hemisphere results in different emotional intonation. in addition to the study, brain organization of prosodic function which plays a role in recognizing and conveying emotions in communication is different by gender. frontal lesions for women are more detrimental while subcortical lesions lead to stronger impairment in men. therefore, emotional prosody produced by each gender is also different (rymarczyk & grabowska, 2007). in another study, turkish first year students are proven to have no awareness on english stress and intonation in words, phrases, clauses and sentences because their language is syllable-timed. consequently, recommendation for these students is to have additional training on listening and pronunciation class (demirezen, 2015). again, social factors determine one’s intonation choice. socio pragmatics is used to reveal social use of language on why certain groups of people produce language to adjust to a communication. in greetings, socio pragmatics perspective on spanish politeness is taken differently by persian immigrants. a cross cultural shock occurs when these immigrants experience different types of politeness shown by spanish girls’ non-verbal greetings involving kissing. different social norms are the main reason for this behavior which leads to boundaries of having effective communication (elhami, 2020). socio pragmatics factors play roles when a spanish speaker modifies the phonetic properties of intensity in an imperative utterance depending on the situation whether formal or informal. therefore, the appearance of l*l% contours are attested in formal imperatives while l+h* lh% and l+h* hl% are more common in informal ones (robles-puente, 2019). to find how respondents produce real imperative expressions in two simulations with different levels of danger is the objective of this study. later, stress point in intonation of those expressions is observed to determine what speaker’s pragmatic implicature is. using profiling skill, characteristics shown from respondents’ social background is extrapolated and classified based on their illocutions to be used as predictors on how a certain profile reacts to similar situations. this information will be beneficial as a model to deal with duality of service of authority and politeness in a training course of new airport officers or interns. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 167 method at the airport, authority is generally represented by an aviation security (avsec) officer and politeness is attached to a flight attendant. therefore, respondents for this study are taken from these two occupations which are carefully selected using purposive sampling. social background chosen includes kinds of professional experience and training representing level of competencies which contribute to work performance (poovathingal & kumar, 2018). each criterion is represented by one male and female. considering those elements, six respondents are selected including 2 (male and female) flight attendants, 2 (male and female) senior avsec officers, 2 (male and female) avsec trainees. each respondent is given 10 contexts which require imperative expression of (1) ‘stop’, (2) ‘go’, (3) ‘get out’, (4) ‘empty your pocket’ and (5) ‘open your luggage’ to take place. for every context, all respondents give a level of priority to choose whether authority (a) or politeness (p). every response is analyzed to know (1) level of priority choice in situations presented on scale 3 (high) to 0 (none) and (2) language choice: word, phrase and/or sentence. recorded sound observed is pitch in hertz to represent intonation. stress point in intonation for each utterance is later observed to determine illocutions of the expression. eventually, a profiling is done to generate and classify characteristics of an officer based on his/her social background when choosing implicature and producing pitch in commanding vs. requesting a customer at the airport. result and discussion implicatures on imperative of authority (ioa) and politeness (iop) from collected sound recording, each respondent’s production can be displayed in forms of pitch value (hertz) and diagram. by concentrating on each imperative operator (io) from expression over every designed situation, comparison between imperative pragmatic of authorization (ioa) and politeness (iop) can be analyzed. figure 1. r1 ioa visible pitch contour figure 2. r1 iop visible pitch contour for example, the r1 language expression used for ioa-stop is ‘<<watch out, stop>> with pitch diagram on fig.1 and iop is ‘stop, please’ with pitch diagram on fig.2. on ioa, r1 uses not only one but two ios at once which are ‘watch out’ and ‘stop’ in order to enhance force on the authority implied. this indicates a level of danger in the phrase choice ‘watch out’ which is also signified by the choice of the highest level of authority (3) and zero level of politeness (0). therefore, likely illocution on this order is a warning. visible pitch contour for llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 168 ‘watch out’ is declining from the beginning. this stops where io ‘stop’ starts in l* and tends to increase and lengthen in the initial sound /s/ and final sound /p/. later, it reaches peak on h* and continues in a constant high level of pitch and eventually ends in a high level of boundary h-h% (fig.1 and table 1). peak functions as primary stress which stands out to give special points to the idea. in case of r1-ioa, sentence stress locates in the production of <<stop>> as io, which highlights it as the significant point of the message. (1) ioa ‘stop’ r1 watch out! stop [warning] on the contrary, io in iop ‘stop, please’ shows a declining diagram on ‘stop’ and an inclining diagram on ‘please’. this suggests a level of priority switches from authority (1) to politeness (3) which means even though this imperative expression still has ordering meaning, pragmatically this order turns more to be more polite than it should be. in this case, illocution used for this order is requesting with respect. afterward, this command is followed by ‘do you keep anything in your pocket, sir? please put your belonging on the tray’. these expressions are meant to firstly clarify in form of a question (2b) and later instruct detailed instruction on what 02 must do next in form of a request (2c). expression of ‘stop’, which functions as io, starts in respectfully high level of pitch h* (fig 2 and table 1) and declines until it reaches the lowest pitch. after that, it starts to increase and later reaches its peak at the final of ‘please’. surprisingly, instead of peaking in io as the core of an imperative, r1’s overall expression on ‘stop’ for politeness context puts peak on a question (2b) making it a significant point. this is a rising intonation phenomenon, likely occurring in a yes/no question form, which fortifies the purpose of the sentence to clarify. (2) iop ‘stop’ r1 stop, please! [request] do you keep anything in your pocket, sir? [clarification] please put your belonging on the tray [request] figure 3. r1 ‘stop’ pitch production on ioa and iop llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 169 imperative operator (io) in sentences is predicative represented by a verb. thus, paying attention on how intonation is made while producing it will be able to show its purpose. respondent 1 (r1) production on io ‘stop’ both on ioa and iop contexts can be observed as in figure 3 and table 1. pitch diagram of ‘stop’ on ioa and iop depicts a distinctive gap on the maximum pitch produced. this puts ioa one-fourth higher than iop regardless if its pitch starts slightly lower than iop. ioa’s pitch production starts in low level and reaches its peak on hearts in almost 100 points rise. consequently, this appearance brings significant difference between two io’s purposes whether authority or politeness. table 1 r1 ‘stop’ pitch production imperative expression ioa ‘watch out, stop’ iop ‘stop, please’ pitch on hertz start highest lowest start highest lowest 267.33 404.69 267.33 287.05 325.60 237.18 by looking at this example on r1 production, comparison between io of ioa and iop is done to the rest of respondents in order to look at similarity and difference. every respondent reacts variously in expressing imperatives based on context given. however, similarity can still be found showing the most common use in such situations. from each comparison, pragmatic implicature of imperatives and intonation can be analyzed. (3) o ‘stop’ r2a stop, please [request] r2p would you, stop please [request] r3a excuse me, stop please [request] r3p stop, please [request] r4a stop, stop. please madam, be careful [warning] r4p stop, please you repeat again [request] r5a bus, bus. stop! madam, please be careful [warning] r5p stop, mister. please empty your pocket and repeat again [respecting] r6a stop, stop, stop! madam. bus is coming [warning] r6p stop, madam. take off your belonging and repeat again [respecting] by looking at pitch portrays on all production, main stress of peak (h*) appears largely on <<stop>> (1, 3e, 3f, 3g, 3i). on authority, this happens to highlight the command, which majorly interpreted into [warning] represented by the repetition of io (3i) and diction ‘be careful’ (3e, 3g) as an advice. this is also shown by the high level of score on authority (3) given by all respondents. considering the level of danger implied on the simulation, warning is logically accepted to secure 02 from potential hazard. since mostly io appears at the beginning of a longer expression used, intonation tends to decrease for the rest of the sentence. besides warning, there is also an illocution indicator of [respecting], llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 170 which attaches to the peak on addressee (3h, 3j). contrariwise, politeness implicature is represented by lowering the level of ordering into requesting represented by peak occurrence on ‘please’ (2, 3a, 3b, 3d), ‘excuse me’ (3c). (4) io ‘go’ r1a go, hurry up [strong recommendation] r1p please, go ahead [permission] r2a sir, please go. it’s a final boarding for you [recommendation] r2p ok, you may go now [permission] r3a go, go, go [strong recommendation] r3p go, ahead [permission] r4a please go to the waiting room, sir [request] r4p go to the aircraft, please [request] r5a please, go hurry to waiting room, sir [strong recommendation] r5p go to the aircraft, please [request] r6a go, madam, go! hurry up! [strong recommendation] r6p ok, madam. please go to aircraft. [permission] implicature on io ‘go’ results in three which are [recommendation], [permission] and [request]. this can be seen from the absence of peaks on io consistently. therefore, the highlight of every imperative expression has shifted from ordering to these implicatures. obviously all recommendations take place in authority with minor differences of level – strong and regular, which are represented by diction ‘hurry’ (4a, 4i, 4k) and repetition on ‘go’ (4e, 4k). this illustrates the importance of recommendation over situations provided on the simulation. meanwhile, implicature on politeness is divided into permission depicted by diction ‘ok’ (4d, 4l), ‘may’ (4d) and ‘ahead’ (4b, 4f) and request. (5) io ‘get out’ r1a get out, hurry, hurry, hurry [strong recommendation] r1p get out from departure gate [recommendation] r2a ok, everybody. get out from here [strong recommendation] r2p maybe get out from, maybe get out from this building [recommendation] r3a evacuate, get out [warning] r3p get out, please [request] r4a get out. go to the emergency exit [strong recommendation] r4p please get out and turn left [recommendation] r5a get out. go to the emergency exit [strong recommendation] r5p please get out and turn left [recommendation] r6a get out, get out. exit to assembly point [strong recommendation] r6p get out and turn left. it is beside air asia check in counter [recommendation] recommendation still becomes the main implicature in io ‘get out’. diction such as ‘ok’, ‘maybe’ and ‘please’ portray this implicature as well as repetition on ‘hurry’ (5a), ‘maybe’ (5d) and ‘get out’ (5k). interestingly, this evolves not only in authority but also in politeness with variance in levels – strong and regular. similar to io ‘go’, repeatedly, peak is found in other than io with two exceptions (5d, 5j). further look on these expressions, diction representing implicature which are ‘maybe’ and ‘please’ appears at the beginning of the sentence while io emerges right after that. syntactically, this composition does llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 171 not follow the general imperative structure which puts io as predicate at the beginning of the sentence. (6) io ‘empty your pocket’ r1a excuse me sir, empty your pocket, please [request] r1p excuse me sir, empty your pocket, please [request] r2a sir, your pocket is empty? [clarification] r2p ok, are you sure, your pocket is empty? [strong clarification] r3a please, empty your pocket [request] r3p empty your pocket, please [request] r4a sorry, sir. empty your pocket, please [request] r4p empty your pocket, sir. please [request] r5a empty your pocket, sir and put it to an x-ray [request] r5p empty your pocket, please [request] r6a excuse me, miss. please empty your pocket and put your belonging and repeat again [request] r6p excuse me. please empty your pocket and put your belonging and repeat again [request] (7) io ‘open your luggage’ r1a what do you keep on your luggage, sir? open your luggage, please [request] r1p what do you keep on your luggage, sir? open your luggage, please [request] r2a open your baggage, please [request] r2p would you open your baggage, please [request] r3a excuse me, open your baggage please [request] r3p open your baggage, please [request] r4a please open your baggage [request] r4p ok, sir. i’m sorry. please open your baggage [request] r5a please open your baggage please, sir [request] r5p ok, sir. i’m sorry. please open your baggage [request] r6a please open your baggage because your belonging suspicious [request] r6p please open your baggage [request] last two ios consist of longer sentences – 3 words, therefore potential intonation or stress point is unlimited. implicatures applied on them are dominated by [request] both in authority and politeness. modification of sentences on both ios is done by the adding of the word ‘please’ and ‘excuse me’. meanwhile modification on implicature only occurs on <<empty your pocket>> which is [clarification] and represented by question putting io as h*. stress on this is highlighted on several variations such as in io (6c, 6d, 6h, 7c, 7f, 7g), noun ‘pocket’(6g), ‘belonging’ (6k), ‘baggage’ (7d, 7k, 7l), ‘please’ mostly on <<empty your pocket>> and addressee ‘sir’ (6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 7j). unique appearance takes place on stress points of ‘put’ (6i) and ‘ok’ (7h). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 172 table 2 implicature based on sentence stress imperative operator stress point (h*) implicature ioa iop stop io, mister, madam, please, excuse me ● request ● warning: ‘be careful’, ‘stopstop-stop’ ● request ● respecting: ‘mister’, ‘madam’ go hurry, please, may, io, ahead, to, madam ● request ● recommendatio n (strong and regular): ‘hurry’, repeating io ● request ● permission: ‘ok’, ‘may’, ‘ahead’ get out hurry, departure, io, to, evacuate, please, beside emergency ● recommendatio n ● warning: ‘evacuate’ ● recommendati on ● request empty your pocket sir, io, please, pocket, excuse me, empty, put, belonging ● request ● clarification: interrogative sentence ● request ● clarification: interrogative sentence open your baggage sir, io, please, excuse me, ok, baggage ● request ● request classification on table 2 displays different stress points for all expressions produced by respondents. the aim of an imperative initially is to make someone do or not do something which puts the force in the imperative operator (io) in the form of a verb. however, considering pragmatic implicature comprised on the sentence, instead of falling in the verb, this stress switches to a different word class. produced by respondents in two different occupations with variance level and type of competencies, these stresses fall on noun, addressee, modal, additional verb, preposition and adverb. io’s stress point produced by avsec officers and flight attendants brings out a variant of illocutions on imperative. dominated by requesting which appears in five contexts of politeness and four contexts of authority, directive force of imperative used at the airport is considered generally lower than the original imperative. directive speech act presented by females as in jane austen’s novels is transformed into asking, requesting, advising and suggesting (suryanovika & julhijah, 2018). in this study, there is no difference in gender among officers in producing imperative. instead of merely commanding customers, in rank, airport officers tend to (1) request, (2) recommend, (3) clarify, (4) permit and respect when expressing an imperative for both authority and politeness. this finding is relevant to the shifting in meaning at ordering speech act translation of christ the lord out of egypt novel in order to make it more appropriate to indonesian culture (aloojaha et al., 2018) or when bottom-up situation as in students-teacher conversation occurs involving shift to local language in order to make directive acts more polite, profitable, considering face notion or allowing honor toward llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 173 each partner (saddhono & kasim, 2016). however, whenever a level of danger is involved, the officer gives warning to the customer. regardless of all illocutions mentioned to explain intonation’s variance over respondents’ production, there is no difference in response toward 02 from both levels of social status (high and low). this means that in producing imperatives containing authority and politeness element of pragmatics, all respondents agree to make no different treatment to all levels of social status. it is an obligation for an officer to see that all customers are important thus his/her attitude must be set accordingly in putting customers in higher level status. it is depicted on procedure to address all ages of customers using either sir or madam as a form to respect. social factors affecting intonation choice imperative operator (io) is the directive force on an imperative. hence the level of its pitch determines the level of power in the command. according to pitch level on table 3, all respondents’ productions on io for each situation show a distinctive number of difference in mean for ioa and iop. they are 12.45 hz on starting point, 33.32 hz on peak and 9.29 hz on lowest point. however, all these productions put ioa higher than iop in every point. this can only mean that for starting, peak and lowest point, every respondent spontaneously raises his/her pitch in a situation where authority is set as priority. this also represents respondents’ awareness to contrast ioa and iop since everyone marks ioa with high priority of authority and on the contrary agrees to give priority of politeness over iop. table 3 ioa and iop pitch comparison imperative illocution ioa iop total pitch (hz) start highest lowest start highest lowest 6231.90 7884.34 5180,97 5858.34 6884.73 4902,31 mean 207.73 262.81 172.70 195.28 229.49 163.41 later, respondents’ responses also differ in starting, reaching peak and lowering his/her intonation based on his/her social background. category on social factors by gender is male or female. authority at the airport is represented by aviation security (avsec) officer while politeness is attached to a flight attendant. thus, respondents of this study are taken from these occupations. furthermore, an avsec officer is also leveled by competence represented by type of licenses (basic-junior-senior) or length of working period that he/she has. starting imperative operator for authority and politeness both, male and female respondents show some similarity in differentiating the start point of ioa and iop. io’s pitch production depicts fewer gaps on ‘empty your pocket’ and ‘open your luggage’. this occurrence takes place because both ios contain more than 2 words in accordance with phonological llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 174 tendencies. however, there is a significant difference between male and female respondents on ioa’s pitch level since female’s pitch is overall higher than male’s. further, there is an unusual phenomenon shown by r2 who is a senior male flight attendant. r2 tends to lower his ioa’s pitch when giving instruction, the higher r2’s priority on ioa, the lower his pitch and the longer his expression becomes. these occurrences can be found in more than one word of io (get out, empty your pocket and open your luggage). meanwhile, r3, who is a female flight attendant, gives quite a noteworthy gap between ioa and iop on one word io (go and stop). figure 4. io pitch production on starting point peaking imperative operator for authority and politeness all respondents overall are able to maintain the ioa peak of their pitch higher than iop with a slight difference of gap. different average on this gap is 33.32 hz (262.81 ioa and 229.49 iop). r2, r3 and r4 display a distinctive gap between ioa and iop. r2 and r4 have different genders and occupations, however they make similarity on this range of gap on more than 1 word of io <<get out>>, <<empty your pocket>> and <<open your luggage>>. meantime, r3 constantly makes a similar gap on one word of io (go and stop) as in starting pitch. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 175 figure 5. io pitch production on peak lowering imperative operator for authority and politeness data generated from the lowest pitch of respondents’ production shows that iop is consistently lower than ioa as in starting and peak point. r2, a senior flight attendant, is the only respondent who oppositely switches the graphic line and puts iop higher than ioa. with fewer gaps between ioa and iop lines, significant difference appears on some respondents’ production. this wider gap shows up mostly on more than one word of io <<empty your pocket>> and <<open your baggage>> for most all respondents, but on one word of io for all female respondents. figure 6. io pitch production on lowest point socio-pragmatics profiling on intonation looking at illocutions produced by respondents and how it is uttered in intonation, there are two findings related to authority and politeness. firstly, the illocution of warning, which is categorized in authority implicature can be only found in the expressions produced by all avsec officers (senior, junior and trainee). preventing an incident to occur in the simulation of “getting out from terminal, everyone is on their way to the plane crossing the apron. out of boarding gate, a shuttle bus is approaching and blocking access to the plane. someone, without noticing, tries to cross the apron”, avsec officers tend to (1) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 176 add alarming verbs of watch out or (2) repeat io twice or three times to enhance meaning or repeat subject of danger in this case the bus. this expression is also confirmed by respectively high pitch in ioa produced by this category of respondents. a phenomenon of producing illocution of warning in a dangerous situation meets the characteristic of avsec officers which relates strongly to safety and security. meanwhile, flight attendants for this simulation tend to transfer imperative command to requesting illocution represented by the expression of excuse me and please. next trend on the expression and intonation produced by officers at the airport is illocution of permitting. represented by the expression of go ahead, you may go now and ok! madam, both flight attendants produce imperative expressions with lower iop pitch compared to ioa. meanwhile, avsec senior and junior officers turn imperative into illocutions of requesting by adding the expression of please with constricting intonation gap of ioa and iop. surprisingly, both avsec trainees with only 3 months of working experience also show a tendency of using permitting as in flight attendants. lack of experience in new officers is the reason for inconsistency among avsec officer respondents. conclusion sentence stress produced by all respondents varies from one production to another. this is represented by peak (h*) point occurring on ioa and iop. based on intonation for each production, the stress point of 5 situations falls frequently on please, addressee, different verb, noun and preposition. exception is seen on modal and adverb appearance. it can be concluded that even though action verbs are the original purpose of an imperative operator, for the intention of authority and politeness, airport officers highlight stress in different sentence production. this switch changes the aim of imperative to command into illocutions of requesting, recommending, clarifying, warning, respecting and permitting. to start, peak and lower pitch in io, all respondents from every social background agree to put differences between ioa and iop. in general, pitch production on ioa seems to be higher than iop. personnel with particular characteristics produce consistently unique reactions which are different from others. these personnel are male senior flight attendant with 35 year experience in service, female flight attendant with some flying experience and a female junior avsec officer with standard license. two findings in illocutions of warning and permitting set avsec officers and flight attendant into two different poles. warning has become 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(2015). variations of directive speech act in tembang dolanan. humaniora, 27(3), 305–316. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 182 book review: perspectives and reflections on racial literacy as an approach to critical writing instruction title of the book : teaching racial literacy: reflective practices for critical writing isbn : 9781475836622 (electronic) author : mara lee grayson publisher : rowman & littlefield page : 149 pages luisito manalansan nanquil bulacan state university, philippines correspondence: luisitonanquil@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2020.230114 received 30 march 2020; accepted 28 april 2020 in the efl/esl classroom, the reflective teachers have to address issues on ethnicity and racism so that they can provide conducive, friendly, and harmonious environment where learners can feel they are accepted regardless of differences and diversities. ethnography, as mentioned in the book of grayson (2018), attests the need for language teachers to consider the concepts of race and ethnicity when they teach writing in the language classroom. there are instances when new students and even old feel intimidated because they cannot feel sense of belongingness or they don’t feel welcome at all in the class. through the initiatives and techniques of the language teacher, the students can see gradually the connections between them and their classmates. john dewey, as cited by grayson (2018), points out the functions of progressive education in social progress. nieto (2003) on the other hand, supports diversity and race by explaining the importance of multicultural education in framing relevant curriculum framework for literacy. racial literacy and racism are both unnoticed issues in the composition/writing classroom. the researcher-reviewer attempted to explain, appraise, and describe the features and contents of the book authored by grayson (2018). for a more effective review of the material, the researcher compared his own experiences and thoughts to the objectives and perspectives discussed in the book. as a language teacher, the researcher himself does not only focus on speaking, listening, and reading but among other essential skills, writing is clearly and equally important. the task of instilling among learners the value of this area may not always be successful due to some factors. first, learners may not be inclined or interested with writing. second, the learners have not yet developed vocabulary to understand their own skills in writing which means they could hardly see meanings and directions. another reason is the poor grammar skills of the learners, obstructing their desire to write purposefully and meaningfully. many teachers are not aware that racial literacy exists as an approach to teaching writing. they have knowledge on other pedagogies such as differentiated instruction, cooperative learning, project-based learning and so on. but this racial literacy is stranger to them. the book illustrates how useful this approach is. for instance, when students are engage into writing, if the language teacher inculcates with students the essence of diversity and culture, most likely, the learners can llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 183 include (in their writing) various situations with respect and consideration to culture, ethnicity, and heritage. it is noted that racism in the book refers to dominant culture and traits of the place and community where the learners live and interact. the book is effective in exposing to the readers and researchers the importance of being socially and culturally aware when they do writing activities. chapter 1 focuses on the glimpse and theories of the book. it emphasizes the importance of racism in teaching writing. terms and issues are likewise presented. chapter 2 provided detailed information on how to plan, prepare, and provide lessons for the literacy classroom. chapter 3 deals with reading, writing, and modality where target readers can get holistic information for their instruction. it also advises teachers which selections and texts are appropriate for classroom purposes. chapter 4 tackles the role of narrative lyrics as an approach to teach literacy. this is followed by chapter 5, which discusses emotions and feelings in a racial literacy classroom. chapter 6 is the next part, which describes and elaborates personal writing and position in writing. chapter 7 advises language teachers the boundaries (and silences) of conversations in teaching racial literacy. chapter 8 illustrates racial literacy as a form of service learning and community outreach. lastly, chapter 9 offers thoughts, suggestions, and activities on how students can deal with the challenges in racial literacy. the author is insightful in elucidating that culture, literacy, and classroom are vital in developing the writing skills of the learners who are dealing with the challenges of the contemporary time. after their academic struggle and journey, they will go to the outside world (the worksite) where they will work and meet other people. understanding about the culture of others plays significant role in making students dynamic and open to different situations and transitions. meanwhile, the author is commendable in mentioning the role of literacy in preparing learners for social context and workplace. it is a big responsibility of language teachers to work on literacy education programs while they keep the minds of students aware on current events and traditions related to racism. in one chapter, racial literacy is justified to be an important tool in critical writing instruction where students coming from diverse and multicultural settings are taught to write with social awareness. in the composition classroom, the students are involved in fruitful activities like sharing stories, feelings, and ideas. they can listen, respond, and interact with other members of the class and community, where they are living. a part of the book discusses “prepare, plan, and provide” which is wealthy narration of how the language and composition teacher can implement racial literacy as a part of his instructional strategies. among the complex processes learners have to do are observing, interpreting, questioning, and communicating. the book also instructs language teachers that in the planning and preparation stage, the institutional mission and vision has to be regarded with respect and obedience. of course, the location is also important in the planning phase since it tells the participants what they should do and how they prepare for the writing tasks. another concepts impressively stated by the author are discipline-based writing and interdisciplinary instruction both are outlined from the curriculum of the school. other plausible studies were tackled in this article to further support and explain the approach. teng and zhang (2019) investigated writing performance of a group of students using argumentative essays. the two argued and claimed that argumentative writing is known as the most notable and essential standardized assessment for second language learners. on the one hand, cognitive and metacognitive strategies are functional and important in building and developing the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 184 motivational regulation strategies of language learners as revealed by studies of teng and zhang (2018) and teng, sun, and xu (2018). according to the book, a tool effective in facilitating conversation is “asking questions” where the teacher could creatively and critically collect ideas from the members of the class. in this way, learners can share their thoughts and experiences regarding the community they have grown up with. furthermore, it is amazing that the book provided example tools and strategies which the teacher can use in order to facilitate the instruction clearly and effectively. on the other hand, song lyrics can be used as framework to embrace racial literacy as stressed by grayson (2017) in her book. she explained how songs and lyrics are powerful tool to motivate students in expressing their thoughts and feelings bringing them closer to the goals of racial literacy. conclusion teaching writing skills is not a piece of cake. learners always come to school with varied interests and reasons but it may not indicate they are all inclined into writing. to make learners proficient in writing is indeed a challenging task on the part of the teacher. a racial literacy is one of the effective and appropriate approaches that can be infused by the teacher to make classroom experience holistic and engaging. this article depicts issues about the use of the approach in an efl and esl classroom. furthermore, some steps to racial literacy were examined by the researcher to ensure their effectiveness and relevance in teaching composition writing. the researcher realized that writing instruction can be exciting and informative if other approaches will be tested and applied in the classroom. from his personal observations and experiences, he realized that learners do not anymore stick to traditional walls but prefer something functional and authentic. from the concepts and insights shared by the book, a great number of students and teachers can enjoy engaging in writing activities because they feel they are equipped. it is no doubt that the book authored by grayson (2018) is highly recommended. not only it does guide language teachers to teach racism in the writing class but it also orient teachers on how they could enhance themselves as better writing teachers who are at the same time, socially and culturally aware. references grayson, m. l. (2017). race talk in the college composition: narrative song lyrics as texts for racial literacy. teaching english in the two-year college, 45 (2), 143-167. grayson, m.l. (2018). teaching racial literacy: reflective practices for critical writing. lanham, maryland: rowman & littlefield. nieto, s.m., (2003). profoundly multicultural questions. equity and opportunity, 60 (4), 6-10. teng, l.s and zhang, l.j. (2019). empowering learners in the second/foreign language classroom: can self-regulated learning strategies-based writing instruction make a difference? journal of second language writing. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsw.2019.100701. teng, l.s., & zhang, l.j. (2018). effects of motivational regulation strategies on writing performance: a mediation model of self-regulated learning of writing in english as a second/foreign language. metacognition and learning, 13(2), 213-240. teng, l.s., sun, p.s., & xu, l. (2018). conceptualizing writing self-efficacy in english as a foreign language contexts: scale validation through structural; equation modelling. tesol quarterly, 52(4), 911-942. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsw.2019.100701 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp.37-57 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 37 idiomatic expressions and their indonesian subtitles in the good doctor tv series patricia tyasrinestu and priyatno ardi sanata dharma university, indonesia patriciatyasrint@gmail.com and priyatnoardi@usd.ac.id correspondence: priyatnoardi@usd.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2020.230104 received 22 october 2019; accepted 13 january 2020 abstract idiomatic expressions are used to describe things or conditions that cannot be described by plain words. they carry more impacts than non-idiomatic expressions due to their close identification with a particular language and culture. this research investigates idiomatic expressions and their indonesian subtitles in the good doctor tv series. two research questions are addressed in this study, namely (1) what types of idiomatic expressions are found in the good doctor tv series? and (2) how are the idiomatic expressions in the tv series translated into indonesian? the researchers employed content analysis. the steps of data collection and analysis included taking the transcript and identifying the idiomatic expressions, identifying their meanings and validating them, and comparing the meanings of the two idiomatic expressions. the results revealed that, first, the good doctor tv series contained five types of idiomatic expressions, namely substitutes, proper names, english phrasal compound, figure of speech, and slang. abbreviation was not found in the tv series. second, there existed six translation strategies to translate idiomatic expressions in english into indonesian. keywords: types of idiomatic expressions, translation strategies introduction nowadays, learning english is needed to survive in this era of globalization (tochon, 2009). as english consists of fixed expressions, it is important to understand them. idiomatic expression is one of the fixed expressions, which is also called ‘idioms’, ‘idiomatic phrase’, ‘fixed phrases’, and ‘phraseological units’ (dąbrowska, 2018). the expression is important to be learned due to several reasons. first, it represents different reality, different sources, and components (poshi & lacka, 2016). it means that idiomatic expressions have a double meaning; they have a literal meaning and an idiomatic meaning. second, according to gaines (1986, p. vii), “idiomatic expressions give english its color and vitality. they are crucial to the daily speech of the people and the language of newspapers and books, television and movies.” third, idiomatic expressions add grace and exactness to the language (dixson, 1983). idiomatic expressions are used to describe things or conditions that cannot be described by using plain mailto:patriciatyasrint@gmail.com llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp.37-57 38 words. lastly, idiomatic expressions are also important in communication in order to learn a new culture (tochon, 2009). idiomatic expressions can be defined as a number of words which have different meaning from the individual meanings of each word (siedl & mcmordie, 1988). they are considered as multiword expressions whose meanings are not predictable from their component parts (makkai, 1972). the meaning of the idiomatic expressions is different from the words when they are taken separately. the sentences containing idioms do not get their meanings from the usual compositional rules to the usual meaning of their constituents (egan, 2008). idiomatic expressions are used in daily conversations. they can also be found in movies and tv series. for non-native speakers, subtitles are usually available when a series is played. according to coelh (2003), a subtitle is an audio-visual translation where one language as a source language is transferred into another language. through the daily conversation that is in the tv series, idiomatic expressions become a part of the subtitle translation. according to shojaei (2012), the processes of translating idioms and fixed expressions from one language into another are a fine work which obliges a good knowledge of the languages and cultures that are being shared. idioms and idiomatic expressions also cannot be neglected when translating a set expression from one language to another because they deal with the notion of fixness from linguistic and cultural perspectives (horvathova & tabackova, 2018). it means that the translation of idiomatic expressions is based on the translators’ understanding about the idiomatic expressions which later leads to different expressions. studies on the translation of idiomatic expressions have been conducted so far. shojaei (2012) analysed the strategies and difficulties in the translation of idioms and fixed expressions. the results showed that there were four problems which were encountered in different situations, namely no tl idiomatic expressions equivalence, similar counterpart but different meaning, the usage of idiomatic expressions’ literal and idiomatic senses, and different contexts usage of idiomatic expressions. second, jabbari (2016) analysed the translation strategies which were employed by the persian translator of the selected rendering idiomatic expressions. he also analysed the persian translations of english idiomatic expressions rendering the exact degree of idiomaticity. the results showed that only 6 strategies were more frequent than the others, namely expansion, literal translation, functional equivalents, reduction, cultural equivalent, and descriptive equivalent. another study was conducted by poshi and lacka (2016). they analysed the problems and explored the methods, strategies and techniques related to the translation of idioms and fixed expressions. the findings showed that in order to translate idiomatic expressions as correctly as possible, a number of factors should be taken into consideration, such as culture, translator’s understanding about the language, and use of neologism by employing paraphrase techniques. fourth, ren and yu (2013) analysed whether translating english idioms into mandarin can employ literal translation only or not. the findings showed that in order to translate english idioms, the culture had to be taken into full consideration. lastly, ali and sayyiyed al-rushaidi (2016) analysed the difficulties encountered by omani undergraduate students majoring in english language teaching and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp.37-57 39 literature when translating idiomatic and culturally-bound expressions from english to arabic. the findings showed the difficulties that the students faced included their inability to find a suitable equivalence, misinterpretation of the meaning of the idiom, usage of literal translation which did not convey the meaning, and omission of the whole or some parts of the idioms. the researchers find idiomatic expression as an interesting issue to be investigated further because idioms “carry more impact than non-idiomatic expressions because of their close identification with a particular language and culture” just as nida (2001, p. 28) stated. this study focuses on the translation of idiomatic expressions in the good doctor tv series. the researchers use the tv series because it contains both common and uncommon idiomatic expressions in daily life. the good doctor itself is a tv series which is taken from park’s good doctor (2013). the good doctor was published on 25 september 2017 by sony pictures television. it is a medical drama which focuses on the main character, shaun murphy, who has autism. the subtitles of the series contain an unusual and unique form of translation because of its cohabitation with the original text and “its asymmetric endeavour of rendering original speech into written target text” (diaz-cintas, 2008, p. 186). besides, according to díaz cintas (2008), the subtitles help to travel across linguistic borders which increase the number of viewers. idiomatic expressions have several meanings which make them difficult for translators to translate. since they are colloquial or slang, idiomatic expressions cannot be translated using word by word strategies. it is difficult to find the equivalence in the target language. in order to translate idiomatic expressions, several factors must be considered by the translators. the research questions addressed in this research are: 1) what types of idiomatic expressions are found in the good doctor tv series? 2) how are the idiomatic expressions in the tv series translated into indonesian? method this research employed content analysis. content analysis is a method that identifies categories by selecting utterances from a text, which are then classified and grouped together (heigram & crocker, 2009, p. 307). according to weber (1990), content analysis is a research method that uses a set of procedures to make valid inferences from texts. the data used in this study were idiomatic expressions in the utterances. the utterances mean specific events, the intentional acts of a speaker at certain times and places, typically involving language (silalahi, 2016). the utterances refer to sentences and phrases. the utterances were from the subtitles of the good doctor tv series. the subtitles were taken from isubtitles.info. it was created on june 5th, 2016 and has a global traffic rank of #5, 906 in the world. to gather the data, the researchers followed the steps proposed by cacciari and tabossi (1993). the first step was taking the transcripts from isubtitles.info. after that, the researchers identified the idiomatic expressions. the researchers verified the idiomatic expressions by using the theories from hockett (1958) and crosschecked them with gaines’ (1986) idiomatic american english and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp.37-57 40 hornby’s (2010) oxford advanced learner’s dictionary (8th edition). the second step was identifying the meanings of the words of both variant and original idioms and validating them. the third step was comparing the word meanings of the two idiomatic expressions. fourth, the researchers inputted the translation of the subtitles taken from the subtitles into table 1. table 1. list of idiomatic expressions no idiomatic expressions source validator the researchers made two tables; one table contains hockett’s (1958) types of idioms and the other table contains vinay and darbelnet’s (2000) strategies of translation. in the process, the researchers did coding. coding means to label or give names to passages within the text which express a particular idea or refer to an event (heigram & crocker, 2009). table 2. list of types of idioms utterance episode duration types justification sub pn abb epc fos sla abbreviations: sub : substitutes pn : proper names abb : abbreviations epc : english phrasal compounds fos : figure of speech sla : slang words llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp.37-57 41 table 3. the strategies of translation utterance episode, duration strategies nt justification sl tl bo ca lit tra mo eq ad findings and discussion types of idiomatic expressions in the good doctor tv series based on the findings, there were 253 idiomatic expressions. one utterance could be included in more than one type. table 4 shows that there were 265 types of idiomatic expressions from the good doctor tv series. the most frequent type of idiomatic expressions found in the good doctor tv series was english phrasal compound with 37.35% of the total percentage. it was followed by figure of speech and substitutes with 31.69% and 26.41%. the next types were slang words and proper names with only 3.39% and 1.13% of the total percentage. table 4. types of idiomatic expressions in the good doctor tv series no types of idiomatic expressions frequency percentage 1. substitutes 70 26.41% 2. proper names 3 1.13% 3. abbreviations 0 0% 4. english phrasal compounds 99 37.35% 5. figure of speech 84 31.69% 6. slang words 9 3.39% total 265 100% substitutes substitutes have to do with the replacement of one item by another (halliday & hasan, 1976). according to hockett (1958), substitutes are divided into anaphoric substitutes and numbers. anaphoric substitutes mean an expression that refers to something mentioned earlier in the context. the numbers in substitutes also show a similar variation of a specific reference. in this research, 70 utterances were included in substitutes. the example is as follows: abbreviations: bo : borrowing ca : calque lit : literal translation tra : transposition mo : modulation eq : equivalence ad : adaption llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp.37-57 42 1) we’re gonna cut your chest open, we’re gonna stop your heart, repair it and restart it. (episode 1, duration 09:35-09:39) doctor browne was explaining how the procedure of the surgery to her patient by saying, “we’re gonna cut your chest open, we’re gonna stop your heart, repair it and restart it.” the bold word ‘it’ is idiomatically a noun that refers to the heart that was going to be stopped, then repaired. therefore, it is counted as anaphoric substitutes. another example is from episode 4: 2) we’re gonna assist andrews when he drains it first thing in the morning. (episode 4, duration 12:01-12:03) there were 2 major surgeries that doctor melendez’s team handled. the first one was a surgery for a pregnant woman with a tumour next to her unborn child. the second one was a surgery on a young lady who had a tumour on her genital which made the surgeons needed to cut the nerve on the genital area. doctor browne told doctor melendez that she and doctor murphy would assist doctor andrews in the surgery since it was not the usual std. in this utterance, doctor browne said, “we’re gonna assist andrews when he drains it first thing in the morning.” the word ‘he’ is idiomatically a noun which refers to doctor andrews. thus, this idiomatic expression counted as an anaphoric substitute. the next example is from episode 5: 3) yeah, 911? (episode 5, duration 01:41-01:42) there were two patients that doctor melendez’s team took care of. one of the patients was an old man who had tapeworms in his body. the old man’s son who found out his father had collapsed called 911, “yeah, 911?” there was no further explanation of ‘911’ in the conversation, but ‘911’ itself refers to american emergency telephone number. the vagueness of the idiomatic ‘911’ makes ‘911’ counted as numbers in substitutes. the last example is from episode 6: 4) can i have four pancakes instead of three? (episode 6, duration 42:0742:09) the story began when several patients came into the e.r. from the bus wreck. melendez’s team had the opportunity to handle the patients by themselves. by the end of the hectic day, murphy was in the cafeteria with doctor glassman. he asked, “can i have four pancakes instead of three?” there was no further elaboration from murphy of what ‘three’ means. however, ‘three’ here refers to the pancakes that was mentioned before. in order to not have repetition on the word ‘pancakes', it could be omitted so the word ‘three' does not necessarily need a follow-up explanation. it makes the word ‘three' counted as numbers in substitutes. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp.37-57 43 proper names proper names is idiom-creating events called naming. the naming can be used for people, places, individual animals, spirits, or vehicles (hockett, 1958). proper names are a symbol which designates an entity of which there is only one. 3 utterances were included in proper names. the example is presented below. 5) i’m in pain, 28, all the time. (episode 7, duration 16:40-16:43) doctor kalu had to take care of an old grumpy man who kept running away from the medication. some ups and downs made kalu feel devastated yet at the same time he learnt something new. the old grumpy man said to doctor kalu, "i'm in pain, 28, all the time.” in the conversation before this, doctor kalu mentioned his age when the old man asked. he did not believe that doctor kalu could be a resident surgeon at his young age. then, the old man started using doctor kalu’s age instead of his name to call doctor kalu. the word ‘28’ itself is idiomatically a noun that refers to doctor kalu’s age. english phrasal compound a phrasal compound is the use of two or more words to form a single thought (jorgensen, n.d.). phrasal compound is divided into phrasal verbs and phrasal adjectives. phrasal verbs, which are commonly known as compound verbs, can be formed by combining a verb with a preposition, with an adverb, or with both. meanwhile, phrasal adjectives, known as compound adjectives, come from multiple types of combinations. they are nouns and participles, adjectives and participles, or nouns and adjectives. there were 99 utterances with english phrasal compound as their type of idiomatic expressions. the example is presented below. 6) not only that, i think he looks up to you. (episode 7, duration 20:1120:12) doctor browne consoled doctor murphy about his autistic patient. she tried to boost doctor murphy's confidence in his patient by saying, "not only that, i think he looks up to you.” the words ‘looks up’ mean to admire (hornby, 2010). it is counted as a phrasal verb with the formula: look (verb) + up (adverb). the second example is from episode 8: 7) it is and you’re gonna make sure he stays that way. (episode 8, duration 12:20-12:22) the story started when murphy accidentally got in the middle of robbery which ended up with a girl being shot and the gunman getting hit on his head. murphy and melendez did surgery on the girl and took care of her since there was a complication. on the other side, doctor browne assisted doctor lim to take care of the gunman. doctor lim made doctor browne keep an eye on the gunman by saying, "it is and you’re gonna make sure he stays that way." the words ‘make sure' means to see something yourself (gaines, 1986). ‘make sure’ is llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp.37-57 44 counted as phrasal verb with the formula: make (verb) + sure (adverb). the words ‘make sure’ means to “ensure that something is done”. some synonyms include “make certain, confirm, check.” the third example is from episode 16: 8) when you lose their respect, no matter what you do, no matter how many wins you chalk up, you’ll never get it back. (episode 16, duration 16:36-16:41) the story focused on two surgeries. the first one was doctor murphy and doctor browne’s patient who was paralyzed from waist to below. the second one was doctor kalu and doctor reznick’s patient who suffered from an infection in her plastic surgery. doctor reznick told doctor kalu, “when you lose their respect, no matter what you do, no matter how many wins you chalk up, you’ll never get it back.” ‘chalk up’ here is the idiomatic expression of to score (gaines, 1986). in this case, ‘chalk up’ is counted as a phrasal verb with the formula: chalk (verb) + up (adverb). another example is from episode 16: 9) sometimes, it’s tough to actually get out of those doors. (episode 16, duration 22:27-22:30) the story focused on doctor murphy and doctor browne’s patient and also doctor kalu and doctor reznick’s patient. doctor murphy and doctor browne’s patient was paralyzed from the waist to below. doctor melendez was consoling the disabled man’s wife when he said, “sometimes, it’s tough to actually get out of those doors.” ‘get out of’ is idiomatically a phrasal verb with the formula: get (verb) + out (adverb) + of (preposition). ‘get out of’ means to withdraw or leave (gaines, 1986). figure of speech figure of speech corresponds to mental "figures" that are grounded in cognition (gibbs, 1994). figures of speech can be found in primitive oral literature, such as prose and poetry, and everyday speech. in everyday contexts, most figures of speech are formed by extending the vocabulary of what is already familiar and better known to what is less known. there were 84 utterances which used figure of speech as the type of idiomatic expressions. the example is as follows. 10) is this the chairman’s version of a pep talk? (episode 3, duration 04:30-04:32) the story focuses on three events. one of them is doctor andrews' patient who had irritation from her plastic surgery. doctor andrews was about to perform surgery when suddenly allegra aoki came to talk to him about his 4 pm patient. she wanted to access this since the patient was close to making the foundation his tax relief. she wanted the surgery to go well and referred to doctor melendez as llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp.37-57 45 doctor andrews' second man by saying that it would help the hospital. doctor andrews got offended and asked whether it was the chairman's version of pep talk. the keyword of ‘pep talk’ is the word ‘talk’. ‘pep talk’ itself refers to an expression of a talk to arouse enthusiasm (gaines, 1986). the second example is from episode 3: 11) without the rules, we’re playing god. (episode 3, duration 32:5632:57) the story was about a patient who needed a new liver. there were several complications, for example the liver patient who was not supposed to drink decided to drink a glass of wine at his daughter's graduation party. it postponed the surgery. the board had a meeting about whether or not they should perform the surgery since it would be very dangerous due to the alcohol the man drank. doctor andrews had a heated argument with doctor melendez who claimed that the man's alcohol level was low and he could still perform the surgery. then, doctor andrews replied by saying that there are rules for a reason. he said, "without the rules, we're playing god.” the idiom ‘playing god’ refers to the figure of expression to behave as if you control events or people’s life. in this context, if they perform the surgery, it means they are playing with the man’s life. the third example is from episode 9: 12) so, what was the point of this dog and pony show? (episode 9, duration 18:33-18:34) doctor melendez and doctor murphy met with the hospital’s vice president. they presented murphy’s idea to her. when the vice president asked about the risks, doctor melendez told her that the surgery might not work. she then asked them the point of the ‘dog and pony show’. ‘dog and pony show’ is an expression of selling an idea in order to impress people and get their support. another example is from episode 11: 13) in one day, i taught you how to play hooky from work, how to drive, how to drink, and how to totally rock the house in karaoke. (episode 11, duration 28:09-28:16) one story was about murphy’s trip where he needed space from doctor glassman who was being pushy. on the night after murphy and his roommate finished their drink, they walked back to their motel. his roommate, leah, told him, “in one day, i taught you how to play hooky from work, how to drive, how to drink, and how to totally rock the house in karaoke.” the keyword of ‘play hooky’ is the word ‘play’. ‘play hooky’ itself refers to an expression that means missing school or work without permission (gaines, 1986). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp.37-57 46 slang words slang words are a very informal words and expressions that are commonly used by young people (hornby, 1995). their nature is clear. slang words depend on the effect of the striking and far-fetched nature of their semantic overtones and their secondary associations. there were 9 utterances which used slang as the type of idiomatic expressions. 14) but, if you want to tell people that you’re screwing me, go for it. (episode 1, duration 08:05-08:10) doctor browne, a surgical resident, was disagreeing with doctor melendez, her mentor. doctor kalu, another surgical resident, brought up the topic that he and doctor browne were sleeping together. it made doctor browne offended. she said by the end of the argument, "but, if you want to tell people that you’re screwing me, go for it.” the word ‘you’re screwing me’ refers to a slang expression of having sex with someone (hornby, 2010). in this case, ‘you’re screwing me’ means that doctor kalu had sexual intercourse with doctor browne. the second example is from episode 6: 15) kiss ass. (episode 6, duration 00:56-00:57) it was the first time for doctor melendez’ team to have a night shift. they were introduced to doctor lim. by the beginning of their night shift, doctor kalu gave his hand-made coffee to his subordinates. when he gave the last one to doctor lim, she replied, “oh. kiss ass.” the term ‘kiss ass’ refers to a slang expression of being very nice to someone in order to persuade them to help or give you something (hornby, 2010). in this case, doctor lim thought doctor kalu was trying to make a good first impression by giving the coffee to her. another example is from episode 7: 16) tell them to go screw themselves. (episode 7, duration 25:35-25:37) the story was about two patients, namely a boy with autism and an old man who did not want to live any longer. murphy had to take care of the boy and kalu had to take care of the old man. the story became more complicated when the patients did not comply with the treatment. doctor murphy was the one who found out what was wrong with liam, the autistic boy. however, liam's parents did not want murphy to be on the team that would perform the surgery for their son. they thought that there was no way an autistic person could perform surgery. doctor melendez was upset about this and asked for doctor glassman's advice. doctor glassman then gave him advice to either let (them stomp on his shoes and everything went smooth?) or tell them to go screw themselves and gave a recommendation for another hospital. ‘screw themselves’ here refers to a slang expression of an offensive way of showing that you are extremely annoyed by someone and you want them to go away. “screw it” can also mean that the person who say that does not care about something. since doctor melendez was upset, he llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp.37-57 47 was annoyed with the parents for deciding who should or should not be on his team. strategies of translation in the good doctor tv series based on the findings, there were 253 utterances gathered by the researchers. one utterance could have more than one translation strategy. table 4.2 shows that there were 256 utterances strategies of translation from the good doctor tv series. the most frequent strategy of translation which could be found in the good doctor tv series was equivalence with 72.65% of the total percentage. then, it was followed by literal translation with 16.40%. there are other findings with 6.64%. these other findings are counted as not translated. the next one is borrowing and adaptation with 1.56%. the last two are transposition and modulation with 0.78% and 0.39%. table 5 shows the strategies of translation found in the good doctor: table 5. strategies of translation in the good doctor tv series no strategies of translation frequency percentage 1. borrowing 4 1.56% 2. calque 0 0% 3. literal translation 42 16.40% 4. transposition 2 0.78% 5. modulation 1 0.39% 6. equivalence 186 72.65% 7. adaption 4 1.56% 8. not translated 17 6.64% total 256 100% borrowing borrowing means borrowing a word or expression from source language (vinay & darbelnet, 2000). borrowing is applied in two situations: either discussing a new technical process where the term does not exist in the target language or maintaining a word from source language for stylistic effect. there were 4 utterances which used borrowing as the translation strategy. the example is presented below. 17) episode 5 transcript indonesian subtitle yeah, 911? ya, 911? there were two major surgeries that doctor melendez’s team took care of. the first one was an old man who had tapeworms in his body. he was found unconscious by his son. then, his son called 911 immediately. 911 itself is the american emergency telephone number. in this example, the translator used the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp.37-57 48 american emergency telephone number instead of using indonesian emergency telephone number which is 119. the act of keeping the original term, which in this case is the american emergency number, is called borrowing. literal translation literal translation is translating the source language literally (vinay & darbelnet, 2000). translating word by word to maintain the original meaning is considered acceptable in literal translation. there were 42 utterances which used literal translation. the example is as follows: 18) episode 4 transcript indonesian subtitle we’re gonna assist andrews when he drains it first thing in the morning. kami akan mendampingi andrews saat dia menyedotnya besok pagi. doctor melendez’s team was split into two to handle two major surgeries. doctor browne was explaining to doctor melendez their current patient’s situation. in this case, ‘dia’ is the literal meaning of ‘he’. the second example is presented below. 19) episode 4 transcript indonesian subtitle and if either of you needs anything, even just to talk, my door’s always open. jika kalian butuh sesuatu, atau mau bicara, pintuku selalu terbuka. doctor browne and doctor murphy successfully assisted doctor andrews in surgery. doctor andrews praised them while mentioning that he knew doctor melendez rarely praised them. he also mentioned that ‘his door’s always open’ for both of the residents. in this case, ‘my door’s always open’ was translated literally into ‘pintuku selalu terbuka’. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp.37-57 49 the third example is presented below. 20) episode 8 transcript indonesian subtitle i know your behaviour is not completely in your control, but i also know it’s not completely out of your control. sikapmu tidak benar-benar ada dalam kendalimu, tapi sikapmu juga tidak benar-benar ada di luar kendalimu. doctor murphy was at the crime scene where a robbery happened. unfortunately, a girl was shot because of his action. doctor glassman was lecturing doctor murphy on his behaviour, but doctor murphy denied that it was his fault. getting angry, doctor glassman told doctor murphy that his action was not completely ‘out of his control’. in this case, ‘out of your control’ had been translated literally into ‘di luar kendalimu’. another example is presented below. 21) episode 9 transcript indonesian subtitle good for you. bagus untukmu. doctor andrews and doctor browne were handling the woman who might have cancer. in order to know for sure, they took a sample to test it. however, the sample went missing. the hospital did not want to apologize because the woman could take it to the court. doctor browne was sorry for her, so that she decided to follow her heart and apologize to the woman. doctor melendez witnessed this event and told her, "good for you." in this case, "bagus untukmu" is the literal translation of "good for you". transposition transposition is changing the word class or grammatical structure without changing the meaning of the message (vinay & darbelnet, 2000). it is counted in oblique translation. based on the findings, there are two types of transposition. they are adverb-verb and verb-noun. there were 2 utterances which used transposition. the example is as follows: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp.37-57 50 22) episode 5 transcript indonesian subtitle we’ve just never been on the same page, you know. kami cuma tidak pernah sependapat. the man with tapeworms in his body was prepared for surgery. his son was seeking comfort from doctor kalu. he said that his father was a good man, it was just that they had never been ‘on the same page'. ‘on the same page' is an adverb phrase that turned into ‘sependapat’ (verb) when it was translated. this transposition used the adverb-verb type. another example is presented below. 23) episode 9 transcript indonesian subtitle because i will be damned if i’m gonna have my voice box removed just because somebody screwed up. karena aku akan marah jika pita suaraku diangkat, cuma karena kesalahan orang lain. the woman who might have cancer got mad at doctor andrews and doctor browne because they did not want to apologize for losing the sample for the test. she said, "because i will be damned if i'm gonna have my voice box removed just because somebody screwed up.” ‘somebody screwed up’ is based on verb phrase which translated to ‘kesalahan orang lain’ (noun phrase). this transposition used verb-noun type. modulation modulation changes the point of view or cognitive category in relation to the source language (vinay & darbelnet, 2000). based on the findings, there is one type of modulation. it is a negative contrast in explanatory modulation type. there was an utterance that used modulation as the strategy of translation. the example is presented below. 24) episode 1 transcript indonesian subtitle the day that the rain smelled like ice cream, my bunny went to heaven in front of my eyes. the hari di mana hujan berbau seperti es krim, kelinciku pergi ke surge di depan mataku. hari di mana pipa llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp.37-57 51 day that the copper pipes in the old building smelled like burnt food, my brother went to heaven in front of my eyes. i couldn't save them. it's sad. neither one had the chance to become an adult. tembag di gedung tua berbau seperti makanan panggang, adikku pergi ke surge di depan mataku. aku tidak bisa selamatkan mereka. menyedihkan. mereka tidak dapat kesempatan untuk menjadi dewasa. the board of the hospital had an argument related to the acceptance of doctor murphy in the hospital. the vice president of the hospital then asked murphy the reason he wanted to be a doctor. he replied by telling the story where he lost both of his brother and his rabbit at a young age. neither of them had the chance to grow up. ‘neither of them' is a negative construction which then rendered into ‘mereka'. the word ‘mereka' is a positive one. therefore, this case is counted as the negative contrast of modulation. equivalence equivalence means finding the words from the target language which have the same equivalence with the source language (vinay & darbelnet, 2000). equivalence is also counted as oblique translation. 186 utterances used equivalence as the translation strategy. the example is presented below. 25) episode 2 transcript indonesian subtitle i went out on a limb for him. aku mengambil resiko untuk dia. doctor murphy had to work with his nurse assistant as doctor melendez did not want to be disturbed by doctor murphy's behaviour. he had to check on the lab result that doctor kalu and doctor browne's patient had. the patient had a leiomyosarcoma. doctor kalu and doctor browne felt devastated since they could not think of a way to help him. however, doctor murphy had an idea and doctor kalu presented the idea to doctor melendez. doctor kalu then took the credit for the successful surgery they performed. doctor browne did not like that, and doctor kalu defended himself by saying that he went out on a limb for doctor murphy. ‘out on a limb' itself means that the person is in a dangerous, exposed position when one's ideas are openly known (gaines, 1986). it is equal to ‘resiko’. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp.37-57 52 the second example is presented below. 26) episode 5 transcript indonesian subtitle just tell him to “come clean,” “honesty is the best policy,” “a lie is a stone in your heart.” suruh saja dia untuk jujur, “kejujuran adalah kebijakan terbaik,” “kebohongan bagaikan batu dalam hatimu.” when doctor kalu and doctor browne were taking care of the man with tapeworms, doctor kalu told doctor browne that the man’s son was hiding something from his father. he did not think helping him was relevant medically, but doctor browne lectured him by saying that doctor kalu had to tell him to ‘come clean’. ‘come clean’ means telling the truth (gaines, 1986). in this case, ‘come clean’ equals to ‘jujur’. the third example is presented below. 27) episode 5 transcript indonesian subtitle coast is clear? tidak ada orang? doctor murphy's patient, evan gallico, looked exactly the same as his late brother. murphy felt attached to gallico and decided to help him diagnose his sickness. it turned out gallico had cancer and could not be cured. murphy felt horrible, but the decision to not perform a surgery on the boy was on gallico's parents. by the end of gallico's last day in the hospital, murphy visited him. gallico smiled at him and asked whether the coast was clear or not. when gallico said ‘coast is clear’, he referred to his parents who opposed murphy’s attempt to heal him. in this case, ‘coast is clear’ equals to ‘tidak ada orang’. another example is presented below. 28) episode 7 transcript indonesian subtitle the minute i catch my breath, i’m gonna walk out of here, so you can just leave. saat pernapasanku normal, aku akan pergi dari sini, jadi kau boleh pergi. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp.37-57 53 doctor kalu's patient was an old man who needed surgery to save his life. unfortunately, the old man did not like the idea of living any longer and kept escaping his room. when doctor kalu found his patient, the old man told him to leave. he said that he would walk away after ‘catching his breath'. in this case, ‘catch my breath' equals to ‘pernapasanku normal'. adaptation adaptation is a shift in cultural environment when something specific to one language culture is unknown in the target language. the cultural shift usually is expressed in a totally different way that is familiar or appropriate to other language culture. 4 utterances used adaptation as the translation strategy. the example is presented below. 29) episode 8 transcript indonesian subtitle thank god for that. puji tuhan untuk itu. lea dilallo was murphy's neighbour. she came to his flat early in the morning whining about armen who cut her electricity power the night before. she expressed that if she was in ventilation, she would be suffocated. murphy stated that she was not in ventilation, and dilallo sarcastically answered by saying ‘thank god for that'. in indonesia, ‘thank god' becomes ‘puji tuhan'. another example is presented below. 30) episode 9 transcript indonesian subtitle good luck. semoga beruntung. doctor melendez and doctor murphy were practicing for heart surgery. after several attempts, they did well in the simulation. doctor murphy said good luck to doctor melendez so he would perform successfully. in this case, ‘good luck’ becomes ‘semoga beruntung’ in indonesian. not translated idiomatic expressions are often omitted in the target text. it happens because it has no equivalence in the target language, the meaning of the idiom cannot be paraphrased easily, or for stylistic reasons (baker, 1991). according to newmark (1988), the translator is likely to under-translate, to use general words in the interest of clarity and simplicity, which makes him omit the translated words altogether. newmark also states that the purpose of omitting is partly phatic. they llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp.37-57 54 are used partly to maintain reader's or listener's interest. seventeen utterances were not translated. 31) episode 1 transcript indonesian subtitle we’re gonna cut your chest open, we’re gonna stop your heart, repair it and restart it. kami akan membelah dada anda, menghentikan jantung anda, memperbaiki dan menjalankannya. doctor browne was explaining the procedure of the surgery to her patient. there is a repetition in the usage word ‘it’ as in “repair ‘it’ and restart ‘it’”. in order to make it simpler, the translator omitted the first ‘it’ word and combined the verbs together. the second example is presented below. 32) episode 5 transcript indonesian subtitle uncle jim, if he figure out how to stop swearing. paman jim, jika dia berhenti bersumpah. gallico was having a moment with his parents after his failed surgery. he was encouraging his parents that he would not be alone after he died. he still had his family, and also his uncle, jim, if the man figured out how to stop swearing. the expression ‘figure out’ was not translated because its meaning cannot be paraphrased easily into bahasa indonesia. the third example is presented below. 33) episode 6 transcript indonesian subtitle that is sort of what i was going for, yeah. itu yang kupikirkan. doctor kalu was visited by a woman with some third-degree burns on her body. she was too frustrated with her condition, so doctor kalu brought her movies to pick. she got offended and sarcastically said that she could relax by llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp.37-57 55 watching a movie. kalu then answered her by saying, "that is sort of what i was going for, yeah." the expression ‘sort of' was omitted because it has no equivalent in the target language and rather hard to translate. another example is presented below. 34) episode 9 transcript indonesian subtitle and we were probably gonna wind up coming to you anyway. karena kami mungkin akan tetap mendatangimu. doctor melendez and doctor murphy were consulting with the hospital’s vice president about murphy’s idea when doctor melendez explained that the idea might not work, the vice president started to protest, but melendez cut her off by saying that they were probably going to ‘wind up’ coming to her anyway. the expression ‘wind up’ was omitted because it is rather hard to paraphrase into bahasa indonesia. conclusions in this research, 253 idiomatic expressions utterances were taken from the good doctor tv series. then, the data were classified into the types of idiomatic expressions and the strategies of translation. five out of six types of idiomatic expressions from hockett’s (1958) theory, namely substitutes, proper names, english phrasal compound, figure of speech, and slang, were found in the tv series. english phrasal compounds were the most frequently used idiomatic expressions. then, it was followed by figure of speech, substitutes, slang words, and proper name. the researchers found that six out of seven translation strategies proposed by vinay and darbelnet (2000) were used in the tv series. equivalence was the most frequently used translation strategy. the least strategy used was modulation. the researchers also found that literal translation was often used in the subtitle of the tv series. the researchers also found that some idiomatic expressions did not fit in any translation strategies. the idiomatic expressions within the utterances were not translated. references adelnia, a. & dastjerdi, h. v. (2011). translation of idioms: a hard task for the translator. theory and practice in language studies, 1(7), 879-883. ali, h. i. & sayyiyed al-rushaidi, s. m. (2016). translating idiomatic expressions from english into arabic. arab world english journal, 7(4), 187-201. baker, m. (1991). in other words. london: routledge. bandirali, l. & terrone, e. (2012). filosofia delle serie tv: dalla sena del crmine al trono di spade. milan: mimesis. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp.37-57 56 bannon, d. (2009). the elements of subtitles: a practical guide to the art of dialogue, character, context, tone, and style in subtitling. retrieved from lulu.com: http://www.lulu.com/shop/d-bannon/the-elements-of-subtitlesrevised-and-expanded-edition-a-practical-guide-to-the-art-of-dialoguecharacter-context-tone-and-style-in-subtitling/ebook/product-18568520.html cacciari, c., & tabossi, p. 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(2009). the key to global understanding: world languages education; why schools need to adapt. review of education research, 79(2), 650-581. venuti, l. (1995). the translator’s invisibility: a history of translator. canada: taylor & francis e-library. vinay, j. p., & darbelnet, j. (2000). a methodology of translation. in l. venuti (ed), the translation studies reader (pp. 84-93). london: routledge. weber, r. p. (1990). basic content analysis. london: sage publications, inc. http://www.theclassroom.com/phrasal-compound-11401964.html http://www.theclassroom.com/phrasal-compound-11401964.html http://www.um.es./lacell/aelinco/contenido/pdf/17.pdf llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 111 improving efl learners’ speaking proficiency through instagram vlog mega wulandari sanata dharma university megawuland@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2019.220111 received 15 february 2019; revised 23 march 2019; accepted 29 march 2019 abstract this research investigated whether instagram vlog contributed to the improvement of efl’s speaking ability. it also examined learners’ perceptions on the integration of instagram vlog in a speaking class. there were 28 participants involved in this research. to determine the impact of the instagram vlog on efl learners’ speaking ability, preand post-tests were administered to measure the improvement. the results indicated that the implementation of instagram vlog into a basic-level speaking class improved the learners’ speaking proficiency in terms of pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary, syntax, and general use of the target language. the analysis of the questionnaire demonstrated that the utilization of instagram vlog contributed to efl learners’ speaking skill on enhancing fluency, acquiring vocabulary items, and boosting confidence and motivation. keywords: assessment, digital video, language learning speaking, mobile-assisted, perception introduction in the 21st century, the ability to communicate well is one of the fundamental aspects. in order to communicate well, the ability to speak a foreign language needs to be acquired. foreign language learners consider speaking a difficult skill to achieve for several reasons (luoma, 2004). first, speaking involves a multifaceted cognitive process that is considered challenging by foreign learners (bygate, 2006). second, there are some psychological factors that contribute on efl’s speaking ability such as self-confidence and anxiety (aydin, 2001). anxiety may hinder learners to produce target language satisfactorily (pasaribu & harendita, 2018). language educators, in this case, should be able to employ a task which can foster a sense of achievement to diminish the learners’ speaking anxiety, which eventually will lead to the improvement of their self-confidence (saint-leger, 2009). apart from the cognitive process and psychological aspects, another factor which influences efl learners when they perform a speaking task is the limited number of opportunity to have extensive practice outside the class, as they can only practice their speaking ability in the speaking class. thus, the language teachers need to creatively and innovatively employ a media which can extend learners’ opportunity to apply the extensive practice outside the class so that learners can obtain more exposure, instead of relying only on the in-class speaking practices (o’malley & pierce, 1996). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 112 technological media have been recently employed in language classes in order to achieve higher amount of speaking practices outside the class (christianson, hoskins, & watanabe, 2009). the ability to connect with other learners is seen as the benefit of the technological media. one of the technological media which can be incorporated into language classes is instagram. instagram is one of the most popular social media among youths in this era. some language educators have given considerable attention to its potential as a sharing platform for pictures and digital video. video recording itself has been used in language teaching and assessment as one of the components in oral performance portfolio (cheng & chau, 2009). using video recordings, learners can observe their own performance making it possible to do self-reflection which will lead to learner’s autonomy. based on those reasons, this research aimed at investigating the effectiveness of instagram video blog (vlog) on efl learners’ speaking proficiency. the research offered some insights into the incorporation of technology by adding pedagogical values on a popular social media, instagram, in the efl speaking class. this review of the literature seeks to critically discuss any research relevant to instagram and build interaction among efl learners. firstly, the connection between instagram and efl learning will be discussed. following this the discussion will progress to focus on the fundamental theory of building interaction among efl learners. finally, key issues and gaps in the current research are identified and discussed. instagram and efl learning seemingly every day a new mobile or web application comes out in creating a new medium in which people strive to interact successfully (wesch, 2010). in the last decade, efl learners have increasingly utilized social network sites (snss) to develop their language proficiency. one of the most popular social media in the world with over 800 million active users (instagram press, 2017) is instagram. statista (2017) reports that the most active users of instagram in asia pacific is indonesians, with the immense growth of 22 million users in 2016 to 45 million in 2017. it has confirmed that indonesians have the largest youth community of instagrammers in the world. instagram mainly serves its function as a sharing platform which users can use to post personal photos and videos which is enhanced with beautifully crafted captions on their profile page. instagram press (2017) reports that there are 40 billion photos and videos are posted on instagram every day. it is becoming increasingly popular for individuals to record their behaviors or actions and upload them to a social network (okada, et al., 2017). besides serving its function as a sharing platform, instagram is also used as networking site as users build connection by following each other’s profiles. users are able to view postings on their friends’ feeds and provide respond by liking and commenting on posts. likes and comments are posted publicly, so everyone follows the feed can see how many “likes” the post has collected to show the number of people favor the image or video. “comment” feature also brings the communication into the whole new level allowing users to interact to each other toward posts with specific theme. apart from that, instagram users can also communicate privately through “direct message” feature. by using these features, instagram users can involve in the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 113 synchronous and asynchronous communication both publicly and privately. instagram setting provides users with the ability to choose between ‘public’ or ‘private’ profile giving them the options to restrict or to open the access to their profile. therefore, instagram can accommodate speaking practices since it is seen as an ideal environment for efl learners to produce language exposure. thorne and black (2007) state that many efl learners develop the target language primarily through online means which may include online gaming, snss and vlogging, etc. consequently, efl educators are exploring how these online tools can be integrated into formal efl education (kern, ware and warschauer, 2008; harrison and thomas, 2009; kabilan, ahmad, and abidin, 2010; kessler, 2013). one of the activities utilizing social media is vlogging or video blogging. vlogging activity is currently gaining popularity worldwide. vlogging activity involves users to record video or themselves to communicate information on a certain topic, and then upload it on a video hosting platform, such as youtube or instagram (gao, tian, huang, & yang, 2010). as one of video hosting platforms, instagram can upload 1-minute video length to profile feed. previously, instagram can only accommodate 15-second videos, but as it keeps innovating, they extend the length of the video to enable users to communicate their message to their audiences. furthermore, another feature that keeps users spending their time scrolling the news feed is the “swipable carousel”. instagram has the ability to share a series of up to 10 images/videos as a single carousel post that followers can swipe through. those features if utilized together optimally can give efl learners opportunity to post their multiple 1-minute videos to create continuous stories. this activity can be a great idea to be incorporated in the efl learning context as it enables learners to create an authentic social environment where they can acquire language and boost their motivation simultaneously since it is a trending activity among youth community. some researchers have revealed a number of advantages achieved through video recording activity for efl learners. okada, et al. (2017) examined the effect of using video recordings of student presentations in the english as a foreign language (efl) classroom. the findings show that the students were able to develop strategies for how to deliver an oral presentation successfully and gain selfconfidence in improving their english presentation skills in the classroom. furthermore, gokturk (2016) examined the oral performance of 10 turkish efl learners utilizing video recording posted on facebook for their speaking classes. the result of the study shows that the use of digital video can improve learners’ speaking proficiency. the research also suggests that incorporating digital video recording into speaking classes can foster learners’ self-confidence as well as promoting them to experiment with the target language by taking risks. video recording activity can help efl learners to enhance their oral performance in many ways. first, learners have the opportunity to execute selfreflection by watching the video produced by themselves and see how they performed, and what can be improved in future practices. by evaluating their own video, learners become more critical on their own abilities (akdeniz, 2017). in the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 114 same vein, cheng and chau (2009) also investigated the potential of e-portfolio in the form of video as a media to foster self-reflection in learning environment. the analysis of the data showed that learners to encourage to enhance their speaking and listening skills as those skills are relevant to their learning needs. similarly, huang and hung (2010) studied the efl learners’ perception toward the utilization of e-portfolios as an alternative method of assessing their speaking skill in taiwan. the result of the research revealed that efl learners favored the task of creating eportfolio as not only the lecturer can assess their performance, but they can also obtain chances to evaluate their own performance and identify their weakness in speaking. they also saw this as an extensive practice of their speaking skill allowing them to reduce their anxiety when having to practice their speaking in front of the class. conversely, some possible challenges which might be encountered by the students are mainly technically related problem such as internet connection and speaking anxiety when talking in front of camera. research focusing on the implementation of instagram as the video hosting platform which provides students with opportunity to share their oral production is not yet gaining much attention. that fact encourage the researcher to conduct this study. building interaction among efl learners in sociocultural theory, vygotsky (1978) proposed two types of stimulus to enhance knowledge acquisition, namely mediational effect and zone of proximal development (zpd). the first one is related to the learners’ interaction with their environment which can shape new forms of knowledge and concepts (warchauer, 2005). meanwhile, the zpd is characterized with individual ability to develop their reflective and problem solving ability through the interaction with peers (vygotsky, 1978). in relation to that, the most preferable way to stimulate students to engage and collaborate in order to achieve problem-solving ability is a student-centered, project-based activity. teachers are no longer seen as the dispenser of the knowledge in the classroom, rather, they would be considered as the facilitators, providing ample opportunities for students to develop their thinking skills. on the other hand, students would be in the role of problem solver who will reflect and build up their own interpretation toward the learning activities they have experienced (barr et al., 2005; tam, 2000). the purpose of utilizing instagram vlog as the media to enhance speaking ability of efl learners are to create an environment where the learners can interact with others while experimenting with the media which is closed to their daily lives, vanishing the anxiety of being assessed and developing self-achievement. this approach would also create opportunity for them to explore new form of selfexpression while sharing their oral production to fellow learners in order to improve their speaking proficiency. previous research has investigated the use of facebook and e-portfolio among other social networking sites. an investigation on instagram is also merited as the features would provide other interactional patterns and function, so it might contribute different effect on students’ speaking skill. this study aims to address this by offering a new perspective on the pedagogic value of instagram for efl learning which have not been explored previously. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 115 method context of the study this study was carried out in speaking i class, which was a one-semester (14 weeks) compulsory course offered to the undergraduate learners in the first semester of their study at english education department in sanata dharma university, indonesia. it is a two-credit course, so the allocated time for each meeting is 100 minutes per week. the course was designed to provide learners with ample opportunities to enhance their speaking proficiency. furthermore, it was also designed to help learners foster their self-confidence in speaking english in vast arrays of daily situations both with preparation or without preparation. with that goals in mind, the course included lectures on basic conversation skills, simulation video, presentations, impromptu speeches on topics related to students’ life, collaborative tasks and discussion. learners were encouraged to exchange information with each other toward certain topic. while recording instagram vlog was a compulsory assignment given every other week accounting 30% of the final grade. beside fulfilling all the requirements mentioned previously to pass the course, learners were also required to attend 75% of all meetings and active participation in class or on instagram. summative assesments were in the form of two progress tests and one final test. the study adopted an action research design within the mixed-method research paradigm. the data collection tools consisted of preand post-tests, participants’ online instagram posts and comments, questionnaires and a focus group discussion. based on the data collected, participants’ perspectives were also discerned. participants the participants of the study were 28 indonesian-speaking first year efl learners of english enrolled in speaking i course at sanata dharma university. there were 8 male students and 20 female students with the age range of 17 to 20 years old. they were in their first semester at english language education department, faculty of teachers training and education. the course was mostly delivered in english. none of them had studied abroad in english-speaking country. data gathering technique before and after the implementation of instagram vlog as an extensive speaking practice in this class, pre-test and post-test were administered in order to see the improvement made by the learners. ielts speaking test task 2 was employed in order to get standardized criteria of evaluation. when the test started, learners were provided with some topic cards to be chosen. then, they had one minute to plan their talk about the topic. the time allocation for each participant was 2 minutes. the whole process of the tests were recorded. the video of the tests were then analyzed using a speaking rating scale which measured learners’ pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary, syntax and use of target language in general. the speaking rating scale can be seen as follows. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 116 table 1. speaking rating scale score pronunciation fluency vocabulary syntax use of target language 5 phonetically correct almost error-free smooth flow quick, continuous flow natural pauses very good; wide range uses appropriate and new words and expressions interesting response no grammatical errors speaker selfcorrects without hesitation very good 4 comprehensible, generally correct occasional error occasional hesitation, searching for words speaker can selfcorrect and respond to cues good, appropriate vocabulary generally good response two or fewer syntax errors minor errors that do not impede communication good 3 frequent errors that confuse listener and require guessing at meaning halting, hesitating visibly translating before responding can rephrase and respond vocabulary is just adequate to respond no attempt to vary expressions frequent errors self – corrects on some errors fair 2 many errors that interfere with comprehensibility frequent hesitations, searches for words overly translates questions before response repeats question word before response inadequate vocabulary or incorrect use of lexical items communication difficult many errors (agreement, verb forms) errors in basic structure errors impede communication poor 1 most utterances contain errors many utterances are incomprehensible little communication constant searching for vocabulary, verb tense does not complete utterances does not complete responses responses one or two words in length vocabulary repeated most structures incorrect very poor 0 no attempt the result of the pre and post tests were statistically calculated using spss 20.0. a paired sample t-test was performed on the data to determine whether there was a significant improvement on the preand post-test of the learners’ speaking proficiency. six video recording tasks were assiged by the researcher to elicit their speaking practices. with the purpose of increasing the likelihood of classmates watching and interacting with each other (bloch, 2007), the researcher chose to set up a private class instagram account as a platform to which the learners could upload their vlogs. in addition to preand posttests and the instagram postings, questionnaires were distributed to the 28 learners to find out learners’ perceptions toward the implementation of instagram vlog recording into speaking class. the questionnaire consisted of 24 close-ended questions and 3 open-ended questions. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 117 figure 1. data gathering technique chart findings and discussion this section will present the implementation of instagram vlog assignments in speaking class, the comparison of the learners’ scores on preand post-test results, and efl learner’s perception toward instagram vlog the implementation of instagram vlog assignments the instagram vlog assignments were held once every two weeks, except for the progress test weeks. students were assigned to upload instagram post of their video speaking in english on a given topic for about 1 minute – 3 minutes (using swipable carousel feature). six vlogs were required to be produced by the learners in the semester to meet the requirement. the captain of the class was responsible to create one private class instagram account for the whole members of the class in which everyone could upload their videos and provided caption which explained briefly about the content of the video. the following week, they will receive written feedback from fellow classmates and also the speaking instructor. the distribution of the topic can be seen in table 2. table 2. instagram topics, expected grammar and lexical sets vlog # topic expected grammar expected lexical set additional details vlog 1 10 facts about me present simple/ continuous tense personal information done individually vlog 2 what do you like and dislike? present simple/ continuous tense expression of likes and dislikes done in pair (dialogue) vlog 3 my family present simple/ continuous tense family and job description done in pair (dialogue) vlog 4 guessing the person have got … to be + adjective describing person viewers have to guess the person being described vlog 5 news report past simple/ continuous tense natural disaster must use swipable carousel to present multiple scenes of the news (in and out the news room) final vlog interviewing foreigner all learning materials all learning materials clips of the interview process pre-test instagram vlog tasks implementation post-test questionnaire distribution llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 118 since the students have never experienced vlogging before, the instruction should be made clear. the captain of the class, who was previously apointed in the first meeting, was responsible to create one class acount which was accessible for the whole class members. once the account had been created, the username and password were then shared through their line group. the regulations (dos and donts) should be settled on the class meeting. due to time limitation, learners can only post one minute video. the time limitation enhanced their fluency and idea development to be well accomodated in the instagram. the learners could retake and revise their video as many times as they desired which actually lead them into meaningful drilling of the oral performance to gain fluency. however, they were not allowed to use script or any memorization form while recording their talk. to encourage students to make interactions in the instagram, extra points was given to those who provided comments for other friend’s postings. beside giving comment on other’s postings, they were also required to do some self-evaluations by rewatching their own video and write their reflection on the mistakes they have made and their plan to improve their speaking skill. sample of vlog assignment instruction 1. you are expected to record a video of yourself (vlog) narrating ten facts about you in english. 2. the length of your video should not exceed 1 minute (single post). 3. any kind of memorization or reading from a script will be subjected to the penalty of cheating which is a grade of zero on the entire assignment. 4. you are required to submit your video on instagram account of our class. 5. you are required to write an interesting caption for your video and mention your instagram account and also my account to get notified once feedback has been provided. 6. comment on at least two friends will give you extra score on participation. 7. the deadline for this assignments is on september 3, 2017 (by midnight). figure 3. sample of vlog assignment instruction llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 119 figure 4. some screenshots from the instagram account comparison of the learners’ scores in preand post-tests a paired sample t-test was performed on the data to determine whether there was a significant improvement between the learners’ scores in preand post-tests. learners were assigned to deliver an impromptu speech for two minutes with one minute preparation on a given topic from ielts speaking task 2 format. the following is the result of the statistical calculation using spss. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 120 figure 5. paired sample statistics the results revealed that there was significant improvement between the learners’ scores obtained in pre(m=72.32, sd=1.17) and post(m=82.60, sd=.79) tests; t(9)=-8.46, p=0.000. this result shows that the implementation of the instagram vlog into efl speaking class improved the learners’ speaking aspects (pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary, syntax and use of target language in general). efl learner’s perception toward instagram vlog from 28 students enrolling in the speaking class, 26 students completed the questionnaire. the result of the questionnaire can be seen as follows. table 3. the result of the questionnaire aspects items mean sd interpretation  students’ perception toward instagram vlog 1-11, 24 4.26 .80 high  students’ motivation & self-confidence to learn speaking 12-16 4.01 .88 high  students’ interaction 17-21 4.02 .82 high  technical problem 22-23 3.32 1.05 medium as demonstrated in table 3, the analysis of questionnaire data shows that all participants exposed positive perception in terms of the use of instagram in speaking class (m=4.26; sd=.80). from the open-ended questions, some participants stated that they expected to post on instagram using english in the future with supporting comments such as, ‘this is a suitable method for me’, ‘i really enjoy this activity’ and ‘i would like to continue posting’. furthermore, they also agreed if the activity increase their motivation and self-confidence (m=4.21; sd=.88). since vlogging is a current trend among people of their age, this new experience was considered pleasurable for them. additionally, instagram created llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 121 opportunity for them to build interaction with their classmates (m=4.02; sd=.82) by providing comments and likes. it also boosted their motivation to present their best oral production because they realize the sense of audience existed. it is aligned with vygostky’s sociocultural theory (1978) stated learners learn best by building interaction with others. the questionnaire also inquired about practical setback in the learning process and the result illustrated that half of the participants (m=3.32; sd=1.05) claimed that they encountered technical problems in the learning process. the technical problems identified from the open-ended questions were unstable internet connection, time limitation on instagram video feature, anxiety when talking in front of camera, and internet data consumption. the main objective of this study was to share best practice on using instagram video feature and examine whether the vlogging activity on instagram as an extensive speaking practice would contribute to the improvement of efl learners’ oral skills. the results of the statistical calculation and questionnaire reveal that the implementation of instagram vlog in speaking class improved the efl learners’ speaking proficiency at a significant level. additionally, the descriptive data was coded for more applicable interpretation. when coding the data descriptively, some emerging themes were “contributions of the instagram vlog to the learners’ speaking skills” and “limitations of the instagram vlog”. contributions of the instagram vlog to the learners’ speaking skills coding was made and emerging codes under this theme were “enhancing fluency”, “acquiring vocabulary items”, and “boosting self-confidence and motivation”. first, the learners stated that instagram vlog assignment enhanced their fluency since they had some opportunities to extensively practice their speaking skill outside the class. they also pointed out that the instagram video facilitated them to review their weakness when eliciting the message. the video showed them that they excessively used fillers when they were thinking on vocabularies and expressions which distracted them as viewers. one participant felt irritated with her own the fillers she used since it affected the way she spoke in the video and yield in disfluency: “... the ııım, ııııh, and errr sounds in my talk really irritated me, i tried to stop any kind of unwanted sounds in my speech but i couldn’t help it. once i had to retake the recording 8 times to actually meet my own expectations.” (beta, open-ended questions)
 secondly, more than half of the participants (63%) expressed the challenge they encountered with the time limitation. they mentioned that they could not convey their viewpoints completely due to the fact that instagram video can only accommodate video with one-minute length. due to that reason, learners need to practice to organize their ideas in such a way that it could be pleasingly and clearly conveyed in the video. from that activity, it can be said that instagram vlog enabled learners to independently identify their own weakness and find solution for the problem they encountered in the process. one of the learners mentioned how he benefited from instagram vlog in the following way: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 122 “at first, i thought that i have produced satisfactorily excellent talk. however, upon watching my video again, i just realized that i made ineffective repetition which hinders me from expressing my viewpoint within the allocated time. so, i repeat and replan my talk.” (charlie, open-ended questions). thirdly, vocabulary acquisition was a perceived gain of the instagram vlog activity. ten of the participants pointed out that they frequently paused their talk due to lacking of some lexical resources, and they had to retake the videos after they consulted their dictionary to look up the unfamiliar words. further, they revealed that after looking up and using it on the video, they could easily remember the words that they used during their talk since they used it in context. it indicates that instagram vlog helped them to acquire new vocabulary items. they also pointed out that they had a chance to learn from one another and gain more vocabulary items. finally, some participants pointed out that viewing their own videos and seeing the progress they had achieved in the first and last vlogs encouraged them to gain self-confidence and increased their motivation to speak english more which contributed them a sense of achievement. furthermore, they mentioned that sharing their videos with their classmates, though seemed to be formidable at first, provided them an opportunity to express themselves and created the best oral performance since others would view their videos. limitations of the instagram vlog several issues related to the use of instagram vlog as an extensive practice in speaking class occurred. first, the learners made the point that the internet connection was always a concern for them. they had to spend time much more than they would expect to upload their videos to instagram due to unstable internet connection. thus, the teacher-researcher suggested that it would be practical to shoot their videos from campus’ wi-fi connection, so they do not have to encounter connectivity problem and high data consumption from their own mobile phone. secondly, they also exposed to the anxiety when talking to the camera. however, their anxiety can be tackled more easily instead of performing a role-play in front of the class. some of them stated that this activity reduce their anxiety of being assessed. learners supported each other to keep the anxiety at the lowest point. thirdly, video duration was also considered as limitation of the instagram vlog. they stated that they have to retake the video many times to accommodate their idea in the time limit. one of the learners pointed out how the duration limits her but boost her creativity at the same time in the following way: i want to talk about many things, but the video duration limits me from expressing what is in my mind. but i feel challenged because i need to be creative in the idea organization so that i won’t leave out important points of my talk. then, i retake the video for a better result. (aurora, open-ended questionnaire). by recording the video many times, they actually made a meaningful repetition essential for gaining fluency and accuracy in the speaking practice. it is in line with akdeniz (2017) who stated that video recording gives learners an opportunity to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 123 review how they perform over time, evaluate their speaking skills and becoming more critical of their own abilities which foster them in gaining the skills independently. the duration can also be extended through the swipable carousel feature on instagram where the learners can post up to 10 videos in one posting. moreover, the learners were also benefited from the use of instagram because they can repeat the oral production as many time as they want without any time and space boundaries. conclusion this research was conducted to explore whether instagram vlog would enhance the efl learners’ speaking proficiency. it also examined the learners’ perceptions of the use of instagram vlog in a basic-level speaking class. the results yielded from the analysis of the preand post-test using an statistical scale indicated that the implementation of instagram vlog into a speaking class contributed to the improvement of the learners’ speaking proficiency. additionally, the analysis of the questionnaire demonstrated that the utilization of instagram vlog contributed efl learners’ on “enhancing fluency”, “acquiring vocabulary items”, and “boosting selfconfidence and motivation”. due to relatively short video duration, they were required to effectively convey their ideas maximizing their idea organization. hopefully, the result of this study would contribute to the method of teaching speaking innovatively. regarding methodological limitation of this study, a control group would help the researcher gain a better insight of how this innovative teaching method contribute to the oral proficiency compared to conventional method. thus, i recommend future researchers to conduct an experiemental study which may yield more informative and contributing results. references aydın, b. 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(2012). on the attractiveness of social media for language learning: a look at the state of the art. alsic. apprentissage des langues et systèmes d'information et de communication, 15(1). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 383 the benefits of joining english debating society (eds) for students’ speaking skills arlien thinesia hetharie 1, *listyani2, and maria christina eko setyarini3 satya wacana christian university, salatiga, indonesia 112014054@student.uksw.edu, listyani.listyani@ uksw.edu and maria.setyarini@uksw.edu correspondence: listyani.listyani@ uksw.edu doi: 10.24071/llt.v23i2.2504 received 2 april 2020; accepted 13 may 2020 abstract this qualitative research study aims to analyze the benefits of joining a debating club to enhance students’ speaking skills. the data was collected from semistructured interviews to delve into students’ perceptions about the most outstanding debaters after joining the debating club 2014 batch at uksw. the research questions used in this study were about the benefits of joining a debating club on speaking skills and how the debating club could enhance their speaking skills. the findings show that five speaking skill traits and three other soft skill aspects were enhanced through debating. those skills are fluency, vocabulary, comprehension of the essence of debates, pronunciation, grammar, critical thinking, collaborative learning, and problem solving. the skills were improved though the drilling practices and materials in the learning process. the significance of this study is to attest to the significant improvements found in enhancing students’ speaking skills from using the debating method. keywords: benefits, debate, english debating society, speaking skills introduction the existence of english as a global language, which is spoken worldwide, makes the language a must to be learned from childhood to adulthood. it can give one a promising position in a big company or a higher position in a governance office. in order to learn a new language, there are four important skills to be mastered by learners which are writing, speaking, reading, and listening. each of the skills has its own difficulty to be mastered. yet, some people admit that speaking is the most difficult skill. speaking does not only require mastering the pattern of a language, but it is also about practicing the stress management skill such as having self-confidence and not feeling anxiety when you communicate in front of people. despite its difficulty, speaking is also considered as the most important skill. khoiruniyah in sabbah (2015) bravely stated that the speaking skill is the most needed skill in our society. she affirmed that successful language learning is when a person can orally convey knowledge or information to an interlocutor proficiently. the situation can also achieve the purpose of having a conversation to exchange information. mailto:youremail@xxxx.com llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 384 reflecting on the importance of the speaking skill for one’s life, improving an individual’s english speaking skill in society has started to be a need. many learning strategies have been developed to overcome students’ problems in speaking. one of the most effective strategies to improve speaking skills is through debating. krieger (2005) stated that debating is a very good way to involve students in cognitive and linguistic ways to improve their language learning. moreover, tornament (2011) added that students’ skills in making arguments through competitive debate practices or competitions could help them overcome problems in society and improve the way students respond to various issues. a competitive debate should be rational, focused, and structured. debating builds a unique set of skills, helping students to analyze problems, think critically, synthesize arguments, and present these ideas in a cogent and convincing manner. in other words, debating does not only train students to communicate in english, but debating also teaches students to have critical thinking, make an argument structurally, and deliver it effectively and decisively. unfortunately, the use of the debating format for students in an efl context has not been effectively used. some researchers have tried to substantiate the effects of using the debate method for speaking skill improvements in the l2 learning class, such as fukuda (2003), alasmari and ahmed (2013), and arung (2016). fukuda found that the ability of students to speak english increased from 30.8% to 56.7% after conducting a debate study on japanese students. alasmari and ahmed discovered that debating can help students improve their speaking skills and let them practice using english language in real-life situations. however, teachers usually fail to use the appropriate debating method in the classroom. therefore, alasmari and ahmed proposed a module to maximize the benefits of the debating method in the classroom. through an appropriate debating method and teachers’ assistance, arung found out that students joined and engaged in the classroom enthusiastically with a total of 64% to 78.4%. however, none of the researchers conducted an investigation on the benefits of debating in a smaller community like a forum or club that is offered in a school as an extracurricular activity that also contributes to one’s speaking ability. according to baso (2016), debating as a strategy to develop students’ speaking abilities has also been researched in indonesia. with an urgency to communicate in english, the curriculum has been developed to provide chances for students to practice and use the language from a classroom context to the national examination. yonsisno (2015), who once experienced the benefits of the debating method using a quantitative collecting data format, found out that debating significantly contributes to improve students’ speaking performance in the classroom. the technique was discovered to stimulate students to share their opinions confidently and increase their ability to think critically. this research aims to provide insights into the benefits of using the debate method for students of an english language education program in a private university in salatiga, indonesia, to improve their speaking ability skills by joining an extracurricular debate club. it is hoped that future english teachers may utilize debate as an alternative format for teaching english speaking in the classroom. moreover, students can also consider debating as an alternative tool for enhancing speaking performance outside the classroom context. this study is llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 385 thus aimed to analyze the benefits of the debating learning process to enhance the speaking abilities of students at uksw. debate concepts many researchers have attempted to define a debate. one definition could have a very different meaning from the others, regarding the context of having a debate practice itself. in general, richard (2008) stated that a debate is a discussion which comprises two opposing sides to defend and attack a motion. krieger (2005) added to his belief about the definition, in that a debate gives students the opportunity to improve their critical thinking while they are delivering their opinions to their opponents. moreover, with the various topics discussed in debates, students can absorb new vocabulary and phrases about the topic. in this study, the students were asked to filter the information needed related to the discussed topic. similar to krieger, allison (2002) also affirmed that debating is a multitasking job for students. students need to speak their opinions, write their arguments, listen to their opponents, and read an abundance of materials to give their insights about a topic. zare and othman (2013) added that a debate provides students with better learning course content. students may get inspired to learn how to deeply explain and justify their beliefs, convince others, and counter arguments by the various topics provided in debating. despite all the benefits of debates embedded in the previous debate definitions, snider and schruner (2002) highlighted the idea of critical thinking as well as the result of using the debate method in the classroom back in the time of the ancient greek and roman philosophers. they believe that a debate is a significant way to teach students in the classroom. according to worthen and pack (1992), the importance of having critical thinking for students in life prepares them to bear whatever life situation they must face. there are several objectives of having debates in a learning process, as mentioned by leo in azma (2008). first, it can trigger the students to practice speaking. second, it can provide students with the chance to talk in english when they have a break. third, a debate is able to boost students’ motivation to talk in english. fourth, a debate may create a situation that makes students feel that learning english is easy. fifth, students can practice talking in english without worrying about sentence patterns. sixth, a debate may help students consider their parents, friends, and classmates as their companions to practice english. seventh, it is able to make students’ use of leisure time more effective to practice english. eighth, it may expand students’ desire to talk in english. last, it can contribute to establishing the students’ everyday discussion practice with their friends. in the heart of learning english through debates in an efl context, debates have also been proven effective for students learning english. despite the exposure of four english skills in one debating practice, rowland (1995), in majidi, graaf, and janssen (2015), mentioned that the debating environment forces students to have outstanding performance. mitchell (1998) added to the point of competition, in that debating can motivate novice or advanced debaters to get acknowledgment as professional and academically excellent students in their circumstances. in other words, debating can motivate students in a competitive way to master english in order to be actualized in society. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 386 there are several types of debates that are used to fulfill the needs of each user. according to steven (2012), as cited in baso (2016), there are various types of debate formats, such as the british parliamentary (bp), australian parliamentary, and asian parliamentary systems. those kinds of debating styles are quite often used in indonesia. the styles have their own rules and regulations. the schools and universities can freely choose the need or style to be used in the class or competition. the difference of the style can be seen from the time allocation for the speakers, the number of people on one team (like two or three people), and the motion/problem discussed. the principles of teaching english speaking skills in order to teach english speaking skills to students, the teacher must realize the aim of teaching to students. according to sabbah (2015), a teacher needs to acknowledge that second language learners will not be able to produce perfect english like native speakers. yet, students have to be able to feel confident and have to practice to use the language. teachers should try to lessen the comments on the grammar and pronunciation and start to observe the cultural context that influences students to produce the language. the principles that are used to achieve the aims of the speaking skills were suggested by nunan (2003) and kayi (2006). the researchers proposed 10 principles which reveal that teachers should consider the learning contexts, create an opportunity for students to exercise and use the language, design meaningful activities related to the development of the language, provide feedback and realcontext situations in which students will have courage to speak up, and exercise the target language. the big concern in learning speaking is to make students feel comfortable. that is why teachers should still guide the students to master the correct english speaking skills. there are five components according to brown and yale (1994) that have an important role to measure the development of one’s speaking skill ability. those components are pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. pronunciation is an important aspect to be learned by students. in learning english speaking, pronunciation will affect the meaning of one word, so the way we pronounce a word will give meaning to the word. moreover, hornby (1995, p. 928) in harris (1969, p. 81) added that “pronunciation is the way in which a language is spoken, the way in which a word is pronounced, and the way a person speaks the words of a language.” kelly (2000) in seyedabadi and fatemi (2015) affirmed that using the stress and the intonation inaccurately can cause problem for students if they do not carefully pay attention to the pronunciation of the words. grammar is a tool for students to measure good sentences produced correctly based on the principles. coghill and magendanz (2003, p. 26) defined grammar as “a set of rules that govern its structure. grammar determines how words are arranged to form meaningful units.” reflecting on the importance of arranging meaningful units, uibu and liiver (2015) mentioned that by exposing students gradually to challenging and various reading materials, it can produce effective and correct language use such as in debating practice to improve the mastery of grammar. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 387 vocabulary is the word choice in uttering a message. according to the merriam webster dictionary, it defines vocabulary as a list or collection of words or of words and phrases usually alphabetically arranged and explained or defined. it has to be appropriate and effective for the interlocutor. krashen (1981) stated that most learners improve their vocabulary through unintended exposure inside/outside of the classroom. the teacher can prepare some vocabulary in the classroom, but students might also unintentionally acquire new vocabulary from the learning process in the classroom. fluency of speaking is a skill to speak with less fillers and pauses. in other words, speaking has to be accurate. richards (2009, p. 14) also mentioned that fluency is “natural language use occurring when a speaker engages in meaningful interactions and maintains comprehensible and ongoing communication despite limitations in his or her communicative competence”. khaldun (1958) in tsou (2005) said that one of the ways to make students have a higher level of proficiency towards a language is if the teacher establishes contexts and practices for students to utilize the language itself. for comprehension, speaking is needed to be understood and responded by others or the interlocutor in order to know the message has been delivered well. allison (2002) also affirmed that debating is a multi-tasking job for students. they need to respond and deliver their ideas to the interlocutor understandably and effectively. the benefits go to the extent that was mentioned by gieve (1998); a debate can also improve one’s critical thinking to analyze and develop arguments or ideas. fisher, lapointe, peterson, and white (2001) as well as hall (2011) stated that debating can also improve one’s problem solving skills in which students can make optional solutions to overcome issues in society. lastly, brown (2015) also confirmed the idea of collaborative learning for students to deal with their friends in debating practices. the benefits of debates for english speaking skills some researchers have already identified the benefits of debating to improve speaking skills, as it is considered effective for students’ english improvement. zare and othman (2015) conducted a study to identify the students’ perceptions using classroom debates to improve their critical thinking and oral communicative competence. sixteen university students participated in the study. they attended nine debating sessions in one semester. the data collection was done by utilizing a survey questionnaire and open-ended questions to know students’ opinions about classroom debates. moreover, the researchers also used semi-structured interviews to know students’ feelings. the results of the study show that students’ critical thinking and oral communication abilities improved. the students also admitted that debates could help them master course content, increase their selfconfidence, and improve their team work skills. sabbah (2015) also worked on identifying the effectiveness of using debates in developing speaking skills among english major students at the university of palestine. the research was conducted using a quasi-experimental research design in order to test the hypotheses of the study. the researcher took thirty participants for this study who were english major students in 2014/2015. the results of the study showed that debating had significant improvements on the students’ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 388 vocabulary and pronunciation. the students also were eager to speak in english after the research session was done. altamimi (2017) also conducted research on improving speaking skills by examining the implications of using debatable topics in an english-speaking class. the researcher utilized a quasi-experimental design with preand post-tests. the study involved seventy native speakers of arabic language. the results of the study showed that debating can be an alternative for teaching speaking. it gives students the confidence of speaking in english as efl students. however, from the research observations, it can be concluded that the teacher has to be trained well in order to maintain students’ euphoria in learning to speak english. those previous studies obviously showed that debating can significantly improve students’ speaking abilities. however, none of the studies truly discussed the benefits of debating which serve as an extracurricular activity in school and are related to students’ opinions. therefore, this study intends to delve into and analyze how debating can significantly affect students, especially in a smaller community like an extracurricular club. the limitations of the time to practice and a lack of control by the lecturer in the university might also be discussed in the study to know if having debates outside of the classroom context can still contribute to students’ improvements in their english-speaking skills. method context of the study this research was conducted in the compact semester of 2017/2018 in a private university in central java, indonesia. the study identified the perceptions of students about the benefits of debates as a method to improve students’ english speaking skills. the debating method was used significantly in the club. the activity was conducted regularly using a classroom context in which the students would follow a learning process in the classroom, do drilling practices using various topics, receive feedback, do assignments, and obtain credits in the university system. the purpose of having the practice sessions was to make the students feel comfortable in using english in the competitions. participants the participants consisted of three students. those participants were chosen based on the consistency when they were members of a debating club and the significance of showing improvements after joining the club. there were one male and two female participants in this study. all the participants were 2014 students and had not joined the debating club when they were in high school. eds (english debating society) is an extra-curricular activity outside the class hours. these participants’ abilities were just average before they joined eds. however, after joining eds, it can be concluded that their abilities in speaking, debating in particular, had improved a lot, both in terms of language and content. the improvements will later be elaborated in the findings and discussion section. data collection instruments the data was collected from semi-structured interviews with the three participants, who were former debate members. there were six questions using english asked to the three participants. the questions were related to the benefits llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 389 of joining the debate club. audio-recorded interviews were conducted using a mobile phone. the data was then analyzed based on the answers from the participants. data collection procedures in the data collection, three former eds (english debating society) members were interviewed. the participants who were interviewed had significant improvements since joining the debating club in a private university in central java, indonesia. the interviews were conducted on july 16t h and 17t h, 2018. afterwards, the interviews were transcribed and analyzed based on the emerging themes. findings and discussion the interviews were conducted with the previous members of eds from the 2014 batch. the interview results are presented in this section. in general, all the interviewees admitted that their english-speaking skills improved after joining eds. moreover, the interviewees also mentioned that there were other skills improved by joining eds. they were critical thinking, discipline, and some other abilities. however, the interviewees admitted that there were still challenges that the eds members experienced. in general, the eds members’ speaking skills improved in the community. the reasons and explanations are elaborated below. how eds helped debaters improve their speaking skills the five aspects of speaking skills, which are fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation, were all improved, as admitted by the participants who were eds members from the 2014 batch. the materials and methods used in the practice or competition to enhance students’ speaking performance were mentioned. here are the explanations of the five speaking skills improved. fluency based on the interview results, student a, student b, and student c admitted that eds helped them to speak fluently in english. it was honed through drilling exercises and feedback which were given by the community. moreover, student a, student b, and student c explained that they also had a responsibility to achieve their goals as debaters which were to deliver the arguments effectively within the time limitations. so, the students admitted that eds trained them to speak english confidently through all the experiences in the practices and competitions. in addition, the usage of gap fillers as the biggest challenge to speak fluently in english were also decreased from time to time for eds members from the 2014 batch. below are the students’ opinions about their fluency development in eds. excerpt 1: “as the time goes by, our fluency is getting better. for example, we used to say “ladies and gentlemen” up to 20 times in our speeches. after all the practices, we realize that in order for us to achieve something in a competition, we need to practice omitting “ladies and gentlemen” in our llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 390 speeches. we also have the burden to contribute in our speeches as well. therefore, being fluent in english is needed as debaters. we need to be effective and contributive to our team. moreover, the experiences shape us in our daily lives to speak in english fluently even in our lives.” (student a’s statement, july 16t h, 2018) similarly, khaldun (1958) in tsou (2005) affirmed students’ opinions through their research about the results of intensive speaking practices. the researcher said that the more a student utilizes a language, the higher his/her level of proficiency will be. being fluent in english is as important as the language itself. moreover, the stage of being fluent also means students feel confidence because of having enough practices and chances to use the language (sabbah, 2015). therefore, by having enough speaking practices through various contexts in the debating society, students’ self-confidence will develop automatically. comprehension of the essence of debates as mentioned in the interview results, student a, student b, and student c said that their comprehension skills also improved really well. the students clearly admitted that comprehension was the key in which the dynamics of debates exist. the students read a lot of materials in order to speak defensively, and then listened and wrote opponents’ arguments in every practice. moreover, the students said that their comprehension skill in speaking english was developed. these students needed to respond to arguments and made their arguments stand against the opponents’ beliefs. therefore, these students were trained to understand various contexts of issues which consequently, made their comprehension increase. here is a student’s comments about the idea of comprehension development. excerpt 2: “in fact, we were trained to read lots of things and watch videos to prepare us before a competition. i feel like my comprehension towards many kinds of books and diverse conversations improved in english. i was prepared with the knowledge in practices.” (student b’s statement, july 17t h, 2018) in line with what student b said that their comprehension was increased in eds, allison (2002) also affirmed that a debate is a multi-tasking job for students. students need to speak their opinions, write their arguments, listen to their opponents, and read an abundance of materials to give insights about the topic. zare and othman (2015, p. 157) added that debates provide better “learning course content experience” for students. students may get inspired to learn how to explain and justify their beliefs deeply. moreover, debates teach students to convince and counter arguments by the various topics provided in debates. in other words, debates increase students’ understanding by having multiple activities in one practice or competition. vocabulary as mentioned in the interview results, the student participants admitted that their vocabulary was automatically improved by joining eds. by regularly llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 391 having the practices and going to competitions, they got chances to add to their vocabulary lists. moreover, the students were forced to read lots of materials and listen to various videos which enriched their vocabulary lists. here is a student’s comments of the development of their vocabulary lists. excerpt 3: “in a debate itself, there is an urgency to win a competition. how can you win a debate competition? we need to shield ourselves with lots of knowledge. so, as debaters we need to read a lot of english articles related to the motions and elaborate on the information in our arguments. hence, by having those activities, our vocabulary will improve as well. if our vocabulary is not prepared well, we will be so confused to understand and respond to what the opponents say or even what the motion means.” (student a’s statement, july 16t h, 2018) the benefits of vocabulary improvement through eds were also affirmed by krashen (1981). the researcher stated that most learners had vocabulary growth through incidental learning such as through continuous exposure in order to comprehend the language in reading, listening, speaking, and writing exercises. in other words, the continuous practice of speaking in eds had unintended improvements in students’ vocabulary development. grammar as mentioned in the interview results, student a and student b agreed with the idea that eds improved their grammar significantly. through joining in the drilling practices, student a and student b felt that by using good grammar in debates, it helped them to deliver their arguments and understand the opponents’ arguments. here is a student’s comments regarding the grammar development. excerpt 4: “when we learn debating, we will, as much as we can, follow the way a particular debater who has an outstanding performance in a competition debates. those who have been outstanding as debaters will usually have excellent grammar. we get inspired and challenged to follow the good debaters in order to be " notified" because having good argument s is not enough if you can’t deliver the arguments using good grammar. moreover, we also sometimes meet good opponents who already have good grammar, so in a debate there is an exchange of information of grammar unconsciously.” (student a’s statement, july 16t h, 2018) improving grammar through debating methods was also mentioned by uibu and liiver (2015). the researchers mentioned about the consequence of exposing students gradually to how challenging and various reading materials could produce effective language use. in other words, students who are given the opportunity to have lots of input of english will be able to produce the language, either verbal (speaking) or non-verbal (writing), correctly and automatically. however, student c felt that the grammar improvement was not that noticeable. some debaters neglected the idea of using proper grammar in their llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 392 speeches. student c affirmed that what the debaters were concerned about was whether or not the message could be well conveyed in the speech, instead of focusing on grammar. yet, student c admitted her grammar was still developed through eds, even though it was not that significant. excerpt 5: “some debaters neglect the use of appropriate grammar in the competitions. the debaters rarely addressed the proper tenses. however, reading lots of english journals and articles could improve the grammar of the debaters.” (student c’s statement, july 16t h, 2018) however, uibu and liiver (2015) also stated if the students produce incorrect grammar, the exposure to peers who have correct grammar would automatically influence them. the practices and competitions give them an opportunity to communicate and exchange information. in short, by having various competitions and practices together, students will acquire correct grammar too. pronunciation as mentioned in the interview results, student a, student b, and student c agreed that their pronunciation was developed as well as the other english speaking skills in the club. all students said the importance of the pronunciation developed was to help them deliver their arguments to be understood by their opponents. if they mispronounced a word, it could influence all the sentences of the arguments. moreover, the students also learned to hear new vocabulary related to the various topics pronounced by their opponents. pronunciation took an important role to convey the meanings of the words. here is a student’s comments on pronunciation development. excerpt 6: “when we try to deliver and understand arguments, our comprehension and pronunciation are linked to be developed in debates. we need to understand and make others understand what we are going to say in our speeches.” (student a’s statement, july 16t h 2018) simply put, pronunciation development for students can influence their performance in speaking english. similarly, kelly (2000) in seyedabadi and fatemi (2015) affirmed that to use the stress and the intonation inaccurately can cause problems for students if they do not carefully pay attention to the pronunciation of the words. therefore, through the drilling during debating practices, students lessened the chance to misinterpret the words for both the interlocutor and the speaker, and it gave the students confidence to talk in english. other skills improved in debates critical thinking student a and student b admitted that debating activities also improved their critical thinking skills towards many issues that are popular in society. participating in debates expanded their understanding about how to criticize the dynamic changes that happen in society or even a discussion with a teacher and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 393 friends in a classroom context. joining debates taught the students not only to perceive one problem from one perspective, but also to see it from others’ perspectives too. for instance, they had to see the perspectives of the doer and the victim in a murder case. in the debating practices, the students were usually encouraged to identify, construct, and evaluate their arguments which prepared them to face various problems in society. excerpt 7: “i felt the other skill which was improved was my critical thinking skill. i could reflect from some subjects that i took in the university which were discussed about philosophy, pop culture, and cross-cultural understanding. i felt so comfortable in the classroom sharing and criticizing about the differences of opinions of social problems by using my base in the debate. i learned that i could not see a phenomenon just from one view. i also learned to be able to elaborate on the reasons for my choice over identifying a change in society.” (student b’s statement, july 17t h, 2018) similar to the students’ opinions, gieve (1998, p. 130) stated that for students to think critically they must be able to “examine the reasons for their actions, their beliefs, and their knowledge claims, requiring them to defend themselves and question themselves, their peers, their teachers, experts, and authoritative texts”. therefore, it was really obvious that students who were in the debating club would have critical thinking skills through the practices and competitions that they experienced. problem solving ability student a, student b, and student c admitted that they also learned to overcome various issues with lots of alternative solutions provided. the students were trained to prepare lots of rebuttals in one preliminary of a competition in order to defend their main positions. it was admitted by the students that the training in the debating club automatically made them able to implement problem solving skills in real world situations. the students got used to always preparing alternative options for pro or contra discussions that they might face in a classroom context, in a social situation, in an organizational life, and even in the family. excerpt 8: “besides joining in the debate club, i was also involved in other student activities. i felt it was really different when i had to deal with problems in another community. for example, we needed to work on a proposal for an event. then we were stuck because of administrative reasons. instead of complaining and getting angry like students in general, we’d try to directly fix the problem, we negotiated what we could do, we looked for alternatives, and so on. what i could feel was that i had more of an initiative to find a way out.” (student c’s statement, july 16t h, 2018) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 394 similar to what the students said, some scholars also confirmed the idea that problem solving skills improved in debates. fisher, lapointe, peterson, and white (2001) affirmed that debating gives students the ability to work with disagreements and provide another point of view in a study case or role play. moreover, hall (2011) mentioned in his findings regarding debates improving students’ problem solving skills that debates actually prepared his students to deal beyond their capacities as healthcare professionals. debating forced them to work with various challenging situations. thus, debates contributed significantly to their problem-solving skills. collaborative learning through the drilling practices and competitions, it was crystal clear that the debates trained the students to work on a team. student a, student b, and student c said clearly that debates cannot be separated from “teamwork”. the students learned how to communicate with their peers and convinced them about their beliefs to achieve or rebut one goal in a competition or practice. excerpt 9: “at first, it was very difficult to communicate with my friends. yet, through the practices and feedback to learn how to communicate with others, i could do that.” (student b’s statement, july 17t h, 2018) frijters (2006) as cited in brown (2015) mentioned that the debate structure forces students to share and interact their ideas either for or against the points of view of their team members. in addition, dam and volman (2004), as cited in brown (2015) also asserted that students need to communicate the perspectives of others who support their arguments. therefore, debates can actually strengthen the relationships of one student with other students and encourage them to work on a team. students will automatically learn to adjust and adapt to the different characteristics of their classmates. conclusion the purpose of this research was to see english debating society (eds) members’ perceptions about how debates can enhance students’ speaking skills and some other soft skills. the responses to the research questions were derived through interviewing three members of the club using semi-structured interview questions, and then identifying the five aspects of english speaking skills. those five aspects were fluency, comprehension of the debates, vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar. some other soft skills which improved through debating practices were critical thinking, problem solving skills, and collaborative learning. as can be seen from the findings, all of the english-speaking aspects were improved through the debating practices and competitions experienced by the participants who were former members of eds. the first aspect is fluency. the members admitted that through the drilling practices of eds, their ability to speak fluently was improved. the second aspect is comprehension of the essence of the debates. the students said that by joining the eds regular practices and competitions and then reading lots of debating material related motions, it trained llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 395 them to easily grasp and conceive the speeches and responses for the speeches as rebuttals against the motions of the opponents. the third aspect is vocabulary. the students were forced to prepare themselves through watching videos related to motions, reading news, and listening to the different levels of their opponents in competitions, which enhanced their vocabulary lists. the fourth one is grammar. the students were exposed to sophisticated inputs from debate materials, such as news and journal articles which automatically influenced their grammar. the fifth aspect is pronunciation. the students got used to listening to their opponents and peers in competitions, which enabled them to imitate the correct pronunciation of words. some other findings like critical thinking, problem solving, and collaborative learning were also explained in the interviews. critical thinking skills were developed through analysis drilling practices to elaborate on ideas and defend arguments to achieve the goals. the problem solving skills were trained through expanding the reasons and arguments. the students needed to prepare various options for solving the problems. collaborative learning as the last skill was also improved. the students learned how to share and interact with their peers in a team in order for them to win the competitions. in short, the five aspects of english speaking skills were effectively improved through debating practices in eds. it was obviously stated from the interview results of the previous member of eds. thus, the benefits also go to the other aspects of soft skills improved like critical thinking, problem solving, and collaborative learning. the speaking skill improvements in the club were effectively enhanced because of the efforts and courage of the students to study hard in the club. this study was limited to only a few interviewees. this research could be expanded to engage more participants in the future. in expanding the concepts, future researchers can investigate how the debating method can be implemented for more participants in various classes at the university level, not only in an extra-curricular activity like eds. another weakness is that the method used for 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(2015). the effect of using debate technique toward students’ speaking skill at the eleventh grade students of sma negeri 2 kota sungai penuh. jurnal penelitian universitas jambi seri humaniora, 17(1), 40-44. retrieved from https://media.neliti.com/media/publications/43488-en-the-effect-ofusing-debate-technique-toward-students-speaking-skill-at-the-eleve.pdf http://www.academypublication.com/ojs/index.php/jltr/article/view/jltr0605924932 http://www.academypublication.com/ojs/index.php/jltr/article/view/jltr0605924932 https://media.neliti.com/media/publications/43488-en-the-effect-of-using-debate-technique-toward-students-speaking-skill-at-the-eleve.pdf https://media.neliti.com/media/publications/43488-en-the-effect-of-using-debate-technique-toward-students-speaking-skill-at-the-eleve.pdf llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 36 insights into prospective teachers’ beliefs in teyl k. m. widi hadiyanti and martha yolanda atma jaya catholic university of indonesia, jakarta, indonesia widi.hadiyanti@atmajaya.ac.id and marthaayolanda@gmail.com correspondence: widi.hadiyanti@atmajaya.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.v24i1.2484 received 11 march 2020; accepted 8 october 2020 abstract teacher belief is valuable to accomplish effective teaching learning processes. prospective teachers utilize their beliefs to practice their teaching competence. accordingly, it is essential to explore prospective teachers’ beliefs as the teachers exhibit the beliefs in their teaching preparations and practices. alongside, teyl requires a unique process. to enhance teyl prospective teachers’ consciousness of the beliefs they hold, this study attempts to match them with the teaching designs and practices. this survey study involves teyl prospective teachers in responding to a questionnaire concerning with their beliefs about teaching. their lesson plans and teaching performance videos are correspondingly analyzed to scrutinize how equivalent they are with the beliefs. it is quite thought-provoking to discover that there are inconsistencies between prospective teachers’ beliefs with the realization in their lesson planning and performances. this affords insights to boost our awareness in building teachers’ beliefs as to maximize learning teaching outcome. keywords: prospective teacher, teacher belief, teaching english to young learners (teyl) introduction teachers’ belief or teacher cognition is said to be a term referring to a complicated system of teachers’ awareness, beliefs, and behaviour which likely influences their teaching practices (borg, 2003). in other words, every activity in the classroom is governed by what teachers believe. whether teachers are aware or not about the certain beliefs held, the way they think, respond, and act in the classroom are influenced by their beliefs (utami, 2016). if teachers know clearly about their beliefs, it will be easier for them to determine and adjust their behaviour towards their students accordingly (xu, 2012). teachers are likely to be the most effective if their beliefs are aligned with their surroundings (korthagen, 2004). realizing the influence of teachers’ beliefs on their practice can increase their understanding of the teaching and learning process in depth (aguirre and speer, 2000). despite of numerous definitions about the concepts of beliefs proposed, there have only been a few written about the roles in the education program (muryati, 2016). therefore, it is important to explore teachers’ beliefs before reflecting it on their teaching practices (liao, 2007). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 37 qazi, rawat, & thomas (2012) specify that most teacher education programs prepare their prospective teachers in real teaching practices through teaching practicum both the theoretical and practical aspects. in the course, prospective teachers are given opportunities to apply the theories about teaching they have learnt before to the real teaching situations (riesky, 2013). it is an important subject to prepare prospective teachers to succeed. to be a successful teacher in the future, their knowledge, learning activities, and classroom interaction are the key factors (gurney, 2007). while those factors are considered the keys, teachers’ beliefs are sometimes overlooked. teacher beliefs the concept of beliefs has been discussed widely by many researchers. according to borg (2001), belief is a mental state that is understood as its content held by an individual is seen to be true. belief is a concept of knowledge that is based on personal feelings or opinions, and experience based (pehkonen & pietilä, 2003). those beliefs apprehended by individuals are generally in the form of execution of personal experiences and are integrated into schemata (larenas, hernandes, & navarrete, 2015). similarly, zheng (2009) explains that belief is a representation thought of mental states to drive a person’s actions. therefore, belief becomes a guide for people to think and act (borg, 2001). it can be said that belief is a concept of judgment derived from knowledge and experiences that develop into a personal guide to help people in making sense of the world and themselves (pajares, 1992). further, borg (2001) claims belief as a concept that consciously and unconsciously possessed by an individual as a guide for him / her in thought and action. in education program, beliefs are helpful in developing teachers’ thoughts and principles (gilakjani & sabouri, 2017). graves (2000) adds teacher beliefs are important in designing a lesson. prospective teachers make use of their sets of belief in teaching process as a predictor of their real teaching practices (othman & kiely, 2016). therefore, understanding teachers’ beliefs will provide information for teachers how they accomplish their teaching and how effective teaching should be (liao, 2007). the beliefs are shaped and may shift in the process of the prospective teachers’ instructional development, add tang et al. (2012). teyl (teaching english to young learners) children in their 7 to 12 years are classified into young learners (slattery & willis, 2001). during this period, they are curiously enthusiastic to explore the world (uysal & yavuz, 2015). one of the main reasons to teach english to them is that in these ages, it is the best time for language acquisition (jazuly & indrayani, 2018). by doing so, they will learn english effectively. however, young learners are unique, they learn differently compared to adult. therefore, it is recommended that primary school teachers do not only know the development of learners’ language competence in general, but they also have to consider students’ background and needs, especially their exclusive characteristics (sukarno, 2008). here are some characteristics of young learners described by shin & crandall (2013). one of them is that children are energetic and physically active. they learn best with their bodies to explore the world before processing it in their mind (mandela, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 38 2015). whereas, scott & ytreberg (1990) add that children do not learn from explanation, but from whatever they see, hear, and touch. asher (1997) suggests that teachers can take advantage of it by providing activities involving children’s physical movement (as cited in shin & crandall, 2013). another point is that ‘children are spontaneous and not afraid to speak out or participate without being afraid or feeling embarrassed (hashemi & azizinezhad, 2011). teachers can make use of children songs, simple dialogs and chants to improve yl’s oral proficiency through repetition. meanwhile, to take advantages of the fact that children are curious and receptive to new ideas, teachers can prepare activities to arouse their curiosity by using media or realia to make it easier for the students to get the lessons well (juhana, 2014). children enjoy making believe, they are also particularly good at using their imagination (mardhatillah & ratmanida, 2016). it becomes the basis of creativity that is the essential part in human life (vygotsky, 2004). to ease young learners’ creative imagination, roleplaying activity can be provided in the classroom. however, children are easily distracted and have short attention span. according to harmer (2012), young learners lose their interest quickly and easily get bored. it is difficult for them to keep concentrated while doing the tasks, so there must be various activities in the classroom (cameron; as well as slattery & willis, 2001 in banegas, 2015). young learners are egocentric and relate current ideas to themselves. they are self-centered and find it hard to see things from others’ view (scott & ytreberg, 1990). children learn and do activities related to their daily life or personal experiences (juhana, 2014). teachers need to provide them topics about themselves for example, using adjectives to describe each alphabet in their names. on the contrary, children are also social who learn to relate and interact with others as well as the environment. vygotsky (1962) adds that yl build their knowledge with the surroundings (as cited in uysal & yavuz, 2015), and cooperate with the others (hashemi & azizinezhad, 2011). it implies that teachers should avoid individual competition. there must be balanced activities which allow students experience diverse types of interaction: pairs, groups, as well as whole class activities. muryanti (2016) adds that it is necessary to provide chances for yl to learn by doing instead of explaining for example the definition and the function of a door. they learn what it is by opening and closing it repeatedly. prior researches in teacher beliefs about teyl as the basis of the current study, there are two investigations exploited. those were done by liao (2007), and shinde & karekatti (2012). they conducted their researches about teachers’ beliefs to teyl teachers. both studies made use of a similar questionnaire with 3 categories including ‘nature of children’s english development’, ‘teaching methods & techniques’, as well as ‘teacher self-efficacy’. the second added one aspect about ‘teacher talk’. the first study compared the beliefs held by pre-service and in-service teachers. a questionnaire consisted of 40 items written in chinese was used to gather the data from the survey. the result showed that the pre-service and inservice teachers shared a consistent and almost similar set of beliefs. there were differences in the children optimum ages to start learning english, the best time to correct students’ errors, and the ways to assess students’ learning. meanwhile, the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 39 second was an on-going examination to see as well if marathi, their first language might differentiate the beliefs. it found that the teacher beliefs were similar and consistent: the nature of children’s english development was corresponded with the recent literature on teyl, the teaching techniques and methods used were in line with the principles of teaching in clt, the teacher talk gave understandable input, and strong english teacher self-efficacy resulted in their class performance. lastly, marathi did not influence much on their beliefs. research objectives in teaching practicum class, prospective teachers tend to focus their attention on preparing the lessons, teaching in the classes, as well as assessing students’ works (agustiana, 2014). they are not really aware of their own teaching beliefs. therefore, it is necessary that they realize about the teaching beliefs they hold. to overcome the problem about the prospective teachers’ unawareness of their beliefs, this study aims at examining the prospective teachers’ beliefs and to scrutinize the applications in designing the lesson plans and their real teaching. especially, it is to answer the research questions as follow: ‘what beliefs do the prospective teachers hold about teyl?’; ‘are those beliefs demonstrated in their real lesson plan (lp)?’, ‘if yes, how?’; as well as ‘what most dominant belief in each of the three categories do they hold?’, and ‘to what extent are the beliefs reflected in their teaching practice (tp)?’. this study is an attempt to provide insights for the prospective teachers to make them more aware of their own beliefs. it will also be advantageous for the teaching practicum lecturers in classes to build prospective teachers’ beliefs in their early process of teacher development in order that they can maximize their teaching designs and practices. method there were 17 prospective teachers in a teyl teaching practicum class from an english department, faculty of education of a university took part in the study. it was based on the consideration that they had experienced in designing lesson plans and did real teaching practices during their pre-service teaching for three months. the data of this survey study were in the forms of the participants’ responses to a questionnaire about the prospective teacher beliefs in teyl, compared to the beliefs analyzed from the participants’ lesson plans as well as in the videos of their teaching practices. the later is to match with the most dominant beliefs in each of the three categories set. the instrument was adapted from shinde & karekatti (2012) and liao (2007) based on the items that can be observed in the prospective teachers’ lesson plans and in their real teaching practices. it consisted of 20 closeended statements based on the 4-points likert scale, assessing the participants’ beliefs. validation was by trying it out to other students beforehand. the result of the analysis was next made up into 3 categories namely ‘the nature of yl english development’, ‘methods and techniques in teaching’, as well as ‘teacher talk vs student talk’. the responses to the questionnaire were analyzed in the forms of percentages and mean scores of the beliefs, then were ranked from the highest to the lowest to find the dominance of the beliefs. the average mean scores 3-4 say that there were positive responses from the prospective teachers. whereas, 1-2 show that they had llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 40 negative opinion towards the beliefs. the one with the highest score in each category is considered the most dominant. meanwhile, the lps and tp videos of the participants were checked using a checklist table about prospective teacher beliefs following the beliefs stated in the questionnaire. findings and discussion prospective teachers’ beliefs figure 1 reveals that most of the participants gave positive responses to the beliefs in teyl. however, there were only 16 out of 20 beliefs got above 3 in the mean score. figure 1. the prospective teachers (positive) beliefs it is shown here that in terms of the mean scores (put at the left side of the figure, not in line though), from the prospective teachers’ points of view, the most important is using attention grabber to deal with the yl. it is followed by making use of games (share the same percentage: 94.%). this supports thomas & clarke (2013)’s idea that it is easier for children to understand the lessons from what they hear, see, and touch not from the explanation given by the teacher (harmer, 2007; as cited in jazuly & indrayani, 2018). most of the participants believed that games might facilitate yl to learn in various ways. through games learners do not only enjoy and have fun with what they learn, but they incidentally also practice it (nurhayati, 2015). g r a m m a r p h ys i c a l a c t d o i n g a c t i v i t y p r o n u c i a t i o n i n t e r a c t i o n g r o u p i n g e q u a l i t y r e a d i n g s k i l l r e p e t i t i o n m u l t i m e d i a e q u i p m e n t p a r t i c i p a t i o n d o i n g a c t i v i t y a g r e e m e n t s m o v i n g a r o u n d g a m e s a t t e n t i o n g r a b b e r 70,6 76,5 88,3 76,5 76,5 88,3 76,5 94,1 94,1 100 94,3 100 100 88,2 94,1 94,1 29,4 23,5 11,8 23,5 23,5 11,8 23,5 5,9 5,9 0 5,9 0 0 11,8 5,9 5,9 agree disagree 3.6 3.57 3.53 3.53 3.53 3.51 3.48 3.48 3.36 3.35 3.29 3.18 3.18 3.12 3.06 3.04 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 41 it is interesting to notice that in terms of percentage, both ‘classroom agreement’ and ‘multimedia equipment’ are of highest importance [100%], yet the mean score is lower [3.53], which is also occupied by the importance of ‘moving around’ for teyl. this fact is due to the differences of where the participants put their positions in their responses i.e. even though all of the perspective teachers agree to the ideas stated in the beliefs, the frequency of those who strongly agree was less than those who just agree. that is why, the mean scores result differently or less in numbers. this applies to the other items as well. note that (positive) beliefs are meant for those with positive responses. however, there are (negative) beliefs as well like what we can see in table 1. there are four negative assessments toward the prospective teachers’ beliefs in teyl. it is written down here that there were 4 beliefs out of 20 which obtained under 3.0 mean score, meaning that they were considered not important beliefs. when ranked from the lowest, it expresses that ‘students’ first language is not to be used in classes.’ (item 5), ‘teachers are not always to correct students’ mistakes.’ (point 11), ‘multiple assessment should be implemented to evaluate students’ performance in the classroom.” (statement 13), and ‘teacher should ask questions...’ (item 20). table 1. prospective teachers’ (negative) beliefs rank no. beliefs agree (%) mean xvii 20. while teaching english, teacher should ask questions during the lesson. 64.7 2.89 xviii 11. teachers should not always correct the mistake of children in the classroom. 64.7 2.77 xix 13. multiple assessment should be implemented to evaluate students’ performance in the classroom. 64.7 2.71 xx 5. students’ first language may only be used in some ‘special’ situations 53 2.53 talking about the use of l1 in teyl classrooms, it can be said that most of the prospective teachers assumed that students’ first language was not allowed to be used in teyl classroom, not even in the ‘special’ situations. however, according to pan & pan (2009), teachers should not feel guilty of using l1 in teaching young learners. if the first language is be used effectively, it can enhance students in improving their language proficiency. the categories of the beliefs compared with the demonstrations in the lesson plans the current study defines 3 categories about prospective teachers’ beliefs in teyl namely ‘nature of yl english development’, ‘methods and techniques in teaching’, as well as ‘teacher talk vs student talk’. the result of the analysis will be depicted in the forms of tables along with how the beliefs are demonstrated in the prospective teachers’ lesson plans (lp) which are presented in the column of notes in the tables. among the 20 statements of the questionnaire, the first six statements are devoted to finding the nature of yl english development in the classroom. table 2 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 42 describes that the most dominant belief in the first category is giving opportunities to move around (statement 3). almost 90% prospective teachers believed to provide yl with chances to move around in order that they could best construct knowledge through explorations and play (pinter, 2006). interestingly, the percentage in statement 3 is the same as that of statement 2 about giving opportunities to yl to easily acquire english by doing activities. the difference in the mean scores implies that the yl activities are better done by moving around. those two kinds of activities are there in the lesson plans. table 2. the prospective teacher beliefs: nature of yl english development no. belief agree mean lp notes 3. children should be given opportunity to move around. 88.2 3.53 how to acting out, playing games 4. children should be given opportunity to speak out or participate. 94.3 3.51 √ = student talk sing along, repeat, answering questions 1. children learn english interactions with other people. 76.5 3.18 √ group /pair work, answering questions 2. children acquire english easily when they are doing activities. 88.2 3.12 √ grouping, pairing, answering 6. children learn english better with physical activities. 76.5 3.06 √ games, acting out 5. students’ first language may only be used in some ‘special’ situations. 53 2.53 one only meaning in indonesian: ‘sedang’ however, the belief about opportunity to speak out or participate which gets the highest percentage, but not the mean score, infers that the prospective teachers agreed to involve the yl in the learning process. this is one of the young learners’ characteristics i.e. they are spontaneous, not afraid to speak out or participate (shin & crandall, 2013). meanwhile, beliefs item 1 and 6 denote the same percentage in agreement but with different mean scores. statement 1 is higher than that in statement 6. the prospective teachers may believe that yl will improve their language skill by interacting with their surroundings (hanum, n.d). whereas, according to murtiningrum (2009), in learning a language skill, yl experiences give more impact than any usual teaching. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 43 the last belief with the highest percentage of disagreement, and the lowest in the rank among the beliefs is statement 5. almost half of the prospective teachers believed that yl’s l1 should not be used in the classroom, not even in the context. as table 2 shows, l1 is only put in the lesson plan by 1 of the participants. nevertheless, cook (2001) suggests that first language may help present the abstract and complicated vocabulary items more effectively but with less time consuming. the second category is illustrated in table 3 which presents the prospective teachers’ beliefs about the methods and techniques used in teyl. it indicates that statement 17 about the use of attention grabber to get yl attention is considered the most dominant belief. teachers can utilize it to make their classroom quiet, and keep the students focus to the task and the teacher (szott & molitoris, 2010). it is interesting to find that this statement has the same percentage of agreements as statement 16 about using games to facilitate yl learning, with different mean score though. this points the importance of using games as well. just as what moon (2000)’s idea of making use of games can provide excellent contexts for teyl (as cited in liao, 2007). remarkable still to see that statements 9, 10, 7, 11 are also in the same percentage as statements 17 and 16, although with different mean scores. mistake correction was not planned by any of the participants (item 11). it is as well thought-provoking to notice that there are beliefs which are 100% agreed by the participants, and provided in the lps, while their mean scores are not as high. those beliefs are statement 12, and statement 15. according to the prospective teachers, yl mastery of clear rules are better in the classroom than using multimedia equipment to achieve effective learning process. the participants were to design their own attention grabber before the real teaching performance. they provided pictures and instructions to demontrate the rules as well in their lps. the others are statements about the importance of teaching reading to yl. it is like what mwoma (2017) said that yl should acquire early reading skills because they will have to struggle in more advanced levels. the participants also believed that teaching yl grammar was important. for 76.5% prospective teachers, multiple assessment was not that necessary for yl. it is reflected in the belief statement 13, with the lowest mean score [2.71]. some prospective teachers disagreed to the idea to use multiple assessment in evaluating yl performance. it might be because they believed that students should get a stress-free environment (shabaan, 2001; bejarano and gordon, 2009; as cited in yildirim and orsdemir, 2013). even though, they were there formulated in the lps’ objectives, practice and production parts as well. there is inconsistency in this part. table 3. prospective teachers’ beliefs: methods and techniques in teaching no. belief agree mean lp notes 17. attention grabber should be used in young learners’ classroom. 94.1 3.6 √ provided by all llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 44 no. belief agree mean lp notes 16. using games in english instruction can facilitate children’s learning. 94.1 3.57 √ most 12. classroom agreements or rules are important in young learners’ classroom. 100 3.53 √ with pictures and instructions to demonstrate 15. it is important to use multimedia equipment in teaching children english. 100 3.48 √ video, ppt, pictures 9. it is important to teach elementary school children english pronunciation skills. 94.1 3.36 √ designed 10. english teacher at elementary school should treat their children equally. 94.1 3.35 √ questions for the whole class 7. there should be more pair work or group work than individual work in young learners’ classes. 94.1 3.29 √ group / pair work 8. it is important to teach reading to children. 100 3.18 √ highlighted skill: silent&loud reading 14. teachers may teach grammar to young learners, but it should be in contexts. 100 3.04 √ provided 11. teachers should not always correct the mistake of children in the classroom. 94.1 2.77 n/a 13. multiple exercises should be implemented to evaluate students’ performance in the classroom. 76.5 2.71 √ in the objectives, practices, and production table 4 shows the prospective teachers’ beliefs from the third category, the use of teacher’s talk vs student talk in teyl. there are inconsistencies here between the beliefs and the applications in this category. it reveals that statement 18 is the most dominant belief. however, what prospective teachers designed in their lps was that most teacher talk occured in explaining, questioning, and reading aloud. it llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 45 is in line with cameron (2001)’s idea that teacher talk is essential for yl to get an opportunity to receive new information and do things. thus, it is important to make it meaningful and encouraging (as cited in setiawati, 2012). this is also compatible with crowe & stanford (2010) who claim that teachers do most of the talking in classes, even though the opposite demonstrate to be more effective (as cited in imbertson, 2017). thus, we must reduce the amount of teacher talk to afford chances for students to practice the target language in class (kareema, 2014). repetition comes after that. it is also requested in the lps. most prospective teachers agreed that it was an important contributor for children to learn complex structures in language (monaghan & rowson, 2008). asking for repetition was found in some of the lps. the last belief about student talk that was surprisingly disagreed is statement 20. more than one third of the participants believed that it was not essential to ask questions in teyl. however, according to dianti (2015), teacher should be able to ask questions during the teaching process because asking question is a part of elicitation which is important in young learners’ classroom. in addition, there are numorous questions in the lps, especially intended to check students’ understanding. table 4. prospective teachers’ beliefs: teacher talk vs student talk no. belief agree mean lp notes 18. student talk should be more dominant in english class. 100 3.53 √ explaining, questioning, reading aloud 19. teacher should make use of repetition as they are children and english is a totally new language to them. 94.1 3.48 √ asking students to repeat after the teacher 20. while teaching english, teacher should ask questions during the lesson. 64.7 2.89 √ to check students’ understanding the most dominant beliefs in each category demonstrated in class performances the following table shows the prospective teachers in teyl dominant beliefs from the three categories along with the demonstrations of the beliefs in the participants’ teaching practice (tp). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 46 table 5. the most dominant beliefs in each category no. beliefs agree (%) mean score tp nature of yl english development 3. children should be given opportunity to move around. 88.2 3.53 not all methods and techniques in teaching 17. attention grabber should be used in young learners’ classroom. 94.1 3.6 all teacher talk vs student talk 18. student talk should be more dominant in english class. 100 3.53 not all the participants thought that it was important to provide opportunities for the students to ‘move around’ since it enhancd the nature of yl english development. in the real teaching practice, it was accomplished only by two of the prospective teachers who agreed with the statement by acting out in whispering challenge, playing games, and sticking pictures on the board in front of the class. they showed inconsistency between the written beliefs with the application by giving paper and pencil exercises which did not require the students to move while doing the activities. those who disagreed to this idea were consistent. they did not plan nor give chances to students to move around. despite, according to stevens et al., (n.d.) moving around involves physical activities which can improve students’ cognitive. so, it is important to supply such kinds of activities for yl. dealing with the second category, methods and techniques used in teyl, the prospective teachers considered attention grabber the most important. young learners are energetic and physically active (shin & crandall, 2013). therefore, teachers need attention grabbers to control the classroom situation. actually, there was one participant disagreed to this belief, interestingly, all of the prospective teachers demonstrated it in the lp and tp. there were various attention grabbers used, different one from another. it means that making use of attention grabbers was their basic belief in teyl to refocus the students’ attention in the learning process. this supports rosegard & wilson (2013)’s study. the last belief analyzed was the dominance of student talk in teyl. all prospective teachers agreed that students must be more active than the teachers do. yet, the analysis of the tp expresses that teacher talk is still dominant in the classroom. the prospective teachers talked much and scarcely supplied the learners with chances to speak out. this shows differences between beliefs as stated in the participants responses from the demonstrations in their teaching practices. student talk might occur in pair-work, group-work, and in whole class activities. gillies (2014) suggests that these interactions are important for students’ development and achievement (as cited in imbertson, 2017). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 47 conclusion there were 16 out of the 20 gained positive responses as prospective teachers’ beliefs in teyl classified into three categories. the first, about the nature of yl learn english in class containing 5 statements, namely yl develop english by moving around, speaking out or taking part, interacting with other people, doing activities, and performing physical activities. next deals with methods and techniques in teyl with 9 statements: using attention grabbers, games, classroom agreements, multimedia equipment; followed by the importance of teaching yl pronunciation, treating the yl equally, giving more pair / group work instead of individual one, teaching reading, grammar, with multiple assessments. the third, teacher talk vs student talk consisting of the dominance of student talk, and the use of repetition. the dominant belief of each of the categories are already aforementioned, put the first in the order. regarding the demonstrations of the beliefs in the prospective teachers’ lps, most of the 20 beliefs were reflected in the designs, but not with ‘mistake correction’. whereas, ‘the use of l1’ was only planned once. on the contrary, asking questions and multiple assessments which were negatively responded in the questionnaire were designed by all participants. regardless of the positive beliefs about teyl, some of the participants did not demonstrate the beliefs especially the most dominant ones in the tps (teaching practices). several were inconsistent with the beliefs they responded in the questionnaire. those who disagreed provided attention grabber; but the ones agreed upon were not wholly practiced (giving oppotunities for students to move arround, talk). they were unaware of their own beliefs; they may stay nothing more than just as a set of beliefs. the result of this study suggests the lecturers, especially those in teyl, to help develop the prospective teachers’ beliefs since their early teaching development. as an example, the lecturers might discuss about the beliefs teyl prospective teachers hold in order that they can achieve the most effective ones to apply in their lesson designs and real teaching practices. there are still possibilities to shift the beliefs. sharing the teaching reflections may function as an aid to explore the prospective teachers’ thought and beliefs to reach effective teaching. for further investigation about the topic, a questionnaire may be completed by having other points of language skills and elements, as well as various aspects of designing lessons and teaching practices related to beliefs about 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(2009). efl pre-service teachers’ beliefs and practices. journal of cambridge studies, 4(1). 74. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 89 language attitudes and identity construction of trilingual learners in a rural school in the philippines jerico juan esteron university of the philippines diliman, philippines correspondence: jjesteron@up.edu.ph doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2020.230107 received 31 january 2020; accepted 30 march 2020 abstract since its implementation in 2012, the philippines’ mother tongue-based multilingual education (mtb-mle) program has already generated issues that point to the seemingly inadequate preparation of the education bureau when it comes to teacher training and instructional materials production. however, one concern that is seldom mentioned in the literature is the learners’ attitude toward the languages they learn in the process. this is crucial because this attitude could reveal their learning motivations and formation of linguistic and sociocultural identity. informed by the notion of language attitudes and construction of identity, this study explores the perception of trilingual children on their mother tongue and second languages—ilocano, filipino, and english, vis-à-vis their identity construction. results show that most of the learners hold a positive attitude toward the three languages. however, the identified negative attitudes of some learners as regards these languages may cause pedagogical concerns linking to language teaching and the discourse of culture, nationalism, and globalization. keywords: language attitude, identity construction, mother tongue-based multilingual education (mtb-mle) introduction the implementation of the mother tongue-based-multilingual education (mtb-mle) curriculum in the philippines has effected a major change in its educational system. the mandate of the state is to require the delivery of basic education in the language understood by the learners. specifically, from kindergarten up to the first three grades in elementary, instruction, teaching materials, and assessment shall be delivered in the mother tongue or the regional language of the learners. the learners’ mother tongue is believed to facilitate the concept mastery and provide the foundation for the learning of additional languages. it is the goal of the program that all learners shall be literate in their native language by the end of grade 1, in filipino by the end of grade 2, and in english by the end of grade 3 (deped, 2016). the literature on mtb-mle in the philippines is centered mostly on the efforts of linguists and policymakers to push for the implementation of the program and on the readiness of stakeholders in implementing it. the most celebrated research on mtb-mle in the philippines is probably that of the lubuagan kalinga llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 90 multilingual education program by the summer institute of linguistics (sil) (dumatog & dekker, 2003), which yielded positive results in the performance of the students who underwent the program. the students who represent the experimental group (taught in mother tongue), performed remarkably better in five domains than the control group. these domains include reading, math, filipino, makabayan (a learning area which put together several subjects that help promote students’ personal and national identity), and english. it was noted that the success of the lubuagan project is due to the strong sociocultural support of the community. in 2012, the department of education (deped) through deped order no. 16 s. 2012 finally issued the guidelines on the implementation of the program starting the school year of 2012-2013. the mtb-mle program, however, after a few years of implementation, generated negative reactions from the stakeholders, which include the basic education teachers themselves, parents, and students. most of the criticisms pertain not only to the framework but also the seemingly inadequate preparation of deped before its actual implementation. some of them point to a lack of materials and zero to limited training for teachers, which resulted in non-maximization of the goals of the program (lartec et al., 2014; valerio, 2015; espada et al., 2017; rivera, 2017; namanya, 2017). gallego and zubiri (2011), meanwhile, mapped out the development of the mtb-mle in the country and analyzed the results of previous studies’ on select communities’ attitudes and perceptions toward the mtb-mle program. in their meta-analysis, they noted that basic education teachers show a strong preference for english as a medium of instruction (moi). these teachers also believe that students will be able to enhance their skills in english if they are exposed to it through its early use as the moi. citing rafael and rosario’s (2011) study, gallego and zubiri (2011) mention that parents in pangasinan, a province located in the northern philippines, would rather have their children taught in filipino and english than in the vernacular language. this is due to their belief that it is through filipino and english that their children would most likely communicate widely. besides, javier and vicerra (2010), as cited in gallego and zubiri (2011), posit that students manifest high regard toward english as it is considered to be the language for “socio-economic advancement”. thus, they prefer to get educated in english than in any philippine language. in the previous studies, teachers' and students’ attitudes toward the program would emerge. however, what is often neglected is how the mtb-mle framework possibly affects the identity construction of the learners. it is clear, based on empirical studies, that as children develop a strong foundation in their mother tongue, they are more likely to get a better grasp of their second language, i.e. filipino, and of their third language, i.e. english; and the success or failure of the program can be traced from its implementation. however, what is seldom mentioned in the discussion is the young learners’ attitudes toward the languages they learn in the mtb-mle program. this is crucial because it could reveal how they construct their cultural and linguistic identity and how this construction of identity could affect language learning (lobatón, 2012; dressler, 2014; dumitrašković, 2014; amirian & bazrafshan, 2016; fisher, evans, forbes, gayton, & liu, 2018). in the interactional and post-structural sense, identity inside the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 91 classroom is dynamic and changing. learners, then, can engage in activities and interactions where they can assert or hint their identity. at the outset, their language identities can be revealed easily by their language repertoire. other identities they have such as cultural or ethnic identities can be revealed through their knowledge and opinions about and behaviors toward their culture. in the context of mtb-mle, however, these could be revealed by the multilingual learners’ attitudes or perceptions toward their target languages and the cultures these languages represent. in this study, i explore how trilingual children, i.e. those who had already undergone the mtb-mle program, perceive the three languages they have been exposed to since kindergarten vis-à-vis their identity construction. thus, i address this major problem: what do trilingual children’s language attitudes reveal about their identity construction? to help me answer this problem, i pose the following sub-problems: what is the attitude of the trilingual children toward the three languages they speak and/or learn? do they manifest positive or negative attitudes toward these languages? theoretical framework i draw on crystal’s (1997) and richards, platt, and platt’s (1992) notions of language attitude. crystal (1997) defines language attitudes as the “feelings people have about their own language or languages of others” (p. 215). moreover, richard et al. (1992) illustrate language attitude as, in addition to the general definition provided above, “expressions of positive or negative feelings towards a language,” which “may reflect impressions of linguistic difficulty or simplicity, ease of difficulty of learning, degree of importance, elegance, social status” (p. 199). further, in the context of this study, i invoke ladegaard’s (2000) concept of language attitude in which he posits that it is composed of three components: knowledge, emotion, and behavior. language attitude, then, encompasses perceptions, beliefs or opinions, and judgments of the learners on their respective languages. i also draw on deped’s mtb-mle framework, which has the ultimate goal of producing filipinos who are “lifelong learners in their l1 (mt), l2 (filipino, national language), and l3 (english, the global language)” (deped, 2016, p. 2). through this framework, then, classroom activities are carried over in the learners’ native language and other languages. the framework assumes that having a strong foundation in the mt will allow for effective cognitive, academic, and second language development. moreover, i refer to the research participants as trilingual speakers given the circumstance that all of them speak ilocano as their native language and they had been exposed to filipino and english formally while in the mtb-mle program. since this study is not concerned with their proficiency in the three languages, conducting tests to determine their level of proficiency was deemed unnecessary. thus, in this study, the participants’ being trilingual is due to their general ability to use the three languages during and even after the program. in viewing the concept of identity, this study is adopting an interactional and post-structural perspective. i invoke coulmas’ (2005) and tabouret-keller’s (1997) notion of linguistic identity in analyzing the identity construction of the learners llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 92 based on their perception of the languages they speak while in the mtb-mle program. coulmas argues that “as we speak, we reveal who we are, where we grew up, our gender, our station in life, our age, and the group we want to belong to” (p. 173). this suggests, then, that through our use of language, our identity is manifested. while this notion points to how linguistic identity is constructed, it also hints how learners’ use or choice of language could give away their other forms of identity such as ethnic identity, cultural identity, and national identity. moreover, since identity is not fixed, linguistic identity is not only associated with one’s mother tongue. as we speak now of multilingual societies, we also speak of multilingual linguistic identities. this means that multilingual speakers can signify or assume more than one linguistic identity depending on the number of languages they speak. as these speakers also change from one linguistic identity to another, this also implies their association with the speech community these languages signify. tabouret-keller (1997) best explains this when he says: we are identified, and identify ourselves, within the large space of the society of our time, within the different groups – institutional, professional, friends, etc. – we belong to, within the surroundings of our home, our office, our car, our out-of-door outfits, our in-door outfits, etc. (p. 316) the three major concepts, namely mtb-mle, language attitudes, identity construction, set the theoretical foundation of this study. the framework presupposes the immediate environment or context where the trilingual learners are in, i.e. mtb-mle classroom. the trilinguals are exposed to three languages while in the program, namely, ilocano, filipino, and english. ilocano is a major language mostly spoken in the northern philippines. being the national language, filipino is required to learn in school and so is english being an official language. both filipino and english are mandatory school subjects. as they are expected to learn concepts using their mother tongue alongside their learning of filipino and english, they are expected to develop attitudes, positive or negative, toward each of these languages. in this paper, however, i only focused on attitudes relating to language. along with the participants’ manifestation of language attitudes, are their signification of linguistic identities, which also point to their other forms of identities such as ethnic identity, national identity, and global identity. this whole process comprised of the participants’ identity construction in the mtb-mle program. methods data collection was done through a survey that elicited perceptions and attitudes of the learners toward their languages: ilocano, filipino, and english. for this pilot study, i initially designed a 4-point likert scale english questionnaire consisting of 35 items, which was validated by two language professors. in constructing the survey, i considered two survey questionnaires were used to elicit language attitudes and perceptions (stracke, 2011; esteron, 2019) and used them as a guide. table 1 shows the calculated range. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 93 table 1. the calculated range items 1-32 range items 33-35 strongly agree 1.00 – 1.75 i like it very much agree 1.76 – 2.50 i like it strongly disagree 2.51 – 3.25 i dislike it disagree 3.26 – 4.00 i dislike it very much a total of 50 respondents participated in the survey, all of whom go to a small barangay elementary school in an ilocano-dominated town in pangasinan province. the school implemented the mtb-mle program in 2013 and specifically requires ilocano as moi from kindergarten to grade 3. students under the program also take a separate ilocano subject. due to time constraints, i opted to observe a nonprobability sampling method. i utilized this concerning the profile of my target participants, that is, all of them must have already undergone the mtb-mle program. in terms of age, therefore, and since the mtb-mle program is up to grade 3, the research participants are of the minimum age of 8. thus all of the respondents must be within the age range of 8-12 years old. since classes in basic education had already ended before the conduct of this study, i observed a snowball method in sampling my target participants. i sought the help of the first set of respondents to recruit more participants. because i noticed during my initial run of the survey among my first two respondents that they would ask me to translate some words in filipino, i prepared a filipino translation of the survey for the other respondents’ quick understanding and to facilitate the survey more smoothly and systematically. occasionally, i also translated some terms in ilocano, their mother tongue, for better comprehension. lastly, since the participants are minors, consent from their parents was secured. findings and discussion this section is divided into three parts. each part accounts for the learners’ attitudes toward ilocano, filipino, and english, respectively. following the presentation of the learners’ language attitudes, i provide discussions on what these attitudes could manifest about their socio-cultural identity and what could have led and/or contributed to their identity construction. trilinguals’ language attitudes toward ilocano the first 15 items in the survey questionnaire elicit respondents’ attitudes toward ilocano, which could outright reveal something about their identity construction (see table 2). it is worth noting that the respondents seem to have very high regard toward ilocano, thus a very positive attitude toward their mother tongue. with a mean score of 1.22, the respondents strongly agree that ilocano is an important part of them. this could be since it is their first language. it also helps that ilocano is the language of the community. as mentioned above, the school is situated in an ilocano-speaking community, which means that, although other languages can be used in communication at any time, ilocano is the primary medium of communication among the members of the community. with average llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 94 mean scores of 1.44, 1.54, and 1.54, respectively, the respondents strongly agree that ilocano is useful, valuable, and necessary. this finding is quite expected given that ilocano figures in the respondents’ immediate environment, family, and community. since the school is situated in an ilocano-speaking community, they see the value of the language, mainly through its communicative function. interestingly, however, this positive attitude toward ilocano could not have been only pragmatic but also symbolic. their attitude is positive rather than negative because they perceive ilocano language as an easy language to learn as it is a language that is familiar to them. richard et al. (1992) note that speakers tend to develop a positive or negative attitude toward a language relative to their impression of the difficulty or simplicity of the language. moreover, since these learners speak ilocano as their mother tongue, it would be easy for them to identify the language. in this way, not only their ilocano language identity but also their ilocano ethnic identity is constructed. in this paper, i do not wish to establish a strict delineation between ethnic identity and cultural identity. i lean more toward block’s (2007) notion of ethnic identity where he posits that ethnic identity is determined by one’s regard toward their cultural heritage and one factor that points to ethnic identity is language inheritance. since speakers are born in the community or in a family that speaks ilocano, it is natural for them to smoothly identify the language. thus, it is clear at this point that language makes identity (ethnic/cultural) construction possible. it is not only that we express our identity through language but also our mere choice of language reveals our identity. our attitude toward a language would, in turn, signal our identity construction. further, bautista and gonzalez (1986) note from the early studies on language and ethnicity in the philippine context that the mother tongue is primarily the determining factor in ethnic identity construction among filipinos. we can somehow say the same thing with the trilingual learners in the study. as posited by identity studies scholars, as one speaks a language, they express who they are and how they want to be identified (coulmas, 2005; tabouret-keller, 1997). table 2. trilinguals’ language attitudes toward ilocano on ilocano mean 1. knowing ilocano is an important part of who i am. 1.22 strongly agree 2. i think that ilocano is useful. 1.44 strongly agree 3. i think that speaking ilocano is a valuable skill. 1.54 strongly agree 4. i think that speaking ilocano is a necessary skill. 1.54 strongly agree 5. i always looked forward to attending my ilocano class. 1.52 strongly agree 6. i think that learning ilocano made school more enjoyable. 1.58 strongly agree 7. i think that speaking ilocano has helped me make friends. 1.68 strongly agree llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 95 on ilocano mean 8. i think that speaking ilocano at times is embarrassing. 2.00 agree 9. i think that learning ilocano has been helpful in learning filipino. 1.82 agree 10. i think that learning ilocano has been helpful in learning english. 1.78 agree 11. i think that learning/speaking ilocano has been a barrier to learning filipino. 1.84 agree 12. i think that learning/speaking ilocano has been a barrier to learning english. 1.74 strongly agree 13. i think that learning ilocano has made school more challenging. 1.74 strongly agree as regards the respondents’ attitude toward ilocano as a subject, they appear to have a positive attitude. with a mean score of 1.52, most of them strongly agree that they were excited about attending their ilocano class. this result is worth mentioning because this is suggestive of the kind of classroom environment that the mother tongue class provides for the students. this may also suggest a high level of motivation among the students not only in the formal learning of ilocano but in learning in general. this finding is further supported by the result of items 6 and 7 where the respondents strongly agree that learning ilocano made their stay in school more enjoyable and speaking the language has helped them make friends. this supports what several studies have already noted the importance of having a positive attitude and high motivation in learning. in a language classroom, for instance, speakers are projected to acquire and use the target language if they hold a positive attitude toward the language (krashen, 1981; ellis, 1994, 1997; savilletroike, 2006; karahan, 2007; zhang & slaughter-defoe, 2009; garrett, 2010). having a positive attitude toward the ilocano classroom environment, therefore, could be an indication of the imminent success of learning. this is showed in their response to item 13 where they strongly agree that ilocano has made school for them more challenging. on the one hand, “challenging” could mean difficult and can be perceived as a negative attitude. on the other hand, it may not necessarily suggest a negative perception as it can only be an objective description of the task of learning the language. after all, learners can still find school enjoyable amidst the laborious tasks there are to accomplish. i concede at this point that additional data collection such as interview or fgd could further enlighten what learners mean by “challenging”. further, it is interesting that most of them agree that speaking ilocano is at times embarrassing. this is a negative attitude toward ilocano. although most of them manifest a strong association with ilocano through their perception that it is an important part of who they are as a person, they sometimes feel embarrassed speaking it. here, we could see how the learners manifest a seemingly unstable ethnic identity construction vis-à-vis their language attitude. the multilingual context plays a major role in the identity formation of the learners. clearly, we see here that their identity, i.e. ethnic identity, is not stable. on the one hand, they are proud of their language inheritance, which is revealed through their llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 96 positive regard toward ilocano. on the other hand, they may figure in situations where they shy away from speaking their native language, which is a hint of a negative attitude toward it. this relates to one of the findings in the study done by rafael and rosario (2011). they note that parents of mtb-mle children have a negative attitude toward pangasinan, the mother tongue of the learners, to be the moi. although this negative attitude comes from the parents, this could be picked up through them by their own children. that is why gallego and zubiri (2011) recommend that all stakeholders must be involved in the planning of the mtb-mle program. likewise, this embarrassment that learners feel when speaking ilocano could be due to the impression that speaking a vernacular language is not desirable compared to speaking filipino and english. i will touch more on this as i discuss the learners’ attitude toward filipino and english, but at this point, it is imperative to note that negative language attitudes like this could equally have an impact on the success of the language learning process (ellis, 1994, 1997). with mean scores of 1.82 and 1.78, most of the participants agree when asked about their opinion on whether ilocano has helped them in their learning of filipino and english, respectively. although it is premature to assume at this point that this could be due to the correct implementation of the mtb-mle program, this is a significant finding because this could possibly hint that the objective of the program to provide a good foundation for learning other languages by letting children have a mastery of their native language first is achieved, at least in the perspective of the learners. unfortunately, when asked whether ilocano has been a barrier to learning filipino and english, most of them agree and strongly disagree with mean scores of 1.84 and 1.74, respectively. if we are to connect these findings to their opinion on whether ilocano has helped in their learning of filipino and english, one will see an obvious contradiction. trilinguals’ language attitudes toward filipino in terms of the respondents’ attitude toward filipino, it is worth stating that, with a weighted mean score of 1.44 (see table 3), they strongly agree that filipino is an important part of who they are. most of them strongly agree that speaking in filipino is a useful, valuable, and necessary skill. this could be due to the status of filipino as a national language and to its function as a lingua franca. thus, it is also not surprising that most of the respondents would be looking forward to attending their filipino class and that learning filipino made school more enjoyable for them. they even strongly agree that filipino has helped them make friends. concerning their positive attitude toward ilocano, this finding is also not at all surprising. as mentioned above, filipino is the national language and one of the two official languages of the country. that they consider speaking it useful, valuable, and a necessary skill speaks volumes about their national identity construction. however complicated national identity is a concept, it is a fact that the discourse of national identity is part of the agenda of the mtb-mle program. as mentioned elsewhere, the program aims to develop children as lifelong learners in their l1 (mt), l2 (filipino) and l3 (english). thus, this mandate also assumes children to foster their national identity and it is through their learning and use of the national language that they can achieve this. since “language acts are acts of identity” (tabouretllt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 97 keller, 1997, p. 315), learners are seen to construct their national identity within and after having completed the mtb-mle program. what is surprising to note, however, is their response to item 21. with a weighted mean score of 1.92, most of the respondents agree that speaking filipino at times is embarrassing. i speculate that this could be because outside the filipino classroom, the medium of communication is ilocano and speaking in filipino may be awkward for the learners. using it is as a medium of communication is uncommon and unnatural for the respondents since their mother tongue is ilocano. nevertheless, this finding merits further probing using a different data collection method to elicit more information about the attitude it reveals. table 3. trilinguals’ language attitudes toward filipino on filipino mean 14. knowing filipino is an important part of who i am. 1.44 strongly agree 15. i think that filipino is useful. 1.64 strongly agree 16. i think that speaking filipino is a valuable skill. 1.50 strongly agree 17. i think that speaking filipino is a necessary skill. 1.64 strongly agree 18. i always looked forward to attending my filipino class. 1.56 strongly agree 19. i think that learning filipino made school more enjoyable. 1.56 strongly agree 20. i think that speaking filipino has helped me make friends. 1.72 strongly agree 21. i think that speaking filipino at times is embarrassing. 1.92 agree 22. i think that learning/speaking filipino has been a barrier to learning english. 1.64 strongly agree 23. i think that learning filipino has made school more challenging. 1.46 strongly agree moreover, most of the respondents strongly agree that learning/speaking filipino has been a barrier to learning english with a weighted mean score of 1.64. if the objective of the mtb-mle program is to provide a good transition from learning filipino to learning english, this finding could be symptomatic to a potential defect in the implementation which could affect the attitude of the children toward the language they are supposed to learn. as also found in the attitude of the respondents toward ilocano, the respondents strongly agree, with a weighted mean score of 1.46, that learning filipino has made school more challenging. while this could be a sign that they have a negative attitude toward filipino, i contend that this attitude may be due to various factors such as how the learning of filipino is done and the teacher handling the class. also, i maintain that the word “challenging” could also mean positively; that is, the respondents still find school enjoyable despite having a challenging experience learning filipino as evidenced by the fact llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 98 that they looked forward to attending their filipino class. however, this can be validated by conducting additional inquiries from the respondents, possibly, through an interview or fgd. trilinguals’ language attitudes toward english compared to the respondents’ regard for ilocano and filipino, most of them only agree that english is an important part of who they are with a mean score of 1.90 (see table 4). this can be explained by the fact that english is not a local language. although english is an official moi, it is not a common medium of communication in the school, at home, and in the community given the demographics of the research participants and the location of the school. likewise, slightly lower scores were noted when their opinion was asked whether english is a useful, valuable, and necessary skill compared to their opinions toward ilocano and filipino. nevertheless, with mean scores of 1.80, 1.88, and 1.92, respectively, the respondents agree that english is indeed useful, valuable, and necessary. this positive attitude toward english may be attributed to what ricento (2000) calls “stable diglossia” and this, according to mahboob and cruz (2013) is very apparent in the philippine context. english, being one of the official languages of the country, is elevated to high status as the language of education, commerce, law, and politics. this reality has since relegated filipino and other languages to a lesser role and function in society. in turn, this has shaped people’s perception of english and other languages. for instance, if you are not proficient in english, you are stereotypically deemed unintellectual, not modern, or poor. what this stable diglossia has produced is this kind of mentality because as mahboob and cruz (2013) put it, “english is now more than ever, packaged as the language of opportunity” (p. 7) or simply, the language of globalization. the philippine government is holding on to this discourse when they promoted the mtb-mle program as a way to produce filipinos who are competitive in english as a global language. this mindset could have influenced the learners’ positive regard for english. this language attitude, then, allows for the construction of a supposed “global identity” among the learners. as noted above, this attitude by the learners echoes the findings of javier and vicerra (2010) and rafael and rosario (2011) regarding english as perceived to be the language that will alleviate the low socioeconomic status of filipinos. on the one hand, the belief that learning english promises to prepare the children to be globally competitive is true. however, this mentality has since created, as a consequence, a negative attitude toward other languages in the philippines. a common impression people have is that local languages are of less importance than english and this could be due to what gonzalez (1998) calls “auxiliary” function that is accorded to the local languages by those that legitimize the diglossic situation of the country. nevertheless, what this positive language attitude by the learners reveals is their attempt at constructing a global identity alongside their ethnic and national identity. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 99 table 4. trilinguals’ language attitudes toward english on english mean 24. knowing english is an important part of who i am. 1.90 agree 25. i think that english is useful. 1.80 agree 26. i think that speaking english is a valuable skill. 1.88 agree 27. i think that speaking english is a necessary skill. 1.92 agree 28. i always looked forward to attending my english class. 1.88 agree 29. i think that learning english made school more enjoyable. 2.14 agree 30. i think that speaking english has helped me make friends. 2.18 agree 31. i think that speaking english at times is embarrassing. 2.04 agree 32. i think that learning english has made school more challenging. 2.06 agree moreover, the respondents also agree that learning english made school more enjoyable for them and has helped them make friends. however, the mean scores are yet again lower than the mean scores for their opinion about ilocano and filipino. also, the mean score for their opinion about whether they looked forward to attending their english class, is lower compared to when they were asked about their opinion about their ilocano and filipino classes. while these findings may suggest still a positive attitude toward english, the respondents seem to have a lower level of a positive attitude toward english than toward the other local languages. this may be explained by the fact that english is a language they do not easily identify with given that it is not their home language and it is not the language of the community. this could be supported by the finding that most of them feel embarrassed about speaking english. interestingly, the respondents only agree that english has made school more challenging for them with a mean score of 2.06 as compared to the respondents’ opinion about ilocano and filipino, both of which garnered 1.74 (strongly agree) and 1.46 (strongly agree), respectively. lastly, it is good to note that despite the findings that the respondents feel embarrassed to speak ilocano, filipino, and english at times, findings show that they still have high regard toward the three languages. table 5. general language attitude of the trilinguals general attitude toward: mean 33. ilocano 1.10 i like it very much 34. filipino 1.08 i like it very much 35. english 1.64 i like it very much llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 100 despite their slight differences, the mean scores relating to the respondents’ general attitude toward the three languages appear to be high (see table 5). all respondents demonstrate a positive attitude toward the three languages they learned. i claim that this is a relevant finding because this means that the respondents did not take any issue with using or learning any of the three languages they were required to use and learn. if this is any indication of the motivation of the respondents toward learning, it is clear that they seem to have developed a positive motivation for learning while in the mtb-mle program. while the analysis of data generally points to positive results, it is also worth mentioning that some respondents express what seems to be a manifestation of negative attitude toward ilocano, filipino, and english. in ilocano’s case, 2 respondents strongly disagree that knowing ilocano is an important part of who they are, one strongly disagrees that it is useful, three strongly disagree that it is a valuable skill, and two strongly disagree that it is a necessary skill. three of them also strongly disagree that they always looked forward to attending their ilocano class. with filipino, i noted that at least 2 respondents strongly disagree that knowing filipino is an important part of who they are, three strongly disagree that it is useful, at least two disagree that it is a valuable skill, and four strongly disagree that they looked forward to attending their filipino class. with english, it is remarkable that at least 10 respondents disagree that english is an important part of who they are, at least nine disagree that it is useful, at least nine disagree that it is a valuable skill, and at least nine disagree that it is a necessary skill. at least 8 of them disagree that they looked forward to attending their english class. these negative attitudes could be as interesting as the positive attitudes noted previously about the respondents. these negative attitudes may also provide valid insights as to how the mtb-mle framework can be improved. however, since the study was limited to doing the survey, reasons as to why these participants manifest negative language attitudes remain unknown at this point. conducting further measures such as interviews and focus group discussions to inquire about the motivations behind these negative reactions is thus recommended. conclusion this study showed trilingual children’s language attitudes in the context of mtb-mle classroom and what these language attitudes reveal about their identity construction. overall, the respondents show a positive attitude toward ilocano, filipino, and english. more than in english, however, the respondents seem to have stronger regard toward ilocano and filipino because these two languages are local languages. ilocano is their mother tongue and filipino is the national language. english, in contrast, may still be perceived as a ‘foreign’ language which does not function as a medium of communication in the community. nevertheless, the regard that the respondents have toward the three languages point to their trilingual or multilingual identity. as multilingual speakers, they signify three linguistic identities: ilocano, filipino, and english. this suggests dynamic and contextual linguistic identities. in turn, the respondents also project their socio-cultural identities. the fact that they like ilocano, filipino, and english could mean that they identify with the speech community or to the corresponding bearing these languages llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 101 point to. they identify with the ilocano-speaking community where they are a part of, with the filipino-speaking community because filipino is considered the national language and it is their way of responding to the nationalist effort of the country, and with english, because it is an official language of the country and most likely because english is perceived to be the global language. in this study, this is seen as the learners’ construction of their ethnic identity, national identity, and global identity, respectively. lastly, it is important to note that this study could have generated more conclusive results had it not been because of some limitations it encountered. among these is the issue of data collection. a more systematic sampling of data can be done to make sure that the target population is well represented and to establish a higher level of acceptability. also, data triangulation can be observed to check the consistency of the responses of the respondents. future studies on multilingual children’s language attitudes against the backdrop of mother tonguebased multilingual education may triangulate survey data with interviews or focus group discussions among children as young as 8 years old. for instance, the negative language attitudes of some respondents noted above, could have been triangulated with data that can be elicited through interviews or fgds. these methodologies should help in verifying responses and thus, should help enrich the data. overall, despite the limitations, this study was able to contribute interesting and valid insights on the literature on the relation between language attitudes and 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(2009). language attitudes and heritage language maintenance among chinese immigrant families in the usa. language, culture and curriculum, 22(2), 77-93. http://www.international.ucla.edu/media/files/students-questionnaire-%20german---age-8-12-reformatted-es-pz-mp3.pdf http://www.international.ucla.edu/media/files/students-questionnaire-%20german---age-8-12-reformatted-es-pz-mp3.pdf llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 126 rater agreement and disagreement in the measurement of english article acquisition suppliance and accuracy rose acen upor university of dar es salaam upor@udsm.ac.tz correspondence: upor@udsm.ac.tz https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v24i1.2603 received 19 may 2020; accepted 25 february 2021 abstract this study combines language assessment processes and interlanguage analysis techniques to determine rater agreement and disagreement in assessing english article acquisition. employing native english speaking and non-native english speaking raters, picture sequence narratives that were written by english as a foreign language (efl) learners (n=97) were coded and scored for suppliancein-obligatory context (soc) and target-like utterance (tlu). although the kappa statistic revealed a fair agreement between raters (0.17 – 0.33), content analysis methods revealed much higher agreement (88.29% 94.07%). furthermore, language background effects between the raters could not be substantiated however the results demonstrated a discernable disagreement pattern between them. thus, the study recommends the inclusion of a foreign language teaching background as a factor for rater selection to minimize language background effects on rating language assessments. keywords: article acquisition, inter-rater agreement, inter-rater disagreement, language background effects introduction although the general relationship between language assessment and second language acquisition is relatively well established, the association with foreign language learning situations such as in africa has not been clearly understood. despite, the wide acknowledgment of the multidimensional research in language assessment studies, appraisal of foreign language learning situations has not been fully explored. most studies of inter-rater reliability (irr) on language assessment focus on tests of english proficiency and issues of rater assessment. some of the issues identified include rater bias, rater background, rater severity/leniency and formats of testing. other aspects include methodology, rater sample, and rater agreement, to mention a few. in some studies, rater bias has been shown to impact the results of proficiency tests in particular rater language background and rater severity (caban, 2003; johnson & lim, 2009; kim, 2009). in other studies, possible effects of rater training on levels of inter-rater agreement mailto:upor@udsm.ac.tz mailto:upor@udsm.ac.tz https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v24i1.2603 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 127 and rater severity were noted (elder, barkhuizen, knoch, & von randow, 2007; elder, knoch, barkhuizen, & von randow, 2005; knoch, read, & von randow, 2007; o’sullivan & rignall, 2007). inter-rater reliability measures have also been used in studies that are not necessarily dependent on samples from language proficiency testing (stolarova, wolf, rinker & brielmann, 2014). this paper intends to explore and bridge foreign language learning research and language assessment methods through measurement of suppliance and accuracy in article acquisition as part of a methodology in inter-rater agreement. the aim of the study is two-fold; first, it addresses the inter-rater reliability measures of the ability of learners to supply articles and determine the accuracy of these forms, second it determines inter-rater agreement and disagreement effects on article suppliance. in addressing the two aims of the study, this article is divided into 2 major sections. first, it builds on the existing body of research on the acquisition of english articles by adopting the bickerton/huebner model in determining the constructs for the rating scale (bickerton, 1981; huebner, 1983) and interlanguage analysis techniques in the collection of performance data (pica, 1983). on one hand, the bickerton/huebner model is built on a taxonomy in the study of article use and it considers semantic and discourse-pragmatic features of the noun phrase (np). according to the model, english nps are classified based on referentiality i.e. specific reference [±sr] and hearer knowledge [±hk]. this allows for a comprehensive study of article use in four contexts namely, general reference (type 1), referential definite (type 2), indefinite reference (type3) and nonreferential (type 4) (bickerton, 1981; huebner, 1983). this framework made it possible to differentiate the underlying uses of the english article system in narratives and set a rating scale. on the other hand, the interlanguage analysis techniques adopted from pica (1983) intend to provide statistical support in determining the instances of suppliance and accuracy of article use by efl participants in the study. the suppliance-in-obligatory contexts (soc) and target-like-utterance (tlu) measures provide a basis for the raters to determine the obligatory contexts for suppliance and accuracy of the english articles. norris and ortega (1983) indicate that these measures reveal differential patterns in learner types that would have gone undetected. they claim that naturalistic learners and instruction-only learners tend to have a smaller expressive vocabulary than instruction-plus-exposure learners. this illustrates that these measures have an increased sensitivity of analytical units and procedures that may contribute to a better understanding within a given theory. second, the study also builds on the constructs of rater assessment so as to determine rater agreement and disagreement. to do so, the study uses the assessment data from the raters to perform statistical tests to determine the rate of agreement and disagreement. through the findings, the paper shall explore minimally two constructs of language assessment, namely, rater language background influence and rater bias. these constructs are associated with the analysis based on the non-native and native english speaking raters involvement in the study. hence, to expound on the relationship between language assessment and foreign language learning, and in particular, assessment of article suppliance and accuracy in narratives, the present study measured rater agreement and disagreement with a set of measures that span sla and language assessment procedures. the findings of the study shall contribute to both the body of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 128 knowledge in language assessment and foreign language learning by providing insight into open-ended language assessment and the role of foreign language teaching experience in rater criteria selection. acquisition of articles it is a commonly discovered fact that efl/esl learners face difficulties in acquiring the english article system. different reasons cited for these difficulties include the complexities of the english articles themselves (celce-murcia & larsen-freeman, 1999), the lack of an equivalent article system in the learner’s native language (mizuno, 2000) and a lack of effective teaching methods in english education (yamada, 1982). studies in the acquisition of english articles have approached from various viewpoints; the viewpoints of grammar (yamada 1982; lyons 1999), of usage (dilin & gleason, 2002), of context (huebner, 1985; parrish, 1987; ionin, ko & wexler, 2004) and a typology of nouns preceding articles (chierchia, 1998; ogawa, 2008). evidence has shown that second language (l2) learners of english often have persistent difficulty in the use of articles until very late stages of acquisition or do not ever reach native-like levels of performance (zdorenko & paradis, 2008), even when there is increased time in instruction (master, 1987; ogawa, 2008). some studies that have included comparisons of l2 learners from first language (l1) backgrounds with and without article systems suggest that l1 transfer most likely plays a role in the l2 learners’ acquisition of english articles (master, 1987; murphy, 1997; wakabayashi, 1997; trademan, 2002; hawkins, al-eid, almahboob, athanasopoulos, chaengchenkit, hu, rezai, jaensch, jeon, leung, matsunaga, ortega, sarko, snape, & velasco-zarate, 2006). findings by master (1987) indicate that there are variations that are considered in cases where l1s differ among subjects. however, the zero article (henceforth referred to as zero, ø) dominates, which indicates that it is acquired first. although the definite article, the, emerges early, there was evidence to indicate the-flooding in all environments. it is also noted that [-art] learners delay in the acquisition of a when compared with the. with the acknowledgment of variation in learners from different l1 backgrounds, the argument in the case was whether there was a role played by the l1 transfer and whether the learners fluctuated in article parameter setting. zdorenko and paradis (2008) in their study of 17 esl children discovered that the children substituted the definite article for the indefinite a in indefinite specific contexts regardless of the l1 background. moreover, the children were more accurate in the use of the definite article in definite-specific contexts. the opposite was discovered by jaensch (2008) who found that learners did not fluctuate between definiteness and specificity, although group comparisons proved that learners with higher proficiency outperformed learners with lower proficiency. kaku (2006) brings forth an impelling perspective to article use. in his study of japanese learner’s use of the, he discovered that the definite article is associated referentiality and with japanese being a [-art] language, he noticed that learners were reassembling the newly acquired feature in relation with their current use of the japanese demonstratives for specificity. in terms of using soc and tlu measures, lu (2001) investigated the accuracy rate and the order of acquisition and observed a different order of emergence of the articles the>a>zero. differentiation of orders could be attributed to the instruction, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 129 length of exposure, the participants themselves and/or the nature of the research tasks. even where there were varied tasks performed by a group of learners, the results still yielded a systematic order of acquisition; however, the accuracy rate of the results was in question. the soc measure is considered the most reliable index for accuracy levels (lu, 2001). inter-rater reliability tests in article acquisition several studies have explored rater variability in both oral and written esl performance assessment. some of these studies focused on different rater backgrounds (barnwell, 1989; brown, 1995; chalhoub-deville, 1995; chalhoubdeville & wigglesworth, 2005; fayer & krasinski, 1987; galloway, 1980; hadden, 1991), others studied rater severity (barnwell, 1989; caban, 2003; fayer & kransinski, 1987; johnson & lim, 2009; kim, 2009), while others focused on rater decision-making strategies (barkaoui, 2010; crisp, 2008; cumming, 1990; cumming, kantor, & powers, 2002; huot, 1993; lumley, 2005; milanovic, saville, & shuhong, 1996; sakyi, 2000; vaughan, 1991), and others on the interaction between rater and criteria (knoch et al., 2007; mcnamara, 1996; schaefer, 2008; wigglesworth, 1993). a common thread among all these studies was the use of standardized language performance assessment as the basis of their investigation. a study by richard nickalls at the university of birmingham employed four raters in determining the inter-rater reliability testing of article error tags by checking the extent raters would reliably classify article use as ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’ and if the correctness is consistently classified over time. the study used the bickerton/huebner model and the raters received identical training. first, the raters tagged noun phrases for correctness using the online interface and three weeks later, the researchers tagged the same noun phrases again for correctness using the bickerton/heubner framework. the findings indicated that human raters were more reliable than automated computer methods. however, in terms of the bickerton/heubner framework, the findings showed that the raters could not use the framework consistently. nickalls (2013) argues that raters cannot apply classification frameworks, in which the decision goes beyond a rater’s dichotomous intuition especially in this case where they could not make reliable choices between generic, indefinite, non-referential and idiomatic contexts. it also needs to be pointed out that rater background has been shown to impact the results of language proficiency in test-takers. studies of raters with diverse backgrounds, both linguistic and professional have been conducted. some studies focused on rater severity based on rater background (brown, 1995; chalhoub-deville, 1995), others on raters’ professional background (hadden, 1991) and linguistic background (fayer & kransinski, 1987; kim, 2009). findings from these various studies indicate that teachers and non-native speakers tend to be more severe in their assessments (brown, 1995; chalhoub-deville, 1995), teachers tend to be more severe than non-teachers (hadden, 1991) and nonnative raters tend to be more severe (fayer & kransinski, 1987). discrepant findings from chalhoub-deville (1995) and brown (1995) indicate that teachers who participated in their studies were attendant to creativity and adequacy of information in a narration task and, there was no significant difference between the rating done by ns and nns, respectively. johnson and lim (2009) have llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 130 identified variables that could attribute to rater language background effects and intervene with the analysis when it comes to issues of ns and nns raters. these issues included language distance affecting language performance (elder & davies, 1998); ns taking a more intuitive approach in rating (brown, 1995), use of trained/untrained raters and different rating scales. these discrepancies call for further research into the area. method research questions this present study will use data collected from tanzanian efl learners who were enrolled in 3different levels of education. the data were scored by 2 raters who possessed different language backgrounds. the study addressed the following research questions: a. is there variability in the suppliance and accuracy of the english article acquisition among the efl learners? b. to what extent will the raters agree in rating the article suppliance and accuracy? c. is there an identifiable pattern to rater disagreement? if there is an identifiable pattern to rater disagreement, can an argument be made regarding the language background of the raters? participants a total of 97 tanzanian efl learners participated in this study, 30 primary (elementary) school pupils (hereafter referred to as children), 30 secondary (high) school students (hereafter referred to as teenagers) and 19 students in their first year at university and 18 in their final year of university education. the elementary level students were enrolled in a public primary school in the outskirts of the city of dar es salaam. these are children who had at least 5 – 7 years of learning english as a subject, with all other subjects being taught in swahili. the secondary school students were also enrolled in a public school; however, it is at this level of education that the medium of instruction shifts to all subjects being taught in english with swahili as a subject. all university courses are taught in english with an exception for the swahili language courses. table 1. descriptive characteristics of the study sample characteristics n % participants children 30 30.9 teenagers 30 30.9 first year 19 19.5 final year 18 18.5 gender total 97 100 male 50 51.5 female 47 48.5 mean years of learning english children 8.67 n.a. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 131 characteristics n % teenagers 9.14 n.a. first year 11.82 n.a. final year 13.95 n.a. number of languages spoken two 67 69.1 three 27 27.8 four + 3 3.1 first language swahili 83 85.6 other 14 14.4 the raters the participants’ narratives were scored by two raters. both raters were trained in using soc and tlu scoring methods. the rating scale was determined by the researchers following the bickerton/huebner model. both raters were experienced instructors of english as a foreign language and had taught english to nns through formal classroom instruction in environments where learners had limited language resources from which they could do language practice. below is a profile of the raters: table 2. descriptive characteristics of the raters characteristics rater 1 rater 2 language experience l1 swahili english l2 english vietnamese other languages spoken luo and jita (rudimentary) russian english language proficiency nns ns native-like proficiency native speaker gender female female professional experience teaching 21 years 26 research 17 years 20 methodology most studies on the acquisition articles have made use of language proficiency ascription for groups (huebner, 1983; jaensch, 2008; kaku, 2006; lu 2001; ogawa, 2008; tarone 1985; zdorenko & paradis 2008;); however, in this study levels of proficiency were not considered instead the groups were identified and ascribed based on the level of schooling. due to distinct characteristics in the larger adult group (university students), this group was split into two smaller groups; first year students and seniors. all of the participants were asked to write out a narrative from a text with picture sequences (see appendix a). different picture sequences for data collection were used in the study, however, it should be noted that variation in narratives does not affect the results or findings of a study llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 132 (ayoun & salaberry, 2008). each group of respondents was given different picture sequences for narration based on content, the number of years spent learning english and the difference in levels of education. rating scale and data analysis procedures the picture sequences were designed to elicit narrative passages from the study participants. first, the researchers agreed on a protocol of their analysis before coding the data. they made use of suppliance-in-obligatory context (soc) and target-like-use (tlu) measures. the first procedure, soc is a method used to determine accurate suppliance of morphemes in linguistic environments in which the morphemes are required in standard english. the basis for this analysis is that, if a participant produces an utterance such as ‘i have few books’, this speaker creates an obligatory context for use of the plural –s inflection. the reason behind this being that the participants appear to have acquired the rule of production of the morpheme, but have simply applied this rule to an exception (pica 1983, gass and selinker 2001). this quantification method is represented in the following formula: soc = number of correct suppliance x 2 + number of misformations total obligatory contexts x 2 in the second procedure, tlu is used to determine accurate use and distributional patterns for morphemes. this analysis was developed in light of the criticism that soc analysis does not account for the over suppliance of a particular morpheme in inappropriate contexts (pica 1983, gass and selinker 2001). the method is represented as follows; tlu = number of correct suppliance in obligatory contexts number of obligatory contexts + number of suppliance in nonobligatory contexts analysis by soc reveals how well participants had learned to produce a morpheme where it is required while analysis by tlu reveals how well participants have learned to control the production of that morpheme about where it is and is not required (pica 1983). the results from the soc and tlu were computed into percentages. to determine the interactions between the factors as well as individual factors, statistical procedures were performed on the data. these methods of morpheme quantification were adopted to demonstrate the ability of efl learners in using articles as they write narratives. the following definitions of constituents in the measures were as follows; correct suppliance: when the participants provide the correct form of the item in such a way that it does not make a construction ungrammatical obligatory context: when the participants create a context of the use of an item in such a way that without it the construction is deemed ungrammatical and with it, the construction is deemed grammatical misformation: when the participants provide an incorrect item in the context of a correct item in such a way that it deems the construction ungrammatical llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 133 non-obligatory context: when the participants provide an item in a context in which it was not required or not created for its inclusion after the defining constituents in the soc and tlu, a rating scale was established for articles based on the types of forms and their functions in standard english. the rating scale is as follows: rating for articles step 1: general or specific to specific does the narrative make use of articles in a general way? if yes → the beginning of the narrative will use ‘a/an’ and then move towards specific ‘the’. if no → the narrative will maintain the specific form ‘the’ from start to end, using the narratives to provide prior context for a specific reference. step 2: naming do any of the narratives use the naming of characters? if yes → no article should appear before the noun form referring to the characters, which should be capitalized. if no → refer back to step 1. the scale was to be used as the researchers identified the soc and tlu scores of the narratives. the analysis was conducted as follows: 1) the researchers independently reviewed and coded the written narratives to identify articles produced in each context as either correct suppliance, misformation, nonobligatory context, and obligatory context, and; 2) the scores that the researchers awarded the soc and the tlu were then entered into spss for further analysis findings and discussion suppliance and accuracy of articles a one-way analysis of variance (anova) was conducted on the scores of the groups' soc and tlu to evaluate the relationship between the ability to supply the forms in the study and the accuracy of this suppliance within the different groups. a statistically significant difference was found among the four levels of efl learner groups on the average soc for articles (f (3, 93) = 18.80, p = .000) and on the average tlu for articles (f (3, 93) = 15.72, p = .000). table 3. anova table for the soc and tlu for articles items sum of squares df mean square f sig. soc between groups 16371.643 3 5457.214 18.798 .000* within groups 26998.401 93 290.305 total 43370.044 96 tlu between groups 17888.655 3 5962.885 15.719 .000* within groups 35277.842 93 379.332 total 53166.497 96 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 134 due to the number of groups, a posthoc test was performed to uncover specific differences between the group means using the average soc and tlu scores. the games howell test reveals that the four groups differed significantly in their ability in their suppliance and accuracy of articles. there was a significant difference in the suppliance of articles between the children group (p = <0.5) and the teenage group however there was no significant difference between the children group and the adult groupings. this limited variability between the children and adult groupings could be attributed to the length of the narratives and the number of correct formations. although the children’s narratives were shorter, the magnitude of correct formations, misformation, and obligatory contexts was much similar to the adult groupings. likewise, there were also significant differences between 1st-year students, teenagers, and final year students. in the accuracy of the articles, the test results indicated that the only group that was statistically significant from the rest of the groups was the teenage group (p=<0.5). this significance is important because it was within this group that both raters experienced very short narratives, high instances of naming and inconsistent use of capitalization compared to the other groups, therefore, proving a challenge to the raters. furthermore, it is the same group that was consistently outperformed by the other groups in terms of both suppliance and target-like use of articles. the other group that has also shown to be significantly different based on this test is the final year adult group (p=<0.5). this group has illustrated a significant difference from the other groups in terms of the average identifying of contexts of use of articles. table 4 illustrates the results of the games-howell tests on the groups’ average tlu and soc. table 4. games-howell test of the average soc and tlu of articles dependent variable (i) age groups (j) age groups mean difference (i-j) std. error sig. 95% confidence interval lower bound upper bound average soc for articles children teens 27.29166* 4.99206 .000* 13.9603 40.623 0 1st year 7.35311 4.31444 .338 -4.3316 19.037 8 final year -5.63480 2.81565 .203 -13.1424 1.8728 teens children -27.29166* 4.99206 .000* -40.6230 13.960 3 1st year -19.93855* 5.72807 .006* -35.1957 -4.6814 final year -32.92646* 4.70365 .000* -45.5936 20.259 3 1st year children -7.35311 4.31444 .338 -19.0378 4.3316 teens 19.93855* 5.72807 .006* 4.6814 35.195 7 final year -12.98791* 3.97718 .016* -23.9380 -2.0378 final year children 5.63480 2.81565 .203 -1.8728 13.142 4 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 135 dependent variable (i) age groups (j) age groups mean difference (i-j) std. error sig. 95% confidence interval lower bound upper bound teens 32.92646* 4.70365 .000* 20.2593 45.593 6 1st year 12.98791* 3.97718 .016* 2.0378 23.938 0 average tlu for articles children teens 24.81160* 5.43016 .000* 10.4023 39.220 9 1st year 6.52689 5.45956 .634 -8.1981 21.251 8 final year -12.59477* 4.36680 .030* -24.2578 -.9317 teens children -24.81160* 5.43016 .000* -39.2209 10.402 3 1st year -18.28471* 6.28700 .028* -35.0673 -1.5022 4th year -37.40637* 5.36548 .000* -51.7139 23.098 9 1st year children -6.52689 5.45956 .634 -21.2518 8.1981 teens 18.28471* 6.28700 .028* 1.5022 35.067 3 final year -19.12166* 5.39524 .007* -33.7553 -4.4880 final year s children 12.59477* 4.36680 .030* .9317 24.257 8 teens 37.40637* 5.36548 .000* 23.0989 51.713 9 1st year 19.12166* 5.39524 .007* 4.4880 33.755 3 * the mean difference is significant at the .05 level. inter-rater agreement three separate tests were involved in determining the rate of agreement and disagreement between the two raters i.e. cohen’s kappa, holsti’s content analysis, and scott’s pi. cohen’s kappa statistic is frequently used to measure the agreement between two raters. the cross-tabulation between the rating of suppliance and accuracy of articles shows that there is an agreement between the two raters. the symmetric measures table shows that kappa for each level of rating between the raters indicates fair agreement for correct formations (.29), misformations (.30) and non-obligatory contexts (.33) and slight agreement (0.17) for obligatory contexts as shown in table 6. table 6: symmetric measures of cohen’s kappa between the two raters llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 136 a. not assuming the null hypothesis. b. using the asymptotic standard error assuming the null hypothesis. these results indicate a large amount of disagreement than expected between the raters. in as much as the kappa is used to measure inter-rater agreement, its strength lies in the fact a study has collected correct representations of the variables measured (mchugh, 2012). a probable explanation for this low agreement could be a symmetrical imbalance between the two raters. however, the kappa statistic is also known to have its limitations. the terms symmetrical, asymmetrical, imbalance, prevalence, and bias have been used to describe the limitations associated with the statistic (flight & julious, 2015). the most probable explanation for low kappa in the context of the study would be the problem of oversuppliance errors as predicted by pica (1983) which point towards prevalence in this case. moreover, feinsten and cicchetti (1990) highlight what they refer to as ‘paradoxes’ of the kappa. they indicated that asymmetric, imperfectly imbalanced tables have higher kappa than perfectly imbalanced symmetric tables. also where there were high values of agreement, lower values of kappa were recorded. based on this observation, we could predict that because of the low kappa recorded, probable high values shall be recorded in through other indices. most of the studies that have recorded limitations in the kappa statistic are health-related studies (flight & julious, 2015; mchugh, 2012; tang, hu, zhang, wu, & he, 2015). although a prevalence and bias adjusted kappa (pabak) is proposed to overcome the limitations of the kappa statistic (byrt, 1993), this study chose to use the content analysis method proposed by holsti (1969). the two-stage process was chosen: first, to determine the degree of token-based agreement among the raters and second, to determine the degree of agreement through traditional inferential statistics. the first part of the analysis contains a count of the tokens of articles between the two raters for the participants and use holsti’s method (1969) for determining the agreement. the method is a variation of percentage agreement, a measure that is popular and easy to understand and calculate, yet it can be applied to more than two coders (lombard et al., 2002), unlike for holsti’s method that is limited to two coders as evidenced in its formula. item value asymp. std. errora approx. tb approx. sig. correct formations .293 .048 15.067 .000* misformations .300 .061 6.403 .000* obligatory contexts .170 .041 9.503 .000* non-obligatory contexts .330 .086 4.320 .000* n of valid cases 97 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 137 coefficient of reliability = 2m m is the number of judgments on which both of the coders agree n1 + n2 n1 and n2 are the total number of judgments made by both coders source: holsti, o. r. (1969). content analysis for the social sciences and humanities, pp140 table 7 presents the description of the results of the narratives, showing total use (number of tokens) and percentage usage by the group and by the rater. table 6 is followed by table 8 that summarizes the information from table 7. table 7. step by step descriptives and coefficients of reliability by group and rater group rating items rater1 rater2 agreement 2m n1 + n2 c.r. (%) children suppliance-inobligatory context corr 197 215 194 388 412 94 mis 25 35 18 36 60 60 oblig 229 264 223 446 493 90 total 451 514 435 870 965 90 target-like use corr 197 215 194 388 412 94 oblig 229 264 223 446 493 90 non 11 17 9 18 28 64 total 437 496 426 852 933 91 teens suppliance-inobligatory context corr 245 270 236 472 515 92 mis 80 56 50 100 136 74 oblig 500 464 426 852 964 88 total 825 790 712 1424 1615 88 target-like use corr 245 270 236 472 515 92 oblig 500 464 426 852 964 88 non 9 17 2 4 26 15 total 754 751 664 1328 1505 88 first year students suppliance-inobligatory context corr 392 415 378 756 807 94 mis 64 66 45 90 130 69 oblig 517 532 492 984 1049 94 total 973 1013 915 1830 1986 92 target-like use corr 392 415 378 756 807 94 oblig 517 532 492 984 1049 94 non 17 22 2 4 39 10 total 926 969 872 1744 1895 92 final year students suppliance-inobligatory context corr 607 643 602 1204 1250 96 mis 36 39 31 62 75 83 oblig 653 715 652 1304 1368 95 total 1296 1397 1285 2570 2693 95 target-like use corr 607 643 602 1204 1250 96 oblig 653 715 652 1304 1368 95 non 0 5 0 0 5 0 total 1260 1363 1254 2508 2623 96% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 138 table 8. summary of descriptives and coefficients of reliability suppliance in obligatory context (soc) target like utterance (tlu) correct mis oblig total correct oblig non total rater 1 1441 205 1899 3545 1441 1899 37 3377 rater 2 1543 196 1937 3676 1543 1937 61 3541 agreement 1410 144 1831 3385 1410 1831 13 3254 2m 2820 288 3662 6770 2820 3662 26 6508 n1 + n2 2984 401 3836 7221 2984 3836 98 6918 c.r. (%) 94.50 71.82 95.46 93.75 94.50 95.46 26.53 94.07 key: n1 count of instances by rater 1 n2 count of instances by rater 2 2m expected total iff the raters agreed on all instances/twice the agreement count c.r coefficient of reliability in summation, the coefficients used to calculate inter-rater reliability were reported in most of the articles (94.07%, n=97). rater agreement in the suppliance of articles in obligatory contexts and target-like use in obligatory contexts was reported at 95.46% as the most frequent coefficient. the area of disagreement between the researchers was the use of articles in non-obligatory contexts (26.53%) whereas there was a satisfactory agreement when it came to misformations. overall, both raters agreed 2820 times out of 2984. a major drawback of holsti’s method reported is the lack of ability to calculate the agreement by chance (wang, 2011). due to this weakness, we adopted a third index, scott’s pi (π), which not only improves on simple percent agreement but also takes into consideration category values and accounts for chance agreement (wang, 2011). scott’s pi (π) was used to determine inter-rater reliability and its results were used to check rater bias and language background effects. inter-rater reliability and language background effects the coding for the reliability sample included identification of all instances of correct suppliances, misformations, obligatory contexts and non-obligatory contexts in all 97 narratives. in as much as the raters worked independently in coding the samples, the researchers used scott’s pi (π) for verification of the reliability and inter-rater agreement. the equation for scott’s pi is: where: pr(a) = observed agreement between coders pr (e) = expected agreement between the coders to obtain coefficients of reliability for scott’s pi scores, the raters compared each instance of agreement in each narrative for articles soc and tlu categories. the results indicated consistency in inter-rater reliability. however, it was anticipated that issues would arise from the teen group since it was the only group that had a completely different perspective towards the narrative exercise. this group chose to name the characters rather than objectifying them as they would llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 139 have appeared in the text. this necessitated revision of the rating scale to include naming since there were significant differences in how the raters chose to address the issue. the coefficient of reliability for all cases was 88.52% (articles soc) and 88.29% (articles tlu). table 9 illustrates the inter-rater scores using scott’s pi (π). table 9. scott’s pi (π) inter-rater reliability items children (%) teenagers (%) first year (%) fourth year (%) overall (%) articles soc 82.19 77.89 85.76 91.31 88.52 articles tlu 83.46 75.10 84.43 91.25 88.29 apart from reaching the inter-rater reliability for raters, the need for determining patterns of disagreement was important with regards to the rater profile, i.e. ns and nns. out of 97 participants, it was noted that swahili was the l1 for 83 participants and l2 for 14 participants, english was l2 and l3 respectively. rater 1’s l1 is swahili and it may be inferred from the research on [art] languages as to background effects on their rating unlike for rater 2, whose was l1 was english. bias terms were measured for each of the raters despite the absence of an english l1 participant. the bias terms followed the soc and tlu scores of each rater per participant where a total of 86 participant scores fell within the z score range of -1.96 and +1.96 using a 95% confidence level. only 11 participants’ scores fell out of range. this indicates that disagreement effects were not significant as expected because the magnitude of bias was not substantive and both raters contributed to the bias. where bias was exhibited, it was discovered that most of the cases were found in one particular group of participants. table 10 illustrates the bias terms by participant. table 10. bias terms by participant soc tlu participant # soc tlu ≤ -1.96 ≤ -1.96 ≥ 1.96 ≥1.96 r2 32 r1 r2 35* r1 r2 43* r1 r2 r1 r2 49* r1 r2 r2 51* r2 56* r1 r2 r1 57* r1 r2 r1 58* r1 66* r1 r1 r2 67* r2 r2 72 key: * teenage group table 10 indicates that rater 1, as an ns of swahili, was biased when participants supplied articles in the obligatory contexts (production) than rater 2 who was more inclined towards the accuracy of the use of the articles (performance) by the participants. using the notion of the directionality of severity even though bias, in this case, does not entail severity (johnson & lim, 2009), it is noted that both raters’ biases were negative numbers and were llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 140 clustered between -3.656 and -1.988. although johnson and lim (2009) made use of a different analysis index from the one adopted in this study, their analysis claimed that positive numbers indicate harshness and negative numbers indicate leniency. this could be loosely interpreted that the raters had a similar inclination towards leniency and were consistent in their observations of the data. this observation supports the findings of the study by kim (2009) that indicates the ns and nns raters showing consistency. however, the results do not support studies (chalhoub-deville, 1995; brown, 1995; chalhoub-deville & wigglesworth, 2005; hadden, 1991) that noted significant differences in how ns and nns raters behave, and with nns and teachers being more severe in their assessments. one possible cause for the consistency found in this study could be the experience that both raters had with foreign language teaching. moreover, the issue of ns and nns is fluid in this study because there is a rater who happens to be an ns of an l1 that is shared by over 85.5% of the study participants as well as being an nns with near-native fluency to the language of study. this raises the question of the application of intuitive knowledge by the raters. despite the use of a rating scale, suppliance, and accuracy judgments, it became evident that some judgments were also made based on each rater’s intuition and perception of student intent. inconsistent student use of capitalization, inconsistent use of the definite article, and spelling mistakes further complicated the rating process. although scott’s pi places the inter-rater reliability at an average of 88.52% (soc) and 88.29% (tlu), subjective impressions from initial agreement analyses revealed that there may be patterns to the non-agreement (11.59%), with misformation and nonobligatory context as frequent areas of non-agreement. despite the perception of systematic non-agreement between raters, the disagreement was not statistically significant. disagreement occurred primarily in narratives that used capitalization variably, which was perceived by one rater as naming (no article required), but by the other as misformation. because of this limited effect, we believe that rater language background effects were not significant. conclusion this study was guided by three research questions; i) is there variability in the suppliance and accuracy of the english article acquisition among the efl learners?; ii) to what extent will the raters agree in rating the article suppliance and accuracy? and; iii) is there an identifiable pattern to rater disagreement? if there is an identifiable pattern to rater disagreement, can an argument be made regarding the language background of the raters? regarding the performance of the learners on the narrative task, variability was found to be significant among the four groups that participated in the study. further analysis revealed that the results on the suppliance and accuracy of articles confirm that native-like performance for the more advanced participants has not been reached despite the increased time of instruction compared to other participants of the study (zdorenko & paradis, 2008; masters, 1987; ogawa, 2008). even though for 11 out of 18 of the advanced participants english was an l3, there is no indication of any substantial effect on the overall results. higher proficiency in article suppliance and accuracy was found in the advanced participants which support findings by jaensch (2008) and can be attributed to the increased time of instruction (mean years of learning = 13.95). a methodological llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 141 choice was made to leave the ø article out of the analysis and focus on the definite and indefinite articles according to the specifications of the rating scale. the issue of the-flooding was not an area of focus and where it occurred it was considered as a misformation. evidence of fluctuation can be implied by the performance of the teens' group (mean years of learning = 9.14 years). also, the findings are indicative of u-shaped learning and it can be assumed that the learners are at the stage of parameter setting (zdorenko & paradis, 2008). this particular group also exhibited the use of the distal demonstrative ‘that’ to substitute the referential function of the definite article. similar sentiments are expressed by kaku (2006) who found japanese learners of english using demonstratives for specificity. in terms of the learner performance and the coding decisions between the raters, consistency in articles was relative and when it occurred, it was seemingly governed by the learners’ perception of the semantic function of the characters in the narratives and character-character interaction. in regards to how well the four groups of english language learners used articles, the study revealed there was a significant difference between the four groups in soc and tlu measures. follow-up discussion of the perception of student intent and exploration of disagreement between the raters discovered that there were systematic shifts in anaphoric use of articles in the narratives. this could be explained as an l1 effect in the learners. \ with regards to the preceding research questions on rater agreement, the researchers used inter-rater reliability and inter-rater agreement measures in what may be considered traditional sla tests of learner ability to produce articles by measuring soc and tlu scores. in using these tests, we find that it is constructive and it bridges language testing methods to sla research. through the combination of soc and tlu measures, inter-rater agreement and inter-rater reliability and soc and tlu methods employed, the findings of the study have revealed through two inter-rater agreement indices that there is a very high level of agreement whereas in one index there seems to be fair to slight level of agreement. feinsten and cicchetti (1990) confirm that there is a tendency of a low kappa statistic recorded with high agreement levels as we have found in this study. it is important to note that the study did not make use of final scores of the narratives as would in most irr studies but rather the scores of the raters’ judgments of production and accuracy of english articles as interpreted in the narratives. this method contributes to the body of knowledge on rater agreement studies in that teasing apart the aspects of measurements may provide insight into levels of agreement. furthermore, the analysis indicates that the language background of the raters does not influence agreement between them. the evidence of support is found in the bias terms as indicated in table 10 which indicates consistency between the raters. it further signifies that the raters shared challenges in rating the same narratives of the participants. additionally, it points out that experience in foreign language teaching had a role to play in how the raters viewed these same narratives even more so the language proficiency of the nns rater. the study has proven that where studies involving nns with above intermediate proficiency, the likelihood for them to rate at almost the same level of the ns is very high. johnson and lim (2009) hypothesize that nns raters could rate performance assessments differently because they possess a language background from places with well-developed varieties of english thus causing llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 142 them to overlook or accept features that are unacceptable in a standard dialect. this has not been the case in this study. still, the major question also lies in how much of the rater’s intuitive knowledge of the language matter is being used, which cannot be measured or observed as part of the rating scale that has been agreed upon. a major conclusion of this study is that training of the rating scale and probably the experience of the raters minimizes the language background effects and other possible biases. however, it does not eliminate the possibility of rater focus on particular areas of rating that emanate from their intuitive knowledge and use of the language of assessment. this study acknowledges and addresses some methodological limitations faced in the analysis processes. first, the study employed labor-intensive procedures in the coding and analysis of the data. this intensity is evident in the rating scale, soc and tlu measures, narrative method and the holsti method. the soc and tlu measures are not common methods in the collection of data for irr studies but through this study, it has proven to be a means through which individuality and freedom of rater judgments can be achieved. second and closely related to the first limitation is the design of the rating scale. the rating scale not only allows for individuality and freedom of the rater judgments but it can also allow for intuitive methods that rely mostly on the interpretation of the raters about the learner narratives. the holsti method allowed the raters to revisit each instance they coded painstakingly and determine the level of agreement and disagreement. both raters, however, had previous experience of using the soc and tlu measures, therefore, limiting the training time of the adopted scale in the study. third, the number of raters involved in the study does not strongly provide a basis for rater language background influence argument in comparison to most studies on rater language background effects. the study had only two raters of varying english language background, as a result, it only amplifies issues that could arise from rating systems of language tests that may have not been standardized; consider the soc and tlu measures as well as the use of narratives. methodological choices of this nature may sometimes permit unreliable conclusions where rating lacks a systematic procedure and as a result, it inadequately expresses the proficiency of a learner but it can also provide grounds for developing systematic procedures for analyzing learner compositions. based on these three limitations, it is prudent to argue that generalizability of the results would require some amount of caution. in conclusion, this study suggests that the kappa coefficient may not be sufficient in expressing inter-rater agreement as also indicated in other studies (flight & julious, 2015; mchugh, 2012, tang, et.al. 2015). it proposes the use of other indices that may support the results acquired through cohen’s kappa. evidence from the study also supports that training in the rating scale rubric (johnson & lim, 2009) is an important factor in the scoring of the assessments, however, the study also emphasizes the importance of the experience of the raters in foreign language teaching as an important factor in minimizing language background effects in cases where ns and nns raters are used. due to this observation, the study could not provide a concrete argument as there being any language background effects in the assessment of the narratives. llt journal, e-issn 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(2008). the acquisition of articles in child second language english: fluctuation, transfer or both?, second language research, 24(2), 227-250. http://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1375 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 147 appendix a a. children’s story picture sequence b. teenager’s story picture sequence llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 148 c. adults story picture sequence llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 319 english medium public schools in nepal: a new linguistic market in education mohan singh saud kailali multiple campus, tribhuvan university, nepal correspondence: mssaud35@gmail.com doi: 10.24071/llt.v23i2.2571 received 1 may 2020; accepted 14 june 2020 abstract this article is the result of the pilot study of my phd research project. it explores the views of the school principal, teachers, ethnic students and ethnic parents regarding the need and use of english as a medium of instruction and the classroom practices of using english in a public school in nepal. nepal is a multilingual and multicultural country with diverse geo-biological landscape. however, public schools in nepal have been adopting english medium instruction as a new linguistic market in education, challenging the mother tongue based multilingual education policy of the government. this paradigm shift from nepali as a medium of instruction (nmi) to english as a medium of instruction (emi) has raised controversy in the education system of nepal. as this study found, there has been a growing demand of parents for emi viewing english as a linguistic capital in the global socio-economic market and they have taken it as an economic investment in education. however, there seems a noticeable gap between the true spirit of emi policy and actual classroom practice in public school education. teachers were found to have been using bi-/trilingual language policy in the classroom neglecting the spirit of emi. public schools in nepal need to adopt emi only after wider discussion with all the stakeholders so that there could be well preparation with prerequisites for the effective implementation of emi in the classroom contexts. keywords: language attitudes, english medium instruction, public schools, linguistic market, paradigm shift, language ideology introduction the choice of language as a medium of instruction has been an issue of policy concern in the education system of a country. generally, the national language becomes the medium of instruction in a country. however, even the international language can be the medium of instruction in the global context. being an international language, english language has been enjoying preferences as the medium of instruction in the world, especially in “non-native english speaking countries” (bradford, 2016, p.2). due to the global spread of english, there has been a paradigm shift from teaching english as a foreign language to adopting llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 320 english as a medium of instruction (emi) in many non-native english speaking countries including nepal. public schools in nepal have been adopting emi as a new linguistic market in education in recent years. this trend is due to globalisation and socio-economic power of english language, viewing english as a linguistic capital (bourdieu, 1993) for better “socioeconomic mobility” (khubchandani, 1978, as cited in bhattacharya, 2013, p.165) in the globalised socio-economic market. when the constitution of nepal (1990) followed the economic liberation policies (phyak, 2016), private english medium schools have been mushroomed in nepal. national curriculum framework (ncf, 2007) stated, “the medium of school level education can be in nepali or english language or both of them” (p.34). since then, public schools have been free to choose either english or nepali language as medium of instruction in their schools. as a result, a large number of public schools have adopted emi in nepal since 2010 (sah & li, 2018). however, the shift from nepali as a medium of instruction (nmi) to emi has been a controversial issue in nepal. the constitution of nepal (2015) clearly states that “every nepali community living in nepal shall have the right to acquire education in its mother tongue, and the right to open and run schools and educational institutions as provided for by law” (article 31, clause 5). the constitution has recognised mother tongue based multilingual education (mtbmle) at school level. however, emi has been adopted by private schools and this trend has been growing even in the government aided public schools. emi has become a demanding phenomenon in public schools at present in nepal and this issue is challenging the mtb-mle policy of the government. formalising in 1990 and implementing in 2007, nepal has been following a ‘trilingual’ policy (learners’ first language, nepali and english) at school level education as stated in school sector reform plan (ssrp) report (2009). however, it has not been fully implemented until now. most of the schools are adopting nmi from the early grades; some schools have fully adopted emi while others both emi and nmi. in this regard, nepal’s language-in-education policy seems to be controversial. written policy documents recommend using trilingual policy but most of the public schools are using bilingual policy, both nepali and english. in fact, english has been used as a medium of instruction and as a subject around the world. emi is “the use of the english language to teach academic subjects in countries or jurisdictions where the first language (l1) of the majority of the population is not english” (dearden, 2014, p.2). thus, emi is teaching all the academic subjects in english rather than teaching the english language. like in many non-native english speaking countries around the world, nepal has been shifting the status from english as a subject to as a medium of instruction in public schools. though nepal is a multilingual country with diverse ethnic groups, emi has become a demanding need in public schools all over the country due to the influence of neoliberalism in education. as a result, many public schools have adopted emi in their schools to fulfill the needs and demands of the public and to address the “crisis in education”(tollefson, 2014, p.1) that they have been facing.that crisis is the decrease of students in public schools. as dearden (2014) reports, “there is more emi in private than public education” (p.8) and the situation of nepal is also the same. almost all private schools have been llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 321 conducting medium of instruction exclusively in english since the establishment of their schools, but just a few public schools have adopted emi fully or partially and some are in the process of adopting it. emi, therefore, has become a global issue and the area of interest to be researched especially in multilingual public school contexts of nepal. considering this context, this study explores the views of the school principal, teachers, ethnic students and ethnic parents regarding the need and use of emi and the classroom practices of english in the multilingual classroom contexts in nepal. to fulfil this objective, this study answers the following questions: 1. what are the perceptions of the head teacher, teachers, students and parents on the drivers for emi? 2. how is emi being practised in the multilingual classroom contexts? literature review under the literature review, i discuss a range of language related policy issues, empirical studies, and theoretical framework along with practical implications relevant to this study. i start with language policy and english education in nepal followed by empirical and theoretical issues relevant to this study. language policy and english education in nepal nepal has been declared as the ‘federal democratic republic of nepal’ with seven provinces (the constitution of nepal, 2015). despite its small geographical landscape, nepal is a multilingual, multi-ethnic and multicultural country with 123 ethnic languages spoken as mother tongues by 125 ethnic groups as stated by central bureau of statistics (2012). nepal’s linguistic diversity can be seen with cultural diversity closely linked to biodiversity of the country. nepali, with its official status, has been used as a lingua franca in nepal used for communication among speakers of different ethnic groups in the country. the education policy of nepal has been guided by political motives rather than academic needs and foundations from the very beginning of formal education. the formal education in nepal began in english medium with the establishment of durbar high school in 1854, to provide education only to the elite rana families. education became formally available to the public only after the establishment of democracy in 1951. later, nepal national education planning commission (nnepc, 1956) proposed nepali, being the national language, as the medium of instruction in schools to strengthen the national integrity in the linguistically and culturally diverse country nepal. all round national education committee (arnec, 1962) and national education system plan (nesp, 1971) followed the same path. moreover, nesp (1971) made the provision of both public (government-aided) and private schools. after the restoration of multiparty democracy in 1990, the constitution of the kingdom of nepal (1990) stated that “each community shall have the right to operate schools up to the primary level in its own mother tongue for imparting education to its children” (article 18, clause 2). national education commission (nec, 1992) reflected this spirit of the constitution. thus, the post 1990 period moved towards pluralistic language policy (weinberg, 2013) accepting multilingual education. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 322 as the literature shows, the development of english education in nepal can be discussed in three phases: during the rana regime (1846-1950/1), during the panchayat system (1950/1-1990), and after the restoration of multiparty democracy (from 1990 onwards) (awasthi, 2004, 2011; giri, 2011; phyak, 2011; eagle, 2000; sonntag, 1995, weinberg, 2013). the rana period was the period of opposition to education as only a few elites, especially the rana families, received education. the panchayat period followed the “one-nation-one-language ideology” (phyak & ojha, 2019, p.344) in the education system of nepal. the democratic period (1990-2007) was the period of multilingualism in education allowing mother tongues in schools. political interest in each shift seems to be the sole cause in the revision of the education system in nepal. however, in federal republic nepal, the history of nepal’s language policy, planning and practices can be divided into four periods: rana period, panchayat period, democratic period and republican period. the republic nepal, from 2007 with the introduction of the interim constitution of nepal (2007) onwards, has now embraced the neoliberal language ideology in education allowing mother tongues, nepali and english as mediums of instruction in schools as per the local needs and demands of the learners and parents. emi in public schools is the result of this neoliberal language policy which has taken english language as a commodity or as capital. in this regard, school sector development plan (ssdp, 2016-2023) mentions “most private schools use english as the medium of instruction and a number of community schools have also started using english as the medium” (p.29). now, emi has become a demanding phenomenon in the nepalese public school education system. the adoption of neoliberal economic ideology after 1990 encouraged privatisation in education and in other sectors. english medium private schools started establishing throughout the country since then. these english-medium private schools have developed the ideology in people that teaching and learning through english medium brings so-called high quality in education. the ministry of education (moe) has also encouraged the public schools to introduce english medium policy in their schools as stated in the document of ncf (2007) that i have mentioned above. ncf (2007) further mentions that the medium of education will generally be in mother tongue up to grade 3. likewise, the constitution of nepal (2015) mentions, “every nepali community living in nepal shall have the right to acquire education in its mother tongue” (article 31, clause 5), but in practice we see emi from the elementary level in public schools. thus, there seems a mismatch between policy and practice regarding the use of language education policy in nepal. this is what phyak (2016) calls “local-global tension in the ideological construction of english language education policy in nepal” (p.199). ssrp (2009) asserts, “english will be taught as a subject from grade one onwards” (p.81). however, it mentions that the choice of medium of instruction in school can be determined by the smc at the micro-level. this assertion encouraged the public schools to adopt emi in their schools. because of this policy, public schools in nepal are adopting emi to fulfil the demands of the parents and communities. now, english is being taught as a foreign language from grade one onwards as a compulsory subject. however, it is being used as a medium of education in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 323 private schools, and even in public schools. giving power to the schools and communities through decentralisation, public schools are managed by school management committees (smcs). “any community (government) school can decide to change from nepali to english as its medium of instruction” ( ranabhat, chiluwal, & thompson, 2018, p.83). the right of deciding the language of instruction is with the cmc. thus, the english language has been getting increasing space in the nepalese education system from general social discourse to micro-level educational policies and practices due to the demands of the parents as social capital along with the influence of globalisation and neoliberalism in education. though emi has been a debatable topic in the nepalese education system, it has been being adopted in public schools around the country. previous research on emi as a review of the literature reveals, emi is “a relatively new phenomenon” (yildiz, soruc, & griffiths, 2017, p.388). many developing countries have policies promoting emi in schools. though the spread of english is taken as “linguistic imperialism” (phillipson, 1992), the demand for emi has been seen throughout the world, including europe (aguilar, 2015; dearden & macaro, 2016), africa (viriri & viriri, 2013) and asia (chapple, 2015; lei & hu, 2014). the british council conducted a survey in 2014 involving 55 countries across the globe and discovered that 62% of these countries use emi (dearden, 2014). emi originated from europe in the late 1990s (brown & bradford, 2017) and now it has been a “growing global phenomenon” (deardon, 2014, p.2) at present and has been growing rapidly in asia (walkinshaw, fenton-smith & humphreys, 2017). despite the fact that emi is a new phenomenon, several studies have been conducted about the perceptions (sorrell & forlin, 2015; al-qahtani & al zumor, 2016; nguyen, 2017), outcomes (williams, 2014; james & woodhead, 2014), challenges (uwambayinema, 2013; ibrahim, shafaatu, & yabo, 2017) and classroom practices (annamalai, 2013; nguyen, 2017) of emi in various countries including nepal. however, most of the studies have been carried out in higher education on emi and emi related issues (e.g. vu & burns, 2014; hu & lei, 2014; huang, 2015). to take a few, paulsrud’s (2016) study found that “emi is offered for prestige, an international profile, marketing potential and personal interest”. similarly, wijayatunga (2018) found that teachers teaching in english medium in urban schools were enthusiastic but majority of them were not proficient enough in the language to teach in english. regarding the use of emi in nepal, sah and li (2018) found that “parents, students, and teachers regarded emi as a privileged form of linguistic capital for developing advanced english skills, enhancing educational achievements and access to higher education, and increasing the chance of upward social and economic mobility.” similarly, ojha’s (2018) study found that emi has been adopted in public schools in nepal without careful planning and the necessary preparation to make it a success. he further states that schools are shifting to emi mostly because of demand and pressure from parents. despite its extensive application around the world including nepal, the emi policy is still a debatable issue. in this regard, saud (2019) views “emi policy llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 324 seems to be against linguistic and cultural diversity in multilingual english classrooms in nepal” (p.78). much research and reports on emi show that “the use of english for delivering contents encounters various pedagogical challenges and difficulties” (floris, 2014; erling, adinolfi & hultgren, 2017; ibrahim, shafaatu, & yabo, 2017; simpson, 2017; wijayatunga, 2018). while research into emi is growing, only a few studies have been conducted in school education in asia, particularly in nepal. therefore, this study explores the stakeholders’ perspectives and practices on the use of emi in the multilingual school context. theoretical framework for this study, i have employed language attitudes, language ideology (woolard & schieffelin, 1994), linguistic capitalism (bourdieu, 1993), diglossia (ferguson, 1959), and english-medium paradigm (schmidt-unterberger, 2018) as the main theoretical frameworks for the analysis of information. language attitudes are the feelings people have about their own language and the languages of others. ryan and giles (1982) define language attitudes as “any affective, cognitive or behavioural index of evaluative reactions toward different language varieties or speakers” (p.7). as obiols (2002) writes, the study of language attitudes “can predict a given linguistic behaviour: the choice of a particular language in multilingual communities, language loyalty, language prestige...” (p.1). people’s attitudes show their behaviour towards a certain language. emi is rooted in the ideology of monolingualism (blommaert, 2006; heller, 2007), “english as a global language” (crystal, 2003) and “english as a lingua franca” (seidlhofer, 2005) ideology and the ideology of neoliberalism in education. english language is taken as a capital to get jobs and other opportunities in the society with high prestige and social status. diglossia is a situation in which high prestige language or language variety is used in certain situations like formal education and the low prestige language or language variety is used in community’s everyday communication – this is what ricento (2000) calls “stable diglossia” (p.198 ). english medium paradigm “characterises the various instructional types in english-medium teaching contexts” (schmidtunterberger, 2018, p.4). the theories i have discussed here are the theoretical lenses that guide the thematic findings. moreover, english medium paradigm is guiding the study throughout this article. methods study context this study employs a qualitative case study in a community school in kailali district. the school from which i collected information is located in the ranatharu community along with the emigrants coming from hilly and rural areas. it is a newly started emi community school as it started english medium only in 2018 from grade one and in 2019 from grade nine. it has both nmi and emi, charging a little amount of tuition fees from the english medium students in the name of aid from the community. the majority of the students are from rana and tharu speakers with only a few teachers of these backgrounds. however, nepali is the dominant language of communication in school. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 325 participants the participants of the study included eight subjects: the head teacher, one teacher each from science, social studies and accountancy, two students (one from rana and tharu ethnic group each), and two parents (one rana, one tharu). they were selected using purposive non-random sampling procedure. all teachers were from non-ethnic communities, speaking nepali as their mother tongues. the head teacher, science teacher and social studies teachers had experiences more than twenty years, but accountancy teacher, who was a female, was a new teacher. the students had come from private english medium schools and the parents had children studying at grade one and two. the rana parent was a primary level teacher while the tharu parent was a labourer. data collection and analysis procedure the information was collected through semi-structured interviews with the principal, parents, teachers and students. two classes were observed, one from grade two and one from grade nine, to see how emi was actually practised in the classroom context. interviews were taken once only and so were class observations. the data was audio-taped in nepali and translated into english. thematic analysis was adopted for analysing the information collected through interviews and class observation. results and discussion after the transcription and analysis of the data, four themes have been emerged. the following section discusses these themes. parents’ need and demand for emi shifting to emi in the public schools has become the need and demand of the parents as “a new linguistic market in education” (rubagumya, 2010). the parents hold the belief that english education brings quality in education. “the belief in the value of english medium schools is so intense that students flock to them, despite the fact that most students are unable to learn effectively through english, with disastrous consequences for their education” (tollefson, 2000, p.18). the belief in the value of english education is rooted in language ideology, which fairclough (2001) defines as “common sense assumptions which are implicit in the conventions according to which people interact linguistically, and of which people are generally not consciously aware” (p.2). to be more specific, language ideology is a perspective, attitudes and beliefs about the language shared by members of a social group (reisigl & wodak, 2009). emi in public schools is the result of neoliberal ideology in education. here is what the head teacher expressed: we have started english medium due to the interests and demand of the parents, and the attraction of the students towards english language. we felt the desires of the community members as if there was english medium in community schools. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 326 as the head teacher expressed, the school started emi due to the parents’ demands and the community’s needs. the school authority takes this shift in medium of instruction as the need of the time and the demand of the community. almost all sorts of people from all backgrounds want to learn english as its acquisition can guarantee the availability of opportunities to employment, travelling, higher education, and even better life. because of such perceptions of people, the demand for emi increased and the public schools started to catch the sentiment of the community by adopting english medium. by understanding the community’s wish, the school started english medium education from the year 2018. people seem to have the strong preference toward english over the nepali and other local languages, which ricento (2000) describes as ‘stable diglossia’. english language seems to have high prestige, and nepali, tharu and rana including other local languages have low prestige in the sense of ferguson’s (1959) diglossia. the parents have positive attitudes towards english language so that they have demand for emi in the public schools. new linguistic market in public school education in fact, emi has created a new linguistic market in nepalese public school education because people take it as economic investment and english has been taken as a linguistic capital. as one of the parents’ said, “our children can get jobs in the future if they study english. so we want to teach them in english. this school has addressed our interest,” while another said, “if we teach our children by paying fees, even if it is low, in comparison to private schools, they will get jobs. so we want to teach in english medium.” therefore, the parents are ready to pay tuition fees even in public schools though public school education is free of charge. as the social studies teacher confessed: the children of poor people can’t afford in private boarding schools paying expensive fee…it is not bad to teach children in public schools with low fee…some materials are to be bought…teachers are to be recruited also… classes should be run differently…teachers are to be added some kind of facilities to teach in english medium. so it is not bad to take low fee just 500 in public schools. private schools take much more. government has the policy that school level education is free and compulsory. however, english medium public schools are taking tuition fees from the students though it is low in comparison to private english medium schools, often known as boarding schools. when i asked the parent (mr. chaudhary), “do you have to pay fee?”, he replied “yes, but it is cheaper than boarding school”. the students also said that they had shifted from boarding school to community school due to low fees. when i asked why the school was taking fees as the government has the policy of providing free education up to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 327 secondary level, and it was against the government’s policy, the head teacher replied, “we have not taken fee as it is but we have taken it as grant”. it seems that public schools are doing business by taking fees from the students challenging the government policy of free education. “some schools in the kathmandu valley and other parts of the country have been using both languages and charging fees even though school education is free under government-set rules” (republica, 2016). the situation of kathmandu and out of kathmandu seems the same regarding taking charges in the government-aided community schools. parents’ priorities to english medium children the school where i visited for my pilot study of my phd project has run nmi and emi parallel classes within the same school. some parents’ children are in nepali medium classes while others’ in english medium. parents give priorities to their children who are studying in english medium classes. the parents whose children have been admitted to nepali medium do not come to drop and take their children, but those parents whose children are in english medium come to drop their children at school with tiffin and also come to take them when the school hour is over. according to the head teacher, “students of nepali medium come alone, students of english medium come with their parents and parents also come to take in the evening. parents care more in english medium.” actually, parents have discrimination over nepali medium and english medium children. it is perhaps they have paid some amount of money as educational investment for english medium and they want to utilise it fully by making their children aware of education and taking care of them to make them competent in english. both parents said that they come to drop and take their children after they admitted their children to english medium, but they did not do so in previous years while they are studying in nepali medium classes. it seems that english language attitude has highly affected family dynamics. not only the parents but also the community schools are creating two kinds of societies within the school, where students studying in english medium would think themselves superior and others would feel discriminated. today, english is often taken as linguistic capital for future career and international access and for social mobility “achieving a higher social status in society” (bourdieu, 1993). however, there is still a split between english medium and nepali medium schools. as reay (2006) claims, “social inequalities arising from social class have never been adequately addressed within schooling” (p.288). a wider socioeconomic context on schooling to english medium creates what savage (2003) calls “a new kind of class paradigm, recognising the mutual constitution of markets, classes and individuals” (p.535). bi/trilingual practices in emi classrooms there seems a contradiction between the spirit of emi policy and classroom practice in public school education. emi is framed more as a school requirement than a pedagogic model that teachers need to deliver contents in english. in practice, teachers mostly teach in nepali with a limited use of english as a medium of instruction in the classroom. the teachers had difficulty in delivering the contents in english due to the lack of english language proficiency although llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 328 they know the content well. in this regard, the science teacher (mr. bhatta) expressed his views as due to lack of proficiency, we are feeling difficulty in explaining subject matter, though we know the content. we are facing difficulty in making students understand due to lack of language proficiency. this is what i found when i observed the class of accountancy teacher. she just read the content from the book written in english but she explained it in nepali with only a few words in english. i feel that this school cannot be labelled as an emi school because there is explanation in nepali. it is a matter of discourse to be discussed and further research is necessary regarding how emi should be implemented in the multilingual classroom. “while it is often not conceived as such, emi is a form of multilingual education, as english is not usually the home language of students or teachers in such settings” (erling, adinolfi & hultgren, 2017, p.20). due to the lack of english language proficiency, emi seems to be a burden for school teachers other than english. emi is simply implemented in the classroom as in bilingual education. there seems a lack of clarity on language use in emi classrooms. mostly teachers are found to use nepali in such classrooms. when i asked the social studies teacher (mr. nepali) whether he translates into the learners’ mother tongues or nepali in social studies classes, he replied: generally we do not translate. sometimes we have to translate in mother tongue. they become happy if we do so. for example, ‘feather’ means ‘pwankh’ in nepali, but tharu children do not understand if we say ‘pwankh’. then we have to show in picture and they say ‘pakhana’ in their tharu language. then we say ‘feather’ means ‘pakhana’ and it is called ‘pwankh’ in nepali. we have this kind of experience of teaching. from the observation also, i found the same situation at early grades. the class teacher showed a picture and the children would say in their mother tongues. for example, when the teacher showed the picture of ‘cat’, one rana child uttered ‘bilaiya’, while a child with nepali mother tongue said “biralo”. thus, there was the trilingual practice in learning. tharu and rana students did not understand nepali clearly. both students from grade nine said the same thing in interviews. they preferred english rather than nepali as they were from boarding school backgrounds. there was the use of mother tongue (using tharu/rana language), nepali and english in teaching and learning activities. from this fact, we can claim that emi public schools have been following a ‘trilingual’ policy in education at school level education as stated in ssrp report (2009). since all children in nepal learn nepali and english from grade 1 onwards, nepal is implementing multilingual education (taylor, 2010). conclusion this article is the result of the pilot study of my phd research project. i have examined the views of the school principal, teachers, ethnic students and ethnic parents regarding the need and use of emi, and observed the classroom practice in this study. nepal is a multilingual and multicultural country with diverse geobiological landscape. however, public schools in nepal have been adopting emi llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 329 as a new linguistic market in education, taking fees from the parents even though it is low. this paradigm shift from nmi to emi has raised controversy in the education system of nepal. as this study found, there has been a growing demand from parents for emi seeing english as a capital in the global socio-economic market and they have taken it as economic investment in education. there seems a noticeable gap between the true spirit of emi policy and actual classroom practice in public school education. teachers were found to have been using bi-/trilingual language policy in the classroom neglecting the spirit of emi. english medium education has become a new linguistic market in public school education in nepal. the community and the stakeholders have taken english education as new form of cultural and linguistic capital for better opportunities and high standard habitus in the society. as a result, english medium education has become a “discourse of linguistic capital” (silver, 2005) in the community. many parents in nepal are dissatisfied with the public education system, seeing that students cannot speak english even after passing see and the results of see in nepali medium public schools is very low. therefore, many public schools are now adopting emi, claiming that it is the demand and need of the community. almost all the participants in the interviews declared that emi brings quality in education. the neoliberal ideology of language provided public schools with space to adopt emi policy even though this policy is contradictory to government’s mtb-mle policy. public schools in nepal have been increasing community involvement with the education system to some extent, valuing local needs and demands more 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(2017). challenges and needs of students in the emi (english as a medium of instruction) classroom. konin language studies, 5(4), 387-402. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 96 english teachers’ motivation and challenges in vocational high school in yogyakarta veronica noviatri indraswari and paulus kuswandono sanata dharma university veronica.indraswari@gmail.com and kus@usd.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.suppl2109 received 16 april 2018; revised 21 may 2018; accepted 4 june 2018 abstract this study examines english teachers’ voices regarding the teacher professional development (tpd) experiences in state vocational high school in yogyakarta, indonesia. the voices include their motivation and perceived challenges of professional development efforts. the study is a qualitative research employing questionnaire and interviews to gather the data from ten english teachers in state vocational high school. the findings unravel some intrinsic motivations of english teachers and the challenges and needs perceived in doing tpd related to their time management, namely problems related to teaching schedule and time to look after the family. most teachers also need more training to practice their ict skills and performance. the suggestions for further studies are also discussed. keywords: teacher professional development, vocational high school, challenges introduction teacher professional development, including that of english teachers, as a compulsory factor for teachers’ continuous improvement in educational field has been supported by a large number of education practitioners (banks & mayes, 2012; tanang & abu, 2014; tondeur, forkosh-baruch, prestridge, albion, & edirisinghe, 2016). the effort to enhance tpd is required by english teachers especially in indonesia particularly because english has become a preferred language of communication in the fields of technology, science, communication, trade and education (senior, 2006). in education field, the need of english in indonesia has increased when english becomes one of the compulsory subjects in schools and it is examined as one of the subjects in national examinations as the requirement to graduate from a school. seeing how important english is to be taught in a school, the indonesian government has prepared teachers to be professional in teaching through the indonesia’s law, no. 14/ 2005, verse 1. this law regulates teachers as they are to have academic qualification at least bachelor degree, certificate of educator, good physic and spiritual health, abilities to achieve the national education purpose, and master four teaching competencies, namely pedagogy, professionalism, social, and personality. owing to the law above, the government provides certification programs to enhance tpd in indonesia. certification programs are available as tangible supports by the government to value teacher professionalism. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 97 recently, tpd has gained its significant roles in vocational high schools in indonesia because the incumbent indonesian president is focusing on the growth of vocational high schools. the president prioritizes vocational high school because indonesia will have a great number of productive age people in the world in 2020 (widodo, 2017). the president prepares vocational high school students so that they can manage indonesian natural resources and technology. regarding the president’s program, tpd in vocational high school is urgent, particularly for english teachers, as english is the lingua franca of the globalisation age. tpd for english teachers is desirable and crucial in english language teaching context throughout the world (yuwono, 2008). due to the importance of tpd for english teachers in vocational high schools, this paper explores the notion and issues of tpd as perceived by vocational senior high school english teachers. this study investigates two research questions as follows: 1) what are the english teachers’ motivations to participate in tpd programs; and 2) what are the teachers’ challenges and needs in doing tpd program? these two questions are answered in the discussion section. teacher professional development tpd has been discussed in many literatures and educational field. tpd facilitates teachers to develop their teaching skills. teachers are supposed to have good competence, teaching performance, actively involved in professional development program, upgrade knowledge and engage the relevant issues, conduct the assignment ethically, and commit in teaching practice (adnyani, 2015). to improve teachers’ teaching, teachers are required to engage in learning opportunity such as workshop, mentoring and training to support their role (tanang and abu, 2014). tpd as specific programs can enhance teachers’ knowledge and skills of teaching (hill, 2009). hill says that tpd has to bring improvements in teacher’s knowledge, instruction, and students outcomes. there are many forms of tpd program such as participating educational seminars, writing research or portfolio and going to educational training. those activities are prepared to improve teachers’ skill and knowledge. however, hill states that tpd cannot be estimated what percentage of it is worthwhile for teachers. teachers who experience the tpd program can be invited to share their perception and feelings about tpd so that it can measure and evaluate tpd program. hence, tpd will be useful. hill invites people to reject professional development that exists only to fulfil state licensure requirements. the government and schools should support proven and highly promising tpd program (hill, 2009) the problems in tpd have been discussed by hammel (2007). hammel includes an overview of general educational research, many of which studying the role of professional development in school reform and change and the lack of communication between teachers and administrators regarding professional development. method this study employed a qualitative study. the key of qualitative research is that meaning is constructed by individuals in interaction with their world (merriam, 2002). english teacher’s experiences in joining tpd programs are llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 98 investigated. a qualitative approach was chosen in this study because it could provide a deeper understanding of social phenomena than that would be obtained from purely quantitative data (silverman, 2005). in this study, the researchers analysed the experience of following tpd based on the data collections that were obtained from multiple source information. the researchers conducted questionnaires and interviews. participants the participants were 10 english teachers from 3 vocational high schools in yogyakarta city in indonesia. the participants were teaching english in a variety of grade levels, including grade x, xi, and xii. they were asked to voluntarily participate in this study after reading and signing the consent form. this consent form detailed what the participants need to do during the research process. the participants were selected in this study because they had experienced tpd programs throughout their careers. all participants referred to in the discussion are put in pseudonyms. teaching experiences from the participants of this research, it can be concluded that most participants have been teaching english for 11 – 15 years. five participants of them have teaching experiences from 11 to 15 years. two participants have been teaching for 6 – 10 years. the other three participants have been teaching for more than 20 years. the distribution of their teaching experiences is shown in the following picture: diagram 1. length of teaching experiences instruments the study was based on two main data sources: a questionnaire and interviews. the questionnaire was adapted from the organisation for economic co-operation and development (oecd), teaching and learning international survey (talis). the questionnaire was adapted in the necessity of the condition of educational field in indonesia. the questionnaire consisted of two parts: (1) three questions on teacher’s background including gender, age, and the years of teaching; (2) eight questions of tpd. the interview was conducted to elicit their motivation related to tpd. the interview questions were based on participants’ responses toward the questionnaire.this method highlights the advantages of a qualitative research in offering a deeper image (silverman, 2005). 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 6 10 years 11 15 years > 20 years length of teaching experience teaching experience llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 99 procedure the permission letter of conducting the study in yogyakarta, indonesia was obtained from the government office which deals with research studies for institutions, called kesbangpol (kesatuan bangsa dan politik). after getting the permission, the researchers were allowed to initiate the study by distributing questionnaires and conducting interviews in state vocational high schools in yogyakarta city. the english teachers completed the questionnaire of their efforts in tpd program. they were given chances to fill the questionnaire in one month from may to june 2017. after the participants had completed the questionnaires, each teacher participated in the interview section that lasted for 30-50 min. they were interviewed concerning their experiences and standpoints toward tpd, particularly the nature of professionalism as perceived by them. the data based on the questionnaire was used to acquire basic data and to develop interview question. the result of the interviews were analysed by coding and categorizing the interview data into some themes. the results of the study are presented in the following section. findings and discussion based on the results of questionnaire and interview, there are two categories that explained tpd experiences perceived by teachers. the researchers classified the results into the motivation of joining tpd and the challenges of following tpd. the motivation of joining teacher professional development there are various motivations in doing tpd program. the participants realized that tpd is important for their improvement in teaching. this is the part of their profession. as fanny said that, “i searched the knowledge. for me, tpd was not for rank promotion. it was for myself. i have been long interested in tpd. i intrinsically was curious about classroom action research. i tried to implement the knowledge to my class. i was curious about the results. if i saw students’ learning improvement, i regard it as a reward already.” fanny admitted that she was curious with new knowledge and wanted to implement it in the classroom. she also searched for knowledge. however, even if tpd was not for certification, she still wanted to do it. she saw the development as a reward of improving her teaching skill. she was also happy doing classroom action research as her teaching professional development. she said that: “classroom action research was for promotion for some teachers. nevertheless, for me, i was happy doing classroom action research because i felt happiness. and it brought positive impacts.” tpd that can fulfil the need of teachers brings positive impacts. in the same vein, georgia has slightly different motivation in doing tpd. georgia said: “for me, tpd was a calling. for example, when there was a tpd program, we consulted our research papers. i had willingness to finish it. i make the questionnaire for my students. but, i cannot say that i have completed it before i saw my students step up to a higher level.” georgia explained that teaching for 10 years and doing the same thing and always repeating it could be boring for her. the benefit of being civil servant could be also a challenge because she already felt safe because of the stable llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 100 salary, even without doing particular teaching innovations. however, georgia also admitted that teaching college students presented different challenges. she said that it could be easier teaching college students than that of vocational high school students. she went on to exemplify that in vocational high school she should check daily tests and asked students to do their tasks. nevertheless, simply asking students to do their task was already difficult. georgia then said that she also experienced professional fatigue following tpd programs: “i used to be happy participating english teacher network, attending workshop, being tested for expanding my knowledge. but now, i am tired maybe because of age factor. i am tired if we should think.” georgia exemplified that whenever she got new materials from tpd program, she felt motivated and excited. she thought that those materials could be applied for her students. nevertheless, when she met the students in the classroom reality, all the motivation and excitement flew away, confused how to apply. from her explanation, georgia implies that there is substantial knowledge discrepancy between theories she obtained from tpd and the classroom realities. apart from the above motivation account of the teachers, in this study, the researchers also found some challenges encountered by english teachers in joining tpd in indonesia which is discussed in the following section. the challenges of following teacher professional development the challenges faced by the english teachers for participating in tpd are presented in the table below with the frequency of occurrence of their responses. no code frequency 1 limited time joining tpd due to teaching schedule 10 2 limited time joining tpd due to family matters 3 3 tpd materials 3 4 information related tpd 1 5 motivation 7 the english teachers tend to face their problems in tpd in two factors. the first challenge is inadequate time of following tpd. the participants still get problems how to match their schedules with tpd. the second challenge is tpd materials. the english teacher tries to find what kind of suitable materials and topics for tpd. hence, tpd can be followed up to gain the best result. the two challenges are elaborated as follows. teaching schedule the first challenge that english teachers deal with is program timing of tpd. the participants admitted that it was difficult to find the appropriate time to do tpd as they had their teaching schedules in the school. however, tpd program was often held in a timing work. from the results of questionnaire and interview, 10 topics about teaching schedules as challenges emerged. teachers were demanded to cover her teaching schedules at schools. from the data, timing program of tpd is the biggest obstacle for english teachers. teachers could not leave the teaching process at schools as sanction would be given to teachers. this llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 101 challenge is particularly conveyed by anne, “teaching schedules cannot be modified. i will get sanction if i leave my students”. although some teachers still keep joining tpd program, they could not entirely focus on the program because they must also think the tasks and materials for the students. as cynthia expressed, “tpd often collides with my teaching schedule. therefore, i cannot focus on it”. the participants were often confused and worried how to manage their times between teaching schedules and tpd program. although the participants had awareness of the importance of tpd programs, they did not want to leave the students because it would consequently multiply their jobs. this is especially admitted by brigitta: “if we get an instruction to join tpd program, we must give tasks to our students so that they will not be left behind on the learning materials. we need to give detailed instructions as the students sometimes do not understand the materials which they have to do.” with the fact that joining tpd collided with teaching schedule, their chances of meeting their learning community were often limited. time to care for family besides teaching schedules, family seems to be the second challenge for the participants to do tpd program. based on the data, there are three topics about family as a burden of tpd appears. the data said that tpd decreases teachers’ family time. there is inadequate time due to family matters. enny wrote her answer of the challenge of tpd as follows: “i am a mother in my family. family needs the presence of a mother. i can only meet my family and my children only in the evening.” she admitted that it was difficult to manage time between tpd and her role as a mother. she did not want to leave her children. this finding is in line with yuwono’s study (2010). they argue that female teachers, who are usually expected to look after and care for their families at the same time, may feel hesitant or face dilemma to actively join professional development program or to conduct further learning whenever such program or learning takes their time off their families. alicia also had the same voice regarding to tpd: “when the school is finished, we have already been tired and we must take care of our children.” on the contrary, with the two participants before, fanny showed her different opinion about the family. she realized that tpd might influence her family time. however, she could see the positive side from it. she admitted that: “if we talk about family, teachers will certainly do not have time to join tpd programs. i understand that some teachers do not follow tpd program because they will not have family time. nevertheless, i think it is the consequence of being a teacher. we have already chosen our profession to be a teacher.” fanny felt that leaving family for a moment is the consequence of her profession to be a committed teacher. she values this challenge as her part becoming a teacher. by seeing the challenges as consequences, she could join tpd without any burdens. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 102 needs for tpd materials the diagram below shows teachers’ needs in tpd. teacher needs at least eight aspects in tpd program. diagram 2. teacher’s needs from the diagram above, it can be seen that content and performance standards and ict skills for teaching are wanted by most teachers in joining tpd. it is because they usually get the educational policies from the government in tpd program. they just get how to make a lesson plan and it is repeated too frequently in tpd program. georgia, one of the participants said: “tpd materials covered learning theories and newest policies from the government. i liked learning theories rather than the policies. i was not interested in the policies. what is it for? sometimes we were too busy in the policies but i felt that the core was the same, the learning material was the same, and we only reshaped the form and the lesson plan.” georgia said that she was not interested in the policies. however, learning theories are needed for georgia. next, ict skills for teaching are also needed as today every person is connected to technology of information and communication. therefore, most participants choose to have ict skills for teaching to improve their professionalism. 1 1 5 8 2 4 4 3 2 2 3 2 7 6 6 6 8 4 2 teacher's needs 1 (strongly disagree) 3 (neutral) 4 (agree) 5 (strongly agree) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 103 conclusion as stated earlier, this study attempts to answer two research questions, namely the motivations of english teachers to join tpd program and the challenges and the needs of the english teachers in tpd programs. the findings from the participants include five general topics, namely: limited time joining tpd due to teaching schedule, limited time joining tpd due to family matters, tpd materials, information related tpd, and the teachers’ motivation. the teachers expressed in both the questionnaires and interviews that they clearly have intrinsic motivation to drive their actions, for example to conduct classroom action research. the positive learning result from this classroom action research, for example, has already been a precious reward for the participant. however, the teacher often cannot maintain and implement their teaching plans they gained from the tpd programs as the classroom realities often demand different learning strategies. related to the tpd challenges, the teachers mention that the commitment to follow the teaching schedule often conflicted with the program schedule of tpd. besides, when faced with the decision of priority, the teachers are often confused whether they should look after their children and the family or went to tpd programs. the discretion did not look too obvious. however, the decision often resorted from the teacher’s critical reflection that teaching is a chosen profession that they have to uphold with some consequences. as for the needs, most teachers require more training to understand the practices of ict skills as well as teaching performance. the suggestion related to tpd centres around the follow-up of the program itself. some teachers in this research expressed that they have difficulty to implement the knowledge obtained from the tpd programs, as well as to maintain their motivations and strategies to implement the tpd programs in the classroom. therefore, further research direction can locate teachers’ challenges to cope with the classroom reality after the teachers complete some tpd programs, and secondly, what kinds of assistances they need to stay motivated in implementing the strategies with regard to the factual classroom situation. references adnyani, d. p. (2015). professional development for pre-service teacher : a case study of professional development program for pre-service teacher in state university in central indonesia (dissertation). retrieved from http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-117800 banks, f., & mayes, a. s. (2012). early professional development for teachers. london: david fulton publishers. hammel, a. (2007). professional development research in general education. journal of music teacher education. 17(1), 22-32. hill, c. (2009). fixing teacher professional development. the phi delta kappan, 90(7), 470-476. tondeur, j., forkosh-baruch, a., prestridge, s., albion, p., & edirisinghe, s. (2016). responding to challenges in teacher professional development for llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 104 ict-integration in education. educational technology & society, 19(3), 110-120. retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/jeductechsoci.19.3.110 merriam, s. b. (2002). qualitative research in practice: examples for discussion and analysis. san francisco: a willey company. oecd. (https://www.oecd.org/edu/school/43081350.pdf) senior, r. (2006). the experience of language teaching. cambridge: cambridge university press. silverman, d. (2005). interpreting qualitative data: methods for analysing talk, text and interaction. london: sage publication. steffy, b. e., wolfe, m. p., pasch, s. h., & enz, b. j. (2000). life cycle of the career teacher. california: corw2007. tanang, h., & abu, b. (2014). teacher professionalism and professional development practices in south sulawesi, indonesia. journal of curriculum and teaching, 3(2), 25-42. http://dx.doi.org/10.5430/jct.v3n2p25 widodo, j. (2017). https://psmk.kemdikbud.go.id/konten/2221/jokowi-perlu-adajurusan-spesifik-di-smk) yuwono, g. i. (2010). english teacher professionalism and professional development: some common issues in indonesia. asian efl journal, 12(3), 145-163 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 148 the use of technology in english as a foreign language learning outside the classroom: an insight into learner autonomy silih warni, tian abdul aziz and dimas febriawan university of muhammadiyah prof. dr. hamka silihwarni@uhamka.ac.id, tian_aziz@uhamka.ac.id, and jkt.dimas@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.210203 received 30 june 2018; revised 8 september 2018; accepted 6 october 2018 abstract this research was conducted to examine indonesian students' experiences in using technology in learning english outside the classroom with regards to learner autonomy as an important capacity for students’ learning success. the subjects of the study were students of a private senior high school in south tangerang. as for the methodology, this research applied quantitative and qualitative design. quantitative elements include questionnaires as the data collecting method, while qualitative elements used semi structured interviews. in this interview, five students were chosen purposively based on students’ responses to the questionnaires. the findings of this study indicate that the use of technology to learn english outside the classroom has encouraged the development of learner autonomy which includes aspects of learning motivation, metacognitive awareness, self-confidence and social skills. this research is expected to help english teachers improve their students' english proficiency with the concern on the development of learner autonomy by using various information and communication technology. keywords: e-learning, ict, learner autonomy introduction technological developments in the 21st century have an influence on all aspects of human life, one of which is on the aspect of education. in addition to gaining influence from these developments, the world of education should make adjustments to equip students with the necessary skills in the future. technology provides an opportunity for students to study independently and collaborate with their peers. this is possible because technology encourages students to reflect and analyze where these two capabilities are at the core of developing autonomy (little, 1996). according to hattie (2003), students themselves is the biggest factor of their learning succes. other factors include teacher factor, school factor, family factor, and peers factor. with the development of information technology and emphasis on the importance of students' independence in solving problems nowadays, teachers should make adjustments and changes to student-centered learning. in this regards, the concept of learner autonomy as the ability to control one’s own learning (holec, 1981) becomes very important. some research results indicate mailto:silihwarni@uhamka.ac.id mailto:tian_aziz@uhamka.ac.id llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 149 that learner autonomy is an important factor that gives influence to students’ learning success (yen & liu, 2009), and a number of research concerning learner autonomy in language learning have been conducted conducted including in the indonesian context (kemala, 2014; lamb, 2004; lengkawati, 2017; utami 2007, warni, 2016). however, to what extent senior high school students demonstrate their capacity of learner autonomy through the use of technology in language leraning outside the classroom has not been sufficiently investigated. this research tries to contribute to the existing body of knowledge in that area and is intended to explore students’ experiences in learning english using e-learning and examine how the capacity of learner autonomy is demonstrated. the term learner autonomy in language learning was first raised by holec (1981) in the western context. according to holec (1981), autonomous learners are able to define the goals and strategies for knowing and evaluating their own development. in its development various definitions of learner autonomy are advanced by many experts; such as benson (2001), dickinson (1996), little (1991), palfreyman and smith (2003), scharle and szabo (2000) suggest the definition of focusing on the idea of taking responsibility for its own learning. the definition of learner autonomy by dickinson (1987) as a situation in which the student is really responsible for all decisions related to his learning, and the execution of such decisions is very relevant in this study because this study examines the concept of learner autonomy in the context of self-study where no intervention from the teacher directly. although studies on self-directed learning in developing countries have tended to focus on the conformity of concepts that are perceived as principles of 'western' pedagogy and practice (jones, 1995, sonaiya, 2002), several studies have revealed evidence of student behavior that reflects learner autonomy capacity in a context outside the west (coleman, 1996; lamb 2006). this indicates that the concept of learner autonomy is not only relevant in the western world where this concept emerges, but in a certain form the concept is relevant to all contexts including in indonesia. more research is needed to examine how indonesian learners express this capacity so that it can be a reference to design programs that can support them develop this capacity for their learning success. in previous research, utami (2007) revealed that autonomous learners have several characteristics such as taking responsibility for their own learning, recognizing needs, setting goals, planning their own learning, finding resources, allocating time, and working together. in the learning process, students are influenced by psychological and sociocultural factors. in another study, kemala (2014) asserted that independent learners are accustomed to the ability to find the resources or materials they want to study, identify their learning needs and select learning activities. with regard to learning strategies, he explained that independent learners use memory strategies, social strategies, cognitive strategies, and meta-cognitive strategies. he reported that in interviews, it can be concluded that motivation, environment, tasks, teachers, and materials play an important role to make students learn autonomously (lengkanawati, 2017). the previous studies of learner autonomy in english learning in indonesia show that this area is already well studied in indonesia, but how students' autonomy llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 150 capacities are demonstrated when students use e-learning facilities outside the classroom, especially in the context of senior high schools in indonesia have not been sufficiently studied. e-learning is the acquisition and use of science that is distributed and facilitated by electronic media (behera, 2013). the media used to facilitate elearning can be through websites, cd-roms, applications on computers, applications on mobile devices, and more. mobile devices commonly used for elearning can include mobile phones, smartphones (smartphones), personal digital assistants (pdas), tablet computers and laptop computers. although e-learning method using ordinary mobile device is categorized as m-learning, but for this research we will use e-learning term which also includes learning method using mobile device media. this is because m-learning is a form of distance learning (dlearning) and electronic learning (e-learning) that already existed (georgiev, georgieva, & smrikarov, 2004) e-learning is one form of use of information and communication technology (ict) appropriate to support student autonomy in learning. this is because elearning gives students the flexibility of space and time, thus providing better management that can be tailored to the educational needs of each student (goulao & menedez, 2015). according to nielsen (2012), there are several reasons why elearning can be used as a pedagogical framework for activities that can make the learner able to be more self-directed and more autonomous in the planning, monitoring and evaluation of learning methods. e-learning makes learner autonomy-related activities out of the classroom possible, thus avoiding the time pressure that occurs when teaching in the classroom. another reasons are that elearning has added value when compared to doing the same activity using paper (due to access to digital sources, easy access to cooperative learning media with authentic settings, etc.), e-learning provides a better simulation of the working world conditions that students will meet once they enter the workforce when compared to activities in the traditional classroom. in a previous study, online portfolios were implemented to improve students' writing skills. this media is proven to be effective in helping students plan, monitor and evaluate their learning process in an effort to improve their english essay writing skills (warni, 2016). the potential use of technology to support the development of learner autonomy capacity encourages researchers to examine the use of technology for learning english outside the classroom. method this research applied quantitative and qualitative approach with 42 students of a class in a private senior high school in south tangerang as the subjects. quantitative data collecting method include questionnaire adapted from a questionnaire model designed by figura and jarvis (2007) tailored to the needs of this study. the data generated with this technique is expected to provide clarity (mcdonough and mcdonough, 2004) and allows for quick and simple answers (oppenheim, 2001). all students participated in filling in questionnaires which explore how students used technology to learn english outside the classroom. however, the technique allows only limited responses. to overcome this, semi llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 151 structured interviews were also used in this study. the purposive sampling method was applied to select five students who took part in the in-depth interviews. by considering the information about the participants obtained through the results of the questionnaires, five students were those who actively used technology to learn english and could articulate their experiences and perceptions. through interviews researchers examined how the use of technology helped students in demonstrating the capacity of autonomy in learning english. the interviews were semi-structured which allowed students to respond more freely to specific question topics even though a list of key questions were prepared to keep the focus. findings and discussion as stated previously, this research involves quantitative data (from questionnaires) and qualitative data (from interviews). the questionnaires obtained information about participants and their experiences related to the use of technology in learning english. the interview provides data on students' perceptions on the use of technology for learning english outside the classroom in relation to the development of students' autonomy capacity in learning english. results of quantitative data from questionnaires quantitative data was obtained from the results of the questionnaires filled in by 42 students which consists of 15 male students and 27 female students. the first section contains general questions covering age, class, how long they have studied english and their perceptions of their ability to communicate in english. the second part explores students' learning activities outside the classroom using technology media. the purpose of the third part is to investigate what learning strategies the students are doing. of all the students, most of them (73.9%) had an english learning experience of more than 11 years, some even up to 17 years old. the rest had varied english learning experiences, from 10 years (9.5%), 9 years (2.4%), 8 years (2.4%), 7 years (9.5%) and 6 years (2.4%). the majority of students stated that the use of technology in learning english is very useful (47.6%), and the rest stated that it is useful. the students’ experiences in using technology in learning english outside the class include the following aspects: 1. applying the strategy of planning, monitoring and evaluation of learning from the experience of students using technology, most of them sometimes plan how they will learn english using 59.5% technology media), while others state never ((9.5%), often (238%), and always (7.1% ) of the students who planned the study, 54% often planned how long they would study, and even 11.9% were always planning how long they were studying. other times and never planning a percentage of 16.7%, 54% and 16.7% . when using technology to learn english, although most students understand their learning goals, there are also those who never (4.8%) understand their learning objectives. 2. the use of various techniques to learn english listening listening skills is one of the skills students develop through the use of technology, as stated by 76.2% of students. most of students (76%) paid close attention to keywords that help them understand the meaning of the phrases they are listening to. only 2.4% did not listen to keywords in the phrase. many llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 152 students tried to understand english phrases when listening through the computer by playing them over and over again (76.2%). in addition to learning to listen via computer, tv with all its programs (talk shows, games and others) is a very popular listening learning media among students. this media is utilized by most of them (80%). watching images in tv shows is one way students do to help them understand the message. more students still rely more on indonesian sub-titles than trying to understand the expression on tv shows with the help of english sub-titles. some students (45.3%) watched english-language programs with computer media more than once; using english sub-titles while watching the first time and with indonesian sub-titles for the second time. text is a form of english communication that students learn through the utilization of it media (computers, smartphones). techniques and frequency of text utilization by students vary. reading text is the most common technique by many students (31%) compared to other techniques. generally they (30%) read english text on their mobile phone screen more than once. most students often check the meaning of words they do not understand using google translate. although only occasionally, most students write new words or phrases they find on the internet and review their memories of new words they get from the internet. 3. learning collaboratively the utilization of e-learning, although only occasionally for most students, has facilitated them to cooperate with friends or collaboratively learn in various ways; discussing, asking friends when encountering difficulties, sending emails, asking friends to correct errors when performing live chat with a feature in their mobile phone. results of qualitative data from interviews data collection through interviews yields more in-depth information about students' perceptions on the use of technology in english learning. interview questions were prepared with reference to the concept of learner autonomy which became the focus area of this study. the interview transcriptions were then analyzed and resulted in the following findings. 1. students’ intensity in using ict for english learning the results of the interviews reveal that all students have easy access to use the internet via mobile phone that they always carry everywhere. they use computers for at least two hours a day for various purposes; communicating with friends, reading the latest news, and searching information related to school subjects. of the five interview respondents, three of them stated that they rarely use the internet to browse information on the website. with regards to the use of technology to support learning english, the five respondents stated that they had used the mobile phone to learn english, either intentionally or not. english learning happens by accident when they play games that contain a lot of english vocabulary in both written and conversational form. two out of five respondents specifically took the time to learn english with a mobile phone. television is a medium other than mobile phone that can be accessed easily by students. they revealed that television became part of their daily lives with varying intensity and frequency in each student. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 153 2. english materials students learn by using the internet students read news or english articles from the website and chat via applications in their mobile phone. one of the students has an interest in english since she was in junior high school and wanted to continue her studies at a college majoring in english. this student has a wa group with members of her junior high schoolmates who have the same intention to continue to practice english in their communications. in addition to gaming and wa apps not specifically designed for learning english, one student also stated that he has also opened several websites designed specifically for learning english. he uses many grammar exercises available on the website. as stated earlier, english language learning, especially vocabulary and pronunciation skills occur by accident when they play games and watch english programs where they are presented with many english vocabulary in both writing and conversation. 3. the use of technology and learner autonomy learner autonomy, as discussed in the theoretical review, is a complex capacity involving many components. the qualitative data obtained from the interview results were analyzed with regards to learner autonomy components suggested by different experts (benson, 2011; lamb, 2006. dickison, 1996). the result of data analysis shows that the utilization of ict especially e-learning contribute to learner autonomy capacity in the following components: 1. increasing students’ interest in english learning (learning motivation) the students' desire to learn english came partly because of their interest in the facilities or features of their mobile phones. when students play games or when they happily work on their gadgets, the learning process takes place without any burden. the process of learning english occurs without them knowing because the elements of english are integrated with their passion to play the gadget. this is shown in the following extracts of a student’s interview, i love playing games. all the games i play in english ... little by little i understand the meaning of the words in the game. the language setting in my phone is in english, and every day i use it (student a). the above statement shows that the gadget becomes an "entrance" for students to learn english. they might not have learned the vocabulary that is in the game if they did not have an interest in the game. this aspect of attraction becomes important in relation to the motivation that drives students to learn. 2. enhancing metacognitive awareness the interview results show that students are aware of what areas of english skills they improve when performing various activities with their gadgets. for example when they have a wa group and are committed to communicating with english, they feel their communication skills are improving. they can also identify what difficulties they face when they communicate certain ideas or things. a student expressed this during the interview, i have group wa with my junior friends. we both want to learn english. but i often have difficulty expressing something because of the limitations of the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 154 vocabulary (student e). students’ awareness that their ability to speak english increases is also evident from their response to some interview questions. for example, after playing games that use english, their understanding of the vocabulary used in the game increases. the students’ responses show that their ability to identify their own strengths and weaknesses is formed through learning activities using e-learning media. 3. enhancing self confidence and social skills students’ awareness of the increasing ability of english-speaking fosters their sense of confidence in their abilities. one student stated that his ability to understand english conversations increased with his frequent visits to tv shows in english. another student revealed that her habit of engaging in english with her friends through the wa application made her more confident when communicating with english. the use of online chatting media such as wa and fb has also raised awareness of the importance of support from others in learning to communicate in english, as stated by one of the students in the interview, i feel very helped by the wa group of my junior high school friends. until now we are still actively chatting in english. my friends encouraged each other (student c). the media of information and communication technology (ict) has facilitated students in developing this capacity. this study was conducted to explore students’ experiences in utilizing technology to support learning english outside the classroom and examine how students demonstrated the capacity of learner autonomy, a capacity that many studies have proven to be important for students’ learning success. various aspects of students’ experiences in the use of technology to learn english have been presented in the previous section. technology especially mobile phone with internet connection has become part of students’ every day life. in relation to the benefits of technology in learning english, students also realize that technology is very useful. knowledge of the benefits of technology in learning english does not necessarily make them maximally use this medium to learn english. as stated in the findings of this study, few students specifically plan to learn english using the technology they have. in relation to student autonomy capacity, the findings of this study indicate that the use of technology in english learning has facilitated students in developing their autonomy in learning. motivation to learn is one aspect of student autonomy that is driven by the existence of technology. students’ interest in english learning activities arises because they love the features in their gadgets that allow them to learn. this reinforces previous studies which revealed that the use of blogs has increased the interest of students to learn to write in english (warni, 2016). when engaging in english chatting activities with friends in the wa group, students can identify their particular weaknesses in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 155 the vocabulary. awareness of the limitations of english vocabulary mastery and awareness of the importance of improving vocabulary mastery to support their ability to communicate, mobilize them to find out and learn the vocabulary they meet or need but they do not yet know. this awareness known as metacognitive awareness is an important aspect of learner autonomy which is revealed in this study. other components of learner autonomy found in this study are students’ confidence and social skills. in relation to the cultural context, the findings of this study reinforce what was previously proposed by coleman (1996) and lamb (2006), that the capacity of learner autonomu is not only relevant to the context of the western world. conclusion this study aims to examine students’ experiences in utilizing technology to learn english outside the classroom and examine their implications for their autonomy capacity in learning. various technology tools such as television, laptop, and mobile phone with internet connection have become part of students’ daily life. all students realize that technology is very useful in helping them learn english, but it does not necessarily make them maximally use this medium to learn english. as stated in the findings of this study, few students specifically plan to learn english using the technology they have. this study also reveals that the use of technology in english learning has been a driving force in the development of their autonomy in learning, which includes several components; learning motivation, metacognitive awareness, self-confidence and social skills. the findings of this study suggest that students need to have more literacy on the benefits of technology and how to maximize its use to enhance their english learning. references behera, s. k. 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(2009). learner autonomy as a predictor of course success and final grades in community college online courses. journal of educational computing research, 41(3), 347–367. https://doi.org/10.2190/ec.41.3.e llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 273 english teaching in social and cultural contexts: language teachers as cultural managers *adi suryani1, soedarso2, kurnianti tri diani3 and rosmawati4 1institut teknologi sepuluh nopember ²madrasah tsanawiyah ulul ilmi 3smpn 20 simbang maros adisuryani.rahman@gmail.com; soedarsoits@gmail.com; kurniantitridiani@yahoo.co.id; rosmawati.zainal@gmail.com *correspondence: adisuryani.rahman@gmail.com doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.24071/llt.v23i2.2470 received 7 march 2020; accepted 18 april 2020 abstract teaching english could be dilemmatic since english teachers should introduce the foreign culture and sustain their own students’ culture. today’s students were the future leaders. thus, it was vital for english teachers to introduce the global culture and local-national culture. this study aimed to explore our own experiences at schools and higher education levels, in managing culture in our efl practices: which cultural elements should be sustained, how, why and what the challenges were. the data were collected from our experience-based reflection. the study revealed that english language teachers played a meta-role as they were cultural managers. they selected, infused, and invented ways to teach culture through various approaches: materials, social interaction, classroom routines, and artifacts. however, this process was potentially impeded by disruptive technology, students, teachers, and organizational factors. thus, this cultural managing role was influenced by organization, technology, learners’ adaptation process, and teachers’ own cultural awareness and understanding. keywords: cultural learning, efl teachers’ roles introduction language is a cultural element. it is immersed in the culture of its’ indigenous people. it reflects certain community social behavior, thinking, social and communication styles, as well as a social-natural environment. learning a foreign language also means understanding when the native people use the language in a specific context. thus, learning a foreign language can be both adopting/imitating and following the native culture. recently, globalization, rapid flow of technology and information open up nonenglish developing countries community to learn how to speak and write in english. in the indonesia context, currently, young children are motivated to love and learn the english language and other foreign (developed) countries languages. today, english becomes a popular language learned by children at their pre-school age. moreover, the english language is becoming a criterion for selecting potential schools. many parents perceive english language competencies as children’s life llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 274 investment. this is because many today job vacancies are seeking applicants with high quality active english skills. english language scores are also becoming one of the major parameters for determining the education standard. furthermore, english language skills open children’s chances to participate in international programs and global acts. the international functions of the english language may in a clash with the national roles of the indonesian language. in an international context, the english language may contribute to increasing students’ international knowledge, expanding their global relationship and networking as well as participate in global community action. however, over-emphasis on english language learning can harm the existence of national language, as students may have less interest and pride to learn their local-national language. thus, currently, the indonesian language is at a high risk. the increasing dominating roles of the english language and threatened the indonesian language have been attracting many studies, especially in the areas of indonesian language teaching, pancasila, and national citizenship to continuously revive and strengthen students’ nationality sense and protect them from global erosion. the trans-issue of efl, local culture/indonesian language, and national citizenship situate the english language teachers in dilemma. this is because they should both teach the culture of the target language, while at the same time preserve and protect their students’ local culture, nationality sense, and citizenship positive behaviour through the hidden curriculum. this study intends to synergize the perspectives of english language learning necessity and local culture preservation needs. the discussion is emphasized on exploring efl teachers’ roles and efforts in infusing local culture content in their efl teaching. it is examined through our lived-experiences as english language teachers, who teach the english language at different educational levels: junior, senior, and higher education. daily teaching practices are becoming sources of reflection. teaching reflection is vital in teachers’ learning process as it encourages teachers to examine their thinking and perform self-assessed teaching evaluation (kuswandono, 2012, p. 149). the battling perspectives on the foreign and national language roles many studies explore the relationship between language and culture. language and cultural learning is inter-linked (khan, 2016; klippel, 1994, p. 50). both of them are interdependent, as language is created by the certain community to ensure their cultural existence and reflect their life (khan, 2016), play a function as a communication tool (sukarno, 2012, p. 203), means to express and preserve social relationship (scarino & liddicoat, 2009, p. 16), while language cannot exist independently from its’ cultural contexts as culture is the root of language (brdarić, 2016). thus, learning a language means learning the target community culture (khan, 2016, p. 98). language learning involves meaning-making in which learners should understand how language symbolizes certain meanings and how it is used in a real situation to interact with others (scarino & liddicoat, 2009, p. 16). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 275 furthermore, by teaching cultural background and knowledge immersed into language, the language meaning becomes clearer (nibler & harris, 2003, pp. 4–5). recently, the immersion of culture into language teaching, the increasing roles, and broadening functions of the english language provoke debate relating to local culture versus foreign culture. many studies examine how local culture should be practiced and how foreign language should be perceived. the globalization opens freedom and opportunities for foreign language/culture to enter, change the position of indigenous language/culture as well as threaten its’ existence (dasuki et al., 2015). in indonesia, there is nationwide emerging anxiety on the effects of the english language on the indonesian language. globalization, to some extent, weakens the power of national-local culture, especially the indonesian language (annisa, 2019). the proliferation of the english language may harm the nationality functions and positions of the indonesian language. the indonesian language should function as national identity, a means of national communication, the language of science and technology, language of nation-wide knowledge (suwardjono, 2008). the indonesian language position should be strengthened by national policy, standardization, and public usage customization (dasuki et al., 2015). syamsuri (2015) argues that the indonesian language needs to be broadened to accommodate new vocabularies embodying social, economical and political changes. the cultural perspective argues that the indonesian language should be protected as it is not only a communication tool but also a cultural wealth (setyawan, 2011). these concerns emerge as the english language becomes increasingly popular and desired. the english language becomes a dominant language that has linguistic power over other languages. it is the key language in global communication, science and technology advancement, social mobility, employment, and socioeconomic success determinant (isik, 2008, p. 126). the dominant language may not be able to compete with the dominating language as the dominant countries can produce more advanced knowledge, science, and social condition resulting in increasing their new vocabularies (isik, 2008, p. 126). the other perspective tends to balance both needs on national language/culture maintenance and foreign language learning. the assimilative perspective recommends a filtering process. this process can be undertaken by fitting foreign language to local culture, instead of being dominated by foreign language (isik, 2008, p. 113). one of the approaches used is cross-cultural understanding. crosscultural understanding can broaden learners’ thinking, increase tolerance and flexibility, and open learners’ mindset (isik, 2008, p. 134). moreover, in the 21st century, the indonesian society should master three key languages: indonesian as national identity, local culture as cultural wealth and international language as a tool for joining international society (jokowali et al., 2018). the infusion of local culture into english language teaching how national-local culture is situated in efl classrooms or how efl can be immersed to strengthen national-local culture is explored by many efl and cultural studies. a changing paradigm in understanding english language position in efl classrooms has been introduced. the english language is synergized with local llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 276 cultural learning. teaching language should be submerged in local cultural learning for growing students’ intercultural communicative competence (brdarić, 2016, p. 1). the new perspective of the english language as an international language (eil) introduces the english language as a global language which is spoken by its’ global speakers and submerged into this global learners’ cultures (andarab, 2014, p. 279). the postmodern language perspective suggests culture and cultural learning as an open discourse, which is dynamically constructed and collectively re-constructed by its’ international speakers. this construction is different from the modern perspective which perceives culture as nationally bounded to the target community (kramsch, 2013, pp. 64–67). thus, local cultural place within efl has been discussed by international and national studies. many studies reveal that incorporating local cultural content into the efl classroom is becoming a trend. teaching english needs content unless it just contains grammar and patterns of symbols (sukarno, 2012, p. 202). language education should provide cultural knowledge, awareness, and target language as well as local culture competences (fenner, 2000). teaching english without local cultural content may threaten a nation’s identity. as evidenced by jia (2015, p. 52), teaching english without national content emerges “chinese culture aphasia.” local content can be inserted through various methods. some of these methods are using efl textbook with local content, which is commonly standardized by education legislation system (prastiwi, 2013, p. 506), presenting local folktales, such as malin kundang to young learners (prastiwi, 2013, p. 509) or combining english language learning with tour activities, for instance visiting local cultural sites, such as temples (kanoksilapatham, 2015, p. 680). andarab (2014, p. 279) emphasizes the importance of developing an english textbook relevant to the needs of international speakers. this is the manifestation of genuine roles and functions of english language as the international language. the immersion of local culture in efl brings about some learning benefits as it provides real context, involves students’ emotions, minimizes learning difficulty, and facilitates participatory learning scenarios (khan, 2014, p. 69). the local load can protect cultural misplacement even cultural death (prastiwi, 2013, p. 508), and preserve local wisdom (sukarno, 2012, p. 205). the other paradigm suggests the importance of integrating cultural learning of the target language and local culture. it intends to develop students’ cross-cultural understanding and intercultural tolerance (karabiner & guler, 2013, p. 1326). the students can learn diverse perspectives, instead of only embracing a single perspective (orlova, 2014, p. 40). students’ intercultural communicative competence, as well as cultural awareness, can also be enhanced (brdarić, 2016, p. 1; hong, 2008, p. 6; jia, 2015, p. 53). teachers’ roles in language and culture learning english teachers play key roles in teaching culture-embedded english language. it is assumed that currently, efl teachers are incorporating local content in their teaching practices. this situation is different from the past. in the past, language teachers focus on communicative techniques, instead of cultural content (harrison, 1990, p. 1). however, recently, efl teachers use culture as a subject llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 277 matter (harrison, 1990, p. 1). thus, english language teaching is linked to other learning dimensions, such as values and teachers’ perspectives, backgrounds, and communities (harrison, 1990, p. 1). the past dominant role of the target culture is currently negotiated. the dominating power of american-english and british-english has been challenged since the global community emphasizes the need to insert their diverse global cultures (andarab, 2014, p. 280). more english teachers start to include local cultural content and this can motivate their students (mckay, 2000). how teachers embed cultural content into their english teaching may vary. some countries balance local cultural learning and target community learning, while others entirely discard western cultural content (mckay, 2000). in balancing both cultural sides, teachers are at the front gate. in certain restricted society, efl teachers wisely select which target language culture is safe to be taught, insert relevant cultural materials, affirm value education (khan, 2014, p. 69). another perspective suggests efl teachers should balance the target language culture and local culture by developing cultural awareness (brdarić, 2016, p. 4). it has been suggested that efl teachers are key determinants in integrating efl methodology, as the efl learning process and materials are influenced by teachers’ perspective, value, background, and experience (khan, 2016, p. 121). many efl scholars concentrate on exploring the benefits of local culture integration and embedded strategies. the integration of local culture into efl learning may promote students’ increased text/language understanding by linking the text to students’ real-life experiences, preserving cultural tradition, and exploring local wisdom (sukarno, 2012, p. 205). local culture in english language learning can be learned through several modes. sukarno (2012, p. 205) suggests that english teachers divide local loads into thematic activities. the local content should also be adapted to the students’ interests and needs (celce-muria & olshtain, 2000, p. 195). the teaching-learning process should be ended with connecting learning activities to local culture, exploring moral values, and students’ living experiencesbased wisdom and using english language as the instructional language (madya, 2011). there are diverse strategies efl teachers can use to immerse local content, such as role-playing, competing activities, designing poster as visual materials (karabiner & guler, 2013, p. 1326), using english textbooks containing both foreign as well as local culture, navigating web-based materials (khan, 2016), exploring and visiting local cultural places as authentic materials and creating simulation-based on life-situation or developing in house materials covering students’ life background and surrounding (kanoksilapatham, 2015, p. 681) or incorporating specific cultural elements, such as local food, lifestyle (khan, 2016, p. 114), values, traditions and manners (karabiner & guler, 2013, p. 1325). research method the study adopts a qualitative epistemological stand and methods. this is inherent with the research problems and objectives. the study aims to explore our efforts in inserting local-indonesian national culture in efl teaching. the analysis is limited to examine diverse teaching roles and local culture immersion strategy, instead of comparing and contrasting teaching pedagogies and their benefits. a llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 278 qualitative method is used by researchers to understand a particular social situation (young & hren, 2017). qualitative research aims to analyze multiple realities from the eyes of its’ participants through naturalistic and subjective methods (kielmann et al., 2012, p. 7). the data are collected from our living-experience, during our teaching practices. this is inherent with some qualitative research paradigms. as stated by (brookfield, 1995, p. 29), teachers’ autobiographies as both learners and teachers can provide a mirror through which teachers can reflect their teaching practices. qualitative research values partiality (subjectivity and reflectivity both functional and personal) and personal involvement within a natural setting to obtain deep meaning (young & hren, 2017). furthermore, qualitative research is characterized by humanistic, interpretive, reflective, naturalistic, flexible, and iterative (kielmann et al., 2012, p. 9). co-creation of a reflective framework is developed as a tool to ensure data richness, define the data border, and provide a reflective guide. it is consisting of a set of questions that guide our thinking, memory, and reflection. mirroring strategy is used to perceive, interpret, and analyse the data. the reflective framework/guide contains the identification of local cultural issues and teachers’ perspectives. below are several co-identified issues. tabel 1. the issues identification leading to the focus of the study all of those issues are then translated into several questions that guide our reflection. those questions are: tabel 2. questions leading to reflections the following table shows the result of co-reflection on identified issues (table 1), which are defined into several pre-reflection questions (table 3). no issues identification leading to the focus of the study 1 english language teachers’ perspectives on the significance of inserting local culture in efl. 2 the basis of cultural element selection, which aspects are more vital to be inserted than others 3 teaching approaches used to transfer those cultural values 4 cultural transmission challenges 5 several teaching practices relating to local culture insertion strategies no questions leading to reflections 1 how do you perceive, is it necessary to insert local culture in your efl teaching? 2 which local cultural elements are vital to be revived? 3 why do you think it is significant? 4 how are your teaching strategies to insert them into efl teaching? 5 what are the challenges? 6 could you please recall your experiences and tell the experiences! llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 279 table 3. teachers’ responses no teachers’ response 1 “our school is madrasah. it is a pondok pesantren. using local/national culture in efl teaching in our school is very important since there are many western culture elements may threaten the children’s thinking. by inserting local culture, it will at least lay the cultural foundation for our students.” (r1-t1) “local culture education is vital. thus, teachers should be able to design learning materials. for example, the use of narrative text on local legend stories. they should not forget those stories. moreover, they should understand the moral values which can be used to build students’ character.” (r1-t2) “educating local culture as well as social aspect is very significant. this is because higher education students have more learning capacity, flexibility and freedom. it will be dangerous if they are only western oriented and adopt all western values and neglect their own culture. this is especially because at higher education level, they are critical youth. they can see our local-national culture weakness and are able to use their rationality to weigh between right or wrong.” (r1-t.3) 2-3 “religious tradition and customs, because if those values are strongly infused into children’s selves, insya allah it will protect them in the future from negative and massive influence” (r2-3-t1) “cultural elements which should be revived and preserved are gotong royong, mutual respect, tolerance, older people respect, politeness and prideful sense on their own local culture. this is because i feel that now, our nation suffers from moral crisis. that’s why character building is required. it is not only building cognition, but also maturing their emotion and strengthening their character.” (r23-t2) “i think the students should be taught to detect social and cultural issues around them. as higher education students, they should be sensitive and aware of their local-national culture. thus, students can have autonomy and freedom to think and feel what cultural and social aspects are neglecting and bring them into class discussion or use it as task/assignment materials. it is expected that through this way, they have sense of cultural belonging. “the efl teachers are just facilitators and reminders”. (r2-3-t3) 4 “inserting local culture habits in and outside the class, connecting book materials to real local culture and increasing students’ motivation” (r4-t1) “designing my own teaching materials by relating them to local context and national situation” (r4-t2) “asking the students to design video and presenting social-cultural issues through videos” (r4-t3) 5 “students’ motivation and children character.” (r5-t1) “…students’ low motivation, especially reading interest. but, mostly they are very active in social media, updating status and sometimes they are bullying their peers.” (r5-t2) “…the students frequently can sense many social and cultural issues at their higher education age. they can build their own thinking and beliefs about the issues. they have strong arguments on the issues. thus, it is very difficult to supervise their thinking, especially when it is related to their strong background belief and trending topic which the majority of their friends have the same interest.” (r5-t3) 6 “we start our learning with praying, greet teachers and older people by kissing their hands and saying assalamualaikum. “for instance, i connect offering help material llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 280 with gotong royong and culture of being polite” (r61-t1) “...before entering the class in the morning, they have to do tahfidz. ...the students let us walk outside the class first after the lesson. some take the teacher’s luggage by struggling each other. they walk behind the teacher and say thank you for teaching them until the teacher arrives in the teacher’s room...” (r62-t1) “i am in the process of writing a book containing folk stories from sulawesi selatan. then, i create some questions on moral values...” (r6-t2) “ i am exploring some videos from youtube which represent social-cultural issues and differences in cultural rituals. from these videos, i open discussion and forum on multi-cultural tolerance” (r6-t3) r=response; t=teacher the collected data (table 3) are organized into several themes and categories. structuring is a way of data management for the interpretation and analysis process by screening data through the crossing process using pre-determined criteria (mayring, 2014, pp. 64–65). the study also accommodates the emergent criteria from the collected data. findings and discussion the data show that all of the teachers emphasize the importance of elaborating local culture in their efl classrooms. they are not only efl teachers but also local culture teachers. the following discussion focuses on efl teachers’ various roles in local cultural education. vision creators the teachers’ teaching behaviors in their classrooms are influenced by their values and perceptions. the teachers infuse local culture in their teaching based on the different needs and characteristics of their students. thus, teachers’ teaching perspective and vision shape teachers’ behavior and approaches towards cultural learning. this is as shown by the following data. table 4. teachers’ perspective on local culture learning no teachers’ responses categories 1 “our school is madrasah. it is a pondok pesantren. using local/national culture in efl teaching in our school is very important since there are many western culture elements may threaten the children’s thinking. by inserting local culture, it will at least lay the cultural foundation for our students.” (r1-t1) local culture learning is needed as a foundation of children behavior (r1-t1-c1) 2 “local culture education is vital. thus, teachers should be able to design learning materials. for example, the use of narrative text on local legend stories. they should not forget those stories. moreover, they should understand the moral values which can be used to build students’ character.” (r1-t2) local culture learning for teaching students to appreciate their indigenous culture and a tool for character building (r1-t2-c1) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 281 3 “educating local culture as well as social aspect is very significant. this is because higher education students have more learning capacity, flexibility and freedom. it will be dangerous if they are only western oriented and adopt all western values and neglect their own culture. this is especially because at higher education level, they are critical youth. they can see our localnational culture weakness and are able to use their rationality to weigh between right or wrong.” (r1-t3) local culture learning is needed to develop cultural senses on ethical issues, norms in society, critical social-cultural issues (r1-t3-c1) r=response; t=teacher; c=categories the data show that the teachers believe that local culture should be inserted in their efl teaching for different purposes. for elementary and secondary students, the efl teachers insert local culture for growing children's cultural values and characters (r1-t1-c1; r1-t2-c1). at a young age, children should be guided to know their own culture (r1-t1-c1) and appreciate the culture (r1-t2-c1). thus, local cultural learning should be started at learners’ young age. the starting point of developing learners’ intercultural competence is growing their awareness of their own culture (jia, 2015, p. 54). indonesia’s indigenous culture is rich in traditional folktales, such as bawang merah, bawang putih, malin kundang, and asal usul tangkuban perahu, which can promote young learners’ local cultural learning, especially for moral character building. infusing local culture for children at their young age brings about some positive consequences: raising children's emotional bond to their locality, conserving local culture and wisdom, and building children’s character (yektiningtyas & modouw, 2017, pp. 47–48). the local cultural learning is also necessary for higher education students (r1-t3-c1). the efl teacher reveals that local cultural learning at higher education can help the students identify the ethical behaviour from non-ethical, demonstrate pro-society norm behaviour and developing students’ critical thinking (r1-t3-c1). local culture learning in higher education may be directed to grow students’ cultural sense of care, pride, and national identity. this means that higher education students are prepared to be part of the global community. they may need to adopt an international/global culture while maintaining their own cultural identity. thus, intercultural communicative competence is needed. quality intercultural communicators are those who understand a foreign culture, without neglecting their own culture (jia, 2015, p. 53). building students’ sense of national identity is the basic element in facilitating them to be intercultural communicators since identity is required in global interaction. communicator’s social identity is an intercultural communication element since the communication process is influenced by who is the communicator (byram et al., 2002, p. 9). furthermore, this study emphasizes the implied need of efl teachers to build a mental picture of how to target language-culture and local-culture are taught, what they want their students will be, and what their responsibilities are. one of the fundamental features in powerful teacher education is teachers have a clear vision of their teaching practices llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 282 (hammond, 2006, p. 41). furthermore, teachers’ vision is the center of teachers’ knowledge (hammond, 2006, p. 84). local cultural mediators local-national efl teachers can be valuable efl assets, since they may understand the local culture well. as local cultural experts, they may have knowledge on which values should be enhanced and which should not be taught. the data show that efl teachers are local-national cultural managers. this is as shown by the data below. table 5. teachers’ local culture teaching management no teachers’ responses categories 1 “religious tradition and customs, because if those values are strongly infused into children’s selves, insya allah it will protect them in the future from negative and massive influence” (r2-3-t1) selecting cultural values, understanding the purposes of teaching certain values (r2-3-t1-c2) 2 “cultural elements which should be revived and preserved are gotong royong, mutual respect, tolerance, older people respect, politeness and prideful sense on their own local culture. this is because i feel that now, our nation suffers from moral crisis. that’s why character building is required. it is not only building cognition, but also maturing their emotion and strengthening their character.” (r2-3-t2) being aware of national issues, students’ educational needs and selecting some vital values to be taught (r2-3-t2-c2) 3 “i think the students should be taught to detect social and cultural issues around them. as higher education students, they should be sensitive and aware of their local-national culture. thus, students can have autonomy and freedom to think and feel what cultural and social aspects are neglecting and bring them into class discussion or use it as task/assignment materials. it is expected that through this way, they have sense of cultural belonging. the efl teachers are just facilitators and reminders”. (r2-3-t3) understanding the characters of the student, fitting activities to students’ characters and educational goals (r2-3-t3-c2) 4 “…students’ low motivation, especially reading interest. but, mostly they are very active in social media, updating status and sometimes they are bullying their peers.” (r5-t2) understanding social issues emerging from students’ social interaction (r5-t2c2) 5 “i am in the process of writing a book containing folk stories from sulawesi selatan. then, i create some questions on moral values...” (r6-t2) designing materials (r6-t2-c2) 6 “ i am exploring some videos from youtube which represent social-cultural issues and differences in cultural rituals. from these videos, i open discussion and forum on multi-cultural tolerance” (r6-t3) exploring and enacting the explored materials to other activities (r6-t3-c2) 7 “we start our learning with praying, greet teachers and older people by kissing their hands and saying assalamualaikum. connecting materials from llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 283 “for instance, i connect offering help material with gotong royong and culture of being polite” (r61-t1) textbook to real context (r61-t1-c2) r=response; t=teacher; c=categories the data imply several roles of efl teachers in mediating local culture learning. the first role of efl teachers is screener or filters (r2-3-t1-c2; r2-3-t2-c2), for instance, religious tradition and customs (r2-3-t1) and gotong royong, mutual respect, tolerance, older people respect, politeness and prideful sense on their own local culture (r2-3-t2). this indicates that the teachers tend to select which cultural elements they should teach to fit into a certain situation. their selection can be influenced by some aspects, including teachers’ background (r1-t1), institution values (r1-t1), consideration of local-national situation (r2-3-t2; r5-t2), and learners’ aspects (interest, level of education and motivation) (r2-3-t3; r1-t3). adapting the selected and designed materials is one of the efl teachers’ challenges. the biggest teaching challenge is managing the subject matter and learners’ concern dialectic (hammond, 2006, p. 189). the second role of the efl teacher is material designer or enhancer (r6-t2c2; r6-t3-c2; r61-t1-c2). frequently, efl teachers create their teaching materials or enhance the available (existing) contents. teacher 1, for instance, links textbooks to local culture (r61-t1). differently, teacher-2 creates some texts and some questions ensuring students’ comprehension (r6-t2). teacher-2 creates materials by fitting them to the local values and wisdom. the materials are related to local folktales: the buffalo site legend and the legend of bantimurung (figure 1). the materials design also directs teacher-2 to learn technology as she downloads part of the materials from the web. technology demands teachers to learn internet operation for learning writing and reading, as new digital literacy (harendita, 2014). below are several samples of data on teaching materials. figure 1. samples of reading materials used by teachers 1 (kurniawan & arment, 2016) and 2 (idris, 2018) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 284 teacher-3 uses video materials created by students in groups (figure 2). discussion on cultural and social aspects is stimulated through the students’ videos. video 1 (timing) teaches social care value, promotes direct social interaction and social awareness. video 2 (teens and media) suggests youth to use social media wisely and shows the negative effect of unwise behaviour. figure 2. samples of videos materials: timing (kartohatmodjo et al., n.d.) and teens and media (hedianti et al., n.d.) containing local social and cultural values which are created by the students the third role of efl teachers is the activities designer (r6-t3-c2; r6-t3c2; r61-t1-c2). the data show that efl teachers are not only creating or enhancing materials but also setting relevant activities (r6-t3; r6-t2). teachers 2 and 3 are fitting perceived cultural learning needs/interests, materials, and activities. teachers’ job is ensuring the coherence of their teaching practices (hammond, 2006, p. 97). teacher 3, for instance, designs activities cycles of reading-writing-creating video containing specific social-cultural messages. teacher 2 creates some narrative texts, questions, and activities allowing the students to extract moral values from the texts (r6-t2). furthermore, the learning activities are extended into story-telling and competition embedded in students' extracurricular activities. the fourth role of the efl teacher is identifiers of culture learning obstacles and potential problem solvers. the data show that efl teachers identify several barriers to local cultural learning. table 6. identifications of local culture learning barriers no teachers’ responses categories 1 “students’ motivation and children character.” (r5t1) character-related issue (r5-t1-c3) 2 “…students’ low motivation, especially reading interest. but, mostly they are very active in social media, updating status and sometimes they are bullying their peers.” (r5-t2) low interest in reading, media social is more preferred (r5-t2-c3) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 285 3 “…the students frequently can sense many social and cultural issues at their higher education age. they can build their own thinking and believe about certain perspectives. they may have too strong arguments on specific issues. thus, it is very difficult to supervise their thinking, especially when it is related to their strong background belief and trending topic which the majority of their friends have the same interest.” (r5t3) too strong belief/fanaticism on a specific issue (r5-t3c3) r=response; t=teacher; c=categories the data show that all three efl teachers face big challenges in teaching local culture. the first issue is students’ less interest in reading (r5-t1-c3; r5-t2-c3). this indicates that reading/text may not an effective media/activity to teach culture. the second problem is relating to students’ too strong belief on a specific issue (r5t3-c3). this may potentially emerge from racism, ethnocentrism, or religious fanaticism. this strong belief can be shaped along with students’ life, influenced by their diverse life background, social environment, or specific value doctrine. this strong conviction may impede multi-cultural tolerance. tackling students’ fanaticism behaviour is very challenging. thus, efl teachers are not only working within the area of language but also crossing other disciplines, such as peace education, social science, psychology, and counseling. thus, efl teachers possess a blurred identity (ortaçtepe, 2015, p. 108). this blurred identity is the result of the dynamic, complex, multifaceted roles of efl teachers (norton, 1997). today’s efl teachers have expanded jobs as they are not only addressing language needs but also fulfilling students’ interpersonal and intrapersonal needs (molina, 2013, p. 1). the fifth role of efl teachers is a natural observer. the data show that efl teachers adapt their materials to a certain condition: institutions/schools (r1-t1), learners, and environment (r1-t3; r2-3-t3). efl teachers observe social-cultural issues emerging from student peer interaction (r5-t2). multicultural educators the data show that teacher 3 faces the challenge of managing a large number of students from different cultural backgrounds. table 7. youth and multi-culturalism no teachers’ responses categories 1 “educating local culture as well as social aspect is very significant. this is because higher education students have more learning capacity, flexibility and freedom. it will be dangerous if they are only western oriented and adopt all western values and neglect their own culture. this is especially because at higher education level, they are critical youth. they can see our local-national culture weakness and are able to use their rationality to weigh between right or wrong.” (r1-t3) youth eft learners are critical culture learners; managing students’ culture critical thinking (r1-t3-c4) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 286 2 “…the students frequently can sense many social and cultural issues at their higher education age. they can build their own thinking and believe about certain perspectives. they may have too strong arguments on specific issues. thus, it is very difficult to supervise their thinking, especially when it is related to their strong background belief and trending topic which the majority of their friends have the same interest.” (r5-t3) youth efl learners are learners with strong culture background/belief; managing fanaticism (r5-t3-c4) 3 “ i am exploring some videos from youtube which represent social-cultural issues and differences in cultural rituals. from these videos, i open discussion and forum on multi-cultural tolerance” (r6-t3) youth efl learners are culture negotiators; generating students’ multi-culture tolerance (r6-t3-c4) 4 “i think the students should be taught to detect social and cultural issues around them. as higher education students, they should be sensitive and aware of their localnational culture. thus, students can have autonomy and freedom to think and feel what cultural and social aspects are neglecting and bring them into class discussion or use it as task/assignment materials. it is expected that through this way, they have sense of cultural belonging. the efl teachers are just facilitators and reminders”. (r2-3-t3) youth efl learners are creative learners; using technology to increase cross-cultural awareness and understanding (r2-3-t3-c4) r=response; t=teacher; c=categories the data show that teacher-3 is aware that higher education students are coming from different areas and may embrace a distinctive cultural belief (r2-3t3). in context, teacher-3 should undertake multi-cultural educators. thus, the teacher should fulfill her roles as a multi-cultural class manager by managing students’ critical thinking (r1-t3-c4), managing culture fanaticism (r5-t3-c4), and generating cross-cultural awareness and tolerance (r6-t3-c4; r2-t3-c4). the data indicate that efl teachers may encounter multi-culturalism challenges, especially when conflicting cultural beliefs, rituals, values explode. the data show that teacher-3 increases students’ multi-cultural/cross-cultural understanding and tolerance by using a documentary video presenting cultural ritual/belief from a certain community and creating a cross-cultural forum. figure 3 a cultural-based documentary video, “living with the dead in indonesia” (bbc news, 2017) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 287 figure 3 shows an example of a documentary video that can catalyse students’ cross-cultural discussion and tolerance. the video describes a unique traditional funeral culture in toraja society, which is in contrast to javanese and muslim funeral rituals. this documentary video is representative since it may generate culture battle if the students cannot understand the funeral positive underlying cultural values viewed from the toraja society lens. through this process, it is expected that students’ cross-cultural understanding can be strengthened. openness and willingness to understand other cultural perspectives can stimulate cultural tolerance, awareness, and prohibit cultural stereotypes and prejudices (vrbová, 2006). intercultural competence is developed through nurturing five skills: relating and interpreting critical cultural awareness, interacting and discovering tolerant attitudes, and multi-cultural knowledge (byram, 2000). the data indicate that efl teachers may struggle with several culturally sensitive issues during their teaching practices: fanaticism, race, gender, or social inequality. thus, multi-cultural teaching skills may be required to accommodate learners from different cultural backgrounds. teachers should acquire skills for teaching diverse learners, adapt to democratic principles and commitment (hammond, 2006, p. 246). teachers should welcome the 21st century by preparing culturally responsive pedagogy (richards et al., 2004). role models the study indicates that teaching local culture requires more than knowledge transfer. it needs the teacher to demonstrate and guide students to practice the culture in their daily interactions. the data show that teacher-1 models and guides the students to practice cultural rituals. table 8. local culture rituals no teachers’ responses categories 1 “we start our learning with praying, greet teachers and older people by kissing their hands and saying assalamualaikum. “for instance, i connect offering help material with gotong royong and culture of being polite” (r61-t1) modeling, practicing, guiding the culture of praying together, greeting and showing politeness to older people (respecting older people) (r61-t1-c5) 2 “...before entering the class in the morning, they have to do tahfidz. ...the students let us walk outside the class first after the lesson. some take the teacher’s luggage by struggling each other. they walk behind the teacher and say thank you for teaching them until the teacher arrives in the teacher’s room...” (r62-t1) implementation culture of respect and appreciation to teachers (r62-t1-c5) r=response; t=teacher; c=categories llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 288 the data show that teacher-1 encourages and leads the students to pray together, greet, kiss older people’s hands (r61-t1-c5) appreciate and respect to teachers (r62-t1-c5). these activities nurture the students’ senses being together, being polite, and respect other people, and being careful. this indicates that teacher-1 infuses cultural teaching into daily behavior and habituation process. cultural values can be transferred through verbal and non-verbal messages (fleet, 2006). how teachers behave in classrooms and daily life can be a model and a reference for their students. teachers are students’ models through whom students identify their acts and behavior (chiou & yang, 2006, cited in shein & chiou, 2011). teachers are the main agents in socializing cultural values since teachers are influential educational figures whom students meet every day (okeke & drake, 2014, p. 1732). moreover, teachers have the power to affect students’ behaviour and inspire them (bashir et al., 2014; sellars, 2012). figure 4. model of efl teachers’ roles in inserting local culture content the study proposes several findings. the first is it is suggested that today efl teachers are not only responsible for developing efl learners’ linguistic competences, but also developing learners’ local cultural awareness and multicultural/cross-cultural understanding and tolerance. the second is it is recommended that efl teachers are responsible to promote, maintain, and revive local-national culture by using english as the medium/instructional language. local culture should be introduced as foundation knowledge before knowledge on intercultural communication (saraswati et al., 2018, p. 183). thirdly, the study suggests that to infuse local culture, the efl teachers fulfill and navigate through different interconnected roles of teaching-vision builders, local-cultural mediators, multicultural educators, and behavioural models/practitioners. fourthly, it is advised that efl teachers develop their local cultural responsive pedagogy, vision, cultural sensitivity, and awareness, build english language-non english collaborative discipline, understanding learners’ social-cultural world, and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 289 leveraging the roles of technology and information to support teaching. the fifth is it is suggested that reflection on cultural experience can offer new insight for the efl teachers for designing and managing cultural activities in the english classroom. teaching reflection leads teachers to be autonomous learners (suryani & widyastuti, 2015). conclusion this study explores how several efl teachers attempt to infuse local cultural learning in their teaching practices. the study reveals the changing role of the english language from foreign into international language influences efl teachers’ roles. today, efl teachers are not only responsible for teaching linguistic knowledge, but also for introducing and infusing local cultural element in their efl teaching. the study suggests several roles which efl teachers can fulfill to meet their new responsibilities. those are vision creators, local cultural mediators, multicultural educators, and role models-practitioners. the study suggests several measures the efl teachers may implement to infuse local cultural elements in their teaching practice: developing local cultural responsive pedagogy, vision, cultural sensitivity and awareness, building english language-non english collaborative discipline, understanding learners’ social-cultural world and leveraging roles of technology and information to support teaching reference andarab, m. s. 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(2017). introduction to qualitative research methods. methods in research on research. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 185 effects of an arabic accent on efl learners’ productive intelligibility ahmad nazari and majid younus hamad bin khalifa university, qatar and london metropolitan university, united kingdom anazari@hbku.edu.qa; mry0008@my.londonmet.ac.uk correspondence: anazari@hbku.edu.qa doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2020.230201 received 7 march 2020; accepted 15 april 2020 abstract this study aimed at investigating the effects of a foreign accent, namely the iraqi arabic accent, at the segmental level on the productive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners. drawing on an intelligibility pronunciation principle, i.e. gimson’s (2001) minimum general intelligibility (mgi), the study applied a mixedmethods research approach to measure the extent to which features of this accent impede the productive intelligibility of these learners and to identify the communication strategies they use to overcome intelligibility failures. to achieve these aims, two data collection tools were used: a production intelligibility test and a speaking task. although the overall quantitative findings revealed that iraqi efl learners’ foreign-accented english was intelligible at the segmental level, most intelligibility failures were ascribed to the mispronunciation of non-existent english phonemes. the qualitative aspect of the study aimed at identifying the communication strategies iraqi efl learners use to overcome these intelligibility failures. in this respect, several strategies were identified, namely the let-it-pass strategy, the replacement strategy, the repetition strategy and the time gaining strategy. the article concludes with the implications and applications of the findings. keywords: intelligibility; foreign accent; communication strategies; mixed methods research in phonology introduction when learning english, non-native english speakers are expected to produce new distinctive sound features, acquire new articulatory habits and create new sound categories. failure to achieve these articulatory adjustments will result in a type of english speech identified as foreign-accented english (sereno, lammers, & jongman, 2016, p. 303). derwing and munro (2009, p. 476) define a foreign accent as “the ways in which a foreign language speaker’s speech differs from the local variety of english and the impact of that difference on speakers and llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 186 listeners.” this means that a foreign accent can result from the sound differences between the native language and the target language. these sound differences occur at the segmental and suprasegmental levels of phonology. the present investigation is restricted to the effect of segmental deviations on the productive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners. this restriction is based on the widely held assertion that in efl contexts segmental production is emphasized over suprasegmental (hellmuth, 2014; jenkins, 2000). according to sereno et al. (2016, p. 304), segmental deviations refer to the substitution of a phoneme with another or the modification of a phoneme. for example, the substitution of the english /p/ phoneme with the arabic /b/ is an instance of phonemic deviation, whereas an aspirated pronunciation variant of /p/ is an instance of allophonic or phonetic modification. the term intelligibility refers to a non-native english targeted pronunciation level which can be understood by the listener with little effort (gimson, 2001; kim, 2008; cruttenden, 2014). as used in this article, the term intelligibility refers to the production of english segmental phonemes in line with the permissible modifications of the english sound system as suggested by gimson’s (2001) mgi principle (see cruttenden, 2014). a great number of pronunciation studies conducted worldwide advocate intelligibility as the pronunciation goal for non-native english speakers (trofimovich, 2016, p. 5). this shift of pronunciation research to intelligibility is yet to occur in iraqi efl classrooms and pronunciation research. according to derwing and munro (2005, p. 379), this type of intelligibility pronunciation research has much to offer teachers and students. the present study, hence, intends to fill a contextual gap in the literature by investigating the effect of a foreign accent at the segmental level on the productive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners. as a secondary objective, the study aims to identify the types of oral communication strategies employed by iraqi efl learners when encountering pronunciation problems. with the above in mind, the following research questions are addressed: 1. at the segmental level, to what extent is iraqi efl learners’ foreign-accented english intelligible? 2. which aspect of segmental deviations is responsible for most intelligibility failures that iraqi efl learners encounter? 3. what communication strategies do iraqi efl learners use to overcome productive intelligibility problems? literature review whether based on native or non-native english speakers, most intelligibility pronunciation studies in efl contexts emphasize the importance of segmental phonemes in intelligibility (hellmuth, 2014). the overall effect of segmental phonemes on intelligibility was first examined by correlation studies (see, for example, anderson-hsieh, 1995). subsequent studies then sought to identify which segmental phonemes (vowels or consonants) affected intelligibility the most and delved into the relationship between the intelligibility of segmental phonemes and foreign accents (see, for example, rogers, 1997; kirkova-naskova, 2010). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 187 although some mispronunciations of consonants were reported to cause intelligibility failures, a considerable number of studies emphasized the effect of vowel production and perception on the intelligibility of non-native english speech. for instance, kashiwagi and snyder (2008) investigated the intelligibility of japanese efl accented english to both american and japanese listeners. japanese and american judges evaluated samples of speech from 20 intermediate japanese students for intelligibility and foreign accent. intelligibility was measured by comparing what the participants produced and what the judges orthographically wrote. the judges also rated the foreign accent of the participants impressionistically on a seven-point rating scale. interviews were then conducted with the judges to find what pronunciation features caused misunderstanding. the researchers organized the segmental and suprasegmental errors into various categories. at the segmental level, the results revealed that vowels were more problematic than consonants in terms of understanding. at the suprasegmental level, stress was the error type which caused the most misunderstanding for both the american and japanese listeners. as far as the pronunciation studies conducted in the arabic speaking contexts are concerned, nikolova (2012) investigated the influence of a foreign accent on the acquisition of english vowels by saudi efl learners. the investigation was based on the predicted difficulty level which was determined by contrasting the sound systems of english and arabic. the study was limited to the investigation of ten vowels in american english. the findings revealed that partially similar vowels were difficult to produce and perceive by most saudi efl learners. a similar study on the perception and production of english segmental vowel sounds was conducted with syrian efl learners by almbark (2012). the study was based on insights from speech perception and production theories such as the speech learning model (slm) (flege, 1995). the researcher used a vowel discrimination task to identify the level of difficulty encountered by syrian efl learners. the findings revealed that these learners were able to produce some of the difficult vowels predicted by flege’s (1995) slm. although the syrian efl learners had little exposure to the target english vowels, the researcher claimed that direct teaching of the vowels was responsible for successful production and perception of these vowels. hassan (2014) investigated the aspects of segmental errors which caused intelligibility problems to sudanese efl learners. fifty university students and 30 teachers of english participated in the study. the researcher used three data collection tools: observations, recordings, and a questionnaire. the data obtained were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. the findings of the study showed that the mispronunciation of vowel phonemes was responsible for intelligibility failures. the researcher ascribed these failures to the differences between the sound systems of english and arabic. l1 interference was the major reason for the pronunciation problems encountered by the sudanese learners of english. in the iraqi efl context, the principle of intelligibility has been largely ignored. in this respect, rashid (2009, p. 43) confirms that intelligibility is absent in the iraqi efl context. she adds that pronunciation teaching and research should be reconsidered in the light of the intelligibility principle. although khudhair (2015) investigated intelligibility in the iraqi efl context, his llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 188 investigation was in line with the perfect mastery of the english rp accent. this was because the researcher used rp as a reference pronunciation norm to assess the speech of iraqi efl learners. the principle of intelligibility was suggested in the first place to equip non-native english speakers with a comfortably intelligible pronunciation. this requires modifying the sound system of rp to include features from other native english varieties like general american (gimson, 2001). in his research, khudhair (2015) focused on the intelligibility of 50 iraqi university students and defined intelligibility about understanding. a list of isolated words containing potential pronunciation features was read by the iraqi speakers. the listener was the researcher himself, who described himself as a semi-native english speaker with an rp accent. the researcher used a word dictation task to measure the intelligibility of iraqi efl learners. the findings of the study revealed several segmental and suprasegmental errors that iraqi efl learners made. at the segmental level, most of these errors were made in producing vowel phonemes. apart from the above, the bulk of pronunciation research conducted in iraq clearly emphasizes the perfect mastery of an rp accent. for example, mahud (2001) conducted a ph.d. study comparing syllabic consonants in english and arabic. the sample of the study consisted of thirty postgraduate iraqi students from three different colleges at the university of baghdad. qualitative data were collected by comparing the syllabic consonants in english and arabic. this comparison helped to identify the similarities and differences in the two contrasted languages regarding syllabic consonants. the findings of the contrastive study were later investigated quantitatively to measure iraqi efl learners’ production of english syllabic consonants. the findings revealed that iraqi efl students were unable to produce english syllabic consonants. in a similar vein, al-abdely and thai (2016) investigated the production of english vowels by iraqi efl speakers. the aim was to examine the effect of l1 interference and learners’ proficiency levels on the production of english vowels. 85 iraqi speakers were divided into four groups with different proficiency levels as decided by a production placement test. data from the production test were descriptively and statistically analyzed, and the findings revealed that most of the iraqi speakers faced a considerable degree of difficulty in producing english vowels. these vowel production errors were similar regardless of the speakers’ proficiency level. the same line of investigation was conducted by most past and present researchers. based on gimson’s (2001) mgi, flege’s (1995) slm and the findings of pronunciation studies carried out in iraq (see al-hamash, 1969; ahmed, 2000; al-abdely & thai, 2016), the current researchers have summarised in three tables the segmental phonemic contrasts between iraqi arabic (ia) and english. in the following three tables, the red symbols refer to english phonemes not found in ia, the green symbols refer to english phonemes that have partial equivalents in ia and the black symbols refer to phonemes found in both english and ia. in the present research, these distinctions are taken as the basis of analysis for the segmental phonemes in the production intelligibility test. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 189 table 1. mgi and ia consonant phonemes manner of articulat ion place of articulation bilabi al labiodental dental alveolar postalveolar palatal velar labiovelar glottal stops p b t d k g fricatives f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ h affricates ʧ ʤ nasals m n ŋ lateral l approxim ants r j w table 2. mgi and ia monophthongs type of vowel front central back high long iː uː short ɪ ʊ mid long ɜː ɔː short e ə ɒ low long ɑː short æ ʌ table 3. mgi and ia diphthongs d ip h th o n g s glide to ɪ glide to ʊ glide to ə ɑɪ ɑʊ eə ɔɪ əʊ ɪə eɪ ʊə whether they were based on the intelligibility or the perfect mastery of rp, what the above pronunciation studies have in common is the fact that most of the identified segmental deviations as features of a foreign accent are difficult to overcome. these features of a foreign accent have been described as nonpathological by munro and derwing (1995, p. 290) and fossilized by jenkins (2000). this begs the question as to what strategies are available to efl learners to resolve such intelligibility failures. in this respect, kaur and singh (2009), based on jenkins’ (2000) study, explored the type of communication strategies used by non-native english speakers to overcome intelligibility failures. they conducted a study to locate instances of miscommunication due to pronunciation features in face-to-face interactions in english among malaysian speakers. accordingly, the researchers identified the types of strategies used by the speakers to avoid these miscommunications. twenty-three hours of interaction in english were used. the researchers adopted jenkins’ (2000) methodology to identify the miscommunications and the strategies. four information gap tasks were used to collect data. the findings of the study identified some phonological features important for communication. these findings supported the findings arrived at by jenkins’ (2000) study. the study also revealed several communication strategies used by the interlocutors such as lexical anticipation, phonological anticipation, spelling, and mime. kaur and singh (2009) emphasize that few studies have been conducted linking the use of communication strategies to pronunciation problems. most other studies investigating communication strategies were based on lexical llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 190 rather than pronunciation causes (see, for example, yanny, 2006; skold, 2008). in the iraqi efl context, studies on communication strategies were also lexically motivated (see, for example, dhea, 2011). in the present study, the investigation of communication strategies follows the approach used by kaur and singh’s (2009) study. the focus is on the type of strategy used when the main motive is to overcome pronunciation difficulty. the difference between the present study and kaur and singh’s (2009) is the use of semi-free speech rather than face-to-face interaction. method the researchers collected and analyzed both quantitative and qualitative data to investigate the effect of a foreign accent at the segmental level on intelligibility. the use of mixed-method research was to provide a better understanding of the research topic, which could not be achieved if one method was used only (gronmo, 2020). moreover, the mixed methods research would expand qualitatively the quantitative findings by exploring the communication strategies iraqi efl learners use to overcome pronunciation problems. therefore, two data collection tools were used: a production intelligibility test and a speaking task, as described below. the production intelligibility test the production intelligibility test aimed to measure the impact of a foreign accent on the productive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners. the test was constructed based on related works done by bent and bradlow (2003), kim (2008), almbark (2012) and sereno et al. (2016). the test consisted of the participants (speakers), the stimulus material and the measurement tools, as described in the following sections. the participants (speakers) the speakers were 60 iraqi efl university students both males and females. the age range varied from 23 to 25. the speakers were all third-year university students studying in the english departments of three colleges in baghdad. these speakers were advanced university learners at the final stage of their academic study. they had been tested regularly by their lecturers until they reached this level. moreover, they had been taught english phonetics and phonology in the first and second years of their university study. in other words, they were likely to have explicit phonetic and phonological knowledge of the sound system of english. when graduating, these students were expected to be teachers of english at intermediate and secondary schools. thus, it was necessary to check that their productive intelligibility would be a good model to follow by their students. the stimulus material the material used was a reading passage in english developed by deterding (2006). the passage contained the distinctive segmental phonemic features in english. in other words, it could be used to measure the productive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners and examine this intelligibility about a foreign accent as conceptualized by flege’s (1995) slm. the researchers made sure that the passage contained words reflecting the three potential levels of difficulty set by llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 191 flege’s (1995) slm: identical phonemes, partially similar phonemes, and different phonemes. in this study, the choice of a reading passage in the productive intelligibility test was made for two reasons. the first reason was to ensure that all words containing the three tested difficulty levels were present. this was confirmed by deterding (2006). the second reason was to control the lexical and grammatical factors which might influence the measurement of productive intelligibility. thus, we decided to limit the use of spontaneous speech to the qualitative aspect of the study. the measurement tools an orthographic word transcription was used to measure the productive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners. all the transcriptions were done by the researchers. two procedures were followed during the transcription process. firstly, all content words in the reading passage were transcribed using the oxford and merriam-webster dictionaries. the reason for choosing british and american english dictionaries was in line with gimson’s (2001) mgi principle. the sound modifications, proposed by gimson, were based on a comparison between the sound system of british english and general american. secondly, all the mispronunciations found in the speech of iraqi efl learners were assessed based on their deviations from the native english pronunciation norms as set by gimson’s (2001) mgi principle. for example, the word ‘go’ can be pronounced as /gɔː/ because this variant in pronunciation is found in other native english varieties. the use of word dictation to assess intelligibility was suitable as it allowed the researchers to observe “the extent to which a word or utterance is recognized at the level of finer acoustic-phonetic detail” (moyer, 2013, p. 93). a dichotomous scoring scheme was adopted. a speech sample received one score if all the content words in it were correctly produced by the speaker, whereas it received no score if one content word was inaccurately produced resulting in a change in meaning (atechi, 2004). after scoring all the speech samples, the mispronounced words were categorized into the three difficulty levels set by flege (1995). the speaking task for the qualitative aspect of the study, the speaking task was used to elicit speech samples from 12 iraqi efl students. these 12 students were selected from the above 60 speakers. they were chosen based on their performance in the speech intelligibility test. since we observed frequent segmental deviations in their reading of the passage, we asked them to participate in the speaking task. the task aimed to examine the communication strategies iraqi efl learners used to overcome pronunciation problems. a list of topics of general interest was used as a speaking prompt to elicit the speech for the study. these topics were related to travel, shopping, education, health, technology, friendship and so on. according to clark (1979, p. 36), two of the ways of eliciting speech samples for an investigation are a semi-free speech and a direct free speech. this investigation used the semi-free speech to generate the speech data. these speech data were described as not completely natural because the choice of topics was already decided by the researchers, and this might affect the types of words used. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 192 however, such elicited speech data were not as artificial as the speech data generated by using already prepared reading passages or a list of words. moreover, to mitigate the above limitation, when using the speaking task in this study, the 12 iraqi efl learners were not restricted from using the topics given as speaking prompts. they were free to use their topics if they felt that they could express themselves better and thus produce enough speech data for the study. in fact, on a considerable number of occasions, the speakers preferred to select their topics to talk about. thus, the speech data elicited by the speaking task should not be considered completely inauthentic and artificial. in this respect, cruz-ferreira (2006, p. 43) mentions that “any collection of data, of course, involves a set of choices, which constrain the ways of querying the data according to the purposes that the data will serve.” as far as the speech elicitation procedures were concerned, each speaker was asked to choose a topic from a suggested list of topics and speak about it for 2 to 3 minutes. the speakers were given time to formulate their ideas before speaking. recording started when the speakers were ready to talk. all speech recordings were done in a quiet room to ensure that clear and noise-free recording was obtained. although there were some hesitant speech phenomena, the speaking task ran smoothly. we felt that showing signs of interest in the speech by nodding the head and keeping eye contact raised the speaker’s confidence to complete the task. as already mentioned, some speakers wanted to speak on topics of their own choice. we agreed to this since we were interested in having a speech sample large enough for the investigation. the quantitative data obtained from the productive intelligibility test and the qualitative data obtained from the speaking task were analyzed by two different approaches. these are explained in the following sections. analysis of the production intelligibility test the quantitative data from the speech intelligibility test were analyzed in descriptive and inferential statistic terms using the statistical package for social sciences (field, 2013). the productive intelligibility test was used to measure the intelligibility of iraqi efl learners about a foreign accent. two types of inferential tests were used: one-sample t-test and one-way anova. the onesample t-test was used first to measure the overall productive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners’ accented english. second, the test was used to measure the productive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners to every level of a foreign accent. a one-way anova examined whether there were differences in the mean scores of the three levels of a foreign accent when assessing the productive intelligibility. if significant differences were detected, a scheffe post hoc test was conducted to tell where these differences occurred. analysis of the speaking task data analysis is considered the procedure of “bringing order, structure, and meaning to the mass of collected data” (devos et al., 2002, p. 339). for this investigation, a qualitative content analysis was used to identify the various communication strategies used by iraqi efl learners. the identification of the initial categories relied partly on the work done by kaur and singh (2009). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 193 qualitative content analysis is defined as “a research method for subjective interpretation of the content of text data through the systematic classification process of coding and identifying themes or patterns” (hsieh and shannon, 2005, p. 1278). there are three approaches to qualitative content analysis: directed, conventional and summative. the present study used a directed qualitative content analysis approach. according to hsieh and shannon (2005, p. 1281), the goal of a directed approach to content analysis is to validate or extend conceptually a theoretical framework or theory. existing theory or research can help focus the research question. it can provide predictions about the variables of interest or about the relationships among variables, thus helping to determine the initial coding scheme or relationships between codes. this has been referred to as deductive category application. findings and discussion quantitative results this section introduces productive intelligibility results. to measure the overall productive intelligibility, the researchers conducted a one-sample t-test using ibm spss statistics version 25. the result of the overall productive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners to native english listeners is shown in table (4). table 4. the overall productive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners one-sample statistics n mean std. deviation std. error mean 180 2.9169 .70899 .05284 one-sample test test value = 2.5 t df sig. (2tailed) mean difference 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper 7.889 179 .000 .41689 .3126 .5212 the above statistics revealed that the mean score of iraqi efl learners was (2.9169) with a sd (.70899), and the calculated t-value was (7.889), which was larger than the tabulated value (1.960) at an alpha level of (0.05). when comparing the sample mean (2.9169) with the hypothesized mean (2.5), the difference was statistically significant for the sample mean, t(179) = 7.889, p < 0.05. thus, iraqi efl learners’ accented english was intelligible with a mean difference (.41689) to native english listeners. the overall result of productive intelligibility suggested that iraqi efl learners could produce accurately most of the english words following gimson’s (2001) mgi principle. to determine which aspect of the english sound system caused this significant difference, iraqi efl learners’ productive intelligibility was measured according to each of the three levels of sound production difficulty proposed by flege’s (1995) slm. the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 194 results of a one-sample t-test about the level of sound production difficulty experienced by iraqi efl learners were as follows. iraqi efl learners’ production of identical phonemes the researchers conducted a one-sample t-test using spss version 25. the result of the intelligibility of iraqi efl learners regarding the production of identical phonemes is shown in table 5. table 5. the intelligibility of identical phonemes one-sample statistics n mean std. deviation std. error mean 60 3.4252 .54588 .07047 one-sample t-test test value = 2.5 t df sig. (2tailed) mean difference 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper 13.128 59 .000 .92517 .7842 1.0662 the above spss statistics revealed that the mean score of iraqi efl learners’ production of identical english phonemes was (3.425) with a sd (0.545), and the calculated t-value was (13.128), which was larger than the tabulated value (2) at the df (59) and an alpha level of (0.05). when comparing the sample mean (3.425) with the hypothesized population mean (2.5), the difference was statistically significant for the sample mean, t(59) = 13.128, p< 0.05. thus, iraqi efl learners’ production of identical english phonemes was intelligible with a mean difference (.92517). iraqi efl learners’ production of partially similar phonemes the researchers conducted a one-sample t-test using spss version 25. the result of the intelligibility of iraqi efl learners’ production of partially similar english phonemes is shown in table (6). table 6. the intelligibility of partially similar phonemes one-sample statistics n mean std. deviation std. error mean 60 2.9175 .62047 .08010 test value = 2.5 t df sig. (2tailed) mean difference 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper 5.212 59 .000 .41750 .2572 .5778 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 195 the above statistics revealed that the mean score of iraqi efl learners’ production was (2.917) with a sd (0.6204), and the calculated t-value was (5.212), which was larger than the tabulated value (2) at the df (59) and an alpha level of (0.05). when comparing the sample mean (2.917) with the hypothesized population mean (2.5), the difference was statistically significant for the sample mean, t(59) = 5.212,p < 0.05. thus, iraqi efl learners’ production was intelligible with a mean difference (.4175). iraqi efl learners’ production of different phonemes the researchers conducted a one-sample t-test using spss version 25. the result of the productive intelligibility of iraqi efl concerning different phonemes is shown in table (7). table 7. the intelligibility of different phonemes one-sample statistics n mean std. deviation std. error mean 60 2.4080 .56212 .07257 one-sample test test value = 2.5 t df sig. (2-tailed) mean difference 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper 1.268 59 .210 .09200 .2372 .0532 the above statistics showed that the mean score of iraqi efl learners was (2.4080) with a sd (0.56212), and the calculated t-value was (1.268), which was smaller than the tabulated value (2) at the df (59) and an alpha level of (0.05). when comparing the sample mean (2.4080) with the hypothesized population mean (2.5), the difference was statistically significant for the hypothesized mean, t(59) = 1.268, p> 0.05. thus, iraqi efl accented english was unintelligible with a mean difference (.09200). the results about the three levels of difficulty in sound production showed that iraqi efl learners varied in the mean scores of each level. to determine whether these differences in mean scores of the three levels of difficulty were statistically significant, a one-way anova was conducted. the results about the means differences of intelligibility among the three levels of difficulty are shown in table (8). table 8. production intelligibility among the three difficulty levels one-way anova intelligiblity sum of squares df mean square f sig. between groups 130.13 2 3.0.33 0606.7 .000 within groups .50315 177 .010 total 530388 179 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 196 the above statistics showed that the calculated f-value was (46.607), which was larger than the tabulated value (3.04) at the two df (2 – 177) and an alpha significant level (0.05). there were statistically significant differences among the mean scores of the three levels of difficulty, f(2, 177)= 46.607,p < 0.05. to indicate where these significant differences occurred, a scheffe post hoc test for multiple comparisons was conducted for which the results are shown in table (9). table 9. scheffe test among the three difficulty level multiple comparison mean difference (i-j) std. error sig. 95% confidence interval lower bound upper bound identical partially similar .50767 * .10780 .000 .2416 .7738 different 1.14233 * .10780 .000 .8762 1.4084 partially similar identical .50767 * .10780 .000 .7738 .2416 different .63467 * .10780 .000 .3686 .9008 different identical 1.14233 * .10780 .000 1.4084 .8762 partially similar .63467 * .10780 .000 .9008 .3686 the critical value of scheffe test was (0.26). when it was compared with the observed differences among the three levels of difficulty, the significance was for the first and second levels of production difficulty. qualitative results the qualitative analysis aimed to expand the quantitative findings by exploring the communication strategies used by iraqi efl learners to overcome intelligibility problems. the following is an account of the communication strategies used by iraqi efl learners. let-it-pass strategy the “let-it-pass” strategy was first introduced by firth (1996) to describe a strategy that the speaker/hearer adopts when facing problems in speech and “lets the unknown or unclear action, word or utterance pass on the (common-sense) assumption that it will either become clear or redundant as talk progresses” (1996, p. 243). out of the twelve iraqi efl speakers, the let-it-pass strategy was frequently observed in the speech of two speakers, sadiq and kamal (the participants’ names in this article are pseudonyms). although the speech samples produced by these speakers contained several pronunciation errors, these iraqi efl speakers did not bother to resolve these mispronunciations. they simply let them pass. when following sadiq’s speech, the only single communication strategy used was the let-it-pass strategy. throughout his speech, sadiq was indifferent to the frequent pronunciation errors he made. the following is an extract from sadiq’s speech with the mispronounced words either underlined or missed completely. i am a citizen. i live in iraq, baghdad. i wish to serve my country and develop my skills in learning english language. speaking……. a lot of people ask me how to improve themselves in english. so, i advise them llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 197 to watch movies in english. i advise them to use their ears to listen to the ……… i also encourage them to speak with their colleagues and to read in english. at the end, i wish luck to my friends. in the above extract, several words were mispronounced by sadiq. for example, the word ‘luck’ was mispronounced as /lɒk/. the speaker substituted the vowel /ʌ/ with /ɒ/. the substitution affected the phonemic status of the vowel, a change in quality. this effect brought about a lexical change in having two different lexical words. when discussing the vowel /ʌ/ in the word ‘luck’, gimson (2001) mentions that this vowel could be substituted with /ə/ without affecting intelligibility. however, sadiq used a different interlanguage variant for the vowel /ʌ/. similarly, kamal used the let-it-pass strategy in his speech, especially when he mispronounced the words ‘park’ as /bɑːk/, ‘audience’ as /ɔːdɪni:s/ and ‘buy’ as /beɪ/. the following is an extract from kamal’s speech with mispronounced words underlined. last week i had a nice day with my friend. we had a small picnic. first, we went to al mansur mall. we buy many things from the mall. we bought clothes and ate our lunch. i also played some games like discovery which i like it very much. after that we decided to watch a football match. i like the way the audience expressed their joy by singing and dancing. in the above extract, all the underlined mispronunciations resulted in different words. one might argue that the correct form of the words could be deduced from context. for example, the word ‘audience’ could be inferred by the presence of a lexical item like ‘football’, due to the co-text effect (jenkins, 2000) or lexical anticipation (kirkpatrick, 2007). although the present researchers do not deny the effect of context and co-text on speech intelligibility, they were more interested in finding out whether the speaker used or did not use a communication strategy when s/he made a pronunciation error. for example, the word ‘park’ was mispronounced as /bɑ:k/ by kamal. kamal substituted the consonant /p/ with /b/. the substitution affected the phonemic status of the consonant, a change in place of articulation and voicing. this effect brought about a lexical change in having two different lexical words. when discussing the /p/ in the word ‘park’, gimson (2001) mentions that the consonant /p/ could be produced without aspiration and that production would not affect the intelligibility of the word. however, kamal pronounced the consonant by modifying its voicing feature as well. by examining kamal’s speech, the researchers conclude that the only communication strategy used by kamal was the let-it-pass strategy. interestingly, none of the other ten speakers employed the let-it-pass strategy. in contrast, they used other types of achievement or risk-taking strategies, such as the repetition strategy. repetition strategy another communication strategy used was when the speaker was aware of his mispronunciations and repeated the problematic pronunciation which caused intelligibility problems (kirkpatrick 2007, p. 125). the strategy of repetition was llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 198 observed in the speech of iraqi efl speakers. however, there were some differences in their use. the data analysis of the speech samples revealed two issues concerning this phonological adjustment of mispronounced words. the first one was when the speaker repeated the mispronounced word, but the mispronunciation was still unresolved. this incident indicated a likely deficiency in the speakers’ phonological competence. for example, the mispronunciation of the words ‘sixth’ and ‘materials’ was repeated by rasha and the same mispronunciations were still heard. the following is an extract from rasha’s speech: when i was in the sixth, sixth, sixth class, i loved to study english very much. i wanted to enter this department. i watched lots of movies and tried to translate without even looking at the writings. i tried hard to develop my english and my listening skills. also, i wanted to enter the english department because there are many opportunities. after i graduate, i want to be a teacher and learn many things and know how to put the materials, materials in their right place. in rasha’s speech, the word ‘enter’ was mispronounced as /inter/. the speaker substituted the vowel /e/ with /ɪ/. the substitution affected the phonemic status of the vowel, a change in the quality of the vowel. this effect would bring about a lexical change in having two different lexical words, the word ‘enter’ is different from ‘inter’. when discussing the vowel /e/ in the word ‘enter’, gimson (2001) proposes that the vowel /e/ could be produced in the area of cardinal vowels [e], but it should not be confused with another vowel. however, rasha used the vowel /ɪ/ as a different interlanguage variant for /e/. by examining rasha’s speech, the researchers observed that the word was repeated several times with the same mispronunciation. thus, rasha was not successful in her use of the repetition strategy. similarly, kawther’s repetition of the word ‘drawing’ was unsuccessful. kawther substituted the vowel /ɔː/ with /au/. the following is an extract from kawther’s speech: my favourite hobby is painting. i love painting very much. i find it fun and comfortable. i like drawings since i was a child. i used to spend my spare time drawings. my friends and teachers encouraged me to complete my dream. i also love reading long novels and long stories which contain drawings. in kawther’s speech, the word ‘drawing’ was mispronounced as ‘drowning’ /drauning/. the speaker substituted the vowel /ɔː/ with /ɑʊ/. the substitution affected the phonemic status of the vowel, a change in the quantity and quality of the vowel. this effect would bring about a lexical change in having two different lexical words: the word ‘drawing’ is different from ‘drowning’. by examining kawther’s speech, the researchers observed that the word was repeated several times with the same mispronunciation. thus, the use of repetition strategy was not successful by kawther. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 199 however, the repetition strategy was successfully employed by yasir who repeated the correct pronunciation of the mispronounced word ‘improve’. the following is an extract from yasir’s speech: english is an international language. it is spoken by millions of people in all countries. i would like to study english in britain. there are many advantages to do that. i am thinking to do a course there this summer. i believe that i could improve my english language. therefore, i intend to pursue my higher studies in english at this college. in yasir’s speech, the word ‘improve’ was initially mispronounced as /ɪmˈpruːf/. the speaker substituted the consonant /v/ with /f/. the substitution affected the phonemic status of the consonant, a change in voicing. this substitution would bring about a lexical change in having two different lexical words. however, the speaker was able to repeat the mispronounced consonant successfully the second time. although the consonant phoneme /v/ is not part of the sound system of ia, it occurs in some loan words such as ‘television’ and ‘video’, and the adjustment made by yasir to pronounce the correct form of the word could be due to the occurrence of this vowel in loan words. likewise, another successful use of the repetition strategy was employed by eanas, who repeated a correct pronunciation of the initially mispronounced word ‘facebook’. the following is an extract from eanas’ speech: i met my best friend yesterday. i saw her when we were in the mall. we talked about everything and she asked about each one of you. she was talking about herself. she is studying now in the history department and have many friends. she gave me her number and asked me to keep in touch. she also asked me to make a group on facebook. if you have time please do the facebook facebook group because i have a lot of work. replacement strategy replacement refers to the use of an alternative lexical item instead of a mispronounced one. although this strategy can be motivated by lexical choice, its use in the data was associated with a previously mispronounced word. for example, hasan used the word ‘funny’ instead of ‘weird’. the following is an extract from hasan’s speech: i had something weird today or something funny. i was going to work driving my car. suddenly my car broke down. i could not repair it because i had little experience in car motor. i called my assistant and then my brother whose cars were broken too. when we remember what happened we all laughed. in hasan’s speech, the word ‘weird’ /wɪəd/ was mispronounced as /weəd/. the speaker substituted the vowel /ɪə/ with /eə/. the substitution affected the phonemic status of the vowel accompanied by having two different lexical words respectively. in discussing the diphthong /ɪə/, gimson (2001) suggests that the centering diphthongs /ɪə, eə, ʊə/ could be simplified as vowel+r, by the retention llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 200 of postvocalic r. this would result in producing /i:(r), eɪr and u:r/ respectively in words like ‘peer’ /pi:r/, ‘pair’ /peɪr/ and ‘poor’ /pu:r/ or /pɔːr/. having determined the type of confusion, the researchers examined the type of communication strategy used by hasan in this situation. by examining hasan’s speech, the researchers observed that the mispronounced word ‘weird’ was replaced with the word ‘funny’. likewise, sajaad used the word ‘risk’ instead of ‘trouble’. the following is an extract from sajaad’s speech: i am married and have one kid. i want to talk a little bit about the challenges i faced as a family man and i believe also most of our families in iraq face. the use of technology, the internet. this device constitutes a trouble i mean a risk to people if misused. it contained ideas which could affect especially the teenagers. in sajjad’s speech, the word ‘risk’ was used instead of ‘trouble’ /trʌbl/. in the word trouble, the speaker substituted the vowel /ʌ/ with /a:/. the substitution affected the phonemic status of the vowel. in the above extract, sajaad managed to replace the mispronounced word with a semantically similar lexical item. time gaining strategy dornyei and scott (1995, p. 194) suggest an extension to the communication strategies to include stalling or time taking strategies (the use of pause fillers and hesitation gambits). these strategies were not used as a result of language deficiency, but rather to help the speaker gain time to keep the communication channel open when a problem is encountered. pause fillers and hesitations were labeled as indirect strategies. according to dornyei and scott (1995, p. 194), these provide conditions for preventing breakdowns in communication. in our research, the data analysis of the speech samples revealed two opposite situations. these fillers were successfully used by ali to facilitate the flow of thoughts and complete the task. for example, ali said: a true friend is rare and hard to find nowadays. a true friend should be near you and make you feel that err you are not alone especially in difficult times. a good friend will not be afraid to tell you when you are wrong. he mm shares your pain and grief. we cannot dispense with friends even if we have brothers and sisters. in ali’s speech, we were interested in finding out whether the speaker continued his speech after using the time gaining strategy or not. as the speech extract shows, the use of time gaining strategy helped ali to form his ideas and express himself in a good way. the strategy helped him to finish the task successfully. by contrast, mahdi employed the time to gain strategy too much. the excessive use of these time gaining strategies made mahdi stumble at every word of his speech. the frequent pauses and hesitations distorted the meaning he wanted to convey. this resulted in the researchers having trouble coping with the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 201 message delivered or the speaker finally abandoning the task. the following is an extract from mahdi’s speech: i am a citizen. i live in iraq, baghdad. i err the sole brother of my family. i am divided err i am divided [long pause] between work or comp… (the speaker did not finish the word) [pause] study. [long pause] i wish to develop my language skills. discussion the findings of this study will be discussed with the findings of related studies and the theoretical principles guiding their investigation. the first finding is related to the measurement of the productive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners’ accented english. the finding revealed that iraqi efl learners’ speech production was intelligible to native english listeners [t(179) = 7.889, p < 0.05, with a mean difference of (.41689)]. this finding contrasted with the findings arrived at by other pronunciation studies conducted in the iraqi efl context. it was shown in the review of related studies that iraqi efl learners were always regarded as incompetent as far as speech production was concerned (see, for example, ahmed, 2000; mahud, 2001; al-abdely and thai, 2016). the main reason for that negative judgment was not a defect in their performance. it was because the pronunciation model used as a reference point emphasized perfect mastery of an english rp accent, a goal impossible to achieve in a large number of efl contexts (derwing and munro, 2005). for example, mahud’s (2001) thesis investigated iraqi efl learners’ production of english syllabic consonants. although the study revealed interesting contrasting results, it failed to provide an accurate assessment of iraqi efl learners’ performance because it was based on the native-likeness principle. additionally, the phonological feature investigated by mahud was of less importance in maintaining communication as suggested by gimson (2001). in commenting on syllabic consonants, gimson (ibid, p. 320) asserts that modifying the pronunciation of syllabic consonants by inserting a schwa before them will not affect understanding. thus, the syllabic [l ] in the word little can be pronounced as /litəl/. the above finding supports the theoretical assumption of gimson’s (2001) mgi. according to gimson’s (2001, p. 298) mgi, an efl learner’s performance in english will be understandable if the learner “possesses a set of distinctive elements which correspond in some measure to the inventory of the rp phonemic system.” the overall productive intelligibility finding of iraqi efl learners can be justified by the pronunciation principle adopted in the identification of the words and utterances produced by iraqi efl speakers. these words and utterances were identified based on the intelligibility principle. a researcher who adopts this principle will be interested in identifying only the deviant pronunciations which interfere with understanding, overlooking others with less communicative values or recognized due to the context of discourse (kim, 2008; gimson, 2001; brown, 1988). the second finding of the study is related to the identification of the segmental features of a foreign accent which negatively influences the productive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners. the analysis was based on the three difficulty levels of segmental production proposed by flege (1995). according to flege (1995), the learning of english vowel sounds can take three routes: different llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 202 phonemes are thought to be easy to learn, identical phonemes are thought to be the easiest to learn and partially similar phonemes are thought to be the most difficult to learn. the finding of the present study revealed that non-existent phonemes in ia and mgi were responsible for most intelligibility failures with [t(59) = 1.268, p> 0.05] compared to the production of identical phonemes [t(59) = 13.128, p < 0.05] and partially similar phonemes [t(59) = 5.212,p < 0.05]. although the finding of the present study supports other findings confirming the importance of vowel production in intelligibility (al-abdely and thai, 2016; hassan, 2014; nikolova, 2012), it differs from them in the types of vowels identified as causing production difficulty. the present study revealed that nonexistent vowels in ia and mgi were the major cause of intelligibility failures. this finding contrasts with the findings arrived at by al-abdely and thai (2016) and almbark (2012) which emphasize that partially similar vowels cause most of the production difficulties. again, the reason for the differences in the findings can be due to the pronunciation principle adopted. furthermore, the ability of iraqi efl learners to produce some of the different vowels can be justified by having linguistic knowledge and enough exposure to english. this effect was supported by almbark (2012) when justifying the accurate production of partially similar phonemes. the third finding of the present study is qualitative. this study did not only determine the deviant pronunciations causing intelligibility failures, but it also identified the various communication strategies iraqi efl learners used to overcome pronunciation problems, like the let-it-pass strategy, the repetition strategy, the replacement strategy and the time gaining strategy. although the finding supports the ones arrived at by related studies, it differs from them in terms of the purpose intended, the methodology adopted and the speech data elicited. the purpose of the qualitative aspect of the present study was to suggest alternative ways to assess the productive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners. this means that these learners can use various communication strategies to convey their messages when they face difficulty in producing some english words. thus, the quantitative findings can be expanded by qualitative data (gronmo, 2020). for example, the extract from hasan (see the ‘replacement strategy’ section above) showed a successful use of the replacement strategy by using the word ‘funny’ instead of the mispronounced word ‘weird’. concerning the methodology used, the communication strategies were identified based on pronunciation rather than lexical incompetency. in this regard, the findings contrasted with those of dhea (2011), skold (2008) and yanny (2006), all of whom emphasized the use of communication strategies based on the lack of lexical knowledge. regarding the speech data elicited, the findings of this study were based on semi-free speeches produced by iraqi efl learners rather than speech data derived from face-to-face interaction used by kaur and singh (2009) and jenkins (2000). conclusion this study investigated the productive intelligibility (being understood while speaking) of iraqi efl learners concerning segmental deviations as a foreign accent. the purpose of the study was to measure quantitatively the impact of the segmental features of a foreign accent on the productive intelligibility of iraqi llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 203 efl learners and to examine qualitatively how these learners used communication strategies to overcome intelligibility failures. for this purpose, a mixed-methods research approach was adopted. the purpose of the approach was to collect different but complementary data on the same topic to expand quantitative findings with qualitative data. thus, the quantitative data obtained from the speech intelligibility test were triangulated qualitatively with a speaking task that elicited speech data from 12 iraqi efl learners. the quantitative findings revealed that iraqi efl learners’ speech production was intelligible [t(179) = 7.889, p < 0.05, with a mean difference of (.41689)]. when examining the overall productive intelligibility concerning the three levels of sound difficulty in a foreign accent, significant differences were revealed that indicated a foreign accent had a relative impact on productive intelligibility. the qualitative findings were concerned with exploring how iraqi efl learners used various types of communication strategies to overcome intelligibility failures caused by deviations in pronunciation. the communication strategies used by the participants included the let-it-pass strategy, the replacement strategy, the repetition strategy, and the time gaining strategy. the assessment of non-native english pronunciation has sidelined the requirement of an rp perfection goal on the part of non-native english speakers. instead, intelligibility is proposed as a more practical and achievable performance target for non-native english speakers (isaacs and trofimovich, 2016, p. 5). thus, the present study combined pronunciation studies in iraq with up to date theoretical and research practice in english pronunciation by adopting an intelligibility approach to the investigation of the productive intelligibility of iraqi efl accented english. on the one hand, the findings of the current investigation seem to be restricted to the iraqi efl context because the phonemic contrasts made by iraqi efl speakers are likely not to be the same as other arab speakers in other efl contexts. on the other hand, the productive intelligibility principle used in this study to research iraqi efl learners, namely gimson's (2001) mgi, can be utilized in other contexts because it is based on an intelligibility pronunciation level of universal validity. in other words, similar studies based on gimson's (2001) mgi principle can be carried out in other efl contexts. to this end, the methodology adopted in the present investigation can be replicated in other efl milieux. the implications of the study for the learning and teaching of english pronunciation at the speech production level are threefold. firstly, realistic and achievable pronunciation goals should be set for non-native english speakers. this can be achieved by adopting intelligibility rather than the perfect mastery of the english rp accent. secondly, a foreign accent is highly likely to be unavoidable. everyone, whether native or non-native, speaks with a distinct accent. for teaching and learning purposes, the main concern is to identify the features of a foreign accent which negatively affect intelligibility, while overlooking others of less or no importance in maintaining communication. although these identified features of a foreign accent are often described as nonpathological and fossilized, some researchers assert that explicit phonetic instructions and language exposure can improve learners’ production intelligibility (see browne, 2016; almbark, 2012; flege, 1995). if these features of a foreign accent persistently reoccur, alternative oral communication strategies llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 204 should be employed, as described in this investigation. thirdly, most researchers assert that perception can improve speech production; hence, it is recommended that a variety of native and non-native english accents should be introduced into efl classrooms. references ahmed, m.s. 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(2006). communication strategies employed by indonesian english learners based on the length of studies. phd thesis, petra university press. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 182-197 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 182 metacognitive strategies of undergraduate and postgraduate students in reading maria gaudensia bria, cm and concilianus laos mbato sanata dharma university briamia.cm@gmail.com and c.laosmbato67@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2019.220205 received 14 march 2019; revised 23 may 2019; accepted 12 july 2019 abstract metacognitive strategies are widely used by students in learning activities, often without them realizing it. in this article, the researchers aimed to observe postgraduate and undergraduate students’ metacognitive strategies in reading. reading is a memory construction, it is essential for successes in the future. students who are self-determined and motivated are successful readers. metacognitive strategies of student teachers in reading maturity inspire students to integrate ideas with experiences into the transformation of actions. as reading maturity shapes character, it is identified to those who are independently and eagerly participates in the activity. it focuses on critical thinking and reflection. this assessment of metacognitive strategies in reading may offer an idea to be a good readers and teachers in the future. using mixed method approach, particularly questionnaires and interviews, the data were collected using procedural statistic spss independent t-test in order to have the description of how the two groups applied metacognitive strategies in reading. the findings showed that both postgraduate and undergraduate students utilized metacognition strategies. however, postgraduate students demonstrated more metacognitive strategies and maturity in reading. keywords: metacognitive strategies, undergraduate, postgraduate, reading introduction learning is an act of acquiring knowledge and skills by practicing, training, experiencing, observing, and reflecting. in this study, the researchers intended to observe the learning process of teacher education university students as adult learners, particularly in reading. as stated by merriam (2001, p. 96), adult learners are considered to own their intelligence, memories, conscious and subconscious domains, feelings, dreams, and a physical shape in their learning process, as it is a life meaning-making process which transforms what to study and how the learning process is going. by this account, it is safe to say that metacognitive learning strategies play an important role in adult learning, especially since they have had experiences in learning, either it is emotionally, physically, spiritually, or intellectually. metacognition refers to how students become aware and have control for their learning process (schraw and moshman, 1995, p. 358). metacognition is related llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 182-197 183 to one’s knowledge which is the process of cognitive and the products of that process (flavell, 1976, p. 232). more specifically, it is one of the cognition types and a process higher order thinking that include active regulation over the cognitive processes (wenden, 1998, cited in rahimi & katal, 2012, p.74). as schraw and moshman (1995, pp. 352-355) contend that metacognition comprises two aspects, namely cognition knowledge and cognition regulation. cognition knowledge is related to what one knows about one’s cognition. generally, cognition itself is classified into three forms of knowledge: declarative, procedural, and conditional. in the other hand, cognition regulation refers to controlling process of one’s thinking; planning, monitoring and evaluating. a study conducted by diaz (2014, p. 91) describes five cycle phases of chamot and o’malley’s, (1994) instructional model. cognitive academic language learning approach (calla) comprises “an introductory phase, teaching phase, practicing phase, evaluating phase, and phase for the application. these phases are very useful to implement metacognitive strategies in learning. in this matter, these learning strategies give opportunities for students to do a reflection so that they become conscious of their strengths and weaknesses, hence, they can take part actively in their learning. by implementing this learning strategy training, students have great chances to improve their habits to advance their strategies in learning and to become more and more aware of the processes happen in their learning (diaz, 2014, p. 91). this study, how metacognitive strategies were applied by students of english education study program of sanata dharma university in the context of reading comprehension was observed. this study particularly focused on how different or similar the metacognitive strategies in reading that were used by two different groups of students in the context: undergraduate and postgraduate. this study expected to discover how these two groups of students apply experience the effectiveness, significance, and value of metacognitive strategies in their reading activities. it is vital to note that both groups of students experienced similar reading activities in order to know, understand, and grasp the materials they learn. two research questions were formulated to direct this research: 1. what metacognitive strategies are implemented by the undergraduate and postgraduate students in reading? 2. is there a difference between undergraduate and postgraduate students’ metacognitive strategies in reading? literature review students metacognition as stated by tavakoli (2014), “among language learning strategies, metacognitive strategies are regarded as high order executive skills that make use of knowledge of cognitive processes and constitute an attempt to regulate ones' own learning by means of planning, monitoring and evaluating” (p. 316). in the same light, tobias & everson (2002, pp. 21-22) also claim that the capacity to detect what the lesson they have learned and what they have not learned is the main aspect to be successful in all educational aspects. the good monitoring of one’s knowledge is the only aspect of metacognition that might be significant for success in learning the lessons. promoting metacognition development can be established by sharing llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 182-197 184 thoughts between friends. in this matter, the thoughts arise can be an object for thinking (conrady, 2015, p. 134). metacognition, in a simple way, is thinking about thinking. the capacity of knowing own thoughts will inspire people to be more open for their greater efficacy, flexibility, and transferability to adjust to their learning demands, in which they lead to a better learning process (pintrich, 2002; sarver, 2006, cited in conrady, 2015. p. 134). a study by conrady (2015, p. 134) shows that students must have the capacity to evaluate their own learning activities in order to acquire the advantage of metacognitive monitoring. as acknowledged by tobias & everson (1996; 2002, p. 1), learning would be effective for those who have metacognitive skills. its main point is to help students to improve their capacity to monitor their comprehension because it will assist the students to be creative in solving their problems in the learning process. using a theory by schraw and moshman (1995), the researchers focussed on the metacognitive process of the participants. as has been stated, metacognition is related to learners’ ability to be conscious of and monitor their own process of learning (schraw, 1998, p 114). one of the components in metacognition, cognition knowledge, is related to what a person can understand about the process of how one obtains certain knowledge which falls into three types: declarative, procedural, and conditional awareness. declarative awareness is related to knowing about one’s capacity, limitation, and how to integrate them in the learning process. procedural awareness is related to the time one enters the learning process. conditional awareness is about the way one knows when and why cognitive action is used. regulation of cognition includes essential skills during the process of controlling one’s thinking or learning, such as planning, which refers to selecting appropriate strategies and allocation before doing the tasks, monitoring, which refers to selfknowledge on how one knows and performs knowledge and capacities in learning the materials, and evaluating, which refers to the products and process of learning regulation. based on the result of the learning process, a person will see the process and the improvement that is achieved. he or she also will know the parts that need to be improved. many researchers also support the theory by schraw (1998) with the method by chamot and o’malley (1994, cited in diaz, 2014, p. 91). the method consists of phases which are classified into five layers. they are: introductory phase the introduction about the meaning and goals of metacognitive learning strategies, teaching phase the presentation of the ideal of the strategies, practicing phase giving chance for students to apply them in their assignments given, evaluating phase – giving students opportunities to evaluate and reflect about their learning strategies in order to know the things that need improvement or development, and expansion phase – inspiring the students to apply what they have learned in their own lives. reading comprehension having a reading comprehension planning skill is very helpful for one to be successful in reading. according to upton and thompson (2001), reading is not monolingual occurrence; for l2 readers to enter into the process of reading l2 text, they have to access their first language as a strategy to help them comprehend the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 182-197 185 meaning). many researchers on the area of second language acquisition (sla) seems to agree that the most essential skill in english language learning is reading (koch, 1974; alderson, 1984; carrell & carrell, 1988; (rajab, 2015, p. 4). reading skill is considered as an important skill for survival in this modern era as well as the main skill for academic life (pugh, pawan, & antommarchi, 2000; rajab, 2015, p. 4). reading comprehension is a memory construction, in this matter, it identifies comprehension as the consistency which the reader build an idea based on the ones’ intention, the connection between the reader’s reinterpretation and the interpretation aimed by the author. a reader interpretation detects the implicit and explicit correlation of author intentions. the criteria that the readers have effectively understood the text is whatever the facts in the reading can be related to the interpretations they have made to that goal in their process of reading. (lorch jr. & broek, 1997, p.224). reading comprehension is about the coherent between process and product in reading. in the process of reading the reader enlarge and develop the meaning into the representation, which can be used to actualize other goals. therefore, the implication of reading has an essential part in the reading process too. what a reader does in the process of reading has effects on the implication of how the reader has after reading. (lorch jr.& broek, 1997, p.232). in the process of learning, the object of reading is to understand well the reading, if the readers do not actively involved in the process of reading in order to help their comprehension then the goals of learning will be unproductive. reading is essential for successes in the future. students who are self-determined and motivated are successful readers. (sanford, 2015, p. 182). armbruster, echolsand, and brown (1983, pp. 3-20) conclude that metacognitive in reading is extended to include the knowledge of four variables such as the text, task, strategies, and learner characteristics. text, as a variable, implies that a reader has to be conscious about its difficulty, importance, structure, and contextual limitations, which are the important parts of a text. in the task a reader has to know that the main reading purpose is to understand the meaning of the content, not to interpret the words. in strategies, a reader has to find strategies in order to really comprehend the reading itself. in addition, learner characteristics imply that a reader has to know what the differences between good and poor readers are and what to do about it. having a reading comprehension planning skill is very helpful for one to be successful. in addition, it is also important that one should have a higher-level executive skill in planning and working memory (baddeley, 2003; vellutino, scanlon, & lyon, 2000, cited in kendeou1, papadopoulos, & spanoudis, 2016, p. 122). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 182-197 186 metacognition in reading reading becomes one of the english basic skills that is most emphasized in the context of traditional foreign language teaching and learning; even, nowadays reading is still considered as the most important english skill for instruction many foreign countries (susser & robb, 1990, cited in tavakoli, 2014, p 316). most efl students have limited opportunities to communicate with native english speakers. however, they have a number of facilities to access many literatures and scientific written materials in english to help them in their studies and work (rivers, 1981, as cited in tavakoli, 2014, p. 317). the learners do not necessarily need to speak english daily in order to learn; instead, they can just read to find a great deal of information in english (eskey 2005, cited in tavakoli, 2014, p. 317). alderson (1983, as cited in tavakoli, 2014) concluded that “a reading ability is often all, that is needed by learners of english as a foreign language (efl)” (p.317). in the process of reading, metacognition the process of thinking about thinking – strategies are applied. therefore, one should have a higher-level executive skill in planning and working memory. in this process, there is planning, monitoring, and evaluating. graves, juel, & graves (2001 as cited in mbato, 2013, p. 31) argue that good readers are metacognitive; the readers are able to monitor their understanding about reading text, and they can focus on what they want to gain; they can also distinguish if they do not understand the context of the reading so that they can find the solutions to understand the reading text better. o’malley and chamot (as cited in mbato, 2013) state that “stress the importance of students’ use of a wide range of reading strategies that match their purpose for reading and teach them how to do the right ways should be a prime consideration in the reading classroom.” (p. 32). anderson (2004, p.17) contend that there are five components of metacognitive in reading, namely “(a) preparing and planning for effective reading; (b) deciding when to use particular reading strategies; (c) knowing how to monitor reading strategy use; (d) learning how to orchestrate various reading strategies; and (e) evaluating reading-strategy use” (p. 17). in the postgraduate learning, most of the materials should be comprehended so that they can do other related activities such as writing journal articles, doing classroom presentations, and making reflections. they unconsciously have to make an extra effort in order to reach a good comprehension of the reading materials in order to finish the assigned tasks. as explained by palincsar and brown (1984, p.124), there are four key strategies in reading which are generally applied in metacognitive strategies, namely; summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and predicting. metacognition (flavell 1979; kuhn 2000, p. 178; veenman 1993: 1997; o’neil & abedi 1996; as cited in cubukcu, 2008, p. 84) is comprised of two aspects: selfawareness of understanding how, when, and where to use a certain appropriate llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 182-197 187 strategy and how to utilize that strategy in the process of learning the material. “reading comprehension is one of the most essential study skills in higher education. academic, and even technical courses demand substantial readings, so there is a need for students to be able to comprehend what they read in order to succeed in their academic life and beyond” (meniado, 2016, p. 117). in reading activity, metacognitive strategy is utilized in the process of “procedural, purposeful, effortful, wilful, essential, and facilitative in nature” (alexander & jetton, 2000, p.295). reiss (1983) agree that the more students read, the more they will be accustomed to the native speakers’ “vocabularies, idioms, sentence patterns, organization flow, and cultural assumptions” (as cited in tavacoli, 2014, pp. 316317). in english language learning, particularly focuses in terms of literacy, reading is the most of the works which have related metacognition. (mbato, 2013, p. 28). in reading, reflection and awareness have been connected to metacognition. (p. 29). method in order to elucidate the metacognitive strategies used by the undergraduate and postgraduate students in reading, the researchers employed mixed-method. as contended by creswell (2003), the mixed-method study combines both quantitative and qualitative approach. the researchers used questionnaires with likert-type statements in the first part of this study to measure the three metacognitive strategies: planning, monitoring, and evaluating in reading. in addition, for measuring the difference between the two samples, independent sample t-test is applied. therefore, two hypotheses are presented: ho: there is no difference between undergraduate and postgraduate students’ metacognitive strategies in reading. ha: there is a difference between undergraduate and postgraduate students’ metacognitive strategies in reading. if the result shows sig > 0,05, ho is accepted whereas if sig < 0,05, ho is rejected. to support the quantitative data, the researcher analyze the qualitative data which was collected by interviewing the participants. participants as the participants of this research, 33 undergraduate and 40 postgraduate students of the english education program of sanata dharma university were selected. the participants filled out the questionnaire related to the metacognitive strategies that they used. this study also used the interview with six participants, three from the undergraduate program and three from the postgraduate program. the participation was voluntary and the confidentiality of the participants was guaranteed. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 182-197 188 instruments the researchers used a set of questionnaire and interview as the instruments of this study. as stated by cubukcu (2009, p. 160), a questionnaire is frequently used as a tool to measure metacognition. in this study, the questionnaire itself was to measure how metacognitive strategies were applied in reading. the questionnaire was set to cover all of the aspects of metacognitive strategies: planning, monitoring, and evaluating. the questionnaire was adapted from mbato (2013, p. 150) and chamot, barnhardt, el-dinary, and robbins (1999) comprising 18 items of likerttype statements that accommodate three essential skills of regulation of cognition. the first part consists of six items to measure students’ planning in reading. the second part contains six items, which collect the data related to the students’ monitoring in reading whereas the final six items aim to measure the students’ evaluation in their reading. to have a good and deep understanding of the topic, the researchers conducted an interview, which allows the students to share their answers more (akturk & sahin, 2011, p.4). the interview protocols were adapted from balcikanli (2011, p.15) and they were simplified into six simple questions utilized to understand how metacognitive strategies were applied by the undergraduate and postgraduate students in relation to the theory proposed by schraw and moshman (1995) elaborated in the previous section. findings and discussion according to the result based on the independent t-test, specifically levene’s test for equality of variances, it is shown that sig=.0.000, is less than 0.05, so, the ho that ‘there is no difference between undergraduate and postgraduate students in applying metacognitive strategies in reading’ is rejected. the conclusion is there is a difference between undergraduate and postgraduate students. the description is listed in table 1. the differences between these two groups can be seen in the average (mean) of the two groups in table 2. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 182-197 189 table 1. independent samples t-test for pbi and mpbi groups independent samples test levene’s test for equality of variances t-test for equality of means std. error difference 95% confidence interval of the difference f sig. t df sig. (2 tailed mea n diffe rence e lower upper metacog nitive strategies equal variances assumed 1.6 26 .20 6 4.1 49 7 1 .00 0 .46 52 8 .11215 .6888 9 -.24167 equal variances not assumed 4.0 60 6 0 . 6 6 2 .00 0 .46 52 8 .11460 .6944 7 -.23609 the results of this study showed that both postgraduate and undergraduate students applied metacognitive strategies in reading. they demonstrated high scores in all metacognitive strategies, including in the three strategies of regulation of cognition. quantitative analysis of this study, however, proved that there were some differences between undergraduate and postgraduate students’ metacognitive strategies in reading. the postgraduate students displayed more metacognitive strategies compared to undergraduate students. table 2. mean of undergraduate and postgraduate students’ metacognitive strategies descriptive statistics n minimum maximum mean std. deviation undergraduate metacognitive strategies 33 2.40 4.70 3.7000 .53327 postgraduate metacognitive strategies 40 3.11 4.94 4.1653 .42506 valid n (listwise) 33 the result of the data analysis shows that postgraduate students, compared to undergraduate students, have a different level of metacognitive strategies. in table 2. it is listed that mean of undergraduate students is 3.7000 < 4.1653 of postgraduate’s metacognitive strategies, so the mean of postgraduate students is more than undergraduate students. however, it is still safe to say that both groups demonstrated high metacognitive scores. in the following table 3, 4, 5, it can be closely seen that the postgraduate students have a higher average degree of metacognitive strategies in reading compared to the undergraduate students which llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 182-197 190 this study focuses on the three metacognitive strategies: planning, monitoring and evaluating. table 3. mean of undergraduate and postgraduate students’ planning strategies in reading statement no mean pbi mpbi 1. i decide in advance what my reading purpose is, and i read with that goal in mind. 3.7576 4.2000 2. i decide in advance specific aspects of information to look for, and i focus on that information when i read. 3.9697 4.2500 3. before i read, i think of what i already know about the topic. 3.7273 4.0750 4. i try to predict what the text will be about 3.8182 4.2250 5. while reading, i periodically check if the material is making sense to me. 3.7576 4.1750 6. 6. i imagine things, or draw pictures of what i am reading. 3.4242 4.1250 the results of the average of postgraduate students and undergraduate students in planning strategies were quite high. in here, both groups demonstrated metacognitive and it can be seen that postgraduate students showed a slightly higher mean than the undergraduate students in planning. the lowest average of undergraduate students is found in helping oneself to remember what one has read by imagining things, drawing graphics, making tables, etc. it is described as the lowest average of monitoring strategy but the average is in the high level of applying metacognitive strategies. for the post graduate students, the mean between these six statements are in the high level. thus, it can be concluded that postgraduate students were considered mature enough to manage themselves in terms of having a good planning before doing the reading. they knew the purpose of reading and how to find strategies and information from different sources. they could also focus, evaluate, predict, monitor while they were reading and they could summarize the topic of the reading. furthermore, they could find strategies in order to have information about the topic of the readings. table 4 mean of undergraduate and postgraduate students’ monitoring strategies in reading statement no mean undergraduate posgraduate 1. i encourage myself as i read by saying positive statements such as “you can do it.” 3.4545 4.0750 2. i work with classmates when reading english texts or solve problems. 3.4848 3.6500 3. when i encounter a difficult or unfamiliar word i try to work out its meaning from the context surrounding it (such as other words or pictures) 4.0909 4.4500 4. i identify what i don’t understand in the reading, and i ask a precise question to solve the problem. 3.7273 4.1250 5. i use reference materials (such as a dictionary, textbook, or website) to help solve a comprehension problem. 4.2121 4.6000 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 182-197 191 statement no mean undergraduate posgraduate 6. after reading, i check to see if my prediction is correct. 3.6364 4.2000 in the monitoring phase, the undergraduate students demonstrated lowest mean in the affirmation of self in order to help in motivating and encouraging oneself in facing the challenge in reading. the most frequent strategy the undergraduate and postgraduate students applied was monitoring strategy because the average of the two groups are higher than other areas. in this monitoring strategy, postgraduate students did not really apply the strategy of working with friend every time they face problems and difficulties in reading since postgraduate students got the lowest average in this area. they solved their problems in looking for information and sources by their own self instead of directly approaching friends to solve it. generally, postgraduate students were more independent than the undergraduate students. the highest point of postgraduate students in the whole areas of the process of three regulation of cognition is found in this area which is that they are capable to find their own strategies. they knew, reflected, and decided the best ways and strategies to comprehend the reading well. they used tools in facing problems and difficulties in reading such as dictionaries and inputs and information from the websites. they also sought help. table 5. mean of undergraduate and postgraduate students’ evaluating strategies in reading statement no mean pbi mpbi 1. i summarize (in my head or in writing) important information that i read. 3.6970 4.4500 2. i evaluate my comprehension by reflecting on how much i understand what i read. 3.6364 4.1000 3. after reading, i decide whether the strategies i used helped me understand, and think of other strategies that could have helped. 3.2727 3.9500 4. i check whether i have accomplished my goal for reading. 3.4848 4.0250 5. i focus on key words, phrases, and ideas. 3.8485 4.3000 6. i write down important words and concepts. 3.7576 4.0500 in the evaluating phase, both groups applied evaluation strategies in reading. however, as the means were still quite high, it is safe to say that the two groups still applied metacognitive strategies in reading. summarizing is the most frequent strategy that the postgraduate students used to evaluate their reading process. the lowest average of both groups is found in the same area that is the evaluating of the result of the reading texts by looking back again to the strategy which has been applied. in metacognitive strategy, evaluation is intended to find another new llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 182-197 192 strategy in case the previous strategy is not helpful or repeat the previous strategy because it had given a good impact. discussion gray and rogers (1956, as cited in thomas, 2013, pp. 148-149) declares that reading maturity is a stage in which a person reaches the reading ability of an adult as a result of the whole progress, training, experience, and long involvement of extensive reading. it means that the person has good level of accurateness, comprehension, and objective thinking. furthermore, he or she must be able to discuss about what he or she has read with both analytical skill and fluent level of speaking. by comparing the two groups of students, postgraduate and undergraduate students, this study found that postgraduate students were more mature in relation to their age. they might have longer time to develop reading habit as they had finished their undergraduate study. in addition, the significance of familiarity with assignments and tasks demanding autonomous memorization of information could be due to the higher-level needs of comprehension (schaie, 1978, as cited in de beni, borella and carreti, 2007, p. 190). in terms of living their own life, they were more stable. many of them were working and studying at the same time. these reasons might influence their autonomous decision to continue study in the master’s degree. furthermore, their independent decision could influence their standard in studying and reading. gray and rogers (1956, p.149) argue that reading maturity is interpreted as a stage in which a person has a strong interest, attitudes, and skills that permit that person to profoundly, autonomously, and effectively engage in a reading activity and extract many meaningful lessons from the reading. the postgraduate students’ motivation to study was to improve and expand their knowledge more in order to have a better life. some of them financed their postgraduate study by themselves; this would influence their motivation to be more serious in their study. additionally, many researchers have proven that most of the mature readers are able to read intensively and extensively without other people telling them to do so. (thomas, 2001, p. 1, manzo, manzo, barnhill, & thomas, 2000; gray & rogers, 1956). they are able to cognitively and emotionally understand what they have read. this was what the postgraduate students had shown. they had a strong aptitude of critical attitude in reading. this applied to both emotional and intellectual senses. they were also able to catch ideas in reading and adjust to the events and the difficulties in reading the materials. it is not easy, as admitted by thomas (2008, p. 12) that “reading maturity should be treated deliberately not left to chance as a hoped-for by-product of schooling that some students acquire but others apparently do not.” the undergraduate students here were students who graduated from senior high school and continued their study in the university in order to have a better job one day. more or less, in terms of the financial matter, they were still leaning towards their parents. this could influence their motivation in study. furthermore, they were still in the age of exploration to find their future. they had a lower degree of reading habit than the post graduate students had because during this period, they were still in the process to reach the graduation time. regarding all of these reasons, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 182-197 193 thomas (2001, cited in theiss, et al., 2009, p.60) describes maturing reader roughly in six areas. area 1 is reading attitudes and interests. maturing readers have profound interest in reading assorted topics and they love reading to study about things hold interest to them. since the postgraduate students autonomously decided to continue their study in order to have more knowledge and better work, they would find reading as something that brought more knowledge and information to help them reach their goal. for them, the autonomous decision also created interest in studying. that interest was in reading the subject materials. area 2 is reading purposes. maturing readers are flexible and conscious about the purpose for reading and they will find proper strategies for them to achieve effective reading. they put effort to engage actively in reading. furthermore, the postgraduates here were more stable in terms of living their own life; many of them were working and studying in the same time. these reasons could influence their autonomous decision to continue study in the master degree. area 3 is reading ability. in terms of reading ability, maturing readers read competently and fluently. they understand most of what they read and they can get a good, accurate grasp. postgraduate students were more mature. most likely, they had more experiences in reading because they had graduated from their undergraduate program. area 4 is reaction to and use of ideas apprehended (higher-order literacy). maturing readers have the ability to generalize and make personal conclusion about what they have read. additionally, they can also combine ideas from the reading and their personal ideas to form new understanding. area 5 is kinds of reading materials. a maturing reader does further than just ‘easy reading’. they read a more cognitively challenging material. this is true as the subjects in the postgraduate used english as the language of instruction and the reading were all in the english language. they needed to immerse themselves into the reading materials as the readings were about reflecting, exploring, inspiring, motivating, and making life decision in being a teacher as they were studying in the master degree of english education which intention was to shape a professional teacher. area 6 is personal adjustment to reading/transformational reading. reading affects personal reflection. it influences the decisions that a person has to make in life. since the content of the materials in the postgraduate were more intense for the preparation of a professional teacher in the future, it promoted reflection for selftransformation of a professional teacher. reading maturity is a concept that largely focus on reading development in terms of not only basic reading skills, but also reading attitudes, habits, and dispositions (thomas, 2001, p.142). as concluded by thomas (2001, p 157), reading maturity exceeds the level of reconstructive reading. it further touches on the level of constructive reading which demands the readers to build a solid connection towards the whole growth of maturity. “reading maturity is panacea for all the challenges facing us, nor a golden pathway to all we aspire to become. overall health, wellness, and human flourishing surely involve many factors including physical fitness, nutrition, sleep, spiritual llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 182-197 194 growth, relational contentment, mental health, and sound general learning and appreciation of life.” (thomas 2013, p.157). metacognitive strategies in reading might be very helpful strategies to transform oneself in order to be a person for others. limitations of the study having the positive result in the discussion, the researcher believes that there are also limitations found in this research. first, the researcher used accessible sampling that limits the capability to generalize the findings to the population of postgraduate and undergraduate students in yogyakarta. second, regarding the participants in this research, they were close friends of the researcher. thus, some biases might happen during the interpretation of the data. regardless. the researcher believes that this research has provided some beneficial information about the awareness of applying metacognitive strategies in the educational field especially in reading. conclusion in conclusion, this study found out that both postgraduate and undergraduate students were practicing metacognitive strategies in reading. based on the data’s average, the postgraduate students had better score compared to the undergraduate students, even though the difference was small. this research further concluded that between those two groups, the one who had better average score had almost all the description of a mature reader. therefore, from the findings, the utilization of metacognitive strategies in reading and in learning is believed to have a positive impact for the students in learning. continuous process of checking and developing one’s understanding about written or spoken text will help him or her to always see the progress of one’s process of learning as well as life itself. references akturk a.o., sahin i. 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(2000). differentiating between difficult-to remediate and readily remediated poor readers: more evidence against the iq achievement discrepancy definition of reading disability. journal of learning disabilities, 33, 223-238. wenden a. l. 1998. metacognitive knowledge and language learning. applied linguistics, 19(4),515-537. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/reading_horizons/vol52/iss2/4 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 146-155 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 146 enhancing university students’ english writing skills on content area mariana ester politton and k. m. widi hadiyanti atma jaya catholic university, jakarta indonesia marianapolitton@outlook.com, and widi.hadiyanti@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2019.220202 received 6 may 2019; revised 27 may 2019; accepted 27 june 2019 abstract writing, as an instrument of communication, is nowadays accomplished mostly in english to ensure information understood globally via digital platforms. this creates a transformation in job fields into utilizing technologies to textually deliver messages. therefore, it is vital to generate high qualified future employees competing in the work places. accordingly, university students must be equipped with english writing competencies as well as strategies focusing on content area, in addition to forms, so as to promote meaning-making concerning critical and logical thinking skills, besides to comprise comprehensive realization. this qualitative research utilized a critical literature review by conducting in-depth data collection, organization, integration, and classification of writing strategies. it offers suggested maneuvers to overcome higher education learners’ writing problems: lack of content maturation practices, through implementing collaborative writing discussions with either or both verbal or / and online discussions. it can as well integrate (intensive / extensive) reading and writing instructions in contextual cognitive processes concentrating on intellectual meaning development. keywords: content area, qualitative research, university students, writing strategies introduction as the most commonly used language internationally, english has been a goal for people to communicate fluently both verbally and textually. especially in this modern era of technology, writing becomes a social artifact and primary means to communicate in human daily lives to exchange information across countries (xin & liming, 2005:1). it is shown in how people are getting more connected in building written communication via digital platforms mostly in english to ensure that messages can be understood globally (shaul, 2015:1). consequently, it changes work places into physical office spaces where employees deliver messages textually via technologies which can be about product innovation targeted in global level. considering the fact, indonesia certainly faces the crucial needs of producing high qualified employees with english writing capabilities. therefore, universities in indonesia should apply writing strategies through classroom activities focusing on content maturity. it is believed that the strategies will promote meaning-making skill on content area to develop the competence of providing critical information (liao & wong, 2017:155-156). the strategies should be adjusted with a writing llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 146-155 147 piece which inclines to coherence rather than cohesion to give comprehensive content cognition (karadeniz, 2017:94). however, the problem is that most english writing classroom activities unfortunately focus more on cohesion or grammar maturation (liao & wong, 2007:140, and monaghan, 2007:6). as a result, the learners find hardships in building knowledge on content area. studies about students’ perception on writing showed concerns on it (ismail, 2011 and husni, 2017). the present study is to introduce writing strategies which enhance university students’ english writing skills on content area. accordingly, the research questions are as the followings: (1) “what writing strategies can be classified applicable in a writing class with the benefits of enhancing higher education efl learners’ writing skills on content area?”, and (2) “how are the strategies applied in the writing class?”. there are few limitations of this study. first, the content discussion is about english writing skills on content area. second, the target audiences are university students. finally, in an attempt to introduce the writing strategies, the explanations are built in a qualitative research study through critical literature review. it was preceded by a sort of library research and then applied in narrative descriptions which were based on sukmadinata (2013) in kameswara (2017:37). it explained that this type of qualitative research which discussed such kind of activities should be done through conducting in-depth data collection, organizing the data, integrating the data and classifying the writing strategies into the table of the writing strategies. thus, the data consisting of 38 articles from different text types were examined by using tables of classification as measurement devices for gathering, organizing and integrating the data as the instruments. based on the research methodology, it is believed the process will show explanations on the writing strategies which enhance the efl learners’ writing skills on content area through classroom activities managed by the lecturer and curriculum developers. therefore, in the next sessions there will be discussions of the literature reviews about university students’ english writing skills on content area. it is then followed by presenting the recommended writing strategies in order to boost university students’ english writing skills on content area as the result of examinations about the articles analyzed. university students’ english writing skills on content area in cognitive process of writing, content area is presented to demonstrate one’s notion in written speech (coulmas, 2003:5, 9). however, it has to be factual and intellectual (styron, 2014:26) in which the criteria are identified through its two different purposes in writing: writing to learn and writing to communicate. the aim of writing to learn is to deliver the notions of the writer or specific trusted people through discovery thinking or reflecting process on personal knowledge in informal pieces. although the knowledge must be factual, it is built without being critical and logical. meanwhile, writing to communicate is intended to express enormous ideas to the readers through critical thinking or contextual knowledge building process on content area in such formal products as, essays, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 146-155 148 business letters, and publications (young: 2006:9-10). this is in line with university students’ need (salahshour & hajizadeh, 2013). it is obviously identified that content area in writing to communicate is related to the cognitive process as it enhances one’s conceptual understanding leading to provide vital information (hamby, 2011:29; and ulusoy & dedeoglu, 2011:11). the ideas are the answers to the five w (who, what, when, where, why) and the big h (how) questions completing the critical building of content area confirming one’s intellectual deep knowledge (hamby, 2011:6). however, one must master some specific competencies involving meaning making process to convey notion and conclusion (javed et al., 2013:130) like selecting sources, organizing and integrating ideas with critical thinking to construct deep knowledge (walker, 2003:263). in brainstorming activities, gathering ideas is regarded crucial to ensure the truth of the content itself (zemach and rumisek, 2005:6). the reason is that the process involves researching factual sources to find as many credible, accurate and logical information as possible related to the topic (ningsih, 2016:7). however, the skills need to be followed by organizing ideas because not all of the gathered information is necessary to put in the content area. therefore, one must continuously process the information in such activities as undergoing and splitting them into relevant and irrelevant ideas, accumulating them in an illogical group, analyzing and evaluating them to identify vital ideas which are sufficient “to support the topic” (styron, 2014:26; walker, 2013:263, and cameron, 2009:2-4). then, the ideas must be arranged in relatable and meaningful content areas by integrating them logically so that the arguments are built meaningfully (raisig & vode, 2016:222). it can be done through making notes, or clustering to help one generate ideas, and see connection between them by considering the target readers. to provide one’s deep knowledge on the content area, critical thinking is needed to promote intellectual activities such as purposeful thinking toward one’s intellectual standards, recognizing and solving problems, working on reflective questions, and constructing conclusion (walker, 2006:263-266). each describes individual engagement to cultivate notions in cognitive processes like analyzing, evaluating and interpreting ideas. in building the writing skills on content area, one needs to be exposed to products of intellectual activities involving building arguments critically. it is to provide deep knowledge as the core content area itself. the product must be academic writing essays in meaning-making skills through its aspects which incline to coherence and unity rather than cohesion (vyncke, 2012:21). coherence is about internal logical and relatable ideas, while unity is focusing on one topic consistently. it may present cohesion for formal mechanism on grammar connection, but it focuses more on the two meaning-focused aspects upholding intellectual thinking on a problem-solving topic. thus, university students are to produce essays which are informative, argumentative and analytical. each is built in text-structure consisting of paragraphs of an introduction including a thesis statement, rhetorical supports and conclusion (ahmed, 2010), composed with at least 5-10 sentences (zemach & rumisek, 2005:11). accordingly, one should write various types of the essays (alomrani, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 146-155 149 2014:108) to enhance more critical understanding (vyncke, 2012:11). higher education must apply a communicative approach in the classroom activities. it involves cognitive process in prewriting, writing and revising on both content and academic rules which are vital and appropriate in the level (negari, 2011:299, zemach & rumisek, 2005: iv,2, salhshoura & hajizadehb, 2013:165, and iksana et al., 2012:71). the recommended writing strategies in order that the lecturer can successfully guide the university students to reach their highest potency in english writing, the teaching process must utilize writing strategies including communicative and intellectual practices frequently (han, 2012:356). there are factors to consider like the lecturer’s dominant role in leading the class to engage the learners in applicable activities they are eager to learn (xin & liming, 2005:47); the appropriate time availability in each session by separating the activities in stages according to each purpose to ensure the learners can follow the process (weida & stolley, 2008:1); and the most vital objective is focusing on the learners’ content development through brainstorming activities in meaningmaking process (monaghan, 2007:6). therefore, the writing strategies should be about incorporated learning activities of applying social engagement among the learners in verbal discussions, as well as combining reading and writing in one instruction. each is regarded beneficial because of the potency to promote content skills among the students. in teaching writing, collaborative learning activities combining writing with verbal communication are regarded important because it promotes content enhancement. the process starts from discussing the ideas to write in cognitive social interaction which simultaneously proves the existence of communicative approach during the content-based process (fatima, 2012:105,107). the discussion can be done in pairs or in groups to ensure the learners discuss the content leading toward the enhancement of critical thinking ability, the understanding of forming arguments, and demonstrating deep knowledge onto a content-based writing piece (xin & liming, 2005:47). the lecturer, as the most superior in the class (sugiharto, 2006:1), must focus on the topic selection since the chosen topic influences the learners’ writing process as well as discussion manner intellectually and critically (fatima, 2012:105, and rathakrishnan et al., 2017:3). it should promote critical thinking according to the students’ knowledge realization and understanding about current social issues such as humanitarian or society (monaghan, 2007:89, and fatima, 2012:105). regarding the implementation, discussion and writing must be separated as the discussion is intended to be the guidance to build content to write whereas writing is purposed as the main learning objective for individuals (fatima, 2012:107). however, it has to be noted, the lecturer should ensure the learners really follow the discussion process according to the intention. the students can be paired or put in small groups to equalize the contribution among the active and passive ones (connor-greene, 2005:173); given a specific discussion question list on content related to the topic and monitored in the process (xin & liming, 2005:50). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 146-155 150 here are the two ways in collaborative writing discussions considered applicable writing strategies focusing on content enhancement: oral group discussion and online discussion in a writing class. in oral group discussion, the strategy is identified as direct discussion face-to-face among the learners to do information exchange to write (coulmas, 2002:9). the process starts from direct conversation in groups and then displacing it by silently building internal conversation with oneself about ideas in a content-based writing piece (xin & liming 2005:46). the steps are divided into introduction, main activity and closing. first, introduction is about giving first movement of building the understanding toward the whole activity and the topic through warming up activities in 5-20 minutes (washington university, 2018:1), explanation on academic writing rules and the detail of the task as well as presenting the topic in 5-7 minutes for each. second, the main activity is about helping the learners reach the main objective i.e. content enhancement through arranging the learners in small number of groups to do discussion, giving the discussion question list, instructing for the discussion in 3040 minutes followed by individual writing in 50 minutes. lastly, the closing is all about giving review through any brief activity. online group discussion utilizes technologies and internet access in doing the process of collaborating writing discussion. it is regarded appropriate and beneficial for the learners’ learning process, since the activities demand the learners to research and demonstrate the ideas by posting them on the chosen online platform. for sure, the lecturer and the learners are beneficially engaged on the content more easily. however, during the discussion process, the discussion question list prepared according to each writing stage purpose is presented in crafting questions. this refers to analyzing information process by “breaking down parts, recognizing patterns, forming assumptions and inserting relevant ideas” through specific questions built by the lecturer based on the objectives of the writing stages (rathaksihnan et al., 2017:1-2). consequently, the application steps for online discussion in writing involve the three focuses stated previously in oral discussion face to face for writing, but with different implementation. first, although the introduction involves the same steps in order, they are followed by introducing the online platform. after that, the whole process is accomplished using technologies. integrating reading and writing instructions will possibly boost university english learners’ writing on content area. both skillful learning activities have similar cognitive process focusing on organizing, negotiating and analyzing intellectual meaning critically and logically (elhabiri, 2013:22-23, adam & babiker, 2015:115). the integration may enhance the learners’ abilities of knowledge construction, critical thinking and content comprehension (ahlem, 2017:161, and monaghan, 2007:37-38). to do so, the process should start from giving more opportunities to the learners to read to build ideas for writing before independently writing the ideas themselves (alomrani, 2014:106). furthermore, the lecturers should first, select properly reading approaches between intensive and extensive reading to ensure the learners’ understanding about its content (rashidi & piran, 2011:471, and miller, 2013:71); second, utilize proper llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 146-155 151 text types between fiction and non-fiction which both present deeper and complex meaning in different characteristic of literacy to determine the kind of background knowledge comprehended and built by the learners (alvarado et al., 2015:280); and third, present topics about human life and society (kozulin, et al., 2013:307) to lead the learners toward intellectual process of linking what they know and what they just learn for writing (morales, 2017:6). in doing that, the lecturer should exploit the developmental reading and writing lesson (drwl) instructional framework regarded as an appropriate reading and writing teaching plan with four purposes of silent reading (scott & piazza, 1987:58-60). they are gathering new information in the pre-writing stage, identifying more vital information in the writing stage, clarifying the arguments in the revision stage and checking the cohesion aspect in the editing stage. each is achieved by involving simple reading assignments such as underlying key points or main ideas, making notes, and doing classroom discussion between the lecturer and the learners. after that, the process can be completely finished with submission. rooted in those explanations, the implementation can consider two applicable methods as parts of the strategy. they are intensive as well as extensive reading for writing which can enhance students’ content construction in writing. as intensive reading refers to meaning development process dealing with content comprehension in detailed (rashidi & piran, 2011:471, and miller, 2013:71), the intended strategy for writing certainly needs professional supervision from the lecturer. the dominant control is reflected through reading material preparation which must not be complicated in cohesion instead entirely focus on critical and intellect content presentation (alomrani, 2014:101, 104, 108, morales, 2017:22). after that, the lecturer should focus on the whole activity implementation divided into the same parts as the previous strategy. however, the differences are that in introduction, there must be specific explanation about the relationship between reading and writing. even more, the main activities of reading in 30-35 minutes (lampariello, 2017:1) and writing in 50 minutes (mermelstein, 2015:183) are both done individually. the rests are all the same. relation to the characteristic of extensive reading, which is for pleasure, the strategy of extensive reading for writing surely has to be about reading what the learners are interested to read. it can be done by giving them freedom to select their own reading materials concerning with the topic. the purpose is to easily encourage the learners to do the whole process of analyzing information on the materials to construct ideas about problems and solutions into a piece of writing (mermelstein, 2015:188). however, it has to be noted that the lecturer should still guide the learners during the process. in doing that, the lecturer must professionally show the dominance of teaching and setting the criteria of the reading materials such as the intellectual topic and the page number limitation in at least 15-30 pages (lampariello, 2017:1) by initially presenting the samples in first session. even more, the lecturer should adjust the appropriate time availability for reading in 90 minutes (kirin, 2010:289) which can be divided into reading in and outside class. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 146-155 152 the steps are divided similar with the intensive reading for writing. however, the introduction involves presenting reading samples in the first session to give the illustration of what to bring next. the reading activity as one of the main activities is done individually in 90 minutes or less if the lecturer includes the reading process as home assignment previously. if so, the classroom discussion about the task at home can be done in exchange. the next steps follow. conclusion implementing writing strategies has been noticed important in university where the efl learners must reach written competency on content area as it is acquired in job fields. this study introduces two major writing strategies to attain the purpose. they are collaborative writing discussions combining verbal discussions (face to face and online) in pairs or small groups, as well as integrative reading and writing instructions incorporating intensive as well as extensive reading and writing in contextual cognitive process. both writing strategies focus on intellectual meaning development by using the combination as a process of building ideas to write which result in the enhancement of university students’ english writing skills with content maturity. however, there are some suggestions to consider for the lecturers as well as the curriculum developers, the efl learners, and future researchers. first, it is suggested to consider the needs of enhancing cohesion skills in writing as it is also important to present the content. second, it is encouraged that the students utilize the strategies outside the class for better results. third, it is recommended that future studies find the effectiveness by doing scientific quantitative investigations on the topic. by doing so, the goal to help university students enhance their english writing skills on 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(2005). academic writing from paragraph to essay. oxford: macmillan. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 261-275 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 261 face threatening acts (ftas) in aipac political annual speeches between 2006 and 2012 tarak dridi university of sfax-tunisia corresponding email: tarak_ltd@yahoo.com doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.2684.g2283 received 26 june 2020; accepted 8 april 2021 abstract face threatening acts are politeness forms which have been struggled over in the past and now as they are pragmatically deemed relevant in identifying centripetal and centrifugal movements exerted by political actors on their interlocutors. the findings on approaching political discourse from politeness perspective have been controversial and ranged from being confined to the interactional level to negotiating implicit power relations. this present study offers a politeness theoretical framework to examine aipac political annual speeches between 2006 and 2012. the target of this research is to understand which politeness strategies political actors deploy when addressing the audience and how these political speakers please the other and fulfill political ends. the results display an overreliance on face threatening acts on record with redressive action at the expense of face threatening acts on record without redressive action and face threatening acts off record. positive politeness, notably expressive speech acts, play an inclusive role, gain the audience sympathy and reshape public opinion. the study fills the gap in the study of the impact of positive politeness on political discourse and calls for the consideration of expressive speech acts as means of power negotiation rather than mere interaction. keywords: face threatening acts/ redressive/ on record/politeness/off record/political discourse introduction the surge in politeness studies over the last two decades has had direct effects on the study of political discourse. but before highlighting this interconnectedness between politeness studies and political discourse, we need to minutely define both approaches. the latter is viewed as the analysis which “deals especially with the reproduction of political power, power abuse or domination through political discourse, including the various forms of resistance or counter – power against such forms of discursive dominance” (van dijk, 1997: 11). the study of political discourse, henceforth, is deemed relevant in order to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 261-275 262 set the boundaries between language and communication (wodak & meyer, 2009) and to identify the type of this language use (chilton, 2004). in his attempt to display the link between language and politics, kampf (2013) assumes that political discourse is either defined as “talk and text produced in regard to concrete political issues (language in politics) or the actual use of institutional political actors (language of politicians)” (kampf, 2013). watts (2003), from another side, unveils that the term ‘politeness’ is controversial since it ranges from “socially ‘correct’ or ‘appropriate’ behavior, through cultivated behavior, considerateness displayed to others, self-effacing behavior, to negative attributions such as standoffishness, haughtiness, insincerity, etc..” (watts, 2003). while revisiting brown and levinson’s politeness theory (1987), locher and watts (2005) sets a cleavage between politeness as a ‘discursive concept’ and the mitigation of face threatening acts (ftas) in general. locher and watts (2005) argue that what is polite or impolite cannot be predicted by discourse analysts because “researchers should focus on the discursive struggle in which interactants engage” (locher and watts, 2005). culpeper (2011) sides with locher and watts (2005) and considers “classic politeness theories are built on classic speech act theory (austin 1962; searle 1969) and gricean implicature (grice 1975), which, separately or together, do not offer an adequate account of communication, or of politeness in particular” (culpeper, 2011). however, brown and levinson’s model remains valid since it puts “sociopragmatic concerns at the forefront of pragmatic research and the affective aspects of communication firmly on the pragmatic map” (o’ driscoll, 2007). in so doing, they offer a model that helps find about how “discursive patterns displayed by political actors with their peers are not solely adversarial, but also characterized by communicative cooperation strategies” (chilton, 2004). the paper, henceforth, endorses brown and levinson’s model to display how political speakers highly deploy face threatening acts, on record, with redressive action at the expense of face threatening acts, on record, without redressive action and face threatening acts, off record. it also merges the brown and levinson’s model with lakoff’s (2005) since the latter builds her model on two fundamental principle: ‘be clear’ and ‘be polite’ (lakoff and ide, 2005:4). lakoff puts it clear that politeness “involves both ‘consideration for others’, that is, adherence to the rules, whether a culture frames them in terms of face and fta-avoidance…and the adherence to the conventional standards, i.e, the expectations that the rule will be followed” (ibid). the paucity of such research is highlighted by kampf and danziger (2019) who focused on the art of complimenting and praising in political discourse and argued that “communicating admiration and appreciation in public discourse are two important tasks for political actors who wish to secure relationships and advance models for civic behavior” (kampf & danziger, 2019). the present study also tries to fill this research gap and extends its scope of attention to all types of politeness with a major emphasis on positive and negative ones because “confrontational modes of political language use have been studied extensively [whereas] the ways in which politicians and public figures apply cooperative and solidarity-oriented modes of communication remain on the margins of political discourse studies” (kampf, 2015). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 261-275 263 aipac is defined as “a lobbying group that advocates pro-israel policies to the congress and executive branch of the united states” (www.aipac.org). wilson (2004) elicits that aipac is “founded in 1951, has a staff of 150, an annual budget of 15 million $, and fifty-five thousand members. it operates out of offices one block away from capitol hill as well as in other major cities” (wilson, 2004:130). aipac official websites displays that the annual conference is one of the largest gatherings of america’s pro-israel movement and the targeted audience are thousands of pro-israel americans for all 50 states and online participants as well. aipac discourse has undergone various studies from multifaceted perspectives namely historical (findley 2003, felton 2010), political (mearsheimer & walt 2007, sniegoski 2008, hart 2010), religious (weber & jones 1994, are 1994), cultural (wilson 2004), sociological (elazar 1976, mac donald 2007) and socio-political (raimondo 2003 and petras 2008). the paper seeks to approach aipac political discourse from a pragmatic angle by zooming in on politeness strategies. drawing on politeness theory, we find various studies (abudayeh & dubbati 2010; hamno 2020; ardila 2019; kadar & zhang 2019; kampf & danziger 2019; livnat & lewin 2016) which delved into setting the boundaries between face threatening acts and political discourse. abudayeh and dubbati (2010) focused on unveiling the different politeness strategies used when translating donald trump’s offensive language into arabic and they concluded that “translating donald trump’s ethos as an abrasive speaker who uses insults as a rhetorical weapon outweighs the need to protect the positive face of arab audiences” (abudayeh & dubbati, 2010). livnat and lewin (2016) selected benjamin netanyahu’s speeches and “examined strategies that foster dialogic interaction with the audience, by directly addressing them, or otherwise acknowledging their presence” (ibid). this examination by livnat and lewin (2016) as well as abudayeh and dubbati (2010) is critically viewed by recent studies (kuntarto, siswoyo and kusmana, 2019) as an examination which does not transcend the interactional level. rather, “language is used as a political tool, and not as a means of interaction as defined in the theory of politeness”. based on brown and levinson’s analytical tool (1987) and lakoff’s (2005), this paper endeavors to prove how politicians resort to face threatening acts to mould public opinion and to, consequently, refute the claim which says that politeness theory is just geared towards establishing interaction between participants. this research comes in line with hamno’s (2020) view which displays “the use of strategies in performing impolite, intentionally targeted language output” (hamno, 2020). it also reinforces ardila’s findings (2019) who provided “a list of impoliteness phenomena deployed strategically in political discourse” (ardila, 2019). ardila studied impoliteness strategy in spain’s politics and show cased “the extent to which marked impoliteness is nowadays being deployed in the spanish parliament as a powerful rhetoric strategy” (ardila, 2019). the chinese political discourse does not depart much from the spanish one since it implicitly triggers “alignment with the public in the wake of national social crises” (kadar & zhang, 2019). kadar and zhang also revealed that “such forms of politeness deserve special attention in language and politics because they are not interpersonal and their use correlates with implicit communication” (kadar & zhang, 2019). http://www.aipac.org/ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 261-275 264 based on this brief scholarship on politeness theory, this article tries to answer the following two research questions: 1. what are the different politeness forms that are strategically deployed by political actors when addressing their interlocutors? 2. how do political actors promote political sociability and gain public sympathy by way of using face threatening acts? method this paper focuses on aipac annual speeches delivered between 2006 and 2012 and this time span is justified by the growing animosity between the united states, with its israeli ally, and their foreign enemies, namely iran with its military branch hezbolah. the threat of iran after gaining the nukes and the 2006 israeli-lebanese war and its aftermath are most of the speeches’ content. the speeches are delivered during aipac annual conferences by the executive director howard kohr, aipac president howard friedman and the american president barack obama. all the speeches are to be qualitatively analyzed relying on brown and levinson’s model (1987) and lakoff’s model (2005). samples on face threatening acts (ftas) on record and off record are to be tabulated and analyzed. therefore, tables will deal with positive politeness, negative politeness and imperatives. samples on tautology, understatement, metaphors and rhetorical questions are also lumped in other explicative tables. findings and discussion detection of ftas, on record, with redressive action proceeds, as mentioned above, by going throughout the whole corpus and compiling them in explicative tables followed by analytic notes. the major samples manually detected run as follows: table 1: ftas, on record, with redressive action in aipac speeches (pp) positive politeness  “we must convince our leaders”  “all of us assembled, take a solemn pledge”  “we pledge that we will not be part of a generation that will wish it could call back yesterday”  “there is us – you and me”  “we express our profound appreciation to president bush”  “but my friends, we can change what will yet be”  “this is our time – our moment”  “we must use the strength we have built to change the course of events”  “and you and i must play a central role in shaping tomorrow”  “you and i have a direct role in shaping this national debate”  “what we seek, what our country needs, and what our world demands are leaders”  “each of us must be willing to share our concerns”  “we know how to shape the future” llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 261-275 265  “we will gather with my family and friends, and the shadow of our past will inspire and guide us once more as we remember the exodus from egypt”  “and when asked, we must have the commitment to answer as did our ancestors in every generation – heneini – here i am”  “my friends, at this conference in this year we celebrate the 60th anniversary of that land of hope”  “we need to make our voices heard on a series of critical issues”  “we must educate everyone”  “the progress we have made”  “we know we can make a difference”  “that is our mission and this is our moment – to make the commitment to this cause”  “as we look forward to a future where israel is free”  “let us be certain our voices are heard in defense of the ties that bind america and israel”  “we need to recognize that this campaign is about more than mere rhetoric”  “here is why we must tell that truth and why we must prevail”  “our country should aim at and aspire to”  “in this battle we are the firewall, the last rampart”  “let us reassert our faith”  “we must stand firm against the tehran regime’s nuclear pursuit”  “the future is beyond our vision but let us meet it with confidence and resolve”  “in these times, we come together as friends of israel to share our apprehensions and our hopes, to share our predictions, our insights, our analysis, to discuss and debate, to do the work that is the heart of democracy and the secret of democracy’s success”  “here are the facts we all must confront”  “i hope we do not give up on that vision of peace”  “that is why we must bring even more pressure to bear”  “all of these accomplishments by our leaders have led to important progress” the table above invokes that the speakers in aipac speeches use the strategy of positive politeness to show their closeness to the hearers. a feeling of intimacy is created between the speakers and the audience in order to build a unified vision, for instance, to combat dangers coming from iran “in this battle we are the firewall, the last rampart”. the use of inclusive ‘we’ and ‘let’s’ is frequent as a sign that the mission is one and all the efforts should be gathered to achieve its success. when the speaker says “let us reassert our faith” he employs a centripetal movement via llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 261-275 266 which he brings the hearer to his own scope of interest. this fusion of the first person singular ‘i’ and the second person plural ‘you’ yields the first person plural “we” which is inclusively implemented to avoid clash between speakers and listeners. the speakers avoid threatening the positive face of the hearers all along the speeches via the use of various lubricants as “my friends”, “that is our mission”, “each of us” and “you and i”. feeling that the scourge could take place at any time, speakers are careful about using comity when addressing their audience to guarantee oneness “in these times we come together as friends of israel to share our apprehensions and hopes”. considering the audience as “friends” has a boasting effect on the recipient. hearers are enticed through these techniques of containment to hide any bridge that may exist between speakers and audience. positive face, which is related to our desire to be admired and thanked, is saved throughout the speeches as the above table shows. the speaker minimizes his presence and maximizes the audience’s as in “you and i” where the second personal pronoun is forwarded over the first personal pronoun. it is not a glamorized ‘i’ that speaks along the speeches. the paper even notices that there are hardly instances where the speaker utilizes ‘i’ in a direct way to give orders to listeners. the speeches, therefore, seem to be well – prepared beforehand and the speakers are conscious about their messages. speakers mitigate their address through redressive action since they try to appease the audience. negative politeness is also detected in the speeches since there are expressions that refer to neither the speaker nor the hearer as the table below displays: table 2: ftas, on record, with redressive action in aipac speeches (np) negative politeness  “sanctions could target three groups – the regime, the wealthy, and the unelected mullahs”  “ahmadinejad must never be allowed to address the united nations general assembly as he did just a few months ago”  “these actions will help dry up the resources necessary for iran to invest in weapons of mass destruction”  “in every age individuals have been called to step forward and take action”  “actions not words will be necessary to build the trust on which true peace rests”  “this is the battle for the hearts and minds of the world”  “abraham was told only this, ‘get up , leave your country, your people, and your father’s house and go to the land i will show you”  “we have seen the bravery of a young generation risking its life for universal freedoms”  “what is certain, what is lasting, what is true stand out all the more brightly” llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 261-275 267  “no one has a greater stake in the outcome of events that are folding today than your generation, and it’s inspiring to see you devote your time and energy to help shape that future”  “there is still time to stop iran without the use of force”  “israel can never let that nightmare come” the instances above are clear evidence that the speaker thaws his impact on the target and avoids interference with the addressee’s freedom of action. this fact leads to negative politeness where the speaker relinquishes direct orders to targets and attempts to refer to an exterior reference as the use of ‘individuals’ in the following example “in every age individuals have been called to step forward and take action”. the avoidance of saying to the target ‘step forward and take action’ crystallizes the speaker’s care to save the negative face of the addressee. the reference to ‘abraham’ while addressing the audience stands for motivating them indirectly. what has been ordered to abraham is tacitly meant to sympathizers of israel around the world to “get up, leave your country, your people” and come for the salvation of israel. employing religious reference accentuates the speaker’s restraint in his interaction with the target. he, therefore, relies on the target’s intelligence in responding without being directly guided. similarly, he refers to a whole entity ‘israel’ when calling for urgent reaction against any nightmarish scenario that may take place. he makes his call over – generalized for fear of making a certain imposition on the addressee. passivisation is also another technique adopted by speakers in aipac speeches “ahmadinejad must never be allowed” through which they omit overt directions to addressees to lessen their personal impact. in so doing, they succeed in preserving the targets’ independence and freedom of action. they also present thriving prototypes “we have seen the bravery of a young generation” for the sake of boosting the target’s morale and implicitly guiding him to follow this good example. the speakers’ address overcomes the people attending the conference to land on policy makers watching the whole scene far beyond the closed aipac policy conference room. despite their absence, the speakers save their negative face mainly when dealing with imposition of sanctions on iran “sanctions could target three groups”. instead of giving a direct order for them, the speaker talks about the positive ramifications of sanctions. he highlights the bright side of an action instead of giving explicit command that may be rejected from the receiver. formality and self – effacement are grasped in the speakers’ way of delivering orders to audience. endeavoring to respect the target’s negative face is also discernible since the speaker obscures the fact of being totally imperative. rather, speakers in many cases utilize general references as ‘individuals’ or ‘generations’ while addressing the audience. these instances may display that the target is somehow intractable to be persuaded. doing ftas off record is also highlighted in the speakers’ speeches where they resort to metaphors, understatements, tautologies and rhetorical questions. some instances of this indirect strategy are compiled in the following table: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 261-275 268 table 3: ftas, off record, in aipac speeches metaph ors -“evil men and their regimes” -“we are asked to speak truth to power” -“eyes turned from the smoke and suffering” -“land of hope” -“bed rock relationshi ps” -“our hearts go out to the people of sderot” -“see light emerge from such darkness” -“this is the battle for the hearts and minds of the world” understatem ents -“one of the great sorrows of life is this simple fact” -“iran is not a superpower” -“but iran is vulnerable” overstatem ents -“with that great goal in mind” -“i saw something i thought i would never see in my lifetime” -“it was america that gave freedom to hope” -“few of the many on a very long list, but they are more than a list” -“they are preparing us for a world in which israel stands alone, isolated and at risk” -“when israel’s enemies mount their war of words they aim at the absolute foundation” -“they wanted to lead the most powerful country on earth” -“it will safeguard the rhetori cal question s -“how much could action at that moment changed history?” -“how many could have been spared the horror?” -“what accusation will be next?” -“what outrage will come tonight or tomorrow?” -“what will you do then? will you ask for forgiveness ? will you say, ‘we were wrong’?” tautolog ies -“now is the time to stop iran. now is the time to confront hamas” -“this is our time, our moment” -“sanction and sanction” -“what a miracle it was to see israel born, what a miracle it was” -“but the campaign doesn’t stop here…but the campaign doesn’t stop here” -“israel. israel” -“what is certain, what is lasting, what is true” llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 261-275 269 -“erase israel from the map” -“to remind old hands” -“the one indispensa ble ally in a sea of dictatorshi ps” holy places of all religions” -“there is nothing we cannot endure together, nothing we cannot accomplish together” “think of the israel we know. think of the israel we know” an overall view of the table above shows that there is much focus on the use of tautologies by the speakers in the various aipac speeches. effectively, whenever there is reference to foes “now is the time to stop iran” or to the self “israel, israel”, the speaker expresses the same idea more than once. he tries to accentuate the other’s threat and the urgent need to halt it. the repetitive description of the other is meant to be echoed throughout the speech to be stuck in the reader’s or listener’s mind. similarly, tautology serves to induce the target to acquire a given piece of information and challengingly works for its mongering “think of the israel we know”. redundancy of certain words is targeted to be memorized and activated by the receiver. this strategy has an emotional effect on the audience since it blatantly calls the other to respond and figure out the dire situation existing “but the campaign doesn’t stop here”. this play on the receiver’s emotions is also flagrant when the speaker declares “what a miracle it was to see israel born”. repeating the word “miracle” is minutely selected to glamorize the status quo of israel. in so doing, the speaker indirectly recommends the target to advocate his love for israel through acting out whatever and however the means will be. strategically done, the speaker contains the target by his tautologies and renders him more lenient towards his commands. coupled with tautologies, the speaker saves the positive and negative faces of the target through metaphors. for instance, the fact of seeing “light emerge from darkness” presupposes that the target has to combat for this rosy picture. it llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 261-275 270 is referenced to the audience, as symbols of light, who have to drastically struggle to make this light ubiquitous. he even depicts the audience as “the hearts and minds of the world” pushing them, implicitly, to make this picture true. the speaker, via metaphors, saves the target’s face as this figurative language dispels any threat to the target in breaching his personal desire to be free and independent. appeasing the other is also touched in overstatements where the speaker refers to israel as the sole country which “will safeguard the holy places of all religions”. hyperbole lies in the fact that israel cares for “all religions” as if it was the most powerful country in the world which serves to be the overarching care taker of all people’s religions. the speaker through exaggeration is sending a reassuring message to his addressees that israel’s paramount goal is the following and your intrinsic contribution is surely welcomed. simultaneously, overstatements are sometimes meant to threaten the listener as “they are preparing us for a world in which israel stands alone”. in other words, if you do not react and try to change the existing shortcomings, you will definitely be subdued and distorted. exhorting the listeners indirectly through overstatements will absolutely guarantee the fulfillment of “that great goal in mind”. the speaker depicts this goal as such to magnify the benefit and persuades the target to spontaneously enter the course of events. accordingly, the speaker makes his message replete with rhetorical questions as “what will you do then?” to make the picture complete. the questions do not wait for the listener’s justification, rather, they smoothly push him to act. most of the rhetorical questions are employed at the closing of the speeches to maintain the aforementioned arguments uttered by the speaker. this strategic use is meant to entice the listeners and make them believe that their action is compulsory. since all the speeches are built on the duality of israel and its foes, the speakers do not rely much on understatements. apart from few samples, the speakers negotiate an open, direct and concise speech with their interlocutors. it may be viewed that the speakers do not waste their time in being sarcastic to an approaching enemy. instead, they boast the enemy through hyperbole and tautology to gain as much support from the audience as they could. belittling the other does not fit well, in this case, the speakers’ goals. since the speakers magnify the danger, they sometimes resort to imperatives forgetting about the targets’ negative face as the following instances unveil: table 4: ftas, on record, without redressive action in aipac speeches imperatives  “consider the effect if”  “listen to what the charter states”  “look at the nature of the campaigns already”  “ask them to match your membership contribution to aipac” llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 261-275 271  “look at the israeli city of sderot”  “think of the israel we know” the first two imperatives are baldly uttered by the speaker to catch the listener’s attention to what is going to be said. they herald that what will be said is psychologically salient in the speaker’s mind and needs to be negotiated with the receiver. the speaker staves off comity and straight forward addresses the target bringing the latter to one common ground that includes both the speaker and the listener. the speaker foregrounds the coming event and intimately invokes the listener to be an active participant. therefore, he avoids mitigation and lets his speech direct. the remaining four imperatives are nearly conducted in a similar way since they are presented by the speaker as urgent acts that do not need procrastination. they all revolve around the well – being of israel that’s why they are considered as friendly invitations rather than harsh orders. the speaker relies on stative verbs “look, think” to make his imperatives more insightful. it is a call for cooperation and hard work to mark a deep positive change in israel’s struggle for viability. even though the speaker forgets about saving the negative face of the addressee, he considers his imperatives as an obligation for every truthful sympathizer with israel case. the stative verbs evidence that the speaker calls for critical thinking on the controversy of israel. he is prodding the listeners more than ordering them since the benefits will be higher. all through the formerly construed data of face and politeness, the deliverers of the speeches are proved to heavily rely on positive politeness. they do not resort to duress or reprimand while addressing the audience in order to gain the utmost sympathy with israel’s case. paradoxically, imperatives, as shown above, are not actuated a lot since they threaten the listener’s positive and negative faces. the speaker avoids any doubtful element that may let the listener believe that the speaker is assailing him. doing ftas off record is also implemented by speakers to lessen the impact on the target and make him more independent in taking future decisions. the focus, ultimately, is on a centripetal movement where the speaker yields an unimpeded way for the target. the latter feels commended, welcomed and praised. positive politeness is at the center surrounded by negative politeness which is often mitigated through figures of speech. this paper selects aipac political annual speeches as a case study and displays that political actors resort to a variety of ftas types with a special focus on positive politeness. face threatening acts on record with redressive action have been heavily deployed by aipac politicians. the latter managed to save the positive and the negative face of the audience and there is a dearth of face threatening acts on record without redressive action. imperatives are nearly avoided and implicitly replaced by face threatening acts off record. the political actors refrained from threatening the negative face of their interlocutors and, rather, made use of metaphors, overstatements and rhetorical questions. they also reinforced their strategic use of positive politeness by the reliance on llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 261-275 272 tautologies where they opted for increasing the audience’s sympathy and gaining their trust and approval. complimenting, praising and acclaiming are, therefore, core strategies in aipac politicians’ speeches since these speakers seek to cultivate friendly relationships with their interlocutors. the reliance on these expressive speech acts (complimenting and praising) proved by the present paper goes in line with the major findings of kampf and danziger (2019). both expressive speech acts are transpired in aipac speeches and they prove “how political actors signal their desire to please addressees and advance political sociability by way of manifesting the positive judgment towards others” (kampf & danziger, 2019). the rule of ‘be clear, be polite’ (lakoff 2005) has been deployed throughout the discourse to set a short-cut fulfillment of the speakers’ intended goals: promoting us-israel strategic relations and saving the national security of israel. the international context between 2006 and 2012 regarding americanisraeli foreign policies is taken into consideration by aipac speakers. the latter engage in a centripetal movement where an inclusive “we” is deemed relevant to maximize the benefit and minimize the loss. these expressive speech acts (praising, complimenting and acclamation) which “have been under-studied thus far in public contexts” (kampf and danziger, 2019) are proved by the present study to be effective tools in identifying how political actors promote political understanding with addressees. this empathetic relation between the political speakers and the audience transcends the interactional level (livnat & lewin, 2016) and seeks to engage the addressees into action. gaining the others’ sympathy and ‘recruiting’ them are signs of how a political actor tries to “uphold his post-truth, populist ideology” (ardila, 2019) and “to demonstrate the role of solidarity oriented actions in cultivating friendly relationships and models of behavior” (kampf & danziger, 2019). the “implicit communication” (kadar & zhang, 2019) that political actors try to perpetuate is unveiled through this pragmatic analysis of politeness strategies. as any scientific research is restricted by a number of limitations, this study is not an exception. this paper confined its analysis to seven political speeches in which five are delivered by the same political actor. the corpus, thus, could have been more enlarged and could have encompassed various political actors from multiple political belongings to more effectively test the validity of the interconnectedness between politeness strategies and political discourse. the time span, where tension is at its zenith between the american-israeli alliance and their foes (iran, hezbolah and hamas), may justify the over-reliance of political actors on face threatening acts on record with redressive action. therefore, the study could have mixed up peace and war speeches for more efficient results. however, the major findings of this paper could not have been appreciated in the sense that they fill in the scholarship gap in the study of politeness theories and political discourse namely when it comes to the deployment of positive politeness. expressive speech acts denote their usefulness in deconstructing implicit political intentions and ways of political leaders in gaining addressees’ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 261-275 273 sympathy. the under-study of complimenting and praise (kampf & danziger, 2019) is partially fulfilled through this study and the proof that an urgent need for more scrutiny is also denoted. these expressive speech acts transcend the role of greeting and interacting and turn to be rhetorical strategies that exert power and dominance over the audience to finally reshape public opinion. methodologically speaking, the study offers a renewed model for the study of politeness strategies by merging brown and levinson’s model (1987) with lakoff’s (2005). conclusion this study chooses aipac annual speeches between 2006 and 2012 to be approached from politeness angle. the major findings displayed the importance of such studies in marking the inter-relation between politeness theories and political discourse and how political actors resort to positive and negative politeness in their due course to realize their ends. these forms of politeness (notably positive politeness), henceforth, deserve much attention while going through political texts and talks because they go beyond the interactional level to more implicit communicative goals. political speakers in the present study moved from expressing warmth, praise 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(2009). methods of critical discourse analysis (second edition). london, los angeles, new delhi, singapore and washington, dc: sage. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 126 evaluating saudi efl secondary schools students' performance on paul nation's standardized vocabulary level tests ali albashir mohammed alhaj, mesfer ahmed mesfer alwadai, and mohammed hamed albuhairi king khalid university, saudi arabia dr_abomathani@yahoo.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2019.220112 received 10 january 2019; revised 21 february 2019; accepted 30 march 2019 abstract the current study aims to evaluate saudi efl secondary school students' performance on paul nation's standardized vocabulary level tests. it also aims to examine the vocabulary size of efl saudi secondary school students at asir district. two tools were used for collecting data. the first one was paul nation's vocabulary levels test (vlt). the second tool was a questionnaire (tvlsq) with 13 items. the purposive sample consisted of (80) students besides (20) english teachers. the study sample was selected from abha secondary schools schools/saudi arabia. the study came out with the following results: saudi efl secondary school students' vocabulary size word test falls within 1,000 frequency level, indicating that students are unable to gasp an average text. saudi efl secondary school student who obtained higher marks in 1,000 word level also obtained higher marks in 2,000 –word level and vice versa. these results confirmed the high correlation between the two tests which hits 0.76. moreover, in paul nation's vocabulary levels test (vlt) the more words saudi efl secondary school student knows, the better score his/her four skills. to most secondary school teachers as well as students, english grammar is the main focus on their teaching and learning, not the vocabulary. keywords: evaluating, performance, standardized, vocabulary, tests/saudi efl/secondary school/students introduction saudi secondary school students are taught a large number of words but some of them might not be useful to qualify them to perform well on vocabulary standardized tests such as vlt. this might cause a serious problem that influences other skills of english language such as reading, speaking, listening and writing. moreover, there are other vocabulary aspects that learners have to master to give them a better chance to understand and use language effectively. these aspects include polysemy, connotation, associations and other lexical relations. consequently, vocabulary learning is not a mere listing of words meaning but more complicated and problematic area of language learning. this research aims to examine saudi secondary school students' vocabulary in accordance with paul nation's vocabulary levels test (vlt) and evaluate whether the vocabulary taught llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 127 is of high or low frequency. to meet the foregoing stated objectives the following research question is raised to find out to what extent is the initial level of saudi efl secondary school students' vocabulary size lower than 1000 words as judged and assessed by vlt. this study is supposed to test the following hypothesis: the initial level of saudi secondary school students' vocabulary size is lower than 1000 words as judged and assessed by vlt. this study is important for tests, textbooks designers and writers as it makes them pay attention to choose of the most widely used words in our everyday life and avoid stuffing teaching materials with useless passive words. it also draws educators’ attention to what goes around them in the world in vocabulary teaching, acquisition, learning and updating of high frequency words. the study is also important for test and text designers as well as for vocabulary acquisition researchers: for the former because they are better informed to create materials and tests suitable for different levels and educational needs, and for the latter, because empirical data from different groups of subjects can provide a baseline for comparison and help to identify patterns of vocabulary acquisition and development. the study will also be conducted at some abha secondary schools during the academic year 1439/1440 h (2018/2019). the number of subjects in this study is not large enough. they are students from the different schools, it cannot be thought the same results can be obtained else in saudi arabia. it needs for further studies in more secondary schools in other cities or provinces of saudi arabia. finally, some assumptive for vocabulary learning and teaching are suggested. future study of this kid is hoped to overcome the limitations of this study. words are essential to communication. little children learn to speak in isolated words and then in chains of nouns and verbs. the child who says “daddy bye-bye ear” is easily understood by english–speaking adults. we expect students of a second language, however, to control the grammatical feature of that language as well as its vocabulary. students are idiosyncratic in the way they remember vocabulary – no two students are exactly the same. in particular, as students become more advanced, their individual interest and needs will help determine what kinds of words they will want to understand, remember and use. students who are immersed into a new linguistic setting tend to pick up vocabulary first, and then gradually develop a more accurate structural framework in which to use these words. esl students in the united states of america will, therefore, concentrate on vocabulary acquisition and may use pidgin english before mastering standard english. english–speaking students of french or spanish, on the other hand, will usually go through a course of instruction that focuses at first on mastery of the sound system and selected structures and subsequently stresses more intensive vocabulary work. selecting the words to be taught even the best teachers in the most ideal settings can never teach all of the words that learners need. choices need to be made, when deciding which words to address, teachers will find it useful to distinguish between increasing vocabulary. (introducing new words) and establishing vocabulary (building on and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 128 strengthening partial word knowledge). both are important. paul nation (1990) argues that'' old material in any lesson is the most important ''(p.7), in part because of the incremental nature of word learning. it is wise to build on initial investment in word learning by giving known words more attention and giving learners a chance to focus on new aspect of a word in contextualize settings. therefore, teachers will want to select words that their students have seen before but may not be able to use in their own production. they will also want to select new words that students will need. these choices should be guided by students' needs, including their level of learning and their academic and professional goals. (paul nation, p.8) the most important words in any language are those that are most frequent. the gsl, for example, is a high-frequency list made up of the 2000 word family that occur most frequently in a variety of domains (conversations, newspapers, novel, news programs, etc.); these high-frequency words make up at least 80% of written texts and 90% of conversation (nation, 2008). some frequency lists are designed for specific groups of learners. for example, the academic word list (awl) (coxhaed's academic word list) retrieved 12/12/2018 http://www.cal.org/create/conferences/20. contains approximately 570 word families that occur most frequency in academic material across four academic domains (business, the humanities, law, and the physical and life sciences). it is based on a corpus of 3.5 million words and is designed to guide word selection for general academic preparation in all fields. the criteria for inclusions on this list were that the wards not appear on the gsl and that they occur frequently and uniformly across the four domains. the awl is used widely in dictionaries and course materials (see coxhead, 2000). other frequency lists identify technical words (words frequently used in specific fields such as science, medicine, or math) (zimmerman, 2009, p.117). regardless of the specific target language and the condition of instruction, vocabulary is an important factor in all language learning and teaching. students must continually be learning words as they learn structures and as they practices the sounds system. this study aims at examining saudi secondary school students' vocabulary in accordance with paul nation's vocabulary levels test (vlt), as well as evaluating whether the vocabulary taught is of high or low frequency. method subject there are two groups of subjects in this research: (1) saudi secondary school students answering nation's tests (vlt), (2) saudi male and female teachers of english answering the questionnaire. the participate sample selected for this study consisted of saudi secondary students at abha secondary school complex. the purposive sample consisted of (50) students besides (20) english teachers. in total, 50 students returned completed tests (out of 80 approached, 20 of the respondents were male with the remaining 30 female students). students aged between 16 and 19. the participate sample selected for this study consisted of saudi secondary teachers of english at abha secondary schools. in total 20 teachers of english returned completed questionnaires (out of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 129 30 approached). this purposive population of the research consisted exclusively of teachers of english who taught english language more than five years. instruments the present study used two tools. the first one was nation's standardized vocabulary level test (vlt). the second tool was and the teacher vocabulary learning strategies questionnaire. meanwhile vlt was used to measure students' word level size. additionally, tvlsq was used to collect english teachers ' overall opinions on vocabulary learning. questionnaire the second tool of gathering data was the teacher vocabulary learning strategies questionnaire which was adapted to teachers' experience, for example, with regards to the motivational aspects of english vocabulary learning, teachers were asked about their students' knowledge of vocabulary and motivation. the remaining sections, deal with linguistic aspects, english vocabulary teaching, and vocabulary teaching assessment. a. validity to test the validity of the questionnaire, the questionnaire was pre-piloted first with some experts in the field, four assistant professors at king khalid university, saudi arabia. a thirteenth item was added to the third (evaluation of lexical competence), which was' paul nation's vocabulary level test is unique to assess my students' vocabulary size). also, a phrase was added to the first item, outside classroom. b. reliability of the questionnaire first, all the items included in the tvlsq were checked for their reliability, cronbach's alpha is well-known coefficient that estimates the proportion of variance that is systematic or consistent in a set of test scores. the cronbach's alpha scores (n=20) obtained for this study instruments were of 0,654, which can be considered a good indicator of its reliability. the major subscales obtained the following scores. table 1. reliability coefficient of tvlsq q. pivots motivational aspects linguistic aspects evaluation of lexical competence total scores reliability coefficient 0.742 0.778 0.668 0.654 statistical dif. 0,01 0,01 0,01 0,01 it can be seen from table (1) that tvlsq has a higher degree of consistency reliability. procedure students' vocabulary level test permission to undertake the research was first obtained from the principal of abha secondary school and then the head department of english language. the total number of test copies distributed by the volunteer teachers was 80. the number of the returned valid copies was 50. the time allowed was forty minutes. the researcher, as a shooter trouble, ensured that the rubric of the test was very llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 130 comprehensive and clear to all .the researcher marked the test. the maximum mark of the test was 30. ethics of scientific research were closely observed throughout the different stages of this study. this included (and are not limited to) respecting students' privacy, preserving and accurately presenting their answers, and not using threatening and/or fraudulent means to force them to participate in the study. respondents were briefed about the nature and goals of my study in order to obtain their informed consent. english teachers' questionnaire as indicated in the previous section, the participants of the questionnaire were teachers of english. there were 30 participants in total since each school of the complex had about 10 teachers of english. the total number of the questionnaire copies distributed by volunteer teachers was 30. the number of the returned valid copies was 20. this high rate of returned papers was attributed to the following reasons: 1. effort exerted by volunteer teachers, most of them were my colleagues. 2. the investigated subject might be of great interest to respondents. 3. only one or two sections of the questionnaires were answered. 4. some participants carelessly answered the items of the questionnaire. 5. four or more items were unanswered. thus, the number of valid questionnaire was 20. 6. was used to collect english teachers' overall opinions on vocabulary learning findings and discussion data analysis results this section reports the results of the analysis of the data from the teacher vocabulary learning strategies questionnaire (tvlsq) which aimed at gathering data from other side of the learning process. the results were analyzed and discussed in order to answer the following research question: is the initial level of saudi secondary school students' vocabulary size lower than 1000 words as judged and assessed by vlt? the results show that saudi secondary school students' vocabulary size is within 1000 word level. below are the means and standard deviations, ranges, for students’ scores which show: table 2. type of vlt mean(x) standard deviations ( sd) t. value function vlt 1,000 words 23.48 7.18 6.65 ,01 vlt 2,000 words 18.32 8.39 table 2 shows the means and standard deviations for the 1,000 word test and the 2,000 frequency band of the vlt. as can be seen, the mean score for the former is 23.48, whereas for the latter is 18.32. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 131 as can be also seen from table 2 the mean scores achieved by saudi secondary school students of some abha's schools in both levels. the mean of23.48 points obtained in the 1,000 frequency level drops sharply to 18.32 in 2,000 vlt. the results of the t.test applied to the means of each frequency level gave us the following value t=6.65. this value is significant at the ,01 level. it can be claimed that saudi secondary school students know considerably fewer words from the 2,000 than from the 1,000 frequency level. the low scores achieve indicate that saudi secondary school students know english words from the 2,000 frequency band. the correlations were conducted between scores on the 1,000 and 2,000 word frequency levels. results show a highly correlation between the two tests (r = ,76) in order to ascertain whether there are significant differences between the scores of the students in two tests, their means scores were compared for the 1,000 and 2,000 word level tests. table 3 presents the means and standard deviations for both group. table 3. type of vlt mean (x) standard deviations (sd) vlt 1,000 words 23.48 7.18 vlt 2,000 words 18.32 8.39 as can be seen from table 4 there is statistical difference between means scores of saudi secondary school students in both tests (vlt 1,000 words=23.24), vlt 2,000 words=18.32). the differences are due to t. value which hits (6.65) (see table 2). these values are significant at the ,01 level. the results confirmed the differences in favor of vlt 1,000 word test. figure 1. shows knowledge of words from vlt, 1,000 words was less than that of vlt, 1000 words as can be seen from figure 1 that the english receptive vocabulary size of sudanese secondary school students as measured by the 1,000 word test falls within 1,000 frequency level. however, this does not mean that these students master this level since scores reveal that half of them recognize less than two-third of the words from this level. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 132 figure 2. shows knowledge of words from vlt,2000 words was less than that of vlt, 1,000 words as can be seen from figure 2 that knowledge of words from the second thousand most frequent was less than that of the first one thousand. figure 3. compares the results of both tests (vlt, 1,000+ vlt, 2000 words) as can be seen from figure 3 the performance of saudi secondary school students in 1,000 –word level was better than in 2,000–word level. figure 3 indicates that, the student who obtained higher marks in 1,000–word level also obtained higher marks in 2,000–word level and vice versa. these results confirmed the high correlation between the two tests which hits ,76. the evaluation of performance of saudi secondary school students in 1000 and 2000 vlt 1. saudi secondary school students’ vocabulary size is lower than the requirement of the curriculum. the reason for this is in saudi secondary school, students have so many classes to learn they cannot spend much time on english. 2. saudi secondary school students do not have scientific vocabulary learning strategies. many students remember words by reciting or copying, and they do not much know about useful vocabulary-learning ways. 3. teachers and students do not pay more attention to vocabulary learning. to most secondary school teachers, english grammar is the main focus on their teaching, not the vocabulary. language skills are important in language llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 133 learning, vocabulary is the base of all the language skills, especially for students in secondary education. in this way, english teachers should focus on students' vocabulary learning and they must encourage their students to remember more words in order to improve their vocabulary size and then improve their language skills. 4. the typical way of students learning english is in a direct teaching by teachers in english classes, but in other lessons or not in the english class, english is not widely used. so, students do not have many opportunities to practice english. in addition, it is often limited for saudi secondary school students to read english materials, especially those have relation with language comprehension ability. testing hypotheses hypothesis one hypothesis 1 is stated as follows: the initial level of saudi secondary school students' vocabulary size is lower than 1000 words as judged and assessed by vlt. this hypothesis addresses research question 1 (see the introduction) which aims to find out the initial level of saudi efl secondary school students' vocabulary size which is hypothesized to be lower than 1000 words as judged and assessed by vlt. consequently, through the data gathered this hypothesis was rejected and it was found that the english receptive vocabulary size of saudi secondary school students as measured by the 1,000 word test falls within 1,000 frequency level. according to the instrumentalists’ view, individuals who perform better on a vocabulary test probably understand more of the words in texts they read than individuals who score lower do. the central idea of this hypothesis is straightforward: knowing the words enables reading comprehension. in other words, this position claims that vocabulary knowledge is a direct factor in the causal chain resulting in reading comprehension. the educational implications of the instrumentalist hypothesis are apparent: in order to improve students' reading ability. vocabulary teaching should be regarded as a priority in the curriculum. the larger a student's vocabulary, the better he or she will understand a text. the results of teacher vocabulary learning strategies questionnaire (tvlsq) 1. more than 0,95= the achievement of statements in real context. 2. less than 0,64= no achievement of statements in real context. 3. when the statement comes between 0,64 and 0,95 shows that achievement of statements in average level. conclusion the english receptive vocabulary size of saudi secondary school students as measured by the 1,000 word test falls within 1,000 frequency level. the student who obtained higher marks in 1,000–word level also obtained higher marks in 2,000 –word level and vice versa. these results confirmed the high correlation between the two tests which hits ,76. there is statistical difference between means scores of saudi secondary school students in both tests (vlt 1,000 words=23.24), vlt 2,000 words=18.32).the differences are due to t.value which hits (6.65), 1,000 word level was better than in 2,000–word level. the results show that saudi llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 134 secondary school students 'vocabulary size is within the 1000 and 2000 word level. their vocabulary knowledge is relatively low at the 2000 word level, indicating that they will struggle to understand an average text. the results revealed that receptive of words in the 1000 and 2000 frequency levels plays a role in assessing reading, speaking, listening, writing quality. in this sense, the more words saudi secondary school student knows, the better score his/her four skills. many words students do not know the meaning of these words. that is to say, the percentage of the words students remembering is really low. it tells us saudi secondary school students’ vocabulary size in 2000 level test is so limited. numerous studies indicate that vocabulary knowledge is an important factor for understanding when reading, writing text. therefore, students’ vocabulary assessment and instruction should be a focus of every english course especially at the secondary level in order to prevent the matthew effect, that poor readers read less and acquire fewer words, while better readers read more and learn more words from their reading. to conclude vocabulary is central to language and of great importance to the language learners. without the mediation of vocabulary and lexical knowledge, basic communication would be impossible even with grammatical or the other type of linguistic knowledge. it is considered by both first and second researchers to be of great importance in language competence. it is vital to motivate students to rely on textual and contextual clues in dealing with unfamiliar words rather than looking them up in a bilingual dictionary. the results of the current research call for future research on surveying the relationship between receptive vocabulary, written skills and individual differences. the present study might also be useful, with some modifications, to be carried out in the other secondary schools in sudan to see if there are differences between students' performance in each secondary school. more research on saudi secondary school students' vocabulary and teaching is required. references abu-seif, l. 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(2009). word knowledge. new york: oxford university press. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 131 who am “i” in academic writing?: the study of authorial identity anandya asprillia and tofan dwi hardjanto universitas gadjah mada, yogyakarta, indonesia anandya.a@mail.ugm.ac.id, deha@ugm.ac.id correspondence: anandya.a@mail.ugm.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2020.230110 received 11 march 2020; accepted 05 april 2020 abstract in this paper, we attempt to examine the identity of researchers in writing their research articles (ras) by exploring the linguistic forms indicating the identity of the authors in english ras, determining the functions these forms serve in the discourse, and revealing the socio-cultural aspects implied from the use of the authorial identity. we will identify the english first-person pronouns used by native and non-native authors in scopus-indexed linguistics and education academic journal articles. this study applied the corpus linguistic method to collect the data and to draw conclusions about the authorial identity presented in the articles. hopefully, this paper will help to not only comprehend the role and the importance of the authorial presence but also encourage researchers to represent their identity in their own ras. keywords: academic writing, authorial identity, discourse functions, first person pronouns. introduction impersonality in academic writing has encouraged academic authors in reporting their research in the form of research articles. not only is it suggested by writing guidance books, but some researchers also agree that impersonality in academic writing can show objectivity and open-mindedness (arnaudet & barrett, 1984; lachowicz, 1981 in hyland, 2001). hyland’s study (2002) in hongkong showed that students used impersonality in their essays because first-person pronouns had a strong indication of self-representation in writing. thus, they felt uncomfortable to use the first-person pronouns in their research essays. as regards the need of the authors as part of an academic community, they need to stay “hidden” as a sign of respect for the academic community and focus more on their investigation rather than emerging their existence in their writing (karahan, 2013; molino, 2010). however, hyland (2001) states that authors cannot avoid projecting themselves in their writing. therefore, academic writing, such as research articles, should allow the authors to express their existence. this act of showing the authors’ existence should not be judged as a discouragement for the objectivity of their research. instead, authorial presence in their research articles can be llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 132 considered a way of telling their identity. research has shown that authorial presence in ras can give several advantages, such as promoting authors' credibility from the research as it is used for claiming knowledge and opinion (harwood, 2005a, 2005b; hyland, 2001) and helping authors to engage with the readers and community (hyland, 2002; kuo, 1998). moreover, present-day academic writing tends to encourage authors to market or promote themselves as the scientific community provides them a “competition arena” of scientific contribution (harwood, 2005a) so that the authorial presence is considered necessary to show the authors “self” in the ra. many studies investigating the authors “self” in the ras have been conducted (e.g. çandarli, bayyurt, & marti, 2015; carciu, 2009; gu, 2010; işık-taş, 2018; karahan, 2013; li & deng, 2019; vassileva, 1998; susanti, kurnia, & suharsono, 2018). those studies were conducted in countries where english is not the native language for the community there. the reason for investigating the authorial presence in cross-cultural, native-nonnative english research articles is that each academic community has cultures that can be compared. the contrastive studies of the authorial presence can help to understand the factors underlying the writing and papers, which affect the authors around the world in showing themselves in their ras. in this study, we aim to find out the authorial identity of english native and non-native authors that are reflected in the use of personal pronouns and references in english language education ras and to explore the discourse functions that construct the authorial identity in the ras. authorial identity in research articles ivanič (1998) states that “writing is an act of identity in which people align themselves with socio-culturally shaped possibilities for self-hood, playing their part in reproducing or challenging dominant practices and discourses, and the values, beliefs, and interests which they embody.” in other words, writing itself is the representation of its author regardless of whether the authors are truly present in their writing or not. identity in academic writing can be traced back when cherry (1988)⁠ introduced two kinds of identity offered by the authors when they are writing, namely ethos and persona. ethos refers to the personal characteristics and persona to the roles that authors employ in composing their articles (tang & john, 1999). ivanič (1998) brought this concept of identity into her ways of interpreting the identity of a person in the act of writing, in which she called them “the selves”, namely (1) autobiographical self, which refers to the identity that brought by the authors into their writing such as their origin or their gender, (2) discoursal self, i.e. the identity constructed through the discourse characteristics of a text, which is related to values, beliefs and power relations in the social context in which they were written, and (3) self as author, which expresses the voice of the writer, in the sense of the writer's position, opinions and beliefs. this study will focus on discoursal self since we deal with how the authors represent themselves in a ra discourse and how the ra discourse constructs the identity of the authors themselves. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 133 tang and john (1999) proposed a framework based on first-person pronouns usage in ras, namely (1) “i” as the representative, (2) “i” as the guide through an essay, (3) “i” as the architect of the essay, (4) “i” as the recounter of the research process, (5) “i” as the opinion holder, and (6) “i” as the originator. this is based on what ivanic (1998) has mentioned about the continuum from not using “i” to use “i” in academic writing. since ivanic did not develop the criteria of those continua, tang and john (1999) then introduced the six classifications that consecutively categorize the roles taken by the authors in the ra from the least powerful to most powerful identity. following tang and john’s framework, harwood (2005b) also mentioned his interest in authorial presence by focusing on the inclusivity and exclusivity of personal pronouns in ras. inclusive pronouns allow readers to be involved in the authors' point of view. through inclusive pronouns, the authors build the bridge to their readers to gain the same assumption towards the authors’ knowledge. while exclusive pronouns tend to specify those who involved in the authors’ research. mainly, exclusive pronouns only take the authors and their research team to be included in the authors’ research. we will take the tang and john’s framework to classify the discourse function that was served by the linguistic forms we examined. we will also identify the personal pronouns through how the authors refer to their role as the writers and engage the readers in inclusive pronouns and how the authors suggest their role as the writers and other people associated with the writers in exclusive pronouns⁠. personal pronouns as authorial references in research articles. personal pronouns refer to which the grammatical distinction of person applies (huddleston & pullum, 2007). most researchers studying authorial presence in ras focused on how the first-person pronouns in english revealed the way the authors showed themselves in ras (e.g., can & cangır, 2019; carciu, 2009; chavez munoz, 2013; dontcheva-navrátilová, 2013; mur dueñas, 2007). the first-person pronouns indicated the references to the speakers or in this case the authors. the english first-person pronouns examined in this study are presented in table 1. table 1. english first person pronouns (huddleston and pullum, 2002)⁠. nominative accusative genitive reflexive singular i me my, mine myself plural we us our, ours ourselves however, in most cases, the authors of ras have also expressed themselves in a form other than first-person pronouns. in addition to the first-person pronouns, the references were the nouns that described the role of the authors, namely the researcher, the writer, and the author. thus, in this study, we will also see how those references are used to convey the identity of the authors in ras. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 134 the use of first-person pronouns in research articles was common in the past but it changed gradually as the academic cultures developed (kuo, 1998). in the past, scientific articles were mostly written in the form of letters. most of the scientist at that time believed that human played the most important role in the scientific investigation. thus, using the first-person pronouns in research articles was considered as personal honesty and modesty. as the interest of research was changed from experimental report to investigation, the focus was also shifted from the scientist into the investigation itself. impersonality in writing scientific articles was distinguished as the characteristic of scientific reporting. nowadays, the researchers are demanded not only to report their results of the investigation but also to claim and to be significant in their research so that they can be considered contributive to their academic community. methodology in this corpus research, we took the data from four english language scopusindexed journals, namely journal of english for academic purposes, journal of second language writing, linguistics, and education from science direct and language and education from taylor & francis. those journals focus on empirical studies of english language education. each article consisted of abstract, introduction, method, result, and discussion (aimrd). the total articles used for the data were 36 articles, which were divided into two categories, namely native author (18 articles) and non-native author (18 articles). the total lengths of words of the journal articles we examined are explained in table 1 as follows: table 2. total words from the data source. no data source article lengths native (words) article lengths nonnative (words) 1. journal of english for academic purposes 33.446 40.357 2. journal of second language writing 41.261 43.280 3. linguistics and education 35.074 35.908 4. language and education 23.628 27.085 total 133.409 146.630 as the articles were in pdf, we changed their format into txt to insert them into our corpus tool, i.e. wordsmith (scott, 2008). the txt version of each article section was filtered using the wordsmith feature called concordance. in the txt format of article sections, the concordance selected the linguistics form of authorial identity, namely the first-person pronouns and other common authorial references (the author/s, the researcher/s, and the writer/s). for the quantitative analysis, given the fact that each ra was different in word length, we applied a normalization per 100.000 words to make a fair llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 135 comparison between the frequencies of each authorial reference. we also applied a chi-square test using spss 23 to test the probability of the authorial references’ occurrence in native and non-native ras. we did a qualitative analysis using tang & john's (1999)⁠ framework to categorize the authorial references used by the authors. this categorization will show the discourse functions existed in authorial references found in the ras, revealing which identity being carried by the authorial references. the analysis also determined the inclusive and exclusive functions of the authorial references. in the end, we also interpreted the identities revealed from the authorial references used in the ras. findings and discussion frequencies of authorial references table 3. frequencies of first person pronouns used in native ra. first-person pronouns in native ra raw normal we 349,00 261,60 our 218,00 163,41 i 86,00 64,46 table 4. frequencies of first person pronouns used in non-native ra. first-person pronouns in non-native ra raw normal we 242,00 165,04 our 125,00 85,25 i 48,00 32,74 from this study, we found that “we” is the most commonly used first-person pronouns as the authorial references in both native and non-native ras. the pronouns “we” were mostly found in native ras, although “we” were also the most commonly used first-person pronouns in non-native ras. other first-person pronouns frequencies that were also more likely to be used in both ras were surprisingly the same, namely “our” and “i” respectively. we believe that since most of the ras were written by many authors or by a research team, they tended to use “we” as often as “our” to refer to the authors. since the studies are about elaborating ideas, we assume that pronoun “we” are needed the most because it shows the researchers as the subject of the study. after all, syntactically, “we” belongs to the subject of a clause/sentence. in english, personal subject pronouns are significantly used to determine the agent of a process (molino, 2010). the pronoun “our” expresses the claim towards the ideas which belong to the researchers since it belongs to the possessive pronouns category. it aligns with hyland's (2001) statement that possessive forms are applied in order “to promote the writer’s contribution by associating them closely with their work”. the same case happened in the use of pronouns “i” when the ra was written by a single author. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 136 table 5. frequencies of authorial references used in native ra. authorial references in native ra raw normal researcher* 17,00 12,74 author* 8,00 6,00 writer* 0,00 0,00 table 6. frequencies of authorial references used in non-native ra. authorial references in non-native ra raw normal researcher* 23,00 15,69 author* 1,00 0,68 writer* 0,00 0,00 *researcher, writer, and author references include the singular and plural reference for the other references, both native and non-native authors used “researcher” in the first place. while “author” and “writer” were less commonly found in the native and non-native ras. we assume that the terms “author” and “writer” contain other specific references, i.e. “those who write or produce a writing” while by using “researcher”, the authors can infer their readers that they are the one who “do the research and study on the subject” in the ras. moreover, we also found that the authors use “author” and “writer” to refer to their object of study, such as when they examine someone’s writing, they will refer to someone as “the author” or “the writer”. thus, by using the term “researcher”, the authors agree with the idea as the one who is responsible for their research in the ras. likewise, the decision of taking “researcher” as the authorial reference in both ra was caused by the design of the ra itself. since we focus only on empirical studies research, the term “researcher” expresses the feeling of being involved in a study. even though “researcher” was used less in non-native ras, it still described the necessity of those authors being existed in their research. based on the frequencies of all authorial references found in this study, the chi-square test shows that the probability of the first-person pronouns and other references used in ra were insignificant (p < 0.05). table 7. chi-square test. test statistics native nonnative chi-square 3.077a 3.077a df 10 10 asymp. sig. .980 .980 (p < 0.05) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 137 this means that there are no relations between authorial references and their occurrences in english education language journals, both written native and nonnative authors. since most of the ras examined in this study were issued from 2017 to 2019, we assume this indicates the changes of the authors’ perspective toward their existences in their ras if we relate it with kuo’s (1998) statement. we expect that most of the authors in english education language journals examined in this study are aware of their roles in their research. thus, they found that using authorial references to show their existence in their study are not considered as disruption to their objectivity in research. the results are surprising because we expect that the non-native authors will feel the greater pressure and responsibility in mentioning themselves in their arguments as also found in hyland’s (2002) study of his students in hong kong. we expect that the non-native ras will contain much less authorial references than the native ras. the results of our study echo with the results of walková's (2019) study, which revealed that the authors of l1 slovak and l2 english used more self-mentions in their writing. walková assumes that l1 slovak and l2 english authors feel “safer” in mentioning themselves in smaller academic communities (walková, 2019). however, we doubt whether the ras we examined in this study are considered as small academic communities. the pronouns as the authorial markers in the ras were important because they enhanced the researchers' roles as the authors of ras (rezvani, 2013). they reflected the efforts of enhancing the authors’ role in ras because all of the ras we examined in this study employed the empirical method in their research. we believe that by enhancing the authors’ roles in the ra using authorial references, the readers can be ensured about the contribution made by the authors in their ras. interpretations of authorial references the authorial references in ra can also be interpreted to find out the identity carried by the authors. in this study, we try to apply the comprehension of authorial identity brought by tang and john (1999) from their study of classroom essays. by interpreting the discourse functions of authorial references, we will show that the identity of authors exists, which can be seen from how the authors use the authorial references. we provide examples of how we can interpret the identity and try to explore the roles of the authors in the ras. “i” as the representative the “i” as the representative means that the authors identify themselves to be the representative of the statement in the ras. the authors give a general understanding of what they have mentioned in their ras. as tang and john describe, the authors “signal ownership of some universal or common property. “ sample 1. file name: native ra, lne_n02i to inform my analysis of how individual beliefs about language derive from and ultimately develop apart from socially shared beliefs about language, i drew upon bakhtin’s (1981) notion of voice. bakhtin explained that our language is never solely ours; instead, we voice the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 138 ideas and thoughts of others as we move through individual consciousness. in sample 1, there are two pronouns “we” in one sentence. the sentence mentions a theory in 1981 by bakhtin. in this sentence, the authors try to explain what bakhtin mentioned in his theory. given the context from the previous sentence in the sample, we assume that the authors try to apply bakhtin’s theory not only in the authors’ ras but also in building a bridge to the readers' world by making it relatable to the readers' world. in other words, the authors wanted the readers to also feel about how bakhtin’s theory impacted their world the same way the authors felt about the theory impacted their study in their ras. in this regard, the authors are representing what bakhtin’s theory is by making the theory sounds comprehensive to the readers. the authors' identity as the representative is the least powerful in tang and john’s discourse functions since the authors show the effort of “not overpowering the field” by taking the readers into the same world as the authors. we can address this identity as an inclusive “we”. “i” as the guide through the essay the identity brought by this discourse function is like a “tour guide” based on tang and john’s interpretation. in this type of identity, we also specify that if there is the authors' role as the guide, there will be a “guideline” that functioned as the context of the “guide” or the authors. sample 2. file name: non-native, eap_nn04r as indicated in table 1 and the following extracts 5, 6 through 7, we see a predominant occurrence of expansive citation options in reporting the opposed knowledge claim. the pronoun “we” in sample 2 is specified as the guide identity. if we take a look at the context of the sentence, we will find out that this sentence tries to take the readers to take a look at the authors’ research results mentioned in the table the authors had made. this effort of authors can be easily interpreted as the guide because the authors are trying to “guide” the readers towards the research results. we conclude that “table 1” here becomes the “guidelines” that the authors refer to as they lead the readers' attention in the ra. sample 3. file name: native, lne_n01r yoojin (f:13), who had spent a year living in the u.s., found english as a way to subtly subvert politeness dynamics in adult deference. as she described, “i feel more freedom when i speak english because i can act less polite,” referencing the honorifics embedded into the korean language used when addressing elders. she accompanied this statement by saying this makes her “feel more american.” here we see yoojin deriving a degree of pleasure, or freedom, from using english, likely for the way the language allows her to exercise less llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 139 social deference, a linguistic performance she associates with feeling “american.” similar to sample 2, in sample 3 we can notice that the authors create a “guideline” which is the object of the study named “yoojin”. inclusively, the authors take the readers to confirm the statement made by the authors. if we refer to the context before the underlined sentence, we will understand that the authors in this ra were trying to make the readers refer to “what kind of person yoojin is”. simply, the sentences before the underlined sentence are the “guidelines” for the authors in guiding the readers. since the authors are taking the readers together to take a look at a particular condition, we can conclude that the pronouns “we” in this identity are considered as inclusive. “i” as the architect of the essay although there might be several similarities between “architect” and “guide”, we try to give clear boundaries between those identities. while the “guide” attempts to make the readers pay attention to the “guidelines” that often have existed in the ras, the “architect” manages to deliver the main focus of the authors in the ras. this is why the “architect” identity has more power than “guide” because of the authors as the “architect” role as the one who ensures the outline of the ra to the readers. sample 4 informs that the authors are outlining their study by mentioning the specific theory they adapted into their ra. sample 4. file name: native ra, slw_n05i in this paper, we adopt lu’s (2010) definition of a complex nominal, based on cooper (1976), which refers to a noun modified by an attributive adjective, possessive noun, post-preposition, relative clause, participle, or appositive; a noun clause; or gerund and infinitival subjects (see lu, 2010, p. 483, for further explanation). sample 5. file name: non-native, slw_nn01i the researchers wanted to see whether (1) modeling was more effective than self-practice, and (2) collaboration was more effective than working alone in enhancing students’ detection, revision and commenting skills. in sample 5, the authors’ “architect” identity emerges on what we usually call the objective of the study. it makes sense for the authors to be the “architect” in this part of ra because the objective of the study should mention the purpose of the study, thus expressing identity as the one who outlining the study can be considered crucial for the authors in writing ra. in this kind of identity, we notice that “we” does not refer to the readers but only to the authors. therefore, “we” in this identity can be considered as the exclusive pronoun. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 140 “i” as the recounter of the research process the identity of the recounter of the research process can be found in the methodology section of the ras. the recounter of the research process here means that the authors are identified as the ones who describe the step by step of how they conduct their research. this identity is the exclusive one since it represents the authors who recount their research process. the recounter can be easily noticed by referring to material process verbs (i.e. work, collect, interview, read, prepare) following the authorial references (halliday, 1994 in tang and john, 1999). the example of how the pronoun carried the recounter identity can be seen in sample 6. sample 6. file name: native, eap_n01m the reason that the interviews with the students were conducted in a small group was to reduce potential anxiety and logistical reasons. the researcher prepared a set of questions for the respondents and asked follow-up questions. “i” as the opinion-holder this identity is called opinion-holder since it considers the authors like the ones who share their ideas, view, and arguments in their ras. we assume that identity as the opinion-holder is critical and exclusive because it shows how the authors are credible in giving their arguments in ras. verbs that indicate the authors' assumption are the most common signs of opinion-holder identity. sample 7 and sample 8 can give a vision of how the opinion-holder is carried by the pronouns “we” and “i”. sample 7. file name: non-native, eap_nn02m we assume that the ending move should be equally important because it is the move that gives a sense of conclusion to the personal statement. therefore, the ways in which rosy opened and ended her personal statements were particularly examined to demonstrate her rhetorical choices. sample 8. file name: native, lne_n02m furthermore, i wondered if and how her stances might have evolved given her experience in the professional development group. “i” as the originator the last identity is considered as the most powerful identity in ras because it exclusively aims to show the authors as the inventor or the owner of knowledge. sample 9. file name: non-native, lae_nn03i significantly, we argue that disrupting language and register boundaries through processes of disinvention and reconstitution not only enabled the students to take up confident positions as ‘knowers’ but also enabled the students’ current understanding of concepts and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 141 registers to surface giving a fine-grained view of mis-understandings that required further pedagogical explanation. this kind of identity takes the authors from delivering their arguments into claiming their arguments based on what they have found in their study. the pronoun “we” in sample 9 is the originator identity because it is followed by the verbs “argue”. the authors in this significant ra express their opposite view toward other perspectives and give their version of the new knowledge-based on what they have studied in their ra. if the authors want to be the opinion-holder, they will simply write an argument to share their views. but, if they want to be seen as the originator, they have to show the capability of not only sharing their ideas but also claiming something new from the study they conducted. this is why originator is the most powerful identity because it will no doubt indicate the authors’ credibility in conducting the research. conclusion in this study, we found that both native and non-native ra authors were using first-person pronouns and authorial references in their ra with slight differences in numbers. the most commonly used first-person pronouns found in this study were “we”. since the ras were written in english, the use of “we” makes us aware that it becomes the indicator of the subject of a certain process. thus, we implied the use of “we” expresses the authors' openness as the readers will suggest that the authors disguised in pronouns “we” are responsible and credible to the findings in ras. the most used authorial references, “the researcher”, are considered reasonable because it is related to the title of the authors themselves. this indicates that they mostly wanted to be positioned as the people who did the empirical studies directly, not just writing the results on the papers. since the number of authorial references between native and non-native was not significantly different, we conclude that the authors mostly understand their existence in their ras. thus, it makes them aware that using authorial references will enhance their roles and expose their contribution to the ras. the authors’ selection of authorial references indeed can be the reflection of the authors in their ras. thus, every ra contains the authors' identities and their expectations of how they want to be seen by their readers and their community. in this sense, stating that authorial references can cause subjectivity in ras becomes a rigid statement since the objectivity can be committed as the identities from authorial references are impacted by the use of other linguistic devices (verb, adjective). in the end, the question of “what is being investigated in the ras?” can also be juxtaposed with the question of “who are the authors in the ras and how do they want to be interpreted in their ras?” the authors must be confident about their existence since it can be beneficial not only for the authors but also for the readers and the academic communities. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 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(2019). a three-dimensional model of personal self-mention in research papers. english for specific purposes, 53, 60–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2018.09.003 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 23 effects of class size on students’ attitude and academic performance in english language among secondary school students in ado local government, ekiti state babalola joseph olurotimi and awe olasunbon nike ekiti state university, nigeria olurotimi.babalola@eksu.edu.ng; awe_nike@yahoo.com correspondence: olurotimi.babalola@eksu.edu.ng doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2020.230201 received 19 may 2020; accepted 1 september 2020 abstract the need to get every individual educated in nigeria necessitated the introduction of education policies like the universal primary education, upe (1976) and the universal basic education, ube (1999). the resultant effect of these policies is a steady and constant increase in schools’ enrolment, especially at the primary and secondary school levels. this led to overpopulation in the schools with some classes having as many as sixty students and sometimes above in a single arm. this study, through the analysis of questionnaires administered to students and their teachers, as well as the analysis of the examination results of selected students in jss2 class looks at the effects of class size on students’ attitude and academic performance in the english language. the result of the analysis confirms a negative effect of large class size on the attitude and academic performance of students in the english language while the effect of small class size is positive on the students’ attitude to the learning of english language and consequently on their academic performance. as a corollary, the study establishes that teachers’ productivity is more positively enhanced in small classes than in large classes. on the basis of the findings, appropriate recommendations are made to ameliorate these negative effects and to reduce the incidence of large class size in our secondary schools in ekiti state, nigeria. keywords: class size; attitude; performance; teacher-pupil ratio; english language introduction the need to get every individual educated in nigeria necessitated the introduction of the universal basic education (ube) policy which provides free education for students in the primary and secondary school levels. the precursor to this was the introduction of the universal primary education (upe) in 1976 by the government of general yakubu gowon. previous attempts had been made to introduce universal primary education and this was particularly successful in the western region which introduced it in 1955 under chief obafemi awolowo, the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 24 then premier of the western region. the various attempts resulted in increased enrolment in schools and a steady rise in the number of students and consequently, a rise in the number of students per class. as the school population increases, class sizes also increase. the increase in class population is also a function of the general increase in the nation’s population which dictates the quest for education beyond primary and secondary school levels of education. the effect of large class size is also felt in the higher institutions. this assertion is backed up by the findings of babalola (2009) that as the population was growing at an alarming rate, so was the desire by all to obtain higher qualifications in academic kept increasing. the national policy on education (2014) states that the teacher-pupil ratio shall be 1:25 for pre-primary education; 1:35 for primary education and 1:40 for secondary education but it is observed that the number of students per class in most schools, especially public schools nowadays is at variance with the dictates of the national policy on education. it is common to see overcrowded classrooms in schools with hard space for teachers to move up and down let alone students. overpopulation of most of our schools has often had a negative impact on students’ academic performance. several other factors that can be the determinants of students’ academic performance include lack of funds, lack of curriculum innovation, school structure and organization, teacher quality, curriculum, teaching philosophies, economic background of the students, and poor attitude to studies. however, this work is concerned with the effects of class size and students’ attitude on their academic performance in the english language. literature review class size can be defined as the total number of students in a class. it is an educational tool that can be used to describe the average number of students per class in a school; it is an important factor that determines students’ learning outcomes and one that can be directly controlled by policy put in place by the government. adeoye (2013) and togunloju (2015) believe that class size has a very strong influence on students’ academic performance. large classes are often too crowded to allow effective supervision when teaching while small classes also allow the teacher to create smaller groups for group instruction, resulting in more opportunities for teachers to interact with individual students and to provide more meaningful instruction to all students in the class (finn j. d., et al., 2003). attitude, according to the online collins dictionary, is the way a person views something or tends to behave towards it, often in an evaluative way. attitude is also seen as involving beliefs, emotional reactions and behavioural tendencies related to the object of the attitudes. positive attitude towards a subject can lead to higher achievement. mostyn (1978) notes that “attitude affects almost every facet of personal life and every field of endeavour”. attitude is a very important variable in an educational programme. negative attitudes towards specific subject area can prevent further study or make it dry and unproductive. attitudes towards the processes of learning can also have a very far-reaching effect on students’ performance in their academic pursuit. attitudes developed towards the topics of study can affect future behaviour with good or bad effects on the individual’s outputs. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2020 25 attitude towards the english language denotes feeling, interest or otherwise towards the study of the english language. the way a student perceives the english language influences his attitude towards it and goes a long way to determine his performance. the development of students’ positive attitudes regarding the english language as a school subject is one of the major responsibilities of every english language teacher. english language which is the official language in nigeria and the general language of communication among nigerians is a medium of instruction in schools. this makes it a compulsory subject and a prerequisite to gaining admission into tertiary institutions. this points to the important place occupied by the english language in the life of a student in the country. according to babalola (2015), the english language is the language of utility in nigeria while other local regional languages remain the languages of identity. it is, therefore, important for the teacher to develop students’ positive attitudes regarding the english language as a school subject and a tool of the language of wider communication (lwc) to enhance their academic performance in the language. poor academic performances of students are traceable to teachers, the student/pupil, parents and government apart from other problems that are caused by environmental factors. however, teachers are always at the receiving end of students’ poor performance without considering the other factors which also include infrastructural facilities, class size, and students’ attitude to learning. teachers generally prefer smaller classes in order to identify students’ needs and to provide better individual attention. available teaching bits of help are better managed in a sizeable class. small classes seem to have positive effects on students’ achievement and increase the amount of individual contact between students and teachers. the more students a teacher is responsible for, the harder it is to teach. for instance, of what importance is a dictation class where the teacher is not able to mark or correct the words dictated as a result of a large number of students in the class? a large classroom population hinders the teacher’s ability to monitor students’ behaviour closely. however, smaller classes (15 or fewer students) help teachers to curtail discipline problems through personal relationships the teachers establish with their students (halbeck, ehrte, zahorik, and molar, 2001). in a moderate english language class, teachers are able to identify students’ linguistic problems and gives prompt remedial assistance. timely pedagogical intervention helps students develop a positive attitude to the task of language learning. this may not be easily possible in a large class. when teachers give the needed attention to students, serious frustrating linguistic problems are solved and language learning activities become exciting and pleasurable. having students in groups during english language lessons enhances students’ proficiency and competence in language performance. meaningful interactions are generated through which confidence will be built up as the students rapidly improve on their use of the language as reflects in their language outputs. overpopulated classrooms are considered to be counterproductive for both teachers and students when it comes to the issue of continuous assessment marking and the ability to give individualized attention to students that need extra help (fme, 2005). edge (1980) reports that in large classes, the provision of opportunity for discussion or any kind of oral input to the written work is difficult and there is llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 26 the possibility of students copying or cheating when the class is large. a large number of students in a class also allows almost no opportunity for a genuine exchange of arguments and opinions. all these will eventually have a negative impact on students’ academic performance. the quality of education acquired in nigeria schools is increasingly declining due to the problem of large class size. the trend is getting worse by the day. in many cases, the problem of students not performing well in their academics is not the fault of the teachers who often have no choice but to teach a class with an overwhelming number of students in a classroom built to accommodate about forty (40) students. the class becomes so overcrowded that most times students are seen standing inside and outside the classroom. it is worthy of note that students in large classes usually have a lackadaisical attitude towards their studies because they are aware that their teachers will not be able to adequately monitor them. blatchford, et al (2007) discover that larger classes are often cited as being harder for the teachers to maintain student discipline. this results in the focus of the classroom environment is more on students’ behaviour than on students’ academic achievement. blatchford, edmonds, and martins (2003) however observe that students in smaller classes (average of 19 students per class) utilize more time on instructional purposes and less time is utilized on non-instructional purposes such as talking to one’s peers about non-academic topics, than students in larger classes (average of 32 students per class). it has also been discovered that larger classes prevent teachers from providing in-depth content coverage due to the loss of instructional time occurring since the teachers are spending more time handling students’ behavioural issues. teachers with smaller classes have fewer discipline problems than larger classes; there are more intimate relationship and interaction in smaller classes which enables teachers to prevent negative behaviour issues from developing. through personal relationships, they are able to flow with their students. adodo (2005) and yara (2009) claim that students’ attitude towards learning goes a long way to record their achievement in the english language. adeyela (2000) in her study finds out that large class size is not conducive for serious academic work while yara (2010) in his studies on class size and academic achievement of students finds out that the performance of students in large classes was very low compared to those students in smaller classes. this, however, contradicts the findings of pong and pallas (2001) who discover that students do better in large classes; they attributed this probably to the fact that more experienced teachers are given larger classes. however, resnick (2003) is of the view that the poor performance in large class size may be due to the more restricted range of teaching and learning activities accorded to students as well as the reduced level of interactions. since there is a close association between students’ attitudes and their achievements, it is not all that easy to identify individual attitudinal traits in an overpopulated class. once the attitudes of students are known by the teachers, suitable instructional methods can be devised to meet the interest of the students. therefore, class size has the most significant impact on the academic performance of secondary school students. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2020 27 it has been observed that most classes in public secondary schools are overcrowded as a result of the mass desire to get an education. despite the stipulation of the national policy on education that the teacher-pupil ratio in secondary schools should be 1:40, what is obtainable in the secondary schools are large classes of over 45 pupils. large class size is a great challenge to achieving success in the teaching and learning of english language. teachers could hardly prove their professional efficiency in classes thereby resulting in poor output from students. large class size also affects students’ attitude to their studies which ultimately leads to poor academic performance. the purpose of this study is to examine the effect of class size and students’ attitude on academic performance in the english language among secondary school students in ekiti state, nigeria. also, the study investigates the extent to which teacher-pupil ratio affects students’ attitude and academic performance in english language programme. the following research questions were generated to guide the study: first, is there any relationship between class size and students’ attitude to the learning of the english language? second, is there any relationship between class size and students’ attitude to their academic performance in the english language? third, is there any relationship between class size and students’ academic performance in the english language? fourth, is there any relationship between class size and teacher’s productivity? method research design the research design used is a descriptive survey which aims at finding out the effects of class size and students' attitude on academic performance in the english language among secondary school students in ekiti state. population and sampling technique the population consists of secondary school students in ado local government area of ekiti state, nigeria. there are seventeen thousand four hundred and two (17,402) students in the local government for the 2017/2018 academic session as sourced from the ekiti state ministry of education. four secondary schools in the local government were selected and from these four secondary schools, two hundred (200) students drawn from jss two and sss two classes were randomly selected as the sample of the population. one hundred (100) students were in classes having below forty students per arm and the other one hundred (100) students from classes of between forty-one and sixty students per arm. the english language promotion examination results of ninety (90) students were also analysed to determine the influence of class size on their academic performance. all the students were from two arms of the same jss two class of one of the selected secondary schools in the state. they were given the same examination under the same condition. their scripts were graded by the same examiner using the same marking scheme. the first arm has thirty-seven students while the second arm has fifty-three students. the results of the students in the arm with thirty-seven students were thereafter juxtaposed with the results of students in the other arm with fifty-three students. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 28 twenty english language teachers were equally selected from the four schools. ten of the teachers are from classes having students below forty students in an arm while the other ten is from classes with students between forty-one and sixty students to an arm. the instrument used is a self-constructed questionnaire given to the selected students and teachers. the questionnaire consisted of two parts. part a introduced the survey to the respondents and solicited their cooperation; it also requested for the respondents to give their particulars such as the name of the school, gender, class/class taught, qualification, local government and the total number of students in the class. part b has a16 item questionnaire for students and 12 item questionnaire for teachers. the questionnaire for the students and that for the teachers are both on a twopoint scale of agree (a) disagree (d). the validity of the questionnaire was ascertained by experts in the english language to ensure that the items in the questionnaire are relevant to both the aims and the objectives of the study. the questionnaires were administered by the researchers to the selected teachers and students. the data collected was subjected to frequency count and simple percentages were used to analyse the data collected. the responses of respondents with a class size of forty students and below were compared with the responses from respondents with class sizes of between fortyone and sixty. the below forty class size is classified as normal/average class size while those between forty-one and sixty are classified as large class size. findings and discussion the results of the data collected were analysed based on the research questions. research question 1 is there any relationship between class size and student’s attitude to the learning of the english language? table 1. students’ response class size below 40 students between 41 and 60 students question a % d % a % d % 1 i really like the english language. 97 97 03 03 87 87 13 13 2 i am willing to spend more time learning the english language. 97 97 03 03 87 87 13 13 3 i enjoy studying the english language as a subject. 97 97 03 03 75 75 25 25 4 i speak the english language always. 72 72 28 28 80 80 20 20 5 learning the english language is boring. 42 42 58 58 56 56 44 44 6 i am always present in my english language class. 91 91 09 09 77 77 23 23 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2020 29 7 i personally like the number of students in my english language class. 86 86 14 14 30 30 70 70 8 the number of students in my english language class has a positive effect on my attitude to the study of the language. 86 86 14 14 52 52 48 48 from the table above, 97% of the students from perceived normal class size agrees that they like english and they are willing to spend more time learning the language as well as enjoy studying it. also, 97% of the students in the large classes agree to that they like english and want to spend more time studying it while only 75%of students in the large classes enjoy studying it as a language. this result shows that a large percentage of the students not minding the number of students in their classes are willing to learn the english language. this is not unexpected considering the place of the language as a language of instruction in the secondary schools and the fact that a credit pass in it is necessary for admission into tertiary institutions. 91 % of the students with the normal class size is always present in class while the percentage is less in the large class size where it is 77 %. while 86% of the respondents in average class size classes agrees that the number of students in the class has a positive effect on their attitude to the study of the language, only 52% of large class size agrees. one important thing to note is that as much as 42% of the normal class size sees english as boring; a higher percentage of 56% of the large class students sees it as boring. this response generally calls for teachers of english to come up with more ingenious ways of making students enjoy the teaching/learning of the language. the table also shows that students in large classes do not like the size of the class as only 29% of them agrees to like their class size while as high as 86% of students in the perceived normal class size likes the number of students in their classes. in a large class, lots of social relationships may occur outside the control of the teachers which may not contribute to the needed knowledge in the subject. research question 2 is there any relationship between class size and students’ attitude to their academic performance in the english language? table 2. students’ response class size below 40 students between 41 & 60 students question a % d % a % d % 1 the number of students in my english language class motivates and helps my academic achievement. 94 94 06 06 48 48 52 52 2 i am always motivated to attend class because of the class population. 83 83 17 17 48 48 52 52 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 30 3 i think the class population influences my frequency of participation in class. 76 76 24 24 71 71 29 29 4 more than one english language teacher should be allocated to my class. 89 89 11 11 80 80 20 20 5 the number of students in my class should be reduced. 22 22 78 78 61 61 39 39 6 i enjoy english language lessons better when students are not many in my class. 64 64 36 36 64 64 36 36 7 my english language teacher always gives us personal attention. 97 97 03 03 46 46 54 54 8 my english language teacher always marks our assignments. 97 97 03 03 44 44 56 56 the responses from the above table (table 2) show that the students in the average classes are motivated to attend classes; they participate actively in class activities, (94% and 76% respectively). on the other hand, only 48% of students in large classes have the motivation to attend classes because of the class population. while as much as 97% of the students in the average class size population agree that their teachers always give them the personal attention and mark their assignments, only 46% of the students in the large class agree that their teachers always give them the personal attention and only 44% say that their english teacher always marks their assignments. one curious finding is that majority of the students in both the average classes and the large classes agree that more than one teacher should be allocated to teach them (89% and 80% respectively). however, while only 22% of the students in the average class size agree that the number of students in their class should be reduced as much as 61% of the respondents in large classes has the same view which is a pointer to the negative effect of large class size on them. a large percentage of the respondents agrees that they enjoy their lessons better when students are not many in their class, 64% of students in both average classes and large classes share the same view. it should be evident that when students are not motivated to attend and participate actively in class lessons, when they do not receive personal attention from their teachers who do not always mark their assignments and when they expect more teachers to teach them, one can only expect poor attitude to their academic performances. research question 3 is there any relationship between class size and students’ academic performance in the english language? the following table contains the summary of the pass levels of students in jss2 english language promotion examination. the students are in two different arms of the same class. the first class contains thirty-seven (37) students and the other contained fifty-three (53) students. all the students sat for the same examination llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2020 31 under the same condition and their answer scripts were graded by the same teacher using the same marking guide. table 3. the summary of the pass levels of students in jss2 thirty-seven (37) students fifty-three (53) students score out of 100 number % number % 50 and above 17 45.95 09 16.99 40-49 14 37.84 14 26.41 39 and below 04 10.81 30 56.60 total 37 100 53 100 class average score 54 37 the above table shows that while only 16.99% of students in the class with fifty-three students pass the english language with scores above 50%, a higher percentage, 45.95% of their counterparts in the class with thirty-seven students pass with scores above 50%. also, while as much as 56.60% of students in the large class fail with a score of 39% and below, the percentage of failure in the other class is 10.81%. even at the level of average scores of between 40%and 50%, students in the class of thirty-seven perform better with a percentage of 37.84 as compared to the large class with 26.42% pass rate. the results in the above table show the extent to which class size can affect the academic performance of students. research question 4 is there any relationship between class size and teacher’s productivity? table 4. from teachers’ responses class size below 40 students between 41 &60 students question yes % no % yes % no % 1 i enjoy teaching large classes. 03 30 07 70 5 50 5 50 2 students in small classes perform better in the english language than those in large classes. 08 80 02 20 07 70 03 30 3 i find it difficult to mark students’ assignments in large classes. 07 70 03 30 07 70 03 30 4 i hate going to lessons in large classes because of the students’ population. 06 60 04 40 06 60 04 40 5 the size of my class is an encouraging factor to my teaching. 09 90 01 10 03 30 07 70 6 it is easy for me to give individual attention to students during my lessons. 06 60 04 40 03 30 07 70 7 the size of my class allows effective teaching 08 80 02 20 02 20 08 80 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 32 of all the aspects of the english language. 8 i am able to regularly mark my students’ assignments. 07 70 03 30 04 40 06 60 9 i enjoy the teaching/learning process better when some students in my class are absent. 06 60 04 40 06 60 04 40 10 the students’ population in my class always make class management and control difficult. 06 60 04 40 06 60 04 40 one of the ways to measure teachers’ productivity is their attitude to their work which can also determine how they enjoy their work. teachers’ response, show that most of them do not enjoy teaching large classes, 70% of those teaching in the classes with average population do not enjoy teaching in large classes while 50% of those teaching in large classes do not enjoy it. the other 50% who seem to enjoy it could possibly be talking from the point of adapting to teaching in large classes. however, 70% of all the respondents agree that they find it difficult to mark students’ assignments in large classes and 60% of them hates going for lessons in large classes. while 90% of teachers in average classes are encouraged to teach because of the class size, 70% of those in large classes is discouraged to teach because of the large size of the classes. class management is easier in average classes as only 40% of teachers in such classes agree to difficulty in managing and controlling the class while that of the large class is 60%. it is difficult for teachers in large classes to pay individual attention to students, teach all aspects of the language to them and mark students’ assignments. this difficulty level is reflected by their responses of 70%, 80% and 60% respectively while the ease with which the teachers in the average classes achieve these is 60%, 70% and 70% respectively. generally, it is noted that teachers enjoy the teaching/learning process better when carried out in classes with a manageable population. the class average score for the small class is 54 while that of the large class is 37. discussion multitude multiply maladies. this statement is brought to the fore and made real in the findings of this study. a very good percentage of the student respondents (above 80%) profess to love the study of english language, 70% of those in large classes do not like the large population of students in their classes, but 86% of those in the smaller classes like the size of the population. when students find their study boring, when they are not motivated to attend classes because of the large number of students in their classes and when teachers do not give personal attention to them, they are not likely to benefit from the teaching/learning process. boredom is evident in the large classes (56%) as against the average class size (42%). the presence of boredom is also noticed even in the average size class; this may not be unconnected with the teaching methods of most english language teachers which generally focus llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2020 33 on competence teaching rather than performance. in the long run, the negative attitude of students to large class size also negatively affect their studies and ultimately affects their academic performance and achievement. the study also confirms that teachers enjoy teaching small-sized classes as against large classes because they are encouraged to teach, they are able to give personal attention to students, teach all the aspects of the language, have time to give and mark students’ assignments and able to have good class management and control. over 70% of the teacher respondents agree that students in small classes perform better in the english language than students in large classes and the results of an examination conducted in the english language also confirm that students in small classes perform better academically than those in large classes with a class average score of 54 and 37 respectively. conclusion large class size is a reality in our secondary schools in ekiti state and the effects this has on the attitude of the students and the teachers as well as on the students’ academic performance is equally real. most of the schools have classes above 40 and some up to 60 students per class, especially in the junior secondary levels. large class size has negative effects on the ability of teachers to effectively teach students, give them assignments, give them individual attention and achieve good class management and effective class control. to stem the steady rise in the decline of the performance of students in english language and the general tone of discipline in our secondary schools, necessary steps must be taken to reduce the number of students per class in the schools. more teachers need to be employed and additional schools need to be established to cater to the high population of persons seeking formal education in the state. the findings in this study confirm the reality of the existence of large classes in ekiti state and its attendant problems that affect the attitude and productivity of both the students and the teachers of the english language. to confront this menace and solve the problems it creates, the government need to embark on a census of teachers and students in our secondary schools. the result of the census will assist the government in coming up with intervention strategies that will correct the situation. these may include correction of imbalances in school population (there may be the need for students’ redistribution and or teachers’ transfer). there may also be the need to employ more teachers and or establish more secondary schools to take care of the high population of students seeking secondary education in the state. nothing good is free. a modest fee should be attached to secondary school education in the state. this will discourage those who just attend school just because it is free and not because they genuinely covet secondary school education. this will reduce the number of students as the ones attending will be those who really want to be educated and they will be willing to pay the token being demanded of them. a well-articulated reward programme, in form of scholarship and prizes, should be put in place with well-funded budgetary appropriation, systemically coordinated advances and painstakingly executed management to better improve students’ attitude and enhance very good performances in the study of the language considering its utility value in the social life of the people. it should not be limited llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 34 to the academic achievement but should also cover aspects like students’ attendance at classes and their ability to manipulate the tool of the language to organize their world within and outside the school social life. it is recommended that teachers should encourage group work; students should be put in groups to increase their interest through meaningful interactions and participation in class activities to facilitate the teaching/learning process. when students work in groups, they socialize better, develop a sense of intimacy and inclusion, self-worth, safety, trust and learn are better enhanced despite the largeness of their classes. group work must be dexterously carried out until individualized instruction is promoted. references adeoye, y. 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(2011). school effectiveness. new delhi: aph publishing corporation. togunloju, t. (2015). school factors as correlates of teacher productivity in secondary school in osun state, nigeria (ed). unpublished m.ed. thesis adoekiti, ekiti state university. yara, p. o. (2010). class size and students’ mathematics achievement of senior secondary schools in southwestern nigeria. the social sciences journal (tss), 5(2), 108−112. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 pp.276-287 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 276 an analysis of regular and irregular verbs in students’ essay writing tira nur fitria stie aas surakarta tiranurfitria@gmail.com correspondence: tiranurfitria@gmail.com doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.2595 received 13 may 2020; accepted 5 march 2021 abstract the objective of the study is to know the use of a regular and irregular verb in the students writing an essay and to know the most dominant verb past written by the students in their students writing an essay. the design of this study is descriptive qualitative research. based on the analysis from 14 students writing an essay, it shows that the students use both regular and irregular verb (past) in their students' writing essays. both regular and irregular verbs are 312 data in verb 2 (past). in the regular verbs, there are 142 data or 45.51 %, and in the irregular verb, there are 170 data or 54.49 %. it shows that the most dominant verb past written by the students in their students' writing essay is an irregular verb. regular verbs are verbs that can change according to tense and change it regularly. regular verbs are verbs whose changes comply with normal rules, that is with add the letter -d or -ed to the verb first-form/verb-1 (infinitive) so that it becomes a verb form second/verb-2 (past tense). several things must be considered in the way of forming regular verbs by adding the letter -ed suffix or -d in the basic verb/verb-1 (infinitive). irregular verbs are verbs that change according to the tense and do not comply with normal compliance. the past tense irregular verbs are not formed from basic verbs/verb-1 (infinitives) plus letters -d or -ed letters to form verb-2/past tense. irregular verbs form their past tense differently (through) not always) through a vowel and consonant change. so that, these forms must be memorized by the learners/students. keywords: simple past tense, regular verb, irregular verb, writing introduction tense is any form of the verb that may be used to show the time of the act, an event, or state is expressed by the verb (joshi, 2014). joshi (2014) states that there are three kinds of tenses, they are past tense (the form of a verb that usually expresses an action that happened in the past), present tense (the form of a verb that usually expresses an action that happened in the present or at this time), and future tense (the form of a verb that usually expresses an action that will happen in future). blakesley & hoogeveen (2011, p. 475) state that simple past tense is to express an action or state of being that began and ended in the past, or happened before now. mailto:tiranurfitria@gmail.com mailto:tiranurfitria@gmail.com llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 276-287 277 leech (2014, p. 13) states that there are two elements of meaning related to the past tense, 1) the happening takes place before the present moment, and 2) the speaker has a definite time in mind. the use of past tense locates the situation in the past without saying anything about whether the situation is continuous in the present or into the future or not (comrie, 1985, p. 41). simple past tense is a tense to shows actions that happened in past times (lim, 2010). it is supported by (etherton & baker, 2014, p. 211), that this tense show completed past action. it generally used with specifies past times such as yesterday, last night, … ago, next…, etc. the adverb ‘ago; means from now to a point in the past time and it comes after the time-expression and not before it, such as a week ago, ages ago or centuries ago (narayanaswamy & r, 1995b, p. 68). because of the simple past to describe an action started and finished in the past, we do not need to mention the time or data when expressing these tenses (bradeley, 2015). sometimes, the time reference may or may not be given. for example: “i saw a movie last night” or ‘i washed the car yesterday”. we also can use the simple past to list a series of actions that are completed in the past (bradeley, 2015), such as 1) i finished work, rode my bicycle to the shop, and bought some bread. 2) i arrived at work, made a cup of tea, and sat at my desk, 3) i made a cup of coffee, opened a packet of biscuits, and ate them. hoon (2009, p. 63) states that verbs in the simple past tense have different forms for regular and irregular verbs. past tense is one of the complex tense forms besides simple present tense (declerck et al., 2006, p. 24). in simple past tense (verbal), the second form of verbs (verb 2) is divided into two types, namely regular verb and irregular verb. kay et al. (2008, p. 105) state that a simple past is formed by changing regular verbs and irregular verbs. joshi (2014) states that regular verbs form their past tense by adding ‘d’ or ‘-ed’ in the base form or plain form. this statement is also supported by (narayanaswamy & r, 1995a, p. 50) the regular verbs form their past tense by the addition of a d, t, ed sound (which is represented in written language by the letters –ed). irregular verbs form their past tense differently (through) not always) through a vowel and consonant change (narayanaswamy & r, 1995a, p. 50). so that, these forms must be memorized by the learners (vitto, 2006, p. 201). as stated by (guffey & loewy, 2012) that irregular verbs also can cause difficulty for the writers and speakers. nominal sentences are sentences whose predicate is not a verb or in other words, a nominal sentence is a sentence whose predicate is to be. the use of this depends on the use of tenses and depends on the subject of the sentence (plural or singular). to be in past tense does not need to mix to be with an action verb (dixon, 2011, p. 15). both ‘was’ and ‘were’ are the simple past forms of ‘be’ (goldstein et al., 2015, p. 104). to be can be interpreted is or may not be interpreted, to appear because there is no verb (verb) in the sentence. to be followed by words other than verbs (verb) for example nouns (noun) such as student, soldier; adjectives such as beautiful, clever, and adverb (fitria, 2018). this formula is simple. we only need verb-2 (past) as an absolute feature of the past tense formula. so the basic formula of the verbal sentence is s + verb-2. in simple past tense (verbal) use the second form of verbs (verb 2) as the predicate. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 276-287 278 after "verb 2" can be accompanied by objects or adverbs. the subject used can be either singular (i, she, he, and it) or plural (you, we, and they). narayanaswamy & r (1995b, p. 67) defines that simple past tense has only one form for all persons and numbers such as “i, we, you, they, she, he and it”. as for nominal sentences, we must make "to be" into verb-2, which is "was and were". this tense is said to be simple because simple past tense only wants to provide information about a job that has happened in the past without wanting to show that the work is being done or has been done. simple past tense using was & were is used to indicate where about an entity (person, object, abstraction) or to connect an entity with the quality or its characteristics. if there is no verb in past tense, then we must use "was and were. was for subjects i, he, she, & it, while were for subjects you, they & we. based on the explanation above, the researcher wants to research regular and irregular verbs. therefore, the researcher writes research entitled “an analysis of regular and irregular verbs in students writing essay”. the objective of the study is to know the use of regular and irregular verbs in the students writing an essay and to know the most dominant verb past written by the students in their students writing an essay. method the design of this study is qualitative research. flick (2006, p. 11) states that qualitative research has specific relevance to the study of social relations, owing to the facts of pluralization of life world. this research is contrasted with quantitative research, places more emphasis on the study of phenomena from the perspective of insiders (lapan et al., 2011). data used in this research is the form of verb 2 both regular and irregular verb. while the source data in this research is the students’ writing composition. in collecting data in this research, the researcher uses document analysis. the use of documents for the study has a long tradition in qualitative research (flick, 2006, p. 213). the document is a record of events that have already passed. the document used in this research is taken from the results of the 14 students’ writing essays. in analyzing data in this research should be an ongoing process throughout after the collection of data. there are three steps in analysis data, they are data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing/verification (gratton & jones, 2004). findings and discussions based on the analysis of the students’ english writing composition, it found that the students use both regular and irregular verbs in writing an essay of the simple past tense of recount text. the examples are as follows: the 1st example of student’s writing: on 29 december 2019, i and a few of my friends closed the year to go to beach kukup gunung kidul, yogyakarta. we gathered at 5:00 a.m. to just drink coffee and eat snacks. we started to go at 6:00 a.m. from the solo. when we arrived at bantul we stopped to eat. and after that we continued back to the beach destination kukup. we went home at 11:00 a.m. and on the way home llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 276-287 279 we visited the ngrenehan beach, as a tpi beach (fish shelter) by fishermen. we bought squid and crabs to cook at home. until at my house, we took a bath, we cooked and ate together before we each went home. the essay above shows that the student uses a regular and irregular verb in her/his writing. the regular verbs are closed, gathered, started, arrived, continued, visited, and cooked. those verbs follow the spelling rules of the word with the ending ‘e’ is added by ‘d’. for example 1) the verb 1 is ‘close’ then change to verb 2 into ‘closed’. 2) verb 1 is ‘arrive’ then change to verb 2 into ‘arrived’. 3) verb 1 is ‘continue’ then changed to verb 2 into ‘continued’. the common regular verb is added by ‘ed’, for example, 1) the verb 1 is ‘gather’ then changed to verb 2 into ‘gathered’, 2) the verb 1 is ‘start’ then changed to verb 2 into ‘started’, 3) the verb 1 is ‘visit’ then changed to verb 2 into ‘visited’, then 4) the verb 1 is ‘cook’ then changed to verb 2 into ‘cooked’. while, the irregular verbs are bought, took, ate, and went. those verbs show an irregular pattern. for example, the verb 2 ‘bought’ then verb 1 ‘buy’. the verb 2 is ‘took’ then verb 1 ‘take’. the verb 2 is ‘ate’ then verb 1 ‘eat’, and the verb 2 is ‘went’ then verb 1 ‘go’. the 2nd example of student’s writing: during last year, i used my vacation time to go to the beach. i went on holiday to the glass terrace beach in gunung kidul. i went there yesterday with my lover. i left the house at 08:00 and got there at 10:00. i travelled from my house in about two hours. after i arrived, i immediately parked the motorcycle. after that i walked to the entrance. at the entrance we had to pay for the entrance ticket and bought a ticket for the selfie. aafter getting my ticket i immediately went in to find a place to wait for my queue number to be called by the clerk. here there were many places to take pictures with ticket fees ranging from 20 to 60 per person. i waited quite a long time because many visitors also came here for the holidays. after an hour of waiting, i finally got my queue number. after completing my photo, i returned to the parking lot to get a motorcycle and returned home. i arrived home at 15:00. that’s a little story of my vacation late last year. the essay above shows that the students use a regular and irregular verb in her/his writing. the regular verbs are used, traveled, arrived, parked, walked, waited, and returned. those verbs follow the spelling rules of the word with the ending ‘e’ is added by ‘d’. for example, the verb 1 is ‘use’ changed to verb 2 into ‘used’, and the verb 1 is ‘arrive’ then changed to verb 2 into ‘arrived’. the common regular verb is added by ‘ed’, for example, the verb 1 is ‘park’ changed to verb 2 into ‘parked’. the verb 1 is ‘walk’ changed to verb 2 into ‘walked’. the verb 1 is ‘wait’ changed to verb 2 into ‘waited’. the verb 1 is ‘return’ changed to verb 2 into ‘returned’. the other rule of a regular verb that the verb with one syllable, a single vowel, and with ending in a single consonant, so the verb 2 must be double consonant with adding ‘ed’. for example, verb 1 is ‘travel’, so verb 2 changed to ‘traveled’. while, the irregular verbs are ‘went, left, got, had, bought, came, and were’. those verbs show an irregular llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 276-287 280 pattern. for example verb 1 is ‘go’ changed to verb 2 into ‘went’. the verb 1 is ‘get’ changed to verb 2 into ‘got’. the verb 1 is ‘leave’ changed to verb 2 into ‘left’. the verb 1 is ‘have’ changed to verb 2 into ‘had’. the verb 1 is ‘buy’ changed to verb 2 into ‘bought’. the verb 1 is ‘come’ changed to verb 2 into ‘came’. the verb (to be) is ‘are’ changed to verb 2 into ‘were’. the 3rd example of student’s writing: it was saturday 28 december 2019. on the weekend and the end of this beautiful year, i and 4 of my friends decided to end 2019 with a vacation to pacitan srau beach. we ourselves liked to visit the beach every year because we thought the beach was very beautiful and enchanting. the breezy breeze made a vacation at srau beach never forgotten. we departed from the house at 09.00 am (friday), we arrived at the beach at 15.00 pm, understandably a little longer because we invited a female friend too, after arriving at srau beach we immediately built a tent that we brought to spend the night there, because we enjoyed the experience vacationing at srau beach. while there, we brought supplies that we had prepared mentally and camping equipment. the essay above shows that the students use the regular and irregular verbs in her/his writing. the regular verbs are decided, liked, arrived, departed, and invited. those verbs follow the spelling rules of the word with the ending ‘e’ is added by ‘d’. for example, the verb 1 is ‘decide’ changed to verb 2 into ‘decided’, and the verb 1 is ‘like’ then changed to verb 2 into ‘liked’. the verb 1 is ‘invite’ changed to verb 2 into ‘invited’. the common regular verb is added by ‘ed’, for example, the verb 1 is ‘depart’ changed to verb 2 into ‘departed’. while, the irregular verbs are ‘was, though, made, built, and brought’. those verbs show an irregular pattern. the verb 1 is ‘is’ changed to verb 2 into ‘was’. the verb 1 is ‘think’ changed to verb 2 into ‘thought’. the verb 1 is ‘make’ changed to verb 2 into ‘made’. the verb 1 is ‘build’ changed to verb 2 into ‘built’. the verb 1 is ‘buy’ changed to verb 2 into ‘brought’. the 4th example of student’s writing: last year, on december 24, 2019, my 4 friends and i planned to go up mount lawu. we departed on 24 december at night to the cemoro kandang basecamp, after arriving there we rested. my friend and i decided to ride the peak in the morning. we began to rise at the peak at 11.00 in the morning, the journey to reach the peak must go through 5 posts and needed time 8 hours running continuously. at the time of arriving at the post 1 it rained. my friend and i decided to continue the journey using a raincoat. we arrived at the post 3 at 17:00, because starting at night we decided to set up a tent at post 3. then we rested until morning. even though the peak temperature of in the post 3 was very cold. at 5:00 in the morning we left the tent and continued the journey to the summit. on the way i saw the appearance from the top of the mountain was very beautiful even though it hasn’t reached the peak yet. rest and enjoyed the beauty of nature. we reached the peak at 09.00, until there we took a picture together and then he stopped at the mbok yem food stall which was famous for llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 276-287 281 selling at the top of mount lawu. at 12.00 we went down to the tent, after we rested for a while, then built tent and cleaned the equipment, then continued the journey down. we arrived at camp at 18.00 and then went home. enough stories or experiences that i could tell. the essay above shows that the students use regular and irregular verbs in her/his writing. the regular verbs are planned, stopped, decided, departed, rested, needed, rained, arrived, continued, enjoyed, reached, rested, and cleaned. the rule of the regular verb that the verb with one syllable, a single vowel, and with ending in a single consonant, so the verb 2 must be double consonant with adding ‘ed’. for example, verb 1 is ‘plan’, so verb 2 changed to ‘planned’. the verb 1 is ‘stop’ changed to verb 2 into ‘stopped’. the verb also follows the spelling rules of the word with the ending ‘e’ is added by ‘d’. for example, the verb 1 is ‘decide’ changed to verb 2 into ‘decided’. the verb 1 is ‘arrive’ changed to verb 2 into ‘arrived’. the verb 1 is ‘continue’ changed to verb 2 into ‘continued’. the common regular verb is added by ‘ed’, for example, the verb 1 is ‘depart’ changed to verb 2 into ‘departed’. the verb 1 is ‘rest’ then changed to verb 2 into ‘rested’. the verb 1 is ‘need’ changed to verb 2 into ‘needed’. the verb 1 is ‘rain’ changed to verb 2 into ‘rained’. the verb 1 is ‘enjoy’ changed to verb 2 into ‘enjoyed’. the verb 1 is ‘reach’ changed to verb 2 into ‘reached’. the verb 1 is ‘clean’ changed to verb 2 into ‘cleaned’. while, the irregular verbs are ‘was, went, began, left, saw, took, went, built, and could’. those verbs show an irregular pattern. for example, the verb 1 is ‘is’ changed to verb 2 into ‘was’, and the verb 1 is ‘go’ then changed to verb 2 into ‘went’. the verb 1 is ‘begin’ changed to verb 2 into ‘began’. the verb 1 is ‘leave’ changed to verb 2 into ‘left’. the verb 1 is ‘see’ changed to verb 2 into ‘saw’. the verb 1 is ‘take’ changed to verb 2 into ‘took’. the verb 1 is ‘go’ changed to verb 2 into ‘went’. the verb 1 is ‘build’ changed to verb 2 into ‘built’. the verb 1 is ‘can’ changed to verb 2 into ‘could’. the 5th example of student’s writing: on december 10, 2019. i and my boyfriend went to yogyakarta by train. we ordered tickets at the balapan station. the ticket we ordered was prameks at a price rp. 8.000,at 12.00 a.m our train began to depart. along the way, i saw the view from the train window and occasionally we talked. after arriving at the tugu station, we immediately searched for food stalls, because the stomach was hungry. after eating, we walked down malioboro street. we sat around malioboro street. then we went to the smart park. not feel it’s afternoon, it’s raining heavily we caught in the rain there with othervisitors. after the rain stopped, we went to mall malioboro. we ate kfc there. after that, we went to the station and it turned out we missed the train. we were forced to wait on the terrace of the station until morning with other passengers, whose fate was the same as us. at 03.00 a.m. we ordered a return ticket, and at 05.00 a.m train departed. we arrived the balapan station at 06.00 a.m. we were happy. the essay above shows that the students use a regular and irregular verb in her/his writing. the regular verbs are stopped, forced, arrived. the rule of the regular llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 276-287 282 verb that the verb with one syllable, a single vowel, and with ending in a single consonant, so the verb 2 must be double consonant with adding ‘ed’. for example, verb 1 is ‘plan’, so verb 2 changed to ‘planned’. the verb 1 is ‘stop’ changed to verb 2 into ‘stopped’. some verbs also follow the spelling rules of the word with the ending ‘e’ is added by ‘d’. for example, the verb 1 is ‘force’ changed to verb 2 into ‘forced’, and the verb 1 is ‘arrive’ then changed to verb 2 into ‘arrived’. the common regular verb is added by ‘ed’, for example, the verb 1 is ‘order’ changed to verb 2 into ‘ordered’, and the verb 1 is ‘search’ then changed to verb 2 into ‘searched’. the verb 1 is ‘walk’ changed to verb 2 into ‘walked’. the verb 1 is ‘turn out’ changed to verb 2 into ‘turned out’. the verb 1 is ‘miss’ changed to verb 2 into ‘missed’. the verb 1 is ‘depart’ changed to verb 2 into ‘departed’. the verb 1 is ‘talk’ changed to verb 2 into ‘talked’. while the irregular verbs are ‘went, was, began, saw, sat, caught, and ate’. those verbs show an irregular pattern. for example, the verb 1 is ‘go’ changed to verb 2 into ‘went’. the verb 1 is ‘is’ changed to verb 2 into ‘was’. the verb 1 is ‘begin’ changed to verb 2 into ‘began’. the verb 1 is ‘see’ changed to verb 2 into ‘saw’. the verb 1 is ‘sit’ changed to verb 2 into ‘sat’. the verb 1 is ‘catch’ changed to verb 2 into ‘caught’. the verb 1 is ‘eat’ changed to verb 2 into ‘ate’. the 6th example of student’s writing: i wanted to tell a little about my holiday last year to the island of bali. when it was in december, the rainy season came. i also decided to take a vacation to bali to spend the rest of my leave. i departed from solo with 3 of my other friends. we used the plane the most morning. when we arrived in bali, we were picked up by a travel agent to go to the nusa penida island. about 1-1,5 hours we arrived at the port of sanur. then we boarded the ship to cross to the nusa penida island for 30 minutes, then we were picked up by a travel agent who had been waiting at the port of nusa penida to go to angels bilabong and continued to go to broken beach. after that we went home to the hotel and dinner. we stayed in one of the unique hotels on this island. this hotel presented a truly extraordinary view. at night on the island was very quiet, because the population was still small. the next day, we went to kelingking beach, we had to go down hundreds of steps to get to the beach. many tourists from abroad swim and sunbathe on the beach. then we continued the journey to crystal bay beach followed by lunch on the beach. after that we had to hurry back to the port, remembering the trip took 2 hours to the port. after arriving at the port, we waited for some time until the ship was ready to board and took us back to the island of bali. when we arrived in bali, we headed to the hotel near the airport because tomorrow we had to go back to solo by plane in the morning. that’s the short story of my vacation trip to bali. the essay above shows that the students use a regular and irregular verb in her/his writing. the regular verbs are “decided, used, arrived, continued, wanted, boarded, presented, waited, headed, stayed”. those verbs follow the spelling rules of the word with the ending ‘e’ is added by ‘d’. for example, the verb 1 is ‘decide’ changed to verb 2 into ‘decided’, and the verb 1 is ‘use’ then changed to verb 2 into llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 276-287 283 ‘used’. the verb 1 is ‘arrive’ changed to verb 2 into ‘arrived’. the verb 1 continues‘’ changed to verb 2 into ‘continued’. the common regular verb is added by ‘ed’, for example, the verb 1 is “want‘’ changed to verb 2 into ‘wanted’. the verb 1 is ‘board’ changed to verb 2 into ‘boarded’. the verb 1 is ‘present’ changed to verb 2 into ‘presented’. the verb 1 is ‘wait’ changed to verb 2 into ‘waited’. the verb 1 is ‘head’ changed to verb 2 into ‘headed’. the other verb follows the spelling rules of the word with the ending ‘y’ is added by ‘ed’. for example, the verb 1 is ‘stay’ changed to verb 2 into ‘stayed’. while, the irregular verbs are ‘was, came, went, had, and took’. those verbs show an irregular pattern. for example, the verb 1 is ‘is’ changed to verb 2 into ‘was’. the verb 1 is ‘come’ changed to verb 2 into ‘came’. the verb 1 is ‘go’ changed to verb 2 into ‘went’. the verb 1 is ‘have’ changed to verb 2 into ‘had’. the verb 1 is ‘take’ changed to verb 2 into ‘took’. the 7th example of student’s writing: last month, on november 9, 2019, i went to jogjakarta with my classmates. they were devi, niken, bagus, deska, and guntur. i left home with niken at 07.00 a.m. to the gathering point, which was at the home of devi in colomadu. we left from there at 08.00 in the morning using the car’s guntur, we stopped at soto seger next to the singopuran gas station for breakfast, then we continued on our way. we arrived in jogjakarta at 12:30 p.m. because of a traffic jam, and devi who was drunk to vomit. we stopped at the mosque in front of the krakal beach entrance for midday prayers. our first destination was the krakal beach. arrived there, we had lunch at around the beach, spending rp. 200,000 more for 6 people. quite expensive in my opinion. then, we took a photo on the beach. we didn’t play water or throw ourselves to the beach because the sun was very hot. once satisfied we continued to the second destination, namely sundak beach. we arrived at 3:30 p.m. arrived there we immediately looked for a mosque for asr prayer. then we went straight to the beach, played water and sand, made videos, looked at each other, etc. we really enjoyed the moment. at 17:00 p.m., we stopped playing because it was cold and decided to take a bath, we continued on to malioboro. because the road was very congested and the difficulty of finding a mosque, we were late for evening prayers. and we finally combined magrib and isya’s prayers. plans to malioboro failed due to severe traffic jam and the time showed 22:00 at night. we finally decided go home to look for an alternative way, but the road that we went through turned out to be a quiet mountain road and a small road, the cellphone to point the direction of the batteries had run out, the atmosphere was already full of test guts that night. we discovered the city streets at 1:00 a.m., i was first escorted home because my closest home. at 2:00 in the morning i arrived at home. it was all very tired, but not felt because during the trip i spent my time to sleep, to the point that i was mocked by my friends. it was very fun holiday that time. the essay above shows that the students use regular and irregular verbs in her/his writing. the regular verbs are. “stopped, decided, combined, continued, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 276-287 284 arrived, looked for, looked, enjoyed, failed, showed, turned out, discovered”. the rule of a regular verb that the verb with one syllable, a single vowel, and with ending in a single consonant, so the verb 2 must be double consonant with adding ‘ed’. for example, verb 1 is ‘plan’, so verb 2 changed to ‘planned’. the verb 1 is ‘stop’ changed to verb 2 into ‘stopped’. the verbs follow the spelling rules of the word with the ending ‘e’ is added by ‘d’. for example, the verb 1 is ‘decide’ changed to verb 2 into ‘decided’, and the verb 1 is ‘combine’ then changed to verb 2 into ‘combined’. the verb 1 is ‘continue’ changed to verb 2 into ‘continued’. the verb 1 is ‘arrive’ changed to verb 2 into ‘arrived’. the common regular verb is added by ‘ed’, for example, the verb 1 is ‘look for’ changed to verb 2 into ‘looked for’. the verb 1 is ‘look’ changed to verb 2 into ‘looked’. the verb 1 is ‘enjoy’ changed to verb 2 into ‘enjoyed’. the verb 1 is ‘fail’ changed to verb 2 into ‘failed’. the verb 1 is ‘show’ changed to verb 2 into ‘showed’. the verb 1 is ‘turn out’ changed to verb 2 into ‘turned out’. the verb 1 is ‘discover’ changed to verb 2 into ‘discovered’. while the irregular verbs are “went, were, left, was, had, took, made, spent”. those verbs show an irregular pattern. those verbs show an irregular pattern. for example, the verb 1 is ‘go’ changed to verb 2 into ‘went’. the verb 1 is ‘are’ changed to verb 2 into ‘were’. the verb 1 is ‘leave’ changed to verb 2 into ‘left’. the verb 1 is ‘is’ changed to verb 2 into ‘was’. the verb 1 is ‘have’ changed to verb 2 into ‘had’. the verb 1 is ‘take’ changed to verb 2 into ‘took’. the verb 1 is ‘make’ changed to verb 2 into ‘made’. the verb 1 is ‘spend’ changed to verb 2 into ‘spent’. this study is to know the use of the regular and irregular verbs in the students writing an essay and to know the most dominant verb past written by the students in their students writing an essay. based on the analysis of the students’ english writing composition, it found that the students use both regular and irregular verbs in writing an essay of the simple past tense of recount text. the table analysis is stated below: table 1. regular and irregular verb in students’ writing verb 2 (past) regular irregular total 142 170 percentage 45.51 % 54.49 % based on the table above shows that the students use both regular and irregular verb (past) in their students writing an essay. both regular and irregular verbs are 312 data in verb 2 (past). in the regular verbs, there are 142 data or 45.51 %, and in the irregular verb, there are 170 data or 54.49 %. it shows that the most dominant verb past written by the students in their students writing an essay is an irregular verb. in regular verbs, the verb past tense is formed by adding the letters ‘-ed’ to the base form of the verb (wiijesinha, 2006, p. 23). while, according to (foo, 2015, p. 11) states that regular verbs have spelling ends in ‘d’ or ‘ed’. however, some very common verbs form the past tense differently. english learners should be careful and aware that the past tense involves past tense verbs (verb 2) and pay attention to the spelling of their past tense forms because when regular verbs are used in english. regular verbs are verbs that can change according to tense and change it regularly. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 276-287 285 regular verbs are verbs whose changes comply with normal rules, that is with add the letter -d or -ed to the verb first-form / verb-1 (infinitive) so that it becomes a verb form second / verb-2 (past tense). several things must be considered in the way of forming regular verbs by adding the letter -ed suffix or -d in the basic verb/verb-1 (infinitive), which is as follows: 1). generally to form the second verb/verb-2 (past tense) and the third verb/verb-3 (past participle) with add ed-letter suffixes to the form of the basic word (infinitive). 2) if the basic verb (infinitive) ends with a vowel (vowel) -e, then to form past tense by adding the letter ending -d. 3) if the basic verb (verb-1) ends with the letter -y and is preceded by a consonant (dead letter), then the letter –y is replaced with the letter -i then added the letter -ed to form past tense (verb-2). 4) if the basic verb (verb-1) ends with the letter -y and is preceded by a vowel (vowels), then the letter –y, is not changed but added the letter -y to form past tense (verb-2). 5) if the basic verb (verb-1) consists of one syllable and ending with a death letter (consonant) that begins with a vowel, then the last dead letter is duplicated, then plus the letter -ed to form verb-2 (past tense). 6) if the basic verb / verb-1 (infinitive) has more than one syllables and ends with a dead letter (consonant) which is preceded by a vowel, but the pronunciations fall on the last syllable, the letter finally duplicated then added with the letter -ed to form verb-2 (past tense). except if the last syllable of the basic verb / verb-1 (infinitive) contains two vowels, although the pronunciations fall on the last syllable, the last death letter cannot be duplicated and directly added with the letter -ed to form verb-2 / past tense. 7) if the basic verb/verb-1 (infinitive) is a two-syllable ending in a consonant preceded by a vowel, but the emphasis of the pronunciation falls on the first syllable, then immediately plus the letter -ed to form verb-2 / past tense. 8) if the basic verb / verb-1 (infinitive) ends with the letter -l, which is preceded by a vowel, then the suffix -l is multiplied and then added -ed to form verb-2 / past tense. 9) if the basic verb (infinitive) ends with the letter -l, which is preceded by two vowels, then the letter of the suffix -i do not need to be duplicated but is immediately added to the letter -ed to form the past tense. 10) if the basic verb (infinitive) ends with the letter -c, which is preceded by a vowel, then the letter -c plus the letter -k then add the letter-ed to form past tense. in irregular verbs, the verbs must be recognized by sight, since they do not follow one consistent pattern (walter, 2016, p. 330). it also can be said that the verbs do not follow a regular pattern. to make or form a simple past of irregular verbs, we must memorize their forms (kay et al., 2008b, p. 107). irregular verbs are verbs that change according to the tense and do not comply with normal compliance. the past tense irregular verbs are not formed from basic verbs / verb-1 (infinitives) plus letters -d or -ed letters to form verb-2 / past tense. irregular verbs form their past tense differently (through) not always) through a vowel and consonant change. so that, these forms must be memorized by the learners/students. conclusion related to the using of the regular and irregular verb in 14 students writing an essay, it shows that the students use both regular and irregular verb (past) in their students writing an essay. both regular and irregular verbs are 312 data in verb 2 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 276-287 286 (past). in the regular verbs, there are 142 data or 45.51 %, and in the irregular verb, there are 170 data or 54.49 %. it shows that the most dominant verb past written by the students in their students' writing essay is an irregular verb. regular verbs are verbs that can change according to tense and change it regularly. regular verbs are verbs whose changes comply with normal rules, that is with add the letter -d or -ed to the verb first-form / verb-1 (infinitive) so that it becomes a verb form second / verb-2 (past tense). several things must be considered in the way of forming regular verbs by adding the letter -ed suffix or -d in the basic verb/verb-1 (infinitive). irregular verbs are verbs that change according to the tense and do not comply with normal compliance. the past tense irregular verbs are not formed from basic verbs / verb-1 (infinitives) plus letters -d or -ed letters to form verb-2 / past tense. irregular verbs form their past tense differently (through) not always) through a vowel and consonant change. so that, these forms must be memorized by the learners/students. references blakesley, d., & hoogeveen, j. l. (2011). writing: a manual for the digital age, brief, spiral bound version. boston, ma: cengage learning. bradeley, s. w. (2015). english grammar is simple!: understanding english grammar. bloomington: booktango. comrie, b. (1985). tense. cambridge: cambridge university press. declerck, r., reed, s., & cappelle, b. (2006). the grammar of the english tense system: a comprehensive analysis. berlin: walter de gruyter. dixon, w. (2011). essential elements of english grammar: a guide for learning english. bloomington: iuniverse. etherton, a., & baker, t. (2014). english alive!: nelson thornes caribbean english. nelson thornes. fitria, t. n. (2018). error analysis found in students’ writing composition of simple future tense. ssrn electronic journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3527851 flick, u. (2006). an introduction to qualitative research. thousand oaks, california: sage. foo, f. (2015). total grammar. johor: pelangi epublishing sdn bhd. goldstein, b., jones, c., & mckeegan, d. (2015). eyes open level 1 student’s book. cambridge: cambridge university press. gratton, c., & jones, i. (2004). research methods for sport studies. hove, east sussex: psychology press. guffey, m. e., & loewy, d. (2012). essentials of business communication. boston, ma: cengage learning. hoon, l. h. (2009). grammar supplementary for lower secondary. london: panpac education pte ltd. joshi, m. (2014). using tenses in english: past, present, future. kumaon: manik joshi. kay, j., gelshenen, k., & gelshenen, r. (2008a). discovering fiction, an introduction student’s book with audio cd: a reader of american short stories. cambridge: cambridge university press. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 276-287 287 lapan, s. d., quartaroli, m. t., & riemer, f. j. (2011). qualitative research: an introduction to methods and designs. hoboken, new jersey: john wiley & sons. leech, g. n. (2014). meaning and the english verb. england: routledge. lim, s. (2010). english improvement series. retrieved from lulu.com. narayanaswamy, & r, k. (1995a). success with grammar and composition. hyderabad, telangana: orient blackswan. narayanaswamy, & r, k. (1995b). success with grammar and composition. hyderabad, telangana: orient blackswan. vitto, c. l. (2006). grammar by diagram second edition: understanding english grammar through traditional sentence diagraming. peterborough, ontario: broadview press. walter, j. (2016). building writing skills the hands-on way. boston, ma: cengage learning. wiijesinha, r. (2006). a handbook of english grammar. foundation books. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 78 project-based learning: promoting efl learners’ writing skills behnam aghayani and elmira hajmohammadi payame noor university and islamic azad university iran behnam.aghayani@gmail.com and elmirahaj26@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2019.220108 received 18 february 2019; revised 21 february 2019; accepted 9 march 2019 abstract the present study sought to investigate the effect of project-based learning on efl learners’ writing skill. to reach this goal, from the population of 70 efl learners taking efl courses at a language institute in iran, two homogenous groups, consisting of 28 males, were selected based on the random sampling method. while the control group with 14 learners was taught through traditional method, the experimental group consisting of 14 learners received instruction using projectbased learning designed by maftoon, birjandi, and ahmadi (2013). a pre-test was administered to both groups prior to the treatment. then, after the treatment, which was lasted for ten sessions and held during two months, the learners in both group were required to write on the new topic in which it was regarded as the writing posttest. the analysis of the obtained data revealed that project-based learning had significant effect on the learners’ writing ability. moreover, the findings showed that project-based learning approach does aid learners to enhance and promote their writing ability in a collaborative environment. keywords: authentic learning, elf learners, english language learning, projectbased learning, writing skill introduction in the foreign language learning, project-based learning (pjbl) is defined as “a student-centered approach to learning in which students collaborate on sequential authentic tasks and develop a final project” (mills, 2009, p. 607). in this method, learners ask a question and are guided to do research under supervision of the instructor (bell, 2010). project-based learning allows learners to learn in an integrated way in which enables them take responsibility for their own learning in a collaborative environment (bilgin, karakuyu, & ay, 2015). moreover, pjbl as a learner-centered approach, helps learners to facilitate their own knowledge building and transform learning into authentic and comprehensive experience (tamim & grant, 2013). this method engages unwilling learners and provides a situation to improve learners’ motivation (bilgin et al., 2015). in addition, according to artini, ratminingsih, and padmadewi (2018), pjbl enables learners learn through solving problems, investigating, making decisions, and working strategically in efl classes. the result of pjbl is a better understanding of a subject, deeper learning and a greater motivation for learning (bell, 2010). further, as khalili sabet and ravand llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 79 (2017) suggested, the basic idea of pjbl is that as learners obtain new knowledge through solving problems, their interest is caught up by real-life problems and triggered by serious thinking. altogether, pjbl offers numerous benefits to learners such as provides learners with opportunities to develop their confidence, increases learners’ self-esteem, enhances learners’ autonomy, increases learners’ cooperative skills, enhances learners’ motivations, develops problem-solving, and improves language skills (fragoulis & tsiplakides, 2009). according to mills (2009), an effective pjbl have several key features include “a process and product orientation, student ownership, the development of language skills, a commitment to both language and content learning, and group and independent work” (p. 609). mccarthy (2010) came to conclusion that implementing pjbl method enables learners become aware of their learning ability. more importantly, pjbl activities improve learners’ language skills, promote their attitudes towards learning in efl classes (artini et al., 2018) and develop their motivation to use efl with a strong focus on writing skill (kovalyova, soboleva, & kerimkulov, 2016). writing, as one of the skills that can be mastered in efl classes, is a cognitive skill that involves learning, understanding, applying and synthesizing new knowledge (praba̕, artini, & ramendra, 2018) and can deliver learners’ thoughts and feelings (sadeghi, biniaz, & soleimani, 2016). therefore, pjbl that not only develops learners’ critical thinking for learning, but also helps them to acquire new knowledge, can be essential in promoting writing. due to the important role of writing in language learning, this study attempted to show the effect of pjbl on efl learners’ writing skill. in relation to language skills, fragoulis and tsiplakides (2009) found that pjbl has increased willingness of efl learners to participate in activities designed for language learning. more specifically, results from their study showed pjbl improve all four language skills. besides, poonpon’s (2011) study on 47 undergraduate students revealed that pjbl improves the learners’ english skills in a language classroom. moreover, ramírez (2014) investigated the effect of pjbl on students’ written production in an efl class among 24 students. she found that pjbl is effective method in which learners’ writing abilities have enhanced and efl learners could improve the precision of their writing skills. in another study, ratminingsih (2015) came to conclusion that pjbl enables efl learners to resolve their difficulties in writing through interaction and discussion. furthermore, affandi and sukyadi (2016) have investigated the effects of pjbl on students’ writing achievement among 78 efl learners and they concluded that the learners’ writing achievement have improved. kovalyova et al. (2016) found that pjbl enables engineering students to improve significantly their written skill within the english language course. in addition, sadeghi et al. (2016) explored on the impact of pjbl on comparison and contrast paragraph writing skills among 36 male efl learners. the findings reported that implementation of pjbl in writing has positive effects on learners’ writing skill. simply put, they found that pjbl enhanced efl learners’ writing performance. in 2017, astawa, artini, and nitiasih conducted a study to examine the effect of pjbl on students’ productive skills in english among 28 students. the results revealed a significant effect of pjbl on students’ productive skills in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 80 english. indeed, they found that implementation of pjbl activities in efl classes, enhance students’ ability to write in english. collier (2017) in her thesis entitled “using a project-based language learning approach in the high school spanish classroom: perceived challenges and benefits” explored on how project-based language learning affected writing performance. the results showed that project-based language learning approach was unaffected on students’ writing performance. moreover, similar to astawa et al. (2017), artini et al. (2018) have investigated the impact of pjbl on learners’ english productive skills. they collected data through classroom observation, interview, and a questionnaire. the results of the study revealed that pjbl had an impact on learners’ positive attitudes toward foreign language learning; also, the findings indicated that pjbl activities improved efl learners’ communication skills, particularly in writing. finally, praba̕ et al. (2018) conducted a study to investigate the effect of pjbl on efl learners’ writing skill. they used interview, observation, and writing test for data collection. the findings showed that pjbl has significant effect on efl learners’ writing skill. in addition, they came to conclusion that pjbl significantly promote writing skill in efl context. in light of the review of related literature, the present study addresses the following research question and hypothesis: rq: does project-based learning have a significant effect on efl learners’ writing skill? h0: project-based learning does not have a significant effect on efl learners’ writing skill. method design to find the answer of research question in the current study, the researchers used the pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design with an experimental group and a control group. the both groups were randomly selected from a language institute in iran. the first group, experimental group, were given instructions using pjbl designed by maftoon, birjandi, and ahmadi (2013) and control group were given instructions using traditional method. the learners in both groups were given a pre-test and a post-test. moreover, both experimental and control group were instructed by the same teacher. participants twenty-eight intermediate efl learners participated in the present study. the participants were male native speakers of persian and their age ranged from 14 to 16 years old. they also were selected based on random sampling. instruments oxford placement test. in order to determine the homogeneity of the participants, an oxford placement test (opt) was administered to 70 efl learners. twentyeight efl learners whose scores on the opt ranged between one standard deviation above the mean and one standard deviation below the mean were selected and divided into two groups of experimental and control each consisting of 14 efl learners. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 81 pre-test. all 28 learners were given 30 minutes to write on the same topic as their performance in the writing pre-test. post-test. in order to measure the writing performance of the participants, learners in both group were required to write on the new topic. procedure the treatment for both group lasted for ten sessions held during two months. first of all, to measure learners’ language proficiency level and also their homogeneity, an opt was administered to 70 efl learners. then, based on opt results, 28 out of 70 learners were chosen since all of them were able to pass the test, and 28 learners were categorized at the intermediate level. afterwards, the 28 learners were divided into two groups of experimental and control each consisting of 14 learners. next, as mentioned earlier, learners in experimental group were given instructions using pjbl designed by maftoon et al. (2013) and learners in control group were given instructions using traditional method. maftoon et al. (2013) operationalized pjbl through seven steps in which used in the present study as follow: 1) according to maftoon et al. (2013), the teacher must collaborate with learners to find a theme interesting to all. in this study, teacher required learners in experimental group to write their interesting topics on a piece of paper in pairs and asked them to form seven groups of two. 2) maftoon et al. (2013) proposed the paving of grounds for a shared decision on the aim of the course “as regards both content and language and to determine the steps to be taken by the students to reach the final” (p. 1633). in the present study, teacher asked learners some questions to think about the purpose of the writing task and how the goal was to be attained. they were also asked to discuss the questions in pairs. 3) based on maftoon et al. (2013) suggestion, the teacher must consider all dimensions of the learners’ learning needs when collecting information to carry out the project task. in the current study, the teacher provided key resource books for learners to know more about writing on different genres. 4) the fourth step, according to maftoon et al. (2013), was assisting learners “to gather information inside and outside the classroom, individually, in pairs, or in groups” (p. 1633). in this study, the teacher enabled learners to use the resource books in pairs inside the classroom and encouraged them to use the internet outside the classroom while planning the content and form of their papers. 5) maftoon et al. (2013) was allowing learners to work in groups or individually. therefore, in the present study, based on the teachers’ guidelines the learners were asked to collaboratively write a paper in pairs inside the classroom. 6) next step as suggested by maftoon et al. (2013) includes motivating and assisting learners to reflect upon the task. in the current study, the learners were asked to discuss the accuracy of their papers that they wrote in pairs. 7) finally, according to maftoon et al. (2013), the teacher should “decided on a framework to evaluate the students and decide their final marks” (p. 1633). to do so, in this study, the teacher asked learners in pairs to discuss and agree on the criteria on which papers should assessed by the teacher and encourage them to rate their own papers and give their papers a final mark. after ten sessions, the learners in both group were required to write on the new topic in which it was regarded as the writing post-test. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 82 findings and discussion this study aimed to investigate the effect of project-based on efl learners’ writing skill. specifically, in order to find the answer of research question, a series of descriptive and inferential statistics were carried out. table 1 shows the descriptive statistics of the pretest and posttest scores for both experimental and control groups. table 1. descriptive statistics of the participants’ pre-test and post-test scores for experimental group and control group n minimum maximum mean sd skewness statistic statistic statistic statistic statistic statistic std. error control group (pre-test) 14 13.00 19.00 15.9286 1.85904 .121 .597 control group (post-test) 14 13.00 18.00 15.7143 1.68379 .074 .597 experimental group (pre-test) 14 13.00 19.00 15.7857 2.00686 .009 .597 experimental group (post-test) 14 15.00 20.00 17.9286 1.54244 -.156 .597 valid n (listwise) 14 based on the above table, there is no statistically significant difference between the two means of the participants’ scores on pre-test and post-test in control group. conversely, the mean scores of the participants in experimental group at pre-test stage was 15.7857 which changed to 17.9286 in the post-test. evidently, there is observed difference between the pre-test and post-test. furthermore, the two times value of standard error of skewness for pre-test in both control and experimental group are more than the skewness value (1.194>.121; 1.194>.009) and the two times value of standard error of skewness for post-test in both groups are more than the skewness value (1.194>.074; 1.194>-.156) that indicate a normal distribution of the data. testing the null hypothesis the null hypothesis of the current study reads “project-based learning does not have a significant effect on efl learners’ writing skill”. in order to test the null hypothesis, a paired samples t-test were employed to compare the difference between the pretest and posttest scores of the participants in the both groups. the results are presented in the table 2. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 83 table 2. paired samples t-test for the pre-test and the post-test scores of participants in both experimental and control group paired differences t df sig. (2taile d) mean sd std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 control pretest control post-test .21429 1.05090 .28087 -.39249 .82106 .763 13 .459 pair 2 experiment al pre-test experiment al post-test -2.14286 1.51186 .40406 -3.01578 -1.26994 -5.303 13 .000 as demonstrated in table 2, the sig. value of the control group is greater than the p value (.459>.05) and it means that there is no significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores in the control group whereas, the sig. value of the experimental group is less than the p value (.000<.05) that is there is significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores in the experimental group. regarding the research question (does project-based learning have a significant effect on efl learners’ writing skill?), statistically, the results of paired samples t-test showed a significant effect of project-based learning on efl learners’ writing skill. consequently, the null hypothesis which presumed that project-based learning does not have a significant effect on efl learners’ writing skill, was rejected. concerning the related literature, the findings are typically supported by the results of many previous studies such as ramírez (2014), affandi and sukyadi (2016), kovalyova et al. (2016), sadeghi et al. (2016), astawa et al. (2017), artini et al. (2018), and praba̕ et al. (2018). however, collier (2017) came to the conclusion that project-based language learning had no significant effect on students’ writing performance that is the results of the present study are not in the line with collier’s (2017) study. conclusion fragoulis and tsiplakides (2009) in their study concluded that project-based learning increased willingness of efl learners to participate in language learning tasks; similarly, according to the obtained results of the current study and learners’ performance, not only willingness of the learners increased but also unwilling learners motivated to participate in activities. in the same vein of previous study (ratminingsih, 2015) project-based learning helped learners in the experimental group helped learners to resolve collaboratively their problems in writing through discussion. the present study was in fact an attempt to explore the effect of project-based learning on efl learners’ writing skill. after the implementation of project-based learning, the learners obtained higher scores than before. the results showed project-based learning had significant effect on the learners’ writing ability. moreover, the findings from the experimental group revealed that it could be argued that project-based learning approach does aid learners to enhance and promote their llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 84 writing ability in a collaborative environment. in sum, based on the results, this study assists the efl teachers to implement project-based learning in efl/esl classes to increase learners’ writing ability. in addition, not only may textbooks developers and efl instructors benefit from the results of such a study, it also may obvious that project-based learning approach can be employed other context. last but not least, the instructor’s creativity to use project-based learning might cover some of the shortcomings in learning writing. references affandi, a. & sukyadi, d. (2016). project-based learning and problem-based learning for efl students’ writing achievement at the tertiary level. rangsit journal of educational studies, 3(1), 23-40. doi: 10.14456/rjes.2016.2 artini, l. p., ratminingsih, n. m., & padmadewi, n. n. (2018). project based learning in efl classes: material development and impact of implementation. dutch journal of applied linguistics, 7(1), 26-44. doi: 10.1075/dujal.17014.art astawa, n. l. p. n. s. p., artini, l. p., & nitiasih, p. k. (2017). project-based learning activities and efl students’ productive skills in english. journal of language teaching and research, 8(6), 1147-1155. doi: 10.17507/jltr.0806.16 bell, s. (2010). project-based learning for the 21st century: skills for the future. the clearing house, 83(2), 39-43. doi: 10.1080/00098650903505415 bilgin, i., karakuyu, y., & ay, y. (2015). the effects of project based learning on undergraduate students’ achievement and self-efficacy beliefs towards science teaching. eurasia journal of mathematics, science and technology education, 11(3), 469-477. doi: 10.12973/eurasia.2014.1015a collier, l. d. (2017). using a project-based language learning approach in the high school spanish classroom: perceived challenges and benefits (master’s thesis). retrieved from https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7542&context=etd fragoulis, i. & tsiplakides, i. (2009). project-based learning in the teaching of english as a foreign language in greek primary schools: from theory to practice. english language teaching, 2(3), 113-119. doi: 10.5539/elt.v2n3p113 khalili, s. m., & ravand, g. r. (2017). the effects of project-oriented tasks on iranian intermediate efl learners’ learning motivation. journal of applied linguistics and language research, 4(2), 16-114. kovalyova, y. y., soboleva, a. v., & kerimkulov, a. (2016). project based learning in teaching communication skills in english as a foreign language to engineering students. international journal of emerging technologies in learning (ijet), 11(04), 153-156. doi: 10.3991/ijet.v11i04.5416 maftoon, p., birjandi, p., & ahmadi, a. (2013). the relationship between projectbased instruction and motivation: a study of efl learners in iran. theory and practice in language studies, 3(9), 1630-1638. doi: 10.4304/tpls.3.9.16301638 mccarthy, t. (2010). integrating project-based learning into a traditional skillsbased curriculum to foster learner autonomy: an action research. journal of kanda university of international studies, 22, 221-244. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7542&context=etd llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 85 mills, n. (2009). a guide du routard simulation: increasing self-efficacy in the standards through project-based learning. foreign language annals, 42(4), 607-639. doi: 10.1111/j.1944-9720.2009.01046.x poonpon, k. (2011). enhancing english skills through project-based learning. the english teacher, 40, 1-10. praba̕, l. t., artini, l. p., & ramendra, d. p. (2018). project-based learning and writing skill in efl: are they related? shs web of conferences, 42(1), 1-6. doi: 10.1051/shsconf/20184200059 ramírez, m. d. (2014). the impact of project work and the writing process method on writing production. how, 21(2), 31-53. doi: 10.19183/how.21.2.3 ratminingsih, n. m. (2015). the use of personal photographs in writing in projectbased language learning: a case study. the new english teacher, 9(1), 102118. sadeghi, h., biniaz, m., & soleimani, h. (2016). the impact of project-based language learning on iranian efl learners comparison/contrast paragraph writing skills. international journal of asian social science, 6(9), 510-524. doi: 10.18488/journal.1/2016.6.9/1.9.510.524 tamim, s. r. & grant, m. m. (2013). definitions and uses: case study of teachers implementing project-based learning. interdisciplinary journal of problembased learning, 7(2), 72-101. doi: 10.7771/1541-5015.1323 llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 133 students’ perception on pre-reading activities in basic reading ii class of the english language education study program of sanata dharma university vindy cahya ekaningrum carla sih prabandari sanata dharma university abstract in a reading classroom, the teacher needs to prepare the students since the beginning of a reading process. the teachers can create pre-reading activities before the students start to read. the pre-reading activities are essential to activate students’ background knowledge and to develop the students’ motivation. they will create an effective reading classroom. the students’ perception on the teaching techniques implemented by the teacher is important. the students’ perception on the teacher instruction shows whether the teaching techniques meet the students’ need or not. because of this reason, the researcher wants to find out the varieties of pre-reading activities used by the teacher and the students’ perception on the implementation of the prereading activities. there were two problem formulations in this study: 1) what kinds of prereading activities that are used by basic reading ii teacher in the english language education study program of sanata dharma university? 2) how is the students’ perception on pre-reading activities used by the teacher? this research was a survey research. in gathering the data, there were two instruments used in this research. they were interview and questionnaire. the interview was done by interviewing the teacher of basic reading ii class. the interview was used to answer the first research question about the varieties of pre-reading activities in basic reading ii class. then, the researcher distributed the questionnaire to 56 students of basic reading ii class. the questionnaire was used to answer the second research question about the students’ perception on pre-reading activities used by the teacher. the result of this research showed that brainstorming, pre-teaching vocabulary, prequestioning, visual aids, and kwl strategy were the varieties of pre-reading activities used by the teacher. there were two different implementation of pre-teaching vocabulary. there were also two activities combined together, they were the use of visual aids and kwl strategy. the students had positive perception on the implementation of pre-reading activities in basic reading ii class. the students got many advantages from the implementation of pre-reading activities which help them to understand reading materials. keywords: perception, pre-reading activities, basic reading ii class a. introduction in a reading classroom, the teacher has a responsibility to plan the instructions which make the students experience the satisfaction of learning from the text (vacca and vacca, 1989). the teachers need to help the students get along with the text since the beginning of the reading process. the teachers can prepare the students before they start to read. “prereading activities are especially important, as they prepare students to read a selection.” (armbruster & osborn, 2002, p. 85). colorado (2008) states, “prereading activities can engage student interest, activate prior knowledge, or preteach potentially difficult concepts and vocabulary” (p.1). in the pre-reading students’ perception on ... 134 stage, activating the students’ background knowledge is essential. carrel states that the reader’s failure to activate an appropriate schema in reading may result in various degrees of non-comprehension (as cited in navarro, 2008). moreover, developing students’ motivation through pre-reading activities is no less important. according to colorado (2008) in the prereading stage, the teachers should create motivating activities that interest students in the text and motivate them to read. marinak and gambrell (2009) state, “research confirms that student motivation is a key factor in successful reading” (p.1). it means that the students who have motivation to read will perform well in the reading classroom. variations in teaching reading are necessary. baghaei and riasati (2013) state, “creative teaching employs flexible and appropriate techniques so that the classes become fun and interesting” (p.1). the varieties of pre-reading activities are implemented in basic reading ii class in the english language education study program of sanata dharma university academic year 2013/2014. the teacher starts the reading class with the varieties of prereading activities before giving the students the reading materials. regarding to the number of the pre reading activities that are used by the teacher, the researcher wants to conduct a research on what kinds of pre reading activities used by the teacher of basic reading ii class. moreover, the students may have various views, such as whether they are effective or not to help them to achieve their reading comprehension. the students’ perception on the teaching techniques implemented by the teacher is important. if the students have positive perception, it shows that the teachers’ instruction meet the students’ need. considering these backgrounds, the researcher would like to discover what kinds of pre-reading activities are used by the teacher in basic reading ii class and the students’ perception on the use of pre-reading activities. this research tries to answer two research problems which are formulated as follows: 1. what kinds of pre-reading activities are used by basic reading ii teacher in the english language education study program of sanata dharma university? 2. how is the students’ perception on the pre-reading activities used by the teacher? b. review of related literature 1. pre-reading activities pre-reading activities include the activities and discussions before reading which reduce the uncertainty that the students bring to the texts (vacca and vacca, 1989). pre-reading activities are able to activate the students’ background knowledge. nunan (2003) states that all experiences which are accumulated and brought to the reading texts belong to the readers’ background knowledge. prereading activities help the students to relate their background knowledge and the new information which they find in the text (ajideh, 2006). the teachers have the important roles to provide effective instructions in the pre-reading stage of the reading classroom. vacca and vacca (1989) address four purposes of prereading activities which teacher applies in pre-reading activities. they are motivating readers, building and activating background knowledge, introducing key vocabulary and concepts, and developing awareness of the task demands of the assignment and the strategies necessary for effective learning. the teachers are able to select the appropriate pre-reading activity related llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 135 to the reading text. moreover, the teachers are also able to combine some of the pre-reading activities in the prereading stage. hedge (2000) says, “a range of activity types are possible at this stage and teachers can select or combine from a repertoire, …” (p. 210). this research addressed the varieties of prereading activities as follows. a. brainstorming in the brainstorming activity, the students need to mention words and concepts which have associations with the keyword provided by the teacher. wallace (2003) states, “this may take the form of giving the class a particular key word or key concept, or it may be a newspaper headline or book title” (p.91). wallace (2003) claims that there are three advantages of brainstorming. they are requires little teacher preparation, allows learners considerable freedom to bring their own prior knowledge and opinions to bear on particular use, and can involve a whole class. b. pre-teaching vocabulary pre-teaching vocabulary is helpful for the students in achieving their reading comprehension. according to mihara (2011), pre-teaching vocabulary may help address unfamiliar words or phrases that can interfere with students’ comprehension. there is a correlation between vocabulary mastery and reading comprehension (armbruster and osborn, 2002. if the students have good vocabulary mastery of the text, they will have better understanding of the text. c. pre-questioning another pre-reading activity which can be implemented before reading is giving questions related to the text. ajideh (2006) says, “some pre-reading activities simply consist of questions to which the reader is required to find answers from the text” (p. 6). besides providing the prequestions for the students, the teacher can ask them to create their own questions related to the reading text. vacca and vacca (1989) state, “teaching students to generate their own questions about material to be read is one of the major instructional goals of prereading preparation.” (p. 146). d. visual aids the use of visual materials in prereading activities can help the students in activating or building their background knowledge. navarro (2008) says visuals have an important role in building schema for english language learners. the material can be in the form of pictures, videos, or others. porter (n.d) states, “pictures and other visual material can activate a students' prior knowledge. e. conceptual related readings activating the students’ background knowledge and building their frame of reference can also be achieved by giving multiple texts with the same topic to the students. vacca and vacca (1989) mention that the use of the multiple texts is a strategy which is able to build multiple perspectives and background knowledge for the concept development. there are many sources related can help the students to develop concepts of what they read. they are multiple textbooks, popular books, pamphlets, or magazine. f. previews previews provide the students with a frame of reference in which to understand a new material (vacca&vacca, 1989).to construct a preview, vacca and vacca (1989) address some steps. the teacher can start with a series of short statements and one or more questions which spark interest, provide a link between a familiar topic and the topic of the story, and encourage students to students’ perception on ... 136 actively reflect upon the theme. the teachers can also provide a synopsis of the story which includes key elements in the story structure (without signaling the resolution or outcome of the plot). moreover, the teachers can define several key terms within the context of the preview passage. g. kwl strategy there is a technique named kwl strategy. farrel (2003) states, “one method that will encourage students to have a personal connection to a reading assignment is the k-w-l” (p.13). the abbreviation stands for “what do i know?”, “what do i want to know?”, and, “what have i learned?”.farrel (2003) states that these questions will activate the students’ prior knowledge and motivates them to find the answer from the text. vacca and vacca (1989) state that the students can ask two of the most appropriate questions about reading selection. by asking what the students need to know helps them to activate their background knowledge, make prediction on what they want to read and find out the purpose they read the text. then, by asking what students have already known of the text helps them to search their experiences and knowledge related to the text. 2. perception according to mcshane and glinow (2005), “perception is the process of receiving information about and making sense of the world around us” (p. 76). it is stated that in the process of perception, somebody will receive information from their surroundings. then, the person will give meaning on the information received. therefore, the process of perception makes us able to interpret information around us and understand the information. people will give their responses to stimuli from the surroundings. mcshane and glinow (2005) state, “the resulting perceptions influence our emotions and behavior toward those objects, people, and events” (p. 77). therefore, people’s perception about something will influence the way they response about something, whether it is positive or negative. the research of the students’ perception on pre-reading activities is worth doing to know the students perception on the teaching instructions implemented by the teacher. if the students perceived positively toward the teaching techniques used by the teacher, they will think that the teaching techniques are helpful and important for them to be successful in the reading class. the students will show their interest to the pre-reading activities. on the other hand, if the students respond to the instructions negatively, the students are not interested to the pre-reading activities. the students’ perception on pre-reading activities which are based on their experiences will affect their way of thinking or interpreting the pre-reading activities implemented by the teacher. c. methodology the researcher used survey research to get the information. “in survey research, investigators ask questions about people’s beliefs, opinions, characteristics, and behavior” (ary, jacobs, & sorensen, 2010, p.372). the researcher asked questions about student’s opinion on the pre reading activities in basic reading ii class of sanata dharma university. through survey research, the researcher was able to explore and analyze the characteristics of pre-reading activities in basic reading ii class of the english language education study program of sanata dharma university. moreover, the researcher could explore and analyze the llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 137 students’ perception on the implementation of pre-reading activities. the subjects of this research were the students of basic reading ii classes in the academic year 2013/2014 and the teacher of the basic reading ii classes where the questionnaire distributed. the students were chosen as the primary participants. the researcher took 56 students from the basic reading ii classes, namely class c and d. the researcher conducted the research in april 2014. the researcher conducted the interview to the teacher face to face. through following the interview guidelines, the researcher was going to find out the implementation of prereading activities that the teacher applied. the researcher would find the information of the varieties of prereading activities used by the teacher, the reason of the choices, and the effect for the students. the researcher also distributed the questionnaire to the students in two basic reading ii classes. the purposes were to explore students’ perception on the implementation of prereading activities. from the interview result, the researcher made a summary based on the data collection. after that, the researcher analyzed the data and drew a conclusion based on the data which is obtained. next, the researcher calculated the students’ answer from the questionnaire. each question statement of the data was analyzed. the researcher constructed rating scale. the data obtained and the numbers of the respondents were calculated. d. research results and discussion 1. the varieties of pre-reading activities implementation in basic reading ii class from the interview result, the researcher analyzed the pre-reading activities used by the teacher as follows. a. brainstorming the first type of pre-reading activity used by the teacher was brainstorming activity. based on the interview to the teacher, this technique was applied in a meeting with the text entitled “success is a mind set”. in the process of brainstorming activity, the teacher mentioned a keyword of the topic from the text that will be discussed in the class. this finding is in line with the process of brainstorming activity stated by wallace (2003), in brainstorming activity the teacher provides keyword of a text that will be read. the students need to mention words and concepts that have association with the keyword provided by the teacher. the teacher mentioned that the purpose of this activity was to make students had a frame of the main topic which will be read. b. pre-teaching vocabulary the teacher did pre-teaching vocabulary in the pre-reading activity. there were two different implementations of this activity. first, in “a glorious mongrel” text, there were two stages of the pre-reading activity. the first stage, the teacher took seven words that are related to the text. then, the teacher provided the scrambled letters of the words. the students should work in group to guess the words. the second stage of the pre-reading activity, the teacher gave the words in the part of the sentences. the students guess the meaning from the sentences. the students made prediction about the information which they would find in the text. because the text had a lot of advanced words, the students’ perception on ... 138 teacher used the advanced words provided by the text to make the students familiar with the words. pre-teaching vocabulary may help address unfamiliar words or phrases that can interfere with students’ comprehension (mihara, 2011). second, in a text about birth order and personality, the teacher asked the students to make a chart of their personalities. in the process of this activity, the teacher provided a list of characters. the students were divided in groups based on their birth order. there were first born group, middle born group, and later born group. each group chose 8 characteristics that best represent their group. the teacher’s purpose of using this activity was to relate the text to the students’ personal experience as a family member. nunan (2003) explains that background knowledge includes all the experiences that a reader brings to the text. in this case, this is students’ life experience as a family member. c. pre-questioning the third type of pre-reading activity used by the teacher was prequestioning. the teacher said that this kind of activity was used in the narrative text entitled “charles”. the teacher asked the students to make prediction based on the selected parts of the text. in the process of this activity, the teacher divided the students in small groups. the teacher provided some parts of the materials and distributed it to the groups. the students discussed the scrambled parts in their group. in the discussion in a smaller group, the students should make questions and predict what they would find in the story, for example the characters in the story. the students would share the information from the part which they had with the other friends who had different parts of the text. they also questioned the information shared by the other friends. in line with vacca and vacca (1989) explanation that the teacher can help the students to develop their own questions related to the material which will be read. in this activity, the students created their own questions that would be asked to the other friends d. visual aids and kwl strategy after analyzing the interview result, the researcher could find that the teacher also combine some pre-reading activities. as it is proposed by hedge (2000), the teachers can combine the prereading activities used. for steve jobs graduation speech text, the teacher provided a picture of steve jobs. the teacher also asked the students to draw kwl chart, by asking the students what they know and what they want to learn. vacca and vacca (1989) state that by asking what students have already known about the text helps them to search their experiences and knowledge which related to the text. then, by asking what the students need to know helps them activate their background knowledge. the teacher saw that the students had the physical experiences of having gadgets which were produced by apple incorporation. that is the reason why this activity is implemented. this finding is in line with farrel’s (2003) explanation that kwl strategy is one method that will encourage the students to have a personal connection to a reading assignment. the teacher raised the students’ curiosity to read the text by asking what they want to learn. the students said they wanted to know steve jobs’ family life, his love life, and others. 2. students’ perception on the implementation of pre-reading activities in basic reading ii class from the explanation of the questionnaire result, the researcher concluded that the students had positive llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 139 perception on the pre-reading activities used by the teacher in basic reading ii class. most of the respondents agreed that they got many advantages from the implementation of pre-reading activities. the result was supported by the fact of the degree of agreement for the statements in the questionnaire. most of the respondents believed that prereading activities helped them to understand a reading text well. the respondents agreed that pre-reading activities help them to make predictions about that information. the respondents also believed that pre-reading activities could help them imagine the content of the text and remember their experiences related to the topic of the text. the respondents showed positive attitude on the statement that pre-reading activities help them to explore their ideas about the topic of the text. the respondents showed positive response to the statement that pre-reading activities make them curious about the text, being interested and also motivated to read a text. the respondents also agreed with the statement that prereading activities implemented by the teacher make reading activities are fun. e. conclusion the result of the research showed that there were five varieties of the prereading activities implemented by the teacher. they were brainstorming, prequestioning, pre-teaching vocabulary, visual aids and kwl strategy. among those five, there are two ways in the implementation of pre-teaching vocabulary. then, there was also a combination of two techniques in a prereading stage. it was the implementation of a picture as visual aid and kwl strategy. the second finding is about students’ perception on pre-reading activities implemented by the teacher. the students’ perceptions on pre-reading activities in basic reading ii class were positive. most of the respondents believed that pre-reading activities implemented by the teacher helped them to understand reading materials. references ajideh, p. (2006). schema-theory based considerations on pre-reading activities in esp textbooks. the asian efl journal, 16, 1-19. retrieved december 10, 2013, from http://asian-efljournal.com/november_2006_vol16 _ art2.pdf armbruster, b. b., & osborn, j. h. (2002). reading instruction and assessment. boston: a pearson education company. ary, d., jacobs, l. c., & sorensen, c., (2010). introduction to research in education (8thed.). belmont: wadsworth group, thompson learning. baghaei, s. & riasati m. j. (2013). an investigation into the relationship between teachers’ creativity and students’ academic achievement: a case study of iran efl context. middle-east journal of scientific research, 14 (12): 1576-1580. retrieved june 30, 2014 from http://www.idosi.org /mejsr /mejsr14(12)13/3.pdf colorado, c. (2008). pre-reading activities for ells.retrieved june 30, 2014, from http://www.fordham.edu/images/a students’ perception on ... 140 cademics/education/rbern/ 5282013 ellactivities.pdf farrel, t. s. c. (2003). planning lessons for a reading class. singapore: seameo regional language centre. hedge, t. (2000). teaching and learning in the language classroom. new york: oxford university press. marinak, b. & gambrell, l. (2009). reading motivation: what the research says. retrieved june 30, 2014, from http://www.readingrockets.org/arti cle/29624 mcshane, s. l., & glinow, m. a. v. (2005) organizational behavior 3e. new york: mcgraw-hill companies inc. mihara, k. (2011). effects of pre-reading strategies on efl/esl reading comprehension. tesl canada journal, 28, 51-73. retrieved december 10, 2013, from http://www.teslcanadajournal.ca/te sl/index.php/tesl/article/ view /1072/891 navarro, a. m. (2008). building schema for english language learners.the education resources information center. retrieved december 10, 2013, from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ ed514335.pdf nunan, d. (ed.). (2003). practical english language teaching. new york: the mcgraw-hill companies. porter, k. (n.d). reading: prereading strategies. retrieved june 30, 2014, fromhttp://departments.weber.edu /teachall/reading/prereading.html# top vacca, r. t., & vacca, j.l. (1989). content area reading (3rd ed.). new york: harpe collins publishers. wallace, c. (2003). reading. new york: oxford university press. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 1-16 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 1 variations and insertions of schwa: early teenage l2 learners of english john tetteh agor university of ghana, legon jtagor@ug.edu.gh correspondence: jtagor@ug.edu.gh doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2020.230101 received 3 october 2019; accepted 3 december 2019 abstract this study examines variations and insertions of schwa observed in the speech of 200 early teenage pre-intermediate second-language learners of english. the respondents were third-year students of a junior high school located in an urban setting in ghana, a multilingual post-colonial african country south of the sahara. the respondents read aloud sections of familiar texts they themselves chose. the reading sessions and subsequent oral interaction sessions were video-taped, transcribed verbatim, and analysed. the respondents’ articulation of schwa, as captured in the recordings, was compared with corresponding forms in the ghanaian school variety of english. this variety served as the reference point for the comparisons made. variations recognised were categorised and described focusing on their plausible sources. the findings indicate that all the unpredictable variants of schwa observed in their speech are traceable to their mother tongues. this has implications for second language theory, second language research, and second language pedagogy. keywords: variations of schwa, ghanaian school variety of english, teenage l2 learners of english, schwa epenthesis, mother tongue. introduction different varieties of english are spoken and heard across the globe. these include both native and non-native varieties. native varieties of english are spoken in communities where english is generally used by the majority as first language. these include the united kingdom, the united states of america, canada, australia, new zealand, and the caribbean. non-native varieties of english are spoken by the literate population in communities where english is used as a second language. second language communities of english include areas in the indian subregion and anglophone africa where britain established trade links leading to their colonisation and implantation of the english language there. in these second language communities, the english language has acquired some peculiar characteristics that are indigenous to the respective communities. the process by which a transplanted language “loses some of its native-speaker characteristics and takes on those of the new community” is known as nativisation (owusu-ansah, 1997:24). kachru (1987) refers to second language communities as outer circle. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 1-16 2 some linguists, however, reject the concept of nativisation on several grounds. one of the reasons given for rejecting the legitimacy of non-native varieties of english is the fear that encouraging second language varieties will lead to corruption of the language and this, they assert, will eventually create unintelligibility of english. for example, quirk (1990:4) claims that “interest in varieties of english has got out of hand and has started blinding both teachers and the taught to the central linguistic structure from which the varieties might be seen as varying”. fortunately, this description does not apply to the ghanaian school variety of english which serves as the standard and yardstick for measuring the respondents’ oral production in english. long before quirk’s fear was articulated, the authorities of the republic of ghana, anticipating the possibility of an aspect of the situation characterised above, had constituted the ghanaian school variety of english and institutionalised it in all public schools in the country as the standard variety to be taught, learnt, and acquired. the purpose for which the ghanaian school variety of english is promoted in ghanaian schools is not just for achieving intelligibility among speakers but more importantly for creating an enabling linguistic environment that will equip learners of the school system with knowledge, skills, and attitudes to acquire an ethnically neutral accent. with this in view, it is expected that the respondents in the current study, who were third-year students of junior high school, would have their articulation of schwa similar to the variations realised in the spoken form of the ghanaian school variety as they progressed in the learning of english as a second language. the aim of this study, therefore, is to find out whether or not the respondents’ oral production in english contains variations of schwa that are not predictable variants of that phoneme. the purpose is to trace the sources of observed unpredictable variations in their oral production. to realise the aim and the purpose of the study, the following three research questions were formulated. first, what are the variations observed in the respondents’ oral production of schwa using the ghanaian school variety of english as the measure? second, what accounts for each variation of schwa recognised? third, what are the sources of instances of schwa insertion in the respondents’ oral production? literature review this section presents a short review of the literature on schwa. it also gives an exposition of the ghanaian school variety of english which serves as the standard and yardstick for measuring the respondents’ oral production in english. the status of schwa in the ghanaian school variety of english is briefly reviewed, and the section closes with a review of three empirical studies on second language learners’ oral production in english. what is schwa? the term schwa has a long history spanning many centuries. it is generally accepted that the term was introduced into german linguistics from old hebrew. catford (1977:178) confirms this by indicating that schwa is the “german form of the name of the obscure [ə]-like hebrew vowel”. this view is also shared by crystal (2008:424) who writes that “the term schwa comes from the german name of a llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 1-16 3 vowel of this central quality found in hebrew”. the term schwa entered german linguistics in the early 19th century mainly through the works of jacob grimm (1785-1863). the prominence of schwa in german linguistics is evident in the inclusion of the form schwa in many german words. for example, schwach, schwank, and schwanken are german words that mean “weak”, “varying” and “unstable” respectively. each of these words begins with the form schwaand the meanings of the words clearly reflect what we know in english linguistics about schwa; it occupies weak positions, it is subject to slight variations, and it has an intermediate quality. what is quite unclear is how the schwa symbol [ə] came into english usage. some researchers agree that it was the english mathematician and philologist, ellis (1845), who first introduced schwa into english. subsequently, the schwa symbol was included in the draft version of the international phonetics alphabet (ipa) in 1887; and from 1888 onwards, the symbol became part of all official versions of the international phonetics alphabet. in english linguistics, schwa is known to be a short, mid-central, neutral, lax vowel. it has been described as the most frequently used vowel sound in spoken english. it has several labels. it is called schwa “because the german name of the symbol [ə] is schwa” (ladefoged and johnson 2015:43). jones (1960:91-97), however, distinguishes three main variants of the english phoneme [ə] and refers to only one of the three variants as schwa. according to jones (1960:91), schwa has “an intermediate quality and is often called the neutral vowel”. the label neutral vowel, probably, derives from the fact that the symbol [ə] may be used to specify a range of mid-central vowel qualities. so, the vowel /ə/ does not have one exact pronunciation. it is subject to slight variations depending on the individual speaker and on the nature of the adjoining sounds. expressing the same idea, ladefoged and johnson (2015:104) indicate that “some accents have slightly different qualities … but all are still within the range of a mid-central vowel that can be symbolised by [ə]”. chomsky and halle (1968:110) had earlier asserted that “for any particular dialect, the feature specification and the appropriate phonetic rules of the exact phonetic realisation of [ə] can be established”. furthermore, schwa /ə/ is also known as reduced vowel. it is used in unstressed environments where the quality of vowels diminishes in terms of duration or clearness. ladefoged and johnson (2015:104) explain that the symbol /ə/ is often produced when vowels have a central, reduced vowel quality. the primary purpose of schwa, therefore, is to allow unstressed syllables to be uttered more quickly so that the main beats of spoken words are easier to place on the stressed syllable. the ghanaian school variety of english several varieties of english are spoken in ghana, but the variety that serves as the point of reference for evaluating the spoken language of the respondents in this study is what is known as the ghanaian school variety of english (henceforth: the school variety). the school variety is the standard for all educational institutions in the country. for example, it is the variety of english used by the west african examinations council, by the national board of professional and technical examinations, by all public and private universities in the country, and by all other examination boards operating in the country. the school variety is the most llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 1-16 4 prestigious and the most enviable in ghana; it is spoken without any identifiable ethnic accent. the ghanaian school variety of english is the standard variety deliberately chosen on attainment of independence in march 1957 to be taught, learnt, and acquired in the school system in ghana. it is the same variety currently being promoted among recipients of formal education throughout the country by the ministry of education, the ghana education service, the national board of professional and technical exanimations, and by the west african examinations council. for example, the ministry of education, on behalf of the government of ghana, endorses the teaching, the learning, and the acquisition of the school variety in three main ways. first, it upholds the school variety through the contents suggested to be taught, learnt, and acquired in school in the form of english syllabuses designed for use at the pre-tertiary levels. second, the ministry sponsors the training of ghanaian citizens (english teachers) to be equipped with knowledge, skills and attitudes to confidently teach the school variety of english wherever they are stationed in the country. the ministry of education also ensures that books it procures and supplies to schools throughout the country reflect the school variety of english, on its part, the ghana education service promotes the teaching of the school variety by posting teachers trained in the teaching of english as a second language to all public schools in the country to teach the ghanaian school variety of english so that products of the school system will be able to use this variety with facility. this is determined through the examination results school leavers obtain in english. the west african examinations council is not left out in the agenda of promoting the teaching, the learning, and the acquisition of the ghanaian school variety of english. this council does so through the contents of english examination papers set and administered at the high school levels: junior high school and senior high school. notwithstanding this agenda, the high school english syllabuses mandate the teaching of certain aspects of specific varieties of english including the united kingdom standard english, the general american english, and the educated ghanaian english although these labels are not explicitly used. this inclusion is necessary for making products of the school system able to communicate not only with ghanaian citizens but also with all native and non-native speakers of english. with this understanding, most ghanaian citizens expect every product of the school system to be able to use the ghanaian school variety of english with a certain level of proficiency. consonant with this expectation, oral english has constituted a prominent component of the high school curriculum since 1990, and is externally examined by the west african examinations council as core english paper 3 at the senior high school level since 1999. core english is a compulsory subject studied at all the pre-tertiary levels and externally examined at the junior and the senior high school levels. before 1999, oral english was taught as an elective subject. so, key players in the ghanaian school system have always ensured that products of the school system are orally proficient in the ghanaian school variety of english. because the ghanaian school variety of english is the national norm, it is commonly referred to as the ghanaian standard english, a label that corresponds llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 1-16 5 with that found in many first language communities of english. for example, in the united kingdom, the norm is called the united kingdom standard english; and in scotland, the standard variety is called scottish standard english. in the united states of america and in australia, however, the standard spoken is referred to as the general american english and the general australian english respectively. the ghanaian standard english, the school variety, is not exactly the same as the variety referred to as educated ghanaian english (sey, 1973) which is also known as ghanaian variety of english (asante, 1997:36) because certain variations of language features that are encouraged in ghanaian variety of english are considered unsuitable in the ghanaian school variety. the spoken form of the ghanaian school variety was modelled on british received pronunciation, and this was to be expected. received pronunciation is the term that describes the regionally neutral accent used by many middle-class speakers in the united kingdom, particularly in england. it is concerned exclusively with pronunciation and is widely used as a reference point in dictionaries and as a model for teaching english as a second language. it is the accent usually described as typically british. the term received pronunciation (rp) was introduced by ellis (1869) and popularised in the 20th century mainly by british phoneticians including jones (1917; 1918). the origins of rp are traceable to the public schools and universities of 19th-century britain. jones (1917) originally referred to rp as public school pronunciation because it was the variety promoted by the public schools and the universities. during its heydays, rp enjoyed high social prestige in britain, being thought of as the accent of those with power, money, and influence. no wonder, it was adopted by the british broadcasting corporation (bbc), it was referred to as oxford english, it was described as posh accent, and above all, it was called the queen’s english. although rp could be heard from educated native speakers throughout england and wales, it was defined by soanes and stevenson (2011: xv) as “the standard accent of english as spoken in the south of england”. the prestige enjoyed by rp began to be undermined in the 1960s and the 1970s particularly through the works of british sociolinguists. their promotion of regional and dialectal varieties resulted in a drastic reduction of the status enjoyed by rp. for example, the british dialectologist, trugill (1974), estimated that only 3% of people in britain were rp speakers but this rough estimate was immediately questioned and rejected by british phoneticians including lewis (1975). the works of advocates of non-native varieties have further reduced the status of british received pronunciation. indeed, the ghanaian school variety currently plays in ghana the role that rp played between the 1920s and the 1970s in the british public-school system, the british civil service, and in the british empire as a whole. schwa in the ghanaian school variety of english like british received pronunciation, the ghanaian school variety of english also recognises variations of schwa. one realisation is always extremely short such that its exact value is difficult to observe or describe. this variation usually occurs in initial and medial positions in disyllabic and polysyllabic words. the initial letter ‘a-’ of the words about, above, abroad, accept, and away, for example, is realised llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 1-16 6 in the ghanaian school variety of english as the extremely short variation of schwa, and these words are transcribed as /ə'bout/, /ə'bᴧv/, /ə'brɔ:d/, /ək'sept/, and /ə'wei/ respectively. a combination of letters such as ‘ae’ beginning a word may also be heard as the extremely short variation of schwa. for example, the initial sound of aesthetic /əs'θetik/ is realised as this variation of schwa. when it is heard in wordmedial position in the ghanaian school variety of english, schwa may be represented in writing by various letters and combination of letters as illustrated below. table 1. medial post-tonic schwa letter(s) word sound letter(s) word sound 1. a vitamin /'vaitəmin/ 2. e paten /'pætən/ 3. i horrible /'hɔrəbl/ 4. o lemon /'lemən/ 5. u chorus /'kɔ:rəs/ 6. ai portrait /'pɔ:trət/ 7. au restaurant /'restərɔꬼ/ 8. ar forward /'fɔ:wəd/ 9. er modern /'mɔ:dən/ 10. ei foreign /'fɔrən/ 11. oi porpoise /'pɔ:pəz/ 12. or effort /'efət/ 13. ou famous /'feiməz/ 14. ui circuit /'sə:kət/ 15. are hovered /'hᴧvəd/ 16. oar cupboard /'kᴧbəd/ the sixteen orthographic forms listed above are used in the ghanaian school variety of english to represent the schwa [ə] vowel when it occupies word medial position. another variation of schwa observed in the ghanaian school variety of english occurs in word-final position only. this realisation of schwa appears to be slightly lower in height than when the vowel occupies word-initial or word-medial position. orthographic forms that represent this variety of the vowel in the ghanaian school variety of english include the following. table 2. final post-tonic schwa letter(s) word soud letter(s) word sound 1. a fauna /'faunə/ 2. ar scholar /s'kɔlə/ 3. er teacher /'ti:ʧə/ 4. ir tapir /'teipə/ 5. or doctor /'dɔktə/ 6. ough borough /'bᴧrə/ 7. our colour /'kᴧlə/ 8. re metre /'mi:tə/ 9. ur murmur /mə:mə/ the most common orthographic form that represents word-final schwa in english is -er, followed by -or, and then by -ar. the least common way of spelling the schwa sound on the end of a word is -ough. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 1-16 7 studies on l2 learners’ oral production in english to put the current study in perspective, the rest of this section reviews three studies on second language learners’ variations of the english monophthong. using twenty native english speakers, twenty early miami-based spanish-english bilinguals and twenty late miami-based spanish-english bilinguals as research respondents, byers and yavas (2016) investigated the durational variability of schwa in early and late spanish-english bilinguals. the purpose of the study was to find out whether bilingual learners categorically displayed shorter or longer schwa durations between fixed word pairs where one pair contains a droppable syllable and the other does not. a three-way mixed model anova was applied to the data to determine the relationship between schwa duration on the one hand and language group, word root, and droppable/non-droppable category on the other hand. pairwise t-tests were also performed on individual categories to determine if semantically related pairs differed in duration. the findings show that native english speakers produced significantly shorter durations of schwa in droppable positions than in non-droppable positions. the study also indicates that early bilingual productions of schwa are very similar to those of monolingual english speakers, whereas late bilinguals display much longer durations in both droppable and non-droppable schwa positions. the findings imply that length of second language acquisition is a predictive factor in determining non-native speakers’ oral production of schwa in droppable and non-droppable positions. wong, dealey, leung, and mok (2019) investigated connected speech phonological processes (continuous oral production) of cantonese learners of english as a second language. the researchers’ motivation for the study derived from the fact that, although english was a core and compulsory curriculum course in their undergraduate programme, many students had difficulty speaking in that language. the purpose of the study was to determine the sources of challenges that cantonese learners of english as a second language encounter when orally authoring connected speech in english. three different groups of participants served as respondents. the first group was made up of 60 cantonese esl learners who were undergraduate students in four different universities in hong kong and were majoring in a variety of fields. the second group consisted of 10 native speakers of general american english, and the third group comprised 10 british received pronunciation (standard southern english) speakers. results from posthoc comparisons indicated that the general american speakers and the british received pronunciation speakers scored significantly higher marks than the cantonese second language learners. also, there was no significant difference in scores between the two native speaking groups. the study reveals that difficulties second language learners encounter when dealing with connected speech phonological processes are heavily influenced by differences between the learners’ first language and their second language. the study recommends that second language educators be specially trained to be able to diagnose phonological errors more effectively in order to address difficulties learners face in the second language learning process. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 1-16 8 engaging early teenage pre-intermediate second-language learners of english as respondents, agor (2019) investigated authoring unpredictable variants of the english monophthongs in the oral production of second language learners of english. the aim was to find out whether or not the respondents’ oral production of english was converging toward the standard set in the ghanaian school variety of english and to recommend theoretical, practical, and pedagogical solutions that would directly and indirectly help accelerate the process of convergence. the respondents were final-year students of two basic schools located in two different regions in their home country ghana, and were between ages 14 and 16 years. they read aloud sections of familiar texts they themselves chose. the reading sessions and subsequent oral interaction sessions were video-taped, transcribed verbatim, and analysed. the respondents’ oral production of the english monophthongs, as captured in the recordings, was compared with corresponding forms in the ghanaian school variety of english. this variety served as the reference point for the comparisons made. differences observed were categorised and described. these included intrusion of the approximant /j/ preceding the front vowel /e/, replacement of the central vowel /ᴧ/ with the back vowel /ɔ/, and confusion in the use of the short front vowel /i/ and its long counterpart /i:/. the findings indicate that all the differing forms recognised in the respondents’ oral production were mother tongue induced. agor (2019) recommends that teachers of english as a second language should be empowered to deploy techniques and strategies in their teaching such that learners would be systematically deconditioned to auditorily perceive the difference between their own oral productions and their equivalences in the school variety. the contents reviewed in this section, though chartered territories, have been very inspiring and can be described as “pleasant hours with the masters”. the subsections on schwa, for example, reminded the researcher to expect variations but variations that are predictable variants of schwa in the oral production of the respondents as found in the ghanaian school variety of english. the british received pronunciation section served as impetus for the use of the spoken form of the ghanaian school variety of english as the standard and yardstick for measuring the respondents’ oral production of the vowel under discussion. also, the empirical studies reviewed provided guidance on the conceptual issues discussed and the research methods deployed. so, the literature reviewed has been very instructive in guiding the current study. method setting the general setting of the study is junior high schools in ghana. these are three-year educational institutions established to admit graduates who have successfully completed the six-year primary school course of study and to prepare them to enter second cycle institutions such as senior high, technical, commercial, and vocational schools. the three-year junior high school course may occur as part of the basic school. indeed, the last three years of the nine-year basic school programme in ghana constitutes the junior high school. specifically, the data for this study were obtained between october 2016 and april 2018 from final-year llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 1-16 9 students of the junior high section of la-bawaleshie presbyterian basic school at east legon, near accra, the capital city of ghana. the school is accommodated in standard classroom buildings. participants and their linguistic background two hundred respondents were involved in this study. they were all born in ghana and were between ages 14 and 16. they were functionally multilingual in english and two or three indigenous ghanaian languages. they had varying degrees of proficiency in english. they were instructed in two different languages during their first five years of formal education. usually, the two languages were the dominant ghanaian language spoken in the community where the school is situated and english. the amount of the two languages used as medium of instruction during the first five years is approximated in percentages as follows. in kindergarten one, 90% of academic instruction was transmitted in a ghanaian language and 10% in english. in kindergarten two, the percentages changed to 80% conveyed in a ghanaian language and 20% in english. this systematic variation of the amount in percentage of the two languages used as medium of instruction continued up to class three where the approximations were 50% communicated in a ghanaian language and 50% in english. from class four onward, the respondents were instructed through the medium of english. it is also worth noting that, right from kindergarten one to form three in junior high, the pupils were taught english as a curriculum subject through the medium of english and were taught ghanaian language as a curriculum subject through the medium of that ghanaian language. the linguistic arrangement implemented in the school mirrors the national language policy for education. actually, two ghanaian languages are mounted and taught as curriculum subjects in the school and each student is required to study only one. the two languages studied are ga and akwapim twi. ga is taught because it is the language of the community in which the school is located, and twi is taught because most of the learners are twi speakers. these two languages form part of eleven indigenous ghanaian languages approved by the ministry of education to be studied at the basic school level. the rest are asante twi, dagaare, dagbani, dangme, ewe, fante, guruni, kasim, and nzema. one observation about the participants relates to the languages they used on the playground. there were numerous languages of the playground. these included ga, dangme, twi, fante, ewe, dagbani, guruni, dagaare, nzema, and guan. these numerous indigenous languages spoken in this school clearly reflects the multilingual nature of the country. according to dakubu (1988:10), ghana is linguistically heterogeneous with about forty-five different indigenous languages. the actual number of languages in ghana has been variously given ranging between thirty-four and sixty depending on the individual linguist’s perception of what constitutes a language. while bamgbose (1976:14) talks about thirty-four distinct, mutually unintelligible indigenous languages in ghana, hall (1983:6) names forty-four languages as indigenous to ghana. criper (1971:6) had earlier put the figure at sixty. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 1-16 10 negotiation of objectives and procedures data for this study became accessible following a meeting held in the school in september 2016 where the tasks to execute and the procedures to follow were negotiated. these were to: 1. videotape reading sessions of 200 final-year students in a public junior high school in order to source their oral production in english. 2. videotape interaction sessions between the respondents and the research team. 3. compare elements of the respondents’ oral production with corresponding elements in the ghanaian school variety of english. 4. suggest sources of the respondents’ variations of schwa and to discuss implications for theory, research, and pedagogy. one teacher was nominated to assist the researcher in sourcing the data required. the nominee was primarily to ensure that the respondents were available and active during data collection sessions. she was essentially to create a conducive atmosphere for the data to be collected from the respondents. the respondents and their parents were supplied relevant consent forms to complete. they were taken through the various sections of the forms and the contents were fully understood. in all the parents of all the 200 pupils signed and returned the consent forms. many visits were made to the school during the data collection phase of the study and the needed data for the study were successfully sourced. tasks designed and data collected the study sought to investigate the respondents’ oral production of schwa. in order to do so, the respondents graciously agreed to choose any four familiar texts and to read aloud three paragraphs from any two of the chosen texts. they also agreed to interact with the research team on individual basis. both the reading and the interaction sessions were to be videotaped. these recorded video sessions were played back and transcribed verbatim to determine the actual realisations of the mid-central vowel /ə/ in the speech of the respondents. additionally, the actual words containing the unpredictable variants of /ə/ uttered by the respondents have been categorised and analysed. all these were done in order to provide adequate grounding for discussing plausible sources of the respondents’ variations and misuse of the mid-central vowel /ə/. these tasks were executed also to suggest theoretical and pedagogical implications of the findings. findings and discussion the ghanaian school variety of english promotes oral productions whose segments are predictable variants of the english phonemes. the term “unpredictable variants of schwa” refers to any realisation of the phoneme [ə] which is not a predictable variant of that phoneme. the term misuse of schwa refers to a deployment of a form of /ə/ in environments where that vowel is unexpected. this is referred to as schwa epenthesis. unpredictable variants of schwa and schwa epenthesis lead to word pronunciation deviations. in all, two categories of unpredictable variants of the mid-central vowel /ə/ and one category of schwa epenthesis were observed in the speech of the respondents. these are listed in table 3 below. each category of variation was observed in more than one word. in other llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 1-16 11 words, each unpredictable variant of schwa recurred in different words and involved all the 200 respondents. but schwa epenthesis recurred in only five different words and involved 32 respondents. corresponding to each differing type on the list is the number of different words whose pronunciation has been inadvertently modified by the respondents. table 3. schwa variation type sn schwa type words learners 1. replacement of initial pre-tonic schwa /ə/ with a foreign vowel /a/ 11 250 2. replacement of final post-tonic schwa /ə/ with a foreign vowel /a/ 10 250 3. schwa /ə/ epenthesis (between a cluster of consonants) 5 32 total 61 250 the actual words mispronounced by the respondents have been categorised and included rather as an appendix to this article. corresponding to each mispronounced word on the list finds the phonetic transcription of how the respective respondent or respondents pronounced the word. also accompanying each word on the list is the ghanaian school variety of english transcription of the respective word. the ghanaian school variety of english was institutionalised over seven decades ago in the country as the standard variety to be taught, learnt, and acquired in all public schools. from the outset, it was envisaged that this variety would help learners of the school system to become intelligible to both ghanaian and nonghanaian users of english. but the purpose for which the ghanaian school variety of english is promoted in ghanaian schools is not just for achieving intelligibility among speakers but more importantly for creating an enabling linguistic environment that would equip learners of the school system with knowledge, skills, and attitudes to acquire an ethnically neutral accent. with this in view, the research team expected that the respondents in the current study, who were junior high school students, would articulate the mid-central vowel /ə/ predictably as encouraged in the ghanaian school variety of english. however, the results of the data analysed indicate three specific areas where the respondents’ realisation and use of schwa is not consonant with what the ghanaian school variety promotes. this section discusses the sources of the schwa-related issues raised and how these challenges could be resolved. the first variation of schwa investigated has to do with replacement of initial pre-tonic schwa with a modification of the long back vowel /a:/. this modified back vowel, as heard in their oral production, is not a clear member of the phonological inventory of english. its realisation is equivalent to the first half of the production of the english vowel /a:/. for the purpose of this discussion, the resultant back vowel, as heard in their speech, is represented in this paper with the symbol /a/. none of the 200 respondents produced predictable variants of schwa orally when it occupied word initial position. for example, the words about, above, afraid, and again were heard in the respondents’ oral production as /'a'baut/, /'a'bav/, /'a'freid/, and /'a'gein/ respectively. meanwhile, in the ghanaian school variety of english, these four words are pronounced as /ə'baut/, /ə'bav/, /ə'freid/, and /ə'gein/. the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 1-16 12 respondents also pronounced the words allow, apart, avoid, and away as /'a'lau/, /'a'pa:t/, /'a'vɔid/, and /'a'wei/ instead of /ə'lau/, /ə'pa:t/, /ə'vɔid/, and /ə'wei/ respectively. in word-final position too, the short central vowel /ə/ was replaced by all the respondents with the same non-english vowel sound /a/. for example, the words father, mother, brother, and sister, which are pronounced in the school variety as /'fa:ðə/, /'mᴧðə/, /'brᴧðə/, and /'sistə/ were heard in the oral production of the respondents as /'fa'da/, /'mɔ'da/, /'brɔ'da/, and /'sis'ta/ respectively. also, doctor, teacher, farmer, and driver which are produced in the school variety as /'dɔktə/, /'ti:ʧə/, /'fa:mə/, and /'draivə/ were pronounced as /'dɔkə'ta/, /'ti'ʧa/, /'fa'ma/, and /'drai'va/. this unusual shift in their realisation of instances of final post-tonic schwa is a feature observed in the speech of some educated ghanaian speakers of english. the respondents stressed every syllable. this tendency to stress every syllable is a transfer from the indigenous ghanaian languages and is referred to as syllable timed rhythm as opposed to stress timed rhythm inherent in the school variety. indeed, the spoken form of the school variety observes both stressed and unstressed syllables, and it is this stress placement feature that defines the melody of an english word. the oral english contents, which are based on the ghanaian school variety of english, should resolve the challenge if taught and learnt as required. the final schwa-related phenomenon observed in the oral production of the respondents is schwa epenthesis. this is where a second language learner is aware of an l2 consonant cluster which is phonologically impermissible in the l1, and which he is unable to perform because the l1 syllabus structure inadvertently surfaces in the learner’s oral production. davidson et.al. (2004) explain that an epenthetic vowel is a lexical vowel that occurs to satisfy lexical syllabification. in the current study, thirty-two of the respondents inserted the short central vowel in environments where that vowel does not belong. thirty-two of the respondents varied the pronunciation of the words belt, film, milk, valco, and volta during the interaction sessions. they consistently split a sequence of two consonants – the lateral /l/ and a succeeding consonant – and inserted the short central vowel /ə/ between the two consonant sounds. this category of respondents pronounced the words belt, film, and milk as /'belət/, /'filəm/, and /'milək/ respectively, but these words are pronounced in the school variety as /belt/, /film/, and /milk/. also, valco and volta were heard as /'vᴧləko/ and /'vɔləta/ instead of /'vᴧlkə/ and /'vɔltə. even though the 32 respondents heard the school variety pronunciation of these words regularly in the input, they were unable to auditorily perceive the sounds involved; they could not distinguish between what they regularly heard in the input and what they themselves produced in their speech. this pronunciation challenge is known as perception blind spot. the 32 respondents spoke dagbani, dagaare, kasem, or gurune as their home language. they spoke these languages on the school playground with their siblings whenever they did not want a third person to understand the contents of their conversations. respondents whose home languages were akwapim twi, asante twi, dangme, ewe, fante, ga, and nzema did not exhibit this schwa intrusion challenge in their spoken english. there are implications of this finding for theory. in tracing the underlying source of this misuse of schwa, some revelations emerged. first, the four home llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 1-16 13 languages of this category of respondents are spoken mainly in the northern part of the country where arabic schools are popular. the usual practice in the north is that most parents enrol their children in an arabic school first before signing them up in the formal english school system. it is also the case that some families make their young ones attend both arabic and english schools concurrently. so, is this differing type traceable to arabic? second, all these four languages belong to the gur language family. so, is the gur language family influencing the respondents’ spoken english in this way? but the absolute revelation is that this monophthong differing category is traceable to the respondents’ mother tongue. this revelation essentially questions the validity of error analysts’ refutation of the statement of the contrastive analysis hypothesis (fries, 1945:9; lado, 1957). further research conducted in different second language contexts is needed to help unravel these questions. there are also implications for research. the current finding corroborates the results of nogita and fun (2012) who reported that “mandarin and japanese esl learners with a relatively short length of residence in canada ocassionally inset schwa in english consonant clusters when they immediately repeated sound stimuli”. this specific challenge displayed by the 32 respondents could be eliminated from their speech by deploying pedagogical interventions to systematically decondition them in order to auditorily perceive the difference between each pair: /'belət/ and /belt/, /'filəm/ and /film/, /'milək/ and /milk/ for example. the guarantee that this strategy would yield results is amply demonstrated in the second language literature. corder (1967) asserts that second language learners’ deviations provide the language teacher with information about how much the learner has learnt; they equip the researcher with evidence of how language is learnt; and they serve as devices by which the learner discovers the rules of the target language. this idea is supported by broughton et.al. (1978:120) who declare that, “certainly, unless the learner is made aware of his errors, he cannot learn from them”. yankson (1994:1), expressing the same opinion, concludes that “the student must also be made aware of his systematic and recurrent errors, otherwise he cannot learn from them. conclusion the ghanaian school variety of english is taught, learnt, and acquired in all ghanaian schools. this paper, however, makes three observations where the respondents’ oral production of words containing the mid-central vowel /ə/, schwa, does not conform to what the school variety promotes. first, all the 200 respondents stressed every syllable in their speech; and this feature is traceable to their mother tongues. second, as a result of the first observation, the respondents’ oral production in english was characterised by both replacement of initial pre-tonic schwa and final post-tonic schwa rather with a non-english vowel whose production is close to the back vowel /a:/. third, schwa epenthesis involving five words featured prominently in the speech of thirty-two respondents because this phenomenon is phonotactically permissible in their source languages. it is therefore clear that the three deviation types observed are traceable to the mother tongue; the l1 is the underlying source of both the unpredictable variations of schwa and the misuse of that vowel in the oral production of the respondents. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 1-16 14 this conclusion is consonant with current thoughts held by practitioners and researchers (including wong et.al., 2019; agor, 2019) in second language communities about the role of the first language in the acquisition of the second language, and this confirms ellis’s (2015:139) assertion that “the effects of l1 transfer on l2 learning are extensive, varied, and persistent”. one indispensable pedagogical implication in this regard is that the english language teacher should have the students systematically deconditioned to auditorily perceive the difference between their own oral production and the equivalence in the school variety. the motivation for this suggestion comes from what we already know about second language learning. second language learners’ deviations are good learning, teaching and research material (corder, 1967). references agor jt (2019). convergence toward the english monophthongs: young learners in an l2 context. international journal of literature, language and linguistics, 2(1), 25-43. asante, m. a. 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(1973). ghanaian english. london: macmillan education ltd. soanes, c. & stevenson, a. (2011). concise oxford english dictionary. oxford: oxford university press. trugill, p. (1974). the social differentiation of english in norwich. cambridge: cambridge university press. wong, s., dealey, j., leung, v. & mok, p. (2019). production of english connected speech processes: an assessment of cantonese esl learners’ difficulties obtaining native-like speech. the language learning journal, doi’org/10.1080/09571736.2019.1642372 yankson, k. 1994. better english through concord for west african students. cape coast: hampton press. appendices replacement of initial pre-tonic schwa /ə/ with a foreign vowel /a/. 1. about was heard as /'a'bout/ instead of /ə'bout/ 2. above was heard as /'a'bav/ instead of /ə'bout/ 3. abroad was heard as /'a'broad/ instead of /ə'brɔ:d/ 4. accept was heard as /'a'sept/ instead of /ək'sept/ 5. afraid was heard as /'a'freid/ instead of /ə'freid/ 6. again was heard as /'a'gein/ instead of /ə'gein/ 7. allow was heard as /'a'lau/ instead of /ə'lau/ 8. apart was heard as /'a'pat/ instead of /ə'pa:t/ 9. around was heard as /'a'raund/ instead of /ə'raund/ 10. avoid was heard as /'a'vɔid/ instead of /ə'vɔid/ 11. away was heard as /'a'wei/ instead of /ə'wei/ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 1-16 16 replacement of final post-tonic schwa /ə/ with a foreign vowel /a/. 12. brother was heard as /'brɔda/ instead of /'brᴧðə/ 13. doctor was heard as /'dɔkəta/ instead of /'dɔktə/ 14. driver was heard as /'draiva/ instead of /'draivə/ 15. farmer was heard as /'fama/ instead of /'fa:mə/ 16. father was heard as /'fada/ instead of /'fa:ðə/ 17. marker was heard as /'maka/ instead of /'ma:kə/ 18. master was heard as /'masta/ instead of /'ma:stə/ 19. mother was heard as /'mɔda/ instead of /'mᴧðə/ 20. sister was heard as /'sista/ instead of /'sistə/ 21. teacher was heard as /'ti:ʧa/ instead of /'ti:ʧə/ schwa epenthesis (between a cluster of consonants) 22. belt was heard as /'belət/ instead of /belt/ 23. film was heard as /'filəm/ instead of /film/ 24. milk was heard as /'milək/ instead of /milk/ 25. valco was heard as /'valəko/ instead of /'væ:lkə/ 26. volta was heard as /'voləta/ instead of /'voultə/ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 220 intergenerational language preference shift among cebuanos on the cebuano, filipino, and english languages jeconiah louis dreisbach and feorillo petronilo a. demeterio iii de la salle university–manila, philippines jeconiah_dreisbach@dlsu.edu.ph; feorillo.demeterio@dlsu.edu.ph correspondence: jeconiah_dreisbach@dlsu.edu.ph doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2020.230203 received 4 may 2020; accepted 10 june 2020 abstract the historical linguistic conflict of the cebuano people against the tagalog-based philippine national language has been evident in the literature written by cebuano academics. however, there is no published empirical evidence that presents the on-ground language attitudes of the cebuanos on the cebuano, filipino, and english languages. employing mixed methods research, the researchers found that both generations predominantly use the cebuano language for everyday communication. a significant difference was observed in the use of filipino and english languages as the younger generation spoke it more than the elder counterparts. a language shift was also seen from cebuano to english on the language used formal communication between the generations. attitudes on everyday communication revealed that cebuanos prefer to maintain their mother tongue as the language to be used in speaking with family, friends, relatives, and close people seeing that the younger generation has limited vocabulary on the cebuano language. respondents mostly favored english to be the language used for formal communication due to its stature as an international language and its association to high socioeconomic standing. a collective majority from both generations would also like to maintain tagalog-based filipino to be the philippine national language. keywords: language use; language attitudes; cebuano; filipino; english introduction the philippines is a linguistically-diverse country with 183 individual languages that continued to be spoken by its population. constitutionally, the country’s official languages are filipino and english, and the regional languages mandated as auxiliary languages in the regions they are spoken (official gazette, n.d.). cebuano linguistic identity is embedded in cebuano culture itself. the cebuano language is spoken by 15,900,000 people in the philippines, with most of the speakers living in the areas of central visayas, southern leyte, and northern and southern mindanao (eberhard, simons & fennig, 2019). in the census done by the philippine statistics authority (2016), 9,125,637 people consider themselves as ethnically cebuano, with the cebuano language as their mother tongue. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 221 table 1. ten most spoken languages in the philippines philippine languages population of speakers in the philippines (eberhard, simons, & fennig, 2019) tagalog 20,000,000 cebuano 15,900,000 ilocano 6,370,000 hiligaynon 6,240,000 bikol 3,799,900 waray 2,610,000 kapampangan 2,040,000 pangasinan 1,240,000 maguindanaon 1,100,000 tausug 784,000 the tagalog-cebuano conflict the cebuanos’ historical conflict with the filipino language emerged during the consultations that studied on what should be the basis for the national language in 1936. in the same year, the national language act was passed, and it established the institute of national language. norberto romualdez, a visayanwaray legislator, set the criteria for the languages studied for the basis of the proposed national language plan (gonzalez, 1980). for him, the language that should be used as a basis for the national language should have rich and extensive literature, a large population of speakers, has a significant influence in its society, and a sound morphological structure. during the institute’s consultation with the influential cebuanos, linguist, and tagalog language commissioner cecilio lopez explained that the tagalog language fit the criteria set by the national language act. senator filemon sotto accepted the proposition with reservations and resigned from the institute of the national language later on for personal reasons. adding the political influence of manuel luiz quezon, a tagalog of the tayabas province, his preference tagalog propelled the language as the primary basis of the national language (gonzalez, 1991). this conflict is political in nature as the cebuanos marked in their history the decision of the spanish colonial government to transfer the capital of the spanish east indies from cebu to manila in 1595. cebu was initially designated as the colony’s capital when the spanish conquistadores first arrived in the territory of what we know now as the philippines. since then, spanish friars utilized the use of philippine local languages, and primarily tagalog, in teaching the gospel of the roman catholic church. alburo (2011) said that manila-centric policies implemented across the country have a hegemonic tune in the cultural aspect of filipino society due to the so-called ‘imposition’ of the tagalog language – the language of the capital city. mojares (1990) earlier pointed out that the present existing power relations and struggles between philippine languages affect its stature in philippine society. he mentioned that, cebuano has historically been relegated to a position subordinate to spanish, english, and tagalog. the concentration of state power and media resources in a tagalog-speaking primate region llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 222 and the promotion of tagalog as ‘base’ for the national language, or as the national language itself, have marginalized regional languages like cebuano (1990: 79). as a language family, visayan is composed of the cebuano, hiligaynon, masbateño, romblomanon, surigaonon, bul-anon (boholanon), waray, and other languages. figure 1 shows the actual distribution of cebuano speakers in the philippines, as shown in black (dominant language) and dark grey (25%-49% of the population speak the language). tagalog, meanwhile, has several dialects in the island of luzon, but those are only variations of one single language. visayans, in general, argue that there are more speakers of the visayan ‘language’ compared to tagalog. this argument was primarily heard by the primary author’s filipino professor when he studied at the university of san carlos (usc), the primary center of cebuano studies in the country. this may be a valid argument if we consider the visayan as a language family, according to its linguistic classification (hammarström, forkel, & haspelmath, 2018). furthermore, cebuanos and their language had a relatively close connection, both linguistically and geographically, to areas in the visayas and mindanao compared to the tagalogs. cebuano’s ecology may, intrinsically, made them have more speakers and influence in the early 20th century. yet, at present, the institutionalization of the tagalog-based national language and the reach of manila-based media organizations contributed to the momentous influence of the tagalog people in the philippine public sphere. fr. joseph baumgartner svd (1989), then the administrator of usc, recorded the contemporary conflicts of the cebuanos against the tagalog-based national language during the marcos regime. the cebu provincial government and its council, spearheaded by lito osmeña, passed and implemented an ordinance prohibiting the use of tagalog as a medium of instruction in the province’s schools, and threatened the ministry of education, culture, and sports of backlash if they continued to use tagalog. aurora batnag (2015), in her capacity as the head of the national committee on language and translation of the national commission for culture and the arts, did a national consultation from 1995 to 1997 among educators, students, public servants, and other organizations on their opinions and points of view on the status of filipino and their local languages. she found that among the six cities (cebu, davao, bacolod, tuguegarao, puerto princesa, and zamboanga) she visited during the consultation, only cebu and bacolod expressed negative opinions about filipino as the national language. espiritu (as cited by tupas, 2014) mentioned that cebuanos accept the filipino language as a lingua franca, but not as the language that unites their culture to the filipino identity. godin (2008), meanwhile, criticized the so-called filipinization of the local languages in the philippines. according to him, since visayan languages are treated as having ‘no class,’ speakers were not already able to learn the right grammatical structures of the said languages as students are mainly focused on studying the languages with ‘class,’ such as english and filipino. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 223 figure 1: distribution of cebuano speakers in central and southern philippines (adapted from sunita, 2006) english as an official language the 1987 constitution of the republic of the philippines declared filipino and english as the official languages of the country. gonzalez (1998) clarified that the linguistic situation of most of the filipinos is multilingual in character. philippine local languages are spoken at home and in the neighborhood. filipino is seen as the national language that symbolizes the unity of the people. english is used as the medium of instruction, business, science, and diplomacy. ninety years of direct contact within philippine soil resulted in the emergence of a variety of english that is continued to be spoken by filipinos in contemporary society. gonzalez (as cited by bresnahan, 1979) referred to this variety as philippine english – a kind of english that is not “a victim of linguistic imperialism but a case of linguistic appropriation by convenience” (p. 70). in a historical tracing of language policies and practices of the philippines, demeterio (2012) presented the consistent and unchanging use of the english language in the public sphere since it was first implemented by the american colonial government in the early 1900s. as such, english as the philippines’ official language already has a 120-year history. the chronological map of philippine language planning (as shown in figure 1) shows that english remained consistent in the language situation of the country, whereas filipino (then referred llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 224 to as tagalog and pilipino) only became part of the system in the 1930s, and was part of the bilingual and multilingual language plans of the past and current governments. bilingual language policies involve the use and teaching of both filipino and english. multilingual policies involved the use of regional languages as medium of instruction in the early years of education. demeterio and liwanag (2014) found that english is the preferred language for the following domains of the philippine public sphere: national government, courts, military, education, entertainment, press/literature, local government, and business and offices. regional languages are generally preferred secondary, and filipino only tertiary. figure 2. chronological map of philippine language planning (demeterio and liwanag, 2014) as of this writing, there is no published empirical study on the language use, attitudes, and preferences of cebuanos in research journals. ceniza (as cited by abastillas, 2015) implicated that “cebuanos might prefer english than tagalog as a way to communicate to non-cebuanos.” the ability of cebuanos to mimic standard american english and its accent made cebu city a preferred location for english as a second language (esl) learners from east asia (dagooc, 2018). it also made the city a hub for business process outsourcing (bpo) companies (lorenciana, 2019), with more than 100,000 cebuanos working in the industry (pepito, 2017). while there is a considerable number of literature that recently studied the situations of filipino and english in philippine society, there is a clear lack in the literature of the contemporary situation of the cebuano language. the last analysis of the cebuano language with regards to its interaction with the filipino and english languages was done by fr. baumgartner in 1989. as such, this study is the latest comprehensive exploration of the language use, attitudes, and preferences of the cebuano people. research methods research design the researchers employed mixed methods research in gathering data and analyzing the language use, attitudes, and preferences of the cebuano people on llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 225 the cebuano, filipino, and english languages. qualitative (qual) and quantitative (quan) data gathering were done concurrently through a survey questionnaire and a focus group discussion (fgd) with the research instruments developed specifically for this study. as established by hashemi (2012), the researchers also utilized a concurrent triangulation design in the parallel interpretation of the qual quan data results. this particular mixed research design is the most common method used in applied linguistics studies that applied mixed research methods in journals such as applied linguistics, english for specific purposes, language learning, language testing, the modern language journal, tesol quarterly, and language teaching research (hashemi & babaii, 2013). riazi (2016) characterized a ‘mixed research methodology’ as an innovative approach that bridges “the cognitive and the social paradigms of applied linguistics research.” mixed methods research is relevant to this study as we are investigating both the psychological and social factors that affect the language use and attitudes of cebuanos on the languages that are being tackled. as this study targeted specific generational demographics, the researchers employed the stratified random sampling method in gathering data from respondents by asking their year of birth to identify if they qualify within the age range. stratified random sampling ensured the researchers of obtaining the necessary number of respondents so that there will no underrepresentation from each generation (elfil & negida, 2017). the researchers gathered quantitative and qualitative data on june 15-16, 2018 in cebu city, the philippines. research instruments the survey questionnaire collected the respondents’ demographic profile (age, gender, place of residence, number of years of residency, type of school attended, educational attainment, income bracket, and languages spoken). it was then followed with their fluency in the cebuano, filipino, and english languages, and their language uses. fluency and situational language use were measured through a five-point likert scale. a t-test was performed on the numerical data provided for the said variables to identify the generational differences. as this pilot study operated on a small scale, the survey questionnaire was developed by the researchers to contain straightforward variables that can be easily understandable to the respondents. the instrument initially developed were pilot tested to 20 cebuanos from both generations x and z to review the understandability of the questionnaire’s items before proceeding to the actual data gathering. following the review of a psychometrician, the researchers were able to validate its understandability and establish the statistical properties of the scale used for this study. the overall results of the test have the following interpretations: 4.50-above – strongly agree; 3.5-4.49 – agree; 2.50-3.49 – neutral; 1.50-2.49 – disagree; and, 1.00-1.49 – strongly disagree. the third part of the instrument investigated their language attitudes on everyday and formal communication and on their choice for the philippine national language by choosing among the languages studied for this research. to assess the nominal data provided by the latter part of the survey, the researchers ran a chi-square test. the test technique allowed the researchers to discern whether the language llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 226 attitudes of the respondents accepted the following null and alternative hypotheses: h0: there are no generational differences on the language attitudes of the cebuanos. h1: there are generational differences on the language attitudes of the cebuanos. the focus group discussion employed a 26-question structured interview that explored their language use and attitudes on the cebuano, filipino, and english languages. their perspectives on the philippine national language were also asked as the final question. the questions generated for the focus group followed the same pilot testing and validation procedure as the survey questionnaire. the interviews were digitally-recorded using the voice recorder application in the primary author’s smartphone. the responses were analyzed using the rapid identification of themes from audio recordings (rita) method, a relatively new process of qualitative analysis the verbal and nonverbal information that can only be scrutinized by hearing the actual discussions (neal, neal, vandyke, & kornbluh, 2015). this method expedites the identification of specific themes that are relevant to the investigation of the researchers on the language use and attitudes of the cebuano respondents. table 2. focus group discussion interview guide research respondents this study focused on the language use and attitudes of cebuanos belonging to the generations x and z. berkup (2014) defined generation x as being born in the years 1965-1979. meanwhile, those belonging to generation z were born in the years 1995 to 2012. to run this study ethically, the researchers only took data from the youth who were born in the years 1995 to 2000 as they were already of legal age. focus group discussion interview guide topics example questions perspectives on the cebuano, filipino, and english languages how often do you use the cebuano/filipino/english language when talking to family, relatives, and friends? would you like to your community to continue speaking the cebuano/filipino/english language? perspectives on language use and entertainment how often do you read newspapers in the cebuano/filipino/english language? do you listen to songs in the cebuano/filipino/english language? perspectives on language use and education should the cebuano/filipino/english language be used as the medium of instruction in the primary level of education? should the cebuano/filipino/english language be used as the medium of instruction in all levels of the philippine education system? should there be more teaching materials published in the cebuano/filipino/english language? perspectives on the philippine national language what language should be considered as the philippine national language? llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 227 table 3. demographic profile of the survey respondents the quantitative aspect of this study involved 100 respondents from each generation. table 1 contains the demographic profile of the cebuano participants. the mean age of the respondents belonging to generation x is 45.37. the number of years of residence in the city had a mean of 36.48. most of them took their studies in a public school and are college graduates. seventy respondents are earning php 0 up to 250,000 annually, which is approximately equivalent to usd 4,800. on the other hand, a majority of the respondents coming from generation z are college graduates as well. the mean of their ages is 21.18, with 14.47 years as the mean of the years of residency in the area. more than half (n = 57) of them have or are currently studying in private schools. most of them also have the same income bracket as the elder generation. all the respondents spoke the cebuano language. this is seen as a given considering that the study was done in the heartland of cebuano culture. english x birth year (age) frequency type of educational institution attended frequency 1965 (53) 3 public 62 1966 (52) 5 private 38 1967 (51) 3 educational attainment frequency 1968 (50) 4 elementary 2 1969 (49) 6 high school 13 1970 (48) 18 college undergraduate 18 1971 (47) 7 college graduate 66 1972 (46) 6 master’s degree 1 1973 (45) 4 income bracket (in philippine pesos) frequency 1974 (44) 6 0 250,000 70 1975 (43) 5 250,000 400,000 21 1976 (42) 8 400,000 800,000 7 1977 (41) 12 800,000 2,000,000 2 1978 (40) 8 more than 2,000,000 0 1979 (39) 5 mean of age 45.37 mean of years of residency in cebu 36.48 z birth year (age) frequency type of educational institution attended frequency 1995 (23) 24 public 43 1996 (22) 22 private 57 1997 (21) 19 educational attainment frequency 1998 (20) 16 college undergraduate 36 1999 (19) 19 college graduate 64 mean of age 21.18 income bracket (in philippine pesos) frequency 0 250,000 69 250,000 400,000 19 400,000 800,000 8 800,000 2,000,000 2 more than 2,000,000 2 mean of years of residency in cebu 14.47 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 228 was the language that the second-highest number of speakers. filipino, the national language, was third. a small number of respondents spoke a variety of philippine regional and foreign languages. from the 100 respondents each generation had, four from each took part in the focus group discussion to complete the qualitative aspect of this study. the fgd had an equal number of male and female respondents at four each. both women from generation x were housewives, and the males were both overseas filipino workers. being cebuanos, they all spoke the cebuano language. all of them are high school graduates, albeit coming equally from both public and private institutions. the mean of their ages is 49. meanwhile, the mean of their years of residency in the area is 24.75. two of the respondents are relatively welloff by philippine standards, each earning php 250,000 – 400,000 (usd 4,800 – 7,700) and php 400,000 – 800,000 (usd 7,700 – 15,400), respectively. the two other respondents belong to the 70% percent who are earning a maximum of usd 4,8000 annually. table 4. breakdown of languages spoken by both generations respondents from generation z had a mean age of 20, with a mean of their years of residency in cebu at 15.75 years. just like the elder respondents, all from generation z spoke the cebuano language and are cebuanos as well. one already finished his bachelor’s degree. two were still doing their college studies. lastly, one just graduated from senior high school. most of them studied at a state university. cebu x (n=100) cebu z (n=100) languages spoken frequency languages spoken frequency cebuano 100 cebuano 100 filipino 77 filipino 88 english 98 english 89 other languages (hiligaynon, masbateno, waray, arabic, latin, greek, korean) 10 other languages (bicolano, chavacano, hiligaynon, waray, chinese, korean, japanese, french) 18 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 229 table 5. demographic profile of the focus group discussion respondents findings and discussion for the data triangulation of this study, the researchers concurrently present and discuss both the quantitative and qualitative results of the language use and attitudes of the cebuano people on the cebuano, filipino, and english languages. while the researchers allowed answers to be spoken in any or a mix of the three languages, the original responses of the respondents in the focus group discussion were predominantly spoken in the cebuano language. because of this, the researchers translated their responses to the english for the international readership of the paper. fluency on the cebuano, filipino, and english languages this study first investigated the fluency of the respondents on the languages studied through a five-point likert self-assessment scale. as seen in table 4, there is no difference in the fluency of both generations on the filipino and english languages. they are neutral on the former and agree that they are fluent in the latter. a significant difference on the fluency of the generations in the cebuano language was found in this study as there is a 0.91-point difference in their means. generation respondent (birth year) sex years of residency in cebu highest educational attainment income bracket (in usd) languages spoken cebu x cebu x1 (1969) female 15 public high school graduate 0 – 4,800 cebuano cebu x2 (1976) female 5 public high school graduate 7,700 – 15,400 cebuano, filipino cebu x3 (1967) male 32 private high school graduate 0 – 4,800 cebuano, filipino, & english cebu x4 (1965) male 47 private high school graduate 4,800 – 7,700 cebuano, filipino, & english cebu z cebu z1 (1996) male 21 public university graduate 0 – 4,800 cebuano, filipino, & english cebu z2 (1999) male 19 private high school graduate 4,800 – 7,700 cebuano, english cebu z3 (1999) female 3 public university undergraduate 0 – 4,800 cebuano cebu z4 (1998) female 20 public university undergraduate none answered. cebuano, filipino, & english llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 230 table 6. fluency of the cebuanos on the cebuano, filipino, and english languages how fluent are you in the following languages? generations cebuano filipino english mean sd mean sd mean sd cebu x 4.77 0.566 3.37 1.37 4.22 1.05 cebu z 3.86 1.05 3.37 1.03 4.1 0.96 t-test 0.00* 1 0.39 in the focus group discussion, respondents from generation x emphasized the importance for their children to learn their mother tongue, which is the cebuano language. however, having the opportunity to learn other languages, most especially english, is also a crucial part of their parenting styles. cebu x3 explained that the necessity to be able to speak the english language would allow their family to accommodate foreign visitors in their community. discussions by generation z agrees to the importance of both the cebuano and english languages. it was during the childhood of the younger generation when their parents started speaking at them in english. intrinsically, this normalized the speaking of english in their generation. cebu z3 mentioned that she only speaks cebuano minimally and in a casual manner. in matters where a long discussion was needed, she uses english as she can express herself better in it. cebu z2 raised a point on the language policy decisions of the community that all respondents from generation z agreed on: i view languages in a more utilitarian aspect. so, if the community deems it fit that they could communicate properly if they speak cebuano, then it can remain. but if the community feels the need to change it, then we must change it. it depends, really, in the community on what the language they want to use or on what is comfortable to them. the younger generation, especially cebu z2 who was part of the first batch of the recently implement 12-year basic education program (locally known as k-12 program in the philippines), emphasized that they had a lot of filipino subjects in school. the prominent speaking of the english language in home settings and the teaching of filipino in the formative learning years of generation z may be attributed to their lessening fluency in the cebuano language. children’s lessening fluency on their parents’ mother tongue due to the latter’s persistence of learning english is common and observable among immigrant families in englishspeaking countries and places where english is an institutionalized language (wu, 2005; anderson, 2012; li, tan, & goh, 2016). language use for everyday communication this section explored the languages that respondents use in everyday and casual situations such as talking to the family, friends, relatives, and close people. table 5 shows that significant differences were found in the everyday language use of cebuano and filipino languages. with regards to filipino specifically, despite both generations disagreeing that they do not use the language for the said communicative situation, there is enough difference that says that the younger *result is significant at t < 0.05. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 231 generation speaks filipino more than the elder ones. there is no significant difference found in the use of the english language in everyday communication. it can still be noted that despite the generation z speaking predominantly in the cebuano language, they also speak filipino and english more than the elder ones. the increased use in the use of filipino and english languages is consistent with the results of the study of pontillas and parpa (2017) on the language attitudes of generation z students based in the northern mindanao region of the philippines. specifically, there had been an increase in the use of the said languages in home settings. table 7. everyday language use of the cebuanos how often do you use the following languages for everyday communication? generations cebuano filipino english mean sd mean sd mean sd cebu x 4.73 0.71 2 1.31 3.27 1.52 cebu z 4.31 0.97 2.42 1.19 3.38 1.16 t-test 0.0005* 0.02* 0.56 the differences in the language use of the cebuano and filipino language in this part were also found in the qualitative data. respondents from the elder generation all spoke cebuano for everyday communication, particularly when talking to family members, relatives, and friends from their same age bracket. most of those from generation z also spoke cebuano for everyday communication, except for cebu z3 who almost exclusively speaks english. moreover, with the younger respondents studying in the country’s national university, they are also exposed to fellow students from various parts of the country. this created the need for them to speak the filipino language frequently within their campus. cebu’s homogenous cultural environment allows the maintenance of the dominancy of the cebuano language in home settings. the researchers discount the possibility of a major language shift despite the empirical evidence in the increasing usage of filipino and english in the area. rather, an increase in the usage of cebuano in everyday communication is expected as the use of the language as the medium of instruction was already fully-implemented in 2012 as part of the mother tongue-based multilingual education (mtb-mle) program for the first four years of the philippine basic education system (the freeman, 2012). language use for formal communication quantitative data shows that there are significant differences in the language use of the respondents for formal communication or talking to teachers, supervisors, administrators, and clients. as seen in table 6, the elder generation uses the cebuano language in this context more than any other language. on the other hand, the younger ones use the english language more often. the significant difference in the use of filipino language reaffirms the result in the past section that the younger generation speaks filipino more than generation x. *result is significant at t < 0.05. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 232 table 8. formal language use of the cebuanos how often do you use the following languages for formal communication? generations cebuano filipino english mean sd mean sd mean sd cebu x 4.1 1.35 2.09 1.43 3.57 1.48 cebu z 3.28 1.23 2.55 1.2 4.2 1 t-test 0.00001* 0.01* 0.0005* all respondents in the focus group pointed out that learning and the use of english are essential in the globalized world. the elder generation echoed the opinion of cebu x4, an overseas filipino worker, that with english being considered as an international language, using it both as a medium of instruction and transaction at present will help their children in “seeking greener pastures abroad.” the majority of the younger generation’s discussions on the use of english for formal communication revolved around the concept of “global competitiveness.” albeit critical on the status of english in philippine society, cebu z3 said, “we need to face the fact that in the system that we are in if we are not involved in english, we will have a hard time to earn.” the continued perpetuation of this notion on the importance of the youth using english is being reaffirmed both by the philippine government, the educational system, and mass media (valdez, 2011; hernandez, 2015). for that reason, filipino youth belonging to generation z are commonly required to speak english in formal settings. on the other hand, the elder generation recognizes english as a lingua franca and the primary medium of written correspondences. however, there is no actual language policy that requires them to speak english to administrators and clients. as mentioned above, the homogenous cultural environment of cebu may maintain the continuing practice of the elders in speaking the cebuano language in various communicative situations. the use of the english language in formal situations, most specifically in classroom settings, is common in the philippines. empirical studies on the language use of filipino students show that english remains to be the dominant medium of instruction in the country and this is commonly practiced through code-switching between english and filipino (borlongan, 2009; borlongan, lim, & roxas, 2012; sicam & lucas, 2016). language attitudes on everyday communication this section begins the examination of this study on the language attitudes of the cebuanos on the cebuano, filipino, and english languages. data presented in table 7 agrees with the null hypothesis that generational differences do not affect the attitudes of the respondents on the languages studied. it can be seen in the actual counts of the responses that they are not far from the expected count that confirms the null hypothesis. overall, the cebuano respondents (n = 168) chose cebuano as the language that should be used when talking to family, relatives, friends, and close people. for ilocano-speaking students, they strongly agreed that *result is significant at t < 0.05. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 233 they made friends using the ilocano and filipino languages more than english (esteron, 2020). when talking to family, friends, and neighbors, the youth of northern mindanao prefer to use their variety of bisaya and filipino (pontillas & parpa, 2017, p. 35). table 9. language attitudes of the cebuanos on everyday communication what language should be used for everyday communciation? generations total cebu x cebu z cebuano count 85 83 168 expected count 84 84 168 filipino count 3 8 11 expected count 5.5 5.5 11 english count 12 9 21 expected count 10.5 10.5 21 total count 100 100 200 expected count 100 100 200 χ2 0.256 focus group discussions found that both generations unanimously said that they would like to maintain the cebuano language to be spoken within their communities. they are also both aware of the decreasing fluency of the younger generation in the said language. cebu x3 personally witnessed his daughter, who is studying in an english-speaking private school, asking his wife about the meaning of a particular statement written in cebuano. generation z respondents themselves realized that they have limited vocabulary in the said language when their professors asked them to translate the english flora and fauna names into cebuano. the youth also found the language to be useful in interacting with people at the grassroots level, specifically with the people who belong to low socioeconomic backgrounds as all of them are community organizers. language attitudes on formal communication the respondents’ attitudes on formal communication also confirm the null hypothesis of this study. similar to the past section, the actual counts of the responses are not far from the expected count that confirms the null hypothesis. it can be seen in table 8 that a great majority (n = 173) of the respondents chose english as the language that should be used for formal communication. this empirical evidence, along with the actual language use of generation z on formal communication, proves the study of demeterio and liwanag (2014) that in formal contexts (e.g. national government, courts, businesses), english remains to be the dominant language preferred, followed by the regional language, and filipino only is third. *result is significant at p < 0.05. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 234 table 10. language attitudes of the cebuanos on formal communication what language should be used for formal communication? generations total cebu x cebu z cebuano count 13 8 21 expected count 10.5 10.5 21 filipino count 3 3 6 expected count 3 3 6 english count 84 89 173 expected count 86.5 86.5 173 total count 100 100 200 expected count 100 100 200 χ2 0.513 preference for english in formal communication was tied by the qualitative respondents on its ability to connect filipinos in the international scene and it is tagged as the language used by people of high socioeconomic standing. having experience working abroad, cebu x3 and x4 sent their children to englishspeaking private schools to be able to communicate in an international workplace if they choose to work overseas as well. to explain the preference of the youth on the english language, respondents from generation z said that cebuano “already has the attention” in the philippine educational system, and it is “already being used to control our culture.” cebu z3 added that, at present, utilizing english as the medium of instruction and transaction is convenient as it is the primary language that is being used by institutions. however, the respondent emphasized that language policies are dynamic and if future policies would focus on the use of local languages in contexts of formal communication, then language preferences of the future generations may change as well. as mentioned in the section on the language used for everyday communication, students’ mother tongue is already being utilized as the medium of instruction in the first four years of their education. if implemented successfully, then the new multilingual nature of the philippine education system may affect the language preferences and perspectives of the current primary school children in the future. the intergenerational preference on english as the language for formal communication is consistent with the empirical studies on the language attitudes of university administrators, educators, and students (borlongan, 2009; borlongan, lim, & roxas, 2012; cunanan, 2013; sican & lucas, 2016; pontillas & parpa, 2017). as with the elder respondents of this study, teachers in western mindanao city of zamboanga expressed their negative attitudes towards the use of the chavacano language as the medium of instruction due to the inadequate availability of teaching materials in their mother tongue. following the continued difficulty in teaching, they preferred to shift back to english until adequate materials, training, and preparation will be provided to them (anudin, 2018). *result is significant at p < 0.05. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 235 language attitudes on the philippine national language differences in the preference of each generation on the philippine national language can be seen in table 9. generation x (n = 44) wishes the cebuano language to be the primary of the national language. on the other hand, generation z (n = 48) would like to maintain the tagalog-based filipino as the national language. as such, this study partly dispels the claim of alburo (2011) that cebuanos have a psychological resistance against the manila-based filipino because the respondents of this study collectively prefer it to be the national language. in spite of these disparities, the actual counts of the responses are not significantly far from the expected count that confirms the null hypothesis. as such, this study cannot discount the data that says that generational differences do not play a role in the national language attitudes of the respondents. table 11. national language attitudes of the cebuanos what language should be the national language of the philippines? generations total cebu x cebu z cebuano count 44 29 73 expected count 36.5 36.5 73 filipino count 35 48 83 expected count 41.5 41.5 83 english count 21 22 43 expected count 21.5 21.5 43 other languages count 0 1 1 expected count 0.5 0.5 1 total count 100 100 200 expected count 100 100 200 χ2 0.105 the majority of the focus group respondents from both generations would like to maintain filipino as the national language as well. they believe that despite the linguistic differences between their native language and the tagalogbased filipino, it is the language that “binds and unites the country.” at least one respondent from each generation narrated their experience about traveling to a different island in the visayas island group, wherein cebu is situated at. they mentioned that when traveling to tacloban in east visayas and boracay, a popular tourist destination in western visayas, filipino was the language they spoke to understand each other despite being collectively visayan. cebu x4 also narrated that overseas filipino workers in the middle east speak the filipino language altogether, most especially when they come from different regions in the philippines. *result is significant at p < 0.05. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 236 conclusion this study presented the language use, attitudes, and preferences of the contemporary cebuano people from generations x and z, a topic that has not been empirically studied and published for the past thirty years. the researchers employed mixed research methods in both data gathering and analysis, with the results triangulated to have a holistic view of the linguistic perspectives of the respondents. triangulated data revealed that the elder generation is significantly more fluent in the cebuano language as respondents from generation z grew up speaking in english and being exposed to the filipino language. despite predominantly speaking cebuano for everyday communication, a language shift towards filipino and english was seen in the younger generation, thus making a significant difference with generation x. this is due to the home and institutional language policies wherein english became the preferred language of communication when they were brought up. being exposed to an educational system that teaches the filipino language and to fellow students that come from different parts of the country created an environment that made them speak the language more frequently than generation x. significant differences on the language used for formal communication were found in all languages as well, with a noticeable language shift from the dominant use of the cebuano language of generation x to generation z speaking mainly in english. the younger generation utilizes filipino more than the elders in the said communicative situation. discourses on english as the language for formal communication revolved around it being an international language that could give an advantage to the youth if they choose to work overseas. moreover, a respondent pointed out that in the present societal system, being able to speak english is a necessary factor to reach people’s personal goals. on the other hand, generation x remained using the cebuano language for formal communication as there are no language policies that require them to use other languages when talking to administrators and clients. english, however, remains to be the medium of formal correspondence. a majority of the respondents in both the quantitative and qualitative parts of the study want to maintain cebuano as the language for everyday communication. being aware of the lessening fluency and limited vocabulary of the youth on the language were the primary reasons for the respondents desiring to maintain the language. in addition, respondents from generation z, who concurrently volunteered as community organizers during the course of this research, found that it was easier for them to make connections with the grassroots sectors if they used the cebuano language. meanwhile, most of the respondents preferred english to be the language for formal communication. focus group respondents tied this preference to thinking that it would help them connect with the international scene and that it is also the language of the financially-fortunate people. respondents from generation z were critical on the status of english in philippine society, declaring that it has the primary focus of the educational system that controls philippine culture. yet, they were of the dynamism of language policies, believing that the recently-implemented multilingual-based llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 237 basic education program could change the language uses and preferences of the future generations. lastly, a collective majority of the respondents are in favor of maintaining tagalog-based filipino as the philippine national language. there was also a preference shift on the national language between the generations as the elder ones mainly chose cebuano and the young ones primarily chose filipino. qualitative respondents narrated that even within varying visayan societies, the cebuano, hiligaynon, and waray, among others, collectively speak filipino when talking to each other due to the evident linguistic differences in their mother tongues. most agreed that filipino remains to be the common language that unites the filipino people, a population that is composed of societies speaking 185 individual languages (eberhard, simons, & fennig, 2019). cebuano came in a close second as some respondents believed that the high population of visayan speakers is enough a reason for the national language to be based in their language. the researchers posit that cebuano language use and preference would still change as the current generation of primary school students is already exposed to an educational system that made their mother tongue the primary medium of instruction. therefore, the relatively low fluency and limited vocabulary of generation z is only a manifestation of the societal structure that emphasized their contact on the english and filipino languages. 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(2005). attitude and behavior toward bilingualism for chinese nren. in j. cohen, k.t. mcalister, k. rolstad, & j. macswan (eds.), proceedings of the 4th international symposium on bilingualism, 2385-2394. somerville, ma: cascadilla press. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 language and language teaching journal http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 114 language attitudes of indonesians as efl learners, gender, and socio-economic status dirtya sunyi paradewari and concilianus laos mbato sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia gisellarin@gmail.com and c.laosmbato67@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.210112 received 15 february 2018; revised 2 march 2018; accepted 20 march 2018 abstract this study explored the language attitude in terms of gender and socio-economic status (ses) in yogyakarta, indonesia. the aim of this study was to find out the relationships among five components of languages attitudes in terms of gender and socio-economic status (ses). there were 256 participants from four universities in yogyakarta. the participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire about the language used and general language attitudes through the google form. the results showed that there are five components of language attitudes; 1) indonesian learners showed positive language attitudes toward english (3.58); 2) positive language attitudes toward indonesian (3.66); 3) positive language attitudes toward english and negative language attitudes toward indonesian (3.52); 4) positive language attitudes toward indonesian and negative language attitudes toward english (3.58); 5) positive language attitudes toward english and indonesian (3.91). these five components of language attitudes were then correlated with gender; 1) gender was positively related to english language attitude where female learners had higher positive language attitudes than males did toward english (.097); 2) there was no relation between gender and indonesian language attitude (-.071). in addition, ses was also related to five (5) components of language attitudes in which the learners who came from upper class had higher positive language attitudes towards english (.155) than learners who came from lower class. on the other hand, the correlation between ses and indonesian language showed the learners from middle class had higher positive language attitudes (.031) than the learners from upper class and lower class. keywords: language attitudes, gender, socio-economic status introduction this research is part of a research project on language attitudes conducted by the research team at sanata dharma university. the other two articles focus on language attitudes and instrumental orientation, and language attitudes and educational background. there will be a similarity in terms of language attitudes across the three articles. results about language attitudes across the three studies are the same. however, this study focused on language attitudes and their correlations with gender and socio-economic status. the research by kharismawan and mbato investigated the correlation between language attitudes and language orientation, as well as language orientation, and gender and ses. mailto:gisellarin@gmail.com llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 115 the research by kurniasari and mbato, on the other hand, looked at language attitudes and their correlations with educational background. english is one of the most widely used world languages today (eskicumali &turedi, 2010) with around two billion people learn english. english is learnt not only for the communication but also for the bridge between the national and global context (penjak & karninčić, 2015). learning english as a foreign language helps to build the sense of human beings and construct the identity among learners (gardner, 2001). english language is used in the various fields of politics, economics, technology, diplomacy, international trade and industry, commerce, education, science, information, and popular culture (crystal, 2003; huda, 2000; lauder, 2008; jenkins, 2003). particularly in education, a large number of scientific papers published are in english. moreover, english is used as the medium of instruction in schools and universities. furthermore, english skill is needed as the requirements of some job vacancy. in indonesia, english is learnt as a foreign language. the status of english as foreign language cannot be separated from colonialism. indonesia was colonized by the dutch over 350 years (1596-1942). during the dutch colonialism, only few indonesians obtained a good education. elite schools only accepted some selected local children whose parents were in the high position in the government to be their students. gregory (1964, p. 15) states that only indigenous children attending these schools were taught as english as a foreign language. english was first taught to indonesians in 1914 (lauder, 2008). during the second world war, indonesia was colonized by japanese for three and a half years (1942-1945) where the teaching of english was prohibited. then, dutch returned to indonesia after the japanese defeated. indonesian won its independence from the dutch on august 17, 1945 and made english the first foreign language to be taught at school replacing dutch (darjowidjojo, 2003). since then, english language has been taught as a foreign language at various educational levels in indonesia. however, english has never been officially used as a medium of communication. therefore, indonesian people rarely speak in english outside the classroom learning contexts. lack of use in the real communication may become one of the reasons why indonesian people tend to use non-standard form in speaking english (see kirkpatrick, 2010). learners’ attitudes play a significant role in learning english a foreign language. attitudes are how people feel about the language (crystal, 1997, p. 215) and is “a construct that elucidates linguistic behavioursor in particular” (mamun et al., 2012, p. 201). the attitudes can be positive or negative (ellis, 1994, p. 1997) and both of them may influence people in learning l2. some of them may feel happy to learn l2 while others may not (ellis, 1994, p. 201). numerous studies of language attitudes have been conducted (penjak & karninčić, 2015; eskicumali & turedi, 2010; mamun et al., 2012). in conducting this research, the researchers were motivated by the study which had done by sicam and lucas (2016). to some extent, this study was a replication of sicam and lucas’ study (2016). while sicam and lucas investigated the relationship between language attitudes and language orientation towards filipino and english, llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 116 this study attempted to explore the language attitudes towards indonesian and english in terms of gender and socio-economic status (ses) of indonesian students studying in several universities in yogyakarta, indonesia where english is learnt as a foreign language. in particular, this study aimed to find out about the relationship between language attitudes, gender, and socio-economic status. this study attempted to answer two research questions, namely, firstly: what are indonesian university students’ general language attitudes towards indonesian and english? secondly is there any significant relationship between indonesian university students’ general language attitudes towards indonesian and english in terms of gender and social economic status? language attitude kendler (1974) notes that attitude is a willingness to accept or avoid positive or negative things such as social, personal, situations, ideas, and concepts. the characteristics of behaviour language are divided into two types, namely: language and non-language attitude (anderson, 1984, p. 37). the language attitude is a catalyst to have a successful language learning (fasold, 1984, p. 36). language attitude might be a positive or negative depending on how people learn the language (chaer & agustina, 2010). zeinivan, azizifar, and gowhary (2015) also assert that language attitude is the internal stage which influence people to do what they want to do. brown (2000) employs the term of language attitude as the set of beliefs that the learner holds. a successful learner is a learner who perceives a positive attitudes towards the target language (prodromou, 1992). dittmar (1976) reveals four characteristics of language attitude, i.e. the selection of primary language that people use in a multilingual community, the distribution of the language, the differences of dialect, and the interaction among individuals based on the common problems that arise. accordingly, language attitude is “an umbrella term, which refers to various attitudinal objects, including languages, dialects, speech styles, speakers, communities, language learning, and language use” (ianos et al, 2015, p. 2). gender simaki et al. (2016, p. 868) assert that people with different gender tend to have different style of linguistic. women and men use different language styles depending on the situation (edlund et al, 2007) and women usually do better than men in learning the language (ellis, (1994). dornyei, csizer, and nemeth (2006) also note that women are more motivated than men in learning a foreign language. several studies have found gender differences in language attitude. one of the examples come from ladegaard (1998; 2000). the result of the research showed that the female participants had the higher positive attitudes towards standard danish (sd) than male participants had. in addition, wang & ladegaard (2010, p. 16) state that women use the high prestige variety of a language while men use the local vernacular. socio-economic status parson, hinson, and sardo-brown (2001) define the socio-economic status as the term to distinguish between people’ position in the society in terms of family llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 117 income, educational background, and occupational prestige. the social classes are classified as upper, middle, and lower class (ariani & ghafournia, 2015). lamb (2012) asserts that socio-economic status has an impact on the learners in learning languages. ellis (1994) also adds that there is the connection between the social class and achievement; particularly it comes from the level of education, income, and occupation (p. 204). students with the high social and economic status are called as successful students and students with the low social and economic status are called unsuccessful students (barry, 2005; ewijk & sleegers, 2010). method to some extent, this study was replication of a quantitative study by sicam and lucas (2016) on language attitudes of adolescent filipino bilingual learners towards english and filipino. in order to collect data, the current study employed a survey method in the form of a questionnaire. the researcher utilized google form to distribute the questionnaire because the participants were separated in some areas of yogyakarta, indonesia. the participants of this study were 256 students (184 females and 72 males) from one state universities and three private universities in yogyakarta. in this study, the participants were invited to participate voluntarily and were assured that the information collected was confidential. this study employed a questionnaire adapted from sicam and lucas (2016) to suit indonesian contexts and consisted of two parts; demographic background information and language attitudes. there were 26 statements about language attitudes towards indonesian and english. the questionnaire was written in indonesian rather than english to avoid misunderstanding when the participants filled it out. in order to answer the questionnaire, the participants were instructed to respond to the items on a 5-point semantic differential scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree) as depicted in table 1 below. table 1. items distribution of the questionnaire components number of item total language attitudes positive towards english 1, 5, 7, 8, 14, 23, 24 7 positive towards indonesian 4, 18, 26 3 positive towards english and negative towards indonesian 3, 6, 11, 12, 9 5 positive towards indonesian and negative towards english 2, 10, 13, 20 4 positive towards english and indonesian 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 22, 25 7 total 26 findings and discussion in line with the research question, this section focused on general language attitudes towards indonesian and english, and on the correlation between learners’ llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 118 language attitudes towards indonesian and english in terms of gender and socioeconomic status (ses) respectively. general language attitudes towards indonesian and english five categories of language attitudes towards english and indonesian were calculated to answer the research problem. the mean of each category and the comparisons of means between the categories are presented in table 2. table 2. general attitudes towards indonesian and english attitude mean sd positive towards english and indonesian 3.91 1.02 positive towards indonesian 3.66 0.93 positive towards english 3.58 0.98 positive towards indonesia and negative towards english 3.58 0.92 positive towards english and negative towards indonesian 3.52 0.99 note: scale: 0–1.0 = very low attitude; 1.1–2.0 = low attitude; 2.1–3.0 = moderate attitude; 3.1–4.0 = high attitude; 4.1–5.0 = very high attitude the table indicates that the participants have a high positive attitude towards english and indonesian languages (m = 3.91). this finding supported studies by sicam and lucas (2016); fuentes and mojica (1999); and pascasio (1980) who found that second language learners had high positive attitudes towards english and their first languages. then the second highest mean was positive towards indonesian (m = 3.66) in which the learners are using their first language, indonesian. the learners also had the positive attitudes toward english (m = 3.58). the score was the same as positive attitudes towards indonesia and negative towards english, while the score of sd of positive attitudes towards english was higher than the other one. the lowest score came from the positive attitudes towards english and negative towards indonesian (m = 3.52). in addition, based on 23 items about language attitudes, there were five (5) statements which obtain a high attitude. among those five statements, three statements referred to the positive attitudes towards english and indonesian. it can be seen in table 3. table 3. statements with the high rating number statement mean sd 15 speaking english helps people to get a job. 4.27 0.91 12 when indonesian people attend international conferences, he feels confident because he has facility with the use of english rather than indonesian. 4.16 0.89 21 to be an efficient government official, one must be proficient in both english and indonesian. 4.11 0.92 19 speaking both english and indonesian help people get promotions in their jobs. 4.04 0.93 1 modernization and advancement can be better achieved through the use of english. 4.03 0.98 most of the participants strongly agree with the statement that english and indonesian can help them to get a job (m = 4.27) and to be promoted in a job (m llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 119 = 4.04). it is realized that nowadays, indonesian learners considered english as an instrument in getting a job. it was supported by arslan and akbarov (2012) who state that, “most of the students believe that english will be useful in their future job. it is in line with the general belief that knowing english opens door to jobs” (p. 27). this study also shows the use of english and indonesia language in different contexts as presented in table 4. table 4. language used in different context no context language(s) used percentage 1 home a) talking to father indonesia 69.14 % b) talking to mother indonesia 71.48 % c) talking to brother/ sister indonesia 55.86 % 2 school a) talking to classmates in indonesia and english equally 37.89 % b) talking to lecturer/ teacher in indonesia and english equally 31.64 % 3 community a) talking to neighbors indonesia 89.45 % 4 media a) watching tv programs in indonesia and english equally 40.23 % b) watching movies in indonesia and english equally 47.27 % c) reading newspapers/ magazines in indonesia and english equally 42.58 % d) reading educational books in indonesia and english equally 53.13 % e) reading comics/ fiction books in indonesia and english equally 37.50 % f) listening to music in indonesia and english equally 44.14 % g) listening to radio programs in indonesia more than in english 39.06 % in the context of family, the participants preferred to use indonesian to speak each other. in contrast, the participants preferred to use both english and indonesian equally in the context of the school/ university and the place where they worked. in terms of using media, when the participants were watching tv, watching movies, reading the newspaper, reading educational books, reading fiction books, and listening to music, they preferred to use both indonesia and english equally. nevertheless, when they were listening to the radio, they used indonesian rather than english. correlation between learners’ language attitude towards indonesia and english in terms of gender and socio-economic status (ses) in this section, the researchers investigated the correlation between learners’ language attitudes in terms of gender and ses. the researchers employed a paired-sample t test to find the correlation between language attitude and the variables. the results can be seen in table 5. table 5. correlation matrix of language attitudes, gender and ses. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 gender 2 ses .025 llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 120 3 positive towards english .097 .155 4 positive towards indonesia -.071 .031 5 positive towards english and negative towards indonesia -.038 .259 6 positive towards indonesia and negative towards english -.122 .085 7 positive towards english and indonesia -.025 .069 based on the result, it showed that gender had a positive and significant correlation with positive english attitude. specifically, there is a difference score between male (m= 3.49) and female (m= 3.62). this result also supported the studies made by sicam and lucas (2016); wang and ladegaard (2010); and dornyei, csizer, and nemeth (2006) which claim that female learners had a higher positive attitude in learning english than male learners. on the other hand, this study also found that socio-economic status (ses) had a significant correlation with all of the language attitude components. in addition, the score of components towards ses level presented in table 6. table 6. mean score of the language attitude based on ses no components lower class middle class upper class 1 positive towards english 3.59 3.45 3.77 2 positive towards indonesia 3.48 3.75 3.61 3 positive towards english and negative towards indonesia 3.34 3.40 3.78 4 positive towards indonesia and negative towards english 3.40 3.62 3.60 5 positive towards english and indonesia 3.92 3.84 4.00 table 6 clearly showed that ses had the impact on learners’ attitude in learning the language. according to lamb (2010), socio-economic status has the impact on the learners in learning languages. specifically, the learners who were included in the upper class had higher positive language attitude towards english than lower and middle class. moreover, kahn-horwitz et al. (2006) described that the students with the high socio-economic status had a sense of the importance of english as foreign learners. conclusion based on the result, it shows that language attitudes diverge among different groups of indonesian adults. firstly, these finding refers to the high positive attitude towards indonesian and english languages. the use of indonesian as the preferred language in the family context is proven in this study. moreover, both english and indonesia are equally used in the context of the school/ university and the place of work and media use. secondly, the study revealed that there is a correlation between learners’ language attitude towards indonesian and english in llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 121 terms of gender. this finding is an agreement with the findings from sicam and lucas (2016); wang and ladegaard (2010); and dornyei, csizer, and nemeth (2006) which claimed that female learners had a higher positive attitude in learning english than male learners. references anderson, b. r. o. g. 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(2010). language attitudes and gender in china: perceptions and reported use of putonghua and cantonese in the southern province of guangdong. language awareness, 17(1), 57-77. zeinivand, t., azizifar, a., & gowhary, h. (2015). the relationship between attitude and speaking proficiency of iranian elf learners: the case of darrehshehr city. procedia – social and behavioral sciences, 199, 240247. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 270-275 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 270 the impact of please strategy on developing paragraph writing skills mohammad al-zu'bi and murad al kayed al-balqa applied university dralzubi1978@bau.edu.jo and murad.alkayed@bau.edu.jo doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2019.220211 received 13 july 2019; revised 5 september 2019; accepted 25 september 2019 abstract this study aimed at investigating the effect of please (pick, list, evaluate, activate, supply, and end) strategy on developing paragraph writing skills of firstyear students at al-balqa applied university. it attempted to investigate the effect of please on paragraph writing achievement, compared to conventional method. eighty-one efl learners participated in the study at ajloun college and were distributed on experimental and control groups. to fulfil the purpose of the study, the researchers applied preand post-test on both groups. after analysing the obtained data, the results indicated that please strategy affected paragraph writing positively. the study suggested several implications and recommendations for the future research. keywords: efl, please strategy, writing skills introduction writing is one of the most important skills that should be acquired or learned in life (makmur at el, 2016; pasand & haghi, 2013) and it is essential for communication by making signs on a page. it is used to express thoughts, feelings, and ideas, and to share knowledge. it is used to translate our thoughts into useful accessible documents, so we can convey our messages effectively and meaningfully. in addition, writing also is a way to teach us how to think and how to be an educated human being (pack, 2003). moreover, writing has a positive impact on language learning since it invokes the learners to concentrate more on the accurate use of language (harmer, 2004). it is also essential in several fields and professions, such as medicine, journalism, and education. writing is considered one of the most complex skill in learning a language that efl students should master (richardson & morgan, 2003; negari, 2011). nunan (1989) argues that “writing is an extremely complex cognitive activity in which the writer is required to demonstrate control of variables simultaneously” (p. 34). richardson and renandya (2002) claimed that writing is a complex process because it involves cognitive and meta-cognitive elements and he assumed that “writing is the most difficult skill for second language learners” (p. 303). at the sentence level, a good writer should use correctly spelling, structure, punctuation, grammar and vocabulary. at the paragraph level, he/she should present his/her ideas in a cohesive and coherent paragraph or text. as a result of its complexity, many language llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 270-275 271 learners face difficulty in writing. it is worth noting that writing is not an easy task for native speakers which makes it a challenge for foreign language learners. furthermore, the researchers noticed that most students at al-balqa applied university have some difficulties when writing paragraphs. they have many ideas, but they cannot translate these ideas into meaningful and readable text. they committed many mistakes in grammar, punctuation, and word choice. to solve the previous problems, it is essential to adopt suitable strategies especially at the paragraph level. several studies have been conducted on the effect of using different strategies on paragraph writing. for example, (alzu’ bi, 2007) and sabra (2014) found out a positive influence of certain strategies on paragraph writing and solving writing problems. thus, instructors should select a good strategy to solve the students’ difficulties when they write paragraphs. as a result, the researchers selected please strategy as it is very suitable to encounter the problems that faced the students when writing paragraph. when the researchers reviewed the related literature such as stave at el. (2005) and liza and refnaldi (2013), they found that please has positive effects on improving writing at the paragraph level because it can help the students generate and organize their ideas. because of the characteristics of please strategy, the researchers conducted the present study to investigate its impact on developing paragraph writing and solving the major problems that faced the students at universities. many english language learners face several problems in paragraph writing. they have many ideas, but they do not know how to translate them to readable text due to their poor vocabulary and grammar, and their inability of organizing ideas. in addition, difficulties and problems with spelling, punctuation, revising, editing and capitalization are present. to solve such problems, the researchers encourage instructors to use please strategy because most studies argued that it is among the most suitable strategies to solve all of the previous problems. the study tries to explore whether please strategy can develop paragraph writing. operational definitions 1. please strategy is an instructional mnemonic meta-cognitive strategy that reminds students with the steps of the writing process at the level of paragraph 2. writing achievement is the score of the post test that every student in the two groups gains after completing the treatment immediately (al-zu'bi, 2015). “please” strategy is used by teachers and instructors to determine the difficulties that face students in prewriting, planning, and paragraph revision (welch, 1992). also, it is a map that reminds learners to apply specific steps of paragraph writing (graham and harris, 2007). steps of please 1. pick the topic, audience, and paragraph type. 2. list information about the topic 3. evaluate whether the list is complete and determine how to order the items in the list. 4. activate your writing by starting with a topic sentence. 5. supply supporting details in sentences, using items from the list. 6. end with a strong concluding sentence and evaluate the paragraph by revising and editing. (vaughn, et al., 2003). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 270-275 272 according to many researchers who conducted studies to found out the effect of please strategy on developing writing, there exists positive impact, especially at primary stages and with students with learning disabilities. sinambela and sinulingga (2013) found that the use of please strategy significantly improved student’s achievement in writing. similarly, yulastri (2014) conducted a study on the effect of please strategy on the writing achievement of 12th grade of senior high school students. the study found out that please strategy helped students to organize their ideas and produce readable paragraphs. it also motivates students to write more. a study by wardani (2016) aimed at investigating whether there was a significant difference on writing competency between the students who learned writing with the use of “please” and those who learned writing with the use of the conventional writing strategy. the sample of the study was 44 nigerian students at the tenth grade who were selected through a random sampling technique. after collecting and analysing the data, the results showed that there was a significant difference on writing competency between the students who learned writing by using “please” strategy and those who learned writing with the use of the conventional writing strategy. the students who were taught by using “ple ase” strategy achieved better in writing competency, as compared to those who were taught by the conventional writing strategy. in another study by aminaturn, ngadiso and marmanto (2018), the impact of please strategy on the writing skills of eleventh grade of sma negeri 1 ngemplak. the results of the study indicated that students taught using please strategy performs better in learning writing than those who taught by guided writing strategy. the please strategy helps students with learning disabilities in the process writing. welch (1992) claimed that please strategy was significantly more effective in developing the meta-cognitive abilities of sixth-grade students with learning disabilities, for prewriting planning, composition, and revision. findings also suggest that students’ attitude towards writing and writing instructions improved significantly following the experimental treatment. akincilar (2010) explored the impact of the “please” on writing skills. the sample of the study was selected from the fifth-grade learners who studied english in a private primary school in istanbul. the results indicated that please strategy helped students in pre-writing and planning stage, and it increased their selfconfidence. several researchers conducted studies that aimed at finding out the effect of please strategy on the descriptive writing. all of these studies showed that please strategy improved students’ descriptive writing (marzulina, 2018; dewi, 2018; spartt, 2005; liza & renaldi, 2013 & nasution, 2018) all previous studies found that please strategy affected writing achievement positively. they selected samples from primary stages and students with learning disabilities. unlike these studies, the current study investigates the influence of please strategy on different types of writing of undergraduate university students. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 270-275 273 method the researchers selected a purposeful sample of 81 first-year students from ajloun university college. they were divided into experimental (by using please strategy) and control group (by using the conventional way) to investigate whether or not please strategy has a positive effect. the researchers designed a writing test which includes 3 topics, based on the students' levels to write a perfect paragraph about one of them (see appendix 2).the specific objectives of the test include: 1. writing the topic sentence. 2. writing supporting sentences. 3. writing the concluding sentence. 4. writing using correct grammar. 5. not making spelling errors. 6. using suitable punctuations marks. 7. establishing coherence by using linking words. 8. organizing and ordering the paragraph. 9. using suitable vocabularies. 10. following the paragraph format. the researchers asked a number of experts to judge the test so as to produce the final draft. finally, the researchers used a rubric to correct students' paragraph writing mistakes based on the objectives of the test (see appendix 3). the researchers designed six lesson plans which covered 18 lectures (each lesson took a week) according to the please steps (see appendixes 1). to ensure the validity of the program, a panel of experts revised the program, and the researchers followed their comments and suggestions to produce the final draft. the researchers used the quasi-experimental design. the experimental group consisted of 41 students, whereas the control group included40 participants. the researchers used the pre-test technique to make sure that both groups are equivalent and post-test to find out whether there is a difference between them. findings and discussion to test the equivalence between the mean scores of the groups on writing in the pre-test, the t test was computed as shown in table 1. table 1. results of t-test for the pre-writing test group n mean std. deviation t df sig.(2-tailed) pre experimental 41 17.27 6.573 -.312 79 .756 control 40 17.73 6.594 as shown in table 1, the mean scores of the experimental group on the pre-test were slightly similar to the control group’s mean score: (17.27; 17.73). this indicates that the t value of writing test was not statistically significant at (α≤0, 05), so 0.312 is higher than 0.05, implying that the two groups are equivalent. the t-test was performed to answer the main question of the study as shown in table 2. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 270-275 274 table 2. results of t-test of the post writing test between the two groups. group n mean std. deviation t df sig. (2tailed) post experimental 41 23.15 5.360 2.188 79 .032 control 40 20.18 6.793 as shown in table 2, there is a difference between the two tests in favour of the experimental group because t value which is (2.188) is statistically significant at (α≤0.05). the result is expected because of the benefits and features of please strategy. first of all, the strategy provides a structure to help students plan what they write from pre-writing activities and to generate their ideas while writing. this strategy also helps students to revise their writing in the post-writing stage. secondly, it motivates the students to explore their ideas. thirdly, the steps of please strategy are easy to remember and apply. finally, it helps students write independently because it leads students to find their topics and ideas about what they will write. this helps them to improve their ability of paragraph writing. the main result of study is consistent with the previous theoretical and practical studies which indicated that the use of please strategy develops students' paragraph writing. conclusion the results of the study agree with the previous studies as most of them demonstrated that the please strategy plays a positive role in improving students' paragraph writing. according to the findings of the study, the researchers offer the following recommendations. firstly, other researchers may conduct similar studies on other levels of writing like essay writing and composition. secondly, training instructors on how to apply please strategy. references akincilar, v. (2010). the effect of please strategy training through the selfregulated strategy development (srsd) model on fifth grade efl students' descriptive writing: strategy training on planning (unpublished mathesis). middle east technical university, turkey. author. (2007). aminatun, n., & marmanto (2018). applying please strategy to teach writing skill to students with different linguistic intelligences. teknosastik, 16(1), 34-40. dewi, s. (2018). the effect of please strategy and writing interest tward students’ writing skill. edu-ling: journal of english education and linguistics, 2(1), 2032. graham, s., & harris, k. r. (2007). best practices in teaching planning. in graham, s., macarthur, a., & fitzgerald, j (eds.), best practices in writing instruction. new york, ny: the guilford press. harmer, j. (2002). the practice of english language teaching. malaysia: longman. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 270-275 275 liza, m. and refnaldi. (2013). using please strategy in teaching writing a descriptive text. journal of english language teaching, 1(2), 436-444. makmur, ismiyati, y., mukminin, a., & verawaty. (2016). in search of good student teachers in writing skill: the impact of different task variance on efl writing proficiency. international journal of academic research in education, 2(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.17985/ijare.45901 marzulina, l. (2018). learning strategy towards students’ descriptive writing achievement taught by using pick – list – evaluate – active – supply – end strategy. journal pendidikan, 5(1), 63-75. nasution, s. (2018). the effect of using please strategy on the students’ achievement in writing descriptive paragraph at smpn 1 bilah hulu (published thesis). the state islamic university of north sumatera, medan. negari, g. m. (2011). a study on strategy instruction and efl learners’ writing skill. international journal of english linguistics, 1(2), 299-305. nunan, d. (1989). understanding language classrooms. new york: prentice hall. pack, p. (2003). effective writing: a guide for social science students. hong kong. the chinese university press. pasand, p. g., & haghi, e. b. (2013). process-product approach to writing: the effect of model essays on efl learners’ writing accuracy. international journal of applied linguistics & english literature, 2(1), 75-79. richards, c. & renandya, a. 2002. methodology in language teaching. cambridge: cambridge university press. richardson, j. s., & morgan, r. f. (2003). reading to learn in the content areas. united states of america: wadsworth. sabra, r. (2014). the effect of adopting caf strategy on developing paragraph writing skills for english graders (unpublished ma thesis). al-azhar university, egypt. sinambela, m. & sinulingga, j. (2013). improving students' achievement in writing hortatory exposition text through please strategy. genre journal of applied linguistics of fbs unimed, 2(1), 22-34. sparrt, m. & alan. (2005). the teaching knowledge test course. new york: cambridge university press. stave, g., karen, r. h. ( 2005). writing better : effective strategies for teaching students with learning difficulties. maryland: paul. h. brookes publishing. vaughn, s., bos, c., & schumm, j. s. (2003). teaching exceptional, diverse, and at-risk students in the general education classroom (3rd ed.). boston, usa: ally & bacon. wardani, p. (2016). the effect of please strategy on students' writing competency at tenth grade of sma negeri 1 sukasada in academic year 2016/2017. journal pendidikan bahasa inggris, 3(3),142-150. welch, m. (1992). the please strategy: a met cognitive learning strategy for improving the paragraph writing of students with mild learning disabilities. learning disability quarterly, 15(2), 119–128. yulastri, n. (2014). the effect of using pick, list, evaluate, activate, supply, and end (please) strategy toward students writing achievement for eleventh grade of senior high school students. e-journal stkip pgri sumarta barat, 1(1), 1-6. http://dx.doi.org/10.17985/ijare.45901 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 1 students of english in algerian university and their perspectives of employability after graduation louiza belaid and hanane sarnou university abdelhamid ibn badis, mostaganem, algeria belaidlouiza38@yahoo.com and bh_sarnou@yahoo.fr doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2019.220101 received 16 november 2018; revised 9 january 2019; accepted 20 february 2019 abstract success at university requires achieving a high degree; however, after university, it is perceived through the achievement of financial satisfaction. this investigative work examines the students’ perspectives of their professional careers after graduation from university. our objective is to see the extent to which students are prepared to insert in the professional life. in this prospect, a questionnaire is administered, as a research method, to fifty five students at the university of ibn khaldountiaret. the results reveal the students’ deficiency of the workplace skills, and their fear from unemployment which is associated to the lack of job opportunities. in this regard, reviewing the admission of students at university and selecting competent learners are mandatory steps. keywords: university, graduation, financial satisfaction, workplace skills, unemployment. introduction the perception of success at university entails obtaining a degree, and achieving better until graduation. by contrast, success after university is perceived as accomplishing one’s goals throughout reaching financial satisfaction. this empirical inquiry examines the perspectives of students of their professional careers after graduating from university. in this perspective, our objective is to detect the extent to which students are prepared to insert in the professional life. our research questions are: is the graduate concerned about his/her life after graduation? is he/she ready to be part in the workplace? to answer these questions, we hypothesize that, students have fear from not finding an appropriate job and probably they are not equipped with the work skills that should be learned before graduating. the research tool used in this study is a questionnaire; it is used as an instrument to a sample of 55 students which is randomly selected at the university of ibn khaldountiaret. the findings elucidate that learners are not fully qualified to take part in the state service, besides they fear unemployment due to the lack of job opportunities. furthermore, a number of factors are highlighted in this work which might reduce the chances of graduates to find a suitable job. for this, reviewing the admission of students at university and taking into consideration students’ suggestions are compulsory steps to minimize students’ failure at university and after graduation. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 2 within the 21st century world of technology and advancement, it becomes a necessity to be equipped with the appropriate skills to fit the needs of the labour market. no matter which field a student is studying, he/she is required to acquire the career skills and competencies to function well in the workplace. actually, the transition from university to the workplace represents an overwhelming experience for some and unknown future for others. studies have shed light on the important role of university/college to be successful after graduation, but does this always provide a match between what is taught and what is found in the workplace? first, arcelo & sanyal (1987) claim that university is an enriching phase in the lives of learners as they stress its significant role, it is basically seen as “a commitment to the pursuit of knowledge in a spirit of perceptive intellectual inquiry and that of nurturing desirable values to promote a civilized society characterized by people of a sharpened intellect and inquisitive mind” (p. 01) as a matter of fact, universities seek to fulfil the task of preserving, exploring and most importantly transmitting knowledge and social values to learners. in the words of dr. perkins, president of cornell university, as qtd in arcelo and sanyal (1987) "knowledge acquired must be transmitted, or it dies. knowledge acquired and transmitted must be used, or it becomes sterile and inert... the acquisition of knowledge is the mission of research; the transmission of knowledge is the mission of teaching; and the application of knowledge is the mission of public service" (p. 01) he summed up the role of each sector before, during, and after graduation insisting on the transmission of information and values to learners in order to fit well in the workplace, not only teachers are responsible but learners, policy makers and even employers are responsible for knowledge, its adequacy and its successful transmission; knowledge which could not be provided at home (young, 2011; mccowan, 2015; rashidi & safari, 2015). many scholars state that universities are internationally seen as a crucial resource of knowledge, innovation and creative thinking (fry et al, 2009; veugelers and rey, 2014) they are recognized as “providers of skilled personnel and credible credentials, as contributors to innovation, as attractors of international talent and business investment into a region, as agents of social justice and mobility, and as contributors to social and cultural vitality.” (boulton & lucas, 2008, p. 04). in fact, learning at university enables students to create outcomes which change the identity of the learner, promote citizenship and social justice, and this can be characterized as steps towards professional growth (harkavy, 2006). second, teaching/learning is a whole process, right from the start, the 21st century learner should be enabled to solve real life problems and apply his/her knowledge in the workplace. however, many students know that they face difficulties in acquiring the workforce skills. thus, at university they need help, direction and guidance to be engaged in the workplace where they should be (junior achievement, 2013) it is necessary to make use of what is taught at university in the appropriate domain in order to be enhanced and engraved in students’ schemata and become experienced and professionals. third, caya thimm, sabine koch and sabine sche (nd), as cited in the edited work of holmes & meyerhoff (2003), claim that “it is necessary to consider the role of gender stereotypes in the development of attitudes to communication when llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 3 examining workplace communication and interpersonal verbal interaction” (p. 530) they believe that verbal communication in the workplace has an impact on the professional performance of males and females, and that the communication of social categories plays an important part in the construction of gendered professional worlds. social categories like people’s age or gender are linked to social attitudes that lead towards social stereotypes. this latter might affect identity processes, selfesteem and academic success. in comparison to males, females are offered more opportunities in different domains, and they contend in a second shift (hochschild and machung, 2012) or a dual career at home and at work to impose their character and self-efficacy to be autonomous socially (naidoo & jano, 2002 ; anonuevo, 1995). in this perspective, in comparison to males, females are recognized to be more active at school, at university and after graduation. additionally, financial satisfaction is all what learners are concerned about; the more the degree is high the more the earnings are high (hill, hoffman, & rex, 2005; walker, 2013). if a school diploma will offer the opportunity to have a job, its value could not be as high as a university diploma, and hence the educational degree is important to have a secure job with a satisfactory salary. it is noteworthy to mention that the term employability, by convention, varies from acquiring knowledge, possessing a degree, getting a satisfactory job, possessing skills and experience, to earning money, yet students should be aware of the proper application of what they have learned in the respective field in real life contexts. (kneale as cited in fry, ketteridge and marshall, 2009) hill (2014) and beam (2013), in a published provost report series (2014), agree on the fact that undergraduate students generally complain about group work and group projects. in fact, a well-structured group work can enhance learners’ engagement in the classroom and help them build essential competencies for their professional careers. accordingly, workplaces are highly collaborative as they emphasize team works (ruiters, 2013). employers, whether in companies, administration or even teaching, search for candidates who are qualified and have the adequate skills to work in diverse teams. thus, teamwork skills aid graduates to be successful leaders and collaborators in their communities. in this regard, educators should always be available for their students’ enquiries. they should encourage them to work well together and solve problems that might be encountered, and learners, at the end of each course, are asked to reflect on and evaluate the efficiency of their team work, detect the foibles and work to improve them (pitsoe & isingoma, 2014; mcewan et al., 2017). although students are often asked to work in groups, but hill et al (2014) believe that few have been taught how to do this group work in an effective way. similarly, price (2012), in her work, state that the major objective of college is learning to think critically, give learners a room to be creative, and provide them with explicit expectations. critical thinking is another compulsory skill that should be the quality of students, nothing is taken for granted, thus instructors at university should help learners how to analyze and evaluate information or an issue in order to be able to make an effective judgment, and then construct the ability to be successful at work. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 4 “the 21st century workplace is unique and only people with adequate skills can serve” (oviawe et al, 2017, p.08) not every graduate is self equipped with skills of recruitment and self-reliance in order to succeed in the workforce. yorke and knight (2004) as cited in bennett (2016) argue that there is a clash between the graduate skills and the skills which is required in the workplace and this is because university does not transmit work-related skills until they graduate. likewise, mishkind (2014) states that a career ready person submits a strong character, work competencies, ethics, integrity and responsibility; in this prospect, students with these qualities are qualified to be in the workplace and ready for their lives. it is noteworthy to mention that a mismatch may occur between university and the workplace especially if university/college does not prepare students appropriately to function as talented workers; for this reason, higher education is required to contribute to the national economy throughout the production of skilled and responsible workers. (kőnig et al 2016; lourens and fourie-malherbe 2017) method in this research work we opted for a questionnaire as a research instrument, it is comprised of open ended questions and close ended questions. the variables are between numeral and ordinal variables. the questionnaire guidelines include questions associated to the learners’ educational experiences and backgrounds. close ended questions aim to detect personal information with limited choices; as for open ended questions, the aim is to allow our selected sample to express his/her ideas freely concerning their perspectives of the workplace after graduation. population in order to undertake this work, we chose fifty five students from the university of tiaret, english departmentalgeria. the sample age is ranged from 18 to 30 years in which 22 % of them are males whereas 78 % are females. the participants come from a variety of educational levels, from ba degree to master degree. all of them are bound to the lmd educational system (licence, master, and doctorate). most of them live in the university campus due to the long distance between their houses and university. findings and discussion results first of all, the majority of students choose teaching because it is their personal will, they favour teaching english over any other job, whereas some prefer other different jobs. the majority are studying to become teachers whether in middle school, high school or university. teaching is, for them, the most suitable career especially for females, where they can be secure socially and financially. as for the rest, they claim that they would rather work in companies that require using english, join the military service or become police officers, the majority were males. second of all, as clarified in figure 1.2 below, 91% of students are studying english because it is their personal choice while 9% is not theirs. english, for these learners, is an international language which might increase their chances to find adequate jobs in schools or companies. they are aware of the fact that the more llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 5 their level is high in the english language subject, the more their career is satisfactory. table 1.1 students’ language choice option is english your personal choice? percentage % yes 50 91% no 05 9% total 55 100% figure 1.2 the choice of studying english at university third of all, as long as success at university is concerned, we might predict a gender gap at university. the iqr of the ordinal answers is ‘1’; this indicates that there is a consensus in students’ responses. in fact, as clarified in table 2.1 below, 35% of students believe that females are more successful than males at university, whereas 16% disagrees with this latter; the majority argues that female students dominate male students in terms of educational achievement. all students are aware of the fact that females’ performance is always better, first because they outnumber males in class, besides the absence of motivation among male students to compete females. more importantly, they strongly believe that the chances of male pupils are lower than females in the workplace. this negative stereotypical image might drive students, especially male students, to quit university early, or decrease their educational accomplishment. strongly disagree disagree neutral agree strongly agree iqr females are more successful than males at university 3 % 16% 20% 35% 26% 1 (4) table 2.1 students’ agreement on the superiority of females at university 91% 9% yes no llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 6 figure 2.2 students’ perception of females’ success it is noteworthy to mention that students’ awareness about the extent to which their diplomas are adequate to have a job varies from one category of learners to another. in fact, the majority of students (36%) shows their agreement of the fact that university diplomas are not enough to have a job. 27% disagrees with this belief whereas 18% is neutral; the iqr of the answers is ‘2’ and this shows that the answers are not polarized but have a consensus. hence, their claims do not exclude the reliability of diplomas as an academic certificate, but rather, they are conscious that, beyond the qualifications or degree of a learner, being a student is not as being an employee, especially for students who started teaching in middle or high schools, they argue that the more their degrees are high, the more their knowledge of the language is updated. obtaining a diploma is something and having the potential to be a successful employee is something different and demanding. table 3.1 and figure 3.2 below clarify the vision of students towards the diplomas they obtain after graduating. table 3.1 the sufficiency of diplomas to obtain a job strongly disagree disagree neutral agree strongly agree iqr the university diplomas are not sufficient to obtain a job 7.2% 27.3% 18.2% 36.4% 10.9% 2 (3) 0 5 10 15 20 strongly agree agree neutral disagree strongly disagree llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 7 figure 3.2 students’ perception of their diplomas discussion first of all, students are not fully qualified to take part in the state service, according to their answers, the knowledge that is introduced at university, within a short period of time, is not enough to be used in the workplace, especially for those who already start teaching, they argue that there is a difference between what is taught at university and what should be introduced in the workplace, thus an extensive training is required to bridge the gap between university and the demands of the workplace, in terms of knowledge, competencies and skills. second of all, the majority of students fear unemployment because of the unavailability of job opportunities and this is due to the large number of university graduates each year, it becomes hard to find a job in front of a huge number of previous and recent graduates. apparently, this latter is not the only reason, but students cited a number of factors as: females’ bias, the interest of all graduates in teaching, and the lack of job opportunities in other fields. actually, students’ vision towards the world is quite important, and their suggestions could be straightforward if taken seriously. first, it is pragmatic to recruit future graduates according to their qualifications which fit the domain of his/her work. second, coordination should be established by policy makers between the public and private sectors at least to have a chance to get a job in both sectors respectively. third, one of the previous reforms that was not implemented yet in algeria is the integration of english in primary schools; in this prospect, students stress the importance of incorporating this reform nowadays at least to enable students with ba degree in english to teach in primary schools, especially with the number of graduates that cannot be recruited in middle and high schools; hence, they believe that it is compulsory to consider the english language subject as a second language instead of french. forth, it is noticeable that the majority of pupils pass the baccalaureate examination; in this respect, it is proposed to filter the bachelors before choosing a specialty at university, and this could be done throughout organising a contest in each field of study, and accepting only the most qualified elements. fifth, male students concern is always females, they believe that recruitment is for women in all sectors, it is adequate to establish equality among them and recruit in accordance to the person qualifications not the gender. furthermore, training is required during and after getting the job, at least to diminish the burden for novice teachers. some students’ replies reveal that english 0 5 10 15 20 25 strongly disagree disagree neutral agree strongly agree llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 8 is not really their personal choice, either they were forced by their parents or they do not have another alternative due to the limited choices offered after passing the bac examination. thus, it is compulsory to rethink orienting students according to the field that they accomplish well within; as long as the students are concerned, why not considering them as an important part in decision making. conclusion achievement at university or college is all what students are searching for. there is a difference between life at university and after graduating. the concerns of learners aggravate when they approach graduation. ideas of not obtaining a job after graduating is what make learners under pressure. in this work, we have attempted to search for the perspective of learners of their professional careers after graduating. the main findings of this inquiry reveal that students’ knowledge is not sufficient to take part in the state service; training is needed before and after graduation in order not to be unqualified and fail to accomplish the job; teaching in our context. more than that, the lack of job opportunities is caused not only by the large number of university graduates, but also because of the unavailability of appropriate jobs, especially because the majority of students from different domains are allowed to sit for the same contest of teaching (primary school level), especially for females, thus it seems that the educational sector cannot accept all graduates. in this prospect, reviewing the admission of students at university is compulsory, in other words, minimizing the number of bachelors through a contest which selects only students who are qualified to belong to the respective field and then offering a job opportunity for each graduate with no problem in recruitment or training; more importantly, equity among males and females is a must, at least to reduce the stereotypical image of females’ dominance due to their gender not professional or academic qualification. in a nutshell, it is adequate to provide job opportunities other than education to embrace competent graduates and reduce unemployment in the country. references anonuevo, m. c. 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(2011). what are schools for? university of london, london knowledge lab, institute of education. educação, sociedade & culturas, nº 32, 145-155. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 33 students’ perception on the use of video to assess performances in public speaking class septi widhiayu pratiwi and veronica triprihatmini sanata dharma university be-auty@live.com and v.triprihatmini@usd.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.suppl2104 received 23 may 2018; revised 1 june 2018; accepted 10 june 2018 abstract this paper attempts to recognize the use of video as teaching and learning aid related to students’ perception. as survey research, it focuses on finding the students’ perception on the use of video to assess students’ performances in public speaking class. in addition to that, this paper presents the discussion about the implication of the students’ perception on the use of video to assess their public speaking performances. it is found that the students have good or positive perception and the use of video is beneficial to identify their strengths and weaknesses in public speaking performance. therefore, the students are encouraged to perform better in public speaking. it implies that video is an appropriate teaching and learning aid for public speaking students and the lecturers themselves have contributed well in assisting the students in the activities using video in public speaking class. keywords: perception, video, assessment, performance, public speaking introduction in the english language education study program, technology has been integrated into the teaching and learning process, especially in public speaking class. having technology in public speaking class makes the teaching and learning process become more interesting. the technology used in public speaking class namely video. video offers real situation (mckinnon, 2000). the students may observe it as an audiovisual stimulus for language production and practice. in public speaking class, the video used is varied such as students’ public speaking performances, the characteristics of a good public speaker, and how to handle the audiences. the study focuses on the use of video which contains the students’ public speaking performances. since in public speaking class, this kind of video is used to assess the students’ performances. perception is important to be recognized since it can influence students in learning. in addition, perception is one of factors which influences one’s success in learning language (kleinke, 1978). in this study, perception takes part in how the students may get either encouraged or discouraged in learning public speaking using video. thus, the writer may obtain whether the use of video in public speaking class is effective and helpful for the students or not. mailto:v.triprihatmini@usd.ac.id llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 34 from the background above, the research problems are formulated as follows: 1. how is the video used to assess the students’ performances in public speaking class? 2. what is the students’ perception on the use of video to assess their performances in public speaking class? 3. what is the implication of the research findings? literature review this section elaborates theories on perception, video, speaking assessment, performance, and public speaking. perception perception in this study refers to the students’ subjective experience through their own observation and how they see reality. according to altman, valenzi and hodgetts (1985), perception is the way stimuli are selected and grouped by a person in such a way that the stimuli can be meaningfully interpreted. as proposed by kleinke (1978), perception can influence students’ success in learning language. therefore, there is relation between perception and learning which happens among the students of public speaking class. when the students understand the things they perceive, they will be able to learn the materials given successfully. if the students have positive perception, it leads them to be successful in learning. being successful in learning leads them to have interest in learning and develop their skills. on the contrary, if the students have bad perception, it leads them to fail in learning. video hyun-suk, sub, and jin-il (2000) stated that video is a technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion. it means that video provides sound and motion pictures. in this research, video is a teaching and learning tool for both lecturer and students to assess, observe, and practice. video is most widely used to introduce and stimulate interest in a topic and to give information of a topic discussed. according to macknight (1981) as cited by mcgovern (1983), video is commonly introduced to give a lift to methodology in terms of interest and motivation, to extend the range of teaching techniques. as a teaching and learning media, video also brings motivation to the students so that the students are able to understand and enjoy the real things (sherman, 2003). according to zuber-skerrit (1984), the use of video in higher education is to improve learning, teaching, interaction, personal behavior, and communication. speaking assessment speaking assessment requires particular features of speech, for instance pronunciation, accuracy, gesture, fluency, eye contact, and body language (luoma, 2004). speaking assessment in this study can be done by both lecturer and the students in the public speaking class. the ways of speaking assessment can be conducted either by face-to-face interaction, or through technology such as audio and video. however, this research discusses the speaking assessment in the public speaking class through video recording or videotape which is done by both llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 35 lecturer and the students of public speaking class. in assessing speaking skills, there are some components needed to make criteria for the assessment. brown (2004) states that there are microskills and macroskills of oral production which the assessor might select one or several to be the objective(s) of an assessment task. the microskills refer to producing smaller chunks of language such as phonemes, morphemes, words, cohesive, collocations, phrasal units, and the macroskills refer to the larger elements such as fluency, discourse, style, nonverbal communication, function, and strategic options. there are several common categories used to assess oral proficiency of students’ performances in public speaking which have been taken and adapted from some sources. the categories such as accuracy, diction or vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, pronunciation, gesture, facial expression, eye contact, and body language. performance performance, as defined by luoma (2004), means oral presentation where the speakers are able to convey the message to the audiences. performance in the context of this study is closely related to public speaking, which means there will always be performance done in the public speaking class. performances in public speaking in this study include the attitude and elements of speaking skills such as gesture, ways of standing, body language, tone, eye contact, content of speech, pronunciation, fluency, accuracy, etc. the oral presentation or the speaking performance includes the ways of delivering the speech, appearance, voice, and the attitude and elements of speaking skills. in the public speaking class, the students learn to deliver the speech in front of the class. the ways of delivering the speech which include the attitude and elements of speaking skills are the things which are assessed. for instance, as public speakers students’ visual aids should be effectivey utilized to enhance audience understanding, become attention getters, the speech content should be delivered successfully, the speech transitions flow smothly from one part to the next with minimal pause, students use their eye contact to all audience members, have natural gesture and body movements, the voice is loud and clear with minimal filler words, and are able to conclude the speech well. public speaking according to lucas (1995), public speaking is one of communication skills which has purposes to persuade, inform, and even entertain in front of many people. in this study, public speaking refers to a course which has a goal to assist students to be able to speak in public for any occasion and apply the knowledge of public speaking theories. public speaking class (kpe 232) as one of compulsory courses taught in the english language education study program, brings the definition from lucas (1995). public speaking (kpe 232) is designed to introduce students to underlying principles of speaking in public and to provide opportunities and hands-on experiences to the students in developing various types of speaking skills (universitas sanata dharma, 2007). the public speaking class is a training ground where the students develop skills that will serve them throughout life. in the public speaking class, the lecturer videotapes the students when they deliver their speeches in front of class. it is expected that from having the videotape of public speaking performance, the students find their own llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 36 strengths and weaknesses from their public speaking performance and are able to fix the performance to be better. to gain better performance in public speaking, the students are also asked to videotape themselves giving speech and submit the videotape to the lecturer as the students’ final test in the public speaking class. the students’ performances are essential to determine whether the students are successfully considered as good public speakers or not. method the study employed mixed-methods, a combination of qualitative and quantative methods (fraenkel and wallen, 2009). two instruments were employed in this study, namely questionnaire and interview. the research was held in the english language education study program of sanata dharma university yogyakarta. it was conducted on november to december 2013. the research subjects were two public speaking lecturers and the students of public speaking class. there were 70 students of public speaking class. the researcher obtained more relevant and sufficient information to get maximum insight and understanding by having the research participants who had experienced the use of video to assess students’ public speaking performances. findings and discussion the data were gathered by using questionnaire and interview. from the results obtained, the writer tried to summarize and answer the three research questions. the use of video to assess the students in public speaking class the questionnaire results of the process of teaching and learning in public speaking class are presented as follow: no. statements strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree 1. in public speaking class, i learn to deliver speeches in front of the class. (55) 78.5% (13) 18.57% (0) 0% (2) 2.85% 2 in public speaking class, my lecturer provides some videos to watch. (37) 52.85% (31) 44.28% (0) 0% (2) 2.85% 3 in public speaking class, i learn about many topics given through video. (13) 18.57% (46) 65.71% (11) 15.71% (0) 0% 4 in public speaking class, i analyse the video given. (19) 27.14% (40) 57.14% (11) 15.71% (0) 0% 5. in public speaking class, the students and the lecturer are communicative. (44) 62.85% (23) 32.85% (1) 1.42% (2) 2.85% 6. in public speaking class, the students and the (42) 60% (26) 37.14% (0) 0% (2) 2.85% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 37 no. statements strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree lecturer are cooperative. 7. the facilities such as projector screen, sound system, videotape, and laptop support the use of video in public speaking class. (37) 52.85% (30) 42.85% (2) 2.85% (1) 1.42% 8. my public speaking lecturer videotapes each student’s performance in public speaking. (24) 34.28% (15) 21.42% (25) 35.71% (6) 8.57% 9. my public speaking lecturer videotapes some of students’ performances in public speaking. (9) 12.85% (9) 12.85% (43) 61.42% (9) 12.85% 10. i and my classmates watch the video recording of our performances in class. (18) 25.71% (27) 38.57% (22) 31.42% (4) 5.71% 11. i and my classmates analyse the video recording of our performances in peers. (13) 18.57% (37) 52.85% (18) 25.71% (2) 2.85% 12. i and my classmates evaluate our performance of public speaking after watching the video recording. (19) 27.14% (36) 51.42% (14) 20% (1) 14.2% 13. i am asked to videotape my own performance of public speaking. (20) 28.57% (24) 34.28% (20) 28.57% (6) 8.57% 14. i am asked to watch my own performance of public speaking. (30) 42.85% (31) 44.28% (5) 7.14% (4) 5.71% 15. i give comments on my own performance of public speaking. (34) 48.57% (30) 42.85% (4) 5.71% (2) 2.85% 16. my public speaking lecturer gives comments on my public speaking performance in my video recording. (23) 32.85% (21) 30% (25) 35.71% (1) 1.42% 17. i find my weaknesses in public speaking through the video recording of my performance. (43) 61.42% (23) 32.85% (3) 4.28% (1) 1.42% 18. i find my strengths in public speaking through the video recording of my (28) 40% (34) 48.57% (7) 10% (1) 1.42% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 38 no. statements strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree perfomance. 19. i overcome my weaknesses in my public speaking for my next performance of public speaking. (23) 32.85% (40) 57.14% (6) 8.57% (1) 1.42% 20. i feel more encouraged to be a better public speaker after evaluating my video recording. (26) 37.14% (39) 55.71% (4) 5.71% (1) 1.42% 21. i feel confident in doing public speaking after evaluating my video recording. (18) 25.71% (41) 58.57% (10) 14.28% (1) 1.42% 22. i feel highly motivated in doing public speaking after evaluating my video recording. (19) 27.14% (39) 55.71% (11) 15.71% (1) 1.42% 23. analysing my own performance in public speaking improves my public speaking skills. (22) 31.42% (44) 62.85% (4) 5.71% (1) 1.42% 24. evaluating my own performance in public speaking improves my public speaking skills. (28) 40% (37) 52.85% (4) 5.71% (1) 1.42% 25. i notice my own progress in public speaking compared to my previous performance. (25) 35.71% (39) 55.71% (5) 7.14% (1) 1.42% 26. i feel comfortable to watch my own performance of public speaking through video recording. (13) 18.57% (28) 40% (26) 37.14% (3) 4.28% 27. i feel comfortable to evaluate my own performance of public speaking through video recording. (12) 17.14% (42) 60% (15) 21.42% (1) 1.42% 28. i become a better speaker in presenting any projects in other subjects. (10) 14.28% (44) 62.85% (15) 21.42% (1) 1.42% 29. video is an appropriate teaching and learning aid for student assessment. (29) 41.42% (34) 48.57% (6) 8.57% (1) 1.42% table 4.1 shows that the process of teaching and learning in the public speaking class went well. the students learned to deliver speeches in public speaking class as proposed by lucas (1995) that public speaking aimed to persuade, inform, and entertain people through their speeches. then, the lecturer llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 39 provided the video and other facilities to support the use of video to public speaking students. the students were accommodated to learn topics of public speaking through video and try to analyze the video given to make them understand the lesson more. it referred to mckinnon’ (2000) and mcgovern’ (1983) theories on video that video was one of teaching and learning aids which offered interesting and real situation. both students and lecturer were also communicative and cooperative in public speaking class. thus, the goal of public speaking class itself was achieved. the students of public speaking class were assisted to be able to speak in public and apply the knowledge of public speaking theories. as suggested by luoma (2004) that speaking performance was the production of speakers’ oral and appearance to convey the message to the audience. in addition, public speaking course (kpe 232) was designed to introduce students to underlying principles of speaking in public and to provide opportunities and experiences to students in developing various types of speaking skills. hence, the process of teaching and learning in public speaking class resulted in the students’ independency in learning language. in addition, table 4.2. shows the results on the use of video for assessing students in public speaking as proposed by luoma (2004) that speaking assessment could be done not only by face-to-face interaction but also through technology such as video. the result showed that the lecturers were able to accommodate the students in public speaking class. the lecturers provided the facilities needed in the public speaking class such as laptop, video, video camera, and sound system. moreover, the public speaking lecturers implemented the activities using video effectively. besides providing video related to the public speaking topics or materials, the students’ public speaking performances were being videotaped by the lecturer as well. then, the instruction given to the students was clear enough to be understood. the students watched and analyzed the video of their public speaking performance in class. the students also evaluated their performances after watching the video. next, the students were also asked to videotape their own public speaking performances. this was a very meaningful task that the students might practice their speech as many as they wanted since the students were also asked to watch their own performance through their video to assess their performance. the students analyzed their performances and gave comments for themselves. the students considered the task and self-assessment as helpful ways to improve their public speaking skills. it showed that the students had good perception as altman et al. (1985) proposed that clarity and familiarity of the stimuli, needs, knowledge, and past experience enabled people to interpret and perceive the information they received. in addition, the students did not do the instruction only to accomplish the task from the lecturer, but also to explore their creativity in learning language. having video in public speaking class, the students became independent learners and might be more creative in learning language, especially in public speaking. as defined by mcgovern (1983) that video was considered helpful to develop students’ skills and comprehension in gaining a more complete idea of language in action in the complete situation. thus, the use of video in public speaking class gave benefits for the students. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 40 the students’ perception on the use of video in public speaking the students’ perception on the use of video to assess students’ performance in public speaking is revealed through the results of the questionnaire and interviews. the researcher found that the students had good perception on the use of video to assess students’ public speaking performances. it proved the theory of perception from forgus (1966) and altman et al. (1985) that perception referred to the students’ subjective experiences, needs, and interest, and how the students saw reality in their environment, which in this context was in public speaking class. this findings are shown from the results of questionnaires and interviews. the students were able to find their own weaknesses and strengths by watching their own video recording of public speaking performance. it shows that the students had willingness to learn their own characteristics as public speakers. according to harmer (2007), english public speakers needed more than the ability of speaking fluently and had to have the ability to deliver a speech. in this study, the students succeeded in becoming good english public speakers. then, the students did try to overcome their weaknesses in public speaking, avoided or decreased the frequency of their weaknesses, and learned to improve their strengths when delivering speech in public. based on table 4.3, the use of video to assess students’ performances in public speaking class was effective and beneficial for the students. the lecturer gave sufficient contribution to the use of video to assess students’ performance in public speaking. the activities in public speaking class enabled the students to be independent and more creative. the implication the implications of the students’ perception on the use of video to assess students’ performances can be derived from the results and discussion above. the students of public speaking class had good or positive perception. the students’ positive perception led them to have successful learning process as it was related each other (kleinke, 1978). the students with successful learning indicated that they were interested to have the activities with video in the public speaking class. these students could develop their skills in public speaking. in other words the students’ skills improved. the findings implied that the use of video and the activity which required students to videotape, watch, and analyze their own performances were successful and appropriate to be applied in the public speaking class. as suggested by mckinnon (2000) and mcgovern (1983) that video offered an interesting activity and real situation, so that it was appropriate as teaching and learning media. thus, the use of video enabled the students to improve learning, interaction, personal behavior, communication, and their ability of related subject (zuber-skerrit, 1984). basically, the activities in public speaking class, especially which use video, require the students to be independent learners. it is believed that the students’ self-improvement is mostly determined by their own ability to assess themselves. by watching and assessing their own public speaking performances, they can learn about their own performances more deeply. the activity of selfperformance or self-taped recording leads the students to a better understanding llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 41 about things that they need to improve. then, the assessment is done as an autonomous style as well. the results of this study mentioned that the students had good perception. it could not be separated from the roles and participation of the lecturers in applying the activities using video in public speaking class to the students. it implied that the contribution of the lecturers was effective and meaningful to make the students had positive perception and improvement in their public speaking performances. the students were able to follow the activities in public speaking class which emphasizing in assessing their public speaking performances using video because the students had already experienced it with the lecturers. as suggested by altman et al. (1985) that clarity and familiarity of the stimuli, needs, knowledge, and past experience enabled students to interpret and perceive the information they received. since at the beginning, the lecturers introduced the use of video to accommodate the students in public speaking by providing the video related to public speaking topics and videotaping the students when they were delivering the speech in class. as proposed by forgus (1966) that perception referred to students’ subjective experience through their own observation, therefore the activities in public speaking class led the students to have positive perception on the use of video in the public speaking class. in addition, the activity of assessing students’ performances through video was appropriate since assessing speaking performance could be done through video as suggested by luoma (2004). this kind of activity triggered the students to explore their creativity when they were asked to videotape their own performances. moreover, in the subsequent activities they analyzed and evaluated their own performance by watching their own performances through video. therefore, the students are able to learn about their own performances more deeply and improve their performances since they rely on themselves as to how their performance meets or fails to meet a certain level of achievement. conclusion the study revealed that the students of public speaking class had positive perception on the use of video to assess their performances in public speaking. as the findings showed, the video used in public speaking class enhanced the students’ independency and creativity in learning, developed the students’ public speaking skills, improved the students’ public speaking performance, and it helped create a meaningful interaction between the students and lecturers in public speaking class. the contribution of the lecturers is effective and beneficial to make the students have positive perception and improvement in their public speaking performances. the students are able to follow the activities in public speaking class, which emphasizing their public speaking performances using video, because the students have already experienced it with the lecturers from the beginning of the class. it implies that the students’ self-improvement is public speaking is mostly determined by their ability to assess their own performances. by watching and assessing their own performances, they can learn about themselves more deeply. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 42 the results of the research are hopefully beneficial for public speaking lecturers that the use of video in public speaking class is important and meaningful. it also creates a positive teaching and learning atmosphere in public speaking class. references altman, s., valenzi, e., & hodgetts, r. m. (1985). organizational behavior: theory and practice. orlando: academic press, inc. brown, h. d. (2004). language assessment: principles and classroom practice. new york: pearson education. forgus, r. h. (1966). perception: the basic process in cognitive development. new york: mcgraw-hill, inc. fraenkel, j. r., & wallen, n. e. (2009). how to design and evaluate research in education (7th ed.). new york: the mcgraw-hill companies, inc. harmer, j. (2007). the practice of english language teaching (4th ed.) cambridge: pearson longman. hyun-suk, s., sub, m. j., & jin-il, k. (2000). teaching english by using video. retrieved on september 25, 2012, from http://english.daejin.ac.kr/~rtyson/fall2000/elt/video.html kleinke, c. l. (1978). self-perception: the psychology of personal awareness. san fransisco: w.h. freeman and co. lucas, s. e. (1995). the art of public speaking. new york: mcgraw-hill, inc. luoma, s. (2004). assessing speaking. cambridge: cambridge university press. mcgovern, j. (1983). video applications in english language teaching. oxford: pergamon press ltd. mckinnon, m. (2000). teaching technologies: teaching english using video. retrieved on september 25, 2012, from http://www.onestopenglish.com/support/methodology/teachingtechnologies/teaching-technologies-teaching-english-using-video/146527 sherman, j. (2003). using authentic video in the language classroom. cambridge: cambridge university press. bram, b., et al. (eds). (2007). panduan akademik untuk dosen dan mahasiswa program studi pendidikan bahasa inggris. yogyakarta: sanata dharma university. zuber-skerrit, o. (1984). video in higher education. london: kogan page limited. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 137-145 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 137 investigating teacher education student-leaders’ language metafunctions in supervisory communication richard mendoza bañez batangas state university jplpc-malvar, batangas, philippines unsunghero25@yahoo.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2019.220201 received 17 june 2019; revised 15 july 2019; accepted 9 august 2019 abstract as student-leaders are tasked to manage their respective student-organizations and protect the interest of whom they represent, they are expected to be fluent communicators. hence, they need to be conscious of the way they generate their utterances and text by considering appropriate language functions. this survey type of research determined the extent of utilization of language metafunctions in supervisory communication by teacher education student-leaders in a state university at malvar batangas, philippines. by employing a researcher-made questionnaire as a primary tool for obtaining data and applying appropriate statistical tools, the study revealed that the respondents utilized the ideational language metafunction as they influenced their fellow members to actively participate in activities initiated by their respective organizations through citing favorable and positive personal experiences, the interpersonal metafunction as they listened willingly to the suggestions and complaints expressed by their colleagues during various fora, and the textual metafunction as they solicited in a friendly manner their colleagues’ suggestions for the improvement of their organizations during meetings. this study calls for enhanced supervisory communication skills among student-leaders through capacity building communication-related activities. keywords: communication skills, language metafunctions, student-leaders introduction the current era requires individuals to be competent communicators to adapt to the changes revolutionizing the global society. this inevitable adaptation to the demands of the merging societies of the world necessitates people to communicate with one another despite of the diversity of their cultural backgrounds to establish partnership and collaboration in realizing their respective goals (bañez & callo, 2019). according to lawrence (2015) and abbasi et al. (2011), developing strategic communication is seen beneficial in securing competitive advantage in this crosscultural global society. the essential role of communication in establishing linkages among people and promoting interconnectedness makes it imperative for educational institutions across different levels to cultivate students’ communication skills to prepare them to the demands of their respective fields (iksan, 2011; cansoy, 2017). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 137-145 138 as students practice effective communication through observing the interplay among message, channel, audience and context; their opportunity for leadership expands as they develop capacity to influence other individuals (black et al., 2014; capulong, 2014).with effective communication, student-leaders are able to motivate and inspire their colleagues and to solve complex problems facing their organizations (luthra & dahiya, 2015; zulch, 2014). communication involves giving and receiving information in either oral or written, formal or informal and verbal or non-verbal forms considering audience and purpose. along with this, no organization can successfully exist without proper and harmonious communication. communication is a pivotal factor in the transmission of information throughout the organization. this serves as the purpose that supervisory communication has been idealized. supervisory communication is important in organizational management. it serves as the link between leaders and associates. it follows five different directions; downward, diagonal, upward, lateral and external flow communication. downward flow takes place when the message starts from leaders to their associates in a chain of command. upward flow is commonly used by members of an organization to convey their problems and performances to their leaders. when communication occurs at same levels of hierarchy in an organization it is called lateral flow communication. communication that takes place between a leader and associates of other organizations is called diagonal communication. lastly, external communication takes place between a leader of an organization and their stakeholders (dubrin, 2016). therefore, student-leaders have the overall duty in spreading the information through supervisory communication. effective leaders have a wide variety of media and strategies to communicate. according to rijavec as cited by spaho (2013), leaders are expected to know how to interpret comments from different channels including print, internet, radio, television, outdoors and word of mouth. supervisory communication skill is not merely transferring of messages through which the audience can receive. it also requires correct usage of language in which information are conveyed effectively. language is formal and follows rules. an organization that follows rules and formal pattern of language is likely to achieve higher levels of efficiency. supervisory communication is governed by language metafunctions. these language functions is derived from the systemic functional linguistics (sfl) developed by halliday. sfl is a linguistic theory that focuses on the functional relationship between language and other social aspects especially the social character of texts. the focal areas of the study of sfl are functional approaches to language analysis. halliday describes multi-functionality of texts that have three categories: the ideational, interpersonal and textual functions. matthiessen and halliday (2014) noted that bloor and bloor had provided a comprehensive summary of language metafunctions covering three premises. first, the ideational function is used to organize, understand and express one’s perceptions of the world and own consciousness. second, the interpersonal function enables people to participate in communicative acts with other people, to take on roles and to express and understand feelings, attitude and judgments. last, the textual function allows llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 137-145 139 communicators to relate what is said or written to the real world and to other linguistic events. as applied to supervisory communication, the language metafunctions serve as language filters in which messages or information are appropriately conveyed as people interact differently in consonance with their preferred way of expressing their thoughts that are very vital in organizational discourses. utilizing appropriate language metafunctions is vital in organizational communication as this utilization requires conformity of language usage to functionality that can promote understanding among leaders and associates. student-leaders are expected to be good communicators as they manage their respective organizations. educators are then tasked to develop among students both proficiency and fluency in communication. in line with this, conducting a study on the language metafunctions in supervisory communication of teacher education student-leaders becomes imperative. the researcher believed that it is beneficial to conduct the study among teacher education student-leaders. as future teachers, they are the most important agents of change in classroom to overcome challenges that shape the 21st century educational landscape. it is vital for educational institutions to redesign themselves as knowledge-building communities to encourage students’ collaborative construction of knowledge in everyday discourse. also, one of the key requirements of education is to establish healthy communication throughout the classroom, the school and the community. this study determined the extent of utilization of the language metafunctions in supervisory communication among teacher education student-leaders in a state university in malvar batangas, philippines. these student-leaders were officially enrolled during the academic year 2017-2018. specifically, this study aimed to identify the extent of utilization of the language metafunctions in supervisory communication among teacher education student-leaders as to ideational, interpersonal, and textual metafunctions. method the researcher employed the survey type of research in identifying the extent of utilization of the language metafunctions in supervisory communication among teacher education student-leaders. the subject of the study comprised of 102 teacher education student-leaders in a state university in malvar batangas, philippines. the mentioned respondents were chosen for they were expected to be good communicators to lead and manage their respective organizations. in gathering the needed quantitative data, the researcher had devised a survey questionnaire as a principal tool. the survey questionnaire is designed to measure the extent of utilization of the language metafunctions by the respondents in supervisory communication as to ideational, interpersonal and textual metafunctions. the researcher made use of halliday’s theory in constructing five item statements for each language metafunction. these item statements were subjected to content validation by experts comprised of a doctorate degree holder llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 137-145 140 in english language studies, a master’s degree holder in teaching the english language, two doctorate degree holders in educational management, and a registered psychometrician to ensure the conformity of the item statements to the aim of the study. pilot testing of the questionnaire was also conducted to ascertain the internal consistency of the item statements by administering the copies to a group of 20 student-leaders who were not covered as respondents of the study. the computed cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.93 asserted that the items in the questionnaire are sufficiently valid. proven reliable and valid, the copies of the questionnaire were administered among the teacher education student-leaders who had provided their consent to participate in the study. the gathered data from the responses made by the respondents on the item statements in the questionnaire were statistically treated using mean. to facilitate the interpretation of the responses made by the respondents in the administered questionnaire, the following mean ranges and verbal interpretation were used: 3.51-4.00 often/highly utilized, 2.51-3.50, sometimes/utilized, 1.51-2.50 seldom/slightly utilized, and 1.00-1.50 never/not utilized. findings and discussion in line with the study’s undertaking, the researcher sought the respondents’ language metafunctions in supervisory communication. they were analyzed and interpreted through determining the overall mean of each language metafunction in supervisory communication. the results were presented in the following tables. respondents’ extent of utilization of language metafuntions in supervisory communication the first language metafunction surveyed in this study is the ideational metafunction. this type of metafunction is concerned with building and maintaining experience between and among communicators. table 1 reveals the statements with their respective mean scores and verbal interpretations. the table shows that the third statement obtained the highest mean of 3.34. the respondents sometimes influence their fellow members to actively participate in seminars, workshops and team buildings through citing favorable and positive personal experiences regarding the mentioned activities. this result implies the student-leaders capabilities in persuading their members to partake in activities associated to their organization. this capability essential to student-leaders is affirmed by luthra and dahiya (2015) noting that persuasive leaders can inspire members of the organizations to fulfill highest potential. leaders persuade their members to set aside their personal interest and work together in achieving the organizational goals (morgan, 2010). blank et al. (1990) and whitmore (2015) also observed that leaders are those who effectively influence change, improvement, innovation and performance as they consider the need of others more than of themselves. their task is to promote positive performance of their organization. the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 137-145 141 art of persuasion differentiates successful organization from fractured one (monarth, 2013). table 1. extent of utilization of ideational language metafunction in supervisory communication statements mean verbal interpretation as a student leader, i … 1. express comfortably my own beliefs to my members on how the organization can be best managed. 3.26 sometimes 2. analyze how my colleagues report and quote ideas from different sources, and reflect on them whenever they disseminate information on matters important to the club. 3.19 sometimes 3. influence my fellow members to actively participate in seminars, workshops and team buildings through citing favorable and positive personal experiences regarding the mentioned activities. 3.34 sometimes 4. give objective feedbacks on the performance of the members of my organization to avoid offending them. 3.09 sometimes 5. distribute information among members whenever there are updates about requirements or documents needed in the organization. 3.25 sometimes overall 3.23 utilized meanwhile, the item statement that garnered the least mean of 3.09 exposed that respondents sometimes give objective feedbacks on the performance of the members of their organizations to avoid offending them. this result denotes that student-leaders are sensitive and equitable in giving comments about their members. sensitive and equitable leaders recognize and comprehend their members’ feelings and are able to exhibit them in the workplace. good leaders also possess high emotional intelligence to understand how members feel about themselves which is a product of their sensitivity (haltiwanger, 2015). to summarize the results, the ideational metafunction of language was utilized by the respondents as reflected by the overall mean of 3.23. this result proves that student-leaders are capable of communicating within their organizations by exhibiting ideational leadership. in this context, ideational leadership is seen as a resource that helps transform resistance into acceptance of an initiative with the combination of abilities (denti & hemlin, 2012). this type of leadership enhanced by the ideational language metafunction practices entails student-leaders to formulate mechanisms to solve existing policy problems and justify them with reference to norms or values that are readily recognized by their respective organizations. the second language metafunction surveyed in this study is the interpersonal metafunction which refers to the grammatical choices enabling speakers to enact llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 137-145 142 their complex and diverse interpersonal relations. language involves interactions where student-leaders initiate or respond to the act of giving or demanding for services or information. table 2 illustrates the respondents’ extent of utilization of interpersonal language metafunction in supervisory communication. table 2. extent of utilization of interpersonal language metafunction in supervisory communication statements mean verbal interpretation as a student leader, i … 1. tell my members how i feel about a certain issue in our organization to let them know my stand regarding it. 3.27 sometimes 2. listen willingly to the suggestions and complaints expressed by my colleagues whenever we have forum. 3.62 often 3. ask the help and support of my associates on the projects being conducted by the organization in a friendly manner. 3.52 often 4. praise accomplishment and achievement of any member of my organization. 3.55 often 5. observe etiquette whenever i inform my colleagues on the agenda of the meeting that they failed to attend. 3.21 sometimes overall 3.43 utilized as illustrated in the table, the mean of 3.62 revealed that the student leaders often listen willingly to the suggestions and complaints expressed by their colleagues whenever they have fora. this result suggests that the student-leaders are able to listen emphatically to the members’ concerns regarding the organizations. nelson and quick (2006) affirmed that leaders who are emphatic listeners use reflective listening skills as they analyze and respond to problems brought by members about their work. riordan et al. (2005) also emphasized that active listening combined with empathy is the most effective form of listening. in general, the respondents utilized the interpersonal language metafunction in supervisory communication as revealed by the overall mean of 3.43. this result suggests that the student-leaders possess interpersonal sensitivity to easily communicate with the members of their respective organizations. this observation is supported by mast et al. (2012) stating that interpersonal sensitivity is an important aspect of what people expect from good leaders as sensitive leaders have more satisfied subordinates compared to those who are not. the last language metafunction surveyed in this study was textual metafunction. this function of language encompasses all the grammatical system responsible for managing the flow of discourse. results of the survey in this language function are shown in table 3. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 137-145 143 table 3. extent of utilization of textual language metafunction in supervisory communication statements mean verbal interpretation as a student leader, i … 1. share my ideas and beliefs whenever i am assigned to give a talk in our meeting or seminar. 3.30 sometimes 2. listen for cues to determine the consistency of ideas cited in the complaints made by my colleagues and evaluate them later. 3.31 sometimes 3. ask for my colleagues’ point of views for the improvement of the organization during our meeting in a friendly manner. 3.47 sometimes 4. know the proper words to use whenever i discuss dilemmas with my member. 3.29 sometimes 5. justify issues affecting the organization. 3.17 sometimes overall 3.31 utilized as depicted, the respondents sometimes ask for their colleagues’ point of view for the improvement of the organization during their meeting in a friendly manner by obtaining the highest mean of 3.47. this result signifies that student-leaders value the members’ opinions by showing initiative to accommodate the thoughts of their members on the improvement of their respective organizations whenever they conduct meetings. stashevsky and koslowsky (2016) and delaney (2012) supported this notion by stressing that true leaders value group cohesion as the idea that all group members can get along and work on projects together. on the hand, the item statement obtaining the least mean of 3.17 revealed that the respondents sometimes justify issues affecting the organization. this initiative of student-leaders to examine issues within their respective organizations is acknowledged by conrad and poole (2012) by stressing that this trait possessed by enlightened leaders can help them recognize problem that will occur in an organization and communicate clearly about its consequences as good leaders know how to seek solutions before problem arises. they also noted that leadership behaviors that contribute to a group’s task-related functions include providing, seeking and evaluating information. leaders are also information seekers as they ask for elaboration or clarification of the issues affecting the group that can help provide an important evaluative function. generally, the overall mean of 3.31 signifies that the respondents utilized the textual language metafunction in supervisory communication. this implies that student-leaders are working on their communication skills to preside over their respective organizations for better development. similarly, unity is rooted in the use of effective communication that is believed to be one of the distinguishing characteristics of a high performance organization. together with this is the clear and consistent messages within the group that serve as the foundation for its vision and identity as strengthening group cohesion requires members to interact in an llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 137-145 144 open climate where they are free to ask questions and disagree with one another and even in working through inevitable conflicts (harun & mahmood, 2012). conclusion the importance of language metafunctions in supervisory communication cannot be underestimated. these functions of language empower student-leaders to manage their respective organizations and perform various tasks as leaders. as revealed in the study, teacher education student-leaders utilized the ideational, interpersonal, and textual metafunctions in communicating between and among members of their organizations to promote understanding which is beneficial for the growth of student-organizations and attainment of their respective organizational goals. in accordance with this finding, conducting of trainings, seminars, workshops and other related activities in supervisory communication that can provide avenue for exchanges of best practices in maintaining excellent organizational culture are seen vital in helping student-leaders to successfully lead their respective organizations. moreover, future researchers may conduct similar studies to identify other factors that may influence student-leaders’ utilization of language metafunctions in supervisory communication. references abbasi, m. h., siddiqi, a. & azim, r. a. 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(2014). leadership communication in project management. procedia social and behavioral sciences, 119, 172-181. 10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.03.021. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242681 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 27-36 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 27 compound words in english danin christianto ions international education, indonesia nikolausdaninchristianto@gmail.com correspondence: nikolausdaninchristianto@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2020.230103 received 8 august 2019; accepted 26 september 2019 abstract language is a means of communication which is used by living beings to communicate with each other. there are many important components in language to create a successful communication, such as sound, sentence, meaning, and etc. one of the components is word. word can be considered as a complex part in language since it has many different forms. compound word, for example, is a word which is formed through one of the word-formation processes by combining one lexical item with another and thus produces a new word with a new meaning. this paper investigates the types of english compounds and the lexical categories which are resulted from the process of compounding. the first results showed that the types of english compounds are endocentric, exocentric, and copulative compounds. the second results showed that the lexical categories resulted from the process of compounding are noun compound, verb compound, and adjective compound. based on the results, the researcher hopes that readers can gain deeper insight and knowledge on english compound words. keywords: compound, compounding, english, word introduction language is defined as a medium which can be used to have a communication to each other. without language, it will be impossible to make any interractions, express feelings and emotions, and build a society. fromkin (2014) says, “we talk to our friends, our associates, wives and husbands, lovers, teachers, parents, rivals, and even enemies” (p. 1). such a statement means that we always use language in any situations and conditions, no matter to whom we have an interraction. also, emmitt and pollock (1991) stated that “the limits of one’s language are the limits of his or her world” (p. 3). this means that understanding the world is set by the limits of one’s language. therefore, it is very crucial to learn and understand language since it plays a major role in building a communication for living beings to each other. every living thing has at least one language for the purpose of communication. it allows living things to learn and adapt to changing circumstances far more quickly than would be achieved by evolution (poole, 1999). in language, there are many important components which are used to make the communication successful, such as sound, grammar, meaning, and etc. one of the components is called word. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 27-36 28 in linguistics, there are several different branches which study about different aspects in language. mainly, there are phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. the branch which focuses on the study of word is called morphology, which deals with the internal constituent structure of words (booij, 2005). it is similar to lieber (2009), who states that morphology is the study of word formation, as well as the way new forms of words are coined in the languages of the world, and the way forms of words are varied depending on how they are used in sentences. thus, it is simply defined that morphology is a branch of linguistics which examines or studies the theory of word. word is defined as the smallest free form which has a meaning in language. it is considered as the basic meaningful units that every language has (carstairsmccarthy, 2002). as stated by o’grady, dobrovolsky, and katamba (1996) that word is “the smallest free form found in language” (p. 735). words which are used to communicate by people in daily lives commonly exist within sentence chains and they consist of various forms. some examples of the word-formation processes in language are affixation, infixation, suffixation, conversion or zero-derivation, reduplication, clipping, blending, backformation, and acronym. one of the processes which is oftenly discussed is the process of compounding. then, the word which is resulted from the process is called a compound word. in terms of the process of compounding, there are two types of words, namely compounds and non-compounds (matthews, 1991). however, the one which will be discussed in this research is compound word. compound word is formed by combining two words through the process of compounding. a simple definition is by plag (2003), who defines “compounding (sometimes also called composition) as the combination of two words to form a new word” (p. 133). aronoff (2011) defines the compound word as “a derived form resulted from the combination of two or more lexemes, e.g. space + ship > spaceship”. the lexeme space can mean ‘the area outside the earth’s atmosphere where all of the other planets and stars are’, while ship means ‘a large boat that carries people or goods by sea’. previously, there were several examples of the research which discussed about compound words. first, the research was conducted by budiarta (2016) in his research entitled compound words in dawan language. the research was aimed to identify the structure of compound words and the types of compound words in dawan language. the results of the analysis showed that the compound words in dawan language were structured by combining two different words whether the words were in the same or different category. the structures were built by combining the noun (n) with noun (n) like in the word mais-oni ‘sugar’, which was built by the noun mais ‘salt’ and the noun oni ‘sweet’; noun (n) with verb (v) as in the word poni-hauno ‘propose’, which was built by the verb poni ‘hang’ and the noun hauno ‘leaf’; verb (v) with verb (v), like in the word fua-tulu ‘worship’, which was built by the verb fua ‘see’, and the verb tulu ‘give’, and noun (n) with adjective (adj) as in the word ume-kbubu ‘kitchen’, which was built by the noun ume ‘house’ and the adjective kbubu ‘circle’. also, the further analysis showed that they can also be classified into compound noun, compound verb, and compound adjective. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 27-36 29 second, the research was conducted by altakhaineh (2016) in his research entitled what is a compound? the main criteria for compoundhood. the research aimed to find out the main cross-linguistic criteria for compound hood discussed in the related literature, with a special focus on english, ranking them from the most reliable to the least. the criteria such as orthographic, phonological, syntactic, and semantic in nature had been proposed to make a distinction between compounds and phrases. the results showed that the most reliable cross-linguistic criteria to distinguish between phrases and compounds were adjacency and referentiality. also, the research proposed a definition for compounds which may be the most widely applicable. at last, the research concluded by ranking the main criteria for compound hood which was discussed in the study. third, the research on compound words was done by rahadiyanti (2013) in her undergraduate thesis entitled compound words in political articles of strategic review magazine. the research was aimed to analyse two problems, namely the ways of compound were formed and the meanings which were distributed in strategic review magazine. the first results of the research showed that there were three types of compound words, mainly compound nouns, compound verbs, and compound adjectives. the researcher employed sample study to collect the data from strategic review magazine. the second results showed that there were two classifications of compound word meanings, namely endocentric and exocentric compounds. based on the analysis, it was found that endocentric compound was more frequent that exocentric compound in the magazine. fourth, the research was conducted by bauer and renouf (2001) in their research article which was entitled a corpus-based study of compounding in english. the research aimed to demonstrate the validity of the corpus-based study of english compounding patterns. the researchers used a large collection of journalism, from the u.k. daily broadsheet newspaper the independent, which covered the period from 1988 to 1998. the results showed that the detailed analysis of corpus material can expose some unexpected trends even in a well-explored area such as compounding in english. fifth, the research on compound words was conducted by cahyanti (2016) in the article entitled compound words used in stephanie meyer’s twilight. the research was aimed to describe the types, functions, and meanings of the compound words in stephanie meyer’s twilight. the researcher employed qualitative methodology and content analysis method in analysing and interpreting the data. the results showed that there were 253 compound. based on the types, there were 5 compound words categorised as open form, 65 compound words categorised as hyphenated form, and 183 compound words categorised as closed form. based on the functions, there were 173 compound nouns, 13 compound verbs, and 67 compound adjectives. last but not least, based on the meanings, there were 140 words of the exocentric compounds and 113 words of the endocentric compounds. sixth, the research was by noumianty (2016) in her undergraduate thesis entitled an analysis of compound words on culinary terms in masterchef u.s. season 7. there were two formulated research questions, namely (1) “how is the compound words process of the culinary terms in the masterchef u.s. season 7?” and (2) “what are the types and meanings of compound words that occur to the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 27-36 30 culinary terms in the masterchef u.s. season 7? the researcher used 15 food terms which were used in the cooking competition masterchef u.s. season 7. the results of the analysis showed that there were 12 attributive compounds, 2 subordinative compounds, and 1 coordinative compound. the researcher also classified the meanings of the compound words which have transparent and opaque meaning. the compounds which had a transparent meaning were 13 data while the compounds which had opaque meanings were 2 data. seventh, the research was conducted by marqueta (2019) which was entitled the syntactic structure of pelirrojo compounds. in the study, the researcher aimed to argue that the structure of lexical compounds like pelirrojo was syntactic. the structures could be differentiated with different categorial projections and variable degrees of complexity. also, she argued that the existence of an inalienable-only compound pattern showed that spanish pelirrojo compounds contained a relational head which established an inalienable possession relationship between a possessee located inside the compound (pelo ‘hair’), and a possessor located outside (e.g., juan in juan es pelirrojo. ‘john is red-haired’). eight, the research was by mata (2014) who wrote an article entitled compounding and variational morphology: the analysis of inflection in spanish compounds. the research analysed the morphological variation related to gender and number in spanish compounding, such as plural nouns in [v+n]n , compounds (el lavaplatos, not el lavaplato; el cazamariposas, not el cazamariposa), gender and number asymmetries between the actual compound and its parts, the presence of inflectional markers inside compounds, and the variation that takes place in many plural compounds (casas cuartel or casas cuarteles ‘house quarter’, coches cama or coches camas ‘car and bed’). from the discussion above, the researcher formulated two questions to be discussed, namely (1) “what are the types of compound processes in forming english compound words?” and (2) “what lexical categories are resulted from the process of compounding?” to answer the questions, the researcher referred to some different sources, including books, journals, and online sources. based on the formulated questions, there are two objectives to be discussed in this research. the first one is to find out the types of compound processes in forming english compound words. the second one is to identify the lexical categories which are resulted from the process of compounding. through this research, the researcher hopes that it can be beneficial to readers, particularly english learners, who are seeking to find out the words which are formed through various processes of compounding. also, it is expected that readers can enrich their english compound words vocabulary knowledge. method the researcher employed qualitative research to analyse and interpret the data. according to grix (2004), qualitative research is “characterised by the use of methods that attempt to examine ‘inherent traits, characteristics, and qualities of the political objects of inquiry” (p. 173). this means that qualitative research attempts to examine data which is in the forms of written documents or phenomena. such a characteristic is empowered by merriam (2002), who highlights that qualitative llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 27-36 31 research uses “words and pictures rather than numbers to convey what the researcher has learned about a phenomenon” (p. 5). therefore, it can be concluded that this research used documents and the data were interpreted in the forms of descriptions, instead of numbers. library study methodology as a way to collect and analyse the data of this research. library study can be defined as “a step-by-step process used to gather information in order to write a paper, create a presentation, or complete a project” (adasiak, 2014). the researcher collected the data by using several sources such as books, journal articles, and online websites. some theories were used to analyse the data gathered, mainly bauer (2003), and o’grady, dobrovolsky, and katamba (1996). besides, the researcher also created and used tree diagrams in interpreting the data to make the analysis easier to understand. findings and discussion this study intends to answer two questions, namely (1) what are the types of compound processes in forming english compound words? and (2) what lexical categories are resulted from the process of compounding? the results and discussion are as below. types of compound processes in forming english compound words there are three types of compound processes in forming english compound words which were found by the researcher, namely endocentric compound, exocentric compound, and copulative compound. 1. endocentric compound endocentric compound is a type of compound whose meaning is a hyponym. haspelmath and sims (2010) states that endocentric compound is “a compound that consists of a head and a dependent (or several dependents) where the meaning of the semantic head is a hyponym of the meaning of the entire compound” (p. 327). also, bauer (2003) has the same definition as haspelmath and sims (2010). that is, “endocentric compounds are those where the compound denotes a hyponym of the head element in the compound” (p. 326). below are examples of endocentric compound words. table a. the examples of endocentric compound words example meaning air field a field where airplanes land air hose a hose that carries air airplane a conveyence that travels through the air bath towel a towel used after bathing bath tub a place in which to bathe fire drill a practice in the event of a fire fire truck a vehicle used to put out fires steamboat a boat powered by steam (o’grady et al, 1996, p. 155) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 27-36 32 from the examples above, it can be seen that the headwords of the endocentric compounds are on the right. katamba (1993) says “it has been recognised for a long time that most english compounds are endocentric, with the head normally is located on the right” (p. 305). it means that the words are considered endocentric when the first word serves as the modifier of the second word or the head which specifies the meaning of the head more precisely. 2. exocentric compound exocentric (bahuvrihi) compound is one of the types of compounds which does not contain a headword and dependent word (haspelmath & sims, 2010). bauer (2003) states that exocentric compound “denotes something which is not a sub-class of either the elements in the compound, that is they are not hyponyms of either of their elements” (p. 42). in exocentric compound, the interesting fact is that it can use an irregular plural marker, or plural suffix -s in the headword (o’grady et al, 1996). table b. some examples of exocentric compound words using suffix -s example meaning bigfoots members of an extinct tiger species maple leafs toronto’s national hockey league team sabre tooths extinct species of tiger walkmans a type of portable audio cassettee player 3. copulative compound copulative or dvandva compound is a type of compound which “denotes an entity made up of the various parts listed in the form” (bauer, 2003, p. 327). the word dvandva comes from sanskrit, which means “pair”. in other words, this type of compound has two semantic heads. copulative compound words are formed when two or more words which have a coordinate relationship are put together to form a new word with a new meaning. this means that in order to form a copulative compound, two nouns must be able to be connected by and and they are joined together. in english, there are not so many copulative compound words since the productivity of the process is limited. there are a few examples of english copulative compound words, such as bittersweet, sleepwalk, player-manager, secretary-treasurer, father-daughter, mother-son. lexical categories resulted from the process of compounding so far, the researcher has found that there were three lexical categories which were resulted from the process of compounding, namely the compound noun category, the compound verb category, and the compound adjective category. the categories are resulted from the process of combination of different lexical categories which are united into one category (o’grady et al., 1996). below is the explanation of each type of the category. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 27-36 33 1. compound noun category compound noun category is a compound noun word which is formed by combining at least two or more words to which the head serves as a noun. mostly, the compound noun category in english is formed by a noun which is modified by other nouns or adjectives. some examples of the structures of the noun compound words and their categories are as below. figure a. the structures of compound nouns from the figure, it can be seen that each compound noun has a noun which serves as the head. the structure of the first diagram is chair (n) + person (n) = chair person (n), which means “people in charge of or controlling other people”. the second diagram shows that blue (a) + pencil (n) = blue pencil (n). it means “a pencil which has a blue colour”. the third one is swimming pool (n), which is formed from swimming (v) + pool (n). this means “an area of water which has been created for people to swim in. last but not least, there is also bystander (n) which has been formed by combining by (p) and stamder (n). bystander means “a person who sees something but is not involved”. overall, it can be concluded that compound noun is a type of compound whose head is a noun and it can be joined with several categories, such as noun (n), verb (v), adjective (a), and preposition (p). 2. compound verb category compound verb category can be defined as a compound verb word which is formed by combining at least two words to which the head word serves as a verb. scientifically, there are two definitions of the compound verb. in traditional grammar, verb phrase is a main verb category as well as the auxiliary verb, or it can also be a linking verb. in generative grammar, verb phrase is a predicate in a sentence which include main verb, auxiliary verb, and modifier. below is several examples of the compound verbs structures and their categories. figure b. the structures of compound verbs based on the diagrams above, it is described that compound verb structures contain noun (n), verb (v), adjective (a), and preposition (p) with verb (v) as llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 27-36 34 the head. the first one is break-dance, whose meaning is “to dance with acrobatic movements”. the composition of this word is break (v) and dance (v). the second one is dry-clean (“to clean clothes using chemicals instead of water”), which is formed through the combination of dry (a) and clean (v). the third one is spoonfeed (“to teach people something in a way that gives them too much help and does not make them think for themselves”). this word is the result of the combination of spoon (n) and feed (v). the fourth one is underestimate (v) whose meaning is “to not realise how good, strong, determined somebody really is. in short, it can be seen that the compound verb category contains the verb (v) category as its head and can be combined with several other different categories. 3. compound adjective category compound adjective is formed when two or more adjectives are joined together to modify the same noun. the researcher found that there were three lexical categories which could be combined with the adjective to form the compound adjectives, namely adjective (a), preposition (p), and noun (n). the examples of the structures of the compound adjectives are shown below. figure c. the structures of compound adjectives the first diagram showed that combining two adjectives could produce a compound adjective. the word deep (a) + blue (a) became deep blue (a), which means “the blue colour which is as blue as a sea”. the second diagram showed the compound adjective which was produced by combining the words over (p) and ripe (a). thus, it created over-ripe (a), which means “too ripe”. the last diagram was the combination between sky (n) and blue (n). hence, it produced the compound adjective sky-blue, whose meaning is “bright blue like the sky on a clear day”. conclusion in this research, there were two research questions which had been formulated by the researcher, namely (1) “what are the types of compound processes in forming english compound words?” and (2) “what lexical categories are resulted from the process of compounding?”. the first results showed that there were three types of compound processes in forming english compound words, mainly endocentric compound, exocentric compound, and copulative or dvandva compound. several examples of endocentric compound words were air field, bath towel, firetruck, and steamboat. in exocentric compound, the examples were bigfoots, maple leafs, sabre tooths, and walkmans. last but not least, in copulative compound, the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 27-36 35 examples were bittersweet, sleepwalk, player-manager, secretary-treasurer, fatherdaughter, mother-son. the second results showed that there were three lexical categories which were resulted from the process of compounding, namely compound noun category, compound verb category, and compound adjective category. in compound noun category, it was found that some lexical categories such as noun, adjective, verb, and preposition could be combined with the noun category to produce compound nouns, like chair person, blue pencil, swimming pool, and bystander. in compound verb category, there were four examples of lexical categories which could be joined with the verb, namely verb (v), adjective (a), noun (n), and preposition (p). the compound verbs were breakdance, dry clean, spoon feed, and underestimate. last, in compound adjective category, there were three lexical categories which were able to be combined with the adjective, mainly adjective (a), preposition (p), and noun (n). the examples of the words were deep blue, over-ripe, and sky-blue. through this research, the researcher hopes that this topic, compound words in english, can be beneficial to readers, such as linguists, language teachers, and language learners. to linguists, especially morphologists, this research can be used as a source of reference in researching language words in the field of morphology. to language teachers, it is hoped that this research is applicable in teaching vocabulary to students in classrooms. to language learners, particularly those who wish to be able to enrich the vocabulary, this research is useful since the compounding process is productive enough in creating or producing new words and meanings. aside of that, the researcher also hopes that there will be more researchers who conduct research in compound words. besides english, there are still many languages whose compounding processes have not been researched yet. it will be a good idea to research and analyse deeper the interface between compound words and meanings. furthermore, the researcher wishes that there will be a research which discuss and analyse compound words qualitatively. references adasiak, p. (2014). library research process. retrieved on 27th november 2019 from https://library.uaf.edu/ls101-research-process. altakhaineh, a. r. m. (2016). what is a compound? the main criteria for compoundhood. exell (explorations in english language and linguistics), 4(1), 58-86. aronoff, m. & fudeman, k. (2011). what is morphology? (2nd ed.). malden: wileyblackwell. bauer, l. (1983). english word-formation. cambridge: cambridge university press. bauer, l. & renouf, a. (2001). a corpus-based study of compounding in english. journal of english linguistics, 29(2), 101-123. bauer, l. (2003). introducing linguistic morphology (2nd ed.). edinburgh: edinburgh university press. booij, g. (2005). the grammar of words. new york: oxford university press. budiarta, i. w. (2016). compound words in dawan language. retorika: jurnal ilmu bahasa, 2(1), 1-15. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020, pp. 27-36 36 cahyanti, r. d, (2016). compound words used in stephanie meyer’s twilight. journal on english as a foreign language, 6(1), 59-70. carstairs-mccarthy, a. (2002). an introduction to english morphology. edinburgh: edinburgh university press. emmitt, m. & pollock, j. (1991). language and learning: an introduction for teaching. new york: oxford university press. fromkin, v., rodman, r., & hyams, n. (2014). an introduction to language (10th ed.). boston: wadsworth. grix, j. (2004). the foundations of research. new york: palgrave macmillan. haspelmath, m. & sims, a. d. (2010). understanding morphology (2nd ed.). london: hodder education. katamba, f. (1993). morphology. new york: st. martin’s press. lieber, r. (2009). introducing morphology. cambridge: cambridge university press. mata, c. b. (2014). compounding and variational morphology: the analysis of inflection in spanish compounds. borealis: an international journal of hispanic linguistics, 3(1), 1-21. matthews, p. h. (1991). morphology (2nd ed.). cambridge: cambridge university press. marqueta, b. (2019). the syntactic structure of pelirrojo compounds. glossa: a journal of general linguistics, 4(1), 1-23. merriam, s. b. (2002). qualitative research in practice: examples for discussion and analysis. new york: john wiley & sons, inc. noumianty, d. s. (2016). an analysis of compound words on culinary terms in masterchef u.s. season 7 (unpublished undergraduate thesis). state islamic university syarif hidayatullah, jakarta. rahadiyanti, i. d. a. r. (2013). compound words in political articles of strategic review magazine (unpublished undergraduate thesis). sanata dharma university, yogyakarta. o’grady, w., dobrovolsky, m., & katamba, f. (1996). contemporary linguistics: an introduction. london: longman. plag, i. (2003). word-formation in english. cambridge: cambridge university press. poole, s. c. (1999). an introduction to linguistics. new york: st. martin’s press. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 228 the use of google translate in efl essay writing sylvi octaviani chandra and ignasia yuyun universitas kristen krida wacana, jakarta sylvi.2014ude025@civitas.ukrida.ac.id and ignasia_y@ukrida.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.210212 received 21 august 2018; revised 18 september 2018; accepted 13 october 2018 abstract writing skill is considered a difficult skill for some of the students because of limited vocabulary as well as grammatical weaknesses. therefore, this study aims to investigate further the practice of gt in efl essay writing as wells as its role in language learning. the study was conducted in universitas kristen krida wacana, involving eight respondents from ukrida department of english. two methods were used, such as mediated-observation and interview. a writing task was given to each respondent and her/his writing process was recorded using screen-recording application. the data collected from the writing tasks were analyzed by classifying it into appropriate writing aspects while the interview data were transcribed. the result showed that students used gt in three different aspects: vocabulary, grammar, and spelling. vocabulary became the highest used, with word-level became the first one, followed by phrase as a second highest, and sentence as the third. spelling became the fourth highest used, while grammar was the least used among students. it is also found that gt is perceived as a dictionary as students used gt mostly in understanding vocabulary items. keywords: google translate, essay writing, vocabulary introduction google translate (gt) as one of the products provided by google has become a popular translation tool for language students. as english is still considered as a foreign language in indonesia, many indonesian students, even college students appear to use gt to help them in learning english. this tool tends to help the students to get the translation quickly and easily. from the four main skills in english, writing is considered as a difficult skill for students to acquire (al-badi, 2015; al darwish & sadeqi, 2016; belkhir & benyelles, 2017; huwari, i & al-khasawneh, 2013; younes & albalawi, 2015). the reason behind this issue is because writing skill has many components that students need to master in order to have a better writing performance, for example, subject-verb agreement, word order, and diction. moreover, first language transfer (belkhir & benyelles, 2017), grammatical weakness (huwari, i & al-khasawneh, 2013), the limited number of vocabulary and idioms as well as less experience with second language (salem, 2007) are other reasons why students find writing difficult. since writing, especially essay writing has become a problem for efl learners (ahmed, 2010), the existence of gt appears to play an essential role to help them while writing an essay. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 229 gt has become a debatable issue whether this tool can be applied in language learning. many researchers have discussed this translation tool regarding its output, for example, ghasemi and hashemian (2016) investigated an error analysis from english-to-persian and persian-to-english, and santoso (2010) examined an error analysis from bahasa indonesia to german. however, a discussion related to the online translation (ot) and writing are still scarce (fredholm, 2014, 2015). this study, therefore, discusses further the students’ use of gt in efl essay writing. it aims to find out which writing purpose that the students consult through gt. a word-processing program is one of the examples of the technology in language learning (alsulami, 2016; oxford, 2004; walker & white, 2013). kasapoglu-akyol (as cited in alsulami, 2016) said that using this program is a great method to assist students’ writing development. microsoft word as a wordprocessing program has many features that are beneficial for students in facilitating their writing process (walker & white, 2013). the spelling and grammar checker are few of the features from microsoft word (nomass, 2013) that are usually used by the students. those features are mostly used by the language learners in writing because sometimes they make many mistakes in terms of spelling and grammar as they have a grammatical weakness (huwari, i & al-khasawneh, 2013) and less experience with the target language (ibnian, 2011). medvedev (2016) shared his idea regarding the advantages of gt. it has a free access. the users only need to open its website in a browser or download the app in their gadget to use it. it is also instant, in a quick click, the users could get t he translation result. it also provides a variety of languages. photo recognition becomes one feature in gt application in students’ smartphone that they use in order to save their time, especially when they try to understand some english texts. the student only need to take a picture of words or text, then let the tool finishes the job. although it has some great benefits, gt still has some drawbacks. the most discussed drawback from this tool is the incorrect translation for a longer sentence or text (medvedev, 2016; santoso, 2010). medvedev (2016) stated that gt is unable to handle a longer sentence. if it translates a longer sentence, usually this tool gives a word-per-word translation. santoso (2010) even mentioned that this tool cannot handle idiom or figurative language. furthermore, he added that the length of the text determines the quality of the product translated; the shorter the text, the better the result. van rensburg et al. (2012) found out that from six different text types (newspaper article, minutes, class notes, official letter, examination, and powerpoint slides), only powerpoint slides that have a good result when translating it from afrikaans to english using gt. the reason behind this is because the slides do not contain full sentences; only phrases are used. jin and deifell (2013) added that gt is used as a complementary tool because this tool does not have a grammatical function. it is said that gt is unable to handle the subject verb agreement (bozorgian & azadmanesh, 2015). bozorgian and azadmanesh said that this tool does not have a capability to identify the subjectverb agreement because the tool does not know the rule of the agreement. this is different from a human translator who is aware of the principles. another drawback from gt is a translation in context (medvedev, 2016). he suggested the students llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 230 be aware of using gt in their language learning when translating words in context. this is because gt can “cause some misunderstanding in the choice of words” (p. 185). the goal of every student when they have a writing assignment is to produce a good writing, so they can also have a good score. there are several aspects that are required for the students to create an effective writing: organization, clarity, word choices, and mechanics (starkey, 2004). organization refers to how the students arrange the idea in their writing. it means that the idea of the writing should be clear and organized logically. if the writing has a good organization, the reader can easily follow the writer’s idea. clarity is one of the essential elements of writing that students need to possess to make a readable and understandable writing for the reader (hamadouche, 2010; souhila, 2015). word choice refers to how the students choose the words to express their own ideas in their writing. choosing the right words while pouring the ideas in writing is one of the best ways to deliver the message to the reader (starkey, 2004). word choice is strongly related to vocabulary. vocabulary is defined as words that are needed to convey students’ ideas and meaning (alqahtani, 2015). moreover, vocabulary plays an important role in language skills as it determines the success of the language use. mechanics in writing can consist of many things, some of them are grammar and spelling. grammar refers to the knowledge that the students have about the rule of language. spelling is considered as one of the important aspects of mechanics because in efl context, teachers tend to focus on this trait when grading the students’ writing (hamadouche, 2010). in addition, having a good spelling in the writing gives a credibility to the students (alred, brusaw, & oliu, 2009; hamadouche, 2010). moreover, starkey (2004) emphasized the importance of spelling in writing, saying if students make spelling mistakes, the readers’ impression towards the writer seems to be negative. many researchers have been discussing the use of machine translation (mt) in language learning. clifford et al. (2013), for example, investigated the use of mt using survey at duke university in the usa. he administered the surveys to the undergraduates studying french, italian, spanish, and portuguese. the study shows that the students use mt mostly for vocabulary (91%), followed by the idiomatic expression (36%), transition words or connectors (31%), verb tenses (29%), and word order (20%). moreover, they use mt to translate individual words (89%), short phrases (62%), full sentences (16%), and short paragraph (7%). it is stated that if the students translate from their target languages (spanish, french, italian, and portuguese) into english, one of the activities that they usually do with mt is rechecking what they have written. o’neill (2012) investigated the effect of online translation (ot) on french as a foreign language in writing skill. one of the main focuses of his study is the effect of ot in second language features in writing skill, such as “comprehensibility, vocabulary, syntax, grammar, spelling, and content” (p. 67). the result of his study indicates that the use of online translation (ot) has an effect on some categories, such as comprehensibility as well as spelling and accent, while the rest of the features do not have a significant difference among groups. moreover, the use of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 231 ot in writing could decrease the error related to orthography. regarding the use of ot, most students use this translation tool to look up for words and phrases. fredholm (2014) examined ot use in swedish learners studying spanish at the upper secondary school. it focuses on the effect on morph syntactic and lexicalpragmatic accuracy in essay writing. the study found out that the use of ot does not really affect the students’ writing performance. it is neither improving the writing performance nor provide worse results. method the method of the research was a qualitative method. this research was a case study of eight students, exploring the practice of gt in students’ essay writing. this research involved eight undergraduate students from the first to the fourth year in an english department located in jakarta. the respondents were purposively chosen because they were the ones who used gt in their writing assignment. mediated-observation was used to investigate the exploration of gt used among the respondents. mediated-observation refers to the use of a computer as an observation instrument to record the respondents’ action on the computer screen using an available software. the respondents were asked to write a narrative essay and their writing activity was recorded using a screen recording from quicktime player application as well as supervised by the researcher. after the writing task was done, the screen recording and the writing file were saved into a folder of each respondent. each respondent had a code. the code was from 01 to 08. the writing session was conducted once only because of the limited time the respondents had. then, there was an interview to know their use of gt in depth. to analyze the data, the first thing to do was watching the screen recording of each respondent. then, listing and classifying each data from the screen recording into a table in microsoft excel. in analyzing the item that the respondents had input to gt, five different writing aspects were detected: word: if the respondents inserted a single item in the gt box, it was classified as a word. phrase: if the respondents input a group of words, it was considered a phrase. the phrase can be any type of phrase, such as noun phrase, prepositional phrase, verb phrase, and so on. sentence: the item classified as a sentence if the respondents inserted at least subject and predicate, sentence fragment, or a clause. grammar: this related to the grammatical thing, such as a plural form. spelling: if the respondents used gt to check word spelling, it was included in the spelling aspect. then, the next step focused on the interview data. the data from the interview was transcribed, then it was classified into a table based on the question that was being asked. findings and discussion it is found out that the students use gt for three different aspects of the essay writing: vocabulary, grammar, and spelling. vocabulary is divided into three llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 232 different level: word level, phrase level, and sentence level. this aims to take a look closer into which level has the highest use among the student. the total findings from mediated-observation are presented in table 1. table 1. the total use of google translate writing aspect r1 r2 r3 r4 r5 r6 r7 r8 total % vocabulary word 14 8 2 6 17 5 13 16 81 68.07% phrase 5 0 0 1 4 2 8 4 24 20.17% sentence 3 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 7 5.88% grammar 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.84% spelling 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 6 5.04% total 24 9 2 7 22 7 24 24 119 100% the total of the data collected through the mediated-observation from the respondents’ screen recording is 119. table 1 shows that there are 81 attempts for word, followed by the phrase, which has 24 attempts. the sentence has 7 attempts, while spelling has 6 attempts. grammar becomes the least used, with only one time. all respondents use gt for vocabulary in word level, while only six respondents use gt to consult phrase. then, only three respondents use gt for sentence and spelling. meanwhile, only one respondent that used gt for checking grammar. respondent 1, 7, and 8 have used gt the most, with the total use is 24 times. it is followed by respondent 5 who used gt 22 times. respondent 2 used gt 9 times, while respondent 4 and 7 are 7 times respectively. respondent 3 used gt the least, with only 2 times. figure 1. the use of google translate 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% word phrase sentence grammar spelling 68,07% 20,17% 5,88% 0,84% 5,04% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 233 figure 1 presents the percentage of google translate (gt) use in this study. the highest percentage is the word with 68.07%. the second highest is the phrase, with 20.17%. the sentence becomes the third one, with a percentage of 5.88%, followed by spelling with 5.04%. while grammar becomes the least one, with only 0.84%. table 2. interview result the purpose of using gt translating the word or idiom that they do not know, finding new vocabulary, if there is an assignment, checking their diction and spelling the reason for choosing gt in writing gt is the easiest/simplest way because they only need to type the words that they do not know and the result will show up directly. using gt is faster if using a dictionary, it takes much time not confident with the writing, sometimes the meaning of the word that has been written is different with the context gt is helpful in writing context? yes, but only in finding or translating a word that they do not know helpful for beginner benefit simple, easy to be accessed, feature (voice, upload photo) drawback wrong translation, especially with phrase & a longer sentence; sentence structure & grammar are incorrect; unreliable, especially with context from mediated observation, it is found out that all respondents use gt mostly in vocabulary aspect. the highest one is in word level with 81 data (68.07%), followed by phrase with 24 data (20.17%), and sentence with only 7 data (5.88%) out of 119 in total. these findings confirm the study from o’neill (2012) and clifford et al. (2013). o’neill’s study found out that most of the students use online translation (ot) to look for words and phrases. this is based on the self-report of his respondent on the translation use. moreover, clifford et al.’s (2013) study, which uses a survey, found out students used the machine translation (mt) mostly for vocabulary (91%). furthermore, clifford et al.’s study also revealed that students used mt to translate individual words (89%), short phrases (62%), full sentences (16%), and the short paragraph (7%). all respondents use gt in the word level. there was at least one attempt for each respondent. while in phrase level, there are two respondents (r2 and r3) who did not use gt in this aspect and in sentence level, there are only three respondents (r1, r5, and r7) who used gt in the sentence level. r2 and r3 have a similar belief. during the interview session, both claimed that they rarely use gt due to the lecturer’s prohibition in using gt at the university level. it is better to use gt only at the world level. r3 even suggested not to use gt in the writing because llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 234 there are some better tools that can support the writing process, such as oxford and cambridge dictionary. as mentioned earlier, all respondents use gt in word level. this is due to the drawback of gt, that especially cannot handle a longer sentence. medvedev (2016) mentioned the bad thing about machine translation (mt). some of them are providing a literal translation, especially with a longer sentence, inaccurate grammatical output, and inequivalent translation of cultural references. moreover, santoso (2010) states another drawback, commenting that gt is unable to handle idiom or figurative language. during the interview, all respondents agree that gt gives an inaccurate result in terms of translating sentences. they also claim that they use gt mostly for vocabulary in a word level because gt result is inaccurate if it is dealing with a longer sentence. because of these downsides, all respondents tend to minimize their gt use to be only in consulting word level, while six of them in both word and phrase level. although all respondents stated that gt cannot handle a longer sentence, and therefore they use it limited to find words, a contradictory finding is discovered in the mediated observation data as there are three respondents (r1, r5, and r7) that use gt in sentence. r1 used gt twice in sentence aspect, while r5 was only once and r7 was three times. the three respondents use gt in sentence due to finding the proper words in their sentence. it seems that they wanted to check what they had written in their writing task. in writing, the word choice is one of the crucial aspects because it aims to deliver the message to the reader (starkey, 2004). if they cannot choose the right words in their writing, the readers are unable to understand what they try to convey. not to mention that vocabulary has a vital role in language skill because it determines the success of the language use (alqatani, 2015). as a result, this matter seems to burden some of the students when they get a writing assignment. because of this problem, some students tend to find a shortcut to solve the difficulty. therefore, the existence of gt helps the students to get the proper words for their writing. one of the examples is taken from r7’s attempt as shown in table 3. table 3. example of gt use in a sentence r input output before after time 7 kita berangkat dari sekolah we leave school we went we left 26:10 at first, r7 had written we went. then, she moved to gt to check whether the words that she wanted to write have the same meaning with what she intended to write. after checking with gt, the result was different. at the end, she followed the result from gt, which was we leave, with a change in the tense becoming we left. went, which is a past form of go is inaccurate to describe the word berangkat llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 235 in a sentence of kita berangkat dari sekolah. berangkat in that sentence might refer to depart from the school. therefore, we left school is more proper than we went school. spelling it is also discovered that spelling becomes the second least used in gt. the use of gt in this aspect is only 6 out of 119. this shows that students rarely consult spelling in gt. the reason behind this finding is because the students use microsoft word, which is a word-processing program, to write their writing assignment. this program has many features that can help students in their writing assignment and one of them is the spelling checker (nomass, 2013). this feature is reducing the students’ error in spelling by telling them which word that is incorrect. it also gives a recommendation for the students when they make a mistake. if there is a red line below the word, it means that the students have made a mistake. the easiest way to correct the mistake is by right-clicking the word to see the recommendation given by the program. if the recommendation does not provide the word that the students want to write, the students have to find another tool that can solve their problem. o’neill (2012) found out that online translation (ot) gives a good effect in terms of spelling as ot could minimize the error that is related to orthography. although o’neill’s study focuses on french writing, this effect can be also affected the english for foreign language (efl) writing. during the interview, r8 admitted that she used gt because she was unsure about the spelling of some words, especially with the ones which have a similar sound or spelling. in the writing task, she was unsure between the word thought and through. that was why she checked those words in gt to make sure which word that is correct. this is in line with clifford’s (2013) study that said if the students use translation tool from the target language, in this case is english, they usually recheck on the word that they have written. it is said that spelling is one of the crucial aspects of mechanics because spelling gives a credibility to the students’ writing (alred et al., 2009; hamadouche, 2010). it is believed that making an error in spelling gives a negative impression from the readers (starkey, 2004). because of that, students are more careful in their writing so the readers do not judge negatively towards their writing. not to mention that when grading the students’ writing, teachers are likely focusing on the spelling (hamadouche, 2010). with these in mind, the presence of gt helps the students tackle the problem in spelling that cannot be handled by microsoft word. grammar most of the respondents hesitated to use gt in grammar aspect because they believe gt could not handle grammar properly. bozorgian and azadmanesh (2015) stated that gt cannot handle the subject-verb agreement because the tool does not know the rule of the agreement. however, it is found out that there is only one respondent that used gt in this aspect. table 4. example of gt use in grammar r input output before after time 1 tiga salib three crosses three cross three crosses 18:05 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 236 table 4 indicates there is at least one student that still use gt in consulting grammar. similar to the use in vocabulary aspect in sentence level, r1 used gt in grammar aspect to check on what she had written in her writing task. in this case, r1 wanted to check the plural form in the phrase of tiga salib. since she was unsure about what she had written, she used gt to help her solve her uncertainty. moreover, although it is said that gt does not have a grammatical function (jin & deifell, 2013), this tool seems to have a grammar capacity to help the students in a particular state, such as in checking the plural form. role of google translate it is found out that the respondents use gt as a supporting tool in their language learning. this shows that they do not rely much on gt. jin and deifell (2013) stated that gt functions as a complementary tool due to its pitfall, which does not have a grammatical function. all respondents use gt mostly for finding or translating vocabulary. they use this tool frequently from bahasa indonesia to english. this means that gt is used as a dictionary since the respondents try to find a certain vocabulary that they do not know in english. this role is similar to the role of mt that clifford et al. (2013) provided. they stated that mt is perceived as a dictionary because it is a helpful tool to find a vocabulary. although gt has some drawbacks, it does not mean that gt gives a negative impact for students. fredholm (2014) found out that ot does not really affect the students’ writing performance. it is neither improving the writing performance nor provide worse results. even though gt does not affect the writing performance, gt still can assist the students in their language learning, especially in language skill. clifford et al. (2013) stated that mt is perceived as a helpful tool for finding vocabulary. moreover, jaganathan et al. (2014) and jaganathan and ling (2015) claimed that gt has an essential role in language learning. most of the respondents agree that gt is helpful in essay writing. however, there is a limitation from gt in aiding their language learning. the majority of the respondents admitted that gt is helpful if it is dealing with only words. on the contrary, if it is dealing with longer sentences, it is not helpful anymore. conclusion google translate (gt) becomes a debatable topic since its emergence in 2006 whether this tool can be applied in the language learning or not. as writing skill is considered difficult skill to be acquired, students tend to use this tool in writing sill. this study provides the information about gt used by the students in efl essay. it is found out that the students use gt in three different aspects, such as vocabulary, spelling, and grammar. vocabulary becomes the most used aspect in gt, with word-level becomes the highest one, followed by phrase as the second most used. sentence becomes the third most used while spelling becomes the fourth. grammar is the fifth, becoming the least used among the others. references ahmed, a. h. 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(2007). the effect of journal writing on written performance, writing apprehension, and attitudes of egyptian english majors. ph.d dissertation. the pennsylvania state university. retrieved from http://proxy.library.vcu.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/3 04836001?accountid=14780%0ahttp://vcu-alma primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/openurl/vcu/vcu_services_page?url_ver=z 39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&genre=dis santoso, i. (2010). analisis kesalahan kebahasaan hasil terjemahan google translate teks bahasa indonesia ke dalam bahasa jerman. seminar internasional jurusan pendidikan bahasa jerman. souhila, d. (2015). developing efl writing skill through the use of the process approach. university of biskra. starkey, l. (2004). how to write great essays. new york: learning express. van rensburg, a., snyman, c., & lotz, s. (2012). applying google translate in a higher education environment: translation products assessed. southern african linguistics and applied language studies, 30(4), 511-524. http://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2012.750824 walker, a., & white, g. (2013). technology enhanced language learning: connecting theory and practice. china: oxford university press. younes, z. b., & albalawi, f. s. (2015). exploring the most common types of writing problems among english language and translation major sophomore female students at tabuk university. asian journal of basic and applied sciences, 3(2), 7–26. http://doi.org/10.2307/20063313 llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 language and language teaching journal http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 82 trilingual textualization to deliver indonesian local cultures to high school students e. sunarto, f. x. mukarto, j. bismoko, and novita dewi sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia esunarto@usd.ac.id, mukartofx@gmail.com, bismok@usd.ac.id and novitadewi@usd.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.210109 received 12 january 2018; revised 20 february 2018; accepted 21 march 2018 abstract this article addresses issues surrounding translation of local texts from regional languages and cultures throughout the indonesian archipelago into indonesian and english. the textualization of the local culture to be documented includes: (1) folklore, (2) life-cycle rituals, (3) socio-religious rituals, (4) traditional medicine and other local wisdom, and (5) local culinary. it will discuss the formulation of the basic philosophy, themes, and values in the local texts to translate as well as principles of translation to apply. the study shows that textualization of the local texts helps support the politics of the national language, namely the use of indonesian as the national language, the preservation of local languages as the fundamental support of the national culture, and the exposure of various local wisdoms to the global community. the availability of trilingual cultural texts will likely contribute to the promotion of human dignity. keywords: local texts, translation, trilingual introduction indonesia is a rumah bahasa or the home of language and culture for hundreds of languages with diverse cultures. embedded in the local languages and cultures are countless local wisdoms. as the times progress, hundreds of languages with their local cultures will be threatened with extinction if there is no effort, in various ways, to care for and preserve them. the translation of local texts, with their local content and wisdom, from local to indonesian and english languages, contributes to the improvement of the quality of life, efficiency, and elevation of human dignity (bismoko, 2015). whether in the past, present, and future, translation encompasses a very potential study area for civilization and the glorification of human dignity, or, to borrow the term coined by the indonesian jesuit and founder of sanata dharma university driyarkara, “hominization and humanization” (sastrapratedja, 2006, p. 3). this article is part of a larger, ongoing research in translating local texts into the national (indonesian) and international (english) languages conducted at sanata dharma university (henceforth usd), yogyakarta. it is assumed that each member of the academic community should at least be fluent in english and indonesian or other languages. in addition, some are communicating with the local language because usd educates students from almost all provinces in mailto:esunarto@usd.ac.id, mailto:mukartofx@gmail.com, llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 83 indonesia. this means that members of the academic community in usd have great potential to translate texts from english to indonesian, and even into many local languages and vice-versa. therefore, translation becomes a productive tool for improving communication efficiency. this is the reason why it is necessary to model the translation of local texts and their wisdom into national and international languages, since the cultivation, growth and preservation of local languages and cultures including their noble values are contained in local texts. besides, the internalization of local wisdom found in local languages and cultures proves significant for the nation’s future generations so as to have a strong foundation in shaping local identity, identity, resilience and pride in a global or international context. local languages and cultures with all their wisdom should then be introduced widely not only at the national but also international level. in turn, the localization of local cultures and languages gives the indonesian nation the ability to appreciate and witness its own local wisdom thus enhancing national and global mobility with direct and indirect impacts for, to mention but one, improving the regional tourism industry. furthermore, in order to preserve local languages and cultures and their wisdom to make them more widely known, it is necessary not only to provide upto-date, localized translation, but also a lasting and continuous one. in addition to the provision of prototypes of local trilingual textbooks for extensive reading materials for high school students in indonesia and abroad, the sustainability of these languages and cultural conservation efforts requires a program that ensures the sustainability of the production or publication of these trilingual local textbooks. it should be added that the novelty of research in translating local texts into indonesian and english is inseparable from the development of information and communication technology. the translation of local texts means utilizing ict, such as computer-assisted translation (cat) software and translation memory (i.e., by uploading words or groups of words so that translations in three languages are instantly available and recognizable worldwide). it is clear here that maintaining, preserving and developing local texts for local, national, and international interests through translation programs needs to be carried out in a sustainable manner by maximizing sophisticated technology. theory in the last decade, some ecolinguistic experts like fill and mühlhäusler (2004), steffensen and fill (2014), nash and mühlhäusler (2014) have tried to convince that languages will become extinct over time if not treated like the way people has (mis)treated environment. nash and mühlhäusler (2014), for example, show that the pitkern-norf'k language in norfolk island is increasingly eroded because a number of lexical and grammatical aspects are highly dependent on the conditions of the rapidly changing (degenerative) natural environment. the understanding of the place (the ecological aspect) is closely intertwined with its verbalization. according to the two researchers, if the conditions of place or ecology change, automatically the discussion thereof may also change, or even extinct. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 84 this present study is in line with the claims made by nash and mühlhäusler but adapted for the indonesian context given the far more diverse and sometimes drastic changes in the environment, culture and society in indonesia. the predictions of steffensen and fill (2014) and nash and mühlhäusler (2014) necessarily serve as a warning for all languages in countries that have hundreds of local languages. for indonesia, this is an urgent issue because the 646 indigenous languages in indonesia, verified as of october 2016 by the ministry of education (see kompas, 7 august 2017), and their local wisdom will gradually become extinct if not duly preserved. the implication is a huge loss because the wealth of humanitarian values of indonesia will simply disappear, unless some rescue action is done, among others through textualization and translation of local cultures. therefore, there are at least 3 (three) strategic reasons why the textualization of local cultural texts is done in three languages. the first is local content. indonesia is very rich and unique; and the uniqueness of each regional culture needs to be introduced as widely as possible through translation. the textualization and translation of the local cultures is supported by creative writing frame involving three languages, namely local, national, and international languages. as such, it will also contribute to the efforts in preserving language and culture that align with the strategic issues institutionalized by the university, i.e. integration of the nation, social harmony, language, literature and culture. the second is target language. trilingual texts contribute to the politics of the national language, especially regarding the use of bahasa indonesia as the national language, and the preservation of local languages as the support of national culture. translation allows local wisdom to be increasingly recognized locally, nationally and internationally. thus, these trilingual texts will also contribute to the promotion of human dignity and prestige which is in line with the institutional vision and mission. lastly, sustainability is the third rationale. this textualization produces 5 (five) prototypes of texts with local contents: (1) folklore (myth, legend, folktales), (2) life-cycle rituals (birth, marriage, death, and other rites of passages), (3) socio-religious rituals (e.g. grebeg, nyale, & tabot), (4) traditional medicine and other local wisdom, and (5) local culinary. this prototype is indispensable as a basis for translating local contents more and more widely which will be presented using creative writing models. to ensure its continuity, the task of translating local texts and the wisdom thereof in all corners of the archipelago needs to collaborate with various parties such as speakers of local languages, local government, and potential users of translation products. english language studies in indonesia should call for and play an active role in promoting human dignity by, among others, preserving local language and culture for local, national and international interests. the study or research in english using a classicist way which disregards the values of humanity is but a setback and a big loss to the nation (bismoko, 2009, p. 8). the target of this trilingual textualization of local cultures is therefore high school students. the strategic reason is that they are the next generation who must develop, preserve and will in turn pass the language and culture of the nation to the next generation. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 85 philosophical foundation and method of translation in producing trilingual texts of local culture, this study uses as its philosophical foundation that of ricouer (2004), i.e. translation is an act of intercultural communication aimed at the target language users. the philosophy of functional-communicative translation is necessary to make the translation paradigm from indonesian to english and vice-versa (dangin et al., 2016). on the basis of this functional-communicative dimension, good translation is an acceptable translation (cf. prabandari, 2012). the study of criteria and analysis of translation acceptability has grown rapidly since catford offered linguistic translation analysis in 1965. the essence of translation is the equivalent representation of the source language to the target language, in terms of stylistics, references, and linguistic features. its acceptability needs to be complemented with standard instruments such as the model made by, for instance, naati (national accreditation authority of translators and interpreters) to assess the quality of translation, which includes the stylistic, referential, and linguistic components for translation products to be qualified and acceptable (tanuwijaya et al., 2016). in addition to content analysis and the type of text from the grammatical and lexical structural aspects above, the analysis of culturally distinctive terms and mechanical matters in the source language and its target language requires an adequate theoretical foundation. translation theories that continue to grow since the 1990s are “foreignization” and “domestication”. the first is the technique of preserving the peculiarities or distinctiveness of the original cultures (e.g. persons’ names, homegrown cuisine, historical figures, street names or local institutions), while domestication is a free translation style to minimize the strangeness of foreign texts within target language. in translation invisibility (1995) venuti calls it “sending readers abroad” vis-à-vis “bringing authors home”. literal word-for-word translation does not usually apply to such local texts as proverbs for which reason knowledge about the culture of the source and target languages is indispensable in order to achieve idiomatic translation (dewi, 2018, p. 240). the translation of academic texts from indonesian to english, according to apriyanti et al. (2016), uses a lot of foreignization or assimilation techniques, whereas literary texts such as poetry typically use a number of distinguishing markers such as capitalization or italics. the translation of local cultural texts here employs this dynamics of foreignization-domestication strategy. in addition to the basic philosophy of translation, the practice of translating local culture texts attempted in this study also makes use of various free and paid electronic translator machines/software with its advantages and disadvantages. paid software such as, for example, wordfast, according to apriliana et al. (2016) has a comparative advantage because of the translation memory facility that allows faster and more efficient translation. similarly, the paid translation engine sdl trados 2014 and across (free) are proved effective. both devices are equipped with the translation memory and alignment tool features to ensure accurate and effective translation of indonesian texts into english, (kurniawati et al., 2016). llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 86 note must be taken here that verbal communication is the essence of language studies. most verbal communication is done between people from the same language background. in today’s globalized world, progressively more people from different nationalities have to communicate. in most countries, including asian countries such as indonesia, the language used is english as a lingua franca (yano, 2001), or better known as “world english” (graddol, 2006). it is thus clear the importance of translation to improve communication. the findings of foley and deocampo (2016) also have relevance to the study of translation, especially on linguistic hybridity. their research on blog users in singapore and the philippines shows that local languages are sometimes tucked into english usage as lingua franca. responding to the question of linguistic hybridity, the translation of local texts in the three languages employed in this study, however, take a different strategy. since the resulting translation products are formal or official texts, namely the extensive reading books for the enrichment of high school students, the widely used translation strategies are domesticationforeignization (hatim, 2001; bassnett, 2002 and relevant studies mentioned above). this strategy prioritizes the communicative function of language as its foundation. theory application firstly, the five local cultures selected as prototypes to appear in trilingual (indonesian, regional and english) texts are (1) folklore, (2) life-cycle rituals, (3) socio-religious rituals, (4) traditional indonesian medicine and (5) local culinary. given that pedagogical values are ingrained in the local wisdom that should be introduced nationally to learners as early as possible, it is determined in advance the various cultures derived from 5 (five) different regions in indonesia as samples to represent indonesian local cultures. the selection of local settings is done on the basis of expediency with no personal/ideological interests involved. hopefully, further projects can cover all local cultures throughout indonesia. as it is, for this initial undertaking, trilingual textualization of local cultures is prepared as follows: (1) folklore “legend of sikidang crater” from dieng plateau, central java, (2) minangkabau marriage ritual “babako”, (3) socio-religious ritual “grebeg mulud” in yogyakarta, (4) traditional medicine “pendamban” from banjar, south kalimantan, and (5) local culinary “ronde” from peranakan chinese-indonesian culture. the followings are details of each prototype, its socio-historical background, significance and technique/strategy in translating the prototype. folklore that folklore is a good learning material has been proven by a number of studies available in the field (e.g. pennebaker, 2000; erkaya, 2005; worth, 2008), although none specifically mention its relation to the translation of folk tales in three languages to be introduced to the whole world. manifold (2013), for example, uses fascinating imaginary stories to prove their educative values in his art class. the scarcity of trilingual translation of traditional stories presented via creative writing makes this study important and contributes to the study of folklore. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 87 the translated folklores may include myths, legends, and folktales that live throughout indonesia such as “legend of sikidang crater”. the word “legend” comes from the latin word meaning “something to read”. it is an account about the actions of a person agreed upon in the past by the story-tellers and listeners (dewi, 2016, p. 18). because it is considered real, legend is usually associated with a particular place or site and the heroic action of the main character. sikidang crater where this legend is originated, for example, is located in dieng plateau, banjarnegara district, central java, precisely in the garung district. the remaining volcanic crater is unique because it is always boiling and occasionally sprinkles of hot water jumps from the crater like a deer (kidang in javanese), hence the name. visited till now by domestic and foreign tourists alike, sikidang crater also bears the extraordinary love story between shinta dewi and kidang garungan. according to the local legend, princess shinta dewi, received the proposal of the rich prince kidang garungan without meeting him before. what a surprise it was when the princess found out that her future husband had a face like that of a deer. to cancel the marriage, shinta dewi requested that the prince make a well within 24 hours. with his supernatural power, prince kidang garungan dug the hard soil rapidly to form a big dig and the well was almost ready. meanwhile, the gradually more desperate princess ordered her servants to close the dig with soil burying the prince inside the well. being deceived, garungan shouted angrily as he mustered all his energy to burst the well. before dying, the prince made a curse that all the descendants of shinta dewi be born with jumbled messy hair. to translate this folktale, the first of the three translation categories (interpreting, scientific/ technical, commercial/business translation) by samuelsson-brown (2010) is applied. some of the criteria to meet include: a sense of language, cultural knowledge about the subject of translation, an understanding of a similar work and creative writing skills. the translation of literary works puts more importance on the meaning, therefore the translator must be adept when moving from one creative style to another. thus, “legend of sikidang crater” is textualized to emphasize the promotional value of the site, i.e. the crater, the haircut ritual and garung’ s potential for vacation industry, instead of the sinister side of the princess’ story. life-cycle life rituals that fall into this local culture category include birth, marriage, death and other human life rituals. the different ethnic groups in indonesia produce diversity of customs, philosophies and beliefs behind every ritual of life passed by members of their respective member of each group. any local culture is full of moral values that deserve to be narrated and preserved from time to time. educators, policymakers and parents can use the narrative of the very rich rituals of life in indonesia to introduce local culture as well as character education. to compare, yim et al. (2009) studied 392 children aged four to five from 29 kindergarten schools and 57 early pre-school teachers in hong kong to test their views on confucian values represented in traditional stories from four chinese festivals. confucian values are centered on five virtues: ren (virtue), yi (truth), li (courtesy), xiao (pious), and zhi (wisdom), while the four selected chinese festivals are: (1) lunar new year , (2) dragon boat festival, (3) chung yeung llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 88 festival, and (4) mid-autumn festival. the results show that ren (virtue) and yi (truth) are the most popular values to response, while the value of li (courtesy) tends to be the most unpopular category. it is surprising that the young generation in hong kong sampled in the research pay little attention to courtesy. it can be concluded here that the educational aspects, character formation, and moral values contained in local culture need to be constantly socialized. local culture is not supposed to be static, but dynamic to implant and care for according to the needs and contexts of the time. one example of ritual life in indonesia that is rich in meaning is marriage. although all marriage ceremonies share common values, the marriage ceremony of west sumatra “babako”, for example, can be used as an example of a prototype in this category. marriage in minangkabau tradition is organized by the mother, while the father’s relatives are responsible for the “babako” ceremony. the ceremony to release the “child of pusako” or the daughter to be married is carried out by the father and his family. the bride-to-be is picked up, given advice and guidance about family life, then delivered at home the next day. the delivery also comes with properties for party such as wedding dress, jewelry, raw materials, groceries and many more. in addition to the value of education (courtesy, respect for parents and relatives), babako is also a proof of solidarity and cooperation between families. the message is that wedding ceremony should not become a heavy financial burden for both sides. the translation required here is a light translation, suited to the sense of taste and aptitude of the targeted readers, in this case, high school students. samuelsson-brown (2010) suggests “simplified english” skill, that is the application of simplified english for certain types of texts. the terms in the local languages are translated according to appropriate principles, including foreignization-domestication (venuti, 1995). socio-religious ritual recent inter-religious conflicts, widespread misunderstanding (chiefly via social media) and extremism in indonesia have injured article 29 of the 1945 constitution on religious freedom which is the fruit of a prudent agreement of the founding fathers of the nkri or the unitary state of the republic of indonesia. in order for religion not to be used as an issue easily igniting sectarianism, interreligious dialogue is needed so that religious followers can respect each other’s differences and diversity. cultivation of mutual respect, good understanding and good practice of religious life, which is harmonious and peaceful, can sometimes be seen from the implementation of socio-religious rituals in indonesia. the celebration of “grebeg mulud” in yogyakarta, for example, can be used as one sample of this socio-religious ritual prototype. originally intended as an event that was held by the king of jogja to distribute alms to the people, grebeg is a form of religiosity of the society since ancient javanese times in giving thanks to the creator. since islam entered java, grebeg has been celebrated on every major muslim day such as shawwal, eid al-adha and prophet's mawlid. in this event, a mountain of crops and various snacks market with the pray and blessings from the religious leader (ulama) is paraded for grabs (javanese: digrebeg) by llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 89 crowds of people regardless of their religions/beliefs. this ritual can be a social driving force for harmony in order to improve social cohesion. the translation of local cultural texts that fall into this category of socioreligious ritual, like the previous category, requires text analysis in advance to determine the type of text. the equivalent concept of reiss postulated in 1976 which is a refinement of buhler’s theory of three types of text in translation (informative, expressive, operative) is useful in translating texts such as “grebeg mulud”. in addition to the correspondence of each type of text with its linguistic function, reiss adds the language dimension according to the existing communicative situation. cultural narratives are usually not merely pure information but evoke certain behavioral responses or appellative functions to persuade the readers (the recipients of the translation) to take a certain stance. the translation of socio-religious ritual texts is not only meant to indicate data accuracy, but it is also intended to increase knowledge while helping readers to appreciate diversity. traditional medicine when talking about local wisdom as an educational focal point, tilaar (2015) mentions traditional medicine as one top local culture. medicinal plants thrive in indonesia and are beneficial to nourish health. medicinal plants and cosmetics have been used naturally by the ancestors since the time of yore, but this potential has not been managed optimally. the success story of the benefits of herbal medicine in three languages helps straighten the view that traditional medicine is associated with mystical and irrational powers. local wisdom in the form of traditional medicine “penamban” from banjar, south kalimantan is chosen here as a sample for the local wisdom of this largest island in indonesia which is widely known throughout the world. thus far, most people have known herbal medicine as a traditional natural medicine from indonesia, especially java. the collection or harvesting of the plants are not that much different from ordinary herbs, but the names of the plant species, processing methods, and other relevant information about the history and practice of herbal treatment are not always the same from one region to another. the plant sap called “tlutuh” by people in central java, for example, is known as “dhadhak” in east java. the translation of this type of popular scientific texts requires a different strategy than the previous texts. the principle of informative text translation and the equivalent theory is applied here. the use of footnotes, glossaries, and scientific names (latin) is also used to translate foreign terms. local culinary maintenance of local culture is incomplete if it does not include food and its significance for continuing education in the global era. the values of local culture will be easily eroded by global capitalism, whereas culture, according to amartya sen (in tilaar, 2014: 17), is the bond of national unity. it is no exaggeration that local culinary plays a role in the nation’s efforts to care for its culture. teak (2014) discusses “tumpeng” or cone-shaped rice as one of the local culinary that is full of javanese cultural values, while susilawati et al. (2016) uses cirebon cuisine as a means of learning science. from the aspect of sustainability llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 90 development, the importance of local culinary is conducted by entas et al. (2017) to show the model of culinary tourism industry in metro, lampung. textualization of local culinary in three languages supports indonesia’s educational efforts that should be known by the global community as well. one of the culinary items selected to be featured as a local culture is “ronde”. this hot sweet ginger-scented drink with balls of marbles made from glutinous flour is only found in indonesia. according to bromokusumo (2013), ronde is a cross cultural culinary of china and indonesia which takes its name from dutch “rond” which means round. in its’ country of origin, ronde is served with meat broth when the whole family gathers to celebrate the last day of the entire series of days celebrated according to the chinese lunar calendar (december 22 on the international calendar). the basic ingredients of ronde are glutinous flour and sticky water that has its philosophical meaning of gluing family and kinship relationships. the translation of local culinary texts would be more interesting if presented in the type of text that belongs to reiss’ fourth type, the audiomedial text. this text combines visual images, images, music, and so on with all three types of text along with their respective linguistic dimensions. aspects of hybridity, integration, assimilation and cultural tolerance that can be read behind this local culinary history for example, can be shown through interactive and multidimensional translation. this is where the understanding and creative writing skills are required, in addition to the mastery of the two languages, general knowledge and intercultural understanding, as well as ict application. suffice it to say for now that the discussion of local culture in the five categories above becomes the basis for producing trilingual texts of local cultures with creative writing as a frame. this creative writing model is chosen because the texts are designed as an enrichment reading materials for learning language and culture in high school level. the strengthening of local culture by maintaining its sustainability will affect the growth of regional languages. in the context of indonesia, in addition to being a local cultural language, regional languages are the language of familiarity and pride of regions whose usage is a complement, not a competitor, against the national language (sastrapratedja, 2013, p. 12). the availability of local cultural textualization in local languages, national languages, and international languages is an advantage for the indonesian nation to establish a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multilingual national identity as part of the world's citizens. humans in the view of current language philosophy, continued sastrapratedja, not only do people form a language but people are formed by language. thus, the strengthening of local culture and regional languages support the national language policy in building national character and global citizenship. conclusion this paper has shown the urgency of indonesia, with hundreds of languages and cultures, to care for its wealth through trilingual translation of local cultural texts. local languages and cultures contain local wisdom that will eventually be threatened with extinction if not well maintained and preserved. the treasures of indonesian human values will be lost if not guarded. the effort to translate local llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 91 cultural texts is believed to help develop and preserve the various languages and cultures of the nation along with its noble values so that it can be more widely known both in national and international scopes. because english plays an important role for the nation’s civilization from time to time, translation studies are conducted for the development of institutional potential of sanata dharma university through its flagship programs, english language studies, to further enhance the contribution of this institution to the community. as a part of a larger, ongoing research on the translation of local cultural texts from regional languages throughout the archipelago into indonesian and english, this paper deals only with the formulation of basic philosophy, themes, and values in local cultural texts to be translated which include : (1) legend of central java (2) marriage rituals in west sumatra, (3) socio-religious rituals in yogyakarta, (4) traditional treatments from borneo, and (5) local peranakan culinary. the five local cultural prototypes discussed serve as a means of education materials as well as accounts of collective life for members of the community that must always be cherished and nurtured. each prototype becomes a model for the development of subsequent local cultural trilingual texts until the entire wealth of the archipelago is well documented. this article has also shown that the translations of each prototype follow the principles in translation such as acceptability, a functional-communicative interpretation and a number of strategies such as text analysis, equivalence, literary and non-literary, etc. the selection of appropriate theory and/or translation principles is necessary to enable the results of the translation products help convey the worth and cultural values of the nation that still need to be continually explored, studied and socialized to reach a wide audience. finally, the documentation of local cultural texts is expected to support the politics of the national language, namely the use of indonesian language as the national unifying language, the preservation of local languages as the support of national culture, and the exposure of local wisdom to the global community. these trilingual cultural texts are expected to contribute to the promotion of human dignity. references al, d., sutanto, d. n., sudarmo, l. t. n., & dewi, n. 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(2015). pedagogik teoretis untuk indonesia [theoretical pedagogy for indonresia]. jakarta: penerbit buku kompas. venuti, l. (2002). the translator’s invisibility: a history of translation. london: routledge. worth, s. e. (2008). storytelling and narrative knowing: an examination of the epistemic benefits of well-told stories. the journal of aesthetic education, 42(3), 42-56. yano, y. (2001). world englishes in 2000 and beyond. world englishes, 20(2), 119-131. yim, h. y. b., lee, l. w. m., & ebbeck, m. (2011). confucianism and early childhood education: a study of young children's responses to traditional chinese festival stories”. early child development and care, 181(3), 287303. doi: 10.1080/03004430903357837. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 293 enhancing communication competence via assessment activities of speaking skills from communicative approach tam thi dao and hong-thu thi nguyen hanoi law university, vietnam tamdao81@gmail.com and thuvicnguyen@gmail.com correspondence: thuvicnguyen@gmail.com doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.24071/llt.v23i2.2497 received 20 march 2020; accepted 2 june 2020 abstract in teaching language, assessment plays an important role in helping teachers identify students’ linguistic proficiency, language skills and evaluating the problems that exist in the learning-teaching process. thanks to assessment activities, teachers can actively adjust and improve teaching methods, support students to solve the difficulties they face. this article focuses on the assessment activities of english-speaking skills through the communicative approach (ca) for law-major students to enhance communication competence effectively. the study involved 60 students at the hanoi law university. the findings showed that communicative approach assessment measures bring about some benefits and challenges as well as express the perspectives of students towards applying ca in assessing speaking skills. keywords: assessment, evaluation, speaking skills, communicative approach, competence introduction in the era of international integration, foreign language in general, and english, in particular, has become one of the essential criteria in jobs, communication and study. therefore, improving foreign language skills is significantly concerned with the national education system in viet nam. a wide range of conferences and workshops have focused on innovating teaching methods, selecting appropriate materials and textbooks, etc to make the process of teaching and learning foreign languages more effective. however, the innovation in teaching approaches must go well with assessment activities that take a vital part in long-life learning to meet requirements in the radical renovation of education. by 2018, hanoi law university had applied a two-toeic english-course program for non-english major students in their curriculum. however, in the content of the subject, students had been mainly taught reading and listening skills based on the 2 skill toeic standard test. speaking and writing skills were integrated into the subject as an additional knowledge with the content taken from the new headway textbook, by liz and john soars. these two skills had not been tested and assessed in a specific form during english at hanoi law university. speaking skills have been added to the curriculum for students in the last 2-3 years when the university had the policy of applying the standardized test of english proficiency for students as a prerequisite condition for graduation stipulated by the ministry of education and training. currently, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 294 non-english major students at hanoi law university are learning speaking skill based on the international toeic test format, including 11 questions with 6 main speaking activities described in the following table: table 1: current toeic test format at hanoi law university question activity evaluation criteria 1-2 read a short paragraph aloud pronunciation intonation and accents 3 description of photos grammar vocabulary ideas 4-6 answering questions relevant content simultaneous reply 7-9 answer the questions according to the content provided include all of the above criteria 10 choosing solutions to the situation include all of the above criteria 11 expressing opinion include all of the above criteria however, teaching and learning english speaking skills still has some limitations such as classroom organization, teaching method, time, student qualifications. at present, english tests for non-english-major students mainly focus on listening and reading skills through regular tests and end-term test modules. evaluating students' speaking and writing skills during the course is still limited, especially for speaking skills. english speaking ability of students is only reflected through the toeic standardized examination held by the hanoi law university for the last-year students before graduation time. however, the number of students who register to take the internal toeic exam at the university is just a humble one. in addition, the assessment of speaking skills for students in the classroom is also inadequate and challenging. the paper focused on some assessment measures of english-speaking skills to help nonenglish major students at hanoi law university have the motivation and effective english learning methods. besides, the authors also made some recommendations on testing english speaking skills for students so that teaching and learning english at hanoi law university could meet the development requirements of linguistic competence. importance of speaking skills in learning the language speaking is considered as one of the four most important skills of english, helping learners to express their foreign language skills directly in daily communications. researchers and educators have had different opinions about speaking skills. chaney (1998) argues that speaking is a process of creating and sharing information in different contexts. he admits the importance of speaking skills in learning and teaching language; however, students should find out more appropriate methods to learn it best thanks to the development of modern society. he considers cultural factors and communicative rules as the most important components. according to brown (1994), speaking is the process of interacting with each other to create information through the process of creating, receiving, and processing information. in short, language researchers are consistent with the idea that speaking is a skill that allows people to express information, express opinions, thoughts, emotions clearly, helping the process of communicating effectively. today, no one can deny the role of foreign languages in the general development and international economic integration, in which speaking skill is considered as a productive skill, helping learners to show the ability to communicate with the best results. brown llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 295 and yule (1983) assert that speaking skills play an important role in everyday communication. the authors mention two main functions of speaking skills: transactional function (information transmission function) and interaction function (function to maintain social relationships). therefore, the development of speaking skills has an extremely important meaning in the curriculum of english as a foreign language (efl) or as a second language (esl). nunan (1999) argues that successful speaking skills are assessed based on the ability to carry out conversations in the target language. obviously, through speaking skills, teachers not only assess students' english ability but also their social knowledge, communication skills, life experiences, and personalities. some of the problems in speaking ability include: a) students do not have enough motivation to practice in the class; b) they are too shy and afraid to take part in the conversation; c) they have nothing to say; and d) they do not like the materials (asaei, 2011). these problems can be handled if there are appropriate and effective teaching and learning strategies. testing-evaluation and role of testing-evaluation in teaching and learning english the appropriateness and quality of a curriculum can be tested through specific testing and evaluation methods. testing and evaluation are inextricably linked to each other although the two operating processes can intrinsically focus on different aspects. testing consists of the methods and skills used to collect information which evaluates students' ability, their level of grasping knowledge and motivation (allan, 1999). evaluation, meanwhile, is the collection of information necessary to determine whether a program is appropriate and meets its goals or not. the evaluation must be designed to find out which method is effective and which is not. (kaufman, guerra, platt, 2006). the evaluation has been considered as reflection way and it is imperative to embed reflection in the curriculum (harvey et al., 2010). dean, sykes, agostinho, & clements (2012) argue that assessment involved in the discussion with the reflective or probing questions. assessment should make use of the utility of the online space (woodley & beattie, 2011). besides, through analyzing reflective assessment tasks, cord & clements (2010); and hughes, mylonas, & benckendorff (2013) discover what students are learning and what teachers need to change. in summary, the testing and evaluation of english in general and of englishspeaking skills in particular is an indispensable factor to promote learners' motivation to learn speaking skills. cowie & bell (1999) reveal that evaluations have a very important impact on the educational process in general, helping detect and improve the learning process. assessing english speaking skills during classes opens up many opportunities for learners to show their english-speaking ability while still providing accurate information and reliable evidence on academic progress and learning outcomes of learners. furthermore, it allows learners to participate in activities not only as a selfassessor but also in assessing others, using the information obtained through testing evaluation to optimize learning performance. therefore, the assessment activities should be specifically and appropriately designed to accurately assess learners' communication ability through specific activities which may positively impact the learner's attitude and passion for learning english speaking skill. thus, learners can determine the level of their english proficiency and reach the output standard required for the training program they are attending. currently, there is a wide range of assessment methods instructors can apply in the classroom, regardless online or offline such as e-portfolios (an & wilder, 2010), online role-play (ogilvie & douglas, 2007), online journals (cord & clements, 2010) or blogs (edgar, francis-coad, & connaughton, 2012). however, the negative effects of some evaluation methods on teaching and learning are mentioned (madaus, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 296 west, harmon, lomax, & viator, 1992). darling-hammond (1988) and mcneil (1988) clarify the external accountability testing results in the de -skilling and deprofessionalization from instructors and show their serious influence on teaching (whitford & jones, 2000). learning-oriented assessment through the communicative approach communicative approach (ca) is a prevailing one of all current world-wide teaching methods in which learners make use of authentic material to make the meaningful real communication. larsen-freeman d. (2000, p.122) states that ca makes communicative competence as the key goal of language teaching and asserts that there is an interdependence between language and communication. language teaching activities are involved in real-life situations tasks, real outcomes, collaborative and interactive performance. thus, assessment principles are relevant to productive assessment activities. carless (2007) indicates three principles for learning-oriented assessment as follows: principle 1: assessment tasks should be designed to stimulate productive learning practices amongst students; principle 2: assessment should involve students actively in engaging with criteria, quality, their own and/or peers’ performance [sic]; principle 3: feedback should be timely and forward-looking to support current and future student learning. these principles were described as figure 2 in a schematic form: figure 1. learning-oriented assessment framework as can be seen from the figure, there is an interconnection between learning and certification purposes of assessment activities. they both orient to certification and learning process with an overlapping space. to get the purposes mentioned, the instructors have to design the appropriate tasks ensuring that they are the tasks students take in the learning process. moreover, the assessment activities have to involve all students in their awareness of assessment criteria, self-and-peer evaluation. lastly, the assessment has to be the positive and forward reflection which affects future actions with suitable changes. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 297 methodology participants the group selected for the study consisted of 60 undergraduate students who major in law from k4232 and k4228 of hanoi law university. throughout the class, students were invited to perform tasks in teams. this approach fostered communication and collaboration among students in order to generate data for the study. students’ english proficiency mostly was at the pre-intermediate level. instruments to gather the data for the analysis, the writer employed a qualitative and quantitative research method. the instruments include questionnaires and reflective journals. 60 questionnaires consist of a variety of items regarding the students’ perspectives on the appropriateness towards a number of measures to test and assess speaking skills for students in the teaching process. the questionnaires were designed on a five-point likert scale (including 5. strongly agree 4. agree 3. undecided 2. disagree 1. strongly disagree). a teaching project with the assistance of it was also implemented in the course. after finishing the content of the course, students wrote an individual journal at the last course with the question “how do you assess the activities to test and assess speaking skills for non-english major students in the teaching process in comparison with the traditional teaching approach?”. after writing their opinions, they scored the effect of two approaches based on a 10-point scale. procedures in this 10-week english speaking skill course, the teacher applied both traditional approach and communicative one in two stages: the first stage for the first five weeks and the second stage for the next five weeks of the course. in the first stage, with the traditional teaching method, reading the materials to find out the ideas for the topics, presenting their speech in front of the class, getting comments and scoring from the teacher are the main activities of the subject. in the second stage, students were introduced communicative activities in the speaking learning process to suit the assessments given by the teacher. after finishing the course, the students were asked to write reflective journals about the learning experience and answer the questionnaires. in the course, the testing and assessment activities for the speaking process are involved as follows: assessing in pairs the time for speaking practice and speaking skill assessment for students is not much, so the teacher guided students on how to practice, asked students to prepare and check their work by themselves. to make use of classroom time, teachers asked students to practice in pairs and self-assess each other. however, for students to be capable of assessing each other's speaking skills, teachers set up specific criteria for each performance including ideas, vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, intonation, stress, presentation style, etc. for each speaking task, students had an evaluation paper sheet with the given criteria to comment on their friend's speech by ticking the criteria in the form of passing or failing and even noting the mistakes their partner made when speaking if possible. students then remarked on each other and re-practice if they had enough time. after students practiced and made their comments in pairs, the instructor asked students to present for the assessment from the whole class and the teacher as well. from this llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 298 evaluation, each student could realize whether their evaluation was correct or not, and they could adjust and consciously improve their speaking skills. evaluating in groups the teacher guided students to practice speaking skills in a group and assessed each group's speech through the criteria for speaking tasks required by the teacher. with this method, students felt confident in their speaking tasks because many students in the survey process admitted that they often felt unconfident in front of other students in the class when lecturers commented on their talks (accounting for 10%). as a result, teachers took advantage of the time to evaluate more students during the speaking time, and more importantly, all students in the class had a chance to participate in the speaking activities that teachers required. students would be more aware of preparing speech, presentation to minimize errors to perform speaking activities most effectively. recording the content of speaking practice teachers assigned speaking tasks to students and asked them to prepare their speech, practice speaking, and record their speech. with this assessment method, teachers requested students to submit audio recordings to evaluate and the teachers sent comments to students outside of class time. thus, during class time, both teachers and students joined more speaking activities and students could also perform more speaking activities with different speaking contents and skill requirements. in addition, the teacher asked students to listen to the recording themselves and assessed their speaking progress by using the criteria paper sheet ( the rubric) given by the teacher or by the students themselves. communicating with people from english-speaking countries to assess students’ speaking skills together with the explosion of modern technology and the proliferation of social networks, finding a native english-speaking friend is no longer an obstacle. students made friends with a native speaker through facebook or joined an online speaking class with a native teacher to practice speaking english daily. then, students recorded the conversation for the teacher to assess. if students are exposed and communicate with native speakers regularly, they compare, contrast and detect mistakes to self-adjust and standardize their speaking ability. using social networks to self-assess students' speaking skills in group to effectively use social networks in helping students develop their speaking ability, the teacher asked students to follow the following steps: step 1: create a common account on the forum for group members to participate in the forum. step 2: the teacher spent a lot of time guiding students on how to comment by explaining the rules, providing students with clear criteria to evaluate their speech. step 3: after the teacher provided the theory, topics and lectures, students were asked to submit their speech, discussions, dramatic stories, amusing anecdotes, films, video clips, role-plays that are related to the topics to the facebook group 2 days before the submission deadline. other students expressed their opinion through the “like” button and made comments about their partner’s work online based on the assessment criteria. for the first time, the implementation of direct speaking skills required the participation and direct instruction of the teacher so that the participants could become familiar with llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 299 the assessment method to achieve effective speech. the teacher assessed the speaking products based on opinions from the number of “like” and comments. findings and discussion this section shows the attitude and perspectives of students and teachers towards using ca activities to assess speaking skills: (a). benefits of using ca to assess teaching and learning speaking skills; (b). effectiveness of ca activities in enhancing communication competence; (c). challenges of applying ca in assessing speaking skills. benefits of using ca to assess teaching and learning speaking skills. according to the survey results during the implementation of the paper, up to 70% of students surveyed said that the evaluation of lecturers on speaking skills for students by using ca during class time was important. the rest believed that this assessment was extremely important in the process of learning the speaking skills of students. none of the students felt that the teacher's evaluation of speaking skills was unimportant or less important. table 2: benefits of ca activities to assess speaking skills. no. statements min max mean stdev 1 providing “authentic”, “from-life” assessments 1 4 3.5 1.51 2 enhancing communication skills 1 5 4 0.82 3 developing critical thinking, 1 3 2.6 1.52 4 modifying their skills to suit specific situations 1 3 2.4 0.84 5 developing communicative reflection 2 5 3.5 1.08 6 promoting students ‘self-regulation in situations 3 5 4 0.81 7 arousing students’ contribution and cognitive engagement 2 4 2.9 1.32 8 more frequent connection to classmates 3 5 4.4 0.84 9 boosting decision-making ability 1 3 1.8 1.03 10 enhancing their learning autonomy 2 4 3 0.81 11 increasing interest 4 5 4.3 1.67 12 improving pronunciation, phonetics, accents 1 4 2.9 1.1 13 more accurate assessment with the rubric 2 4 3.2 1.79 14 creating an active and creative learning environment 1 4 3.5 1.51 there was a consensus among students that the assessment activities brought about “enhancing communicative skills”; “increasing interest”; “promoting students ‘selfregulation in situations” and “more frequent connection to classmates” with the highest mean value of 4 and more than 4. most of the respondents strongly agreed with the significance of that assessment such as “creating an active and creative learning environment”; “developing communicative reflection” and considered it as “authentic”, “from-life” assessments” with the mean value of 3.5. however, these opinions were different among the students with a stdev of more than 1.0. in terms of accuracy, the participants indicated the high approval of the activities of the assessment, when mentioning the decision-making ability students could gain from the assessment, only a small number of them agreed. effectiveness of ca activities in enhancing communication competence with the activity of writing reflective journals after the course, students showed their experience by giving scores to the traditional approach and communicative one. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 300 table 3. the comparison of ca speaking activities affect scores of teaching in the traditional approach and it-assisted approach effectiveness of ca speaking activities number mean mode stdev traditional teaching approach 60 6.5 6 0.9 it-assisted teaching approach 60 7 7 0.78 p-value 0.00 after giving their reflection, students scored rp– enhancing effects of teaching in the traditional approach and it-assisted approach. it can be clearly seen in table 3, the mean scores of the two approaches are 6.5 and 7 (out of 10) respectively. the independent-samples t-test shows p-value 0.00 which is lower than 0.05. these values indicate that the difference between approaches is significant. it is clear that the methods of teaching speaking skills with and without using ca are different. in other words, the ca-assisted teaching approach is more preferable thanks to its effects. challenges in applying the ca approach in assessing speaking skills. when investigating the challenges of the assessment process, students had a chance to show the constraints they faced in speaking class. these things were expressed in the questionnaires and reflective journals. most of the students had a high agreement that a large number of students, short teaching time at class and lack of technology devices in a class were the first obstacles because they had bad impacts on concentration, performance and connection among the students with the high mean value of 4.3, 4.4, and 4.4 respectively. most of the english language classes of non-english major students at hanoi law university consist of around 30-35 students on average and sometimes the class size can be over 40 students each class (often for supplementary classes). with this class size, the amount of teaching time in class for transferring knowledge to students about grammar, vocabulary, or reading, listening, and writing skills for students can be relatively adequate, but for speaking skills, it is a hard job. table 4: challenges in applying the ca approach in assessing speaking skill no. statements mean stdev 1 emphasis is given to linguistic competence 2.5 1.51 2 too many students in a classroom 4.3 1.08 3 short teaching time at class 4.4 1.03 4 unawareness of importance of communication 3.2 1.51 5 unsuitable curriculum 3 0.98 6 lack of technology devices 4.4 1.21 7 subjective assessment 3.2 1.2 8 the difference in student qualifications 3.5 0.98 moreover, for speaking skills, teachers did not have enough time to follow each student's progress in practicing speaking skills in class. therefore, the testing-evaluation of students’ speaking ability was also limited. in fact, a short time for speaking skills limited the students’ opportunity to develop their speaking skills and somewhat prevented students from carrying out speaking activities creatively. with this time duration, it is also difficult for teachers to help students practice speaking skills individually in a class of over 30 students. therefore, assessing activity for speaking llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 301 skills of students will also be limited, affecting the effectiveness of students' speaking skills. the unsuitable curriculum is also one of the difficulties students admitted facing with a mean score of 3.0. according to the university's internal toeic test structure, students' speaking skills can only be tested and assessed through short text reading activities to check students' pronunciation, intonation and stress (questions 1-2), the skill of presenting views through a speaking topic (question 11) and answering questions related to the content of the topic (questions 4-6). therefore, in the process of teaching and learning english speaking skills, speaking activities under questions 1-2, 4-6, and 11 are focused more. therefore, the speaking skills of students do not meet the requirements of the toeic international speaking test. in fact, the assessment of taking toeic english courses for modules 1 and 2 in the new 4-year program is being conducted for listeningreading skills with the regular tests and one end-term exam in the form of multiplechoice. clearly, assessing students' english-speaking skills is still being a big problem in teaching english for non-english-major students, which leaves students with subjective attitudes towards the subject and fails to recognize the importance of speaking skills, resulting in ineffective learning. the learners indicated that “difference in student qualifications” had a bad effect on the effectiveness of speaking activities. thus, assessing the speaking performance of students in groups becomes more difficult. most of the english language classes have different levels of proficiency among students because they come from the different majors of the law of the university, as well as from different provinces in the country. according to a survey conducted with 80 students studying toeic english at university, up to 60% of students studied english for more than 10 years, 28% of them learned 7-8 years, but when asked about the ability of english, about 50% students said that they were at a poor level, 30% chose the level of a normal level of speaking competence, and only 20% of students thought that they were at a high level of speaking skill. the differences in student qualifications sometimes also affect the student's progress and mood as well as the teacher's choice of the teaching method. if the teacher teaches easy knowledge, it will not help the good students to be motivated and interested in the lessons and the situation will be similar to the poor students when the teachers teach knowledge requiring high levels of speaking skills. strategies for assessing speaking skill to enhance communication competence for students in the reflective journal, students proposed the corresponding assessment activities depending on the teaching approaches such as “asking students to take part in social activities using english as the main language and call for the participation from the other group or via social networks”. by using this assessment method, the teacher can base on how the speaking tasks are done through other students’ support to assess student’s speaking skills. or “having students engage in problems” is also a strategy helping students improve their communication competence. through these situations, students give their ideas to solve the problems and teachers can evaluate through this. another assessment method is creating competition on stage for students to show their ability through activities such as role-play, games, quizzes, etc. conclusions english speaking skill was added to the foreign language course of non-english major students at hanoi law university as a compulsory skill. english speaking skill is inevitable for students if they desire to obtain a degree before graduation. this llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 302 encourages students to have positive attitudes and motivations to practice speaking skills as frequently as possible. whether students can speak english well or not depends much on their starting points, english knowledge, and especially their social skills. a number of test-measures really help improve speaking skills for non-foreign language students from the approach of communication through the paper, the authors made some recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of assessing activities for students’ speaking skills, and provide the prompt supplementary measures to speaking skills tests: firstly, before each new course, the university should organize an english test to check input quality for students with the purpose of not only classifying them according to their capacity and conditions but also facilitating the teaching and learning process of both lecturers and students. secondly, supplying the form of speaking skills tests for students through regular tests and end-ofunit tests are necessary. the speaking test will take time, but speaking is a skill that requires students to meet the foreign language learning outcomes and is designed in accordance with the standard content in the general curriculum. therefore, organizing tests is a mandatory stage to assess speaking skills for students. at the same time, the periodic assessment set out for students also creates pressure and motivation for students to improve their own speaking ability. thirdly, it is necessary to develop a specific rubric to evaluate students' speaking skills based on the toeic standard test that is being applied by the university. this helps teachers easily assess and detect students' strengths and weaknesses, and through specific criteria, students can assess their speaking ability before getting feedback from teachers. as a result, the teaching process of speaking for a big class still achieves the targeted objectives. through this paper, the authors wish to help students find ways to improve their speaking skills. besides, students can complete the subjects required in the learning program and meet the international english language proficiency standards. references allan, d. 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(2011). communal reflections on the workplace: locating learning for the legal professional. asia-pacific journal of cooperative education, 12(1), 19–30. llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 39 nurturing high expectations: living a well-lived curriculum on a humanistic perspective markus budiraharjo, m.ed., ed.d. sanata dharma university abstract this study reports an empirical investigation of the use of personal approach to integrating educational values in an english pre-service teacher education program. using a moodle-based learning management system called exelsa, which has beeen in use in the past four years, each individual student received personal written responses from the instructor. learning is perceived more as a journey to develop self-knowledge that is not merely driven by instrumental orientations such as grade-seeking mentality, rote memorization, and formalist-driven contents. a set of anedoctal evidence suggested that highly personal notes addressed to each individual student brough significant change in the way each of them viewed himself or herself in positive ways. when students felt highly appreciated as significant human beings in the class, they were more likely to undergo learning more in a holistic manner. a humanistic philosophy of education necessitates such an approach to maintaining a relational trust among all class members. an instructor is supposedly skillful at navigating the flows of class interactions, at times with unprecedented challenges. a restropective study, this seeks to develop a better understanding as to whether such an approach leaves a durable significance in their perspectives on learning. keywords: humanistic curriculum, high expectation, pre-service training. a. introduction this paper sets out to explore how a humanistic curriculum is enacted in the english language education program (elesp) of sanata dharma university, yogyakarta. its discussion is centered on the implementation of curriculum in a course named critical reading and writing i offered for the third semester students (odd semester, academic year of 2013/2014). considered from its epistemological standpoint, most discussions done on the curriculum are a representation of tylerian rationale. kliebard’s (2004) historiographic accounts on the emergence of curriculum as a disciplinary inquiry presents the huge wave upon which ralph tyler’s (1949) proposal for curriculum development strategies had taken hold. tyler’s legacy in setting up a long standing curriculum design model has been largely viewed from its simplicity and functionality. the rationale delineates four major steps, including the identification of instructional goals, necessary materials to cover, important strategies to use, and approprate evaluation steps to take. in the ensuing years, the curriculum inquiry has witnessed a range of curriculum design models, such as hilda taba and oliva in the 1960s, and dick and carey (1996), among others. all of them are categorized into one particular group of curricular model developers. up to this day, tylerian legacy remains strong with the reemergence of backward design (ozar, 1994), and mctighe & wiggins (2005). tylerian rationale has been highly influential in the development of curricula in indonesia. the main agenda of such a rationale is its systemic orientation, where teaching and learning activities are 40 viewed as delivery systems that involve both behavioral and cognitive psychologizing (taubman, 2007). from a bureaucratic sense, a systemic model for curriculum developments is seen to offer a relevant strategy to engage many schools and teachers. in this model, curriculum development processes are cut into some procedural steps, where particular, standardized operating procedures are to develop. there have been seven formal curricula stipulated in indonesia since 1968, and all have drawn much from such a systemic model. the current discussion on the curriculum offered in this paper sets out a different outlook on the nature of curriculum. the curriculum is seen from a sociocultural perspective, where a humanistic orientation gains more weight. it is my conviction that today’s discourse community in curriculum theorizing has been co-opted by a singularity of views, especially the one endorsed by the government. the influence of highly prescriptive model of curriculum developments has been all-encompassing. two guiding questions proposed in this study are as follows: (a) how did classroom built around humanistic curriculum look like? (b) how did students perceive their learning established on humanistic curriculum after the semester past? b. review of literature in contrast with general views on systemic perspectives of curriculum, this study draws much discussion on a sociocultural perspective (budiraharjo, 2014). in the contemporary discourse of curriculum, a linear, systemic view of curriculum has largely made schools and teachers left impoverished (hansen, 1998; sprinthall, raimes & thies-sprinthall, 1996; pinar, reynolds, slattery, & taubman, 1995). considered from such an instrumentalist rationality, most people are forced to talk about curriculum in response to the formal policies issued by the government. the allencompassing discussions are very likely to refer to the power of polity, and therefore all seem to get trapped within a socio-regulative sphere. a socio-cultural perspective allows us to comprehend the enacted and lived curriculum from a starkly different angle. accordingly, curriculum is thus viewed as a representation of the complexity of geological layers of lived experiences undergone by some school communities for an extended period of time (darling-hammond, 1997). within this highly contested field of curriculum as lived experience, lies a variety of ideological underpinnings. kliebard’s (2004) historiography on the emergence of curriculum as an independent discipline of inquiry underscores four ideological assumptions that had contributed to its establishment. the four areas include traditional intellectualist, efficiency, child developmentalist, and reconstructionist. in short, out of the four contesting assumptions, it is the efficiency model that eventually wins the battles. upon the delineation of ralph tyler’s (1949) rationale for curriculum development, the curriculum development programs holds to be highly systemic by nature. given the increasing trends of audit culture in such neoliberalistic ages and standards-based movement, curriculum development remains to be largely document-based (taubman, 2007). the very trend strongly appears in the most recent curriculum, i.e. kurikulum 2013 (dubbed as k-13), formally enacted by the yudhoyono administration, where teachers are seen merely as technicians. raising the curriculum within the area of lived experience promises a far greater depth of investigation. first, the existing practices in schools are a representation of culture or habits of mind shared by the school community. the empirical data obtained from the study by budiraharjo, muljani, baskara, nurmandi, mutiarin, & nurturing high expectations: living a well-lived curriculum on a humanistic perspective llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 41 qodir (2014) underscores such patterns. the implementation of the 2006 school-based curriculum (kurikulum tingkat satuan pendidikan) has not necessarily brought significant changes in teaching practices. the curriculum has shown to have influenced more on the open governmentality by the schools. the inclusion of school committee members in the school governance allows better community participation in school management. the findings of the study corroborate bjork’s (2013) empirical findings with regards to the power of traditional teaching practices among indonesian teachers. new jargons about constructivism, collaborative learning, and student-centered learning are generally adopted as fads, but not necessarily change the way teaching activities are conducted. bjork (2013) notes that pedagogical methods being used by ordinary indonesian teachers generally consist of 53 per cent of all lessons being used for lecturing, 20 per cent for working on worksheets or hands-on activities, and the last 5 per cent for a class discussion. second, raising the issues of curricula as lived experiences by each school will offer a more colorful portrayal of reality. in the study on 92 catholic and muhammadiyah elementary and junior high schools in yogyakarta special province and central java, budiraharjo, et al. (2014) found that each religion-based school has particular ways of doing things. many good practices that we can draw from how school community manages their lives in the school are highly encouraging. it is therefore imperative to bring forward some discussions on the curriculum as lived experiences that are demonstrated by the schools. the main agenda to raise the discussion of curriculum beyond the instrumental rationality draws a lot from a philosopical perspective, which defines humanity and ways to keep the humanity to thrive through educational enterprises. education is not only intended to teach students with technical and cognitive knowledge and skills, but it provides a room for them to engage with their humanity. from its etymological standpoint, the presence of teacher to facilitate teaching and learning was more motivated by the moral responsibility in the form of services, i.e. helping the young generation to grow (dawson, 2005). as drijarkara posits, education itself is seen as a fundamental act. an expression of anger can be highly educational given some appropriate considerations such as contexts and intentions. it can also be highly uneducational when it intended to take revenge or belittle others. palmer (1998) also underscores the importance of meaning making process found in teaching activities. teaching and learning activities in the class are a phenomenon that cannot be reduced to some methods or techniques. he recalled one of his most everlasting teachers in his life as the one being so strict and combative. in their sociological study of small catholic schools throughout the country, bryk, lee & holland (1993) found that the humanity is found to thrive well in small school contexts. drawing on vatican council ii teachings on subsidiarity, small school contexts allow people to know each other. it is believed that humanity has a room to flourish when each person is seen as a unique entity, filled with all potentials and drawbacks. multicultural perspectives of teaching have been drawn from such a humanistic view that puts each human being meaningful by oneself. each is called by his or her own name. each person is known well as the one having particular life history that is so uniquely crafted in one’s life tapestry. humanistic perspectives on curriculum will bring the basic principles of high expectations into operation. as vastly practiced by marva collins in one of the 42 private schools to serve the poorest groups of students of color, the major orientations of humanistic curriculum are targeted to engage teachers with each student’s individual problems. the basic attutide nurtured among teachers is the assumptions that each student, no matter what their backgrounds are or what color of skin he or she has, the student deserves unique attention. at this point, a humanistic perspective leads to transformative learning on the part of the instructor (mezirow 1978, 1991, 2000). my own research on the professional development among 10 indonesian teachers attending a us higher education underscores a basic characteristic of transformed self (budiraharjo, 2013). well-transformed persons are those who set out to define an ontologically subjective realm as the utmost significance, where the process of critical self-reflection on assumptions is oriented to self in relation to other people and things (brookfield 2000, 2009). it means that the reflective practices are intended to attend own circle of influences. on the other hand, non-transformed self is indicated with the external objects of reflections. the realm of personal inquiry for non-transformed self is objective reframing, i.e. maintaining critical stance over what others have done, and excluding self. the sense of agency among those non-transformed is diminished because they perceive reality as externally formidable constraints. within this frame of mind, my inquiry in the humanistic curriculum as lived experience is thus gounded on delineating my own biographical component as the instructor of the class (cooper & white, 2005). in sum, efforts to discuss a humanistic curriculum place the class instructor as both major inquirer and major human research instrument in the core business of investigative enterprise. self-transformation is viewed as a worthwile goal so as to allow humanistic values, such as maintaining high expectation attitude, being a highly authentic listener, and being ready to change and to be changed by dynamically complex encounters of human relations. c. methodology this study drew heavily from qualitative traditions, where personal narrative and phenomenological investigations with regards to the area of inquiry are of great importance (van manen, 1990; sokolowski, 2000; moustakas, 1994; moran, 2000). qualitative research relied on a variety of the data sources drawn from interactions, observations, and conversations. interviews and focus group discussion were used to gather the data. the interviews were jotted down, and ideas drawn from focus group discussion were noted and embedded in personal reflective logs. the data were also drawn from archival documents posted in the university’s learning management system called exelsa. the participants were all students involved in the class. drawing on phenomenological inquiries, the researcher intended to capture the phenomenon of learning by admitting personal imposition of meanings and values and remaining highly critical by bracketing self and conceptual thoughts. participatory knowledge construction took place by engaging research participants to access the knowledge under construction. d. findings and discussion this study sets to address two major problems, i.e. (a) how did classroom built around humanistic curriculum look like? (b) how did students perceive their learning established on humanistic curriculum after the semester past? in order to answer the first problem, three major characteristics of the curriculum implementation are described. first, a humanistic curriculum necessitates nurturing high expectations: living a well-lived curriculum on a humanistic perspective llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 43 the accomplishment of a systemic curriculum model. it does not stand by itself. the nutsand-bolts of curriculum development draws much from systemic model. second, a humanistic curriculum requires a high degree of flexibility in response to dynamic challenges. third, a humanistic curriculum meets its full expression when axiological considerations are made in response to reality. the second question will be addressed through an analytical tool of personal narratives of curriculum enactment. systemic curriculum development as a prerequisite it is worth noting that the implementation of a humanistic curriculum never eliminates the responsibility of teachers or instructors to develop curriculum, syllabus, and other instructional preparations. the nuts-and-bolts of curriculum development heavily lies in the systemic model. in particular, i made use of mctighe & wiggins’ (2006) basic principles of backward design. in developing the courses, the standards operating procedures were drawn from a backward design model (ozar, 1994; mctighe & wiggins, 2006) with three simple steps, i.e. defining goals, developing learning assessment, and developing strategies. based on my professional experience conducting a series of instructional leadership programs to school principals in yogyakarta, jakarta, and surabaya in the past three years, the three-step-activity in course development is of great value. in my case, the course critical reading and writing i was seen as one of the skills-based courses. its goals are set to induce criticality or reasoning abilities through reading and writing activities. given that the course is offered to the third semester students, academic orientations, their self-identity, and future employments are at a nascent stage. related to academic skills, many still struggle with grammar, pronunciation, and general literacy abilities. some demonstrate a high degree of metacognitive skills, such as being skillful at monitoring their own thinking and finding ways to compensate their weaknesses. most of them, however, seem to have problems with their academic skills in general. based on the data gathered by the study program, the majority of the students comes to attend the english education department only with some motivation to acquire english, not to be english teachers. the majority third-semester students is also very unlikely to have stable views on who they are and what they want to be. it is the conventional wisdom shared in the study program that the first four semesters serve as a foundational experience because many students are still standing in shaky grounds. the majority students comes from neighboring towns, such as klaten, bantul, sleman, and kulon progo. only small fraction of students comes from other islands. in sum, all components of curriculum development, such as gathering information about who students are, where they are from, general academic skills, their english proficiency levels, and the position of the particular course under investigation, are appropriately addressed. highly flexible enterprise i have learned a lot from my experience in blindly following a prescriptive set of procedures of teaching reading and writing skills. while a systemic approach to curriculum development provides some stability, in the same time it also leads to inflexibility. a humanistic view of curriculum development alleviates the burden of blind obedience to such rule-governed, highly prescribed sets of activities. in the english department, a highly procedural strategy in teaching seems to apply well in some courses which are algorithmic by nature. the instruction in pronunciation class is likely 44 to be included in this algorithmic model, because the intended goal of such a class is the acquisition of pronuncation skills related to predetermined set of some sounds. when the activities of the class tend to be oriented to some isolated skill, such as maintaining accuracy in pronouncation and grammar, the tasks are highly structured. a critical reading and writing class presents a further challenge when it is understood in this realm. there are too many issues taking into account. we have vast arrays of reading resources available at our fingertips. we also know that writing skills are of highly unstructured. in reality, the pragmatic uses of english require the speakers to process a variety of information, many of them are too subtle to recognize. skillful language users are very likely to be unaware of the complexity involved in the production of a correct piece of statement. it is therefore much safer to put the critical reading and writing class more as a heuristic, rather than algorithmic. in a heuristic model, teachers are expected to address the students personally (by their own names), engage them with meaning making constructions, and provide necessary feedbacks to them. the flexibility is thus of paramount importance in developing humanistic curriculum. axiologically oriented when the high flexibility of curriculum implementation is in place, an instructor needs to draw much from the values, assumptions, and beliefs held by the institution. our recent research among catholic and muhammadiyah schools in yogyakarta and central java highlights the power of school culture and axiological orientations based on their ideological beliefs (budiraharjo, muljani, baskara, nurmandi, mutiarin, & qodir, 2014). an axiological orientation refers to the values held strongly by the institution. it is found that religionbased schools have been highly contributive in teaching the young the values. the empirical data from the field demonstrate that these schools are not merely driven by instrumental rationality, but some values such as service, sacrifice, inclusion, empathy, compassion, and high expectations are raised. sanata dharma university is one of the private universities. it is affiliated to catholicism, and more particularly it is owned by the jesuits. since its early inception in 1955, rev. drijarkara, sj, a renowned philosopher and founder of the institution, set out to induce catholic identity with a commitment to serving the community at large by preparing young generation of teachers. education is seen to be a fundamental act, where the meaning is drawn from its contexts and consideration. an expression of anger is seen to be wrong when it is done for the purpose of venting uncontrolled emotions off. however, it is an educational act when it is done in the right contexts and appropriate considerations. drawing upon his own experience, palmer (1998) suggests that teaching can never be reducible only into some labels, such as student-centered approach, projectbased learning, constructivism, etc. upon his years of teaching experience, what resides most in his memory about his teachers is the one that had changed him a lot. the teacher who had changed the course of palmer’s personal life was not a “good teacher” in an ordinary sense. this teacher kept lecturing all the time. after years being detached from such an experience, palmer eventually made a striking conclusion. the real teaching happens when there is a unique encounter between a teacher and a student, where they can communicate the meanings of life, and how the encounter remains to live as a guide. such an encounter will only take place in a genuine context, where a person feels needed and personally acknowledged. teaching carries moral values (hansen, 2008), and nurturing high expectations: living a well-lived curriculum on a humanistic perspective llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 45 therefore it always deals with selecting the most appropriate things for students. i place myself in the class being a teacher who seeks to address each person. it is not an easy enterprise. however, given the fact that humanistic perspectives are in the air of the whole university, i do not feel isolated with this unique perspective. from my encounters with other colleagues in the study program, i learned that the very class that i was teaching was problematic. the academic gaps were very wide. three students were top performers. most students had good grade point average (above 3.1 out of 4.0 scale). however, the real performance of the majority of the students was poor, i.e. below 3.0. this was a striking finding. from the academic advisor of the batch, i learned that the atmosphere of the class turned more and more toxic. unhealthy relationships of some class members led to a hostile ground for the whole class. based on the data gathered from their essays, reflections, and personal interviews, i quickly learned that it was the class atmosphere that made them unhappy. some felt so devastated with the hostile atmosphere of the class. seeing this challenge, i came to conclude that some personal approach might work. to obtain a ground that was relevant to them, i developed a shock therapy using palinscar & brown’s reciprocal teaching strategy. i assigned each student to generate questions in a timed test. the individual oral test was new to them. they were not familiar with the method, and i made myself very strict. it followed that the atmosphere was so tense. i told them that the results of the oral test would determine their grade. this was a shocking experience to them. in the evening, i received an email from an acquintance, a school superintendent in yogyakarta. she was curious why her daughter came to her in tears. she learned that my class of that day was too shocking to her daughter. she asked me the rationale why the class was so hurtful to her. this email was certainly an unprecedented one to me. i did not know that my acquintance’s daughter was in my class. i replied her email, explaining the toxic nature of the class. i had a strong reason to be strict at that time, because i planned to make all the students aware of their being selfish. further emails between us helped her know exactly my goals. she endorsed my shock therapy to the class. to make it short, after that day, i changed my ways of responding to the class. i gave more rooms for improvements and revisions on their drafts. in addition, many class discussions afterwards were also geared to bring the importance of high expectations. a case in point, i brought a draft written by a student from the mollucas. she wrote about her struggles to come and study in yogyakarta. the draft had some grammatical mistakes. but, my focus was not to embarass her. i praised the power of imagination and willingness to suffer a lot on the part of her, especially since she presented her authentic self through her draft. i appreciated her being so outspoken in her draft, allowing me to know her in person. in this way, i taught the class the values of appreciations, which seemed to evade due to internal conflicts. i brought a sense of community in the class. in sum, that is exactly the humanistic curriculum that i have implemented. i maintain a good amount of personal appreciation to each person, and in the same time teach them not to feel sorry to own weaknesses. personal narrative of curriculum enactment one important thing to raise is that throughout the semester the students learned a lot to engage in their learning. by the end of the semester, some students reported to have a better view about the 46 community of learners. they could assess the different quality of relationship by the end of the semester. it was through humane encounters in the class created altogether that they learned to be at ease even when tensions took place. it was my expectation that the change in their perspective was durable, in the sense that they remained to maintain the belief and made use of it to respond to new challenges in new classes in the next semesters. unfortunately, it was not the case. about two months after the new semester was underway, many students complained about a particular teacher. my quick response to reflect on the complaints that i heard was that the change in attitude or perspective drawn among them were short-lived and temporary. they reported to have suffered from different ways of this particular lecturer in feedback provision. these students found that the written feedbacks on their writing drafts were too mechanistic. the written comments were similar among students. the students found themselves “unrecognized” by the lecturer. they did not feel appreciated. some students compared the ways i provided personalized feedback, which was unique to each person. i found personal touches important to build personal rapport among my students. the moodle-based learning management system called exelsa was of great importance for me, because i could write my responses as much as i want. these students found personal “letters” in the form of personalized feedback a powerful way to motivate them to learn. they missed such a kind of personal relationship. second, these students also demonstrated frustrations with the lecturer due to his being highly insensitive in feedback provisions. they did not deny that the lecturer was highly intelligent. according to the students, being intelligent was different from being compassionate and emphatic. some of the class members were devastated with unprecedented feedback provisions. in response to this complaint, i jokingly argued that i had done the same. i did give them real feedbacks, such as some grammatical points to revise. i also shared the grammatical mistakes that they made in public. anne, one of the students responded: “they way you put the feedbacks was different, sir. [it was true] that you gave feedbacks. you did it indirectly. you invited us to have discussions first, and then the grammatical feedback came later.” it is my belief that feedback provisions are not merely related to technicalities. in a humanistic perspective, human relations remain to be strongly influential in the educational enterprise. it is a healthy relationship, where each participant shares the same ground and concerns, that leads to productive and constructive atmosphere (bryk & schneider, 2003). the ways of feedback provisions shown by a colleague of mine are very likely to be seen as drawing from a deficit model. it is not drawn much from a high expectation perspective. anne was clear in identifying the ethical breach in the feedback provision. she and her friends underwent some devastating moments when the lecturer looked down on them. drawing on a high expectation perspective, i mostly develop to grow a shared awareness that everybody is unique. it is through personal responses to their drafts and personal essays that i am able to build personal rapports to each student. thanks to web-based learning management system being used in the university, i can extensively write personal feedbacks to each person. i usually highlight the importance of their existence in the class. it follows that each student becomes a meaningful entity in the class. a personalized comment on each draft (especially in the first two months) allows me to develop a good relationship on each student. nurturing high expectations: living a well-lived curriculum on a humanistic perspective llt journal vol. 18, no. 1 issn 1410-7201 47 building a good relationship is not an end in itself. it is just a means to know each other. the next step is to raise the importance of knowing self with regards to the skills to develop. at this point, i place myself as the one appreciating the mistakes that occur among students. instead of blaming them for their being inaccurate, i tell them that we need to have a good reason to be happy, especially when we know that we are not perfect human beings. everybody makes mistakes and errors. grammatical errors and mistakes as well as inacuracies in pronunciation that we make do not make ourselves bad or even evil. we learn through mistakes and errors. the question is whether we are ready to embrace the attitude of being highly critical to ourselves or not. good people are very good at learning from a variety of fronts. so, i invite them to learn from each other, and self, and from the meaningful and constructive relations in the class. i fully realize that the way i motivate the class allow me to empathize to imperfection among humans. however, in the same time, i also invite them to gear towards personal accountability. this is the way i conduct a curriculum oriented to humanistic values. i do not stop critizing my colleagues due to their failure to make the humanistic values meaningfully implemented in their classes. i keep myself being critical to myself. writing this research report is far from being an agenda to self-valorize. i can see the drawbacks on this humanistic perspective. an overemphasis of a humanistic perspective is likely to lead to a spoiled attitude, which can even threat students’ autonomy. from the empirical data that i raise in this paper, many students were not happy when the new lecturer did not continue my approach. i could speculatively argue that my previous approach even create a high degree of dependency among students. when they encountered harsher atmosphere they complained a lot. e. conclusion and recommendation two major conclusions can be drawn from this paper. first, the core business of education is in fact how to build highly meaningful relationships both in and out of the classrooms. the curriculum established around humanistic values are highly personal and mostly dependent on the particular characters of the instructor and the students. second, despite the long standing commitment to bringing humanistic values in the lives of the whole university community, it is clear that a full adoption of this core value is never final. the university has placed the emphasis on humanistic curriculum since its inception in 1955, when the goal of establishing a higher education institution was to prepare young generations to be teachers. the empirical data presented in this paper yields that the struggles to make this commitment down-to-earth remain a daunting task. it is therefore imperative for the university to embark on another path to go. to satisfy an academic inquiry, i would assume that further studies, especially conducted through an interpretive inquiry, will allow the discourse community to grow and develop a greater depth of understandings on the nature of self and community. it is clear that i do disservice to a colleague of mine (discussed in this paper) if i do not involve him in search of better professional paths. data gathering methodologies, combined with on-going data analysis processes, that allow both professional and personal transformative learning to grow, are supposedly to be exercized. references bjork, c. 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(1990). researching lived experience: human science for an action sensitive pedagogy. new york: state university of new york press. wiggins, g. & mctighe, j. (2005). understanding by design (expanded 2nd ed.). alexandria, va: association for supervision and curriculum development. 50 cover vol 18 no1_april 2015 isi llt_vol 18_no 1_april 2015_save as llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 104 categorization of compound nouns in kurdish and english sumaya khalid mustafa university of halabja, kurdistan region, iraq correspondence: sumaya.khalidm@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2020.230108 received 22 february 2020; accepted 26 march 2020 abstract this paper is concerned with the categorization of compound nouns in kurdish and english. it compares compound nouns of the two languages according to the prototype theory, applying categorization as a cognitive assumption. the paper attempts to achieve the following goals: first, classifying kurdish compound nouns using morphological and semantic criteria, listing kurdish compound nouns according to the prototype theory, showing the structure based on which the relationship between the components of a compound noun is represented, comparing the morphological and semantic relations between the components of compound nouns of kurdish to those of english. the data of the study on the kurdish language were collected and analyzed based on the fact that the author is a native speaker of kurdish. the results show that the morphological structure of compound nouns in kurdish is more complex than the structure of compound nouns in english though they share some structures. unlike english, the head in kurdish compound nouns is not always a noun. the categorization of kurdish compound nouns is different from english ones; it depends on the nature of the languages and the different perspectives of their users. in both languages, there are compound nouns whose meaning needs encyclopedic knowledge of the speakers to interpret them. this point confirms the assumptions of cognitive linguistics namely simplicity, conventionality, and semanticity. keywords: compound nouns; categorization; prototype and periphery; endocentric; exocentric introduction the present study is based on the framework of cognitive linguistics, how humans organize, process and convey information via an instrument which is language. the paper assumes that the use of compound nouns is determined by two factors; one is that every linguistic expression is meaningful and has a specific function in the language. the second is that the use of the expression is the result of how the speaker construes a situation. accordingly, two expressions having the same content are different in meaning. that is why each one is linguistically expressed differently. the paper applies the theory of categorization on compound nouns in english and kurdish. categorization is the mental act of grouping together numerous senses of lexical items into a category. a category is a network of distinct but related senses llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 105 of a given lexical item. one of these senses is a prototype which is the central item and the most salient example. it comes to mind first, whereas the remaining senses are called periphery and are listed according to their conceptual distance from the prototype. a compound noun is a noun formed by combining two words (roots, bases, free morphemes or lexical substructures) i.e. a modifier and ahead. the two words might come with a space, without a space, or with a hyphen. compound nouns act as a single unit. in most languages, the compound nouns have a head that bears the main semantic meaning of the whole compound noun, and a modifier that either adds or limits the meaning of the head (lyons, 1968, p. 250). however, the compound nouns have a special meaning of their own which is not equal to and is even to the meaning of its substructures (tarasova, 2013, p. 2). some types of compound nouns are much more common than others, prototypically and peripherally. compounding is a very important way of adding to the word stock of many languages because the combination of the lexical substructures expresses a new idea (ahmed, 2012, p. 35; carstairs-mccarthy, 2018, p. 66). a compound noun in english is made up of two bases; both of them are words or free morphemes(ahmed, 2012, p. 36; baseer, 1979, p. 62). however, in kurdish, these independent or free morphemes are linked with or without the help of interfixes (hamad, 2016, p. 356; shwani, 2011, p. 120). in english and kurdish, one of the lexical substructures is the head (h) and the other is the modifier (m). the h may come at the left or the right hand of the structure and the same for the m. m+ h = a compound noun. for instance, in kurdish qeleŗeş: ŗeş means ‘black’ which determines the color of the head qel: ‘bird’ the compound noun becomes blackbird or crow. literature review there are theoretical and empirical research papers made previously about compound nouns in a cognitive semantic approach. however, the focus has been on conceptual blending theory applying conceptual metaphor and metonymy theory (alexander, 2014; benczes, 2005; vorobeva, 2016; yang & li, 2018; zibin & altakhaineh, 2018). hamad (2016, pp. 359-360) tried to identify the compound noun-formation patterns of english and kurdish to show whether the compound nouns in the two languages are similar or differ semantically and syntactically. he listed nineteen syntactic patterns of english compound nouns and twenty-eight patterns of kurdish ones. in two-third of the kurdish compound noun patterns, inter-fixes such as e, u, be, t. and ne participate by which the two elements are combined are common, whereas inter-fixes do not take part in any of the english compound noun-formation patterns. at the level of semantics, he states that both languages have the four main types of compound nouns: endocentric, exocentric, appositional and coordinative compound nouns with the prevalence of endocentric compound nouns in the two languages. based on (plag, 2018), hamad classifies compound nouns of english and kurdish into primary, secondary, and copulative compound nouns. he points out that most english and kurdish compound nouns belong to the first two types of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 106 compound nouns while the copulative compound nouns are very uncommon in both languages. in a subsection of his book, hamawand (2011, p. 203) applies the theory of categorization on english compound nouns in terms of prototype and periphery. the present study applies the same theory through the same method to achieve the following goals: first, classifying kurdish compound nouns using morphological and semantic criteria, listing kurdish compound nouns according to the prototype theory following hamawand (2011, p. 203)’s model, showing the structure based on which the relationship between the components of a compound noun is represented. then comparing categories of kurdish compound nouns to english compound nouns to show the areas of similarity and differences between the two languages. endocentricity vs. exocentricity compound nouns can be classified into endocentric and exocentric compound nouns according to the determination of meaning i.e. according to the semantic criteria: 1. endocentric compound nouns endocentric is a term used to classify syntactic constructions using distributional criteria. “it refers to a group of syntactically related words where one of the words is functionally equivalent to the group as a whole i.e. there is a definable ‘centre’ or head inside the group, which has the same distribution as the whole” (crystal, 2015, p. 16). while (bauer, 1983, p. 186) sees an endocentric compound as a type of compound nouns in which the compound is a hyponym of the grammatical head such as an armchair is a kind of chair. (hamawand, 2011, p. 205) uses the term endocentric to point to the case where the meaning of a compound is a specialization of the meaning of its head, i.e. the reference of the compound is the same as the reference of one of its consistent parts. such a compound consists of head and modifier. hence, the principles of analyzability and compositionality are appropriate. analyzability is the case in which the substructure of a compound noun is matched up phonetically and semantically. compositionality is the case in which the meaning of a complex expression is determined by the meaning of its components. this entails that the meaning of a compound noun is the result of the combination of the meaning of the substances(hamawand, 2011, p. 204; lyons, 1968, p. 251). for example, gelaměw means (gela n leaf + měw vine (n) = (vine leaf), (berdenuej berd n stone+ nuej n pray = (a stone which is used to pray on). masifroş masi n (fish) + froş n (seller) = fish seller or (fishmonger), other examples are gzhűgya gzh n weed +ű+ gya n weed = weeds, gftűgo: gft verbal root speech+ ű+ go verbal root speaking = conversation, glko: gl soil + ko n group = tomb. 2. exocentric compound nouns bauer (1983, p. 187) states that exocentric compound nouns are that type of compound nouns in which the compound is not a hyponym of the grammatical head, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 107 for instance, redskin is not a type of skin. he thinks that it is a hyponym of a semantic head that is unexpressed in the compound. so, for him, the head of the compound redskin is an unexpressed noun a ‘person’. however, this definition is not quite sufficient because an endocentric compound noun lacks a head, so the meaning of the whole is not semantically equivalent to either of its parts and is not carried by the head, but is external to the compound noun (yazdani, 2019, p. 3). exocentricity is represented as the case where the meaning of a compound is not a specification of the meaning of its head, because it lacks a head, or it is not expressed morphologically. one should account for meaning through encyclopedic knowledge. in this type, the meaning of the compound noun does not come from the meaning of any of the parts (hamawand, 2011, p. 205; lyons, 1968, p. 250). for example, a compound noun as sergewre (a leader) consists of two independent morphemes ser n (head) and gewre adj (big), but the meaning of sergewre does not come from any of (ser: head) (gewre: big or large), other examples are (bermal: ber front adv + mal n home) but the whole compound means a carpet used to pray on, (şapesend: şa n king + pesend v prefer but the compound noun is a name of a flower) (mukryani, 1989, p. 464). compound nouns in english english compound nouns are made up of two free morphemes or lexical substructures, i.e. a head and a modifier. in english compounds, the head is always a noun but the modifier could be a noun, adjective or verb. english compound nouns are mostly right-headed(brinton & brinton, 2010, p. 104; katamba, 2015, p. 16). based on the relationship between the two substructures of compound nouns, there are prototypical and peripheral compound nouns as shown in figure (1): figure 1. categorization of compound nouns in english 1. prototypical compound nouns in english prototypically, a compound noun is made up of two nouns a modifier (m) and a head (h) to express the following relations: it is worth mentioning that both prototypical and peripheral relations of english compound nouns are listed briefly, as adapted from (hamawand, 2011, pp. 204– 206) because the main purpose is to compare kurdish compound nouns with english ones. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 108 a. m is part of h such as armchair, book chapte b. h is part of m such as teardrop, car wheel c. h is made of m such as sand clock, gold watch d. h is used for m such as swimming pool, toothbrush e. m is used for h such as oil heater, eyeliner f. h holds m such as paperclip, wallpaper g. h is positioned in in m such as kitchen table, post office h. m is positioned in h such as earring, footnote. i. h is the time for m such as mealtime, bedtime j. m is the time for h such as morning walk, evening class k. m is the field of h such as filmmaker, shopkeeper l. h has the feature of m such as winning goal, cheeseburger m. h causes m such as yeast bread, steam iron n. m causes h such as tin-opener, blood pressure o. m is a measure of h such as 1-day trip, two-days conference despite the compound nouns that could be classified according to the relationship between their components, there are compound nouns which meanings cannot be construed through the meaning of their head or modifier. such compound nouns are called headless compounds (hamawand, 2011, p. 207) such as brainstorm and honeymoon. 2. peripheral english compound nouns english peripheral compound nouns are those compound nouns in which the head is a noun whereas the modifier is either an adjective or a verb. the endocentric peripheral compound nouns express the following relations: a. head does the action of modifier. this is when the modifier is a verb, such as washman, washing machine, swimming pool, breakwater and so on. b. head has the property of the modifier. this is when the modifier is an adjective, such as greenhouse, full moon, fast food. examples of exocentric peripheral compound nouns are pickpocket, longhand, green hand, deadline and so on kurdish compound nouns kurdish compound nouns are made up of two free morphemes with or without inter-fixes (such as e, u, be, tȇ and ne). the two free morphemes build a new noun that has a new independent meaning. one of the two free morphemes is a head (h) or profile determinant which is mostly a noun and marginally it can be a verbal root and the other one is the modifier (m) that belongs to any word class (noun, adjective, verb, adverb or even a verbal root) (hamad, 2016, p. 360). based on the cognitive assumption of the prototype theory, kurdish compound nouns are classified into a prototypical compound noun and peripheral compound noun: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 109 1. kurdish prototypical compound nouns prototypically, a compound noun consists of two independent substructures with or without the help of an inter-fix. the combination could be between two nouns or a noun and an adjective, a verbal root, or adverb. depending on the nature of the combining substructures, it expresses relationships such as: a. m is sort of h. this relationship is modeled by (n+n) or (n +inter-fix + n) for example, marmasi: is sort of masi n which means eel. other examples such as (gelaměw: vine leaf), (kewmar: kew n chuker+ mar n snake= (a sort of fish), (gűlebax: gull n flower +e+ bax n garden= (rose), (gaberd: ga n cow+ berd n stone = rock), (şatű: şa n king +tű berry = blackberry) (kory-zanyary-kurd, 2011, p. 16; mukryani, 1989, p. 464). b. m and h both make a mixture. i.e. the compound is made up of m and h. this relationship is represented by (n+n) such as in mastaw; in this example, mast n and aw n both make a mixture in which mastaw: yogurt mixed in water, (gűlaw: a mixture of gűl n (flower) and aw n water), (şekraw: şkre n (suger) + aw n water = cooling drink of fruit juice) (mukryani, 1989, p. 487,713,791) c. h is positioned in m. this sense of location proceeds when the modifier indicates the habitat in which the head is placed, thus expressing a place -object relationship. the model is (n+ (inter-fix) +n) such as: (qutabxane: school, a place where children go to be educated), (frokexane: froke airplane n+ xane n = house airport), (nexoşxane: nexoş n sick + xane n home= hospital), (mezadxane: action-place), (miwanxane: miwan n hostel) (serűpě: sheep’s totters), (hělkewŗőn: fried eggs), (dexlűdan: dexl n corn+ dan n corn= corn (generic) (mukryani, 1989, p. 846,880). d. h is part of m. this sense of belongingness arises when the modifier denotes the whole and the head is the part such as boletrě where the relationship is modeled by (n+ (interfix)+ n) such as in (gűełegenm: ear of wheat) in this example gűł n is a part of genm n. (kasaser: kase n (container) +e+ ser n (head) = skull) (kory-zanyary-kurd, 2011, p. 16). e. m is part of h. this sense of belongingness arises when the head denotes the whole and the modifier the part such as baxi miwe (fruit garden) where the relationship is modeled by (n+ (inter-fix)+ n) such as in desky derga: desk (handle ) +y + derga n (door) = handle of the door) and tayey seyare: n taye (tire) +y+ seyare n(car) = (car tier). f. h has feature of m. this sense of comparison is realized when the modifier elucidates the shape, size, colour of the head and so on, of the head. this relationship is modeled by (adj. +(inter-fix) + n) (terepiaz: ter adj (wet) is a characteristic of piaz adj (onion) as being ter : wet onion). to provide other examples, one can write reșmar: reș adj. (black) + mar n (snake) = black snake, qelereş: qel n (cro) + e+reş adj. (black) = blackcrow, sűrečnar: sűr adj (red)+e+ čnar n (pine tree) = red pine tree, and (tazedě: taze adj (new)+ edě n (village) = a new village), (ghareeb, 2012, p. 58; mukryani, 1989, pp. 162– 585). g. m is positioned in h. this sense of location occurs when the modifier indicates the object and heads a location in which it is positioned, expressing an objectplace relationship. one of the two substructures is an adverb while the head is a noun (adv.+n). examples are (jěrxan: basement) jer adv (under) is positioned llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 110 under xan n (house), (serban: ser adv on + ban n (roof) = roof, (serzemin: earth), (sergeƚű: name of a place), and (serkarěz: name of a place). h. h covers m. this sense of purpose happens when the modifier signals a cover and the head is an object, thus expressing a cover-object relationship. the relationship is represented with (n+ a verbal root), for instance, serpőş: ser n (head) + pőş verbal root (to cover)= headcover (misitry of education, 2009, p. 12), destkěş: dest hand n+ kěş v to cover = gloves, serqap: cover), and (mlpěč: ml n (neck) + pěč verbal root (to fasten) = scarf. i. h is used for m. this appears when the modifier names a goal and the head is an instrument to achieve it. thus, expressing a goal-instrument relationship, where the model is (n+(inter-fix) +n) or (n+ a verbal root). this is clear in this example, gacűt: ga n (cou) +cűt verbal root (plow) =plow-ox; gacűt is that ox which was used in the past to plough. kewčkiča; kewčk n (spoon) +i+ ča n (tea)= teaspoon, a teaspoon is a spoon used for stirring tea, other examples čapalěu: ča n (tea) + palěu n (strainer)= tea strainer, (berdenűěj: ber n (rock + e+ nűěj n (prayer)= prayer -fags, and (befrmal: befr n (snow) +mal verbal root (to sweep)= snow-sweeper (xoshnaw, 2011, p. 28). j. h holds m. this relationship occurs when the head indicates a container and the modifier indicates content. the model is (n +inter-fix +n). for example, in qory ča (tea pot) qori n (pot) is the container for ča n (tea). other examples include btly ghaz : btl n (tank) +y+ ghaz n (gas) = gas tank, and debey aw : debe n box +y+ aw n (water) = water box. k. there are also kinship compound nouns in which the m is a person who is one step further in the relationship from the h. its model can be either (n+ a verbal root(za)) or (n+n). for example, braza: bra n (brother) +za= a son or daughter of your sister or brother. other examples are (brajin: bra n (brother +jin n (wife) = sister-in-law, xalojin: xalo n (uncle) +jin n (wife) = wife of your uncle and amojin wife of your uncle: wife of your uncle, xaloza, amoza, pűrza, all mean cousin. l. other kinship compound nouns are those that show the relation of being a step relative. the head is a noun referring to one of the family members and the h is the word zir with the sense of being in step relation. thus, the structure is (adj (zir) +n). such as zirbra: zir adj (step) +bra n (brother) = step-brother, zir bauk: zir adj (step)+ bauk n (father)= step-father, zir xűşk: step-sister, and zir mam: step-uncle (saeed, 2011, p. 94). m. m is the occupation of h: the structure that is used to form this kind of relationship is (n+ verbal root). for example: masïfrőş: masï n (fish) + frőş verbal root (seller) = fishmonger, masïgir: masï n (fish) + gir verbal root (to catch)= fisherman, asinger: asin n (iron) +ger verbal root (to make)= blacksmith, sertaş: ser n (head) taş verbal root (to shave)= head-dresser, (pěłaudrű: pěłau (sho) +drű verbal root (to sew)= shoemaker, and bergdrű: berg n (clothes) +drű (to sew) = tailor n. another type is known as ‘reduplication’. it is the repetition of natural sounds, gvegiv: continuous rustling, qrčeqirč: crackling, qazűqűłng: crane (bird), and girmegrim: harsh and sonorous and gűƚűmiƚ: flower. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 111 there are prototypical compound nouns in kurdish whose meanings cannot be construed through the meaning of their head or modifier and one needs to have an encyclopedic knowledge to interpret their meanings i.e. exocentric compound nouns. such as reşmall which consists of adjective reş (black) and noun mall (home) but the meaning of the compound noun is a tent which is far different from the meaning of the head or the modifier. other examples are (şerpenje: şerpenje: şer n (lion)+ penje n (finger)= cancer, dastnűěj: das n (hand) + tnűěj n (prayer) =ritual ablution, and (berdeqareman: a stone behind which one of the kurdish leaders, who was associated by english troops, hide in a battle). 2. kurdish peripheral compound nouns peripherally, compound nouns consist of two independent substructures with or without the help of an inter-fix. the combination could be between two nouns or a noun and an adjective, a verbal root, or an adverb or two verbal roots. the compound expresses such relationships as: a. h does the action of m. this relationship is modeled by (n+ verbal root). this sense arises when m is an action and h is a person who does the action. for example, sertaş consists of ser n head and taş verbal root (to shave) = hair dresser. other examples are textebes: texte n (wood) + bes verbal root to join) = housebuilder, and goştfroş : goşt n (meat) + froş berbal root (to sell)= someone who sells meat. b. m is a number of h. a compound noun gives this sense when it is composed of (number+ n) such as hezarpě: hezar number (thousand) + pě n (foot) = millipede, a small creature with a long cylindrical body consisting of many parts, each part has two pairs of legs), dűpşk: du (two) + pishk n (part) = scorpion), (sědare: se (three) + dare n (tree) = gallows), (sěpa: three-legged tripod), (sěpere: clover), and (čwarčěue: easel). c. repeating the same verbal root. its model is (verbal root+(inter-fix) +verbal root). for example, (hatűčo: hat verbal root (come) +ű+čo verbal root (go) = traffic, the movement of people or goods, cars or trains from one place to another), (gftűgo) gft verbal root speech+ ű+ go verbal root speaking = conversation, (mștűmal: message), and (mștumř: dispute)(xoshnaw, 2011, p. 28). d. m shows the plurality of h. another less common type of compound nouns is a structure which is a combination of two nouns. a noun shows a plurality of another noun with or without the help of an inter-fix. so, the structure is (n+ (inter-fix) +n). examples are qerizuqől, here qeriz n means debit, qol n means arm, and the two words together mean an amount of debit, geștűguzar: geșt n (trip) + ű+ guzar n (moving) = tourism, (qapűqačax: pots and pans) and (gzhűgya: weeds). e. m is the time for h. the morphological structure is (n+ inter-fix+ adv.) for example, gulebehar: gull n (flower) +e+ behar adv (spring) = buttercup, gulepaïze: gull n (flower) +e+ païze adv (autumn) =an autumn flower, zinnia, gulenisan: gull n (flower) +e+ nisan adv (april) anemone, şeuleban: something which is on the roof at night), and şeunuěj: a prayer at night (koryzanyary-kurd, 2011, p. 16). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 112 examples of kurdish exocentric peripheral compound nouns are demeșer (name of a flower), demeșer consists of dem n which means mouth, inter-fix e and șer n which means lion in kurdish, but the compound noun that they make is a name of a flower which is far from the meaning of its substructures and the speakers need background and contextual knowledge to interpret the meaning of demeșer. other examples are serbaz: ser n (head) + baz (eagl) = soldier (xoshnaw, 2011, p. 28), and berpris: ber adv (front) + pris n (issue) = responsible or authority. findings and discussion as table 1 shows, the components of compound nouns in english and kurdish represent some aspects which are prototypical in both languages, such aspects include part-whole relation, purpose, location, and property. however, some relations are prototypical between components of kurdish compound nouns but not between english ones; such aspects include family relations, making a mixture, feature, occupation, and reduplication. table 1. prototypical relations of compound nouns in english & kurdish prototypical relations of english compound nouns prototypical relations of kurdish compound nouns h is part of m m is part of h h is used for m h holds m h is poisoned in m m is poisoned in h h has the feature of m h is the time for m m is the time for h m is the field with which h is concerned h causes m m causes h m is the measure of h h is made of m m is used for h h is part of m m is part of h h is used for m h holds m h is poisoned in m m is poisoned in h h has the feature of m m is sort of h m and h both make a mixture h covers m m is a person who has a relation with h m is the adjective zir and h is a family member m is the occupation of h reduplication of natural sounds llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 113 the peripheral relations of compound nouns in kurdish are broader than those in english. they include action, membership, time, and plurality, while english has only action and property, as shown in table 2. table 2. peripheral relations of compound nouns in english & kurdish n. peripheral relations of english compound nouns peripheral relations of kurdish compound nouns h does the action of m h has the property of m h does the action of m m is a member of h repeating the same verbal root m is the time for h m shows the plurality of h the model for prototypical relations of english compound nouns is (n+n), but in kurdish there are various models such as (n+n), (n+ inter-fix+ n), (adj+ interfix+ n), (adv+ n), (n+ verbal root), (verbal root + verbal root) which shows kurdish has a more complex word-formation structure than english. there are two models for peripheral relations of english compound nouns, namely (v+ noun), and (adj. +n), but in kurdish there are various models, such as (n+ inter-fix +n), (n+ inter-fix +adv), (number +n), and (verbal root + inter-fix + verbal root). this result too shows that morphological structures for word-formation are more complex and diverse than english. in english compound nouns, the head should always be a noun, while in kurdish there are compound nouns made of two verbal roots without any noun. this is confirmed by experts and native speakers of the kurdish language, for example, zeki hamawand and azad fatah, as well as the examples the researcher got from the references and dictionaries such as hembane borine (1989) and hamad (2016). so, for kurdish compound nouns, it is their meaning and function i.e. their use, rather than their form (the constituents), that decides it is a compound noun, not a compound verb nor a compound adjective. in both languages, there are compound nouns whose meaning needs encyclopedic knowledge of the speakers to interpret them. this point confirms the assumptions of cognitive linguistics namely simplicity since the compound nouns have both meaning and form, conventionality being accepted by the speech community, and semanticity because the symbols convey meanings. conclusion this paper has attempted to describe the role of the category theory in the semantic relation of compound nouns; it compares kurdish compound nouns with english compound nouns to show that the morphological structure of words mirrors llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 114 their semantic structure. a language user depends on his mental ability to group numerous senses of lexical items; this process is called categorization. one of the senses is the prototype. in english compound nouns, the prototype is a combination of two nouns, while in kurdish compound nouns, the prototype is the combination of two nouns or a noun with an adjective, verb, a verbal root or an adverb with or without the help of an inter-fix. on the other hand, there are peripheral or less common compound nouns in both languages that are linked to the prototype via semantic extensions. the peripheral english compound nouns are combinations of a noun and a verb or a noun and an adjective, while the peripheral kurdish compound nouns are made up of a noun and another noun or a noun and an adverb or two verbal roots. in brief, one can conclude that the theory of categorization can be applied to kurdish compound nouns as well as english compound nouns. the word-formation structure of kurdish compound nouns is more complex than that of english compound nouns; in kurdish compound nouns, unlike english compound nouns, the head is not always a noun i.e. categorization of kurdish compound nouns is different from the categorization of english ones, which depends on the nature of the languages, and different perspectives of their users. references ahmed, b. h. 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(2018). differences between translation of chinese compound nouns into english compound constructions l deverbal noun nounr and lv.ing nounr. proceedings of the 3rd international conference on contemporary education, social sciences and humanities (iccessh 2018). https://doi.org/10.2991/iccessh-18.2018.183 yazdani, s. (2019). the syntactic and semantic typological study of endocentric and exocentric compound nouns in iranian children and adolescents stories. journal of zabanpazhuhi, 10(29), 61–81. retrieved from https://www.sid.ir/en/journal/viewpaper.aspx?id=660349 zibin, a., & altakhaineh, a. r. m. s. (2018). an analysis of arabic metaphorical and/or metonymical compounds: a cognitive linguistic approach. msw metaphor and the social world, 8(1), 100–133. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 36-50 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 36 acoustic analysis of the length of /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ in english affricates ammar a. al abdely and mariam s. hardan university of anbar, iraq dr.ammar1974@uoanbar.edu.iq & mohammedwhiterose@gmail.com correspondence: dr.ammar1974@uoanbar.edu.iq doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.2633 received 3 june 2020; accepted 9 october 2020 abstract to participate in the ongoing debate of whether affricates are single phonemes or a combination of two distinct phonemes, this paper reports the results of an acoustic study of affricates. one of the arguments that supports one phoneme analysis is based on the assumption that the length of /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ as single phonemes tends to be shorter when they are involved within the affricates /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ respectively. however, this assumption has not been acoustically investigated. thus, this paper measures the duration of /ʃ/ and /ʒ/: first when they are alone, and second when they are involved in affricates to identify any length variation between the two cases. the study is based on acoustic and statistical analyses of the recordings of iraqi, british and american speakers of english, who were asked to pronounce words that have the two fricatives /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ alone and in affricates as well. the results of paired samples t-tests showed a significant difference in the length of /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ as single phonemes and their length when involved within affricates in the pronunciation of iraqi, british and american speakers on both the group and the overall levels. these results support the one phoneme analysis of affricates. moreover, the results indicated that arab learners and iraqis in particular count heavily on temporal cues rather than spectral cues in perceiving english sounds. this shows the need for more training on the part of learners and teachers, and more attention on the part of english textbook designers. keywords: acoustic analysis, affricates, one phoneme theory, two phoneme theory introduction one of the problems of phonemic analysis referred to in roach (2010) is whether to consider the affricates /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ as single phonemes, one-phoneme analysis, or as two phonemes, two-phoneme analysis. the latter analysis considers the phonemes /t/, /ʃ/, /d/ and /ʒ/, which make up the affricates /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ respectively, independent phonemes that are already included in the list of phonemes of the english language. this analysis is motivated by the idea of the economy i.e. the list of the language phonemes will be shorter. if the affricates /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ are treaded as being made up of the two phonemes each, there is no need to add two extra symbols to the list of phonemes. hence, the list will not include llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 37 the symbols /ʧ/ and /ʤ/, because the symbols /t/, /ʃ/, /d/ and /ʒ/ are already included in the list. based on the one-phoneme analysis, the word "church" for example is made up of five phonemes (/t/, /ʃ/, /e:/, /t/ and /ʃ/. the affricates here are seen to be composed of two phonemes. the analysis that sees the affricates /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ as single phonemes consider these phonemes new distinct phonemes that should be added to the list of the english phonemes, even though they are phonetically composed of a stop sound followed by a fricative sound. based on this analysis, the word "church" is composed of three phonemes only (/ʧ/, /e:/ and //ʧ/). this analysis assumes affricates to be distinct phonemes though they are phonetically made up of complete closure and a period of fricative release. the affricate /ʧ/ is articulated in a similar position to that of /t/, but instead of a rapid release with plosion and aspiration as we would find in the word "tip" the tongue moves to the position for fricative /ʃ/ as we find at the beginning of the word "ship". thus, in the affricate, the explosion is immediately followed by a fricative noise. similarly, the word "judge" for example, begins and ends with the affricate /ʤ/. it is also articulated in a similar position to that of /d/; but, instead of a rapid release with plosion and aspiration as we would find in the word "dope", the tongue moves to the position for the fricative /ʒ/ as we find in the word "pleasure". shariq (2015, p. 150) resembles the production of an affricate to that of a stop claiming that "there are three stages called; closing, compression, and release. however, the release is sudden in the case of plosives while it is gradual in the production of affricates. the closure part of the affricate is represented by a plosive, and the release part, fricative is produced at the same point". accordingly, an affricate is often symbolized with two symbols in transcription and often in two letters in writing. as it was mentioned above, the two-phoneme analysis is based on the desire to be as economic and brief as possible. language users do not want to have a longer list of phonemes; hence, they consider affricates combinations of phonemes that are already listed as phonemes rather than two new phonemes to be added to the list. the one-phoneme analysis, on the other hand, is based on several assumptions related to the spectral properties of these phonemes as well as their distribution in the language. these assumptions are summarized in a later section of this work. to the best knowledge of the researchers, no previous test has acoustically measured the length of these consonants as they are pronounced by native or nonnative speakers of english. hence, this study is an attempt to test this assumption with regard to the native; american and british speakers, and non-native iraqi efl learners of english. the study aims to examine acoustically whether the length of single phonemes /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ is longer than /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ when they are within the affricate /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ respectively. the study also examines if there are any differences in these phonemes length among native and non-native speakers. the study is interested in the phonetic, length, assumption as one of the four assumptions that support the one phoneme theory. other assumptions are beyond the scope of this study. according to philip (1999, p. 14), affricates are "sounds produced with a constriction of complete closure followed by a release phase in which friction occurs". thus, affricates involve a complete closure like the one made in the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 38 production of a stop and require friction as the one made in the production of a fricative. mannell (2008) elaborates that affricates are frequently regarded as intermediate between stops and fricatives i.e. affricates share the features of stops (closure) and fricatives (friction). the complete closure and friction are two essential features in languages that distinguish between stops and fricatives, as it is the case in english. figure 1 below illustrates the pronunciation of affricates. figure 1 the pronunciation of affricates o'connor (2003, p. 47) gives a detailed account of the exact pronunciation of affricates stating that the tip of the tongue touches the back part of the alveolar ridge while the soft palate is raised. consequently, the air stream is trapped for a short time behind the tongue-tip and the ridge as it is the case of an alveolar stop. the rest part of the tongue takes the position and shape of the fricatives /ʃ/ and /ʒ/. then, the tip of the tongue moves away from the ridge, and the whole tongue takes the position for the /ʃ/ and /ʒ/. hence, a short duration of friction becomes audible. figure 2 shows the pronunciation of fricatives. figure 2 speech organs shape in producing affricates (o’connor, 2003, p. 47) roach (2010) assumes that the place of articulation of the stop and fricative that make up the affricate should be the same i.e. they should be homorganic. that is what justifies not transforming the stop /k/ and the fricative /f/ in the word (breakfast) into an affricate. they do not share the same place of articulation as /k/ is velar, while /f/ is labiodental. however, some scholars still believe that there is a place of articulation contrast between the stop and the fricative parts of the affricate. mannell (2008) believes that the stops /t/ and /d/ are alveolar, while the /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are postalveolar. the idea of homorganicity, for others, (e.g. wee & winnie, 2009) is to have the stop and the fricative at near (not necessarily identical) place of articulation. however, the debate is basically on whether affricates are to be considered as single segments or as two separate segments. this is discussed in the following sections. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 39 a phoneme is a single ''unit'' of sound that has meaning in any language. according to twaddell (1952), phonemes are rather abstract elements. the principles used to establish phonemes are largely distributional and articulatory. phonemic analysis endeavors to find answers for questions about permissible and impermissible word structures in a certain language. traditional analysis of phonemes must come up with a list of phonemes and allophonic rules. it should also state the constraints found in the language that decide permissible and impermissible combinations of phonemes. these three steps provide an answer to the first question. a phonemic analysis will show if the studied phonemes/allophones of the particular language are in; 1. complementary distribution: phonemes are said to be in complementary distribution if they never occur in the same phonemic environment. 2. contrastive distribution: phonemes occur in the same phonemic environment where the distribution in meaning is due to the particular phoneme. 3. free variation: phonemes are said to be in free variation if they do not affect the meaning of the word. error! reference source not found. below shows a summary of the phonemic analysis process. speech is made of phonemes, and it is believed that each sound produced in an utterance is supposed to be identified as a definite phoneme. however, the task of identifying sounds as phonemes i.e. phonemic analysis is not straightforward as it seems. there are several cases where a one to one analysis of phonemes does not hold. one of these cases is the analysis of affricates. roach (2010) states that there are two possible treatments of phonemic analysis concerning affricates: 1. one phoneme analysis: it is possible to treat each of the pairs as a single consonant phoneme. such as / ʧ, ʤ/ 2. two phoneme analysis: it is also possible to say that they are composed of independent phonemes. for example /t+ ʃ/ and / d+ ʒ/. the following discussion is a brief view of the assumptions that are often mentioned in support of the one-phoneme analysis of affricates. these assumptions are either phonetic or allophonic. a. the first assumption in favor of the one-phoneme analysis is referred to in roach (2010), which assumes that the phonemes /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ have a similar distribution to other english phonemes. these two phonemes can be found initially, medially, and finally as in (chin, gin), (riches, ridges), and (search, surge). however, there are english phonemes, which are established as distinct phonemes even though they are not freely distributed to all positions such as the phonemes /h/ and /ŋ/, which cannot occur finally and initially respectively. b. the second assumption is also based on the distribution of the two affricates /ʧ/ and /ʤ/. based on roach (2010, p. 98), "if /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ were able to combine quite freely with other consonants to form consonant clusters, this would support the one-phoneme analysis". it is true that these affricates can be part of several clusters, however, there are several limitations. they cannot be, for example, part of initial clusters with other consonants. moreover, they llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 40 are often followed by /t/ and /d/, and preceded by /l/ in final position. furthermore, they cannot be part of different kinds of minimal pairs such as the (/lʃ/, /lʧ/) and (/nʒ/, /nʤ/) roach (2010, pp. 98-99). c. native speakers intuitions are often used as a guide to resolve the ambiguity of such issues. native speakers with no technical knowledge in phonetics have been asked to give their judgments on whether affricates are one phonemes or a combination of two distinct phonemes. they have expressed the feeling that affricates are two distinct phonemes; yet, this feeling could rather be tempted by spelling as these two consonants are represented in two consonant letters. roach (2010), believes that using the untrained native speakers is not a good choice. illiterate people might be a better choice in such tests; however, more problems an emerge and the test cannot be reliable enough. d. the one-phoneme analysis assumes that the length of /ʃ/ as a separate phoneme as in "hush" /ɦʌʃ/ is longer than the /ʃ/ within the phoneme /ʧ/ as in "hutch" /ɦʌʧ/. the same is true for /ʒ/ and /ʤ/. it means that the length of /ʒ/ as a separate phoneme as in "measure" /ɱeʒǝ/ is longer than the /ʒ/ within the phoneme /ʤ/as in "jump" /ʤʌmp/. this phonetic argument has not been well tested in the literature (roach, 2010). the description of the sound system of arabic does not always include affricates. some arab scholars believe that the affricate /ʤ/, which is the only affricate found in arabic is a stop sound. whereas, some others do mention the term ()احتكاكي انفجاري to refer to affricates. the pronunciation of /ʤ/ requires a complete closure between the tongue and the alveolar ridge. however, the tongue does not leave the ridge quickly. it rather moves away slowly leaving a chance to the sound to be released from a narrow opening causing a fricative release (alhattami, 2010). mostly, one affricate is reported to be found in arabic. this occurs in "environments similar to those in which the different plosives occur, namely, word-initially followed by a vowel, word-medially and word-finally" (ibid, p. 315). this makes it essential to establish a distinct phoneme to account for the sound. shariq (2015) states that in arabic we have one affricate only, which is the voiced palatal-alveolar (ج( [dʒ]. the sound [dʒ] in arabic is freely distributed to all positions such as "[جنوب] [dʒʊnu:b] ‘south’, at –medialposition [شجرة] [ʃədʒərah] ‘tree’ and at –final position [عالج] [ʕɪla:dʒ] ‘treatment’" (ibid, p. 150). however, a voiceless palatal-alveolar affricate is not found in standard arabic, but may be found in accents of arabic. the affricate sound /ʧ/ is not found in standard arabic; yet, it is found in some arabic accents such as iraqi arabic. the sound /ʧ/ is one of the frequent sounds in the "geltu" dialect, which, according to al abdely (2016), is regarded the lingua franca of iraq. this dialect is spoken by the majority of iraqis living in baghdad; hence, this dialect is alternatively called baghdadi iraqi arabic. moreover, this dialect is used in all southern provinces in iraq as well as some parts of other provinces such as anbar, saladin, and mosel. al-hattami (2010) states that "in the iraqi dialect the voiceless velar plosive [k] as in the word [ʔɪħkɪ] (talk) is replaced by the voiceless palato-alveolar affricate [ʧ]—[ʔɪħʧɪ]". this justifies the high frequency of this sound in iraqi arabic. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 41 several studies have been conducted to investigate how learners of english as a second language acquire affricates. some other studies were much concerned with the analysis and distribution of affricates. some of these studies are reviewed below: thurgood (2003) conducted a study to investigate affricate germination produced in the english of polish speakers as a second language. she performed two tasks, in which polish learners of english were divided into two groups; intermediate and advanced. she asked them to repeat twelve english sentences and responding orally to seventeen multiple choice questions. the findings revealed that the intermediate speakers had paid more attention to the phonetics of the english cues than producing more fully rearticulated affricates. this means that little attention was paid by the more advanced speakers to the phonetics of cues. this may be because of the influence of the polish norms or their pronunciation in english. in the same vein, maddieson (2005) conducted a study to investigate palatoalveolar affricates in several languages. the aim was to examine phonetic differences between affricates. ten speakers of three languages; english, italian and spanish participated in this study. the most similar stops and fricatives have been recorded in closely matched medial positions from the participants at two different speech rates controlled by a metronome. the results revealed significant difference between the three languages in the phonetic of variability speakers and speech rates. this indicates that there are differences between the languages which can be related to the general hypothesis. van de weijer (2014) conducted a study to investigate the rate of affricates in the phonotactics of english as a natural class. this is to prove that they behave differently from stops and fricatives. in addition, the study can provides evidence against the assumption that affricates cannot form a natural class by themselves which is one of the characteristics of "stop approach" to the representation of affricates. he used data from pengo (davis, 1989) and from cimbrian (hall, 2012) which pointed to the same direction. the results revealed that affricates can act as a natural class not captured by [strident] but can be made by reference to the classical feature [continuant] as in the affricate approach or the complex segment approach. due to the fact that several phonetic and phonological procedures look like one another, researchers imply that phonetics and phonology are really very similar. of them is pycha (2009), who associated phonetic and phonological procedures of the case of consonants lengthening via examining length measurements obtained from 14 hungarian speakers. pycha (2009) investigated affricates as they are often described of bearing a two-part structure. the results obtained in this study revealed that affricates often experience phonetic lengthening at phrase margins. pycha (2009, p. 1) elaborates that "the affected portion of the affricate is always that which lies closer to the boundary". moreover, the study shows that affricates may frequently experience "phonological lengthening when next to a geminating suffix, but the affected portion of the affricate is always the stop closure". it is concluded that phonetic and phonological lengthening are fairly unlike each other. dorman and raphael (1980, p. 397) conducted several experiments to determine some "acoustic cues of fricative-affricate contrast"in word final llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 42 position. listening tests conducted automatically showed that both temporal and spectral variables may affect the informants' ability to identify fricatives and affricates. these variables include "vocalic interval; duration of silent arrival; presence or absence of a release burst; rise-time of the fricative noise and the duration of the fricative noise". the study concluded that neither one of acoustic property detector nor one natural category can by itself explain the perception of affricate and fricative sounds. on the whole, despite much research has been done about affricates in english as a second or a foreign language in terms of different learners, little attention was paid to the production of affricates by arab learners of english as a foreign language. however, few studies can be reviewed here. alfehaid (2015) investigated problems arab learners face while acquiring english as a foreign language. he refers to /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ as sources of difficulty for arab learners. however, he claims that these sounds are not found in arabic. this problem carries over into reading english. alfehaid's statement is not accurate as standard arabic does have the sound /dʒ/, and some other accents of arabic, including iraqi arabic, do have the sound /tʃ/. arabic does not have affricate sound. he states that problems arab learners encounter might be the result of spelling issues due to the fact that spelling and pronunciation are highly consistent in arabic but highly inconsistent in english. however, the current study was conducted to investigate the pronunciation of affricates by iraqi undergraduate learners of english as compared to british and american native speakers of english. method the study intends to measure the duration of /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ alone and when they are involved in affricates by using acoustic measures. the study uses scientific means to validate its findings and to process data quantitatively. this section explains in details the method adopted in collecting and analyzing data. it explains the samples of the study, the stimuli, the data collection and the analysis techniques used. the aim of the study is to measure the duration of /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ alone and when they are involved in affricates; /ʧ ,ʤ/ to see if there are any variations in the length of these sounds that may support or weaken the one-phoneme analysis. for this purpose, a quantitative method is adopted. an ex post facto research design is used as the study measures the current performance of informants without any manipulation or training. accordingly, the study collects and analyzes data as numerical indices that ultimately describe the data obtained and achieve the objectives set in this study (ary, jacobs, sorensen & walker, 2010). the informants tested in this study belong to three groups; each one contains five participants. these informants were selected according to the information mentioned above, which were obtained through a demographic questionnaire. informants were asked to give some personal information, some other information about the language(s) they and their parents speak. for more details about the questionnaire, see appendix (1). these groups are described below. this group includes five undergraduate students majoring in english language. their age is between 18-22 years old. all of them are females. they live in different parts of anbar province. their first language is arabic, and they llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 43 study english as a foreign language at the university of anbar, education college for women. this group consists of five respondents; three males and two females. their age is between 21-25 years old. they live in different parts of america. their first language is english. their parent's first language is also english. the group consists of five respondents. all of them are females. their age is between 21-48 years old. they originated from different parts of the uk their first language is english and some of them speak spanish or arabic as a second language. twenty words have been selected for this study, five words for each of the sounds /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /ʧ/, and /ʤ/. these words are monosyllabic and show fricatives and affricates in initial position only except for the words (measure and treasure), which are two-syllable words that show the sound /ʒ/ in medial positions. the words selected for this study are frequent words often used in daily conversation. they were shown to many, namely 60, iraqi foreign learners in the english language department, who claim that they are familiar with them. the words identified as totally new to them were eliminated from the test to avoid any incorrect pronunciation of these words due to lack of knowledge. the words were enlisted randomly in a sheet of paper to be pronounced by the participants. the full list of words is available in appendix (2). fifteen respondents, who volunteered to participate in this study and signed a consent letter, were asked to full in a questionnaire with information related to their social, locational and linguistic background. after that, respondents were asked to have a look at the list of words before they start the test and asked to state any issue they might have with the words. later, the test started and the pronunciation of the participants was recorded directly through praat 5.1.19 (boersma & weenink, 2009). more specifically, the recordings of the american group were made in stocker center, ohio university, athens, ohio 45701 u. s. a in the lab room which is very quiet in order to get clear recordings. the recordings of british participants were made in different places such as leeds city college in the lab room, and ireland wood primary school leeds, english in the school regimen. the recordings of iraqi participants were made in the sound lab of the english language department, education college for women. respondents were asked to pronounce the words as they are randomly listed with two second pauses between each word and another. the recordings of all participants of the three groups were made using lab tops in which praat software program had been installed in order for the data to be processed acoustically later. the data were transcribed and annotated using praat version 5.1.19. in this study, praat was used to measure the duration of fricatives /ʒ/ and /ʃ/ once as single phonemes and second as parts of the affricates /ʧ, ʤ/. length measurements were stored in an excel sheet to be sorted and filtered as necessary, and to be later used for statistical analysis using ibm spss. the study followed the mechanism adopted by liu, chen, lin, cheng, and chang (2016, pp. 157158). the beginning of a fricative/an affricate was identified via detecting "a boundary on the left side and the right side of an intensity envelope … the ending point of a fricative/an affricate was determined by the location where the f1 of the following vowel occurred". llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 44 the following (error! reference source not found.) is a praat window for the word (jeans) as pronounced by an american speaker, a british speaker, and an iraqi speaker. the speaker is annotated within the window together with the word and its transcription. figure 3 a praat window for the word (jeans) a series of eight paired samples t-tests were conducted length significant differences between the pronunciation of /ʒ/, /ʃ/, /ʧ/, and /ʤ/ for each group individually. later, another paired samples t-test was conducted to identify length differences for all participants of three groups. furthermore, a series of four independent samples t-tests were also conducted to identify any significant difference in the pronunciation native (american & british) speakers and nonnative (iraqi) speakers. the results were tabulated providing descriptive and inferential statistical results. findings and discussion to identify whether the length of the sounds /ʒ/ and /ʃ/ is statistically different from their length when involved in the /ʤ/ and /ʧ/, length means obtained from the analysis of the pronunciation of the three groups of participants were compared using paired samples t-tests. paired samples t-test were first conducted to identify statistical differences within each group i.e. length measurments of the sounds concerned in this study were compared as they were produced by each group individually. the tests revealed significant differences between the overall means of length measurments with > 0.05 p value for the three groups. this means that length means for fricatives /ʒ/ and /ʃ/ alone were significantly diffeerent from length llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 45 means of these fricatives when they are parts of the affricates /ʤ/ and /ʧ/ respectively. the follwing tables ( and table 2) dispaly the results of paired samples t-tests. table 1 paired samples t-test for /ʒ/ and /ʃ/ group no /ʒ/ mean std. d /ʤ/ mean std. d p american 5 .13712 .036044 .03992 .005951 0.00 british 5 .13740 .029992 .03700 .006857 0.00 iraqi 5 .19360 .031829 .03936 .005392 0.00 it can be snoticed in above that length means of /ʒ/ and /ʃ/ are higher than length means of /ʤ/ and /ʧ/ i.e. /ʒ/ and /ʃ/ were were pronounced longer thn the fricative parts of the /ʤ/ and /ʧ/. table 2 paired samples t-test for /ʤ/ and /ʧ/ group no /ʃ/ mean std. d /ʧ/ mean std. d p american 25 .15456 .026442 .04716 .007273 0.00 british 25 .15600 .020376 .04084 .007215 0.00 iraqi 25 .15640 .031829 .04948 .009562 0.00 another independent samples t-test was conducted to identify significant differences between length means of /ʒ/ and /ʃ/ when they occur alone and their length means when thay are parts of affricates /ʤ/ and /ʧ/ as they were uttered by all (american, british, iraqi) speakers of english. the results of the test show that there is a statistical significant difference in the length means for /ʒ/ and /ʃ/ and /ʤ/ and /ʧ/ with (p= ) as show in table (table 3) below. table 3 overall paired samples t-test group no /ʒ/ mean std. d /ʤ/ mean std. d p llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 46 all groups 75 .14440 .036203 .03876 .006147 0.00 /ʃ/ /ʧ/ mean std. d mean std. d .15661 .022222 .04583 .008786 0/00 to identify any statistical differences in the duration of the sounds /ʒ/, /ʤ/, /ʃ/, and /ʧ/ between native, american and british speakers of english in one hand, and non-native, iraqi, speakers of english on the other hand. to verify the null hypotheses raised above, four independent samples t-tests were performed. these four null hypotheses are provided below: 1. the length of the sound /ʒ/ pronounced by american and british native speakers of english is not significantly different from that sound's length as pronounced by iraqi non-native speakers of english. 2. the length of the sound /ʤ/ pronounced by american and british native speakers of english is not significantly different from that sound's length as pronounced by iraqi non-native speakers of english. 3. the length of the sound /ʃ/ pronounced by american and british native speakers of english is not significantly different from that sound's length as pronounced by iraqi non-native speakers of english. 4. the length of the sound /ʧ/ pronounced by american and british native speakers of english is not significantly different from that sound's length as pronounced by iraqi non-native speakers of english. before, conducting the independent samples t-tests, the normal distribution of the data was checked for suitability. the native and non-native distribution was sufficiently normal for the purpose of conducting t-tests (i.e. skew> 2.0 and kurtosis > 9.0; scmider, ziegler, danay, beyer, & buhner, 2010). levene's test for equality of variances was also conducted to make sure that equal variances are assumed. the p values for this test were all <0.05; hence, data are suitable to be processed via independent samples t-tests. the results of the four independent samples t-tests for the four sounds /ʒ/, /ʤ/, /ʃ/, and /ʧ/ respectively are summarized in the following table (table 4). table 4. descriptivestatistics, levene's test, and independent samples t-test sound levene's test of eq. & var. native n.50 non-native n. 25 f sig. t df mean std. deviation mean std. deviatio sig. (2tailed) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 47 n ʒ 2.969 .089 -2.50073 .1372 6 .032817 .1936 0 .165897 .015 ʤ 2.493 .119 -.59673 .0562 6 .071488 .0393 6 .005392 .553 ʃ .837 .363 -.73373 .1552 8 .023374 .1564 0 .031829 .466 ʧ .283 .596 -2.64873 .0440 0 .007848 .0494 8 .009562 .010 the results show significant differences based on group factor in the length of /ʒ/ and /ʧ/ [p = 0.015], and [p = 0.010] respectively. however, statistically significant differences were not found between the two groups, native and nonnative speakers, in the mean length of /ʤ/ and /ʃ/ with [p =0.553], and [p =0.466] respectively. based on the results of the four t-tests, null hypotheses 2 and 3 are accepted as the p-values obtained were (p= 0.243 and 0.863) for the sounds /ʤ/ and /ʃ/ respectively. whereas, null hypotheses 1 and 4 are rejected with (p= 0.023 and 0.10) values for the sounds /ʒ/ and /ʧ/ respectively. statistical differences were recorded in terms of the length of the fricative /ʃ/ and the affricate /ʤ/, however, significant statistical differences were not identified with regard to the fricative /ʒ/ and the affricate /ʧ/. discussion the results obtained in this study generally support the one-phoneme analysis of affricates. more specifically, the results support the assumption that fricatives /ʒ/ and /ʃ/ in isolation have spectral features that are different from the ones they have when they are included in the affricates /ʤ/ and /ʧ/. this has been evident from the the results of the statistical tests conducted, which show significant differences in the length of the sounds /ʒ/ and /ʃ/ and the fricative part of the affricates /ʤ/ and /ʧ/. this significant differences was shown by the three groups of american, british, and iraqi speakers. this shows that iraqi learners of english are aware of length variation between /ʒ/ and /ʃ/ in one hand, and /ʤ/ and /ʧ/ in the other hand. this might have resulted from the fact that iraqi learners do have the sounds /ʤ/ and /ʧ/ in their iraqi accent of arabic, which might have facilitated the task for them. l1 influence is thought to be positive as it aids iraqi learners to produce these sounds as accuarte as their native counterparts in this study. l1 positive tarnsfere has been reported with regard to different types of learners including arabic learners (al abdely, 2016; nikolova, 2012; odlin, 2003). it is worth noeting here that the sound /ʒ/ is not found neither in standerd arabic nor in iraqi arabic. this may explain the difference found in the pronunciation of this sound between native and iraqi speakers as it was shown through the independent t-test. moreover, iraqi speakers of english were also different from native speakers with regard to the pronunciation of /ʧ/ sound as llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 48 they pronounce the friciative part of the sound with more length. the same was reported in the pronunciation of /ʒ/, which was also pronounced longer than usual. this refers to the fact that arab, more specifically iraqi, learners of english rely heavily on sound length or what is so called durational cues in their perception and production of the sounds of the foreign language (al abdely & yap, 2016; alzahrani, 2014; munro, 1993). conclusions based on the results of the study, it can be concluded that the actual characteristics of /ʒ/ as a single phoneme were different from that of /ʤ/ in addition, the characteristics of /ʃ/ as a separate phoneme was also different from that of /ʧ/. the arguments raised by roach (2010) is well supported in this study. in other words, the results of the current study support the idea that affricates represent a natural class. this means that these results are in favor of the complex segment approach, which assumes affricates to share features with stops ([–cont]) and with fricatives [+cont]) (van de weijer, 2014). the results of this study are also in good agreement with clements (1999, p. 2), who stated that "though affricates superficially resemble plosive + fricative sequences, they are counted as single segments in the phonology". hence, affricates are be treated as single distinct phonemes and not as a combination of a stop+ fricative. the results are against the other two approaches of affricates, which are the stop approach and the fricative approach. the stop approach assume that affricates are mostly stops with the feature [strident stop] (kehrein, 2002). however, more studies are still needed to further validate roach's assumption and the results obtained in this study. besides, this study's sample is limited to 5 participants from each group; hence, researchers are invited to conduct more studies that include greater number of respondents. arab researchers are also invited to validate the results of the current study with samples from other arab speaking communities. despite the fact that iraqi learners examined in this study succeeded in realizing the variation in length between fricatives and affricates, they still need more practice in the pronunciation of these sounds, as they tend to produce these sounds longer than required. iraqi learners heavy reliance on temporal cues is motivated by their lack of spectral knowledge that is supposed to enable them to identify and produce foreign language sounds more accurately. on the contrary, flege et al. (1997) states, native speakers frequently depend on spectral rather than durational cues in their perception of sounds. listening and speaking skills are what iraqi learners badly need to focus on and improve in order to be good speakers of the english language. this is what is clearly lacked at iraqi schools and even universities, and this could be a major reason of why iraqi speakers of english show accented pronunciation of english even at high levels of education. syllabus and text books designers are recommended to allocate more attention to listening and speaking skills. teachers of english are also invited to show their students more details of the spectral, in addition to temporal features of the foreign language sounds. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 49 references al-abdely, a. a. w. (2016). perception and production of english vowels by native iraqi arabic learners. (doctoral dissertation, upm, fbmk, malaysia). al-abdely, a. a.w., & yap, n. t. (2016). learning english vowels by iraqi efl learners: perceived difficulty versus actual performance. 3l: language, linguistics, literature®, 22(1). alfehaid, m. (2015). pronunciation problems arab speakers encounter while learning english. international journal of scientific & engineering research, 6(10), pp.581-582. alzahrani, d. s. m. (2014). the acquisition of tense/lax distinction by arabic speakers learning english as a second language. southern illinois university at carbondale. ary, d., jacobs, l. c., & sorensen, c. k. (2013). introduction to research in education. united states: wadsworth cengage learning. boersma, p. p. g., & weenink, d. j. m. (1996). praat: doing phonetics by computer: version 3.4. instituut voor fonetische wetenschappen. clements, g. n. (1999). affricates as noncontoured stops. in item, order in language and speech. prague. davis, s. (1989). the location of the feature [continuant] in feature geometry. lingua, 78(1), 1-22. dorman, m. f., raphael, l. j., & isenberg, d. (1980). acoustic cues for a fricative-affricate contrast in word-final position. journal of phonetics, 8(4), 397-405. hall, t. a. (2012). the representation of affricates in cimbrian german. journal of germanic linguistics, 24(1), 1-22. ibm corp. released (2013). ibm spss statistics for windows, version 22.0. armonk, ny: ibm corp. kehrein, w. (2002). phonological representation and phonetic phasing. tübingen: max niemeyer verlag. liu, c. t., chen, l. m., lin, y. c., cheng, c. f., & chang, h. c. (2016). speech intelligibility and the production of fricative and affricate among mandarinspeaking children with cerebral palsy. in proceedings of the 28th conference on computational linguistics and speech processing (rocling 2016) (pp. 153-163). maddieson, i. (2005). “presence of uncommon consonants”, in martin haspelmath, matthew s. dryer, david gil and bernard comrie (eds.), the world atlas of language structures. oxford: oxford university press, 82-83. mannell, r., (2008). speech spectra and spectrograms. macquarie university, australia. munro, m. j. (1993). productions of english vowels by native speakers of arabic: acoustic measurements and accentedness ratings. language and speech, 36(1), 39-66. nikolova-simic, a. (2010). l1 interference in the perception and production of english vowels by arabic speakers (doctoral dissertation, alliant llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 50 international university, shirley m. hufstedler school of education, san diego). o'connor, j. d. (2003). better english pronunciation. cambridge university press. odlin, t. (2003). cross‐linguistic influence. the handbook of second language acquisition, 436-486. philip, c. (1999). english phonetics and phonology: an introduction. pycha, a. (2009). lengthened affricates as a test case for the phonetics– phonology interface. journal of the international phonetic association, 39(1), 1-31. roach, p. (2010). english phonetics and phonology fourth edition: a practical course. ernst klett sprachen. schmider, e., ziegler, m., danay, e., beyer, l. & bühner, m. (2010). is it really robust?. methodology. shariq, m. (2015). arabic and english consonants: a phonetic and phonological investigation. advances in language and literary studies, 6(6), 146-152. thurgood, e. (2003). affricate gemination in the english of polish speakers: a study in second language variability. the journal of the acoustical society of america, 113(4), 2330-2330. twaddell, w. f. (1952). phonemes and allophones in speech analysis. the journal of the acoustical society of america, 24(6), 607-611. van de weijer, j. (2014). affricates in english as a natural class. above and beyond segments–experimental linguistics and phonetics, 350-358. wee, l. h. & cheung, w. h. (2009). an animated and narrated glossary of terms used in linguistics. hong kong baptist university. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 116 language awareness: language use and reasons for code-switching cresensiana widi astuti stiks tarakanita jakarta, indonesia correspondence: kresentiawidi@starki.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2020.230109 received 4 january 2020; accepted 26 march 2020 abstract the co-existence of languages in a speech community prompts language users to do code-switching in communication. they do it for certain reasons. this paper is to report language awareness among language users and the reasons why people do code-switching in their speech communities. using an open-ended questionnaire, this research involved 50 participants. they were asked to identify the languages they had in their repertoire, the language they used when they communicate with certain people, and the reasons why they did code-switching in communication. the results showed that, first, the participants had awareness of languages in their repertoire, namely indonesian, a local language, and english. second, they admitted that they did code-switching in communication. thirdly, the reasons for codeswitching were to discuss a particular topic, to signal a change of dimension, to signal group membership, and to show affective functions. keywords: language awareness, language use, code-switching reasons introduction it is common nowadays to find several languages used in a speech community. when people communicate in a speech community, they are usually aware of the language they should use in communication with other people. indonesians, for example, are commonly bilinguals. they were raised in a local language and thus, they have at least their first language – javanese, sundanese, batak language, manado language, balinese, or one of the other 700 local languages – and the national language, bahasa indonesia or indonesian. some generations might be raised in indonesian and were introduced to foreign languages, such as english, mandarin, or, the now-hype language, korean language. in communication, people usually just use the language they share with their interlocutors. sociolinguists believe that the way someone speaks signals his/her social status and construct their social identity. it may also reflect the social relations between the speaker and the interlocutor (holmes, 2008). this leads to the idea that one’s speech is controlled by specific norms in society. in a multilingual speech community where people speak more than one language, this social rule or norm can be seen from the choice of language used when they communicate with other people. this choice of language includes code-switching between languages in one’s repertoire because when two or more languages are in interaction in a certain community, code-switching is unavoidable. mailto:kresentiawidi@starki.id llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 117 many research works focused on language use and code-switching in society as well in classroom settings, such as romaine (1992), auer (1998), febiyaska and ardi (2019), holmes (2008), bin, xin, and mimi (2014). some terms need to be defined and explained for the sake of clarity and to set up the boundaries of discussion. language varieties bilingual indonesians generally speak one local language and indonesian, or indonesian and one foreign language, such as english, mandarin, or japanese, with english as the most learned foreign language in indonesia even though english is introduced and used as a foreign language. even so, english has gained popularity among indonesian, especially young people living in urban areas. young people are usually highly motivated to learn english considering english mastery has a functional benefit, such as ‘to pass an examination, to get a better job, or to get a place at a university’ (ellis, 2003). this ‘instrumental motivation’ is the major determining factor in the second language (l2) learning. ellis (2003, p. 75) further stated that ‘in countries where english is a foreign language, learners are highly motivated to learn an l2 because it opens up educational and economic opportunities for them’. job ads often post ‘fluency in english orally and in writing’ as english is the lingua franca of business communication in the world. indonesian people have been identified as ‘highly motivated to learn english’ (see astriningsih & mbato, 2019; juniar, 2016; nichols, 2014). thus, indonesia is a multilingual community where at least two languages are used in communication in speech communities. therefore, it is very common to hear young people speak in a mixed language of indonesian, mandarin, and english. the older generation might still use their local regional language to communicate with their childhood friends or family members sharing the same language. simply put, indonesian is the lingua franca of communication in indonesia – in schools, campuses, for media, business, and social life. undeniably, the number of languages used in communities makes them bilingual or multilingual communities and this phenomenon usually prompts code-switching. it has been noted worldwide in the last two decades that developments such as massive population shifts through migration, the expansion of educational provision to many more levels of society, and technical advances in large communities have emphasized the existence of a visibly and audibly multilingual modern world (milroy & muysken, 1995). the world gradually becomes smaller where people are more connected than ever. english has been the common language of communication and at the same time, a recognition of other languages becomes more common. oxford english dictionary decided to include 29 nigerian words into the dictionary (spary, 2020), for example. language awareness research work, such as bolitho et al. (2003), carter (2003), lin (2011), discussed the term ‘language awareness’ related to the language awareness approach to language teaching as to enhance learners’ noticing which, in its turn, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 118 would manifest in the learners’ ability to use the language. richards & schmidt (2002) defined language awareness as “a movement that developed in britain in the 1980s which sought to stimulate curiosity about language and to provide links among the different kinds of language experiences children typically encountered in school, e.g. in science, in literature, and in foreign language classes. language awareness courses seek to develop knowledge about language and languages as an important element in the education of all children” (richards, j.c., & schmidt, r., 2002, pp. 286287). this research was built on the framework that language is used in communication and that language awareness is linked more to the language users’ awareness of their repertoire. this framework was built on a definition of language awareness proposed by van lier (1995, p. xi), i.e. ‘an understanding of the human faculty of language and its role in thinking, learning, and social life’. based on this definition, language awareness is noted to have an influence not only on the thinking and learning process but also on the way language users interact with each other socially. the development of language awareness takes place in social interaction which requires language users’ knowledge about which language (code) is used with certain people for a certain function. this is in line with carter (2003, p. 64) who stated that language awareness refers to the development of learners and enhanced consciousness of and sensitivity to the form and function of language. language awareness is closely related to ‘social factors’ (holmes, 2008) which governs the use of language. most people might not of the notion of social factors, but generally, they understand that they have to use different languages when they talk to other people. holmes (2008, p. 21) termed this as social factors – who you are talking to, the social context of the talk, the function, and the topic of the discussion. and they know in which ‘domain of language use’, they use certain code or variety. fishman (1999) categorized language use into five domains, i.e. family, friendship, religion, education, and employment. using fishman’s five domains, these are the codes bagus (not his real name) uses in his communication. bagus is a young javanese catholic man who lives and works in jakarta. he is a master's student at a private university in jakarta. like other young men in jakarta, he enjoys hanging out in cafes and of course, soccer games. this year, he plans to marry his fiancée. table 1 shows bagus’ language awareness of the languages in his repertoire and his awareness of social factors that govern the way and how he uses the languages in communication. table 1. fishman’s five domains of the codes used by bagus domain addressee setting topic code family parents, sibling, and fiancée home planning a wedding javanese, indonesian friendship friend cafe hanging out jakarta indonesian llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 119 domain addressee setting topic code religion priest church deciding the wedding day indonesian education teacher campus negotiating a submission day english employment employer workplace requesting for a promotion indonesian bagus speaks in fine javanese to his parents to show that he belongs to a javanese community (social identity) and that he knows how to use it properly (social status). but sometimes, the components of a domain do not always fit with each other, thus individual interactions may not be typical (holmes, 2008, p. 25). bagus talks in indonesian to both his parents and fiancée when they talk about the wedding plan. holmes (2008) stated that people may select a particular variety of code because it makes it easier to discuss a particular topic, regardless of where they are speaking. this is what is termed as ‘leakage’ – the code associated with one domain is ‘leaking’ into another (holmes, 2008, p. 25). and that is normal and occurs regularly, especially when both participants share more than one variety. this leakage is sometimes acknowledged as code-switching. bagus also talks in jakartan indonesian (a mixture of indonesian and native jakarta, betawi language, with the typical loe (you), gue (i), kagak (no), combined with the yuppies language which mixes indonesian with english. he uses this variety when he is with his friends hanging out at the café. he uses this code to show that he belongs to this group (social identity) and this shows his social relationship with his close friends. to negotiate a submission date of an assignment he speaks in english to his teacher. this usage is governed by the social dimension: there is a degree of formality, status or role, and function of the interaction, i.e. to negotiate a submission date (holmes, 2008, p. 27). bagus uses the formal type of indonesian when interacting with the priest in his church and with his employer. both interactions show the social distance with the interlocutor and are usually done with a certain degree of formality, aiming at different goals: deciding the wedding day (in interaction with the priest) and getting a promotion (in interaction with his employer). code-switching code-switching, a common practice of communication in the multilingual speech community, has been the topic of many research work in the shrinking world where people from all over the world are enabled to communicate with each other as a result of technological advancement and a more connected world. gumperz (1982, pp. 60-61) classified code-switching into two types: 1. situational code-switching: caused by situation change, such as settings (class, work, home, etc.), kinds of activities (ceremonies, public speaking, formal negotiations, verbal games, etc.), and categories of speakers (family members, friends, government officials, social inferiors, strangers, etc.). the users of this type of code-switching are usually more aware of the situation change and the required language appropriate to the situation. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 120 2. metaphorical code-switching: motivated by the main concern of communication, i.e. the communicative effect of what they are saying. the switch is usually automatic, not consciously recalled. this code-switching occurs in the same minimal speech act, thus the change or switch seamlessly glides from one language to another. most of the users are not aware of which language is used, especially when the two languages are used in communication in the communities. romaine (1992) defined code-switching as “the use of more than one language, variety, or style by a speaker within an utterance or discourse, or between different interlocutors or situations” (p. 110). then, code-switching is seen as an action to address certain situational changes in an utterance or discourse. in line with this, dornyei (1995, p. 58) suggested seeing code-switching in communication as one of the communication strategies, i.e. strategies to minimize or overcome potential communication breakdowns. thus, code-switching serves as a kind of ‘way out’ in a difficult situation where communication flow is at stake. in efl classes in indonesia, code-switching between indonesian and english is often used to foster better understanding between learners and teachers as well as to simplify new and complex ideas. skiba (1997) concluded that ‘code-switching may be viewed as an extension to language for bilingual speakers rather than interference and from other perspectives it may be viewed as interference, depending on the situation and context in which it occurs’. this conclusion was made based on the notion proposed by crystal (1987) that ‘switching occurs when a speaker: needs to compensate for some difficulty, express solidarity, convey an attitude or show social respect’. holmes (2008, p. 35) identified that code-switching usually occurs within a domain or social situation and indicates a change in the social situation, oftentimes in a situation where there is a new participant in the exchange or communication. holmes (2008, pp. 35-39) also managed to identify some reasons and functions of code-switching. they are summarized as follows: 1. code-switching within a domain or social situation: as an expression of solidarity, as a signal of group membership and shared ethnicity with the addressee, and a change in the other dimensions, such as status relation between two people or the formality of their interaction. 2. code-switching within a speech event: to discuss a particular topic – technical terms, quotes – for an affective (on purpose) as well as a referential function. auer (1998, p. 1) reiterated the necessity to look code-switching as ‘a verbal action, the ‘alternating use of two or more codes within one conversational episode’. auer (1998, pp. 1-2) shed a light on the necessity to focus on the ‘conversational event’ of code-switching. it is clear then that code-switching largely occurs in the context of certain real-time social interactions of two or more people. code-switching occurs mostly in bilingual communities where speakers share more than one language employ their ability to code-switch or mix their language during their communication. code-switching has been identified as a useful tool in the indonesian efl context. english in indonesia is usually learned in an llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 121 environment where most of the learners share the same first language, i.e. indonesian. not only the learners but also the teachers, whose first language is also indonesian, usually speak in indonesian as well to bridge communication flow, particularly in low-proficient classes. the learners in these classes usually need more scaffolding in the learning process. indonesian english teachers are generally willing to use indonesian as the language of instruction in most english classroom settings in indonesian. this situation, consequently, leads to a stronger tendency for the indonesian efl learners to do code-switching in communication. kachru (1990) offered a perspective by embracing the fact that when english is in contact with other languages, it will be influenced by some features of the language, especially vocabulary and the way people use the languages, precisely code-mixing or code-switching. he categorized countries into the concept of threemodel of world englishes, acknowledging english usage all over the world as follows: 1. inner circle countries: the usa, the uk, canada, australia, and new zealand 2. outer circle countries: bangladesh, ghana, india, kenya, malaysia, nigeria, pakistan, the philippines, singapore, sri lanka, tanzania, and zambia 3. expanding circle countries: china, egypt, indonesia, israel, japan, korea, nepal, saudi arabia, taiwan, russia, zimbabwe... in countries categorized as outer and expanding circle, code-switching is a common phenomenon as those countries usually have more than one language in use. for example, pariona (2018) reported that the philippines has many regional languages, filipino, and english. the regional languages are spoken in specific regions; filipino is the official and serves as the national language used in public schools, televised media, and cinema; and english is the official language primarily used in printed publications. the code-switching in the philippines gained a great recognition of taglish, a mix of tagalog and english. taglish has been viewed as a mode of discourse and a linguistic resource in the bilingual’s repertoire (bautista, 2004). sawe (2017) reported that south korea is home to korean, english, and japanese. korean is the official language, while english is promoted as a second language and used in trade, academics, and business. japanese is spoken by the older generation of south korea particularly in busan. more and more research works in the outerand expanding-circle countries show that the use of code-switching in communication is more and more commonly understood and accepted as a common phenomenon in contemporary settings, such as in china (bin & mimi, 2014), in israel (shay, 2015), in iraq (al-ani & ibrahim, 2015). there seem, at this point, to be more and more evidence that a language is universal in the behavior of multilingual speakers, or – to employ a shorthand definition of code-switching – using several languages or language varieties in the course of a conversation is based on conversation-internal mechanisms observable in various social contexts all over the world. code-switching is then seen as one of the ways people use their language repertoire. following gumperz (1982), identifying code-switching in communication assumes that the language users have llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 122 at least two languages they use in interaction and that in situational events, they are aware of the existence of the languages and the purpose of code-switching. methods this mini-research involved 50 young female indonesian aged 18 – 20 years old. hailed from places in indonesia, they lived in jakarta, doing their study at stiks tarakanita jakarta, indonesia. they were selected purposively based on accessibility and availability at the time of data collection. the data were collected using a questionnaire administered to the participants. it was an adapted version of an open-ended interview protocol developed by martinez (2013) consisting of ten interview questions: the first six questions were used to identify the languages used by the participants in their personal and social lives, while the last four questions were used to identify whether they were aware of code-switching in communication. they were asked to give reasons for their answers as well, especially the reasons for doing code-switching. this mini-research was conducted to identify, first, the participants’ language awareness of their language use in communication, including code-switching, and second, the reasons for their code-switching. the data were tabulated and presented in percentages. they were then analyzed and explained. the reasons for codeswitching were categorized following holmes (2008). the open-question questionnaire was posed to prompt the participants to give some explanations to their answers. the complete set of the questionnaire was available in the appendix. findings and discussion the results of the questionnaire are presented below in two parts. the first part presents the participants’ language awareness of their language use, including codeswitching, and the second part presents the participants’ reasons for doing codeswitching. language awareness of language use the participants showed language awareness of languages they use in communication. they were aware that they had a variety of languages in their repertoire. the majority, 92% of the participants claimed that their first language was bahasa indonesia or indonesian. this is an undeniable fact as indonesian is the national and official language in indonesia used in almost all aspects of life, from children's upbringing to education at all levels, from daily communication to business communication to media and politics. it seems that just like other indonesian children in general, the participants were raised in indonesian. only a very small percentage, 8% of the participants, claimed that they were raised in both indonesian and their respective local languages, namely sundanese, javanese, bataknese, and manadonese, to name some. when the participants communicate with their immediate family members, parents and siblings, 74% of them claimed that they used indonesian. some 16% claimed to use both indonesian and a local language at home. ten percent of the participants claimed that they used both indonesian and english at home. it is not surprising though because more and more people are acquiring and actively using llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 123 english in communication. this confirms lauder (2008), crystal (2018), kachru (1990). ninety-two percent of the participants claimed that indonesian was their bestspoken language, a not surprising finding due to its function as a national language and the official language of indonesia. around 6% of them claimed both indonesian and english as their best-spoken languages. again, this confirms what kachru (1990), lauder (2008), and crystal (2018) put forward. a very small percentage (2%) claimed a certain local language as their best-spoken language, but it seems that they used it in their limited circle only. the finding showed that the participants relied on their best-spoken language, indonesian, to communicate with their friends in their family and social settings: family members, teachers, friends, and even strangers. indonesian was also the language the participants used when they communicate with friends outside the classrooms. 84% of them used indonesian with reasons as follows: 1. it’s a familiar language. 2. it’s easy to use. 3. all of my friends use indonesian every day. 4. it’s more comfortable to talk in indonesian than in english. 5. i don’t like talking in english with my friends; many of them don’t understand english. 6. when i started talking in english, my friends gave me a nasty look. a few participants (4%) claimed that they used both a local language and indonesian to communicate with their close friends outside classroom settings sharing the same local language; thus, the goal was to show that they belong to certain cultures and communities, according to holmes (2008). it was the same reason when some of them (4%) did code-switching between indonesian and mandarin. some participants who were more capable of english used both indonesian and english to communicate with their friends (8%). they did code-switching between indonesian and english citing the following reasons: 1. just want to try it with some friends. 2. preparing a talk for speaking class. 3. i don’t want to be judged by others as snobbish. 4. i don’t want to be misunderstood by other people. most of the participants did code-switching by using indonesian as the main language and english words were inserted in the utterance or sentence. this phenomenon confirms auer (1998) who stated that the most common form of codeswitching is discourse-related insertions. in their education domain, the participants were identified to do code-switching from english to indonesian and vice versa. more than half of the participants (54%) did code-switching between indonesian and english when they spoke to their teachers in the classroom and it was limited in english classes only. they did this llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 124 for the sake of clarity and understanding. only 8% of them used english only in english classes and 38% used indonesian, particularly in non-english subjects. it seems that the classroom was a safe place where most of the participants used english and did code-switching between indonesian and english to bridge a communication gap. this is in line with sert (2005) stating that eldridge’s (1996) concept of ‘equivalence’ functions as a defensive mechanism for students as it allows the students to continue communication by bridging the gaps resulting from foreign language incompetence. this type of code-switching is only possible when the two interlocutors share the same language. in the indonesian efl context, both teachers and students share the same first language (l1), indonesian. this prompted the students to codeswitch between english and indonesian. first language (l1) is very dominant in language use. 92% of the participants admitted that they talked to their teacher in his/her office in indonesian, even if this particular teacher was an english teacher. english was used only when they talked to english teachers in classrooms. code-switching between indonesian and english was used for clarification. only 8% of them admitted that they did code-switching between indonesian and english when they talked to their teacher on her/his office, stating the following reasons: 1. indonesian is easy to use. 2. indonesian is more effective in communication. 3. my english teachers also speak indonesian. 4. i don’t know some words in english. to facilitate communication, people tend to suit their languages to the situation they face by using their most familiar language and sometimes, by code-switching. for example, there is a tendency for indonesian to greet english teachers in english, saying, “good morning, sir” or ‘good morning, mam”, but they greet non-english teachers in indonesian, saying, “pagi, pak” or “pagi, bu”. this is in line with holmes (2008) who stated that “code-switching is used to show that they belong to a certain group and share ethnicity with an addressee, even though they are not really capable of using the language, they are willing to utter brief and simple phrase” (holmes, 2008, p. 25) holmes (2008, p. 38) stated further that a switch may also reflect a change in the formality of interaction. this is obvious in the different languages they used when the participants spoke to their english teachers in the classroom (i.e. formal interaction) and in their offices (i.e. informal interaction). table 2 summarized the findings of the participants’ language awareness of their language use. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 125 table 2. the participants’ language awareness of their language use no settings indonesian indonesian & local language engl ish indonesian & english indonesian & other* 1 first language 92% 8% 2 language spoken at home 74% 16% 10% 3 best-spoken language 92% 2% 6% 4 language used with friends outside classroom 84% 4% 8% 4% 5 language used with teacher in classroom 38% 8% 54% 6 language used with teacher in his/her office 92% 8% note: some students mentioned mandarin reasons for code-switching being young people in the metropolitan city of jakarta in this era, the participants were exposed to english usage in communication. this condition was amplified by technological advancement which supports more platforms of communication and opportunities to communicate in english and other languages, as well as the opportunity to communicate with people from all over the world. all of these formed a fertile ground for code-switching. the last four questions in the questionnaire inquired about the participants’ awareness of code-switching and their reaction to this phenomenon. table 3 below shows the participants’ awareness of code-switching. table 3. the participants’ awareness of code-switching questions yes no 7 do you switch between indonesian and english? 92% 8% 8 do you notice when you switch between indonesian and english? 75% 25% 9 do you notice when other people switch between indonesian and english? 96% 4% 10 do you like being able to switch between indonesian and english? 86% 14% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 126 using a language in communication, including code-switching, implies an awareness of languages and language use. ninety-two percent of the participants were aware of their code-switching and admitted that they switched between indonesian and english with reasons as follows: 1. code-switching helps me clarify certain ideas or intentions. 2. i have the words just on the tip of their tongues, but i can’t let it out. 3. i don’t have a lot of vocabulary to express what i am thinking. 4. some english words sound good to express some words in indonesian. 5. i can use both languages well. on one side, because of their lack of vocabulary to express their thought, the participants inserted the words in indonesian into their english utterances. on the other side, proficiency in both indonesian and english triggered code-switching. this, once again, confirm auer (1998) on one of his categorization of codeswitching, i.e. discourse-related insertions. 8% of them claimed they did not do code-switching between indonesian and english, stating some reasons (some wrote their reasons in indonesian) as follows: 1. saya tidak bisa berbicara dalam bahasa inggris (i cannot speak in english). 2. kalau gonta-ganti bahasa, malah pusing (code switching gave me headache). 3. i don’t like mixing languages in communication. seventy-five percent of the participants claimed that they noticed their codeswitching. this showed that they were aware of their doing code-switching between these two languages. they did it consciously because of its function, i.e. to convey their messages in communication. it seems that they inserted indonesian words into their english as a communication strategy, most likely to overcome a lack of vocabulary or grammatical problems they had. twenty-five percent of the participants did not notice that they were codeswitching, claiming that they just did it spontaneously. it is likely because both languages were in their language repertoire and, both languages were used seamlessly. spontaneity happens and is usually triggered by the need of codewitching in communication. this is exactly what was pointed by verschueren (1999, p. 119) when he stated that ‘code-switching, a cover term for language or code alternation, is an extremely common occurrence and a flavored strategy, especially in oral discourse. it may serve many different functions’. in social settings, it was identified that 96% of the participants claimed that they noticed other people’s code-switching between indonesian and english: their teachers, people on tvs, their friends, their family members. the participants agreed that people did code-switching to bridge the communication gap. this confirms holmes (2008) on one of the functions code-switching, i.e. to discuss a particular topic for an affective and referential function. 4% of them did not even notice other people’s code-switching. when asked whether they liked being able to switch between indonesian and english, 86% of the participants answered “yes”. it seems that they were positive towards this ability, citing reasons such as 1. it (being able to do code-switching)’s cool. 2. it (being able to do code-switching)’s fun. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 127 3. i’m proud of it (being able to do code-switching). 4. it (code-switching) helps me practice english. 5. i can show off a bit about my ability. 6. i want to be able to speak like native speakers, so i try my best. 7. i’m proud of my achievement. it seems that these young girls considered themselves using english mixed with indonesian as something to be proud of. according to holmes (2008), this is what is called code-switching for affective function and at the same time, signaling that they are members of a kind of english-speaking community in the making. meanwhile, 14% of them disliked code-switching citing some reasons as follows: 1. it is confusing. 2. i don’t know english much. 3. i don’t want other people to misunderstand me. 4. i want to speak english well, not mixing it with indonesian. table 4 summarized the findings of the participants’ reasons for codeswitching. table 4. the participants’ reasons of code-switching no reasons to discuss a particular topic 1 code-switching helps me clarify certain ideas or intentions. 2 some english words sound good to express some words in indonesian. 3 preparing a talk for speaking class. 4 indonesian is more effective for communication. 5 indonesian is easy to use. 6 it (code-switching) helps me practice english. to signal a change of dimension 7 my english teachers also speak indonesian. 8 i can use both languages well. to show affective function 9 just want to try it with some friends. 10 it (being able to do code-switching)’s cool. 11 it (being able to do code-switching) ‘s fun. 12 i’m proud of it (being able to do code-switching). 13 i don’t want to be judged by others as snobbish. 14 i don’t want to be misunderstood by other people. to signal a group membership 15 i want to be able to speak like native speakers, so i try my best. 16 i have the words just on the tip of their tongues, but i can’t let it out. 17 i don’t have a lot of vocabulary to express what i am thinking. 18 i don’t know some words in english. 19 i can show off a bit about my ability. 20 i’m proud of my achievement. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 128 conclusion the participants were identified to have an awareness of the language in their repertoire and the language they used in communication in their domains. the majority of them claimed indonesian as their first language, and therefore, they were very keen on using it at home with their family members as well as with their close-knit such as classmates and friends outside the classroom, with their teachers in the classroom and their offices. this is not a surprising finding as indonesian is the national and official language in indonesia. a small number of them claimed to be raised in one of the many local languages in indonesia and to have an ability to use it in their close-knit sharing the same local language. a few participants claimed to use both indonesian and english in communication with family members and some friends signaling that their interlocutors shared english. some participants even claimed english as their bestspoken language. in the education domain, most of the participants were identified to tend to use english as a means of communication with their english teachers but limited to the use in the classroom only. when the participants talked to the teachers in their office, they tended to switch into indonesian considering that they shared the same language with their teachers. it seems that the participants were aware of their codeswitching between indonesian and english. the participants were identified to do code-switching for some purposes: to discuss a particular topic, to signal a change of dimension, to signal a group membership or shared ethnicity, to show affective functions, and to express solidarity. code-switching is a growing and expanding research field, especially because of the recent development where languages co-exist and intertwine in a more complicated context than ever. this phenomenon surely invites researchers to look deeper and further, embracing the concept of world englishes proposed by kachru (1990). this study only touches a tiny part of the big 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(1995). introducing language awareness. london: penguin. verschueren, j. (1999). understanding pragmatics. london: edward arnold. retrieved from https://www.pdfdrive.com/understanding-pragmaticsd186951878.html llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 207 extensive reading for indonesian university students: an alternative framework for implementation made frida yulia universitas negeri malang home base: sanata dharma university, yogyakarta frida@usd.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.210210 received 9 july 2018; revised 17 september 2018; accepted 29 september 2018 abstract one recommended way to promote interest in foreign language reading is through extensive reading. this paper aims at revisiting extensive reading along with its pertaining principles. in addition, it proposes an alternative framework to implement extensive reading with indonesian efl university students. it will specifically cast some light on how to implement supervised (or instructed) extensive reading. this kind of reading has gained popularity over the years, ever since it was introduced to the realm of foreign language learning. it has been shown to bring a lot of benefits for l2 learners in many respects, and, consequently, it has been implemented in a variety of contexts. however, the implementation of extensive reading has sometimes been criticized for not observing the outlined principles, for instance, in the issues of the absence of pleasure in its undertaking and the inclusion of inappropriate post-reading activities. keywords: extensive reading, alternative framework, university student introduction the ineluctability of foreign language reading is obvious whenever one is learning a foreign language. reading is important since it is a way to learn (clarity, 2007). channuan and wasanasomsithi (2013) state that reading is a skill which is vital as it is demanded for successful use of the language as well as for the pursuit of higher education and future career. susser and robb (1990) add that reading is the most emphasized skill in traditional fl teaching and has become the mainstay of efl instruction in many countries. due to the minimum language exposure that foreign language learners have, extensive reading is believed to be powerful to promote interest in foreign language reading. stoller (2015, p. 152) avows that “the best way to help students learn to read and improve their reading skills is through reading itself.” besides, she opines that giving students freedom to choose what they read will empower them and will result in more engagement in reading. this paper aims at revisiting the concepts and principles pertaining to extensive reading. on top of that, it attempts to propose how supervised er program, which places extensive reading as the main activity, can be implemented in indonesian efl university context. theory llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 208 extensive reading extensive reading was firstly introduced to foreign language teaching by harold palmer (kelly, 1969 as cited in day, 2015), who views extensive reading as reading activities that students do for enjoyment and information. stoller (2015, p. 154) defines extensive reading as “an approach to the teaching and learning of reading in which learners read large quantities of reading materials, in and out of class, that are easily understood, interesting, and enjoyable.” grabe and stoller (in waring & mclean, 2015) also concur with the definition. extensive reading is aimed at encouraging learners to read extensively material which interests them as well as to develop cognitive and met cognitive skills for reading comprehension improvement (channuan & wasanasomsithi, 2013). besides, renandya (in brown, 2012, p. 11) avers that extensive reading creates “an environment that nurtures a lifelong reading habit.” extensive reading serves as an excellent means of supplying rich target language input, particularly in efl setting. it deals with reading a lot of selfselected texts which are easy as well as interesting and doing few or no exercise afterwards. it becomes a strategy to promote interest in foreign language reading (yulia, 2011). its goal is to promote fluency and enjoyment in the process of reading (clarity, 2007) as confirmed by day (2013, pp. 10-11) saying “they read for information and enjoyment, with the primary goal of achieving a general, overall meaning of the reading material.” moreover, warring (2011) augments, extensive reading is done to promote reading speed, general comprehension and reading skill. what should happen in such an activity, he argues further, is read, which means “read quickly and . . .enjoyably with . . . adequate comprehension so they . . .don’t need a dictionary” (waring, 2011, p. 3). since reading gain should be without pain as day and bamford suggest (in day, 2013), whenever students find reading materials which are not interesting or too difficult, they are encouraged to stop and find another. the underlying reason is that er tasks should minimize the frequent stopping and restarting that occur whenever students consult dictionaries while working on the task (stoller, 2015). nonetheless, they are encouraged to make their reading comfort zone bigger overtime; that is, to extend the range of materials that they can read easily and confidently (day, 2013). extensive reading may be practiced in one of these three forms depending on students’ needs and institutional constraints (bamford & day, 1997; day, 2015). first is supervised (or instructed) extensive reading. it places extensive reading as the main focus of a reading course which is combined with a variety of followup activities. second is blended extensive and intensive reading. it employs extensive reading as an addition to an ongoing reading course whereby students read books that they select for homework. third is independent (= non-instructed) extensive reading. in this type, extensive reading serves as an extracurricular activity with the teacher guides and encourages students whose fond of reading has been developed and who meet regularly to discuss what they read. based on jeon and day’s (2016) study, effective er programs take place when extensive reading is incorporated as part of the curriculum compared to other types of extensive reading and when it is held in efl settings. moreover, they unveil that llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 209 the effects of extensive reading are bigger in adults compared to children or adolescent groups. adults are deemed to be cognitively more able to start reading extensively due to their experience, background knowledge and vocabulary. moreover, low effects on adolescent may originate in the test-centered curriculum in the schools and in their low interest in extensive reading since it provides no direct impact on their grades (jeon & day, 2016). extensive reading has brought plenty of benefits for l2 learners. bell (1998) claims that extensive reading provides comprehensible input which facilitates acquisition, enhances general language competence, improves vocabulary knowledge and promotes motivation to read. additionally, extensive reading deepens grammar knowledge as readers are confronted with the use of language in context. a number of research has demonstrated the value of extensive reading in improving reading fluency (beglar, hunt, & kite, 2012), reading level (mermelstein, 2014), reading rate gains (beglar & hunt, 2014), reading comprehension (edy, 2014) and writing ability (mermelstein, 2015). moreover, it promotes positive attitude toward foreign language reading (yamashita, 2013; ro & chen, 2014; tien, 2015), increases motivation (chien & yu, 2015; de burghhirabe & feryok, 2013), reduces anxiety (ro, 2013) and fosters autonomy which leads to learning success (channuan & wasanasomsithi. 2013; dickinson, 1995; mede, i̇nceçay, & i̇nceçay, 2013). furthermore, it also builds new vocabulary knowledge and expands students’ understanding of words they previously learn (stoeckel, reagan & hann, 2012; waring, 2011). despite the attested benefits which extensive reading has on language proficiency, some teachers or schools show little commitment to incorporate extensive reading and thus make extensive reading not widely practiced in either esl or efl setting (jeon & day, 2016). the reasons, according to stoller (2015), stem among others from the need for plentiful reading resources, teachers’ resistance to change their way of teaching reading, the misunderstanding which views silent reading as no teaching or no learning happening, and instructional time constraints. for these reasons, it is vital that teachers, administrators, and policy makers be informed and educated of the benefits of extensive reading over traditional teaching (jeon & day, 2015 & 2016). only by convincing them will er approach be possibly encouraged and adopted in school settings. principles of extensive reading according to macalister (2015), extensive reading is in fact an easy concept, but it is oftentimes misunderstood by many teachers and researchers and it results in some confusion about the pertinent literature. alternatively, he avows, it has been over-complicated. it is true that there is no a one-fits-all approach to extensive reading practice. extensive reading should be better understood as a continuum, ranging from pure er in which all the principles are observed to fringe er in which extensive reading is name only (day, 2015). notwithstanding the differences, they share three elements, namely quantity, ease, and choice, which usually exist in some form in any programs (brown, 2012). in this section, the principles of extensive reading will be revisited to find out which principles are obligatory for any er programs to be successful. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 210 day and bamford (1998, 2002 as cited in day, 2015) outline top ten principles for implementing extensive reading. they are: (1) the reading material is easy, (2) a variety of reading material on a wide range of topics is available, (3) learners choose what they want to read, (4) learners read as much as possible, (5) the purpose of reading is usually related to pleasure, information, and general understanding, (6) reading is its own reward, (7) reading speed is usually faster rather than slower, (8) reading is individual and silent, (9) teachers orient and guide their students, and (10) the teacher is a role model of a reader. the principles, waring & mclean emphasize (2015), should not be seen as rigid prescription but rather as mere characteristics of successful extensive reading programs. macalister (2015: 123) has the same opinion in that he views the top ten principles as the guidelines rather than commandments. researchers and teachers have varied views about how extensive reading should be run; thus, it would be critical that there are general characteristics that every researcher agrees upon as to what constitutes extensive reading and what does not. waring and mclean (2015) spell out the essential core attributes and variable dimensions of extensive reading. according to them (2015, p. 164), the essential core attributes of er should address “fast, fluent comprehension sustained over extended periods with minimal distractions.” they assert further that the focal element to decide whether reading extensively is done is by looking at the way the text is processed and not on the product. waring and mclean (2015, p. 162) argue that …the central concern for most researchers when deciding whether their subjects are ‘reading extensively’ is whether they are fluently comprehending the meanings and ideas in the text, or not. in a broad sense whether the subjects are reading extensively or not, is a matter of how text is processed, i.e. smoothly and with high, fluent comprehension. by contrast, the products of the research – e.g. what is learnt, how much reading is done – serve as the independent variables. put it another way, reading pains should be minimal; otherwise, the activity stops being extensive reading because the focus is more on the language forms rather than ideas and meaning in it. as for the variable dimensions of extensive reading, they are influenced by pedagogical aims, research questions, and given practicality within the setting. they among others include “amount of time spent reading, what is read, where it is read, whether the reading is required, and who selects the texts” (waring & mclean, 2015, p. 164). based on these ten principles, macalister (2015, p. 122) tries to categorize them into four broad categories, namely the nature of reading, the nature of reading material, what the teachers do and what the learners do. the first category includes principles (5), (6), (7) and (8). the second category comprises principles (1) and (2). the third category contains principles (9) and (10). meanwhile, the last category consists of principles (3) and (4). macalister (2015, p. 126) proposes a different idea. considering the nature of reading, the nature of reading material, what the teachers do and what the learners do, he argues that the top ten principles can be reduced to seven, which are compulsory for extensive reading to occur. as these are obligatory, he claims, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 211 they are closer to commandments. by this he refers to principles (1), (4), (5), (7), (8), (9) and (10). he also extends one of the seven principles as being “learners read as much as possible in a regularly scheduled, time-limited period” (2015, p. 127). the activity may be carried out in the classroom, as an easier way, or as an out-of-class activity through negotiation with the students, as long as reading activity becomes the daily routine. in contrast, jeon and day (2015, p. 302) state that the key principles to any er programs aiming at improving l2 reading proficiency are only five. they are: (1) the reading material is easy, (2) learners choose what they want to read, (3) learners read as much as possible, (4) reading is individual and silent, and (5) teachers orient and guide their students. they argue that er programs that use the five core principles can work successfully in both n efl and esl settings. theory application setting up an extensive reading program extensive reading should be included in any curriculum designed to foster l2 reading in order that it may yield the expected learning outcomes (anderson, 2014; waring, 2011). to set up an er program, there are some aspects to consider (day, 2013, pp. 11-17). such consideration will guarantee that the program is managed in an effective and positive ways in order to be fruitful (clarity, 2007). once the preparation is done, teachers can start introducing and advertising the er program to students. they should provide necessary guidance as the extensive reading is done. also, they need to inform students about the benefits of extensive reading so as to spark motivation on them. as for the materials for extensive reading, many practitioners advocate the use of graded readers. however, susser and robb (1990) declare that graded readers are not the only possibilities. they may take the form of any texts in the target language that is within the proficiency level of the students. varied collections comprising graded materials, children's literature, literature for young readers, popular writings, materials written for first-language readers and online texts are recommended. the cost of setting up a library, which is expensive, can be greatly reduced if teachers replace paper books with digital books. moreover, research has demonstrated higher effect on the use of web-based stories than paper books (jeon & day, 2016). concerning the genre, anderson (2014, p. 7) claims that reading programs should employ a balanced approach whereby students should be exposed to both narrative and expository texts depending on the students’ proficiency level. the reason is that the two genres have different vocabulary in spite of the same theme. teachers may determine the target of extensive reading that students should achieve, which can be expressed in books, pages, chapters, or amount of time. the amount of reading to do should be flexible to fit the students’ reading ability and schedules. there is no rule determining the amount of reading to be done extensively, but light (1970) as cited in susser and robb (1990) recommends a rule of thumb that the length of the tasks should be sufficient that the students and the teacher will not be tempted to talk them through in class. to give a concrete llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 212 clue, research suggests that minimum one book per week at the students’ own level is sufficient (day, 2003; stoeckel, reagan & hann, 2012; waring, 2011). credit can also be given to students to enhance motivation to do the reading. it can later be integrated with the assessment and grading issues that teachers should do. as for where to read, mostly the reading will be done out of class; however, class time may be used to show students the importance of reading. outside reading should be given more priority to give students longer periods of time to read longer texts (anderson, 2014). furthermore, monitoring of the reading activities should also be done to confirm that students are reading and that they are not struggling with the materials. sometimes students will need help in finding their comfort level and will need advice about finding suitable material. therefore, waring (2011) suggests, it is important to hold a silent reading time whereby they are reading their book in class. during this time, the teacher should go around the class monitoring that the students are reading at the right level. teachers can individually talk to each of them asking if their book is easy and if they understand it. if they are not enjoying the book, or it is too difficult, they should stop and read something else. susser and robb (1990) pinpoint that in er programs teachers should encourage and assist students with their reading. this can be done by conferences during or after class time, and by checking and commenting on written summaries that students do of their reading. jeon and day (2015) maintain that the role of teachers in er programs will differ to varying degrees depending on the age of the participants. whenever it is done with adults, the teachers can play a role as a facilitator or a role model since adults can read independently without much assistance. with younger learners, teachers should be more dominant in providing scaffolding. whichever the case, they view that the success of er programs relies to a large extent on skillful and enthusiastic teachers who employ the five core principles as outlined in the previous section. furthermore, in spite of teacher’s effort, the success of er programs depends also on the systematic support provided by the school and government, for instance, in providing diverse books through school libraries. to maintain interest, previous research (haider & akhter, 2012) suggests various interesting post-reading activities be employed. e.g. writing a book report, making presentation on a selected book, keeping a diary on a given book, discussing the books with classmates, or copying interesting, new words and expressions into a notebook after reading a story. yet, comprehension question and summary writing should be avoided. waring (2011) adds such activities as writing (or giving an oral) short report on each book, making posters, drawing a picture of a scene, talking about the characters and the plot, and writing reaction reports. students may also form reading groups in which they can do such activities as selecting book together and discussing various aspects of the contents of the book (jacobs & renandya, 2015). peer interaction, according to jacobs & renandya (2015, pp. 108-109), may have some benefits for students, namely: (a) they can motivate each other to read more, (b) they can offer each other suggestions of what to read or not read, (c) they can help each other understand llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 213 what they are reading, and (d) discussing with peers can enhance student enjoyment of reading and can push them to think more deeply about what they read. in addition to allowing students to collaborate with peers, post-reading activities are supposed to stimulate or trigger creative response or critical thoughts (fenton-smith, 2008). they should be varied enough to ascertain that students can respond to them in different ways throughout the program and hence will make them regard the tasks as a thought-provoking extension of the reading process. jacobs and renandya (2015, pp. 106-108) suggest plenty of follow-up activities in extensive reading programs which can make extensive reading even more student-centered. to name a few, they are oral or written review of the book in which they convince others to read (or not to read) it, telling the most interesting/exciting part of the book, designing poster to advertise the book, and many more. one last issue in setting an er program is assessment and grading. following krashen’s input hypothesis, many people often discourage the assessment of extensive reading because they believe it may produce negative effects on students’ attitude toward reading (stoeckel, reagan & hann, 2012). nonetheless, teachers are required by the educational institutions to assess each course. on top of that, teachers may need to know whether students really do the reading and what they obtain from it. with regard to this, there has been some tension existing between autonomy and institutional education in assessment. brown (2012) recommends that er program be implemented without testing. giving them a test, according to waring (2011, p. 10), will make them think that “all reading must and will be tested, which goes against the spirit of extensive reading, which is to help learners to read for themselves without pressure so that they can build a life-long love of reading in english.” on the other hand, assessment is required. to resolve this, fenton-smith (2008, p. 905) shares a trick by striking “a balance between making students accountable and making students comfortable.” one of the er principles states that reading should be its own reward whereby freedom and independence are nurtured. it means to say that extensive reading emphasizes the intrinsic reward of reading instead of extrinsic reward materialized in the form of grade. however, most educational institutions always demand grades as evidence of accountability. thus, it makes assessment a challenging task. in the case of assessment and grading demand, teachers should strive in such a way for method of assessment which is simple, maintains the focus on reading, and does not yield negative backwash. some standard unit of amount which has been discussed earlier may serve as the basis for students to measure their own progress, and for teachers to compare students and to assign grades. additionally, stoeckel, reagan and hann (2012, p. 189) recommend short quizzes as a means of assessing students because their research findings have lent support that er quizzes have no impact on reading attitude. short quizzes are preferred because they are “quicker (allowing more time for reading), require actual reading of the material, and cannot be plagiarized” (stoeckel, reagan & hann, 2012, p. 154). it may last 2-3 minutes llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 214 and should not be in-depth forms. besides, the use of quizzes may become external motivation to make students read as well as to verify that they are reading. nonetheless, it is worth noting that er programs do not provide instant benefits (jeon & day, 2016). it takes time for the benefits to emerge. the best way to maintain students’ motivation over time is by making extensive reading part of the curriculum (jeon & day, 2015 & 2016; waring, 2011) because this scheme enables students to do the reading during classroom hours and extend it outside the classroom. an alternative framework to implement extensive reading extensive reading has been implemented in diverse language learning contexts. many of those programs incorporate er as addition to an ongoing reading course, i.e. blended extensive and intensive reading. alternatively, it is placed as an extracurricular activity, or termed independent (= non-instructed) extensive reading. yet, very rarely does it stand as supervised (or instructed) extensive reading whereby it becomes the main focus of a reading course. on top of that, there are criticisms on er implementation as some programs do not follow best practices. haider and akhter (2012), for instance, find that the implementation is still shadowed with worries about passing exam. many aspects of the implementation of extensive reading do not conform to the er principles. besides, there is a pressing need to include interesting and appropriate post reading activities. likewise, waring (2011) claim that many er programs have faltered because of lack of interest and enthusiasm for er, inadequate planning, poor execution, and insufficient resources. for these reasons, the writer will elucidate her idea about how to implement extensive reading as the main focus of a reading course in indonesian university context. the scheme of incorporating er into part of the curriculum is put forward because it is rarely applied in indonesian context, meanwhile previous research has shown that this form of er is the most effective and that the effects of er are bigger in adults (jeon & day, 2015). moreover, university level is deemed appropriate as a platform to apply this scheme. it is not constrained by test-centered curriculum as rigidly as primary or secondary schools are. the discussion will be presented following richards and rodgers’ (1982) definition of procedure (in susser & robb, 1990, p. 165). they are (a) resources in terms of time, space, and equipment; (b) techniques and tactics used by teachers; and (c) exercises and practice activities. a. resources: time, space, equipment the course is designed for 2x50 minutes class meeting per week. before embarking on the program, teachers should explain what the program will be like so that the students know what is expected of them. besides, they need to be informed about the benefits that extensive reading has in order to make them motivated. the materials needed throughout the course are reading materials which the students should select on their own based on their interest and proficiency level. the students may find the materials from the university library, bookshops, any other libraries which are accessible, or else they can find them online. thus, there llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 215 is no need to worry about unavailability of reading resources. in the case of unavailable library or internet connection, teachers may provide book-swap scheme with the class or using used books. to follow what literature has suggested, the genre types to be covered throughout the course are narrative and expository texts. they may choose graded materials, children's literature, high interest-low vocabulary books, literature for young readers, or popular writings. as for the place to read, mostly the reading activity will be done out of class. students will be allotted more time to read longer texts. class time will be spent on individual reading, monitoring and doing varied post-reading activities. teacher should determine the target to be achieved for one semester by considering the existing number of meetings in that semester. this can be expressed in books, pages, chapters, or amount of time. on top of that, teacher may also create credit system to foster students’ external motivation. b. techniques and tactics used by the teachers teachers need to ascertain that the minimum of five core principles of er exist in the program. the more principles to include, the better. as teachers play a central role in the success of extensive reading, they should show high motivation and enthusiasm. stoller (2015) claims that instructional setting nowadays holds scaffold sustained reading (scsr); thus, teachers play the role as guide or facilitator rather than as model reader. what teachers should do is monitoring students’ engagement, text selection, and text comprehension. during in-class extensive reading, the teachers circulate and interact quietly with individual students to monitor whether the students are on task and that they have chosen books of appropriate level. if felt necessary, teachers may provide help for students in finding suitable material at their comfort level. as the program is intended for adult learners, teachers’ role is less domineering. concerning assessment and grading issues, teachers may employ authentic assessment. the focus of such assessment is more on the process rather than the product. scoring rubrics as the tool may be used to record and provide score for students. besides, teachers may also use portfolios to keep track of students’ work. the credit given as incentive based on the predetermined target may be taken into consideration in deciding students’ final mark. if deemed necessary, teachers may also administer short quizzes. c. exercises and practice activities the comprehensive er project will be divided into in-class activities and outof-class activity. after giving the orientation on the first day of semester, the next meeting students should come to class bringing 3-4 books, be they digital or paper books, which suit their interest. the class time will be used for reading one selected book. the rest is for alternative readings, whenever the selected book turns out to be not interesting or too difficult. while the students are reading, the teacher will monitor to ensure students have found an appropriate book. the reading process will be continued out-of-class at the students’ own schedule. in the initial step of er implementation, the time allotted for reading may be two weeks. after the students have adjusted, it can be reduced to one week, as research suggests. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 216 after the er task is finished, the following class meeting is used for doing post-reading activities. such activities are beneficial for the sake of assessment and sustaining students’ interest. the activities selected should be varied and interesting so that students will be challenged and not become bored. ideally, the post-reading activities are done every other week, after one-week reading. yet, this can be adapted to suit the class dynamics. table 1 presents the summary of the framework. table 1. the proposed framework for er implementation one program er process in-class  individual reading  monitoring out-of-class (ideally 1 week) individual reading post-reading activities in-class various interesting activities teachers may select activities from the following possible alternatives: making oral or written review of the book, making presentation on a selected book, keeping a diary on a given book and discussing with classmates at regular intervals, and copying interesting, new words, for example. other instances include designing posters to advertise the book, drawing a picture of a scene, telling about the character(s) one likes best and why, writing reaction reports, discussing the books with class, writing personal reflection, and telling the most interesting/exciting part of the book. there are many more activities which teachers can creatively employ. conclusion realizing the importance of reading in foreign language learning, it is high time to integrate extensive reading into l2 curriculum as suggested by anderson (2014) and tien (2015). taking account of the literature review and previous research findings, this paper attempts to spell out an alternative framework to implement er as part of the curriculum in indonesian university context, whereby it stands as the main activity. it should be noted that the key element of successful er program is motivation and that the indicator of success may be derived from the high enjoyment that students feel from reading. besides, to facilitate its execution, teachers and students need to redefine their roles. the paper has expectantly given useful insights into alternative implementation of er in indonesian university context. to maintain the program, perseverance is called for since extensive reading produces no immediate benefits. acknowledgements the paper writing and the dissemination of this conceptual idea at the 53 rd relc international conference, singapore, 12-14 march 2018, were made possible through the support from lembaga pengelola dana pendidikan (lpdp). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 217 references anderson, n. j. 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(2013). promoting learner autonomy through an extensive reading program among second year undergraduate students of naresuan university. retrieved from http://www.culi.chula.ac.th/research/ejournal/2012/promoting%20la%20through%20an%20er_%20edited_13 _nov_13.pdf chien, c-k. c., & yu, k-j. (2015). applying extensive reading to improve unmotivated learners’ attitude toward reading in english. international journal of learning, teaching and educational research, 13(2), 1-25. clarity, m. (2007). an extensive reading program for your esl classroom. the internet tesl journal, xiii (8). retrieved from http://iteslj.org/techniques/clarity-extensivereading.html day, r. r. (2003). what is extensive reading? cape alumni internet connection: teacher talk, 21, 1–2. retrieved from http://www.cape.edu/docs/ttalk0021.pdf day, r. r. (2013). creating a successful extensive reading program. tesl reporter, 46(1 & 2), 10-20. day, r. r. (2015). extending extensive reading. reading in a foreign language, 27(2), 294-301. de burgh-hirabe, r., & feryok, a. (2013). a model of motivation for extensive reading in japanese as a foreign language. reading in a foreign language, 25(1), 72-93. dickinson, l. (1995). autonomy and motivation a literature review. system, 23, 165-174. edy, s. (2014). the effectiveness of extensive reading on students’ reading comprehension achievement as observed from students’ motivation. jurnal pendidikan humaniora, 2(1), 54-58. fenton-smith, b. (2008). accountability and variety in extensive reading. in k. bradford watts, t. muller, & m. swanson (eds.), jalt 2007 conference proceedings (pp. 903-912). tokyo: jalt. http://langue.hyper.chubu.ac.jp/jalt/pub/tlt/97/may/extensive.html http://iteslj.org/articles/bell-reading.html http://www.culi.chula.ac.th/research/e-journal/2012/promoting%20la%20through%20an%20er_%20edited_13_nov_13.pdf http://www.culi.chula.ac.th/research/e-journal/2012/promoting%20la%20through%20an%20er_%20edited_13_nov_13.pdf http://www.culi.chula.ac.th/research/e-journal/2012/promoting%20la%20through%20an%20er_%20edited_13_nov_13.pdf http://iteslj.org/techniques/clarity-extensivereading.html http://www.cape.edu/docs/ttalk0021.pdf llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 218 haider, md. z., & akhter, e. (2012). extensive reading in efl classroom at secondary schools in bangladesh: current practice and future possibilities. international education studies, 5(3), 126-133. jacobs, g. m., & renandya, w. a. (2015). making extensive reading even more student centered. indonesian journal of applied linguistics, 4(2), 102-112. jeon, e-y., & day, r. r. (2015). the effectiveness of core er principles. reading in a foreign language, 27(2), 302-307. jeon, e-y., & day, r. r. (2016). the effectiveness of er on reading proficiency: a meta-analysis. reading in a foreign language, 28(2), 246-265. macalister, j. (2015). guidelines or commandments? reconsidering core principles in extensive reading. reading in a foreign language, 27(1), 122128. mede, e., i̇nceçay, g., & i̇nceçay, v. (2013). fostering learner autonomy through extensive reading: the case of oral book reports. elt research journal, 2(1), 16-25. mermelstein, a. d. 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(1990). efl extensive reading instruction: research and procedure. jalt journal, 12(2), 161-185. retrieved from https://www.cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp/~trobb/sussrobb.html tien, c-y. (2015). a large-scale study on extensive reading program for nonenglish majors: factors and attitudes. international journal of applied and linguistics and english literature, 4(4), 46-53. waring, r. (2011). extensive reading in english teaching, in h. widodo,. & a. cirocki (eds.) innovation and creativity in elt methodology (pp. 2-13). new york: nova publishers. waring, r., & mclean, s. (2015). exploration of the core and variable dimensions of extensive reading research and pedagogy. reading in a foreign language, 27(1), 160-167. yamashita, j. (2013). effects of extensive reading on reading attitudes in a foreign language. reading in a foreign language, 25(2), 248-263. yulia, m. f. (2011). incidental vocabulary learning through extensive reading activities. language and language teaching journal, 14(1), 57-63. https://www.cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp/~trobb/sussrobb.html llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 107 oral and nasal vowels in pontianak teochew yohanaveniranda sanata dharma university abstract the purpose of the study is to analyze the acoustic properties of the oral and nasal vowels, in terms of the values of the formants, the fundamental frequencies, the antiformants, the intensity, and the bandwidths. the data were recorded and analyzed using the praat program. the results show that there are changes of the average values of all the properties. the fundamental frequencies of the nasal vowels are all higher than their counterpart oral vowels. the hypothesis is correct for this acoustic property. however, by the test of significance t-test, only the nasal [ã] and diphthong [ũã] have significantly higher frequencies. the results of the average of intensity show that nasal vowels/ diphthongs may not always have higher intensity than their counterpart oral vowels/ diphthongs. keywords: oral vowels, nasal vowels, formants, fundamental frequencies, antiformants,intensity,bandwidths a. introduction in teochew, one of the min chinese dialects, some nasal and oral vowels are phonemic. some of them differ only on the nasality, and some on the nasality and tone. this study investigates two vowels, i.e. [i], [a], and a diphthong [ua] in the language. the purpose of the study is to analyze the acoustic properties of the oral and nasal vowels, in terms of the values of the formants, the fundamental frequencies, the antiformants, the intensity, and the bandwidths. due to damping effects of nasality, a preliminary hypothesis is that the bandwidth and fundamental frequency values are higher for nasal vowels than oral vowels. since the air flows from both the oral and nasal cavity, there is a need of more energy, and thus the intensity is hypothesized to be higher in the nasal than the oral vowels. for high vowels, it is hypothesized that in the nasal vowels, there is a tongue lowering, so it will be shown by the increase of f1 values, while for the low vowel, there is a tongue raising, so the f1 values will decrease. the data were recorded and analyzed using the praat program. this study is interesting as there is not yet any analysis on the nasal vowels of this dialect. b. the methods the following two sections describe the data and the analysis of the data in this study. 1. the data the sample speaker in this study is female, from west kalimantan, indonesia. the data consist of three sets of oral and nasal vowels: [i]’aunt’ and [ĩ] ‘round,’ [ua] ‘postpone,’ and [ũa] ‘snore,’ [a]‘debate’ and [ã]‘take control over.’ the first two sets have the same tone in the pairs. the third set has a different tone. there are 20 tokens of each vowel, and spoken in a carrier sentence [ua to tiap … oral and nasal vowels in ... 108 tsai me]?‘i am typing …do you know?’ the results are 120 tokens of sounds to analyze. the recordings were done using the sound recorder in the praat program, recorded as mono sounds, and the sampling frequency is set at 22,050 hz, and then re-sampled at 20,000 hz, to get the nyquist frequency of 10,000 hz. it is done by: select the sound, select ‘convert,’ and select ‘resample,’ then change the frequency to 20,000. to reduce the noise and to have a better quality of sounds, the recording was done in the phonology lab of department of linguistics and cognitive science. the sound files are saved as wav files. each file contains 10 tokens, so for each vowel, there are two files. to analyze the spectral slice to obtain the anti-formants, the sounds were re-sampled at 10,000 hz, to obtain the nyquist frequency of 5,000hz. 2. the analysis the data were analyzed using the praat program. to obtain the values of the fundamental frequencies, the intensities, the first three bandwidths and the first three formant values, for each token, the log setting is: a. extract the vowel from the carrier sentence b. select the sound, select ‘query,’ select ‘log setting’ c. type in the log file 1: c:\users\veni\desktop\oral and nasal vowels.txt d. type in log 1 format: time 'time:2' seconds 'tab$' f0 'f0:2''tab$' amplitude 'intensity:2''tab$' bandwidth1 'b1:2''tab$' bandwidth2 'b2:2''tab$' bandwidth3 'b3:2''tab$' formant1 'f1:2''tab$' format2 'f2:2''tab$' formant3 'f3:2''tab$' e. place the cursor at the mid-point of the vowel/diphthong f. press fn + f12, and check if all the values are recorded in the log file. the numbers after the colon show the number of decimals for the values. the ‘tab$’ sets the numbers in different columns and so it can be directly paste in the excel sheets. the diphthongs are considered as one unit, so the measurements are also obtained from the mid-points of the whole diphthongs. after all the values of the 120 tokens were obtained, a check on the extreme outliers was done. these outliers were deleted. then the average of each of the acoustic properties for each vowel was calculated. a t-test was performed for each pair of nasal-oral acoustic properties, e.g. the f0 values of oral [i] were compared to those of the nasal [ĩ], the b1 values of the oral [i] were compared to those of the nasal [ĩ], etc. the results of these calculations are shown in tables, and in the discussion, the spectrograms, the lpc smoothed spectra, and cepstrally smoothed spectra are shown to illustrate the difference between the nasal and oral vowels. c. previous studies on nasalized or nasal vowels the term nasal vowel rather than nasalized vowel is used to indicate that the nasal vowel is phonemic (reetz and jongman 2009, p.47). examples of nasalized vowels that are not phonemic are in american english, such in the words like ban and bad, or pink and pig. these are instances of anticipatory coarticulation. carignan et.al. (2011) hypothesized that for the nasalized vowels in american english, the speaker will adjust the tongue height in order to compensate for the acoustic effect of nasalization. for the change of the height of the tongue, it is the values of f1 that llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 109 are affected. they hypothesized that the evidence of enhancement might include lowering tongue position during nasalized [ĩ] and so raising f1, and higher tongue position during nasalized [ã], which means lowering f1. beddor et.al. (1986, p.3) stated that there are cross-language patterns of nasal vowels raising and lowering: a. high (contextual and non-contextual) nasal vowels are lowered (e.g. nasalization lowers [i] and [u] in bengali, ewe, gadsup, inuit, and swahili). b. low (contextual and non-contextual) nasal vowels are raised (e.g. nasalization raises [a] in breton, haida, nama, seneca, and zapotec). manyah (2011) studied a twi language and stated that acoustic evidence shows that the f2 values are generally lower for the nasal vowels than the oral vowels, particularly for the high front vowels [i] and [ɪ]. they found that this does not apply to the low vowel [a] and high back vowels [u] and [ʊ]. they concluded that the degree of nasality,and for that matter nasal-oral contrast, depends on thevowel type. acoustic investigations further revealthat nasal vowels are more widely dispersed than theoral vowels in phonological space. kelm (1989) studied the phonemic [a] and [ã] in brazilian portuguese and found that the average formant frequencies of the oral tokens are similarto those from previous studies of the same language (nobre&ingemann 1987). their findings show that the difference between the oral and nasalized averages is found in the decreased first formant frequencies of the nasalized vowels. kelm said that the lower f1 averages confirm that the vowel raising is brought on by nasalization, similar to that of phonemic nasality. in addition to the vowel raising, the second formant frequencies of the nasalized vowels are somewhat higher than the oral vowels, suggesting a more fronted pronunciation. reetz and jongman (2009, p. 185) describe the difference between oral and nasal vowels as follows: “compared to an oral vowel, a nasal vowel typically shows greater formant bandwidths, lower overall amplitude, a low-frequency nasal formant, and one or more anti-formants.” there are different authors stating that in the articulation of a nasal vowel, there is a lowering of a high vowel and a raising of a low vowel. the findings are similar in different languages, as the acoustic correlate f1 in a nasal vowel increase for a high vowel and decrease for a low vowel. in the following section, the results of the analysis will show if teochew nasal vowels are similar those of previous studied languages. d. the results and discussions the raw data of the values of f0, intensity, bandwidths 1-3, and formants 1-3 are edited by deleting the outliers, i.e. the values that are too much higher or lower than the average. the data can be seen in the appendix (appendix 1 and 2). the average of the values is listed in the table 1. the symbols ‘<’ means lower, and ‘>’ means higher, which indicate the relation between the oral and the nasal vowels. the different shades of grey will be explained later in the following paragraph. the results show that there are changes of the average values of all the properties. the fundamental frequencies of the nasal vowels are all higher than their counterpart oral vowels. the hypothesis is correct for this acoustic property. however, by the test of oral and nasal vowels in ... 110 significance t-test, only the nasal [ã] and diphthong [ũã] have significantly higher frequencies. the results of the t-test are discussed in more details later, but for now, the results of the test that shows significant difference are indicated by darker grey shading in table 1. the results of the average of intensity show that nasal vowels/ diphthongs may not always have higher intensity than their counterpart oral vowels/ diphthongs. the intensity between the [i] and [ĩ] is only slightly different, and as indicated by lighter grey shading, the difference is not significant. the intensity of the nasal [ã] is significantly higher than [a], but the intensity of [ũã] is significantly lower than [ua]. the hypothesis that nasal intensity is higher is correct only for the low vowel [ã]. a preliminary hypothesis is that the bandwidths values are hypothesized as higher for nasal vowels than oral vowels.this hypothesis is not all correct. of the nine bandwidth values, six of them show that the nasal vowels/ diphthong have higher, but only three of them are significantly higher. all the bandwidths of nasal [ĩ] are higher than oral [i], but only the first one is significantly higher. to be significantly different, the difference has to be more than 200 hz. the first and second bandwidths of [ã] are lower, even the second bandwidth is significantly lower, which is the opposite of the hypothesis. the third bandwidth of [ã] is insignificantly higher than [a]. the first and third bandwidths of [ũã] are significantly higher than the oral [ua]. the second bandwidth of [ũã] is lower than [ua]. the hypothesis of the first formant (f1) values is correct for the high front vowel [i], and the low vowel [a]. in the nasal high vowel, there is a tongue lowering that results in the increase of average f1 values, while for the low vowel, there is a tongue raising that results in decrease of the average f1 values. the results show that it is not only the f1 that increase for [ĩ] and decrease for [ã], but f2 and f3 pattern the same for these high front and back low vowel. it means that nasality also affects the backness and roundness of the vowels. the table shows the increase of all f1, f2, and f3 of the nasal [ĩ] and the decrease of the nasal [ã], although not all of them are significantly different. these results show that in teochew, the phenomenon of tongue lowering and raising that affect the f1 also apply and they are both significantly different for the two vowel [ĩ] and [ã]. llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 111 table 1 the results of the average of the f0, intensity, bandwidths, and the formants. a preliminary hypothesis is that the bandwidths values are hypothesized as higher for nasal vowels than oral vowels. this hypothesis is not all correct. of the nine bandwidth values, six of them show that the nasal vowels/ diphthong have higher, but only three of them are significantly higher. all the bandwidths of nasal [ĩ] are higher than oral [i], but only the first one is significantly higher. to be significantly different, the difference has to be more than 200 hz. the first and second bandwidths of [ã] are lower, even the second bandwidth is significantly lower, which is the opposite of the hypothesis. the third bandwidth of [ã] is insignificantly higher than [a]. the first and third bandwidths of [ũã] are significantly higher than the oral [ua]. the second bandwidth of [ũã] is lower than [ua]. the hypothesis of the first formant (f1) values is correct for the high front vowel [i], and the low vowel [a]. in the nasal high vowel, there is a tongue lowering that results in the increase of average f1 values, while for the low vowel, there is a tongue raising that results in decrease of the average f1 values. the results show that it is not only the f1 that increase for [ĩ] and decrease for [ã], but f2 and f3 pattern the same for these high front and back low vowel. it means that nasality also affects the backness and roundness of the vowels. the table shows the increase of all f1, f2, and f3 of the nasal [ĩ] and the decrease of the nasal [ã], although not all of them are significantly different. these results show that in teochew, the phenomenon of tongue lowering and raising that affect the f1 also apply and they are both significantly different for the two vowel [ĩ] and [ã]. the results of the nasal diphthong [ũã] for the f1 and f2 are similar to the low vowel [a], i.e. the average values decrease. a possible vowels acoustic properties f0 in hz intensity in db b1 in hz b2 in hz b3 in hz f1 in hz f2 in hz f3 in hz oral [i] 225.40f 65.54 110.23 192.35 451.55 384.47 2783.45 3412.09 nasal [ĩ] 229.04 66.91 358.65 303.58 610.16 529.08 2852.67 3954.08 oral to nasal < < < < < < < < oral [a] 150.75 68.36 324.85 325.80 602.51 1014.33 1619.28 3022.72 nasal [ã] 231.17 72.89 302.40 96.40 786.23 883.82 1612.89 2999.58 oral to nasal < < > > < > > > oral [ua] 233.26 77.71 158.32 178.03 414.41 903.57 1402.234 2483.21 nasal [ũã] 239.36 73.67 615.04 165.63 1219.32 866.87 1245.39 3121.52 oral to nasal < > < > < > > < oral and nasal vowels in ... 112 explanation for this is that in the articulation of the diphthongs, the onset [ũ] is shorter than the second element [ã] of the diphthongs. the first consideration to choose this diphthong was intended to look at it as representing [u] rather than [a]. the results show that the mid points of the diphthongs carry the features of the [ã] rather than [u]. there is a slight tongue raising (thus f1 decrease) and a slight backing (thus f2 decrease). however, the diphthong [ũã] is different from [ã] for the f3 values, as there is an increase of f3 average of [ũã], which means the articulation is more spread or less round for the nasal diphthong.1 1i wonder if the measurement has to be on the 10% -25% of the beginning part of the diphthong, rather than the mid-point to obtain the features of [u]. the results of the t-test is in the following table, with the significant values printed bold. it is two-tailed and type 2, at p<0.05. llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 113 f0 intensi ty b1 b2 b3 f1 f2 f3 [i] [ĩ] 0.17 0.054 6.50e10 0.39 0.32 1.61e07 0.119 2.4608 [a] [ã] 2.01e25 0.0017 0.70 2.55e07 0.23 0.002 0.89 0.90 [ua] [ũã] 4.50e05 2.69e07 0.0002 0.78 0.00 57 0.18 7.41e05 1.74e05 table 2 the t-test of values to show the significance at p<0.05 the following are the conclusions from the significance test: a. for all the acoustic properties, the nasal [ĩ] has all higher values than the oral [i]. it is the b1, f1, and f3 that are significantly higher. b. the f0 and intensity of nasal [ã] are significantly higher than [a], but b2 and f1 of [ã] are significantly lower than [a]. c. the nasal [ũã] has significantly higher f0, b1, b3, f2, and f3 than [ua], but [ũã] has significantly lower intensity and f2. the f1 of the nasal diphthong [ũã] is insignificantly lower than [ua]. by using the log system in the praat program, the precise values of these acoustic correlates of the vowels can be obtained. one way to visualize the difference between the pairs of vowels in the formant values is by the spectrograms. the following is a comparison of sample tokens of the oral [i], which has lower formant values than the nasal [ĩ]. figure 1 the formants f1, f2, f3 of nasal [ĩ](left) higher than and oral [i] (right) to compare the formants, lpc smoothing is better, as it can specify how many formants needed.the lpc smoothing of the pair of nasal and oral vowels are as follows, showing the nasal [ĩ] has higher formant frequencies. the following are the lpc smoothing of the sample tokens of the oral-nasal vowels that represent the comparison of the formant values: oral and nasal vowels in ... 114 frequency (hz) 0 104 s o u n d p re ss u re l e v e l (d b / h z ) 0 20 40 nasal [i] oral [i] 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 104 figure 2: lpc smoothed spectra of nasal [ĩ] and oral [i]: f1, f2, f3 of nasal [ĩ] > oral [i]. frequency (hz) 0 104 s o u n d p re s s u re l e v e l (d b / h z ) 40 60 80 nasal [a] oral [a] 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 104 figure 3 lpc smoothing of nasal [ã] and oral [a]: f1, f2, f3 of nasal [ã] < oral [a]. frequency (hz) 0 104 s o u n d p re ss u re l e v e l (d b / h z ) -20 0 20 oral[ua] nasal[ua] 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 104 figure 4: lpc smoothed spectra of nasal [ũã] and oral [ua]: f1, f2 of [ũã]>[ua], f3 of [ũã] < [ua] llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 115 there are different techniques to measure the anti-formants, or nasal zero frequencies. using praat, boersma (2005) said that it has to be done by hand. his instruction is as follows: ‘in the sound window, you select the nasal time stretch, then choose "view spectral slice". in the spectrum window that pops up, you position the cursor at the location where you judge the zero to be. the cross hair will show both the frequency and the intensity (if you report the intensity, you first compare it with that of the neighboring peaks).’ in this study, the procedure to obtain the anti-formants or the zeroes was done by combining the instruction above with a previous study on nasals by qi (1989), who applied the cepstral smoothing, but not by praat program. the difference between lpc smoothing and cepstral smoothing is that with the cepstral smoothing, there is a sharper dip than the lpc smoothing. therefore, to obtain the anti-formant/ zero, this type of smoothing is better. the steps are as follows: a. select the sound, then ‘convert,’ then ‘resample’ at 10,000 hz. the nyquist frequency is 5,000 hz. as the antiformants are between f1 and f2 or f2 and f3 (johnson 2012, p.194-195), the highest three first formant frequencies of all vowels are not more than 4,000, so this sample size is sufficient. b. select the new sound, then ‘view and edit,’ then on the top of the window that pops up, select ‘spectrum,’ and there appear different options, select ‘view spectral slice.’ make sure the cursor is at the mid-point before clicking ‘view spectral slice.’ c. on the praat objects, there is a new file of the spectrum. d. select the spectrum file, then select the ‘cepstral smoothing.’ the new file is the result. e. select this file, then ‘view and edit,’ put the cursor at the dip to get the frequency. take notes of this frequency manually as this is the anti-formant frequency. f. repeat steps b, c, d, and e for all other tokens of vowels. the following is the result of a sample token of the cepstral smoothing. the left is the spectral slice, and the right the result of the cepstral smoothing. oral and nasal vowels in ... 116 figure 5 the spectral slice (left) and the cepstrally smoothed spectra (right) of nasal [ĩ] figure 6the spectral slice (left) and the cepstrally smoothed spectra (right) of nasal [ã] figure 7 the spectral slice (left) and the cepstrally smoothed spectra (right) of nasal [ũã] llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 117 the results of the average of the dips in the cepstrally smoothed spectra of the three nasal vowels/ diphthong are as in table 3. average af nasal [ĩ] af nasal [ã] af nasal [ũã] 1669.93 2604.80 2721.14 table 3 the average of the antiformant values the average of the anti-formant of the nasal [ĩ] is between f1 and f2, and for nasal [ã] and [ũã], the anti-formants are between the f2 and f3 of the vowels. like the previous measurements of the diphthongs, the average of it is also similar to the one of [ã]. the mid-points of the diphthongs are so much of the [ã] features. in this measurement, the tokens that were deleted in the calculations of the previous acoustic properties (f0, bandwidths, and formants) were not included in the measurements of the antiformants either. the skipped tokens are represented as blank in the table in appendix 3. e. conclusions the results of this study show that there are acoustic differences between the oral and the nasal vowels/ diphthong. the generalization of the different acoustic properties between nasal and oral vowel/diphthong has to be formulated differently for different vowels/ diphthongs. similar to previous studies, teochew also has the f1 of the nasal high front [ĩ] that is significantly higher than the oral [i]. the f1 of the nasal low vowel [ã] and diphthong [ũã] are significantly lower than the oral [a] and [ua] respectively. lpc smoothing was used to show the formants, and cepstral smoothing was used to show the anti-formants. this study does not consider the effect of different tones on the acoustic properties of the vowels. the assumption is that tones affect the pitch. further study can investigate oral and nasal [i] and [ua] of different tones to see if the results are consistent with the results found in this study, which investigates the pairs of the vowels of the same tones. references beddor, patrice speeter., krakow, rena arens.,goldstein, louis m.. 1986. “perceptual constraints and phonological change: a study of nasal vowel height.” phonology year book vol 3. carignan, christopher.,shosted, ryan., shih, chilin., rong, panying. 2011. “compensatory 0-articulation in american english nasalized vowels.” journal of phonetics 39 (2011) 668–682. chang, yung-hsiang shawn. 2008. “an acoustic and perceptual study of vowel nasality in taiwanese.“ustwpl4: 1726.urbana-champaign: department of linguistics university of illinois. glass, james robert. 1984. nasal consonants and nasalized vowels: an acoustic study and recognition experiment. a master of science and electrical engineering thesis. cambridge: mit. heinz, jeffrey. 2012. acoustic and auditory phonetics. lecture notes. university of delaware. oral and nasal vowels in ... 118 johnson, keith. 2012. acoustic and auditory phonetics. 3rd edition. malden: wiley-blackwell. kelm, orlando r. 1989. “acoustic characteristics of oral vs. nasalized /a/ in brazilian portuguese: variation in vowel timbre and duration.” hispania, vol. 72, no. 4 (dec., 1989), pp. 853-861. american association of teachers of spanish and portuguese (url: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3435 63 (accessed: 10/03/2012). manyah, kofi adu. 2011. “oral-nasal vowel contrasts: new perspectives ona debated question.” icphs xvii regular session. hong kong, 17-21 august. qi, yingyong. 1989. acoustic features of nasal consonants. a dissertation. ohio state university. reetz, henning., and jongman, allard. 2009. phonetics: transcription, production, acoustics, and perception. malden: wiley blackwell. spears, abby. 2006. nasal coarticulation in french vowel /i/: a phonetic and phonological study. an ma thesis. chapel hill: department of linguistics university of north carolina. websites: boersma, paul. 2005. http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/grou p/praat-users/message/1922 nasal zero frequency measure. http://www.jstor.org/stable/343563 http://www.jstor.org/stable/343563 http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/praat-users/message/1922 http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/praat-users/message/1922 llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 119 appendix 1: the log data (the shaded tokens are to be deleted as they are outliers) oral [i] f0 intensity b1 b2 b3 f1 f2 f3 time 2.28 seconds 224.68 64.66 72.22 96.26 301.32 411.08 2744.06 3415.56 time 5.17 seconds 230.81 64.7 105.34 83.45 225.27 387.25 2727.89 3468.56 time 8.09 seconds 230.96 64.31 101.75 49.79 178.95 385.5 2766.8 3436.89 time 10.62 seconds 215.76 63.34 69.84 61.57 489.95 362.28 2779.66 3509.03 time 13.59 seconds 215.34 65.68 57.07 188.04 522.03 390.6 2770.22 3400.95 time 16.26 seconds 208.77 63.18 292.5 417.4 567.69 386.09 2858.3 3437.59 time 19.59 seconds 222.02 69.4 80.46 125.79 212.73 394.27 2683.01 3264.37 time 22.24 seconds 217.66 62.31 92.83 446.14 1128.89 371.8 2826.12 3396.72 time 25.41 seconds 218.57 65.89 51 322.94 401.67 417.42 2691.49 3281.49 time 28.61 seconds 220.96 65.35 93.13 139.43 357.11 391.74 2797.19 3338.91 time 2.48 seconds 242.52 70.68 120.28 174.98 145.92 453.12 2798.49 3415.56 time 5.01 seconds 224.62 63.66 106.14 161.64 208.63 369.54 2815.36 3604.64 time 7.60 seconds 232.83 66.35 111.47 67.29 335.94 350.98 2788.75 3433 time 10.18 seconds 231.06 67.01 105.1 93.15 236.79 407.28 2794.49 3419.73 time 12.88 seconds 221.56 65.69 84.63 1108.2 73.26 338.52 2584.3 2869.41 time 15.50 seconds 218.55 64.39 87.67 83.77 475.9 377.5 2831.82 3637.53 time 17.94 seconds 242.32 69.39 132.2 105.65 302.94 383.97 2871.51 3376.23 time 20.99 seconds 219.28 62.29 83.64 263.36 444.04 362.09 2756.94 3324.25 time 23.61 seconds 227.42 66.77 184.25 147.43 1506.45 338.4 2824.47 3129.01 time 26.29 seconds 231.58 66.23 88.19 757.19 487.29 397 2666.93 3409.08 average 224.8635 65.564 105.9855 244.6735 430.1385 383.8215 2768.89 3378.426 nasal [ĩ] f0 intensity b1 b2 b3 f1 f2 f3 time 2.23 seconds 231.48 70.88 279.42 504.78 2665.43 434.78 2844.39 3119.26 time 5.09 seconds 221.48 67.12 377.55 148.62 555.47 545.77 2831.7 4020.03 time 7.89 seconds 230.3 68.61 418.48 161.91 668.61 530.16 2935.71 3793.59 time 10.65 seconds 230.14 67.77 358.13 253.71 466.93 667.66 2980.62 3721.9 time 13.48 seconds 228.98 66.33 539.05 143.18 687.53 528.44 2948.3 3831 time 16.26 seconds 227.03 65.88 543.6 137.03 395.91 619.02 2910.49 3973.89 time 19.34 seconds 227.83 66.17 346.17 148.22 201.51 493.18 2815.21 4028.57 time 22.33 seconds 239.41 66.39 277.74 139.21 479.49 521.81 2915.79 3814.78 time 25.37 seconds 230.29 67.06 490.16 116.21 479.41 577.62 2772.39 4012.72 time 27.95 seconds 216.73 68.91 468.56 162.28 433.73 343.2 2825.87 3946.96 time 2.23 seconds 228.32 65.09 173.37 108.01 216.48 480.85 2965.4 4193.93 time 5.07 seconds 229.11 66.31 340.66 59.82 207.36 556.81 2977.08 4208.48 time 7.98 seconds 229.1 65.25 227.08 177.67 812.13 519.42 2947.28 4250.14 time 10.54 seconds 222.66 65.43 291.7 170.61 483.34 483.89 2950.92 4212.4 time 13.27 seconds 227.11 66.99 271.3 192.81 1241.88 563.45 2904.89 4191.78 time 15.94 seconds 239.69 69.37 237.65 202.05 176.53 549.54 2887.32 4289.92 time 18.80 seconds 240.47 66.11 278.57 136.93 366.19 553.24 2889.4 4256.96 time 21.87 seconds 237.69 65.56 270.75 2616.68 790.04 528.86 2238.19 3605.86 time 24.81 seconds 226.29 65.63 477.13 217.89 374.2 629.9 2830.58 4020.5 time 27.83 seconds 225.35 65.44 400.03 2343.23 278.03 481.52 2191.83 3495.18 average 229.473 66.815 353.355 407.0425 599.01 530.456 2828.168 3949.393 oral [a] f0 intensity b1 b2 b3 f1 f2 f3 time 2.09 seconds 172.42 71.01 370.13 263.41 377.8 913.39 1517.51 2497.7 time 4.75 seconds 156.13 72.5 192.69 841.63 2214.48 1109.43 1782.56 2372.55 time 7.40 seconds 159.41 69.56 435.37 229.02 329.52 1112.81 1553.58 2464.64 time 9.95 seconds 147.19 69.19 201.85 183.51 270.52 1039.59 1564.49 2406.75 time 12.46 seconds 157.74 62.05 487.54 422.73 118.73 926.06 1443.45 2445.59 time 14.90 seconds 138.18 68.51 259.02 185.09 190.75 1063.38 1494.44 2383.21 time 17.49 seconds 146.1 64.34 129.46 258.88 227.27 853.37 1767.09 2357.43 time 20.04 seconds 147.51 64.13 343.2 250.89 544.11 908.3 1503.84 2398.65 time 22.52 seconds 164.58 65.23 255.04 178.51 1013.86 858.28 1423.07 3135.79 time 25.27 seconds 141.92 57.29 299.66 237.75 211.39 932.68 2099.64 4192.05 time 2.23 seconds 144.6 67.79 352.69 966.7 450.31 1080.45 1264.82 2301.25 time 5.01 seconds 162.83 61.91 851.53 440.84 505.36 1023.17 1545.01 2291.91 time 7.58 seconds 137.93 71.06 176.55 253.43 435.94 1116.81 1843.96 4080.62 time 10.21 seconds 147.12 68.04 249.2 552.34 178.9 1193.54 1693.6 4134.25 time 12.89 seconds 139.85 76.47 375.89 556.27 878.82 1063.08 1916.37 3196.99 time 15.76 seconds 140.2 72.44 220.49 456.97 475.03 1031.95 1635.2 3762.75 time 18.96 seconds 155.17 74.06 209.62 184.53 1125.78 982.14 1431.7 3746.1 time 21.56 seconds 150.01 72.95 282.57 364.38 2111.96 1094.31 1564.57 3415.02 time 24.32 seconds 146.71 66.95 90.66 162.08 411.28 846 1343.15 2299.75 time 26.91 seconds 154.66 73.79 375.32 520.07 1246.88 1130.72 1530.31 2476.75 average 150.513 68.4635 307.924 375.4515 665.9345 1013.973 1595.918 2917.988 oral and nasal vowels in ... 120 nasal [ã] f0 intensit y b1 b2 b3 f1 f2 f3 time 2.22 seconds 235.71 73.68 376.82 106.62 1164.4 902.85 1596.83 3052.55 time 4.90 seconds 232.55 74.9 163.11 35.17 292.74 876.63 1622.2 2993.73 time 7.48 seconds 230.27 77.04 286.34 41.7 630.08 864.23 1599.01 2850.17 time 10.12 seconds 237.41 76.56 340.18 145.2 298.22 1352.2 5 1722.49 3261.13 time 12.62 seconds 231.3 74.35 244.22 50.47 2875.97 820.46 1614.79 3436.9 time 15.09 seconds 224.91 71.57 424.41 115.98 750.26 845.56 1588.11 3491.6 time 17.61 seconds 239.33 76.68 413.41 48.73 688.74 887.85 1637.26 2793.98 time 20.21 seconds 230.99 75.07 303.9 19.09 1058.39 807.52 1611.26 2920.31 time 22.67 seconds 225.49 72.31 724.6 90.93 413.64 1033.7 2 1593.46 3378.05 time 25.23 seconds 226.3 74.88 186.78 42.3 776.75 841.28 1583.55 2962.75 time 1.87 seconds 233.44 71.11 246.31 210.57 1043.99 893.4 1716.42 3066.09 time 4.72 seconds 240.16 72.62 365.55 274.34 965.66 973.33 1605.6 2579.42 time 7.56 seconds 230.33 69.03 681.14 76.48 711.46 690.72 1638.48 3194.63 time 10.15 seconds 226.51 71.25 116.94 64.52 1525.5 865 1601.86 2165.81 time 12.81 seconds 226.3 70.61 116.61 73.36 115.66 841.71 1583.37 3212.97 time 15.44 seconds 230.25 71.61 142.72 20.15 433.68 760.95 1605.18 2943.29 time 18.23 seconds 229.65 70.93 178.68 162.47 787.38 819.25 1547.95 3001.43 time 20.79 seconds 218.43 70.11 116.05 62.19 1266.23 791.61 1534.35 2766.78 time 23.41 seconds 228.53 74.67 214.92 52.81 1159.55 830.51 1591.42 3024.46 time 26.05 seconds 245.66 70.26 347.2 189.03 856.1 914.23 1666.18 3332.92 average 231.176 72.962 299.494 5 94.1055 890.72 880.65 3 1612.98 9 3021.449 oral [ua] f0 intensit y b1 b2 b3 f1 f2 f3 time 1.91 seconds 236.38 77.68 179.14 149.81 185.74 940.98 1478.77 2556.75 time 4.52 seconds 237.07 77.91 94.95 94.15 128.82 912.92 1459.53 2557.53 time 7.09 seconds 231.31 77.95 179.59 178.67 496.78 902.14 1476.65 2444.59 time 9.76 seconds 231.92 79.65 151.44 142.17 165.46 943.72 1402.88 2488.49 time 12.43 seconds 227.68 80.09 120.23 140.45 456.27 906.92 1328.78 2514.17 time 15.06 seconds 224.68 74.65 135.71 231.69 229.32 844.35 1303.17 2466.38 time 17.71 seconds 235.55 76.55 104.62 180.01 190.28 880.52 1453.63 2489.1 time 20.44 seconds 231.34 77.21 174.74 191.07 906.17 913.33 1390.57 2412.75 time 23.34 seconds 220.79 76.69 356.7 370.37 614.96 919.21 1225.93 2399.59 time 25.95 seconds 225.23 76.18 282.16 261.44 1365.46 897.42 1320.57 2702.49 time 1.84 seconds 229.29 76.35 236.32 264.92 230.41 923.04 1315.74 2471.61 time 4.57 seconds 235.68 77.53 120.22 84.49 263.37 875.41 1394.79 2506.79 time 7.35 seconds 233.12 76.94 233.43 220.57 329.21 880.33 1354.83 2397.33 time 9.97 seconds 239.15 77.59 132.75 116.54 466.52 864.62 1371.79 2559.56 time 12.59 seconds 240.18 79.04 96.84 129.33 215.28 913.45 1439.51 2523.9 time 15.16 seconds 232.9 80 105.62 94.05 275.6 930.3 1561.99 2397.59 time 17.84 seconds 234.71 77.93 212.08 298.34 925.66 915.81 1393.25 2368.66 time 20.31 seconds 230.08 78.81 136.83 164.87 887.71 915.39 1392.97 2501.46 time 22.95 seconds 234.04 77.09 186.3 281.14 672.35 897.7 1394.66 2439.74 time 25.70 seconds 233.68 75.74 248.98 242.29 434.48 903.24 1326.79 2601.4 average 232.239 77.579 174.432 5 191.818 5 471.992 5 904.04 1389.34 2489.994 nasal [ũã] f0 intensit y b1 b2 b3 f1 f2 f3 time 2.18 seconds 244.59 73.51 608.99 101.99 2242.48 929.63 957.62 3271.98 time 4.70 seconds 240.55 74.03 843.67 86.6 299.66 908.56 1216.1 3837.78 time 7.27 seconds 240.5 73.79 776.7 71.53 84.6 963.2 1215.99 3822.9 time 9.79 seconds 235.35 70.11 340.98 86.45 1790.55 719.79 1178.81 2768.52 time 12.20 seconds 231.78 70.94 456.59 70.5 888.23 711.3 1163.4 3580.52 time 14.75 seconds 239.2 72.72 948.35 55.65 2763.14 803.97 1202.97 2735.63 time 17.38 seconds 246.21 75.84 494.65 64.77 140.17 863.67 1248.59 3412.65 time 19.86 seconds 239.93 72.06 319.25 156.41 664.84 761.45 1216.88 2481.81 time 22.37 seconds 242.32 73.82 202.36 73.56 149.91 764.59 1221.05 3393.02 time 24.73 seconds 241.64 72.08 419.23 74.96 243.74 782.11 1227.88 3456.68 time 2.14 seconds 241.22 72.81 534.3 183.15 1257 1007.3 7 1326.93 2939.48 time 4.86 seconds 241.99 73.7 102.04 1346.32 749.27 1214.7 3 1404.97 3415.83 time 7.61 seconds 236.85 75.27 2297.37 696.33 1284.51 842.27 1185.69 1819.38 time 10.10 seconds 234.53 71.29 368.45 207.92 4352.92 962.62 1600.93 3059.37 time 12.61 seconds 234 77.14 764.31 62 1112.15 913.86 1180.65 2804.03 time 15.16 seconds 242.51 74.77 607.12 524.15 2019.51 1135.2 7 1236.36 2468.78 llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 121 time 17.78 seconds 232.33 71.53 275.93 267.32 1041.79 805.16 1450.64 3072.33 time 20.42 seconds 240.56 75.84 401.92 176.94 1682.01 916.62 1358.81 2914.14 time 22.91 seconds 238.66 78.56 663.49 48.42 134.75 924.44 1200.09 3817.08 time 25.57 seconds 239.77 77.13 511.28 34.69 908.01 801.57 1208.36 3335.22 average 239.224 5 73.847 596.849 219.483 1190.46 2 886.60 9 1250.13 6 3120.357 appendix 2: the data with deleted outliers and new averages oral [i] f0 intensity b1 b2 b3 f1 f2 f3 time 2.28 seconds 224.68 64.66 72.22 96.26 301.32 411.08 2744.06 3415.56 time 5.17 seconds 230.81 64.7 105.34 83.45 225.27 387.25 2727.89 3468.56 time 8.09 seconds 230.96 64.31 101.75 49.79 178.95 385.5 2766.8 3436.89 time 10.62 seconds 215.76 63.34 69.84 61.57 489.95 362.28 2779.66 3509.03 time 13.59 seconds 215.34 65.68 57.07 188.04 522.03 390.6 2770.22 3400.95 time 16.26 seconds 208.77 63.18 292.5 417.4 567.69 386.09 2858.3 3437.59 time 19.59 seconds 222.02 69.4 80.46 125.79 212.73 394.27 2683.01 3264.37 time 22.24 seconds 217.66 62.31 92.83 446.14 1128.89 371.8 2826.12 3396.72 time 28.61 seconds 220.96 65.35 93.13 139.43 357.11 391.74 2797.19 3338.91 time 2.48 seconds 242.52 70.68 120.28 174.98 145.92 453.12 2798.49 3415.56 time 5.01 seconds 224.62 63.66 106.14 161.64 208.63 369.54 2815.36 3604.64 time 7.60 seconds 232.83 66.35 111.47 67.29 335.94 350.98 2788.75 3433 time 10.18 seconds 231.06 67.01 105.1 93.15 236.79 407.28 2794.49 3419.73 time 15.50 seconds 218.55 64.39 87.67 83.77 475.9 377.5 2831.82 3637.53 time 17.94 seconds 242.32 69.39 132.2 105.65 302.94 383.97 2871.51 3376.23 time 20.99 seconds 219.28 62.29 83.64 263.36 444.04 362.09 2756.94 3324.25 time 23.61 seconds 227.42 66.77 184.25 147.43 1506.45 338.4 2824.47 3129.01 time 26.29 seconds 231.58 66.23 88.19 757.19 487.29 397 2666.93 3409.08 average 225.3967 65.53889 110.2267 192.3517 451.5467 384.4717 2783.445 3412.089 nasal [ĩ] f0 intensity b1 b2 b3 f1 f2 f3 time 2.23 seconds 231.48 70.88 279.42 504.78 2665.43 434.78 2844.39 3119.26 time 5.09 seconds 221.48 67.12 377.55 148.62 555.47 545.77 2831.7 4020.03 time 7.89 seconds 230.3 68.61 418.48 161.91 668.61 530.16 2935.71 3793.59 time 10.65 seconds 230.14 67.77 358.13 253.71 466.93 667.66 2980.62 3721.9 time 13.48 seconds 228.98 66.33 539.05 143.18 687.53 528.44 2948.3 3831 time 16.26 seconds 227.03 65.88 543.6 137.03 395.91 619.02 2910.49 3973.89 time 19.34 seconds 227.83 66.17 346.17 148.22 201.51 493.18 2815.21 4028.57 time 22.33 seconds 239.41 66.39 277.74 139.21 479.49 521.81 2915.79 3814.78 time 25.37 seconds 230.29 67.06 490.16 116.21 479.41 577.62 2772.39 4012.72 time 27.95 seconds 216.73 68.91 468.56 162.28 433.73 343.2 2825.87 3946.96 time 2.23 seconds 228.32 65.09 173.37 108.01 216.48 480.85 2965.4 4193.93 time 7.98 seconds 229.1 65.25 227.08 177.67 812.13 519.42 2947.28 4250.14 time 10.54 seconds 222.66 65.43 291.7 170.61 483.34 483.89 2950.92 4212.4 time 13.27 seconds 227.11 66.99 271.3 192.81 1241.88 563.45 2904.89 4191.78 time 15.94 seconds 239.69 69.37 237.65 202.05 176.53 549.54 2887.32 4289.92 time 18.80 seconds 240.47 66.11 278.57 136.93 366.19 553.24 2889.4 4256.96 time 24.81 seconds 226.29 65.63 477.13 217.89 374.2 629.9 2830.58 4020.5 time 27.83 seconds 225.35 65.44 400.03 2343.23 278.03 481.52 2191.83 3495.18 average 229.0367 66.91278 358.6494 303.575 610.1556 529.0806 2852.672 3954.084 oral [a] f0 intensity b1 b2 b3 f1 f2 f3 time 2.09 seconds 172.42 71.01 370.13 263.41 377.8 913.39 1517.51 2497.7 time 7.40 seconds 159.41 69.56 435.37 229.02 329.52 1112.81 1553.58 2464.64 oral and nasal vowels in ... 122 time 9.95 seconds 147.19 69.19 201.85 183.51 270.52 1039.59 1564.49 2406.75 time 12.46 seconds 157.74 62.05 487.54 422.73 118.73 926.06 1443.45 2445.59 time 14.90 seconds 138.18 68.51 259.02 185.09 190.75 1063.38 1494.44 2383.21 time 17.49 seconds 146.1 64.34 129.46 258.88 227.27 853.37 1767.09 2357.43 time 20.04 seconds 147.51 64.13 343.2 250.89 544.11 908.3 1503.84 2398.65 time 22.52 seconds 164.58 65.23 255.04 178.51 1013.86 858.28 1423.07 3135.79 time 25.27 seconds 141.92 57.29 299.66 237.75 211.39 932.68 2099.64 4192.05 time 5.01 seconds 162.83 61.91 851.53 440.84 505.36 1023.17 1545.01 2291.91 time 7.58 seconds 137.93 71.06 176.55 253.43 435.94 1116.81 1843.96 4080.62 time 10.21 seconds 147.12 68.04 249.2 552.34 178.9 1193.54 1693.6 4134.25 time 12.89 seconds 139.85 76.47 375.89 556.27 878.82 1063.08 1916.37 3196.99 time 15.76 seconds 140.2 72.44 220.49 456.97 475.03 1031.95 1635.2 3762.75 time 18.96 seconds 155.17 74.06 209.62 184.53 1125.78 982.14 1431.7 3746.1 time 21.56 seconds 150.01 72.95 282.57 364.38 2111.96 1094.31 1564.57 3415.02 time 26.91 seconds 154.66 73.79 375.32 520.07 1246.88 1130.72 1530.31 2476.75 average 150.7541 68.35471 324.8494 325.8012 602.5071 1014.328 1619.284 3022.718 nasal [ã] f0 intensity b1 b2 b3 f1 f2 f3 time 2.22 seconds 235.71 73.68 376.82 106.62 1164.4 902.85 1596.83 3052.55 time 4.90 seconds 232.55 74.9 163.11 35.17 292.74 876.63 1622.2 2993.73 time 7.48 seconds 230.27 77.04 286.34 41.7 630.08 864.23 1599.01 2850.17 time 10.12 seconds 237.41 76.56 340.18 145.2 298.22 1352.25 1722.49 3261.13 time 15.09 seconds 224.91 71.57 424.41 115.98 750.26 845.56 1588.11 3491.6 time 17.61 seconds 239.33 76.68 413.41 48.73 688.74 887.85 1637.26 2793.98 time 20.21 seconds 230.99 75.07 303.9 19.09 1058.39 807.52 1611.26 2920.31 time 22.67 seconds 225.49 72.31 724.6 90.93 413.64 1033.72 1593.46 3378.05 time 25.23 seconds 226.3 74.88 186.78 42.3 776.75 841.28 1583.55 2962.75 time 1.87 seconds 233.44 71.11 246.31 210.57 1043.99 893.4 1716.42 3066.09 time 4.72 seconds 240.16 72.62 365.55 274.34 965.66 973.33 1605.6 2579.42 time 7.56 seconds 230.33 69.03 681.14 76.48 711.46 690.72 1638.48 3194.63 time 10.15 seconds 226.51 71.25 116.94 64.52 1525.5 865 1601.86 2165.81 time 12.81 seconds 226.3 70.61 116.61 73.36 115.66 841.71 1583.37 3212.97 time 15.44 seconds 230.25 71.61 142.72 20.15 433.68 760.95 1605.18 2943.29 time 18.23 seconds 229.65 70.93 178.68 162.47 787.38 819.25 1547.95 3001.43 time 20.79 seconds 218.43 70.11 116.05 62.19 1266.23 791.61 1534.35 2766.78 time 23.41 seconds 228.53 74.67 214.92 52.81 1159.55 830.51 1591.42 3024.46 time 26.05 seconds 245.66 70.26 347.2 189.03 856.1 914.23 1666.18 3332.92 average 231.1695 72.88895 302.4037 96.40211 786.2332 883.8211 1612.894 2999.583 oral [ua] f0 intensity b1 b2 b3 f1 f2 f3 time 1.91 seconds 236.38 77.68 179.14 149.81 185.74 940.98 1478.77 2556.75 time 4.52 seconds 237.07 77.91 94.95 94.15 128.82 912.92 1459.53 2557.53 time 7.09 seconds 231.31 77.95 179.59 178.67 496.78 902.14 1476.65 2444.59 time 9.76 seconds 231.92 79.65 151.44 142.17 165.46 943.72 1402.88 2488.49 time 12.43 seconds 227.68 80.09 120.23 140.45 456.27 906.92 1328.78 2514.17 time 15.06 seconds 224.68 74.65 135.71 231.69 229.32 844.35 1303.17 2466.38 time 17.71 seconds 235.55 76.55 104.62 180.01 190.28 880.52 1453.63 2489.1 time 20.44 seconds 231.34 77.21 174.74 191.07 906.17 913.33 1390.57 2412.75 time 1.84 seconds 229.29 76.35 236.32 264.92 230.41 923.04 1315.74 2471.61 time 4.57 seconds 235.68 77.53 120.22 84.49 263.37 875.41 1394.79 2506.79 time 7.35 seconds 233.12 76.94 233.43 220.57 329.21 880.33 1354.83 2397.33 time 9.97 seconds 239.15 77.59 132.75 116.54 466.52 864.62 1371.79 2559.56 time 12.59 seconds 240.18 79.04 96.84 129.33 215.28 913.45 1439.51 2523.9 time 15.16 seconds 232.9 80 105.62 94.05 275.6 930.3 1561.99 2397.59 time 17.84 seconds 234.71 77.93 212.08 298.34 925.66 915.81 1393.25 2368.66 time 20.31 seconds 230.08 78.81 136.83 164.87 887.71 915.39 1392.97 2501.46 time 22.95 seconds 234.04 77.09 186.3 281.14 672.35 897.7 1394.66 2439.74 time 25.70 seconds 233.68 75.74 248.98 242.29 434.48 903.24 1326.79 2601.4 average 233.2644 77.70611 158.3217 178.0311 414.4128 903.565 1402.239 2483.211 llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 123 nasal [ũã] f0 intensity b1 b2 b3 f1 f2 f3 time 2.18 seconds 244.59 73.51 608.99 101.99 2242.48 929.63 957.62 3271.98 time 4.70 seconds 240.55 74.03 843.67 86.6 299.66 908.56 1216.1 3837.78 time 7.27 seconds 240.5 73.79 776.7 71.53 84.6 963.2 1215.99 3822.9 time 9.79 seconds 235.35 70.11 340.98 86.45 1790.55 719.79 1178.81 2768.52 time 12.20 seconds 231.78 70.94 456.59 70.5 888.23 711.3 1163.4 3580.52 time 14.75 seconds 239.2 72.72 948.35 55.65 2763.14 803.97 1202.97 2735.63 time 17.38 seconds 246.21 75.84 494.65 64.77 140.17 863.67 1248.59 3412.65 time 19.86 seconds 239.93 72.06 319.25 156.41 664.84 761.45 1216.88 2481.81 time 22.37 seconds 242.32 73.82 202.36 73.56 149.91 764.59 1221.05 3393.02 time 24.73 seconds 241.64 72.08 419.23 74.96 243.74 782.11 1227.88 3456.68 time 2.14 seconds 241.22 72.81 534.3 183.15 1257 1007.37 1326.93 2939.48 time 7.61 seconds 236.85 75.27 2297.37 696.33 1284.51 842.27 1185.69 1819.38 time 10.10 seconds 234.53 71.29 368.45 207.92 4352.92 962.62 1600.93 3059.37 time 15.16 seconds 242.51 74.77 607.12 524.15 2019.51 1135.27 1236.36 2468.78 time 17.78 seconds 232.33 71.53 275.93 267.32 1041.79 805.16 1450.64 3072.33 time 20.42 seconds 240.56 75.84 401.92 176.94 1682.01 916.62 1358.81 2914.14 time 22.91 seconds 238.66 78.56 663.49 48.42 134.75 924.44 1200.09 3817.08 time 25.57 seconds 239.77 77.13 511.28 34.69 908.01 801.57 1208.36 3335.22 average 239.3611 73.67222 615.035 165.63 1219.323 866.8661 1245.394 3121.515 appendix 3: the anti-formant values of the nasal vowels (blank spaces are of deleted tokens, outliers of previous acoustic property analysis) af nasal [i] af nasal [a] af nasal [ua] 1650.23 2500 2880.49 1574.13 2449.27 3626.83 1840.48 2715.61 2690.25 1739.01 3121.47 2791.71 1586.82 2702.93 1624.87 2550.73 2740.98 1574.13 2474.63 2715.61 1624.87 2411.22 2779.03 1650.23 3108.79 2487.32 1726.33 2436.58 2842.44 1612.18 2715.61 2538.05 1903.89 2284.39 2576.1 2550.73 1865.84 2918.54 2664.88 1536.08 2550.73 1561.45 2411.22 2500 1650.23 2639.51 2804.39 1650.23 2398.54 2436.58 2398.55 2626.83 1688.28 2829.76 2601.46 1669.96 2604.80 2721.139 oral and nasal vowels in ... 124 appendix 4: notes of the drawing using praat 1. it turns out that there were difficulties to save the drawings in the available picture formants in praat. the pictures were cut by half.to overcome the difficulty, the results of drawing at the praat picture were blocked and copied (ctrl c) and then paste (ctrl v). another problem occurred. blocking the drawing by its size (if the pink square is exactly the size of the square of the spectra), will still result in an incomplete picture when pasted on the word document. the trick to solve this problem is by blocking the picture at a much bigger window, much to the right and to the bottom, so the picture will be intact when pasted. only by blocking it much longer and wider, the picture will not be cut half. the example of the blocking pink square: 2. to label the spectra, block a little square where we want the symbol of phrase to appear, select ‘world,’ ‘text’ or text special,’ then type in the long space available at the pop up window. then click ‘apply’ or ‘ok.’to label it with a ipa symbols which are not available in the praat, we can go to the word document, type the ipa symbol, copy it, then go this praat ‘text’ or ‘text special’ space, then paste it, then click ‘apply’ or ‘ok.’ 3. to label the frequency, click ‘margin,’ select ‘mark’ then select ‘mark bottom.’ a pop-up window will show how the format of label. the default is checked ‘write numbers,’ ‘draw ticks,’ and ‘draw dotted line.’ if the dotted line is not needed, uncheck it. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 86 improving indonesian efl students’ speaking skill through pecha kucha patricia angelina sanata dharma university lazut22@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2019.220109 received 20 february 2019; revised 19 march 2019; accepted 30 march 2019 abstract efl students’ speaking skill at the university level is normally assessed through presentations in the teaching and learning activities. therefore, the ability to deliver effective presentations is needed as it affects the efl students’ competence in speaking. most efl students choose to use microsoft powerpoint to deliver their presentations in class. however, the additional pressure given to present in english normally causes them to include as much information as possible on their slides. they have the tendency to focus too much on the content and neglect the delivery aspect. as a result, most of the students only end up reading aloud their text-heavy slides, which often leads to boredom. pecha kucha is then introduced as a creative and innovative presentation format to improve efl students’ speaking skill in delivering presentations. it is a simple, concise and effective presentation format which allows only twenty (20) slides that will advance automatically for 20 seconds each. the results of the study show that the use of pecha kucha has increased the efl students’ speaking skill in delivering presentations. it is shown from the increased mean scores of the students’ presentation scores from before and after pecha kucha is used. it is also strengthened by the results of the interview on two students stating that pecha kucha has improved their speaking skill in delivering effective presentations in terms of the language use, speech delivery and interaction with audience. keywords: efl, pecha kucha, presentation, speaking skill introduction efl students, particularly those who are trained to become future english teachers, need to acquire effective oral communication ability. how well the efl students can explain their action determines how people perceive their communication ability (souter, 2007). efl learners have the additional pressure to speak in a language other than their mother tongue. oral presentation is customary in college classrooms and microsoft powerpoint has been the widely used software by the students due to its practicality and flexibility. nevertheless, many students often focus only to the content of their presentation than how they deliver the presentation, which leads to the tendency of putting overload information on the slides. as a result, students’ presentations are often boring to follow as they normally end up reading aloud their heavy-text slides and exceeding the time limit, which reflect poor oral presentation ability (tomsett & llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 87 shaw, 2014; levin & peterson, 2013; artyushina et al., 2011; anderson & williams, 2012). students need to keep in mind that powerpoint is merely a tool; and as presenters, it is their obligation to convey the message effectively by maximizing the use of the software (johnson, 2012). therefore, language instructors need to expose students to innovative and creative ways in utilizing the software that will improve their speaking skills when delivering presentations. one of the ways is by utilizing pecha kucha presentation format. pecha kucha, a japanese term which means “chit-chat”, is a unique style of giving a concise presentation (dytham & klein, 2007). it is also known as 20 x 20 presentation, as the presenter may only use 20 slides that will advance automatically after 20 seconds each. thus, the presentation will only last for exactly 6 minutes and 40 seconds. the time limitation will force the presenter to explain the ideas visually using graphics with only little text on the slides and carefully prepare their delivery. pecha kucha has been widely adopted over the recent years in the education field due to its’ rigid structure format and content flexibility, enabling it to be used for both individual and group presentations. some research has been done on the use of pecha kucha. tomsett & shaw (2014) conducted a pilot study on creative classroom experience using pecha kucha to encourage esl use in undergraduate business courses. the study reported the usefulness of pecha kucha. the respondents admitted that they had achieved the learning outcomes in an innovative and meaningful way as shown by their ability to produce a clear and concise presentation of the course material while making creative presentations in english. the study suggested continuing pecha kucha use in situations where different aspects of learning including cognitive outcomes, creative challenge, and conceptual challenge are prioritized. another study surveyed students’ perceptions of the use of pecha kucha presentations for efl reading classes by hung nguyen (2015). the findings revealed that pecha kucha was beneficial and that it enhanced reading comprehension, speaking and oral presentation skills. murugaiah (2016) conducted a study on the use of pecha kucha as an innovative call approach to developing oral presentation skills of tertiary students. it discovered that the presentation format was functional to support collaborative learning and promoting l2 oral presentation skills despite its challenge to low proficiency level students. pecha kucha has also been researched in indonesian context. baskara (2015) endeavored to develop students’ autonomy in oral presentations through pecha kucha. the findings indicated that in addition to gaining enjoyment during the pecha kucha process, the students became more active and autonomous while preparing for the pecha kucha. this research explores the use of pecha kucha among indonesian efl students in sanata dharma university. more specifically, it aims to examine the impact of this format on students’ speaking skill in delivering presentations. in addition, the difficulties that the students encountered in delivering effective presentations are examined. insights gained will then be valuable for further research in evaluating pecha kucha’s potency to improve oral presentation ability llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 88 and in contributing to the growing body of research on pecha kucha globally as well as to establish this field of inquiry in the indonesian efl context. the research questions are formulated as follows: 1. what are the difficulties that indonesian efl students experience to deliver effective presentations? 2. how does pecha kucha improve indonesian efl students’ speaking skill in delivering presentations? literature review presentations in college classrooms microsoft powerpoint has been the most commonly used slideware program in college classrooms since it was created in 1985. its popularity continues until present time to the point where instructors and students are expected to integrate the use of powerpoint in the teaching and learning activities (craig & amernic, 2006; hardin, 2007). presentations have been one of the common elements in many courses in college as they play a significant role in many aspects in various fields; among others are the business and education fields. employers will seek graduates who are competent and possess good communication skills in general and effective presentation ability in particular since delivering presentations has become an inevitable ritual in the business world. presentation assignment given in classrooms varies in terms of format, length, type and the number or presenters. despite the varieties, the main purpose is to facilitate students with confidence, effective presentation and speaking abilities. pecha kucha pecha kucha is a simple, concise and effective presentation format created by two british architects: astrid klein and mark dytham of klein dytham architecture in tokyo, japan, in 2003. they invented pecha kucha as an event for young professionals to present their ideas in a forum that involves a large number of people with limited presentation time. pecha kucha is a japanese term which means “chit chat.” this format limits presenters to only twenty (20) slides that will advance automatically for 20 seconds each upon timing setup in the powerpoint (www.pechakucha.org/faq, 2016). since the presentation time is limited to strictly 6 minutes and 40 seconds, the presenters are required to use less words and more graphics appropriate to the topic as well as carefully prepare their delivery (artyushina, sheypak, & khovrin, 2011). pecha kucha presentations are expected to be well-organized by having interesting introduction, clear main points and memorable conclusion that will surely engage the audience to follow the whole presentations. pecha kucha is acknowledged to be an effective and efficient way to give oral presentations and also gives audience plenty of time to ask questions and make comments about the presentation. pecha kucha presentation format accommodates a large number of presentations within a short period of time which then created an event called pecha kucha night in 2003. the first pecha kucha night held in japan has then become a global phenomenon which spread across the world. in a pecha kucha night, there are approximately 10 to 20 speakers delivering presentations on llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 89 topics that they like. the topics presented range from personal hobbies to new suggested concepts or ideas. in present time, there are pecha kucha trainings and workshops in addition to pecha kucha night in over 900 big cities in the world as well as almost 19,000 pecha kucha videos on youtube (www.pechakucha.org/global, 2016). pecha kucha presentation format is very successful and regarded as an “amazing cure for death by powerpoint”. therefore, pecha kucha presentation style has been popularly adopted by conference organizers and universities for academic presentations. pecha kucha has many advantages for students. it will force students to think critically as they filter the information to present on their slides. pecha kucha can also help to improve efl students’ pronunciation and intonation due to its’ controlled timing and the english language’s stress-timed characteristic that may help students “achieve natural sounding connected speech” (nguyen, 2015). the strict time limitation requires the students to practice frequently, which will increase their speaking fluency. in addition, pecha kucha leads the students to focus more on the key information, which means better content knowledge. furthermore, students will also significantly improve their communication and presentation skills as they maintain eye contact with the audience, having known precisely what to say. finally, pecha kucha enables instructors to assess a large number of presentations in a short period of time, making it beneficial to apply in a large class. methodology this research employed a descriptive study using a mixed-method that adopts quantitative and qualitative approaches. creswell (2003:12) stated that “in mixed methods research, investigators use both quantitative and qualitative data because they work to provide the best understanding of a research problem.” the first research question, “what are the causes of indonesian efl students’ inability to deliver effective presentations?” was investigated quantitatively by distributing questionnaires related to difficulties experienced by the students to deliver an effective presentation. the second research question, “how does pecha kucha improve indonesian efl students’ speaking skill in delivering presentations?” was investigated quantitatively by comparing the mean scores of the students’ presentation scores in the first, second and third round of presentation as well qualitatively by conducting an interview with two respondents using purposive sampling. the research was conducted in the english language education study program of sanata dharma university. the research participants were 46 students of batch 2016/2017 who were enrolled in textual pronunciation class. the questionnaires were distributed in may 2017. there were two participants involved in the interview. they were the students who obtained the highest score in their third round of presentation. the interview was conducted in june 2017. there were three instruments used in this research. the first one was the questionnaire to identify students’ difficulties in delivering effective presentations. the questionnaire consisted of 35 statements which were the elaboration of three categories in assessing one’s presentation ability, namely clarity of speech and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 90 voice quality, correctness of language and interaction with audience. likert scale was provided next to each statement to enable the students as the respondents to clearly state their view towards each statement. the second instrument was an assessment rubric that was used to assess the students’ presentation ability. there were three aspects that are assessed, namely: delivery, language use and interaction with audience. the third instrument was the guideline questions for the interview. the questions asked were intended to draw meaning from the students’ experience, especially on the way pecha kucha helps improving their presentation ability. to answer the research questions, the researcher collected the data by distributing questionnaires, scoring the students’ presentation and conducting interview. the data from the questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive statistics, which helped to identify the frequencies and percentages of each item. the score of the students’ presentation were obtained using the evaluation rubric for assessing the students’ speaking skill in delivering presentations. the mean scores of the students’ presentation were then calculated by using this following formula (arkin and colton, 1971): notes: :average score : total students’ score n : number of the students meanwhile, the data from the interview were analyzed qualitatively by transcribing the content of the interview and summarizing the answers and classifying them according to the categories asked. discussion students’ difficulties in delivering an effective presentation the first category of difficulties in delivering effective presentations is the clarity of speech and voice quality. this category is elaborated into 11 statements. based on the results of the questionnaire, there are two statements in this category that the respondents highlight as the major difficulties that they encounter which greatly affect their speech clarity and voice quality when delivering their presentations. the first difficulty in this category as stated by 30 respondents (65.2%) is that too many examples and details are included in the presentations. the second difficulty is that the respondents do not use appropriate transitional words and clear signals when they deliver the presentation, which is also chosen by 30 respondents (65.2%). the complete results of the first category, which is about the clarity of speech and voice quality, is presented in the following table. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 91 table 1. difficulties in speech clarity and voice quality difficulties strongly disagree disagree agree strongly agree clarity of speech and voice quality 1. my presentation is delivered in a disorganized way. 19.6% 45.7% 30.4% 4.3% 2. my presentation includes many examples and details. 2.2% 28.3% 65.2% 4.3% 3. i don’t outline the presentation objectives to audience. 17.4% 45.7% 26.1% 10.9% 4. i don’t stick to the objectives of the speech. 19.6% 47.8% 32.6% 0% 5. i deliver the presentation with unclear and low voice. 47.8% 30.4% 19.6% 2.2% 6. i speak with lack of confidence. 32.6% 32.6% 26.1% 8.7% 7. i hesitate while speaking and presenting. 17.4% 39.1% 34.8% 8.7% 8. my presentation lacks a good connection of ideas. 17.4% 58.7% 21.7% 2.2% 9. i don’t use appropriate transitional words & clear signals. 2.2% 4.3% 65.2% 28.3% 10. i am unfamiliar with the criteria of effective oral presentation. 17.4% 45.7% 28.3% 8.7% 11. i fear negative evaluation and comments. 26.1% 32.6% 30.4% 10.9% the second category of difficulties in delivering effective presentations is the correctness of language. this category is elaborated into 11 statements as well. based on the results of the questionnaire, there are three statements in this category that the respondents highlight as the major difficulties that they encounter which greatly affect their correctness of language when delivering their presentations. the first difficulty is that the respondents produce grammatical mistakes when they deliver the presentation, which is selected by 25 respondents (54.3%). the second difficulty in this category is that as many as 23 respondents (50%) deliver their presentation with incorrect pronunciation. the third difficulty stated by 20 respondents (43.5%) is that they have low speaking proficiency. the complete results of the second category, which is about the correctness of language, is presented in table 4.2. table 2. difficulties in correctness of language difficulties strongly disagree disagree agree strongly agree correctness of language 1. my presentation is delivered with incorrect pronunciation. 19.6% 21.7% 50% 8.7% 2. my presentation lacks of appropriate vocabulary and expressions. 17.4% 41.3% 30.4% 10.9% 3. i make grammar mistakes during the presentation. 6.5% 23.9% 54.3% 15.2% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 92 difficulties strongly disagree disagree agree strongly agree correctness of language 4. i rarely speak english in social interactions and contexts. 17.4% 45.7% 26.1% 10.9% 5. i have low communicative competence. 19.6% 43.5% 28.3% 8.7% 6. i have weak speaking proficiency. 17.4% 34.8% 43.5% 4.3% 7. i focus more on grammar accuracy rather than fluency. 23.9% 45.7% 28.3% 2.2% 8. i lack of appropriate structures and discourse markers to express ideas. 2.2% 54.3% 39.1% 4.3% 9. i suffer from inter-lingual mistakes while presenting. 43.5% 45.7% 10.9% 0% 10. i am unfamiliar with free oral and speaking activities. 15.2% 54.3% 30.4% 0% 11. i have a weakness in knowledge in comparative linguistics. 4.3% 50% 39.1% 6.5% the third category of difficulties in delivering effective presentations is the interaction with audience. this category is elaborated into 13 statements. based on the results of the questionnaire, there are three statements in this category that the respondents highlight as the major difficulties that they encounter which greatly affect their interaction with audience when delivering their presentations. the first difficulty is that the respondents do not keep eye-contact with the audience when they deliver the presentation, which is chosen by 25 respondents (54.3%). the second difficulty in this category stated by 24 respondents (52.2%) is the lack of using body language and gestures while delivering their presentations. the third difficulty stated by 21 respondents (45.7%) is that they have weakness in building rapport with their audience. the complete results of the third category, which is about the interaction with audience, is presented in following table. table 3. difficulties in interaction with audience difficulties strongly disagree disagree agree strongly agree interaction with audience 1. i rarely interact orally with my instructors in many courses. 10.9% 50% 34.8% 4.3% 2. i am unable to use tools such as lcd and powerpoint effectively. 60.9% 26.1% 13% 0% 3. i lack of courses that develop my speaking and conversational skills. 30.4% 47.8% 19.6% 2.2% 4. i don’t act cheerfully and smile when speaking. 37% 47.8% 10.9% 4.3% 5. i don’t keep eye-contact with audience. 6.5% 37% 54.3% 2.2% 6. i lack of using body language and gestures while speaking. 4.3% 32.6% 52.2% 10.9% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 93 difficulties strongly disagree disagree agree strongly agree interaction with audience 7. i have weakness in building rapport with my audience. 19.6% 30.4% 45.7% 4.3% 8. i get distracted by interruption from audience during presentation. 21.7% 43.5% 30.4% 4.3% 9. i lack of motivation towards giving the academic oral presentation. 23.9% 39.1% 30.4% 6.5% 10. i don’t use english language in my real-life situations. 15.2% 37% 30.4% 17.4% 11. i don’t practice giving presentation solo or with peers. 21.7% 34.8% 32.6% 10.9% 12. i don’t have the right to choose the topics in certain courses. 15.2% 63% 21.7% 0% 13. i have weak academic interactions with my friends outside the class. 19.6% 56.5% 17.4% 6.5% how pecha kucha improves the students’ speaking skill in delivering presentations the mean score of the students’ presentation in the first round is 70.961. there is an increase of 7.308 in the mean score of the students’ presentation in the second round to 78.269. as for the third round, the mean score of the students’ presentation is 86.737. the mean score of the students’ presentation in the first, second and third round are presented in the following figure. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 round 1 round 2 round 3 figure 4.1. mean scores of the students’ presentations the students’ mean scores of the first, second and third round of presentations clearly show that there is a significant improvement on the students’ presentation ability after pecha kucha format was employed. this becomes one of the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 94 indicators that pecha kucha really improves the students’ speaking skill when delivering presentations. there are two students from each textual pronunciation class who become the participants for the interview. they are chosen because they obtain the highest score in their third round of presentation which is done individually. the first participant’s score for the final round of presentation is 95.6, while the second participant obtains 94.4 as her final score in the third round of presentation. there are several main questions asked that aim to find out the participants’ opinion on the effectiveness of pecha kucha, how pecha kucha has helped them to improve their speaking skill when delivering presentations, and the disadvantages of using pecha kucha presentation format. both participants agree that the use of pecha kucha presentation format is very effective, especially in improving their speaking skill when delivering presentations. however, each participant highlights different aspects that are improved by using the pecha kucha presentation format. the first participant for the interview states that pecha kucha has really helped him to improve how he delivers his presentation. before he is introduced to pecha kucha presentation format, he states that he likes to include many examples and details on his slides. as a result, when he presents, he tends to end up reading from his crowded slides. therefore, he barely makes eye-contact with the audience since he is mostly focused on the screen instead of building rapport with the audience. this situation also often leads his classmates to boredom when he delivers a presentation, although he produces no major mispronunciation or grammatical mistakes in his presentation. the pecha kucha presentation format limits the amount of slides that he can show. not only that, he is also required to display more pictures and less words on his slides. these requirements make him think hard to filter what he would display on his slides. after he employs the pecha kucha presentation format, he feels that he can connect more with his audience as he only spends a little time to look at the screen. when he presents, he is able to make constant eye-contact with his classmates, which then engages the audience to pay full attention to his presentation. in terms of the content of the slides, he is now able to really display only the important keywords and finds suitable pictures that really address the points that he wants to deliver in his presentation. in terms of the disadvantages of using the pecha kucha presentation format, he mentions that his major obstacle is the time needed for preparing the presentation. since he is a very active student who is involved in many committees, he has difficulty in finding the time to prepare the content of the slides as well as to practice his speech. pecha kucha presentation format only gives the presenter 20 seconds for each slide before the next slide appears automatically. therefore, the presenters have to really prepare what they want to talk about on each slide and practice it repeatedly before the real presentation takes place in order to be able to deliver a flawless pecha kucha presentation. the second participant for the interview states that pecha kucha has really helped her to improve her language use when presenting. before she uses the pecha kucha presentation format, she claims that she has low speaking llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 95 proficiency, as she often produces many mistakes in her pronunciation and her grammatical accuracy when speaking. as a consequence, most of the time the audience would get distracted and decides not to listen because they could not really understand what she is talking about. as what has been stated before, pecha kucha presentation format only allows the presenter to use 20 slides. in addition, each slide will advance automatically after 20 seconds. therefore, all presenters who use the pecha kucha presentation format will have to allocate much more time to prepare what they want to say for each slide that appears. this requirement forces her to make a transcript on every slide that she displays. besides that, she also asks some of her friends who have good control of grammatical accuracy to read her transcript to check whether there are any grammatical mistakes which they will later correct. she also constantly checks the audio dictionary for every word that she will say. therefore, when she presents using the pecha kucha presentation format, she produces no grammatical mistakes and no inaccurate pronunciation during her presentation. she feels that after she uses the pecha kucha presentation format, her classmates are able to pay attention to what she is trying to say. as for the disadvantages of using the pecha kucha presentation format, she highlights that her biggest difficulty is to manage the perfect timing so that the transition from the current slide to the next slide can take place according to plan, which is exactly after 20 seconds. even though she has practiced many times, sometimes she still feels nervous when she is standing in front of the class. as a result, she sometimes produces quite many speech fillers when delivering her presentation. conclusion there are three categories that affect one’s speaking skill when delivering presentations. the first category is the clarity of speech and voice quality. the second category is the language use. the third category is the interaction with audience. based on the results of the questionnaires distributed to 46 students who are enrolled in textual pronunciation class, the researcher is able to identify the major difficulties for each category. for the first category, clarity of speech and voice quality, most respondents state that their first difficulty is that they include many examples and details in their presentation, while the second difficulty is that they do not use appropriate transitional words and clear signals when delivering presentations. in terms of the second category, language use, most of the respondents state that their major difficulties are that their presentations are delivered with incorrect pronunciation, that they make grammatical mistakes during the presentation, and that they have low speaking proficiency. as for the third category, the interaction with audience, most respondents state that their major difficulties are that they do not keep eye contact with the audience, that they lack of using body language and gestures while speaking, and that they have weakness in building rapport with their audience. the increased mean scores of the students’ presentation score before and after the pecha kucha presentation format is used proves that pecha kucha really llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 96 improves the students’ speaking skill when delivering presentations. this is also supported by the opinion of the two students who are the participants of the interview. both of the participants of the interview agree that pecha kucha has helped them to improve their speaking skill when delivering presentations. the first participant states that pecha kucha has helped him improves his interaction with the audience. by using pecha kucha, he manages to make constant eyecontact and succeeds to build rapport with his audience. the second participant states that pecha kucha has helped her improves her pronunciation and grammatical accuracy when delivering presentations. in terms of the disadvantage of using pecha kucha, both participants highlight the same aspect, which is the extra time and preparation needed in preparing a pecha kucha presentation, due to the time and amount of slides limitation that pecha kucha requires. references al-issa, 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(2015). developing students’ autonomy in oral presentations through pecha kucha. retrieved on october 3, 2016 from https://repository.usd.ac.id/1404/1/1540_full+paper+cotefl+7+risang.pdf creswell, j. w. (2013). research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches. california: sage publication. dytham, m., & klein, a. (2007). pecha kucha night: 20 images x 20 seconds. japan: kleindytham architecture. enein, ayman h. a. e. (2011). difficulties encountering english majors in giving academic oral presentations during class at al-aqsa university. thesis. gaza: islamic university of gaza. johnson, m. l. (2012). engaging students through pecha-kucha presentations. techniques: connecting education & careers. retrieved on 2 march 2017 from http://www.acteonline.org. klentzin, j. c., paladino, e. b., johnston. b., & devine, c. (2010). pecha kucha: using ‘lightning talk’ in university instruction. reference services review, 38 (1), 158–167. lehtonen, m. 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(2016). retrieved from http://www.pechakucha.org/faq llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 11 a study on modals used in text your say of the jakarta post elisabeth rosalia widyanti made frida yulia english language education study program sanata dharma university abstract communication happens not only in spoken form, but also in written form. newspaper, as one form of written communication, provides ways for people to show their opinion, intention, and thought. in the way people communicate by using language,modals enable people to show something which is not simply positive or negative and each modal has some functions to show people’s thought, intentions, or opinion. this study dealt with how modals were used by the commentators in text your say of the jakarta post. to solve the problem, the theories from azar and hagen (2009) and leech and svartvik (1994) were employed.the findings showed that there were 225 modals found in text your say of the jakarta post issued in november 2012. they consisted of may, might, should, had better, be supposed to, must, have to, will, can, could, be able to, and would. they were used by the commentators to show some functions. the functions were to show 50% or less certainty, 90% certainty, 95% certainty, 100% certainty, ability/possibility, past ability, impossibility, necessity, strong necessity, advisability, suggestion, prohibition, expectation, unfulfilled wish/hypothesis, willingness, polite for “want”, and fulfilled future condition in the past. keywords: modals,comments, text your say a. introduction communication involves two or more people and it is commonly done by using language. in communicating, people express their opinion, intention, and thought. implicitly, people also show their attitude when they communicate with others by using language. it is clear that language really playsan important role in human’s life. lehmann (1983, p. 1) says that “language provides the means for us to take our place in society to express our wants and convey information, to learn about people and the world around us.” therefore, it is important to study “how people use language within a context and why they use language in particular ways” (mcmanis, stollenwerk, &zheng-sheng, 1987, p. 197). the expressions of attitude and feeling of the speaker can be seen by the modality used. in expressing feeling and attitude, the language users will not only show something which is simply positive or negative. sometimes they show possibility of something which is not clear whether it is right or not. modality enables people to show the intermediate degree between yes and no (halliday, 2004, p. 147). using modal auxiliaries or modals is one of the ways to show modality. phrasal modals can also semantically represent modals. expressing modals and phrasal modals in the clause or sentence will allow the speaker to give the degree of possibility, certainty, politeness, and also directness (celce-murcia & larsenfreeman, 1999). 12 newspapers are media of information which people read. in indonesia there are many newspaper companies. however, the jakarta post is the country’s leading english language newspaper. the jakarta post also provides a place where the readers can show their opinions. the column is reader’s forum, which contains many parts. one of its partsis text your say. in text your say readers can send a short message or email to comment on some issues which have been reported previously. the topic or issue is decided by the editorial staff of the jakarta post. in commenting on issues, readers give their opinions about the issues. in expressing opinions, sometimes they use modals; for by using modals, they may express their degree of certainty, willingness, possibility, expectation or other things. in this study, how the modals were used in text your say of the jakarta post issued in november 2012 was to be discussed. the discussionwould then be related to the functions that each modal performed. b. discussion the study was a document analysis. according to ary et al. (2010, p. 457), document analysis is a research method applied to written or visual materials. the data analyzed were the comments in text your say issued in november 2012. in total, there were 25 copies of the jakarta post,from which text your say was taken. from the analysis, 225 modals were found. the modals consisted of modal auxiliaries and phrasal modals. modal auxiliaries generally express the attitude of the speakers (azar & hagen, 2009, p. 157). phrasal modal is also another form which functions semantically like true modals or modal auxiliaries (celce-murcia & larsenfreeman, 1999). azar and hagen (2009) explain that modals express what a speaker feels whether something is necessary, advisable, possible, permissible, or probable. modals also convey the strength of those attitudes. in this section, the analyses of each modal found in the comments are presented. 1. may may was used once in text your say in november 2012. it appeared on november 8, 2012. there was only one function expressed, i.e. expressing 50% or less certainty, as illustrated in [1]. [1] we may also hear more of bahasa in the us which is a touchy subject. (november 8, 2012) azar and hagen (2009, p. 204) propose that may can show less than 50% certainty, polite request and formal permission. in the sentence where may was found, it showed the certainty degree of the commentator of an issue. it was not classified as a polite request because a polite request is in the form of an interrogative, as azar and hagen (2009, p. 204) exemplify in “may i borrow your pen?” it was also not a formal permission because the commentator did not give any permission to us to hear more bahasa in the us, but he showed the possibility of bahasa to be heard more and in this sentence he gave his degree of certainty, which was 50% or less by using may. 2. might azar and hagen (2009) explain that might can be used to show less than 50% certainty and polite request. in november 2012 the commentators mentioned might four times. all might mentioned in the sentences functioned to show less than 50% certainty, as shown in [2]. [2] romney, like any other republican president, might seek indonesia only when he needs to and not as partner. (november 8, 2012) in this sentence, the commentator explained his thought of the possibility and stated his 50% certainty of the possibility.that a study on modals used in text your say of the jakarta post llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 13 sentence was not polite requests because the commentator did not ask for something and the sentence was not interrogative. in addition, azar and hagen (2009) state that it is rare to use might in showing polite request. 3. should should was often used by the commentators of text your say of the jakarta post. it was proven by thirty uses of should as what table 1 showed. azar and hagen (2009) state that should is commonly used to express advisability. it also functions to show 90% certainty or expectation for the present, future and past meaning. in the comments using should, the commentators of text your say showed advisability 26 times and 90% certainty four times. advisability was shown in [3].in this case, the commentator showed the necessity of maintaining and implementing the spirit of unity. he also gave a suggestion to maintain and implement the spirit by using should. [3] the spirit of unity echoed by young people across the country in 1928 should be maintained and implemented in the life of the nation. (november 1, 2012) table 1: the occurrences of should function occurrences advisability 26 90% certainty (expectation) 4 total 30 on the other hand, 90% certainty was shown in [4]. in the sentence the commentator believed that people would be grateful because of the sharp increase in jakarta’s minimum wage which was discussed at that time. [4] they should be grateful. (november 24, 2012) 4. had better had better is a phrasal modalwhich is used to show advice and usually with threat of a bad result (azar & hagen, 2009). in the comment which was mentioned in text your say, had better appeared once on november 7, 2012. [5] mr. andi, you’d better resign voluntarily for the sake of your nation. (november 7, 2012) sentence [5] illustrated the use of had better to show advisability. the advice was related to the hambalang scandal, implicating two ministers and causing rp 243.6 billion in state losses. the commentator had an opinion and he expressedit in the form of an advice towards mr. andi to voluntarily resign. 5. be supposed to be supposed to was found once in text your say in november 2012. azar and hagen (2009) propose that in the present or future form, be supposed to is used to show expectation and in the past form, it is used to show unfulfilled expectation. on november 17, a commentator wrote a comment using be supposed to.the one instance found in text your say was presented in [6]. [6] if those requirements fail to be fulfilled, the government is supposed to recall indonesian ambassador to malaysia and at the same time, send the malaysian ambassador home. (november 17, 2012) in [6]be supposed to functioned as expectation. the sentence did not show unfulfilled expectation because it used present tense, 14 whereas unfulfilled expectation requires past form of sentence (azar & hagen, 2009). 6. must there were twenty occurrences of must found in november 2012 comments, as shown in table 2. azar and hagen (2009) state that must shows strong necessity and 95% certainty in the present and past forms. in showing necessity, it can also be used in the future time. it also expresses prohibition by making it negative but it is only for the future or present time (azar & hagen, 2009, p. 204). table 2: the occurrences of must function occurrences strong necessity 14 prohibition (negative) 1 95% certainty 5 total 20 in text your say of the jakarta post published in december 2012, there were twenty occurrences of must. related to the functions, those twenty occurrences had three different functions of must. fourteen occurrences were showing strong necessity, one occurrence was showing prohibition, and five occurrences were showing 95% certainty. the first instance of the use of mustshowing strong necessity wasshown in [7]. [7] in addition to that, sby must prove his commitment to fighting corruption by directly firing the two ministers concerned. (november 7, 2012) in the sentence the commentator believed that it was very important for sby to prove his commitment. the commentator gave a solution or a way to sby in proving his commitment, which was firing the two ministers who were related to hambalang scandal. the sentence was not in the negative form of must, so it was not showing prohibition. in addition, sby had not fired the ministers to prove his commitment. thus, it was not showing certainty either. there was also one prohibition shown in the comments. sentence [8] was the only comment appearing in text your saywhich performed this function. not became the signal of this function in this sentence. [8] unity must not be undermined by any interests, including those of tribes, religions or classes. (november 1, 2012) the last function which was expressed by must in text your say in november 2012 was 95% certainty. the commentators mentioned must which performed this function five times. sentence [9]was one of the comments illustrating the function. [9] roki must now have more than one burqa, probably in different colors. (november 14, 2012) in [9] the commentator was certain that roki, the prisoner who had escaped, had many burqas because he escaped by using burqa trick. however, the joke or sarcasm was implied in this sentence. 7. have to one of the phrasal modals found was have to. there were sixteen occurrences of have to in the data. have to is the counterpart of must(celce-murcia & larsen-freeman, 1999). however, related to the function, have to has a difference. in positive form, have to functions to show necessity, like what must a study on modals used in text your say of the jakarta post llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 15 does. despite this, in negative formhave to shows lack of necessity whereas the negative form of must shows prohibition (azar & hagen, 2009, p. 204). all the sentences showed necessity. the clear sign was the positiveform of have to used in the sentences, as illustrated in [10]. it expressed the importance or necessity to focus more on the fate of iranian. [10] they have to engage more on the fate of iranians than nuclear talks. (november 9, 2012) 8. will will was the most commonly used modal. table 3 indicated that there were 67 occurrences of will in text your say in november 2012. the use of will in the comments showed two of three functions proposed by azar and hagen (2009). the functions shown were 100% certainty and willingness. there was no one using will to show polite request. table 3: the occurrences of will function occurrences 100% certainty 49 willingness 18 polite request 0 total 67 the example comment expressing 100% certainty was presented in [11]. it was a comment related to the presidential election in the us. the commentator expressed his thought that in the future he was sure that america still became an important country for indonesia whether barack obama was elected or not. [11] whether barack obama is elected or not, the us will remain an important country for indonesia. (november 8, 2012) the remaining occurrences of will in the data expressed willingness. this function was revealed in eighteenoccurrences, one of whom was sentence [12]. [12] whenever needed, he will always extend a helping hand to indonesia. (november 8, 2012) it was identified to be showing willingness because the subject of the sentence was willing to do something. sentence [12] discussed what if obama was reelected as the president. the commentator first said that if the heart was with indonesia, the head followed. because of that, in [12] the commentator said, whenever needed, he wanted to help indonesia. in the sentence, the willingness belonged to the subject ‘he.’ 4.2.9 can can was the modal which had forty occurrences in text your say november 2012. azar and hagen (2009) state that can expresses ability or possibility, informal permission, informal polite request and impossibility by using the negative form of can. in the present or future time and in the past form, it only shows the ability or possibility and impossibility by using the negative form (p. 205). as seen in table 4, can showed ability/ possibility and impossibility. there was no occurrence showing informal permission and informal request. there was one occurrence of can taken as an example of showing ability or possibility; it was presented in [13]. 16 [13] the story of othman can inspire the youth of indonesia to take its opportunities. (november 1, 2012) sentence [13] stated that the story of othman was able to show the youth of indonesia to take the opportunities. therefore, it expressed ability. the next example, sentence [14], expressed impossibilities. it explained that it was impossible for the mountain to block the sun. therefore, the function of modal in such a sentence was classified into impossibility. [14] no matter how tall the mountain (other countries) is, it cannot block the sun. (november 3, 2012) table 4: the occurrences of can function occurrences ability/possibility 33 informal permission 0 informal polite request 0 impossibility (negative) 7 total 40 10. could there were 21 occurrences of could. there were several functions shown in the data as they were written in table 5. past ability was expressed twelve times; suggestion was expressed twice; 50% or less certainty was expressed five times; impossibility was expressed twice. however, there was no could used in the comments expressing a polite request. azar and hagen mention that could shows past ability (azar & hagen 2009, p. 205). from the data analysis, there were twelve occurrences of could which functioned to show past ability. an example of this function was presented in [15]. table 5: the occurrences of could function occurrences past ability 12 polite request 0 suggestion 2 50% or less certainty 5 impossibility 2 total 21 [15] she ran for a mayoral position in a small town in the west bank of palestine and successfully proved she could lead about 8,000 people for two months. (november 1, 2012) sentence [15] explained that bashaer othman, whom ‘she’ in the example referred to, had been able to lead about 8000 people for two months. azar and hagen also state that could can also be used to express polite request in the present or future time (2009, p. 205). however, as it was mentioned earlier, in the data there was no polite request shown. could also shows suggestion in the form of affirmative sentences, less than 50% certainty, and impossibility in the negative form (azar & hagen, 2009, p. 205). a study on modals used in text your say of the jakarta post llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 17 there were two occurrences of could showing suggestion. the first could found in sentence [16]was a suggestion to make a better contact among nations. [16] better contact among nations could have been enhanced to prevent hunger and other problems, which otherwise couldn’t have been prevented. (november 2, 2012) in that sentence the commentator gave suggestion to other parties about how to handle or solve some problems rising at that moment. the third function of could implied 50% or less certainty. there were five occurrences. sentence [17], related to the international politic issue, illustrated this function. [17] in fact, our close and friendly relations with nearby australia could be the envy of many. (november 10, 2012) the commentator was giving an opinion that there was a possibility where the close and friendly relationship with australia became the envy of many other countries. in this sentence, he expressed his prediction but he also felt not really sure about it by using could as the modal in his comment. the last function of could was showing impossibility. it takes place only in the negative sentence (azar & hagen, 2009, p. 205). this function was illustrated by the second couldin [16]. could appeared in negative form. thus, it showed impossibility. 11. be able to be able to is meant to show ability (azar & hagen, 2009, p. 205). there were four occurrences of be able to, and all of them performed the same function. in sentence [18], the commentator expected that obama had the power or skill needed (i.e. ability) to fix us economy and other problems in the us. therefore, be able to in that sentence showed the ability of obama. [18] with this new term, we hope he will be able to fix the us economy and the world and, more importantly, fight poverty and bring peace and security. (november 9, 2012) 12. would text your say of the jakarta post issued in november 2012 had twenty occurrences of would showing various functions. the functions and the number of would occurrences was shown in table 6. however, there were some functions which did not appear in the data. table 6: the occurrences of would function occurrences polite want 2 repeated action in the past 0 unfulfilled wish 9 preference 0 polite request 0 fulfilled future condition 7 willingness 2 total 20 18 the first function shown was polite want. there were two occurrences showing polite want. in sentence [19], the commentator inserted would like and it was obvious to have this function. would can show a polite form of “want” by adding “like” after would (azar & hagen, 2009, p. 205). [19] first of all, i’d like to congratulate president obama on his reelection. (november 9, 2012) azar and hagen (2009) also state that would is possible to show repeated action in the past. however, there was not any would showing repeated action in the past. the same thing occurred with preference and polite request as the functions of would. would plus rather will show preference and polite request (azar & hagen, 2009, p. 205). however, there was not any would functioning as preference and polite request in the data. azar and hagen (2009, p. 205) also propose expressing unfulfilled wish as one of the functions of would.what azar and hagen (2009) call as unfulfilled wish is the same as what leech and svartvik (1994) call as a hypothesis. in the data, there were nine occurrences of would. sentence [20] was one of the comments showing this function. [20] this revelation would have been effective and useful had it been launched before a building in the corrupt project collapsed, embarrassing the whole nation to the core. (november 7, 2012) that example explained that the revelation was not really useful and effective because the revelation was late. therefore, would in the comment was functioning as unfulfilled wish or hypothesis. leech and svartvik (1994) also add that would can express fulfilled future condition in the past (p. 79). it means that the future is seen from a point of view in the past. from all the comments being analyzed, there were seven occurrences of would which were implying fulfilled future condition in the past. in showing fulfilled future condition, leech and svartvik (1994) explain that it is possible to put the future constructions into the past tense (p. 79). using that discussion, in sentence [21], the commentator put the future construction into the past tense. [21] agents and immigration would be a good place to stop the rot. (november 16, 2012) agents and immigration were really a good place to stop the rot. it showed that would functioned to express a fulfilled future condition in the past. the last function of would expressed by the commentator was willingness. there were two occurrences. sentence [22] was an example of this function. [22] these police officers have gang-raped before and were so sure that no indonesian maid would report them. (november 16, 2012) it showed the willingness of indonesian maid to report the incidents although there was no indonesian maid was willing to report. however, the word would in the sentence contained and explained the willingness of a person to do something. therefore, that sentence exemplified the use of would to show willingness. table 7 summarized the occurrences of each modal and its corresponding percentage. from table 7 it was seen that will was the most commonly used modal because it appeared 67 times or equaled 29.78% of the use of modals.as it was stated before, ought to, have got to, be going to, used to, and shall were not used by the commentators. a study on modals used in text your say of the jakarta post llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 19 table 7: the frequency of modals’ occurrences modals occurrences percentage (%) may 1 0.44 might 4 1.78 should 30 13.33 had better 1 0.44 be supposed to 1 0.44 must 20 8.89 have to 16 7.12 will 67 29.78 can 40 17.78 could 21 9.33 be able to 4 1.78 would 20 8.89 total 225 100 there were some possibilities about modals which could be learned from the findings. will and can were the modals which had the biggest percentage. will had 29.78%; can had 17.78%. the possibilities of this result are (1) will and can were the modals which people were most accustomed to, and (2) these two modals had the functions which the commentators wanted to express. table 8: the functions performed by modals no functions modals occurrences 1 polite request may 0 0 might 0 will 0 could 0 would 0 2 informal polite request can 0 0 3 formal permission may 0 0 4 informal permission can 0 0 there were 25 functions of the modals which are proposed by azar and hagen (2009) andleech and svartvik (1994), but there were several functions which were not used by the commentators. table 8 summarized the function of the modals found and their corresponding percentage. based on the table, it could be concluded that there were no one requesting and giving permission in the comments. 20 5 50% or less certainty may 1 10might 4 could 5 6 90% certainty should 4 4 7 95% certainty must 5 5 8 100% certainty will 49 49 9 ability/possibility can 33 37be able to 4 10 past ability could 12 12 11 impossibility (negative) can 7 9could 2 12 necessity have to 16 16 13 strong necessity must 14 14 14 lack of necessity negative) have to 0 0 15 advisability should 26 27had better 1 16 suggestion could 2 2 17 prohibition (negative) must 1 1 18 expectation be supposed to 1 1 19 unfulfilled expectation be supposed to 0 0 20 unfulfilled wish/ hypothesis would 9 9 21 willingness will 18 20would 2 22 preference would 0 0 23 repeated action in the past would 0 0 24 polite for "want" would 2 2 25 fulfilled future condition in the past would 7 7 total 225 225 necessity was shown with some degrees but there was no commentator who implied lack of necessity in his comments. it also happened to the unfulfilled expectation, preference, and repeated action in the past. the result of the function analysis also revealed that 100% certainty and ability/possibility were the functions mostly expressed by the commentators. the 100% certainty was expressed by will, while 33 out of 37 expressions of showing ability/possibility were expressed by can. it showed that people commenting on some issues in text your say often expressed their full certainty of something and ability/possibility. in addition to the explanation of the use of modals and their functions, some modals were not used by the commentators. they were ought to, have got to, be going to, used to, and shall. the commentators preferred to use should than ought to which conveys the same functions. it also happened with have got to. instead of using this modal, people chose to use have to. in showing 100% certainty, a study on modals used in text your say of the jakarta post llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 21 people also tended to use will than be going to. it showed that people were not familiar with some modals. c. conclusions based on azar’s and hagen’s explanation and category of the modals (2009), the 225 modals found in the data showed that modals had varying number of occurrences. they also revealed or performed various functions with different number of instances. will and can were the modals which had the biggest percentage. the possible reasons for this result were (1) will and canwere the modals which people were most accustomed to, and (2) these two modals had the functions which the commentators wanted to express. the findings also revealed that some modals werenot used by the commentators. they were ought to, have got to, be going to, used to, and shall. the commentators preferred to use should than ought to which conveys the same functions. it also happened with have got to. people chose to use have to rather than have got to. to show 100% certainty, people also tended to use willthan be going to. it showed that some modals were more familiar than others. furthermore, not all functions were shown by the commentators. it was discovered from the findings that in commenting on some issues, people never made any polite request, despite its possibility to be expressed through various modals, namely may, might, will, could, and would. references azar, b. s. (1993). understanding and using english grammar. jakarta barat: binarupa aksara. azar, b. s.,& hagen, s. a. (2009). understanding and using english grammar (4th ed.). new york: pearson education. celce-murcia, m.,& larsen-freeman, d. (1999). the grammar book: an esl/ efl teacher’s course (2nd ed.). new york: heinle & heinle publishers. fowler, r. (1986). linguistic criticism. oxford: oxford university press. halliday, m. a. k. (2004). an introduction to functional grammar(3rd ed.). london: hodder education. jackson, h. (1990). grammar and meaning. new york: longman inc. leech, g., & svartvik, j. (1994). a communicative grammar of english (2nd ed.). new york: longman publishing. lehmann, w. p. (1983). language: an introduction. new york: random house, inc. mcmanis, c., stollenwerk, d., & zhengsheng, z. (1987). language files. ohio: advocate publishing group. palmer, f. r. (1981). semantics (2nd ed.). cambridge: cambridge university press. wales, h. g. (1989). language style. new york: richard d. irwin inc. cover vol 16 2013_rep isi llt_vol_16_2013_a_save as isi llt_vol_16_2013_b_save as llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 157 student-centered learning and testing as an approach to develop students’ proficiency on english sentence structure to promote autonomous learning andi dian rahmawan and sri wiyanah universitas pgri yogyakarta andi@upy.ac.id and wiyana.pbiupy@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.210204 received 9 july 2018; revised 17 september 2018; accepted 29 september 2018 abstract this study investigates how sentence master downloaded from android can be used as a self-study media for students to promote autonomous learning to develop students’ comprehension on english sentence structure which is grammatically correct. students can measure, by themselves, whether the material given during the teaching and learning process has been successfully learned. the result of this study is also intended to be used by the teachers and lecturers to indicate the successfulness of teaching and learning that have been conducted. this is an action research which 10 students of english education program of the university of pgri yogyakarta were employed as the objects of the research. they are tested to run the game of sentence master and the score will be recorded that benefits teacher to consider whether the learning process that has been conducted is successful. this study also investigates students’ difficulty on making english sentence. this study emerges results that sentence master helps students to understand english grammar better by employing the smart phone to promote autonomous learning. this media is used by the students as the indication whether they have the abilities to make good english sentences. keywords: autonomous learning, sentence master, english sentence structure introduction there are tremendous debates among experts whether english grammar should be taught explicitly and individually, or should it be taught integrated with other skills? there are a lot of approaches been found to teach english grammar to enhance proficiency on making acceptable written english sentences since decades ago. the question that has not been answered satisfyingly is that, “is it important to teach english grammar”? two experts observed in their study that pre-service teachers show an affirmative attitude towards grammar teaching although they strongly believe that “it should not be taught directly or overtly. attitudes change depending on the age and purpose of the learners”, which “is also seen that there is a gap between the practice and theory the reason of which may be the testing policy in turkish educational system” (degirmenci & yavuz, 2015). mailto:andi@upy.ac.id mailto:wiyana.pbiupy@gmail.com llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 158 in recent years, people think that “grammar is too important to be ignored. the newest issue is not whether or not we should teach grammar. the issues now center on questions, such as which grammar items do learners need most? how do we go about teaching grammar items in the most effective way? are they best taught inductively or deductively?” (richards & renandya, 2002). in other words, how should we teach grammar to our students? teaching and learning nowadays have reached the highest level of thinking in which students are engaged to autonomous learning, which means students have full responsibility to provide and learn the material and elaborate among themselves to gain the learning goals effectively and efficiently. in traditional teaching method, teachers are expected to have 4 basic skill (jana & pamungkas, 2018). the skills include pedagogical, character, social and professional. these skills will meet the expectation of teacher and learners during a teacher-centered classroom. however, do these teacher’s basic skills are required during an autonomous learning when students are fully engaged to technology to ‘substitute’ the existence of the teacher? this study investigates how android app can be used as a self-assessment conducted by the students to measure their level of proficiency on making english sentences which are structurally acceptable. it is hoped that this study will emerge students’ independency on learning english grammar, especially on making english sentences as it is an expected level of proficiency at the university level. english grammar if you ask average speakers of a language what they know about grammar they may remember the odd lesson from school, but beyond that they will say that they have forgotten what grammar they once new (harmer, 1991). in the sentence of ‘how many students are there in the classroom?’, the function was enquiring about numbers, and in the practice which helped the learners use the structure meaningfully, they asked each other questions about hidden items. no mention was made of grammar. but there is an important grammar’s point embedded in that structure; it is countable versus uncountable. in a grammar lesson, the teacher will draw attention to that distinction. practice of how many? (countable) will be contrasted with how much? (of uncountable items). the teacher’s concern will not be with communication and mastery of a useful structure, rather it will be with understanding of the concept and mastery of that grammar point. there would be special attention to any clash between the mother tongue and the target language in terms of what is countable (cross: 1992). some teachers see no need to teach and practice grammar at all. some even regard structure practice and other forms of grammar teaching as harmful. their view is that learners will pick up the regularities intuitively. talking about english grammar, as a teacher of it, it is our consideration and responsibility to teach english grammar creatively and contextually which should be based on the needs. it should be so since a lot of students may have various perspectives about teaching and learning english grammar. the question is, does teaching and learning grammar really matter? the grammatical rules provide a structure to learning any language, both flt and slt. however, the teachers in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 159 the final year of general education are no longer fixated on grammar. it is hardly mentioned in the curriculum because students are supposed to have learned it in the first four years of general education. they only focus on grammar when there are recurrent mistakes made by the students. the students ought to be able to apply the rules; they are no longer required to actually know them because they should already be internalized. (vooren, casteleyn, & mottart, 2012). learning autonomously learner autonomy in language education is interpreted in various ways and various terms such as ‘learner independence’, ‘self-direction’, and ‘independent learning’ (little, 1991); (karababa, eker, serkan, & ar, 2010). those concepts are used simultaneously to refer to the same object called as autonomous learning. when the students are able to direct the learning process by themselves, what is the role of the teachers? (masouleh & jooneghani, 2012) investigate the role of the teacher in autonomous learning. the investigation reveals a belief that to help learners to assume greater control over their own learning, it is important that teachers help them to become aware of and identify the strategies that they already use or could potentially use. the study highlights the need to integrate learner independence into the language curriculum, with a well structured focus, delivery and content. holec (1979) as cited by (okumu, 2015) describes an autonomous learner in various aspects. an autonomous learner is capable of: 1. determining the objectives 2. defining the contents and progressions 3. selecting method and techniques to be used 4. monitoring the procedure of acquisition 5. and evaluating what has been acquired a teacher has prepared a lot of things before he comes to the class. is the autonomous learning possible to happen? should the autonomous learning be designed strictly to the norms or ethics? or can it be arranged through games to draw more attention of the learners? a study has been conducted that games may attract more attention among the high anxiety of the young learners (celik, 2013). it is true that, when students are learning to acquire the correct english sounds, they should have good concentration. games will certainly make them spontaneously using their l1. in this case, games will omit the anxiety and raise the motivation to learn english. generally speaking, motivation leads to the autonomy in learning (vile & buyukduman, 2013); (egel, 2009). it has the meaning that, before actuating the autonomous learning, students and teachers should grow the intrinsic motivation of learning english because it is strongly connected to the autonomy (daskalovska, koleva, & ivanovska, 2012); (dincer, yesilyurt, & takkac, 2012). as it has been stated, the 3 most important things to gain the best result are language, learning motivational and the use of technology (ali, soleimani, & bakhtiarvand, 2014). autonomous learning also has strong relationship with e-learning to diminish the distance between teacher and students (cai, 2012). when teacher employs elearning, it is benefited that students will have opportunity to gain abundant of material that can be easily accessed at anytime and anywhere. the vast llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 160 development of technologies urges the modification of learning and teaching approaches to gain the better results (goulao & menedez, 2015). (farivar & rahimi, 2015) proves that experimental group autonomy which employs the call brings the better results on english test than the control group which does not apply call. the reason is that call provides abundant material for all aspects of english learning, compared to the traditional teaching and learning method. is it only the teacher as the one who should create the autonomous learning environment? are there others elements that can take participation during the conducting of this learning approach? autonomous learning has the meaning of making the environments, not just the one in the classroom, more than that, the students should be able to feel the supports from society to apply the autonomous learning. the university or the school should support by providing good facilities and the contexts of learning such as a good library that provides anything to learn that can be accessed through inside and outside the library building as away to develop the students’ learning independence which happens not only in one night (chou & chanlin, 2015); (hamdi, 2016); (laz, 2013); (ivanovska, 2015). the main aim of learning a language is to be able to communicate with others using that language, actively and spontaneously. in this case, students are expected to learn the language, not only from teachers at classrooms, independently to gain more results. the students are also expected to be responsible for the conceptual, motivational and content-technological (popescu, 2014); (bolsunovskaya, kemerova, asadullina, sentsov, & chris, 2015). teachers’ duty is to make supportive autonomous learning; students are responsible about the process of learning (ismail & yusof, 2012). a teacher should be able to make himself as a partner for the students, meaning that he observes, listens, analyzes and inform when the problem emerges (cristina, 2015). besides, it is the teacher’s duty to make the students realize their real needs to accomplish the purposes and to grow the motivation environment to gain the learning goals effectively and efficiently (alhodiry, 2016). on the other hand, the students are expected to find suitable materials based on teachers’ direction, state the learning goals and responsible for the assessments (tran & duong, 2018). method this research employs 10 students consisting of 7 males and 3 females of the third year students in the university of pgri yogyakarta specialized on english teacher training program. the subjects of this study are asked to download the app of sentence master from their android phones. those 10 students have joined basic structure, pre-intermediate, intermediate structure, and now they are joining advanced structure as the last step to be proficient in english grammar. during the process of data gaining, students are introduced to the level of the game, starting from the beginner, competent, professional and expert. they are expected to start the game with the beginner level as a way to know the game better. in the end, students will be able to finish all the levels without any obstacles, in which it indicates that the learning process of grammar is successfully conducted. the score of each subject of the research will be recorded to measure the ability to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 161 make english sentences, after that, they are expected to answer a series of question in a provided questionnaire regarding their experiences during joining the class of grammar. findings and discussion this research focuses on how sentence master of android app can be a media for students of english learning to measure their capability to make english sentences. the students are expected to use the sentence master to reveal their real capabilities on making english sentences which are structurally correct. the samples of sentence master are described as follows: 1. change have ? do you schedule 2. like i don’t food thai 3. very well paints she 4. your what is ? address 5. of the order elevator out is 6. cold liked no one the pizza this is a kind of grammatical language game, in which the students are asked to re-arrange the jumbled words to be a good grammatical sentence. there are 4 levels of difficulty which can be used as a parameter, in what the level the students are at the best. the principles of this game are: 1. students choose the expected level of difficulty. 2. students are expected to be able to arrange the jumbled words to be the grammatically accepted sentence. 3. the ability to make grammatical sentences is fully based on the level of comprehension on the word order. 4. when the students are able to get the high score, it means that the better comprehension after the learning process has been achieved. 5. by recording the score of each student in a class, teacher will get benefit that he or she can measure his successfulness on delivering material that is the english word order. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 162 6. the measurement can be used by the teacher to fix the weak parts, both the material and the way to deliver it. 7. when the teacher is successful to measure the process and result of the learning process, it is expected that the future learning process will achieve the goals effectively and efficiently. after the students played the game of sentence master, the researcher gained the data of the students’ scores which are presented in table 1 below. table 1. students’ scores respondent the sentences total mistakes time spent student 1 1. mike always goes to work by car. 0 11.50’ 2. matt is studying to be a boat captain. 0 21.37’ 3. only after the fact did he realize his mistake. 1 19.37’ 4. more than seven-hundred farm animals were destroyed. 0 17.38’ 5. what would you do with so much money? 0 31.90’ 6. i hope that he comes tomorrow. 5 26.20’ 7. our program was better than was expected. 2 16.42’ 8. when did you return from madrid? 2 11.41’ 9. listen now as dizzy gillespie and his all star quintet play the song. 3 39.69’ 10. it represents the special relationship between the circus animals and the human performers. 4 46.21’ student 2 1. when are you completing the computer course? 5 18.58’ 2. did you put the milk in the refrigerator? 4 22,74’ 3. he does not attend a high school. 1 25.81’ 4. we do this more for pleasure than for money. 4 24.16’ 5. he asked me how to use the program. 4 31.18’ 6. jack does not need to sleep very much. 5 15.96’ 7. soon after, music was added to his words. 4 16.53’ 8. how happy are you that john is coming? 2 26.33’ 9. when the snow melted, the flowers began to appear. 5 19.46’ 10. the cinema is next to the park. 4 24.57’ student 3 1. he is more likely to go than to stay. 2 20.12’ 2. i brush my teeth in the morning. 0 7.43’ 3. if i had a car i would drive to work. 5 35.83’ 4. she liked the dark blue sweater the best. 3 25.50’ 5. may i have a word with you? 1 15.73’ 6. my sister goes to work at 8 o’clock. 2 12.57’ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 163 respondent the sentences total mistakes time spent 7. her legs felt as she climbed the stairs. 0 11.00’ 8. what do you think of him? 0 8.35’ 9. his mom made sure that carl finished school. 1 17.36’ 10. the cinema is next to the park. 3 16.14’ student 4 1. there are six of us at home. 0 10.06’ 2. you should see a play while in london. 1 21.82’ 3. the live in the centre of town. 0 7.73’ 4. he is more likely to go than to stay. 0 12.51’ 5. matt is studying to be a boat captain. 0 18.57’ 6. they live in the center of town. 0 7.73’ 7. i did not turn off the stove in the kitchen. 0 18.11’ 8. mike always goes to work by car. 0 11.97’ 9. he does not attend a high school. 0 8.80’ 10. what is your favorite car? 0 7.00’ student 5 1. the ebola virus affects animal and people. 0 9.48’ 2. what would you do with so much money? 1 20.66’ 3. how happy are you that john is coming? 5 21.66’ 4. may i have a word with you? 0 12.49’ 5. when the snow melted, the flowers began to appear. 4 16.38’ 6. my sister goes to work at eight o’clock. 1 13.63’ 7. he is considered the world’s first music star. 2 23.03’ 8. i hope that he comes to the party tomorrow. 1 16.45’ 9. how much money can you earn? 5 19.31’ 10. jack does not need to sleep very much. 3 23.61’ student 6 1. what do you think of him? 1 8.41’ 2. when did you return from madrid? 0 12.14’ 3. may i have a word with you? 0 15.11’ 4. if i had a car i would drive to work. 0 23.54’ 5. my father has suggested that i change my job. 0 19.60’ 6. jack does not need to sleep very much. 1 13.27’ 7. mike always goes to work by car. 0 9.28’ 8. they live in the center of town. 0 9.65’ 9. do you have anything to eat? 0 7.19’ 10. i brush my teeth in the morning 0 9.51’ student 7 1. i didn’t turn off the stove in the kitchen 0 12.78’ 2. our program was better than was expected. 0 11.63’ 3. do you have anything to eat? 0 12.76’ 4. if i had a car i would drive to work 5 28.33’ 5. how far is houston from here? 1 16.99’ 6. i brush my teeth in the morning. 0 7.36’ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 164 respondent the sentences total mistakes time spent 7. does your husband have a boring job? 0 11.27’ 8. there are six of us at home. 1 15.75’ 9. her legs felt weak as she climbed the stairs. 2 25.17’ 10. she liked the dark blue sweater the best. 3 18.82’ student 8 1. did you put the milk in the refrigerator? 0 14.01’ 2. mike always goes to work by car. 0 14.07’ 3. she liked the dark blue sweater the best 3 43.50’ 4. our progress was better than was expected. 1 20.81’ 5. it will harm crops, animal and fish. 0 12.41’ 6. more than seven-hundred farm animals were also destroyed. 4 27.05’ 7. if i had a car i would drive to work. 3 41.21’ 8. how happy are you that john is coming? 3 18.18’ 9. i wonder which dog he said you chased. 1 23.61’ 10. my sister goes to work at eight o’clock. 0 17.99’ student 9 1. do you know where he lives? 0 7.78’ 2. how far is houston from here? 1 8.73’ 3. we do this more for pleasure than for money. 3 25.00’ 4. matt is studying to be a boat captain. 1 10.95’ 5. jack does not need to sleep very much. 0 7.62’ 6. when are you completing the computer course? 3 14.82’ 7. the showing of the program seemed to impress people. 4 27.28’ 8. i knew who would come to the party. 3 15.53’ 9. i brush my teeth in the morning. 0 7.35’ 10. can i have a cup of black tea please? 2 20.80’ student 10 1. i am going to europe the day i graduate. 4 18.58’ 2. you should see a play while in london. 4 23.51’ 3. he does not attend a high school. 0 9.22’ 4. what do you think of him? 0 6.31’ 5. he asked me how to use the program. 0 13.00’ 6. there is a dog and a cat here. 0 9.75’ 7. forest fires begin every summer in the western united states. 5 30.70’ 8. did you put the milk in the refrigerator? 0 7.05’ 9. her legs felt weak as she climbed the stairs. 5 21.37’ 10. the scientists will carry out more digging next summer. 2 18.95’ there are 100 sentences that are used as the research data, taken from 10 students that we use as the respondents of this research. those 100 sentences are going to be used as the parameter which indicates which kinds of sentences are llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 165 difficult for most of the students to construct to be grammatically accepted. we considered that sentences which spent more time and more mistakes are the sentences that difficult to construct. the easy sentence construction should spend no more than 15 seconds which has 1 tolerable mistake. in these categorizations, we employed 4 kinds of sentences; those are simple, compound, complex and compound complex sentences. according to those criteria, here we present the sentences that are difficult to construct by most of the students: table 2. difficult sentences the sentence sentence category time spent total mistakes 1. i hope that he comes tomorrow. complex sentence 26.20’ 5 2. it represents the special relationship between the circus animals and the human performers. complex sentence 46.21’ 4 3. listen now as dizzy gillespie and his all star quintet play the song. complex sentence 39.69’ 3 4. our program was better than was expected. passive simple sentence 16.42’ 2 5. when are you completing the computer course? interrogative simple sentence 18.58’ 5 6. did you put the milk in the refrigerator? interrogative simple sentence 22,74’ 4 7. we do this more for pleasure than for money. comparative simple sentence 24.16’ 4 8. he asked me how to use the program. indirect simple sentence 31.18’ 4 9. soon after, music was added to his words. passive simple sentence 16.53’ 4 10. how happy are you that john is coming? interrogative complex sentence 26.33’ 2 11.when the snow melted, the flowers began to appear. compound sentence 19.46’ 5 12. he is more likely to go than to stay. complex sentence 20.12’ 2 13. if i had a car i would drive to work. compound sentence 35.83’ 5 14. she liked the dark blue sweater the best. comparative simple sentence 25.50’ 3 15. how happy are you that john is coming? interrogative compound sentence 21.66’ 5 16. he is considered the world’s first music star. complex sentence 23.03’ 2 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 166 the sentence sentence category time spent total mistakes 17. how much money can you earn? interrogative simple sentence 19.31’ 5 18. jack does not need to sleep very much. interrogative simple sentence 23.61’ 3 19. her legs felt weak as she climbed the stairs. complex sentence 25.17’ 2 20. more than seven-hundred farm animals were also destroyed. passive simple sentence 27.05’ 4 21. the showing of the program seemed to impress people. complex sentence 27.28’ 4 22. can i have a cup of black tea please? interrogative simple sentence 20.80’ 2 23. i am going to europe the day i graduate. compound sentence 18.58’ 4 24. you should see a play while in london. complex sentence 23.51’ 4 25. forest fires begin every summer in the western united states. complex sentence 30.70’ 5 one of the problems indicated by the table above is that the students still get difficulties in constructing the interrogative simple sentence. the patterns on making interrogative sentences from simple present, present progressive and modal sentences are still the problems for most of the respondents. it gets more problematic whenever the students are expected to construct the interrogative compound sentence as in ‘how happy are you that john is coming?’ it stresses that they are still need repetition on practicing using this kind of sentence both oral and written. it is hoped that when the teacher conducts this kind of repetition, the students are able to making interrogative sentences spontaneously. another problem raised from constructing the simple sentences is the passive voice and the indirect sentences as shown in ‘more than seven-hundred farm animals were also destroyed’ and ‘he asked me how to use the program’. the different principles of those two sentence structure may be resulted on students’ confused. conclusion from the result of the game of sentence master, it can be concluded that most students are still get difficulty in making and forming the grammatically correct english sentence. the students found that english pattern is very much different with their l1 pattern. this concept has the same meaning with the hypothesis of contrastive analysis which stated that whenever li patterns are so much different with the pattern of the language being learned, it has the meaning that the students should struggle a lot to master the l2. this study has some points that are still unclear, such as the number of participants is limited to draw general conclusion. do all the students have the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 167 same experiences as the respondents have? 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(2012). the impact of teachers ’ beliefs on grammar instruction and students ’ grammar competences. procedia social and behavioral sciences, 69(iceepsy), 641–648. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.11.456 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 92-102 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 92 evaluating flipped classroom approach in efl students’ reading classes ista maharsi1, yunita rizky wijayanti2, and tri retna astari3 1,2,3universitas islam indonesia 1ista.maharsi@uii.ac.id, 2yunita.rizky.wijayanti@uii.ac.id, and 3tri.astari@students.uii.ac.id correspondence: ista.maharsi@uii.ac.id doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.2768 received 24 july 2020; accepted 25 february 2021 abstract this paper examines the implementation of flipped classroom approach in an efl private university in indonesia. it explores how this approach impacts on students’ reading comprehension and how students perceive the flipped classroom in their learning process. under the mixed method design, data were collected from pretest and post-test, classroom observations, and students’ reflective notes. there were 47 students in the experimental groups and 25 students in the control groups. those 72 students from both groups took a compulsory 2-credit intensive reading course in their first year in the pre-service teacher training. both groups were taught the same reading skills and tasks comprising of the total 14 meetings for the whole semester and each meeting took 100 minutes. results indicate that students in the traditional classrooms gained an increase in their post-test score compared to their counterpart in the flipped classrooms. this might relate with the teacher-led instructions and scaffolding which are commonly conducted in traditional classrooms where students listen to teachers’ explanation and students can ask directly. other reasons are hesitation/inconvenience in using technology in learning, task-related time management, and technology-related workload. however, for many students flipped classrooms are perceived as promoting independent, responsible, active, and free learning. both benefits and drawbacks of flipped classrooms in this context are also discussed. keywords: flipped classroom, quasi experimental, reading class introduction flipped classroom has been extensively investigated in both esl and efl contexts in higher education with various classroom disciplines. it refers to the switch between activities in face-to-face traditional classrooms and what is commonly done at home (homework) after the face-to-face sessions. new learning is experienced by students prior classroom sessions whereas in the classroom students collaborate with their classmates or the teachers to develop ideas. in other words, learning takes place at homes and homework is brought and discussed in classrooms. with this kind of well-designed activities, students can mailto:2yunita.rizky.wijayanti@uii.ac.id mailto:3tri.astari@students.uii.ac.id llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 92-102 93 control their own learning, develop their collaborative skills, and enhance communication among classmates and teachers. when supported with technology, flipped classroom facilitates student-centered learning and likely to generate active learning environment (mehring, 2018). hence, with more advanced technology flipped classroom has been a great choice for learning that give opportunities for students to develop their own learning. a study on a modified flipped classroom (opirtas-objective, preparation, instructional video, review, test, activity, summary) for chinese undergraduate psychology students finds that students indicate positive perceptions on the classroom engagement, teachers’ teaching quality and examination performance (guo, 2019). another study on the implementation of flipped classroom in an engineering course with collaborative learning suggests that flipped classroom has developed students’ critical analysis skills, problem solving skills, and communication skills (munir et al., 2018). similar flipped classroom with cooperative learning is applied using a quasi-experimental study for business students in norway. results show that students trained using flipped classroom with cooperative learning activities perform much better compared to those learning under the traditional lecture (foldnes, 2016). hence, flipped classroom seems to work well in several disciplines and it is, therefore, not surprising that flipped classroom becomes a fruitful alternative for building interesting and engaging learning using technology. the high interest in using this classroom instruction could be supported by a survey of university instructors in which 55% of teachers use flipped classroom instruction and the other 25% plan to try it (schaffhauser & kelly, 2016). a study about the influence of flipped classroom in a biology course in higher education reveals that flipped classroom had correlation with students’ confidence, motivation, and engagement. in addition, students’ learning experiences have also been empowered by recorded lectures and sessions conducted in the class (awidi & paynter, 2019). in chinese higher education, factors that influence the continued use of flipped classroom lie on the teachers’ perceived technological knowledge and organizational supports. meanwhile, teachers’ beliefs on the technology environment and knowledge on technology use make teachers encouraged to continue using this approach (cai et al., 2019). in short, how flipped classroom has impacted on students’ learning experiences through correlated studies, surveys, and case studies have been flourishing. however, aspects that play roles in the success of flipped classroom implementation continue to reveal new findings and insights, particularly in different learning contexts. the implementation of flipped classroom in efl context in the last five years, particularly in language learning has been limited to content based language learning environment (leis, 2018), narrative inquiry (aghaei et al., 2019), metacognitive strategies (shih & huang, 2019), and computer assisted language learning for efl pre-service teachers (akayoğlu, 2019). as far as the literature reports, a study investigating the effectiveness of flipped classroom in efl college reading course was conducted by (mo & mao, 2017). results confirm that flipped classroom has positive effect on college reading abilities. as the research in this particular reading class is still limited, further studies are expected to be conducted. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 92-102 94 it can be inferred that flipped classroom implementation has resulted in many positive learning achievement and processes in several different disciplines. however, studies using quasi experimental method in higher education reading course is still limited. this, consequently, indicates urgent need towards evidences of the flipped classroom practices in different context of study. therefore, this study is aimed to evaluate the implementation of flipped classroom in a college reading class using experimental (flipped classroom) and control groups (traditional teaching). this is particularly aimed to explore how students perceive flipped classroom in comparison with traditional classroom teaching and how effective flipped classroom in a reading course is. this research is aimed to answer the two questions below. 1. how did students in the experiment groups differ from those in the control groups in term of reading comprehension skills? 2. how do students perceive flipped classrooms in intensive reading course? method this study was designed using mixed-method inquiry in which a pre-test and a post-test were administered and the score was compared to check whether flipped classroom was more effective than the traditional classroom. observations and students’ reflective notes were used to provide qualitative evidences on how students perceive flipped classroom. there were 47 students (2 experimental groups) and 25 students (2 control groups). the pre-test and post-test were administered using toefl reading comprehension section with the total of 50-item questions. the results of both tests were analyzed using t-test sample in spss instrument. students’ reflective notes were collected, categorized, and thematized. thematic analyses were employed for the students’ reflective notes while statistical descriptions were presented in significance tables. findings and discussion the following section mainly consists of the answers to the research questions as determined previously. the number of the participants in this study is 72 efl pre-service teachers taking intensive reading course in the first year. they were 47 students from 2 experimental groups and 25 students from 2 control groups. the distribution of gender in each group is illustrated in the following charts. figure 1. respondents of experimental groups (n=47) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 92-102 95 figure 2 respondents of control groups (n=25) figure 3 total respondents (n=72) students in the traditional classrooms and the flipped classrooms were taught the same topics, using the same syllabus, and tasks. while the traditional classrooms are conducted with the teacher teaching conventionally in the class and exercises are given both in the class and at home. whereas, students in the flipped classrooms were required to learn at home by reading, finding additional relevant references from websites, and watching videos on the scheduled topics. students were given prompts in the form of questions or opinions on a particular topic. they had to upload their responses on to google classroom as the learning management system and the teacher gave feedback online. during face-to-face sessions, the teacher stimulated students with group discussions and exercises to be completed. when students had questions and needed clarification, the teacher explained and clarified. rq 1. how did students in the experiment groups differ from those in the control groups in term of reading comprehension skills? table 1. paired samples test for experimental group llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 92-102 96 meanwhile, the result of paired differences in the pre-test and post-test for the experimental groups is 0.1 (m=0; sd=9.362), meaning that there is no significant difference between those tests. table 2 illustrates the results of the ttest for the control group (traditional classroom). table 2. paired samples test for the control groups the result of the paired differences for the control groups indicates that there is a significant difference in the pre-test and post-test scores (p= 0.003; m=5.6; sd=8.64). rq2. how do students perceive flipped classrooms in intensive reading course? to answer this question, students’ reflective notes are analyzed and thematized. the most prominent themes are background knowledge activation, time management, independent learning, perceived problems of tasks and prompts, feedback, awareness raising, and navigation skills. as is commonly addressed in every classroom practices, benefits and drawbacks of a learning process is also included. some of the benefits of flipped classroom are learners become active, classes are lively, flipped classroom forces the brain to think more, students are more prepared, students’ potentials are optimized as well as ideas during the learning. whereas, the drawbacks include misunderstanding on materials, not all students are independent and convenient using flipped classroom approach, deadlines of tasks and panicking, and less teacher supervision. this section elaborates the prominent themes of the findings which have been categorized into major issues/themes and sub-themes. the themes are analyzed and discussed in relation with previous studies. flipped classroom may not be for all learners referring to the results of the statistical data on pre-test and post-test scores, there is no significant difference in the t-test for the experimental groups (flipped classroom). whereas, the control groups (traditional classroom) has significant difference in the pre-test and post-test scores. the majority of students in the experimental groups (75%) has experienced flipped classrooms in the previous semester of even when they were at high schools. only 25% of the total population has flipped classroom as their first learning experience. probable explanation for this ineffective flipped classroom implementation in a reading course in term of reading comprehension scores may root from individual llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 92-102 97 discomfort in using technology, time-management, and technology-related workload. students who felt inconvenient with flipped classroom approach expressed their anxiety and unpreparedness when they had to do tasks posted on google classroom (learning management system). as prompts are important in learning to stimulate students’ cognitive, metacognitive, motivational, and cooperative actions when learning (bannert & reimann, 2012), these prompts are regularly used to raise students’ curiosity on a topic. the prompts are given to students with several questions that trigger them to browse, read, understand, and find answers to the questions. due to the time constraints, in their opinions, they often felt panicked. although the syllabus and materials were distributed to students in the beginning of the semester, they did not seem have the initial checking and started to learn. in contrast, they waited for the teacher to post prompts and they perceived this as the time to start reading and learning to find responses to the prompts. the questions or prompts were posted one day before the class was started. another source of discomfort is informed by a female student whose learning style is auditory while she argues that the task in this course is mainly verbal (linguistic) (fam). in addition, students expected to have tasks and when the tasks have not been informed or the questions have not been published, they felt very anxious. a student confirms that she was waiting for the questions and overwhelmed because she had to find answers to the questions or responds to a prompt (rsn). this is likely to be caused by the tasks that require them to read and post the answers on to google classroom. a student elaborates his confusion in his reflective note: i was confused because usually the materials were taught first… but in this class we directly have discussion (dh). it can be inferred from the note that the student needs to adjust the culture of having explanation in the class and then do the discussion. as in flipped classrooms, discussion is conducted as the follow-up activity after students read, learn, understand, compare, and explore topics given for that learning session by themselves. more importantly, the activities stimulate independent learning (planning their own learning to understand materials, having more time to explore topics from various resources, constructing knowledge in their own phase, and so forth). it can also be concluded that such activities which are conducted outside the classroom by the student himself is assumed as a workload, therefore, the student feels confused, panicked, and anxious. in line with this circumstance, workload in flipped classroom tends to be a challenge as students are required to prepare more before the class (mehring, 2018). another evidence is from a student as reflected in her reflective note: not all students have the motivation to learn independently at home, and not all students feel convenient using flipped classroom (krnp). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 92-102 98 this supports the fact that not all students are fond of flipped classroom design which require students to learn independently and being active in collecting information on relevant topics. such a condition may relate with the students’ cognitive style—field-dependent learner who tends to become less autonomous in their cognitive restructuring skills (liu & ginther, 1999). it could be inferred that students of this cognitive style tend to require reinforcement and supervision from teachers or other extrinsic motivation that help them structure their cognitive skills. perceived flipped classroom definition and experiences there are varied perceptions of flipped classroom from the student participants. many of them regard flipped classroom as a great and challenging experiences. few still feel hesitate to embrace the flipped classroom as an alternative for learning due to their previous traditional classroom experiences. a student perceives that flipped classroom is a learning activity in which the learning materials are learned at home (through videos, summarizing, taking notes, making questions, conducting online discussion with peers, and reading relevant references) and then in the class the students do exercises. but i don’t like such a learning because i am used to the traditional classroom… honestly, flipped classroom is good in that it trains our brain to think critically but i have been using the traditional classroom and i got panicked when the flipped classroom is implemented (krnp). this student does not feel convenient with flipped classroom approach although she feels that flipped classroom is a good way of learning besides the traditional classrooms. however, her habit of being in traditional classrooms has occupied her long enough so that it may need time to change the habit. it could also be the reason that the student needs to have more exposure and experiences of flipped classrooms to get the maximum benefits of it. three students share similar positive sense of flipped classrooms. personally, i like this flipped classroom because i can be more active and i have the willingness to learn the materials. if there is no flipped classroom, i don’t think i make any preparation before the class. i feel every challenge every time i do the task because the materials have not been taught yet… (na) flipped classroom is a different method of learning because there are more discussions with classmates and students become more active in the class compared to the learning where teachers explain about the materials (mpr). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 92-102 99 what i like from flipped classroom is that students can dig knowledge without any compulsion. this could happen because students keep searching until their curiosity is answered and their critical thinking works (ca). the student participants believe that flipped classrooms have made them prepare the lessons before classes, give them chance to become self-regulated learners, and active learners. there are split opinions on whether flipped classrooms are preferred more than the traditional classrooms. while many of the students love flipped classrooms, a few prefer traditional classrooms. this finding is also supported by tomas, evans, doyle, & skamp (2019) that most of the students is undecided and inform that they do not want the flipped classrooms to replace the traditional classrooms. it can be inferred that students are likely to become hesitate whether they could perform as well as in the traditional classrooms. or else, they may think of how they need to adjust with the conversed learning situation in a technology-mediated instruction. perceptions of good feedback in learning, feedback plays very important roles in helping students develop their skills. the student participants indicate that the teachers give feedback which is motivating, interesting, appreciating, complimenting, and addressing students’ work. several students’ notes show this: teachers give motivating feedback (dh). the feedback is very good and encouraging. it really evaluates students’ work (mipw). the feedback given by the teacher is quite interesting because the feedback not only contains motivation but also appreciation, compliment, and expectation for every student (mh). the teachers’ feedback in this study is in line with a study conducted in higher education context in australia. good feedback should be positive, constructive, appreciative, clear, and motivational. besides, feedback should directly bridge the tasks, guidelines, assessment criteria and the relevant points given in the feedback (ferguson, 2011). hence, appropriate feedback is good for students to help them indicate what needs to be corrected and improved based on the assessment framework proposed before. perceived benefits and drawbacks of flipped classroom implementation of a learning approach always brings two-sided impacts: positive and negative. the following are students’ perceived benefits and drawback of flipped classrooms. students perceive that flipped classroom has many benefits and some of them are described in the following excerpts. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 92-102 100 students are used to understand materials before they are explained, be responsible for tasks, appreciate the time more when doing the assignments, get work done faster (l). flipped classroom makes students eager to read and find resources for learning. if not given such a task, i think most students are lazy to read and find references (mh). compared with traditional classrooms in which teachers spend time giving more explanations, flipped classroom gives students freedom to discuss about a topic (zav). unlike traditional classrooms that spoil or spoon-feed students and make the students dependent, flipped classrooms do empower students (mh). flipped classroom makes students become independent learners and get used to learning materials before classes (rsn). students can optimize their potentials to build new ideas in term of language learning (mas). it can be inferred that flipped classrooms encourage students to become independent and responsible learners. flipped classrooms are also perceived as giving freedom to discuss and learn materials prior to classroom activities and give chance to students to develop their potentials. however, there are also issues to be noticed as shown by the following students’ notes. misunderstanding is likely to occur if students do not comprehend the materials while they have to answer some questions or discuss about the topic (mcsp). less supervision from teachers (mas) because flipped classrooms are designed as conversed traditional classrooms, students who are used to rely on teachers’ explanation may need adaptation. consequently, students might find difficulties in understanding materials due to their learning processes that are not instructed or guided by teachers. as discussed, it could be inferred that although flipped classrooms can be a good alternative for students’ learning. however, it is important to note that flipped classrooms do not always guarantee a good success in all language skills or disciplines. it may also not be everybody’s preferable learning approach. for students who have independent learning characteristics, flipped classroom is a great challenge and a good way to improve their skills. nonetheless, for dependent learners, attending flipped classrooms could mean extra workload as they do not only use technology in learning but also learn by themselves and teachers may not explain every details from the beginning of the class. the pedagogical implication for this type of learners could be teacher-led instruction llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 92-102 101 in flipped classroom (tomas et al., 2019). flipped classrooms should be carried out step by step with teachers giving continuous instruction and guidance. then, gradually the guidance is lessened and when the students are ready, flipped classrooms are fully applied. conclusion from the discussion, it can be concluded that although flipped classroom implementation in this reading course have not resulted in satisfying statistical results, students do have meaningful learning experiences. measuring success does not completely rely on the figures or numbers in the form of scores, but it also lies in the meaning of learning that the students have been dealing with. results of learning could also be in the form of affective and motivational drives; it is not always distinction mark. this approach generates more bright sides in engaging the students to independently prepare themselves before the learning process in class, yet it is necessary to anticipate the fact that it may result negative feelings such as hesitation and anxiety especially for those who tend to be dependent learners needing more guided learning and longer time to adapt themselves to be more active, responsible, and motivated. students’ ability in reading skills could also be evaluated from how they get other knowledge accompanying the reading knowledge such as using a learning management system, independent learning experiences, and online interaction. this study has several limitations. first, the context of this study is limited to pre-service teachers in the beginning of their first year at college. this might influence the results due to their adapting and adjusting period from high school to college lives. secondly, this study used toefl reading comprehension test to measure students’ reading ability. this may also impact the results in a way that the reading skills taught to the students are not exactly in line with the test. or else, scaffolding for understanding the reading skills in the test is not totally covered. thirdly, a survey or case study could be recommended to be conducted for future research so that extensive range of respondents and participants are wider, and data are richer. references aghaei, k., rajabi, m., lie, k. y., & ajam, f. 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(2018). content-based language teaching and the flipped classroom: a case study in the japanese efl environment. in innovations in flipping the language classroom: theories and practices (pp. 221–230). springer nature singapore pte ltd. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6968-0_15 liu, y., & ginther, d. (1999). cognitive styles and distance education. online journal of distance learning administration, 2(903), 1–17. http://www.westga.edu/~distance/liu23.html mehring, j. (2018). the flipped classroom method. in innovations in flipping the language classroom (pp. 423–430). springer nature singapore pte ltd. https://doi.org/10.1145/2983468.2983524 mo, j., & mao, c. (2017). an empirical study on the effectiveness of contentbased instruction in the chinese college english context. revista de la facultad de ingenieria u. c. v, 32(10), 632–639. munir, m. t., baroutian, s., young, b. r., & carter, s. (2018). flipped classroom with cooperative learning as a cornerstone. education for chemical engineers, 23, 25–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ece.2018.05.001 schaffhauser, d., & kelly, r. (2016). 55 percent of faculty are flipping the classroom. campus technology. https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/10/12/55-percent-of-faculty-areflipping-the-classroom.aspx shih, h. c. j., & huang, s. h. c. (2019). college students’ metacognitive strategy use in an efl flipped classroom. computer assisted language learning, 0(0), 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2019.1590420 tomas, l., evans, n. (snowy), doyle, t., & skamp, k. (2019). are first year students ready for a flipped classroom? a case for a flipped learning continuum. international journal of educational technology in higher education, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-019-0135-4 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 471 error analysis of inflectional affixation in academic writing of freshman students clauvico chesario florianus and vera syamsi sampoerna university, indonesia correspondence: cpikocf@gmail.com doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i2.2759 received 21 july 2021; accepted 29 october 2021 abstract errors, defined as mistaken application of linguistic theory done by language learners, are generally seen as negative element in language learning. however, several researchers believed that error analysis can be used to understand how students process a target language. understanding this will give insights on which areas of language the students find it difficult. therefore, this study was conducted for this purpose. descriptive qualitative methodology was employed to examine types of writing errors that are related to inflectional affixation performed by 8 freshman students. the errors that were identified in the students’ written language were described in linguistic and surface category. authoritative interpretation was conducted to investigate the cause of error occurrence through interview. the study finds that the students still face difficulty in subject-verb agreement, plurals, and past participle. furthermore, it was also found that the dominant cause of the error occurrence is interlingual factors, negative transfer from their first language. keywords: error analysis, writing errors, inflectional affixation, academic writing introduction writing is one of the four skills that students will learn in language learning process besides listening, reading, and speaking. however, mastering the art of writing is difficult because students need to undergo a set of process, such as brainstorming, writing, revising, editing, and publishing (christine, 2003, as cited in rahayu & arrasyid, 2016). it is also considered to be the most challenging language skill that even native speakers exhibit hardship in writing (johnstone, ashbaugh, & warfield, as cited in javed, juan, & nazli, 2013). this complicated process makes writing in english become a challenging task for students, especially learners of english in english as foreign language (hereafter: efl) context (sermsook, liamnimitr, & pochakorn, 2017). the difficulties in writing english has led learners to commit errors and mistake. in general, error is a deviation of language output from its standard (ellis, 2008). however, one must be aware of the difference between nonsystematic and systematic errors. the term ‘non-systematic error’ refers to the one-time violation of language rule because of slips due to certain physical or psychological condition, such as fatigue or memory lapse (corder, 1967). even an llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 472 adult and the most fluent speaker could still commit to this error, even though they have already mastered the language convention. hence hereafter, this error in performance will be considered as a ‘mistake’. the example of ‘mistake’ is when a student writes the sentence “my mother work at that company” when that particular student was already aware that one should add the suffix ‘-s’ for third person singular subject. on the other hand, systematic error is considered as deviation of language convention that was caused by knowledge gap that is yet to be filled in the learner’s understanding (corder, 1967). these errors occur as a signal that language learning is ongoing because the occurrence of these errors entails the learners’ current understanding of the target language. corder (1967, as cited in gass & selinker, 2008) believed that these errors are important because it provides a window to overview learners’ understanding of the target language. if these errors are properly analysed, then the result of the study could be used as a tool for learners to improve their target language learning. the example of systematic error is when a student writes the sentence “my father work at that factory” because the student never knew about the rule of subject-verb agreement in english language. there are two main causes of error occurrence, which are interlingual factor and intralingual factor (gass & selinker, 2008). the development of second language learning, a process of learning any other language after the first language (ellis, 2008), is different with the development of the first language. since second language learning will occur after the first language is largely acquired, the learning process will be interfered with the learner’s knowledge of the first language. while first language learning involves the learners to construct their language competency from ground zero, second language learning involves the learners to use the characteristics of their first language as a comparison tool to learn the target language (ellis, 2008). this phenomenon is the interlingual factor of error occurrence, often referred to as language transfer. the result of language transfer could be either positive transfer or negative transfer. positive transfer will occur if the rules of the first language is similar with the target language (ellis, 2008). for example, french learners of l2 english will learn the target language faster than persian learners because more language rules of english and french converge compared to english and persian (gass, 1979, 1983, as cited in ellis, 2008). conversely, negative transfer will occur if the rules of the first language differs with the target language. for instance, half of chinese learners of l2 english errors were caused by the usage of chinese grammar in english corpus, in which the two language rules are mostly different (tran-chi-chau, 1975, as cited in ellis, 2008). hence, negative transfer is one of the causes of error occurrence in learning new language. the other cause of error occurrence is known as intralingual factor. errors that are caused by this factor are errors due to learner’s failure to correctly apply certain language rule in certain circumstances (ellis, 2008). in other words, it is the kind of error that infants made when they learn to use their first language for the first time. these errors are not caused by influence of first language (lim, 2010, as cited in al-khresheh, 2016); it was committed due to learners’ inability to fully grasp the target language rule. consequently, intralingual errors are committed due to overgeneralisation of language rules, ignorance of rule llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 473 restrictions, incomplete application of rules, and hypothesis of false concept (ellis, 2008). while errors are generally seen as a negative element of language that needs to be eradicated, some researchers believed otherwise through the study of error analysis. as the name suggests, the occurrence of these systematic errors can be utilized as a tool to analyse students’ language learning process (corder, 1967). only through understanding the students’ current language knowledge can a teacher provide comprehensible inputs to make language learning more meaningful to the students (krashen, 1985, in gass & selinker, 2008). in this perspective, the act of committing error is no longer seen as an obstacle of language output, but as a sign that the students are learning more about the target language. analysing these errors serves several purposes: students are able to know the level of their understanding of the target language, while teachers are able to know the areas of language that the students need to improve and using that knowledge to give comprehensible inputs to the students (corder, 1967). the study of error analysis can be done on the students’ written language output. one example of writing that bears challenge is academic writing, which refers to any kind of written composition to fulfil assignments in university (mutimani, 2016). this piece of writing is challenging because it involves complicated intellectual effort to produce a legitimate academic work (grami, 2010, as cited in mutimani, 2016). errors that occur in academic writing could result in low quality of academic writing, which in turn will also lead to low academic achievement. in the perspective of error analyst, the errors occurred in students’ writing could be used to remediate students’ writing quality, and consequently, their academic achievement. in several universities, various academic writing (e.g. in form of essay, paper, etc.) is used as one of examination methods of summative assessment). subsequently, these students are expected to write proficient academic writing in english to obtain good grades in their academic transcript. however, fulfilling this expectation is challenging for them due to the huge gap between secondary education and higher education (mutimani, 2016). therefore, committing error in their writing is common due to this reason. recurrence of error commitment in academic writing may lower students’ academic achievement, which could undermine the students’ life in the future. this error analysis study focused on morphological errors, specifically in inflectional affixation, due to efl learners’ frequent difficulty in this linguistic feature. this claim is supported by various error analysis study in the context of efl, which showed that errors related to morphology is one of the most frequent types of error that occur in students’ writing. for instance, andrian (2015) conducted an error analysis study to indonesian undergraduate students, and he found that error in tenses and subject-verb agreement is the frequent type of errors that exist in students’ writing. karim, mohamed, ismail, shahed, rahman, and haque’s (2018) study also produce similar result to andrian, where morphological-related errors such as errors in verbs, tenses, and subject-verb agreement were responsible for 61 percent of all grammatical errors that the bangladesh students committed. hence, morphological errors specified in inflectional affixation was focused in this research. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 474 in brief, this research is significant for the lecturers to understand the students’ level of language competency (corder, 1967), to identify the students learning process of language structure so the teachers can aid them to provide comprehensible inputs to make language learning more meaningful (krashen, 1985, as cited in gass & selinker, 2008). furthermore, the result of this research would be significant for the students because it is used as a feedback to aid their language learning process (corder, 1967), hence improving their english language skill. after the target language errors have been analysed, the nature of the difficulty experienced by the learners will be uncovered (al-khresheh, 2016), thus the students could evaluate their own language learning strategy and avoid committing to the errors that have been explained to them in this research. therefore, error analysis study is conducted to students’ academic writing to improve their english language learning process. theory as the name suggests, error analysis study is a form of linguistic study that puts emphasis on the errors that learners make (gass & selinker, 2008). according to james (1998, in al-khresheh, 2016), error analysis is “a process of determining the incidence, nature, causes, and consequences of unsuccessful language.” this study was pioneered by stephen pit corder, whom proposed a point of view where learners’ errors are not to be completely avoided, but it could be utilized to investigate the cognitive process on how they process language (corder, 1967). this knowledge can be utilized further for pedagogical purposes to improve the language learning, which will be beneficial for the learners themselves. brown (1994, in al-khresheh, 2016) added that error analysis has significant value in classroom research, as the result could help language learners determine the room of improvement for their language learning process. error analysis theory arose to answer the severe criticism toward contrastive analysis study (al-khresheh, 2016). contrastive analysis is a method of comparing languages to reveal possible errors for the purpose of differentiating the rule that can be transferred to the second language (gass & selinker, 2008). dulay and burt (1974) added that contrastive analysis lies on the ideas that language learning is habit formation and old habit of first language will either hampers or eases the new habit of the target language. following the previous ideas, contrastive analysis holds belief that errors occurred solely due to interference factors. despite having the similarity of analysing learners’ errors for pedagogical purposes, contrastive analysis was criticized due to its underlying belief that interlingual factor was the only factor of error occurrence (al-khresheh, 2016). the application of contrastive analysis was not capable to explain the occurrence of errors that was caused by intralingual factor. in contrast, error analysis study had an underlying belief that second language was learned in a similar manner with first language learning (corder, 1967), thus intralingual factor was also accounted to explain the nature of the errors. therefore, error analysis was deemed to be the most appropriate tool to analyze learners’ errors (al-khresheh, 2016). corder (1974, as cited in ellis, 2008) formulated several steps to conduct error analysis study. generally, there are five steps, which are collection of samples of learners’ language, identification of errors, description of errors, explanation of errors. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 475 the difference between the role of ‘error’ and ‘mistake’ needs to be clarified in when identifying the learners’ errors. corder (1967) defined error as a systematic deviation that occurs due to lack of language competence, while mistake is caused by poor language performance. while error analysis was argued to focus solely on the learners’ error (corder, 1967), but in the reality, identifying which are errors and which are mistakes is still a complexity for error analyst (ellis, 2008), which is important. for instance, if a learner inconsistently uses an incorrect form of a language structure, it does not mean that the deviation can be considered as a mistake, since it is likely that the learners’ knowledge of the target form is only mastered partially. for example, a learner might write the following sentences to convey plurality in his writing: (2.1) my sisters are older than me (2.2) my three sister are older than me if the term ‘mistake’ is solely perceived as ‘an inconsistent deviation of language that is caused by language performance’, then the example (2.2) can be considered as a mistake, since the learner can write the sentence (2.1) correctly. however, it is also possible that the example (2.2) is a form of a learner’s misunderstanding of language structure, where the students perceives that plural ‘s’ is no longer needed for nouns with specific quantifiers and would lead to redundancy if that suffix is added. if this is the case, then the example (2.2) can be considered as an intralingual errors, not a mistake. with the issue of confusing distinction between error and mistake, gass and selinker (2008) shed light to clarify the role of these terminologies in error analysis. they claimed that deviation in language are only perceivable as ‘systematic error’ from the perspective of teachers or researchers, not from the learners. along the learners’ language learning process, they actively construct grammatical system of the target language in their mind. systematic error is caused by the lack of language competency, in other words, their constructed grammatical system of the target language is not in accordance with the correct one. thus, there will never be ‘systematic error’ in the learners’ perspective because they perceive that those ‘systematic error’ is correct based on their current understanding. for example, a learner might write the following utterance: (2.3) i no speak researchers might understand that the example (2.3) is erroneous, hence marking this as an ‘error’, but the learner who write this might perceive otherwise. if the learner has the understanding that the utterance (2.3) is acceptable based on his current grammatical system in his mind, then it is not a ‘systematic error’ in his perspective. however, if the learner initial intention is to write ‘i no speaks’ instead, then the sentence (2.3) can be considered as a mistake, or ‘non-systematic error’, but the utterance ‘i no speaks’ is still a ‘systematic error’ in the teachers’ perspective. the illustration of this explanation can be seen in the following figures. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 476 figure 1: difference between error and mistake therefore, error analysts can identify errors that occurred in the language sample based on their perspective. one of the methods that can be used to justify ‘error’ and ‘mistake’ is to conduct an ‘authoritative interpretation’, where the researcher consults to the learners themselves to determine whether an error is ‘error’ or ‘mistake’ (corder, 1981). if in the later stage some errors are discovered to be a mistake, then those can be distinguished in the study, since the focus of error analysis is limited only to systematic error (corder, 1967). after identifying the errors, they are described based on their linguistic category, which is the description based on the certain language elements such as errors in plural, possessive, subject-verb agreement, and so on. furthermore, it is also described based on surface category, which is the description based on noticeable surface features of language, such as errors of omission, errors of addition, errors of selection, and errors of ordering. “i no speak” learners’ grammar of english (learner’s perspective) english grammar (researchers’ perspective) error correct “i no speaks” learners’ grammar of english (learner’s perspective) english grammar (researchers’ perspective) error mistake llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 477 table 1: error taxonomy based on surface strategy category description example errors of omission the absence of an element that should be included. a strange thing happen to me yesterday. errors of addition the presence of an element that should not be included. the books is here. errors of selection the use of the wrong item instead of the correct one. my friend is oldest than me. errors of ordering the use of correct item, but in a wrong sequence. he was get upping from his bed. the next step after description of errors is to explain the cause of their occurrence. to explain the errors, corder (1981) generated a term called ‘authoritative interpretation’, in which the error analyst could directly ask the learners about their intention behind the erroneous utterances that they produced. in brief, authoritative interpretation is similar to an interview, since both involves conversation with purpose. however, in the case where learners are not available for consultation, it is possible for error analysts to interpret the cause of errors by determining the form of errors and its situational context, although it is trickier than authoritative interpretation. there are two general causes of error, which are interlingual factor and intralingual factor. interlingual errors, also known as transfer errors, are error that occurred due to interference of the first language, while intralingual errors occurred naturally in the process of developing language, similar to first language error (al-khresheh, 2016). there are four possible explanation of intralingual errors. first is overgeneralization, which is defined as the use of wrong language structure based on the learners’ knowledge of other forms (richards, 1974). second is ignorance of rule restriction, which is defined as the learners; behaviour of ignoring the exception of certain language rule (richards, 1974), third is incomplete application of rule, which is the learners’ inability to fully implement the complete knowledge of language rule (richards, 1974). finally, there is hypothesis of false concept, which is the result of learners’ wrong comprehension of certain distinction of target language rule (richards, 1974). method atmowardoyo (2018) stated that the “studies of learners’ errors in their language production are actually descriptive in nature.” thus, error analysis research can be included in the umbrella term of descriptive research. unlike other descriptive research, however, error analysis research has a specific set of procedure, thus these studies are usually classified as ‘error analysis’. hence, this study employed qualitative descriptive as its research design because the aim of this study is to present a detailed description of morphological errors in students’ writing along with the cause of the occurrence. settings and participants this study took place in sampoerna university, a private university located in south jakarta, because it employed academic writing as one of its examination llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 478 methods, such as research paper and research project (sampoerna university student handbook, n.d). the sample learners are freshman students that from writing convention and grammar analysis class because it was the mandatory course that all english education freshman should take and it laid foundation of grammatical knowledge to the students’ academic writing. eight out of twenty-four students of english education department of sampoerna university were chosen to be the participants of this research. these students acquired bahasa indonesia as their first language and english as their second language. in regards to their third language, some learned bahasa jawa, bahasa sunda, bahasa palembang, and did not have a third language. even though their third language were heterogenous, but this will not be a major issue because second language learning is interfered by first language knowledge only, not the third language and so forth (hammarberg, 2010). therefore, this research partook eight students to be the participants of this study. in general, these eight participants have acquired english language since they were still little. some of the students have acquired english since kindergarten and some have acquired english since elementary school. however, there is one student that acquired the english language since high school, but given the need of communicating in english in his high school, this particular student was more comfortable to address english as his second language instead of his regional language. this is in line with hammarberg’s (2010) claim that multilingual language should be labelled based on language learning experience instead of the order of acquisition. instrument and data analysis technique to answer the research questions, two kinds of data were collected in this study. firstly, the frequency of the morphological error occurrence was the data needed to answer the first research question. for this purpose, the researcher collaborated with the course lecturer to hold an international english language testing system (hereafter: ielts) academic writing test simulation. ielts writing test is a timed task, which could guarantee the naturality of the sample language. to identify the error frequency of the collected sample language, two reviewers helped to mark and identify the error in the students’ writing. the reviewers that helped in the error identification process are lecturers from english education department of sampoerna university, hence they are credible to identify the errors accurately. in brief, the error frequency data was checked by two experts in english language, thus the credibility of this data was verified. secondly, the errors that were identified needed to be classified to understand the cognitive process in language learning (ellis, 2008). the errors were classified in two categories, which are linguistic categories and surface category. in this research, linguistic categorization is limited only to errors in inflectional affixation, which are errors in pluralism, errors in possessive, errors in subjectverb agreement, errors in past tense, errors in present participle, errors in past participle, errors in comparative, and errors in superlative. in terms of surface categorization, the errors were classified into four categories, which are errors of omission, errors of addition, errors of selection, and errors of ordering (corder, 1981, as cited in al-khresheh, 2016). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 479 finally, the cause students’ error was another data that was necessary to answer the second research objective. the instrument used to collect this data was a set of interview questions that will be used to elicit the cause of students’ errors in their writing. to achieve this purpose, a semi structured interview was used as an instrument to investigate the cause of students’ errors. the interview was proceeded while showing examples of erroneous sentence from the top three frequent errors one by one and asking the participants a set of questions to investigate the cause of the error in that particular sentence. the questions for the interview are illustrated in the following figure: figure 2: interview guideline after the interview was conducted, framework analysis method was used to code and analyze the result of the interview. this method is defined as an approach to qualitative data analysis that enables researchers to systematically organize and manage textual data, particularly in analyzing and identifying llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 480 specific themes (hackett & strickland, 2018). the predetermined themes that were used during the coding process was based on corder’s explanation about intralingual errors, which are overgeneralization, ignorance of rule restriction, incomplete application of rule, and hypothesis of false concept. as shown in figure 2, the interview questions were indexed into “q1”, “q2”, “q3”, etc. this set of questions was asked for each erroneous sentence that the student commit. for example, in “sentence 1”, the first erroneous sentence that the student commit, the student was prompted to answer q1. according to the answer, the question would progress to either q1.2 or q2, and so on until the cause of error in that sentence was elicited. after “sentence 1” is done, then the interview will proceed to “sentence 2”, the second erroneous sentence that the student commit, and the questioning cycle was repeated. the answer of q3 (and possibly q4) was coded based on the predetermined themes based on corder’s explanation about intralingual errors to elicit the cause of error in each sentence. findings and discussion after the sample language was marked and identified by the reviewers, 115 errors were discovered in the participants’ written language. this research was specified to analyze eight types of error that were related with inflectional affixes, which are possessive errors, subject-verb agreement errors, past tense errors, present participle errors, past participle errors, comparative errors, and superlative errors. the result of this research showed that the participants committed at least one error in eight of these linguistic classifications. table 2: error frequency error types/participant p1 p2 p3 p4 p5 p6 p7 p8 total percent rank possessive 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 2% 7 plural 2 3 6 0 2 6 12 7 38 33% 2 subject-verb agreement 10 3 1 6 2 1 10 10 43 37% 1 past tense 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 2% 6 present participle 2 2 0 2 0 1 2 0 9 8% 4 past participle 1 2 1 2 0 2 4 2 14 12% 3 comparative 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 5% 5 superlative 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1% 8 total 15 17 9 10 5 11 28 20 115 100% table 4.1 exhibited that the error occurrence in this study was somewhat variative among the participants. for instance, participant 2 committed six errors in comparative, despite other participants did not commit to that error type. similar case was evident in participant 5 who committed a superlative error when the other participants do not have trouble with. regardless of the variation, however, most of the participants of this research share similar problem in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 481 subject-verb agreement errors, plural errors, and past participle errors. in contrast, superlative errors, possessive errors, and past tense errors were the types of error that the students have least problem with. description based on surface category this section will elaborate the errors that were identified in this research and describe them based on surface categorization, as cited from corder (1981). there will subtopics to describe the error commitment based on the error types to give insights on how the students commit their error in inflectional affixes. subject-verb agreement errors in case of subject-verb agreement errors, there are 43 errors that were identified in the participants’ language, and it accounted as the most frequent errors to appear in the writing. after describing these 43 errors into surface category, it was found that error in omission, error in addition, and error in selection were behind these erroneous sentences. similar to plural errors, there were no error in ordering in subject-verb agreement errors, possibly due to this linguistic feature revolves around modifying either the subject or verb, not ordering them in particular sequence. several samples of those subject-verb agreement errors can be seen in the table below: table 3: surface category of subject-verb agreement errors no surface category percentage sample of erroneous sentence corrected sentence 1 error in omission 47% ...if every country in the world stop their nonsense such as wars and conquers attempts towards others and start focusing to renew the home of humanity… ...if every country in the world stops their nonsense such as wars and conquers attempts towards others and starts focusing to renew the home of humanity… if the country supportive in preventing the disasters, so the natural disaster can be solved. if the country is supportive in preventing the disasters, so the natural disaster can be solved. 2 error in addition 14% environment problems requires an international solution or an international movement. environment problems require an international solution or an international movement. in many other cases, other countries also often show their concern and offered their help by giving food supplies, donations, etc. in many other cases, other countries also often show their concern and offer their help by giving food supplies, donations, etc. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 482 no surface category percentage sample of erroneous sentence corrected sentence 3 error in selection 40% environmental problems has always been around, no matter which part of the globe... environmental problems have always been around, no matter which part of the globe... most countries’ land are close to each other and in other meaning... most countries’ land is close to each other and in other meaning... it could be seen that error in omission of suffixes related to subject-verb agreement is the most frequent error in the scope of subject-verb agreement errors, with the percentage of 47 percent. the example of this kind of error is in the sentence “...if every country in the world stop their nonsense such as wars and conquers attempts towards others and start focusing to renew the home of humanity…” in this sentence, the word “stop” and “start” was written without the suffix ‘-s’, despite the subject of this sentence is “every country”, which is singular. thus, this sentence is considered erroneous. another example would be the sentence “if the country supportive in preventing the disasters, so the natural disaster can be solved.” this sentence is missing a main verb, which is an essential element in making a proper sentence, thus this is also considered erroneous. furthermore, error in addition of suffixes related to subject-verb agreement contributed to 14 percent of all error in subject-verb agreement. the example of this kind of error is evident in the sentence “environment problems requires an international solution or an international movement.” in this sentence, the writer added the suffix ‘-s’ in the verb “require”, which is unnecessary since the subject is in plural form (environment problems). hence, adding the suffix ‘-s’ makes the sentence erroneous, since the verb did not agree with the plural subject. another example can be seen in the sentence “in many other cases, other countries also often show their concern and offered their help by giving food supplies, donations, etc.” in this sentence, the student also added the suffix ‘-ed’ in the word “offer”, which was not parallel with the other verb “show”. in this case, the student should choose whether to write in present tense (“other countries also show their concern and offer their help”) or in past tense (“other countries also showed their concern and offered their help”). accordingly, the reviewer decided that the present context of the sentence is more suitable than the past tense, hence the correction is “other countries also show their concern and offer their help”. in regards to the error in selection of elements related to subject-verb agreement, the errors that were categorized under this surface structure were mostly the cases of the student choosing the wrong be verb in place of the correct one. this error contributed 40 percemt to all subject-verb agreement error. the example of this error is evident in the sentence “environmental problems has always been around, no matter which part of the globe.” here, the writer mistakenly chose the verb ‘has’ instead of ‘have’, since ‘has’ does not agree with the plural subject “environmental problems”. the same case was applied in the sentence “most countries’ land are close to each other and in other meaning,” llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 483 where the writer chose the verb ‘are’ in place of ‘is’. this sentence was considered erroneous because the verb ‘are’ does not agree with the uncountable noun ‘land’. plural errors in terms of plural errors, there are 38 errors that were found in the students’ language, and it is the second most frequent error in the participants’ language. based on surface category, these 38 errors were described as errors in omission, errors in addition, and errors in selection. according to the result of error description process, no plural errors were described as error in ordering, most likely since plurality is only conveyed through noun modification, such as using suffix ‘-s’ or through vowel mutation. a conclusion of these errors is presented in the table below: table 4: surface category of plural errors no surface category percentage sample of erroneous sentence corrected sentence 1 error in omission 68% one of the case that shows that environmental problems are an international problems is when indonesia’s forest is on fire… one of the cases that shows that environmental problems are an international problem is when indonesia’s forest is on fire… ...there are many international movement that is being held to save the environment. ...there are many international movements that is being held to save the environment. 2 error in addition 26% ...it reduce the use of plastic, stuffs that cannot be recycle, and several one-time use stuffs. ...it reduce the use of plastic, stuff that cannot be recycle, and several one-time use stuff. the environmental ethics should be more evaluated by every developed and developing countries because it is... the environmental ethics should be more evaluated by every developed and developing country because it is... 3 error in selection 5% for instance, if the country makes a law & regulations about the trash issue. for instance, if the country makes laws & regulations about the trash issue. as seen in table 4.3, omission of suffix ‘-s’ is the most frequent kind of plural errors in the participants’ language, with the percentage of 68 percent. the example of this kind of sentence is “one of the case that shows that llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 484 environmental problems are an international problems is when indonesia’s forest is on fire…” in this sentence, the writer did not add the suffix ‘-s’ in the word “case”, which is required because this phrase gives meaning of exemplifying one case out of many other cases. another case of error in omission of plural affixes is evident in the sentence “...there are many international movement that is being held to save the environment.” in this sentence, the writer wrote “international movement” without the suffix ‘-s’, despite following plural determiner “many”, which is erroneous. besides error in omission of plural, error in addition of unnecessary plural form is also apparent in the participants’ language. this kind of error contributed 26 percent to the total of plural errors. for instance, the sentence “...it reduce the use of plastic, stuffs that cannot be recycle, and several one-time use stuffs” was erroneous because the word “stuff” is written with the suffix ‘-s’, despite being an uncountable noun. uncountable nouns does not have a plural form, hence adding plural to the noun was unnecessary and it makes the sentence erroneous. another case of this kind of error can be seen in this sentence “the environmental ethics should be more evaluated by every developed and developing countries because it is...” in this sentence, the student wrote “developed and developing countries” with a suffix ‘-s’ to convey pluralism, even though the phrase was following the singular determiner “every”, thus this sentence is considered as error by the reviewer. lastly, error in selection of plural form also contributed slightly to the plural errors in the students’ corpus. out of all 38 plural errors, there are only two errors that were categorized as error in selection, with the percentage of 5 percent. one example of error in selection of plural form can be found in the sentence “for instance, if the country makes a law & regulations about the trash issue.” in this sentence, the writer chose the wrong form of singular noun phrase (a law) instead of plural noun (laws) when forming the sentence. this is erroneous because it made the two nouns not parallel with one another. to make it correct, the two nouns must be in the same form, it could be “a law and a regulation”, or “laws and regulations.” based on the reviewer’s note, the latter is more appropriate, hence the correct sentence would be “for instance, if the country makes laws & regulations about the trash issue.” past participle error errors in past participle was identified to be the third most frequent errors to appear in the participants’ written language, with 14 errors under the description of error in omission, error in addition, and error in selection. table 4.7 shows several samples of past participle errors that existed in the participants’ language, table 5: surface category of present participle errors no surface category percentage sample of erroneous sentence corrected sentence 1 error in omission 57% however, we have to think twice that natural disaster/environmental problems can be reduce by the government/country. however, we have to think twice that natural disaster/environmental problems can be reduced by the government/country. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 485 no surface category percentage sample of erroneous sentence corrected sentence the motivation or awareness expected to increase the participant awareness also. the motivation or awareness is expected to increase the participant awareness also. 2 error in addition 14% if there is global warming, the north and south pole will melted and it will cause many animal did not have any place to live. if there is global warming, the north and south pole will melt and it will cause many animal did not have any place to live. 3 error in selection 29% ...for humanity keeps on expanding their polluting areas, destroying parts of the forest for the sake of economical profit without considering the risks for nature and humans themselves. ...for humanity keeps on expanding their polluted areas, destroying parts of the forest for the sake of economical profit without considering the risks for nature and humans themselves. table 4.7 shows that there are 8 errors in omission of necessary elements in forming the past participle, with the percentage of 57 percent. most participants who commit to this kind of error mistakenly omitted some elements that are required to form a correct sentence with past participle and passive voice with past participle. for example, in the sentence “however, we have to think twice that natural disaster/environmental problems can be reduce by the government/country,” the student omitted the suffix ‘-ed’ to form past participle, which is necessary when one wants to form a passive voice. another example is evident in the sentence “the motivation or awareness expected to increase the participant awareness also.” similar to the previous example, this sentence is missing the essential be verb to precede the past participle ‘expected’, hence this sentence is also considered as erroneous. for the error in addition, there are only 2 errors recorded under this surface category, with 14 percent of occurrence out of all past participle errors. one example of this error can be seen in this sentence "if there is global warming, the north and south pole will melted and it will cause many animal did not have any place to live.” in this sentence, the students who commit to this error added the suffix ‘-ed’ in a verb that follows modal ‘will’. this is erroneous because modal verb should not precede modified verbs, they can only precede verbs in their base form. it is most likely that the student attempted to write “will be melted,” however the reviewer believes that the correction that is provided in table 4.7 is more suitable and effective for academic writing. finally, the error in selection of past participle contributed to 29 percent of all errors in past participle. students who commit to this error usually chose the wrong verb that is related with past participle. for example, in the sentence “...for humanity keeps on expanding their polluting areas, destroying parts of the forest for the sake of economical profit without considering the risks for nature and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 486 humans themselves,” the student mistakenly chose the gerund form of ‘polluting’ to modify the noun ‘areas’ instead of using the past participle form ‘polluted’. although gerund may also be used to modify noun, but the reviewer judged that the context of this sentence is more suitable if the noun modifier is in past participle form, hence this sentence is erroneous. explanation of error to explain the cause of error, an interview was conducted to participants to gain the reason of error occurrence directly from the writers themselves. thus, this section will elaborate the result of the interview as a method to explain the cause of the students’ errors. for this section, only the three most frequent error types which will be explained further in this section, which are subject-verb agreement errors, plural errors, and past participle errors. the justification for this decision was that those three error types have accounted to 82% of the total errors in the sample corpus. the high percentage presented by the three most frequent error types was believed to be sufficient to represent the majority of the students’ weakness in writing. in cases where one error is recurrent in several sentences, only one or two sentence that were questioned during the interview. for example, not all subjectverb agreement errors were questioned, but the causes of error in questions that were not included were still represented. furthermore, only seven out of eight participants that were interviewed in this process, due to one participant was unavailable to be interviewed at the time. however, the absence of this participant in the interview process did not significantly alter the result of the interview, since this one particular student only committed 4 out of 95 errors that will be explained in this section (subject-verb agreement errors, plural errors, and past participle errors). summary of the error frequency based on their cause of occurrence is presented in table 4.10 below. table 6: cause of error occurrence cause of errors /error type subjectverb agreement plural past participle total mistake 11 11 4 26 interlingual 14 10 4 28 overgeneralization 1 0 0 1 ignorance of rule restriction 0 0 0 0 incomplete application of rule 3 2 1 6 hypothesis of false concept 4 8 1 13 unidentifiable 2 0 2 4 total 35 31 12 78 as shown in table 4.10, interlingual factor was the main reason why the students commit errors, which followed with unintended errors (mistake) and hypothesis of false concept. therefore, a total of 78 sentences out of 95 sentences llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 487 that were erroneous in subject-verb agreement, plural, and past participle were questioned to investigate their cause of occurrence in this interview. several causes of errors were unidentifiable because the students were unable to give proper reasoning behind his/her error, or the given answer was contradictive, making it tricky to determine the real cause of the occurrence. detailed explanation about those errors will be reviewed in the discussion section. discussion based on the result of the research finding, the most frequent errors that are related to inflectional affixes that appeared in the students’ written language are subject-verb agreement error, plural error, and past participle error. summary of the research result is shown in table 4.11 below. table 7: result of the error analysis frequent errors frequent surface description dominating causes (excluding mistakes) subject-verb agreement errors error in omission of necessary element related to subject-verb agreement interlingual factors plural errors error in omission of suffix ‘-s’ to convey plural expression interlingual factors past participle errors error in omission of necessary element related to past participle interlingual factors as summarized in table 4.11, the surface description of the three most frequent error types are described as error in omission of certain element related to the respective linguistic feature. according to corder (1981), description on surface strategy should not end only to that extent; the description should incorporate linguistic theory in order to be a meaningful information. with this regard, the summary in table 4.11 can be read as: the students have omitted certain element in three linguistic features, which are omission of suffix ‘-s’ in verbs to agree with third person singular subject, omission of suffix ‘-s’ in nouns to convey plural expression, and omission of be verb to use past participle for passive voice formation. in conclusion, the students were yet to master subjectverb agreement, plurals, and past participles of english grammar. furthermore, the result of the interview found that the interlingual factors are the most frequent cause of the students’ error occurrence. this means that the participants who participated in this study committed their errors due to negative transfer from the first language. however, the participants who participated in this study commit to various kinds of errors with various explanation behind their occurrences. for instance, some students consistently committed to interlingual errors, some students consistently committed to intralingual errors, and some students have mixed explanation between interlingual and intralingual errors. however, interlingual errors are the most frequent cause of the error occurrence. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 488 the dominant cause of errors in the students’ language is interlingual factor, followed by hypothesis of false concept and incomplete application of rule. thus, only errors in omission of the three most frequent error types are discussed in this section. further elaboration of these explanations can be viewed in the subsections below. interlingual errors in the interview, it was found that there are 28 erroneous sentences that occurred due to interlingual factors. specifically, there are 14 interlingual errors in subject-verb agreement errors, 10 interlingual errors in plural errors, and 4 interlingual errors in past participle. in case of subject-verb agreement, it was found that there are four students who have committed at least one interlingual plural errors, while one of them consistently committed interlingual errors in his/her language. out of 35 sentences with subject-verb agreement error that were questioned, 14 sentences were considered as interlingual errors, based on the response from the participants. the features of subject-verb agreement interlingual errors are omission of suffix ‘-s’ in verbs to agree with subject and error in selection of be verb. firstly, participants who commit interlingual errors in subject-verb agreement omitted the suffix ‘-s’ in verbs because of interference from indonesian language system. in indonesian, verbs are not inflected to agree with the subject in any way. for instance, the participant who consistently committed interlingual errors, wrote the following sentence: “the writer agree about this, global warming is classified as international problem because of its cause and effect.” this sentence is erroneous due to the phrase ‘the writer agree’, which has uninflected verb ‘agree’, which did not match with the singular verb ‘writer’. when the participant was asked further, he/she explained that: “iya, ini aku merujuk ke bahasa indonesia. jadi disitu the writer kan aku, jadi ‘aku setuju tentang hal ini, global warming diklasifikasikan sebagai masalah internasional karena sebab dan akibatnya’ [yes, i refer to indonesian language. thus, in that (sentence), the writer was me, so (what i meant to say was) ‘i agree about this matter, global warming is classified as an international problem because of its cause and effect’].” as seen in the underlined phrases, the writer referred to indonesian rule that does not inflect the indonesian word ‘setuju’, which means ‘agree’ in english, to agree with the subject. although the translation of the phrase ‘aku setuju’ is acceptable in english (‘i agree’), but if the erroneous phrase ‘the writer agree’ was translated into indonesian, the result, ‘sang penulis setuju’, is still acceptable in that language. in conclusion, the participant negatively transferred this indonesian rule to english, which is not acceptable. according to al-khresheh (2016), interlingual error is also known as transfer error, which occurs when the students’ first language interferes with the production of the target language. in this case, indonesian language as the participants’ first language is interfering the production of written english language. in terms of subject-verb agreement errors, the students have negatively transferred indonesian grammar system that do not have inflectional ‘-s’ in verbs llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 489 to agree with third person singular subjects. furthermore, indonesian language does not use various be verb to agree with third person singular, and the participants of this study have shown to transfer this habit into english, making them select the wrong be verb to agree with the subject. hypothesis of false concept hypothesis of false concept is the second most dominant error cause in the students’ writing. it was found that there are 13 erroneous sentences due to this factor. specifically, there are 4 errors of this kind in subject-verb agreement errors, 8 in plural errors, and 1 in past participle. the example is taken from one of the plural errors that the student commit. during the interview process, the participants gave reasoning behind their errors that can be considered as ‘hypothesis of false concept’ on 8 sentences out of 31 sentences that were questioned. in overall, there were various false concepts that were formulated by the students that leads to erroneous sentences, one of them is uncountable noun vocabulary and the use of determiner. firstly, some participants have gap knowledge in deciding which nouns were considered as countable and uncountable. one case of this error is seen on this sentence: “there are some effort that can be done to help slower the deforestation.” in this sentence, the error lies on the phrase “some effort”, since the noun should be inflected with ‘-s’ to agree with the plural determiner ‘some’. when the student, p2, who wrote this sentence was questioned, he/she responded with: “gimana ya, soalnya aku ngiranya kalo ini tu kaya, itu 'effort' itu aku kiranya uncountable gitu, kan kaya aktivitas jadi gabisa dihitung, jadi mikirnya ga pake -s. [how should i put it, i thought that this was like, ‘effort’, i thought it was uncountable, like it is an activity that cannot be counted, so i thought it should not use ‘-s’].” from this response, it can be assumed that the student decide which noun is countable or uncountable based on personal judgement whether the noun is concretely countable or not, which was a false understanding. secondly, another false concept that was hypothesized by the participants was the use of determiner. in this case, p3 wrote this sentence: “is all of those natural disaster really a huge problem for the life of human?” this sentence is erroneous in the phrase “all of those natural disaster”, since the noun phrase should be inflected with ‘-s’ to agree with the plural determiner ‘those’. in his defense, p3 reasoned that “kalo gua sih setiap ngetik 'those' itu kan gw gini sih pemahamannya kalo 'that' gitu yang kita bisa liat gitu, yang bisa ditunjuk. 'that table', 'that chair', gitu. 'those' itu sesuatu yang kita gabisa liat ato ga keliatan. makanya disitu gw pake those natural disasters karena kan natural disasters ngga terjadi. [in my case, when i write ‘those’, my understanding was (the word) ‘that’ is used for something we can see, we can point, (such as) ‘that table’, ‘that chair’, something like that. ‘those’ is for something that we cannot see or invisible. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 490 that is why i used ‘those natural disasters’ because natural disasters are not happening (not something that can be seen)].” in this response, it can be inferred that the student has false perception that the determiner ‘those’ is used only for abstract nouns, while actually, it is used for plural nouns, hence explaining the occurrence of that erroneous sentence. incomplete application of rules during the interview process, it was found that there are 6 erroneous sentences due to this factor. specifically, there are 3 errors of this kind in subjectverb agreement errors, 2 in plural errors, and 1 in past participle. the example of this error is taken from the past participle error that the student commit. in the sentence “…coordination & prevention is the best solution to do before the main issue can be fixed,” the reviewer marked the phrase ‘before the main issue can be fixed’ as an error. according to the reviewer, the use of passive voice in this phrase was not suitable, hence that phrase was supposed to be revised as ‘before fixing the main issue’. in response to this correction, p4 said during the interview that: “i just write what i think sih, jadi kalo udah kerasa bener aku ga akan kepikiran kaya ini aktif apa pasif ya, gitu. [i just write what i think, so when i think it is already correct, then i will not mind whether it (the sentence) is in active or passive voice.]” from this statement, it can be inferred that the participant did not have the knowledge about the appropriacy on when to use passive voice and when to not use it. this can be concluded from how he/she highlighted that he/she has written the correct version of the sentence. moreover, the statement “i just write what i think” could imply the idea that the writer was focusing to communicate his/her thought in his/her writing, even though his/her subject matter in the use of passive voice was not yet complete. thus, this error can be considered as an error due to incomplete application of rules. conclusion there are two conclusions that can be summarized from this study. firstly, the result of this research showed that the freshmen of english language education in sampoerna university still have hardships on three types linguistic items related to inflectional affixes, which are subject-verb agreement, plural, and past participle. specifically, the hardship related to omission of certain elements which are required to produce a grammatically correct sentence. secondly, the causes of the error occurrence were investigated through authoritative interpretation or interview, and it was found that interference of the first language was the dominating reason behind the erroneous sentences. negative transfers of indonesian language system to english language system were responsible to most of the errors that the students committed. besides interlingual errors, there were several instances where intralingual factor played role, such as overgeneralization, incomplete application of rule, and false concept llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 491 hypothesized. there were no errors that were caused by ignorance of rule restriction. there are several recommendations that were derived from the result. firstly, the lecturers of english language department, specifically in english grammarrelated course, are recommended to focus more on complementing the students’ comprehension regarding subject-verb agreement, plurals, and past participle. this recommendation derived on the answer of the first research question, which showed that the students are still facing difficulties in those linguistic features. secondly, the lecturers are also recommended to point out the difference between indonesian language system and english language system to avoid errors occurrence due to interlingual factors, such as negative transfer of indonesian rules that is not compatible with english rules. there is also a recommendation for future error analysis research based on the current research limitation. from the experience of this research, having more than one reviewer to identify errors have its own benefits and drawbacks. the benefit includes a more credible data (error occurrence) that can be extracted from the students’ written language, since the reviewer were experts in fields of linguistics and english language. however, there is a drawback that needs to be considered, which is the differing opinion between the two reviewers about certain errors. for instance, there was a case where a sentence was considered erroneous and was given correction by one reviewer, but the other reviewer deemed that the correction was erroneous. to deal with this issue, it was decided to disregard both opinion in the research. hence, it is recommended for the researcher to have only one credible reviewer to identify and mark the errors of the students’ language to avoid this kind of issue to arise in future research. references al-khresheh, m. h. (2016). a review of error analysis study. international journal of humanities and social sciences research, 2, 49-59. retrieved on https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299456806_a_review_study_of_e rror_analysis_theory andrian. (2015). an error analysis of efl students’ english writing. english education journal, 6(4), 511-523. retrieved on http://www.jurnal.unsyiah.ac.id/index.php/eej/article/viewfile/2859/2721 atmowardoyo, h. (2018). research methods in tefl studies: descriptive research, case study, error analysis, and r&d. journal of language teaching and research, 9(1), 197-204. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/jltr.0901.25 corder, s. p. (1967). the significance of learner’s errors. international review of applied linguistics in language learning, 5(4), 161-170. retrieved on https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ed019903 corder, s. p. (1981). the role of interpretation in the study of learners’ errors. in s. p. corder (eds.), error analysis and interlanguage. oxford: oxford university press. dulay, h. c., & burt, m. k. (1974). you can’t learn without goofing. in j. c. richards (eds.), error analysis: perspective on second language acquisition. london: longman. retrieved on https://www.academia.edu/7416946/_ebook_error_analysis_https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ed019903 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 492 _perspectives_on_second_language_acquisition_by_jack_c._richards_19 73_source_bookfi.org?auto=download ellis, r. (2008). the study of second language acquisition 2nd edition. oxford: oxford university press gass, s. m., & selinker, l. (2008). second language acquisition: an introductory course. new york: routledge. hackett, a., & strickland, k. (2018). using the framework approach to analyse qualitative data: a worked example. nurse researcher. doi: 10.7748/nr.2018.e1580 hammarberg, b. (2010). the languages of the multilingual: some conceptual and terminological issues. international review of applied linguistics in language teaching, 48(2-3), 91-144. doi: 10.1515/iral.2010.005 javed, m., juan, w. x., & nazli, s. (2013). a study of students’ assessment in writing skills of the english language. international journal of instruction, 6(2), 129-144. retrieved on https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ed544075 karim, a., mohamed, a. r., ismail, s. a. m. m., shahed, f. h., rahman, m. m., & haque, m. h. (2018). error analysis in efl writing classroom. international journal of english linguistics, 8(4), 122-138. doi: 10.5539/ijel.v8n4p122 mutimani, m. m. (2016). academic writing in english: challenges experienced by bachelor of education primary level students at the university of namibia katima mulilo campus (phd thesis). university of namibia. rahayu, a. & arrasyid, f. i. (2016). exploring writing practices in efl classroom: a case study at english department iain syekh nurjati cirebon. the journal of english language teaching in foreign language context, 1(1), 53-64. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.24235/eltecho.v1 richards, j. c. (1974). a non-contrastive approach to error analysis. in j. c. richards (eds.), error analysis: perspective on second language acquisition. london: longman. retrieved on https://www.academia.edu/7416946/_ebook_error_analysis__perspectives_on_second_language_acquisition_by_jack_c._richards_19 73_source_bookfi.org?auto=download sampoerna university handbook. (2019). jakarta: sampoerna university sermsook, k., liamnimitr, j., & pochakorn, r. (2017). an analysis of errors in written english sentences: a case study of thai efl students. english language teaching, 10(3), 101-110. doi: 10.5539/elt.v10n3p101 https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ed544075 http://dx.doi.org/10.24235/eltecho.v1 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 80 developing engineering students’ critical thinking for public speaking through problem-based learning musrifatun nangimah institut teknologi telkom purwokerto, indonesia correspondence: musrifatun@ittelkom-pwt.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2020.230106 received 10 january 2020; accepted 5 march 2020 abstract critical thinking skill is crucial for higher education students. however, the development of critical thinking for engineering students has been overlooked. the previous research on students’ critical thinking in higher education mainly focuses on humanities and social sciences department. therefore, this research aims to evaluate engineering students’ critical thinking ability in english public speaking. a case study was carried out on 28 students (18 males, 8 females) of telecommunication engineering faculty at institut teknologi telkom purwokerto. the study found that students had the potential to be critical despite their lack of english vocabulary and poor pronunciation ability. they developed critical thinking by understanding the context given, gathering relevant sources as analysis resources, evaluating the gathered information through discussion, and generating the solutions. evaluative teaching strategies that encourage scaffolding and learning autonomy are needed to enhance their critical thinking. keywords: critical thinking skill, problem-based learning, engineering students, public speaking introduction the ability to think critically is important not only for social science students but also for engineering students. this ability is needed as a compulsory component to adjust multi-dimensional engineering problems. it is because an engineer is required to design experiment or product, interpret the data, and understand the effect of their proposed solution for societal context (ahern, dominguez, mcnally, o’sullivan, & pedrosa, 2019). in order to do that, engineering students need to develop their skills in using background knowledge to questions gained information, analyzing complex issues, synthesizing information to make reasonable conclusion, evaluating the data, and solving challenging problems. however, previous research on the use of critical thinking in engineering mainly investigate students’ perspective on critical thinking definition and activities (douglas, 2012), how critical thinking is used to solve operational chemistry and physics problems (özsoy-güneş, güneş, derelioğlu, & kırbaşlar, 2015), and the development of critical thinking for non-calculus ready students (santiago, coolbaugh, & veeramachaneni, 2016). how engineering students develop their critical thinking through speaking practice seems overlooked. this research aims to investigate engineering students’ critical llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 81 thinking ability in english public speaking. it tries to seek how engineering students at institut teknologi telkom purwokerto develop their critical thinking through a speaking production project rather than measure test taking ability by doing california critical thinking skills tests (cctst). problem-based learning for developing critical thinking problem-based learning (pbl), as one of student-centered learning method, allows the lecturer to conduct meaningful tasks by using authentic language. it also facilitates students to learn the learning materials through interaction and experience expressing ideas based on real life problems (ansarian & lin, 2018). some pedagogical experts might consider problem-based learning as ill-structure in designing the problem due to its demand on multiple perspective responses (jonassen & hung, 2008; rotgans & schmidt, 2011). indeed, the implementation of this method bring challenges such as lecturer’s unreadiness, lack of teaching resource, the different level of the materials difficulty perceived by students, and the suitable assessment method (ansarian & lin, 2018; dabbagh, 2019). despite these challenges, problem-based learning let the students to be more self-directed learners. it integrates the skill of understanding problem and acquiring knowledge to solve real-life situation. students are triggered to be more creative and independent learners by researching the situation, developing questions, applying reasoning skills and logical inquiry to draw conclusion as well as solving the problems given (dabbagh, 2019). thus, this method does not only develop students’ cognitive skills to remember and understand, but also improve their higher-order thinking skills by analyzing, evaluating, and creating solutions. in addition, problem-based learning is suitable to be applied in a heterogeneous class. it can facilitate students with mixed abilities to collaborate in inventing solution (delisle, 1997). in other words, students have freedom to decide what they want to do and to explore their background knowledge about the authentic problems encountered. in order to counter the pbl challenges, the lecturer who wants to apply problem-based learning should have creativity and awareness on students’ needs as well as learning materials appropriateness. in addition, the lecturers should fully aware of their role as learning facilitators not ‘to lead students to supposed answer’ (mitchell & smith, 2008:133). this can be done by having pedagogical training. in terms of dealing with students’ perspective of difficulty level, the lecturer should give students guidance during the learning process by developing their zone of proximal development (zpd). considering that fostering students’ critical thinking process needs time, it is better to give constructive feedback to students and ask them to make reflective report so they can develop their metacognitive aspect by doing self-assessment. as it was emphasized by dewey (1933), student’s reflection gives important role for their logical progress. they need to get experiential learning where they can develop both their lower order thinking skills (remember and understand) and higher order thinking skills (analyze, evaluate, and create) as defined by bloom’s taxonomy (1954). although no single teaching method serve as the best, some of them can work effectively when properly implemented. in this case, pbl can be effective to be llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 82 applied to develop students’ critical thinking since it promotes students’ ability to do problem solving. all lecturers need to do are understanding students’ learning needs, structuring and problematizing relevant task features, and giving proper scaffolding that fosters students’ zpd without showing the answer to the given problem. developing engineering students’ critical thinking for public speaking according to jiménez jiménez (2015), speaking practice in which internalization process occurs can help students to develop their self-regulation. in addition, students make transformation language when they deliver their speech. they use language not only for communication but also for intellectual function. it means that students use language as an accelerator to think about situation or problem they have encountered. therefore, they need critical thinking ability to speak fluently and correctly. however, some students consider english public speaking as quite difficult skill due to lack of english vocabulary, selfesteem, and motivation, rarely practice, afraid of making mistakes, and mother tongue interference (binnendijk, 2014). as a result, the learning process should be able to motivate and give students chance to speak. the lecturer should be able to use various teaching strategies to keep students’ learning interest, especially in doing public speaking. in this notion, problem-based learning can be an alternative teaching method to activate students’ speaking ability. some engineering students might have tendency not to apply critical thinking unless they are told to do so. it happens due to their lack of understanding that critical thinking is not only bound for a specific course in a certain context (michaluk, martens, damron, & high, 2016). considering that engineering students tend to get more didactic learning approach; they need to have opportunity to work in groups to solve open-ended problems. these problems need wide range approach and creativity where a single right answer does not exist. they also need opportunity to reflect what they have known about the problem given so they can question the gained information rather than simply absorb it (mitchell & smith, 2008). if the students fully aware of the task demand, they will be encouraged to explore possible answers from different perspectives and speak up their ideas. in order to develop their confidence and inquiry prior communicating and sharing ideas with partners, students need to explore their knowledge about authentic problem. if the students actively develop their inquiry skill by practicing speaking to propose their ideas, their public speaking ability, confidence, and critical thinking skills will improve gradually (binnendijk, 2014). students who apply critical thinking skills tend to have thoughtful approach to their course, produce more challenging questions, and engage the pedagogical process profoundly (murawski, 2014). therefore, students who can make decision logically and confidently show better speaking performance (sanavi & tarighat, 2014; ramezani, larsari, & kiasi, 2016; bagheri, 2018). in other words, engineering students’ critical thinking can be developed by applying problembased learning to encourage the improvement of speaking ability. it can be done as long as the given problem allows them to explore ideas that involves reflective llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 83 rational development so they can invent reasonable solutions for their public speaking. methodology the case study was chosen to answer the research problem which tried to investigate how telecommunication engineering students develop their critical thinking for their speaking through problem-based learning. this research technique was suitable to examine a small case, such as a class of 28 students. it can provide causal leverage over a case that is studied. considering that a small sample of this technique “may be wildly unrepresentative” for having simple random sampling (gerring, 2007:87), this study employed purposive homogenous sampling. it allowed the researcher to do in-depth analysis of common pattern in a class of students with similar characteristic (dörnyei, 2007). the data collection was conducted for three months (september – november 2019). it was obtained by doing observation, grading speaking tasks, and coding participants’ reflective speaking report. the speaking test was graded using critical thinking rubric for speaking developed by association of american colleges and universities (2018). this rubric focuses on assessing students’ ability to explain issue, provide evidence, give influence context and assumption, show their stand or perspectives, and infer conclusion along with the implication of given solution. in this study, the participants were asked to reflect their experience in doing speaking by applying critical thinking tasks. this report was delivered in participants’ first language to help them feel comfortable so they could give authentic thought (seidman, 2006). therefore, the participants were fully aware of their reflective writing content. participants the sample of this study was taken from institut teknologi telkom purwokerto. they were third semester students of telecommunication engineering study programme. in this university, english was taught as a foreign language. the participants learned english focusing on english for business communication. the total of participants were 28 students aged 19 to 20 years old. there were 18 males and 8 females. all of them experienced learning english as a foreign language (efl) for 6 years at the minimum. data analysis in order to analyze the collected data, descriptive analysis was conducted. this data analysis method was chosen to help researcher summarize the finding and describe general tendency as the basis of inferring the conclusion (dörnyei, 2007). the descriptive analysis result was presented by using simple table to avoid researchers’ misinterpretation and help the readers understand the research findings (loeb, dynarski, mcfarland, morris, reardon, & reber, 2017). the triangulation data of document analysis gained from the observation and participants’ reflective speaking report was conducted to describe the numerical set obtained from the speaking task grade. the students’ reflective speaking reports were coded to find the common pattern on how students experience llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 84 developing their critical thinking. meanwhile, the speaking task results were put into spss ibm 22 to be examined the mean of the data. the mean and the common themes gained from observation and students’ reflective reports were interpreted and inferred into conclusion. findings and discussion this study explores how telecommunication engineering students develop their critical thinking for their speaking through problem-based learning. after doing problem-based learning, the research participants’ speaking skills were evaluated. the speaking task result can be calculated as follows. table 1: descriptive statistics gained from speaking score descriptive statistics n minimum maximum mean std. deviation speaking test 28 41 90 68.43 12.530 valid n (listwise) 28 table 1 shows that the telecommunication engineering students’ speaking test score was varied from 41 to 90 out of 100 with total mean is 68.43. the gained score based on the gender is female: 41 to 89, while male is 50 to 90. besides, the variation of students’ speaking test score is 12.530. it shows that students critical thinking for speaking is good. based on the observation result, students are motivated to engage the learning process when they have background knowledge about the topic given. when they were asked to interview the entrepreneurs and provide solutions, they reported their interview results in detail along with wider range of logical solutions over the business problems encountered. in the contrary, they provided limited solutions when they were asked to do problem-based task in the class. this is supported by their reflective speaking reports. there were 21 out of 28 students reported that solving problem based on the interview practice is easier than doing context-given problem in the class. “i love doing interview. i can find the solutions quicker because i can feel and imagine the businessman’s problems. meanwhile, it is harder for me to find solution for the problem given in the class because there is limited time of the course” (student 1). “we do not feel what is really happening when we do the assignment in the class. we are also forced to give solution spontaneously in another language. meanwhile, when we interview the interviewee, we can see the interview result as the source to analyze the weakness of their business and how to find useful solutions” (student 3). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 85 “doing interview task is easier than context-problem-based task in the class. it is because i got real data and information from the field and do not depend on my spontaneity and limited time. i can evaluate the problem and think about the solution. it is more flexible and pressure free” (student 8). “i am not a business student. sometimes, the language of the provided context is not familiar for me. i need more effort to interpret the context of the assignment given in the class. that is why it is easier to do interview. i can interact with the entrepreneur, understand the condition directly, and i know the language. so, it is easier to map the problems and find the solutions” (student 11) “actually, the scenario is not really hard. however, i cannot really imagine the context of on-the-spot problem-based task in the class because i have limited english vocabulary. when it comes to interview task, i have more preparation time to construct the english expression and have dialog with the entrepreneur. therefore, i can find the problems and give better solutions. i also have sense of responsibility not to share misinterpreted information” (student 14). “experiencing in the field directly and interacting with the interviewee makes me understand more about the problem. so, it is easier to find the solution” (student 21). this result is in line with dewey’s experiential learning (1933), ansarian and lin’s (2018) and dabbagh’s (2019) research. students feel more encouraged to learn and can develop their logical and high-order-thinking skills by having autonomous learning freedom, self-experience and doing meaning making through social interaction. the observation also showed that students are more actively speak up their ideas in a small group-work discussion. some students got nervous when they were asked to do individual public speaking in front of the class. they tend to read the note to help them deliver their ideas. they also show mispronunciation but it does not change the intelligibility of their speech. the reflective speaking reports demonstrate that all of students find challenge transferring their ideas in indonesian to english due to lack of english vocabulary. most of them reported that they concern about producing mispronunciation and grammatical mistakes during speaking practice. it supports binnendijk’s research (2014) where students’ linguistics insecurity can be a hindrance for developing public speaking. moreover, female students found challenges on compromising ideas with partners due to work load and dependent students. student 2, 9, 10, and 23 reported that it is “hard to cooperate with students with different perspectives. if the character of a group member does not match, they tend to do the assignment carelessly”. besides, student 13, 20, 21, 27, and 28 explained that they need guidance to develop their critical thinking since thinking critically and inventing solution cannot be self-studied. this finding supports binnendijk’s (2014) and mitchell & smith’s (2008) research. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 86 the observation result and students’ reflective reports also show how students develop their critical thinking. during the observation, students read between the lines to identify the problems, gather relevant information both online and discussing with friends, evaluate the gathered information, and generate the possible solution. some of them concern on the linguistics elements so their speech is considered as intelligible. the reflective reports are in line with the observation result. “the first thing that we should do is understand the instruction. if we do not know the instruction, we cannot do the assignment as it is expected by the lecturer. we also need to be familiar with the context. we will not be able to give solution if we do not know what is happening” (student 6). “doing critical thinking is not that difficult. i can understand the problem and provide solutions. yet, it is hard to put my ideas into english correct sentence. i have to think about the tenses, vocabulary, and how to say it. sometimes, i choose not to speak so i will not get embarrassed” (student 10). “i always try to read the instruction carefully and imagine what problem is stated. after that, i try to discuss it with my friend or do online research to get ideas for what solution that i can give” (student 24). “as long as it is done in a group, i can share my ideas to do the assignment. my friends help me pick which information is useful for my tasks. if the task is individual, i need more time to imagine what is the situation and the problem given by lecturer” (student 21) this finding shows that some students still afraid of doing public speaking because of the linguistics interference. therefore, lecturer should be able to provide innovative learning context that allows the students to reflect on their background knowledge, to practice more in applying critical thinking, and to get sufficient guidance to apply their critical thinking. conclusion this study shows that engineering students have potential to be critical despite their lack of english vocabulary and poor pronunciation ability. their public speaking challenge is on how to deliver ideas in another language rather than on how to develop their critical thinking. evaluative teaching strategies that encourage scaffolding and learning autonomy are needed to enhance their critical thinking. lecturer should be able to problematize situations that are familiar to the students thus they can think the problem or situation given in new ways. considering that this study only focuses on evaluating engineering students’ critical thinking ability in english public speaking, further research needs to be done whether there are any significant differences between male and female students’ critical thinking ability in public speaking and how do female students develop their critical thinking for speaking different from male students. it is also llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 87 employed only for one class. the research with greater number and deeper analysis need to be conducted. references ahern, a., dominguez, c., mcnally, c., o’sullivan, j. j & pedrosa, d. 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(2016). critical thinking skills in first-year engineering students. asee’s 123 annual conference and exposition, conference proceeding, 26–29. https://doi.org/10.18260/p.26602. seidman, i. (2006). interviewing as qualitative research: a guide for researchers in education and the social sciences (3rd ed.). new york: teachers college press. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 51 a comparative study on the formation of gay language words and utility vehicle express codes feorillo a. demeterio iii1, *marielle c. gidalanga2, and catherine d. belacho3 de la salle university, philippines1,3 far eastern university, philippines2 feorillo.demeterio@dlsu.edu.ph, mgidalanga@feu.edu.ph, & catherine_deocareza@dlsu.edu.ph *correspondence: mgidalanga@feu.edu.ph doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.2720 received 4 july 2020; accepted 9 october 2020 abstract in metro manila, there are two sets of coded language that baffle and amuse their observant bystanders: the filipino gay language and the idiom used by the utility vehicle (uv) express drivers. a uv express is an air-conditioned public utility vehicle that is classier than the more famous philippine jeepneys. through a reconstructive contextualization and reverse engineering of 100 randomly collected filipino gay words and another 100 randomly collected uv express codes, this paper compared and contrasted their themes and creations. this paper is significant in offering a comprehensive listing and descriptions of the processes involved in the creation of filipino gay words. this paper is also significant in being the first academic journal article that deals with the uv express codes of metro manila. furthermore, the methodology of this paper in studying either the filipino gay language or the metro manila uv express codes can be used in studying the variant filipino gay languages in other places of the philippines. keywords: filipino gay language words, uv express codes, creation of new words, reverse engineering in linguistics introduction linguistic variation in the modern world is correlated with a small number of variables like gender and urban status (labov, 2010). in metro manila, there are two sets of coded language that baffle and amuse their observant bystanders: the filipino gay language and the idiom used by the utility vehicle (uv) express drivers. a uv express is an air-conditioned public utility vehicle that is classier than the more famous philippine jeepneys, and much smaller than the usual buses. filipinos in metro manila prefer this mode of transportation even if it charges higher fares than the jeepneys and buses because it is comfortable, has more frequent trips, and more city routes. homosexuals communicate and interact with one another using gay language (remoto, 2004; 2008). the reasons for doing so are to maintain the secrecy of their often sexually-related conversations, to set the parameters of the in-group against the out-group, and to show off their facility in using the remarkable language. on the other hand, uv express codes are llt journal, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 52 jargons use by uv express drivers as they communicate with one another through their two-way radios (matias, 2017). the reasons for doing so are to maintain the secrecy of their conversations from the possibility of being overheard by the police and traffic enforcers through the radio, to also set the parameters of the ingroup against the out-group, and similarly to show off their facility in using the remarkable codes. through a reconstructive contextualization and reverse engineering of 100 randomly collected filipino gay words and another 100 randomly collected uv express codes, this paper compared and contrasted themes and creations of filipino gay words and uv express codes. in as far as the creation of filipino gay words are concerned, the most comprehensive listing and descriptions of these processes so far are contained in eufracio abaya and jesus federico hernandez’ “salitang bakla: makapangyarihan? mapagpalaya?” (1998) that catalogued a dozen processes. however, based on the initial reverse engineering undertaken by this paper the twelve processes proved to be inadequate to account for the creation of some filipino gay words. for example, portmanteau and anagram are not covered by abaya and hernandez’ twelve processes. the use of anagram and metathesis might closely resemble with each other, but these are actually two different processes, and the use of anagram occur much more than metathesis in as far as filipino gay language is concerned. furthermore, abaya and hernandez’ tenth process substitution with famous names of personalities and places seems to need conceptual sharpening as there is a big difference between substitution with names of famous persons and places based on rhyme, and the substitution with names of famous persons and places based on the association of characteristics. thus, there should be a distinction in the process involved in the creation of the word “jiniit jackson (for mainit, or warm/humid), from the process involved in the creation of the word “aya medel” (for malaking suso, or huge breasts). even if substitution based on rhyme is covered by the ninth process substitution with rhyming words, the overlap between such process and the tenth process needs to be cleaned further. hence, building on abaya and hernandez’s efforts, the reverse engineering undertaken by this paper on the 100 randomly collected filipino gay words resulted in a bigger number of less overlapping processes. the literature review undertaken by this paper revealed no academic journal article yet on uv express codes. thus, in as far as the creation of these codes is concerned, the most comprehensive listing and descriptions of the processes involved is a conference paper of gladys matias, entitled “the study of english codes and jargons used by fx drivers of robinsons' novaliches to trinoma mall trip” (2017). “fx” is the older equivalent of uv express, and the name is based on the fx model of toyota that was the dominant brand in as far as the older uv expresses were concerned. matias’ conference paper merely identified five very small processes. when this paper did its initial reverse engineering on the 100 randomly collected uv express codes, it was discovered that a number of the processes involved in the creation of filipino gay words are actually also involved in the creation of these uv express codes. thus, this paper attempts not only to determine which of the processes involved in the creation of filipino gay words are also involved in the creation of uv express codes, but likewise to determine if there are other processes not mentioned by abaya and hernandez, and matias that are involved in the creation of uv express codes, and furthermore to determine llt journal, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 53 which of the processes involved in the creation of the uv express codes may also be involved in the creation of filipino gay words. method appendices a and b present the 100 randomly collected filipino gay language words and the 100 randomly collected uv express codes. these randomly collected words are the primary data that were analysed by this paper in order to answer the main problem and the six sub-problems. the first sub-problem was addressed by first reconstructing the general contexts or conversational topics that usually cradle these randomly collected words, and by categorizing the same randomly collected words into these reconstructed general contexts of conversational topics. comparison and contrast are then done on the categorized words. the second sub-problem of this paper was addressed by reverse engineering, a thorough and methodical examination of a process in order to understand as much as possible its function and use (khorambin, 2016). such reversed engineering built on the efforts undertaken by abaya, hernandez, and matias, while being open to the possibility that there might be other processes that the two pioneering authors failed to identify. such reverse engineering was guided with the principle of economy that is geared towards the listing of the least number of processes that can completely explain the creation of each of the randomly collected words. figure 1 illustrates, as an example, how such reverse engineering was undertaken on a filipino gay word that yielded five different processes, namely: 1) use of another philippine language; 2) association with a characteristic of an object/thing/event; 3) creation of a portmanteau; 4) rhyming with an object/thing/event; and 5) use of an old word or name. figure 1. illustration on how reverse engineering was undertaken on the filipino gay word “dakota” step 2: identification of source 1. “dako” is a cebuano word meaning big. the process involved here is the use of another philippine language. step 4: identification of the process involved in combining the two sources. in the case here, it is the creation of a portmanteau, dako + nota. step 3: identification of source 2. “nota” alludes to the male sex organ because of similarity in appearance. the process involved here is association with a characteristic of an object/thing/event. dakota dako nota step 1: reconstruction of the source words: “dako” and “nota” step 5: identification of another process involved in the combination of the two sources. dakota as a portmanteau rhymes with dakota the american state. hence, there is a rhyming with an object/thing/event. step 6: identification of still another process involved in the combination of the two sources. dakota as a portmanteau rhymes with the old name of adriatico street. hence, there is a use of an old word or name. llt journal, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 54 figures 2 illustrates, as another example, how such reverse engineering was undertaken on a uv express code that yielded three different processes, namely: 1) association with a characteristic of an object/thing/event, as a city hall looks like a huge “bahay”; 2) highlighting of a specific characteristic, as playing the role of asiong salonga is one of the characteristics of the then mayor joseph estrada; and 3) set-member substitution, as the then mayor estrada who was a member of the set manila city hall is used as the marker of the said set. figure 2. illustration on how reverse engineering was undertaken on the uv express code “bahay ni asiong” the third, fourth, and fifth sub-problems of this paper are concerned with specifying which of the identified processes involved in the creation of the randomly collected words are shared by filipino gay words and the uv express codes, which are proper only to the filipino gay words, and which are proper only to the uv express codes. a simple venn diagram will address these three interrelated sub-problems. the sixth sub-problem was addressed by computing the average number of processes involved in creating a filipino gay word, as well as in creating a uv express code. the set with the higher average number of processes involved in the creation of its words is the set with words that are more complex to create. this was also addressed by determining how many processes, based on cumulative frequencies, are needed in reaching half of the total number of processes involved in the creation of each set of 100 words. the set with the higher number is the set that uses more varied processes in the creation of its words. it is therefore also more complex to create. the epistemological theory that justifies the comparative approach of this paper is the hermeneutic tradition of the german philologists martin heidegger (1889-1976) and hans-georg gadamer (1900-2002). specifically, the dialogical hermeneutics of these two theorists suggests that although two phenomena, or texts, are indeed radically different from one another, using one of them as a point of departure to study the other, and vice versa, could actually result in some step 2: identification of source 1. “bahay” stands for city hall. the process involved here is association based on the characteristic of an object/thing/event. step 3: identification of source 2. “asiong salonga” is a biofilm character played by mayor joseph estrada. the process involved here is the highlighting of a specific characteristic. bahay ni asiong bahay step 1: reconstruction of the source: “city hall” and “mayor joseph words estrada” asiong salonga step 4: identification of the process involved in combining the two sources. in the case here, it is set-member substitution. joseph estrada, a member of the set manila city hall, is used to identify the said city hall. llt journal, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 55 deeper and richer grasp of their radical individualities (demeterio 2013, 301). hence, by analyzing filipino gay language side by side with uv express codes, this paper will not just understand filipino gay language on one hand, and the uv express codes on the other hand, but more so understand them more fully and thoroughly. by building on the efforts of abaya and hernandez, and by offering a more comprehensive listing and descriptions of the processes involved in the creation of filipino gay words, this paper contributes to the understanding of filipino gay language in general, and the creation of filipino gay words in particular. by building on the efforts of matias, and by offering a more comprehensive listing and descriptions of the processes involved in the creation of uv express codes, this paper aspires to be the first full academic journal article on the study and analysis of uv express codes, more specifically on the process of their creation. furthermore, the methodology of this paper used in studying either the filipino gay language or the metro manila uv express codes can be used in studying the variant filipino gay languages and distinctive languages of some social groups in other places of the philippines, and even in the southeast asian region and beyond. the comparative findings of this paper may suggest that the creation of words and codes across distinctive social groups may share so much in common. findings and discussion thematic comparison of filipino gay words and uv express codes this section addresses the first sub-problem of this paper. the top five themes of filipino gay words are: 1) sex-related concepts, constituting 31% of the words; 2) negative descriptions of persons, constituting 24% of the words; 3) concepts pertaining to psycho-physical states, constituting 14% of the words; 4) positive descriptions of persons, constituting 9% of the words; and 5) concepts pertaining to relationships, also constituting 9% of the words. and, the five discernible themes of uv express codes are: 1) landmarks and places, constituting 60% of the words; 2) concepts pertaining to the road situations, constituting 13% of the words; 3) concepts pertaining to police and traffic enforcers, constituting 11% of the words; 4) concepts related to the passengers, constituting 9% of the words; and 5) communication devices, constituting 2% of the words. figure 3 compares and contrasts the frequencies in descending order of the themes of the randomly collected filipino gay words and uv express codes. llt journal, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 56 figure 3. comparison of the themes of the randomly collected filipino gay words (gray bars) and uv express codes (black bars and bold labels) figure 3 reveals a number of divergences. first, there are more themes that are discernible from the filipino gay words than there are from the uv express codes. aside from the top five themes of the filipino gay words that were already mentioned, there are three other themes shown in figure 3: neutral descriptions of persons, concepts pertaining to weather, and concepts pertaining to clothing. this means that the filipino gay language covers more variety of topics than uv express codes. it exposes the development of gender differences, as well as differences across social groups, in the language (trudgill, 2000). furthermore, the randomly collected filipino gay words have a bigger number of words with indeterminate themes than the randomly collected uv express codes, enabling the former to cover more conversational topics than the latter. second, filipino gay words are more personal compared to the uv express codes (remoto, 2008). the former is related to sexuality, to others, to the self, and human relationships; while the latter is related to objects and places (muller, 2018; zeng et.al, 2014). when uv express codes relate to persons, they relate to them as things that need to be avoided (the police and traffic enforcers), or as things that provide income (passengers) (chavez, et.al, 2013). third, filipino gay words often dwell on internal things such as sexuality and psycho-physical states; while uv express codes dwell on external things such as what the drivers see while on the road for easy monitoring of the situation (alba, 2006; chavez, et.al, 2013). fourth, filipino gay words tend to pass judgment on persons, whether negatively positively; while uv express codes tend to stay objective and merely report locations and situations (romero, 2019; narboneta and teknomo, 2016). fifth, filipino gay words are preoccupied with sexual exploits and prospects while uv express codes are preoccupied with the task of moving passengers from one place to another as quickly and as profitably as possible (garcia, 2008; sjobergh and araki, 2008; ogunmola, 2013). in sociolinguistic, languages do not differ in what they can convey, only in what they have to convey. trudgill explains that the social-class groups, like uv express drivers and homosexuals, have linguistic characteristics in common llt journal, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 57 because their members communicate more frequently with each other than with outsiders. language reflects the social roles of humans (trudgill, 2000). in comparing the filipino gay words and uv express codes, it exposes the specific and unique characteristics of the languages of homosexuals and drivers as they differ in their social roles. reverse engineering: the processes involved in creating these words and codes through reverse engineering that was built on the efforts undertaken by abaya and hernandez, and matias, this paper was able to list down 19 such processes (see appendices a and b for the detailed results). table 1 enumerates these 19 processes in relation to abaya and hernandez and matias’ identified processes. table 1. the 19 processes involved in the creation of filipino gay words and uv express codes in relation with abaya and hernandez, and matias’ identified processes this paper’s listing of processes involved in the creation of filipino gay words and uv express codes abaya and hernandez’s processes for filipino gay words matias’ processes for uv express codes abbreviation or use of acronym   association with a characteristic of a person   association with a characteristic of an object/thing/event  creation of portmanteau filipinized reading highlighting of a specific characteristic misappropriation of affix  repetition of words  rhyming with a foreign word (other than english) rhyming with a person's name   rhyming with an object/thing/event  set-member substitution substitution or addition of letters  use of anagram use of foreign word  use of old word or name use of other philippine language  use of philippine slang use of radio 10 code  table 1 shows that out of the 19 processes identified by this paper, 10 were directly or indirectly mentioned already by abaya and hernandez, while four were directly or indirectly mentioned already by matias. this paper was not able to detect abaya and hernandez’s metathesis, onomatopoeia, and the use of metaphors in the sampled words. hence, this paper was able to lay down eight completely new processes, and these are: 1) creation of portmanteau, 2) filipinized reading, 3) highlighting of a specific characteristic, 4) rhyming with a foreign word, 5) set-member substitution, 6) use of anagram, 7) use of old word or name, and 8) use of philippine slang. the following sub-sections explain in more detail each of the 19 processes identified by this paper. llt journal, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 58 abbreviation or use of acronym in abaya and hernandez’s list of processes involved in the creation of filipino gay words, abbreviations and the use of acronym are two separate processes (abaya & hernandez, 1998). in matias’ list, the use of acronym is a little distinct in the sense that it utilizes nato’s phonetic alphabet (matias, 2017). in this paper, abbreviation, the use of acronym based on the roman alphabet, and the use of acronym based on nato’s phonetic alphabet are lumped together as a single process. an example of a filipino gay word that is produced through the process of abbreviation and the use of acronym is “bir,” for “babaeng inurungan ng regla” (menopausal woman). an example of uv express code that is produced through the same process is “baga” (lung), for the “philippine lung center.” association with a characteristic of a person the process of association with a characteristic of a person is merely hinted at in both abaya and hernandez, and matias’ lists. abaya and hernandez mentioned the process of substitution with names of famous persons and places, while matias mentioned the use of persons’ names (abaya & hernandez, 1998; matias, 2017). this paper, however, makes a distinction between the use of a person’s name based on the characteristic of a person on one hand and based on mere rhyming with a person’s name. an example of a filipino gay word that is produced through the process of association with a characteristic of a person is “aga mulach,” for “very handsome,” a characteristic that is possessed by the said actor. an example of uv express code that is produced through the same process is “power ranger,” for “traffic enforcer” whose helmet looks like a headgear of the mentioned television character. association with a characteristic of an object/thing/event the process of association with a characteristic of an object/thing/event is merely hinted at in abaya and hernandez’s list, as they mentioned only the process of substitution with names of famous persons and places (abaya & hernandez, 1998). matias did not mention this process. this paper makes a distinction again between the use of an object/thing/event’s name based on the characteristic of an object/thing/event on one hand and based on one mere rhyming with an object/thing/event. an example of a filipino gay word that is produced through the process of association with a characteristic of a person is “blusang itim” (black blouse), for a gay person who suddenly became beautiful after going to a beauty salon, as the black blouse in a filipino film with the same title possesses magical powers that would make its wearer suddenly beautiful. an example of uv express code that is produced through the same process is “pamaypay” (fan), for “shell gasoline station,” as the scallop logo of the said establishment looks like a fan. creation of portmanteau a portmanteau is a word that blended two or more words together, such as “taglish,” from “tagalog” and “english” and “tapsilog,” from “tapa” (cured meat), “sinangag” (fried rice), and “itlog” (egg) (trommer & cysouw, 2009). the llt journal, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 59 creation of portmanteau is not mentioned in both abaya and hernandez, and matias’ lists, but this paper, however, was able to detect such process in both the randomly collected filipino gay words and uv express codes. an example of filipino gay words that are created as portmanteau is “aiza,” for a “person with only one eye,” from “eye” and “isa” (one). the lone case of uv express code created as a portmanteau is “smart,” for those areas defined by an sm mall branch and an mrt station, from “sm” and “mrt.” filipinized reading new lexicons were created in this linguistic process include the formation of new words and borrowing from english (bolton & butler, 2004). throughout the time of filipinos’ utilization, syntactic features of the english language had undergone a process that executed a series of changes (esquievel, 2019). since borrowing is rarely done deliberately in this manner, the borrowed term usually adjusts and is modified to the rules of filipino (paz, 2003). the process of filipinized reading is not mentioned in both abaya and hernandez, and matias’ lists, but this paper was able to detect such process in the randomly collected uv express codes, although not in the randomly collected filipino gay words. many of metro manila’s landmarks and establishments bear english names, and the uv express drivers translate these names into filipino in a distinctive manner. some examples of uv express codes that are created by the process of filipinized reading are “purong ginto,” for a pure gold branch; and “siyudad ng pangarap,” for city of dreams hotel and casino. highlighting of a specific characteristic the process of highlighting a specific characteristic is also not mentioned in both abaya and hernandez, and matias’ list, but this paper was able to detect this in the randomly collected uv express codes, although not in the randomly collected filipino gay words. in this process, uv express drivers pick out a single characteristic of a person, object or landmark, and build their code around such isolated characteristics. thus, “malaking bilog” (big circle), for quezon memorial circle, is built around the isolated characteristic of the big circle; and “himala” (miracle), for quiapo church, is built around the isolated characteristic of miracle, as quiapo church is reputed to be a place where miracles happen. misappropriation of affix the process of misappropriation of affix is hinted at in the list of abaya and hernandez, but not mentioned in the list of matias. however, this paper was able to detect the process in the randomly collected filipino gay words, although not in the randomly collected uv express codes. as the name of the process implies, affixes are being misused here. hence, in the filipino gay word “boylet,” for “attractive male,” the diminutive affix “let” (such as in “piglet,” “starlet,” and “booklet”) is forcibly attached to “boy” not to signify smallness but cuteness that is understood as attractiveness. llt journal, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 60 repetition of words the process of repeating a word or portions of a word was mentioned by abaya and hernandez, but not by matias. this paper, however, was not able to detect this process in the randomly selected filipino gay words, but in the randomly collected uv express codes. some examples of uv express codes created through the process of repetition are “commo-commo,” for commonwealth avenue, where the first two syllables of the word “commonwealth” were detached and repeated; and “quiriquiri,” for quirino avenue, where again the first two syllables of the name “quirino” were detached and repeated. rhyming with a foreign word (other than english) the process of rhyming with a foreign word (other than english) is hinted at in the list of abaya and hernandez, but not mentioned in the list of matias. indeed, this paper was able to detect such process in the randomly collected filipino gay words, and not in the randomly collected uv express codes. sward speak uses various strategies in forming words. among these are loanwords or borrowing from foreign languages like japanese, spanish, german, chinese, and french (pascual, 2016; red, 1996). some examples of filipino gay words from this paper’s own randomly collected samples that were created through the process of rhyming with a foreign word (other than english) are “annichiwa,” for “ano” (what), that sounds japanese; “iteshiwa,” for “ito” (this), that also sounds japanese; and “buysung,” for “buy,” that sounds german. rhyming with a person's name the process of rhyming with a person’s name is hinted at in both abaya and hernandez, and matias’ lists. indeed, this paper was able to detect the said process in both the randomly collected filipino gay words and uv express codes. in the sub-section on the process of association with a characteristic of a person, this paper already made a distinction between the use of a person’s name based on the characteristic of a person on one hand and based on mere rhyming with a person’s name. an example of a filipino gay word that was created through the process of rhyming with a person’s name is “julanis morissette,” for “ulan” (rain), as it rhymes with the name of the singer alanis morissette. an example of uv express codes that was created through the said process is “vilma santos recto,” for recto street, vilma santos recto and claro m. recto share the same family name. rhyming with an object/thing/event the process of rhyming with an object/thing/event is hinted at in abaya and hernandez’s list, but not in matias’ list. however, this paper was able to detect the said process in both the randomly collected filipino gay words and uv express codes. this paper already made a distinction between the use of an object/thing/event’s name based on the characteristic of such object/thing/event on one hand and based on mere rhyming with such an object/thing/event’s name. llt journal, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 61 an example of a filipino gay word that is produced through rhyming with an object/thing/event is “pagoda,” for “pagod” (tired) that rhymes with this asian tower architecture that happens to be a name of a beauty supplies brand. an example of uv express codes that is produced through the said process is “sibuyas” (onion), for a branch of union bank of the philippines, for “onion” rhymes with “union.” set-member substitution the process of set-member substitution is not mentioned in both abaya and hernandez, and matias’ lists, but this paper detected this process in both the randomly collected filipino gay words and uv express codes. the process happens when a member of a given set is used as a shorthand for the whole set. thus, in the filipino gay word “anaconda,” for “ahas” (snake/traitor), “anaconda” is supposed to be a member of the set “snakes” but it is used as a shorthand for the whole set. as another example of a filipino gay word that is formed through this process is “pocahontas,” for “indian” (somebody who failed to appear in an agreed time and place), as pocahontas is supposed to be a member of the set “indians” but is used as a shorthand for the whole set. an example of uv express codes that was created through this said process is “osang” (rosanna roces), for “pegasus club,” as roces was once a performer in the said club and therefore and member of the said set, but “osang” is used to substitute the whole set. substitution or addition of sound/florish the process of substitution or addition of sound/florish is hinted at in abaya and hernandez’s list but not mentioned in matias’ list. however, this paper was able to detect the said process in both the randomly collected filipino gay words and uv express codes. the process involves the whimsical alteration of words through substituting some syllables or attaching flourishes. hence, in the case of the filipino gay word “junakis” (son/daughter), the first syllable of “anak” is substituted with “ju” and a “is” is added as a florish at the end of the word. an example of uv express codes that was created through this same process is “pampam” (philippine coconut authority), where nato’s phonetic alphabet abbreviated acronym “papa” is given a florish “m” at the end of each syllable. use of anagram the process of using an anagram is not mentioned in both abaya and hernandez, and matias’ list, but this paper was able to detect it in the randomly collected filipino gay words, but not in the randomly collected uv express codes. anagrams are made by jumbling the letters of given words. thus, “domat” is a jumbled word of “tamod” (semen), and “astig” is a jumbled word of “tigas” (hard/stiff). the use of anagram, however, is a process that closely resembles metathesis that was listed by abaya and hernandez. use of foreign word the process of using a foreign word is mentioned by abaya and hernandez, but not by matias. this paper was able to detect the process in both the randomly llt journal, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 62 selected filipino gay words and uv express codes. if in the process of filipinized reading the english names of landmarks and establishments are distinctively translated into filipino, the process of using a foreign word articulates a concept with a foreign word that is usually english (paz, 2003). the expectation is that these filipino speaking gay individuals and uv express drivers should have articulated their concepts in filipino instead of english or some other languages. an example of a filipino gay word that was created with the process of using a foreign language is “chabelita,” for “chubby,” where the english word “chubby” is used as a base for another transformation, instead of the filipino “mataba” or “malusog.” an example of uv express codes that was created with the same process is “blue boys,” for “traffic enforcers,” where the english words “blue” and “boys” are used instead of the filipino “asul” and “lalaki.” use of old word or name the process of using an old word or name is not mentioned in both abaya and hernandez, and matias’ lists, but this paper detected the said process in both the randomly collected filipino gay words and uv express codes. the archaic nature of the words and names makes them not easily comprehensible by the average bystanders. an example of a filipino gay word that was created by this process is “keber,” for “i do not care,” which is a filipinized rendition of the spanish phrase “nada que ver” at a time when less and less filipinos have knowledge of the spanish language. an example of uv express codes that was created by this same process is “lima,” nato’s phonetic alphabet abbreviation for “lawton plaza,” where lawton plaza is the old name of liwasang bonifacio. use of other philippine language the process of using other philippine languages was mentioned by abaya and hernandez but not by matias. indeed, this paper detected the process in the randomly collected filipino gay words, and not in the randomly collected uv express codes. the process involves borrowing words from the other philippine language, usually cebuano (pascual, 2016). thus, “baler,” for house, is based on the cebuano word “balay.” use of philippine slang the process of using philippine slang was not mentioned in both abaya and hernandez, and matias’ lists, but this paper detected the process in both the randomly collected filipino gay words and uv express codes. the use of slang introduces many new words into the language by recombining old words into new meanings (hai liaw, dani & johari, 2013). examples of filipino gay words that are older philippine slang are “esmi” for mrs and “chibog” for eating. the lone case of uv express code that is also an older philippine slang is “chopchopan,” for banawe street, where second-hand car spare parts are sold. use of radio 10 code the process of using apco’s radio 10 code is not mentioned by abaya and hernandez but mentioned by matias (matias, 2017). several terms of uv express llt journal, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 63 code are made up of apco’s radio 10 code which is the standard in radio communication (unlay, 2018). indeed, this paper detected the process in the randomly collected uv express codes and not in the randomly collected filipino gay words. this is expected because uv express codes were indeed originally used through the handheld radio, while filipino gay words are primarily used in face to face communication or through telephone. some more examples of uv express codes from this paper’s own randomly collected samples that were created using apco’s radio 10 codes are “16 ni gloria,” or “the problem of the former president gloria macapagal arroyo,” as referring to the veterans memorial medical center, where the said former president had been under hospital arrest for some years. table 2 sums up the reverse engineering undertaken by this section on the 100 randomly selected filipino gay language words and on the 100 randomly selected uv express codes, by showing the frequencies, percentages, and ranks of each of the 19 identified processes for both sample sets (see appendices a and b for the detailed basis of table 2). the total numbers of 177 and 158 imply that a number of both the filipino gay words and uv express codes took more than one process to create. table 2. frequencies of the 19 identified processes involved in the creation of filipino gay words and uv express codes processes involved in the creation words/codes filipino gay words uv express codes frequency % rank frequency % rank abbreviation or use of acronym 13 7.34% 6.50 47 29.75% 1.00 association with a characteristic of a person 8 4.52% 9.00 2 1.27% 13.00 association with a characteristic of an object/thing/event 16 9.04% 5.00 18 11.39% 2.00 creation of portmanteau 10 5.65% 8.00 2 1.27% 13.00 filipinized reading 0 0.00% 17.50 17 10.76% 3.50 highlighting of a specific characteristic 0 0.00% 17.50 17 10.76% 3.50 misappropriation of affix 3 1.69% 14.00 0 0.00% 17.50 repetition of words 0 0.00% 17.50 3 1.90% 10.50 rhyming with a foreign word (other than english) 3 1.69% 14.00 0 0.00% 17.50 rhyming with a person's name 18 10.17% 4.00 8 5.06% 8.00 rhyming with an object/thing/event 19 10.73% 3.00 11 6.96% 6.00 set-member substitution 3 1.69% 14.00 5 3.16% 9.00 substitution or addition of sound/florish 21 11.86% 2.00 3 1.90% 10.50 use of anagram 4 2.26% 11.50 0 0.00% 17.50 use of foreign word 36 20.34% 1.00 12 7.59% 5.00 use of old word or name 4 2.26% 11.50 2 1.27% 13.00 use of other philippine language 6 3.39% 10.00 0 0.00% 17.50 use of philippine slang 13 7.34% 6.50 1 0.63% 15.00 use of radio 10 code 0 0.00% 17.50 10 6.33% 7.00 total 177 100.00% 158 100.00% comparison and contrast of the processes involved in creating these words and codes this fourth and penultimate section shall address the third to the sixth subproblems of this paper. shared processes, and processes that are distinct to filipino gay words, and uv express codes llt journal, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 64 figure 4. venn diagram for the processes involved in the creation of filipino gay words and uv express codes based on figure 4, there are 11 processes that are shared in the creation of both the filipino gay words and the uv express codes. based on the same figure, there are four processes that are only involved in the creation of filipino gay words. based on the same figure, there are also four processes that are only involved in the creation of uv express codes. the venn diagram implies that 73.33% of the processes involved in creating filipino gay words overlap with 73.33% also of the processes involved in creating uv express codes. levels of complexities in creating filipino gay words, and uv express codes the last sub-problem of this paper, which aims to determine which is more complex to create among the two sets of linguistic phenomena, was answered in two ways. the first of which is by comparing the average number of processes involved in the creation of a filipino gay word and a uv express code. table 2 shows that there are 177 processes needed to create the 100 randomly collected filipino gay words. such gives us the average of 1.77 processes per filipino gay word. the same table shows that there are 158 processes needed to create the 100 randomly collected uv express codes. such gives us the average of 1.58 processes per uv express code. by comparing the two averages, this paper determined that the average gay word is more complex to create than the average uv express code, with a difference of 0.19 process. table 3 supports this finding by pointing out that almost half (48%) of the uv express codes are created with just a single process, and almost another half (48%) again of the same set of the linguistic phenomenon are created with just two processes. table 3. frequencies of the number of processes needed to create filipino gay words and uv express codes number of processes involved in producing a word/code filipino gay words uv express codes frequency % frequency % 1 process 41 41.00% 48 48.00% 2 processes 44 44.00% 48 44.00% 3 processes 13 13.00% 2 2.00% processes in creating filipino gay words processes in creating uv express codes 1. misappropriation of affix 2. rhyming with a foreign word 3. use of anagram 4. use of other philippine language 1. filipinized reading 2. highlighting of a specific characteristic 3. repetition of words 4. use of radio 10 code 1. abbreviation or use of acronym 2. association with a characteristic of a person 3. association with a characteristic of an object/thing/event 4. creation of portmanteau 5. rhyming with a person's name 6. rhyming with an object/thing/event 7. set-member substitution 8. substitution or addition of sound/florish 9. use of foreign word 10. use of old word or name 11. use of philippine slang llt journal, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 65 4 processes 1 1.00% 2 2.00% 5 processes 1 1.00% 0 0.00% total number of processes involved 100 100.00% 100 100.00% the second way of addressing the last sub-problem is by comparing the uniformity indices of the 19 processes as involved in the creation of filipino gay words and the creation of uv express codes. following daniel katz and kenneth braly, a uniformity index is computed starting with the frequencies of the processes, arranged from the most to the least frequent, and by determining how many processes are needed to account for half of the total number of processes involved in the creation of each set of 100 words (katz & braly, 1933). hence, table 4 presents the calculation of the uniformity index of the processes involved in the creation of the 100 randomly collected filipino gay words. table 4 states that it will take 3.94 of the most frequent processes to explain half of the total number of 177 processes that are needed to create the said set of filipino gay words. table 4. computation of the uniformity index of the processes involved in the creation of the 100 randomly collected filipino gay words process frequency cumulative number of processes use of foreign word 36 36 substitution or addition of sound/florish 21 57 rhyming with an object/thing/event 19 76 rhyming with a person's name 18 94 association with a characteristic of an object/thing/event 16 110 abbreviation or use of acronym 13 123 use of philippine slang 13 136 creation of portmanteau 10 146 association with a characteristic of a person 8 154 use of other philippine language 6 160 use of anagram 4 164 use of old word or name 4 168 misappropriation of affix 3 171 rhyming with a foreign word (other than english) 3 174 set-member substitution 3 177 filipinized reading 0 177 highlighting of a specific characteristic 0 177 repetition of words 0 177 use of radio 10 code 0 177 total number of processes needed to create the sample of 100 filipino gay words 177 half of the total number of processes needed 88.5 uniformity index 3.69 llt journal, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 66 on the other hand, table 5 presents the calculation of the uniformity index of the processes involved in the creation of the 100 randomly collected uv express codes. table 5 states that it will take 2.82 of the most frequent processes to explain half of the total number of 158 processes that are needed to create the said set of uv express codes. table 5. computation of the uniformity index of the processes involved in the creation of the 100 randomly collected uv express codes process frequency cumulative number of processes abbreviation or use of acronym 47 47 association with a characteristic of an object/thing/event 18 65 filipinized reading 17 82 highlighting of a specific characteristic 17 99 use of foreign word 12 111 rhyming with an object/thing/event 11 122 use of radio 10 code 10 132 rhyming with a person's name 8 140 set-member substitution 5 145 repetition of words 3 148 substitution or addition of sound/florish 3 151 association with a characteristic of a person 2 153 creation of portmanteau 2 155 use of old word or name 2 157 use of philippine slang 1 158 misappropriation of affix 0 158 rhyming with a foreign word (other than english) 0 158 use of anagram 0 158 use of other philippine language 0 158 total number of processes needed to create the sample of 100 filipino gay words 158 half of the total number of processes needed 79 uniformity index 2.82 based on the uniformity index of 3.69 of the processes involved in creating the sample filipino gay words and the uniformity index of 2.82 of the processes involved in creating the sample uv express codes, this paper established that it will take more variety of processes to create the filipino gay words than to create the uv express codes. therefore, based on the two ways used by this paper to establish which of the two linguistic sets is more complex to create, it was ascertained that the filipino gay words will not only take more processes but also more varied processes to create compared to what the uv express codes will take. conclusion this paper demonstrated that 1) the themes of the filipino gay words and uv express codes are very different from each other; 2) there are 15 specific processes involved in the creation of filipino gay words, and also 15 specific llt journal, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 67 processes involved in the creation of uv express codes; 3) there are 11 specific processes that are shared in the creation of filipino gay words and uv express codes, making an overlap of 73.33% to 73.33%; 4) the processes that are involved only in the creation of filipino gay words are misappropriation of affix, rhyming with a foreign word, use of anagram, and use of other philippine languages; 5) the processes that are involved only in the creation of uv express codes are filipinized reading, highlighting of a specific characteristic, repetition of words, and use of radio 10 code; and 6) the filipino gay words are the more complex to create than the uv express codes, as the former requires not only more processes but also more varied processes. the exuberant and feisty filipino gay language on one hand and the macho and militaristic uv express codes on the other hand are actually created with widely overlapping processes. what made them different from each other are their themes, their small number of processes that are unique to each of them, and their levels of generative complexity. through the forays of reconstructive contextualization and reverse engineering of filipino gay language and uv express codes, it is deemed 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(2014). visualizing mobility of public transportation system. ieee transactions on visualization and computer graphics, 20(12), 1833-1842. retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/ 265337755_visualizing_mobility_of_public_transportation_system doi: 10.1109/tvcg.2014.2346893 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 144 efl instructors’ beliefs about the implementation of smartboard in language teaching practices aji budi rinekso and okta lesagia universitas pendidikan indonesia and universitas negeri yogyakarta, indonesia ajibudirinekso@upi.edu; oktalesagia.2019@student.uny.ac.id correspondence: ajibudirinekso@upi.edu doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2020.230111 received 24 february 2020; accepted 02 april 2020 abstract recently, the use of ict in today’s english language teaching is quite massive. however, efl instructors’ beliefs about the use of smart boards in language teaching practices are scarcely explored. this study aimed to investigate efl instructors’ beliefs about the implementation of the smart board as ict-based learning media. three efl instructors across english learning centers were voluntarily involved in this study. observation and semi-structured interviews were employed as the data collection technique. the data were described and interpreted based on the research questions. the results of this study showed that efl instructors had positive responses towards the implementation of the smartboard. they stated that the smartboard made the explanation clearer and it was not difficult to be operated. besides, students enjoyed using the smartboard during the lesson. finally, the efl instructors agreed that the smartboard could be implemented in classrooms with high control or supervision by the teachers. keywords: ict based learning media, smart board, and efl instructors’ beliefs introduction english learning media have developed quickly during the late 20th century. it begins with the notion of media that can assist the process of transferring knowledge and information. with the spirit of supporting the effectiveness of transferring knowledge, many experts propose various types of learning media. in the past, english teachers used traditional media, such as textbooks, blackboards, newspapers, brochures, ohp, etc. nowadays, english teachers use more developed learning media, such as the internet, computer, social media, e-learning, e-books, etc. new media which are very popular in the 21st century are basically in digital formats. it happens because the education system has followed the rapid development of information, communication, and technology (ict). the incorporation of information technology into language classrooms boosts autonomous learning, maximizes targeted outcomes, motivates learners and helps mailto:ajibudirinekso@upi.edu llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 145 learners to improve their performance in the efl classrooms (ardi, 2017; azmi; 2017). besides, the education system is also affected by the development of the industrial revolution. according to nielsen (2014), there are four phases of the industrial revolution, namely (1) mechanical production by water and steam power (late 18th century), (2) mass production and electrical energy (early 20th century), (3) computer, electronics, and automation (the early 1970s), and (4) cyber-physical system (now). education comes up with the development of industrial revolution phases and today’s learning media follows the industrial revolution 4.0 which emphasizes the use of internet and information technology. the rapid development of information and communication technology brings a new experience in education. ict provides learning media that can match to the recent world changes. galloway (2007) differentiates between information technology (it) and information & communication technology (ict). the former refers to the tools and skills for a job while the latter refers to what people do with them. computers, cables, internet, wireless connections, handled devices, digital cameras, and even mobile phones belong to it. then, word-processing, emailing, video-conferencing, and searching on the internet refer to ict. in line with the previous ideas about ict, rank et.al (2011) stated that ict which stands for information and communication technology has been adopted in schools and colleges in place of it to wider the use of technology, not merely only for processing information but also for education matter. moreover, chan et.al (2011) mentioned that computer-based presentational media which allow users to navigate and to select contents are grouped as interactive media. thus, ict based learning media can also be assumed to be interactive media. ict is perceived as an important tool in improving performance, collaboration, learning experience, and learning outcomes (albugami & ahmed, 2015). essentially, learning media are used to help teachers deliver learning materials to students easily. a medium (plural, media) is a means of communication and a source of information. it is derived from the latin word meaning “between” and this refers to anything that carries information between a course and a receiver. examples of learning media include video, televisions, diagrams, printed materials, computer programs, and instructors (heinich 2002). therefore, in english language learning, media are expected to reduce the gap between students’ understanding and learning materials given by teachers. many teaching media can be used by teachers. when using learning media, the teacher needs to choose the most appropriate media by considering the context of the learning materials. harmer (2007) argued that some teaching aids can be used by english language teachers. they are pictures or images, overhead projector (ohp), board, bit & pieces, language laboratory, computer, and homegrown materials production. those media will help teachers delivering knowledge to the students effectively. according to howell (2012), digital pedagogy is how to teach using digital technologies. it means that teachers utilize technology for helping them carrying llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 146 out the materials to students. furthermore, in the 21st century, using ict for english learning media is more and more popular. schools, colleges, universities, and english language centers have revitalization on their learning media. they change from the traditional ones to modern learning media. galloway (2007) mentioned the kind of activities pupils might do in ict lessons. those are (1) creating and revising text, (2) creating and revising graphics, (3) combining text and graphics, (4) collecting and analyzing data, (4) performing calculations, (5) modeling situations and answering “what if” question, and (6) controlling real and virtual machines. the function of ict based learning media is still the same as traditional learning media. yet, ict based learning media can adjust to the development of technology. hismanoglu (2012) stated that ict presents a powerful learning environment for learners in the classroom. ict plays a role in renewing educational practices effectively. however, not every region has high attention in the development of the education system. mcgrath & hu (2012) stated that the insufficiency of financial investment in education makes the progress of implementing ict learning media slower. thus, it makes the learning process leftbehind and developed lately. in line with the idea, it is highly suggested that education stakeholders should give more attention to their education system, especially for the ict learning media facilities. although ict based learning media has helped teachers to deliver materials, teachers need to provide instruction that adheres the effective learning naturally or based on contextual learning (murray, 2008). smartboard is one kind of ict based learning media. some people also call the smart board as an interactive whiteboard or digital board. its form is like any other conventional whiteboard, but it is designed electronically. smartboards can also be categorized as multimedia because of their various functions. according to herman (2017), the word multimedia is derived from multi and media. multi means many or various while media mean tools for delivering information or messages through texts, pictures, sounds, and video. another expert said that multimedia instruction refers to learning activities providing words and pictures rather than words alone (mayer, 2009). browsing files on your computer, annotating powerpoint/word documents, handwriting recognition, dragging and dropping images are some functions of the smartboard. smartboard comes up with technology that serves good accessibility in displaying learning materials. a smartboard or interactive whiteboard can accommodate all teaching styles and can be used to support wholeclass, small-group and personalized teaching (betcher & lee, 2009). some studies reveal that the smartboard is innovative and powerful enough to support language acquisition in foreign language teaching practices (jelyani et.al, 2014). supporting the interaction-conversation in the classroom, contributing to the presentation of new cultural-linguistic elements, and promoting the oral skills are the examples of the way how smart board contributes to the language teaching (al-saleem, 2013). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 147 moreover, manny-ikan et. al (2011) found that smartboard can support students to develop their thinking and learning skills which are appropriate for the 21st century such as information skills (literacy), critical thinking, creativity, communicationcooperation skills, skills to use technological tools and autonomous learning. conversely, moss et. al. (2007) claimed that there was no impact of using smartboard for classroom teaching covering three subjects, namely english, math, and science, over 30 schools in london. thus, the positive impact of the smartboard on the classroom depends much on the way the teachers use it. it will enhance the teaching and learning process when the smart board is implemented wisely and vice versa (betcher & lee, 2009). on the other hand, dealing with teaching practices in english learning centers, efl instructors may have some conceptions about the situation of language learning in which the smart board is applied there. therefore then, their beliefs will reflect on the deep opinions about the use of the smartboard for teaching english. according to pehkonen & pietila (2003), a belief is a kind of knowledge that is subjective and experience-based. then, raymond (1997) defines the term belief as a personal judgment that is formed experiences. in line with those definitions, gilakjani (2012) proposes that a belief is any premise that starts with the idea of “i believe that”. regarding some definitions of belief from some experts aforementioned, it can be concluded that belief is something important in a person’s life used to guide him/her to do every single activity. moreover, beliefs are formed from the real experiences that happen in a person’s life. further, teachers’ beliefs are beliefs that owned and trusted by teachers or instructors. according to clark & peterson (1986), teachers’ beliefs show a large number of knowledge and teachers understand their world by shaping a complicated system of personal and professional knowledge. beliefs involve both subjective and objective aspects and act as the background to teachers’ classroom actions (richards & lockhart, 1994). therefore, the way the teachers teach in the class is based on their teaching and educational experiences in the past. the purpose of this study, therefore, is to investigate efl instructors’ beliefs about the implementation of smartboard for english language teaching practices. the result of this study is expected to give a contribution to any english learning centers, schools, colleges, universities in terms of the consideration for using the smart board as one of their learning media. two research questions addressed in this study, namely: 1. what are the efl instructors’ beliefs about using the smartboard for the teaching and learning process? 2. what are the efl instructors’ beliefs about students’ responses in learning english by using the smartboard? llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 148 method since this study aimed to explore the efl instructors’ beliefs about using the smartboard for teaching english, the qualitative research design was chosen to be employed as the procedure in conducting this study. this involved three efl instructors from several english learning centers from three provinces, namely special region of yogyakarta, central java, and east java. the participants were selected by their willingness and their experience in using the smart board for teaching english. the data were collected through observation and interview. the format of the interview was semi-structured with open-ended questions, as the researchers wanted to get a wealth of valuable data. furthermore, the interview was conducted one-on-one, recorded and transcribed verbatim to facilitate subsequent data analysis. in terms of the instrument, the researchers used an observation checklist and interview guidelines. to ensure the validity of the interview protocol, the researcher used ipr (interview protocol refinement) framework proposed by jones, torres & arminio in montoya (2016). the ipr framework covers four phases, namely (1) ensuring interview questions align with research questions, (2) constructing an inquiry-based conversation, (3) receiving feedback on interview protocols, and (4) piloting the interview protocol. findings and discussion based on the classroom observations and interviews on three efl instructors, the researchers gained some information related to their beliefs about the implementation of smartboard for teaching english. in general, most of the efl instructors had a positive response towards the application of the smartboard. however, they suggested to not only rely on technology (smartboard) but also rely on real and interactive activities for engaging their students. the followings are the results of the data based on the research questions aforementioned. efl instructors’ beliefs about using the smartboard for the teaching and learning process since the smart board is new to be used in the english learning centers, most of the efl instructors already used it for around 2 months until one year. the observation results showed that most of the efl instructors were already skillful in operating the smartboard. it seemed that they did not have any problems in operating it. in this case, they already did something good dealing with the smart board since teachers’ lack of knowledge on operating the smartboard becomes one of the challenges in promoting smart boards for classroom teaching media (momani et. al, 2016). it happened because they got some training when the smart board was firstly installed in the classrooms. in terms of the first impression of using the smartboard, most of the efl instructors were excited. they said: my feeling was very excited because that was my first time to use that kind of ict. but at the same time, i also confused. there was no training for me to use llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 149 that media. i just tried to touch everything to explore how to use this smartboard by myself. in short, my feeling was excited to use this media. interviewee 1 well, actually i’m really impressed to use smartboard because it’s sophisticated media. and i have never used that media before i taught english in this institution. interviewee 2 i was very excited about using that media for the first time. it helped me a lot. it made every step of teaching was easier. interviewee 3 it seems that most of the efl instructors were good at operating the smartboard. however, they found difficulties for the first time when they were using it. they said: i didn’t operate it well. but now it can be said that i’m at the intermediate level in the operating smartboard. interviewee 1 yes, i can operate it well now. but first, i’m still a bit confused to use this media. interviewee 2 well, i can operate it well now. but you know, at first, i’m still a bit nervous about using it because it has so many features. interviewee 3 moreover, the problems that they found in using the smartboard were various. however, all of them were related to technical problems, such as bad internet connection, bad computer performance, and unfamiliarity with the media. teachers’ inability to fix technical problems and lack of preparation made before the class also became the problems that may discourage teachers to use smartboards (korkmaz & cakil, 2013). the instructors admitted: ya. using a smartboard is not difficult, we just need to have more practice to use that media. but i get a problem dealing with how to connect the smart board to the laptop. in addition, the laptop provided in my office is macbook. i’m not familiar with this laptop, so it’s rather difficult to operate that smartboard. later, i tried to practice using the smartboard before the students come to the classroom. then, now i can operate it. interviewee 1 actually, i don’t find big problems using this media. i only get a problem at the first time when i started to use this media. ya, you know. most of the new english instructors here are not familiar with the smartboard for the first time. interviewee 2 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 150 i ever got some problems with using it. sometimes, there was a bad internet connection so i could not find any learning materials and show them to my students. besides, sometimes the laptop provided in my office did not work well. there were some errors in computer systems. interviewee 3 the result of the observation also showed that the teaching and learning process looked more efficient since the instructors could write texts, shows pictures/ videos, remove some words, modifying pictures easily. when using a smart board, teachers are easy to navigate the presentation of the material. they may focus more on monitoring their students and talking to them. this enhances the conversation activities (al-saleem, 2013). moreover, the students’ vocabulary mastery is reinforced since the teachers can be easily underlining, highlighting or citing texts (jelyani et. al, 2014). in short, it can be said that the smartboard helps them to maximize the delivery of the materials. the instructors said: yes, i believe that. even if all english instructors can use the smartboard, it will give a good impact on the teaching and learning process. because we can give a clearer explanation using a smartboard. for example, when we want to describe something, we can just take some clear and best pictures from the website, crop it, modify it, and explain it to the students. it makes the explanation clearer, it can increase students’ motivation, and it’s really practical. it’s easy to use, we can erase the writing easily and our hand will not be dirty because we don’t use board marker. of course, it’s sophisticated media. but everything will always have disadvantages. you know, when we deal with technology, sometimes there will be technical problems and it takes a long time to fix it. i mean it is wasting our time. then, if the instructor is not familiar with the smartboard yet. thus, it may distract the students, when the instructor cannot operate the smartboard. interviewee 1 ya, i think so. because this media can help the instructors to describe/ explain materials clearer to the students. besides, students also enjoy using this media. they may write texts freely using various colors of pen and drag any kind of pictures from the website then describe it. this media is like a conventional whiteboard or blackboard but the smartboard can have more interactive functions. for example, we can use it as an lcd projector, write/draw everything freely, crop/drag pictures, coloring/modifying pictures, adding some text, removing the text easily and it doesn’t make our hand dirty like when we use conventional board marker or chalks. however, when we deal with technology, it is always possible to have a technical problem like when the smartboard doesn’t work properly. it takes time to repair that media. and instructors need to use any other media to run the lesson. interviewee 2 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 151 ya, i agree that the smartboard gives a good impact on the teaching and learning process because it provides some features that make us easy in delivering learning materials. i and my students can write texts freely with various colors and can erase them easily. we can also present pictures, videos, edit or modify them based on what we want. this is interesting. with technology, we feel enthusiastic to engage with the teaching and learning process. in terms of disadvantages, i found some technical problems such as bad internet connection and the smart board screen is not responsive enough. but it is normal because it can be repaired soon. interviewee 3 efl instructors’ beliefs about students’ responses in learning english by using the smartboard during the observation, students showed some responses to the learning process which utilized the smartboard. the students were motivated and engaged with the lesson although they were not amazed by the smartboard. in line with this, some findings of previous research proved that smart boards can increase student engagement (allen 2010; beel, 1998). it happened because some of them already knew the smartboard. they admitted: the students are engaged with the class. they pay attention to me and look comfortable with the use of the smartboard. some of my students are impressed with that because they that it’s sophisticated media and then they are motivated to learn. meanwhile, other students are already familiar with the smartboard. interviewee 1 ya, the students follow my class and pay attention to my explanation. for new students they may feel surprised with the smart board but for older students, i mean students who have been learning here for a long time, they just feel that it’s common learning media. not surprised anymore. like what i’ve explained before, only new students are surprised with a smartboard. but actually, all students pay attention to my lesson and enjoy using the smartboard. interviewee 2 well, i can say that most of my students are engaged with the lesson when i am using a smartboard. talking about their impressions, i think only some of my students are surprised by the smartboard because they never use it before. but some other students who have been studying here for a longer time, let say almost one year, are not surprised. it is because they are already familiar with it. interviewee 3 lastly, based on the result of the interview, most of the efl instructors thought positively about the massive implementation of smartboards for schools. they believe that it will give a good impact just like what happens in their english learning centers. they said: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 152 yes. it can be. but for big classrooms like in schools, it may be risky. the students get open access to the classrooms every time and they may use/play the smartboard appropriately. i think it can be applied for small classrooms like in the english course/learning center because the students only use that smartboard when there are a class and a teacher. maybe, the smartboard can be used in controlled classrooms like in the computer laboratory. interviewee 1 i think so. schools may implement the smartboard to their classrooms like our classrooms here. but remember, it should be in good control because the smart board is expensive enough. students at schools may use this media inappropriately when there is no teacher supervision. interviewee 2 i think it is good to use smartboard in schools. it can be an alternative way to increase students’ curiosity and motivation to learn english. i believe that technology will always help the teaching process as long as we can use it appropriately. interviewee 3 furthermore, the results of the observation and interviews are summarized in table 1. table 1. the summary of interviewee’s responses aspect of beliefs interviewee 1 interviewee 2 interviewee 3 the experiences in using the smartboard a smartboard is easy to use. we just need to have training or more practices so we will familiar with it. impressed to use the smartboard for the first time. feel confused at first, but later it is easy to use. it is exciting to use this media for the first time. it helps me a lot in delivering learning materials. the impact of smartboard on the teaching and learning process it gives a good impact on the teaching and learning process. it helps the english instructors to give a clearer explanation. it helps the english instructors to deliver materials easily. it makes our explanation clearer. it makes my students more engaged with the lesson. besides, the features provided by the smartboard makes my teaching process more effective and efficient. students’ responses new students are impressed while older students are already familiar with a smartboard. new students are surprised and older students feel common with the smartboard. only new students who are impressed with the smartboard. however, in general, they respond it positively. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 153 the massive application of smartboard a smartboard may be applied for small and controlled classrooms. a smartboard can be applied in schools. but it’s needed highly supervision to operate the smartboard since it is expensive media. smartboards can be innovative in providing better learning facilities in schools. based on table 1, it can be concluded that the efl instructors gave positive responses to the implementation of the smartboard. they agreed that the smartboard could make the teaching and learning process more effective. this finding was also supported by other research that investigated the implementation of a smartboard or interactive whiteboard for teaching english. the research results showed that teachers and students had overall positive perceptions of interactive whiteboards (corbo, 2014; oz, 2014). they felt comfortable and believed that it was a very innovative and powerful support for language acquisition. the school culture also embraced technology integration for the success of the teaching and learning process. another researcher, martin (2015) mentioned that teaching vocabulary using interactive whiteboards was effective enough. the ability of interactive whiteboard in demonstrating interesting and various texts or pictures encouraged students’ motivation to learn vocabulary. using new technological learning media needed effort because teachers were necessary to be common with its new features. thus, turel & johnson (2012) stated the result of his research that training for teachers in using interactive whiteboards needed to be improved. good teachers who are experts in using interactive whiteboards will make the learning process more effective. conclusion this study aimed to reveal efl instructors’ beliefs about the implementation of smartboard as the ict based learning media at several english learning centers. according to the research findings and discussion, it can be concluded that generally, efl instructors have positive responses towards the implementation of the smartboard. some literature studies also assert that commonly teachers have positive attitudes towards the smartboard (kennewell & morgan, 2003). they stated that the smartboard made the explanation clearer and it was not difficult to be operated. they just needed to have training or practices to use that media. besides, students enjoyed using the smartboard during the lesson and some of the new students were impressed with a smartboard. finally, the instructors agreed that the smartboard could be applied to other classrooms with high control or supervision by the teachers there. in terms of pedagogical implications, the findings indicate that the smartboard was beneficial for both students and teachers. smartboards can enhance students’ motivation and engagement during the learning process since they experience an interactive classroom environment. thus, smart boards can encourage participation, interaction and the improvement of student learning (jelyani et. al, 2014). meanwhile, smart boards allow efl instructors to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 154 have better accessibility and flexibility in presenting materials to their students. in this case, smart boards facilitate the instructors to integrate multimedia resources such as written texts, video clips, soundtracks, and diagrams into their class (levy, 2002). references albugami, s. & vian, a. 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(2011). teaching english using ict. new york: continuum raymond, a. m. (1997). inconsistency between a beginning elementary school teacher’s mathematics beliefs and teaching practice. journal for research in mathematics education, 28(5), 550-576. https://doi.org/10.2307/749691 richards, j. c., & lockhart, c. (1994). reflective teaching in second language classrooms. cambridge: cambridge university press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511667169 surjono, d. h. (2017). multimedia pembelajaran interaktif: konsep dan pengembangan. yogyakarta: uny press. https://doi.org/10.5172/ijpl.4.5.20 https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ej1034243 https://doi.org/10.5296/jse.v2i2.1174 https://doi.org/10.2307/749691 https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511667169 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 209-230 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 209 students’ perception of tableau in efl classroom aulia agustin and susilowaty sampoerna university, indonesia susilowaty@sampoernauniversity.ac.id and susiamirudin@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2019.220207 received 13 august 2019; revised 9 september 2019; accepted 17 september 2019 abstract this is the qualitative study that examines the students’ perception of benefits and concerns of tableau used in efl classroom. tableau actually is one of the process drama techniques which allows the students to create a living picture using their body, gesture, and facial expression. tableau is theoretically useful for students to be engaged in reading because it offers all reading strategies. however, there has been few available studies regarding to tableau, especially in efl classroom context. it was then compelling for conducting the study of how students perceive of their experience in doing tableau in their classroom. the participants were 25 students in one of the efl classroom in indonesia. these participants were engaged in doing tableau for three-time meetings. after they experienced doing tableau in their classroom, they were asked to write a reflective journal to know their perceptions in regards to the benefits and concerns of tableau. moreover, four participants were interviewed to get deeper understanding of their perceptions of tableau. the results from reflective journals and interviews revealed that the students perceived several benefits after doing tableau, such as it help them create sensory images, gain more vocabulary knowledge, deepen characters feeling, learn the text collaboratively, provided an alternative learning; and created a fun atmosphere in the classroom. however, they also perceived several concerns about tableau, such as it takes much time, some ineffective groupworks still happens, and they also reported that they found some students misinterpreted the text in tableau. keywords: tableau, process drama technique, students’ perception, efl classroom introduction reading has been the major concern for indonesian students for over a decade. recent studies reveal that reading achievement of indonesian students is very low. it was shown from the annual reports made by international association for evaluation of educational achievement (iea). iea has been conducting the progress in international reading literacy study (pirls) for every 5 years since 2001 to examine the students’ progress of reading achievement among the international participating countries. the fact is found in the study that indonesian students’ average score of reading has not even reached its center point in the study of pirls in 2006 as well as in 2011. the study revealed that among the 45 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 209-230 210 participating countries in total, indonesia was ranked at the bottom of 4 in 2006 annual report. this rank number has not moved ever since because the report in 2011 showed that we also ranked at the bottom of 4. this indicates that indonesian students have less ability to read and to understand the information contained in the reading material to other students in the other countries of the worldwide. in other words, indonesian students are still left behind because they are still at the bottom part of the whole population in the world. it is very unfortunate to discover this kind of information that indonesian students showed low reading comprehension skills, considering the fact that is stated by the law of the republic of indonesia number 20 article 4 of 2003 concerning that education is executed to bring about the culture of reading, writing, and counting for all citizens. in regards to reading, the above elaborated facts have seemed to contribute much to say that indonesian education has not been able to carry out what the law said. although recent human development report (2013) said that 92,6% out of a total 244.8 millions of population in indonesia have known how to read, but it does not stop right there. nowadays, it should be known that the most part of reading is not only know how to read but it goes beyond that boarder. reading itself is associated with the process to construct meaning from the students’ interactions with the written language text that allows them to bring their existing knowledge, and the context of reading situation (harste, 1989). kirana (2005) also mentioned in her study that the process of reading is involving the brain function, and mastering this skill is not easy to do. thus, teachers need to put some extra efforts to teach students more than just to know how to read. nowadays students need to use reading as a way to learn about the world and to prepare them for the future (tompkins, 2006). as freire (1987) also emphasizes that words express the essential of the world, understanding the words then eventually forces students to work with the world. additionally, it is generally known that reading can have great impact on students’ life, as a proverb says that reading is a window to the world. it is very important to take note that the students who have good ability to interact with the reading are those who have better chance to be successful in the social, economic, and civic life (clark & akerman, 2006). in addition to the importance of reading in the first language, reading in the second language as in english is even more important nowadays. in the case of indonesia, especially, students have already worked with english written text for over 6 years in elementary school, the other 3 years in junior high school, and the next 3 years in senior high school. there are a lot of benefits for indonesian students to learn english. one of them is because english has now become an international language that the people from all over the world use to understand each other. simultaneously, there are millions of information contains in the sources and books that global people wrote in english. these written sources and books are even more up-to-date than what students can find in indonesian written sources and books. venita’s et al. state (2010) that books written in bahasa indonesia are only found 5000 items published per year, whereas books written in english are published approximately 100.000 items every year. thus, it is essential for students, especially whose native language llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 209-230 211 is not english, to comprehend the english reading materials so that they can get broad access to more references of book in the global area with more updated information or sources from those new published books written in english. reading has been the major concern for indonesian students for over a decade. recent studies reveal that reading achievement of indonesian students is very low. it was shown from the annual reports made by international association for evaluation of educational achievement (iea). iea has been conducting the progress in international reading literacy study (pirls) for every 5 years since 2001 to examine the students’ progress of reading achievement among the international participating countries. the fact is found in the study that indonesian students’ average score of reading has not even reached its center point in the study of pirls in 2006 as well as in 2011. the study revealed that among the 45 participating countries in total, indonesia was ranked at the bottom of 4 in 2006 annual report. this rank number has not moved ever since because the report in 2011 showed that we also ranked at the bottom of 4. this indicates that indonesian students have less ability to read and to understand the information contained in the reading material to those in the other countries. in other words, indonesian students are still left behind because they are still at the bottom part of the whole population in the world. it is very unfortunate to discover this kind of information that indonesian students showed little comprehension in basic skill like reading, considering the fact of what stated by the law of the republic of indonesia number 20 article 4 of 2003 concerning that education is executed to bring about the culture of reading, writing, and counting for all citizens. especially with reading, the above elaborated facts have seemed to contribute much to say that indonesian education has failed to carry out what the law said. although recent human development report (2013) said that 92,6% out of a total 244.8 million of population in indonesia have known how to read, but it does not stop right there. nowadays, it should be known that the most part of reading is not only know how to read but it goes beyond that boarder. reading itself is associated with the process to construct meaning from the students’ interactions with the written language text that allows them to bring their existing knowledge, and the context of reading situation (harste, 1989). kirana (2005) also mentioned in her study that the process of reading is involving the brain function, and mastering this skill is not easy to do. thus, teachers need to put some extra effort to teach students more than just to know how to read. it is mainly because nowadays students need to use reading as a way to learn about the world and to prepare them for the future (tompkins, 2006). as freire (1987) also emphasize that words express the essential of the world, understanding the words then eventually forces students to work with the world. additionally, it is generally known that reading can have great impact on students’ life, as a proverb says that reading is a window to the world. it is very important to be taken note that the students who have good ability to interact with the reading are those who have better access to be succesful in the social, economic, and civic life (clark & akerman, 2006). in addition to the importance of reading in the first language, reading in the second language as in english is even more important nowadays. in the case of indonesia, especially, students have already worked with english written text for llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 209-230 212 over 6 years in elementary school, the other 3 years in junior high school, and the next 3 years in senior high school. there are a lot of benefits for indonesian students to learn english. one of them is because english has now become an international language that the people from all over the world use to understand each other. simultaneously, there are millions of information contains in the sources and books that global people wrote in english. these written sources and books are even more up-to-date than what students can find in indonesian written sources and books. it is found in venita’s et al. study (2010) that revealed books written in bahasa indonesia are only found 5000 items published per year, whereas books written in english are published approximately 100.000 items every year. thus, it is essential for students, especially whose native language is not english, to comprehend the english reading materials so that they can get broad access of the more resources of book in the global area with more updated information or sources from those new published books written in english. however, there are some challenges why teaching english to indonesian students, especially in teaching reading of english, is harder than ones can expect. it is particularly because reading, somewhat, does not meet students’ interests. recent study proved that most efl students in indonesia do not show a good reading habit and motivation towards english reading practices (iftanti, 2012). it is found in her study that partly it is because not many of them view reading english as pleasure, instead most of them see reading english as an assignment which is associated with a burden. therefore, teachers need to come up with a way to give students experiences in reading activity in an interesting way so that they are motivated to learn. likewise, dewey (1983) emphasizes that “students may lose the desire to learn because of the way in which they experience learning”. as kabilan and kamaruddin (2010) have previously mentioned that to make students interested to learn the content of the text, the teachers need to provide the experimental learning situation to the students so that they are motivated to learn. likewise, snow (2002) suggested that teachers should use various ways to put the context to create the reading experience so that the students can construct the meaning by their interaction to the text. subsequently, teachers need to give various strategies that meet students’ interest in reading so that they can grab more information to enhance their knowledge. to that matter, more researchers are now paying more attention to use the art of process drama as one of the alternative strategies and techniques to experience reading (rose et al., 2000). in correspondence to that, guerrero (2010) stated the following: process drama, unlike choral reading, questions strategies and othe direct reading instruction activities, allow students to begin with their own understanding of a text or a theme or questions related to a text, and build on a text from own experiences or the experiences of others, and work with it in real life terms, taking action to manipulate the meaning. (p. 6) moreover, drama and theater can be a tool to make the students learn a lot of things integrated. it is not only to improve speaking skill, but also to improve other skills, such as listening, writing, and reading skills. similarly, sun (2003) suggested llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 209-230 213 that drama and theater allow students to learn integrated from “developing their decoding knowledge, fluency, vocabulary, syntactic knowledge, discourse knowledge, and metacognitive knowledge to comprehension of extended texts, drama and theatre in many ways educate children as a whole” (p. 5). micolli (2003) also argued that through process drama students can increase their english proficiency level, learn more collaboratively with others, and increase their self-confidence. if they have high self-confidence to work with others, the filter to improve english language skills would decrease. furthermore, porter (1989) also emphasized that drama activities can be an effective tool for students in order to experience the use of language, to involve the context of real situation into the learning, and to improve their interpersonal skill. above all of the advantages of drama to be used in english language classroom context, the more important aspect on improving reading comprehension was examined by bell (1991). she argued that when students read such a reading material/text, they actually catch an image or visualization to what they have read in the text. from bell’s study, then, rose et al. (2000) conducted another study to see whether drama can be such a tool to support the students’ comprehension in reading. they discussed that in drama the students will be able to act out so that they can create the visualization of the text that they have read. thus, drama would be effectively used to create reading experiences for the students. regarding to those benefits on reading, there is one process drama technique that uses not only one direct instruction of reading, but also allows students to have “a space and place to interpret and talk about text” they read (guerrero, 2010), that is called tableau. this process drama technique allows students to create a scene as a response of their understanding of the text they read. in tableau, students freeze in a position to create a living picture of certain moment in the text (kelner & flynn, 2006). it is very interesting to know that tableau is a non-verbal activity, but can actually help students in the language classrooms. as afflerbach (2004) stated that tableau can be one of strategies to assess reading comprehension and to promote students’ higher-order reading comprehension such analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. kundin & meath (2009) also reported that teachers who have been using tableau in their classroom percieve that this technique impacted the students’ progress in several ways, such as “improved focus, improved ability to recognized the beginning, middle and end of a story, improved writing and vocabulary, and improved confidence” (p. 3). in their study, tableau is seen as a tool to improve students in the above mentioned progress. although teachers perceived that doing tableau give a lot of benefits for their students, but teachers also perceived that tableau concerned them in the time and scheduling (kundin & meath, 2009). they reported that time management is the challenge for using tableau in the classroom because it requires much time. however, in regards to kundin & meath’s study, they only focus to the teachers’ perception of benefits and concerns of tableau. in the real classroom, the students their selves experience the use of tableau. therefore, it is essential to see how students perceive it. this present study, then, brings the students’ perception llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 209-230 214 towards tableau to see how students perceive the benefits and concerns about it and to bring some recommendation to use it for better learning activity in efl classroom. moreover, this present study used literary text in doing tableau. it is believed that literary text provides the students with real world experiences and an authentic targeted language so that it will be useful for efl learners in learning new language (pardede, 2010). method the study was organized using a qualitative approach. the data will be gathered and examined thoroughly and compared using the existing theories. it is an interpretative study to see students’ perception towards the benefits and concerns of tableau. therefore, in this study, the data analysis will be in form of descriptive data. participants and instruments the participants of this present study were twenty-five ninth grade students majoring in social science. in indonesia high school context, there are three majors which students can choose: science, social science, and language. these participants were asked to write a reflective journal after the tableau was implemented for 3 times meeting. furthermore, four participants were asked to be interviewed to support data from their journal. those four interviewees were the participants who showed 100% participation in all 3 meeting of tableau implementation. there were 2 main tools used to gather the data collection in this study, reflective journal and interview. reflective journal was collected through students’ reflection to see the students’ perception toward the benefits and concerns of using tableau in the classroom. several questions as the guideline were adopted from guerrerro (2010): 1. what values did you find in the drama activities during the class? 2. what did you like about the drama activities during the class? 3. what did you dislike about the drama activities during the class? the other data collection was gathered through interview. the interview was transcribed using audio recording device. this was done to get deep understanding of how students’ view of tableau used in reading literary text in the classroom. the questions that were asked during the interview session were designed for a semistructured interview using several open-ended questions. research procedures the data was gathered after the tableau was implemented for three meetings. before the data collection, the participants were involved to experience reading english literary text through tableau. the class was taught by a pre-service english teacher during her two-month teaching practicum. the home-room teacher let the pre-service teacher implement tableau as she’s more knowledgeable about this technique. the pre-service teacher also became a teacher researcher. this experience of tableau will be the stimuli to their own perception (rookes & willson, 2000). the teacher entered the class to give students experiences of doing tableau for 3 times meeting. the time allocation for each meeting was 90 minutes. in the last meeting, the teacher asked the students to write reflective journals. students llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 209-230 215 were given approximately 15 minutes to write and complete the reflective journals after the session ended. several students who did not attend the class in this last meeting were asked to submit their reflective journals at the end of the school hour. at this point, there were 25 reflective journals collected from all the participants. however, for the sake of the reliability of the data analysis, only 14 reflective journals were analyzed. the next day, 4 students were picked to do the individual interview. the interviews were done on the following day because the students were not available after the last sessions. after all the instruments had been gathered, analyzing the data collections were then prior to be accomplished. findings and discussion students’ perception of tableau 1. students’ perceived benefits of tableau a. tableau helps creating sensory images from the students’ reflective journals and the interview, it was found that most of the students in the classroom perceive that they understand the literary text better by doing tableau. it was reported that by creating tableau they can visualize and imagine the situation from the text. one of the students, even, said that he can “see the plot of the drama” from the performances of tableau. the evidence of this phenomenon can be seen in the following excerpts in reflective journal p6 : tableau can help us to understanding more because from the performance, we can directly see the plot of the drama (r6) p9 : i get the story from my friends gesture ... (r9) p13 : while reading, we should imagine the situation is by doing the performance. (r13) p15 : in the group, when we get our part we try to imagine the situation in my group so we can know what to do while performing (r15) p20 : understanding by imagine, try to read with imagination (r20) p21 : i really understand the text by using some performance (r21) p10 : i like it because it’s really helpful for me to understand the text more because it’s describe visually about the situation in the text (r35) in the excerpts shown above from the reflective jornal, the students viewed tableau as beneficial for them because they perceived that they can get more understanding by acting out in tableau. as kelner & flynn (2006) emphasized that creating a tableau involves students in all reading comprehension strategies. one of the reading comprehension strategies mentioned is by developing the sensory images stored in their mind. by creating sensory images, they can make the pictures in their mind and acted out the picture in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 209-230 216 their mind through their body, facial expression, and gesture (kelner & flynn, 2006). thus they could comprehend the text better by this reading strategy that is exposed in tableau. to get deeper understanding about this phenomenon, the investigation was sharpened through the interview. starting out, p14’s opinion about the use of tableau in the classroom. here is what p14 thought about tableau. p14 :bagus bu. dengan tekhnik ini, kita bisa lebih fokus dalam memahami teks tersebut kita bisa lebih faham, baik dg hanya menonton teman-teman yang sedang perform or kita sendiri yg perform. teknik ini mengharuskan kita untuk tetap fokus walaupun lagi santai (i3) good, ms. with this technique. we can be more focused in understanding the text through either watching our friends or performing it ourselves. this technique forces us to be more focused even though we’re just relaxing. in excerpt i3, p14 perceived that tableau as a useful technique to understand more about the text she read by watching the other’s performance as well as her acting out. moreover, p23 also indicated the similar response as what p14 said. his response was: p23 :waw great ibu, itu bagus metode yg sangat bagus untuk mempermudah anak-anak untuk mengerti bacaan. ...... masalahnya mayoritas orang indonesia ni visual bu. jadi kalo pake metode itu lebih efektif. (i4) wow great ms. that is a good method, a really good method to understand the text easier…. most of indonesian people are visual learner, ms. so this method is more effective. in his opinion, he thought that this method of teaching is “great” and it can benefit him to understand the text easier. he viewed tableau as an effective method in reading instruction. as to response to his eagerness in showing his opinion, i asked follow-up question to him as to challenge him whether he understand and still remember what the last literary text he read and to give response to inform of tableau in the classroom. amazingly, he remembered it clearly. he could summarize it orally using bahasa indonesia. when i asked what advantages of using tableau that made him remember the text, his reply is in the following excerpt i12: p23 : okta ingat orang yang mraktekin (mempraktekkan) bu tapi kalo disuruh nulis ulang cara benernya gak bisa bu. kalo dibikin drama gak bakal lupa sama pemainnya. sama kayak ingat sama pemain bola bu. karena ada teman saya bermain drama, jadi kalo mau inget cerita nya (i12) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 209-230 217 tinggal ingat teman saya aja bu. ingat wjahnya inget teks nya. okta remember the people who performed, ms. but if you ask me to rewrite (the story), i cannot do that, ms. if we made it in form of drama we will not forget about the actors (who played in the character).the same as remembering football players, ms. because my friend was perfroming, so if i want to recall the story i just recall my friends in my mind, ms. if i remeber the face, i will remember the text. he perceived that by doing this process drama as in tableau he can easily remember the plot of the story by keeping the image of his friends’ who played in a role and recall it easily. by performing the tableau it helps the students to visualize the text. the performance of the text can be more memorable, thus it sticks in their brain longer. as rose et al. (2000) reported in their study about imagery-based learning that “if reading instruction can be made less dependent on memory of text and focus instead on visual images described in the story, then the readers are likely to store, retain, and recall more about what they read” (p. 57). thus, doing tableau does not only make the students understand about the text but also make them remember the story longer, than when they just read the text. b. tableau benefits vocabulary learning several students perceived that by doing tableau, the students gained more vocabulary words from the literary text they read. it was seen mostly from the reflective journal written by the students: p3 : we can know and we can add new vocabs. (r3) p5 : ... vocab and easy way to understanding the text (r5) p10 : i learned about new vocabularies, ‘den’, ‘chased’, ‘cubs’, etc (r10) p14 ... also we can know and we can add new vocabs. (r14) p25 : tableau actually could make me jump from struggles of these text, because when we read the text we face some difficulties in vocab. by doing tableau it helps more (r25) one of the ways to improve literacy development is to gain more vocabulary. indonesian students are considered an efl learners and thus need more exposure to english vocabulary (chandraningrum, 2008). by introducing more and more new words to the students, it will help them to improve their english language skill. it is mainly because learning new vocabulary words is essential for learning new language. the more the students gain new words, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 209-230 218 the more they can understand what they read and hear in the language they currently learn. in here, the students view tableau as a medium to gain more vocabulary in english. one student, p23, also stated that tableau can help him in understanding the text that he felt difficult. additionally, when p23 was asked in the interview her perception about tableau as she already experienced in the class, she replied: p23 : meski terkadang banyak vocab atau kalimat yang tidak dimengerti akhirnya dapat mengerti dan ingat di kepala bertahan lama (i20) eventhough sometimes too many unknow vocabulary items i found in the text, but eventually i can understand and remember it in my memory for long-term. she affirmed that using tableau can help her gain and remember more vocabulary in her head. this was also explained by bruce (2010) from her study that using physical action like movement can force the students to develop vocabulary knowledge because the students can express the feeling and the meaning of the words they acted out. thus, finding more vocabulary words on the texts that were introduced in this tableau activity was beneficial for them, but to remember them and to actually act it out will be more beneficial to stay longer in their heads. when the students can create the atmosphere of fun to learn about the words and to play with it, they can easily learn it (bruce, 2010). there will be explained later that some students also perceived doing tableau as fun learning, and thus they were also able to recall or to remember their new vocabulary knowledge because they were engaged in the learning (bruce, 2010) c. tableau helps deepen character’s feeling in tableau activity, students got chances to become others. several students perceived that they can feel characters’ feeling they acted out in their role by doing tableau. this was shown from the following: p5 : i like about the way our character feeling in the drama (r29) p24 : it’s asked us to become others not our own self. so, it’s please us to feel what others feel (r24) working with drama, including tableau, provides students with a lot of meaning making in character roles (domat, 2012). in making frozen poses, they put their selves into the characters they play. according to domat (2012), students who put their selves into the role of the character in the text have chances to soak into the story world in the text they read. thus, they are able to feel what the character in the stroy world they entered in the text. this is in line with what the students perceived when they become the character in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 209-230 219 tableau scenes. they perceived that tableau can make them feel the character they play as a response of what they readi in literary text. this findings was supported by cramer et al. (2007), emphasized that reader experiences the characters feeling and action in the text. they were engaged mentally with the text. this was the benefit from tableau in reading literary text. appart from their understanding in the literary text, the more important thing to learn is see and feel different insight and to connect it into the real world. kamarudin & kabilan (2010) suggested that: instead of just reading or discussing a character, they now literally stepped into character’s shoes , felt and became the character based on their own interpretation and evaluation (of characters). also, instead of just trying to figure out a scene, they stepped inside and influenced the scene with their characters in the active experimentation and concrete experience phases and (re)considered its meanings and their shifting understanding during the reflective observation phase. there found the sense of this process drama in tableau where students perceive that they can develop emphaty towards the characters they played as one of the benefits. here are the examples of the students’ view as one of the benefits of tableau in the classroom: in the excerpts above shown the students’ perception of how they can feel the character’s feeling in the role they got from doing tableau. they stated that they can see things from other’s perspective as they put themselves into the characters they play. p4 explained that she can feel the character she acted out as a response from the text she read. in line with guerrero’s (2010) statement that the essential of process drama in tableau forces the students to work with other people’s experience in “real life term”. thus, they can experience of how to become others. as well as p4, p23 also felt the same way that she understands the character’s feeling. she even wondered if later in the real world she became the character she plays. this students’ perception of the benefit they get by doing tablaeu can be endorsed by shuman’s theory (1987). he stated that playing in a role in different situation of anger, love, hatred, and pity encouraged the students to become more aware to the cause that influence these situational contexts. that way, they perceived that they can have more emphaty by understanding of others’ view. this view is also endorsed by yassa’s (1999) statement that the involvement of creative drama in classroom, such as tableau, can make students learn the value of differences and be more emphatic. creating tableau, though, seemed to make the students aware of these situation, and thus it served more to be a beneficial tool to prepare the students p4 : we learn about how to feel the other feeling, if we become the people, who suffer in the text. (r4) p23 : we can act and share our feeling as a real mom (how if in the future we are becoming a mother)... (r48) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 209-230 220 to the situations where these contexts might happen in their future life. thus, this technique also served as an authentic learning experience. as hertzberg (2003) believe that process drama can enact the right situation and allows the students to respond to the issues they find in the text. tableau is also one of the process drama that allows the students to respond to the text, thus it can also be benefits for the students. d. tableau promotes collaborative learning the other benefit of tableau seen by the students is that they perceive that they are more encouraged to work collaboratively with the other students. it was reported by some students in the reflective journals that they were much involved to use their social skills in the discussion with their friends so that they can create their tableaux. the students’ perception of the benefits they get through tableau is seen when they get chances to work collaboratively in creating their tableau. it can be seen from the excerpts of the reflective journal in the following. p2 : ... the value that we can get is we will understand and trust with our friend who has different character (trust each other) (r2) p7 : i learn about to work with my friends to perform in the class and helping each other (r7) p14 : i learn about the four friends. i can learn more about value of togetherness.... (r14) p17 : i work with my friends in the drama and i get that it is a teamwork (r17) p18 : we need to read correctly and try to understand the text and if we dont get much ask our friends or teacher (r18) some students reported in the reflective journals that they learn to work with their friends in creating tableau scences. it seemed that active participation that was offered by creating tableau in the group discussion leads them to work collaborativelly in the classroom. they helped each other to understand the text, as well as generated good result of the tableau. when p6 was also asked what difficulty he had in making the tableau. the majority of the interviewees affirmed that they did not have too much difficulty to make the tableau. it was because they either helped their friends’ or got helped by their friends to understand the text. this was what p6’s opinion about what she liked about tableua, she replied: p6 : ... terus jadi gampang bu kan kita melakukannya dan mikir nya barengan sama temen-temen (i6) ...then it is easier, ms., because we think together with the other friends llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 209-230 221 she perceived that creating tableau can be easier if she worked and shared thoughts with her other friends. this is actually the essence of learning itself. learning doesn’t appear naturally, but it was channeled from the sharring moment where the more expert one share something they know to the less expert one (wilhelm, 2002). the more expert one does not necessarily to be the teacher. instead, their peer can be acted as the expert one. here the role of the teacher is to facilitate the students so that they can learn through this way. morever, the students can have more meaningful learning by letting the students work collaboratively in their classroom. it is supported by wright and kowalczyk (2000, p. 63) who explained: our commitment as teachers includes relying the principles of freedom, justice, solidarity, tolerance, peace, and understanding. we do this by creating an environment of social interaction, providing opportunities for collaborative learning, allowing our students to make interdisciplinary connections, and engaging students in meaningful language-based activities through the arts thus, doing tableau was seen as a tool to bring the students to have shared meanings and understanding among the small group or even in the classroom. it is partly because they share their understanding of the text in the group. e. tableau provides an alternative learning from the interview session, students showed their interest in drama activity. these thoughts were shared by several students in the classroom from the reflective journal: p8 : understand more about the story by acting, innovative, believe in self (r8) p12 : i like to have an action not only silent and study (r37) tableau could be seen as another alternative learning in the classroom, particularly in indonesian school context. in this school, for instance, the students were not familiar with the tableau technique. they experienced a lot of drama activities in their classroom beforehand, such as role play. in role play, the students ought to make the script and use their script for their performance. on the contrary, tableau offers the students unscripted and none verbal language type of process drama. this could contribute to be the alternative way of learning to be experienced by the students. moreover, inside the classroom, reading is one of the skills that students needed to comprehend. mostly teacher used transmission model. transmission model is when the teacher assigned the students to read and they had to do some assessment. grade will be recorded based on the assessment (cummins, 1994). in this model, teacher can not really maximize students’ critical thinking. sometimes they were limited by the language pattern and grammar. this theory was emphasized by p23: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 209-230 222 p23 : ...dari pada ibu cuman suruh kami baca, enak maen drama buk, masalahnya mayoritas orang indonesia ni visual buk, jadi kalo pake metode itu lebih efektif. (i4) ...rather than you ask us to read, it is better to play in the drama. the thing is the majority of indonesian people is visual learners, ms. so this method is more effective p23 prefer to have drama rather than just reading. she needs something more than just printed material. according to her, drama can stimulate her to become more interesting in reading. to overcome this phenomenon, tableau can be one of the alternative. in tableau they did not pay much attention to the linguistic elements such as grammatical strtucture, words, collocations (liu, 2002). attention was drived more on the “focusing meaningful form”. students were seen to understand the text, if they can make the appropriate gesture based on the story. tableau promotes students with more concrete techniques and strategies (savignon, 1983; ellis, 1985, 1994) (as cited in liu, 2002). visual and kinesthetic learners will get lots of benefits from tableau activity. they can maximize their potential by acting out the printed material into a movement. in line with savignon, willcult (2007) endorsed that rather than asking students to seat and read, drama offer student to interpret the story or text based on their interpretation. the transmission model is one we all know well; teachers assign reading, give assessments that ask for recall of information teachers provided and grades are given. according to cummins (1994), “teacher centered transmission of information has the effect of limiting the possibility of any kind of critical thinking on the part of either the students or the teachers” ( p.3 14). teachercentered learning, though, as cummins (1994) associates this with a traditional method used by the teacher. thus, with tableau the students feel that they were given other alternative way in reading instruction. f. tableau provides fun learning atmosphere the majority of the students reported that through tableau they could have fun learning and that they were not bored during the class, most of them responsed in the reflective journal that the tableau performances create fun learning situation. it was shown from the above excerpts. p1 : it was interesting because we studied with performing in the drama that related to the lesson. thus we are not bored (r1) p7 : quite interested. funny expression, sometimes friends’ face when freeze are funny (r32) p16 : the drama is soooo interesting (r41) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 209-230 223 p13 : the interesting part is when i perform the tableau. i like when my friends laugh at me. (r38) p15 : cheerful and creative (r50) students reported in the reflective journal that tableau performances are fun and it is interesting for them. as wilhelm (2002) emphasized that fun and a sense of a play can also affect the students in the learning. though, sometimes fun atmosphere cannot be associated with effective learning (liu, 2002). however, the fun learning atmosphere in the classroom can then attract the student in the learning. similarly, dewey (1983) stated that the students can be repulsive to what they learn by the way they experience what they learn. guerrero (2010) also supported that tableau can contribute to create a fun atmospheres for students to learn. students perceived that they are motivated to learn because they feel that doing or watching tableau performances make them interested to what they learn. doing tableau, thus, made them think that they were enggaged in the lesson in a fun way. 2. concern a. time limitation the students’ perception of major concern in doing tableau in the classroom was mostly in time. the students mostly reported in their journal reflection and in the interview that working with tableau takes a long time and that they only had limited time to work on the tableau in the class. these view was shared like the following: some students view of their time spent on doing tableau has been wasted because they feel doing tableau requires them to spend much time. the other also felt dissapointed of the limited time he got from doing tableau. these findings are also supported by liu (2002). she said that time limitation is always the major problem for teaching and learning in esl/efl classrooms, especially in doing tableau. p14 : mencari ide, dan gerakan serta gaya apa yg harus kita tampilkan biar menarik dimata temen-temen bu itu kadang makan waktu yang banyak. (i15) to find the idea and the gesture, as well as to find what poses we should show so that our friends are interested p10 : i dont like drama because it can waste the time (r60) p11 : time is so loooong (r61) p12 the time to have performe was to short, we can not performe well (r62) p14 we are not on time (r64) p15 take a long time (r65) p19 the limited time (r66) p25 so long time even it took our break time (r75) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 209-230 224 to look at us, took much time. p14 said that it took much time to think about the idea of frozen poses that can attract other friends who watched them. thus, the teacher in class should put extra effort to manage the time or the activity so that the activity can be accessible for all the students. b. low-proficiency learners might disrupt the group work even though, it was found that some students perceived the benefit of group work when they created and discussed their tableau scences together, but some students said that they felt being treated unfair because some of their friends did not contribute much in the group work because they didn’t understand the text well. it can be seen from these excerpts below: p2 : somebody didn’t cooperated well! (r52) p13 : i don’t like because sometimes we lack of teamwork (r63) when p2 was asked about the concern of tableau, his reply is in excerpt i5 p2 : ... nah itu disitu tuh kekurangannya. jadi tidak semua siswa membaca atau mengerti text tapi mereka hanya menanyakan dengan satu siswa yang mengerti. (i5) ...that is probably my concern towards tableau. so, not all of the students read and understand the text but they only ask the other student who already understand the text. according to davies (2009), there is always a problem when involving a group work in the classroom. he emphasized that one of the problems of group work is with the this low-proficiency learners, as davies called as “free-riders”. he defined this “freerider” learners as students who gain benefits from the group work but with no or less effort. in here, p2 perceived that creating tableau was concerned in the group work. he felt disappointed with his friend who did not cooperate well in creating the tableau. this actually can be resolved, even though it is a hard task to do. davies’ (2009) suggestion to this problem is that a recognition of effort needs to be given to the students, so that students who felt that they gave a lot of contribution in the group may felt that they are rewarded of what they contribute. c. interpretation of tableau might be misleading as there were a number of students who reported that they had difficulties to interpret what their friends made of tableau in front of the classroom because they didn’t not speak, here is the example of the report: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 209-230 225 p6 : kalau dari tableau, kadang-kadang, saya kan rada cuek bu jadi kalau misalnya dari tableau kadang saya merhatiin sesuai dengan siapa yang memerankannya. dan misalnya orangnya (i13) fun, dan dia bisa bener-bener memerankan. kalo dia ga bisa kayak cuma main-main doang ya ga ngerti lah bu from tableau, sometimes, i did not pay attention much, so i examine the performance based on performers. for example, if the person can really act his role. then i can understand what he is doing in tableau. but if he’s just playing around (doesnt act the role correctly), i cannot get the point of it. she felt that their friends just played around and was not really serious to play the character in the text. the similar perception of concern was also stated in p2, as follows: p2 : waktu kita disuruh freeze itu sebenernya itu kan menanyakan bagaimana karakter yang digunakan tetapi sebenernya karakter yang kami gunakan itu kadang-kadang ga sesuai dengan karakter sebenarnya pada alur cerita, seperti itukan. when we are asked to freeze, we are asked to play or to be in the character. but sometimes, the character we played is not suitable with the story. (i13) he also felt the same thing as p6. he also thought that the characters they posed in the tableau sometimes did not fit with what he understood in the text. this concern from the students is partly because they have their own interpretation of the image they get in their mind when they read the literary text. as it is emphasized by katsarska & gupta (2007), literary text offers an imaginative form of writing and it allows the reader to interpret their own understanding towards the text they read. thus, when they show their understanding of the text in form of tableau scenes, there is a chance to interpret it different way from the others. thus, liu (2002) suggested that this meaning and interpretation of tableau should be open, by which there is a need for communication of the group members who perform their tableau. this communication aims to explain their intention when performing tableau. that is why after the students perform their tableau there should be a debriefing session where students and teacher both llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2019, pp. 209-230 226 discuss what the students have done during tableau to synchronize the concept of the overall meaning of the text (vasquez et al., 2013). conclusion several findings have been discussed to answer the research question. therefore, a brief conclusion can be drawn to describe the overall study. firstly, the students’ perceptions of the benefits of tableau are various. they viewed tableau as a tool to create sensory images where they can picture what is written in the text in their mind. they also viewed tableau as a technique to help them improving their vocabulary knowledge. next, they also see tableau as to benefit them in deepen the characters’ feeling and connect it to the real world. another benefit of tableau perceived by the students is that they saw it as a place to improve their collaborative learning. moreover, the students also viewed it as an alternative way in reading literary text. the last benefit that the students perceived is that they could experience tableau as one of the useful process drama techniques in this study provided them with a fun learning atmosphere, where they could engaged with the text as well as understood it through watching and observing their friends’ performances or actively demonstrating the action themselves. besides of benefits that students perceived by doing tableau in their classroom, there are also some concerns that might be treated as the disadvantages of tableau as a process drama technique. the concerns are that they perceived that doing tableau consumed a lot of time. another concern is that several students had a challenge to work with lowproficiency learner. the last is that the students found it difficult to interpret their friend’s tableau because of the multiple interpretation followed in posing in tableau. references adomat, d. s. 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(2003). supporting young children’s thinking through tableau. proquest education journals. retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/196898347/13e09f012ec28c14412/1?a ccoun tid=108784 llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 41 the negation jangan from a lexical functional perspective truly almendo pasaribu sanata dharma university tr.almendo@gmail.com abstract this paper is an investigation into the properties of the negation jangan in the framework of lexical-functional grammar. the analysis shows that the negation jangan can negate verbs functioning as predicate in a sentence. it follows both transitive and intransitive verbs. the constituent that fills the position in the subject is defined by the voice of the sentence. if it is in the active voice, the subject is the second person pronoun. on the other hand, if the word jangan negates passive voice, the subject is not restricted. it is possible in indonesian sentence to have double negation because the negative adverb jangan can negate a negation tidak. it also follows adjectives, adverbs, nouns and clauses. the negation jangan also has a different grammatical construction when it precedes the preposition sampai. the subject following jangan sampai is not restricted as the subject following jangan sampai is in active voice. the word jangan can be fronted to modify the whole clause. keywords: negation, lexical functional grammar, jangan introduction negation is an old topic in language starting from aristotle who comes out with the idea about logic. he clearly attaches the greatest importance to this topic (horn, 1978 in sudaryono, 1993). negation plays a very important function in a language. the importance of negation is assumed to be universal (lehman, 1972). in a verbal communication, human uses negation as devices to deny something. negation stated the opposite of the affirmative statement. talmy (2001, p. 388) mentions that “negation is one of the most consistently grammaticalized modalities”. nonetheless, most languages show some diversity of negation markers, so that in some grammatical contexts — admittedly infrequent and highly marked — special negation markers may be used. in indonesia negative constituents can be expressed in the form of bound morpheme, like a-, non-, tunaand free morphemes, such as tidak, bukan, jangan. in this short paper, we will not discuss about all negations in indonesia, but we will concentrate on the unique form of the word jangan. the negative constituent jangan marks the negative form of imperatives. an imperative is used by the speaker to express requests, orders, and condition to the hearer. the second person subject is usually omitted (finnegan, 1992). imperative sentences are divided into affirmative imperatives and negative imperatives (sudaryono, 1993:99). the word jangan semantically is used to indicate imperative and also negative sentence. the word has a unique behavior compared to other negative constituent such as bukan and tidak. negative constituent jangan is used when we want to negate a positive imperative. for example: 1) buka pintunya! 2) tidak buka pintunya!* 3) bukan buka pintunya!* 4) jangan buka pintunya! the negation jangan from a lexical functional perspective 42 we cannot use other negation for imperative sentences. however, we can paraphrase the word jangan with the word dilarang (alwi, 1992:191), as shown in the example below: 5) dilarang buka pintu=nya! prohibit.pass open door the it is prohibited to open the door. the data found in the corpus show different grammatical patterns of sentences containing the word jangan. this paper is an investigation into the properties of the negative constituent jangan in the framework of lexical-functional grammar. lexical-functional grammar (lfg) lexical functional grammar (lfg) is a nontransformational theory of linguistic structure which assumes that language is “best described and modeled by parallel structures representing different facets of linguistic organization and information, related to one another by means of functional constraints” (dalrymple, 2001, p.1). the theory models language as a set of parallel representations, each of which has to satisfy the constraints appropriate to that type of representation, and which together have to satisfy constraints on the correspondence between types of representation. lfg is a lexicalist, declarative, constraint based theory of generative grammar. the theory has also proven useful for descriptive or documentary linguistics. “lfg posits two syntactic structures: constituent structure (cstructure) which is occasionally also referred to as categorical structure and functional structure (f-structure)” (asudeh and toivonen in heine and narrog, 2009, p. iii). c-structures are represented as phrase structure trees and model precedence (word order), dominance, constituency and syntactic categories. f-structures are represented as feature structures, which are also known as attributing value matrices. the f-structure of a sentence contains the grammatical functions that the head verb subcategorizes for (subject, object, etc.) and also represents a range of morphosyntactic information, such as case, agreement features, tense and aspect. according to asudeh and toivonen, “f-structure is the level at which abstract syntactic relations are captured, such as agreement, control and raising, binding, and unbounded dependencies. lfg distinguishes sharply between formal structures, such as cstructures and f-structures, and structural descriptions that well-formed structures must satisfy.” (in heine and narrog, 2009, p. iii). recent research about negation in indonesian conducted by paul kroeger (2012) is entitled “external vs. internal negation in indonesian verbal clauses”. in this study kroeger differentiate the negation bukan dan tidak. he argues that tidak is a marker of predicate negation, while bukan (in verbal clauses) is a marker for sentential negation. he also mentions that tidak is the default negator in verbal clauses. on the other hand, bukan is obligatory in nominal clauses, but is allowed in verbal clauses only under contrastive, metalinguistic, or narrow focus interpretation. the research inspires the current researcher to analyze other form of negation, specifically the negation jangan. some studies have been conducted to explore negation in the framework of lfg. one of them is conducted by ahmad alsharif and louisa sadler (2009) who study negation in modern standard arabic (msa). the study shows that there exists the invariant particle maa, the particle laa and its tensed counterparts lam, lan, and laysa which is marked only for subject agreement. ahmad alsharif and loisa llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 43 sadler (2009) propose an approach to four of these particles. the negation laa, lam, lan show distinctions of tense, occur only with imperfective forms of the verb (excluding the perfective) and must immediately precede the verb itself. they are limited to occurrence in verbal sentences. the researchers propose that the adjacency requirement follows from the fact that these negative particles are non-projecting words adjoined to the (imperfective) v. on the other hand, laysa is a fully verbal element, and is thus a negative verb, occurring only with present tense interpretation. negations have different and unique properties among languages and also within a language. this paper is aiming at analyzing the structural patterns for the negation jangan. to achieve the goal of this mini research, first, the paper will argue for the grammatical class and the construction of the negative constituent jangan from the data. some tests will be applied to describe this word. from the data, it is possible for us to describe the grammatical pattern of the word jangan. it is then followed by the explication of the c-structure and f-structure of sentences containing the negation jangan. data analysis characteristics of the word jangan the data shows that the word jangan can be followed by verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and nouns. the examples below show that the word jangan is negating the verb (6), adjective (7), adverb (8), and noun: noun (9), pronoun (10), and numerals (11). 6) jangan membaca buku itu. neg read book that ‘don’t read that book.’ 7) jangan khawatir. neg worry ‘don’t worry.’ 8) jangan cepat-cepat saat mengendarai mobil. neg fastly conj drive car ‘don’t drive the car fastly.’ 9) jangan kertas yang dipakai untuk hiasan. neg paper conj use for decoration ‘don’t use paper for decoration’ 10) jangan dia, karena dia sibuk. neg pers.3sg conj pers.3sg busy ‘not him, because he is busy.’ 11) a: bu, saya beli tiga kilo gula ya? b: jangan tiga, karena kebanyakan. satu saja. neg num.three conj many one only ‘don’t buy three, because it’s too much. one is enough.’ the word jangan, as seen above, shows that it can be the attribute of certain word class. subject argument in the sentence can only be filled with pronoun because an imperative is presupposed to be directed to second person. it is often understood and can be omitted in everyday spoken language. the subject in this position cannot be a specific subject. the negation jangan cannot be followed by first person singular pronoun or first person plural pronoun, as seen in the example below: the negation jangan from a lexical functional perspective 44 12) saya jangan makan sebelum mandi.* i neg eat before bath ‘i don’t eat before taking a bath.’*(not acceptable as imperative) 13) kamu jangan membuang sampah sembarangan. pers.2sg.you neg throw gabage carelessly “(you) don’t throw garbage carelessly. 14) jangan membuang sampah sembarang. neg thow gabage carelessly don’t throw garbage carelessly. it is worth to notice the patterns of the word jangan in a passive voice. the subject position can be filled with any noun when it is in the passive voice. the subject is placed before the word jangan, as shown in the example below: 15) sampah jangan dibuang sembarangan. garbage neg pass.throw carelessly don’t throw the garbage carelessly 16) jangan dibuang sembarangan. neg throw carelessly don’t throw it carelessly. the negation jangan can be attached to the particle –lah, when it negates predicate whether in active or passive voice. besides attached to verb, the negation jangan can also be attached to other word classes including adjectives. indonesian has a unique pattern, in which ip is consisted of np ap. in this case we can insert the word jangan to this pattern. 17) kamu khawatir. you worry you are worry. 18) kamu jangan khawatir! you neg worry don’t you worry. 19) kamu senang. you happy you are happy. 20) kamu jangan senang! you neg happy don’t be happy. from these examples, we can see that the word jangan can modify the whole imperative sentence. it functions as a modifier of the whole clause. interestingly, it doesn’t only modify affirmative clauses. the data show that jangan can negate negative predicate, turning the sentence into a strong positive imperative clause, as shown in the example below: 21) kamu jangan tidak datang ke pesta=ku. you neg neg come to party=my you must come to my party. llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 45 not only modify verbs and adjectives that function as predicate in the clause, the word jangan also modifies other word classes, including nouns. in the example we find pronouns, numerals and nouns that can be found after the word jangan. 22) jangan dia, karena dia sibuk. neg pron:3sg conj pron:3sg adj:busy ‘not him, because he is busy.’ 23) a: bu, saya beli tiga kilo gula ya? b: jangan tiga, karena kebanyakan. satu saja. neg num:three conj many one only ‘don’t buy three, because it’s too much. one is enough.’ 24) jangan kertas yang dipakai untuk dekorasi neg n: paper conj v:use for n:decoration ‘don’t use paper for decoration’ from the data, it can be proposed that the word jangan functions as an adverb that modifies verb, adjectives and nouns. an adverb is a word class that can modify verbs, adjectives, nouns, predicates, or clauses (tampubolon, 2007:54). in addition, according to kridalaksana (1986) adverbs in indonesian are used to explain modality, quantity and quality. the negation jangan is considered as an adverb because it has adverb-like behavior. like other adverbs, the word jangan modifies the constituent that follows it as shown in the examples above. the structures of the negation jangan after looking at the behavior of the negation jangan, below is the explication of the cstructure and f-structure of sentences containing the negation jangan. modifying verb the negation jangan is followed by verbs that function as a predicate in the imperative sentences. the negation jangan in imperative clause presupposes a subject (which can be omitted because it is usually understood that the imperative is given to second person). in this paper, we will not discuss ellipsis because we will only see the patterns of sentences with the word jangan. the object of the clause is determined by the predicate the word jangan modifies. the diagrams below show how the word jangan modifies a verb. c-structure 1. kamu jangan membaca buku itu. you:2.sg neg read book that don’t you read that book. the negation jangan from a lexical functional perspective 46 an adverb can take a modifier and form a structural unit with it (arka, 2003). the negation jangan is an adjunct that which is adjoined adv to adv’ within advp. the adverb jangan modifies the verb ‘membaca’ which in this example is a transitive verb which allows a constituent functioning as an object. in the spoken form, the subject ‘kamu’ can be deleted as it is understandable that the clause is intended to be imperative statement. it is not possible to passify imperative in english. 2. don’t read the book. 3. the book don’t be read.* however, it is possible for indonesian speakers to emphasize the object by stating the passive voice of the statement. 4. buku itu jangan dibaca (oleh kamu) book that neg pass.read prep you don’t read the book. when doing this, the focus is given to the subject of passive voice. however, in a context if the subject is understood, it can be deleted. the adverb jangan modifies the intransitive verb ‘menangis’ as seen below. llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 47 5. kamu jangan menangis you neg cry don’t cry. the analysis shows that the negation jangan can be the modifier that negates the verb functioning as predicate in the sentence. it can follow both transitive and intransitive verbs. the constituent that fills the position in the subject is defined by the voice of the imperative. if it is in the active voice, usually the subject is second person pronoun. on the other hand, if the word jangan negate passive voice, the subject is not restricted. modifying adjectives besides negating verb as a predicate of the sentence, the word ‘jangan’ can also modify an adjective which functions as a predicate. 6. kamu jangan khawatir you neg worry ‘don’t worry’ as mentioned in the introduction, the negative adverb jangan can negate negative clause. the example can be seen in the example below: 7. kamu jangan tidak makan. you neg neg eat ‘don’t not eat’ 8. kamu jangan tidak senang dengan makanan itu. you neg neg happy prep:with food that ‘don’t dislike that food’ those are examples of double negatives. the grammatical construction of double negatives in a sentence can be illustrated in the c-structure and the f-structure below. 9. kamu jangan tidak makan you neg neg eat you must eat. the negation jangan from a lexical functional perspective 48 however, it is not possible to negate the word jangan with negative constituent. kamu tidak jangan makan.* kamu tidak jangan senang dengan makanan itu.* kamu jangan jangan makan.* it is mentioned before that the subject in this grammatical construction cannot be a specific subject. the negation jangan cannot be followed by first person singular pronoun or first person plural pronoun. however different construction is applied when using the negation “jangan” with the combination of preposition “sampai” as seen in the data below: 10. mereka jangan sampai pulang. they neg until go home. don’t let them go home. 11. mereka jangan sampai berbicara sembarangan. they neg until talk carelessly don’t let them talk carelessly. in those two sentences above the subject is the agent of the sentence. the preposition “sampai” enables the speaker to express future expectation that negates the proposition. in this case, the subject in the active voice can be in the form of the first person and the third person. 12. buku itu jangan sampai dibaca. book that neg until read ‘don’t let that book be read’ as seen above, it is also possible to have the combination of “jangan sampai” in a passive voice. the construction of “jangan sampai” has a tense marker to show imperfective of the action. modifying adverb the adverb jangan does not only function as a negation marker, but it is also functioning as an imperative marker. the data shows that this adverb can be joined to noun phrases and adverb phrases to make it an imperative sentence. llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 49 13. jangan cepat-cepat. ada banyak mobil don’t in a hurry. there lot car don’t be in a hurry. there are a lot of cars. the above example is a negative form of imperative sentence. however, it is not possible to have positive imperative construction consisting of adverbs only. usually to understand the construction of neg + adv clause, we need certain pragmatic context. modifying noun we can also have noun after the word jangan. in the example below we have the pronoun ‘dia’ which is negated by the word jangan. 14. jangan dia, karena dia sibuk. neg pron: 3sg conj pron: 3sg adj:busy ‘not him, because he is busy.’ the above example is a negative form of imperative sentence. however, it is not possible to have positive imperative construction consisting of nouns only. similar to the previous construction, usually to understand the construction of adv+ np, we need certain pragmatic context. from the given data, it can be formulated that the structure of prohibition is ip = adv (jangan) x where x: vp, adjp, np or advp. modifying clause the negative constituent jangan can also modify a whole clause. in this case, the word jangan is found in front of a sentence and given emphasis. 15. jangan kamu mencuri. neg you steal ‘don’t you steal’ 16. jangan kamu membunuh. neg you kill ‘don’t you kill’ 17. jangan kamu memakai baju berwarna hijau itu. neg you wear dress color green that don’t wear that green color dress. this construction is used when we want to topicalize the word jangan or emphasize the prohibition. conclusion after analyzing the grammatical patterns of the negation jangan from lexical functional grammar perspective, there are several points to be highlighted. from the data it can be proposed that the word jangan functions as an adverb that modifies verb, adjectives and noun. the analysis shows that the negation jangan can negate verbs functioning as predicate in a sentence. it can follow both transitive and intransitive verbs. the constituent that fills the position in the subject is defined by the voice of the imperative. if it is in the active voice, usually the subject is second person pronoun. on the other hand, if the word jangan negates the passive voice, the subject is not restricted. it is possible in indonesian sentence to have double negations because the negative adverb jangan can negate a negation tidak. it also follows adjectives, the negation jangan from a lexical functional perspective 50 adverbs, nouns and clauses. the negation jangan also has a different grammatical construction when it follows the preposition sampai. the subject following jangan sampai is not restricted as the subject following jangan is in active voice. the word jangan can be fronted and modify the whole clause. the approach outlined here is preliminary in many ways, and there are a number of open questions which should be explored in future work. bibliography alsharif, a and loisa s. (2009). negation in modern standard arabic. lfg proceeding. alwi, h. (1992). modalitas dalam bahasa indonesia. yogyakarta: penerbit kanisius. arka, i w. (2003). balinese morphosyntax: a lexical-functional approach. canberra: pacific linguistics. bernd h and heiko n, eds. (2009). the oxford handbook of linguistic analysis. oxford: oxford university press. dalrymple, m. (2001). lexical functional grammar. volume 3 of syntax and semantics. new york: academic press. kridalaksana, h. (1986). kelas kata dalam bahasa indonesia. jakarta: gramedia. lehmann, w. p. (1972). converging theories in linguistics. language 48 (3): 266 – 275 sudaryono. (1992). negasi dalam bahasa indonesia: suatu tinjauan sintaktik dan semantik. jakarta: departemen pendidikan dan kebudayaan. talmy, g. (2001). syntax: an introduction. amsterdam: john benjamin publishing cover vol 16 2013_rep isi llt_vol_16_2013_a_save as isi llt_vol_16_2013_b_save as llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 82 a learning model design integrating esp course and service learning program to promote relevance and meaningfulness carla sih prabandari, gregorius punto aji and made frida yulia sanata dharma university carla@usd.ac.id, gpuntoaji@gmail.com, madefrida@gmail.com abstract relevance and meaningfulness of the content courses need to be established to make learners realize that the knowledge acquired in the clasroom can be utilized to give contributions to society. this research is aimed at designing a learning model integrating esp course and service learning program. esp is a subject designed to enable students to design esp programs. the integration of esp and slp allows students to exercise their skills in designing an esp program, which is eventually implemented as one of their slp programs. the current research is targeted to describe what the learning model design integrating esp course and service learning program looks like. keywords: learning model, english for specific purposes, service learning program (kkn), relevance, meaningfulness introduction in the era of progressivism in education and curriculum development, the focus of education is on the relevance, meaningfulness, self-actualization and emancipation. relevant and meaningful learning is a process which roots into the reality in the learners’ lives. in progressive education programs, the goal is selffulfillment of the learners. to achieve the goal, education programs are focused on the process-based learning to develop learners’ awareness, responsibility and autonomy for life-long learning (richards and renandya, 2002) in order that learning can be meaningful and relevant, the process must enable the learners to connect the classroom activities and the real life that they face. there must be a relation between theories that the learners learn in class and how the theories can be applied in their life. furhermore, learners should be able to experience how useful the theories are in solving social problems in their community. thus, learning is said to be relevant and meaningful when the acquired kowledge can be put into practice for serving others. in an attempt to create meaning and relevant learning, the teachers often need to make some innovations and breakthroughs. this would not be easy for teachers who do not want to get out of routines. in classroom practice, the common activities include discussion, sharing, simulation, lectures, doing exercises in order to facilitate learners to master the materials. such activities still focus on theories and they cannot provide students with handson experience about how the knowledge is applied in real context in the society. llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 83 among the courses offered in the curriculum of the english language education study progam are english for specific purposes (esp) course and service learning program (kuliah kerja nyata). english for specific purposes (esp) is an elective course whose goal is to enable students to design their own esp programs. the course requires students to understand concepts of esp and utilize their knowledge in the process of designing their programs. although in practice, the students are required to design an esp program, their design is not based on actual need analysis and they are not required to implement their designed program. in the process of designing their esp program, the students follow the steps in developing the components of the design, including setting the goal, teaching learning procedure, material and assessment designs. however, the design cannot be implemented since it is not based on actual needs of the clients. the product is submitted only for the sake of their esp course grade. the current practice in esp course, which is still felt to be theoretical, needs to be reviewed and revitalized in order to make the couse more meaningful and relevant to the learners. meanwhile, service learning program (slp) is a compulsory course whose objective is to train students to develop their potentials by means of doing community service. the course provides students with oppotunities to exercise their hard skill and soft skill to solve problems they find in their community. they are required to conduct observations and needs survey in order to identify problems that occur in society. based on their observations and needs analysis, the students, as educated young generation, are to perform as agents of change in the community by offering community service program. through slp, students have an opportunity to experience being members of a community who are responsible to exercise their hard skill and soft skill to serve others. as the nature of slp course is to start from the needs of society, the programs that the students prepare should address the real and contextual needs of the society. to make esp more meaningful, some effort has been made. for example, shu-chiao tsai conducted research on “integrating english for specific purposes courseware into task-based learning in a context of preparing for international trade fairs” (2013). the research tried to integrate esp and task-based learning. the finding showed that the students found the integration is beneficial and that they learned better through the tasks which involved problem solving and higher order thinking. in this research, we attempted to do similar thing by integrating real and meaningful tasks in esp course, which proved to be effective in promoting a meaningful and relevant learning. however, our focus was on the integration of esp and slp. this paper elaborates our attempt to provide a learning model which integrates slp in esp course so as to make the students aware that what they learn in class is something meaningful to them and that they can utilize their knowledge to solve llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 84 problems in society. the learning model will provide opportunities for the learners to apply their knowledge of esp during the process of slp. in developing the proposed learning model, the research adapted the steps of educational research and development methodology as presented by dick, carey, and carey (2003). the research subjects were students of esp class who were taking slp in the same semester. besides, the research also involved experts in esp and slp to evaluate the proposed design. discussion most research and development projects in esp are aimed at developing classroom materials. this research, however, aims at developing learning model to integrate slp in esp course. the discussion will be divided into four sections, namely esp and its development, meaningful and relevant learning in the paradigm of progressivism, and the description of the learning model. esp and its development esp emerges from the reatity that english learning develops in different parts of the world to serve different needs of the learners, such as for business and trade, technology, education, and various industry (hutchinson and waters, 1994). thomas orr (2002) specifically explains that esp refers to three aspects. first, esp is designed for specific needs of english learning. second, esp is a branch of elt whose aim is to help learners master english for specific purposes. three, esp is seen as a movement to expand the role of english in different professions. the idea is also supported by ann m. johns and donna princemachado (as cited in celce-murcia, 2001: 43) who suggest that language learning should be based on the need of the learners, their learning styles and their socio-cultural context where the language is used. esp has been developed for a wide range of purposes, such as english for academic purposes (eap) and english for professional purposes or english for occupational purposes (hutchinson and waters, 1994). steps in developing esp programs the steps in developing an esp program are basically similar to the steps in developing other learning programs. however, some experts propose their own models for developing esp programs. one of the procedures of esp development is skill-centered approach, which is designed by hutchinson and waters (1994: 69-71). the proposed procedure is presented in figure 1. llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 85 theoretical views of language identify target situation analyze skills required in the target situation write a syllabus select text and write exercises to focus on skills develop evaluation procedures theoretical views of learning figure 1: steps in developing esp program by hutchinson and waters (1994) the first step is analyzing the target situations, which refers to the context where the language is used. from the results of the analysis, then, the course designer can identify the language skills required for the particular context. only after the the language skills have been identified, s/he can proceed to the development of syllabus. the next step is selecting or developing suitable learning materials, which focuses on the required skills. the last step is developing the evaluation and assessment to measure the the achievment of the learning objectives and the effectiveness of the program. relevant and meaningful learning in progressivism philosophy of education in the paradigm of progressivism, the emphasis of education and curriculum development are on the relevance, meaningfulness, self-actualization and emancipation. according to john dewey (1897, p. 1), education is a process that should enable the learners to behave as active beings to participate “in the social consciousness of the race.” in the higher education, learners are expected to be able to develop their knowledge and partake in society. in dewey’s belief, learners learn through actions and being involved in the process. this would require learners to work in hands-on project so as to ensure that learning would take place, rather than demanding them to do memorization. thus, within this philosophy, in order to create a relevant and meaningful learning, classroom activities should be tailored to facilitate the learners development by providing relevant and meaningful tasks. as the goal of education is self-fulfillment of the learners, education is not oriented toward measurable objectives as in the objectivist-reconstructionism paradigm but rather on the process of learning (process-based learning). the process is designed to develop learners’ understanding and awareness on their own learning process as part of life-long education (richards and renandya, 2002). to achieve the goal, there needs to be a link and match between the process in the classroom and the reality that the learners face outside classroom. llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 86 the link and match needs to be established in order to ensure that the concepts and theories that they learn during class will not remain abstract in the learners’ mind but will be useful for solving problems in society. learning takes place when the learners are aware that what they learn in class benefits them in their real life because they can give contributions to society. a learning model of integration of slp in esp course the proposed learning model is not to merge the two courses, since they remain separated in the curriculum, but it is meant to establish relevance and meaningfulness to the learners. the end product of the research is a learning model which integrates slp in esp course. the model consists of five major components, namely the goal of the project, learning outcomes and indicators, classroom implementation, learning contents, and assessment and evaluation. the following is the elaboration of the model. goal of the project the goal of the project is to design a learning model which integrates slp in esp course. there are two rationales for this. they are: 1) the integration of slp in esp course will provide opportunities for learners to realize the relevance between the theory and the practice of esp in society. 2) the integration allows learners to develop their own esp programs which are ready for implementation learning outcomes, competence and indicators learning outcomes, competence and indicators are components of the learning semester plan. in this project, the learning outcomes, competence and indicators are formulated as follows. learning outcomes the learning outcomes in this model cover the three aspects of competence, conscience and compassion. they are set according to the ignation pedagogy, as in the following: competence (kompetensi): understanding the nature, basic concept and theories in esp, designing concrete esp programs to suit the need of the real clients in society, implementing the design. conscience (suara hati) honesty in joining the course, hard work in executing the given tasks. compassion (bela rasa) responsibility in doing the assigned tasks with the groups and in implementing the programs, assiduousness in identifying and solving problems, care for others, good communication ability with friends and others in society, synergy in planning, developing and implementing the program. competence and indicators the competence and indicators are separated into two aspects, namely hard skills and soft skills. the hard skills represent the cognitive competence and the soft skills represent the conscience and compassions. llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 87 hard skills soft skills esp 1. explain the goal and outcome of the course 2. explain the concepts and elements of esp 3. elaborate the steps in developing esp programs 4. choose potential clients 5. conduct need survey 6. interpret target situation based on the survey result 7. develop the syllabus, material and assesment slp 1. explain the vision and mission of slp 2. explain the procedure of slp 3. explain concept and practice of slp 4. elaborate the metod of program development 5. conduct observation and collect data 6. analyse data and develop plans of progams, one of which is esp program esp 1. show interest in esp 2. show independence and trustworthiness in developing the program 3. show hard work in executing the tasks 4. communicate effectively with other members of the group 5. cooperate with other members of the group slp 1. show responsibility in developing the program 2. show honesty managing the finance 3. show enthusiasm and care in serving others 4. show empathy and good leadership 5. take sides on the marginalized society 6. adapt onself with others 7. learn and appreciate the local wisdom learning activities and procedure the learning activities take place in and outside classroom. they are designed based on the cycle of ignatian pedagogy, i.e. context, experience, reflection, action and evaluation. context: learners are guided to understand the current context of learning and the benefits of their learning. experience: learners are guided to undertake authentic tasks and share their understanding through group discussion and presentation. learners gain feedback from peers and the teacher. reflection: learners are guided to write reflection on their learning process so that they realize what aspects which need improvements and what aspects are already good. learners reflect on the values they have learned throughout the process. action: learners plan and take action based on their reflection in order to better their learning outcome. evaluation: learners are evaluated based on their performance, participation and test results on individual and group bases. learning contents the learning contents are organized in the following order: introduction to esp, kinds of esp, esp program design, need analysis, progess test, esp syllabus development, learning activities design, material evaluation and material design, assessment design, final project. assessment and evaluation the assessment of esp course covers the three aspects of competence, conscience and compassion. in terms of competence, learners are assessed based on the quizzes, tests, assignments, and the designed esp program. in the aspects of conscience, their evaluation is based on their self-reflection. compassion llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 88 aspect is evaluated based on their reflection and peer evaluation. conclusion in a nutshell, it can be seen that the learning model which integrates slp in esp couse can be a solution to establish more relevant and meaningful learning to the students. the integration provides students with at least three benefits. first, it allows them to experience how thoeries are put into practice by designing an esp program of their own. in this case, they exercise their cognitive competence. second, they are encouraged to conduct needs analysis based on on the community they would serve, in which they develop their compassion. third, the group dynamic gives them a chance to exercise their conscience and compasion. as they develop their cognitive competence, conscience and compassion, learners will hopefully feel self-fulfilled. thus, they realize that the learning process is relevant and meaningful to them. references celce-murcia, marianne (ed.). (2001). teaching english as a second or foreign language. heinle & heinle, inc. dewey, john(1897). my pedagogic creed. school journal, vol. 54 (3) p. 77-80. hutchinson, tom, and alan waters. (1994). english for specific purposes. cambridge, uk: cambridge university press. orr, thomas (ed.). (2002). english for specific purposes. virginia, usa: teachers of english to speakers of other languages, inc. richards, jack c., dan willy a renandya. (2002). methodology in language teaching: an anthology of current practice. cambridge, uk: cambridge university press. richards, jack c., dan theodore s rodgers. (2014). approaches and methods in language teaching. cambridge, uk: cambridge university press. setiyadi, aq bambang. (2006). teaching english as a foreign language. yogyakarta: penerbit graha ilmu. smith, mark k. (2000). “curriculum theory and practice.” the encyclopaedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/b-curric.htm. shu-chiao tsai. (2013). “integrating english for specific purposes courseware into task-based learning in a context of preparing for international trade fairs.” australasian journal of educational technology, vol. 29 no. 1. http://www.infed.org/biblio/b-curric.htm llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 89 pursuing autonomy through dialogue huw davies kanda university of international studies, chiba, japan davies-h@kanda.kuis.ac.jp abstract in the self-access learning center (salc) at a university in japan, language learners create and implement individual learning plans. strategies to facilitate reflective dialogue are used by learning advisors to encourage these learners to pursue their language goals and become increasingly less reliant on direction from their teachers. in this paper, a definition for autonomy is given, and the teaching setting is introduced, giving an overview of the salc and outlining the ways learners use it, drawing on examples of learners at different stages on their journey to autonomy. after looking at theory and practical applications, this paper demonstrates that guiding learners through dialogue is an appropriate way to challenge meanings and raise consciousness, and move learners towards managing their own language learning. keywords: self-access, learner autonomy, dialogue, transformational learning. introduction the setting this paper is focused on learner-advisor dialogue in the selfaccess learning center (salc) at a small private university on the eastern edge of the tokyo metropolis. on a spacious campus, the university has almost 4,000 students, 97% of whom are undergraduates on four-year courses majoring in foreign languages and international communication. since 2001, it has had a self-access center, and presently there are ten full-time learning advisors working in the salc. the advisors support the student body through optional selfdirected learning courses for credit and noncredit modules; the dialogue that takes place on these courses is largely written. in addition the advisors work on the help desk where learners can drop in with queries, booked 30-minute advising sessions, and more informal advising that takes place around the salc. the help desk, sessions and informal advising is spoken dialogue. the learners referred to in this paper booked 30-minute advising sessions with the author, who is a learning advisor. dialogue and autonomy dialogue is a fundamental component of learning. classroom teaching is a dialogue between teacher and learner, and self-study is an internal dialogue within the student. “every element in an instructional system is either a dialogue (intrapersonal or interpersonal) or a resource which supports dialogue” (gorsky, caspi & smidt, 2007). the consideration for teachers should not be if they ought llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 90 to use dialogue, but how best to utilize it. in this paper, the focus is on interpersonal dialogue, specifically the dialogue between an educator and a learner. two key points should be considered about interpersonal dialogue between a teacher and a student. firstly, as this dialogue is an essential part of how learning takes place, the teacher’s approach should be strategic and considered. secondly, dialogue is a two-way interaction so the teacher should be focused on listening closely. the definition of autonomy in language learning has caused much debate. when considering the connection between autonomy and dialogue, it is useful to consider van lier’s (2004) belief that developing autonomy requires the learner to develop their own voice. another popular definition is “the capacity to take control over learning” (benson, 2001); moreover, little has argued that to develop autonomy is to “develop a deep awareness of the learning process, be able to take responsibility, plan, monitor, and evaluate his or her own learning, and to transfer learning to different contexts” (cited in kato & mynard, 2016). the quality of dialogue required to do something as complex as increase awareness and take control or responsibility for one’s own learning surely needs to be social rather than internal; increased self-regulation comes as a result of “supportive interpersonal processes” (ushioda, 2014), it requires support and guidance from others. a learner who is able to selfregulate displays “the ability to reflect critically on her learning processes, trust her feelings and decisions, reach out for necessary support and resources, recognize, and utilize her negative feelings effectively to establish a continuous learning system” (yamashita, 2015). to effectively guide learners towards autonomy requires encouraging reflection at a deeper level; fostering autonomy can be viewed as a journey along a trajectory, with learners’ continued reflection leading towards a transformational learning experience. students who use the salc are at varying places on this continuum, and second language ability is not a good indicator of a student’s position or depth of reflection. figure 1. the learning trajectory (kato & mynard, 2016). the journey towards autonomy. llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 91 two cases initial meetings hana and maki (both pseudonyms) are students at the university who are at different points in their journey towards autonomy. for hana, reflecting on her learning is a new thing and in her sessions the advisor was trying to encourage her to think more deeply. maki is more comfortable with self-reflection and can be found towards the other end of the trajectory. hana is a freshman student in her first term at university. from her previous educational experience it is clear that she has not been encouraged to reflect on the language learning process. she is unsure how to manage her learning and has not really thought about how to do it. maki is in her third year of university study and a regular user of the salc. she works in the salc part-time on the front desk. she has a clear idea of her needs to develop as a language learner. in her initial advising session, hana was unfocused, or unable to focus on just one aspect of her learning. she found it difficult to both express her long-term language goal, and reflect on her immediate needs in order to plan her learning in the short-term. she seemed to be looking for the advisor to provide a panacea that would suddenly improve her all-round english skill. she was showing “characteristics of a learner with low metacognitive awareness” (yamashita, 2015). ultimately she decided to focus on learning vocabulary to use in conversation. maki came to her first session to talk about a piece of writing she had had trouble with. she had already reflected on why she had struggled to write in a different medium, a blog, and used the advisor as a sounding board. discussion background to transformational dialogue kato and mynard, drawing on mezirow, have stated that reflective dialogue can be transformational: learners actively engage themselves to develop and extend their worldview through discourse and reflection (2016). reflection is often viewed as interpersonal, a private activity done alone. this lone reflection seldom goes deep enough to be transformative, and reflection through dialogue with a person who supports and challenges is more likely to bring about change (brockbank, 2009). self-reflection does not allow as many possibilities to restructure opinions and assumptions (kato & mynard, 2016). deeper reflection which leads to changes in learning habits and greater autonomy is triggered by dialogue with another. if autonomy is about taking control of learning, and taking control is a form of seizing power, dialogue can work to change power relations in favor of learners. by engaging students in dialogue about their learning, advisors give previously suppressed voices respect. reflective dialogue is empowering because “when the learner’s desires, wants and dreams are made explicit then there is a realization of what has previously been hidden” (brockbank, 2009). reflective dialogue can lead to greater mutual understanding. llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 92 being listened to is a powerful thing for language learners. as a result of being listened to in an advising session, learners tend to feel comforted and find the circumstances facilitate expressing emotions, beliefs and concerns about learning (kato & mynard, 2016). being listened to builds intrinsic motivation, which is linked to autonomy and competence (brockbank, 2009). practical application in practice, there are a number of strategies that can intentionally be used to develop a dialogue which encourages deeper reflection from learners. these strategies may already be used instinctively by many teachers, but it is worthwhile for teachers to take control over what they are saying to students and reflect on the effect their words have. yuliati (2014) has demonstrated that indonesian learners of english often fail to communicate because of difficulty pronouncing consonant clusters. the reaction of many teachers approached by a student worrying about this difficulty would be to try to offer a solution in the form of an activity or a stock piece of advice. this advice may not have the desired effect because the teacher could have missed the student’s real meaning, or the student may have heard the same advice before. additionally, any benefit taken from this teacher’s approach would be short term and surface level, the learner would have no input in solving the problem. a strategic, dialogic approach where the teacher resists preaching would be far more beneficial. kato and mynard (2016) have suggested four core strategies for facilitating a reflective dialogue, which will be discussed below, with an indonesian learner struggling with consonant clusters in mind. the first strategy is repeating, where the advisor uses an exact phrase the advisee utters, reflecting the tone and intonation. for example: student: i always have to repeat what i say. people never hear the ending of the words. [disappointed tone] teacher: they never hear the ending of the words? [copies same disappointed tone] this strategy can be particularly effective when the advisor feels that the student could be struggling with a motivational or affective issue rather than with the language. although it takes some practice, copying the learner’s body language is productive in building rapport. care should be taken when mirroring that the student does not become aware that the teacher is doing it so a short wait time is advisable, but when done well it helps the learner relax. reformulating or restating is similar to repeating, but the statement is recast in the advisor’s words. this helps the advisor to clarify the situation and check they have understood, and allows the advisee to look at the same problem from a slightly different viewpoint. for example: student: i always have to repeat what i say. people never hear the ending of the words. llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 93 teacher: so, you are struggling to communicate because people mishear you? going through the problem multiple times leads to greater clarity and can help the learner to unravel their concern and find their voice. finally, summarizing, or bringing together the main points is effective in both confirming understanding, and in validating the learner making them feel like they have been listened to. teacher: you are finding it difficult to make yourself understood and it is affecting your motivation to speak english. is that right? through following these four strategies, it is possible to promote a deeper reflection from the learner, to get closer to the root of the problem, and to encourage the student to take greater control over deciding and taking the next step. a deeper reflection occurs when the dialogue allows the advisee to explore their issue more deeply and to become more aware about their situation. dialogue, as suggested in figure 1, above, leads towards transformation in how the learner views learning. a preprepared piece of advice from the teacher would not encourage the learner to get started on the learning trajectory. as well as developing the learner’s autonomy, engaging in a reflective dialogue enables the teacher to develop and to ultimately give more appropriate advice. “teachers have been successful in learning a language but only in their own way” (cotterall & crabbe, 2008), they need to understand other problems and techniques to aid other learners. cotterall and crabbe suggest that the way to do this is to keep a record of dialogues with learners and store them in a database in order to “enrich our understanding of the range and nature of possible problems and solutions” (2008). in my own experience as an advisor, learners tend to respond well to suggestions backed up by sharing the successes and experiences of other learners. cases subsequent meetings in hana’s second advising session she brought along her vocabulary notebook, and seemed to be looking for some kind of teacherly reassurance. however, to encourage movement towards autonomy, she was asked how she felt about what she did, and the strategies restating and repeating were used in order to encourage her to reflect on what she had done and on the effectiveness of her study techniques. this has resulted in her being able to be more expressive in subsequent meetings, suggesting a greater awareness about her learning is developing. before coming to her second session with the author, maki decided for herself a more effective approach to improve her writing, wrote another blog post, then came to talk about why her second piece was better. she was able to critically reflect and come to her own decision on how to develop her writing skill. the strategies to facilitate reflective dialogue used with maki in her second session allowed her to comprehensively express her thought processes and feelings, to encourage this to become part of a long-term change in her learning habits. llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 94 in both cases, the strategies for reflective dialogue used in the sessions allow the learner to find and develop their own voice. in hana’s case, she is beginning to form and express her feelings and beliefs about her learning for the first time. for maki, this is an opportunity to give validation to her voice and opinions. these strategies are valuable for promoting autonomy, however aware or autonomous the learner is to begin with. conclusion and suggestion in many language learning and teaching contexts, not enough time and space is given over to encouraging learners to reflect deeply on their learning. the predicament in many language education settings in japan and elsewhere is that the short-term need to pass tests overrides the need for long-term personal development for university students. engaging learners in reflective dialogue has the potential to foster autonomy, to build intrinsic motivation and encourage exploration of language beyond course constraints. having a salc and dedicated learning advisors is advantageous, but the four core strategies for reflective dialogue can be adopted by teachers in any setting. i would encourage all language teachers to experiment with these strategies. reflective dialogue aids learners of all levels, and is beneficial for anyone, however critical or aware of the learning process, and able to self-regulate. in order to engage learners in reflective dialogue, the teacher should adopt the role of a facilitator (brockbank, 2009), first building trust and empathy, then allowing the learner to develop their voice. through continued dialogue over time, the teacher can accompany the student in their pursuit of autonomy. references benson, p. (2001). teaching and researching autonomy in language learning. harlow, uk: pearson education limited. brockbank, a. (2009). the role of reflective dialogue in transformational reflective learning (doctoral dissertation). city university, cass business school, london, uk. cotterall, s., & crabbe, d. (2008). learners talking: from problem to solution. in t. lamb & h. reinders (eds.) learner and teacher autonomy: concepts, realities and responses (pp. 125-140). amsterdam, netherlands: john benjamins publishing company. gorsky, p., caspi, a., & smidt, s. (2007). use of instructional dialogue by university learners in a difficult distance education physics course. journal of distance education, 21(3), 1-22. kato, s., & mynard, j. (2016). reflective dialogue: advising in language learning. new york, ny: routledge. ushioda, e. (2014). motivation, autonomy and metacognition: exploring their interactions. in d. lasagabaster, a. doiz & j.m. sierra (eds.), motivation llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 95 and foreign language learning: from theory to practice (pp. 31-49). amsterdam, netherlands: john benjamins publishing company. van lier, l. (2004). the ecology and semiotics of language learning: a sociocultural perspective. boston, ma: kluwer academic. yamashita, h. (2015). affect and the development of learner autonomy through advising. studies in self-access learning journal, 6(1), 62-85. yuliati (2014). final consonant clusters simplification by indonesian learners of english and its unintelligibility in international context. international journal of social science and humanity, 4(6), 513-517. front cover llt journal oct 2016b.pdf part 1-llt journal oct 2016 rftb2 part 2-llt journal oct 2016 articles part 3-llt journal submission guidelines llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 157 enhancing isolated grammar teaching through translation: sentence level and beyond elisabet titik murtisari universitas kristen satya wacana, salatiga, indonesia correspondence: elisabet.murtisari@staff.uksw.edu doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2020.230112 received 07 february 2020; accepted 08 april 2020 abstract associated with grammar-translation method, translation is still often seen as a mere replacement of linguistic forms, which is a far cry from its nature as an act of communication. on the other hand, while being criticized for not assisting learners enough to use grammar in a communication context, isolated grammar teaching has its own merits and is still widely practiced. by implementing translation for meaning-making, this action research seeks to examine how translation may be integrated into the traditional grammar teaching to assist tertiary efl students to learn l2 forms in communicative contexts. with translation employed at the sentence and discourse levels after the practice session, it was revealed through the participants’ reflections that translation exercises may further consolidate students’ knowledge of how to use specific forms in various contexts, especially as it relates to lexico-grammatical aspects, help deal with l1 interferences, and are an effective way to raise students’ awareness of the essential role of grammar in meaning-making. keywords: translation, explicit instruction, grammar teaching introduction with the role of l1 being increasingly recognized in language teaching and learning, translation has been reassessed and slowly reintroduced to enhance language learning. more and more research demonstrates no reason why translation cannot be applied in l2 classrooms (carreres, 2006; dagilienė, 2012; fernández-guerra, 2014; kim, 2011; liao, 2006; machida, 2008; van dyk, 2009). despite this, there is still very little research on how translation may be applied to assist language learners, especially in grammar learning as a case in point. after being shunned for decades due to its negative associations with the grammar translation method (gtm), its utilization in grammar learning seems to be still highly stigmatized. often viewed as a mere replacement of linguistic forms, translation is frequently misunderstood to have little communicative value. however, as a skill of mediation between languages and hence cultures, translation may potentially assist grammar learning beyond just producing grammatically acceptable forms. as grammar has a crucial role in language learning (thornbury, 2002), it is paramount to explore ways on how the act of translating may assist students in learning l2 forms. pertinent to this, it is mailto:elisabet.murtisari@staff.uksw.edu llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 158 imperative to explore ways to improve students’ learning experience in isolated grammar teaching, which is still commonly implemented at tertiary efl programs. despite its superiority in assisting learners to gain explicit knowledge of l2 forms, it does not allow them enough opportunities for meaning-making in a communicative context. to overcome this problem, this action research aimed to discover how translation may enhance the grammar teaching approach using translation practice at the sentence and discourse levels. this article will be of interest to efl language practitioners, especially those working at higher education, and those interested in grammar teaching in general. literature review grammar teaching and learning with grammar playing an essential role in language learning, scholars and practitioners have seen it crucial to address form in language learning programs (ellis, 2016). in general, grammar learning may be delivered separately or integratively, which are often differentiated as focus on forms and focus on form (long, 2016). the term focus on forms (fonfs) usually refers to the more traditional way of grammar teaching, which utilizes explicit techniques to attend to form as an object of study and typically involves direct reference to rules. on the other hand, focus on form (fonf) is “various techniques designed to attract learners’ attention to form while they are using l2 as a tool for communicating” (ellis, 2016, p.409). each approach has its own merits and downsides, but both may be regarded as complementary in language learning (ellis, 2015). focus on form (fonf), being associated more with a ‘communicative’ way of learning, seems to be more theoretically favored. it allows students to learn about form in l2 communicative contexts with more individualized feedback and is believed to be more useful to develop grammar competence. despite this, the traditional way is still widely practiced (larsen-freeman, 2015), especially in efl settings with large classes (see poole, 2005). it is considered to be more effective to facilitate “noticing” forms to help students understand the meanings of grammatical items and to promote accuracy (de keyser, 1998; murtisari, hastuti, & arsari, 2019; murtisari, salvadora, & hastuti, 2020; sheen, 2005). conducting an experimental study on fonf and fonfs, sheen (2005) found that his sixth-grade participants who received a fonfs instruction significantly improved their grammar scores in a posttest, while those receiving a fonf one continued producing largely incorrect forms. therefore, he does not believe that fonfs should be excluded from second language learning. however, with less communicative content compared to that of focus on form, the traditional method may not facilitate students to understand how to use l2 forms naturally. such non-alignment between explicit instruction and usage may reduce the chance to transfer the form to productive use (see larsenfreeman, 2015). furthermore, although explicit knowledge has stronger shortterm effects, it diminishes over time (umeda, snape, yusa, & wiltshier, 2017). follow-up is imperative to assist students to gain further benefits from traditional grammar teaching. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 159 use of translation in grammar teaching the use of translation in grammar class seems limited to gtm, which is usually non-communicative. this method traditionally used l1 as a medium of instruction, and the teacher, who becomes the center of the class, does not have to be fluent in l2. besides, grammar learning is carried out deductively in which students are asked to memorize the rules and practice them in the exercises. a typical activity in gtm is translating decontextualized inauthentic sentences from l1 into l2 or the other way around. emphasis is given to formal accuracy rather than fluency (zhou & niu, 2015). with all these characteristics, gtm is considered boring (scheffler, 2013) and not designed to assist students to communicate in l2 in real-life settings. it is therefore not surprising that as celcemurcia (2012) pointed out, "[t]he result of this approach is usually an inability on the part of students to use the language for communication" (p. 5). however, none of the traits generally associated with gtm are inherent features of the use of translation for teaching grammar (thornbury, 2010). as thornbury noticed (2010, par.5-6), “they are simply excess baggage that [grammar translation] accreted in its passage through the nineteenth century”, and “[t]he notions of fluency, skills work, and whole texts are not in the least incompatible with a translation-mediated approach”. therefore, the use of translation in language teaching/learning needs to be advocated as a mediation skill, rather than just an activity of finding verbal equivalence across languages. the translation practice in general needs to be aimed to produce ’functional’ translations that meet the purpose of the communicative context and use natural expressions of the target language. utilizing authentic communicative texts at the sentence level and beyond will make such tasks possible as they usually reveal semantic and pragmatic differences between l1 and l2. however, the translation items should be carefully adjusted to the language level of the learners so they will not be too challenging to translate (see also salem, 2012). advantages may be gained by students from translating in their grammar learning. first, by acknowledging the relevance of l1 in l2 learning, translation may scaffold students' learning with the students' mother tongue and enable teachers to deal with issues related to l1 use. as a crucial means of learners' cognitive functions, l1 is inseparable from the process of l2 learning. besides facilitating students in constructing meaning in l2, using translation may also increase their awareness of differences between l1 and l2. according to cook (2010, p.55), "conscious awareness of [l1-l2] differences" is indispensable for students to be able to negotiate meaning interlingually for various situations, audiences, and purposes. rather than cause disruptions as some individuals consider, translation helps students find more natural forms in l2. instead of utilizing only mental translations, learners can mediate between l1 and l2 forms through communicative translation practices. second, translation may offer students more interactions in meaning than the use of a “trigger-structure association”, like by changing the main verbs into certain forms and other cloze exercises (salem, 2012). although the application of cues in a "trigger-structure association" is widely done in grammar learning, it is challenging, because in real-life "language is not normally elicited by triggers" but "it is produced to convey meaning" (salem, 2012, p.147-8). hence, grammar is not only used to communicate, as it is connected with vocabulary elicitation, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 160 comprising the semantic and pragmatic features of the statement. furthermore, by aligning the form to students’ l1, which tends to be the predominant cognitive system, translation may help learners to make l2 forms more meaningful and further internalize them in their thinking processes. the use of translation in grammar learning can be very versatile as a general means of scaffolding with the use of l1. however, to significantly enhance the study of specific grammatical forms, it should be given a substantial amount of time to allow deep learning. during the translation practice, learners not only construct sentences in l2 but also need to mediate meaning between l1 and l2 by considering different lexico-grammatical and pragmatic aspects, which requires time to do. the resulting translations also need to be assessed and discussed when students produce problematic renderings. according to salem (2012), care is also necessary for designing the materials to avoid problems such as if the l1 trigger is too difficult to translate or has “textual flaws” (p.147) because they are “poorly worded” (p.153). for the latter, salem identified, the l1 sentence may be redundant and needs to be paraphrased to produce a proper l2 sentence, or the l1's context is unclear or ambiguous. it is also essential to be careful with items that potentially lead to unnatural responses in l2. such items should only be used to highlight common differences between l1 and l2 which may affect students’ use of the target form. when involving challenging but useful idiomatic l2 expressions, students also need ample support to be able to produce desirable renderings (for instance, by being given the l2 expressions). this kind of issue needs to be addressed because, unlike skillful translators, learners’ capacity to translate is still limited due to restricted l2 knowledge. method context of the study this study was conducted to discover how translation at the sentence and discourse levels may help overcome the downsides of isolated grammar teaching where students are normally more focused on learning the formal features of discrete l2 forms but do not have enough opportunities for meaning engagement in an authentic communicative context. this small scale action research was carried out in an english undergraduate program of a well-respected university in central java, indonesia. the topic of the differences between the simple past and the present perfect was selected because indonesian students often find it difficult to differentiate the two. in the english program where the study took place, grammar was taught both in separate courses and integratively in skill-courses. in the independent courses, grammar was typically taught using the ppp method (presentation, practice, and production). with the time limitation, however, the isolated grammar teaching session in this preliminary study only consisted of presentation and practice. it was then followed by translation practice. participants a total of ten third-year efl students enrolled in a four-year bachelor's degree program participated in this research. they were taking an introductory translation course in which language focus is an integral part. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 161 instruments and data collection students’ reflections were used as instruments to collect data on how they perceived the use of translation practice in learning l2 forms in isolated grammar teaching. before writing their reflections, they were given a short briefing to write what they thought as honestly as possible and assured that their opinions about the use of translation would not affect their grades. the procedure of grammar teaching for the present research, grammar teaching was conducted in two meetings with english as the main medium of instruction. they were taught by the researcher with the following structure. 1. the presentation and practice of the grammar lesson (first meeting 2x50 minutes) in the first meeting, the students were taught about comparing the simple past tense and the present perfect tense based on teaching material developed by bolton and goodey (2013). this material was written for pre-intermediate to upper-intermediate students, which suited the levels of the study participants. the presentation and practice session may be further clarified as follows. a. presentation the presentation began with a brief introduction to prepare the students for the topic by asking them whether they had had lunch and what time they had it (‘have you had lunch?’; ‘when did you have it?’). the students were also requested to ask the instructor the same questions. then the instructor guided the students to formulate the rules of the two tenses on the board. after this, the participants were given printed material adapted from bolton and goodey (2013). the material consisted of four parts, each supplemented with a short text (around 80 words) illustrating different aspects of the target forms and followed by an explanation about them. all the texts were related to each other about a missing teenager. the four parts covered the differences between the past and simple and common time expressions that could be used with them. every part ended with four questions to check students' comprehension of the meanings/uses of the relevant forms. b. practice following the presentation session, the instructor gave a very brief summary to contrast the simple past and the present perfect tenses. after this, the students did three exercises, which consisted of one matching exercise, one cloze exercise, and choosing the correct form for a specific context. altogether, they consisted of 30 items that required students to select forms representing the simple past or the present perfect tense. the students were asked to work individually, and then the answers were thoroughly discussed. for most of the session, english was used without sacrificing students’ understanding to give students more exposure to the foreign language. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 162 2. the translation practice (second meeting – 2x50 minutes) the second meeting was conducted the next day and started with a brief review of the differences between the two tenses. the students were later given three types of translation exercises at sentence and discourse levels which required students to work individually to decide which tense to use. the sentences and texts were designed to reflect authentic daily communication, which is crucial to link between the explicit instructions and the contexts of use of the target forms. a. translating sentences (16 sentences) this sentence-level practice was aimed to assist students to produce complete propositions in the target forms at the lowest level. the meaning context was made clear to help students construct the desired response. most sentences normally had one expected answer (see sentence a-b), but several had two or more possible correct responses (see sentence c), with possible different meaning nuances (e.g., formal/informal overtones). such a variety of items can help develop students’ language awareness and understanding that translation is not based on straight-forward meaning equivalence. examples: a) saya sudah makan dua kali pagi ini. (time: it’s still in the morning) – (expected response: ‘i’ve eaten twice this morning’) b) saya makan dua kali pagi ini. (time: it’s 1 pm now) – (expected response: ‘i ate twice this morning’). c) kakak perempuan saya belum pernah ke salatiga. (possible answers: ‘my (older) sister’s never been to salatiga’ or ‘my (older) sister’s never visited salatiga’). b. translating conversations (4 short exchanges) this type of exercise was meant to teach students how the grammatical form(s) may be used in communicative speech discourse. example (with possible translations): andi: saya sudah lama tidak melihat toni. (‘i haven’t seen toni for ages/ a long time’) budi: oh, dia sudah pindah ke semarang. (‘oh, he’s moved to semarang’) andi: yang betul? kapan dia pergi? (‘really?/you’re kidding/you can’t be serious/are you sure? when did he leave/move?’) budi: tahun lalu. (‘last year’) c. translating a very short news text (3 long sentences) this discourse-level practice served to introduce how the target forms may be used in a written text. the discussion of students' translations might involve issues of coherence, such as how the word repetitions should be minimized. in the example below, for instance, the word "boy" was used for the first time, and then "child" was used to avoid redundancy. the topic of the text was made similar to the texts given in the presentation session (first meeting) to help students relate to what had been studied and facilitate a better understanding. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 163 example: seorang anak laki-laki yang hilang akhir minggu lalu di philipi east sudah ditemukan. sivenanthi marongile menghilang saat bermain dengan seorang teman pada hari sabtu. polisi mengatakan bahwa anak tersebut ditemukan minggu pagi. (a boy who went missing in philipi east last week has been found. sivenanthi marongile disappeared while playing with a friend on saturday. the police said the child was found on sunday morning.). findings and discussion the data were analyzed using a thematic analysis which was done by frequently reading the reflection to familiarize the researcher with the content and a basis to establish the emerging themes. an examination of the reflections revealed three aspects of students’ experiences in using translation to learn grammar. these aspects consisted of their feelings and opinions about the translation practice, and their reasons for them, which constituted their perceived benefits of using translation in their grammar practice. overall, the study revealed favorable beliefs towards the application of translation in learning l2 forms, which refute, as liao (2006) points out, the commonly held assumption under the communicative language teaching approach that translation is detrimental to language learning. feelings and general views the participants reported positive feelings towards the use of translation in the grammar class. two students (s5 and s8) mentioned they were pleased to join the grammar class, especially the translation session. one student (s3) said the class was motivating. she believed the translation activities were more stimulating than the previous part of the grammar class. as she put it, "the usual grammar practice made me sleepy, and i did not pay a lot of attention [to the lesson]." two other students said doing the translation exercise was fun (s3 and s6). this demonstrates that translation is not necessarily a dull activity for learning grammar when appropriately incorporated. one possible reason for this is it is more cognitively engaging (duff, 1989) than conventional grammatical exercises because students are involved in meaning-making (salem, 2012). one may argue that to take learners to a higher order of learning like this, one does not have to resort to translating. by writing directly in l2, one may also achieve this. however, considering that mental translation from l1 is common among l2 learners (cohen, brooks-carson, & jacobs-cassuto, 2000; hu, 2003), translation exercises may provide a tool for checking students’ l2 production for possible l1 areas of interference and deal with them to help learners consolidate the new l2 information into the already established l1 knowledge. furthermore, while not all the participants expressed their feelings about the translation component, all of them had positive views towards it. s1, s2, s4, s5, s6, and s7 said that the translation exercises were helpful. s3 and s4 believed that the translation practice was essential to help them learn the specific l2 forms being taught. three students (s1, s3, and s4) reported that differentiating the simple past and the present perfect was perplexing, and the translation exercises llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 164 were challenging (s1 and s3). this may have been because they had to work harder to reproduce the meanings from l1 to l2 rather than just construct the correct forms with the available words like in the previous traditional practice. regardless, all of these participants felt the translation exercises assisted them greatly. s1 and s3 reported an excellent understanding of how the two tenses differ, while s4 mentioned that the translation practice was an "effective" way of learning grammar. all these positive feelings/views strongly echo positive previous research findings on students’ perceptions or attitudes towards the use of translation in language learning/teaching (e.g. carreres, 2006; dagilienė, 2012; liao, 2006; machida, 2008). benefits of integrating translation in grammar teaching the participants’ reflections showed the following recurrent themes on the benefits of incorporating translation into grammar learning, such as: 1. allowing deeper learning of specific grammatical items s1, s2, s3, s6, and s9 or half of the participants believed that the translation component allowed them to learn the target forms deeper than they did in the first meeting of the grammar class. according to s1, this was because they not only had to choose which particular form to use in a specific context but they also practiced other relevant aspects of using the target form like how to use related vocabulary words. this finding corroborates colina and lafford’s (2018) view that translation may help illuminate various aspects of texts, which allows for a more comprehensive understanding of how l2 forms work in context. here, the translation practice could significantly enhance traditional grammar teaching beyond just enabling students to understand the meanings of specific forms and construct them correctly. by mediating meaning from l1, it further engaged students to learn grammar as a practice of meaning-making to be able to communicate effectively in l2. 2. increasing language awareness the incorporation of translation into grammar teaching fosters the students to increase their language awareness. first, the students understand the meanings and uses of vocabulary items that frequently co-occur with a specific grammatical form. half of the participants reported that the translation component allowed them to learn the semantic nuances of words relevant to the use of the target forms. s8, for instance, wrote that she learned the difference between ‘gone to a place’, which is a literal translation of an indonesian source text, and ‘been to a place’. another student (s6) mentioned how the word ‘yet’ in ‘i haven’t done it yet’ makes the meaning different from ‘i haven’t done it’. in indonesian, both of the sentences may be expressed in the same form, not capturing the specific meaning of 'yet'. here, it was interesting to note that although the use of words such as ‘yet’ and 'already' had been addressed in the previous meeting, the students did not notice their meanings until they applied them in the translation practice (often inaccurately due to the literal translation from indonesian). this shows that the integration of translation may promote learning of the lexicogrammatical aspect, which makes up an area of translation sub-skill (leonardi, 2011). this benefit will be invaluable in language learning because “grammar and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 165 lexis are completely interdependent” (salem, 2007, p. 2012) and is therefore central in developing grammar competence for communication. second, the students understand the importance of grammar in expressing meanings. two students (s2 and s8) realized that grammar is not only about form because it plays an essential role in conveying meaning. s8 wrote how the use of 'be’ in the passive may make a substantial difference in meaning. he pointed out that “grammar affects the quality of translation”. s2 realized how the use of the form is closely linked to the context of meaning. she stated she became more motivated to learn grammar to express meanings correctly in english. such realization is crucial in language learning because many efl students tend to pay more attention to vocabulary than grammar (poole, 2005) and see the latter just as a matter of mechanical rules. this lack of awareness often reduces their motivation to learn l2 forms autonomously. third, the students understand the differences between l1 and l2. two students (s1 and s8) wrote how indonesian is different from english in grammar usage. s1 revealed that indonesian has a different system of time marking from english. because of this, she felt she needed to learn grammar to be able to express herself in english well. s8, on the other hand, wrote how one needs to adjust to the conventions of l2 in translating. awareness that l2 works differently from l1 is paramount in language learning to deal with l1 interferences (cook, 2010). all the positive aspects of l2 from the reflections above show that translation may significantly enhance students’ learning in isolated grammar teaching. one student (s3) believed that the translation component was indispensable in her process of understanding the simple past and the present perfect tenses. she wrote: if i had not joined [this translation practice], i wouldn’t have understood the differences between the simple past and the present perfect tenses. [t]hey have different forms, but the meanings are very similar. this study supports previous research findings that translation practice is a very effective means for consciousness-raising pertinent to various aspects of language learning (kim, 2011; murtisari, 2016; scheffler, 2013). conclusion this study shows that translation practice may assist students to learn grammar at higher levels in isolated grammar teaching. using authentic communicative contexts, it may link explicit instructions with the contextual use of grammatical forms and engage students with meaning-making they can implement in communication. as revealed by students' reflections, translation enabled them to consolidate their previous knowledge of the target forms by understanding their meanings and uses more in-depth, helped them gain awareness of the essential role of grammar in communication, and assisted them in dealing with l1 interferences. a crucial finding was how translation may help students learn about the meanings and applications of common vocabulary words that co-occur with the target form(s), which may assist them to produce more natural expressions in l2. with a limited number of participants, this small-scale study’s findings are not generalizable but overall support the view that translation can be integrated into a grammar class to create more opportunities to learn how llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 166 to use l2 forms in authentic communicative contexts. more research is necessary to reveal how the integration of translation may help learners to use the target forms in the production phase of the ppp method and how translation may be more creatively integrated into grammar instruction across different levels of l2 competence. ultimately, the latter should lead to the development of an instructional model that may optimally help tap the potentials of translation to assist grammar learning. references bolton, d. & goodey, n. (2013). english grammar in steps. madrid: richmond. carreres, a. (2006). strange bedfellows: translation and language teaching. paper presented at 6th symposium on translation, terminology and interpretation in cuba and canada, la habana, cuba. retrieved on august 29, 2015, from http://www.cttic.org/acti/2006/papers/carreres.pdf celce-murcia, m. (2014). an overview of language teaching methods and approaches. in m. celce-murcia, d. m. brinton, & m. a. snow (eds.), teaching english as a second or foreign language (4th ed., pp. 2-14). boston, ma: heinle cengage learning. cohen, a., brooks-carson, a. & jacobs-cassuto, m. (2000). direct vs. translated writing: what students do and the strategies they use. center for interdisciplinary studies of writing (cisw) & center for advanced research on language acquisition (carla), university of minnesota, us. colina, s. & lafford, b. (2018). translation in spanish language teaching: the integration of a “fifth skill” in the second language curriculum. journal of spanish language teaching, 1-14. doi: 10.1080/23247797.2017.1407127 cook, g. (2010). translation in language teaching: an argument for reassessment. oxford: oxford university press. dagilienė, i. (2012). translation as a learning method in english language teaching. kalbų studijos/studies about languages, (21), 124-29. de keyser, r. (1998). beyond focus on form: cognitive perspectives on learning and practicing second language grammar. in c. doughty & j. williams (eds.), focus on form in classroom language acquisition (pp.42-63). new york: cambridge university press. duff, a. (1989). translation. oxford: oxford university press. ellis, r. (2015). the importance of focus on form in communicative language teaching. eurasian journal of applied linguistics, 1(2), 1-12. ellis, r. (2016). focus on form: a critical review. language teaching research, 20(3), 405-428. fernández-guerra, a. (2014).the usefulness of translation in foreign language learning: students’ attitudes. international journal of english language & translation studies, 2(1),153-70. hu, j. (2003). thinking languages in l2 writing: research findings and pedagogical implications. tesl canada journal, 21(1), 39-63. kim, e.y. (2011). using translation exercises in the communicative writing classroom. elt journal, 65(2), 154-60. larsen-freeman, d. (2015). research into practice: grammar learning and teaching. language teaching, 48(2), 263-280. doi: 10.1017/s0261444814000408 http://www.cttic.org/acti/2006/papers/carreres.pdf https://doi.org/10.1080/23247797.2017.1407127 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2020 167 leonardi, v. (2009). the role of pedagogical translation in language teaching: the fifth skill. [abstract]. retrieved on march 14, 2020, from https://iris.unife.it/handle/11392/533474#.xm3oo6mzaus liao, p. (2006). efl learners’ beliefs about and strategy use of translation in english learning. relc journal, 37(2), 191-215. doi: 10.1177/0033688206067428. long, m. (2016). in defense of tasks and tblt: non-issues and real issues. annual review of applied linguistics, 36, 5-33. doi: 10.1017/s0267190515000057 machida, s. (2008). a step forwards to using translation to teach a foreign/second language. electronic journal of foreign language teaching, 5(1), 140-155. machida, s. (2011). translation in teaching a foreign (second) language: a methodological perspective. journal of language teaching and research, 2(4), 740-746. doi: 10.4304/jltr.2.4.740-746. murtisari, e. (2016). translation as “a skill” in language learning/teaching: efl learners’ perception. kalbų studijos/ studies about languages,29, 102-113. murtisari, e.t., salvadora, l., & hastuti, g. (2020). isolated and integrated grammar teaching in a tertiary efl context: indonesian teachers’ beliefs. saga: journal of english language teaching and applied linguistics, 1(1), 17-30. murtisari, e.t., hastuti, g., & arsari, r.w. (2019). efl students’ perception of grammar teaching: isolated or integrated in skill courses? asian efl journal, 26(6), 207-226. poole, a. (2005). focus on form instruction: foundations, applications, and criticisms. reading matrix, 5(1), 47-56 salem, i. (2007). the lexico-grammatical continuum viewed through student error. elt journal, 61 (3), pp. 211-219, doi:10.1093/elt/ccm028 salem, i. (2012). l1-l2 sentence translation in classroom grammar tests. english language teaching journal (eltj), (66)2, 147-155. doi: 10.1093/elt/ccr044 scheffler, p. (2013). learners’ perceptions of grammar translation as consciousness raising. language awareness, 22(3), 255-259. sheen, r. (2005). focus on forms as a means of improving accurate oral production. in a. housen& m. pierrard (eds.), investigations in instructed second language acquisition (pp.271-310). berlin: mouton de gruyter. thornbury, s. (2002). why teach grammar? oxfordshire: longman. thornbury, s. (2010, october 15). g is for grammar translation. retrieved on december 1, 2019, from https://scottthornbury.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/gis-for-grammar-translation/ umeda, m., snape, n., yusa, n., & wiltshier, j. (2017). the long-term effect of instruction on learners' knowledge of english articles. language teaching research, 00(0), 1-21. doi: 10.1177/1362168817739648 van dyk, j. (2009). language learning through sight translation. in a.witte, t. harden, & a.r.o. harden (eds.), translation in language learning and teaching (pp. 203-2014). peter lang: oxford, bern, berlin, bruxelles, frankfurt am main, new york, wien. zhou, g. & niu, x. (2015). approaches to language teaching and learning. journal of language teaching and research, 6(4), 798-802. doi:10.17507/jltr.0604.11 https://iris.unife.it/handle/11392/533474#.xm3oo6mzaus https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccm028 https://scottthornbury.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/g-is-for-grammar-translation/ https://scottthornbury.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/g-is-for-grammar-translation/ llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 91 the effect of recast on students’ speaking skill based on their learning strategies adhi nurhartanto lampung university radhyo16@gmail.com abstract many studies have been conducted to find the effect of recast as a feedback on students. some studies have also revealed that recast is found to be less effective. this study is aimed to find the effect of recast to students with different learning strategies in an efl context in indonesia. the study is conducted using quasiexperimental design. the research instruments include llsq questionnaire and speaking test. the results reveal that recast may be effective for students with certain dominance of learning strategies. keywords: recast, speaking skills, learning strategies a. introduction generally, it is agreed that one of the teacher’s role is giving corrective feedback to the students’ exercises. this area has been observed by lyster and ranta (1997), ellis, loewen, and erlam (2006), mackey (2006), and goo and mackey (2013). these researches have conducted researches which elaborate the use of corrective feedback and its effectiveness in laboratory and classroom studies. studies on corrective feedback show that the results of corrective feedback are positive to students’ language production. these studies have mentioned that corrective feedback is important and contributes to second language acquisition. a study recommends that corrective feedback is useful is shown by lyster and ranta (1997). their study examines six types of oral corrective feedback, namely: recasts, elicitation, clarification requests, metalinguistic feedback, explicit correction and elicitation. lyster and ranta’s (1997) study mentions that even though recasts appeared to be the most common error correction used by teachers, it is found to be ineffective since only 30% of the recasts are followed by the uptake by the students while the other 70% goes unnoticed. lyster and ranta (1997) defines uptake as ‘student’s utterance that immediately follows the teacher’s feedback and that constitutes a reaction in some way to the teacher’s intention to draw attention to some aspect of the student’s initial utterance. in most studies, the use and usability of corrective feedback is based on the uptake, in terms of the learners’ immediate response to the feedback but the validity of immediate uptake as an indication of acquisition in a long term is questionable. the finding mentions that recasts are mostly used by teachers to correct students’ error but found to be less-effective. since then more researchers make comparative study of recasts with other types of corrective feedback. the results are mostly similar to mention that recasts are less effective compared to other types of feedback but still more effective than those without any the effect of recast on students’ skill ... 92 treatments (ellis, et.al, 2006; ellis, 2007). however, the studies have proven that the use of corrective feedback is important to accelerate students’ language acquisition. corrective feedback is claimed by schmidt (1994) as the importance of noticing and noticing the gap in l2 acquisition. schmidt’s definition of corrective feedback seems to give a direction of the claim of why error correction goes unnoticed. krashen’s (1983) affective filter hypothesis which points out that error correction has the immediate effect of putting the students on the defensive and therefore, harmful for language acquisition. this theory has since made the use of direct correction is limited. teachers hesitate to give direct correction and it is resulted in the fossilization of the errors made. questions related to giving correction are still remained. hendrickson (1978) formulate the questions on error correction as when should learner’s error be corrected?, which errors should be corrected?, how should errors be corrected?, and who should do the correction?. krashen’s theory seems to put learners in unlimited time and let them speak when they feel ready, when the language is learned or acquired. since then, the studies which compare recasts with other types of corrective feedback have been done which mostly compare between recasts with other type of feedback. in their research in low-intermediate of second language class, ellis, loewen, and erlam (2006) apply recasts as implicit feedback and metalinguistic explanation as explicit feedback in correcting students’ errors in regular past tense. their research concludes that explicit feedback in the form of metalinguistic information is more superior than the implicit feedback in the form of recasts in oral imitation test, grammaticality judgment test, and metalinguistic knowledge test in delayed posttest. in other research, mackey (2006) discusses feedback in the form of instructed second language learning which inserts feedback in a game-show quiz activity involving questions, plurals, and past tense forms. mackey mentions that the purpose of the study is to determine whether the interactional feedback is associated with learners’ reports about noticing. the study concludes that there may be association between noticing and learning. other study from sheen (2008) investigates the level of language anxiety related to learners’ ability in improving the accuracy when the learners are provided with corrective feedback in the form of recasts. the result shows that the low anxiety group which is treated by recasts as the corrective feedback scores significantly higher than high-anxietyrecastgroup and the control group. the finding shows that language anxiety is a factor that influence not only whether recasts lead to modified output but also whether they promote learning. in their library study, goo and mackey (2013) mentions that comparing recasts with other types of corrective feedback seems to be standing in shaky foundation for some reasons because recasts are operationalized as single type while the others often used in multiple types. moreover, they argued that recasts and prompts-like clarification requests, metalingusitic feedback, and elicitationsare not to be compared and may work synergistically to effect positive changes in l2 development (goo and mackey, 2013). the type of recasts, such as s : to her is good thing t : yeah, for her it’s a good thing llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 93 s : because she got a lot of money there (loewen and philp, 2006) seems to let the student under confusion because it seems like responding to the student’s speech and does not give opportunity for the students to make an uptake and repair the error while the other types of feedback gives more information such as ‘pardon?’ (clarification request), ‘you need another preposition’ (metalinguistic feedback), ‘to her?’ (repeat and change of tone in repetition). based on this view, the research might be expanded, not only to compare the types of feedback, but also to explore on how corrective feedback is effective. again, goo and mackey (2013) propose research on the interaction of the effectiveness of corrective feedback to individual differences in cognitive capacity. different view comes from goo and mackey (2013) which states that comparing recasts to other types of feedback is comparing one apple to oranges. their view comes from the fact that other feedbacks are modified feedbacks which lead to modified output opportunity in the form of clarification requests, metalinguistic feedback, elicitations, and repetitions, while recasts are giving the complete correct form of the target language without waiting for the output. researchers have agreed that feedback is contributive to second language learning. the factors of affective filter, students’ response to feedback, types of feedback, and its effect on students’ acquisition of the language seems to be teachers’ consideration in conducting the classroom activity. ellis and schmidt (1997) mention that second language acquisition’s important foci is the examination of cognitive processes in second language learning. moreover, mackey et al. (2000) mentions that two cognitive processes which plays important role in sla is attention and awareness. from the point of view of learning strategies, cognitive processes are useful to explain two basic issues, namely: mental representation and mental processing (setiyadi, 2012). moreover, setiyadi (2012) adds mental representation may refer to how students memorized what they have learned, or experienced in their life by remembering things in their native languages, while mental processing, on the other hand deals with cognitive processing. from the definitions above, it is clear that cognitive processes include all activities related to mental processing. therefore, this study is aimed to investigate the effectiveness of recasts on students, based on their dominance in using language learning strategy categories, namely; cognitive category, metacognitive category, and social category. research question is as follows. is student’s dominance on certain learning strategies influence their acceptance on recasts? b. method this research is a crosssectional design where the data were collected from a relatively large sample at one point in their language development (dulay, burt, krashen, 1982). it was done with deductive approach where researcher had preconceived notion or expectation about l2 phenomena to be investigated (suparman, 2009). this research involved students who are taking basic classes of listening, reading, structure, speaking, and writing. in the end, researcher picked ten students to apply the recasts treatment. the subjects of this research came from university the effect of recast on students’ skill ... 94 majoring non english department and did not use english frequently. before the test was done, the students were asked to take a questionnaire based on the language learning strategies questionnaires (llsq) which were taken form setiyadi (2012). the questionnaires were given at the beginning of the class to categorize the students in certain dominant learning strategies category. it is hoped that in each class all categories of language learning strategy users, namely; cognitive category, metacognitive category, and social category are represented in the class. the data was collected from telling the family member’s daily activities. the study noted students’ speech production of someone’s daily activities. so, the data taken were in the simple present form for the third person which focuses in verb+s. in this technique, students were asked to tell one of the family member’s daily activities. in the first chance, the students told the story focusing on the use of verb+s with the teacher gave recasts when the students did not make the right sentences. in the second chance, after a few minutes, students were asked to tell again about the daily activities of the other family member (different from the first), based on their own understanding and diction without any interference from the teacher. the uptake and modified output was noted. c. discussion uptake is defined as the output produced by learners as a result of feedback that they receive after they make utterance which may consist of modified output or not (ellis, 2005). from these definitions, uptake can be seen as a product after feedback is given. however, the result of uptake cannot be guarantee as correct outputs. uptake can be seen as the direct response of the feedback. meanwhile, repair is referred by lyster and ranta (1997) as the correct reformulation of an error as uttered in a single student turn and not to the sequence of turns, resulting in the correct reformulation. to answer the research question, the following data was gained from the questionnaires. table 1. number of recasts, uptakes, and repairs no. name sentence made recasts made uptakes uptakes percentage repairs 1 mar 14 2 2 100% 2 2 iy 10 10 1 10% 1 3 ar 10 4 3 75% 3 4 ram 7 7 4 57% 4 5 inv 10 7 2 29% 2 6 dta 8 8 1 13% 1 7 smn 11 9 0 0% 0 8 fa 10 8 4 50% 3 9 ls 7 5 4 80% 3 10 maf 12 10 1 10% 1 total 99 70 22 31% llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 95 the data had described about how students of indonesian efl learners responded to the corrective feedback used by their teacher, in this case recasts as the corrective feedback. this finding is in line with lyster and ranta (1997) which shows that 69% of the recasts go without any uptake from the students. this finding contributes to their finding that recasts can be seen as ineffective. even from student no.7, the percentage of uptake was 0%. student no.7 only replied by “yes” without doing any uptakes. this data indicates that students’ acceptance on corrective feedback was different from each other. from what had been found, it may be necessary to look back to schmidt’s (1994) statement that teachers need to show the importance of noticing and noticing the gap in l2 acquisition. mackey et al. (2000) mentions that two cognitive processes which plays important role in sla are attention and awareness. these two theories have probably shown the cause. the student’s lacking of awareness and attentions have failed him to notice what went wrong from the sentence he produced. from the simple present tense sentences (verb 1 +s), that were produced by the students, most of the students were not able to give additional +s, even though the verbs used had been taught in the classroom. table 2. errors percentation without recasts no. name sentence made errors errors percentage 1 mar 7 3 43% 2 iy 7 4 57% 3 ar 11 8 73% 4 ram 7 7 100% 5 inv 7 7 100% 6 dta 7 5 71% 7 smn 8 8 100% 8 fa 12 0 0% 9 ls 8 5 63% 10 maf 5 5 100% 79 52 66% in the more natural speech, without any intervention from the teacher, which were taken only 30 minutes after the first interview, 66% of the sentences produced by the students were inaccurate. there were errors contained in the sentences. from 79 sentences produced, 52 sentences had errors. these also showed that the recasts given by the teacher were not memorable and had failed to give notification of what went wrong. the result also showed that one student, no.8, made no errors from his twelve sentences to describe about his sister’s daily activities. it showed that individual differences the effect of recast on students’ skill ... 96 may cause in how a language is acquired. from the first interview, student no. 8 showed that he made errors in 50% of his sentences (table 1), but the next result (table 2) he showed good accuracy. therefore, there may be some ways to see the individual differences in each student. table 3. score of learning strategies no. name cognitive meta social 1 mar 3.8 4.0 3.4 2 iy 2.5 3.6 3.6 3 ar 3.3 4.2 3.0 4 ram 3.5 4.2 3.6 5 inv 3.4 3.6 3.8 6 dta 3.6 3.6 2.6 7 smn 2.9 3.0 3.4 8 fa 3.3 3.8 3.2 9 ls 2.7 3.8 3.4 10 maf 2.9 4.0 2.8 based on the research question, this research tries to find which learning strategy is probably effective to make recasts is noticeable. from the errors made, only student no. 1 and no. 8 with each made 57% of correctness and 100% of correctness. both of the students also had highest score in metacognitive strategy. setiyadi (2012) mentions that metacognition involves processes related to monitoring and evaluating what has been done and planning what to do in acquiring another language. moreover, he added that metacognitive strategies include self-direction, self-monitoring, selfevaluating and self-correcting. from the strategy employed by the two students, altogether, both of them put ‘i try to speak with myself to improve my speaking’ and ‘i notice my english mistakes, and use that information to help me do better’ as as always true of me, which means these strategies were employed by them. therefore, it is probably necessary to teach this strategy to the students to improve their speaking accuracy. d. conclusions based on the findings, it can be concluded that the skill to notify what went wrong in their speech, is different from one another. these individual differences should be considered before giving the corrective feedback. corrective feedback, represented by recasts can take role to wrap up what have been learned by the students, but the effectiveness is still arguable. this study has showed that it can be effective to certain type of student. from the point of view of learning strategy, it can also be taught to students to reflect how the successful students use the learning strategy to increase their speaking ability, specifically speaking accuracy. llt journal vol. 18 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 97 references dulay, h., burt, m., and krashen, s. (1982). language two. new york: oxford university press. ellis, rod. (2005). instructed second language acquisition a literature review. ministry of education: new zealand ellis, rod., loewen, shawn., & erlam, rosemary. (2006). implicit and explicit corrective feedback and the acquisition of l2 grammar. studies of second language acquisition 28 339-368. cambridge university press: usa. goo and mackey (2013). the case against the case against recasts. studies in second language acquisition , 2013, 35 , 127– 165. krashen, stephen d. (1982). principles and practice in second language acquisition. phoenix elt: great britain. mackey, alison. (2006). feedback, noticing and instructed second language learning. applied linguistics 27/3: 405–430. oxford university press: oxford mackey, a., s. gass,. and k. mcdonough. (2000). how do learners perceive implicit negative feedback? studies in second language acquisition 22. lyster, roy. and ranta, leila. (1997). corrective feedback and learner uptake: negotiation of form in communicative classrooms. studies in second language acquisition, 20, 37 – 66. cambridge university press: usa. setiyadi, ag. bambang. (2012). english learning strategies in an efl setting in indonesia. halaman moeka: jakarta. sheen, younghee. (2008). recasts, language anxiety, modified output, and l2 learning. language learning 58:4, december 2008. suparman, ujang. 2009. qualitative research for language teaching and learning. bandung: arfino raya llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 304 students’ motivation towards global assessment certificate curriculum: a survey study uswatun hasanah and rizki farani islamic university of indonesia, yogyakarta uswahusna58@gmail.com and rizki.farani@uii.ac.id correspondence: uswahusna58@gmail.com doi: 10.24071/llt.v23i2.2487 received 12 march 2020; accepted 17 may 2020 abstract this paper aims to identify motivation of students to learn english as foreign language for global assessment certificate (gac) curriculum in an international private high school in yogyakarta. there were 46 gac students from grade x, xi and xii involved in this study. the level of motivation was measured by using attitude/ motivation test battery (amtb) which consists of 5 domains: a) desire to learn english; b) attitudes toward learning english; c) the interest in foreign language; d) language class anxiety and e) language use anxiety. the results show that the motivation of the students to learn english as efl was at high and moderate level. the students are able to speak english well but they need improvement on self-confidence in english. the survey implies that students well perceived english as an important means for their carrier prospects and way to enhance their knowledge. keywords: students’ motivation, english as a foreign language, senior high school introduction motivation is one of the keys to the success of the teaching and learning process because it involves effort to encourage someone to do something or the driving force of the subject to do an action in a goal (dörnyei, 1994). in this research, the context of motivation refers to learning motivation as psychological condition that drives a person to learn (gardner, 1985). in terms of motivation to learn english as foreign language (efl) in indonesian context, students in indonesia need strong internal motivation to improve their english competence since english is not their vernacular and national language. integrative motivation requires positive attitudes from students towards speakers of the target language and culture (gardner, 1985). it implies that motivation and attitude of language can be seen not only in the form of pleasure and pride in using a particular language but also according to the concept of cultural understanding. studies on motivation and attitude in learning english from iran and jordan show that students have high motivation to learn english since they have positive awareness toward the importance of english. (chalak & kassain, 2010; tahaineh & daana, 2013). mailto:rizki.farani@uii.ac.id llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 305 this research discusses further about motivation of students in one of private international senior high schools in yogyakarta during their study in international program, global assessment certificate curriculum (gac). in gac program, students have opportunity to study all subjects by using english as their medium of instruction. to apply for gac program, students need to take an entry test which includes listening, sentence structure, reading, writing and speaking test. gac modules consisting of english academics, mathematics, computers, study skills, business, science and social sciences are supported by systematic learning and university success skills. elective modules allow students to choose between the preparations for the international english language testing system (ielts) with the test of english as a foreign language® (toefl). there is also act® test preparation. this test is an addition to the gac core curriculum and is provided for students to have additional qualifications to apply to universities. however, passing grade of the entry test is relatively low. students need to reach minimum score 65 to pass the test. as the impact of the policy, most students can pass the entry test and register for ga program for one year but unfortunately not all of them can meet academic achievement so school provides remediation test to improve students’ score. based on this gap, it is assumed that there is imbalance situation between school policy and students’ psychological condition to survive in international program gac. they may experience low motivation during the program due to some factors, for instance mental condition, physical condition or boredom. to identify specifically about their motivation, this research intends to know: “what is the level of students’ motivation to learn english as foreign language in global assessment certificate curriculum?”. this research is important to be conducted as a part of gac program evaluation. it is expected that the findings can provide overview for school to reconsider its policy. method this is a quantitative research in a format of survey study (creswell, 2014) that involved 46 students who are taking gac program in international senior high school, yogyakarta. since the aim of this study is to map the level of motivation of the students, survey research is an appropriate design to answer the research question. the questionnaires used in data collection process were the revised version of attitude/ motivation test battery (amtb) (gardner, 2004). it contains 104 items and characterized into 12 scales (a) interest in foreign; (b) parental encouragement; (c) motivational intensity; (d) english class anxiety; (e) english teacher evaluation; (f) attitudes towards learning english; (g) attitudes towards english-speaking people; (h) integrative orientation (i) desire to learn english; (j) english course evaluation; (k) english use anxiety; (l) instrumental orientation. however, there were only 5 domains used in this research because not all domain llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 306 is appropriate with students’ characters. this decision was taken after conducting construct validity with the director of gac program. table 1.1. adaptation of domain amtb international version domain positively keyed negatively keyed (a) desire to learn english 1,2,3,4,5 6,7,8,9,10 (b) attitudes towards learning english 11,12,13,14,15 16,17,18,19,20 (c) interest in foreign language 21,22,23,24,25 26,27,28,29,30 (d) language class anxiety 31,32,33,34,35 36,37,38,39,40 (e) language use anxiety 41,42,43,44,45 46,47,48,49,50 the adaptation version of amtb has been used in many studies of english as foreign language motivation (e.g., chalak & kassain, 2010; tahaineh & daana, 2013; chairat, 2015). to measure students’ motivation, the point of “strongly agree” is 5 and “strongly disagree” is 1. for more details, the score for likert scale by riduwan (2016) for the questionnaire as follows: table 1.2. the score for likert scale likert scale score strongly agree 5 agree 4 neutral 3 disagree 2 strongly disagree 1 the attitude/motivation test battery: technical report by gardner (1985) and amtb international revised version (gardner, 2004) provided 8 points of likert scale but in this research, the director studies of gac asserted to reduce the scales to be 5 points of likert scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree to make students understand. table 1.3 the scale interpretation of positive statements intrepretation scale high 4,5 medium 3 low 1,2 table 1.4 the scale interpretation for negative statements (reverse) interpretation scale high 1,2 medium 3 low 4,5 note. negative statements scale is the opposite of positive statements scale llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 307 the positive and negative statements indicated the motivation and attitudes in detail. the questionnaire was translated into bahasa indonesia by using the backtranslation procedure in order to avoid the difficulties and misunderstanding. back translation procedure is a technical term in translation, with procedures to translate material from language a to language b, then, the results of the translation of language b are validated by expertise (tyupa, 2011). the quality of backtranslation can be predicted and has a translation function that is equivalent to the original and the target versions are studied. respondents were asked to read and check the questions carefully for 30-minute session. findings and discussion results will be discussed in terms of frequencies/percentages and the total mean value. table 1.5 the frequencies/percentages and the total mean value domain freq/perc high moderate total means desire to learn english freq 34 12 46 4.5 percent 73.2% 26.8% 100% attitudes towards learning english freq 37 9 46 4.3 percent 78.5% 21.8% 100% interest in foreign language freq 36 10 46 4.4 percent 77.8% 22.2% 100% language class anxiety freq 29 17 46 3.7 percent 62.2% 37.2% 100% language use anxiety freq 22 24 46 3.6 percent 49.3% 50.7% 100% based on table 1.5, the finding results state that the percentage level in each domain is between high and moderate. there are 78.5% of students who show positive attitudes towards learning english as well as their motivation to master various foreign languages perfectly. they also have interest in foreign languages and consider english as an important subject (77.8%). in desire to learn english, as many as 73.2% of students want to become proficient in the language. they relatively do not show any language use anxiety about speaking english including english in class presentations or when discussing with foreign students during a cultural exchange program 62.2%. however, language use anxiety shows a considerable difference since there are 49.3% students who experience anxiety in speaking english due to several internal or external factors. the factors may occur based on the existence of attitude-based motive (integrative motive) and selfconfidence motivational sub processes that revealed the presence of relatively independent classroom-based sub process, characterized by classroom cohesion and evaluation (dornyei, 1994). desire to learn english there are 61.80% students who have high motivation in positive item. they are eager to be fluent in english because they need to use english as language of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 308 instruction in gac program. however, there are 73.20% of students who are highly motivated in negative item. they state that they have no desire to learn english. this finding shows that motivation is perceived from learners’ desire to be more proficient in the language learning (gardner, 1985). attitudes toward learning english there are 78.50% students who wish to speak many foreign languages perfectly. it implies that they have high motivation in building positive attitude toward learning english. as the impact of this finding, students in gac program are able to participate in cultural exchange program where students communicate directly with native speakers. it proves that attitudes towards a language are often mirrored in the attitudes towards the members of that speech community (fasold,1984) as cited in (chalak & kassain, 2010). in addition, gac program also prepares the students to pursue their future education in english speaking country so it is obvious that students have motivation to master various foreign languages perfectly. however, the highest score is on the negative item which the students think that learning english is a waste of time. in fact, they need to learn english to survive their study in gac program. this data implies that students is more interested in practicing the language directly than studying the concept of the language. on the other word, students in secondary and high school perceive english as an important mean to support their carrier prospects and way to enhance their knowledge and prepare them to pursue advanced studies as well as help them to communicate with foreigners when they travel to other countries (kitjaroonchai, 2013). interest in foreign language there are 77.80% students who have high motivation in reading original english text. they do not prefer to read the translation version. the finding implies that integrative motivation plays an important role because a person needs to learn from language learning community and the ability to gain a knowledge applied from the learning language or instrumental motivation (gardner & lambert, 1959; hudson, 2000) cited in (tahaineh & daana, 2013). the result also shows that 77.80% students are highly motivated in the statement “it is not important for us to learn foreign languages”. it can be concluded that students strongly disagree with the statement. this shows that students consider english is very important. language class anxiety in the language class anxiety, there are 37.30% students who admit that they don’t understand why students feel nervous about speaking english in class. it means that students feel confident in speaking english in class. this finding implies that integrity, attitudes toward english and positive motivation are obtained in the classroom based on different cultural contexts and gender biases (tahaineh & daana, 2013). in the context of gac program, the students consist of male and female so they have opportunity to interact with all genders but a study case in jordan (tahaineh & daana, 2013) involves all female students in one class. the difference of gender can affect knowledge building. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 309 despite their confidence in speaking english in the class, there are 49.30% students who states that they embarrass to volunteer answering questions in the class. they also feel nervous when they speak in the class. mattarima & hamdan (2011) states that some factors in anxiety is the pressure of speaking assignments that require students to present individually and spontaneously in a limited time, lack of prior knowledge about the topic and less interaction in teacher-student relationship. students in gac program may experience the similar pressure since they need to use english all the time. language use anxiety in the language use anxiety, there are 58.70% students who have high motivation in speaking english if english speakers are presented. they feel more secure if they can listen dan see some examples from original native speaker about how to speak in english. in addition, there are 62.20% students who have high motivation in negative statement. the students feel worried in speaking english. this means some students do not worry about speaking english including english in class presentations or when discussing with foreign students during a cultural exchange program. this is in accordance with the opinion of oxford & shearin (1984) cited in chalak & kassain (2010) that visiting other countries and communicating with native speakers can influence the type of motivation they must achieve. thus, learner's motivation is possible influenced by whether the student learns in a foreign language environment or a second language environment. all of the findings in this research have answered the research question because the data really represent the level of students’ motivation in gac program at one of private international senior high school in yogyakarta. overall, students have high and moderate level of motivation in learning english as efl. however, they need to improve their self-confidence. the implication of this findings are some students who do not pass the academic requirement and take remediation test actually have a good skill in english but they are not able to maintain their motivation during gac program. they experience unstable motivation during oneyear program of gac. conclusion students in gac program have high and moderate level of motivation in learning english. however, they need to maintain their motivation for all program in terms of achieving academic learning objectives. overall, there is no students who have low motivation. based on the findings, school should provide additional program on motivation building to provide sufficient literacy for the students about how to improve self-confidence in learning english. school also needs to revise policy about passing grade indicators. the score of passing grade needs to be modified from 65 % to 75 % so all students who register for gac program have good foundation in english and self-confidence. having balance competence helps students to improve their quality in learning english. llt journal, e-issn 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(2006). language learning strategies, motivation and efl proficiency: a study of chinese tertiary-level non-english majors. asian englishes, 9(2), 20-47. llt journal vol. 15, no. 2 issn 1410-7201 9 foreshadows and symbols in the brussels company’s main office in joseph conrad’s heart of darkness ouda teda ena made frida yulia sanata dharma university abstract joseph conrad’s heart of darkness unveils a story about a journey to the inner self to find the mysteries of human mind. the way the writer presents his story is very intriguing in that he makes of use of many foreshadows and symbols. this paper attempts to examine the foreshadows and symbols which conrad uses in this novella; however, the discussion is limited to the ones that appear in the brussels company’s main office. keywords: foreshadows, symbols, the brussels company’s main office a. introduction heart of darkness literally tells a story about a journey to the center of africa. beyond that, the novella reveals a recount of one’s journey to self-discovery. conrad believes that art works including novels should employ symbols rather than plain narratives. he proposes “…that a work of art is very seldom limited to one exclusive meaning and not necessary tending to a definite conclusion” (conrad in kimbrough, 1971). he also suggests that, “… symbolic conception of a work of art has this advantage, that it makes triple appeal covering the whole field of life, gain complexity, in power, in depth and in beauty” (conrad in kimbrough, 1971). in one of his work, heart of darkness, he uses layers of symbols that make his novel full of symbolic messages. without understanding these symbols readers would not be able to benefit as much; they will only enjoy reading it, without being able to learn, moreover to be moved. by understanding the symbols used by conrad, readers can understand the binary oppositions of the common beliefs and his. moreover, they can further make their own binary oppositions towards conrad’s that will make reading more fascinating. since the beginning conrad has given the description of places in such a symbolic way that they foreshadow the story. one of the places that he describes through marlow, one of the main characters, in such a symbolic way is the company’s main office in brussels. this paper attempts to describe the symbols and events in the office and how they foreshadow the story. b. review of related literature this section presents theories about foreshadowing and symbolism. 1. foreshadowing foreshadowing is a literary device which commonly occurs at the beginning of a story or a chapter. foreshadowing is defined as “a way of indicating or hinting at what will come later” (in http://udleditions. cast.org/craft_elm_foreshadowing.html). it can be done directly or in a more subtle way. the role foreshadowing plays in literature is unique in each text. it depends on the story type and the way it is analyzed. normally it is used to “create suspense or to convey information that helps readers understand what comes later” (in http://udleditions. cast.org/craft_elm_foreshadowing.html). it actually prepares the readers for the 10 events that are about to happen. it spices up the story by creating dramatic tension or building a mystery. the readers are made to guess what might happen next. in addition, foreshadowing may also be used to shock the reader with a final revelation. for whatever reasons foreshadow is used, it serves its job to unify the plot by making the development and structure of the plot more logical. common methods for shadowing are through the use of dialogue, events, actions, and images to give hints about the future. sometimes it may even use the name of a work or the title of a chapter. foreshadowing can be done by mentioning an upcoming event or explaining the character’s plan which is depicted in the text. this is shown through phrases about the future. it may also be done by portraying the characters’ subtle reaction to something in their environment to show that it may play an important role in the event that is to come. it is usually done by describing objects or scenic elements that reveal among others happiness, sadness, danger, excitement. besides, foreshadowing may also be done by using the change in weather, setting, or mood to give clues whether what follows is either good or bad fortune. thus, to identify foreshadows the readers should watch over any signs of potential conflicts between characters, search for any unusual details or things bearing emotional significance. 2. symbolism symbolism refers to “the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense” (in http:// literarydevices.net/symbolism/). it is also one way to foreshadow in a story. the forms of symbolism are various. an object may be used to represent another object and assign a new meaning which is completely different. the new meaning is commonly more significant. besides, writers may also use an event or someone’s word to show symbolism. the meaning of a symbol depend very much one the context where the symbol is used. this means to say that the the meaning of the symbols is determined by people who read them and they can only be understood by people who read “when, where, and how they are used.” writers may develop symbolism through figures of speech, such as metaphors, simile, and allegory. symbolism is normally employed by writers to intensify the strength of meaning to his work. in addition to stating the literal meaning, he also reveals the symbolic meaning which is deeper. as a conclusion, symbolism “in literature evokes interest in readers as they find an opportunity to get an insight of the writer’s mind on how he views the world and how he thinks of common objects and actions, having broader implications.” (in http://literarydevices.net/ symbolism/) c. methodology poststructuralist approach is used in interpreting the foreshadows and symbols in the story. this approach is used because it is in line with conrad’s idea that there is no single meaning of an artwork. although it only gained its recognition formally in 1960 but conrad’s had already had a deconstructionist manner earlier in 1918 when he wrote a letter to one of his colleagues (kimbrough, 1971). the deconstructionists believe that a text has many meanings and therefore no definite interpretation; a text has an almost infinite number of possible interpretations (bressler, 1999). when such a principle is applied to literature interpretation, then the consequence is that there are no such things as correct meaning. the meaning lies in the interaction between the reader and the text. foreshadows and symbols in the brussels company’s main office.... llt journal vol. 15, no. 2 issn 1410-7201 11 d. discussion this section discusses the foreshadows and symbols which are found in the brussels company’s main office in joseph conrad’s heart of darkness. the foreshadows and symbols were portrayed through the setting of the main office, the women, the doctor, and some minor characters marlow meets in the office. 1. the office conrad is a critical writer if not cynical. through marlow and other characters he criticizes the european conducts and manners in colonizing other regions. it is true that he is also criticizing the africans but the novella was written for the european. therefore, his criticism is more directed to the europeans, european business enterprises as well as governments. in a broader sense it also observes the very basic nature of human being, i.e. the capability of conducting evil practices. he uses one of the settings, the main office in brussels to foreshadow the story. the descriptions of the office, the people and the events in it give clues to the readers as to what will happen in the rest of the story. they give hints of what marlow will encounter in his journey to the heart of africa. the first remark that foreshadows the story is on the buildings in the city itself: “…i arrive in a city that always makes me think of a whited sepulcher” (conrad in charters, 1991, p. 289). sepulcher is a grave. it is usually in the wall. obviously, conrad here is referring to the bible. the parable in the bible employs sepulcher to criticize the hypocrites. sepulcher looks white and clean from the outside but inside is the dead body, rotten and smelly. conrad creates a similar parable that the european enterprises are hypocrites. they state that they have noble missions in civilizing the colonies but they actually commit corrupt and malevolent practices. therefore here the statement foreshadows what marlow will be dealing with in africa. another remark that gives a hint to the readers is the description of the street where the office is located. conrad describes it as deadly quiet and gloomy. the map inside the room signifies how the journey will be. “… on one end a large shinning map, marked with all the colors of the rainbow.” “i was going into the yellow. dead in the center. and the river was therefascinating-deadly-like a snake.” (ibid, p. 289). traditionally yellow signifies glory; however, conrad adds “dead in the center.” the journey is meant for glory, conquering the uncivilized world, but it may also become a deadly mission. in addition, conrad, through marlow, describes congo by comparing it to a snake. it also gives an indication that the journey along the river will be fascinating but also deadly and dangerous like a snake. snakes traditionally are depicted as malicious creatures and represent evil force. it is possible that conrad refers to the bible, i.e. the genesis chapter three, when eve was seduced by the serpent to eat the forbidden fruit. here conrad describes the new continent as evil yet fascinating just as the jungle and its inhabitants. conrad is hinting that marlow does not know what he is going to encounter but is intrigued with the unknown and what he will eventually come to find out. 2. the women apart from the setting, the events and characters also foreshadow what marlow will come across in africa. the prominent characters in the main office in brussels are the two women and the doctor. the two women do not say anything but their appearances and actions have significant symbol and lead readers to the understanding of what the story will be. conrad describes 12 them in such a way that they bear important symbols. “two women, one fat and the other slim, sat on straw bottomed chair, knitting black wool.” (ibid, p.289) “…and a cat reposed on her lap.” (ibid, p.290) “…i thought of these two, guarding the door of darkness, knitting black wool as for a warm pall…” (ibid, p.290) conrad describes them as the guardians of the door of darkness. this gives indication that marlow’s journey is a trip toward darkness. he also describes them as wearing black dresses, which creates such an eerie feeling. it symbolizes fate or death. the woman in black with a cat is conventionally interpreted as a witch. the impression of the darkness is more striking because the “witch” is knitting a black pall, the cloth to cover coffin. 3. the doctor different from the two women who foreshadow the story by their behavior and appearance, the doctor gives clues as to what will happen through his conversation with marlow. his words indicate that the trip marlow is about to take is an arduous one. the doctor measures marlow’s head before he embarks on his journey to africa. when marlow inquires whether the doctor also measures the crania of the company’s staff upon their return from africa, the doctor says, “oh, i never see them” (ibid, p. 291). we can imply from the doctor’s remark that those who left never return. the accounts of the doctor: “…the changes take place inside…” and “interesting for science to watch the mental changes of individuals” (ibid, p. 291) reveal that people going out to the new continent will experience mental changes. the doctor also suggests that marlow should stay calm if he wants to keep his sanity. 4. the minor characters besides the prominent characters above, there are also minor characters in the main office in brussels who give clues as to what happens later in the story. the secretary whom marlow encounters is described as full of desolation and sympathy. it reveals that something bad is about to happen. marlow also talks about not disclosing any trade secrets. it indicates that what he is going to do in africa is related to secret practices that most possibly will be illegal. another foreshadow from the minor character in the office is when he meets the young shabby clerk. marlow asks why he does not go out there and his remark is “i’m not such a fool as i look, …” (ibid, p. 290). this remark shows that even the shabby young clerk knows about what is going on in africa and what happens to those going out there. e. conclusion in conclusion, conrad has carefully and beautifully used the settings, events and characters to foreshadow, i.e. giving clues as to what will happen in the story. he even creates symbolism by employing minor details and minor characters to enrich the story by adding complexity. the detailed descriptions and the symbolic conception in the main office in brussels have foreshadowed the story and have led readers to foresee the whole story. conrad has assigned new meaning to the practices of european company in africa even in the early stage of the journey. however, he leaves the possibility open to the assignment of another meaning to the new meaning. references bressler, c. e. 1999. literary criticism an introduction to theory and practice. upper saddle river, nj: prentice hall. conrad, j. 1991. ‘heart of darkness’ in charters, ann (ed.) the story and its foreshadows and symbols in the brussels company’s main office.... llt journal vol. 15, no. 2 issn 1410-7201 13 writer. boston: bedford books of st. martin’s press. conrad, j. 1971. ‘the symbolic character of fiction’ in kimbrough, robert (ed.) joseph conrad heart of darkness an authoritative text backgrounds and sources criticism. new york: w.w. norton & company inc. conrad, j. 1971. ‘explicitness is fatal to art’ in kimbrough, robert (ed.) joseph conrad heart of darkness an authoritative text backgrounds and sources criticism. new york: w.w. norton & company inc. h t t p : / / u d l e d i t i o n s . c a s t . o r g / c ra f t _ e l m _ foreshadowing.html retrieved on 23 august 2011. http://changingminds.org/disciplines/ storytelling/devices/foreshadowing. htm retrieved on 23 august 2011. h t t p : / / l i te ra r yd ev i c e s . n e t / sy m b o l i s m / retrieved on 23 august 2011. cover vol 15 no2_okt 12_rep isi llt_vol_15_no 2_oct 2012_save as llt journal vol. 15, no. 2 issn 1410-7201 1 voice onset time (vot) and vowel duration yohanaveniranda english language education study program sanata dharma university veniranda02@yahoo.com abstract this study investigates the effects of voicing of a preceding and following plosive on the voice onset time (vot) and vowel duration. the data consist of words with cvc segments, with the four groups of samples that represent both voiced and voiceless plosives, both for the ones following and preceding the vowels. the preliminary hypothesis is that voicing of following plosives affects the length of the vowels, indicated by the vowel duration, and vot is affected by the voicing of the preceding plosives, not the following plosives. to compare the effects of voicing on the lengths of the vowel duration and vot, the sound files are analyzed using the praat program. the results of this study show that the voicing of the following plosives affects the vowel duration, while the voicing of the preceding plosives does not affect the vowel duration. the results also show that it is the voicing of the c 1 plosives that affect the vot. the word-ending plosives do not affect the vot of the preceding plosives.this study is on english vowel duration and vot affected by the following and preceding stops. a further study can be done to compare the results of the effects with another language. keywords: vot, vowel duration, the praat program. introduction this study investigates the effects of voicing of a preceding and following plosive on the voice onset time (vot) and vowel duration. the data consist of words with cvc segments, with the four groups of samples that represent both voiced and voiceless plosives, both for the ones following and preceding the vowels. the preliminary hypothesis is that voicing of following plosives affects the length of the vowels, indicated by the vowel duration, and vot is affected by the voicing of the preceding plosives, not the following plosives. to compare the effects of voicing on the lengths of the vowel duration and vot, the sound files are analyzed using the praat program. a. methods a. the data the data consist of the following sound files: 1) four sound files, each file consists of 8 test words. the test words are in the carrier sentence “the word is….” there is one token of each word. the words, which have the segments of cvc, have been grouped in the following categories. here are the words in this study: a) c[-voice] v c[-voice]: pat, pot, cot, putt, talk, puck, tuck, pick. b) c[-voice] v c[+voice]: pad, pod, cod, pud, tog, pug, tug, pig. c) c[+voice] v c [-voice]: bat, bought, got, but, dock, buck, duck, bic. d) c[+voice] v c [+voice]: bad, bod, god, bud, bug, dug, big. 2 2) four sound files, each file consists of one test word. there are 10 tokens of each word. the test word is in the carrier sentence “the word is….” in these four sound files, there are four test words that represent each of the 4 cvc categories, and the vowel segment is the same. in this study, the words aretuck, tug, duck, dug. the recording is done using the sound recorder in the praat program, recorded as mono sound, and the sampling frequency is set at 8,000 hz. the sound files are saved as wav files. b. the analysis the calculation of the means and standard deviation of the vowel duration and vot is done by grouping the consonants that follow the vowels into voiced and voiceless and that precede the vowels into voiced and voiceless. in the analysis, the abbreviation of c1 refers to the first plosive in the cvc words. also, c2 refers to the second plosives in the words. t-tests, with the tails 2 and type 2, are performed to see the significance of the difference, using the standard p 0.05.the vot and vowel duration obtained from the praat program are converted to milliseconds. b. results and discussion a. the results of the first 4 sound files, 8 test words in each file, one token. 1) the means and standard deviations the following tables show the means and the standard deviationsof the vowel duration and votof each set in milliseconds. table 1. mean and standard deviation of the vowel duration followed by voiceless and voiced plosives c v c [-voice] c v c [+voice] mean 129.05 193.85 standard deviation 37.21 34.42 table 2. mean and standard deviation of the vowel duration preceded by voiceless and voiced plosives c[-voice] v c c[+voice] v c mean 153.22 169.67 standard deviation 55.53 39.76 the results show that the voicing of the following plosives affects the vowel duration, while the voicing of the preceding plosives does not affect the vowel duration. this is confirmed by the t-test that show the difference between the means of the following plosives that are different in voicing is 1.69 e-5 (which means 1.69 x 10-5), so it is < 0.05. while the t-test of the vowel duration between the groups of different voicing of the preceding plosives shows that it is 0.34, which is not <0.05, so it is insignificant. the following tables show the results of the means and standard deviation of the vot, of different voicing of the following and preceding plosives. voice onset time (vot) and vowel duration llt journal vol. 15, no. 2 issn 1410-7201 3 table 3. mean and standard deviation of the vot of c2 (the word ending) by voiceless and voiced plosives c v c [-voice] c v c [+voice] mean 53.76 47.51 standard deviation 43.56 40.80 table 4 mean and standard deviation of the c1 vot by voiceless and voiced plosives c[-voice] v c c[+voice] v c mean 89.56 11.71 standard deviation 17.75 5.91 the results show that it is the voicing of the c1 plosives that affect the vot. the following plosives do not affect the vot of the preceding plosives. this result is also confirmed by the test of significance of the means. the t-test of the means of the different voicing of the preceding plosives (or the c1) is 1.066e-16 (or 1.066 x 1016), which is much smaller than 0.05, and it means the difference is significant. while the calculation of the t-test of the means of the vot of the different voicing of the following plosives is 0.68, which is not smaller than 0.05, and it means it is not significant. b. the results of the first 4 sound files, 1 test word in each file, ten tokens. the following two tables show the results of the data on the vowel durations for plosives of different voicing, both following and preceding them. table 5. mean and standard deviation of the vowel duration followed by voiceless and voiced plosives c v c [-voice] c v c [+voice] mean 96.08 211.40 standard deviation 16.22 34.10 table 6. mean and standard deviation of the vowel duration preceded by voiceless and voiced plosives c[-voice] v c c[+voice] v c mean 151.8 152.75 standard deviation 61.17 68.48 the results in these sets of sound files confirm the previous results. the voicing the following plosives affect significantly the vowel duration, while the voicing of the preceding plosives does not affect it. the result of the t-test shows that the different voicing of the following plosives is 5.74e16 (or 5.74 x 10-16), which is lower than the 0.05 p value. while the t-test of the preceding different voicing of plosives is 0.96, which is higher than 0.05 p value, and so it means it is not significant. 4 the results of the vot measurement show that the voicing of the preceding plosives significantly affect the values. while the following voicing of the plosives do not show significant effect on the vot values. table 7 mean and standard deviation of the vot of c2 (the word ending) by voiceless and voiced plosives c v c [-voice] c v c [+voice] mean 34.80 37.45 standard deviation 24.62 18.03 table 8 mean and standard deviation of the c1 vot by voiceless and voiced plosives c[-voice] v c c[+voice] v c mean 52.34 19.91 standard deviation 13.54 14.069 the t-test of the different groups of preceding voicing is 6.58e-09 (or 6.58 x 10 -9), which is smaller than the p value 0.05, and so it is significant. the t-test of the vot values for different voicing of following plosives is 0.70, which is higher than 0.05, and it means it is insignificant. all the results above show that the preliminary hypothesis, i.e. that voicing of following plosives affects the length of the vowels, indicated by the vowel duration, and vot is affected by the voicing of the preceding plosives, not the following plosives, is proven to be correct. ohala (1997) in his paper compared the contemporary view of the relation between phonetics and phonology with earlier attitudes on the matter. phonetics and phonology did not exist as separate disciplines in earlier centuries. ohala looks at the relation between phonetics and phonology as the relation between the domains of the study, and in his opinion, phonology has to be seen as the discipline that tries to answer questions about spoken language by employing the methods, data, and theories of phonetics, as well as psychology, social sciences, history, ethology, etc.he also points out that a phonetic account of how natural sound patterns will make a convincing explanatory scenario. he mentions the common practice within phonetics of making a given measurement, such as vowel duration on multiple tokens, like the one in this lab, is evidence of the integration of phonetics and phonology and that phonology can benefit from phonetic studies. c. conclusions the results of this study show that the voicing of the following plosives affects the vowel duration, while the voicing of the preceding plosives does not affect the vowel duration. the results also show that it is the voicing of the c1 plosives that affect the vot. the word-ending plosives do not affect the vot of the preceding plosives. the current study shows the standard deviations but does not discuss further the implication of the deviations. further study can provide analysis on it.more sample words with not only voiced and voiceless plosives, but also voiced and voiceless fricatives and affricates can be taken to provide further evidence if voiced and voiceless obstruents, not only stops or plosives, have the same pattern as the results of this study. this study is on english vowel duration and vot affected by the following and preceding stops. a further study can be done to compare the results of the effects with another language. voice onset time (vot) and vowel duration llt journal vol. 15, no. 2 issn 1410-7201 5 references ohala, john j. 1997. “the relation between phonetics and phonology”. the handbook of phonetic sciences. william j hardcastle; john laver (ed). oxford, uk ; malden, mass. : blackwell publishers. source of sound files: class website: http://udel.edu/~heinz/ classes/2012/4-633/log.html 6 appendix 1: the calculations of the second set of sound files words vot in ms vowel length in ms tuck1 50.3 103.3 mean tuck2 52.3 122.5 vot -voice c1 52.338 tuck3 54.93 118.04 vot +voice c1 19.914 tuck4 56.1 93.49 tuck5 51.7 100.9 mean tuck6 52.91 68.29 vowel length tuck7 54.09 80.83 vl c2 –voice 96.081 tuck8 86.49 83.34 vl c2 +voice 211.4042105 tuck9 70.14 95.98 tuck10 41.22 103.98 mean vot -voice c2 34.8025 vot +voice c2 37.4495 tug1 68.28 181.2 tug2 48.58 187.77 standard dev tug3 46.41 171.61 vot -voice c1 13.54345155 tug4 45.3 171.62 vot +voice c1 14.06898358 tug5 73.46 206.49 tug6 32.75 195.57 tug7 38.71 211.45 standard dev tug8 33.75 255.13 vowel length tug9 41.69 252.21 vl c2 -voice 16.22142829 tug10 47.65 232.3 vl c2 +voice 34.09629425 mean duck1 24.55 110.7 vl c1-voice 151.8 duck2 8.57 81.46 vl c1 +voice 152.7526316 duck3 11.3 99 duck4 10.53 75.52 stand dev duck5 14.42 102.13 vot c2 -voice 24.61633409 duck6 7.79 108.75 vot c2 +voice 18.02869598 voice onset time (vot) and vowel duration llt journal vol. 15, no. 2 issn 1410-7201 7 duck7 14.03 117.72 duck8 15.98 98.61 stand dev duck9 9.35 91.99 vl c1 -voice 61.16815004 duck10 9.35 65.09 vl c1 +voice 68.48023031 t test vot (voicing) 6.58548e-09 significant dug1 9.7 139.11 preceded by +-voice dug2 54.9 194.11 t test vowel length 5.73803e-16 significant dug3 49.33 207.-5 followed by +-voice dug4 37.2 208.67 t test vot (voicing) dug5 29.11 253.96 followed by +-voice 0.700205483 insignificant dug6 8.89 200.58 t test vowel length dug7 21.02 234.55 preceded by +-voice 0.963661394 insignificant dug8 34.77 214.33 dug9 12.94 236.69 dug10 14.55 269.33 8 appendix 2: samples of the measurement of the vot and vowel duration tuck <vot--><v duration> tug <vot------><---------vowel duration---------> duck <vot><vowel duration> dug <vot><-------vowel duration------> time (s) 12.68 13.32 -0.1074 0.1325 0 time (s) 12.68 13.32 -0.1074 0.1325 0 time (s) 1.322 1.892 -0.1852 0.143 0 time (s) 1.322 1.892 -0.1852 0.143 0 time (s) 1.322 1.892 -0.1852 0.143 0 time (s) 1.322 1.892 -0.1852 0.143 0 time (s) 1.286 2.022 -0.3008 0.1321 0 time (s) 1.325 2.056 -0.1863 0.1504 0 time (s) 1.325 2.056 -0.1863 0.1504 0 voice onset time (vot) and vowel duration cover vol 15 no2_okt 12_rep isi llt_vol_15_no 2_oct 2012_save as llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 212-227 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 212 efl teachers’ perceptions and institutional management practice of professional development in selected ethiopian universities mulualem eshete mekie department of english language and literature, arba minch university, arba minch, ethiopia mulualemeeshete@yahoo.com correspondence: mulualemeeshete@yahoo.com doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.2365 received 16 january 2020; accepted 19 march 2021 abstract this paper intended to assess efl teachers’ perceptions and institutional management practice of professional development in ethiopian universities. this research utilized a qualitative research design. furthermore, the researcher used purposeful sampling, therefore, applied a semi-interview to the participants and was purposively selected to see how the participants were verbalized their perceptions and experiences of professional development. as a method of data analysis thematic analysis process included transcribing, translating, reading, coding, themes construction, and analysis. the findings indicated first; participants have a diverse understanding of professional development. second, efl teachers have a good perception of professional development. third, teachers didn’t have direct participation in program designing processes individually and institutional level. fourth, participants have a common understanding of the characteristics of an effective professional development program. additionally, participants have a common understanding of the focus area of the elt professional development program. this study recommended that the government and stakeholders consider the problem on the ground and the program should be content-specific. the management practices of professional development have to be assessed, followed, and supervised by the responsible organs which are assigned to facilitate and control the implementation. finally, the program needs to be on the needs assessment, and important gaps should be identified. keywords: professional development, efl teachers, perceptions, institutional management, practice introduction background of the study educators, educational officers, and other professionals in education are faced increasingly with the need to keep pace with rapidly developing fields of knowledge and technologies. therefore, giving continual pedagogical training for educators is vital to produce skilled professionals. to develop educators’ professional knowledge and skills, it is very important to provide them continual mailto:mulualemeeshete@yahoo.com mailto:mulualemeeshete@yahoo.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v24i1.2365 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 212-227 213 training from time to time. this opportunity will help the institution to have advanced and capable educators in the instructional process. furthermore, around the world, the importance given to educational activities has been increasing rapidly, so countries have been trying to change their education systems for the better. these changes have brought new requirements into classroom instructions. as a result, the teaching methods and the role of the teachers in the classroom have been changing. consequently, english language education should bring about significant practical changes in student learning and its teaching should result in the proper development of language competencies, and this demands that its teaching should be of worldclass standard. countries around the world placed more emphasis on english language teaching (elt) as an important requirement of education (collins, 2010). additionally, in countries in which english is not an official language, the prominence of english as an international language has been widely recognized. thus, elt has become a part of both secondary and tertiary education systems in countries where english is acknowledged as a foreign language, and this also true in the ethiopian context. in english as a foreign language (efl) contexts, teachers face challenges because of school environments and other related factors. therefore, they tend to teach their students independently from their colleagues. sometimes teachers, especially novices become overwhelmed by school bureaucracy demands, and if teachers do not receive insightful feedback or regular supervision, they might become frustrated and less effective (murray, 2010). to this end, professional development activities can solve some of these problematic issues (bailey, curtis, & nunan, 2001). professional development is an attempt to increase teachers’ professional knowledge both during and after the initial preparatory stages (crfat, 1996; johnson & golombek, 2011). furthermore, these professional development activities can be formal or informal. however, it is believed that professional development consists of career-building activities that are undertaken by practitioners after they complete their teacher training (shawer, 2010). therefore, due to the importance of professional development and its impacts on teachers’ teaching effectiveness, it is expected that an exploratory study can provide insight into the professional development experiences of teachers employed, institutional management practice, and the types of professional development options they might have in ethiopian universities. the results are expected to be significant in better understanding the professional development situation in ethiopian universities from the perspectives of efl teachers by gaining insight into their perceptions and experiences. through these insights, the researcher tries to highlight the professional development of university teachers’ perceptions, experiences, and institutional management practice. it is argued that continuous professional development or professional development is a consistent cycle of teacher learning beginning with initial training and lasting for as long as a teacher remains in the profession. teaching as a public profession encourages teachers and increases their societal expectations to find ways to improve students’ achievement (mushayikwa & lubben, 2009). to be effective, teachers need a combination of professional knowledge and specialized skills as well as their personal qualities and experiences. moreover, acquiring new skills and adding to their knowledge are llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 212-227 214 among the major reasons teachers endeavor to attend activities designed for professional development (bailey et al., 2001). according to murray (2010), learning about new techniques and ways to empower teachers in english language teaching seems to be both motivating and encouraging for both experienced and novice teachers. as is the case with teachers of the other fields, english language teaching experts believe that ongoing professional development is of great significance, particularly in today's rapidly, constantly, and technologically changing world. efl teachers are more likely to try innovations in language teaching theories and education technology to teach their students which enable them to continue, to evolve in the adaptation and application of their art and craft, which is important for their professional development (allwright, 2005). as day and sachs (2004) argue, the term professional development suggests all of the activities teachers engage in during their careers to enhance their work. such activities, as kelly (2006) believes, are intended to result in a process, ongoing teacher learning, through which teachers become experts. some studies have argued in support of professional development for teachers. for instance, karabenick and noda (as cited in jafri, 2009) argue that teacher development allows teachers to improve their practice and to keep abreast of recent findings in the field. in the same vein, mizell (2010) believes that ongoing professional development activities help teachers define the best pedagogical approaches for the betterment of students’ learning processes. richards and farrell (2005) also emphasize the significance of ongoing teacher development for in-service practitioners to become acquainted with the most recent resources and methodologies. teachers’ professional development has been studied and presented by different researchers (to e.g., kelly, 2006; mann, 2005; roberts, 1998), although understanding of professional development is highly related to teachers’ learning and transforming their knowledge into practice has been at the center of such attempts (bolam, 2000). teachers’ professional learning is a complex process that requires their cognitive and emotional engagement and their willingness to investigate where each stands (burbank & kauchak, 2003; reis-jorge, 2007; romano, 2006; sandholtz, 2002). therefore, understanding teachers’ professional development needs to investigate from different angles. the instruments used to trigger teachers’ development also depend on their objectives and needs as well as those of their students. therefore, formal structures including courses and workshops might serve some purposes, and involvement in producing curricula and discussing assessment data might serve other purposes (avalos, 2011). it is also believed that not every form of professional development, even that with a positive impact, is in itself relevant to all teachers (craig, 2003). therefore, professional development programs need to be designed based on the needs of teachers and taking teachers as adult learners. statement of the problem teachers are lifelong learners, and they are one of the key factors in education. there is a growing need for professional development for english teachers to address challenges in education in the 21st century, and it requires teachers to possess a set of competencies which includes pedagogical competence, professional competence, personality competence, and social competence. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 212-227 215 therefore, teachers have to be both professional and empowered. in line with this, hansen-thomas, casey, and grosso (2013) maintained that “teachers learn most when they are actively engaged in the examination of their regular practice (i.e., teaching and learning) and how the professional development activities contribute to their daily work” (p. 133). both experienced and novice teachers need to be academically recharged with fresh knowledge and new insights through professional development. unfortunately, professional development activities may only last for a short period and have little impact on teachers’ professional growth. for example, professional development programs can be ineffective for teachers because “the knowledge transmitted is generally conceptually and practically far removed from the contexts of the teachers and the situational factors affecting teachers’ classroom practices are not considered” (kirkgöz, 2013, p. 32). another issue with teacher development is that some teachers who were trained during their pre-service program can perceive that they master skills and knowledge and tend to stop developing themselves professionally. some teachers may feel “satisfied with their status quo and [are] not committed to further professional growth” (canh & minh, 2012, p.4). besides, only a few teachers are willing to participate in teacher professional development programs due to several reasons such as lack of resources, funding, and motivation even though the importance is obvious. however, few perceived english language teacher professional development programs are important and participate. guan and huang (2013) argued that a lot of teacher development research has been done in many developed countries. from the researcher's experience, there is less awareness of seeing the need for teacher development where teachers are expected to become professional teachers even though the opportunities for professional development are available. furthermore, guan and huang’s (2013) study finding indicated the need for more research on teacher development in more specific contexts such as efl, language teachers in general, and perceptions and experiences from the teachers. similarly, greenwell and zygouris-coe (2012) argued that “there is a need for further research into the impact of such statewide professional development and mandates on teachers’ knowledge, instructional practice and student achievement” (p. 25). therefore, teachers should be aware that professional development is useful for teachers’ professional growth. besides, the broader benefits and perceptions of professional development need to be investigated to better understand how ethiopian efl teachers conceptualize professional development and institutions are managed the program. having experience of being a lecturer at one of ethiopian university, the researcher noticed that teachers do have the opportunity to engage in professional development activities but they have less interest to involve themselves to participate in the program. if teachers are not intrinsically motivated to improve their teaching, they will not have any way for developing their teaching skills. furthermore, wong (2011) states “professional development that is initiated by teachers and not just the institution has a better chance to succeed” (p. 146). this implies that teachers need a strong motivation to engage in professional development. ideally, teachers should be aware of their needs to develop professionally. another rationale that the researcher was initiated to conduct this study was because of his misconception of professional development itself. as the researcher was a novice teacher, he thought that attending conferences or seminars llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 212-227 216 was the only academic activity that could be done to develop professionally since attending conferences or seminars is the most common kind of professional development activities that teachers do. it is interesting to note that most english teachers believed that professional development is the knowledge of language skills; however, professional development extends beyond mastering language skills. indeed, professional development can take many forms, and it can be a small practical activity that allows teachers to learn, improve, and reflect on their teaching practice. based on researcher teaching experiences, many english teachers do not participate in professional development because they may not yet better informed about the benefits of professional development or they may spend too many hours teaching in the classroom and are busy with other things. even though, engaging in professional development can improve teachers’ professional lives. consequently, teachers can pause and reflect on their classroom practices, and start doing an activity that enhances their knowledge, teaching skills, and practices. furthermore, teachers have to improve their competencies, teaching skills, and strategies to respond to the changing needs of education and more specifically classroom practices. in addition, low participation in professional development may be due to a lack of information related to professional development. therefore, it was significant to investigate how teachers conceptualize, experience, engage in professional development and how institutions manage the program. therefore, the above-mentioned gaps led the researcher to address the issue through investigating efl teachers’ perceptions and institutional management practice of professional development in ethiopian universities. research questions this study involved three participants who were efl university teachers in three different ethiopian universities. research questions that guided the study were: 1. how do the efl teachers define professional development? 2. what are the perceptions of efl teachers about professional development? 3. how do efl teachers evaluate the management practice of professional development in their universities? 4. what do efl teachers believe as the characteristics of effective professional development? 5. what do they suggest to be the focus area of efl teachers' professional development? method research design for this particular study, the researcher utilized a qualitative research design. based on the research questions of the study, participants' perceptions, opinions, ideas, and experiences were sought. therefore, a qualitative research design is appropriate for this study and enabled the researcher to discover as much about how research subjects feel about the information they provide as about the information itself. furthermore, the researcher aimed to explore a detailed and comprehensive description of the participants' perceptions toward the topic. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 212-227 217 therefore, the researcher considered qualitative inquiry an appropriate design for the research. participants and sampling techniques the main focus of this study is efl teachers in different ethiopian universities. three efl teachers were chosen purposively to be part of the study. besides, participants were selected based on three criteria: these were (1) currently teach english at university (2) have at least two years english teaching experience at university, and (3) have participated in professional development activities. these participants have a master's degree in english education, and their ages were ranged from 32 to 45 years. moreover, participants have diverse teaching experiences starting from high school to university level. data gathering instrument since the purpose of this qualitative study is to gain an understanding of how the participants perceived and experienced professional development; the researcher used the interview as a data collection tool to see how the participants verbalized their perceptions and experiences of professional development. the data were collected through a semi-structured interview as a main source of data. the interview was used to collect data because it enabled the researcher to "uncover meaning, develop understanding and discover insights relevant to the research problem" (merriam, 2009, p.86). furthermore, the researcher invited the participants for an in-depth individual interview which was a semi-structured interview. the interview was conducted face-to-face, and the purpose was to gain information and elicit the responses of the participants on how they understood and perceived professional development as well as their experiences in participating in it. face to face individual interview was chosen because it is a more natural ways of interacting and talking with a participant, and it allows the researcher to capture participants' thoughts, ideas, and perspectives. the data collection was conducted in the english language based on the participants' preference to put the participants at ease and not to make them feel pressured. in conducting the interviews, the researcher devised an interview guideline; the questions have been carefully constructed to answer the research questions. the participants were asked about their understanding, beliefs/perceptions, and experience, institutional management practice like management techniques and their effectiveness, designing processes used by their institution, their understanding about characteristics of effective the elt/professional development program and the should be the focus area of the elt professional development program. the interview questions have been made to elicit certain categories, and these questions were expected to yield useful information from the participants. in addition to this, the researcher asked additional relevant follow-up questions that the researcher thought significant and needed to be explored. methods of data analysis to arrive at a more informed analysis of the data, the researcher spent a great deal of time analyzing the data because "data analysis requires the ability to think inductively, moving from specific raw data to abstract categories and concepts" (merriam, 2009, p. 17). the collected data were analyzed qualitatively. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 212-227 218 the thematic analysis process included transcribing, translating, reading, coding, themes construction, and analysis. after the data collected from the interviews via audio-recorder using the english language, the researcher transcribed the data into transcripts. and the researcher used the following steps. first of all, the researcher listened to the audio-recorded interviews repeatedly while writing them verbatim into the computer. for the final touch, the researcher reviewed the verbatim transcriptions of recorded interviews to verify and match what was said by the participants. for the second step, once all the data have been transcribed, the next step was coding, and the researcher started the coding process by assisting the computer. from the transcript, important codes were coded, meaningful ideas, or concepts related to the research questions that emerged from the data. in the coding processes of the data, the researcher read the entire data transcripts thoroughly. while doing so, all information given by participants was transcribed, then looking at transcripts allowed the researcher to see other information that perhaps emerged ideas, concepts, or themes that the researcher was analyzing. to make the coding process easier, the researcher created a table consisting of questions and responses from each participant, and this step enabled ease of reading for the rudimentary analysis. this table was made to help the researcher to classify their answers based on the interview questions and to compare the responses from each participant. with the research questions (which were changed at the end) in mind, the researcher attempted to analyze the data for themes, ideas and concepts by using comparative analysis. when the researcher analyzing the transcripts, the researcher focused on the frequency and the variety of messages then the researcher analyzed and compared the data from each of the participants. although the researcher analyzed each participant's data, the goal was to see what was in common that the participants shared. moreover, the researcher used to focus on the ideas rather than the individuals' response. therefore, the researcher presented the data themes by themes. having analyzed the transcripts multiple times, then, began to construct themes. moreover, the researcher coded phrases and put them under each of the tentative themes, and the transcripts were scrutinized again, and broader themes were identified. with repeated readings of the data, particular themes became more apparent. in the themes construction process, since there were many possible related themes that the researcher saw in the data, and decided to have more general themes which had subthemes under that. finally, with the amount of data the researcher had, came up with five major themes, some were containing one or more points of focus, and these themes have become the researcher's choices because they were significant and relevant to the research questions (which were changed at the end). the five themes included: defining professional development, efl teachers' perceptions about professional development, the institutional management practice of professional development, characteristics of effective professional development, and the focus area of efl teachers' professional development. the last step of my analysis was to make sense of and interpret the data to answer the research questions. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 212-227 219 findings and discussions this section is devoted to the results of data collected and analyzed through in-depth interviews with the research participants. the findings included the major recurrent themes, which were reflective of all teacher participants’ views. the data were presented by themes as the researcher attempted to seek the commonalities among the participants. an analysis of the data revealed various themes which emerged from the data. emergent themes are described as the following predominant themes: 1. defining professional development 2. efl teachers’ perceptions about professional development 3. the institutional management practice of professional development 4. characteristics of effective professional development 5. the focus area of efl teachers’ professional development the researcher focused on the themes that the participants heavily stressed in the data via interview. thus, the researcher chose to use the five themes above for analysis and discussion of the results. to shed light on these five themes, responses from the data collection derived from the participants used for discussion and analysis of the findings. this chapter presents narratives of the participants, which have been extracted from the data and presented in response to the research questions. the discussions on these five themes are presented as follows using participants’ pseudonyms instead of using real names. theme 1: defining professional development one common theme that emerged from the data is teachers’ understanding of professional development. it is important to note that participants’ conceptualization of professional development is one step of knowing more about the profession as a teacher. the researcher asked the participants about their knowledge and views of professional development. all participants in this study who are teachers who teach at universities relatively understand the general idea of professional development. they discussed their views related to professional development for teachers and described what professional development means to them. with the interview questions, the researcher sought a general understanding of teacher professional development from each participant. all participants provided a concrete definition of professional development. it is important to note that they tried to explain their understandings about professional development. when they were asked to define professional development, mr. n stated that “professional development is for teachers’ way of developing their own profession using different ways and/or they can be used methods like reading journals, conducting some sort of research (action research) so that they may become good professional teacher”. mr. m also revealed how he defined professional development by saying, “professional development is being updated, developed, and again acquainted with the knowledge, techniques, the methods, the subject matter knowledge, and everything that you are expected to have in order to teach the course you are qualified to each”. furthermore, mr. g defined professional development as “it is a process of helping teachers to update their professional carrier”. in line with this point schmidt (2002) defined teacher development as “the professional growth a teacher achieves as a result of gaining increased experience and knowledge and examining his or her teaching llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 212-227 220 systematically” (p. 542). what can be seen in all participants’ responses is that there is a mixed understanding of professional development. from the data, it is evident that they relate professional development to activities like sharing ideas, conducting research, preparing teaching materials, and developing teaching methods. these varying responses indicated that each teacher has their conceptualization of what professional development means to them. the participants have a clear understanding of professional development and it is not complete at once rather it can be acquired through processes. to sum up, ideas raised by the participants alemu (2013) argued that professional development in a broad sense can be defined as “the engagement of individuals in any activity for the enhancement of their capacity at the workplace and to gain, improve and share a body of knowledge and skills that are relevant to perform particular duties in their workplace” (p. 306). theme 2: efl teachers’ perceptions about professional development under this main theme, two sub-themes emerged from the interview data. the first emerged sub-theme was the participants perceived pd as a very much important activity and enable teachers to share experiences and update their teaching methodology. the second emerged sub-theme was the participants perceived pd program should be based on the problem on the ground and it should be subject-specific. furthermore, they have discussed their perceptions about professional development and explained what they perceived about the topic. using the interview questions, the researcher sought participants’ perceptions about professional development. in line with this point, all participants provided their perceptions about professional development, and it is important to note that they tried to reflect their perceptions about professional development. during the interview session, they were asked to explain their perceptions about professional development, g stated that: i believed that it is very much important so that while you are participating in a kind of pd in a given institution you will share experience with staff members and again it helps you to update your ways of teaching methodology may be classroom management or everything there so if the program is managed in a proper way it has good benefit for all teachers specifically to elt professionals is very important. this is in line with huang’s (2007) study which focused on the perceptions of taiwanese teachers on the effects of professional development on their professional growth. it was found that the teachers benefited from professional development in five ways: learning english as a foreign language, gaining ideas for improving classroom instruction, sharing teaching experiences, stimulating positive dispositions to learn, and fostering intellectual development (huang, 2007). mr. n also said: i perceived that the program has smart aim and purpose that is for teachers including elt teachers ……the skill needed to the level specially for higher llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 212-227 221 institutions teachers there should be a need to be a professional teacher; only being graduated from university may not be enough to be effective teacher including elt teachers need to have competence in this dynamic world they should be equipped with some sorts of knowledge and skills or competence. so hdp should be perceived as positively. in contrast to the above idea, the same participant said that "…teachers may not perceive the program has a benefit and helping them in developing so that without programs like this teaching may not be effective.” furthermore, the third participant (who was mr. m) stated that: “pd is believed to add some proficiency to a teacher and it is a good program and i am in favor of the program and the training is given.” and also he explained that he was inconvenient with the program and he said “…it (the program) should be based on the gap that the teacher is incapable with after that things should be done to bridge that gap would be very nice.” from the above data analysis, one can understand that all participants have a positive perception of professional development. furthermore, it is evident that some of the teachers (trainees) do not perceive it as beneficial and helping them in developing their profession. on the other way round the participant recommended that the program should be based on the gap or need assessment. therefore, shows that efl teachers have a good perception of professional development. theme 3: the institutional management practice of professional development during the interview, the teachers were asked to describe their institutional management practice of professional development. under theme 3, the researcher found the most emergent themes across the participants’ which included: the kind of techniques used in their institution to manage the program, the effectiveness of the techniques used, office or bodies assigned to control the program, and the designing processes of the program in their institution. concerning this theme, participants were asked to explain their institutional management practice of professional development, and it is important to note that they tried to reflect their experience under the above-mentioned emergent themes. the first idea that emerged from the third theme was the kind of techniques used in their institution to manage the professional development program, and the participants explained in detail the techniques used from the experience. in line with this, the participants indicated that there is a technique used to precede the program in their institutions, and trainees are expected to complete activities like portfolio work, conducting action research, peer observation, and school placement (for observing the school environment). all these activities will be checked and evaluated by the respective coordinator of the program. to strengthen this, mr. n stated that: the coordinators prepare portfolio for each tyrannies under that portfolio each and every activity of the program daily training activities will be inserted for every persons’ portfolio and finally they will be checked based up on the feedback that you have inserted and going through these processes you will be graduated at the end of the course. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 212-227 222 however, the above-mentioned management techniques used by the respective institutions, the trainees had complaints about its completion, and the participants recommend that the time given for these activities need to be minimized. concerning this m said that “there was complains from the trainees to reduce the teachers’ load from their regular activities”. similarly, mr. g also stated that “…minimizing of time from the assigned teachers’ load might give enough time to participate in the program.” this is in line with yuwono and harbon (2010)’s study which revealed that indonesian teachers’ professionalism is affected by teachers’ limited time, money and energy to participate in professional development. with regard to the effectiveness of the techniques used in their institution, participants were asked to evaluate the techniques used. related to this point participants were weighed up the effectiveness of the techniques, and mr. n said that “…practically the techniques used to manage to program were not practically effective or efficient.” moreover, he tried to state the root cause for the ineffectiveness of techniques and he said “…i frankly speaking i can’t say it is successful. for being not successful of the program i believe that it may be because of teachers’ beliefs and perceptions towards the program and they think that the training may not be important”. similar to this idea m said that “…i believe that it is not working well.” and also he said “it (the program) is understood that it is only a means of getting a certificate of the program and most teachers are running for the paper but the important thing was forgotten”. along with this m said that “the program should be based on need assessment and research gap”. in addition to this, mr. g stated that “i can say that the program is ineffective”. and believed that there are two reasons and said that: one of the reasons is the beliefs of the participants and teachers are participating in the program is it is must to participate so it was because of the principles that teachers are participating not from the bottom of their heart. the other point is the program is general so if it was a kind of subject specific program then teachers may have good willingness to participate in the program but now the program is general so that which may not similar for each and every disc coordinators are the reason for the ineffectiveness. indeed, professional development management technique goes beyond more than what they have mentioned. in the data, the teachers were complaining about the workload on professional development activities or techniques used like peer observation, portfolio work, school placement, and action research. most of these activities could have been done just as easily as the activities that the participants already participated in. the third sub-theme is responsible organs assigned to control the program in the participants’ institutions. regarding this, all participants were asked to mention offices that are facilitating the program and they mentioned offices like the program coordination office, institutional quality assurance director office (iqad) responsible to manage and control the program implementation and have their follow-up activities/quality assurance mechanism. the fourth and the last emerging theme under the theme of institutional management practice of professional development are the designing processes of the program. the participants were asked to explain the designing processes of the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 212-227 223 program and their role in the processes. the designing process of the program used in institutions is not clear to the participants and it is sent from the ministry of education and it is “top-down”. furthermore, mr. n said that “there are no procedures or steps followed to design the program. first of all, the program is not ours but it is designed at the national level and like any other university we will be provided modules and trainees book as a guide.” and also he tried to explain his role in the designing processes of the program because he was working as a trainer of the program and he said that “i don’t have any role in the designing processes, and it is designed by the ministry of education and we the university is provided. so my role is in the processes of program implementation and facilitator.” similar to this point mr. g strengthens by saying “this program is a nationwide program so that it is sent to all public universities from the ministry of education. so i feel that no university has come across the processes of designing the program but all the universities are implementing.” generally, from the above data analysis, one can understand that teachers didn’t have direct participation in the program designing processes individually and at the institution level. moreover, we can understand that the ministry of education is the organ that is responsible for designing the program, and it is top-down. theme 4: characteristics of effective professional development under this main theme, two sub-themes emerged from the interview data. the first theme is the program should be based on need assessment and teachers’ needs should be addressed in designing processes of the program. in line with this idea, participants reflect their understanding, and mr. n said that “only being graduated is not enough to teachers to become effective there should be some extra issues that help teachers to have additional quality…it should be based on need assessment and teachers’ needs should be addressed in designing the program”. similarly, mr. m stated that “the need of the participant should be identified first and they should participate in the designing processes.” therefore, from this one can conclude that one of the characteristics of an effective professional development program is when it is designed based on the need of teachers. the second theme is the program should be planned, organized, and discipline-specific. furthermore, the participants were discussed their understanding of effective professional development and they argued that it should be planned, organized, and discipline-specific. with regard to this mr. g said that “the characteristics that make the professional development effective is it has to be planned and organized.” and also he adds more about the characteristics of effective professional development and stated that “the program should be discipline-specific rather than being generalized if it is discipline wise specific so the problem that we have mentioned earlier like motivation and interest will be solved so that one quality indicator of the program is it should be subject specific.” in short, participants have a common understanding of the characteristics of an effective professional development program. theme 5: the focus area of efl teachers’ professional development the last theme that emerged from the data was participants' wishes to be the focus area of efl teachers’ professional development program. furthermore, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 212-227 224 under this theme, two sub-themes emerged and were the main focus should be on equipping teachers in teaching methods in general and specific to elt and the program should focus on material selection, language assessment, and testing, and research skills. regard to these idea participants reflects their understanding on this theme, and mr. n said that “the focus area of elt professional development program should be at the way of teaching that is the methodology specific to the elt”. furthermore, he justifies this point and stated that “… teachers may not have awareness how to teach language skills to their students. since most of them are graduated from a non-teaching profession program…. therefore, the main focus should be on equipping teachers in some sorts of teaching methods in general and specific to elt.” similarly, lin’s (2013) study indicated that teachers’ view on a tefl professional development program evidenced a desire for the best teaching method. likewise, mr. m said that “since most of the teachers are graduated from non-teaching profession program...so the program should focus on teaching methodology, material selection, language assessment, and testing and the likes”. additionally, mr. g stated his view and said that: it should focus on classroom management not only this one but also the content area of teaching should be clearly included hear because teaching methodology in general is different from teaching specific language skills in particular so that methodology like teaching speaking, listening, writing, grammar, and other skills should be included. this idea is strengthening by huang’s (2007) findings on study group which showed that professional development helped teachers to develop subject-matter knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, foster continuing learning, and cognitive, intellectual, and theoretical development. furthermore, mr. g adds his point about the focus area of the elt professional development program and said that “it is better to include issues related to research specific to the discipline.” generally, from the data analysis presented above, we can conclude that these participants have a common understanding of what should be the focus area of the elt professional development program. and also they mentioned that teaching method in general and specific to elt, material preparation, selection of contents, and adopting materials. so that program designers need to consider the issues raised by the participants in elt professional development program. conclusion based on the data analyzed the following conclusions have been made. first, the participants who participated in this study are adequately aware of teacher professional development. the findings show that there is a common in their perceived understanding of professional development. the participants have different conceptualizations of professional development and demonstrated a mixed understanding of professional development. second, the research participants were perceived pd as a very much important activity and enable teachers to share experience and update their teaching methodology. and also the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 212-227 225 participants believed the pd program should be based on the problem on the ground and should be subject-specific. this indicates that the professional development program is not fully explored the needs of efl teachers. thirdly, regarding the institutional management practice of professional development, institutions were used different techniques to manage the program implementation. from the techniques trainees are expected to complete activities like portfolio work, conducting action research, peer observation, and school placement (for observing the school environment). therefore, all these individual activities are used as a means of managing the program, and these will be checked and evaluated by the respective coordinator of the program. however, the abovementioned management techniques used by the respective institutions, the trainees had complaints about the effectiveness of its practicality. and this is might be because of teachers’ beliefs and perceptions towards the program and they think that the training may not be important. even though, there are responsible organs that are assigned to facilitate and control the implementation of the program having their follow-up activities and quality assurance mechanism. fourthly, in the designing processes of the program teachers didn’t have direct participation in the processes individually and at the institution level. and the 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(2010) english teacher professionalism and professional development: some common issues in indonesia. the asian efl journal, 12(3), 145-163. vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 42 on literary criticism: looking into noer’s moths from the planes of light of new critics, russian formalists and the structuralists antonius herujiyanto elesp – sanata dharma university anton.herujiyanto@gmail.com abstract without denying the truth of the so-called silent enim leges inter arma [law stands mute in the midst of arms], this paper makes use of the analytical perspectives of new criticism, russian formalism and structuralism to look into arifin c. noer’s play named moths. it is admitted that literary critics often define their assumptions about literary work and the better way to go about reading it (and writing about it). the new critics, russian formalists and the structuralists are only three of them. according to ian ousby, the three groups can be described as formalists; they share a common conception: a work is autotelic, that is, complete in itself, written for its own sake, and unified by its form – that which makes it a work of art.1 looking closer at the three movements, we would undoubtedly find that they are not exactly the same. the new critics, for example, explicitly repudiated english romanticism and its radical tradition while russian formalists merely attacked the utilitarian and social tradition.2 then, russian formalists were concerned with the way in which the individual work of art was perceived differently against the background of the literary system as a whole. the structuralists, however, set themselves the task of describing the organization of the total sign-system itself by dissolving the individual unit back into the langue of which it is a partial articulation.3 the end goal of this study is, thus, to find the possible ways to go about reading the play; to see how the playwright seems to write about his work; and to have a better understanding of the nature of the play. keywords: new criticism, russian formalism, structuralism, literary system, playwright introduction in arifin c. noer’s posthumous publication, songs of solitude (nyanyian sepi, 1995), we can find three poems dealing with his play moths (kapai-kapai, 1970). they are entitled act one: mother’s fairytales, act three: the sun flies away, the moon whirls around, and act four: abu and iyem caught in the rain. as the names of the poems suggest, they obviously have something to do with arifin’s moths. they have, respectively, exactly the same name as that of act one, act three and act four of the play. the question is, however, 1 ian ousby, the cambridge guide to literature in english (new york: cambridge university press, 1992), p. 361 2 frederic jameson, the prison-house of language (princeton: princeton university press, 1974), p. 46 3 ibid., p. 101 whether or not the poems talk about the same things as those of the three acts? this is precisely what this paper is about. it looks into the play from multiple planes of light: those of the new critics, russian formalists and the structuralists. according to roman ingarden, there are five elements essential to any work of literature: sounds; meaning of words and sentences; the objects presented; the schematized appearances and ‘metaphysical vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 43 qualities.’4 the essence of the practical studies of the new critics is, however, covering and making use of the second and the third (and occasionally the fifth) of ingarden’s layers.5 it is obvious that the second layer (meaning of words and sentences) will be effective to be used to explicate poems. this study delimits, thus, the border by trying to investigate the second together with the third and the fifth of ingarden’s layer in order to explicate arifin’s moths. it hardly needs emphasizing, however, that the layers coexist in the play – providing that it is a good one. the third layer is, anyway, the layer of the ‘objects presented,’ namely, characters, physical objects, moods and situations described explicitly, and plot.6 the fifth one or the ‘metaphysical qualities’ can be described as follows: there are certain simple or complex qualities, such as the sublimity (of somebody’s sacrifice), the baseness (of somebody’s treachery), the tragedy (of someone’s defeat), the frightfulness (of someone’s fate); that which is profoundly shaking, incomprehensible, or mysterious; the demonic quality (of somebody’s action or someone per se); the saintliness (of someone’s life), or its opposite: the sinfulness, or “hellishness” (of a vengeance), the ecstatic quality of the highest admiration, the peace (of the ultimate consolation), etc. here belong also such qualities as the grotesque quality of some phenomenon or person, the pathos of somebody’s behavior, the solemnity of a ritual, the lightness and grace of a girl’s movement or its opposite, the seriousness and stateliness of somebody’s manner or way of life.7 4 r. ingarden, das literarische kunstwerk (halle, 1931) in ewa m. thompson, russian formalism and anglo-american new criticism (the hague: mouton & co. n.v., 1971), p. 111-112 5 ewa m. thompson, russian formalism and anglo-american new criticism (the hague: mouton & co.n.v.), p. 126 6 ewa m. thompson, russian formalism and anglo-american new criticism (the hague: mouton & co.n.v.), p. 112 in dealing with the russian formalists, it can be pointed out that they believe that critics should be able to establish a ‘science’ of literature – a complete knowledge of the formal effects, namely devices, techniques and so forth – which together make up what we call ‘literature.’9 the literary aspects of a play, then, are those which concerned with transforming raw material like facts, emotions, stories … into the play. reading a play is, therefore, meant for many reasons such as for comfort, for inspiration, for entertainment. the essence of practical studies of russian formalists is slightly different from that of the new critics. we may say that the formalists are much more insistent than the new critics in calling the reader’s attention to the auditory aspect of the literary work and to the structure of properties of the objects, persons and situations presented in it. in short, they tend to make use of the first and the fourth of ingarden’s layers.10 the fourth layer is, anyway, the layer of the ‘schematized appearances.” they deal with the imaginary world of a work of literature or the imaginary looks based on the properties of no less imaginary objects and characters appearing in the third layer of the work (vide & cf. p. 3).11 thompson’s conclusion about this is enlightening: this concept of ingarden refers to the innumerable ‘looks, or ‘appearance’, of things and characters as they emerge from a particular manner of describing these things and characters. we would not come into contact with the objects presented were it not for these appearances. we ‘hear’ the characters speaking (i.e. we get the auditory appearances) or have their inner life 7 ibid., p. 113 9 raman selden, practising theory and reading literature (hertfordshire: harvester wheatsheaf, 1989), p. 37-38. 10 ewa m. thompson, russian formalism and anglo-american new criticism (the hague: mouton & co.n.v.), p. 145 11 ibid., p. 112 vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 44 desribed (i.e., get their psychic appearances).12 as for the structuralists who might to a certain extend be included in those of what the so called the formalists in the sense that they are also concerned with the way in which the individual work of art (or parole) was perceived differently against the background of the literary system as a whole (or langue). however, they set themselves the task of describing the organization of the total signsystem itself by dissolving the individual unit back into the langue of which it is a partial articulation. in short, a study of superstructures or rather of ideology is what they undertake. the object is, thus, seen as the unconscious value system or system of representations which orders social life at any of its levels.14 one of the structuralist thoughts that is going to be used in this study is the bo (‘binary oppositions’). discussion the following analysis is respectively conducted in the flights of new criticism, the russian formalists, and those of the structuralists. to begin with, the new critics would conduct the explication of arifin’s moths in the light of the elements of the second, third and fifth ingarden’s layer: (1). in i.2 we can see a kind of soliloquy where darkness says “it is now 1930 and no longer 1919. you must put on your janitor’s uniform at once.” and then ii.5, he says, “it is now 1960. it is no longer 1919. he [abu] will die in 1980. it is time to add a few wrinkles to his forehead.” then, again, in iii.9 he states, “it is too late for you to find out. it is now 1974 and no longer 1919. it is time for you to experience one of the wonders of the world. you will witness a great work of the artist.” after that, in iv.3 we can see: first, darkness says, “six more revolutions, mother”; secondly, 12 ewa m. thompson, russian formalism and anglo-american new criticism (the hague: mouton & co.n.v.), p. 112 arifin writes “(the moon enters with a hangman’s rope)”; then, right before the words “(the bell enters with a large sword),” darkness says, “wait” and then, “not yet! curtain!” in the last act or to be precise in v.8, darkness announces, “it is now 1980. it is no longer 1919. it is time you were dead.” it is clear that the setting of the play is between 1930 and 1980: act one takes place in 1980, act two is in 1960 and act three is in 1974. we can conclude that act four also takes place in 1974 from the words, “six more revolutions, mother” meaning six more years before the end of the story (act five) in 1980. the play, by the way, consists of five acts and 46 scenes. there are more than sixteen characters in the play: abu, iyem, mother, darkness (and his squad), moon (and thousand moons), boss(es), old ma(e)n, king of the evil spirit, princess, prince, bell(s), tramps, a, b, g and so on. the setting of the play is in indonesia, somewhere in jakarta. in i.10 arifin writes: darkness. it is now 1941. it is no longer 1919. he [abu] was born in salam six miles from solo. he was raised in semarang. then he moved to cirebon. then he moved to jakarta. he will die in 1980. (2). in i.5 we find how mother comments upon herself (and moon and darkness) and abu when she talks to her assistant moon: good. now mother can get down to finishing her final book. strangely enough, in this novel of mine abu begins to find the key to our riddle. he becomes increasingly aware of the power we have over him. but – nevertheless – i am still hopeful he will remain faithful to us. he will always need cheering up and only we can do that. 14 frederick jameson, the prison-house of language (new jersey: princeton university press, 1974), p. 101-102 vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 45 from the words above we can establish a relationship between mother and abu or between moon and abu. we can also see that mother is writing a nove about a person called abu. as a writer, she can do anything she likes with abu: making him happy or miserable; making him a happy goodlooking prince or having him tortured and hung; making him a janitor or … it is entirely up to her. after all she is the writer of the novel. she is plotting abu’s life. in writing her novel, mother has two assistants to help her: moon (female) and darkness (male). in i.5, the relationship between mother and moon is really clear: mother. we can protract that a great deal. when you are 70 we’ll tell him [abu]. remember not to use the stale old ways. we have to be more creative. we must work out the timing very carefully. fulfill everything right at the moment when he’s at the end of everything, right at the moment when the festivity is at its height. moon. let’s just tell him now. mother. you always feel sorry for them, moon. you’re a real softy. moon. but he’s so poor. mother. we’ll make him [abu] rich. oh, come on. you can help by consoling him. mother’s time is finished. i must go back to my writing. actually, before the dialogue above, there is a dialogue between mother and darkness, establishing their relationship with abu: mother. ….. where is darkness? darkness. here i am, mother. mother. did you hear what i was just saying? darkness. i didn’t miss a single word, mother. mother. one other thing: we must be systematic. as long as we each keep to our appointed tasks i am sure that not one thing will go astray. darkness. is he [abu] asleep? mother. asleeo, no. not asleep, no. as before, with the others, he is dead but he doesn’t know yet. darkness. shall i tell him? mother. not yet. … we can see, once again, how mother and her two assistants can do anything with abu: making him happy or miserable. in i.4, mother makes abu really happy: abu. will i be happy, mother? mother. happy for sure. forever. now pretend you are the handsome prince. you’ll see what it feels like to be really tired then. now close your eyes tight. sleep. the birds are asleep. sleep. the sun is asleep. sleep. even the trees are asleep. sleep. the whole world is asleep. sleep. when everything is gone, you can put on the prince’s shining clothes. now you can’t see a thing except the brightness of your clothes. you can’t hear anything except the chinking of the gold. now you’re taking up the magic mirror. now you’re going into the perfumed room of the beautiful princess; the bed is turned right down, ready to receive you. mother, however, can also be cruel with abu. we can see, for example, the event at the end of the play. in fact, arifin as the playwright makes up the play the easiest way: making mother kill the protagonist of her novel. (3). looking into the whole play, we can see that arifin is trying to dramatize the story about mother (together with her two assistants, darkness and moon) who is writing a novel. arifin is, actually, at the same time putting – or rather dramatizing – the story of the novel on the stage. the result is a real “binggo!” he has the advantages of applying a “mixed point of view” – meaning that he has the possibility of performing more than one ‘world’ on stage: in the case of moths, there are at least two worlds, namely, “mother’s world or abu’s world. the question is, however, whether arifin has made good use of it or not? vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 46 we are, obviously, able to find out about it by both looking at the name of each act and looking into each of them. act one is, for example, entitled “mother’s fairytales”: here, both mother’s world and abu’s world are presented by arifin. when mother was talking to abu (mother’s world), for instance, suddenly boss interrupted, calling abu out loud, “abu! abu! abu! abu! abu! abu! abu! abu! swine! are you deaf?” this, certainly, makes the spectators realize that they are watching two worlds on the stage. (4). the ‘metaphysical qualities’ of a literary work reveal themselves in human actions, in complex life situations, in historical events.8 from the two worlds presented in arifin c. noer’s moths, we can picture the principal characters of the play: first, abu (including ijem, boss(es), old ma(e)n, king of the evil spirit, princess, prince, bell(s), tramps, a, b, g and so on) cannot really do what he wants to do. in his both worlds – in his world of fantasies as a prince, for example, or in his world of reality as a janitor – he is always dependent. all the conflicts he has are settled largely by the simple decision of mother (or darkness or moon) or by a word or two of boss, ijem, old man, etc. but then, even in his real world – abu the janitor – he is ruled by mother the novel writer. secondly, mother as a novel writer is, in fact, not free either. her power over abu, for example, is also limited: darkness has already drawn the border of abu’s life. arifin’s moths can, then, be said as evoking the frightfulness of the characters’ fate, particularly abu’s fate. as for russian formalists, the following is their one possible explication on arifin’s moths: (1). arifin’s moths is indeed ‘baring’ its own devices. in giving us a good look of the characters, for example, we can see their appearances through the changing of time (setting of time) presented in the five acts of 8 ewa m. thomson, russian formalism and anglo-ameican new criticism (the hague: mouton & co. , 1971), p. 113 the play. in act one, we can see how abu is introduced as a character of a play within a play: mother, in the play, is writing a novel. abu is the protagonist of the novel. both the process of writing the novel (a) – such as how the protagonist is supposed to lead his life, etc. – and the “actual life” of abu which has been decided upon him by mother (b) are enacted or performed on the play stage. the (a) can, for example, be followed in i..5: good. now mother can get down to finishing her final book. strangely enough, in this novel of mine abu begins to find the key to our riddle. he becomes increasingly aware of the power we have over him. but – nevertheless – i am still hopeful he will remain faithful to us. he will always need cheering up and only we can do that. as for (b) we can see in i.8 about how abu who has been “created” by mother to have a wife called ijem: ijem. you ape! what sort of a man are you? an ox? a pig? abu. what time is it, jem? ijem. what time is it? the town-hall clock strike until its hands fell off and you’d still be snoring. don’t you want to go to work? abu. it’s not that. ijem. all right, if you’d rather stay snoring. i’ll go out and earn money. i could you know. i’m still well-built enough to tuck a thousand men’s heads between my legs. abu. don’t be so vulgar. (2). arifin through mother’s assistant, darkness, sets the play according to time: act one is in 1930. in i.2 darkness says “it is now 1930 and no longer 1919. you must put on your janitor’s uniform at once.” act two is in 1960. in ii.5, darkness says, “it is now 1960. it is no longer 1919. he [abu] will die in 1980. it is time to add a few wrinkles to his forehead.” then, act iii is in vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 47 1974. this same mother’s assistant says in iii.9, “it is too late for you to find out. it is now 1974 and no longer 1919. it is time for you to experience one of the wonders of the world. you will witness a great work of the artist.” act iv is still in 1974. in iv.3 we can see: first, darkness says, “six more revolutions, mother”; secondly, arifin writes “(the moon enters with a hangman’s rope)”; then, right before “(the bell enters with a large sword),” darkness says, “wait” and then, “not yet! curtain!” the last act takes place in 1980. in v.8, darkness announces, “it is now 1980. it is no longer 1919. it is time you were dead.” such a device is really helpful: not only is it useful for the playwright, but it is also to the benefit of the spectators. the spectators can follow the stages, progress and development of the play. (3). the name of each act in the play is also a wonderful device. this, in fact, reminds me of bertold’s verfremdungseffekt (especially that arifin makes use of such a device throughout this play). after all, bertold once got acquainted with russian formalists.13 arifin, anyway, calls the first act “mother’s fairytales.” in this act, arifin begins with abu’s fantasies: he is listening to a fairytale told by mother. a happy abu can be felt here: it is not such a bad idea to have a beautiful daydream. in i.4 we see: abu. will i be happy, mother? mother. happy for sure. forever. now pretend you are the handsome prince. you’ll see what it feels like to be really tired then. now close your eyes tight. sleep. the birds are asleep. sleep. the sun is asleep. sleep. even the trees are asleep. sleep. the whole world is asleep. sleep. when everything is gone, you can put on the prince’s shining clothes. now you can’t see a thing except the brightness of your clothes. you can’t hear anything except the chinking of the gold. now you’re taking up the magic 13 as can be seen in my paper entitled “arifin c. noer’s moths and the theater of bertold brecht a mirror. now you’re going into the perfumed room of the beautiful princess; the bed is turned right down, ready to receive you. act two is “bird, where is the edge of the world?” here we can see an unhappy abu: it is a dream that makes people unhappy. in ii.4 we can see: ijem. oh god. what have we done? another hour and the flood will be in the house. god. what was it? where do you want this rotten old couch? you keep this nasty little chair bobbing about. saints and ancestors, where are you? and the cupboards. our old clothes. this shabby mattress. which part of it would you like to have a rip at next? abu. ……….. ijem. you’re a real old worn-out sand-shoe. but mamat’s [their son] got to go to work. he’s old enough. he mustn’t be a sandshoe like his father. oh god. flood. flood. flood. abu becomes very unhappy realizing the real life he has to face and lead to. in ii.9 we can also see another example of how boss has treated him. “the sun flies away. the moon whirls around” is the name of act three: by reading and reading this very act, we can see how both, reality and dream are beyond the man’s [abu’s] control. the title of act iv is “abu and ijem caught in the rain.” here abu’s struggle for life is described in such a way that we may end up with the theme of this act, namely, the way to reach what we are dreaming of is often unexpected due to our undeniable reality. the last act is “the door.” as the word suggests, it can mean anything: what door? where does it lead to? abu in this act, amazingly, in one hand, manages to get to the door – possessing the magic mirror – but on the other hand, he has also to die. it is indeed in line with the saying that there is also a limit to a daydream. when dealing with the structuralists, we know that to them the so-called forms of binarism have been there in human thought. in study from verfremdungseffekt aspect” (march 3, 1997) vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 48 philosophy and religion, for example, we recognize subject and object, god and man, temporal and eternal and so forth. it is understandably when raman selden exposed the concept of ‘privatives’ in analyzing arthur miller’s death of a salesman.15 he writes that the world in terms of absence of certain qualities: darkness is an absence of light, an object is still when it lacks movement. the concept can, indeed, cover certain substantive ‘binary oppositions’ (bos): ‘woman’–as feminists have pointed out–is defined as lacking certain male features. deconstructive critics talk about the pervasive presence of binary logic in western discourse and, needless to say, structuralists have argued the importance of bos in human language. arguing that there is possibility of discovering binary structures in texts, jonathan culler proposes what he calls “the reader’s use of bos as a means of attributing significance to literary texts.”16 appearance and reality, country and city, body and soul, reason and feeling, are a few of many bos which readers have employed as interpretive strategies. the danger of bos, he further explains, is that they permit one to classify anything beside the fact that we can always find some difference between any two items. there is a good example of how we might go through this unexpected thing: being tempted to align two bos and to regard them as possessing the same structure (‘homologous’) just because they are both present in a text. on the other hand, certain bos are capable of generating a whole series of associated oppositions within a text: the biological nature and divine nature, the organic and mechanical, and fancy and judgment. arifin c. noer’s moths (1974) is a play concerning mother who is writing a novel and abu, the protagonist of the novel. mother has two assistants darknes and moon. they both help her in deciding how abu would be like in the novel. abu is a janitor who leads in poverty. he has beautiful fantasies and believes that by having the magic mirror he will be happy: free 15 raman selden, practising theory and reading literature (hertfordshire: harvester wheatsheaf, 1989), p. 55 from the cruel and unhappy everyday life. the play concludes with mother’s (and darkness’ and moon’s) decision: killing abu, the protagonist of the novel. abu’s happinness is linked to his fantasies as we can see in i.4: abu. will i be happy, mother? mother. happy for sure. forever. now pretend you are the handsome prince. you’ll see what it feels like to be really tired then. now close your eyes tight. sleep. the birds are asleep. sleep. the sun is asleep. sleep. even the trees are asleep. sleep. the whole world is asleep. sleep. when everything is gone, you can put on the prince’s shining clothes. now you can’t see a thing except the brightness of your clothes. you can’t hear anything except the chinking of the gold. now you’re taking up the magic mirror. now you’re going into the perfumed room of the beautiful princess; the bed is turned right down, ready to receive you. the concept of happiness is that of prince’s life, and abu is satisfied with that. the happiness can mean many things. as for mother whose goal is to finish her novel, she would be happy if abu did not know her riddle: good. now mother can get down to finishing her final book. strangely enough, in this novel of mine abu begins to find the key to our riddle. he becomes increasingly aware of the power we have over him. but – nevertheless – i am still hopeful he will remain faithful to us. he will always need cheering up and only we can do that. the happiness for moon is when she can make abu happy: mother’s voice. cll him ‘prince’, moon. moon. prince – i hate telling lies, but it doesn’t matter as long as he’s happy. my prince, behold …. 16 ibid., 56-57 vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 49 in i.7 we can also see: abu. where’s the princess? moon. where is she? the princess… darkness. she’s still bathing in the palace pool, my lord. abu. goodness, it must be the morning. darkness. it is, my lord the handsome prince. the roosters have answered each other thre times. and the sun has begun to light its stove. in a moment the warm water will wash my lord’s body. abu. how bright it is. my jewels. how bright they are. my sword. how bright it is. my palace….. moon. how dare you tell those lies? darkness. shut up, cry-baby. abu. where’s my magic mirror? moon. he stole it. darkness. shut up, fool. the time isn’t right yet. idiot. anyway, the above dialogues together with all of the dialogues quoted in dealing with new criticism and russian formalism, we can see the patterns of contrast and similarity between the characters. the patterns turn upon certain qualitatively significant binary oppositions. the bos are apparent in key correlations between (1) illusion and reality, (2) happiness and reality. we can express the bos as they relate to particular characters as follows: a. mother darkness illusive realistic abu moon illusive illusive b. mother darkness happy happy abu moon miserable miserable there are, indeed, many other possible bos which produce significnces from the play’s textual signifiers. the demonstration above merely shows that this study is trying to discover meaning based upon binary patterns. conclusion after looking into arifin c. noer’s moths with analytical perspectives of formalism, we can see several important things: first, we know some possible ways to go about reading it; secondly, we can see how the playwright seems to write about his play and thirdly, we come to have a better understanding of the the play – thus appreciating it better. it is also possible to regard that the new critics tend to repudiate english romanticism and its radical tradition as pictured in noer’s moth, while russian formalists merely attacked the utilitarian and social tradition aspects.2 the russian formalists were, thus, concerned with the way in which the individual work of art [in the month] was perceived differently against the background of the literary system as a whole. the structuralists, however, set themselves the task of describing the organization of the total sign-system itself [as revealed by the characters in noer’s moth] by dissolving the individual unit back into the langue of which it is a partial articulation. 2 frederic jameson, the prison-house of language (princeton: princeton university press, 1974), p. 46 vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 50 references brecht, bertold. 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(1989). practising theory and reading literature. hertfordshire: harvester wheatsheaf. thompson, ewa m. (1971). russian formalism and anglo-american new criticism. the hague: mouton & co. n.v. llt journal 2014 pages 1 to 3 front.pdf llt journal 2014 fixed backup vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 51 polysemy and semantic extension of lexeme “hot” truly almendo pasaribu elesp sanata dharma university tr.almendo@gmail.com abstract polysemy is a well-known fact about language. this study focuses on describing the concept and the extended senses of lexeme hot found in the corpus. the data taken from the corpus show that lexeme hot contains more than one semantic representation. this study aims at finding out the prototypical meaning, the extended senses and the relation between the prototypical meaning and the extended senses. first, the paper discusses the literal meaning of hot from its componential analysis, which will be supported by the natural semantic metalanguage. after elaborating the prototypical meaning of the lexeme hot, this paper elaborates the extended senses of the lexeme and the motivation grounding the various types of these senses. finally, it analyses the relation of the literal and the extended senses of the word by drawing the semantic networks. this research elaborates 10 extended senses of the word hot found in the corpus. the prototypical meaning of the word indicates a “very high degree of temperature”. it is a scale used to describe high degree of temperature. the senses of lexeme hot are mostly motivated by metaphoric extension, in which hot is used to describe a scale to measure other things. the relation of the senses enables us to draw the semantic network of the polysemy of lexeme hot. keywords: semantic extension, polysemy, metaphor, semantic network introduction human creativity in using language is not only seen through new creation of words, but also through various meanings represented by a single phonological form. to provide basic human needs to interact with their surroundings, language is always changing and developing. meaning is one dynamic aspect of language. falkum (2011: 9) mentions the various senses of the word run. its meaning in the verb phrase run a half marathon is clearly different from the one it has in run some water, run on gasoline, run on empty, run a shop, run late, run away from responsibilities, run in the family, or run for president. this phenomenon is described as polysemy. polysemy is described as the association of two or more related senses with a single word form. a further issue that an account of polysemy representation must address is how the relations between the polysemous senses are represented in the mental lexicon. in the cognitive linguistics tradition, the senses of the word are related to each other in a certain degree. polysemous lexical items can be represented as a network of senses centred on a primary, prototypical sense. words can take on new meanings, shrinking or (more commonly) extending the domain of their reference (finegan, 1992:95). finegan gives example of the word dove and hawk. during the vietnam war, the word hawk came to be used in reference to supporters of the war while dove referred to supporters of peace. the extension of these words comes from the combative nature of hawks and the symbolically peaceful role assigned to doves. the new meanings did not replace the earlier ones but gave us, in effect, new words by extending the domain of reference for old words. like other feature of language, meaning shifts through times (ullman, 1977: 247). this phenomenon described by finegan (1992), the semantic shift or metaphorical extension, is motivated by metaphors. the metaphorical use of words often leads to new meanings that come to seem perfectly natural. then a form of language with more than one related meaning is called polysemy. polysemy is described as the association of two or more related senses with a single word form. a further issue that an vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 52 account of polysemy representation must address is how the relations between the polysemous senses are represented in the mental lexicon. in the cognitive linguistics tradition, the senses of the word are related to each other in a certain degree. polysemous lexical items can be represented as a network of senses centred on a primary, prototypical sense. some researchers devoted themselves in studying this interesting phenomenon of polysemy. one of them is a dissertation by ibarretxe-antuanano (1999) who investigates cross-linguistic polysemy and metaphor over perception verbs. he compares perception verbs found in english, basque and spanish. another study is conducted by wijaya (2011) to complete his thesis entitled polisemi pada leksem head: tinjauan linguistik kognitif. this research is conducted to analyze the polysemy of lexeme head. he found that there are 13 type of various senses of the lexeme head. in english, the word hot is usually used to describe a high temperature. other words in english that describe temperature is: hot, warm, lukewarm, cool and cold. however, in daily communication, these words are not only expressed to describe temperature, which is extremely basic human experiences. we may feel hot, warm, lukewarm, or cold as a result of the temperature of air surrounding us. usually lexemes which are extremely basic human experience have more than one semantic representation (kovecses, 2010: 21). with this thought in mind, this study aims at finding out the prototypical meaning, the extended senses and the relation between the prototypical meaning and the extended senses. the data of the lexeme hot found in 77 sentences taken from texts and corpus from internet show that the word hot contains more than one meaning. the data are limited to the single lexeme hot, which means that the paper will exclude the idiomatic construction of the word. the concept of hot found in the data will be analysed in three steps. first, the paper discusses the prototypical meaning of the word hot from its componential analysis, which will be supported by the natural semantic metalanguage analysis of the word. after discussing the prototypical meaning, this paper will elaborate the extended senses and the motivation grounding the various types of these senses. finally, it analyses relation of the literal word and the extended senses of the word by drawing the semantic networks of the senses. in order to achieve this goal in mind, after this brief introduction, this paper is divided into three sections. first, it elaborates the literature framework used in this paper, which is followed by the explication of the finding and discussion. next, in finding and discussion section, the paper discusses the prototypical meaning of the word hot from its componential and semantic natural metalanguage analysis, the extended senses of the word hot as well as the motivation grounding the various types of those senses, and the relation of the literal or prototypical word and the extended senses of the word. finally, it closes the discussion with the conclusion. literature framework below are the discussions of related literatures which are considered suitable to be the ground of this research. componential analysis componential analysis, also called feature analysis or contrast analysis, refers to the description of the meaning of words through structured sets of semantic features, which are given as “present”, “absent” or “indifferent with reference to feature”. the method thus departs from the principle of compositionality. componential analysis is a method typical of structural semantics which analyses the structure of a word's meaning. nida’s theory is applied to identify the componential of lexeme hot. to analyze that nida (1975: 54) set some basic steps as follows: 1. collecting a tentative selection of meanings which appear to be closely related. 2. listing all the specific kinds for each of the meanings belonging to the domain. 3. determining those components which may be true of the meanings of one or more terms. vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 53 4. determining the diagnostic componets applicable to each meaning. 5. cross-checking with the data obtained by the first procedure. 6. making a systematic description of the diagnostic features. in analyzing the semantic components of words related to the lexeme hot, this research will use (+) symbols which means the words have certain semantic components. polysemy and semantic extension polysemy is a form of language that has more than one related senses. polysemy might be caused by the semantic extension of the word. this phenomenon occurs in many languages. polysemy can be motivated by metaphor and metonymy. many polysemous senses are clearly related metaphorically (cruse, 2000: 112). here we will simply characterize metaphor as figurative usage based on resemblance. a good example of a set of readings related metaphorically is provided by position. 1. that is an uncomfortable position to sleep in. 2. this is a good position to see the procession. john has an excellent position in ici. 3. you've put me in an awkward position. 4. you must position yourself so she can't miss you. these examples show that the lexeme position can be used to express various shades of meanings. the relation of the senses and their grounding motivation are two interesting things to be analyzed. semantic network a lexical item used with any frequency is almost invariably polysemous. in this sense, it has multiple, related meanings that have all been conventionalized to some degree. among these related senses, some are more central, or prototypical or literal, than others, and some are schemas that are elaborated or instantiated by others. to some extent the senses are linked by categorizing relationships to form a network. for example, originally the noun “mail” referring to physically embodied messages delivered through a postal system, is now well established for what is also known as email, messages delivered electronically by computer. at one stage this use of mail was innovative. the lexical unit mail was invoked to designate its electronic counterpart (langacker, 2008:224). in the case of mail, the original, extended, and schematic senses are all well established and capable of being evoked as its meaning, depending on the context. they are thus related, where the heavy-line box indicates that the original meaning [mail] (i.e. ‘hard mail’) is prototypical and most easily elicited (langacker, 2008:224). this mininetwork is part of a somewhat larger network representing the conventional semantic value of mail. vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 54 the occurrence of mail in the utterance is interpreted as manifesting the symbolic unit [mail/mail] even though, in the context of the usage event, it is understood as referring to electronic messages: (email/mail). this usage is now well established, so both the symbolic structure [email/mail] and its categorization by [mail/mail] have the status of conventional units. since the original unit has not been lost, mail is now polysemous, having both ‘hard mail’ and ‘email’ as well-entrenched meanings. to some extent, the latter sense is still understood as an extension from the former, just as indicated in the diagram (langacker, 2008:224). data collection this study uses a qualitativedescriptive research that focuses on the description of current language phenomenon. the method is carried out by gathering the data, analysing the data and presenting the data. the british national corpus < http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/ > gives a natural and concrete data of lexeme hot, while longman of contemporary english dictionary gives ease to collect data which are not found in the corpus. deignan (1997:153) stated that corpus analysis of meaning is bottom up not top down, that is the word should be analyzed from its forms to its senses. findings and discussions in this section, this paper discusses the prototypical meaning of lexeme hot from its componential and semantic natural metalanguage analysis. secondly, this paper finds the extended senses of the word hot as well as the motivation grounding the various types of those senses. after finding the various types of senses, this paper shows the relation of the prototypical lexeme and its extended senses through semantic network. the prototypical meaning of lexeme hot the word hot has appeared in the ancient english. the roots of germanic hot go back to the old english period. according to kleparski (2007) the semantic history of the adjective is the history of the proper adjective originally expressing a well-known quality or condition of material bodies, due to a high degree of the molecular energy known as heat, the sense with which hot has been present in english since anglo-saxon times (kleparski, 2007). the corpus shows that in many sentences the word hot is used to describe a very high degree of temperature. this is confirmed by oxford dictionary which states that hot as “having a relatively or noticeably high temperature.” the word hot is often mentioned as an antonym of the word cold, but it is actually a gradual antonym. the word hot is related with other lexemes in the domain of temperature, that is warm, lukewarm, cool, cold. lexemes which are on the same hierarchical scale as hot are warm, luke, cool dan cold. from their usage, we can say that hot is described as having a high or higher than desirable temperature and as causing a sensation of heat or burning. the concept of warm is having or producing a comfortable and agreeable degree of heat or imparting or maintaining heat. the concept of lukewarm is neither cold nor hot. the concept of cool is a low temperature. the concept of cold can be defined as having a low or inadequate temperature. therefore we can compare and contrast those lexemes as shown in the table below: vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 55 suhu very high high medium low very low hot + warm + luke + cool + cold + if compared with other lexemes on the same hierarchical scale, hot has a distinctive feature that is [+very high temperature]. however, componential analysis is not adequate to explain the prototypical meaning of the word hot, so this research include the semantic natural metalanguage analysis of hot elaborated by wierzbicka (1992): this thing is hot. this thing is like this: if a part of a person’s body touches this thing, this person can feel something in this part of the body because of it because of this, this person can know something about this thing because of this, this persom can think like this: “something can be like this if a short time before it was in a place where there was fire. a person can feel something bad in part of their body if this part of the body touches something when it is like this” the use of the literal meaning of the word hot can be seen in many numbers in the corpus, this one is an example: (1) that rice was hot when i had it so i burnt my tongue. it is seen that the meaning of the word hot in this sentence is describing very high temperature. in the next section, this paper will elaborate the extended senses of the word hot. extended senses of hot there are 10 extended senses of the word hot found in the corpus. below is seen the extended senses of the word hot and the possible reason of the extension. burning taste food that produces a strong burning taste can be described with the adjective hot. the food is usually made of chilies, pepper, or ginger. the use of the word hot in this sense can be seen as follow: (2) this is a dish that’s spicy but not too hot. (3) a spicy sausage, often called ‘lucania’, red hot ‘peperoncini’ and smoked hams are particularly popular. wierzbicka (1992) describes the literal hot in the temperature domain as: “something can be like this if a short time before it was in a place where there was fire. a person can feel something bad in part of their body if this part of the body touches something when it is like this” this sense of the word hot is carried by means of metaphor because both temperature and food produce a burning sensation. when talking about food, the burning sensation occurs on the taste nerves, although the tongue is not literally burned or having a very high temperature. it can be explained by the conceptual metaphor [spicy food is heat]. intense activity the use of the word which are classified in the domain of temperature is pervasive to describe an activity. for instance, when we use literal sense of hot, we use lexeme hot as in sentence (4) to describe things producing an uncomfortable sensation of heat. (4) the weather is hot, so bring your umbrella. because temperature is close to our physical experience, we often express something else using our intimate concept of temperature. it is not difficult to find the word hot describing an activity, specifically to show that the activity is very intense. we should note how the intensifier in the description of the temperature is applied in describing an activity. for example: vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 56 (5) the fighting became hot and heavy. (6) he beat hot competition from lovejoy ian mcshane and noel edmonds, whose tv show noel's house party picked up a bafta award at the weekend. it is interesting to notice that both fighting and argument in this case are two different activities. from the example above, we can see that a hot fight or a hot argument is intense and involves a great deal of determination. specifically we see that the conceptual metaphor in the examples [a scale of competition is a scale of temperature]. generally, we have the extension sense of the word hot through conceptual metaphor. the two different domains are associated because temperature is extremely basic human experience. we always experience heat, cold, and warm in our daily live. we can feel warm or cold as a result of the temperature of the air that surrounds us. we often use the temperature domain metaphorically to talk about intense activity. intense excitement, passion, and enthusiasm the use of the word hot here is to describe a high degree of psychological traits. like the previous meaning, the the sense of the word hot which indicates “intensity of excitement, passion and enthusiasm” is motivated by metaphor. for example: (7) the idea had been nurtured in his hot imagination. although psychological traits and temperature are abstract concepts, temperature is something more familiar to our physical experience. while literally hot means very intense degree of temperature, in this case hot means very intense degree of imagination (7). one can use the word hot to describe something that is very exciting and that we want to become involved with. the ground motivating this extension is the metaphor [a scale of psychological traits is a scale of temperature]. to some extent, the sense of hot in (7) is still understood as an extension from prototypical one. unusually great skill the word hot is also used to describe a person that is knowledgeable about something. it expresses positive evaluation on somebody. it is again motivated by the use of metaphor that [a scale of skill is a scale of temperature], as shown in this example: (8) you should see the hot drummer who’ll show you what a drum can do (9) he scores 42 for chicago bulls. he's hot tonight. both examples above use hot to describe that someone is great at something. in the former example (8), it describes the skill of the drummer; while the later example (9) shows that a basketball player is good at playing something. very popular or successful the lexeme hot is used to describe a very popular person or successful person. it is again motivated by metaphor. the semantic extension of this meaning is to show the degree of success or popularity. (10) she is one of the hot young girls in school. (11) the hot new businesses on wall street are constantly changing. while literally hot means very intense degree of temperature, in this case the word hot means a very popular girl (10) and very successful businesses on wall street (11). people who are successful are in the higher level of the social class, and hot is prototypically a high scale of temperature. the similarity of these two domains is more is up, which leads to a more specific metaphor—[a scale of success is a scale of temperature]. very unpleasant or dangerous the word hot is also used to describe something negative that is something very unpleasant or dangerous. the semantic extension of this meaning is to show a high degree of danger or unpleasant situation. vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 57 (12) yet when a scorpion rushed straight at him, he ran out of his hut to cry to a sixyear-old child outside ‘there are hot beasts within!’ (13) labour mp miss hilary armstrong and the liberal mr matthew taylor have already agreed to speak, but a reply is still awaited from the conservatives, says mrs robinson, who wants to put darlington's political contenders in the hot seat with a similar local meeting. different from other positive evaluation of the word hot, the word is used to describe very unpleasant or even dangerous things as shown in (12) and (13). it functions as an adjective to scale the degree of danger. example (12) shows that the adjective hot describes a dangerous animal. like in example (13), we can use hot to describe situation that is unpleasant and difficult to deal with. if one is in hot seat, one is responsible for making important and difficult decision. the motivation for this extension can be explained by conceptual metaphor [a scale of danger/difficult situation is a scale of temperature]. most recent news the superlative in “newest” or “most recent” indicates a quantifier meaning, that is the greatest in amount or extent or degree. the word hot also shows the highest temperature in the realm of temperature. therefore, a new extension appears, that is ‘hot news means newest or most recent news’. (14) well if you hear any hot news from yougoslavia, you’ll let us know, won’t you. wierzbicka (1992) defines the term hot from semantic natural metalanguage as “something can be like this if a short time before it was in a place where there was fire.” food will have a hot temperature just after we cook it. the key term “a short time” is applied to the field of journalism and produces meaning “newest and most recent news”. therefore, the extension of this sense is motivated by conceptual metaphor [a scale of time is a scale of temperature]. recently stolen the word recently means ‘in the recent past’. recent means the immediate past or just previous to the present time. the lexeme hot is also used informally to refer to recently stolen and too easily identifiable to dispose. one can use the word hot to describe something that no one wants to deal with, often because it has been illegally obtained and is very valuable. (15) these jewels are hot. (16) who would buy this hot ring you stole from the museum! it describes goods that have been recently stolen and are therefore difficult to sell or dangerous to deal with because the police are still looking for them. it is called hot because in dealing with hot items in this sense, the person’s body temperature raised and heart beat increased. sexually attractive or exciting the word hot also indicates sexually stimulating or sexually attractive. this sense can refer to both men and women, as shown below: (17) just like some people will never be able to become a hollywood actor, some people won't be able to have hot sex so why do sex therapists say they can? (18) i'm hot for you, baby. sexual attraction is considered exciting to the persons who experience it. the word hot is used to scale the degree of sexual attractiveness of the persons. similarly to other temperature descriptors, the two terms are exponents of the metaphoric mapping ‘temperature stands for sexual attraction’ which is alleged to have an experiential basis in the physiological changes, such as raised body temperature and increased heartbeat, which accompany states of arousal. very responsive temperament this sense is related to the ancient four temperaments. choleric is associated with the element of hot and dry. in this case vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 58 temperature stands for temperament or emotion. when people have a hot tempered trait, they get angry very quickly and easily. (19) he is so hot-tempered and excitable, like a battle of soda water exploding. (20) his hot temper was making it increasingly difficult for others to work with him. when describing someone as hot-headed, we are criticizing them for acting too quickly, without thinking of the consequences. (21) you should ignore tom, he is a hotheaded bully like his dad. in this case the adjective hot in the compound noun is used to describe a very quick action. the word hot is used to scale the fast response or action. it is metonymically extended form the literal hot, as what wierzbicka (1992) describes hot as “something can be like this if a short time before it was in a place where there was fire” semantic network this section analyses the relation of the literal or prototypical meaning and the extended senses of the word by drawing the semantic networks of the senses. a summary to the distinct senses is given in table below: no sense example 1 hot means ‘high degree’ surabaya is hotter that malang, so you don’t need to bring your jacket. 2 hot means ‘burning taste’ this is a dish that’s spicy but not too hot. 3 hot means ‘very intense activity’ the fighting became hot and heavy 4 hot means ‘intense color’ the idea had been nurtured in his hot imagination 5 hot means ‘performed or performing with unusually great skill’ he scores 42 for chicago bulls. he's hot tonight. 6 hot means ‘very popular or successful’ she is one of the hot young talents. 7 hot means ‘very unpleasant or even dangerous’ yet when a scorpion rushed straight at him, he ran out of his hut to cry to a six-year-old child outside ‘there are hot beasts within!’ 8 hot means ‘newest or most recent news’ well if you hear any hot news from yougoslavia, you’ll let us know, won’t you. 9 hot means ‘recently stolen’ these jewels are hot. 10 hot means ‘sexually excited or attracted’ she's hot alright. 11 hot means “very responsive temperament” he is so hot-tempered, like a battle of soda water exploding. this study proposes that the lexeme hot can be modelled in terms of a semantic network consisting of a central meaning and eleven distinct senses. each distinct sense is shown in the rectangles in the network. the central sense occupies a bold rectangle, indicating its status as the literal or prototypical meaning. evans (2006:347) studies the word over and in the study he mentions that the word over has many senses, some of which appear to be more closely related to one another. this case also happens to the word hot. some senses of the word hot which appear to be more closely related to one another are represented in clusters. direction of arrows represents possible paths of derivation. > semantic extension ………………... similarity vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 59 this picture shows that the extended senses of the word hot are still related to its prototypical meaning. the extension of those senses is mostly motivated by metaphors. the domain temparature is pervasive to express nontemperature entity because temperature is very basic human experience. conclusion this research analyses a prototypical meaning and 10 extended senses of the word hot. the prototypical meaning of the word indicates a “very high degree of temperature”. it is a scale used to describe temperature. the senses of the word hot are: (1) burning taste, (2) intense activity, (3) intense excitement, (4) great skill, (5) very successful, (6) very unpleasant, (7) newest or most recent (news), (8) recently stolen, (9) sexually excited or attractive, and (10) very responsive temperament. we have discussed how these senses are related to the central meaning of the word hot. the various senses of the word hot emerge because of metaphoric extension, in which the word hot is mostly used to describe a scale to measure other things. the relation of the senses enables us to draw the semantic network of the polysemy of the lexeme hot. 60 references cruse, alan. (2000). meaning in language: an introduction to semantics and pragmatics. oxford: oxford university press evans, vyvyan. and melanie green. (2006). cognitive linguistics: an introduction. edinburgh: edinburgh university press. finegan, e. (1992). language: its structure and use. london: harcourt brace jovanovich falkum, inggrid lossius. (2011). the semantics and pragmatics of polysemy: a relevance-theoretic account. (dissertation). london: university college london. kleparski, g. a. (2007). “hot pants, cold fish and cool customers”. seria filologiczna. koptjevskaja-tamm, maria._____. “kinds of temperature evaluation from a lexical-typological perspective”. www.temperature.ling.su.se/images/3/3d/mkt_temp_lyon_1105_revis.doc accessed on 23 mei 2012 kovecses, z. (2010). metaphor: a practical introduction. 2nd ed. oxford: oxford university press. kridalaksana, h. (2011). kamus linguistik. jakarta: gramedia. ibarretxe-antuñano, b. i. (1999). “polysemy and metaphor in perception verbs: a cross-linguistic study”. (dissertation). edinburgh: university of edinburgh. langacker, r. w. (2008). cognitive grammar. a basic introduction. oxford: oxford university press. nida, a. e. (1975). componential analysis of meaning, an introduction to semantic structures. paris : the hague. ullmann, stephen. (1977). semantics, an introduction to the science of meaning. oxford: basil blackwell. wierzbicka, annal. (1992). semantics, culture, and cognition: universal human concepts in culture specific configuration. london: oxford university press. wijaya, g. p. (2011). “polisemi pada leksem head: tinjauan linguistik kognitif”. (thesis). denpasar: universitas udayana. http://www.temperature.ling.su.se/images/3/3d/mkt_temp_lyon_1105_revis.doc llt journal 2014 pages 1 to 3 front.pdf llt journal 2014 fixed backup llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 461 the role of reading aloud strategy on improving reading and pronunciation for efl pupils at private basic schools: teachers perspectives abbas mukhar mohamed badawi1, nagla taha bashrie alnour2, montaser alamin3 and sami balla sanhori4 1,2,3,4sudan university of science and technology, sudan abbasbadawi@gmail.com; najlataha@gmail.com; abbasbadawi@gmail.com; samisanhori@hotmail.com correspondence: abbasbadawi@gmail.com doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i2.2910 received 18 october 2021; accepted 30 october 2021 abstract the study aims at investigating the role of reading aloud on english as foreign language for learners in improving reading and pronunciation at basic level schools. the study used the descriptive analytical method. in order to examine the hypotheses, the study used a questionnaire as a tool for collecting needed data. the questionnaire was distributed randomly to fifty english language teachers at private schools in bahary locality. the data was analyzed by using spss program. the study came up with results that reading aloud is beneficial to develop and promote pupils reading, as well as improving their pronunciation. the study mentioned some recommendations and suggested some points of studies which can convene futurity. keywords: reading comprehension, pronunciation, efl pupils, teachers perspectives introduction generally speaking, there are four skills in any language, which are listening, reading, writing and speaking. these skills are the basic language components with which a person can communicate with each other. both listening and reading are estimative skills; they come first before writing and speaking. during the early to mid-1970s, a number of researchers and teacher trainers argued for the greater importance of reading, for example. goodman (1967) and smith (1971) said, "reading is not fundamentally the process of capturing information from the page into letter letter letter word by word." it is important in life. that a society can fail if it is not educated. by reading, people can learn a lot about everything. reading is a process of comprehension achieved through specific strategies such as (guessing, defining, scrolling, scanning and making inferences about the text. coady (1979) argued that visualizing the reading process requires three components: process strategies, background knowledge and conceptual abilities. “reading is a paradigm that the reader's conceptual abilities and strategies work alongside his background knowledge to comprehend the text.” it is true that the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 462 concept of reading requires specific techniques and strategies through which reading can be achieved. halliday (1973) stated, "teachers play a very crucial role in showing children appropriate ways to use language correctly. this demonstration can be done by reading or having a conversation with the child frequently." reading out loud is especially important as it helps pupils feel comfortable about what they know, and it is a good opportunity to share ideas and thoughts in class about pupils' specific situation. wood salvetti (2001) believed that such types of reading aloud strategies allow learners to become more literate. pupils who do not practice reading aloud are not sure of their pronunciation, and it appears that they are not familiar with the phonemic system of the english language. children can recognize the language in books and stimulate vocabulary development. reading aloud is characterized by the effectiveness of clear expression of words, flexibility in rate, volume and tone, appropriate phrasing and effective use of pauses. for children, especially in the early stages, it can enhance and develop emerging literacy and language development, and it can also promote reading, love and pleasure which is more important than improving specific literacy skills. this study aims at investigating the role of reading aloud in improving reading fluency for basic level school pupils. also; to developing and promote pupils’ pronunciation. the pupils of basic level schools encounter many difficulties in reading, as a result he was thinking of these reasons face pupils in reading. he found that there are many beneficial factors to improve reading. reading aloud is one of these factors which enable pupils to develop pupils reading fluency and pronunciation. the absence of reading aloud causes lack of reading fluency and pronunciation. this study is important because it seeks to develop basic level pupils’ reading fluency and pronunciation by applying reading aloud as a tool to help the readers to read the text fluently and pronounce the words correctly. it is also important for shedding lights on the reading aloud strategies. reading aloud encourages pupils to love and enjoy reading as well also motivates and stimulates them to read. moreover it is a good way to introduce them to read books, stories and poems that may otherwise miss them. it improves pupils’ reading fluency and pronunciation, which they are essential for learners of english as a foreign language. it encourages pupils to read on their own model. it also seeks to direct english language teachers towards the importance of reading aloud to encourage pupils to develop reading fluency and pronunciation through applying reading aloud. questions of the study the researchers intended to approach this study with the following questions: 1. to what extent does reading aloud improve pupils' reading fluency? 2. to what extent does reading aloud improve pupils' pronunciation? this case study is about the role of reading aloud on efl learners in improving pupils’ reading fluency and pronunciation. it was conducted to the basic level pupils at bahri private schools in the academic year of 2019-2020. literature review and previous studies llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 463 this part introduces the problem of the research in details, and then it discusses the related ideas of scientists and scholars .finally it mentions the reviewing of the previous studies. reading aloud to students is on the daily schedule for many elementary classes but lacks many intermediate elementary settings. previous research on reading aloud includes the benefits and definitions of reading aloud, verbal linguistic intelligence, genres, and listening comprehension. this literature review will highlight the key elements of reading aloud in the elementary classroom. reading aloud can be defined as an activity 'that provides a context in which adults and children share a common focus, providing an opportunity for children to participate in increasingly sophisticated conversations that move beyond a perceptual focus to encompass conceptually oriented discussions" (pentimonti & justice 2010, p. 242). strachan (2015) continues this definition by describing read aloud more in depth by stating, “during interactive read-aloud, teachers scaffold children’s sense making and support their learning of new concepts through direct instruction; asking questions before, during, and after reading" (p. 209). an interactive read aloud is time for the teacher to read a book aloud and discuss it with his or her class. the teacher and students take turns asking questions, listening intently to the text and others' comments, making predictions, and discussing the text with others to comprehend the book. another advantage reading aloud to students can have is building student ability to make connections. strachan (2015) wrote, “regular interactions throughout a read aloud have the potential to help students recognize connections between the text, their lives, and the larger global community" (p. 209). students who make connections as they read or listen to a text often have a deeper understanding of the text because they are taking time to create meaning (waller & barrentine, 2015). the connection or relation with a text can also resonate greater with the student if they can empathize or bond with the character or setting of a text. there have been many noted benefits for reading aloud with younger elementary children. younger students benefit from read alouds for many reasons. wiseman (2011) stated, "interactive read alouds are important learning opportunities for emergent readers because teachers and peers can actively model and scaffold comprehension strategies, engage readers, and cultivate a community of learners" (p. 431). teachers can use an interactive read aloud to model fluent reading. teachers may also use read alouds to help scaffold a text that would be too difficult for the students to read on their own. pentimonti and justice (2010) define scaffolding as "the process of temporarily providing support to a learner and then gradually withdrawing this support as the learner becomes capable of independence in performing tasks" (p. 241). strachan (2015) continued to write about the importance of reading aloud to primary students. she researched impacts of read alouds for kindergarten students. strachan (2015) stated that discussions about a text help clarify the information of the passage for younger students. there is limited information on the impact for intermediate students and their responses to read aloud texts. one study by clark & andreasen (2014) explores impacts of read aloud to sixth grade students. the findings of their study indicate that students had mixed feelings about being read to aloud, but that all students llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 464 could state instructional benefits of read alouds (clark, 2014). a second study researched comprehension and higher-level thinking skills. wolf, crosson, and resnick (2005) researched elementary and middle school students' comprehension and thinking skills during read aloud. their findings concluded that the discussions associated with read aloud texts did help improve student comprehension (wolf et al. 2005). my current study continues to fill this research gap of limited information by observing the impact of reading aloud to fourth grade students. method this part aims at explaining the methods, the procedures and the description of the population as well as the sample of the research. the questionnaire is used as a tool to collect data. then the researcher describes the validity and reliability of the questionnaire, and shows the procedures used to analyze data. the researcher adopted the descriptive and analytical method, which is suitable to this study, to investigate the impact of reading aloud on improving pupils' reading fluency and pronunciation, who study english as a foreign language. the descriptive method is used to collect the needed data through questionnaire. the population of this study is the basic level school english language teachers. the participants consists of (50) english language teachers, male and female of different qualifications and experiences who have randomly chosen from the population at the private schools of bahri locality a questionnaire was used to collect data about the problem, which consists of (10) statements .the questionnaire was designed for english language teachers who teach english language in the basic level schools. the task of collecting data is to investigate the impact of reading aloud in developing pupils’ reading fluency and pronunciation. the questionnaire is divided into two parts: the first part is designed to obtain information from the teachers about the developing of reading fluency through reading aloud. the second part is about the information concerning the developing of pronunciation through reading aloud. the questionnaire statements were given to (50) english language teachers regardless of their degrees and qualifications. findings and discussion this part contains of questionnaire data analysis of this study, the result and the discussion for each statement. the analysis of data of this study was made manually by the researchers to obtain the frequency of the sample answers. computer programs (word and excel) for tables are manipulated. all samples answers were changed into numbers and percentages. tables are explained in texts. questionnaire analysis and discussion table 1. reading aloud enables pupils to read fluently and normally. valid frequency percent (%) strongly agree 30 60% agree 17 34% neutral 3 6% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 465 valid frequency percent (%) disagree 0 0% strongly disagree 0 0% total 50 100% table (1) shows that the high percentage is in “strongly agree and agree” statements which indicates that reading aloud is a significant role in proving pupils with aspects of fluency, that enables them to read fluency and automatically. table 2. reading aloud can increase the speed of reading fluency valid frequency percent (%) strongly agree 27 54% agree 17 34% neutral 4 8% disagree 1 2% strongly disagree 1 2% total 50 100% table (2) show that the high percentage is in “strongly agree and agree”, which indicates that practicing reading aloud gives pupils opportunity to expose the fluency aspects through which they can read fast and fluently. table 3. in reading aloud teachers can evaluate pupil’s reading fluency level of achievement valid frequency percent (%) strongly agree 35 70% agree 15 30% neutral 0 0% disagree 0 0% strongly disagree 0 0% total 50 100% show that the high percentage is in “strongly agree and agree” which means that whom pupils read aloud, teachers should follow them carefully to evaluate and measure their reading fluency level. table 4. teacher’s model reading should be slow” valid frequency percent (%) strongly agree 19 38% agree 15 30% neutral 7 14% disagree 6 12% strongly disagree 3 6% total 50 100% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 466 table (4) describes the high percentage obtained above, that shows the speed of teachers’ model reading aloud for pupils is very important, so it should be as slow as pupils ‘level and ability to read. table 5. to improve reading fluency, reading aloud should be practical regularly. valid frequency percent (%) strongly agree 30 60% agree 17 34% neutral 0 0% disagree 1 2% strongly disagree 2 4% total 50 100% table (5) show that the respondents of “strongly agree and agree” are high ascriptions which means the importance of practicing reading aloud regularly in order to apply reading fluency aspects and to answer the correct pronunciation. table 6. reading aloud improve pupils’ phonological awareness achievement” valid frequency percent (%) strongly agree 26 52% agree 19 38% neutral 4 8% disagree 1 2% strongly disagree 0 0% total 50 100% table (6) describes the high degree of agreement with the statement above that presents the importance of the phonological awareness of english sound system for pupils of basic level schools which can be acquired and improved through reading aloud. table 7. through reading aloud pupils exposure to the use of phonics and phonemes will be enhanced valid frequency percent (%) strongly agree 29 58% agree 19 38% neutral 2 4% disagree 0 0% strongly disagree 0 0% total 50 100% table (7) show the high percentage of respondents who agree with the statement that pupils read aloud enhanced and strengthen the use of phonics and phonemes of english in clear way. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 467 table 8. through reading aloud pupils expose to supra segmental features of pronunciation “e.g. stress ‘rhythm’ and intonation. valid frequency percent (%) strongly agree 21 42% agree 22 44% neutral 5 10% disagree 2 4% strongly disagree 0 0% total 50 100% table (8) confirms that the high percentage represents the importance of reading aloud method which enables pupils to expose to the supra segmental features of pronunciation like, stress, rhythms and intonation through which they can read correctly and clearly. table 9. improving pupils pronunciation through reading aloud ‘communication competence valid frequency percent (%) strongly agree 24 48% agree 21 42% neutral 4 8% disagree 1 2% strongly disagree 0 0% total 50 100% table (9) shows the high degree of responding to the statement above which confirms the role of reading aloud in improving pronunciation that gives pupils chance to improve their communicative competence. table 10. improving pronunciation through reading aloud enables pupils to practice and learn the language correctly valid frequency percent (%) strongly agree 53 07% agree 35 62% neutral 7 7% disagree 6 4% strongly disagree 7 7% total 50 100% table (10) illustrates the high percentage of respondents who agree with statement that reading aloud enables pupils to improve english language pronunciation that encourages them to learn and practice english correctly and naturally. from data analysis and discussion, and according to the researcher questions and hypotheses, the researcher has come up with results of the research in hypotheses as follow: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 468 the first hypothesis which is “reading aloud is important to improve and promote pupils’ reading fluency” has positive respondents; the percentage shows that (88%) of sample answers have positive attitudes towards this hypothesis. the second hypothesis “reading aloud improves pupils’ pronunciation” has positive respondents and percentage which shows that there are about (91%) of sample answers are positive too. that means the two hypotheses have successfully achieved. conclusion from data analysis and discussion, and according to the research questions and hypotheses, the researcher has come up with the results of the research in hypotheses which is “reading aloud is important to improve and promote pupils reading fluency” has positive respondents; the percentage show that (88%) of sample answers have positive attitudes. the second hypotheses “reading aloud improves pupils’ pronunciation” has also positive respondents and percentage which shows that there are about (91%) of sample answers are positive too. that means two hypotheses have successfully achieved. according to the two questions used in this study by the researcher and due to the main findings resulted from analysis of the ten questionnaire statements with regard to the two hypotheses, and the results of the previous studies mentioned in chapter two, the researcher has come up with some conclusions that pupils of basic level schools can improve their performance better in english language through reading aloud. the study has observed that reading aloud is beneficial to develop and promote pupils reading fluency achievement. finally, it has observed that reading aloud can improve pupils’ pronunciation performance. according to the conclusions mentioned, the study suggests that teachers should exert great efforts to apply reading aloud inside classroom. also; teachers should be aware of reading fluency features when they read aloud. to develop pupils’ pronunciation, teachers should carefully follow pupils’ reading to check their pronunciation and correct their mistakes. references atieno, c., & kinegeni, l. k. 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(2012). linguistic landscape and language policies: a comparative study of linköping university and eth zürich. linköping university. http://dspace.pacuniversity.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/1586 llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 179 three models of english morphology barli bram sanata dharma university barli@usd.ac.id abstract this paper explores models of english morphology, namely item and arrangement (ia), item and process (ip), and word and paradigm (wp), which can be used to analyze morphological data, particularly word formation involving prefixes and suffixes. sample data, consisting of complex words or words having more than one morpheme, were analyzed using the three models to discover their strengths and shortcomings. in order to find out the differences between the three models of morphology, it is important that the current writer should examine strategies for distinguishing between derivational affixes and inflectional ones. there exist three advantages if morphologists know very well the three models of english morphology. first is that ia fails to display a clear sequence of the item and arrangement when dealing with some irregular plural nouns and irregular past tense. second is that ip offers a better solution to irregular plural nouns, such as mice and men. third is that wp appears to be the most efficient model when dealing with inflectional morphology. keywords: item and arrangement (ia), item and process (ip), word and paradigm (wp), derivation, inflection a. introduction in this paper, the current author compares and contrasts the three models of morphology, namely item and arrangement (ia), item and process (ip), and word and paradigm (wp), in order to account for analyses of complex words in english. will first look at three aspects which seem to be able to clearly and neatly differentiate between inflection and derivation. as we will see below, the main difference between inflection and derivation lies in their function. the former yields forms of lexemes and the latter new lexemes (bauer, 2003: 91; booij, 2005: 112; booij, 2006: 654). it is essential to keep in mind that the borderlines between the two kinds of morphology will become complicated when we try to analyse more data. accordingly, we would want to remind ourselves that it is in fact not always easy to decide whether we are dealing with an inflectional or derivational affix in a given context. b. inflection and derivation to begin our discussion, let us now agree that in principle english morphology can be divided into two categories namely inflection and derivation, we might find it necessary to examine what lies behind this dichotomy approach. bauer (2003: 14-15) lists the following three major strategies of differentiating between an inflectional affix and derivational one: llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 180 1. listing the categories (of the base, stem and new word-form) 2. identifying the affix meaning 3. checking the productivity below we will observe how the three ways work. by the phrase "listing the categories (of the base, stem and new word-form)", we mean that we see what part of speech we have after an affix in english, normally either a prefix or suffix, is combined with a base or stem. if a new wordform and its base belong to different categories, we may then conclude that it is derivation, and if the new wordform and its stem are of the same category and the affix involved is a suffix, we would say that this is inflection (bauer, 2003: 14). table 1 summarizes the above points. no. base/stem complex word inflection/deriv ation 1. start (v, stem) start.ed (v) inflection 2. computer (n, stem) computer.s (n) inflection 3. large (adj, base) en.large (v) derivation 4. hospital (n, base) hospital.ize (v) derivation 5. do (v, base) redo (v) derivation 6. correct (adj, base) incorrect (adj) derivation the second strategy is to identify the meaning of the affix of a complex word. in english, inflection always carries a regular meaning and derivation may or may not do so (bauer, 2003: 14-15). take, for instance, the inflectional affixes -ed and -s in the table above. the meaning of the suffix -ed which is added to a regular present tense verb as in started is constant, namely either 'past tense' or 'past participle', depending on context. similarly, the meaning of the inflectional suffix -s which is combined with a singular countable noun as in computers is the same at all times, that is, 'plural'. now let's raise this question: what is the meaning of the derivational prefix enas in the words enlarge, endanger and encourage? firstly, we can say that the prefix en means 'to make x', where x may refer to any adjective. therefore, enlarge means 'make (an object) large' as in tita will enlarge the lovely picture soon. secondly, we might want to say that the derivational affix enalso means 'to make somebody or something have x' as in the verb encourage. so, encourage may mean 'to make somebody or something have courage' as in the sentence professors encourage their students to express their ideas. thirdly, enmight also mean 'to put (somebody or something) in x', where x refers to any noun. thus, the complex word endanger means 'to put somebody or something in danger' as in the sentence one should not endanger one's life. to conclude, we see here that the meaning of the derivational prefix entends to be irregular. table 2 summarizes the second strategy, which helps us to point out the distinction between inflection and derivation. llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 181 no. affix (prefix/suffix) meaning (regular/irregular) inflection/deriv ation 1. -ed eg start.ed 'past tense' or 'past participle' (regular) inflection 2. -s eg computer.s 'plural' or 'more than one' (regular) inflection 3. eneg a. en.large, b. en.courage and c. en.danger at least three possible, irregular meanings: a. 'to make x' b. 'to make sb/sth have x' c. 'to put in x' derivation the third strategy is to check the productivity of the affix. in this context, productivity refers to the extent of an affix which can be used to create new word-forms (bauer, 2003: 70). for clarification, let us once again refer to table 2. we classify -ed into inflectional affixes because it can basically be combined every (regular) present tense verb. the suffix -s meaning 'plural' is also categorized into inflection, and it is extremely productive because it can be added to the majority of singular countable nouns. on the other hand, the derivational affix encan be combined only with certain, limited adjectives and nouns. in today's english, we do not, for example, add ento glad, hot or campus to come up with the verbs englad 'to make sb/sth glad', enhot 'to make sth hot' or encampus 'to put sb/sth into campus'. these are, nevertheless, possible english words. this seems to further lead us to say that derivation is less productive than inflection. as we have seen above, there are three main properties which may help us to distinguish inflection from derivation in english namely the category, meaning and productivity. up to this point, it appears to be easy for us to split morphology into inflection and derivation. if we examine more data, however, we find out that that is not always the case. for example, let us take the first factor, namely category or part of speech, which has earlier been said to able to show differences between inflection and derivation. the statement that 'if an affix changes the category of the base, it is then derivation' is not always valid. for example, we can combine the suffix -ly with the adjective quick to form the adverb quickly. in this context, the suffix -ly turns the category of the base, an adjective, into an adverb. is ly an inflectional affix, then? based on our 'guideline' (that is categorychanging), we would want to say 'yes'. but at the same time, following haspelmath (2002: 60), we might want to ask these three questions (and perhaps doubt our previous positive answer): do quickly and quick belong to different lexemes? or is quickly a new word-form of the lexeme quick? to put it in another way, does the suffix -ly above function as inflection or derivation? to sum up, in relatively a larger number of cases, it seems, we can set apart inflection from derivation when dealing with english morphology. in some, if not many, other cases, however, we may often become doubtful to decide between inflection and derivation. the dichotomy approach does not apply successfully all the time. llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 182 c. item and arrangement (ia) and item and process (ip) “the ‘item and process’ model is better, for a language like english, than the ‘item and arrangement’ model” (matthews, 1998: 145). what are the arguments for matthews’s conclusion above and are there any counter-arguments? in the following, the present writer will first clarify the item and arrangement (ia) as well as the item and process (ip) models. then the current author will present the arguments for preferring ia in tackling english morphology. next, the author will also put forward some counter-arguments. 1. item and arrangement model (morpheme-based morphology) the item and arrangement (ia) model refers to a grammar which presents the list of the morphs and a set of rules for arranging the morphs (bauer, 2004: 60). in other words, ia views a language consisting of a list of components which follow certain patterns or arrangements (aronoff and fudeman, 2005: 47). take, for example, these three plural nouns: buds, necks and glasses. here we find three morphs or items namely /z/, /s/ and / ιz/ which signify the meaning of plurality, and we can also say the three are variant forms of the morpheme {-s} (regular plural suffix). to account for the three plural nouns above using ia, we can arrange the morphs in sequences as follows: 1 [bλd] + [z] 2 [nеk] + [s] 3 [glа:s] + [ιz] as we have seen above, the morphs {bud}, {neck} and {glass}, respectively pronounced as [bλd], [nek] and gla:s] are combined with a certain variant of the morpheme {-s}. notice that the morpheme is phonologically conditioned. if the final consonant sound of a stem is voiced as in [bλd], we add /z/ to the stem. if a stem ends in a voiceless consonant sound as in [nek], we combine the stem with /s/. next, if the final sound of a stem is a sibilant or strident such as [gla:s], we then add /ιz/ or /əz/ to the stem. to put it another way, in ia we divide words into separate morphs. for instance, in the word form necks we may also say that the plural noun is made up of two morphs /nek.s/ namely /nek/ and /s/. in this context, a morph refers to "the realization of a morpheme" which is an abstract component to represent "form and meaning" correspondence (bauer, 2003: 334-45). 2. item and process model (lexeme-based morphology) the item and process (ip) model may be defined as a grammar which spells out elements or items as a fundamental form which then yields allomorphs through phonological operations (bauer, 2004: 60). for elaboration, let us refer to the plural marker {-s} in these nouns: buds, cars, necks and glasses. supposed we all agree that the underlying form of {-s} is /z/. in the three words above, we find phonological processes where {s} may become or be realized into /z/, /s/ or / ιz/. if the final consonant sound of a stem is voiced as in [bλd] and [ka:], the {-s} will become /z/. further, we can say that /s/ and /ιz/ or /əz/ are derived from the underlying form /z/. as we observe, the {-s} becomes /s/ in the noun necks, whose stem ends in a voiceless consonant sound namely /k/. whereas {-s} in the plural noun glasses, whose stem ends in a strident or sibilant namely /s/, the {-s} will become /ιz/ or /əz/ (weak form). we see above that the lexemes bud, sea, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/morpheme-based_morphology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/morpheme-based_morphology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/morpheme-based_morphology llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 183 neck and glass undergo the process of pluralization and the morpheme may become /z/, /s/ or /ιz/ or /əz/, depending on the final sound of the stem. matthews (1998) says the item and process model can be used to analyze inflections, both regular and exceptional ones, in a consistent way. below is an example taken from matthews (1998: 127) to account for the regular plural noun seas; here, we say seas is derived from the lexeme sea which undergoes the process of pluralization and the morpheme is realized into /z/. next, to apply ip to account for irregular, exceptional plural forms such as feet, teeth and geese, we say that the three are derived from foot, tooth and goose which have undergone the operation of pluralizing by changing the vowel sound /u/ or /u:/ to the long one /i:/ (matthews, 1998: 129). to account for past tense and past participle such as spammed and (have) spammed, we can apply a similar formula: "x → x + [d]", where x represents a verb (matthews, 1998: 128). in this context, both forms of spammed result from the lexeme spam which goes through the processes of 'becoming past tense' and 'becoming past participle' respectively. as we can observe above, the ip formulae have so far worked consistently in dealing with regular and irregular pluralization, the past tense and past participle. a. ip pro-arguments now suppose we would like to analyze the italicized words in the following sentence: last saturday i saw thousands of sheep which will be sold. which morphological model can or should we use: ia or ip? if we use ia, it turns out we will face difficulty in splitting up saw (past tense of see), sheep (plural) and sold (past participle) into separate morphs in order to make the items and their arrangements apparent so that we can see a direct connection between form and meaning. unlike in kiwis and attended, where we see the sequences of {kiwi}+{-s} and {attend}+{-ed} and the correlation between the four elements, there is no similar sort of arrangement in saw, sheep and sold. as a result, ia turns out to be ineffective in dealing with irregular forms such as saw, sheep and sold. in ia or morpheme-based morphology, "a one-one correspondence between form and function" is crucial (spencer, 1991: 57). the problem with the two sample words is that they have no visible, concrete item or morph to show plurality in sheep and 'past tense' in saw. if we use ip to tackle the data analyses above, we would say that the word form saw is derived from the lexeme see which undergoes the process of 'becoming past tense' and that the word form sheep (plural) results from the lexeme sheep which goes through the operation of pluralization. similarly, we say that sold results from sell which undergoes the process of 'becoming past participle'. as the above clarification shows, ip proves to be a better tool than ia in dealing with english morphology, particular inflectional morphology. b. ip counter-arguments as a matter of fact, ia can still be used to account for the plural sheep. the analysis will be: sheep + zero morph. as for saw and sold, the items and arrangements are respectively as follows: see + ed and sell + ed. nevertheless, this does not seem to be consistent with the basic idea of morpheme-based morphology, where a one-one correspondence llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 184 between a morpheme and meaning is expected. d. word and paradigm (wp) now, our next question is: is the third model called word and paradigm (wp) than the first two discussed earlier? in other words, does consideration of word and paradigm change our conclusion about how to deal with english morphological analysis? the third model of morphology, which is called word and paradigm (wp), focuses on wordforms associated with their respective lexemes and the word-forms function as the basic elements (bauer, 2004: 111). bauer (2003: 197-8) also says that wp can be synonymous with amorphous morphology. haspelmath (2001: 47) uses the term 'the wordbased model' to refer to wp and points out that the word is the main component, and the word is not split up into items but is formulated using word-schemas. based on haspelmath's (2001: 47) model, the plural nouns doors, bottles, computers, mugs, curtains, roads and crabs, for instance, can be presented in the word-schema below: (a). keys, bottles, computers, mugs, curtains, roads, crabs (b). /xz/ n 'plurality of xs' the word-schema above may represent the entire set of regular plural nouns. we notice that the variable /x/ may represent a different final sound of a word-form such as /i:/ in key, /l/ in bottle, /ə/ in computer, /g/ in mug, /n/ curtain, /d/ in road and /b/ in crab. all of these word-forms (singular nouns) end in a voiced sound and accordingly the plural marker -s will realize into /z/. in other contexts, it may realize into /s/ after a voiceless sound or /ιz/ after a strident or sibilant. wp appears to be concise. regarding the word-based theory, scalise (1986: 62) says that it "has as many supporters as opponents..." hockett (1954), robins (1959) matthews (1998), and bauer (2004) say that wp was originally used to tackle ancient greek and latin, which were highly inflected. suppose that we all agree that english of today is, however, no longer highly inflectional. but we might still want to say word-and-paradigm is relevant for us to apply when dealing with english morphology, particularly inflectional one. one of the main reasons is that wp captures wordforms more efficiently than ia and ip do, by using word-schemas. nevertheless, questions about how to deal with derivational morphology using wp still require satisfactory answers. for example, how should we account for wordforms such as wordy and blacken? e. conclusion why is the knowledge of the three models of morphology important? there are three advantages to gain if we manage to capture a picture of the three models of english morphology. firstly, we see that ia fails to display a clear sequence of the item and arrangement when dealing with a number of irregular plural nouns (eg mice and men) and irregular past tense (eg spoke and sang, to mention a few examples. as pointed out earlier, the main obstacle here is that we encounter difficulty in dividing the words into separate morphemes. as a result, we might want to use (an)other model(s) when trying to solve morphological problems such as the above. secondly, we notice that ip, as matthews (1998) also concludes, gives a better solution to the llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 185 problematic, irregular words such as mice and men. for instance, the plural mice may be said to have derived from mouse which undergoes the process of pluralization and the [au] becomes [ai]. thirdly, we have thus far found wp the most efficient model when dealing with inflectional morphology. references aranoff, mark and kirsten fudeman (2005). what is morphology? malden, ma: blackwell. bauer, laurie (2003 [1988]). introducing linguistic morphology. 2nd ed. edinburgh: edinburgh university press. bauer, laurie (2004). a glossary of morphology. edinburgh: edinburgh university press. booij, geert (2005). the grammar of words. oxford: oxford university press. booij, geert (2006). "inflection and derivation" in keith brown (ed) encyclopedia of language and linguistics. 2nd ed. amsterdam: elsevier. v, 654-61. haspelmath, martin (2001). understanding morphology. harlow, essex: pearson education. haspelmath, martin (2002). understanding morphology. harlow, essex: pearson education hockett, f. charles (2004 [1954]). "two models of grammatical description" in francis katamba (ed) morphology. london and new york: routledge. i, 110-36. matthews, p.h. (1998). morphology. cambridge: cambridge university press. robins, r.h. (2004 [1959]). "in defence of wp" in francis katamba (ed) morphology. london and new york: routledge. i, 137-56. scalise, sergio (1986). generative morphology. 2nd ed. dordrecht: foris publications. spencer, andrew (1991). morphological theory. oxford: basil blackwell. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 1 age and motivational intensity in foreign languages learning: a case study of french language learners nesrine el-zine sana’a university, yamen correspondence: nelzineut@gmail.com doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.2504.2403 received 2 february 2020; accepted 1 october 2020 abstract motivation is one of the most researched concepts in the different fields of education, and the field of language learning is certainly not an exception. in the present research, the objective is to examine the motivational intensity as being one of the motivation’s components. also, this research investigates the impact, if any, of the factor of age on the examined component. the research addressed the two following questions: to what extent the yemeni undergraduate learners of the french language are motivated to learn french? does age have any impact on the degree of motivation of the yemeni undergraduate learners of french? to answer the research questions, a survey was conducted in the department of french language and literature at sana’a university. the survey was composed of 5 questions that were selected and modified from gardner’s amtb (attitude, motivation test battery questionnaire). the results of the survey demonstrated a statistically high degree of motivational intensity among the yemeni undergraduate learners of french in general. however, the younger yemeni learners were more motivated than their older counterparts. keywords: motivational intensity, learners’ age, undergraduate learners, french as a foreign language (ffl). introduction due to its undeniable importance in the field of learning a foreign/second language, many researchers have investigated motivation and its crucial role on the learners’ progression and achievement (dörnyei 1994, 2003, 2008; gardner et al. 2004; chambers 1999, 2000; oxford & shearin 1994; williams et al. 2002). several definitions were given to the concept of motivation. for keller (1983), motivation represents the “choices people make as to what experiences or goals they will approach or avoid, and the degree of effort they will exert in that respect” (p. 389). for paul eggen & kauchak don (2005), “motivation is a force that energizes, sustains, and directs behavior toward a goal” (p. 349). similarly, brown (1994) describes motivation as “the extent to which you make choices about (a) a goal to pursue and (b) the effort you will devote to the pursuit” (p. 34). pandey (2005) states, “motivation, defined as the impetus to create and sustain intentions and goal-seeking acts, is important because it determines the extent of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 2 the learner’s active involvement and attitude toward learning” (p.79). dörnyei and csizér (1998) highlight the importance of motivation on learners’ achievement; “without sufficient motivation, even individuals with the most remarkable abilities cannot accomplish long-term goals, and neither are appropriate curricular and good teaching enough to ensure student achievement” (p. 203). in social psychology, motivation refers to the reason of making a specific choice over another or/and the frequency of picking the same choice repeatedly “social psychologists use the term “motivation” to describe why a person in a given situation selects one response over another or makes a given response with great energization or frequency.” (bargh, gollwitzer, & oettingen, 2010, p. 268). also, the research argued that motivation to achieve a task or attend a goal is very carefully impacted by the degree of efforts expended, “brehm defined effort as the investment of resources that enable the execution of behavior, arguing that it functions to sustain activity that is needed for goal attainment. he also suggested that effort investment is primarily governed by a resource (or energy) conservation principle: given that resources are important for survival, individuals are motivated to avoid wasting them and aim at investing only those that are required for successful task execution.” (richter, gendolla & wright, 2016, p. 150-151). in the field of learning second/foreign languages, the conceptualization of motivation was developed from different perspectives and examined under various theories/models: attitudes and motivational orientations (gardner 2001; gardner and lambert 1972; lamb 2004, 2013), the self-determination theory (noels et al. 2000, 2003; ryan & deci 2000; deci & ryan 2011), the processorientated approach (dörnyei & ottó 1998; boo, dörnyei & ryan 2015), l2 motivational self-system (dörnyei 2005; ushioda 2009; ryan & dörnyei 2013; mercer 2015). nevertheless, most of the research focused on the typologies of motivation (integrative/instrumental) rather than analyzing its different components. gardner (1985), a pioneer researcher in the field of motivation and second language learning, defines motivation as “a multi-faceted construct in that it involves effort (motivational intensity), cognition (desire) and affect (attitudes)” (gardner, 1985. cited in nakata, 2006: 55). hence, motivation comprised three main components, which are the learners’ motivational intensity, their desire to learn the target language, and their attitudes toward that language as well as the people who speak it (gardner, 2001, p. 13). motivational intensity refers to a degree of effort and persistence that learners apply consistently during their language learning process (gardner et al., 1997). some research stressed the critical factor that motivational intensity plays in any second/foreign language learning process, implying that motivational intensity is pivotally responsible for language learning success (gardner & smythe 1975; masgoret & gardner, 2003). dörnyei (1998) suggested that the learners’ “motivated behavior” can be, clearly, detected through their motivational intensity. otherwise, through their efforts to accomplish the learning tasks, “the proof of motivation is in displaying it in action -hence the importance of the ‘desire’ measure, which directly taps into the individual’s wish to perform the action; and, even more directly, the ‘motivational intensity’ measure that explicitly focuses on motivated behaviour” (p. 122). pintrich & schunk (2002) also identify in motivational intensity the fundamental factor for language learners to succeed in their learning of the target language. in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 3 their research on the correlation between efforts, ability, and success, hufton et al. (2002) interviewed learners aged 15 years from the united states of america, england, and russia. the results showed that the english and american interviewees recognized the importance of effort rather than the ability to succeed in language learning. however, russian learners attributed success to ability. nevertheless, in their understanding of the concept of ability/capability, russian learners stressed the importance of including a higher degree of effort in order to succeed. on the same line of thinking, zhu (2002) argued that persistence and determination are fundamental for learners of foreign languages to succeed. from another perspective, in their study, el-zine & aamer (2020) addressed the gender factor and its correlation with motivational intensity and desire to learn french among the yemeni learners of the french language. their study's findings implied that male learners were found to have a higher motivational intensity and more desire to learn french than their female counterparts. some of the research addressed the impact of the age factor on language learners’ progression and attitudes. munoz (2010) argued that younger learners seem to be less efficient in the earlier stages of their language learning process. afterward, they acquire a higher proficiency, which can be almost as same as native-like language skills. nevertheless, older learners might be faster learners compared to younger learners, and they show more efficiency at the beginning of the language learning process. munoz (2006) explains, “if the older learners’ advantage is mainly due to their superior cognitive development, no differences in proficiency are to be expected when differences in cognitive development also disappear with age” (p. 34). furthermore, based on larsonhall investigations (2008), younger learners have a better attitude towards studying a second/foreign language than older learners. according to her, “age does seem to play a non-negligible role in improving second language acquisition, given that language learners receive enough input” (larsonhall 2008, p.24). similarly, seright (1985), cited in singleton & ryan (2004), discussed that some studies indicated that younger learners perform better than older learners. other research on learning motivation assessed the relationship between the demographic variable of age and motivation to learn the target language. however, the results were not always conformed. some of the research results suggested that older language learners are more motivated than younger learners, while some other research implied the opposite. for example, in their study on the hungarian secondary school students, university students, and adult learners of english, kormos & csizér (2008) studied english learning motivation in relation to the factor of age. the results of their research showed that the youngest learners (secondary school students) were the least motivated in their learning of english. likewise, older polish learners of the german language were found to be more motivated than the younger learner in the research conducted by okuniewski (2014). nevertheless, in their study on motivation and learning french in a secondary school in flanders, ruyffelaert & hadermann (2012) found that younger learners showed more motivation in their learning of french than the older learners. the findings of the research of ghenghesh (2010) and bećirović (2017) also demonstrated that younger learners’ motivation for learning english was significantly higher than the motivation of older learners. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 4 questions and hypotheses of the current research the current research addresses the two following questions: 1. to what extent the yemeni undergraduate learners of the french language motivated to learn french? 2. does age have any impact on the degree of motivation of the yemeni undergraduate learners of french? hence, the research proposed the two following hypotheses: 1. the yemeni undergraduate learners of the french language are highly motivated to learn french. 2. age has no significant impact on the degree of motivation of yemeni undergraduate learners of french. method data collection to answer the research questions, the researcher conducted a survey in the department of french language and literature at sana’a university. the total targeted population of the students during the time of the study was 125 students. hard copies of the survey were distributed to the students during their break time. the students were asked to fill out the survey and submit them to the administrative office once completed. a total of 74 questionnaires were completed and received. however, only 69 were adequately answered by undergraduate students from different levels. this sample represented 55.2% of the department’s population of 125 students. the participants were informed about the purpose of the research, and that participation was voluntary. they were also reassured of the anonymity of the results of the given survey. research instrument the survey consisted of two parts: the first part was intended to gather information for the demographic background of the research, such as age, gender, study level, and academic performance. the second part was a questionnaire that examined the variable of motivational intensity. it comprised of 5 questions that were selected and modified from gardner’s amtb (attitude, motivation test battery questionnaire, 1985). the questions were translated into arabic by the researcher and distributed to five college professors for their feedback. a couple of questions were modified and rephrased based on the feedback received from the reviewers. also, a pilot study was conducted with ten randomly selected students. as a result of the pilot study, a couple of instructional sentences were added. this approach aimed to clarify for students how to answer some of the survey questions. findings and discussion the analysis of the collected data answered the two questions of this research. thus, the obtained data analyzed the degree of motivational intensity among the yemeni undergraduate learners in their learning of the french language. it also examined age as a factor of impact on the learners’ motivational intensity. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 5 analysis of the demographical background data as we can see in figure 1, a total of 69 yemeni undergraduate learners participated in the research survey. among the 69 participants, 38% were male, and 62% were female. it is interesting to note, at this point, that the number of female learners in the department of french language is generally higher than the number of male learners, which is also the case in the other departments of languages in sana’a university. the justification for such phenomena might be related to the social-cultural belief in the yemeni society that men are usually better than women in the scientific fields. in contrast, women are more suitable for areas related to languages, arts, and literature. however, nowadays, we see many girls are becoming more and more interested in joining the scientific faculties in yemeni universities. still, generally speaking, the number of girls joining departments of languages and literature is always higher than boys in universities in yemen. also, according to the results in figure 2: the majority of the participants were from the fourth year with 33%, 31% from the second year, 13% from the first year, and 23% from the third year of the undergraduate program. figure 1: gender distribution figure 2: study level distribution llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 6 analysis of the motivational intensity (mi.) and age data based on the data obtained from the questionnaire (amtb) in the second part of the survey, the motivational intensity of the yemeni undergraduate learners was examined (table 1). moreover, to ensure a better understanding of the yemeni undergraduate learners’ motivational intensity, they were also analyzed based on their age (table 2). as tables 1 and 2 indicate, for question 1, “i actively think about what i have learned in my french class,” the majority of the participants agreed on answer a, “very frequently” (48%), while answer c, “once in a while” (14%), had the lowest percentage. concerning the age factor, results showed that the degree of motivational intensity of the group of age “22-25 years” was the highest (64%) among the other groups of age. the statement in question 2 “when i have a problem understanding something we are learning in my french class, i…” the highest percentage was given to answer a, “immediately ask the teacher for help” (45%), whereas, answer c “just forget about it” recorded the lowest percentage among all the three answers with 13%. likewise, learners between the age of 22 and 25 years old were the highest in their rate for this answer with 58%. for question 3, “when it comes to french homework, i…” the findings also revealed a high motivational intensity in the participants’ answers. 42% of the participants chose answer b, “work very carefully, making sure i understand everything,” while only 19% of the participants declared that they “just skim it” (answer c). for this question too, the group of age “22-25 years” was the highest level in its motivational intensity, recording 55% among the totality of the four groups of age. similar to the other questions, the analyzed data for question 4 also reported a high degree of motivational intensity among the yemeni undergraduate learners. thus, 45% of the participants confirmed that they would “definitely volunteer” (answer b) if the “teacher wanted someone to do an extra french activity.” yet, the motivational intensity of participants aging between 22 and 25 years old was still the highest (49%) in comparison to the other groups of age. finally, for the last two questions 5 & 6, “after i get my french assignments back, i…” and “when i am in french classes, i…” respectively, results demonstrated in both questions a significantly high level of motivational intensity with 54% obtained for answer a. participants reported that they rewrite and correct the mistakes in their assignments when the teacher returns them (question 5). they volunteer to answer as much as they can when they are in their french classes (question 6). in respect of their group of age, participants between the age of 22 and 25 years old showed the most potent motivation in their answer for both questions recording 57% for answer a (question 5) and 54% for answer a (question 6). table 1: percentage distribution of motivational intensity question answer percentage q 1: i actively think about what i have learned in my french class a. very frequently 48% b. hardly ever 38% c. once in a while 14% total 100% q 2: when i have a problem a. immediately ask the 45% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 7 question answer percentage understanding something we are learning in my french class, i… teacher for help b. only seek help just before the exam 42% c. just forget about it 13% total 100% q 3: when it comes to french homework, i… a. put some effort into it, but not as much as i could 39% b. work very carefully, making sure i understand everything 42% c. just skim it 19% total 100% q 4: if the teacher wanted someone to do an extra french activity, i… a. definitely not volunteer 25% b. definitely volunteer 54% c. only do it if the teacher asked me directly 21% total 100% q 5: after i get my french assignments back, i… a. always rewrite them, correcting my mistakes 54% b. just throw them in my desk and forget them 10% c. look them over but don’t bother correcting mistakes 36% total 100% q 6: when i am in french classes, i… a. volunteer answers as much as possible 54% b. answer only the easier questions 30% c. never say anything 16% total 100% table 2: percentage distribution of the highest motivational intensity by age question answer age (year) total 18 21 22 25 26 29 > 30 q 1: i actively think about what i have learned in my french class a. very frequently 30% 64% 3% 3% 100% q 2: when i have a problem understanding something we are learning in my a. immediately ask the teacher for help 26% 58% 13% 3% 100% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 8 question answer age (year) total 18 21 22 25 26 29 > 30 french class, i… q 3: when it comes to french homework, i… b. work very carefully, making sure i understand everything 28% 55% 10% 7% 100% q 4: if the teacher wanted someone to do an extra french activity, i… b. definitely volunteer 35% 49% 8% 8% 100% q 5: after i get my french assignments back, i… a. always rewrite them, correcting my mistakes 35% 57% 5% 3% 100% q 6: when i am in french classes, i… a. volunteer answers as much as possible 30% 54% 11% 5% 100% contribution of the current research in general, research that studies learning foreign languages in the yemeni context are significantly few. the majority of the existing research assesses the learning of the english language in particular. thus, the current research is one of very few that focus on yemeni learners of french (el-zine & al-naggar 2017; al-naggar & el-zine 2018), it also adds to the body of knowledge for the variable of motivational intensity in learning french in a non-francophone country. conclusion the current research attempted to examine the degree of motivational intensity among the yemeni undergraduate learners in their learning of the french language. also, the research aimed to analyze the impact of age on the degree of motivational intensity of the learners. per our first hypothesis, the research’s findings proved that yemeni undergraduate learners are highly motivated in their learning of the french language. as far as the impact of age on the degree of the learners’ motivational intensity, in the context of our research, the results refuted our second hypothesis and revealed that age had a significant impact on the learners’ motivational intensity. hence, the younger learners demonstrated a significantly higher level of motivational intensity than their older counterparts. based on our knowledge and our personal experience in teaching the learners in the department of french language and literature at sana’a university, we firmly believe that there is a high desire among most of the learners to travel to france or any other french-speaking country to continue their studies or to work. hence, the results in the present research indicated that learners between 22 and 25 years old are the most motivated. otherwise, these younger learners are still in the phase of planning for the future, and they consider their learning of the french language as a direct means to achieve their objective as clarified above. llt journal, 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(2002). psychology in foreign language teaching and learning. shanghai: shanghai, foreign language education press. llt journal vol. 15, no. 2 issn 1410-7201 21 students’ subject-verb agreement errors in paragraph writing class yustinus calvin gai mali made frida yulia abstract subject-verb agreement is an essential element to master by english language education study program (elesp) students, who are prepared to be english teachers in the future. however, the researchers still find the fact that elesp students make the errors on the agreement. for that reason, it would be significant to find out the errors made by the students as well as to discover the factors behind the errors. to achieve those purposes, the researchers conducted a document analysis and a semi-structure interview.the research results showed most of the errors belonged to misinformation category (71.4%) and were subsequently followed by omission category (17.9%) and addition category (10.7%). in addition, from the interview, the researchers also found five (5) major factors that caused the students to make the errors, namely interlingual error, ignorance of rule restrictions, incomplete application of rules, false concepts hypothesized, and carelessness. keywords: errors, subject-verb agreement, paragraph writing class a. introduction the english language education study program of sanata dharma university yogyakarta, henceforth called elesp, aims to prepare its students to become both an english language user in professional fields and a future english teacher. as teachers’ candidates who are going to be a model for their future students, elesp students are required to learn english skills. besides, they should be able to master the skills before they are ready to teach them and be a model for their future students. essentially, one of the skills that they learn is english writing. in writing an english sentence, they are required to think about and subsequently write a correct subject and a verb within the sentence. this may possibly indicate that subject-verb agreement becomes one of the essential aspects to learn since it is required by the students to make a grammatically correct sentence. e l e s p students, therefore,need to learn and to master the agreement between subject and verb. it makesthemable to apply the correct agreement in a sentence and subsequently to teach their future students of a sentence whose subject-verb agreement is correct. nevertheless, in a learning process, learners who study english writing make errors. dulay, burt, and krashen (1982) mention that teachers who have experienced long concerning their students’ language errors have come to realize that making errors become an inevitable part of learning. interestingly, errors are important in a process of learning and they may actually become an essential part in learning a language (norrish, 1983). considering the importance of learning, understanding and mastering agreement between a subject and a verb in a sentence and the fact that learners make errors in the process of learning, the researchersare interested to study subjectverb agreement errors made by students in paragraph writing class at elesp. more specifically, the researchers aim to solve 22 two research problems.firstly,what are subject-verb agreement errors that are made by students in paragraph writing class of elesp?secondly, what are the factors that cause students in paragraph writing class of elesp to make those subject-verb agreement errors? b. literary review a. subject-verb agreement some theorists propose their ideas on the concept of subject and verb agreement. according to wood (1981), the rule of subjectverb agreement states that a verb must agree with its subject in number and in person. essentially, the subject may determine the concord (quirk & greenbaum, 1973). leech and svartvik (1994) clarify that grammatical concord indicates that certain grammatical items agree with each other. thus, we may consider concord as an agreement. leech and svartvik (1994) further mention that there are two types of concord, namely concord of number, for instance, as in singular: the film is and as in plural: the films are and concord of person, for example, as in 1st person: i am and as in 2nd person: you are. further concepts of the subjectverb agreement are clarified. quirk and greenbaum (1973) state that “the selected form of a verb, which permits a distinction between singular and plural, depends on whether the subject is singular as in the man makes, or plural as in the men make”(p. 11). greenbaum (1989) adds that the agreement of subject and verb is always applied whenever the verb displays distinctions in number and in person. greenbaum (1989) further mentions that “for all verbs other than be, the distinctions only happen in present tense, where the third person singular has the –s form and the third person plural, which is like the first and the second persons, has the base form” (p. 208). b. errors: the types and the sources it is essential to classify errors based on the types because various errors may be found in learners’ writing production. the purpose is to make the researchers able to analyze the errors found in learners’ writing production easier. based on surface structure taxonomy, errors can be categorized into four types, namely omission, addition, misinformation, and misordering (dulay (1982) as cited in ellis & barkhuizen, 2005). researchers and linguists have thought about possible causes of errors made by language learners. according to ellis and barkhuizen (2005), in order to be able to explain errors, people essentially need to ask what processes learners invoke when they do not understand the targetlanguage form.in addition, they mention that traditionally, there are two major processes are identified: distinguishing interlingual errorsand intralingual errors. besides interlanguage errors and intralingual errors, there are other possible causes of errors made by learners. those are carelessness, translation and error as a part of language creativity (norrish, 1983) and context of learning (brown, 1980). c. methodology a. participants thirty students in class b of paragraph writing at elesp in 2010/ 2011 academic year were chosen as the participants of the research. it was due to the assumption that they were likely to make errors because as freshmen, they had limited knowledge in producing english sentences. they were only equipped with the theory of writing from basic writing class in semester one. furthermore, the selection of the participants was also based on the accessibility to the participants, time, and financial reason. students’ subject-verb agreement errors in paragraph writing class llt journal vol. 15, no. 2 issn 1410-7201 23 b. method the researchers employed a document analysis and a semi-structured interview. the documents were the students’ written work of their progress test ii. the students were asked to write a descriptive text, which required students to use present tense in writing the text. this implied that there would be a lot of occurrences of subjectverb agreement in number and in person. then, in order to obtain more information from the participants, the researchers employed semi-structured interview to eight (8) students who made various subject-verb agreement errors in their written work in the selected paragraph writing class. d. findings and discussion a. the students’ subject-verb agreement errors from thirty (30) students’ written work, twenty-eight (28) subject-verb agreement errors were found. the occurrence of the errors in all students’ written work varied. table 1 presents detailed information about the types of errors, number of occurrences, and the sample context in which the errors occurred. from the table, it was obvious that the types of subject-verb agreement errors that the researchers found in the students’ written work cover four different categories of errors. they are (1) omission, (2) doublemarking, which is under addition category (3) simple addition, which is another subcategory of addition category, (4) archi forms/alternating forms, which are under the misinformation categories. there were five (5) errors or 17.9% of the total errors that were classified as omission errors. according to dulay et al. (1982), omission errors refer to the absence of an item that actually must exist in a wellformed utterance (p. 154). table 1. the number of subject-verb agreement errors made by the students no category of errors sub category of errors number of errors and its percentage samples of errors 1. omission 5 (17.9%) the fragrance of the flower comfort everybody who comes to my house. (singular marker –s for the verb *comfort) the garden has a lot of kinds of flowers, so it make my garden colorful and more beautiful to see. (singular marker –s for the verb *make) 2. addition regularization 0 (0%) double marking 1 (3.6%) it is located in an area which doesn’t has much pollutant, so the air is still fresh.(the negative marker for singular verb doesn’t *has) simple addition 2 (7.1%) the living room has a window, when we open the window in the morning, the ray of the sun will shining brightly through the window and touch our skin. (“-ing” formin the verb *shining, whose position is after the modal auxiliary, will) 24 3. misinformation regularization 0 (0%) archi forms/ alternating forms 20 (71.4%) each of the rooms also have to has some furnitures which is needed. (incorrect use of the verb *have for the subject each of the rooms, whose form is singular) the bedrooms has a beautiful view from the backyard. (inccorect form of the verb *has for the subject the bedrooms, whose form is plural) 4. misordering 0 (0%) this is one of the examples of omission errors category. *the fragrance of the flower comfort everybody who comes to my house. in sentence [1a], the omission error occurred in the verb *comfort because the student did not apply the singular marker –s in the verb *comfort in order to indicate that the verb has singular meaning. in sentence [1a], the subject, the fragrance of the flower, is considered singular because the head subject, the fragrance, is considered an uncountable noun, which belongs to gases category (azar, 1989, p. 206). according to langan (1996), words that come between the subject and the verb in a sentence do not change the subject-verb agreement within the sentence. moreover, since the word, thefragrance,belongs to uncountable noun, it has singular meaning. greenbaum (1989) states that non-count nouns are considered singular. thus, in order to form a correct subject-verb agreement in sentence [1a], the student should apply the singular marker –s, for the verb, *comfort. it aimed to indicate that the verb has singular meaning, so the subject-verb agreement in number in sentence [1a] could be formed. therefore, the correction of sentence [1a] is: [1b] the fragrance of the flower comforts everybody who comes to my house. after analyzing the students’ written work, the researchers only found one (1) error or 3.6% of the total errors regarded as double-marking error, which is the subcategory of addition error. according to dulay et al. (1982), an error is classified into double-marking category when a student uses two items rather one, which are marked for the same feature. the error of this type could be seen in sentence [2a]. [1a] *it is located in an area which doesn’t has much pollutant, so the air is still fresh. sentence [2a] is a deviant form of sentence: [2b] it is located in an area which doesn’t have much pollutant, so the air is still fresh. in sentence [2a] the double-marking error occurred in the negative form *doesn’t has of the subject, an area. in sentence [2a], the student used the same features, which are all singular form, to indicate the negative meaning: doesn’t and has. the student should have used a plural form, have, after the word doesn’t, so the subject-verb agreement in number could be made. besides, the researchers also found two (2) errors or 7.1% of the total errors on simple addition, which is still another subcategory of addition error category. according to ellis and barkhuizen (2005), an error can be classified under simple addition category when the addition error does not students’ subject-verb agreement errors in paragraph writing class llt journal vol. 15, no. 2 issn 1410-7201 25 involve regularization, which can happen because “a marker is erroneously added to exceptional items of the given class that does not take a marker” (dulay et al., 1982, p. 156) and double-marking error, which can happen because of two items marked for the same feature (dulay et al., 1982). thus, the learner might make some simple addition errors because they simply added a feature that actually should not be put in a sentence. the researchers provide an example of simple addition error found in the students’ written work. [2a] *the living room has a window, when we open the window in the morning, the ray of the sun will shining brightly through the window and touch our skin. the simple addition error in sentence [4a] occurred in the word *shining, whose position after the modal auxiliary, will (leech & svartvik, 1994, p. 244). leech and svartvik (1994) state that modal auxiliaries only have one form and do not have such forms as –s forms, –ing forms, or –ed participles. further, azar and hagen (2006) mention that modal auxiliaries come in front of the simple form of a main verb. accordingly, sentence [3a] should be: [3b] the living room has a window, when we open the window in the morning, the ray of the sun will shine brightly through the window and touch our skin. under misinformation category, which may happen because of the use of an incorrect form of a morpheme or structure (ellis & barkhuizen, 2005), the researchers did not find any errors on regularization. nevertheless, the researchers found many subject-verb agreement errors that belonged to another subcategory of misinformation, namely archi/alternating forms. there were twenty (20) archi/alternating forms errors or 71.4% of the total errors. sentence [4a] becomes an example of these archi/ alternating forms. [3a] *the bedrooms has a beautiful view from the backyard. the error in sentence [4a] might happen because the student used the singular verb, has, which should not follow the plural subject of sentence [4a], the bedrooms. the subject-verb agreement in number of sentence [4a] could be formed only if the student had applied the plural verb, have, in order to follow the plural subject. therefore, sentence [4b]; the bedrooms have a beautiful view from the backyard, becomes the correction of sentence [4a]. b. the factors that caused the students to make the errors from the interview, the researchers could find five (5) major factors that caused students to make subject-verb agreement errors. those factors were interlingual error, ignorance of rule restrictions, incomplete application of rules, false concepts hypothesized, and carelessness. i. interlingual error according to ellis and barkhuizen (2005), interlingual errors are the result of mother tongue influences (p. 65).in the interview, most of the respondents admitted that the errors on subject-verb agreement could happen because they were still influenced by their mother tongue, which is indonesian language. some respondents stated that they have been accustomed to indonesian sentences, which does not require them to apply the complicated rules as what they have to apply in writing english sentences. in addition, when the respondents wrote an indonesian sentence, they did not need to think about whether the subject was singular or plural, whether to use simple 26 form or simple pastform or past participle form of a verb. therefore, when they had to write an english sentence, they might forget to apply the required rules in a sentence that they wrote, especially the rules of subjectverb agreement, even they might still apply the same concepts as those they used in writing indonesian sentences when they write an english sentence. it was because the concepts of indonesian language had already influenced them and stayed in their mind when they wrote an english sentence. consequently, they might forget to consider the subject-verb agreement when they wrote an english sentence. therefore, that condition would automatically cause them to make errors on the subject-verb agreement. ii. ignorance of rule restrictions according to richards (1974), “ignorance of rule restrictions is the application of rules to contexts where they do not apply” (p. 175). in addition, richards (1974) adds that analogy, the learners rationalizing a deviant usage from his previous experience of english, may cause them to make some rule restriction errors. most of the respondents claimed that they sometimes were still confused about the usage of one rule compared to other rules, which were required to be implemented in writing an english sentence. moreover, it was also admitted that while writing english sentence, they still implemented the incorrect rules for subject-verb agreement. it was because when they wrote a sentence, they analogized certain grammatical rule of english language then considered it the same as that of subject-verb agreement. then, they applied that rule resulting from their analogy to write a sentence. they should have applied the rule of subject-verb agreement in that sentence not the other rules, resulting from their analogy. iii. incomplete application of rules richards (1971b) mentions that incomplete application of rules involves a failure to fully develop a structure (as cited in ellis, 1994, p. 59). in addition, incomplete application of rules may also be caused by a failure to learn more complex types of structure. according to richards (1974), this happens because the learner thinks that he can achieve effective communication by using relatively simple rules (as cited in ellis, 1985, p. 53). after analyzing the information obtained from the interview, the researchers found that before facing their progress test ii, most of the respondents decided not to reread or to restudy the basic theories of writing, involving the theory of subject verb agreement, which might be needed to face their progress test ii. it was because they thought that they had already understood and mastered the theory of subject-verb agreement, which they believed as basic and simple concept. in addition, there were many essential rules of subject-verb agreement that should be mastered by respondents because the rules were not actually as simple as they thought. they still needed to restudy the rules of subject-verb agreement thoroughly before they wrote an english sentence and faced their progress test ii. it aimed to minimize them to make subject-verb agreement errors when they wrote an english sentence. from the information obtained from the interview, it was obvious that most of the respondents thought that they confidently would be able to write an english sentence whose subject-verb agreement was correct without either rereading or restudying the rules of subject-verb. whereas, most of them needed to apply the theories while writing english sentences. students’ subject-verb agreement errors in paragraph writing class llt journal vol. 15, no. 2 issn 1410-7201 27 iv. false concepts hypothesized according to richards (1974), false concepts hypothesized can happen because of faulty comprehension of distinctions in the target language. in this study the respondents experienced these false concepts hypothesized in understanding the subject-verb agreement in a sentence. it happened especially when they had to consider whether something was countable or uncountable. from the information obtained from the respondent, it could be seen that when the respondents wrote an english sentence, they still found it difficult to differentiate whether a noun was countable or uncountable. one of the reasons was that they were not able to memorize all of the nouns, which belong either to countable group or to uncountable group. because of that difficulty, most of the respondents admitted that they often added –s for the uncountable noun, and applied the plural verb to follow that uncountable noun added by –s. consequently, it caused them to make errors on subject-verb agreement in the sentence they wrote. therefore, the researchers could say that the case of this faulty of concepts hypothesized happened because of the difficulty in differentiating countable noun from uncountable noun. furthermore, the faulty concepts hypothesized could also happen because of the confusion to consider whether certain pronoun has singular meaning or plural meaning and whether a noun followed by the adjectives has singular meaning or plural meaning. v. carelessness most of the respondents conveyed that carelessness was another factor that caused them to make errors on subject-verb agreement. carelessness can be caused by learners’ lack of motivation, but it is not only learners’ fault if they lose interest (norrish, 1974). according to norrish (1974), learning materials and the style of presentation that do not accord learners can be other factors that make them have lack of motivation (p. 21). in this study, the carelessness dealt with motivation. three essential bases could affect the motivation of students. they were the students themselves who are able either to increase or to decrease their motivation, the way the lecturer teaches his/her students, and the learning material given by the lecturer. this motivation really had big effect on the learning process, especially in their writing skill, that students did. if a student was not motivated to learn something, he or she might obtain negative result on his or her learning process, especially while they were writing english sentences. some respondents agreed that errors on subject-verb happened because they were lack of motivation when they were in the classroom. it was because their lecturer could not explain the learning material clearly to the students. consequently, when the respondents wrote the sentences, they wrote them carelessly. thus, the errors in subject-verb agreement could possibly appear in their sentences. most of the respondents conveyed that when they were not able to understand the explanation from their lecturer, they tended to write a sentence with the existing knowledge that they had already known. consequently, they could possibly make some errors in their sentence. one of them was the error on subject-verb agreement. in addition, the researchers found that the feedback really had an essential role to minimize the errors and to help students not to make many errors, especially on subject-verb agreement. it was also found that lack of feedback from the lecturer to the errors on subject-verb agreement that the respondent made might also cause the 28 respondents to continue making the same errors as what they had done. besides the lack of feedback given by their lecturer to the errors they made, most of the respondents also conveyed that the lack of motivation which was caused by themselves might also cause them to make errors on subject-verb agreement.most of the respondents argued that having many assignments, with short time to finish, become the factor that could decrease their motivation to finish their assignments very well. in addition, they thought that they could not finish doing the assignments well in that short time. thus, they tended to finish doing them carelessly. in addition, most of the respondents also agreed that their unwillingness to recheck the sentences after they had finished writing them could become a factor behind the subject-verb agreement errors in their written work. e. conclusions the research firmly stated that the students in the class still made a number of subject-verb agreement errors in their writing. misinformation, omission and addition became the major category of errors frequently made by the students. those errors were caused by five major factors, namely interlingual error, ignorance of rule 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(1996). college writing skills (4th ed.).new york: the mcgraw-hill companies, inc. leech, g. and svartvik, j. (1994). a communicative grammar of english. london: longman group limited. mcdonough, j. and mcdonough, s. (2004). research methods for english language teachers. london: arnold. norrish, j. (1983). language learners and their errors. hong kong: the macmillan press limited. ouirk, r. and greenbaum, s. (1973). a university grammar of english. essex: longman. richards, j. c. (1974). error analysis. london: longman group limited. wood, f. t. (1981). current english usage. london: the macmillan press limited. students’ subject-verb agreement errors in paragraph writing class cover vol 15 no2_okt 12_rep isi llt_vol_15_no 2_oct 2012_save as llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 228-239 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 228 use of translation strategies in writing: advanced efl students elisabet titik murtisari universitas kristen satya wacana, indonesia etmurtisari@gmail.com doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.2663 received 19 june 2020; accepted 15 december 2020 abstract this qualitative study examines how advanced efl learners use translation in writing, its perceived effects on their written product, and their feelings concerning its use. as translation is generally associated with less competent students, this research focuses on high-level ones. involving 29 advanced efl students from a reputable english language faculty in indonesia, the study collected data through questionnaires using close and open-ended questions. this research demonstrated that, although employed less, translation was still a crucial means for scaffolding among the students. it was shown that creating short chunks in l1 for subsequent translation was the most common strategy while all the participants also self-reportedly practiced mental translations from l1 to l2 in various degrees. this resort to translation often seemed inevitable, but students revealed having mixed feelings towards the use of the inter-lingual strategy. this study highlights the need to develop awareness among language learners that translation is a valid tool of language learning and the necessity to teach them the skill to translate. keywords: translation, l2 writing, advanced learners, efl introduction the use of translation in language learning has typically been associated with less proficient learners. as they lack mastery in l2, the use of l1 through translation often serves as a natural support for them to fall back on when performing demanding tasks in l2. however, research has suggested that more competent learners also utilize translation in their l2 production (murtisari, 2016). as l1 and l2 coexist in learners’ minds, the use of translation seems to be convenient support for any learner to produce l2 when he/she needs it. despite this, little attention has been devoted to the examination of how more high-skilled learners employ translation. therefore, research is necessary to further investigate the role of translation among such students. the knowledge gained from such an inquiry will be invaluable for assisting them in their subsequent language learning. consequently, this study aims to discover post-intermediate/advanced efl students’ self-reported use of translation in their writing, the perceived effects on their written output, and their feelings regarding its use. this article will mailto:etmurtisari@gmail.com llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 228-239 229 be of interest to efl writing instructors, especially for adult learners, and those who focus on translation and its application in language teaching/learning. the translation may be generally defined as an act of mediation in which meaning in one language is reproduced in another to communicate in various contexts. it is the fifth skill language learners need to learn to communicate effectively in today’s global multilingual world. translation as a learning strategy is often termed as “pedagogical translation”. focusing on the role of translation as a means to assist learners in acquiring another language, it may be defined as “using a language for understanding, remembering, or producing another language, both at the lexical level and the syntactic level from the target language into the other language” (liao, 2006, p.194). however, frequently interpreted only as a cross-language tool of learning, the term pedagogical translation often reduces the concept of translation to a mere transfer of forms. with this in mind, the use of translation as a means of language learning should not be divorced from its functional end, which entails the ability to communicate effectively across languages (carreres, 2014; murtisari, 2016). translation has often been valued as an old-fashioned way to acquire a language and is seen to be detrimental to language learning. however, as “an extension or alternative realization of what the learner already knows” (widdowson, 1973/1979, p.111), translation may be a useful means for “building up the knowledge of the learner while building on what he has already acquired” (titford, 1983, p. 52). the use of l1 may serve as a bridge in the transition to acquire a higher level of l2 rather than hinder it (kosonen, malone, & young, 2007). besides, as l1 and l2 are interwoven in learners’ mental processing systems (leonardi, 2010), the connection to l1 is often inevitable when learning l2. in kern’s study (1994), for instance, instructors and learners admitted that mental translation or translating silently is natural when reading l2 texts, although both often did not see it as a positive means of support. other studies show that students resort to mental translation when the external use of l1 is suppressed. researchers on direct composition, for instance, noted that their participants thought in l1 and translated it into l2, although they were required to write directly in l2 (cohen & brooks-carson, 2001; kobayashi & rinnert, 1992). with this inevitability, translation should be seen as a learning resource rather than a harmful crutch. more and more studies have shown that translation may assist learners in various ways. it can help learners enhance their vocabulary and grammar learning (bahri & mahadi, 2016; murtisari, 2016; murtisari, 2020; prince, 1996), provide support to perform various tasks in l2 (liao, 2006; van dyk, 2009), and raise awareness of l1-l2 differences (cook, 2010; kim, 2011; scheffler, 2011; titford, 1982). working with advanced students, machida (2011) and titford (1982) believe that translation practice may help learners develop their l2 skills further to achieve near-native control. according to titford, translating may serve as a tool to increase “the feeling for communicative appropriateness in the l2”, which includes styles and naturalness (1982, p. 56). in concert with this, machida contends that translation may develop students’ l2 to a high level as students have to learn various aspects of the language – vocabulary and beyond while translating to produce a desirable rendering. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 228-239 230 in terms of writing, the use of translation as a strategy is generally associated with less able students, but more competent learners have also been observed to use translation. efl students, regardless of their l2 proficiency, selfreportedly applied translation to keep going, to help them think more clearly, and to express more complex ideas (murtisari, 2016). this resort to translation is natural as l2 composition is a demanding task even for more proficient students (kobayashi & rinnert, 1992). the language by which the knowledge is acquired may also lead to the use of translation in writing. lay (1982), for instance, found that her chinese respondents tended to think in l1 when writing on the topics studied or acquired in the language. combined with translation, this strategy may help students retrieve information on a specific topic and improve the quality of writing without causing extra time (friedlander, 1990). however, with the increase of l2 competence, the use of translation was found to decline (hu, 2003). hu concludes that there is a language use continuum where l2 learners “start by thinking of l2 in l1 (often through translation), and as the l2 develops, gradually think more in l2 and less in l1 [...]” (p. 59). as more direct l2-word meaning connections develop with practice, more proficient students will rely less on l1 (de groot & hoeks, 1995). however, other factors may affect learners’ use of translation, such as learners’ cognitive styles, their strategies for learning a language and language use, and their motivations for attaining competence in l2 (cohen, 2001). research exclusively investigating the use of translation among advanced students in writing seems to be non-existent. despite this, previous studies that examine translation in higher-skilled learners’ composition process do not seem to show very positive findings. examining 39 intermediate students, cohen and brooks-carson (2001) found that two-thirds of their students wrote better french using direct compositions. only one-third wrote better using translation. this supports kobayashi and rinnert’s (1992) earlier findings suggesting that more proficient japanese students (intermediate to low-advanced) did not benefit much from translation in english in their writing. while translation aided them with vocabulary and a variety of sentence structures, it did not significantly improve the quality of the content and organization compared to that of direct writing. they also had more unnatural forms and translation problems that did not successfully convey their original ideas. furthermore, kobayashi and rinnert (1992) discovered that more competent students believed their direct writing was better (76%) than by using translation (24%). they claimed it assisted them to create better organization, more natural language, and better grammar. those who preferred translation, on the other hand, reported that it could give them more ideas and helped them express their thoughts more clearly. as many as 88% of the participants also believed that direct writing was easier than translation. one common reason for this was it was not easy to translate. furthermore, studies have suggested, for instance, that the use of a translating strategy is not ideal when learners compose their l2 under time pressure (lifang, 2008; cohen & brooks-carson, 2001). such a downside is very likely when students use translation substantially. although the above studies have shed more light on learners’ use of translation, the findings need to be critically treated. as the study participants did not seem to be equipped with translation skills, they were bound to make errors in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 228-239 231 their cross-language mediation. competence in two languages does not necessarily entail an ability to translate. therefore, as murtisari (2016) has pointed out, it is unfair to attribute issues such as “lexical choice errors” and “more awkward forms” (kobayashi & rinnert, 1992, p.197) to “translation”. secondly, as advanced students are equipped with more l2 resources, they are not very likely to develop an entire essay by using l1 through translation unless they have other reasons. more research needs to probe into their common practice of applying translation strategies to gain a more nuanced understanding of advanced students’ use of translation. with this in mind, this survey study seeks to answer the following questions: 1. what specific translation strategies do post-intermediate/advanced efl students use in their writing? 2. why do they use translation in their writing? 3. how do they perceive the effects of using translation in their writing? 4. what do they feel about the use of translation in their writing? method this survey-based qualitative research was carried out in an english language faculty of a reputable university in central java, indonesia. english is used as the medium of instruction in over 90% of the program’s courses, but students usually use indonesian or local languages outside the classroom within the efl setting. the faculty normally enrolls new students of elementary to upper-intermediate english proficiency, around 20% of which are expected to have reached a post-intermediate level in the third year. while high-achieving students tend to be able to learn english more effectively, it is crucial to assist them to use all the available resources they have to enhance their language skills, including writing. one potential resource such learners may benefit from for writing is the use of l1 through translation. as l2 writing is a demanding task, more research on how translation may assist high-level students to improve their language skills in english is paramount. therefore, it is crucial to examine how students use translation in writing. however, such research is scarce. this study involved 29 ends of third-year advanced efl students with a gpa (grade point average) of a minimum of 3.5 (out of 4), who made up 18% of the top students in the faculty’s undergraduate english programs (english language education and english literature). the faculty’s high-achieving efl students were expected to reach an advanced level of language proficiency in their third year based on the actfl proficiency scale. the participants were recruited using a convenience sampling method based on their self-reported eligibility in all the translation classes of the third semester of the 2019/2020 academic year. well-informed of the student's abilities, the class lecturers were involved in facilitating recruitment. this was also to make sure that all the eligible students could participate in the research. as this study aimed to develop a general map of the advanced efl students’ tendencies regarding their attitudes on the use of translation in writing, a questionnaire was used to collect the data. the questionnaire consisted of sixteen likert-scale statements, eleven complementary open-ended questions, and two multi-response sets. it consisted of four parts and the first section was aimed to discover whether the participants used translation strategies. the students who llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 228-239 232 claimed to use written translation were required to answer the next two parts (section 2 and 3), while those who did not were asked to answer the last two sections (section 3 and 4). section 2 was designed to elicit data on students’ uses of specific translation strategies, their reasons for using translation, their views on its perceived effects on writing, and students’ feelings. section 3 required all the participants to answer whether they had employed l1-l2 mental translation when writing in l2 and explain their reasons. finally, through the last section (section 4), those who reported that they did not apply written translation were asked to write their reasons for not using the strategy. the questionnaire was piloted and underwent some changes before it was administered for the present research’s data collection. in addition to the questionnaire, semi-structured written interviews were also employed to obtain additional information from several students. although the researcher wished to involve more students in the interviews, this could not be done due to her limited access to the participants. the main data collection was carried out at the end of the second term. the participants anonymously filled out the questionnaire in small groups or individually after class. a short briefing was given to ensure that they gave their responses truthfully and encouraged them to supply all the required information. their answers were subsequently logged into a microsoft excel program and converted into percentages for analysis. before being calculated, their responses to the open-ended questions were classified into common themes. to ensure accuracy, the researcher rechecked the logged data to avoid incorrect inputs. the responses of the students who claimed not to use written translation strategies were converted into “never” or “not applicable”, as relevant to the questionnaire statements in the first part, which were included in the percentages (except for statement 4, to which students who self-reportedly did not use a written translation method also gave their responses). this was done so that the quantities could be based on the total number of participants to enable a more holistic perspective of the results. several participants were contacted after the survey for short written interviews through whatsapp. findings and discussion general tendencies in the use of written and mental translations the participants’ responses showed that the vast majority employed written translation in their english writing (79%), which suggested that translation was a common strategy among the advanced efl students. only 21% of the respondents reported that they did not implement written translation when composing their essays. the latter students’ main reasons for not using it were to train themselves to think directly in english, to save time, and that it was easier to write directly in the target language. one student said it was easier to produce more natural english using a direct composition because his sources of information were mainly in english, which supports lay’s finding (1982). furthermore, three of these students had the highest gpas among the overall participants, but several other learners with the top gpas reported using a written translation. this corroborates previous findings that language competence is not the only factor leading to the employment of written translation. despite this, 21% of the students who claimed not to use written translation indicated that they retreated to an l1-l2 mental translation at the phrase and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 228-239 233 sentence levels mainly at high frequencies. in other words, translation remains a relatively essential crutch among these students, although employed below the discourse level and not performed explicitly. all of the total participants reported that they used l1-l2 mental translation. the majority (65%) claimed to use the strategy at high frequencies (always 17%, often 48%), mostly at the phrase and sentence levels (word 28%, phrase 38%, sentence 62%, paragraph 24%). the main reasons for this were that it saved time and helped them express their ideas and improve their english. the view that translating silently may enhance one’s language learning is interesting. perhaps requiring one to work at an abstract level with more direct associations with l2, the technique was regarded as the next step from written translation. students’ use of more specific translation strategies it is worth noting that this section and the next three were based on the responses of the participants who reported using a written translation except for statement 4 (s4). however, as previously mentioned, the answers of those who claimed not to use written translation were incorporated as “never” or “not applicable”, as relevant to the questionnaire statements to allow for a holistic perspective of the findings. table 1. students’ use of specific translation strategies no questions a lw a y s o fte n s o m e tim e s r a re ly n e v e r 1 before writing in english, i write general ideas about my topic in l1 to be translated into english. 0% 7% 48% 21% 24% 2 i first write my whole draft in l1 to be translated into english when i get an assignment to write in english. 0% 0% 3% 14% 83% 3 i write a part or parts of my draft in l1 to be translated into english when i get an assignment to write in english. 0% 52% 21% 7% 21% 4 i mentally translate into l1 what i have written in english to check if i have expressed my ideas properly into english.* 0% 17% 45% 28% 3% *two students did not respond to this statement. in terms of the use of more specific translation strategies, the advanced learners typically did not rely much on translation, but it remained an essential tool to assist them with minor problems and as a post-writing checking tool. table 1 shows one common strategy with the most significant use, which is writing part or parts of their drafts to be translated at a later stage (52% often, 21% sometimes). those who reported implementing this strategy said they utilized it mainly below the discourse level (word 43%, phrase 52%), but the use could extend to more than one sentence (35%). however, none of the advanced students llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 228-239 234 claimed to use it at the paragraph level. this study’s result is in contrast with the finding of murtisari, widiningrum, branata, and susanto (2019) of students in general of the same program, where 36% to over 40% of the respondents claimed to have used translation (google translate) to help them write one paragraph or more. based on these comparable findings, advanced students appear to use much less translation at further discourse levels to assist them in writing than general students. this appears to corroborate hu’s (2003) finding that the use of translation decreases with the l2 proficiency improves. other strategies were significantly less utilized, but the use of l2-l1 mental translation to check what has been written is relatively common (often 17% or sometimes 45%). unlike what the participants practiced with the previous strategy, most of them claimed to implement this silent translation at significant extents (paragraph 48% or whole draft 30%). this indicates that l1 remains a dominant cognitive tool among the advanced efl learners in their l2 composition process. as they are still learners and their l2 is still developing, this is not surprising. finally, writing the whole draft in l1 and then translating it into english was the least popular, with 83% claiming never to implement the strategy. students tended to avoid this strategy mainly because it was considered time-consuming. having enough l2 resources to write a substantial portion of their composition directly in the language, advanced learners will have significant extra work if they translate their whole essay from l1. although unexpectedly several students reported applying it very rarely, they also did not write favorably of the strategy because it took their time. students’ reasons for using translation strategies table 2 shows that most of the participants self-reportedly used translation for the stated reasons at significant frequencies. students’ responses revealed two of the most common causes. the first of these was to help them write complex ideas (52% always or often, 14% sometimes), which suggests the dominance of the efl participants’ l1 in processing ideas. table 2. students’ reasons for using translation strategies no questions a lw a y s o fte n s o m e ti m e s r a re ly n e v e r 11 i use l1 translation in my english writing to keep going. 10% 31% 31% 0% 28% 12 i use l1 translation when the idea i am writing is complex. 21% 31% 14% 14% 21% 13 i use l1 translation when i feel there is a lot in my brain when writing in english. 7% 31% 24% 17% 21% the second most frequent reason was to keep going (41% always or often, 31% sometimes). however, as the participants indicated, using translation to continue did not necessarily mean that they could save time. a significant number of students pointed out that translating what they had written in l1 could take time (41%) and could be difficult (14%). several students who were available for llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 228-239 235 further contact believed that they had applied the strategy despite the downsides because they were compelled to do so in certain contexts, such as because of an excessive cognitive load or limited l2 linguistic resources. in other instances, they used translation because they felt more comfortable, found it easier to write their ideas in their mother tongue, and then translate it, or just were used to applying the technique. regarding the latter, translation may not only serve as a means of scaffolding but also may become a student’s preference or style in approaching his/her writing work (see cohen, 2001). furthermore, although fewer learners reported using translation when they feel there is a lot in their brains, a relatively significant number claimed to do this at high frequencies (7% always, 31% often) and 24% do it sometimes (see table 2, s13). this supports previous studies where the use of l1 can provide support as a “psychological tool” to assist learners when there is “a cognitive overload” (bruen & kelly, 2014, p.4). it also refutes the view that the use of l1 leads to a cognitive load (nawal, 2018). learners may have extra work to translate the ideas subsequently, but at least they can feel that translating enables them to put something on paper. perceived effects of the use of translation on the writing quality as for the effect of translation, most of the participants (around 60%) believed that translation could improve different aspects of their written output at significant frequencies except when it came to grammar (table 3). the components of the overall writing quality and variety of vocabulary (s5 & s8) received slightly more positive responses than the content and idiomatic expressions (s6 & s7). despite this, only around 30% of the total participants reported always or often thinking favorably of translation in their responses to the statements. in explaining their answers to s5, some students said translation made their english expressions unnatural. in general, the findings are reminiscent of kobayashi and rinnert’s research results (1992). the study found that the more proficient students tended to prefer to write directly in l2 partly because they could have more natural language and better grammar. regardless of this, the use of unnatural expressions in translation may either suggest a lack of knowledge of l2 idiomatic expressions or a lack of translation skills. further research is necessary to examine this issue. table 3. beliefs on the writing quality no questions a lw a y s o fte n s o m e tim e s r a re ly n e v e r n o t a p p lic a b le 5 the quality of my english writing is overall better with the use of an l1 translation. 3% 34 % 24 % 17 % 0 % 21% 6 the content of my english writing is better when i use an l1-l2 translation. 0% 28 % 31 % 21 % 0% 21% 7 i can use more idiomatic english expressions when using an l1-l2 translation in my writing. 0% 28 % 31 % 21 % 0% 21% 8 i can use more varieties of vocabulary in my english writing when i use an l1 translation. 3% 31 % 31 % 10 % 3% 21% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 228-239 236 9 i can use more complex grammar in my english writing when i translate from my mother tongue/l1. 0% 17 % 48 % 7 % 7% 21% the tendencies of the present study’s participants to see the use of translation in writing somewhat unfavorably are inconsistent with the finding that most of them still often reverted to translation in their l2 composition (see statement 3, table 1). here, as indicated by the students who were contacted for further information after the survey, they may have just been forced to employ translation to assist them to write rather than choose to apply it because it was an effective strategy for them. in other words, translation is still an essential means of scaffolding for the students. as resorting to translation is often inevitable, there is an apparent need to train advanced learners with the ability to translate. such a skill may help them turn translation into a more effective tool of scaffolding as students evolve strategies to mediate incompatibilities across languages. besides developing an awareness of l1-l2 differences, the translation practice may aid students to learn more specific l2 features. according to colina and lafford (2018), it can illuminate various pragmatic aspects of texts that will assist students to understand and create high-quality texts in l2. this is possible as translation allows an in-depth engagement with meaning, enabling learners to interact intimately with textual features. students’ feelings towards their use of translation strategies in terms of students’ feelings, table 4 shows that not many students (28%) reported always or often feeling positive when using the interlingual strategy and 21% just felt so occasionally. when asked about their reasons for their positive feelings, most students said they felt assisted (31%) or confident (17%). although not many suggested a favorable feeling, fewer students claimed to frequently or occasionally feel bad when using translation to help them in writing (17% and 24% respectively). table 4. students’ feelings towards their use of translation strategies no questions a lw a y s o fte n s o m e tim e s r a re ly n e v e r n o t a p p lic a b le 14 i feel positive when i use an l1l2 translation in my writing.* 7% 21% 21% 21% 7% 21% 15 i feel bad when using an l1-l2 translation in my writing. 0% 17% 24% 10% 28% 21% *one out of 23 students did not answer q14 however, a closer look at the data shows that just 21%of the students favored translation without negative feelings. in comparison, the majority (61%) of the total participants were ambivalent by reporting both positive and negative feelings. while they might feel assisted in some way with their writing, they felt llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 228-239 237 concerned about their translation quality or that using the strategy may have adverse effects on their language learning. the latter confirms a finding that language students tended to view translation as disrupting their language acquisition (kern, 1994; liao, 2006). table 5 demonstrates examples of students’ dilemmatic feelings towards translation, which were elicited by statement 14 and statement 15 of the present study’s questionnaire. such ambivalence was also found in murtisari’s study (2016) among students across different levels of l2 competence, but to a smaller degree. table 5. examples of students’ ambivalent feelings participants open-ended question response p1 s14 [translation] helps me [in writing] when i have a mental block. s15 i feel my sentences are not natural [after i translate them into english]. p13 s14 i feel i can write what i have planned [by using translation]. s15 i feel my [english] writing skill is not good [because i still use translation]. p15 s14 when writing on an unfamiliar topic, translation is pretty effective [.]. [...] it helps to write faster. s15 i feel i’m not making enough effort to learn [to write directly in english], and my writing becomes wordy. besides reflecting students’ lack of translation skills, the students’ feelings seem to suggest an entrenched resistance among language learners against the use of translation in language learning. instructors’ frequent unfavorable attitudes towards translation, although often not explicitly shown, and the pressure to develop l2 fluency seems to have developed some kind of fear for its adversative effects. often driven by misconceptions about translation, this may instead be disadvantageous to students in making the most of their natural learning resources. therefore, it is imperative to develop awareness among students and language practitioners that the use of l1, including translation, is natural in additional language learning. it is not reasonable to expect students to complete tasks involving difficult elements in l2 when they lack mastery in the language. rather than suppressing the use of translation, which is often unavoidable, it is better to teach students how to use it judiciously by appropriately integrating it in language teaching early on in language education. in this way, indonesian students may reap the potential benefits of translation for their language learning. conclusion this study demonstrates that translation is a crucial supporting tool among advanced efl learners in writing, although it was employed in lesser degrees. although advanced learners are more competent language users, they still have llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 228-239 238 gaps in l2 mastery with which they need support. therefore, as writing in l2 is a challenging task, resorting to translation seemed to be frequently inevitable as a compensatory strategy. however, they often did not seem to be able to use the strategy effectively. there also seemed to be a concern that the translation may get in the way of their language acquisition. it is, therefore, imperative to teach language learners the cross-language mediation skill and foster awareness that translation is a valid tool to support l2 acquisition. these will not only assist them to use translation strategies more successfully but also equip them with a crucial social skill for communication in real-life situations. with a small number of participants, this study is not generalizable. however, it has highlighted crucial issues surrounding the use of a translation that seems to have received very little attention in language education. to conclude, it will be more fruitful, in borrowing cohen’s (2001) words, to “[get] translation out of the closet into the open where it can be utilized more explicitly and ideally, [and] more beneficially as well” (p.105) than deny the inevitable. references bahri, h., & mahadi, t. s. t. 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(1979). the deep structure of discourse and the use of translation. explorations in applied linguistics, 1, 101-112. llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 23 content validity and authenticity of the 2012 english test in the senior high school national examination frisca ayu desi widyaningrum carla sih prabandari english language education study program sanata dharma university abstract this paper discusses content validity and authenticity of the english test items in national examination (un) year 2012. it is worth discussion because un, which was administered nationally, was the most important standardized testto assess indonesian students’ competence. the study aimed to find out howvalidthe content of the english test items of national examination year 2012 for senior high schools isand how authentic the english test items of national examination year 2012 for senior high schools is. the writers employed a qualitative research with document analysis to conduct the analysis of both content validity and authenticity of the english test items. the data were obtained from the document and analyzed by using checklists. besides, to maintain the validitiy of the analysis, a triagulation was done by distributing aquestionnaire to four experts in language assessment. there were twofindings resulted form the analysis. first, the content of the national examination year 2012 was 98.8% valid since almost all of the contents were relevant to the test specifications. however, there were three reading test versions which failed to represent kinds of texts, namely explanation text. second, the national examination year 2012 met the criteria of authenticity with percentage 79.5% since some listening and reading test items failed to conform to authenticity criteria. natural language use, the relevance of the test topics, and real-world representativeness became problematic aspects to meet the higher standard of authenticity. keywords: content validity, authenticity, english test items, national examination, document analysis 1. introduction national examinationin indonesia is the highest standardized test employed toassess and measureindonesian students’ competence(education ministry regulation no. 59/2011). by passing national examination, indonesian students are able to graduate from a certain education level and to continue their study to the further education level. therefore, the administration of national examination is regulated orderly by education ministry as well as the test itemsshould be well-prepared and referring to particular test specifications and lesson objectives. mentionedineducation ministry regulation(no.22/2006), national examinationmaterials are generally based on competence standard and basic competence of each level of educational unitswhich are concluded in content standards(standard isi).furthermore, competence standard and basic competence of each level of educational units become reference to creategraduate competence standard (standard kompetensi lulusan) which consists of test specifications. 24 due to the reasons above, the testmakersneed to pay attention at least to the test’scontent validity and authenticity in order to make good test items, particularly in national examination. content validity helps the test reflect the measured skills which should be performed by students. american psychological association (1985) advances validity of a test is to revealthe relevant test scores (as cited in rudner and shafer, 2002, p.12).seif (2004) explains that if a test does not have content validity, the test-examiners may not be able to determine that the students achieve the set of learning objectives in a particular level of education (as cited in jandhagi and shaterian, 2008, p.2). the test-makers also need to pay attention to the authenticity of the test. authenticity isimportantsince it builds figures of the target language used in the real situation for students (brown, 2004). students will be confused to use language in context unless national examination reflects authenticity. moreover, it is important that the materials used in the test are relevant to students’ majors in order to ease students in comprehending the content. the researcher analyzes content validity and authenticity of english test items on national examination in order to obtain more information about the quality of english items of national examination year 2012 for senior high schools. the analysis was conducted using document analysis. this is supported by fraenkel and wallen (2008) who state that document analysis is useful to prevail information in dealing with educational matters (p.497).in this research, the primary document which is analyzed is the listening recording and the five reading test versions of english test of national examination year 2012 for senior high schools.the study is based on following two questions: 1. how valid is the content of english test items of national examination year 2012 for senior high schools related to the lesson objectives and the test specifications? 2. how authentic is english test items of national examination year 2012 for senior high schools related to the criteria of authenticity set by brown? 2. literature review a language test is a systematic method to measure someone’s capability, knowledge, or performance in a certain domain in its relation with the language use. in order to meet usefulness of a language test, the test should meet a good test’s criteria, for instance: reliability, validity, practicality, and authenticity (brown, 2004). therefore, the language test should has high quality since it is a measurement of students’ capability. in terms of methods, national examination is a kind of paper-and-pencil language tests or written test and it belongs to receptive tests because it test somebody’s receptive skills such as listening and reading skills. besides, national examination is categorized into achievement tests in terms of test purposes (mcnamara, 2000). as an achievement test, national examination corresponds to the classroom lessons, units, or curriculum (brown, 2004). the bases of composing national examination are the competence standard, basic competence, and graduate competence standard. in order to meet the function as an assessing tool, language test such as national examination should meet at least two of the principles of language assesment namely content validity and authenticity. a valid listening test is a test where the content is composed based on the blueprints. if the topics are relevant with the test specifications, the listening test is valid (brown, 2004). a valid reading test is content validity and authenticity of the 2012 english test .... llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 25 a test where the content is composed based on the blueprints. if a language test does not meet content validity it probably affects the students’ capability to perform the intended skill and the students are probably not capable to answer the test questions (seif, 2004). in order to check the validity of language test, the test-designers or teachers are able to check it by matching the test items with the relevant test specifications and lesson objectives. authenticity is one of the important language assessment facets since it resemble how the language test show the real-world tasks and true language use (richards, 2001). it performs the true language in context and they help students by providing appropriate information about the target language (richards, 2001). in addition, authenticity is a matter of appropriateness of the content and construction of both test tasks and test texts as well as it is not used to teach grammar or language discourse. instead, it shows genuine and reliable language (richards, 2001). in order to determinethe authentic assessment, the test-designers should consider two important parts of authenticity namely test task characteristics and test text characteristics (bachman and palmer, 1996). task characteristics include five aspects namely the naturalness of test language, the contextualized items represented in the test, the relevance of the test topics and the learners, the existence of some thematic organization items, and the representativeness of the world tasks (brown, 2004). the naturalness of test language in reading test items consists of linguistic aspects namely typography, lexis, morphology, syntax, and semantics. the naturalness of test language shows the appropriateness of the test language to the target language. the target language use of the english test on national examination is american english and british english. it is because american english and british english becomes international language as means of communication spoken by most of people throughout the world. the naturalness of listening test refers to the existence of hesitations, white noise, and interruptions in listening tests (brown, 2004). the contextualization of the test items refers to the test items organizations which are related to the existence of some thematic organization items. another indicator is relevance of the test topics and the learners which has meaning that the materials should be appropriate to learners. the last indicator is that the tasks should represent the real-world tasks which mean that authentic materials are taken from realworld sources.besides the test tasks, the test text characteristics become important in order to achieve authenticity and the text characteristics adapt the five indicators of test authenticity. there are three indicators used to check authenticity of reading texts namely the naturalness of test language, the relevance of the test topics and the learners, and the representativeness of the world tasks. 3. discussion the results of the analysis on both content validity and authenticity of the test items are presented in the following table: table 1the percentages of validity and authenticity of the test items no research findings percentages 1. the validity of the english test items according to competence standardbasic competence and graduate competence standard 98.8% 2. the authenticity of the english test items 79.5% 26 the table shows that the percentages of validity and authenticity of english test items on national examination year 2012 were not able reach the highest percentages namely 100% due to some causal factors which were found in data analysis. the reasons are described as follows: 3.1 content validity of the listening test items according to competence standard and basic competence according to the analysis carried out by the researcher, there was none of the listening test items represents samples of responding to short spoken functional texts as stated in competence standard and basic competence for senior high schools. it is that listening learning topic was not written in graduate competence standard as one of the test materials. instead, all listening test materials on national examination year 2012 make reference to the learning topics stated in competence standard and basic competence for senior high schools. that is supported by brown (2004),he argues that test specifications include the general outline of the test and the test tasks (p.50). the test specifications in graduate competence standard referred to a certain curriculum and it consisted of only the general outline of whole materials and skills due to test practicality. therefore, it was not a matter as long as all materials in the listening test make reference to competence standard and basic competence. 3.2 content validity of the listening test items according to graduate competence standard the results which were obtained show that each listening test items one up to 15 reflected the content of the test specifications on graduate competence standard. it correlates to apa (1954) that content validity refers to the scale of the correlation between the content of the assessment items and domain of interest. the listening test items includes the listening skill which are going to be measured in the listening test section. it does not include measurements or test items which measure other skills like speaking, reading or, writing skills. 3.3 content validity of the reading items according to competence standard and basic competence test items on versions a57, b69, c71, d32, and e45 were considered 100% valid in case of the content since the items on each test version of national examination represented reading topics of learning which was written in competence standard and basic competence, not other skills. this is in line with seif (2004) who claims if test does not meet validity in its content, there will possibly be two negative outcomes(as cited in jandhagi and shaterian, 2008, p.2). in this case, the two negative outcomes would not happen since all test items in the five test versions of national examination year 2012, based on competence standard and basic competence. 3.4 content validity of the reading test items according to graduate competence standard the data analysis shows that there were three test versions did notrepresent explanation text. in this case, those three test versions of national examination year 2012 for senior high schools lacked content validity. if the reading test of national examination completely refers to graduate competence standard, there will be 13 kinds of reading materials (message, letter/email, advertisement, narrative text, news item, recount text, announcement, report, descriptive text, explanation, exposition text, discussion, and review) on the reading test. instead, test versions a57, c71, and d32 only demonstrated 12 kinds of reading materials while b69 and e45 could demonstrate all 13 kinds of reading materials which were written on graduate competence standard. content validity and authenticity of the 2012 english test .... llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 27 it showed the difference in quality of content validity in all five test version. this is in line with elinddriana’s statement, an observer in educational field, tempo (tuesday, 11 september 2012). elinddriana (2012) states composing several versions of national examination should consider that all those various test versions should have the same quality of difficulties. therefore, it is important that each test version should have the same kinds of test instructions and test topics in order to meet validity of the result. 3.5 authenticity of the listening test items . there was one significant problem related to the naturalness of language use in listening test items. there was no significant problem related to other factor namely contextualization of the test items, thematic item organization, relevance of the test topics to the learners, and real-world representativeness. the language used in the conversations was similar to the realworld conversations and there were also some word reduction in order to make the conversations natural. in the listening test question number 2, for instance, the woman reduced the word did and not into didn’t. however, there was no hesitations and white noise found in the conversations. therefore, the conversations sounded like designed recordings.according to brown (2004), there are two of three features which can be used to express natural language use in listening comprehension section; they are hesitations and white noise (p.28). afterwards, all listening test items on national examination year 2012 are considered as contextualized items because the test items are developed from two learning topics integrated in the blueprints namely transactional/interpersonal expressions and monologue texts. besides, all learning topics of the fifteen test items on the listening test are relevant for the learners. the learners in this context are senior high school students and the learning topics used in the conversations are about asking for and giving direction, expressing pleasure, thanking, complaining, asking for and giving information, and offering help. all topics in the listening test take place in daily-life situation.in the listening test on national examination year 2012, the researcher found out that four test items are organized in a form of story lines. lastly, the real-world representativeness could be exhibited in all listening test items. the conversations and the spoken monologue texts often take place in daily-life situation. 1.6 authenticity of the test tasks the preliminary data shows that the total different test items from a57, b69, c71, d32, and e45 were 123 test items and there were 50 different passages employed in it. the researcher also recognized that most of the test tasks had problem to fulfill the naturalness of language used in the test instructions and the optional answers as well as the relevance of a particular test topic for the learners.although the language test was not intended to test some grammatical or lexical items, the test-designers should avoid linguistic mistakes in order to represent highly authentic reading test. according to richards (2001), the visible characteristic of authentic materials was that it provides true language (pp.252253). it means that there should no linguistic mistakes such as typographical mistakes, lexis, morphemes, word orders and grammar (syntactic matters), diction, and meaning (semantic matters)in the test tasks in order to avoid test takers’ confusion in understanding the test instructions. from 123 test tasks or test instructions there are only 105 test items which meet the natural language use criterion. consequently, the test takers were possibly confused in 28 understanding the meaning. it was related to widdowson (1976) who emphasizes that authenticity is not only about the quality of a text at all but authenticity is reached when the readers understand the writer’s intention (p.264). the other mistake belongs to morphosyntactic mistake which is related to singular and plural forms. itis related to the use of determiner as well. the researcher also considered that all the reading test items on national examination year 2012 are contextualized. all test tasks were developed from certain learning topics namely functional texts and essays. in relation to the thematic items organization, the researcher identified there were 118 test tasks constructed thematically while there were five test items constructed independently. besides, the test tasks on the reading test do not attempt to ask for englishgrammatical forms but it indicated asking for information or the meaning of some vocabulary. lastly, the relevance of a particular test topic to senior high school students becomes a problem in the reading test tasks of national examination year 2012 since there are two test tasks found in a57 test versionwere considered not relevant to senior high school students. 3.7 the authenticity of the test texts the result of the analysis shows that most test texts face problem to fulfill the naturalness of language used in the test passages and the real-world representativeness as well as the relevance of a particular test topic to the learners. according to the data, there was only 36% of the test texts which met the indicator of naturalness of the language used in the test texts. the failure of the test passages to meet the indicator was caused by the existence of linguistic facets like: typographical mistakes, lexis, morphemes, word orders and grammar (syntactic matters), diction, and meaning. afterwards, there were only 98% of the test text topics which were relevant to senior high school students. the topic was not relevant to senior high school students because the passage used specific terms related to electrical installation. almost all of the passages used in the reading test failed to represent the realworld context even though the topics of the passages were rational and based on realworld context. unlike what brown (2004) states that authentic reading passages are taken from real-world sources (p.28), meanwhile the test-designers of the english test items did not mention the sources where the passages were taken from. another reason was that the samples of the formal letters, announcements, and the advertisements look unnatural viewed from the format and design. 3. 8. other findings the main goal of the education ministry by applying different kinds of test version in national examination year 2012 was to clamp down on students’ fraudulence in the implementation of national examination. from the pre-analysis, the researcher found out interesting results. it was that there were several similar passages and test questions used in all five test versions. the other interesting findings were that most of the passages and the test tasks in test version c71 were similar to the passages in test version d32. the difference between both test versions was only found in the test item numbers 39, 40, 41 of both test version since the passages used in each test version, related to those three questions, were different. it implied a mismatch between the education ministry’s objectives to apply several test versions in national examination and the facts founded in reading test items of national examination year 2012. content validity and authenticity of the 2012 english test .... llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 29 4. conclusions there were several findings in this research concerning to answer two research questions as follows. first, it was found that the content of the test items (including listening and reading test items) are 98.8% valid. second, the results of analyzing the authenticity of national examination listening test items year 2012 show that the listening and reading test items are authentic. it reaches 79.5% as the percentages of the authenticity. according to the findings, it implies that the english test items of national examination year 2012 need evaluation and improvement since both content validity and authenticity of the english test items on national examination year 2012 are not able to reach the highest percentages. references american psychological association. (1954). technical recommendations for psychological tests and diagnostic techniques: preliminary proposal. american psychologist, 7, 461-476. american psychological association.(1985). standards for educational and psychological testing. washington, dc: american psychological association. bachman, l. f., & palmer, a. s. (1996).language testing in practice: designing and developing useful language tests. oxford: oxford university press. brown, h. d. (2004). language assessment: principles and classroom practices. usa: pearson education, inc. fraenkel, j. r., &wallen, n. e. (2008).how to design and evaluate research in education (7thed.). boston: mcgrawhill higher education. gronlund, n. (1998). assessment of student achievement (6thed.). needham heights, ma: allyn& bacon. jandaghi, g., &shateria, f. (2008).rate of validity, reliability and difficulty indices for teacher-designed exam questions in first year high school. international journal of human sciences [online]. 5:2. retrieved september 19, 2013 from http:// www.insanbilimleri.com mcnamara, t. (2000). language testing. oxford: oxford university press. oxford advanced learner’s dictionary (7thed). (2005). oxford: oxford university press. peraturanmenteripendidikannasional no. 22 tahun 2006 tentangujiannasional. peraturanmenteri no. 59 tahun 2011 tentangujiannasional. richards, j. c. (2001). curriculum development in language teaching. new york: cambridge university press. seif, a. a. (2004). assessment and evaluation in education. tehran: doran publication. retrieved september 19, 2013 from http://www.insanbilimleri.com tempo interactive. (june, 2012). national exams warrant re-evaluation. tempo. retrieved on august 31, 2012, from http://www.tempo.co/read/ news/2012/06/.../055409165 anggrita desyani. (september, 2012). rencanavariasi 20 soalujiannasionaldikritik.tempo. retrieved on september 19, 2013, from h t t p : / / w w w . t e m p o . c o / r e a d / n e ws / 2 0 1 2 / 0 9 / 1 1 / 0 7 9 4 2 8 8 5 3 / r e n c a n a -va r i a s i 2 0 -s o a l u j i a n nasional-dikritik widdowson, h. g. (1976). the authenticity of language data. in john f. fanselow& ruth h. crymes (eds.), tesol ’76 (pp. 261-270). washington, d.c.: tesol. cover vol 16 2013_rep isi llt_vol_16_2013_a_save as isi llt_vol_16_2013_b_save as llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 96 domains of political metaphors in presidential speeches truly almendo pasaribu sanata dharma university tr.almendo@gmail.com abstract speeches are products of human minds reflecting ideas and opinions of the speakers. crystal (1987) mentions that the way people use language does not only give us information about their geographical, ethnic and social background, but it also reflects the type of context in which they are communicating. as an interesting feature of a language, metaphors in political speeches can be powerful and persuasive. this research aimed at finding the source domains of political metaphors in joko widodo’s speeches, namely: his victory speech and his inaugural speech. these speeches were chosen to be analyzed due to their distinct context and setting. to achieve the goal of the study, the paper explicated lakoff and johnson’s contemporary theory of conceptual metaphor (1980, 1992). the findings and discussion argue that the speeches use more positive metaphors of “unity” rather than metaphors of “battle or competition”. furthermore, the texts also conceptualize indonesian political realm as a journey and navigation, which give the audience a sense of progress. the maritime metaphors in particular are abundant in the two speeches because they reflect one of widodo’s visions to strengthen indonesian maritime. keywords: political metaphors, speeches, conceptual metaphors introduction speeches reflect how creative human minds can be in expressing ideas, intention and thoughts. a speech can be entertaining and also politically powerful. many leaders realize the importance of public speeches as they serve as a tool of their political legitimization. crystal (1987) mentions that the way people use language gives us information about their physical type, their geographical, ethnic and social background, and the type of context in which they are communicating. similarly, the way political leaders use a language reflects their thoughts and intention. those who are involved in a political domain use various strategies to win audience; one of them is by using metaphors (widiana & yustisiana, 2015). widiana & yustiana(2015) analyzed political metaphors in mass media and argued that this linguistic feature highly affected the public. in investigating metaphors found in widodo’s speeches, this study employed lakoff’s contemporary theory of metaphor (1992). according to lakoff (1992) metaphors are not mere words or expression, but they reflect mapping across conceptual domains, from the source domains to the target domains. in other words, a metaphor consists of a source llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 97 domain and a target domain. many concepts that we use in everyday activities are abstract concepts like time, emotions, communication, minds, and ideas, which are usually described metaphorically in more concrete concepts like human body, food, objects, etc. the use of metaphors tells a lot about how we perceive things. wahab (1991) argued that the metaphors in written texts were influenced by the writers’ environment and surroundings. lakoff and johnson (1980) also argued that metaphors served as a means that structured how we perceive, think and do. it is not unusual for us to use more concrete experience in our lives to describe more abstract concepts. some layers of politics are in the abstract realm such as political leaders’ visions and missions. thus, metaphors are widely used in political speech as one strategy to reach wider audience. for example, studies have documented that obama has exploited metaphors in his speeches (xu, 2010; escudero, 2011). xu (2010) argued that obama used source domains people could emotionally relate to, which helped him influence his people. presidential inaugural speeches are important and momentous. an article ‘why rhetoric?” elaborates that “a political speech can be so powerful in expressing a vision that it is not only a comment on a historical moment, but itself historically momentous.” (why, online) furthermore, wilson (1994) added that the inaugurals are delivered not only to convey presidents’ visions and missions, but also to win the heart of his/her citizens. to serve these purposes, the indonesian president also used metaphors in his victory and inaugural addresses. this study analyzes those metaphors through lakoff’s contemporary theory of metaphor (1992), which is further elaborated under the literature review. furthermore, after the data were collected and classified, the findings and discussion elaborate the possible conceptual metaphors appeared in widodo’s addresses. finally, it concludes with major ideas and findings of the research. literature review many studies have documented the use of metaphors in communication (wahab, 1991; pasaribu, 2013, widiana & yustisiana, 2015). wahab (1991) argued that there is a close relation between metaphors and mind. he found that when writers in his study created metaphors, they are influenced greatly by its environment. as one interesting aspect of language, the use of metaphor gives us information about our geographical, ethnic and social background (crystal, 1987) pasaribu (2013) found that metaphors helped indonesian speakers to express their feeling, particularly “love”, using different domains of experience. metaphors helped people communicate various shades of abstract things, such as emotions. furthermore, widiana and yustisiana (2015) also investigated political metaphos in mass media. they found out that politics was compared with very different entities. interestingly, they also argued that political llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 98 metaphors were highly persuasive. although the readers were not really interested in the political news, they understood the message conveye through political metaphors. both pasaribu (2013) and widiana and yustisiana (2015) analyzed their data by using contemporary theory of conceptual metaphor (lakoff and johnson, 1980; lakoff, 1992). although the current study also used the theory of metaphor proposed by lakoff, the goal of this study aimed at elaborating the source domains of political metaphors in widodo’s victory speech and inaugural speech. according to lakoff and johnson (1980) a metaphor is not merely “a device of poetic imagination or an ornament of language”. metaphors are myriad in everyday communication because when we use them we conceptualize one domain in terms of another. a famous example proposed by lakoff (1992) is “love is a journey” because of some shared similarities, such as the lovers are travelers who have their destinations in life. the target domain “love” is understood partially in terms of the source domain “journey”. kövecses (2010) adds that a conceptual metaphor consists of two conceptual domains, in which one domain is understood in terms of another. the metaphor “love is a journey” helps us understand a relatively abstract matter, i.e. love, to a more concrete one, i.e. journey. in this example the target domain is the abstract concept “love” and the source domain is the more concrete concept “journey”. the explanation and the examples under this literature framework help us analyze the source domains of political metaphors in two widodo’s speeches. data collection this study used a qualitativedescriptive research that focused on the description of current language phenomenon. the method was carried out by gathering the data, analyzing the data and presenting the data. this study was interested in two widodo’s speeches, namely: his victory speech and inaugural speech. these speeches were analyzed because they have distinct context and setting. the data was taken from the archive of jokowi’s speeches which were delivered to public and recorded on youtube channel. after collecting the data, they were analyzed by finding and labelling the metaphors in widodo’s speeches, interpreting the components through the textual feature, and concluding the findings and discussion. findings and discussion metaphors are pervasively employed in political speeches. metaphors manipulate verbal messages to trigger our mental image. escudero (2011: 46) mentions that “the message conveyed by metaphor is doubly powerful as it works through both auditory and visual channels at the same time, a verbal message and a mental image”. based on the classification of the data, the domains of metaphors appearing in joko widodo’s speeches are discussed in the following part. llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 99 unity/relationship as the title of the section suggests, the theme of unity tries to evoke the feeling of comradeship. when people unite, they tend to develop certain relationships. indonesian people hold the value of gotong royong, or mutual cooperation, highly. this spirit of mutual cooperation is repeated 6 times in these two presidential speeches. people have to work together, as a team, to get out of the crisis. they have to meet this challenge and address the crisis. widodo uses this theme in several sentences of his speeches to emphasize unity. the conceptual metaphors under this theme are: 1) saudara-saudara sebangsa dan setanah air,…. my brothers and sisters,…. 2) pertama-tama, saya mengucapkan terima kasih dan penghargaan tinggi kepada bapak prabowo subianto dan bapak hatta rajasa yang telah menjadi sahabat dalam kompetisi politik…. first of all, my gratitude and highest appreciation go to mr. prabowo subianto and mr. hatta rajasa who have been our friends in this political competition… 3) …untuk mendapatkan mandat rakyat untuk memimpin negeri ini lima tahun ke depan. …in getting the people’s mandate to lead this country for the next five years. 4) saya yakin, negara ini akan semakin kuat dan berwibawa jika semua lembaga negara bekerja memanggul mandat yang telah diberikan oleh konstitusi. i believe this country will grow stronger and more dignified if all state institutions carry the mandates given to them by the constitution. 5) atas nama rakyat dan pemerintah indonesia, saya mengucapkan terima kasih dan penghargaan yang sebesar-besarnya kepada yang mulia kepala negara dan pemerintahan serta utusan khusus dari negara-negara sahabat . on behalf of the people and the government of indonesia, i extend my gratitude and appreciation to their excellencies heads of states and governments and special envoys from foreign nations which have been our friends. these conceptual metaphors under the theme unity/relationship reflect the context of asian culture. eastern societies usually put more importance of collectivity (wahab, 1991). the metaphors show that the speaker emphasizes on positive relationship between him and the citizens (example 1) as well as between him and his political rivals (example 2). metaphors (3) and (4) also show that the president is being humble by considering the indonesian people and the constitution as the parties that he serves. he also emphasizes unity by considering other countries as friends in example (5). war it is not unusual that political leaders use the battle metaphor in conveying their speech. in these speeches, the speaker represents himself as the commander in chief whose duty is to defend (6), protect (7) and lead his army to struggle in the battle (8). llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 100 6) semangat gotong royong itulah yang akan membuat bangsa indonesia bukan saja akan sanggup bertahan dalam menghadapi tantangan…. the spirit of gotong royong will not only make indonesia survive its problems…. 7) saya yakin, dengan kerja keras dan gotong royong, kita akan akan mampu melindungi segenap bangsa indonesia dan seluruh tumpah darah indonesia i believe that with hard work and cooperation, we will be able to protect the nation and all the citizens of indonesia 8) …perjuangan mencapai indonesia yang berdaulat, indonesia yang berdikari …the struggle to achieve a sovereign, independent, and characterized indonesia can only be realized if we work together hand in hand. 9) …prabowo subianto dan bapak hatta rajasa yang telah menjadi sahabat dalam kompetisi politik untuk mendapatkan mandat rakyat. …mr. prabowo subianto and mr. hatta rajasa who have been our friends in this political competition in getting the people’s mandate to lead this country for the next five years. politics and war are two completely different entities. but in this case, politics is partially understood in terms of war. in example (6), the text shows that widodo considers the indonesian citizens as armies when facing challenges. the same concept is used in example (7) and example (8). the expressions from the vocabulary of war are scattered in widodo’s speeches to emphasize the importance of working together to survive (6), protect (7) and struggle (8) for indonesia. furthermore, it is also interesting to see that example (9) talks about political election. in this case, the source domain is competition which is used to describe political election. both share the attributes that there are more than two parties who compete to win the election. from the examples we see that although politics and war are two distinct concepts, the source domain concepts of war are mapped into the target concept, i.e. politics because they share some similarities. it is also interesting to point out that widodo used more positive metaphors of “unity” rather than metaphors of “battle or competition”. after the celebrating the outcome of 2014 political election, he repeatedly persuaded indonesian citizens to unite as one nation. journey by using the journey metaphor, widodo places the people in a position of being on a journey. when we talk about journey, we have a path, process, movement, and destination. this concept is often used to describe to other concepts, including politics. journey and politics are exactly two different kinds of thing and involve two different kinds of action. but politics is partially structured, understood and performed in terms of journey as revealed by the these metaphorical linguistic expressions. 10) pemilihan umum presiden telah membawa politik ke sebuah fase baru bukan lagi sebagai sebuah peristiwa politik semata-mata, tetapi peristiwa kebudayaan. the presidential election has brought politics to a new phase — it wasn’t only a political event, but also a cultural event. llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 101 11) saya berharap, kemenangan rakyat ini akan melapangkan jalan untuk mencapai dan mewujudkan indonesia yang berdaulat secara politik, i hope that this victory will open our ways to reach and achieve a politically sovereign. 12) …bekerja keras mencapai kehendak kita bersama sebagai bangsa yang besar. …working hard in order to achieve our dream of becoming a big nation. 13) …bersama-sama melanjutkan ujian sejarah berikutnya yang maha berat, yakni mencapai dan mewujudkan indonesia it’s time for us to continue with our next historical tasks, which are tremendously heavy; to transform indonesia into a sovereign country politically 14) …akan terus menjalankan politik luar negeri bebas-aktif, yang diabdikan untuk kepentingan nasional, indonesia — as the world’s third-largest democracy, the world’s most populous muslim nation, an archipelagic state and the biggest nation in southeast asia — will continue to exercise our independent and active foreign policy dedicated for the national interest lakoff (1992) analyzed the conceptual metaphors “love is a journey” because this conceptual metaphor described one domain of experience, that is love, in terms of a very distinct domain of experience, journeys. indonesian citizens are described as travelers (example 13 and 14) on a journey of wide roads (11) involving some phases (10) to achieve common goals (example 12) as a nation. from these examples, we can see that we understand politics in terms of a very different entity, journeys. journey metaphors encourage the audience because the give the sense of progress. therefore, political leaders use this basic human experience to explain politics, which is an abstract concept. human’s character according to lakoff and johnson (1980), personification is a special type of ontological metaphor where the object is further specified as being a person so that a wide variety of experiences with nonhuman entities can be described in terms of human motivations, characteristics and activities. in theory of conceptual metaphor (1980, 1992), personification is a kind of metaphor because when we use personification, we compare a nonhuman domain in terms of a human domain. this kind of comparison is abundant in daily conversation because we compare something to ourselves as human beings. some expressions in the speeches also described one domain, i.e. a country, in terms of another domain, i.e. human’s character. 15) indonesia yang berkepribadian, hanya akan dapat tercapai dan terwujud apabila kita bergerak bersama. characterized indonesia can only be realized if we work together hand in hand. 16) kita akan akan … mencerdaskan kehidupan bangsa… i believe that with hard work and cooperation, we will be able to protect the nation and all the citizens of indonesia, to improve public welfare, to educate the nation and to participate in efforts to maintain the world order based on independence, eternal peace and social justice. llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 102 17) indonesia yang… dan berkepribadian dalam kebudayaan i hope that this victory will open our ways to reach and achieve a politically sovereign, economically independent, and culturally characterized indonesia. the componential features of a country are different from those of human beings. a country is inanimate, but it is understood in terms of a human metaphor. as human we are close to the concept of ourselves. in this case, the text describes a nonhuman domain, a country, in terms of a human domain. it is easier for us to understand the concept of a country when thinking about our being. in other words, it is possible to make people understand other abstract phenomena by explaining them using metaphors related to human beings, such as characteristics and actions. navigation maritime is related to human activity at sea (cambridge advanced learners’ dictionary). the activity from one place to another by directing a ship is called navigation. the concept of maritime navigation involves captains, navigators, sailors, ships, waves, currents and destinations. uniquely, widodo uses some maritime metaphors in his speech as seen below: 18) jiwa pelaut yang berani mengarungi gelombang dan hempasan ombak yang menggulung. namely the heart of a sailor who courageously sails through big currents and rolling waves. 19) sebagai nahkoda yang dipercaya oleh rakyat, saya mengajak semua warga bangsa untuk naik ke atas kapal republik indonesia dan berlayar bersama menuju indonesia raya. as a captain mandated by the people, i’m asking the entire nation to board this ship that is the republic of indonesia and to sail together toward a great indonesia. we will stretch sturdy sails. 20) kita akan hadapi semua badai dan gelombang samudera dengan kekuatan kita sendiri. we will face storms and ocean waves using our own power. we understand one domain, politics, in terms of a very different domain of experience, navigation. the texts show that indonesian citizens are sailors who sailed against the waves (example 18). example 19 expresses that widodo is the captain of the ship and he sails together with his people. finally, similar to the domain of journeys, example (20) conveys indonesian destination, that is “indonesia raya” or as translated by evanston (2014) “great indonesia”. as crystal (1987) suggests, the way the speaker uses language gives information about the type of context in which they are communicating. in this sense, these navigation metaphors appear powerfully because they are in line with one of widodo’s strategies for indonesian future, that is promoting maritime life. the analysis of the source domains in widodo’s addresses shows that we find many conceptual metaphors. a metaphor has a learning power because it facilitates the understanding of messages by converting abstract notions into llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 103 concrete ones (g. lakoff, 1980; cuenca & hilferty, 1999). the speeches contain several source domains, those are: unity, war, journey, human characteristics and navigation. those concepts are more concrete to the public’s experience, which help them understand a more abstract concept, politics. as a result, the use of metaphors in speeches is believed to be one powerful strategy to convey political messages and win the heart of the public. conclusion the speeches contain metaphors that have distinct source domains, those are: unity, wars, journeys, human characteristics and navigation. by using more concrete domains to public’s experience, widodo calls people to unite as one nation to survive, protect and struggle for indonesian future. for these reasons, the speeches use more positive metaphors of “unity” rather than metaphors of “a battle or competition”. furthermore, the texts conceptualize indonesian political life as a journey and navigation. by using these domains, the speeches give the audience a sense of progress. the maritime metaphors are abundant which are in line with one of widodo’s missions to strengthen indonesian maritime life. metaphors are also exploited by converting abstract notions into concrete ones related to human body. in sum, many metaphors in these speeches conceptualize the abstract domain of politics into something related to human basic experience. references _____. (n.d.) british political speech: why rethoric? retrieved january 2016 from http://www.britishpoliticalspeech.org/why-rhetoric.htm crystal, d. (1987). encyclopedia of language. cambridge: cambridge university press. escudero, m. p. g. (2011) barack obama’s inaugural address: metaphor and values as captivating strategies to celebrate a presidency. pragmalingïüística 19 (2011) 44-55. retrieved january 2016 from http://www.revistas.uca.es evanston, s. s. p. (2014) when first impressions matter: jokowi's inaugural speech. the jakarta post. retrieved july 2015 from http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/10/29/when-first-impressionsmatter-jokowi-s-inaugural-speech.html hu, x. (2010). a study on conceptual metaphors in presidential inaugural speeches. unpublished research paper. kristianstad university. retrieved january 2016 from http://www.divaportal.se/smash/get/diva2:397472/fulltext01.pdf kovecses, z. (2010). metaphor: a practical introduction. 2 nd ed. oxford: oxford university press. lakoff, g. and johnson, m. (1980). metaphors we live by. chicago: university of chicago press. llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 104 lakoff, g. (1992). the contemporary theory of metaphor. in ortony, andrew. 1993. metaphor and thought. cambridge: cambridge university press. pasaribu, t. a. (2013). a cognitive linguistic analysis of indonesian love metaphors. seminar internasional. yogyakarta: ugm procter, p. (2008) cambridge advanced learners’ dictionary. 3 rd ed. cambridge: cambridge university press. wahab, abdul. (1991). kesemestaan metafora jawa. dalam isu linguistik, pengajaran bahasa dan sastra. isu linguistik pengajaran bahasa dan sastra. surabaya: airlangga university press. widiana, y. & yustisiana r. a. (2015) metaphors and arguments to semantic political metaphors in indonesian mass media and its persuasive effect toward readers. celt, volume 15, number 2, december 2015, pp. 205-221 wilson, d. (1994) language and understanding. oxford: oxford university press. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 304 learners’ perceptions on the use of indonesian (l1) in the english (l2) intensive course: implications for translanguaging pedagogy gregoria dian puspitasari1 and *mateus yumarnamto2 universitas katolik widya mandala, surabaya, indonesia gregoriadian@yahoo.com and mateus@ukwms.ac.id *correspondence: mateus@ukwms.ac.id doi: 10.24071/llt.v23i2.2574 received 2 may 2020; accepted 25 june 2020 abstract this study explores the use of indonesian (l1) in an english class at an undergraduate program in a university in east java, indonesia. the english class was called intensive course (ic). in the class the students were expected to learn general english so that they could have the required competence to become english teachers. the students who passed the course in 2018-2019 (50 students) were asked to complete a questionnaire. follow up interviews were conducted to four selected students representing positive and negative perceptions on the use of indonesian. the findings of this study shows that l1 could be a potential resource to learn english but when the l1 was overused in the classroom, the learning opportunities and exposure to the target language diminished, limiting their learning opportunities and bringing about negative perceptions of the students. implications from the findings are discussed in relation to translanguaging as pedagogy. keywords: translanguaging, l1, l2, efl, indonesian, bilingualism introduction the use of mother tongue (l1) in english (l2) language teaching is currently often framed in terms of translanguaging (garcía & wei, 2014), which considers that the linguistic repertoires of both l1 and l2 are resources to bilingual competence. in this lens, the use of l1 in an l2 course is positive as it will help learners’ master the l2. while it is considered positive and can be empowering, the use of l1 in an l2 classroom is not without controversy. in fact, the perceptions of the l1 use in the classroom have been changing overtime. in the grammar translation method (gtm) tradition, the use of l1 is common as it facilitates learning the target language (l2) because learners can compare and contrast the properties of l1 and l2 (sapargul & sartor, 2010). various methods and techniques in english language teaching afterwards have criticized gtm as it is viewed to be too teacher-centered and to involve too much use of l1—depriving the use of l2 for real communication purposes. opposing gtm, the audiolingual approach, for example, considered the use of l1 in the classroom as guilty as a sin and the proponents encourage the learners to practice the l2 as closely as possible to get rid of the foreign accents and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 305 to avoid fossilized errors. as celce-murcia (1991) explained, teachers who applied audiolingual method should correct all errors, which “were the results of interference from the first language” (p. 460). less strictly, the communicative language teaching (clt) also encourages the use of the l2 as much as possible in the classroom and limiting the use of l1 to a minimum because learners need comprehensible inputs to be proficient language users (krashen, 1989a, 1989b; krashen, long, & scarcella, 1979; oxford, lavine, & crookall, 1989). recent discussions, however, support the use of l1 as a resource for translanguaging and developing bilingualism. the debate about the use of l1 in english classes continues and each camp has their own arguments on their positions about the use of l2 in english classroom (almoayidi, 2018; carson & kashihara, 2012; debreli, 2016; shabir, 2017; yavuz, 2012). in shorts, other than gtm, most english language teaching methods are against the use of l1 and encourage the use of l2 (garcía & wei, 2014). in their own words, garcia and wei suggested that, “all methods advocated against the use of translation and encouraged only the use of the ‘target’ language which was deemed as ‘foreign’. (p. 53). prior to garcia and wei’s notion of translanguaging, the use of l1 in l2 classrooms has various purposes, from instructional ones such as providing translations, explaining grammatical features, and correcting errors, to classroom management such as disciplining the students and clarifying tasks (atkinson, 1987; harrod, 1992; shin, dixon, & choi, 2019). these functions are especially useful for l2 learners at the beginning levels where their mastery of the l2 is still limited. in short, the l1 has an important facilitating roles in foreign language classrooms (schweers, 1999). considering the current debate related to the use of l1, we explore students’ perceptions on the use of indonesian (l1) at english intensive course (ic) in an english teacher education program at a private university in indonesia. the main question central to this study is the perceptions of the students in the use of indonesian (l1) in ic classes. the results of this study are expected to fill the gap of knowledge about how the students perceive the use of l1 in english classroom in indonesia’s contexts. literature review even though the use of the first language is perceived to be useful, the overuse of it can prevent effective learning of l2 as suggested by atkinson (1987, p. 246). he outlined four disadvantages of the overuse of l1 in l2 classroom setting: (1) over-reliance on translation, (2) the use of crude word-byword translation, (3) avoiding the use of l2, (4) failure to realize the crucial use of l2 in the classroom. in this view, l2 should be used dominantly in the classroom, providing meaningful input to the students (meyer, 2008). the views that l1 use in the l2 classroom may hinder effective learning can be trace back from the idea that learning l2 is the same as learning l1 as reflected in the audiolingual approach and the early conception of communicative language teaching (oxford et al., 1989; rodgers, 2001). in order to provide meaningful input of the l2, the l1 should be avoided because the interference of l1 can be the source of errors (krashen, 1989a) . in the contexts of indonesia, where english is taught as a foreign language, the use of indonesian and other indigenous languages (l1) in english classroom is pervasive, reflecting a controversial perspective about the use of l1 in l2 classes llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 306 (almoayidi, 2018). as seen from the perspective of translanguaging, the use of l1 can be beneficial as it encourages more engagement to classroom activities. this is especially useful for students who are at the beginning level. as lie (2007) noted, the use of indonesian also helps many english teachers, who barely speak the language, prepare the students for english tests. the ideal situation as expected by the current national curriculum, however, is that english teachers speak l2 as much as possible so that the students can gain the communicative competence to use the language for various purposes (agustien, 2004). in fact, the situation is similar to that of many other countries where english is taught as a foreign language. in the contexts of english taught as a foreign language, the students may have limited opportunity to use english outside the classroom. consequently, the use of english in the classroom should be maximized (polio & duff, 1994). in this debate, the division is clear. one camp goes for the use of l1 as it is considered as a resource for l2 mastery. the other camp goes against the use of l1 as it is considered as a hindrance to the l2 mastery. in the backdrop of the debate, various studies have been documented. in kuwait, english teachers perceived negatively the use of l2 in english classroom (alrabah, wu, alotaibi, & aldaihani, 2015). in japan, as reported by bartlett (2017), the use of l1 in english classrooms was discouraged, but the students perceived the benefits of bilingualism in english classroom. similarly in china, most students preferred bilingual in english classroom (wang, 2016). the situations in kuwait, japan, and china are similar to that in indonesia. as a foreign language, english is taught at primary level as an optional content, and taught as a compulsory subject from junior high school to senior high school and to university as mandated in the national indonesian curriculum (lauder, 2008; mistar, 2005; nababan, 1991). this policy is aimed at enhancing students’ competence in english as language of science and technology and as a means of international communication. similarly, while l1 use in english classroom is discouraged, the use of indonesian is pervasive, supported by the arguments that l1 is the resource and the law also mandated the use of indonesian as classroom language in public school. as discussed earlier in the introduction, the two extreme positions, the proponents of the l1 use and the proponents of l2-only have marked the development of foreign language teaching. the middle grounds, where both languages are valued and used to facilitate learning, have become the bridge on the gap. in the context where teachers can speak with the learners in the l1 and l2, the advantages of using l1 as drawn by (atkinson, 1987; harrod, 1992) are clear. l1 can facilitate communication, the relationship between teacher and students, and facilitate l2 learning. this early conception of bilingual education, however, is not considered translanguaging pedagogy as the practices are based on the perspective of using two or more linguistics systems stored in different parts of the brains. current practices of bilingualism and plurilingualism are mostly based on the idea of translanguaging and translingual pedagogy as suggested by (garcía & wei, 2014). the main idea of translanguaging in the classroom is that the learners can freely access all the linguistic repertoires to enhance the learning of the l2 and to create supportive environment for learning (canagarajah, 2011; garcía & wei, 2014). doing translanguaging, english learners can select linguistic features of their llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 307 l1 to communicate effectively so that learning can take place better in the classroom. in this perspective, learning l2 will be facilitated with the use of l1 in the classroom as it can help learners to reduce their anxiety and to enhance their engagement in the classroom (bartlett, 2017; debreli, 2016; shabir, 2017; yildiz & yesilyurt, 2016). the question, however, is whether the practices of bilingual or multilingual education can be transferred into the contexts of indonesia—where english is considered as a foreign language. can we say when an english teacher used indigenous language in the classroom to teach english and to help students understand the lesson better the translanguaging pedagogy? in this paper we would like to embrace canagarajah’s (2011) assertion that translanguaging does not only involve shared repertoires of different languages but also shuttle from one language to another in negotiating meaning. in this way, the practice of elt in indonesia, which may not always be in bilingual contexts, can be understood from the lens of translanguaging pedagogy (cenoz, 2017a, 2017b; garcía & otheguy, 2019; otheguy, garcía, & reid, 2019; wang, 2016). to summarize, the practice of teaching english as a foreign language in indonesian context can be considered as translanguaging when the goal is for the students to be proficient in the l2 and l1 and they make use of both the linguistics repertoires as an integrated system to advance their acquisition of l2. methods the participants of this study (n=50) were students who had taken ic in the academic year of 2018/2019, which were grouped in three classes. there were 13 male students and 37 female students. the students belonged to the first semester when they had their ic classes. their english proficiency at the beginning of the semester varied as they came from different areas in indonesia. some of them had already good english and they were comfortable speaking in the target language. however, many students, especially from rural areas were still in their beginning level and they were not comfortable speaking and writing in english. ic was a 12-credit course offered to new students enrolling to the english education study program. as they would be trained to become english teachers, they need to master english well. this 12-credit course provided the basic training on english language proficiency development. the course was designed as an integrative course, integrating all the language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) and components (grammar and vocabulary) in each meeting. the course consisted of two main sections, the regular classes to developed english proficiency and three interest groups (drama, public speaking, and storytelling) for the students to practice and use spoken english in a more meaningful ways. the classes for those sections were small classes and there were three classes for the batch of 2018/2019. there were seven instructors who taught the three ic classes as a teaching team. all the instructors were non-native speakers of english. however, they were highly qualified in teaching english. their experience in teaching english varied, from 5 years to 20 years. as competent english teachers, they were comfortable speaking and writing in english for various purposes. they held efl teacher licenses and they were graduated from english education program from various universities, both domestic and overseas universities. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 308 as the regulation of the english education department, the classroom language was english and all instructors were encouraged to use english all the times. however, the use of l1 did occur in the classroom as the dynamic and needs of the students varied. the use of indonesian (l1) was justified as far as it helped the students and the decisions on how much the l1 could be used were left to the instructors. to get the data of the students’ perceptions on the use of l1 in ic classes, we used questionnaire adapted from permatasari (2014). the questionnaire consists of four sections: (1) statements related to the use of indonesian in ic classes, (2) statements related to the use of english in ic classes, (3) statements related to the use of indonesian as a pedagogical tool to facilitate learning, (4) one open-ended question asking for opinions about the use of indonesian in ic classes. the questionnaire required the participants to indicate their agreement to each statement in a four-level scale: strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree. the participants’ responses were recorded, tallied, and summarized in terms of number of occurrences and percentage. follow up interviews were conducted to four participants who were selected based on their responses on the survey. two students were selected to represent those who answered positively on the use of l1 and the other two students were selected to represent those who answered negatively to the use of l1. they were anna, barbara, connie, and diana (pseudonyms). two participants (anna and barbara) indicated strong preferences in the use of l2 in ic class while connie and diana preferred more l1 in in the class. they were asked about the use of indonesian in ic classes and the reasons behind their answers. findings and discussion there are two sections related to findings and discussion. the first section presents the results of the questionnaire and the second section reports the follow up interviews of the respondents. students’ perceptions as reflected on the questionnaire’s responses the results of the questionnaire are presented in table 1, 2, 3, and 4. the first three tables reflect the three sections requiring the participants to rate their agreement to each statement. table 1 shows the participants’ perceptions on the use of indonesian as resources for learning and table 2 shows their perceptions on the use of indonesian as hindrances. meanwhile, table 3 shows their perceptions on the roles of indonesian in the ic classes. finally, table 4 presents the summary of the students’ responses to the open-ended question. table 1. students’ perceptions on the use of indonesian in the classroom (n=50) no the items strongly disagree disagree agree strongly agree n % n % n % n % positive statements related to the use of indonesian 1 i felt more comfortable to learn the materials given when the lecturers used 3 6% 13 26% 27 54% 7 14% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 309 no the items strongly disagree disagree agree strongly agree n % n % n % n % indonesian during the learning process of ic. 2 i felt more secure when the lecturers used indonesian in expressing a complicated idea during the learning process of ic. 2 4% 4 8% 33 66% 11 22% 3 i had better understanding when the lecturers translated new words into indonesian. 5 10% 7 14% 24 48% 14 28% 4 i had better understanding when the lecturers used indonesian to explain the english grammar or structure. 1 2% 5 10% 29 58% 15 30% 5 indonesian could help me to express my feeling and ideas that i could not express in english. 2 4% 7 14% 23 46% 18 36% 6 i needed an explanation of the differences between indonesia and english grammar by the lecturers in indonesian. 3 6% 10 20% 29 58% 8 16% 7 when the lecturers used indonesian, i could understand the materials better. 2 4% 10 20% 22 44% 16 32% 8 i felt more comfortable when the lecturers used indonesian in order to improve lecturer-student interaction. 3 6% 14 28% 24 48% 9 18% negative statements related to the use of indonesian 9 when the lecturers used indonesian, it reduced my chance of hearing and using english. 4 8% 15 30% 21 42% 10 20% 10 the more i used indonesian in the class i became more reluctant to speak in english even though i could. 9 18% 9 18% 24 48% 8 16% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 310 no the items strongly disagree disagree agree strongly agree n % n % n % n % 11 using indonesian in the ic class made me underestimate the importance of using english. 8 16% 18 36% 17 34% 7 14% on positive statements, overall the participants agreed and strongly agreed to all the eight statements related to the use of indonesian in ic classes. the proportion for each statement, however, varied. more participants (34%, 17) disagreed to the use of indonesian to improve lecturer-student interaction (see item 8, on table 1). the second biggest (32%, 14) disagreement to the statement can also be seen on item number 1 “i felt more comfortable to learn the materials given when the lecturers used indonesian during the learning process of ic.” on the three negative statements (item number 9, 10, and 11 on table 1), bigger portions of the participants disagreed and strongly disagreed to the statements, indicating their perceptions that the use of indonesian did not hinder their use of english (l2). table 2. students’ perceptions on the use of english in the ic classes (n=50) no the items strongly disagree disagree agree strongly agree n % n % n % n % 1 i had better understanding when the lecturers explained using synonyms or antonyms for new words in english. 2 4% 11 22% 24 48% 13 26% 2 when the lecturers used english all the time, i participated better in the classroom. 2 4% 15 30% 21 42% 12 24% 4 when the lecturers used “english-only” in the class, it would challenge me to improve my english skills. 1 2% 3 6% 21 42% 25 50% 5 i preferred the lecturers to use “english-only” in the class, so i could improve my english proficiency. 1 2% 11 22% 26 52% 11 22% 6 i preferred using english in the class even though i could not speak english fluently; so i could improve the mastery of english. 1 2% 8 16% 20 40% 21 42% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 311 it is interesting that table 2 shows the participants also indicate positive attitudes towards the use of english in the classroom. it seems that the use of indonesian (see table 1) and the use of english (see table 2) were not contradictory situations. they perceived positively the use of indonesian and they also appreciate and challenged by the use of english in ic classes. it is interesting to note, however, that a bigger portion of disagreement (agree and strongly disagree) on statement number 2 (table 2) “when the lecturers used english all the time, i participated better in the classroom.” this may indicate that some students may be discouraged to participate better in the classroom because the use of english all the time. for some students, especially those at the beginning level, speaking english all the time could be a great challenge. table 3. the students’ perceptions on indonesian as a learning tool (n=50) no the items strongly disagree disagree agree strongly agree n % n % n % n % 1 using indonesian in ic class could help me learning the materials. 3 6% 8 16% 26 52% 13 26% 2 indonesian could be used when talking about difficult concepts or ideas during ic class. 2 4% 2 4% 33 66% 13 26% 3 using indonesian could help me improve my english proficiency. 3 6% 14 28% 28 56% 5 10% 4 using indonesian could improve the class atmosphere. 4 8% 11 22% 26 52% 9 18% the perceptions that indonesian could facilitate the process of teaching and learning in ic classes are generally positive as shown in table 3. although indonesian could also improve the class atmosphere, the number of participants showing disagreement (disagree and strongly disagree) is bigger compared to other items in table 3. for some participants, the use of indonesian may not improve the atmosphere to learn english. table 4. opinions about the use of indonesian in ic classes (n=50) question response what do you think about the use of indonesian in ic class? please explain briefly!  8% (4) did not respond to this question.  56% (28) of the respondents gave positive opinions about the use of indonesian in ic classes. they stated that it was helpful to get the main idea of the materials, new words or phrases that were difficult to understand, to explain the english grammar. especially, it was llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 312 helpful for students who still had low proficiency in english.  18% (9) of the respondents stated that the use of indonesian could help them learning english. however, it was better if the lecturers and students use english as much as possible so that they could get more exposure to english.  6% (3) of the respondents stated that it could be better if the lecturers used mixed language so that more students understood what the lecturers wanted to say or to explain.  12% (6) of the respondents gave negative opinions on the use of indonesian in ic classes. they stated that the use of indonesian was less effective because it did not improve their english skills, especially listening and speaking skill. students’ perceptions as reflected on the follow up interviews the follow-up interviews were conducted to four participants. four main questions were asked related to the use of indonesian in ic class. the results, as seen in table 5, in general confirm the results of the perception survey. they do not have objections to the use of indonesian in class but for anne and barbara, who described themselves as having good english and having no difficulties in ic class, english was preferred. on the other hand, for connie and diana, who described themselves as having difficulties in the ic class and they were not fluent in english yet, the use of both, indonesian and english could help them in the classroom. table 5. students’ opinions on the use of indonesian in ic class (n=4) questions answers did you use indonesian in ic class?  not really. i usually used english and indonesian at the same time. when i talked to the lecturers, i used english. however, when i talked to my friends, i mixed the language. i tried my best to speak in english more often than speak in indonesian during the ic class (anne).  yes, i did. i usually used indonesian when i was talking with my friends. however, i used english when i was talking with my lecturers (barbara).  sometimes i used indonesian. in the beginning of the semester, i used indonesian to ask some questions. as time passed by, i tried to communicate in english with my friends and lecturers (connie).  mostly, i used it when i talked to my friends. however, i rarely used it to the lecturers. i only used it when i could not explain words or phrases in english (diana). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 313 questions answers in the ic class, did you need more explanation using indonesian to explain complex ideas?  mostly, i did not need it. however, when i did not understand it, i asked the lecturers using english (anne).  from my experience in ic last time, i did not need it. i could understand the explanation without being repeated in indonesian (barbara).  yes, i did. it was because i was still a beginner in learning english. i did not know much about english vocabulary. it would be hard for me to understand when there was something complicated, for example complicated ide. sometimes some lecturers were willing to repeat the explanation in indonesian. so, it helped me to understand (connie).  yes, i needed it. since english is not my mother language, so i needed indonesian to understand their better (diana). did you need more explanation using indonesian when the lecturers explained the english grammar or structure?  no, i did need it too. sometimes, some lecturers realized that most of the students did not get the explanation then, they were willing to repeat the explanation in bahasa indonesia, and so it would be easier to understand. otherwise, some students would just ask their friends (anne).  no, i did not need it too. the lecturers would repeat the explanation in order to make the students understand what they were explained about and they wanted us to be more familiar with english. however, if we still did not get their explanation, we would ask our friends to explain it again using indonesian (barbara).  yes, i needed it. if i did not understand well, it would become interference or me to understand the further material (connie).  not always. sometimes, i just needed it when i got confused with lecturers’ explanation (diana). in general, what do you think about the use of indonesian in ic class?  i think both are fine for me. but indonesian can become a barrier for me. in my opinion, to be able to speak in english fluently, we need to use and speak english more often. it would help me improve my speaking and listening skill (anne).  i liked “english-only” more. it was because it would practice me to use and hear english more often, so i could get out from my comfort zone (barbara).  i like english-only better. it made me more motivated and got used to english vocabulary (connie).  i liked mixed language better. i liked it better than english only because i am still not fluent in english (diana). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 314 while the students’ opinions indicate some contrasting ideas regarding the use of l1 in the classroom, in general l1 use was perceived positive as far as it did not overuse. with this perspective, we can draw the following important points: 1. for more advanced students or students who had already mastered l2 in some degree, l1 use in the classroom was perceived as not beneficial as they wanted more exposure of l2 from the teachers and from their friends. 2. for weak students or students with novice level of l2, the use of l1 was perceived beneficial to speed up their learning progress. in fact the two points regarding the use of l1 and l2 are in line with the previous studies in which l1 is used to facilitate learning, especially at the early level of l2. this especially true in the contexts where the l2 is not widely used in daily activities such as in indonesia. discussion the findings show that both the use of indonesian and english in the ic classes was perceived positive by the students and it could facilitate their learning. the use of l1, however, will facilitate those who were in the initial stage of the l2 competence. these findings support the current literature on the use of l1 in l2 classroom (bartlett, 2017; debreli, 2016; shabir, 2017; yildiz & yesilyurt, 2016). the perceptions of the students who took the ic class implied the important of l1 for the beginning learners to engage and to accelerate their l2 learning. the questions “how much l1 are allowed to be used in the classroom to facilitate maximum learning,” however, still persists and it is not easily answered based on the students’ perceptions (campa & nassaji, 2009). the lesson from the students’ perceptions on this matter can be drawn at least in two aspects: (1) the use of l1 should not be avoided or discouraged to enhance students engagement and the linguistics repertoire integration, (2) the gradual increase in the use of the l2 in line with the students’ progress. the fact that the ic lecturers were encouraged to use english most of the times might also influence the participants’ perceptions on the use of l1 as it was used as the last resort by the lecturers. this ideology, which is very close to the “english only” ideology, may not serve all the students well in terms of engagement and the expected progress in learning especially when the class members are of different levels of l2 proficiency. those who started at the beginning level of english might not be able to catch up fast enough to succeed in the course. in fact, some of those disadvantaged students failed the ic class and they should repeat it the next semester to meet the minimum requirements to pass. as suggested by atkinson (atkinson, 1987), l1 can be a good resource of both teacher and learners to learn the target language but there is no method supporting this l1 use except the grammar translation. while the hegemonic ideology of the l2-only was pervasive as reflected in the students’ perceptions, the awareness of the function and double roles of the l1 as both facilitating language to learn a foreign language as well as an empowering tool for the disadvantaged groups of learners could bring about better learning environment for various groups of students. these findings support the idea of moderate translanguaging (brevik & rindal, 2020; cenoz, 2017a, 2017b), in which llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 315 l1 and l2 are used as resources to facilitate learning and the use of both languages are encouraged to encourage bilingualism, with equal respect to both languages. the moderate translanguaging in this perspective assumes that in the contexts of learners, l1 is dominantly used in the society and l2 is used in specific communicative events such as ones in social media and in the internet. translanguaging, as conceptualized by garcía and wei (2014) is related to the use of all linguistics repertoires in one system, not in two separate linguistics systems. the final goal is not the mastery of l1 but the master y of both l1 and l2—full bilingual learners. this conception of full translanguaging can be ideal in the contexts where english is taught as a second language and there are equal opportunities of using both l1 and l2 outside the class. however, in the contexts of indonesia where english is taught as a foreign language, full translanguaging pedagogy may not be realistic as learners will not have equal opportunities to use both languages in and outside the classroom. in this way, the moderate translanguaging with its transformative power for enhancing both local and global identity can be practiced in the classroom to create better learning environment and to empower disadvantaged group in the classroom. the transformative power of moderate translanguaging as discussed above can be seen from the difference between the goals of translanguaging and the traditional foreign language pedagogy. the differences can be captured in two folds. the first one is the importance of l1 for the learners and the second one is the learners’ identity transformation. in the traditional l2 pedagogy, the goal of l2 learning is the mastery of the target language, ignoring the importance of l1. it does not matter if the learners, then, have negative attitudes towards l1, considering it as inferior language. the translanguaging movement, however, see learning l2 is for the mastery of l1 and l2, a movement towards bilingualism or multilingualism. the attitudes enhanced in translanguaging practices are appreciating all languages as equal, deconstructing the very foundation of the colonized mind of the learners (bhabha, 1994)—creating the third space or contact zone for transformative experiences (yumarnamto, 2017). in this way, the conception of translanguaging in the contexts of english taught as a foreign language can be understood as creating the third space for learners. moderate translanguaging practices, then, will allow l1 in the classroom to help disadvantaged groups of students to progress in their l2 mastery as well as to empower them by providing the third space for l2 learning. in the dominant ideology of l2-only pedagogy, the translanguaging practices can be “subversive” for teachers as they act out their agency to empower the powerless. the role of teachers, then, is expanded not only as a teacher facilitator but also as a teacher activist who pushes for empowerment and transformational changes on learners. conclusion the students’ perceptions on the use of l1 in english (l2) ic classes were generally positive on the use of both languages. for the majority of the respondents, indonesian (l1) was helpful for them when they encounter difficult concepts about the l2 and it was very effective to introduce new vocabulary. the caveat, however, it was mostly needed for those who were at the beginning level of the l2, in which they still had difficulties in using the language to communicate. these findings are consistent with previous studies on the use of l1 in l2 classrooms (almoayidi, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 316 2018; alrabah et al., 2015; bartlett, 2017; bruen & kelly, 2014; öz & karaazmak, 2019; shabir, 2017; shin et al., 2019; yildiz & yesilyurt, 2016). the students’ perceptions might also reflect the ideology in which english was taught as a foreign language. in the ic classes, the general policy was that l2 should be used at all times. the use of l1 should be limited. this perspective could be a reflection of the english policy in indonesia. in indonesia english is valued more and it provides a prestige for those who speak it (lauder, 2008; lowenberg, 1991; mistar, 2005). those who do not speak it well may be stigmatized at school such as experienced by yumarnamto (2016, 2017) who was called as having a cassava tongue by his english teacher. the students’ perceptions on the use of l1 in ic classes, then, could shed light on the english teaching practices, which may not meet the demand of translingual pedagogy as described by (garcía & wei, 2014). in the ic classes, l1 was used in limited conditions as the last resort by the instructors. it was not yet a conscious effort to include all the linguistic repertoires of indonesian and english as one linguistic system. therefore, the transformational values inherent in translingual pedagogy, the formation of bilingual identity and valuing both l1 and l2 equally might not take place 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(2017). english language teaching in indonesia: imagined communities and identities in borderless world. paper presented at the the 10th international conference: revisiting english language teaching, literature, and translation in borderless world, salatiga, central java, indonesia. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.1989.tb03139.x https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.1989.tb03139.x http://repository.uksw.edu/handle/123456789/5402 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1994.tb02045.x llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 125 the use of authentic materials in teaching grammar for efl students (teachers’ perspective) sri agriyanti mestari fahria malabar universitas negeri gorontalo abstract the goal of this paper is to analyze the use of authentic material in teaching grammar for efl students. kilickaya (2004) define authentic materials as exposure to real language and use in its own community. peacock (1997) has another definition of authentic materials which is”the materials that have been produced to fulfill some social purposes in the language community”. authentic materials are assume as the important tools for teachers in class in order to make his/her teaching effective in transmitting the necessary knowledge to all students. this presentation will discuss the effects of using authentic material in teaching grammar from teachers’ perspective and offer how authentic material can be used in grammar efl class. keywords: authentic materials, teaching grammar, teachers’ perspective introduction the ability to use grammar accurately, meaningfully and appropriately is needed for english learner to communicate both in oral and written way. what is to write and speak must be based on correct grammar, so that the message conveyed can be understood. in teaching grammar, mostly use textbook or published material. if these materials are used continuously, it can make learners less motivated in studying the language. to deal with this problem a teacher can provide a supplementary material to support the textbook. the supplementary materials are generally known as authentic materials. morley and guariento (2001) claim that the purpose of using authentic materials is to prepare students for their social lives. in other words, the authentic materials are used in order to close the language gap between classroom knowledge and real life. similarly, spelleri (2002) supports this analysis, she thinks that the language used in text books are only valid in a classroom environment whereas the requirement of real life english is different and this difference has not yet been closed by the use of text books because learners have to deal with the language of brochures, office work, application forms and others cultural product. in this case the role of the teacher is crucial; it is the teacher’s responsibility to filter materials through selection of the learning objectives. it is the teacher’s responsibility to identify the items and their adaptability as well. authentic material according to kilickaya (2004) is defined as exposure to real language and use in its own community. peacock (1997) has another definition of authentic materials which is “the materials that llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 126 have been produced to fulfill some social purposes in the language community”. in addition lundahl as cited in ling and daskalos (2005) states that “authentic material” refers to e.g. books and articles where language and structure are not simplified in any way, it should be introduced in the classroom. for teaching purposes this refers to english books, novels or articles that have been written by an english speaking author to a native audience or speaker; in these cases the language used has not been altered. according to nunan (1999, p.80) the term "authentic text" covers language samples drawn from a wide variety of contexts, including tv and radio broadcasts, conversations, discussions and meetings of all kinds, talks, and announcements [as well as] magazines, stories, printed material and instructions, hotel brochures and airport notices, bank instructions, and a wide range of written messages. the idea of using authentic materials in teaching english has come long time ago since the introduction of communicative approach in 1970’s. it is known that authentic materials have advantages for teaching english to efl students. in teaching grammar, authentic materials help the students to recognize the samples of english used by its native speakers in all kinds of language use. in addition, authentic materials make the students be more communicative in classroom activities. according to phillips and shettlesworth (1978); clarke (1989); peacock (1997) as cited in richard (2001), authentic materials have some advantages. firstly, they have a positive effect on students’ motivation. secondly, they provide authentic cultural information about the target culture. thirdly, they provide exposure to real language. fourthly, they relate more closely to students’ needs. and finally, they support a more creative approach to teaching. otte and thanajaro as cited in al-rashid and al-azri (2014) noticed that learners' self-satisfaction and motivation showed improvement after employing authentic texts in the classroom. authentic materials help motivate learners learn the language by making them feel that they are learning the 'real' language. on the other hand, there are some significant disadvantages of using authentic materials in comparison with textbooks. martinez as cited in berardo (2006) believes that authentic materials may be too culturally biased. good knowledge of cultural background is needed to understand the text. another weakness is many structures are mixed in such materials, causing lower levels students difficult to decode the texts. guariento and morley (2001) remind us that the use of authentic materials makes especially lower level students confused and demotivated by the complexity of language and performance conditions unless the simplest authentic texts are carefully selected by the teachers. ruddock as cited in saraph (2011) gives an example about when to use authentic texts in teaching the grammatical structure of japanese. ruddock says authentic texts are only use when students reach intermediate level in the teaching of grammar. because it is considered that authentic texts are llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 127 difficult for beginners. additionally, richard (2001) said that using authentic materials is a burden for teachers. it because teachers have to spend a substantial amount of time to set the materials fit to learning objectives; include activities, assignments and assessment. methodology this study was designed by using qualitative research methodology. qualitative research was applied in order to get the confirm-able information of the natural setting situation of the english grammar teachers’ attitude towards the use of authentic materials in teaching grammar for english as foreign language (efl) students. participants there were six teachers of english education study program of universitas negeri gorontalo (ung) participated in this study. considering that the aim of this study was to find out the teachers’ perspective on the use of authentic materials in teaching grammar, the researchers asked all the teachers who teach english grammar to be the participants in this study. all the teachers who were asked to be the participants agreed to participate. data collection the data of this research were collected through questionnaire. the questionnaire was adopted from akbari, o., and razavi, a (2015) (was also used by soliman e. m. soliman, malaysia, 2013) with some modification. the questionnaire was selected and customized for the purpose of this study. the questionnaire was distributed to the participants. there were seven questions in the questionnaire with open-response items that guided the participants to describe their experience of teaching grammar using authentic materials to efl students. the participants were asked to response the given questions according to their opinion and experience in teaching grammar for efl students. in addition, they were also asked to give comments and suggestion about the use of authentic materials for english grammar teaching. after responding the questioner, the participants gave back the questioner within the given due date. then the data were analyzed by using qualitative analysis. data analysis the collected data were analyzed through three steps. the first step was reading critically; after the data were collected, the researchers critically read the information which the participants gave through the questionnaire to gain a deep understanding about the situation. the second step was interpreting; in this step, the researchers determined the collected data to get the findings regarding to the problem statement of this study, namely what are the teachers’ perception on the using of authentic materials in efl classes? the last step was drawing a conclusion; after reading critically and interpreting the collected data, the researchers then presented the result of the study related to the teachers’ perspective on the use of authentic materials in llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 128 teaching grammar for efl students. finding and discussion the bottom line of this study is discussing the teachers’ response to the items of questionnaire. it will carry out the purpose of this study, namely: to investigate the teachers’ perception in using authentic materials in teaching grammar for efl students. the substance of the teachers’ answer to interview is described through the following points. teachers’ preference in using authentic materials. the first item of the questionnaire is aimed to have an information whether or not the teachers use authentic materials when they teach grammar subject. the early response after handing the questionnaire and reading the title of this study, they asked the researchers about what the authentic materials are. it shows that they do not have any idea about the term of authentic material. however, after giving a brief explanation of the authentic materials, they eventually understand and realize that they use authentic materials in their grammar class. in other words, they unconsciously use the authentic materials in teaching and learning process, particularly grammar subject. responding the first question of the questionnaire, that is would you prefer to use authentic materials in your class in teaching grammar?, all the teachers answered yes, they prefer to use an authentic materials in their grammar subject. they provided some reasons as the answer to the next question of the questionnaire. the teachers choose to use authentic materials in teaching grammar because it gives a different atmosphere to the grammar learning as it can enhance students understanding towards the topic, as well as avoids students’ boringness in learning grammar. furthermore, they said that authentic materials are also interesting and motivating for students to learn grammar because authentic materials are directly contact with their own experience and activities in relation to the real language use. the same point is stated by scrivener (1996), who said that authentic materials can motivate reluctant learners into overcoming their shyness or fears with regard to language-learning. moreover, authentic materials make possible for language learners to absorb the reallife example of language used by its native and in turn they will produce the same or approximately near native use of the language. walkin (1976: 76) in guariento and morley (2001: 347) stated that exposure will help them to acquire an effective competence and to bridge the gap between the classroom knowledge and their participation in the real world. sources of authentic materials to teach grammar. as previously stated, authentic materials are printed, video, and audio materials students encounter in their daily lives, such as change-of-address forms, job applications, menus, voice mail messages, radio programs, and videos (ianiro: 2007). according to ianiro (2007), there are two main categories of authentic materials, llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 129 printed and auditory. some examples of printed materials are greeting cards, calendars, report cards, tv guides, food labels, magazines, and newspapers. besides, examples of auditory materials are phone messages radio broadcasts, movies, videos and dvds, television programs, and songs. due to the question about the authentic materials used to teach grammar, most of the teachers said that they used various sources, such as audio, video, newspaper, magazines and mostly taken from the internet. internet is taken because it is interactive, up-to-date, provide interesting materials that can stimulate the students’ motivation to learn. one of the teachers wrote “for grammar class, i usually used printed materials, not a grammar book, but materials used by everyone in their daily activities like newspaper, books, articles, movies, music recording to give my students samples of the language with which they try to understand the structure”. criteria of the selection materials. there are some criteria that the teacher should pay attention to in selecting an appropriate materials, particularly authentic materials, in teaching grammar. according to berardo (2006), there are three criteria of it. they are suitability of content, exploitability, and readability. suitability of content associates with students’ needs and interest, as well as the compatibility between materials and course objective. exploitability deals with the idea whether the selection material fits to teaching purpose, in this case teaching grammar. additionally, exploitability also refers to the consideration of the usage of the materials to teach grammar. the other criterion is readability. it represents some points about the appropriateness of materials and students’ ability. it is regarding to the easiness and difficulty of the vocabulary used in selected authentic materials. what is more, readability discusses if the materials make the students want to read more about the topic. concerning to the criteria of the selection materials, the teachers responded that they selected the materials under some conditions. the first is students’ needs and interests. the second is the level of students, whether they are in intermediate or advanced level. the third is course objective. the fourth is language level, both vocabulary and grammar level. and the last is the richness of the material. as the response to the item of the questionnaire which asked about the criteria of selection materials, one of the teachers wrote “i look at the course objectives first and decide what materials should be suitable with them. because from that point, i will be able to assess my students fairly and objectively.” the role of authentic materials in teaching grammar. teaching and learning grammar in indonesian efl context tend to lead students to memorize the grammatical pattern. most of text books used for teaching and learning grammar is ask students to do the exercises. for the example ask students to do repetition drills or questions and answer drills. as a result, it llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 130 is difficult for students to understand and use grammar for either written or com municative purposes in real communication. some motive mentioned by all participants for bringing authentic materials into the efl classroom was the benefits that authentic materials offer for their students. all the participants agreed that authentic materials tend to be motivating and interesting for the students as well as more up-to-date and recent than the textbook it also helps students to prepare for the ‘real’ communication as it provide students with more natural input and language that has not been modified, it guides students towards the language the language they need for particular context and build students interests and motivation in the class. in grammar class all participants’ teachers usually bring in materials that they take from newspaper, book stories or video which they assign students to analyze the structure of particular form of grammar. for example the use of passive voice in all text or they ask students to do mini research finding examples of passive voice in any source especially the authentic ones. or they prepare a short text taken from online english article and ask students to choose and classify the words on text based on the part of speech. in teaching grammar to efl students it is suggested that teachers should not only depend on themselves on their knowledge of introducing sample of language use, but they should involve using aids either visual or audio in class. though it needs creativity and a lot of work, but the result will be more meaningful for the students. conclusion this study discovers the teachers’ perspective of using authentic materials in efl classroom. the result revealed that all teachers tend to use authentic materials in teaching grammar to give the opportunity to the students to expose to the real use of language. furthermore, the result indicated that the teachers use various source of authentic materials such as audio, video, newspaper and magazine. authentic materials should be chosen in agreement with the criteria of suitability of content, exploitability and readability. also the teachers should think about students’ needs and interests, the level of students, course objective, language level, and the richness of the material. to use authentic materials in classroom activities, particularly grammar subject, teachers are demanded to be more creative to design a classroom activities that suitable with the students’ level and needs, as well as the course objectives. references al azri, r.h, al-rashdi, m.h (2014). the effect of using of authentic materials in teaching. international journal of scientific & technology, 18, 249-254. retrieved from http://www.ijstr.org/final-print/oct2014/theeffect-of-using-authentic-materials-in-teaching.pdf llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 131 berardo, s.a (2006). the use of authentic materials in the teaching of reading. the reading matrix 6.2: 60-69. retrieved from http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/berardo/article.pdf daskalos, k, ling, j.j (2005) authentic text or adapted textthat is the question. retrieved from http://dspace.mah.se/bitstream/handle/2043/1964/authenticandadapted.pdf kilickaya, f (2004) authentic materials and cultural context in efl classroom. the internet tesl journal. retrieved from http://iteslj.org/techniques/kilickaya-autenticmaterial.html ianiro, sally (2007). authentic materials. retrieved from http://www.calproonline.org/documents/authenticmaterialsfinal.pdf morley, j. and w. guariento. text and task authenticity in the efl classroom. elt journal vo.55/4. page. 347-353. nunan, d (1999).second language teaching and learning, boston, heinle & heinle omid, a., azam, r. (2015). using authentic materials in the foreign language classroom: teachers’ perspective in efl classes. international journal of research studies in education, (pp. 105-114). doi: 10.5861/ijrse.2015.1189. peacock, a (1997). the effect of authentic materials on the motivation of elt learners, elt journal, oxford, oxford university press sarapli, o (2011). the use of authentic matrials in the second language classroom: advantages & disadvantages, retieved from http://dergiler.ankara.edu.tr/dergiler/27/1832/19277.pdf scrivener, j. (1996) "arc: a descriptive model for classroom work on language".in: willis, j. and willis, d. (eds.) challenge and change in language teaching (oxford: macmillan education. pp. 79-92) seeger, i. (2008) teaching grammar with authentic material. advantages & disadvantages of deductive and conciusness-raising approach. tesl modul. retrieved from http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/documents/collegeartslaw/cels/essays/languageteaching/iseeger-ltmteachinggrammarwithauthenticmaterialadvantagesanddisadvantagesofadeductiveandaconsciousnessraisingapproach.pdf speller, m. (2002). from lesson to life: authentic materials bridge the gap, esl magazine, 5/2, 16-19 richard, j.c. (2001). curriculum development in language teaching. cambridge: cambridge university press. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 669 book review: developing collaborative learning environment using learner-centered strategies title : teaching in the fast lane: how to create active learning experiences isbn : 78-1416623380 author : suzzy pepper rollins publisher : acsd page : 128 pages luisito manalansan nanquil bulacan state university, philippines correspondence: luisitonanquil@gmail.com doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i2.3382 received 17 may 2021; accepted 2 november 2021 abstract to be a competent, dynamic, and effective teacher needs a lot of evaluation and reflection. a product of this thought should be learning outcomes that demonstrate mastery, fluency, and achievement of the learners, who are the main focus of teaching and learning. this paper aims to examine the book authored by rollins by connecting the observations and experiences of the reviewer to the points, theories, and practices tackled by the author in her book. it is the hope of teachers around the globe to offer collaborative learning environment that will cater to the needs and diversities of learners. key words: learner-centered, collaboration, learning outcomes, strategies, evaluation introduction as the world evolves with new directions, changing expectations, and abrupt transitions, second language learners are expected to follow the movements of time. what go around the globe are trends and issues being considered by experts and researchers to modify many practices and approaches in language teaching even in other areas of specialty. if teachers are not updated with the issues, trends, and challenges in pedagogies and curricula, their classroom will remain stagnant and passive. the book provides all teachers with latest innovations and concepts in teaching strategies and approaches. the theoretical underpinnings support the claims of educators and experts who proposed and authored such practices and strategies. in the philippine classrooms, language teachers also encounter a number of challenges and predicaments in the teaching of english and even other subjects. the responsibility of nurturing and honing the learners to become competent communicators of english has been a struggle for quite some time. other than llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 670 attending webinars and the like, a useful book like this can be an impact to the lives of many teachers regardless of specialism. this paper examined the work of rollins (2017) which is titled “teaching in the fast lane: how to create active learning experiences published by ascd. from a careful and intensive review, the researcher-reviewer found out emerging ideas that are shaped by teaching experiences. the realizations and reflections of the reviewer can bring him to future possibilities in language teaching and curriculum design. the author is right when she said teachers are guided by philosophies and principles that are invaluable to the teaching profession and from which their enthusiasm and energy can be produced. moreover, in the contemporary classroom, language teachers have to be more of learner-centered and collaborative so that desired learning outcomes can be achieved. literature review teachers can be shaped by a number of principles and perspectives about pedagogy and curriculum that they can read from books and view from webinars. in the classroom setting, learners should be engaged and participative. in many stories, novice teachers claimed that their first year of instruction was unsuccessful due to classroom management, assessment, strategies and other classroom constructs. the most focus in the learning environment should be the student since all efforts and strategies are directed towards them. as revealed by previous investigations and observations, learners gain more knowledge and ideas when they engage in collaborative and meaningful activities. around the globe, it is a fact that companies and employers put emphasis and priority to learners who are able to solve problems, think critically, communicate effectively, and create wise decisions. these traits are usually honed and molded in a dynamic classroom (rollins, 2017). in a learner-centered classroom, the structure should be congruent to instructional goals and objectives. when students are interacting and collaborating in the classroom, the learning experiences are both shaped and transformed. this also requires reasonable and rational forms of assessments and strategies. in other words, the teacher needs to be both flexible and reflective in engineering and mapping learning climate. lesson outline and framework is similarly essential because it helps students to become independent thinkers and problem-solvers. in various situations, modifying lesson outlines can help each lesson achieve new purpose and direction anchored in the learning situation and traits of students. for each activity, teachers need to encourage and foster creativity, analytic thinking, and reflection. more so, teacher delivery and facilitation can determine the success and failure of the learning goals and objectives. it is undeniable that teachers provide decisions and directions to provide holistic education. according to kirschner, sweller, and clark (2006), instruction that is not monitored or given feedback is likely to be unsuccessful and misleading. if students fail to master the concepts and develop the skills, it only implies that the target goals and lesson structure are ineffective and inappropriate. in this paper, the strategies and concepts can help teachers and instructional leaders improve the learning and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 671 teaching landscape fitted to the ever-changing learning environment around the globe. motivating more active learners means creating a balance in the teaching and learning process and providing a responsive atmosphere where learners are nurtured and honed to become better individuals. through, effective and appropriate learning tasks and activities, student outcomes will be evidenced no matter how challenging the setting and demands of the world are. active student learning can lead to better performance and higher achievement. students are given much time to read, analyze, develop, and summarize. teachers are highly engaged with students by allowing them to respond, move, and think as they carry out the assigned tasks and lessons. in this situation, it is interactive and flexible compared to traditional classroom where only the teacher does the talking and discussion. in an active learner-centered classroom, communication must be among the concerns is teacher talk time or teacher-centered way of instruction. hattie (2012) pointed out that about 70 and 80 percent of the class session is consumed by teachers lecturing and that mature students are unable to get the chance to talk frequently compared to lower grade levels. experts tsegaye and davidson (2014) proved that teacher talk was higher among teachers when they were observed in their classrooms as they delivered lessons with their students. gad yair (2000) involved 865 learners in grades 6-12 in all specialisms who wore wristwatches set to beep within the day. as soon as the watches beeped, students reacted to questions about what were they doing including their thoughts, feelings, and reflections. findings and discussion chapter 1 provides a venue where the author discussed and explained “why active learning matters”. the role of active student learning is stressed in details especially when classroom teachers are able to maximize learner interaction and build motivation in them. teacher and student talk time are also factor to be monitored by educators and designers because more time for learners to interact and speak is necessary for the attainment of learner-centered goals and principles. in here, the value and role of feedback are also defined, described, and explain in such a way that readers can see their relation to effective classroom management and evaluation. chapter 2 deals with “mapping out where students will go: our work begins”. this specifically underlines the need to have the big picture, long term goal and the entire lesson to be covered in the class. the book suggests the place of concept map to stimulate and activate the prior learning experiences of the students. the book also claimed the importance of connecting the part to the whole as a key point of providing guidance to students. chapter 3 holds the topic “designing active learning: what’s in your lesson plans?”. in this chapter, the value of designing lesson plans is emphasized by providing examples and situations. furthermore, the articulation of instructional vision is clearly depicted in this chapter. classroom teachers are advised to check llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 672 lesson templates regularly for them to recreate and reinvent their strategies and resources. chapter 4 contains “the wonderful world of sorts” where it offers ideas and insights on higherorder thinking, hands-on engagement, and collaboration. academic rigor is also emphasized in this chapter in which teachers have to make their resources, learning plans, and assessment tools valid, reliable, and trustworthy. sorting in the classroom and discipline has a pivotal role in achieving goals and expectations. through sorting, teachers can properly match or aligned objectives, materials, assessment tools, and needs of target learners. chapter 5 provides helpful and meaningful practices on “stations: something for everyone”. according to this chapter, the use of stations offers many benefits such as creativity, motivation, interaction, and critical thinking on the part of learners and teachers (being the manager and facilitator of knowledge). this chapter proves how learning stations can provide learning opportunities and flexibility in instruction. chapter 6 focuses on “cooperative learning: more than pushing desks together”. this part discusses in details how cooperative learning creates more opportunities and values with students as core of the learning and teaching process. the structure of cooperative learning when implemented and mastered is also highlighted in this chapter. chapter 7 holds the topic “whose learning is this, anyway”. this part explains how learners project and demonstrate autonomy which suggests ownership and control of their education and learning. this chapter also offers ideas on how teachers achieve self-efficacy in their profession and how their self-reflection impacts their capacity to teach. chapter 8 as the last part of the book explores “barriers and big picture”. the challenges of being an educator are discussed in this chapter. moreover, tips and procedures are offered to readers on how they can cope with challenges in the classroom such as time, resources, strategies, classroom management and many other issues. conclusion and reflections as global standards become more and more demanding and rigorous, teachers need to be attuned to colossal changes that surround schools and centers. unlike in the traditional classroom, modern and innovative teachers have to be responsive and flexible to the needs and diversities of learners by incorporating suitable and flexible strategies and approaches that are considered to be learner-centered and inclusive. learning outcomes are strong evidences and products that illustrate what a student-centered classroom is. amidst all classroom challenges and adversities brought about by the new normal, teachers can undergo professional development programs for their own improvement and empowerment. teachers are surrounded by various task and responsibilities. they need professional development courses and webinars to upgrade, retool, and capacitate themselves. the advancement and modernity of the world has entered different landscapes that effect even how instruction is delivered. novice teachers have to be reflective llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 673 and prudent in choosing, designing, and developing learning goals, tasks, and instructional materials that will be linked to the experiences and differences among learners. if each day, new events and realities come, the versatile and adoptive teacher should have the motivation, patience, and determination to provide and transform learning environment that can accommodate learning needs and challenges. active learning is feasible and possible when teachers know how to guide students and willing to undergo training related to curriculum and materials development as well as assessment and instruction. the flexible learning being adopted in today’s working environment paved way to different strategies and approaches enabling and capacitating teachers across grade levels and specializations to explore, utilize, and assess the available materials and appropriate strategies that can promote and organize quality teaching and assessment which can really assist academic journeys of learners. references hattie, j. (2012). visible learning for teachers: maximizing impact on learning. new york: routledge. kirschner, p.a., sweller, j., & clark, r.e. (2006). why minimal guidance during instruction does not work: an analysis of the failure of constructivist, discovery, problem-based, experiential, and inquiry-based teaching. educational psychologist, 41(2), 75-86. rollins, s.p. (2017). teaching in the fast lane: how to create active learning experiences. ascd. tsegaye, a.g., & davidson, l.m. (2014). the ratio of talking time to students talking time in efl classroom: a case in six partner preparatory schools of haramaya university, ethiopia. abhinav national monthly refereed journal of research in arts and education, 3(5), 1-5. yair, g. (2000). educational battlefields in america: the tug-of-war over students’ engagement with instruction. sociology of education, 73(4), 247-269. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 191-211 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 191 the representation of 21st century skills in an indonesian efl textbook aji budi rinekso universitas pendidikan indonesia ajibudirinekso@upi.edu correspondence: ajibudirinekso@upi.edu doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.2655 received 16 june 2020; accepted 2 march 2021 abstract textbooks play an important role in language teaching practices as the core source of knowledge. meanwhile, the 21st century demands students having more advanced skills to solve the multifaceted and complex life situation. in fact, there are still limited studies evaluating textbooks based on the inclusion of 21st century skills. looking at the gap, this study aimed to analyze the representation of 21st century skills in an indonesian efl textbook. a content analysis research design was applied in this study. the subject of the study was an efl textbook used by grade 7 students. the results of the study revealed that there were 12 out of 15 of the 21st century skills presented in the textbook. the most dominant skills were communication and collaboration. the representation of the skills was done through some learning tasks such as goals, inputs, procedures, teacher/learner roles, pictures and notes. yet, the textbook did not include global awareness, media and economic literacy. it also provided insufficient topics and materials about information, communication and technology (ict). therefore, it is suggested for further revision to consider the inclusion of global awareness, ict, media, and economic literacy in the materials. keywords: textbook evaluation, 21st century skills, indonesian efl textbook introduction a number of advantages are provided by textbooks. according to brown (2001) textbooks are the most obvious and common form of material that can support language instructions. correspondingly, textbooks assist teachers and students to study knowledge of the target language. most language teachers use textbooks for helping their students to understand language features, expressions and functions. in addition, they use textbooks as a guideline for conducting wellorganized teaching practices. next, textbooks are not only used as a guide for teachers and students but also functioned as a tool to make both of them wellengaged in the learning activities (margana & widyantoro, 2017). through textbooks both teachers and students always stay to be connected and bounded in a single event namely learning activity. moreover, textbooks can be employed as a standard source of information, instruments and key components of language teaching practices since textbook itself provides the core learning materials mailto:ajibudirinekso@upi.edu llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 191-211 192 containing a plenty of language inputs for language learners (graves, 2000; tomlinson, 2011; richard, 2001). in the same way, harmer (2007) mentioned some benefits of textbooks for language teaching practices such as satisfactory language control, cd-roms (for extra resource materials and useful web links), suggestions, alternatives, extra activities, illustrations and interesting topics. with such benefits, it is logical that textbooks are exist till now. then, certainly many teachers still rely much on textbooks due to its ability to support the success of language instructions. as it is believed that textbooks serve a great contribution to the success of teaching practices, indonesian ministry of education and culture launched standard textbooks for all subjects, including english. they are intended to be used as the main learning sources by all public schools in indonesia. the standard textbooks are called ‘buku sekolah elektronik (bse)’ or electronic school textbooks since the formats are in form of e-books/pdf files. bse are based on the recent curriculum, the 2013 curriculum. they are designed and revised several times following the revision processes of the 2013 curriculum. likewise, bse is free of charge. it is distributed to all public schools and each school can use the textbooks flexibly either directly in form of e-books or changing them to be printed books. commonly, many teachers believe that bse is good textbooks because they are produced by government. however, they have to evaluate the textbooks because every textbook potentially has weaknesses such as its language content, instructions, and mismatch with students’ needs (yusuf, 2008). talking about textbook evaluation, many experts agree that there should be criteria for evaluating textbooks such as layout, design, organization, methodology and language features (williams, 1983; sheldon, 1988; cunningsworth, 1995). likewise, there are two common approaches for evaluating textbooks namely impressionistic overview and in-depth evaluation (cunningsworth, 1995). the former relates to how textbooks are evaluated at glance simply by looking at their strengths and weaknesses while the latter refers to how textbooks are evaluated in more detail assessing their purposes/aims, language content, language skills, organization, topics and methodology. thus, the present study focuses on the second approach, in-depth evaluation. unlike other studies evaluating textbooks based on cultural representation (setyono & widodo, 2019; parlindungan, rifai & safriani, 2018; dinh & sharifian, 2017; tajeddin & teimournezhad, 2015) or gender representation (yang, 2011; lee, 2014; mukundan & nimehchisalem, 2008), the present study tries to evaluate an efl textbook based on the inclusion of 21st century skills. driven by the advance development of technology, globalization and digitalization, today’s education demands its graduates to be more competent to survive in this competitive era (brown, lauder & ashton, 2008; barrot, 2018). looking at the situation, it is urgently needed to prepare students by equipping them with 21st century skills. likewise, english textbooks play an important role to be a tool for promoting 21st century skills to students. to achieve better results of fostering students’ 21st century skills, the promotion should be done earlier in the secondary school level. consequently, integrating 21st century skills into grade 7 (the first grade of junior high school) english textbook is significantly important since through this way the teachers can help their students to survive in 21st llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 191-211 193 century era by possessing higher level of cognitive skills and learning capacities (law, 2014; joint research centre-european commission, 2010). two previous related research supports this study. the first study focuses on revealing the 21st century skills that are integrated in an indonesian efl textbook for senior high school grade ten (rakhmawati & priyana, 2019). the results show that the evaluated textbook has integrated the 21st century skills especially the learning and innovation skills. in addition, the textbook also integrated some other values which are related to other aspects such as information, media, technology skills, life and career skills. the integration strategies are mostly done through some parts of the textbook including the goals, inputs, procedures, teacher roles, learner roles and settings. then, the second study investigated to what extent the three moroccan elt textbooks helped students to build up the 21st century skills (bouzid, 2016). there were seven skills considered as important to be integrated into the textbooks; (communicate clearly, cross-cultural understanding, think critically, think creatively, work collaboratively, and use ict effectively). the results of the study revealed that the textbooks did not provide a sufficient number of activities that would help fostering the aforementioned skills among learners. in addition, the three textbooks relied on traditional activities that were conventionally used in elt textbooks to develop reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. since the first study concerns about a senior high school english textbook and the second study was done in moroccan context, the current study takes another part of this research area by revealing the integration of 21st century skills in an indonesian efl textbook (bse) for the first grade of junior high school (grade 7) entitled “when english rings a bell”. the result of this study is expected to be used as a practical consideration for further alteration and the research questions are presented as follows. 1. what are the 21st century skills integrated in the english textbook “when english rings a bell”? 2. how are the 21st century skills integrated in the english textbook “when english rings a bell”? a brief overview of the textbook the textbook is designed for the first grade of junior high school (grade 7) with an eye-catching title “when english rings a bell”. it is stated in the cover that the textbook uses the curriculum 2013 with the latest revision (2017 revision). referring to the most updated curriculum in indonesia, the textbook includes four competencies of 2013 curriculum, namely spiritual, social, knowledge, and skill competence. besides, the textbook also includes character values which are instilled in 2013 curriculum such as honesty, tolerance, discipline, perseverance, creativity, independence, democracy and so forth. since the textbook is based on the curriculum 2013, it is expected that the textbook applies scientific approach (sa) consisting several steps, namely observing, questioning, collecting information, associating, and communicating (fauziati, 2014; kemdikbud, 2013) which is promoted in the curriculum 2013. although the textbook explicitly holds the scientific approach, the organization of the learning materials suits to the idea of genre-based approach (gba) (feez & joyce, 1998; emilia, 2011) because it is preceded by stimulating students’ knowledge (building knowledge of the field llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 191-211 194 in gba, observing in sa) and ended by presenting the students’ works (independent construction of the text in gba, communicating in sa). in terms of the content aspect, there are eight chapters included in the textbook which embed language in use in a specific social context. the chapters’ names are in form of expressions such as “good morning. how are you? it’s me! what time is it?” in general, all of the learning activities in every chapter cover the four skills of english (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). the 21st century skills globalization forces everybody to survive in this complex and competitive era. however, many students graduating from secondary schools, technical colleges and universities were still lacking some basic and applied skills such as communications, critical thinking, work ethic, collaboration, technology and leadership (trilling & fadel, 2009). this situation demands schools to promote the 21st century skills to students since education plays a vital role in developing students’ knowledge, skills, and attitude (oecd, 2018). a number of teaching techniques can be done for promoting 21st century skills to students. yet, it should be definitely supported by relevance learning materials. therefore, integrating 21st century skills in english textbooks also becomes the focus in the promotion of 21st century skills. moreover, a number of organizations already have introduced frameworks for 21st century learning. the frameworks describing skills needed in 21st century can be the reference for teaching 21st century skills as well as evaluating the integration of 21st century skills in textbooks. ruiz-primo (2009) conducted a study on comparing some frameworks for 21st century learning and this thorough study has been reviewed by jia, oh, sibuma, labanca and lorentson (2016). from these studies, there are five well-known organizations designing frameworks for 21st century learning, namely partnership for 21st century skills (2009), aasl standards for the 21st century learner (2007), iste’s national education technology (2000), ncrel’s engauge framework (2002), and national research council (2008). jia et al. (2016) summarize the frameworks for 21st century learning introduced by those organizations as follows. table 1. the summary of 21st century frameworks by jia et al. (2016) frameworks components and descriptions partnership for 21st century skills (2009) consists of four major components, namely 1. life and career skills (describe skills which are necessary for daily life such as flexibility, productivity, leadership and responsibility). 2. learning and innovation skills (consist of four sub skills namely critical thinking, creativity communication, and collaboration. this is also called 4cs). 3. information, media and technology skills (include skills which are used in the field of technology such as it and media literacy). 4. core subjects (the main subjects suggested for schools such as math, english, science, health literacy, civic literacy and environmental literacy) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 191-211 195 aasl standards for the 21st century learner (2007) consists of four goals 1. inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge (learners are demanded to always absorb new knowledge through the use of their critical thinking as well as the use of inquiry-based learning). 2. draw conclusions, make decisions, create new knowledge (with the prior knowledge, learners are expected to be able to make decision/ conclusion/ interpretation about some certain issues and it results on new insight). 3. share knowledge and participate ethically and productively (learners are also required to share their knowledge along with their perspectives in order to contribute to the enrichment of information/resources). 4. pursue personal and aesthetic growth (learners should be always maintaining their curiosity in acquiring new knowledge). iste’s national educational technology standards (2000) provides two standards, for teachers and students students’ standards (nets-s 1. being communicative and creative 2. foster communication and collaboration skills 3. sharpen information literacy 4. being critical and good problem solver 5. digital citizenship 6. technology literacy teachers’ standards (nets-t) 1. help and encourage students in learning process to be always creative. 2. create digital learning experiences along the digital assessments. 3. being role model for students in the digital learning and work environment. 4. promoting digital community and responsibility. 5. fostering professional development and leadership. ncrel’s engauge framework (2002) includes four components 1. digital age literacy (prepares learners to be familiar with technological literacy skills for processing any issues such economy, science, multicultural and global awareness). 2. inventive thinking (trains learners to be more adaptable in any problematical situations which involves creativity, risk-taking and higher order thinking). 3. effective communication (encourages learners to be more skillful in doing social interaction and collaboration). 4. high productivity (prepares learners to be able to produce wise decision for solving any problematical issues by prioritizing, planning, managing solutions. national research council (2008) five aspects are highlighted 1. adaptability (requiring learners’ ability to adjust with new situations or new circumstances in this disruptive llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 191-211 196 era). 2. complex communication/social skills (being be able to process verbal and non-verbal information as well as aspirate their ideas or opinions properly 3. non-routine problem solving (employing critical thinking to find the most appropriate solutions over problems). 4. self-management/self-development (being able to work independently along with constructive and initiative actions). 5. systems thinking (using cognitive aspect to understand the interconnections and breakdown every part of complex problems) another framework of 21st century skills is proposed by lamb, quentin and esther (2017). the framework is simpler covering nine key skills of the 21st century. table 2. framework of 21st century skills (lamb, quentin & esther, 2017) no. skills description 1. critical thinking refers to the ability to assess the value of a claim or information and come to a conclusion about what to believe or to do about it. 2. creativity creativity is closely correlated with critical thinking. creativity can be seen as a skill sitting at the intersection between the individual and society and creative skills can be restricted to specific social context. 3. metacognition it is about an individual’s cognitive processes and activity. it is also closely related to self-regulated learning (flavel, 1979 in lamb et. al, 2017). 4. problem solving refers to the selection of strategies to solve problems, the application of strategies used to solve problems and the monitoring of the strategy used to solve problems (newell, 1990 in lamb et. al, 2017) 5. collaboration it is often conceived as a social skill, alongside assertiveness, responsibility, and empathy (malecki & elliott, 2012 in lamb et. al, 2017). 6. motivation defined as the impetus to engage in purposive behavior (ryan & deci, 2000 in lamb et. al, 2017). 7. self-efficacy defined as perceived ability to succeed. 8. conscientiousness defined as a form of self-discipline. 9. grit/ perseverance defined as a form of persistence. basically, the main concept of 21st century skills relates to higher level use of cognition, literacy, and attitudes. this is intended to respond the more competitive era where social life is complex, disruptive and dynamic. all of the previous frameworks are eligible to be used for criteria in evaluating english textbooks. however, the present study decided to select the partnership for 21st skills (p21) framework. two main reasons are considered by the researchers to choose the framework. firstly, the framework was quite popular since it has been discussed in much literature (bellanca & brandt, 2010; larson & miller, 2011; llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 191-211 197 kay & greenhill, 2011; trilling & fadel, 2009) and developed by a well-known educational organization, pioneering innovative education movements, namely partnership for 21st century learning. secondly, the p21 framework includes not only life skills (e.g. flexibility, adaptability, leadership, responsibility) but also learning skills (e.g. critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, communication, collaboration). with more complete coverage of skills, the researchers expected to gain richer data from the textbook. method this study employed content analysis research design where it aimed to describe the representation of the 21st century skills in a textbook (krippendorff, 2004). an english textbook entitled “when english rings a bell” was the subject of this study. the researcher analyzed the textbook by adapting p21 framework since this framework provides detail descriptions of 21st century skills and it has been used by many studies exploring the issue of 21st century learning. table 3 shows the skills included in the framework. table 3. the skills of p21 framework (partnership for 21st century skills, 2009) 1. global awareness 2. financial, business, and entrepreneurial literacy (economic literacy) 3. civic literacy 4. health literacy 5. environmental literacy 6. creativity and innovation 7. critical thinking and problem solving 8. communication and collaboration 9. information literacy 10. media literacy 11. ict literacy 12. flexibility and adaptability 13. social and cross-cultural skills 14. productivity and accountability 15. leadership and responsibility then, the textbook’s components that would be assessed were goals, inputs, procedures, teacher/learner roles and settings (nunan, 2004; rakhmawati & priyana, 2019). however, the researchers put some other components such as the pictures, notes, and quotations/information corner in order to gain wealthier data coverage. the detail format of the framework for evaluating the textbook is attached in the appendix. furthermore, the data were analyzed by interpreting each of the task component/ learning activity based on the presence of the 21st century skills and counting the percentage of the 21st century skills integrated in the textbook. thus, results of the data analysis were presented in form of narrations. findings and discussions data distribution of 21st century skills based on the analysis of the english textbook it was found that there were 705 tasks which spread into some categories such as goals, inputs, procedures, teacher/learner roles, settings, pictures and notes. quotes/information corner was the only part of tasks that did not exist in the textbook. important to note, not all of the 705 tasks represented the 21st century skills. there were only 300 tasks which contain the promotion of 21st century skills (see table 5). then, to identify the categorization and distribution of all tasks, we can refer to table 4. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 191-211 198 table 4. the summary of task categorization and distribution task category task distribution goals (g) = 8 (found in the cover of each unit) inputs (i) = 71 (mostly found in observing & questioning) procedures (p) = 139 (spread evenly, found in all learning stages) teacher/learner roles (t&lr) = 73 (mostly found in observing & questioning) settings (s) = 88 (spread evenly in all units, mostly in pictures) illustrations/ pictures (i/p) = 325 (spread evenly in all units) notes (n) = 1 (in the first unit) total tasks = 705 tasks then, there were 12 out of 15 skills integrated in the textbook. they were 1) civic literacy, 2) health literacy, 3) environmental literacy, 4) creativity and innovation, 5) critical thinking and problem solving, 6) communication and collaboration, 7) information literacy, 8) ict literacy, 9) flexibility and adaptability, 10) social and cross-cultural skills, 11) productivity and accountability, and 12) leadership and responsibility. meanwhile, three skills namely 1) global awareness, 2) economic literacy and 3) media literacy did not exist in the textbook. table 4 shows the summary of the 21st century skills integrated in the textbook. table 5. the 21st century skills integrated in the textbook no the 21st century skills location (page) tasks total g i p t& lr s i/p n q/ ic 1. global awareness 2. financial, economic, business & entrepreneuria l literacy 3. civic literacy 168,169,173 1 3 4 (1.3%) 4. health literacy 39,91,100,103,1 20 1 6 7 (2.3%) 5. environmenta l literacy 59,60,66,69,70,7 3,74,77,78,83,85 ,87,96,114,115,1 41,146, 164 1 1 4 4 15 25 (8.3%) 6. creativity & innovation 3,65,71,107,172, 174,183 4 2 1 7 (2.3%) 7. critical thinking & problem 14,16,72,75,76,7 8,79,81,82,84,85 ,88,89,90,94,106 1 4 5 2 21 (7 %) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 191-211 199 solving ,136,154, 162,165,182 8. communicati on & collaboration 4,5,6,7,8,9, 11,12,13,14,15,1 8,23,24,25,26,29 ,34,35,40,43,45, 48,49,54,57,58,6 1,63,67,91,94,97 , 101,102,105,108 ,109, 110,113,115,118 ,119, 121,122,129,130 ,132, 133,137,138,139 ,140, 142,144,147,148 ,150, 151,152,153,154 ,155, 156,157,158,159 ,160, 162,163,165,167 ,170, 174,181 6 7 5 2 8 35 135 (45%) 9. information literacy 22,25,30,31,32,3 3,37,38,39,41,52 ,166,170,173 1 1 5 1 11 19 (6.3%) 10. media literacy 11. ict literacy 178,155 2 2 (0.67 %) 12. flexibility & adaptability 102,103,106,111 ,112, 115,117,120,121 ,122,128,134,13 5,136,146,150,1 51,152,153,156, 157, 158,160 40 2 42 (14%) 13. social & cross-cultural skills 1,14,17,21,22,44 ,99,111,112,117, 122,127,151, 157,158,163 4 2 2 10 6 22 (7.3%) 14. productivity & 10,35,41,57,64,9 1,134, 4 2 3 9 (3%) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 191-211 200 accountability 135,136 15. leadership & responsibility 15,19,25,42 1 2 4 7 (2.3%) grand total 300 (tasks) talking about the distribution of the 21st century skills within the seven-task category (goals, inputs, procedures, teacher/learner roles, settings, illustrations/pictures and notes), we can identify table 5 where procedures, teacher/learner roles and illustrations/pictures were the dominant tasks representing the 21st century skills. meanwhile, notes became the least task for integrating the 21st century skills. although the skills were not distributed in all tasks evenly, they were spread in all units of the textbook. we can see how various the location (page) of each skill. moreover, among the 12 skills presented in the 300 tasks, two skills namely 1) communication and collaboration 2) flexibility and adaptability were dominant skills integrated in the textbook. communication and collaboration reach 45% (presented in 135 tasks) while flexibility and adaptability achieve 14% (presented in 42 tasks). meanwhile, ict literacy was the least skill to be integrated in the textbook. ict only reached 0.67/1% (presented in 2 tasks). figure 1 presents the percentage of the 21st century skills distribution. figure 1. the percentage of the 21st century skills distribution narrative descriptions of the twelve 21st century skills this section provides elaboration of each skill included in the textbook. civic literacy civic literacy was mostly described in form of conversation which discussed indonesia in chapter vii (i’m proud of indonesia). here, the conversation discussed the geographical condition of indonesia such as the oceans and continents near indonesia, the five big islands of indonesia, and the climate of indonesia. the example of the conversation is presented below. civic literacy 1% health literacy 3% environmental literacy 9% creativity & innovation 2% critical thinking & problem solving 7% communication & collaboration 45% information literacy 6% ict literacy 1% flexibility & adaptability 14% social & cross cultural skills 7% productivity & accountability 3% leadership & responsibility 2% th e percentage of the 21st century skills distribution llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 191-211 201 student 1: we are all proud of indonesia, aren’t’ we? let’s describe it together! student 2: indonesia is a big country. it is between two continents, asia and australia, and between two oceans, the pacific ocean and the indian ocean. it is the largest archipelago in the world. there are more than seventeen thousand islands in indonesia. student 3: we have a lot of islands. the big ones are papua, kalimantan, sumatra, sulawesi, and java. of the five islands, java is the smallest, but it is the most populated one. we can find people from around indonesia in java. student 4: indonesia is on the equator. it is a tropical country. the sun shines brightly every day, so it is mostly hot. it has two seasons, the rainy season and the dry season. (page 168/bse/when english rings a bell/2017) although it did not give specific information about the system of state administration, the state form, the ideology of indonesia (pancasila) and law in indonesia which belonged to the core of civic education, at least it gave such brief information of indonesia in terms of geographical information. health literacy health literacy was mostly described in form of pictures. it was found that there were 6 pictures and one procedure/instruction which described about health. here, health literacy was about persuading students to be aware of their body condition, the cleanliness, and healthy life style. below is one example of the picture that includes healthy literacy (in the sentence “there are garbage cans, too. we can keep this park clean.) figure 2. the representation of health literacy (page 100/bse/when english rings a bell/2017) from this we see that introducing health literacy to young learners (junior high school/grade 7) is easier through visual media like pictures. young leaners are still interested in concrete and attractive illustrations. environmental literacy environmental literacy was also dominantly depicted in form of pictures. in general, the picture was about environment such as the names of building (e.g. a bank, school, hospital, police office, park etc.), the names of things in a house (e.g. a table, cupboard, lamp, kitchen, yard etc.) and the names of things in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 191-211 202 classroom (e.g. a whiteboard, chair, table, clock, lcd projector etc.). the following picture is one example of the picture that portrays the environmental literacy. figure 3. the representation of environmental literacy (page 70/bse/when english rings a bell/2017) although the pictures were not about the great movement of saving environment such as reducing the use of plastic, reducing the use of pollutant energy (fossil fuel), reforestation etc., at least it helped students to improve their vocabulary about things in their environment. creativity and innovation creativity and innovation were described mostly in procedures or instructions. some instructions asked the students to do a task which demands their creativity and innovation such as stating name of things in a living room, identifying facilities a classroom, observing schools, singing a song/lyric with other song’s rhythm etc. however, there were only 7 creativity and innovation skills found in the textbook, 4 of them were in procedure, 2 of them were in teacher & learner roles and 1 of them was in note. the following is a procedure which demands the students’ creativity. figure 4. the representation of creativity and innovation (page 71/bse/when english rings a bell/2017) characteristically, young learners need more guidance and attentions than adult learners. their creativity and innovation still need to be ignited by external factors like teachers or instructions. therefore, procedures/instructions of the textbook play a significant role for stimulating students’ creativity and innovation. critical thinking and problem solving critical thinking and problem solving are important skills needed by students in their practical life. the textbook included 21 critical thinking and problem solving skills which were distributed mostly in the procedure, 14 of them llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 191-211 203 were in the procedure, 5 of them were in teacher/learner roles and 2 of them were in the pictures. the critical thinking and problem-solving skills were in form of giving solution for someone who had a problem and finishing tasks/projects. the procedure below is one example of procedures which requires students’ critical thinking to solve the tasks (identifying stuff & facilities in bathrooms). figure 5. the representation of critical thinking and problem solving (page 82/bse/when english rings a bell/2017) similar to the previous skill, there should be encouragement like teachers’ guidance or instructions/procedures for promoting critical thinking and problem solving to young learners due to less autonomous characteristics. their critical thinking and problem solving skills were stimulated easily through something that can direct or push them. communication and collaboration communication and collaboration were the dominant skills integrated in the textbook. there were 135 tasks representing communication and collaboration skills in the textbook. mostly, the skills were described in the procedure. here, communication and collaboration were illustrated in form of greeting, asking for information, giving information, describing things and cooperation (group working). these skills are crucial to be promoted for students because these skills are practically needed in real life situation. the procedure below is one example of the procedures that asks the students to do collaboration in form of working in groups. figure 6. the representation of communication and collaboration (page 35/bse/when english rings a bell/2017) looking at the great number of tasks representing communication and collaboration skills, it indicated that the textbook wants to shape students to be a good team worker. in addition, the use of procedures/instructions for promoting communication and collaboration skills was intended to make students practice the skills directly. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 191-211 204 information literacy information literacy was described mostly in form of pictures and it is about personal information of a person (e.g. name, age, job, address, hobbies, family etc.), someone’s schedule of daily activities and geographical information of indonesia. this skill is also urgently needed by today’s students since they need to be knowledgeable and to be able seeking for information autonomously. the picture below is one of the examples about the inclusion of information literacy skill in the textbook. figure 7. the representation of information literacy (page 170/bse/when english rings a bell/2017) in general, the content of information provided by the textbook is quite relevant to students’ cognitive and proficiency level. the vocabulary reflects on the 1000 most common words and it is appropriate for junior high school students. likewise, it decreases the potential barriers of practicing information literacy skill. ict literacy although the textbook had integrated the communication and collaboration massively, the ict literacy skill was not really highlighted. there were only two ict literacy skills included in the textbook, even it was just mentioning the ict media without giving satisfied overview of using ict media effectively and efficiently. the procedure below instructed that students might download the song from youtube. however, there was no detail explanation/steps for searching a song in youtube properly. figure 8. the representation of ict literacy (page 178/bse/when english rings a bell/2017) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 191-211 205 in short, this indicated that the textbook did not have high concern on ict literacy. thus, it is suggested for further revision to include more tasks related to ict literacy. flexibility and adaptability flexibility and adaptability skills were described in form of the students’ readiness and flexibility in performing any dialogues. in performing dialogues, students were demanded to be adaptable and flexible in playing the roles of the speakers. mostly, the flexibility and adaptability skills were included in procedures since it asked the students to play the roles of speakers in certain conversation. here is the example of a procedure that includes the flexibility & adaptability skill. figure 9. the representation of flexibility and adaptability (page 103/bse/when english rings a bell/2017) in summary, flexibility and adaptability were integrated in an appropriate task category (procedure) where it could train students to be always ready facing any kind of situations. social and cross-cultural skills social and cultural skills were depicted in form of the ability to behave and respond to others appropriately. mostly, these skills were integrated in the teacher/learner roles while some others were instilled in pictures, procedure, input and goal. these skills trained students to be more aware of their social life and building good interaction. the following is one of the teacher/learner roles that promotes the social and cross-cultural skills. figure 10. the representation of social and cross-cultural skills (page 122/bse/when english rings a bell/2017) ideally, the social and cross-cultural skills should pertain the target language culture (tlc), international culture (ic) and local culture (lc). then, it can be integrated in other task categories like procedures, pictures, notes and quotes. thus, it is suggested to include tlc, ic and lc in the textbook for further revision. productivity and accountability productivity and accountability skills were illustrated in form of students’ activities that belonged to the important or good activities such as studying, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 191-211 206 working, doing sports etc. these skills were found in pictures, teacher/ learner roles and procedure. the following is one of the students’ tasks to draw the minute hand and hour hand. in addition, this exercise includes the productivity skill in the sentence “edo goes to the library with udin and beni. they love reading textbooks”. figure 11. the representation of productivity and accountability (page 41/bse/when english rings a bell/2017) in general, productivity and accountability skills were already described well in the textbook. the content of materials was designed to give examples of being productive and accountable students. leadership and responsibility the last skills embedded in the textbook were leadership and responsibility. there were seven responsibility skills integrated in the textbook and those skills were spread in pictures, settings and procedure. however, the textbook only included the responsibility skills. there was no leadership skills promoted in the textbook. the picture below shows about students’ promise to behave nicely by always greeting others, saying good bye, thanking and saying sorry if having mistakes. figure 12. the representation of leadership and responsibility (page 19/bse/when english rings a bell/2017) since there was no material pertaining leadership skill, it is suggested to include it in the textbook for further revision. leadership skill can be included in several task categories like in procedures and inputs. in procedure, students can be asked to do group work and they have to select a leader to manage the group. meanwhile, some stories telling how to manage a team, class or organization can be good inputs for promoting leadership skill. in summary, the english textbook entitled “when english rings a bell” had integrated some 21st century skills. there were 12 out of 15 skills integrated in the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 191-211 207 textbook. the most dominant skills integrated were communication and collaboration while the least skills included in the textbook were ict literacy. then, five skills including 1) health literacy, 2) civic literacy, 3) creativity and innovation, 4) leadership and responsibility and 5) productivity and accountability were described limitedly. another five-skill comprising 1) information literacy, 2) critical thinking and problem solving, 3) environmental literacy, 4) flexibility and adaptability, 5) social and cross-cultural skills were presented moderately. yet, three skills 1) global awareness, 2) economic literacy and 3) media literacy were not included in the textbook. in this case, there was imbalance proportion of 21st century skills representation. ideally, the representation of the skills should be adequate and balance where all of the four cores of 21st century skills 1) life and career skills, 2) learning and innovation skills (4cs), 3) information, media and technology skills and 4) key subjects/interdisciplinary themes were included. in terms of the way the skills presented, there were 7 out of 8 learning tasks that were used to present the skills. they were goals, inputs, procedures, teacher/learner roles, settings, pictures and notes. the most dominant learning tasks used to present the skills were procedures, teacher/learner roles and pictures. meanwhile, goals, inputs and notes were the least learning tasks that were used to present the skills. in this case, it was not necessary to have balance distribution of learning tasks to present the 21st century skills. the most important thing is that the skills are embedded in the learning tasks where the students are actively engaged such as in teacher/learner roles and pictures. it aims to maximize the promotion of the 21st century skills to the students. talking about school textbook development, materials that are used to promote 21st century skills should also relate to today’s students’ real-life situations. this is quite challenging since now real-life situation is dynamic and heterogeneous. also, the issue of integrating 21st century learning principles demands the english teachers’ role to contextualize the teaching and learning process in order to help students to not only acquire the knowledge and skills but also practice them in real-life situations (barrot, 2018; ozverir & herrington, 2011). the students’ real-life situations for this time are commonly related to internet, social media, online games, digital reading and updated news. all of them refer to the use of technology because today’s students belong to digital native (seemiller & grace, 2016). however, the textbook did not provide sufficient topics and materials which relate to the use of ict. in addition, global awareness, economic literacy and media literacy were also not included in the textbook. therefore, today’s textbooks are suggested to provide ict, media and technology literacy because elt practices should not only allow students to just articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written and nonverbal communication but also allow students to use multiple media and technologies (fandino, 2013). likewise, materials pertaining global news, trends, updates, financial management and planning should also be integrated. moreover, today’s textbooks are also suggested to provide digital storytelling since it promotes the 21st century skills like ict literacy, communication and creative thinking, selfregulated learning, collaborative learning and it engages both teachers and students (ming et. al, 2014; robin, 2008). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021, pp. 191-211 208 conclusion based on the result of the analysis, it can be concluded that the english textbook entitled “when english rings a bell” had included some 21st century skills in which communication and collaboration were the most dominant skills presented in the textbook. the representation of the skills was done through some learning tasks such as goals, inputs, procedures, teacher/learner roles, settings, pictures and notes where the procedure, the teacher/learner roles and the pictures were the most frequently used learning tasks to present the 21st century skills. yet, the textbook did not include global awareness, economic literacy and media literacy. additionally, it provided insufficient topics and materials about information, communication and technology (ict). in fact, today’s students’ reallife situations are closely related to internet browsing, social media and searching for global news/trends/updates. they are also demanded to be more autonomous in financial management and planning in the future. therefore, it is suggested for further revision to include topics and materials about ict, global awareness, media and economic literacy. moreover, the 4cs (creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration skills) should be also integrated in the learning materials because they are the most prevalent skills referred to the 21 st century learning (bedir, 2019). as a result, english teachers are also suggested to highly comprehend the theoretical foundations of 21st century learning principles and manage problem-solving activities in order to foster students’ 4cs (handayani, 2017; halverson, 2018). furthermore, the pedagogical implication of this study relates to the development of english textbooks particularly for secondary school level that should consider the inclusion of 21st century skills especially global awareness, ict, media and economic literacy. the 4cs (creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration skills) were also recommended to be integrated as it is the most prevalent skills of 21st century learning. this is intended to prepare our students surviving in a digital-competitive and disruptive era. likewise, materials developers have to keep up to date in designing textbooks by following the dynamic changes of world due to the impact of technology development and globalization. thus, infusing 21st century skills to secondary school textbooks will be a strategic way to prepare students early facing the multifaceted and complex life situation. references aasl (american association for school librarians). 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(2019). the representation of multicultural values in the indonesian ministry of education and culture-endorsed efl textbook: a critical discourse analysis. intercultural education, 30(4), 383397. sheldon l.e. (1988) evaluating elt textbooks and materials. elt journal 42(4): 237-246. tajeddin, z., & teimournezhad, s. (2015). exploring the hidden agenda in the representation of culture in international and localised elt textbooks. the language learning journal, 43(2), 180-193. tomlinson, b. (2011). materials development in language teaching (2nd ed.). cambridge: cambridge university press. trilling, b., & fadel, c. (2009). 21st century skills: learning for life in our times. john wiley & sons. williams, d. (1983). developing criteria for textbook evaluation. elt journal, 37(3), 251-255. yang, c. c. r. 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(2008). strategies of using textbooks: a case of school-level curriculum implementation. educationist, 2(1), 18-26. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 82 the role of indigenous econaming systems in ecological conservation: a case of lubukusu and lukabarasi languages in western kenya makarios wanjala wakoko1 and benard angatia mudogo2 kibabii university, kenya1 masinde muliro university of science and technology, kenya2 wakokowanjala@gmail.com1 and mudogobernad@yahoo.com or dmudogo@mmust.ac.ke2 correspondence: mudogobernad@yahoo.com doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.2842 received 15 september 2020; accepted 23 october 2020 abstract this paper endeavours to bring fresh insight into the role of african indigenous languages in the global campaign against environmental degradation. it examines how linguistic practises impact the natural environment. in this respect, the paper reports on the findings of an investigation that focused on the econaming system in kabarasi and bukusu societies that sought to ascertain the role of econames in mitigating ecological destruction. the rationale for this position is that such practices have the potential to mitigate the disruption of the ecosystem. furthermore, the linguistic systems of the bukusu and kabarasi indigenous societies cherished different plants and animals by naming new-borns after them. by doing so the ecosystem earned a special place and was therefore venerated. the paper also aimed at comparing the meanings and representations associated with the econaming systems in both kabarasi and bukusu naming systems. a combined method of data elicitation from lubukusu-lukabarasi and the native speaker’s intuition was used to collect data. animal and plant econames that relate to the environment were inferred for analysis. the indigenous lubukusu and lukabaras names were correlated with the associated ecosystems among native speakers of these languages. the analysis revealed that the meanings associated with the econaming system among the kabarasi and bukusu is one of the strategies that can be employed to ensure more sustainable and acceptable environmental preservation measures. the collected data revealed that indigenous language practices are found to be more appropriate and applicable in ecological preservation among the rural communities. the paper, therefore, recommends that the government and other policy-stakeholders should pay more attention to the econaming practises so that local people's conservation practises are recognised to enhance global environmental conservation measures. keywords: lubukusu, lukabarasi, wildlife species, habitat loss, econaming llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 83 introduction the naming system in different societies can reveal people’s identity. the paper sought to establish the names related to the environment (econames) among the kabarasi and bukusu, languages. according to lewis et al (2016), these two languages belong to the luhya macro-language of western kenya. the paper focuses on lukabarasi and lubukusu language practices which are manifested in the naming system related to the ecosystem. the investigation is motivated by the fact that the indigenous naming practises can be significant tools towards contributing to the global environmental conservation measures. the data for this investigation is drawn from lubukusu and lukabarasi languages, spoken in western kenya. the focus is on how these two communities employ indigenous econaming practises to co-exist with the flora and fauna around them. the kabarasi and bukusu have a rich tradition with respect to their naming systems where children are named after a well-structured system of kinship relations. in some cases, these names may reflect different plant species, venerated animals, and seasons of the year or even nature. in recent times, however, the meaning of these names is continually becoming vague and others are completely getting lost. lindo and bundsgaard, (2000: 10-11) affirm this assertion by stating that as the environment changes, “the language level that changes quickly is the lexicon”. as observed by widayati (2019), such change is occasioned by the following three dimensions: ideological, social, and biological. therefore, there is a need to investigate and document the significance of indigenous linguistic practices that have a direct implication on the ecosystem. this would establish how the indigenous linguistic practises can be factored in the global ecological conservation goals. the investigation focuses on the structure and meaning of selected kabarasi and bukusu econames as one way of documenting the significance of such language practice in mitigating environmental degradation. indigenous linguistic practices that reflect the culture of a community can be cheaper with less probability of failure. furthermore, the idea of revitalizing these linguistic customs resonates well with the concept of reviving indigenous languages that contributes significantly to the global environmental protection agenda. furthermore, due to failure to recognise and incorporate the local communities in environmental conservation, the majority of the rare plants and animals in kenya's ecosystem are threatened with extinction, mainly because of human activities such as environmental destruction, pollution, human settlement, and introduction of exotic species. thus, this ecolinguistic study focuses on the relationship between the linguistic practices among the bukusu and kabarasi communities and changes in the physical environment. as noted by widiyati (2019), languages existing within certain geographical areas have close relationships with the environment and the speakers of these languages. the author argues further that people and the environment significantly influence each other. however; there has been minimal interest in the role of indigenous languages in environmental conservation measures. this is despite the fact that although the environment remains the foundation for global human survival, there is a huge risk of losing a big chunk of the flora and fauna if the relevant stakeholders don’t recognize and utilize the available conservation measures. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 84 furthermore, kenya, like most developing countries relies on international donors to source her conservation programmes. however, over-reliance on such sources may not be reliable. traditional language practices, on the other hand, can be economically affordable and sustainable compared to other strategies. for instance, it may be less costly for stakeholders to the econaming systems governing resource use and conservation. the role of econaming in ecological conservation gomez (1998) and rucker (2005) draws the relationship between words and the objects they refer to by observing that words in any language are a significant reflection of the environment where people who use them live. traditional naming systems are common in virtually all traditional societies. among the kabarasi and lubukusu communities in western kenya for instance, the naming systems are significant markers of a person’s part of belonging in a family and entire society. harder (2008) identifies two different kinds of human names; personal names and first names. this paper focuses on family names that link people with their environment. the kabarasi and bukusu communities attach significance prominence to traditional naming systems. the investigation focuses on econaming practises with the view of establishing the relationship between the linguistic systems and the environment of the speakers. the question is whether recognising and encouraging these practises can be used to support conservation efforts. this is because, as argued by murphree (1993), support for such local language practices can be an alternative affordable option in ecological conservation. reviving the econaming practices is part of including the local communities in environmental conservation. such initiatives are not only cheap but also more likely to be accepted by the local people. leader-williams et al. (1990 ) observe that existing conservation strategies in africa are majorly dominated by law enforcement – which requires huge investments by conservation stakeholders. furthermore, the conflict between law enforces and the communities may impede the conservation measures in certain settings. stibbe (2015) challenges ecological stakeholders and people to act responsibly about their relationship with the environment and make meaningful changes to improve the environment. this may involve revitalizing local practises that can conserve biodiversity. ecocriticism is based on the interrelatedness between the physical world and the human culture through the language associated with the environment. it can be reflected in the relationship between the people and the environment they live in as represented in language. ecocritics examine the ways nature is reflected in the language choices and attempt to analyze their applicability with environmental problems. in this view, the study of nature is geared towards understanding the imbalance of the ecosystem. this is informed by the fact that most of the global environmental problems are caused by persistent exploitation of nature as a result of human activities. language is comprised of sounds, meanings, and rules for combining them as shared and understood by a speech community. in this sense, language use may influence its users’ perceptions of the world. such perceptions may influence what users of a particular language consider significant, and employ practises that are relevant to the environment. this investigation seeks to evaluate the relevance of https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17451590903065579 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17451590903065579 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 85 indigenous language systems in ecological conservation options. this is informed by the fact that paying attention to such practices may shed light on the principals of co-management approaches that propose the sharing of power, rights, and responsibilities between the environmental stakeholders and local community resource users (berkes 2003). furthermore, since the local people frequently interact with their surrounding environment, they are therefore active participants and have the potential to serve as better game-changers of the ecosystems. sinar and haidir (2019) also argue that the destruction of some ecosystems causes the loss of some vocabulary in communication. such loss may negatively affect the existing flora and fauna. the investigation of kabarasi and bukusu naming systems endeavors to document the significance of language practices in environmental conservation. agrawal and gibson (1999) argue that failure to involve the local people in the management of their surrounding ecosystems may lead to destructive use of these resources. attention was therefore given to the econaming practises as a key tool to be considered in conserving the environment. equally significant is the concept of modernity and its implications on the existing natural environment. according to giddens (1991), modernity in africa emerged in europe from about the seventeenth century and greatly influenced the social lives of many communities. for, instance, foucault (1995) observes that industrialization was characterized by the decline of the existing traditional social order, migrations, and destruction of some ecosystems for industrialization and urbanizations. mühlhäusler (2003) also notes that some companies can use specific language strategies when addressing environmental issues to distract human attention from environmental problems. in this view, significant traditional systems were either ignored or faced extinction. bang and døør (1996) note that language is an inseparable part of the environment, where it derives its meanings. therefore, the lexis of any language reflects the environment where the language is used. in the same vein, alexander and stibbe (2014) argue that language not only reflects the environment but also how different ecological discourses view the relationship between humans and their ecosystems. according to stibee (2003), ecological discourse plays a significant role in determining how people relate with animals. sibbe (ibid) for instance argues that the linguistic distancing techniques used in the pork industry degrade the pigs hence legitimizing the inhumane farming conditions that these animals are subjected to. moreover, the assertion by crystal (1997) that the world; languages like english are displacing local languages needs serious questioning. this is because; some valuable traditional ecological practices may be lost when indigenous language systems are neglected. the investigation is based on stibbe (2015) evaluation theory. stibbe (2015) asserts that evaluation is concerned about stories in people’s minds concerning their lives. in this connection, evaluation theory can be linked to linguistic systems used by communities in relation to the environment where they live. furthermore, language evaluation can be used to infer the relationship between peoples’ culture and the ecosystem. according to hunston and thompson (2005), evaluation relates to the speaker or writer’s views or attitudes on certain concepts. evaluation theory is therefore relevant in analysing the relationship between econames and ecological conservation among the kabarasi and bukusu communities. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17451590903065579 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17451590903065579 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 86 method a corpus of both male and female names was selected. a random sample of twenty (12) respondents drawn from lukabarasi and lubukusu respondents were selected with each language group providing 6 informants. the main instruments of data collection were structured face to face interviews and native speaker intuition. in particular, data was drawn from a cross-section of ages, the two sexes, and the sub-clans. selected 50 proper names were analyzed ecocritically according to their forms and meaning. in respect of the face to face interviews, respondents were asked to provide five most common and varied male names and an equal number of female names and their meanings as well as the circumstances of their use. the responses were recorded in a notebook. a backup tape recorder was used for future reference. findings and discussion ecocritical analysis of the names under study involved semantic and pragmatic analysis of each name collected as well as analysis and discussion of the semantic association of individual names to the related ecosystem. in order to carry out the analysis as well as the discussion appropriately, a framework of analysis is provided. the framework features three categories generating lukabarasi and lubukusu econames and these are econames related to plants, econames related to wild animals, and econames related to nature. these are discussed in detail in the following sub-sections; econames associated with plants with respect to plants, lukabarasi and lubukusu speakers attach great significance. to some plant species. consequently, these species have a prominent role in the naming system in these speech communities. in this regard, several households name their male and female kin after these plants as shown in table 1 below. with respect to econames associated with plants, the analysis consisted of semantic scrutiny of the collected names under this category as shown in table 1. table 1. econames associated with plants econames language gender english gloss matore/kutore lukabarasi/lubukusu male bananas mung’onye lukabarasi male sugarcane nasokho lubukusu male herbal drugs used for defence shimuli/simuli lukabarasi/lubukusu female flower nanderema lukabarasi/lubukusu female a type of wild vegetable nabalayo lubukusu female green grams khaemba lubukusu male type of sorghum mabonga lubukusu/lukabarasi male weeds makhanu lubukusu male simsim llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 87 data in table 1 reveals the naming of both male and female children after plant species that were revered. the econames reveal the fact that the kabarasi and bukusu speakers attach great value to the plants in their ecosystems through the naming patterns. this makes them the best managers of these species, and should therefore be encouraged to supplement the existing conservation goals. emerton (2001), underscores the need to involve local communities in resource management. this is in line with the assertions of tarigan et al (2016) assertion that the subculture of a community can be inferred from the environmental wealth of its native speakers, which links the relationship between language, culture, and the environment. therefore, traditional practices which directly involve ecological conservation such as econaming should be encouraged. indeed, there exist both similarities and differences in the giving of econames in lukabarasi and lubukusu and lubukusu languages. first of all, both lukabarasi and lubukusu make use of ecocritical principles in their naming systems. for instance, names of plants provide a significant source domain in how names are given. for instance, the physical appearance of a plant, and the beliefs associated with them are used metonymically to stand for the personal names. for instance, a beautiful baby girl is named shimuli/simuli (flower) in both labras and bukusu communities. this means that flowers were adored and well-taken care because just as people would. similarly, the naming of children by lubukusu speakers as nabalayo (green grams) reflects how the crop was adored by the lubukusu speakers. this would definitely result in efforts to cultivate and care for the crop. secondly, the following common econames were shared by the two languages: mabonga (weeds), nanderema (wild vegetable). these shared econames may be said to be motivated by the common language group shared by both lukabarasi and lubukusu. however, not all the plants' econames were similar in both lukabarasi and lubukusu. for example, the name mung’onye (sugarcane) existed in lukabarasi while nasoko (herbal drugs), navalayo (green grams), khaemba (sourghum), and makhanu (simsim) were found to be associated with lubukusu. this means that each community had a unique way of giving econames. econames associated with wild animals wild animals provide one of the major sources of naming among the kabarasi and bukusu communities. the collected data revealed that, to a certain extent, among the kabarasi and bukusu, people are sometimes likened to wild animals. in this light, animal names are often used to connote different characters attributed to the new-borns as shown in table 2 below: table 2. econames associated with wild animals econames language gender english gloss wamboko/imboko lukabarasi/lubukusu male buffalo vutalanyi lukabarasi male lion wangwe lubukusu/lukabarasi male leopard inzofuwanjofu lukabarasi/lubukusu male elephant masibili lubkusu male dung beetle https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17451590903065579 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 88 yiswa/naswa lubukusu/lukabarasi female termite nany’eni lukabarasi female fish kusimba lubukusu/lukabarasi male mangoose nandemu/inzukha lubukusu/lukabarasi male snake the data collected established that both kabarasi and bukusu communities coexisted with wildlife. for instance, children’s econames were given on assumption that they reflected the character of the animal that the child is named after, with the hope that the traits will be passed on to the new bearer of the name or discouraged for that matter. therefore, these wildlife animals play a prominent role in the respective speech communities. to underscore the significance of different animals, new-borns are named after the species. in this regard, animal names like yimboko/wamboko (buffalo), kusimba (mangoose), nandemu/yinzukha (snake), and so on are often given to the kabarasi and bukusu male children who are likened to the wild animals that they are named after. furthermore, special status is assigned to these animal species. such cultural practise has a prominent role in the survival of the animals that people are named after as they are less subjected to negative human activities, and are protected through language systems that discourage their destruction. among the kabarasi for example, killing a totemic species a person is named after is believed to cause misfortune. this belief in language practise has encouraged people to protect the sacred species. colding and folke (2001), lauds such cultural practises because they can be affordable and reliable. according to campbell and hofer (1995), african wildlife-rich areas are threatened. this can be attributed to increased hunting activities and pressure from local people to open protected lands for community use. however, the collected data revealed the potential significance of traditional econaming systems in thwarting depletion of wildlife species, which serves as a key incentive to the role of indigenous language in ecological conservation. ecoames regarding nature table 3. econames associated with nature econames language gender english gloss kuloba lukabarasi/lubukusu male soil shitoyi/wetosi lukabarasi/lubukusu male mud kundu lubukusu/lukabarasi male beast kutsuru lukabarasi male forest nafungo lubkusu female rubbish shitikho lukabarasi male well washisino/nabisino lubukusu/lukabarasi female virgin land namatsi/mechi lubukusu male water shalo/sialo lubukusu male world a significant point of interest in the collected data about lukabarasi and lubukusu econames that concerns nature is how the process of naming is related to life and death. for this reason, the traditional naming system after nature among the kabarasi and bukusu is highly regarded because failure to adhere to practises among the community members is believes to cause a bad omen. for https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17451590903065579 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17451590903065579 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 89 instance, a family that encounters the successive death of their children may be advised not to name new burns after prominent people or relatives. instead, the baby is named after things that have the potential to ‘threaten’ the ‘spirits of death’ and this arises after the parent’s worry over the possibility of yet another death. this explains the custom of naming children as nafungo (rubbish), kuloba (bad soil), kundu (beast), shitoyi, /wetosi (mud), etc. in this regard, nature was seen as larger than life for its possibility of defying even the most feared concepts like death. the invincibility of the environment gave it a special status in the ecosystem. for the kabarasi and bukusu, nature is sacred. the earth, rivers, hills, caves, and different other components of the environment held divine powers, and destroying them was akin to playing with death. children are therefore in some cases named not after personalities but after physical features such as rivers kuthuru (forests), namatsi/mechi (water) washisino/navisino (virgin land), washisino nabisino (virgin land), shalo (world), etc. such names were believed to hold supernatural powers hence protecting the bearers of such names in their lives. thus, generally, these naming practises are unambiguously accepted by society members, who believe that such names possess divine or religious power. this reality can serve as an entry point for conservationists in efforts to revive and promote the conservation role of these practises. conclusion the investigation established that the destruction of the ecosystem has contributed significantly to persistent extinctions and vulnerability of plants and animal species in different locations, comprising the rich wildlife species and significant forest cover. in presenting the indigenous linguistic systems in ecological conservation, this paper underscores the need to pay attention to the conservation problems that lead to overexploitation of the environment. the paper foregrounds indigenous econaming systems as one of the measures. in some parts of western kenya, conservation gains significantly from these econaming practises, despite minimal recognition and utilization in official conservation policies by the relevant stakeholders. further, there is a need for more research on traditional linguistic practices to establish alternative and community-centred approaches that can supplement the existing conservation policies. references agrawal, a., & gibson, c. c. (1999). enchantment and disenchantment: the role of community in natural resource conservation. world development, 27(4), 629-649. alexander, r., & stibbe, a. (2014). from the analysis of ecological discourse to the ecological analysis of discourse. language sciences, 41, 104-110. berkes, f. (2003). rethinking community-based conservation. conservation biolgy, 18(3), 621-630. campbell, k., & hofer, h. (1995). people and wildlife: spatial dynamics and zones of interaction. in a. r. e. sinclair & p. arcese (eds.), serengeti ii: dynamics, management, and conservation of an ecosystem, 534-570. chicago: the university of chicago press. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 90 colding, j., & folke, c. (2001). social taboos: “invisible” systems of local resource management and biological conservation. ecological applications, 11(2), 584-600. crystal, d. (1997). english as a global language. cambridge: cambridge university press. emerton, l. (2001). the nature of benefits and the benefits of nature: why wildlife conservation has not economically benefited communities in africa. in h. david & m. murphree (eds.), african wildlife and livelihoods: the promise and performance of community conservation. portsmouth, nh: heinemann. foucault, m. (1995). discipline & punish: the birth of the person. new york and toronto: vintage books. fill, a., & muhlhausler, p. (eds.). (2001). the ecolinguistics reader: language, ecology, and environment. london and new york: continuum. giddens, a. (1991). the consequences of modernity. cambridge: polity press. haidir, h., & sinar, t. s. (2019). arkais vocabulary identification as efforts to revitalize the language with a panai: ecolinguistic perspective. international journal of linguistics, literature and translation (ijllt), 2(6), 23-30. haugen, e. (1972). the ecology of language. in f. alwin & m. peter (eds), 2001, the ecolinguistics reader: language, ecology, and environment. london and new york: continuum. filani, i., & melefa, o. m. (2014). a socio-semiotic study of nicknaming among undergraduates in a nigerian university. linguistik online, 68(6). retrieved on july 9, 2018, from http://dx.doi.org/10.13092/lo.68.1632 hunston, s., & thompson, g. (eds.). (2000). evaluation in text: authorial stance and the construction of discourse. oxford: oxford university press. leader-williams, n., albon, s. d., & berry, p. s. m. (1990). illegal exploitation of black rhinoceros and elephant populations: patterns of decline, law enforcement and patrol efforts in luangwa valley, zambia. journal of applied ecology, 27(3), 1055-1087. lindo, a. v., & jeppe, b. (eds.). (2000). dialectal ecolinguistics three essays. symposium 30 years of language and ecology, graz 2000. austria: university of odense research group for ecology, language and ecology. mbete, a. m., putra, a. a. p., yadnya, i. b. p., simpen, i. w., genua, v., & utami, g. w. n. (2015). khazanah ekoleksikal guyub tutur bahasa lio, flores. laporan penelitian. universitas udayana. mühlhäusler, p. (2003). language of environment, environment of language: a course in ecolinguistics. london: battlebridge publications. murphree, m. w. (1993). decentralising the proprietorship of wildlife resources in zimbabwe's communal lands. in l. m. dale & c. nick (eds), voices from africa: local perspectives on conservation. washington, d.c.: wwf-us odum, e. p. (1994). dasar-dasar ekologi. edisi ketiga. terjemahan tjahjono samingan. yogyakarta: gadjah mada university press. stibbe, a. (2003). as charming as a pig: the discursive construction of the relationship between pigs and humans. society & animals, 11(4), 375-392. stibbe, a. (2015). ecolinguistics: language, ecology and the story we live by. london and new york: routledge. http://dx.doi.org/10.13092/lo.68.1632 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 91 tarigan, b., setia, e., widayati, d., & mbete, a. m. (2016). language maintenance and shift of flora lexicon in karonese traditional food: an ecolinguistic perspective. communication and linguistics studies, 2(1), 1317. iucn. (2008). redlist of threatened species; http://www.iucnredlist.org (accessed: 20 november 2019). widayati, d. (2019). diversity of culinary ecolexicon of main cuisine in malay communities on the east coast of north sumatra. jurnal arbitrer, 6(2), 113121. van lier, l. (2004). the ecology and semiotics of language learning: a sociocultural perspective. new york: kluwer academic publishers. http://www.iucnredlist.org/ llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 october 2016 issn 1410-7201 105 needs analysis of english for aeronautical engineering purposes at stt adisutjipto yogyakarta dewanti ratna pertiwi sekolah tinggi teknologi adisutjipto dewanti_stta@yahoo.co.id abstract in the context of esp, needs analysis is the first step to develop a program. needs analysis is conducted to investigate the present students’ mastery and the need of the future work field. this study aims to investigate the needs analysis of english for aeronautical engineering. the study employed a survey technique in the form of distributing questionnaires and interview for the lecturers, and centre of quality insurance. indonesian qualification framework to standardize the graduate of aeronautical engineering with the national criteria is used as the source of developing the research instruments. the result of the study is expected to be able to build the foundation of developing better english course for aeronautical engineering students. keywords: need analysis, esp, aeronautic introduction the first part of this research is written to describe the background of the problems containing the issues related to english for aeronautical engineering purposes (henceforth eaep) as the research foundation. it includes background, problem identification, problem limitation, problem formulation, research goal, and research benefit. background a number of methods and strategies have been applied and adopted to facilitate students’ development to master english in higher education. one of the goals set by most colleges and universities is to prepare the students to be ready to face global competiveness and to become professionals in their fields. it is unavoidable that most job vacancies need english proficiency as a basic requirement when companies expand internationally. considering this objective, traditional english focusing on the four main skills; listening, speaking, reading, and writing is inadequate to prepare students for work. therefore, english for specific purposes (esp) emerges to facilitate the students to be well prepared to face global competitiveness in their future professional development. as one of the fields under esp context, english for aeronautical engineering purposes (eaep) is interesting to be explored more deeply. being responsible for the aircraft design, construction, and operation, aeronautic engineers have big roles in the air transportation safety and development. hence, the graduates of aeronautical engineering department have to have adequate capability professionally. to achieve this objective, it is important to llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 october 2016 issn 1410-7201 106 provide the students with effective materials, based on their practical needs, in the syllabus design and the course development. thus, one of the challenging jobs of aeronautical engineering course developer is to identify the needs of the learner and then design the specific course. (basturkmen: 2010). contextually, indonesian education holds indonesian qualification framework (kerangka kualifikasi nasional indonesia, kkni); a system connecting education and training to develop qualified and certified human resources through formal and non formal education, career training, and career experience. since this research will focus on undergraduate level students, qualifications of level 6 become the references to discuss this. identification of the problems there are basically two things that the graduates of aeronautical engineering should have to be able to compete globally; aeronautics matters through english and supported by qualifications of level 6. it is no doubt that aeronautical engineering students have sufficient knowledge of their subject matter. however, the problems appear when they have to use the knowledge in english. the students can learn english through english courses and trainings outside the college in order to improve their english and prepare for their job hunting. nevertheless, so far, it is not easy to selectively choose language programs that suit their needs. therefore, a design of effective english course to solve this problem should be created. an effective english course should be designed based on students’ needs. it is expected that students are able to gain knowledge and skills of the language so they can be professional engineers in the future. considering that objective, investigating students’ needs becomes the foundation of developing an effective course. contextually, it should pay attention to college’s vision, department curriculum, tracer study, and indonesian qualification framework. problem formulation as an educational institution to prepare the students to be professional engineers, colleges and universities running aeronautical engineering departments should provide a sufficient course effectively. as aeronautics uses english often, either in theoretical books or in practical work for air transportation safety, a good aeronautical engineering department should provide the students with an effective english course based on the students’ needs. by doing so, the graduates will be able to compete in the global competition and grow in professional development. conducting research on designing an effective english course for aeronautical engineering students will be very hard and time consuming and therefore will not be feasible for the researcher. considering the limitations, this research will focus on the need analysis of english for aeronautical engineering purposes in stt adisutjipto college. thus, this research is intended to answer the problem formulation of ‘what should llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 october 2016 issn 1410-7201 107 be taught to aeronautical engineering department students to facilitate effective english course?’. research objective corresponding to the formulation of the problem, the objective of this research is to identify the components that should be in the design of the english course materials for aeronautical engineering purposes to facilitate effective learning. research significance this research is expected to contribute to the following parties: 1. to the aeronautical engineering department, the researcher hopes that the result of this research can be an input of reference relating to materials design and development as well as english for specific purposes. 2. to other researchers who wish to develop english learning materials for aeronautical engineering subject or other subjects, the result of this research can be a reference as to what an effective material is like. research method this chapter subsequently comprises the type of study, the setting, the research procedure, the data collection technique, and the data analysis technique. type of study as the goal of this study is to investigate the need analysis, a survey was employed. needs analysis process is intended to collect information about the learners and define the target situation and the techniques of achieving specific teaching objectives. since esp is based on the need analysis, the learning objective is more obviously determined than in general english that sometimes the students will be more motivated in learning the subject matters which are related to the study (otilia, 2015). in addition, neuman (2000) says a survey asks many people (called respondents) about their beliefs, opinions, characteristics, and behavior through the same questions. the researcher measured many variables, infer temporal order from questions about past behavior, experiences, and characteristics. setting the research was conducted in aeronautical engineering department, stt adisutjipto, yogyakarta. it took samples from 50 randomly chosen students from two different classes, head of the department, and the head of centre of quality insurance (pusat penjamin mutu, p2m) the board controlling the quality of education. data collection technique in order to conduct a thorough needs analysis, a triangulation of questionnaires, interviews with lecturers, and observation during the course were conducted. data analysis technique after collecting the entire data, each instrument was analyzed. the first step was analyzing the questionnaire responses that were put into table of percentage. after the table has been completed, the data were described. secondly, the result llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 october 2016 issn 1410-7201 108 of interviews with the lecturer (head of department) and the head of quality insurance centre were analyzed to find the deeper information. thirdly, the result of observation during the course was analyzed to see the appropriate materials and techniques for future program. discussion the main objective of this research is to analyze the english students’ needs of aeronautical engineering. the english course design integrating subject matters and qualification framework is a relatively new proposed program as an attempt to develop engineering students’ qualification and certification. the rationale behind this program is to improve indonesian students’ english proficiency and to prepare them to be able to compete in global competition. for that reason, theories of english for specific purposes, qualification framework, aeronautical engineering, and adult learning will be presented and discussed. english for specific purposes (esp) esp has been the subject of increasing attention in recent years. differently taught from general english, esp concentrates more on language in the thematic context than the grammar and language structure. the objective of learning in esp is not merely integrating the four language skills; listening, speaking, reading, and writing but it is need analysis based. in designing an esp instruction, grammatical functions, acquisition skills, terminology, specific functional content form the discipline are crucial. even though esp differs from general english, general english language content should also be integrated into the course since (a) content-related language cannot function without (b) general english language content (chen, 2008). so (a) and (b) are integrated in such a way that students get both. esp is traditionally divided into two main areas; eap (english for academic purposes) and eop (english for occupational purposes). in eap, the students learn english to enter professions, focusing on the language of academic performance preparing for future identified workplace needs. on the other hand, in eop, the students are already employed in industrial sectors and learn english focusing on the language of job performance while preparing for identified employment opportunities. under this circumstance, esp varies into multiple fields and professions such as tourism english, medical english, aeronautical english, and business english. basturkmen (2006) reports that subject specific language and target performance competencies are the two main objectives of esp. both objectives are necessary as the students need to gain their target workplace, academic, and professional development that they can be socially integrated into their discourse community. in esp, the teacher is often called as a practitioner to emphasize that esp is not merely a teaching activity. dudley-evans & st john llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 october 2016 issn 1410-7201 109 (1998) describes a practitioner’s responsibility might be done to meet the goal of esp course. first, a practitioner conducts a research study toward his course program in terms of need analysis and course evaluation. second, he or she provides a course design and the materials based on the need analysis conducted before teaching. third, a practitioner facilitates a teaching process as a practical discipline to help students learn. fourth, a practitioner elaborates the target language with the subject specialist to give the students opportunities to practice english in the working situation. fifth, a practitioner evaluates the students’ proficiency, the quality of teaching materials, and the course design that might be conducted on an on-going process and after the course has finished. to meet the goal of each esp program, including english for aeronautical purposes, need analysis before conducting the course should be conducted. miyake and themarco (2005) summarize the components of needs analysis as follows: 1) target situation analysis and objective needs, 2) wants, means, subjective needs, 3) present situation analysis, 4) lacks, 5) learning needs, linguistic analysis, discourse analysis, genre analysis, 6) the course goal, and 7) means analysis. indonesian qualification framework a qualification framework is proposed as an independent system that correlates educational sector and training to create qualified and certified human resources. a student may get a qualified status through formal education, while a certified status may be obtained through non formal, informal training, and working experience. this research focuses on undergraduate students as the research subjects. derived from presidential regulation number 8, year 2012, regarding indonesian qualification framework, it is stated that undergraduate students should be qualified for the four level 6 qualifications. first, the students should be able to apply a skill and use sciences, technology, and arts in their field to solve problems as well as being able to adapt to a particular situation. second, the students should master professionally a particular theoretical field concept in general and specific and be able to formulate a procedural problem solving. third, the students should be able to make a decision based on information analysis and data, and give instructions in selecting alternatives independently and in a group. fourth, the students should be responsible in their individual and organizational working achievement. english for aeronautical english purposes (eaep) in accordance with the need analysis components, in terms of target situation analysis and objective needs, the respondents; lecturer (head of department) and head of quality insurance centre showed that english lesson is intended to facilitate the students qualified to be aeronautical engineers and compete globally as quoted in the following statement answering the question “what should english course llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 october 2016 issn 1410-7201 110 contribute to the students for their long term goals?” lecturer “the students must be able to read and apply a manual and sop because in their work field, they will need to read manuals and sop all the t ime to fix aircraft.” head of quality insurance centre “the students must be able to understand the content of manual. furthermore, after being a qualified engineer, they must be able to develop their careers even go international thus english course should facilitate the students with english proficiency test (toefl, toeic, ielts) preparation as well.” these data are in line with students’ survey showed in the following table responding the statement “learning english is very important for my future career”. strongly agree agree neither agree nor disagree disagree strongly disagree 88% 12% 0% 0% 0% the english test preparation is considered necessary due to the tracer study that most graduates work in airline industry in which the qualifications need english proficiency. considering that aeronautical engineering departments only have 6 credits for english; 2 credits each for semester one to three, offered as general english in semester 1 and technical english in semester 2 & 3, therefore english proficiency test preparation should be excluded from intra curricular and conducted under language laboratory authorities proven by certificate. this program supports the indonesian qualification framework to develop undergraduate students certified status through informal training. to make either formal or informal learning synergy, it is better to include the english proficiency test as one of the score contributions for intra curricular score that the students are encouraged to improve it. to facilitate the students’ wants, means, and subjective needs, presently, aeronautical engineering department requires the students to have a minimum of 450 toefl score as the qualification in the graduation requirement. in fact, the students feel it is difficult to achieve that since the training is not sufficient. the solution is reviewing the toefl cut-off score with the stake holders and increasing the number of english preparation training so that the students can reach the desired standard. discussing the present situation, the students feel that english is a challenge for them presently. having taken english lesson since junior high school, the students responded to the questionnaire for statement “i think, english lesson is … .” as follows, very easy easy neither easy nor difficult difficult very difficult 2% 28% 16% 52% 2% llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 october 2016 issn 1410-7201 111 this response might be the feedback for english lecturers on how to teach english lesson effectively. one breakthrough should be developed in making english more interesting through multimedia and e-learning. it is supported by the students’ responses on the statement “i have been using internet technology to learn english”. strongly agree agree neither agree nor disagree disagree strongly disagree 30% 60% 10% 0% 0% the percentage is also in line with the lecturers’ interview answering the questions “in which technique might the students be encouraged to learn english in this digital era?” lecturer “the students are now very close with gadget technologies. thus, it is important to develop multimedia or e-learning project”. head of quality insurance centre “it is unavoidable that gadget becomes our prime tool right now. everyone has it. thus, it is a good way to make english learning interesting through what they touch every day; a hand phone, for example” this data are supported by the students’ performance in presenting a power point in groups on a selected topic about aeronautical fields. the students looked very enthusiastic in delivering the presentation. those who were rarely involved in the classroom activity presented the materials enthusiastically. investigating the lacks, eaep needs more authentic materials as stated in the lecturers’ responses “what materials should facilitate english learning effectively?” lecturer “yes, the real materials. if it is not available, at least the lecturer should provide the video of the real phenomena on aeronautical engineering or picture, but would be better if the students see the authentic ones”. head of quality insurance centre “it is unavoidable that gadget becomes our prime tool right now. everyone has it. thus, it is a good way to make english learning interesting through what they touch every day; a hand phone, for example” the students respond at the same point on the statement “i think, authentic materials in aeronautics are very important to describe the real condition”. strongly agree agree neither agree nor disagree disagree strongly disagree 34% 56% 8% 2% 0% in fact, the authentic materials in the adisutjipto college of technology are still limited. the solution is the students might access the materials in their internship under the english lecturer’s given project. as mentioned at the lecturers’ opinion on the first question, the significant authentic materials are llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 october 2016 issn 1410-7201 112 manuals and sop. these materials are effective to improve the students’ reading skill as reading skill is seen as the most frequently employed skill in aeronautical field. by improving the reading skill, the students might improve their technical terms that are very important in their career as an engineer. this goal is supported by the students’ responses on the statement 1) “i think, preparation on technical terms is very important” and 2) “i think, reading skill on aeronautical engineering field is very important”. no. strongly agree agree neither agree nor disagree disagree strongly disagree 1 52% 46% 2% 0% 0% 2 58% 42% 0% 0% 0% the data contribute to the next analysis; the learning needs, linguistic analysis, discourse analysis, and genre analysis. the interpretation is that reading skill on the manual and sop is the most frequently employed skill. this skill might support other language competencies such as vocabulary development, grammar, listening, speaking, and writing. the lecturer and the head of quality insurance added the opinion on the question “how should grammar and vocabulary be taught?” lecturer “i think in integration but still prioritize reading. based on my 7 years experience in airline, i had to read every single manual in aircraft maintenance. and at the same way, i could improve my grammar and vocabulary as there was a gap i should solve to comprehend the content of the materials and i learnt grammar & vocabulary automatically through reading” head of quality insurance centre “i think the contextual reading will facilitate the vocabulary and grammar mastery. maybe the lecturer focuses on the reading comprehension while checking the grammar & vocabulary if necessary” the last analysis falls upon the course and means analysis. as the goal of the graduates is getting appropriate jobs, it is important to facilitate the eaep with job hunting materials. it is positively responded by the students on their questionnaire “i think, job hunting material (cover letter, cv, interview) in english is important in my future career”. strongly agree agree neither agree nor disagree disagree strongly disagree 56% 38% 6% 0% 0% the stake holders, lecturer and quality insurance, argue similarly as follows, lecturer “i think job hunting is important but not the priority. it is better to be given in the extracurricular lesson for the fresh graduate or the senior students as they llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 october 2016 issn 1410-7201 113 will prepare job hunting already”. head of quality insurance centre “it is important but remember, give more simulations and practices instead of theory. also give awareness on the need of learning process.” nowadays, there is no facility to give the students access in preparing their job hunting informally in the college. as this college periodically conducts recruitment tests with certain airlines, most students fail at the english test and english interview. therefore, there should be a program to prepare the students to be ready for this test in terms of job hunting extracurricular lesson. conclusion this paper attempts to identify the needs for english for aeronautical engineering students in stta. the need analysis reveals what students, lecturer, and head of quality insurance think and require. properly understanding their needs is essential in designing esp course. the results are as follows: a. english lesson is intended to facilitate the students qualified to be aeronautical engineers and compete globally b. reviewing the toefl standard with the stake holders and increasing the english preparation training so that the students can reach the standard c. most students feel english is difficult that the lecturer should find the effective technique d. there is not yet multimedia and e-learning that might encourage the students to learn english e. reading skill is the most frequently required skill in aeronautical field f. there should be a program on job hunting in english g. there should be synergy between formal and informal english training to prepare the students being engineers professionally references ______(2012). lampiran peraturan presiden republik indonesia no. 8 tahun 2012. basturkmen, h. (2006). ideas and options in english for specific purposes. new jersey: lawrence erlbaum associates. __________ (2010). developing courses in english for specific purposes. palgrave: new york. chen, c. m. (2008). the difficulty of university english courses and english for specific purposes: from the view of policy and administration. english career, 28, 12-16. dudley-evans, t., and st john, m. (1998). developments in esp: a multidisciplinary approach. cambridge: cup. issn 2251-838x. science explorer publications. vol, 4 (5): 1014-1020. miyake, m. and john, t. (2005). needs analysis for nursing students utilizing questionnaires and interviews. kawasaki journal of medical welfare. volume ii, no.1, 2005 23-24. llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 october 2016 issn 1410-7201 114 neuman, w. l. (2000). social research methods: qualitative and quantitative approaches. 4 th ed. allyn and bacon: boston. otilia, s. m. (2015). needs analysis in english for specific purposes. annals of the „constantin brâncuşi” university of târgu jiu, economy series, issue 1, volume ii/2015 front cover llt journal oct 2016b binder3.pdf front cover llt journal oct 2016b llt journal oct 2016 complete finalized.pdf front cover llt journal oct 2016b llt j oct 2016 (10 oct).pdf llt journal front pages oct 2016 (10 nov) nnn llt journal oct 2016 articles fixed to be reedited llt journal submission guidelines oct 2016 vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 15 a preliminary research to develop a customized set of vocabulary size test laurentia sumarni elesp sanata dharma university laurentia.sumarni@gmail.com abstract this is a preliminary research to investigate useful words to function effectively in academic contexts, vocabulary size, the first-year students’ word list, and the steps to design the customized set of entrylevel vocabulary size test. this research was a library research. to find out the elesp students’ current vocabulary size, a vocabulary size test designed by paul nation was administered. the results show that useful words were (1) high-frequency words containing 2,000 word families, (2) academic words specified in the academic word list (coxhead:2000), (3) technical words, (4) low-frequency words. the result of the administration of nation’s vocabulary size test shows that the students’ scores range between 33 and 96 words, with the mean score of 66. it means that the students’ vocabulary size ranges between 3,300 and 9,600 word families. the average students’ vocabulary size was 6,600 word families, which imply that most elesp students are ready to read texts containing 88.7% word coverage. in order to increase their vocabulary size by 10,000 or more, they need to learn technical words and low-frequency words of a specialized subject area. using nation’s specifications for making the test, some procedures of test design are: sampling the words for the items, making the stem , writing the choices, the order of the items in the test, piloting, administering the test. the decisions on curriculum, materials and teaching strategies should be based on the results of vocabulary size to gain optimum learning outcome. k e y w o r d s : e n t r y l e v e l v o c a b u l a r y s i z e t e s t , h i g h f r e q u e n c y w o r d s , l o w f r e q u e n c y l e v e l w o r d s introduction it is undeniable that vocabulary in language acquisition plays a very important role. for successful communication, vocabulary is very crucial and indispensable. in english language learning and teaching, vocabulary is the currency without which communication and meaning-making are impossible. in the indonesian context, where english is a foreign language, a clear schoolbased standard of vocabulary size should be established as a guidance in curriculum, syllabus, and material development. ironically, in english language teaching, vocabulary is not considered important. this can be seen from the very little attention and consideration of vocabulary learning in the curriculum. it is assumed that vocabulary learning is integrated in the course subjects (implicit / incidental learning) and thus explicit or deliberate vocabulary learning is deemed unnecessary. before performing the macro skills i.e. listening, speaking, reading and writing, vocabulary is the capital which enables students to understand, express, comprehend and write their ideas. in university level, students’ academic success is always measured by means of written and spoken assessments, in which they show their knowledge of a particular topic by the use of specialized vocabulary. research on vocabulary size in other countries where english is a foreign language shows that a foreign language learner at the high school level in taiwan was required to learn 6,600 words. the japanese university students are required to learn 10,000 words, while the russian university students must learn 15,000 words. in addition, the vocabulary size of the dutch students is 10,000 words (allen 1983). according to the 1984 english mailto:laurentia.sumarni@gmail.com vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 16 curriculum, a senior high school graduates are expected to master 4,000 words. pbi (elesp-english language education study program) does not have an entry-level vocabulary test to decide which level students are at the beginning of their programs. a standard vocabulary size test is not available to determine the placement of new students, because students are admitted to the program based on their final high school mark in the english subject. in addition, decisions on curriculum, syllabus and material development are still based on common sense, instead of research-based. in response to this, an entry-level vocabulary test to measure pbi students’ vocabulary size is crucial and urgent to be conducted because the test can give a lot of important information regarding the current vocabulary size. in turn, this information can be used as the basis to revise curriculum, syllabus, lesson plans, materials, class activities and assessment. this information will also help to solve many problems regarding students’ low written and oral performance. teachers and students will know which words and how many words students need to learn to be able to function effectively in academic settings. the information obtained from the tests can also be used to decide the necessary action plans to address the problems. therefore, this research aims to investigate these questions: 1) which words are useful to enable pbi students to function effectively in academic contexts? 2) using nation’s vocabulary size test, what is the size of the first-year students’ vocabulary? 3) how many words should the first-year students learn? 4) what are the steps to design the set of customized entry-level vocabulary size tests? it is hoped that this research can open opportunities for further research on vocabulary testing to explore its contribution in english language teaching and learning. research on vocabulary testing can contribute to the development of science and knowledge in indonesia, especially in shedding the lights on english language teaching, curriculum revision, teaching strategies, material development and language testing. theoretical review this section outlines the literatures on vocabulary in english language teaching, learning and assessment. it is important, first of all, to define vocabulary and underline its significance in english language teaching and learning. lehr, osborn, & hiebert (2004) cited in read (2000) define vocabulary as words we use to communicate in spoken and written language. receptive vocabulary refers to the words we understand through reading and listening, while productive vocabulary refers to words we use to communicate through writing and speaking (as quoted in hanson and padua, 2011) some prominent researchers have all agreed that vocabulary is crucial and indispensable element to create effective and successful communication in written and spoken contexts. pikulski and templeton (nd) state that “our ability to function in today’s complex social and economic worlds is mightily affected by our language skills and word knowledge.” success in life thus largely depends on our word knowledge and our ability to use the knowledge. ellis (1997) has shown that “vocabulary knowledge is indispensable to acquire grammar.” vocabulary is very crucial to understand spoken and written discourses and to express ideas orally as well as in writing. coombe adds that “experts in the field of vocabulary development are in agreement that vocabulary is central to the language learning process, and as such, it is generally accepted that a focus on strengthening vocabulary is necessary at every stage of a learner’s language development.” folse (2003) as cited in coombe, states that “without syntax, meaning is hindered; but without vocabulary meaning is impossible”. in the english language education study program, the students are required to listen to spoken discourses, read written texts, speak up their ideas and write academic essays. in short, they have to be able to perform various communicative tasks in academic settings. the assessments are based on their spoken and written performance. vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 17 therefore, their ability to speak and write using specialized vocabulary is used to judge their overall english ability. to be able to cope with this challenge, how many words should a student have? a number of researchers have come up with vocabulary size. hirsch and nation suggest that “to achieve pleasurable reading it is necessary for learners to have a vocabulary of around 5,000 words.” waring and nation have investigated the vocabulary size and text coverage in written discourse. table 1. vocabulary size and text coverage of written discourse around 2,000 words are needed to reach 80% coverage of a written text. however, students must strive to get at least 98% coverage. nation (2006) suggests the vocabulary sizes needed to get 98% coverage (including proper nouns) of various kinds of texts. the vocabulary sizes and the number of word families are shown in the following table. table 2: vocabulary sizes to get 98% coverage in various kinds of written texts. nation says that ‘the goal of around 8,000 word families is an important one for learners who wish to deal with a range of unsimplified spoken and written texts.” in writing, nation (2008) suggests that “a small number of words (around 2,000 to 3,000) can be used effectively to express an enormous number of ideas.” nation (1990, 1993, 2001) further adds that “the critical importance of developing an adequate high-frequency vocabulary since learner’s skill in using the language is heavily dependent on the number of words they know, particularly in the early stages of learning a foreign language, with around 3,000 word families being a crucial threshold.” hirsch and nation (1992) argue that “in order to reach text comprehension, readers need to be familiar with 95% of the words in a text.” this text coverage percentage is logical because “to cope well in english, a second language learner would need around 5,000 words and preferably 10,000 words” (nation, 2004). in addition, a foreign language or a second language learner with higher vocabulary size will be more successful in his / her learning. francis and kucera (1982) suggest that “the 2,000 most frequent word families of english make up 79.7% of the individual words in any english text, the 3,000 most frequent word families represent 84%, the 4,000 most frequent word families make up about 86.7%, and the 5,000 most frequent word families cover 88.6%. a much better reading comprehension power is ensured if a reader knows the meanings of at least 90% of the words in a text.” in line with that, schmitt states that “the vocabulary in the 2,000-3,000 vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 18 frequency band provides additional material for spoken discourse, but additionally, knowledge of around 3,000 word families is the threshold that should allow learners to begin to read authentic texts. most research indicates that knowledge of the most frequent 5,000 word families should provide enough vocabulary to enable learners to read authentic texts.” in short, the researchers agree that the bigger vocabulary size, the better learners will understand spoken and written discourses. considering the importance of vocabulary size and knowledge to enable a foreign language learner to function effectively in academic settings, vocabulary testing is thus crucial to be implemented. nation (2008:144) argues that “vocabulary testing can be used to work out what needs to be taught, to monitor and encourage learning, to place learners in the right class, to measure learners’ achievement, to measure learners’ vocabulary size and performance.” he further adds that for research purposes, vocabulary testing can be used to “evaluate teaching and learning activities.” anderson and freebody found that “vocabulary size is a good predictor of reading comprehension.” coady, magott, hubbard, graney and mokhtari (1993) also found that vocabulary is “an important factor for obtaining fluency in speech.” to measure vocabulary levels, the vocabulary levels test (nation,1983) was developed to find where learners’ vocabulary needed attention. it consists of five levels of tests, sampling vocabulary from the 2nd 1,000word level, the 3rd 1,000-word level, the 5th 1,000-word level, the 10th 1,000-word level and the academic word list. each level contains 30 items. the high frequency words of english include the 1st 1,000-word level and the 2nd 1,000-word level. the productive levels test (nation, 2008:38) will give an indication of learners’ productive vocabulary. for example, their spoken productive vocabulary can be checked by doing the same or different pair exercise with pictures based on the general service list. the following table summarizes the purposes and features of vocabulary tests (nation, 2008:145) which will be used as the guidelines in developing the multiple-level vocabulary assessment tools to measure the vocabulary size and knowledge of the students in the elesp. table 3: purposes and features of vocabulary tests (nation, 2008:145) reason for testing selection of words to test test requirements useful formats and existing tests degree of difficulty encourage learning choose from what the learners have been studying easy to mark easy to mark learners are likely to be successful teacher labeling, matching, completion, translation easy placement choose from a range of vocabulary levels good reliability and validity quick to mark easy to interpret cover a wide range of levels vocabulary levels test (monolingual or bilingual) dictation levels test yes/no test matching multiple-choice a range of difficulty diagnosis choose from a range of vocabulary levels good reliability and validity provide a lot of information cover a wide range of levels vocabulary levels test dictation levels test evst -yes/no test a range of difficulty award a grade (achievement) choose from what the learners have been studying good reliability and validity method of testing matches the kind of learning required translation matching multiple-choice easy to moderate difficulty evaluate a learning activity choose from what the learners have been studying in the activity each word is tested in two or three ways at different levels of sensitivity form recognition multiple-choice translation interview a wide range of difficulty measure the learners’ proficiency choose from a range of vocabulary levels good reliability and validity lexical frequency profile vocabulary size test translation vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 19 it is clear now why vocabulary assessments need to be carried out. vocabulary assessment can help teachers to measure the effectiveness of their teaching and learning activities. the purpose of vocabulary assessment, according to read (2000:2), is to “monitor the learner’s progress in vocabulary learning and to assess how adequate their vocabulary knowledge is to meet their communication needs.” he identifies three dimensions of vocabulary assessment as shown in the following figure. figure 1: dimensions of vocabulary assessment (read 2000:9) discrete a measure of vocabulary knowledge or use as an independent construct embedded a measure of vocabulary which forms part of the assessment of some other, larger construct selective a measure in which specific vocabulary items are the focus of the assessment comprehensive a measure which takes account of the whole vocabulary content of the input material (reading/listening tasks or the test-taker’s response (writing/speaking tasks) context-independent a vocabulary measure in which the test-taker can produce the expected response without referring to any context context-dependent a vocabulary measure which assesses the test-taker’s ability according to read, vocabulary size measures typically require a large sample of words that represent a defined frequency range, together with a simple response task to indicate whether each word is known or not. the coxhead’s academic word list will provide a great deal of words to be selected as test items. in addition, the general service list developed by west (1953) which lists 2,000 high-frequency word families which account for a high percentage of the running words in any written or spoken english text still has “sound selection criteria of frequency, range, familiarity and pedagogical value” (nation & waring, 1997; read, 2000:227-28).this gsl still provides a solid foundation for work in vocabulary assessments. methodology the method employed in this research was the library research aimed at finding the resources and references in the forms of books, articles, and journals which can support the researcher’s opinion. it was conducted to obtain theories and concepts related to vocabulary tests to measure vocabulary size. the subjects of the research are references on vocabulary size tests. the detailed library research will focus on such activities as follows: 1) reading the nation’s vocabulary levels test and productive vocabulary levels test, meara’s yes/no test, martinez’s phrase-test, read’s word associates test, coxhead’s academic word list, the west’s general service list, and thorndike’s 30,000-word list. this also involves researching the internet resources on vocabulary tests. 2) choosing the type of tests to be tested to the first-semester students 3) administering nation’s vocabulary size test to 156 students of pbi 4) analyzing the results of the test 5) drawing conclusions and recommendations on the design of a customized entry-level vocabulary size test. vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 20 research findings and discussion this section will present the results of the research both qualitatively and quantitatively. this section will provide the research results to answer the four questions. the library research was conducted to answer the first question, i.e. which words are useful to enable pbi students to function effectively in academic contexts? nation (2008:7) argues that “the most important group of words is the high frequency words of the language.” in addition, these words are used very frequently both in formal and informal uses of the language, in spoken or written mode, in novels, conversations, academic texts, etc. thus, the words that are useful to enable pbi students to function effectively in academic contexts are the high-frequency words consisting around 2,000 word families made up of 169 function words and 1831 content words. in addition to the high-frequency words, students need to acquire academic words which are not included in the most frequent 1,000 or 2,000 words but which are used widely in the specialized area. coxhead (as cited in nation, 2008:9) found that there were 570 word families which she later called the academic word list. she also found that “the words from the awl make up around 8.5% 10% of the running words in academic texts, that is, approximately one word in every ten comes from the awl. further, nation asserts that the words in awl are very important for learners who will use english for academic study either in upper secondary schools or in universities. the third group of words that need to be acquired by the elesp students was technical words. since the subjects in elesp deal mostly with linguistics, literature and education, students must be familiar with words related to those fields. according to nation (2008:10), “technical words are clearly very important for anyone who specializes in a particular area.” he further adds that “at least 20% of the running words in most technical texts are likely to be technical words” and “(technical words) probably range in size from around 1,000 words to 5,000 words depending on the subject area.” so, the group of words that the elesp students need to acquire is the words used in linguistics, literature and education fields which range up to 5,000 words. lastly, the elesp students need to acquire the low-frequency words as well in order to function effectively in academic settings. the low-frequency words make up the biggest and most diverse group of words. they include (1) words that are not quite frequent or wide range enough to be high frequency words, (2) technical words from other areas, and (3) words that just occur rarely. according to nation (2008:11), english probably has a low frequency vocabulary of around 20,000 word families. students need to know these low-frequency words in order to understand conversations, to read newspapers and understand academic texts, although the time devoted to teach these low-frequency words may not be as much as that devoted to teach high-frequency words. to answer the second question, a vocabulary size test designed by nation and beglar was administered to the elesp 2013 students at the beginning of the program to find out the size of students’ vocabulary. the test was chosen because it has fulfilled the criteria of a good test, namely reliable, valid, and practical. the test was given to 165 students of the elesp, but 9 students did not take the test for various reasons, so only 156 tests were administered. based on the test results, the mean score of the students’ vocabulary size was 66. to find out the vocabulary size, the score is multiplied by 100. so, the mean score 66 suggests that the students’ average vocabulary size was 6,600 words. out of 156 students, the score ranges between 33 and 96, which suggests that the students’ lowest vocabulary size was 3,300 words and the highest vocabulary size was 9,600 words. the median score was 65 and the mode was 58 which imply that half of the students scored between 65 and 96. this means that more than 50% of the total students (78 people) already had a vocabulary size above 5,000 words. as stated in the vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 21 literature review, most research indicates that knowledge of the most frequent 5,000 word families should provide enough vocabulary to enable learners to read authentic texts. from the results, it can be seen that actually most pbi students are lexically ready to read texts containing 88.7% text coverage. it means that with around 5,000 words, students are not familiar with 11.3%, or around 11 words per 100-word text. nation’s vocabulary size test is a discrete, selective, relatively contextindependent vocabulary test presented in a multiple-choice format in which test-takers were required to select the best definition of each word from four choices. the test consists of 140 multiple-choice items representing 14,000 word families of english. each 1,000 word family level is represented by 10 items. in order to get the total receptive vocabulary size, each student’s total score needs to be multiplied by 100. to see what words were tested, the test items will be listed as follows: 1st 1,000: see, time, period, figure, poor, drive, jump, shoe, standard, basis. 2nd 1,000: maintain, stone, upset, drawer, patience, nil, pub, circle, microphone, pro. 3rd 1,000: soldier, restore, jug, scrub, dinosaur, strap, pave, dash, rove, lonesome. 4th 1,000: compound, latter, candid, tummy, quiz, input, crab, vocabulary, remedy, allege. 5th 1,000: deficit, weep, nun, haunt, compost, cube, miniature, peel, fracture, bacterium. 6th 1,000: devious, premier, butler, accessory, threshold, thesis, strangle, cavalier, malign, veer. 7th 1,000: olive, quilt, stealth, shudder, bristle, bloc, demography, gimmick, azalea, yoghurt. 8th 1,000: erratic, palette, null, kindergarten, eclipse, marrow, locust, authentic, cabaret, mumble. 9th 1,000: hallmark, puritan, monologue, weir, whim, perturb, regent, octopus, fen, lintel. 10th 1,000: awe, peasantry, egalitarian, mystique, upbeat, cranny, pigtail, crowbar, ruck, lectern. 11th 1,000: excrete, mussel, yoga, counterclaim, puma, pallor, aperitif, hutch, emir, hessian. 12th 1,000: haze, spleen, soliloquy, reptile, alum, refectory, caffeine, impale, coven, trill. 13th 1,000: ubiquitous, talon, rouble, jovial, communique, plankton, skylark, beagle, atoll, didactic. 14th 1,000: canonical, atop, marsupial, augur, bawdy, gauche, thesaurus, erythrocyte, cordillera, limpid. the first five 1,000 were the highfrequency words and students were already familiar with these words. consequently, they scored better in these three 1,000 levels. the test was graded based on the level of difficulty and the degree of frequency of the words based on the british national corpus. the distribution of the total scores for each part can be seen in the following table. table 4: the students’ total scores for each part of the test. section of test students’ total scores degree of answerability 1st 1,000 1337 86% the highest 1 2nd 1,000 1103 71% 2 3rd 1,000 1026 66% 3 4th 1,000 997 64% 4 vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 22 5th 1,000 901 58% 5 6th 1,000 643 41% 7 7th 1,000 587 38% 8 8th 1,000 860 55% 6 9th 1,000 456 29% 13 10th 1,000 525 34% 9 11th 1,000 492 32% 10 12th 1,000 481 31% 11 13th 1,000 394 25% the lowest 14 14th 1,000 489 31% 12 from the table, it can be seen that students’ ability to answer the fifth to first 1,000 test items ranged between 64% 86%. it means that students are familiar with the words. the low degree of answerability in the rest of the words in the test items shows that the words tested were not familiar. this rings true because the words were taken from the low-frequency words which occur in specific contexts and specific texts. the lowest degree of answerability was in the 13th 1,000. only 25% of the total 10 words could be answered, which means averagely only 2 or 3 numbers were answered correctly. it can be concluded that, in average, the 2013 elesp students are already familiar with around 5,000 most frequent word families which cover 88.6% text coverage. the following table shows the relationship between the frequency level the vocabulary size score and what students need to do to increase their vocabulary size (nation:2012). table 5.: the relationship between frequency level, vocabulary size and learning procedures. level 1000 word family lists learning procedures high frequency 1000-2000 reading graded readers deliberate teaching and learning mid-frequency 3000-9000 reading mid-frequency readers deliberate learning low frequency 10,000 on wide reading specialised study of a subject area the result can be used to answer the third question, i.e. how many words should the first-year students learn? since in average, they are already familiar with the 6,600 word families, which represent high-frequency words in english language, students are encouraged to acquire more technical words related to linguistics, literature and education. in addition, they must also acquire lowfrequency words in order to understand texts in higher semesters. thus, they would logically need to learn 7,500 – 9,000 word families in their first year. based on table 5, students are now at the mid-frequency level, with vocabulary size ranging from 3,000 – 9,000 word families. in order to increase their vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 23 vocabulary size by 10,000, they need to learn words deliberately and widely on technical words and low-frequency words of a specialized subject area. besides using the test results to measure the total receptive written vocabulary size for the elesp students, the instructional purpose of the test administration was to use it as a reference in syllabus design, extensive reading, and vocabulary instruction. however, this vocabulary size test seems to underestimate the vocabulary size of the students who were not motivated to perform to the best of their ability. the administration of the test also opened wide opportunity for wild guessing. to obtain more valid data of the students’ vocabulary size, this test should be followed up with another series of vocabulary size test, such as bilingual vocabulary size test, vocabulary levels test, and yes/no test. some findings and experts’ opinions will be presented in this section to answer the fourth question, i.e. what are the steps to design a customized set of entry-level vocabulary size tests? here are the procedures of the vocabulary size test design adapted from nation’s specification for making the test (nation: 2012). 1. sampling the words for the items the items in the test need to represent the various frequency levels of the language without a bias towards any particular frequency levels. the frequency levels are based on word families which occurred in the british national corpus according to bauer and nations (1993 as cited in nation 2012). only a small number of items can be sampled from each vocabulary level, i.e. 10 items per level. it is expected that the scores will decrease by the levels and the total score for the test is what matters. the words listed in the academic word list and general service list will also be used as samples. 2. making the stem the test uses a stem plus a 4 choice in multiple-choice format. the item stem consists of the word followed by a very simple non-defining sentence containing the word. the non-defining sentence has the roles of (1) indicating the part of speech of the word, (2) limiting the meaning of the word where words may have a homograph or very different senses, and (3) slightly cueing the meaning by presenting an example of use. the words represented by distracters should fit sensibly within the stem. 3. writing the choices the distracters are the same part of speech as the correct answer, and in most cases the distracters are the meanings of words from around the same 1,000 word frequency level as the correct answer. the choices must be written in a much easier language than the tested word. 4. the order of the items in the test the test items in the test are usually arranged in frequency order. it means that the high-frequency words are arranged in the first half of the test and the low-frequency words are arranged in the last half of the test. this order results in students giving up at later levels. it would be better to mix the levels, with higher frequency words appearing through the whole test, which will likely result in the students’ maintained engagement with the test. 5. piloting piloting the test can be done by getting applied linguists who are native speakers of english to individually read and critique the test, replacing the target word with the nonsense word and getting a test-wise native speaker to try to choose the correct answer, and running the tests through the range program to check the frequency levels of words used in the contexts and choices. the test items then must be tested for the validity, reliability and practicability. since this research is only a preliminary research, the procedures must be followed up in the future research. conclusions and recommendation this section will discuss the conclusions of the research results on vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 24 vocabulary size test and offer some suggestions and recommendations to follow up this preliminary research. the discussions will be presented according to the order of the research questions. first, useful words to enable the elesp students to function effectively in academic contexts were (1) high-frequency words containing 2,000 word families made up of 169 function words and 1831 content words, (2) academic words which are used in the specialized area containing at least 570 word families called the academic word list (coxhead:2000), (3) technical words which deal with linguistics, literature and education which range up to 5,000 word families, (4) lowfrequency words in order to understand conversations, to read newspapers and understand academic texts. second, the result of the administration of nation’s vocabulary size test shows that the students’ scores range between 33 and 96 words, with the mean score of 66 and median of 65 and mode of 58. it means that students’ vocabulary size ranges between 3,300 and 9,600 word families. the average students’ vocabulary size was 6,600 word families, which implies that most elesp students are lexically ready to read texts containing 88.7% word coverage. third, the average students of pbi are familiar with the 6,600 word families which represent high-frequency words in the english language, students are encouraged to acquire more technical words related to linguistics, literature and education. currently, they are in their mid-frequency level, with the vocabulary size ranging from 3,000 to 9,000 word families. in order to increase their vocabulary size by 10,000, they need to learn words deliberately and widely on technical words and lowfrequency words of a specialized subject area. fourth, using nation’s specifications for making the test, the researcher listed some procedures of test design (nation: 2012). they are: sampling the words for the items, making the stem, writing the choices, the order of the items in the test, piloting, administering the test. based on the conclusions, there are some recommendations addressed to the following stakeholders: 1) teachers of english as a foreign language at university level. it is recommended that the design of the materials, the material revision, and the teaching strategies be adjusted to the students’ vocabulary size. the materials should provide meaningful input to increase students’ current vocabulary size and the teaching strategies help increase the vocabulary size. 2) curriculum designers in university level. it is recommended that the curriculum be designed based on the students’ vocabulary size. it is urgent that the institution decide what vocabulary size the students in each level should learn in order to improve the quality of the graduates. vocabulary size test should also be administered regularly to monitor students’ independent vocabulary learning. this in turn will increase students’ written and spoken performance. 3) material designers. it is recommended that materials be graded according to the vocabulary levels of the students. carefully and research-based graded materials will benefit the students and improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning process. 4) students of the elesp. it is recommended that students improve their vocabulary size by learning independently and reading extensively many types of text genres. 5) test designers. using the result of this research, test designers are recommended to follow up the procedures and design the customized vocabulary size test for the elesp students. 6) future research. the results of this research can be used as the reference for future research. hopefully, this research can shed some lights on the issues of vocabulary testing to promote effective english language teaching and learning. research-based decisions will be more recommended to make any alterations on students’ behalf. vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 25 references anderson, r.c., & p. freebody. 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(2006). reliability assessment for two versions of vocabulary levels tests. www.sciencedirect.com. internet vocabulary testing websites http://www.lextutor.ca/ http://my.vocabulary.com http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/staff/paul-nation.aspxhttp://jaltpublications.org/tlt/resources/2007/0707a.pdf http://www.eduplace.com/state/pdf/author/pik_temp.pdf http://www.um.es/ijes http://www.sciencedirect.com/ http://www.lextutor.ca/ http://my.vocabulary.com/ http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/staff/paul-nation.aspx http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/staff/paul-nation.aspx http://jalt-publications.org/tlt/resources/2007/0707a.pdf llt journal 2014 pages 1 to 3 front.pdf llt journal 2014 fixed backup llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 1, april 2019 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 33 the new generation of high quality esl/efl teachers: a proposal for interdisciplinary teacher education iwan syahril sampoerna university iwansyahril@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2019.220104 received 2 january 2019; revised 11 february 2019; accepted 25 march 2019 abstract this paper argues that esl/efl teacher education programs should be the leading agents of change in transforming a nation. with its emphasis on english mastery, an esl/efl teacher education program generally produces teachers with sufficient english to comprehend development/global issues, such as climate change, poverty, and inequality. the emphasis on the mastery of english as the international language will make pre-service teachers relatively better able to understand and produce multimodal english texts around those development/global issues compared to pre-service teachers from other subjects. building on the earlier work such as in content and language integrated learning (clil) and content area literacy, esl/efl teacher education can realize this vision with an innovative idea: an interdisciplinary teacher education program. this paper envisions that an esl/efl pre-service teacher education program collaborates with other subject area teacher education programs (e.g., social studies, science) working on an overreaching theme, such as sustainable development, or others. indeed, for a developing nation, such as indonesia, having quality teachers who can think and teach in an interdisciplinary manner can be very strategic not only in improving and transforming its education but also in accelerating its social and economic development. keywords: foreign language teacher education, educational transformation, educational change, interdisciplinary teacher education introduction recently, a number of research findings remind indonesians that much work still needs to be done to improve the educational quality. while many are already familiar with the consistently poor results of the performance of indonesian students in various national and international assessments, few realize what these results really mean in a big picture. an analysis from the data in the oecd’s piaac (programme for international assessment of adult competencies) report (oecd, 2016) by professor lant pritchett, an economist at harvard’s kennedy school of government, estimates that indonesia needs about 128 years to reach the current level of literacy of average of oecd countries (kaffenberger & pritchett, 2017; pritchett, 2016). more shockingly, this data used the samples from jakarta, arguably the most developed part of the country. a more concerning llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 34 situation was further given by professor pritchett when analyzing the data from the indonesia family life survey (ifls) from 2000 to 2014. he concludes that given the current rate of learning progress of indonesian students, it would take 1000 years for indonesian youth to reach the expected level of fundamental mathematical skills needed for the 21 st century (pritchett, 2018). as a matter of fact, indonesia has been experimenting with a number of education initiatives to improve its education quality. for example, indonesia often changes its national curriculum to incorporate new models of teaching and learning. since the reform era in late 1990s, indonesia has had at least three types of curriculum: competency-based curriculum, school-based curriculum (a more decentralized philosophy), and 2013 curriculum (a more centralized philosophy with an emphasis on character education) (wahyuni, 2016). at the school level, indonesia has tried initiatives such as school-based management and internationalstandard school model (e.g., coleman, 2011; sakhiyya, 2011). like many countries around the world, indonesia also overhauls its teacher quality as a strategy to improve its educational quality (e.g., chang et al., 2014; jalal et al., 2009; syahril, 2016). in fact, this is perhaps the biggest and most expensive innovation in indonesian education (fahmi, maulana, & yusuf, 2011). unfortunately, none of these initiatives seem to elevate the nation’s education quality as expected. instead the results of indonesian student learning have consistently been below quality expectations despite making a little progress overtime (e.g., bank, 2015; fasih, afkar, & tomlinson, 2018; rosser, 2018). this paper rests on a central premise – improvement of education quality should start from education schools, in particular in their role in producing quality teachers. while many scholars and policymakers around the world argue that quality student learning is mostly determined by teacher quality (e.g., barber & mourshed, 2007; paine & zeichner, 2012; sanders & rivers, 1996), i argue that teacher quality is mostly determined by the quality of teachers’ teacher education. figure 1. teacher education’s role in teacher quality and student success moreover, teacher education should be engaged not only in addressing the educational issues of the past and the present, but also in transforming its programs to meet the needs of the societal future. in this paper i would like to discuss how teacher education can be engaged in such transformation by focusing on the idea of interdisciplinary. the new generation of teachers in the 21 st century, i argue, should have the capacity for interdisciplinary thinking. my discussion will start with the conceptions of teacher quality from the fields of second language teacher education and teacher education. after that, i will discuss the proposal for a new generation of teachers by focusing on the interdisciplinary idea. i will explain why the english language teacher education can lead the proposal for an interdisciplinary teacher education. finally, i will discuss the potential challenges for implementing interdisciplinary teacher education. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 35 teacher quality: a view from second language teacher education the new generation of esl/efl teachers must be of very high quality. in this section, i will look into how teacher quality is defined by the literature in the field of second-language teacher education (slte). in general, the discussion about teacher quality among slte scholars seems to focus on the question about the knowledge base for language teachers. despite the establishment about language teaching as a field especially applied linguistics in 1960s, the discussion about the knowledge base of language teachers only started in mid 1990s. scholars in slte (e.g., faez, 2011; farrell, 2018; johnson, 2009; richards, 2008) explain that there are three strands of knowledge base in slte. the first one is the “knowledge about,” which is related to the content of language and language learning, the structure of the language, and some largely mechanistic pedagogy to transfer the knowledge to students (behaviorist paradigm). this was the dominant view about what language teachers need to know and be able to do in language teacher education programs until mid 1990s. this includes topics such as second language acquisition, fossilization, input/output processing, contrastive analysis/grammar, error correction, discourse analysis, phonology, etc. for foreign language teacher education, the dominant view was that student teachers should take primarily or exclusively of an undergraduate major in a foreign language that focuses largely on literature, cultural knowledge, and language proficiency. the criticism was that little or no attention was paid to pedagogical knowledge, and language teachers, despite knowing the theory and principles of language teaching, often failed to apply such knowledge in their classrooms. this led to the next development. the second strand of knowledge base in slte is the “knowledge how,” which is related to how language teachers should teach, classroom teaching skills and pedagogic issues. following the discussion about the knowledge base in general education research, the understanding about knowledge base of good language teachers also expanded to include concepts such as pedagogical content knowledge (shulman, 1986), or often shortened as pck. pck refers to the knowledge teachers need to transform content into accessible and learnable forms. for example, richards (1998) proposes six dimensions that constitute core knowledge base of second language teachers, which are: (1) theories of teaching, (2) teaching skills, (3) communication skills, (4) subject matter knowledge, (5) pedagogical reasoning and decision making, and (6) contextual knowledge. the third strand expands the knowledge base to include how language teachers learn to teach. this strand is influenced by the social nature of learning, that learning is situated within certain settings and contexts that influence how learning takes place (lave & wenger, 1991). this view is drawn on sociocultural theory. it argues that teacher learning should not be viewed “as translating knowledge and theories into practice but as constructing new knowledge and theory through participating in specific social contexts and engaging in particular types of activities and processes” (richards, 2008, p. 6). therefore, the process of learning is seen as the process of socialization into a community of practice. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 36 from these insights we can define a quality teacher as a teacher who has excellent knowledge about the content, knowledge about how to teach the content, and how to continue learning about teaching in their social settings/contexts. next, we will reflect on the conception of teacher quality from the larger body of knowledge in teacher education. multiple meanings of teacher quality having read the body of literature of teacher education, i have come to the conclusion that teacher quality means differently to different stakeholders in different contexts. for example, kennedy (2010b) explains that the notion of quality in teacher quality can have numerous interpretations. kennedy (2008) further suggests that the many definitions of teacher quality can be grouped into three broad areas: personal resources, performance, and effectiveness. personal resources personal resources are related with all the things teachers bring with them to the jobs (kennedy, 2008). this category can include knowledge, skills, expertise, beliefs, attitudes, values, personality traits, and credentials. a. quality as tested ability in this definition of quality, teachers with good test scores are regarded as quality teachers. the assumption is that the higher the test scores, the better the quality. recruiters usually use this notion of quality to determine teachers they hire. teachers with high test-scores are more likely to be recruited. regulators sometimes use this interpretation of quality to determine which teachers need professional development programs or even to be removed from teaching duties. teachers whose scores are below a certain threshold can be considered to follow a certain program to improve their quality or to be reassigned to non-teaching posts. b. quality as credentials credentials can be in the form of certificate or experience. for example, teachers with a license are considered to be the ones who have been professionally trained and have all the quality attributes to deal with teaching problems in various contexts. credentials can also refer to the numbers and/or types of experiences. teachers with many years of experience are usually considered to have a better quality than the ones with fewer years of teaching experience. c. quality as the ability to reason and learn from experience many teacher educators usually have the belief that teachers need to be lifelong learners. they believe that teachers need to continue to grow over time. to be engaged in such growth, the ability to reason and learn from experience is a key factor. teachers are considered reflective practitioners (schon, 1984). in this definition, quality refers to a teacher’s ability for reasoning and learning from experience. d. quality as beliefs and values teachers with certain beliefs and values are considered to be more compatible and adaptable to the recruiters’ school contexts. for example, religious or religion-oriented schools tend to recruit teachers with similar beliefs. schools with a strong stance on student-centered learning tend to hire teachers who have the same philosophical view. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 37 performance the second category, performance, is related to teachers’ day-to-day work (kennedy, 2008). this can include practices within the classroom, learning activities that are provided for students, and practices outside the classroom. many stakeholders believe that what matters most in quality is not teachers’ personal resources but what they actually do when teaching students. for example, teachers need to show how they successfully manage classrooms and engage students in quality learning (e.g., higher-order thinking). they need to show that they can create inclusive, caring, challenging, and stimulating classroom environments in which all students learn actively both inside and outside the classroom. we need to be mindful of the attribution error of equating teacher quality with teaching quality (kennedy, 2010a). teacher quality is not the same as teaching quality. attributing personal traits exclusively towards a teaching performance is problematic because situational factors – such as teaching time, teaching materials/resources, and teacher’s work assignments –also influence teaching performance. effectiveness the third category, effectiveness, refers to teachers’ impact on students (kennedy, 2008). this may include raising students’ test scores, fostering student learning, increasing student motivation, and fostering awareness, responsibility, and engagement for social/community issues. in recent years, the definition of quality in education is often related to student achievement, in particular test scores. thus, teacher quality is often associated to a teacher’s ability to raise student test-scores. stakeholders with this interpretation tend to think from the economics perspective, especially about the best use of the limited resources and expenditures in improving education quality. a comprehensive view of these three areas (personal resources, performance, and effectiveness) will lead to a very ambitious definition of teacher quality that reflects the complexities of the work of a teacher. it is not enough for a quality teacher to have excellent personal resources (e.g., knowledge, skills, expertise, beliefs, attitudes, values, personality traits, credentials). he/she also has to produce consistent quality performances inside and outside the classrooms (while being at the mercy of situational characteristics) that result in effective impacts on student learning. while the conception of teacher quality from the field of teacher education looks more multifaceted compared to the one from the field of second language teacher education, i argue that we need to further expand this conception to address what is required for education in the 21 st century. a new generation of teachers: interdisciplinary teachers twenty-first century students live in an interconnected, diverse and rapidly changing world. emerging economic, digital, cultural, demographic and environmental forces are shaping young people’s lives around the planet, and increasing their intercultural encounters on a daily basis. this complex environment presents an opportunity and a challenge. young people today must llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 38 not only learn to participate in a more interconnected world but also appreciate and benefit from cultural differences (oecd, 2018). when thinking about what skills required by teachers to promote education and learning for the future, we need to start by asking what type of competencies will be needed for our students to be successful in the future. the world is changing especially with the rapid advancement of digital technology. to prepare students for the future, countries around the world are rethinking their education and redesigning the system. one of them is finland, the country often praised for its excellent educational quality. starting 2016, all basic schools (students aged 7 to 16) in finland have gradually introduced and implemented a new curriculum framework using an interdisciplinary approach in the teaching and learning, called “phenomenonbased learning” or learning by topics (brown, 2017; silander, 2015; uef, 2017). in this approach, students use a topic (e.g., climate change, immigration, water) and look at it through multiple lenses from various subjects/disciplines. thus, this approach transforms the traditional school approach, which usually divides learning into individual subjects such as math, language, chemistry, geography, etc. instead, students learn all required knowledge and skills from across subjects by examining phenomena as a whole, like in the real-life context, utilizing the 21 st century skills such as critical thinking, creativity, innovation, team work and communication. moreover, in the phenomenon-based approach, learning is considered as a process that is built around students’ personal knowledge-building and regulation of their own learning. although the idea of integrating different subjects using themes and progressive pedagogical methods (e.g., inquiry learning, problem-based learning, project learning and portfolios) is not new at all in education, requiring all schools in a country to do this approach is indeed a bold decision. one central argument for the phenomenon-based approach is laid out by professor kirsti lonka, a professor of educational psychology at helsinki university, as follows: traditionally, learning has been defined as a list of subject matters and facts you need to acquire such as arithmetic and grammar with some decoration, like citizenship, built in around it. but when it comes to real life, our brain is not sliced into disciplines in that way; we are thinking in a very holistic way. and when you think about the problems in the world global crises, migration, the economy, the post-truth era we really haven't given our children the tools to deal with this inter-cultural world. i think it is a major mistake if we lead children to believe the world is simple and that if they learn certain facts they are ready to go. so learning to think, learning to understand, these are important skills and it also makes learning fun, which we think promotes wellbeing. (spiller, 2017) indeed, today’s global problems are complex and this requires an interdisciplinary approach to solve them. for example, solving the issue of climate change requires a comprehensive understanding about the influence of the oceans, rivers, sea ice, atmospheric constituents, solar radiation, transport processes, land use, land cover and other anthropogenic practices and feedback mechanisms that link this system of subsystems across scales of space and time (national academy sciences, 2004, as cited in greef, post, vink, & wenting, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 39 2017). therefore, this kind of approach calls for new professionals in the workforce who will need to develop new solutions and make decisions about the world’s pressing issues, to deal with the complexities of the future society (greef et al., 2017). to respond to these challenges, we need a new generation of teachers produced by a reimagined teacher education system. future teachers should be able to think and work in an interdisciplinary manner, the one that facilitates higher-order thinking skills, expands the explanatory capacity of knowledge, and provides the additional richness of viewing the topic through multiple lenses (you, 2017). teaching in an interdisciplinary manner will make learning easier for students because they can see it as more realistic and useful; thus, it will result in an increase of students’ motivation, and participation. we urgently need an interdisciplinary teacher education to prepare teachers who can teach in an interdisciplinary manner – a form of professional preparation and socialization that provides future teachers with ”an education that intentionally fosters, across multiple fields of study, wide-ranging knowledge of science, cultures, and society and an active commitment to the demonstrated ability to apply learning to complex problems and challenges” (greef et al., 2017). i argue that the english (l2/fl) teacher education programs can initiate an interdisciplinary teacher education programs that produce the new generation of teachers. central to this argument is that one traditional emphasis of an english language teacher education program is the mastery of english language. the ability to receive and produce multimodal texts in english language, thus, the ability to comprehend many themes across disciplines in english language, will make pre-service english language teachers better able to comprehend many disciplinary texts in english compared to pre-service teachers in other subject areas. the field of second language teacher education can implement an interdisciplinary teacher education by building on the work that has been conducted in content and language integrated learning (clil) approach in language learning. clil is defined as “educational methods in which ‘subjects are taught through a foreign language with dual-focused aims, namely the learning of content, and the simultaneous learning of a foreign language”’ (marsha, 2002, as cited in bonces, 2012, p. 179). coonan (2017) explains that clil was developed in europe in 1990s to improve the quality of a foreign language competence. a clil teacher can be a non-language subject teacher, a foreign language teacher (normally non-native), or a combination of both. the main difference, however, is that in the interdisciplinary teacher education, the teacher is trained to the specialist in both the language and the content. expanding a bilingual instruction/clil type of program to a special interdisciplinary certification teacher education program can be done by integrating science and language programs, language and social studies programs, or language and steam (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) programs. some recent work in the area of literacy also provides a foundation for an integrated learning of language and subject. the broader view of literacy and literacy teaching inspired by the new london group, l2 and fl learning has llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 40 shifted the focus of language learning from “what texts mean in an absolute sense, [to] what people mean by texts, and what texts mean to people who belong to different discourse communities” (kern, 2000, p. 2; emphasis in original). what is now considered as literacy goes beyond the ability to engage with a print text format but it includes multiple literacies in multiple modalities (cazden, cope, fairclough, & gee, 1996). this broader view of literacy and literacy teaching also calls for an l2/fl language curriculum that integrates language, culture, and literature (kern, 2000; mla, 2007). in fact, with this new view, “content literacy has the potential to maximize content acquisition” (mckenna & robinson, 2006, p. 12, as cited in kajder, 2007). a german model of interdisciplinary teacher education a model of an interdisciplinary program can be found in a new certificate on interdisciplinary teaching at the university of gottingen, germany geholz, 2018). this program has a focus on education for sustainable development (esd) with four subject specialist qualifications: natural science education, social studies, education for sustainable development, and bilingual instruction. student teachers learn content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in two disciplines in natural science and/or social science, and in bilingual instruction. they also need to complete integrated practical modules in natural science, social science and bilingual instruction. in addition they also need to learn about esd, starting from the content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and completing an integrated practical module in esd. part of the program outcomes are teachers are able to transfer (inter-)disciplinary content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge to design learning environment for esd, develop, test teaching concepts regarding climate change, biodiversity, resource conservation, cooperate with schools and outdoor education institutions, motivate for sd-related lifestyle, and motivate to participate in the society. challenges the proposal for interdisciplinary teacher education is still at the beginning stage. further critical discussions need to be made to reach a more comprehensive understanding about this idea, what it means, and how to implement it. it also needs pilot programs to understand what it means to run an interdisciplinary teacher education in various contexts. there are at least three foreseeable challenges in initiating and implementing an interdisciplinary teacher education program with an l2/fl language component. first, the field is still struggling with the theory and practice divide within the language teacher education itself (farrell, 2018). adding a new dimension, such as interdisciplinary approach, to the program may not be preferable when the core task is still not addressed successfully. indeed, language teacher education programs are still struggling in identifying what program content is necessary to help novice teachers teach in their first years of teaching. pre-service teachers seem to struggle to reconcile their own instructional histories as learners and the concepts they learn in slte programs (johnson, 2013). this is the classic problem known as “apprenticeship of observation” (lortie, 1975). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 41 second, in developing nations such as indonesia, the concern about english language mastery is very high, and it influences how english teacher education programs shape their programs. the emphasis in content is actually not new both in the fields of teacher education and second language teacher education. in fact, the concern about the content mastery is one of the main critiques not only for language teacher education programs but for all teacher education programs in general all over the world. in indonesia the concern of weak content mastery among teachers produced by teacher education programs is still felt until now. it is quite common for non-government schools to recruit teachers from top universities, not from teacher education programs, because they want to have teachers with stronger content mastery. finally, interdisciplinary teaching calls for a new professional identity and institutional culture among teacher educators. instead of focusing on their own study programs or departments, they will have to break the common silos to actively collaborate in developing, implementing, and assessing an interdisciplinary teacher education curriculum among common topics/themes/problems. this sea-change will require a restructure of how faculty members work. the transitional process towards a strong collaboration across the university can be disruptive for many. conclusion today’s world is interconnected and is rapidly changing as the impact of the exponential growth of digital technology innovations. to meet the challenges of the 21st century, education needs to be transformed. as a key component in quality education, having quality teachers is central in any educational transformation. up to date, education experts do not have a unified definition of teacher quality. the field of second language teacher education seems to focus the definition of teacher quality around the knowledge base: knowledge about what to teach, how to teach, and how to learn to teach. a more comprehensive framework about teacher quality is proposed by kennedy (2008) by highlighting three areas of quality: personal resources (e.g., knowledge, skills, expertise, beliefs, attitudes, values, personality traits, and credentials), performance, and effectiveness. moreover, the quality of teachers in any education system cannot exceed the quality of its teacher education. thus, teacher education is key in any educational transformation. in this paper, i put forward a proposal for interdisciplinary teacher education led by esl/efl programs. while the idea of an interdisciplinary education has been implemented in many contexts, with finland being the leading country to include interdisciplinarity in its education system, the idea of interdisciplinary teacher education is relatively new. building on earlier work in language teacher education such as content language integrated learning (clil) and content area literacy, i argue that esl/efl teacher education programs have a strong foundation to realize the idea of interdisciplinary teacher education. while acknowledging the challenges in realizing the idea of interdisciplinary teacher education in esl/efl teacher education (e.g., theory/practice divide, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 42 content mastery, the need for a new professional identity and institutional culture), i believe that teacher education, including language teacher education, should consider experimenting with the interdisciplinary idea for what we need now is not simply a reform but a transformation. a quote from abraham lincoln in the emancipation proclamation during the civil war in the united states in 1863 perhaps best captures the spirit that is needed for educational transformation: the dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. the occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion. as our case is new, we must think anew and act anew. we must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country. (abraham lincoln) indeed we must think anew and act anew as educators and teacher educators. even if you do not agree with the interdisciplinary teacher education proposal, i hope at least you agree that we need to join the urgency to rethink how education and teacher education can address the challenges of the 21st century world. developing nations such as indonesia must take a very active stance to reimagine what is possible for its education system for it cannot afford to wait 128 years or 1000 years as suggested by professor lant ritchett. indonesia needs a breakthrough, and interdisciplinary education and teacher education is a very compelling approach to be considered. references bank, t. w. (2015). teacher certification and beyond: an empirical evaluation of the teacher certification program and education quality improvements in indonesia. retrieved from jakarta, indonesia: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/24433 barber, m. & mourshed, m. 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(2017). why teach science with an interdisciplinary approach: history, trends and conceptual frameworks. journal of education and learning, 6(4), 66-77. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 380 multmedia-based presentation and self-confidence analysis: a quantitive study on english language learning of vocational college students iin indrayanti politeknik harapan bersama, tegal, indonesia correspondence: iinindrayanti@poltektegal.ac.id doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.3437 received 2 june 2021; accepted 30 october 2021 abstract technology using multimedia assistance is expected to be able to boost some changes both in the classroom atmosphere in general and individual in particular either cognitive (learning outcomes) or affective (learning attitudes). one of learning media that is well-known among users in education is multimedia presentations or power point which combine text, graphics, images, photos, audio, videos, and animation in an integrated manner. one of learning tools featuring those conveniences is genially. the current study was preliminary in nature regarding the use of genially online media presentation and to investigate with respect its influence on self-confidence among male and female students. the study focused on one skill of language in delivering selected topic or idea using english. using a quantitative approach, this study involved 62 students consisting of 42 males and 20 females of sophomore students from one vocational college in a small city in indonesia. to determine level of self-confidence, students were given a questionnaire responding 12 statements in 4 answer scales. output of one way anova and regression test calculation showed that the use of powerpoint genially influenced self-confidence for both genders. even though this media was capable to lead more pleasant and enjoyable learning atmosphere, the influence performed by the variables was considered less significant. this means that students still feel less confident to use oral english in delivering selected topics to their friends in the class. keywords: multimedia presentation, genially, self confidence, english speaking introduction technology in language classroom activities technology in the classroom has become a necessity. in this pandemic, the use of technology in learning activities has been increasingly carried out. the technology includes online learning and other tools of technology. the efforts continue to new chapters in the future. technology also brings flavour and gives a different colour to learning activities. the use of computers in teaching is also claimed to increase students' proficiency in various fields, including language proficiency. according to (muhasim, 2017), technology in the classroom increases productivity and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 381 motivation, help direct teaching, unique and increase insight. teaching english is also influenced by technology. a study by (ahmadi, 2018) discussed the use of technology that improved language skills among learners, meaningful learning environment, promoted more studentcentred, helped them feel more confident, increased motivation and provided interaction between classroom members. student’s perception on related works varies in many counties. a study presented by (coverdale-jones, 2000) revealed that technological environment occurred the students’ perception. the issue cites two advantages for the use of videoconferencing such as immediate communication and interaction with their own age group in germany classes. related study by (zamari et al., 2012) with 100 university students discovered the use of online language learning materials to improve the students’ motivation. however, by using web-based language learning materials, the results posed positive and negative feedbacks. (omar et al., 2012) identified learner’s attitude towards virtual learning or e-mentoring involving 205 adult learners in malaysia. the research found a positive and significant correlation among variables. multimedia and english language learning currently, technology in learning means learning using a variety of media (multimedia). one of the learning media that is quite familiar or well-known among users in education and teaching environments is multimedia presentations. multimedia presentation according to (k. thyagharajan et.al, 2015) is a presentation media that combines two or more media elements consisting of text, graphics, images, photos, audio, video, and animation in an integrated manner. this application or software provides various advantages and conveniences in helping teachers and students during learning using multimedia presentations. (babiker, 2015) states that multimedia education is the use of computers to create and combine text, graphics, audio, moving images (video and animation) by combining links with tools that allow users to navigate, interact, create, and communicate. in addition,(babiker, 2015) stated that multimedia-based presentations are used to explain theoretical materials in classical learning. the same opinion was conveyed by (guan, 2017). the advantage of the media is that this combines all media elements such as text, video, animation, images, graphics and sound into a single presentation and accommodates according to student learning modalities. the program has been proven to accommodate students with visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learning style who are expected to be able to foster students' enthusiasm in the learning process. why does multimedia play a very important role in learning? research by francis m. dwyer (stošić, 2015) states that after more than three days at his age, humans can remember messages conveyed 10% in written, 10% audio, 30% visual messages, 50% audio visuals, and 80% in learning by doing. one type of multimedia learning that is widely used in classroom situations is microsoft power point. this is in accordance with the study conducted by (inoue-smith, 2016), (wanner, 2015). however, the use and appearance of this software is also influenced by the teaching style of the teacher. as in (brock & joglekar, 2011), the use of power points is a strategy for various student learning styles in the classroom. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 382 the media has been well-known among professionals for decades and of course academics for their lectures in the classroom situation. however, technological developments carry newness in all fields, including software. adjusted to the current generation, this multimedia presentation was then developed in order to meet the needs of the users. one such multimedia-based presentation software is genially. an online software developed in 2015 by a spanish biologist named juan rubio lopez. according to (emprende, 2018), genially presents a variety of interesting features with images, audio, video, even integrated with references according to the topics presented, in the form of slides or power points to display material, topics, stories and so on. the question remains, whether the use of online presentation media, genially, foster self-confidence among students at vocational college to speak in english? this is important to study, because vocational students are prepared to become graduates and ready to face new world of working where skills are primarily needed. one of the skills that must be possessed is the skill to communicate especially using english. although english has long been a compulsory subject in vocational higher education in indonesia in every semester, students' language skills still need to be improved. as we know, there are 4 skills in language, namely listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. in particular, speaking skills are still considered the scariest among students. this was stated by (park, hyesook & r. lee, 2014) internal factors in the form of worry and embarrassment to start speaking or lack of confidence of grammar mistakes and limited vocabulary have been the main factors for this skill difficult to have for decades. this is stated by (wulandari & id, 2015). there have been also many studies conducted in several middle eastern countries that are interested in the similar study which is measuring the level of self-confidence of students in the higher education. one of those was done by (kalanzadeh et al., 2013). fear is the main reason they are reluctant to practice their english-speaking skills or by talking directly to other people. thus, this requires fun learning strategy to grasp the students’ attention. research related with respect to learning strategies carried out in indonesian schools is also varied, especially among secondary school students. among the studies concerning of learning strategies to increase the student self-confidence was carried out by (listyani & kristie, 2018). it was stated that several strategies could be given to encourage students to use words or even convey several sentences in english. they could be in the form of storytelling, small group discussions, presentations, role-plays and songs. in addition, according to (nurhayati et al., 2017) collaborative learning model can increase learning outcomes and achievement, especially in conveying ideas orally in front of the class. it can be concluded that the ability of the students to express ideas to other people using foreign languages is strongly influenced by their level of selfconfidence (hasan et al., 2020). multimedia-based presentation can also be provided as one strategy in multilingual class focusing in one productive skill (syafii et al., 2019). 14 students were randomly chosen to perform one topic in front of the class during two main steps of action research. the cycles were successfully conducted with active involvement among the students in delivering idea using power point llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 383 presentation. in addition, power point presentation can appeal to a number of different learning styles in learning and teaching activities as stated by (jones, 2003). some other findings regarding the issue in higher education has been widely published in various journals. one of those was conducted in banten, west java (fauzi, n.d, 2016.). the study involved 30 students majoring accounting study program through car on students’ oral skill and their motivation. the results showed that multimedia-based presentation helped the students perform better during speaking activities. multimedia presentation has been claimed to evoke academic interests. a literary study conducted by (zaim & hum, 2016) discussed the power of multimedia to enhance language skills among learners. unfortunately, less references and academic studies raised the use of genially, an online media presentation in classroom learning. thus, this research will be very beneficial for other related studies to define some variables of using the media from different perspectives. therefore, the aim of this research was to determine the use of multimedia presentation, genially, and to investigate whether there was an influence on the students’ self-confidence. furthermore, the focus this time was speaking using english (english speaking). method research design this study applied a quantitative approach with multimedia presentations as the independent variable and self-confidence as dependent variable with a total of 62 students (42 male and 20 female) as subject. they were listed as the 3rd semester students majoring in computer engineering at one private vocational college in tegal, indonesia who were chosen using convenience sampling technique. the population was favoured because they had taken english subject the previous semester with low level of self-confidence to convey ideas by speaking in english. as this was exploratory in nature to determine initial hypothesis of the variables, accordingly, this study focused only on the analysis of the level of selfconfidence through the use of virtual presentation without measuring with regard the level of students' ability to speak in english. in addition, as a preliminary study of the use of genially power point presentation, the researcher also investigated its influences with the level of selfconfidence between male and female students. furthermore, in order to get further results, the researcher determined initial hypothesis. in order to find out whether there was a correlation between the variables, the researcher proposed causal hypothesis as follow: h0: there is no influence on the level of self-confidence between male and female students after speaking english using genially. h1: there is an influence on the level of self-confidence between male and female students after speaking english using genially. instrument and procedure students were first given some topics through multimedia presentations. one of media that widely used in this pandemic was an interactive online power point called genially. this time, students were directed to have english speaking llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 384 session in delivering topics in the form of presentations. the topics presented were free but not limited to some current issues of technology enhancement during pandemic era. since the classroom activities were strongly advised not to be conducted face-to-face, the students presented the selected topic virtually. one reason because most lecturing was currently held online. students were then given a guidance or steps to perform a virtual presentation starting from opening and welcoming, delivering content of the topic as well as closing. the steps were done in accordance with the techniques of professional presentation provided by (grussendorf, 2004). this was aimed to make the students accustomed to deliver coherent presentations which is considered as an essential part to have similar sessions at different courses or when they are in the professional environment. the assessment indicators used were content of the presentation, intonation, expressions and fluency. data collection method a questionnaire adapted from (abdulhussain et al., 2017) consist of 12 simple questions to determine level of confidence in speaking english using genially multimedia presentation was distributed after they completed the sessions. data were obtained in 6 meetings from november to december 2020. statistical tests were carried out using one-factor analysis of variance (analysis of variance one-way anova). in addition, to determine how significant the influence of the independent variable on the level of self-confidence between the two gender groups, regression test was administered with significance level of 95% or with an alpha of 5%. this means that h0 is rejected if f count > f table or by comparing sig value < 5% (0.05) and h1 is accepted. findings and discussion to determine the influence of independent variable (power point genially) towards dependent variable (self-confidence) in english language presentations, the following table shows the result of the output data using one way anova statistical calculation. table 1. results of one-way anova analysis test on the self confidence of male students source of variation ss df ms f p-value f crit between groups 42.35294 11 3.850267 3.72474 7.86e-05 1.838792 within groups 198.4706 192 1.033701 total 240.8235 203 based on the statistical calculation on 42 male students, the output data obtained as in table 1. the value of fcount=3.72 reaches higher than the value of ftable (fcrit)=1.83, or 3.72 > 1.83. this indicated that there was an influence on the self-confidence of the students in speaking english after doing presentation using power point genially. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 385 table 2. results of one-way anova analysis test on the self confidence of female students source of variation ss df ms f p-value f crit between groups 39.07639 11 3.552399 3.239493 0.000613 1.861867708 within groups 144.75 132 1.096591 total 183.8264 143 similar results experienced by 20 female students. in table 2, the output data obtained with the value of fcount=3.23 reaches higher than the value of ftable,=1.86, or 3.23 > 1.86. this showed that there was also an influence on the level of selfconfidence of students in speaking english after doing the presentation using power point genially. to determine the significance level of the influence between the two variables, namely self-confidence and english presentation using power point genially, a regression test was performed. with a significance level of 5% or 0.05, data output is as follows: table 3. regression test results of male students df ss ms f significance f regression of self confidence 1 6.77861622 9 6.77861 6 1.56889444 7 0.22639736 2 residual 1 8 77.7713837 7 4.32063 2 total 1 9 84.55 sig value 5% (0.05) based on table 3, it can be described that the sig of fvalue is 0.22. this shows that the value reaches higher than 0.05 or 0.22 > 0.05. thus, the use of power point genially among male students did not show a significant influence on their selfconfidence. table 4. regression test results female students df ss ms f significance f regression of self confidence 1 1.83887251 8 1.83887 3 0.06224076 4 0.80426548 1 residual 4 0 1181.78017 5 29.5445 total 4 1 1183.61904 8 sig value 5% (0.05) table 4 performs similar results among female students. where the sig of fvalue is 0.8 or higher than sigvalue of 0.05. or 0.8 > 0.05. this also means that the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 386 use of power point genially did not have a significant influence on their confidence. in other words, the results revealed that the use of online media presentation, genially, does not work much on their level of self-confidence. the results might be different for more chances or opportunities to the students presenting the topics and more active involvement during the teaching-learning process as conducted by (syafii et al., 2019). conclusion according to the findings on the above tables, the results indicated that the use of online media presentations, genially, within 6 meetings does not work much on the level of self-confidence among the two gender groups of the students. however, the media can be considered as a strategy in speaking class to help students perform better oral presentation with its interesting features. from the questionnaire, feelings of worry and fear of making mistakes in using vocabulary and grammar were the main reasons for students not to actively use oral english during the presentation as well as during learning process. another reason revealed that the anxiety of being laughed at by their fellow during virtual presentations was the most dominant, particularly when they communicate using english. this study therefore, recommends the future researchers to conduct similar study and explore the use of multimedia-based presentations, genially, to be continued in various classroom meeting with more interesting topics. references abdulhussain, a. h., jabor， a. i., & ghani, a. a. 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(2012). students’ perception of using online language learning materials. procedia social and behavioral sciences, 67(november 2011), 611–620. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.11.367 llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 133 students’ problems in writing paraphrases in research paper writing class herdiansari hayuningrum made frida yulia sanata dharma university abstract paraphrase is one of the techniques of incorporating sources in which every writer is allowed to borrow the author’s ideas and restate them into their own words. based on the previous study, it was found that english language education study program (elesp) students, sanata dharma university, were unable to paraphrase properly since they tended to copy the author’s words directly. if this problem was continuously ignored, it would be dangerous for the students because they could be charged with inadvertent plagiarism. this study was intended to investigate elesp students’ problems in writing paraphrases and the reasons why they produce unacceptable paraphrases by conducting document analysis and interview in research paper writing class. from the findings, it could be identified that the most frequent type of problem encountered by the students was word-for-word plagiarism. keywords: paraphrase, inadvertent plagiarism, students’ problems a. introduction there are two basic ways of incorporating sources in writing. they are quotation and paraphrase (spatt, 1999; trzeciak and mackay, 1998). according to roth (1986), quotations, as “the words of experts in the field,” are important to be used in writing a paper but the students must be careful in using them since they may lose the originality of their own works if their papers are only a series of quotations (p. 6). on the contrary, in writing paraphrases, the students borrow only the ideas of the author and rewrite them into their own words. although it takes more times, paraphrasing can demonstrate whether they really understand the authors’ argument or not. based on the previous study conducted by prabandari (1997), it was found that english language education study program (elesp) students, sanata dharma university, whether they realized it or not, frequently used paraphrase in their papers (p. 72). however from her analysis, what the students did was not really paraphrasing but merely copying the same words without including the quotation marks. inability to paraphrase properly would become a crucial problem for elesp students since it can lead them to the charge of plagiarism. furthermore, as teacher candidates, they would be a role model for their students. if they could not use sources properly in order to avoid plagiarism, they would not be able to guide their students to use the proper ones. for those reasons, this study would like to address two questions. first, what problems are encountered by elesp students in writing paraphrases? second, why do llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 134 elesp students produce unacceptable paraphrases in their writing? to answer the first research question, the researchers conducted document analysis. the documents to be analyzed were research papers submitted by elesp sixth semester students who were taking research paper writing class in the academic year 2010/2011. the data were taken from classes a, b, d, and f students as the representative of four different lecturers of research paper writing. furthermore, to investigate the students’ reasons for producing unacceptable paraphrases, the researchers conducted an interview with eight elesp students who produced unacceptable paraphrases in their papers. b. theoretical ground 1. the problems with paraphrasing paraphrasing is absolutely a valuable skill which is necessarily needed for academic writing. unfortunately, this skill cannot be easily mastered by the students. many serious problems might come up when the students have not been taught to paraphrase accurately and properly. as mentioned by gilmore (2008), “the problem with paraphrasing, frankly, is that most students haven’t learned to do it well” (p. 28). a. eight paraphrase pitfalls according to kennedy and smith (1986), there are some dangers dealing with paraphrasing which are categorized into eight paraphrase pitfalls: misreading the original, including too much of the original, leaving out important information, adding opinion, summarizing rather than paraphrasing, substituting inappropriate synonyms, expanding or narrowing the meaning, and forgetting to document (p. 38) b. plagiarism in paraphrasing based on the students’ writing guidelines of some high rank universities, like university of wisconsin and central queensland university, there are two types of plagiarism in paraphrasing. they are word-for-word plagiarism and a patchwork paraphrase. the first sort of plagiarism is direct copying which is called as word-for-word copying by division of teaching & learning services of central queensland university (2007). this plagiarism is easy to detect because the students directly copy the exact words of the original source without giving proper acknowledgement. the second plagiarism is a patchwork paraphrase which contains original language from the author as a result of poor cut-andpaste practice (division of teaching & learning services of central queensland university, 2007). 2. the causes of problems in paraphrasing according to some related theories, there are several causes of poor paraphrasing. a. a low reading comprehension according to a writing guideline “referencing and paraphrasing” by latrobe university (2010), “poor paraphrasing is often the result of poor understanding of the text. some students try to paraphrase at the sentence level rather than the ideas level.” mcnamara (2007) also finds that there is “a positive correlation between inaccurate paraphrases and poor comprehension of a text” (p. 477). b. working in a second language furthermore, according to gibaldi (2003), the students who have to write papers in a second language may face certain difficulties in paraphrasing. as stated by gibaldi (2003), “in an effort to avoid llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 135 grammatical errors, they may copy the structure of an author’s sentences. when replicating grammatical patterns, they sometimes inadvertently plagiarize the author’s ideas, information, words and expressions” (p. 70). besides, hong xu (2010) also reveals another problem deals with paraphrasing, for instance the students can produce inaccurate paraphrase which is different from the original meaning or a paraphrase “with a structure reflective of l1 syntactic interference.” this problem can occur because the students “translate an original sentence from english to l1, paraphrase it in l1, and then translate the paraphrased sentence from l1 to english” (p. 247). c. dealing with plagiarism practice equally important, poor paraphrasing is also highly related to plagiarism. gilmore (2008) argues that poor paraphrasing skill is included in unintentional plagiarism (p. 41). as supported by mit academic integrity (2007), unintentional plagiarism can occur “not because a student is trying to cheat, but because he or she has not been taught how to paraphrase accurately.” afterwards, as remarked by hubbuch (1992), there are several reasons why unintentional plagiarism happened. they are carelessness in the research process, sloppiness while writing the paper, ignorance of the “giving-credit-where-credit-is-due” rule, and “passive-sponge” approach to research (pp. 163-164). furthermore, according to davis and carrol (2009) as cited in “addressing plagiarism” (2011), the students whose mother tongue is not english have particular problems which cause plagiarism, like a lack of vocabulary as a part of their language incompetence. c. discussion 1. the students’ problems in writing paraphrases to answer the first research question, the data were taken from classes a, b, d, and f. on the submission days, they were 97 papers submitted as the final project. however, in analyzing the data, the researchers only focused on the research papers which contained paraphrases. based on the research findings, there were 76 students (78.35%) who used paraphrases. on the contrary, there were only 21 students (21.65%) who did not use paraphrases in their papers. the total of the students who used paraphrases showed that paraphrasing was commonly used by the sixth semester students of elesp in the academic year 2010/2011 as one of the techniques of incorporating sources in writing. unfortunately, not all paraphrases were able to be analyzed further. from 76 students who used paraphrases, there were 11 students whose paraphrases could not be checked because of the technical problems in finding and gathering the original sources, such as unclear references, unavailable printed sources, and broken or moved online sources. therefore, to produce more accurate findings, they were not further included in the process of calculating and analyzing data. after all of the paraphrases were completely analyzed, from the total of students who used paraphrases (excluding those students whose sources were not found), surprisingly it was found that as many as 62 students (95.38%) produced unacceptable paraphrases. on the contrary, only three students (4.61%) were able to produce acceptable paraphrases in their papers. the very llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 136 high number of the students who produced unacceptable paraphrases showed that most of elesp students who were taking research paper writing class in the academic year 2010/2011 had trouble with paraphrasing correctly. after the analysis of all the problems in students’ unacceptable paraphrases was accomplished, the researchers calculated the percentage of the total problems from each type of the problems as shown in table 1. the total problems found in the students’ research papers were 170 problems. based on the research findings, it was revealed that the most frequent type of problem encountered by the students was word-for-word plagiarism which occurred 94 times (55.3%). table 1 the results of identified problems in students’ paraphrases no. type of problem frequency percentage paraphrase pitfalls 1. forgetting to document 19 11.18% 2. including too much of the original 17 10% 3. misreading the original 9 5.3% 4. leaving out important information 6 3.53% 5. adding opinion 5 2.9% 6. expanding or narrowing the meaning 2 1.18% 7. substituting inappropriate synonyms 1 0.58% 8. summarizing rather than paraphrasing plagiarism in paraphrasing 1. word-for-word plagiarism 94 55.3% 2. a patchwork paraphrase 17 10% total problems 170 next, to fully describe the identified problems, several cases of students’ unacceptable paraphrases were given. a. example of word-for-word plagiarism from 170 problems which existed, 94 problems (55.3%) belong to word-for-word plagiarism. one of the cases of word-for-word plagiarism could be seen in paper 10 (class a). paper 10 (class a) before knowing the original source, it seemed that the student who wrote paper 10 (class a) had produced a good and acceptable paraphrase by providing the information of the original source with in-text citation. the student mentioned the author and the published year (roth, 1986), and then put them together in parentheses (brackets) at the end of the all research writing begins with one of three broad kinds of topics: assigned topics that are selected by an instructor and presented to you, often as a list of actual writing subjects to choose from; field-of-study topics that you choose, so long as they are related to the course for which the paper is assigned; and free-choice topics that give you free rein to investigate any area you choose (roth, 1986). llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 137 paraphrase. when the lecturer read this paraphrase, s/he might assume that the words were the student’s own. it was because of the absence of quotation marks which could falsely indicate that the language and wording in this passage belong to the student. however, after being compared with the original source, what happened actually was that the student did not paraphrase at all, but s/he merely copied the author’s material verbatim. original text this practice was clearly unacceptable in academic writing. every time the students use the exact material from the original author, they must always remember that providing reference at the beginning or at the end of borrowed material is not adequate in academic writing. therefore, it could be summed up that the paraphrase in paper 10 (class a) was classified as word-for-word plagiarism for the lack of quotation marks. b. example of forgetting to document based on the research findings, it was found that the second rank of type of problem frequently faced by the students was forgetting to document. from 170 problems which were present, there were 19 paraphrases with inadequate documentation. in this research, forgetting to document happened when the students did not give adequate documentation about their sources, either in in-text citation or in the reference list. in fact, if the students’ works were clearly identified as intentional plagiarism, they were not classified as forgetting to document because the researchers considered that the students intended to do that. next, one of the cases from students’ research papers in forgetting to document was given. original text taken from: the research paper: process, form, and content by audrey j. roth. 1986. california: wadsworth publishing company. page 15 the definition of young learners is children between the ages of about 5 years old to 12 years old (rixon, 1999), while according to lynne cameron; young learners are those under 14 years old. moreover, the definition of young learners is mainly based on the years spent in the primary or elementary stages of formal education before the transition to secondary school. taken from: “teaching english to young learners through songs.” yuliana volume 5, number 1, june 2003: 62– 66. jurusan sastra inggris, fakultas sastra, universitas kristen petra http://puslit2.petra.ac.id/ejournal/index.php/ing/article/viewfile/15498/15490 http://puslit2.petra.ac.id/ejournal/index.php/ing/article/viewfile/15498/15490 llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 138 paper 14 (class a) the student who wrote the passage above produced unacceptable paraphrase for two reasons. first, s/he used the exact wording from the author without putting quotation marks (word-for-word plagiarism). second, s/he failed to document the source properly for not mentioning the source in the reference list. actually the student had mentioned the information of the source within the text. by mentioning the source of the information in the text (in-text citation), the readers were able to know that the information was actually taken from rixon (1999) as cited in yuliana in her journal entitled “teaching english to young learners through song” (2003). however, for those who were interested in reading the complete information would find it difficult to track the sources because there was no information about the source in the reference list. from the reference list above, it could be seen that the student did not mention the complete information about yuliana’s journal entitled “teaching english to young learners through song” (2003). in fact, the student should always remember that every source mentioned in his/her writing must be also put in the reference list. c. example of a patchwork paraphrase the researchers would like to discuss one of the examples of a patchwork paraphrase taken from paper 11 (class f). the student actually had provided clear in-text citation within his/her paraphrase (the author, the year, and the page number to locate the source). after being compared with the original text, unfortunately the bold phrases which were underlined indicated that the student still retained the author’s language. paper 11 (class f) according to rixon (1999) as cited in yuliana’s journal “teaching english to young learners through song” (2003), the definition of young learners is children between the ages of about 5 years old to 12 years old , while according to lynne cameron; young learners are those under 14 years old. moreover, the definition of young learners is mainly based on the years spent in the primary or elementary stages of formal education before the transition to secondary school. references taylor, linda. 1994. teaching and learning vocabulary. philips, sarah. 1993. young learners. new york: oxford university press. saricoban, arif & esen metin. 2000. songs, verse, and games for teaching grammar. retrieved on march 24, 2011 from http://iteslj.org/techniques/saricoban-songs.html internet is a network which contains much information. it is connected together by telephone lines and also connected to the computer. it has been known as the modern and fast development in communication tools. internet provides much information through various applications in it. (teeler & gray, 2000: 1) llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 139 original text in his/her paraphrase, the student cut and pasted certain phrases from the original, like “together by telephone lines”, “connected to the computer”, “development in communication tools”, and “through various applications.” as a result, the student’s attempt to paraphrase properly was unsuccessful for retaining too much of the original wording. the student actually could avoid this problem by enclosing the borrowed phrases within quotation marks. however, s/he ought to be careful because too many direct quotations could distract the readers. in addition, as a result of cutting and pasting from the original material, the student had also left out some important information, for example the student did not mention the reason why internet became the most important communication tool, the information about public and private independent networks, and the ways to transfer the information. to sum up, there were three problems found in this paraphrase. they were a patchwork paraphrase with in-text citation, including too much of the original, and leaving out important information. d. example of including too much of the original similar to a patchwork paraphrase, close paraphrases which were included in including too much of the original also occurred 17 times (10%). a paraphrase could be included in this type of problem when it closely followed either the wording or the sentence structure of the original text. close paraphrasing is unacceptable in academic writing. therefore, if the students want to retain certain words from the original source, they should enclose the words in quotation marks. to give a more detailed description, the researchers provided one of the examples of this problem. original text taken from: an introduction to research in education. 6th ed. by ary, jacobs, razavieh. 2002. page 434 taken from: how to use the internet in elt, by dede teeler and peta gray. 2000. pearson education limited. page 1 llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 140 paper 13 (class d) the paraphrase above clearly indicated the information about the source, like the author, the date, and the page number (ary et al., 2002, p. 434). the source had also been well documented in the reference list. although the paraphrase was clearly documented, this paraphrase was still unacceptable. the student who wrote the paraphrase above had attempted to restate the original passage. unfortunately, from the bold phrases which were underlined, it could be seen that the student still maintained the author’s wording. other examples of identified problems in paraphrasing could be found in appendix 1. 2. the students’ reasons for producing unacceptable paraphrases the research findings indicated that there were nine students’ reasons for producing unacceptable paraphrases. the first reason was the students’ own carelessness for both skipping a careful note taking step and paraphrasing directly from the source. although note taking is recommended by many experts (gibaldi, 2003; hedstrom, 2006; hubbuch, 1992; spatt, 1999) to track the sources used in writing, none of the respondents applied a careful note taking in their research process. moreover, some of the respondents admitted that they directly looked at the books while paraphrasing. this way of paraphrasing was so risky because the students could be tempted to copy the author’s wording. second, why the students produced unacceptable paraphrases was because they did not provide enough time to practice paraphrasing which resulted in the students’ inability in paraphrasing. third, the interview results also indicated that the students were still confused in differentiating between quotation and paraphrase in the real practice. as a result, a lot of the students produced paraphrases which were too close to the original sources. the fourth students’ reason deals with a lack of vocabulary. some respondents admitted that they had difficulties in finding the alternative words to replace the author’s words. having limited vocabulary was risky because the students would tend to retain the author’s words. fifth, the findings from the interviews further indicated the students’ inability to manage their time well. in other words, being procrastinated was one of the students’ reasons for producing unacceptable paraphrases. the sixth reason proposed by the students was that the lecturers did not pay attention to the paraphrases in the students’ papers so that the students considered it was all right for them to paraphrase sources carelessly. some respondents even frankly admitted that they ignored the correct form of paraphrase since their lecturers did not check their ary et al. (2002: 434) state that interview is one of the instruments that most qualitative researchers use due to its advantage. by doing interviews, the researcher is able to obtain people’s opinions, beliefs, and feelings about particular topic or situation in their own words. llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 141 paraphrases. afterwards, the seventh reason proposed by the students was insufficient feedback from the lecturers. therefore, they were unable to produce a proper paraphrase. the next students’ reason for producing unacceptable paraphrases was an inappropriate procedure applied by the students in the process of writing paraphrases. based on the interview results, there was one respondent who admitted that s/he applied translation process in paraphrasing. however, applying translation processs in paraphrasing could be perilous for the students since they could possibly leave out the detailed information from the passage within the translation process. subsequently, the last reason given by the respondents deals with the students’ bad behavior. some respondents stated that one of the factors which made the students copied and pasted from various sources to accomplish their research papers was the students’ own laziness. d. conclusions first, the research findings indicated that most elesp students who were taking research paper writing class in the academic year 2010/2011 encountered difficulties in writing acceptable paraphrases. it could be seen from the very high number of the students who produced unacceptable paraphrases. moreover, based on the students’ unacceptable paraphrases, the researchers found 170 problems which were categorized into (1) paraphrase pitfalls involving: forgetting to document occurred 19 times (11.18%), including too much of the original occurred 17 times (10%), misreading the original occurred 9 times (5.3%), leaving out important information occurred 6 times (3.53%), adding opinion occurred 5 times (2.9%), expanding or narrowing the meaning occurred twice (1.18%), substituting inappropriate synonyms occurred once (0.58%) and (2) plagiarism in paraphrasing involving: word-forword plagiarism occurred 94 times (55.3%) and a patchwork paraphrase occurred 17 times (10%). second, the research findings also indicated that there were nine students’ reasons for producing unacceptable paraphrases, involving: (1) carelessness in the research process, (2) a lack of practice, (3) confusion about the procedure, (4) a lack of vocabulary, (5) procrastination, (6) a lack of attention from the teachers, (7) insufficient feedback, (8) inaccurate procedure in paraphrasing, and (9) laziness. based on the research findings, firstly, the researchers would like to encourage elesp students to avoid inadvertent plagiarism by using a note taking during the research process to gain precise records of their sources. the researchers also emphasize the importance of acknowledging internet sources as necessary as printed sources. secondly, elesp lecturers are recommended to introduce the students the risks of plagiarism from the beginning writing courses, model how to write a paraphrase and provide exercises in which the students can practice their paraphrasing skill. dealing with plagiarism practice, the lecturers are also encouraged to provide guidelines on how to credit sources properly. importantly, the lecturers are also recommended to use search engines to be able to detect plagiarism and be strict with plagiarism. llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 142 references division of teaching & learning services of central queensland university. (2007). harvard (author-date) referencing guide. retrieved on may 4, 2011, from http://www.intec.edu.do/pdf/ harvard/harvardguide %5b2%5d.pdf gibaldi, j. (2003). mla handbook for writers of research paper. new york: the modern language association of america. gilmore, b. (2008). plagiarism: why it happens, how to prevent it. portsmouth: heinemann. hong xu, s. (2010). teaching english language learners: literacy strategies and resources for k-6 [electronic version]. new york: the guilford press. hubbuch, s. m. (1992). writing research papers across the curriculum (3rd ed.). fort worth: harcourt brace jovanovich college publishers. kennedy, m. l., & smith, h. m. (1986). academic writing: working with sources across the curriculum [electronic version]. new jersey: prenticehall. latrobe university. (2010). referencing and paraphrasing (how to avoid plagiarism). retrieved on may 4, 2011, from http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au /help/ste-referencing-guide2010.pdf mcnamara, d. s. (2007). reading comprehension strategies: theories, interventions, and technologies [electronic version]. new jersey: lawrence erlbaum associates, inc. mit academic integrity. (2010). avoiding plagiarism: paraphrasing. retrieved on march 25, 2011, from http://web.mit.edu/academici ntegrity/ plagiarism/paraphrasing.html prabandari, c. s. (1997). students’ problems in writing quotations: research on students writing viii final assignments of the english language education study programme. unpublished thesis. yogyakarta: sanata dharma university. roth, a. j. (1986). the research paper: process, form, & content. california: wadsworth, inc. spatt, b. (1999). writing from sources (5th ed.). boston: bedford. the higher education academy. (2011). addressing plagiarism. retrieved on august 20, 2011, from http://www. heacademy.ac.uk/resources/d etail/internationalisation/isl_ plagiarism the writing center of university of wisconsin-madison. (2003). acknowledging, paraphrasing, and quoting sources. retrieved on may 4, 2011, from http://writing.wisc.edu/handb http://www.intec.edu.do/pdf/harvard/harvardguide http://www.intec.edu.do/pdf/harvard/harvardguide http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/help/ste-referencing-guide-2010.pdf http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/help/ste-referencing-guide-2010.pdf http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/help/ste-referencing-guide-2010.pdf http://web.mit.edu/academicintegrity/ http://web.mit.edu/academicintegrity/ http://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/acknowledging_sources llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 143 ook/acknowledging_sources. pdf trzeciak, k., & mackay, s. e. (1998). study skills for academic writing. hertfordshire: prentice hall europe. appendix 1 table 1: samples of analysis result of students’ unacceptable paraphrases no. paraphrase original source explanation 1. paper 11 (class a) harmer (2001) also explained that listening is an important skill because it provides the great opportunity to hear voices from native speakers, and it also enables students to improve their own pronunciatio n as a result of the spoken english they absorb from the listening material (p.228) taken from: the practice of language teaching by jeremy harmer. 2001. pearson education limited: essex types of problem: a patchwork paraphrase too much of the original (wording) narrowing the meaning that this paraphrase was a patchwork paraphrase could be noticed from the parts which were similar to the original text. the student had also included too much of the original wording as the result of cutting and pasting words from the original text. besides, in the paraphrase, the student had narrowed the meaning conveyed in the original text. in the original text, it could be identified that the author actually discussed the way to increase listening skill by using “a combination of extensive and intensive listening material and procedures.” on the contrary, in the paraphrase, the student changed the subject of the discussion into “listening skill” which was irrelevant with the source. instead of showing that certain listening materials and procedures could improve listening skill, the student narrowed this information and misrepresented the original meaning. this practice was clearly unacceptable in paraphrasing. http://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/acknowledging_sources llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 144 no. paraphrase original source explanation 2. paper 5 (class a) the main purpose in listening class is to gain comprehensio n and in depth understanding about the information that has been listened to by the students (nunan, 1991: 23-24) taken from: language teaching methodology. a textbook for teachers by david nunan. 1991. page 23-24 prentice hall international (uk) ltd. type of problem: misreading the original after being compared with the original source, the information conveyed in the paraphrase did not match with the original passage. in the original text, there was no information about the main purpose of listening class as stated by the student. on the other hand, the author actually discussed about the listener’s purpose as one of the significant elements which should be considered in listening. the author also further explained about the advantages of having authentic materials in conversation as a part of interactive listening. therefore, it was clear that the student had misunderstood the meaning conveyed in the original text. in fact, in writing paraphrase, the student was not allowed to guess the meaning of the original material because paraphrasing should be a clear and accurate restatement of the source. 3. paper 3 (class f) according to gebhard, g. jerry (1998.p.176), role play is activity where the students are expected to act based on the situation and role given. in this activity, students will be asked to be a certain character, and must speak like the way the characters are. so, this taken from teaching english as a foreign or second language. a teacher self-development and methodology guide. p.176 by jerry g. gebhard. 1998 the university of michigan press types of problem: leaving out important information a patchwork paraphrase the paraphrase was unacceptable for two reasons. first, from the bold phrases which were underlined, it could be noticed that the student still used some exact words from the author which resulted in a patchwork paraphrase. second, the student had left out important information. in the original text, the author actually described role play activity by comparing it with skit (a short play). the author explained the activities in role play by showing the similarity and the difference between llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 145 no. paraphrase original source explanation activity demands students to participate. skit and role play. however, in his/her paraphrase, the student omitted this information. 4. paper 6 (class f) speaking skill is one of skills which is required in learning a language. mastering speaking is the most important skill for students especially for those who learn english as their second language or foreign language (richards, jack. c) the mastery of speaking skills in english is a priority for many second or foreign language learners. taken from: “developing classroom speaking activities; from theory to practice” by jack c. richards http://www.professorjackrichards.com/pdfs /developing-classroom-speakingactivities.pdf type of problem: substituting inappropriate synonyms after comparing the paraphrase with the original text, it could be seen that the student had changed “the mastery of speaking skills in english is a priority” into “mastering speaking is the most important skill.” there is a difference between these two phrases. in his/her paraphrase, the student stated that speaking skill is the most important skill which is needed for both second and foreign language learners. continued cont. on the other hand, in the original text, the author argued that mastery speaking skill is a priority. in other words, the three other skills, like reading, listening, and writing, are also important, but speaking skill should be preferred by the students who study english as their foreign or second language. although the student only substituted one inappropriate synonym, the meaning would be so different that it could lead into another meaning of the whole sentence. http://www.professorjackrichards.com/pdfs/developing-classroom-speaking-activities.pdf http://www.professorjackrichards.com/pdfs/developing-classroom-speaking-activities.pdf http://www.professorjackrichards.com/pdfs/developing-classroom-speaking-activities.pdf llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 146 no. paraphrase original source explanation 5. paper 11 (class f) nowadays, the era has changed to be modern era. many people like browsing just to entertain themselves or to search information. most websites and blogs which are provided in internet are also written in english. students today also prefer reading something trough internet browsing than reading books. it is all because internet is more interesting. then, many task from the teachers or lectures also make students today to search information and make them use internet and do browsing. in this modern era also, most of the students have net book or notebook and they like online whether it is done in campus, house and boardinghouse or internet cafe. (warschauer, taken from: internet for english teaching by mark warschauer, heidi shetzer, and christine meloni. 2000. page 1 type of problem: adding opinion although the researcher did not find any similar wording, the researcher found that the information in the student’s paraphrase did not match with the original text when they were read and compared carefully. in his/her paraphrase, the student discussed about the use of internet in the modern era, especially for the college students. meanwhile, in the original text, the authors actually talked about the rapid development of internet and the use of it in certain aspects of society, for instance financial markets, school and other certain fields, like music, media, politics, and entertainment. therefore, it could be noticed that the student had misread the original text. afterwards, instead of presenting an accurate information conveyed in the original text, the student had added his/her own opinion to the paraphrase. llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 147 no. paraphrase original source explanation shetzer & meloni 2000:1) appendix 2 the interview guide for the students 1. seberapa sering kamu menggunakan parafrase di dalam tugas menulis di kelas research paper writing? ( how often do you use paraphrases in your writing in research paper writing class?) 2. darimanakah kamu mendapat informasi tentang cara memparafrase? (where do you get information about how to paraphrase?) 3. bisakah kamu jelaskan bagaimana caramu memparafrase sumbersumber yang kamu gunakan di tulisanmu? (how do you paraphrase your sources in your writing?) 4. menurutmu, bagaimana ciri-ciri parafrase yang benar dan bisa diterima? ( what are the characteristics of correct and acceptable paraphrase in your opinion?) 5. apakah kamu sudah memparafrase sumber-sumber referensi dalam tulisanmu dengan benar? mengapa? (have you paraphrased your sources correctly/acceptably? why?) 6. bagaimana pendapatmu tentang parafrase yang terlalu mirip dengan sumber aslinya? (what do you think about paraphrases which are too close to the original source?) 7. apa yang kamu ketahui tentang plagiarisme? (what do you know about plagiarism?) 8. menurutmu hal-hal apa saja yang menyebabkan terjadinya plagiarisme terutama di kelas rpw? (why do the students do plagiarism, especially in research paper writing class?) 9. adakah saran-saran yang bisa kamu berikan agar plagiarisme bisa dikurangi terutama di kelas rpw? (what suggestions do you have to minimize plagiarism cases in research paper writing class?) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 160-170 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 160 students’ perception on the facilitation strategies provided by teachers in asynchronous online discussion gusti putu rustika dewi1 and made hery santosa2 1,2universitas pendidikan ganesha, indonesia rustika@undiksha.ac.id1 and mhsantosa@undiksha.ac.id2 correspondence: rustika@undiksha.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.3579 received 7 august 2021; accepted 10 may 2022 abstract facilitation strategies provided in asynchronous online discussion environment becomes essential aspects in learning. this present study was a case study aimed at exploring efl students’ perception on facilitation strategies provided in asynchronous online discussion in terms of monitoring, feedback and scoring rubric implemented in the online discussion. questionnaire was administered to one hundred students and interview was conducted to six voluntary students who were enrolled in courses with asynchronous online discussion. the result indicated that students’ perception on the facilitation strategies provided in asynchronous online discussion was neutral which indicated that facilitation provided by teachers did not become the main preference for the students in asynchronous online discussion. students perceived teachers’ monitoring positively since the students need more guidances to understand the concept as well as to indicate that their participation is apprecited by the teachers. meanwhile, students had neutral perception toward feedback and scoring rubric provided in asynchronous online discussion. they perceived that feedback and scoring rubric are not essential elements that influence their participation in asynchronous online discussion. furthermore, it implied that the facilitation strategies provided in asynchronous online discussion has to enable teacher to check students progress and to motivate students to engage in asynchronous online discussion. keywords: asynchronous online discussion, facilitation strategies, perception introduction many instructional strategies has been explored by many instructors in order to maximize the students’ experience in online learning environment (oh et al., 2018). many strategies in face to face learning has been adapted and implemented in online learning setting. asynchronous online discussion is one of the learning strategy that are commonly utilized by teachers to facilitate students learning through online interaction which serve flexility of time and place (bailey et al., 2021; dewi et al., 2018). asynchronous online discussion promotes dialogue, mailto:rustika@undiksha.ac.id1 mailto:mhsantosa@undiksha.ac.id2 https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.3579 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 160-170 161 reflection, and knowledge construction which are very essential skills to develop in 21st century learning paradigm (calderon & sood, 2020; ergulec, 2019; koehler et al., 2020; oh et al., 2018). due to the physical separation, asynchronous online discussion is considered to be able to facilitate social interaction among students and knowledge construction through peer interaction (oh et al., 2018). recently, the implementation of asynchronous online discussion is not limited as the extention or sumplementary activities of face to face instruction, but it becomes the main instructional strategy due to the online learning that is conducted by almost all schools and universities in indonesia (alim et al., 2019; ergulec, 2019; koehler et al., 2020). teachers and instuctors conducts asynchronous online discussion to facilitate students learning through the use of various learning platforms (al-husban, 2020; cakrawati, 2017). in indonesia, the ministry of education and culture has suggested learning management system to be used by schools as the learning platforms. google classroom is taken as the suggested learning platform used by schools in indonesia. nevertheles, many schools also using different learning management system to support the implementation online discussion such as moodle, schoology, class dojo, edmodo, etc (alim et al., 2019; awofeso et al., 2016; dillon et al., 2019; irawan et al., 2017). on the other hand, some schools still using social media platform such as whatsapp to conduct the asynchronous online discussion (juhari & muthahharah, 2020). the learning pratform chosen also contributes to the effectiveness of the implementation of asynchronous online discussion and how the learning process will be carried out. many aspects need to be considered to conduct asynchronous online discussion in order to achieve effective and engaging online discussion environment (wang, 2015). it includes the design of the asynchronous online discussion as well as the facilitation strategies carried out during the implementation of asynchronous online discussion (ergulec, 2019). in conducting asynchronous online discussion, teachers’ role is very essential to moderate the discussion and provide sufficient guidance for the students in their process of knowledge construction (pollak, 2017; wang, 2015). during the asynchronous online discussion, students often encounter problems to understand the concept (mcdowell, 2020). teachers need to be sensitive and give confirmation quickly to avoid misconception among students (nguyen et al., 2020; veranika, 2017). besides, teachers quick response to the issues encontered by the students contribute to the motivation of the students to participate (nguyen et al., 2020). therefore, maintaining teachers online presence in asynchrous online discussion by monitoring and giving feedback to students which become aspect of facilitation strategies in asynchrous online discussion (hew, 2015). facilitation strategies in asynchronous online discussion becomes one of the aspects that influence students participation (bailey et al., 2021; hew, 2015). it is due to the absence of physical presence of the teachers (veranika, 2017). therefore, the establishement of facilitation strategies have to consider how the facilitation strategies aspect can motivate students to participate in online discussion (calderon & sood, 2020; hew, 2015). the facilitation strategies provided in asynchronous online discussion is to enable students to see their progress and to do reflection on it (oh et al., 2018). moreover, the facilitation llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 160-170 162 strategies provided will determine how the asynchronous online discussion will be conducted. the role of teachers as moderator and facilitator needs to be emphasized in order to facilitate students’ learning through monitoring, guidance, and providing feedback for students (calderon & sood, 2020). with regards to the facilitation strategies provided in asynchronous online discussion, this present study investigated students’ perception on the facilitation strategies provided in asynchronous online discussion. it includes the students’ perception on three dimensions of facilitation strategies in asynchronous online discussion namely monitoring, feedback, and scoring rubric. method this present study is a case study research which focused on efl students’ perception on the facilitation strategies in asynchronous online discussion. it was aimed at investigating students’ perception on the facilitation strategies in asynchronous online discussion in term of monitoring, feedback, and scoring rubric dimensions. the participants taken in this study were third and fifth semester students who were enrolled in courses that implemented asynchronous online discussion. this study utilized questionnaires administration and interview in collecting data about students’ perception on the facilitation strategies in asynchronous online discussion. the questionnaires were administered to one hundred efl students. meanwhile, the interview was done to six students in order to provide complete insight about students’ perception on the facilitation strategies provided in asynchronous online discussion. data analysis was done quantitatively and qualitatively toward the data of students, perception on the facilitation strategies provided in asynchronous online discussion. quantitative data analysis was done to the data from questionnaire in which it was processed using spss version 24 to count the mean score of the data on students’ perception on the facilitation strategies provided in asynchronous online discussion. the percentages of scale value of each dimensions of facilitation strategies in asynchronous online discussion namely monitoring, feedback and scoring rubric were also counted. the students’ perception on the facilitation strategies provided in asynchronous online discussion was determined by categorizing the mean scores based on the qualification level guideline by koyan (2012 pp. 24-25) which consists five levels of qualification of students’ perception. the lowest categorization corresponds to very negative perception and very high categorization corresponds to very positive perception. qualitative data analysis was done to the data collected from interview. the data were analyzed systematically using qualitative research procedure suggested by miles, huberman, and saldana (2014) which includes four stages namely data collection, data consedation, data display, and conclusion drawing. then, the result of analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data were combined to draw final conclusion about students’ perception on the facilitation strategies provided in asynchronous online discussion. findings and discussion the facilitation strategies in asynchronous online discussion covered three dimensions that were investigated. those dimensions included teacher’s monitoring, teacher’s feedback and scoring rubric dimensions. the result of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 160-170 163 students’ perception on the facilitation strategies provided in asynchronous online discussion was obtained through calculation and analysis all those three dimensions. students’ perception on teacher’s monitoring teacher’s monitoring becomes the first dimension that was investigated. students’ perception on the teacher’s monitoring in asynchronous online discussion was positive based on the data of the questionnaire. the mean score of students’ perception on teacher’s monitoring which was 5.48 which belongs to the second interval (5.5≤m<6.5) of qualification level. it was categorized as high is categorized which means that students’ perception on teacher’s monitoring was positive. students agree on the teacher’s monitoring in asynchronous online discussion. figure 1 showed the percentage of students’ response on teacher’s monitoring in asynchronous online discussion. figure 1. the percentage of students’ response on teacher’s monitoring figure 1 shows that 12% students strongly agreed on teacher’s monitoring provided in asynchronous online discussion. 53% students agreed on teacher’s monitoring in asynchronous online discussion. there were 32% students disagreed on teacher’s monitoring. 3% students strongly disagreed teacher’s monitoring provided in asynchronous online discussion. higher percentage of students’ response who agreed to teacher’s monitoring indicated that the students’ perceived the teacher’s monitoring as an important aspect for their learning in asynchronous online learning environment. this finding was supported with the result of the interview from respondent 1 and respondent 6. respondent 1: i like it. it is to make sure who is diligent, who doesn’t read the material. so, it is not useless for the lecturer giving the materials. respondent 6: i like treated that way. it means that we are appreciated. our opinion is appreciated by the lecturer. in addition, the students who have low participation will be more motivated when seeing students who have high participation and they are appreciated. the result of interview showed that the students perceived teacher’s monitoring in asynchronous online discussion was to motivate and appreciate llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 160-170 164 students’ effort. it was able to motivate students to learn and participate actively in which students who have low participation are motivated when the teacher frequently monitor the progress in the discussion. the students perceived that the frequency of teacher’s monitoring the discussion is important in order to make sure that the students access the learning materials and participate. when teacher monitor the students’ progress in asynchronous online discussion, the students thought that they are appreciated which contributed to the participation. students’ perception on teacher’s feedback teacher’s feedback is the second dimension of facilitation strategies provided by the teachers in asynchronous online discussion setting. students perceived teacher’s feedback neutral. the mean score of students’ perception on teacher’s feedback was 5.4. it belonged to the third interval (4.5≤m<5.5) in qualification level. the mean score of students’ perception was categorized as average which means that the students’ perception on teacher’s feedback was neutral. figure 2 is the percentage of students’ response on teacher’s feedback. figure 2. the percentage of students’ response on teacher’s feedback based on figure 2, there were 14% students who strongly agreed on the presence of teacher’s feedback on asynchronous online discussion. 47.5% students agreed on the presence of teacher’s feedback in asynchronous online discussion. there were 33% students who disagreed on teacher’s feedback provided in asynchronous online discussion. meanwhile 5.5% students strongly disagreed on the presence of teacher’s feedback. it can be seen that the difference of percentage between students who agreed and did not was not really significant. the finding of the interview also showed that there was dichotomy on the respondents’ statements. respondent 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 stated that they like when teachers give positive or negative feedback during the discussion. meanwhile, respondent 6 mentioned that he likes feedbacks from teachers but he specifically stated that positive or negative feedback did not have special impression to him. respondent 1: i like feedback especially the positive one to motivate myself. respondent 2: i love feedback. when we made mistakes and we are given clarification, we know that we made mistakes. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 160-170 165 respondent 3: i prefer negative feedback. it is to motivate myself to study well. respondent 4: i like feedback. when we are given feedback, we will be eager to join the online discussion. respondent 5: that’s fine to give me negative feedback when i made mistakes, as long as it is constructive feedback. it depends on personality of each individual. there are students who feel demotivated when get criticism. in my case, i am still motivated. respondent 6: of course, i like it. positive or negative feedback is not a big deal for me. if it is wrong, revise it. if it is already right, that’s it. the result of the interview supported the result of the questionnaire which indicated students’ perception was neutral. feedback given by teachers was not viewed as the aspect of facilitation that can significantly influence students’ participation in asynchronous online discussion. it was rather taken as reflection of their learning and to motivate them to perform better. some students stated that teacher’s feedback is able to give confirmation on particular issues encountered by the students during the discussion session. three respondents preferred positive feedback. two respondents liked negative feedback and one respondent gave neutral statement. the students prefered positive feedback given by the teacher because they perceived their understanding is correct. some students perceived negative feedback better bacause they can learn more from their mistakes. however, the students did not perceived teacher’s feedback as the main aspect of facilitation in asynchronous online discussion that can improve their motivation and participation. students’ perception on scoring rubric provided in asynchronous online discussion the third dimension in facilitation strategies provided in asynchronous online discussion is scoring rubric. the data from questionnaire showed that students perceived scoring rubric provided in asynchronous online discussion neutral. it was gotten from the mean score of students’ perception on scoring rubric which was 5.16. this mean score were categorized average which belonged to the third interval (4.5≤m<5.5) in qualification level. the percentage of students’ response about scoring rubric provided in asynchronous online discussion was shown in figure 3. figure 3. the percentage of students’ response on scoring rubric llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 160-170 166 figure 3 showed that there was a slight differences in percentage of students response between agree and disagree scale. there were 47.5% of the students’ response was agree. meanwhile, 42% students was 42 percent response was disagree. the small difference between students response indicated that students had neutral perception on scoring rubric. the result of the interview supported the result of the data from the questionnaire related to the scoring rubric provided in asynchronous online discussion. the interview result showed that three respondents perceived that scoring rubric is essensial to be given in asynchronous online discussion environment. three other respondents perceived that scoring rubric is not necessarily given to the students. respondent 1, respondent 5, and respondent 6 perceived scoring rubric in asynchronous online discussion is important to be given. respondent 1: i choose being given the scoring rubric. it is to motivate us, so we can measure our competence. respondent 5: i choose being given a scoring rubric because we need to know how aech argument and participation are measured in the discussion. respondent 6: i like being given scoring rubric. so, there is clarification for all we do in discussion. meanwhile, respondent 2, respondent 3, and respondent 4 mentioned that providing scoring rubric in asynchronous online discussion is not essesntial. respondent 2: it does not affect me whether the scoring rubric is given or not. probably, when we are not given the scoring rubric, it make us focus on the learning rather than the scoring system. respondent 3: no, i don’t want it. i want to be more creative in giving my argument and participating in the discussion.. let it become the lecturer’s business. we don’t need to know. respondent 4: no, i don’t need scoring rubric. i want to feel free when i am going to give comment. it is free whether we want to comment a lot or not. some students perceived that scoring rubric is important in order to provide guidance and motivation as well as to perform measure students’ learning performance in asynchronous online discussion. however, some students perceived that scoring rubric does not affect their learning experience. they perceived that scoring rubric is not needed because the students want to express their argument freely and creatively. they expected that in asynchronous online dicussion they did not think about the indicators in the scoring rubric. moreover, the students perceived that scoring rubric did not influence their participation in asynchronous online discussion. the findings showed that students’ perception on facilitation strategies provided in asynchronous online discussion was neutral. it was indicated by the result of the calculation of mean scores on three dimensions of facilitation strategies provided in asynchronous online discussion which was categorized in average level. in asynchronous online discussion environment, students’ preferred peer facilitation rather than faciliation strategies provided by the teachers (ghadirian et al., 2018; hew, 2015; oh et al., 2018). it is motivated by several llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 160-170 167 reasons in which the students need to have more freedom in giving their arguments as well as they want to have more responsibility in determining the direction of the discussion. the dimensions of facilitation strategies provided in asynchronous online discussion were perceived differently by the students. the teacher’s monitoring provided in asynchronous online discussion was perceived positive by the students due to its importance to increase students’ motivation to participate in online discussion. teacher’s presence plays important role in online discussion setting (ergulec, 2019; oh et al., 2018). asynchronous online discussion is more effective when the teacher provide monitoring frequenlty on the discussion board. ergulec (2019) suggested several strategies that have to be done by the teacher in monitoring the asynchronous online discussion. it includes regular checking the discussion board, providing summary the discussion, and posting teacher has to check the discussion regularly to show that the teacher read the students’ postings. providing summary about what that has been done by the students is able to motivate students to participate more. besides, teacher can encourage the students to do more dialogue by posting thought-provoking questions. positive perception on teacher’s monitoring can be motivated by students’ perception on the competence of the teachers who are believed more capable that their peers (hew, 2015). teacher’s feedback provided in asynchronous online discussion was perceived neutral by the students. some students perceived teacher’s feedback as the aspect of facilitation which provided confirmation and reflection of students’ learning performance in asynchronous online discussion. in conducting asynchronous online discussion, teachers are required to provide enough feedback for the students in order to improve students’ participation (ergulec, 2019). providing feedback in online discussion is able to guide students’ learning experience and development (sherman, 2019). giving immediate feedback in asynchronous online discussion is essential in order to enhance students’ motivation which directly contribute to the students’ participation (hew, 2015). beside teacher’s feedback, peer feedback is also preferred by the students since student-student interaction is the main interaction promoted in asynchronous online discussion (ergulec, 2019). providing scoring rubric in asynchronous online discussion was perceived neutral by the students. it is motivated by dicothomies of students’ perception on scoring rubric provided for asynchronous online discussion. some students perceived that scoring rubric provides guidance to enhance learning outcomes and motivation. however, some students perceived that the presence of scoring rubric did not affect students’ participation because they want to be more free in sharing their point of view (calderon & sood, 2020; hew, 2015). scoring rubric needs to be generated in order to measure students’ performance in asynchronous online discussion (calderon & sood, 2020). clearly defined scoring rubric is needed to encourage students to engage in more meaninful and controlled online discussion in which the discussion will be on track without teacher’s frequent control (baldwin et al., 2018). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 160-170 168 conclusion students’ perception on facilitation strategies provided in asynchronous online discussion was perceived neutral. it deals with how the facilitation strategies provided can affect students’ learning experience. students perceived facilitation strategies provided by the teacher in asynchronous online discussion neutral due to the preference of the students which perceived peer facilitation is more effective (hew, 2015; oh et al., 2018) the role of teacher’s monitoring is important to enhance students’ participation. the students perceived teacher’s monitoring positively because the students feel that their efforts are appreciated by the teacher. it contributes to students’ motivation to participate more in the discussion. the frequency of the teacher’s monitoring and the monitoring strategies conducted will affect the effectiveness of the online discussion which enhances learning experiences. besides, the presence of teacher’s feedback as another dimensions of facilitation strategies in asynchronous online discussion was perceived neutral by the students. teacher’s feedback is considered to be able to provide confirmation and reflection on students’ understanding. however, it did not motivate students to improve their participation. it can be motivated by the preferences of the students who perceived peer feedback is more meaningful for their learning than feedback given by the teacher (hew, 2015). scoring rubric provided in asynchronous online discussion was also perceived neutral by the students. the use of scoring rubric in asynchronous is considered giving guidance during the online discussion. however, scoring rubric is perceived to limit students in expressing their idea (hew, 2015). therefore, scoring rubric was perceived neutral by the students. references al-husban, n. a. 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(2015). assessment of asynchronous online discussions for a constructive online learning community. international journal of information and education technology, 5(8), 598–604. https://doi.org/10.7763/ijiet.2015.v5.575 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12528-018-9180-6 https://doi.org/10.14434/jotlt.v6.n1.22367 https://doi.org/10.1097/01.naj.0000580292.79525.d2 https://doi.org/10.7763/ijiet.2015.v5.575 llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 1 conversational styles and misunderstanding in cross-sex conversations in he’s just not that into you movie ayu nyoman aryani sanata dharma university abstract conversation is a social interaction among societies. in this case, gender differences in daily communication lead to men’s and women’s different point of views in performing styles of the conversations. misunderstanding is likely to occur in crosssex conversations when the idea or thought are understood differently by men and women. this study was intended to analyze the use of conversational styles by men and women and also investigate the misunderstanding phenomena that happened in cross-sex conversations. the researcher identified that the conversational styles used by alex as a male character in the cross-sex conversations were qualifiers, controlling the topics, verbal fillers, intensifiers, swear words, compound requests, tag questions, questions, interruptions, overlapping, and talk domination. meanwhile, gigi, as a female character used qualifiers, controlling the topics, verbal fillers, intensifiers, swear words, tag questions, questions, interruptions, overlapping, talk domination, and silence. in answering the second question, the researcher discovered factors that affected the misunderstanding in the cross-sex conversations between alex and gigi were involvement versus independence and message versus metamessage. keywords: conversational styles, cross-sex conversations, misunderstanding, he’s just not that into you movie introduction language and gender are two different things which cannot be separated from our communication in social life. according to wardhaugh (2010), “gender is a key component of identity” where it becomes a part of the way in which societies are doing interaction (p. 334). both men and women have different styles for their friendly conversations. they have their own ways and perceptions when talking to each other. in this case, misunderstanding is likely to occur in a cross-sex conversation since both men and women have different rules in their conversations. tsutsui (2008) argues that there will be a possibility to be understood differently by others when we express our thoughts or ideas. for llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 2 those points of view, this study would like to analyze the misunderstanding phenomenon with the use of language in cross-sex conversations. there are two formulated questions. first, which conversational styles are used by alex and gigi in he’s just not that into you movie? second, what factors affect the misunderstanding in their conversations (crosssex conversations)? by using an american movie entitled he’s just not that into you, the researcher analyzed the main character, alex and gigi as the subject of this study. to answer the first and the second research questions, the researcher conducted discourse analysis in which alex and gigi’s conversations was analyzed. for the first research question, the researcher identified which conversational styles that were used by alex and gigi in their conversations. for the second research question, the researcher investigated the factors that made alex and gigi to get misunderstanding when they were talking to each other. theoretical ground 1. conversational styles the conversational styles are the way of how people express their utterance. every person, especially in different genders, has different characteristics in sharing what they really want to talk about. tannen (1995) mentions that “aspects of conversational style are the basic tools of talk – the way we show what we mean when we say (or don’t say) something.” lakoff (1973) reveals that the way of men and women using grammatical construction is clearly different. she states that men are more likely “straightforward” rather than women when they express their utterance grammatically (as cited in arliss, 1991). it is also supported by pearson (1985), who mentions that there are several conversational styles differences between men and women. those are qualifiers, controlling the topic, verbal fillers, intensifiers, profanity, compound requests, tag questions, questioning, interruption, overlaps, talk domination, silence (p. 181). qualifiers qualifiers or “hedges” is used to soften the strength of a statement. pearson (1985) defines that hedges “indicate some measure of uncertainty about the other person’s response to it” (p. 186). for example, if a speaker clearly describes a best friend as “pretty”, but adds “i think,” then the utterance is weakened by the expression of uncertainty. mostly women use more qualifiers rather than men when they construct their statements. controlling the topics pearson (1985) claims when the speakers can define reality, they have the power to control the topic in a conversation (p. 194). in this case, speakers who can explain topics which related to our real life, they will easily control the topic. haas and sherman (1982) report that women tend to talk about topics related to llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 3 personal matters and the things about daily life. on the other hand, men tend to talk about money, news, and everything about sports (pp. 453454). verbal fillers pearson (1985) explains that verbal fillers are used when the speaker fills in a silence of their conversation. the words or phrases like right, okay, well, and you know are frequently used by women rather than men, especially in cross-sex conversations. apparently, people tend to avoid silences when they are talking, that is why they use it (p. 186). intensifiers arliss (1991) states the use of intensifier is concerning with attention to the emotional message. in other words, intensifiers are adverbs such as so, such, quite, really, and awfully that are used to exaggerate the strength of a statement. for example, by adding the word so, on the sentence “i am so proud of you”. the word so, that is used as an intensifier makes a speaker wants to emphasize his or her emotional message. swear words swear words are commonly used by men and women in conversations. the speakers use them when they want to show their emotional expression to particular conditions around them. lakoff (1975) notes that “men use stronger expletives (damn, shit) than women (oh dear, goodness). compound requests generally, the speakers are using compound requests when they add words or phrases which soften the request. for example, when a speaker says turn off the light, please rather than says turn off the light! she or he tends to be more polite. in fact, thorne and henley (1975) mention that men are less frequently than women in using compound requests. tag questions tag questions formulation is one of the grammatical constructions which are identified by lakoff (1975), who mentions that tag question is used when the speaker is feeling unsure such as “you have a morning class today, don’t you?” moreover, lakoff (1975) argues that women use tag question more often than men. they usually use it when addressing men. questions men and women use questions for different goals. maltz and borker (1982) assert that in order to maintain the conversation women use the questions more than man. in this case, they use the questions as speech act which needs an answer. moreover, they state that the way of using questions by women are “their general strategy for conversational maintenance”. men, on the other hand, use more questions as a signal of asking for information. the difference of interpretation in using llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 4 the questions can be one of the potential reasons for causing misunderstanding. interruptions zimmerman and west (1975) conclude that interruptions are considered as “violation of the turntaking rules of conversation”. furthermore, they explain that an interruption will occur when a second speaker begins to speak while a first speaker is still speaking and has not finished yet his or her last word which can be defined as the last statement. pearson (1985) also argues that people interrupt because they believe that the message they want to offer is more important than the first speaker’s message. overlapping pearson (1985) defines an overlap happens if the second speaker begins to speak at the ending point of the first speaker’s turn which means the first speaker’s last word. in addition, she describe that overlaps occur for the same reason as interruption: the second person believes that she or he proposes more important message (p. 198). on the other hand, the second speaker is very excited about talking. talk domination basically, conversations are controlled by a speaker who is more powerful than the other. the powerful speaker means a speaker who is dominant in a conversation. most of the popular opinions reveal that women are the one who talk more than men. indeed, men talk more than women. this fact is asserted by thorne (1981) where men are treated as “experts” in conversation. they are involved in more interactions than women (as cited in pearson, 1985). in other words, thorne’s theory breaks the common opinion that actually men are the most powerful speaker in cross-sex conversation and they powerfully dominate the conversations. silence pearson (1985) states that women speakers tend to silence where they are not sure of the other speaker’s reaction to their comment. more often, they explain that women speakers were silent more than men speakers in crossed-sex conversations (p. 198). 2. factors of misunderstanding in cross-sex conversations the different ways of using conversational styles lead men and women to have different perceptions in understanding the meaning of communication. tannen (1986) promotes some women and men differences in conversational styles. there are three factors of misunderstanding in cross-sex conversations as follows: involvement versus independence tannen (1986) argues that involvement and independence are two different things which always llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 5 arise in a conflict of communication itself. women tend to stay for involvement where they can get a kind of intimacy in order to reach the goal of communication. for them, intimacy is about getting a connection where being understood without saying what they mean is the result on how they can get the involvement successfully. it is supported by maltz and borker (1982) where they reveal that women tend to see that conversations can be a kind of “therapeutic” for them. this means that they see an opportunity to share something like problems, experience, support, or even reassurance when they do the conversation. according to tannen (1986), men tend to stay for independence where they do not have to explain all of the things to their partner in communication, especially women. they think that get involved means no freedom at all in deciding something. maltz and borker (1982) also add that for men, sharing their personal problem is considered as not a normal conversation. the problem appears when women are often unhappy with the reactions they get from men when they try to share their problem. on the other hand, men are often unhappy because they are accused of responding in the wrong way when they are trying to be helpful (tannen, 1991, p. 28). in other words, when men and women talk to each other, the real problem is that each expects a different kind of response. message versus metamessage tannen (1986) states that women are more listening to metamessage where it is about getting the understanding of what they have said explicitly in words. “metamessages can be seen in what is not said as well as what is said” (p. 137). in contrast, men's style is more literally focused on the message level of talk. men are more interested in utterances which sound to the point. in addition, they do not really catch the real meaning behind the message and the attitude from who they are talking to, especially to women. as a result, men and women have different point of views on almost any comment when they are interpreting the meaning of their conversations. cooperative versus competitive tannen (1991) identifies that “girls like to play cooperatively” where they will establish and maintain the relation they have built by involving their friends to know their secret. this means that the way of talking the secret is more important than the secret itself. conversely, boys like to play competitively where they will “maintain their own story and status” to be accepted as an equal for the others. mostly they are talking about who is the best at what and it belongs to competitive talk (p. 143). llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 6 discussion 1. the conversational style used by alex and gigi to answer the first and the second research questions, the data were taken from he’s just not that into you movie where the researcher transcribed alex’s and gigi’s spoken conversation into a written form. after that, the researcher made an observation checklist so that conversations could be analyzed easily. table 1 frequency of alex’s and gigi’s conversational style no. conversational style frequency ale x gigi 1. qualifiers 12 25 2. controlling the topics 12 8 3. verbal fillers 13 8 4. intensifiers 12 9 5. swear words 4 2 6. compound requests 1 7. tag questions 3 1 8. questions 22 19 9. interruptions 4 1 10. overlapping 3 1 11. talk domination 11 2 12. silence 4 qualifiers qualifiers were more frequently used by gigi rather than alex in their conversations. alex used qualifiers 12 times, while gigi used qualifiers 25 times. both of them used qualifiers or hedges in order to soften their statement. [1] gigi: see when i said "meeting someone" i guess that was kind of a broad term, kind of a wide interpretation of the word meeting. in example [1], gigi used qualifiers three times in her utterance. she used the words guess and kind of to soften her statement about meeting someone. in this case, she tried to explain to alex that women have the different interpretations of the word “meeting”. controlling the topics alex tended to control the topic more than gigi. he controlled the topic 12 times while gigi only eight times. in this case, alex was the powerful speaker who can switch more topics in their conversations. llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 7 [2] gigi: i'm really sorry to bug you. i thought you had some really good insights and i wanted to ask you a question. alex: okay, look, now i need to be harsh with you, conor’s never gonna be interested in you, gigi. the situation of the conversation above was alex thought that gigi would talk about conor on their beginning part of their conversation. alex directly gave his opinion about conor when he said “conor’s never gonna be interested in you, gigi” without asking gigi what question she wanted to ask. in other words, alex as a man speaker tended to switch the topic of their conversation. verbal fillers based on the data, pearson’s (1985) theory which claims about women tend to use more verbal fillers in cross-sex conversations are not proved. alex used verbal fillers 13 times while gigi used verbal fillers eight times. in this case, the male character, alex, was used more verbal fillers rather than gigi in cross-sex conversations. [3] alex: well, i’m just trying to help. in example [3], alex used the word well as verbal fillers in the beginning part of his utterance. he just wanted to help gigi when said “…i’m just trying to help”. when he still thought about his statement, he used a verbal filler in order to fill the pause in front of his utterance. intensifiers the result shows that alex frequently used more intensifiers rather than gigi. alex used 12 intensifiers while gigi used nine intensifiers. they used intensifiers in order to exaggerate their emotional feeling. [4] alex : i had no idea it would be such a madhouse. when alex talked to gigi about the situation of the party in his house, he used the intensifier such to describe the place in something specified as in example [8]. in this case, he described his house as a chaos place by using the word madhouse. swear words the researcher identified that alex used swear words four times. it was different from gigi where she used swear words twice in her utterances. in this case, both of them did the swearing in order to show their emotional expression. [5] gigi: i may do a lot of stupid shit, but i know i'm a lot closer to finding someone than you are. example [5] shows that gigi also did the swearing by using the words stupid shit to express her disappointment over alex. gigi recognized that she had done the stupid thing to alex but she defended herself that what she had done was still right. compound requests alex was the only one speaker who used compound requests in his llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 8 utterance. he used it when he tried to ask gigi to do some things in the party like in the example [6]. [6] alex: listen, i gotta go make a liquor run. but it looks like the food could use some refreshing. would you mind helping and refilling the chips? from the example above, it shows that alex used the words would you mind to soften his request to gigi. by using the words would you mind alex seemed to show his politeness to gigi. tag questions alex used tag questions three times while gigi only used one tag question. the interesting part of this case is that the female character, gigi, used fewer tag questions than the male character, alex. in other words, lakoff’s (1975) theory that mentions women use more tag questions than man was not proved in this research. both of them used tag questions in order to show their feeling of unsure about the things they talked about. [7] alex: i thought i better come up with some really great excuse to get over here. that how it's done, isn’t it? in example [7], alex used formal tag question which seemed that he did not need a certain answer of his statement to gigi. questions the researcher analyzed that alex asked 22 questions to gigi in the whole of conversations. meanwhile, gigi asked 19 questions less than alex. [8] gigi: so, what, now i'm just supposed to run from every guy who doesn't like me? alex: yeah. gigi asked a question about herself when she faced a guy who did not like her as in example [8]. in this case, she did not really need specific information from alex. she just wanted to make alex responded her question in order to ensure that the conversation was still continuous. interruptions the researcher identified that gigi only interrupted alex once. meanwhile, alex was the only one speaker who performed the interruptions four times. the obtained data shows that men speaker used more interruptions than women do. [9] gigi: he might have used some derivative of that. so, he says he's going to call, but then gave me his card and he says…. alex: (-----interruption-----) oh, he's not interested. from example [9], interruptions happened when the second speaker, alex, suggested an important message to the first speaker, gigi. when gigi was talking about connor, alex interrupted her and llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 9 informed that what she thought about connor was wrong. by using men’s perspective, alex tried to explain that conor actually did not like gigi even they had a date “oh, he's not interested.” overlapping overlapping occurs when the second speaker begins to speak when the first speaker still talks his or her last word. this case was happened in alex and gigi’s conversations. the researcher analyzed that alex overlapped 3 times while gigi only once. [10] gigi: i don't know if you'd call it hot, i mean this guy conor and i have only been out the one time…. alex: -----(overlap) -----wait, wait, wait, conor barry? in the example [10], alex overlapped gigi when she was talking about conor. alex tried to guess that gigi was talking about conor barry by asking her before she completed her utterance. talk domination in line with thorne’s (1981) theory about a male speaker who tends to dominate the conversation in cross-sex conversation, the researcher identified the indication that the male speaker, alex was an expert in the conversations. [11] gigi: you cannot tell from a cursory glance that he's not into her. alex: actually, i can. i see this stuff going on every night. now watch this, she’s going on about her macrobiotic diet. the example above portrays alex as the dominant speaker. he tried to make gigi sure about his utterance when he said, “actually, i can. i can see stuff…” alex, in addition, dominated the conversation when he talked about the girl they saw “now watch this, she’s….” silence the researcher identified silence that occurred in the conversation was only done four times by gigi. this case indicates that woman speaker was silent more than man speaker. [12] gigi: i'm gigi. conor and i went out last week. and i just… (silence)..i thought if i ran into him…(silence)…i don't know. i'm gonna go. example [12] shows that gigi was silent when she was unsure of alex’s reaction to her comment. there was a long space before she continued to share her personal problem. when she told her feeling about conor, she was silent again then decided to not continue her problem when said “…i don’t know. i’m gonna go.” 2. the factors of misunderstanding in alex’s and gigi’s conversations involvement versus independence example [13] alex: i once called 55 lauren bell's until i got the right one. gigi: that's cute. what happened? llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 10 alex: oh, yeah, as it turns out, her ass looked really huge in daylight. gigi: is it your sensitivity that makes you so popular with women? alex: don't call him. he doesn't like you. the example above shows that the male speaker, alex, did not want to disclose more about his personal problem. alex tried to share his experience when he was looking for the right woman for him, and then gigi asked what happened next. he responded to gigi’s question by continuing his story. when gigi asked deeper about his story, alex did not answer her question but he restated to gigi about their previous topic “don't call him. he doesn't like you.” message versus metamessage example [14] alex: would you mind helping and refilling gigi: (----interruption----) kind of like co-hosting? alex: uhh, ok. just refilling the chips. they’re on the fridge. thanks. example [14] shows that alex asked gigi to help him in his party. in this case, he was asking help by using polite request. for alex, this was just an ordinary request when he stated, “just refilling the chips” to gigi without any hidden messages in his request. conversely, gigi thought that this was not an ordinary request from alex. in other words, she focused on metamessage on alex’s request when she interrupted “…kind of like co-hosting?” because she thought that there was a signal from alex to make both of them in a closer relationship by helping alex in the party. cooperative versus competitive the researcher did not find any conversations which could be classified as the factor of cooperative versus competitive because when the woman character, gigi, had a personal problem, alex as the man character helped her by solving her problem. in other words, there was no indication of cooperative or competitive talk that led alex and gigi to get misunderstanding. conclusions the conversational styles used by alex, as a male character in the cross-sex conversations were qualifiers, controlling the topics, verbal fillers, intensifiers, swear words, compound requests, tag questions, questions, interruptions, overlapping, and talk domination. meanwhile, the conversational styles used by gigi were qualifiers, controlling the topics, verbal fillers, intensifiers, swear words, tag questions, questions, interruptions, overlapping, talk domination, and silence. in this case, the researcher identified that alex had the higher frequency in using controlling the topics, verbal fillers, intensifiers, swear words, compound requests, tag questions, questions, interruptions, overlapping and talk domination. llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 11 based on the obtained data, alex did not use silence in the whole conversations. gigi, on the other hand, had the higher frequency in using qualifiers and silence. in this part, the researcher did not discover any compound requests on gigi’s utterances. the second question deals with the factors that affect the misunderstanding in alex’s and gigi’s conversations. they were involvement versus independence and message versus metamessage. the researcher identified two cases that represent involvement versus independence and two cases that represent message versus metamessage. references arliss, l. p. (1991). gender communication. englewood cliffs, nj: prentice-hall. coates, j. (1993). women, men and language. london: longman. gumperz, j. j. (1982). language and social identity. cambridge: cambridge university press. haas, a., & sherman, m. a. (1982). conversational topic as a function of role and gender. psychological reports, 51(2), 453-454. lakoff, r. (1975). language and women’s place. new york: harper & row. maltz, d., & borker, r. (1982). a cultural approach to male-female communication. in gumperz, j. j. (ed.). language and social identity. cambridge: cambridge university press. pearson, j. c. (1985). gender and communication. dubuque, ia: william c. brown company publisher. tannen, d. (1986). that's not what i meant! new york: william morrow and company, inc. tannen, d. (1991). you just don't understand: women and men in conversation. london: virago. tannen, d. (1995). the power of talk: who gets heard and why. harvard business review, 73(5), 138-148. tannen, d. (2005). conversational style: analyzing talk among friends. oxford: oxford university press. thorne, b., & henley, n. (1975). language and sex: difference and dominance. rowley, massachusetts: newbury house publishers. tsutsui, k. (2008). culturally and linguistically driven misunderstanding? the analysis of intercultural misunderstanding. retrieved mei 5 th , 2016, from http://comm.louisville.edu. wardaugh, r. (2006). an introduction to sociolinguistics. oxford: blackwell. zimmerman, d., & west, c. (1975). sex roles, interruptions, and silences in conversation. in thorne, b. & henley, n. (eds.), language and sex: difference and dominance. rowley, massachusetts: newbury house publishers. http://commcourses.com/iic/intercultural-forum-online-journal/language-at-the-interface-of-culture-and-communication/culturally-and-linguistically-driven-misunderstanding-the-analysis-of-intercultural-misunderstanding http://commcourses.com/iic/intercultural-forum-online-journal/language-at-the-interface-of-culture-and-communication/culturally-and-linguistically-driven-misunderstanding-the-analysis-of-intercultural-misunderstanding llt j april 2016 articles two columns llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 207 toward creativity and speaking ability of efl students: a mixed-method study debiga fikky abdullah, diah kristina, and sumardi universitas sebelas maret, indonesia debigafikky@student.uns.ac.id; diahkristina@staff.uns.ac.id; sumardi74@staff.uns.ac.id correspondence: debigafikky@student.uns.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2020.230202 received 7 march 2020; accepted 5 may 2020 abstract the present study employed a mixed-method approach to investigate the creativity and speaking ability of efl learners towards its relationship and other essential factors. indonesian efl students of the 5th semester taken the course of academic speaking in a private university (n=30) who were selected randomly responded creative personality scale (cps) and self-rating of creativity. for the former, they described themselves by checking off 18 positively scored and 12 negatively scored items which were given a value of +1 and a value of -1, respectively. the latter was assessed using eight items from the creativity scale. the 7-point likert-type scales (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree) were made to respond to these items. following this, the students' monologues based on five themes were scored using the ielts speaking test descriptor. the data were analyzed using the spearman rank-order correlation coefficient, pattern matching, and explanation building. the finding shows a significant correlation between efl learners' creativity and their speaking ability (ρ = .961). the students also faced up to the cultural constraints in advancing their creativity. this study should, therefore, be of value to practitioners wishing to provide efl students with appropriate materials that are addressed to enhance their speaking ability. keywords: creativity, speaking ability, efl students introduction the international community in the 21st century is dealing with industrial revolution 4.0 that incites a disruptive innovation. it is remarked by technological advancements such as the general use of the internet of things (iot), i.e., artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and digital media (geisinger, 2016). disruptive innovation drives a strong impetus for collaboration as a prerequisite in confronting the fast-changing in almost all fields, including english language education. following this, english language education is supposed to adapt by providing the efl students comprehensive teaching materials that support them to possess creativity (colucci et al., 2017). therefore, the efl students are supposed to be creative persons in dealing with the fast-changing industrial revolution 4.0. under the attempt to equip efl students with creativity, understanding the meaning of this notion is considered essential. creativity is a broad term that refers to a skill that directs someone to create uncommon or unique things (andy, 2018; drago & heilman, llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching mailto:debigafikky@gmail.com mailto:diahkristina@staff.uns.ac.id mailto:sumardi74@staff.uns.ac.id llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 208 2015; kaufman, 2015). according to a definition provided by runco and jaeger (2012), creativity encompasses novelty and usefulness. following this, to maintain the existence of creativity, efl students should produce an unprecedented and practicable achievement during their study (runco, 2015). in the context of english language education within the 21st century, the most compelling efl students' achievement is their success in speaking, i.e., fluency. thus, promoting creativity to the efl students' speaking ability is considered a crucial attempt. on the other hand, teaching efl students who are supposed to possess both creativity and fluency will face some challenges. for many years, indonesian efl students were not provided with a sufficient chance to develop neither their speaking nor their creativity (songbatumis, 2017). there is a strong assumption that this phenomenon has something to do with the absence of support from the indonesian national curriculum (malaikosa & sahayu, 2019). although some significant changes in it have been done, there were no maximum impact in public efl classroom could be seen. it is still, in most cases, efl learning is teacher-centered; hence, it limits the students to freely explore their potentials. accordingly, the teachers' domination in directing the class inadvertently build a students' passive culture that directs to the passive teaching-learning process (loh & teo, 2017). consequently, the students mostly rely on memorizing instead of occupying creative answers in the teachinglearning process (poedjiastutie, 2009). thus, curriculum support would have a significant impact on students' creativity and speaking ability improvement. even though a collaboration between creativity and efl students' speaking ability has gained more prominence, there are relatively few historical studies in this area. only in the past ten years have studies of creativity directly addressed how it was viewed from the indonesian perspectives. tin, manara, & ragawanti (2009) studied the perspective of creativity from both non-native english-speaking students and non-native english-speaking teachers. in this study, the researcher highlighted the different concepts that might appear from the teachers' and the students' perspective. this study, unfortunately, did not present the supportive result, which specifically concerns in creativity and speaking ability of efl students. similarly, davis (2009) has employed a meta-analytic to show how mood affects ones' creativity. these results from the former and the latter research were attempted to present creativity that attached in students' daily life with no empirical data regarding its role in students' speaking ability. on the other hand, zuhriyah, agustina, & fajarina (2018) investigated the influence of creativity toward the students' speaking ability. however, its results remain big questions toward how strong the correlation between creativity and speaking ability, what direction follows such correlation, and, most important, the students' view towards their creativity. under the above condition, previous studies have highlighted factors that are associated with creativity and speaking ability, which is essential in the english language teaching process. however, the researcher identified an apparent knowledge gap in prior research concerning the relationship between efl students' creativity and their speaking ability. besides, the prior research did not address the subject of cultural constraints that direct the efl students' perceptions regarding their creativity. this subject encompasses several dimensions that lately have attracted research attention in other disciplines (e.g., lee & kim, 2011; roth, 2010). the cultural constraints should be explored further to provide a more in-depth understanding of efl students' motivation in learning. due to a prior explanation, this paper begins with an overview llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 209 of creativity. next, concepts and definitions of speaking ability and efl students are addressed. it is followed by a methodology that is applied in this research. lastly, the findings and discussion sections are presented. as the sequence of the correct manner, the research questions of this study focused on 1) is there any significant relationship among efl students’ creativity and their speaking ability? furthermore, 2) how do efl students perceive their creativity? on the concept of creativity, speaking ability and efl students’ creativity creativity is being accredited as a fundamental skill for the 21st century (egan, maguire, christophers, & rooney, 2017; geisinger, 2016). it can be recognized as a product, press, and process. product means the outcome of the creative process; the press has something to do with the force which directs creative person; and, process refers to the order of creative thinking (runco, 2007; tin et al., 2009). in terms of creative outcome, this notion can be interpreted as novelty and value. following this consideration, any debate concerning creativity is supposed to assort creative outcomes from the creative process (davis, 2009) since the latter has become a significant question in creativity research. to apprehend the creative process, there is a twocategorized elemental model of creative thinking that should be understood: the primary and the secondary elements. the former, which is acknowledged as a controlling component, consists of problem finding, ideation, and evaluation. problem finding includes identifying, defining, and working to pursue a solution. as the essential subprocesses, problem identification signifies the process of recognizing a challenge to be conquered; problem definition relates to defining and redefining the issues into an appropriate answer. however, the secondary elements, knowledge, and motivation, give more contribution to creative thinking rather than controlling factors. ideation is derived from particular skills such as flexibility, originality, and fluency, which refer to a variety of ideas, uniqueness of ideas, and production of ideas, respectively. in addition to these, there are three tasks which compatible with the former skills such as divergent thinking, categorization, and remote associates tasks. on the one hand, divergent thinking tasks accentuate flexibility, originality, and fluency. on the other hand, categorization tasks focus on cognitive flexibility, e.g., the categorization among concepts. finally, the remote associates task measures the ability to recognize connections among distant thoughts. having those three tasks in the concept of creativity understanding, however, the considerable amount of creativity research relied upon tests of divergent thinking (runco & chand, 1995) and has been directed into the debate. one side of researchers negates the view that support divergent thinking relates to creativity. in the middle, some researchers believe that divergent thinking tasks are the indicators of creativity potential. such debate occurs since divergent thinking only holds the value of novelty does ignore the attribute of usefulness embraced by many creativity theorists. this privilege attention on novelty could be a trigger for much of the criticism toward these tasks. as an essential part of usefulness in creativity, evaluation is the most ignored component (runco & chand, 1995). runco and chand (1995) argued that evaluation concordantly works with ideation to make sure both original and appropriateness are fully accomplished. these two values are essential to establish a problem-solving manner since the originality or novelty lacking usefulness can not be considered as a creative performance. therefore, in the 21st century efl teaching context, only the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 210 creative ideation that applicable to the efl students' speaking practice does it can be considered as a genuinely creative performance. speaking ability building a remarkable speaking ability to equip efl students in facing 21st-century competition is exhausting work. it appears as an integration of both physiological and psychological factors, which should be comprised of required competencies to actuate the target language awareness (burns & richards, 2012). these competencies are ascribed to a sequential process of thinking that accommodates spontaneous action and decision making when one speaks. therefore, the competencies that have been prescribed to the success of efl students' speaking should be formed as accuracy, fluency, and complexity. by those three established standards of thriving efl students' speaking, the following are their given explanations. thornbury (2005) stated that accuracy refers to the ability of efl learners to produce the correct speaking based on its contexts and its use precisely. in most standardized tests, one's level of speaking accuracy is determined by the comprehension of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and sociolinguistic competence or pragmatic competence. the results of the tests thus measure the efl students' awareness of english in communication. hence, accuracy reflects the comprehension of efl students to deal with real-context english. following this, fluency focuses on the messages being delivered rather than the form in which those messages are attached. however, the latter concept is questionable. if the employment of the appropriate form is neglected, the efl students themselves will find difficulties in determining their capacity. unfortunately, most efl students in indonesia have been motivated by their teachers or lecturers in this way. this misleading concept, somehow, is believed will decrease the burden of learning english. on the contrary, the 21st-century learning should apply the more proper understanding of fluency: it is the ability of the efl students who have few plausible speaking in their conversation and keep focusing on the correct format based on individual circumstances. after dealing with those two notions, the efl students then should focus on complexity. complexity is the ability to produce a sophisticated speaking in the given context. in such a context, their creativity is stimulated and enforced to form unprecedented sentences based on new insights. following this process, they learn some new grammar which will be understood through a real experience. only at the end of the class do the teacher or lecturer measure the achievements of their students. eventually, the stimulative and engaging teachinglearning process will direct efl students to gain accuracy, fluency, and complexity in their speaking ability. efl students efl stands for english as a foreign language (cambridge learner's dictionary online, 2020). efl student is a collective term to denote students who learn english within non-english speaking countries, e.g., the united states of america, the united kingdom, and australia. in indonesia, efl students learn english by attending a class at which is guided by in-service english teachers or lecturers. these teachers must implement the prescribed efl curriculum established by the ministry of education and culture. however, since the teacher or lecturer-centered curriculum has directed the learning culture of indonesian efl students for decades, the significant changes to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 211 revolutionize such an old-fashioned curriculum in the current years seem to have no maximum results yet. method participants this study was administered at a private university that has 150 students of the 5th semester of english language major as the research population. out of 150 students, the researcher assigned 30 of them as the sample size and utilized random selection to increase the generalizability of the data and to avoid bias. it was started by initially listed the population and numbered them from 1 to 150. following this, the researcher read the list and picked 30 names from the multiple of 5. after all selected students have been contacted, they agreed to voluntarily participate in this study, which has been carried out from august 2019 to december 2019. for the sake of research ethics, all of their information would be kept entirely confidential. design quantitative and qualitative data were collected by following sequential-embedded mixed model design (cresswell, 2013) or sequential-dependent design (schoonenboom & johnson, 2017). this design was applied since the quantitative study provides a general understanding of the variables being studied; on the other hand, the qualitative data helped the researcher to explain the statistical analysis report by digging more indepth the information. this design consists of two phases: the quantitative data collection and analysis followed by qualitative data collection and analysis (cresswell, 2013). firstly, the researcher collected and then analyzed the quantitative data. the quantitative data came from questionnaires that have been distributed to each student by using google form. the items that students should fill followed gough's (1979) creative personality scale (cps), and zhou & george's (2001) self-rating of personality. for the former, the students described themselves by checking off 18 positively scored and 12 negatively scored items, which were given a value of +1 and a value of -1, respectively. the researcher then summed to the values for the cps index. the scores for the cps can range from -12 to 18. the zhou & george's (2001) selfrating of creativity was assessed by using eight items from the creativity scale. the 7point likert-type scales (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree) were made to respond to these items. to find the speaking score, the researcher chose five items from cps randomly and asked the students to create a 5-minutes monologue based on these items. the monologues were then scored following the ielts speaking test descriptor. it consists of 9-bands (0-9), which describes students' fluency and coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, and pronunciation rigorously. since the quantitative data came from two-ranked variables, the researcher used the spearman rank-order correlation coefficient (spearman's rho for short) to see whether the two variables covary; whether, the increased or decreased variable affected the other ones. despite its ignorance in normality or equal variance of data, spearman's rho focuses on the difference in rank orders of data rather than differences in means. it determines the strength and direction of the monotonic relationship between creativity and speaking ability and their linearity. the null hypothesis, ho, represents a positive correlation between the results for the two variables. the coefficient has a value that ranges from -1 to 1. both served the negative correlation and strongest positive, respectively, with a ρ-value of .05, underlies all hypotheses. if the result reflected ρ was llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 212 less than .05, the null hypothesis was rejected. the all-gathered quantitative data, then, have been input in statistical package for the social sciences (spss). the researcher operated spss to make data analysis more efficient, fast, and accurate. under the above process through which the quantitative data were gathered, the qualitative data were collected and analyzed. it was started by using interview which its every question have been developed based on previous quantitative data and related creativity theories to gain efl students’ deeper understanding toward their creative process through which their speaking ability was affected (schoonenboom & johnson, 2017). these data appeared as constructed patterns from which were matched with the prior constructed theories and have directed the researcher to conduct an explanation building. those qualitative data helped the researcher to gain a more fine-grained understanding of efl students’ creativity and speaking ability relationship. findings and discussion relationships and essential factors of efl students’ creativity and speaking ability the first question in this study sought to determine whether there was any significant relationship between creativity and speaking ability of efl students. after administered the analysis, some considerations have been taken. the final scores from cps, self-rating creativity, and speaking scores (n=30) were then analyzed using spearman's correlation. figure 1 monotonic relationship between creativity and speaking ability a test of the scatterplot affirmed the presence of linearity for efl students’ creativity and speaking ability. hence, the presence of linearity authorized the use of correlation coefficients. the monotonic relationship figure, as shown above, indicated that when creativity value increases, the value of speaking ability is also improved. accordingly, a nonparametric procedure, the spearman's rank-order correlation llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 213 coefficient (i.e., spearman's rho) was performed to address each research question previously outlined. the results of the correlational analysis are displayed in table 1. table 1 spearman’s correlation nonparametric correlation creativity speaking ability spearman’s ρ creativity correlation coefficient 1.000 .961** sig. (2-tailed) . .000 n 30 30 speaking ability correlation coefficient .961** 1.000 sig. (2-tailed) .000 . n 30 30 ** correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). the results, as shown in table 1, indicate that spearman’s rho revealed a statistically significant relationship between creativity and speaking ability (rs= .961**, ρ< 0.01), which is indicated by the double asterisks (**). the value of sig. (2-tailed) was also strengthen the significance, since 0.000 < 0.005 or 0.01. thus, it can be decided that there is a strong positive correlation between creativity and speaking ability of efl students. figure 1 and table 1 above have unveiled the correlation between creativity and speaking ability. following this, the second research question is acknowledged. as the nature of sequential-embedded mixed-model design, the qualitative component of this study depends on its data collection and data analysis on the findings in the quantitative component. the results of the quantitative component were also used to construct the questions of the interview to gain qualitative data the section that follows provides essential items that direct the process through which the students perceive their creativity. the percentages on the right side appeared as the constructed patterns. from these patterns, then, the explanation was built. table 2, table 3, and table 4 represented the available data. table 2 section 1 of creative personality items the efl students (%) egotistical 0 inventive 2.9 snobbish 2.9 sexy 8.8 intelligent 11.8 resourceful 11.8 insightful 11.8 unconventional 11.8 individualistic 14.7 informal 14.7 self-confident 14.7 capable 17.6 reflective 17.6 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 214 items the efl students (%) clever 20.6 original 23.5 confident 26.5 wide interests 32.4 humorous 44.2 it can be seen from the data in table 2 that the students have responded toward the adjectives that represent them the most. what is interesting about the data in this table is that the students avoided choosing 'egotistical' (0%) as the representation of their creativity. instead, most of them chose 'humorous' (44.2%) to portray their creativity. from this data, we can see there is a significant difference between the two adjectives. the students show an apparent denial toward the haughty manner, which relates to arrogancy and pompousness. they likely represent themselves as a jovial person who always seeks social engagement. by being humorous, they believe that their social relationship could be even more bounded. the bound reflects the trust between the students and their circumstances, which relates to the improvement of their creativity. \ table 3. section 2 of creative personality items the efl students (%) dissatisfied 5.9 narrow interests 8.8 submissive 8.8 conservative 11.8 conventional 11.8 artificial 14.7 cautious 14.7 suspicious 17.6 sincere 23.5 commonplace 26.5 well-mannered 32.4 honest 41.2 table 3 presents other adjectives that have been responded to by the efl students. it can be seen in the table that 'honest' got 41.2%. it can be assumed that these students benefitted from having 'honest' as their reflection toward their creativity. the reason for this is not apparent, but it may have something to do with the previous result (table 2). a possible interpretation for this might be that being a humorous person necessitates honesty. being honest is more to do with the strengthening action toward their bound and their social circumstances. this astonishing finding might be explained by the fact that these students culturally constrained. it is considered since they do not innately possess creativity. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 215 table 4. self-rating of creativity item number strongly disagree (%) disagree (%) somewhat disagree (%) neither agree nor disagree (%) somewhat agree (%) agree (%) strongly agree (%) item 1 3.1 12.5 18.8 62.5 3.1 item 2 3.1 9.4 12.5 43.8 31.3 item 3 3.1 9.4 15.6 28.1 28.1 15.6 item 4 6.3 12.5 25 40.6 15.6 item 5 15.6 31.3 37.5 15.6 item 6 3.1 6.3 9.4 18.8 50 12.5 item 7 3.1 6.3 12.5 15.6 46.9 15.6 item 8 3.1 21.9 34.4 21.9 18.8 table 4 presents the self-rating of creativity. this scale especially measured the rates of students' creativity that have been applied in their daily learning. what stands out in this table is the general pattern of how the environments influence some phases of the learning process accordingly. item 1, which represents 'i suggest new ways to achieve goals or objectives,' got 62.5% concerning agree. followed by item 2, which represents 'i exhibit creativity on the job when allowed,' got 50% toward agreeing. in the third place, item 3, which represents 'i often have new and innovative ideas,' got 46.9%. those three items are considered as the top three values that most affect the students' learning. how those top three values affect the students' learning can be acknowledged within some concerns. it is started when they establish their objectives in applicable methods relate to the teaching-learning process. the established objectives, then, direct the students to fully accomplish their tasks or assignments (e.g., composing conversation within a particular situation) given by their teacher or lecturer (chen & hwang, 2019). the creativity, however, can only be performed if, and only if, the teacher or lecturer allows the students to do it by permitting them in recognizable ways (krashen, 1982). this permission reflects the support of the teacher or lecturer. as a result, the initial support possibly stimulates the students' innovative ideas (montazeri & salimi, 2019). discussion the essential consideration of efl students' creativity and speaking ability. a primary objective of this study which employed sequential-embedded mixed method design was to investigate the relationship between efl students’ creativity and speaking ability and other essential factors that affect such a correlation. it was hypothesized that efl students’ creativity has something to do with their speaking ability. the higher students possess creativity, the higher their speaking ability could be. this result covaries with the prior study established such a view (zuhriyah, agustina and fajarina, 2018) which revealed that the students with high creativity would possess more speaking ability than the students with the lower one. concerning the first research question, it was found that the monotonic relationship significantly increased llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 216 the relationship between efl students’ creativity and speaking ability. the qualitative data showed the additional factors that accommodate the efl students to enhance creativity to support their speaking ability. in sum, these results indicate that the way efl students conceptualize their creativity can alter their speaking development effects. on the question of how do efl students perceive their creativity, this study found that students are also affected by their own learning culture. the most prominent finding to emerge from the analysis regarding the students’ learning cultures is that the implementation of the efl curriculum has more to do with students’ achievement relates to their creativity in speaking ability (becker & roos, 2016). this result reflects those of perry & karpova (2017) who also found that directed learning accommodates students to follow the prescribed curriculum and to measure their achievement. it is possible to hypothesize that this condition is less likely to occur in indonesia. due to the limitation of speaking exposure and the dominance of the teachers or lecturers, the efl teaching-learning processes have failed to maintain efl students' creativity to enhance their speaking ability. the restriction comes from teacher-centred learning is unintentionally legitimized toward students’ creativity and attenuates the students’ motivation to express their established knowledge. it results in the passiveness that teacher has to confront. this condition forces, in major cases, the more subjective assessment toward students’ speaking practices. therefore, the significant changes in indonesia national curriculum have no significant impact on the development of efl students creative speaking. considering the problems that mostly occur in the indonesian efl classroom due to the learning culture, the teachers and the lecturers are supposed to be a pioneer in implementing the established curriculum creatively. this manner corroborates the ideas of bernstein (1971), bruner (1977), and vygotsky (1986) that promote efl students’ daily life as the stimulation or the sources of their creative speaking. it corresponds to wang & kokotsaki (2018) who stated that the production of sophisticated speaking expressions reflects the success of efl students’ speaking in the form of creativity. efl students’ daily life also presents real-context speaking which provides students tangible results and measurements from which they judge their deliberate learning (perry & karpova, 2017; vally et al., 2019; wang, 2019). following this, the reflections of students’ deliberate learning are actualized by their answers in the questionnaires in this study. consistent with the literature, this study found that efl students who respond to the initial questionnaires bring into account their daily learning results. section 1 of the creative personality fairly measured the students’ perceptions toward their creativity and got humorous, wide interests, and confident as the top-three adjectives that have been chosen, respectively. according to this gained data, the efl students who possess humour and do not hesitate to convey it as his/her nature are considered as the creative intellectual persons. it is indicated by the presents of the ability to acknowledged any hidden or intrinsic messages behind humorous acts. only efl students who lack humour do they suffer sensitiveness regarding any issues. the humorous efl students, accordingly, have broad interests. this manner underly the need for a humorous person to present a real insight regarding his/her experience (luria, s., baer, j., kaufman, j., 2018). without any supporting knowledge, it seems no possible the humorous efl students with a broad interest able to promote additional information to his/her colleagues. finally, the two first adjectives must be supported by confidence. this last notion in section 1 answered by those who able to manage their anxiety. therefore, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 217 efl students who possess confident will face no difficulties in expressing his/her humour and broad interests. following the interpretations of section 1 in the creative personality, section 2 followed by self-rating creativity are mutually support each other to build a thinking framework to explain how the students’ established culture rigorously, both in its broad and narrow meaning, affect the efl students in perceiving their creativity. following section 2, the efl students believe that ‘honest’ and ‘well-mannered’ best represents them. a possible explanation for this might be that creativity should be performed with honesty and be practised in well-mannered. undoubtedly, these have something to do with the students’ culture since creativity unseparated from tradition, cultural norms, and societal values (cheung & mok, 2018). the answers for the self-rating creativity, accordingly, underlined teachers’ or lecturers’ role in promoting creativity in each teaching-learning process. it explained that efl students would be much helped if the support and permission in expressing creativity are provided by teachers or lecturers. conclusion undoubtedly, creativity is an essential powerful skill in the 21st century. as a result, efl teaching should accommodate it in its learning process, especially toward speaking ability. returning to the questions posed at the beginning of this study, it is now possible to state that creativity has a significant correlation with speaking ability. one of the more significant findings to emerge from this study is that students' speaking ability improved steadily along with the improvement of 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(2018). the influence of students’ creativity to construct sentences toward their speaking skill. register journal, 11(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.18326/rgt.v11i1.1-18 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 389 teaching efl writing using google docs to provide feedback annindita putri wibowo universitas sebelas maret, indonesia correspondence: annindt_26@student.uns.ac.id doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.3082 received 5 february 2021; accepted 31 october 2021 abstract an innovative teaching and learning process in a class is essential to provide a meaningful and successful learning experience. peer feedback evaluating the other students’ writing helps them check, correct errors in writing, and analyze the mistakes to lead to a better understanding and a good improvement. thus, this study is conducted to observe google docs’ use with peers’ feedback for having an innovative teaching and learning process in efl writing class. 10 efl students, including male and female from one of the public universities in central java, indonesia studying in the 5th semester are surveyed via non-probability sampling and asked for their participation in this study. the ten students chosen will be interviewed regarding the activities using google docs in their article writing class such as commenting and revising after they get the feedback and their reflection of these activities. the results of this study found that google docs providing feedback helps students write an article, although they also found some challenges. this study suggests that the lecturers' guidance and perspective are needed in feedback activity during the writing class to have a better and more effective learning process. keywords: efl, google docs, feedback, writing. introduction many studies have been interested in the idea of integrating technology supporting teaching and learning activity in efl writing class. the technology integration has benefited writing class providing tools for teachers and learners giving, receiving, and responding to feedback to gain their writing skills. some research has found the benefit of technology for learners to process their writing such as editing, writing collaboratively, and doing peer-feedback (alharbi, 2019). many current studies have also proven technology-based learning activity using google docs enables learners to work collaboratively, interact with others, give and respond to feedback, fix errors, and improve writing skills (ebadi, 2017; ebadi, 2019; wang, 2019). moreover, the study done by ebadi (2019) found the efl learners’ pleasure and confidence in writing. these studies answer the common issue in the traditional paper that challenged some restrictions dealing llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 390 with the students’ effectiveness in writing. these include the correction, editing, feedback, and responses to the feedback to improve students’ writing. besides the solution for the challenges regarding those some restrictions in traditional writing, web technology-based learning using google docs helps learners to enhance their motivation to fix errors so that they can produce better writing. a study that was done by long (2007) found that google docs providing synchronous e-feedback allows learners to compare their writing production that may still be incorrect with the appropriate ones. a similar study also showed that google docs engages learners to be active and refine their writing by receiving and responding to teachers’ feedback given in google docs (alharbi 2019). “studies have pointed toward the advantages of these affordances of google docs, including assisting google docs efl learners to contribute to the overall quality of writing.” (alharbi, 2019, p. 3). despite the number of previous studies focusing on the use of google docs providing feedback for efl learners writing skills, the study that looks for the use of google docs in giving and responding to feedback that is advanced for both indonesian teachers and learners innovative learning process is still unavailable. in this study, i will look further at how google docs as a web technologybased learning provides an innovative teaching and learning process in efl writing class using its feedback features. the participants of this study will be 10 efl learners. for this study, i will interview them to collect data explaining how google docs provides an innovative teaching and learning process for efl writing classes through its feedback and the learners’ review after writing, receiving, and responding to feedback. literature review an understanding of innovative practice is essential to know the in-depth concept of what it is. carr and johansson (1995) defined an innovative practice as an approach to transform it into useful applications that create change and improvement. cumming and owen (2001) identified several characteristics of innovative teaching such as in-depth knowledge that includes innovation and pedagogy, core values including a desire to improve practice, and change management. in the last decade, there have been a lot of studies exploring innovative teaching and learning in the school context (aguerrondo, 2008; istance, 2011). fraser (2016) conducted a study of innovative teachers in higher education to explore the characteristics of innovative instructors in the learning environment. while technology has been developed and many applications are used to support innovative teaching processes in writing such as blogs, wikis, and google docs, innovative teaching with integrating technology helps teachers observe and facilitate writing classes for the students (jeong 2016; alharbi 2019). from those definitions, i conclude that an innovative practice requires teachers or lecturers’ role to use such applications into the teaching and learning process to bring improvement. in the last five years, there has been a large number of studies on how innovative teaching and learning processes integrate with technology in the context of efl writing. thematically, the application of google docs used by efl teachers was conducted in the context of editing students’ writing, collaborative writing, monitoring students' work, and giving feedback. godwin llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 391 jones (2008) had done their research on web-writing 2.0 google docs and found that users mostly use google docs to edit the writing (p.8) because it provides spelling, grammar, replying to the comments or feedback and contributes to the development of their writing skills. a study by ebadi (2019) also found that feedback can engage students to edit and give helpful comments on their writing. more specifically, google docs offers other advantages such as revising learners' written text with different and variant corrections starting from words, phrases, and sentences (alharbi 2019). methodologically, tsui, and ng (2000) used an experimental study in classes to observe students’ writing activities and instructors’ feedback, corrections, and comments. also, the recent study using the interview to know learners’ perceptions towards the use of google docs highlighted their positive attitudes and responses to writing and assessment sessions conducted using google docs (ebadi 2017). alharbi (2019) conducted the study using a qualitative research approach to know the role of google docs in providing feedback in students’ writing and its results show that it can engage students being active in responding to the feedback and integrating it into their text revision. so, all of those previous studies with several types of methods used to investigate the role of google docs in facilitating students’ writing in terms of collaborative writing, feedback, corrections, and students’ attitudes toward it. previous studies have found many advantages of google docs in facilitating innovative writing for the efl writing course. google docs supports writing practices through teachers’ guidance in giving feedback and the students’ editing of the feedback (hyland 2003; kalan 2015). many other studies have also shown how google docs shares its advantages to efl writing can develop efl academic writing skills (ebadi 2017). this corroborated the study of ebadi (2017) who stated that “learners who used google docs outperformed those in the faceto-face classroom in overall writing skills.” (p. 20). the previous study done by alharbi (2019) explained google docs focusing on global issues, organization of ideas, grammar, citations, and conventions. moreover, conducting assessment sessions using google dogs also facilitates efl teachers to improve efl learners’ writing skills (ebadi 2019). therefore, the role of google docs is not only for the students’ performances in writing but also for the teachers’ evaluation so that it can support innovative teaching and learning processes in efl writing class. there is a lot of study focusing on the advantages of giving feedback in google docs to support learners’ writing performances in the efl context. however, only a few research studies investigate the use of google docs and feedback in the indonesian context. the purpose of this study is to know the benefit of google docs and feedback given on the learners' overall writing aspects in the indonesian efl context. this study investigates the way the article writing class conducted using google docs with feedback activity and learners' responses. specifically, this study has two following research questions: 1. how is peer-feedback given to the learners writing performances using google docs? 2. what are learners' attitudes towards feedback in google docs? llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 392 method this study will take place at one of the departments in one of the public universities in central java, indonesia, and will be done in an article writing class taken by the fifth-semester students in the program. undergraduate students in the university need to write a research for their final assessment to graduate from the university. the students are supposed to start focusing, learning, and preparing how their research paper will be arranged during the article writing class. google docs helps the class go effectively so that the students can write and edit anytime. the need for lecturers’ feedback to check and evaluate the students’ writing does matter to ensure their understanding. i will ask the lecturers’ permission and try to collect the data from the university that contains names of students that are studying in the article writing class. the participants of this study will be 10 undergraduate efl students from english education department in writing class, specifically article writing class. participants will be males and females in the 5thsemester aging between 18 and 21 years old. the participants involved are those who experience article writing using google docs. i will collect the names of students who are studying in the fifth semester and do purposive sampling. there will be about 80 students in the fifth semester and i will choose 40 of them who experienced writing using google docs and receiving peer and lecturer feedback. the 10 students’ names from the data are chosen based on their various proficiency levels in writing. i will ask the 10 students’ willingness to participate in my study. as shown in table 1, there are 10 students chosen to participate in this study table 1. participants pseudonym gender age pseudonym gender age joni male 19 jessie female 18 joshua male 20 tiffany female 20 hendery male 20 jessica female 20 andy male 21 aisyah female 20 brian male 21 adelia female 21 in this study, i will use a qualitative case study approach which is defined by (stake, 1995; yin, 2009, 2012, 2014) as a study conducted in many fields and developed in an in-depth analysis such as case, activity, process, or individuals. the use of a qualitative case method for my study is in line with the nature of a qualitative approach itself which is to explore the meaning individuals ascribe to the way google docs supports innovative teaching and learning process with its feedback given by the lecturers in academic and article writing class. i will collect data using the interview to explore the learners’ reflection on the use of google docs that supports article writing class. this study will investigate how the feedback given by the lecturers and peers on the students' writing, the students’ comments on the lecturers’ feedback, and the students’ text revision after getting llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 393 feedback can improve students' writing performance. i will do a follow-up interview to get the participants’ responses explaining their attitudes and reflection towards the use of google docs in academic and article writing class. the participants’ responses during the interview will be transcribed and analyzed. this study will use a thematic analysis (alharbi,2019) to analyze the transcripts of the participants’ responses in the follow-up interview. findings and discussion this study investigated the students’ perception of the use of google docs and the implementation of peer feedback activity. this study observed 10 students in the fifth semester who are asked to write an article using google docs. the findings of this study provide an overview of the use of google docs in article writing class and students’ perception that consist of the benefits, challenges, and recommendations of the implementation of peer feedback activity. they shared their positive attitude towards google docs and peer feedback activity that helped them develop their writing. but, they also faced some challenges and gave recommendations on the peer feedback activity using google docs in the future. only a few studies investigate the effectiveness of google docs and peer feedback activity therefore this study wants to observe more the implementation of peer feedback given on students’ writing using google docs. description of the teaching of writing using google docs the teaching of writing using google docs was done by the students in the fifth semester in the article writing class. the students are asked to write an article in google docs for the whole semester. the lecturer created files in google docs based on every students’ name and shared the link with the students. the class focuses on writing every section of an article every week with the lecturer’s guidance and monitor. google docs is used in this class to help students write effectively and are monitored easily by the lecturer. google docs helps the students write, edit, check errors and revise their writing with auto-saved features so they will not worry if they forget to save their writing. the following table summarizes the students’ responses to google docs used for teaching writing in the article writing class. the results of the interview of 10 respondents divided into five groups were transcribed and analyzed. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 394 table 1. students’ responses to the use of google docs in article writing class from all the students’ responses, google docs is useful to write an article because of its feature. the students explained google docs allows them to edit, revise, check the history of their writing, save automatically, and get feedback, comment, or suggestion from their lecturers and friends. this is in line with the previous study done by alharbi (2019) who found that google docs allows learners to refine their writing, automatically save the changes, receive, and provide feedback on writing. the findings of this study are the same as the study done by ebadi (2017) who showed that students were able to work collaboratively, edit, and give feedback to their peers’ writing using google docs. furthermore, google docs helps students develop their writing more effectively and they have a convenient time and place to edit. the implementation of peer feedback activity a study done by bradley and thouesny (2017) found that peer feedback or comments focus on content issues, structure, and general praise. peer feedback was done in article writing class by the students commenting on their friends’ writing. the implementation of peer feedback activity was done by the students receiving feedback through google docs comments (alharbi, 2019) and directly on the students’ writing using a table to write the feedback or suggestion. in general, peer feedback was given by the students to others after the lecturer asked them to do so. all students were asked to write every section of an article in google docs every week. after they finished writing, the lecturer then asked them to find their peer to check and give feedback in terms of the evaluation for the lack of their friends’ writing and the suggestion as well. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 395 table 2. the implementation of peer feedback activity table 2 shows how peer feedback was given on the students’ writing. students gave feedback that focuses on the local issue in writing. this is in line with the previous study done by alharbi (2019) showing that most feedback given focuses on the local issue such as the content and organization of ideas. this study also correlates with kurihara (2016) who found the students’ feedback in peer feedback activity was in the form of suggestions to add more explanation. students’ perspectives on the benefits of peer feedback activity table 3. students’ perspectives on the benefits of peer feedback activity table 3 shows the students’ perspectives on the benefits of peer-feedback on writing in article writing class. each group has two students who shared the same responses toward peer-feedback. group 1’s perspectives indicate that peerllt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 396 feedback helps them check and evaluate the lack of writing. students in group 2 said that they understand more easily the feedback given by their peers. the other students in group 3 shared their opinion towards peer feedback which gives new insight for them about writing ideas. group 4 also thinks that peer feedback helps them fix and make their writing better. the last two students who join group 5 enjoy peer feedback because it can give them broader knowledge and points of view. students in group 1 said, “feedback given from my friend helps me to check and evaluate the lack of my writing so that i can fix and make it better”. the results of this study correlated with the previous study done by alharbi (2019) which found that students expressed their positive views to the value of peer feedback which can help them identify the lack of their writing. this study is also in line with lee & evans (2019) who explained the results of the interview of their study receiving peer feedback can help revise their writing and develop their l2 activity. in contrast with the study done by huisman (2018) which found that not all students think that peer feedback helps them in writing because some of them just found that explanatory feedback is more useful than peer feedback containing suggestions and making them revise their writing. students’ challenges on peer feedback activity table 4. students’ challenges on peer feedback activity table 4 presents the challenges the students faced when implementing peer feedback activities in article writing class. although every group shares different challenges, some of them faced almost similar challenges when receiving peer feedback. group 1 has difficulties in responding to the feedback given because they have different perspectives about the point they write and their peers’ suggestions. meanwhile, students in group 2 are often confused with their friends’ feedback so they need to ask further. group 3 almost shares the same difficulties with group 1 when they receive peer feedback. group 3 thinks that the feedback given is not relevant to the topic. students in group 4 are concerned about their friends’ attention to their writing because they just give feedback without llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 397 considering whether the points are already stated or not. if group 1 to group 4 finds difficulties related to the content of the feedback given by peers, group 5 highlights more on the unequal division of peer feedback activity. students in group 5 see some students do not have peers to evaluate their writing. one of the respondents said “sometimes, i and my friends who give me feedback have different points of view. i think what i have written is enough but then my friends suggest me to add more so it is sometimes hard for me and makes me think about whether i should add it or not.” this result is in line with the previous study done by ebadi (2017) who also found some challenges in peer feedback activity. he said that the activity is often challenged by the students’ mistrust of the reliability of peer feedback. the students’ challenges on peer feedback activity about the different point of view or understanding between one student to another correlated with the study done by krishnan (2019) who found differences in perspectives towards writing challenge the students. students’ recommendations on the implementation of peer feedback activity table 5. students’ recommendations on the implementation of peer feedback activity table 5 describes the students’ recommendations on the implementation of peer feedback activity after they experienced it. group 1 recommends further peer feedback activity for giving specific criteria about what kind of feedback should be given on friends’ writing. group 2 gives its recommendations on the implementation of peer feedback activity not only in article writing but also in the other subjects. students in group 3 said that on the next peer feedback activity when students want to give feedback to their friends’ writing, it will be better if they are online and open the file together so that they can ask directly if they do not get what the point of their friends’ feedback. group 4’s recommendation is on the lecturer’s attention, guide, and control during peer feedback activity to make sure the students’ feedback is relevant. group 5 recommends the lecturer to divide llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 398 every student’s peers to make it equal and all students can receive similar amounts of peer feedback. one student said “to avoid misunderstanding and irrelevant feedback, i think it will be better for students to be online and open the file together. so, if a student gets feedback but he is still confused, he can directly chat with his peers on google docs room chat and ask or clarify the feedback.” similarly, the previous studies give the same recommendation as this study on peer feedback activity. according to alharbi (2019), peer feedback activity needs the lecturer’s observation to achieve the intended goals in this context is the goal of giving feedback. ebadi (2017) also recommends that peer feedback activity could provide relevant details to make it clearer and this is in line with the results of this study's recommendation about how important necessary and relevant feedback is. in general, the results of this study are in agreement with the previous studies on the use of google docs in writing class and the implementation of peer feedback activity. the findings of this study are in line with the previous studies investigating students’ positive attitude on the use of google docs that helps them to give comments, receive feedback, revise their writing, its contribution to the development of their writing, and the students’ challenges on peer feedback activity that also corroborate the previous research saying that the students will carefully choose whether the feedback given by their peers should be incorporated into their writing or not (alharbi 2019; ebadi 2017; kurihara 2016). conclusion in this study, we observed the use of google docs and peer feedback activity in the article writing class done by indonesian efl learners in the fifth semester. we look further into their perceptions on writing an article with giving, receiving, and responding to feedback using google docs. in general, this study’s findings show the students’ positive attitude towards peer feedback given on the work that benefits them in developing their writing and their recommendations after they find any challenges. google docs helps students write effectively and collaboratively because it allows them to write, check grammar, comment, revise, and edit their writing after they receive feedback from their friends. peer feedback is also implemented using google docs which focuses on checking the local issue in writing and giving some suggestions related to the content. the implementation of peer feedback activity encourages students to recheck and evaluate their writing to be better because it can give them more insights and ideas to fix the lack of their writing. although the students get lots of benefits from google docs and peer feedback activity, they also find some challenges such as different understanding of what their friends have already written and the difficulties in considering and integrating their friends’ feedback. despite these challenges, the students recommend implementing google docs not only in writing class but also in the other subjects because of its effectiveness and the lecturer’s guide and control over the criteria of giving feedback to the peers’ writing. thus, this study implies that the use of google docs and peer feedback activity is beneficial for students in writing class but it still needs the lecturer’s guidance. future studies need to explore the implementation of peer feedback using google docs together with the teachers’ or lecturer’s perspective. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 399 references aguerrondo, i. 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(2014). case study research (5th ed.). thousand oaks, ca: sage. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12598 https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12598 https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12598 https://doi.org/10.1080/1475939x.2019.1674183 https://doi.org/10.1080/1475939x.2019.1674183 llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 149 reflective practices for teacher education paulus kuswandono sanata dharma university abstract studies on reflective practice in teacher education are increasingly getting more attention at least in the last 2 decades. this article discusses concepts of reflection and how it is implemented in educating pre-service teachers on their early stage of professional learning. the purposes of doing the reflection for pre-service teachers are not only for illuminating their professional learning experiences, but also to critically reflect their vocation as teachers, including the values which may be dictated to them through rigid regulations. reflection in teacher education is crucial as it connects well with learning in that learners use reflection to exercise their mind and to evaluate their learning experiences. besides, this article also highlights some perceived difficulties to implement reflective practice, as well as ways how to promote reflection. keywords: reflective practice, critical reflection, pre-service teachers, teacher education a. introduction being teachers in the today’s situation requires undeniably great commitment and true vocation as they are posed with multiple challenges as a result of more complex structures of social, political, and cultural changes. sighted from the political position, schools are often used by the ruling power as a place to extend their authoritative control for the society order, for instance through the process of indoctrination. teachers often must abide by all the technical teaching procedures and assessment, or administrative work required by government. this often engenders tensions among teachers when such administrative work turns out to become a priority task, for example accreditation purposes, in which written management performance is valued high regardless the real process of teaching and learning in class. such a hard work on preparing the administrative reports can take up much of teachers’ time, thus leaving tiny space for their own teaching creativity and innovative exploration. there is also precarious practice which may be prevalent in many teacher educations, the ones which adhere to rigid curriculum, strictly-modelled practice teaching inherited from the past, leading teacher educators eventually into a “lockstep of conformity” (britzman, 2003, p. 45). britzman maintains that such adoption is usually for the sake of practicality than transformative. therefore, in the age which is characterized by politicized education, the role of teachers is not simply to teach in class, but also to presume a call for their own empowerment and emancipation, which means “enabling teachers to examine ideologies critically and to consider the value basis of their own practice” (calderhead & gates, 1993, p. 2). meanwhile, we need to be critically reflective in interpreting the word “call” or “vocation”, not as a blind readiness to llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 150 dedicate and work hard as it may be intended in a hegemonic notion, but willingness to pursue and work rigorously on what we think truly important in our work as teachers (brookfield, 1995). teacher education needs to be aware of such circumstances so that they can prepare the future teachers who are ready to abide by the regulation, but also critically reflective of the context for their students development. to be more specific of what schools can do to educate students, dewey (1916, p. 22) strongly emphasizes that the effective development of young generation to engage actively in the society should not be done by merely transferring to them the knowledge, beliefs, or convictions, but by giving them conditions in such a way that they can absorb and interpret those knowledge or beliefs. in the context of teacher education, we must also be aware that regardless of the demands of skills and competences required in the work field as professionals, the system of education should be carried out in a way that the curriculum espouses room for creativity and heuristic learning. learners need adequate time to allow the knowledge to be digested to make it meaningful for themselves and hence useful for other people. dewey specifically suggests that curriculum design should be able to answer the needs of the community life which benefit the common good for the widest group by prioritizing the essentials to come first. pertaining to this prioritization, dewey reminds us that “there is the truth saying that education must first be human and only after that professional” (john dewey, 1916, p. 191). this is a simple and yet fundamental sentence to be socialized for pre-service teachers before they initiate their practices for teaching either in campusbased or school-based practicum. departing from such human perspectives in teacher education, the study of reflective practice for pre-service teachers need to be pursued as it will be explained in the following sections. b. background of reflective practice there are a large number of literatures and studies discussing the advantage and criticisms of reflective practices as an essential part of teaching and learning in schools. to name some, reflection as an essential means for learning has been discussed through the work of dewey (1916, 1933) van mannen (1977), schon, (1983, 1987), laboskey (1994), loughran (1996), and more recently pollard (2008). before dewey, however, reflection has long been initiated in the earliest time by socrates, known as “socratic method” (barnett, o'mahony, & matthews, 2004, p. 5). this method constitutes reflective questions that were initially used to educate plato, one of his most brilliant students. in a more recent time, the idea of reflection as an essential part of learning is theoretically illuminated by dewey. dewey emphasizes that reflection is not simply the process for gathering data to generate our knowledge and belief, but also a means to help us understand assumptions we make for the future events. c. concept of reflection the idea of reflection can be traced back as far as dewey (1933) who underpins that reflective thinking initially is driven by a confusion and doubt. this confusion forces people to inquire, find, and resolve problems pertinent to their llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 151 doubt. dewey holds that reflection involves active and persistent efforts “to explore, identify the nature of the problems, the generation of several potential solutions, and a means-end analysis of the alternatives” (john dewey, 1916, p. 3). from this notion, it is obvious that the true reflection according to dewey must engage the practitioners in real problems and attempt to resolve them in rational manner. whereas, schon’s (1983, 1987) argument in desigining reflective practice departs from the fact that many teachers teach using their tacit knowledge, thus they cannot actually explain what they know because they just do the teaching. if this remains a tacit knowledge, the teachers may not be able to work effectively as they cannot set and solve problems clearly as parts of the reframing process. when teachers just do what they know and from the knowledge of their previous experiences, schon calls this ‘knowing in action’, different from what dewey calls ‘routinized actions’. according to dewey, routine action is directed on the basis of several aspects such as tradition, habit, and institutional expectations. routine action implies that it is quite fixed and not sensitive to the changing situation. to contrast with, reflective action engages teachers in continuous self-evaluation and development. pollard, et al. asserts that reflective practice implies “flexibility, rigorous analysis, and social awareness” (2008, p. 14). thus, it can be understood that reflection is a way of making complex and intricate problems to be considered in different ways of seeing (shulman,1988 in loughran, 1996). reflective teachers attempt to see one-to-one problem and solution, but are willing to actively seek solutions from several angles. d. implementation of reflection in teacher education regardless of the flourishing benefits of reflective practice, reflection may be a tedious task which many teachers would avoid, not only because it may be time consuming, thus unpractical to write after the experience has been completed, but also because they may not want to ruminate themselves on past experiences which may be disagreeable for them. as yet, this may not be the only issue. hart in the foreword of barnett, o’mahony, and matthews’ book (2004) asserts that the most problematic area of lack of reflection in teaching is perhaps the fact that some teachers are in fact unable to identify or name what they do not know. she hence urges that teachers need to focus on deliberately finding challenges in order that they could shape their inquiry into knowledge and action. this inquiry into knowledge as an essential part of reflection is important to grapple and build up knowledge because of the following reason: as experiences and learning accumulate and inappropriate inferences and judgements are reduced, knowledge improves. as knowledge increases and you learn to draw inferences from past problems and features of new situations, the ability to draw appropriate inferences improves. the more difficult the problem, the more accelerated the learning if the problems is successfully resolved. (hart in barnett, et al., 2004, p. viii) from the above inferences, it is clear that reflection is a media or arena in llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 152 which people exercise their minds in order to eliminate weaknesess and alleviate good strengths of their practices in a given context. however, reflection is not merely to attend ineffeciency of learning as above. the more comprehensive role of reflection in learning is explained by moon (2004) as follows: a. reflection is most prevalent when it is used in the deep approach of meaningful learning. deep approach here purports that the learning shifts from merely ‘meaning making’, to ‘working with meaning’, and at last ‘transfromative learning’. b. reflection takes place when learning is delivered meaningfully, for example in meaningful oral representation or the written one, including the ‘act of teaching’. c. reflection occurs in the ‘upgrading of learning’, where non-meaningful learning. experience is made more meaningful. d. although rare, reflection could result in the presentation of new meanings which are not directly related to the previously existing knowledge. the above understanding of reflection connects well with teacher education in that pre-service teachers are encouraged to make reflective practice as their habit in making meaning and to be mindful in their action. by doing so, preservice teachers are expected to open their mind and be sensitive to their own learning on becoming teachers. openmindedness on learning also means perseverance to engage with problems longer. problems, for some pre-service teachers, can often be interpreted as weaknesses. however, a more positive outlook for reflective pre-service teachers can also see weaknesses or problems as ways to access their hidden potentials. in this understanding, prolonged exposure on problems can generate pre-service teachers’ potential on mapping out their problems and their creative solutions. later on when they become teachers, their sensitivity on emerging learning problems faced by their students can become a good access to improve their ways of teaching. in relation to pre-service teacher education context, loughran (1996) explains that reflection as a good practice of how educators think in their classroom teaching increasingly receives more attention because there is a strong connection between reflection and learning. reflection is believed to be an essential practice where people recall their experience, ponder it, and eventually evaluate it. the exercise of mind toward experiences is what determines success in learning (boud, keogh, & walker, 1985). educators at least as far as dewey (1910) have been suggesting that preservice teachers should be encouraged to become thoughtful and alert students of education, rather than just proficient craftsmen. as the benefit of reflection is so critical for the pre-service teachers, the development of critical reflection deserves to be designated not only as the primary goal, but also as a means in teacher education program (ross, 1987, in laboskey, 1994, p. ix). as goals, educators should find strategies to engage pre-service teachers in reflective practice so that they are aware of the beliefs, values, knowledge, and issues which are learned from the program. as means, preservice teachers later will graduate and become professional teachers; therefore, teacher educators need to help them develop their mind-set, skills, and manner, so that they can maintain to be reflective teachers. furthermore, llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 153 laboskey mention three reasons why reflective teaching should be incorporated in the pre-service teacher education: 1. credentials students must engage in acts of reflection in order to learn during the program and beyond; 2. since the reflective process is an essential aspect of professional practice – of what teachers need to do with and for students – new teachers must develop their abilities of doing so; 3. as moral agents, preservice teachers need to reflect critically on the injustice and inhumanity present in our society and our educational institutions. (laboskey, 1994, p. 17) departing from the above goals, teacher education needs to inspire preservice teachers with a good practice of reflection in such a way that they would continue it not only during their education, but also after their graduation, in their professional work as teachers. with regards to the third point, the role of teachers is not simply to share knowledge as well as to facilitate cognitive learning, but also what van manen calls it as, “the tact of teaching”, according to which teaching practices are oriented to others, underpinned by the “capacity for mindful action” (1991, p. 142). as van manen further maintains, the tact of teaching manifested within reflective teaching is not simply an intellectual exercise, but “a matter of pedagogical fitness of the whole person” comprising of “cognitive and emotional and moral and sympathetic and physical preparedness” (van manen, 1991, p. 206). thus, teaching tactfully means teaching students with the “whole embodied person: heart, mind, and body”; and teaching without heart means being insensitive to the needs of students, as well as being inconsiderate to the true calling of becoming a teacher. why is reflection so important? van mannen further attempts to differentiate between reflective and unreflective action: reflection is claimed to be thoughtful reflection if it discovers, thus fruitful; whereas unreflective action was usually done without tact or informed judgement. therefore, for reflective teachers, they usually use their pedagogical experiences in the past to enrich the capacity of their teaching in the future, avoiding the act of teaching which is characterized by thoughtless routines. thus, it is essential that pre-service teachers develop their capacity for reflection as they would be required to continue their learning not only during their education period, but also in the course of their professional work. due to the central role of reflective practices, greene (1978) suggests that teacher educators should encourage the practices of self-reflection for their preservice teachers so that they can become expertise in the world of teaching practice. teacher educators and their students need to be motivated, as greene calls, “to think about their own thinking, and to reflect upon their own reflecting” (greene, 1978, p. 61) greene argues that such practices can be intrinsically liberating and very likely can improve their capacity to teach. to reflect on reflection has also been essential in preservice teacher education as revealed by the study of kabilan (2007) in malaysian context. his research purposes were to identify the professional development of llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 154 some english pre-service teachers through reflecting their learning journals. kabilan describes that the research results were convincing as the participants demonstrated more positive attitude towards teaching and learning indicated in their creativity and critical thinking in the content and context of reflection. his participants were also able to name the aspects in which they can improve as effective future teachers. while studies as such needs to be conducted so as not to essentialise the notion of reflective practice, thus becoming uncritical, this article seeks to understand why reflective practice is increasingly needed in the work of teacher education. e. debates of reflective practice this part discusses concept of reflective teaching and the debates around the concept and practices; why there are different interpretations of reflection since dewey, namely mechanical versus transformative; some problems to implement reflection in classroom; and how reflective practice can be promoted for pre-service teachers. since the time of dewey, reflective practices spurs into different theories and practices. they derive into different branches due to different interpretations of what makes reflection effective and the consequences it entails. along with its growing multi-interpretations, however, dymoke and harrison (2008) warns that the meaning of reflection and reflective practice now could be in a danger of reductionism in meaning (also see waks, 1999). some people may interpret that its practice could simply be set as procedural by listing a standard competence which should be mastered by teachers, the case of which reflection will merely become an end in itself. dymoke and harrison (2008) emphasize that reflection and action should become a habit which works along together, rather than a standardised skill imposed to teachers. on the other hand, reflectice practice may be interpreted as developing critical inquiry to sustain the equity, justice, and moral development of wider society. among the debates, the essential argument highlights whether reflection can develop students’ critical awareness of their own learning as discussed in the following section. f. reflection and critical reflection while there are areas in which reflective practice have become the burning issue of debate arising from the different theoretical strands and practices, such as different framework of thoughts between dewey and schon and procedural or principles orientation of reflection, it is worthwhile to learn the ideas of brookfield who underlines the significance of critical reflection. brookfield (1995) has pointed out that the terms reflectice practice is undergoing distortion as it gains its popularity. reflection by definition is not necessarily critical when it is simply used to describe the interactive process of the classroom. reflection is considered critical if it is engaged “to understand how considerations of power undergird, frame, and distort educational processes and interactions; to questions assumptions and practices that seem to make our teaching lives easier but actually work against our own best longterm interests” brookfield (1995, p. 7). thus, being critical means having the capacity not to always taking for granted for events which are considered normal. experiences of education which are considered normal but which may carry llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 155 ambiguity are explained by brookfield (1995, pp. 9-14). ambiguity here means what teachers believe as worthy may not be always considered virtuous by the others (e.g. students). here are some examples: 1) sitting in a circle is democratic and liberating because each student get the opportunity to speak out. however for shy students, sitting in a circle can be a humiliating experience. this can lead to untrust to teachers as they are seen by students as depriving of their privacy or rights not to participate. 2) providing most opportunities for students to talk in groups, hence encouraging least teacher domination, seems to be very sensible. similar to the first case, however, students who fear public embarassment and do not want to look stupid may decide to keep silent. unless the teacher give warm and non-threatening encouragement for everbody to speak out, the students will not yearn to step out of their comfort zone. 3) teachers may refuse to answer questions and withhold their voices to respect the students’ voices first. however, students may think that actually the teachers have answers but purposively do not want to share. students who end up in wrong answers may feel that they have been tricked by the teachers. it may create untrustworthiness. based on the above examples, critical reflection for teachers are really essential if we want to alleviate students as a whole human being (embodied person). brookfield (1995) explains that there are at least six reasons why critical reflection is significant: 1) it aids teachers to carry out informed actions: this shows that our actions can be explained and justified, should anyone question our actions. our words which are in accordance with our actions in class may sometimes be considered as unrelated by others. the opinions from any other parties can improve our position to incorporate that what we speak and behave are consistent. 2) it assists teachers to build on rationale for practice: critically reflective teachers know why they believe what they believe. they base their words and actions from informed assurance. 3) it assists teachers to prevent selflaceration: teachers who are working too seriously may blame themselves as pedagogically incompetent when they found that the students fail to learn effectively. posed with such situation, critically reflective teachers, on the other hand, endeavour to search for solutions from the root of the students’ learning problems. 4) “it grounds us emotionally”: critically reflective teachers attempt to avoid the situation of “magical consciousness” (freire, 1993) where the education process is entirely subject to fate rather than “human agency”. according to those who believe that we can reach success of educational process may be accounted by luck factor, educational process is so arbitrary which is “governed by a whimsical god.” 5) “it enlivens our classroom”: osterman as cited by brookfield argues that, “critically reflective teachers – teachers who make their own thinking public, and therefore subject to discussion – are more likely to have classes that are challenging, llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 156 interesting, and stimulating for students” (osterman, 1990, p. 139, in brookfield, 1995, p. 25). thus, teachers who attempt to model themselves as critical inquirer in their own teaching are more likely to stimulate the students for critical thinking. 6) it improves the atmosphere of democratic trust: the ways we treat students, such as answering questions or discouraging questions to occur, actually reveals our political stance. teaching cannot be separated from political culture. yet, critically reflective teachers are very much alert on the presence of authority in class, and the danger of its misuse. it is the trust on both parties that can create democratic classroom. brookfield mentions that a good model for critically reflective teachers are the ones who invite criticisms from students if they did any oppressive action and are willing to fix it in response to the students’ criticisms. the above reasons need to be well understood and practiced by pre-service teachers during their teacher education period. however, carrying reflection or critical reflection is not immune to problems. the following part discusses some difficulties of conducting reflection in educational context. g. difficulties of implementing reflective teaching laboskey (1994) note that there are a variety of results conducted to research on the impact of reflective teacher education program. laboskey reports that the findings several on studies that looked at general outcome effects, were not encouraging. laboskey was arguing that practices in pre-service education and in schools seemed to be lagging far behind the theories. from situational perspective, institution and the teaching profession of the schools often are not going hand in hand with the goals of reflective practice. teaching often involves old-fashioned activities, including the lack of evaluation standards and the structure of reward for them. all these contribute to the perpetuation of the traditional teaching. thus, the problems of implementing reflective teaching may come first of all from institutional perspective due to lack of design, process of implementation, and measurement. such lack of program design may also come from the deliberate pre-emption that the incorporation of reflective practice/s into pre-service programs may consume so much time and need so much persistent endeavors, that institutions find it difficult to effectively teach it (kuit, reay, & freeman, 2001). hence, changes in preservice teacher knowledge or practice may not be immediately evident in the pre-service teacher education period. besides, from my anecdotal experiences and observation in the teacher education, pre-service teachers’ unpreparedness to teach was often caused by the absence of the solid structure of design, implementation, and evaluation on their reflection on learning. second, laboskey (1994), borrowing the idea from sparks-langer and colton, warns that reflective practice is often not implemented properly as practitioners may not clearly understand “how one best promotes or assesses teacher reflection about political, ethical, and moral values, beliefs, and attitudes” (sparks-langer & colton, 1991, p. 41). although some reflective programs have been developed, there is still little evidence that the intended activities, llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 157 interactions, and outcomes actually occur. this measurement is more difficult for pre-service teachers as they may already engage in too many activities to digest, from learning the micro skills with a set of rubric to classroom management, from the administrative requirement prior to practice teaching to a set of evaluative measures. all of these confusions for beginning pre-service teachers are enough to overwhelm them that, as argued by sparks-langer and colton, they cannot critically reflect “political, ethical, and moral values, beliefs, and attitudes.” although many pre-service teachers could enhance their awareness about their own practice at technical level, most of them fail to address their awareness on wider context related to education, namely moral, political, and ethical context (mcintyre, 1993). this also corroborates to the study of valli (1993) who investigated seven pre-service teachers carrying out reflection in their practice. valli concludes that the content of reflection should be given in such a way that it could espouse larger focus of educational purposes, such as socialpolitical issues and ethics. if reflection is becoming too process-oriented, however, it may be “unconstructive and debilitating” (calderhead & gates, 1993, p. 9). from this notion, it is clear that attention of reflection should be equally paid to the content and the context where reflection takes place. third, according to main, “reflection comes slowly to some people because they have little sense of involvement in their own learning” (main, 1985, p. 97 in loughran, 1996, p. 19). involvement means immersing themselves in learning so that they really know the problems they face. it is the essential aspect which support the development effective reflection. low sense of involvement, however, may be caused by poor understanding of reflective practice. poor understanding of reflective practice as such may make reflections carried out by pre-service teachers very superficial. making clear of what makes a good reflection is significant for pre-service teachers as it is expressed as follows: we have often asked our students to reflect on field experiences without ever discussing the qualities of good reflection, often with disappointing results. students do not automatically know what we mean by reflection; often they assume reflection is an introspective after-the-fact description of teaching. reflection, meant to make teaching and learning understandable and open, has itself been an invisible process to many of our preservice teachers. (ward & mccotter, 2004, p. 255, in russell, 2005, p. 200) nevertheless, parts of the problems may not solely reside on the pre-service teachers’ limitations, but also emanating from the design of curriculum in teacher education which may have not incorporated reflective practice in some of the courses. reflective practice cannot be theoretically taught to pre-service teachers, unless the design of the curriculum allows spaces for this practice. due to heavy load of curriculum and content materials, reflective practice sometimes only remains a slogan rather than the culture of learning which is acknowledged and practiced by the teacher educators and students. llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 158 h. how to promote reflection? for some people, doing reflection may be difficult as they may have no reason why they should do it, or more deeply, they do not know whether or not they have problems to solve. for some sceptics of reflective teaching, reflection may only be good to improve one’s understanding of problems from several different viewpoints so that alternative solutions can be reached. however, the time constraint a teacher may encounter, combined by the fast-paced teaching activities in classroom setting makes it impossible in reality to carry out reflection. zeicner and liston (1996) argue that dewey does not tell teachers to reflect everything as this surely impossible. rather, dewey suggests that teachers can balance between reflection and routine, as well as between thought and action. dewey explains that doing routine as a result of secure belief is still necessary to keep the life manageable. in order to promote reflection for preservice teachers, above all, feeling of the individual participant must be considered, because emotions are an integral part of reflection and indeed of teaching itself (laboskey, 1994). laboskey’s study corroborates with in that the “reflective process is a complex one in which both feelings and cognition are closely interrelated and interactive” (boud, et al., 1985, p. 11). laboskey argues that based on her research findings, the propensity of pre-service teachers initial belief’s on reflection (as she termed as ‘alert novices’) determines their engagement in their reflective practice. she points out that one distinctive qualities of novice teachers is their inclination to know the ‘why’ questions (internal motivation), despite their hesitation when they should reflect spontaneously or structurally. meanwhile, for the common-sense thinkers, their motivation seems to be externally driven within the framework of the task. quoting buchmann (1985), laboskey mentions that one of the aims in teacher education is also to promote the common-sense thinkers to become pedagogical thinkers. because they are externally driven, assignments for reflection could be made in such a way that eventually this can enhance their intrinsic motivation. in more details, the following 7 underpinnings may be used to promote reflection: 1. reflective teaching emphasises that the practitioners play an active role in understanding the goals, values, instruments needed to achieve the goal as well as the possible measurement to know its effectiveness. 2. reflective teaching is carried out in a cyclical process and places the teachers to monitor for evaluation and revision where necessary. 3. reflective teaching necessitates the skills to use methods to collect as much information as possible from classroom, analyze, and evaluate the results to develop a better standard of teaching. 4. reflective teaching requires attitudes which dewey (1933) calls openmindedness, responsibility and wholeheartedness. 5. reflective teaching gives freedom for teachers to make judgement based on what their empirical evaluation and theories provided by other researchers. 6. reflective teaching, as applies to professional learning and personal fulfilment, could be much improved llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 159 through dialogue and cooperation with colleagues. 7. reflective teaching enables teachers to “creatively mediate” requirements from external parties such as, regulation form government which is interpreted later by the reflective teachers using their values and educational principles. (pollard, et al., 2008, p. 14) those seven characteristics may look difficult to implement for pre-service teachers as they might still struggle with their own learning how to teach. likewise, pollard, et al. (2008) explains that teachers may be overwhelmed if they should apply every principle. the significance is rather to look at, firstly, the teachers’ reflecting practice as the sources for learning experiences which they can use to evaluate new circumstances. secondly, reflective practice is a gateway to move beyond what teachers call “common-sense” of teaching into professional thinking. professional thinking involves meticulous observation and evaluation of evidences they gather in educational setting, replacing subjective judgement (as opposed to open-mindedness) which may have already been posed as aforementioned belief. i. conclusion reflective practice has been proposed by educators as early as dewey as a way of making sense of experiences so that they can be seen and interpreted in a more meaningful way. pertinent to pre-service teachers, reflective practice can be a potential tool to make meaning of their experiences during their professional learning in campus-based, but can potentially be carried with them in their professional growth beyond their teacher education. however, teaching how reflective practice can be implemented cannot be solely done by teachers or teacher educators if curriculum does not provide sufficient space for it. teacher education needs to be aware that regardless of the demands of skills and competences required in the work field as professionals, the system of education should be carried out in a way that the curriculum espouses room for creativity and heuristic learning rather than following what britzman calls as “lockstep of conformity”. furthermore, reflective practice is essential as a lens to look into educational practices critically, even to make what may seem to be a commonly accepted ideology to be problematic. the purpose of reflection is to understand experience not merely as a common-sense thinker, but to be a pedagogical thinker who is sensitive to address the needs of the learners. in this sense, reflection also allows learners adequate time to digest their knowledge so as to make it meaningful for themselves and hence useful for other people. references barnett, b. g., o'mahony, g. r., & matthews, r. j. (2004). reflective practice: the cornerstone for school improvement. australia: hawker brownlow education. boud, d., keogh, r., & walker, d. (1985). reflection: turning experience into learning london: kogan page ltd. llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 160 britzman, d. p. (2003). practice makes practice. new york: states university of new york press. brookfield, s. d. (1995). becoming a critically reflective teacher. san fransisco: jossey-bass. calderhead, j., & gates, p. (1993). conceptualizing reflection in teacher development. london: the falmer press. dewey, j. (1910). how we think. boston: d.c. heath. dewey, j. (1916). democracy and education: an introduction to the philosophy of education. new york: the free press. dewey, j. (1933). how we think: a restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative process. boston: d.c. heath and company. dymoke, s., & harrison, j. (2008). reflective teaching and learning. london: sage publications ltd. greene, m. (1978). landscapes of learning. new york: teachers college press. kabilan, m. k. (2007). english language teachers reflecting on reflections: malaysian expertise. tesol quarterly, 41(4), 681-705. kuit, j. a., reay, g., & freeman, r. (2001). experiences of reflective teaching. active learning in higher education, 2, 128-142. laboskey, v. k. (1994). development of reflective practice: a study of preservice teachers. new york: teachers college, columbia university. loughran, j. (1996). developing reflective practice: learning about teaching and learning through modelling. london: the falmer press. mcintyre, d. (1993). theory, theorizing and reflection in initial teacher education. in j. calderhead & p. gates (eds.), conceptualizing reflection in teacher development. london: the falmer press. moon, j. a. (2004). a handbook of reflective and experiential learning. new york: routledgefalmer. pollard, a., anderson, j., maddock, m., swaffield, s., warin, j., & warmick, p. (2008). reflective teaching. new york: continuum international publishing group. russell, t. (2005). can reflective practice be taught? reflective practice, 6(2), 199 204. schön, d. a. (1983). the reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action. usa: basic books inc. schön, d. a. (1987). educating the reflective practitioner. san fransisco: jossey-bass inc. sparks-langer, g. m., & colton, a. b. (1991). synthesis of research on teachers' reflective thinking. educational leadership, 48(6), 3737. llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 161 valli, l. (1993). reflective teacher education programs: an analysis of case studies. in j. calderhead & p. gates (eds.), conceptualizing reflection in teacher development. london: the falmer press. van manen, m. (1977). linking ways of knowing with ways of being practical curriculum inquiry, 6(3), 205-228. van manen, m. (1991). the tact of teaching: the meaning of pedagogical thoughfullness new york: state university of new york press. waks, l. j. (1999). reflectice practice in the design studio and teacher education. journal of curriculum studies, 31(3), 303-316. zeichner, k. m., & liston, d. p. (1996). reflective teaching: an introduction. new jersey: lawrence erlbaum associates, inc. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 640 the use of e-resources for young learners english teaching materials diah royani meisani universitas brawijaya, indonesia correspondence: meisani_diah.r@ub.ac.id doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.3080 received 4 february 2021; accepted 31 october 2021 abstract as internet technology has become more influential and cultured, online or eresources are nowadays present as alternatives for teaching materials. the resources themselves play an important role in lesson planning, instruction delivery, and take a part in determining the learning achievement. this study was conducted to investigate the forces that drive elementary school english teachers (n = 178) in utilizing online teaching materials together with the benefits and challenges they faced in using them. from the questionnaire, it was revealed that almost all respondents used and benefited from online resources taken from google, youtube, and other search engines. further investigation through interviews revealed prevalent responses on e-learning materials utilization that are categorized as follows: accessibility, practicality, authenticity, and variety. other benefits, such as the features of online resources that positively attract young learners in foreign language learning are meaningfully advantageous as they improve students’ learning engagement (sle). these findings support evidence for e-learning resources as teaching materials for overcoming the shortage of teaching guidelines and materials in english for young learners (eyl) classes. teachers’ responses towards the challenges in using this type of material lead to the implication that schools and other related stakeholders should take serious concerns to equip eyl teachers with professional development or in-service training, particularly in teaching material development and online resources integration. keywords: e-learning resources; english for young learners; online materials introduction the phenomena of offering english as a foreign language since the primary level occurs in many countries, including indonesia. this trend is evidently encouraged by the economic globalization that has drawn the attention of not only educators, but also policy-makers to prepare english instruction for students since in the early grades (tseng, 2014). with the intentions to introduce english as an international language as well as to motivate the young learners to learn a foreign language, english has thus been taught in many indonesian elementary schools as llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 641 a non-compulsory subject and included as one of the main subjects at the secondary level. with its status as an elective subject where the implementation is a bottom-up policy (alwasilah, 2013), the english language teaching (elt) at the primary school level faces numerous challenges, particularly dealing with the curriculum, teacher and teaching resources (hamied, 2010; musthafa, 2010; setiasih, 2012). the unclear instructions might possibly delude english teachers in undertaking the teaching and learning activities. as the blueprints are not clearly formulated, teachers of english at this level seem to encounter unavoidable impedes in conducting the class, so that the implementation of english teaching is considered to be based on teachers’ own beliefs and pretension. accordingly, many teachers spend most of the allocated time for learning english to assign the students to do the exercises in the workbook. similar to what occurs in japanese elementary schools that homeroom teachers are the ones who are responsible for conducting english teaching activities (musthafa, 2010), indonesian teachers of english are mostly homeroom teachers who do not have the english education background. most of them are also assigned to teach other subjects besides english (butler & takaechi, 2008). concerning the textbooks, while teaching and learning materials for other subjects are available online where teachers and students can download the files of the book for free at the website address www.bse.kemdikbud.go.id., the government does not provide english teaching materials at this level. in fact, zein’s (2017) findings show that teachers believed that the most imperative policy expected from the government is on the materials used for teaching. although these conditions may actually bring positive impacts to teachers to be explorative and creative in conducting the class (harmer, 2007; thomlinson, 2003), he stated that for young learner english teachers, selecting and developing learning materials are not an easy task, and consequently they require more applied knowledge rather than theoretical one as proposed by the curriculum (butler & takaechi, 2008). as resources teachers use to deliver instruction play important role in supporting student learning, structuring the lesson, as well as determining the success of teaching and learning process, this present study was aimed at investigating how teachers of english in elementary school reacted to the lack of english teaching materials. it is then related to the growing trend of internet use as a part of the development of information and communication technology (ict) which expands its usage to all side of human-like, including business, industry, social relation, and education (yanti et al., 2018). rich literature found out that online sources are well utilized for teaching and learning materials nowadays (kain & moukarzel, 2018). this has led the present study to explore whether the english teachers in the elementary school also took advantages of using google or other search engines for finding supporting materials for delivering instruction in their english classes. regarding this, the current research was then explored through three questions: 1) how popular are elearning resources used for teaching english for young learners (teyl) ?, 2) http://www.bse.kemdikbud.go.id/ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 642 what are the forces that drive teachers to use online teaching materials?, and 3) what are the challenges the teachers face in utilizing the online materials? eyl teaching materials the essential roles of materials in the teaching and learning process have been well documented in many studies as they act as lesson structure that teachers and students depend on to conduct the lesson (thomlinson, 2003; zhang, 2018). ghosn (2019) defines materials as teaching aids that include coursebooks and any supplementary materials such as workbooks, flashcards, posters, cassettes, cdroms, videos, dictionaries, worksheets and supplementary. as the growing of information and communication technology (ict) and the changes and developments it brings, resources of knowledge and information are not only available in print, but also online where people can access anywhere and anytime as long as internet connection is obtainable. echoing bull and ma (2001), to help and improve language learning, teachers usually use some forms of technology which provide unlimited resources to language learners. shyamlee and phil (2012) lend support by pointing out that multimedia technology plays a encouraging role in upholding activities and initiatives of student and teaching effect in english class. as the innovations in technology are closely connected with the growth of english, the use of multimedia technology may open the avenues to colourful and stimulating teaching and learning process. with the platform for universal information accessibility that the internet provides, people worldwide, including teachers, students, and even parents are able to access to huge amounts of information and a number of free application software for teaching and learning materials (ugwu & orsu, 2017). online resources themselves are defined as any resources that can be accessed through internet and world wide web (rahimi & bayat, 2015). kumar (2019) goes along by stating that any support software available online can also be considered a resource. thus, materials, notes, timetables, notices and the like, that are available online for reading are among those that can be called online resources or e-resources. ghosn (2019) and arnold and rixon (2008) explicitly mention among the most popular language learning applications for children offered by https://elearningindustry.com. teachers can also access various young learners’ materials from the web-based resources, like https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org, www.learninggamesforkids.com and www. eslgamesplus.com. compared to printed version, many studies have documented the plusses of using electronic resources, such as easy and quick access, and the ability to share, port, edit and search. one of the studies exposing the advantages of using esources as teaching and learning materials is conducted by thienthong and lian (2014). involving 70 thai efl teachers in north-eastern thailand, the results showed that google, youtube, and facebook were widely used resources by language teachers to support teaching, encourage autonomous learning, and enhance communication. from the interviews, it was known that some teachers were still anxious about integrating technology into teaching due to the lack of technical knowledge and skills. focusing on the use of e-resources by young learners, schuh and farrel (2006) conducted a study investigating whether elementary school students made better achievement in writing tasks when using llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 643 electronic resources. the findings revealed that there was no significant difference among students who used print resources, electronic resources via the internet, or both types of resources. nevertheless, it was interesting to know that students preferred using internet for finding resources to printed ones because it was easier and fun so that students were willing to put more efforts into it. in the context of providing the instructional materials for young learners, their characteristics that have not yet developed literacy in their first language (l1) and have different levels of linguistic development should be taken into account. another important consideration is the level of teacher qualifications and experience in teaching young learners. both of the mentioned points take part in determining the success of eyl teaching and learning (ghosn, 2019). method as defined previously, the present study was conducted to explore the popularity of e-learning resources in teyl practices, the forces that encourage teachers to use this type of materials, and the challenges they face in utilizing them for teaching young learners english. as expounded by swedberg (2018), an exploratory study is fundamentally administered for two reasons. they are to increase the knowledge of a topic which is not intensively investigated and to generate recent and interesting hypothesis about a particular existing topic. the uses of e-learning materials in the english teaching and learning practices may have been studied by numbers of researchers. however, a general lack of knowledge about how prevalent these materials in teyl constituted a reason for using an exploratory research design. there was also a need to know more about teachers’ motivation as well as encounters in using the materials. participants the present exploratory research was conducted in a selected municipality in east java, indonesia. there were 274 elementary schools in the city, including public and private, which were under the supervision of regional office of education. the participants of the study were 178 teachers who were teaching english subject in the elementary schools. this number of teachers were gained through the preliminary survey which found that not all elementary schools offered english subject and not all respondents agreed to participate in the study. from the questionnaire, the demographics of the teacher participants show that females participants dominated with 150 respondents (84.3%) and 28 others (15.7%) were males. a 22-year-old teacher was the youngest and the oldest was aged 50. the rest varied within those range of age, but were controlled by the participants with the age of 30s. teacher’s educational backgrounds were heterogeneous. the responses were categorized into five groups. they were bachelor degree (s-1) in english education (46.07%), s-1 in english (literature/linguistics) (22.47%), s-1 in elementary education (15.19%), s-1 in other major (7.31%), and the rest of the participants had graduated from master degree (1.1.3%). similar to teachers’ educational background, their employment status was also varied. most of the total respondents (73.60%) were non-permanent teachers llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 644 who taught in public elementary schools. others who taught in the private schools were permanent teachers (16.29%). only small number of the teachers reposted that were civil servants (3.37%). instruments after the regional office of education of the city that supervised the elementary schools participated in this study approved the survey, the paper-based questionnaires were handed out to the participants who were the english teachers. the questionnaire contained three themes, namely the agreement to be the participant of the study, personal particular (gender, age, educational background, and employment status), and teacher’s experiences in using online teaching materials. the participants were given one week to return the paper to the head of school group. each school group usually consisted of 10 to 12 schools which were located within the same sub-district. further investigation of the underlying reasons of the use of e-learning resources and the challenges in using them was carried out through semi-structured interviews with five random participants. data analysis the questionnaire administered in the present study was adapted from the preceding research (mardiani, 2011). instrument validation was undertaken by involving two experts majoring english education and english for young learners (eyl). after receiving the comments and suggestions from the experts, adjustments were made by amending the ambiguous questions, rephrasing the complex items and eliminating the ineffective and non-functioning questions. data that were collected from the questionnaires were then inputted in google form. this free web-based application which is used to create forms for data collection purposes was selected to analyze the data as it provides a response sheet that loads and displays data in diagrams and graphics, so that trends can be easily seen. additionally, interviews were conducted to explore teachers’ perceptions on e-learning use, specifically the advantages and the encounters they faced. the data gathered from the interviews were the interview transcripts which were analyzed by re-reading and dissecting the transcripts to find the themes. findings and discussion there were 178 english teachers in elementary schools in the research site who responded to the questionnaire particularly asking the teaching materials that they used for teaching english for young learners (eyl) as guidance was not provided by both local and central government when the current indonesian national curriculum, the 2013 curriculum, was implemented. the data on the teaching resources that the teacher respondents used are categorized into four groups: 1) existing teaching resources used when prior curriculum was implemented, like handbook and workbook provided by the local government, 2) teaching resources for carrying particular curriculums, e.g., cambridge curriculum, 3) school-modified teaching resources, and 4) teaching resources taken from online sources combined with the existing book. further investigation was then undertaken to investigate the underlying reasons towards the use of the online resources as the number was dominant as shown in figure 1. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 645 figure 1. eyl teaching resources figure 1 displays that e-learning resources were famously used by teachers (91%). from the notes, it was known that these materials were combined with the printed ones. the findings also revealed that many of the teachers, especially the ones taught in the public schools admitted that they used the former teaching sources as the teaching roadmap. not few of them even informed that the previous guidelines still could accommodate the students’ english learning. the syllabus, the handbooks, the workbooks, and even question sheets for quizzes and tests used when the previous curriculum, the school-based curriculum (ktsp) was implemented were still useable. however, many reported that they supported those abovementioned materials with the updated ones taken from online sources, like: youtube, bbc learn english kids, and other e-sources. on the other hands, some other schools, particularly the best accredited private schools, reported that as they carry on certain curricula, like cambridge and school-developed curriculum, they tended to have up-to-date resources based on the requirements of the curriculum. as indicated by the results, it proves that internet has become one of the most important guides for learning as it opens the avenues for virtual learning environment (vle) in which tools required for conducting the class, such as grouping students, giving and submitting assignment, doing assessments and evaluation, and publishing students’ work, are well-provided (yanti et al., 2018). other benefits cover accessibility and practicality. the following phrases stated by the respondents exemplify their viewpoints towards the use of online resources. (teacher 1) ‘we can select the materials that fit our learning objectives, support the printed materials we have with the audio and visuals we get online, and even edit them so that it improves our ict skills. often, the online materials i use for teaching also provide the lesson plan so it really helps me conduct the teaching and learning activities using those materials.’ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 646 (teacher 2) ‘the online resources i usually use are authentic materials that are closely related to students’ real life so that they are meaningful for students. as the materials are accessible, so it is easy to get by downloading the ones we choose thus enable us to prepare our teaching wherever we are.’ (teacher 3) ‘i take youtube video as a learning source because many videos on youtube suit the topic learned in my classroom. besides, it also provides the authentic language in use, like song, short movie, or talks (interview, talk show, etc.).’ (teacher 4) ‘on the website, every text is completed with a series of pictures, both folktales (illustration) and personal blog (personal documentation). these pictures make the students, especially young learners, become interested in reading the text. then, the students can also learn a lot from others’ personal story, like the expression of sadness, happiness, madness, anger, etc. besides, when reading other countries’ folklore, they can also learn the culture revealed in the story.’ (teacher 5) ‘the main benefit of serving online video in the classroom is the high students’ interest in taking a part the classroom activity. they become more active in the discussion and they get excited when they are being chosen to review or to give opinion regarding the movie or song. then, the students also not only learning the right pronunciation, but also the non-verbal language expression, in the interview or talk show. the students also learn a lot of new words and vocabulary which are quite strange for them or even they never hear previously.’ from teachers’ explicit opinion above, e-learning resources bring more advantages, not only limited to classroom-oriented activities. besides being accessible, practical, acting as authentic materials, as well as providing more options, the teachers mentioned the presence of online resources stimulated students’ learning engagement as they are interested in the lesson presented more interactively through online resources. a teacher also stated that the need for finding, designing, and modifying the materials improved his ict skills progressively. in spite of supporting the teaching and learning process and other advantages that online resources bring, challenges exist and may hinder teachers in integrating teaching to technology. two teachers reported that technical problems covering the internet connection and teaching facilities can be challenging impediment as can be seen in the following example. (teacher 1) ‘technical problems always happen. when internet connection is unavailable while i am in the search of materials or in the middle of teaching activities, it is sometimes frustrating.’ (teacher 2) ‘in my school, not all classes are equipped with an lcd projector and speaker.’ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 647 other hinders that teachers reported were dealing with technology-related knowledge and skills and the time allocated to make the materials more appropriate for teaching as shown in the extracts below. (teacher 1) ‘i am not really good at using technology and this may lead to human errors when teaching with technology.’ (teacher 3) ‘to produce good and appropriate teaching materials, i always edit the resources i get from the internet. the editing process can be so time consuming.’ (teacher 4) ‘well, even though there are a lot of suitable videos for the topics, somehow, the video includes inappropriate language, like swore words. then, some music videos for the song also serve inappropriate action for children to watch. many videos are created with a long duration so extra job is needed, like: edit it, cut it, or skip it, to the main part which is related to the topic.’ as the learners that the participant teachers were dealing with were children, they also concerned about the appropriateness of the material contents. selecting the ones for children may require some considerations regarding their age and the time span for learning (hamied, 2010). the extracts below illustrate the teachers’ voices. (teacher 2) ‘some articles contain incorrect information (hoax) and it may mislead the students also. then, sometimes the length of the available article is too long and it may demotivate the students in reading.’ (teacher 5) ‘many contents served on the blog are inappropriate to be chosen as children learning sources. then, the personal blog also contains “too personal” stuff which is not appropriate with the students’ age.’ regarding the challenges mentioned above, school and other related stakeholders should support eyl teachers with in-service training related to the use of technology for teaching and material development besides providing the teaching facilities that can enhance the elt practices and teachers’ pedagogical use of technology. conclusion as information, communication, and technology (ict) has continuously been growing, its presence contributes to better implementation of elt practices, particularly related to teaching resources which are available online. the findings of the current study showed that the major participants have utilized online resources along with the printed version. further investigation also captured that the existence of resources available online has brought benefits in terms of the accessibility, practicality, authenticity, and variety. regarding the challenges, supports from school and related stakeholders are significant in providing the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 648 facilities and professional development for teachers so that teachers’ digital knowledge and skills can be enhanced and teaching with technology can be effectively conducted. acknowledgement this research is fully funded by lpdp (indonesia endowment fund for education), ministry of finance, republic of indonesia. references alwasilah, a. c. 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goodman, 2008; kincheloe, 1991; apple, 1979; apple, 2009). teaching profession has been attacked for being quasi-professional (hess, 2006). borrowing from british anthropologists' term "audit culture", taubman (2009) contends that today's dismal picture of education is filled with: discourses and practices that have accelerated the standardization llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 164 and quantification of educational experience and turned it into an education market worth of millions of dollars; the rhetoric of blame and fear and the promulgation of heroic narratives of exemplary teachers, which coupled with the widespread use of tests, render teachers and teacher educators susceptible to the language of policy and the lure of business practices to make possible teachers' psychic investment in various aspects of the transformation (p. 13). underlying these trends is the growing negative attitude towards teachers, a view believing that "incompetent teachers and dysfunctional teacher educators were jeopardizing the future of the nation's youth, economy, democracy, and race relations, and unless major changes were implemented the nation was headed for disaster" (p. 3). b. policymaking and teachers it follows that teachers are supposed to be more knowledgeable to democratic practices, policy-making procedures, and policy impacts so as to equip them with necessary tools to engage in democracy. it is noteworthy, however, that the policymaking in the u.s. contexts is a dynamically complex process. efforts to understand the policymaking assume a serious undertaking to comprehend the political procedures and social, historical, ideological, philosophical and cultural shifts taking place for an extended period of time. related to the policy-making process, as blankenhorn observes, "most public policies are a combination of rational planning, incrementalism, competition among groups, elite preferences, systemic forces, public choice, political processes and institutional influences" (cited in borden, stone, & villarruel, 2004). such incrementalism has made the u.s. political system highly resistant to change in ordinary times (fowler, 2006). ideological, political, economic, and sociocultural backgrounds also provide particular contexts for the policymaking. reviewing the federal government policies on reading programs in the last five decades, shannon, edmonson, ortega, pitcher & robbins (2009) conclude the growing pessimisms among policymakers. even research-based knowledge developed by reading scholars, for example, has been politicized in order to allow certain vested-interest groups to support reading first initiative to drive standardized reading practices in the classrooms (persltein, 2008; allington, 2009; shannon, et al., 2009; harrison, 2010; pearson, 2004). nclb is commonly viewed as the most sweeping legislation in the u.s. education history. its coming into existence reflects highly contested policy making processes, representing "a political compromise between the political parties and factions within those parties" (sunderman, 2006, p. 11). even as hess & petrilli (2006) note, this complex law remained to reflect "featured ideas from left, right, and center often without reconciling their inconsistencies" (p. 19). educational scholars and teachers are supposed to be knowledgeable to the complexity of educational policymaking. first, research on the qualities of exemplary teachers demonstrates a high degree of resilience and skillful strategies to use a wide variety of practices to realize their ideals (pearson, 2004). these teachers are more motivated by their moral purpose, i.e. to make a difference in the lives of their students (fullan, 2001). llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 165 fullan (1999) contend that wellintentioned teachers are characterized by their abilities to nurture change forces the underlying moral, political, and intellectual powers necessary to fuel successful reform within themselves. thus, understanding issues related to policymaking requires sufficient knowledge about micro-level politics as teachers, as what shannon (2007) argues: although the current situation in reading education seems bleak in the united states, if you examine it closely, you'll see it far from hopeless. if students, teachers, researchers, and parents become aware of the reasons for the present conditions and work together strategically, then they can develop reading programs that keep the original promises of democratic life" (p. xv). second, living in democracy means involving in the multi-dimensional realities, by which we engage ourselves in a rational discourse to reach a consensual agreement regarding what we could reach. borden, stone & villarruel (2004) argue that "policy is ideally created, implemented, and evaluated through an interactive and iterative process involving theory, research, professional practice, and program development and evaluation." this paper presents a discussion on reading wars which becomes one of the most heated policy issues in the u.s. (harrison, 2010; pearson, 2004; shannon, 2007; shannon, et al., 2009; shaker, 2008; perlstein, 2008; smith, 1992; k. goodman, 1989; y. goodman, 1989; allington, 2009; chall, 1989; coles, 2001; eldesky, 1990). c. reading wars involving a variety of battlegrounds it is worth noting that reading wars are not merely dealing with what teachers should teach in the class. reading wars represent a set of complex ideas, including different ideologies, learning theories, and different instructional preferences. contemporary debates over reading instruction are generally drawn from the publication of the 1955 rudolph flesch’s book why johnny can't read. this book in particular attacked the whole word approach because it did not get students into reading children's stories that did not have carefully controlled vocabularies. this book brought phonics approach to life, leading to "back to basics" movement in the 1960s and 1970s. briefly, phonics advocates focus their efforts on the primary grades and emphasize the importance of students being able to sound out (read) words based on how they are spelled. efforts to create teacherproof curriculum in the post-sputnik era brought expert-developed materials through basal reading activities (shannon, 2007). as k. goodman (1989) chronicled, the emergence of whole language started in the late 1970s. as a grass-root movement, classroom teachers started to produce radical change in literacy education in the u.s. reading instruction under this new banner reflected the departure from textbooks and standardized tests. in the meantime, a growing body of scientific understanding of language development, of the relationship of language, and of how the reading and writing processes develop began to be obtained. current trends in reading instruction encompass "the whole language movement, the interactive view of reading, critical llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 166 reading, and literature-based reading" (mcneil, 2009, p. 322). however, it is noteworthy that the most heated debate concerning current reading wars takes place in the literacy instruction through the provision of reading first in 2001 no child left behind act (allington, 2009; shannon, 2007; shannon, et al., 2009; pearson, 2004). the reading wars are currently ideologically and politically charged, bringing a tendency to reduce the philosophical, ideological, and methodological debate to “either/or proposition” (moorman, blanton, & mclaughlin, 1994, p. 309). moorman, et al., (1994) further argue that such a reductionist view makes us "pulled to one side or the other of this argument, despite personal knowledge structures and beliefs that often encompass both points of view" (pp. 309-310). it is therefore important to know how to untangle the complexity of the issues, especially related to various aspects involved. to recap, reading wars involve a set of complex ideas, representing a number of battlegrounds in ideology, epistemology, theories of learning, knowledge base to support and/or inform classroom practice, and teacher role. first, as shannon (2007) notes, underlying the phonics approach is a conservative ideology viewing that the u.s. is under threat of liberal ideas. the conservatives and fundamentalists "assume their values are good, [thus] any differing values of others must be evil and beneath compromise" (p. 104). therefore, their agenda is to maintain morality in public spheres. in addition, fundamentalists also hold an antirousseauan romantic view on children. it is "a theory of innate wickedness, [which is] going back centuries … [and which teaches us to believe that] children will resist learning; children must be instructed in a proper climate of authority and retribution" (smith, p. 439; italics original). in contrast, a whole-language approach comes from different perspective. as ken goodman (1989) argues, the approach seeks to see "common strengths and universals in human learning, it expects and recognizes differences among learners in culture, value systems, experience, needs, interests and language" (p. 209). the spirit of high expectation on diverse students is another defining characteristic of whole-language. the approach values "students' understandings and attempts to practice reading [that] would vary according to dynamic cultural identities and opportunities" (shannon, 2007, p. 85). the second battleground is on the different research paradigms. upon reviewing 18 peer-reviewed journal articles in the period of 1983 to 1990, moorman, blanton, and mclaughlin (1994) conclude that "proponents view whole language as a comprehensive philosophy, theory, perspective, and/or set of beliefs or intentions" (p. 311). eldesky (1990) argues that wholelanguage is not an alternate methodology for language arts instruction, but it is an educational paradigm complete with theoretical, philosophical, and political assumptions. pearson (2004) notes that "[m]uch of the research that undergirds whole language comes from this more qualitative, more interpretive, more critical tradition. thus, the credibility of this type of research increased in concert with the influence of whole language as a curricular movement" (p. 225). shannon (2007) asserts that the knowledge base developed by whole language advocates was from "a variety of academic fields beyond psychology linguistics, llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 167 psychologists, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, child and curricular studies, composition, literary theory, and semiotics" (shannon, 2007, p. 85). in contrast, research support for phonics approach, in smith's (1992) observation, relied on "mechanistic approach to learning. word identification rather than comprehension is usually the focus. reading is seen as decoding symbols into sounds rather than as unlocking meaning" (p. 436). a case in point, chall (1989) describes "a stronger phonics approach (code emphasis) for beginning reading tends to result in higher word recognition scores early in grade 1 than does a look-say or a weaker phonics emphasis" (p. 524). using best-evidence synthesis for the purpose of quantification of outcomes as effect sizes, slavin & cheung’s (2005) investigation of 17 studies of bilingual programs is an example of a more recent revival of the positivist tradition. the third battleground is related to instructional matters, which cover two issues, i.e. the nature of classroom activities and types of learning. first, classroom activities in phonics approach, as moorman, blanton, & mclaughlin (1994) observe, are highly inauthentic, because children focus on a set of activities confined to "the worksheets, basal reader stories and related activities, spelling exercises, and other skill-based activities" (p. 315). in contrast, the wholelanguage classroom is more likely to work in authentic activities, in which "student initiated and reflect "real-world" tasks" (p. 315), such as reading trade books and newspapers, using reference materials not necessarily written for schools use, receiving spelling and punctuation instruction as it is appropriate to the piece of writing they are working on. underlying the authentic classroom activities is a belief on the nature of reading comprehension as personal construction/interpretation. whole language proponents believe that "there is no meaning for a text until readers construct it for themselves … [thus], all comprehension is, by very nature, a form of interpretation" (pearson, 1989, p. 234). second, smith (1992) categorizes learning into two types, i.e. official and informal. in the official learning perspective, "[l]earning is usually difficult and takes place sporadically, in small amounts, as a result of solitary individual effort, and when properly organized and rewarded" (p. 432). this is what happens in a classroom using a phonics approach. in the informal learning perspective, "[l]earning is continuous, spontaneous, and effortless, requiring no particular attention, conscious motivation, or specific reinforcement; learning occurs in all kinds of situations and is not subject to forgetting" (p. 432). this is what happens in a whole-language classroom. thus, instead of provided a prescribed set of strategies or methods, "whole language appears to establish a set of instructional principles which its proponents would like to see guide the practitioner during teaching" (moorman, blanton, & mclaughlin, 1994, p. 311). d. the demise of whole-language and reigning one-best system the whole-language approach flourished for two decades in the 1980s and 1990s. entering the new millennium, the approach was heavily battered. there is no single explanation for its demise. pearson's (2004) analysis on the political forces in reading instruction reveals that both internally and externally, wholelanguage approach is problematic. there are three internal factors leading to the llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 168 demise of this approach, i.e. unintended curricular casualties, questionable applications of whole language and growth of balanced literacy as a mediating force in the debate. four casualties from the whole-language movement include skills instruction, strategy instruction, an emphasis on text structure, and reading in the content areas. one example of questionable applications is a naïve enthusiasm among many teachers adopting the approach. as pearson (2004) notes "many schools, teachers, and institutions appropriated the whole-language label without honoring its fundamental principles of authenticity, integration, and empowerment" (p. 223). externally, pearson (2004) identifies three factors, i.e., (1) a paradigm shift in the ideology of reading research, (2) increasing politicization of the reading research and policy agenda increasing pressure for educators of all stripes, especially reading educators, to produce measurable results, and (3) and loss of the moral high ground. the revival of positivist research paradigm used by the national reading panel and the national institute for child health and human development in the mid-1990 received sympathetic ears from policymakers, especially in "phonemic awareness and phonics instruction" (pearson, 2004, p. 225). politicization takes place, as pearson (2004) notes, when policy makers "like to shroud mandates and initiatives in the rhetoric of science, and sometimes that practice results in strained, if not indefensible, extrapolations from research" (p. 229). there is a growing suspicion on the role played by teachers who may induce a selfserving teacher ideology, "suggest[ing] that the broad base of privilege accorded to teachers may come at the expense of students and their parents" (pearson, 2004, p. 232). the demise of whole-language approach led to the reigning of phonics instruction, or in shannon's (2007) term "one-best system". reading first requires states to show how the state educational agency will assist local educational agencies in identifying instructional materials, programs, strategies, and approaches, based on scientifically based reading research, including early intervention and reading remediation materials, programs, and approaches. (nclb, 2001, p. 123). nclb approach is grounded in the findings of the congressionally mandated report of the national reading panel (nrp) issued in 2000. reading scholars quickly found a number of limitations on the nrp research. garan (2001) and coles (2001) contended that the research procedure used was questionable. a variety of important instructional issues, such as the relationship of writing and reading, interconnections of emotions and literacy learning, meaning-emphasis instruction, or approaches for responding to children's individual literacy needs were excluded. joanne yatvin (2000), the only member of the panel having taught beginning reading in a classroom, underscored the self-serving ideology attitude among the researchers in the panel. in brief, nclb sets out to prescribe a single literacy instruction due to its perceived effectiveness despite its questionable validity claim. as mcneil (2009) warns, there is a serious limitation to the effectiveness studies, since "they have ignored achievement in important areas creativity, desire for further learning, ability to deal with uncertainty" llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 169 (p. 219). it is sad, as meyer (2003) argues, that scripted phonics moves away from culturally relevant pedagogy. diamond's (2007) study on high-stakes testing and policy underscores the increasing alignment in contents, but not in pedagogy which is known to be more influential in making a difference in students' life. e. conclusion and implications this paper presents a discussion on the reading wars in the u.s. by briefly discussing its history and ideological, epistemological, and instructional issues reflected in two opposing reading approaches, i.e. whole-language vs. phonics. it can be concluded it is politics, not good purpose of well-intentioned teachers, that define what and how to teach literacy among children nowadays. politics is messy, but that is how democracy is made up. living in democracy requires us to be more prepared to engage in democratic processes. i would agree to costa & kallick (2010) who suggest that, as teachers, we learn to change our mental models, which requires "openmindedness, flexibility, patience, and courage" (p. 211), in today's accountability era. although the topic of the reading wars discussed in this paper represents a brief u.s. historical overview, it serves a powerful tool to investigate the complexity of language policy making and the role of english teachers in other countries as well. reading wars are in fact a localized policy related to how reading skills for young children are taught. it does not mean that it has no significance to english education in general. i would argue that this paper has at least two implications for english teachers in general. first, pedagogy or education for young people can never be simplified into a matter of technicalities. teaching scholars have argued that pedagogy is all about how humans live, interact, nurture, engage, and support the growth of humanity. teaching and learning inevitably reflect our own worldviews, what values to struggle for, and how we eventually can make a difference in the life of each student in our class, no matter who they are. it should not end in a mere rhetoric. it should be enacted in the life of a teacher. this can only be materialized in the interactions with students on a dayto-day basis. parker palmer (1998) warns the tendency of viewing teaching as merely methodological. good teachers, as palmer (1998) argues, are those who demonstrate the undivided self-identity, and who are able to explore many possibilities, not get confined to limitations. this philosophical underpinning is believed to be continually energizing teachers in the face of daunting challenges in their profession. second, while teachers are by nature the true decision makers in the class, they are very likely to be under scrutiny of other people, both in the field and out of the field. they are expected to be more knowledgeable to various kinds of changes and expectations from related parties. student parents increasingly play a more influential role in today’s schools. in today’s politics, they are gaining an increasing stature in school issues. teachers are expected to be more skillful at dealing with parents and their expressed expectations. in addition, teachers are also under influence of formal authorities. in a more directive, top-down culture like in indonesia, educational policies at times are no more than added accessories. a case in point, government agencies often require paperbased compliance rather than substancebased quality in school curriculum. llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 170 private schools in general seem to share commonalities in the face of such formal authorities: they feel vulnerable with this government agency’s strict requirements. submissive compliance seems to be the most reasonable action among weak private schools. in reality, this is obvious with the phenomenon of two types of curricula in many schools, i.e. the formally signed curriculum, and factually implemented one. the formally signed one is written in accordance to the format and requirements set by the authority. once agreed and signed, it is quickly shelved. it never becomes a lived curriculum. the factually implemented one seems to vary across a wide range of teachers, depending on their moral purpose, learning capacities, school contexts, and their past experiences. at this point, it is safe to say that teachers with exemplary attitudes (like hardworking, proactive, engaging, openminded, skillful at authentic listening, persevere, persistent, and other related qualities) are more likely to be significant for the lives of our their students. references allington, r.l. 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(2000). minority view. in national reading panel, teaching children to read: an evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction, reports of the subgroups. rockville, md: national institute of child health and human development. retrieved http://www.sage-ereference.com/view/socialproblems/n170.xml http://www.sage-ereference.com/view/socialproblems/n170.xml http://www.sage-ereference.com/view/socialproblems/n170.xml llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 173 september 20, 2011 from http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publica tions/nrp/upload/report.pdf issn 1410-7201 51 llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 question word in the mandarin language xu yunyu indonesian language teacher at asian & african studies faculty , tianjian foreign studies university, china candy-xuyunyu@hotmail.com abstract in an interrogative sentence in mandarin language, a question word can be placed in the beginning, middle or end of a sentence. because of the different nation and culture, when a foreign student learns mandarin, they find it difficult to understand the question words and the position of the question words in that language. because of that, the writer proposes to explain such problems. this research aims to find out what are the types of question words in mandarin, and also to explain the function and usage of question words in the mandarin interrogative sentence. an interrogative sentence is a very important sentence. in mandarin, the following question words: 谁(shuí) “who”，在哪里(zài nǎli) “where”, 在哪儿(zài nǎ’er) “where”，为什么(wèi shénme) “why”, 怎么(zěnme) “why”，多少（duō shǎo） “how many”，多久(duō jiǔ) “how long”，什么时候 (shénme shíhòu) “when”，什么(shénme) “what”，做什么(zuò shénme) “why”，干 什么(gàn shénme) “why”，干嘛(gànma) “why” and so on are used to ask “who”, “where”, “what”, “how much”, “when”, “what time”, and “why”. those words have different functions and usage. each sentence has a certain structure and word order. a question word can be placed in the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence. when the place is changed, there is a possibility of miscommunication. keywords: interrogative sentence, mandarin language. a. introduction 1. background of the study in daily life, it is very common to greet, make casual jokes, and pose questions to each other. by communicating, we can know many things, expand our knowledge, and exchange ideas. apart from that, communication can inspire new ideas. in communication, there is always a question-and-answer interaction, in which each individual needs to pay attention to the question that he/she proposes. an interrogative sentence is one of the most important sentences in any language in the world, because only by asking questions the communicator can eliminate his/ her unawareness, doubts, and uncertainties about something that is completely unknown to them or that they know very little about. (wijana, 1981:1) it is the same in mandarin language. in an interrogative sentence in mandarin language, a question word can be placed in the beginning, middle or end of a sentence. because of the different nation and culture, when a foreign student learn mandarin, they find it difficult to understand the question words and the position of the question words in that language. because of that, the writer proposes to explain such problems. 2. purpose of the study this research aims to find out what are the types of question words in mandarin, and also to explain the function and usage of question 52 words in the mandarin interrogative sentence. 3. benefits of the study this research hopes to give contribution to the foreign language learner, especially those who are interested in linguistics. moreover, this research is dedicated to the foreign language learner who wants to study mandarin or wants to find out more about the mandarin language (specifically about the question words in the mandarin language). b. theoretical framework 1. question word question word is a mark of an interrogative sentence which changes the word or the words being asked. a few question words that are frequently used are “what”, “how”, “how much”, “where”, “why”, and so on. 2 interrogative sentence a sentence is a grammatical unit which are marked by an ending intonation. in written language, a sentence is marked by the sign (.), (?), (!), (;). (m. ramlan, 2008). a sentence, based on its function, can be categorized into three types: affirmative sentence, interrogative sentence, and instructive sentence. based on its name, an interrogative sentence functions to ask about something. (ramlan, 1987:31,33). an interrogative sentence is used to ask about something. an interrogative sentence begins with a question word and ends with a question mark. based on its functions, an interrogative sentence has several types: “yes-no questions”, “wh questions”, and “alternative questions”. c. research methods 1. source of the study the data for this research are obtained from books in the gadjah mada university library, internet articles, and also from books of mandarin lessons that can support this research. 2 procedures and techniques of data gathering in writing this paper, the writer gathers the data, test them, and then choose the appropriate data to make sure that the obtained information can really be used for this paper. 3.3 data analysis the data that are gathered are then analyzed. the analysis method and techniques that are used in this paper is an equalization method with the technique of choosing the determining factor (as described by sudaryanto, 1985:212). moreover, this research will also analyze the similarities and differences between an interrogative sentence in mandarin and in a foreign language. d. analysis 1. pitch in mandarin every word in mandarin has four pitch: 1. first pitch:ˉ (flat) 2. second pitch:ˊ (raised pitch) 3. third pitch:ˇ (raising and falling pitch) 4. fourth pitch: ˋ (falling pitch) the function of those four pitch are to differentiate the meaning of the word. the same syllable when pronounced with different pitch will produce different meanings. for example: nada bunyi aksara arti first pitch flat wā 挖 dig second pitch raising wá 娃 infant/baby third pitch raising and falling wǎ 瓦 roof tile fourth pitch falling wà 袜 socks question word in the mandarin language issn 1410-7201 53 llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 2. question word in mandarin question word is one of the marks in the interrogative sentence which function to replace the word or words that are being asked. in mandarin, the question words are 谁(shuí) “who”，在哪里(zài nǎli) “where”, 在哪儿(zài nǎ’er) “where”，为什么(wèi shénme) “why”, 怎么(zěnme) “why”，多少（duō shǎo） “how many”，多久(duō jiǔ) “how long”，什么时 候(shénme shíhòu) “when”，什么(shénme) “what”，做什么(zuò shénme) “why”，干什 么(gàn shénme) “why”，干嘛(gànma) “why”, and so on. according to the different purposes of the question, the question words can be classified into several categories: a) “who”, “which”，”who (plural)” to ask about god, angel, and human, the following question words can be used: “谁” (shuí) “who”, 哪位(nǎ wèi) “which”, 哪些人 (nǎ xiē rén) ”who (plural)”. misalnya: (1).他是谁？ tā shì shuí? who is he/she? (2). 谁完成了作业？ shuí wán chéng le zuò yè? who has finished the assignment? (3). 昨天你和谁一起吃晚饭？ zuó tiān nǐ hé shuí yī qǐ chī wǎn fàn? who did you have dinner with? sentence (1) is used to ask about a stranger. the respondent may reply with the name, profession, title, or the position of that person. besides that, the respondent may also say “i don’t know” or “i don’t really know”. in sentence (2) the question maker wans to know who are the people who has finished the assignment. the respondent will name the people who have finished it. sentence (3) is used to ask who did the respondent have dinner with. (4). 哪位是那个病人的家属？ nǎ wèi shì nà gè bìng rén de jiā shǔ? which are the patient’s family? (5). 您的论文指导老师是哪位？ nín de lùn wén zhǐ dǎo lǎo shī shì nǎ wèi ? who is your thesis-counsellor? (6).在我们班上，哪些人有计划明年出国旅 游？ zài wǒ měn bān shāng, nǎ xiē rén yǒu jì huà míng nián chū guó lǚ yóu? in our class, who are the people that plan to take a trip abroad next year? (7). 哪些人经常去唱卡拉ok? nǎ xiē rén jīng cháng qù chàng kǎ lā okay? who are the people that often go to karaoke? in sentence (4) and (5), the word “nǎ wèi”(who) is a singular question word that asks the name of a person. in sentence (6) ,(7) , the word “nǎ xiē rén”(who) is a plural question word that asks the name of the people, in other words, “nǎ xiē rén”(who) is used to know the names of more than one person. b) “where” the question word “where” is used to ask for a place. in mandarin, the question word “where” is often followed by the preposition 在(zài) which means “at”，从(cóng) which means “from”， 去(qù) which means “to”. 在哪里(zài nǎli) or 在哪儿(zài nǎ’er) which means “where” is used to ask about a place, the word 从哪里(cóng nǎli)”or 从哪儿 (cóng nǎ’er) which means “from where” is used to ask about the origin or a place that a person leaves from, the word 去哪里(qù nǎli) or 去哪 儿(qù nǎ’er) which means “where to” is used to ask about a destination. for example: (8).你住在哪里？ 或 你住在哪儿？ ní zhù zài nǎli? or ní zhù zài 54 nǎ’er? where do you live? = where do you live? (9).你从哪里来？ 或 你从哪儿来？ nǐ cóng nǎli lái? or nǐ cóng nǎ’er lái? where are you from? = you are from where? (10). 苏西去哪里了？ 或 苏西去哪 儿了？ sū xī qù nǎli le ? or sū xīqù nǎ’er le ? where is susi going? = where is susi going? in sentence (8) , the word 在哪里(zài nǎli) with 在哪儿(zài nǎ’er) are synonymous words to ask about the present place. in sentence (9), the word 从哪里(cóng nǎli) ”or 从哪儿(cóng nǎ’er) are synonymous words to ask about the origin or the place from which a person came. in sentence (10) , the word 去哪里(qù nǎli) is used to ask about a place. while 去哪儿(qù nǎ’er) is used to ask about destination. they are both synonymous words. c) “ what” the question word “what” is used to ask about an action. in mandarin, there are several words that mean “what”, those are: 做什么 (zuò shénme)，干什么(gàn shénme)，干嘛 (gànma). for example: (11). 那几个孩子正在做什么？ nà jǐ gè hái zi zhèng zài zuò shénme? what are the kids doing? (12). 你在干什么？ nǐ zài gàn shénme? what are you doing? atau you are doing what? (13). 那个人将要干嘛？ nà gè rén jiāng yào gànma? what will that person do? or the person will do what? the word 做什么(zuò shénme)，干什么 (gàn shénme)，干嘛(gànma) are synonymous words that mean “what”. because the phrases “doing what” dan “about to do what” can be shortened, therefore sentence (12) and (13) in mandarin can each be translated into two kinds of sentences. d) “why” the question word “why” is used to ask about a cause or reason. in mandarin, the question words that mean “why” are 为什么 (wèi shénme)，怎么(zěnme). for example: (14). 为什么这么热？ wèi shén me zhè me rè? why is it so hot? (15). 他怎么还没有来？ tā zěnme hái méi yǒu lái? why hasn’t she arrived? the word 为什么(wèi shénme) and 怎 么(zěnme) are synonymous words for “why”. because both words are used to ask “why”, sentence (14) and (15) in mandarin can each be translated into two kinds of sentences. e) “when”, “how long” the question word 什么时候 (shénme shíhòu) which means “when” is used to ask about the time. the word 多久(duō jiǔ) which means “how long” is used to ask about duration. for example: (16). 你什么时候将要结婚？ nǐ shénme shíhòu jiāng yào jiē hūn? when will you get married? question word in the mandarin language issn 1410-7201 55 llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 (17). 您多久回家乡一次？ nǐn duō jiǔ huǐ jiā xiāng yī cì? how long will you go back to your hometown? f) “how much” the question word “how much” is used to ask about sums and numbers. in mandarin, the word that means “how much” are 多少 (duōshǎo). for example: (18). 那本书多少钱？ nà běn shū duōshǎo qián? how much is that book? (19). 你的手机号码是多少？ nǐ de shǒu jī hào mǎ shì duōshǎo? what’s your phone number? g) “what” the word 什么(shénme) which means “what” is used to ask about things, plants, and animals. for example: (20). 那个漂亮的女孩在看什么书？ nà gè piào liàng de nǚ hái zài kàn shénme shū? what’s the book that the beautiful lady reads? (21). 那是什么衣服？ nà shì shěnme yī fú? what’s that dress? e. conclusion an interrogative sentence is a very important sentence. by asking questions, we can expand our mind. in mandarin, the following question words: 谁(shuí) “who”，在哪里(zài nǎli) “where”, 在哪儿(zài nǎ’er) “where”，为 什么(wèi shénme) “why”, 怎么(zěnme) “why” ，多少（duō shǎo） “how many”，多久(duō jiǔ) “how long”，什么时候(shénme shíhòu) “when”，什么(shénme) “what”，做什么(zuò shénme) “why”，干什么(gàn shénme) “why” ，干嘛(gànma) “why” and so on are used to ask “who”, “where”, “what”, “how much”, “when”, “what time”, and “why”. those words have different functions and usage. each sentence has a certain structure and word order. a question word can be placed in the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence. when the place is changed, there is a possibility of miscommunication. references: leech, g., & jan svartive.1985. a comunication grammar of english. alexander, l.g., & qixin, h. 2010. new concept english (new edition). beijing: beijing foreign language education press. wijana, p. 2009. berkenalan dengan linguistik. universitas gadjah mada. ramlan. 2001. sintaksis. universitas gadjah mada. chalker, s., & weiner, e. 1998. oxford dictionary of modern english grammar. oxford university press. sudaryanto. 1987. deskripsi bahasa. universitas gadjah mada. chengwei, z. 2003. college english using english grammar. shanghai: shanghai foreign language education press. 沈丽壁，2001，中文语法疑问词移动之研 究分析 吕淑湘, 1989年，语语法分析问题,商务印书 馆 邵敬敏，1996年，现代汉语疑问句研究， 华东师大出版社 website:http://baike.baidu.com/view/935953. website: http://baike.baidu.com/view/1373088. website: http://baike.baidu.com/view/1656124. cover vol 16 2013_rep isi llt_vol_16_2013_a_save as isi llt_vol_16_2013_b_save as llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 46 code switching in the instructions of english language education study program lecturers thomas wahyu prabowo mukti and retno muljani sanata dharma university thomaswpm@gmail.com and retno_muljani@yahoo.com abstract language is an essential mean of communication in teaching and learning activities. specifically, in the english language education study program (elesp) that employs english as the main instructional language for teaching and learning activities. considering that english was not students’ first language, some lecturers employed code switching to help third-semester students in learning english. with regard to this phenomenon, this study addressed two research questions. first, what the types of code switching elesp lecturers employ in their instructional languages are and second, what the reasons for elesp lecturers to employ code switching in their instructional languages are. this study belonged to a basic interpretative study. it employed interview guidelines to understand the experiences of the lecturers who employed code switching. the results of this study showed that the lecturers employed both situational and metaphorical code switching. in addition, the writer found that the participants of the study code-switched for the reasons which can be classified into topic, addressee, emphasis, persuasion, solidarity, affection, nature of the subject and strategy. the results of the study also revealed that the use of code switching in lecturers’ instructional languages was mainly for the students’ understanding. keywords: code switching, elesp, lecturers introduction language is important in people’s lives. radford, atkinson, britain, clahsen, and spencer (1999) note that language becomes a tool that bridges person to person or group of people in their society. language plays a vital role in the socio-economic, political and cultural lives of the people (adegbite & akindele, 1999). specifically, language is an essential mean of communication in teaching and learning activities. teachers or lecturers employ languages for explaining and giving directions and/or instructions to students. the language becomes media for students to communicate with teachers or lecturers and their friends. by using clear and proper languages, teachers or lecturers will be able to give accurate instructions to students and they will be able to facilitate students in understanding materials. thus, llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 47 languages are important in teaching and learning processes. functioning as facilitators, teachers or lecturers should master english in order to conduct instructional activities to facilitate the students in classes (harmer, 2007). the lecturers shall employ english as the main instructional language. however, english is not the mother language of the elesp students and lecturers. the writer observed that code switching was quite often occurred in the second year students’ classes. both lecturers and students switched english to indonesian language and other local languages during the activities in the class. the phenomenon of switching languages is found in multilanguage society and the phenomenon belongs to code switching. code switching happens when speakers shift from one language to another whether it is only one word, utterance and even one sentence (holmes, 1992). thus, the elesp belongs to multilanguage society since the elesp students are from many places in indonesia that have their own local languages. considering the phenomenon of the use of code switching in the elesp lecturers’ instructional languages, the writer proposes to study types of code switching used by lecturers in their instructional languages and analyze their reasons to switch one language to another language. the use of code switching as the instructional languages by lecturers for teaching the third semester students is chosen since the third semester students should have mastered english well. however, some lecturers still employ code switching for different reasons. review of related literature people have their own codes to communicate with others. holmes (1992) says that code switching happens when speakers shift from one language to another whether it is only one word, utterance, and even one sentence. the switches can intrasententially occur within a single sentence, inter-sententially between sentences or emblematically in a tag or exclamation of a sentence (hoffman, 1991). types of code switching types of code switching vary from a linguist to another. thus, this study employed types of code switching proposed by blom and gumperz (1972) and wardhaugh (2006). 1. situational code switching situational code switching occurs when situations, particularly participants, settings and activity types change speakers’ language choices (blom & gumperz, 1972). situational code switching occurs when the languages used change according to the social situations in which the conversant find themselves; they speak one language in one situation and another in a different one. no topic change is involved (wardhaugh, 2006). the situational code switching can also be used to change the situation (blom & gumperz, 1972). llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 48 2. metaphorical code switching blom and gumperz (1972) state that metaphorical code switching is the language switch related to particular kinds of topics or subject matter rather than to change the social situation. similarly, wardhaugh (2006) states that the metaphorical code switching happens in a situation when a change of topic in the conversation requires a change in the languages used. some topics may be discussed in either code, but the choice of code adds a distinct flavor to what is said about the topic. reasons of code switching bilingual people switch their languages for a number of reasons. this study employed reasons of code switching stated in hoffman (1991), holmes (1992) and wardhaugh’s (2006) studies to analyze reasons for participants to code-switch. based on the compilation of hoffman, holmes, and wardhaugh, there are six reasons for people to code switch. they are topic, addresee, emphasis, persuasion, solidarity, and affection. those factors cannot be separated from each other and they, sometimes, occur on the same events. 1. topic holmes (1992) states that people may switch-code within a speech event to discuss a particular topic. holmes adds that people find it is easier to discuss particular topics in one code rather than another. additionally, talking about a particular topic can cause a switch, either because of lack of facility in the relevant register or because certain items trigger off various connotations which are linked to experiences in a particular language (hoffman, 1991, p. 115). 2. addressee a code switch may be related to a particular addressee (holmes, 1992). it means people code-switch according to addressees they are talking. this code switching depends on addressees’ background, relation to the speaker, and language mastery (holmes, 1992). 3. emphasis hoffman (1991) states that being empathic about something can trigger code switching when a subject is quoting somebody else to emphasize about something. this switch can also take the form of an interjection or repetition used for clarification. furthermore, the switch underlines the speaker’s personal involvement and desire to be well understood (hoffman, 1991). 4. persuasion trying to persuade an audience, people of bilingual communities may employ code switching. rihane (2007) states that people of bilingual communities switch their language to attract attention and persuade an llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 49 audience. nerghes (2011) says that code switching draws the participant's attention and enhances their motivation to scrutinize the message presented. rihane (2007) adds that switches make listeners realize that the speaker asks them to pay attention to the speaker. as a result, the switches increase the success of reaching the goal of persuading the audience. in addition, nerghes states that code switching is an effective strategy that leads to systematic processing of information especially when associated with strong arguments (nerghes, 2011). 5. solidarity holmes (1992) states that different kinds of relationships are often expressed through different codes. thus, code switching can arise from individual choice or become a major identity marker for a group of speakers who must deal with more than one language in their lives (wardhaugh, 2006, p. 101). hence, people tend to use code switching in a bilingual community to show solidarity. rihane (2007) states, “code switching can be used to express solidarity between people from different or the same ethnic groups (p.5).” gal (1988, p. 247 as cited in wardhaugh 2006) adds that code switching is a conversational strategy used to establish, cross or destroy group boundaries; to create, evoke or change interpersonal relations with their rights and obligations. 6. affection code switching can also express personal feeling. speakers switch codes to express happiness, excitement, anger, sadness, and many other feelings (rihane, 2007). moreover, the code switching does not always convey referential content but also affection content (holmes, 1992). the use of code switching as the classroom language mattson and burenhult (1999) state that code switching has three functions in language learning classroom which are as a topic switch, affective functions, and repetitive functions. first, code switching as the topic switch. sert (2005) states that the teachers alter their languages according to the topic that is under discussion. sert (2005) adds that code switching serves as a bridge from native languages to new foreign languages content that is constructed in order to transfer the new content and meaning. likewise, cole (1998) states, “a teacher can exploit students’ previous l1 learning experience to increase their understanding of l2” (as cited in sert, 2005, p.3). second, code switching also carries affective functions that serve for expression of emotions (sert, 2005). sert (2005) says that teachers use code switching in order to build solidarity and intimate relations with the students. a study by ahmad in 2009 shows that code switching used in the class llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 50 can function as affective aspect helps learners to enjoy their learning due to their ability to comprehend the teachers’ input. the comprehensible input also allowed them to feel less stressful and to become more comfortable to learn. once the students are comfortable with the environment, without any unnecessary anxiety, the learners are able to focus and participate in classroom practice and activities more successfully (ahmad, 2009). third, code switching has a repetitive function. in this case, the teachers use code switching in order to transfer the necessary knowledge for the students for clarity (sert, 2005). sert adds that the teachers deliver the instruction in the target language, and then switch to native language in order to clarify meaning. the teachers employ code switching to stress importance on the foreign language content for efficient comprehension. methodology this study employed a qualitative approach specifically basic interpretative study to understand the experience of the research participants who employed code switching in their instructional languages (ary, jacobs, sorensen & razavieh, 2010, p. 29). the writer chose six out of twenty lecturers who taught in the third semester classes based on some informal interviews with some third semester students. the participants’ names were symbolized with p1-p6. further, the writer became the main instrument in collecting and analyzing data by employing an interview guideline. the data of this study were analyzed employing creswell’s (2009) qualitative data analysis procedure as the basic technique of the data analysis. findings and discussion types of code switching employed by participants in their instructional languages there were two types of code switching employed by the six research participants, namely, situational and metaphorical code switching. each will be described in the following parts. 1. situational code switching the situational code switching appeared when one language is used in one situation and another language is used in a different situation (wardhaugh, 2006). the writer discovered that all participants employed situational code switching in their instructional languages in their classes. they employed situational code switching which defined as code switching occurred when situations, particularly addressees, settings and activity types change speakers’ language choices (blom & gumperz, 1972). one of the considerations for employing this situational code switching was the addressees as exemplified in the following examples in table 1. llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 51 table 1 the addressees as participants’ consideration for code-switching utterances “i use code switching depends(depending) on the type of class and whether i need to use it or not (p1).” “if i mainly use english, maybe some students will have some problems in understanding. so, code switching is for lessening the tension and helping students to understand better (p2).” the utterances in table 1 show that the participants employed situational code switching considering their students’ language mastery (nishimura, 1997). the writer could also deduce that the participants code-switched in the situation when students seemed to not understand the participants’ explanation. the participants wanted the message delivered well to students by employing situational code switching, in this case, indonesian language, that students understood better. in addition, the participants realized that the l1 should be employed in the form of situational code switching in order to make their students understand. specifically, p2 said that if she mainly used english, maybe some students would have some problems in understanding. p2’s statement shows that she considered the need to switch to the language that understandable for her students. 2. metaphorical code switching in metaphorical code switching the language switch relates to particular kinds of topic or subjects matter rather than to change in social situation (wardhaugh, 2006). the alternation enriched a situation and it allowed for an allusion to more than one social relationship within the situation as the participants wanted to achieve special communication effects. moreover, the language switch related to particular kinds of topics or subject matter rather than to change the social situation (blom and gumperz, 1972). the interview results proved that the participants also employed metaphorical code switching as their instructional language. the participants tried to enrich the situations they were discussing. the utterances that show how the participants employed code switching for enriching the situation can be seen in the table below: llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 52 table 2 code switching employed to enrich the situations utterances “mudeng atau mubeng? (p2)” “do you know in flores? di flores kalau orang yang ngomong terus dan gak mau bicara (maybe he means “bekerja”) namanya itu dia bagaikan apa? pantat ayam. tau pantat ayam? (p3)” in the table above, p2 directly said, “mudeng atau mubeng?” after her explanation in her structure class. it can be inferred that p2 employed two languages that were indonesian and javanese languages. the participant employed code that enriched the situation in the form of “mudeng (understood)” understood” and “mubeng (goes around)”. the use of mudeng and mubeng enriched the situation in the way that the code was understood by both the participant and her students. the code also made the students realized that the participant asked for their confirmation. the same situation also happened when p3 employed code switching when the students were too noisy, and then he warned the students by saying “pantat ayam”. pantat ayam is a metaphorical term that meant someone who only talked without doing something. it related to the situation when the students were noisy and they did not do their task. the use of the code as a metaphor brought a special communication effect that well understood by both addresser and addressee. the reasons for participants employing code switching in their instructional language the section discussed the findings to answer the second research problem that was the reasons for elesp participants to employ switching their instructional language. 1. topic talking about a particular topic could cause a switch, either because of lack of facility in the relevant register or because certain items trigger off various connotations which are linked to experiences in a particular language (hofffman, 1991). this situation occurred to all participants. the interview results show that some participants code switched since they realized that some words in the indonesian language did not have relevant words in english. the examples can be seen in table 3. llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 53 table 3 code switching emerged as there was no relevant word in english utterances “i will use the original word if there are no correspondence words when i talk about some topic so there will be no shifted meaning (p2).” “i will use indonesia (when i am talking about some words that do not have words for the same sense in english), like what i have said before like alay, baper, and some example from twitter. i use the example from twitter and it is in indonesia. i ask them to analyze it (p4).” from the p2 and p4’s statements, the writer could infer that the participant code-switched some words to indonesian due to the lack of expressions in english. the expression could be translated but the sense was different. further, p4 did not translate the word alay and baper since those words were actually language phenomena created by teens in indonesia. p4 realized it and she employed those words as the materials for students to analyze since the root words from those languages were from the indonesian language. in addition, the results of the interview show that participants code-switched on some topics to make their students get a better understanding on the topic the were talking about. the participants believed that by code-switching their students would get the idea of the topic easier. the utterances that show the participants code-switched on some topics for students’ better understanding could be seen in table 4.6. table 4 code switching on some topics for students’ better understanding utterances “i realize in some subjects, the concept will be easier to retrieve by students if the concept is communicated using english and local languages(p2).” “(i switch to the indonesian language) usually, when i explain (a) very complex issue or topic, and the idea is very complicated, sometimes you need to translate the idea into english, sometimes not always(p3).” llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 54 the writer could infer, from the results on table 4, that while talking about some topic, the participants considered employing the code switching to help them communicate the idea better. further, the switches were also believed by the participants could help students to understand what the participant said. in this case, code switching served as a bridge from the native language to new foreign language contents that were constructed in order to transfer the new contents and meanings (sert, 2005). these switches were triggered when participants were discussing a complex topic that makes students hard to understand. 2. addressee the participants also codeswitched according to addressees they are talking. this code switching depended on addressees’ background, relation to the speaker, and language mastery. the interview results indicated that participants mostly considered their students’ language mastery as their reason to code-switch. the following table presents the examples of utterances by the participants in employing code switching to accommodate their students’ comprehension. table 5 code switching employed to accommodate students’ comprehension utterances “i use code switching depends on the type of class and whether i need to use it or not(p1).” “english is not the students’ first language, so we have to consider the limitation of students. we cannot insist students to catch up with full english learning. moreover, the use of code switching is in phase(p2).” “the code switching that i use depends on the students i am communicating with(p3).” those examples show that the participants did consider about their students’ language mastery. it can be inferred that the participants did not force themselves to use english in the class. the writer concluded that the participants’ consideration was the fact that the participants knew the english of some students had not been good yet. moreover, the writer inferred that the participant felt that forcing students was not good for both of them so the participant employed code switching in his instructional language to help students understand. llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 55 3. emphasis the interview results show that being emphatic about something was a consideration for the participants to switch their language. speakers switched their language in order to make students understand what they were emphasizing about and underline the speakers’ involvement. the switch could be in the form of interjection or repetition (hoffman, 1991). the statements on table 6 show how the participants emphasize about some important message employing code switching. table 6 code employed to emphasize participants’ messages utterances “i use code switching in order to convey messages that students have to understand (p1).” “i want to get my idea across; i want to communicate my ideas with my students (using the indonesian language)(p3).” “(i spoke bahasa indonesia) for clarification and for change because we need a chance(p5).” the examples illustrated in table 6 show that most all of the participants employed code switching because they wanted to emphasize some important things. in this case, the participants wanted to make the students understand the important contents they explained. the examples show clearly that the participants considered the need of clarification for their explanation. therefore, the participants repeated the explanation employing code switching. the participants understood that the most important thing was conveying the message that their students had to understand. the repetition that employed code switching was useful for students’ understanding. in this case, the participants employed code switching in order to deliver the necessary knowledge for the students for clarity (sert, 2005). 4. persuasion the participants also employed the code switching to get students’ attention. according to nerghes (2011), code switching will draw the participant's attention and will enhance their motivation to scrutinize the message presented. moreover, nerghes adds code switching leads to systematic processing of information especially when associated with strong arguments. rihane (2007) argues that switches make listeners realize that the speaker asks them to pay attention to the speaker. after interviewing the participants, the writer found that the participants realized that the use of code llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 56 switching make their students pay attention to them and make their message understood better. these are examples show how the participants employed code switching for persuading their students: table 7 code switching employed to persuade the students utterances “berteman dengan kerbau lumpuh pasti akan ikut lumpuh. … . so, what does it mean? “you have to be careful in picking up friends (p3).” “tapi, bagaikan tikus mati di lumbung beras, what does it mean? anda kuliah di sanata dharma, one of the best. you have good lectures, good facilities, semuanya hebat. the internet, everything. books, library, one of the best, mungkin not the best in indonesia. anda ini beruntung, tapi karena anda tidak tahu, anda bisa mati seperti tikus.(you are lucky, but if you do not know, you will die like a mouse) (p3)” observing the participants’ statements above, the writer concludes that participants employed code switching to persuade the students to understand and/or do something related to the participants’ messages. in this study, the writer concerned on the way the participants code-switched to persuade their students to scrutinize the message given with the strong arguments. p3 emphasized live lesson his students should pay attention by employing code switching. moreover, p3 inquired his students being careful in picking friends since friends would affect them so much. he also asked his students to pay attention to the results of not utilizing the facility they have: students might die like a mouse in the barn full of rice. 5. solidarity the interview results revealed that the participants also employed code switching for showing their solidarity with their students. code switching could arise from individual’s choice or become a major identity marker for a group of speakers who must deal with more than one language in their lives (wardhaugh, 2006, p. 101). further, the participants employed the indonesian language to show their solidarity as indonesian. llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 57 table 8 code switching employed to express solidarity utterances “i think students if i say in indonesia (indonesian language), the students will feel like i am one of them. but if i say in english, i am just an english teacher. if i say in bahasa (indonesian language), they will feel like i am also a learner of english sharing my experience as an indonesian learning english. because teaching is not a matter of transferring knowledge but building a good relationship with students, trust, also help students to have confidence (p3).” the examples on table 8 illustrate how participants show their solidarity with their students. p3 showed clearly his intention of employing code switching. he wanted to be the part of the students’ community. p3 even tried to make his students trust him. from those cases, the writer could conclude that the participants employed code switching to show their solidarity. by establishing a closer relationship with the students, the participants were able to create a better atmosphere for free discussions that will help students to focus and participate in classroom practice and activities successfully. 6. affection the participants also showed their affection employing the indonesian language. rihane (2007) says that speakers use code switching to express certain feelings and attitudes. the expression of showing affection was usually shown to express the participants feeling responding to their students’ attitude. the examples of the participants’ utterance to express their feeling can be seen below. table 9 code switching employed to express participants’ feelings utterances “kalau kalian gak bertanya berarti paham. (if you did not ask, it means you understood) (p2)” “terus gimana caranya kalau seperti ini untuk membantu kalian kalau kalian gak ngomong kan saya gak tau kalau kalian bermasalah tapi kamu sendiri gak membantu dirimu kalau kamu gak menyampaikannya (then, how would i help you if you do not tell me. i do llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 58 not know if you have problem and you do not help yourself when you do not tell me.) (p2)?” the data above show that the participants also employed code switching for expressing the participants’ feeling. p2 showed her frustration in the indonesian language when her students were afraid to ask her. she found that some of her students did not understand after she explained theories in structure iii. so, she employed code switching to express her feeling and encourage the students not to be afraid to ask. other findings after analyzing the data from the interview results, the writer found two other findings related to the reason for code switching which was not listed in the hoffman (1991), holmes (1992), and wardhaugh’s (2006) list of the reasons for code-switching. the reasons are the nature of the subject and code switching as the strategy for teaching. 1. the nature of the subject after interviewing the participants, the writer found that the subject the participants taught also influenced the consideration of the participants to code-switch. the utterances on table 10 show how the nature of the subject influenced the participants to code-switch. table 10 the nature of the subject utterances “so, it depends also on the nature (of the subject), on the subject, method, and what you teach. so, you need to reflect. particularly, sometimes it is not easy for us to speak in english explain a difficult concept. the word is too difficult for students. you need to paraphrase. again, it depends on the nature of the subject, on the purpose of teaching: what you want your students to learn? (p3)” “switch code only used in teaching english when it is helpful for them to understand the subject matter. because, english, when i teach content courses, it is only means of communication. my theory is switch code is only used on the emergency situation. so, i do code switch if it is beneficial to students, not me (p6).” llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 59 from the utterances on table 10, the writer could infer that most of the participants consider employing code switching for some subject. the writer found that on some content subject the participants code-switch to explain or re-explain some materials. the participants felt that the most important thing was the message that should be delivered well to students. 2. strategy the interview results also reveal that the participants employ code switching as their strategy in the class. table 11 shows the participants’ utterances showing the use of code switching as their strategy. table 11 code switching as the participants’ strategy utterances “the use of code switching is in phase (p2).” “you code switch because you want to save the time. you don’t want to explain everything in english. one idea (is) in english and it takes a long time to explain while you can easily explain in bahasa. it is easier (p3).” “in fact, code switch is a strategy. (it is) not, because of my problem of using the language. it is only one of the tools to help students understand (p6).” from the data in table 4.19, the writer could infer that the participants employed code switching as their strategy. p2 indicated that she employed code switching in a phase. it meant that she did not directly employ code switching all the time. further, p6 believed that code switching could be a tool to help students understand. conclusion the data showed that both situational and metaphorical code switching were employed by the participants. however, the participants mostly employed situational code switching to help their students understand better. moreover, there were eight reasons for the participants to code-switch. they were topic, addressee, emphasis, persuasion, solidarity, affection, the nature of the subject and as the participants’ strategy. it showed that the participants did consider their use of code switching. it was not because the participants were lack of english mastery but as the tool to help students understand better llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 60 references ahmad, b.h. (2009). teachers’ code-switching in classroom instructions for low english proficient learners. the ccse internet journal. adegbite, f., & akindele, w. (1999). the sociology and politics of english in nigeria: an introduction. retrieved may 28, 2015, from http://www.getitwriteonline.com/archive/020204whencommabfand.htm. ary, d., jacobs, l.c., sorensen, c., & razavieh, a. (2010). an introduction to research in education. belmont: wadsworth. blom, j.-p., & gumperz, j. j. (1972). social meaning in linguistic structures: codeswitching in norway. in john j. gumperz, dell hymes (eds.) directions in sociolinguistics: the ethnography of communication. new york: holt, rinehart and winston inc. creswell, j. (2009). research design: qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches. los angeles: sage publications inc. gal, s. (1988). the political economy of code choice. in m. heller,(ed.), codeswitching: anthropological and sociolinguistic perspectives, 48, 245-64. harmer, j. (2007). the practice of english language teaching. cambridge: longman. hoffman, c. (1991). an introduction to bilingualism. london: longman. holmes, j. (1992). an introduction to sociolinguistics. london: longman. modupeola, o. r. (2013). code-switching as a teaching strategy: implication for english language teaching and learning in a multilingual society. iosr journal of humanities and social science, 14(3), 92-94. nishimura, m. (1997). japanese/english code-switching. new york: peter lang. radford, a., atkinson, m., britain, d., clahsen, h., & spencer, a. (1999). linguistics: an introduction. cambridge: cambridge university press. rihane, w. m. (2007). why do people code-switch: a sociolinguistic approach. retrieved may 28, 2015, from www.academia.edu/2649532/why_do_people_codeswitch_a_sociolinguisti c_approach. sert, o. (2005). the functions of code-switching in elt classrooms. online submission, 11(8). retrieved may 28, 2015, from https://jyx.jyu.fi/dspace/bitstream/handle/123456789/7407/g0000707.pdf. wardaugh, r. (2006). an introduction to sociolinguistics. west sussex: wileyblackwell. https://jyx.jyu.fi/dspace/bitstream/handle/123456789/7407/g0000707.pdf 11102150559lltjournalfrontpagesapr2016(10nov8pmagain) 2 llt j april 2016 articles two columns llt journal submission guidelines apr 2016 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 428 effects of flipped classroom on students’ academic achievement in legal english learning context hương thanh nhạc hanoi law university, vietnam correspondence: nhacthanhhuong@gmail.com doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i2.3542 received 26 july 2020; accepted 29 october 2021 abstract the primary focus of this study was to examine the effects of flipped classrooms on students’ academic achievement in legal english learning context at hanoi law university. to achieve the aim, fifty second-year students participating in the study were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. the experimental group was taught legal english with the flipped learning approach while traditional teaching method was applied to the control group. a pre-test and a post-test were administered to both groups to measure the impacts of flipped classrooms on students’ academic achievement in legal english. the results revealed that there were statistically significant differences in the means of the achievement test attributed to teaching methods in favour of the experimental groups. also, survey questionnaires were administered to the students in the experimental group to identify their perceptions of the application of flipped classrooms on their legal english learning performance. the data showed that the majority of the students considered flipped classroom to be effective. it is hoped that the findings encourage instructors of english to use modern teaching strategies, in particular, flipped classroom strategy to improve the english teaching and learning process. keywords: academic achievement; effects; flipped classrooms; legal english students. introduction in recent years, language teaching methods have witnessed rapid changes in finding out new approaches to enhance the effectiveness of the language acquisition process. such approaches make learners become the center of learning process. it is undeniable that learning environment and teaching methods with the support of technology prove to be of great importance in helping each student learn and reach the language proficiency level. one of such modern methods and strategies is the application of the flipped classroom model, known as the inverted or reversed classroom. flipped classroom is an unconventional model in which students gain first-exposure learning prior to class and focus on the processing part of learning such as synthesizing, analyzing, problem-solving in class (bergmann & sams, 2012). in the literature, there has been a number of research on the effects of the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 429 application of flipped classroom model in the context of higher education. hung h (2014) indicated that flipped classroom model create opportunity for students to review learning materials before the class time. as a result, they are sure to have much more time for practices and teacher feedback in face-to-face classes leading to positive effects on the whole learning process. similarly, smallhorn’s study (2017) showed that the inverted time, place and homework in the flipped classroom engages the students actively in the lesson rather than passive listeners in traditional one. in the context of vietnam teaching, flipped learning has received a great concern from educators and researchers (bui, 2016; tran, 2016; tran, 2017; tran & nguyen, 2018), there have been limited studies on the effect of flipped classroom on students’ academic achievement and students’ attitudes toward flipped classroom, in particular in english classes at tertiary level. this paper, therefore, attempts to analyze and assess the impact of flipped classroom on students’ academic achievement as well as their perceptions in the legal english learning and teaching context. definition of key terms flipped classroom: in the literature “flipped classroom” has been defined by different researchers. delozier & rhodes (2017) defined the flipped classroom as a modern strategy in which the teachers assign lectures in different forms such as recorded or video lectures for students to review before attending class. class time is devoted to a variety of activities including doing exercises, practices or problem-solving and group work. alzwekh (2014) indicated that flipped classroom involves the smart use of the advanced techniques in order to cater for students’ needs as well as make use of the effectiveness of modern technological tools in teaching and learning processes. in this research, flipped classroom is understood as the inverting process of teaching and learning with the support of advanced technology, what is done at home in traditional learning is done at class; and what is done at class in traditional learning is done at home. specifically, in the flipped classroom approach the content of each lesson created in the form of video is presented to the student outside the classroom period through technology tools, therefore class time is used for active learning activities such as group discussion, case studies or role play, etc., academic achievement khatib & tarawneh (2002) denoted that academic achievement refers to the proficiency of skills and knowledge of the student on a specific subject after the course. additionally, with the help of measurement methods such as oral or written exams and assignment, the academic achievement can measure the ability of student to understand the subject matters and to apply them in carrying out the required tasks or projects. in this study, the academic achievement is measured by scores that students get in the achievement test prepared by the researcher at the end of the learning course. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 430 flipped classroom model in language teaching and learning positives of flipped classroom model different research in the literature has shown the positive effects of flipped classroom model on students’ language learning. shorman (2015) indicated that flipped classroom model enables students to review learning materials at home before class time through technology tools and educational websites, leaving the opportunities for their understanding of specific subjects. asiksoy and ozdamli (2016) shared the similar findings, showing that flipped classroom approach is a type of student-centered approach. specifically, with the support of technological devices namely smart phones, ipads or computers, students could actively learn new lessons at any time at any time. students, moreover, are able to find it easier to take note as well as play back the difficult parts or to skip the parts that they are mastered in. those strategies can improve their excitement and enjoyment in learning process. strohmyer (2016) asserted that the application of flipped classroom strategy results in a number of benefits for both teachers and learners. for teachers, flipped classroom model provides the language teacher a valuable chance of making use of class time in guiding and helping learners. in addition, it creates a technique to evaluate the students' weaknesses and strengths in their understanding of the content through the tasks during the class time. for students, reversed classroom could enhance students’ skills including the critical thinking and high thinking skills, selflearning capabilities according to their individual differences, building experiences, communication skills. alzain (2015) added that the flipped classroom is a modern technological solution for treating academic weaknesses of students and developing levels of their skills of thinking. furthermore, through applying the model of flipped classroom the intellectual abilities of learners can grow up. by utilizing this method learners can develop their knowledge in scientific, practical and behavioral sides. dickenson (2016) addressed that the flipped classroom is considered as one of the active practices that enable the learner to link between what is learned and his personal life and experiences. in such process, the learner will be able to link what he/she learns with his/her intellectual behaviors, until it becomes a part of his/her personality. obstacles of flipped classroom model it is undeniable that flipped classroom model achieves many benefits. tully (2014), however, mentioned some problematic issues related to flipped classroom application. firstly, this teaching method requires learners to have internet connected technological devices at home. therefore, it is challenging for students who are not able to afford such devices to benefit from this strategy. furthermore, additional working hours and efforts from teachers are necessary to followup students’ progress as well as to be professional in integrating modern technological in education. sharing the similar findings on obstacles when applying technological tools in the classroom, pashler et al (2008) noted that the lack of devices and software used in recording and preparing lessons is one of the major difficulty facing educational and learning process. moreover, the lack of teachers’ skills in using the technology tools skillfully to develop teaching methods, motivation and communicating with students could be considered challenging. however, in real teaching practice those teachers can be convinced llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 431 through presenting successful practices of applying technology in the classroom comparing with the traditional method. in the context of covid 19 pandemic, the application of technology tools in teaching and learning is necessary. moreover, legal english has its distinctive features which require learners to have the knowledge of both the law and english, flipped classroom creates the chance for learners to study and understand the content before attending class (shorman, 2015). therefore, despite its obstacles, flipped classroom proves to be suitable for legal english class. however, there has been few study focusing on how effective flipped classroom is when applied in english class, this study aims to answer the two following research questions: 1. do flipped classroom models have an effect on the students’ achievement in their overall legal english proficiency? 2. what are the students’ attitude towards flipped classroom models? method participants the study was carried out in the context of advanced legal english course at hanoi law university. 50 legal english major juniors – the population of this study, whose age ranged from 21 to 23, were divided equally into experimental group and control group. it was determined that students were between the intermediate level and upper-intermediate level of english proficiency. moreover, it should be noted that those participants were required to finish two basic legal english courses before advanced legal english one. data collection instruments participants’ tests: two groups were required to do two in-class tests of legal english in a pre-test administered prior to and in a post-test following the formal instruction. writing portfolios: through in-class lesson, experimental group were given opportunities to practice legal writing. peer correction and teachers’ feedback on students writing during the class time also added and reported in the portfolios. survey questionnaire: a questionnaire of 13 items on a 5-point likert scale. related to students’ perceptions and impact of the flipped classroom model on learning process was delivered to controlled groups. procedures the experiment was carried out in advanced legal english course for 15 weeks, each of which lasts for 135 minutes. before the treatment, students in both groups were required to do a legal english test including reading, listening and writing skills relating to different areas of law. at the beginning of the treatment, the instructor (researcher) explained the design of the lesson, the goals and the content of the application of flipped classroom model to the experimental group. during the treatment, the students in the experimental group were asked to listen to the video lectures at home, all of which were designed and recorded by the teacher. at class time, the experimental group were given time for questions and discussion on both the content as well as the meaning and the use of legal terms in different areas of law. specifically, for advanced learning course, learners were llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 432 required to practice writing in legal contexts such as writing letters, writing memos, which are the main points in final test, and then were asked to reflect, revise and rewrite their writings. the control group, on the other hand, were traditionally taught the content and legal terms at class time. those students were also required to practice the same kind of legal writing as the experimental group. however, unlike the experimental group, the students in the control group were not asked to reflect, revise and rewrite their essays in class as most of in-class time was spent on giving lectures. after that, the post-test of the legal english test was administered to both groups to check whether there is any difference in terms of their performance. findings and discussion findings research question 1: do flipped classroom models have an effect on the students’ achievement in their overall legal english proficiency? before the treatment, paired samples t-test was conducted in order to investigate whether or not there was any difference between the control and experimental groups in terms of legal english usage in listening, reading and writing skills. the result was shown in table 1. table 1. paired samples t-test analysis for pre-test scores of groups group statistics group n mean std. deviation std. error mean pre-test experimental group 25 5.760 .3452 .0690 control group 25 5.904 .5232 .1046 table 1 indicated that in terms of students’ overall legal english proficiency performance there was no statistically significant difference in the pre-test scores of the experimental group and the control group with a mean of 5.760 and 5.904 respectively. in other words, it was concluded that the legal english proficiency of the participants in each group was equal. one thing to be noted is that the pre-test contains different types of tasks including listening, reading and writing in new areas of law, thus students are not familiar to those terms and tasks. the scores, consequently, were at low rate. table 2. comparison of pre-test, post-test scores control group mean n std. deviation std. error mean pre-test control group post-test control group 5.904 25 .5232 .1046 7.364 25 .5179 .1036 paired samples correlations n correlation sig. control group pre-test & post-test 25 .154 .461 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 433 table 2 showed the results of paired samples t-test analysis for the pre-test and post-test scores of the control group. according to the table 3, there was a difference between pre-test (m=5.904, sd=0.52321) and post-test (m=7.364, sd=0.51796) scores of the control group in terms of overall legal english skills performance. from the statistics, the adoption of the traditional method in the control group had an effect on esp students’ legal english performance. however, it was not considered as significant. table 3. paired samples pre-test and post test statistics – experimental group mean n std. deviation std. error mean pre-test experimental group post-test experimental group 5.760 25 .3452 .0690 8.536 25 .6940 .1388 paired samples correlations n correlation sig. experimental group pre-test & posttest 25 -.114 .588 table 4. comparison of pre-test, post-test scores experimental group paired differences t df sig. (2tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pre-test post-test -2.7760 .8095 .16 -3.11 -2.44 -17.1 24 .000 a paired-samples t-test was also conducted to compare the mean scores of pre-test and post-test of the experimental group. table 3&4 showed that there was a statistically significant difference between pre-test (m=5.760, sd= 0.3452) and post-test (m=8.536, sd=0.6940) scores of experimental group with regard to their legal english performance. the results indicated that the application of flipped classroom model was found to significantly affect the students’ legal english level. table 5. comparison of post-test scores experimental and control groups mean n std. deviation std. error mean post-test experimental group post-test control group 8.536 25 .6940 .1388 7.364 25 .5179 .1036 the statistics of table 5 showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the post-test scores of the control group (m=7.364, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 434 sd=0.5179) and the experimental group (m=8.536, sd=0.6940). this indicated that students who received instruction through portfolio technique were significantly better at writing than those who received the traditional instruction in the control group. research question 2: what are the students’ attitudes towards flipped classroom model? as can be seen from the table 6, flipped classroom model is not familiar to almost students with 88% of surveyed participants admitted having no prior experience of it. the application of flipped classroom concept in advance legal english course is quite new to them. table 6. familiarity of flipped classroom q0 i have a prior experience of flipped classroom frequency percent valid percent cumulative percent valid no 22 88.0 88.0 88.0 yes 3 12.0 12.0 100.0 total 25 100.0 100.0 table 7 demonstrated students’ attitudes towards the application of flipped classroom model using a likert scale with five options ranging from “strongly agree – sa (5) to “strongly disagree” sd (1). table 7. students’ attitude towards flipped classroom items mean sd i have a positive attitude towards flipped classroom after the unit 4.04 .539 the flipped classroom enabled me to be more responsible in learning 3.76 .779 made me engaged with the activities 4.00 .645 increased motivation to learn legal english 4.32 .557 encouraged me to be an active learner. 3.80 .866 improve my language proficiency
 3.68 .945 helped me to understand the content easily 4.12 .833 allowed for self-pace learning 3.80 .913 allowed for interaction and communication 3.84 .898 promoted cooperation among students 4.00 .645 provided a good learning experience 3.73 .751 i have problem in having and using electronic devices 3.32 .852 i feel an increased workload that is stressful 3.88 .666 i feel confused about how to activate the provided classroom materials 2.52 .823 as seen from table 7, the majority of participants in the experimental group indicated their positive attitude towards flipped classroom model with the high mean of 4.04. at the same time, most of the statements relating to the positive effects of flipped classroom gained the highly rate of agreement ranging from the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 435 mean of 3.68 to 4.32. this statistic showed that the application of flipped classroom is beneficial to students’ learning in terms of raising motivation, autonomy and responsibility and language proficiency. regarding the difficulties when applying flipped classroom model, most of the students surveyed agreed that they felt more stressful and had problems in using electronic devices with the mean of 3.88 and 3.32 respectively. moreover, half of students in experimental group felt confused about activating the provided classroom materials. in general, the students expressed a positive attitude towards the application of flipped classroom with the high mean ranging from 3.32 to 4.32 (strongly agree (5) to “strongly disagree” (1)). discussion this study aimed to investigate the differences between the students’ academic achievement of the experimental group applied flipped classroom model and the control group taught by the traditional method as well as and to identify students’ views in the experimental group towards the flipped classroom. the data from the pre-test, posttest and survey questionnaires were then gathered and analyzed through the spss program. the statistics indicated important main findings. concerning the first research question, the results of the post-test revealed that students in the experimental group were significantly better at their academic achievement in legal english than those who received the traditional method instruction in the control group. from the statistics, it can be seen that the current study shares similar findings with the previous ones such as the studies carried out by alzwekh (2014) and almusawi (2014) on the impact of flipped classroom model on both content and language teaching and learning in comparison with the traditional teaching method. those studies pointed out a variety of recommendations, including: the need to encourage the university instructors to use the flipped classroom strategy and holding seminars, courses, and training workshops on applying the flipped classroom strategy. in response to the second research question, survey questionnaires were administered in order to examine students’ views on the flipped classroom strategy. the results showed that the majority of the participants expressed their positive attitudes towards the flipped classroom application in legal english course. most of the statements received a high rate of agreement among the participants with the high mean ranging from 3.32 to 4.32. this study shared similar findings with other studies (hung, 2015; moffett (2014); tune et al (2013), indicating that the students were motivated self-learning environment, engagement in class activities and responsibility in learning. however, the negative effects of flipped classroom concerning the problems in having, using the technology as well as increasing the stress level received the high rate of agreement with the mean of more than 3.00. flipped classroom is such an effective instructional technique that its application affects students’ autonomy in learning process. this finding was consistent with the previous studies, which indicate that students gain higher autonomy in flipped classroom (benson & voller, 2014; chen, 2017; zainuddin & perera, 2017; han, 2015). this is probably because the flipped classroom llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 436 creates opportunity for students to develop their independence in learning rather than the traditional classroom. it can be denied that the knowledge is not only the main goal to teach, but how to learn is another important thing learners should be provided. students, therefore, had more chances to manage their own studying. in other words, they take more responsibility for their independence learning. teachers in english language classes, in general and legal english ones, in particular should make use of it instead of traditional teaching method to motivate, thus, enhancing students’ academic achievement. conclusion the study demonstrated the positive effects of the flipped classroom model on students’ academic achievement, which was shown by much higher scores of the post-test than the pre-test. in addition, the students in the experimental group expressed their satisfaction on the application of flipped classroom in terms of different criteria. however, there are several limitations to the current study. firstly, the factors including the age, gender of the participants, which were not taken into consideration in this study, can be used in further studies to investigate whether they neutralize the effects of the flipped classroom model on students’ academic performance or not. secondly, the size of the participants in this study is rather small. the results, to some extent, cannot reflect the behavior of a larger population. therefore, a greater number of participants should be involved in future studies to increase the generalization of findings. lastly, the study only investigated the effect of flipped classroom model on students’ academic achievement during a 15-week course, not specifically the performance of separate sub-skills including listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. in order to have a detailed insight into the usefulness of the flipped classroom application, further research should be carried out to measure the degree of its impact on those sub-skills over a longer period of time. references alzwekh, n. 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(2017). exploring students’ competence, autonomy and relatedness in the flipped classroom pedagogical model. journal of further and higher education, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877x.2017.1356916. https://doi.org/10.22144/ctu.jen.2018.012 vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 35 english learning that fosters positive attitudes y.b. gunawan elesp – sanata dharma university abstract this article discusses the integration of english teaching and attitude components. in the new school curriculum the attitude or affective domain components are considered very important as we can see in the core competence and basic competence. the english teacher should be able to teach english while paying attention to the attitude components. this article aims to show that the two aspects can be done together. the assumption taken is that while teaching english, the teacher also develops the students’ affective domain/deals with the learners’ attitude. what remains to be done is that the english teacher should be able to identify his/her theoretical orientation that he/she has with regard to language, language learning, and educational cultural viewpoints. one of these viewpoints – language learning – is further elaborated in h.d. brown’s second language learning principles. with these major concepts and principles the english teacher is expected to be able to integrate the english teaching-learning process with the affective-domain related process. keywords: attitude, affective domain, character building, language learning viewpoint, second language learning principles introduction teaching english that incorporates attitudinal aspects is not easy. an english teacher may design a grammar lesson that contains activities in which learners learn a grammatical point and at the same time they do it in a cooperative learning manner to enhance cooperativeness among themselves. although it seems difficult to integrate a grammatical point and a certain attitude in one lesson, a lot of teachers, aware or not, do this, and many are successful in doing so. without knowing why, we often see that some english teachers in a school are considered as good english instructors. what we are usually aware of is that good english teachers have a lot of experiences, they can make their students speak actively in class, most or all of their students pass the final examination, or the students love the teachers’ ways of teaching and behaving in class. these examples show that there may be strengths or some power possessed by successful english teachers that we do not exactly know. nevertheless, one thing that we often find is that in a successful english instruction the students usually have some positive attitudes that may have been fostered by the english teacher (and surely also by the other teachers and the school environment). for example, they show that they are active, they enjoy learning english, they ask questions, they can work together, and they do not give up easily. from this observation, we may assume that learning language skills like speaking and writing cannot be separated from having positive attitudes shown in, among other things, the students’ discipline, initiative, cooperativeness, and studying habits. english teachers not only teach language skills and elements but also “teach” attitudes although they may do so without being aware or without having explicit objectives. it is then further assumed that the students will perform better if the english teacher consciously pays attention to attitude-related objectives. this assumption is not new. english teachers are familiar with methods that emphasize attitude development, such as cooperative language learning and multiple intelligence. in those methods english teachers teach english by making use of activities and techniques that are connected to the development of students’ attitudes to reach maximum results. the new school curriculum explicitly contains goals and objectives dealing with the learners’ attitude vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 36 development (ki-kd kurikulum 2013, 2013). it is expected that by using the new curriculum schools will be able to prepare young indonesians to face new challenges in the 21st century, and this will largely be dependent upon how they are able to make use of positive attitudes effectively. this article aims to show the reader that actually learning english skills and developing the learners’ positive attitudes can be done together. the terms ‘attitude’ and ‘affective domain’ used here are often interchangeable to refer to the major component of ‘character building’. the integration of attitude components into the curriculum in fact, the development of the learners’ attitude in class is part of character building, which has been re-emphasized in general education recently and integrated into the curriculum. ministerial regulation no. 23/2006 on competence standard of school graduates is closely related to character building. through this regulation the national education and culture minister urged all schools to build their students’ character more seriously. school graduates should show selfconfidence, adhere to social norms, appreciate diversity in terms of religion, culture, race, and socio-economic group. in the past, character building in schools was introduced to students with little effort to integrate it into the whole curriculum. it is now expected that character building is integrated into each school subject and into co-curricular and extra-curricular activities. the school management should be involved in the planning, implementation, and control of character building programs. some aspects of the character that should be developed include independence, selfconfidence, tolerance, social sensitivity, democratic spirit, and responsibility as they are contained in government regulation no 17/2010 on education management (kementerian pendidikan nasional, 2010). school subjects like english are expected to integrate character building into their goals and processes. the indonesian national qualification framework (inqf/kkni) documents state that the affective domain, the major component in character building, should become the hub of the learning outcome wheel, whose parts consist of science, knowledge, know-how, skills, and, at the center, affection (ditjen dikti, 2011: 11). in general, the affective domain includes processes that enable the learner to act as a citizen who loves his/her country and supports world peace, who has high social sensitivity and concern, who appreciates a variety of regional cultures, points of view, beliefs, religions, and other people’s opinions, and who respects law enforcement and has the spirit to prioritize the interests of the nation and society (kementerian pendidikan nasional, 2010: 5). english teachers are challenged to integrate these affective factors into english classes. consequently, english learning is now closely associated with learning to be social beings who are self-fulfilled or self-actualized; in other words, it cannot be separated from character building. the ctl/paikem approach, with which school teachers are familiar, could not be effectively implemented without taking affective factors into serious consideration. the new school curriculum (kurikulum 2013) also gives these affective factors high priority. the syllabus of any subject developed from the curriculum always starts with affective factor or attitude-related core competence and basic competence before it deals with other competence related to cognitive and psychomotor domains (hasan, 2013: 12-30). the following is an example that shows the affective domain is essential in educating young learners. although the example is not specifically connected to english teaching, here we may realize the essential role and broad scope of the affective domain in education. the attitude components in sanata dharma education to respond to the nationwide move of character building, the university where the writer teaches (sanata dharma university/usd), has been developing a model of character building. the model is in line with the 2010-2014 strategic plan of the national education ministry and is based on the ignatian pedagogy (kuntoro adi, et al, 2010: 6-19). referring to the ministry’s strategic plan, two educational viewpoints related to character vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 37 building that usd has tried to develop involve the empowerment of the human being as a whole and learning for life which centers on the learner. the strategic plan of the national education ministry mentions four aspects of the idealized intelligent indonesian: spiritually intelligent, emotionally and socially intelligent, intellectually intelligent, and kinesthetically intelligent. while the goals above are recognized by usd, the model of character building that usd has tried to develop is based on the ignatian spirituality. the implementation of the spirituality is called ignatian pedagogy, which can be stated as the following (summarized from kuntoro adi, et al, 2010: 2829): a. the teacher serves his/her students and helps them individually develop their internal ability. b. the students should be active in their studies in which discovery and creativity are given priority. c. the relationship between the teacher and his/her students is personal and continuing. d. the syllabus and teaching-learning activities should be in accordance with the students’ ability levels, and the material contents are logically sequenced. e. previews and reviews are regularly done for better mastery and assimilation, and deeper viewpoints. this implementation of ignatian pedagogy surely contains some major attitude components, such as helping students develop their internal ability, being active so that discovery and creativity emerge, personal continuing relationship between the teacher and students, and adapting contents to the students’ ability levels, which implies the teacher’s recognition of learners’ differences. character building developed at usd makes use of the three major components of its educational process: curricular, cocurricular, and extra-curricular activities. through these activities students are expected to have whole, strong character in the three domains: competence, conscience, and compassion. the second and third domains contain attitude or affective-domain components, such as having a passion for social justice (conscience) and responding to those who are in greatest need (compassion) (p3mp-lpm universitas sanata dharma, 2012: 38-39). realizing the importance and the broad scope of character building shown in the example above, english teachers, though in a narrower scope, are challenged to integrate the affective domain into their teaching activities. they may be overwhelmed by this, but it is expected that they can do it both naturally and by design. english teaching-learning process that builds character reading the following objectives, a high school english teacher who is preparing a conversation session may find it difficult to find strategies and activities to reach them: be thankful for the opportunity to learn english as an international lingua franca, realized in learning enthusiasm (1.1) and show honesty, discipline, self-confidence and responsibility in communicating with the teacher & classmates (2.2) (taken from kurikulum 2013). before finding strategies and activities, he/she should elaborate these general objectives (called basic competence) into some measurable learning indicators, such as showing honesty in expressing apology orally to another person in class and/or in a group, showing high discipline in expressing their self-identity orally in class and/or in a group, and showing high selfconfidence in expressing disagreement orally in class and/or in a group. based on these learning indicators, the teacher then has to plan appropriate strategies and activities (and later assessment types). how can the teacher make his/her students honest, highly disciplined, and selfconfident? this will depend on the teacher’s experiences, teaching-learning process knowledge and skills, and individual preference. in other words, different teachers may have different strategies and activities although they have the same goals and objectives. there may be no standard way to reach the same goals and objectives. one vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 38 teacher suggests a strict drilling practice should be given first before giving a freer communicative activity in order to develop the students’ discipline in doing activities in class and in using some fixed expressions in speaking english. another teacher may emphasize the value of self-confidence by asking the students to communicate in groups to practice making apology. english teachers seem to have different beliefs, approaches, strategies, and techniques. will this make the teaching-learning process unsystematic and even messy when the affective domain-related goals and objectives are involved? the writer believes that it will not. some general guidelines for english teachers are needed in order to make the teaching-learning process more systematic, better planned, and of course filled with enthusiasm. the writer agrees that each teaching-learning process is personal, contextual, and inherently different, yet it is also systematic and its major components can be identified. the following are some guidelines that may enable us to integrate the affective domain and english skills. (note that not all familiar, obvious suggestions like ‘begin with goals and objectives’ are mentioned). ● have theoretical viewpoints that become our basic teaching-learning process orientation we follow what has been suggested by language teaching experts for many years. a syllabus or lesson plan should have a basic theoretical orientation or approach. dubin and olshtain suggest that when we design a course we should have theoretical viewpoints. in their design model, which was specifically written for language teaching and learning, any language learning curriculum has general goals that reflect three viewpoints: a viewpoint on the nature of language, a viewpoint on the nature of language learning, and an educational-cultural viewpoint (1986, p. 34). those viewpoints as part of general goals in a design process are essential in any language learning design. in regard to a language viewpoint, dubin and olshtain subscribe to communicative language teaching theory and name the viewpoint as sociocultural views on the nature of language (1986: 69-70). the most important concept developed here is communicative competence. knowing a language includes not only the form of the language, but also knowledge of what to say, when, how, where, and to whom. in regard to a language learning viewpoint, we may subscribe to brown’s learning principles. the principles are divided into three major ones: the cognitive principles, the affective principles, and the linguistic principles. these three major principles will be the topic of the next guideline point. an educational-cultural viewpoint gives a context to a language learning curriculum. dubin and olshtain mention humanistic views of education for the development of communicative goals. such a curriculum emphasizes sharing of control, negotiation, and joint responsibility by learners. in this type of curriculum thinking, feelings, and action should be stressed. the main goal is to develop the whole person within a human society (mcneil as quoted by dubin and olshtain, 1986: 75). besides, the humanistic curriculum influences the emphasis on learner-centered pedagogy, which is in line with what has been suggested in recent documents published by the education and culture ministry. in the three viewpoints above the affective domain plays a big role. teaching a language cannot be separated from character building. although the following statement sounds like jumping to conclusions, we may state this with confidence: a successful english teacher (who is usually aware of his/her version of theoretical viewpoints) develops his/her students’ character while the students are doing learning activities that he/she has arranged. ● use a second language learning principle to guide our decision to use an appropriate activity, technique, and assessment type whatever activities are used, an english teacher should be familiar with important learning principles that become the bases for his/her choice of activties, techniques, and assessment types. the writer chooses brown’s second language learning vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 39 principles (brown, 2001: 55-70) to guide an english teacher to make practical decisions with regard to techniques, activities, and assessment types. they are chosen because they are simple and many have attitude development contents. in the cognitive principles, brown uses terms, such as automaticity, meaningful learning, the anticipation of reward, and intrinsic motivation, for his first set of major learning principles. in the affective principles, language ego, self-confidence, risk taking, and the language-culture connection become the key terms. the last set of major principles – the linguistic principles – deal with native language effect, interlanguage, and communicative competence. the summary of each principle in these three sets of major second language learning principles can be seen in the appendix of this article. how can the teacher make use of a learning principle to decide an appropriate activity? in a speaking class, for example, the teacher uses communicative materials and activities in order to attain learning indicators that have been formulated. in the teachinglearning activities the teacher should give students opportunities to communicate, and their efforts to speak should be appreciated, not be punished. students are encouraged to produce and speak the target language. they are asked to tolerate a classmate having a problem with fluency, grammar, or pronunciation. they should be accustomed to hearing different dialects (accents), pronunciations, styles, and even mistakes. in other words, they are encouraged to respect one another. this is basically the second language learning principle identified by brown: learners should be encouraged to initiate communication and their risky attempts to communicate should be positively responded (brown, 2001: 56). the teacher should be aware that the teaching-learning process is based on an affective domainrelated learning principle, like the one above. ● select an activity, technique, and assessment type that enhance both english skills and the learner’s positive attitude development after knowing our own theoretical viewpoints and second language learning principles, we are expected to be able to make decisions at the operation level. the basic assumption taken in this article is that to achieve the goal of integrating english skills and the affective domain there is no single strategy, procedure, or method offered to the reader. if an english teacher is already familiar with constructivist education, contextual language learning, communicative language teaching and many other modern language teaching methods and approaches, hopefully he/she can wisely select appropriate activities and assessment types that enhance both english skills and the learner’s positive attitude development. another important point is that the teacher can still use a familiar (traditional or communicative) technique or activity, but, while planning, he/she is aware of a major language learning principle and tries to apply it in selecting an appropriate activity and assessment type. conclusion teaching is an art. it is often misunderstood by those who are not directly involved in this art. teaching english skills like speaking and writing is also an art. teaching language skills and intergrating the affective domain into it is surely an art too. it is not easy for english teachers to plan and teach a lesson that deals with inexact language use and fluid human character. asking an english teacher or a teacher of any subject to make a detailed plan of the lesson and teach according to a correct procedure is not what is intended here. what is offered here is asking the english teacher to be aware of important concepts and viewpoints that can be useful for him/her in integrating english skills and attitude-related objectives in a lesson. the design and procedure to do this are not the main concern because the teacher should first realize the importance of integrating character building into a lesson and know basic, theoretical concepts that will guide his/her instructional choices at the operation level. this is not a guideline that will be used to face demands from the local educational authorities who usually want detailed, administrative written documents. the assumption taken in this vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 40 article is that the teacher should know basic concepts and principles (e.g. second language learning principles) first. however, the writer admits that there are still some other basic concepts (e.g. elaboration of educationalcultural viewpoint) that have not been included here. to really be familiar with language learning concepts and principles, we could share our teaching experiences with other teachers in a workshop, conference, or perhaps just an informal meeting with colleagues. references brooks, j. g. and m.g. brooks. (1993). in search of understanding: the case for constructivist classrooms. alexandria, va: ascd. brown, h. d. (2001). teaching by principles: an interactive approach to language pedagogy. 2nd ed. new york: addison wesley longman, inc. ditjen dikti. (2011). “kebijakan ditjen pendidikan tinggi tentang kkni dan arah kurikulum lptk.” www. staff.uny.ac.id/…/dirjen%20dikti_... retrieved on october 13, 2012. dubin, f. and e. olshtain, (1986). course design. cambridge: cambridge university press. hasan, h.s. hamid. 2013. “informasi kurikulum 2013” www.upi.edu/.../informasi%20kurikulum%202013... retrieved on september 20, 2013. kementerian pendidikan nasional. (2010). panduan: pendidikan karakter di sekolah menengah pertama. goeroendeso.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/panduan-pendidikan-karakter-dismp.pdf. retrieved on july 21, 2012. ki-kd kurikulum 2013 bahasa inggris sma kelas x. https://docs.google.com/file/d/obx65qftfgfcze... retrieved on january 21, 2014. kuntoro adi, c, ig. aris dwiatmoko, minto istono, setya tri nugraha, and e. maryarsanto p. (2010). model pendidikan karakter. yogyakarta: universitas sanata dharma. p3mp-lpm universitas sanata dharma. (2012). model pembelajaran berbasis pedagogi ignasian. 2nd ed. yogyakarta: universitas sanata dharma. richards, j. c. and t.s. rodgers. (2001). approaches and methods in language teaching 2nded. cambridge: cambridge university press. appendix the second language learning principles according to h.d. brown (2001) are divided into three major ones: the cognitive principles, the affective principles, and the linguistic principles. the following is the writer’s summary from the author’s book, pp. 55-70: first, the cognitive principles consist of five principles: automaticity, meaningful learning, the anticipation of reward, intrinsic motivation, and strategic investment. in order to efficiently reach automaticity, the functional purposes of language should be the focal point. too much focus on analyzing language forms hinders automaticity a great deal. meaningful learning should be created by exploiting the learner’s existing knowledge, background, interests, and goals. this will lead toward his/her better long term retention. the anticipation of reward means that the learner is driven to act when/in anticipation of receiving praise, encouragement, supportive action, and other techniques of giving reward. expecting to be given reward, he/she is likely to learn more enthusiastically. the learner’s intrinsic motivation will emerge by making the learning process interesting, useful, and challenging, a principle that any teacher will agree with but that is hard to implement. the assumption in strategic investment is that each learner has his/her own personal battery of strategies for vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 41 comprehending and producing language. the learning process should recognize this and individual attention is needed. a variety of techniques is needed to ‘serve’ different strategies all learners have. second, the affective principles consist of four principles: language ego, self-confidence, risk taking, and the language-culture connection. in order to pay attention to learners’ language ego a supportive attitude on the part of the teacher is necessary. a learner may feel silly, humiliated, or unsure in face-to-face communication, and the teacher’s and classmates’ patience and empathy are needed to minimize these negative feelings. the learner’s self-confidence is needed in order to be successful in accomplishing a task. verbal and non-verbal assurances to learners are needed. easy to more difficult techniques also help the learner build a sense of accomplishment. risk taking is required in using language for meaningful purposes and, therefore, all learners should be encouraged to initiate communication. their risky attempts to communicate should be positively responded. the languageculture connection refers to the fact that learning a language cannot be separated from learning the culture of its speakers. cross-cultural understanding is, accordingly, very important for language learners. certain activities and materials related to language and culture should be included. third, the linguistic principles consist of the native language effect, interlanguage, and communicative competence. to reduce the interfering native language effects on production and comprehension of the target language, thinking directly in the target language is recommended. the use of translation should be minimized. a learner’s systematic interlanguage errors are indicators that innate language acquisition abilities are ‘alive and well’ and still developing. feedback from the teacher should encourage him/her to produce the target language, not to discourage him/her from speaking. the last linguistic principle refers to the conviction that all learning efforts should be directed towards the achievement of the learner’s communicative competence. language use, fluency, authentic language and contexts, and the learner’s need to apply what he/she has learnt to real world contexts are essential ways of achieving communicative goals. all the second language learning principles above are not meant to be exhaustive, especially related to the character building-related objectives, but they are sufficient for the initial attempt to give guidelines for the integration of english learning and character building implementation. llt journal 2014 pages 1 to 3 front.pdf llt journal 2014 fixed backup llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 19 politeness strategies applied by the characters of the great debaters movie miwita rosari sanata dharma university ariamiwitarosari@gmail.com abstract this research explores politeness strategies used by the characters in the great debaters movie. the data used in this research were collected from 166 pages of the great debaters movie transcription. the analysis is based on brown and levinson‘s politeness strategies and spolsky’s factors affecting someone’s politeness in speaking. the research results showed that the characters in the great debaters movie applied the types of politeness strategies, namely off-record, baldon-record, positive politeness, and negative politeness. moreover, the characters also revealed the factors affecting the characters’ politeness in speaking, namely language style, register and domain, and slang and solidarity. however, the characters did not show language and gender factor in their conversation since they were mostly engaged in the same topic, namely a debate competition. keywords: politeness strategies, character, the great debaters introduction in daily conversations, language reflects the context in which it is used. moreover, people will adapt their talk to suit the audience. people use language differently in formal and casual expressions. people in their relation to others need to preserve these kinds of expressions for themselves and people they interact with polite utterances. in social interaction, to be polite is very important in keeping the smoothness of the interaction. people need to see to whom they are speaking because some expressions may be considered rude. it is needed to identify the social values of a society in order to speak politely. the study of politeness strategy is basically the study of knowing the way people use a language while they are having interaction or communication. it gives the information on how to use a language and conduct smooth and flowing conversations. people who study other languages need to understand about other cultures because culture and language are inseparable. the writer focuses on a movie entitled the great debaters, an american movie which is based on a true story. it tells about the efforts of llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 20 an underdog debate team from wiley college whose members are “black” people that want to place their team on equal footing with “whites”. the writer chooses the great debaters movie because it serves a great deal of politeness phenomena among the characters in which writer seeks to analyze. the great debaters movie is an excellent source since it has various utterances which can be the main source and object to be analyzed. the writer focuses on the characters’ utterances in the forms of social behavior involving language. the writer is impressed by various cultures in the world, in particular indonesia and english culture in speaking politely. by considering the phenomena, the writer analyzes the politeness strategies used by the characters in the great debaters movie since it is interesting to reveal the different ways among the characters interaction by means of communication, especially in the use of politeness strategies and the factors affecting speaking politeness. as communication plays an important role in keeping the smoothness of an interaction, there is a need to raise second language (l2) learners’ consciousness in characteristically distinct features of two languages. one of the examples is the use of politeness strategies. indonesian and english society may learn the concept of politeness from each other that is referred to as mutual respect. for example, indonesian society can learn from english society about how one’s attitude in keeping the eye contact, proper body language or sincere smile when speaking to others. this research aims to answer two research questions: (1) which types of politeness strategies are used by the characters in the great debaters movie? and (2) what factors affect the characters’ politeness in speaking? the following briefly discuss the concepts of politeness, politeness strategies, and factors affecting someone’s politeness in speaking which used as the basic theory to answer the two research questions. theoretical ground 1. politeness being polite is not a matter of saying “please” and “thank you” (holmes, 1995, p. 296). a polite person makes others feel comfortable. being linguistically polite involves speaking to people appropriately in the light of their relationship to others. the basic concept adopted in this research is politeness developed by brown and levinson (1987). they assume that each participant is endowed with what they call face, which is developed into negative face and positive face. according to goffman (1967), face is the positive social value a person effectively claims for himself by the line others assume he has taken during a particular context. face, in a sense, is one’s situated identity but it is not a specific identity (e.g., sophisticated). meanwhile, brown and levinson (1987) define face as the public selfimage that every member wants to llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 21 claim for himself. one's negative face includes claims to freedom of an action and freedom from imposition. one’s positive face involves the needs for social approval or the want to be considered desirable by at least some others. brown and levinson (1987) define politeness as rational behavior aiming at the strategic softening of face threatening acts. a face threatening act is a threat to a person’s face. face threatening acts, according to brown and levinson (1987) are acts that by their nature run contrary to the face wants of the intended hearer and/or of the speaker. it is in line with yule (1996, p. 61) that ftas are acts which threatens the positive or negative face of the hearer. the speaker, in some ways, threatens the self-image of the hearer. the acts are usually done verbally. for example, if someone asks to borrow money, he is potentially imposing on the person’s and so threatening his negative face. conversely, if someone’s apologize to other, he will be threatening his positive face since he is acknowledging having imposed on the person and asking for acceptance of this. 2. politeness strategies since some acts are threatening to face and require softening, language users try to develop politeness strategies to reduce face loss. brown and levinson (1987, p. 92) categorize politeness into four (4) politeness strategies; off record, bald-on record, positive, and negative politeness. each strategy will be presented as follows. off record according to brown and levinson (1987), off-record or indirect strategy is done to let speakers figure out the unclear communicative intention. it indicates if the speakers want to avoid their responsibility of doing face threatening acts, they can employ the strategy and let the hearers interpret the intended message. off-record simply means the statement when one’s saying is not directly addressed to the other or ‘hints’. “uh, i forgot my pen”, means that the speaker wants the intended hearer to lend a pen. the meaning of the statement is not directly stated by the speaker and therefore the addressee needs to interpret the meaning. the following are the sub strategies of off record politeness strategy. 1) strategy 1: give hints 2) strategy 2: give association clues 3) strategy 3: presuppose 4) strategy 4: understate 5) strategy 5: overstate 6) strategy 6: use tautologies 7) strategy 7: use contradictions 8) strategy 8: be ironic 9) strategy 9: use metaphors 10) strategy 10: use rhetorical questions 11) strategy 11: be ambiguous 12) strategy 12: be vague 13) strategy 13: over-generalize 14) strategy 14: displace hearer 15) strategy 15: be incomplete, use ellipsis llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 22 bald-on record brown and levinson (1987) state that bald-on record is used in different situations since speakers can have different motives in doing the face threatening acts. this strategy is ranked as the most direct strategy. it refers to the expression of an act in the most direct way. it requires no effort from the speakers to reduce the impact of the ftas. bald-on-record is likely to shock people to be addressed, embarrass them, or make them feel a bit uncomfortable. “come in” or “do sit down” are the examples of bald onrecord. moreover, the speaker can ask the hearer to do something, for example, “pass me the ketchup!”. the strategy can shock the hearer, therefore this type of strategy is commonly found in people who know each other very well and are very comfortable in their environment, such as close friends and family members. the following are the sub strategies of bald-on record politeness strategy. 1) strategy 1: great urgency or desperation 2) strategy 2: speaking as if great efficiency is necessary in attentiongetters 3) strategy 3: task-oriented or paradigmatic form of instruction 4) strategy 4: sympathetic advice or warning 5) strategy 5: granting permission for something 6) strategy 6: invitations 7) strategy 7: welcoming 8) strategy 8: greetings and farewells positive politeness positive politeness confirms that the relationship of both speakers and hearers are friendly and expressing group reciprocity to minimize the distance among them. brown and levinson (1987) state that this strategy attempts to attend the hearers’ interests, needs, wants, and goods. positive politeness addresses the positive face wants of the interactants or desire of connection. in brown and levinson’s view, positive politeness is assumed to be less polite than negative politeness. the important function of positive politeness is to share some degrees of familiarity with the hearer. it can be considered as the code or language of intimacy. this can be accomplished in various ways, for example, the use of joking and familiar terms of address. “honey”, “luv”, and “sister” are the examples of the use familiar terms of address used in group identity makers. the following are the sub strategies of positive politeness strategy. 1) strategy 1: notice, attend to a hearer (her or his interests, wants, needs, goods) 2) strategy 2: exaggerate (interest, approval, sympathy with hearer) 3) strategy 3: intensify interest to a hearer; making good story, draw the hearer as a participant into the conversation. 4) strategy 4: (use in-group identity markers); address form, in-group language or dialect, jargon or slang, contraction and ellipsis. llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 23 5) strategy 5: seek agreement; repetition – agreement may also be stressed by repeating part or all of what the preceding speaker has said 6) strategy 6: (avoid disagreement); token agreement, pseudo-agreement, white lies, hedging opinions. 7) strategy 7: presuppose/ raise/ assert common ground; gossip, small talk, point-of-view operations, presupposition manipulations. 8) strategy 8: joke 9) strategy 9: assert or presuppose speaker’s knowledge of and concern for hearer’s wants. 10) strategy 10: offer, promise 11) strategy 11: be optimistic 12) strategy 12: include both a speaker and a hearer in the activity 13) strategy 13: give (or ask for) reasons 14) strategy 14: assume or assert reciprocity 15) strategy 15: give gifts to a hearer (goods, sympathy, understanding, cooperation) negative politeness on the other hand, brown and levinson (1987, p. 131) define negative politeness as “the heart of respect behavior” and it is “more specific and focused.” the function of this strategy is to minimize imposition on the hearers. it aims at the realization of solidarity. therefore, it automatically assumes that there might be some social distances or awkwardness in the situation. using hedges or questions is one of the examples of negative politeness strategy. “i just want to ask you if i could use your pen?” is the example of minimizing imposition. the following are the sub strategies of negative politeness strategy. 1) strategy 1: be conventionally indirect 2) strategy 2: do not assume a hearer is able or willing to comply to any acts imposed on him. 3) strategy 3: be pessimistic about ability or willingness of a hearer to comply to any acts imposed on him. 4) strategy 4: minimize the imposition 5) strategy 5: give deference. 6) strategy 6: apologize; admit the impingement, indicate reluctance, give overwhelming reasons, beg forgiveness. 7) strategy 7: impersonalize a speaker and a hearer; per-formatives, impersonal verbs, address terms as ‘you’ avoidance. 8) strategy 8: state the fta as a general rule 9) strategy 9: nominalize to distance the actor and add formality 10) strategy 10: go on record as incurring a debt, or as not indebting a hearer. 3. factors affecting someone’s politeness spolsky (1998) identifies four factors which affect people’s politeness. there are language styles, registers and domains, slang and solidarity, and language and gender. those four factors determine the use of language concerning politeness between speakers and hearers. the llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 24 explanation for each factor is described as follows. language styles a speaker is usually aware of the hearer. people can choose to speak formally or informally according to the person they are addressing. according to spolsky (1998), people can consciously choose how they try to use language by applying formal or informal expressions to people that they address. further, he states that when one speaks formally, he is engaged in favored and educated norms of their society because he is able to use his language well. thus, spolsky (1998) also states the importance of language style is to represent the speaker’s sense of identity. registers and domains spolsky (1998) emphasizes that people with particular occupation may create terms for new concepts. people who work at mining environment will be different from people who work at geology in terms of language. each group can develop terms which may not be familiar for people who do not keep up with the other environment. thus, a register is a variety of language involving roles and statuses, which is used in certain situations. social situation is also a key to determine politeness in speaking. spolsky (1998) states that there is a typical domain which defines the way people speak in terms of social situation. further, he states that domains are named usually for a place or an activity in it. two common domains are home and work. slang and solidarity spolsky (1998) mentions that slang is used as special kinds of intimate or in-group speech. slang has social functions as a sign of identity membership and solidarity among people who use it. spolsky (1998), further, explains that solidarity has a major impact on language. people tend to show group solidarity to others by applying the same language use, such as accent or word choice. the importance of language in establishing social identity is also shown in the case of slang. slang is a kind of jargon marked by its rejection of formal rules and its marked use to claim solidarity. slang regularly transgresses other social norms, making free use of taboo expressions. the use words like ‘fuck’ and ‘shit’ in public media has become a sign of revolt, depending on one’s point of view. language and gender spolsky (1998) states that both men and women share differences in vocabulary. as for children, they tend to pick women’s and men’s talk as social stereotypes. they assume women’s talk has something to do with home and domestic activities, whereas men’s talk is associated with the outside world and economic activities. method llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 25 the writer conducted this research which was categorized as qualitative research. frankel and wallen (2006) state that qualitative research is a study which investigates the quality of relationship, activities, situations, and materials. besides, the data collected are in the forms of descriptive rather than numerical or statistical data. therefore, this study do not deal with any numerical data. it refers to sutopo’s theory that in qualitative research, the data collected are usually in the forms of words, sentences or pictures in which the meaning is more significant than number (2002, p. 35). in conducting qualitative research, there are several methods that can be applied. some of them are content analysis, case study, and discourse analysis. the writer used discourse analysis as the method in accomplishing this research. taylor (2001) loosely defines discourse analysis as “the close study of language in use”. primarily, potter and wetherell (2001) state discourse analysis espouse the principle that people construct versions of their social world through the instrumentality and functionality of language. discourse analysis is more concerned with the analysis of texts and/or utterances within specific socio-cultural context and indicates a method of data analysis that can tell researchers about the discursive construction of a phenomenon (willig, 2008). specifically, this method focuses on a power, domination and construction, and reproduction of power in texts and conversations, language in social contexts, and interactions (cohen, manion, & morrison, 2011). the use of discourse analysis for this research was due to the focus of this study which was analyzing the types of politeness strategies and the factors affecting someone in speaking politeness. since this study dealt with language use in social interactions, discourse analysis was considered as the most appropriate method for this study. having analyzed the transcription, the writer categorized the characters’ utterances into four potential types of politeness strategies proposed by brown and levinson (1987). each utterance in the movie’s script was put into each category to help the writer in analyzing the data. after categorizing the characters’ utterances, the writer identified each utterance to find the factors affecting the characters’ politeness in speaking. the writer employed the theory proposed by spolsky (1998) related to politeness factors in speaking. then, the writer provided explanations on each character’s utterances presented as the examples and associated the findings. findings and discussion 1. politeness strategies used in the great debaters movie since some acts are threatening to face and require softening, language users try to develop politeness strategies to reduce face llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 26 loss. brown and levinson (1987) categorize politeness into four types that sum up human politeness behavior: off-record, bald-on-record, positive politeness, and negative politeness. in the discussion below, the writer found that the six characters of the great debaters movie revealed the four types of politeness strategies proposed by brown and levinson (1987). the following analyses of the four types of politeness strategies were arranged based on the frequency of occurrence. positive politeness the positive politeness strategy was the most dominant strategy found in the movie. the characters in the great debaters movie revealed the subtypes of positive politeness strategy, i.e. including both a speaker and a hearer in the activity, being optimistic, noticing hearer’s needs and wants, seeking agreement, using in-group identity markers, promising, asking for reasons, presupposing speaker’s knowledge, exaggerating, and drawing hearer as the participant into the conversation. the results and discussion of positive politeness strategy were as follows. dialogue 1 henry : what's going on? james : we're gonna go get mr. tolson and samantha, head back to the campus, and have a pep rally. (j/ pp/01:05:23,499) samantha decided to sleep in henry’s house. in the next morning, james and the school band came to henry’s house. suddenly, james knocked the door. he asked henry to get ready and go with him. henry and samantha were very shocked. the conversation above showed that james revealed positive politeness strategy, i.e. including both a speaker and a hearer in the activity. in this case, james used the word we which meant he included henry, the hearer, as a participant in his utterance. brown and levinson (1987) assert a speaker is done this strategy by using we form when he or she really means you or me to address a hearer. this subtype of positive politeness strategy had the higher frequency than the others subtypes. dialogue 2 mr. farmer : is he involved in this? mr. tolson : of course not, james. (t/ pp/01:00:14,624) the conversation above showed that mr. tolson depicted positive politeness strategy, i.e. being optimistic. mr. tolson was very optimistic that he was not with james at that night. the word of course showed sincerity hedge. he was not with james. dialogue 3 mr. tolson : you smell very good, mr. farmer. james : thank you, sir. mr. tolson : you're very welcome. (t/pp/00:10:35,781) the conversation above showed that mr. tolson revealed positive llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 27 politeness strategy, i.e. giving compliment. in this case, mr. tolson gave a compliment to james because he smelt very good by saying “you smell very good, mr. farmer.” brown and levinson (1987) clarify such a compliment as a sign of showing attention to the hearer’s needs and wants. in other words, the compliment supported what james wanted to hear. it is in line with wardaugh (2006, p. 277) that positive politeness leads to achieve solidarity through offers of friendship or the use of compliments. this strategy is commonly used by people who have already known each other fairly well like members of the same group or community. dialogue 4 james : tolson's tough, isn't he? samantha : he sure is. (j/pp/00:15:43,822) the conversation above showed that james depicted positive politeness, i.e. seeking for an agreement. james thought mr. tolson was a tough man. he used the question tag “is’nt he” with the question mark (?). he wanted samantha to agree with him. the answer was either yes or no. in this case, samantha agreed with him by answering “he sure is”. as stated in chapter ii, brown and levinson (1987) state that another way to save positive face of a hearer is to seek ways in which it is possible to agree with him or her. bald-on record the characters in the great debaters movie revealed bald-on record politeness strategy. the subtypes of bald-on record politeness strategies used by the characters were task-oriented, great urgency, attention-getters, and greetings. the results and discussion of bald-on record politeness strategy were below as follows. dialogue 5 mr. tolson : i want you to come by my house tonight, 7:30. corner of june and campus. henry :why would i do that? (t/bor 00:09:06,225) the conversation above showed that mr. tolson revealed bald-onrecord politeness strategy, i.e. the use of task-oriented utterance. in this case, mr. tolson directly asked henry to come by his house at 7.30. he gave henry a task to fulfil. it is in line with brown and levinson (1987) that this strategy is used to give a task to a hearer in order to get the desire results. this subtype was the most dominant subtype revealed by the characters in the movie. dialogue 6 henry : it's the school band,and they're outside. samantha : what? jesus! (s/bor/01:05:11,053) the conversation above showed that samantha applied bald-onrecord politeness strategy, i.e. maximizing efficiency in an urgent situation (see appendix a, p. 97, item 106). bald-on record politeness strategy is applied because samantha was shocked seeing what happened at llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 28 that time. she used the words “what” and “jesus” with raising intonation. it showed that she was in an urgent situation. dialogue 7 mr. tolson : excuse me. we're waiting for you, mr. farmer. james : i'm going, sir. mr. tolson : thank you, mr. farmer. (t/bor/00:10:30,710) the conversation above showed that mr. tolson revealed bald-on record politeness strategy, i.e. attention getters. mr. tolson asked james to move quickly directly. however, the sentence “excuse me” was used to soften the request. brown and levinson (1987) assert that bald-on record strategy is employed as an attempt to minimize the efficiency of speaking. this subtype is trying to preserve face (instead of threatening it) which shows solidarity and respect to their communicative partners. dialogue 8 james : good evening, mr. tolson. mr. tolson : evening. (j/bor/00:10:28,574) the dialogue above showed james applied bald-on record politeness strategy, i.e. greeting. in this case, james greeted mr. tolson to show his respect and to apologize for coming late. the word good evening is used to greet someone in the evening. it is in line with brown and levinson (1987) that this strategy is used when a speaker welcomes a hearer to show his or her friendliness or politeness. off record the characters of the great debaters movie revealed the subtype of off record politeness strategy, i.e. being incomplete, using metaphors, and using rhetorical questions. the results and discussion of off record politeness strategy were as follows. dialogue 9 samantha : most of the new deal goes to children, anyway, and to the handicapped, and to old people- mr. tolson : is that fact, or conjecture? (s/or/00:12:56,755) the dialogue above showed that samantha depicted off-record politeness strategy, i.e. being incomplete. samantha’s utterance was incomplete. it left the implication of hanging in the air. she could not finish her utterance because mr. tolson interrupted her so she seemed confused about it. brown and levinson (1987) state that a speaker does not purposefully finish his or her utterance. dialogue 10 james : i don't know. i never really noticed. mr. farmer : because extracurricular activities like the debate team are fine, but you must not take your eye off the ball, son. (f/or/00:19:37,322) the conversation above showed that mr. farmer applied off-record politeness strategy, i.e. using metaphor. in this case, mr. farmer gave advice to his son, james, by using metaphor. he made you must not take your eyes off the ball. he llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 29 used the metaphor which had the same meaning as focus on something. he made james interpreted the meaning by himself. it is in line with brown and levinson (1987) that assert a speaker uses metaphor and makes a hearer interprets his or her intended meaning by him or herself. dialogue 11 james : do you hear yourself? you sound like a kid! henry : well, you are a kid! (j/or/01:38:45,799) the conversation above showed that james used positive politeness strategy, i.e. using rhetorical questions. james, samantha, and henry fought about gandhi for debate competition. james was angry. he said do you hear yourself? you sound like a kid!. he asked using rhetorical question with no intention of obtaining an answer. based on brown and levinson (1987, p. 211), off-record or indirect strategy is done to let speakers figure out the unclear communication intention. hence, the speakers could employ the strategy and let the hearers interpret the intention of the message to avoid the responsibility of doing ftas. negative politeness the negative politeness strategy was the less dominant strategy applied by the characters in the great debaters movie. the characters revealed subtypes of negative politeness strategy, i.e. being pessimistic, being conventionally indirect, addressing terms as ‘you’ avoidance, and apologizing. the results and discussion of negative politeness strategy were as follows. dialogue 12 james : mm-hmm. i guess i better go get me some punch. henry : here, you can have mine if you want. (j/np/00:30:32,644) the dialogue above showed that james revealed off-record politeness strategy, i.e. being pessimistic. he made to express his doubt in making decision. he seemed confuse in making the reason. james made the utterance with low intonation. he directly expressed his pessimism to continue his activity before leaving her along with henry. it is in line with brown and levinson (1987) that state this subtypes will give a compensation to a hearer’s negative face by explicitly expressing doubt about the conditions of the appropriateness of a speaker’s speech act obtain. dialogue 13 james : can everybody shut up and go to bed? henry : james, come on, wake up. (j/np/01:41:43,944) the dialogue above showed that james applied negative politeness strategy, i.e. being conventionally indirect. this strategy is conducted by using phrases and sentences that have contextually unambiguous meanings that are different from the literal meaning (brown & levinson, 1987). here, james asked henry to shut up and go to bed for instance. llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 30 to request henry to shut up and go to bed, james used the words “can you shut up and go to bed?”. dialogue 14 henry : mr. tolson, it was a rough night. mr. tolson : yes, it was, mr. lowe, for all of us. (t/np/01:28:34,355) the conversation above showed that mr. tolson revealed negative politeness strategy, i.e. the use of indirect address terms as ‘you’ avoidance. mr. tolson softened his utterance by using “you” avoidance. he mentioned mr. lowe rather than you. it supports brown and levinson’s (1987) statement that say another way of indicating that a speaker does not want to impinge on a hearer is to phrase the fta as if the agents were other than the speaker or not the speaker alone at least and the hearer were other than the hearer or only inclusive of the hearer. dialogue 15 james : sorry i'm late. mr. farmer : you’re sorry? (j/np/00:37:57,488) the conversation above showed that james applied off-record politeness strategy, i.e. apologizing. he tried to beg forgiveness from his father for making his father worried that he came home late. he actually did not know his father was waiting for him. he apologized to his father in normal intonation. he wanted to respect him because he was his father. it was also to prevent conflict with his father after doing a mistake. it is in line with brown and levinson (1987) that a speaker can indicate his or her reluctance to impinge on a hearer’s negative face by apologizing for doing an fta. from the analysis of politeness strategies’ utterances, the writer found the types of politeness strategies revealed by the characters in the great debaters movie were off record politeness strategy, bald-on record politeness strategy, positive politeness strategy, and negative politeness strategy. 2. factors affecting the characters’ politeness in speaking language styles, registers and domains, slang and solidarity, and language and gender are factors that affect people in speaking politeness (spolsky, 1998). in this research, the writer found the factors affecting the characters’ politeness in speaking in the great debaters movie (see appendix b) were language and styles, registers and domains, and slang and solidarity. the followings are the discussion of each factor. language and styles the movie contained some formal and informal expressions in the characters’ utterances. spolsky (1998) states that people can consciously choose how they try to use language by applying formal or informal expressions to people that they address. further, spolsky (1988) states that one’s is likely to conform to the favored and educated norms of the society if the situation is more formal and he or she is giving more attention to the llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 31 language. simply put, language style refers to different degree of formality. the characters’ utterances in the movie contained formal and informal expressions. in a scene when james requested henry to shut up, he said, “can everybody shut up and go to bed?”. the word “can” here represents formality instead of saying, “shut up and go to bed”. the six characters in the movie employed formal language style in speaking. the formal language style is considered as negative politeness strategy based on the theory of brown and levinson (1987). registers and domains a register is a variety of language most likely to be used in a specific situation and with particular roles and statuses involved (spolsky, 1998). a register is marked by choices of vocabulary and of other aspects of styles. besides, domain is named usually for a place or an activity. spolsky (1998) states that register and domain belong to social situations which are also a key to determine politeness in speaking. the conversations or the activities of the characters in the movie mostly took place in the campus. the topic of the conversation was mostly related to debate competition. most of the time, the conversations took place in the classroom when mr. tolson was lecturing, explaining about debate. mr. tolson, james, henry, samantha, and burgees talked about debate or debate competition. their conversations would run such as “you know, there's never been a female on the debating team, ever” and “tell me the irony in the name bethlehem steel corporation” or “harvard ain't going to debate us, not little old wiley college in marshall, texas”. as a debate team, even outside of the campus, mr. tolson, james, henry, samantha, and burgees, would engage in the conversations with the same topic, i.e. debate. the domain in the the great debaters movie was mostly college. classroom, then, was the place. the role-relationship included a lecturer and students. debate was the common topic of the conversation. slang and solidarity slang is important in establishing a social identity. spolsky (1998) states that slang is used as special kinds of intimate or in-group speech. solidarity was represented by samantha when she gave james a compliment about his presence in the debate team. she gave a compliment by saying, “you're our best researcher, james. we could not do this without you.” it showed that she fully realized that james was giving a huge impact on their debate team even though he was only the researcher of the team. by choosing the form of language associated with a specific group, the characters were making a claim to be counted as a member of the same group. the characters in the great debaters movie engaged in the same topic which was related llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 32 to debate competition. their conversations were mostly related to debate competition. although mr. tolson was a professor and a coach, there was no power connection in their relationship. they were still engaged in the same topic and situation. the tendency to use positive politeness strategies, emphasizing closeness between speaker and hearer, can be seen as slang and solidarity. to sum up, it could be noticed that the types of politeness strategies and the factors affecting the characters' politeness were related. the characters of the great debaters movie were affected by three factors when they revealed the four types of politeness strategies. conclusions and suggestions the first research result showed that the types of politeness strategies used by the characters in the great debaters movie were off-record (indirect), bald-on-record (direct), positive politeness, and negative politeness. the second research result showed that the factors affecting the characters’ politeness in speaking were language and styles, registers and domains, and slang and solidarity. however, the characters did not show language and gender factor in their conversation because they were mostly engaged in the same topic which was about debate competition. the writer also gives suggestions for the following parties. first, for the english teachers, the writer hopes that the study will help teachers be more aware of the way they speak to others, especially when they teach in the classroom. they will be more prudent in selecting their words. teacher can use positive politeness strategy such as “can you clean the whiteboard, please?” in addition, this study will encourage teachers to assess their students’ proficiency in the sociolinguistic aspect, notably politeness. second, the writer hopes that the study will give some benefits to english language learners who study sociolinguistics and pragmatics. english language learners will understand the definition of politeness strategies and the factors affecting someone’s politeness in speaking as those are elaborated in this study. writer also hopes this study will help english language education learners apply their english proficiency appropriately in their teaching and learning practice. as a result, english language education learners will be able to speak english politely. third, the writer hopes the study will provide useful information related to politeness for its readers. hopefully, it will enrich their knowledge and understanding of politeness. readers will also understand the meaning of politeness itself, the politeness strategies, and the factors affecting people in speaking politely. therefore, readers are able to apply politeness behavior in speaking with others. fourth, for future researchers, the writer expects the study will be a good reference for future researchers llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 33 in conducting a research on pragmatics under the same topic. the study will also give valuable information related to speaking politeness. references brown, p., & levinson, s. c. (1987). politeness: some universals of language usage. cambridge: cambridge university press. cohen, l., manion, l., & morrison k. (2000). research methods in education (5 th ed.). london: routledge falmer. fraenkel, j. r., & wallen, n. e. (2006). how to design and evaluate research in education. boston: mcgraw-hill. holmes, j. (1995). women, men and politeness. london: longman. potter, j., & wetherell, m. (2001). unfolding discourse and social psychology. in m. wetherell, s. taylor, & s. j. yates (eds.), discourse theory and practice: a reader (pp. 198-209). london: sage publications spolsky, b. (1998). sociolinguistics. oxford: oxford university press. sutopo, h. b. (2002). metodologi penelitian kualitatif. surakarta: sebelas maret university press. taylor, s. (2001). locating and conducting discourse analytic research. in m. wetherell, s. taylor, & s. j. yates (eds.), discourse as a data: a guide for analysis (pp. 5-48). london: sage publications. willig, c. (2008). introducing qualitative research in psychology. berkshire: mcgraw-hill. yule, g. (1996). pragmatics. oxford: oxford university press. 11102150559lltjournalfrontpagesapr2016(10nov8pmagain) 2 llt j april 2016 articles two columns llt journal submission guidelines apr 2016 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 359-363 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 359 book review: online teaching of english as a foreign language in indonesia: lessons from covid-19 pandemic title : online teaching of english as a foreign language in indonesia: lessons from covid-19 pandemic isbn : 978-623-02-2456-0 author : didi suherdi publisher : deepublish page : 101 pages firima zona tanjung universitas borneo tarakan, indonesia correspondence: english_zone@borneo.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.3975 received 17 december 2021; accepted 28 april 2022 abstract the last two years have forced educators and learners to be digitally-literate or at least adaptable to the digital technology use drastically because of covid -19 pandemic. this globally challenging condition was then captured and written by didi suherdi (2021) and published by deepublish. online teaching of english as a foreign language in indonesia: lessons from covid-19 pandemic consists of seven chapters. it aims to provide new theoretical and practical insights of english teaching through online mode in the midst covid-19 pandemic, specifically in indonesia. this book covers various topics related to the research studies and notions of utilizing ict as well as optimizing educators’ roles in the context of online teaching-learning process. additional topics are also presented to promote the use of alternative ict-based teaching models and teacher training in the online setting. distinctively, this book is recommended for academicians who are concerned about ict-use and eager to start an initial step to integrate and take advantage of ict for the resiliency of the education system in the post-pandemic era. keywords: english teaching, ict, online teaching-learning process, pandemic the pandemic which lasts for these two years has altered all life aspects, including the educational aspect. the conventional face-to-face education system is then considered ineffective due to the widespread threat of sars cov-2 virus. thus, the challenge for each educator from preschool up to higher education level is to provide quality teaching and ensure students get and engage in their learning activities actively. particularly, a number of efforts have been undertaken to enable the acceleration of technology-based teaching and learning processes. nevertheless, the discrepancy of sufficient facilities, also the students’ and https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.3975 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 359-363 360 teachers’ readiness to make use of technology, mainly ict for their classroom activities, is considered as the potential issue that requires an alternative solution. certainly, the solution can be in the forms of notions and research studies results as presented in the book titled “online teaching of english as a foreign language in indonesia: lessons from covid-19 pandemic”. the book author, didi suherdi (a professor of english language teaching at department of english education, faculty of language and literature education, universitas pendidikan indonesia, indonesia), is a productive academic scholar whose main interest consists of english teaching methodology, students’ learning engagement, classroom discourse analysis, teacher professional development and ict for english teaching. his productivity in writing is also confirmed by a number of published books and research articles in reputable journals. related to his works, “online teaching of english as a foreign language in indonesia: lessons from covid-19 pandemic” (2021) is the latest published book which focuses on his research studies and notions of significant factors contributing to the educational processes in the online mode. through this book, his interests are accumulated as the whole package of perspective to offer an effective online teaching and learning so quality education is attainable, especially during the pandemic and subsequently post-pandemic. the first chapter presents an introduction of online learning and its significance towards the education system in the midst of covid-19 pandemic. the further explanation is also stressed on the transformation of technology integration at school for creating a smart school system. it can be seen from the trend of learning management system (lms) and other tech-based facilities that enable the effectiveness of both teachers’ responsibility fulfillment as well as their professional development and students’ learning activities in academic matters. particularly, the implementation of this cloud service is considered as the second or third option in a “normal life” setting since the conventional school system (face-to-face system) is more attainable. however, in this pandemic situation and post-pandemic, this online learning and administration has to be taken as the main priority. thus, as a consequence, some following issues emerge and need special attention to promote the acceleration and faster adaptation of technology integration in the educational system. the author mentions that encouraging teacher open-mindedness and increasing their motivation to adapt with the new teaching setting that focuses on online system, encouraging students’ positive attitude and learning motivation, and the sufficient support system are the fundamental issues which require an attention and collaboration among all stakeholders including students’ parents so the successful learning is inevitable to achieve. the second chapter introduces the 21st century teaching english as a foreign language in indonesia (teflin). the chapter starts by focusing on the 2013 curriculum (kurikulum 2013 or commonly mentioned as k-13) and use of ict in teaching-learning process as the endeavour to equip students with 21st century competencies. in relation to teflin and 21st century communicative competence, the author explains that the use of text contributes significantly to students’ real communicative experiences in the meaningful daily context. this further leads to the brief elaboration about an approach named systemic functional linguistics (sfl) to teach english. moreover, sfl-based genre-based llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 359-363 361 approach (sfl-based gba) is considered as one of the alternative acceptable approaches for english teaching, especially in indonesia. not only emphasizing how gba can be incorporated in the teaching-learning process, the author also states that he develops a model of teaching called mp 3w+3s (3 compulsory + 3 optional), which has been a result of modification and improvement from the combination of process approach, genre-based approach, cognitive constructivism and social constructivism (suherdi, 2017). in implementing mp 3w+ 3s, ict use subsequently plays an important role since it enables students to engage actively in finding relevant resources and to help them learn the language. next, from the aforementioned standpoint, the author highlights the potential of ict misuse and the urgency of educating students to utilize ict safely, responsibly, and successfully. the third chapter still deals with the aforementioned chapters’ topic, namely online teaching. the author mentions some studies in relation to it use in certain projects and teachers’ belief on technology integration. based on his interpretation of those studies, a discussion about how it is defined and clarified still requires further investigation to provide an optimum educational service and create a map of teaching for students’ learning success. regarding the teaching and learning process using ict in indonesia, the author reviews the relevant studies from several scholars. afterwards, he explains his reason for conducting a research to address the gap in the previous research studies and presents his research results focusing on the readiness of the educational stakeholders (specifically teachers and tertiary academic professionals). particularly, the context of covid-19 pandemic is quite different compared to the previous ones. however, an attempt to gain comprehensive, valid, and trusted data is a must. thus, the author explains the instruments and procedure of data collection employing questionnaires and conducting focus group discussion (fgd) as well as interviews for his research method. in addition, he also displays some related figures to give the readers full access to the research data. as the findings are presented, the author highlights the findings by discussing them per point and inserting some suggestions to provide better education and endorse successful learning for students in the context of online teaching mode. briefly, the recent research study can be fruitful in the endeavour of mapping the situations experienced by educators in implementing online teaching. chapter four discusses a slight information about synergetic multilayered educational model for learning excellence in industry 4.0 and disruptive era (smemfle i 4.0 de) and the model of teaching synergetic multilayered english language teaching in industry 4.0 and disruptive era (smelt i 4.0 de). these two models are developed to promote achieving successful learning. however, it is worth mentioning that the author distinguishes the use of both models in which smemfle i 4.0 de is applicable for “any educational process” while smelt i 4.0 de focuses on english teaching, has four layers, and several stages of implementation (suherdi, 2021, p. 36). as the educators has to optimize their roles and address english learning needs of today’s students, the author provides four layers i.e., ict cultivation (ictc), self-regulated learning inculcation (srli), transversal competence development (tvcd), and curriculum subject matters (csm) in his teaching model (see also suherdi, 2019). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 359-363 362 the first layer helps the students to be more digitally literate and promotes language learning. the second layer deals with the students’ ability to regulate their own paths and develop autonomy in the language learning process. next, the author mentions the importance of transversal competences development to be included in the third layer as the supportive and intertwined part in completing the two aforementioned layers. lastly, in connection to the final layer, curriculum subject or in this case, english language teaching will get more positive impacts in its ways to equip students with 21st century skills in general and language skills in particular by its synergies with the three preceding layers. in the closure of chapter four, the author describes the syntax of smelt i 4.0 de stages, among which: foundational, building, and enforcement stages. chapter 5 presents a further discussion on various teachers’ roles in implementing smelt i 4.0 de. however, the author starts by explaining how important it is to synergize technology use, character education, learning autonomy and, of course, subject matter in order to create harmony in educational settings so it will implicate daily life activities. certainly, a serious effort to obtain the best outcome can be carried out through an optimization of teachers’ roles since they are the primary agents in the teaching and learning process. the author subsequently continues that there are three roles needed to be done by these primary agents. first and foremost, teachers have a role as designers. hence, it is the teachers who have the duties and responsibilities to design lessons by setting up the learning goals combined with the selection of appropriate technological devices and platforms as well as integrating character education to equip students with a complete package of hard and soft skills to face 21st century global challenges. second, teachers take a leading role as facilitators. in conjunction with this role, teachers have to apply various ways to scaffold their students’ learning through synchronous and asynchronous communication and enable them to be successful in english courses by taking the contexts into consideration. next, teachers take on a role as assessors in the teaching and learning process. however, this role does not automatically stress on the students’ language mastery only, yet the teachers also have to reflect upon their own teaching. sustainable action to assess the teaching is ultimately expected to help students learn the language and not make them score-oriented. a current issue in relation to language education research in the pandemic context is provided in chapter 6. the author starts by highlighting the challenges of carrying out research on online learning i.e. the shift of research nature from onsite to online settings, the limited viability to do observation, and feasibility of fluctuating students’ participation due to various factors resulting from the platforms or outside of the platforms. as a consequence, some customization needs to be conducted, namely reformulation of research focuses, data collection procedures including the effective and efficient instruments that can assure the quality of research study. in addition, research focuses are discussed from diverse paradigms included, among which: positivistic, interpretive, and critical paradigms. these paradigms, subsequently, are elaborated with examples of relevant research topics in the current condition, even in post-pandemic situations. the last chapter, appropriately titled ‘technology-based teacher training’, focusses on the importance of equipping teachers with tech-based training sustainably. particularly constructive are the author’s suggestions concerning the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 359-363 363 training curricula for teachers by taking their contexts (various class types, among which: highly-ict supported (his), fairly-ict supported (fis), and lowly-ict supported (lis)) into consideration. additionally, the author also proposes how to maximize teachers’ pedagogical practices using technology in the classroom to encourage students’ learning and achieve targeted goals through “well-planned, organized, monitored, assessed, and continually improved” stages in its implementation (suherdi, 2021, p. 76). moreover, the author emphasizes the importance of conducting a complete package of training which highlights synergy, sustainability, and effectiveness to empower teachers in several stages starting from pre-, in-, and on-service. briefly, pre-service teachers up to in-service teachers are expected to have a strong foundation on their pedagogy, professional, personality, and social competencies that enable them to create the quality of teaching and learning using ict-based learning and prepare the future generation’s readiness for global collaboration and success in life. overall, online teaching of english as a foreign language in indonesia: lessons from covid-19 pandemic is a thorough overview for online english teaching and applicable research methods in the pandemic settings. chapters 3 and 7 provide practical examples of research studies corresponding to the current situation amidst the pandemic for novice up to experienced professionals in the english education field. in addition, chapter 6 presents a practical guide in terms of research focus and data collection techniques for readers to conduct their research studies in different paradigms. moreover, chapters 1-7 discusses consistently the issues to english education, which is how to make students actively engaged in teaching and learning process as well as how to train teachers or teacher educators to become more familiar with ict use and employ ict-based teaching due to available facilities. for those who are new to english teaching models may find it difficult to gain a comprehensive explanation about some terms of layers presented in the book, among which ictc, tvcd, srli and csm. therefore, reading across texts about the model of teaching being explicated is useful to navigate readers. in conclusion, although this publication portrays the online teaching in indonesia in midst of covid-19 pandemic, it represents a valuable contribution to english teaching and learning process as well as language research studies in relation to technology use in both pandemic and post-pandemic settings for global pedagogical and research repertoire in general, the resiliency of language education system in particular. references suherdi, d. (2017). english teacher education for the 21st century indonesia: synergizing character and academic achievement (1st ed.). bandung: upi press. suherdi, d. (2019). teaching english in the industry 4 . 0 and disruption era : early lessons from the implementation of smelt i 4 . 0 de in a senior high lab school class. indonesian journal of applied linguistics, 9(1), 67–75. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v9i1.16418 suherdi, d. (2021). online teaching of english as a foreign language in indonesia: lessons from covid-19 pandemic. sleman: deepublish. llt journal vol. 15, no. 2 issn 1410-7201 15 translation for the readers: an analysis on the translation of sean covey’s the 7th habits of highly effective teens carla sih prabandari english language education study program sanata dharma university abstract a good translation should be parallel with the source text both in form and in meaning. yet, because of the uniqueness of each language, parallel in form is often difficult to achieve. this paper attempts to analyze the translation of sean covey’s the 7th habits of highly effective teens in terms of a sociolinguistic point of view and different types of equivalence. the analysis and discussion are based on some cases that i found. based on the examples, two conclusions can be drawn. first, from the sociolinguistic point of view, the use of saya instead of aku to refer to the author creates more distance with the readers. second, the translator seems to have worked hard to produce a dynamic equivalence of the source text, but in some cases the idiomatic expressions are not well translated. thus, the results of the translation do not sound as idiomatic as the source text. keywords: good translation, dynamic equivalence, idiomatic expressions. a. introduction an author writes to his or her readers: a translator, therefore, is also expected to translate for the readers. the kind of relationship that the author builds with the readers should be maintained in the translation. this paper tries to analyze the translation of sean covey’s the seven habits of highly effective teens into indonesian by drs. arvin saputra. although the translation can be considered as good in general, it seems to fail to maintain the sense of intimacy and equality that the author builds with his readers. in other words, to some extent, the target test (tt) fails to achieve the dynamic equivalence. 1. social dimension of language choice before attempting to analyze the tt further, let me first present a brief overview of sociolinguistic theory. every time we speak, we have to make choices of what variety of language we are supposed to use. holmes (1992) refers to four dimensions for analysis which are helpful in explaining one’s choice of language or language variety. the four social dimensions of language use are: 1. the social distance and solidarity scale: intimate to distance; high to low solidarity 2. the status scale: superior or high status to subordinate or low status 3. the formality scale: formal or high formality to informal or low formality 4. the two functional scales : a. referential : high information content to low information content b. affective : low affective content to high affective content. these four dimensions are also applicable in analyzing written language. a writer’s choice of language may affect the degree of intimacy with the readers. if a writer shows intimacy with the readers, it means that he or she has high solidarity 16 with them. in such a situation the writer will use an informal language. in this situation, the writer will lower his or her information content in order to show more affection. a writer may take the position which is superior, inferior or equal to the readers. if he or she posits himself or herself as superior to readers, automatically readers will be his or her subordinates. in the indonesian culture, when one uses saya to refer to himself, and anda to the second person, he creates distance with the person and he shows low solidarity with him. in this situation, the speaker will not show affective mood because it is a formal situation and he puts himself as equal to the second person. when one uses aku to refer to himself, and kamu to refer to the second person, the opposite happens. he shows intimacy and creates high solidarity with his partner and the situation is informal because they are in equal position. therefore the communication carries more affective content than information content. it will be different if the speaker refers to himself as saya and to the second person as kamu. in this context, the speaker’s position is superior, thus, he treats the second person as a subordinate. 2. types of equivalence within the issue of how tt and st are considered equivalent, translators are familiar with the definition of translation that says translation requires equivalence both in meaning and in style. as translators, we may question further how equivalence both in meaning and in style can be achieved. we are familiar with several types of equivalence, such as grammatical, textual and pragmatic equivalence. basically, equivalence can be viewed at word level or above word level. while equivalence above word level focuses on textuality, equivalence at word level emphasizes the form or grammaticality. a translator should also attempt to produce a grammatical equivalence. in translation, according to baker (1992), grammar often has the effect on forcing the translator to follow the source text as closely as possible. thus tt would contain as close grammatical structure as possible to the st. baker also discusses problems concerning equivalence at word level and offers some solutions. it includes grammatical differences between st and tt and how to overcome the gaps. besides knowing grammatical differences the language of the source text and that of the target text, a translator also needs to anticipate the problems that arise from socio-cultural difference between them. the problems that are related to socio-cultural aspect include the politeness formula. translation involves the ability to express the idea of st in a common and idiomatic expression in tt. a good translation should not only attempt to reproduce the message, but also retain the effect that st brings to the readers. unlike in formal equivalence, in which tt holds it adherence to the form of st, a dynamic equivalence attempts to preserve the values and effects of st and present them in tt (hatim and munday, 2004). according to nida (as cited in hatim and munday, 2004: 165), “translation of dynamic equivalence aims at complete naturalness of expressions and tries to relate the receptor to modes of behaviour relevant within the context of his own culture.” thus, adherence to form is secondary to adherence to meaning. translation equivalence, however, may fall in between the two poles of formal and dynamic equivalence. b. discussion in this section, focusing on the presented examples or quotations, we shall see whether the translation of sean translation for the readers: an analysis on the translation of sean covey’s .... llt journal vol. 15, no. 2 issn 1410-7201 17 covey’s the seven habits of highly effective teens can be considered equivalent or not in terms of the sociolinguistic aspects and the types of equivalence. the discussion will be subdivided into two parts. the first is the translation in relation to the social dimensions of language use, and the second focuses on the translation of idiomatic expressions. 1. the sociolinguistic aspects of translation below is the quotation from the source text. let’s observe the sociolinguistic aspects of the text. welcome! my name is sean and i wrote this book. i don’t know how you got it. maybe your mom gave it to you to shape you up. or maybe you bought it with your own money because the title caught your eyes. regardless of how it landed in your hands, i’m really glad it did. now, you just need to read it. reading the quotation above, we can feel that we have a direct contact with the author. he seems to be very close to the readers and he treats the readers as equal to him. according to the social dimensions of language use, the author wants to be intimate with the readers and show high solidarity to them. in terms of status, the author seems to be almost equal to the readers. he is neither higher now lower in status. using the first name only to refer to himself is an indicator that the author wants to show equality and high solidarity. although he is older (he calls himself a retired teenager) than the assumed audience that he addresses as you in his book, he does not want to show his superiority. we can feel that the author tries to be egalitarian. reading the book, we would feel like having a close friend who is willing to share his experiences to us so that we can learn from them. the book does not sound parental and teaching. rather, it is a kind of guide which is full of real examples from daily life of the author. as explicitly stated by the author, “this book is like a compass to help you…. in addition, unlike my dad’s book, which was written for old people (and can get really boring at times), this book is written especially for teens and is always interesting (p. 4).” i myself can really enjoy reading the book. the close relationship is also reflected through the informal language that the author uses. we can observe that the author uses contracted form, such as don’t and i’m instead of do not and i am, rather than full form which is more formal. now, let’s compare with the translation: selamat datang! nama saya sean dan sayalah yang menulis buku ini. saya tidak tahu bagaimana kamu mendapatkan buku ini. mungkin ibumu yang memberikannya kepadamu, untuk membuatmu lebih baik. atau mungkin kamu membelinya dengan uangmu sendiri karena judulnya menarik perhatianmu. terlepas dari bagaimana buku ini jatuh ke tanganmu, saya senang demikian terjadinya. sekarang kamu tinggal membacanya saja. comparing the translation with the original, we can sense a different atmosphere. the translation sounds more formal than the original it can be felt from the use of saya instead of aku to refer to the author himself. another effect of using saya is that it creates distance with the readers, thus, it sounds less intimate. besides, addressing the author as saya and the readers as kamu also presents power gap between them. the author becomes superior to the readers. they are not in equal position anymore. the more serious result is that it sounds parental and teaching, rather than sharing and helping. through out the book, the translator translates i into saya. all these prove that the 18 translator seems to be unaware of the social dimensions of language use. for this reason, i attempt to translate the subject i into aku instead of saya, as seen in the table below. source text: welcome! my name is sean and i wrote this book. i don’t know how you got it. saputra’s translation: selamat datang! nama saya sean dan sayalah yang menulis buku ini. saya tidak tahu bagaimana kamu mendapatkan buku ini. suggested translation: selamat datang! namaku sean dan akulah yang menulis buku ini. aku tidak tahu bagaimana kamu mendapatkan buku ini. in my opinion, my translation sounds more reader-friendly and intimate. more importantly, it sounds less parental and teaching. here is another case. in another cartoon, on page 22, there is a picture of a father who speaks to his daughter “ummm…. i need to go to work now, honey.” the translation is “ummm... aku perlu berangkat kerja, sayang.” the translator inaccurately translates i as aku. in our cultural point of view, it would be appropriate if it was translated into “hmmm… ayah harus segera berangkat, sayang.” using aku instead of ayah pragmatically fails to show the power relation between father and daughter. according to the status scale in the indonesian context, the relation between a father and his daughter should be described as superior to subordinate. when the translator uses aku, he unintentionally lowers the status scale of the father so that their relation becomes almost equal. 2. translation of idiomatic expressions the author provides cartoons, great quotes and a lot of stories about real teens’ life. some cartoons are with speech balloons, and some others are just illustrations for the relevant page. in most cartoons with stories, the translator also translates them into indonesian. however, there is one illustration (as seen in my 2-page translation) containing the expression i suck at school (p.13) which is not translated. the subtitle on page 11 which says what you see is what you get is translated into yang kamu dapatkan adalah apa yang kamu lihat. the translation is grammatically different, even semantically they are the other way around. it is better translated into kamu akan dapatkan seperti apa yang kamu lihat. the translation may not sound as idiomatic as the original, but it still conveys the same meaning. the idiomatic expression starting with the man in the mirror (p. 55) is an example of good translation. it is translated to mulailah dengan mawas diri, which sounds idiomatic. however, the idiomatic phrase personal bank account (p. 55) which is translated into rekening bank pribadi shows literal translation which is not relevant in indonesian cultural context. the suggested translation would be harta kekayaan pribadi which may have literal as well as idiomatic meaning. in the translation, it also happens that a word is not precisely translated. for example the word setback in the sentence “every time we have a setback, it’s an opportunity for us to turn into a thriumph (p 56).” the word setback is translated into kemunduran. it should be translated into kegagalan. certain idioms and proverbs may not have the equivalence in another language. thus, it is sometimes impossible to translate an idiom or a proverb in sl into another idiom or proverb with the same meaning in tl. an example of the failure is translating idiomatic expressions can be seen in the table below. translation for the readers: an analysis on the translation of sean covey’s .... llt journal vol. 15, no. 2 issn 1410-7201 19 source text: if you haven’t paid the price, you may be able to get by for a while, but eventually it’ll catch up to you. (p.24) saputra’s translation: kalau kamu belum membayar harganya, mungkin kamu bisa lolos untuk sementara waktu, tetapi akhirnya kamu akan terkejar.(p.47) suggested translation: kalau pekerjaanmu dipuji padahal itu bukan hasil dari kerja kerasmu, jangan bangga dulu, karena pada akhirnya orang akan tahu bahwa itu bukan kemampuanmu yang sebenarnya. the idiomatic expression in english has no equivalence in indonesian. the translator attempts to translate word for word and the result does not sound natural in indonesian. thus the translator fails to achive the dynamic equivalence. in the next case is taken from page 172: to become a genuine listener, you need to take off your shoes and stand in another’s, which is translated into untuk menjadi pendengar yang tulus, kamu perlu mengenyampingkan perasaanmu dan menyelami perasaan lawan bicaramu. this case shows that the idiomatic expression is not translated to another idiomatic expression in the tt, yet it succeeds in expressing the same meaning. c. conclusions there are still many other cases which show good and bad examples of translation which have not been discussed here. but in general, two conclusions can be drawn here. first, i can conclude that using saya instead of aku to refer to the author is one weakness of the translation of the 7th habits of highly effective teens. it affects the whole atmosphere of the book. the readers may not realize it if they only read the indonesian version. when they read the original, however, they will feel the difference. in my experience, reading the original is more enjoyable because i do not feel that i am being taught or preached. second, the idiomatic expressions are generally well translated although not all idiomatic expressions can be translated as idiomatic as the st. this is due to the limitation of the tl itself and, partly, due to the translator’s ability. some inappropriate translations do appear but they seem not very serious. thus, hopefully, it will not mislead the readers. in brief, although the translation can be considered as good in general, in some parts, it seems to fail to maintain the sense of intimacy and equality that the author builds with his readers. in other words, to some extent, the target test (tt) fails to achieve the dynamic equivalence. references: baker, m. 1992. in other words: a course book on translation. london: routledge. hatim, b and j. munday. 2004. translation: an advanced resource book. london: routledge. covey, s . 1998. the 7 habits of highly effective teens. new york: franklyn covey co. saputra, a (translator). 2001. 7 kebiasaan remaja yang sangat effektif. jakarta: binarupa aksara. 20 cover vol 15 no2_okt 12_rep isi llt_vol_15_no 2_oct 2012_save as llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 557 reconceptualizing english education of filipino esl learners from public secondary learning institutions in the philippines orlyn joyce dollente esquivel university of the philippines diliman, philippines correspondence: odesquivel@up.edu.ph doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i2.3281 received 10 april 2021; accepted 29 october 2021 abstract this study examined the results of a survey questionnaire on 300 grade 10 filipino esl (english as a second language) learners, randomly selected from two public secondary learning institutions in the philippines. the survey was used to investigate the students’ attitudes toward the english language and their own learning experiences. for the data collection, the survey questionnaire consists of 20 statements, in which every five statements belong to one particular category of the four english skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills). overall findings of the descriptive-quantitative analyses unveiled that most of the students elicited a high degree of negative attitudes toward the english language. this paper concludes with educational implications to help develop ‘positive attitudes’ in english language learning which are not only limited to filipino esl students, but also to other esl learners across the world. keywords: language attitudes, english as a second language (esl), english language education (ele), english in the philippines introduction english has definitely come of age as a universal language (crystal, 2003). with an extensive number of speakers using it as a first language, as a second language, and as a foreign language, english has become the preferred lingua franca in all means of communication. it is currently the undisputed language of science and technology, media, business, international trade, and transportation. as such, in many countries, the english language is being used as a medium of communication and instruction in formal education. in the philippines, it is a core subject that is being taught in all levels of both private and public learning institutions. whereas, to make the filipino students acquire the essential english skills and to be competitive in the globalized society. the need to develop the quality of education and to prepare the filipino students to a globally competitive level is the focus of the department of education and of the sectors of educators concerned. through the surveyed learning experiences and attitudes, this paper attempts to provide the present status of the english language learning among filipino esl learners in philippine public high schools. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 558 english language education in the philippines the philippines is internationally known as one of the prevalent englishspeaking nations. majority of its populace are using english as a second language (l2). the english language was introduced to filipinos as a medium of instruction in the formal educational system when the united states occupied the country. on april 7, 1990, u.s. president william mckinley dispensed a letter of instruction promulgating that english should be the language used in teaching at all levels of the public educational system in the philippines (nutley, 1954). it was believed that english could amalgamate the filipinos since there are various local languages in the country (martin, 1999). henceforth, the u.s. government sent american teachers (called thomasites) to establish the new public school system, and to teach the language to the filipinos. according to koo (2008), the status of education, as observed in 1914, displayed a low level of english language proficiency. the monroe commission on philippine education, led by paul monroe, looked on schools all throughout the philippines, interviewing a total of 32,000 pupils and 1,077 teachers. the commission enunciated that the filipino students are struggling with englishlanguage related subjects. in 1925, george counts (a member of the commission) wrote in the elementary school journal that “half of the children were outside the reach of schools. pupil performance was generally low in subjects that relied on english, although the achievement in math and science was at par with the average performance of american schoolchildren..." (p. 26). the commission, however, commended ways to subjugate the “foreign language handicap” (monroe, 1925). when the united states granted full independence to the filipinos in 1946, the philippine schools sustained to implement english as the medium of instruction. nevertheless, the government then permitted the use of the local language for experimental bilingual education. the revised philippine program (rpep) was introduced in 1957, it demanded the usage of local vernacular for the grade i and ii pupils alongside the national language (named pilipino in 1959). according to the bureau of public schools (1957), english was taught as a subject in grades i and ii and utilized as a medium of instruction starting in grade iii through the tertiary level. in 1974, the bilingual education policy (bep) was established through department order no. 25. the bep enacted the use of english in instructing mathematics and science subjects, and pilipino in the teaching of all other subjects both in elementary and secondary schools (pascasio 1975). in 1987, the philippine constitution was redrafted during the administration of president corazon aquino wherein section 6, article 16 of the 1987 constitution promulgated in conclusive terms that ‘the national language of the philippines is filipino (formerly pilipino). in fact, “filipino, unlike tagalog or pilipino, signaled the ‘non-exclusivist and multilingual character’ of the national language” (nolasco 2010, p. 171). the bep was modified to refer filipino as the language of literacy and scholarly discourse while english is indicated to as the international language and non-exclusive language of science and technology (bernardo, 2004). during the governance of president gloria macapagal-arroyo in 2003, an executive order established a policy to strengthen english as a second a language llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 559 in the education system. subsequently, the ability to use english is an important skill for global communication and global competitiveness, arroyo’s position led to fears that bilingual education caused the weakening of filipinos’ english skills and lessens the venture to work abroad. through fears of losing the english language, congressman gunigundo proposed a new bill in the philippine congress in 2008. house bill 3719 (multilingual education and literacy act of 2008) propositioned the use of mother tongues (not just english or filipino) as media of instruction in education. nolasco (as cited in mahboob & cruz, 2013) stated that “hb 3719 was filed, and at least two prominent studies had already been conducted on mother-tongue education, both showing overwhelmingly favorable results with students educated in their mother tongue getting higher scores in all of the subjects” (p. 6). these studies, plus gunigundo’s argument have stipulated a promising case for l1 learning (mahboob & cruz, 2013). mahboob & cruz (2013) also added that “hb 3719 assumes that if filipinos can learn literacy skills in their l1, then learning english and other skills demanded by global labor requirements will not be a problem” (p. 6). in the present time, the k to 12 program is the newly implemented curriculum of the philippines. one of the changes in basic education curriculum brought by the new program was the introduction of mother tongue-based multilingual education (mtb-mle), which required all schools throughout the country to administer mother tongues in early year’s education. status of english in the philippines according to the social weather stations, in 2008, (as cited in nolasco, 2008) emphasized that, “about three fourths of filipino adults (76%) said they could understand spoken english; another 75% said they could read english; three out of five (61%) said they could write english; close to half (46%) said they could speak english; about two fifths (38%) said they could think in english; while 8% said they were not competent in any way when it comes to the english language” (p. 2). victorino (2018) in his thesis entitled, department of education’s budget utilization: its impact on national achievement test results showed that the nsat mps in english of grade 10 students from 2009 to 2015 was 51.80%, which is far below the minimum threshold of 66%-85% level (interpreted as “moving towards mastery”) set by the department of education in the philippines. in spite of the reputed position that english has gained over a number of decades now (finegan, 2011; phillipson, 1992, 1996; yule, 2014), the language appears to be meeting some new confronts as more and more importance is placed on mother-tongue based and multilingual education, consequently, in the primary education (unesco, 2005a, 2005b, 2007, 2010). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 560 table 1. national secondary achievement test (nsat) scores in english of grade 10 students in the philippines for 2003 to 2012 school year (s.y.) mean percentage score (mps) 2003 to 2004 50.08% 2004 to 2005 51.33% 2005 to 2006 47.73% 2006 to 2007 51.78% 2007 to 2008 53.46% 2008 to 2009 52.90% 2009 to 2010 46.95% 2011 to 2012 51.80% source: department of education table 1 indicates the nsat scores (english area) of the grade 10 students from 2003 to 2012. according to the table, s.y. 2007 to 2008 shows the highest average at 53.46%. on the other hand, s.y. 2009 to 2010 has the lowest average with 46.95%. table 2. national secondary achievement test (nsat) score interpretation percentage descriptive equivalent 96% 100% mastered (m) 86% 95% closely approaching mastery (cam) 66% 85% moving towards mastery (mtm) 35% 65% average mastery (am) 16% 34% low mastery (lm) 5% 15% very low mastery (vlm) 0% 4% absolutely no mastery (anm) source: department of education table 2 reveals the test score interpretation for nsat. in the philippines, the standard benchmark set by the department of education in terms of achievement level is 75%, which is the national target. an mps below 75% describes that the examinees’ test performance does not belong to the upper average of the total number of test-takers (victorino, 2018). therefore, using the given score interpretation, the initial results of the nsat scores (english area) of the grade 10 students from 2003 to 2012 did not satisfy the required percentage or the national target. these data increase some concerns about the capability of filipino secondary students with the english language. language attitudes language attitudes are the perceptions or beliefs that people have about their own language variety or the languages or language varieties of others. according to agheyisi & fishman (1970), “the study of attitudes has long been a central concern of the behavioral sciences; and a large portion of sociological and social psychological literature is devoted to theoretical and methodological formulations about attitudes” (p. 137). the idea of ‘attitude’ has been defined in several ways and distinguished by almost every theorist or researcher who has concerned llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 561 himself with the studies of attitudes. obiols (as cited in melander & dalarna, 2003) stated that the language attitudes can “predict a given linguistics behavior: the choice of a particular language in multilingual communities, language loyalty, language prestige…” (p. 2). romaine (1980) indicated that the basic principle of attitude measurement underlies the dimensions along which individual attitudes are classified. nevertheless, romaine (1980) also pointed out “the translation of attitude from the subjective domain to something objectively measurable is a common problem in any research that involves social categorization and/or perceptual judgments” (p. 213). language attitudes cannot be directly characterized but can be observed through actual behaviors. for instance, how people treat speakers of other languages (positively or negatively) or with their willingness (or not) to learn another language. studies about attitudes can help classify how a people view the status of speakers of another language, and how they connect themselves with other varieties of languages. since attitudes cannot be directly described, the assessment of language attitudes requires asking questions of different aspects. relationship of language attitudes and language learning the important aims of education are to impart factual knowledge, skills, and topics about academic subjects, and to encourage students to have interests with these subjects. according to lamb (2004), in order to promote encouragement to the mastery of factual knowledge, skills, and topics toward the academic subjects, education systems should rely on authentic assessment and examinations. thus, certain researches have shown that people’s goals can be powerfully influenced by their attitudes toward a task (hosseini & pourmandnia, 2013). the same process goes along with the relationship between the students’ attitudes and their language learning. kara (as cited in abidin, alzwari & mohammadi, 2012) emphasized that “attitudes towards learning besides opinions and beliefs have an obvious influence on students’ behaviors and consequently on their performance” (p. 119). nonetheless, substantial studies have been brough about to assess the effect of attitudes on language learning. truitt (as cited in hosseini & pourmandnia, 2013) elicited in his study entitled, beliefs about language learning: a study of korean university students learning english that “the students’ beliefs and attitudes toward language learning may vary based on cultural background and previous experiences” (p.12). it is claimed that the students who own positive beliefs and opinions about language learning have a propensity to increase more positive attitudes toward language learning. diversely, the students who own negative beliefs and opinions concerning language learning may lead to class anxiety, low cognitive achievement, and negative attitudes (victori & lockhart, 1995). overall, the positive or negative attitudes do not progress unintentionally but have some reasons for their occurrence (hosseini & pourmandnia, 2013). socio-educational model the researcher adopted the socio-educational model (see figure 1), a model that illustrates a phenomenon in which, learners’ integrativeness, and learners’ attitudes toward the learning situation influence their level of motivation in learning a language. integrativeness is the learner’s interest with the target language community. on the other hand, attitudes on the language situation are llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 562 the learner’s perceptions toward the school environment, school materials, language teacher, and target language. the model was developed by howard earl gardner, an american developmental psychologist from scranton, pennsylvania, united states. figure 1. socio-educational model of second language acquisition (gardner, 2001) as a theoretical basis, the researcher used this model to address that attitudes play an important role in motivating or demotivating a student to acquire and learn the english language. research questions this research provides insights to teachers regarding the current attitudes and beliefs of filipino esl students (in secondary public schools) toward the english language in general, which may help them evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their teaching strategies and to aid the needs of the students. by providing the insights, this study stands as an overview to sectors of educators with the present status of english education and english language learning in philippine secondary public schools. the two specific questions are as follows: 1. what are the attitudes of filipino esl learners (in public high schools) toward the english language within the four language skills? 2. what are the status of english education and english language learning in public secondary learning institutions in the philippines? llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 563 method participants the survey questionnaire was dispensed to a sample of 300 grade 10 students from two philippine public high schools. a number of 150 respondents were selected from each of the schools through a random purposive sampling. moreover, 160 respondents were female (53.33%) and 140 respondents were male (46.67%) – with ages ranging between 15-16 years old. all of the participants provided their permission for the researcher to investigate their responses. figure 2. research paradigm research design the design of the study is descriptive and quantitative in nature. thus, a survey questionnaire was employed as a measuring instrument. the selected respondents were required to provide answers to all items in the questionnaire. moreover, the researcher utilized a research paradigm (see figure 2) to visualize an accurate portrayal of the systematic analyses done with the results. instrument the measuring instrument was a 20-item survey in which divided into four sections, each section relating to one particular category of the four english skills: (1) listening skill, (2) speaking skill, (3) reading skill, and (4) writing skill. under llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 564 each section, there are five items that are related to a particular skill overall, the items were positive questions. the survey questionnaire was designed and patterned to obtain adequate information concerning the learners’ attitudes toward the english language. moreover, the instrument used a standardized 4-point likert scale to quantify the data. the respondents answered the survey by placing a check mark on the box that corresponded to their answers for each item. the options were as follows: strongly disagree (sd), one point; disagree (d), two points; agree (a), three points; and strongly agree (sa), four points. the scale of the statistical value adopted to assess their attitude is as follows: weighted mean arbitrary value verbal interpretation 3.51 – 4.00 4 strongly agree 2.51 – 3.50 3 agree 1.51 – 2.50 2 disagree 1.00 – 1.50 1 strongly disagree content validity the content validity of the questionnaire was validated by (n=4) educational experts having strong backgrounds of either english language teaching or quantitative research. these reviewers were asked to rate the 20 survey items on a five-point rating scale ranging from 1-not important to 5-very important; to fittingly validate and examine the items assembled. moreover, descriptive feedbacks were also obtained from the reviewers. the questionnaire was improved according to the feedbacks accredited by the experts, thus, to make the items appropriate to the students’ level of comprehension. finally, the survey questionnaire was ready for pilot testing. pilot testing the survey questionnaire was pre-tested to ensure the reliability level of its content. a group of (n=60) grade 10 students were randomly selected from a different public high school for a similar context situation. to clarify, these students did not take part in the actual study. before doing the pilot testing, the participants were given an orientation about the purpose of the study and then were asked to provide feedbacks about the questionnaire. the participants were given 20 minutes to complete the questionnaire. moreover, the survey questionnaire gained positive feedbacks from the students. thus, the researcher did not do further revisions after the pilot testing. survey questionnaire administration the researcher distributed the 20-item survey questionnaire to the (n=300) randomly selected students. the respondents were also given 20 minutes to finish the questionnaire. it should be noted that permission forms were distributed by the researcher to the students before they answered the survey. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 565 reliability of the questionnaire by using wessa’s (2017) cronbach alpha (v1.0.5) statistics software, the reliability of the survey questionnaire was determined. the standard range of internal consistencies of cronbach’s alpha adopted is as follows: cronbach's alpha internal consistency 0.9 ≤ α excellent 0.8 ≤ α < 0.9 good 0.7 ≤ α < 0.8 acceptable 0.6 ≤ α < 0.7 questionable 0.5 ≤ α < 0.6 poor α < 0.5 unacceptable the overall internal consistency of the questionnaire was 0.9534, which describes that it is an excellent tool in measuring the students’ attitudes. in addition, the researcher also provided the estimation of the reliability coefficient for each of the sub-scales (see table 3). table 3. results of cronbach’s alpha and related statistics table 3 indicates the reliability of the questionnaire items in terms of the four language skills separately. the value of cronbach’s alpha regarding the listening skill sub-scale is 0.953, the speaking skill sub-scale obtained 0.949, the reading skill sub-scale had 0.951, and the cronbach’s alpha value of the writing skill subscale is 0.949. data analysis descriptive statistics (frequency, frequency percentage, mean, standard deviation, and variance) was utilized for the quantitative data, particularly data from the survey questionnaire. the researcher manually encoded the individual scores onto an excel spreadsheet, after which, the quantitative statistics were acquired using the same software. the items were put in a 4-point likert scale from level 1: strongly disagree to level 4: strongly agree. findings and discussion the following section shows the descriptive and inferential results of the 20item survey questionnaire directed to the respondents. the results are shown through descriptive statistics, which includes the frequency, frequency percentage, mean, standard deviation, and variance. thus, followed by the detailed descriptions of the findings. sub-categories no. of items alpha value std. alpha g6 (smc) average r listening skills 5 0.953 0.954 0.989 0.521 speaking skills 5 0.949 0.951 0.988 0.504 reading skills 5 0.951 0.952 0.988 0.512 writing skills 5 0.949 0.9509 0.988 0.505 grand values 20 0.953 0.954 0.989 0.510 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 566 table 4. descriptive statistics of the students’ attitudes toward the english language in the listening skills category questionnaire data on listening skills no. statements sd f (%) d f (%) a f (%) sa f (%) (μ) (σ) (σ2) 1 i do not use english subtitle texts while watching english films. 46 (15.33) 164 (54.67) 68 (22.67) 22 (7.33) 2.22 0.791 0.625 2 i can understand the varieties of spoken english. 13 (4.33) 196 (65.33) 75 (25.00) 16 (5.33) 2.31 0.639 0.408 3 i receive sufficient training for english listening comprehension in my school. 27 (9.00) 149 (49.67) 95 (31.67) 29 (9.67) 2.42 0.785 0.617 4 i listen to english conversations, or watch american/british films and television channels to improve my english. 49 (16.33) 161 (53.67) 55 (18.33) 35 (11.67) 2.25 0.866 0.749 5 i get good marks in english listening activities. 19 (6.33) 197 (65.67) 72 (24.00) 12 (4.00) 2.26 0.630 0.397 ** 1strongly disagree (sd), 2disagree (d), 3agree (a), 4strongly agree (sa), mean (μ), standard deviation (σ), variance (σ2) table 4 shows the results of the descriptive statistics for the first category of the 20-item survey questionnaire. the mean score for statement no. 1 is 2.22 (sd= 0.791), the mean score for statement no. 2 is 2.33 (sd= 0.639), the mean score for statement no. 3 is 2.42 (sd= 0.785), the mean score for statement no. 4 is 2.25 (sd= 0.866), and the mean score for statement no. 5 is 2.26 (sd= 0.630). based on the data, most of the students have negative attitudes toward the five statements in the listening skills category. table 5. descriptive statistics of the students’ attitudes toward the english language on the speaking skills category questionnaire data on speaking skills no. statements sd f (%) d f (%) a f (%) sa f (%) (μ) (σ) (σ2) 6 i find that english speaking is an exciting classroom activity. 26 (8.67) 160 (53.33) 74 (24.67) 40 (13.33) 2.43 0.827 0.685 7 i have no doubts and feel confident to speak in english in class. 11 (3.67) 166 (55.33) 94 (32.33) 29 (9.67) 2.47 0.718 0.516 8 i am searching about ‘ideas’ rather than ‘words or grammars’ while speaking in english. 17 (5.67) 172 57.33) 91 (30.33) 20 (6.67) 2.38 0.694 0.482 9 i am comfortable speaking english with a native speaker. 34 (11.33) 187 (62.33) 63 (21.00) 16 (5.33) 2.20 0.704 0.495 10 i get good marks in english speaking activities. 12 (4.00) 174 (58.00) 101 (33.67) 13 (3.67) 2.38 0.635 0.403 ** 1strongly disagree (sd), 2disagree (d), 3agree (a), 4strongly agree (sa),mean (μ), standard deviation (σ), variance (σ2) table 5 statistically elicits the results for the second category of the 20-item survey questionnaire. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 567 the mean score for statement no. 6 is 2.43 (sd= 0.827), the mean score for statement no. 7 is 2.47 (sd= 0.718), the mean score for statement no. 8 is 2.38 (sd= 0.694), the mean score for statement no. 9 is 2.20 (sd= 0.704), and the mean score for statement no. 10 is 2.38 (sd= 0.635). based on the findings, a large number of the students have negative responses toward the five statements in the speaking skills category. table 6. descriptive statistics of the students’ attitudes toward the english language on the reading skills category questionnaire data on reading skills no. statements sd f (%) d f (%) a f (%) sa f (%) (μ) (σ) (σ2) 11 i used to read english books since childhood. 12 (4.00) 139 (46.33) 97 (32.33) 52 (17.33) 2.63 0.812 0.659 12 i like to read books in english better than in any other languages. 9 (3.00) 143 (47.67) 106 (35.33) 42 (14.00 2.60 0.761 0.579 13 i have a regular habit to read english books/comics/newspapers/magazines. 13 (4.33) 150 (50.00) 99 (33.00) 38 (12.67) 2.54 0.767 0.588 14 i find that reading english books are fun and interesting. 57 (19.00) 154 (52.33) 60 (20.00) 29 (9.67) 2.20 0.858 0.735 15 i get good marks in english reading activities. 35 (11.67) 206 (68.67) 57 (19.00) 2 (0.66) 2.09 0.326 0.571 ** 1strongly disagree (sd), 2disagree (d), 3agree (a), 4strongly agree (sa),mean (μ), standard deviation (σ), variance (σ2) table 6 reveals the results of the descriptive statistics for the third category of the 20-item survey questionnaire. the mean score for statement no. 11 is 2.63 (sd= 0.812), the mean score for statement no. 12 is 2.60 (sd= 0.761), the mean score for statement no. 13 is 2.54 (sd= 0.767), the mean score for statement no. 14 is 2.20 (sd= 0.858), and the mean score for statement no. 15 is 2.09 (sd= 0.326). with the data, a great extent of the students had negative attitudes toward the five statements in the reading skills category. table 7. descriptive statistics of the students’ attitudes toward the english language on the writing skills category questionnaire data on reading skills no. statements sd f (%) d f (%) a f (%) sa f (%) (μ) (σ) (σ2) 16 i used to write in english since i was young. 20 (6.67) 152 (50.67) 102 (34.00) 26 (8.67) 2.45 0.744 0.554 17 i have my own regular habit of writing in english (diary, poem, article, book, etc.). 19 (6.33) 172 (57.33) 73 (24.33) 36 (12.00) 2.42 0.781 0.610 18 i do not feel afraid and anxious when writing in english. 10 (3.33) 176 (58.67) 81 (27.00) 33 (11.00) 2.46 0.731 0.535 19 i find that writing in english is fun and interesting. 44 (14.67) 149 (49.67) 77 (25.67) 30 (10.00) 2.31 0.841 0.707 20 i get good marks in english writing activities 33 (11.00) 167 (55.67) 83 (27.67) 17 (5.67) 2.28 0.731 0.535 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 568 ** 1strongly disagree (sd), 2disagree (d), 3agree (a), 4strongly agree (sa),mean (μ), standard deviation (σ), variance (σ2) table 7 statistically illustrates the overall responses of the learners in the fourth category of the survey questionnaire. the mean score for statement no. 16 is 2.45 (sd= 0.744), the mean score for statement no. 17 is 2.42 (sd= 0.781), the mean score for statement no. 18 is 2.46 (sd= 0.731), the mean score for statement no. 19 is 2.31 (sd= 0.841), and the mean score for statement no. 20 is 2.28 (sd= 0.731). moreover, almost all of the learners had negative attitudes toward the five statements in the writing skills category. table 8. overall descriptive statistics of the students’ attitudes toward the english language within the four language skills table 8 shows the overall descriptive statistics of the learners’ responses to all of the statements in the survey questionnaire. the total percentage of respondents who answered that they strongly disagree is 8.43. the total percentage of participants who responded that they disagree is 55.62. the total percentage of participants who answered that they agree is 27.10. the participants who responded that they strongly agree is 8.92. moreover, the total mean score for all of the four language skills categories is 2.37 (sd= 0.7422). according to the findings, most of the learners had negative attitudes than the number of learners who had positive attitudes toward the statements in the survey. sub-categories strongly disagree disagree agree strongly agree mean standard deviation variance listening skills 10.26% 57.80% 24.33% 7.60% 2.29 0.742 0.559 speaking skills 6.67% 57.26% 28.40% 7.73% 2.37 0.716 0.516 reading skills 8.40% 53.00% 27.93% 10.87% 2.41 0.705 0.626 writing skills 8.40% 54.40% 27.73% 9.47% 2.38 0.766 0.588 grand value 8.43% 55.62% 27.10% 8.92% 2.37 0.732 0.573 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 569 discussion what are the attitudes of filipino esl learners (in public high schools) toward the english language within the four language skills? figure 3. students’ overall responses to the sub-categories of the survey questionnaire concerning the first question, figure 3 displays that most of the participants have responded that they disagree with all of the statements in the survey. thus, a large number of filipino esl learners in public high schools have negative attitudes toward the english language within the four language skills. according to oxford and shearing (1994), the attitudes toward a task can also be identified by the degree of the resapondents’ motivation. therefore, the findings reveal that the students do not have enough motivation concerning english language learning. brown (2000) added that second language learners’ negative attitudes are products of decreased motivation. moreover, decreased motivation comes from different extrinsic factors. baker (1988) said that negative attitudes “develop in early childhood and are the result of parents’ and peers’ attitudes, of contact with people who are different in any number of ways, and of interacting of different factors in human experience” (p.193). similarly, colaste (2018) in his paper entitled, the impact of students’ attitude towards english language on academic achievement reported that the respondents in his study have negative attitudes toward english as a subject. his respondents were grade 9 filipino students (n= 88) from a public high school in the philippines. the students in colaste’s (2018) study admitted that “they dislike english as a subject because they find it difficult to express themselves using the language as a medium communication” (p.1). however, brown (2000) stated that negative attitudes could be emended, for example, by often exposure to reality and to actual persons from other cultures. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 570 what are the status of english education and english language learning in public secondary learning institutions in the philippines? ** 1listening skills category, 2speaking skills category, 3reading skills category, 4writing skills category figure 4. total mean scores per sub-category of the survey questionnaire the inferential statistical analysis was implied to answer the second question in regards to the status of english education and english language learning in public secondary learning institutions in the philippines. figure 4 displays that the total mean scores per sub-category indicate low-level arbitrary values. thus, the findings and even the previous nsat scores (english area) suggest that the philippine public high schools are somehow facing challenges concerning english education, in which students seem to have problems dealing with english language learning. therefore, the overall picture indicates the need to change or upgrade the methods in which english language literacy is taught to filipino esl learners. according to john & ehow (as cited in souriyavongsa, rany, abidin and mei, 2013), students’ low-level english language proficiency have derived from “many different factors in different environments such as school resources, class size, quality of teachers, and the school attendance of learners” (p.182). in addition, koo (2008) also stated that low-level english language proficiency “has very much to do with the attitude towards the language, particularly about whether the english is important in the global world” (p.31). conclusion attitudes (whether positive or negative) contribute to the way students behave toward language learning. students’ attitudes affect how they perform and how they treat a specific language. thus, having positive attitudes enable students to learn the language effectively. otherwise, having negative attitudes inhibit the students to be motivated with l2 learning. in a bigger picture, gardener’s (2001) socio-education model of second language acquisition displays how attitudes and motivation are linked together in achieving and learning a second language. according to hosseini and pourmandia (2013), gardner believes that the learners’ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 571 attitudes toward second language learning and their integrativeness have the strongest impact on the learners’ level of motivation and consequently also on their achievements. the learners’ attitudes toward the learning situation can be perceived through their assessment of the course, of the teacher, of the materials and/or of the teaching environment. hosseini and pourmandia (2013) also added that “to elaborate on motivation, gardner calls it a goal-directed behavior and again consider it as a combination of three components: expanded effort, the desire to be proficient in the foreign language, and the effect experienced when learning the language” (p.67). however, following the findings, most of the filipino esl learners’ responses and with their previous experiences, do not display the three components that elaborate motivation. therefore, the students’ obvious negative attitudes toward the english language are undeniably concerned by different factors. gardner (2001) concluded that it is clear that “the teacher, the class atmosphere, the course content, materials, and facilities, as well as personal characteristics of the student, will influence the individual’s classroom learning motivation” (p.3). accordingly, students are highly diverse, and each one of them has different needs, have unique learning strategies, and have distinct cognitive capacities. regarding english teachers, it is notable to indicate that they need to have a strong foundation on the english language content, they should be always aware of their students’ backgrounds and needs, and they are capable of doing effective teaching strategies. hutchinson and waters (2001) stated that if the teacher’s teaching approach did not match the student’s needs and interests, therefore it is not effectual. consequently, a highly proficient english teacher can help the students to behave productively in the class, (decisively) to focus on the language study, and to build positive attitudes toward the language. moreover, the philippines is not the only esl country that is experiencing challenges with english language learning. thus, the researcher intends to globally create awareness using this study for the sectors of educators concerned to cautiously examine how esl is theorized in educational context, and make essential changes in able to promote suitable curriculum design, appropriate teaching materials, and strategies, and to provide the students with a conducive environment for english language learning. as the results conclude that most of the filipino students lack motivation and have negative attitudes with the english language, the researcher suggests that the students should receive utmost support such as motivational encouragement, meaningful 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(2014). the study of language (5th ed.). new york, ny: cambridge university. http://www.jstor.org/ http://www.jstor.org/ http://www.jstor.org/ http://www.sciencedirect.com/ https://www.wessa.net/ vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 27 a flexible approach to the egp syllabus: why it is possible concilianus laos mbato elesp – sanata dharma university c.laosmbato67@gmail.com abstract curriculum, and its ensuing syllabus, may reflect various competing ideologies rather than merely being a vehicle to promote quality teaching and education. in practice, english teachers may have to encounter and confront an imposed curriculum, and syllabus, in thier egp classes. despite such imposition, this article argues that they can and should adopt a flexible approach to the document in order to cater for learners’ varied and changing learning needs. to achieve the aim, this article draws on theories of curriculum and discusses core issues in the teaching of english for specific purposes. a particular focus is then given to teaching practices in egp classrooms where teachers interpret and implement a curriculum. a flexible model to the syllabus is offered. keywords: egp (english for general purposes), esp (english for specific purposes), curriculum, ideologies, syllabus, needs analysis, and a flexible approach. introduction the teaching learning processes in the classroom are inseparable from the curriculum, and its syllabus. in the indonesian educational context, the school curriculum has undergone several changes. in the past few years alone, the indonesian government, through the ministry of education and culture, has introduced three curricula, with the 2013 curriculum being the latest one. these changes underscore the crucial role curriculum plays in the process and production of quality teaching and education. the relevance of curriculum, and its syllabus, with the teaching learning processes in the classroom is accentuated by hamilton (1999). he (1999, p. 42) stresses curriculum as a storehouse which is unpacked and repacked through teaching and learning respectively. through teaching, teachers bring stored up experience to life so that it can be grasped by learners. they unlock the potential of the curriculum with the learners reshaping themselves in the light of the curriculum potential. viewed this way, the curriculum, with its syllabus, serves to translate the experience of learning into a form accessible to learners. learners will accomplish learning when they can link their own prior experience with that offered by their teachers. this article argues for a flexible approach to the curriculum, and its subsequent teaching syllabus. it begins with a delineation of theories of curriculum, and syllabus, and is followed by a brief discussion of english for specific purposes and informed practices in egp classes around the world as regards curriculum and syllabus. a model for a flexible approach to the curriculum culminates the discussion. this paper ends with some conclusions and suggestions. curriculum experts in the area of curriculum provide different yet complementary explanations of this construct. the various conceptions of curriculum reflect social ideologies about the role of schooling in society, the nature of knowledge and learning, and the roles of teachers and learners (adamson and morris, 2007, p. 267). adamson and morris (2007, p. 267) outline six ideologies that may shape the curriculum: academic rationalism, social and economic efficiency, social reconstructivism, orthodoxy, progressivism, and cognitive pluralism. academic rationalism focuses on enhancing learners’ intellectual capabilities and cognitive skills, and on teaching them how to learn. it vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 28 emphasises testing of learners’ knowledge and skills. social and economic efficiency stresses the human capital in society and aims to develop learners’ ability to apply knowledge and skills. social reconstructivism views the curriculum as the agent for social reform, change and criticism, and involves learners in the assessment. orthodoxy introduces learners into particular religious or political beliefs. progressivism provides learners with opportunities for enhancing their personal and intellectual development through qualitative measures with the analysis of the process of learning as its driving force. cognitive pluralism promotes multiple competencies and attitudes through qualitative measures which are enabled through diversity of learning. curriculum, and syllabus, may be viewed as a specific social reality which is acted on and transformed by the teacher and is not merely something imposed on teachers’ and pupils’ classroom practice (young, 2008, p. 23). short and burke (2014, p. 18) perceive curriculum as inquiry, which involves theoretical and practical shifts in the way teachers view teaching and learning within school contexts. in this perspective, teachers gain control of their learning, which empowers them to continuously examine their beliefs and actions in their interaction with students in order to create more democratic learning environments. these learning environments encourage students to become inquirers as they explore and find the questions that are most significant in their lives. at the heart of inquiry is a collaborative relationship, and not the hierarchies of control. through inquiry, short and burke (2014, p. 38) emphasise education for democracy. a democratic education believes in the natural inquisitiveness of the people and realises that the significance of learning lies in what people do and why they do it. it also accepts new alternatives without undermining the contributions of current and past beliefs. in this education environment each individual assumes a responsibility to critique, envision, and pose problems while at the same time value and seek diversity, and not sameness. democratic education creates room for diversity and creativity in viewing and implementing curriculum, and syllabus. rather than being a vision only, curriculum is viewed as a cultural tool which is shaped by its users (hamilton, 1999, p. 38). a curriculum is both a route to the future and a set of procedures to implement curriculum goals. as a powerful tool in education, curriculum may reflect the assumptions and aspirations of the powerful group in the society rather than the powerless one. to anticipate the negative impacts of the imposition of certain power groups in the curriculum, teachers need to own the power to modulate, transpose and if necessary substitute learning goals. the delegation of power in interpreting the curriculum will enable the students’ experience to inform and be informed by the syllabus (hamilton, 1998, p. 41). treating the curriculum from a document to the experience in the classroom will enable students to develop into a flexible thinker (golsby-smith, 2013, p. 76). the benefit that may result from the increasing power delegated to the teacher is reflected below (gibbons, 2009, p. 29): if we can dream for a moment that some increasing power over curriculum and assessment returns to the teaching profession, then it seems to me imperative that the kinds of cross-phase, cross-institutional, nonhierarchical networks ... be allowed to redevelop. then, perhaps, we might strive again for ways of assessing children that are based on the experience of subject experts, rooted in classroom research, and that place children’s needs and interests at the heart of the assessment process. in a similar vein, finney (2002) and kneller (1964) suggest a progressivist approach to the curriculum and syllabus. progressivism places stress on the process of learning. the process model enables the individual to progress towards self-fulfilment. it is concerned with the development of understanding, and not just the passive reception of knowledge or the acquisition of specific skills. it has been marked by the move towards a learner and learning-centred curriculum (finney, 2002, p. 73). kneller (1964, vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 29 p. 96) discusses six principles of progressivism in education: 1) education has to be active and is related to the interests of the child; 2) education must be a project-based activity in which a child is trained to solve concrete problems; 3) education is not only to prepare children to live later on in society but is already life itself; 4) the teacher functions more as a facilitator or adviser rather than as a person of authority; 5) every individual will produce better results when they are working together than when they are competing; 6) education and democracy are inter-related, so schools should be managed democratically. while the definitions and descriptions of curriculum are diverse, in practice, there is no single syllabus nor is there a single curriculum at play in the classroom (hutchinson and waters, 1987). adamson and morris (2005, p. 269) argue: clearly, these ideologies (of curriculum) can in principle and practice be exclusive. a curriculum could be constructed that is driven by a single ideology, such as fascism. however, in pluralistic societies and institutions, the curriculum is influenced by a combination of ideologies – and these may be contradictory rather than consistent. there is also a tendency for curricula to maintain links to traditions, even though radical changes may be incorporated in curricular reform. as a result, a curriculum is often a complex set of tensions and contradictions that is shaped by ideological, historical and educational forces. ideological, historical and educational forces have shaped and reshaped english language teaching since the end of the second world war. this has led, among others, to the emergence of english for specific purposes, which in turn contributes to the teaching of english for general purposes. english for specific purposes english for specific purposes is defined as an approach to language teaching in which all decisions, as to content and methods, are based on the learners’ reason for learning (hutchinson and waters, 1987, p. 19). two important domains of esp will be briefly discussed, i.e. reasons for the emergence of esp and needs analysis. reasons for the emergence of esp basturkemen (2006, p. 133) discusses specific objectives of esp that led to its emergence, i.e. to reveal subject-specific language use, to develop target performance competencies, to teach underlying knowledge, to develop strategic competence, and to foster critical awareness. hutchinson and waters (1987, pp. 6-8) mentioned the demands of the brave new world, a revolution in linguistics, and a focus on the learner as the three reasons common to the emergence of esp. the brave new world was marked by two key historical periods which brought esp to life, i.e. the end of the second world war and the oil crisis in the early 1970s. while the former event boosted people’s motivation to learn english for successful international communication, the latter put pressure on the teaching profession to deliver english to meet business purposes. english became subject to the wishes, needs and demands of people other than language. revolution in linguistics was marked by a shift from describing the features of language to a focus on the ways language was used in real communication and in various contexts. psychology became the third impetus; it inspired language instruction design to focus on learners. learners and their attitudes were put at centre stage. learners were seen to possess different needs and interests, which would influence their motivation and the effectiveness of learning. thus teaching english should be tailored to meets learners’ different needs, interests and motivation. the tool to address learners’ needs is needs analysis. needs analysis: a contribution of esp to egp needs analysis has become a crucial attribute of english for specific purposes since its emergence. basturkmen (2006, p. 1) defines needs analysis as the identification of difficulties and standard situations by observation of participants functioning in a target situation. needs analysis aims to establish the “what” and the “how” of a course, before the design of curriculum, materials selection, methodology, assessment, vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 30 and evaluation (flowerdew, 2013, p. 325). a comprehensive needs analysis and a flexible learning-centred curriculum will ascertain students’ equal reception of a balanced diet of language (gatehouse, 2004, p. 7). understanding learner needs enables the teacher to create a successful program (thanasoulas, 2004, p. 8). it is seen as the logical starting point for the development of a language program (finney, 2002, p. 75). a comprehensive classification of needs analysis is offered by hutchinson and waters (1987, pp. 54-56). learners’ needs are grouped into target and learning needs. target needs describe what the learner needs to do to function in the target situation, while learning needs are what the learner needs to do in order to learn. the target needs situation is further classified into necessities, lacks and wants. necessities are the needs determined by the demands of the target situation, that is, what the learner has to know in order to function effectively in the target situation. lacks are the gaps between the target proficiency and the existing proficiency of the learners. wants are learners’ views on the necessities and lacks which might conflict with those of other interested parties. in sum, needs analysis raises esp teachers’ awareness of the various learners’ and learning-needs, interests, reasons and goals for learning and prompts them to act accordingly. teaching practices in egp classes as many curricula, and their ensuing syllabuses, are prescribed by the government, teachers may find themselves having little power over what, how, why and when to teach language elements and skills other than those stipulated in these documents. a recent study on english language teaching in five senior high schools in indonesia, involving 258 students (marcellino, 2008), describes indonesian students’ cultural values (which may reflect the underlying curriculum and syllabus) as inhibiting learning in the following ways: total obedience, unquestioning mind, and the belief that the old know all as well as that the teacher can do no wrong normally portray the learning atmosphere in many classes under study. accordingly, the class hardly raised any question to the teacher, scarcely responded critically to the teachers’ debatable and unsound statement or argument; instead they respectfully and compliantly did the teacher’s instructions and believed that what was said was entirely correct (marcellino, 2008, p. 58). a study by lamb (2004) on indonesian students in egp classes found the students’ openness to the increasing learning opportunities in the local environment is often not recognised in local curricula due to its focus on a rigid diet of language items transmitted by teachers and their textbooks and national exams. other studies indicate the teachers’ more flexible approach to the teaching syllabus in egp classes. mbato (2013) found that the teachers were willing to revise the syllabus as a response to the learners’ learning needs. their flexibility to the syllabus resulted, among others, in learners’ empowerment to take charge of their efl learning. wette (2010) discovered teachers’ constant responses to learners’ developmental and affective needs regardless of the constraints they might face in teaching. another study (wette, 2011, p. 136) demonstrated teachers’ tensions generated by the competing demands of learners’ requirements, contextual constraints, syllabus specifications, and their own theories of best practice, all of which may impact the implementation of the curriculum and syllabus in the classroom. jones (2007, p. 54) found teachers’ reading of official curriculum differently in classroom settings. criado and sanchez (2009, p.1), in their analysis of the compatibility between elt textbooks and official regulations from the government (which focuses on clt), discovered some degree of dissociation between the two and suggested such discrepancy as the reflection of the complexity of language learning. in preparing a syllabus for an advanced writing course, altay (2010) urged for a questionnaire be distributed to both the teachers and students to gain their views about the syllabus vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 31 for the class. kranhke (1987, pp. 67-68) discussed the complexity a teacher and students have to face in the classroom with respect to the syllabus. on one hand, they need to contend with the theoretical expectations of a syllabus. on the other hand, the syllabus also creates a relationship between the syllabus, the teacher and students. such a relationship will inevitably frame and shape learning. golsby-smith (2013, p. 68) urges teachers to consider flexibility in learning that learners need to have in relation to the syllabus. mbato (2004, p. 267) argued for an adoption of a learning-centred approach to the teaching syllabus in egp classes. he adapted a learning centred model proposed by hutchinson and waters (1987) as the starting point for the teachers’ flexible approach to the teaching syllabus in egp classes. towards a flexible egp syllabus model the following model (modified from hutchinson and waters, 1987, and mbato, 2004) depicts the necessary steps for the esp principled-instruction in egp classes: figure 1: a flexible approach to syllabus (adapted from hutchinson and waters, 1987, and mbato, 2004). the above diagram emphasises the importance of identifying learners, i.e. the learning situation and the graduate standard competence. an analysis of the learning situation focuses on the affective elements of the learners, that is, their attitudes, wants, learning potential, and constraints. an analysis of the learning situation, and the learners’ evaluation (assessment) standard evaluation (assessment) standard identify learners write syllabus/materials (the content) to exploit the potential of the learning situation in the acquisition of the basic competence required by the graduate standard competence identify attitudes/wants/potential of learners ---------------------------- identify needs/potential/constraints of learning/teaching situation (attitude to be taught and learnt) identify basic competence and indicators, (i.e. knowledge and skills to be taught and learnt) and learners’ input competence theoretical views of language analyse graduate standard competence theoretical views of learning analyse learning situation vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 32 affective states, will give the teachers a comprehensive view of learners’ psychological readiness for learning english in their classes. the importance of affective states in learning cannot be overstated (see e.g. mbato, 2013; phelps, 2002; hutchinson and waters, 1987). in order to be able to perform these activities well, the teachers need to equip themselves with sufficient knowledge of various learning theories. following an analysis of the affective states (attitudes) is an analysis of the graduate standard competence. this activity will then lead to some identification of basic competences and indicators, vis-a-vis knowledge and skills to be taught and learnt, and should be guided by sound theoretical views of language, be it as a system of rules (structure), a set of functions, or discourse. this should be accompanied by an analysis of learners’ input competence. the focus is on determining how much learners have mastered the designated competence, which results in the identification of existing gap proficiency of every individual learner. the finding will be used as an input for the design and/or adaptation of a syllabus and learning materials. these activities may be performed at the beginning of the semester, while the teaching learning process is underway, and at the end of the term. after performing some analyses of the learning situation (affective elements) and competences (vis-a-vis knowledge and skills), the teachers may start designing, or in case a syllabus is already available, revising the teaching syllabus, and writing and/or compiling the learning materials. the syllabus and the learning materials make use of the potential of the learning situation in the acquisition of the basic competences required by the graduate standard competence. some evaluation/assessments compatible with the learning situation and the required competencies (knowledge and skills) will need to be designed. teachers should regularly assess the suitability of and revisit the syllabus and learning materials since learning needs and learners’ competence may change even within a few weeks of instruction. in the studentcentred learning, where learners and learning becomes the centre of instruction, classroom syllabus should be tailored to learners’ varied and changing learning needs. research by mbato (2013) indicated, among others, that teachers’ flexible attitude to the learning syllabus leads to learners’ engagement and empowerment in english language learning. egp class teachers should involve learners in the whole teaching and learning enterprise. although the curriculum and its syllabus might be imposed on them, their flexibility to teaching should not be constrained by such a prescription. many teachers around the world has demonstrated their power and creativity to tailor their teaching to learners’ and learning needs regardless of this constraint. rather than focusing on meeting the prescribed curriculum and syllabus demands per se, teachers need to view curriculum simultaneously under the lens of academic rationalism, social and economic efficiency, social reconstructivism, progressivism and cognitive pluralism, and incorporate them into a needs-based teaching syllabus since the differences between curricula are clear in theory, but might not be straightforward in practice. to accomplish this, they need to undertake a flexible approach to the teaching syllabus. conclusion this article has argued for a flexible approach to the teaching syllabus in egp classes. to reach the aim, it has discussed various views of curricula, and syllabus. it has also reviewed the teaching of english for specific purposes, and how a needs-based approach in esp classes can illuminate english language teaching in egp classes. a discussion on how teachers around the world implemented english curriculum, and syllabus, in their respective egp classes sheds light on the possibility of a syllabus being more than a prescribed document. a syllabus model offered in this paper underscores the possibility and the necessity for the teachers’ adoption of a flexible stance to the english syllabus. more research on how teachers vol. 17 no. 1– april 2014 issn 1410-7201 __________________________________________________________________________________ 33 implement the english curriculum and its subsequent syllabus in their egp classes suited with the indonesian education context is needed. this will enrich and empower the teachers in devising the teaching learning program that meets the learners’ learning needs despite working under an imposed curriculum. references adamson, b. & morris, p. (2007). comparing curricula. in m. bray, b. adamson & m (eds.), comparative education research: approach and methods (pp. 263-282). hongkong: springer. altay, i.f. (2010). a suggested syllabus for advanced writing skill at english language teaching departments. h.u. journal of education, 39, 20-31. basturkmen, h. (2006). ideas and options in english for specific purposes. mahwah, nj: lawrence erlbaum associates. criado, r. & sanchez, a. (2009). english language teaching in spain: do textbooks comply with the official methodological regulations? a sample analysis. ijes, 9(1), 1-28. finney, d. (2002). the elt curriculum: a flexible model for a changing world. in j. c. richards and w. a. renandya (eds). methodology in language teaching. anthology of current practice. cambridge: cambridge university press. flowerdew, f. (2013). needs analysis and curriculum development in esp. in b. paltridge, and s. starfield, handbook of english for specific purposes (pp. 326-345). malden, ma: wiley-blackwell. gatehouse, k. (2004). key issues in english for specific purposes curriculum development. retrieved september 28, 2004, from http://iteslj.org/articles/gatehouse-esp.html. gibbons, s. (2009). back to the future? a case study in changing curriculum and assessment: the story of the london association for the teaching of english’s alternative ‘o’ level english language paper. english in education, 43(1), 19-31. golsby-smith, s. (2013). singing from the same songsheet: the flexible thinker and the curriculum in the 21st century. english in education, 47(1), 66-78. hamilton, d. (1999). learning about education: an unfinished curriculum. philadelphia, pa: open university press. hutchinson, t & waters, a. (1987). english for specific purposes. a learning-centred approach. cambridge: cambridge university press. jones, p. (2007). lessons of the local: primary english and the relay of curriculum knowledge. australian journal of language and literacy, 30(1), 54-68. kneller, g.f. (1964). introduction to the philosophy of education. new york: jon wiley & sons, inc. krahnke, k. (1987). approaches to syllabus design for foreign languageteaching. language in education: theory and practice. washington: eric clearing house. lamb, m. (2004). 'it depends on the students themselves': independent language learning at an indonesian state school. language, culture and curriculum, 17(3), 229-245. marcellino, m. (2008). english language teaching in indonesia: a continuous challenge in education and cultural diversity. teflin journal, 19(1), 57-69. http://iteslj.org/articles/gatehouse-esp.html vol. 17 no. 1-april 2014 issn 1410-7201 34 mbato, c.l. (2004). esl/efl instruction: a convergence of target and learning needs. the 9th esea conference proceedings, 257-270. yogyakarta: sanata dharma university. mbato, c.l. (2013). facilitating efl learners’ self-regulation in reading: implementing a metacognitive approach in a higher education context. edd thesis, southern cross university, lismore, nsw. phelps, r. a. (2002). mapping the complexity of learning: journeying beyond the teaching for computer competency to facilitating computer capability. phd thesis, southern cross university, lismore, nsw. short, k.g. & burke, c.l. (2014). curriculum as inquiry. retrieved march 6, 2014, from http://www.coe.arizona.edu/sites/default/curriculum_as_ inquiry.pdf. 18-40. thanasoulas, d. (2004). classroom: forum or arena? retrieved october 11, 2004, from http://www/tefl.net/articles /classroom.htm. wette, s. (2011).product–process distinctions in elt curriculum theory and practice. elt journal, 65(2), 136-144. wette, s. (2010). professional knowledge in action: how experienced esol teachers respond to feedback from learners within syllabus and contextual constraints. system 38, 569-579. young, m.f.d. (1998). the curriculum of the future from the new sociology of education to a critical theory of learning. london: palmer press. http://www.coe.arizona.edu/sites/default/curriculum_as_%20inquiry.pdf http://www/tefl.net/articles/classroom.htm llt journal 2014 pages 1 to 3 front.pdf llt journal 2014 fixed backup llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 319-337 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 319 investigating efl teachers’ professional development in frater don bosco senior high school lewoleba kristian florensio wijaya sanata dharma university, indonesia correspondence: kristianwijaya500@gmail.com http://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.3159 received 1 march 2021; accepted 18 may 2022 abstract undoubtedly, to promote more holistic, pleasurable, and meaningful second language learning enterprises for learners, efl teachers are advocated to sustainably hone their professional development concerning their knowledge and pedagogical competencies. this present qualitative study was conducted in the light of the critical incident technique to discover particular unforgettable teachinglearning events enabling teachers to promote significant changes in their vocation. further, 10 self-reflective inquiries were also addressed to 2 invited senior efl teachers working in frater don bosco senior high school lewoleba, nusa tenggara timur province. two major findings were revealed from these selfreflective inquiries namely efl teacher’s sound desire to continue upgrading professional development through professional learning and efl teacher’s strong intentions to improve learners’ target language competencies through the exhibition of professional development. although the two invited efl teachers had significantly fostered their professional development through profound caring, attentiveness, and understanding of learners’ distinctive learning backgrounds, it is indispensably required for indonesian educational institutions to provide a considerable number of professional development training appropriate with varied teaching-learning contexts undergone by our teachers to ensure that a higher degree of professionalism resided within their careers and learners’ learning rides. keywords: critical incident technique, efl teachers, professional development introduction teaching is a multi-complex and multivariate enterprise involving personal and social processes from all educational stakeholders to yield high-quality learning rides that act as a propitious life pathway for learners to prepare for their bright future. diekema and olsen (2012) argue that to generate more meaningful educational enterprises, all educational parties including teachers need to present the intended subject-specific matters in the light of righteous educational policies, supportive pedagogical competencies, and robust professional development. mailto:kristianwijaya500@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.3159 https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.3159 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 319-337 320 aligned with all of these conceptions, it is worthwhile to be suggested that educational institutions need to provide constant professional development tangible practices for teachers to broaden their current understanding of knowledge, pedagogical skills, and teaching perspectives for a better purpose resulted in the escalation of teachers’ personal qualities and learners’ learning achievements. this belief is closely aligned with the theory of teacher professional development proposed by hargreaves and fullan (2012) arguing that a substantial number of educational stakeholders along with educational practitioners agreed that professional development intensive training should be introduced earlier at the commencement of teachers’ careers to help them cultivate their professionalism and bring about various impactful learning merits for learners. this inducement of beneficial learning merits may likely occur since teachers rigorously hone their professional development will also be able to promote more pleasurable and meaning-making learning dynamics in which all learners are continually thriving. this perspective is tightly interwoven with the findings discovered in prior teacher professional development studies conducted by hashimoto and nguyen (2018) together with wilden and porsch (2017) wherein teachers successfully fostered their knowledge and pedagogical competencies through professional development training were capable of designing more meaningful learning activities for their learners to engage. all of these aforementioned facts have also penetrated elt globalized enterprises, particularly indonesian efl learning contexts where there is an indispensably clear need for indonesian efl teachers to continually forge their professional development to promote varied benefits for learners’ ongoing target language competencies, the fulfillment of schools’ visions and missions, and the betterment for teachers’ future careers. indrawati and octoria (2016) mention that it is paramount for efl teachers to engage in insistent professional development practices to assist them to be more professional target language educators and execute a wide array of educational objectivities fully. this duty can be carried out in multivariate knowledge-based, pedagogical, and affective practices by playing their roles as knowledge catalysts, judicious advisors, attentive listeners, and faithful encouragers for learners to continue discovering a wide array of truth on a life basis. all of these dramatic shifts of teachers’ roles are in agreement with the basic tenets of professional development propounded by yulanto, sudira, and aristya (2018) along with múñez et al. (2017) stating that to be more professional and competent educators, efl teachers are fully recommended to corroborate their learners’ learning motivation to breed proficient academicians readily competing in future working worlds. to do so, efl teachers have to forge their learners’ communicative competencies, self-confidence, and compassionate sensitivities. concerning all of these perspectives, teacher professional development should be defined by using broader terms wherein they have possessed broad knowledge of their subject-specific fields and pedagogical competencies in the light of the highest attainment of educational goals; the evocation of high-quality future academicians. in a similar vein, surya (2016) along with hermans, sloep, and kreijns (2017) believe that the basic ingredients to be considered as professional educators are to share a higher degree of responsibility for overall learners’ learning processes accompanied by the tangible presence of competent and compassionate teachers. contrarily, all of the efforts, commitment, and endurance to yield varied highly llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 319-337 321 professional efl teachers are not free from geographical, personal, knowledge, and educational institutions impediments, particularly in indonesian efl learning contexts. hartono (2016) and sari (2012) in their study of efl teacher professional development among indonesian pre-service efl teachers found that the majority of teachers working in some retarded schools in rural areas possessing a minimum, and even the absence of knowledge regarding teacher professional development. in an identical study, qureshi (2016) also revealed that there were three major obstructions for indonesian efl teachers hindering them from fostering their professional development in terms of excessive administrative workloads, lack of motivation to engage proactively in particular teacher professional development programs, and lack of exposure of intensive teacher professional development training held by educational experts. to overcome all of these above-mentioned hurdles, educational institutions are advised to construct a higher degree of commitment with all educational practitioners, policy-makers, and experts to intensively provide professional development training for efl teachers where they are reciprocally able to improve their knowledge, pedagogical skills, and professionalism sustainably. hartono (2016) together with wulyani, elgort, and coxhead (2019) adduce that the massive flourishment of high-quality and professional efl teachers are also predominately influenced by the tangible commitment embodied in the targeted teaching training actions where they are capable of establishing, reinforcing, and cultivating their target language skills, pedagogical competencies, and professionalism concurrently. a substantial number of efl teachers’ professional development studies have been conducted by distinctive indonesian elt educators, practitioners, and experts. particularly, the researcher will briefly overview seven relevant studies inextricably interlinked with the major theme of this present study; efl teachers’ professional development and all of the concise depictions can be discerned in this paragraph of this section. the first study was conducted by priajana (2017). she revealed that three major components should be internalized by educational institutions to support efl teachers’ professional development namely individual, institutional, and non-institutional professional development programs. in the second study, utami and prestridge (2018) suggested educational institutions deliberately commissioning efl teachers to develop their learning plans, activities, and goals autonomously to corroborate their professional identities. further, nurkamto and sarosa (2020) also advocated efl teachers conducting more exhaustive selfreflective practices amid their hectic schedules to maintain their persistence in confronting a multitude of teaching-learning barriers useful for their further growth of professional development. in the next identical study, rachmajanti, sulistyo, megawati, and akbar (2020) advocated educational institutions promoting a higher degree of career trajectories enjoyment for the continuous elevation of their efl teachers’ professional development since committed teachers are one of the influential agents of change for their learners’ learning progress. khulaifiyah (2019) also mentioned two major advantages for efl teachers after joining various professional development practices namely becoming more supportive selfinitiators for learners’ learning dynamics and creative teaching strategy appliers. diasti (2021) in her in-depth investigation of efl teachers’ professional identities also unearthed that professional teachers are those who were resilient in coping with llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 319-337 322 various teaching-learning challenges and adaptive in mingling with specific adverse working conditions. in the last study, kuswandono (2012) also highlighted the key importance for teacher education and training programs to inculcate self-reflective practices for novice efl teachers to prepare their readiness to be more professional future educators who are far better at dealing with the plethora of teaching-learning hindrances. to the best of the researcher’s knowledge, there has not been a study profoundly investigating efl teachers’ professional development in senior efl learning contexts, particularly in a catholic school institution heavily accentuating on the christianity, brotherhood, and compassionate values among teachers, students, and parents. with a respect to this gap, this present study was run to exhaustively investigate efl teachers’ professional development in one of the catholic school institutions located in nusa tenggara timur province, indonesia named frater don bosco senior high school lewoleba. one research problem was formulated as follows: (1) how do efl teachers teaching in frater don bosco senior high school lewoleba construct their professional development? an in-depth overview of teacher professional development as noted previously, teacher professional development denotes deliberate and consecutive actions incorporated by educators to enhance all of their knowledge, pedagogical, and professional attributes to promote more holistic teaching-learning ventures beneficial for their careers, learners' learning, and educational institutions' advancement. adams (2014) together with alibakhsi and dehvari (2015) argue that professional development can be regarded as a proactive and long-life process where teachers strive to foster their knowledge, pedagogical, and professionalism thoroughly to promote betterment for their educational enterprises and learners learning progress. in line with this concrete definition, wilden and porsch (2017) subsumed two main types of professional development namely formal and informal approaches. in a formal professional development, teachers are commissioned to engage more intensively in various educational programs, curriculums, and activities designed specifically by their school institutions. while in informal professional development, teachers are proactively enhancing their professional development through tangible daily-routine and specific teaching-learning instructions appropriate to their classroom contexts and disseminating mutual sharing with other colleagues to broaden their knowledge and experiences of the teaching practices. thus, these two streams reciprocally influence each other in fostering efl teachers’ professional development further growth and educational institutions need to redouble their efforts to maximize these two professional development types into the utmost to successfully release significant advancement of the pedagogical practices along with learners learning progress. bennet and moriarty (2013) mention that both formal and informal professional development have to be introduced for efl teachers since they are all playing significant progression for the whole educational daily practices. a tangible example of formal professional development training is expounded by adekola (2007) recommending educational institutions to provide more pedagogical theoretical based training like workshops or seminars intended llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 319-337 323 for efl teachers to discover various teaching strategies that may work out in their classroom circumstances, learn a wide variety of classroom management strategies, and get to know more profoundly about the utilization of technology to support efl learning processes. further, there are two advantageous values imparted by this formal professional development training namely amplifying mutual collaborations among teachers and assisting teachers to expand all of the targeted competencies rewarding for the further improvements of their educational institutions. this argument seems to concur with farrell and morris (2004) asserting that through formal professional development, teachers can potentially work hand-in-hand to improve their quality of educational practices in their school institutions. further, through informal professional development training, efl teachers will potentially nourish their teaching-learning experiences by participating in tangible pedagogical practices and mutual sharing with other colleagues. more importantly, it should be underscored that through these daily basis teaching experiences, efl teachers are capable of rethinking, reflecting, and rejuvenating some specific knowledge and pedagogical forms they commonly integrate into their particular learning dynamics resulted in the significant upgrading of professional development. cavazos, thompson, and ortiz (2018) believe that efl teachers consistently involve themselves in informal professional development tend to apply more meaningful teaching-learning approaches into their particular learning vicinities since constructive feedback, critical self-reflection, and collaborative networking had been the core matters of this approach. similarly, cirocki and farrell (2019) also give a potent emphasis on the pivotal role of informal professional development for efl teachers in terms of juxtaposing their current teaching beliefs with the tangible teaching-learning practices along with improving their target language, pedagogical, program, and materials design, and learning psychological competencies. therefore, through these two mainstreams of professional development training, efl teachers will seize a precious opportunity to elevate their careers, improve learners’ learning performances, and fulfil their school institutions’ educational objectivities since they are required to critically self-reflect and examine their knowledge and pedagogical skills in the forms of real-time classroom practices and particular daily life values ingrained within themselves. in other words, efl teachers will transform into life-long learners persistently establishing, upgrading, and strengthening their professional attributes in a long-term manner. these perspectives are in harmony with the assertions of murphy (2014) as well as rodríguez and mckay (2010) arguing that when efl teachers continually participate in both formal and informal professional development training, they will be able to re-examine and regenerate their current understanding of knowledge and pedagogical practices more efficiently due to the highly collaborative nature and personal endorsement offered by this set of rehearsals. to run all of these teacher professional development training programs successfully, it is also worth advocating here that the internalizations, impacts, and benefits of these activities should be evaluated insistently by educational institutions to fully promote a higher quality of teaching-learning practices evidenced by learners’ significant learning improvements. in a similar tone, cirocki and farrell (2019) propound that educational parties have to meticulously reflect on the subsequent implementations of ongoing teacher professional development llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 319-337 324 programs to ascertain that there will be an enhancement of teaching-learning qualities in the particular form of gratifying learners’ learning achievements. in this vein, there are a wide variety of ways to gauge the successful implementations of teacher professional development as suggested by guskey (2000) like the utilization of constructive feedback given by both teachers and learners in the forms of the questionnaire, observations, or interviews specifically reporting on the drawbacks, challenges, and advantages after harnessing the above-mentioned approach to lead learners to eventually meet the desired learning outcomes they set at the onset of learning dynamics. method this present study attempted to investigate efl teachers’ professional development in frater don bosco senior high school lewoleba. further, this qualitative study also employed critical incident analysis to better identify particularly memorable events meaningfully experienced by the participants to undergo significant changes in their life matters. daley et al. (2018) argue that the major objective of a critical incident in teaching fields is to help teachers raise their self-awareness of essential events remarkably evoke notable transformation within their personalities along with pedagogical practices useful for constructing teaching-learning betterment in the presence of learners. concerning this nature of the critical incident, the researcher harnessed efl teachers’ critical self-reflection comprising of 10 reflective inquiries profoundly asking about the way participants foster their professional development since both of them have already experienced long-term teaching experiences for 9-10 years. the participants taking part in this study were 2 efl teachers working in frater don bosco senior high school lewoleba located in nusa tenggara timur province, indonesia. before distributing the 10 critical self-reflection questions for these two selected participants, the researcher asked permission from the principal of this school orally via the whatsapp application. the school principal declared that the researcher was eligible to do the online data gathering processes in this school. furthermore, all of the questions were administered to the 2 invited efl teachers with the support of the school principal. as a result, all of the written interview results were sent back to the researcher after the school principal attained the recorded responses from these 2 efl teachers. in the data gathering processes, pseudonyms were also given to the research participants to ascertain the confidentiality of the data gathering processes and their privacy. after obtained the intended data, the researcher discovered and highlighted some specific excerpts in accord with the subdivided research themes. all of the specific themes along with in-depth explications will be elucidated in the next subchapter. findings and discussion in accord with the above-explained conceptions regarding the pivotal role of sustainable teachers’ professional development in global and indonesian efl learning contexts, it is worth mentioning here that there were two major themes discovered from the open-ended interview questions namely efl teacher’s sound desire to continue upgrading professional development through professional learning and efl teacher’s strong intentions to improve learners’ target language competencies through the exhibition of professional development. all of these llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 319-337 325 findings will be construed more exhaustively with the support of prior research findings and theories devised by educational experts. efl teacher’s sound desire to continue upgrading professional development through professional learning (a story of miss. rina) in the first strand of finding, it is revealed that the first efl teacher whose name is miss. rina, applying pseudonym, mentioned that she enjoyed becoming an english teacher for 9 years in her school institution for she has committed to continually improving her knowledge of subject-specific fields along with pedagogical competencies in such a persistent endeavor. in her view, to be a highquality efl teacher, she should be able to integrate all of her real-time classroom experiences, knowledge, and pedagogical skills into one proliferated trajectory; enhancing learners’ learning performances along with achievements. these arguments resonated well with the previous findings of efl teachers’ professional development studies conducted by hargreaves and fullan (2012), hashimoto and nguyen, (2018), wilden and porsch, (2017). they discovered that efl teachers sustainably rejuvenate their knowledge through a considerable number of professional development training tend to transform into more proficient educators successfully ameliorating the existing learning circumstances become more engaging for learners to learn resulted in gratifying academic achievements. in a similar tone, hammond (2017) along with calvert (2016) also mention that during engaging in their dynamic vocation, efl teachers are commissioned to renew their professional competencies to corroborate their whole capacities as competent educators having promoted substantial influences for their learners’ learning progress. without any doubts, these first teacher’s excerpts also amplified the above-mentioned conceptions of continual professional development: [teacher 1: in the teaching and learning process, teachers are required to be able to communicate their knowledge / abilities well so that they can be accepted by all students who in fact come from various backgrounds that have been mentioned above. in my experience of being a teacher for 9 years, my communication skills have developed quite well, especially in transferring knowledge and what responses i have to give to every difference in student abilities.] [teacher 1: in addition, after being a teacher for 9 years, i feel that my knowledge of the subject i teach has improved both through learning experiences that are carried out continuously in class with students, as well as from collaborations with some teachers of other subjects that has relevance to my subject.] interestingly, the first teacher also confessed that the majority of learners taking part in her classes perceived the english language as an arduous subject heavily influencing their proactive learning engagement throughout the ongoing learning dynamics. for this reason, she insistently boosted her learners’ second language learning engagement through a vast array of learning strategies, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 319-337 326 pleasurable learning activities, and contextual learning assignments. amazingly, the first teacher also cast a higher degree of reverence for all learners possessing distinctive learning proficiency, social, and personality backgrounds, even she highly appreciated learners who have successfully made some little improvements in their learning performances. for her, all of these psychological approaches would enable learners to thrive and strive altogether in their ongoing target language learning processes by valuing their efforts, perseverance, and participation in an enjoyable manner. all of these first teacher’s beliefs are closely interlinked with the theory of professional development postulated by bunyamin and finley (2016) mentioning that to be handicapped as competent and compassionate educators, efl teachers have to be capable of understanding their learners’ specific learning needs, designing appropriate teaching-learning materials, and creating language learning assessments useful to foster the targeted competencies. similarly, indrawati and octoria (2016) also state that efl teachers inculcating a higher level of professionalism are more liable to generate more innovative and creative language learning enterprises for their learners resulted in significant progression of learning dynamics along with educational qualities. to strongly prove all of these paradigms, further excerpts derived from the first teacher can be discerned as follow: [teacher 1: it is expected that students can accept / love english lessons in order to change the stigma that english is difficult. the process of learning english at our place generally only occurs in schools with a limited time, no one takes courses or english private class. so for most students, english is something that difficult to be learned. thus, i also learn how to appreciate even the smallest achievement that they already got in english as well as motivating them to be more confident in learning english.] [teacher 1: i usually observe students' abilities either by using written instruments or from observations in learning activities in class. building students' understanding that differences in the abilities of each student in the class are normal so that bullying does not have to occur when english lessons become difficult to be learned/understood by some of their friends. therefore, i always give them some rules to appreciate each other's learning process.] furthermore, the first teacher admitted that she continually elevates her professional development through proactive engagement in professional learning to promote more significant impacts for her learners’ learning achievements. this belief is inextricably correlated with the theory of professional learning and its powerful impacts on efl teachers’ professional development as proposed by utami and prestridge (2018). they argue that professional learning enables efl teachers to maximize their professional development as educators since it is considered as hearty self-rejuvenation processes potently influencing the professionalism realm compared to authoritative professional training offered by school institutions. another advantageous value of enforcing professional learning throughout their careers is efl teachers can also significantly improve their knowledge, pedagogical, and professional identities since embedded teaching-learning beliefs llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 319-337 327 are sustainably contested through noticeable classroom practices. this argument is in tandem with efl teachers’ professional learning study held by bissonnette and caprino (2015) unearthed that the majority of efl teachers were not able to integrate all of the theoretical and pedagogical practices obtained from formal professional training since they were suggested to take all of the delivered teachinglearning conceptions into their accounts without conducting specific teachinglearning practices. reversely, it was found that through daily-basis teachinglearning dynamics, these teachers had successfully fostered their professional development into the utmost since they had encountered a plethora of opportunities to internalize all of the obtained teaching-learning theories into more massive classroom contexts. these basic tenets of mutual interplays between professional development and professional learning are assented by the first teacher’s excerpts in the following line: [teacher 1: the learning challenges nowadays are getting complex. we have to educate those who live in technology era that called millennial generation. most of them spent their daily life with digital communication which allows them to get many impacts for their life. based on this situation, i think innovations in learning strategies really need to be developed continuously so as not outdated. the innovation itself must be in accordance with students need in this technology era. thus, these updated learning strategies will help teachers for applying them appropriately in the learning process in order to get good outcomes.] as a concluding remark, the first teacher acknowledged four pivotal elements shaping professional educators namely professional, pedagogical, personality, and social competencies. as a concise overview, professional competence denotes teachers’ knowledge mastery of subject-specific fields following educational objectives formulated by their school institutions. pedagogical competency connotes teachers’ capabilities of implementing a vast array of teaching approaches to conduct meaningful teaching-learning practices, personality competency refers to laudable behavior, characters, and conduct showcased by teachers to be imitated by their learners. lastly, social competency deals with teachers’ abilities to be more adaptive to mingle with other colleagues, school stakeholders, learners, and parents more mutually for the benefits of educational advancement. in an indonesian educational context itself, all of these four teacher competencies had been defined in the teachers’ law 14/2005 and government regulation no 19. 2005 (priajana, 2017). based on the first teacher’s accentuation on these four professional teacher competencies, it can be surmised that the first teacher had successfully transformed into more professional educators who are constantly willing to induce holistic, enjoyable, and meaningful efl learning enterprises for learners. these rewarding educational outcomes have taken place since the first teacher is committed to involving herself in professional learning by displaying a wide variety of attempts to underpin the cultivation of professional development through the constant reformation of her knowledge of subject-specific fields as well as pedagogical competencies. as a corollary, both teaching-learning llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 319-337 328 dynamics and educational qualities transpiring in her school institution can be considered as high-quality educational enterprises not merely limited to english subject but also other paramount lessons as well. to bolster this tentative claim, the researcher opted to rely on ongoing professional learning theories adduced by utami (2018) along with lipowsky and rzejak (2015) arguing that efl teachers infusing more robust establishment of professional learning will tend to exert more effortful actions reciprocally supporting their ongoing professional development as educators, and most importantly, they do not only view the inculcation of their professional development as a stepping stone for their future career progression but also holistic educational advancement interests. this rejuvenation of professional development perspectives should have fully resided within efl teachers’ disposals to allow them to be more life-long learners who are always open-minded toward a plethora of advice, suggestions, and criticisms potentially transfiguring them into more professional educators investing a higher degree of commitment and dedication to their particular educational institutions. this is in agreement with the theory of professional development postulated by choy, wong, lim, and chong (2013) stating that efl teachers need to continuously upgrade their professional attributes in terms of subject-based and pedagogical knowledge to transform them into more professional educators holding life-long learning fervor. all of the following excerpts taken from the first teacher also echoes well with the aboveexplained conceptions: [teacher 1: due to the lack of students' mastery of english vocabulary and there is almost no chance for them to practice english continuously, the stigma that english is difficult is increasingly becoming a scourge. to create a fun language learning atmosphere, i tried bringing the real world to my classroom by showing pictures, songs or stories then stimulate them to interact through a number of questions related to the picture, song or story. the questions that were asked could also be related to their surroundings so it can courage them to interact even though it was still in a simple way. besides that, they can also make a video project/ sound recording for it is in accordance with the technology era where they are now.] [teacher 1: i believe that the combination between professional development and professional learning can be released fully when i apply four teacher competencies like pedagogic competence: have good educational insights in order to manage classroom learning activities well both academically and intellectually, personality competence: as a role model for students, teachers need to have positive personal attitudes that their students can emulate, social competence: able to communicate and build good relationships with surroundings/social environment in order to support the success of learning activities, and professional competence: mastering and applying learning principles and knowledge in order to achieve the curriculum target. besides that, there is always an effort to do self-development, creativity and professionalism in creating an effective learning atmosphere.] llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 319-337 329 efl teacher’s strong intentions to improve learners’ target language competencies through the exhibition of professional development (a story of miss. priska) as discerned above, in the second stream of findings, the teacher was persistently attempting to improve her learners’ target language competencies through the tangible deployment of professional development. in her teachinglearning context, she frequently found that the majority of learners were still struggling with english language learning processes due to the lack of actual communicative exposure outside classroom walls and confidence in expressing particular utterances by harnessing the target language. these communal english language learning issues are carefully aligned with the prior findings discovered in mattarima’s and hamdan’s study (2011) of english language learning implemented in indonesia. they unearthed that there was a considerable number of efl learners who encountered serious hindrances in expressing their thoughts by using the target language due to the low quality of english language teaching ventures conducted in school institutions. by committing to determining judicious choices as compassionate and professional educators, the second teacher admitted that she was sustainably willing to dedicate all her efforts, dedication, and extra time allocations to supervise learners confronting laborious english language learning obstructions potentially diminishing their learning endeavor. specifically, the second teacher continually nurtured learners’ english language learning growth through intensive guidance wherein learners were exposed to particular lessons mostly impeding them to help them to achieve the targeted learning outcomes fully. this specimen of action has touched the heart of teachers fulfilling the lofty calling as figures locate a groundwork for young generations’ future lives since the major objective of education is to prepare learners to be agents of change contributing significant impacts to their societies. all these portrayals are tightly interwoven with the findings of efl teachers’ professional development in japanese learning contexts plied by sato, mutoh, and kleinsasser (2019). they highly recommended school institutions in asia to provide more contextual professional development training appropriate with specific language learning vicinities faced by efl teachers to cultivate a more compassionate heart, robust dedication, and renewable teaching skills rewarding to sustain overall learners’ second language learning growth. this finding is also fully assented by yulanto, sudira, and aristya (2018) together with hermans, sloep, and kreijns (2017) regarding the major responsibilities that should be shouldered by efl teachers as professional educators. they consented that teachers can be deemed as professional educators when they have successfully improved the whole learners’ learning achievements to breed a substantial number of competent academicians who can survive and thrive in their working worlds. all of these above-explained findings are in line with the second teacher’s interview excerpts as follow: [teacher 2: my expectations to the students are the students were able to follow the process of learning and understanding the lesson well and able to apply it in the life everyday because i think without practice it well, english can’t touch in their mind. they can’t speak english and never understood that english. as we know english is very important for international world.] llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 319-337 330 [teacher 2: my specific strategies/approaches to that students, i especially give them a special mentoring and more pay attention in studying for example providing additional time to them to re-explain the teaching material until the students understand well. actually, it is not easy but i have to be patient and attentively to them.] moving forward to the further episode of another paramount finding, the second teacher also confessed that pleasurable, meaningful, and fascinating teaching-learning activities are key ingredients to promote proactive learners’ learning engagement, foster their target language competencies, and underpin their learning endeavor. by incorporating all of this positive learning atmosphere, it can be fairly argued that the second teacher had successfully improved her professional development since she had instilled a higher degree of self-motivation to continually revamp her existing teaching-learning methods suitable for ongoing classroom learning contexts to disseminate significant learning improvements for learners. this current belief shared a similar view with the theory of intensive teacher professional development training contrived by murray (2010). he held a strong belief that the inculcation of sound professional development would potentially assist efl teachers to construct more robust confidence in trying out some teaching-learning methods compatible with their learning contexts. as a result, the actualization of these free-will learning strategies will help teachers to overcome various upcoming classroom hurdles and devise more efficient learning solutions for their learners. further, peichang and lin (2013) believe that the continual growth of professional development will fully help efl teachers to not merely come across a wide array of teaching approaches but also transfigure them to be more prudent decision-makers and effective problem-solvers who are capable of erecting holistic learning surroundings for the betterment of learners’ learning progress. after discerning the individual attempts and contributions made by the second teacher to enhance her learners’ target language competencies significantly due to the minimum number of english language exposure discovered outside daily classroom learning dynamics, it is worth suggesting here that educational institutions in indonesia introducing the nature, concepts, and applicable strategies of professional development which can be embedded in teachers’ habitual teaching-learning enterprises to reform all of their possessed knowledge, pedagogical competencies, and existing teaching-learning perspectives met with the standardized demands enacted by globalized educational enterprises. by overlooking all of these actions, indonesian educators, particularly efl teachers may not be capable of implanting more holistic, meaning-making, and contextual teaching-learning dynamics in the presence of their learners for they are constantly relying on their outdated conceptions corresponding with educational values and teaching perspectives. in a similar trajectory, hartono (2016) revealed that there were still a considerable number of efl teachers who do not fully engage in professional development either in formal or informal manners due to the lack of interest and knowledge regarding the significance of this program. he also reasoned that the hectic classroom schedules along with excessive administrative works also played an essential role in this lack of exposure toward teacher professional development training. hence, he advocated indonesian educational institutions providing ample llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 319-337 331 guidance and rehearsals for efl teachers to establish, maintain, and reinforce their professionalism continuously to make them more accustomed to conducting daily self-reflective practices focusing on their teaching perspectives along with classroom practices. in this case, self-reflective activities played a paramount role in reconstructing efl teachers’ professional development since they will always be exuberant in broadening their knowledge of subject-specific fields, committed to bringing about positive shifts in their working circumstances, and establish more intimate rapports with learners to promote more meaningful teaching-learning dynamics. all of these lines of arguments are in concord with the theory of selfreflective practices propounded by permatasari (2018) as well as mann and walsh (2017). they stated that by employing continual self-reflective practices, efl teachers will foster all of the professional attributes needed to be more qualified educators as upgrading relevant knowledge of their specific expertise, inducing more positive social influences for their vocation, and creating more holistic teaching-learning practices in the light of supportive learning environments. these communal frameworks are in harmony with the second teacher’s excerpts in the following lines: [teacher 2: the way i made to promote the enjoyable and meaningful my learning activities for students, i usually design the learning with pictures and videos that draw the appropriate theme of learning or material resource that attract the students’ attention to learn. but sometimes i give them a song to mind set their brain to support their english.] [teacher 2: i usually did it by dividing the students in small groups discussion for a discussion based on a theme or topic of learning, for example formulate the students in one group up to 5 so that the students are involved or engaged and concentrated on the learning process.] [teacher 2: i think with development of times there is necessary to have another strategy in learning to encourage students' interest especially in english subject so that students can enjoy in learning process such as using cellphone for browsing something in internet that related to the theme or topic of learning or may be designing something videos that related to the subject of english. that all make them happy and enjoyable.] in accord with the ultimate finding derived from the second teacher, it is noteworthy to be adduced that a higher degree of reverence toward learners’ learning diversities in terms of knowledge, learning styles, learning preferences, and socio-cultural background also heavily influence further growth of efl teacher’s professional development. put differently, when efl teachers fully acknowledged and appreciated all of these heterogeneities in the teaching-learning contexts, it is not only learners who benefit from this sincere openness but also teachers since their knowledge of subject-specific areas, teaching pedagogy, and personalities will be enhanced as well. these rewarding learning merits are closely interlaced with the theory of learning diversity propounded by tasker (2011) mentioning that by embracing learners’ learning diversity, efl teachers will be llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 319-337 332 able to offer various useful solutions responding to the learning hurdles faced by learners and incriminate learners to be more proactive knowledge disseminators resulted in the overarching constructions of professional development. in an identical study, wu, gao, and zhang (2014) also encouraged efl teachers to consider learners’ learning diversity as one of the indispensable professional elements that needed to be taken into their accounts to establish more positive rapports, interactions and sharing with learners potentially open up a renewable teaching-learning horizon fruitful to be internalized for the upcoming learning ventures. concerning all of these positivities, it is of primary importance for efl teachers to embrace this inevitable diversity found in every learning context to be more creative and innovative teachers who are persistently attempting to try out varied learning methods, be good role models for their learners concerning their saying along with actions, and lastly be supportive learning facilitators capable of designing suitable learning materials, holding up righteous classroom regulations, and managing the classroom learning processes. the above-mentioned argument found support from the theory of effective learning proposed by ramdhani, ancok, swasono, and suryanto (2012) arguing that efl teachers can be attributed as professional educators only if they are capable of maintaining the robust inculcation of positive learning nuances in a long term trajectory through meaningful sharing, direct openness, and extensive caring cast to learners possessing distinctive learning backgrounds. to restate, by embodying all of the aforementioned procedures regarding the exact strategies to be more professional educators consistently catering to learners’ learning needs and future life ventures, it is worth emphasizing here that robust professional development training should be taken place throughout their continuing teaching vocation journeys indicating that teachers possessing a higher level of professionalism prone to foster their attitude, behaviors, and competencies directly interlinked with their teaching-learning practices eventually resulted in the conspicuous educational enterprises exhaustive transformation touching upon the specific learners’ learning progression. this conception is also in the perspective of vangrieken, meredith, packer, and kyndt (2017) presumed that since efl teachers were able to improve their whole professional competencies in terms of knowledge, behavior, and commitment, their educational institutions will also reap fruitful impacts concerning the significant advancement of the implemented teachinglearning ventures. eventually, the following excerpts derived from the second teacher also confirmed those prior explained conceptions: [teacher 2: i think the most important thing i learned during teaching the students, first i have to know the character my students and the second, to know my students’ abilities academic that they have before and after. most importantly, teachers must know how to cope the character of the students who are not good and find a strategy to improve the academic ability.] [teacher 2: in my opinion, it is not all the learners succeed because each learner or student has different learning abilities and interests. understand the psychological development of students. thus, by understanding the psychological llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 319-337 333 development of them, we can find a strategy to confront or deal the students who are not serious in learning and the students who has character not good in learning. i also need to understand the students’ background e.g. where the student comes from, how his family's economy is, and how his family lives.] conclusion to summarize more broadly, it is indicated that two efl teachers having experienced longer length of teaching experiences in frater don bosco senior high school lewoleba also concurrently foster their professional development into more robust cultivation due to the extensive caring, dedication, perseverance, and resilience in preparing learners for the better future through holistic educational practices. reversely, it is also recommended for indonesian educational institutions spread all around this archipelago to provide more intensive, contextual, and supportive professional development training programs for indonesian educators to supplement their ongoing professionalism attributes comprising of knowledge, behavior, attitude, and dedication utilitarian for the advancement of educational systems crystallized in the forms of high-quality teaching-learning enterprises. for those researchers intending to conduct identical investigations in similar areas, it is well-advised for them to conduct more intensive exploratory studies probing more profoundly about the relationships among efl teachers’ resilience, identities, and professional identities responsible for the further growth of their professional development in varied language learning vicinities. further, future researchers can also involve a 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(2014). chinese efl teachers' social interaction, socio-cognitive presence in synchronous computer-mediated https://doi.org/10.21070/jees.v5i2.964 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.12.134 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2012.664755 https://doi.org/10.1177%2f1362168819893814 https://dx.doi.org/10.2991/icemal-16.2016.94 https://doi.org/10.23887/jpi-undiksha.v7i2.15650 http://dx.doi.org/10.15639/teflinjournal.v29i2/245-265 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2016.10.001 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 319-337 337 communication. language learning & technology, 18(3), 228-254. http://dx.doi.org/10125/44392 wulyani, a. n., elgort, i., & coxhead, a. (2019). exploring efl teachers’ english language proficiency: lessons from indonesia. indonesian journal of applied linguistics, 9(2), 263-274. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v9i2.20217 yulanto, d. m., sudira, p., & aristya, p. d. (2018). quality of continuous professional development for automotive engineering productive teachers. jurnal pendidikan teknologi dan kejuruan, 24(2), 192-197. https://doi.org/10.21831/jptk.v24i2.20023 http://dx.doi.org/10125/44392 https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v9i2.20217 https://doi.org/10.21831/jptk.v24i2.20023 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 82-92 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 82 language barriers in visiting lecturer program for non english speaking students wulandari putri universitas pendidikan indonesia correspondence: wulandari.putri.d@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.3952 received 10 december 2021; accepted 29 april 2022 abstract the increased use of video conference platforms provides opportunities to invite foreign lecturers to give lectures virtually. despite of beneficial impacts, inviting foreign lecturers might bring challenges to students using english as a foreign language. therefore, this study was aimed at examining challenges faced by nonenglish speaking students in attending visiting lecturer classes delivered in english and the potential strategy. the study was an exploratory study conducted in a university in indonesia. the study involved 118 students from a study program taken from two courses. data were collected through observation and questionnaire. findings show that language became one of the most challenging barriers in understanding the materials, mostly due to speaking speed of the lecturers and the lack of vocabulary. the lecture summary provided by in-class lecturers could be an alternative to improve learning process. findings also indicate that the visiting lecturer program could improve students’ language proficiency, especially their vocabulary and listening comprehension. it concludes that visiting lecturer program has a potential to improve students’ language proficiency. however, it is important to provide strategies to help students comprehend the material, such as allocating time for providing a brief summary of the lectures in the student first or second language. keywords: english as foreign language, english proficiency, guest lecture, non-english speaking students, visiting lecturer introduction education is one of the domains experiencing a dramatic shift into the online mode of transaction in the current covid-19 pandemic (de, pandey, & pal, 2020). to deal with the current situation, educational institutions should face digital transformations and being challenged to select platforms and resources to support online education (țurcanu, siminiuc, & bostan, 2020). in the difficult time, educational institutions were supported by large companies, such as microsoft, zoom, google, and slack to conduct the online learning (țurcanu et al., 2020). from the beginning of the closure, universities, colleges, and schools around the world have shifted their classes into video conferencing platforms, such as google meet and zoom (de et al., 2020). therefore, there has been a significant surge of https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.3952 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 82-92 83 the usage of language application, video conferencing tool, online learning software, and virtual tutoring since covid-19 pandemic occurred (xie & siau, 2020). the familiarity and ease of utilizing technology, especially video conferencing platforms, has provided an opportunity to universities to invite foreign lecturers from different country to give lectures in the courses related to their expertise. the information and communication technology enables a faster response by supporting mass collaborations and large-scale participation across the state and national boundary (yang et al., 2020). thus, through the online meeting, the visiting lecturers could give online lecture from their home country. it shows that the access to the right technologies could help people harvest the advantages of online education to improve learning efficiency (xie & siau, 2020), one of those is a wider possibility to invite a foreign visiting lecturer to give a lecture virtually. inviting a guest into a classroom to give a lecture would give a different experience for students. the involvement of classroom visitors has long become a practice to enhance acquisition of learning and content delivery in education (fulton, 2020). inviting a guest with a suitable expertise would have benefits to the classroom, such as bringing relevance to the classroom and engaging in students in the learning process (li & guo, 2015), providing the opportunity to graduate students to link theories with practice (alebaikan, 2016), and encouraging discussion and wider critical thinking for further embedding academic and professional concepts in learning design in the classroom (fulton, 2020). in addition, the results of the survey conducted by (nikolayeva, 2018) demonstrated the essential role of guest speaker presentations on the positive impact of students’ motivation and their project. there are various factors supporting the efficacy of teaching learning process in the classroom, one of them is language. language is one of the vital vehicles used by teachers to deliver the lesson which enables students to participate in the lessons and communicate in the wider community in school (cassar & attard tonna, 2019). the need to understand what other people convey is a basic necessity in communication (cassar & attard tonna, 2019). therefore, the inability to understand what a lecturer says in a foreign language, in this case english language, could be a problem to grasp the material and participate in the classroom interaction during the lecturing process. (ryoo et al., 2020), in their research, identified that the language barrier was found as an inconvenience in visiting scholar program. the language barriers cover different aspects. the study of (madkur, 2018) found that the barriers could be classified into three problems, including linguistic problem (lack of vocabularies), socio-cultural problem (no opportunity to practice english), and interpersonal problem (fear of making mistakes and lack of confidence). moreover, difficulties in understanding lectures could be in form of cognitive challenges, where it is difficult for non-native speaker to process and produce messages in a foreign language (aichhorn & puck, 2017), the speed of the speakers speech, and their accents (kuo, 2011). during the pandemic, where the virtual classroom and the utilization of video conference platforms are familiar, the opportunity to invite lecturers and professors from different countries to give an online lecture has been widely open. in higher education, when distance learning is getting more popular, the student engagement is becoming a great challenge (li & guo, 2015). for this reason, a visiting lecturer program have a potential to engage in student and motivate their learning in the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 82-92 84 classroom. different studies show that inviting a guest into a classroom to teach have benefits for student learning. (fulton, 2020) study showed that inviting eguests from different regions offer learners an opportunity to learn from the experts they might not have access in the traditional classroom. according to (li & guo, 2015), a guest lecture has a potential to gain students’ interests and involvement in the class as well as bringing relevance to the class. furthermore, the study of (nikolayeva, 2018) found that the survey results conducted in their study presented the importance of guest speaker presentations on the students’ motivation. however, studies conducted related to student language difficulties in attending the class delivered in foreign language, in this case english language, and the intervention to improve their language skill in joining the class are limited. therefore, this study was aimed at answering the following question: what are the students’ major difficulties in joining visiting lecturer lectures and the possible strategy to bridge the barriers? method research design this study is an exploratory study. the exploratory study was conducted as the present research studied the new phenomena which required an in-depth analysis of the data found in the field. participants the participants of the study were 118 physical education teacher education (pete) for elementary school students of a public university in indonesia who were joining visiting lecturer program from two different courses. the students spoke indonesian language or indonesia local language in their daily life. the participants were selected through a total sampling to gain a general depiction of the data. however, the data were only taken from the participants who were willing to participate in the study and those who gave agreement to the researcher to use their answers as the research data. research instruments and procedure the instruments of the study were self-administered open-ended questionnaire and observation. the questionnaire was distributed from 13 october 2020 to 19 october 2020 to pete for elementary school students joining visiting lecturer program. the questionnaire was distributed online through google form. the students completing the questionnaire came from two different courses, including psychological and sociological aspects in physical education and measurement and evaluation in physical education instruction. a lecture summary in indonesia language was provided right after the class by in-class lecturers. the observation was conducted during the lecture. the visiting lecture program was conducted for eight meetings in each course. the visiting lecturer lectures were conducted online through an interactive virtual meeting (zoom). the lecturers were foreign lecturers from different countries and different universities speaking english. the invited lecturers were selected according to their expertise. the expertise was examined by considering their research background and record related to the offered courses. for example, the expert in sport psychology was invited to teach psychological and sociological aspects in physical education llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 82-92 85 course. the in-class lecturers assisted the guest lecturer during the meeting. in the classroom, the guest lecturers gave the lectures, but the overall responsibility for the class remains in the hands of the classroom lecturers which is in line with the statement of (tepper, 2016). research analysis the analysis of the study was conducted using descriptive statistics and an inductive analysis to answer the research aim, including the language barriers in joining visiting lecturer lectures and the possible strategy. the inductive analysis included three stages. the first stage of the data analysis process was categorizing and coding the data. the next stage was interpreting the data followed by drawing a general conclusion. in the categorizing and coding stage, the data were categorized into two sections, namely barriers and the possible strategy. each section was then divided into subsections according to the obtained data. each section and subsection were coded after the categorizing process was completed. the data were then calculated for their frequency and percentage followed by the interpretation stage. lastly, the general conclusion was generated according to the interpretation of the data. data cleaning and selection the questionnaire was distributed online to students from two courses conducting visiting lecturer programs. there were 127 respondents completing the questionnaire. the data cleaning process was conducted to assure that the data were complete, not duplicated, and the respondents permitted the researcher to use the data for research purposes. after the data cleaning and selection process, data from 118 participants could be processed for analysis. data from 9 respondents were eliminated because the data cannot be further processed for analysis as the respondents did not allow the data to be used in the research or the data were incomplete or duplicated. therefore, only data from 118 participants that were analysed in this study. findings and discussion findings the visiting lecturer program in the study was a visiting lecturer program designed for eight meetings by inviting foreign lecturers from the related expertise needed in the course. the finding shows that the majority of the students (84,6%) were interested in joining the program. only a few of students (15,4%) who were not interested to join the program. the study was conducted to find out challenges faced by students related to language in joining visiting lecturer program delivered in english and a possible strategy to improve their learning during the lecture. the result of the data analysis shows that language became the major barrier in attending the lecture compared to other challenges, including technical challenges. the data are shown in figure 1. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 82-92 86 figure 1. barriers in virtual visiting lecture program meanwhile, the barriers in comprehending the material during the lectures involved six factors, including understanding general information, vocabulary, listening comprehension related to pronunciation, speaking speed, and misinterpretation of the speech. the main barrier faced by most students was the lack of vocabulary (64.7%), followed by the speaking speed of the lecturers (58.6%). the complete data are shown in figure 2. figure 2. language barriers in comprehending the materials to lessen the language barriers in comprehending the materials given, the lecturers then provided a summary of the lectures at the end of each session to clarify their understanding. most of the students (94,9%) stated that this strategy helped them in comprehending the materials. in addition, most of them (88%) also reported that the inviting guest lecture program delivered in english language could improve their ability in understanding lectures delivered in english language. it was because the program could improve some aspects related to their english language proficiency, especially their familiarity with listening to english language (listening skills), stated by 72.5% of the students, and enriching their vocabulary (48,6%). the complete data are shown in figure 3. 89,70% 23,90% 36,80% 13,70% 52,10% language technical problems internet quota environment internet coverage 47,40% 64,70% 47,40% 58,60% 33,60% understanding general information vocabulary listening comprehension related to pronunciation speaking speed misinterpret the speech llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 82-92 87 figure 3. student perceptions on their english language improvements the result of the data analysis shows that language became the main barriers in attending the visiting lecturer lectures for non-english speaking students in higher education. despite language as the main barrier of the program, the finding indicates that the program contributed positively to the improvement of the students’ language proficiency. further explanation is presented in discussion section. discussion the intense visiting lecture program, conducted in eight meetings, was a new program conducted by the study program studied in this research. the finding of the study shows that the majority of the students were interested to join in visiting lecturer program provided by their study program. as stated by (krogstie & krogstie, 2018), in a course, guest lectures are often an inspiring and welcoming event, which has a potential to demonstrate the real-life relevance of the syllabus. it is also in line with (nikolayeva, 2018) who states that the guest speaker presentation is influential for the student project and has a positive impact on their motivation. the high of student motivation and interest might be because guest lecturing has become a popular method to bring relevance to the classroom and engage in students which has the potential make student more involved and more interested in the class (li & guo, 2015). however, providing a visiting lecture program also has challenges. therefore, inviting a guest lecture into a classroom should be planned carefully. there are three issues to consider for a successful visiting lecturer program, starting from the lecturer selection, teaching strategy of the speaker, to the role of the course lecturer (alebaikan, 2016). the findings of (purnomolastu & nabila, 2014) study showed that the competence of the invited lecturers are significantly related to student positive satisfactory. in the current study, the finding shows that the most challenging barriers in conducting the virtual visiting lecturer program was the language. it is in line with (ryoo et al., 2020) that, in visiting scholar, the language barrier was identified as a disadvantage. moreover, relevant to other program using foreign language, language will be an obstacle for those who lack of the language 48,60% 39,40% 72,50% 33,90% 8,30% vocabulary pronunciation listening comprehension speaking skill other skills llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 82-92 88 used. as was found in the research of (liu & jiang, 2015), most interviewees recognized that the inconvenience in using the english language is the major challenge. the finding of this study indicated that there were three major challenges related to the language, including vocabulary, speaking speed, and the ability in understanding the meaning. it is relevant to the research of (kuo, 2011) who found that the speed of talk and accents were the aspects affecting the difficulties in understanding lectures. it is also in line with other studies that the major english language challenges faced by students were their listening comprehension and speaking (oral proficiency) (kuo, 2011; liu & jiang, 2015) and vocabulary (madkur, 2018). understanding what the lecturer says during the lecture is the basic need to comprehend the materials, because the need to understand what a person says is fundamental (cassar & attard tonna, 2019). therefore, when the student could not understand what the lecturer said, it would be difficult for them to master the delivered learning content. this might be because the language barrier might be correlated with cognitive process. in the cognitive process, to comprehend a matter, a person firstly needs to understand the message conveyed by the speaker to process the meaning. therefore, the challenge can make it difficult for non-natives to process and produce messages in a foreign language (aichhorn & puck, 2017). moreover, the students lack of vocabulary, understanding the meaning, and speaking speed might be because the students did not have an adequate exposure to english language and lack of opportunity to practice in their daily life. the result of classroom observation shows that the students were less interactive during the lecture. it might be because of the language barrier they faced. language barriers between newcomer english learners and teachers may lead to insuperable obstacles in building relationships (flint, dollar, & stewart, 2018). it might manifest in withdrawal, communication avoidance, and code-switching (aichhorn & puck, 2017) due to the lack of confidence and fear of making mistakes (madkur, 2018). those communicative behaviors can have a considerable impact on their interpersonal communication which would affect both the relationship dimension and content dimension (aichhorn & puck, 2017). their insufficient language proficiency might also limit their participation in class (liu & jiang, 2015) and pose academic challenges, including their communication with lecturers and classmates (wu, garza, & guzman, 2015). meanwhile, language and social interaction are vital for the maturation process and intercultural awareness and for enabling the adjustment to differences (ventura, mill, mendes, de brito, & johnson, 2017). the invited lecturers seemed to notice the student difficulties in participating in the lecture discussion. they tried to initiate discussion and give thinking time for students to give an answer in discussion. by the time, the students tried to be more interactive during the discussion session. it shows that engaging students in literacy activities would build relationship with the lecturers (flint et al., 2018). in addition, it is also relevant to the research of (haussler, paavilainen, & åstedt-kurki, 2003) that teacher encouragement and challenge to speak up in class are important for students. thus, in inviting a guest lecture, we should also consider their ability to engage with students (fulton, 2020). the invited lecturer encouragement seemed to help students in participating in classroom activities. to ensure that the students understood the lecture content, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 82-92 89 a summary after the lecture was given by the in-class lecturer after the session delivered in indonesia language, in each meeting for the total eight meetings. the finding shows that most of the students thought that it was helpful. it shows that the teacher role is even more essential when students are studying in a foreign language (haussler et al., 2003). in addition, it is also relevant to (tepper, 2016) statement that for the class, the overall responsibility still remains in the hands of the classroom professor. at the end of the guest lecture program, the students perceived that the program could improve their english language, especially related to vocabulary enrichment (47,9%) and listening comprehension improvement (72,6%). the improvement might be because the students intensively gained exposure to english language. according to (kozhevnikova, 2019), studies conducted by numerous scholars have proven that there is an evident correlation between language exposure and second language acquisition, which also involves vocabulary acquisition. the classroom can have a function as a formal and informal linguistic environment which would be beneficial for students (kozhevnikova, 2019). in the present study, the exposure to english language and the linguistic environment were provided in the lecturing program involving visiting lecturers delivering the content in english language for eight meeting for each course. thus, the students had an intensive exposure for at least eight weeks. the student improvement was also perceived in their listening comprehension. it might also because of the exposure to the english language. according to the findings of the research conducted by (zoubi, 2018), the statistical analysis concurred that there are positive relationships between language acquisition and exposure to english language in increasing the four language skills. moreover, the improvement of student english language comprehension might intertwine with their vocabulary improvement (alqahtani, 2015; susanto, 2017). as stated by (kozhevnikova, 2019), mastering wider vocabulary knowledge becomes an important step for acquiring a foreign language and becoming a proficient foreign language speaker. inviting a guest lecture into a classroom will have benefits for the students. besides providing potential for enhancing student learning by bringing their expertise to the classroom (fulton, 2020), other benefits might follow. in this research, other harvested benefits included the student improvements in their english language proficiency. it shows that the visiting lecture program delivered in english language for non-english speaking students could enhance the student specific english language proficiency, especially for enriching their vocabulary and improving their listening comprehension. it indicates that inviting foreign lecturers might not only enhance the student learning in the target course, but also improve their english language proficiency. however, this study only relied on the student perception. the study was not conducted in experimental design nor tested the significance of the difference of the improvement, hence the significance of the improvement perceived by the students cannot be generalized. for this reason, it is important for further research to analyse the significance of the improvement and to examine the effect of language barriers in attending the lectures on the student material comprehension. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 82-92 90 conclusion visiting lecturer program was perceived as an interesting program for the participants involved in the program. during the lectures, language became one of the most challenging barriers in joining visiting lecturer program delivered in english language for non-english speaking students. the barriers were mostly caused by the lack of vocabulary and the speed of the lecturer speaking. giving a summary of the lecture in indonesia language could be one of alternative to strengthen the student comprehension of the delivered materials. in addition, the visiting lecturer program seemed to have a beneficial impact on the student english language proficiency, especially for their vocabulary and their listening comprehension. however, it is important to consider strategies to clarify students’ understanding related to the content delivered. one of those is by allocating a special time to give a brief summary of the lecture by in-class lecturers in students’ first or second language. acknowledgment this research does not receive any funding from any organization or institution. the researcher would like to deliver sincere gratitude to all parties involved in the study. references aichhorn, n., & puck, j. 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(2018). the impact of exposure to english language on language acquisition. journal of applied linguistics and language research, 5(4), 151–162. retrieved from www.jallr.com llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 401 students’ perceptual english learning style: major and minor preferences in higher education muhammad arif1, muhammad danial2 and nurhaeni3 universitas sulawesi barat, indonesia muh.arif192@gmail.com; muhammad_danial@unsulbar.ac.id; nurhaeni@unsulbar.ac.id correspondence: doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.3499 received 4 july 2021; accepted 31 october 2021 abstract every students have different ways in collecting, processing, and understanding information. those refers to the preferences of students in learning or known as learning styles. therefore, this study aimed to identify and recognize the students’ major and minor perceptual learning style preferences in english education department at universitas sulawesi barat. this research was used quantitative approach by using survey design. this research was conducted in english education department at universitas sulawesi barat with 79 respondents or college students who were selected by saturated sampling. the data of this research were collected by using reid’s (1987) perceptual learning style preferences questionnaire (plspq). the data were analysed with self-scoring based on reid (1978) and descriptive statistic by using spss software statistic version 20. the findings of the research shows the averages of the learning style of college students in english education department at universitas sulawesi barat the year 2019 was categorized as none major perceptual learning styles preference. on the other hand, they were categorized as minor perceptual learning styles preference, in which kinaesthetic learning style had highest mean with (37.84) than another learning style, and followed by group learning style with mean (37.67), tactile with mean (36.91), auditory with mean (36.55), visual with mean (35.87), and individual learning style with mean (34.73). even though they were categorized as minor perceptual learning styles preference, but the students still be able to learn better by their high minor condition. keywords: identifying, learning style preference, plspq introduction teaching and learning are both of process between transferring and understanding information in the classroom by educator and students. therefore, educator or teacher should be able to provide a good learning environment in order to make students be able to learn more comfortable in learning. such as statement by iskandawasid & sunendar (2013:153) in hardiana (2018) state that teacher has responsibility in creating a conducive learning environment for students’ effective and efficiency in learning. instead, every students have different ways in collecting, processing, and understanding information. those llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 402 refer to the preferences of students in learning or known as learning styles. as the statement of khatib (2013) learners have different strength and preferences in the way they collect, process, and recognize information into useful knowledge (learning styles). thus that a lot of researcher believe such as theory of reid (1995) mentioned in khalil and sabir (2019) state that some people learn mainly with visual, some others learn by hearing or auditory, and some other prefer in learning with kinaesthetic, and by “hands-on” or with tactile. he also said that people learn better when they work individually or by themselves, while other people learn better when they work in group. therefore, learners need to recognize their own learning styles preferences in case it can be effected to the learning process and learning achievement result. such as theory of khatib (2013) “recognizing learning styles by learners will aids teachers, instructors, adults, educators, course designers, program and training developers to develop a curriculum and address individual learning needs”. however, learners frequently still to be passive while in learning, such as theories of farina & yawat (2010) and nawir (2016) which found that learners still often to be passive and got more low score in language learning which caused of unawareness learning style by learners and the mismatch of teaching style by lecture to the unique students’ learning styles. beside the issues, the researcher also found the similar case in english education department at universitas sulawesi barat which were students still to be passive in learning.it was caused by the mismatch of unawareness teaching style by lecture and learning style by learners. therefore, this research had objectives to find out the major and minor learning style preferences of college students in english education departmenxcxct at universitas sulawesi barat. two research questions to guide this study are: 1. what are the major students’ perceptual learning style preferences in english department of education at universitas sulawesi barat? 2. what are the minor students’ perceptual learning style preferences in english department of education at universitas sulawesi barat? method participant this research was conducted in english education department at universitas sulawesi barat. for the population of this research as the sampling frame included all classes in english education department at universitas sulawesi barat the year 2019 that consist of three classes. as the statement of creswell (2012:142a) defined population is “a group of individuals who have the same characteristic”. meanwhile, creswell (2012:142b) also defined a target population (sampling frame) as “a group of individuals (or a group of organizations) with some common defining characteristic that the researcher can identify and study”. therefore, for the sampling technique of this research used saturated sampling in case the researcher used all of the total population to be studied that consist of 79 college students in three classes. as the statement of arikunto (2012:104) saturated sampling is used if the total of the population selected to be studied, in which the condition of population is less than a hundred, and if the population is more than a hundred, a sample can be selected from 10-15% or 20-25% from the population. in addition, sugiyono (2013:85) defined saturated sampling as a llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 403 technique of selecting a sample if the total of population is selected to be a sample. this research used quantitative approach with descriptive survey design. as the statement of dr. y.p. agarwal (2008) as cited in (salaria, 2012) “descriptive research is devoted to the gathering of information about prevailing conditions or situations for the purpose of description and interpretation”. meanwhile, creswell (2012, 376) defined survey design are “procedures in quantitative research in which investigators administer a survey to a sample or to the entire population of people to describe the attitudes, opinions, behaviours, or characteristic of the population”. and then the researcher interpret the meaning of the data by relating results of the statistical test back to last research studies. to collect the data, the researcher created web-based survey or online questionnaire based on reid’s (1987) by using google form. the form of questionnaire were distributed by using a link to the respondents. as the statement of creswell (2018:385) “webbased questionnaire is a survey instrument for collecting data that is available on the computer”. in addition, by using web-based questionnaire survey can gather extensive data quickly, employ tested forms and sample questions rather than having to design them, and take advantage of the extensive use of the web by individuals today, including its use as a site for social networking (creswell, 2012:385). as the statement of (sugiyono, 2018) instrument of research is used to measure a value of a variable. therefore, the researcher used perceptual learning style preference questionnaire (plspq) by reid (1987) to measure the college students perceptual learning styles preference which were visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile, group, and individual learning. the questionnaire was consisted of 30 questions, and each of the questions are represented five questions of learning style preferences and every question in the questionnaire randomized in order to make learners could not draw to specific learning styles. in addition, the questionnaire was based on likert scale as the statement of sugiyono (2018:134) likert scale is used to measure attitudes, opinions, and perception of somebody or people that related to the social phenomenon. technique of data analysis is used to answers the research questions or used to test a hyphotheis that have been formulated in research (sugiyono, 2018:333). therefore, the data of questionnaires were analysed by using spss software statistic which were descriptive statistic and self scorring based on reid (1987). findings and discussion the data obtained through of distributing reid’s (1987) perceptual learning style preference questionnaire to the respondents, in which the questionnaire based on likert scale that have range from 1 up to 5. the range explained as (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = undecided, 4 = agree, and 5 = strongly agree). meanwhile, every number of questions in the questionnaire represent 5 perceptual learning style were visual learning at number (6, 10, 12, 24, 29), auditory learning at number (1, 7, 9, 17, 20), kinaesthetic learning at number (2, 8, 15, 19, 26), tactile learning at number (11, 14, 16, 22, 25), group learning at number (3, 4, 5, 21, 23) and individual learning at number (13, 18, 27, 28, 30). moreover, to calculate and determine the data of questionnaire it was used self-scoring by reid’s were the sum of each category of learning style namely visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, tactile, group and individual learning were multiply llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 404 by two, and the result of multiplication could be classified into major, minor, or negligible learning style preference. therefore, the range of perceptual learning style preference showed in the table as follow: table 1. the range of learning style preferences categories major learning style preference 40-50 minor learning style preference 25-39 negligible 0-24 analysis of every learning style after the researcher collected the data from the respondent. the data were calculated by using self-scoring by reid’s (1987) and continued analyse the data with descriptive analysis. moreover, after the data analysed by self-scoring based on reid’s (1987), then the data of questionnaire analysed with descriptive statistic by using spss software statistic version 20.the result of the data analysis can be seen by the tables as follow: table 2. showed the mean results of each learning style in which none of learning styles of college students at universitas sulawesi barat the year 2019 categorized as major perceptual learning style preference based on the table of descriptive statistic. meanwhile, the table of descriptive statistic (table 2.) showed that all of learning style categorized as minor perceptual learning style preference, in which kinaesthetic learning style had highest mean with (37.84) than another learning style, and followed by group learning style with mean (37.67), tactile with mean (36.91), auditory with mean (36.55), visual with mean (35.87), and individual learning style with mean (34.73). meanwhile, because of every perceptual learning style in plspq questionnaire consisted five questions or statements which represented the learning style, the researcher decided to looking for which questions who had mostly chosen by the respondents. therefore, the researcher adopted a table criteria from muhidin and abdurahman (2007) as cited in hilyatun (2017) to identify that. the table showed as follow: table 2. the result of data analysis with descriptive statistic n range minimu m maximu m mean std. deviation variance visual 79 24.0 24.0 48.0 35.873 4.8181 23.215 tactile 79 20.0 28.0 48.0 36.911 4.4237 19.569 auditory 79 26.0 24.0 50.0 36.557 4.8563 23.583 group 79 20.0 28.0 48.0 37.671 4.1686 17.377 kinesthetic 79 26.0 24.0 50.0 37.848 5.1118 26.130 individual 79 30.0 20.0 50.0 34.734 6.4940 42.172 valid n (listwise) 79 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 405 table 3. the descriptive analysis criteria score category range description analysis 1.00 – 1.79 1.80 – 2.59 2.60 – 3.39 3.40 – 4.19 4.20 – 5.00 strongly low low sufficient high strongly high adopted from (abdurahman, 2007) in (hilyatun, 2017) furthermore, these table as follow showed which questions of every perceptual learning style that consisted five questions were mostly chosen by the respondent. the table can be seen as follows: table 4. showed that among five questions or statements in visual learning style were college students as visual learning mostly chose at statements 12, “i understand better when i read instructions myself” with mean (3.97) in which categorized as high as it showed in table 4. the descriptive analysis criteria, and followed by statement 6, “i learn better by reading what teacher writes on the whiteboard” with mean (3.81), statement 10, “when i read instruction, i remember them better” with mean (3.58), and statement 24, “i learn better by seeing the directions than by listening to someone” with mean (3.54). meanwhile, statement 29, “i learn more by reading textbooks than by listening to lecturer.” with mean (3.01) which categorized as sufficient. the table 5. shows that college students which auditory learning mostly chose question or statement 7, “when someone tell me how to do something in the class, i learn better” with mean (3.94) which categorized as high, and followed by statement 1, “when the teacher tells me the instructions i understand better” with mean (3.73), statement 20, “i learn better in class when i listen to someone” with mean (3.64), statement 9, “i remember things i have heard in class better table 4. the description of visual learning style statement statements n min max mean i learn better by reading what teacher writes on the whiteboard. 79 3.00 5.00 3.8101 when i read instruction, i remember them better. 79 2.00 5.00 3.5823 i understand better when i read instructions myself. 79 1.00 5.00 3.9747 i learn better by seeing the directions than by listening to someone. 79 2.00 5.00 3.5443 i learn more by reading textbooks than by listening to lecturer. 79 1.00 5.00 3.0127 table 5. the description of auditory learning style statement statements n min max mean when the teacher tells me instructions i understand better. 79 2.00 5.00 3.7342 when someone tells me how to do something in the class, i learn better. 79 2.00 5.00 3.9494 i remember things i have heard in class better than things i have read. 79 1.00 5.00 3.4810 i learn better in class when the teacher gives a lecture. 79 1.00 5.00 3.4684 i learn better in class when i listen to someone. 79 2.00 5.00 3.6456 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 406 than things i have heard” with mean (3.48), statement 17, “i learn better in class when the teacher gives a lecture” with mean (3.4). meanwhile, table 6. shows that college students which kinaesthetic learning mostly chose at questions or statement 8, “when i make things in class, i learn better” in which categorized as high mean (4.06) than another statements and followed by statement 26, “i learn best in class when i can participate in related activities” with mean (3.96), statement 15, “i enjoy learning in the class by doing experiment” with mean (3.87), statement 19, “i understand things better in class when i participate in role-play” with mean (3.72), while statement 2, “i prefer to learn by moving around and doing something in class” categorized as sufficient with mean (3.27) table 7. shows that college students who had characteristic as tactile learning mostly chose at question or statement 11, “i learn more when i can make a model of something” with mean (3.79) in which categorized as high, and followed by statement 16, “i learn better when i make drawings as i study” with mean (3.73), while statement 22 and 25, “when i build something, i remember what i have learned better” and “i enjoy making something for a class project” had the same mean (3.65), and statement 14, “i learn more when i make something for class project” with mean (3.60). table 8. shows that college students who had characteristic and prefer in group learning mostly chose question or statement 23, “i prefer to study with others” with mean (3.94) in which categorized as high, and followed by statement table 6. the description of kinaesthetic learning style statement statements n min max mean i prefer to learn by moving around and doing something in class 79 1.00 5.00 3.2785 when i make things in class, i learn better. 79 2.00 5.00 4.0633 i enjoy learning in the class by doing experiments. 79 2.00 5.00 3.8734 i understand things better in class when i participate in role-play 79 2.00 5.00 3.7215 i learn best in class when i can participate in related activities 79 2.00 5.00 3.9620 table 7. the description of tactile learning style statement statements n min max mean i learn more when i can make a model of something. 79 2.00 5.00 3.7975 i learn more when i make something for class project. 79 2.00 5.00 3.6076 i learn better when i make drawings as i study. 79 2.00 5.00 3.7342 when i build something, i remember what i have learned better. 79 2.00 5.00 3.6582 i enjoy making something for a class project. 79 1.00 5.00 3.6582 table 8. the description of group learning style statement statements n min max mean i get more work done when i work with others. 79 2.00 5.00 3.9114 i learn more when i study with a group. 79 2.00 5.00 3.6709 in class, i learn best when i work with others. 79 2.00 5.00 3.5696 i enjoy working on an assignment with two or three classmates. 79 2.00 5.00 3.7342 i prefer to study with others. 79 3.00 5.00 3.9494 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 407 3, “i get more work done when i work with others” with mean (3.91), statement 21, “i enjoy working on an assignment with two or three classmates” with mean (3.73), statement 4, “i learn more when i study with a group” with mean (3.67), and statement 5, “in class, i learn best when i work with others.” with mean (3.56). table 9. shows that college students who had characteristic and prefer in individual learning mostly chose question or statement 13, “when i study alone, i remember things better” in which categorized as high with mean (3.89) and followed by statement 18, “when i work alone, i learn better” with mean (3.82), statement 30, “in general i prefer to work by myself” with mean (3.37), while statement 27 and 28, “in class i work better when i work alone” and “i prefer working on projects by myself” in which categorized as sufficient with mean (3.21) and (3.07). individually analysis on students’ major learning style this results of data analysis were showed the percentages by diagrams on analysis individually from students were categorized as major learning style, in which consisted of two kinds as follow: students which have only one dominant learning style. based on the table percentage, the researcher illustrated the table into chart diagram which described the total of students who have one dominant learning style preferences. the diagram showed as follow: figure 1 the diagram percentage of students who had only one dominant learning style table 9. the description of individual learning style statement statements n min max mean when i study alone, i remember things better. 79 2.00 5.00 3.8987 when i work alone, i learn better. 79 2.00 5.00 3.8228 in class i work better when i work alone. 79 1.00 5.00 3.2152 i prefer working on projects by myself. 79 1.00 5.00 3.0759 in general i prefer to work by myself. 79 1.00 5.00 3.3797 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 408 the diagram shows that the students of group learning style had highest percentage rather than other learning style with 12,50 %, then followed by tactile and individual with percentage 6,25 %, and kinaesthetic learning style with percentage 4.69 % of students. students which have more than one dominant learning style. based on the table percentage, the researcher illustrated the table into chart diagram which described the total of students who have more than one dominant learning style preferences. the diagram showed as follow: figure 2. diagram percentage of students who had more than one dominant learning style. the diagram shows the percentage of students at (visual, tactile, auditory, group, kinaesthetic, individual), the students at (visual, tactile, auditory, group, kinaesthetic), and the students at (auditory & kinaesthetic) had the same highest percentage or they were equal with 11,76 %. and then followed with the students at (group & kinaesthetic), (tactile & kinaesthetic), and (tactile, auditory, group, kinaesthetic) with the percentage 5,88 % of students. afterwards, it followed with some others lower percentage of learning style with 2, 94 % as well. as it showed in image 4.2 the diagram percentage of students who had more than one dominant learning style. discussion the result of data analysis in the previous were overviewed the averages of the learning style of college students in english education department at universitas sulawesi barat the year 2019 was categorized as none major perceptual learning styles preference, whereas they were categorized as minor perceptual learning style preferences in which kinaesthetic learning style had highest mean with (37.84) than another learning style, and followed by group learning style with mean (37.67), tactile with mean (36.91), auditory with mean llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 409 (36.55), visual with mean (35.87), and individual learning style with mean (34.73). meanwhile, for the result analysis individually on students’ learning style preferences, it showed in (image. 4.1 the diagram percentage of students who had only one dominant learning style preferences), it was described that there were 12,50 % of students categorized in group learning style, and followed by students categorized in tactile and visual in which both of had the equal percentage with 6,25 %. and then followed with kinaesthetic with percentage 4,69 % of students. instead of that, the diagram percentage of students who had more than one dominant learning style preferences (image 4.2) as well as was described the students at (visual, tactile, auditory, group, kinaesthetic, individual), the students at (visual, tactile, auditory, group, kinaesthetic), and the students at (auditory & kinaesthetic) had the same highest percentage or they were equal each other with 11,76 %. and then followed with the students at (group & kinaesthetic), (tactile & kinaesthetic), and (tactile, auditory, group, kinaesthetic) with percentage 5,88 % of students. afterwards, it was followed by some others lower percentage of learning style preferences with 2, 94 %. therefore, in general by comparing to the similar previous findings of perceptual learning style preferences on this research it was not corresponding. on the other hand, there was had similar result which in line to this research such as jamulia (2018) found that only visual learning style of students at iain ternate was categorized as major perceptual learning style preference, while kinaesthetic, individual, tactile, auditory, and group learning style was categorized as minor perceptual learning style. the result indicated that there was similar result on minor except on major perceptual learning style preference, it was overviewed the result on this research by the table of descriptive statistic (tabel 4.3). moreover, khalil (2019) found that kinaesthetic learning style was the most commonly preferred learning style among students all of major after investigating the saudi efl students’ preferred learning styles and explore whether these learning styles were affected academic major with 120 saudi students at a private college in four different majors. the result indicated there was similar result on this research through the learning style preference in general which kinaesthetic more preferred, even though the sample size or the respondents was different by the researcher. another researches that related to the perceptual learning style preference was by nosratinia & solaemannejad (2016) found that there were significant and positive relationships between participants’ critical thinking and total score of perceptual learning style in which tactile learning style preference was the best predictor of efl learners’ critical thinking. the result indicated there was different result by the researcher in which kinaesthetic learning style were found by the researcher more preferred by students in minor field rather than tactile learning style. meanwhile, daniatussalma (2020) tried to investigate the perceptual learning styles preference in management students and to know the differences between male and female management students in learning styles in the first semester at university of muhammadia gresik with 230 students were found that students preferred in group style when the students learned english as academic purpose llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 410 (esp), and beside the gender, female students preferred in group style, while male students preferred in auditory. and the least preference of learning style both female and male students was individual style. the result indicated that there was different result by the researcher and her research where daniatusaalma (2020) tried to investigate the different learning style in gender group while the researcher only identified the major and minor of students or learners. based on the phenomenon that researcher found, the case might affected by several main factors such as the size of the sample and the degree of how the data spread in to data set namely the variability of the data as it showed in the (table 4.3) at column variance where every perceptual learning style preferences had different variety of data, such as individual learning style had highest variance than others with (42.17) and followed by kinaesthetic with (26.13), auditory with (23.58), visual with (23.21), tactile with (19.56), and group learning style with variance (17.37). meanwhile, another factors that might played the role was culture and the major field of learners. as it had been mentioned by reid’s theory (1978) about esl learning style preferences as “for reasons yet unknown (although culture may certainly play a role)”. therefore, the statement indicated that there was influence of culture to the result of the students learning style preferences. therefore, even though the perceptual learning styles preference of college students at universitas sulawesi barat the years 2019 categorized as minor. the students or learners can function as a learner or study in their high minor condition. it showed in the result of data analysis in every 5 statements of plspq namely (a) when i make things in class, i learn better, (b) i understand better when i read instructions myself, (c) when someone tell me how to do something in the class, i learn better, (d) i prefer to study with others (e) when i study alone, i remember things better, (f) i learn more when i can make a model of something. moreover, by the statements that had been overviewed, educators or lecturers can appropriate teaching style and methodology in learning process that related to statements of the students’ minor perceptual learning style preferences at universitas sulawesi barat the year 2019 in order to make them be able studying better by their minor learning styles preference. as it explained on this research about the theories of reid (1987) at page (18) in chapter ii that related to learning style which explaining as follow; firstly, visual learner more preferred and comfortable in learning with pictures, images, or graph in retaining information (jamulia, 2018). meanwhile, fleming (2019) explaining as well as some tips or strategies for teachers to support visual learners in the classroom such as; (a) giving visual learners quite study time to review their notes, outline chapters, or draw diagrams. (b) playing short video clips during the class to reinforce concepts discussed during lecture. (c) avoid “cold-calling” on visual learners after a lecture presentation, as they need a view minutes to process the information that they have just heard. (d) create opportunities for students to express their creativity in class such as poster project and short skits. secondly, auditory learner prefers in learning with hearing and listening to word (renon, 2009). moreover, fleming (2020) explaining as well as several strategies for teachers to help auditory learners in the classroom as the teaching strategies such as; (a) call on auditory learners to answer questions, (b) during llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 411 lectures, ask auditory learners to repeat ideas in their own words, (c) record lectures would make auditory learners can listen to them more than once, (d) create lesson plans that include a social element, such as paired readings, group working, experiments, projects, and performances, (e) allow students with an auditory learning style to listen to approved music during silent study periods. thirdly, kinaesthetic learner retain information through the performance body movements (bennuona, 1994) in (rhouma, 2016). moreover, roell (2018) as well as explaining several tips or strategies for teachers in reaching kinaesthetic learners during studying in the classroom such as; (a) allow kinaesthetic learners to stand, bounce their legs, or doodle during lectures, it will get more out of them in class if they can move around a little bit, (b) offer various methods of instruction lectures, paired readings, group work, experiments, projects, plays, etc, and (c) providing or handling out quizzes, writing on the chalkboard, or even rearranging desks. fourthly, tactile learner prefer by “hands-on” learning, such as doing artwork, laboratory experiment, building models and tracking words and pictures (david. 2007 & reid, 1998). moreover, fleming (2019) as well as explaining several points for teachers in teaching tactile learner such as; (a) studying in short blocks of time, (b) role-playing, (c) taking lab classes, (d) taking field trips or visiting museums, (e) studying with others, (f) using memory games, (g) using flashcards to memorize, and (h) “acting out” a topic, stories, and subjects they study. five, learner which preferred in group learning more enjoyed and comfortable studying with other (jamulia, 2018). moreover, jennie nguyen explained the strategies that can be applied in learning process for group learning style which are; (a) collaborative learning, which allows students to work together to discuss something with a group in the classroom, and (b) cooperative learning, allows students to work together in small group on an activity, in which requiring to meet together and split the work and putting them together as a team. sixth, individual learner prefers studying alone or independent (jamulia, 2018). therefore, the strategies that could be apply by a teacher in the classroom for this learner is inquiry-based instruction. as it mentioned heather (2018) that inquiry-based instruction would be able to inspire the students to think by themselves and become independent learners. therefore, by this case lecture or teacher can use this strategies for students’ individual learning style in the classroom. conclusion according to findings and discussion it could be inferred that averages of the learning style of college students in english education department at universitas sulawesi barat the year 2019 was categorized as none major perceptual learning styles preference. somehow, his study found the averages of all the learning style of college students in english education department at universitas sulawesi barat the year 2019 was categorized as minor perceptual learning style preference in which kinaesthetic learning style had highest mean with (37.84) than another learning style, and followed by group learning style with mean (37.67), tactile with mean (36.91), auditory with mean (36.55), visual with mean (35.87), and individual learning style with mean (34.73). meanwhile, for additional result of analysis with individually of students which had only one dominant learning style, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 412 it showed in (image. 4.1) it was described that there were 12,50 % of students categorized in group learning style, and followed by students categorized in tactile and visual in which both of had the equal percentage with 6,25 %. and then followed with kinaesthetic with percentage 4,69 % of students. moreover for the result analysis of students which had more than one dominant learning style preferences showed in image 4.2. the students at (visual, tactile, auditory, group, kinaesthetic, individual), the students at (visual, tactile, auditory, group, kinaesthetic), and the students at (auditory & kinaesthetic) had the same highest percentage or they were equal each other with 11,76 %. and then followed with the students at (group & kinaesthetic), (tactile & kinaesthetic), and (tactile, auditory, group, kinaesthetic) with percentage 5,88 % of students. afterwards, it was followed by some others lower percentage of learning style preferences with 2, 94 %. therefore, even though none of the learning style of college students in english education department at universitas sulawesi barat the year 2019 categorized as major perceptual learning styles preference, but the students still be able to learn better by their high minor condition in every learning style. therefore, educator or lecture can provide teaching style and method that related to the minor learning style preferences in order to make them be able study better. references bidabadi, f. s., & yawat, h. 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(2020). how knowing your learning style can help you. retrieved juni 5, 2020, from the classroom: https://www.theclassroom.com/knowinglearning-style-can-659372.html llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 439 the rhetorical identity construction of english instructors in online english courses advertisements inggrit o. tanasale pattimura university, indonesia correspondence: tanasaleinggrit@gmail.com doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i2.3586 received 11 august; accepted 29 october 2021 abstract the superior image of native english teachers portrayed in elt professionalism has been heavily criticized among scholars by raising awareness on the expertise than nativeness or races. however, the study is scarce regarding how online discourse such as web-based advertisement of english language courses rhetorically depicts their language instructors: a native speaker and local teachers. to fill this gap, the purposes of this study are to examine the attributes of language instructors and any potential discriminatory or privileged presentation evoke in the online ads. the initial analysis was done within twenty english course sites to view overall trends of english instructors' attributes in several websites in indonesia. i then closely explored two websites, wse and tbi, and how they textually and visually privilege and discriminate the competences of native english teachers or local teachers. the result shows the dominant rhetoric of native english teachers as english language experts. the findings of this study reveal that despite the scholarly effort to challenge native english speaker/teacher orientation, the educational institutions still perpetuate the hegemony of native speakers as the ideal model in english within online platforms. keywords: online discourse, expertise, language course, native english teachers, local teachers introduction in recent years, the online marketing of english language courses in indonesia has mushroomed with attractive advertisements such as eye-catching images, color schemes, and compelling phrases on their websites. online visitors are drawn with the rhetorical strategies of the advertisement from their images to texts. in one instance, online visitors are welcomed on the english first course website with an interesting question: "how about learning english from the expert?" another site, golden english, attracts its visitors with the reward of course learning: "bonus from learning in our english course is talking to our native speaker whenever you like." these two online website ads rhetorically lure their online visitors into being their prospective students by promising them the exposure of expert instructors with the image of smiling faces of caucasians. thus, the visit becomes a journey for the online visitors in exploring the appealing mailto:youremail@xxxx.com llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 440 services and products of english language courses. the detailed information and visual presentation work as references for online visitors to suit their needs and interest in selecting courses. how english course ads in online discourse present their rhetorical move on images and texts should not leave uncriticized. hall (1997) addresses the representation of media as "the way in which meaning is somehow given to the things which are depicted" (p.6). there is a potential that meanings can be distorted and biased prompted by the hidden agenda of the powerful institutions, in this case, language courses as educational institutions, to propagate the ideological meaning of the knowledge to society (hall, 2006). the rhetoric of english course ads that circulate caucasian images and compelling narrative of the ideal native english teachers as the expert can potentially create favoritism and unfairness for local english teachers. some previous research in elt revealed the existing social discrimination of professional language instructors not only in the classroom (ba doan, 2015; selvi, 2011) but also in the job recruitment in online platforms (mahboob, 2010; ruecker, 2011; ruecker et al., 2015; selvi, 2010). this type of online discourse site, such as job recruitment, becomes a new venue to create the dominant ideology of native english teachers as the ideal teacher and contribute to structuring the hierarchy of racial professionalism. as a result, it widens the discrepancy of 'native' competence and image by exhibiting favoritism on native speakers. these studies call for attention among the educational institutions to revisit their discriminatory practice in recruiting teachers. at the other end of the spectrum, there are limited investigations on the representation of english instructors -native english teachers and local teachers-in the online discourse after they have been recruited from online job recruitment. thus, this paper aims to extend the previous studies by answering the following questions: 1. what are the attributes indexed to native english teachers and local teachers in english course websites? 2. how do english course websites privilege of discriminate the competence of native english teachers and local teachers? these questions are to examine the prevalent discussion of the native english teachers' hegemony in the area of elt and space. thus, the website becomes a spatial construct where discursive practices interact with the ideological propaganda of the language institution that creates professionalism structures and struggles for local teachers. the production of native english dichotomy in the current context of globalization with the celebration of multilingualism, the field of elt is facing the prevalent fact that the native english speaker or teacher discourse is still replete. the affiliation of nativeness is taken from eurocentric colonialist ideology, emphasizing native speakers from englishspeaking countries who carry standard english and whiteness as a property to make them legitimate speakers of the language (amin & kubota, 2004; ruecker, 2011). tabouret-keller (1997) argues that language like english turns to be a trait for the community members. this identification label is given to make boundaries between the in-group members (native speakers) and the out-group (non-native speakers). as a result, it essentializes native speaker identity as unitary and single llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 441 with particular linguistic identity and depriving the social world's coexistence (see mendoza-denton, 2008). this production of the language speaker based on nativeness category has created an immense "hierarchy of power and dominance" (rucker, 2011, p.406), such as the dichotomy of native vs. non-native speakers with the language standard. although this native speaker ideology has been continuously challenged by scholars (amin & kubota, 2004; cook, 1999, holliday, 2005; kramsch & whiteside, 2007), inevitably, for some language institutions, native english teachers still overtly attract the interest of students to learn english. thus, rampton (1990) suggests using language expertise as the substitute for nativeness by referring to teachers' professional experiences and backgrounds. likewise, cook (1999) advocates the way to view local teachers as the muticompetent teachers who can engage in the first and second language in the classroom. the optimism of multilingualism enhances the growth of the world englishes, signifying the hybridization of english varieties (kachru, 1992) and the use of english as lingua franca in a multilingual and multicultural society (jenkins, 2014). it is projected that multilingualism creates a pluralistic atmosphere for the users of english varieties equally once overthrowing the monolingual power of language. paradoxically, cook (2015) argues that there is not much change in monolingual norms of native speaker practice. local teachers still suffer from prejudice in their institutional context due to the ideology of english as the language of native english speakers with standard form (tabouretkeller, 1997). being critical of the romanticism of the notion of multilingualism, blommaert et al. (2005) argue that "multilingualism is not what individuals have and don't have, but what the environment, as structured determinations and interactional emergence, enables and disables" (p.197). the environment is reinforced and circulated by ideological practice through "any system of education is a political way of maintaining or modifying the appropriation of discourse, along with the knowledge and power they carry" (foucault, p.64). the education system reflects ideological state apparatus that produces and reproduces ideology like native speakers as dominant ideology throughout education (althuser, 1977). as a result, the critical discussion to identify the ideological root of the native speaker educational institutions is necessary for any platform, including online ads. the identity construction of native english teachers vs. local teachers in the english course the process of identity construction creates a social hierarchy of native english teachers and local teachers in english within courses online. hall (1997a) suggests that "identities are constructed within, not outside, discourse" as it is" produced in specific historical and institutional sites within specific discursive formations and practices…" (p.17). space is not a passive background but has an active role to "influence the discursive production of identity" (keating, 2015) and becomes an "agentive force in sociolinguistic process" (blommaert et al., 2005). in other words, space actively creates social reality through the power that has been diffused within. philips (2001) points out that "reality-creating power [like native-speaker ideology] lies in discourse itself so that all of us are dominated by discourse and subordinated to it" (p.191). these typical spaces are run by llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 442 institutional apparatus such as language institutions to root ideology in one's mind like students and control their response to submit to this ideology and heighten its power (althusser, 1971; blommaert, 2007). the scale represents the "vertical metaphor of distribution, spread, and flow together hierarchical ordering" framed in indexicality (bloomaert, 2007, p.1). indexicality works as the system that reinforces possible lexical labels and yield meaning to the individual (blommaert et al., 2005). in this process, bucholtz and hall argue that "indexicality produces ideology through practice" (p.380) based on signs such as texts and images. the attribution by the scale in the form of indexicality is marked in "meaning, value, structures, characteristics" represented in different spaces like in online ads (blommaert et al., 2005, p.202). when society perceives this markedness as unmarked norms due to the frequent exposure, power becomes inescapable and invisible. this ideology creates hidden discrimination among different social groups like native english teachers and local teachers (bucholtz and hall, 2004). the indexicality practice frequently appears in online job advertisements (selvi, 2010). there was a preference for hiring native english teachers over local one, which signifies "power and exclusion" (hall, p.18). whiteness and language markers such as accents are the physical properties codified by native speakers as vital features. this practice leads to racial discrimination due to the hierarchy of language teachers (ruecker, 2011; sewell, 2016). in addition, the competence of teachers, such as their background, becomes significant property to hire teachers. however, the term of competence turns into a paradox. competence is reified "whenever one has stepped into a particular space with its regime since competence is relative to scale-based agentivewhat is valued and devalued in given environments" (bloomaert et al., 2005, p.212). competence is more about how an individual is "being positioned" and nothing about "general or open-ended potential" (blommaert et al., 2005, p.211). if the environment encounters a competence that does not have structural determinations and interactional purposes, the competence can be overlooked. in a similar vein, english course sites potentially promote professional teachers by essentializing cultural traits such as race and speech community or competences and ignoring the existence of multilingual and multicultural society (mendoza-denton, 2008). method in this study, i employed critical discourse analysis (cda) as the lens to scrutinize the ideological discourse of professional instructors across online platforms. cda works as a critical paradigm to unravel the hidden ideology and power relations embedded in texts generated by social interactions. the aim of cda is "analyzing opaque as well as transparent structural relationships of dominance, discrimination, power, and control as manifested in language" (wodak, 2001, p. 10). fairclough describes the process of cda to analyze "the dialectical relationship between semiosis (including language) and other elements of social practice" (2001, p.123), which can be practically found in different types of public texts and personal communication. with the rise of digital media use, the perpetuation of the ideology of native english teachers within online texts is irrefutable. this momentum has extended the attention on cda methods by phillips and hardy (2002) on political speeches, conversations, television programs, non-verbal interaction, symbols, and artifacts llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 443 into web text (gee, 2015) with a potential to influence people's perception of the social reality. however, the influence is based on the ideology rooted in the belief of the educational institutions (althuser, 1977). the english course websites discussed in this study are responsible for constructing the image of its language instructors through their display on their websites. in this study, i used google.co.id as the regional search generator in indonesia to narrow my search and typed the keywords english course and native speakers to navigate some english course websites. i narrowed down my search of english course websites based on the following criteria: 1. the site advertised an english course for indonesian learners 2. the site consisted of both or either english or indonesian language 3. the site had information about the teachers or provided hyperlinks to the job requirement 4. the site had images featured as the promotional aspects of the course. i then came up with a total of twenty websites that offered english courses in several urban cities in indonesia, including jakarta, yogyakarta, surabaya, bandung, and denpasar, for general analysis. next, i created an initial list of features including name, types of course (international partnership or local), course goal, location, types of teachers offered (native english teachers or local teachers), description of teacher's qualification, and significance of the courses (see appendix 1 for details). i did this process by using webcorp, as the web corpus program to seek particular terms on the website such as instructor, native speaker, etc. in addition, i did a conventional search and note-taking for each site. next, i analyzed the discursive practice through the attributes of language teachers. i then identified the scaling process of instructors' hierarchy (blommaert, 2005) by viewing how each website promoted their instructors by generating overall trends from those twenty websites. i then chose two particular sites that fulfilled almost all the criteria in my topoi, and i put the foci of my textual analysis to represent my small corpus. following phillips and hardy (2002), who define a text as any various forms including signs, symbols, images, my textual analysis included visual and linguistic representations of each website. findings and discussion general trends of english teachers this study focuses on overall trends in the representation of both native english teachers and local teachers across the twenty sites. the first impression of each website is its layout featuring images and texts to attract online audiences to browse. based on the preliminary analysis, i drew five topoi: the website's origins, the preference of phonological features, teachers' academic qualification, teachers' character traits, and visual presentation (see appendix 1 for details). five english courses were in partnerships with various well-established international english courses, while fifteen were nationally found. regarding nativeness, only three courses validate local teachers as the main instructors in their course. being established as an international-based course, some courses like english first employ native english teachers as the main assets because of their phonological features through their accents to attract potential students. as an illustration, english first and alfabank courses described that llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 444 their courses offer daily use of english with native english teachers making students' pronunciation "perfect." at the same time, the real english site claims the advantage of native english teachers is to give students an environment "to speak english naturally." the promise to provide a more natural-like environment and native speaker engagement for learning english is the rhetorical move of promoting the courses. in the light of academic qualifications, interestingly, only nine courses gave detailed information about the qualification of their teachers found in the teachers' profiles or the job vacancy section. the international franchised english courses provided bio and academic qualifications for all their teachers, native english teachers, and local teachers, while some courses left the information unstated. some courses like golden english and wall street english employed local teachers as language mentors or tutors to accompany native english teachers who featured friendly and adaptive teachers. bahasa corner course immersed native english teachers and their teaching approach within cultural discourse through the package of native english teachers in the english ramadhan program for their muslim students. further, most of the visual presentations by all the course sites promote the anecdotal image of the interaction between caucasian teachers and either caucasian students or local students. however, some courses aim to promote their authentic activities in several settings, such as outdoor sites, tourism destinations, or cafes. at the same time, only one course has web texts without any pictures of the instructors. for the next step, i chose two english course sites with detailed information of qualification and presentation of their teachers through images and texts that inform their language instructors' rhetoric construction. i specifically selected wall street english as a language training course and the british institute as a national language training course because these two courses filled all the categories or topoi of this study. wall street english (wse) and the british institute (tbi) the homepage of the wse course offered qualified english instructors accompanied by tutors to assist students in learning english. the tbi homepage highlights "english with the best" as their motto, offering cambridge teachers training as the first and only international language certification program in indonesia. visual analysis in this analysis, visual features are vital to building the discourse of online sites. i examined images from all pages by focusing on the pictures of teachers, students, and class activities depicted on the sites. i excluded images of logos and unrelated pictures for this study. the data shows that the trend of tbi is the inclusion of local teachers in the course. in the section of teachers in tbi sites, there are six photos of mixed caucasian and local teachers with smiling faces. also, there are some images of a class setting, showing the class activity of local teachers with local students. despite the authenticity of teaching instructors, the image of caucasians with casual and formal suits are covered on this website and mixed pictures of caucasian and local students. in comparison, wse has fewer images than tbi (see appendix 2), yet this site provides several animated videos llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 445 to give a general overview of this course and its programs. surprisingly, no authentic pictures of native english teachers are available but only the authentic image of local teachers in the classroom interaction setting. textual analysis the section of the instructor in wse is called "our english expert." with the synopsis of the qualification of the native english teacher. the passage has an appealing sentence, "we hire the best native level english teachers who love to help you learn!" showing that the native english teachers have the best qualification to be hired in this course. native english teachers are described as proactive and responsible for the learning process of the students: "they get to know you individually…they see the areas you need support …" this page also enumerates the characteristics of the native english teachers, such as inspirational, effective, fun, and supportive. in contrast, their section of employees on this site focuses on the local employees. there is a testimonial by a local tutor and her picture, stating how happy she was when working to help students achieve their learning goals. however, the details of work as a tutor are found in the "join wse" section. the job vacancy for a tutor is described for anyone who "will take full responsibility for all activities in the speaking center (computer lab) and passionately provide helpful information, motivation and learning support to our students and guests." the tutor role is an essential part of accompanying nest working individual students with the service called "personalized attention." interestingly, tbi provided the informative data of several teachers from different regions in the "teacher section." the teachers are portrayed as "the credible and certified instructors" with detailed academic backgrounds and professional training and certification along with their research interests. i was intrigued that i found nothing when searching the word "native speaker" in the site's search engine, but it provides the link for hiring native english teachers on the other sites. this fact shows that this site intends to have external recruitment for native english teachers but is prone to give less attention to the advertisement of native english teachers and the benefits of having them as teachers. discussion from the general trends of the findings, there is an emerging discrepancy between native english teachers and local teachers marked by their cultural and linguistic markers and professional attributes. the language hegemonic discourse results from historical discourse such as the dichotomy of nests and nnests that leads to discrimination (tabouret-keller, 1997). this dichotomy appears through the labelling for native english teachers and local teachers, setting the boundaries of in-group (native english teachers) and out-group (local teachers). the findings of this study favor the existing preference on native english teachers coming from english-speaking countries to teach in asian countries (amin & kubota, 2004; mahboob, 2010, ruecker, 2011). native speaker teachers are regarded as the investment for the language course as they signify "political and economic hegemony (althusser, 1971, p.150). the political motives of native speaker as the ideal model in a language course is a form of advertising tactic to increase profits by having more consumers or potential students. therefore, they are interested to learn with native english speakers. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 446 most sites associate native english teachers with better pronunciation and accent, resulting in a natural environment for english communication. these site findings purposefully ignore any language varieties that local teachers might carry and force the preference for inner-circle varieties of english speech like british and american pronunciations. blommaert et al. (2005) call this space an "agentive force" to impose a dominant linguistic regime (p.50). this phonological preference is rooted in linguistic identity with phonological features and particular nationality (radwanska, 2008). rampton (1990) argues that an in-born member of a specific cultural group does not automatically make them a proficient language speaker. the membership, including social and familial ties, will change over time and space, and so will language. by maintaining the supremacy of native speakers within the landscape of language courses, there is the naturalization of a linguistic marker and the removal of the language varieties of local teachers (bucholtz & hall, 2004; sewell, 2016). the linguistic features on the course websites perpetuate the legacy of native english teachers as the privileged group and local teachers as a less privileged group. despite the multicompetence of local teachers (cook, 1999), the course sites adhere to native english teachers as the linguistically competent instructors (tabouret-keller, 1997). expertise, according to rampton (1990), is a better choice of benchmark in standardizing the qualification of native english teachers and local teachers. the profile of language teachers' qualifications in some courses index the significance of language expertise than nativeness. bloomaert et al. (2005) argue that expertise or competence is not something universal since it is restricted to a position in particular circumstances and assessed based on the language used. tbi shows that teachers' qualifications are more valuable than racial or linguistic markers because they offer a cambridge teacher training program to the international community, requiring high-competent teachers. teachers' certification displayed on its website conveys their academic experiences and competences. while tbi promotes the qualifications of local professional teachers, wse clearly indexes the expertise of local teachers and native english teachers. the word "expert" for nest indexes the hegemony of native speakers as the ideal model of an effective teacher with a good personality. in contrast, the local teachers are positioned with the lower professional rank called "tutor." the words "expert teacher" and "tutor" denote different responsibilities that require other competencies. apart from the textual description of the native english teachers such as loving, fun, and cooperative, the term expert teacher associates with a group of students in the classroom. on the other hand, a tutor provides a personalized mentorship for an individual or small group and can run a computer lab. drawing upon blommaert et al. (2005) argument, a tutor should not be identified as less competent. competence is "being positioned," and it is not about "general or open-ended potential" in the space, such as online sites (blommaert et al., 2005, p.211). wse put little attention to the competence of local tutors with the justification that local tutors can give personalized attention to local students. both native english teachers and local teachers are labelled as caring and loving with students. however, native english teachers are explicitly described as adaptive to the local cultures through their immersion in the religious english program. tabouret-keller (1997) argues that identity features can be from the adoption and imitation of another person. in this case, native english teachers adopt the local cultures by exchanging cultures and values with the local students. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 447 this representation is a paradox since it overlooks the potential of local teachers as the insiders, who share the same values, and cultures, thus they can quickly assist the students in learning english. therefore, native english teachers are more privileged than local teachers despite the cultural affiliation they belong. some authentic pictures of caucasian and local teachers interacting with the students depict professional engagement and relations within the courses for the visual presentation. apart from this, the anecdotal caucasian images in the sites produce and reproduce the association of english and the caucasian race. it is very intriguing to find the image of caucasian teacher-students interaction to polish the websites, although the class is for indonesian students. this visual presentation illustrates native english teachers as the centre of the imagined community offered to prospective students once they join the course. bucholtz and hall (2004) call this representation an unmarked sign of the naturalization of racial discrimination. ruecker (2011) emphasizes that discrimination and native speaker hegemony works hand-in-hand "if they are constantly reinforced through daily discourse [such as fixed images of anecdotal caucasian images] that make them seem natural, increasing their power through making them invisible and less likely to be challenged." (p.407). the appearance of images, together with the appealing texts, sustain the ideological production of native english teachers as the ideal instructors in elt. conclusion based on the findings and discussion of this study, i have come up with several points of conclusion. first, the advertisement of language course sites contributes to ideological production and reproduction of native english teachers as the better investment over local teachers. second, the process of indexicality through texts and images in the course sites evokes the social reality of discrimination within institutions and online discourse. third, it is essential for further study to critically explore for prevailing ideology of native english teachers which continually emphasizes on races and phonological features by aiming to expand any anti-discrimination of native english teachers and local teachers in online platforms. references amin, n., & kubota, r. 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(2010). all teachers are equal, but some teachers are more equal than others: trend analysis of job advertisements in english language teaching. watesol nnest caucus annual review, 1, 155–181. selvi, a.f (2011). the non-native speaker teacher. elt journal, 65(2), 187–189, https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccq092 tabouret-keller, a. (1997). language and identity. in f. coulmas (ed.), the handbook of sociolinguistics (pp. 315-326). malden: blackwell publishing. wodak, r. (2001). what cda is about a summary of its history, important concepts and its developments. in r. wodak, r & meyer, m (eds.), methods of critical discourse analysis (pp. 1-13). london, england: sage https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccq092 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 574 rethinking teaching and learning language in the new era: lessons from the covid-19 pandemic in tanzania rose acen upor university of dar es salaam, tanzania correspondence: upor@udsm.ac.tz https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v24i2.3262 received 31 march 2021; accepted 29 october 2021 abstract this study examines the language teaching and learning experiences in tanzania that were prompted in response to the impact of covid-19 pandemic-related school closures. crucial to the study was determining how students’ and teachers’ coped with language teaching and learning and determining technological resources and their usefulness in language teaching and learning. a total of 127 students (74 female, 53 male) and 33 teachers participated in the study. the study revealed that the reception of educational broadcasting was low among the participants while reliance on mobile learning increased, the participants faced challenges when they attempted to cope with the shift to technology-based formats for language teaching and learning, and students were not fully able to develop the autonomy of learning on their own partly due to the unpreparedness for the shift to technology-based learning. overall, the results confirm that web resources, sns, and applications are rapidly becoming a resource for native speaker input for students learning english in foreign language learning contexts. keywords: language teaching; language learning; covid-19; tanzania; technology introduction according to unesco (2020a), the covid-19 pandemic has caused the largest disruption of education in history where it is estimated that over 94% of learners worldwide were affected by the pandemic representing over 1.58 billion children and youth from pre-primary to higher education in 200 countries (mccarthy, 2020). in sub-saharan africa, where the pandemic hit relatively later in comparison to other parts of the world, the education system is often described as fragile. the interruption of the school year is expected to have a disproportionately negative impact on students for whom conditions of ensuring continuity of learning at home are limited. in many areas, vulnerabilities identified are not limited to lack of a stimulating and enriching educational environment out of school but also low levels of digitalization that would have enabled a continuity in teaching and learning. even more so are the widespread disparities in learning opportunities available for students in terms of access to digital platforms, digital instructional tools, and other technology-assisted formats. regardless, ensuring continuity during the time of national closures https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v24i2.3262 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 575 became a priority for governments, many of which required teachers to use online delivery of lessons (unesco, 2020a). the outbreak of covid-19 ushered in a new era for teaching and learning in general for all countries worldwide. for countries that had already set up advanced technology systems for supporting out-of-classroom instruction, the shift was an amicable choice unlike the case of unprepared developing countries that had to grapple with challenges. there were widespread reports of challenges in the management of teaching and learning across the globe indicating a shared challenge due to the unforeseen nature of the pandemic and the crises that followed (klein, 2020;). there was an unprecedented push to online and remote teaching platforms. the rush to continue teaching lead to the use of commercial digital learning platform providers in a haste to maintain the academic calendar. challenges reported included problems with remote teaching, teacher-parents relationships, technological problems, internet connection (klein, 2020). more importantly, covid-19 has highlighted inequity in the education technology space (todd, 2020). because of major and sudden closures across the globe, countries involuntarily sought immediate measures on digital learning platforms (jandrić, 2020). the decision to move from face-to-face classroom instruction to online teaching resulted in more profound questions related to national educational policies, theoretical grounds, and premises (teräs, suoranta, teräs & curcher, 2020). most african countries’ response to the effects of the pandemic on the education system was slow due to the much later occurrence of the disease on the continent. major concerns on how educational systems across the continent would cope with the situation were widespread. efforts to explain and educate masses on the spread and measures needed not to contract the disease were plastered on all forms of mass communication. country-wide lockdowns affected students, parents, guardians, administrators, educationalists, and policymakers and the realization that the education system would suffer tremendously in terms of delivery and timing was imminent. the fastest action was to seek out ways of transferring learning content to digital platforms and remote teaching platforms almost overnight. also, unicef (2020) informs that many countries developed broadcast curricula (televisionand radio-based) for primary and lower secondary students. it argued that tv-based remote learning had the potential to reach the highest proportion of students (estimated 930 million worldwide) and that it plays a significant role in delivering education despite the fact it does not offer a convenient way to transmit materials. teräs, suoranta, teräs & curcher (2020) and strong (1990) suggest that despite actions taken by countries to maintain continuity of learning and teaching, the transition to the selected platforms revealed gaps and shortcomings on how online learning has and has not been adopted in educational institutions. of particular interest to this study is how continuity through technology-assisted formats has made an impact in the teaching and learning of language. educational broadcasting and language teaching and learning in the new era educational broadcasting has a dynamic history in both developed and developing countries. while educational broadcasting is claimed to have commenced in the 1920s for developed countries such as france, great britain, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 576 and russia (fedorov, 2008), it was not until the 1950s-1960s when the same was recorded in the african continent (coldevin, 1979; welsh, 1968). most of the early educational broadcasts were made through radio. although radio broadcasts in sub-saharan africa began as early as 1927 (kenya), 1933 (mozambique), and 1939 (senegal), the programming was made for expatriates but gradually the programming changed to address the needs of the people (bbc, n.d.; sturmer, 1998). gowon (2009) suggests that television and radio broadcasts are not just mechanical devices for creating worlds of illusions, but are avenues of creating a new language with new powers of expressions. these powers of expression influence english language usage in the educational sector through the use and misuse of the language. regardless of the audience of educational broadcasting and educational programming, television broadcast supports language learning for independent adult learners and language development in infants. it provides l2 spoken input which also contributes to language development (fallakhair, masthoff & pemberton, 2004; fisher, 1984; webb, 2015). on the other hand, it has been proven that radio broadcast can supplement classroom instruction as it provides mastery of listening skills (lalima, 2013). radio broadcasting is credited as a useful tool for teaching and learning languages like english, french, and swahili at all levels of education. it helps improve mastery of vocabulary and pronunciation (odera, 2006, 2008, 2011). moreover, television and radio present natural situations within which language occurs with no forced information patterns or contrived actions. (gowon, 2009). other forms of educational technology such as the internet and web resources are increasingly contributing to foreign language teaching. the landscape of language learning has been rapidly and largely changed with the normalization of technologies in people’s daily communication (zhou & wei, 2018). currently, the integration of new media into language learning is a necessary step ensuring the acquisition of the kind of language skills and competencies needed for living and working in the knowledge society (ruschoff, 2003). new forms of learning such as mobile learning (m-learning) are emerging across the world. m-learning is considered a predecessor to electronic learning (e-learning) and computer-assisted language learning (call). regardless of the stage in which m-learning is employed, mobile devices show a wide range of learning possibilities that can integrate the use of older and newer technologies for developing certain language skills in second/foreign language learning. (brazuelo grund & gallego gil, 2011; kolb, 2008; miangah & nezarat, 2012). specifically, mobile devices may promote vocabulary learning, listening comprehension, grammar learning, pronunciation, and reading comprehension, although writing and speaking can also be integrated (luque-agulló & martos-vallejo, 2015). primarily, when all these educational technology resources are taken into consideration with the learning process, it becomes distinctively clear that all these resources entail a constructivist framework that involves the construction of knowledge and the development of problem-solving techniques, strategies, and skills through the use of portable devices (brazuelo grund & gallego gil, 2011; luque-agulló & martos-vallejo, 2015) and the use of broadcasting resources (odera, 2006, 2008, 2011). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 577 constructivism and language learning constructivism has emerged in recent years as a dominant paradigm in education and has had a major intellectual impact on the development of pedagogy, rooted in the cognitive-developmental theory of piaget and the sociocultural theory of vygotsky, constructivist notions have had an impact on the development and application of technologically enhanced micro worlds and the linguistic investigation into literacy and narrative development, constructivist learning has developed as a substantial approach to teaching (aljohami, 2017). feng (1995) categorized constructivism into 3 types: 1) radical constructivism – understanding is tracked by experience, the teacher provides cognitive experiences to students who construct their understanding of realities; 2) moderate constructivism – the mind is instrumental and essential in interpretation, teachers construct a learning environment dependent on student’s ability to create own interpretations, and; 3) rational constructivism – students are viewed as active learners in achieving own knowledge, interpreting and organizing it into meaningful patterns. the application of constructivism to language teaching requires that teachers serve the role of guides, monitors, coaches, tutors, and facilitators. as they assign activities to the students they have to ensure that activities, opportunities, tools, and environments are provided to encourage metacognition, self-analysis, selfregulation, self-reflection, and self-awareness (murphy, 1997; nominian, 2002). while the students play a fundamental role in mediating and controlling learning, the learning situations, environments, skills, content, and tasks have to remain relevant, realistic, authentic, and represent the natural complexities of the “real world” to the learners themselves. knowledge construction and not reproduction are crucial and this construction takes place in individual contexts and through social negotiation, collaboration, and experience. previous knowledge constructions, beliefs, and attitudes possessed by the learner before a session are considered in the knowledge construction process. if at all students commit errors, the errors are considered as opportunities for insight into students' previous knowledge constructions. students are encouraged to explore to seek knowledge independently and to manage the pursuit of their goals (murphy, 1997; nominian, 2002). moreover, murphy (1997) suggests that researchers and educators are linking constructivism, technology, and learning. she argues further that computer-based learning environments provide strong support for constructivism through the use of muds (multi-user domains), e-mail, usenet groups, and of the world wide web, in general, provide environments, contexts, and an authentic ‘world’ which students can experience and explore (nominian, 2002). from this discussion, it is evident that constructivist learning supports competence development rather than the intake of a set of facts. moreover, learners construct or create structures of meaning and it is expected that new information shall be linked to what a learner already knows or has understood. constructivist learning is not only a highly individualized process and it has a dimension of collective learning. learners must share their ideas through interaction and communication with each other and with their teachers. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 578 the tanzanian context the tanzanian government, like most governments in the world, enforced national closures of educational institutions in an attempt to contain the spread of the covid-19 pandemic. these closures impacted pre-primary up to higher learning institutions (hlis). while schools were closing at a global level by 16th february 2020, tanzania schools were still fully open until 14th march 2020 when national closure of lower education institutions was announced and then later on 18th march 2020 when also higher education institutions were closed as well. complete national closures of the education system are dated as 19th march 2020 with a partial opening that followed on 1st june 2020 for hlis and on 29th june 2020, the whole education system in tanzania was fully opened. the closures had a considerable impact on over 14,832,344 students from pre-primary education, primary education, secondary education, and hlis (the number does not include students enrolled in technical colleges and polytechnics whose data was not readily available). to ensure continuity, the ministry of education, science and technology, the president’s officeregional administration and local government, and the tanzania institute of education prepared a plan for instruction delivery through the use of televised instruction and radio programs. weekly schedules were set up and lessons were recorded and aired according to the prescribed schedule. other technologies were not prescribed by the government. on the one hand, remote learning in the hlis did not commence due to concerns of limited potential reach. as for pre-primary education up to secondary education, the government chose television and radio broadcasting for remote learning. this choice for maintaining continuity after national closures depended on its economic feasibility and wide broadcasting coverage that television and radio offered. educational broadcasting has a long history in tanzania and can be traced back to 1962 with the establishment of adult education programs on the radio (sturmer, 1998). some of the earliest educational programmings were english and swahili language courses. towards the 1970s, the national radio services provided educational programming to support and improve instruction of english and swahili among other subjects. the programming spanned 12 weeks and each subject comprised 12 lessons of 25 minutes, however due to limited financial support the programming ended in 1993 (sturmer, 1998). with the advent of remote learning and urgency for continuity measures, the government restored educational programming as earlier mentioned using the available public television and radio broadcasting services. structures of the lessons broadcasted followed traditional classroom lesson plans aimed at developing required competencies. web resources, social networking sites (sns), and smartphone applications were not considered as resources since the potential reach was limited however, the probability of being considered complementary resources could not be ignored. the present study this study draws on the theoretical underpinnings of a constructivist model of learning. to describe language learning in the new era as prompted by the covid-19 pandemic, the study shall focus on the use of technological resources in tanzania for remote learning during the period of national closures. firstly, it llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 579 seeks to investigate the language teaching and learning experiences in tanzania that were prompted in response to the impact of covid-19. it also seeks to check how students responded to the use of technology. secondly, the study seeks to examine the receptiveness of the use of technology in tanzania during the pandemic and the lessons that come from it. considering the use of technology and a range of resources available to learners, as well as the considerations of new era teaching and learning of language, the following research questions were devised to guide this study. 1. how did students and teachers cope with language teaching and learning through technology following the shift to technological resources in the context of the covid-19 pandemic? 2. what learning and teaching resources were available to teachers and learners and how useful were the resources? in this study, i use an adapted framework for constructivist learning that outlines the role of the teacher in enhancing constructive learning among students as they interact with technology. although the model clarifies the roles of the teacher, it indicates that there is a limit to the teacher’s perception of how the learner uses technology to learn. in this adaptation, the teacher can only make suggestions on the media, set tasks, select topics, and provide input to the learner. based on this model and the context of the study, the following predictions are made: 1) due to lapses in educational programming in tanzania, remote learning through television and radio broadcasting shall not receive high reception among students in comparison to other educational technology, and; 2) due to advancement in technology and increase in smartphone usage, students shall complement educational broadcasting. figure 1. framework for constructivist learning using technology method sample a total of 127 students (74 female, 53 male) and 33 teachers, both groups from 3 public school settings participated in the study. all teachers were purposely selected and had to fit the criteria of being language teachers for either english or swahili subjects. the students who participated in the study were in the last year of high school i.e. form 4. their selection was specific because this level llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 580 of students was expected to sit for the final national examinations before proceeding to advanced high school. the potential for complementing educational broadcasting was higher in this group than for students who were not expecting to sit for national examinations. the assumption being that this particular group of students would be highly engaged in using technology as a means to substitute learning as they prepare for their final examinations. table 1. characteristics of the study sample description n % gender teachers 33 100 male 8 24.2 female 25 75.8 students 127 100 male 53 41.7 female 74 58.3 age teachers 20-25 years 7 21.2 26-30 years 8 24.2 31-35 years 7 21.2 above 35 years 11 33.3 students 12-15 years 2 1.6 16-19 years 117 92.1 20-22 years 8 6.3 teachers per subject english 20 60.6 swahili 13 39.4 teacher qualifications diploma 6 18.2 bachelor's degree 24 72.7 masters degree 3 9.1 research instruments the study made use of self-reported questionnaires and interviews for both samples. each participant was required to fill in the questionnaire that aimed at collecting two sets of information. first, general and observed information that included details of their personal use of technology before the covid-19 pandemic. second, details of their use of technology during the pandemic, attitudes towards the use of technology-assisted learning as well as any other comments on the same. this information would assist in providing data for comparison and quantitative analysis. the questionnaire responses were coded for quantitative analysis. the interviews aimed at confirmation of the details provided by the participants to ensure the reliability of the data and also probe into their general view of language learning and teaching before and after the pandemic. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 581 procedures copies of the questionnaire were handed over to the participants and directions were provided orally on how to complete the questionnaire. as for the interviews, a few participants were recruited the following day to discuss their learning and teaching experiences. the interview questions reflected on the participant experiences before and after national closures of schools and the shift to technology for learning purposes. analysis the data was analyzed using ibm® spss® statistics version 23. since the questionnaires included items that would only be answered by students and teachers, 2 separate databases were set up for the analysis of the data. the student questionnaire included 45 items that resulted in a total of 205 variables for analysis whereas the teacher questionnaire had 42 items with a total of 202 variables. among these items, 10 categories used a 5-point likert scale for computing means and standard deviations. the results are displayed graphically indicating comparisons between teachers and students. moreover, research questions were interpreted into tasks to ease the presentation of the study results as well as to aid with the interpretation and discussion that ensued. the research questions and tasks are presented as follows: 1. how did students and teachers cope with language teaching and learning through technology following the shift to technological resources in the context of the covid-19 pandemic? task 1.1: identify personal use of technology before and during the covid-19 pandemic task 1.2: identify common resources used during the covid-19 pandemic task 1.3: determine challenges associated with the use of the resources 2. what learning and teaching resources were available to teachers and learners and how useful were the resources? task 2.1: determine the accessibility of teaching and learning resources and their usefulness to the language teaching and learning process task 2.2: establish prospects for use of technology in language teaching and learning findings and discussion personal use of technology before and during the covid-19 pandemic figure 2 below presents the use of technology before and during the pandemic. the results indicate an unstable pattern of use of the technology types. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 582 % % % % no access 3 0 4 0 smartphone 32 58 34 43 computer 12 15 5 5 television 40 15 47 31 radio 13 13 10 21 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 radio television computer smartphone no access figure 2. use of technology before and during covid-19 pandemic closures an increase in technology usage for students was noted in the use of smartphones and television whereas for teachers an increase was noted in the use of radio and television with a slight decrease in the use of smartphones. in a follow-up interview to confirm the usage patterns, the teachers and students agreed that the spike in television usage followed the directive from the office of the president, local government, and administration on shifting instruction to television and radio programs. however, when asked what motivated teachers to watch the programs that were meant for students, the teachers indicate that they watched the programs to make sure that the content posted online matches how they would have taught during the face-to-face instructions and to also check on whether there are areas in which they would require emphasis when closures ended. for students whose access to technology declined, they indicated that the access they have to technology of any form was outside their homes and when they go to school. with the closures, access was limited and for many neither did they watch the programs on television nor did they listen in to the radio. they depended on other students to inform them of what was going on online. from the data, it was discovered that the use of technology followed this path smartphones>television>radio>computer in order of the most commonly used form of technology. common resources used before and during the covid-19 pandemic one aspect of understanding the depth of technology used for language teaching and learning is to gain insight into the common resources that were adopted by the students and teachers in the wake of the pandemic. from the responses, it was noted the most likely resources used were based on previously llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 583 social communication resources. table 2 presents a list of common resources that were listed by students and teachers as part of the personal use in addition to the television and radio programming prescribed by the government. table 2. common technological resources used before and during the covid-19 pandemic closures resources before covid-19 during covid-19 students teachers students teachers n % n % n % n % whatsapp 51 19 33 41 62 25 33 46 email 6 2 3 4 4 2 1 1 google 47 18 19 24 45 18 11 15 word games 8 3 3 4 4 2 0 0 television 71 27 7 9 83 33 18 25 radio 17 6 4 5 11 4 7 10 other sns apps 51 19 11 14 33 13 1 1 no access 12 5 0 0 11 4 0 0 total 263 100 80 100 253 100 71 100 due to the identification of social communication resources as tools to learn ‘new vocabulary’, the study engaged the participants to check the extent of usage. although before the pandemic, only 5% of the students claimed to have no access to the resources, there was no significant change during the pandemic closures. the use of the resources during the closure was also unstable as was in the case of the forms of technology presented in figure 2. it was noted that 2 key resources gained popularity during the covid-19 pandemic for the students. the students indicated that they used the tools for networking and communicating with other students but also as a means for them to listen to native speaker speech and as an opportunity for them to learn new vocabulary. common resources such as whatsapp where students indicated that they relied on heavily for communication experienced a slight increase during the pandemic although most of them maintained that it was accessed to download materials that were sent to them instead they relied on google® as a resource to complement the learning materials that they were required to study in preparation for the exams. some students indicated that other novel resources that they found entertaining but enriching. they noted that the initial use of the applications was for amusement but as they continued using them, they discovered that their ability to comprehend narrative clips increase. challenges associated with the use of technology during the pandemic figure 3 presents the challenges of using technology for language teaching and learning that were faced during the pandemic. the teachers and their students had differences in what they termed as the challenges that affected the teaching and learning processes. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 584 35 8 6 21 3 19 3 3 2 16 11 11 19 2 21 9 7 4 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 poor network limited technology limited skills no face-to-face support no gadgets no bundle/airtime no electricity no learning materials poor transmission teacher % student % figure 3. challenges faced during the pandemic while students indicated that poor network connections and lack of face-toface support during the pandemic affected their ability to learn, teachers indicated that not being able to purchase internet bundles or airtime surpassed the challenge of poor network connection. as teachers and students were put in this situation of using technology, both groups agree that they had limited skills in how to use technology for language teaching and learning purposes. on asking what the teachers meant as no gadgets, they referred to both self-owned computers and tablets, to support online instruction rather than relying on their smartphones alone. availability of teaching and learning resources and their usefulness to the language teaching and learning process figure 4 below presents information on the availability and usefulness of teaching and learning materials during the pandemic. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 585 13 6 11 7 17 36 24 38 57 37 52 29 2 1 2 5 5 16 6 20 2 3 2 2 4 0 4 0 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% % % % % % % % % textbooks 13 6 11 7 homework 17 36 24 38 test/past papers 57 37 52 29 powerpoint 2 1 2 5 whatsapp discussion 5 16 6 20 links 2 3 2 2 no access 4 0 4 0 textbooks homework test/past papers powerpoint whatsapp discussion links no access figure 4. availability and usefulness of teaching and learning materials during the covid-19 pandemic closures students were encouraged to get print formats of textbooks as well as other forms of texts for study during the closures. during the study, the participants indicated textual formats that were available for self-study and revision. a statistically significant difference was observed for the usefulness of homework f (1,126) = 17.347, p=.000, r=.468 and test/past papers f (1, 126) =4.523, p= .013, r=.261. the effect size was medium to large for the usefulness of homework while for test/past papers, the effect size was small to medium (cohen, 1988). although at the time of the study, the tanzania institute of education made available online resources for teachers and students through its newly inaugurated e-library resources. the e-library resources carry textbooks that were provided free of charge during the pandemic together with subject syllabi for all subjects. data on the access of the e-library could not be included at the time of the study. there were school teachers who prepared e-notes for courses and distributed them online and they were made available through links to whatsapp groups. the most salient learning material among all resources was test/past papers. these are past examination papers that are shared with students as a learning guide as they prepare themselves for examinations. it seems the students attached a high level of usefulness to the papers. powerpoint slides and web links were the least used resources. in the follow-up interview, the students claimed they preferred pdf llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 586 formats of notes because they were easy to share and read, unlike linked documents that required a certain amount of skill of not ‘losing’ them on the gadgets. figure 5 presents other useful resources for language teaching and learning that were used during the pandemic. figure 5. teachers’ and students’ opinions on the usefulness of resources for teaching and learning during the covid-19 pandemic closures a significant difference was observed in the use of three resources, whatsapp f (1,126) = (1,126) = 5.333, p=.006, r=.281, radio programming f (1,126) = 3.495, p=.033, r=.231 and television programming f (1, 126) =6.217, p= .013, r=.276. the effect size was small to medium for all three resources (cohen, 1988). the students found whatsapp, television educational programming, and google to be more useful in their language learning experience in comparison to other resources. they indicated that whatsapp provided them access to learning materials while google played a key role in checking meanings, supplementary information on a topic, and grammar. on the other side, the teachers used whatsapp as a resource for providing instructions on particular assignments, sending out learning materials to students, announcements, and a discussion forum with students and other instructors. the participants were also asked about specific aspects in which their language teaching and learning experience benefitted the most. the students indicated an array of areas that they felt strongly had advanced from their use of technology resources. first and foremost, examination preparation (16%), semantics (19%), and vocabulary (20%) were equally key areas of benefit for the students followed closely by practice (10%). pronunciation, translation, spelling, and grammar in their opinion were not highly favorable areas since they felt they needed face-to-face support from instructors. the teachers in their opinion llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 587 indicated that vocabulary (17%), examination preparation (11%), pronunciation (11%), semantics (16%), and grammar (15%) would be areas of benefit for their students. figure 6 below illustrates this discussion further. figure 6. observed benefits of technology use during the covid-19 pandemic closures prospects for use of technology in language teaching and learning table 3 presents prospects for teacher-student and student-student interaction after the pandemic closures. this question aimed at determining the sustainability of the acquired skills and knowledge for improved language teaching and learning. table 3.prospects for teacher-student vs. student-student interaction postcovid-19 pandemic closures response students teachers frequency percent frequency percent no 43 33.9 8 24.2 yes 84 66.1 25 75.8 total 127 100.0 33 100.0 the responses from students indicated that approximately 34% have not maintained interactions that were started during the pandemic closures. in the interviews that followed, the students indicated that the reason they did not llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 588 maintain the communications lines was because they started the face-to-face instruction that did not require an online presence, and access to gadgets was a challenge. however, those that maintained interaction indicated that the resources opened up avenues for them to easily exchange learning materials with students from other schools, discuss with teachers on difficult items, easily seek clarification when needed. the teachers confirmed that fewer students continue to use the resources availed through them although the pace has slowed down. a similar trend was also noted among the teachers. the students completed a 10-category 5-point likert scale item. the likert item explored the benefits, challenges, and prospects of the use of technology in language teaching and learning. the results indicated that students and teachers socially and academically connected as indicated in tables 4 and 5. key issues to note from the data is that teachers support the expansion of the use of online resources for other subjects apart from the ones they taught (69.7%), continuity in the use of technology after the pandemic with teachers (87.9%), learning about their students (42.4%), learning from teachers from other schools (84.8%) and continuity in the use of technology after the pandemic with students (69.7%). although the students mentioned that technology was overall beneficial to them (72.4%), they indicated that they learned a lot from the classmates (70.1%). also, they indicated that they would continue to use resources for future communication with other students (65.4%) and their classmates (59.8%). table 4. student attitudes on the use of technology in language learning items n mean sd min. max. agree. (%) i appreciated being able to discuss my thoughts related to language learning online 127 3.45 1.252 0 5 68.5 i enjoyed posting to the discussion forum 127 3.22 1.618 0 5 63.0 i learned a lot from my classmates. 127 3.49 1.485 0 5 70.1 i learned a lot from students from other schools 127 3.44 1.546 0 5 65.4 i felt uncomfortable posting my thoughts publicly in the forum. 127 2.33 1.459 0 5 24.4 technology-assisted language learning took up too much time 127 2.65 1.444 0 5 36.2 overall, technology-assisted learning was beneficial to me. 127 3.62 1.339 0 5 72.4 i would like to use online resources in other subject classes 127 3.30 1.540 0 5 62.2 i will continue to use technology-assisted learning resources to communicate with other students after the covid-19 pandemic ends 127 3.35 1.456 0 5 65.4 i will continue to use technology-assisted learning resources to communicate with classmates after the covid-19 pandemic ends 127 3.20 1.610 0 5 59.8 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 589 table 5. teacher attitudes on the use of technology in language teaching items n mean sd min. max. agree. (%) i appreciated being able to discuss my thoughts related to language learning with my students 33 3.12 1.053 0 4 39.4 i enjoyed posting to the discussion forum 33 3.39 1.197 0 5 63.6 i learned a lot from my students. 33 3.27 .876 2 5 42.4 i learned a lot from teachers from other schools 33 4.15 .667 3 5 84.8 i felt uncomfortable posting my thoughts publicly in the forum. 33 2.70 1.262 0 5 30.3 technology-assisted language learning took up too much time 33 3.09 1.378 0 5 57.6 overall, technology-assisted learning was beneficial to students. 33 3.52 1.176 0 5 51.5 i would like to use online resources in other subject classes 33 3.70 .951 0 5 69.7 i will continue to use technology-assisted learning resources to communicate with students after the covid-19 pandemic ends 33 3.79 1.023 0 5 69.7 i will continue to use technology-assisted learning resources to communicate with teachers after the covid-19 pandemic ends 33 4.24 0.663 3 5 87.9 finally, the questionnaire concluded with an open-ended question asking the students and teachers to indicate what they like the most or the least about using technology. the student opinions fell under two themes, a) facilitation of communication among students and their teachers and b) facilitation as a general study resource. on the side of communication, the use of technology provided the students with a semblance of social interactions they have at school with other students but also granted them an opportunity to discuss subjects. most of them indicated the usefulness of google for study and preference of whatsapp and facebook. one student stated, “i like [it] when teachers teach a new topic”, while another stated, “i used social networks because it used to solve different problems”. finally, a student said, “i like most to communicate with other students and google something”. whereas, there were students who reiterated that they had no access to technology. on the other side, the teachers’ opinions fell under similar themes as those for the students. most teachers emphasized the types of technology resources that they preferred the most and also indicated the most helpful methods of using technology to assist in learning. they indicated the resourcefulness of social networks in facilitating teaching, learning, and communication and building networks with teachers from other schools teaching similar subjects. sharing of learning materials was stated by one teacher, “[i] use whatsapp to share past papers”, another teacher stated, “[i] discuss in the group with my fellow teachers and send questions to parents for students to do at home”. another teacher highlighted the challenges of technology and stated, “it was difficult to interact because many learners could not afford a [smart] phone”. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 590 discussion the present study examined the language teaching and learning experiences in tanzania that were prompted in response to the impact of covid-19. moreover, the study aimed to gain insight into how students responded to the use of technology. in doing so, i examined the receptiveness of the use of technology in tanzania during the pandemic and the lessons that come from it. two research questions guided the study: 1) how did students’ and teachers’ cope with language teaching and learning following the shift to technological resources in the context of the covid-19 pandemic, and; 2) what learning and teaching resources were available to teachers and learners and how useful were the resources? using a constructivist learning model, the two predictions were made: 1) due to lapses in educational programming in tanzania, remote learning through television and radio broadcasting shall not receive high reception among students in comparison to other educational technology, and; 2) due to advancement in technology and increase in mobile phone usage, students shall complement educational broadcasting. the results of the study confirm that the learners used both educational broadcasting media and other available resources at their means. the learners indicated that television broadcasting was widely used in comparison to its counterpart, radio broadcasting, but not as much as mobile learning. it was not clear as to why fewer students used radio broadcasting in comparison to television broadcasting however it may imply the formats of the broadcasting could influence captivation with one over the other. the student use of these media confirms the assertion made by unesco (2020b) on countries developing broadcast curricula for primary and secondary students as in the case of tanzania. furthermore, the study implicitly confirms that tv-based remote learning had the potential to reach the highest proportion of students and that it plays a significant role in delivering education despite the fact it does not offer a convenient way to transmit materials (unesco, 2020b). however, the current study revealed that there are cases where students had no access to both government-prescribed media nor complementary ones. unicef (2020) estimated on a global scale that 463 million (31%) of school children cannot be reached by digital and broadcast remote learning programs with eastern and southern africa (67 million) having the highest share of students who cannot be reached. although, this study indicates a lower percentage of students with no access, the probability that these low numbers were a result of the study was conducted in an area that is peripheral to an urban area. unesco (2020b) argues that the vast majority of the unreachable school children are from rural areas and poor households. the organization outlined operational challenges that have been noted in the use of televisionand radio-based broadcast. these include 1) the non-availability of educational content in audio-visual formats; 2) difficulties of countries to produce content in quantity and quality in a short time; 3) the absence of pre-existing partnerships for the design and broadcasting of the educational content; 4) the need for communication and collaboration between education specialists and the professionals of the audio-visual sector for the production of educational programs, and; 5) the lack of knowledge and expertise in monitoring and evaluation of learning. unlike some of the challenges noted by unesco (2020b) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 591 that were largely operational, the current study determined that the biggest challenge for both students and teachers that affected the language teaching and learning experience was poor transmission and electricity outages on the part of educational broadcasting. they coupled this challenge with the lack of learning materials and lack of face-to-face-support. however, when asked about the challenges experienced when using other formats such as smartphones, the study results indicate that poor network and no airtime to support communication. this raises the issue of whether equitable learning can be achieved and fostered through broadcast media. bell, cardoso, giraldo, el makkouk, nasir, mizunoya, and dreesen (2020) questioned the same about broadcast media amid the covid19 pandemic. in their article, they argue that television and radio broadcasting have the potential to reach a majority of learners, especially the most vulnerable. they noted that due to tv and radios’ lack of interactivity, parents and caregivers address this shortcoming by engaging the children to discuss the broadcasted educational content, supplemented by printed materials. they confirm that subsaharan africa household access to television is neither common nor equitably distributed. this is in agreement with this study because despite that availability of content on broadcast media opportunities to discuss and check content to ensure constructive learning is taking place were limited to those who had access to smartphones and would use whatsapp for teacher guidance and peer teaching. unfortunately, there was no evidence, in this study, of parents' or caregivers' discussion of educational content with the students. however, there are notable advantages of remote learning during the covid19 pandemic that have been recorded. lee (2020) reports that remote learning has seen an increase in student’s ability to retain study material. according to li and lalani (2020), learning retention has increased from 25% to 60% when students participate in online classrooms. also, increased student engagement has been evidenced in students who shy away from class interaction. teachers have found that students are more likely to raise questions and take part in class discussions and this allowed teachers to determine student’s understanding of modules. although the current study did not explicitly focus on learning retention during the closures, the study participants indicated that the nature of their social interactions was more focused on what new learning material was available to them and whether their peers understood the content or whether it would pose a challenge for them. most of these interactions were made possible by the use of smartphones since educational broadcasting was not interactive. barnes (2020) suggests that mobile phones can provide students with learning opportunities. these opportunities can range from access to content, curriculum, language instruction, and lesson plans to educational apps, social media, tutoring, and educational programming. african successes in mobile learning can be found in niger where sms has been used for numeracy and literacy instruction and in south africa where mobile-based storybooks are made available. teachers have also been known to utilize social media to organize discussions, push out information, and share videos. they also organize whatsapp groups for class and share digital content and resources. sub-saharan africa is also known for its long tradition of phone-based tutoring and sms support. a host of commercial tutoring providers can be found in nigeria, kenya, and south africa. they offer real-time video or sms tutoring. as for the current study, similar trends were noted where llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 592 whatsapp groups were set up for sharing digital content with the most common being past papers that did not require constant teacher monitoring. the content of the papers required students to do problem-solving activities more than using their experiences to construct new knowledge. in other words, language learning was only limited to topics that the students had already covered in face-to-face instruction for mobile learning. as for educational broadcasting, language learning was limited to the topics that were taught, however, there were limited means for teachers to engage students in discussion. for some of the teachers who used the platforms, the interaction was mainly one-directional with very limited response from students or acknowledgment from their parents. with the shortcomings that the teachers faced in interacting with their students, a shift towards teacher-teacher interaction increased. the teachers were able to share teaching and learning materials amongst themselves and they used the opportunity to discuss ways of improving language teaching. indeed, the general trend of the study results suggests that both students and teachers reacted positively to the use of technology during the pandemic. a variety of beneficial aspects linked to the use of technology were highlighted. these benefits can be categorized as social and pedagogical. despite the challenges associated with the shift to educational broadcasting and digital platforms, the study participants integrated sns and web applications as resources for native speaker input as learners of efl. although the prescribed technology was television and radio, students indicated that they were not prepared for the change in the teaching style of the select teachers, the tone of the lesson, and the language. this resulted, either, in them seeking alternatives to complement the lessons or do self-study. most of the students indicated that after using sns apps for native language input they would search for translations or more information on the topic. websites that offered language translation features for both english and swahili were useful and popular in the language learning experiences of the students. both students and teachers indicated that they sought opportunities for translation whenever they faced difficulties comprehending the content. although these sns tools provided them with content, their content lacked structure as a result students were creative in their search for information or relied on information that was sent to them through whatsapp. the students recognized these non-structured resources as new platforms for developing their skills in efl and enjoyed doing so with their classmates and teachers. the sns resources provided opportunities to listen to native speaker input although they did not provide opportunities for authentic and meaningful exchanges. this observation is found true by nominian (2002) who indicates that the web has benefits of providing environments, contexts, and an authentic ‘world’ which students can experience and explore. similar benefits are expressed by karpati (2009) who argues that web 2.0 tools facilitate educators in setting up collaborative learning for students at the center of the learning experience while the teacher can function as the mentor and guide to knowledge construction and sharing. he also highlighted the fact that such tools provide authentic language education settings, which is an essential aspect in terms of achieving high communicative competence in a foreign language (blattner and lomicka, 2012; karpati, 2009). additionally, it is confirmed that educational programming has its benefits in that it provides l2 spoken input which also contributes to language development llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 593 (fallakhair, masthoff & pemberton, 2004; fisher, 1984; webb, 2015). the same can be said for sns support especially in the foreign language learning environments as witnessed in this study. despite challenges noted, the students specified benefits in development in english language vocabulary and semantics through sns. it is suggested that using emerging tools, learners have greater autonomy and are actively involved in knowledge development since they have more control over learning itself. rather than exclusively delivering information from textbooks, new technologies heighten the engagement of students in finding, recognizing, and analyzing resources on their own (blattner & lomicka, 2012; mazer, murphy & simonds, 2007). unfortunately, this study discovered that students were not fully able to develop the autonomy of learning on their own partly due to the unpreparedness for the shift to technology-assisted learning. therefore, they limited the possibility of constructive learning on their part. this is in agreement with the observations by teräs, suoranta, teräs & curcher (2020) and strong (1990) who suggested that despite actions taken by countries to maintain continuity of learning and teaching, the transition to the selected platforms revealed gaps and shortcomings on how online learning has and has not been adopted in educational institutions. in the current study, most of the technological resources e.g. whatsapp were not fully utilized but rather, they functioned as message boards for students and teachers who would respond to each other’s comments and observations without necessarily confirming that the other participant was online at the time of communication. this confirms a disconnection between the interlocutors and minimal creation, to almost none, for opportunities for additional learning and practice. conclusion as earlier indicated in this paper, the current study examined the language teaching and learning experiences in tanzania that were prompted in response to the impact of covid-19. crucial to the study was determining how students’ and teachers’ coped with language teaching and learning through technology, and identifying available resources and the usefulness of the resources in language teaching and learning. early in the study, it was predicted that remote learning through television and radio broadcasting shall not receive high reception among students in comparison to other educational technology, and other technological resources would be used to complement educational broadcasting. three key findings are revealed from this study, first, the reception of educational broadcasting was rather low among the participants while reliance on mobile learning increased even though educational broadcasting offers unique opportunities for teaching and learning because of its accessibility and costeffectiveness. second, both teachers and students faced challenges when they attempted to cope with the shift to technology-based formats for language teaching and learning. the overriding challenge was associated with the lack of face-to-face instruction and access to learning materials. the loss of teacher support affected learning for the students. third, this study revealed that students were not fully able to develop the autonomy of learning on their own partly due to the unpreparedness for the shift to technology-based learning. even where they were acquainted with the tools, the students could not creatively use the tools to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 594 assist language learning beyond the traditional uses of messaging. overall, the results confirm that web resources, sns, and applications are rapidly becoming a resource for native speaker contact for students learning english in foreign language learning contexts as well as support for swahili language teaching and learning. although the resource activities and functions are fundamentally different from pedagogical goals that educators aim for in a traditional classroom, it has become exceedingly important for educators to seek creative spaces and opportunities for students learning a language to engage with cultural information that may enrich their learning experiences. blattner and fiori (2009) point out that the l2 classes must capitalize on social and academic opportunities that technology has to offer. unfortunately, e-learning tools have not been viewed as a mainstream component of language teaching and are yet to become a fundamental element in l2 classrooms (blattner & lomicka, 2012). however, with the tanzania institute of education’s creation of an e-learning library, it is safe to say that the early steps of mainstreaming e-learning resources have commenced. this study 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(2018). strategies in technology-enhanced language learning. studies in second language learning and teaching (sllt), 8(2), 471-495 doi: 10.14746/ssllt.2018.8.2.13 http://www.cdli.ca/~elmurphy/emurphy/cle.html http://pcf4.dec.uwi.edu/viewpaper.php?id=288 https://unsdg.un.org/resources/policy-brief-education-during-covid-19-and-beyond https://unsdg.un.org/resources/policy-brief-education-during-covid-19-and-beyond https://en.unesco.org/news/learning-through-radio-and-television-time-covid-19 https://en.unesco.org/news/learning-through-radio-and-television-time-covid-19 https://data.unicef.org/resources/remote-learning-reachability-factsheet/ https://data.unicef.org/resources/remote-learning-reachability-factsheet/ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 450 linguistic landscape in a multilingual context: a case of kenyan universities stella wangari muriungi1 and benard angatia mudogo2 1mount kenya university, kenya 2masinde muliro university of science and technology, kenya wangaristl@gmail.com; dmudogo@mmust.ac.ke correspondence: dmudogo@mmust.ac.ke doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i2.3673 received 11 september 2021; accepted 29 october 2021 abstract the linguistic landscape of a place constitutes a clear representation of its language ideology, culture, users’ identity and language practice. these are depicted in verbal language used in public signs including business names, street signs, advertisements and graffiti. the aim of this paper is to examine the language distribution, purpose and authorship of public signage in the multilingual context in kenyan universities. the paper also examines the students’ attitudes towards the public signs in the sampled institutions. a sample of 185 photos taken from notices, advertisements, building names and posters are analyzed. the analysis reveals that english is the most dominant language used in universities for both top-down and bottom-up signs, with 77% prevalence. this is attributed to the acceptance of english as a global language and presence of international students and lecturers. a high incidence of informative signs is also noted at 42% of all signage linked with the academic nature of the paper context. the findings also reveal that kiswahili as an african language with bantu and arabic roots is barely utilized in public signs despite its official status. this has implications on language policy and its implementation as it indicates a mismatch between policy and practice. keywords: linguistic landscape, multilingualism, language policy, public signs. introduction multilingualism is a common phenomenon, which can be manifested in the diverse use of languages in different sociolinguistic context. the paper analyzes languages in context by focusing on the written information that is available on language signs in kenyan universities. as observed by landry & bourhis, (1997: 25), ‘linguistic landscape of a territory can serve two basic functions: an informational function and a symbolic function’. this implies that, the linguistic landscape can reflect the relative power and status of the different languages in a specific sociolinguistic context. in this sense it is the product of a specific situation and it can be considered as an additional source of information about the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 451 sociolinguistic context along with censuses, surveys or interviews. in this respect, the study of the linguistic landscape in a multilingual setting is necessary because it can provide information on the implications of language policy and practices that can be reflected in top down signs such as street names or names of official buildings and the impact of that policy on individuals as reflected in bottom-up signs such as shop names or street posters. this paper focuses on a comparison of the use of different languages in the linguistic landscape of kenyan universities. this is because, from the perspective of language contact and use as well as attitude, these institutions accommodate people with dynamic ethnolinguistic backgrounds. in addition, the presence of international students in the universities further enriches the institutions as a source of sociolinguistic information. as observed by gorter (2013), descriptive approach to linguistic landscape (ll) provides insights to language diversity in a specific region or territory as it provides information about users’ perception about language (s). therefore, ll adds onto sociolinguistics as it reveals more information on society’s perception about language and impacts on linguistic behavior. this is in addition to being instrumental in language instruction and raising awareness on social issues. in the same light, blommaert (2013) emphasized that a sign is not only a linguistic item but also a representation of the social, political and cultural contexts of its origin. it is our contention that the study of these linguistic elements, in a given social context presents a field that may justify a systematic study as it may constitute an empirical way of uncovering social realities. in this era of modernity, globalization and multiculturalism (ben-rafael, 1996), new institutions, branches of commercial activity, professional identities and demographic developments are legion. they can transform the character, composition and status of quarters, while relations between groups as well as between the institutions and the individuals receive new dimensions. it is against this complex background that our paper wants to read, in the multilingual context of kenyan, the drives and forces that stand behind the (re)shaping of their ll the notion of linguistic landscape this paper presents an empirical study of the ll of kenyan universities. by this notion we refer to linguistic objects that mark the public space and it is studied here in a variety of heterogeneous universities. the groups involved are university students from different linguistic backgrounds. the study focuses on the degree of visibility on private and public signs of different languages. this ll study draws its conceptual framework from a few works about ll that preceded it, and its research questions from sociological theory. ll has been described by cenoz & gorter, (2006) as language items that can be seen in particular public spaces. this refers to signs on billboards, public road signs, place and street names, commercial signs and government building signage. according to landry & bourhis (1997), ll encompasses the language of place and street names, advertising billboards, shop signs and public signs on public roads and buildings. the nature of ll has been used as a basis for analysis of social structures and perspectives where important agendas are established, negotiated and endorsed. studies have categorized linguistic landscapes into two; top-down and bottom-up landscapes. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 452 the top-down approach focuses on language elements propagated by the national government and public institutions, signage on public sites, names of streets and public announcements. on the other hand, the bottom-up linguistic landscape referrers to signs produced by individuals such as shop owners and company or shop names as well as personal announcements as stated by benrafael, shohamy, amara & trumper-hecht, (2006). this means that top-down signs are related by governments or other official institutions whereas bottom-up signs are established by private entities such as individual business peoples, companies and private organizations. this categorization was also done by backhaus 2006 who identified them as official and non-official signs. official signs constitute signage associated with government and its agencies besides public transport facilities. apart from the two groups, all other signs are classified as non-official such as business names, private billboards and private enterprises signs. ll as an approach was first utilized to examine the bilingual situation in canada where it laid out the ethnolinguistic vitality in the country. the educational context in a multilingual situation has been regarded as a rich resource for sociolinguistics and applied linguistics. school signage reveals more information about the identities, ideologies and language instruction. waksman & shohamy, (2008) observe that linguistic landscape in educational contexts provide a platform for further research into language learning and activism. the aim of this paper is to examine the dominant language (s) in the public signage and identify the authorship of the signs in terms of top-down or bottom-up signs. this paper also seeks to bring out the views of the students in regard to the languages used in the campus environment. ll study is significant as it expands the scope of analysis by allowing for the examination of all categories of signs (gorter, marten, & mensel, 2012). a study of ll is also crucial as it encompasses the authors, creators, places and audiences of the signs to give a better picture of the linguistic situation. this is in addition to its ability to provide more information on the demographics, uses and policies affecting language. empirical studies related to ll have focused on onomastics in terms of place names (kibet, 2017), political party names (malande, 2018), personal names (malande 2011), (miruka, 2018) and (onchoke, 2018). other studies that have contributed to further understanding of local linguistic landscapes include an examination of business names (atieno & kinegeni, 2019) and churches (njoki, 2013). the concentration of these studies has been on business names and place names with less focus on educational environments; especially tertiary education settings. muaka (2018) examined the linguistic landscape of kenya and tanzania from a youth language perspective. we sampled city signage and established that it was a reflection of the prevailing youth language which informed economy as well as policy. the focus on linguistic landscape has been intensified by the fact that signs are intentional aspects of society. the signs are put forth by various actors with diverse social and political or cultural motivations or objectives. the linguistic landscape in learning institutions has been examined under theme of shoolscape in previous studies. a comparative study by wang, (2015) featuring two universities in two different states came up with phenomenal conclusions and implications for language policy. the national languages were the most dominant in signs where language policy was reflected in top-down signs as opposed to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 453 bottom-up signage. chimirala, (2018) noted that schoolsapes are an indication of ideologies and language policy. he posited that sociolinguistic examination of schoolscapes may be limited by its inability to exhaustively reveal the underlying multilingualism in such contexts. in the educational contexts the linguistic landscape as it provides insights into language awareness, public participation and intercultural competence, (mahemuti, 2018 ) established that international students on campus realized the need and impact for the multilingual linguistic landscape in terms of enhanced language awareness, interaction and identity construction. language situation in kenyan universities according to njoroge, (2018), the average kenyan student is proficient in a minimum of three languages: kiswahili, english and one local language. in 1964, the ominde commission recommended for the use of english as a medium of instruction in upper classes. the commission stated that indigenous languages were ill adapted to cater to the teaching needs in the learning environment. this was however revised by subsequent commissions such as the gacathi (1976), mackay (1981) and koech (1999) in (njoroge & gathigia, 2017) which established the use of indigenous languages during the initial three years of learning. mother tongue is therefore preferred language of teaching for pupils in lower primary as noted by (oduor, 2010). njoroge, (2018) explains that the government clearly spells out its intention to promote linguistic diversity in the kenyan constitution. this includes indigenous and kenyan sign language besides other communication systems for people with disabilities. the elevation of the english language is at the expense of majority of kenyans seeing that a mere 9 percent of the 33 million are proficient in english. while kiswahili is the unifying language intended to enhance patriotism and solidarity, english acts as a link to the global economy for kenya. the current constitution cap 7 on languages recognizes kiswahili as an official language (kenya law reform commission, 2019). according to machuki, (2018) to the kenyan language policy on kiswahili has been inconsistent. this is a factor that has further enhanced the negative attitude towards the teaching and learning o kiswahili language. the language policy stipulates that kiswahili and english are official languages for use in various contexts including the school. however, the school situation is different due to the differences in geographical locations which change the languages of the catchment areas. in their investigation, mwangi & michira (2014) predicted that the establishment of kiswahili as an official language would likely face a number of challenges including its lack of visibility and use in educational contexts. for instance, ghai, (2017) noted that the constitution does not emphasize the need for legislation to be in both english and kiswahili. some universities have also reinstated kiswahili departments where they had been dissolved as in university of nairobi (2013) and maseno university (2004). the admission criterion at university level has also accepted the substitution of english with kiswahili in the cluster subject combination. these gains are however curtailed by the absence of kiswahili linguistics for language students who are forced to undertake the subject with another subject such as religious studies or history. the students of english however have the advantages of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 454 pursuing english at the linguistic and literature levels as a combination readily accepted by the largest employer for education studentsthe teachers’ service commission (tsc). however, the universities need to embrace kiswahili in their documentation that includes mission statements and core values to efficiently promote kiswahili as an official language. generally, english is the dominant language of use in the schoolscape with indigenous languages coming third in the ranking after kiswahili. universities in kenya are expected to adhere to the language policy which sets english and kiswahili as official languages with english being the medium of instruction in school. the bantu-based kiswahili acts as a lingua franca for transactional purposes for speakers using any of the 68 other languages spoken in kenya. kiswahili is also preferred due to its african roots that bear no colonial sentiments. this is in addition to its structural relation to other kenyan bantu languages despite borrowing heavily from arabic. theoretical framework the present investigation was based on the trump-hehcht (2010) analysis of the symbolic and informative functions of ll. trump-hecht (2010) pointed out three facets of space as a concept. these were explained as spatial practice, conceived space and lived space. the spatial practice refers to the physical aspect that indicates language distribution based on the physical signs. the conceived space on the other hand, brings out the political aspects of language as it represents the ideological perspectives and opinions backed by policy makers as well as the impact of policy on linguistic landscape. the third dimension under this view is the lived space which focuses on the experiential perspective by examining the attitudes of language users or inhabitants. the theory will help in the analysis of how social groups cope with the game of symbols within a multilingual setting. method based on the trump-hecht (2010) definition, the present paper takes a three pronged descriptive analysis of the landscape under investigation. the ll approach is best suited for the paper as it takes into account all categories of signs in the area of study in addition to examining details of authors and target readers. ll used photography to capture the signs and gather data on the spatial practice or physical element of the campus. the photographing exercise focused on road signs, street names within the institution, business names around the campus and signboards designating different sections. the exercise aims at capturing one sign per photograph. the signage data was categorized in terms of its functions as guided by spolsky and cooper (1991) who identified different sign types. the eight categories were applied as follows: building names, warning signs, informative signs, graffiti, objects, street signs and plaques. the sign categories were adjusted to fit into the educational context. these were therefore renamed and condensed into warning signs, advertisements, building/place names, informative signs, plaques and graffiti. the signs were then grouped along the lines of bottom-up or top-down. the second dimension of political or conceived space was understood through the regulatory frameworks put in place by the institution with regard to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 455 language use. the relevant departments were visited to shed light on the communication policies and any other rules governing the placement of signs in the campus. on the third dimension of the lived space, the paper applied questionnaires and interviews to establish the attitudes of students towards the languages used in the institution. the two instruments were structured in order to capture perceptions of users as well as their assessment of the importance and rank of languages used. the paper applied convenience and purposeful sampling to form a sample of international students. findings and discussion political space this space is also referred to as the conceived space as it consists of policies and regulations. these are clearly stipulated by government agencies in collaboration with politicians, technocrats and policy makers. shohamy (2006) explains that language policy is apparent in languages applied in public signs, government business and the medium of instruction in schools, (spolsky & shohamy, 2000) state that language policy is an effort by someone with or claiming authority to changes the language practice of someone else”. in this context, the university’s language policies were also evident in their admission requirements for local and foreign students. university b provided for applicants to indicate their level of proficiency in the english language which is the language of instruction. these were not clear in universities’ a and c requirements. for the various undergraduate programmes, english was the major requirement especially in health science-related and engineering courses. however, social sciences, arts, hospitality, engineering and tourism were found to be flexible as they provided for either official language as a qualification. the institutions also offer kiswahili at undergraduate and graduate levels. all three had running master’s programmes in kiswahili while universities c and b additionally offered them as bachelor of arts degrees. the medical programmes in the three universities also recognized the role of kiswahili. university expected applicants to have good command of the two languages to peruse veterinary medicine. university b and a maintained that either kiswahili or english was required to enroll for bachelor of medicine and surgery. a look into legal programmes in the institutions under study revealed that universities stipulated that english language was a mandatory requirement in universities a and b for admission in the bachelors of laws programme. university c on the other hand stated on their website that applicants needed to have a good grade in either english or kiswahili language. physical space the physical space forms the basis for data collection in ll through photography. the analysis of signs, posters and other documents in the three campuses indicted that a greater percentage were monolingual. moreover, the paper found majority of the signs to have been authored by the institution’s’ management, so that the top-down signs were a majority. the high incidence of monolingual top—down signs is attributed to the university’s authority over operations at the campuses. bottom-up signs, on the other hand, included those which were issued by individual social actors such as signs on businesses and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 456 personal announcements. the signs were considered in their entirety as some photographs contained more than one signboard. the results are shown on figures 1, 2 and 3 as shown below; figure 1: top-down signs all monolingual (english) figure 2: bottom-up sign figure 3: bottom-up sign-multilingual grafffiti llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 457 analysis of physical signage the first concern about languages displayed concerns the number of languages used in each unit of analysis (sign). table 1 gives the results. table 1: analysis of physical signage groups authorship language preference number percentage unilingual top-down english 98 53 % kiswahili 6 3 % bilingual french and english 2 1 % monolingual bottom-up english only 45 24 % kiswahili only 10 6 % sheng only 4 2 % bilingual english and kiswahili 16 9 % multilingual english, kiswahili and local languages 4 2% total 185 100 there is the predominant use of english in top-down communication. the figures also show that bottom-up signs utilize kiswahili and local languages. the use of english is linked to its status as an official language as well as an international lingua franca. the table also points out the low incidence of kiswahili in public signage. this is despite its recent elevation to an official language in kenya. table 2 communicative functions of sampled signs category number percentage % building names 35 19 warning signs 13 7 informative signs 78 42 graffiti 3 2 advertising signs 43 23 street signs 9 5 plaques 4 2 total 185 100 the communicative fuctions of the signs based o the spolsky and cooper (1991) classification, idetified informative signs as the most predominat purpose of signage in the landscapes. from table 2 above, informative signs accounted for 42% of the signage followed by advertising at 23.2% and labellig ln form of building names at 18.9%. cautionary signage was also identified at 7.02% while grafitti, street signs and plaques had a less than 5% prevalece. this indicates that the landscape under investigation focuses on passig information, commuication of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 458 products and services and labelling. this is attributable to the academic nature of the uiversity context. lived space. the lived space is the third dimension in the lefebvre (1991) concept of the inhabitants’ space. this dimension examines the user’s interpretations and perceptions towards their linguistic landscape. the interviews sought to examine participants’ attitudes towards signs in the campus. from the sample, interviewees appreciated the linguistic landscape of the campus but were aware of the need for inclusivity and cultural sensitivity. the interviewees emphasized on the need for acceptance and empathy towards one another in a multilingual context of the university. students from previously francophone countries expressed the need to include french in signage. they additionally cited frustrations with kiswahili for both academic and interactional purposes. however, students from somalia and somaliland emphasized the importance of basic english training as content in class is delivered through the language. conclusion when we try to summarize the order of dominance of the three languages, we see that english is by far the most prominent language in the linguistic landscape in all the three universities followed by kiswahili as the second language and in the third place comes sheng with a marginal presence. the local languages were the least utilized. in all the universities the majority language (english) is also more prominent in the signs regarding the size of the fonts, the position of the text as compared to other languages and the information given in the text. this study shows that the linguistic landscape has both informative and symbolic functions (landry & bourhis, 1997). the informative function shown in the signs in the different languages indicates the language to be used in communication at shops and other businesses and also reflects the relative power of the different languages. the use of the different languages in the linguistic landscape also has a symbolic function mainly when language is a salient dimension of a linguistic group. for example, the use of kiswahili in bilingual signs in the universities is not only informative, because not everybody can get the information in kiswahili, but it has an important symbolic function which is related to affective factors and the feeling that kiswahili is a symbol of national identity. on the other hand, the use of english in commercial signs could be interpreted as informational mainly for international students but it is obvious that its increasing presence has a strong symbolic function for the local students as well in all the three universities. using english can be perceived as more prestigious and modern than using the local languages (piller, 2003) but it can have important consequences for the future of the other languages present (phillipson, 2003). this investigation is limited to the analysis of linguistic signs in only three universities but shows the important role of the linguistic landscape and its relationship to linguistic policy in multilingual contexts. it also emerges that linguistic landscape does not necessarily reflect the use of the languages in oral communication but it also provides information about written communication between language users. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 459 references atieno, c., & 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(2012). linguistic landscape and language policies: a comparative study of linköping university and eth zürich. linköping university. http://dspace.pacuniversity.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/1586 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 249 the impacts of mentimeter-based activities on efl students’ engagement in indonesia angela bayu pertama sari universitas bina sarana informatika, indonesia correspondence: angela.abp@bsi.ac.id doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.3025 received 17 december 2020; accepted 26 march 2021 abstract the effort to enhance students’ engagement in the efl classroom is still becoming an issue. fortunately, some studies have shown a positive correlation between technology utilization to elevate the students’ engagement. based on that potential finding, this study aims at digging out the impact of mentimeter, as one of the popular tools in this recent time, on efl students’ engagement. it is a descriptive qualitative study. there are 70 respondents of the non-english students that were selected by using purposive sampling. the results of the study reveal that there are three most prominent students' positive perception towards the implementation of mentimeter in the efl classroom, namely practicality, anonymity, and freedom. those three aspects foster the students to be engaged in the process of english learning. then, most students perceive that no reason makes them dislike mentimeter usage in the efl classroom. the next finding depicts a significant impact of mentimeter on the students’ engagement in english learning by giving opinions and discussion activities. it was proven with the percentage of students’ participation, reaching 82% and 91%, above the average of mentimeter participants’ contribution. keywords: mentimeter, engagement, giving opinion, efl introduction most foreign language teachers must deal with one of the biggest challenges in english language learning, that is the students’ anxiety. worde (1998) argues that more than half of foreign language learners encounter anxiety in the process of english learning. students who perceive anxiety may find the process of learning to be less enjoyable (gregersen, 2005). even worse, for the anxious english learners, they tend not to engage in any activities that make them anxious (pappamihiel, 2002). that occurrence becomes a severe matter to english learning since motivation, engagement, and achievement are related to one another (mulia, 2020). lots of teachers find out that their teaching is useless due to the students’ low motivation and engagement. the low engagement of the students will significantly impact the students’ learning outcome. irvin, meltzer, and dukes (2007) add that engagement plays a crucial role in the learning process because it leads the students to the practice and interaction of the classroom's subject. thus, mailto:youremail@xxxx.com llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 250 jung, kudo, and choi (2012) state that students must get involved and actively engaged in the classroom to develop their english language skills. the students’ participation in the classroom is believed to be the parameter of the continuous learning process. various types of students’ participation are reflected in their willingness to express opinions, asking questions, working on assignments, and suchlike. one of the activities that successfully draw students’ interest in the english learning process is asking and giving an opinion (harunasari and halim, 2019). asking and giving an opinion is believed to be an effective teaching technique for the teachers to foster students’ engagement in english learning (randong, marbun, and novita, 2013). however, in these modern days, having a good teaching technique is not enough. teachers must build such a mood-living-up atmosphere in the classroom to make the students encouraged (mulia, 2020). one of the efforts that could be endeavored by the teachers to establish an uplifting learning environment is by utilizing technology. technology is believed to bring adequate space for both students and teachers to communicate and promote the students' interest through the teaching techniques of asking and giving opinions (mulia, 2020). moreover, some studies also reveal that students tend to get more involved in the online collaborative class than face-to-face learning (pellas & kazanidis, 2015; saritepeci & çakir, 2015 as cited in mulia, (2020)). moreover, compared to the traditional classroom, the technology-based classroom provides an excellent opportunity for the students to experience the appealing atmosphere of the learning process that stimulates their engagement (mulia, 2020). one of the technologies employed in this study is mentimeter. mentimeter is an easy-to-use application that facilitates the students to communicate by answering questions anonymously (puspa and imamyartha, 2019). furthermore, it is considered a stress-free application because anyone can join the discussion forum through the online entrance using smartphones, laptops, or tablets. positive features of mentimeter mentimeter is an online application that offers significant advantages. it is reported that mentimeter is an easy-to-use application that is free and does not require any installation nor download (jurgen, 2018) (puspa and imamyartha, 2019). it also provides users with interactive learning to take place with its attractive presentation of the results (john, 2018). its ability to encourage students' engagement and engagement in the learning process is revealed (morrison, 2015). mentimeter has also been a popular online application for teachers and students since 2014 (mayhew, 2019). mentimeter promotes collaborative learning that enables the students to share their opinion and post it on the page that could be accessed by the other students and teachers (quang, 2018) (lina and annika, 2015). one of the features that become the students’ fondness is anonymity (heaslip, donovan, and cullen, 2014). students do not need to worry about their identity when they respond to a particular question asked. it is a feature that is not offered in the traditional discussion. thus, the utilization of mentimeter in the classroom enhances the quality of learning since it encourages the students to interact and discuss specific topics, even the most introverted students (crump and sparks, 2018). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 251 negative features of mentimeter some obstacles have been identified during the usage of the mentimeter application. one of them deals with the internet connection. the students cannot contribute to the activities through mentimeter unless they have an internet connection (vallely and gibson, 2018). thus, the process of learning that is based on mentimeter will be pointless when the internet connection does not work. the other problem is found in the feature of anonymity. the anonymity makes teacher impossible to identify which students have contributed to the discussion (vallely and gibson, 2018). the other limitation of mentimeter is that when the students have already submitted the responses, they cannot edit or delete them (vallely and gibson, 2018). afterward, it leads to the inappropriate results of students’ responses due to the miss-spelling, mother-tongue language, grammatical error, and suchlike. prior studies and research gap prior studies have successfully discovered several findings of mentimeter usage in english learning. a study conducted by wong and yunus (2020), which involved 40 students in one of the primary schools in malaysia, showed that mentimeter is a practical application to improve students’ writing vocabularies. a study carried out by lin and lin (2020) in one of the universities in china presented that mentimeter is a useful tool to assist teachers in enhancing students’ communication skills that are investigated by using six communication theories. a study conducted by vallely and gibson (2018) portrayed the strengths and limitations of mentimeter by using the swot analysis. that study was implemented by involving the participants from students of the teachers education department. another study managed by puspa and imamyartha (2019) showed a finding that there is a positive correlation between the implementation of mentimeter and students’ language production skills. as previously mentioned above, there is much work that has been carried out overseas to examine the advantages of mentimeter for english learning. nevertheless, there is still minimum information about the impact of mentimeter on the higher education students’ engagement in the face-to-face classroom in the indonesian efl context. thus, this study was conducted by answering these two research questions: 1. what are the students’ perceptions of the utilization of mentimeter in the efl classroom? 2. how does mentimeter impact the students’ engagement in the efl classroom? method research design the design of this study was descriptive qualitative that ‘aims to seek thorough information about a particular issue’ (kawulich, 2015). it brings a goal to describe the characteristics or phenomenon. in this study, the researcher endeavored to present the impact of mentimeter on efl students’ engagement. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 252 participants the participants of this research were 70 non-english students of sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, who attended the general english course. those participants consisted of 46 female students and 24 male students. they were from the 1st semester of the accounting and informatics engineering study program. instruments and data sources the source of the data was in the form of phrases, sentences, and expressions that belonged to the qualitative data. the researcher utilized open-ended questionnaires that were distributed through an online platform. the students were asked to fill out the questionnaire forms. then, their responses were taken as the data of this study. data collecting techniques this study used open-ended questionnaires as the data collecting technique. there were four questions: (1) what are the things that the students like from the implementation of mentimeter in the efl classroom? (2) what are the things that the students do not like from the implementation of mentimeter in the efl classroom? (3) what is the preferable method for the students in expressing their opinion? (4) what are the students’ suggestions for the future implementation of mentimeter in the efl classroom? the researcher enriched the data with the findings from the documentation. moreover, the researcher also took note of the observation during the implementation of mentimeter in the efl classroom. data analysis the data analysis in this study employed descriptive qualitative analysis. the analysis encompassed three stages. the first stage was the coding analysis done as the initial analysis by examining the qualitative data in phrases, sentences, and written expressions. afterward, it continued to the second stage, which was pattern coding. in this stage, the qualitative data was classified into some categories based on specific keywords. the last stage was the narrative description. it was the stage in which the researcher provided a thorough analytical description of the research findings (miles, huberman, and saldana, 2014). findings and discussion the open-ended questionnaire yielded qualitative data that was analyzed in this section. as the initial analysis, this study investigated the impacts of mentimeter on the efl classroom from the affective perspective. the affective domain dealt with attitudes, motivation, and anxiety (henter, 2014). thus, this study started the analysis by examining the students’ responses, both positive and negative, towards the use of mentimeter in the efl classroom. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 253 students’ positive perception towards mentimeter regarding this section, there were five categories related to the students’ positive perceptions of the use of mentimeter in the efl classroom. the detailed result was presented in table 1. table 1. students’ positive perception responses quantity amusing, fun 8 anonymity 18 attractive (presentation, various types of activities) 6 practical (paperless, simple method, class is not noisy, fast) 22 freedom (not speaking in public) 16 according to the result in table 1, the highest response of the students’ positive perception dealt with practicality. it was shown that 22 students considered the use of mentimeter in the efl classroom provides practicality during learning. the students found it positive when the activities using mentimeter was paperless. they also felt that polling or giving responses through mentimeter was simple due to smartphones that needed no effort to use. it is in line with the research conducted by vallely and gibson (2018), with the results showing that mentimeter was an easy-to-use tool for the students in learning a language. moreover, it was also reported that mentimeter was a simple tool to use since it did not require any installation or download before its usage (mayhew, 2019). other responses showed that the students were comfortable due to the practicality in using mentimeter because it created a conducive class atmosphere when the students presented their ideas. on the regular discussion in class, the students were bothered by the noisy class when they gave an opinion, giving responses, and suchlike. fortunately, mentimeter successfully changed the learning atmosphere to be more conducive with less noise. the last response dealing with practicality was about the fast process of mentimeter. the students found the mentimeter to be a useful tool for learning since it could collect ideas and presented the result fast. it is in line with a study carried out by emma (2018) showing that mentimeter offered the positive feature for learning due to its ability to collect ideas, responses, discussions, feedbacks and presented the outcomes instantly. the second most substantial category was about anonymity. mentimeter was an online system with its feature to collect ideas with an anonymous identity. its feature of anonymity became one of the students’ preferences in presenting their ideas. eighteen responses showed positive responses to the anonymity feature of mentimeter. some studies supported this finding, such as the study managed by heaslip, donovan, and cullen (2014), which revealed that mentimeter encouraged greater engagement and higher participation rate due to the participants’ anonymity that was hardly achieved in regular-class discussion. the class atmosphere of anonymous discussion by using mentimeter triggered students’ participation to speak up their mind in a non-judgemental environment that led to a more significant engagement (vallely and gibson, 2018). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 254 the third considerable category was about freedom. there were 16 students’ responses presenting that the learning process in mentimeter served them with freedom in expressing their opinion and engaging in a discussion. the students did not have to present their ideas in public speaking that made them anxious. some studies indicated similar results dealing with freedom in learning that was offered by mentimeter. a study by crump and sparks (2018) showed that mentimeter supported the learning process by building an atmosphere that encouraged the students’ participation, even for the most introverted ones. besides, another study also showed that mentimeter became a helpful tool in boosting students’ confidence to freely participate in the discussion and express their voices (vallely and gibson, 2018). the next category showed that the students perceived that mentimeter usage in the efl classroom brought a delightful and fun learning atmosphere. it was shown from the eight responses in this category. this study was similar to the research finding carried out by wong and yunus (2020), which ensured that the students expressed their favoritism towards mentimeter due to its features that created a fun learning atmosphere. the discussion in learning was shifted into an amusing situation with less pressure for the students. the last category for this section was about the power of mentimeter in presenting the outcomes of the students’ interaction in an impressive and attractive form. six students considered the mentimeter attractive feature to be positive for them. students were interested and impressed in the results of mentimeter that was presented in appealing layouts and designs with colorful fonts (davina and kelly, 2017). the types of questions facilitated by mentimeter were also varied. it offered some features such as voting, polling for the winners, open-ended questions, and others. the outcomes of the results were also presented with an animation effect that dramatically presented the results more impressively. students’ negative perception of mentimeter the second section of this discussion investigated the students’ negative responses to the implementation of mentimeter in the efl classroom. four categories were presented in table 2. table 2. students’ negative perception responses quantity internet connection problem 9 anonymity 2 not accessible in all smartphone 2 nothing 57 the most prominent responses showed that 57 students perceived nothing that made them discourage or dislike the implementation of mentimeter in the efl classroom. 57 students out of 70 students, or 81% of the total respondents, felt that they liked the learning process by using mentimeter. this finding became an indicator of the students’ high value in the affective domain during the learning process. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 255 other findings show some minor negative perceptions towards the implementation of mentimeter in the efl classroom. the first one dealt with the internet connection problem. nine students found it trouble-some in using the mentimeter tool due to the bad internet connection. it is in line with the fact that students can get involved in the mentimeter interaction platform only if they have an internet-connected device (vallely and gibson, 2018). moreover, two students stated that they could not access the mentimeter platform due to a technical problem with their smartphones. those students found it stressful because they could not use their smartphones to get involved in the learning activities through mentimeter. as a result, they had to ask their friends to post the answer using their compatible smartphone. then, the last finding revealed that two students did not like the feature of anonymity that mentimeter offered. those two students were curious about the opinion of givers’ identity. it is similar to the research finding done by vallely and gibson (2018), showing that one of the limitations of mentimeter was anonymity that made it possible to identify which students have contributed to the discussion. students’ engagement in giving opinion through mentimeter the third discussion of this study tried to seek the answer to the second research question that was “how does mentimeter impact the students’ engagement in efl classroom?”. the detailed elaboration was presented in the following discussion. figure 1. students’ preferable method in giving opinion as it is seen in figure 1, the preferable method in giving opinion was through written forms by using mentimeter tools. there were more than half of the respondents preferred mentimeter over any other methods. it was supported by a study which stated that mentimeter, the new teaching tool, made the students intrigued and keen to use it (walker and pearce, 2014). moreover, some studies also revealed that the students were more engaged when utilizing their portable devices during the lecturing time to get real-time outcomes (wong, 2016 and funnell, 2017). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 256 other results showed that there was 28% of the respondent who preferred sharing their opinion by speaking up their ideas in the small group discussion. then, 18% of the respondents liked to express their opinion by sharing it in public, in front of their classmates, and 2% found it enjoyable to express their ideas by writing it on a paper. accordingly, the result of this section showed that a lot of students (more than 50% of the students) considered mentimeter as the tool that could facilitate their opinion sharing with its positive features. the impact of mentimeter usage on the students’ engagement in the efl classroom was illustrated in the following figures. some activities had been recorded during the efl classroom by incorporating the mentimeter tool. figure 2 and figure 3 showed the detail of the activity outcomes in mentimeter. figure 2. students’ engagement in the open-ended discussion the activity in figure 2 showed that there were 37 students get involved in the discussion. the total number of students present in class when that activity took place was 45 students. thus, 82% of the students were engaged in the discussion. on that activity, the lecturer asked a question to gauge opinion on the fun things of being granted a scholarship abroad. then, the students freely answered the questions with short phrases. the answers, which were answered by a lot number of students, will get bigger. based on the observation result, when the layout of the mentimeter appeared, the students find it fun and appealing. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 257 figure 3. students’ engagement in the polling afterward, the activity in figure 3 presented that 41 students were engaged in the discussion out of 45 students in total. it meant that there were 91% of students were actively engaged in the discussion. on the activity, the lecturer asked the students to choose either job or scholarship for their plan after they graduate. according to those two activities, the students’ engagement was above the average of mentimeter participants’ contribution. it was reported that participation in mentimeter usually varied between 50%-75% (vallely and gibson, 2018). it was also supported by wong and yunus (2020), convincing that the use of mentimeter encourages greater engagement and higher participation. the last finding of this section revealed the students’ satisfaction towards the use of mentimeter in efl classroom that was appeared in their suggestions. the students were asked about their suggestion dealing with the implementation of mentimeter in the english classroom. the result was presented in figure 4. 94% 4% 2% keep using it in english course make the activities more various use it in other courses, other than english course figure 4. students’ satisfaction that appeared in their suggestion figure 4 showed that the majority of the students, 94% of the total students, suggested the lecturer keep using mentimeter in the english classroom. the students found that mentimeter was a useful tool that helped them in expressing llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 258 their opinion more enjoyably. moreover, 2% of the respondents suggested using mentimeter not only in english class but also in other courses due to its advantages. then, 4% of the students demanded variation in the activities that utilized the english classroom's mentimeter tool. as reflected in the students’ suggestions, it could be inferred that the incredible amount of students’ positive suggestions towards mentimeter reflected their considerable engagement during the learning process. it is based on the theory proposed by parsons, thomas, and wishart (2016), who proposed that students’ engagement was primarily about the positive behaviors of the students during the learning. conclusion this study seeks information to answer two research questions by synthesizing the qualitative data in students’ responses through the open-ended questionnaires. the first synthesis addresses the students’ positive responses to the use of mentimeter in the efl classroom. there are three most prominent results showing that the students consider the mentimeter tool positively impacted english learning due to its practicality, anonymity, and freedom that it offers. regarding the students’ negative responses, most of the students feel that nothing is becoming a matter during the implementation of mentimeter in the efl classroom. the second synthesis reveals that mentimeter impacts significantly on the students’ engagement in english learning. it is proven that mentimeter becomes the preferable media for the students in expressing their opinion that was perceived by 52% of the respondents. furthermore, the students’ engagement in the discussion activities through mentimeter reach 82% and 91% that is above the average participants' contribution in the usual lecturing. besides, it is also found that 94% of the students’ suggestions indicate a positive tone. most of all, students suggest the lecturer keep using mentimeter in english learning. in a nutshell, this study serves the finding that mentimeter provides considerable impacts on the students’ engagement in english learning through the activity of expressing opinion or discussion. lastly, the researcher suggests that future synthesis could be done to investigate the impact of mentimeter for improving the four skills of the english language with more various learning activities. references crump, v., & sparks, j. 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(1998). an investigation of students’ foreign language anxiety’, (eric document reproduction service). retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ericwebportal. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 288 need-analysis based on design proper english course syllabus andi dian rahmawan universitas pgri yogyakarta correspondence: andi@upy.ac.id doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.2786 received 8 august 2020; accepted 31 march 2021 abstract this research attempts to give perspective to the teachers and lecturers of english regarding a proper syllabus which mainly based on students’ problems on designing good quality of the abstracts of their research. 14 students’ products of abstracts of the non-english department in the university of pgri yogyakarta would be employed as the main sources of data. the technique of doing this study is by observing the students’ error production based on the diction and the grammatical aspects. this is a research and development which the result is a need-analysis-based syllabus. the syllabus mirrors that most of the students have difficulties on finding the proper dictions of certain words, such as cardinal and ordinal numbers. from the perspective of grammar, they found that it is an obstacle to apply certain tense and aspect system of english. based on these, the researcher expects that teacher and lecturer of english are able to design the more suitable and ready-to-use skills that are gained during the classroom activities so that students are able to design the more acceptable abstract of their research to increase the readability and the acceptability of academic writing. keywords: syllabus, abstract writing, diction and grammatical aspects introduction to write an academic paper requires high understanding and using proper dictions, grammatical aspects, applying cohesion and coherence. on the other hand, many students have insufficient knowledge of grammatical structure, lexical and argumentative features (ka-kan-dee & kaur, 2015). it even becomes worse that they get difficulties in putting together organized ideas and producing solid evidence to write a well organized essay. it becomes factor that the traditional approach pays more attention on the pattern of language in form of imitation of directions. furthermore, l1 transfer caused the learners to make grammatical errors in writing. another aspect that should be also reconsidered carefully is the students’ motivation, it is no longer seen as a reflection of certain inner forces such as instincts, volition, will and physical energy, rather more on cognitive approach place the focus on the individual’s thoughts and beliefs (and recently also emotions) that are transformed into action (dornyei, 1998). students need to acknowledge that in the process of writing, the writers need to recognize and keep in mind who will read the products (klimova, 2012a). however, not all students llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 289 have these complete skills, even teachers of english still need to gain knowledge by practicing to improve their quality of writing. teacher of english, as an agent of transforming language skills, has a duty to make sure that the absorbed material would be employed properly by all his students in writing academic papers. teachers may give and train students about how to build vocabulary, put words in order and how to apply logical thinking in paper writing so that the readers get the point. on the other hand, as university students, they are obligated to produce a piece of academic writing to prove that they have reached a certain level of critical thinking about what they have learned during a certain period of time. another obstacle that may raise during the process to comprehend skill and produce good writing is the existence of tentative written language, meaning that language of academic written has different form and meaning with the oral one (klimova, 2014). a study has reported that formal aspects (layout) and linguisticstylistic aspects (grammar and spelling, stylistics and punctuation) do exist as errors in students’ abstracts. the study revealed the fact that errors were caused by the interference since students wrote the abstract predominantly in their first language and translated them into english (klimova, 2013). to make students able to compose good research abstract, teachers should provide proper and sufficient input as a way to be the model for english learning, including listening, reading, writing and speaking. teacher should not expect that the skill would be gained instantly, there must be processes that are time-consuming (cohen-vida, 2012; klimova, 2015). the research supports the idea that being able to produce good abstract does not only require capabilities on grammar and vocabulary of targeted language. on the other hand, the success of the vocabulary and grammar learning would not guarantee the successful to perform a composition (terenin, 2015). it becomes worse when the pedagogy in an english classroom does not pay sufficient attention to the aspects of writing. as the consequences, efl students’ compositions depict us various deficiencies which open to criticism. more than that, it is not easy to write abstracts in english because it takes not only a good level of foreign language skills, but also the ability to think in a foreign language and simply and logically formulate the main ideas. foreign language teachers therefore need to take this into account and choose these strategies. example below will describe us about using and not using tentative language in written academic english: a. americans are not happy with the current state of their government. (not tentative) b. in general, a number of americans have suggested that they are unhappy with the current state of their government. (tentative language) exposure to the proper method to write academic paper should be established because writing this has slight different compared to other kind of papers. one of the ways that can be applied to the students is swales’ car model (diyana binti maznun, monsefi, & nimehchisalem, 2017). this researched indicated that most of students have difficulty in reading and developing habit to read good journals and books. teachers need to assess and measure students’ fundamental needs of how english should be taught, which definitely unarguable that it may be vary from llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 290 one student to others. the fact that should be paid attention is that the participants have different expectations about english learning goals, those are for study or professional purposes, which highlights the merits of needs analysis concerning the identification of the learners’ needs. on this basis, certain differences among the responses in terms of ranking the students’ reasons for using english can be justified (chostelidou, 2010). in accordance with that, dubin and olshtain (1986) proposed 3 steps in relation to the design of the syllabus; societal need assessment, curriculum and syllabus construction, material preparation. the one which is the most basic is the society that gives judgment about who is the teacher, who is the learner and what should be taught. the data regarding the societal needs can be gained through observation and questionnaire on 1. who are the learners, 2. who are the teachers?, 3. why is the program necessary?, 4. where will the program be implemented?, 5. how will it be implemented?. taba (1962) has outlined basic principles regarding the foundation for teachers to produce good syllabus. the outlines consisting of diagnosis of the students’ need, formulation of objectives, selection and organization of content, selection and organization of learning experiences and determination of what to evaluate and the means to evaluate have directed the teachers in all around the world to develop the subject matter courses. it is not sufficient if we only concentrate on the way students learn the material, teaching method by the teacher also matters for why some students are good in writing and others are good in oral english comprehension. teachers should provide circumstances, in which they will support the process of learning english, so that the students will get more opportunity to have more input and exposures. teachers should consider the well-thought approaches to the teaching of writing and the development of autonomous learning, thinking skills and communicative competence to make the course attractive (klimova, 2012b). attitudes, writing apprehension and self-efficacy have long been believed as the parameter of writing success. however, they are not conclusive to the writing behavior (alluhaybi, 2015). more than that, teachers need to interfere and support students to provide greater effort due to their unawareness of the writing deficiencies. it has also been strengthened by research that was conducted towards the students of greek who are struggling to be certified in english skills. (melissourgou & frantzi, 2015). it seeks students’ learning obstacles and expectation regarding teachers’ role in class. the researcher found that the grammar or the syntax is placed as the number one problem. then, students also expect that the model answers and frequent writing should exist in every scheduled meeting between teachers and students. english teachers and lecturers should make the pupils get used to reading english academic texts to enrich pupils’ comprehension on vocabulary use, moreover, the english speaking setting, such as providing english speaking zone will give the pupils the space to express their thoughts in oral. teachers should create a zone in which students enjoy learning and consult materials with the teacher as it is called as the process-based writing (özdemir & ayd, 2015). this research proves that blog writing positively develops students’ achievement in academic writing. the proper process would develop content, organization, discourse markers, vocabulary, sentence construction and the mechanism of writing. however, students who are engaged in the blog writing activities would llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 291 not automatically become superior to the students who enjoy the pen and paper writing activities. the high demands on students’ good quality on composing academic paper have forced teachers to have trial and error to find the most proper teaching methods, one of them is please (pick, list, evaluate, activate, supply, and end) which has been proven to eliminate students’ inability of organizing ideas, besides their low level of vocabulary and grammar (kayed, 2019). students may work by themselves or in pairs, or even small groups to build ideas to enhance university students’ english writing skills with content maturity (hadiyanti, 2019). related to the teachers’ feedback to students, the ones who receive indirect corrective feedback did better than those receiving direct feedback (jamalinesari, rahimi, gowhary, & azizifar, 2015). researchers found that when teachers use feedback procedures efficiently, they have a positive and sometimes strong influence on their students’ achievement. the curriculum that has been developed by the local government and the developer should meet the students’ needs and also the demand of nowadays growth technology era. it is such a wasting since the curriculum does not meet the expectation which impacts on the abundant unemployment. the curriculum, as the core of the syllabus, should consider carefully the learner goals, the language learning process, task, learning strategies, and the reflection of the learning (mufanti, nimasari, gestanti, & susanto, 2019). however, it is expected that the institutional needs should in line with the needs of the majority of the students, namely to acquire information in their subject matter from any english literature (dahniar, 2015). one thing that we should carefully consider is that the curriculum includes syllabus, sometimes more than one, but it is not vice versa. syllabi are more specific and concrete than curriculum (dubin & olshtain, 1986). curriculum may specify what the students would capable of, syllabus will focus on the content of learning to achieve the learning goals. some reasons become factors of curriculum which does not meet the students’ need, such as too many grammatical focuses in the classroom, inappropriate adopted syllabus from another department (this is due to the different learning’s goals among departments), the high anxiety to train written and oral english and the less capability of english lecturers to construct appropriate syllabus (dedi, 2017). the research then found the unexpected results of inappropriate syllabus that is the students need to be exposed to the general english and medical or nursing english. the result also indicated that speaking is the most important skill in studying english. to avoid the inappropriate syllabus, a study to find out students’ expectation before joining on esp class has been conducted to the students of economics in rusia (ismagilova & polyakova, 2014). a questionnaire was developed to address the students’ purpose and plan to join english class, level of the expected english proficiency, expected occupational area that the english proficiency is needed and the type of activities that the students would join and expect to develop. as a result of the needs analyses, it gains the following learners profile: young graduates with intermediate english language proficiency that plan to work for international companies in the sphere of audit and consulting and to have both oral and written communication with colleagues world-wide. to guarantee successful career growth they need to have advanced level of english language proficiency and deep understanding of the trends within the sphere of their professional interests. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 292 figure 1. process of syllabus designing method 14 research abstracts of non-english department in university of pgri yogyakarta are employed as the research data. the writers of the abstracts are from various ethnicities, genders, level of english proficiency and amount of english exposures. what makes them the same is that they are from an elementary teacher training program that joined 2 semesters of english course during their time in the university. this is going to reveal the fact of how much exposure that have been given to the students since the first time they received english in both formal and informal circumstances. it is assumed that the minimum english exposure gives an impact on various problems in academic writing quality, consisting the problems on diction and grammatical aspects. the principle of error analysis would be heavily employed to gain the research data, anything related to the missed sentence structures, misspelling, miss-matched translation equivalence and so on. the hypothesis of this research is that students get difficulties in concord or agreement, since this aspect does not exist in their l1. the most error production would be considered as the most-needed teaching material to be included in the designed-syllabus. findings and discussion the quality of the course outline is a fairly reliable indicator of the quality of teaching and learning that will take place over the course of a semester. the syllabus is a description and plan for a course and, if well written, may be a tool that improves student learning, facilitates faculty teaching, improves communications between faculty members about their courses, and assists with monitoring program quality (johnson & california, 2006). it is useless when the syllabus cannot support the learning goal, it should be based on the need analysis about what is/are important for all students. teachers and lecturers should not haphazardly pick the learning items to avoid useless and ‘time-consuming’ learning processes. unfortunately, teachers as one of the agents in teaching and learning activities, have less training to prepare the suitable syllabus based on the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 293 students’ need and contexts. teachers should be fully comprehend that designing one learning material and method is far different from designing the material for the whole students possessing various backgrounds, level of comprehension, level of motivation and anxiety. the table below indicates the problems or the erroneous aspects revealed from the research data: table 1. classification of erroneous aspects data subject of erroneous examples 1 1. error in diction 1. instill 2. done 3. showed 2 1. redundancy this study aims to…, and aims to… 3 1. error in diction class ii students 4 1. error in diction class v students 2. less capability in concord and logical thinking the purpose of this study was to find out 1), 2), 3)… 5 1. error in diction class v students 2. less capability in concord and logical thinking the purpose of this study was 1, 2 6 1. less capability in parallelism (1) collecting data and information, (2) planning, (3) development of preliminary product, (4) preliminary field test, (5) product revision, (6) main field test, (7) operational product revision. 2. grammatical error (to + v1) this study aims to developing 7 1. less capability on concord 1. the sample was students of grader iv a 2. data collection in this research was interviews, observation and tests. 8 1. error in diction class iv students 9 1. improper use of article ‘the’ the implementing the value of… 2. error in diction had planted the values 10 1. redundancy mathematics subjects 2. not acceptable translation class iv 3. not proper aspect and tense 1. this was descriptive qualitative research. the research subject was… 2. had been note 11 1. error in collocation learn mathematics 2. unacceptable english translation to indonesian fourth grade students 12 1. the error of using article ‘the’ the developing 2. wasteful on lexicon subject of mathematics llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 294 3. grammatical error (to + v1) to knowing 13 1. improper agreement/concord the purpose of this study was to find out: 1,2,3 etc 2. improper diction/lexicon 1. grade iv elementary school 2. must still be improved 14 1. error in sentence structure learning media development the skill of….. 2. improper diction/lexicon in class iii. according to the findings, the researcher generated a classification of students’ errors on producing the high readability and accuracy of abstract research papers, namely: a) problem of redundancy, b) problem on english grammar, c) problem on english lexicon. those will be descriptively explained below: problem of redundancy this study aims to…, and aims to… mathematics subjects students are required to notice and practice more on connecting words, such as and, moreover to avoid the monotonous expressions. the practice may take several times of trials, it is expected that the tiered lecture of academic writing should exist since the first year of college or university. this problem can also be solved by regularly promote students to read academic paper related to their study at the moment to gain more perspective on how to write things in academic english. the more positive exposure then the more valuable things the students can get related to academic text writing. the redundancy might come from the word-for-word translation, more or less on the effect of the dominant of l1 than the l2 aspects. problem on english grammar the purpose of this study was to find out 1), 2), 3)… the purpose of this study was 1, 2 to knowing learning media development the skill of….. had been note from the cases above, we might come to the conclusion that students are facing difficulties in forming the proper words which are fully based on tense and aspect (rahmawan & wiyanah, 2018). courses on english grammar and structure have been designed in form of levels, from the very basic and beginning to the advanced ones. based on my observation, english lecturers tend to use the practice books and handouts to train and test students’ comprehension on the learning materials. few students might be successful, but more would be failed. teachers and lecturers should consider more carefully the students’ learning styles which rely heavily on doing things, namely the kinesthetic (barnaba & rahmawan, 2019; rahmawan, 2020). this becomes more essential whenever llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 295 teachers are expecting better achievements for all students in the class so that the learning goals would be attained successfully by all participants. teachers should also carefully consider the most proper textbooks that would be a bridge to understand efl materials, the mismatched textbook will make the learning goals would be harder to attain (igaab, mohammed, & altai, 2018). problem on diction class ii students had planted the values of grade iv elementary school must still be improved in class iii learn mathematics subject of mathematics studying and memorizing english lexicon would never be enough. students are expected to store it in mind, used it contextually and avoid the mismatched colloquium, both in daily writing and the academic one. the struggle would be even more challenging whenever students are expected to produce academic writing which requires them to read sources, extract them and do the paraphrase to raise new findings or facts. the earlier english written exposure should be given; it can be from movie subtitles, magazines, and even the research manuscripts from certain journals. one of the examples above ‘had planted the values’ indicates error resulted from the least exposure on the english academic writing. it is not surprising that we are expected to read ‘sufficient sources’ during the writing of our manuscripts, it is more on the effort to gain more perspectives on something. the least benefit of this activity of reading, we are able to learn how to write things related to paraphrase, state, declare or argue with the correct styles, sentence structure, thinking analogy and proper lexicons. there are three considerations that require teacher’s attention during the syllabus construction, namely the redundancy, english grammar and diction. i will start it with the most assumed to be the ignored one, the diction. students need to understand that one word in indonesian should consider many things when it is translated to english. one should be able to find the most proper word in the target language, for not to produce erroneous. for example: table 2. erroneous to proper diction erroneous diction proper diction class ii students 2nd graders learn mathematics study mathematics had planted the values internalize the values according to the types and frequency of erroneous of the grammatical aspects, it is suggested to build and design the syllabus for basic and intermediate english grammar courses as follows: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 296 table 3. recommended teaching material number teaching material number of meeting 1. concord and logical thinking 2 2. diction (not proper in tl) 4 3. collocation 2 4. redundancy 2 5. parallelism 2 6. tense and aspect system 4 number of meeting 18 the researcher puts the concord or agreement as the first and most common problem found in the students’ text of the research abstracts. it explains us that the agreement and the sentence predicate are the most commonly found errors in students’ research abstracts. as it has been discussed above, the practices of sentence patterns from the grammar books and memorizing important vocabularies would never be enough. the students are also expected to read paper journals and books, enriching their vocabularies and sentence patterns in order they may prefer to use ‘to gain the research data’ to ‘to get the research data’. it is hard to find books that teach us this ability; it is rather shaped by reading qualified international research journals. conclusion the research result depicts the urge to find and design the students’ mostneeded material of learning, both in the classroom using the conventional method and the autonomous model. both teacher and students are required to update knowledge and literacy about finding proper material, matching the teaching method and assessing to provide proper feedback for achieving better teaching and learning goals. based on the data found, it is revealed that concord or agreement, basic english tenses, diction and redundancy are basic problems that need to be handled by the teachers and students to attain learning goals effectively and efficiently. teachers are also obligated to find and decide the most proper textbooks to attain the goals of learning in the efl contexts. teachers’ ability to read and be aware regarding english learning obstacles needs to be developed over time due to the students’ problems may vary. this designation is the early syllabus product which makes it possible for other researchers to find it more comprehensive products as the way to diminish the gap between teacher’s syllabus designs and what students actually need. teachers’ awareness can also be developed through understanding the students learning styles, but of course, it needs comprehensive research about the way how to reveal it. acknowledgement the highest appreciation would be addressed to lppm of pgri university of yogyakarta, given the support and fund; the researcher is able to accomplish the study aims at describing the most-proper english syllabus based on the erroneous aspects of the students’ scientific writing products. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 297 references alluhaybi, m. 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(2015). unity of writing as the problem of russian learners of english. procedia social and behavioral sciences, 191, 2735–2739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.04.683 llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 186 on perspectiving in cognitive grammar and communicative dynamism emanuel sunarto sanata dharma university abstract the article is concerned with the concept of ‘perspective’ in cognitive grammar and communicative dynamism. to the former, ‘perspective’ is understood in the realm of cognitive concepts such as space, motion, locationality, directionality, importance, and focus ascribable to a particular sentence segment. to the latter, ‘perspectiving’ is a matter of valuating, viz. assigning informational value to a sentence segment as a part of a distributional field of communicative dynamism. the two streams of thought evidently hold different constructs per-taining to the term ‘perspective’: conceptual-categorial on the one hand, and functional-informational on the other. however, the two seem to agree when ‘perspectiving’ is concerned with the notion of importance and focus or rhematization. keywords: perspective, importance, focus, informative value, rhematization a. introduction by definition, perspective is “a specific point of view in understanding or judging things or events, esp. one that shows them in their true relations to one another”, or, “the way in which a matter is judged so that (proper) consideration and importance is given to each part” (wnwcd, ldoce). in the commonest sense, perspective is “analogous with looking at an everyday object from in front, from the sides, from behind, from on top etc.” viewing, perspectiving, or seeing something for understanding relations and judgmental purposes can be in any of the following four ways: (a) as a whole consisting of parts; (b) as a kind, in contrast with other kinds; (c) as having a certain function; and (d) from the point of view of its origins (cruse, 2000: 117-119). in linguistics, this very word ‘perspective’ has also become a key concept in notably two schools of thought, namely cognitive grammar (cg) and communicative dynamism (cd). how does each conceptualize the very same term? do they have things in common, and/or in what way does each show its peculiarity? this article is essentially a comparative review and account of the term perspective in the two schools of thought of linguistics. b. cognitive grammar 1. cognitive grammar in a nutshell cognitive grammar (cg) was initiated and developed by langacker (1981, 1991). it is the school of linguistics that understanding language creation, learning, and usage and human cognition is to be made coreferential and complementary. in other words, language is inseparable from cognition and cognition is an indispensable, determinative factor in understanding language. as the name suggests, language is essentially llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 187 cognitively-driven, and, being so, any description of it is to be made with reference to cognitive processing. in other words, language manifests and represents cognitive enterprise. to the cognitive grammarians, grammatical structures are matters of symbols and concepts. since language and cognition intermingle, there is no need to distinguish nor separate grammar from semantics. what is commonly called ‘parts of speech’ or linguistic categories such as noun and verb are conceived by advocates of cg as conceptual models of partitioning of reality (saeed, 2003: 375). 2. perspective in cognitive grammar perspective in cg is concerned with the notion of viewpoint and focus. it reflects the observer/speaker’s cognitive process and decision pertaining to scenes; in particular, the selective viewpoint and the choice of elements to focus on (langaker 1987, in saeed, 2003: 377). cg reserves the dictionary definition of ‘viewpoint’ and is understood in the context of how relations and interactions among the categorial elements in a scene are perceived and conceived (recall cruse’s point (b) and (c) mentioned previously). sentence constructions are therefore understood as reflections of the observer/speaker’s cognitive process of perspectiving or viewpointing. quoting saeed’s example (2003: 377), if the speaker’s perspective is concerned with the house, as in the children ran around the house. the phrase can be viewed either externally or internally. being viewed externally as a container, such a phrase describes a scene where the children’s motion circles the outside of the house. meanwhile, when it is internally viewed, the children are moving around within the house internal space. the phrase the house, along with the preposition around, triggers and activates the cognitive concepts of space and motion (locational-directional-positional). the spatial concept is therefore inherent to the house being conceived as a selectively focused entity. cg-perspectiving is not confined to spacial and motional matters. reserving the observer/speaker’s autonomy to decide which element or sentence segment is rendered important and focused, perspectiving can in fact be directed to any of the three segments, the children (agent-perspective), ran (event/activity-perspective), or around the house (settingperspective). cg-perspectiving may be more easily observed in the process called construal, namely, the speaker’s active characterization of scene employing conventional concept-ualization of language and a range of cognitive processes (langacker, 1987: 101-105; saeed, 2003: 376). a scene can be viewed either as a sequence or a summary. the sentence ruud kicked the ball demonstrates the speaker’s active characterization of scene as a sequence of activity, while its verbalnominalization version ruud’s kicking the ball shows as a summary of event. grammatically speaking, the two differ only in terms of their constructions, being clausal or phrasal. to decide whether a scene is to be construed as a sequence or summary, however, is not just a matter of selecting what type of llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 188 construction is to employ. it requires complex cognitive processing such as conceiving and categorizing before an event or scene is linguistically manifested and represented . c. communicative dynamism 1. an overview of communicative dynamism communicative dynamism (cd) is initiated and developed by noted figures of prague school of linguistics, such as mathesius and firbas, based on danes’ model of three-level approach to syntax (firbas, 2006: 225). in a nutshell, cd is understood as … quality, or aggregate of qualities, in a text which impels a reader through that text, and which ‘pushes the communication forward’… [leading] the peaking of informativity towards the end of each gram-matical unit, whether clause or complex sentence… [giving] discourse a kind of forward momentum (firbas, 1971: 136). …an inherrent quality of communication and manifests itself in constant development towards the attainment of a communicative goal, in other words, towards the fulfilment of a communicative purpose. a linguistic element assumes some position in it and in accordance with this position displays a degree of communicative dynamism (firbas, 2006:7). while cg conceives grammatical constructions of various sorts as representations of cognitive processes, cd defines sentence and units of lower ranks such as clause, semi-clause, nominal phrase as a distributional field of communicative dynamism in the act of communication, and their syntactic constituents (e.g. subject, predicative verb…) serve as communicative units. [a sentence is] a field of syntactic relations… a field within which the degrees of cd are distributed, the distribution inducing the sentence to function in a particular perspective, i.e. perspectiving it towards the element carrying the highest degree of cd (firbas, 2006: 15-17). 2. perspective in communicative dynamism in cd, perspective is to be understood with reference to the information structure or distributional field of communicative dynamism (firbas, 2006: 5-6). it deals with which sentence segment or constituent is to bear the most communicative value within a construction. in line with this, other elements bearing less informational values are oriented toward the element bearing the most, viz. the sentence perspective. name-wise, cdperspectiving is also called scaling of patterning of communication (gomezgonsales, 2001: 66-67). it is also concerned with the communicative purpose a sentence is meant to satisfy, namely, whether (a) to present one particular phenomenon (ph), or (b) to ascribe a quality (q) to the ph priorly mentioned. in the former, it is called presentative (pr) perspective. if this is llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 189 the case, all other elements of a sentence are oriented toward the s(ubject) acting as the ph being presented. in the latter, the orientation is directed to other than the s, the other element bearing more informational value(s) than the s. as the s no longer serves as the perspectived-element, its function in the informational structure recedes to that of b(earer of quality). the perspective is, in turn, directed to the element that assigns quality to b. as such, it is called q-perspective, being the q as the perspective. in short, phperspective is concerned with the dynamism of communication toward the s, while q-perspective is the dynamism of communication away from it. cd-perspective is therefore concerned with which sentence segment constitutes the most dynamic element that completes the development of communication (fribas, 2006: 5-6, 66). similar to cg-perspectiving, it is essentially the observer or speaker’s (and in fact also the hearer/receptor’s) autonomy to decide to which element the sentence is to be perspectived. reciting the previous example the children ran around the house. ۸ ۸ ۸ the cd-perspective can be directed to the children, ran, or around the house (۸-sign). what makes cg and cd differ significantly is the construct or rationale underlying the decision. while cg holds that the decision is reserved at the speaker’s autonomy to determine importance and focus after cognitive processing takes place, cd posits that such a decision is essentially motivated by informative/communicative valuation. the decision to which segment the perspective is directed is therefore a matter of assigning relative degree(s) of informational value in the realm of communication. the next point to discuss is essentially practical and comparative: how does perspectiving in each of the two schools of thought work? d. cg-cd perspectivising: a comparative account as noted above, cg posits that perspectiving is concerned with matters of viewpoint, importance, observer (speaker/writer), and focus (saeed, 2003: 377). meanwhile, cd holds that perspectiving is a matter of assigning relative degree(s) of informational value, namely whether the orientation is either toward the subject (s-perspective, i.e. presentative; the s being the ph presented) or away from the s (q(uality)-perspective) (firbas, 2006: 6). the following table presents the underlying construct of cg and cd to deal with perspectiving. table 1 the underlying construct of cg and cd construct cognitive grammar communicative dynamism conception of sentence as cognitive enterprise, relation and interactions among conceptual categories. sentence is reflection and manifestation of cognitive processes sentence is manifestation of how information or message is structured and distributed by relative degrees of communicative dynamism. categorization linguistic categories are multifunctional view: llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 190 construct cognitive grammar communicative dynamism basically cognitive and/or conceptual models of reality syntactic, semantic, and informational/ communicative categories perspectiving cognitive mapping and conceptualization of importance and focus of events, scenes orientation and informational valuation, which element bears the most informative; core key concepts in perspectiving spatial, motional, sequential, summary, directionality, locationality, importance, focus, scenes, relations, observer, participants forms of interactions informational value; relative degree of informativeness; bearer, setting, quality, specification; foundationlaying, core-consti-tuting, rhematization nature of relations conceptual, categorial functional, distributional since the decision to determine the perspective in a sentence is reserved at the hand of the speaker’s autonomy, both cg and cd seem to agree that, as noted above, any of the three segments in the children ran around the house may become a potential perspective. the following scheme outlines their potentiality: table 2 the underlying construct of cg and cd the children ran around the house syntactic function subject verb/predicate adverb perspectiving in cognitive grammar agent/ doer ۸/ event/ activity ۸/ scene: locationaldirectional (sld) ۸/ perspectiving in communicative dynamism (a) ۸ phenomenon (r) <<<< presentation <<<< scene/setting (b) bearer >>>> (of quality) ۸ quality (r) <<<< setting (c) bearer >>>> (of quality) >>>> quality ۸ specification (r) notes: (1) -/۸; ۸ : alternative, potentially (or not potentially) perspectived element. in cd, the segment being perspectived entails different naming for the other elements accordingly. (2) phenomenon, quality, bearer of quality, scene/setting, and specification are names of dynamic semantic functions (dsf). the dsf an element serves is determined relative to the other elements in the sentence concerned by virtue of four determining factors: context, semantics, linearity, and prosodics (firbas, 2006: 10-11,115; gomez-gonzales, 2001: 66-68). the function an element serves is subject to change due to the factors mentioned above. llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 191 (2) >>>> ; <<<<: nonperspectived segment(s) being oriented to the perspectived segment. (3) (r): rhematized, i.e. the peaking of information structure, the sentence segment or element being the most informative and dynamic. in cg, regardless of which segment is perspectived (۸), the conceptual categories and their interrelation is fixed and remains stable. be it focused on the children, ran, or around the house, the role of each is reserved, respectively, as agent/doer – event/activity – scene (locational-directional). in other words, the shift of perspectiving does not entail any change for the neighboring segment. by contrast, the shift of perspectiving in cd bears significant difference, as shown in the three alternatives (a), (b), and (c). when it is perspectived toward the children, as in (a), the s serves the dynamic function of ph appearing on the scene of communication. in so doing, ran renders the function of presenting the ph while around the house the scene (or setting). the children constitutes the perspective, viz. the most informative and dynamic element in the sentence concerned, to which all other segments are oriented. as such, the sentence demonstrates presentation perspective. alternative (b) shows that the verb/predicate ran may become another alternative of perspectiving. if this happens, the segment the children is deemed less informative. it does not bear new information, hence no longer serves as the ph, but the boq (bearer of quality). the verb ran qualifies the subject, namely adding further information to it, and this very information of qualifying constitutes the perspective. the segment around the house serves as the setting, and, compared to ran, is less informative/dynamic. in other words, both the children and around the house are oriented to ran being the perspective of the sentence. alternative (c) presents a potentially different perspective from (a) and (b). here, both the children and ran do not constitute the perspective. instead, they are oriented to around the house, being the most informative/dynamic segment in the sentence. as its function is to specify the children ran, it is called specification (sp). as the name suggests, the segment specifies the quality ran, adding further information to it. when such a segment becomes the perspective, it renders the children boq and ran q. being oriented to the adverb, the sentence is perspectived toward the sp of the quality-perspective sentence. it is worth adding that not all adverbials are potentially perspectivable. some may serve as setting when they do not constitute the perspective in a sentence. to decide whether adverbials serve as setting or specification in a sentence goes beyond the scope of this article and is therefore intentionally excluded from the discussion. as shown in the scheme above, cg-cd perspectiving may, of course, coincide on the same sentence segment. however, what is to bear in mind is that, while cg conceives the perspectived element as the one being important and focused, cd sees such a segment being the most dynamic and informative. such a segment is called rhematized within a distributonal field of communicative dynamism. in this case, the cg’s notion of important and focused on the one llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 192 hand and cd’s rhematization on the other seem to agree or coterminous. however, as the theoretical constructs differ, it is reasonably common to observe that each of these two schools of thought demonstrates its peculiarity. while cg-perspectiving is essentially motivated by cognitive factors, cdperspectiving is driven by matters of relative informational value(s) or, better said, communicative considerations. as observed in the scheme above, the shift of cg-perspectiving within a sentence does not bear different function(s) a sentence segment serves. this is presumably due to the cognitive categorial conceptions of the elements. in brief, cg tends to conceive relations among sentence elements in terms of relations among categories. by contrast, the shift of cdperspectiving from the s to the v/pr or to the adv does bear significant consequence in evaluating the informativeness/communicativenes s of the each sentence segment. in other words, the dynamic semantic function a segment or element serves is subject to change due to the shift of perspective. such a shift is decisive since perspectiving determines which sentence segment(s) constitutes the rheme or the most informative and dynamic element within the construction in the realm of communication (firbas, 2006: 11). it seems reasonable to say that cd tends to conceive relations among sentence elements in terms of relative functions rather than relations among categories. as noted above, cg starts from the conceptual categories originating from cognitive processes. interactions within a sentence are essentially interactions among conceptual categories, and such categories seem to be relatively stable within a construction. the role of context in conceiving relations and interactions seems to be independent from cognition. meanwhile, what matters in cdperspectiving is the informational value assigned to a segment relative to the verbal-situational context (firbas, 2006: 21-40). relations among sentence elements are in nature functional rather than categorial, and being so, subject to change whenever it is deemed necessary. recalling the definition of communicative dynamism, the three alternatives (a), (b), and (c) also display the notion of aggregate of qualities. be it the s, v/pr, or adv, cd-perspectiving instigates the other sentence segments or elements to ‘adjust’ and ‘act’ accordingly, semantically and dynamically. once the perspectived element is established, the others are oriented to such element bearing the ‘aggregate of qualities’, to be the most dynamic one in a distributional field of communicative dynamism. e. conclusion perspectiving in cg is essentially cognitively-driven and resides in the observer/ speaker’s autonomy to select the viewpoint of determining importance and focus, all relying on the relations among conceptual categories such as space, motion, and position. perspectiving is therefore a matter of cognitive enterprise and to a great extent reserves the dictionary definition and any of the four ways cruse outlines of seeing things or objects in ordinary life. meanwhile, the notion of cdperspectiving seems to share only two of the four ways cruse outlines, namely (b) as a kind, in contrast llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 193 with other kinds; and (c) as having a certain function. with respect to (b), cd-perspectiving shows how a particular sentence segment is perspectived relative to other segments. this implies that there are relative degrees of informational value, and the notion of degrees assumes some sort of contrasting one to another. in line with cruse’s point (c), cd-perspectiving does demonstrate the idea of function, as shown in the different naming of dynamic semantic function(s) a segment serves. the perspectived sentence segment being the orientation for the other segments within the construction thus serves the function of holding the ‘aggregate of qualities’. in terms of speaker’s autonomy for perspectiving, cg and cd share the same view. in cd, however, perspectiving is essentially a matter of informational structuring and of determining to which sentence segment orientation is directed. at this juncture, it is similar to the cg concept of importance and focus, of informational valuating leading to the peaking of informativeness named rhematization in cd. relations among sentence elements are basically functional-informational. cd-perspectiving is not primarily concerned with the sense of space and motion as cg-perspectiving is. rather, it is understood in the judgmental sense, namely, of weighting relative informational value of sentence segments in the distributional field of communicative dynamism. references cruse, a. (2000). meaning in language: an introduction to semantics and pragmatics. oxford: oxford university press. de beaugrande, r a and dressler, w u. (1990). introduction to text linguistics. london: longman. firbas, j. (1971). on the concept of communicative dynamism in the theory of functional sentence perspective dlm. universitas brunensis, studia minora a.19. firbas, j. (2006). functional sentence perspective in written and spoken communication. cambridge: cambridge university press. gomez-g, maria a. (2001). the theme-topic interface: evidence from english. amsterdam: john benjamins. kemmer, s. about cognitive linguistics: historical background. available in http://www.cogling.org/rese arch.shtml; downloaded sept. 24, 2008. langacker, r w. (1987). foundations of cognitive grammar, vol. 1. stanford, ca: stanford university press. langacker, r w. (1991). foundations of cognitive grammar, vol. 2: descriptive applications. stanford, ca: stanford university press. procter, p (ed. in chief). (1981). ldoce: longman dictionary of contemporary english – london: longman. llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 194 saeed, j i. (2003). semantics. oxford: blackwell publishing. trask, r.l. (1993). a dictionary of grammatical terms in linguistics. london: routledge. van valin, robert d., and lapolla, r j. (1999). syntax: structure, meaning, and function. cambridge: cambridge university press. victoria n and david b. g (eds. in chief). (1996). webster’s new world college dictionary. new york: simon & schuster. wikipedia encyclopedia online llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 185-199 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 185 autonomy in online grammar learning: efl students’ reported practice and perceptions erica febriana1, indri retno setyaningrahayu2, and elisabet t. murtisari 3 1,2,3universitas kristen satya wacana, indonesia ericafebriana0@gmail.com1, indriretno.setyaningrahayu@uksw.edu2, and etmurtisari@gmail.com3 correspondence: indriretno.setyaningrahayu@uksw.edu https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.3722 received 28 september 2021; accepted 11 may 2022 abstract often perceived as a challenging subject among many tertiary efl students, grammar may present more difficulties to the learners when delivered online, especially during the covid-19 pandemic. within such a situation, autonomous learning, which earlier literature has suggested to be crucial in helping students with grammar learning, would be even more imperative for their success. hence, this study attempts to investigate whether efl tertiary students in indonesia practice autonomous learning and how they perceive learning autonomy for their online grammar class. as many as 82 indonesian students who had taken an online intermediate grammar course in a respected private university were involved in this study. a questionnaire with close and open-ended questions was used for the data collection. the findings indicate that although students mostly had positive views towards autonomy in online grammar learning and claimed to practice it, the autonomy level tended to be low. factors such as fatigue from online learning, distractions, overwhelming assignments, and lack of study skills, seemed to have contributed to the difficulties in practicing learner autonomy. keywords: autonomous learning, grammar learning, online grammar learning, online learning introduction the current global pandemic has brought great changes in education where all teaching and learning activities have been shifted from the traditional face-toface learning into online learning. this has inevitably included isolated grammar classes, which are often run to enhance students' understanding of grammatical concepts and noticing of forms at tertiary efl programs. as grammar is crucial in effective communication, it is imperative to ensure that students can learn the language aspect successfully. however, as pawlak (2017) points out, since its learning constitutes various substantial tasks in language acquisition beyond understanding rules, learning autonomy is vital for its mastery. this is especially the case in contexts where exposure to the target language is limited (pawlak, 2017). given that such autonomy is essential to determine students' success in https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.3722 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 185-199 186 offline grammar learning (pawlak, 2017; jarvis &szymczyk, 2010), it should play a more significant role within online grammar learning, which has often become the only option during the covid 19 pandemic. as there is limited opportunity to do real interactions with the instructor(s), students are expected to be able to take charge and manage their own learning. isti’anah’s (2017) and jarvis and szymezyk’s (2010) studies, respectively using lsm and paper-based materials for students’ self-study in blended grammar learning, demonstrate that autonomous learning may promote students' grammar abilities. however, reported research on learner's autonomy in a fully online setting seems to be non-existent. earlier studies within such contexts only illustrate the relation between online classes and autonomy (eneau & develotte, 2012; hartnett, 2015). as online learning may still continue after the pandemic, it is necessary to examine students' online learning practice and their perceptions toward autonomy in their online learning experience. this research is expected to provide insights for language teachers and course designers in helping students to practise their autonomy in online grammar learning. as grammar is "the structural glue, the "code" of language, [which] is arguably at the heart of language use” (purpura, 2013, p. ix), it plays a crucial role in communication. despite this, its learning is not always easy for efl students. factors such as grammar features, learners, pedagogical arrangements, and teachers may contribute to challenges in grammar learning (grauss & coppen, 2015). in line with this, pawlak (2017) believes that one common problem in grammar learning is the limited classroom time with many objectives and materials to be covered while the teacher might not be able to address all the different proficiency levels of the students. therefore, he suggests that autonomy is crucial in grammar learning in order to develop competence. if students can manage their own learning and do not rely on classroom meetings with the teacher, then students would benefit greatly from their grammar learning. autonomous learning can be defined in many different ways, but for the purpose of the research, it refers to “[the] ability to take charge of one’s own learning” (holec, 1981, p. 3, as in pawlak, 2017). therefore, autonomous learning can also be called “independent learning” (humphreys & wyatt, 2014, p. 55), where students are expected to take more control in managing and doing their own learning outside the classroom. it may be linked to “self-regulation” which can be defined as "the ability of learners to control the factors or conditions affecting their learning" (dembo, junge & lynch, 2006, p.188, as in andrade & bunker, 2009). independent learning and-self regulation represent very similar concepts, but “self-regulation” focuses more on how learners can manage their own learning process effectively without being dependent on the teacher by taking into account the elements which affect their learning (andrade & bunker, 2009). the concepts of self-regulation and autonomy are in line with most of the teachers' belief in borg and al-busaidi's study (2012) that autonomy allowed students to be more independent and responsible for their own learning. it is crucial for students to learn grammar autonomously because only the students themselves can establish the best time for the most effective learning situation and atmosphere (pawlak, 2017). within a fully online setting, autonomy is essential in students' learning. it constitutes one key aspect in moore's theory of transactional distance (moore, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 185-199 187 1972, 2007, as in andrade & bunker, 2009), a renowned theory in remote learning. there are three essential aspects in such learning: (1) dialogue, which refers to learners' and teacher's interaction in the distance learning classroom, (2) structure, which relates to whether the course objectives, goals, and evaluation are relevant with learners' preferences and needs, and (3) learner autonomy. with this in mind, it is paramount to investigate the implementation of autonomy in grammar learning during the fully online distance learning setting. even though earlier studies on autonomy in grammar classes have not focused on the fully online learning setting, previous research has shown how autonomous learning is crucial in distant learning. involving french language students from different countries, eneau and develotte's study (2012) found that the online learning could promote students' autonomy because it required students to manage their own learning and work alone or in a group to improve their understanding of the materials. on the other hand, research also shows that there are challenges students faced. besides poor internet connection, one common difficulty is limited classroom time, which indonesian students and teachers have commonly encountered in their online classes (gunawan, suranti, & fathoroni, 2020). on the other hand, hartnett (2015) found that limited opportunity to do interaction with the teacher (dialogue) and the relevance of the classroom goals and objectives with students' preferences and needs (structure) can also be a problem for the students in distance learning. however, hartnett’s study, which involved students of a pre-service teacher education program in new zealand, showed that “high workload” was the most common factor the students felt to be hindering their autonomous practice (p. 90). as students had to manage their own learning for their online class besides their other assignments and responsibilities, they felt that they had no control over much of the learning process and became reluctant to learn independently. with the potential challenges students have to face in their grammar learning and the difficulties in implementing the fully online distance learning setting within the current pandemic context, autonomy will have an essential role in students' learning. therefore, it is necessary to examine how students perceive autonomy and to what extent they practice autonomous learning in their fully online grammar class. method context of the study this qualitative research aims to investigate learner autonomy in grammar learning among undergraduate efl students during the covid-19 pandemic in indonesia. to obtain a deeper perspective of the issue, it will also address students’ general perception of the online grammar learning. accordingly, the study will attempt to answer the following research questions: 1. what are tertiary efl students' general perceptions of online grammar learning during the covid-19 pandemic? 2. do the students practice autonomy in their online grammar learning? 3. how do they practice learning autonomy in their online grammar learning? llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 185-199 188 4. how do they perceive autonomy in their online grammar learning from home during the period? the research was conducted in an english language education program of a private university in salatiga, central java. the program had two different levels of grammar courses (basic and intermediate), which had been run fully online since march 2020 following the government's social restrictions due to the covid 19 pandemic. the classes were conducted twice a week with a two hours' face-toface online meeting each. use of terms this research uses the term “learner autonomy” which refers to students’ ability to manage, control, and do their own learning outside the classroom meetings (holec, 1981, as in pawlak, 2017). while the term “autonomous practice” in grammar learning is a part of learner autonomy where students practice grammar by themselves and do independent study (self-study) from the materials that they have learned in class (pawlak, 2017). the term "independent learning" is also used which has an interchangeable meaning with "autonomous learning" (najeeb, 2013). whereas the term "online learning" here refers not only to learning in a fully online setting, but also as an improved setting which resembles many similarities with “distance learning” (moore, dickson-deane, & galyen, 2011) participants of the study the participants of this research were 82 students from the english language education program who had just taken the intermediate or basic grammar course online. the 4 credit grammar courses were pre-requisites to the academic writing course and involved a one-hour class-meeting to discuss the importance of grammar for communication. furthermore, the student participants were recruited through a convenience sampling. generally coming from a language teaching background that did not pay attention to grammar, the students' grammar proficiencies fell below the faculty's standards and they normally needed to work hard to pass the courses. data collection the data collection was done through a questionnaire consisting of openended, multiple responses, likert-scale, and close-ended questions. the instrument was administered in indonesian through google form. the items for the first research question, except the essay question, and for the second research question (no 1 and 2) in the questionnaire were adapted from jarvis and szymczyk’s (2010) research. the questionnaire was used to discover: (1) how students perceive their online grammar class, (2) whether the students practice autonomy outside their online classes, (3) their reasons for doing or not doing independent grammar learning, and (4) how they perceive autonomous learning for their online grammar class. the questionnaire was piloted before being administered to the actual participants. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 185-199 189 data analysis the responses from the questionnaire were logged into microsoft excel. the data from the close-ended, multiple responses, and likert-scale items were coded, converted into percentages, and analyzed. for the multiple response items, the participants could choose more than one answer, so the responses' total percentages could exceed 100%. on the other hand, the answers from the openended questions were analysed using thematic analysis where the data were classified into specific themes through frequent careful reading. to ensure the accuracy of the analysis, the classification was conducted by a team member and was later crosschecked by a second member. different perceptions in the categorization were solved through mutual reviews. findings and discussion students’ general perception on their online grammar learning figure 1. percentage of students’ perception of their online grammar learning based on a multiple response question, figure 1 shows that over half of the students negatively perceived online grammar learning. they believed it was difficult (49 out of 82 students, 59.8%) and/or boring (18 students, 22%). in other words, the online mode of learning grammar was generally considered challenging. however, there were some students who thought positively by choosing ‘useful’ (24 students, 29.3%), ‘interesting’ (19 students, 23.2%), and/or ‘easy’ (13 students, 15.9%). furthermore, several reasons for the students' negative views were revealed in their responses to an accompanying open-ended question. most students thought the online grammar learning was difficult because they found it harder to understand the materials (19 students, 23%), because of poor internet connection (17 students, 20.7%) and/or a very limited opportunity to interact with the teacher (15 students, 18.3%). on the other hand, some students saw that the grammar online course was boring because they preferred other ways of learning and/or and they could not have face-to-face interaction with mates and teachers (13 students 15.9%). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 185-199 190 the poor internet connection echoes gunawan et. al. (2020)’s finding that the internet issue and limited internet data plan became one of “the most common difficulties which are likely to emerge” (p. 69) for both students and teachers in indonesia during the online learning. in addition, as moore’s theory of distance learning has suggested (moore, 1972, 2007, as in andrade & bunker, 2009), the problem of the limited teacher-student interaction was shown to be a central issue in online learning. with such restricted interaction, students may have found it more challenging to understand the subject matter and less socially motivated to learn. furthermore, those who responded positively expressed various reasons for their answers. from the total participants (82 students), 13.2% perceived online grammar learning as beneficial because of three reasons, namely, obtain more grammar knowledge (4.9%), establish relevance of the classroom goals and objectives with students’ preferences and needs (1%), and develop their english communication skill (7.3%). in addition, among the total participants, 8.1% felt that their online grammar learning was interesting because of two main reasons, respectively, a new experience to them (2%) and the opportunity to explore many other sources available (both printed or online) to improve their understanding of the materials (6.1%). in addition, a small number of students, 1.4% out of the total participants, perceived online grammar learning as easy because of their interest in grammar. do students practice learning autonomy? as shown in figure 2, most of the participants (69 out of 82 students, 84.1%) reported practicing learning autonomy and only few of them (13 students, 15.9%) did not. figure 2. the number of students practicing and not practicing autonomy in online grammar learning practicing autonomy in online grammar learning frequency of independent study while the majority of the participants claimed to practice autonomous grammar learning, over half of them (39 out of 69) did not report doing it often. most of these students (29) reported doing self-study only once a week while 6 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 185-199 191 students did it less than once a week. in addition, 4 students chose others since they studied on their own only before having a test. there were only less than half of the students who reportedly studied independently more frequently. a total of 25 students studied by themselves two to three times a week and 5 said to do it more than three times a week. in other words, the learner autonomy level among the students in the online grammar course tended to be low. students’ strategies of practising autonomous learning table 1. students’ strategies of practicing autonomous learninga statements n mean sd always & often 1. i practice grammar independently by making a summary of the materials. 69 2.32 0.39 42.0% 2. i practice grammar independently by doing the exercises available in the course book. 69 2.65 0.45 55.0% 3. i practice grammar independently by analyzing the grammatical errors that i made when doing the exercise in the class and learn from them. 69 2.90 0.58 68.1% 4. i practice grammar independently by reading the upcoming materials in the course book. 69 2.68 0.49 58.0% 5. i practice grammar independently by finding more examples and materials on the internet. 69 2.68 0.46 56.5% 6. i practice grammar independently by finding online exercises on the internet. 69 2.32 0.38 42.0% 7. i practice grammar independently by watching grammar teaching videos from the internet. 69 1.83 0.26 27.5% 8. i practice grammar independently by trying to apply the materials that i have learned when completing other assignments (e.g. when composing my writings, practicing for my presentations, reading academic journals, etc.). 69 2.91 0.58 69.6% a. maximal value of 4 (always=4; often=3; sometimes=2; rarely=1; never=0) table 1 demonstrates students’ reported strategies in their learning autonomy based on frequencies. with the means generally between 2 and 3 and low sds, the strategies generally received moderately positive responses. the most significantly applied ones were trying to apply what they had learned while completing other assignments (s8, means, aggregate) and through analyzing and learning from the grammatical errors that they made when doing the exercise in the class (s3, means=2.90, aggregate=68.1%). the considerable number of responses to s3 confirms singh, singh, razak, and ravinthar’s (2017) study pointing out that grammar knowledge can be obtained not only through memorization of the rules but also students’ awareness of making errors. the next commonly implemented strategies in students’ independent learning were by llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 185-199 192 reading the upcoming materials in the course book (s4, mean=2.68, aggregate=58%), doing exercises in the course book (s2, mean=2.65, aggregate=55%), and by finding more examples and materials on the internet (s5, mean=2.68, aggregate=56.5%). with all these trends, students tended to focus more on what the teacher gave for/in their class. this echoes the students’ responses to s6 and s7, in which they seemed to prefer to use the materials the course provided (e.g., exercises and teaching materials) than searching them on the internet. likewise, learning grammar independently by watching grammar teaching videos on the internet was the least common way (s7, mean=1.83, aggregate=27.5%), and finding online exercises (s6, mean=2.32, aggregate=42%) were among those receiving the least positive responses from the participants. these results are consistent with jarvis and szymczyk’s (2010), which shows that although the internet offered the students a vast number of materials and exercises to choose for their independent learning, students somehow still preferred materials such as coursebooks because they were more systematic and relevant with what the students’ needed. the materials and exercises available online, in contrast, might make students overwhelmed or distracted when selecting the ones appropriate for them. reasons for learning autonomously (doing independent grammar learning) table 2 demonstrates students’ responses to likert statements aimed to discover the reasons of the students who claimed to learn grammar autonomously (69 out of 82 students). table 2. students’ reasons for practicing autonomy statements n mean sd strongly agree & agree 1. practicing grammar independently helps me to understand the materials better. 69 3.23 0.79 88.4% 2. practicing grammar independently helps me to recall the teacher’s explanation in the classroom. 69 3.30 0.85 92.8% 3. i find it difficult to comprehend the teacher’s explanation from online classroom. 69 2.54 0.49 47.8% 4. i don’t want to be dependent on my teacher. 69 2.58 0.48 52.2% 5. i can do exercises to improve my understanding about the materials. 69 3.03 0.68 78.3% 6. i need to study grammar independently to be able to use grammar in communication. 69 3.17 0.86 91.3% 7. there are plenty of grammar exercises and materials available on the internet. 69 3.22 0.79 88.4% 8. i need to practice a lot myself to be able to use the forms taught. 69 3.23 0.79 88.4% 9. i feel that the teacher’s explanation in the online class is not enough to help me understand the materials. 69 2.39 0.37 44.9% 10. i like grammar. 69 2.59 0.50 47.8% 11. having online grammar learning motivates me to learn more about grammar independently. 69 2.96 0.78 82.6% maximal value of 4 (strongly agree=4; agree=3; neutral=2; disagree=1; strongly disagree=0) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 185-199 193 as shown in table 2, with low sds (below 1) and the means around 3, which is comparable to the value of ‘agree’, most students responded positively to s1, s2, s5, s6, s7, s8, s11. on the other hand, the results associated with the teacher’s explanation (s3, s4, s9) and interest in grammar were less positive. regardless, the most frequent reason for practicing learning autonomy is to remember the teacher's explanation in the classroom (s2, mean=3.30, aggregate=92.8%). this reason may be linked to nearly half of the students’ beliefs that the teacher’s explanations in their online class were difficult to understand (s3, mean=2.54, aggregate =47.8%) and were not enough for them (s9, mean=2.39, aggregate e=44.9%). this is also relevant with the earlier findings that students found it harder to understand the teaching materials in online classes because of poor internet and limited interaction. thus, it explains why most students reportedly did their independent learning in order to understand the materials better (s1, mean=3.23, aggregate =88.4%). furthermore, other common reasons driving the students to learn grammar independently (s7, mean=3.22, aggregate =88.4%) were because there were plenty of grammar exercises and materials available on the internet. nevertheless, as suggested earlier in the strategy section, less than half of the students made use of the resources significantly. finally, it was a good sign that most students reportedly practiced autonomy to enable them to use grammar in communication (s6, mean=3.17, aggregate =91.3%, and s8, mean=3.23, aggregate =88.4%) despite their relatively low interest in grammar (s10, mean=2.59, aggregate =47.8%). this demonstrates the students’ awareness that grammar is for communication and the faculty’s success in developing such awareness. not practicing autonomy in online grammar learning a small number of the student participants (13 out of 82 students) reported that they did not do autonomous grammar learning because of various reasons. the reasons of these students for not learning grammar independently will be discussed in the sections below. reasons for not practicing autonomy table 3. students’ reasons for not practicing autonomy statements n mean sd strongly agree & agree 1. i have understood the materials from the online class well. 13 2.31 0.51 38% 2. i do not have much time to practice grammar independently. 13 1.92 0.40 31% 3. i feel that having online classes from home is tiring enough for me. 13 3.00 0.60 69% 4. i feel that having online classes from home is stressful enough for me. 13 2.54 0.45 54% 5. i feel overwhelmed with other assignments that i have to do. 13 2.77 0.58 69% 6. there are too many materials to be studied by myself. 13 2.23 0.55 38% 7. many of my friends do not study/practice grammar by themselves as well. 13 2.31 0.61 46% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 185-199 194 8. i do not see how studying/practicing grammar by myself will benefit me. 13 1.69 0.33 23% 9. i do not know how to study/practice grammar by myself. 13 2.08 0.41 23% 10. i feel that studying/practicing grammar by myself is difficult to do. 13 2.31 0.33 38% 11. i never studied/practiced grammar before since i learned english at primary and/or secondary schools (elementary school/junior high school/senior high school). 13 2.00 0.44 46% 12. it should be my teacher who should help me to study grammar. 13 2.15 0.51 38% 13. it should be my teacher who should help me to practice grammar. 13 2.08 0.47 31% 14. it is difficult to choose study materials from the internet. 13 2.00 0.49 38% 15. i always got distracted with other things when i try to study/practice grammar by myself (e.g. with the notifications from my social media when i try to do online exercise from the internet, with the other things happening at my home, etc.) 13 2.77 0.70 77% 16. i don’t like grammar. 13 1.62 0.45 31% 17. i need someone (e.g. a tutor) to help me study grammar outside classes. 13 3.15 1.04 77% 18. having online grammar learning does not motivate me to learn more about grammar independently. 13 2.08 0.57 54% maximal value of 4 (strongly agree=4; agree=3; neutral=2; disagree=1; strongly disagree=0) most of the statements in table 3 were presented negatively against learners’ autonomy in the online grammar learning except statement 1. the two most common reasons for not practicing autonomy were the need for someone to help them (s17, mean=3.15, aggregate=77%) and fatigue from doing online learning (s3, mean=3.00, aggregate =69%). peer tutoring has been deemed beneficial to improve students’ academic ability (arco-tirado, fernández-martín, & fernández-balboa, 2011; asgari & carter, 2016; bowman-perrott, demarín, mahadevan, etchells, 2016). as peer tutor offers individualized learning, it fills any possible knowledge gaps created by the regular teaching (mulatsih, 2018; murtisari salvadora, & hastuti, 2020; murtisari, puspitasari, & setiamunadi, 2020). students also tend to be more open to the tutors (topping, 1995, as cited in sharif et al, 2012) because they find a comfort zone learning with those having similar learning experience (zhang and bayley, 2019). furthermore, studies have also indicated that facilitating and guiding students through peer tutors could actually foster their autonomy (stigmar, 2016; bohórquez, largo rodríguez, viáfara gonzález, 2019). according to humphreys and wyatt (2014), students need guidance in practicing autonomy. they further suggest that such guidance helped them develop their skills in learning autonomously. this is especially the case with students who have difficulties in learning (hurd, 1998a, as cited in andrade & bunker, 2009). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 185-199 195 the next two common reasons for not learning autonomously were distraction (s15, mean=2.77, aggregate=77%) and feeling overwhelmed with assignments. having to self-regulate their own study, students might find it difficult when there are distractions. multitasking, including the use of smartphones, has been identified as a common distractor to students in online learning (schmidt, 2020). regarding this, paul (as cited in schmidt, 2020) has pointed out that even those belonging to the “digital native” generation suffer from the negative consequences of multitasking, lack of comprehension and memorization, and difficulty in transferring learning to new contexts. such a downside of online learning may have contributed to the fact that over half of the students (54%) in the present study were unmotivated to learn grammar autonomously (s18, mean=2.08). furthermore, the finding that students felt overwhelmed with other assignments seems to confirm hartnett’s study result (2015) on high workload. this can be linked to the students’ belief that there were too many materials to be studied by themselves (s6, mean=2.23). despite this, it is worth noting that there were only 31% of the students who reported not having much time to practice grammar independently (s2, mean=1.92). this means there may have been other factors apart from the amount of the tasks that made students feel somewhat burdened. the online mode itself reportedly had made over half of the students stressed out (s4, mean=2.54, aggregate =54%) and did not motivate them to learn independently (s18, mean=2.08, aggregate=54%). most of the other more significant reasons for not employing autonomous learning seemed to relate to the students’ lack of skills to do such learning. based on their responses, for instance, students found it difficult to study by themselves (s9, mean=2.08, aggregate =23%) and select study materials from the internet, and were dependent on their teacher (s12, mean=2.15, aggregate =38%, and s13, mean=2.08, aggregate =31%). nearly half of the students also expressed their agreement to the statement that they had never studied grammar by themselves since they were at school. it was also interesting that several students also did not seem to be aware of the importance of autonomous learning, as they did not know how such learning would benefit them. with only 38% of the students who believed they had understood the teaching materials, this group seemed to need much support from the faculty to assist them to be more independent. students’ perception on autonomous learning for their online grammar learning to investigate the students' perception of autonomous learning for their online grammar learning, a multiple response question was given which required the students to complete the sentence: "learning grammar independently outside the classroom is …. for me". a follow-up open-ended question was also given for the students to elaborate their answers. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 185-199 196 figure 4. students’ perception of autonomy in online grammar learning as shown in figure 6, the majority of students perceived autonomous learning in the online grammar class positively where 45 students out of 82 (54.9%) chose “useful”, 40 students (48.8%) selected “necessary”, and 4 students (3%) chose “easy”. most of these students believed that autonomy could help them understand the materials better (35%), which was also suggested earlier in section a, students’ reasons for practicing autonomy, as one of the reasons for practicing autonomy outside the grammar classroom. in addition,11 (13%) indicated that learning grammar autonomously improved their grammar skills or knowledge. however, a number of students responded negatively to autonomy in online grammar as they indicated that it was “difficult” (15 students, 11.4%) and “stressful” (8 students, 6.1%), and “challenging” (19 students, 23.2%). one reason for this was because grammar was considered to be a difficult subject for the students (4%). this may be the case because it “can be associated to some extent with correctness, rules or isolated sentences” (pawlak, 2017, p. 5). the students might have difficulties in remembering the variety of grammar rules, which might discourage students from learning grammar by themselves outside the classroom. despite this, none of the total participants saw learner autonomy as useless or unnecessary. although several students seemed to be ambivalent (as they had indicated earlier that they did not know how autonomous learning would benefit them), it was still a positive sign. conclusion the study reveals that most of the participants saw online grammar learning challenging. difficulties in understanding the subject matter, poor internet connection, and limited interaction with the teacher were the major reasons for their negative views towards such a mode of study negative. despite this, the students generally were positive about autonomous learning and saw that it was crucial in their online study. to most students, this was reportedly due to the difficulties they faced with the distant mode itself, especially in understanding the subject matter. nevertheless, it was a positive finding that most participants also saw learner autonomy imperative because grammar is vital for communication. such awareness is paramount to motivate students to study independently. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 185-199 197 regardless, although the majority of the participants claimed to do autonomous learning, many of them only practiced self-study only once a week, which indicates a relatively low level of autonomy. here difficulties in practicing learner autonomy brought up by students who did not practice it, such as fatigue from online learning, distractions, overwhelming assignments, and lack of study skills, may have contributed. however, other factors such as lack of awareness of the need for more substantial learner autonomy may have played a role. apart from this, the most common ways of their independent study were by applying what they had learned from their online class into other assignments and by learning from the errors they had made in class. with these strategies, the students did not seem to go far beyond their immediate environment to explore what were available for them outside. considering the importance of autonomous learning in an online grammar learning context, the faculty and teachers need to help students to enhance their independent learning. based on the present research’s findings, the faculty could provide more support in the form of peer teaching and training to improve students’ study skills. in order to deal with distractions and fatigue, for instance, paul (as cited in schmidt, 2020) believes students need to develop their study skills at increasing cognitive ability, managing the distractions around and within them, and strengthening goals. since this study was based on convenience sampling and conducted in a limited context of online grammar learning in higher education, the findings are not generalizable. in addition, as the research involved participants who had taken different grammar courses, it may have influenced their responses to the 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(2019). peer learning for university students’ learning enrichment: perspectives of undergraduate students, journal of peer learning, 12, 61-74. https://ro.uow.edu.au/ajpl/vol12/iss1/5 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07764-2_1 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07764-2_1 https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118411360.wbcla147 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1541-4329.12206 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.11.288 https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v10n5p16 https://doi.org/10.1080/13611267.2016.1178963 https://ro.uow.edu.au/ajpl/vol12/iss1/5 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 639-650 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 639 teaching esp using myklass in universitas muhammadiyah yogyakarta: students’ perception *yashinta farahsani1 and margaretha dharmayanti harmanto2 1,2universitas muhammadiyah yogyakarta, indonesia yashinta_hime@yahoo.com1 and margaretha@umy.ac.id2 *correspondence: yashinta_hime@yahoo.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.2994 received 25 november 2020; accepted 13 october 2022 abstract many non-english departments study english for specific purposes (esp) to improve students' vocabulary related to their field. umy has established a program called myklass as a facility to do online learning. this program provides many features, such as sharing materials in the form of documents, pictures, or media; conducting quizzes; assignment submission; and attendance. however, teaching esp using myklass also faces some difficulties such as students' motivation to read the material, the teacher's control in evaluating students' study progress, and students' problem in improving english vocabulary in specialized language. using a questionnaire distributed to 234 accounting and mechanical engineering students, the writers found out the students' perception of using myklass from their motivation and perception in learning esp using myklass, their perception of the aspects of benefits, and their perception of learning esp using myklass. most of the answers showed positive responses; therefore, we can conclude that esp online learning using myklass has been very beneficial to the students regardless of the technical problems that students sometimes encounter. keywords: esp, myklass, online learning, students' motivation introduction the demand for english in business, technology, media, education, medicine, and science, strives for english for specific purposes (esp) to satisfy people with associated instrumental objectives (tsao, 2008; xu, 2008, lin, 2013, rao, 2019). esp courses are offered to students to meet their specific needs, regarding the considerable need for english in academic and professional contexts (chang, 2009; tsao, 2011, lin, 2013). hutchinson and waters (1987: 19) argue that esp is a methodology in language teaching wherein the purpose of students' learning determines its content and procedure. strevens (1988) defined english language teaching esp as teaching the english language expected to fulfill a learner's particular needs. lorenzo (2005) explained that "typically, esp students are adults who already have some knowledge of english and are studying the language to convey a range of technical skills and conduct basic job-related functions." hutchinson and waters (1987) revealed three reasons for esp's occurrence: the new world requirement, the linguistics revolution, and the new emphasis on students. mailto:yashinta_hime@yahoo.com mailto:margaretha@umy.ac.id mailto:yashinta_hime@yahoo.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.2994 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 639-650 640 besides that, dudley-evans (1998: 4) described three features of esp: (a) the esp aims to the unique demands of learners; (b) the esp applies the curriculum and practices of the learning subject it serves; and (c) the esp emphasizes on language structure, lexis, register, research skills, discourse and gender in the required language for these practices. in many aspects of our lives today, the application of information technology is emerging, including education. e-learning, the system name used for the learning process, is a moderately novel concept denoting learning through digital media. elearning is a quick and effective method of disseminating and exchanging knowledge with students around the globe (ouadoud et al., 2021). e-learning is "a system that uses internet technology to deliver information to students with interactions through computer interfaces" (vitoria, 2018). computer programs for e-learning have been developed in recent years, consisting of resources like text, pictures, video, animations, and three-dimensional objects (keller, 2002). prominent to advanced technology, educational services can embark through virtual classrooms (husu, 2000; ruhinda, 2013). ict is supposed to offer substantial advantages to both learners and teachers since it involves resource sharing and learning practices and promotes learning collaboration (wheeler, 2001; azmi, 2017). as one of the leading private universities in indonesia, universitas muhammadiyah yogyakarta (umy) has encouraged ict application in the teaching and learning process in blended learning forms. as the name suggests, face-to-face and online learning are combined in blended learning (vitoria, 2018). this university has an e-learning system named myklass, which has been used for around five years to facilitate the blended learning process. myklass provides a learning management system (lms), which can be accessed both synchronously and asynchronously. asynchronous learning content delivery promotes independence in terms of time and place, and it allows students time to think about ideas. myklass establishes new chances for online learning, offering access to education without the time and place limitations. providing the facilities for synchronous and asynchronous interactions, myklass integrates various graphics, text, files, audio, and video activities. because of the covid-19 pandemic, myklass is used maximally for online meetings. the lectures can provide the material in the form of a file, book, folder, or link, and students can download them. the lecturers can also create a quiz for the student's assessment and make an assignment folder; then, the students can submit the tasks there, both in the form of a file submission or online text submission. all of the online learning activities can be conducted in myklass until the end of the semester, and the lecturers can set up the grade based on the activities that have been conducted. learning esp using myklass is also conducted in umy. some departments conduct esp for their english courses, such as economics, management, and accounting departments, which use english business materials for their english courses. the nursing department also uses english for medicine english courses. the other is the department of engineering. mechanical engineering, civil engineering, information technology, and electrical engineering also use esp for their english courses. these departments use esp because they have the purpose of making the students communicate using specific terminology in their fields, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 639-650 641 which this material cannot be found in general english courses. learning esp using myklass is becoming a new challenge for both lecturers and students. this paper aims to find out (a) students' motivation and perception in learning esp using myklass, (b) lecturers' control in evaluating students' study progress, and (c) students' difficulty in improving english vocabulary in specialized language. method we combine the research method based on vitoria (2018) and keller (2002). research and development (r&d) was employed in this research. borg and gall (1983) developed and validated their instructional products using the r&d method. education practitioners and pedagogues have used this strategy extensively in developing educational product models (gay, 1985). we used vitoria's model proposed by thiagarajan, semmel, and semmel (1974) for instructional development, named the four-d model: define, design, develop, and disseminate. the define stage emphasizes establishing significance and restraints; the design stage is to create the original product; the develop phase is where the change occurs in compliance with expert and user input, and the disseminate phase is the distribution of the final product result. the product that we developed is an esp online learning module based on the moodle learning management system (lms) at universitas muhammadiyah yogyakarta, indonesia. the module consists of the learning objective, learning outline, lessons, reading materials, url to videos, discussion forum, and evaluation. this online module is accessible to students registered in the english course at www.myklass.umy.ac.id. our study's focus is on the develop phase, which explains the practicality of esp e-learning. van den akker (1999) in vitoria (2018) explains that practicality relates to the level to which learners consider a commodity as "appealing and usable." hence, the practicality discussed in this study is the student's perception of the easiness and usefulness of the esp online module. we used a questionnaire to measure the students' perception of esp online learning applications for data collection. we applied keller's method (2002) in making an option for the questionnaire. there are five alternatives for the answers to 33 statements: these are 'i agree totally,' 'i agree to a large extent,' 'i do not know,' 'i disagree to a large extent, and 'i disagree totally' and for one statement, the alternatives were: 'never', 'sometimes', 'i do not know', 'often', 'very often. we distributed a questionnaire to the first semester of the accounting and mechanical engineering departments, and 243 students participated in this study. accounting students study business english in their esp program, while mechanical engineering students study english for mechanical engineering. the questions consist of the student's demographic data such as name, department/study program, semester, and questions on student's attitude toward myklass, student's perception about the beneficial aspect of myklass and easiness of use of myklass, as well as student's perception in learning esp through myklass. findings and discussion this part is divided into three subsections: (a) students' motivation and perception in learning esp using myklass, (b) lecturers' control in evaluating http://www.myklass.umy.ac.id/ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 639-650 642 students' study progress, and (c) students' difficulty in improving english vocabulary in specialized language. students' motivation and perception in learning esp using myklass table 1 and table 2 show students' perception of myklass, divided into their attitude toward myklass and their ease of using myklass. tabel 1. student's attitude toward myklass item no score totally agree agree don't know disagree totally disagree myklass is easy to understand and easy to use. 61 167 15 the use of myklass has increased flexibility in my studies. 41 174 28 the use of myklass has facilitated my studies. 46 180 15 1 1 the use of myklass has improved my communication with my lecturers and classmates. 25 165 44 8 1 the use of myklass has increased the pedagogic value of the courses being taught. 28 162 48 4 using myklass has improved my communication with other students. 29 150 49 14 1 using myklass has helped me solve problems related to my lectures. 25 165 43 9 1 never sometimes i don't know often very often the extent to which technical problems plague the use of myklass 154 76 13 table 1 illustrates that the student's attitude toward myklass was positive, although few students gave negative responses. most of the students agreed or totally agreed with items 1-7, and 63.4% had 'sometimes' responses for item 8. however, the table shows that the number of 'totally agree' and ‘i don't know’ had almost a balanced score. most of the answers are referred to as the 'agree' option. we can conclude that the student's attitude was positive toward myklass. as revealed in table 1, the students agreed that myklass had given them ease of access. besides, myklass could facilitate them to do online classes. however, in item 8, it is shown that myklass still needs to be improved because most of the students still found some technical problems when accessing myklass. after all, the students widely used this system at the beginning of this semester, and it needs to be upgraded in terms of capacity. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 639-650 643 the previous data exhibit that the students perceived myklass to be useful. first of all, myklass was easy to use and easy to understand. students need to access it using the umy email that has been created by the it bureau once they register as students of umy. they can browse it based on their faculty and go to their study program to see their subjects this semester. by doing that, they can download all the materials that the lecturers have provided. these findings were in line with al-dosari (2011), and vitoria (2018) stated that accessibility became the most crucial benefit for online course users when dealing with e-learning. figure 1. myklass display figure 2. myklass display to each faculty figure 3. student's study program llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 639-650 644 figure 4. the subject that students are taking during this semester figure 5. the materials and activities that the students can access in myklass second, the students declared that myklass enhanced their learning flexibility. myklass offered an alternative learning method, various teaching materials, and more communication with the teacher. myklass has a 'message' feature so that the students and lecturers can communicate using it. besides, the 'forum' feature can also be used as a communication device to share information and communicate with students during the lecture. this result is in line with cimermanová (2003), al-dosari (2011), and vitoria (2018), which revealed that the student's participation increased during class discussions. they also stated that when using online communication, the cautious students managed to be more conversational. enhancement of students' communication is significant for their learning because the actual learning occurs when they can interact and collaborate, as stated by vygotsky (2016), vitoria (2018), and muslih et al. (2021). in general, online learning employment, as a complement to conventional face-to-face instructions, improved students' learning proficiency (al adwan, 2011; vitoria, 2018). based on the data elaborated previously, it can be inferred that, according to the students, myklass was useful. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 639-650 645 table 2 the student's perception of ease of myklass use item no score totally agree agree do not know disagree totally disagree i have sufficient technology to access the materials. 43 163 32 2 2 i have time to access online materials. 41 180 19 2 i know how to access the material provided online by the lecturer. 48 183 10 i know how to navigate myklassbased material. 29 185 23 3 1 the language in the material is easy to understand 28 171 40 3 online learning instructions by lecturers are easy to understand. 27 162 47 5 1 it's easy to do my job with myklass-based materials. 27 176 35 3 internet connection is not a problem for me. 10 57 85 64 26 online forums facilitate my interactions with classmates and lecturers. 15 171 39 16 1 i often experience technical problems with myklass-based english course materials. 3 63 76 95 5 table 2 shows that the students found it easy to use myklass. since they live in a sophisticated technology era, most students have been getting along with technology. most of them can browse myklass both using a cellphone and laptop or pc. it is proved by students' responses in items 1-7 and 9. therefore, it can be concluded that they did not have problems accessing myklass, and they could understand the instruction in each lecture. as shown in table 2, the students agreed that myklass had given them easiness to access. besides, myklass could be accessed anytime. however, item 8 showed that students still found internet problems since they spread all over indonesia with different internet signal quality. it becomes the most crucial matter since online class needs the internet to access them. item 10 shows that although students were in english class and all the instructions were in english; they found it easy to access and study the material. overall, it can be concluded that myklass was easy to use except for related to the internet connection, which occurred on a case-by-case basis. student's perception of the aspects of benefits table 3 shows student perceptions about aspects of benefits. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 639-650 646 table 3. student perceptions about aspects of benefits item no score totally agree agree do not know disagree totally disagree the material in the myklassbased english course provided me with an extensive source of learning material. 33 184 23 3 myklass-based english course materials help my understanding of a topic 27 186 29 1 the material in the myklassbased english course improves my ict skills. 39 189 14 1 the material in the myklassbased english course increases my interactions with friends and lecturers. 21 181 35 4 2 learning english using myklass gives me more time to explore learning resources. 38 186 16 2 learning english using myklass increases my motivation. 17 172 44 9 1 learning english using myklass helps me become more independent. 37 196 10 learning english using myklass increases my confidence in expressing ideas and opinions. 28 173 35 6 1 learning english using myklass makes learning more enjoyable 21 158 52 12 online assignments increase my self-discipline. 49 165 25 2 2 the lecturer controls the students' study progress by giving assignments and quizzes to verify that they understand the materials. students gave a positive response for all items from 1-10. students could find all course materials in myklass. there are many features provided in myklass, which are divided into two activities and resources. in activities, lecturers and students can do attendance, assignment, chat, forum, glossaries, quizzes, lessons, and surveys. the lecturers can upload resources in the form of a file, folder, url, or book. with these features, lecturers can post all the student's needs, and students can explore more material, not only which was posted in myklass, but also from other resources related to the material they are learning. since the online class is conducted from home, students should manage their time to attend the lecture or access myklass based on their lecture schedule without a face-to-face meeting. the material and assignment or quiz are usually set based llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 639-650 647 on the lecture schedule, and the students have limited time to do the quiz or submit the assignment. it makes the students improve their discipline to manage their time in doing online classes from home. usually, the lecturers share learning videos and written material to help the students understand more about the material. by learning via myklass, students can improve their independence. however, they still can chat with the lecturer when they do not understand the material. lecturers still try to make the class enjoyable, although it is conducted online. student's perception of learning esp using myklass table 4 shows the students' perception of esp. the students who filled out the questionnaire are from accounting and mechanical engineering departments, which conduct esp in their english class. table 4. student's perception in learning esp using myklass item no score totally agree agree do not know disagree totally disagree i am able to learn esp as well as learn general english. 9 177 57 2 i am able to learn esp because it will be useful later on. 29 199 15 2 learning esp is more interesting than learning general english. 5 145 92 3 learning esp is easier than learning general english. 4 118 115 6 learning esp using myklass allows me to explore esp material more deeply. 8 180 55 2 learning esp using myklass allows me to practice both oral and written english better. 13 180 47 4 learning esp is not as same as learning general english because the students are learning more about vocabulary and expressions related to their fields. for example, accounting students are learning business english. they learn how to handle customers or colleagues in a business situation. usually, the lecturers set a situation in each unit to practice the expressions based on the situation. besides, the vocabulary is also different from general english because they learn more about business terminology. it is similar to the mechanical engineering students learning in their esp class. the lecturers set the reading comprehension related to their field, and students can learn mechanical engineering terminology from the reading text. besides that, the lecturers also combine esp and english for academic purpose (eap) for the skills that students should master when they learn english. in learning esp using myklass, students are facilitated by many learning videos, aiming to help the students practice independently. from table 4, it is shown that students gave positive responses to learning esp using myklass. they were more interested in learning esp than general english because they have learned general english since they were at school. it is time for them to improve themselves llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 639-650 648 to be more focused on their field of learning english. they have obtained general english material at school as the primary material, which becomes the basis for learning esp. therefore, before learning esp, students should master general english first. like other online learning subjects using myklass, students can also develop their english capacity here because they have much time to learn and explore esp since learning online is not restricted by place and time. that is why the students gave a positive response to learning esp using myklass, and it will be beneficial for them in the future. conclusion the need for esp embarks along with english growth to satisfy individuals with instrumental goals in more specified areas, such as business, technology, education, media, medicine, and science. due to esp's characteristics that aim to fulfill the students' specific needs, prepare the curriculum and practice based on the subject it deals with, and focus on grammar, lexis, register, research skills, discourse, and gender in the required language for these practices. the lecturers and students use myklass as an lms platform provided by umy for online learning to conduct esp courses. based on the study results, the students perceived that myklass was easy to use and useful. they also perceived that learning esp could improve their english mastery, particularly in the specified language in their department. therefore, it can be concluded that in this develop stage, myklass is practical for students learning esp online. 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(2008). influence of instrumental motivation on efl learners in china and its implication on tefl instructional design. educational communications and technology, university of saskatchewan. retrieved october 28, 2020 from http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/802papers/xu/index.htm https://doi.org/10.1080/1358165010260102 http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/802papers/xu/index.htm llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 295-309 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 295 analysis of efl students’ difficulties in writing and completing english thesis tira nur fitria institut teknologi bisnis aas, indonesia correspondence: tiranurfitria@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.3607 received 20 august 2021; accepted 17 may 2022 abstract the objective of this research is to know the efl students’ difficulties in writing and finishing their thesis. this research employs descriptive qualitative research. from the result analysis of a questionnaire, there are internal and external factors of efl students’ difficulties in writing and finishing a thesis. in internal factors are 1) difficulty in choosing the title of the english title, 2) feeling bored, pessimistic, bored/saturated, and doubtful with their abilities, 3) feeling fears or worries during the proposal seminar exam or thesis examination later, 4) having a health problem or down, 5) students’ disability in understanding the systematics of writing a thesis, 6) tending to use online translation tools, 7) having difficulty in using english grammar, choosing the right vocabulary, spelling, and punctuation correctly. the students’ difficulty in writing and completing a thesis shows that the most difficult parts are in chapter 4 (result/findings and discussion). while external factors are 1) having communication problems with supervisors, for example, lecturers are difficul t to contact, reply to messages for a long time, or do not reply to messages. 2) having problems with supervising lecturers’ writing, for example, writings cannot be read clearly or be understood. 3) having difficulty in finding references on the internet, 4) there are no complete reference sources and no free access to digital libraries on campus, 5) technical problems on devices such as laptops/computers, 6) having cost or financial problems and personal problems during the process of working on and completing the thesis. 7) students’ surrounding environment is not/less conducive. but, have a part-time job, have a busy life with hobbies or personal pleasures, and have a busy life in organizations both on and off-campus. do not influence them in working on and completing the thesis. keywords: efl student, english thesis, thesis, writing introduction a thesis is a student's final project. in writing this thesis, students take it through field research or library studies arranged by students according to their field of study. this thesis is written following the guidelines of each college, although the preparation of this thesis is the same, there must be differences at https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.3607 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 295-309 296 least in each college. graduate students place a high value on the ability to write a strong thesis statement. students learn how to conduct research and present their results as a result of participating in the process (wang & yang, 2012). compiling a thesis is very closely related to writing, of course, writing this thesis must get the final result of the existing problems or phenomena, thesis writing also cannot necessarily only write or convey ideas and thoughts, writing must also be accompanied by references to writing methods and studies studies that have been carried out in previous studies. there is also a thesis writing called a supervisor, of course, this supervisor is in charge of directing students who write this thesis to be appropriate and correct, because the results of writing this thesis will be presented and their work tested, thus the role of the supervisor in writing is very important. if students are having difficulty writing, the supervisor should explore what might lie behind this (shaw & lawson, 2015). for final year students, the thesis writing period is the most challenging process. to complete a thesis, students need physical, mental, and often financial strength. moreover, many steps need to be passed. starting from the determination of the title and topic, the proposal seminar exam, data collection, to the trial or also called the comprehensive exam. in the final stage, students will present their research results in front of the examiner lecturer. this process is often feared by students. the reason is that students will be questioned with various questions to test the validity of the research. so it is not strange that students feel trepidation and fear. english has become the major international language for research and publication. many of these difficulties involve learning to use language (paquot, 2014). as we know, there are four skills in english such as reading, listening, speaking, and writing. writing is one of the most demanding tasks that students, academics, and researchers face (rowena & sarah, 2006). one of the obligations for every student in taking undergraduate education is to obtain a bachelor's degree in writing a final report (thesis). a complete thesis or dissertation is a major accomplishment of sustained concentration (blair, 2016). students majoring in english, of course, must write a thesis in english. writing an english thesis is a difficult task particularly to writers for whom english is a second language (paltridge & starfield, 2007). writing an english thesis is a mandatory task for students majoring in english, both english education, and english literature. writing a thesis in english is not easy, considering that english requires a broad vocabulary and the ability to use grammar properly. developing awareness of the rhetorical and linguistic conventions is also needed in writing a thesis in english (bitchener, 2009). cooley & lewkowicz (2011) state that writing a thesis is a unique experience. it is considerably more demanding linguistically than any writing they were expected to produce at the undergraduate level. (bailey, 2011) states that writing good academic english is a demanding task. thesis writing can be challenging for students and supervisors (evans et al., 2014). in this process, there are many things that students have to go through regarding non-academic problems as well as academics. judging from nonacademic problems, to build confidence in writing a person's thesis must have a qualified self-assessment, support from family, and the writer's readiness to face the challenges and obstacles of writing a thesis. building self-confidence is one of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 295-309 297 the keys to student success in completing the final report. with a good sense of self-confidence, they should be ready to face the various challenges faced during the writing process. however, there are many reasons that need to be considered and very influential on student thesis writing. from an academic point of view, students who will write a thesis must also pay attention to selecting topics for research, planning realistic time, and understand the things related to the writing of scientific papers. without it, students can't finish their studies on time. in this case, the thesis supervisor plays a very important role in completing the final report for college students. not a few final-year students have problems with their supervisors. this shows that the mentor figure is very influential in determining student success complete the script. in other words, in addition to students' readiness, academic readiness. it also determines the success of students in completing the final research project. the obligation to write a thesis for all students of majors or programs on all paths strata 1 (bachelor) at public and private universities is an obligation. this provision is based on the consideration that students as prospective undergraduates (scientists) must be able to make scientific work as a form of scientific actualization somebody. this course is a compulsory subject that must be mastered by students with the intention that they have signs or guidelines to become part of the academic community. according to emilia (2009), several aspects must be considered before conducting research, namely readiness to face challenges, building selfconfidence, and self-evaluation. this is part of the non-academic factor. while academic factors starting from topic selection to writing the final research report. including the importance of the supervisor's role and students' understanding of research methods. several previous studies have been conducted related to the students’ problems in writing final projects or theses. first, sariyanto et al. (2015) state that the factor of basic knowledge of thesis, the factor of the process of consultation, the psychological factor, and the factor of economics. so, it can be stated that the lack of fundamental understanding of the thesis' major component element is the most significant contributor to students' problems in writing their thesis. second, swarni (2017) states that the majority of students had difficulties in five types of problems: writing the introduction chapter, writing the review of the literature chapter, writing the methodology chapter, writing the result chapter, and writing the conclusion chapter. third, tambengi (2017) states that several major factors that contributed to the students' difficulties in conducting thesis research, including difficulties in determining the topic of the thesis, insufficient knowledge in writing a thesis, anxiety when interacting with thesis advisors, limited access to interact with lecturers, limited access to the availability of books, and students' desire for friendship and expansion with their peers. fourth, yanto & sulistiyo (2019) state that students encounter a variety of problems while writing their thesis papers. the absence of established guidance on how to write a thesis in english was cited as the primary reason. it was suggested by the lecturers to compose one. fifth, irwandi (2019) states that the difficulties encountered when writing a thesis were mostly due to internal and external variables. within the first internal factor, 33 % of students reported having difficulty deciding on a thesis title, 20 % reported having difficulty writing the organization of their thesis, 20 % llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 295-309 298 reported having difficulty identifying appropriate theories, and 13 % reported having difficulty determining the methodology. the external element was cited by 33 % of students, who said that the college's library offers a range of books that may assist them in writing their dissertation. in addition to the knowledge of students, there are external variables such as college facilities that assist students in writing a thesis that must be taken into consideration as well. sixth, (tiwari, 2019) states that discovered that the main difficulties faced by students pursuing a masters of education (m. ed.) in english at tribhuvan university (t.u.) when writing their theses were disclosed. when preparing a thesis in english education, the supervisors' lack of assistance and the difficulty in choosing the right topic or area of study are two of the most difficult obstacles to overcome. seventh, lestari (2020) revealed that the students had difficulty drafting their theses. according to an organized approach, the students' problems in writing a thesis are linked to their english proficiency, their time management, their research technique, their mindset, and their writing skills, students' plagiarism, students' personalities, the large number of monitored students and advisor workload, and problems in students' motivation were all found to be the least difficult to deal with. as a result of their poor and restricted english ability, they face the greatest number of problems while writing their thesis. both have risen to the top of the list of reasons why they are unable to properly build their writing thesis. eighth, rahmah (2020) states that the students tended to view thesis writing as a tough task. the results revealed that there were significant findings in that there were (47,6 %) who had problems in the component that dealt with structure and content. then there were the pupils who had difficulty with language-related components (52,4 % of the students). the students' impression of a difficulty in writing thesis papers was mostly based on the language component rather than the structure/content component, to summarize. according to the results of the interview, the primary reason was cognitive difficulties. they had trouble putting their thoughts into words in their thesis statement. the second issue was linguistic difficulties. because they lacked vocabulary and grammatical knowledge, they found it challenging to construct proper sentences. the third category included psychological difficulties. it demonstrated that students were concerned about making errors while writing their thesis. the last reason was a scarcity of material resources. there were just a few printed and online materials to choose from. ninth, puspita (2021) revealed a statistically significant conclusion (1) that 82 % of students, or 40 students, had problems with personality characteristics. there are 83 % of students, or 41 students, who have difficulty with sociocultural (2) issues. (3) there are 86 % of pupils, or 42 students, who have difficulty with linguistic considerations. based on the three criteria, it can be determined that the linguistic component is the source of the most difficult for english students. the results show that the first element is a person's personality. they expressed a lack of confidence in their ability to choose a thesis subject and write a thorough literature review. another component is sociocultural variables, which are addressed in depth in the culture department of the university's knowledge of the structure for thesis writing and how it should be written. there were some difficulties in translating phrases from the source to the drafting of the thesis. tenth, fauziah et al. (2021) state that students encounter a wide range of problems both academically and non-academically. approximately llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 295-309 299 81.8 % of students have problems in the academic sector, with 18.2 % experiencing difficulties in other areas. academic problems are caused by difficulty in adapting research subjects to the present circumstances, writer's block, a lack of knowledge of research techniques, and a lack of familiarity with academic writing styles, among other things. student problems in non-academic areas are mostly caused by a lack of personal preparation. several previous studies above discuss the students’ problems in writing an english thesis at one university or higher institution. the focus is similar to this research, but this research chooses the different subjects of elf students in various universities and higher institutions in indonesia. the researcher will explain the research related to the difficulties of efl students’ writing english thesis, because there may be many students in universities or higher institutions in indonesia who have difficulty in writing in completing their theses. therefore, the objective of this research is to know the efl students’ difficulties in writing and finishing their thesis. research method this research employs descriptive qualitative research. hennink et al. (2020) state that qualitative research does not seek to measure issues, extrapolate findings or make level statements. instead, qualitative research is to gain a detailed contextualized understanding of the phenomenon studied. in this research, the research focuses on the phenomenon of the english major students in writing and finishing their thesis in the study. this research uses a questionnaire to collect the data. a questionnaire is a method of collecting data from individuals using writing (kara, 2018). this questionnaire used closed-ended questions. it is also called fixed-alternative questions related to the response alternatives are pre-specified by the researcher (profetto-mcgrath et al., 2010). the questionnaire uses an online form by using google form. the question is related to external and internal factors influencing the english major students in writing and finishing their thesis. the subject of this research involves 40 english major students in various universities and higher institutions in indonesia which still doing a thesis. they are from iain kediri, uin raden mas said surakarta, iain sas bangka belitung, iain cirebon, universitas muhammadiyah surakarta, iain palangka raya, iain bukittinggi, uin sayyid ali rahmatullah tulungagung, universitas warmadewa bali, universitas samudra aceh, universitas bandung, iain salatiga, universitas nahdlatul ulama, universitas mulawarman samarinda, universitas perjuangan tasikmalaya, uin sunan gunung djati bandung, uin khas jember, universitas siliwangi tasikmalaya, universitas islam nahdlatul ulama jepara, universitas muhammadiyah kendari, universitas borneo tarakan, universitas negeri semarang, uin sts jambi, universitas indonesia, iain padangsidimpuan, universitas tadulako palu, universitas tridinanti palembang, universitas nusa cendana kupang, universitas muhammadiyah surakarta, uin bengkulu, universitas sebelas maret surakarta and universitas islam lamongan. this research uses their step analysis to analyze the data, they are reducing data, displaying data, and concluding descriptively (hays & singh, 2011). this reduction stage is carried out to select whether the data is relevant or not with the final goal. after that, the stage of presenting qualitative data can be in the form of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 295-309 300 narrative text in the form of a table. through the presentation of the data, the data will be organized and arranged in a relationship pattern, so that it will be easier to understand. at the conclusion stage, it aims to find the meaning of the data collected to conclude answers to existing problems. findings and discussion findings the objective of this research is to know the efl students’ difficulties in writing and finishing their thesis. in this research, there are several findings related to the research seen from the questionnaire result, as follows: table 1. internal factors of students’ difficulties in writing and finishing thesis no statements responses yes no 1. having difficulty in choosing the title of thesis in english major 31 (77.5 %) 9 (22.5 %) 2. feeling not sure (pessimistic) about the title of the thesis research that has been taken 29 (72.5 %) 11 (27.5 %) 3. feeling bored/saturated while working on and completing the thesis 36 (90 %) 4 (10 %) 4. feeling doubtful/pessimistic about the abilities when working on and completing a thesis 36 (90 %) 4 (10 %) 5. having fears or worries during the proposal seminar exam or thesis examination later 37 (92.5 %) 3 (7.5 %) 6. having a health problem or problem while working on and completing the thesis 31 (77.5 %) 9 (22.5 %) 7. there is no support from parents or family in working on and completing the thesis 34 (85 %) 6 (15 %) 8. there is no support from peers/classmates or close friends in working on and completing the thesis 30 (75 %) 10 (25 %) 9. do not understand the systematics of writing the thesis well according to the guidebook well 23 (57.5 %) 17 (42.5 %) 10. tending to write sentences or paragraphs in indonesian first and then translate into english with a translator application when working on a thesis 33 (82.5 %) 7 (17.5 %) 11. having difficulty in writing sentences or paragraphs according to english grammar correctly 37 (92.5 %) 3 (7.5 %) 12. having difficulty choosing the right vocabulary or spelling in writing an english thesis correctly 33 (82.5 %) 7 (17.5 %) 13. having difficulty using punctuation in writing the thesis correctly 27 (67.5 %) 13 (32.5 %) the table above shows that several internal factors of students’ difficulties in writing and finishing a thesis. the first statement, “having difficulty in choosing the title of thesis majoring in english”. there are 31 students (77.5 %) who state “yes” and 9 students (22.5 %) states “no”. it shows that 77.5 % of students have difficulty in choosing their title of thesis majoring in english. in the 2nd llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 295-309 301 statement “feeling not sure (pessimistic) about the title of the thesis research that has been taken”. there are 29 students (72.5 %) who state “yes” and 11 students (27.5 %) states “no”. it shows that 72.5 % of students feel are not sure (pessimistic) about the title of the thesis research that has been taken. in the 3 rd statement “feeling bored/saturated while working on and completing the thesis”. there are 36 students (90 %) who state “yes” and 4 students (10 %) states “no”. it shows that 90 % of students feeling bored/saturated while working on and completing the thesis. in the 4th statement, “feeling doubtful/pessimistic about the abilities when working on and completing a thesis”. there are 36 students (90 %) who state “yes” and 4 students (10 %) states “no”. it shows that 90 % of students feel doubtful/pessimistic about their abilities when working on and completing a thesis. in the 5th statement, “having fears or worries during the proposal seminar exam or thesis examination later”. there are 37 students (92.5 %) who state “yes” and 3 students (7.5 %) states “no”. it shows that 92.5 % of students feel fears or worries during the proposal seminar exam or thesis examination later. in the 6th statement, “having a health problem or problem while working on and completing the thesis”. there are 31 students (77.5 %) who state “yes” and 9 students (22.5 %) states “no”. it shows that 77.5 % of students have a health problem or problem while working on and completing the thesis. in the 7th statement, “there is no support from parents or family in working on and completing the thesis”. there are 34 students (85 %) who state “yes” and 6 students (15 %) states “no”. it shows that 85 % of students are supported by their parents or family in working on and completing the thesis. in the 8th statement, “there is no support from peers/classmates or close friends in working on and completing the thesis”. there are 30 students (75 %) who state “yes” and 10 students (25 %) states “no”. it shows that 75 % of students are supported by peers/classmates or close friends in working on and completing the thesis. in the 9th statement, “do not understand the systematics of writing the thesis well according to the guidebook well”. there are 23 students (57.5 %) who state “yes” and 17 students (42.5 %) states “no”. it shows that 57.5 % of students do not understand the systematics of writing the thesis well according to the guidebook. in the 10th statement, “do not understand the systematics of writing the thesis well according to the guidebook well”. there are 23 students (57.5 %) who state “yes” and 17 students (42.5 %) states “no”. it shows that 57.5 % of students. in the 10th statement, “tending to write sentences or paragraphs in indonesian first and then translate into english with a translation application when working on a thesis”. there are 33 students (82.5 %) who state “yes” and 17 students (17.5 %) states “no”. it shows that 82.5 % of students tend to write sentences or paragraphs in indonesian first and then translate into english with a translation application when working on a thesis. in the 11 th statement, “having difficulty in writing sentences or paragraphs according to english grammar correctly”. there are 37 students (92.5 %) who state “yes” and 3students (7.5 %) states “no”. it shows that 92.5 % of students have difficulty in writing sentences or paragraphs according to english grammar correctly. in the 12th statement, “having difficulty choosing the right vocabulary or spelling in writing an english thesis correctly”. there are 33 students (82.5 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 295-309 302 %) who state “yes” and 17 students (17.5 %) states “no”. it shows that 82.5 % of students. in the 13th statement, “having difficulty using punctuation in writing the thesis correctly”. there are 26 students (67.5 %) who state “yes” and 13 students (32.5 %) states “no”. it shows that 67.5 % of students have difficulty using punctuation in writing the thesis correctly. related to the students’ difficulty in writing and completing a thesis, there are also difficult parts in thesis faced by students, as follow: chart 1. several difficult parts in thesis faced by students based on the chart above which is taken from google form responses, it shows there are main parts in thesis writing. for example, chapter 1 is the introduction or background of the study, chapter 2 is theoretical review or literature review, chapter 3 is research method or research methodology, chapter 4 is results/findings and discussion, chapter 5 is a conclusion, and references or bibliography. the chart above shows that 40 students choose only one even more than one difficult part of a thesis. as we can see, there are 20 students (50 %) who choose “chapter 1” and 20 students (50 %) who choose “chapter 3”, 19 students (47.5 %) who choose “chapter 2”, 24 students (60 %) who choose “chapter 4”, 8 students (20 %) who choose “chapter 5”, and 5 students (12.5 %) who choose “references/bibliography”. it shows that the most difficult parts are in chapter 4 then followed by chapter 1 and chapter 3. while the last difficult parts are in conclusion and “reference/bibliography”. table 2. external factors of students’ difficulties in writing and finishing thesis no statements responses yes no 1. having communication problems with supervisors, for example, lecturers are difficult to contact, lecturers reply to messages in a long time or do not reply to messages 27 (67.5 %) 13 (32.5 %) 2. having problems with supervising lecturers, for example, lecturers' writings/scribbles on thesis sheets cannot or cannot be read clearly, as well as writings/scribbles that cannot or cannot be understood. 22 (55 %) 18 (45 %) 3. difficulty finding references related to thesis titles taken on the internet, for example, similar research/thesis, books, or related research journals 33 (82.5 %) 7 (17.5 %) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 295-309 303 4. in the campus library, there is no complete reference sources, either books or research journals, or scientific works (final project or thesis) 30 (75 %) 10 (25 %) 5. in campuss library, there is no access to digital libraries (digital-library) 23 (57.5 %) 17 (42.5 %) 6. having technical problems on devices such as laptops/computers when working on and completing thesis 30 (75 %) 10 (25 %) 7. having a cost or financial problems during the process of working on and completing the thesis 25 (62.5 5) 15 (37.5 %) 8. having personal problems during the process of working on and completing the thesis 27 (67.5 %) 13 (32.5 %) 9. the surrounding environment is not / less conducive when working on and completing the thesis 21 (52.5 %) 19 (47.5 %) 10. having a part-time job while working on and completing the thesis 13 (32.5 5) 27 (67.5 %) 11. having a busy life with hobbies or personal pleasures 15 (37.5 %) 25 (62.5 %) 12. having a busy life in organizations both on and off-campus 6 (15 %) 34 (85 %) the table above shows that several external factors of students’ difficulties in writing and finishing a thesis. the 1st statement, “having communication problems with supervisors, for example, lecturers are difficult to contact, lecturers reply to old messages in a long time or do not reply to messages”. there are 27 students (67.5 %) who state “yes” and 13 students (32.5 %) states “no”. it shows that 67.5 % of students have communication problems with supervisors, for example, lecturers are difficult to contact, lecturers reply to old messages for a long time, or do not reply to messages. the 2nd statement, “having problems with supervising lecturers, for example, lecturers' writings/scribbles on thesis sheets cannot or cannot be read clearly, as well as writings/scribbles that cannot or cannot be understood.”. there are 22 students (55 %) who state “yes” and 18 students (45 %) states “no”. it shows that 55 % of students have problems with supervising lecturers, for example, lecturers' writings/scribbles on thesis sheets cannot be read clearly, as well as writings/scribbles that cannot or cannot be understood. the 3rd statement, “difficulty finding references related to thesis titles taken on the internet, for example, similar research/thesis, books, or related research journals”. there are 33 students (82.5 %) who state “yes” and 7 students (17.5 %) states “no”. it shows that 82.5 % of students have difficulty in finding references related to thesis titles taken on the internet, for example, similar research/thesis, books, or related research journals. the 4th statement, “in the campus library, there are no complete reference sources, either books or research journals, or scientific works (final project or thesis)”. there are 30 students (75 %) who state “yes” and 10 students (25 %) states “no”. it shows that 75 % of students that in their campus, there are no complete reference sources, either books or research journals, or scientific works (final project or thesis). the 5th statement, “in the campus library, there is no access to digital llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 295-309 304 libraries (digital-library)”. there are 235 students (57.5 %) who state “yes” and 17 students (42.5 %) states “no”. it shows that 57.5 % of students that in their campus, there is no access to digital libraries (digital-library). the 6th statement, “having technical problems on devices such as laptops/computers when working on and completing thesis”. there are 30 students (75 %) who state “yes” and 10 students (25 %) states “no”. it shows that 75 % of students have technical problems on devices such as laptops/computers when working on and completing a thesis. the 7th statement, “having a cost or financial problems during the process of working on and completing the thesis”. there are 25 students (65.5 %) who state “yes” and 15 students (37.5 %) states “no”. it shows that 62.5 % of students have cost or financial problems during the process of working on and completing the thesis. the 8th statement, “having personal problems during the process of working on and completing the thesis”. there are 27 students (67.5 %) who state “yes” and 13 students (32.5 %) states “no”. it shows that 67.5 % of students have personal problems during the process of working on and completing the thesis. the 9th statement, “the surrounding environment is not / less conducive when working on and completing the thesis”. there are 21 students (52.5 %) who state “yes” and 19 students (47.5 %) states “no”. it shows that 52.5 % of students state that their surrounding environment is not/less conducive when working on and completing the thesis surrounding environment is not/less conducive when working on and completing the thesis. the 10th statement, “having a part-time job while working on and completing the thesis”. there are 13 students (32.5 %) who state “yes” and 27 students (67.5 %) states “no”. it shows that 67.5 % of students do have a parttime job while working on and completing the thesis. the 11th statement, “having a busy life with hobbies or personal pleasures”. there are 15 students (37.5 %) who state “yes” and 25 students (62.5 %) states “no”. it shows that 62.5 % of students do have a busy life with hobbies or personal pleasures. the 12th statement, “having a busy life in organizations both on and off-campus”. there are 6 students (15 %) who state “yes” and 34 students (85 %) states “no”. it shows that 85 % of students do have a busy life in organizations both on and off-campus. discussion a thesis is a final project for students to get a bachelor's degree in their studies. every student at various universities or higher institutions must do this thesis according to the topic of their respective scientific fields. well, for students who are majoring in english, whether it's for literature or education, of course, the thesis taken must use english. likewise, for students who work abroad, of course, they must write a thesis in english. of course, it is recognized that compiling a thesis using english is not easy, especially if it is difficult to do the thesis itself even though it is in indonesian. after conducting a study that included the distribution of questionnaires, the researcher discovered that there are several factors both internal and external that contribute to students' difficulties in writing and completing their thesis. in this research, are several internal factors of efl students’ difficulties in writing and finishing a thesis. they are: 1) 77.5 % of students have difficulty in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 295-309 305 choosing their title of thesis majoring in english. 2) 72.5 % of students feel are not sure (pessimistic) about the title of the thesis research that has been taken. 3) 90 % of students feeling bored/saturated while working on and completing the thesis. 4) 90 % of students feel doubtful/pessimistic about their abilities when working on and completing a thesis. 5) 92.5 % of students feel fears or worries during the proposal seminar exam or thesis examination later. 6) 77.5 % of students have a health problem or are down while working on and completing the thesis. 7) 85 % of students are supported by their parents or family in working on and completing the thesis. 8) 75 % of students are supported by peers/classmates or close friends in working on and completing the thesis. 9) 57.5 % of students do not understand the systematics of writing the thesis well according to the guidebook. 10) 82.5 % of students tend to write sentences or paragraphs in indonesian first and then translate into english with a translation application when working on a thesis. 11) 92.5 % of students have difficulty in writing sentences or paragraphs according to english grammar correctly. 12) 82.5 % of students have difficulty choosing the right vocabulary or spelling in writing an english thesis correctly. 13) 67.5 % of students have difficulty using punctuation in writing the thesis correctly. related to the students’ difficulty in writing and completing a thesis, there are also difficult parts in the thesis faced by students. there are 20 students (50 %) who choose “chapter 1” and 20 students (50 %) who choose “chapter 3”, 19 students (47.5 %) who choose “chapter 2”, 24 students (60 %) who choose “chapter 4”, 8 students (20 %) who choose “chapter 5”, and 5 students (12.5 %) who choose “references/bibliography”. it shows that the most difficult parts are in chapter 4 then followed by chapter 1 and chapter 3. while the last difficult parts are in conclusion and “reference/bibliography”. there are also several external factors of students’ difficulties in writing and finishing a thesis. they are: 1) 67.5 % of students have communication problems with supervisors, for example, lecturers are difficult to contact, lecturers reply to old messages for a long time, or do not reply to messages. 2) 55 % of students have problems with supervising lecturers, for example, lecturers' writings/scribbles on thesis sheets cannot be read clearly, as well as writings/scribbles that cannot or cannot be understood. 3) 82.5 % of students have difficulty in finding references related to thesis titles taken on the internet, for example, similar research/thesis, books, or related research journals. 4) 75 % of students that in their campus, there are no complete reference sources, either books or research journals, or scientific works (final project or thesis). 5) 57.5 % of students that in their campus, there is no access to digital libraries (digitallibrary). 6) 75 % of students have technical problems on devices such as laptops/computers when working on and completing a thesis. 7) 62.5 % of students have cost or financial problems during the process of working on and completing the thesis. 8) 67.5 % of students have personal problems during the process of working on and completing the thesis. 9) 52.5 % of students state that their surrounding environment is not/less conducive when working on and completing the thesis surrounding environment is not/less conducive when working on and completing the thesis. 10) 67.5 % of students state that have a part-time job does not influence them in working on and completing the thesis. 11) 62.5 % of students state that have a busy life with hobbies or personal llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 295-309 306 pleasures does not influence them in working on and completing the thesis. 12) 85 % of students state that having a busy life in organizations both on and offcampus does not influence them in working on and completing the thesis. writing an english thesis has become a task that must be done in the course of study for students who take majors related to the english language, both literature, and education. writing a thesis in english will certainly be more difficult when compared to a thesis written in indonesian. the process of conveying ideas into english sentences requires good and correct grammar skills. the revision process also takes longer because errors can occur not only in the content of the thesis (methods, instruments, etc.) but also in terms of grammar (grammar/tenses). regarding writing an english thesis, several things might be noticed by students during the writing and completing a thesis, including opening a dictionary and grammar book. the dictionary is the most important element in compiling an english thesis, especially for students who use indonesian languages in daily life. besides, no matter how much vocabulary students have, the dictionary must still be available at their hand. this is most likely certain sentences have a word structure that is too complicated or there are certain words that students do not know the meaning of it. students also are strongly discouraged from using pocket dictionaries because practical and lightweight dictionaries only serve to help us in doing thesis while we are on the move, while major dictionaries such as longman or cambridge are still a must-have. to launch our final project or thesis, students can have a complete grammar book to help them determine the right grammar for our english thesis later. literature sources that come from english books are also very important to have to make it easier for students to find the main idea. everything needs a struggle, maybe on campus, students already have a complete library to support their success in compiling an english thesis. however, if it is not enough or still not enough, but students can also visit another campus. in addition, in choosing book literature, students must be careful because not all english books are following the theme of their thesis. so, before deciding to choose a book for writing an english thesis, students should know the direction of their thesis in outline to make it easier for them to find suitable book sources. after all the tools students have, such as books and dictionaries, all students have to do is write down the important points in the book that they feel are in line with the thesis topic they will discuss. in noting important points in compiling an english thesis, it takes precision and accuracy about which book contents are appropriate and not following the theme of their scientific work. so that, the important points students take are right, they must master the flow of thought from the author of the books. after writing and compiling an english thesis up to several pages, students should edit it first before going to consult with their supervisors. students can avoid writing while editing because it will be ineffective and take up a lot of their time. the editing process that is done after finishing writing a few pages makes the editing process shorter and more effective because they do not have to flip through sentences every time we finish writing. what students need to do during the editing process is to edit the content starting from writing the correct words. students’ sharpness in thinking by paying attention to the quotations with the descriptions they make, the suitability of the content, and the systematic and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 295-309 307 appropriate relationship of meaning between sentences. after that, students can proceed to english grammar. in editing this grammar, students must have sufficient knowledge of grammar in english and have good grammar books. in the process of compiling an english thesis, it is not uncommon to feel lazy or boring with writing activities, looking for books, lecturers who are difficult to find, demands from lecturers who are too detailed even though they are best for you, difficulties in finding books sources, etc. students do not leave worship, always try to pray and be patient to find their best way to graduate college later. no matter how good students are in compiling an english thesis, if it is not balanced with a good understanding, it will make them have difficulty in presenting the proposal seminar and thesis examination later. even the examining lecturers may suspect that the thesis is not their works. whether it is the result of plagiarism or presenting someone else's thesis. a good understanding of the thesis that students have compiled is the key to their success through this trial procession. apart from being supported by a quality thesis, understanding content, etc., students also need non-technical factors to strengthen their health, stamina, eliminate nervousness to make them successful later. this may seem simple but has the potential to make them pass the examination well, such as not forgetting to eat before the trial, preparing mentally by praying, and support from family and friends. all aspects support students’ success in compiling an english thesis. conclusion writing an english thesis has become a task that must be done in the course of study for students who take majors related to the english language, both education, and literature. writing a thesis in english will certainly be more difficult when compared to a thesis written in indonesian. there are several internal factors of efl students’ difficulties in writing and finishing a thesis. in internal factors are difficulty in choosing the title of the thesis, feel are not sure (pessimistic), bored/saturated, doubtful/pessimistic, fears or worries, having a health problem or down while working on and completing the thesis. other factors are students' ability in understanding the systematics of writing the thesis, tending to use translation tools, have difficulty in grammar, have difficulty choosing the right vocabulary, spelling, and punctuation in writing the thesis correctly. the most difficult parts are in chapter 4. while external factors are having communication problems with supervisors and supervisors’ writing, have difficulty in finding references related to thesis titles in the internet, there are no complete reference sources and no free access to digital libraries on campus, having technical problems on devices such as laptops/computer, have cost or financial problems, personal problems, surrounding environment is not/less conducive. while having a part-time job, have a busy life with hobbies or personal pleasures, and have a busy life in organizations both on and offcampus. do not influence them in working on and completing the thesis. the preparation stage in writing a thesis using english is very important because, without careful preparation, students will have difficulty later. references bailey, s. 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vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 language and language teaching journal http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 15 speech acts and the different perspectives on the meaning of “very sorry” in the letter on hainan island incident christine permata sari sanata dharma university permatachristine@yahoo.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2017.200102 abstract this study aims to analyze the types of speech acts in the text and to analyze different perspectives on the meaning “very sorry” between the united states of america and the people's republic of china. the object of the study is a letter of saying sorry from the u.s. ambassador for china joseph prueher to the foreign minister of the prc tang jiaxuan on the incident in hainan island which caused the death of the chinese’s pilot and the custody of the aircraft crew and the surveillance aircraft relating the emergency landing without any prior permission. the researcher employed the speech acts theory proposed by searle (1979) as cited by wardhaugh (2006) to analyze speech acts types and to obtain the dominant type and the implication used in the text. the strategies of apology by cohen and olshtain (1986) as cited by zhang (2001) were also employed. this study is descriptive qualitative research. the result showed the biggest percentages of the types were expressive and assertive. the researcher also found the different perspectives on the meaning of “very sorry” between the us and the prc which led into misunderstanding influenced by the culture. this research benefits the english language learners to understand the meaning of locutions which they hear and to acknowledge the culture influences society perspectives in understanding the meaning especially for nonenglish speakers. keywords: speech acts, the meaning of ‘sorry’, hainan island incident introduction according to wardhaugh (2006) the functions of many utterances are to make propositions. according to cambridge dictionary 3 rd edition, proposition itself is an idea or opinion. meaning to say, no utterance is uttered without purposes. there are some ideas underlying the utterance or there is a meaning behind every utterance. the form can be a statement or a question. the purpose of pragmatic study is to obtain meaning of utterances in context and to study how language is used. sometimes it is concerned with the interpretation of linguistic meaning in context. pragmatics is the study on how speakers of a language use sentences to produce successful communication. it makes the english learners be more aware of socio cultural. moreover, for non-native speakers, it is difficult to understand the intended meaning in english utterances and to produce a speech act using appropriate manner and language. according to salgado (2011) non-native speakers’ (nnss’) pragmatic knowledge differs from that of native speakers (nss) (blum-kulka, 1982; blum-kulka and olshtain,1986; blum-kulka and kasper, 1989; faerch and kasper, 1989; yu, 1999). in addition, speech acts learning becomes more interesting regarding cross-cultural pragmatics. the mailto:permatachristine@yahoo.com llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 16 findings from a cross-cultural study by cohen, olshtain, and rosenstein (1986) as cited by salgado (2011) showed that non-native speakers (nns) were not aware to certain sociolinguistic distinction compared to native speakers (ns) who were aware with that. the object of this study is the letter from the u.s. ambassador named joseph prueher to tang jiaxuan, foreign minister of the people's republic of china to resolve the "spy plane crisis" on april 1 st , 2001. after a collision between the u.s. surveillance aircraft ep-3 and a chinese fighter j8ii, the u.s. aircraft made an emergency landing on hainan island, china. the american aircraft sustained damage to a wing and the engine, declared an emergency, and landed—without prior permission—at the nearest airstrip, on a military base in china’s hainan province. according to kuhn (2010) the chinese jet disintegrated and went down into the ocean. the pilot was descending with an open parachute, but was never found and was presumed dead. the delivery of the letter was made in order to the obtain the release of the u.s. crew from chinese captivity, as well as the return of the us aircraft even though it had to be disassembled and carried by a russian aircraft. unfortunately, the letter was made on april 11 th , 2011 and not directly after the incident occurred. it showed that the u.s government did not take responsibility for the incident. the main reason why the letter was eventually made was because the prc did not want to return the us aircraft until there was an official apology from the u.s. government. it can be assumed that if the prc returned the aircraft without any conditions, the letter on hainan incident would not have been made. the objective of this study is to analyze and examine the kinds of utterances used by the us government in delivering their sorry, or their expression of regret, using searle’s analysis of speech act categories. searle’s speech act categories were used to analyze the whole parts of the object linguistically by examining the clauses. the researcher would essentially like to scrutinize the locutions in the letter and also to show the cultural differences in responding and saying sorry because the united states of america and the people's republic of china had different opinions in their perception of the letter’s meaning. the researcher also used the strategies of apology proposed by cohen and olshtain (1986) as cited by zhang (2001) to show the different ideology of apologizing. the people's republic of china felt superior to the us because the us apologized to them by saying sorry twice in the letter. in the us’ point of view, they did not apologize to them about what they had done. the word ‘sorry’ in the letter was only meant as an expression of sadness, sympathy, or disappointment. using the theories above, the implication or the hidden meaning of the letter can be revealed because it is about the political issue where a powerful country will be considered weak by apologizing. on the other hand, the weaker country does not want to look weak by simply allowing the stronger country to trespass in its area without any verbal or written clearance. there are four research questions discussed in this paper. first, what kinds of speech acts are mostly found in the letter regarding the hainan island incident on april 1, 2001? second, what are the dominant types of speech acts in the entire letter? third, what are the implications of using these speech acts? fourth, what https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/joseph_prueher https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/joseph_prueher https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tang_jiaxuan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/hainan_island_incident llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 17 are the different perspectives on the meaning “very sorry” between the united states of america and the people's republic of china? method the object of the study is the text of the letter written by u.s. ambassador to china joseph w. prueher to chinese foreign minister, tang jiaxuan, for the hainan island incident on april 1at, 2001. in the text, there are 12 sentences, and after being divided based on subject and verb agreement, there are 17 clauses. this categorization process was done to make the analysis of each locution/ utterance easier to see main purpose of the letter from the whole text. this paper uses a descriptive qualitative method. according to glass & hopkin (1884), the descriptive approach can be either quantitative or qualitative. it can involve collections of quantitative information that can be tabulated along a continuum in numerical form. in this research, the researcher did the numeric calculation according to the text which was analyzed to see the presentation from the highest to the lowest percentages. this was to answer the research questions especially question number one. in analyzing the data, firstly, the researcher read all the text, and then divided the sentences into some clauses according to the subject and verb agreement. afterwards, the researcher examined all the utterances, especially the structure, and then the researcher classified each locution into the category of speech act to see the types of speech mostly used in the letter and also to determine which type which was most dominant in the paper. afterwards, the researcher analyzed the word ‘very sorry’ using the strategies of making an apology (cohen and olshtain, 1986) as cited by zhang (2001) to see the ideology of apologizing. results and discussion the discussion is divided into two parts, the first part is about the types of speech acts used in the text, which type is dominant, and the implication of using certain types of speech acts. the first part is to answer the question number 1. the second part is about how the different perception towards the word ‘sorry’ in the text can emerge between the u.s. of america and the prc. the researcher analyzes the different perspectives of those two big countries towards the same thing specifically the meaning of the words “very sorry”. the researcher will to answer question 3 in this part. types of speech acts the letter has been analyzed using types of speech acts proposed by searle. there are 17 clauses which are categorized into several types of speech acts according to the meaning in the context. table 1: types of speech acts used in the letter no. types of speech act number percentages 1. assertive 6 35.3% 2. commisive 2 11.8% llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 18 as the results mentioned in the table, the letter includes all types of speech acts which are assertive, directives, commissives, expressive, and declaratives. however, each of them has different percentages. the most dominant types are assertive and expressive. both of them are 35.3%.after examining the letter, we can see that most of them are explanations of how and why the incident incurred. the assertive are dominant because the us government mostly used the letter to explain how the incident could have happened and how to solve the case. there are 6 utterances which use assertive. “although the full picture of what transpired is still unclear, according to our information, our severely crippled aircraft made an emergency landing after following international emergency procedures.” (5 – 6) from the locution above, the us government explained or informed the reason why their aircraft made an emergency landing at lingshui airfield, hainan, china. as mentioned in the introduction part, us navy ep3e aries ii flew over china’s airspace. the chinese government thought it was a surveillance aircraft, so that the ep3 got shot down by people's liberation army navy (plan) j8ii interceptor fighter jet. the other assertive form found in utterance “the meeting agenda would include discussion of the causes of the incident, possible recommendations whereby such collisions could be avoided in the future, development of a plan for prompt return of the ep-3 aircraft, and other related issues.” this locution above states that the us government notified prc government about the meeting and what would be discussed in the meeting. it is because there was an international dispute between the us and the prc over the legality of the over-flights by the us naval aircraft. the area is part of the prc's exclusive economic zone based on the united nations convention on the law of the sea. the prc signed this convention, while the united states had not. the prc interprets the convention as allowing it to preclude other nations' military operations within this area, but the united states maintains that the convention grants free navigation for all countries' aircraft and ships, including military aircraft and ships, within a country's exclusive economic zone. in addition, according to the letter, the discussion would also address the topic of returning the ep-3 since the prc did not agree to return the aircraft to the us until they apologized to prc. the prc wanted the us to say sorry to them because they had a slow response towards the incident. it took more than 7 days to respond and show their responsibility to the prc. the incident was on april 1 st , 2001, while the letter was delivered on april 11 th 2001. eventually the ep-3 aircraft was returned back to the us, but the prc did not allow flying off hainan island. the disassembled aircraft was released on july 3, 2001, and was returned by the russian airline polet in an antonov an-124 aircraft. 3. declaratives 1 5.9% 4. directives 2 11.8% 5. expressive 6 35.3% total 17 100% llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 19 another type of speech act which is dominant is expressive. actually it is obvious that the letter was sent to express the sadness feeling of the us government towards the hainan island incident. “….. that we are very sorry for their loss.” (4) “we are very sorry (the entering of china's airspace and the landing did not have verbal clearance)” (7 – 8) from the utterances above, we can see that the us government felt bad to the incident. it is the core of the letter because the prc were waiting for a response. there were two focuses in the letter. the first was to express condolences towards the loss of the j8ii pilot named wang wei. they also expressed their sadness for entering china’s airspace without any permission. the use of the words ‘very sorry’ explains that the us government felt sad over the incident. however, there is something peculiar between the words ‘very sorry’ since the us government did not forthrightly make an apology in regard to the incident. if we look at the context, pragmatically those words were only used to express the feeling of sadness. meanwhile, the prc side accepted the apology from the us. at the end, the words ‘very sorry’ were confusing and created a misleading perception among the prc especially the media. in addition, the united states stated that it was "not a letter of apology," as some state-run chinese media characterized it at the time. it was "an expression of regret and sorrow". the prc had originally asked for an apology. unfortunately, the u.s. explained that they did not do anything wrong, and thus it was impossible to apologize on something that they did not do. the details of the reasons for misleading the perception will be explained in the second part. the smallest percentage of speech acts’ types was the declarative type. in the letter, the declarative type was used in the first line “on behalf of the united states government, i now outline steps to resolve this issue.” actually, the locution can be considered as assertive since it states something. however, it is considered as declarative type because it meets the features of a declarative which are using the first person singular, speech act verbs, the present tense and active voice. according to kreidler (1998) the declarative is neither true nor false but its purpose is to make a part of the world conform to what is said. through the utterance in the letter, eventually the us government wanted to declare that the us took steps to solve the problems by holding a meeting to discuss the causes of the incident, possible recommendations, and the development of a plan for prompt return of the ep3 aircraft; meanings of “very sorry” between the us and the prc according to norman fairclough (1995) as cited by zhang (2001) language is a material form of ideology, and is invested by it. ideology emerges in linguistics form and in discourse. however, the ideology of a certain issue is influenced by the culture specifically in this case is an apology. according to the guardian news the u.s. president w. bush and the secretary of state, colin powell, expressed "sincere regret" over the loss of the chinese plane and the missing pilot, wang llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 20 wei. the meaning of the first words ‘very sorry’ was not to apologize. according to cambridge dictionary (3 rd edition), the ‘sorry’ is the expression of sadness, sympathy for unpleasant incident has been done. the u.s. response to the incident was to express their sadness. according to the strategy of making an apology proposed by cohen and olshtain (1986) as cited by zhang (2001) such as illocutionary force indicating device (ifid), an offer of repair (refr), an explanation of an account (expl), acknowledging responsibility for the offense (resp), and a promise of forbearance (forb), the letter did not cover any strategies. even though there were two ‘very sorry’, the meaning of those words was not significant. it is only expression sadness which does not include in any category. at first they did not want to take the responsibility since it took some days for them to issue the letter to the prc government. the trigger was that the prc did not want to return the u.s. surveillance aircraft. taking responsibility for the incident would have had serious consequences for the us government in its domestic politics because any admission of guilt would be perceived as weakness by the american people. it was very important for the u.s. to make it seem like they were apologizing without actually apologizing, in order for them to secure the return of their aircraft and its crew. this is where the different perspectives of apologizing are important. by expressing regret to the chinese government and the family of the pilot, the u.s was doing what was necessary to get what it wanted. this kind of apologizing can be seen in every day american culture where people often apologize for things without actually feeling any sense of regret or without actually feeling sorry. saying sorry is purely something that is expected by society and is a demonstration of politeness rather than an expression of regret. an example of this occurring might be in the supermarket where a person apologizes to another person for almost bumping into them with their trolley despite that fact that the other person is actually at fault for carelessly stepping backwards into the way of the first person. another example might be when an employee in a supermarket apologizes on behalf of the supermarket for running out of stock; in actual fact, the employee does not feel any sense of responsibility and he may not even be obliged to apologize by company policy, but he may still apologize because he feels that the customer expects him to do so. to the americans, this “apology” was just as routine/ casual as these other meaningless, daily apologies found in american culture. the function of these expressions is to demonstrate politeness or as a means to achieve some other interest, rather than an admission of guilt. if the us did not have an interest in china, then this incident would probably have been a non-issue as the us could have just ignored any requests for an apology. cleeland (2001) as cited by zhang (2001) stated that the u.s should issue a fake apology and retract it when they got the crew back. others also suggested the us should give china what they wanted in exchange for the aircraft crew members. we can see that the type of apology expressed by the us was mundane like in the context of every day politeness. llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 21 conclusion examining the types of speech acts in the letter from the us to the prc due to the hainan island incident, the researcher found the biggest percentages of speech acts types were expressives and assertive. those types got the equal percentage and the implication of using those types was that to inform the significant matters to the prc government, the solution, and further discussion related to the incident. it was also to expresses the sadness in regard to the incident. the researcher also found the different perspectives on the meaning of “very sorry” between the us and the prc which led into misperception and misunderstanding. it was also because of the different ideologies of apologizing and it was influenced by linguistic forms from across the languages. at the end the chinese people considered that the letter was not as serious and humble as it should have been for the americans, the apology was not serious as it was a demonstration of politeness to achieve another means. while they were saying it, they did not really mean it. it was just a formality. the most important point reason for why the us said sorry was because they had a hidden agenda which was the return of the injured crew members and the crippled aircraft itself. after they got what they wanted, the apology could be retracted. references kreidler, c. w. (1998). introducing english semantics. london: routledge. kuhn, r. l. (2010). the inside story of china's reform and what this means for the future: how china's leaders think. singapore: john wiley & sons (asia) pte ltd. salgado, e. f. (2011). the pragmatics of requests and apologies: developmental patterns of mexican students. amsterdam: john benjamins publishing company. the guardian. (2001). us says sorry, china to free crew. april 11, 2001. retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/apr/11/china.usa on 1 june 2016. wardhaugh, r. (2006). an introduction to sociolinguistics. oxford: blackwell publishing. zhang, h. (2001). culture and apology: the hainan island incident. oxford: blackwell publishers. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/apr/11/china.usa%20on%201%20june%202016 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/apr/11/china.usa%20on%201%20june%202016 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 349 any questions? ideas for encouraging more and better student questions george m. jacobs1 and willy a. renandya2 1kampung senang charity and education foundation, singapore 2national institute of education, nanyang technological university, singapore george.jacobs@gmail.com; willy.renandya@nie.edu.sg correspondence: willy.renandya@nie.edu.sg doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i2.3819 received 3 september 2021; accepted 3 november 2021 abstract one of the key characteristics of student-centered learning is the active involvement of students in the learning process, where they co-construct knowledge with the guidance of the teachers and in collaboration with their peers. the co-construction of knowledge can be greatly facilitated when students respond to teachers’ questions and when they themselves generate well-thought out questions. the purpose of this article is to discuss the role of studentgenerated questions in a student-centred learning environment and to offer practical strategies for language teachers to guide students in asking more and better questions in the classroom, i.e., the kind of questions that promote deeper engagement and learning. keywords: efl, elt, esl, student-centered learning, thinking questions introduction most of us teachers and our schools, universities, and other education institutions want to be student-centered. but what is student-centered? and, how can the questions we and our students ask create a student-centered environment? student-centered learning (jacobs, renandya, & power, 2016), also known as learner-centered, has many characteristics, including a focus on student needs and interests, a diversity of methods and materials, a role for students in assessment, a greater role for teachers in facilitating learning than in dispensing knowledge, an emphasis on creative and critical thinking, a laboratory for students to learn skills to prepare themselves for lifelong learning, and an environment of cooperation. what about the role of questions in student-centered learning? all the above characteristics of student-centered learning thrive on questions, especially the development by students and teachers of their question-asking abilities. the purpose of this article lies in presenting you, our fellow teachers, with ideas we have found helpful for encouraging our students to ask more and better questions to us, their classmates, and themselves. the article begins with some background on student-centered learning. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2021 350 student-centered learning what is the main way that people learn? is learning mostly from external sources, with teachers and others deciding what we should learn and poring the information into students’ heads via lecturing and other means? or, is learning mostly an internal process, with people deciding what to learn and each developing their version of knowledge? teacher-centered learning focuses on the external, with teachers and their superiors in the education hierarchy deciding what and how students learn. nowadays, we hear more about student-centered learning, with more focus on the internal, as students have more power over the what and how of their own learning. to use it jargon, which – teacher-centered or student-centered – is about teachers downloading knowledge to students? it is teacher-centered. which way of learning – teacher-centered or student-centered – is more about students deciding for themselves what they want to download, and then taking that downloaded information and changing it to fit their own needs? it is studentcentered. of course, teacher-centered and student-centered fall along a continua; they are not either/or. even in student-centered learning, a role remains for teachers to talk, to evaluate, to demonstrate, to lead, just as we do in a teachercentered class. however, it is a smaller part of what we do. the importance of student-centered learning has increased today in education, due to the increased prominence of life-long learning, the idea that even after finishing our formal education, we will continue to learn for the rest of our lives. why is life-long learning necessary? first, information continually changes, and we have to be continually learning in order to keep up with the times. second, learning makes life exciting. according to an african proverb, “those who have stopped learning are considered the living dead.” third, learning can be a social activity, providing opportunities to interact and enjoy with others throughout our lives. quality questions? questions often play a prominent role in education, especially studentcentered learning. in teacher-centered learning, teachers ask most of the questions. the students usually ask questions to teachers, not to fellow students, and student questions mostly focus on details, such as “when is the quiz?” “will this be on the exam?” “may i please use the restroom?” “can i have an extension on the deadline?” yes, these questions ask about important information, but do they connect with the motivations that people have for going into teaching, reasons such as making a difference and enjoying their interactions with students (marsh, 2015)? sadly, they do not. we teachers, not just our students, need to feel excited about our lifelong education voyage. one category of questions unlikely to excite students or teachers are lowerorder thinking questions, such as the questions earlier in the previous paragraph. examples of lower-order thinking questions by english teachers might be reading or listening comprehension questions where the answers can be easily retrieved from the text, e.g., “what color was the cat in the story?” in contrast, thinking questions fit well with student-centered learning. an easy way to know whether to categorize a question as a retrieval or a thinking question is whether the question goes beyond the information given (bruner, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2021 351 1957). the question about the cat’s color in the previous paragraph relies on information previously given, as the information can be retrieved from the text that students have read or listened to. examples of questions that go beyond the information given might be “would you like to be the cat in the story?” and “what could be a different ending to the story?” these two thinking questions fit with the student-centered paradigm because students are giving their own ideas. a related system for classifying questions categorizes them as display or reference questions (long & crookes, 1986). in response to display questions, student display their knowledge, and teachers, who already know the answers, check whether the students displayed the correct answers. an example of a display question would be, “what is the correct form of the verb (like/likes) in the following sentence: ‘everyone (like/likes) mangoes.’” students can also ask display questions to peers, but usually it is teachers who ask display questions. in fact, outside of teaching, do you often ask display questions? probably not, as we do not usually ask questions for which we already know the answers. part of the assumption behind a question is that we do not know the answer; otherwise, we would be wasting everyone’s time (eskritt et al., 2008). that said, it might make sense for teachers and others to sometimes ask display questions to check if people already have certain useful information. referential questions contrast with display questions. referential questions request information that the askers do not have; for example, if the class is discussing climate change, a referential question might be, “have you ever done something to persuade the government to stop or reduce the use of fossil fuels?” additionally, if the class has just watched a fictional video, a referential question might be, “how could the story have been different if it had taken place where we live?” strategies for more and better student questions what can teachers do to encourage and develop students as questioners? we need to address both the will and the skill of our students to assume this active role in their learning. here are strategies to accomplish this. why should students ask questions? students should discuss some of the benefits of them asking questions to teachers, peers, and others. 1. shows interest in what people are discussing 2. allows us to clarify in case we do not understand or want to check if we are understanding; others may wish to have similar clarifications, and they will appreciate us for asking questions 3. expresses curiosity to know more on the topic; this can promote deeper discussion. 4. enables people to see different perspectives on the topics being discussed 5. introduces our own perspectives and information; this may include disagreeing 6. provides a way to learn about the sources people are using to contribute to the discussion llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2021 352 7. explores applications of ideas being discussed and how they connect to other ideas 8. asks about the past, present, and future of the ideas 9. evaluates the ideas being presented. life-wide and life-deep learning engagement plays a big role in learning. engagement can be viewed as a measure of student interest in what they are doing. carl rogers (2012) was a humanist psychologist who talked about “client-centered therapy,” a concept which influenced the development of the similar concept of student-centered learning. as to engagement, rogers gave an example of a youth who was very interested in his car, so interested that he looked for any opportunity to learn everything he could that would enable his car to go faster (decarvalho, 1991). unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, many students do not feel engaged by the standard school curriculum. perhaps, students might feel more engaged if formal education was more clearly integrated with students’ lives. two concepts that might facilitate that integration can be seen as partners of life-long learning. first, life-wide learning (zhuang et al., 2017) encourages people to explore areas outside their studies or work. in this way, they widen people’s interests and skills. extracurricular (a.k.a., co-curricular) activities and hobbies are examples of life-wide learning. sometimes, students’ main motivation for attending school may be these other, outside-the-mainstream activities and the social connections they provide (seow & pan, 2014), as these may be more engaging for some students than their regular classes. second, life-deep learning (bélanger, 2016) encourages students to explore such questions as why we are here on earth? what makes us happy or sad, excited or bored? is life fair? how we can achieve our life goals? who are our role models in life? and are people basically good, bad, or neutral? such questions may interest students who enjoy introspection and encourage everyone, including teachers, to engage in reflection (farrell, 2019). reflection can be especially useful, given growing attention to students’ mental health (johnson, 2020). dialog journaling (lestari, 2020) provides a forum for questions as part of dialog between students and students, as well as between students and teachers. asking questions when responding to others’ journal entries constitutes a form of active listening/reading that fellow journalers will want to display in order to encourage further dialoguing. this dialog normally focuses on ideas, such as lifewide and life-deep learning matters, with little or no attention to matters of form, such as grammar and punctuation. other topics for dialog journals include what the class is studying, student feedback of the activities the class is doing, e.g., suggestions on the way that group activities are assessed, and what students are grateful for in their lives, e.g., for their cousin adelina who helps with internet problems (khanna & singh, 2021). indeed, khanna and singh specifically labelled as gratitude journaling the latter topic for journal entries. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2021 353 time to ask questions students often need time to consider if they have questions and then to consider how to formulate those questions. several strategies can be utilized to provide time for questions. one, when teachers and others ask, “any questions?,” a reasonable amount of time should be provided afterwards, rather than just a onesecond pause. this adequate timing shows that “any questions?” is a sincere inquiry, not a bad habit, e.g., some teachers have the habit of ending almost every sentence with, “any questions?” “right?” “clear?” “got it?” “okay?” or similar questions that may represent a genuine attempt to check whether their listeners have understood, but are not executed in a sufficiently encouraging way. a second way to provide students time to ask questions involves asynchronous interaction, i.e., questions can come many minutes, hours, and even days later. email communication often, although not always, takes asynchronous form, providing extra time to surface and formulate questions. as a result, asynchronous communication fits into the comfort zones of more reflective students (nofitasari, 2021), who appreciate extra thinking time and may be uncomfortable with the ask-now-or-forever-hold-your-piece climate found in many learning situations. talking chips (warahuwena & rijoly, 2021) offers another way to give time for questions and other communication opportunities, while at the same time encouraging patience among more impulsive students. in talking chips, students form groups of perhaps three or four members. each member receives the same number of chips, usually two or three. each time students speak, they surrender one of their chips, perhaps placing it in the middle of the group or in a cup. students with no more chips cannot talk (this is why they are called talking chips), except to ask questions to groupmates who have remaining chips. once everyone has used all of their chips, everyone takes back their chips and the game continues as before. playing talking chips may encourage students to ask more questions. often, the more impulsive and/or more confident students use up their chips quickly, but still have much that they want to say. thus, they will be encouraged to frame skilful questions which will induce their quieter groupmates to speak, thereby using up their chips and giving everyone back their initial ration of chips. talking chips can be made of anything, from the plastic chips used in various games to pieces of discarded cardboard boxes. students learning about question types as discussed earlier in this article, questions can be categorized in many ways, including retrieval questions and thinking questions. miri et al. (2007) reported that without teacher facilitation, students may be less likely to do thinking. one facilitation tool for thinking questions are question starters, beginnings of questions that can be used with any content area. many question starters have been developed for bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive objectives, e.g., illinois state university (n.d.). examples of question starters for the evaluation category in bloom’s taxonomy include: 1. what criteria will we use to assess _______________? 2. what data will we use to evaluate ____________? llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2021 354 3. what choices would we have made _______________? here are examples of how those starters might look as completed questions. in this case, students could ask questions about the extensive reading program (extensive reading foundation, 2011) in their class. 1. what criteria would we use to assess the extensive reading program in our class? for example, would we measure how many books we read, our reading comprehension, our reading speed, and/or our reading enjoyment? 2. what data would we use to evaluate our enjoyment of reading? for example, will we complete a questionnaire after each book, will we interview each other, and/or will we count how many books we read compared to a class that did not have an extensive reading? 3. what choices would we make if we could start the program again? for example, would we have sourced the books from the xreading (https://xreading.com/) again? would we have used m-reader quizzes (https://mreader.org/) again? virelli (2006) reported a positive effect for the use of question starters and other facilitation strategies for thinking, even with kindergarten students, although it should be noted that the study did not have a control group. thinking questions bring the class closer to real life, because even for young children, life provides opportunities for thinking questions (nachiappan et al., 2018), such as “what game should my friends and i play?” “should i eat the veggies on my plate?” “what should i draw today?” teachers as models of questioning in student-centered learning, one of the ways teachers facilitate student learning is by being co-learners (farrell & jacobs, 2020). in other words, teachers no longer claim that they and the course materials are all-knowing. instead, teachers acknowledge that much remains that even the greatest experts do not understand, that knowledge changes, and that controversies exist among experts. thus, much needs to be learned, and students are invited to join teachers in communities who ask and investigate questions together. teachers admitting what we do not know, asking questions, and showing enthusiasm for exploring those questions together with students and other provides an authenticity that may inspire students. grote (in press) discussed teachers being authentic with their students. she recounted how, when she was a primary and secondary school student, those teachers who shared about themselves made learning come alive and made her want to be a teacher. she quoted the famous educator, paulo freire, as stating, “ i cannot be a teacher without exposing who i am.” however, when grote became a teacher, at first, she was not authentic in that she kept her private and intimate life from her students, e.g., when students asked about her weekend, she avoided saying anything about her close female friend. fortunately, grote reflected on this, learned, and changed. when grote became more open about this aspect of her life, she felt a palpable improvement in the classroom atmosphere, with students becoming more open on a range of topics. https://xreading.com/ https://mreader.org/ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2021 355 jablon (in press) demonstrated how teachers can model questioning as a manifestation of openness to learning and changing. in jablon’s case, he is a white, middle-class teacher in a very diverse middle school in the united states who is open to learn from his students and others, especially those with experiences different from his own. for example, jablon used to teach the novel to kill a mockingbird, in which a white lawyer defends a poor black man unjustly accused of sexually assaulting a white woman, as a model of anti-racist literature. however, when people questioned the messages sent by the novel, jablon listened, asked questions, and eventually changed his view. he still teaches that novel but in a different way. teacher responses to student questions how teachers respond to student questions can impact whether the student who just asked a question, as well as their peers, asks more questions and what types of questions they ask. teacher responses involve not only what is said by the teachers but also teachers’ tone of voice, gestures, facial expressions, and actions, e.g., making a note of student questions for future changes in how a topic is taught (walsh & sattes, 2015; 2016). some facilitative teacher responses include: 1. to state the obvious, we teachers should avoid laughing at students’ questions, unless they were meant to be humorous. 2. we should be enthusiastic in response to questions. 3. we should begin and/or end our response by appreciating the questions by saying, e.g., “ thanks for your question,” “i appreciate your question,” “i’m having a 2-for-1 sale on questions today; please ask more,” or “hurray, i love questions.” 4. achor (2018) and jacobs and hall (2020) offer advice for how teachers and peers might praise student questions: a. praise should be sincere and deserved, not automatic, based on each student’s current level. b. rather than saying, “good question,” specific praise should be given, e.g., “i like your question because it makes me think more deeply about the issue.” this specificity provides one window to address the quality of student questions. c. when students study in groups, if questions emerge from group discussion, the group, rather than the individual question asker, should be praised. d. praise can be followed by asking about how students developed their questions, as the process behind questions can be useful for encouraging future questions, e.g., “can you please tell me the reasons why you said so?” e. instead of judging student questions, teachers can express gratitude for questions, e.g., student questions can highlight important areas that teachers neglected to mention, or perhaps the questions touch on areas of difficulty that teachers had forgotten or had not realized were difficult. f. gratitude can be expressed to the entire class, e.g., teachers can say, “i enjoy the questions this class asks, because your questions encourage me llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2021 356 to learn more, and they show me that you care about what we are studying.” g. we teachers can use student questions as an opportunity to remind students of the importance of what they are learning, i.e., to show that it has meaning for students’ lives and the lives of others who can benefit from students’ increasing competencies (frankl, 1959). 5. teachers need not feel that we must have the answers for all of students’ questions. instead, we can a. see if other students or the asker have answers or have some initial ideas that could lead to answers b. ask students to investigate and report back; this should not be viewed as punishment for asking questions, but rather as contributing to the excitement of learning c. highlight that much exists that even the top experts do not know, that experts disagree, and that answers can change over time. conducive cultures the overall classroom culture can impact student willingness to ask questions, as well as the types of questions asked. many elements of classroom culture can have a beneficial impact. inclusive classroom cultures (putney, 2007) encourage everyone, regardless of their levels of past achievement, to feel welcome to be full participants in the class, e.g., using slogans such as “all questions are good questions” and “there are no stupid questions.” constructivist cultures (taylor, 1997) emphasize that learning does not take place in all-at-once, either/or manners. instead, students’ understandings develop via a process of trialand-error, risk taking, and successive approximations to fuller understandings often with the assistance of peers and teachers. questions can play a major role in this development, but too often, only the high achieving students ask questions, as the lower achievers feel afraid to take the risk of exposing their ignorance by asking questions. learner-centered culture (deakin crick et al., 2007; tarbutton, 2018) promotes an attitude that rather than classes being the teachers’ classes, with students as invited guests, classes exist to serve students and the wider world which students and teachers share. therefore, students have not just the right to ask questions but also an obligation to ask questions as part of creating a culture conducive to seeking and sharing knowledge, plus expressing curiosity and wonder. in positive classroom cultures (käferböck, 2019), students and teachers value their own and others’ strengths, recognize achievement, seek meaning in what they are doing together, build relationships, look for ways to become more engaged, and express gratitude when it is due. many strengths relate to questions. first, students’ willingness to ask questions is a strength often appreciated by both teachers and peers. asking questions often signals engagement, and the questions one student asks are often those on the minds of classmates. second, as discussed in an earlier section of this paper, many types of questions exist, and fluency in the various types, e.g., bloom’s taxonomy, constitutes a valuable skill. third, follow-up questions deserve appreciation. for example, when one student asks a llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2021 357 question, a second student asking a follow-up question provides validation to and elaboration on the initial question. perhaps the idea of cooperative classroom cultures (fotovatnia & namjoo, 2013) can serve as an umbrella for the other beneficial aspects of classroom culture discussed in the previous paragraphs. the next section of this paper offers details about how cooperative learning (johnson & johnson, 2013), a learnercentered methodology also known as collaborative learning, might facilitate students asking more and better questions. on the topic of culture, it bears noting that the culture of the wider society beyond the classroom and education institution could also impact people’s willingness to ask questions and the kinds of questions they ask (jacobs, 2020), although this matter is beyond the scope of the present paper. how cooperative learning promotes questions cooperative learning has existed as an established learning methodology since at least the 1970s (sharan, 1994). since then, many teachers have contributed to developing ideas, including cooperative learning techniques and principles. of course, each teacher and each class of students, at each different time, implements cooperative learning differently. table 1 below explains eight cooperative learning principles and suggests how each of those principles might facilitate more and better student questions. the eight principles are positive interdependence, individual accountability, equal opportunity to participate, maximum peer interactions, group autonomy, heterogeneous grouping, teaching cooperative skills, and cooperation as a value. in cooperative learning, students usually learn in groups of two-four members, with groups sometimes interacting with other groups, as well as with teachers individually and in whole-class mode. also, even in cooperative learning activities, students sometimes work alone. table 1 – cooperative learning principles and how they promote increased quantity and quality of student questions cooperative learning principle how the principle promotes questioning peers and teachers positive interdependence – students feel as though they sink or swim together with groupmates, i.e., they feel as though what helps one member helps others, and what hinders one member hinders others. a supportive, “one for all; all for one” atmosphere reduces anxiety about asking questions. individual accountability – each group member feels pressure to do their fair share to help the group succeed, i.e., there are no sleeping partners, no free riders. if someone is not sure they understand, they need to ask questions so as to be able to do their fair share. equal opportunity to participate – no one is excluded from the group interaction. everyone has opportunities to share with the group. everyone is important, and everyone’s questions are important to the group. questions constitute an llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2021 358 important form of participation, and they lay a foundation for further participation. maximum peer interactions – a large quantity of peer interactions take place in each group and between groups, and those interactions include quality interactions, such as asking each other thinking questions, e.g., asking for reasons and for examples. maximum quality interactions are spurred by thinking questions. group autonomy – each group tries to rely on itself, rather than immediately asking for teacher assistance. groups can also ask other groups before asking teachers. students need to look to peers in their own group and other groups. this expands the people to whom they can ask questions beyond a single teacher. heterogeneous grouping – groups reflect the mix of students within the class. this includes mixed levels of past achievement, as well as other variables such as ethnicity, religion, and socioeconomic status. when groups are mixed as to past achievement, this increases peer tutoring opportunities, and when groupmates have different backgrounds, questions help students learn different perspectives. teaching cooperative skills – many skills empower students to interact more successfully with peers and others. these skills include checking that others understand, providing reasons, disagreeing politely, asking for repetition and clarification, asking for elaboration, and thanking and praising others. so many cooperative skills involve questioning, including asking if people understand, and then requesting that they demonstrate their understanding. cooperation as a value – positive interdependence (the first principle explained at the top of this table) extends beyond the small group of 2-4 members to encompass the entire class, school, town/city, country, world. students learn not just for themselves but for others too. thus, their learning and that of others is important. questions increase learning. student-generated questions in teacher-centered learning, almost all substantive questions (e.g., “can we have an extension on the assignment deadline, please?” is not a very substantive question) come from teachers and course materials. in student-centered learning, students are invited to take more control, and that includes generating questions for themselves and peers, as well as for teachers. exchange-a-question is a cooperative learning technique that encourages students to create questions for each other. the steps are as follows. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2021 359 1. step 1 the class discusses different types of questions and question starters. students decide on what types of questions to write, and they practice writing such questions. students also decide the topics for the questions. 2. step 2 – in twosomes, each member works alone and writes one or two questions of the types the class chose and on the content the class chose. 3. step 3 before exchanging their question(s) with their partner, students write answers for their own questions. students write answers for two reasons. one, as students attempt to answer their own questions, they may see areas where their questions need improvement. two, some students may enjoy playfully asking very difficult questions or questions which require very long answers. needing to answer their own questions may encourage playfulness in other, more productive, areas. 4. step 4 students exchange questions only (not answers) with their partner. they can ask if anything in the questions is not clear. then, students write responses to their partner’s questions, and finally, they compare answers. variation: in groups of four, each twosome can cooperate to generate questions (with answers) for the other twosome in their foursome. questions can be prepared, as in exchange-a-question, or they can be spontaneous, as in the following cooperative learning technique, 7s (jacobs & zainal abiden, 2017). the steps are below, and as with exhange-a-question, it may be beneficial if students spend time developing their question asking skills. 1. step 1 – stand everyone in the class stands up. 2. step 2 – slide – if students have separate chairs and desks, they slide their chairs under their desks so that the class has more room to move around the classroom. 3. step 3 – stretch – as students often spend a long time sitting, they may benefit from some quick stretching. 4. step 4 – sip – in addition to not moving enough, students may not drink enough water (hecht et al., 2017). to address the need for hydration, in this step, students sip from their water bottles. 5. step 5 – stir – students mix around the room. they move alone, unaccompanied by their groupmates. 6. step 6 – stop – the teacher or a student gives a signal, and everyone stops stirring. they form a pair with the person from another group who is standing closest to them. 7. step 7 – speak – each student takes a turn to talk for a designated amount of time on a topic selected by the class. when they finish, their new partner asks at least two questions. notes: (a) in crowded classrooms it may be necessary to orchestrate student movement, e.g., numbering the seats, and half of the class change seats; (b) students can do a second round of stirring. cooperative skills overlap with language skills, which makes it especially important and especially convenient for students learning language to include cooperative skills in their curriculum. this can be done in many ways, including via the cooperative learning technique tell/paraphrase (maacie, 1998) which llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, october 2021 360 works as follows with students in pairs. 1. step 1 – one student makes a statement, such as “the new bicycle path near my home is great. i like it because it is wide, and there are many trees along the path.” 2. step 2 – their partner tries to paraphrase what they said, e.g., “there is a new place to ride bicycles close to where you live. two good things about the place are that it has a lot of space, and you can see a lot of trees while you ride your bike.” “how was my paraphrase?” 3. step 3 – the original speaker checks the paraphrase, for instance, maybe their partner misunderstood what they had said. sometimes, misunderstandings are the listener’s fault, but other times, they are the speaker’s fault, because the speaker was not clear (tarone, 1980). still other times, misunderstandings are no one’s fault. if the paraphrase was not acceptable, the pair can try other communication methods, such as using drawings. 4. step 4 – now, the two partners change roles, and the person who spoke first is the one who listens, paraphrases, and asks about the quality of their paraphrase. tell/paraphrase is actually one of a series of techniques for developing students’ cooperative skills. others include tell/ask for repetition/ tell/ask for spelling. in the latter, students use the repair strategy (tarone, 1980) of asking the people with whom they are speaking to spell words that students have trouble understanding. conclusion this article has offered strategies for encouraging students to ask more questions and better questions, i.e., thinking questions. these many strategies have included providing time for students to ask questions, students learning about different types of questions (including questions derived from bloom’s taxonomy), further connecting learning to students’ lives via lifewide and lifedeep learning, students engaging in reflection and dialog journaling, teachers modelling the asking of questions, teachers responding to student questions in a promotive manner, building conducive classroom cultures, using cooperative learning, and facilitating student-generated questions. a classroom (virtual or face-to-face) alive with a plethora of thinking questions makes education more successful, more 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(2017). smart learning environments for a smart city: from the perspective of lifelong and lifewide learning. smart learning environments, 4(1), 1-21. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 650 efl learners’ attitude towards podcasts for extensive listening christela angelia and hanna juliaty universitas kristen krida wacana, indonesia christelaangelia@gmail.com; hanna.juliaty@ukrida.ac.id correspondence: hanna.juliaty@ukrida.ac.id doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.3034 received 44 february 2021; accepted 31 october 2021 abstract one of online materials used more frequently nowadays in extensive listening (el) is podcasts. similar with other learning materials, podcasts are classified into authentic podcast and language course (non-authentic) podcast. previous studies have examined learners’ attitude towards podcasts; yet, they generally regarded all podcasts as authentic material. in el, learners’ attitude towards the materials also affects the success of el. therefore, this study aimed to examine efl learners’ attitude towards authentic podcast and language course podcast in el. the study was conducted in a qualitative within-subject design and involved six english department students from a private university in indonesia. the students took part in an el program using both authentic and language course podcasts, shared their experience in learning journals, and participated in post-activity interviews. the data collected were analyzed qualitatively using ajzen’s (2005) classification of attitude elements. the findings showed that despite the favorable attitude that the learners mostly displayed towards both types of podcasts, there was a significant difference in the cognitive, affective, and conative aspects of their attitude that influenced their overall attitude. the findings implied that both types of podcasts have potentials to be used for el by efl learners with some considerations. keywords: attitude, extensive listening, learning materials, podcasts introduction an online material considered suitable for l2 learning and is getting more recognition in recent years is podcast. podcast emerged as an audio version of blogging after the popularity of blogs and vlogs (kaplan-leiserson, 2005). with the rising popularity of podcast as a learning material in the past decade, many english learning websites nowadays have started to provide more podcasts to facilitate l2 learning. likewise, in many formal l2 classrooms, podcasts are considered an effective medium to incorporate technology that supports the delivery of learning materials, especially the oral authentic materials, to enrich the learners’ learning experience (jain & hashmi, 2013). numerous podcasts are available on the internet for various l2 learning purposes. those podcasts are categorized into different topics to make it easier to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 651 be accessed. for l2 learning, the podcasts can be classified into two: authentic podcasts and language course podcast (rosell-aguilar, 2007). both podcast types may be created by native speakers; however, they have different goals. language course podcast is made or recorded specifically for l2 learning purposes, e.g., to introduce specific language features (campos, 1992); hence, it is composed of non-authentic materials. in contrast, authentic podcast is chiefly created for communicative purposes or discussion on a certain topic by native speakers; thus, it is made for respective topic listeners and is composed of authentic materials (thomas, 2014). even though it is not made intentionally for l2 learning like language course podcast, authentic podcast is still used as a learning material in efl learning context (alm, 2013). moreover, the difference between authentic and non-authentic materials can be very subtle at times that people tend to confuse them (campos, 1992). this also happens to the contents of podcasts, resulting in the listeners incline to assume that they are always authentic, while it might be non-authentic. along with the rising popularity of podcasts, extensive listening (el) has also significantly emerged as one of learning methods to support l2 learning (holden iii, 2008). similar with extensive reading (er), el is a listening activity that focuses on l2 learners’ pleasure and comprehension (renandya & farrell, 2011). unlike other l2 listening methods that require learners to rely on their teachers for making most of the learning decisions, coercing, and supervising (boud, 2012), el provides an opportunity for learners to be autonomous not only by providing the opportunity for the learners to control their own learning pace, but also by enabling them to select the learning materials that suit their learning needs and purposes (alm, 2013). in el, it is important for l2 learners to gain extensive exposure to a lot of input in order to acquire the l2 (krashen, 1982). since input is mostly obtained through the learning materials selected for the el activity, the kind of materials used would have significant impact on the available input for learners. for this reason, learners’ attitude and perceptions towards their learning materials become an important aspect in el. there are several studies conducted previously that report different attitudes of efl learners towards authentic and non-authentic materials in general (boulfelfel, 2011; kılıç & i̇lter, 2015). yet, specific studies that explore efl learners’ attitude towards podcasts as authentic and non-authentic materials are still difficult to find; this is perhaps because many prior studies tend to assume that all podcasts are authentic materials. considering that authentic and language course podcasts have different purposes, target listeners and characteristics, they may induce different attitude and perceptions from efl learners when being used for an el activity. for this reason, this study aimed to investigate efl learners’ attitude and perceptions towards both types of podcasts respectively. extensive listening (el) el is characterized by listening to l2 input in a copious amount to improve learners’ fluency, with the focus being the comprehension and pleasure of the listeners (renandya & farrell, 2011). through el, learners are more equipped to hearing words in english, resulting in a quicker and more accurate recognition of spoken words. some previous studies have tied the nature between el and extensive reading (er) despite the scarce number focusing on el (chang, 2018). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 652 although el can be conducted inside the classroom with the supervision of a teacher, el can also be implemented as an out-of-classroom activity. as learners have control over the level and content of the spoken text that they are listening to in el, they are encouraged to do the activity in their own pace out of normal classroom hours. hence, el is viewed as a suitable l2 learning method to be adopted by efl learners. despite the fact that el is an autonomous activity, it can be more effective for efl learners if they are guided by a supervisor (vandergrift & goh, 2012). learners need to be informed the clear objective of el, to be exposed to plenty and suitable learning materials which they can autonomously select from, and to be facilitated in maintaining their motivation to achieve a successful el program (renandya & jacobs, 2016). this is mainly because in el, the availability of abundant l2 comprehensible input is important in order to ensure a successful l2 acquisition (krashen, 1982); in this case, the listening skills. in fact, learners may obtain l2 productive skills (i.e., speaking and writing) only after they receive a copious amount of comprehensible receptive input (krashen, 1985), which mainly is provided in the form of learning materials used in the el activity. based on the authenticity, l2 learning materials are generally classified into two: authentic and non-authentic materials. authentic materials are created and designed for communication purposes between native speakers without any modification or simplification (campos, 1992). on the other hand, non-authentic materials are intentionally created by native speakers to introduce specific l2 features for pedagogical purposes; therefore, the materials are already adapted and simplified to match the learners’ l2 proficiency. there have been some debates on the usability of authentic and non-authentic materials in l2 learning. for instance, some studies argue that authentic materials carry what non-authentic materials do not have, mainly the examples of how l2 is used in real world (tomlinson, 2013) and l2 cultural awareness introduced in the materials (kozhevnikova, 2014). on the contrary, other studies contend that authentic materials may demotivate learners with lower level of proficiency (guariento & morley, as cited in zhafarghandi, barekat, & homaei, 2014); hence, nonauthentic materials tend to be viewed as more suitable for efl learners as they have been simplified to suit the learners’ learning needs despite the fact that it creates non-authentic l2 use and limits the real l2 exposure for learners (febrina, 2017). podcasts as a teaching and learning resource, podcasts are categorized as authentic podcast and language course podcast (rosell-aguilar, 2007). authentic podcast is created by english native speakers primarily for fellow native speakers and can be found in various podcast applications. with various themes and topics discussed in this type of podcast, l2 learners would have more chance to gain more exposure towards the speakers’ culture, while also learning l2 vocabulary and grammar. different with authentic podcast, language course podcast is made intentionally for l2 learning activities and can be found as a whole separated curriculum or a complimentary package for efl classroom activities. language course podcast can be found in teacher’s book packages or english learning websites. as language course podcast consists of non-authentic materials, the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 653 language used is also simplified and modified to deliver certain language features to learners (campos, 1992). podcasts are considered an interesting teaching material, partly because of its mobility and ease of use, which allows learners to download and listen to podcasts in their own designated time with only a few steps to access the websites (merhi, 2015). in addition, podcast contents may also be mixed with other elements, e.g., popular background music and sound effects in order to make them different from normal lecture recordings and to add the appeal to learners in general. learners can also use the pause or replay option in their audio player when listening to a podcast in order to catch a part that they miss; thus, it may develop learner’s autonomy (alm, 2013). despite the benefits offered by podcasts, there are some challenges of using podcasts as a learning material. first, podcast is a linear type of learning material; hence, the use of it should be combined with other learning tasks (kaplanleiserson, 2005). second, as podcast can only be accessed using technology, both the teacher and learners need to familiarize themselves with the technology (abraham & williams, 2011). when teachers or learners are hindered by technology barrier and overabundance of information on the internet, it might be difficult to adopt the learning materials (rosell-aguilar, 2007). likewise, it may also be challenging for teachers to find a suitable podcast that has an appropriate level of difficulty for an efl class with various l2 proficiency. learners’ attitude and perceptions of el krashen (1982) defines the affective filter (i.e., motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety) as barriers that prevent learners from processing the comprehensible input that they are receiving during the l2 learning process. in the case of el, learners with low affective filters would actively seek for more inputs during the activity than learners with high affective filters. prior studies (e.g., boulfelfel, 2011; vaiciuniene & uzpaliene, 2010) emphasize on teachers’ roles to maintain learners’ affective variables. yet, learners also believed that not only teachers hold importance in lowering affective filters, but also themselves as students (urmee, 2011). when learners are aware of the importance of affective factors, they would have a higher self-efficacy regarding their learning needs (ni, 2012) and would be able to utilize the knowledge to seek solutions to improve their learning strategies. this is particularly important in el since teachers may not always be around to evaluate their learners’ affective variables or l2 learning performance. studies that focus on the variables of affective filter in l2 learning are often linked to attitude. in such studies, positive learning attitude is argued to affect learners’ motivational behaviors, e.g., persistence and efforts (kormos, kiddle, & csizér, 2011). as positive attitude may boost an increase of motivation, learning input and interaction in learners’ l2 learning, it may also prompt a successful l2 acquisition (kormos et al., 2011). furthermore, the concept of attitude is closely related to affection, beliefs and behaviors. it is not seen simply from a single perspective because it recognizes the complexity of an individual’s mind and acknowledges the inconsistency or conflict between the attitude components (mckenzie, 2010). for instance, a learner may believe that authentic material is more beneficial for l2 learning, but he/she dislikes using the material in his/her own learning. ajzen (2005) relates three components of attitude, namely llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 654 cognition, affect and conation, with verbal and non-verbal reactions towards the object being evaluated as shown in table 1. table 1. classification of responses to infer attitude (ajzen, 2005, p.4) in term of verbal responses, cognitive attitude is expressed through mental process related to intellectual activities, e.g., thinking, reasoning or remembering the characteristics or attributes of the attitude object. on the other hand, affective attitude may be verbally expressed through emotion or feeling towards the attitude object during the activity. furthermore, conative attitude is expressed through intentions, commitments or actions regarding the attitude object. in contrast to verbal responses, it is more difficult to recognize non-verbal responses as it is uncertain whether a change of bodily function is caused by positive or negative attitude (ajzen, 2005). the study of attitude is also related to perceptions, causing the two components to be simultaneously studied in existing literature, including studies of l2 learning (e.g., hasan & hoon, 2012; zhafarghandi, et al., 2014). as the first stage of developing an attitude, perception is developed in three stages: a) recognizing, where the individual is aware of the stimulus; b) organizing, where the individual stores the information from the stimulus; and c) interpreting, where the individual makes sense of the stimulus based on his or her prior knowledge (ward, grinstein, & keim, 2015). as people are in contact with the stimulus, they would form a perception based on the way they interpret the object or situation, which later would form cognitive judgment based on their perceptions. once it is combined with affective and conative judgments, the overall attitude of the individual towards the stimulus would be displayed. therefore, perception is important in the study of attitude as it provides deeper understanding on the individual’s views that lead to the formation of their attitude. previous studies argue that attitude plays an important role in l2 learning process (csizér & lukács, 2010; papi, 2010). many of these studies mainly focus on investigating the effects of attitude towards the learning experience or learning results (kormos et al., 2011). meanwhile, studies on learners’ attitude towards learning materials, particularly in efl context, are quite scarce. attitude is an important element of l2 learning, mainly to maintain motivation throughout the learning process (schilling, traxler, & guerra, 2015). response mode response category cognition affect conation verbal expressions of beliefs about attitude object expressions of feelings toward attitude object expressions of behavioral intention nonverbal perceptual reactions to attitude object physiological reactions to attitude object overt behaviors with respect to attitude object llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 655 research on efl learners’ attitude towards podcasts in l2 learning in the last decades, many studies report that many efl learners in higher education have positive attitude and perceptions towards authentic materials in l2 listening practices (e.g., alijani & maghsoudi, 2014; sabet & mahsefat, 2012). on the other hand, a few studies reveal that efl learners preferred non-authentic materials in their l2 listening practices (e.g., boulfelfel, 2011; vaiciuniene & uzpaliene, 2010) because the learners thought that authentic materials were more complex, more information-loaded and more difficult to understand. in addition, there have been a number of studies that specifically report efl learners’ attitude towards podcasts as a learning material for l2 learning. several studies show that the learners display positive attitude towards using podcasts for their l2 learning activities (e.g., farshi & mohammadi, 2013; hasan & hoon, 2012) because podcasts were interesting, entertaining and helpful in developing their listening skills and l2 vocabulary. despite the overall positive attitude, some other studies report that the use of podcasts for l2 listening practices may also generate challenges for other learners. for instance, some efl learners found that it was difficult to follow the rapid speech and comprehend the listening texts from authentic podcasts (kim, 2013; yeh, 2013). in addition, some existing studies also claim that they exposed authentic materials into the classroom by using podcasts (e.g., hasan & hoon, 2012); yet in the experiments, they were unknowingly using non-authentic podcasts. considering the previous studies, it can be concluded that in general, efl learners demonstrated a positive attitude towards the use of podcasts in l2 learning despite some difficulties and challenges that some students encountered. however, studies that specifically examine the attitude of efl learners towards authentic and language course podcasts are still scarce. this is presumably because podcasts are a newly emerging learning tool in the last decade compared to other learning materials. there is a potential for podcasts to be more popular for l2 learning purposes, particularly in extensive listening (el), in the future; hence, this study aimed to provide deeper insights into efl learners’ attitude and perceptions towards the different types of podcasts for el. method participants this study was conducted at an english department of a university in indonesia. the english department was selected as the research site for this study because it had several compulsory listening courses for undergraduate students, in which authentic and non-authentic materials were used; yet, el had not been implemented as a part of the curriculum yet, and podcasts had not been used as a learning material for the courses when this study was conducted. the participants were selected by using criterion sampling method based on two criteria, which included: a) students who had never had any exposure to podcasts, and b) students with b1 english proficiency level. since this study aimed to examine the learners’ attitude towards podcasts, it was important that the participants were not familiar with podcasts or el at the beginning of the study. this criterion was crucial because prior exposure to podcasts or el might have influenced the learners’ attitude during the study. moreover, this study selected llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 656 learners with b1 proficiency level because the podcasts prepared for the study were intended for efl learners in that proficiency level. based on the most recent in-house english proficiency test conducted by the department in the time of this study, there were 18 learners whose l2 proficiency was in b1 level. three learners became participants for the piloting phase to test out the interview questions and podcasts, while the rest were approached to participate in the study. out of the remaining 15 learners, only six learners voluntarily agreed to take part in the study. the study was conducted between december 2018 and march 2019. research design the study was conducted in a qualitative within-subject design in order to provide a deeper insight on what the participants think or feel (sutton & austin, 2015). in within-subject design, the participants undergo all the treatments in the experiment, which allows them to be both the control and experimental subject (seltman, 2018). the focus of this design is to study the effects of different treatments applied to a single group in order to measure a specific change (allen, 2017). in this study, the learners were exposed to both authentic and language course podcasts as different treatments, so the difference in their attitude and perceptions could be compared in the end. the use of within-subject design for this study, other than because of the small sample size available, was also beneficial to remove possible confounding factors that might be caused by the difference of gender, age, or grade. data collection the data in this study were collected in three main stages. the first stage was piloting. before the actual data collection process, a piloting was done to test out the instruments used for the data collection, e.g., the clarity of the authentic and language course podcasts, the instruction for el activity using both types of podcasts, and the post-activity interview questions. the authentic podcast for this study was taken from retropod, little tiny, pop culture happy hour, robot or not?, 60 seconds of science, and the casket of fictional delights, while the language course podcast was taken from podcast in english, voice of america, adept english, and speak english pod. in this piloting stage, a demographic interview was also conducted to collect more information of the learners and their initial attitude and perceptions towards el, podcasts and l2 listening practice in general. the second stage was experimental phase, in which the experiment was conducted two times. in these two experimental phases, the learners were assigned to listen to two types of podcast series, namely the authentic podcast and language course podcast. the experimental phases were conducted as a means for the learners to attempt an el practice using both types of the podcasts so that their attitude and perceptions towards each type of the podcasts could be reported. the podcasts selected for this study were already piloted to make sure that they had suited the level of b1 learners and the topics were coherent with the learners’ preferences, e.g., history, science, pop-culture and storytelling. the podcasts used in the experiments were free to be accessed on their respective websites or the spotify application. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 657 in this study, the six learners were grouped into two different groups where they were given treatments in different sequence. during the first experimental phase, three learners were assigned to listen to a list of authentic podcasts whereas the other three learners were assigned to listen to a list of language course podcasts. then the order was switched in the second experimental phase. between the first and second experimental phases, a washout period of a month long was also given. the different sequencing in the treatment phases and the washout period were used in order to minimize the carryover effect that might come with the within-subject research design (mitchell & jolley, 2013). prior to the experimental phases, an email containing the instruction for el, the list of podcast links and the guideline for learning journals (a follow-up activity after completing the el) was sent to the learners. for the el instruction, the learners were asked to spend at least 30 minutes a week to listen to either authentic or language podcast series provided in the email in each of the experimental phase. for example, in the first experimental phase, a learner could listen to an eight-minute podcast from retropod on monday, a twelve-minute podcast from pop culture happy hour on thursday, and a ten-minute podcast from little pony on saturday in order to reach the total of 30 minutes requirement in using the authentic podcast within a week. after listening to each of the podcast series of their choice, each learner was required to write a learning journal consisted of the summary of the podcast and the description of what they felt and thought about the podcast during the activity. the journals were assigned to be written in google docs and submitted online at the end of the week. each learner was required to write at least three learning journals by the end of each experimental phase. the learning journals functioned as a direct report of the learners’ attitude and a means to provide proof of their el activity (schmidt, 2016). the third stage was individual post-activity interviews. this stage was conducted after each of the experimental phases was completed. there were 15 semi-structured questions in the post-experiment interviews; the questions were aimed to clarify the data gained from the learning journals and to provide more data regarding the learners’ attitude towards each type of podcasts that might not be included yet in their learning journals. the interviews lasted for approximately 8 minutes for each learner and were audio recorded. data analysis the data collected for this study were qualitative, consisted of learning journals and semi-structured interview transcriptions. these data were analyzed in several steps. firstly, the learning journals and interview transcriptions were reread several times, and the attitudinal remarks made by the learners towards the podcasts were identified and compiled into favorable or positive attitude or unfavorable or negative attitude. secondly, the compilation of positive and negative remarks was coded in three coding stages, namely the initial or open coding, axial coding, and selective coding (benaquisto, 2008). in the initial or open coding stage, the compilation of textual data was summarized into a number of major themes based on the components of attitude: perceptions, emotional evaluations, and behavioral inclinations from the learners’ remarks about the podcasts. in the axial coding stage, those major themes were categorized into llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 658 more specific categories derived from ajzen’s (2005) attitude components: cognition, affect and conation. in the selective coding, the specific categories were narrowed down again into two main themes: favorable attitude and unfavorable attitude. the categorization resulted from the open coding, axial coding and selective coding stages were displayed in a classification table and was analyzed and interpreted. the classification table of the open coding, axial coding, and selective coding for each type of podcasts is illustrated in table 2. table 2. classification of major themes based on the open coding, axial coding, and selective coding open coding freq. axial coding freq. selective coding freq. favorable speaker’s delivery favorable cognition favorable attitude educational values favorable contents favorable evaluation favorable affect favorable experience favorable conation unfavorable speaker’s delivery unfavorable cognition unfavorable attitude little/no educational values unfavorable contents unfavorable evaluation unfavorable affect unfavorable experience unfavorable conation findings and discussion learning journal results from six learners, there were in total 36 learning journal entries collected. in those journals, the learners recorded personal thoughts, feelings and reactions towards both authentic and language course podcasts that they listened to during the first and second experimental phases. these personally verbalized thoughts, feelings, and reactions expressed through the written journal entries became the basis for exploring the efl learners’ attitude towards authentic and language course podcasts for el. some examples of the learners’ verbalized thoughts, feelings and reactions were shown as follow: “i think this podcast is very funny and silly (in a good way) and i really enjoy it.” – learner 1 on authentic podcast “i feel the material for this podcast was quite easy to understand, the speaker was also very clear with good explanation and example.” – learner 4 on language course podcast llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 659 there were in total 88 written remarks found in those 36 learning journals: 52 remarks were made for authentic podcast, while 36 remarks were made for the language course podcast. for authentic podcast, out of 52 remarks, 73% displayed favorable attitude and 27% displayed unfavorable attitude. in contrast, out of 36 remarks made towards the language course podcast, 78% displayed favorable attitude, while 28% displayed unfavorable attitude. the comparison is shown in figure 1. figure 1. comparison of learners’ favorable and unfavorable attitude towards authentic and language course podcasts from the learning journals more specifically, the cognitive, affective and conative remarks made by the learners towards the authentic and language course podcasts in the learning journals could be classified in the following table 3. table 3. classification of the elements of attitude based on the learners’ remarks from the learning journals elements of attitude major themes authentic podcast language course podcast favorable remarks unfavorable remarks favorable remarks unfavorable remarks cognition speaker’s delivery 1 2 3 1 educational values 5 0 9 0 contents 12 5 6 4 affect evaluation 19 6 12 2 conation experience 0 1 0 0 post-activity interview results the total number of attitudinal remarks in the post-activity interviews (186 remarks) was higher than those from the learning journals (88 remarks). this significant difference of numbers presumably occurred because interview is an interactive tool that gives a higher chance for the researcher to probe for a more elaborated answer, which gives deeper understanding of the phenomenon (kvale, as cited in alshenqeeti, 2014). out of 186 attitudinal remarks, 105 remarks were directed towards authentic podcast, while 81 remarks were directed towards language course podcast. some llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 660 examples of the remarks that reflected the learners’ attitude on both types of the podcasts were shown as follow: “the content is good, and the way the podcasters talk is good, too.” – learner 5 on authentic podcast “i think it’s great because they can talk about one theme in like one short time.” – learner 3 on language course podcast regarding the authentic podcast, from 105 remarks, 72% reflected favorable attitude and 28% reflected unfavorable attitude. on the other hand, regarding the language course podcast, from 81 remarks, 67% showed favorable attitude, while 33% showed unfavorable attitude. the comparison of the attitude towards both types of podcasts is shown in figure 2. figure 2. comparison of learners’ favorable and unfavorable attitude towards authentic and language course podcasts from the post-experiment interviews more specifically, the cognitive, affective and conative remarks made by the learners towards authentic and language course podcasts in the post-experiment interviews could be classified in the following table 4. table 4. classification of the elements of attitude based on the learners’ remarks from the post-experiment interviews elements of attitude major themes authentic podcast language course podcast favorable remarks unfavorable remarks favorable remarks unfavorable remarks cognition speaker’s delivery 2 9 5 6 educational values 13 2 14 0 contents 24 8 12 8 affect evaluation 31 6 13 10 conation experience 7 4 8 4 discussion the study gathered in total 274 attitudinal remarks (88 remarks from the learning journals and 186 remarks from the interview transcriptions). all the attitudinal remarks made by the learners were verbal as they were expressed in written form through the learning journals and spoken form through the postactivity interviews. the number of favorable and unfavorable attitudinal remarks llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 661 that the learners displayed towards each type of podcasts were analyzed based on ajzen’s (2005) three components of attitude: cognition, affect, and conation. learners’ cognition in this study, the cognitive responses are measured through the “expression of beliefs” made by the learners (ajzen, 2005, p.4). there were in total 151 cognitive responses identified from the learning journals and interviews. from the data, there were three major themes occurred frequently when the learners expressed their cognitive attitude towards authentic and language course podcasts. the themes included speaker’s delivery, educational values, and contents. in terms of speaker’s delivery, the learners expressed more unfavorable attitude (11 remarks) than favorable attitude (3 remarks) towards authentic podcast. this unfavorable attitude was primarily influenced by the speaking pace, pronunciation, and accents of the podcasters in authentic podcast. the learners thought that the podcasters in authentic podcast speak too quickly with unclear pronunciation and thick accents, resulting in them having difficulties to catch what the podcasters were saying and having to repeat the parts that they missed. such problem occurred presumably because authentic podcast consists of unmodified content and in nature is not adjusted to the learners’ proficiency level (rosell-aguilar, 2007); this tends to cause some learning difficulties for learners (kim, 2013; yeh, 2013). moreover, as authentic podcast is not specifically made for l2 learning purposes, the speech of the podcasters is not regulated to suit the learners’ learning needs and l2 proficiency level and resulting in the possibility of the podcast to contain more advanced l2 vocabulary or phonological errors (campos, 1992), fast-paced speech, and heavy accents. as the learners in this study were intermediate learners, their level of proficiency mostly enabled them to understand speech that was clearly articulated in a generally familiar and standard accents. therefore, when they heard the native podcasters speak in unfamiliar accents, it confused them and hindered their comprehension of the talk. in order to overcome the difficulties, the learners were aware that they could control their learning pace and repeat the audio as many times as needed to enhance their understanding of the spoken text (mayora, 2016). on the contrary, the learners expressed more favorable attitude (8 remarks) towards language course podcast because the podcasters spoke with clearer pronunciation despite having slowed down speech. language course podcast contains non-authentic materials that are simplified; thus, the materials are designed to have no phonological errors and some repeated target vocabulary, and the speaking pace for this type of podcast tends to be slowed down to suit the learners’ proficiency level (campos, 1992). such features of language course podcast gained favorable attitude from the learners because those features helped them to understand the podcasters’ speech better. in addition, although the learners mostly showed favorable attitude in this aspect, to some extent, they also expressed unfavorable attitude (7 remarks) because some learners found that the speech could be too slow. in el, slowed down speech is encouraged only for beginners who cannot comprehend most of the listening text (renandya, 2012). as the learners in this study were b1 learners, to some extent, the slowed-down speech in language course podcast may have the potential to evoke unfavorable attitude from the learners instead. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 662 in terms of educational values, the learners expressed favorable attitude towards authentic (18 remarks) and language course podcasts (23 remarks) based on their cognitive judgment towards the benefits of podcasts for their studies and l2 learning. the learners thought that authentic podcast helped them practice their l2 listening and speaking skills, mainly because the podcasters spoke in fast pace and native speaker accents. since authentic podcast is usually thematic, the podcast discusses various topics and issues; thus, learners may gain more input on l2 vocabulary, pronunciation, and structure, while also receiving new information on certain topics from the podcasters (rossel-aguilar, 2007). however, to some extent, the learners also expressed unfavorable attitude (2 remarks) towards authentic podcast, mainly due to the overly casual language that the podcasters used. the learners thought that overly casual language in the podcast was not suitable for formal classroom use as it contained non-standard english language. nonetheless, in el practice, non-standard language may benefit efl learners’ listening skill in another way. as learners do el and listen to authentic materials in the podcast, an exposure to various accents and pronunciation that may not fit with the standardized language could be a practice for them to handle listening difficulties in real-life communicative situations. in this study, however, the learners were not aware of this possible benefit; thus, they viewed the overly casual language use in authentic podcast negatively, which influenced them to form unfavorable attitude for this particular aspect as well. in the case of language course podcast, the learners’ attitude towards the educational values of this type of podcast was collectively favorable. in fact, it gathered more positive remarks (23 remarks) compared to authentic podcast (18 remarks), with no unfavorable remarks at all. this was due to their perceptions on the features of language course podcast, which has standard l2 use and more educational topics that they thought were more relevant to their l2 learning needs as english department students. language course podcast generally includes carefully-planned l2 vocabulary as a non-authentic material to suit a formal classroom situation (campos, 1992). in el practice, this type of podcast is viewed suitable for intermediate learners as it is seen as a bridge between course book listening materials and authentic materials (sze, 2006). this way, learners can have some exposure to native speakers’ speech while also learning the l2 features that are relevant to their learning needs. in terms of contents, the learners showed favorable attitude towards both authentic (36 remarks) and language course (18 remarks) podcasts. this was mainly influenced by their perceptions on the topics that the two podcast types offered to the listeners. the learners thought that authentic podcast had numerous interesting topics that evoked their favorable cognitive attitude. despite the overly casual language at times, they found that authentic podcast offered fascinating and exciting contents. such factor appeared to be appealing to the learners while doing el practice as the contents covered various real-life issues, which gave them a sense of involvement and reliability (holden iii, 2008). in addition, such feature of authentic podcast also evoked unfavorable attitude (13 remarks) from the learners to some extent, mainly since some learners thought that some contents in this type of podcast were too specific and deeply discussed by the podcasters, resulting in them having difficulties at times since they did not have enough background information about the topics (vaiciuniene & uzpaliene, 2010). in el, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 663 learners’ comprehension of the materials can potentially be hindered due to their lack of familiarity towards the topic and new l2 vocabulary (holden iii, 2008). in the case of language course podcast, the learners expressed generally favorable attitude (18 remarks) towards the contents of this type of podcast. this was primarily due to the fact that the podcasters used simpler language and explanation. language course podcast provides more controlled and repeated l2 vocabulary and grammatical structure to help learners understand the materials more easily (campos, 1992). as a result, this influenced the learners to prefer materials that they could easily comprehend (renandya & farrell, 2011), along with simple delivery in lexical or syntactic level (holden iii, 2008). moreover, to some extent, the learners expressed unfavorable attitude (12 remarks) towards language course podcast due to its contents that tended to be quite boring and not challenging enough for them. since language course podcast is designed for l2 learning, the topics may be more restrictive and less various than authentic podcast; thus, it has a potential to demotivate or disengage intermediate learners who are already considered proficient enough to use authentic materials coherently for el (holden iii, 2008). learners’ affect the learners’ affective responses were evaluated through the expressions of feelings towards both types of podcasts and the emotions felt when the learners were listening to the podcasts. there were in total 99 affective remarks identified from the data of this study. the learners displayed mainly favorable attitude towards authentic and language course podcasts. however, the favorable affective responses towards authentic podcast (50 remarks) were twice as many as shown towards language course podcast (25 remarks). in the case of authentic podcast, most favorable affective remarks described about how the podcast was interesting, enjoyable, and motivating to the learners. in el, topic familiarity may increase the ability of learners to comprehend the materials, and the contents of authentic materials tend to elicit favorable emotions and motivation from learners (field, 2010). furthermore, to some extent, the authentic podcast also invoked unfavorable affective attitude (12 remarks) from the learners in this study, mainly due to content-related difficulties and the podcast duration, resulting in frustration and boredom felt by the learners. since one of the main focuses of el is for learners to experience pleasure while learning, experiencing frustration and boredom may become an obstacle that would hinder learners to stop seeking for more comprehensible input during the activity. in the case of language course podcast, the learners expressed generally favorable affective attitude (25 remarks). the learners explained that this was mostly due to the fact that a) the materials were relevant to what they were learning in classes; and b) the podcasters in this type of podcast had the ability to deliver the materials clearly; thus, making it easier for them to receive the input comprehensively and comfortably. this finding was in line with previous studies (e.g., boulfelfel, 2011) that reported that learners favored a simplified or nonauthentic material since they could understand it better. in el, this factor becomes even more essential for efl learners as they tend to have difficulties in following the rapid speech of the speakers while also applying l2 listening strategies llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 664 simultaneously (renandya & farrell, 2011). in addition, the learners in this study also displayed unfavorable affective attitude (12 remarks) to some extent towards language course podcast. this was mostly due to the limited contents (alm, 2013) and artificial speaking pace of the podcasters, which caused boredom during the el practice. learners’ conation the conative or behavioral attitude of the learners towards authentic and language course podcasts were measured from their verbal expressions on whether they were planning to listen to the podcasts again and which podcast they were more inclined to use for their future el practice. there were in total 24 conative remarks identified from the data of this study. in the study, the learners generally expressed favorable conative attitude towards both podcast types, which implied that they were willing to listen to both authentic and language course podcasts in the future. in the case of authentic podcast, the number of favorable remarks (7 remarks) was slightly higher than unfavorable ones (5 remarks). this showed that there was not much difference between the learners’ favorable and unfavorable attitude towards authentic podcast series. in contrast, the number of favorable remarks (8 remarks) that the learners made towards language course podcast were twice higher than the unfavorable remarks (4 remarks) made towards the podcast. this showed a significant difference of the learners’ favorable and unfavorable attitude towards the language course podcast. since the favorable remarks towards both types of podcasts were overall higher than the unfavorable remarks, it can be concluded that the learners had a generally favorable conative attitude towards both authentic and language course podcasts. such favorable attitude towards either of the podcasts was presumably due to the positive cognitive and affective attitude that the learners had displayed earlier, which resulted in an equally favorable conative attitude as well. as the learners made their own personal judgment of authentic and language course podcasts, they could express either favorable or unfavorable responses towards both types of podcasts, or favorable responses towards one type of podcasts and unfavorable response towards the other. despite the overall favorable conative attitude displayed by the learners, there was unfavorable attitude expressed to some extent as well, mostly due to an unfavorable experience that the learners had towards their previous listening practice or their new experience with el. for instance, some learners expressed difficulties that they encountered during the el practice in the experimental phases, e.g., the difficulties to multitask, to accommodate enough time to do the el properly, and to deal with distractions that potentially could destruct their focus in the listening practice. as these learners practiced el on their available time at home, such external factors may hinder the conduct of el practice and may result in difficulties to comprehend the listening materials. conclusion the findings showed that the learners generally displayed favorable attitude towards both types of podcast; the only difference was in the extent of favorable and unfavorable responses that the efl learners directed towards the podcasts llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 665 based on the three components of attitude: cognition, affect, and connation. in cognitive aspect, the learners thought that language course podcast potentially had more educational values than authentic podcast. this gained favorable attitude from the learners as such characteristic of language course podcast was helpful to help them improve their l2 skills. in affective aspect, they felt that authentic podcast had more interesting topics than language course podcast. this was viewed positively by the learners because such characteristic of authentic podcast could raise their excitement and motivation to practice el. lastly, in conative aspect, the learners showed generally favorable attitude towards authentic and language course podcasts although their conative or behavioral attitude towards each type of podcasts might differ due to their willingness to listen and the influence from their cognitive and affective judgment towards each podcast type. the findings implied that in this study, the efl learners’ attitude towards both authentic and language course podcasts for el was greatly influenced by their personal impressions on the features of each podcast type. teachers may need to carefully consider the learners’ l2 level, familiarity of the podcast topics, and the use of preand post-activities to sustain their interest on the podcast contents. in addition, since the study used qualitative approach that only served as a means to provide a deeper analysis on efl learners’ attitude towards authentic and language course podcasts for el in a small-scale setting, the findings of this study cannot be generalized to all contexts of efl learners. further studies on this topic may also be essential, particularly in quantitative or mixed-method designs in order to gain a better generalizability of the 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(2014). a survey of iranian efl teachers’ and learners’ perceptions toward authentic listening materials at university level. advances in language and literary studies, 5(4), 184-197. http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.4p.184. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 299 cultural translation of proverbs from nepali into english nabaraj neupane tribhuvan university, prithvi narayan campus, pokhara, nepal correspondence: nabarajneupane24@gmail.com doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i2.3045 received 6 january 2021; accepted 12 october 2021 abstract proverbs are witty, pithy, and epigrammatic expressions. they are idiosyncratic, being based on a specific culture. as cultural translation is difficult, translation of proverbs is not easy. yet, translation practices on such genre have been appearing. in such a scenario, some such practices are found in the domain of nepali into english translations. in this background, the present study aims at reviewing the available models for translating proverbs and recommending one, which can be used for translating nepali proverbs into english. to achieve the objectives, i collected twenty proverbs purposively from lall (1991) and sharma (2000), primarily because i could deal only with twenty in a short period and limited space. by way of qualitative analysis and interpretation and by testing wilson's (2009) model, i have concluded that the model is applicable for the purpose. keywords: proverb, translation, model, connotation, context introduction translation practices began as early as human contacts began. this is evidenced in dam, brogger, and zethsen’s (2019) words, “translation as an activity, a phenomenon, a concept is of course as old as mankind, and has been and will continue to be part of human life regardless of the existence or not of a scholarly field” (p. 231). this implies that translation began since antiquity; and has been and will be an integral part of human life. even for stenier (1975), history of translation can be marked in the statements of cicero (106-43 b. c.) and horace (65-8 b. c.) on translation (as cited in bassnett, 2005). on the other hand, tracing the history of translation in the east, krishnamurthy (2011) has written: the first need for inter-language communication in the subcontinent probably arose through trade. the oldest linguistic evidence is to be found in the characters inscribed on steatite seals found in the indus valley in the north west. these are said to date from 2500 to 1500 b. c. (krishnamurthy, 2011, p. 450). therefore, history of translation in the indian subcontinent can be marked as back as 2500 b. c. although translation history of nepal has not yet been marked, sharma and shrestha (1999) have viewed that sanskrit scriptures were translated into llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 300 nepali since 1770. they have further written that shakti ballabh aryal's mahābhārat viratparva (1770) hāsyakadamba (1778), bhanu dutta's hitopadeś mitralāv (1774) marked the translation history in nepal. since then, different institutions and translators have been practising translation works (i.e. literary, academic and technical translations). literary translation has been flourishing worldwide as literature reflects society and culture. a big canvas of cultural heritage can be traced in literature and its translation has been essential to expand the horizon of knowledge. out of other literary texts, proverbs are nail marks of culture as all cultures have a storehouse of such formulaic expressions. they are based on cultural settings, historically remarkable events, folklores, expression of feelings, experiences, and quotations of public figures and celebrities. so, they are deep-rooted on folk tales, beliefs, traditions and customs. in the context of nepal, only a few books are published on proverbs and their translations. sharma (2000) has asserted that motiram bhatta's ukhānko bakhān ra jānne kathāko sangraha [description of proverbs and a collection of known stories] (n.d.) was the first book in nepali proverbs. taking help of this book, puskar shamsher published a book nepali ukhān ra tukkāko barnanukramānusārī sūcī ra bākyapaddati ityādiko koś [a bibliometric list of proverbs and idioms, and a dictionary of the history of the syntax] (1941). sharma (2000) has further conceded that ganga prasad pradhan's nepali ukhānko postak [a book on nepali proverbs] (1908) was published from darjeeling. therefore, nepali proverbs got a form of a book only in the early 20th century. regarding their translations, i have found only two, viz., lall (1991, first published in 1985) and sharma (2000). therefore, translation of proverbs has been burning need to identify culture to nepali people themselves and the world outside, which is observing multiculturalism, multilingualism, cultural pluralism, and co-existence of all the tribes and their traditions. on the background mentioned above, the present article aims at reviewing the available models for the translation of proverbs. specifically, testing a selected model for translated nepali proverbs, it aims at developing or recommending a suitable model for nepali proverbs. despite its limitations of time and scope, i think, this study will be significant for translators and translation researchers as it forwards a translation model for proverbs. review of literature and theoretical framework language is context-bound. context is made up of different parameters, such as participants, purpose, settings, way of expressing something, time, etc. context is also dependable on culture, in which language flourishes. culture and language are inseparable (wang, 2019) and language study encompasses culture (dumraz, 2017). to carry on culture, proverbs are primary means. proverbs encapsulate a society's values, beliefs and culture; and therefore, they are backbones of culture. regarding the history of proverbs, hernadi and steen (1999) have written that proverbs are with us "for much of the last two thousand or more generations of roughly thirty years each." it implies that the history of proverb goes back to sixty thousand years before. they have further mentioned that the proverbs in written form circulated more than forty-five hundred years ago. besides, embroidered shawls, diaries, letters, devotional manuscripts and printed compilations offer evidences for llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 301 the existence of proverbs in the past. since then, proverbs have been an integral part of culture and language. proverbs have been defined in several ways. hernadi and steen (1999) have offered selected snapshots of the landscapes of proverbia and they have offered some definitions of proverbs and their outlook. they have cited a definition forwarded by brunvand (1986), who defines proverbs as a popular saying in relatively fixed form, which is in oral circulation. emphasizing the folk element in proverbs, mieder (1993) defines a proverb as a phrase, sentence, statement or expression of the folk, which contains wisdom, truth, morals, experience, lessons and advice concerning life (as cited in hernadi & steen, 1999). therefore, proverbs bear folk elements and they are transmitted orally from generation to generation. virtually, proverbs have been an inseparable part of folk culture. they are readily available and easily memorable formulas as they are metaphorical, alliterative and grounded on accumulated experiences. for example: a cat may look at a king. every dog has his day. a problem shared is a problem halved. a stitch in time saves nine. where are bees, there is honey. proverbs have been practised by common people from ancient times. they represent folk wisdom, accumulated through the ages. some proverbs are universally applicable while others have a distinct flavour of a land and its people (neupane, 2017). translation of the former types poses ease whereas latter (language/ culturespecific) ones are difficult to translate. generally speaking, proverbs are metaphorical sayings in the form of prefabricated patterns, conveying cultural concepts. so, the pragmatics of proverbs should be understood for their better translation. translating proverbs requires multidisciplinary knowledge as proverbs are related to sociology, semiotics, anthropology, pragmatics, folklores, culture, etc. suggesting three ways to translate a proverb, beekman and callow (1974, as cited in gorjian, 2008) have written: (a) the words following the proverb could be introduced as the meaning of the proverb; (b) it can be replaced with an equivalent local proverb, and (c) its non-figurative meaning could be stated straight forwardly. beekman and callow's (1974) strategies suggest that the translators should seek either equivalent local proverbs or their literal meanings. however, proverbs are not so easy to translate these ways as they are idiomatic expressions and wise sayings, apparently simple but illusory. in this connection, duff (1989) has proposed four strategies in case of non-equivalent: (a) literal translation, (b) original word in inverted commas, (c) close equivalents, and (d) non-idiomatic translation. the four methods cannot be yardsticks for translating proverbs beautifully and faithfully. tuning the intermediate view, hatim and mason (1990) recommended communicative translation to translate socio-cultural and metaphorical elements of language. hatim and mason (1990) further mentioned, "translation is the negotiation of meaning between the producer of the source-language text and the readers of the target text, both of whom exist within their different social framework" (p. 1). therefore, the translator explores the intended meaning of the source text llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 302 speaker/writer and manipulates the meaning in the target text. this view embraces the domain of pragmatics in translating metaphorical sayings (i.e. proverbs). further, thalji (2015) has found these four techniques for translating proverbs: tl equivalent, paraphrasing, literal translation, and glossing. however, gaps are apparent in the use of these techniques. some studies have indicated the difficulties of proverb translation. of them, mollanazar (2001) has remarked: (a) some similar proverbs can be found in the two languages with more or less similar form, vocabulary and meaning; and (b) many proverbs may be found in the two languages, which have similar meanings and can be applied in the same contexts, but they have different form and vocabulary. these cases can be encountered when a translator applies literal translation as a strategy. likewise, akbarian (2012) has asserted, “for a foreign or second language learning, it might be a double effort to first understand a proverb and then relate it to a proverbial equivalent in one’s own native language” (p. 704). however, shehab and daragmeh (2014) have asserted that observational (social) proverbs are less complex than the religiously invoked ones for cross-linguistic translation. for them, the former types are related to the people’s everyday experiences that are somehow universal whereas the second type is associated with the people’s religious beliefs and opinions that are religious-specific. by analyzing 10 arabic proverbs into english translations, they concluded that context plays a crucial role in translating proverbs. this study proves that the context-based approach is more suitable than the literal one. context of the proverb adheres to culture. this is evidenced in bhabha (2011) that quotes, “translation is the performative nature of cultural communication […]. and the sign of translation continually tells, or ‘tolls’ the different times and spaces between cultural authority and its performative practices” (p. 20, as cited in faiq, 2019, pp. 8-9). this indicates the cultural turn in translation that calls for situating translation as a cultural entity. the issue of culture in translation is also raised by al shehab (2016), who, in his project, asked 20 translation students to translate 25 english proverbs into arabic. his main finding is that the students failed to achieve the exact arabic equivalence of english proverbs. this study shows that proverbs adhere to culture and their translations across cultures pose difficulties. also, unscth (2006) has pointed out the limitations of translating proverbs in these words, “to try to translate the ‘meaning’ of a proverb without translating it into the form of a proverb is to translate only part of the meaning” (as cited in pluger, 2015, p.325). like al shehab’s (2016), qassem and vijayasararhi (2015) have indicated the students’ difficulties in translating culture-specific expressions. similarly, azizah (2018) study also aimed to analyze students’ ability in proverb translation. the 100 students’ translation of 10 english proverbs into arabic and 10 indonesian proverbs into english showed that translating proverbs is complex. the main reason found was their literal translations. this study confirms that without understanding the literary (aesthetic) value of the source proverbs, their translations cannot be accurate. beyond the facets of context and culture in proverb translation, dicerto (2018) has emphasized multimodality in these words, “the way translation is approached has changed […]. modern translators more than ever find themselves working on texts that communicate by more than just ‘words’. the translation is an activity that is growing even more complex and cannot be accounted for in linguistic terms any longer” (p. 1). this implies that the translation of proverbs calls for understanding llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 303 more than what is communicated by mere words. thus, a translator needs to understand multimodal pragmatics for the sound interpretation of culture-laden texts (here, proverbs) and to transfer them into the alien language. likewise, al-khresheh and almaaytah (2018) have pointed out the limitations of the use of machines for translating proverbs as, “wrong tl equivalent, literal translation, wrong word order, inappropriate lexical words, and grammatical mistakes” (pp. 162-163). these studies exhibit that translation of proverbs poses difficulties mainly because of misinterpretation and/or mistranslation. to minimize the problems, an effective strategy can be “adaptation” that in bastin’s (2020, as cited in baker & saldanha, 2020) words is “frequently listed among the possible valid solutions to various translational difficulties” (p. 10). adaptation calls for sl-orientation in translation and thus is important for proverb translation across languages. since proverbs are epigrammatic in the cultural history and so figurative quality of all of the proverbs cannot be translated by using a single strategy. in this line, gorjian (2008) has proposed a three-fold strategy, which includes: (a) exact equivalents (strong version), (b) near-equivalents (moderate version), and (c) literal translation (weak version). he has recommended the use of literal translation only as a last resort. in this study, i have selected wilson’s (2009) model for translating proverbs because of its exhaustiveness, adaptability, and relevancy. wilson's (2009) model offers a cognitive descriptive dimension. it incorporates general cognitive tasks, such as: analyze, interpret and reformulate, and cognitive functions, such as reading, problem-solving, decision making, formulating, researching, consulting, creating, rereading, verifying, etc. these cognitive behaviours (tasks and functions) are oriented towards the source and target texts. the translator investigates the holistic message/meaning, equivalent to both source proverb and target proverb. it is his first resort. if equivalent/exact proverbs are not found, only then, he explores its linguistic units. the translator should, at first, analyse, interpret and reformulate both the source and the target proverbs. their linguistic units and signified meanings should also be incorporated. the structures of both the source and the target proverbs should also be analysed. then, meaning/message is formulated form the interactions of context and connotations with the linguistic structures, units, concepts, connotations, context by way of analysis, interpretation and reformulation within the source and target proverbs. the outcome becomes target proverbs. method the primary objective of this study was to test the prevailing models for translating proverbs (from nepali into english) and to develop an appropriate model. since document review was the primary technique applied for collecting data, this study used only secondary sources. dictionaries of proverbs like lall (1991) and sharma (2000) were used for collecting nepali proverbs, their literal translations and corresponding english proverbs. besides, duff (1989), hernadi and steen (1999) and gorjian (2008) were used for formulating a theoretical framework, based on which, wilson's (2009) model was selected as a sample to test. twenty proverbs, books, articles, and dictionaries were selected purposively for testing, using the selected model. i list them in a list, numbering from one to twenty, out of them, i selected only three for testing and analysing (as samples) by using the lottery method. after testing them, the selected model has been forwarded for further llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 304 translations of proverbs as it was found appropriate to the selected proverbs. note that, for transliterating nepali words, phonetic symbols adapted from turner and turner's (2009) are used. findings and discussion wilson's (2009) model encompasses multiple elements and facts in translating proverbs. they are cognitive tasks and functions, linguistic structures of the source text and the target text, linguistic units, concepts, pragmatics of the proverbs, and so on. the selected twenty proverbs are homogeneous in structure (i.e. having two-fold structures). for example: 1. mauna sammati lakshnm (silence grows consent) = action 1 (mauna) + action 2 (sammati) 2. jasko lāthi usko bhaĩsi (might is right) = possession 1 (lāthi) + possession 2 (bhaĩsi) 3. kām garne kālu, makai khāne bhālu (one soweth and another reapeth) = action 1, agent 1 (kam garne kalu) + action 2, agent 2 (makai khane bhālu) 4. niveko āgo kasaile tāpdaina (all worship the rising sun) = cause (niveko āgo) + effect (kasaile tāpdaina) 5. ū̃t dulāhā, gadhā purohit (like god-like worship) = agent 1(ū̃t) + possessor 1 (gadhā) since the proverbs collected are homogeneous, only three (out of twenty) have been presented and analyzed using wilson's model, believing that other proverbs can also follow the similar path of presentation and analysis. proverb 2: mwā̃i khāko hoina sĩgān lāko. (nepali) a kiss of mouth often touches not the heart. (english) for the translation of proverb 2, wilson's (2009) model fits (figure 1). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 305 figure 1 application of wilson's (2009) model for proverb 2 figure 1 demonstrates the appropriate application of the model. the aspects of the model are followed in the following way: message : showy kissing does not touch the heart. meaning : it is not kissing but anointing snot. connotation : superficial action does not touch one's heart. context : a situation someone kisses with evil spirit but not with the real intention of kissing. the presented proverb (proverb 2) conveys a message to be translated, linguistic structure, linguistic units and concepts, connotation and context, which are represented in its translated version. by way of analysis, interpretation and reformulation, the source proverb has been found translated. in the source proverb, there are two actions (kissing at the mouth and anoint snot), being second the consequence of the first. this mapping is equivalent in english. the linguistic meaning of the source proverb (not real kissing) is translated into the target proverb, appropriating it based on the pragmatics of the proverb. pragmatics incorporates, here, context, in which the proverb is used and connotation-the implied meaning. the linguistic structure and linguistic meaning, incorporating its pragmatics, have been transferred into the target language. therefore, the translation of proverb 2 justifies the selected model. proverb 6 : kām garne kālu, makai khāne bhālu. (nepali) one soweth and another repeath. (english) connotation: superficial action does not touch one's heart. consequence (action 1, action 2) action 1: kiss at mouth action 2: anoint snot linguistic structure (syntax, lexical/translation units translator source text mwaĩ khāko hoina sĩgān lāko (proverb/message) linguistic unit (vehicle/signifier) concept (signified) not real kissing message: showy kissing doesn't touch heart target text reader target text a kiss of mouth often touches not the heart (proverb message) linguistic unit (vehicle/signifier) concept (signified) consequence (action 1, action 2) action 1: kiss at mouth action 2: anoint snot not real kissing context: a situation in which someone kisses with evil spirit but not with real intention llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 306 for the presentation and analysis of this proverb, figure 2 has been forwarded. figure 2 application of wilson's (2009) model for proverb 6 figure 2 demonstrates how the model applies to the translation of proverb 6. nepali proverb and english translation are matching in terms of message, meaning, linguistic structure, connotation and context. at first, the sl proverb conveys a message (one works but other takes fruit) and its meaning (the farmer grows corn, but it is bear who eats it). both the message and meaning are transferred into english by way of analysis, interpretation and reformulation. secondly, the consequence of action 1 and agent 1 is action 2 and agent 2, which is deliberately rendered into the tl text. finally, connotation and context (i.e. pragmatics of the proverb) assist to reformulate and translate the sl proverb into tl. therefore, wilson's (2009) model is applicable for translation of proverb 6. proverb 16 : ū̃t dulāhā gadhā purohit. (nepali) camel as a bridegroom and donkey as a priest. (english) for the translation of proverb 16, wilson's model is applicable (but the figure is almost similar to figure 1 and 2, therefore, it is not presented here). it exhibits how the model can be applied in translation by way of representing sl message and meaning, concept, mapping, and pragmatics in tl proverb. these aspects are presented below: connotation: toil should be honoured context: a situation occurs in which one produces something but the other consumes it it is injustice one soweth and another repeath (proverb/message) source text kām garne kālu makai khāne bhālu (proverb/message) linguistic unit (vehicle/signifier) concept (signified) consequence  action 1, agent 1 (one grows crop)  action 2, agent 2 (bear eats it) it is injustice message: one works but other takes fruit target text linguistic unit (vehicle/signifier) concept (signified) consequence  action 1, agent 1 (one grows crop)  action 2, agent 2 (bear eats it) linguistic structure (syntax, lexical/translation units translator target text reader llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 307 sl proverb : ū̃t dulāhā gadhā purohit. message : as the bridegroom, as a priest. meaning : camel as a bridegroom, donkey as a priest. mapping : consequence context : a situation in which the two inappropriate things are matching. therefore, the model (i.e. wilson's, 2009) is applicable for the translation of proverb 16. likewise, this model applies to other selected proverbs, too. conclusion proverbs are culture-specific. they are brief, witty, idiomatic, popular and pithy expressions, based on accumulated folk experiences. to translate proverbs from one language to another is not easy, yet approximate translation is possible. there is not a precise model, which can be completely implemented for translating proverbs. however, by implementing wilson's (2009) model, translation of proverbs can be evaluated and other proverbs can also be translated. as a concluding remark, i must say that this study is limited only to twenty proverbs and the analysis is just a niche; through which a brief interpretation can be done. it requires more experiments and more illustrations to justify the model's reliability and applicability. this implies that this model (wilson's model) is appropriate for translating nepali proverbs into english. references akbarian, i. (2012). a grey area in translating proverbial expressions: the case of english and persian. procedia: social and behavioural sciences, 47, 704-710. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.06.721 al-khreshen, m. h., & almaaytah, s. a. (2018). english proverbs into arabic through machine translation. international journal of applied linguistics and english literature, 7 (5), 158-166. retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.7n.5p.158. al shehab, m. (2016). the ability of translation students in translating english proverbs into arabic and vice-versa at jadara university in jordan. journal of literature, language and linguistics, 29, pp. 10-19. azizah, lulu atun (2018). translating english into indonesian proverb analysis. advances in social science, education and humanities research, 297, 205. bassnett, s, (2005). translation studies (3rd ed.). london & new york: routledge. bastin, georges l. 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(2014). a context-based approach to proverb translation: the case of arabic into english translation. translation review, 90(1), pp. 51-68. https://doi.org/10.1080/07374836.2014.9867799. thalji, m. b. (2015). the translation of proverbs: obstacles and strategies (master’s thesis). middle east university, amman, jordan. retrieved from https://meu.edu.jo/librarytheses/5871fd344b5b6_1.pdf. turner, r. l., & turner, d. r. (2009). a comparative and etymological dictionary of nepali language. new delhi: adarsh books. wang, j. (2019). translating and rewriting chinese proverbs: a case study of howard goldblatt’s english translation of mo yan’s “shengsi pilao”. english language and literature studies, 9(2), 12-24. retrieved from https://doi.org/10.5539/ells.v9n2p12. wilson, f. c. (2009). a model for translating metaphors in proverbs (french to english): a cognitive descriptive approach. an unpublished m. a. thesis. the university of british, columbia, okanagan, kelowna. retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2429/12923 http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/projects/cropus/uccts2008proceedings/papers/gorjian.pdf http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/projects/cropus/uccts2008proceedings/papers/gorjian.pdf http://cobweb.ucla.edu./culture/hernadi_steen_99.html http://ga.warwick.ac.uk/wrap/1138 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2051677015610110 https://meu.edu.jo/librarytheses/5871fd344b5b6_1.pdf http://hdl.handle.net/2429/12923 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 709-728 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 709 indonesian efl students’ thesis conclusions: organizational preferences and pedagogical implications benedicta avena1 and mateus yumarnamto2 1,2universitas katolik widya mandala surabaya benedictaavena@gmail.com1 and mateus@ukwms.ac.id2 correspondence: mateus@ukwms.ac.id2 https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.3715 received 27 september 2021; accepted 19 october 2022 abstract this paper examines thesis conclusions written by the students of an english education program at a private university in east java indonesia. the central question guiding this study is “how do the authors of the theses organize their conclusions?” this study is a genre analysis. the data sources were 24 undergraduate thesis conclusions written from 2017 to 2019, consisting of 12 quantitative theses and 12 qualitative ones. the analysis was conducted in the framework of genre analysis by identifying the major moves and steps. bunton’s (2005) framework for the generic structure of conclusions was used to understand the data. the results indicate that the majority of the conclusions follow the generic structure with its moves and steps as suggested by bunton. however, different preferences in organizing the thesis conclusions were apparent between the two groups of thesis conclusions. these findings reflect the mastery of the particular academic genre by the students as well as their preferences in organizing moves and steps. pedagogical implications of the findings are discussed in teaching english as a foreign language (tefl). keywords: eap, thesis conclusions, generic structure, tefl, indonesia introduction the thesis conclusions in these are the most important part of the academic works that the readers usually want to read first after knowing the topics. as foreign language learners, indonesian students who are required to write their thesis in english often have difficulties mastering the genre of thesis conclusions as they are not familiar with the generic structure and the linguistic features. this current study is aimed at understanding the generic structure of thesis conclusions written by indonesian students. by understanding the generic structures we expect that the findings can shed light on the pedagogical implications of the genre analysis of the thesis conclusions. in the case of those who are required to write their theses in english, the challenges faced by the students are two-fold as they need to master the target language's written forms as well to master the discourse genre of the texts. hopkins and dudley-evans (1988) suggested that students be able to produce mailto:benedictaavena@gmail.com mailto:mateus@ukwms.ac.id mailto:mateus@ukwms.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.3715 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 709-728 710 texts that can perform “the function for which it was intended and that it is acceptable by the community for whom/within which it was produced” (p. 113). therefore, for english language learners the first challenge is mastering the target language forms that include vocabulary and grammar. the second challenge is mastering the target discourse genre which may be different from the cultural tradition of the learners. in this line of thought, this paper is aimed at exploring the product of academic writing, namely the thesis conclusions written by the students at an english education program of a private university in east java indonesia. we are interested in thesis conclusions because as the final section of academic writing, it is important in providing final remarks about the whole work discussed (paltridge & starfield, 2007). the conclusion, then, is the most likely part that will get the readers’ attention and be read before the readers go to the more detailed sections in the body of the thesis. previous studies related to the academic genre are often framed in the terms of move analysis, which is part of discourse analysis to understand the generic structure of a particular genre (flowerdew, 2015; flowerdew & forest, 2009; hopkins & dudley-evans, 1988; maher & milligan, 2019; paré, 2019; starfield & paltridge, 2019). from this perspective, academic texts can be seen as the product of communicative events which are intended to engage in the academic community discourse on the corresponding topic. therefore, academic texts can be analyzed descriptively by looking at (1) the writers’ messages, (2) the logical organization, and (3) the presentation to the intended audience (hopkins & dudley-evans, 1988, p. 114). the moves to describe the structure of an academic genre, then, should be relevant to the three elements of the written discourse. as this paper focuses on exploring the thesis conclusions, we are interested in finding out how they are organized in terms of the organizational moves of the academic genre. in particular, we want to know whether the thesis conclusions could reflect the students’ mastery of the academic genre. our interest, then, is beyond identifying and describing the generic structure of the thesis conclusion but also offering the pedagogical implications of the generic structure in the context of english language teaching in indonesia. literature review the genre analysis of thesis conclusions this current study follows the tradition of genre analysis which has gained momentum since the early 1980s (askehave & swales, 2001; swales & najjar, 1987). the genre analysis movement has widened our understanding of genre membership identification and its taxonomy which brings us to understand various types of texts, from shopping lists to recipes, and various academic texts including research reports in academic journals and full-length theses. this genre analysis has been conducted in the framework of discourse analysis. it means that texts are understood as products of a discourse community and texts are created for certain communicative purposes. currently, the practices of creating texts are often framed in the terms of literacy practices that can take place anywhere, from home to public spaces, and to the classroom (heat & street, 2008; johnston, 2000; johnston & webber, 2003; tardy, 2005). the written products of various literacy practices can fall into llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 709-728 711 different categories depending on their communicative purposes, the message, the organization, and the intended audience as suggested by hopkins and dudleyevans (1988) as well as bhatia (2002) and more implicitly suggested by (askehave and swales (2001); devitt (2004); dudley-evans (1994); holmes (1997); leeuwen (1993)), (heat and street (2008); lea and street (1998); "peraturan pemerintah republik indonesia nomor 19 tahun 2017 tentang perubahan atas peraturan pemerintan nomor 74 tahun 2008 tentang guru" (2017). from the literacy perspective, the genre of academic writing can be seen as language pedagogical practices with an emphasis on mastering the academic discourse and claiming membership in the academic community. in gaining the academic writing competency "peraturan pemerintah republik indonesia nomor 19 tahun 2017 tentang perubahan atas peraturan pemerintan nomor 74 tahun 2008 tentang guru" 2017) outline three conceptual approaches that can shed light on the nature of academic writing. the first approach is the study-skill model in which academic writing is viewed as a personal and cognitive skill. in this model, the focus is on the mastery of language features and forms. the cultural aspects and the generic structure of the academic genre are considered transferrable without explicit teaching. the second approach is academic socialization which is “concerned with students’ acculturation into disciplinary and subject-based discourses and genres” ("peraturan pemerintah republik indonesia nomor 19 tahun 2017 tentang perubahan atas peraturan pemerintan nomor 74 tahun 2008 tentang guru," p. 369). using this approach, the focus is the engagement with the discourse community to become competent in producing texts which can be understood and accepted by the academic community. finally, the last approach is the academic literacy model, which focuses on gaining full membership in the academic discourse community. related to academic texts, this third model “is concerned with meaning-making, identity, power, and authority, and foregrounds the institutional nature of what counts as knowledge in any particular academic context” ("peraturan pemerintah republik indonesia nomor 19 tahun 2017 tentang perubahan atas peraturan pemerintan nomor 74 tahun 2008 tentang guru," p. 369). the three approaches are not exclusive models with clear boundaries but they are overlapping. they can be used for various pedagogical practices, reflecting the continuum of literacy levels in an academic context. consequently, this model is more pedagogical and it provides a beneficial framework to understand non-native speakers’ academic writing products. this conception echoes bhatia’s (2002) continuum that sees language, from text to genres and social practices. the first model is highly related to language mastery—the mastery of the grammatical features and relevant vocabulary of the academic genre. the second model is related to the understanding and mastery of the generic structure of the particular genre. finally, the last model drives the learners to claim their full membership in the academic community, act out their identity as competent members, and negotiate meanings in the process of knowledge production and dissemination. one of the important products of the academic community is a full lengththesis or dissertation, which is written to meet the requirements of undergraduate or graduate programs. at the graduate level, thesis and dissertation writing is llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 709-728 712 considered important “as the rite of passage to an academic career, required by universities around the world” (bunton, 2001, p. 57). less strictly at the undergraduate level, thesis writing may not be the major requirement to graduate. in the context of undergraduate students in indonesia, thesis writing in english is also meant to show the mastery of written english—indicating the expanding mastery of literacy among students majoring in english studies and english education. genre studies related to academic writing have been conducted by looking at various parts of the theses and journal articles as different sub-genres. lamb and wyatt (2019), for example, conducted a study on the writing of research articles (ra’s) introductions by identifying various moves used by authors to organize their arguments and to build the case for their research. a move in genre analysis can be defined broadly “as a segment of text that is shaped and constrained by a specific communicative function” (holmes, 1997, p. 325). the structure of a genre, then, can be distinguished by looking at the moves and how they occurred in the particular genre. following swales’ works, hopkins and dudley-evans (1988) investigated the discussion sections of ras and dissertations and they found that the structure was more cyclical—not linear as suggested by lamb and wyatt (2019). they identified that there was only one obligatory move, the statement of results, which they called the head move. similar studies on exploring parts of the academic genre by looking at moves as the framework of analysis have been conducted by (bunton (2001), 2005)) and grgurović, chapelle, and shelley (2013). the first study by bunton (2001) focuses on phd thesis introductions and he identified three major moves of thesis introduction: (1) establishing a territory, (2) establishing a niche, and (3) announcing the present research (occupying a niche). the latter study conducted by bunton (2005) focuses on thesis conclusions. for bunton, thesis conclusions are special as they usually can be found in a separate part from the discussion section. it is different from the discussion section in ras, which usually include the conclusion as part of the discussion (grgurović et al., 2013). in ras’ discussions, the generic structure can include up to seven moves: (1) background information, (2) reporting results, (3) summarizing results, (4) commenting on results, (5) summarizing the study, (6) evaluating the study, and (7) deductions from the research. in this model of a generic structure, the last three moves are the conclusion part. this echoes yang and allison’s (2003) study of conclusion sections in ras. they identified three major moves in their generic hierarchical structure: (1) summarizing the study, (2) evaluating the study, (3) deduction from the research four moves in the separate pedagogical implications. using the available framework identified by yang and allison, bunton (2005) investigated 45 phd thesis conclusions from various disciplines. from the conclusion parts with varied titles, bunton identified six major roles of the conclusions: (1) summarizing the findings, (2) discussing the findings in broad terms, (3) coming to conclusions, (4) giving implications, (5) making recommendations, and (6) providing suggestions for future research. upon closer analysis of moves, he also found that thesis conclusions related to science and technologies seem to be more straightforward with four identifiable moves: (1) introductory statement, (2) consolidation of research, (3) practical applications and recommendations, and (4) future research. on the other hand, thesis llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 709-728 713 conclusions related to humanities and social sciences have five identifiable moves: (1) introductory restatement, (2) consolidation of research space, (3) practical implications, (4) future research, and (5) concluding restatement. while bunton (2005) distinguished the science and technology theses from humanities and social sciences, he did not distinguish between qualitative and quantitative theses, which in our consideration was the major drawback in his analysis of thesis conclusions. while subject areas and disciplines are important in a genre as they can mark various registers, the nature of research approaches is also important in determining the genre and its generic structure. flowerdew and forest (2009) inform us of the importance of research approaches in the academic genre of theses. when they searched for the collocations of the keyword research, they found that it collocates with words related to disciplines and with words related to approaches or methods. for the discipline of applied linguistics, for example, they found in their corpus data that research often collocates with the names of the specific sub-disciplines such as writing research, reading research, educational research, linguistic research, contrastive rhetoric research, sla research, and l2 research. on approaches, the word research collocates with specific approaches or methods such as qualitative research, questionnaire-based research, action research, empirical research, experimental research, naturalistic research, test-based research, observationbased research, and language research. what is suggested by flowerdew and forest (2009) regarding the importance of approaches and methods in determining the sub-genres in academic discourse is moving forward from bhatia’s (2002) conception of academic genre which focuses on the disciplinary culture. he realizes that the academic genre is dynamic and flexible in addressing changes and trends but he hardly discussed the importance of approaches and methods that can also influence the generic integrity of an academic genre. in addition, there is variability of structures within a discipline in academic discourse and there is little research on such variability (holmes, 1997). this lack of attention to the variability within a discipline in the context of academic discourse can be understood as researchers often focus more on differences among different disciplines, the registers. in this current study, under one discipline of language education, we distinguished undergraduate theses by looking at the approaches to the study, the quantitative and qualitative approaches. as suggested by (elshadelin and yumarnamto (2020); gelo, braakmann, and benetka (2008); yumarnamto, widyaningrum, and prijambodo (2020)), the distinction is not only on how data are collected and analyzed but also the philosophical foundations underlying both approaches. the quantitative approach is based on the positivists’ perspective and the process of knowledging based on the objectivity of the observers. on the contrary, the qualitative approach is based on the acknowledgement of subjectivity and intersubjectivity in the process of knowledging. as we focus on one disciplinary subject, english language education, the distinction between the two approaches in looking at the integrity of the generic structure will be beneficial in understanding the dynamic and flexibility of the generic structure in thesis conclusions. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 709-728 714 method following the tradition of genre analysis (askehave & swales, 2001; bazerman, bonini, & figueiredo, 2009; dong & lu, 2020; hyland, 2015, 2016; maher & milligan, 2019; starfield & paltridge, 2019), this study explores thesis conclusions written by undergraduate students as a part of the requirements for their study completion. the students belonged to an english education program at a private university in east java, indonesia. they have trained in english, english literature, pedagogy, and applied linguistics to prepare them to become english teachers. by the time they wrote their theses, typically in the final year of their education, they were fluent in english and were familiar with various academic genres, both spoken and written. they had taken the academic writing course and the research method course, which introduced both quantitative and qualitative research methodology. they have also introduced the format and the academic convention of how to write a good thesis. in the courses they previously took, they were also exposed to other students’ theses and academic articles that they needed to read to support their research. therefore, the study they conducted and their thesis writing was their first effort to engage more meaningfully with academic discourses of research writing. their work, then, can be characterized as the works of novice apprentices in the academic community. for this study, the sources of data were 24 thesis conclusions written by the students of the english education program from 2017 to 2019. the reason why the writer only selected theses from 2017, 2018, and 2019 is that they were the most recent ones uploaded to the university’s repository. in the repository, we found 46 theses completed in 2017, 42 in 2018 and 30 in 2019. from the theses available, we made a purposive selection by considering whether the theses were quantitative or qualitative in their approach to their study. the quantitative theses were ones that involve statistical analysis and testing hypotheses. on the other hand, qualitative theses did not involve any statistical testing of hypotheses and were more descriptive. however, qualitative theses might include descriptive statistics such as counting the number of occurrences and presenting them in terms of percentage. while data selection was purposive, we applied two main criteria in the selection: (1) the theses were completed in 2017, 2018, and 2019; (2) four qualitative theses and four quantitative ones were selected randomly from a list of theses completed in each year. from the data sources, we identified thesis conclusions by looking at the conclusion section. the conclusion sections had various titles such as conclusions, conclusions and recommendations, and concluding remarks. we read carefully each conclusion section and analyze it in the framework of bunton’s (2005) thesis conclusions that include three major moves: (1) introductory statement, (2) consolidation of the research space, and (3) recommendations and implications. two minor moves in bunton, future research and concluding restatement, become our reference but they were not central in our analysis as they can be included in the three major moves. we made this decision because, in bunton’s original research, the two minor moves occurred rarely (less than 25%). in identifying the first major move, the introductory statement, there were four sub-moves or steps that could lead us to mark the boundary of the move. they were (1) restatement of the issue being researched, (2) work carried out, (3) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 709-728 715 purpose of the study, and (4) research questions or hypotheses. for the second major move, the consolidation of the research space, we used two steps, namely (1) summary and evaluation of methods and (2) summary of results/findings and claims. finally, for the third major move, we applied three steps to indicate the move area, (1) future research, (2) practical applications, and (3) limitations of the study. using the three major moves and their steps, we analyzed each thesis conclusion, checked the occurrences of each step and present them in percentage. further analysis was conducted by interpreting the findings by considering both the qualitative and quantitative thesis conclusions. findings and discussion findings our investigation of the generic structure of thesis conclusions written by efl students in their undergraduate thesis was motivated by the assumptions that efl learners may prefer different moves and steps in organizing their thesis conclusions. to benchmark the efl the generic structure of efl writers, we use bunton’s (2005) framework of the thesis conclusion generic structure preferred in social studies/humanities. we distinguished the students’ theses based on the approach used in the research. therefore, there are two groups of theses we observed, the qualitative thesis group and the quantitative one. the result of the study shows that out of 24 thesis conclusions analyzed (12 qualitative studies and 12 quantitative studies), there are varied preferences in organizing the thesis conclusions. more interestingly, the organizing patterns between the two groups indicate differences in the use of moves and steps in organizing their conclusions as shown in table 2 below. table 1. the analysis of moves in quantitative and qualitative thesis conclusions quantitative (n=12) qualitative (n=12) major moves steps presence % presence % move 1 introductory statement (purpose, research questions or hypotheses)  restatement of the issue being researched 9 75 2 16.7  work carried out 8 66.7 4 33.3  purpose of the study 7 58.3 3 25  research questions/hy potheses 2 16.7 2 16.7 move 2 consolidation of research space (method findings/results claims, references to previous  summary and evaluation of methods 1 8.3 0 0  summary of results/findin gs and 11 91.7 12 100 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 709-728 716 research) claims move 3 recommendatio ns and implications  future research 12 100 12 100  practical applications 12 100 7 58.3  limitations of the study 4 33.3 10 83.3 in the introductory statement move, it appears most of the quantitative theses prefer all the steps in organizing their statements. over half of the quantitative theses use the first three steps in this first move. in contrast, less than half of the qualitative theses use each step in organizing their introductory statements. only in the last step do both groups of these have the same portion. two theses (16.7%) restated their research questions or hypotheses in each group. therefore, it is apparent that the first three steps in this move are central to organizing introductory statements for quantitative conclusions. in contrast, the introductory statements in the qualitative thesis conclusion seem to have no fixed pattern. for the second move, the consolidation of the research space both groups of theses show a similar pattern. only 1 (8.3%) out of 12 quantitative theses state their summary and evaluation of the method and none of the qualitative ones state this step. similarly, 11 (91.7%) out of 12 quantitative theses put their summary of the results or findings and all the qualitative ones (100%) put their summary in this move. therefore, it is clear that in consolidating of research space, both quantitative and qualitative thesis conclusions are very similar in focusing on the summary of results or findings and claims. finally, for the third movement, the two groups of thesis conclusions make statements to recommend future research as the consequence of the findings. all 24 (100%) conclusions make this kind of statement. in the second step of this move, all quantitative thesis conclusions (100%) make statements to suggest practical applications of their findings. in contrast, 7 (58.3%) of qualitative thesis conclusions make similar claims. in this way, the recommendations and implications in quantitative thesis conclusions focus on the first two steps, future research and practical applications while qualitative thesis conclusion highlight more on the first and the third steps, future research and limitations of the study. overall, the quantitative thesis conclusions seem to be more consistent in using all the steps in each move compared to the qualitative one. this pattern indicates that quantitative thesis conclusions may have a more structured format, which is consistently followed by the writers. on the other hand, the qualitative thesis conclusions seem to have a less uniform format compared to the quantitative ones so only the main steps are consistently used to organize the conclusions. the different preferences in using the move and steps in thesis conclusions can be attributed to the different preferences of the authors and, possibly, the lack of understanding of the generic structure. move 1: introductory statement an introductory statement in a thesis conclusion is a restatement of the issue being researched (bunton, 2005). to exemplify the first move in thesis llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 709-728 717 conclusions, table 2 provides instances for introductory statements found in both quantitative and qualitative thesis conclusions. table 2. the examples of move 1 (introductory statement) major moves steps examples source move 1: introductory statement (purpose, research questions or hypotheses) (1) restatement of the issue being researched some of the students are still unable to use their english in order to communicate to other people properly. they need some techniques and media to help them get ideas about what they are going to say. (quantitative) putri (2017, p. 43) since language has been the important part in our lives in communicating with others, we need to be more sincere in expressing our feelings toward others using language. (qualitative) debby (2017, p. 45) (2) work carried out before conducting the treatments, the writer tried the test out to the pilot group. after having the result that the test was valid and reliable, the writer continued administering pre-test and conducting the treatments for four times to the research group … whether board games could help students in learning grammar or not. (quantitative) debora (2018, p. 30) the writer uses some theories in this study to identify the types of errors and to predict the causes of the errors in the simple present tense in analytical essays. the writer uses the types of errors theory by dulay et al (1982) and the causes of errors theory by ellis (1994:59) and brown (1980:173) to help her in analyzing the data. (qualitative) hidayati (2018, p.46) (3) purpose of the study this study was conducted to find out whether there is a significant difference in analytical exposition between the 11th grade students who are taught using kwl and those taught using translation technique. (quantitative) ajengberliana (2019, p.51) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 709-728 718 this study was conducted to find self-actualization and obstacles faced by the main characters in fitzgerald’s short stories using maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory. (qualitative) priyanto (2017, p.37) (4) research questions/hypotheses this study with the title the effect of using storytelling to teach vocabulary on the vocabulary achievement of four graders elementary school students was held to answer the research question which is whether using storytelling to teach vocabulary will improve students achievement or not. (quantitative) kusmono (2018, p.59) from the research question of the previous chapter: what moral values does atticus finch represent as in the novel ‘to kill a mockingbird’ according to kohlberg’s theory, the writer will provide a brief explanation. (qualitative) darmaningsih (2017, p.49) the way the authors write the introductory statement varied, especially in the first and the second step, the restatement of the issue and the work carried out. the fact that authors composed these two steps in different ways may be influenced by the fact that the thesis conclusion began from different topics and issues. in the third step, the purpose of the study, a similar construction of expressing purpose is apparent. in the examples shown in table 2, the expression “the study was conducted to find out ...” is a straightforward way to communicate the purpose of the study. in the last step, the restatement of research questions or hypotheses both quantitative and qualitative conclusions use a similar structure. as shown in the last part of table 3, restating questions or hypotheses can consist of two parts, the introductory part and the restatement part. move 2: consolidation of research space the consolidation of research space moves includes the restatement of methods, findings or results, claims, and references to previous research to support the claims. in this move, there are two major steps: the summary and evaluation of research methods, and the summary of the results or findings and the claims. we found that in the first step, the entire qualitative thesis conclusions did not include the summary and evaluation of the methods. a must-have step in this move is the summary of the results or findings and the claims as the consequences of the findings. examples of move 2 can be seen in table 3 below. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 709-728 719 table 3. the examples of move 2 (consolidation of research space) steps examples source move 2: consolidation of research space (methods, findings/results, claims, references to previous research) (1) summary and evaluation of methods picture series facilitate students to get and develop ideas according to the sequences seen in the pictures. picture series stimulate the students to add a better detail to their stories by looking at other object drawn in the picture to make their story better. (quantitative) putri (2017, p.43) n/a (2) summary of results/findings and claims based on the analysis conducted some conclusion can be drawn. first, the results of t-test quasiexperimental method with two group pre-test and post-test design showed that the hypothesis (h1) was accepted … their friends in group. third, collaborative writing is a bridge for the students to collaborate and contribute among themselves. (quantitative) fernandes (2017, p.79) from this study which has been conducted, the researcher found that the four maxims were violated for 57 times in total. statistically, the frequency of each maxim’s violation was illustrated as follows … the speaker’s utterances. however, both speakers and hearers who were involved in the conversation were found to be oblivious towards the violation occurred during their conversation. (qualitative) monika (2017, p.39) the summary and evaluation of the research methods seem not to be part of the qualitative thesis conclusion. in this move, the qualitative thesis conclusions focus more on the summary of findings and the claims they made based on their findings. for a quantitative thesis conclusion, however, looking at the methods and providing an overview of them and relating them with the findings seem to be important. move 3: recommendations and implications move 3, the recommendations and implications include the recommendation for future research, the practical application of the findings and the limitation of the study. the steps directly reflect the different parts of the move. as found in the previous section, the limitation part of this move is a minority in quantitative thesis conclusions while other parts are more commonly found in this move. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 709-728 720 table 4. the examples of move 3 (recommendation and implications) steps examples source move 3: recommendations and implications (1) future research in order to get the students immersed in the learning activity, it is better to choose the type of jigsaw following the ability of the students in classroom … far from perfect. therefore, the writer hopes that the other researchers could conduct a better study and give more meaningful contributions. (quantitative) gabriella (2018, p.36), the instrument which is used lacks in accuracy, therefore future researchers adapting the same topic need to consider developing the questions and instrument to get more relevant answers … encounter changing of expectations. it is suggested for future researcher to explore more on the cause of these changes. (qualitative) megaputri (2018, p.39) (2) practical applications a teacher can use the picture media in form of flashcard, magazine, poster or drawn picture to improve students’ vocabulary performance. this brings pleasurable situations that motivate students to learn better. (quantitative) dambeng (2018, p.53) from this thesis, the writer also expects the readers to be openminded to every view of life. it is reasonable for olivia who does not receive enough love in life to question their worth. there is a chance that one despises her own situation, but the thoughts did not necessarily determine her attitude.(qualitative) stevanie (2019, p. 60) (3) limitations of the study on this study, the writer only teaches about noun using video songs so the writer hopes the next researcher can teach with various vocabularies such as verb and adjectives using video songs and other media. (quantitative) agustina (2017, p.100) firstly, this study only focused on the dialogue or to be specific some phrases in a dialogue of the movie which reflected the use of values based on gulla’s theory, omitting other important elements like youasa (2018, p. 34) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 709-728 721 gestures, expressions, songs or audio, costumes, and other important elements in a movie. (qualitative) step 1 in this move is the recommendation for future research. this step is very important in thesis conclusions because it suggests the direction of future research as well as provides clues about the current research gap. in short, the recommendation for future research will expand the research community’s understanding of the subject areas being investigated. this is the process of continuing curiosity to get a better understanding of the areas. discussions the findings of this study confirm bunton (2005) generic structure of thesis conclusions. the moves and steps in thesis conclusions in the areas of social sciences and humanity are reflected in the thesis conclusions written by indonesian students. as a caveat, however, the preferences varied between the two approaches used in the discipline of applied linguistics, confirming the existence of sub-genres within the discipline. from this overall finding, three major implications can be drawn. the importance of research approaches within a discipline research approaches within a discipline are important in distinguishing subgenres. our decision to distinguish two different approaches in research within a discipline has shed light on different preferences in organizing thesis conclusions. quantitative research is based on the assumptions of objectivity of the subject being studied and the researchers’ roles are the neutral observers of the phenomenon (elshadelin & yumarnamto, 2020; gelo et al., 2008; yumarnamto et al., 2020). on the other hand, qualitative studies are based on the acknowledgement that subjectivity may influence the subject of the study and from this lens researchers are not neutral observers of the phenomenon. the acknowledgement of subjectivity and intersubjectivity is important in generating knowledge in qualitative studies. the positivists’ perspective and post-positivists’ lenses can influence the generic structure and the rhetorical organization of the academic genre. consequently, teaching academic writing should consider not only the topic areas but also the approaches the researchers investigate on different topic areas. the sub-genres within a discipline show different rhetorical organizations and different generic structures as reflected in the preference of the writer in quantitative and qualitative thesis conclusions in the discipline of applied linguistics in indonesia. in bhatia’s (2002) terms, a genre can display “tensions of various kinds” (p. 31) and our findings show such tensions as suggested by different preferences in the use of moves and steps in organizing the conclusions. this finding implies the importance of sub-genres within disciplines. unfortunately, sub-genres within a discipline are often ignored as researchers focus more on investigating differences in genres among various disciplines. in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 709-728 722 hyland’s (2015) terms, the community practices in the discipline enable the reproduction of certain genres. in this way, hyland suggests the importance of community practices within a discipline that determines the generic structure and grammatical conventions acceptable to the community. the community of a discipline, therefore, is expected to master various sub-genres within the discipline, which is often difficult considering the different ideologies and philosophical foundations in quantitative and qualitative research. the finding suggests more attention should be put forward to investigating genres by looking at the two opposite approaches to research. the micro-social practices of thesis writing in the academic community for efl learners writing these may reflect micro-social practices in the academic community. the context of our study was in an efl environment where english was a foreign language and the thesis writers were in the process of completing their studies to become english teachers in indonesia. this context was unique in that the authors of the theses were still in apprenticeship in the disciplinary community. the different preferences in organizing thesis conclusions and the array of variations in the conclusions may suggest the existence of a sub-academic community of learning in the contexts of the study program. therefore, membership in the sub-academic community could be confined to professors, lecturers, and students within the study program, and to some extent, the wider academic community found in journal articles and books. this is an intermediary community with more structured roles. in this community, professors and lecturers provide resources and models. meanwhile, students can engage in learning as apprentices so that they can claim their full membership in a wider community of academic practices. this conception of such community as resources of learning echoes hyland (2015, p. 2) when he wrote “... genres are community resources which allow users to create and read texts with some assurance that they know what they are dealing with.” this sub-academic community on campus indeed can be a resource for the learners. while writing their theses, they consulted and discussed with their advisors as well as looked at previous theses they found in the library and online in the repository. so far, this sub-academic community within a discipline with its unique practices seems to have been ignored as researchers focus more on the academic community within a discipline in a wider sense. further research on sub-academic communities where novice members practices their apprenticeship and full members as resources is worthy of future investigation. how the novice members interact with the full members to create a specific academic culture? how the academic culture in the micro academic community is maintained in academic interactions? these questions could contribute to a better understanding of the micro-academic community. writing thesis as literacy practices and apprenticeship in the academic community teaching academic writing in efl contexts should be focused on literacy practices and should be framed in terms of apprenticeship in the academic community. our study was situated in an educational program that prepared and trained future english teachers in indonesia. the findings suggest different llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 709-728 723 preferences at the level of the two thesis groups as well as individual differences. the nature of differences can be interpreted at least from two perspectives: (1) real individual preference and (2) lack of understanding of the generic structures of thesis conclusions. therefore, the pedagogical implication from this interpretation of the finding, especially the second one can be addressed by looking at how academic writing was taught. the traditional way of teaching academic writing that emphasizes language mastery may not be enough. it should be focused on literacy and framed in terms of apprenticeship in the academic community (bhatia, 2002; hyland & wong, 2013; richards & pilcher, 2017; xu, 2019). therefore, the pedagogy of academic writing in the efl context should move from language-oriented pedagogy to literacy-oriented pedagogy. while the former focuses on language mastery, the latter focuses on literacy practices in which learners engage in the academic community as apprentices. in these academic practices, learners, facilitated by mentors engage meaningfully in the academic community. practices and engagement in the academic community are central for the learners in terms of the mastery of the craft as suggested by valtonen et al. (2017). we also agree with hyland (2015) when he wrote: to work in a discipline, then, we need to be able to engage in these practices and, in particular, in its discourses. we need to proximate to the rhetorical conventions it routinely employs to claim membership and learn how to use these conventions to take positions on matters the community values. (p. 3) the role of the teachers of academic writing, then, should be more of mentors that help the apprentices to claim their full membership in the academic community. the way to do it is by engaging them with real academic literacy practices as suggested by tardy (2011) when she suggested that writing pedagogy should be “grounded in the belief that helping students to demystify socially situated writing can facilitate the learning of privileged forms of discourse” (p. 2). in this way, the implications of the findings of our inquiry are in line with the shift of writing pedagogy, from language to genre, and literacy practices. conclusion our inquiry on thesis conclusions written by indonesian efl learners began with our curiosity about the generic organization marked by moves and steps in thesis conclusions. we distinguished the disciplinary area of applied linguistics into two groups by looking at the approaches: quantitative and qualitative research. the distinction between the two groups suggests the existence of subgenres within the thesis, one form of the academic genre in higher education. these sub-genres deserve more attention as they are often overlooked because researchers and writing teachers focus more on disciplinary differences—not the sub-genres within a discipline. we also found that different preferences can be attributed to each group. the different preferences can be interpreted from two perspectives: individual preferences and the lack of understanding of the generic structure. this finding brings us to the pedagogical implication that academic writing should be treated llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 709-728 724 as an apprenticeship to the academic community—shifting the focus from the mastery of language forms and features to a meaningful engagement with the academic community. references askehave, i., & swales, j. m. 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(2020). identity and imagined communities in english textbooks' illustrations. learn journal: language education and acquisition research network journal, 13(2), 354-368. retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ej1258604 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2010.12.004 https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.3518 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95333-5_7 https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ej1258604 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 709-728 727 appendix 1 quantitative theses no thesis title year author 1 the effect of kwl strategy and translation technique on the 11th grade students’ reading achievement 2017 andreas priyanto 2 the effect of using storytelling on the vocabulary achievement of fourth grade elementary school students 2017 mulia darmaningsih 3 the effect of the eighth graders’ collaborative writing on their descriptive writing 2017 regia monika 4 the effect of using picture series on ic students’ speaking achievement in story telling class 2017 yuditha putri 5 the effect of using jigsaw i on the reading comprehension achievement of junior high school students 2018 ais’y megaputri 6 the effect of board games on seventh grade students’ grammar achievement 2018 arina hidayati 7 the effect of using video songs on the vocabulary mastery of the first grade students of elementary school 2018 efylian youasa 8 the effect of teaching vocabulary using pictures to elementary school 2018 pransiska dambeng 9 the correlation between content schemata and reading comprehension of english department students 2019 felicia budianthi 10 the effect of using grammar translation method (gtm) and jigsaw ii in teaching reading on the reading achievement of grade 10 students 2019 oei yosephine 11 the effect of role play technique in improving the speaking ability of grade 10 students 2019 pratiwi ayu 12 the effect of picture series on students’ writing achievement of seventh graders 2019 yustina siagian llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 709-728 728 appendix 2 qualitative theses no thesis title year author 1 the values depicted in the movie “unbroken” 2017 christy augustina 2 the illocutionary acts found in the lyrics of the script’s #3 album 2017 hoegeline debby 3 moral virtues as reflected in jay gatsby in fitzgerald’s “the great gatsby” novel 2017 sarah anggraeni 4 the violation of grice’s maxim in the “freedom writers” movie 2017 yosefina fernandes 5 accuracy of the indonesian subtitles in boss baby movie 2018 agnes trixiebella 6 errors in the use of simple present tense found in writing iii students’ analytical essays 2018 febe debora 7 the social status expectation of the english department students in surabaya 2018 holy gabriella 8 moral values in harper lee’s to kill a mockingbird 2018 melissa kusmono 9 self-actualization found in the main characters of fitzgerald’s short stories 2019 ajeng berliana 10 perseverance in misery: a historical approach toward anne frank’s the diary of a young girl 2019 laurensia belansa 11 love and affection reflected in olivia pullman from “wonder” novel by r.j. palacio 2019 lidya stevanie 12 the translation of the product description and instruction of face mask 2019 yuri majoli llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 399 peer feedback in college efl writing: a review of empirical research yuseva ariyani iswandari and yizhe jiang ohio state university, usa iswandari.1@buckeyemail.osu.edu & jiang.1878@buckeyemail.osu.edu correspondence: iswandari.1@buckeyemail.osu.edu doi: 10.24071/llt.v23i2.2799 received 6 august 2020; accepted 22 september 2020 abstract peer feedback in efl settings has become an interesting area to explore in the past thirty years. this study reviews 16 empirical research studies on offline peer feedback in college efl writing. there are 4 research questions addressed in this study, namely (1) what types of peer feedback are mostly researched in the past 10 years?, (2) what kinds of research objectives are addressed?, (3) what kinds of data collection and analysis methods are implemented to address the research questions?, and (4) what are methodological challenges reported in the studies reviewed? the researchers employed norris and ortega (2006) characteristics of systematic research synthesis and followed a chapter from adolescent literacies in a multicultural context edited by cumming (2012). the findings show that there are four criteria of feedback types mainly involved: written/spoken, inclass/out-of-class, anonymous/non-anonymous, and trained/untrained. most of these studies are designed to explore the students’ perceptions toward peer feedback processes and products, with qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methodologies. furthermore, the methodological challenges emerged from these studies are discussed, especially the ethical issues. it is hoped that the research gaps identified in these studies and future research implications provided can shed light on future research in similar areas. keywords: peer feedback, efl writing, college efl setting, methodological review introduction the past thirty years have witnessed a growing body of research on peer feedback in english writing classes (chang, 2016; hyland, 2019; yu & lee, 2016). peer feedback, which has several terms like peer response (hyland, 2019), peer evaluation (tahir, 2012), or peer editing (yu & lee, 2015), is viewed as a common pedagogical activity in esl and efl writing classrooms. in a general agreement, it refers to a practice in a writing classroom where one student gives feedback on his/her friend’s writing during the drafting process. these students play roles as reviewer and receiver of the feedback. more specifically, we adopt hansen and liu’s definition of peer feedback (2012) as: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 400 the use of learners as sources of information and interactants for each other in such a way that learners assume roles and responsibilities normally taken on by a formally trained teacher, tutor, or editor in commenting on and critiquing each other’s drafts in both written and oral formats in the process of writing (p. 1). originated from l1 research, the practice of peer feedback has been given credits for providing a non-threatening atmosphere for the student, enhancing their sense of audience, and improving their drafts (hyland, 2019; keh, 1990). most research has been conducted on students as feedback receivers, with some exception of investigating the students who practice as reviewers (see patchan & schunn, 2015). in a nutshell, most studies conducted on peer feedback practices in english writing have reported positive results (yu & lee, 2016). however, some scholars are more reserved about the application of peer feedback, arguing that students might lack trust in their readers or feel frustration due to miscommunication with their peers (mangelsdorf, 1992; carson & nelson, 1996). although there is a large body of scholarship that looks at the role of peer feedback in english writing education, there is a lack of comprehensive review specifically focusing on the previous studies conducted on english as a foreign language in the college writing contexts. there have been some review articles on peer feedback on writing in english. owing to the importance of peer feedback on english language writing, yu and lee (2016) comprehensively review studies of peer feedback in second language (l2) writing published between 2005 to 2014, focusing on the aspects including, in part, effectiveness on writers compared with teacher feedback, benefits of peer feedback for the reviewers, and cultural issues. another secondary study, chang’s thematic analysis, includes 103 empirical articles published from 1990 to 2015 and analyzes them in terms of perceptions, process, and products of peer feedback in second language writing (2016). reviewing articles about the feedback of writing in general, hyland, nicolás-conesa, & cerezo (2016) point out that while a wealth of data is generated from esl contexts, much less is explored in efl contexts. to the best knowledge of the authors, there is no research synthesis or meta-analysis specifically for peer feedback in the efl college context. furthermore, no research synthesis has centered on the methodological issues despite the important role played by methodology in english acquisition research academia. the goals motivating our research include: 1. to fill the lacunas aforementioned and provide a clear and organization review on the primary studies of peer feedback processed in efl college settings, published from 2011-2020. 2. to showcase the most researched aspects, the recent research trends, and the challenges emerged in terms of research methodology in efl peer feedback in the last ten years, providing valuable implications for researchers. 3. to uncover the methodological gaps of the existing literature from 2011 to 2020 and showcase the directions for future research in college efl writing peer feedback. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 401 research from various theoretical and methodological perspectives a large amount of literature on l2 peer feedback and its benefits have been conducted (hansen & liu, 2005; montgomery & baker, 2007; lee, 2008; lundstorm & baker, 2009; bitchener & knoch, 2010). ferris and hedgcock (1998) state that feedback, including peer feedback, holds out to be one constant element in the pedagogy of writing. from the sociocultural perspective, the social interaction that is formed through students’ collaboration when they become a reviewer and receiver of feedback is viewed as the most effective way to facilitate students to attain higher levels of writing proficiency (zhao, 2018). this is in accordance with vygotsky’s theory (1987) of zone of proximal development which highlights that individual cognitive development results from social interaction. this perspective highlights two important keys in learning, the importance of social interaction and process-oriented. through peer feedback, the reviewers try to guide the receivers on how to revise their writing drafts. this guidance or assistance that is given by the reviewers is known as scaffolding (aljaafreh & lantolf, 1994). in this scaffolding, it is expected that students are able “to be both experts and novices, which helped them to assist one another to attain a higher level of performance” (cao, yu, & huang, 2019, p. 103). the final purpose of scaffolding is that students are able to internalize the knowledge they have learned and become self-regulated towards their future writing tasks. from the cognitive perspective, which focuses more on the learning process inside of the students’ mind, students’ self-confidence gets improved and feel less anxiety when they receive positive comments from their peers, and they are motivated to provide feedback for their classmates (conner & moulton, 2000). yastibas & yastibas’ study (2015) also reports that peer feedback reduces students’ anxiety because it enables the students to work collaboratively with other friends, so they can learn from each other. both l2 and l2 cognitive researchers advance that peer feedback helps writers write and review their works with audience awareness (becker, 2006). audience awareness, or reader awareness, according to many scholars, is an important indicator of writing quality, distinguishing expert from novice writers (e.g., kroll, 1981; carvalho, 2002). moreover, through providing and receiving feedback, the writers get comprehensive perceptions of how different readers react to the same writing and thus plan, create, and revise their works more holistically (becker, 2006). however, van lier (2004) recommends l2 researchers to conduct further studies on students’ cognitive processes and make them connected to the environment in order to provide broader perspectives of the l2 learning process. in terms of the methodology applied in the research of peer feedback in second language writing, yu and lee (2016) discuss it in their state-of-the-art article reviewing studies about peer feedback published from 2005 to 2014. according to them, during this period, qualitative case studies, either single case or multiple cases, had been most commonly conducted in this area mainly focusing on the process peer feedback, with triangulation of multiple data sources. quantitative studies about peer feedback frequently investigated its effectiveness on students’ compositions. furthermore, the paper shows that mixed-method designs had been increasingly applied to garner comprehensive images about peer feedback, such as integrating questionnaires and standard tests with interviews. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 402 method as it was stated in the introduction part, no research synthesis has centered on the methodology issues in this area despite the important role played by methodology in english acquisition research academia. to fill the lacunas, capture the recent research trends, and provide the implications of future research methodologies for efl educators and researchers, we conduct a research synthesis analyzing the methodologies of empirical studies of peer feedback in undergraduate english writing published in the last ten years (2011-2020). specifically, four research questions guiding this review are: 1. what types of peer feedback are mostly researched in the past 10 years? 2. what kinds of research objectives are addressed? 3. what kinds of data collection and analysis methods are implemented to address the research questions? 4. what are the methodological challenges reported in the studies reviewed? selection criteria the writers employed norris and ortega (2006) characteristics of systematic research synthesis and followed a chapter from adolescent literacies in a multicultural context edited by cumming (2012). the study followed some inclusion criteria as follows: 1. the study was limited to the discussion on face-to-face peer feedback in efl college writing and, therefore, we exclude computer-based forms of peer feedback. 2. the study only included the published empirical research articles in the last ten years (2011-2020) in order to provide original empirical results and findings. 3. the study limited its discussion on efl college student setting since peer feedback in efl writing still becomes efl teacher interest and practice. 4. the study included written and spoken modes of peer feedback because the focus was on the feedback, not on the way. literature search procedures the writers located the search by using four online databases in order to synthesize the published empirical articles and studies that are relevant to the study focus. they were scopus, direct science, web of science, and ebscohost. the combination of keywords related to the topic was implemented, including “peer feedback”, “l2 writing”, “efl setting”, “efl college students”, “revision”, “types of peer feedback”, and “role of training”. in addition, manual search was also performed in prominent journals on second language writing, such as tesol quarterly, language teaching, journal of second language writing, the modern language journal. furthermore, google scholar search engine and ohio state university library database were also used to find additional research papers and/or attest the studies. finally, the writers also searched for information from the reference page of related books and published articles to be used as sources for potential studies. after conducting an initial review of the articles obtained from the above databases at the abstract level, there were 27 articles selected. however, after thoroughly reading those articles and putting the important information into a table, there were 16 studies that were matched with the inclusion criteria. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 403 findings and discussion this study reviews 16 empirical research articles on peer feedback in college efl writing in order to answer the four research questions, they are: (1) what types of peer feedback are mostly researched in the past 10 years?, (2) what kinds of research objectives are addressed?, (3) what kinds of data collection and analysis methods are implemented to address the research questions?, and (4) what are methodological challenges reported in the studies reviewed? types of peer feedback that are mostly researched in the past 10 years background of the primary studies for the research background of these 16 studies, 10 studies were conducted in mainland china (yu & lee, 2015; wang & lu, 2016; lei, 2017; yu & hu, 2017a; yu & hu, 2017b; cao, yu, & huang, 2018; tian & li, 2018; zhao, 2018; zhu & carless, 2018; shen, bai, & xue, 2020). others were respectively conducted in iran (rahimi, 2013), indonesia (kusumaningrum, cahyono, & prayogo, 2019), vietnam (nguyen, 2016), saudi arabia (alnasser & alyousef, 2015), malaysia (daud, gilmore & mayo, 2013) and japan (2019). therefore, research in different regions is strongly recommended, especially with the nonasian efl context. types of peer feedback most commonly conducted for efl undergraduate students the first question addressed in this paper is related to types of peer feedback that are most commonly conducted for efl undergraduate students. from 16 empirical research publications being synthesized, we identify that there are four major criteria defining the feedback types: written/spoken; in-class/out-of-class; anonymous/non-anonymous; trained/untrained. these four criteria overlap with each other since every study involves more than one type of feedback. 1. written/spoken according to our analysis, 7 studies conduct written feedback (e.g., cahyono & prayogo, 2019) and 4 studies use spoken feedback (e.g., yu & lee, 2015). furthermore, 5 studies employ both types of feedback as students write their comments first and then express them with their peers face-to-face (e.g., zhao, 2018). discussing further the positive effect of having dialogic interaction and negotiation, zhu & carless (2018) and hirose (2012) propose the use of bimodal peer feedback in either peer or small group peer feedback where students are facilitated to use written and spoken modes. furthermore, zhu & carless (2018) highlight that students can use their l1 in the spoken mode which enables students to exchange s and view more efficiently and make them more confident and more motivated in joining the peer feedback activity. similarly, yu & hu (2017) argue that l1 usage during peer feedback is considered to be an essential facilitative factor. however, zhu & carless (2018) state an obvious limitation in a way that those who will participate more actively in the spoken mode are those who are normally talkative and good at social interaction. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 404 2. in-class/out-of-class regarding this criterion, feedbacks in the majority of studies were delivered in class (e.g., zhao, 2018; rahimi, 2013). face-to-face in-class peer feedback provision is believed to be able to provide students with better interaction patterns and negotiation of meanings (zhao, 2018; zhu & carless, 2018). students who act as both reviewers and receivers can directly communicate their ideas and thoughts and, at the same time, clarify unclear ideas or feedback in a more relaxing atmosphere. most of the in-class face to face feedback processes were video recorded, providing rich data to analyze using methods such as interview or stimulated recall, which is discussed in the data analysis section. four studies have peer review sessions both in and after class (yu & lee, 2015; yu & hu, 2017a; tian & li, 2018; shen, bai, xue, 2020), enabling students to be more prepared while expressing feedbacks in class. only one study, wang and lu’s (2016), solely applies after-class peer feedback asking the students to act as pen pals and providing reviews in the journal books. 3. anonymous/non-anonymous non-anonymous peer feedback is suggested by most of the researchers (e.g., zhu & carless, 2018; zhao, 2018). following the sociocultural perspective, nonanonymous in-class peer feedback enables reviewers and receivers of feedback to interact directly in order to provide assistance, mediate their needs, and clarify their understanding during peer feedback (aljaafreh & lantolf, 1994). however, yu & hu (2017) suggest that for the success of non-anonymous peer feedback, teachers need to pay close attention to the pairing pattern. they suggest that a “friendship” grouping pattern could make students “feel less inhibited in offering criticisms and showing disagreement, and did not misunderstand each other’s good intention” (p. 32). although most of the researchers suggest non-anonymous peer feedback practice, wang & lu (2016), nguyen (2016), and kim (2019) take wang and lu’s (2016) project as an example. they conducted a study on the use of the term “pen-pals” as a peer feedback practice in china setting and found out that this practice could motivate students especially those reluctant ones to be more enthusiastic. however, their findings show that 27.6% of the participants did not think that they make progress in english writing in general. in addition, rahimi (2013) employs non-anonymous feedback in the first round and anonymous peer feedback in the second round. therefore, more studies with anonymous or the mixture of anonymous and non-anonymous peer review are warranted to investigate its effectiveness. 4. trained/untrained researchers including zhao (2018), rahimi (2013), and cao, yu, & huang (2018) emphasize that the success of peer feedback is dependent on the use of training given to students before they conduct peer feedback. they summarize the benefits of training in 3 main categories. first, training widens students’ focuses, from only focusing on form feedback like grammar and spelling to global errors. second, helps students improve their self-confidence in writing as well as reviewing other’s writing draft. finally, it benefits students’ linguistic knowledge, an important aspect of peer feedback practice. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 405 all the primary studies involve training with different types for the student, except lei’s (2017) which is not clear whether the training was offered. some use text modals in class to explain the peer feedback process (e.g., yu & hu, 2017a); some offer criteria of the high-quality feedback (e.g., cao, yu, & huang, 2018); some provide immediate teacher assistance in class (e.g., shen, bai, & xue, 2020). while the other 13 studies apply trainings to all the students, the quality and the quantity of the training in rahimi’s (2013) and zhu & carless’s (2018) vary among different groups. for instance, in zhu and carless’s research (2018), three groups received little or minimal training whereas the other two groups were trained for 10 minutes about the procedure and criteria of peer feedback in detail. from the sociocultural perspective, training with various types provides scaffolding for students to be more prepared for providing feedbacks with higher quality. according to the primary sources published in the last ten years, it is increasingly the case that students participating in the peer feedback activities with pre-training or instant guidance from their english teachers. however, the role of training for peer feedback remains seldom explored in the college efl context. from the studies, only one study centers on this issue (rahimi, 2013) exploring the influences of training on the quality of students’ feedbacks and writings. thus, more attention needs to be paid to it. kinds of research objectives that are addressed based on the study review, the most commonly addressed research target is students’ perceptions toward the peer feedback processes and products, discussed in seven journal articles (e.g., nguyen, 2016; wang & lu, 2016). what stood out among these studies are those explore students’ attitudes from the perspectives of receiver, giver, and even observer respectively (tian & li, 2018; zhu & carless, 2018; nguyen, 2016. the second most frequently discussed issue is students’ writing ability and quality after receiving feedbacks (e.g., wang & lu, 2016; daud, gilmore & mayo, 2013). some researchers center on students’ motivation of participating in peer feedback activities (yu & lee, 2015; wang & lu, 2016) and the extent of students’ adoption of their peers’ suggestions into their revisions (lei, 2017; yu & hu, 2017b). what is more, two studies target at students’ preference for types of feedbacks. tian & li (2018) found that, in general, the students preferred giving positive feedbacks over negative ones on their partners’ writing, in both oral and written processes. in alnasser and alyousef’s research article (2015), students reported preferences for receiving macro and micro feedbacks on similar levels. seldom-voiced points in these studies are about students’ characteristics influenced by the feedback activities, including critical thinking ability (daud, gilmore, & mayo, 2013), metacognition (nguyen, 2016), and learner autonomy (shen, bai, & xue, 2020), in spite of their important roles in learners’ writing development. another marginal target is the effects of training (rahimi, 2013). besides, only one study investigates students’ interaction patterns involved in peer feedback dialogues (zhao, 2018). given that interaction enables reviewers to understand and address their peers’ needs in appropriate ways (zhao, 2018), this synthesis also flags up the need to investigate students’ interaction patterns in the peer feedback process, both written and oral. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 406 kinds of data collection and analysis methods that are implemented to address the research questions the 16 primary studies that we synthesized employed qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods to respond to their research questions. to be specific, there were 6 studies that were conducted qualitatively (yu & lee, 2015; yu & hu, 2017a; yu & hu, 2017b; cao, yu, huang, 2018; zhu & carless, 2018; nguyen, 2016) and 6 studies that employed mixed methods (wang & lu, 2016; lei, 2017; tian & li, 2018, shen, bai, & xue, 2020; kim, 2019; alnasser & alyousef, 2015). the other four studies were conducted quantitatively, including the studies from zhao (2018), rahimi (2013), daud, gilmore, and mayo (2013), and kusumaningrum, cahyono, and prayogo (2019). the clear presentation can be seen in the following table. in terms of data collections, most of the qualitative studies employed interviews (most of them were semi-structured interviews). from the analysis, we found that interviews were chosen to answer research questions related to students’ motivation of peer feedback practice (yu & lee, 2015), students’ attitude and perception on peer feedback (cao, yu, & huang, 2018; zhu & carless, 2018; nguyen, 2016), types of feedback (yu & hu, 2017a; kim, 2019), the extent the peer feedback is incorporated into writing (lei, 2017; yu & hu, 2017b), and students’ autonomy in peer feedback (nguyen, 2016; shen, bai, & xue, 2020). the other data collections were through video recording of peer feedback sessions (yu & lee, 2015; yu & hu, 2017a; yu & hu, 2017b; cao, yu, & huang, 2018; nguyen, 2016), stimulated recalls (yu & lee, 2015; yu & hu, 2017a; yu & hu, 2017b; cao, yu, & huang, 2018; tian & li, 2018), and the analysis of students’ drafts and revisions (yu & lee, 2015; lei, 2017; yu & hu, 2017a; yu & hu, 2017b). few of the studies also implemented open-ended questions in the survey (tian & li, 2018; kim, 2019), class observation fieldnotes, and reflective journals (zhu & carless, 2018). meanwhile, questionnaires with likert scale were mostly employed for the quantitative method by the researchers (wang & lu, 2016; lei, 2017; tian & li, 2018; shen, bai, & xue, 2020; kim, 2019; daud, gilmore & mayo, 2013; alnasser & alyousef, 2015). the other data collections for the quantitative method were from the students’ writing scores (wang & lu, 2016; lei, 2017; kusumaningrum, cahyono, & prayogo, 2019; rahimi, 2013), and cornell critical thinking test level x (daud, gilmore & mayo, 2013). the complete presentation of the data collection category can be seen below. table 1. qualitative data collection category qualitative data studies interview (most of them are semistructured) yu & lee, 2015; wang & lu, 2016; lei, 2017; yu & hu, 2017a; yu & hu, 2017b; cao, yu, & huang, 2018; zhu & carless, 2018; shen, bai, & xue, 2020; alnasser & alyousef, 2015; kim, 2019; nguyen, 2016 video recording of peer feedback yu & lee, 2015; yu & hu, 2017a; yu & llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 407 sessions (5 studies) hu, 2017b; cao, yu, & huang, 2018; nguyen, 2016 stimulated recalls (5 studies) yu & lee, 2015; yu & hu, 2017a; yu & hu, 2017b; cao, yu, & huang, 2018; tian & li, 2018 draft and revisions (4 studies) yu & lee, 2015; lei, 2017; yu & hu, 2017a; yu & hu, 2017b open-ended questions in survey (2 studies) tian & li, 2018; kim, 2019 audio recording of peer feedback sessions (1 study) tian & li, 2018 peer interaction protocol (1 study) zhao, 2018 class observation fieldnotes (1 study) zhu & carless, 2018 table 2. quantitative data collection category quantitative data studies questionnaires with likert scales (7 studies) wang & lu, 2016; lei, 2017; tian & li, 2018; shen, bai, & xue, 2020; kim, 2019; daud, gilmore & mayo, 2013; alnasser & alyousef, 2015 writing scores (4 studies) wang & lu, 2016; lei, 2017; kusumaningrum, cahyono, & prayogo, 2019; rahimi, 2013 cornell critical thinking test level x (1 study) daud, gilmore & mayo, 2013 furthermore, we also classified how the data were analyzed in those 16 primary studies. qualitatively, some researchers conducted transcripts analysis (yu & lee, 2015), texts analysis (yu & hu, 2017a; yu & hu, 2017b), draft and revision analysis (min, 2016), content analysis (nguyen, 2016), and thematic analysis of reflective journals and observation fieldnotes (zhu & carless, 2018). in the quantitative analysis, the researchers preferred to conduct quasiexperimental study (daud, gilmore, & mayo, 2013) and causal-comparative study (kusumaningrum, cahyono, & prayogo, 2019). additionally, there are two major data analysis tools, they are: nvivo10 to analyze peer interaction (zhao, 2018), spss to analyze the students’ scores (rahimi, 2013). the mixed-method, therefore, would be the combination of the qualitative and quantitative ones. for llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 408 example, the study of lei (2017) employed qualitative analysis of interviews and descriptive analysis of writings combined with analyzing the writing tests and questionnaires using spss. another example is tian and li’s (2018) study, which analyzed interview transcripts qualitatively, employed descriptive analysis, and paired sample t-test with spss to analyze the questionnaire. the presentation is as follows. table 3. data analysis category analysis methods studies qualitative (6 studies) yu & lee, 2015 (transcripts were analyzed with miles and huberman’s 1995 qualitative data analysis scheme; drafts and revisions were analyzed with text analysis approach (min, 2006)) yu & hu, 2017a (text analysis and qualitative analysis on interview and recalls) yu & hu, 2017b (text analysis on writing; miles and huberman’s 1995 qualitative data analysis scheme) cao, yu, & huang, 2018 (strauss & corbin, 1998 qualitative approach) zhu & carless, 2018 (thematic analysis of reflective journals and observation fieldnotes) nguyen, 2016 (content analysis) quantitative (4 studies) rahimi, 2013 (spss analyzing students’ scores) daud, gilmore, & mayo, 2013 (quasiexperimental study) kusumaningrum, cahyono, & prayogo, 2019 (causal-comparative study) wang & lu, 2016 (quasi-experimental-control group and experimental group; qualitative analysis of interview) mixed-method (6 studies) lei, 2017 (qualitative analysis of interview, descriptive analysis of writings; writing tests and questionnaires analyzed by spss) tian & li, 2018 (qualitatively analyzing recall interview transcripts; descriptive analysis and paired sample t-test with spss analyzing questionnaire) shen, bai, & xue, 2020 (thematic analysis for interview; anova analysis of questionnaire of both experimental and controlled groups quasiexperimental data) kim, 2019 (statistics analysis of questionnaire; qualitative analysis of interview and open-ended llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 409 questions of survey) alnasser & alyousef, 2015 (quasi-action study; qualitative analysis of interview) from the explanation and tables presented above, it is identified that the research on peer feedback in college efl writing has employed various data collection and analysis methods. it indicates that research on peer feedback in college efl writing has provided throughgoing findings and results, both qualitatively and quantitatively from various data collections and sources. the 16 empirical articles show that the research in this field has been conducted in diverse efl settings, including china (10 studies), iran (1 study), indonesia (1 study), vietnam (1 study), saudi arabia (1 study), malaysia (1 study), and japan (1 study). however, there are still some gaps identified. first, based on the analysis, almost all of the studies were limited by their research participant sizes and sites. most of them used one or two efl classes for their research participants. moreover, they only collected data from one site which was one university. therefore, the findings could not be generalized for other efl settings. it would be insightful for future research to focus on a similar topic in a broader setting with more participants. second, some researchers conducted their research in their own classes, programs, and/or institutions. although there are many benefits from being insiders, there are still several potential issues and conflicts that may appear during the data collection and the implementation processes of the research. it is suggested that future researchers have strategies to resolve or minimize the impacts of conflicts or issues resulted from positioning themselves as insiders. methodological challenges reported in the studies reviewed the section of methodology, especially the data collection stage, takes a very essential part among researchers’ research stages because it is the time for researchers to really interact with their research participants and data. research in the social and behavioral sciences involves humans and commonly reveals a great amount of information about their lives during data collection and analysis. with the vast growing research interests in this field, there are increasing concerns and awareness on the paucity of the participants’ rights and privacy. from the 16 primary studies reviewed in this study, there are some methodological challenges identified, especially related to potential ethical issues. three articles explicitly stated about research ethics and (potential) ethical issues appearing during their data collection and analysis. zhu and carless’ (2018) research on “dialogue within peer feedback processes: clarification and negotiation of meaning” clearly mentioned how research ethics are accommodated by mentioning that “the student received ethical approval and observed anonymity, voluntary participation, freedom to withdraw and respect for participants” (p. 888). the research data collection is carefully planned as the researcher also tried to minimize the influence on the participants by positioning self as a non-participant observer. furthermore, the article included a disclosure statement by the end of the paper llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 410 which stated that there was no potential conflict of interest reported by the authors. similarly, daud and mayo’s (2013) study on exploring the potency of peer evaluation to develop critical thinking for tertiary academic writing implemented careful data collection steps in order to anticipate ethical issues. to deal with the selection threat, the researchers chose the participants from the same year and discipline of study. moreover, gender, educational background, and teaching experience were also considered when selecting the instructors. unlike the previous two studies, nguyen’s (2016) study on peer feedback practice in efl tertiary writing classes identified the potential ethical issue found during the observation. she pointed out that the lecturers’ organization of peer feedback grouping may result in the potential ethical issue since they only grouped the students based on the location where they were sitting down. it is suggested that pairing or grouping of the students need to consider accommodating the students’ choice of autonomy and equity. in addition to what has been stated explicitly, some potential ethical issues in the methodological part were also implicitly identified. the potential issues are mostly related to research participants’ autonomy principle, justice, and equity. first, studies conducted by wang and lu (2016) and rahimi (2013) used controlled and experimental groups for their data collection in order to answer their research objectives related to the students’ attitude, motivational level, and preference. when controlled groups and experimental groups receive different treatments, it might bring the potential issue in justice or fairness. from the research ethic principle, it is stated that everyone who participates in research should be treated fairly and equally. another potential ethical issue related to fairness is identified in alnasser and alyousef’s (2015) study, in which they had 41 participants who were male-only without making any justification why only male students were chosen. this decision raises a potential issue towards equity of gender being involved in research. finally, a potential ethical issue related to participants’ choice of autonomy is also identified. most of the research settings are conducted in writing classes in the efl college settings. one example is the study by kusumaningrum, cahyono, and prayogo (2019) in indonesia. their study involved 55 fourth-semester students who attended an argumentative writing course. since the participants were taking that class, they were not given any choice whether or not they were willing to participate. besides, the group distribution for different treatments was directly decided by the teacher. therefore, it is actually suggested that the researcher could review the research ethic principles before making decisions on the data collection stages. conclusion this study synthesizes 16 empirical studies focusing on peer feedback in the college efl settings published in the last ten years. it showcases the frequent types of feedback, the commonly addressed research targets, the data collection and analysis methods, and the methodological challenges reported in the studies reviewed. from the synthesis, there are four major types of peer feedback most commonly conducted for efl undergraduate students, including written/ spoken, in-class/ out-of-class, anonymous/ non-anonymous, and trained/ untrained feedback. furthermore, it is revealed that investigating students’ perceptions llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 2, october 2020 411 toward peer feedback becomes the most commonly addressed research objective. however, it is found out that students’ interaction patterns in the peer feedback process and the effects of training are seldom investigated. it can be a great recommendation for future researchers to investigate. in terms of data collection and analysis, the findings reveal that the researchers have employed various research methods including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods. various data collection methods are also administered to provide sufficient data for analysis. regarding the methodological challenges reported in the studies reviewed, out of 16 reviewed studies, 3 studies acknowledge research ethics to anticipate potential ethical issues explicitly. however, there are also some potential ethical issues identified from reviewing the studies. the potential issues are mostly related to research participants’ autonomy principle, justice, and equity. it is hoped that the results of this synthesis paper can shed light on future research about peer feedback in efl college writing. still, some limitations associated with limited primary sources must be borne in mind. first, we excluded research of peer feedback in efl college settings with technology, such as online composition and revision. second, only english written publications were included in this systematic review. future synthesis could investigate resources in other languages to further our knowledge in this area references atkinson, k. m., koenka, a. c., sanchez, c. e., moshontz, h., cooper, h. 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(2018). research methods in applied linguistics: quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methodologies. oxford: oxford university press. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 117 lest we forget: inhumanity threats in teaching in the new era novita dewi sanata dharma university, indonesia correspondence: novitadewi9@gmail.com doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.3156 received 20 juanuary 2021; accepted 28 february 2021 abstract since the prolonged pandemic, teaching language will never be the same even in the new normal when less strict social distancing measures apply. the sudden shift from offline and/or blended learning to full online learning has brought about diverse pedagogical implications. on the one hand, unlike in traditional teaching and learning, one positive outcome in online learning is the enhancement of social engagement, autonomy, and digital compassion. on the other hand, ignorance, over-indulgence, and cold-heartedness are among the drawbacks of technologymediated teaching. drawing from personal experiences and relevant studies, this article highlights the threats of inhumanity when the power of technology takes over life skills that language learners need to acquire. at the core of the recommendation made herein is an open heart in this nearly closed world – a small fraction of pope francis’ newest encyclical letter fratelli tutti on fraternity and social friendship. the four core values suggested include critical thinking, ethical reasoning, interpersonal connectivity, and compassion. keywords: compassion, connectivity, critical thinking, ethical reasoning introduction “i am teaching in an empty classroom, and it’s kind of sad,” said kara stoltenberg, from norman high school in norman, oklahoma, usa (reilly, 2020). the thirty-year-old language arts teacher spoke to time at the start of the school year done virtually across the country since august 2020. stoltenberg was among teachers who took part in 2018 teachers’ protest on account of wage stagnation and budget cuts that had forced teachers to take second or third jobs. the situation did not improve and even made worse by the covid-19 pandemic. she was among the concerned and caring teachers who hardly wanted their students grow disoriented by the abrupt change from offline to online teaching. being quite new in online class, she admitted, one-to-one tutorial was not feasible, given the limited budget. such is a story from a well-developed country. in indonesia, likewise, nearly seventy million students in indonesia were subsequently out of school after covid-19 cases had been reported in march 2020. the lingering pandemic has impacted education across the globe to date. shifting to online learning is indeed hard and exhausting (chiodini, 2020; dhawan, 2020; hodges, moore, lockee, trust, & bond, 2020). but the expectation is that the closure of schools does not mean that the learning also llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 118 stops. as shown in a great deal of research (e.g. allo, 2020; bao, 2020; khatoony & nezhadmehr, 2020; sepulveda-escobar & morrison, 2020; zhang, wang, yang, & wang, 2020), efforts have been made in the field of language teaching along with various strategies, good practice, tips and tricks to survive in 2020, the year of teaching dangerously. this article is to address the shortcomings of teaching in the new era, should one important aspect is overlooked, i.e. humanity. it argues that the closure of school is the opening of the heart. it will discuss briefly the bright and dark sides of the situation, i.e. collaboration versus cold-heartedness. the second parts attempts to offer the core value to live-by when teaching in this difficult time, that is, opening of the heart in the bordered world. as closing, the article suggests that despite the hurdles in facing the new era, educators shall triumph in victory. looking on the bright side and the flip side the world is sick. disease and death are part and parcel of the fallen world today. but life goes on. changes are what we all have to do during the spread of covid-19 and the post-coronavirus world. thus, it is better to navigate both the positive and negative aspects of the rapid transition that inevitably occur in the way we teach today. to use two examples from the praxis known to the author, the first is a classroom practice in creative writing, the other is a report gained from students’ reflections. herawati has shown that poetry writing is quite therapeutic as to help students in her creating writing class cope with the abrupt change in learning mode and life as well. poetry writing helps the students stimulate and reflect on feelings as diverse as fear, grief, isolation, and hope (herawati, 2020). plato says, “at the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet.” here, based on herawati’s experience, we can say, “at the touch of a disaster, everyone becomes a better poet.” another study examines expressions gathered from efl students’ reflections on online course during the pandemic (pasaribu, truly almendo; dewi, 2021). the study uses appraisal theory to capture the linguistic evidence of various attitudinal resources when the students expressed feelings and opinions of the students through their reflective journals. their reflections evoke not only appreciation for the lecturers’ efforts but also for their own it skill enhancement during the online learning. here, autonomy, digital compassion, and learning engagement are among the bright side of learning in times of covid-19. while the two examples above are positive, doubt lingers still because online learning is not always easy for older teachers who do not grow up with technology. it is not hard to cite recent studies that discuss the struggle, strategy, and success of online teaching during this sudden transformation (allo, 2020; anugrahana, 2020; dhawan, 2020; hung, 2016). the pandemic has indeed taught everyone to learn and re-learn. as shown earlier, millennial students are sympathetic to their teachers who are not tech-savvy and willing to assist their elders. david geurin is a bolivar high school in bolivar, missouri who loves to share his teaching experience via his blog. he is well-quoted by passionate educators on twitter. to quote the of-quoted one, “classrooms don’t need tech geeks who can teach. we need teaching geeks who can use tech.” (guerin, 2015). at this stage, one might ask what on the flip side is. expansion of technology has considerable impacts on language and literature teaching. technology gives a llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 119 lot of benefits and efficiencies. it is hard to deny that automation helps students, teachers, and administrators do things more easily. teaching today is facilitated by a wide-range of technology and multimedia-based language learning. throughout virtual, long-distance learning, technology is the rockstar of education. but there is an afterthought here. robotics, artificial intelligence, and numerous smart devices should be used cautiously (n. dewi, 2019). i would argue that education remains a complex and intertwining process. education involves human relationships, emotion, empathy, and a variety of psychological as well as spiritual experiences – all irreplaceable by machines. this article would argue that there are other serious threats of more substantial nature in terms of human involvement. what are the threats? some threats are as follows. inequality covid-19 has exposed inequality of various types both in developed and developing countries as shown in numerous recent studies. if food insecurity threatened the unemployed and marginalized groups in the uk (power, doherty, pybus, & pickett, 2020), what equality can we expect to befall in sub-saharan africa with poor hygiene and clean water (okoi & bwawa, 2020)? even in singapore, inequality is obvious and the call for social distancing is deemed irrelevant, especially for migrant workers who have no choice but living in cheap, chock-full dormitories (tan, 2020). with regard to education, likewise, inequality is exposed: rural households with no electricity and preparedness for digital learning vis-à-vis affluent society in major cities. while all students across the world are out of the classroom, so to speak, not all of them have access to digital technologies. schools in rural areas are not sufficiently equipped with devices for online learning. one study shows that in a prosperous country like denmark, for example, the pandemic heightens the inequality in learning opportunities whereby children from rich families have easy access to digital books than those coming from low-income families (jæger & blaabæk, 2020). if inequality is evident in denmark, what the conditions are like in the underprivileged parts of the world? poor students are thus practically deprived of learning activities far too long to make them eager to study. over-indulgence if the first is caused by lacks of ict, the second threat is over-indulgence, thanks to easy internet access. now that students receive no regular, proper instruction, and guidance from their teachers, they are subjected to ‘autopilot’ learning and internet is often their substitute teachers. a survey involving 3,275 parents in china shows that as many as 84.6% had negative views about online learning. many of them even rejected it because their children spent less than 30 minutes in each online class assigned to them. these parents preferred traditional face-to-face learning because young children usually had insufficient selfregulation and parents had no professional knowledge to cope with this situation (dong, cao, & li, 2020). similar problems are predictably evident across the world because neither parents nor children are ready to embrace online learning. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 120 cold-heartedness cold-heartedness is the third threat. what is cold-heartedness? in our modern-day context, act of kindness is hard to find. most of the time, the pandemic makes us so wrapped up in our own lives that we forget about our brothers and sisters who are less fortunate. pandemic-related angst, socioeconomic problems, academic underperformance are real. these three are threats that loom large in teaching during this time of crisis, to say nothing of a lack of quality content and competencies for e-learning is quite new a system to apply abruptly. nonetheless, despite the hurdles in facing the new era, educators shall triumph in victory because from threats, hope usually rises. it is to the pursuit of hope that the discussion now turns. finding hopes in solidarity and core values to live-by on 3 october, 2020, pope francis released the new encyclical letter fratelli tutti on fraternity and social friendship. the papal document is “a diagnosis of social ills” – illness that is exacerbated by the covid-19 pandemic. according to the pope, the poor, the disabled, racial minorities, women, refugees, and the unwelcomed in society are people who suffer most from injustices. in a nutshell, fratelli tutti is a recipe to heal the world by helping the strangers who suffer. here are the five salient points: (1) our culture is sick; (2) learn from the parable of the good samaritan; (3) goods are meant to be shared; (3) adopt local flavour with universal worldview; and (5) develop a culture of encounter (dulle, n.d.).the holy see would like the world to collaborate to end the pandemic because from threat hope may soon rise as long as people unite in solidarity. no disease is worse than anything else in this wounded world than social ills, said the pope. interfaith dialogue, friendship, and collaboration with people from different backgrounds is now deemed necessary. the gospel story of the goodhearted samaritan who helps the stranger is one such example. in 2019, the pope met grand imam ahmad al-tayyeb in abu dhabi. that was a sign of hope arising from the brotherhood between the two religious leaders. they jointly signed a document that helped inspired the issuance of the fratelli tutti. the holy father also mentioned how the media in this all-digital world have contributed to this degenerative process of inhumanity. people often lose respect for others in digital communication: the easier it is to spy on others, the more communication technology increase hatred and destruction. news of covid-19 with different categories and trustworthiness, for example, have bombarded people’s lives every day. this digital culture often fails to build human communities. instead, it fosters fears, individualism, xenophobia, and attacks on vulnerable groups of society. drawing from the spirit of solidarity, here are four core values that will hopefully make teaching in the new era more manageable. the values to live-by include critical thinking, ethical reasoning, interpersonal connectivity, and compassion. critical thinking richard paul and linda elder are among authorities in critical thinking theory. they define critical thinking as self-directed, self-disciplined, self llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 121 monitored, and self-corrective thinking (paul & elder, 2006). discussing the relationship between criticality and creativity, they suggest that both inseparable achievements should be taught concurrently in practical, everyday contexts because they often overlap and interact with as well as augment one another. how can we boost critical thinking? the wealth of literature that discuss critical thinking never fail to mention bloom’s revised taxonomy in planning and designing lesson and activities for, in this case, efl learners. the use of authentic, student-cantered, and culturebased materials is also crucial to boost critical thinking (zhao, pandian, & mehar singh, 2016). other studies suggest integrated approach with reading and creative writing (ferrer & staley, 2016) and student-centred approach in cooperative learning. (jacobs & renandya, 2019). a large corpus of research suggest literature-based efl to enhance critical thinking (e.g. dewi, 2018, 2019; stefanova, bobkina, & sánchez-verdejo pérez, 2017). stefanova et al. (2017) use literary texts to teach students to think critically. a close analysis of the study reveals that both students and their teacher perceive the model as highly effective, in particular, in terms of self-reflection. in addition, intrinsically motivating activities that are relevant to current issues are also important. frequent opportunities to discuss drama, short stories, poems, etc. have proved to be highly beneficial for the students. such activities give the students broader perspectives that help them interpret real-world problems properly, the study claims whilst showing the assessment grid results. in short, authentic, student-cantered, and culture-based materials can increase students’ critical thinking. it is not an exaggeration to say that to boost critical thinking, it is important that language learners spoil themselves with books. reading book is fun and it is also a great way to learn and pile up stocks of vocabulary to help them think critically and creatively. the good news especially for literature teacher is that fictional stories are remarkably the best books to increase critical thinking. books don’t need batteries, says nadine gordimer. during lockdown, reading book is a healthy activity. ethical reasoning ethical reasoning is simply understood as guidelines of the rights and the wrongs in human conduct. integrity, for example, is doing the right thing, even if nobody is watching. covid-19 is an emerging, rapidly evolving situation; each one of us is challenged to continue doing the rights in the wrong situation. one of the challenges is to be more caring to environment. any human activities are responsible for either the preservation or depletion of the earth’s resources. our efforts at education will be inadequate and ineffectual unless we strive to promote a new way of thinking about human beings, life, society, and our relationship with nature. pope francis in laudato si’--praise be to you: on care for our common home argues that taking care of the divine creation is a moral obligation for people of all faiths. in this encyclical letter, the head of the catholic church claims that people’s care for plants, animals, and one another reflects human cooperation with god’s plan (francis, 2015). laudato si’ can thus be seen as a document on ecohumanism, addressing as it does, global imbalance whereby the rich (multinational companies) continue to indulge their appetite to exploit nature at the expense of the poor who are the most grieved because they llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 122 are deprived of the bounties of nature. laudato si’ is therefore not only for catholics but also for everyone who are affected by severe problems of climate change (n. dewi, 2018; novita dewi, 2017b, 2017a). we should continually sustain connectivity as global citizens of this century. environmental destruction is a shared problem to be collaboratively solved by the community of the world. this can be done, through education. therefore, teaching language in the new era should continue attending to this ecological problem. interpersonal connectivity even the technology that promises to unite us, stephen covey says, divides us. each of us is now electronically connected to the globe, and yet we feel utterly alone, says dan brown in angels & demon. two famous people here doubt that technology is perfect. both are concerned about interpersonal connectivity that is often lost to technology. there are common hurdles of internal, external, and interpersonal kinds pertaining to the use of technology. laziness, lack of discipline, procrastination come internally from within the students that technology cannot change. external factors include poor internet connection, cost of phone credits, being assigned with massive homework, and household daily chores. the indonesian government mitigated the abrupt change from offline to online learning by broadcasting an educational tv program called “belajar dari rumah” (learning from home) and “guru berbagi” (teachers sharing) through the national television network to help children learn from home. the program lasted a few months after the first covid-19 outbreak. the ministry subsequently provided social assistance in the form of phone credits and internet data packages. students and teachers need support in conducting long-distance learning. it would seem that internal and external obstacles are easier to manage than the interpersonal problems that may involve actors in school setting, home, or society. students who have neither smartphone nor internet access feel lonely, rejected. zero supervision makes them feel ignored. to cite only one study conducted in beji hamlet, sawiji village, jogoroto district, jombang regency, east java, online learning did not run as expected given the lack of infrastructure put in place and trained teachers (hidayah, al adawiyah, & mahanani, 2020). despite some online class success stories (e.g. allo, 2020; suni astini, 2020), other interpersonal issues remain unsolved. for instance, those who hardly have problem with internet may sometimes find virtual class boring. old teachers have to learn and unlearn how to make teaching enjoyable. zoom meeting is fun in the beginning. but it is not as interesting after three months. the fact is that learners do not seem enthusiastic in sitting in front of the laptop all day and meeting friends only virtually. disengagement leads to ignorance. in this eventuality, it is advisable that teachers build rapports with students more frequently. additionally, giving feedback and fast responses are also useful to maintain interconnectivity. compassion pope francis says, “if you do not feel compassion toward a person in need, if your heart is not moved, it means that something is wrong.” in indonesia, based on a survey conducted by the smeru research institute, distance learning llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 123 intensifies inequality between teachers in major cities in java and those in villages, especially outside java. with no proper facilities to teach their students online, teachers in the outskirts have to visit their students’ homes to give and collect homework given the lack of internet access and proper digital devices. henricus suroto, teacher of sd kanisius kenalan is such a teacher (anya, 2020). suroto conducted teaching face-to-face by visiting his students from house to house. to teach his students, he rode a motorcycle down a rocky road in the mountainous area of menoreh, borobudur, magelang, central java. here we see the compassionate teacher goes the extra mile to ensure that his students learn. pope francis will only bee too happy that indonesia has many surotos. compassion is here to stay and will continue to stay. conclusion in short, what kind of person we would like our students to become? the answer is clear: someone who respects nature, diversities, and justice. various challenges ahead are inevitable if the pandemic persists. technology lends itself to over-indulgence, instance gratification, ‘autopilot’ learning, lack of discipline. when used incorrectly, technology is not supportive, although accuracy, productivity, and efficiency are on offer with technology. the abrupt change of everything due to the covid-19 pandemic is too complex to solve by the online world. in education, especially, the opening of the heart in this closed world is vital. all in all, here are the words of the technology guru bill gates: “technology is just a tool. in terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important.” teacher is forever in the spotlight; 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(2016). instructional strategies for developing critical thinking in efl classrooms. english language teaching. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v9n10p14 llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 132 students’ critical thinking skills in a classroom debate reli handayani university of jambi reli_handayani@yahoo.com abstract mastering argumentative discourse both in written and oral is a must for students nowadays. however, a successful argumentative discourse requires high thinking order skill such as developing a stance, analyzing arguments, distinguishing facts and opinions, solving problems, comparing and contrasting material, and making inferences. realizing the importance roles of critical thinking in constructing argumentative discourse, this study focuses on students’ performance in debate specifically argument, counter-argument, and rebuttals. they are chosen since they are always taken into consideration in assessing students’ debate performance. keywords: critical thinking, assessment, debate introduction knowledge of the world nowadays can be obtained not only from written and oral sources, but also from the internet. this massive information demands the students to appropriately select it based on their needs. the ability to select and analyze the relevant information is known as critical thinking. realizing the essential role, critical thinking becomes unavoidable requirement not only in academic but also professional setting. in tertiary level of education, students are expected to develop their critical thinking skill to survive courses. in a way that critical thinking enable the students (1) to analyze, criticize, and advocate ideas,(2) to reason inductively and deductively, and (3) to reach factual or judgmental conclusions based on sound inferences drawn from unambiguous statements of knowledge or belief (freely, 2009). moreover, in professional setting success as an adult depend on the ability to think critically (torr and waburton, 2005). it is relevant in a way that critical thinking is highly correlated with some one’s ability in making decisions. in short, critical thinking is an essential skill to participating effectively in communication, pursuing higher education, and succeeding in competitive world. freely (2009) explains critical thinking as (a) life demands decision making (b) the ability to make reasoned decisions relies on critical thinking (c) skill that enables analysis and evaluation of arguments (d) skill that improves the use of information as well as advocacy. it is line with johnson (2002) who defines critical thinking as (a) a clear, organized process involved in mental activities such as problem solving, decision making, persuading, analyzing assumptions, and scientific inquiry, (b) the ability to reason in an organized way, (c) a systematic process that enables llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 133 students to formulate and evaluate their own beliefs and claims. eggen (2012) offers a concise definition “critical thinking is the ability and disposition of making and doing assessment on summary based on evidence.” all these definitions have the similar idea that critical thinking is the requirement of solving problem skill. numerous definitions within the frame of critical thinking exist since it delivers different meanings for different people. therefore, critical thinking in this study is limited to different thinking skills such as reasoning, recognizing, arguing, interpreting, summarizing etc. in relation to the teaching method of critical thinking, a debate has been proved as an educational strategy that fosters critical reasoning and thinking skills as wall as heightens awareness of attitudes, values, and beliefs (huber, 2006). to add, debates were incorporated in american higher educations in the 19 th through the early 20 th century, yet lost its appeal until 19880s as a teaching tool to develop critical thinking logic, and communication skill (snider, 2006). according to freely (2009) debate is the process of inquiry and advocacy, a way of arriving at a reasoned judgment on a proposition. individuals may use debate to reach a decision in their own minds; alternatively, individuals or groups may use it to bring others around to their way of thinking. in relation to academic setting, nisbett (2003) declares that debate is an important educational tool for learning analytic thinking skills and for forcing self-conscious reflection on the validity of one's ideas. english education department in unja specifically speaking for professional purpose course then introduces debate as one activities of public speaking. for the purpose of this study, i utilize a prepared debate format. i select reclamation of north jakarta beach as the issue of the debate and give them a week to prepare. i suggest them to conduct an extensive search of materials and consider some aspects of the project involving law, economic, and environmental aspect. first, researching process requires students have to skim, scan, and read related materials to expand their knowledge base. second, analysis process covers complex activities. the students have to develop a perspective, distinguish relevant and irrelevant information, question facts and opinions, make inferences, recognize contradictions, and explore implications and consequences in order to derive in cohesive and logic arguments. third, they are also forced to consider the opposite perspective. they have to evaluate evidence on both sides to prepare counterarguments and rebuttals. it is in line with tumposky (2004) who argues that analysis of both sides of an argument in debate format encourages participants to step outside their personal frame of reference and become aware of their own thinking, if only to anticipate how such thinking might be vulnerable to attack from an opponent. this insight gained throughout the pre-debate, during debate, after debate encourages the students to approach material with several sub skills of critical thinking. peirce (2006) mentions that the llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 134 cognitive skill dimension of critical thinking includes several skills and sub skills as follows: 1) interpretation (categorization, decoding significance, clarifying meaning), 2) analysis (examining ideas, identifying arguments, analyzing arguments), 3) evaluation (assessing claims, assessing arguments), 4) inference (querying evidence, conjecturing alternatives, drawing conclusions), 5) explanation (stating results, justifying procedures, presenting arguments), 5) self-regulation (self-examination, self-correction). realizing the importance of critical thinking, the purpose of this study is to describe how the students’ critical thinking is performed in classroom debate. in other words, debate in this study is introduced as a critical thinking assessment according to coogan and pawson (2006) assessment should focus on various aspects such as argument and debate content, strategic presentation of arguments, verbal communication skills and argument style. therefore, this article will focus on arguments, counterarguments, and rebuttal. first, arguments are defined as reasons given by the affirmative team to support the resolution (claim) meanwhile counter-argument are reasons given by contra team which against the resolution (claim). second, rebuttal refers to identification of weakness in both team’s arguments and ability to defend itself against attack (latif, 2011). research methods the second semesters of students majoring in english education are the subject of this study. in the course of speaking for professional purposes, the debate is compromised of 2 teams of 4-5 students who will actually debate the issue. the members of team are assigned at random. meanwhile affirmative and negative team is decided through lottery. after given a week for preparation, a representative from both teams will be given 5 minutes of opening speech for each. in the opening speech, they have to mention their claims and provide several arguments to support it. after that, the next 30 minutes consists of rebuttal from both teams. at the end of the debate, a representative from both teams will summarize the team’s view. the data of this study are arguments, counterarguments, and rebuttal given by both parties. since critical thinking is an ongoing process rather than a recognizable outcome, it may difficult to measure. thus, this study employ general education critical thinking rubric created by north-eastern illinois university (neiu, 2006) to analyze the data. this four-point scale rubric consists of 5 criteria relevant to critical thinking. findings and discussion freely (2009) defines argumentation as reason giving in communicative situations by people whose purpose is the justification of acts, beliefs, attitudes, and values. moreover, toulmin states that people have to provide good reasons to convince other people. good reasons may be defined as “ reasons which are psychologically compelling for a llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 135 given audience, which make further inquiry both unnecessary and redundant— hence justifying a decision to affirm or reject a proposition.” the findings of this study are presented in four parts, namely arguments, counterarguments, rebuttal from affirmative team, and rebuttal from negative team. arguments the first following data is the opening speech from affirmative team that consists of a claim and three arguments to support it. the arguments mentioned are positive effects of the reclamation project related to economic, geographical, and environmental aspect. the explanations given for the first and second argument demonstrate good understanding of the issue. however, the third argument can be considered as a weak argument since explanation given to support it is irrelevant with their claim, as the negative team will also object this argument later. specifically, the third affirmative team is failed to address relationships between reclamation project and giant sea wall as part of national capital integrated coastal development. affirmative : … this house believe that reclamation of north beach is a good plan and should be continued. the first argument is increasing the income of jakarta and national economies. the developer and investor will pay the tax about 15% as their contribution in investing or building factory on that land. if this reclamation succeed so jakarta will be one of the forward city in the world that attract the tourists. the second argument is expanding the area of jakarta’s mainland. jakarta's population is increasing every year, but the land is limited. that land can be filled with building that can be enabled for residential, office or other activities. the third argument is it can decreasing the flood. jakarta must build giant dike (giant sea wall) to prevent flooding because the soil every year in jakarta fell by 15 cm, if not immediately addressed it floods every year gets worse. so that’s all our arguments, thank you. counter-argument the opening speech from negative team is called counterargument for it against affirmative team’s claim. if the affirmative team comes up with three arguments, negative team then provides five counter-arguments to support their claim. they build their first and second argument based on their concern of negative environmental effects. yet, both arguments have a similar idea that is “causing environmental problem” without mention specific detail for each. related to critical thinking, they are not successfully labels dimension of the problem. moreover, the use of “high possibility” in first argument shows that they identifies important assumptions, but do not evaluate them for clarity. the economical aspect for local fishermen and upper class people is mentioned in third and fifth arguments. however, the last argument is inappropriate since it is built on assumption instead of fact. to add, the fourth argument is under developed from the aspect of completeness because it is lack of explanation. llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 136 negative : … i want to explain eh.. the problem with thing about the land reclamation project. there are 5 points from us. first. as the project builds at least 17 artificial islands with a projected total area as big as bogor. it will significantly outer and be grade be already fragile environment of costal jakarta. there is high possibility that the land reclamation does not help jakarta subsidence problem and that it and than that it will even weed to other environmental problems. second the presence of artificial island will changes the sea current with which can lead to the erosion of near bay natural island or worsen including out of the city. third. the project will affect… will affect fisherman. because they will have to go farther out to sea. increasing their gasoline expenses. fourth, the project also clash with other construction project and existing infrastructure. fifth, there also possibility that the land will mainly be use by higher income citizen instead of benefit in the public at large, the reason glave clash reflect the tendency of developers to exploit land and private benefit instead of the public. thank you. the following data shows another counter-argument concerning with legal aspect of the reclamation project. the negative team develop well elaborated counter argument completed with accurate evidence. here, the skill of evaluating evidence shows high proficiency since they not only identify important evidence but also provide it as information for consideration. negative: well. i want to bring out the legal basis of this project. the jakarta governor mr. ahok always use presidential decree number 52 from 1995 but since presidential degree number 54 from 2008 came out. it’s one of the point this president decree number 50 from 1995 is expired and cant be use again anymore as legal basis. so i said this project illegal because doesn’t have any legal basis rebuttal in contrast to arguments, rebuttals are used to disprove the validity of argument or claim. thus, good rebuttals generally have a basic statement, explanation, analysis and supporting evidences. both affirmative and negative teams have to raise objection in order to show argument’s weakness of the opposite team. another function of rebuttal is to defend from opponent’s attack. the data below is started with counter argument saying “reclamation can increase environmental problem” and followed by each team rebuttals. affirmative: and i also disagree with your argument, the first argument, that the reclamation can increase the environmental problem. it can increase it, the environmental problem. let you know the fact is the reclamation can also provide a positive impact to wildlife and can anticipate climate change and habitat. so it’s for public, it’s not only for rich people, it’s for environmental. (rebuttal) negative: well iam really i strong disagree with you. because eee actually ee the environmental impacts from these land reclamation eee.. it’s from the environmentalist said that ee.. great such as great llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 137 garuda wall a separate but related project it will be more even restive because eehm taslim arifin a researcher at the research and development center from marine and coastal resources and the ministry said that the water inside great garuda wall would also become a problem as the water trap the pollutantss deposit by 13 river in jakarta would accumulate in one place the water inside the sea would become a big pound of polution. so i think the environment… the environmental problem just will be getting be more worst not even better. (rebuttal) affirmative: no, you are wrong, you know the reclamation of indonesia will seems like the singapore’s reclamation, and you know in semakau landfill, singapore, the reclamation of land used as sewage treatment. in addition, this area is also used as the conservation of flora and fauna. and this area is also used as a recreational area, and it’s very useful because we can get more tax (income) from the recreational and then it can get more tourist to come to our country, and basically, the reclaimed areas generally can be more secure against erosion, it’s the point, it can make secure against the erosion, this is because the construction of the security is set up as hard as possible to be able to withstand the onslaught of the waves of the sea. another benefit is, the reclamation can restore the affected coastal abrasion configuration to its original shape, so it’s very useful. (rebuttal) the counter-argument saying that reclamation project may harm the environment is rebutted by affirmative team. however, the negative team respond and dealt it effectively by including expert’s opinion “taslim arifin.” the debate becomes more interesting when the affirmative team also gives example of singapore’s reclamation success. both teams success in identify important evidence and using it to defend their claims constitutes critical thinking. rebuttal from affirmative team the first rebuttal is stated by the affirmative team in order to against the fifth argument purposed by negative team. from the structure, it is considered as effective rebuttal since they state the argument that is going to be refuted, disagreement expression, reason of disagreement, and conclusion. they realize that the statement given by negative team is assumption that is not supported with adequate evidence. negative : …. there also possibility that the land will mainly be use by higher income citizen instead of benefit in the public at large, the reason glave clash reflect the tendency of developers to exploit land and private benefit instead of the public. (claim) affrmative : i want to ask you what that you said before, the reclamation can will only use by the rich people and the poor people can’t enjoy that, it’s like, i don’t think so because with the reclamation the poor people they can get any, they can get the jobs from there, of course from the first they build the reclamation of course they need the worker and worker so they can work that and if the building is done, they need employee just like so they can, so it llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 138 can open the new job vacancy so i don’t think that only the rich people can use that and for the government that they in the reclamation place plan it will save any public place facility not only for the rich people but the poor people who take any advantages from the land reclamation. (rebuttal) during the debate, several poor rebuttals related to counterargument of illegal base for the reclamation project occur. the underlined utterances show that rebuttal is built of personal opinion. responding to the first rebuttal, the negative team acknowledge objections from affirmative team and provide convincing replies to these. they also restate its component propositions and reconstructs their relationship correctly. dealing with second rebuttal, the negative team succeed defending its’ counterargument by stating fact as written in bold. affirmative: okay and i want to answer chris’s argument that you said the president decision is not valid, and how can you said like that but the law is still valid until now from what we read before. if not we believe the reclamation is can’t continue until now, if illegal it is not continue. (rebuttal) negative: wait i want to explain to you. first the presidental degree number 54 from 2015 from 1990 is especially made for this reclamation project. and one that my favorite is for if they want to make the reclamation project . this is if if you want to make the reclamation project you use this but this one is made by president soeharto especially for this program but in 2008 the presidential degree is expired and this one ahok doesn’t know. that’s why you know the main reason is the project is been stop because it doesn’t have any legal basis. ahok say yes he doesn’t know that before so that’s why they still made law for it affirmative :how can you said that ahok didn’t know that laws is not valid again or it’s expired, you know ahok is a president of jakarta, so of course he really knows that the president decision is still valid until now. (rebuttal) negative : ahok admit him self he does not know. that’s why the project been stop the main reason this project because it doesn’t have any legal basis. rebuttal from negative team the first rebuttal from negative team is aimed to object the third argument from affirmative team. the negative team realize that there is no logical relation among its proposition in the affirmative team’s argument. their rebuttal is constructed clearly by using causal effect relation. affirmative : …the third argument is it can decreasing the flood. jakarta must build giant dike (giant sea wall) to prevent flooding because the soil every year in jakarta fell by 15 cm, if not immediately addressed it floods every year gets worse. (claim) negative : … you said that eee this aa jakarta this land reclamation would decrease flood in jakarta city. i dont think so. because aaa emm the.. the land reclamation ee… just will worsen flooding of the city. because ee the..the sea current is traped ee by the artificial island so it llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 139 would a fact and to worsen the flood in city. not decreasing it (rebuttal). on the contrary, the following data exemplify poor rebuttal. the use of ‘if you watch,’’ you can see the news,’ three times occurrences of ‘we can smell’ are linguistic evidence of personal opinion. in relation to critical thinking, the rebuttal shows that they identifies embedded issues but do not explain its relation to counterargument or how and why it become problem. in the end, it derives them into inaccurate conclusion. ag : …so i don’t think that only the rich people can use that and for the government that they in the reclamation place plan it will save any public place facility not only for the rich people but the poor people who take any advantages from the land reclamation. (claim) ng : : ehm i think..ehm i want to say that aaa i really aaa disagree with you. well,there is.. if you watch news these days. the reason keys a reflect the tendency of developers to exploit land for private benefit, instead of the public. because aaaa and that’s from emmm that case, we can eeehm we can smell something fishy that in future eee the land actually will just benefit the higher income citizen not...not everyone, not not the public. we can smell it just from this case. you can see the news that the developers drive the government. from that case you can smell that actually there is something fishy behind it. why they want to exploit the land from for themselves. it means that they.. they not actually build this for public benefit but just for their themselves benefit. and i think so. that’s the proof. (rebuttal) conclusion and suggestion the finding of the study demonstrate that debate enhance not only students’ communication skill but also their critical thinking skill. debate enables students to present their understanding of a topic, questioning others’ opinion, arguing others’ argument, reasoning and clarifying their argument, and evaluate others. regarding to the finding of the study, there are some suggestions that can be proposed. first, the students have to practice to construct a coherent and logic argument. they also have to control their emotions when the debate is getting heated. second, the teachers or lecturers have to arrange format of debate based on students’ needs, number, and competence. as a challenge, the debate can be conducted in sudden so they are forced to think critical on the spot. third, the future researcher may employ other standardized critical thinking assessment tools or even develop it themselves. references coogan, j. and pawson, c. (2006) “widening participation and debate in psychology”, psychology learning and teaching conference, 27 – 29 june, york st john university college, york. eggen, p and kauchak, d. (2012). strategies and models for teachers: teaching content and thinking skills. usa: pearson education, inc. freely, a. j. (2009). argumentative and debate. california: wadsworth co. llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 140 halonen, j.s. and gray, c. (2001). critical thinking companion: for introductory psychology, worth publishers inc huber r and snider a.c. influencing through argument. updated ed. new york: international debate education association; 2006 johnson, e. (2002). contextual teaching and learning: menjadikan kegiatan belajar-mengajar mengasyikkan dan bermakna, (indonesian translation). bandung: mlc. latif, m.a. (2011). a comprehensive guide to debate adjudication. retrieved august 2 nd 2016, from http://www.debatepedia.idebate.org/en/index.php. neiu. (2008). northeastern illinois university general education critical thinking rubric. retrieved august 2 nd 2016, from http://www.neiu.edu/~neassess/gened.htm#rubric nisbett, r. e. (2003) the geography of thought. the free press. peirce, w. (2006). designing rubric for assessing higher order thinking. retrieved august 2 nd , 2016, from http://www.academic.pg.cc.md.us/~wpeirce.html snider a, schnure m. (2006). many sides: debate across the curriculum. new york: international debate education association. tumposky, n. (2004). the debate debate. the clearing house, 78: 42-55. http://www.neiu.edu/~neassess/gened.htm#rubric front cover llt journal oct 2016b.pdf part 1-llt journal oct 2016 rftb2 part 2-llt journal oct 2016 articles part 3-llt journal submission guidelines llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 12 practice teachers’ possible solutions to students’ problems of speaking during ppl in junior high schools chezia eufresia isworo sanata dharma university abstract program pengalaman lapangan (ppl) or school-based practicum is one of the compulsory courses that must be taken by all english language education study program (elesp) sanata dharma university students. ppl requires the students, who are called practice teachers, to do teachers’ job at school. as english practice teachers, there is a possibility that they might face a lot of problems related to the condition and situation in the school, either from the students’ side, teachers’ side, or other factors. this research focuses on junior high school students’ problems of speaking and the possible solutions to the problems based on the elesp students’ experiences as english practice teachers. from the findings, it is expected that future practice teachers and english teachers can anticipate similar problems and apply the possible solutions when they work at schools. keywords: ppl, practice teachers, students’ problems of speaking, possible solutions to the problems introduction in ppl, the elesp students are expected to be able to understand the concepts and the procedures of a teaching process and to apply them in a real classroom teaching in a high school (junior high school or senior high school). based on the elesp academic guidelines book (2011, p.43), ppl is designed to train teacher candidates so they can develop integrated and complete teaching skills. students who take ppl will do teachers’ jobs such as planning, developing, and organizing lessons, managing classroom, presenting subject materials, assessing students’ learning process and results. students who are doing ppl are called practice teachers. this research focuses on the practice teachers’ possible solutions to students’ problems of speaking during ppl in junior high schools. there are two main reasons why the researcher conducts the research. the first reason is that speaking skill is one of the important language skills. in learning and teaching process, one of the ways practice teachers help students understand english and materials delivered is by speaking english. if practice teachers have difficulties in that area, llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 13 the students’ understanding of the materials can be distracted and the goal of the learning english might be hard to reach. the second reason is the researcher got a story from a teacher of one of the elementary schools, his name is mr. x (pseudonym). he said that most of his students were good in doing their written tests – they knew how to write down english words, how to spell english words, but when it came to practice speaking, they did not seem to perform well. this case is related to the research topic because in junior high school, the students are still in the transition mode from the elementary school. their habits of learning english when they were in elementary school might affect the ways they learn and develop their language skills in junior high school. in order to find out the practice teachers’ possible solutions to students’ problems of speaking in learning process during the teaching practice in junior high schools, two research questions are raised in this research: 1. what were the students’ problems of speaking during ppl? 2. what were the possible solutions for the students’ problems of speaking during ppl? theoretical ground 1. the nature of speaking skill speaking is a basic skill that has a very complicated process. it is because learners need a long time to be competent speakers (luoma, 2004, p. 1). the students need more experiences and practices to make their speaking ability fluently and naturally. besides, in speaking learning, the students need to receive and convey the message through oral form and verbal expression (khadidja, 2010, p. 40). for those students who are studying english as a foreign language, the students can activate their speaking through the dialogues or conversation since the speaking skill requires the practice and experience to be developed. 2. the characteristics of successful speaking activity ur (1996, p. 120) emphasizes that “classroom activities that develop learners’ ability to express themselves through speech would therefore seem an important component of a language course”. he provides some characteristics of successful speaking activity. first, students talk a lot. second, participation is needed. teacher as contributor has to distribute the chance fairly. third, high motivation supports the speaking activity to be successful. fourth, language is in acceptable level. students who learn to speak english can express what they want to say related to the material and they can understand what their friends say. 3. problems of learning speaking students have their own difficulties in learning language. munjayanah (2004) states the problems of speaking skill that usually happen in classroom. some llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 14 of them are inhibition, having no idea about what to say, low or uneven participation, the use of mother tongue. in addition, according to hetrakul (1995), there are two causes why students have difficulties in speaking english. one of them is that the environment does not support the students to speak english frequently. others may think that students just want to show off when they speak english for daily conversation. the response that students get makes them loose their self-confidence to improve their speaking. since students do not want to be rejected by people around them, they use native language in daily conversation. davis (2011) states that there are ten common classroom problems that are found while teaching and learning english. the researcher includes some problems that related to learning speaking. they are: student is defiant, rowdy, or distracting of others. in every classroom, the distraction from the students might happen. if the situation in the classroom is not conducive, it may be fault of the teacher, i.e. boring material or poor classroom management. if it is from the students, teachers should take dominant role to adjust the situation. personalities between students. davis states that not every student in classroom will become best friend. if there is a drama arises between certain students, the easiest solution is to separate them away from one another. this situation might affect the delivery of material that related to speaking if there are problems between student – students, and also student – teacher. methodology the researcher used mixed methods in this research. according to ary, jacobs, and razavieh (2002), “mixed methods research combines quantitative and qualitative research methods in different ways, with each approach adding something to the understanding of the phenomenon.” the researcher used questionnaire and interview as the research instrument to obtain the data in this research. the questionnaire was used to frame the answer to the first research question which is about the students’ problems of speaking during ppl. the interview was used to clarify the answer to the first research question and to seek the detailed information as the answer to the second research question. the participants of this research were the elesp students of semester seven batch 2012 who had taken ppl. there were five students as the participants for this research. discussion 1. problems of speaking faced by the students according to practice teachers speaking is a basic skill that has a very complicated process. it is because leaners need a long time to be competent speakers (luoma, 2004, p. 1). for those students who llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 15 are studying english as a foreign language, students can activate their speaking through the dialogues or conversation since the speaking skill requires the practice and experience to be developed. in fact, based on the participants’ experiences as english practice teacher, there are some problems of the students in developing their speaking skill. the researcher divided those problems into four problems. those problems were: students’ competence in learning english based on the participants’ experiences as english practice teachers, there were some students who did not understand english at all. they had lack of vocabulary and grammar. some of them also did not know how to pronounce certain words. their competence in learning english affected their ability in developing their speaking skill. munjayanah (2004, p.17) states that students might have their own difficulties in learning the language. particularly improving speaking skill is not easy for the students. students’ low participation and low motivation in speaking activities from the questionnaire results and the interview, the researcher found out that there were some students who had low participation in speaking activities. there were some students who were really active in the class, while the others were not. one of the participants also said that sometimes the students participated actively whenever it was about reward; for example, they got more points if they joined the speaking activity. on the other hand, participant 2 said that their students prefer to write the material rather than to speak in front of the class to present their work. the students only read the material but still did not focus on the speaking skill improvement. another participant also said that the students had high motivation only when they had group discussion or other learning processes. there was a tendency that the students had low motivation when they learned individually. the use of mother tongue in speaking activities based on the participants’ experiences as english practice teacher, most of the students used native language when they were in speaking activities. the researcher asked the participants to percentage the time in speaking english, the one who agreed said that 70% of time was used for speaking english and 30% of time was used for bahasa indonesia. on the other hand, four people who disagreed said the opposite (see appendix 1 for detail information of questionnaire results). they also said that javanese was used besides bahasa indonesia. hetrakul (1995) states that one of the causes why the students have difficulties in speaking english is that the environment does not support the students to speak in english frequently. it was easier for llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 16 the students to use their mother tongue in their class because they use it every day. this could affect their speaking skill development. distractions by the students and their relationship with their classmate(s) there were some students who were easily distracted by others when the practice teacher was teaching english in classroom. the distraction was not only from inside the class but from outside class. participant 1 said that one day when she was teaching speaking, suddenly a student from other class came to borrow a book from her students. the learning activity stopped for a while, and then when she wanted to continue, the students and she forgot the last part of material explained. sometimes the students were not focusing on the materials because of the distraction happened. there were some students who were not in a good relationship with their classmate(s) and it influenced their speaking skill development. according to davis (2010), personalities between students clash and also distraction from the students are the common classroom problems that are found while teaching and learning processes. another story, there was students who was the captain class and had a crush with his classmate. this class captain was an active student. one day, he looked unmotivated and passive because he was not in a good relationship with his crush. it affected his motivation to learn english because he could not focus on the classroom activity at that time. it did not only influence their speaking skill but also the scores. 2. the possible solutions to the students’ problems of speaking there were some possible solutions to the problems in learning speaking based on the participants’ teaching experience. the possible solutions were the ways the participants overcome the problems happened when they were teaching english in the class room. possible solution to the students’ competence in learning english based on the participants’ experience, there were some students who wanted to answer the question but they did not understand english at all, so they kept silent because they were confused how to answer the question using english. in this case, the participants usually kept asking questions by using english but then they translated it to bahasa indonesia in order to make the students know the meaning of the questions. by translating, it helped the students understand the material that is given related to speaking skill and also their vocabularies. having conversation and giving questions are some ways to develop their speaking skill. grugeon (2005, p.84) states that when teacher speaks to students about their work, asking questions is the most commonly used strategy to assess their learning and progress. it is also useful to encourage students to think llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 17 independently or individually in an interesting way to question their learning. possible solution to students’ low participation and low motivation in speaking activities in this case, the solution is as much as possible, the students has right or chance to speak. according to ur (1996, p.120), participation is needed. all of the students have to participate in the classroom discussion. they all need to get chance to speak, whether the students are talkative or not, so teacher as the contributor have to distributed the chance fairly. it can also encourage students to be more confident in speaking english. rivers (1968) also emphasizes that a teacher needs to give many opportunities for students to practice their speaking skill. possible solution to the use of mother tongue by the students in speaking activities in this case, it depended on the situation and condition of the classroom. if it is not possible for students to understand the material by using english, then do not force them. participant 1 suggested to use sentence “try to use english” when the students again and again speak bahasa indonesia or javanese. the possible solution for this problem is the teacher must create games which can develop their speaking skill, such as, role play, tongue – twister, reading aloud, etc. it depends on each teacher’s creativity. teacher role also affect the students’ speaking skill improvement when there is a speaking activity. (nunan, 2003, p.54) possible solution to distraction by the students and their relationship with their classmate(s) the possible solution to this problem is that when students were busy with their friend during teaching and learning process, just stop and point them out. asking them about material discussed would make them confused because they did not focus on it. this way could be used in order to make them concentrate on the material. another possible solution for that problem is making rules before it happened. for example, one of the participants made rules for the student, if they kept busy with their friends; they need to write down ten words in english which had been discussed in the class. if they kept busy with their friends twice, then the “reward” will be multiplied into 20 words and so on. practice teachers should make sure that the students pay attention to their delivered material and also their comprehension related to speaking skill. participant 5 said that she called the troublemaker students to teachers’ room and tried to ask them what their concerns were. she also told the students that they could study together with her when there was break time of before english course was started. to increase the students’ confidence in speaking english, the teachers can encourage llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 18 the students by telling them that making mistakes were okay. in this case, the teacher also can build a good relationship with the students as a friend. conclusion the results of the research showed that there were four problems of speaking faced by students, namely students’ incompetence in learning english, students’ low participation and low motivation in speaking activity, the use of mother tongue, and the distractions from others and their relation with their classmates. the possible solutions to the four problems are written respectively as follows: respecting by translating from english into indonesian and vice versa, distributing the chance to speak in english fairly to the students, creating games which can develop students’ speaking skill and having well-built communication between teacher and students. the results of the research are hopefully useful for future practice teachers and english teachers when they work at schools. also, it is expected that they can anticipate the similar problems during classroom activity and apply the possible solutions to overcome the problems. references ary, d., jacobs, l. c., & razavieh., a. (2002). introduction to research in education (6 th ed). belmont, ca: wadsworth. davis, j. (2011). teaching esl: 10 common problems in the classroom. retreived october 21, 2015, from http://hubpages.com/hub/teaching-esl10common-classroom-problems-and-solutions. grugeon, e., hubbard, l., & smith, c. (2005). teaching speaking and listening in the primary school. rouledge: david fulton publishers. hetrakul, kavin. (1995). the second language. retrieved october 22 n, 2015, from http://eserver.org/courses/spring95/76-100g/kavinhetrakul.html khadidja. (2010). the effect of classroom interaction on developing the learner’s speaking skill. retrieved october 21 st , 2015, from http://www.umc.edu.dz/thesis/anglais/kou1159.pdf luoma, s. (2004). assessing speaking. cambridge: cambridge university press. munjayanah, a. (2004). the implementation of communicative language teaching speaking at lia. retrieved october 21 st , 2015, from http://eprints.ums.ac.id/27781/1.pdf rivers, w. m. (1968). teaching foreign language skills. chicago, fl: the university of chicago press. tutyandari, c., prasetyo, h., kristiani, c., & bram, b. (eds.). (2011). panduan akademik program studi pendidikan bahasa inggris. yogyakarta: program studi pendidikan bahasa inggris universitas sanata dharma. ur, p. (1996). a course in language: teaching practice and theory. cambridge: cambridge university press. http://hubpages.com/hub/teaching-esl-10 http://hubpages.com/hub/teaching-esl-10 http://hubpages.com/hub/teaching-esl-10 http://eprints.ums.ac.id/27781/1.pdf 11102150559lltjournalfrontpagesapr2016(10nov8pmagain) 2 llt j april 2016 articles two columns llt journal submission guidelines apr 2016 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, june 2019, pp. 93-106 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 93 a comparative keywords analysis in pet café and regular café reviews: a corpus study sri hariyatmi school of liberal arts, kmutt, thailand correspondence: sri.hariyatmi@mail.kmutt.ac.th https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4107 received 1 january 2022 ; accepted 4 april 2022 abstract this paper aims to investigate the most frequently used keywords in pet cafés and regular cafes to identify the linguistic discrepancies between the reviews in the two cafes. self-created corpora of pet cafés and regular cafés reviews were collected from tripadvisor and google maps and used as the main data to compare the linguistic features in each corpus. the analysis was conducted by using antconc 3.5.9 for windows (64-bit) to compare the keywords and concordance lines of notable keywords. a comparison of the keyword analysis indicates that the big discrepancies between the two corpora are the use of second-and third-person pronouns in pet café reviews and the use of first-person pronouns in regular café reviews. the choice of this pronoun suggests that in pet café, the writers adopt customer and product-based reviews, whereas, in regular cafés, the writer tends to focus their reviews on author-based reviews. another notable finding is the absence of wi-fi in pet café reviews and the absence of adverbs and prepositions in regular cafés. despite the difference, the reviews in both cafés are heavily dominated by the use of verbs, nouns, and only a small number of adjectives are found in each corpus. keywords: corpora, keyword, pet café, regular café, review introduction online reviews which can be referred to as electronic word-of-mouth (ewom) are available for different types of products including airlines, restaurants, and hotels (zhang, ye, law, & li, 2010). as park & han (2007) argue, an online review is a positive or negative statement written by potential or former customers about their feelings or opinion related to their experience of using certain products or services. it benefits potential customers with advice or information about products and their quality from the perspective of customers (lee, park & han, 2007). restaurants reviews provide the customers with detailed information about food, service, atmosphere, and price as some of the attributes of their dining experience (jeong and jang, 2011). review is written in a personal subjective tone telling the audience about the writers’ experience and opinions after using certain services or products (ricci & wiestma, 2006). this study focuses on café reviews especially on comparing the linguistic features of pet cafés and regular cafés. pet café is first known in taiwan in 1998 where customers enjoy coffee with cats as a company. following its establishment mailto:sri.hariyatmi@mail.kmutt.ac.th https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4107 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, june 2019, pp. 93-106 94 in taiwan, diverse animal-themed cafes start to flourish in different countries including thailand. unlike in regular cafés, customers of animal-themed cafés can eat, drink, or work and spend some time with cats, dogs, or different types of animals depending on what pets the cafes have (labine, 2017). spending time with animals is argued as one of the healing therapies for people with hectic daily stressful life by engaging and playing with the animals (robinson, 2019). the presence of animals that has the natural ability to create an “emotional connection with people” (lin, 2019, p.4) in pet cafés is the most distinctive feature differentiating them from regular cafés. it is therefore inevitable that customers from these two different cafes would use different styles of writing when they write their reviews upon visiting the cafes. comparing the linguistic features of reviews between these two cafes would give an opportunity to see how the community of pet cafés and regular cafés apply linguistic features and styles in writing their reviews. for the field of language teaching, online reviews provide authentic teaching material to teach english for specific purposes, especially for college students. authentic teaching materials will help the students to reproduce the real use of language performance that can be required beyond the classroom (mcgrath, 2002). the materials will greatly benefit the learners as they will help students improve their language production and increase their confidence when they are exposed to real language use in outside classroom communication (harmer, 1994). this study is, therefore, relies on the following research questions to achieve its goals: 1) what are the most frequently used words in pet café and regular café reviews? 2) what are the styles of review writing in pet cafés and regular cafés? literature review online café reviews online reviews studies are mostly conducted on hotels (cennie & goethals, 2020; vazquez, 2011), amazon users’ reviews (skalicky, 2013; altun, 2019), restaurants (sharif et al., 2019); and responses to online complaints on tripadvisor (napolitano, 2018). studies conducted on cafes are mostly done by investigating the customers’ satisfaction with the cafes’ service quality (chien & chi 2019) or the impact of online reviews on millennials’ decision to visit cafes (tariyal et al., 2020). previous studies on online cafés review using corpus study are still relatively small. among the few is the study on how positive online reviews affect the customer decision (chen & xie, 2008) and a corpus study on appraisal of café’s positive reviews (techacharoenrungrueang, 2019) that investigates the use of intensifiers in café reviews. in his study, he used a self-constructed corpus to analyze the linguistics remark of positive review through the use of very and so. unlike few previous studies conducted on cafes review, this study is distinctive as it compares the linguistic features of online reviews in pet cafés and regular cafés. by doing so, the linguistic features used within the two community reviews should be obtained and identified to explore the aboutness between these two cafes. keyword analysis in corpus study corpus-basedstudy or investigation of the text collection of naturally occurring language (bybee, 2006). therefore, the corpus study will reveal the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, june 2019, pp. 93-106 95 actual use of language use in its real context and explore the users; actual use of language (lagunoff, 1997). the data used for corpus study can be written or spoken (weisser, 2016) and this data collection is intended to be analyzed linguistically. one of the most widely used methods in corpus study is keyword analysis. the keyword is one of the means to start analyzing discourse and one of the most popular research methods used in linguistics. keyword is the most recurring word within a text indicating “their importance in reflecting the aboutness of the text” (schott & tribble, 2006, p. 73). the investigation of keywords will lead us to understand the classification of their particular “functional categories that suggest these keywords’ distinctive features (e.g., the form of information or their role in discourse organization”) (gozdzroszkowski, 2011, p. 35). audience appeal audience appeal is meant to identify the ways the review writers considered the readers of their review. as argued by skalicky (2013) there are three categories of audience appeal which he defined as author-based reviews, reader-based reviews, and product-based reviews the difference between these three relies on the use of pronouns. in authorsbased review, the writer uses a high number of first-person pronouns, i, me, my and focus on the author. audience-based review is characterized by the dominant use of second-person pronouns, you, your, you’re. product-based review is a review centering on the product and using demonstrative pronouns (i.e., this product, it) or the product’s real naming in the writing. method data the data from this study consist of online reviews from six pet cafés and regular cafés in thailand which were collected from the customers’ online reviews on tripadvisor and google maps. the corpus data involved the first 10 longest reviews of 1-5 stars reviews in six pet cafés and regular cafés in thailand. as this study focuses on linguistic comparison, the data collected is expected to be equal in number (hyland, 2010). however, the length of online café reviews can be varied as there is no standard of writing in this genre. consequently, the data collection in this study targeted to collect a rough equal word for each corpus. at the end of data collection, there are 32465 words in the pet café review and 31168 words in the regular café to be used for the current study. prior to uploading the corpora on antconc software, some symbols and emoticons were discarded, and the files were saved in .txt so that the data was compatible with the software used in the study. data analysis the analysis for this study adopted laurence anthony’s toolkit for corpus linguistic analysis antconc (anthony, 2019). the self-created corpora of pet café and regular café reviews that were saved in a.txt file format were uploaded on antconc to generate the list of keywords from both corpora. the keyword list for each corpus was generated by comparing the pet café review to the regular café review and vice versa. a list of keywords for both corpora was determined by antconc, and it listed the words that frequently appear in one corpus compared to the other one. based on the result of keyword analysis, significant items could be selected for further investigation. the current study opted to use concordance analysis of the pronouns used in the two corpora in the study. using concordance analysis will llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, june 2019, pp. 93-106 96 show how the pronouns in the two corpora are used within their context. thus, the pronouns in both corpora can be examined in the context in which they appear. the second reason is that investigating how the writers use pronouns in their review will show what strategy/style they use in writing their review. finding and discussion keyword analysis the quantitative data is investigated by using antconc (anthony, 2014). the result provided a list of keywords from both pets and regular café reviews. the comparison of 42 keyword lists of regular and pet café reviews is presented in table 1. as shown in the table, the words that appear more in one corpus but rarely in the other corpus will have high keyness. on the other hand, a word that rarely appears in one corpus compared to the other will have low keyness. the comparison of the two keywords list is presented in table 1. table 1. the list of keywords of pets café review vs regular café review regular cafe pet cafe rank freq keyness keyword freq keyness keywords 1 270 218.47 coffee 399 450.59 cats 2 87 137.22 breakfast 347 379.6 dogs 3 73 123.35 bagel 180 202.76 cat 4 68 114.9 bagels 116 113.66 dog 5 124 87.21 service 200 102.58 them 6 42 70.94 view 525 87.9 you 7 37 54.37 club 57 64.12 play 8 34 49.46 sandwich 426 58.01 are 9 446 46.27 was 1006 48.3 to 10 196 41.69 good 42 47.24 huskies 11 35 41.49 cheese 248 42.13 café 12 58 38.68 ordered 411 36.32 they 13 44 38.65 cream 196 35.07 do 14 90 36.49 great 31 34.86 pet 15 543 32.12 i 256 33.99 there 16 26 31.74 wi 41 29.27 kids 17 103 30.59 me 35 27.17 allowed 18 18 30.39 sandwiches 96 26.89 people 19 25 30.2 milk 30 26.59 session 20 17 28.7 avocado 44 25.62 room 21 21 28.45 excellent 22 24.74 animal 22 43 28.4 asked 28 24.47 animals 23 26 27.99 fi 28 24.47 rules 24 26 27.99 served 27 23.42 playing 25 16 27.02 breads 38 23.06 buy 26 16 27.02 eggs 20 22.49 kitties 27 16 27.02 pancakes 20 22.49 visitors 28 174 25.54 food 275 21.55 were 29 15 25.33 bacon 63 21.46 cute 30 24 25.06 latte 81 21.38 around 31 23 23.61 western 19 21.36 entrance 32 47 22.9 delicious 19 21.36 husky 33 46 21.86 tea 24 20.28 enter 34 29 21.37 english 18 20.24 entry 35 16 20.53 style 18 20.24 interact llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, june 2019, pp. 93-106 97 36 12 20.26 butter 18 20.24 photo 37 12 20.26 egg 60 19.32 love 38 48 19.86 ice 17 19.11 adorable 39 24 19.48 iced 17 19.11 children 40 27 18.88 quality 77 18.84 many 41 30 18.64 taste 30 18.69 lovers 42 166 18.49 my 47 18.67 each table 1 shows notable discrepancies between two corpora regarding the word’s usage adopted in the reviews. as expected, cats and dogs are the most frequent word that makes up the top four on the keyword list in pets cafe. one possible explanation could be that cats and dogs are the main reason that attracts customers to go to pet cafés. for regular cafés, coffee, as expected is the highest keyness in the list of regular café reviews. these two most popular pets and coffee could be one of the main interesting attractions/ reasons for the customers to come to the café and write their reviews afterward. the most striking finding based on the two keywords comparison is wi-fi that only hinted at regular cafés and rules that are only found in pet café reviews. these two keyword findings might suggest that wi-fi is a dominant feature that attracts customers to come to regular cafes. the availability of wi-fi is one of the main attractions for customers to visit a café (jalil et al., 2015) and it is also a factor to attract more customers (jaw et al., 2010). the keywords analysis finding is therefore in line with these two findings. whereas, in pet cafés, the customers might deal more with rules related to how to interact with the cats and dogs. this reason might be the cause why rules appear in pet cafés. another aspect that shows a big difference between the two corpora is the use of pronouns like i, my, and me in regular café reviews and you, they, and them that appear in pet café. as presented on the keyword comparison list, the review in regular café only uses first-person pronouns, i, me, and my whilst the reviewers in pet café mostly use secondand third-person pronouns, you, they, and them. this finding is worth discussing further to investigate how the writers use these pronouns to write their reviews. table 2. classification of keywords in regular and pet cafe regular cafe pets’ cafe parts of speech keywords keywords nouns coffee, breakfast, bagel, bagels, service, view, club, sandwich, cheese, cream, sandwiches, milk, avocado, bread, eggs, pancakes, bacon, latte, western, tea, english, style, butter, butter, egg, ice, quality, taste, food, wi-fi cats, dogs, cat, dog, huskies, café, pet, room, session, animal, animals, rules, kitties, visitors, entrance, husky, entry, photo, children, kids, lovers, people, pronoun i, me, my them, you, they, each verbs ordered, served, asked, taste, was playing, do, pet, allowed, play, buy, enter, interact, are, were adjective iced, good, excellent, great, delicious cute, adorable adverb there, around, each preposition to, around the verbs in each corpus also appeared distinctively. in regular cafés, the most common verbs are mostly used for regular transactional purposes such as llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, june 2019, pp. 93-106 98 ordered, served, and asked. these three verbs are used between customers and service providers in their transactions. the customer’s order or ask and the service providers serve them with something the customer’s order or ask. in a cat café, the frequent keywords such as allowed, buy, do, enter, interact, playing, and play, are mostly related to the interaction between the customers and the pets. despite the differences, there is one point of similarity in the keywords list is that the list is heavily dominated by nouns and followed by verbs. based on the classification of keywords in table 2, it can be seen that most keywords are nouns and verbs. in a regular café, most of the nouns are related to the food sold in there such as bagels, bread, sandwiches, pancakes, and of course coffee. service is a notable noun that appeared in regular cafés and is probably related to what the customers are expected from visiting the cafes. on the other hand, the most common nouns in pet cafés are the nouns related to pets. dogs, cats, husky, pets, animals, kitties, make up the highest keyness followed by nouns related to pet café customers such as kids, children, and visitors. the second aspect of similarity is the low degree of adjectives found in both cafés. only two adjectives: cute and adorable appeared as the most common adjectives used in pet’s café reviews whereas good, delicious, great, and excellent are the usual adjectives in regular cafés. the following table will show the categorization of the keywords listed in regular and pet cafés based on their function in part of speech. the last point to note is that unlike in pet cafés, adverbs and prepositions are not found in regular cafés. one important point is that some words are fit into two or more different categories, therefore the classification of keywords in the two cafes is not absolute. concordance analysis of notable verbs audience appeal in pets cafe as discussed previously in the keywords analysis section, pet café and regular café reviews use different types of pronouns. this section will investigate how the pronouns used in pet cafés and regular cafés in their context. as mentioned earlier, the pronouns used in the pet café reviews are you, they, and them. meanwhile, the pronouns used in regular café reviews are i, me, and my. this finding implied that the reviews are written in the pet café and regular cafés adopt different strategies in appealing to their readers. the concordance analysis of the commonly used pronoun in the two cafés is presented to see how the reviewers used the pronouns in each context. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, june 2019, pp. 93-106 99 figure 1. sample concordance lines for you figure 1 reveals that the reviews in pet’s café use the second person pronoun you as the writers’ approach to addressing their readers. it looks like the writers in the café review treat their readers as someone they know personally, as their peers, or as someone that the writers know well, therefore they want to share their experiences intimately. as the concordance lines show, the writer incorporated specific features to show that the review is written for the benefit of the readers. the most common features used to frame what benefit the readers might get are shown in lines 1, 23-28. here the writers use conditional if to show the readers what they should not miss from the café. the purpose of the review written in conditional if, is probably the writers’ attempt to persuade the readers not to miss the good times that the writers have experienced. for example: 1). …. if you a cat lover you will enjoy it, this is 25)…. if you are a coffee person, you cannot go wrong here 26). … if you are a dog lover or miss your pooch while the second possible explanation of using you by the writers is that they consider that the issues they encountered when visiting the café are important for the readers who might want to go to the café. by using you, the writers try to make the readers imagining that the things in the café based on the writers’ experience. for example: 11). …from the owner if the dog pee or scratches you accidentally. they clean the playing area every 12). unless you get lucky, they will be near you. after half an hour into the session would be the best time to 18). by the bucket load!! the cats shy away from you and obviously do not like being touched... they do not want to come near you. 19). the staff is nice and would take photos of you and the dogs, you even got to have a 22). most of the dogs will walk away as you approach them or be completely indifferent to your presence. the above sample from concordance lines depicted the reader’s experience when they visit a pet café. in writing their review, the writer uses the second-person llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, june 2019, pp. 93-106 100 pronoun you to describe the activities that the readers might do in the café. it also provides the readers with a grand idea about what might happen to them and the pets when they visit the café. by using you, the writer involves the readers in their experience and explicitly recognizes them as prospective visitors to the pet café. having discussed the reader’s-based review that is characterized using the second pronoun you¸ it can be concluded that the reviewers recognize the readers of their reviews and involve them in the reviews themselves. other high common pronouns found in café reviews are the third person pronoun they its object pronoun them. the context of these pronouns in their use is shown in figures 2 and 3. figure 2. sample concordance lines for they figure 3. sample concordance lines for them from figures 2 and 3 we can see that the reviews used a product-based review by using they and them. they and them are employed to describe the product or to place the product at the center of the review. for example: 1). the otherworldly cakes. you go for the cats, and they actually act like real cats that just think of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, june 2019, pp. 93-106 101 4). amazing!!! super cute puppies take care of you!! they all look energetic and nice puppy!! this place is 7). more! the staff are friendly and chatty, they all play and pet the cats and make you 11). sit and consume food or drink on a table they allow their dogs to use as a toilet. several samples from the concordance lines for them: 1).too strict to enjoy. very disappointing. we contacted them a few days before we should arrive because our 3) the fur pal. just mingle with the dogs, pat them a little bit and have fun. hoomans there are 28). good reason! there are many dogs here, most of them are huskies. however, there are also a couple of as the samples from the concordance lines show us, the writers use they and them to talk about the product of the café which are the cats or the café itself. the samples taken from concordance lines reveal that the reviews center around the café and the café product. the writers tried to show what the café looks like and how the products (cats or dogs) are ‘sold’ in the café. one feature that distinguishes the finding of the product-based review in this paper compared to the previous finding of the product-based review is the use of they and them referring to people and pets (cats and dogs). in previous research conducted by skalicky (2013), the productbased review used demonstrative pronouns such as this product, it, or it’s to frame the product as the primary focus of the review. it is noticeable that this paper discovers different results regarding the pronouns used in the product-based review where the writer used they and them which refer to the cats or dogs as the ‘product’ in the pet cafes. audience appeal in regular café the analysis of keyword list comparison indicates that regular café reviews adopt different pronouns in writing the review. unlike pet café reviews which mostly use the second and third-person pronouns, the reviews in regular cafés choose the first-person pronouns in their review. the practice of using the firstperson pronoun in regular cafés shows that the writer prefers to center their review around themselves, as shown in the following figures. figures 4, 5, and 6 demonstrate how the first-person pronoun i, my, and me are used in the reviews. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, june 2019, pp. 93-106 102 figure 4. sample concordance lines for i figure 5. sample concordance lines for my llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, june 2019, pp. 93-106 103 figure 6. sample concordance lines for me in this author-based review, it can be seen from figure 4 above that the writers used i, my, and me to share their experiences by recounting their stories. for example: 2). was pretty much non-existent. very stretched. i resented paying a 10% service charge when there was no service. 5). fruits, coffee, and tea are offered here too, i already tried different drinks and bagels and none 14). do not go here. hygiene is also dirty. i am eating, and i clean it while taking samples from concordance line for my: 11). service was terrible. i asked for my bill 5 times, finally she pointed me to 15). the space is really aesthetic and comfortable. my boyfriend and i came and ordered + thai iced coffees 21). i come for a weekend breakfast. me and my buddy needed a quick breakfast/brunch/lunch at 2.00 samples of concordance lines for me: 4). want to be understood by you. he gave me a cup of coffee very quickly and gave me 5). owner tracked me down on facebook and sent me a long, hysterical message calling me uncultured 12). took a very long time to come to me and it was even longer by the time here, the writer presented their experience by recalling what happened and what they did when they visit the café. the writers focused on themselves and the things they encountered in the café in narrating what happened to them and giving insight to the readers from their perspective. there is no involvement or intention from the writer to target the reader in their review indicated by the use of the firstperson pronoun in the review. this might suggest that the community in regular llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, june 2019, pp. 93-106 104 café is not interested in involving the readers in their reviews or the review that targets the customers is not popular among regular café reviewers. conclusion the purpose of the present study is to investigate the linguistic discrepancies in the online reviews of pet cafés and regular cafés. there are three conclusions to summarize based on the finding and discussion: 1. discrepancy does exist in the keyword list between the two corpora. the keyword analysis shows that in pet cafés the writers tend to use the secondand third-person pronouns, you, they, and them in writing their review, whereas, in regular cafés, the use of the first-person pronoun, i, me, and my dominated the review writing. this finding suggests that in pet cafés, the writers used audience-based reviews by using the pronoun you and productbased reviews by adopting the use of they and them in their reviews. on the other hand, the reviewers in regular cafés tend to use author-based reviews in writing their reviews as can be observed from the dominant use of the firstperson pronoun i, me, and my in their writing. 2. the second difference between pet cafés and regular cafés reviews is that although the word wi-fi is quite dominant in regular cafés, it never appears in pet cafés. pet cafés seemed to focus on the word rules instead of wi-fi. the next point of difference is in the verbs used in pet café that mostly indicates an interaction between the customers and cats or dogs and the verbs appeared in regular cafés that suggest the contact between the customers and the café (café staff/owner). 3. the last thing is that adverbs and prepositions do not appear in the regular café’s keyword list. despite the differences, similarities are found in the analysis of the keywords list. in both, the keywords list is heavily dominated by nouns and a limited number of adjectives appear in the keyword list. this study is restricted to the analysis of keywords and the concordance of pronouns in pet and regular café reviews. further studies can use more features of corpus analysis such as collocation and lexical bundles to investigate more of the linguistic features in café reviews. sentiment analysis or the café’s responses to the negative review are topics that are worth investigating. lastly, the results of this study may contribute some implications to be applied in pedagogical classroom teaching. first, the actual use of authentic material such as online reviews might provide the students with real use of language in a specific situation, e.g., expressing opinions or recounting stories. second, by exposing the learners to the real language used in writing opinions or recounting 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(2019). positive appraisals through english intensifiers in café reviews: a corpus-based study. journal of pan-pacific association of applied linguistics, 23(2), 37-57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2013.04.001 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 310-318 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 310 students’ perceptions on the use of l1 in efl learning alya sekar anindya1, dian inayati2, and amidi ulani3 universitas brawijaya, indonesia1,2 smp labschool jakarta, indonesia3 alyasekar4@gmail.com1, dianina@ub.ac.id2, and amidilabs@gmail.com3 correspondence: alyasekar4@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071.4162 received 12 january 2022; accepted 17 may 2022 abstract the use of first language (l1) in efl classrooms is considered taboo since it is believed to hinder students’ foreign language (l2) development, while others support it due to its benefits in facilitating students’ access to l2. hence, this study attempts to investigate students’ perceptions on the use of l1 in efl classrooms. in this qualitative study, the data were collected through observations and interviews with three selective respondents. the findings reveal the students’ positive perception on the use of l1 in their efl learning. mediated by l1, the students were able to understand and engage well to efl learning, which they believe would help shape and develop their english. despite the benefits, they agree on some restrictions made by efl teachers to provide opportunities for students to practice their english. some suggestions for efl teachers are postulated. keywords: efl, first language, students’ perception introduction mastering foreign languages particularly english is crucial these days due to its important role in every aspect of our lives. however, learning english may be challenging for students whose first language (l1) is not english. some students still find it hard to use english properly especially for communication purposes, which leads to using their l1 in english classes. other reasons considered responsible for the use of l1 in l2 classes include students’ limited knowledge of vocabulary, anxiety in english learning, or way to communicate easily either with their teacher or peers. according to paker and karaağaç (2015), the use of students' mother tongue is usually used as an act of bonding between teacher and students (e.g. making jokes, showing concern, or showing their empathy), explaining difficult concepts and grammar rules, and talking about exams. however, some language experts and teachers question l1 use in l2 learning since it may hinder students’ opportunities in mastering l2 and thus consider it taboo (kelleher 2013). hence, gill (2005) found that teachers feel guilty when using their l1 due to its ban from using it in l2 class. mailto:amidilabs@gmail.com3 https://doi.org/10.24071.4162 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 310-318 311 some educators argue that l1 is unnecessary inside l2 classrooms. this issue is very common in the indonesian educational system whether to give the first language a chance or full in english. however, according to pardede (2018), not many studies take up a topic about the role of indonesian in english classrooms. sari, et al. (2020), for instance, found that students are still influenced by their first language when making sentences in english by borrowing some words into the sentence. the use of l1 in the efl class brings numerous advantages. one of them is because students and their teacher share the same first language, it is good for them to bond with each other. getie (2020) stated that students display a more positive attitude towards l2 if there is good interaction between students and their teacher rather than those who have less interaction. the use of l1 in l2 classes is also sometimes a consequence of students' limitations in their oral performance in english. gaebler (2014) in his study asserted that learners realize the use of l1 in interaction is necessary for some circumstances, for instance when they cannot express themselves in a clear articulate manner. turin (2018) also found that the use of l1 in l2 classes may affect students' ability in their speaking skills, vocabulary, and even confidence in using l2. turin further added that students who often use the target language in their l2 classes can get more chances to know more about the language they are studying. it is because even if they pronounce or say it incorrectly, they will get feedback on what they should have said from the teacher. hence, van wyk and mostert (2016) suggested that to gain learners' second language sufficient level of l2 proficiency, the use of l1 should not be neglected. while the use of l1 in elt class may bring benefits to beginner learners, its benefits for intermediate or advanced learners are still in question. for beginners, the use of l1 is helpful since they are new to learning english, and most of them have not mastered vocabulary as much as the upper level. based on research that was conducted by alvarez (2014), students consider that their l1 can be a tool in learning a foreign language for them to compare their l1 to their l2. however, studies on the benefits of l1 for intermediate to advanced learners are relatively scarce. based on the discrepancies, this study is conducted to investigate intermediate-level students' perceptions on the use of l1 inside an efl classroom. the participants involved are intermediate to pre-advanced students attending a prestigious private junior high school in indonesia and were using l1 during efl learning in classes. conducting this study would thus be beneficial particularly for elt teachers on how to make use of their l1 in english classes sufficiently and contextually. review of related literature the use of mother tongue (l1) can be considered taboo especially in teaching and learning foreign languages for several reasons, one of which is that it limits students' knowledge of their target language (alvarez, 2014). sari, et al. (2020), for instance, found that students are still influenced by their first language when making sentences in english by borrowing some words into the sentence. historically, the use of mother tongue in foreign language classes has been restricted in some teaching methods like natural approach and direct method. however, others argue that using l1 can give students a sense of security (larsen-freeman and anderson, 2011). students feel more secure with both their teacher and their environment llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 310-318 312 because they can fully understand the situation, which is believed to help them learn the target language. likewise, turin (2018) found that the use of l1 inside foreign language classes can help students and the teacher build rapport and make students feel secure in class. she added that the prohibition of using l1 can cause students to feel afraid to express their opinions in class. thus, the use of l1 inside the classroom is to create a sense of security and help learners express their feelings by using their l1 (ghorbani 2012). due to the mixed results, the perceptions and attitudes toward the use of l1 in l2 classes also vary. tsang and lo (2020) found that students have positive perceptions and suggest making the content comprehensible in both their l1 and target language to prevent confusion. meanwhile, others do not treat the use of l1 in efl classes due to its negative transfer and borrowings (sari et al., 2020). in their study in malaysia, maniam and kesevan (2016) found that the use of students' l1 to some extent affects their l2 learning because of the language subjects that they have in school (english, malay, and tamil, as their mother tongue). furthermore, akowuah et al. (2018) in their interview with ten students in ghana revealed that four of them established that the use of the l1 shaped their habits and brought negative effects on their english language performance. thus, piper et al. (2018), based on their findings, claimed that using l1 has not been beneficial for students in learning english although they did not specifically mention the particular effects of l1 use on the students’ english learning. however, de luca (2018) argued that l1 should be enhanced in l2 learning since the benefits outweigh the disadvantages and thus insisted on never perishing it. all in all, the use of l1 inside efl classrooms can bring advantages for both students and teachers in some ways like giving students a sense of security while in class and building rapport between students and teacher. however, without paying attention to its usage, it can affect learners’ performance in english, leading to overdependence of l1 instead of the target language. thus, investigating students’ perception on l1 use in efl classes is important to help identify what benefits this brings to students and what teachers should do to optimize the students’ english ability despite the use of l1 during english learning. method this study was conducted at a private junior high school in jakarta, indonesia. it was one of the most favorite private schools in indonesia with a curriculum whose english subject was given more time allocations than what was served in the national curriculum. the materials were also digitalized which helped teachers and students engage better with the content. this study used a qualitative approach with a narrative inquiry and involved several stages. at the observation stage, the students’ performance in efl classes was observed for approximately one month by focusing on the oral language they used to respond to the activities and ask questions. from the observation, it was known that several students often used their l1 during the efl classes. they were responding to the teacher during class using both english and their l1, while when asking the teacher, most students fully used their mother tongue. next, the active students who used mostly l1 were then identified to find out their english speaking proficiency. based on the results, the majority of their speaking proficiency was at the intermediate and pre-advanced levels. from the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 310-318 313 analysis, three students were then carefully selected based on the consideration of their l1 use during participation and their speaking proficiency. they were 12-14 years old students, participating actively in class by asking questions, giving opinions, and responding to the teacher's questions, all of which were done mostly in l1. in this research, the focus is on the students who used l1 or code-switching in the efl classrooms despite their proficient ability in english. the last stage that the researcher administered in this study was interviewing the selected students. the type of interview that is being used in this research is a structured interview with several questions that have been prepared before the interview being held based on the topic of the use of l1, the interview guide that is used for the interview is provided in the appendix. due to the pandemic, the interview was held by a video call, each of which lasted for around 45-60 minutes. after the interviews were held, the data were ready for analysis. several steps were held during data analysis. after gathering all of the results from selected students, the researcher looked for the theme and similarities of each answer. then, the researcher annotates the results to each category based on the students' answers into three main categories, which are communication, rules in the class, and different skills and confidence levels, and analyzes them descriptively. findings and discussion student a (male, 13 years old, 8th grade), student b (female, 13 years old, 8th grade), and student c (female, 13 years old, 8th grade). three of them have the same l1 which is bahasa indonesia. moreover, outside the class, they rarely speak english. the result from the observation showed several students were categorized as active during the efl class by giving their opinions when the teacher asked questions, answering the teacher's questions, and asking the teacher for permission and also clarification. however, not all of them use english in efl classes, they tend to use their l1 (bahasa indonesia). based on the interview that was conducted with three selected students, who are student a, student b, and student c, the researcher found several things about students' use of l1in efl class. easier for communication the reasons why the students are using their l1 in efl class are basically because it is an easier way to communicate with the teacher since both of them share the same mother tongue (l1). it is also because they follow previous students who use their l1 when responding to the teacher whenever the teacher is checking their attendance. the major findings based on the interview are the students often use their l1/l1when they give responses to the teacher while checking the attendance. the students are saying 'hadir' instead of 'present'. other than that, students are using their l1 when asking permission to go to the toilet, to turn the camera off, and also when asking questions/clarifications about an explanation and tasks that are hard to use in english. excerpt 1 gives an example of the use of l1 that student a used during efl class. "i sometimes use bahasa indonesia when i am explaining english things to people who don't understand english, or sometimes i say 'hadir' but i llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 310-318 314 also say 'present' sometimes. i usually say "pak/bu, saya izin ke toilet'', or things related like asking permission to turn off the camera due to unstable internet, "pak/bu saya izin offcam, internet saya sedang unstable." (retrieved from the interview with student a) based on excerpt 1, the use of l1 inside the efl classroom is a strategy for students to address their thoughts in asking for permission and giving responses to the teacher/other students as well. he uses his l1 instead of his target language since it is easier to use. rules from the teacher the students simply use their l1 because there were no rules from the teacher for students to avoid using their l1 in efl class. therefore, the use of l1 in efl classes by junior high school students is still used. however, to not forget that they are in efl class, it also would be fine if the teacher was willing to use english. the students think that it is okay to use their l1 in efl class because for some students who do not understand english it is very helpful. nonetheless, in their efl class, there are no rules for not using their l1. the students think it would be better for students' performance in their speaking skills. they will be challenged and also their speaking skill will be improved. the students considered they had learned about the basics of english, so if they are required to communicate in english it would be great. in excerpt 2, the reason for the use of target language by students will be involved. "probably because it is more common and easier to use. also, there is no rule to not use bahasa to communicate in our class" (retrieved from the interview with student b) based upon excerpt 2, using l1 inside efl class is not only comes from students’ desire, but also the teacher’s uncertainty rules to use or against it in class. thus, students tend to use it. different skill and confidence levels the difference in their level of skill and confidence in performing their english skill can also be the reason to use l1 inside efl class. students might be feeling more confident whenever they speak in their l1 instead of their target language. excerpt 3 is another reason to use bahasa in efl class. "different students do have different confidence/skill levels. so, i guess it's kind of that trade-off between trying to communicate in english but still be able to fully understand what they're learning." (retrieved from the interview with student c) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 310-318 315 even though the students are mostly considered proficient speakers in english, each of them must have a different scale of confidence. thus, it also makes them use their l1 instead of english in efl classes. the use of l1 inside the efl classroom is quite helpful for them if they never heard words in english before and the teacher would translate them or define them for them. fortunately, the teacher doesn't often use students' l1 while explaining the materials. in class, the teacher only uses students' l1 when necessary. excerpt 4 served as an example of the use of l1 from the teacher. "for example, some students who don't know what drought means, needs to be told in bahasa indonesia (kekeringan) so that they will understand it better" (retrieved from the interview with student a) according to students' interview results, they suggest that it would be better if the teacher would make a rule where both students and teacher should speak in full english. in addition, if the students ask the teacher using their mother tongue, they wish their teacher to respond in their l1 as well to not make confusion because of the different language they use. given that, the students think that the teacher must use their l1 in class for some reason. they think that it is useful for them to gain more vocabulary and also to communicate better as well with the teacher. based on the results from this research, some points could be discussed. as stated by getie (2020), the interaction that happened between students and their teacher will affect their attitude towards their target language than those who have less interaction. it is linked to what the students asserted that they think the use of their l1 in efl class is necessary to make them communicate with their teacher easily and to express their thoughts commonly by using their l1 since they have the same l1 with the teacher. getie (2020) also asserted that the teacher is one of the most important elements that gives influence towards students' learning a language. furthermore, the students think they can easily interact and communicate with the teacher to express something like asking questions/clarifications and permission in their l1 rather than in english because they think it is a common way. this result is consistent with what was found by edstorm (2006) that the usefulness of l1 in clarification of assignments, grading a method, and also classroom strategies (cited in s. almohaimeed and m. almurshed, 2018). it is found that students think it is so much easier to use their l1 to express simple things in efl class to the teacher also because they share the same mother tongue. this finding is also supported by jadallah & hasan (2010). they asserted the use of l1 in efl class by selecting it in using l2 when possible and first language when necessary and using the first language as a conscious and meditated choice with a facilitative and supportive role for students (cited in alvarez, 2014). some studies have found that using l1 is unavoidable and fundamental to l2 acquisition (schneider, 1979, cited in kharma and hajjaj, 1989). other than that, the results that are shown are supported by van wyk and mostert (2016) suggestion, which is to not disregard the use of their l1 to achieve students' l2 sufficient levels of proficiency. given this, it is shown that good communication between students can be built by sharing similarities, which in this case is their mother tongue. as llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 310-318 316 discussed earlier, pardede (2018) has an opposite theory with the finding of this research. he stated that the use of l1 in efl classes includes a big disadvantage due to most english teachers in indonesian public schools being native indonesian. this notion is consistent with the result that has been found, in which students and teachers share the same l1 that makes the students assume that it is better to communicate in their l1 than in english. moreover, the researcher found that the students think their usage of their first language is because they have limitations in their speaking skills. this is why sometimes they confidently answer the teacher's question via chat rather than speak out loud. turin (2018) found in her research that the teachers think l1 helps the learners because they are more confident in speaking language where they understand everything. the finding that the researcher found was also students think it is better to still use their l1 in efl class to gain a connection between the teacher and the students. all in all, the researcher agrees with pardede (2018) which asserted that l1 can bring a massive disadvantage to the learners’ performance in english, due to most teachers being native indonesian. the reason to agree with this statement is that by sharing l1, if the teacher does not give students a good explanation or good examples about the material, the students would follow them and they would use it the way their teacher explained. however, a few points need to be considered while taking these research findings into account. this research was conducted in a very short period so the researcher could only get limited information from the students, the teacher, and the environment. the researcher suggests that for further study to involve not only the students but also the teacher to be the participants since the teacher is also having a role inside the class. furthermore, with the limited time, the speaking test and the interview were also taken in a very limited time. due to this condition, the researcher also suggests for the further researcher to conduct a similar study with a longer period to gain the data well. the teacher has to make rules about the language that is used in the class so the students will not use their l1 too often rather than using english language itself. maybe the teacher can limit the use of students' l1 in some aspects so the students do not speak fully in their l1 in english class. also, in the future to research deeper on the other aspects like students' communication with the teacher and also the rules in class because, in this research, the students stated that their teacher does not give them rules about the use of their l1. conclusion in short, even though the use of students' l1 is categorized as taboo, the use of it in junior high school students especially inside the efl classroom showed a good impact on the students. it helps them to communicate with the teacher because using their l1 is a simple and common way to express things like asking for permission (to turn off the camera or to go to the restroom), asking questions and clarifications about exams or tasks, and responding when the teacher is checking attendance. besides the effective way of using it, students said that the reason why they use their l1 in efl class is that there were no rules to not using it so they tend to use it rather than use english. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 310-318 317 references akowuah, j. a., patnaik, s., & kyei, e. 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(2016). the influence of mother tongue and gender on the acquisition of english (l2): the case of afrikaans in windhoek schools, namibia. cogent education, 3(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186x.2016.1210997 https://doi.org/10.33541/jet.v4i2.831 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2017.10.002 https://doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol9no4.32 https://doi.org/10.24252/eternal.v62.2020.a5 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.12.231 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2020.100927 https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186x.2016.1210997 llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 31 an analysis on the language style of the utterances in magnum advertisements sonia niken permatasari made frida yulia english language education study program sanata dharma university abstract the role of broadcasted advertisements is undeniably important for the companies to market their products. to convince the audience, advertisers have to convey the persuasive message through the use of linguistic features. those linguistic features will influence the persuasion techniques used in advertisements and the power relation which is built between the companies and the consumers. this study attempted to solve two research problems related to the language style of the utterances in magnum advertisements. they were (1) what are the linguistic features of magnum advertisements? (2) what kind of power relation does magnum have upon consumers through the advertisements? as an endeavor to solve those two problems, document analysis was employed in analyzing the transcript of the utterances in ten (10) magnum advertisements. the first research problem was solved by categorizing the words or the sentences into some linguistic features of advertising language proposed by grey (2008). the second research problem was solved by interpreting the power relation in magnum advertisements based on french’s and raven’s theory (1959). from the obtained data, it was found that there were only a few linguistic features which appeared in magnum advertisements. the power relation between the companies and the consumers could be defined easily because the utterances were clear enough. furthermore, the simplicity of magnum advertisements presented magnum’s special characteristics albeit the advertisers did not vary the language style. keywords: language style, advertisement, magnum, linguistic features, power relation a. introduction every company needs media to disseminate their products to people, the consumers of their products. advertisements become the most well-known mass media because many companies use advertisements for particular aims. gilson and berkman (1986) define advertisements as the persuasive media of communication to help companies achieve marketing objectives. to meet this need, companies should make the best advertisement with the most suitable language style. asher (1994) states that advertising language is used to persuade or to tempt people to buy companies’ products. it means that advertisements use persuasive language to entice consumers. advertisers should know what kind of persuasive language which is suitable for certain products and make consumers believe in the companies’ products. according to grey (2008), to convey the persuasive message of advertisements, advertisers often use some linguistic features, such as hyperbole, repetition, glamorization, and some syntactic features, such as short 32 sentences, long noun phrases, and ambiguity. therefore, diction will be a very crucial thing in advertisements to grab the audience’s attention. since broadcasted advertisements can be seen and heard, an utterance is as important as the visualization. utterances hold important points because the audience can easily notice the uttered words instead of the written one. every product has a big deal with people’s perspective about product brands, there are some power relation which are built by companies upon consumers through advertisements. according to peirce (1886), power relation is the power which is built from the message sender to the message receiver through the communication act. this power is created by advertisers to build the brand image in society. french and raven (1959) classify power relation into five types, namely reward power, expert power, legitimate power, referent power, and coercive power. based on magnum’s official website (2012), “magnum was the first handheld ice cream targeted as a premium ice cream for adults. today, magnum is one of the world’s leading ice cream brands, selling one billion units annually worldwide, and it is the biggest brand of unilever ice creams.” it is true that magnum is a product which has a great success in marketing its product to people all around the world. this success is also influenced by the use of mass media to spread the existence of all products from magnum. considering magnum’s success in marketing its products, the researchers would like to analyze the language style which is used in magnum advertisements. the problems are formulated into the following questions: (1) what are the linguistic features of magnum advertisements? and (2) what kind of power relation does magnum have upon consumers through the advertisements? b. methodology to answer the two research questions, document analysis was employed. leedy and ormrod (2005: 142) define content analysis as “a detailed and systematic examination of the contents of a particular body of material for the purpose of identifying patterns, themes, or biases.” it means that content analysis allows the analyst to analyze information from certain data sources in order to describe particular characteristics of the information. in this research, the data sources were ten (10) videos of magnum advertisements, namely magnum mini version, magnum ecuador version, magnum infinity version, magnum classic version, magnum temptation version, magnum temptation hazelnut version, selecta magnum version, magnum advertisement in 1994, magnum advertisement in 1993, and magnum advertisement in 1992. to answer the first research question, related to the use of certain linguistic features of advertisements, grey’s theory (2008) was used to analyze the language style of advertising. it was chosen because there is specific description on the characteristics of advertisement language. for the second research question, the theory of power relation proposed by french and raven (1959) was employed. the utterances in magnum advertisements were analyzed and classified into the types of power relation. c. theoretical ground and discussion there are two parts in this section. the first part discusses the linguistic features of magnum advertisements. the second part explains the kinds of power relation in magnum advertisements. 1. the linguistic features of magnum advertisements based on grey (2008), there are two major features of the advertisement language an analysis on the language style of the utterances in magnum advertisements llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 33 style. they are lexical features and syntactic features. magnum advertisements had some parts of those elements in the language they used to grab the consumers’ attention. a. the lexical features of magnum advertisements the lexical features of magnum advertisements deal with the diction used in advertisements. in this case, the words were spoken by the actors, actresses, and the narrators of magnum advertisements. the diction can empower people to believe what the speakers say in the advertisements upon the advertised products. it was found that magnum advertisements only had some lexical features of the advertising language. they lacked neologism, repetition, and humor. the result of the data analysis dealing with the lexical features of magnum advertisements can be seen in figure 1. figure 1 the lexical features of magnum advertisements simplicity in the advertisement diction makes people easy to remember what is said by the speakers. the vocabulary will be universal because the advertisers will not consider who will be the audience. the slogan of magnum, for pleasure seekers, was a simple slogan which emphasized who would be the consumers of magnum. that slogan meant that the consumers should be a person who was looking for the pleasure. that person could find the pleasure by consuming magnum. it was understandable without any ambiguity because the vocabulary was very simple, brief, and clear. leech (1972) argues that hyperbole is often concerned with personal values and sentiments. hyperbole is one way to exaggerate the product in order to attract the consumers’ attention to the product. there were seven magnum advertisements which had the hyperbole feature in the advertisements. the advertisement of magnum infinity had the highest number of occurrences. for example, the use of longer lasting pleasure described how the consumers could feel the longer pleasure when they ate magnum infinity than other ice cream. the word new dominated the hyperbole feature in magnum advertisements, such as new magnum ecuador and new magnum temptation. it showed that the advertisers emphasized the presence of the new magnum product in the midst of magnum advertisements. besides, the phrase for the first time also had the same meaning as the word new. other words which indicated the use of hyperbole in magnum advertisements were special, intense, forever, perfection, very, and best. the presence of hyperbole in magnum advertisements added the variation 34 of personal expression which could affect the consumers’ willingness to taste magnum whether the speakers’ utterances were true. the word you indicates familiar language in the advertisements. it creates more friendly attitudes between the companies and the consumers. grey (2008) states that the use of such apronoun makes the audience feel involved within the advertisement. there were 60% of magnum advertisements which clearly used the pronoun you to address the consumers. the narrator in magnum classic advertisement said, “when you are having a magnum with thick cracking chocolate, nothing else matters” the pronoun you in that utterance pointed out the consumers as if the narrator were talking to them. based on grey’s explanation (2008), euphemism is a type of figurative language which carries connotative meaning. this figurative language appeared in 40% of magnum advertisements. the word ecstasy in 1994 magnum advertisement indicated how magnum could make people want to eat it again and again as they were consuming ecstasy. the actress compared magnum with ecstasy to describe the continual pleasure they wanted to get after consuming those two different things. the connotative meaning carried by the speakers of magnum advertisements were shown in the words indulgence, cruel, talk, and slide. they viewed magnum like other things which had the same quality. euphemisms could be used to give ideas about what magnum tastes like. glamorization oftenuses uncommon word combination in order to create more interesting phrases. the words employed in advertisements are modified in such a way by combining the words which are uncommonly used in daily speaking. it is one way to give glamorization touch in advertisements. glamorization could be found in four magnum advertisements. cracking chocolate was one of the popular characteristics of magnum advertisements. the word crack was identical to earthquake, egg, and many more but not to ice cream because people knew that ice cream was not tough. in magnum advertisements, the word cracking often modified the word chocolate to describe the sound which people would hear when they were biting the chocolate. in magnum temptation advertisement, the speaker said that the chocolate of magnum is the delicious browny pieces to create glamorization. another glamorization could be seen in shacked cracking chocolate and reunion ice cream. grey (2008) states that a weasel word carries unspecified meaning. therefore, it makes people question the missing information. there were only three magnum advertisements which used weasel word to gain the consumers’ attention. in the advertisement of magnum in 1992, the actress said that magnum was so different. people could ask a question “from what it is different.” then, it affected people’s curiosity to find out from what aspect it is different by buying the product. the phrase another little indulgence in magnum mini advertisement also could make people curious about what kind of indulgence it is and decide to buy the advertised product. grey (2008) argues that potential words are those which are able to give new value or novelty.potency appeared in two magnum advertisements. in the advertisement of magnum temptation, the word for the first time in “magnum presented for the first time” was an example of the use of potency. people could draw a conclusion that magnum had a new product to the market. similar to it, the word again and again in magnum mini advertisement was also a potential word. those words showed that magnum mini was an ice cream which made people want to consume for many times. an analysis on the language style of the utterances in magnum advertisements llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 35 magnum advertisements did not have the features of neologism, repetition, and humor. magnum advertisements did not introduce a new word which was formed by joining two or more word parts. moreover, repetition rarely appeared in the utterances of the advertisements because it was often used in written form. the way of delivering message done by the advertisers did not present humor to make the advertisements more attractive because they focused on the description of the products in a serious atmosphere at the matter of utterances. b. the syntactic features of magnum advertisements different from lexical features which give the view of extraordinary products through the diction, syntactic features can show how simple the advertisement language style should be. syntactic features deal with grammatical properties. the result of the analysis of the syntactic features of magnum advertisements could be described in figure 2. figure 2 the syntactic features of magnum advertisements grey (2008) states that present tense verbs could give a pictorial of the real situation whenever the audience hears the advertisements. all magnum advertisements used present tenses in the speakers’ utterances. a few parts of the actors’ and the actresses’ utterances in the two old versions of magnum advertisements in 1993 and 1994 used a simple future tense, a simple past tense, and a future perfect tense but the majority of the utterances still used present tense. magnum advertisement in 1994 showed the actress who said the sentences which used the simple present tense and future perfect tense, as in “magnum is bliss. you’re luxury. my special moment. i would’ve been my own.” “magnum is bliss” and “you’re luxury” were the examples of the simple present tense sentences and “i would’ve been my own” was the example of a future perfect tense sentence. a short sentence is easier to understand for the audience because they sometimes only hear or do not really listen carefully to the utterances spoken by the speakers in the advertisements. a short sentence usually indicates the use of simple sentence which is the preferable pattern on delivering the advertisement message to the audience. there were eight magnum 36 advertisements which had this feature. all actors and actresses stated very short sentences. in magnum advertisement in 1994, a woman said, “nothing compares to magnum.” that sentence only had a subject, a verb, and an object and could be identified as a short sentence. grey (2008) states that a long noun phrase requires at least three words or two independent phrases. a long noun phrase has the function to convince the consumers that the advertised product has many specialties. there were 70% of magnum advertisements which had long noun phrases in their utterances. they consisted of three words in the majority. in selecta magnum advertisement, there were two long noun phrases, international ice cream sensation and thick rich belgium chocolate. most of the long noun phrases in magnum advertisements described how the ice cream was, how the chocolate quality was, and how the pleasure the consumers would get when they were eating magnum. the audience only pays attention to the main idea of the product. therefore, it is unnecessary for advertisers to make many complete and formal sentences in advertisements. there were 60% of magnum advertisements which had incomplete sentences. most of those incomplete sentences described the quality of magnum itself. for example, “the new magnum temptation with chocolate sauce where chocolate delicious browny pieces covered by belgium chocolate” could be found in magnum temptation advertisement. grammatically, that sentence structure was wrong because there were some missing words. it could be arranged in a complete sentence, like “there is a new magnum temptation which is produced with chocolate sauce where you can find chocolate in the form of deliciousbrowny pieces covered by belgium chocolate.” an imperative is a common language feature in advertisements. the advertisers ask the audience to do something by using an imperative. only four advertisements of magnum had this feature. the two of them were the pieces of the actor’ or the actress’ conversation, like “watch this”in magnum infinity and “cut the alarm”in magnum temptation. the narrator in magnum temptation hazelnut advertisement said, “feel the chocolates hazelnut basis of banana ice cream in covered in shacked cracking chocolate.” she suggested the audience to consume magnum. it had a similar meaning to “grab it fast,” “buy now,” or many other examples that people usually saw in common advertisements. those imperatives were used to increase the consumers’ willingness to do something related to the marketing purposes of the company. grey (2008) proposes that association is the way advertisers connect a positive side of a product to something elsewhich is familiar in the daily life. the use of like and as sometimes indicates the association.it is used to give dramatization and clear imagination to the audience. there were 30% of magnum advertisements which used association, but some of them did not use the connector words, such as like and as. however, they indicated association because the speakers compared magnum with something else. in magnum mini version, the narrator compared magnum mini with little indulgence. similar to that, the actress in magnum infinity advertisement compared magnum with cruel people. in fact, magnum was only a delicious ice cream which they imagined as something they loved more than anything. those two examples of association did not use the word like or as. the association which used the connector like could be found in magnum advertisement in 1994. the speaker said, “i felt like under confession afterwards.” she compared her feeling of consuming magnum an analysis on the language style of the utterances in magnum advertisements llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 37 to the confession. she admitted that eating magnum was like feeling guilty for herself, but she could not avoid the guilt of eating magnum because it pleased her well. goddard (2002) defines ellipsis as “the omission of part of a structure.” cook (1996) says one of its aims is to create the sense of informality. generally, ellipsis is usually used to create informality in a conversation by omitting certain parts of a structure without affecting the meaning. there was only one ellipsis which appeared in magnum advertisements. it appeared in magnum ecuador advertisement. the actress said, “sorry, guys. sorry. hi.” the utterance “sorry” belonged to ellipsis because it could create an informal conversation. if it had been in a formal situation, it would have been “i am sorry.” however, magnum advertisements did not have the features of ambiguity, simple and colloquial language, and syntactical parallelism. every utterance was clearly stated without more than one cognitive meaning because the advertisers made those utterances simple and brief.the utterances in magnum advertisements were daily conversations which could be categorized into informal style. however, those utterances did not fit grey’s idea (2008) about a simple and colloquial language feature in magnum advertisements.the advertisers maintained the simple concept on the use of language to quickly catch the audience’s attention by avoiding the use of syntactic parallelism. c. the power relation in magnum advertisements peirce (1886) states that power is built from the relation between message senders and message receivers. according to petress in triandjojo (2008), power is the capability to persuade others to believe or to do something like what is wanted. triandjojo (2008) argues that an advertisement is an ideology reflection from a company. it can be a medium for companies to communicate with consumers. the relation which is built by companies and consumers is called power relation. power relation makes communication act occur between companies as message senders and consumers as message receivers. french and raven (1959) divide the types of power relation into five types, namely legitimate power, reward power, referent power, expert power, and coercive power. table 1 the power relation used in magnum advertisements power relation percentage magnum advertisements legitimate power 20 magnum classic magnum temptation hazelnut reward power 0 none referent power 20 magnum mini magnum temptation expert power 60 magnum ecuador magnum infinity magnum selecta magnum advertisement in 1994 magnum advertisement in 1993 magnum advertisement in 1992 coercive power 0 none 38 advertisements become a medium to present companies’ thought about their product to consumers. advertisers are the representatives of companies to send the companies’ thought to consumers through advertisements. the power relation in each magnum advertisement could be different because the idea of presenting the advertisements was also various from one to the others. table 1 shows the analysis result of power relation in magnum advertisements based on the utterances and the speakers. there were only three kinds of power relation which appeared in magnum advertisements. the majority of magnum advertisements used the expert power to communicate the idea about magnum. 1. legitimate power french and raven (1959) describe legitimate power as the power which is built when message senders are able to control message receivers. the legitimate power requires the authority of high-positionedperson to dictate people who have lower position than he does. in advertisements, companies have higher position than consumers do. therefore, companies as message senders have the right to dictate people to do something. there were 20% of magnum advertisements which used the power of legitimate. the speakers of those advertisements said some sentences which indicated suggestion to the audience to do something. in magnum classic advertisement, the narrator said, “when you are having a magnum with thick cracking chocolate, nothing else matters.” it indicated that the narrator suggested people to have a magnum if they wanted to feel the pleasure which could make them relaxed for a while from their business. besides, magnum temptation hazelnut advertisement had an imperative sentence spoken by the narrator. she said, “feel the chocolate hazelnut basis of banana ice cream in covered in shacked cracking chocolate.” this imperative sentence was an order to the audience. the narrator actually asked the audience to buy magnum temptation hazelnut and taste it. 2. reward power companies can give a reward to the audience if they use the advertised product. this strategy builds the reward power between companies and consumers. that reward is usually in the form of a lottery, a product bonus, or many more. it is the most interesting power to attract people’s willingness to buy the product. however, magnum advertisements did not use this power because the company did not offer any kind of reward for the consumers. 3. referent power presenting famous people in the advertisement is a great idea to market a product. popular people can influence their fans to follow their life style, such as the product they use or consume. the referent power develops admiration and a desire to be like certain popular people in advertisements. there were 20% of magnum advertisements which had this kind of power relation. magnum mini advertisement presented eva longoria as the actress who was enjoying magnum mini. she was a beautiful actress who often appeared in some other magnum advertisements. magnum temptation advertisement is starred by caroline correan and benicio del toro. those two advertisements were very attractive because the actresses and the actor could attract the audience. the referent power does not have certain language characteristics through advertisements because the main point of this power is the presence of the actor or the actress who are already well-known among the audience of magnum advertisements. 4. expert power an assumption of knowing everything about a product is a basic part of building the an analysis on the language style of the utterances in magnum advertisements llt journal vol. 16 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 39 expert power. companies place themselves as the ones who understand that the advertised product is highly recommended to use. therefore, they suggest the audience to use it. in magnum advertisements, the expert power appeared in more than a half of the advertisements. there were 60% of magnum advertisements which built that power by telling the audience about the specialty of magnum. the speakers described the quality of magnum and the satisfaction which they had after they consumed magnum. the narrators’ description about magnum in magnum ecuador advertisement, magnum infinity advertisement, and selecta magnum advertisement indicated the expert power because the narrators exactly knew the main ingredients of magnum. in selecta magnum advertisement, the narrator described magnum as an international ice cream sensation with thick rich belgium chocolate, coated by classic, almond, or in double chocolate. from the description, the audience could know the quality of magnum which was mentioned by the narrators. attaching some opinions of magnum consumers was also a way of describing magnum and its satisfaction. it appeared in magnum advertisement in 1994, magnum advertisement in 1993, and magnum advertisement in 1992. those three advertisements showed how the consumers liked magnum. they shared what they tasted and what they felt when they were having magnum. a woman in magnum advertisement in 1993 said, “when i’ve got a magnum, i suddenly get very possessive. i came over my own and nothing can come to distract me. the piece i like best is one that chocolate cracks for the first time.” those sentences made the audience imagine how that woman was satisfied when she was eating magnum. 5. coercive power loudon in supriyono (2006) states that message senders can delete a promised reward if message receivers do not follow the suggestion in advertisements. if the audience as the message receiver does not do what is ordered by the message senders, the companies as the message senders can delete the promised reward or do something which is not good for the audience. this power relation is not so pleasant that many advertisers do not use it in advertisements. magnum advertisement was one of advertisements which did not use coercive power to build the power relation between the company and the consumers. d. conclusions based on the discussion above, some conclusions could be drawn. the advertising language has its own uniqueness to be analyzed, especially the linguistic features which appear along advertisements and can influence the kinds of the power relation. based on grey’s theory (2008), magnum advertisements only had 36% of the whole lexical features and 39% of the whole syntactic features. the speakers presented simple language of advertising to advertise magnum. magnum advertisements did not have neologism, repetition, and humor features. they had weasel words, familiar language, euphemisms, glamorization, and potency features although they were only 50% or less. all of magnum advertisements used simple vocabulary and most of them used hyperbole to exaggerate magnum ice cream. for the syntactic features, magnum advertisements lacked ambiguity, simple and colloquial language, and syntactic parallelism features. the majority of magnum advertisements used short sentences, long noun phrases, present tense, and incomplete sentences features. the other features which they had in the minority were the use of imperatives, association, and ellipsis features. 40 the theory of power relation proposed by french and raven (1959) showed how the power between companies and consumers could be categorized into some kinds of power relation. most magnum advertisements had the expert power because the advertisers emphasized the product description and assume that they were the only one who knew about the product. the referent power appeared in two magnum advertisements. they presented famous public figures to influence people to consume magnum as what those people did. the two other magnum advertisements built the legitimate power upon the advertisements to suggest people to do something related to the products. in brief, magnum advertisements’ simplicity affected the use of linguistic features in their utterances. that simplicity did not require many linguistic features of linguistic. therefore, magnum advertisements only had a few linguistic features. the power relation which was built between the companies and the consumers of magnum advertisements consisted of three kinds of power relation, namely the legitimate power, the referent power, and the expert power. it dealt with how the advertisers presented the product through the advertisements. references asher, r. e. (1994). the encyclopedia of language and linguistics (vol. 2). oxford: pergamon press. cook, g. (1996). the discourse of advertising. london: routledge. french, j. r. p., & raven, b. (1959). the bases of social power. ann arbor, mi: university of michigan press. gilson, c. & berkman, h. (1986). advertising, concept and strategies. blacklick. oh: mcgraw-hill college. goddard, a. (2002). the language of advertising (2nd ed.). new york: routledge. grey, d. (2008). language in use. cambridge: cambridge university press. leech, g. n. (1972). englishin advertising: a linguistic study of advertising in great britain. london: longman. leedy, p. d., & ormrod, j. e. (2005). practical research: planning and design (8th ed.). upper saddle river, nj: pearson prentice hall. magnum official website. (n.d.). about magnum. retrieved on october 2nd, 2012, from http://magnumicecream. com/about_us peirce, c. s. (1886). writings of charles s. peirce: a chronological edition (vol. 6). bloomington, in: indiana university press. supriyono, a. (2006). power relation between producers and consumers created in english advertisement. (unpublished master’s thesis). semarang: semarang university. triandjono, i. (2008). semiotika iklan mobil di media cetak indonesia. (unpublished master’s thesis). semarang: diponegoro university. an analysis on the language style of the utterances in magnum advertisements cover vol 16 2013_rep isi llt_vol_16_2013_a_save as isi llt_vol_16_2013_b_save as llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 61 a study on students’ learning strategies and self-efficacy in speaking i class in elesp of sanata dharma university yohana vita lelita sanata dharma university abstract speaking skill is a skill that is judged first than other skills by someone in many languages. this perspective is the underlying reason why elesp students are demanded to have good speaking ability. having a good speaking ability will also give them many other benefits. based on the researcher’s personal experiences as the first semester student and experiences of doing micro teaching in speaking i class, it was found that some elesp students’ speaking ability was not good enough. this study aims to find out the language learning strategies elesp students applied to improve their speaking ability and the use of those strategies in relation to the students’ self-efficacy by distributing questionnaire and conducting interview. keywords: language learning strategies, self-efficacy, speaking ability introduction speaking skill is a skill that is judged first than other skills by someone in many languages (mcdonough & shaw, 2003). it means that people assess someone’s language capability from his/her speaking skill first rather than listening skill, reading skill and writing skill. therefore, elesp students should have good or even high speaking ability. having good speaking ability also gives them other benefits such as making them good teachers. if they have good speaking ability, there will be no misunderstanding between them and their students when communicating and explaining the learning material. another benefit is making them able to communicate with many people from many other countries and in many situations or occasions (harmer, 1991). based on the researcher’s personal experiences as the first semester student and experiences of doing micro teaching in speaking i class, it was found that some elesp students’ speaking ability was not good enough. their speaking ability still required substantial improvement. oxford (1990) states that strategies are important for language learners because they are tools to develop their communicative ability. doing appropriate language learning strategies will improve students’ llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 62 ability. therefore, elesp students need to apply appropriate language learning strategies in order to improve their speaking ability. from the analysis of language learning strategies, the researcher will understand the use of those strategies and the relation between it and the students’ self-efficacy. for this reason, this study would like to address two questions. first, what language learning strategies were applied by the students to improve their speaking ability in speaking i class? second, what is the use of those strategies in relation to the students’ self-efficacy? to answer both research questions, the researcher distributed questionnaire and conducted an interview. the questionnaire was given to twenty two students of elesp in speaking i class b of sanata dharma university in academic year 2015/2016. the questionnaire was distributed to analyze the language learning strategies they applied, the effort they put when encountering obstacles, the beliefs in their ability to achieve goals, and the use of language learning strategies as reflected in their speaking performance. the analyses of those things were used to get better understanding of their self-efficacy. furthermore, to analyze the relation between the use of those strategies and the students’ self-efficacy, the researcher conducted an interview with three students of speaking i class b. theoretical ground 1. language learning strategies used to improve speaking ability according to oxford (1990), there are six types of language learning strategies. each of the strategies is explained in the following table. table 1 language leaning strategies lls explanation examples memory strategies these are strategies that help learners keep and retrieve new information. using phonetic spelling and/or accent marks to memorize new words. remembering difficult english grammar by reviewing it many times. cognitive strategies cognitive strategies enable learners to understand and produce new language in many different meanings. practicing pronunciation by doing repetition joining a foreign language club and making friends with native speakers. compensatio these strategies help learners overcome gaps in knowledge so learners can using mother tongue without translating it if learners do not know how to say it in target llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 63 n strategies communicate authentically. language. using mime, gesture or physical movements as the expression to show the meaning of certain words using synonym to show what the learners want to say. metacognitiv e strategies these strategies give learners a way to manage and organize their learning process. making time schedule to practice speaking. setting goals or making long-term aim which refers to the result that will be accomplished in many months or years later. evaluating learners’ progress in speaking a new language. affective strategies affective strategies enable learners to control their emotions and attitudes towards learning. taking deep breath before starting speaking to reduce anxiety. saying positive statement to encourage learners to speak english. social strategies these are strategies that help learners to be able to communicate with many people by giving them opportunities to practice their speech production having temporary pair or small group to practice speaking with others. having conversation with native speakers that they meet outside the classroom. 2. factors influencing the use of language learning strategies according to oxford (1990), there are some factors that influence the use of language learning strategies and determine their speaking performance, namely motivation and anxiety. motivation is the primary source which contributes to individual language learning. learners who have high motivation seem to use greater range of appropriate strategies. motivation determines the amount of some components, namely goal, want, effort and attitudes toward the learning activity (gardner, 1985). highly motivated individuals are more active in language classes, more successful in learning foreign language, and more excited to participate in foreign community and interact with members of that community. anxiety can affect learners’ productive skill such as speaking skill, including the language learning strategies (horwitz, 2001). learners with low anxiety will succeed in their language learning because they tend to use various language learning strategies (oxford, 1990). anxiety is not only feeling anxious, but it also includes the feeling of doubtful, llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 64 fearful, and even stressed. that will influence learners’ belief on their capability in speaking english. those feelings appear when individuals have beliefs in being not confident in their ability, being embarrassed and confused that they will make a mistake when performing challenging task. 3. self-efficacy self-efficacy refers to individuals’ beliefs in their capabilities to manage something and do some actions in order to achieve certain accomplishment (bandura, 1997). self-efficacy is not a measure of the skills one has but it is a belief in what one can do under certain conditions with whatever skills one possesses. those beliefs give influence on some aspects, namely individuals’ task orientation, effort and persistence, strategy use, beliefs, and performance. the table below summarizes how self-efficacy influences those aspects. table 2 the influence of self-efficacy high self-efficacy individuals low self-efficacy individuals task orientation high self-efficacy individuals have high targets and goals. not only having them, they do some things to achieve their targets and goals. they consider those targets and goals as challenges not as burdens. low self-efficacy individuals have low targets and goals. some of them may have high targets and goals, but they will do fewer things or even nothing to achieve them because they have low estimations of their capabilities to perform something. effort and persistence high self-efficacy individuals put more effort and not easily give up when facing obstacles. low self-efficacy individuals easily give up and lose their spirit to keep trying when facing obstacles because they have doubt about their capabilities to perform something. strategy use high self-efficacy individuals are likely to do some actions or useful strategies and have high commitment to achieve their low self-efficacy individuals are not likely to do some actions or useful strategies and have weak commitment to achieve llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 65 targets and goals. their targets and goals. beliefs high self-efficacy individuals have high selfconfidence that they will be able to achieve their targets or goals. besides, they can control their stress and anxiety when they cannot achieve their targets and goals yet. low self-efficacy individuals have low selfconfidence that they will be able to achieve their targets or goals. besides, they cannot control their feeling, so they will feel anxious and depressed when they cannot achieve their targets and goals yet. performance high self-efficacy individuals have higher performance than low selfefficacy individuals. low self-efficacy individuals have lower performance than high selfefficacy individuals. individuals’ self-efficacy can be determined by understanding those five aspects (bandura, 1986). information in table 2 shows that individuals who use strategies more efficiently, do activities to achieve targets and goals willingly, expend greater effort, persist longer even if difficulties appear, believe that they can succeed and perform better than other people are individuals with high self-efficacy. discussion 1. students’ choices of language learning strategies in order to answer the research question number one, the researcher distributed questionnaire sheets consisted of close-ended questions to 22 students in speaking i class b and conducted an interview to three students. the research findings indicated that all students applied various language learning strategies to improve their speaking ability. table 3 students’ choices of language learning strategies n o. lls statement sd d a sa 1. memor y strategi es i use phonetic spelling and/or accent marks written in the dictionary to memorize new words. 0 (0 %) 2 (9%) 17 (77% ) 3 (14% ) 2. i remember difficult english grammar by reviewing it many times. 0 (0 %) 6 (27% ) 16 (73% ) 0 (0%) i practice my pronunciation by 1 14 6 1 llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 66 3. cogniti vestrat egies saying english words over and over. (5 %) (63% ) (27% ) (5%) 4. i join a foreign language club and make friends with native speakers. 2 (9 %) 15 (68% ) 5 (23% ) 0 (0%) 5. compe n sation strategi es when i do not know how to say a word in english, i say it in bahasa indonesia or javanese as my mother tongue. 0 (0 %) 2 (9%) 12 (54% ) 8 (36% ) 6. when i forget the meaning of certain english words, i use mime, gesture or physical movements to show it. 0 (0 %) 4 (18% ) 7 (32% ) 11 (50% ) 7. when i forget the meaning of certain english words, i use the synonym of those words. 1 (5 %) 5 (23% ) 14 (63% ) 2 (9%) 8. metaco g-nitive strategi es i make time schedule to practice my speaking. 1 (5 %) 18 (81% ) 3 (14% ) 0 (0%) 9. i set speaking goal such as being able to speak fluently like native speakers. 0 (0 %) 0 (0%) 1 (5%) 21 (95% ) 1 0. i evaluate the progress of my speaking ability and correct the mistakes i do in speaking english. 0 (0 %) 2 (9%) 19 (86% ) 1 (5%) 1 1. affecti vestrat egies i take deep breath before starting speaking english in front of many people to reduce anxiety. 0 (0 %) 6 (27% ) 10 (46% ) 6 (27% ) 1 2. i say positive statement to myself which encourages me to speak english inside and outside the classroom. 0 (0 %) 4 (18% ) 15 (68% ) 3 (14% ) 1 3. social strategi es i practice my speaking with my friends such as having temporary pair or small group. 1 (5 %) 5 (23% ) 10 (45% ) 6 (27% ) 1 4. i practice my speaking by having conversation with native speakers that i meet outside the classroom. 1 (5 %) 12 (54% ) 9 (41% ) 0 (0%) sd: (strongly disagree); d: (disagree); a: (agree); sa: (strongly agree) the findings from the questionnaire were also supported by the interview results of some students. a student said that she joined english club llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 67 because there were many native speakers who joined the club. therefore, indonesian people including her were demanded and forced to speak and communicate in english with both native speakers and other indonesian people. another student explained that she made a routine schedule in which twice in a week she had to practice her pronunciation over and over and also her grammar by doing grammar tasks. when there was free time, she also used it to practice her speaking. 2. the use of the strategies in relation to the students’ selfefficacy based on the questionnaire result, 21 students or 95% agreed that their speaking ability was improved after doing some language learning strategies while one student or 5% disagreed. it means that the strategies were useful for speaking improvement of most students. the improvement was reflected in their speaking performance after applying various language learning strategies. the researcher did not determine whether their performance was really improved by seeing their performance directly, but by trying to make meaning on their perception of their speaking ability. the questionnaire result was supported by the interview result of three students. student b and student c explained that their speaking ability is really better because now they can respond to the conversation faster without thinking too long about what i have to say and understand more how to speak english politely and formally by choosing appropriate vocabularies and correct grammar. however, student a who disagreed explained that her speaking ability did not get better even though she did language learning strategies like what her friends did. it happened because she did not do them seriously which meant that she could not persist in facing obstacles even though actually she really wanted to have better speaking ability and be able to speak english as fluent as native speakers. moreover, she was not confident in her speaking ability and she had doubt that she would be able to achieve her goals. from the analysis, it can be concluded that the improvement were obtained by only student b and student c. the improvement was not obtained by all students because of some factors that influenced the use of language learning strategies, namely motivation and anxiety (oxford, 1990). student b and student c were those whose motivation were high and anxiety was low, while student a was a student whose motivation was low and anxiety was high. because of the high motivation and low anxiety had by student b and student c, they were more successful than student a as reflected in their speaking performance after applying language learning strategies. the analysis of the use of strategies and factors influencing it were used to determine students’ self-efficacy. the researcher used the llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 68 analysis of targets and goals set by the students to analyze task orientation and the analysis of language learning strategies were applied by the students to analyze strategy use. moreover, the researcher used the analysis of factors that influence the use of language learning strategies, namely motivation to analyze effort & persistence and personality trait to analyze beliefs. table 4 below shows aspects influenced by self-efficacy which determined students’ self-efficacy. from the table, it can be concluded that student a had low self-efficacy while student b and student c had high self-efficacy. table 4 the influence of self-efficacy on students’ learning strategies interviewe e task orientatio n effort & persistenc e strateg y use belief s performanc e a      b      c      bandura (1986) states that high selfefficacy individuals will have higher performance than low self-efficacy individuals with the same ability and under particular condition. it means that low self-efficacy individuals will have lower performance than high self-efficacy individuals. based on the questionnaire and interview results, student b and student c performed their speaking better than student a even though all of them did some language learning strategies. it shows that student b and student c had high self-efficacy while student a had low selfefficacy. therefore, it can be concluded that the higher speaking performance they had, the higher students’ self-efficacy. bandura (1986) states the higher targets and goals they set and the more useful strategies individuals do, the higher their self-efficacy. not only having high targets or goals, they also do some things to achieve their targets and goals. all students who became the interviewees demonstrated as high self-efficacy individuals as seen from two aspects, namely task orientation and strategy use. the first reason was because they set high goals which were having better speaking ability, being able to speak english as fluent as native speakers and the other goals even though they had different beliefs in their speaking ability. the second reason was because not only setting high goals, all of them did some language learning strategies which were divided into direct llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 69 strategies and indirect strategies to achieve their goals the more effort they put when facing obstacles, the higher students’ self-efficacy (bandura, 1986). student b and student c were individuals who had high selfefficacy because they never gave up when facing obstacles. they even put more effort to remove the obstacles to achieve their goals such as forcing themselves to keep speaking english even though their speaking ability was not perfect, gaining more confidence and strengthening their belief in their speaking ability. on the other hand, student a was someone who could not continue doing the strategies when the obstacles appeared. she easily gave up because she doubted her speaking ability. it means that student a’s self-efficacy was low. the more confident and more able to control their stress and anxiety, the higher students’ selfefficacy (bandura, 1986). student b and student c were those who had high self-confidence that they would be able to have better speaking ability, speak as fluent as native speakers, and achieve other goals they set. moreover, they could control her anxiety, fear and stress in certain condition which made her choose to be a responsible person who kept trying and believing in her ability. nevertheless, student a was the one who was not sure that she could achieve her goals because she was not confident in her ability. she was afraid that she could not achieve her goals because of her ability. from the analysis of beliefs, it is concluded that student b and student c had high self-efficacy while student a had low self-efficacy. conclusions first, the research findings indicated that all students applied various language learning strategies in order to improve their speaking ability. those strategies were divided into six groups, namely memory strategies, cognitive strategies, compensation strategies, metacognitive strategies, affective strategies and social strategies. the most dominant strategy was setting speaking goal because 100% of the students applied that strategy. according to oxford (1990), this strategy belongs to metacognitive strategies. second, language learning strategies were useful for almost all students, as reflected in their speaking performance which was improved. the use of those strategies was influenced by some factors, namely motivation and anxiety. the higher motivation and the lower anxiety the students had, the more strategies were used and the more successful they were in learning foreign language. the success was reflected in their speaking performance after applying various strategies. other aspects were influenced by self-efficacy also determined students’ self-efficacy. in short, the higher targets and goals set by students, the higher students’ selfefficacy; the more effort students llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 70 put, the higher students’ selfefficacy; the more useful strategies they applied to achieve their goals, the higher students’ self-efficacy. moreover, the more confident and more able to control their stress and anxiety, the higher students’ selfefficacy; the higher students’ speaking performance, the higher students’ self-efficacy. based on the analysis of those aspects, it was found that student a had low selfefficacy while student b and student c had high self-efficacy. references bandura, a. (1986). social foundation of thought and action: a social cognitive theory. englewood cliffts: prentice-hall. bandura, a. (1997). self-efficacy. the exercise of control. new york: w. h. freeman and company. gardner, r. c. (1985). social psychological aspects of language learning: the role of attitudes and motivation. london: edward arnold. harmer, j. (1991). the practice of english language teaching. harlow, essex: longman. horwitz, e. k. (2001). language anxiety and achievement. annual review of applied linguistics, 112-126. mcdonough, j., & shaw, c. (2003). materials and methods in elt: a teacher’s guide (2 nd ed.). oxford: blackwell publishing. oxford, r. l. (1990). language learning strategies: what every teacher should know. boston: heinle & heinle publishers. 11102150559lltjournalfrontpagesapr2016(10nov8pmagain) 2 llt j april 2016 articles two columns llt journal submission guidelines apr 2016 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 364-366 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 364 book review: english l2 reading: getting to the bottom (4th edition) yueyue huang1 and keru li 2 guangzhou xinhua university, guangzhou/dongguan, china1,2 the hong kong polytechnic university, hong kong s.a.r., china1 hailey.huang@connect.polyu.hk1 and likeru@xhsysu.edu.cn2 correspondence: likeru@xhsysu.edu.cn https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4464 received 9 march 2022; accepted 28 april 2022 research in reading, especially the relevance of reading processing to reading instruction, has come a long way to date. from canonical individual differences research to a diversity of fine-grained examinations of domain-specific cognitive processors and their effects on reading competence, latest l2 reading research has outlined a complex and dynamic picture of reading efficacy development. english l2 reading: getting to the bottom, now in its fourth edition, has in part answered the call to reflect on the psycholinguistic turn in reading studies over decades. with its stated alignment with an emergentist view of language acquisition and purposefully modified chapter sections on metalinguistic awareness-raising in terms of instructional techniques, the revised edition still provides a bottom-up focused overview of core concepts in understanding l2 english reading mechanism, alongside practical considerations on concepts of l2 reading processing in pedagogical contexts, backed by updated research findings. the book consists of 11 chapters elaborating different elements in reading process. chapter 1 outlines a coordinated picture of models in reading systems: a linguistic infrastructure macro-model consisting of working memory (wm) linguistic strategies and long-term memory (ltm) language awareness systems, and a neural network micro-model encompassing a densely interconnected network of linguistic codes. chapter 2 discusses the universals of reading and provides an updated discussion on the characteristics of common writing systems (i.e. logographic, syllabic, alphabetic), which are used to facilitate the discussion on interlanguage reading processing in chapter 3. the next chapter also discusses the transfer effect of l1 to l2 reading and two reading strategies (i.e. assimilation, accommodation) and one factor in transfer (orthographic distance). title : english l2 reading: getting to the bottom (4th edition) isbn : 9780367027896 author : barbara m. birch; sean fulop publisher : new york, routledge, 2021 page : 293 pages mailto:likeru@xhsysu.edu.cn mailto:likeru@xhsysu.edu.cn mailto:likeru@xhsysu.edu.cn https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4464 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 364-366 365 the next four chapters elaborate grapheme-to-phoneme correspondence. phonological aspects in reading are first reviewed in chapter 4, elucidating the simple view of reading comprehension, the emergence of phonological awareness, as well as the consonant and vowel phonemic inventory. chapter 5 discusses letter processing via illustration of eye movements during reading comprehension. the concept of grapheme is clarified and updated charts of english graphemes are presented. chapter 6 further reviews the english spelling system, illustrating how learners obtain spelling rules through statistical learning on morphology and spelling conventions and probabilistic reasoning with contextual and vowel support. chapter 7 compares and contrasts two phonics methodologies for teaching such correspondences and the context where they occur. following three chapters provide an overview of spelling and vocabulary development in the process of language acquisition. chapter 8 revisits the issue of morphophonemic spelling rules and l1-to-l2 transfer effect, suggesting that morphological awareness is critical for l2 reading development. chapter 9 focuses on the spelling development among native english speakers, and examines several variables for teachers (i.e. pedagogical effectiveness, students’ interests) as well as learner variables in spelling development. chapter 10 provides an investigation into literate linguistic infrastructure, in which readers build up an ample l2 linguistic infrastructure by becoming active word learner, though under the effects of a few learner variables (e.g. wm, phonological loop or other lexical variables). after all key components being laid down, chapter 11 gets to the bottom of english l2 reading by highlighting the goal of reading instruction — automaticity and fluency. the reciprocal relationship between automaticity and comprehension stems from shared language processing at various levels in linguistic infrastructure. it also notes that reading involves multiple components closely related to wm. as with the authors’ pedagogical concerns over key notions of l2 reading processors, we find the chapter-beginning pre-reading and study guide questions and chapter-ending language awareness activities and discussion questions particularly constructive and resourceful for language teachers as well as teacher educators. such guided reflective organization is fairly in line with the new edition’s highlight to develop readers’ metalinguistic awareness of each subtopic’s ready implications for classroom reading instruction. earmarked as a “language awareness approach”, the practical awareness-raising instructional activities acknowledge the significance of explicit description and instruction on lower-level processing in regard to teachers’ awareness enhancement and their students’ strategic learning optimalization (birch & fulop, 2020, pp. 264-265, see also nassaji, 2003). this teaching-focused modification resonates with current tesol research trends in equipping learners with a pool of self-regulated learning strategies (srls) to attain “automaticity, fluency, and comprehension” (birch & fulop, 2020: 265; teng & zhang, 2021). whilst explicit metalinguistic awareness and learning strategies are timely reaffirmed in this edition, we have noticed issues coincidentally mentioned but yet extensively charted. in the concluding chapter, the authors rightfully emphasize that to acquire automaticity, learners “must be active” and intended processing llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 364-366 366 strategies must perform “accurately and efficiently” at once (birch & fulop, 2020: 266-267). however, little elaboration was presented as to readers’ active appropriation of multiple lower-level processing strategies. we thus consider it worthwhile to address how l2 learners experience and regulate the complex dynamic trajectory to achieve different levels of autonomy by drawing on stateof-the-art process-based research on learning strategy development, if a next updated edition were to be expected. also closely correlated with the active role that readers play in the articulation of lower-level reading process is the academic consensus to data that readers can be variably motivational and emotional. we consider it necessary for a possible new edition to properly illustrate this individual difference factor via a supplementary review of research on learner motivation, self-efficacy (e.g. graham et al., 2020), engagement (e.g. van ammel et al., 2021), and perhaps also l1/l2 learners’ emotional reactivity to content reading itself so that the book can bridge insights from both an individualcognitive and a sociocognitive perspective (e.g. driver, 2021). this edition offers new conceptual resources for postgraduate tesol students, pre-service teachers, and language acquisition researchers. the substantially revised chapter design and updated research support with new evidence-based models on reading processing provides a more practical view of central aspects of reading processors. the book is featured by its well-established and instructional guidance towards effectively supplementing top-down teaching approaches with a bottom-up perspective. we thus believe that this book can be thought-provoking for both pre-service and in-service teachers dealing with basic literacy education, and considering its pedagogical inspirations it is also especially myth-debunking for teacher trainers, curriculum designers or anyone interested in making the most of l2 english reading processing. references birch, b. m., & fulop, s. (2020). english l2 reading: getting to the bottom (4th ed.). new york: routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429397783 driver, m. (2021). emotion-laden texts and words. studies in second language acquisition, 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263121000851 graham, s., woore, r., porter, a., courtney, l., & savory, c. (2020). navigating the challenges of l2 reading: self‐efficacy, self‐regulatory reading strategies, and learner profiles. the modern language journal, 104(4), 693714. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12670 nassaji, h. (2003). higher–level and lower–level text processing skills in advanced esl reading comprehension. the modern language journal, 87(2), 261-276. https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-4781.00189 teng, l. s., & zhang, l. j. (2021). can self-regulation be transferred to second/foreign language learning and teaching? current status, controversies, and futures directions. applied linguistics. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amab032 van ammel, k., aesaert, k., de smedt, f., & van keer, h. (2021). skill or will? the respective contribution of motivational and behavioural characteristics to secondary school students' reading comprehension. journal of research in reading, 44(3), 574-596. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/14679817.12356 https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429397783 https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263121000851 https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12670 https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-4781.00189 https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amab032 https://doi.org/https:/doi.org/10.1111/1467-9817.12356 https://doi.org/https:/doi.org/10.1111/1467-9817.12356 llt journal vol. 15, no. 2 issn 1410-7201 29 gender bias in the rural community as reflected in minfong ho’s sing to the dawn hermanus wahyaka abstract this study aims at identifying the evidences of gender-biased behaviour and actions and at finding the possible reasons why those gender-biased behaviour and actions happen within the life of the rural community as depicted in the novel. the problems, therefore, are formulated as follows: 1). what are the evidences of gender-biased behaviour and actions experienced by the major female characters of ho’ssing to the dawn?and 2). why do the gender-biased behaviour and actions occur within the life of the rural communityas in ho’ssing to the dawn? this study is a library research. the primary source is the novel itself, sing to the dawn. the secondary sources are obtained from several relevant books related to literary theories such as the critical approach, the theory of gender, the theory of society, and the review of thai society. in order to relate the gender bias and a certain community, the socio-cultural approach is used to examine the novel. this study found that gender biased behaviour and actions committed by the male characters towards the major female characters manifest in several manners; they are subordination of women, mental violence, violent intention, physical violence, sex role stereotyping, and marginalization. the possible reasons enabling the manifestation of gender biased behaviour and actions committed by the male characters towards the major female characters are cultural construction on women subordination, cultural construction on sex roles stereotyping as the result of patriarchal system, religious misinterpretation, and poverty. keywords: gender bias, female characters,rural community. a. introduction novel, as one of the literary works, has become the common way to show human’s feelings in dealing with their environment for centuries and it does not show any signs of weakening. on the other hand, the readers consider that novels are the most flexible type of literary works and contain a lot of possibilities (madden, 2009). as a medium to express mind, novels have had great influences in people’s life. a novel, for instance, has a power to see deeply the situation the universe faces and it represents the human condition both on the individual level and on social level (madden, 2009). one of the issues occurred in a society viewed deeply through novels is the biased perception or unbalanced roles between men and women. an individual of a particular society develops his or her knowledge and cognition in the whole society’s system by interacting and getting involved in the social events happening in the environment. the primary socializations are the process of the society’s culture internalization and the process of structuring the personality. “the child’s personality is moulded in terms of the central values of the culture to the point where they become part of the child.” (haralambos, 1996: p. 383). 30 this kind of interaction then forms and influences individual perspectives towards his or her environment or even greater, towards the society itself. this influence, according to tharp and gallimore (1998), could be projected in the area of teaching, schooling, and education. in addition, these kinds of interaction later will shape the perspectives of his or her environment, for instance the perspective towards social orders, social roles, social functions, et cetera. this condition generates cultural reproduction. pierre bourdieu (1973) as cited by edgar and sedgwick (2002) defined cultural reproduction as a process by which the culture is maintained from one generation to the next through the education system. in this process, individuals internalize the culture through their societies or in other words, cultural transmission occurs. the cultural transmission will not only simply “maintain the stability of the manner in which the society is organized, the stability of the key values and beliefs of its culture but rather the stability of the political structures and the structures of domination and exploitation within the society” edgar & sedgwick (2002: 100). caregivers, as parts of a society, are agents of social perspectives. trevarthen, as stated by adamson and chance (1989), states that caregivers or parents will introduce the society’s set of cultural knowledge to their children. these children then learn and absorb anything in the society through what they have seen in their parents or adults. this social interaction affects their cognitive development. caregivers’ inappropriate cultural knowledge, therefore, will mislead their children’s views towards their society. the misunderstanding of social perspectives as an effect of improper caregivers’ cultural knowledge may happen in unbalanced views towards differences of role between men and women. the assumption that men are super-ordinate and that women are subclasses of men is one of that lacking of cultural knowledge (glover & cora, 2005). in ho’ssing to the dawn, the main character, a girl, is always positioned in the second place. in addition, the other female characters depicted in this novel also have more or less similar experiences to the main character. this condition reflects that the society where the main character lives allows men to place women in the sub-ordinate position. sukanto (1990: 405) states that these conditions are the products of social interaction. the author’s has succeeded in delivering messages that everyone must take risks in this life, or else, the life will be worthless. if the main character of this novel had not takena risk, the story would have been different and remained as a potboiler. the main character represents the courage to face injustice of a community or a society. as the main character, dawan, underlines the importance of being educated to bring about positive changes of a society, “studying should be a way of learning how to help our people, and not just swallowing down and spewing up the words in textbooks,” (ho, 2005: 43). as the ideal consequence, educated people will not leave their origin only to pursue their personal interests. conversely, they will try to do the best efforts they can for their society (ho, 2005: 51; 118). thus, this paper aims to answer the following research questions: 1. what are the evidences of genderbiased behaviour and actions experienced by the female characters of ho’ssing to the dawn? 2. why do the gender-biased behaviour and actions occur within the life of rural community as in ho’ssing to the dawn? gender bias in the rural community as reflected in minfong ho’s sing to the dawn llt journal vol. 15, no. 2 issn 1410-7201 31 b. review of related literature 1. socio-cultural approach literature describes human beings and the situations in a particular context. to study literature only in the light of culture, however, will deduce literature into a branch of sociology (das, 2002. rohrberger and woods (1971) stated that socio-cultural approach is one of approaches in critical approach. it focuses on the civilization and the effects of the civilization to the community or society and the culture. rohrberger and woods (1971) stated that the major interest of socio-cultural approach as “the only way to locate the real work is in reference to the civilization that produced it.” civilization is attitudes and actions of a particular group of people and point out that literature takes these attitudes and actions as its subject matter. it is, therefore, necessary that the critic investigates the social milieu in which a work was created and which it necessarily reflects (rohrberger and woods, 1971). 2. the theory of gender nowadays, gender is one of the widely used terms in english language (glover & cora, 2005; megawangi, 1999) and even greater in the third world during these 20 years (fakih, 2010) as gender is interrelated to injustices in this life. gender and sex are two different terms. edgar & sedgwick (2002) and fakih (2010) underline the two terms. they stated that sex refers to two biological sexes; they are male or female, while gender is a matter of culture. gender refers to behaviour and actions and the characterization of men and women constructed socially and culturally and that these cultural and social constructions are different from time to time and they adjust from one culture to another. stoller in glover & cora (2005) stated that gender is to signal complexities of those countless areas of behaviour, feelings, thought, and fantasies related to the sexes yet do not have primarily biological connotations. despite edgar & sedgwick, fakih, and glover & cora, another intellectual, eisenstein (1983: 7) defines gender as a cluster of expectations, attributes, and behaviour shaped culturally and socially assigned to that category of human being by the society into which the child was born. these gender differences and sexual identity are initiated at the age of 18 months and are formed, socialized, affirmed, and constructed culturally and socially through religious interpretations and state interventions (fakih, 2010). anthropological studies on the family woman’s subordination conducted by rubin as cited by glover and cora (2005) inferred that men typically have certain rights in their female family and relations. women, conversely, do not have the same rights in their male family and relations and they may be used as bride wealth, trophies, gifts, and even traded, bought, and sold. the perspective leads social thoughts to the sex roles and sexrole stereotyping. jeneway and millet highlight the definition of sex role as “a role assigned to the actor because of the gender-associated behaviour linked by society with that biological sex” (eisenstein 1983, 11; haralambos, 1996). women are associated with lower order of social or cultural organization, domestic and private sphere and they should be accustomed to doing domestic jobs like taking care of the children, cooking, and other trivial household jobs. men, on the other hand, tend to be associated with public sphere, higher order, and they should be looking for family subsistence, 32 chief of the family, decision maker, and so on. these kinds of sex-role stereotyping become the means by which the entire society keeps women as subject to the rules of the patriarchy (eisenstein, 1983: 6). this is what then called as gender bias. glenn (1994) as cited in cheal (2002) underlines that gender bias acts, like mothering, have deep and great effects on the lives of women. it relates to social identity which is defined as a set of personal characteristics that are believed to be similar to someone occupying a particular social role or who belongs to a particular social category. jere behrman as cited by megawangi (1999) in the household resource allocation theory shows that women tend to be put in the second priority if the family where the women live is living in abject poverty. the resource of the family will be projected to the most profitable sector. the men, in this context is the sons, will have the priority in getting the education. the cultural features are subjects to legitimate this pure investment model. the culture will interact with biological factors and this later becomes institutionalized. fakih (2010) identifies several manifestations of the gender inequalities between men and women in social life, especially towards women, they are: marginalization of women, subordination, stereotyping, violence, and double burden. marginalization of women is a conditioning at the level of state policies, beliefs system, religious interpretation, and domestic areas. subordination of women happens in the assumption that women does not need to take any higher education than men. stereotyping of women is taking women only into the domestic job and to serve men or husband and to take care of the children. michelle rosaldo (1974) in haralambos (1996) classified two domains related to the differentiation of roles between men and women; they were domestic and public spheres. domestic sphere covers “the institutions and modes of activity that are organized immediately around one or more mothers and their children. women are associated with this sphere.” (haralambos, 1996: 468). this assigns women to deal with family life and domestic jobs. yet men are associated with public sphere, id est activities, institutions, and forms of association that link, rank, organize, or sub-sum particular motherchild groups such as in the activities of rituals and religion, politics, and the economy (haralambos, 1996). violence, in sociological discussion, is any acts which are intended to cause physical and mental pain or serious injury to another person. abuse, as the part of violence, is any acts which have a probability of long-term mental, psychological, and emotional harms to the person or whom it is inflicted (cheal, 2002). gender-related violence includes among others sexual abuse, physical and mental assault at domestic sphere, genital mutilation to control women, pornography in which women’s body is exploited for profit, enforced sterilization, et cetera. 3. the theory of society merriam-webster’s collegiate dictionary (2001; 1111) defines society as “a community, nation, or broad grouping of people having common traditions, institutions, and collective activities and interests.” in edgar & sedgwick (2002: 368), society is defined as “a collection of free agents whose properties and characteristics are constituted independently of the modes gender bias in the rural community as reflected in minfong ho’s sing to the dawn llt journal vol. 15, no. 2 issn 1410-7201 33 of relationship which operate within any particular context.” likewise, society in sociology and interactionist approaches, is defined as terms of abilities of individuals to make sense of their social environment and react to it in an independent way (edgar & sedgwick, 2002). yet, the world in the novel and the actual world in which the author lives are two different things. society in the novel is one of the elements of novels that functions as an aspect in a structure that is self-referential as a concept and a construct in fiction (langland, 1984). langland (1984; 5) stated that “society in the novels does not depend solely on the points of absolute fidelity to an outside world in details of costume, setting, and locality because a novel’s society does not aim at a faithful mirror of any concrete, existent thing.” related to gender inequality and society, gayle rubin (1975) as quoted by haralambos (1996) explained that society had been culturally elaborating the distinction between the sexes for generations. every society had a sex or gender system which determined culturally the definition of sex and gender. gender, according to erving goffman as mentioned in haralambos (1996), expresses the requirements of social situations and it is not an essential human nature.ortner(1979) furthers criticizes that gender is the product of society resulted from the way every culture defines and evaluates “female biology.” that women are inferior to men is caused by the assumption that women are closer to the nature and natural processes as seen in the menstruation, pregnancy, child-birth, and lactation (haralambos, 1996). b. review of thai society sing to the dawntells about the lives of rural thai people in general, a review of rural thailand is needed. it is to clarify the setting of the novel and to help the analysis of the second problem formulated. this review is mainly focused on the development of rural areas of thailand in 1970’s as the novel describes the condition of rural thailand in that period (ho, 2005).thailand in general is a developing country and its development has started in the 1960s by adopting the first 6-year economic plan in 1961 (yamklinfung, 1987). these development efforts have brought changes to thai society, both the negative and positive changes. the economic growth has achieved a significant progress, but the problems of rural-urban disparities do exist. it is because the government considers that rich economic development will immediately influence the economic development of the poor people. conversely, the rich get richer while the poor get poorer. rural population suffering from exploitative middlemen, money lenders, and landlords and the negligence of government as well has led the students to protest against this kind of injustice. the society of thailand is stratified into three classes, they are kin of reigning king and his immediate predecessors, government officials, and peasantry as the largest group. the classes who have political power and status have greater access to wealth. the buddhist monks have special status outside this system. abbots and monks often get distinct prestige within communities (hoare, 2004).rural families commonly live in villages, earn money by cultivating land, and some of those families are rich and hold large quantity of land. the rich 34 peasants hire labours and the landless or peasants with too little land work for wages (yamklinfung, 1987). c. discussion this paper tries to find the evidences of gender-biased behaviour and actions towards the female characters. secondly, it is to find possible reasons why gender-biased behaviour and actions happen within the life of rural community as described in the novel. socio-cultural approach and related theories are the basis for the data findings of those two proposed problems. a. the evidences of gender bias experienced by the major female characters in this ho’s novel, sing to the dawn, dawan, the main character, is a girl living in a rural community in thailand. in that community, the people are living in abject poverty, ups and downs through the hardships. most of the people are landless farmers. these facts can be inferred from the students’ responses when answering the teacher’s questions in a class discussion as follows: “look, this is really important,” the teacher said, frowning impatient himself. “put everything else you may have on your mind aside, and think about this for the moment. what did you see beneath your homes this morning?” ... there was a rustling of soft words, “rice ... sacks,” “piles of it ...” “our rice ...” the teacher nodded. “sacks of rice. outside almost every home. now, what is this the rice for?” finally a boy in the back row raised his hand and stood up reluctantly. “it’s rent for the landlord, sir,” he muttered, and sat down hurriedly again. (p. 18) there are several female minor characters in the novel, they aredawan’s mother, dawan’s cousin noi, and dawan’s new-found friend bao.in this part, the writer analyses the events in the novel showing the evidences of gender-biased behaviour and actions committed by male characters towards the major female characters, which manifest in some ways, such as physical and mental violence, marginalization of women’s role in society, subordination, and stereotyping of women. 1. subordination of women this paradigm is the most common and clear evidence of gender-biased behaviour and actions towards women. it happens when the main character’s father thinks that it is useless to send his daughter to school. “although dawan was already fourteen, and a year older than her brother, she was in the same class as he was. their parents had considered it foolish and wasteful to send girls to school. it was not until kwai had started school himself and kept insisting that his sister be allowed to join him that dawan was finally permitted to go.” (p. 14) in the other occasion, dawan’s father underlines that women are not in the top priority of attending school when he is speaking to dawan’s younger brother, kwai. “if you’d won, of course it’d be different,” the father answered. “you’re a boy, and more schooling would have been useful for you. ... with more schooling, you could find good jobs, and earn some money to help the family.” (p. 55) another male character, dawan’s cousin husband, ghan, also puts women as the second class when he gives some pieces of advice to dawan and dawan’s mother on dawan’s will to leave for the city school. gender bias in the rural community as reflected in minfong ho’s sing to the dawn llt journal vol. 15, no. 2 issn 1410-7201 35 “that’s true,” ghan confirmed. “there’s no sense in a young girl going off into the city alone.” (p. 35) women are subordinate. “we girls have always had to stand aside and let our brothers do all the challenging things. and when we become wives, we’ll have to stand aside for our husbands. and when we’re mothers, we’ll stand aside for our children.” (p. 79). “but what right does your sister have? she’s only a girl.” (p.103). “because you are only a girl, because there’s nothing you can do, even with a fancy education, because ...” (p. 105) the male characters tend to view women as domestic workers, think that women’s place is in the kitchen. this is also another evidence of gender biased perspectives. “... her mother had added some fish balls in the vegetable soup, probably in the hope that this treat would soften her husband’s mood.” however, this treat does not work as dawan’s father responds in anger, “what is all this talk of dawan going away to study?” he snapped. “it’s too early even to consider it. let it wait for a few days.” (p. 53). still, these events show that women’s place is in the kitchen and other domestic works, as shown in page 53, “... dawan rose to collect the dirty dishes ...” in addition, the other female character, vichai’s sister, bao, also shows the evidence indicating that women are in the domestic area. “... to spend all my time around the baby and the cooking and the washing ... “ (p. 60). the evidences are again underlined when kwai said, “why go and study more when all you’re going to end up doing sooner or later is cook and raise babies anyway, like mama?” (p. 111). women’s place is in not in public. even dawan herself was influenced by this general assumption of her society. she thinks that her father was right to give bigger opportunity to her brother. she thought, “and dawan herself ? what could she do? she was just a girl. wouldn’t she grow up just to be a wife and a mother? what could she do with more learning? (p.56) in the rural society as depicted in the novel, buddhist monks usually get precious privilege and are highly respected by people. people listen to their advice. “he’ll listen to what you say, sir.” (p. 71). dawan thought that the head monk would be on her side to solve the problem she faces. “he is a kind old man,” dawan thought, “and if i explain my difficulty perhaps he will help me.” (p. 56). dawan’s new found-friend, bao, also shares dawan’s opinion, “it must be pretty important if you want to see the head monk!” (p. 61). “that old monk is a kind and harmless fellow.” (p. 63). religious misinterpretation happens when the head monk said, “but you’re a girl.” (p. 71) and “what can a mere schoolgirl hope to achieve anyway? be satisfied with what ...” (p. 75).according to paul in hoare (2004), the traditional view of women in early buddhism is that they are inferior. every nun must bow to every monk. 2. mental violence mental violence and violent intention are among other forms of gender-biased behaviour and actions. mental violence is described in dawan’s feeling of great fear to the father, as the representative of powerful men, when her father shouts loudly, “speak? i’ll do more than speak to them!” (p. 102). “damn it, i’ll tell you why not!” (p. 105). this sudden and harsh manner of her father makes dawan feel scared. “i’m scared,” she whispered urgently, “i’m real scared inside” (p. 105). 36 3. violent intention violent intention as one of the genderbiasedbehaviour and actions could be found in the moment when dawan’s brother, kwai, argues fiercely towards his sister. “it’s fine for you to spout off ideals like that,” her brother interrupted rudely, his voice growing louder and sharper at every sentence. “but what can you do to bring them about? you’re only a girl. you won’t be able to fight, or to argue loudly, or to lead people in times of crisis. all you’re good at is studying –that’s how you got the scholarship in the first place.” (p. 51) in another occasion, one of dawan’s classmates, vichai, violently bullies and tries to make fun of dawan at classroom. “me?” dawan asked faintly. behind her vichai snickered loudly, amidst a general round of giggling in the small classroom. dawan looked at him in confusion. why was he deliberately picking on her like this? she glanced around her quickly, and felt as if she was swimming in a sea of wide, taunting eyes. (p. 24) 4. physical violence the female characters experience physical violence as shown on page 63, when dawan’s new-found friend, bao, shares her experience of being beaten by her brother, vichai, “ ... and most of the time he’ll end up fighting me too just to get what he wants.” “that’s what you always say, you brat ... he had delivered a stinging slap across bao’s cheek. ... then he brought his fist down again, hitting bao sharply on the shoulder.” (p. 81) this male character still continues his violent action, “the anger that smouldered in vichai’s eyes seemed for an instant to catch fire again as he swung out to slap his sister” (p. 83). kwai, dawan’s brother is also about to hit bao, “you little busy-body!” he then raised his fist and, like vichai before him, seem about to strike her. 5. marginalization of women’s role in society girls in the rural community as depicted in the novel are also marginalized. girls’ place is at home. conversations about education between dawan and kwai show this. “perhaps girls were not allowed to go after all? perhaps ...” (p. 49). in the next page, dawan feels that she is influenced by the received opinion in that community and underlines that boys are in the top priority. dawan thinks that she is marginalized and has no power to fight against it. “you know father has already said that this will be the last year he will pay for my school-fee. ... but you’ll have many more chances yet. he said he’ll send you to school as long as you want to on studying. (p. 50) b. the possible reasons of genderbiased behaviour and actions in rural communities as depicted in the novel theoretically, society forms communities and these communities can be differentiated by two categories, they are rural and urban, representing both the geographical concept and social matters. geographically, rural community is characterized by its population density, population size, and distance from urban areas, and distance to other essential services. the place stated in the novel is a rural area of thailand. the author does not state clearly the exact region as portrayed in the novel. children who live in rural thailand are dreaming of better life condition. they see that the lives in the city is much better and promises more wealth than the lives in the villages do. gender bias in the rural community as reflected in minfong ho’s sing to the dawn llt journal vol. 15, no. 2 issn 1410-7201 37 sukanto (1982) highlights the characteristics of a society in rural communities. rural community is usually identified by its low population density. in the novel, the author describes the environment of the villages. the people can easily find larger spaces to share everything, such as family matters and problems of life, with their neighbours. the availability of public spaces enables the people to strengthen their community bound. the other characteristics of rural community is the people areinhabiting rural areas and most of their activities are devoted to agriculture, mainly for subsistence farming. “... back bent, planting rice seedlings all day, or watched him knee-deep in mud, plowing furrow after furrow in the wide fields?” (p.18). families are cultivating rice as the main commodity to earn living or even only to survive. the people are very earth-bound and conservative, maintaining certain habits and behaviour and other social values for generations such as the interdependence among one another, solidarity, consideration of roles between men and women, et cetera. in addition, the land for farming is considered as a priceless property. the community has paternalistic community system where the main actor in leading and in making decision is male. women’s roles in rural traditional community are considered lower than men’s. the interdependence among the individuals in that community is demonstrated on the event when dawan and her mother went to noi’s house. they came to see noi and her husband to ask for a second opinion about dawan’s going to the city (p. 34). the familial bound in that society is well maintained.in the stratified community, abbots and monks often get distinct prestige within communities as it is shown when dawan and other people come to the head monk to ask for some pieces of advice. “it must be pretty important if you want to see the head monk.” (p. 61) yamklinfung (1987) quoted the data presented by krirkkiat (1985) which showed that in the year of 1975 – 1976 the population below poverty line living in rural areas was 90% and the percentage of the poor in rural population was 21 % higher compared to those in urban population. it means that most of the poor were living in the rural areas. “the disparities derive from bangkok’s political and cultural dominance over the rest of the country in the tradition of a patrimonial state,” (yamklinfung, 1987: 48). the poverty found in rural populations is worsened by the authority of the rich, here in the novel is represented by the landlords, which draw extra taxes to the peasants. gender bias is a social and cultural construction formed during the interaction among the individuals. the culture will interact with biological factors and this later becomes institutionalized. this institution will be a home of socialization where habits and norms are generated to the next generations. regarding the discussion in this paper where the main source is the novel, the writer identifies some possible reasons why the male characters commit gender-biased behaviour and actions towards the major female characters. those possible reasons are among other things cultural construction on women subordination, cultural construction on sex roles stereotyping as the result of patriarchal system, religious misinterpretation, and poverty. 1. cultural construction on women subordination the first possible reason for the male characters tocommit gender-biased behaviour and actions in the community as described in the novel is the cultural construction which puts women as 38 subordinate to men. such gender biased behaviour derives and roots from early childhood acculturation in the family where girls and boys are introduced differently both in subtle and overt manners. although parents love their daughters and sons equally, girls are expected to handle larger portions of work responsibilities but granted with fewer advantages than boys do. in the novel, it is shown that the male characters often consider the female characters as second class, proved by some events occured for instance by assuming that women are best suited to domestic jobs rather than public. “what could she do? she was just a girl.” (p. 56) on the other page, “… to spend my time around the baby and the cooking and the washing …”(p.60) on p. 111 it can also be found the evidence of placing the female characters into the second class, “why go and study more when all you’re going to end up doing sooner or later is cook and raise babies, anyway.” subordination of women happens in the assumption that higher education is not for girls and that girls are less encouraged than boys in pursuing higher studies. “their parents had considered it foolish and wasteful to send girls to school.” (p. 14). simone de beauvoir, as cited by eisenstein (1983) stated that subordination was generated from the assumption that men tended to view women as extremely different from themselves. 2. cultural construction on sex roles stereotyping as the result of patriarchal system the second reason is sex roles stereotyping as the product of patriarchal system. stereotyping of women is taking women only into the domestic job and to serve men or husband and to take care of the children. “what could she do? she was just a girl. wouldn’t she grow up just to be a wife and a mother? what could she do with more learning?” (p.56). patriarchal system and religious interpretation are interrelated. buddhism, for instance, never teaches its followers to view women as less important than men. hoare (2004) states that although mothers, daughters, and sisters might be deeply loved and honored, a greater respect towards males is obvious in families and monasteries where traditional values are most carefully preserved. nevertheless, the traditional society system hinders the practices of balanced view towards the roles of men and women. sex role is “a role assigned to the actor because of the gender-associated behaviour linked by society with that biological sex.”haralambos (1996) and jeneway and millet in eisenstein (1983: 11). eisenstein (1983) also finds that the ideology of sex-roles becomes the major cause of this continuous subordination of woman. jeneway and millet as quoted by eisentein (1983) conclude that sex-role is a form of oppression to keep women restricted and limited in their scope. women are associated with lower order of social or cultural organization, domestic and private sphere, as seen in the novel when kwai argued his sister, dawan. “why go and study more when all you’re going to end up doing sooner or later is cook and raise babies anyway, like mama?” (p. 111) another event shows how girls in that community are perceived as the second sex. it can be inferred from dawan’s thought below: “and dawan herself ? what could she do? she was just a girl. wouldn’t she grow up just to be a wife and a mother? what could she do with more learning? (p.56) men, on the other hand, tend to be associated with public sphere, higher order, and they should be looking for family gender bias in the rural community as reflected in minfong ho’s sing to the dawn llt journal vol. 15, no. 2 issn 1410-7201 39 subsistence, chief of the family, decision maker, and so on. these kinds of sex-role stereotyping become the means by which the entire society keeps women as subject to the rules of the patriarchy (eisenstein, 1983: 6), as seen when dawan’s father says, “but i certainly have the power to do so.” (p. 104). the men are the decision maker and women are not used to making decision, as represented by dawan’s mother. “it’s not my place to say anything.” (p. 32) it is the social mythology or a set of beliefs about roles telling that women belong to the domestic areas as the major duty. this is enough to induce the assumption that women are subordinated to the realms of other kinds of power available in public sphere such as intellectual, economic, and political. 3. religious misinterpretation the third reasonis religious misinterpretation. the early buddhism texts also state that every nun must bow to every monk. in the novel, it is found that the head monk as the representation of buddhist clergymen, said, “but you’re a girl.” (p. 71) and “what can a mere schoolgirl hope to achieve anyway? be satisfied with what ...” (p. 75). the head monk fails to free himself from the received public opinion about the position of women in the society by reacting such way to argue dawan’s will to go studying at the city school. simone de beauvoir (1972) criticizes that religion is a deceptive instrument as it encourages women to accept their secondary status on earth and promising equality in heaven, including in asian buddhist communities (hoare, 2004). like gender which causes conflicts and discrimination among the social groups, religious beliefs which are found in all societies, are also one of the most enduring reasons of conflict and inequalities (haralambos, 1996). religious symbolism has damaging effects on women as most of religious symbolisms are malecentred. this condition impacts on women’s psychology, making them accept dependence and inferiority as normal and it pervades into the social structure, legitimates the domination of male in the home and the society as a whole (haralambos, 1996). 4. poverty the fourth reason is poverty. women tend to be put in the second priority if the family where the women live is living in abject poverty, as seen in this illustration. noi blurted out, “do you know what children from poor families usually do after school to feed themselves?” her voice was low and sullen. “the younger ones carry little boxes cigarettes and foreign candies around their necks, trying to sell some to people on the steps of movie theatres at night, people who either ignore them or swat at them as if the children were a pack of flies.” (p.40) living in such a condition, the resource of the family will be projected to the most profitable sector. sons will have the priority in getting education. dawan’s father refuses to discuss the scholarship won by his daughter. he considers that it must be better if his son wins the scholarship. “what is all this talk of dawan going away to study?” he snapped. “it’s too early even to consider it. let it wait for a few days” (p. 53). the household resource allocation theory shows that poverty will dismiss daughters’ opportunity to attend school. the decision maker of the house, a father, tends to think twice to spend extra money for the daughter’s education. girls will leave home to live with their husbands. “and dawan herself ? what could she do? she was just a girl. wouldn’t she grow up just to be a wife and a mother? what could she do with more learning?” (p.56). 40 sons or boys, conversely, do not leave the nucleus family and it is beneficial to the family because later these boys can help the family to earn better living. “you’re a boy, and more schooling would have been useful for you. ... with more schooling, you could find good jobs, and earn some money to help the family” (p. 55). d. conclusions the female characters playing important parts in this novel are dawan, as the main character, dawan’s mother, dawan’s cousin noi, and dawan’s friend bao. these female characters are experiencing gender biased treatment such as subordination of women, mental violence, violent intention, physical violence, sex role stereotyping, and marginalization. the subordination of women manifests in the behaviour and actions like assuming that it is useless to send girls to school and seeing women as weak and powerless. the mental violence is demonstrated in the behaviour and actions like scolding, shouting, and threatening the female characters shown by the male characters. the violent intention, on the other hand, is shown in the action of making fun one of the female characters before the public and fierce argumentation to weaken the female main character in pursuing and defending her ideals. the physical violence manifests in the actions like slapping, beating, fighting, and squinting savagely the rice the male character shoved at the female main character’s face. the facts found in the novel that most of the female characters are thought to do domestic job and to be placed at the domestic spheres are showing the manifestation of sex role stereotyping. the marginalization of women in that novel happens in the behaviour and actions like taking for granted the general assumption that girls are better to stay at home rather than putting themselves in high position or rank in the society structure. these gender-biased treatments in the novel are caused by four possible factors, namely cultural construction on women subordination, cultural construction on sex roles stereotyping as the result of patriarchal system, religious misinterpretation, and poverty. this rural community as depicted in the novel is the product of rural society. the society forms certain values which are then maintained by the local community as shown in the novel. references abcarin, r., marvin k., & peter r. 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(n.d.). introducing socioculturaltheory. retrieved september 14, 2011, from http:// fds.oup.com/www.oup.com/pdf/elt/ catalogue/0-9-442160-0-a.pdf rural society. http://www.britannica.com/ ebchecked/topic/512976/ruralsociety. thailand: rural social patterns. the library of congress country studies, retrieved april 15, 2012, from h t t p : / / w w w. p h o t i u s . c o m / c o u n t r i e s / thailand/society/thailand_society_ rural_social_pattern-2357.html. thailand: the social system. the library of congress country studies, retrieved april 15, 2012, from h t t p : / / w w w. p h o t i u s . c o m / c o u n t r i e s / t h a i l a n d / s o c i e t y / t h a i l a n d _ t h e _ social_system.html. cover vol 15 no2_okt 12_rep isi llt_vol_15_no 2_oct 2012_save as llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 616-625 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 616 the perceptions of indonesian secondary efl teachers concerning their roles in syllabus design *fatma rahayu nita1 and oikurema purwati2 1,2universitas negeri surabaya, indonesia fatma.20043@mhs.unesa.ac.id1 and oikuremapurwati@unesa.ac.id2 *correspondence: fatma.20043@mhs.unesa.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.3584 received 10 august 2021; accepted 11 october 2022 abstract in dealing with syllabus design, teachers must recognize their roles in syllabus design since they are taking part in it. consequently, this current study attempts to explore indonesian secondary efl teachers concerning their roles in syllabus design. it covers three points: their general perceptions, their boundaries, and their qualification as the efl teacher in syllabus design. the main theory used in this study is by nunan (2000) related to the roles in syllabus design. this study applied a qualitative approach using open-ended questionnaires and virtual interviews as the instrument of the study. a total of five respondents have participated in this current study. the results found that the teachers believe that they have a role as the implementer and designer of syllabus design. related to their boundaries in teaching english, all teachers create and develop the syllabus based on the student's needs. besides, it discovers that teachers are likely to have the freedom to design their activities and materials based on the student's needs even though they should follow the basic element of the syllabus provided by the authorities. finally, the teachers still need guidance and training in syllabus design since they have a fewer understanding of syllabus design. keywords: boundaries, qualification, syllabus design, teacher's role introduction syllabus design is a necessary process for a language education program. developing a language education program requires a well-organized and wellstructured syllabus as the vehicle to run the program (richards, 2001). however, the ideal syllabus should meet the criteria for the target users, principally teachers. if the teacher does not know the syllabus's design and planning rationale, then the syllabus is unusable. as a result, the questions emphasizing the role and position of the teacher in course planning and syllabus design should be considered. a study by tabari (2013) reveals that the teacher's role in syllabus planning can vary since it depends on the context of the teaching course. thus, it isn't very clear because teachers' role in syllabus planning is still not obvious. currently, teachers have a more important role in teaching and in taking part in designing and developing curricula. they become a fundamental portion of the decision-making process of planning and implementing the curriculum in the mailto:fatma.20043@mhs.unesa.ac.id mailto:oikuremapurwati@unesa.ac.id mailto:fatma.20043@mhs.unesa.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.3584 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 616-625 617 classroom. they can complement and enhance the curriculum by preparing and engaging with students, dealing with professional development, and sharing their experiences in teaching and learning in the classroom with other teachers (doll, 1996). they can also be a strong positive force for change if given the resources and support that will enable them to implement the syllabus effectively (1996). as klein (1999) argues, teachers possess the actual power to create or break the decisions promoted at any level. their choices will ultimately determine the curriculum, irrespective of all decision-making. several studies have revealed the teachers' notions in designing and planning syllabi. baldauf (2005) asserts that the role of the teacher is restricted to the implementation of the syllabus. it corresponds to kaplan & baldauf (2003) that government agencies and applied linguists ought to plan and develop the syllabus. their claims have been evaluated since the idea seems to denote only the national scale syllabus or the macro. thus, as nunan (1989) stated, nowadays, teachers have freedom in designing their syllabus due to teaching and learning depending on the conditions and contexts of the students. moreover, richards (2001) and johnson (2009) state that the concept of syllabus planning can be different between macro and micro so that the teacher's role can be broader in it. a study by aprianti (2017) revealed that efl teachers' opinions and understandings related to their roles, especially in micro-course planning and syllabus design. also, it explored the aspects that were recognized in the situation of teaching. similarly, pongsapan (2016) found that efl teachers are not involved in curriculum design and that their assignation is only in their classroom. li conducts another study (2010) that showed a cavity between the syllabus content determined by curriculum policy with the practice of teaching. it indicates that there are misunderstandings between the governments' recognizing the role of teachers in planning the syllabus, which is as an implementer. in contrast, teachers recognize the teacher's role as the planner. consequently, the study discovers that teachers change the content of the syllabus to meet the criteria for their students. thus, he recommends that teachers should have participated in syllabus planning so that the syllabus is appropriate. the studies mentioned above have demonstrated a significant number of teachers recognize roles and positions in syllabus planning. however, it seems that these studies still have left one major gap. that gap is inadequate information on how secondary efl teachers perceive their role in syllabus design since teachers play important roles in implementing the policy. yet, they do not have enough knowledge to design a syllabus that meets the criteria for their students. as a result, the questions are formulated as follows: (1) what is secondary efl teachers' perception towards the involvement and their roles in syllabus design? (2) what are the boundaries of teaching english? (3) what are the qualifications of secondary efl teachers in developing syllabus design? literature review in curricular decision-making, teacher participation has concentrated severely on three dimensions; teacher involvement, whether real or perceived, the education system's tendency towards teacher participation, and competencies related to curriculum leaders. it has been proved by several works focusing on this subject that teachers are not involved in making the curricular change (bowers, 1991 as llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 616-625 618 cited in pongsapan, 2016). it concentrates on the teachers' involvement in determining the curriculum in the classroom. kennedy (1996) discovered that the general perception of the curriculum is established by the policymakers so that they only require to simply apply based on the guidance provided by curriculum developers or so-called handed down from them from above. teachers consider that policymakers are the principle in syllabus determination while teachers rely on their engagement in their classroom practice. handler (2010) stated that teachers require to be active in curriculum development. they can participate in working collaboratively with curriculum development teams. the involvement of teachers in curriculum development is crucial to meet the content of the curriculum with the needs of students in the classroom. curriculum development is the basic idea in curriculum planning, design, dissemination, implementation, and assessment (carl, 2002). the role of the teacher becomes very crucial in developing the syllabus and creating lesson plans. the involvement of teachers in practice is, in reality, a significant aspect of curriculum development. as a result, teachers must be able to actively engage in the curriculum-building process (oliva, 2008; young, 1988). course planning denotes structural approaches or ways of managing the syllabus. meanwhile, the syllabus refers to the specification and organization of the course content (nunan et al., 2000; richards, 2001). both syllabus design and course planning become part of the curriculum design entirely (graves, 2000). for instance, as richards (2001) suggested, six factors should be considered when developing the syllabus design. the process comprises: enhancing the course rationale, relating the entry and exit level of the target students, defining the course content's scope and sequence, and planning the course's structure. planning the course requires sequencing and grading the course content based on the chosen syllabus design. besides, the source structure becomes very problematic in planning the syllabus since there is a possibility that different teachers might have a different selection of syllabus design. thus, teachers may determine the type of content to exclude or include and it takes from the various kinds of syllabi or focuses on a single type of syllabus (nunan et al., 2000). most importantly, within this process, the teachers should be actively involved, merely not in the classroom practice. as proposed by carl (2002), two main possibilities for the involvement of teachers in curriculum development: a. teachers as the recipient the first role of the teacher in curriculum development is to consider the recipient of the curriculum developed by specialists. the teachers have no power to correct the syllabus design since the specialists have created it. it is a so-called top-down approach. b. teachers as the partners the second role is teachers as a partner in syllabus design developed by the specialist. they have the power to voice their idea toward curriculum development. before implementing the curriculum, the teachers can take part in suggesting the process of curriculum development. meanwhile, in the syllabus design process, there are many possibilities for the roles of teachers in developing syllabus design. it starts from the teacher as the implementer until the teacher as the syllabus designer. the detailed explanation can be seen as follows: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 616-625 619 a. teachers as the implementer the first idea related to the role of teachers as implementers is suggested by baldauf (2005). the teacher merely implements the syllabus, and the syllabus has been designed and developed by government agencies and applied linguists. kaplan (2005) further asserts that planning the syllabus, ought to be done by experts so that it will apply to their students. b. teachers as the designer nunan (2000, as cited in aprianti, 2017) and graves (2000) argue that teachers could implement the syllabus nowadays, which depends on the situation and context of the school and their students. teachers have freedom in designing the syllabus. in this case, they are allowed to create their syllabus as long as they are well-prepared and have experience developing the syllabus. otherwise, designing the syllabus requires the necessary skills and enough knowledge (nunan et al., 2000). c. teachers as the negotiator johnson (2009) is likely to select syllabus planning, an open and negotiable process. graves (2000) states that teachers should negotiate the syllabus based on the student's needs and the context of their school. further, it says that needs analysis is very crucial to recognize what the students need and want. finally, teachers as a practitioner in the classroom ought to understand the students' condition well, and they must appropriately determine their syllabus. as the education system in indonesia is controlled and consolidated by the ministry of education, it is noticeable that english language teachers have a smaller involvement, and there are particular borders to be involved in syllabus design (pongsapan, 2016). the government has provided an identical syllabus containing deadlines and guidelines that the teachers should follow (pongsapan, 2016). it hinders the growth of teacher-made materials and does not give chances to be actively involved in curriculum development. thus, it leads to teachers' perception that the task is beyond their abilities and their roles. pongsapan (2016) stated that the ministry of education develops the guidelines, manages the standards, and plans instructional units. it is done by allocating the experts who work in the field. ministry of education also has shared efl textbooks across the country to ensure that all students gain similar instruction. in improving the curriculum, the government requires teachers' input, advisors' reports, and the participation of language researchers. even though teachers are asked to give the information for the enhancements to the english curriculum, many of them do not have the opportunities due to the deficiency of professional requirements, such as knowledge of the english language curriculum, expansion, preparation, design, and assessment. cohen & hills (2001) states that teachers closely engage with the students to know their weaknesses and strengths. besides, they also know the needs of their study and their emotional matters. therefore, teachers as a practitioner should be actively involved in curriculum development. this current study employs the theory of carl (2002) related to the position of teachers in the process of syllabus design. it explores in-depth the perceptions regarding the roles of teachers in determining syllabus design. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 616-625 620 method this current study employs the responses from 5 (five) secondary efl teachers in east java. they all currently teach english in junior high school and senior high school. the five participants were females, while one of them was male. all the teachers have teaching experience of more than ten years. they were characterized as teacher 1, teacher 2, teacher 3, teacher 4, and teacher 5. all teachers were pseudonyms and selected for particular reasons. data was obtained using open-ended questionnaires. it was made in google form; the questionnaire had 4 (four) parts. the first part aimed to know the teachers' profiles related to name, institution, and teaching experience. then, the second part aimed to capture teachers' perceptions of their roles in syllabus design. this part involved 3 (three) questions that lead to their perceptions. next, the third section refers to the questions of their boundaries as efl teachers. it consists of 3 (three) questions. the last part denotes the qualifications of the teachers, which contains 3 (three) questions. finally, six secondary school teachers contributed to this study. as a follow-up, it also conducted a virtual interview to explore in-depth related teachers' responses seen from the open-ended questionnaire. every participant was contacted through whatsapp. this consideration is to prevent the spread of covid-19—the data was gained in june 2021. the data was gained from open-ended questionnaires so that it contains content analysis. thus, this current study uses the qualitative approach in which the research was done based on descriptive data. creswell & creswell (2018) stated qualitative inquiry could be defined as inductive and exploratory. it explores and understands the meaning of individuals or groups in which the researcher interprets the purpose of the data as the final written report for the research. it also presents the extracts from the teachers' quotes without editing the sentences. as the data is in bahasa indonesia, thus it needs to provide the translation of the english language. all the information is not entirely presented, but it is selected with the theory used in the study. findings and discussion general opinions of secondary efl teachers it has been collected from 5 (five) secondary efl teachers related to their roles in syllabus design. teachers feel that, to some extent, they carry out the part of implementing the syllabus. the teacher believes that the teacher cannot merely take decisions in syllabus design. even though some teachers are allowed to give their input in developing the syllabus design, they still follow the basic elements of syllabus design. the idea is represented in the following comments: t1 (25 years of teaching experience): selama ini sudah berkontribusi tapi dipakai tidaknya kan otoritas atasan (so far, i have contributed, still the decision is taken by the authority) t2 (23 years of teaching experience): tidak pernah terlibat (i have never been involved) t3 (16 years of teaching experience): merasa msh kurang karena silabus biasanya sudah ditentukan oleh mgmp bahasa inggris (i feel that i am still lack of contribution in syllabus design since it has been determined by english mgmp) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 616-625 621 from the extracts above, it could be seen that the decision-making of syllabus design depends on the authorities. some of them have an opportunity to join the seminar related to syllabus design to give insight for them to fix the syllabus design. meanwhile, a few of them have no experience in providing input to syllabus design. they have never been involved in participating in syllabus design. as t3 stated, they still lack contribution in syllabus design since english mgmp has determined it. thus, a teacher who is not a member of mgmp does not have a chance in participating in syllabus design. these findings unambiguously confirm what has been indicated by kennedy (1996) and al-seghayer (2011) regarding teachers' perceptions of syllabus design as a task that is developed elsewhere. this study is beyond their responsibility and capability. having 23 years of teaching experience, the teacher has never been involved in syllabus design. in this case, the teacher is the implementer (aprianti, 2017). this tendency is also responded to by nunan (2000), who states that teacher involvement in designing subject syllabi can ultimately be extended and even limited by several interrelated factors. these factors include; the level of teacher expertise and the status quo of the syllabus. respondents emphasized that the status quo syllabus is a negotiable instrument in their context. language course planning and syllabus design involve decisions that must be made from the highest level to the lower level, which means from the institution to the classroom teacher. this finding seems to be in harmony with graves (2000) as he states that the complexity of course planning depends mainly on the fact that every stakeholder takes part in the decision making and it must be accompanied by the necessary skills until the final results of the syllabus to be successful. as stated by t1, it indicates that syllabus design is not entirely based on the teachers but still requires giving input in syllabus design. these reports clarify the statement of nunan (2000), which states that no language syllabus can stand alone completely. in this context, some participants were stimulated to participate in modifying, applying, and estimate the syllabus (carl, 1995). respondents played their part in providing data from their actual teaching situation and, as a result, used it as input for syllabus revision. teachers receive the role between the receiver and the partner of syllabus design (aprianti, 2017; carl, 2002). finally, as the implementers of the curriculum in the classroom, teachers should be actively involved in the curriculum development process so that they can understand the psychology of their students and employ the most effective approaches and teaching practices (jadhav & patankar, 2013). the teachers are the persons who are most familiar with the student's wants and interests because they are the ones who are closest to them (messick & reynolds, 1992). boundaries of teaching english since the ministry of education heavily controls creating an instructional syllabus, this data section attempts to identify the level of freedom and their boundaries, which teachers can enjoy in their classrooms. the extracts gained from the virtual interview in whatsapp could be seen as follows: t3 (32 years of teaching experience): bukan membatasi kreativitas, namun keberadaan silabus dari sana terkadang perlu disesuaikan dengan kondisi riil sekolah yang kita ajar. jadi ada penyesuaian dalam beberapa llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 616-625 622 hal. sebagai ilustrasi: mengajarkan suatu materi di sekolah a (input siswa baik) akan berbeda dengan sekolah b (input siswa sedang/buruk). baik di sini berarti kemampuan kecerdasan. (not limiting creativity, but the existence of a syllabus sometimes needs to be adjusted to the real conditions of the school we teach. so there are adjustments in some ways. as an illustration: teaching a material at school a (good student input) will be different from school b (medium/bad student input). good here means the ability of intelligence) t4 (16 years of teaching experience): ya karena kadang-kadang tidak sesuai dengan situasi di sekolah (yes, because it is rare that the syllabus does not fit the condition of the school) from the response above, it could be seen that teacher needs to adjust what the students need in learning english. when they were asked whether the syllabus limits the creativity of the teachers to design the activity in the classroom or not, t4 responded that it limits creativity because sometimes the condition of each school is different. another perspective could be seen from the response of t3, who stated that it does not limit the creativity of the teacher since the teacher can develop a syllabus based on the student's condition and needs. it is very crucial to know the student's situation and needs so that the teacher could achieve the goal of learning. thus, the teacher must match what the students need in learning in the classroom. it indicates that the teacher tries to create materials and activities that encourage their students to learn english. even though the teacher creates his or her materials and activity, he still follows the rules and does not change the basic standards of the syllabus. it could be seen from the response below: t3 (16 years of teaching experience): ya setidaknya teknik dan bobot materinya dipermudah namun tidak merubah standard pokok silabusnya. (yes, at least the technique and difficulty of the material are simplified but it doesn't change the basic standard of the syllabus). from the reports above, it could be seen that teachers could create their materials and activity, but it must not change the basic standard of the syllabus. as the role determined by the ministry of education, the teachers have no power to break the rules. this finding corresponds to the study by al-sadan (2000) teachers have rarer autonomy and have precise boundaries when teaching english in the classroom. overall, teachers agree that the syllabus does not allow them to create and design creative activity that suits the students' condition. besides, teachers employ the criteria of assessment provided by the ministry of education. among others, make the assessment based on the student's ability. the extracts are shown as follows: t5 (14 years of teaching experience): menyesuaikan dengan tujuan yang ingin dicapai (adjusting to the learning objectives) the response above shows that teachers could also be the syllabus designer since they make an assessment by themselves and it does not follow the criteria provided by the authorities. yet, most of the teachers still follow the requirements llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 616-625 623 of the evaluation provided by the policy-makers. the comments could be seen as follows: t1 (25 years of teaching experience): mengikuti karena aturan (following the rules) t2 (23 years of teaching experience): mengikuti kriteria dari kementerian pendidikan (following the criteria of the ministry of education) t3 (32 years of teaching experience): mengikuti kriteria kementrian prndidikan (it follows the criteria of the ministry of education) the extracts above indicate that there are still boundaries in teaching english. some teachers do not creatively make assessment that matches learning objectives. they are isolated from the criteria provided by the ministry of education. the teachers have an opportunity to develop their syllabus, which suits the condition of their school and their students. qualification of secondary efl teachers since teachers have no power in making the decision, most teachers still have no idea of syllabus design. although they successfully mentioned the basic elements of syllabus design but were asked about the types of syllabi that would be applied to students, they still got a dilemma. the results of open-ended questionnaires could be seen as follows: t1 (25 years of teaching experience): mengembangkan ketrampilan berbahasa karena lebih dibutuhkan dalam dunia kerja (develop language skills because it is more needed in the field of work) t2 (23 years of teaching experience): menyesuaikan kebutuhan siswa, karena akan menghasilkan pembelajaran yang bermakna (adjusting what students need since it will give meaningful outcome of learning) t3 (32 years of teaching experience): silabus yg disesuaikan dg kondisi riil sekolah, karena beda sekolah beda kondisi (the syllabus which is suited to the condition of the school since different school has different condition) the statements above indicate that the teachers do not successfully mention the type of syllabus. almost all teachers respond that the syllabus is matched the condition and needs of the students. the comments show that there is some kind of complete lack of theoretical basis for curricular design. they also explain more about what is often assumed that teachers only want to cope with the practicality of their work without needing to be exposed to the broader theoretical aspects of the curriculum (carl, 2002). only one teacher mentioned the type of syllabus. the data is provided below: t5 (14 years of teaching experience): silabus pengembangan, karena disesuaikan dengan kebutuhan (a developing content-based syllables since it suits the needs of the students) even though some teachers do not mention the type of syllabus, they utter that it is important to develop a syllabus that is appropriate to the condition and the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 616-625 624 context of their students. thus, it is expected to achieve the learning objectives in the process of teaching and learning english (richards, 2001). conclusion from the exploration in the results and discussion section, it could be drawn that teachers play a significant role in developing the syllabus. besides, the role of teachers in syllabus design is as the implementer and designer. related to their boundaries in teaching english, almost all teachers create the syllabus based on the student's needs. otherwise, the teachers whose role as the implementer follows the syllabus that english mgmp (musyawarah guru mata pelajaran) has provided. in this case, the teacher is still not actively involved in curriculum development, especially in syllabus design. besides, for the freedom in determining the assessment, the teachers still follow the criteria provided by the ministry of education. it shows that teachers still have no creativity in syllabus design. regarding the assessment used by teachers, they follow the criteria provided by the authorities. in other words, the teachers still do not merely knowledge to design the syllabus. as a result, teachers can't mention the type of syllabus used in the classroom. they implicitly state that the syllabus that is appropriate for their students. therefore, the government should give more information and training in the process of curriculum design. they are significant to know the theories and the role of teachers effectively. references al-sadan, i. a. (2000). educational assessment in saudi arabian schools. assessment in education: principles, policy and practice, 7(1), 143–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/713613320 al-seghayer, k. (2011). english teaching in saudi arabia: status, issues, and challenges. riyadh: hala print co. aprianti, f. (2017). teachers’ beliefs and understandings of their roles in micro course planning and syllabus design. advances in social science, education and humanities research (assehr), 82, 250–54. https://doi.org/10.2991/conaplin-16.2017.56 baldauf jr, r. b. (2005). language planning and policy research: an overview. in e. hinkel (ed.), handbook of research in second language teaching and learning. london & new york: routledge. carl, a. e. (1995). teacher empowerment through curriculum development: theory into practice. juta: kenwyn. carl, a. e. (2002). teacher empowerment through curriculum development: theory into practice. juta and company ltd. cohen, d. k., & heather c. h. (2001). learning policy: when state education reform works. new haven, ct: yale university press. creswell, j. w., & creswell, j. d. (2018). research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). los angeles: sage. doll, r. c. (1996). curriculum improvement: decision making and process. boston: allyn & bacon. graves, k. (2000). designing language courses: a guide for teachers. canada: heinle & heinle publisher. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 616-625 625 handler, b. (2010). teacher as curriculum leader: a consideration of the appropriateness of that role assignment to classroom-based practitioners. international journal of teacher leadership, 3(3), 32–42. jadhav, m. s., & patankar, p. s. (2013). role of teachers in curriculum development for teacher education. paper presented at the national conference on challenges in teacher education, physical education and sports in kolhapur, mahastra, india. johnson, d. c. (2009). the relationship between applied linguistic research and language policy for bilingual education. applied linguistics, 31(1), 72–93. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amp011 kaplan, r. b. (2005). language planning and policy research: an overview. in e. hinkel (ed.), handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (pp. 957–70). london & newyork: routledge. kaplan, r. b., & baldauf, r. b. (2003). language planning from practice to theory. bristol, uk: multilingual matters. kennedy, c. (1996). teacher roles in curriculum reform. elted journal, 2(1), 77– 89. li, m. (2010). efl teachers and english language education in the prc: are they the policy makers?. asia-pacific education researcher, 19(3), 439–51. https://doi.org/10.3860/taper.v19i3.1852 messick, r. g., & reynolds, k. e. (1992). middle level curriculum in action. white plains, ny: longman publishing group. nunan, d. (1989). designing tasks for the communicative classroom. cambridge: cambridge university press. nunan, d., candlin, c. n., & widdowson, h. g. (2000). syllabus design. oxford: university press oxford. oliva, p. f. (2008). developing the curriculum. boston, ma: pearson. pongsapan, n. p. (2016). the teachers ’ voice in syllabus design. tefl overseas journal, 3(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.47178/teflo.v3i1.238 richards, j. c. (2001). curriculum development in language teaching. cambridge: cambridge university press. tabari, a. g. (2013). challenges of language syllabus design in efl/esl contexts. journal of language teaching and research, 4(4), 869–73. http://doi.org/10.4304/jltr.4.4.869-873 young, j. (1988). teacher participation in curiculum development: what status does it have?. journal of curriculum and supervision, 3(winter, 1988), 109121. llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 175 reconsidering the nature of the unconscious: a question on psychoanalysis in literary studies l. suharjanto, sj sanata dharma university abstract psychoanalysis has been used invariably in literary studies, as it helps literary interpretation to touch the often-puzzling-dimension of motives and feelings in literary works. the domination of psychoanalysis in the twentieth century, however, has been questioned with the new awareness that the unconscious mind is not innate but constructed. such a disposition challenges not only the practice of using psychoanalysis in literary studies but also the validity of psychoanalysis itself. keywords: psychoanalysis, literary interpretation, awareness a. introduction since developed in vienna in 1890s, sigmund freud’s theory of psychoanalysis has significantly contributed to psychology, especially because of psychoanalysis’s unique description of the human unconscious. for literary critics, freud’s psychoanalysis is a key to entangle the motives and feelings of the author and the characters. barry, in his introduction to beginning theory, states that freud’s psychoanalysis is a useful tool for literary interpretation, especially for analyzing the puzzling elements in the literature. these elements are caused by the nature of literature itself as a body of work that does not with making direct explicit statements about life, but show and express experience through imagery, symbolism, and metaphor (barry 102). an example barry noted as a famous work of psychoanalysis is the interpretation of the motive for hamlet’s delay in his vengeance against his uncle. freud, in the interpretation of dreams, examined hamlet’s unconscious and demonstrated that hamlet had an oedipus complex, i.e. the unconscious hatred to his father that he wished his father’s death. what his uncle had done was precisely what hamlet secretly wished to do himself. he delayed in executing his vengeance against his uncle because his conscience created scruples in him and cultivated in him a guilty feeling of being no better than the one he wanted to punish (barry 106). b. discussions in america, psychoanalysis has flourished since 1909 when freud introduced the concepts in a series of lectures at clark university. scholar nancy schnog, pfister’s coeditor of inventing the psychological, states that from world war ii through the early 1970s, the core ideas of psychoanalysis such as repression, resistance, the centrality of sexuality, the oedipus complex, and transference became tremendously influential within institutions of schools and universities, and gradually became the daily psychological common sense of the american middle and upper classes (pfister 5). she says, “parents and teachers speak knowingly of ‘inferiority complexes.’ the comic strips and movies refer familiarity to ‘frustrations’ and llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 176 ‘repressions.’” as schnog shows, freudian psychoanalysis had been long present in the media, intellectual life and artistic movements, education, pediatric advice and family counseling, mental health policy, legal processes, and military decision making (pfister 6). however, since lacan, there have been questions about freud’s description of the unconscious whether the unconscious is ‘prelinguistic’ or a biological force prior to language. lacan assumes that the unconscious is like a language and language is a system already complete and in existence before one enters into it. the content of the unconscious is unknowable. it is like every signified that is always lost and purloined. one can only guess at the nature of this content by observing its effect. lacan concurs with saussure who shows that meaning in language is matter of contrasts between words and other words, not between words and things. then, language is detached from external reality and becomes an independent realm. one may see the endless games of signifiers in a language, as he also may see the effect of the unconscious in every action. but, one cannot come into certainty about the signified of those signifiers, just like one cannot come to the precise nature of the content of the unconscious (barry 118). adapting lacan’s principles to literary criticism, critics do not analyze the unconscious of the author and the characters, as in freud did, but analyzes the text itself by uncovering the unconscious beneath the conscious of the text. to formulate it more concisely, the question that challenges freudian psychoanalysis is whether the human psyche is socially constructed (acquired, inscribed, and made meaningful by culture) or that it is biologically innate (biologically inherent, expressed, and intrinsically meaningful). lacan rejects the biological dimension of freud’s concept of the unconscious. for lacan, in this unconscious lies the true human selfhood, and hence the self is shown not as an essential entity but a linguistic effect. after lacan, the discussion on the instability of the subject (the self) is continued. it appears in joel pfister’s inventing the psychological how studies of the american history have led the scholars to conclude that the “psychological” and “emotional” are concepts constructed within culture and that psychoanalysis in america is an ideological symptom. to explain this statement, pfister summarizes heelas, kovel, and hochschild and shows the fact that the human emotions and the category of the psychological have been understood in different way across eras and cultures. medieval “accidie,” for example, which is “the losing one’s zeal for praying” expresses the renaissance emotion of melancholy, which was then vital to describe human nature, now is not a concern in modern society. also, it is unusual for western culture to understand emotion the way eastern culture understands it as “external agencies which invade or posses people.” some cultures even house the emotions in different organs such as the heart, liver, or stomach (pfister, 22). the cultural bias seen in the concept of emotion and human psyche as pfister has noted is a suggestion to examine further the nature of the freudian psychoanalysis. llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 177 frederic jameson, a marxist dialectician, examines the concepts in psychoanalysis in the context of the american family transformation. he asked in 1974, “what if the freudian raw material (…dreams, slips of the tongue, fixations, traumas, the oedipal situation, the death wish) were itself but a sign or symptom of some vaster historical transformation?” (jameson, in pfister 35). this question is related to the phenomenon that many members of the american middle and upper classes have preoccupied themselves with notion of the self, the family, and the body that center on dreams, childhood conflicts, familial tensions, and ambivalence. according to jameson, the widespread popularity of psychoanalysis in america has something to do with the isolation of sexual experience and the privatization of bourgeois families in industrial america, which spawned complex emotional relations in themselves. they turned inward and developed a cultivation of inner life through psychology. psychoanalysis, with the oedipal narrative in it, became a historical and ideological reason in such society which was heating up emotionally and looking for therapeutic discourses as a response. therefore, since 1970 the nineteenthcentury american white middle-class families have refined their understanding of the psychological and the emotional in terms of psychoanalysis, and with it, they have also intensified feeling of affection, guilt, and ambivalence. the twentiethcentury offspring of such families, not surprisingly, recognized and embraced psychoanalysis as universal truth (pfister, 35-36). to conclude these reflections let us consider a recent publication in harvard magazine by ashley pettus, “a cultural symptom? repressed memory.” this article exposes a fascinating question posed by harrison pope, a professor of psychiatry. pope’s research investigates whether what has been famously called “repressed memory” or “dissociative amnesia” belonged to people prior to 1800. the basic assumption is that “if dissociative amnesia were an innate capability of the brain-akin to depression, hallucinations, anxiety, and dementiait would appear in written works throughout history” (pettus 2008). the research shows that dissociative amnesia appeared in nineteenth-century pieces of literature; two well-known examples are a tale of two cities (1859), by charles dickens and captains courageous (1896), by rudyard kipling, but dissociative amnesia did not appear in pre-modern sources. a $ 1,000 reward had been offered to the first person who could identify a case of dissociative amnesia in any work of fiction or nonfiction prior to 1800 but no convincing examples emerged. therefore, pope and his colleagues concluded that “the absence of dissociative amnesia in works prior to 1800 indicates that the phenomenon is not a natural neurological function, but rather a ‘cultural-bound’ syndrome rooted in the nineteenth century” (pettus 2008). the fact that the concept of dissociative amnesia solidified in the twentieth-century imagination is suspected to be enhanced by two major factors: psychoanalysis and hollywood. pope says, “film is a perfect medium for the idea of repressed memory. think of the ‘flashback,’ in which a whole childhood trauma is suddenly recalled. it’s an ideal dramatic device” (pettus 2008). llt journal vol. 15 no. 1 issn 1410-7201 178 c. conclusion in conclusion, psychoanalysis may be useful to help understand the unconscious in therapy and in literary and cultural studies. however, as i have shown, the unconscious is a construction and its content can never be known thoroughly. on one hand, the absence of the idea of repressed memory in the literature prior to 1800 shows the contingency/relativity of the unconscious as seen in psychoanalysis so far. on the other hand, it also opens a further discussion on the ‘constructedness’ versus the ‘universality’ of the unconscious itself. references barry, peter. beginning theory: an introduction to literary and cultural theory. second edition. manchester and new york: manchester university press, 2002. pettus, ashley. “a cultural symptom? repressed memory.” in harvard magazine (january-february 2008. retrieved 7 february 2008 <http://harvardmagazine.com/200 8/01/p-repressed-memory.html>. pfister, joel. introduction. “on conceptualizing the cultural history of emotional and psychological life in america.” in inventing the psychological: toward a cultural history of emotional life in america. eds. joel pfister and nancy schnog. yale university, 1997. schnog, nancy. introduction. “on inventing the psychological.” in inventing the psychological: toward a cultural history of emotional life in america. eds. joel pfister and nancy schnog. yale university, 1997. http://harvardmagazine.com/2008/01/p-repressed-memory.html http://harvardmagazine.com/2008/01/p-repressed-memory.html http://harvardmagazine.com/2008/01/p-repressed-memory.html llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 660-670 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 660 rhetorical moves in the background sections of efl indonesian vocational college students *titik rahayu1, ita permatasari2, imam mudofir 3, alief sutantohadi4, and moh. farid maftuh 5 1,2,3,4,5state polytechnic of madiun, indonesia titikrahayu@pnm.ac.id1, permatasari.ita@pnm.ac.id2, imammudofir76@pnm.ac.id3, alief@pnm.ac.id4, and mohfaridm@pnm.ac.id5 *correspondence: titikrahayu@pnm.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4273 received 23 january 2022; accepted 18 october 2022 abstract rhetorical moves in academic writing are interesting topics and strategic issues in linguistics. many studies have investigated the moves in all sections of research articles for example abstract, introduction, research method, findings and discussion, and conclusion. however, few studies investigated the rhetorical moves found in vocational college students’ academic writing, particularly in a background section. therefore, this current research was aimed at revealing the rhetorical moves and patterns in the background of the study. this study analyzed 29 background sections from final project reports of vocational college students enrolled in the english study program of one of the state polytechnics in indonesia. the reports were developed based on two major areas namely tourism and journalism. the data were analyzed by referring to the cars model by swales (2004). this research revealed that move 1 and move 3 occurred in all background sections. however, move 2 was not used in several background sections although step 1 in move 2 is obligatory. regarding the rhetorical patterns, seven patterns were found with different frequencies. the most used pattern was m1-m3s1. the current study may give implications to pedagogical settings related to the emphasis on establishing a niche in the background section. keywords: background section, cars model, rhetorical move introduction rhetorical moves have taken interest in many studies on writings across disciplines. prior studies have investigated the moves in the sections of research articles or theses/dissertations for example the abstracts (doró, 2013; khany & malmir, 2019; luthfiyah et al., 2015; putri & kurniawan, 2021; wijaya & ardi, 2022; zand-moghadam & meihami, 2016), introduction (lu et al., 2021; sheldon, 2011), the research method (cotos et al., 2017; zhang & wannaruk, 2016), discussion (asari et al. 2018; thanajirawat & chuea-nongthon, 2022), and conclusion (zamani & ebadi, 2021). however, most of the studies focused on investigating the rhetorical moves in the published research articles or those written mailto:titikrahayu@pnm.ac.id mailto:permatasari.ita@pnm.ac.id mailto:imammudofir76@pnm.ac.id mailto:alief@pnm.ac.id mailto:mohfaridm@pnm.ac.id mailto:titikrahayu@pnm.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4273 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 660-670 661 by graduate and post-graduate students. few of the studies talked about the rhetorical moves in the background section written by vocational college students. vocational college students can be considered novice writers in the area of academic writing. they need more attention in this area because they do not receive adequate theories and practices compared with university students (wang & chen, 2021). the curriculum of vocational colleges is different from that of universities (wang & chen, 2021). vocational colleges have an ultimate goal to prepare the master of employment-oriented skills as the support for shaping skilled workers for industries. the percentage for mastering practical skills is 60% and learning theories is 40%. however, academic writing is still important to master to complete a final project report as one of the requirements for obtaining a diploma degree and achieving their career. regarding the completion of final project reports, it is commonly developed based on a simple qualitative study and organized by following the common structures of undergraduate theses comprising an introduction, literature review, writing method, findings and discussion, and conclusion and suggestion. as part of an introduction, studies on the background section particularly in vocational colleges are inevitably needed to be explored because the section has an important role in academic writing (piromkij & phoocharoensil, 2022). it is the initial study that frames the rationale for choosing a certain issue supported by prior studies. thus, this importance implies the urgent promotion of the significance to develop this section adequately. in the efl context, students are inclined to have difficulties in writing this section in a proper way (nodoushan & khakbaz, 2011). they have real challenges to elaborate the issues coherently not only with the title and the problems but also with the ideal way of writing a plausible and suasive background of the study. as illustrated by swales and feak (2012), writing an introduction is troublesome and results in the writers being slow in completing the section. indeed, to emphasize the problem of writing an introduction, swales and feak took plato’s remark “the beginning is half of the whole”. this indicates that a true challenge is when the writers outline their rationale in their introduction section. from time to time, the problems of writing an introduction have been explored widely from the rhetorical move analyses. many researchers have conducted studies on the moves and patterns in university students’ writing (e.g. indrian & ardi, 2019) but the references to rhetorical moves in vocational college students’ academic writing are still unknown. knowing the moves in a more specific context contributes to the variety of results in a similar topic. the findings on the moves, moreover, suggest some issues to discuss the characteristics of students in writing their background. rhetorical awareness is necessary to be promoted especially when talking about developing a proper background. students have to understand that some ideas can be categorized into obligatory steps and some can be considered optional steps. by knowing this, they are concerned about arranging paragraphs that can describe the essential ideas of the study and ignoring the non-essential ideas in their background. therefore, the current study examined together the rhetorical moves and the patterns shown in the student’s background of the study. analyzing a background is challenging because the writers need to see a text not merely as a text but as its connection with the title, the problems, and the objectives. moreover, the levels of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 660-670 662 higher education also influence the development style of this section which leads to the similarity of the background sections among the students at the same level. hence, this study enriched the literature on rhetorical moves in the background sections written by efl vocational college students. literature review background sections in final project reports background sections are believed as an obligatory part of the completion of reports or theses. however, the terms background and introduction seem to be defined to avoid misconceptions. the background is located in the first chapter namely the introduction and usually consists of at least two pages. watson (2018) shared the idea that background is “the place to begin to focus on what, specifically, is investigated.” it is significant in this part to do synthesizing which leads to creating new material. the researchers have to show that all of the related literature is well understood which can lead to specific research problems or build a niche. it is also emphasized that the rest sections will reflect on this section. moreover, the background section presents the issues pertinent to the research at the beginning with statements of some information on the problem (creswell, 2009). the initial appearance of the section indicates that the ideas leading to the research topic are presented in this space. based on a guideline for apprenticeship and final project report (2019), the background section is a part of chapter i “introduction” which consists of six subtopics namely background of the report, scope of the report, problems of the report, objectives of the report, significance of the report, and time and place of the report. the background sections typically do not include the statements of the problems as may be provided in some introductions of research articles. moves in the background section amnuai (2019) defined a move as a semantic unit of texts that are linked to the writer’s purpose. semantics deals with the meaning of words/phrases/sentences. the meaning of the words/phrases/sentences cannot stand alone in a text. they should be linked with the writer’s purpose. different types of texts have different ultimate purposes that will influence the different rhetorical moves. regarding the typicality and patterns of the moves in writing the background of the study, a create-a-research-space (cars) model from swales (1990) has been extensively used in various studies (indrian & ardi, 2019). it provides a helpful guideline not only for the researchers but also for students. the new version of the rhetorical move framework of the introduction is suggested by swales (2004). the current cars model has updated some steps in all moves and makes the concepts of the framework in the introduction more specific and effective. swales (2004) provides three moves followed by the steps for fulfilling each move. move 1 is establishing a territory by citing statements related to the topic in a more general way. move 2 is establishing a niche by indicating a gap between the previous research and the current research. move 3 deals with presenting the present work that is necessary to announce the present research descriptively. the moves have been widely used in analyzing introductions of research articles or the background of the study in higher education. from move 1 to move 3, some steps are defined and the steps can be either obligatory or optional. the obligatory step llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 660-670 663 refers to the important ideas that must be written in the background. the optional step denotes the additional explanation that supports more ideas towards the obligatory step. the complete framework suggested by swales (2004) is provided in table 1. table 1. a revised cars model by swales (2004) move 1 establishing a territory (citations required) topic generalization of increasing specificity move 2 establishing a niche (citations possible) step 1a indicating a gap, or step 1b adding to what is known step 2 (optional) presenting positive justification move 3 presenting the present work (citations possible) step 1 (obligatory) announcing present research descriptively and/or purposively step 2* (optional) presenting rqs or hypotheses step 3 (optional) definitional clarifications step 4 (optional) summarizing methods step 5 (pisf**) announcing principal outcomes step 6 (pisf) stating the value of the present research step 7 (pisf) outlining the structure of the paper *steps 2-4 are not only optional but less fixed in their order of occurrence than the others **pisf: probable in some fields, but unlikely in others move 1 is about establishing a territory by generalizing the research topic. the writers may start the writing by raising the topic being investigated followed by citations. move 2 is establishing a niche. a researcher needs to show the specific research problem that is different from other studies. there are two steps including indicating a gap and adding to what is known and presenting positive justification. these two steps can be used together respectively or only one step is used. either indicating a gap or adding to what is known is obligatory in this move. however, a researcher may decide whether she/he presents a positive justification or not because the second step is optional. different from move 1 and 2 which only have 1 and two steps, move 3 has more steps to follow. move 3 is about presenting the present research. it consists of one obligatory step to follow and six optional steps. step 1, as an obligatory step, shows the statement of the present research. it can be in the form of a description or stating the purpose. steps 2 to 4 are optional and depend on the research methods. steps 5 to 7 may appear in some research fields for example in biology but unlikely in others. in summary, the cars model can be referred to by researchers to develop introduction or background sections. it covers some sequential techniques for organizing the arguments in the section through generalizing a topic, establishing a niche, and presenting the present research. therefore, this current research used the cars model as a reference for analyzing the background sections by considering the popularity of this model in linguistic studies. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 660-670 664 method the data in this research were the background sections of final project reports written by six-semester students in the diii english study program in one of the state polytechnics in indonesia. for accomplishing the process of writing final project reports, each student was guided by two advisors. the consultation focused on the revision both related to the content and the language aspects. the six-semester students had to complete their final project report within one semester. the topics for their final project report fell within the tourism and journalism areas. the studies on the topics of tourism and journalism were limited to the level of low analysis. the characteristic of the diploma program has a learning outcome on level 5 that is different from university students. hence, students are encouraged to use two methods either descriptive qualitative or quantitative to complete their study. before writing final project reports, the students received a guideline for developing final project reports. the title of the book is “panduan praktik kerja lapangan dan tugas akhir/apprenticeship and final project report guidelines” (2019). in the book, five steps that need to follow for composing an effective background are as follows: 1. the description of activities in the institution or companies about the work fields or main activities, products/services chosen by the writer. 2. the description of the appropriateness or the differences with the related review of literature based on the observation results. 3. the reasons for choosing the main materials for discussion are necessary to be presented in detail based on theories. 4. problems as the basis for taking the title for final project reports. 5. argumentation by describing the importance of choosing the topic. the significance is described in clear paragraphs. data collection was conducted in the second semester of the academic year 2020/2021. the period of this semester was begun in january to june 2021. the researchers had roles either as the first or the second advisor. during the covid19 pandemic, the process of consultation was done online by sending a file to the advisors’ email, whatsapp, or google classroom. the deadline for completing the final project reports was in july during which the students did a final project report examination. after they had finished the examination and the revision after the examination, the researchers selected 29 background sections from students’ final project reports and scored an “a” mark. the researchers coordinated with the coordinator of the diii english study program for access to students’ scores and asked the students for the final project report files. finally, the selected texts were analyzed and displayed as pseudonyms. the researchers followed the steps initiated by swales (2004) to analyze the 29 background sections. this study had two main steps for analyzing the data. the first was to analyze the presence of every step in move 1, move, and move 3. as amnuai (2019) defined a rhetorical move as a semantic unit of texts that are linked to the writer’s purpose, in doing this step the researchers connected the ideas in the background with the topic, the problem(s), and the objective(s). as the second step, the researchers determined the patterns used by students in writing their background. the results of the patterns were coded using the initial letter of the moves and the steps of each move followed by the number. for example, m1 refers llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 660-670 665 to move 1 which establishes a territory. m2s1a refers to move 2 step 1a which indicates a gap. the complete list of the codes is shown in table 2. table 2. codes for rhetorical moves based on swales (2004) move and step code move 1 m1 move 2 step 1a m2s1a move 2 step 1b m2s1b move 2 step 2 m2s2 move 3 step 1 m3s1 move 3 step 2 m3s2 move 3 step 3 m3s3 move 3 step 4 m3s4 move 3 step 5 m3s5 move 3 step 6 m3s6 move 3 step 7 m3s7 by using the codes shown in table 2, the researchers did a top-down analysis as used by indrian and ardi (2019) in their study. the moves were carefully analyzed and connected with the title and the research problems. to obtain reliability, the process of the analysis was conducted by five lecturers using the guidelines of rhetorical moves. regular discussion was conducted to reach an agreement for any possibilities of different opinions on the moves and the patterns. findings and discussion rhetorical moves in efl students’ background of the study the rhetorical moves suggested by swales (2004) were used to analyze the 29 students’ background sections of the study. based on the findings, it was found that move 1, 2, and 3 were applied to students’ background of the study. there was a tendency that the students to write move 1 and move 3 and omitted move 2 which has the aim of establishing a niche. the complete findings of the frequency of the moves used by students can be seen in table 3. table 3. moves in the students’ background of the study move and step frequency % m1 29 100 m2s1a 2 6,89 m2s1b 12 41,37 m2s2 10 34,48 m3s1 29 100 m3s6 1 3,45 as seen in table 3, move 1 was found in all 29 background sections. the description of the general idea of the topic was the focus of the students in developing the background. for move 2, step 1a was only stated in two reports. as another option, step 1b is favored with 12 occurrences. although presenting positive justification is optional, the occurrences of move 2 step 1 are quite high with 10 occurrences. finally, in move 3 all reports showed step 1 and one report showed step 6. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 660-670 666 based on the data, all students fulfilled move 1 in the generalizing topic. they developed their ideas in this move in several paragraphs before moving to the next move. move 1 dominates their background and this is similar to the result of afrizon, arsyad, and zahrida (2018) that in their study move 1 also dominates the introduction sections. tarvirdizdeh and nimehchisalem (2021) also have similar findings that the highest frequency in the occurrence of moves is move 1. in move 2, students tended to skip the steps for indicating a gap or adding what is known related to their topic or problems. this finding is similar to the study conducted by alharbi (2016) on arabic research articles. the study showed that move 2 was often neglected and to be more specific the writers did not emphasize indicating the gap. furthermore, indrian and ardi (2019) found that many students did not state the gap in their studies. this current finding shows the necessity to improve students’ awareness of establishing a niche. as it was said in lim (2012) this move is crucial as the space for showing argument and provides the newness of the research. the findings that show all students fulfill move 3 by announcing their research descriptively and purposively indicate that students have understood well that in writing a background they have to state this idea. concerning the findings that students tend to ignore move 2, it indicates that there was a pattern of the background written by students, especially in the fields of tourism and journalism. it can be connected with the alternative model of the cars model suggested by swales (2004). this model is frequently used by mostly non-anglophone cultures. it has some differences in the point of developing the moves compared with the cars model. it is called the oaro (open a research option) model. it has four moves that consist of an optional opening, establishing credibility, offering a line of inquiry, and introducing the topic. this model may be used easier by students as they typically have an orientation to do research for fulfilling the requirement. it can be concluded that move 1 and move 3 were typically used in all of the students’ backgrounds of the study. however, for move 2, there was a tendency for students to ignore the idea of establishing a niche by indicating a gap or adding what is known and presenting positive justification. rhetorical patterns in efl students’ background of the study this research also found the results of investigating the patterns that were mostly used by students in developing their backgrounds. the complete list of the rhetorical patterns found in 29 students’ background sections is depicted in table 4. table 4. rhetorical patterns in the students’ background of the study no pattern frequency percentage 1 m1 – m3 s1 11 37,9 % 2 m1 – m2 s1b – m3 s1 6 20,7 % 3 m1 – m2 s1bm2 s2 – m3 s1 5 17,2 % 4 m1 – m2 s2 – m3 s1 4 13,8 % 5 m1 – m2 s1a– m3 s1 1 3,45% 6 m1 – m2 s1am2 s2 – m3 s1 1 3,45% 7 m1 – m2 s1b – m3 s1 – m3 s6 1 3,45% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 660-670 667 as listed in table 4, seven patterns were found in developing a background. pattern m1 m3s1 was frequently used by students with 37,9%. both steps are obligatory to be employed in a background section. excerpts 1 and 2 show the initial sentence of the ideas to illustrate this pattern. excerpt 1 (m1) based on indonesian investment, indonesia is an archipelago that includes over 17,000 islands which are inhabited by around 255 million people, the variety that produces indonesia the fourth most populous country in the world. (m3s1) based on the background above, the title for this final project report is … excerpt 2 (m1) world health organization (who) on january 30, 2020 declared a recent outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (sarscov-2) infection arose in wuhan, china for the very first time on december 2019 and spread across china and beyond, which known as coronavirus disease 2019 … . (m3s1) according to the background above, the title that has been chosen is “… as an educational radio program during the covid-19 pandemic” as the final project report. those typical flows were frequently shown by the students in developing their logical ideas for investing in a particular topic. they focused more on describing the topic starting from the broader ideas. after that, the idea jumps into announcing the topic. it is relevant to the claim of ebadi et al. (2019) that students tend to generalize the topic rather than claim centrality to open an introduction. then, it was followed by the description of the terms without giving the signals for a niche. after the description of the topic, it was an explicit statement of the present topic initiated by “based on …” and “according to”. the second pattern is m1 m2s1b m3s1 which was used 20,7%. it indicates that the reports fulfill the obligatory steps including building a niche. the following excerpt shows an example of this pattern. excerpt 3 (m1) indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world, range from sabang in aceh to merauke in papua, which is made up of thousands of large and small islands, which are connected by the strait and sea. (m2s1b) not all tourist attractions implement sapta pesona at the place, therefore the writer wants to focus on knowing how the implementation of sapta pesona in tawun park. (m3s1) based on the background above the writer chose tawun park as the material for this final project report with the title …. excerpt 3 above contains the fulfillment of the obligatory steps started from m1 that has a broad explanation of the topic of a particular tourism attraction. then, the writer stated her knowledge of the topic which is important to build a niche in her study. the sentence is begun with the phrase “not all tourist attractions …” to sign that there is a problem with the topic discussed. finally, the background section was closed by announcing the title. the initial signal used is “based on”. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 660-670 668 the third pattern is m1 m2s1b m2s2 m3s1. this pattern is more complete than the second pattern because m2s2 was also fulfilled even though it is considered an optional step. the moving step is employed for giving a positive justification for the topic. the following excerpt illustrates the example of the pattern. excerpt 4 (m1) tourism is one of the sector that currently to be the center of people attraction. (m2s1b) the writer chooses raden sekar park as the subject of the report because this tourism is new and people by widely still do not know it yet. (m2s2) moreover, the tourism also offers many interesting potentials and the writer believes that the potentials which exist can be more developed and promoted so it can spread the popularity more widely in order to attract more tourist. (m3s1) therefore, because this tourism brings many potentials, the writer is also interested to identify the implementation of 5a’s components of tourism at …. as shown in excerpt 4, the initial sentence describes tourism in general. then, it continued with the idea about why the writer chose a particular object and showed additional information about that. finally, the initial sentence of the last move was indicated with a discourse marker “therefore” to state the reason and to announce the purpose of the study. in addition, pattern 4 is m1 m2s2 m3s1 with 13,8%. it appears that this pattern has three steps but there is one obligatory step missing namely indicating a gap or adding to what is known. for patterns 5 to 7 shown namely m1 – m2s1a – m3s1, m1 – m2s1a m2s2 – m3 s1, and m1 – m2s1b – m3s1 – m3s6, each has 3,45% that is considered a low use in the students’ background of the study. conclusion from the results of the rhetorical moves, it was found that move 1 and move 3 were used in all of the student’s backgrounds of the study. in stating move 1, the students tended to write more paragraphs compared to other moves. move 3 was dominated by the obligatory step for announcing the present research and its purposes. on the other hand, move 2 was frequently neglected in the section. to establish a niche, students tended to add what is known rather than to provide a gap then followed by presenting positive justification. additionally, the common pattern found was m1-m3s1. some suggestions are given related to rhetorical moves in developing the background of the final project report. first, establishing a niche is a challenge for students because this move was frequently neglected by the students. thus, the encouragement to write this part is necessary to improve the students’ awareness of the importance of occupying move 2 through several steps. second, the move within moves should be signaled by appropriate techniques to make it easier for the readers in understanding the ideas of the research. as the biggest challenge in this current study, the backgrounds analyzed lacked signals within the moves. as the result, this made the content in the background more descriptive rather than argumentative. for future research, it is recommended to conduct studies on the initial signs and the typical development of each move in an introduction section written by novice writers, especially in the diploma program. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 660-670 669 the findings will elaborate on the rhetorical moves and have a practical effect on vocational college students’ academic writing. references afrizon, e., arsyad, s., & zahrida, z. 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(2016). rhetorical structure of education research article methods sections. pasaa, 51, 155-184. https://doi.org/10.15408/ijee.v2i2.3086 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2011.08.004 https://doi.org/10.24815/siele.v8i2.19118 http://dx.doi.org/10.32601/ejal.911531 https://doi.org/10.18178/ijlt.7.4.272-277 https://doi.org/10.18178/ijlt.7.4.272-277 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-4910.2018.tb00010.x https://doi.org/10.18413/2313-8912-2022-8-1-0-9 https://doi.org/10.18413/2313-8912-2022-8-1-0-9 https://doi.org/10.18844/cjes.v11i1.344 http://dx.doi.org/10.22054/ilt.2016.7714 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 497-504 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 497 storyboarding: a model technique for the language learning process *rizwana wahid1 and ahtisham aziz2 1king khalid university, saudi arabia 2aligarh college of education, agra university, india rizuwahid@gmail.com1 and adi4usmailbox@gmail.com2 *correspondence: rizuwahid@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4253 received 21 january 2022; accepted 3 october 2022 abstract the current paper mainly focuses on three objectives: introduces the concept of storyboard teaching, highlights its usefulness in higher education as a variant in online and offline courses or as an adapting teaching materials tool according to the learners’ needs and context of learning, and then recommends its use in the classroom, especially in language and literature, mixed with other innovative teaching techniques. moreover, the current paper focuses on how storyboarding provides platforms for the students to be active, creative, and critical thinkers and learning is not limited to only remembering while they analyze their works, reflect, and progress. the researchers have highly recommended incorporating the storyboarding technique in higher education classrooms and fusing it with other innovative techniques to make a classroom interesting, engaging, and interactive. adding the storyboarding approach, students get motivated and feel confident and competent after the completion of mapping out their ideas visually, cognitively, and creatively. keywords: approach, creativity, critical thinking, learning, storyboarding introduction to be successful, teachers must impart their lectures successfully and authentically connected to real-life situations and adapt teaching methods according to learners’ needs. storyboarding is one of the techniques which assists instructors in the conveyance of their ideas visually and engages learners in active and authentic learning. in the present scenario, to make teaching authentic and engaging, soft skills/real-life skills are undoubtedly an essential prerequisite to teaching. education cannot be restricted to a singular teaching approach as one size does not fit all. similarly, efficient educators practice plural teaching methods and approach in the classrooms, and storyboarding can add pluralism to their instructions along with other various instructional techniques. knauf and jantke (2006) overview the teaching through a storyboard consisting of further structured episodes and scenes similar to a traditional story on shows, plays, and movies. the materials for storyboarding are slides, textbooks, scripts, and models, for example. mailto:rizuwahid@gmail.com mailto:adi4usmailbox@gmail.com mailto:rizuwahid@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4253 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 497-504 498 storyboarding displays the visual maps of any project planning and involves learners in creative and critical thinking (yusoff & salim, 2014; walker et al., 2015). students work as a team and narrate their ideas through pictures. denison (1995) defines storyboarding as “a cooperative learning technique for teaching and learning organizational skills in the field of education, and for planning educational programs of every conceivable magnitude” (p. 2). furthermore, it is very useful to stimulate active learning because teachers form a group/team of some students who think about the plan creatively and visualize images and every participant offers his/her ideas. then the creative learning session is followed by a critical thinking session. the ideas are scrutinized minutely by the team and the accepted ideas are mapped out visually. it helps the team to rearrange and organize their ideas. one storyboarding module generates a variety of creative ideas while stimulating the active learning, creativity and of each team member (jantke & knauf, 2005; patton, 2012). according to varvel and lindeman (2005), “storyboards are a means to graphically represent layout, organization, content, and linkages of information to create a conceptual idea of the information, location, meaning, and appearance (p.1). online and offline/on-campus classes are mostly teacher-centered and traditional. however, some teachers are constructivist, they evaluate their teaching approaches and adapt their styles to meet the learners’ needs and growth. storyboarding is one of the tools/techniques which can help teachers fulfill their teaching goals as it makes the classroom interesting, engaging, reflective, and assists students to grow. at the same time, it also develops teamwork, responsibility, creativity, and critical thinking ability among university students. therefore, the researchers emphasize the use of storyboarding as a model approach for certain modules to reflect, process, and assess learners’ learning progress, and performance and to achieve the learning outcomes. it is a powerful tool to develop collaborative learning. this research paper intends to highlight the following objectives. 1. the necessity to adapt different variants to handle offline and online learning challenges, 2. emphasis on the importance of storyboarding in representing teaching materials, engaging learners, eliciting and assessing their performance, and improving their overall learning easily and interestingly, and 3. ways the storyboard helps organize instructors’ ideas subtly by visually mapping out the teaching modules. theory there is a lot of research available on the use of storyboards in different disciplines like medicine, finance, computer science, etc. however, in arts and humanities, less work is found than in other disciplines. storyboarding is one of the most common methods to make students active, creative, communicative, innovative, and critical thinkers. barrows (2001) views it as facilitating the students in constructing flexible knowledge, real-life skills, self-directed learning, responsibility, real collaboration skills, and inherent motivation for learning activities. moreover, fried-booth (2002) calls the storyboard a modern and practical approach that can be employed to plan and create learning development processes for learners at different stages of learning. similarly, moursund (2003) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 497-504 499 states that it plays a proactive role in building vital learning skills such as collaborative skills, analytical thinking, innovative thinking, accountability, and communication. therefore, a storyboard is a practical method in the teaching and learning process. furthermore, it can be stated that storyboard teaching can also be employed for teaching specific skills i.e., speaking, writing, reading, and other problemsolving skills (dirckinck-holmfeld, 2010). as doherty and coggeshall (2005) explain that a storyboard is a platform where students reflect their learning output by retelling the story of input comprehension through words and images. dupen (2005) also advocates the application of storyboarding approach to problem-solving in his statics and strength of materials classes. in his study, he teaches problemsolving techniques and then, distributes a series of handouts consisting of images in a sequence to facilitate the students solving of multi-dimensional problems. each handout includes a shadow of the previous image and by looking at the shadow, the learners could visualize the problem-solving sequence and perform the task easily. theory application therefore, instructors can use storyboards as one of the learning tools in teaching processes. knauf and jantke (2006) see that instruction sometimes lacks didactic skills. the concept of storyboard clarifies didactic skills by visualization process. it can be inferred based on the aforementioned studies that a storyboard is a tool that facilitates learners by mapping out visually their story in a series, to think analytically, critically, and creatively. this technique leads students to brainstorm their narratives and show their stories from the beginning to the end. moreover, they supply the words or phrases in each drawing/image for illustrations. then they can frame the final draft of the storyboard. according to andersson, obery, and eriksson (2011), the storyboard is a powerful tool to develop creativity especially it improves new project creations by taking into account the prior experience of creating storyboards. likewise, balzotti (2016) considers storyboarding as an inclusive/invention tool to use in multi-modal writing classes. storyboarding can help students in transferring their writing knowledge from basic (argumentative) writing tasks to specific (media) writing tasks. students can relate their prior knowledge through drawing, visualizing, and creating a documentary on ideas and produce a new writing modal in an improved and collaborative way (tanrıkulu, 2020; hafour & al-rashidy, 2020). on the same path, ramasari, erlina, and anggraini (2020) have found that the project-based learning method employing a storyboard is a powerful tool to enhance their students’ speaking skills and this research has been conducted in two groups: control and experimental to examine the difference in speaking competence through storyboard approach. in the same way, abuzaid and al kayed (2020) claim the storyboard technique improves the reading skill in their research conducted on 40 students at the elementary level. they have discovered in their study that students easily distinguish the letters which look similar in structure but are pronounced differently with the help of graphs. it is quite obvious that the storyboard is a powerful technique for students that involves them in more imaginative and innovative practices of learning. based on the discussion above, it can be said that the use of a storyboard has very practical prospects that can be applied in the classroom. by recreating the story llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 497-504 500 with a blend of forms and images, learners show their understanding of the task. the concept and use of storyboard is also a successful process to improve students' speaking, writing, and reading skills. they quickly understand, clarify, process, and evaluate the storyboard that they create (knauf & jantke, 2006). the student's learning process is improved in a better way rather than the traditional way as students cannot remember the whole document word by word because they may recall the sequence of learning in the right order with the help of storyboarding (essley & rocci, 2008). there are a lot of studies dealing with the storyboard in different disciplines or specific skills/tasks. the current paper reviews the previous studies and tries to fill in the gap of literature using the storyboard approach in language classrooms in general in an online and offline context. teachers always must discover new and innovative ways to engage learners and improve their entire learning process. though the storyboarding approach is not new, it comes all the way long since the 17th century. leonardo da vinci was known as the first to use storyboarding for his unfinished works to study it. later, walt disney revived it for the cartoonists to draw their cartoons to complete the animated stories. in the 1960s, mike vance and jerry mcneiiis introduced the concept of storyboarding to the business world for organizing project planning. as a planning technique, storyboarding is very effective that many leading business companies, fashion industries, and hospitals such as ford motor company, mcdonald’s, pizza hut, mayo clinic, bank of america, and so on. then it became a popular norm of filmmaking planning. mike vance himself employed it for the planning of disneyworld. this technique always remains advantageous for the project planners to map out the visuals for organizational teams. in the contemporary world, educational institutions also started using storyboarding to develop the students’ cooperative learning skills which enable them to boost organizational expertise and deal with real-life problem-solving mechanics. before creating the storyboard, an instructor must determine his/her presentation style and be fully aware of the different tools of the storyboard. for example, for online sessions, adequate knowledge about graphics, images, streaming videos and audio, sketches, and discussion boards, lms is required for both the teachers and learners. to incorporate the storyboard in the virtual classes, an instructor must choose interactive glossaries, images, texts with images, graphics, powerpoint presentations, videos and audio, fonts, and short quizzes. however, for the offline classes, the storyboard tools are not very different e.g., images, graphics, glossaries, index cards, powerpoint presentations, sketches, bulletin, and planning boards to post the narrative pictures, videos, audios, text with images, etc. (denison, 1995; rehberg et al., 2001) educators can storyboard the full course or only a unit/module depending on the requirements of the objectives of their courses. storyboarding can be likely an effective approach to teaching language and literature as other courses e.g., filmmaking, finance, medicine, and computer science. in offline classes, a storyboard may look like a cartoon-like series of cells (rehberg et al., 2001) or images with text. for an online module, a text-only storyboard with streaming videos and audio may be an effective way to apply storyboard. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 497-504 501 figure 1. student storyboard to get its optimal benefits, instructors must bring all ideas together in the form of a visual presentation with individual content pages, an outline, and precise methods and tools affixed with objectives that learners would apply to learn that module. furthermore, storyboarding is benefited able for all types of learners visual, auditory, and kinesthetic (gardner, 1983). similarly, students with multiple personality traits (spada & lightbown, 2013) and multiple intelligence (gardner, 1999) will take advantage of storyboarding, for example, extroverts and brilliant students may lead teamwork, and average and weak ones may get motivated and learn from their group. introverts also show their performance and capabilities in a better way (essley & rocci, 2008). additionally, it also helps lower the affective filter (krashen, 1982) to get the optimum benefits of learning. conclusion to conclude, it can be stated that instructional methods should not be bound to one type. educators must explore multiple instructional techniques and approaches which can fulfill the goal of pedagogy. storyboarding may be one useful technique to provide a variety of teaching and is very beneficial for both the learners and teachers because it engages the learners actively, creatively, and cognitively in classroom activities. at the same time, it develops teamwork, organizational, leadership, and problem-solving skills among students, so this technique works as a real-life skill and gives them the confidence to meet real-life challenges. working on an electronic learning storyboard isn’t meant only for attainment concepts agreed by everyone involved. it’s also an application for users to discover the existing llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 497-504 502 chances. it can be used to figure out how your pictorial presentations, user interface, animatronics, and communication ideas fit into your flow of ideas, check whether they are paced fittingly through your method of instructions, and make sure that they bond with your teaching aims. storyboarding also breaks your ideas into the pictorial building block to evaluate your idea more minutely and figure out the subtle weaknesses of conveying some complicated conceptual points as it allows you to view these pictorial building blocks separately with a new perspective each time. this technique also allows you to do variations in communication approaches according to your targeted learners. the storyboarding method may emerge as a more efficient conveying medium in the context of the teaching-learning process. besides these features, it is also a more cost-effective and time-efficient method of teaching, which make it further apt for targeting more students. above mentioned ideas evidence that the future of teaching-learning will revolute the scenario of education by the collaboration of traditional teaching with the innovative emerging electronic teaching approaches nonetheless, there should be stability between both means of instruction to make teaching more effective and learner-friendly. acknowledgments the authors extend their appreciation to the deanship of scientific research at king khalid university for funding this work through a research program under grant number r.g.p. 1/361/43. references abuzaid, h. & al kayed, m. (2020). the impact of using storyboards on improving reading skills of third-grade students with reading disabilities in jordanian context. international journal of learning, teaching and educational research, 19(1), 172-187. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.1.10 andersson, j., obery, a. & eriksson, y. (2011). the use of storyboard to capture experiences. paper presented at 18th international conference on engineering design, eskilstuna, swedia. balzotti, j. (2016). storyboarding for invention: layering modes for more layering modes for more composition classroom. journal of basic writing, 35(1), 63-84. barrows, h. s. (2001). the tutorial process. springfield, il: southern illinois university school of medicine. denison, g. l. (1995, april). storyboarding: a brief description of the process. paper presented at the annual international convention of the council for exceptional children 73rd, indianapolis. dirckinck-holmfeld, l. 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(1983). frames of mind: the theory of multiple intelligences. new york: basic books. gardner, h. (1999). intelligence reframed: multiple intelligences for the 21st century. new york: basic books. hafour, m. f., & al-rashidy, a.-s.m. (2020). storyboarding-based collaborative narratives on google docs: fostering efl learners’ writing fluency, syntactic complexity, and overall performance. the jalt call journal, 16(3), 123–146. https://doi.org/10.29140/jaltcall.v16n3.393 jantke, k. p., & knauf, r. (2005). didactic design though storyboarding: standard concepts for standard tools. paper presented at the 4th international symposium on information and communication technologies, workshop on dissemination of e-learning technologies and applications, cape town, south africa. knauf, r. & jantke, k. p. 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(2020). the use of storyboard: project-based learning implementation in teaching speaking to the 10th gradestudents. advances in social science, education and humanitiesresearch, 513, 387394. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.201230.135 rehberg s., mcquillan, j., stanton l., & eneman, s. (2001). storyboarding worksheet. retrieved from http://www.uncc.edu/webcourse/worksheet.html tanrıkulu, f. (2020). students’ perceptions about the effects of collaborative digital storytelling on writing skills. computer assisted language learning, 35(56), 1090-1105. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2020.1774611 varvel, v. e., & lindeman, m. (2005). online courses as learning scripts: using storyboards in online course design. retrieved from https://moam.info/online-courses-as-learning-scripts-using-storyboards-inonline-_5a1913b51723ddd65570efb4.html walker, r., cenydd, l., pop, s., miles, h., hughes, c., teahan, w. & roberts, j.(2015). storyboarding for visual analytics. information visualization, 14,27-50.https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1473871613487089 https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/what-are-storyboards/ https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/what-are-storyboards/ https://doi.org/10.29140/jaltcall.v16n3.393 https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.201230.135 http://www.uncc.edu/webcourse/worksheet.html https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2020.1774611 https://moam.info/online-courses-as-learning-scripts-using-storyboards-in-online-_5a1913b51723ddd65570efb4.html https://moam.info/online-courses-as-learning-scripts-using-storyboards-in-online-_5a1913b51723ddd65570efb4.html https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1473871613487089 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 497-504 504 yusoff, n. m. & salim, s.s. (2014). a review of storyboard tools, concepts and frameworks. in p. zaphiris & a. ioannou (eds.), learning and collaboration technologies: designing and developing novel learning experiences (pp. 73-82). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07482-5_8 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07482-5_8 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 107-121 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 107 the exploration of university students’ perceptions of using technology in academic writing classrooms yustinus calvin gai mali universitas kristen satya wacana, salatiga, indonesia correspondence: yustinus.mali@uksw.edu https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4234 received 20 january 2022; accepted 4 april 2022 abstract this study explores university students’ perceptions of the usefulness of technology, the frequency of using technology, a technology tool that the students like the most, and perceptions if the technology they like the most helps them meet the characteristics of good writing. to meet the research goals, sixty-seven undergraduate students of a private university in indonesia were asked to respond to a close-ended online questionnaire that surveyed their perceptions of using technology in their academic writing classroom. the findings indicate that an online dictionary, google search engine, and google translate are the technology that the students frequently use and consider useful to enhance their writing. further, an online grammar checker is found to be a technology tool that the students like the most, and they feel that the tool can help them meet the characteristics of good writing. recommendations for teaching practices using the technology and directions for further research are discussed. keywords: language teaching, language learning, technology, writing introduction english writing is an important skill for english as a foreign language (efl) students as it has become an integral part of their academic work (beigi & ahmadi, 2011; cloutier, 2016) and an assessment tool in most of the academic disciplines (bailey, 2011; jones, 2011). however, improving english writing is often considered a difficult task specifically for efl students (laksmi, 2006; pujianto, emilia, & sudarsono, 2014) as they might only have a few hours per week to receive english exposure (kim & kim, 2005). a few years ago, tri and nguyen (2014) surveyed 149 english-major students in a university in vietnam. in their survey, most of the students agreed and strongly agreed that technology helps improve their writing (51.7%) (see p. 41). the researchers also reported that most of the students (81.9%) frequently used technology for their writing practice (see p. 40). however, the researchers did not provide any further details on what technology the students used to improve their writing. given that background, this research is interested in following up tri and nguyen’s (2014) previous study by mailto:youremail@xxxx.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4234 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 108-121 108 exploring perceptions of indonesian university students in utilizing technology in their efl writing class and answering the following research questions: 1. how often do the students use technology to improve their writing? 2. how is the usefulness of technology that the students use to improve their writing? 3. are the students’ gender and their perceptions of the usefulness of using the technology independent of one another? 4. what is a technology tool that the students like the most? 4.1. do the students feel that the technology they like the most helps them meet the characteristics of good writing? in response to research question number three, the researcher hypothesizes that there is no association between the variables of gender and perceptions. in other words, the students’ gender and their perceptions of technology are independent. the answers to the research questions might be fruitful for efl teachers or language instructors who wish to integrate technology into their writing classrooms. practically speaking, they can learn types of technology that university students in this study use frequently and find useful in improving their efl writing and meeting good writing characteristics. this paper will also discuss some strengths and weaknesses of technology when used in the writing classroom. literature review definitions of technology in this study, the term technology could be defined as “computer-based technologies, such as desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and software and also internet-based technologies including websites and social networking sites for english teaching and learning purposes” (cited in tri & nguyen, 2014, p. 34). technology also provides access to information using telecommunications, such as cell phones, wireless, internet, and other communication mediums (see floris, 2014). based on the notions above, this study regarded technology as various tools, such as electronic devices, internet, websites, and software, which can be used to access information and facilitate communications to support language and learning in an efl writing classroom. the technology tools discussed in this study were limited to an online dictionary, google search engine, online websites, google docs, youtube videos, google translate, and an online grammar checker. using technology to improve efl writing the use of technology in english language writing is not a new phenomenon (purnawarman, susilawati, & sundayana, 2016). previous studies reported some benefits and potential drawbacks of using the technology. for instance, cunningham (2000) researched perceptions of 37 japanese female undergraduate students enrolled in efl writing classes. many of the students agreed and strongly agreed that the computer helps them to write their papers better (88%), pay attention to spelling (88%), and think of more ideas for their writing (66%). besides, online dictionaries, which provide meanings and sounds of words, and a searchable thesaurus (dudeney & hockly, 2012), were reported to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 108-121 109 be the most frequent technology tool used by the university students (see tri & nguyen, 2014). similarly, in jin and deifell’s (2013) research, around 220 foreign language students in universities across the united states used online dictionaries daily (27.7%) and weekly (39.7%) to support their writing (85.3%). a search engine (e.g., google) enables students to access rich information from various websites (herington, 2002; tekinarslan, 2008). however, students often searched for answers for their inquiries only from a single website, such as reading the first couple of sentences on the site without further checking the available information. “if the website looks good, appears to be professional, and has a lot of detail on it, many of the students will accept it as a good site for finding information (walraven, gruwl, & boshuizen, 2009, p. 245). with these practices, the students might end up including unreliable information in their writing. in response, students might need to learn ways to evaluate sources. one of the possibilities is to use the currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose (craap) test with some questions to guide students when reading some information from a website (see kurpiel, 2020, for more details about the test). krajka (2000) introduced web pages as a model of various writing genres, such as biography (see http://www.imdb.com/), advertisements (visit the electronic telegraph site at www.telegraph.co.uk), review of theatre plays (http://www.londontheatre.co.uk/), and newspaper report (http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/). krajka (2000) posited that using the internet could provide students with models of sentence structures, different word choices for their writing, and a sense of authenticity in their writing experiences. however, teachers also need to be aware that their students might cut and paste ideas from a website (eret & ok, 2014; scanlon, 2003). google docs (https://docs.google.com), an online word processing, might also support students’ efl writing activities. it enables students to write collaboratively at the same time wherever they are (mansor, 2012). it also has comment features that allow students to give and receive feedback from one another and their teacher (ishataiwa & aburezeq, 2015). google docs can also detect (simple) grammatical errors (e.g., related to subject-verb agreement, punctuations, and determiners) that students make in the online document (refo indonesia, 2020). however, a slow internet connection might interrupt typing activities, and it might demotivate students to use the tool (mansor, 2012). watkins and wilkins (2011) mentioned the potential of using youtube to learn english writing. for example, in their own time, students can choose to watch a youtube clip in english (e.g., how to write a paragraph or essay) and spend more time to comprehend writing ideas conveyed in the clip. in line with this, an undergraduate student in australia said that “often when studying a new concept, i’ll struggle to understand it fully simply using the resources provided by the lecturer. with youtube, a whole host of videos will be supplied to me with different examples” (henderson & selwyn, & aston, 2017, p. 1574). nevertheless, in asking students to learn from a youtube clip, watkins and wilkins (2011) reminded us about provocative language and risqué contents that might appear in the clip. this reminder is crucial as tri and nguyen (2014) reported that the efl university students in their study (88%) frequently watched youtube for non-learning purposes. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 108-121 110 efl students also find google translate (hereafter called gt) helpful for semantic understanding of new vocabulary items (raza & nor, 2018). in their case study on eight college students in indonesia, chandra and yuyun (2018) found that gt (accessible at https://translate.google.com/) was mostly used for translating english words (e.g., from indonesian to english) when the students wrote their efl essay. gt was also reported to be a popular online dictionary as perceived by 250 language learners in colleges and universities across the united states (jin & deifell, 2013). despite its popularity, gt failed to translate sentences with correct word choices, sentence structures (groves & mundt, 2015), and grammar (chandra & yuyun, 2018). also, in translating whole sentences, gt is not sensitive to their contexts (sheppard, 2011). therefore, efl teachers need to use gt in their class cautiously so that their students do not become addicted to the tool, which might hamper their language learning (raza & nor, 2018). some studies researched the use of online grammar checkers. yang (2018) explored perspectives of one korean and fifteen chinese efl undergraduate students toward feedback given by an online grammar checker (e.g., spellcheckplus; free accessible at https://spellcheckplus.com/en/) to their writing. the feedback from the grammar checker could spot weaknesses in the students’ writing assignment related to “tense (f=10), verb-form (f=8), subject-verb agreement (f=7), word form (e.g., nouns, adjectives) (f=7), word choice (f=4), word order (f=3), and punctuations (e.g., comma, period) (f=2)” (yang, 2018, p. 339). more specifically, some respondents said, “i think it’s very useful because i can check my grammar mistakes; the grammar checker improves my verb form and tense” (yang, 2018, p. 338). although most of the students had positive opinions about using the grammar checker, some other students still believed that “the grammar checker cannot detect all errors in my essay; the detected error is not sometimes correct” (yang 2018, p. 340). more recently, park (2019) investigated the use of grammarly (free accessible at https://app.grammarly.com/) to analyze grammatical errors on 40 writing samples of korean efl high school students. park (2019) found out that grammarly could detect (simple) errors related to subject-verb agreements (e.g., each accident have), verb choices (e.g., have a birth), noun agreements (e.g., a bad events), determiners (e.g., [a] valuable lesson), and prepositions (e.g., at saturday). however, park (2019) saw that the tool only discovered limited types of grammatical errors, failed to detect all types of errors in the students’ essays, and suggested many flawed grammar corrections on the errors, which were consistent with what cavaleri and dianati (2016); yang (2018) reported in their studies. characteristics of good writing writing students are hoped to produce a written work that meets some characteristics of good writing. for instance, it should have (a) well-developed ideas, (b) content, (c) various sentence structures, and (d) correct spellings and (e) punctuations (learning express editors, 2008). another characteristic is (f) the use of a consistent (without any unimportant shifts) point of view (richards & schmidt, 2010). in a more recent year, donovan (2017) mentioned that good writing should (g) be clear and well-organized, show (h) precise, accurate word choices, and (i) well-crafted sentences, as well as (j) follow grammatical rules correctly. similar to previous attributes (d, e, j), nauman, stirling, and borthwick llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 108-121 111 (2011) stated that good writing should be clear, easy to understand, and free from errors related to mechanics and conventions. although crossley, roscoe, and mcnamara (2014) argued that successful writing has more than just a set of predefined features, the researcher assumes that these characteristics (a-j) can be suitable for reflecting on the writing products of the students in the context of the current study. method the researcher recruited 67 second-year university students from four face-to-face parallel academic writing classes in an english language education program at a private university in indonesia. forty-eight respondents (72%) are female, and 19 respondents (28%) are male. as stated in the syllabus, in brief, the course aims to equip students with knowledge and skills in writing an academic paper (e.g., starting what others are saying, quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing, responding to other people’s views). in the class, the students are required to write a three-paragraph essay based on the class theme selected by their instructor. the researcher emailed the class lecturers to explain the research purposes and asked their assistance to distribute the online questionnaire’s link to their students. the questionnaire was designed using google form application and became the main instrument for collecting research data in this study. the questionnaire consisted of 22 closed-ended items, which were developed from previous surveys on technology (e.g., see henderson et al., 2017; li & ni, 2011; tri & nguyen, 2014) and the characteristics of good writing (donovan, 2017; learning express editors, 2008; nauman et al., 2011; richards & schmidt, 2010). the online questionnaire was divided into five sections (see appendix). the first section asked the gender information of the students. the second section with a four-point likert scale (e.g., never, rarely, frequently, very frequently) entailed the frequency of using technology to enhance students’ writing. the third section, with another four-point likert scale (e.g., not at all useful, slightly useful, very useful, and extremely useful), explored the usefulness of technology to enhance students’ writing. the next section required the students to select one technology they like the most. the final part of the questionnaire asked the students to rate on a four-point likert scale (e.g., strongly disagree, disagree, agree, and strongly agree) to know if the technology they like the most helps them meet the characteristics of good writing. previous researchers (e.g., al-mahrooqi, denman, al-siyabi, & faisal, 2015) similarly used a similar four-point likerttype response survey to achieve their research goals. as for the reliability of the students’ responses or “the extent to which a measure yields consistent results” (ary, jacobs, irvine, & walker, 2019, p. 344), the researcher ran a cronbach’s alpha reliability analysis. the results showed that the students’ responses, which were related to frequency, usefulness, and using technology to meet the characteristics of good writing, had cronbach’s alpha value ranging from 0.742 to 0.899; these numbers indicate high reliability of the survey results (liu, liu, & hwang, 2011; sweet & martin, 2012). the students’ responses were then exported from google form spreadsheet, inputted into, and coded using microsoft excel (following fuchs & akbar, 2013). descriptive statistics of frequencies and percentages were presented llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 108-121 112 to answer research questions number one, two, and four. the findings were then summarized into a figure and some tables that were adapted from quantitative data representations of the previous studies (e.g., celik, 2013; li & ni, 2011). next, the researcher ran a chi-square test of independence (see ary et al. 2019) to answer research question three (e.g., determining if the students’ gender and the usefulness of using the technology were independent). statcrunch software (https://www.statcrunch.com/) was used to complete the chi-square test calculation (e.g., obtaining the chi-square value and p-value of the survey data). findings and discussion the researcher organized this section according to the foci of this analysis: the frequency of using the technology, the usefulness of using the technology, the relation between the gender and the usefulness of using the technology, and the technology to meet the characteristics of good writing. . the frequency of using the technology as table 1 illustrated, over 70% of the students frequently or very frequently used online dictionary (85%) and google search engine (73%) to enhance their writing. other technology tools that the students often used were google translate (68%) and online websites (64%). table 1. the frequency of using the technology no technology the students’ response rate never rarely frequently very frequently f % f % f % f % 1 online dictionary 0 0 10 15 41 61 16 24 2 google search engine 3 4 15 22 38 57 11 16 3 google translate 1 1 20 30 31 46 15 22 4 online websites 3 4 21 31 31 46 12 18 5 online grammar checker 5 7 24 36 25 37 13 19 6 google docs 16 24 27 40 22 33 2 3 7 youtube videos 11 16 34 51 13 19 9 13 note. cronbach alpha of the survey results = .742 meanwhile, most students rarely or never used youtube videos (67%) and google docs (64%). the usefulness of using the technology in this study, the perceptions concerned with how useful the technology tools were to enhance the students’ writing. the questionnaire data indicated that the majority of the students perceived online dictionary (82%), online grammar checker (81%), and google search engine (75%) as the most useful ones (see table 2 for more details). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 108-121 113 table 2. the usefulness of using the technology no technology the students’ response rate not at all useful slightly useful very useful extremely useful f % f % f % f % 1 online dictionary 1 1 11 16 39 58 16 24 2 online grammar checker 1 1 12 18 36 54 18 27 3 google search engine 2 3 15 22 42 63 8 12 4 google translate 2 3 20 30 30 45 15 22 5 online websites 2 3 27 40 32 48 6 9 6 google docs 8 12 38 57 15 22 6 9 7 youtube videos 9 13 38 57 11 16 9 13 note. cronbach alpha of the survey results = .791 conversely, most of the students regarded youtube videos (69%) and google docs (69%) as slightly useful or not at all useful technology for their writing improvement. the relation between gender and the usefulness of using the technology in this study, the researcher also aimed to investigate if the students’ gender and the usefulness of using the technology were independent. the questionnaire data of this part was calculated using the chi-square test of independence. the critical value was 3.841 (with one degree of freedom and the significance level (α) of 0.05) (see ary et al., 2019, p. 551). as observed in table 2, some categories (e.g., not at all useful) only received a few responses, which can affect the chi-square calculation. for this reason, the researcher decided to merge the data in the categories of not at all useful and slightly useful into a single category, slightly useful. for the same reason, the data in the very useful and extremely useful categories were merged into the category of very useful. the results of the calculation were summarized in table 3 below. table 3. the chi-square test of independence on gender and perceptions no technology chi-square value p-value 1 online dictionary 3.153 0.368 2 online grammar checker 0.961 0.810 3 google search engine 1.306 0.727 4 google translate 2.027 0.566 5 online websites 2.254 0.521 6 google docs 3.256 0.353 7 youtube videos 0.687 0.876 table 3 showed that the calculated chi-square values of all the technology tools were smaller than the critical value (7.815); therefore, the study failed to reject the null hypothesis (ary et al., 2019). also, the p-values of all the technology were bigger than α = 0.05. with this evidence, the present study may conclude that the students’ gender and their perceptions of the usefulness of using the technology were independent, or there was no association between those two variables. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 108-121 114 technology to meet the characteristics of good writing in the online questionnaire, the students were also asked to select one technology they liked the most. as evidenced in figure 1, most of the students favored online grammar checkers (57%). a small percentage of students liked to use google translate (15%), online dictionary (12%), and google (search engine) (10%). figure 1. the technology that the students liked the most on the contrary, youtube videos and online websites were the technology that the students liked the least. the researcher found that no one liked google docs. among the five other technology, online grammar checkers received the highest number of the students’ preference (57%) to meet good writing characteristics. the researcher displayed the students’ perceptions of this type of technology (see table 4 below). table 4. online grammar checker to meet characteristics of good writing no the online grammar checker helps me to the students’ response rate (n=39) strongly disagree disagree agree strongly agree f % f % f % f % 1 have correct spellings 0 0 0 0 21 55 17 45 2 minimize grammatical errors 1 3 1 3 17 45 19 50 3 write well-crafted sentences 0 0 3 8 25 66 10 26 4 have correct punctuations 1 3 5 13 21 55 11 29 5 have accurate words choices 1 3 6 16 23 61 8 21 6 make my writing easy to understand 0 0 7 18 17 45 14 37 7 organize my writing ideas 2 5 12 32 16 42 8 21 note. cronbach alpha of the survey results = .896 as displayed in table 4, an online grammar checker could likely help students meet the characteristics of good writing. more specifically, over 90% of the students who selected the technology agreed and strongly agreed that online grammar checker helped them to have correct spellings (100%), minimize llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 108-121 115 grammatical errors in their writing (95%), and write well-crafted sentences (92%). this finding might concur with argumentations that technology could positively affect students’ english language writing (see tri & nguyen, 2014). discussion the first and second research questions aimed to explore how often the students used technology to enhance their writing and the usefulness of using the technology (in which there was no association between the variables of gender and the usefulness of using the technology). online dictionary became the most useful technology that the students used frequently. this result was in agreement with the previous studies by jin and deifell (2013); tri and nguyen, (2014), who also reported that online dictionaries were used frequently for english language learning purposes. this finding might indicate that an online dictionary is still applicable to support efl writing activities of university students, such as those in indonesia, although the dictionary might be considered a simple technology tool. the research also informed that the students frequently used gt (68%), which might help translate sentences (chandra & yuyun, 2018; jin & deifell, 2013). as the data showed, the google search engine was another useful technology (75%) that the students frequently used to improve their writing. in that case, the students perhaps valued the search engine’s capacity to locate rich information from various websites (see herington, 2002; tekinarslan, 2008). meanwhile, as evidenced in the data, youtube videos were rarely used and considered less useful technology to enhance the students’ writing. this finding was inconsistent with that in the previous studies informing that youtube videos could supplement what has been discussed in a class (see henderson et al., 2017; watkins & wilkins, 2011). like the research participants in tri and nguyen’s (2014) research, the students in this study might use youtube videos more for non-language learning purposes. the students possibly favored types of technology tools that could provide them with quicker language assistance for their writing, such as an online dictionary, which could instantly provide meanings of words and a searchable thesaurus (see dudeney & hockly, 2012). research question number four aimed to explore a technology tool that the students liked the most and their perceptions towards the technology to help them meet the characteristics of good writing. the findings showed that an online grammar checker was the technology tool that the students liked the most (57%). as evidenced in the data, the students believed that the grammar checker could help them check spellings, write well-crafted sentences, and minimize grammatical problems. these findings should clarify how “technology helps improve writing skills” (tri & nguyen, 2014, p. 41. besides, the online grammar checker could help students in detecting some grammatical errors in their writing, such as subject-verb agreement, word form, word and verb choices, word order, and punctuations. these results were in accord with previous studies (e.g., park, 2019; yang, 2018). conclusion and recommendations the study comes to three main conclusions. first, online dictionary, gt, and google search engine are the most useful technology that the students use frequently. second, there is no association between the variables of gender and the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 108-121 116 usefulness of using the technology. third, the students do not use online grammar checker very often (e.g., compared to the online dictionary, gt, and google search engine). however, it is the one that the students find useful to help them meet the characteristics of good writing. based on the research conclusions, the researcher would like to provide some recommendations, specifically for efl writing lecturers. first, they need to let their students know about some drawbacks of the technology, so they do not depend entirely on the technology to improve their writing. for instance, gt fails to translate sentences with accurate word choices, sentence structures (groves & mundt, 2015), and grammar (chandra & yuyun, 2018). moreover, in translating full sentences, gt is not sensitive to their contexts (sheppard, 2011). the students should keep these drawbacks in mind and wisely use the gt for their writing activities. otherwise, problems with word choices, sentence structures, grammar might appear in their writing. besides, an online grammar checker, a tool that the students like the most, might provide less accurate feedback, have limited grammar error detections (yang, 2018), and give flawed error corrections (park, 2019). therefore, the lecturers can emphasize that the grammar checker, for instance, is not like a magical stick that can perfectly and instantly make their students’ written work free from grammatical errors. from that point, the students need to be encouraged to always put their serious efforts into checking grammatical aspects of their writing carefully before submitting their work. the research further informs that the students frequently use the google search engine. in that case, the lecturers should guide their students to find reliable information from a website suggested by the search engine. for example, using the craap test, the students can use the following questions to evaluate information presented on a website:  currency: is the information current or out-of-date for my topic?  relevance: does the information relate to my topic?  authority: what are the author’s qualifications to write on the topic?  accuracy: does evidence support the information?  purpose: is the information fact or opinion? (adapted from kurpiel, 2020, n. p.) if the students have positive answers to these questions, they might include the information on the website to support their writing. further, with the google search engine, the lecturers need to be aware that internet plagiarism issues (eret & ok, 2014; scanlon, 2003) might happen during their students’ writing process. to minimize that occurrence, the lecturers could raise students’ awareness that plagiarism is a serious academic offense and then strictly set a class rule that they will get no point once they commit plagiarism in their writing work. in that case, an online plagiarism checker might help the lecturers to screen all their students’ work. the limitations of the present study need to be acknowledged. the small sample size (n = 67) of this research affects the generalizability of the findings to other contexts. besides, the students are not asked to list particular technology tools (other than those stated in the questionnaire) that they have used to enhance their writing. the researcher, thus, cannot tell if other types of technology also contribute to the students’ writing improvement. moreover, the study results are llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 108-121 117 obtained before the covid-19 pandemic and are constrained to presenting descriptive statistical numbers. what the students do exactly with the technology, specifically during or after the pandemic, remains unknown. to address these limitations, further researchers can follow up on the present study by interviewing students in similar settings to detail what they exactly do with technology (e.g., the ones they like the most, use frequently, and perceive useful in enhancing their writing). other research data collection procedures (e.g., recording efl writing classroom sessions and using a more open-ended type of questionnaire) might enable future researchers to obtain richer data to detail what the students do with the technology. finally, some of these questions might be interesting to explore in future studies:  “how can we fully exploit the potential of computer and networking technologies to construct a writing environment in light of the learning theories of writing or l2 writing?” (kuo, 2008, p. 286)  (rather than be used in an efl writing class) will youtube videos be more useful for teaching a research methodology class through distance technology (hunter, ortloff, & wagner, 2014) or looking for research data (chen & summers, 2015)? how?  what technology tools do efl university students use to improve their writing, specifically during or after the covid-19 pandemic? are the tools similar to those discussed in this paper?  what are some specific writing aspects that can be improved using an online dictionary?  what is a (free) online grammar checker that efl university students like the most and can best detect grammatical errors in their writing?  how can efl writing teachers prevent plagiarism acts in their writing classroom? in closing, it is worth remembering that all the technology tools discussed in this study might be “transformational as we make it. it’s not the tool that counts; it's what we do with it” (muhtaris & ziemke, 2015, p. 13). references al-mahrooqi, r., denman, c., al-siyabi, j., & faisal, a. m. 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(2018). efficiency of online grammar checker in english writing performance and students’ perceptions. korean journal of english language and linguistics, 18(3), 328–348. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 108-121 121 appendix the close-ended questionnaire section 1: gender what is your gender? male female prefer not to answer section 2: frequency no technology i use to enhance my writing 1 2 3 4 never rarely frequently very frequently 1 online grammar checker 2 youtube videos 3 google docs 4 online dictionary 5 google (search engine) 6 online website 7 google translate section 3: perceptions no the usefulness of the technology to enhance my writing 1 2 3 4 not at all useful slightly useful very useful extremely useful 8 online grammar checker 9 youtube videos 10 google docs 11 online dictionary 12 google (search engine) 13 online website 14 google translate section 4: technology that students like the most 15 select only one technology that you like the most to enhance your writing online grammar checker youtube videos google docs online dictionary google (search engine) online website google translate section 5: meeting characteristics of good writing no the technology that i like the most helps me to 1 2 3 4 strongly disagree disagree agree strongly agree 16 have correct spellings 17 have correct punctuations 18 minimize grammatical errors 19 have accurate word choices 20 write well-crafted sentences 21 organize my writing ideas 22 make my writing easy to understand llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 651-659 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 651 exploring the level of students’ self-efficacy in speaking class efrika siboro1, *antonius setyawan sugeng nur agung2, and charito a quinones3 1,2stkip pamane talino, indonesia 3saint paul univesity, philippines efrikasiboro6@gmail.com1, antonius.setyawan.007@gmail.com2, and quinoneschari83@gmail.com3 *correspondence: antonius.setyawan.007@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4432 received 1 march 2022; accepted 18 october 2022 abstract exploring the level of the students’ self-efficacy toward their speaking ability is the grand design of this study. the participants of this study were 28 non-native students from the suburban area in west borneo. those students belong to the third semester of the speaking class. in collecting the data, they were given a questionnaire. an in-depth interview was also conducted with 3 prominent students to validate and triangulate the represented data in the questionnaire result. adopting bandura’s theory, the results of this study show that the students manifested slightly high self-efficacy in the magnitude dimension, slightly high self-efficacy in the generality dimension, and very high self-efficacy in the strength dimension. in addition, the in-depth interview affirms that the students’ level in magnitude is influenced by their educational background; the students’ level in generality is affected by their interests in their particular field, and the student's level of strength is determined by their strong belief. keywords: efl, generality, magnitude, self-efficacy, speaking introduction speaking is one of the most significant skills because of its function in classroom daily communication. as a productive skill, it has an important role in communication namely to express ideas and thoughts (effendi, 2018). considering that, mastering speaking skill implies standard english proficiency. somehow, it is not the only standard of success. gumartifa and syahri (2021) and ur (1999) vocalize that someone who masters a language should be able to speak that language. speaking is complex because it is the accomplishment of spoken communication. rehearsing speaking skills, and self-efficacy are significant to make students motivated and confident (self-efficacy) in their performances. at the same understanding, (paradewari, 2017)utter efficacious student is usually good at speaking because it affects their motivation, learning, and performance. if the students have higher self-efficacy, they will be better at mastering academic subjects (khatib, rubaai, & muhammad thangaveloo, 2021). dodds (2011) states mailto:efrikasiboro6@gmail.com mailto:antonius.setyawan.007@gmail.com mailto:quinoneschari83@gmail.com mailto:antonius.setyawan.007@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4432 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 651-659 652 self-efficacy has a significant positive correlation. students who are conscious of their self-efficacy have the competence to perform better in speaking. students keep struggling when they find some challenges in the learning process. self-efficacy can decide how far individuals can push themselves and how long they can survive to face difficulties (muñoz, 2021). dealing with these take students’ personal belief in their self-capabilities to successfully perform a speaking task. students' self-efficacy in speaking is influenced by several factors, namely mastery experience, social persuasion, vicarious experiences, and physiological, and affective states (bandura, 1994). paradewari (2017) and kontaş (2022) state that mastery experience is the most dominant factor in increasing student selfefficacy. this factor refers to students' strategies for assessing their achievement at a certain level. the experience of success and failure may evaluate the students’ learning system. those who get successful outcomes develop self-belief about their capability. however, students who get unsuccessful outcomes undergo a feeling of doubt and uncertainty. social persuasion pertains to constructive feedback or observation that we receive from others regarding the involvement of students in certain tasks that are believed to be able to change students' self-beliefs (loo & choy, 2013; myyry et al., 2022). vicarious experiences are significant information to observe many things. the experiences that students gain affect their level of selfefficacy. for instance, a student who can complete a difficult task, surely leads a strong belief to the other students that they are also capable of doing the same thing (el-abd & chaaban, 2021; kang et al., 2021). physiological and affective states play an important role in increasing student efficacy because students' physiological states such as fatigue, anxiety, and stress affect students' ability and belief in completing tasks. on the psychological aspect, students’ satisfaction has a positive correlation with speaking skills achievement (asakereh & dehghannezhad, 2015; doordinejad & afshar, 2014; hodges, 2008; rahemi, 2007). bandura et al. (1999) point out that students’ self-efficacy can be seen from these three dimensions: magnitude, generality, and strength dimension. the magnitude dimension reflects the students’ ability to finish simple and complex tasks based on their abilities. the generality dimension relates to the students’ interest in all topics and the effort to master many fields of knowledge. the strength dimension focuses on the level of the individual strength on the individual's belief in not surrendering easily and boosts more possibilities to perform successfully. this study is supported by relevant research which is conducted by desmaliza (2017) “student's self-efficacy and their speaking skill at lower secondary school”. the result of this study shows a significant correlation between the students’ selfefficacy and the students’ speaking skills in the seventh grader students at smpn 2 curug, tangerang. it reveals the important role of a teacher to enhance the students’ speaking skills by increasing their self-efficacy. previously, the researcher is interested to explore the level of self-efficacy of undergraduate students in one of the private colleges in west borneo. those students are required to speak english, especially in speaking class regardless they are non-native speakers and english is their foreign language. moreover, it is considered an “alien” language (agung, 2019). the researcher will explore the students’ self-efficacy based on the three dimensions that have been previously explained. to guide this study, the researcher formulated this question: how is the level of undergraduate students’ self-efficacy in speaking activity? llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 651-659 653 method research design this study applied a mixed method. according to (nath, sharma, & shukla, 2020) mixed method involved quantitative and qualitative which are interpreted through an in-depth interview and descriptive statistics. this study aims to find out the level of students’ self-efficacy in a speaking activity. the level of the students’ self-efficacy is captured in three dimensions namely: magnitude, generality, and strength (bandura et al., 1999). research participants in selecting the participants, the researchers considered the availability of the presence of a speaking class in one of the private colleges in west borneo. we found the third-semester students which consist of 28 participants (7 males & 21 females). instruments and data collection two types of instruments were conducted to obtain the data in this study using a questionnaire and an in-depth interview. these questionnaires covered three main themes representing each dimension. the first theme in the magnitude dimension is connected to individual perception of the students’ ability in facing difficulties in completing tasks. the second theme in generality is linked to the students’ belief in acclimating to the degree of adjustment. the third theme presented the students’ strength to perform the tasks successfully. the measurement scale in the questionnaire was written in the likert style of a 4-point scale. the description of the scale is 1always (very high self-efficacy), 2sometimes (slightly high self-efficacy), 3rarely (low self-efficacy), and 4 never (very low self-efficacy). data analysis in the technique of deconstructing the data questionnaire, several steps were implemented, namely obtaining, mapping, clustering, analyzing, elaborating, and presenting the data. furthermore, in obtaining the data from the in-depth interview, 3 students were selected purposively by reviewing the result of the data questionnaire following the lowest, intermediate, and highest scores. those students represented the result of the questionnaire elaboration within the three dimensions. it is closely related to (lidiyawati., & sahara, 2021) which emphasizes purposive sampling obligates a researcher to select the sample based on the category of the population. the researcher analyzed the data based on dimensions of self-efficacy that consist of magnitude, generality, and strength dimension. findings and discussion to answer the research question, the researchers developed several questions related to the dimensions of self-efficacy. the questions were made based on the previous concept of bandura’s theory. the following are the findings of the average levels of the students’ self-efficacy in speaking class. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 651-659 654 table 1. magnitude dimension item mean interpretation 1 i can complete easy tasks 3.44 sometimes 2 i can complete difficult tasks 2.96 sometimes 3 i prefer difficult tasks to easy tasks 2.12 sometimes 4 i don’t avoid difficult tasks 3.08 sometimes 5 doing difficult tasks doesn't decrease the level of my selfefficacy 3.4 sometimes mean 3.00 sometimes table 1 indicates that the level of the magnitude dimension of the students’ selfefficacy is at a slightly high level. table 2. generality dimension item mean interpretation 1. i can master many fields of knowledge 2.6 sometimes 2. i am interested in learning all the fields of knowledge that i master. 3.4 sometimes 3 i believe i can complete all tasks in various fields of knowledge 3.36 sometimes 4 i am diligent in doing tasks from various fields of knowledge. 3.24 sometimes 5 i always want to increase my skill and knowledge 3.88 always mean 3.3 sometimes table 2 shows that the level of the generality dimension of the students’ selfefficacy is at a slightly high level. table 3. strength dimension item mean interpretation 1. i don’t give up easily when i fail 3 sometimes 2. i believe i can perform well on a task even though i failed once 3.76 sometimes 3 i always motivate myself when i fail 4 sometimes 4 i always look for solutions to fix my mistakes 3.76 always 5 the experience i have affects my self-efficacy 3.6 sometimes mean 3.6 always table 3 demonstrates that the level of the generality dimension of the students’ selfefficacy is very high. the following is the rating scale description of the students’ self-efficacy level. table 4. rating scale description rating scale range of perception level of students' self-efficacy 4) 3.50-4.00 always very high 3) 2.50-3.49 sometimes slightly high 2) 1.50-2.49 rarely low 1) 1.00-1.49 never very low llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 651-659 655 magnitude the magnitude dimension is related to individuals’ perceptions about their capability to face the difficulties that they found in speaking class. (masitoh & fitriyani, 2018) state magnitude dimension is not only focused on individuals' ability in solving problems but is also related to individuals' self-confidence toward their competencies in completing tasks at various levels. table 1 shows all students have a slightly high level of self-efficacy. based on the interview, participant nv explained that speaking is a little bit difficult for her because acquiring speaking skills is challenging. the difficulty level of the occurring topic and her anxiety affect her performance occasionally due to her educational background. the lack of experience dealing with the present topics is affected by the missing benchmarking of the environmental conditions. previous studies (efe, 2009; fraser, 1994; heikkilä & lonka, 2006; kolb & kolb, 2005; schaal, 2010; waldrip et al., 2009) coincide that the conditions of the dynamic environments can impact speaking skills. nv: “if the topic of conversation is familiar, i can speak quite fluently but if the topic is difficult, it will be hard for me to neutralize my anxiety because i experienced no speaking class during my senior high school years.” generality the dimension of generality is related to what extent individuals’ beliefs are generalized in all situations (lunenburg, 2011). (benawa, 2018) states a person with high self-efficacy will represent the degree of their adjustment to their conditions. it means that individuals who can implement self-efficacy in all situations have high self-efficacy. they can master many fields and they are interested in all topics. participant ss tends to choose certain topics that she is interested in. she only focuses on the subjects she thinks will be useful for his future. this student has a slightly high self-efficacy level because of her fickle interest. according to (silvia, 2003) self-efficacy influences the students’ interest; it helps them to resolve the problem which finally increases their eagerness to master the topic. one of the four factors that influence a student's growth of self-efficacy is their interest in the speech topic (zhang, ardasheva, & austin, 2020). ss: “not always interested in all the topics. i am only interested in the topics that are very crucial for me in the future as a teacher.” strength the strength dimension refers to an individual’s belief in the ability to perform successfully in various tasks (urban, 2006). individuals who have high self-efficacy in the strength dimension will not be easily shaken by certain situations that weigh them down. students who are more proficient in a second language or a foreign language tend to be more confident and less anxious (thompson & lee, 2014). concerning the result of the interview, participant wd always convinces herself every time she speaks in front of the class. the sense of self-efficacy changes the perception of stress and disappointment to preserve efficaciously (bandura, 1986; 1994; bandura et al., 1999). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 651-659 656 wd: “of course. i feel nervous and sometimes i lost everything that i have prepared when i speak in a formal situation, but i always try to regulate and convince myself that i can do it.” the researchers also contrasted their work with earlier research that examined parallels and discrepancies across diverse scenarios. the first pertinent study was carried out by lestari et al. (2022), and its similarity is the focus on public speaking. on the contrary, this study implemented a quantitative method concentrated on the effect of self-efficacy on public speaking gathered from 533 professional psychology students has an impressive display of the students' high self-efficacy. furthermore, the second study was conducted by (paradewari, 2017). having similarity in public speaking class which was carried out using a questionnaire is the most visible resemblance. the discrepancies indicate that there were 43 participants, and the findings are as follows: 1) 79% of students have a greater self; 2) 81.4% of the students are conscious of their efficacy; 3) the students' feelings of self-efficacy are influenced by four factors: mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal or social persuasion, and emotional condition. conclusion adopting bandura's theory, this study sets out to explore the level of the students’ self-efficacy in speaking class. the results demonstrated that the students manifested slightly high self-efficacy in the magnitude dimension, slightly high self-efficacy in the generality dimension, and very high self-efficacy in the strength dimension. reviewing carter et al. (2017) individuals with higher self-efficacy ratings expressed greater verbal communication confidence, as may be expected, indicating a high magnitude and strength. reflecting on that theory, this study concludes that these students are identified to have pretty high self-efficacy indicated by their magnitude and strength. the data gathered during the interview affirmed that the students’ level in magnitude is influenced by their educational background; students’ level in generality is affected by their interests in certain fields and finally, the students' level of strength is determined by a strong belief in their capacity to accomplish a certain task. the findings of the previous study (desmaliza & septiani, 2018) focused on the correlation between self-efficacy and speaking skills whereas this present study explores the self-efficacy level of the students in their speaking class in the three dimensions as explained above. this study can be used as a reference to shed a light on a more personal area by gaining in-depth interviews to discover their self-efficacy beliefs. furthermore, using mix method done with in-depth interviews involving more participants might have more precise results to elaborate on the students' self-efficacy. references agung, a. s. s. n. 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(2020). self-efficacy and english public speaking performance: a mixed method approach. english for specific purposes, 59, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2020.02.001 llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 115 students’ lived experience on the toughest place to be a binman in critical listening and speaking 1 class martha pritzanda pudhika sanata dharma univeristy, yogyakarta abstract the use of authentic videos has been implemented in critical listening and speaking 1 (cls 1) class. for instance, the use of the toughest place to be a binman video. this video gives the students meaningful experiences. the students do not only get the material but they can also get social and environment issues that appear in the video. after watching the video, the students are expected to have their own experience towards the use of the toughest place to be a binman video in cls 1. therefore, the aim of this research was to have a better understanding on the students’ lived experience on the toughest place to be a binman in cls 1. this research employed phenomenology study because this research focused on the students’ lived experience. as a research result, the research showed the participants’ stories and the interpretation. there were four emerging themes that appeared from the data processed. those were meaningfulness, compassion, motivation, and action. those four themes connected between each other. keywords: lived experience, the toughest place to be a binman, cls 1 introduction the uses of authentic videos in english learning are not the new techniques of teaching, especially for the 21st-century learners. smaldino (2012) says that video can facilitate the students to learn and to prepare them for the real work in the future. yousef, chatti, & schroeder (2014) also believe that video-based learning is a rich and powerful model used in english second language class to improve the learning outcomes as well as the learners’ satisfactions. marshall (2002) says “the ability of authentic video to engage the learner, activate emotional states, initiate interest in a topic, and allow for absorption and processing of information can make meaningful learning” (p.7). authentic videos also serve as a bridge for the students to relate their classroom condition into their real world. as an addition, jonassen (2000) says that learners should be facilitated with many opportunities to interact with the society around them. the main purpose of doing it is to help them visualizing the world through authentic videos. videobased learning also brings some advantages for the students. smaldino (2012) finds seven advantages of video-based learning. those are motion, risk-free observation, dramatization, affective learning, problem-solving, cultural understanding, establishing togetherness. joynt (2008) states that language model also is one of the advantages of video-based learning. llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 116 in english language education study program of sanata dharma university, the uses of authentic videos also have been implemented in critical listening and speaking 1 (cls 1) and those videos were used by the lecturers as one of the media in cls 1 course. according to the english language education study program, sanata dharma university academic guidance (2012), critical listening and speaking 1 course is designed to introduce students to various listening materials focusing on giving a personal respond. the course requires the students to employ integration skill in order to comprehend and to summarize the advanced extended discourse. therefore, for the outcomes, the students are asked to give critical oral responds and reflections based on the topic in the form of individual or group presentations. critical listening and speaking 1 encourages the lecturers and learners to think about the sociopolitical nature of the texts to which they listen, certainly an important consideration in an interconnected world. therefore, the reasons why the videos were used in the class were to support the material and to attract cls 1 students’ interest in the topics were taught in the class. in teaching learning activity, the videos facilitate students to visualize the real world and the recent things that happen. furthermore, the videos are expected to give students experiences and to make them realize both explicit and implicit messages in the videos. one of the videos which was played in the cls 1 is the toughest place to be a binman. this video may carry a very meaningful message for the students. the video entitled the toughest place to be a binman is a documentary video from bbc uk. this video tells the audience about the experience of an english binman who heads to jakarta and tries to live like an indonesian binman. the conditions in jakarta are very different from his origin. jakarta has many problems with waste managements. meanwhile, london has great management not only on the trash but also for the binmen themselves. furthermore, after watching the toughest place to be a binman video, the students are expected to be more aware of the environment around the students, especially the trash. in other words, this video is expected to increase the students’ environmental awareness. kolmuss & agyman (2002) define environmental awareness as an individual perception on the impact of human activities and the environment. dunlap & jones (2002) as cited in yadav & pathak (2013) state that environmental awareness is “the degree to which people are aware of problems regarding the environment and support efforts to solve them or indicate the willingness to contribute personally to their solution” (p. 2938). the more someone has awareness about environmental issues, the more he has pro-environmental behavior. hines, hungerford & tomera (1987) as cited in yadav & pathak (2013) also argue that an environmental awareness and pro-environmental behavior have a direct relationship. according to kollmus & agyman (2002), a pro-environmental behavior is “a behavior that llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 117 consciously seeks to minimize the negative impact of one’s actions on the natural and built world” (p.240). pro-environmental behavior is a real action that the people do for the environment around them. there are some aspects that influence proenvironmental behavior based on ajzen and fishbein’s theory as cited in kollmus & agyman (2002). first is knowledge of issues. in this aspect, environmental problem and issues have to be known well because it will be the knowledge for a person. second, knowledge of action strategies which lead the person to know how she/he helps to decrease the environment damage. third is locus control which related to an individual perception about their ability to do changes. fourth, attitudes also influence proenvironmental behavior. the stronger the attitudes, the more proenvironmental behavior is achieved. next is verbal commitment. a verbal commitment is defined as a communicated willingness to have some action towards the environment and also showed the willingness to the other people that he/she wants to engage in a pro-environmental behavior. last, an individual sense of responsibility. someone who wants to have a proenvironmental behavior must have a high individual sense of responsibility because the higher people’s responsibility toward the environment, the closer they engage in a pro-environmental behavior. from that perspective, the researcher argues that the toughest place to be a binman will give students environment knowledge and motivate the students to be more aware of environment around them which will also lead them to be better people. the students are also expected to have good environmental experiences after watching this video. the students can do some action related to the environment and social conditions in their surroundings, such as respecting other people, making environment to stay clean, or doing any campaign about environment. therefore, the aim of this research is to find out more about the students’ lived experience on the toughest place to be a binman video in cls 1. this research methodology this research used qualitative research as the research method. ary et al. (2010) state that the aim of qualitative research is to find and understand the holistic picture and depth understanding of a phenomenon. therefore, this research aimed to draw the holistic picture and get a better understanding of students’ lived experience after watching the toughest place to be a binman video in cls 1. in qualitative research, the researcher must also attempt to understand the participants’ reality. hence, the intended result is a rich description, so that the researcher can understand the reality which is experienced by the participants. then, in order to answer the research question, the researcher designed this research employing phenomenological studies. manen (1990) stated that a phenomenological study is a study of someone’s lived experience. llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 118 this research also used the in-depth interview as the primary data collection and reflection as the secondary data collection. it also attempted to determine the meaning of the participants’ thoughts and feelings. therefore, the participants of this research were the students of english language education study program who have done their cls 1 class in academic year 2014/2015. the participants were those who have had direct experience of this phenomenon (marriam, 2009). kruger (1988) also adds that the participants of phenomenological study are those who have good verbal communication and are able to express their feeling, thought, and perception towards the topic. the data obtained from the participants were analyzed by following elaboration steps from moustakas (1994) and van kaam method (1959 & 1966) as cited in moustakas (1994) to answer the research question. those steps were epoche, phenomenological reduction, clustering and thematizing, imaginative variation, and synthesis meaning and essence. findings and discussion there are two parts of findings. first is a text description which explains about participants’ background. second is an interpretation which discusses the interpretation of the findings. the text description discusses participants’ background which includes participants’ personal identities, their motivations to learn english, their learning styles, their perceptions about english skills and their integrations. this part also discusses the implementation of video-based learning in cls 1 on participants’ perspectives and also about the toughest place to be a binman video in general. participant a’s story his motivation to learn english because he realized that english would be beneficial for him especially in this globalization era. he preferred to learn english in silence or in a peaceful moment because he could understand class materials easily. in addition to it, he also preferred listening to music when he was studying. he used to listen to someone’s talking. he also enjoyed speaking than writing because he did not like writing. however, he said that four english skills were important. those skills were related one and another; for instance, listening and speaking. meanwhile, cls 1 for him was a course which focused on listening and speaking skills. however, this course did not only focus on those two skills, but it also encouraged cls 1 students to learn deeper about listening and speaking. next, he expressed his perspective about the use of video-based learning in cls 1. he said that videos gave him some moral values which are delivered in each video. thus, he did not only get the material but also the moral value because he could see the real example of his life. he also said that the use of videos helped him because he did not need to imagine the situation, but he could see the image and also listen to audio at once. he likes humorous videos. he did not like motivational videos which had expressionless speakers. he saw the llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 119 toughest place to be a binman video for the first time in cls 1. he said that the video was about a job exchange between an indonesian binman and an english binman. participant b’s story his motivation in learning english was for preparation for his future jobs. he realized that someday he would face globalization era where english language ability was one of the requirements as an employee candidate. he realized that by learning english, he would have more chance of getting jobs. he used to learn english without any pressure. he said that the learning process could be easily understood if classroom condition was quite. in learning english, he believed that four english skills were important for him. the skill that he preferred the most was listening. however, he did not really prefer speaking because he did not feel comfortable when he had to present something in front of people. he said that cls 1 course was identical with listening. in cls, he listened and watched videos, then wrote the messages that he got from the videos. after that, he presented what he got in front of the class. he preferred video-based learning approach because by watching videos, he did not need to imagine the situation. he also preferred documentary videos because he could see the real conditions and he also could see someone’s daily activities without any dramatic effects. watching the toughest place to be a binman video in cls 1 was his first experience for him. he said that the video was very memorable. he could know and understand social issues about the differences between an english binman and an indonesian binman. this video also helped him to improve his competence, conscience, and compassion. participant c’s story her motivation in learning english was her realization that english was an international language. therefore, she should master the language to prepare her future. she preferred learning english in a quiet condition. she said that integrated course was important for learning english because when she could master one skill, she could also master the other skills. however, among four english skills, she preferred speaking skill because, in her opinion, speaking was the simplest skill. besides that, she did not like listening. she said that when she listened to english conversation, she could not easily understand the message. cls 1 for her was a class which expected her to have critical thinking. every time she listened to something, she had to have critical responses toward what she listened. the implementation on the use of videos in cls 1 was very effective for her. the videos which were used in cls 1 were also accessible videos. therefore, she could easily find the subtitle to help her understand the video. she liked videos which provide real facts. the video that she remembered the most in cls 1 was the toughest place to be a binman video. she said that from the video, she could see big differences between an indonesia binman and an english binman. llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 120 in summary, those participants’ backgrounds could affect their lived experiences on the toughest place to be a binman video in cls 1. the participant who prefers listening skill has more experiences on the toughest place to be a binman in cls 1. the reason why it happened because the toughest place to be a binman wass one of the listening materials in cls 1. meanwhile, the participant who had some positive perspectives related to this research also had more experiences on the toughest place to be a binman in cls 1. next finding was interpretation. the interpretation showed the elaboration of the participants’ answers which form four emerging themes. those four themes that the researcher extracted are from in-depth interview results and also reflections from the participants. those themes were meaningfulness, compassion, motivation, and action. meaningfulness the implementation of the toughest place to be a binman video in cls 1 appeared as a media which could give the students meaningfulness. meaningfulness, in this research, means that the students did not only get class materials but they also got some issues related to the real life. this video gave an enlightenment about what happened in the environment, especially about trash in jakarta. through the video, the participants learned about class materials which were about the environment, british accent, and also critical thinking. at the same time, the students also learned about social and environmental issues which were delivered through the video. the environmental issue that clearly shown in the video was in london, all of the trash had already well-organized. however, it was different from jakarta. trash in jakarta was not well-organized and unhygienic. participant b also realized that the trash in london did not only has been well-organized but also supported by advanced technologies. meanwhile, the social issue that the participants got from the video was about the differences between an indonesian binman and an english binman in term of proper life. the video showed that english binmen had a proper life. after working, they still had free time for their family or for entertainments. it is totally different from indonesian binmen. they realized that some people in indonesia still did not care about indonesian binmen’s life. compassion the effect of the use of the toughest place to be a binman video in cls 1 was the students felt something different. the real condition showed in the video brought the participants to see the different condition between an indonesian binman and an english binman. it helped the participants to realize the real condition of their surrounding and relate themselves to what the binmen might feel in doing their work. the condition when someone puts his/herself in others’ feeling after watching them suffered is define as compassion (goetz, keltner, & thomas, 2010). llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 121 after watching the video, participant c felt sad because she realized that people in london had high consideration in lessening the work of english binmen by separating the organic and nonorganic trash. people in london also gave the binmen a considerable payment in order to give them a proper life. however, in jakarta, the people did not care about the environment around them, especially to indonesian binmen. however, at the first time participant b watched the toughest place to be a binman video, he felt excited about english people because they classified their trash and it was supported by advanced technologies. in addition to that, when the video showed the negative sides of jakarta, he was ashamed because usually in the television commercial, indonesia was drawn as a beautiful country with the cleanliness. in fact, the video showed the negative sides of jakarta that made him felt challenged to make indonesia better. then, participant a experienced different feeling. after watching the toughest place to be a binman video, he felt the sympathetic, envy, and shocked. he felt sympathy because the condition of jakarta which was not wellorganized. he wanted to transform the environment around him to be better. he also felt the envies because jakarta could not be like london which had already managed their trash properly. through the video, he was also shocked because there was a big gap between indonesia and london. motivation the environmental and social issues that the participants got from the toughest place to be a binman video led them to have better motivations. the motivations that appeared vary, from the simplest things, such as want to classify trash or not littering, until the biggest things, such as providing jobs or advanced technologies. it also came from motivation to change them individually. then, the participants also wanted to change indonesia to be better, especially related to environmental and social aspects. the participant also had an idea to provide proper job and advanced technologies for indonesian binmen. participant b realized that he had to help other people. people only thought about their own life and they did not care about other people. however, the video made him see how hard a binman’s life is. he had the courage to relieve a binman’s life by avoiding the use of plastic and also classifying the trash between organic and non-organic. thus, he also wanted to be something to other people. all of the participants had their own courage to make indonesia better. participants c had the courage to make indonesia better by making the indonesian people to realize and care about the environment around them. participant b also wanted to make indonesia better by giving the binmen proper jobs or facilitating them with advanced technologies. the opinion uttered by participant a was different. after watching the video, participant a wanted to make indonesia be a highdeveloped country. he would start from keeping the environment llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 122 around him to stay clean. he believed that a movement should be started from himself. action the participants did not only stop at having the motivation to do better. they also did some actions. in fact, the toughest place to be a binman video gave a chance to the participants to have new knowledge and experiences, especially which were related to the environment around them. some negative sides of jakarta, such as unregulated trash and the condition of indonesian binman that appeared in the video made the participants did something different. they did small things, but useful for the environment around them because big changes would normally start from small movements. they started doing the action from themselves by trying not to litter and avoiding the use of plastic bags. they also did some new things in their life, such as being grateful for whatever he/she had in life. participant a did something better than before. he usually collected the trash until his trash bin was full of trash, then he did not throw it directly. however, after watching the toughest place to be a binman video, he did not postpone to throw his trash. he also started to clean the environment around him, such as his house and boarding house. sometimes, he cleaned the environment together with his neighbors. after that, he became more aware of the environment. he did not only remember the video but also did the actions until now. moreover, participant b also did something different after he watched the toughest place to be a binman video. he helped to make a better environment by reducing the use of plastic bags. he preferred to put his groceries in his bag; it made him felt that he was united with the environment. it also made him became more aware of the environment around him. he was also trying not to litter. he always threw his mineral water bottle in its place, even though some of his friends left their water bottles in the class. those also happened to participant c, she also believed that big action should be started from herself. she was trying not to litter. however, she had something different from other participants. after she watched the video, she felt grateful. through the video, she could see a lot of people who need a help, they were fighting for their life. moreover, we who had proper life always complained or grumbled at everything. after that, she became more grateful with what she had. she also learned from english people how to be nice with the environment, especially trash. conclusion the use of the toughest place to be a binman video in cls 1 successfully delivered the listening materials and also social and environmental issues to the participants, so that the participants had meaningfulness on the toughest place to be a binman. after they got meaningfulness, they also had compassion. through the video, the participants also learned about llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 123 compassion and the participants showed their own feeling towards the video. the compassion also led the participants to have their own motivation to do something. the effects of the use of the toughest place to be a binman video in cls 1 did not only stop in the classroom and in their motivations, but it also facilitated them to do some actions in order to response the environmental and social problems. in conclusion, the participants had their own meaning and lived experiences after watching the toughest place to be a binman video in cls 1. references ary, d., jacobs, l. c., razavieh, a., & sorensen, c. k. (2010). introduction to research in education (8 th ed.). belmont, ca: wadsworth publishing. goetz, j. l., keltner, d., & thomas, e. s. (2010). compassion: an evolutionary analysis and empirical review. psychological bulletin, 136(3), 351-374. retrieved june 3 rd , 2016, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0018807 jonassen, d. (2000). learning: as activity. the meaning of learning project learning development institute presidential session at aect denver. retrieved november 15 th , 2015, from http://www.learndev.org/ dl/denverjonassen.pdf joynt, r. (2008). using authentic multi-media material to teach italian culture: student opinions and beliefs. retrieved november 15 th , 2015, from https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/18128 kollmus, a., & agyman, j. (2002). mind the gap: why do people act. environmental education research, 8(3), 239-260. retrieved february 20 th , 2016, from http://psychsustain.voices.wooster.edu/files/2014/ 01/mind-gap.pdf kruger, d. (1988). an introduction to phenomenological psychology. cape town: juta. manen, m. v. (1990). reseraching lived experience. human science for an action sensitive pedagogy. canada: state univeristy of new york press. marshall, j. (2002). learning with technology: evidance that techonology can and does, supporting learning. a white paper prepared for cable in the classroom. retrieved october 14 th , 2015, from https://dcmp.org/ public_content/caai/naadh176.pdf merriam, s. b. (2009). qualitative research: a guide to design and implementation. san francisco: jossey-bass. moustakas, c. (1994). phenomenological reserach method. california: sage publications. smaldino, s. e. (2012). instructional techonology and media for learning. boston: pearson education, inc. yadav, r., & pathak, g. s. (2013). awareness about environmental issues: a study of female students. tenth aims international conference on management, 2938-2942. retrieved february 20 th , 2016, from https://www.academia.edu/3577294/awareness_about_environmental_iss ues_a_study_of_female_students llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 issn 1410-7201 124 yousef, a. m., chatti, m. a., & schroeder, u. (2014). video-based learning: a critical analysis of the research published in 2003-2013 and future visions. elml 2014 : the sixth international conference on mobile, hybrid, and on-line learning iaria, 112. retrieved december 5, 2015, fromhttps://www.researchgate.net/profile/ahmed_mohamed_fahmy_you sef/publication/278707623_videobased_learning_a_critical_analysis_o f_the_research_published_in_20032013_and_future_visions/links/5584 230f08ae8bf4ba72ab58.pdf front cover llt journal oct 2016b.pdf part 1-llt journal oct 2016 rftb2 part 2-llt journal oct 2016 articles part 3-llt journal submission guidelines llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 309 foreign language reading anxiety among theology department students: contributing factors and alleviating strategies jeane theresia limeranto1, adaninggar septi subekti2 1,2universitas kristen duta wacana, yogyakarta, indonesia correspondence: adaninggar@staff.ukdw.ac.id doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i2.2962 received 8 november 2020; accepted 5 may 2021 abstract the study investigated factors contributing to english for theology students’ foreign language reading anxiety (flra) and their strategies to alleviate it. this study was the continuation of a quantitative study involving 63 theology student participants which found that their flra was significantly correlated with their reading achievement negatively. it was also conducted to fill the void in the flra literature in the indonesian university context especially in theology department necessitating learners to read a lot of passages in english, possibly quite anxiety-provoking for learners. four selected participants from the previous quantitative study were interviewed and the data were analysed using thematic analysis. the study found that low self-confidence, lack of peer support, low selfperceived language competence, low motivation, and unfamiliar vocabulary increased learners' flra. teachers' various methods, emphasising group activities were found to reduce their flra whilst whole-class reading activities tended to increase their flra. furthermore, the uses of various reading strategies taught in class to comprehend texts were reported to reduce their flra to a certain extent depending on the degree of success of learners in using the strategies. implications, limitations, and suggested directions for future studies were mentioned in light of the study's findings. keywords: flra, contributing factors, alleviating strategies, thematic analysis introduction in second language (l2) instruction, anxiety has been acknowledged as a part of learners' individual differences (ids) affecting learners' ultimate second language (l2) attainment (dornyei, 2005). l2 learning process which is quite often very tedious (dornyei, 2005) often poses a psychological threat to learners (ortega, 2009). reasonably, anxiety has been considered one of the most consistent factors influencing l2 learning (subekti, 2018a). though discussion on l2 learners’ anxiety has been predominantly conducted in speaking contexts especially after the release of foreign language classroom anxiety scale (flcas) developed by horwitz et al. (1986), more llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 310 anxiety studies have been conducted in reading contexts after the release of foreign language reading anxiety scale (flras) developed by saito et al. (1999), acknowledging that reading can also be anxiety-provoking to l2 learners and this feeling affects their learning negatively (see daley et al., 2014; zikuda et al., 2013). this anxiety in reading is often referred to as foreign language reading anxiety (flra) derived from flras questionnaire through which the construct is often measured and various factors can contribute to this such as those from learners themselves and their learning environment. there are several factors of flra from within learners and these factors seem to be inter-related. the extent to which learners believe in their language ability affects their reading anxiety (bakx et al., 2019). bakx et al. (2019) mentioned that when learners have a positive perception of their language ability, they will likely enjoy reading more and develop reading behaviours. positive perception of language ability can stem from learners' positive experiences when using l2 (dewaele & dewaele, 2018) whilst negative perception likely stems from lack of self-confidence (sultan, 2012) and unpleasant experiences in using l2 (subekti, 2019). these negative experiences, for example lagging behind their friends, could also trigger learners' inferior feelings (kabir, 2018) and this negative feeling can increase learners’ apprehension in learning (yan & horwitz, 2008). furthermore, learners’ vocabulary mastery could also be an important component affecting learners’ reading anxiety as low vocabulary master affects reading comprehension (cetinkaya, 2011; chou, 2011). as learners comprehend the texts less, they will be less motivated to continue reading (zarei, 2014) and become more apprehensive towards reading activities in the future because they are not engaged in the reading process (yamac & sezgin, 2018). in contrast, when learners are engaged in the reading process, it helps them to build good reading behaviour through continuous practices (daniel et al., 2017; khoirunnisa & safitri, 2018). furthermore, learning environments such as classmates, teachers, and classroom activities could also affect learners' flra, albeit perhaps indirectly. oliviana and hayati (2017) in the indonesian junior high school context found that positive peer support promotes learners’ self-confidence facilitating better reading comprehension. it is in line with furrer et al.'s (2014) idea of the important role of classmates to enhance learners’ academic engagement. they further stated that learners can enjoy their learning process more when they know their classmates are supportive. in comparison, when learners do not find support from their friends during the learning process, for example being laughed at when making mistakes, they tend to be more apprehensive and anxious (subekti, 2018a). this may especially be the case in the asian context culturally considering "saving face" paramount in society (joe et al., 2017). being ridiculed could also be unpleasant experiences for learners and learners may tend to avoid such embarrassment by withdrawing from risk-taking activities important in l2 learning. furthermore, to improve learners’ reading comprehension, teaching learners various reading strategies can help them to deal with their problems in reading, facilitating better reading comprehension. furrer et al. (2014) and khoirunnisa and safitri (2018) are also in agreement that teachers’ role is important to encourage learners in using reading strategies effectively for better reading comprehension. with a better understanding of reading passages, learners llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 311 will likely develop a sense of achievement further alleviating their reading anxiety. it may be the reason why several studies found that the uses of reading strategies were associated with learners' lower flra (e.g.: atasoy & temizkan, 2018; lien, 2011; sadeghi & izadpanah, 2018; sari, 2017; tien, 2017; ulfa, 2015; zarei, 2014). moreover, teachers’ teaching methods also heavily influenced the quality of learning (lien, 2011) and for this reason, activities promoting learning should be emphasised (nejad & keshavarzi, 2015; subramani & iyappan, 2018). stawiarska (2013) found that even advanced learners felt anxious in reading class and it was mainly due to the post-reading activity such as reporting what they read in front of the class. concerning creating a psychologically safer environment for learners to learn in a more relaxing way, small group cooperative activities should be more put forward than whole-class or individual activities (subekti, 2018a, 2020a). rationales our previous quantitative study (limeranto & subekti, 2021) found that theology students at an indonesian university experienced flra at the medium level on average. the study further found a statistically significant negative relationship between theology students’ flra with their reading achievement with the correlation strength being weak r (61) = -.25, p < .05. these findings suggested that the issue of flra needs further investigation as learners experienced a certain degree of flra and their flra was significantly correlated with their reading achievement negatively. furthermore, researching theology students' flra could also be a breakthrough in the field o flra because these students will likely be protestant christian ministers upon graduation, and thus should read a lot of texts for the preparation for the job (hussey, 2015). in this process, they may encounter problems in comprehending some texts in foreign languages such as english (hussey, 2015). to the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first qualitative study conducted in the field on learners of these characteristics and thus could offer possible insights for further studies in the field. based on the mentioned rationale the present study intends to answer two research questions. first, what factors do theology students believe contribute to their anxiety in reading? and second, what strategies do esp for theology students believe may help reduce their anxiety in reading? methods research design and data analysis the present study was the continuation of our previous quantitative study conducted in early 2020 involving 63 theology students from three english for theology classes at a university in java, indonesia. using flras questionnaires (saito et al., 1999), the quantitative study found that the theology students, in general, experienced a medium level of anxiety (limeranto & subekti, 2021). after using the questionnaire results as the basis, this study used interviews which aimed to gather deeper insight on the flra phenomenon and to gather valuable information from the views of participants (aisyah, 2017; salehi & golafshani, 2010). an interview is a flexible data collection tool to obtain specific researchrelevant information from the research participants (cohen et al., 2007). the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 312 interviews were conducted in the indonesian language as the language the participants were most familiar with to allow elaborative responses from the participants. the result of the interviews was transcribed and translated into english. furthermore, coding was used to organize the data systematically and meaningfully (maguire & delahunt, 2017). thematic analysis was employed to find occurring themes per the research questions (braun & clarke, 2006)from the fully transcribed, translated, and coded interview transcripts. participants and ethical consideration from the spss descriptive analysis of our previous quantitative study (limeranto & subekti, 2021), the participants of the study could be categorised into high flra, medium flra, and low flra. the present study initially planned to involve six participants, two from high flra, two from medium, and two from low. however, as the present study was about to start covid-19 pandemic compelled the implementation of distant-learning at the university and many learners who initially were willing to be involved in further study were unable to do so due to several reasons. in the end, the present study successfully obtained four participants, all males, three with high flra, and one with low flra. though the participants involved were not as diverse as we planned it to be, they were deemed sufficient as qualitative methods do not concern an extensive number of participants but the depth and richness of data obtained (gray, 2014) and this purpose could be reached with the available participants. these four participants were in the fourth semester of their study in the theology department and they had obtained three reading classes in their previous three semesters of their study. in their fourth semester when this study was conducted, they were taking their fourth reading class namely english for theology. ethical considerations of voluntary participation, confidentiality, and beneficence were adhered to. the four participants willingly participated in the present study. written consent forms detailing the study's purpose and participants' rights (israel & hay, 2006) were given to two participants who then gave their consent to participate in this study before face-to-face interviews were conducted. as the other two participants were interviewed online, they gave their consent through whatsapp. during the interview and data analysis process, we knew the participants' real name, however, all of the data reported were made anonymous (akaranga & makau, 2016). findings and discussion the pseudonyms of the four participants were jack (male/m), adit (m), and boy (m) (high flra), ray (m) (low flra). research question 1: what factors do theology students believe contribute to their anxiety in reading? the present study found five themes on the contributing factors of learners’ flra. these themes could be observed in table 1. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 313 table 1. the emerging themes of factor that could contribute to participants' flra theme 1 low self-confidence and lack of peer support increased learners’ reading anxiety. theme 2 low self-perceived language competence increased learners’ reading anxiety. theme 3 unfamiliar vocabulary increased learners’ reading anxiety. theme 4 motivation influenced learners’ reading anxiety. theme 5 teachers’ methods could either reduce or increase learners’ reading anxiety. theme 1. lack of self-confidence and lack of peer support increased learners’ reading anxiety. lack of self-confidence and fear of making mistakes were reported to instil reading anxiety by three participants with high flra. jack, for example, reported that he experienced a lack of self-confidence whilst reading texts. he remarked: i feel anxious when i do not understand the reading content or the core of the reading. i am afraid if i do not master the reading content, it will impair my reading performance. [jack, high flra] this finding was in line with some authors’ statements (e.g.: daley et al., 2014; zikuda et al., 2013) on the important role of learners’ emotions in learning. zikuda et al. (2013), for instance, stated that learners’ negative emotions such as fear, sadness, or disappointment, in turn, influence their reading comprehension negatively. as seen in jack’s comments, he acknowledged that his fear may negatively affect his reading comprehension (see also daley et al., 2014). furthermore, jack also mentioned that he was afraid of mispronouncing words. as he reported, it was due to the unpleasant experience of being ridiculed by his classmates when making mistakes. regarding this, he stated: [..] i am so afraid of mispronouncing a word. i ever experienced it [mispronunciation] when i did my presentation ... i made mistakes of mispronouncing many vocabularies and some of my friends laughed at me. it made me feel embarrassed. [jack, high flra] the finding that learners felt anxious due to friends’ unsupportive behaviours of laughing at them when they made mistakes may be related to the results of oliviana's and hayati's (2017) quantitative study in indonesia. oliviana and hayati (2017) found that positive peer support is one of the good ways to promote students’ self-confidence and risk-taking behaviours in reading. though not specifically in reading anxiety literature, additionally, subekti's (2018) study in the field of speaking anxiety in the indonesian context also found that students tend to be afraid of making mistakes when talking in english because they were llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 314 afraid of being ridiculed by their classmates. the relatively same finding on anxiety across two different language skills, reading, and speaking, in the same education context, may suggest the paramount role of peer support in l2 learning. it may especially be the case for some indonesian young adult learners, belonging to typical asian culture, which considers “face” very important (see joe et al., 2017). ray, a student with low flra, in comparison, despite feeling afraid of making mistakes to a certain extent, seemed to have a more positive view about the possible positive roles of peer support in creating a safer and supporting atmosphere for all students to keep learning. he commented: sometimes, i feel afraid of making a mistake in pronouncing some words, however, i think it is normal. my friends will help me when i make a mistake. in my opinion, we have to help our friends when they make a mistake or do not understand something related to reading. it is because the friends' role can influence someone's engagement in the learning process [ray, low flra] ray’s comment may reflect furrer et al.'s (2014) reiteration on the important role of peers, besides that of teachers, to enhance learners’ academic engagement. students’ learning can be more enjoyable when they can build a good relationship with one another, for example, they can support each other during the learning process (furrer et al., 2014). ray’s positive attitude towards peer support may also explain why he had low flra. as seen in his comment, he believed that his classmates would help him if he made mistakes. theme 2. low self-perceived language competence increased learners’ reading anxiety. two participants with high flra, adit, and jack, reported that their anxiety was also stemmed from feeling inferior on their language ability. they commented: sometimes, i feel my friends’ works are better than mine. they can get a good score ... i cannot. [adit, high flra] i keep feeling anxious in reading class. i am just afraid if i cannot follow what is taught in the classroom. [jack, high flra] regarding adit’s and jacks’ excerpts on their inferior feeling, when learners find themselves having lower ability than others, this inferior feeling may occur (kabir, 2018). they also tend to be more anxious when they perceive their competence to be lagging when compared to that of their peers’ (yan & horwitz, 2008). students’ low self-perceived language competence could also be caused by their lack of self-confidence in their capability to learn and achieve a specific goal (sultan, 2012) and any unpleasant or upsetting experiences when using the language (subekti, 2019). in comparison, ray, the participant with low flra, seemed to be confident enough with his language ability. he reported that he focused on his reading skill betterment by using reading strategies. he stated: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 315 i never feel inferior with my friends' ability because i always try to survive by myself to find my way to read a lot and to develop my reading skill by using some reading strategies. [ray, low flra] ray's comments that he tried to work on solutions to improve his reading skills resembled one of the findings of bakx et al.'s (2006) quantitative study in the netherlands on the role of learners’ high self-perceived competence in improving their reading behaviours to reduce their reading anxiety. besides, as could be observed in his comments, his confidence in his language ability was closely related to how much he enjoyed reading and how he could solve his learning problems (see also bakx et al., 2019). as low self-perceived language competence could be attributed to unpleasant experiences when using the language, high self-perception on language ability could be caused by positive experiences (dewaele & dewaele, 2018). hence, it may be worthwhile creating a safe environment where learners are braver to risk-taking behaviours on the understanding that they have both the supports of their peers and teachers, through small group cooperative activities, for example (subekti, 2020a), thus possibly creating series of pleasant experiences in using l2. theme 3. unfamiliar vocabulary increased learners’ reading anxiety. jack reported that failing to find the meaning of vocabulary in reading made him feel apprehensive to continue reading. regarding this, he commented: the main obstacle is vocabulary. i use a dictionary and google translate to find some difficult vocabulary. sometimes, i try to guess the meaning from the previous sentences and the sentences after. i always do so when i find difficulty in mastering the vocabulary but sometimes, i feel that fail to do so. it makes me feel bored [lose interest] and i no longer want to read that text. [jack, high flra] in contrast, ray commented that he did not feel anxious when he found difficult vocabularies. he stated that vocabulary was only one of the stepping stones in reading and unfamiliar vocabularies could be solved by learning it regularly. he reported: i always enjoy it and take it easy when i find some difficult words in a text. it is just a stepping stone in reading. so, when i find any difficulty, i always keep calm and try to use google translate or dictionaries to find out the meanings. the point is we have to learn the vocabulary continuously. [ray, low flra] the present study’s finding that facing unfamiliar vocabulary was anxietyprovoking may be related to chou's (2011) quantitative study in taiwan finding that vocabulary knowledge affected reading comprehension significantly (see also cetinkaya, 2011). hence, low vocabulary mastery compromised learners' understanding of reading passages and this may instil apprehension, making them give up reading further. reading strategies are believed to be a way to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 316 comprehend texts despite unfamiliar vocabulary and learners who use reading strategies to comprehend the reading passages, tend to be less anxious in reading (atasoy & temizkan, 2018; lien, 2011; sari, 2017; tien, 2017). however, as seen in jack’s and ray’s comments, jack made efforts in using reading strategies to understand reading passages he was reading but to little avail whilst ray successfully used similar strategies with more fruitful results. hence, it was perhaps not only a matter of using reading strategies but to what extent learners could use these strategies successfully that eventually influenced their reading anxiety in which a more pleasant and successful experience in dealing with l2 will likely improve their self-perceived language competence (subekti, 2020b) and decrease their anxiety. theme 4. motivation influenced students’ anxiety in reading. two participants with high flra, jack and boy, acknowledged that they had a lack of motivation in reading. they admitted that they got bored easily when they read a lot of texts. jack, for example, mentioned several contributing factors such as unfamiliar vocabulary, complicated grammar structures, and unfamiliar topics which made him think that reading is the most difficult part of learning english. regarding this, he stated: i get bored easily when i am reading a text because ... some factors such as vocabulary, grammar, and unfamiliar topic when i see too long reading passages ... this makes me feel that the hardest part of learning english is learning to read. i don’t feel motivated to continue reading the texts. [boy, high flra] in a similar vein, boy seemed to be intimidated by long reading passages. so, once he was given such passages, he lost interest. he remarked: i always get bored when i read a lot of texts. i feel so reluctant to read the texts. [jack, high flra] this reported lack of motivation may be related to these learners' perceptions of their reading comprehension. as they considered themselves unable to comprehend the texts they were reading, the less they were motivated to be engaged in the process of reading (zarei, 2014). as these learners comprehend texts less, their reading anxiety increased. however, the interactions of motivation in reading, reading comprehension, and reading anxiety may not be seen as simply one sequentially causing the other, but rather they can be in such complex, intertwined causal relationships in which they can influence one another in any directions. for example, jack’s and boy’s perception of poor reading comprehension reduced their motivation, and in turn, this lack of motivation increased their reading anxiety, which further hampered learners’ reading comprehension. ray’s comments on how he enjoyed reading and thus could comprehend texts better may give some kind of support that high motivation and low anxiety allowed better reading comprehension. he stated: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 317 to me, reading is easy to learn if you can motivate yourself […] learning to read is not difficult as long as i want to spend my time reading many texts regularly to understand and comprehend the texts ... [ray, low flra] regarding this, yamac and sezgin (2018) stated that learners who had an interest in reading content tended to have a good motivation in reading. it could be seen in ray's case that he acknowledged reading was easy to learn because he had a good interest in reading and regularly spent the time to read. it could also be related to the formation of reading habits obtained through continuous practice (daniel et al., 2017; khoirunnisa & safitri, 2018) which could generate reading interest, in turn alleviating their anxiety. theme 5. teachers’ methods could either reduce or increase learners’ reading anxiety. participants commented that teachers’ supporting teaching methods could reduce their reading anxiety. jack and ray agreed that their teachers contributed to reducing learners’ anxiety. about their respective teachers' methods in their class, they commented: [when] i do not understand the content of a text, she always explains slowly ... relaxing ... i can understand it easier. she also utilizes jigsaw learning to help us understand the text. [jack, high flra] she gives me some tips and feedback on how to use reading strategies to improve my reading performance … using group discussion to discuss [materials] with our friends. her role affects our quality of reading. [ray, low flra] adit, in comparison, acknowledged that his teacher’s methods increased his reading anxiety. he felt his teacher was not helpful because the learning activities were quite monotonous. besides, he admitted that the teacher’s methods were not interesting to him. regarding this, he stated: her role ... does not help me in reading ... her methods were not interesting ... the learning activities are monotonous. the problem is on the lecturer’s role … increase my anxiety. she always asks us to read and answer some questions … that is one of the monotonous learning activities. i want to learn english by using interesting learning methods such as the use of technology. [adit, high flra] several important points could be taken from the excerpts of these three different students. first, this finding was relatively in line with the finding of lien's (2011) study in the taiwanese context in which she found that teachers’ teaching methods influenced learners’ quality of learning. secondly, both jack and ray mentioned collaborative learning activities such as jigsaw learning and group discussions as activities alleviating reading anxiety and this was in line with llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 318 the idea on the role of cooperative learning in small groups to create a safer learning environment, discouraging peer-comparison, stimulating risk-taking learning behaviours, and reducing anxiety (subekti, 2018a, 2020a). in general, teachers need to design and apply various activities to promote learning (nejad & keshavarzi, 2015; subramani & iyappan, 2018), and as seen in jack’s and ray’s comments, cooperative activities seemed to be an obvious example. furthermore, adit's comment on his dislike of his teacher's teaching methods also merited further comments. the activity of 'reading and answer some questions' adit mentioned might have been carried out in such an anxiety-provoking way as asking learners to read the passages, giving time to answer the questions individually, and asking individual students to read aloud the answers for each question number, which could be anxiety-provoking as it placed learners in the spotlight with all classmates being the audience. this finding confirmed stawiarska's (2013) quantitative study in poland that learners, even advanced ones, felt more anxious in doing post-reading tasks than in doing the reading itself. in other words, the anxiety was higher when they had to report what they had learned from that reading (stawiarska, 2013). the results of these two studies suggested that teachers should design post-reading activities in a way that is less anxiety-provoking, for example by asking learners to work in small groups rather than doing whole-class activities. research question 2: what strategies do theology students believe may help reduce their anxiety in reading? the present study found one theme concerning the second research question, "the use of reading strategies could help reduce students' reading anxiety". the use of reading strategies could help reduce students’ reading anxiety. all of the three participants with high flra seemed to agree with the use of reading strategies they obtained in class helped reduce their reading anxiety. they felt the atmosphere of learning became more engaging because reading strategies could help them in their reading process. they stated: i use kwl [know, want, and learnt], sq3r [survey, question, read, recite, review], margin notes and annotating to reduce my anxiety in reading […] [jack, high flra] i use margin notes to find difficulty in grammar and vocabulary. it helps me to reduce my anxiety in reading. [adit, high flra] i do scanning, skimming, outlining, seeing a picture, annotating, and then focus on the contents of reading. [boy, high flra] the mentioned excerpts suggested that the use of reading strategies could help reduce learners’ anxiety. several authors stated that students who used reading strategies tended to be less anxious because reading strategies could help them to solve some problems in reading tasks (zarei, 2014; zeynali et al., 2017). in this case, three participants with high flra tended to be less anxious when they used a variety of reading strategies whilst reading (see also sadeghi & izadpanah, 2018; ulfa, 2015; zarei, 2014). this finding was similar to lien's (2011) study’s finding in taiwan in which the use of a reading strategy could llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 319 overcome learners’ reading anxiety and made the learning environment less stressful. additionally, the present study’s finding could also be treated as a qualitative confirmation of zarei's (2014) quantitative study in iran finding that students using reading strategies tended to be less anxious. the slightly similar findings among the present study and several previous studies in different education context may indicate that reading strategies are paramount in reading instruction. hence, l2 reading instruction should equip learners with the necessary strategies to deal with texts before focusing on the ultimate result of reading comprehension. as learners are familiar with strategies, it will be easier for them to deal with other passages in or outside class. as learners develop a positive experience and sense of achievement, they will likely have less reading anxiety. conclusion the present study offers several possible contributions. new findings such as the role of teaching methods and low self-perceived language competence in affecting learners flra may pave a way for further studies in the field of flra in the indonesian context. several other findings, though not new, could serve as replications of findings of previous studies conducted outside indonesia. whilst specific to the indonesian context, this study offers a comprehensive picture, through qualitative perspectives, about flra experienced by eap university students, especially at theology department, as this study was the first qualitative study on flra investigating these segment of learners. the present study's findings have several implications for l2 reading instruction. per the finding on the lack of vocabulary as a contributing factor of flra, it is suggested that teachers should also teach vocabulary learning strategies in l2 reading classes. the strategies could include guessing from contexts and using vocabulary cards to help them remember the vocabulary. furthermore, per the finding on the role of teaching methods in influencing learners’ reading anxiety, it is suggested that teachers create various learning activities and use various teaching methods to make them involved in the reading process. the uses of cooperative learning activities in which learners are to work together in small groups can be a solution. small groups can create a safer learning environment stimulating learners to be braver and less afraid to make mistakes. cooperative learning activities could also minimise the possibility of peer-comparison, and thus minimise learners' feeling inferior. despite the mentioned contributions and implications, the study also inherently has limitations. it solely depended on student semi-structured interviews as the only source of data. hence, the findings solely came from the participants’ subjective, in-depth experiences and they were unique to the context of the participants. however, as interpretivism paradigm, seeing ‘truths’ as experienced by individuals, was employed, the participants' subjective experiences, whilst could be seen as a limitation on the inability of generalisation, should not be seen as a flaw. another limitation was the study's inability to reach more interview participants from various levels of flra due to the covid-19 pandemic which made some participants of our previous quantitative study unable to be involved in the subsequent qualitative study due to various reasons. the data llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 320 obtained could have been richer had these learners participated in the present study. lastly, several future studies can be suggested. first, investigating teachers’ methods and peer support concerning learners' reading anxiety in more depth can be worthwhile. such studies could use the combination of class observations conducted several times, teacher and student interviews, and students’ periodical reflections on those three aspects. secondly, as motivation to read was found to influence learners' reading anxiety, it may be strategic to conduct a large scale quantitative study investigating the effect of motivation to read on learners' reading anxiety levels. references aisyah, j. 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(2013). emotional aspects of learning and teaching: reviewing the field-discussing the issues. theoritical and research papers, 7(2), 7–22. https://doi.org/10.14712/23363177.2015.18 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 412 the effects of narrative and argumentative modes on assessing learners’ written performances based on the analytic rating scale rania zribi and chokri smaoui sfax university, tunisia raniazribi@ymail.com; smaoui2002@yahoo.com correspondence: raniazribi@ymail.com doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.2986 received 19 november 2020; accepted 29 october 2021 abstract this study aims at investigating the effects of discourse modes on assessing efl learners’ written performances. a total of fifty raters judged sixty essays (30 narratives and 30 argumentative writing modes) written by third-year english students from the faculty of letters and humanities. raters not only scored the compositions but also justified their scores’ assignments based on written explanations. raters’ rating behaviors were diagnosed based on a variety of quantitative and qualitative tools. essay scores were analyzed based on the statistical model facets to measure raters’ severity and internal consistency, task difficulty, and the scale functioning across writing modes. qualitative data (gathered from interviews and report forms) were also analyzed in order to examine which aspects of writing were deemed more important than others across task types. the analysis revealed that the discourse mode was substantially an influential factor. the narrative task was more difficult than the argumentative one. narrative essays were judged harsher than argumentative essays. less consistent ratings could be detected from the narrative mode, compared to the argumentative one. qualitative findings showed that the two writing modes were different in their qualitative judgments due to their different genre requirements and norms. keywords: discourse modes, scoring, rating scale, facets, scores’ variability introduction academic writing is a crucial communicative skill in english as a first language (l1), second language (l2), and foreign language (efl) teaching and learning instructions. it is a sophisticated “form of thinking” (zinsser, 1988 p. vii), in which the writer has to perform different actions simultaneously, such as planning, organizing, writing, revising, editing, and publishing (weigle, 2002 p.4) to produce coherent and accurate performance. the mastery of this complex skill is essential for university students, who are required to develop their writing abilities at this level through their cognitive process of not only constructing meaningful knowledge but also transmitting messages to their readers based on academic essays. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 413 apart from its complexity in language teaching, the writing skill also seems difficult to be tested by efl teachers. in this respect, bizzell (1987) focuses not only on the complex nature of the writing activity, but also on the extreme difficulty of assessing it, especially with the presence of human raters, whose great deal of subjectivity constituted one of the perennial problems related to direct writing assessments (p.583). while reviewing the literature, it has been noted that the same learners’ written performances were assessed subjectively by different raters despite the use of the same rating scale with its well-defined rating criteria, resulting in inconsistencies that would threaten not only reliability but also validity in the writing assessment context. raters have different perceptions of what constitutes a good writing sample. what is appraised by one rater is downplayed by another. in justifying their scores’ assignments, raters may overlook some mistakes while others may magnify them in measuring students’ language skills. on that account, raters’ potential scores’ variability and divergent rating judgments can be due to various factors related mainly to raters, writing modes, rating scales, rating criteria…etc. out of the myriad influential sources of scores’ variability, this paper attempts to focus on the task variable, because as barkaoui (2008) claims, “task characteristics can also influence rater performance and reliability’’ (p.12). it is thus proposed, in this work, to provide a deep analysis of the effect of task types on raters’ quantitative and qualitative judgments. our main intention is to investigate and the way raters assess learners’ written performances based on a well-defined analytic rating criteria. our primary goal is to analyse the possible discrepancy in raters’ judgments of narrative and argumentative writing modes in the analytic rating scale, by taking into consideration not only their severity and internal consistency rates but also the difficulty estimates of the two writing task types and the scale functionality. this research also will focus on the writing aspects that attracted the attention of raters in evaluating the same test takers’ narrative and argumentative essays analytically. the current study addresses the following research questions: 1. what are the effects, if any, of narrative and argumentative tasks on raters’ severity and internal consistency based on the analytic rating scale? 2. to what extent do narrative and argumentative tasks vary in terms of their difficulty estimates? 3. do writing modes influence the functionality of the analytic rating scale? 4. do different task types affect the raters’ scoring behaviors and the aspects of writing they attend to, based on the analytic rating scale? review of the literature discourse mode, a task characteristic that could potentially influence the assessment of efl learners’ writing performances, is of particular interest in the present study. a crucial issue pertaining to the evaluation of writing proficiency is scores variation among raters due to different variables, mainly the tasks variable. the latter should be controlled in testing writing skills to allow learners to generate their best performance and to ensure valid and reliable scores. in the realm of academic writing assessment and scores variation research, the effect of prompt types on raters’ scores has been profusely investigated by researchers and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 414 specialists in the field (engelhard et al., 1992; kegley, 1986; kuhlemeir, et al., 1995; quellmalz, et al., 1982; sachse 1984). several empirical researches have pointed to the conceivable impacts of different task requirements and modes on raters’ scoring behaviors (cumming et al. 2002; weigle, 1999) and the reliability of their scores assignment (tedick, 1990). in this context, stifler (2002) maintains that “modes of writing, or rhetorical modes are patterns of organization aimed at achieving a particular effect in the reader” (p.1). this idea was encapsulated by white (1982) in his claim that “we know that assigned mode of discourse affects test score distribution in important ways. we do not know how to develop writing tests that will be fair to students who are more skilled in the modes not usually tested” (p.17). to stress the interrelation of both social and educational settings in language communication, weigle (2002) focused on the effect of writing tasks and contextual factors on tests scores. she claims that “any assessment takes place in a given social and cultural context and may not be generalizable outside that context” (p.60). in this regard, oxford (1996) states that “when language learners are asked to tell their histories, they inevitably address contextual, situational, cultural factors as part of the story of their learning” (p.582). thus, context has emerged as a vital theme in the educational system. a possible source of scores variation examined in this paper after measuring efl learners’ essays was the discourse mode facet (narrative vs. argumentative tasks). the chief aim of previous research is to compare the raters’ scores assignment to two or more writing modes to extract their points of similarities and differences in essays measurement. the research finding of kegley’s (1986) study can be used to illustrate the considerable effects of discourse mode on the assessment of the writing competence. she perceived differences between the mean score of a narrative sample and marks for descriptive, expository, and persuasive samples. the narrative essays received the highest marks while the persuasive essays received the lowest marks (p.147). in one of the studies investigating the notable effect of discourse mode on writing scores assignment task, engelhard et al. (1992) proclaim that “narrative writing tasks received the highest ratings, with descriptive writing tasks receiving the next highest rating, and expository writing tasks receiving the lowest ratings” (p.329). in examining raters’ scores to two different discourse modes, the findings of carrell’s (1995) study were condensed to denote higher holistic scores assigned to the narrative essays than to the argumentative essays produced by the same writers (p.175). in contrast, quellmalz et al. (1980) obtained nearly opposite results in examining the relationship between two discourse modes and raters’ scores to learners’ compositions. they found that scores assigned to narrative essays were lower than those given to expository essays based on a five-point holistic rating rubric. raters’ variability can be due to their tendency to rate narrative mode of discourse in a stringent way or to the examinees’ lack of knowledge or to their curricula requirements (p.13). moreover, a strong correlation can be detected in the scores assigned to two essays produced in the same mode of discourse. however, that was not the case with the scores awarded to two essays in different discourse modes (p.13). in another study conducted to diagnose the effect of discourse modes on raters’ testing or writing quality, quellmalz et al. (1982) concluded that “levels of performance vary on tasks presenting different writing llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 415 purposes” (p.255). hence, this divergence in scoring the two different discourse modes could be attributed to task requirements, as each task requires different writing skills, leading to construct-relevant variance, which causes aberrations in raters’ score assignment tasks. method research design overview this study adopted a cross-sectional design to gather sufficient data from the examinees and their raters at a single point in time. its chief aim is to analyse and interpret english raters’ evaluative behaviors and scores’ assignments when testing efl learners’ writing responses to two different narrative and argumentative discourse modes. hence, both teachers and students took part in this empirical research. a comparative pattern was also incorporated in this study to extract the differences and similarities in the scores and judgments assigned by raters to efl test takers’ writing samples on two different writing modes based on the analytic rating scale. to advocate the efficiency of the comparative design in analysing the study outcomes in the language testing field, collier (1993) argued that “comparison is a fundamental tool of analysis. it sharpens our power of description, and plays a central role in concept-formation by bringing into focus suggestive similarities and contrasts among cases” (p.105). participants a total sample of thirty efl learners voluntarily took part in this study. they are, a representative sample of a large population, enrolled in the third year english class level. these students were mostly females with a mean age of 22. they were under-graduate third-year english students, who have been specialized in the target foreign language for three years at the tertiary level and whose proficiency levels vary. all the test takers were non-native speakers of english and students in the english department at the xxx university. in addition, a panel of fifty writing teachers of english as a foreign language participated in this phase. they represented a mixed sample of male and female raters with an average age of 45 and belonged to different l1 backgrounds. their first language is arabic while english is their dominant work language in tertiary education in different tunisian universities; they are specialized in teaching english as a foreign language to efl under-graduate learners. at the time of my data collection process, all third year learners were attending their english classes and lessons. from the third-year class, i selected randomly female and male students to sit for two separate one-hour task-based writing performance tests on two different testing occasions to respond silently to two different discourse modes, viz. narrative and argumentative prompts. thus, each test taker produced two writing samples, to come up finally with a total of sixty essays. in the first task, each test taker is required to write an essay in which he narrates the way he has helped his family to solve a family problem. on the other hand, in the argumentative task, candidates were asked to provide their arguments to convince the reader about the assets and drawbacks of using technology in our society. the next step consisted in collecting the examinees’ writing performances. to control the effects of such variables as handwriting, these samples were typed, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 416 without changing or removing the original mistakes. as it was neither a part of the learning objectives of the writing course at the third year level nor mentioned in the analytic rating rubric that raters relied on, handwriting was not among the writing aspects to be tested in the data collection phase. the names of the students, who composed the two essays were also removed and replaced with just numbers in order to minimize potential bias rates. the sixty narrative and argumentative essays (thirty essays in each task) were sent to fifty raters to judge and score their quality based on the same rating instruments and procedures. procedures test takers were instructed to generate an essay after responding to each task requirements on two different testing occasions. first, each candidate produced an essay after responding to the narrative prompt, then, within a one-week period, he responded to the argumentative writing task by generating an argumentative sample. the time allowed for each essay production was one hour to enable students to understand the topic, analyze it and generate a coherent writing sample in an authentic testing context. the present study used two different essay prompts, which vary in terms of their characteristics, notably content, structure, and wording. they are designed to evaluate efl examinees’ abilities to perform coherent and well-structured academic writing samples. written production was prompted via computer and then sent to raters to judge students’ writing proficiency in the two discourse modes based on the same analytic rating scale. in this respect, the esl composition profile designed by jacob et al. (1981), was applied in this study to test written productions. this analytic scale was originally constructed for large-assessment purposes to test multiple composition samples of english as a second language. it comprises five different criteria, namely content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and mechanics (see appendix a). since this study has embarked on examining raters’ scoring patterns of efl learners’ writing performances in both narrative and argumentative discourse modes, a mixed-methods triangulation design of both quantitative and qualitative approaches was applied to gather and report data about the raters’ decision-making while rating under-graduated learners’ essays. quantitative data were extracted from different procedures. analytic score report forms were employed to come across raters’ scores assignment and their decision-making process after assessing efl learners’ writing compositions (see appendix b). these analytic scores awarded by raters to the same test takers’ narrative and argumentative essays were analysed based on two statistical programs: spss and facets (version 3.80.0). the latter permits researchers to add as many facets as they need, such as raters, rater groups, tasks, students, rating scale, rating criteria, and so on depending on the purpose of each study. in this vein, schaefer (2008) highlights the prominent value of this model by stating that “it has shown great promise in the area of performance assessment and rating scale validation because it can analyze sources of variation in test scores besides item difficulty or person ability” (p.466). prior to the analysis and interpretation of raters’ judgments, the facets used in this study were coded. the following figure presents the relevant facets related to this study in the data collection phase. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 417 a profile questionnaire about raters’ qualifications, and personal and professional data was also adopted (see appendix c). these statistical procedures are used in order to examine the effects of evaluating different narrative and argumentative writing modes on raters’ severity and internal consistency, task difficulty, and rating scale’s performance. furthermore, report writing forms were conducted to gather qualitative data about raters’ judgments of efl test takers’ writing responses to two different narrative and argumentative prompts. raters’ reading and assessing strategies were thus elicited based on explaining their rating patterns during the evaluation process. findings and discussion analyzing raters’ quantitative judgments across tasks both facets and spss statistical outcomes across task types were reported in this section to analyse raters’ scoring behaviors based on their analytic marks assigned to the same candidates’ narrative and argumentative essays. rater severity facets analysis revealed clear differences in raters’ severity levels after assessing narrative and argumentative performance analytically. measuring rater severity/ leniency levels on a logit scale, centred at 0, spanned 4.09 logits, from the most lenient rater located at -2.03 to the most severe rater located at 2.06 for third-year english level relevant facets related to the present study test takers (n=30) rater groups (n=50) discourse modes rating scale rating categories university teachers of english narrative argumentative analytic 1.content 2.organization 3.vocabulary 4.language use 5. mechanics figure 1: a schema of the relevant facets of assessment to this study llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 418 the narrative task and a 3.32 logit spread, with the most lenient rater at -2.30 to the harshest rater at 1.02 for the argumentative task. comparing the range of raters’ severities across task types, the table shows raters’ variations. it is clear from table 1 that raters differ in their severity estimates. they graded the narrative essays more severely than the argumentative essays (a span of 4.09 for the narrative task is smaller than the 3.32-logit spread for the argumentative task). this may be because of the judges’ tendency to mark narrative essays more stringently (quellmalz et al. 1982 p.13) or due to their perceptions of the writing task difficulty and their attempts to adjust scoring behaviors accordingly. these results were at variance with engelhard et al’. (1991) study, which showed that “writing tasks that require more personal responses (direct and imagined experiences) tend to elicit essays that receive higher ratings than writing tasks that require impersonal or outside knowledge” (p.19). to test the significance of these raters’ different severity levels across tasks, facets output generated three indices, namely the separation statistics, chisquare with its p-value and the reliability of separation. table 1: summary of rater measurement report by discourse modes (based on the analytic scoring procedure) narrative mode argumentative mode rater severity m (model se) .13 .13 sd (model se) .00 .01 min -2.03 -2.30 max 2.06 1.02 infit m 1.0 1.0 sd .25 .31 outfit m 1.01 1.0 sd .25 .33 separation statistics separation ratio (g) 8.75 7.85 separation index (h) 12.00 10.80 reliability of separation .99 .97 fixed chi-square statistics 3519.0 2868.8 df. 49 49 significance .00 .00 inter-rater agreement opportunities 90000 90000 exact agreement % 37.8% 34044 38.4% 34516 expected agreement % 35.9% 32305.2 36.8% 33129.3 analyzing raters’ analytic scoring decisions across the two tasks was based on facets outcomes as illustrated in the table above. the item separation ratios (g) were 8.75 for the narrative task and 7.85 for the argumentative task, indicating that the variance among scorers was approximately nine times higher than the error of estimates, especially for the narrative essays, thus suggesting that graders were not equally severe. the prompt separation index (h) was 12.00 for the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 419 narrative essays and 10.80 for the argumentative essays, indicating that raters can be divided into about twelve severity levels in the narrative task and eleven levels in the argumentative task. separation statistics, separating raters into more distinct severity levels for the narrative prompt (twelve levels) than for the argumentative prompt (eleven strata of severity), were fairly reliable due to high reliability of separation indices of .99 for the narrative task and .97 for the argumentative task. thus, raters showed significant notable differences in the levels of severity they exercised for the two tasks, with a fixed chi-square value of 2868.8 for the argumentative task and 3519 for the narrative task (degree of freedom = 49) and a significant p-value at .00 (p ˂ .005). the null hypothesis that all scorers were equally harsh in their scores’ assignment to the candidates’ narrative and argumentative writings must be rejected. measuring inter-rater reliability rates in assigning marks to the students’ narrative and argumentative essays was based on inter-rater agreement statistics. as table 1 demonstrated, out of 90000 possible opportunities for agreement, the numbers of exact agreements between raters were 34044 (37.8%) for the narrative essays and 34516 (38.4%) for the argumentative essays, while the expected ones were 32305.2 (35.9%) and 33129.3 (36.8%) for the narrative and argumentative writings respectively. the observed exact agreements (37.8% and 38.4%) were higher than the expected percentages (35.9%) and 36.8%). this explained the fact that raters did not judge their test takers’ performance in an independent way. task types remain an influential factor in assessing learners’ writing skills in different writing modes. rater internal consistency a more detailed analysis of raters’ internal consistency in judging examinees’ narrative and argumentative performance is based on fit statistics in the rater facet. a preferable infit mean-square value of 1.00 was perceived in the two prompts, suggesting intra-rater agreement between raters in assessing both tasks based on the analytic rating scale. they not only employed the analytic rating scale consistently but also maintained their severity levels across the two tasks. their internal consistency in measuring learners’ writing modes could be explained by the fact that their scores assignment fitted perfectly the rasch model predictions. little variation however can be detected in the outfit mean-square values of 1.01 for the narrative task and 1.0 for the argumentative task. to further investigate raters’ internal consistency across discourse modes, the same threeclass fit pattern of overfit, acceptable fit, and misfit was analysed to differentiate between raters in terms of their intra-rater agreement rates in measuring examinees’ samples. the following table exhibits the frequencies of raters’ consistency in the analytic assessment of the same set of narrative and argumentative essays. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 420 table 2: frequencies of rater fit statistics across discourse modes (based on the analytic scoring procedure) narrative mode argumentative mode fit range infit ms outfit ms infit ms outfit ms overfit: fit ˂ 0.70 3 (6%) 5 (10%) 8 (16%) 9 (18%) acceptable fit: 0.70 ˂ fit ˂1.30 36 (72%) 32 (64%) 40 (80%) 39 (78%) misfit : ˃ 1.30 11 (22%) 13 (26%) 2 (4%) 2 (4%) out of the fifty raters, thirty-six (72%) exhibited acceptable infit estimates in measuring the test takers’ narrative performance, while forty (80%) displayed acceptable consistency rates in testing the argumentative writings based on facets output. raters thus showed slightly higher intra-rater agreements in rating the argumentative tasks as compared to the narrative tasks. there were more overfitting raters (n= 8, 16%) in judging the argumentative essays compared to the narratives (n= 3 representing 6%), indicating little variation between scores’ assignment process to the two tasks and the facets expected scores. more misfitting raters (n= 11) appeared in scoring the narrative essays (22%) than in marking the argumentative essays (n= 2 representing 4%), suggesting much variability in the marks awarded to the narrative samples. misfitting raters, whose different rating behaviors did not fit the model, threatened scores validity in the testing field. a small number of misfitting raters across tasks appeared in the analytic ratings (4% for the argumentative task and 22% for the narrative task). based on these outcomes, raters were more consistent than the model predicted in scoring the argumentative essays, compared to the narrative essays. this can be attributed to the open-ended personal nature of narrative essays, which are difficult for raters to judge consistently, leading to such unwanted scores’ variations and inconsistent rating behaviors. the null hypothesis stating that raters across two distinct discourse modes showed the same severity and internal consistency levels in scoring the same test takers’ writings based on the analytic rating scale must be rejected. prompts difficulty after analysing the rater facet in terms of severity measures and internal consistency estimates, it is crucial to focus on the task facet, as one of the variables in the current study by taking into account both the difficulty estimate parameter and fit statistical indices for each task. the former was applied to measure the difficulty levels of the two tasks, while the latter was used to test the consistency of measuring these tasks difficulty rates. task average difficulty is set at 0 logit by convention. table 3 illustrates prompt difficulty measures for both discourse modes resulting from the analytic ratings. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 421 table 3: prompt difficulty estimates (n=2) (based on the analytic scoring procedure) observed average fair measure average measure model se infit ms outfit ms narrative 2.56 2.58 .14 .02 1.04 1.05 argumentative 2.68 2.71 -.14 .02 .96 .96 mean (n= 2) 2.62 2.65 .00 .02 1.00 1.00 sd .09 .09 .20 .00 .05 .06 rmse .02 adj (true) s.d. 20 separation 11.36 reliability .99 fixed (all same) chi-square: 130.0 d.f.: 1 significance (probability): .00 as can be drawn from table 3, the fair measure average for the narrative task (2.58) was less than the fair measure average for the argumentative (2.71) on the four-point analytic scale, which demonstrated that the narrative task was more difficult, as compared to the argumentative. to measure the underlying difficulty of the two prompts, a logit difficulty of .14 (se = .02) for the narrative task was higher than the difficulty span of the argumentative task (-.14 with se = .02), which indicated that it was more difficult to get a high score on the narrative task than on the argumentative one in grading essays based on the analytic rating rubric. the narrative task appears to be more difficult, compared to the argumentative task in the analytic rating scale. this can be explained by the fact that test takers are expected to perform their stories by narrating past experiences with special attention to correct language and rhetorical aspects of language to form coherent and fluent narrative flow. this personal open aspect of narrative flow reflects its difficulty for students and raters alike. to test the significance of the different levels of difficulty between the narrative and argumentative prompts, the fixed chi-square test with its p-value were underlined. the fixed chi-square yielded a value of 130.0 with 1 degree of freedom and a significant p-value (= .00), which rejects the null hypothesis that the two tasks are equal in difficulty based on the analytic scorings. analytic scale functioning from facets output, test takers’ ability measures can be extracted to examine the functionality of the analytic rating scale with its five categories across discourse modes. the adequacy of the analytic rating scale with its five rating categories can be measured based on the threshold (step) calibration statistics generated from facets. for instance, concerning the content criterion, a test taker whose ability estimates was -2.11 for the narrative mode and -2.36 for the argumentative mode had a probability of 50% to be scored as either 2 or 3. testing the scale functioning is also based on the way the category thresholds were ordered. according to table 4, the content category thresholds for example were ordered in an ascending order from -2.11 to 2.13 for the narrative mode and from -2.36 to 2.72 for the argumentative mode in the four score levels. the thresholds measures in the five rating categories increased monotonically as the score levels advanced. the distance between the thresholds was also adequate in the five rating categories, as they advanced by at least 1.4 logits from one score level to another, but did not exceed 5 logits. this indicates that the analytic rating categories were not only ordered but also functioned as expected by the model as llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 422 the thresholds advanced monotonically with the analytic scale levels. this stressed the functioning of the analytic scale. table 4: threshold estimates for the analytic scoring categories across tasktypes aspects of writing attended to across task types the table below presents the percentages of referring to each rating category in the analytic report forms after assessing learners’ narrative and argumentative essays. it shows that overall, raters explained their scores based not only on each rating category of the analytic scale but also on other writing aspects not mentioned in the scale. the highest percentages pertained to both content (28.67% for narrative essays and 27.82% for argumentative essays) and organization (about 22% for narrative essays and 28% for argumentative essays) across task types, while the lowest concerned mechanics (about 6% for narrative essays and 5.80% for argumentative essays) and vocabulary (about 12% for narrative essays and 10% for argumentative essays) criteria. other writing aspects were more reported in the narrative mode (15.32%) than in the argumentative mode (12.40%). additionally, raters reached approximately the same percentage (16% and 15.64%) in using the language use aspect across the two writing modes. based on the frequency of raters’ comments across the five rating criteria to the narrative and argumentative essays, we can deduce that both writing modes reported the five rating criteria together with other writing aspects based on the same order of importance but with slight differences in terms of their percentages. hence, content, organization, language use, other aspects, vocabulary and mechanics were mentioned in both tasks with some differences in frequency ranges. table 5: frequencies for aspects of writing in report forms across task types content org vocab lg use mechanics other asp narrative mode 28.67 21.91 11.91 16 6.17 15.32 argumentative mode 27.82 27.93 10.41 15.64 5.81 12.40 the narrative mode score levels content org vocab lg use mech 1 none none none none none 2 -2.11 -1.79 -2.37 -2.29 -1.91 3 -.02 -.38 -.11 .09 -.09 4 2.13 2.17 2.48 2.21 2.00 the argumentative mode score levels content org vocab lg use mech 1 none none none none none 2 -2.36 -1.86 -2.52 -2.32 -1.89 3 -.36 -.51 -.28 -.15 -.12 4 2.72 2.38 2.80 2.47 2.01 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 423 to scrutinize whether the differences in percentages of decision-making strategies and aspects of writing reported in the analytic report forms across task types were significant, i conducted a wilcoxon signed-ranks test for each rating category. the table below portrays the statistical significance of the difference in using the six rating criteria across narrative and argumentative tasks based on the non-parametric wilcoxon signed-ranks test. the wilcoxon test indicated that only the difference for organization was significant as p-value is below the threshold level of 0.05 (p = .000). the p-values of each of the other five rating categories, being .748, .169, .922, 724, and .009 are all above the threshold of 0.05. therefore, it was clear that the use of the five scoring criteria was not significantly different across writing prompts. different task types did not significantly influence the raters’ score assignment and decision-making tasks. table 6: test statistics across narrative and argumentative tasks the above quantitative data analysis explicates the effect of narrative and argumentative writing modes on raters’ scoring patterns based on the analytic rating rubric. the statistical facets outcomes, highlighting the impact of discourse modes on the scores’ assignment task, showed raters’ different decision making processes across task types, which will be further examined in the qualitative part. this section clarifies the aspects of writing that raters attended to across the narrative and argumentative tasks, by analyzing report form explanations, associated with the writing modes variable. analyzing raters’ qualitative judgments across tasks during the assessment process, the fifty scorers were required to explain their assigned marks to the sixty students’ performance by writing their remarks in the analytic report forms. raters’ comments were then classified across narrative and argumentative writing modes. this classification helps us to compare raters’ explanations across tasks, by examining which aspects of language may attract the raters’ attention in evaluating narrative and argumentative writings. this qualitative analysis thus investigates the nature of the raters’ scoring behaviors across tasks. a scrutiny of raters’ feedback suggested that raters’ score explanations to narrative performances outnumbered argumentative essays based on the four-point analytic rating scale with its five different rating criteria. this test statisticsa content org vocab lg use mechanics other aspects mannwhitne y u 457440,000 402240,000 448800,000 459840,000 458400,000 436320,0 00 wilcox on w 918720,000 863520,000 910080,000 921120,000 919680,000 897600,0 00 z -,322 -5,568 -1,376 -,098 -,353 -2,611 asymp. sig. (2tailed) ,748 ,000 ,169 ,922 ,724 ,009 a. grouping variable: task type llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 424 can be due to the difficulty of the narrative task and to the test takers’ inability to generate coherent and accurate narrative performances. in terms of content, judges were aware of genre stipulations and topic requirements across tasks. although clear explanations, examples and details enhance ideas elaboration and arguments development, different task-specific functional elements affected raters’ judgments of both tasks. judges referred to the problem, the solution and the consequence in measuring narrative essays, by commenting on chronological story events, its plot and climax. raters, however, pointed to issue, evidence, claim, counter argument and support in argumentative essays, by focusing on the development of the thesis and the anti-thesis and parallelism between both parts of argumentation. in terms of focus, raters directed their attention to the use of quotations in the narrative mode and references in the argumentative mode. it seems that content affects not only coherence but also organization in narrative prompts. in terms of organization, raters provided comments on the conventional fiveparagraph essay structure format with respect to both task types. despite the importance of paragraphing in the two modes, argumentative essays were evaluated based mainly on the specific components of an introduction. raters valued the presence of motivator, background information, thesis statement and blueprint in producing a well-structured argumentative introduction. they even focused on topic sentences in each controlling paragraph. they extended their comments to focus on recommendations in the conclusion. for the narrative tasks, however, raters pointed to the effect of fragmented ideas on developing the narrative flow of events, leading to unbalanced narrative performance, which in its turn resulted in an incoherent story. both connection of ideas and transition between the different essay parts are pertinent in the narrative and argumentative productions. these divergences can be attributed to the different narrative and argumentative structures and organizational components and essays’ format. some noticeable vocabulary differences between task types appeared in raters’ analytic scores explanations. while raters commented on vocabulary sophistication and variation across the two tasks, they made reference to the test takers’ word and form choices, especially verbs, adjectives, and adverbs to express their ideas clearly in narrative essays. such comments were related to word placement, comparative and plural forms to formulate well-structured argumentative essays. narrative tasks are associated with the informal register while argumentative tasks are related to the formal register. differences in the way language use is valued by raters across tasks are also examined. the use of accurate language was commented on in the two tasks. sentence constructions were a prevailing aspect in foreign language productions due to their complexity and forms variations. in response to narrative tasks, scorers referred to clear structures and expressions, similes, comparative forms, and parallel sentences, whereas in argumentative essays, they focused on word order and placement, and accurate well-formed sentences that reflect clear arguments. conjunctions, long sentences, run-ons, fragments, prepositions, articles, pronouns and active voice can be found in both genres. a colloquial informal style was attributed to narrative essays, which was not the case with argumentative essays. more lexical and language mistakes appeared in the narrative task, compared to the argumentative task. narrative essays are normally written in the simple past as test takers narrate their past experiences or llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 425 fictionalize stories, while argumentative tasks should be performed in the simple present tense. this seems to be due to the specific-task based assessment task. raters may have some stylistic, syntactic, and lexical preferences associated with each writing mode. raters also appeared to focus on mechanics in measuring examinees’ narrative and argumentative performances. based on the analytic report forms, the majority of raters’ comments were negative, indicating serious problems in capitalization, punctuation, linkers and spelling in both tasks. these serious mistakes led to awkward structures, unclear sentence boundaries and incoherent text, which hindered the quality of the essay. after dealing with all the rating categories within the analytic rating scale, we noticed more comments related to writing aspects other than those mentioned in the rubric; content, organization, vocabulary, language use and mechanics. this can be explained by the fact that raters did not stick to the analytic rating scale during their measurement process of the sixty narrative and argumentative essays. this can be traced back to the possible specific task features that may attract raters’ attention. in this respect, raters may focus on some narrative or argumentative aspects over others. in assessing examinees’ narrative writing abilities, raters started by expressing their overall impressions of the whole piece of writing, by taking into account the originality of students’ narrative academic essays. in judging argumentative essays however, raters directed their attention to overall structure and relevance rather than to its original arguments. narrative writings received more score explanations in grammatical and stylistic writing aspects, compared to argumentative essays. raters commented on test takers’ use of contractions, modals, pronouns and verbs in their narrative performance. they even pointed to tense problems as some test takers used the simple present in narrating events. raters were even more interested in perceiving stylistic features in both tasks. they referred to oral-like and colloquial narrative style of writing, which was not the case for formal argumentative essays. argumentative style could be hampered by plagiarism. judges also pointed to the effects of language interference and translation on both narrative and argumentative writings. thus, differences pertaining to the above mentioned categories would appear to call for separate rating scales, related to task-specific feature and raters’ focus, which had been the most frequently investigated in foreign writing assessment. raters’ cognitive processes and rating behaviors in narrative and argumentative tasks were different depending on their scoring approaches and their treatment of the rating criteria and other relevant writing aspects. these qualitative outcomes were in line with quellmalz et al. (1982), who stated that “the different subskills included in the scoring rubric seem definitely to interact with discourse mode and, at the same time, to varying degrees are independent sources of variation in student writing performance” (p.20). conclusion this mixed-method research examined the effects of discourse modes (narrative and argumentative essays) on assessing efl learners’ writing skills. the narrative essays were rated significantly harsher than the argumentative essays. in terms of raters’ internal consistency across task types, the narrative writings led to a higher proportion of judges with fit statistics within the misfit llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 426 range, whereas the argumentative writings resulted in a higher proportion of scorers with overfit. argumentative ratings were thus more consistent than narratives. the statistical program facets revealed that the narrative prompt was more difficult than the argumentative prompt. the qualitative outcomes were also complementary. raters attended to different writing aspects across task types. hence, the qualitative assessments were divergent across task types, indicating that raters held different conceptions of what constitutes a good writing. the major findings of the current study can direct our attention to different implications. these immutable differences across tasks may require the use of task-based rubrics, related to the specificities and characteristics of each writing genre, one for the narrative and one for the argumentative. it is also important to highlight the necessity for test developers to use different task types in any efl writing assessment context in order to gather various writing samples, which represent each test takers’ writing ability and thus ensuring valid results “… by giving a broader basis for making generalizations about a student’s writing ability” (read 1991 p.87). the analytic scale is also recommended as it might be useful for diagnostic and placement aims in high-stake writing assessments to ensure valid and reliable outcomes. as the present study shows, raters varied in their severity and consistency levels in their scores’ assignment across tasks. one strategy to improve this limitation is to apply the multi-faceted rasch measurement model (facets) to adjust raters’ marks and enhance raters’ inter and intra-rater reliability in judging different task types. this statistical program, as prieto and nieto (2014) claim, allows the “analysis of the actions of different raters on different tasks, and enables us to determine, in part, whether the scoring categories appearing on rubrics must be adjusted or changed in order to obtain more consistent or valid scores” (p.386). references barkaoui, k. 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(1988). writing to learn. new york: harper & row. llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 language and language teaching journal http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 1 incorporating memes and instagram to enhance student’s participation agnes dian purnama state university of malang, east java nezz.dian15@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2017a.20.01.01 abstract today’s teaching and learning faces more challenges as technology keeps on updating itself. teachers are expected to adopt as many as possible technology products to promote students’ engagement in classroom activity. utilizing technology products may help teachers to decrease students’ boredom inside classroom since it proposes a new kind of activity. the main purpose is to create an enjoyable teaching and learning environment as well as to trigger students to be creative. by highlighting youths’ characteristics that tend to be visual and addicted to rapid information, memes and instagram may be used as one of the strategies to develop an innovative teaching and learning process. keywords: memes, instagram, language learning introduction taken as an inevitable truth, teaching and learning process nowadays is inseparable from the use of technology no matter how big or small it is. for example, when we ask our students to submit their work, almost all of them prefer to submit it via e-mail, blackberry messenger or even whatsapp group rather than using traditional style of paper-based work. that particular activity has been a major hit since the last two applications are up-to-date. blackberry messenger and whatsapp are equipped with an ability to receive and send documents and still serve their basic function as chat applications: sending and retrieving messages. when we go back twelve or thirteen years earlier, it was acceptable among us to be unequipped with technology, such as mobile phone latest product. we were certainly fine if we did not acquire any contact with technology for days. but now, real life truth speaks differently. almost all of us experience similar phenomenon. we, teachers, as well as our students are bound to internet and mobile phone. like it or not, the one who does not fluently speak the same “language” like us, would certainly be alienated. early in 2000s, prensky came upon a new term of digital natives and digital immigrants. digital natives are those who perform and rely almost all of their activities on technology. our students are by all means called as digital natives. they speak and breathe technology as daily intake. according to prensky, they are “…all “native speakers” of the digital language of computers, video games and the internet.” (2001:1) “digital immigrants learn – like all immigrants, some better than others – to adapt to their environment, they always retain, to some degree, their "accent," that mailto:nezz.dian15@gmail.com llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 2 is, their foot in the past. the “digital immigrant accent” can be seen in such things as turning to the internet for information second rather than first, or in reading the manual for a program rather than assuming that the program itself will teach us to use it” (prensky, 2001: 2). “the differences between digital natives and digital immigrants lie upon their learning traits and preferences” (prensky, 2001: 2-3). digital natives are used to receive information really fast. they like to parallel process and multitask. they prefer their graphics before their text rather than the opposite. they prefer random access (like hypertext). they function best when networked. they thrive on instant gratification and frequent rewards. they prefer games to “serious” work. digital immigrant teachers tend to teach – slowly, step-by-step, one thing at a time, individually, and above all, seriously. digital immigrants do not believe their students can learn successfully while watching tv or listening to music, because they (the immigrants) cannot. digital immigrants think that learning cannot (or should not) be fun. based on the previous explanation, an integrated activity of memes creation and instagram posting is proposed as an alternative strategy that yields creativity and innovation for teaching and learning process. memes are dense. it has an attractive packaging (for example: eye catchy image wrapped with catchy text) which is an additional value for our students; the digital natives. moreover, it can be distributed among people and posted online easily. infecting the mind: memes creation taking memes’ original definition into perspective, researcher would like to develop a new strategy to enhance students’ classroom participation and the teaching and learning process of english. “examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions and ways of making pots or of building arches. just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation” (dawkins, 2006: 192). researcher assumes that since memes embody longevity, fecundity, and copying-fidelity traits, thus it will be easier to be applied into classroom that is fully loaded by digital natives. furthermore, brodie says that “a meme is a unit of information in a mind whose existence influences events such that more copies of it get created in other minds.” (2009: 11) when some people understand memes merely as catchy images with catchy texts, do not forget that those are only ‘vehicles’. a cart carries information. anything that can be copied and spread between brains, are definitely memes. “as long as that information can be copied by a process we may broadly call ‘imitation’, then it counts as a meme” (blackmore, 1999: 66). instagramming utilizing social media into teaching and learning process is not something uncommon. previous studies have been conducted to shed light on the need of llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 3 facilitating technology more into our practice as teacher. (astuti, 2016; blattner & fiori, 2009; grewal & harris, 2009; guikema & williams, 2014; guikema & menke, 2014; hattem, 2014; kalasi, 2014; lomicka & lord, 2012 & 2014; yunus et.al, 2012) thus, choosing the most suitable social media application will be subject to classroom teacher’s judgment. let us not forget also that each social media application certainly has its own strengths and weaknesses. in order to be able to choose the most suitable application, teachers should pay close attention to their students’ characteristics. researcher has her own consideration by choosing instagram as a partnering social media for memes creation activity. first, instagramming is an activity that most youth, the digital natives, would certainly fall into. second, it gives a diverse range of any images starting from beautiful scenery up to beauty products. third, instagram posts tend to have minimum texts yet are quite rich in image presentation. last, it is easily shared and distributed among people. method the participants of the study are 23 efl students of health college in the regency area of malang. there are 4 male students and 19 female students. they are second semester students of health diploma degree and all of them are taking english as a compulsory subject. none of the participants are native speakers of english. they speak bahasa indonesia as their first language. table 1. participant information male female number of participants 4 19 age (range) 20 21 years old 19-21 years old length of english exposure 6-12 years 6-12 years the instruments used in this research are observation and questionnaires. the observation was carried out using memes creation and instagram account, whereas the questionnaires were distributed in the beginning and at the end of the study. prior the study, participants were given a preliminary questionnaire (questionnaire i) composed of questions about english and social media. table 2. questionnaire i questions 1. what do you think about english? 2. do you know social media sites? please, give examples. 3. do you have any social media account? how many? what are they? 4. do you know memes? 5. what is your opinion about memes? do you like it? participants are divided into groups. it consists of 11 groups. the number of group member varies from 1 person to 3 persons (mixed sexes). each group is asked to develop one meme based on the given topics that they have already llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 4 received during english classes. there are two topics: symptoms and caring for elderly. each group is given the same length of time of meme submissions (2 weeks). each group is assigned to upload or post their meme(s) creation in the appointed instagram account. posted group memes are collected into a single instagram account (researcher’s account: @memes_project). participants are asked to answer questions which are enlisted in post study questionnaire (questionnaire ii). table 3. questionnaire ii questions 1. what is your opinion about using memes inside classroom? 2. does meme help you to understand your english materials (symptoms and caring for elderly) better? 3. is it enjoyable to make memes and post it in instagram? 4. would you like to have this kind of classroom activity for another topic? or on what kind of english lesson? 5. do you agree/ disagree if the teaching of english is combined with social media (instagram) application? why? 6. do you have any other preference of social media application usage inside classroom? what is it? 7. what is your suggestion for english classroom activity? there are 14 memes collected by the researcher. all the written texts on the memes are analyzed. the following components are taken into account: image sorting, written text, content/ message (appropriateness between image, written text, and topics). collected memes are divided into 2 parts. the partition used is based on the following topics: symptoms and caring for elderly. a deeper explanation of component analysis will be described further in finding and discussion section. findings and discussion throughout the process of study and observation, researcher has collected 14 memes that are divided into two topics: symptoms and caring for elderly. topics are authorized by english lecturer of the participants. it is based on the participants’ college syllabus and material. at preliminary meeting with students, researcher asks students to create memes as a product of their english class. participants are expected to meet “correct” memes creation. correct definition carries further explanation that participants’ image choice fit the embodied text as well as the content. later on, this product will serve as a checking tool. it observes students’ ability of understanding today’s topic well. to prevent any emerging sensitive issue, such as bullying, bashing, or body shaming, researcher asks participants to use their own images, movie scenes or cartoons. it is also recommended for participants to engage themselves more on technology by using any picture editing tool that they prefer. below is the description of each submitted meme based on the topics. llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 5 first topic: symptoms for this topic, researcher collects all memes made by participants and posts them using an instagram account @memes_project. to make it simpler, either for researcher or group of participants, there is an agreement that both parties should follow one another so that both parties would be able to evaluate each meme that has been made. from a total number of 11 groups of participants, only 8 groups that complete the memes submission requests. figure 1. instagram look of @memes_project llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 6 figure 2 figure 3 figure 4 from figures 1-4, we can see that participants meet the criteria of choosing the appropriate images, text and also content (symptom topic). at the moment of analyzing participants’ memes, researcher disobeys grammatical rules and writing system as long as the memes made are ‘correct’. an exception is shown by figure 3 which is perfectly apt the condition of correct grammar. llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 7 figure 5 figure 6 figure 7 figure 5 and 7 are described as memes that are less satisfactory fulfilling the adjacency of ‘correct’ memes. the idea presented by participants is to match the expression of tiredness with the chosen images. figure 5 is best taken as an example of youth’s love life. apparently, the participants want to describe the unrequited love expression using ‘tiredness’ word. meanwhile, figure 7 tries to bring on indonesia’s famous proverb of “berakit – rakit ke hulu, berenang – llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 8 renang ke tepian. bersakit – sakit dahulu, bersenang – senang kemudian.” or in english, it is commonly known as “no pain, no gain.” in figure 6, participants apply direct translation technique from l1 to l2 without using any prior knowledge about l2. participants translated common expression of “tidak enak badan” in bahasa indonesia into “my body is not delicious.” the word ‘enak’ is directly translated into ‘delicious’. the word ‘enak’ in bahasa indonesia has two meanings. the first meaning is similar to ‘tasty or delicious’. it is usually applied for expressing our judgment about certain dish or meal. the second meaning of ‘enak’ can be used also for expressing feeling; ‘enak’ = ‘comfortable’. participants’ lack of understanding about homonymy in l1 and language expressions in l2 lead into burst of laughers from other students by the time this figure is posted on instagram. the last figure in this section, figure 8, sparks an ambiguity of meaning. participants use “sakit hati” expression in bahasa indonesia and make a direct translation into english as “sickness”. sickness in this meme grasps a different meaning than its’ original meaning of being ill or the resulted condition of vomiting. figure 8 second topic: caring for elderly figure 9 figure 10 figure 11 llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 9 due to some reasons, only three groups of participants took part in creating memes in caring for elderly topic. at this period, three groups make a direct posting on instagram without the help of @memes_project account. a further analysis is conducted similar to previous topic. researcher evaluates the appropriateness of chosen images, written text and also the memes meaning or content. next, let us have a closer look on figure 9. researcher argues that this meme belongs to ‘correct’ memes. the meme that contains a picture of a smiling fish may not directly explain the relation between a smile and bad memory. but, it describes that particular fish characteristic perfectly. the fish name is dory. it is a cartoon character that can be found in finding nemo and finding dory movies made by pixar. participants bring an issue about dory’s character that suffers from short term memory into memes. figure 10 and figure 11 highlight common condition found among elderly people, alzheimer and complete loss of memory. although it may not be completely correct in grammar or word choice, it still meets the criteria of ‘correct’ memes. the rest 3 memes out of 14 made memes are eliminated due to originality issue and out of requested topics. thus, by far, participants are successful in creating 11 memes based on the topics provided although some groups did not participate thoroughly until the end of the study. to make it accessible for participants or public query, researcher creates hashtags (#) based on the topics. for the first topic, researcher uses #memesproject1 and #symptoms as hashtags. meanwhile, the second topic falls into #memesproject2 and #caringforelderly hashtags. figure 12 a llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 10 figure 12 b the following figures are self-made posts which are conducted privately by participants. here, participants receive direct feedback for their memes creation from non-study participants. it can be seen from the amount of likes that participants get. figure 13 figure 14 figure 15 figure 16 llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 11 questionnaire questionnaire i question 1. what do you think about english? from the total number of 23 participants, 13 participants think that english is difficult. three participants have an opinion that english classroom is fun but learning english is hard. only three participants truly consider learning english fun. question 2. do you know any social media sites? please, give examples. only one participant does not know about social media sites. twenty participants are able to give example about social media sites. question 3. do you have any social media accounts? how many? what are they? on average, 22 participants own at least 2 social media accounts and most of them have facebook account. only one participant does not have any social media account. question 4. do you know memes? all of participants are familiar with memes. question 5. what is your opinion about memes? do you like it? all of participants like memes because they are funny. questionnaire ii question 1. what is your opinion on using memes inside classroom? all of participants agree upon memes integration for language learning and teaching process. question 2. does meme help you to understand your english materials (symptoms and caring for elderly) better? one participant feels that memes fail to help him to understand english materials (symptoms and caring for elderly topics) better. three participants strongly agree that memes help them to learn english better although it is not commonly used. question 3. is it enjoyable to make memes and post them on instagram? participants do not have any objection in creating memes. they say, it is an enjoyable activity. question 4. would you like to have this kind of classroom activity for another topic? or on what kind of english lesson? participants only answered the first question that they would prefer to have another experience utilizing memes as a learning tool without describing any further references of kind of english lesson that they wish for. question 5. do you agree or disagree if the teaching of english is combined with social media (instagram) application? why? all participants state their agreement on using a social media integrated into the english learning process. question 6. do you have any other preferences of social media application usage inside classroom? what is it? all participants do not have any suggestions for other social media application to be applied inside classroom. question 7. what is your suggestion for english classroom activity? this question is not counted as questionnaire result because most participants have misconception about the meaning of the question. llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 12 conclusion this study seeks an opportunity to gain a wider yet meaningful engagement of technology and language learning, especially by incorporating images, written text, and specialized topics into a social media application posting (memes and instagram). the result, as it is expected, students prefer this kind of activity better than previous activity that they have encountered inside classroom. there are advantages in utilizing memes in order to be creative and innovative in language teaching. the first advantage is that memes creation proposes an eye catching learning process which will be easily adopted by students. the second advantage is memes creation is possible. smartphones and any mobile image editing application are not uncommon for students. the third advantage is students gain a better understanding on english class’ topics and english in general using a simple and enjoyable technique. technology rapid movement is arguably pervasive. thus, by creating an enjoyable yet fun mixed form of language learning activity and technology, researcher believes that students would benefit more in the long run. at this point, researcher has the same opinion as dörnyei (2001: 51) that “…the most farreaching consequences in motivating l2 learners can be achieved by promoting positive language-related values and attitudes.” as dörnyei explained, “actual process of learning the target language intrinsic value; target language itself and its speakers integrative value; consequences and benefits of having learnt the target language instrumental value” here, the researcher argues that memes creation is by far the current evidence that supports those three values well. memes, at its basic meaning, is an idea which is shared among brains. it is about how we influence others using our own idea by taking advantages through appealing packaging, catchy phrases or tunes. (brodie: 2009) when students feel relaxed, they would not feel that learning english is an obligation to pass a semester. our students nowadays are marked with their high sensitivity to something hype and current. meme is one of it since it is quite accessible through handy mobile applications and smart phones, the latest items that our students could not live without. to be sure, this is the moment when intrinsic values are added. integrative value takes place at the moment students make a group collaboration for creating memes. they communicate between one another to come up with ‘an ideal meme’ which is made through discussion. when students enjoy memes creation, post it on instagram, and get likes (the  button), it is indirectly stated that their social position is lifted up as it is stated by dörnyei (2001: 56) instrumental value. in spite of the results presented, further observation and research will be needed to see whether creating memes has a significant contribution to students’ proficiency level of english since memes creation requires high order of thinking and not all participants are able to do it correctly. future studies that involve memes creation as well as social media platform are expected to highlight the opportunity of developing this kind of strategy. it is suggested that future researchers use more than one social media applications to get a wider attention and to investigate its effect to students’ language learning development. llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 13 references andrews, r. & smith, a. 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(2014). the allure of the selfie: instagram and the new self-portrait. amsterdam: institute of network cultures. retrieved from http://www.networkedcultures.org/publications yunus, m. md., salehi, h., & chenzi, c. (2012). integrating social networking tools into esl writing classroom strengths and weaknesses. english language teaching, 5 (8), 42-48. retrieved from www.ccsnet.org/elt llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 324 rhetorical move and genre knowledge development in local and international graduates’ thesis and dissertation abstracts tara devina putri and eri kurniawan universitas pendidikan indonesia, indonesia taradevina@upi.edu; eri_kurniawan@upi.edu correspondence: taradevina@upi.edu doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i2.3433 received 31 may 2021; accepted 20 september 2021 abstract in recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the study of research abstracts and its rhetorical structure. while the number of studies in rhetorical moves of ra abstracts are growing, there is still little attention given to thesis and dissertation abstracts especially in relation to the link between genre knowledge and its rhetorical realization. the present study aims to identify the variations of rhetorical move manifestation in abstracts of master’s theses and dissertations written by local and international graduate lecturers and explore the relationship between the manifestations and the author’s genre knowledge development. the data for this study were purposively selected based on certain criteria. this study employed a qualitative approach with hyland’s (2000) five-move analysis model as the main framework of the study. the findings revealed that there were similarities in the rhetorical structure of abstracts by the local and international graduates. the study also found that educational level and supportive academic environment play an important role in author’s genre knowledge trajectories. the findings discovered in the study provide a clearer picture to help in the development of a universal guideline for abstract writing in final papers for higher education. keywords: abstracts, genre knowledge, move analysis, rhetorical structure. introduction the generic structure of academic papers has gained plenty of interest among researchers. among other genres, research genre represents scientific inquiry where a systematic and rigorous process of acquiring accurate, objective, and comprehensive information is fundamental (lubis & kurniawan, 2020). from all sections of a research paper, one that has received a lot of attention is abstract. even though it is relatively short, abstract is considered the most important part of a research paper since it acts as the “face” of a whole study. abstract is a part of a research paper that is easily accessible on the internet, and since it is aimed at fulfilling the function of communicating information on an original piece of writing to a predominantly academic readership (krajňáková, 2015), abstract acts llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 325 as a pivotal point for readers to decide whether to continue reading the whole paper or not. for students and novice researchers, when they are faced with the need to produce research abstracts in a well-organized manner, writing an abstract is considered difficult. the difference in academic writing styles between languages or between institutions creates confusion and limits their ability to write a good abstract. kurniawan, lubis, suherdi, and danuwijaya (2019) argued that this is more crucial to take into account when non-native english writers aim to publish their articles to the international scope as there is a need to demonstrate certain abilities to meet the expected rhetorical organization and language standards. as an attempt to find a solution to this problem, it is suggested that an effective way to help inexperienced writers cope with the challenges in academic writing might be to make the knowledge of writing explicit to students through genre analysis (amnuai, 2019b; ren & li, 2011). genre analysis through move analysis is widely used to analyze the rhetorical structure of abstracts. it is first introduced by john m. swales, who describes move as “a discoursal or rhetorical unit that performs a coherent communicative function in a written or spoken discourse” (swales, 2004, p.228-229). understanding rhetorical moves and steps could help researchers to achieve the communicative function of a text. genre analysis is closely related to genre knowledge. genre knowledge can be understood as the resources one has to utilize to respond appropriately to the recurrent demands of a particular discourse community (uzun, 2017). tardy (2009) proposes that genre knowledge can deepen and extend as it is applied in new situations and as writers combine various knowledge features to varying degrees. implicit in this notion is the underlying assumption that educational level and varying academic experiences will influence someone’s genre knowledge development, and this development will be reflected in their writing especially in theses and dissertations as a final academic work in completing master’s or doctoral degree. previous studies on move analysis have examined the rhetorical moves in abstracts of research articles across disciplines (darabad, 2016; gani, kurniawan, gunawan, & lubis, 2021; ramadhini et al., 2021), of research articles in local and international journals (amnuai, 2019a; saidi & cheragi, 2020), and english abstracts produced by non-native english speakers (al-khasawneh, 2017; katic & safranj, 2018; pratiwi, kurniawan, gunawan, & lubis, 2021; ren & li, 2011). most of these studies focused on research article abstracts in academic journals, while there are still a few numbers of studies which explore abstracts in theses and dissertations. research studies conducted by amnuai (2019b), mauludini (2020), and katic & safranj (2018) analyzed thesis and dissertation abstracts. amnuai compared and contrasted research article abstracts and thesis abstracts written by thai writers, and the study resulted in differences in the frequency of occurrence of introduction and conclusion moves. mauludini analyzed the rhetorical move realization and linguistic features of dissertation abstracts from universities in england and indonesia, and the findings revealed a significantly different generality in the two data groups with the four-move configuration having a higher number of occurrence than the five-move model. katic and safranj examined dissertation abstracts written by serbian writers, and the findings llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 326 showed differences among various disciplines and some similarities that were influenced by cultural conventions. however, among these studies, factors that could possibly influence abstract writing outcome such as the author’s educational background and the genre knowledge development of the author have not been considered. therefore, the present study tries to identify the rhetorical patterns presented in the abstracts of master’s theses and dissertations as well as the relationship between the abstract patterns and the author’s genre knowledge development. to do the analysis, hyland’s (2000) five-move analysis model is adopted, and an interview is conducted to examine the author’s genre knowledge trajectories. the discovery of rhetorical move pattern in the abstracts and the link between rhetorical move realization and genre knowledge trajectories will hopefully help in producing a standardized model for abstract writing to assist non-native english speakers to cope with academic writing challenges for international scope. research abstract abstract is “an abbreviated, accurate representation of the contents of a document, preferably prepared by its author(s) for publication with it” (lorés, 2004, p.281). it serves not only as a compact synopsis of a research but also a means to persuade and reassure readers that the research is credible and worth reading. referring to hyland (2004), abstracts are worthy of study because they are significant carriers of a discipline's epistemological and social assumptions. consequently, the number of researches on abstracts and its rhetorical structure started to increase along the year. according to previous studies (al-khasawneh, 2017; amnuai, 2019a, 2019b; darabad, 2016; katic & safranj, 2018; lubis & kurniawan, 2020; ren & li, 2011; saidi & cheragi, 2020), the pattern of abstracts in research papers varies greatly. the variation can be influenced by different disciplines, place of publication, culture, or the type of journal or publication. the variation leads to the need of a more universal guideline of abstracts so that all readers can have the same understanding in reading research papers, theses, or dissertations. move analysis to study abstracts, a genre-based approach is employed, that is, move analysis. move analysis aids researchers in analyzing the similarities and the patterns of rhetorical moves. models for rhetorical move analysis has been proposed by a number of researchers, such as swales (1990) with the cars model and bhatia (1993) with the four-move model. swales’ (1990) cars model was initially proposed to analyze introduction part in research papers, and the model proposed by bhatia (1993) consists of four moves, leaving out the introduction part in an abstract. a latter framework which was derived from the analysis of 800 abstracts across 8 disciplines (amnuai, 2019b) was proposed by hyland in 2000. the framework, which includes a total of five moves, covers the entire communicative functions of the units inside a text including the introduction and purpose. besides, hyland’s (2000) framework has been the most frequently employed in recent studies due to the comprehensiveness of boundaries across moves and steps (lubis & kurniawan, 2020). for this reason, hyland’s (2000) five-move analysis model is adopted as the main framework of this study. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 327 a detailed explanation on the five moves in hyland’s (2000) model is presented hereinafter. genre knowledge and its development the study of genre has been greatly influenced by swales in 1981 (as cited in swales, 1990). he defines genre as a class of communicative purposes, which is shared and recognized by the members of discourse community (swales, 1990). genre is mainly illustrated in terms of rhetorical structure, which contains moves and steps. bazerman (2013, as cited in driscoll et al., 2020) suggests that genres help to create, reproduce, and revise the systems in which they are used, so that the understanding of these functions can support writing development. regarding genre knowledge, tardy (2009) offers a model that includes four different dimensions namely formal knowledge, process knowledge, rhetorical knowledge, and subject-matter knowledge. formal knowledge refers to the structural components of genre, such as the genre’s prototypical forms, discourse and lexico-grammatical conventions, structural moves, modes and media of communication, and the associated linguistic code. process knowledge refers to the procedural practices on how a genre is carried out. rhetorical knowledge includes the understanding of the genre’s intended purposes and the dynamics of persuasion in a sociorhetorical context. lastly, the subject-matter knowledge specializes in content knowledge related to a discipline. the development of genre knowledge can be described as an adaptation process in increasing generic ability to face demands in a particular context. prior researchers suggest some factors that may influence the quality of genre knowledge development (casanave, 2002; prior, 1995). they are personal cognitive abilities, social status in a certain academic environment, and experience in trying to be part of a particular academic discourse community. variation in life experience denotes that writers will bring a unique combination of sets of logic, strategies, and capacities to bear on new rhetorical situations because of their diverse social paths (rounsaville, 2014). ren and li (2011) suggested that explicit teaching through genre analysis might be an effective way to help students cope with the challenges in academic writing. to support the suggestion, a study by driscoll et al. (2020) which examined the role of genre knowledge as it relates to students’ improvement in key aspects of writing showed that general education writing (gew) course of a semester can effectively help students to improve their writing. the study indicates that someone’s genre knowledge may develop after an explicit teaching activity. the development of one’s genre knowledge is expected to be reflected in the rhetorical realization in their writings, and so this study aims to find out if there is any influence from teaching activities while pursuing master’s and doctoral education on someone’s genre knowledge and their ability to express the knowledge in academic writing. method research design this study used a qualitative approach to carry out the research objectives, that is, to (1) examine the rhetorical patterns in the abstracts of master’s theses and dissertations, and (2) analyze the link between the abstract patterns and the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 328 author’s genre knowledge trajectories. derived from the analysis of 800 abstracts across disciplines (amnuai, 2019b), hyland’s (2000) five-move model is adopted as the framework for the rhetorical move analysis. hyland’s (2000) model is predominantly used in research studies regarding move analysis (al-khasawneh, 2017; amnuai, 2019a, 2019b; darabad, 2016; katic & safranj, 2018; lubis & kurniawan, 2020; ren & li, 2011; saidi & cheragi, 2020). to analyze the genre knowledge development, an interview session was conducted with a designed interview protocol based on tardy’s (2009) genre knowledge domain to explore each participant’s educational background and academic writing experience. the interview adopted the interview data analysis techniques by creswell (2012). hyland’s (2000) analysis model includes five moves: introduction, purpose, methods, product/findings, and conclusion. each move consists several steps with different communicative functions as shown in table 1 below. table 1 hyland's (2000) five-move model move step m1 introduction s1 arguing for topic significance s2 making topic generalization s3 defining key term(s) s4 identifying gap m2 purpose stating the research purpose m3 method s1 describing participants/data sources s2 describing instrument(s) s3 describing procedure and context m4 findings describing the main results m5 conclusion s1 deducing conclusion s2 evaluating the significance of the research s3 stating limitation s4 presenting recommendation or implication data source the data used for this study were theses and dissertations abstracts written by indonesian local graduate, indonesian international graduate and by a mix of both. a total of six abstracts, consisting of three thesis abstracts and three dissertation abstracts, were collected from three participants. since the aim of the study was to examine author’s genre knowledge development, the number of abstracts analyzed in this study was intentionally limited in order to enhance the understanding of each participant’s development. the criteria for the participants of this study are listed below: 1. the participants are lecturers of the same subject/major (english department) from a state university in bandung, indonesia with a doctoral degree and have written a thesis and dissertation. 2. one participant obtained both their master’s and doctoral degree in a university in australia, the other one obtained their master’s and doctoral degree both in universities in indonesia, and the other participant obtained their master’s degree in an indonesian university while the doctoral degree was obtained in a university in australia. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 329 to gather the information regarding the author’s genre knowledge development, a semi-structured interview was conducted using an interview protocol that includes three main sections. the first part was intended to find out the participants’ background and personal identity related to the research topic: educational background and level of english language proficiency. the second part was aimed at investigating the acquisition and development of genre knowledge influenced by personal, social, and socio-historical factors at graduate level. the third part was intended to find out the same information at postgraduate level and the transition process from the graduate level. data analysis the textual data collection started with asking for consent to all participants to use their abstracts for the study. the data were then named based on its type: theses as t1, t2, and t3, and dissertations as d1, d2, and d3. textual approach was employed for analyzing the abstracts in order for the analysis to focus on the structure that is seen only in the abstract. the data were manually analyzed referring to hyland’s (2000) five-move model. the analysis result was then transferred to excel to calculate the percentage and map the trends and variations of the moves and steps. the interview session was conducted after the textual data were analyzed to allow adjustments in the interview questions based on the results of the move analysis. the answer of each question asked in the interview was transcribed and inserted into a designed table. the answers of each participant were compared and concluded afterwards. the summary of each question was made to make it easier in deducing an overall conclusion regarding the participant’s genre knowledge trajectories. findings and discussion this section presents and discusses the results of the data analysis in the form of occurrence percentages and patterns. t1 and d1 refers to thesis and dissertation abstract by international graduate, t2 and d2 refers to thesis and dissertation abstract by local graduate, and t3 and d3 refers to thesis and dissertation abstract by a mix of both (local master’s degree and international doctoral degree). this section also describes the analysis results in relation to the research questions, that is, to find out the variations in the rhetorical move patterns and the link between the patterns and each author’s genre knowledge development. move occurrence table 2 frequency of move occurrence in each abstract move t1 t2 t3 d1 d2 d3 average m1 25.0% 16.7% 7.1% 31.8% 11.1% 21.1% 18.8% m2 12.5% 22.2% 7.1% 4.5% 11.1% 2.6% 10.0% m3 25.0% 16.7% 35.7% 54.5% 22.2% 15.8% 28.3% m4 25.0% 33.3% 50.0% 4.5% 55.6% 36.8% 34.2% m5 12.5% 11.1% 0% 4.5% 0% 23.7% 8.6% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 330 table 2 shows the frequency of move occurrence in the abstracts. the moves that occur the most in each abstract are presented in bold. as seen in the table, m4 findings had the largest number of occurrences among all abstracts with the occurrence average of 34.2%. this finding is supported by prior studies (alkhasawneh, 2017; amnuai, 2019a, 2019b; ren & li, 2011; saidi & cheragi, 2020) which stated that the findings was considered an obligatory move in an abstract. referring to van bonn and swales (2007), it is believed that the product (findings) move occurs in all research abstracts to “sell” and promote their research to the community of the same field. as for d1, the abstract paid more attention to the methodology due to the novelty and the variety of approaches used by the author for the study, which resulted in a high number of occurrences in m3 method (54.5%). the least used move among all abstracts was m5 – conclusion, with two abstracts that was published in local universities fully omitted the conclusion move. this finding is in line with the research conducted by al-khasawneh (2017), amnuai (2019a; 2019b), and saidi & cheragi (2020) where only a small proportion of non-native english speakers included the conclusion move in their abstracts. according to amnuai (2019a), this could be considered as a sign of inadequate rhetorical knowledge of the genre or that the authors do not see the importance of conclusions in attracting readers. in addition, amnuai (2019b) also suggested that student writers face a less competitive pressure in convincing their readers, and their objective in writing their final paper is to suit the criteria set by their institutes and gain acceptance by the committees. step occurrence in the step level, m2 purpose and m4 findings were not included in the analysis since the moves do not consist any steps. only the steps from m1 introduction, m3 method, and m5 conclusion were analyzed further in step manifestation. the results are presented in table 3 below. table 3 frequency of step occurrence in each abstract move step t1 t2 t3 d1 d2 d3 average m1 s1 5.0% 13.0% 3.0% s2 40.0% 22.2% 14.3% 30.0% 4.3% 18.5% s3 33.3% 13.0% 7.7% s4 11.1% 4.3% 2.6% m3 s1 11.1% 28.6% 5.0% 7.4% s2 11.1% 5.0% 66.7% 17.4% 16.7% s3 40.0% 22.2% 57.1% 50.0% 8.7% 29.7% m5 s1 21.7% 3.6% s2 0% s3 0% s4 20.0% 22.2% 5.0% 17.4% 10.8% as presented in table 3, the occurrence of each step varied in each abstract, but it can be seen that step 2 of move 1 and step 3 of move 3 appeared in almost every abstract. it is likely that s2 of m1 making topic generalization and s3 of m3 describing procedure and context is considered as a compulsory step by the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 331 authors because they state the key selling points in an abstract. among all six abstracts, s2 evaluating the significance of the research and s3 stating limitation of m5 had no occurrence at all. this might be caused by the contrastive nature of the two steps, in which they insert the importance and plus points of the research for significance and the limitation of the research almost sequentially after one another. since one of a student’s main goal in writing a thesis or dissertation is to be accepted by the examiners (amnuai, 2019b), the authors are likely to avoid the use of these two contrastive steps in an abstract to minimize the risk of misunderstanding between the authors and their examiners. another finding in the step occurrence was the use of embedded steps in the abstracts. embedded steps are the combination of several steps of a move in one sentence. the combination could be of any steps from any move, but from the analysis only the steps of m3 were discovered to be embedded to one another. examples of the embedded steps are as follows. excerpt 1: s3 + s2 (m3 method) “it exerts a set of methods to get data, beginning with survey using questionnaires, choosing relevant materials taken from indonesian and american presidential campaigns, response forms, and interview.” (t2) the sentence in the excerpt above is intended to explain data collecting procedure, but instruments of the study such as questionnaires, forms, and interview are also included inside. s2 describing instrument was embedded to s3 describing procedure and context. excerpt 2: s1 + s3 (m3 method) “melalui pendekatan ‘laman untuk korpus’ terpilih 15 pucuk surat pembaca yang berisi keluhan yang dimuat pada 1-7 januari 2010.” [through the 'page for the corpus' approach, 15 letters of readers containing complaints which were published on 1-7 january 2010 were selected.] (t3) the sentence in excerpt 2 is mainly discussing the data source of the study, which are letters to an editor. however, it also put in a description about the approach employed in the study. it embedded s3 describing procedure and context to s1 describing participants/data sources. move patterns table 4 move patterns in each abstract abstract pattern t1 i(m) – p(m) – f – c t2 i – p – m – f – c t3 i – p – m – f d1 i – p – m – f – c d2 i – p – f(m) d3 i – p – m – f – c the move patterns found in the six abstracts were all in sequence from m1 introduction to m5 conclusion. an interesting result was found from the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 332 patterns, as shown in table 4, that some participants use a combination of two moves in a sentence. similar to the embedded steps explained before, this combination is also known as embedded moves. the embedded moves discovered from the analysis were introduction + method, purpose + method, and findings + method. the manifestations of the moves are shown in the excerpts below. excerpt 1: introduction + method “based on a qualitative approach, this study investigated the experience of living in different cultures and its impact on the participants’ sense of identity.” (t1) excerpt 2: purpose + method “using bhabha’s notion of the third space as its major theoretical framework and narrative inquiry as its main methodological tool, it specifically aims to explore processes of identity formation in the ‘new space’.” (t1) excerpt 3: findings + method “employing structuralism approach and system formal analysis form bordwell and thompson (2008), it is found that textual structure and narrative strategies are ambivalent because they position child characters as subjects, but only under certain conditions: the absence or without involvement of adult characters, in open space, and group-oriented.” (d2) these excerpts show that the method move (m3) was frequently combined or inserted to another move. a similar trend was also found in previous research by amnuai (2019b), where he indicated that this trend happened because the authors of the study purposely did not focus their attention on writing the methods, or that they use well-known methods and approaches in the study so that no further explanation about the methods is needed. genre knowledge development in regards to the genre knowledge development, the main hypothesis of the study is that the higher someone’s educational background, the better their writing ability is. also, it is assumed that if someone experienced a better academic surrounding and is provided with supporting facilities, their writing skills is expected to be way better than others. hence, an assumption arises that dissertation abstracts would be written better than thesis abstracts due to the knowledge development from master’s degree to doctoral degree. dissertation abstracts would utilize a more complete set of moves and a more varied steps compared to thesis abstracts. some findings confirm that the dissertation abstract is more well-written than the thesis abstract, however, there are also results that contrast the hypothesis. it is also confirmed that supporting academic facilities can help produce a better writing outcome. from the move occurrence, step occurrence, and move patterns identified in the study, the genre knowledge trajectories could clearly be seen in the step manifestation. participant 1, the international graduate, shared in the interview that the academic facilities including writing courses, access to journals, writing clubs, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 333 and the supervisors when pursuing both their master’s and doctoral education were very supportive to the final paper writing process. the academic environment was also considered conducive, as the participant could focus on their final paper writing without any teaching schedules in mind while studying abroad. with this information, it is assumed that the participant’s knowledge in academic writing will develop sharply, and it was reflected in the author’s writing. participant 1 applied four out of eleven steps in their thesis abstract, namely s1 and s2 of m1, s3 of m3, and s4 of m5. the distribution was balanced with 25% of occurrence of each step. as for the dissertation, participant 1 applied six out of eleven steps. the increase in the number of steps used in the abstracts reflected a development in the author’s genre knowledge. in contrast to participant 1, participant 2, the indonesian local graduate, showed a decrease in the number of steps manifested in the thesis and dissertation abstracts. although the participant used six steps out of eleven in the thesis abstract, only two steps were evident in the dissertation abstract. from the interview, it was discovered that to gain more academic writing knowledge, the participant did a lot of self-learning. furthermore, the circumstances in the thesis writing process were more unfortunate. there was less access to the internet and literatures, and the supervisor did not really guide the writing process. this information led to the assumption that the participant’s knowledge in genre experienced a development so that the thesis writing outcome would not be as good as the dissertation. however, the result of the analysis showed otherwise. even though the participant’s knowledge developed, the development was not realized into the writing outcome. participant 3, which is a mixed graduate between local and international, showed a similar result to participant 1. in the interview, they shared that the surrounding in the thesis writing process was not so conducive due to personal teaching schedules and research activities as a lecturer. the knowledge in academic writing was gained through self-learning. on the contrary, the academic environment in the dissertation writing process was very supportive with more access to free journals and writing workshops, as well as less teaching schedule. as expected, the circumstances resulted in the manifestation of more steps in their writing. participant 3 only used three out of eleven steps in the thesis abstracts, namely s2 of m1, s1 of m3, and s3 of m3. the step manifestation increased to eight steps in the dissertation abstract. this was the biggest development among all three participants. the variation of step manifestation in the thesis and dissertation abstract of participant 3 indicated that there was an influence from their genre knowledge development to their writing outcomes. only one out of three participants analyzed in the study showed a decrease in the number of steps used from the thesis to the dissertation abstract. this finding resulted in the identification of several factors that may prevent authors from realizing their knowledge into writing. considering the difference in the length of the abstracts, where the thesis abstract (329 words) is longer than the dissertation abstract (193 words), the reason for the decrease could be because the participant simply wanted the latter to be more compact. the use of fewer variations of steps in the abstract could also be due to different writing criteria or standards from the institutions where the participant pursued their master’s and doctoral degree. another factor to consider is the occupational background as a lecturer that llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 334 required the participant to split their focus to finish their final paper and teach at the same time. suherdi, kurniawan, and lubis (2021) in their study have also suggested some factors that could influence the realization of cognition into writing, which are the need to fulfill the expectation of publication editors and the level of familiarity and intensive experience of the authors with the abstract genre. in the end, their study stated that cognition does not necessarily reflect the actual writing in terms of rhetorical organization of the abstracts. conclusion the present study was designed to compare the variations of rhetorical structure manifestations in theses and dissertations abstracts by indonesian local and international graduate lecturers as well as its relation to the genre knowledge development of the authors. using hyland’s (2000) five-move analysis, this study has identified similarities in move manifestations between the abstracts, such as move 4 – findings as the most manifested move and move 5 – conclusion as the least manifested move in most of the abstracts. in the step occurrence level, regardless of the varying occurrence percentage of the steps, all six abstracts did not apply step 2 and step 3 of move 5. the move patterns of the abstracts vary with the use of embedded moves, but all six abstracts applied the five moves in sequence from move 1 to move 5. regarding genre knowledge development, it can be inferred from the findings that the varying life experience and social situations of a person lead to various ways of expressing their knowledge development in genre through their writing. although there was no explicit teaching of this particular genre, an environment favorable to academic activities could help strengthen and develop someone’s knowledge and ability in academic writing, as reflected from the writings of the international graduates. however, as seen from the analysis result of the local graduate, certain social circumstances could halt or intercept them from making use of the acquired knowledge in genre to their writings. notwithstanding the small scale of data employed in the study, the outcome of the present study contributes to existing literature in academic writing, particularly in genre move analysis in final papers such as theses and dissertations. the use of a larger set of data is suggested to help establish a greater degree of accuracy in the analysis of rhetorical structure and genre knowledge development of abstracts in theses and dissertations. reference al-khasawneh, f. m. (2017). a genre analysis of research article abstracts written by native and non-native speakers of english. journal of applied linguistics and language research, 4(1), 1-13. amnuai, w. (2019a). analyses of rhetorical moves and linguistic realizations in accounting research article abstracts published in international and thaibased journals. sage open, 9(1). doi:10.1177/2158244018822384 amnuai, w. (2019b). rhetorical move structures and linguistic realizations of abstracts in ict research articles and master's theses. sage open, 8(1), 157184. bazerman, c. (2013). a theory of literate action: literate action volume 2. fort collins, co: wac clearinghouse. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 335 bhatia, v. k. (1993). analyzing genre: language use in professional settings. harlow, uk: longman. casanave, c. p. 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(2020). move analysis of humanities dissertation abstracts in indonesian and english higher institutions: a comparative study [bachelor’s thesis, universitas pendidikan indonesia]. upi repository. http://repository.upi.edu/53306/ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 336 pratiwi s. n., kurniawan, e., gunawan, w., & lubis, a.h. (2021, april). move analysis of master’s thesis and dissertation abstracts in english and indonesian. in thirteenth conference on applied linguistics (conaplin 2020) (pp. 568-573). atlantis press. prior, p. (1995). redefining the tasks: an ethnographic examination of writing and responses in graduate seminars. in d. belcher, & g. brain (eds.), academic writing in a second language: essays on research and pedagogy (pp. 47-82). norwood, nj: ablex. ramadhini, t. m., wahyuni, i. t., ramadhani, n. t., kurniawan, e., gunawan, w., & muniroh, r. d. d. a. 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(2021). does cognition reflect performance? rhetorical organization of journal article abstracts written by indonesian authors. in hamied, f. a. (ed). literacies, culture, and society towards industrial revolution 4.0: reviewing policies, expanding research, enriching practices in asia, (pp. 209-227). new york: nova science publishers, inc. swales, j. m. (1990). genre analysis: english in academic and research settings. cambridge university press. swales, j. m. (2004). research genres: explorations and applications. cambridge: cambridge university press. tardy, c. (2009). building genre knowledge. west lafayette: parlor press. uzun, k. (2017). the relationship between genre knowledge and writing performance. the journal of teaching english for specific and academic purposes, 5(2), 153-162. doi: 10.22190/jtesap1702153u van bonn, s., & swales, j. m. (2007). english and french journal abstracts in the language sciences: three exploratory studies. journal of english for academic purpose, 6(2), 93‐108. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 227-239 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 227 the construction of indonesian efl learners’ identities: a narrative-based case study muhammad rafi abdusyukur universitas pendidikan indonesia correspondence: mrabdusyukur@upi.edu https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4449 received 6 march 2022; accepted 13 may 2022 abstract the identity that the learners construct during the english learning process is essential to understand how the efl learners continuously negotiate the identities they have until they successfully achieve adequate proficiency in english. this narrative-based case study investigates how the learning of english has constructed the learner identity of two indonesian postgraduate students who graduated from the english education department. categorized under narrative inquiry design, this research explored the participants’ personal narratives related to their experiences during the english language learning process. in the early phase of identity construction, both participants showed little or no relevance in learning english because it was imposed on them through the school curriculum. however, soon they developed positive identities which later turned to be false positivity. thus, these distressing moments asked for more investments from the participants. this study successfully confirms the notion of complex, multilayered, and multifaceted proved by the narratives that emerged from the participants' lived english learning experiences. keywords: identity construction, learner identity, narrative inquiry introduction the process of identity construction is considered to be an important element in a successful learning process. in efl and esl learning context, the learners bring their unique linguistic and cultural backgrounds to the class (choi, 2018). this phenomenon makes the learners go through multi-layered and continuous identity negotiation as they learn english as a language that also brings about the culture. therefore, each learner will not have a single and uniform identity (gee, 2008). thus, the learning process the learners undergo will be different and unique for each individual. in understanding learner identity in learning a language, past scholars often associated it with socio-educational motivation (choi, 2018). however, the concept of motivation could not capture the whole phenomenon. therefore, the term investment was introduced by norton (2000) to explain it. this term does not change the term motivation in language learning but complements the traditional concept of motivation. unlike the concept of motivation which sees language learners as unitary and ahistorical, the notion of investment explains how the mailto:mrabdusyukur@upi.edu https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4449 https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4449 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 227-239 228 language learners select and invest some efforts in learning the language based on their needs, sociocultural histories and environment, and multiple identities (choi, 2018). besides that, the teacher’s investment in teaching the target language is perceived to be equally important and must be addressed too because in the process both parties are involved and affect each other (keiler, 2018; lie, 2017; prabandari, 2020; teng, 2019; ubaidillah & widiati, 2021). as implied before, the identities that the learners have will be constantly negotiated and changed over time. in line with the statement, barnett and antenucci (2006), norton (2000), and teng (2019) stated that identity is fluid as it will change depending on many factors revolved around it. this is what many scholars said to be the main characteristic of identity. moreover, identity is also complex (barnett & antenucci, 2006; norton, 2000), subjective (ubaidillah et al., 2020), multiple and diverse (choi, 2018; norton, 2000; teng, 2019), may be in tension or conflict (barnett & antenucci, 2006; norton, 2000; teng, 2019; ubaidillah & widiati, 2021), and affecting and affected by the environment (al mubarokah & prasetya, 2020; harjanto, lie, & wijaya, 2019; mutiara, 2020; sarie, pratolo, & purwanti, 2020; ubaidillah & widiati, 2021). moreover, bucholtz and hall (2010) argued that identity will not exist prior to discursive exposure. it means that identity cannot self-emerge. barnett and antenucci (2006) proposed an esl learner identity framework which can also be applied in efl context to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the concept. they stated that the esl learner identity is constituted by social identities, disciplinary identities, and biographical identities. each of them is further categorized into smaller identities. for social identity, they are comprised of cultural and intercultural identities. for disciplinary identities, they are composed of meaning-making identities, discourse identities, and active language learner identities. lastly, biographical identities are formed by physical identities, family identities, community identities, language identities, and esl learner identities. each language learner brings these identities with them when learning english. therefore, if one identity that constituted the learner identity is changed or negotiated, the whole identity will be affected (norton, 2000; norton & de costa, 2018). moreover, each of the identity mentioned is important in constructing the learner identity. that is why the concept of learner identity is complex, multilayered, and multifaceted (barnett & antenucci, 2006; bucholtz & hall, 2010; norton, 2000; richards, 2021). with this unique and important topic, it is no wonder if the research on identity continues to capture the attention of the efl and l2 scholars (lei & liu, 2019; lie, 2017; norton, 2000; norton & de costa, 2018). in the indonesian efl context, lie (2017) and ubaidillah and widiati (2021) addressed the issues, opportunities, and challenges of cultural identity transformation in multicultural settings and its effect on the student’s english performance. from the study, it could be seen that the learning of english made the learners have to go through continuous negotiation with their identity as they have a multicultural background. thus the teacher’s role is important to clarify their stance as english learners who should not lose their identity as indonesian people and avoid confusion when the identities they have are contradictive. there is also more research on this topic in the indonesian efl context such as gandana and nissa (2021) and mutiara (2020) who researched how an indonesian writer continuously negotiate her cultural identity llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 227-239 229 amidst globalization and english learning, ke lomi & mbato (2020) and ubaidillah et al. (2020) who focused on the struggles of indonesian efl novice teachers in constructing their professional identities by utilizing their unique experiences as efl learners, and wirza (2018) and who discussed an in-depth explanation of the identity construction of two indonesian efl learners. however, even if there is a growing interest to conduct research on this topic proved by many previous studies, more research is expected to keep on being conducted to deepen the understanding and explore the full extent of the practicality of this topic. therefore, this study wants to fill the gap by investigating how the learning of english has constructed the efl learner identity of two indonesian postgraduate students. by doing so, it is hoped that this study will enrich the body knowledge of the identity research field, encourage the english scholars especially indonesian to do more studies on the same field by making this as a reference, and contribute to society by giving alternative perspective to the policymakers which are hoped to consider the experiences of the past learners as a reference in formulating future english education policy. method this study needs a certain research design that can help to reveal in-depth data from the participants. therefore, the narrative inquiry design was chosen. this design allows the researcher to dig deeper in understanding the process of how the individual identities are constructed and re-constructed through their lived experiences (clandinin & connelly, 2000) in learning english. in line with the statement, (wirza, 2018) argued that in identity research, the individual narrative is one of the most profound ways in understanding the identity construction process. as indicated previously, this research involved two participants, namely p1 and p2. they are both the graduates of english education department in a public university in bandung and now are pursuing their master’s degree. both of them came from a middle-class family background which affected their first encounter with english and the level of exposure to the language. even though p2 was born in rembang, she moved to bandung when she was still an infant and has lived there since then. because of that, both participants had early exposure to the sundanese language. moreover, they had sundanese language as local content at all school levels. however, in the school, the medium of instruction was mostly indonesian language with occasionally sundanese language as the local language. therefore, the indonesian language serves mainly as a medium of communication with other indonesians who do not share the same linguistics background. besides that, the indonesian language has been learned by them since childhood as p1’s mother is an indonesian language lecturer, and p2’s parents were not profound in sundanese language as they came from central java. in senior high school, both participants had exposure to other foreign languages – the japanese language. for more details about the participants' demographic information, see table 1. below. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 227-239 230 table 1. participants’ demographic information name gender age linguistic background educational background length of english learning experiences (approx..) socioeconomic background p1 male 25 sundanse, indonesian, english, japanese undergraduate english language education study program 17 years middle-class p2 female 24 javanese (rembangnese -dialect), sundanese, indonesian, english, japanese undergraduate english language and literature study program 16 years middle-class this study revolved around the participants’ significant moments. because of that, p2 was chosen due to the rapport and trust that has been built between her and the researcher since 2015 to ensure the richness of details of the moments. to collect the data, personal narrative and series of interview were conducted to yield necessary data. the personal narrative was done by p1 as he is the researcher. it was done reflexively by writing the personal narrative on these significant moments. as for p2, a series of interview was conducted. the interviews were done twice and lasted for an hour each. it was done in bahasa indonesia to make her relaxed and could fully express the moments. the first significant moments they had to recall was the first encounter with english and the context built around it by including the illustration of the moments, people involved, and the conversation (if applicable). besides that, they had to recall their experiences when learning english including the way their teachers taught them and what they did during the lesson. moreover, they had to reflect on whether they enjoyed the learning and the strengths and weaknesses they felt in learning the language skills. lastly, if applicable, they were expected to share the turning point of english learning and the way they cope with it. the data collected through the reflexive personal narrative and interview were then transcribed and analyzed. by doing that, the emerged themes related to relevant events and experiences could be analyzed after some coding processes were employed. following riessman's (2003) thematic analysis, this study focused on the content of the story. moreover, as this study centered on the experiences of the participants, the narratives were examined across the stories (squire et al., 2014). by following the framework, the analysis went forward and backward in the timeline to ensure the necessary details and did not miss important events or experiences. thus, the analysis went forward starting from the first encounter with english. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 227-239 231 findings and discussion the sections below presents the results of the study conducted to two participants: p1 and p2 related to their efl learner identities construction. the results will be delivered in narratives as suggested in the research method as to unravel the stories accordingly. furthermore, the discussion part will also be presented as a mean to compare the results with the theories and previous works related to this topic. findings this study identified the participants’ identity construction as english language learners. the identification of the early identity construction was based on bucholtz and hall's (2010) principle of the early emergence of identity. in the early stage of identity construction, the participants had a different experience. p1 showed little or no relevance in learning english since english was imposed on him through the school curriculum as local content. that is why he did not have genuine motivation in learning english as a language. as for p2, she was exposed to english earlier than p1 because her father listened to english songs a lot when she was still a toddler. however, she did not show any interest in learning the language except for understanding the lyrics she heard. the first encounter with english p1’s first encounter with english was as a local content when he was in grade 4 of primary school. he recounted: what i can remember is: i was in the middle of english language class discussing a crossword puzzle with animals theme that was written on the blackboard. it was the last puzzle to solve – vertical one, six boxes. the statement was: the english word for iguana. i remember that i was repeatedly mumbling: “iguana…iguana…is it iguana?” all of my friends kept on trying to write the answer on the blackboard but their answers were kept on getting rejected. it was a coincidence that my eyes met my teacher’s (while i was still mumbling). then, with a big nod and smile, he indirectly told me that my answer – iguana – was right. i rushed to come forward overjoyed to write the answer. during this time, even though the encounter was as a school subject, he found it interesting. not only english, but he was also quite interested in learning languages such as arabic, sundanese, and indonesian when he was in primary level. the reason for this interest might come from his mother who is an indonesian language lecturer. moreover, soon after he was exposed to english, he started to play games on playstation that his friend bought. this introduction to technology opened up his horizon in english usage as the language interface to play the games was english or japanese. therefore, this new experience played an important role in the improvement of his english skills. different from p1, p2’s first encounter was when she was still a toddler. she remembered that her father liked to play english songs and she listened to them. she recounted: when i was around four or five, my father tended to play english songs cassette. the songs were from s michael learn to rock and other 90’s english songs. as in the back side of the cassette there were the lyrics of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 227-239 232 the songs, i tried to read it without knowing their meaning and how to read it. what i felt was only that the songs (melody) are all good and i could sing well if i could read it appropriately. since then, i grew an interest on english language and i asked my dad such as “dad, how to pronounce this? what are those words mean?” however, even though she was exposed to english early, she did not really interested in learning the language except when it was about understanding the lyrics she read and heard. then, when she attended primary school, she was further exposed to english because english was one of the local content. so, english was imposed on her as the school subject and she had little relevance in learning it as english was not used as the primary language in her daily activities. the emergence of positive identity in primary school, p1 found he was better at learning english language compared to his classmates. that was why his mother sent him to join a private english course run by her friend named ms. luci. after school, at 1 p.m. he would go to the course by angkot and went back home at 3 p.m. during his time here, he showed great performance and improvements in english. until one point, ms. luci praised him because he could successfully answer a typically “hard” question related to plural forms. he recounted: it was in grade 6 when my private english teacher said, “wow, brilliant! i did not expect you to be able to guess the plural forms since many of my students from lower secondary level answered ‘childs’ instead of children”. since this time onward, i developed greatly in english as i invested more in learning it in formal and informal activities. as a result, as far as i remember, i could score no less than 90 in every english test in every level of education until grade 12. coupled with my extensive english learning activities – through games, i could use english to communicate with my online game friends with ease. because of this simple compliment from his teacher, p1 gained a boost in his academic and non-academic-achievement. he invested more time and energy in learning english as he realized that english could be his strongest point in an academic subject. moreover, in non-academic achievement, as he played more games such as yu-gi-oh, resident evil, and suikoden that used english language interface, he was forced to learn the words he encountered to effectively play the games. thus, he constructed positive identities towards english because of those reasons. similar to p1, p2 joined a private course from 3rd until 6th grade. she joined the course because she was invited by her friend that had already joined it. so, she did not initially join the course based on her interest in learning english. however, she also realized that she would need it since it was taught at school. in teaching english, this course offered a different way of teaching. there, the instructor taught the materials in a much more fun way such as singing or other practical activities. it was in contrast compared to the learning she had in the school which focused more on structure and grammar. related to this course, she recounted: since grade 3, i joined a private english course…. because of this course, i excelled in english subject at school as i had learned the basics and surpassed what was being taught at school. i was very confident at that llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 227-239 233 time because i was better compared to my friends. they often sought for my explanation and said, “please explain it us!” because of this private course she attended, she started to have confidence in her english skills as she had been equipped with more knowledge compared to her classmates. when she attended secondary school, she was quite confident and had positive identities when it came to english proficiency. this positivity was coupled with her meeting ms. titin, her lower secondary english teacher. she individualized the teaching materials in order to make english became her students’. the encounter with technology and the internet as a result of globalization made her realize the importance of english. in details, p2 recounted: this positivity continued in secondary school … ms. titin was my favorite teacher. she individualized the learning activities and also the materials such as “choose your own words and make sentence out of it.” this kind of teaching style really made me understand the materials and made the vocabularies my own... she often shared her experiences when going somewhere and motivated me “if you learn english, you can go anywhere and do anything!” …also, because i started to use internet, english helped me in communicating with people around the world via omegle and facebook. this positivity last until both of the participants finished their compulsory school – until 12 grade. they felt that their english proficiency was better compared to their friends and could manage to perform well in every english subject they had to take. it was not solely because of the teachers that taught them in school but also initiated by the extra investments they did outside the school time. turning point in english learning when both participants entered university with an english major, they realized that there was something missing from their english and it was the lack of speaking practices in the school. for p1, it happened in speaking 1 class with ms. gin gin in semester 1. he was conscious that the positive identity he had was false. regarding this, he recounted: it was the first semester at college that greatly changed my belief in my own english skills. it was a midterm exam of speaking i with ms. gin gin. the midterm was in the form of a private simple interview in her cubical. …. while waiting, i did not know what to prepare and my hands were cold and shaking. when my turn came, ms. gin gin called me to enter the room. i was very nervous because i knew that my speaking skill was the worst compared to my other english skills. i sat down facing her. she asked me some basic questions ... then she asked me “how often do you go back to garut?” i understood the questions. however, because of nervousness, i answered “one week…….once.” in my mind, i literally translate “seminggu sekali” which is “seminggu = one week and sekali = once” in the indonesian language instead of “once a week”. ms. gin gin was stunned because of my answer … she gave me a little smile. that time, he had to do a personal interview with ms. gin gin as the lecturer regarding a simple topic about daily activities for the mid-term exam. however, he was very anxious and nervous. because of that, he could not think clearly. he understood the questions given by the lecturer and could answer the early questions. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 227-239 234 however, due to nervousness and anxiety, he did a literal translation from the indonesian language to english which was wrong because english and indonesian are different in terms of word orders. similar to p1, p2 also experienced the distressing moment when she was in semester 1 of university life. she was in speaking 1 class with ms. susi and had to present a certain topic. because she was nervous, she did not perform well as her presentation was unclear. she recounted for this moment: it was blank. when i did my presentation in speaking i class with ms. susi. i was speechless and i could feel that people stared at me and saw my lecturer had a stare that was like “what is this girl trying to say?” in result, i was balelol (inaccurate and unclear) when continuing my presentation. besides that, i felt cold sweat running over my body and my hands were trembling. i still remember how the lecturer looked at me at that time – cold. she also said nothing as feedbacks. this was her turning point in learning english. the confidence she built, the struggles she did, and the positive identity she constructed over the years was shaken in that instant moment. moreover, because of her poor performance throughout the semester, she did not get a satisfying gpa. before that time, she realized that her speaking skill was not her strength. however, she was quite confident with it because she could still survive during her years at school. however, it was the reality in university where the pressure was different and all of the students had been equipped with the necessary skills. so, the positive identity she had been constructed was false and she had to reinforce her speaking skills if she wanted to regain her confidence. fortunately, this distressing event did not make her fall into depression as she tried to reconstruct her confidence after that. regaining the confidence and positive identity the distressing moment in semester 1 happened to both participants. then they did every deed possible to regain their confidence and positive identity as english learners. for p1, since semester 1, he always tried to sign up for ms. gin gin’s class. it was done as his resort in covering his weaknesses in english. he knew that she would always push him to his limit in order to make him improved. finally, in semester 5 when he took speaking for academic purposes class, he was able to accomplish his goal of regaining his confidence and positive identity as an english learner. he narrated: the moment that i remember was when the ielts practice was about past events. we sat in a circle and there were not many students – maybe around 10. we practiced delivering our answers accurately using past tense in a limited time. … while not really confident, i successfully delivered my respond to the question accurately in time. she said, “nah, accurate ya using past tense.” she did not smile while giving that feedback and kind of giving a “cool” face. but, to me, that was the first time she complimented me… then, in the final exam in semester 5 she complemented, “well done. good delivery and well-prepared proposal.” my practice was not in pain. then, when the final mark showed up, i got what i expected. the road he took to regain them back was not easy. he has to challenge himself by signing up in a very strict lecturer’s class (as his friend always said) and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 227-239 235 strived for continuous improvement. he also had to invest more time and energy in doing so far greater than what he did in compulsory school time. the sign of approval given in the form of good feedbacks from ms. gin gin was the sign that he did improve and his investment from semester 1 until semester 5 was not in vain. in p2’s case, the time to regain her confidence and positive identity was relatively shorter. she took ms. susi’s speaking class again in semester 3. different from her semester 1, she did everything she could in order to show her true skills in english whenever possible. she did not want her lecturer to perceive that she could not perform well as the real reason was nervousness. this nervousness really hindered her in showing her top performance in the speaking class. therefore, she practiced a lot and did not give up. related to her struggles in accomplishing her goal, she recounted: since primary school, i always kept on telling myself not to give up whatever the challenges i had to face. that event in semester 1 did not demotivate me in learning english. instead, i kept on honing my skills so similar event would not happen again. whenever possible, i would “show off” my skills. once, i approached her and tried to ask her things like “bu, what does it mean? or else” that i did not understand. the main purpose of doing this was to show her that “bu, look, i also can do it.” it turned out that it helped me a lot in regaining my confidence. because of this, i received a positive response from bu susi – she started to smile more when talking to me. even though there were no direct compliments, this was indeed boosted my confidence and finally made me regain the positivity towards english learning. in the end, i received an a which was previously c from her. her investments in learning english were fruitful in the end. after she could find a way to cope with her nervousness when talking in front of many people, she finally could show her exact english skills in front of her lecturer. the investment she did from semester 1 until semester 3 yielded the expected results. thus, she realized that she finally succeeded in regaining her confidence and positive identity as an english learner after she witnessed the changes in the lecturer’s way of communication with her in the class. discussion the findings of this study have shown that the identity construction of the english learners is affected by the socio-cultural aspects surrounding them (al mubarokah & prasetya, 2020; harjanto et al., 2019; sarie et al., 2020; ubaidillah & widiati, 2021). this study shows that the efl learners have complex and rich identities before they were exposed to english. therefore, the negotiation and changes to the identity they previously had are needed due to the new exposure they received. besides that, the early construction of the english identity was not naturally constructed by the participants but through some external exposure (al mubarokah & prasetya, 2020; bucholtz & hall, 2010; mutiara, 2020). in p1’s case, the exposure was from the imposed local content through the curriculum in his primary school. however, in p2’s case, the early exposure was through the target language culture – songs – introduced by her father. if i use the tesol learner framework from barnett and antenucci (2006), all identities constituting the learner identity were present in both participants’ early llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 227-239 236 exposure to english. in p1’s case, the english learner identity was firstly evoked by the disciplinary identity as he was imposed to english at school due to the mandate from the curriculum. however, in p2’s case, the first to evoke the english learner identities was the social identities especially the intercultural ones. however, later on, the identities that kept their investments in learning english were the intercultural ones due to the encounters with technology and the internet as the product of globalization. this is relevant with gandana and nissa (2021) and mutiara (2020) studies that show the important role of intercultural identities in shaping the efl learners identity. in terms of time to construct the learner identity, p1’s was faster because of his biographical identities (barnett & antenucci, 2006) that favor language learning. in contrast, p2’s was slower even though she had been exposed to english earlier. this might be caused by the little or no relevance she had in learning english at that time. this indicates the role of motivation in learning the target language (lamb, 2017). in both p1’s and p2’s cases, it can be perceived that the role of the english teacher is important. this conclusion is similar to lie (2017), prabandari (2020), and teng (2019), wirza (2018). this indicates that not only the students that must invest more time and energy in learning english but also the teacher’s investment in learning the materials and the way to deliver them is equally important in constructing a positive learner’s identity in learning english. reflecting on the narratives, the compliments and feedbacks given by the teacher played important roles in shaping it. therefore, the teachers must be professional (lie, 2017) so they will be able to give meaningful compliments and feedbacks at the most appropriate time. moreover, even though both participants developed positive identities as efl learners during their compulsory education, it was later perceived as false-positive identities after they underperformed in a very important moment in their respective speaking 1 classes. these false-positive identities often experienced by indonesian efl learners as mentioned by wirza (2018). because of those striking events, both p1 and p2 had to reconstruct and renegotiate their identity as english language learners. the term investment in the understanding identity construction of a language learner introduced by norton (2000) is considered crucial (richards, 2021; ubaidillah & widiati, 2021). in both p1’s and p2’s case, their investment in learning english had been established when they were still in primary school. it was proven by their extensive learning activities such as joining private english courses and other informal activities. however, after the turning point of english learning in semester 1 they experienced, the amount of investment they carried out was far greater. the reason was they wanted to regain the confidence and positive identity as an english learner that was shaken by the distressing moment. because of this great investment in the form of time spent, efforts made, or resources utilized in learning the language (wirza, 2018), they successfully regained them. this is what choi (2018) and richards (2021) considered as the key to success in learning a second language. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 227-239 237 conclusion from the discussion above, this study shows that the identity construction process of an indonesian efl learner is complex, multilayered, and multifaceted. moreover, the process is different between individuals since they have different and identities unique to them and cannot be generalized. as they learn the language, over time, they get more exposure to the language and the culture attached to it be it through formal education, non-formal activities, or else. within that time, the negotiation, changes, and even contradiction between the existing identities take place because of many factors revolving around them. thus, as english has become the lingua franca of the world, it is important to keep learning it as a bridge to understand the world but at the same time, the learners must be able to preserve the identities they have so they will not lose themselves. given the importance of identity construction in the learner’s journey of learning english, future research should address more of the topic in other contexts. these narratives generated from the learner’s experiences should be the basis of developing efl teaching strategies or programs by the teachers as they reflect the reality that happened from lived experiences. furthermore, these stories can also serve as the alternative perspective used by the policymakers in determining the policies related to efl teaching and learning context. references al mubarokah, l., & prasetya, w. 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(2018). a narrative case study of indonesian efl learners’ identities. indonesian journal of applied linguistics, 8(2). https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v8i2.13313 http://www.assumptionjournal.au.edu/index.php/newenglishteacher/article/view/4093/2653 http://www.assumptionjournal.au.edu/index.php/newenglishteacher/article/view/4093/2653 https://doi.org/10.30762/jeels.v8i1 https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v8i2.13313 llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 34 the implementation of scaffolding in writing recount texts in smp joannes bosco yogyakarta tiara maria dewi and yuseva ariyani iswandari sanata dhrama university abstract there are some compulsory subjects in junior high schools and english is one of them. as a compulsory subject, english needs to be mastered by the students. therefore, english teachers are required to teach it well so that the students are able to master english. in teaching english, there is a need to use new techniques. teachers need to vary the teaching techniques so that the students can learn english in different ways. one of the new techniques in teaching english is scaffolding. in this research, scaffolding is implemented in english class of the 8 th grade students of smp joannes bosco yogyakarta when they learn about recount text. this research aims to find out the process of how scaffolding is implemented and to know what the benefits of scaffolding in writing recount text. there were two research problems. the first was “how is scaffolding for the 8 th grade students of smp joannes bosco in writing a recount text?” and the second was “what are the benefits of scaffolding in writing a recount text in smp joannes bosco yogyakarta?” the writers conducted a descriptive qualitative research in this study. the data was gathered by interviewing the english teacher, writing on the field notes, distributing the questionnaires, and interviewing the students. analyzing the students’ writings was used as the supplementary data to make the result stronger. the result of this study showed that the implementation of scaffolding gave benefits for the students. the benefits were challenging the students through deep learning and discovery, engaging the students in meaningful and dynamic discussions in the small and the large classes, and motivating the learners to become better students. in conclusion, scaffolding does give benefits for the students so that teachers are able to use scaffolding as one of the effective teaching techniques. keywords: scaffolding, writing, recount text, smp joannes bosco introduction nowadays, english has been a language for international communication. as the international language, it is common that most of companies require the workers to have good skills in english so that they can build wider relation with other companies. it shows that english has become a need for people all around the world. since it has become a need, there are many countries, such as indonesia, that put english as one of the compulsory llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 35 subjects in schools. it is taught from the elementary schools, the junior high schools, and the senior high schools. as the compulsory subject, the students are required to master english. there are four english skills that should be mastered, such as reading, writing, listening, and speaking (bright & mcgregor, 1973). usually, writing skill is emphasized in learning english because it is stated in the curriculum that the students need to be able to write some texts in english. therefore, the teachers are also required to teach well because they need to make the students master english. when the students learn to write, they need others’ feedbacks so that they can write well. providing feedback is the teacher’s technique to teach writing for the students in smp joannes bosco. the teacher usually provides feedback in the form of checking the incorrect sentences that the students write. the teacher also explains the incorrect sentence generally in the class. however, before the teacher requires the students to write the text, the teacher provides some of the same text types so that the students get the model of the text. the students can observe the language feature and also the generic structure of the text by reading the text given. the teacher gives more exposures to the language feature by giving an exercise to fill in the blank on the text. this way of teaching needs to be improved. the students already get the model of the right texts, are also given the feedback for their writing, and get further general explanation in the class. yet, they do not get the individual further explanation which makes the feedback more spesific and focus. the students also need to get a chance to write more than once so that they can really know how to write well. therefore, there is a need to use new techniques in teaching writing. one of the new teaching techniques that can be implemented is by using scaffolding. scaffolding means providing the help for the students to support their learning process. the help is in the form of others’ assistance. since the writers see that there is a need to use a new technique in teaching the students in smp joannes bosco, in this research, scaffolding is implemented when they learn the recount texts. scaffolding is a technique to help the students. therefore, it is expected that scaffolding could really help the students in writing a recount text well. the writers would like to see how it is implemented and what benefits of scaffolding in writing recount text in smp joannes bosco. review of related literature in this section the writers provide the theories that support this research. there are three key topics in this section. they are (1) scaffolding, (2) writing, and (3) recount text. scaffolding llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 36 scaffolding is a teaching technique to help students by providing assistance from adult or more capable peers. scaffolding was invented by lev vygotsky. the main point of scaffolding is to provide help or assistance for the learners in learning something. the assistance allows the students to be independent learners as what slavin (2012) states: scaffolding is the support for learning and problem solving; might include clues, reminders, encouragement, breaking the problem down into steps, providing an example or anything else that allows the student to grow in independence as a learner (p. 42). the aim to involve scaffolding in the students’ learning process is to make them independent learners so that they are able to accomplish a task by themselves. teachers provide input and instruction that support and challenge the students as they move toward independence (hyland, 2003). scaffolding for students can be in the form of providing things like advance organizer, cue cards, mindmaps, etc. and guiding students in their learning process. besides, there is another type of scaffolding which is not in the form of tools in helping the students. it is in the form of guidance for the students’ learning process. this type is developed by frey, fisher, and everlove as cited in komalasari and iswandari (2014). this type requires the students to become independent learners. an independent learner requires an independent learning which means that the students can do the learning process by themselves, without the teachers’ guiding. similar with frey, fisher, and everlove, nothern illinois university, faculty development and instructional design center (n.d.) also states the same. figure 1 is the figure of scaffolding model: llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 37 figure 1 models of scaffolding adapted from: nothern illinois university, faculty development and instructional design center (n.d.) as figure 1 shows, scaffolding is implemented when the students cannot do the task on their own. as a result of the scaffolding implementation, students can do the task on their own. at this time, scaffolding is removed. students do not need assistance anymore for their learning process. implementing scaffolding in the learning process gives some advantages. a study of instructional scaffolding to improve learning by nothern illinois university, faculty development and instructional design center (n.d.) presents a proof that the instructional scaffolding has some advantages. they are: (1) challenging students through deep learning and discovery, (2) engaging students in meaningful and dynamic discussions in small and large classes, and (3) motivating learners to become better students writing according to besserat and errad (2008), writing is a general term for a visual system distinct from art, and a mode of language use that is distinguished from speaking, whereas writing system refers to a spesific type of graphic marks that represent types of linguistic units. since writing deals with linguistic units, it means that writing includes grammars. hyland (2003) states that writing is seen as a product constructed from the writer’s command of the grammatical and llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 38 lexical knowledge. writing aims to share ideas and thought. according to butt et al., (2000) as cited in hyland (2003), there are five factual genres in writing. they are: (1) recount, which tells about past experience, (2) procedure, which tells a process of how something is done, (3) description, which describes an imagined or factual events or things, (4) report, which presents factual information about a class of things, usually by classifying them and describing their characteristics, and (5) explanation, which gives reasons for something. recount text recount texts are texts about past events or a text which retells past events, usually they are written orderly (anderson, 1997 as cited in indah, 2010). they tell about something in the past. according to hyland (2003), the generic structure of a recount text is an orientation, a record of events, and a reorientation. in the orientation, there are informations about who, when, and where or the background information of the text (government of south australia, 2012). in a record of events, it is usually recounted in a chronological order. government of south australia (2012) uses different terms. they use sequence of events but the content is the same. there are series of events in a chronological order. writers are able to express their feelings in this part. “it is appropriate to include personal comments and evaluative remarks throughout the text” (government of south australia, 2012). the last part of the generic structure in recount text is reorientation. it is a summary of the whole text. hyland (2003) stated that a reorientation rounds off the sequence of events. by writing a recount text, people can share their personal experiences. people can be amused to listen to the story. as in government of south australia (2012) writes that recount texts are “used to relate experiences or retell events for the purpose of informing, entertaining or reflecting”. moreover, according to hyland (2003), the purpose of a recount text is “to relate a sequence of events so that it entertains” (p.124). methodology subject in this research, there were students of smp joannes bosco and english language education study program (elesp) students of sanata dharma university as the participants. the ones who scaffolded the students’ writings were the elesp students and the ones who were scaffolded were smp joannes bosco students. the writers chose one class (viii happiness) in this study. there were twenty eight students in this class in the academic year 2014/2015. elesp students were from class c batch 2013 class critical reading and writing (crw) ii. the writers chose students of crw ii because they have been majoring english language education study program (elesp) for two years. it means that they are llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 39 considered as more capable students as they are the ones who scaffold the smp joannes bosco students’ writings. there were fourteen students who were at the same level of writing skill. the elesp students’ a score on crw i were the base to choose the fourteen students. since there were fourteen elesp students, one student of elesp got two writings of class viii happiness to be checked. the elesp students checked the errors in the use of verbs. data collection before conducting the research, the writers gathered the data about the technique that the teacher usually used in teaching a recount text to the students and the process of implementing the scaffolding in writing a recount text in the 8 th grade happiness smp joannes bosco. after having enough information about the process of implementing the scaffolding, the writers distributed the questionnaires to the students after they wrote the recount texts three times. after analyzing the data in the questionnaires, the writers interviewed some students to clarify some questions that they answered unclearly. then, the writers described the data and analyzed them to see what the benefits of implementing scaffolding. result and discussion in this part, the writers answer the research questions. the research questions are: 1) how is scaffolding implemented for the 8 th grade students of smp joannes bosco in writing a recount text? 2) what are the benefits of scaffolding in writing a recount text for the 8 th grade students of smp joannes bosco yogyakarta? this part is divided into two sections. the first section is the process of scaffolding implemented for the 8 th grade students of smp joannes bosco in writing a recount text. the second section is the benefits of scaffolding in writing a recount text for the 8 th grade students of smp joannes bosco yogyakarta. the process of scaffolding implemented for the 8 th grade students of smp joannes bosco in writing a recount text the process of scaffolding that was implemented for the 8 th grade students of smp joannes bosco in writing a recount text was related to the model of scaffolding process that was adapted from nothern illinois university, faculty development and instructional design center (n.d.). figure 2 presented the model. llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 40 figure 2 models of scaffolding as figure 2 showed, as the foundational knowledge, there was ‘what the students can already do’. in this stage, the students were already able to do task that the teacher required them to do. in relation to this research, what the students could already do was they already knew how to write a recount text. it was because the teacher already explained about a recount text briefly to the students. after the teacher had already explained it, the students began to write their first recount texts. when they wrote their first recount text, they still made some errors related to the use of verbs in their writings. it was related to the ‘new task’ stage, where ‘students cannot do on their own’. students needed others’ assistance to help them writing a good recount text. in other words, they need scaffolding. the role of elesp students was as the scaffolders. they were included in the stage where ‘provided from the instructor’ was done. in this stage, scaffolding was done twice. the students’ first writings were scaffolded by the elesp students. the elesp students scaffolded the writings by checking only the use of verbs in the students’ recount texts. they found that the students still made some errors. they revised the inappropriate verbs and then they gave a letter to explain how the verbs should be corrected and gave spirit to llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 41 the students. they wrote the letter themselves. figure 3 presents the student 12 first writing that had been checked by the elesp student and the scaffolding from elesp student in the form of letter. llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 42 figure 3 student 12 first writing and scaffolding in the form of letter before the students wrote their second writings, they read the letter from the elesp students. they respond it in some ways. there were some students who were very excited to get a letter from the elesp students. they asked their friends who gave them the letter, or asked their friends whether the elesp students were girls or boys. some students seriously read the letter and some other students asked the teacher about the explanation because they did not understand. after they had already done reading the letter and paid attention to their first writing, they checked which words were right and wrong. then, they started writing their second recount text. after that, those writings were delivered to the elesp students. when the elesp students read their writings, they found that the students had some improvements. they began to write the correct form of the past form of the verbs. after the students had been through the scaffolding process, they came to the stage ‘what students can now do on their own as a result of the scaffold’. in this stage, scaffolding was removed. the students were already able to write their recount texts alone with more awareness to the use of verbs. it could be seen that the student became aware of their previous errors and tried not to make the same errors again. in the third writing, most of the students got fewer errors than the first and the second writing. llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 43 the students already became independent learners. the assistance allowed the students to be independent learners. it is related to slavin’s statement (2012): scaffolding is the support for learning and problem solving; might include clues, reminders, encouragement, breaking the problem down into steps, providing an example or anything else that allows the student to grow in independence as a learner (p. 42). after scaffolding was implemented in the class, the students became independent learners. they became aware with the use of verbs when they wrote their second and third recount texts. the benefits of scaffolding in writing a recount text for the 8 th grade students of smp joannes bosco yogyakarta when scaffolding was implemented in a writing recount text for the 8 th grade students of smp joannes bosco yogyakarta, it could give some benefits. the benefits were related to the scaffolding benefits that was stated by illinois university, faculty development and instructional design center (n.d.). the first benefit that was challenging students through deep learning and discovery. the second benefit was engaging students in meaningful and dynamic discussions in the small and the large class. the last benefit was motivating learners to become better students. a. challenging students through deep learning and discovery with the guidance or tools to help students to learn, students had more exposures to the material given. they paid more attention and they could discover things related to the material so that they got better understanding. in relation with the findings on this research, the deep learning that the students had was the more exposures to write recount texts. the students wrote the recount text three times. they were also exposed to the use of verbs since the elesp students checked the use of verbs. the exposures given made the students discovered things in a writing recount text. they became aware on the use of verbs. b. engaging students in meaningful and dynamic discussions in small and large class the next benefit was engaging students in meaningful and dynamic discussions in the small and the large class. by using the type of scaffolding, which was using guidance for students, students could have meaningful and dynamic discussion because they could get feedback for their learning process. in the research findings, each of the students got feedback from the elesp students in the form of checking the incorrect verbs and writing the explanation in the form of a letter. the feedback was not llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 44 only discussed generally in the class, but each of student had the further explanation of their writings. the elesp students’ scaffolding in the form of letter made the feedback became in a discussion. even though it was not a direct discussion, the students got the feedback that focused on their own writings. as a result, the students still got the meaningful and dynamic discussion with the elesp students since they could also really know why the verbs they wrote were wrong because there was explanation for it on the letter. using scaffolding in the recount text gave the students opportunity to have individual feedback. c. motivating learners to become better students the last benefit was motivating learners to become better students. scaffolding also made students motivated in learning because the scaffolder could give motivation for the students to learn. besides, the students could get individual feedback so that they really knew their errors. from the questionnaire, students agreed that scaffolding motivated them to learn english. it was because they could know their errors and know why it was wrong so that they would avoid making the same errors again. therefore, the feedback that the elesp students wrote motivated the students. conclusion based on the research findings, how scaffolding implementation is, the first, the teacher gave explanation about a recount text to the students. after that, the students began to write their first recount text. having finished with the recount text, their writings were scaffolded by the elesp students by checking the use of verbs and writing the explanation in the form of a letter. before the students wrote their second writing, they got their writings back along with the elesp students’ explanation which was in the form of a letter for each of them. the students paid attention to their errors and read the explanation. after that, they wrote their second writing. their second writings were scaffolded again by the elesp students and they were delivered back to the students. the last, students wrote their third writings as the final product. for the second research problem, scaffolding gives benefits to the students. there are three benefits after the implementation of scaffolding. the benefits are challenging students through deep learning and discovery, engaging students in meaningful and dynamic discussions in the small and the large classes, and motivating learners to become better students. in conclusion, scaffolding benefits the students. this research proves that scaffolding gives benefits for learning writing a recount text. the writers suggest that teachers can use scaffolding as one of their techniques in teaching writing for students. it does not only able to help the students, but it is interesting for them llt journal vol. 19 no. 1 april 2016 issn 1410-7201 45 because it is a new thing for them. scaffolding does not only need seniors as the ones who scaffold. it can also be done by the students’ friends. therefore, it is also suggested that scaffolding among students is also implemented. references besserat, d. s. & errad, m. (2008). handbook of research on writing. new york: lawrence erlbaum associated. bright, j.a., & mcgregor, g. p. (1973). teaching english as a second language. london: longman group. government of south australia. (2012). engaging in and exploring recount writing : a practical guide for classroom teachers. department for education and child development, government of south australia. hyland, k. (2003). second language writing. cambridge: cambridge university press. indah, d. (2010). an undergraduate thesis on: improving writing recount text by using photographs: case study of the eleventh year students of sman 1 pati in the academic year of 2009/2010. semarang: ikip pgri semarang. retrieved august 28 th , 2015, from https://andynuriman.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/skripsi_dwi-nur indah.pdf komalasari, a., & iswandari, y. a. (2014). proceedings of language and language teaching conference: employing scaffolding strategy to facilitate students with different english circumstances. sanata dharma university, yogyakarta: english language education study program. nothern illinois university, faculty development and instructional design center. (n.d). instructional scaffolding to improve learning. retrieved october 25 th , 2014, from http://www.niu.edu/facdev/resources/guide/ strategies/instructional_scaffolding_ to_improve_learning.pdf slavin, r.e. (2012). educational psychology: theory and practice (10 th ed.). boston: pearson education. 11102150559lltjournalfrontpagesapr2016(10nov8pmagain) 2 llt j april 2016 articles two columns llt journal submission guidelines apr 2016 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 240-249 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 240 morpho-phonemic adaptation of english loan verbs in lukabaras james matseshe sasala masinde muliro university of science and technology, kenya correspondence: jmatseshe1@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.3523 received 16 july 2021; accepted 13 may 2022 abstract english as an official language in kenya has apparently influenced the kenyan indigenous languages. since it is the language of formal instruction in schools and other institutions, a large number of loan words have been integrated in the local languages. this paper thus investigated the adaptation of english loan verbs in lukabaras which is one of the ethnic languages spoken in the western region of kenya. the study endeavoured to describe the morphological and phonological constraints evident in the integration of these items in lukabaras. a sample of 20 lexical items was picked through purposive sampling technique and analysed descriptively. the study established that english verbs are incorporated in lukabaras through the prefix {okhu-} and the verbal radical suffix {a}. it was further observed that in the process of integration the verbs are subject to phonological conditions such as consonant devoicing, vowel insertion, gliding and vowel reduction. keywords: english language, loan word, lukabaras, morpho phonemic process introduction studies such as nyanguthii and ong’onda (2018); mwihaki (2008) and mahlangu (2007) investigated loan word adaptation and posit that people reinvent their native languages by borrowing words which do not exist in their native languages or do not have equivalent words in the borrowing language. in order to make communication easier, the adopted words are nativised to appropriately fit into the phonological system of the borrowing language (gitari,2016). due to this, speakers of a given language find it convenient to borrow foreign words which they integrate to serve the social communicative needs of their language. as such african languages have acquired many new words through borrowing from english which is apparently the official language of most african countries (evans,2014; maxwell,2009; owino, 2003). in this respect, various scholars such as mekuria (2018); onkwani (2016); ayele and bokko (2016) and nurhayati (2015) studied morphophonemics in their native languages and attest that borrowing of new words from other languages involves different ways of adaptation. for instance, lukabaras as one of the bantu languages spoken in kenya has borrowed and customised a number of words from mailto:jmatseshe1@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.3523 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 240-249 241 the english language in various facets of life such as education, administration, farming, household and religion. however, a study by mukulo (2016) argues that nouns adopted from english into lukabaras are integrated differently depending on the lukabaras noun class to which the adopted word belongs. mukulo’s (2016) study reveals that the nouns are integrated into lukabaras through morphological conditioning of the loanword with a prenominal affix [e] or [o]. moreover, lukabaras phonotactics do not allow consonants at the word final position, so all the loanwords adopted from english further take the final vowels [i] or [u] through suffixation. on this basis, there is evidence that languages utilize a variety of morphological and phonological processes in order to adapt new words (jika,2017; mtenje,2007). the present study therefore investigated the adaptation of english loan verbs in lukabaras and described the morpho-phonemic constrains these items undergo in the process of integration. background to english language in kenya according to muaka (2011); furaha (2007) the advent of english in kenya is traced back to the british colonial administration in the years (1920-1963) in which the colonialists employed indirect rule and exploited the existing indigenous political structure to control the colonized kenyan people. the british education system used new skills to suit the local cultural and social conditions where kenyans were trained in english and later used to train their fellow countrymen. as a result, more schools were established and kenyans were recruited for learning and for clerical jobs. this made many kenyans to enrol for british education with the aim of being employed after they had learnt and mastered english. mukulo (2016) further attests that the spread of english in kenya was also greatly influenced by the second world war. this occurred when some kenyans who were recruited as soldiers, clerks and translators by the british army could speak english whenever they were demobilized from the army after the war). following this, the use of english has spread over time and the language is presently one of kenya’s official languages (temelkova,2021) and the language of formal instruction in the education system which is used alongside other many languages spoken in kenya (michieka,2005). methodology a descriptive research design was adopted in the study of the morphophonemic adaptation of the english loan verbs in lukabaras. the data for investigation comprised of 20 english verbs collected through interviewing speakers of lukabaras living in malava, kakamega county. in view of this, the study employed the purposive sampling technique. the focus was on those verbs that were borrowed from english into spoken lukabaras and nativised to conform with lukabaras phonological system. the study established that the adaptation of the english verb forms into lukabaras is largely influenced by the native lukabaras speaker’s intuition to discern the words that are well formed in their language. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 240-249 242 findings and discussion introduction this study observed that the borrowing of foreign lexical elements in lukabaras was motivated by various reasons. for instance, the incorporation of english loan verbs was due to the lack of indigenous words for the english equivalent. for this reason, it was revealed that in the domain such as technology, the english verb ‘dial’ did not have a corresponding word in lukabaras. this verb was therefore integrated in lukabaras by first morphologically inserting the verbal radical suffix{a} and the nativised form of the borrowed item thus changed to {tayol-a}. according to matseshe (2020) and akida (2000), the suffix morpheme {a} is placed at the end of the verb root to show the indicative mood. mukulo (2016) observes that lukabaras phonotactics does not permit final consonants in words; therefore, the epenthic vowel /a/ occurs on all verbs to indicate the infinitive mood. a further analysis based on findings in studies such as alqahtani (2015) and adomako (2008) revealed that there were certain underlying phonological conditions that influenced the processes of loan word adaptation. for instance, the initial consonant sound /d/ in the verb ‘dial’ does not exist in lukabaras. for this reason, it is devoiced and realised as /t/. the study inferred that lukabaras speakers find it easy to articulate /t/ which is found in the same place of articulation as /d/. lukabaras vowel system (unrounded) front central back (rounded) close i u high close mid e o mid open a low (source: mukulo, 2016) as shown above, mukulo (2016) identifies five lukabaras vowels as [ a, e, i, o, u]. the present study found it beneficial to identify these vowels in lukabaras in order to describe the phonological processes the foreign english verbs undergo when integrating in lukabaras. on this account, the study observed that all lukabaras vowels occur in all word positions. these are word initial, word middle and word final (mukulo2016). for example, it was established that the vowels [i] and [o] were used to break consonant clusters. in particular, [i] appeared in words with velar stops like (sk, ks, kl, st, gr, sp) whereas the vowel [o] occurred where there were bilabial consonant clusters such as (pr, pt, bl, br). on the other hand, the vowel [a] as pointed earlier, occurred in the verb final position to indicate the infinitive mood. the vowel [a] also served to avoid the occurrence of consonants at the end of a syllable because lukabaras phonotactics does not permit this. lukabaras consonants table 1 below shows the consonants in lukabaras identified in this study based on mukulo (2016). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 240-249 243 table 1. consonants in lukabaras manner of articulation place of articulation labial dental alveolar palatal velar glottal plosives p t k prenasalised plosives mb nd ŋg affricates ts prenasalised affricates fricatives f β s x prenasalised fricatives nz nasals m n ŋ glides w j approximants l r (source: mukulo 2016) this study deduced that there was a disparity between the number of english consonants and those in lukabaras. for example, from the lukabaras consonant inventory above, it was observed that the lukabaras consonant system did not have voiced consonant sounds such as /b/, /d/ and /g/. this study established that where these sounds occurred in a borrowed item the processes of adaptation involved devoicing. for instance, the verb ‘break’ was observed to take the sound [p] in place of the initial consonant sound [b] in spoken lukabaras. a similar case occurred on the verb ‘drive’ in which the initial voiced consonant sound [d] was devoiced and realised as [t] in spoken lukabaras. devoicing was thus observed to be a consonant adaptation processes that occurred where certain english consonants did not exist in lukabaras. english loan verbs and their adaptation processes in lukabaras this study analysed the following data of english loan verbs in spoken lukabaras as shown in table 2 below. table 2. english loan verbs in lukabaras english verb english transcription lukabaras adapted form mix / miks/ mikisa sieve / siv / siva change / ʧeindᶾ/ chenjia rinse / rins/ rinza taste / teist/ tesita test / tᵋst/ tesita drive / draiv/ turaiva dial / dᵊiᵊl/ tayola call / kↄ:l/ kola receive / risi:v/ risiva miss / mis/ misa record / rekↄ:d/ rekota spray / sprei/ supureya switch / swiʧ / swicha lift / lift/ lifuta prepare / pripᵋᵊ/ puripeya chair / ʧᵋᵊ/ cheeya meet / mi:t/ mita llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 240-249 244 raise / reiz/ reyisa settle / sᵋtᵊl/ setola break / breik/ pureka the data in the table 2 above shows the english loan verbs borrowed in lukabaras. this study first observed that there is a difference between the pronunciation of the verbs in english and the forms of the verbs after integration in lukabaras. the study attributed the discrepancy to the fact that there is no one on one correspondence between the way words in english are spelled and the way they are pronounced. on the other hand, words in lukabaras were observed to be pronounced the way they appear orthographically. it was realised that a lukabaras speaker nativised the words to fit in their system by first inserting the epenthic vowel /a/ and breaking the consonant clusters in the loan words. for instance, the word ‘mix’ /miks/ has the consonant cluster ‘ks’ which in the processes of adaptation, a lukabaras speaker breaks by inserting the epenthic vowel /i/. the verbal radical vowel /a/ is then placed at the end for the word to make it fit in the lukabaras morphological structure hence realised as ‘mikisa’ phonological adaptation processes vowel epenthesis according to rose and demuth (2006); uffmann (2004) vowel epenthesis involves the insertion of a vowel between two consonants in a syllable. mukulo (2016) asserts that vowel epenthesis is one of the lukabaras resyllabification processes in loan words thus the present study similarly observed that english loan verbs in lukabaras that consisted consonant clusters have to be broken to allow them fit into lukabaras phonological structure. it was established that the vowels [i] and [u] were used in the process of adapting the english loan verbs in lukabaras through vowel insertion. 1. vowel insertion [i] this study revealed that the vowel [i] was inserted to break consonant clusters that were either sibilants or velar and alveolar stops. this was attributed to the fact that lukabaras speakers found it easy to co-articulate the high front vowel /i/ with the sibilant sound [s], the velar sound [k] and alveolar sound [t] since they almost have similar manner of articulation. table 3. insertion of vowel [i] english transcription lukabaras transcription mix [miks] mikisa [mikisa] taste [teist] tesita [tesita] test [ tᵋst] tesita [tesita] as seen in table 3 above, the verbal end of the adapted forms has the vowel [a] whereas the consonant clusters ‘ks’ and ‘st’ have been broken by inserting the vowel [i]. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 240-249 245 2. vowel insertion [u] the epenthic vowel [u] occurred in verbs that had consonant clusters such as ‘dr, spr, ft, pr and br.’ the verbs included drive, spray, lift, prepare and break. these verbs were analysed as shown in table 4 below. table 4. insertion of vowel [u] english transcription lukabaras transcription drive [ draiv] turaiva [turaiβa] spray [ sprei/] supureya [supurejia] lift [lift] lifuta [lifuta] prepare [ pripᵋᵊ] puripeya [puripejia] break [breik] pureka [pureka] this study established that other than the insertion of the vowel [i] and [u] to break consonant clusters in the adaptation of english loan verbs in lukabaras, the occurrence of the final [a] on every verb was a common feature in all verbs in lukabaras. moreover, the study observed that the inserted vowels [i] and [u] in actual speech were lengthened as observed in komenda, maroko & ndung’u (2013). consonant devoicing this study established that the process of consonant devoicing occurred because some of the voiced consonants in the english loan verbs did not exist in lukabaras. some of these consonants include [b, g, d, z,]. the data in this study identified verbs such as break, dial, drive, record and raise in which lukabaras speakers adapted the words by pronouncing the consonants [b] as [p], [d] as [t] and [z] as [s]. this was as presented in as shown in table 5 below. table 5. consonant devoicing english transcription lukabaras transcription drive [ draiv] turaiva [turaiβa] dial [dᵊiᵊl] tayola [tajiola] record [ rekↄ:d] rekota [ rekota] raise [ reiz] reyisa [rejisa] break [breik] pureka [pureka] consonant substitution the voiced english consonant sounds [b] and [v] do not exist in the lukabaras consonant inventory. whenever they occur in words in spoken lukabaras, they are rendered as sound [β]. verbs such as drive, receive and sieve had the sound [v] realised approximately as [b] in the adapted forms ‘turaiba’, ‘risiba’ and ‘siba’ in spoken lukabaras. the english voiced labio-dental fricative[v] and the lukabaras [β] have similar manner and place of articulation. this study observed that the disparity though, is that the fricative [v] is released during articulation while the lukabaras [β] is usually unreleased (mukulo2016). this study established that the sound [v] and [b] were thus substituted in lukabaras by the voiced labio-dental fricative [β] in the process. the borrowed forms of drive receive and sieve therefore became; [turaiβa], [risiβa] and [siβa]. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 240-249 246 vowel reduction and substitution the english vowel [ↄ:] in verbs such as ‘call’ /kↄ:l/ and ‘record’ /rekↄ:d/ was adapted in lukabaras through vowel reduction. since this vowel does not exist in the lukabaras vowel inventory, it was realised as the back mid vowel [o] as observed in the lukabaras loan verb forms /kola/ for ‘call’ and /rekota/ for ‘record’. in some english loan verbs, the phoneme [ə] is realized in lukabras in two ways as [a] or [o]. this is because there is one to one correspondence between letters and sounds in lukabras such that a word is pronounced the way it is written. this study established that the verbs ‘dial’ [dᵊiᵊl] and ‘settle’ [sᵋtᵊl] had the english phoneme [ə] substituted in lukabaras as shown in table 6 below. table 6. vowel substitution english transcription lukabaras transcription dial [dᵊiᵊl] tayola [tajiola] settle [ sᵋtᵊl] setola [setola] vowel deletion this study observed that the occurrence of the diphthong [ei] in lukabras was not tolerated, thus, the english diphthong [ei] was realized as the central mid vowel [e] in the loan verbs in lukabras. during the process of adapting english verbs such as break [breik], change [ʧeindᶾ] and taste [teist], the vowel [i] is deleted and the diphthong [ei] reduced to [e] through the process of vowel deletion. the borrowed forms in lukabaras therefore appeared as shown in table 7 below. table 7. vowel deletion english transcription lukabaras transcription break [breik] pureka [pureka] change [ʧeindᶾ] chenjia [chenjia] taste [teist] tesita [tesita] morphological adaptation processes this study established that the surface realization of all loan verbs adapted in lukabaras from english took the final verbal radical morpheme {a}. it was observed that this morpheme occurred to indicate the infinitive mood. accordingly, this study identified affixation as the main morphological process evident in the integration of the loan verbs into lukabaras. for in instance, the following loan verbs were formed through suffixation of the morpheme {a} as shown in table 8 below. table 8. suffixation of loan verbs english transcription lukabaras borrowed form mix / miks/ { mikis-a} sieve / siv / { siva} change / ʧeindᶾ/ {chenji-a} rinse / rins/ { rinza} taste / teist/ { tesita} test / tᵋst/ { tesita} drive / draiv/ { turaiv-a} llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 240-249 247 dial / dᵊiᵊl/ { tayol-a} call / kↄ:l/ { kola } miss / mis/ { misa} the data in table 8 above reveals that other than the underlying phonological alterations the loan verbs in lukabaras underwent in the processes of adaptation, there was also the suffixation of the verbal root through the morpheme {a}. for instance, the root of the loan verb, ‘mix’ from english is {mikis-} in lukabaras. however, the verb is morphologically integrated in lukabaras by adding the suffix {-a} so that it is to realized as {mikis-a}. the study also noted that it is possible for lukabaras loan verbs from english to take the toinfinitive. in such cases the lukabaras infinitive verb take the prefix morpheme {okhu-}. this was presented as shown in table 9 below. table 9. to-infinitive forms of loan verbs english to-infinitive form lukabaras to-infinitive form to mix {okhu-mikis-a} to sieve {okhu-siβ -a} to change {okhu-chenji-a} to rinse {okhu-rinz-a} to taste {okhu-tesit-a} to dial {okhu-tayol-a} to drive {okhu-turaiβa} to call {okhu-kola} to break {okhu-pureka} to meet {okhu-mita} it was observed from the data in table 9 above that the loan verbs in lukabaras are morphologically formed through the process of prefixation to derive the to -infinitive. the prefix morpheme {okhu-} is therefore added to the lukabaras infinitive form. additionally, where the to -infinitive forms of lukabaras loan verbs were used, there was neither generation of new meaning nor a change on the tense and number of the verb. the study also showed that it was not possible for the prefix morpheme {okhu-} to occur alone on the root of the loan verbal. this would result to ill-formed words such as {okhu-mikis-}. however, it was permissible to have loan verbs in lukabaras that occurred with the suffix {-a} without the prefix morpheme {okhu-}. such verbs were properly formed as seen in words like {mikis-a}, {tayol-a} and {siβ-a}. the verbal radical morpheme {-a} was therefore an obligatory element in the formation of verbs in their infinitive form in lukabaras. conclusion the findings of this study revealed that the english loan verbs that are borrowed in lukabaras are morpho phonemically integrated through various phonological and morphological processes. it was established that since there is a disparity between the english sounds inventory and the lukabaras phonological system, the process of adapting the verbs in lukabaras involved phonological alterations on the loan words for them to fit into lukabaras phonotactics. these llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 240-249 248 underlying processes included the insertion of vowels, vowel reduction, gliding and consonant substitution. moreover, the study found that the loan verbs were also morphologically adapted through the prefix morpheme {okhu-} and the verbal radical suffix morpheme {a-}. it was established that the morpheme {a-} was an obligatory element on all verb roots in lukabaras to show the infinitive mood. on the other hand, the prefix morpheme {okhu-} was optional and only occurred when the loan verb forms were the toinfinitive. references adomako, k. 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(2011). a morphophonemic study of ekegusii nominal derivation and pluralization (master’s thesis, moi university, mombasa, kenya). retrieved from http://ir.mu.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/896 owino, d. (2003). phonological nativisation of dholuo loanwords (unpublished doctoral thesis). pretoria university, south africa. uffmann, c. (2004). vowel epenthesis in loanword phonology (doctoral dissertation, phillips universität marburg). http://etd.aau.edu.et/bitstream/handle/123456789/16396/tilahun%20negash.pdf?sequence=1&isallowed=y http://etd.aau.edu.et/bitstream/handle/123456789/16396/tilahun%20negash.pdf?sequence=1&isallowed=y https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-971x.2005.%2000402.x https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-971x.2005.%2000402.x http://ir.mu.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/896 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 103 the effects of accent familiarity on arab efl learners’ perceptive intelligibility ahmad nazari1 and majid rasim younus2 hamad bin khalifa university, doha1 college of education/ibn rush for human sciences2 anazari@hbku.edu.qa; majid.r@ircoedu.uobaghdad.edu.iq correspondence: anazari@hbku.edu.qa doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.3081 received 4 february 2021; accepted 26 february 2021 abstract in accord with the current status of english as an international language, the aim of this article is to develop a methodological framework to investigate the effects, if any, of accent familiarity on perceptive intelligibility in an arab efl context. to this end, a perception intelligibility test was developed to measure the intelligibility of arab efl learners and to determine the extent to which intelligibility varied in relation to accent familiarity. a listening text in english from the speech accent archives produced by three speakers of different first language backgrounds constituted the material stimulus for the perceptive intelligibility test. in this respect, three accent familiarity levels were determined when measuring the perceptive intelligibility of arab efl learners. these accent familiarity levels included matched, mismatched and unfamiliar. the listeners were 60 randomly selected arab efl undergraduate students. an analytic fivepoint rating scale was also developed to measure the extent to which arab efl learners understood the english speech produced by speakers from the three different first language backgrounds. the results, in general, showed that arab efl learners understood with little effort most of the english utterances produced by the three english language speakers from different language backgrounds. however, the learners faced more effort and misunderstanding regarding the third speaker who represented an unfamiliar accent. the article concludes with a description of the research implications and applications that derive from the findings of the study keywords: english as an international language; english language phonology; perceptive intelligibility; accent familiarity introduction whilst discussing the use of english as an international language (eil), several researchers have emphasised the importance of accent familiarity (af) in speech intelligibility. for example, gimson (2001, p. 298) states that a targeted intelligibility performance level of universal validity requires efl learners to master the basic english phonemic distinctions and to tune in to the speaker’s accent. the basic assumption of af is that a listener who has more exposure and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 104 linguistic experience of the speaker’s foreign accent will understand the speech even if it contains some mispronunciations. this assumption implies that the effect of a foreign accent on speech intelligibility will be minimised when af is in place. commenting on this issue, however, munro and derwing (1995, p. 75) point out that “there is as yet no indication that reduction of accent necessarily entails increased intelligibility.” in fact, the pronunciation studies conducted on the effect of af on intelligibility can be grouped into two categories. the first category confirms the facilitating effect of af on intelligibility whereas the second category rejects this effect. the present study is an attempt to resolve this issue in an arabic efl milieu, i.e. the iraqi efl context. by investigating the effect of af on the perceptive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners, the present researchers do not aim to fill in a contextual gap only, where a considerable number of pronunciation studies still adhere to the traditional approach whereby a native english speaker with the rp (received pronunciation) or ga (general american) accent is the only reference model to follow (see rashid, 2009; khudhair, 2015; al-abdely and thai, 2016; al-owaidi, 2017). they also aim to develop a methodological framework to investigate the effects, if any, of accent familiarity on perceptive intelligibility in an arab efl context in line with the use of english for international communication literature review due to the use of english as an international language among native and nonnative english speakers, most pronunciation researchers have abandoned the requirement of perfection in mastering the sound system of english. they have also abandoned the use of rp or ga as the only reference pronunciation norms (see, for example, jenkins, 2000; gimson, 2001; derwing and munro, 2005; browne, 2016; levis, 2018). instead, these researchers have focused on issues of intelligibility and accent familiarity as the two most recurrent themes in studies dealing with the status of english as an international language. in the related literature, two distinct interpretations are given to the terms intelligibility and af. as far as intelligibility is concerned, the first interpretation restricts the term to the production and recognition of the phonetic features of speech signals, leaving meaning to other levels of speech dimensions (see smith and nelson, 1985; field, 2005; browne, 2016). the second defines intelligibility in relation to listeners’ understanding (see james, 2014; derwing and munro, 2005; munro and derwing, 1995). in the present article, the second interpretation of intelligibility is adopted from the listener’s perspective. in other words, the term perceptive intelligibility is defined here as “the extent to which a listener actually understands an utterance” (derwing and munro, 2005, p. 385). as far as af is concerned, this term is defined differently based on the criteria used by researchers to establish its effect. for example, browne and fulcher (2016) draw on linguistic experience and language exposure to define this term. in this sense, the term af refers to “a speech perception benefit developed through language exposure and linguistic experience” (browne and fulcher, 2016:39). by contrast, other researchers, such as smith (1987) and xie and myers (2017), limit the term af to language exposure only. in this sense, they attempt to exclude the criterion of linguistic experience from the af construct. however, bent and bradlow (2003) make use of the criteria of linguistic experience and native llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 105 language backgrounds. in this sense, these researchers differentiate among three levels of af: matched, mismatched and unfamiliar. according to bent and bradlow (2003), matched accent familiarity refers to interlocutors who share the same native language, mismatched accent familiarity refers to interlocutors who have different first language backgrounds but significant linguistic knowledge with the target language, and unfamiliar refers to the absence of af. in the present article, the term af is defined in the sense used by both browne and fulcher (2016) and bent and bradlow (2003). as was mentioned before, the pronunciation studies conducted on the effect of af on intelligibility can be grouped into two categories. the first category confirms the facilitating effect of af on intelligibility whereas the second category rejects this effect. as far as the first category of the studies is concerned, the effect was confirmed by measuring af and intelligibility separately then correlating the results. in this respect, most studies followed the same procedure whereby a non-native english speech was recorded and presented to native and non-native english listeners to be assessed for intelligibility and af. the results were then correlated to arrive at the finding that listeners’ accent familiarity affected speech intelligibility. this conduct of the studies was adopted by most researchers (see bent and bradlow, 2003; ludwig, 2012; browne, 2016; bogorevich, 2018). in all these studies, intelligibility was assessed by a word transcription task whereas af was rated in various ways. for example, bent and bradlow (2003) used a word familiarity rating, ludwig (2012) used reaction time to rate the effect of af and browne (2016) used a rating scale based on listeners’ efforts. in the above studies, af was established despite the use of different data collection tools. this would enhance the validity of the finding arrived at. however, the use of a rating scale based on listeners’ efforts or reaction time to measure af might be confused with the assessment of other speech dimensions like comprehensibility (derwing and munro, 2005) and perceived intelligibility (beinhoff, 2014). in this respect, the researchers might not be assessing af but the two speech dimensions of comprehensibility or perceived intelligibility. for this reason, we do not use correlation to establish the effect of af on intelligibility. rather, we manipulate the variable of af when measuring intelligibility. this is done by having one english text spoken by three english speakers who represent different af levels with the iraqi listeners. based on this position, the effect of accent familiarity will be determined when measuring the perceptive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners. in the second category, several studies were conducted arriving at the findings which contradicted the facilitating effect that af had on intelligibility. for example, munro and derwing (2006) observed opposing evidence related to matched and mismatched benefits emphasised by bent and bradlow’s (2003) study. in their study, 40 speakers from different language backgrounds were assessed by 48 listeners from the same language backgrounds for af and intelligibility. af was assessed by a rating scale whereas intelligibility was assessed by a word dictation task. although the findings revealed a matched accent familiarity benefit between native japanese listeners and the japanese english speakers, this speech intelligibility benefit was not found between cantonese english listeners and speakers. similarly, there was a mismatched llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 106 accent familiarity benefit between mandarin listeners and japanese speakers. however, this speech intelligibility benefit was not observed between spanish speakers and polish listeners. in a similar vein, algethami’s (2011) study revealed a small and not statistically significant difference between native and non-native speakers of english when correlating the scores assigned to intelligibility and af. in his study, 19 native speakers of australian english and 19 non-native saudi speakers of english listened to 23 english sentences produced by ten saudi speakers of english. based on the mean ratings by native english listeners, the saudi speakers fell into two groups: advanced level and low-level speakers. these saudi speakers were instructed to do a grammatical paraphrasing task. they had to change sentences into other meaning equivalent forms, e.g. changing active sentences into the passive. these grammatical tasks would divert the speakers’ attention, causing them to focus on content rather than on pronunciation. the recorded sentences were then presented to native and non-native listeners of english to be assessed for intelligibility. intelligibility was judged by an orthographic transcription task. the results showed a small and not statistically significant difference between native and non-native ratings. thus, accent familiarity had no effect on the intelligibility of the english speech. some researchers suggest that the non-native english speech is intelligible due to the proficiency level and the clarity of the acoustic signals. these researchers adopted almost similar methodology and data collection tools. for example, both xie and myers (2017) and wolfswinkler and reinisch (2016) confirmed that the speech intelligibility benefit was due to the existence of invariable acoustic signals rather than the effect of af. in their study, xie and myers (2017) tested whether native english listeners’ exposure to the target language was the main factor for intelligibility success or there were other factors involved. the researchers used single words spoken by a single chinese english speaker and other words spoken by multiple chinese english speakers. the native english speakers’ success was judged on their ability to identify new words. by examining the acoustic signals in the speech of the two groups of speakers, the researchers concluded that the speech intelligibility benefit was due to the existence of invariable acoustic signals rather than exposure to language. using a similar approach, smith (1987) argued in his research that the speech intelligibility benefit of af was due to the proficiency level in english. highly proficient non-native english speakers were understood more than less proficient speakers. we contend that the variations in the findings regarding the effect of af on intelligibility can be related to how the researchers conceptualise the term af. for example, browne and fulcher (2016) regard linguistic knowledge and language exposure as two basic components of af. by contrast, other researchers, such as smith (1987) and xie and myers (2017), limit the term af to language exposure only. in this sense, they attempt to exclude the criterion of linguistic experience from the af construct. the above different interpretations of af will lead to opposing research findings. in the present study, we follow the interpretation and the findings arrived at by both browne and fulcher (2016) and bent and bradlow (2003). in this respect, three accent familiarity levels will be determined when measuring the perceptive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners. these af levels llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 107 include matched, mismatched and unfamiliar. against the above backdrop, the following research questions are formulated: 1. to what extent is english speech as uttered by native and non-native english speakers understood by iraqi efl learners? 2. does accent familiarity cause significant differences in the overall perceptive intelligibility scores of iraqi efl learners? as an ancillary objective, the study will point out the implications of the findings for the efl pronunciation classrooms in arab contexts. method to measure the overall perceptive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners and to investigate the extent to which this aspect of intelligibility varies in relation to accent familiarity, a perception intelligibility test was constructed. the test was constructed based on consulting related works done by bent and bradlow (2003), browne and fulcher (2016), browne (2016) and cruz (2003). however, it differed from other tests in two respects. first, it was constructed mainly for efl learners, where the meaning intended and received was limited to the literal meanings of words and utterances. all other connotative meanings and the one due to the suprasegmental aspect of phonology were excluded from this investigation. second, the rating scale used was worded to reflect the two major criteria used when defining intelligibility, mainly understanding and listener’s effort. in brief, the perception intelligibility test consisted of the material stimulus and the measurement tool. a description of the listeners (participants) is in order before elaborating on the material stimulus and the measurement tool. the listeners (participants) the listeners were 60 iraqi efl undergraduate male and female students who were randomly selected from the list of third year students in the department of english at one of the universities in baghdad. the age range varied from 23 to 25. these students were taught english pronunciation at the first and second year of their university study and were considered advanced university efl learners at the final stage of their academic study, as they had been tested regularly by their lecturers until they reached this level. when graduated, most of these students would use english for different communicative purposes. hence, the test was to measure the extent to which these iraqi students understood english in contexts similar to the global use of english. this test was also an updated version of a pronunciation assessment which captured this use of english rather than the traditional pronunciation assessment used in the iraqi efl context which limited communication to native english speakers with an rp or ga accent. see the following sections for further information. the material stimulus a listening text in english from the speech accent archives (saa) produced by three speakers of different first language backgrounds constituted the material stimulus for the perceptive intelligibility test. the saa is “composed of read speech samples of more than eighteen hundred speakers. the speakers are from all over the world and they read the common elicitation paragraph” (minematsu et al., 2014, p. 158). the first recording was produced by an iraqi efl english llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 108 speaker, representing a matched accent familiarity with the iraqi listeners. the biographical data available about the iraqi speaker in the saa showed that the birth place was baghdad, the native language was arabic, the age was 29, the gender was male, and the english learning method was academic. the second recording was produced by a british english speaker, representing a mismatched accent familiarity. the biographical data available about the british english speaker in the saa showed that the birth place was leicester, the native language was english, the age was 35, the gender was female, and the english learning method was naturalistic. the third recording was produced by a chinese english speaker, representing unfamiliar accent. the biographical data showed that the birth place was hong kong, china, the native language was cantonese, the age was 20, the gender was male, and the english learning method was academic. the listening text used in the perception intelligibility test is provided in appendix a. the instrument the present study developed an analytic five-point rating scale to measure the extent to which iraqi efl learners understood the english speech produced by speakers from three different first language backgrounds. this five-point rating scale was developed based on the definition of perceptive intelligibility adopted in this research as well as the information contained in existing rating scales used by browne (2016) and cruz (2003). although this five-point rating scale could be regarded as an adapted version of the scales used by the above researchers, it differed from them in that it emphasised understanding rather than the mere recognition of the phonetic properties of words. this was achieved by using a contextualised english listening text and extending the definition of the term perception to include phonetic, linguistic and meaning components. this was done in line with the definition of the term perception used by albashir (2008, p. 24). in his phd thesis, albashir (2008) defines the term perception as “a process that involves a communicative act in which a listener derives meaning from a speaker.” hence, the use of the term perceptive intelligibility with reference to listeners’ understanding was an updated version of the outdated one which associated perception with the recognition of the phonetic properties of words and utterances rather than meaning. in conducting this test, the iraqi efl learners were told that they would hear one english extract spoken by three english speakers from different first language backgrounds: an iraqi, a british and a chinese english speaker. all the iraqi efl learners listened to one english speaker at a time and then assessed on a five-point scale their understanding of the speaker. the order of presenting these three speakers to the iraqi students followed the levels of accent familiarity suggested by bent and bradlow (2003), starting with the iraqi, the british and the chinese speaker. the iraqi efl learners listened to the speech only once. then, they assigned a particular score to the speaker reflecting their understanding of that particular speaker. the five-point scale used in the perception intelligibility test is provided in appendix b. findings and discussion the quantitative data (see appendix c) from the speech perception intelligibility test were analysed using the statistical package for social sciences llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 109 (spss). three types of inferential tests were used: a one sample t-test, a one-way anova and a post hoc scheffe test. the one sample t-test was used to measure the overall perceptive intelligibility of the iraqi efl learners. second, the test was used to measure the perceptive intelligibility of the iraqi efl learners in relation to the three levels of accent familiarity. a one-way anova examined whether there were differences in the mean scores of the three levels of accent familiarity when assessing the perceptive intelligibility. if significant differences were detected, a post hoc scheffe test was conducted to identify where these differences occurred. in the following sections, the results of the investigation are presented according to the related research questions. research question one to what extent is english speech as uttered by native and non-native english speakers understood by iraqi efl learners? this question measures the overall perceptive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners. this was investigated by asking the 60 iraqi efl learners to listen to the english speech produced by three speakers from different first language backgrounds. these learners were then requested to rate on a five-point scale their understanding. the researchers conducted a one sample t-test using spss version 25. the results regarding the perceptive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners are shown in table 1. one-sample statistics n mean std. deviation std. error mean 180 2.4611 .85425 .06367 one-sample test test value = 2.5 t df sig. (2-tailed) mean difference 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper 8.464 179 .000 .53894 .6646 .4133 table 1: overall perceptive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners the above spss statistics show that the mean score of all iraqi efl learners is (2.4611) with a sd of (0.85425) and the calculated t-value is (8.464), whereas the tabulated value is (1.960) at an alpha level of (0.05) and the df of (179). when comparing the sample mean of (2.4611) with the hypothesised mean of (3), the difference is statistically significant for the hypothesised mean: t(179)=8.464,p < 0.05. thus, iraqi efl learners can understand with little effort most of the english utterances produced by the three english speakers from different language backgrounds, with a mean difference of (.53894). to measure the perceptive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners to each of the three levels of accent familiarity, the researchers used a one sample t-test. the results of a one sample t-test of the perceptive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners are presented below. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 110 matched accent familiarity the researchers conducted a one sample t-test using spss version 25. the results of the perceptive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners in relation to matched accent familiarity are shown in table 2. one-sample statistics n mean std. deviation std. error mean 60 1.8107 .46964 .06063 one-sample test test value = 3 t df sig. (2-tailed) mean difference 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper 19.616 59 .000 1.18933 1.3107 1.0680 table 2: matched accent familiarity the above statistics show that the mean score of iraqi efl learners is (1.8107) with a sd of (0.47) and the calculated t-value is (19.616), whereas the tabulated value is (2) at the df of (59) and an alpha level of (0.05). when comparing the sample mean of (1.8107) with the hypothesised population mean of (3), the difference is statistically significant for the hypothesised mean: t(59)= 19.616 ,p< 0.05. thus, iraqi efl learners need to make very little effort to understand english speech produced by iraqi efl speakers (matched accent familiarity), with a mean difference of (1.181). mismatched accent familiarity the researchers conducted a one sample t-test using spss version 25. the results regarding the perceptive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners to an english speaker representing a mismatched accent familiarity are shown in table 3. one-sample statistics n mean std. deviation std. error mean 60 2.2552 .66728 .08615 one-sample test test value = 3 t df sig. (2-tailed) mean difference 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper 8.646 59 .000 .74483 .9172 .5725 table 3: mismatched accent familiarity llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 111 the above statistics show that the mean score of iraqi efl learners’ perceptive intelligibility is (2.2552) with a sd of (.66728). the calculated t-value is (8.646), whereas the tabulated value is (2) at the df of (59) and an alpha level of (0.05). when comparing the sample mean of (2.2552) with the hypothesised population mean of (3), the difference is statistically significant for the hypothesised mean: t(59)= 8.646, p< 0.05. thus, iraqi efl learners can understand english speech produced by an english native speaker, representing a mismatched accent familiarity with a mean difference of (.74483). no accent familiarity the researchers conducted a one sample t-test using spss version 25. the results regarding the perceptive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners in relation to an unfamiliar english speaker are shown in table 4. one-sample statistics n mean std. deviation std. error mean 60 3.3173 .57380 .07408 one-sample test test value = 3 t df sig. (2-tailed) mean difference 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper 4.284 59 .000 .31733 .1691 .4656 table 4: english language speaker having an unfamiliar accent the above statistics reveal that the mean score of iraqi efl learners is (3.1733) with a sd of (.57380). the calculated t-value is (4.284), whereas the tabulated t-value is (2) at the df of (59) and an alpha level of (0.05). when comparing the sample mean (3.1733) with the hypothesised population mean (3), the difference is statistically significant for the sample mean: t(59)= 4.284,p< 0.05. thus, the extent to which the iraqi efl learners can understand an unfamiliar english speaker is with a mean difference of (.31733). research question two does accent familiarity cause significant differences in the overall perceptive intelligibility scores of iraqi efl learners? to answer this question, a one-way anova was used. the one-way anova was used to identify whether there were statistically significant differences in the perceptive intelligibility of iraqi efl learners and to look for differences among the means of more than two groups. if significant differences were detected, then a post hoc scheffe test was used to identify where these differences occurred. the results regarding the means differences of iraqi efl learners across the three english speakers are shown in table 5. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 112 anova sum of squares df mean square f sig. between groups 71.916 2 35.958 108.410 .000 within groups 58.709 177 .332 total 130.625 179 table 5: the means differences of perceptive intelligibility the anova statistics show that the f-value is (108.41), which is larger than the critical value of (3.04) at the two df of (2-177) and an alpha significant level of (0.05). there are significant differences among the mean scores of iraqi efl learners’ perceptive intelligibility: f(2,277) = 108.410, p < 0.05. to indicate where these differences occur, a scheffe post hoc test for multiple comparisons was conducted. the spss results are shown in table 6. multiple comparisons dependent variable: degree scheffe (i) group (j) group mean difference (ij) std. error sig. 95% confidence interval lower bound upper bound 1.00 2.00 -.44450* .10515 .000 -.7041 -.1849 3.00 -1.50667* .10515 .000 -1.7662 -1.2471 2.00 1.00 .44450* .10515 .000 .1849 .7041 3.00 -1.06217* .10515 .000 -1.3217 -.8026 3.00 1.00 1.50667* .10515 .000 1.2471 1.7662 2.00 1.06217* .10515 .000 .8026 1.3217 * the mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level. table 6: scheffe test among the three english speakers the results above indicate that the iraqi efl learners were able to understand with a certain level of effort the speech produced by the first and second speaker, representing the matched and mismatched accent familiarity levels respectively. however, the iraqi efl learners faced considerable effort and misunderstanding regarding the third speaker who represented an unfamiliar accent. it must be reiterated that the term perceptive intelligibility in this study refers to the understanding of the literal meanings of spoken words and utterances as uttered in a contextualised discourse (james, 2014, p. 212). the overall quantitative findings revealed that iraqi efl learners could understand with a varying degree of effort the english speech produced by the three english speakers: [t(179)= 8.464,p < 0.05, with a mean difference of (.53894)]. when examining the overall perceptive intelligibility across the three accent familiarity levels, significant variations in iraqi efl perceptive intelligibility were observed: [f(2,277) = 108.410, p < 0.05]. as the above results revealed, the positive effect of accent familiarity was observed most frequently with the iraqi efl speaker: [t(59)= 19.616 ,p< 0.05], representing a matched accent familiarity level. the same significant finding was llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 113 also observed with the british english speaker: [t(59)= 8.646, p< 0.05], representing a mismatched accent familiarity. however, the finding related to the unfamiliar chinese english speaker revealed that the speaker’s accent caused a considerable number of problems in understanding: [t(59)= 4.284,p< 0.05]. unfamiliarity with the chinese accent had a negative impact on understanding the english spoken discourse by the iraqi efl listeners. the above findings of the study supported the ones arrived at by bent and bradlow (2003), browne (2016) and bogorevich (2018). in commenting on the facilitating effect of accent familiarity on intelligibility, browne (2016) confirmed in his study that the overall pronunciation scores and intelligibility were significantly affected by listeners’ accent familiarity levels. there were variations in these two aspects according to the scores assigned by the listeners. the effect of accent familiarity on intelligibility also supported the ideas expressed by kuhl’s (1991) perceptual magnet theory. this theory emphasised that listeners could develop the ability to perceive the targeted words if they shared the same first language with the speaker or had enough exposure to the language. similarly, pierrehumbert's (2001) exemplar theory maintained that listeners would be able to identify not only single phonemes but all other non-linguistic information accompanying the speakers’ utterances. these exemplars represented a constellation of various linguistic experiences which could be associated with particular words, people, accents and sounds, all stored for a considerable time in what was referred to as ‘exemplar clouds’ (pierrehumbert, 2001, p. 3). by contrast, the above significant variations of intelligibility due to the effect of accent familiarity were not supported by some other studies such as those of munro, derwing and morton (2006), kennedy and trofimovich (2008) and algethami (2010). in their studies, these researchers claimed that the learners’ proficiency level and the sound system of the target language were responsible for the success or failure of intelligibility. for example, algethami (2010) emphasised the role of phonological transfer in facilitating or impeding the intelligibility of non-native english speakers. his findings showed a small and not statistically significant difference due to the effect of accent familiarity. however, one might argue that the findings of the present research were influenced by the context of the discourse. the review of the literature on intelligibility confirmed that native english listeners as well as non-native english listeners could use the context, linguistic or non-linguistic, to infer the words intended by the speakers even if they were mispronounced (kim, 2008). once the context of the discourse was known, english speech could be easily recognised and understood even if some words were mispronounced (zielinski, 2006, p. 25). inferring words and meaning from context is also confirmed by kirkpatrick’s (2007, p. 122) lexical anticipation and jenkins’ (2000, p. 81) co-text, where the existence of certain words in speech will help listeners to infer other words. in the present research, the element of context was considered part of the construct validity of the perception intelligibility test used. in this test, the researchers included the appropriate parameters of the context by having a contextualised listening text rather than words in isolation. in this respect, kim emphasised that a researcher should employ “an elicitation measure that captures the context of speech” (2008, p. 9). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 114 conclusion the present study suggested an alternative pronunciation assessment which could capture the use of english in its international context. it emphasised that the traditional assessment of pronunciation whereby a native english speaker with the rp or ga accent was the only reference model was no longer valid in the global context of english. the study also confirmed the importance of accent familiarity in minimising the effect of foreign accented english in this context. based on its findings, this study also suggested the necessity to make changes related to the goal of teaching pronunciation in the iraqi efl context, the type of the pronunciation model and the factors emphasised for speech intelligibility. the first implication of this study is related to the goal of teaching english language pronunciation in arab efl contexts. at present, most researchers emphasise the importance of setting intelligibility rather than perfection as the most practical and achievable goal for the pronunciation instruction. however, in the iraqi efl context, and certain other arab efl milieus, perfection in mastering the sound system of rp or ga is still regarded as the required goal for the pronunciation instruction (rashid, 2009; al-abdely and thai, 2016; al-owaidi, 2017). being impractical and less likely to achieve for efl learners, the present study recommends that intelligibility should be incorporated in iraqi and other similar arab efl pronunciation classrooms. the second implication of this research is related to the use of english in its global or international context among native and non-native english speakers. for this purpose, the study proposes a methodological framework which can be used to assess the pronunciation of iraqi efl learners, and other arab efl learners, in this context. this was done by developing a perception intelligibility test which consists of the material stimulus and the measurement tool. the third implication relates to the effect of accent familiarity on intelligibility. this effect implies that iraqi efl learners, and efl leaners in similar arab countries, should be exposed to various native and non-native varieties of english. this can be done by having native and non-native pronunciation tutors as well as including a variety of english language accents using audio, video and digital teaching materials. references al-abdely, a., & yap, n. (2016). learning english vowels by iraqi efl learners: perceived difficulty versus actual performance. 3l: language, linguistics, literature®, 22(1), pp. 1-18. albashir, a. (2008). production and perception of libyan arabic vowels. phd thesis, newcastle university, uk. algethami, g., ingram, j., & nguyen, t. (2010). the interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit: the case of arabic-accented english. in proceedings of the 2nd pronunciation in second language learning and teaching conference, 114, 30-42. al-owaidi, r. t. (2017). investigating the awareness of iraqi efl learners of english morphophonemic derivations. phd thesis, university of baghdad, iraq. altufaili, i.r. (2016). education policy and practices of english as a foreign language (efl) in iraq. ma thesis, missouri state university, usa. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 115 beinhoff, b. (2014). perceiving intelligibility and accentedness in non-native speech: a look at proficiency levels. concordia working papers in applied linguistics, 5, 58-72. bent, t., & bradlow, a.r. (2003). the interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit. the journal of the acoustical society of america, 114(3), 1600-1610. bogorevich, v. (2018). native and non-native raters of l2 speaking performance: accent familiarity and cognitive processes. phd thesis, northern arizona university, usa. browne, k., & fulcher, g. (2016). pronunciation and intelligibility in assessing spoken fluency. in isaacs, t. and trofimovich, p. (eds.), second language pronunciation assessment: interdisciplinary perspectives. bristol: multilingual matters, pp.37-53. browne, k.c. (2016). raters’ accent familiarity levels and their effects on pronunciation scores and intelligibility on high-stakes english tests. phd thesis, university of leicester, uk. cruz, n. (2003). an exploratory study of pronunciation intelligibility in the brazilian learner’s english. the especialist, 24, 155–175. derwing, t.m., & munro, m.j. (2005). second language accent and pronunciation teaching: a research-based approach. tesol quarterly, 39(3), 379-397. field, j. (2005). intelligibility and the listener: the role of lexical stress. tesol quarterly, 39(3), 399–423. gimson, a.c. (2001). an introduction to the pronunciation of english (6th ed).. london: edward arnold. jenkins, j. (2000). the phonology of english as an international language: new models, new norms, new goals. oxford: oxford university press. kennedy, s., & trofimovich, p. (2008). intelligibility, comprehensibility, and accentedness of l2 speech: the role of listener experience and semantic context. canadian modern language review, 64, 459–490. khudhair, h.j. (2015). the role of accurate pronunciation in determining intelligibility of speech. al-jam’ah al-iraqia, 31(1), 501-522. kim, t. (2008). accentedness, comprehensibility, intelligibility, and interpretability of nnests. catesol journal, 20(1), 7–26. kirkpatrick, a. (2011). english as an asian lingua franca and the multilingual model of elt. language teaching, 44(2), 212–224. kuhl, p.k. (1991). human adults and human infants show a ‘perceptual magnet effect’ for the prototypes of speech categories, monkeys do not. perception & psychophysics, 50, 93–107. levis, j. m. (2018). intelligibility, oral communication, and the teaching of pronunciation. cambridge: cambridge university press. ludwig, a. (2012). interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit for non-native listeners of english. ma thesis, universtitat de barcelona, spain. munro, m.j., & derwing, t.m. (1995). foreign accent, comprehensibility, and intelligibility in the speech of second language learners. language learning, 45(1), 73-97. munro, m.j., derwing, t.m., & morton, s.l. (2006). the mutual intelligibility of l2 speech. studies in second language acquisition, 28(1), 111-131. pierrehumbert, j. (2001). exemplar dynamics: word frequency, lenition and contrast. in bybee, j. and hopper, p. (eds), frequency and the emergence of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, april 2021 116 linguistic structure. amsterdam: john benjamins publishing company, p.137-57. rashid, b. (2009). phonological intelligibility in iraqi efl classrooms. journal of basrah researches (humanities series), 48(4), 43–73. smith, l.e., & nelson, c.l. (1985). international intelligibility of english: directions and resources. world englishes, 4(3), 333-342. zielinski, b. (2006). the intelligibility cocktail: an interaction between speaker and listener ingredients. prospect, 21(1), 22-45. llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 october 2016 issn 1410-7201 71 fluency or accuracy two different ‘colours’ in writing assessment listyani faculty of language and literature satya wacana christian university listyani@staff.uksw.edu abstract fluency and accuracy. these two things have victoriously won many teachers’ attention at tertiary level. in the case of writing, these two remain debatable, and have always attracted many people, both lecturers’ and students’ attention. these language production measures have distracted many lecturers’ concentration: should they be faithful to fluency of ideas, or grammatical and language accuracy in correcting students’ essays? this paper tries to present the classical yet neverending dilemmatic conflicts within the area of writing assessment. this debate still remains interesting to follow. data were gained from close observation on documents, that is, 21 students’ essays and interviews with 2 students of academic writing in semester ii, 2015-2016. four writing lecturers were also interviewed for their intellectual and critical opinions on these dilemmatic problems in assessing writing. discussion results of fgd (forum group discussion) involving all writing lecturers at the english education study program at the faculty of language and literature of satya wacana christian university which were held in june, 2016, were also included as source of data. hopefully, this paper gives a little more “colour” in the area of writing assessment, and gives a little enlightenment for other writing lecturers. keywords: fluency, content, accuracy, grammar, academic writing introduction students with average capability usually have some problems which can still be tolerated both in the content and language of their writing. the problem lies in the writing of students with low ability or proficiency of english. both the content and language may be very difficult to understand. this, unavoidably, can frustrate the teacher. perfect language with poor ideas is not enough. however, how can ideas be understood if the language as a means to convey the intended meaning is too difficult to grasp? a student may have bright ideas, but without good language, those ideas will be in vain; they will not be conveyed properly to the readers (read: teachers). the teacher then may end up giving an emotional comment on a certain student’s paper: “what did you intend to say, actually?” written in red ink with big letters. it is indeed a dilemma for teachers; they may be confused, which one to value more? student’s ideas or language? it is not an easy question to answer. one central question to be answered in this paper is: which one should be prioritized in assessing writing, grammar or content? in this mailto:listyani@staff.uksw.edu llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 october 2016 issn 1410-7201 72 paper, i want to argue that both the content and language in a piece of writing are to be given attention in assessment, though there may be hierarchy in the scale. the content, as well as the accuracy of language, should not be passed unnoticed by the teacher. some data taken from some students’ journals will be attached as a support for my argument. research methods data for this study were mainly derived from direct interview four lecturers and two students, whom i named lecturer a, b, c, and d according to the time of the interviews (in chronological order). student a and student b. besides that, close observation was also done on the students’ essays. discussion results of forum group discussion with academic writing lecturers were also used as source of data. the data were then qualitatively analyzed and interpreted. grammatical accuracy or content? elbow (1998, p. 299), an expert in writing who is for fluency in writing, mentions that most people’s writing does not have “voice” because people often stop in the middle of the sentence and think about which word to use or which direction they should go. writing with “voice”, according to elbow, is “writing into which someone has breathed”. it has the fluency, rhythm, and “liveness” that exist naturally in the speech of most people when they are enjoying a conversation. people who write frequently, copiously, and confidently will be successful to get voice into their writing. writing with real voice, elbow further explains, has the power to make you pay attention and understand; the words go deep. writing without voice, in his opinion, is “wooden and dead” because it lacks sound, energy, and individuality. at tertiary level, whether they realize it or not, students are usually preoccupied with accuracy, and many do not write in english beyond sentence level when entering university. students are typically not familiar with process approaches in writing or with the requirement of writing a research report (reichelt, 2009). hirose (2001), in reichelt (2009, p. 198), indicates that for the first-year english majors in her classes, “fluency-aimed writing activities” besides activities that raise students’ awareness of conventions in academic writing, are important. this is because students still have little experience of composing in english. other researchers, schoonen, et.al. (2009, p. 80) argue that when it comes to formulating a message, linguistic skills and knowledge become prominent in the writing process. they further mention that for sure, the writer needs to have a larger “repertoire of words, collocations, sentence frames, and morphological options” to get the intended message across. in order to formulate fluency in writing, the retrieval of words, collocations, and sentence frames should be easy and should not burden students’ working memory. the underlying reason is because memory resources should be available for “keeping tracks of the discourse”. the need for linguistic llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 october 2016 issn 1410-7201 73 proficiency and metacognitive knowledge is higher than the ones needed for speaking. in schoonen et al’s opinion, “lack of context and conversational feedback” demands a higher level of explicitness. in fl writing, things become more difficult. limited linguistic knowledge of fl can hinder the use of metacognitive knowledge and writing experience. schoonen et al (2009, p.82) further claim that l1 expertise and knowledge comes under pressure at other stages of the writing process, that is, during formulation, when the writer is struggling with the difficulties caused by limited fl linguistic knowledge. writing is much slower and cyclical than speaking. they confirm that “the relationship between l1 and fl writing proficiency is without doubt mediated by fl linguistic knowledge, but the issue of how and to what extent these three constructs interest is still not settled.” schoonen et al show the correlations between linguistic knowledge and writing performance, and between fluency and writing performance are generally higher than for the mother tongue. the more metacognitive and linguistic knowledge a writer has, the faster the grammatical and lexical knowledge can be retrieved, and the better the writing performance will be (schoonen et al, 2009, p. 83). schoonen et al also mention that. foreign langauge writing is more dependent on the level of linguistic knowledge and fluency, rather than first language (l1) writing. foreign or second language writing is generally higher for english than for the mother tongue. from two examples of writing texts of two students, schoonen et al found in their research that student a performed poorly on english grammar test and received low grades for his/ her test and the writing. on the other hand, student b scored highly on both grammar test and writing assignment. there is a great difference on grammar repertoire on students of the same class (schoonen et al, 2009, p.85). another opinion comes from raimes (2002) who states that in the early 1960’s, writing courses were also treated as grammar practice. later on, it was realized that writing was generative of ideas; it was tolerable to be messy and chaotic in the process. raimes (2002) then sums up that teachers must accept the messy and chaotic nature of writing, or, if teachers do not like the “mess,” they can impose order on it to focus on grammar, rhetorical modes, and models of academic discourse. this is intended to provide teachers themselves with neat systems of teaching. to focus on both content and language is, unavoidably, an extra work on the teachers; more time to give feedback and comments on both aspects (p. 309). this is in line with penaflorida (2002)’s opinion that: teacher gives writing assignments which take time to mark and give feedback to students, or worse, teacher sometimes fails to return the papers. we were students once and know how important the teacher’s feedback was (p.345). llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 october 2016 issn 1410-7201 74 ur (1999) also raises this question, “what should feedback be mainly on: language? content? organization?” she then answers that the hierarchy should be content first, whether the ideas written are significant and interesting, then organization – whether the ideas are arranged in good and pleasing way and lastly language forms, whether the grammar, vocabulary, spelling and punctuation are acceptable in terms of the standard accuracy (p.170). sokolik (2003) also gives an idea of what aspects to be assessed in writing; she asks teachers to ask themselves, what aspects to assess: creativity or originality of ideas, writing format, grammatical accuracy, inclusion of recently taught material, or spelling and punctuation. in short, just as ur’s opinion, there are three aspects to assess: content, organization and grammar (p.94). basically, those three aspects are to be given attention in assessing a piece of reading journal: content, organization and language. from the discussion above, i can say that it remains debatable, which one should teacher give emphasis on the assessment of a piece of writing: the content or the grammatical accuracy, or both? well, many argue that it is the content that becomes the primary concern of writing. as long as students can express their ideas well (clearly), then the piece of writing is considered okay, regardless of the language problems he/she may encounter. i personally prefer seeing a piece of writing from both the content or fluency and language accuracy. dollahite and haun (2012) firmly state that a writer’s goal is to make sure that they have presented their ideas well to the readers, so that those ideas can be clear to them. dollahite and haun (p. 100) further claim, “your job is to create a reader-friendly paper that smoothly guides the reader from one idea to the next. “ as mentioned before, without understandable language, brilliant ideas will not be understood by the readers (read: teachers). sokolik (2003) and ur (1999) have great ideas in saying that in writing, the priority is the content, but it does not stop there; there are still other aspects to consider which are no less important than the first ones: organization of ideas and language accuracy. the biggest percentage may be given in content, but still organization and language must be given a place in the assessment, for the last two also take part in making a piece of writing understood by its target readers. as concluding remarks, i believe that every lecturer has their own beliefs and perceptions. the same case happens in this matter. some lecturers prefer giving more emphasis on grammar or accuracy rather than content or fluency. other lecturers would do the other way around. no one is right and no one is wrong. as long as ideas can be conveyed successfully to the readers, both are okay. whether the content or the grammar gets priority in the assessment, it will not cause a problem. presented below are examples of students’ sentences which have problems in grammatical and content levels. llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 october 2016 issn 1410-7201 75 a student once wrote, “the quotation from mark surman tell to people if they hardly to survive in the future if they get blind about digital functions…the informations that received by the students are more global rather than use books. the informations on web are larger than books. it happens because the digital informations are easly to distribute for entire world, it is not like books that need some regulation to distribute to another area.r.f. george assumed that “we have infinite supply of information and yet we cannot read” (source: goodreads.com,no date). it means the informations that provide by digital era are very global and many in quantity.” (student c’s essay, paragraph 1 & 5, unedited) though he made lots of grammatical errors in his essay, but his ideas are still understandable. the following example is a student’s writing with problems in fluency which hinders understanding. “that is simple reason why digitalization should be taught in senior high school. it is because senior high school students will more accept that way than elementary or junior high student. how do come? senior high school students, usually have been using digitalization better than other level of educations. it may because they have had further material and explanations about how to use internet in previous level. high school students also have been mature to look for and get proper informations which they absence for.” (student d’s essay, paragraph 2, unedited) both students came from the same academic year, they were from batch 2014, and they were asked to write about the same topic: digitation in secondary education. yet, the first student’s essay is more understandable than the second one. it is because, the level of errors is on the grammar, in the first student essay; while the second student had problems with her fluency. discussion on interview results for this paper, i interviewed 4 writing lecturers these lecturers come from different universities and they range from junior to the senior ones. below are their opinions on grammar/ accuracy or content/ fluency. i presented the results of the interviews chronologically. the table below will clarify the four lecturers whom i interviewed. table 1: lecturers who were interviewed initials of lecturers universities experiences in teaching writing sexes a sanata dharma university 7 years m b satya wacana christian university 10 years f c satya wacana christian university 2 years m d miami university 17 years f llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 october 2016 issn 1410-7201 76 writing lecturers’ opinions lecturer a has been teaching writing for 7 years in three different universities, universitas kristen krida wacana, sampoerna university, and universitas sanata dharma. he admitted that in teaching writing, his focus is mainly on the content of my students' essays first. then, i look at their grammar. similar answers came from the second respondent, that lecturer d, from miami university in ohio, usa. she also thinks that priority should go to content first, grammar ranks second. asked about priority, lecturer a thinks that the content is the priority because the content contains the intended message. when his students write in bahasa indonesia, for example, they still have problems in the content. therefore, if we can teach/assist the students to develop the content, their skills on idea development will be transferable when they write in any languages. talking about students whose sentence forms are very simple, like s v o pattern, lecturer a mentioned that it happened in his class as well, “i think those students should be trained to think critically. as a result, their ideas are not superficial. and, for those students having good ideas but poor grammar, we should assist them to express their ideas in good english”. lecturer a then suggests that writing lecturers need to focus on the fluency first (the development of ideas), accuracy later. the underlying reason is if we only focus on the accuracy, we will be trapped in grammar-oriented writing. as a result, we teach grammar, instead of writing. different perspectives come from lecturer b, who has been teaching writing for about 10 years. she was teaching writing 3 and 4, and at present expository and argumentative writing, and academic writing. she focuses on the content, rather than grammar. for her, content including organization of idea, coherence is more important than grammar, because writing is not only about grammar. she further states, “although grammar is important, but to me it is only one of the components that supports writing. not the heart of the writing process. writing is about sharing or expressing our thoughts. we might have perfect grammar. but it will be meaningless, if we don't have enough idea to write on our draft. mastery in writing is not only about grammar mastery”. lecturer b further states that there is no guarantee that the students who can perfectly write simple sentences can have good idea on the topic they write. also, in terms of style, if the students keep using simple sentences, it will make the writing style boring and monotonous. although their grammar might be perfect. it will be obvious because they only use simple sentences. so, their mistake will be very limited. lecturer b prefers to prioritize on fluency. she also suggests that integrating writing with reading is a perfect idea as it might be able to cater both fluency and accuracy. by using the reading texts as the models, the students might be aware of the author's writing styles. they can also have more ideas about llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 october 2016 issn 1410-7201 77 the topic. they can also be exposed with the grammar and vocabulary for their own writing. different from the previous two lecturers, lecturer c, who has just been teaching writing for 2 years, creative writing, argumentative writing, and academic writing, always believes that good grammar can help him understand essays better. in the creative and argumentative writing, he pays attention to the grammar a lot since, for him it is a "foundation" class before entering classes in their upper semesters. “if their grammar is still bad, i will feel sorry for it. i discuss their mistakes almost every week; i remind them to use an article for a singular countable noun, for instance. however, in academic writing, i usually focus on their content; seeing their outline; coherence among paragraphs in the first five weeks though i become stricter with their grammar after they submit their first draft”. asked about which one should be prioritized, lecturer c is certain that for undergraduate students, considering their role as a teacher' candidate, grammar is more important. these students will become a model for their future students. if they cannot write sentences using correct grammar, they will not be able to teach their future students to do so. his attention is more on ensuring the students' language accuracy after they graduate. for first year writing classes, lecturer c suggests that accuracy should be give more attention because it is the "foundation" for the students before entering future writing classes. it will be nice if students can use a software to check grammatical aspects of their writing before they submit their work. the last respondent, lecturer d, has been teaching writing since 1999 at the university level. she was teaching descriptive writing and mostly academic writing. now she is teaching composition at miami university, ohio, the united states of america. lecturer d states that both grammar and content should be prioritized because if we are teaching second language learners, we cannot focus on one. “through grammar, other people can understand the content. both are important. if we focus on the grammar, but the content is not good, then, it’s just the same thing. but the way you teach it, i think you must focus on the content, and then, grammar”. asked about the percentage for grammar and content in the assessment rubrics, lecturer d mentions that in writing assessment, both need emphasizing. content is 70%, and language or grammar is like 30%. sometimes, there are students whose content is good, but the grammar is not, so we cannot separate grammar from content. both are important. from my interviews with the four lecturers, a red thread can be seen. lecturer a was in line with lecturer b and lecturer d. they gave priority to fluency. lecturer c was the only one who preferred to focus on grammar. for him, accuracy was more important. about fluency first then accuracy, chin et al (2013a) also suggest that writers read their draft to check content and organization, write comments on a different sheet of paper, write the llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 october 2016 issn 1410-7201 78 weaknesses of their own paper and write down ways to improve it. after checking the content and organization, writers should also read the draft to check the grammatical errors and style problems. singleton (2011) also strengthens this idea. she explains that after revising the ideas in the paragraph, a writer is ready to edit, which means to check the grammar. singleton further clarifies that if a writer edits the grammar first, he/she will waste his/her time working on irrelevant sentences. smalley et al (2012, p.9) have a similar idea. they mention that editing and proofreading are the final steps in writing. editing means checking sentences to make sure that they are all grammatically and mechanically correct. while proofreading means reading the paper again to find “any remaining errors in grammar, spelling, mechanics, or punctuation”. students’ opinions besides the four lecturers, i also interviewed two students whom i thought had good mastery of grammar. from my on-line interview with two academic writing students, i found that both students consider grammar an important part of writing which helps readers understand their ideas. these two students always had good ideas besides very good grasp of english grammar. student a firmly says that in writing both grammar and content are important. she explains further, “the content of our writing should be meaningful, interesting, and reach the purpose of the text. we also should make our writing understandable by using correct grammar” (unedited). being a daughter of an english teacher, she feels that she has more opportunities to acquire english more than others who do not have english teacher parents. similar to student a, student b also thinks that grammar and content are equally important, especially in writing. she claims, “if we master the grammar well, ppl (people) will easily understand what we're going to convey (content). the use of language in writing is important because the language is a tool to make ppl understand our meaning. it's kinda a bridge to help us deliver our ideas well to the reader.” (unedited) talking about how she acquired good command of english, student b said that she started to join an english course since i was at the first grade of elementary school. that time her mother asked an english tutor to come. she then i joined an english course in salatiga when she was eight. the course has many stages, such as beginner, intermediate, and advanced. each stage is divided into some levels also and every 4 months, she had to pass each level. when she was in grade 6, she passed the end of the intermediate level, while her other course mates were senior high school students. these two students excelled in terms of grammatical awareness in their writing. from my interviews with both students, who both came from 2014 academic year, a conclusion can be drawn. both students preferred to give priority on grammar. for them, good grammar will help clarify the fluency of their llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 october 2016 issn 1410-7201 79 thoughts in writing. thus, it will help readers understand their view points. their opinion is in line with chin, et al (2013b, p.125)). they mention clearly, “writing filled with errors in grammar, punctuation, selling, and capitalization is very distracting to a reader.” they further assert that writers have to fix these errors before submitting the essay for evaluation. forum group discussion (fgd) with academic writing lecturers on june 24, 2016, i managed to conduct a forum group discussion with four academic writing lecturers, all from satya wacana christian university salatiga. one of them was lecturer c (who also became the respondent i interviewed). the table below will clarify the fgd attendees. table 2: fgd attendees initials of lecturers experiences in teaching writing sexes c 2 years m e 17 years f f 14 years m g 2 years f one of the topics discussed is grammar in writing. dealing with the first problem discussed, should grammar also be taught in writing classes? the answers are as follows. yes, grammar should be taught in writing, but independent grammar classes are still needed, with 2 reasons. first, grammar teaching surely helps students in using grammar in context in their writing. secondly, lecturers do not need to spend too much time on grammar. discussing the second question (which one is to be the top priority for contextual grammatical aspects to be taught in writing?), all the lecturers had the same agreement. frequency of the most frequently seen/found grammatical points that appear in writing is not the only parameter that needs consideration. the common and important ones should be taught. talking about point 3 (which one should be prioritized? the fluency, the accuracy, or both?) the lecturers attending the group discussion had various answers. one prefers giving equal attention to both, one lecturer to grammar. one junior lecturer mentioned that for lowerlevel writing classes, yes, grammar should be prioritized; another lecturer prefers to give priority to fluency, and the last one, content first, grammar later. the last question is should grammar get a better position in the rubrics? all the lecturers agreed that the percentage should be between 30-35% for grammar in the assessment rubrics in all levels of writing. this is similar to lecturer d’s opinion. the underlying reasons are as follows. first, this is to balance grammar and fluency. secondly, grammar points can be used as an incentive. if students can write with good grammar, they will get more points in the rubrics. the next reason is grammar is an integral part of writing, and good grammar adds meaning. the last reason is if students have good fluency, but poor llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 october 2016 issn 1410-7201 80 grammar, then their writing is not realistic. agreement was made at the end of this fgd session. there were three points. first, grammar needs to be taught, though independent grammar classes are still needed. secondly, the most-frequently appearing grammatical items are not necessarily the ones to be taught. the next agreement is both fluency and accuracy should be given priority in writing assessment. the final agreement is that rubrics for grammar should cover 30-35% of the whole percentage of scores. conclusion from the discussion part above, two conclusions can be drawn. frist, every lecturer of writing courses has their own preference of which should be given priority. grammar or fluency. secondly, grammar needs to be given bigger portion in the assessment rubrics. rubrics for grammatical points of 30-35% will be ideal for writing assessment. the rest 65-70% should be given to fluency or content. acknowledgements i owe words of thanks to my respondents, ibu henny zachariasliem, bapak priyatno ardi, bapak yustinus calvin, and ibu anita kurniawati. also to my students bene and bella. a bunch of thanks are also given to academic writing lecturers who attended fgd, ibu titik murtisari, pak yustinus calvin, pak christian rudianto, and bu yustina. thank you so much for your help. references chin, peter; reid, samuel; wray, sean; and yamazaki, yoko. academic writing skills. student’s book 1. (2013a). cup. chin, peter; reid, samuel; wray, sean; and yamazaki, yoko. academic writing skills. student’s book 3. (2013b). cup. dollahite, nancy, e & haun, julie. (2012). source work: academic writing from sources. boston: cengage learning. elbow, peter. 1998. writing with power: techniques for mastering the writing process. oup. penaflorida, andrea h. (2002). “nontraditional forms of assessment and response to student writing: a step toward learner autonomy.” in j.c. richards & w.a. renandya (eds.). methodology in language teaching. cambridge: cambridge university press. raimes, ann. (2002). “ten steps in planning and training teachers of writing”. in j.c. richards & w.a. renandya (eds.). methodology in language teaching. cambridge: cambridge university press. reichelt. 2009. a critical evaluation of writing teaching programs in different foreign language settings. in rosa m. manchón. writing in foreign language contexts: learning, teaching, and research. bristol: datapage international ltd. sasaki, miyuki. 2009. “changes in english as a foreign language students’ writing over 3.5 years: a sociocognitive account. in rosa m. llt journal vol. 19 no. 2 october 2016 issn 1410-7201 81 manchón. writing in foreign language contexts: learning, teaching, and research. bristol: datapage international ltd. schoonen, rob; snellings patrick; stevenson, marie; and gelderen, amos van. 2009. “towards a blueprint of the foreign language writer: the linguistic and cognitive demands of foreign language writing. in rosa m. manchón. writing in foreign language contexts: learning, teaching, and research. bristol: datapage international ltd. singleton, jill. (2011). writers at work. the paragraph. 11 th printing. cup. smalley, regina l.; ruetten, mary k.; and kozyrev, joann rishel. (2012). refining composition skills. academic writing and grammar. boston; cengage learning. sokolik, maggie. (2003). “writing.” in david nunan (ed.). practical english language teaching. new york: the mcgraw-hill companies. ur, penny. (1999). a course in language teaching. practice and theory. cambridge: cambridge university press. zacharias, henny. july 8, 2016. personal interview. salatiga. front cover llt journal oct 2016b binder3.pdf front cover llt journal oct 2016b llt journal oct 2016 complete finalized.pdf front cover llt journal oct 2016b llt j oct 2016 (10 oct).pdf llt journal front pages oct 2016 (10 nov) nnn llt journal oct 2016 articles fixed to be reedited llt journal submission guidelines oct 2016 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 628 problems regarding clt implementation at higher secondary level: a case study in both urban and rural areas in bangladesh musfikul islam bangladesh university of business & technology, banglaadesh correspondence: safwanism2@gmail.com doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i2.3266 received 3 april 2021; accepted 30 october 2021 abstract this article tries to find out the explanations behind the implementation of clt approach in the higher secondary level and attempts to produce a real data of clt implementation in both rural and urban areas in bangladesh. it also looks at the factors that make this teaching approach difficult to implement. this study examined both teachers’ and students’ perceptions, opinions, and perspectives of the english language at the higher secondary level. to achieve the objectives of the study, a mixed-method approach has been undertaken to conduct the methodology of the study where a range of methods such as questionnaire, interview and classroom observation checklist have been used. the outcomes reveal various types of obstacles which are: a huge number of students in clt classroom, small size of classroom, insufficiency of modern materials. it also disclosed that maximum students are not able to understand the english lecture in the classroom, teachers are not trained to maintain the classroom by following clt method and some of the trained teachers are refused to apply clt approach as well. based on the findings, this study tries to propose some processes for reversing the current situation that is happening at present within the educational system in bangladesh. keywords: communicative language teaching (clt), english as foreign language (efl), english as second language (esl), english language teaching (elt), grammar translation method (gtm) introduction english is the world's most commonly spoken and dominated language. in several countries around the world, it is now considered the most useful language for communication and a second language. english is used in almost every sector in bangladesh. despite the fact that it is not the primary language, it is permitted to be used as an official language in most private offices. government offices are also using this language on a large scale as well. english is taught as a compulsory subject to students in this country from the primary school level to the higher secondary level. several forms of approaches have been used in language teaching since the beginning. communicative language teaching (clt) is the most recent among all the approaches. while the grammar translation method (gtm) failed llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 629 to meet the requirements and demands of authorities, communicative language teaching stepped forward. according to richards and rodgers (2001), clt was implemented in bangladesh through the english language teaching improvement project, a joint project between the united kingdom and bangladesh (eltip). as a result, the national curriculum and textbook board (nctb), a branch of bangladesh's ministry of education, developed cltoriented reading materials and a schedule for clt implementation in schools, colleges, and madrasahs (religious institutions) with the aim of growing students' capability. english is an international language. to interact with the rest of the world in this age of globalization, everybody must be able to communicate in english. for this reason, english has been mandated as a compulsory subject for bangladeshi students. they must take english subject till higher secondary level. even after all of these procedures, students were still unable to communicate effectively in english in a variety of situations. this condition remained the same for students at the primary, secondary, and higher secondary levels. though it is commonly assumed that educational institutions are attempting to teach students communication in english using the clt approach, the truth could be very different. the majority of private institutions tend to be in business to make money. authorities in both private and public institutions are unaware of how clt is applied in their institutions or whether any changes are needed. they don't worry about how students learn english or how well they interact in real life (islam, 2011). according to mehtab (2012) clt aims to boost not only esl and efl learners' "communicative competence," but also their "communicative performance." since then, this approach has been used to teach english at all levels. however, it is a source of disappointment that the majority of students are still unable to communicate in english. chowdhury (2003) focuses on issues of communicative language teaching that are important to students not only in bangladesh, but also in other asian countries with efl situations. he examines the cultural meaning of language teaching and learning, as well as its effects on students. he proposes that language teaching materials be reformed and updated into a new system that reflects bangladesh's realities. according to li (1998), the use of clt to teach english in bangladesh has recently received attention. although the clt method aims to engage students in more meaningful and interactive learning activities that result in both comprehensible feedback and language input, english language teachers in bangladesh still find it difficult to adopt the method and optimize learning proficiency, especially in efl classrooms (ali & walker, 2014). according to sharmeen (2008) english is a compulsory subject in bangladeshi schools and colleges, but the majority of students suffer due to a lack of motivation. students face many obstacles in the classroom, including large class sizes, limited opportunities to use the target language, the absence of a language lab, and a shortage of trained teachers. several students remain unsuccessful to obtain the pass marks in english subject in ssc (secondary school certificate) examination after reading it for ten years. after ten years of study, english is still regarded as a difficult subject among students. although textbooks and syllabi are designed to introduce clt in the classroom, the majority of teachers prefer to teach english in the classroom using the old grammar translation method. the clt approach llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 630 stresses all four basic language skills equally, but only reading and writing are practiced in the classroom, as in the old gtm. students would not have any issues relating to speaking and listening during the exam. as a result, neither teachers nor students are worried about these two communicative english skills. ullah (2013) also points out that reading and writing skills are emphasized in english classes because testing procedures focusing on those two skills. true communicative competence is not developing as a result of exam-oriented english study. peyar (2011) states a large classroom is needed due to the large number of students in a single institute, which is not suitable for teaching and learning in clt. this method necessitates a classroom in which students engage in a variety of activities, such as pair work, group work, and individual work and so on. students only embrace their teachers' lectures in the classroom, which does not contribute to a communicative learning environment. students are often denied the ability to share their thoughts or ideas in the classroom in this manner. at the same time, they do not have the ability to communicate with others in english. the current study's main aim is to look at both students' and teachers' perspectives and problems with the clt approach struggling at the higher secondary level in both rural and urban areas of bangladesh. the following are the study's key objectives: 1. to detect the problems of implementing clt at the higher secondary level in bangladesh. 2. to examine if the learners are motivated enough to take part in communicative learning activities. 3. to know about the activities of the clt classroom. 4. to know if the students are benefited in practicing clt in the classroom. 5. to find out the limitations of learning and teaching clt in the classroom. research questions 1. how clt is conducted at h.s.c level in bangladesh? 2. are all the principles of clt maintained in the classroom? 3. what are the benefits and drawbacks of using the clt approach at the higher secondary level level? 4. how feasible is clt at the h.s.c level? 5. what are the problems found to implement clt in h.s.c level? 6. what kind of problems do the teachers and students face in the clt method? literature review the audio-lingual teaching method and its unsatisfactory results prompted the development of communicative language teaching (clt) in the 1970s. the audio-lingual pattern approach is dismissed because it fails to train students for successful use of the target language in a number of communicative circumstances. many people have reported that using clt is difficult for most efl teachers. diana ansarey (2012) detailed that teachers in bangladesh, felt clt was difficult to implement. the establishment of a more comprehensive instructional curriculum, old teaching methods, class size and timetables, resources and equipment, and english instructors' deficiencies in oral english, sociolinguistic, and tactical competence are all listed as limitations. in order to inspire students to focus on communicative practices, clt in the classroom needs llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 631 a variety of facilities to produce instructional materials and teaching aids. the efl classrooms, on the other hand, lack the requisite facilities and equipment to support clt activities. rao (2002) supported this assertion by arguing that most educational institutions lack the financial resources to provide audiovisual equipment, photocopiers, and other facilities and resources needed to sustain the complex teaching that communicative language teaching necessitates. furthermore, according to incecay (2009) most efl schools lack the funds necessary to create an english use atmosphere in the classroom in order to inspire students and develop their communicative competence. many studies have shown that it is difficult for teachers, especially efl teachers, to use clt as a tool to help them achieve their language teaching goals in their context with their students. according to dr. m shahidullah (2012) who conducted a study to determine the attitudes of bangladeshi teachers toward using clt in the local context, the majority of teachers are not interested in using clt because it takes too much preparation time. there is no distinction between the classes of trained and non-trained teachers. the trained teachers experienced a variety of challenges in implementing their training into practice, including limited vocabulary among teachers and students, a lack of real-world resources, a lack of teaching aids, students' irregular attendance and inability to understand english, shyness, a lack of an english learning atmosphere, and inappropriate setting arrangements rahman (et al., 2006). clt has been introduced at the secondary and higher secondary levels to help students develop their skills in four areas: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. however, according to sanjaya (2014) students are not adequately taught speaking and listening skills, and as a result, they are unable to use english outside of the classroom. she also mentioned that teachers at the secondary level still use the old gtm, which does not emphasize the development of students' communicative skills. according to hasan and akhand (2009) the transition from gtm to clt took place around 2001, and it is now the official government education policy. it's been nearly a decade since clt was integrated into the elt sense, and it's time to consider how much it's enhanced learners' competence. hamid and baldauf (2008) said that english is taught by teachers who are unfamiliar with this approach, and this is insufficient for students to pass the exam or learn the language. after the implementation of clt, a teacher training program was developed, and a few teachers were trained as a result of this program. so the most vital thing is that educational administrators should do the teachers training (liao, 2000). brown (2001) claims that while clt has the potential to be a very effective strategy for helping students improve their communicative skills, some of its characteristics make it difficult to implement in the classroom. an instructor who isn't fluent in a second language would struggle to use english effectively in the classroom. since the teacher does not speak english, he or she may continue to use his or her first language in all classroom activities. shahidullah (2004) stated that if the classroom size is small, it would be easy for a teacher to handle the activities. he can also clearly monitor and resolve the problems of each student. however, this is not feasible in a broad classroom because it is not conducive to teaching and learning. richards (2006) defines clt as a set of principles about the goals of language teaching, it includes: how students learn a language, the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 632 type of classroom activities that help to learn; and the roles of teachers and learners in the classroom. it is an advancement of teaching technique which reflect more recent applied linguistics research and educational theory. hymes (1972) said that language literacy alone is inadequate for students to communicate in substantive communicative contexts. he claims that language is used as a means of social interaction within society, rather than as a separate entity. as a result, he promotes communicative competence, which stresses linguistic comprehension as well as communication abilities. as a consequence, clt follows this approach and aims to develop learners' communicative abilities so that they can use language in real-life situations (richards & schmidt, 2010). richards (2006) described clt as a collection of principles that govern language teaching goals, including how students learn a language, the types of classroom activities that aid learning, and the roles of teachers and learners in the classroom. it is a trend of teaching methods that combines more recent applied linguistics research and educational theory. according to barman, sultana, and basu (2007) there are eight factors that are considered as barriers to clt in bangladesh: 1) insufficient elt practitioners, 2) financial restrictions, 3) administrative setup, 4) infrastructural limitations, 5) cultural conflicts, 6) classroom seating structure, 7) class size and language teaching and learning, and 8) exam method. they claimed that in bangladesh, most teachers had the option of beginning their teaching careers without any prior formal training. despite the fact that the government had sent materials based on the clt system, the teachers did not fully comprehend the principles of communicative competence. many language teachers are also underpaid, which has a negative impact on their mental health and has resulted in a demotivated classroom climate as they have to supplement their income by teaching as private tutors. they also noted that a large number of bangladeshi institutions continue to be developed around resultoriented teaching, which primarily focuses on reading and writing skills. in certain cases, the classes are too big to manage; often there are as many as 150 students in a single class. in the bangladeshi context, hasan and akhand (2009) clarified that a lack of classroom guidance and insufficient resources may have an effect on the clt approach. however, the question of whether a combination of content-based techniques and clt could alleviate the difficulties of teaching english in bangladesh is still being debated. hence, nesa (2010) claims that restricted teaching/learning materials and implementation procedures obstruct clt implementation in bangladesh. she suggests that improving self-coordinated investigation, including more instructional resources, and encouraging teacher training in clt, as well as the regulation of the clt method could help students achieve better results. method instruments a mixed-methods approach was used in the research. this approach obtained and evaluated both qualitative and quantitative data at the same time. responses were gathered using three different types of instruments. these are: teachers' interviews, student questionnaires, and a classroom observation checklist. teachers' interviews and student questionnaires are the methods for explicitly llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 633 communicating with them and generating ideas for this research. classroom observations are also needed in order to justify the study's findings. number of participants to complete the study sixty students and five teachers of higher secondary level of different colleges have taken. the students’ native language is bengali and they learn english as a foreign language. the method of learning language is clt. the teachers who are involved in the study teaching english at the same stage. the participants include both the male and the female. process of data collection the study's main aim is to discover the difficulties of implementing clt at the higher secondary level. a set of questions containing a total of 9 interview questions related to the study was used for the teachers' interview. the data was collected from the students through a questionnaire that included 12 questions. three english classes were also observed to note the overall activities, specifically to evaluate the usefulness of clt and the classroom physical settings. an observation checklist with 11 criteria was sorted and observed to collect all of the data in detail during the classroom observations. findings and discussion data analysis with the help of research instruments, various types of research areas were found. in this part of the study all the collected data are analyzed through statistical procedures. analysis of questionnaire for students 12 questionnaire were distributed among sixty (60) students. the following findings are done using the information by the students: statements agree strongly agree neutral disagree strongly disagree difficulties while pair working. 35% 31% 12% 22% 0% unsupportive principles of clt in classroom. 24% 38% 22% 12% 4% use of pictures/objects in the classroom. 8% 6% 22% 28% 36% teacher’s movement around the classroom. 36% 24% 4% 34% 2% lack clt materials in classroom practice. 18% 40% 10% 30% 2% absence of clt activities in the classroom. 14% 6% 8% 52% 20% importance of grammatical rules in language learning. 26% 34% 22% 18% 0% students’ opinions and 18% 48% 20% 4% 10% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 634 statements agree strongly agree neutral disagree strongly disagree idea about clt. teacher’s use of clt in the classroom. 38% 16% 20% 12% 14% teachers are not helpful in the classroom. 26% 14% 16% 32% 12% large classroom for clt. 44% 26% 12% 15% 2% lack of instruments to assess communicative competence. 40% 18% 30% 12% 0% interviews with teachers in this section of the study consists of interviews with teachers. the interviews are taken with five teachers from different colleges. all teachers are teaching english language at higher secondary level. a brief summary of each interview are given below: teacher-1 (t-1) t-1 was asked about the overall situation of his teaching career and in response he freely answered some questions where it found that he has been teaching english courses for 6 years in this institution. he has knowledge about communicative language teaching (clt) approach and got training a long ago. he said that group work helps students to find out their faults and they can correct themselves though it takes a long time and wastes lots of valuable teaching time. to talk about the difficulties he mentioned the lack of clt materials and the environment of the classroom is not support the clt principles. t-1 mentioned that the problem that he faces in teaching english is that he has to speak in bengali instead of english in the class. sometimes he changes the sitting arrangement. so that good and less understanding students sit together and get help. he said that he uses activities such as asking questions, pair work, solving questions, reading tests etc. t-1 talked about his institution that the classrooms are suitable for minimum use of clt. teacher-2 (t-2) t-2 said that he is new in this institution and he does not have any kind of training on the communicative language teaching. he also feels the importance of engaging students in group work while teaching the english course. he said that teaching english by applying the clt approach is very difficult. because it is very hard to maintain a large class. he complained that the students’ are not good at english and they do not pay the full attention in the classroom. he noticed students face many difficulties in learning english because the teacher’s acts in the classroom as a dominating figure to handle his students. he said that he always gives his students' activities such as pair work, question-solving etc. lastly, he mentioned his classroom is not suitable for the clt approach. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 635 teacher-3 (t-3) to answer the question t-3 mentioned she has been teaching english course around 4 years in her institution. she said that she knows about communicative language teaching (clt) approach but she has no training in this method. she mentioned that teaching students by following pair work or others class activities is necessary though it talks a long time. she faces many problems such as lack of enough clt materials in the classroom. she also said that their students face many difficulties in learning english such as the teacher do not give any chance to their students to express their ideas, they remain busy in various tasks and activities in the class because of the shortage of time. to answer about the clt classroom she said she do not think that their classroom situation is suitable for clt. teacher-4 (t-4) t-4 said about the overall scenario of his teaching strategies and in response he quite freely answered some questions where it found that he has only 1 year of teaching experience and he has some knowledge about clt. he mentioned that he has no training in this method. t-4 said that it is necessary to engage students with group work in the classroom. as he has no training on clt approach he felt it difficult to practice this method in the classroom to teach his students. finally, he answered that he does not think that his classroom situation is suitable for clt as it was very noisy and the classroom size was big with almost 70 students. teacher-5 (t-5) to answer the interview questions t-5 said she has more than 5 years’ experience and she got training on the clt approach. she said that it is a duty for a teacher to involve his/her students in classroom activities in a clt classroom. she said that she cannot create a suitable environment for pair work in the classroom because it creates the chance for the students to talk about something irrelevant to the lesson. t-5 said that it is very difficult to teach english applying the clt approach. because the classroom size is too big and it’s very hard to handle a big classroom with 60-70 students. the students are not active in the classroom they often talk to each other. she also said her students face many difficulties in learning english. because teachers cannot properly help their students in the classroom although some students are curious to learn something. she mentioned that the classroom situation is suitable for the minimum use of the clt approach. as she was trained on this method, she can handle the classroom situation by her own experience. analysis of classroom observation checklist this study only observed the classroom size, classroom management, number of students, physical settings of the classrooms, seating arrangements, technological support, high traffic areas, safe and orderly environment, clt materials, students’ activities (use of technology/multimedia/projector etc.), and other equipment in the classrooms. the classroom observation checklist has been provided below: 1. the study topic was english grammar. 2. the classroom size was too big. it has consisted of 50 to 60 students. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 636 3. the classroom had been decked out. a blackboard and a table for the teacher were given in each classroom. for the students, there were benches. 4. the classroom was in an average condition. 5. the researcher did not find any technical support in the classroom. 6. the classroom was situated in a quiet place where there was no traffic noise. the area was perfect for taking any class. 7. the classroom was very safe and ordinary environment for the students. 8. the classroom did not have any clt materials. 9. the students' benches were fixed, finding it challenging for the teachers to control each student. 10. although it was very hard for a teacher to maintain a big class with lots of students. but the researcher found the learning goal was clear. 11. during the observation, the researcher did not notice any types of students’ activities. recommendations the study was designed in order to investigate the problem regarding clt implementation. the study recommends the following suggestion as probable solutions based on the real results of this research paper. 1. the limitation of time in the classroom is not enough for teaching and most of the teachers had to face this problem most frequently. so the time limit should increase particularly for english class. 2. the authority's proper training and regulation of teachers can improve the current picture of clt, especially rural areas. so, english teachers should be provided with a comprehensive clt training program. 3. the exam policy needs to be systematically reformed in order to implement the clt approach and the testing system needs to focus on both four skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening). 4. teachers need to encourage their students and help them gain the confidence to speak english fluently. they should understand the students that making mistakes is a natural part of learning. 5. students have a tendency of memorizing answers from their textbooks till now. it can be better that the written questions will be structured in this way that students will be compelled to think individually and independently to answer their questions. 6. students must be involved in a range of activities in order to improve communicative ability in the english language. teachers should engage students in a variety of pair work or group discussions and advise them to speak in english with their classmates. 7. the authority should supply necessary equipment particularly in rural colleges, such as a projector, sound box, tape recorder, cassette player, language lab, computer lab, calm and quiet classrooms with ensuring electricity supply. so that teachers can use those materials in teaching and students are inspired and interested in english language classes as well. 8. colleges should have a movable seating arrangement available. it will help teachers in preparing a variety of activities. 9. because of the large classroom containing 50-80 students it’s better to divide the class into two or three sections which consisting of a maximum of 25-40 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 637 students. as a result, each of the students will learn properly and can be connected with the teacher in the classroom. after all, government should take a long-term policy for implementation of the clt method in all the instructions. conclusion to conclude, the findings of this study especially focused on the teachers' and the students' perceptions at higher secondary level in both urban and rural zones in bangladesh. according to the findings, teachers need to make a free environment through communicative activities where students will express or share their own understanding and experiences, for examplerole-play, pair work, discussions, presentation, reading in groups and so on. in this way, students can get a chance to be more independent to express anything in the classrooms. therefore, teachers can inspire the students as their partners to overcome limitations and become friendly in order to make the students communicative. they can also play an important role in their classes by using authentic materials including the main textbook and interestingly preparing everyday tasks. for that, students will be motivated and get interested to learn more. the findings may help the teachers and policymakers 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(2013). clt at the higher secondary level in bangladesh: theory and practice. journal of education and practice, 4(4), 197-206. retrieved from https://www.iiste.org/journals/index.php/jep/article/view/4540 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 218-226 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 218 depiction of struggle by miranda to reach lucia against mental illness in everything here is beautiful afifah zakia fattamubina1 and yeny prastiwi2 1,2muhammadiyah university of surakarta, indonesia a320170091@students.ums.ac.id1 and yeny.prastiwi@ums.ac.id2 correspondence: afifahzakia1616@gmail.com1 https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.3802 received 24 october 2021; accepted 12 may 2022 abstract this research discusses miranda’s struggle to reach lucia against mental illness in the novel everything here is beautiful. everything here is beautiful novel deals with an issue that is closely related to the individual's role in the extent to which the individual will or must go for the sake of the family. in this novel, miranda, the older sister of her younger sister, lucia, who suffers from mental illness, decides to step up to struggle for lucia against her mental illness. hence, in this research, the researcher examines miranda’s struggle to reach lucia against mental illness. the purpose of this research is to discover struggles by miranda. this is descriptive qualitative research with an individual psychological approach as the theory. individual psychological approaches rely on alfred adler's "6 major concepts of personality," which include inferiority feeling, fictional finalism, striving for superiority, creative self, style of life, and social interest. this research uses a novel entitled everything here is beautiful, internet sources, journal articles, and books that are related to the subject matter as primary and secondary data. as a result, the researcher discovered all six major concepts of personality that portrayed miranda's struggle to reach lucia against mental illness. keywords: everything here is beautiful, individual psychological approach, mental illness, struggle introduction even if the individuals consider their self and their life perfect, they cannot be distant from a problem in their life (psychology clinic, 2021). one way to face and solve various problems is to raise a struggle. the struggle is an individual's attempt to do, accomplish, or manage something tricky or even problematic in his daily life (merriam, 2021). mental health problem is one of the problems that will arise and must be resolved in life (psychology clinic, 2021). with the rising prevalence of mental illness, there is often a significant impact on health and social consequences, human rights, and economic consequences in all countries around the world (who, 2019). since the family is an individual's first social environment, family relationships are supreme for families to be the mailto:a320170091@students.ums.ac.id mailto:yeny.prastiwi@ums.ac.id mailto:afifahzakia1616@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.3802 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 218-226 219 primary source of care and support for individuals with mental illness (sapin, widmer, & iglesias, 2016). in terms of mental illness, schizophrenia is one of the types of mental illness that needs the involvement of the family to support and take care of them. individual struggles to solve life's problems, including those of people suffering from mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, are frequently depicted in literary works. literature is a reflection of reality, an artistic product, and an ideological window because the development of literature and its reaction to human life and reality creates a deep connection. mira t. lee's novel everything here is beautiful is one of the literary works that describe the individual struggle for people with mental illnesses. individuals can see how a family member struggles for individuals with schizophrenic mental disorders from the literature. as a story about sisterhood, everything here is beautiful is inadequate at best and misleading at worst (coldiron, 2018). the way a magnetic woman approaches life with the greatness portrayed by lucia bok's character, she is the second daughter of a single mother of chinese immigrants who grew up in china; unlike miranda, who is older and more responsible, she departs from a more conventional path (cha, 2018). everything here is beautiful not only weaves in the theme of sisterly relationship, but also immigration in america, mental illness, romantic love, and motherhood as prime themes (coldiron, 2018). so far, the author apparently has not found any researcher who has used everything here is beautiful as the object of a research. the author, on the other hand, discovered seven relevant researches that used the same theory, namely the individual psychological approach, and the same issue, namely a struggle. the following are the results of these researches. the first research was discussed personal independence reflected in the major and minor characters of the novel the hunger games (yusuf, 2016). the second research was discussed fictional finalism of ikal in getting a better education in the rainbow troops novel (fajri, 2013). the third research was discussed abnormalities of bethany in maintaining her hopes to become a reality in the movie soul surfer (rahmatin, 2013). the fourth discussed rachel's efforts to prove the truth, her obstacles, and her reasons for approving the truth reflected in the novel the girl on the train (rahayuni, 2017). the fifth research was discussed the life struggle of mikael blomkvist in the novel the girl with the dragon (purnomosari, 2014). the sixth research was discussed bella swan's love struggle in the new moon movie (lestari, 2012). the last research was discussed mark watney's struggle to survive and his motivation to fight for his life in the novel the martian (purnama, 2018). according to previous researches, this study has the same scope as the others in terms of research issues and the use of the same theory. however, each of the researches mentioned used a different object from this research. furthermore, the researcher discovered that some researchers placed a greater emphasis on the issues raised by the main character. the researcher realizes that various issues, such as struggle, are not only passed by the main character in the story of a literary work. as a result, this research is structured to provide an overview of the struggle of other characters in the novel, while also highlighting the struggle of the main characters. using an individual psychological approach, this research examines the struggle to reach individuals with mental illnesses in mira t. lee's novel llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 218-226 220 everything here is beautiful. it seeks to discover struggle by miranda to reach lucia against mental illness in everything here is beautiful. alfred adler’ individual psychology approach of literature alfred's individual psychological approach conveyed with confidence that every human being possessed a distinct and inseparable personality; he emphasized that the individual does not obstruct the social; the social element is a very important factor, which means that an individual can become an individual because it is in a social context (ewen, 2014). in achieving a goal, striving for superiority is made by individuals as the main motive in thinking and behaving with the uniqueness of each from their lifestyle to their creativity as well (britannica, 2017). alfred adler’s major concept of personality there are six major concepts of personality, which are inferiority feeling, fictional finalism, striving for superiority, creative self, style of life, and social interest. inferiority feeling are human feelings about various feelings that are perceived as unfortunate looking, such as lack, smallness, weakness, ignorance, and dependence, which can be larger or less in human life (griffith & powers, 2007). besides, the psychological feature of compensation as the individual's unconscious, subjectively conceived, ever-present goal of success and the selfideal is referred to as fictional finalism (griffith & powers, 2007). in addition, according to adler, the desire to improve perceptions and gain a better state in one's life was naturally driven by the striving for superiority (ideas, 2017). furthermore, adler believed that the worthwhile human personality was determined by themselves and their creative self, and that humans needed to look ahead if they wondered who they are as well as they were doing now (wagner, 2010). then, the movement of individual thoughts, feelings, and actions became one in the movement of style of life, which was uniqueness and self-consistency; it's also an individual's primary beliefs, as well as a world vigorously maintained by an individual, in a prejudiced perception of individual arrangements, the individual's pursuit of perfection, or ideally, also refers to the individual's way of life. lastly, emphasized by adler, the overall feeling in each individual to cooperate was social interest; he also desired in the horizontal plane that individuals be equally able to relate and do what was required in certain situations (slavik & carlson, 2006). method this research is categorized as qualitative research. the goal of qualitative research is to gain insight into a specific meaning or behavior through an interpretive approach to the occurrence of a social phenomenon (palmer & bolderston, 2006). because the researcher analyzes the novel using the qualitative method and does not require statistical data, this approach is deemed capable and appropriate for this research. the individual psychological approach is the underprop theory for this research. this research utilizes mira t. lee's novel everything here is beautiful as a primary data source, with secondary data sources including journals, books, and websites. the researcher applies the following data collection techniques: (1) longer time duration of mira t. lee's llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 218-226 221 novel everything here is beautiful (2018), (2) reciting some articles and journals to collect information, (3) note-taking from the relevant information, and (4) distinguishing based on the data that will be used. findings and discussion this section deals with individual psychological approach analysis. the analysis seeks to discover the depiction of struggles by miranda in reaching lucia against the mental illness in the novel everything here is beautiful by mira t. lee. miranda’s struggle to reach lucia against mental illness miranda, since she and her pregnant mother emigrated from shanghai to america, she has been the guardian of her sister. lucia started hearing voices as her clarity started to deteriorate, it was after her mother's death. miranda then had to find a way to save her sister without losing herself in the process from that day on. she had been responsible because she had no other alternative. inferiority feeling the first principle was an inferiority feeling. miranda's inferiority feeling while trying to reach lucia against mental illness was discovered by the researcher, as evidenced by the following dialogue: in the hospital when lucia will be discharge miranda trying to made a small talk. have you eaten lunch yet? what did you do in group today? have you been going outside. her answers, curt, though intelligible. by the time we left the building, i was on the verge of tears. “that’s not her, stefan.” “what do you mean?” he said. “that’s not her. that’s her illness. and did you hear that social worker? she didn’t even give a shit. what the fuck are they thinking, giving his risperdal?” i slumped to the curb, face in my knees. stefan knelt down beside me, an arm around my shoulders. (lee, 2019, p 38–39) miranda clearly expressed her inferiority feeling in the preceding dialogue. miranda had always demonstrated her struggle to reach lucia against mental illness, even in minor matters. miranda's attempts to create an atmosphere with lucia were frequently thwarted by her. miranda's inferiority feeling was caused by sadness. sadness was a temporary sense of despair or sorrow that appeared in individuals when they lost something, but it did not result in a significant decrease in self-esteem (parker, paterson, & hadzi-pavlovic, 2015). miranda was dissatisfied with lucia's response, prompting her to display her low self-esteem, as evidenced by her complaining to stefan with tears streaming down her cheeks and dropping her knees into the street. miranda was sad about the loss of the real lucia because she was possessed by a mental illness that caused her to behave strangely. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 218-226 222 fictional finalism the second principle was fictional finalism. miranda's fictional finalism while trying to reach lucia against mental illness was discovered by the researcher, as evidenced by the following dialogue: “i’d like to speak with the doctor,” said miranda. “dr. o’hara is very busy,” said charo. “he’s only here in the mornings, and then he’s busy seeing patients.” busy. miranda was used to this, socials shielding the docs, running interference. “nurse bob, please, my sister is stubborn, but one she’s back on her meds, she’ll be fine. the meds really work for her. she has insight. properly stabilized, she’ll be fine.” she kept repeating it, as if unaware she spoke the words aloud: she’ll be fine. (lee, 2019, p102–3) in the dialogue above, miranda distinctly demonstrated her fictional finalism to mr. bob. thus according adler, fictional finalism occurs when people act as much from "as if" as they do from reality (durbin, 2002). miranda believed that if lucia returns to the proper medication, she would regain her insight and stability. miranda was unconsciously swept away by a fictitious goal. she was confident that if she could talk to dr. o'hara and discuss lucia's treatment with him, she would be able to accomplish her goal. miranda desired to reinstate lucia's mental stability. striving for superiority the third principle was striving for superiority. miranda's striving for superiority while trying to reach lucia against mental illness was discovered by the researcher, as evidenced by the following dialogue: “lucia is still not taking her medicine.” “what do you mean?” he said. ᴥ “she needs help. and support. someone responsible. someone who understands her illness.” ᴥ “my situation, it’s not easy either,” he said. (lee, 2019, p132–33) miranda's striving for superiority in reaching lucia against mental illness in the dialogue above was seen in her encouragement to manuel. lucia was sometimes lucid when she decided to take her medication, but she also resists taking it due to a lack of understanding about her illness, which caused her to resist taking the medication (debann6354, 2018). once lucia refused to take her pills, miranda demonstrates her superiority in the dialogue by explaining lucia's condition and encouraging manuel to come to the hospital. miranda advises him that someone with a mental illness, such as lucia, requires assistance, support, and accountability. manuel, on the other hand, did not accept miranda's persuasion because he perceived his own situation to be difficult at the time. creative self the fourth principle was creative self. miranda's inferiority feeling while trying to reach lucia against mental illness was discovered by the researcher, as evidenced by the following dialogue: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 218-226 223 she packed a small suitcase that evening. her two sharpest work outfits, including her pearls, everything else for warmth. from her file cabinet she fetched a folder full of notes and clinical papers, pamphlets and guides. despite their uninspiring titles (treatment options, faqs 4 caregivers, bipolar symptoms and signs) she’s read every one of them multiple times, had 25 tips for coping with schizophrenia practically memorized. 1. you cannot cure a mental disorder for a family member. she put it away, sighed. (lee, 2019, p98) the data presented above was shown to miranda's creative self. because the creative self is indeed a dynamic concept that implies movement with a purpose based on the goal of life, every human being had her creative self to survive in circumstances (rahmatin, 2013). adler believed that human beings used to have the capabilities to provide their own fate in his creative self-concept (canada’s university, 2019). miranda's creative way to overcoming lucia's mental illness was to take notes and collect clinical papers to memorize, as well as pamphlets and guides, for example, 25 tips for overcoming schizophrenia. miranda uses these 25 tips for overcoming schizophrenia as a guide in her struggle to reach lucia. style of life the fifth principle was style of life. miranda's style of life while trying to reach lucia against mental illness was discovered by the researcher, as evidenced by the following dialogue: the voice, slightly accented―russian, perhaps?―the tone professional, yet kind. a doctor. a doctor? miranda bok rose from her chair. doctors never called. this one was calling switzerland. she was touched. “my sister has a history,” she said. “i’ll fax it to you.” she was prepared, this time. but the doctor worked emergency. it was the end of her shift. lucia would be transferred to crote six, one of the behavioral health units upstairs “i’ll be there. please don’t let her out. tell them i’ll be there. tell them she has a baby now.”(lee, 2019, p97) in the preceding dialogue miranda’s style of life was proven. individuals actively participate in the development of lifestyles, as adler said that individuals construct a collection of attitudes and reactions they have about life and the place in it or often called private logic (slavik & carlson, 2006). miranda’s style of life showed when she had a chance to sleep but ruined by a phone call from a doctor. miranda immediately informed the doctor that her sister had a history of mental illness and that she would fax the doctor. unfortunately, the doctor's shift was coming to an end. lucia was transferred to crote six, an upstairs behavioral health unit. miranda requested that the doctor from crote six keep lucia under control, and she pledged to go there right away. miranda's vigilance in responding to these situations is her way of life, and it reflects her determination to reach lucia against her mental illness. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 218-226 224 social interest the sixth principle was social interest. miranda's social interest while trying to reach lucia against mental illness was discovered by the researcher, as evidenced by the following dialogue: she said, “i am lucia’s sister. is lucia here? where is lucia?” ᴥ i said, “lucia is in ecuador.” she nodded. raised one hand to her chin. i could tell she didn’t believe it. “is she alright?” she asked. “i think so.” “has she been acting strange?” “i don’t think so.” (lee, 2019, p49) social interest of miranda was proven by the dialogue above. miranda's social interest manifested itself as attention. the ability of an individual to actively process specific information in an environment while ignoring the details is referred to as attention (cherry, 2019). miranda went to lucia and manuel's house that day. unfortunately, miranda hadn't seen lucia, and only manuel had greeted her. she inquired as to what lucia was doing to manuel and whether lucia was acting strangely. miranda's action was motivated by her social interest in lucia. miranda expresses concern by paying a visit to lucia to see her situation firsthand as part of her struggle to reach lucia against her mental illness. conclusion the researcher comes to the following conclusion. according to the findings and discussions, there are six principles from alfred adler's individual psychological approach that reflect miranda's struggle to reach lucia against her mental illness in the novel everything here is beautiful, including inferiority feeling, fictional finalism, striving for superiority, creative self, style of life, and social interest. it is possible to conclude that miranda's struggle was coloured by sorrows, conceptions of the mind, the striving for superiority in many lucia's medications, the creativity she created, the attitude she developed when confronted with lucia's psychotic episode, and attention. references britannica, t. e. e. 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(2016). personal independence: the hunger games novel by suzanne collins (2008): an individual psychological approach. eprints ums. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 626-638 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 626 error analysis and english syllabus ali akbar khansir bushehr university of medical sciences, bushehr, iran correspondence: ahmad_2004_bu@yahoo.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.3547 received 28 july 2021; accepted 11 october 2022 abstract the present article is an attempt to examine the place of the english syllabus and its relationship with error analysis in english language classes. in recent years, there has been a positive trend in english language courses with the focus shifting from teacher-centred to learner-centred activities and in this connection, the role of error analysis as one of the theories has been associated with english language courses in teaching english in english foreign or second classes. this paper tries to trace theoretically the notion of error analysis and its importance and validity in english language courses. the term error analysis gained prominence during the 1960s and developed as a branch of applied linguistics to language teaching. it has been particularly associated with the field of linguistic analysis of language learners' errors in the target language. one of the greatest contributions of error analysis to language teaching has been its emphasis on careful and extensive learners' errors for language syllabi in general and english in particular. keywords: applied linguistics, contrastive analysis, english language, error analysis, syllabus design introduction the main goal of the review paper is to give a brief introduction to the theory of error analysis and its relation to the english syllabus in english language teaching. this theory was first proposed in corder's article in 1967 and subsequently developed in several studies. several aspects of the theory are still being articulated in works that have been done over the world. this theory, still under formulation as it is, has had a significant impact on english language research in the past decades, as is clear from the discussion of empirical studies based on this theory in the works of several researchers in english foreign language or english second language such as corder (1967), adjemian (1976), ghadessy (1976), duskova (1969), nemser (1971) selinker (1972) ,victor (1973) schachter (1974), bhatia (1975), henning (1978), sharma (1980), kharma (1981), sridhar (1981), ghadessy (1985), sunderman (1987), pathak (1988), mani (1998), ho (2003), khansir (2008a), azhar & khan (2010), ahmad et al. (2011), sarfraz (2011), khansir (2012a), khansir (2013a), khansir & shahhoseiny (2013), khanom (2014), tiensawangchai (2014), jabeen et al. (2015), zafar (2016), khansir & ilkhani mailto:ahmad_2004_bu@yahoo.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.3547 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 626-638 627 (2016), khansir & hajivandi (2016), thangaraj (2017), unar et al. (2017), khansir & pakdel (2017),rama & renuka (2018), khansir & salehabadi (2019), irmawan & nurdini (2020), and khansir & pakdel (2020). what is very important for an english researcher is that error analysis has been one of the applied linguistics subjects that have been used for english language materials in efl or esl settings. khansir (2021) mentioned that applied linguistics aims to consider all language problems and tries to resolve the language problems. the basic assumptions of error analysis concerning the errors of language among language learners have been examined in the target language. further assumptions concerning the theory of error analysis involved two parts: 1) contrastive analysis and 2) error analysis both of which play a central role in the english syllabus (instructional materials). they are the proper units of description in english language teaching. khansir (2012b) reported that there are two types of language error approaches to the study of learners' errors, namely error analysis and contrastive analysis. error analysis should be studied along with contrastive analysis. thus, the main goal of error analysis and contrastive analysis at this point is to show the errors of language learners in the target language. the main purpose of the english syllabus is to make english learners more fully aware of the english language and help them to produce and practice english lessons correctly, the learners need preparation beforehand in class through english materials so that they can their work straight way, clear their minds about what they have to do in english class. an efficient english syllabus is perhaps the most important part of english language teaching and requires a lot of care and effort on the part of the english teacher who works in english class. if the syllabus designers design a new and good english syllabus for the english teachers and students in an english language course, the syllabus will help both of them develop their english knowledge. bose (2005) argued that a syllabus is a vehicle through which policymakers convey information to students, textbook writers, evaluators, teachers, and parents about the learning programmers. there are many types of english syllabuses in english language teaching which develop the knowledge of english teachers and students in english language class. on the other hand, their knowledge of them is essential to english teachers and learners. thus, all of the english syllabuses have been used in english methods and approaches in the history of english language teaching. for most syllabus designers, english teachers and linguists, the main aim of the english syllabuses are and have been to develop the means for the most effective description of the english language and provide the english learners with means to develop their english language in elt classrooms. teaching english is directed at the syllabuses there are structural or grammatical, functional, semantic-notional and situational syllabuses. bearing these english syllabuses, we can now argue that they are english language strategies for language teaching. in the learning of english through these syllabuses, committee errors in english seem inevitable. may errors occur at any point through the making of a false generation about the rules of the english language or interference with the mother tongue? of the errors committed by english learners, some are serious in that they impair communication and some are not. khansir (2008b, p. 198) mentioned that errors in the use of language are divided into two general categories as random and non-significant errors and systematic and significant errors. corder (1967) and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 626-638 628 richards (1971), made a distinction between competence errors and performance errors (mistakes). they added that mistakes are unsystematic and are potentially correctable by the author or speaker, whereas errors of competence are errors, which show the underlying knowledge of the language and they are systematic and part of the transitional competence of the learner. what is important to remember is that all these errors do not need the same remedial treatment and some of them are made by even native speakers thus they are caused by carelessness, lack of attention and fatigue, etc. but systematic errors are not made by a native speaker or are seldom by a native speaker. they are commonly referred to as competence errors which need treatment. khansir (2008b) added that the use of error analysis as a basis for remedial language teaching is still very much alive. english teachers and english syllabus designers can help their students improve and use their english flawlessly through error analysis. errors of english learners have been seen as an integral part of english learning, which is used in linguistics, teaching grammar and psychology etc. this evidence is quite enough to show how english widespread influence of error analysis is. as this evidence, it is not new. most english syllabuses have used english error information in english language teaching and learning in a foreign or second language. large-scale projects have been set up for the study of english errors with the justification that the results have proved significant and valuable for english language teaching over the world. english errors before being solved must first be analyzed. one possible view of the aim of english error analysis is that the teachers and syllabus designers should prepare the english learner to perform a specific set of english rules in the four skills in english. a general english course such as a college or university usually provides grammatical or structural, functional, semantic-notional and situational syllabuses for specific purposes. error analysis materials provide english teachers and syllabus designers with a specific purpose to resolve problems in learning english. english learners would acquire their knowledge of english skills through analysis of a real learning situation in the target language and would require syllabus designers to take into account different functions of the english language according to the error analysis. error analysis is significant for english teaching because it is useful for the evaluation of english materials and the evaluation of deficiencies in the materials. sivakumar (1994) added that error analysis provides information regarding the materials required for developing communication efficiency. khansir (2008b) reported that error analysis is used in the selection of teaching items and those items, which require emphasis to devise testing materials needed and remedial materials. theory syllabus design syllabus design has been always used to study english in the history of the english language over the world. there are two major reasons for the rapid growth of interest in a drain of syllabus design in english. first of all, it is used as a vehicle through which policymakers convey information to teachers, textbooks, syllabus designers, learners and even the parents of the learners concerning the learning english programs. second, it is used as a methodological tool to provide special materials for teaching english skills. according to bose (2005), a syllabus is a detailed plan of what should be taught and how it should be taught; syllabuses are llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 626-638 629 drawn from the curriculum. in fact, in language learning, a syllabus design follows a pedagogical program for the special purpose of the content of the language. johnson and johnson (1998) reported that syllabus is a term which is used in many different ways, but the central concept is a statement of a program's aims and content. richards (2001, p. 152) added that "a syllabus describes the major elements that will be used in planning a language course and provide the basis for its instructional focus and content". an english syllabus should be made according to changing needs in the english environment and it cannot be regarded as fixed at all times. it should be a matter of constant experimentation to revise it from time to time. it can be changed according to the knowledge of humans in learning and teaching english based on examination and evaluation of the contents of the syllabus. sometimes it needs a new program for the future life of learning and teaching english. what is important for us is that the greatest need in the direction of english syllabus improvement is that the english researchers, linguists and syllabus designers in this field of english syllabus development should work with the english teachers who have good experiences and the responsibility of translating their findings into an english syllabus. english classes need a continuous good program of syllabus design to improve to meet problems posed by the complex culture and the ever-changing efl and esl over the world. this paragraph considers the components of the syllabus briefly and then shows their influence on them each other. the components of the syllabus include objectives, content, methodology and evaluation. the first component of the syllabus that will be discussed briefly in this paragraph is objectives. in english language teaching classes, the objectives can be different for each group; the needs of the groups of english language learners based on their level of them will be considered. bose (2005) argued that objectives are statements of what the learner will achieve at the end of a course of instruction. for example, the objectives of the english course focus on english clauses and phrases. they should be taught in class and then they indicate the english learner's performance at the end of the course, they are called performance objectives. for example, according to the above discussion in this paragraph, look at the following objectives which at the end of the english course according to teaching english clauses and phrases will be observed by the english learner will be able to a) understand clauses and phrases such as noun, adjective, adverb clauses or noun, adjective and adverb phrases; b) express the different between clause and phrase in english; c) write clauses and phrases in english and so on. the second component of the syllabus is content. the content of a syllabus refers to the items used for teaching such as english items and words or structures or even situational language use in english. bose (2005) reported that depending on the items in the content, the syllabus can be identified as to what kind of syllabus is it, whether it is a linguistic syllabus (language items as content) or a situational syllabus (situations as content). what is important is that the content is selected with the objectives in mind. the third component of the syllabus is methodology. it is interesting to add that the role of methodology is very vital in the syllabus. the methodology is used as a guide in english language syllabus design and it refers to how the content will be taught in english class. there is a good relationship between methodology and objectives in a syllabus. bose (2005) mentioned that the methodology chosen for a particular class depends on the objectives, the content and the level of the learners. for example, if an english llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 626-638 630 teacher teaches english structure in elt class, he should use the methodology based on the structural syllabus and this syllabus suggests the use of drills and practice in the elt class. the fourth component of the syllabus is evaluation. first of all, what we should know is that this component refers to testing and it is used at the end of an educational course. the role of the evaluation component is very important for both teacher and student because it gives feedback to both of them, especially for the teacher. bose (2005) supported by discussion and he added that this component suggests the procedures for testing the learners' performance at the end of the course and it depends on the other components of the syllabus. following the syllabus design point of view, as expressed in nunan (1993), syllabus design considers two types of contents, namely the selection and grading. in addition to the above argument in this part of this study, syllabus design can be used as a learning instrument by both teacher and learner with the help of the syllabus designer to develop and facilitate the language learning process in elt class. yalden (1984) reported that a syllabus is seen as an instrument by which the teacher, with the help of the syllabus designer, can achieve a degree of fit between the needs and aims of the learner (as a social being and as an individual) and the activities which will take place in the class. the basic assumptions of syllabus design concerning the needs of language learners and the goals of language learning and teaching have already been stated in the previous sections of this paper. types of syllabus design for this paper, i will consider types of syllabuses in the english language. in the first place, this paper categorizes the syllabuses that have greatly influenced english classroom teaching and teacher activities. the main types of syllabuses are, therefore, identified as follows: 1) linguistic syllabus or structural syllabus 2) functional syllabus 3) semantico-notional syllabus 4) situational syllabus a question arises: what is the main goal of an english syllabus in english language learning and teaching in elt class? english syllabus should be designed to help the teacher and students develop their knowledge of english. however, the primary aim of the english syllabus is to provide the opportunity for students to learn english. the teacher can provide chances for students to gain the ability to comprehend and produce written and spoken english communicatively proficient and accurate ways through the english syllabus. if a teacher teaches students english grammar items, he should focus on structural activities because structural activities focus on the grammar and lexicon (vocabulary) of english. the structural syllabus centres around grammatical/linguistic items such as tenses, voice, clauses and phrases etc. wilkins is known as one of the greatest experts in language teaching; wilkins advocated a notional approach or semantic approach to the specification of the language to be taught, which focuses on the consideration of the communicative value of such content in 1972 and then he called this a communicative approach in 1974. wilkins (1976) published notional syllabuses book and he coined the national syllabus in contrast with the grammatical and situational syllabuses because it takes the desired communicative capacity as the starting –point. in doing a notional syllabus, instead of asking how speakers of the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 626-638 631 language express themselves or when and where they use the language, we ask what it is they communicate through language. we are then able to organize language teaching in terms of the content rather than the form of the language. he added that for this reason that mentioned this is called a notional syllabus. therefore, semanticonotional syllabus centres around semantic /notional categories such as time, space etc. richards et al (1992) mentioned a notional syllabus includes as follows: 1) the meaning and concepts the student needs for communicating (for example quantity, time, duration, location) and the language needed to express them. they called them notions. 2) the language needed to express different speech acts and functions (for example, suggesting, promising, requesting, describing). the functional syllabus is one of the main major english syllabuses centred around language functions such as greeting, agreeing, disagreeing, accepting, and inviting. this syllabus is designed according to the functions or speech acts together with the language items needed for them. a situational syllabus is designed for a language course in teaching and learning a language. it centres around situations in which english students use the english language as one of the language learning programs such as "the discussion method (e.g. at the airport) in class. a procedural syllabus can be added to the list of syllabuses in this paper. procedural syllabus centres around everyday activities that are carried out using the english language for english students as the language learning activities such as working out the teacher's timetable from the class timetable or other activities are useful for teaching english for the students to develop the english knowledge in and out of their class. the above discussion clears that the english syllabuses can be grouped into two parts; the first part contains form-focused syllabuses that focus on form/structure/grammar (e.g. the structural syllabus) and the second part includes function-focused syllabuses that focus on meaning/ function /use (e.g. all other syllabuses mentioned above). error analysis and english language teaching regarding the teaching of english from the 1940s error analysis approaches began applying analysis of english learners' errors to the design of english teaching syllabuses have been concerned with works of lado (1957), fries (1945), and corder (1967). the error approaches aim to show the problems of teaching english to efl and esl learners in elt settings. the error approaches appeared as of the branches of applied linguistics to reveal learners'' errors. the main job of applied linguistics is to solve social problems involving language. khansir (2012b, p. 1027) reported that "applied linguistics has viewed errors not merely by native speakers, but also by non-native speakers". error approaches include two approaches, namely contrastive and error approaches. khansir and pakdel (2019) mentioned that error approaches have been used in syllabus design, language teaching contexts, and language classrooms by language teachers around the world. these approaches have always been the attention of, curriculum developers, educationalists, foreign and second language teachers, language researchers, and language students around the world. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 626-638 632 the need for error approaches as systematic approaches to the teaching of english in efl and esl classes were also a priority for applied linguistics from the 1940s. khansir (2013b) mentioned that applied linguistics has a significant role in english language teaching and the relationship between english language teaching and applied linguistics is not only interesting but decisive. according to the relationship between english language teaching and applied linguistics, khansir and pakdel (2018a) reported that applied linguistics can be used to help english language teaching and they coined contrastively and error approaches to resolve the problems of english teachers and students at all levels from school level to university level. it is interesting to note that from 1945 to now, many english language conferences, and english scientific papers such as articles, books and lectures for resolving the problems of english language teaching in colleges and universities have been done. corder (1967) supported that error analysis and added that error analysis provides one means by which the teacher assesses learning and teaching and determines priorities for future effort. khansir and pakdel (2018a) mentioned that both error and contrastive analyses have a major role in increasing the knowledge of english students in the world. generally, error analysis is used as one of the most important sources of information to decide an english learner' strategy in english language teaching. it helps in the selection of english teaching items and those items, which require emphasis to devise english testing materials and remedial materials needed. it functions as a guide to the english syllabus designer in efficiently designing the english teaching syllabuses. it involves a close evaluation of the textbook materials. to make this point clear, it is useful to locate the problematic areas of the english learner in the english language learning process. the arguments in favour of a relationship between error analysis and language teaching in general and english language teaching in particular. thus this paragraph follows the point of view expressed by corder (1973) and other language experts. corder ( 1973) mentioned that errors are useful in language teaching as feedback, they inform the teacher something about the effectiveness of teaching techniques and teaching materials and inform him/her what parts of the syllabus he/she has been following have been inadequately taught or learned and need further attention. sridhar (1981) added that error analysis shows the sequence of presentations of target items in textbooks and classrooms, with the difficult item following the easier ones. richards et al (1992) reported that the role of error analysis in language teaching is to get information through the results of errors of learners as an aid to teaching or in the development of teaching materials. bhatia (1975) claimed that the outcomes of the error analysis are important to the teacher in that they help him/her assess the level of achievement of the student and by implication the teaching content for the future. pathak (1988) argued that a systematic analysis of errors committed by foreign language students is of considerable significance. errors have always remained a problem for language teachers. khansir (2020) added that the results of the errors analysis of the written grammar of esl learners are systematic and interference of the first language is the main major error in an esl setting. khansir (2020) added that according to the results of this paper an esl teacher can employ an effective methodology for teaching english grammar in the esl class. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 626-638 633 theory application error analysis and english syllabuses over the years, language teachers have tried to use error approaches to select english syllabuses based on a variety of english language items. grammar, structure, vocabulary, and written and spoken english language are all well–known names in the history of english language teaching and learning. they have tried to choose materials for an english course in efl or esl setting. they have examined the problems of english learners based on the results obtained, on the part of researchers and teachers. research carried out in the 1940s by contrastive approach and 1960s by error approach supported the english language materials based on attempts to discover and use the learners' errors in the target language (english language). ghadessy (1977) indicated that contrastive analysis is used in language teaching as the important criterion for the selection of materials in fle expressed in the works of fries in 1945 and lado in 1957. in the 1960s, other researchers such as banathy et al (1966) argued that contrastive analysis as an approach considers the difference between two structures of the first language and the target language can change the behaviour of the language of a foreign language learner can be equated with the differences between the structure of the learner's native language and culture and that of the target language and culture. according to this idea, the development of language materials can be provided based on a statement of these differences. the process of learning english has been supposed to be a matter of problemsolving by considering the english rules that show how the english language functions. the contrastive approach stressed the impact of an effective factor in learning english such as interference of the first language. it is important as a language approach to an era in language teaching and learning that was coined by fries in 1945 and later developed by lado in 1957. this approach has helped the syllabus designers organize the english syllabuses in terms of research works of great researchers and teachers that reflect the results of learners 'errors in efl or esl english settings for learning english to be effective. in general, it still needs for learning english. however, an analysis of the students' errors based on the interference of the mother tongue may lead the syllabus designers and teachers to examine english teaching materials for evidence of the english learning assumptions that underlie them. richards (1971) argued that interference of the mother tongue is always one of the main sources of problems in target language learning and contrastive analysis has examined valuable in locating areas of interlanguage interference. let us turn now to corder's claim that error analysis focuses on language errors more than the interference of the mother tongue and he believed that interference of the first language is only one of the reasons for language errors in the target language. it seems clear that contrastive analysis is not the only way to resolve the language problems of the learners in the target language for designing teaching materials. corder (1967) reported that error analysis can be used as evidence of a learner's strategies for acquiring the language rather than signs of inhibition or interference with the mother tongue. he added that the information on learner's error get through error analysis can be useful to build syllabi and learning strategies, textbooks, teachers and students. analysis of learner's errors is one of the important criteria for the preparation of teaching materials in the english foreign or llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 626-638 634 english second language settings. ghadessy (1977, p.248) argued that" error analysis is an important criterion for the preparation of teaching materials as long as we emphasise the learning process in foreign language education". thus it is clear that error analysis has also helped syllabus designers to provide guidelines for the preparation and evaluation of english teaching materials in english foreign or second language. concerning error analysis and english materials, khansir (2020) examined 36 research papers on the written grammatical errors of learners in india. the outcome of this systematic review showed that interference with the first language, lack of sufficient practice in grammar and lack of knowledge in grammar were the major problems among the english students in this study. thus it is obvious that the present english syllabus cannot be offered as the completed syllabus for teaching english grammar. it seems that error analysis is intended to guide the syllabus designers and teachers to organize the syllabus based on the learners' errors in english grammar. error analysis can be viewed in the light of various language factors ( lack of knowledge, lack of sufficient practice, lack of motivation, interference of mother tongue, bad teaching program etc. ) in the teaching of different areas of english grammar in india. bhatia (1975, p. 69) reported that "an understanding of the operant conditions can generate information relevant to teaching and curriculum planning, and consequently help the learner in overcoming some of the difficulties encountered in second language learning". this fact that increasing awareness of the importance of error analysis in the english language should compel us to research it for special or specific purposes for teaching english materials. so, the aim of error analysis in teaching english to efl and esl learners is to help them use the english language in their classes with comfort and ease, that is, to use english effectively and develop an ability to understand english from english materials through their teachers. that is to say, the students should be able to speak and write english effectively and develop their ability to understand the basic patterns of english. conclusion we should understand that teaching english is difficult. khansir and pakdel (2021) argued that teaching english has some of the most complex problems in english foreign language classrooms. error analysis always shows the place of the learner's errors in english and reduces the learner's problems in learning the language. since the introduction of error analysis in the 1940s, the english syllabuses, keeping pace with the changes in the teaching of english in efl or esl classes. the teaching of english with the help of error analysis has been taking several measures to strengthen english language teaching in parts of the world such as revision of the english syllabuses and teaching materials, providing courses for teachers of english in service, national or international conferences of teachers, researchers, and linguists, and teacher educators to discuss the problems of english language teaching and to find possible solutions, and encouragement to researchers and teachers to do research in the field of english language teaching in efl or esl countries. now that we have defined error analysis as one of the main language approaches has succeeded in developing english syllabuses and teaching materials. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 626-638 635 one has, therefore, to keep always in mind the fact that error analysis gives information about learning strategies, learners' errors, faulty teaching, and interference of the mother tongue and they are an integral part of learning the target language. what is certain, however, is that error analysis has been an important criterion for the preparation of english syllabuses in english language teaching and the basic aim of teaching english is to enable english students to develop the skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing. in general, the role of error analysis cannot be ignored in making english syllabuses in a foreign or second language. there is a need for a description of the english syllabuses and their relationship with error analysis in english language teaching. as mentioned above, english syllabuses and the teaching of english have also been found to relate to error analysis in english as a foreign or second language in over the world. in this case, however, the outcomes of error analysis research have been shown for english syllabuses and the teaching of english to be necessary. in other words, khansir and pakdel (2018 b) added that the main aim of second language teaching is to develop the ability of the language student to 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(2014). types of grammar errors found in thai efl students’ business writing. international journal of art & sciences, 07(2), 545-555. unar, s., shaki, m., & ahmed, m. (2017). error analysis of english writing: a research on intermediate students from govt. schools of sindh. international journal of research scholars (ijrs), 1(1), 1-4. victor, w. (1973). analysis of errors in composition writing. journal of elt, 27(2), 177-186. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/xxvii.2.177 wilkins, d. a. (1972). linguistics in language teaching. the mit press: massachusetts institute of technology. wilkins, d. a. (1974). notional syllabuses and the concept of a minimum adequate grammar. in s. p. corder & e. roulet (eds.), linguistic insights in applied linguistics (pp. 119-128). brussels: aimav. wilkins, d.a. (1976). notional syllabuses. oxford: oxford university press. yalden, j. (1984). syllabus design in general education: options for elt in c. j. burmfit (ed), general english syllabus design (pp.13-22). oxford: pergamon. zafar, a. (2016). error analysis: a tool to improve english skills of undergraduate students. procedia – social and behavioral sciences, 217, 697 – 705. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1974.tb00502.x https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/xxvii.2.177 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 754-757 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 754 book review: tales from the paddy fields: southeast asian folktales on rice culture title : tales from the paddy fields: southeast asian folktales on rice culture isbn : 978-616-7961-18-7 (e-book); 978-616-7961-36-1 (print) author : margaret r. mcdonald et al. (editors) publisher : seameo regional centre for archaeology and fine arts (seameo spafa), 2018 page : 95 pages novita dewi sanata dharma university, indonesia correspondence: novitadewi@usd.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4854 received 5 july 2022; accepted 20 october 2022 material selection is a fascinating yet complex part in teaching english for young learners (teyl). teachers should select effective and motivating materials with which young learners develop not only their linguistic skills, but also psychological, social and cultural competences. picture books with stories about the origin of rice may be of particular interest for efl learners in asia, especially for the young mind. but, to begin with, why rice? rice being the main staple food is a sensitive matter in many asian countries: the success of the government can be measured, among other things, by the availability of food and the fluctuation of rice prices. while rice is a food source for more than half of the world’s population, asian people produce and consume more than 90% of rice. with rice consumption of approximately 100 kg per person per year in this region, rice sufficiency is closely related to sustainability, food security and political stability. that is why not only is rice central to the economy and nutrition of the society, but in many ways, it is a sacred plant. rice is a plant that is culturally privileged. therefore, rice and culture are inseparable in asia. in almost all asian languages, separate terms are used describe each phase of rice cultivation, types of rice harvested, processing, cooking and serving it at the dining table. there are literally thousands of locally adapted rice varieties in asia that have been painstakingly treated by farmers according to the specific, climatic and altitude of the soil. in short, rice has a deep meaning for the nations of asia as it has its own story. having said that, rice story is a prized possession for southeast asian people to tell from one generation to the next. indeed, introducing children to diverse cultural heritages through folktales is important in order to appreciate and broaden knowledge of their own culture and that of others. tales from the paddy fields: southeast asian folktales on rice culture (henceforth tpf) is first published in september 2018 in digital format by seameo regional centre for archaeology and fine arts (seameo spafa). preservation of cultural heritage is the aim of mailto:novitadewi@usd.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4854 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 2, no. 2, june 2019, pp. 754-757 755 this bangkok-based organization while fostering co-operation in education, science and culture in southeast asia. the genesis of the book is the collection of stories about rice recounted at an event organized by seameo spafa called “the spiritual dimensions of rice culture in southeast asia” in 2015 with which some shared cultural identities and values are too important to ignore especially for story enthusiasts of all ages. tpf’s editor is dr. margaret r. mcdonald, the american expert storyteller who brought together 11 writers-storytellers from sea countries. they include chom sonnag (cambodia), mochamad ariya faridh zidni (indonesia), made taro (indonesia), gede tarmada (indonesia), kongdeuane nettavong (lao pdr), ng kok keong (malaysia), thanzin soe (myanmar), richard d. vilar (philippines), prasong saihong (thailand), wajuppa tossa (thailand) and nguyen anh dan (vietnam) colourful illustration by vassana kerdsupap dan patsri tippayaprapai coupled with the brevity of each tale make the book delightful to read by children. figure 1. cover of the book the book consists of nine parts that correspond with the countries where the tales come from. one single folktale from brunei darussalam opens the book, followed by two rice stories from cambodia in part 2. the third part has four folktales from three different islands of indonesia: java, sumatra and bali. myanmar, like brunei darussalam, also contributes one story about paddy-field in the next chapter. part 5 and 6 have two stories from, respectively, malaysia and lao pdr. the philippines becomes the third country which presents only one story about rice in part 7. four folktales about paddy from thailand can be found in part 8. the book concludes with four rice stories from vietnam. tpf is a collection of pourquoi tales across the southeast asian countries that explain the origin of paddy, myths of rice, miscellanies of rice culture, rice rituals, etc. pourquoi tales encapsulate the beauty and diversity of nature while explaining the reasons why human and non-human look and behave as they do (foster et al., 2008) the paddy stories here have all the necessary elements of pourquoi tales, i.e., (1) changing the state of the world; (2) telling a problem that requires a solution; and (3) providing a just ending. one cambodian tale, for example, tells us that long time ago, rice grew and flew by itself to people’s barn until a woman scared the rice off and hid in a deep cleft of the rock. a bronze featherback fish volunteered to coax the rice to return. the fish’s mission was successful at the expense of its flattened body as it advanced into the tight gap of the rock. the rice agreed to provide for people on condition that they should plant and harvest the rice. that is llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 22, no. 2, june 2019, pp 754-757 756 why in rice ritual ceremonies, smoked bronze featherback are often served as offerings. while “a wicked woman” (mcdonald, 2018, p. 114) is the culprit in this story, the following tale from aceh, indonesia depicts a neglectful woman. suwiti always cherished the young rice that her father brought her as a gift for having looked after her baby sister when her parents left to toil the rice field. suwiti’s father fell ill and died leaving his wife working all by herself. she forgot to bring her daughter a gift of young rice although suwiti had asked for it three times and had fulfilled her usual chores. for the fourth time around, suwiti’s mother nearly forgot and quickly rushed home with the gift only to find that suwiti had suddenly vanished and turned into a bird. the story closes with a message: “please remind all parents that a small thing to them might be a big thing for their child.” (mcdonald, 2018, p. 27). suwiti’s mother shares the mother in “tilin, the rice bird” her being, to some extent, inattentive to her little daughter. she was so busy pounding out rice and winnowing it to remove the chaff that she petulantly shouted at her nagging daughter, tilin, who wanted some raw rice to eat. as the mother left the house to fetch some water, tilin stayed at home and stealthily took a handful of rice grain from the basket of rice covered by a winnower. being uncareful, she fell and was covered up inside the basket. upon returning to the house, the mother found that tilin had turned into a little brown rice bird. at the bottom of the illustration to this tale from the philippines there is a rather patronizing message box that reads “the lesson of the story: uncooked rice is for birds not for little girls. always listen to your mother, for mother knows best.” (mcdonald, 2018, p. 59) unfavourable portrayals of female characters are thus evident in the three examples above although they all have roles to play. these women despite their flaws are cast differently from the passive, docile and dependent women in contemporary writings. in preindustrial culture, depiction of women in folktales is modelled on helpers of men in agriculture and home industries who have important roles although they are no equal to their men (kaufman, 2008). gender stereotyping in children literature is nothing new (e.g., ragan, 2009; rice, 2000; streiff & dundes, 2017), but it is interesting to see how gender intersects with class in stories about paddy in tpf. the goddess of rice, dewi sri and may pasop are women of noble standing, unlike the ordinary women who happen to be depicted somewhat unfavourably in some folktales. meanwhile, the accounts of men in tpf are generally good. to mention but one, the balinese story “father poleng” is a story about an old farmer who willingly gave away his lunch of rice to animals and other living beings in the field. god indra heard about his selflessness and good actions and took him as a heaven’s servant. depiction of nature is another important aspect. given that kids today grow up in a world of ecological crisis, tales about paddy should be gauged as to what extent each narrative is pro-nature or pro-people. as a collection of pourquoi tales, tpf is resourceful in teaching young learners about the wonder of non-human creature alias paddy and what it does to human beings. folktales on rice culture in this region are rich in environmental messages, although, as previously explained, they are not immune to gender bias. believing in the transformative power of tales to touch children’s heart, we can argue that children’s literature should call for both gender equity and ecojustice. it is precisely at this point that tales from the paddy llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 2, no. 2, june 2019, pp. 754-757 757 fields: southeast asian folktales on rice culture is an important book for teaching language, culture and ecology for young learners. references foster, k. k., theiss, d., & buchanan‐butterfield, d. l. (2008). pourquoi tales on the literacy stage. the reading teacher, 61(8), 663-667. kaufman, d. (2008). rumsen ohlone folklore: two tales. journal of folklore research, 45(3), 383–391. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40206983 mcdonald, m. r. (ed). (2018). tales from the paddy fields: southeast asian folktales on rice culture. bangkok: seameo spafa. ragan, k. (2009). what happened to the heroines in folktales?: an analysis by gender of a multicultural sample of published folktales collected from storytellers. marvels & tales, 23(2), 227-247. rice, p. s. (2000). gendered readings of a traditional “feminist” folktale by sixth grade boys and girls. journal of literacy research, 32(2), 211-236. streiff, m., & dundes, l. (2017). from shapeshifter to lava monster: gender stereotypes in disney’s moana. social sciences, 6(3), 91. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40206983 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 493 the effect of audiolingual-based versus communicative language teaching-oriented techniques on intermediate efl learners’ listening comprehension sepideh polrodi1 and abbas pourhosein gilakjani2* lahijan branch, islamic azad university, lahijan, iran 1 2 correspondence: abbas.pourhossein@yahoo.com doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i2.3492 received 30 june 2021; accepted 29 october 2021 abstract this study was an investigation to find out the effect of audiolingual (alm)-based versus communicative language teaching (clt)-oriented techniques on iranian intermediate efl learners’ listening comprehension ability. to do this, sixty efl learners in intermediate level from shokouh institute in lahijan, iran were selected randomly and assigned to two groups; namely the experimental group and control group; 30 participants in each group were selected based on their performance using the oxford placement test (opt). a quasi-experimental design was used for this study. a listening audio text extracted from the book “four corners” was administered as pretest and post-test. the researchers taught the students of both groups for 10 sessions. the clt techniques were used as treatment in the experimental group while the control group received no treatment and just used alm techniques. after 10 sessions, the listening passages extracted from the book “four corners” were administered as posttest in order to compare the results of the scores of two groups and decide about the effectiveness of the treatment. finally, the data were analyzed via running an independent samples t-test and a series of paired samples t-tests. the results showed that iranian efl learners’ listening comprehension skill has been significantly improved as a result of using clt techniques at the significance level of .05. it was concluded that the use of clt techniques was highly effective in iranian learners’ listening comprehension improvement. keywords: listening comprehension, techniques, clt, alm introduction according to macaro, graham, and vanderplank (2007), vandergrift (2007), field (2009), vandergrift and goh (2011), and taheri and taki (2017), developing listening skill is often taken for granted. it has not been paid enough attention in the teaching of english as a foreign language (efl). in efl contexts, listening is the first encounter with the target language (berne, 2004) and the first step towards fully learning a second language (liu, 2009). however, despite the significance of developing listening comprehension skills, teachers rarely teach listening skills to their learners (rost, 2011; mailto:abbas.pourhossein@yahoo.com llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 494 taheri & taki, 2017; vandergrift & goh, 2011). listening is regarded as an active skill since the listeners are required to cope with some difficult tasks like differentiating between phonemes or interpreting stress and intonation (ghoneim, 2013; metruk, 2018). traditional teaching methods primarily focused on reading and writing, paying little attention to listening and speaking skills (metruk, 2018; raissi, nor, aziz, zainal, & saleh, 2013). according to communicative language teaching (clt), four skills are integrated and listening and speaking are particularly emphasized (rees-miller, 2017). korkmaz and güneyli (2017) also pay more attention to reading and listening since the productive skills cannot be acquired without obtaining the receptive ones. therefore, all four language skills should be included within the efl teaching process. listening skill has long been ignored despite its obvious importance within l2 learning (kazemi & kiamarsi, 2017; metruk, 2018; yildiz, parjanadze, & albay, 2015). teachers should know that devoting little attention to the two receptive skills can bring about serious results for the learners’ overall proficiency, and that the development of productive skills can also be seriously hindered. teachers have a great responsibility to provide the appropriate materials to their learners and this is one of the important factors in identifying the success of the learning process. the other factor is to use the appropriate method according to the expected competencies. the use of appropriate method is very important, because the competence to be obtained can be known from the learning path that is structured based on the suitable method. unfortunately, listening skills are not often taught explicitly in spite of the regularity of listening activity in classrooms. most teachers teach, assuming that because they are talking, their students are listening. iranian learners have a lot of problems in listening comprehension skill as iran is not a bilingual country and efl learners do not have access to native speakers and samples of real language. additionally, listening process is not clearly explained and it is mostly tested rather than being taught, although there is a wide access to listening materials (bozorgian & pillay, 2013). although listening skill is very important for learners and is the heart of language learning, it has been an overlooked skill in efl classes and it took many years for teachers to understand its importance in second and foreign language learning (kurita, 2012; martinez-flor & uso-juan, 2006). despite the significance of this skill, less time has been spent in teaching it and efl learners have difficulty in learning this skill. they are not exposed to authentic language materials. according to basaran and kose (2012), learners have difficulty in learning listening as they have limited opportunity of being exposed to the target language beyond the classroom time. they expressed that the input learners gather from their teachers and course books is not sufficient to compensate for the lack of exposure to real language. iranian efl learners have limited chance of being exposed to the target language beyond the classroom and they have difficulty in understanding the natural english of native speakers. basaran and kose (2012) express that the solution is to provide learners with authentic communicative input through using clt techniques. radio/tv programs, songs, newspapers, magazines, films are the examples of authentic input for efl learners. therefore, providing learners with these materials can llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 495 be an effective way to improve their listening skill. with this lack of research in mind, the present research is going to investigate the effect of audiolingual-based versus communicative language teaching-oriented techniques on intermediate efl learners’ listening comprehension ability. based on the above issues, we can realize the importance of listening skill and pay more attention to it. being aware of such listening problems can help teachers to provide better ways of training their learners concerning using clt techniques in solving listening problems. this study sought to see whether the use of alm-based vs clt-oriented techniques has any effect on the listening comprehension of iranian efl learners or not. research question the question that this study seeks to find its answer was: do audiolingual-based versus communicative language teaching-oriented techniques significantly affect iranian intermediate efl learners’ listening comprehension ability? research hypothesis in step with the above-mentioned research question, the researchers posed the following research hypothesis: audiolingual-based versus communicative language teaching-oriented techniques do not have any effect on iranian intermediate efl learners’ listening comprehension ability. review of the literature audiolingual method (alm) during the 1950s and 1960s, audiolingualism which focused on the memorization of new concepts through scripted audio texts, was the basic mode of listening instruction. listening instruction focused on preparing learners for lecture listening, rather than spontaneous, real-life, and interactive listening activities (brown, 2007). in the 1970s and 1980s, audiolingualism was replaced by a more communicative model that encouraged the use of previously learned skills in more authentic and real contexts (brown, 2007; field, 2009). listening is no longer regarded to be a passive, receptive skill where learners indicate their comprehension through answering questions. instead, instruction now treats listening as an active, productive skill that requires learners to be actively engaged throughout the entire listening process despite their educational setting (ashcraft & tran, 2010; field, 2009; vandergrift, 2007). in alm, the teacher gives examples of correct sentences and learners mimic. then the teacher gives a new word to the pattern of the same structure. there is no explicit instruction of grammar and everything is just done by rote sentences so that they c an master and use it spontaneously. alm was developed during world war ii and was a method where learners mimicked and memorized language patterns and dialogues through drill exercises (richards & rodgers, 2001). the emphasis was placed on teaching learners to listen and speak before they learned to read and write in the l2. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 496 unfortunately, learners had limited control over their learning activities because many of the materials were teacher-oriented and did not engage learners in the listening process. the techniques used in alm are repetition chain, technical group, dictation method, dialog memorization, transformation drill, question and answer drill, complete the dialog, and multiple-slot substitution drill. communicative language teaching (clt) approach clt emphasizes on developing learners’ communicative competence by collaborative activities in the target language, the use of authentic texts, and including personal experiences into language lessons. a clt approach considers how learners learn language, the strategies and tools that facilitate this learning, and the roles of the teachers and the learners in the classroom (pan, 2013). forming accurate expressions, using these expressions appropriately in myriad contexts, and the learners’ ability to perform through the grammatical rules all go back to the concept of communicative competence. the development of all aspects of communicative competence ought to be the concentration of all foreign language programs so that the pupils’ overall communicative competence in a target language can be constructed (harmer, 2007). banciu and jireghie (2012) define the clt context as one where learners learn to communicate by interacting in the second language; use authentic texts; focus not only on the language but also on the learning process; where the personal experience of the learner is part of the learning process; and learners try to activate language use outside the classroom in real life situations. learners are assessed on their communicative competence rather than on their knowledge of grammar rules. the clt approach stresses that learners engage in communicative acts for a purpose and they are motivated to learn because they wish to communicate meaningfully. clt emphasizes “self-direction of the learners” where it is believed that the learner enters into situations which promote maximum communication to generate communicative proficiency. teachers do not expect accuracy in grammatical structures through memorization but require the learners to negotiate meaning and to communicate meaningfully in the target language. sreehari (2012) states that in clt classes, different activities like role plays, interviews, discussions, language games, language learning simulations, and problem solving tasks are used. the aim is to develop language skills and functions in authentic contexts. many clt classes use authentic materials. the purpose of using authentic materials is to create an authentic context in which learners develop their communicative competence. authentic materials involve audio, audiovisual, and printed materials. they consist of tv news and programs, tv and radio commercials, music, movies, announcements at public places like railway stations, airports, supermarkets, newspapers, magazines, photographs, paintings, street signs, tourist information brochures, catalogues, telephone books, reports, billboards, notices, forms like applications and tax forms, podcasting on the internet and web based programs involving multimedia use. teachers should choose authentic materials based on the needs and interest, language learning goals, cultural appropriateness, and language level of learners. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 497 previous studies about the effect of clt on listening comprehension skill several researchers have investigated the impact of clt techniques on learners’ listening comprehension skill. krashen (1996) examined the impact of narrow listening on improving listening comprehension of l2 learners’ performance. the participants listened to a series of related topic texts in which their linguistic knowledge together with their background knowledge were activated. the findings showed that repeated listening along with topic familiarity in narrow listening increased learners’ selfconfidence and listening comprehension. weyers (1999) carried out a study on the effect of video programs on listening skill. he believed that when learners are exposed to video programs, both their listening comprehension and communicative competence enhanced. the results of this study also revealed a significant increase of listening comprehension of the experimental group. jones (2003) performed a study on using verbal and visual annotations in listening skill. the results showed positive outcomes in listening comprehension. the study also revealed that learners can recall information better when aided with verbal and visual tools. finally, it was indicated that the use of multimedia-based instruction is not necessarily better than traditional instruction regarding listening comprehension. digital stories were used to improve spanish learners’ listening comprehension. kusumarasdyati (2004) performed a study on listening, viewing, and imagination: movies in efl classes. this study used a technique of presenting movies in efl listening classes. the researcher experimented the study using the films as learning tools which were presented in two modes: with or without subtitles. the results indicated that movies are considered as one of the effective teaching tools to develop efl learners’ listening skills and stimulate their imagination simultaneously. furthermore, learners were enthusiastic to learn through using movies and the medium is exploited to improve listening skills. it was also revealed that the movies can be used in the teaching of listening skill owing to their pedagogical advantages. danan (2004) stated that learners’ listening comprehension skill can be improved by audiovisual materials and the use of subtitles or captions as a pedagogical tool is very effective in enhancing learners’ listening comprehension ability. abo rizk and hassan (2005) investigated the impact of computer program on efl learners’ listening comprehension ability. the findings revealed that there were statistical significant differences between the performance of the experimental group before and after the experiment in favor of the post experimentation. the results also represented that the program was very effective in improving efl learners’ listening skill. o’bryan and hegelheimer (2007) investigated the effect of podcasting on learners’ listening comprehension. they declared that podcasting which improved learners’ listening process, promoted autonomous learning, reinforced the topics taught in class where learners had the opportunity to be exposed to real and authentic english materials. it was also demonstrated that podcasting supported learners’ listening comprehension skill because it developed learners’ listening comprehension and promoted the need to listen podcast videos not only in the class, but also in their homes, and increased their intrinsic motivation. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 498 using a quasi-experimental research design, verdugo and belmonte (2007) investigated the impact of digital stories on listening comprehension by using this intervention into the experimental group. the findings revealed that the experimental group scored significantly higher in listening comprehension than the control group who did not receive multimedia lessons. berk (2009) asserted that video materials draw on the learners’ multiple intelligences and learning styles to maximize their comprehension. he continued that the use of videos can enhance learners’ comprehension and understanding and would be more useful for learners. according to winke, gass, and sydorenko (2010), captioning and subtitling can increase learners’ attention, lower their anxiety, enhance their listening comprehension, and maximize their motivation. isik and yilmaz (2011) performed a quasi-experimental research to evaluate the impact of computer-assisted listening instruction on efl learners’ listening comprehension ability. the experimental group which received multimedia-aided instruction scored significantly higher than the control group which received traditional language instruction. mousavi and iravani (2012) examined the impact of authentic versus non-authentic video materials on iranian efl learners’ listening comprehension skill. the researchers revealed that authentic video materials had a significant impact on gaining higher scores in both listening comprehension and proficiency test. the results emphasized the use of authentic listening materials which can improve listening comprehension ability. marzban and abdollah (2013) conducted a study about the impact of partial dictation on the iranian intermediate efl learners’ listening comprehension. two groups of intermediate efl learners were selected for this study. each group involved 30 female intermediate learners. one of the groups was selected as the experimental group (eg), and the other as the control group (cg). they both took a listening test as a pre-test. for one term, involving 20 sessions, the learners in the control group were given the listening exercises in their textbook. the experimental group, in addition to the listening exercises in the textbook, was given partial dictation 11 times during the term. results of the t-test revealed that dictation had a significant impact on the learners’ listening comprehension skill in the experimental group. the mean gain scores of the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the control group. young and wang (2014) carried out a study on game embedded call system to facilitate vocabulary acquisition and pronunciation. the researchers found that those who learned english pronunciation by a combination of drill and game-based activities performed far better than those who learned the same component by drill alone. khedidja kaouter and mechraoui (2015) contrasted between listening with podcasts and the conventional classroom listening strategy and the effect of these two modes on coincidental vocabulary gain. a pre-test and post-test exploratory outline was used. 34 students at the pre-intermediate level participated in the study. the learners were assigned randomly to the podcast listening (experimental) and traditional classroom listening method (control) groups. the findings demonstrated that both the experimental and control group had significant incidental vocabulary gains. it was also llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 499 indicated that the experimental group had higher progress in comparison to the traditional classroom listening method group. abbasian and movahedfar (2016) carried out a study about the impact of computer-assisted language learning (call) on intermediate efl learners’ listening comprehension skill. 30 participants were chosen and were randomly assigned into two groups: the experimental and comparison groups. the former received 10 sessions of instruction using call, while the latter was exposed to traditional method of teaching listening. t-test analysis of the post-test results showed a significant difference between the groups as the former group outperformed over the latter one in developing listening comprehension. the results of this study revealed that using call improves learners’ listening comprehension skill. namaziandost, bohloulzadeh, and rahmatollahi (2017) investigated the impact of using podcast on iranian pre-intermediate efl learners’ listening comprehension. 60 participants were selected for doing the objectives of this study. they were nonrandomly divided into two groups: control and experimental groups. the experimental group received the treatment, which was teaching listening comprehension by using podcasts while the control group was taught using traditional methods of teaching listening. after 20 sessions of treatment, the two groups were administered the same teacher-made listening test as post-test. data were analyzed by using paired and independent samples t-test. the results of the study revealed that the experimental group significantly performed better than the control group. that is, the experimental group outperformed the control group. it was also revealed that podcasts are used to improve iranian efl learners’ listening comprehension skill. previous studies about the effect of alm on listening comprehension skill there are not enough studies about the impact of alm on learners’ listening comprehension skill. in this section, just a few studies are reviewed. in wagner’s (2010) study, a quasi-experimental design was used to compare the listening performance of two groups of learners. the control group took a listening test with audio only texts. the experimental group took the same listening test, except that testtakers received the input through using video texts. multi-variety analysis of covariance (mancova) was used to compare the two groups’ performance, and it was indicated that the video (experimental) group scored 6.5% higher than the audioonly (control) group on the overall post-test, and this difference was statistically significant. in setiawan’s (2011) study, it was indicated that through using single slot substitution drill and transformation drill, learners successfully improved their english oral past tense. this is because of the progress in learners’ score in grammar aspect, which showed the learners’ improvement in simple past tense. the results of this research indicated that audio-lingual teaching method helped learners to understand past tense easier. hijrah (2013) performed a study about the effect of alm on learners’ listening comprehension. the aims of this research were to explain the learners’ ability to recognize the word meaning in the context and also to recognize the content of text. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 500 the design of this study was a collaborative action research (car). the samples of this study were the school students. after carrying out the study, the learners’ means scores indicated a considerable improvement in learners’ listening skill. therefore, it was concluded that the use of alm had a great effect on learners’ listening comprehension improvement. hag (2014) carried out a study on the effects of alm on students’ listening and speaking skills. 20 students participated in this study. it was an experimental process of eight weeks, which started with a listening and speaking pre-test in the first week. at the end of the last week, the participants took the post-test. the findings of this research indicated the significant impacts of alm on students’ listening and speaking skills. in addition, the post-test scores of students’ listening and speaking skills were higher than that of the pre-test. finally, it was revealed that the students showed considerable improvement in their listening and speaking skills. abdul (2016) conducted a study on using alm in teaching listening comprehension. the results of the study represented that alm improved learners’ listening comprehension skill. astuti, marhum, and erniwati (2016) conducted a study to examine whether using alm improves learners’ listening comprehension skill. the researchers used two groups for this study: the experimental group which involved 26 students and the control group which involved 25 learners. the data were analyzed statistically to find out the significance of the achievement of learners in pre-test and post-test. the results indicated that the t-counted was (12.8) higher than t-table (2.00). it means that using alm improved students’ listening comprehension skill. method research design the researchers used a quasi-experimental design for this study because there was no random assignment of participants. there are situations where randomization is not possible; therefore, to have more reliable results, quasi-experimental designs can be a suitable substitute. in quasi-experimental design, participants will be selected from intact classes when the researcher is not allowed to assign learners to different groups randomly. participants the target population of this study consisted of efl students at shokouh institute in lahijan, iran. they have been studying english for two years. the original population of this study consisted of 110 efl learners at the intermediate levels, 1518 year-old (age mean= 16.30) female students. to achieve the required number of the participants for undertaking the current study, the students sat on a language proficiency test called oxford placement test (opt), and based on their performance on the test, two more homogeneous intact classes were selected to take part in the current study, one of which was randomly selected as the experimental group which received listening instruction through clt techniques and the other group entitled as the control group which received instruction via alm techniques. the total sample which llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 501 participated in this study was 60 participants who were in two intact classes of thirty students, the experimental group (female: 30) and the control group (female: 30). materials the researchers used four types of materials in the present study, each instrument has its own specific characteristics. they are as follows: materials for the proficiency test to be sure of the homogeneity in two groups, proficiency test was administrated to establish the participants’ homogeneity. opt was administered to make sure the participants were homogenous in terms of their language proficiency. this enables teachers to have a great understanding of their students’ level. the test contains 50 multiple choice questions which assess students’ knowledge of key grammar and vocabulary, a reading text with 10 graded comprehension questions, and a writing task for assessing students’ ability to produce the language. materials for the pre-test and post-test a pre-test was administrated to assess participants’ listening comprehension ability. after the treatment of the study, a post-test was administrated. the tests were taken from the book four corners by jack c. richard and david bolkh (2011). the audio used for listening comprehension test comprised personal stories told by different people in a conversation form and participants were supposed to listen to the audio tracks and answer the questions provided for each conversation. each conversation was about 5 minutes and the participants were supposed to answer the related questions. materials for the treatment of the study the materials for the treatment of this study included 8 listening passages together with their related audio tracks used for listening talk. listening texts were selected from the book ‘four corners’ series approved by the “cambridge university press staff.” the volume used in this study was the second book of the four corners series suitable for intermediate level. procedure this study was carried out within approximately two months. first, the objectives of this research were explained to iranian intermediate efl learners. the researchers informed the participants of this study that their personal information will be kept confidential. as it was mentioned before, the first step in the process of conducting the research was the administration of opt as the homogenizing tool. it was administered to 62 intermediate efl learners. after analyzing the results, subjects were randomly assigned into two groups. prior to the study, a pre-test was administrated to assess participants listening comprehension ability. the obtained scores from the two classes were statistically analyzed and compared to figure out whether there was any significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of their listening comprehension ability. all selected 62 participants were randomly divided llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 502 into two groups with 31 participants for each one. however, 2 participants left the institute and the researchers had to continue the research with 60 participants who were divided into two groups each consisted of 30 participants. one group as the experimental group, received listening via clt techniques. it took for ten sessions. while the other group as the control group received listening via alm. the treatment took for ten sessions too. the participants were taught differently in two groups. to ensure that there was no environmental noise, the participants were allowed to wear headphones so that they could concentrate on the listening tasks. the time allocated to the tests was 40 minutes. data analysis the numerical data were analyzed through spss, using an independent samples ttest between post-test scores of the two groups of the study and paired samples t-test between pre-test and post-test scores of each group. results and discussion the present study aimed to investigate whether using alm-based versus cltoriented techniques could significantly affect developing listening comprehension skill of iranian efl learners. the results of test scores were compared for both groups to ascertain which instructional treatment had been more effective. in this study, 60 students of intermediate level were selected randomly and were divided into two experimental and control groups. the pre-tests of listening comprehension were administered to both groups. after instructing two groups, both groups received the post-test. all the data gathered from the pre-test and post-test entered the data analysis process. this section presents the results of the current study. the multi-faceted nature of the hypothesis of the study necessitated the researchers to apply both descriptive and inferential statistics to display and interpret the data. thus, a descriptive analysis of the data for the hypothesis has been presented; then, the inferential analysis of the data has been provided using tables. the descriptive analysis consists of a discussion of the mean, standard deviation, and the standard error of measurement. similarly, the inferential analysis of the data consists of calculating the paired-sample t value between the pre-test and the post-test of each group. an independent-samples t-test was also conducted to compare the means of the post-test of the two experimental groups. moreover, the correlation coefficient was calculated to find the degree of relationship between two variables. the t-test was used instead of the ancova because the result of the opt showed that two groups were of the same level of proficiency prior to the start of the study. descriptive analysis of the data the descriptive analysis of the data for different groups of the study has been summarized below. table 1 summarizes the descriptive analysis of the data of the experimental group of the study. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 503 table 1. descriptive statistics for the experimental group mean n std. deviation std. error mean pre-test 12.2667 30 1.74066 .31780 post-test 16.2167 30 1.20833 .22061 as table 1 indicates, the mean value of listening comprehension for the experimental group before the listening comprehension instruction is 12.2667 (sd= 1.74066), while the mean for the experimental group after listening comprehension instruction via clt techniques is 16.2167 (sd= 1.20833). it is obvious that the experimental group performance on listening comprehension test was improved greatly after the treatment. it can be inferred that the instruction was effective in enhancing learners’ listening comprehension. table 2 shows the descriptive statistics for the control group. table 2. descriptive statistics for the control group mean n std. deviation pre-test 12.8667 30 2.02115 post-test 13.9833 30 1.93196 as table 2 indicates, the mean for the control group before listening comprehension instruction via alm is 12.8667 (sd= 2.02115), while the mean of the control group after the treatment is 13.9833 (sd= 1.93196). with regard to its performance on the post-test, the control group showed a small degree of improvement in its listening comprehension. table 3 illustrates the descriptive analysis of the experimental and control groups for the post-test scores of listening comprehension. table 3. descriptive analysis of both groups listening comprehension n mean std. deviation experimental group 30 13.9833 2.02115 control group 30 16.2167 1.20833 the findings show that the mean value of the control group in the post-test measures of listening comprehension is 16.2167 with a standard deviation of 1.20833. however, the mean value of the control group in the post-test is far lower than that of the experimental group (mean=13.9833, sd=2.02115). thus, it can be stated that although two groups had almost the same mean value on the pre-test, the experimental group outperformed the control group on the post-test of listening comprehension. yet, in order to investigate whether the difference between two groups is significant, the results of t-tests should be presented and discussed. the inferential analysis of the data llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 504 the inferential analyses of the data for testing the research hypothesis have been summarized in the tables below. table 4 summarizes the inferential analysis of the data before and after listening comprehension instruction for the experimental group of the study. table 4. paired-samples test for the experimental group paired differences mean std. deviation std. error t df sig. (2tailed) paired1 eg pretestposttest 3.9500 1.0284 .18777 -21.036 29 .000 a paired-samples t-test was conducted to evaluate the impact of the intervention on students’ scores on the listening comprehension measure. there was a statistically significant increase in listening comprehension scores from pre-test (m =12.2667, sd= 1.74066) to post-test (m = 16.2167, sd = 1.20833), t (29) =21.036, p <. 0005 (twotailed). the mean increase in listening comprehension scores was 3.95 with a 95% confidence interval. therefore, learners’ listening comprehension performance via clt techniques was statistically significant prior and after the intervention. table 5 summarizes the inferential analysis of the data before and after listening comprehension instruction for the control group of the study. table 5. paired-samples test for the control group paired differences mean std. deviation std. error t df sig. (2tailed) paired1 x2 pretestposttest -1.116 .970 .17728 -6.299 29 .000 a paired-samples t-test was conducted to investigate whether the listening comprehension instruction via alm improved students’ scores on the listening comprehension measures as well or not. there was a statistically significant increase in listening scores from pre-test (m = 12.8667, sd= 2.02115) to post-test (m = 13.9833, sd= 1.93196), t (29) =6.299, p <. 0005 (two-tailed). the mean increase in listening scores was 1.116 with a 95% confidence interval. therefore, the listening comprehension instruction via using alm was statistically significant. table 6 summarizes the inferential analysis of the post-test scores for the experimental and control groups to examine whether there was a significant difference between two groups in terms of their listening comprehension. table 6. independent-samples t-test for the post-test of both groups llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 505 levene’s test for equality of variances t-test for equality of means t-test for equality of means f si g. t f sig. (2taile d) mean differe nce std. error difference 95% confidence interval of the difference upper lower equal variance s assumed 6.18 .1 6 7.7 72 58 .000 3.2333 3 3.23 333 .4160 3 4.0661 2 -2.40055 equal variance s not assumed 7.7 72 48.677 .000 3.2333 3 3.23 333 .4160 3 4.0695 3 -2.39714 an independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare the effect of two kinds of listening comprehension instructions on learners’ listening comprehension ability. the sig. value for levene’s test is larger than .05 (.16), then the first raw in the table should be consulted, which refers to equal variances assumed. there was a significant difference in scores for the experimental and control groups; t (48) = 7.772, p = .000, two-tailed). overall, it can be concluded that the experimental group performed significantly better than the control group in the post-test measures of listening comprehension which indicates the great effectiveness of listening comprehension instruction via clt techniques on the improvement of students’ listening comprehension knowledge. the next inferential analysis of the data was related to the degree of the relationship between the pre-test and the post-test of listening comprehension in each group of the study. this was indicated by calculating the pearson correlation coefficient. the results of the pearson correlation coefficient between the pre-test and post-test scores of the experimental and control groups have been illustrated in table 7 below: table 7. the pearson correlation for the pre-tests and the post-tests llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 506 between the pre-test and between the pre-test and the post-test of the the post-test of the experimental group control group correlation 0.092 .913 (pearson) table 7 indicates that the correlation coefficient between the pre-test and the posttest scores of the experimental group is 0.092 as compared with the correlation coefficient between the pre-test and the post-test scores of the control group to be .913 (r prc poc= .913). the findings reveal the low relationship as well as significant difference between the scores of the pre-test and post-test in the experimental group. on the other hand, the higher value of r for the control group indicates that the scores in the pre-test and post-test of listening comprehension in the control group are closer to each other than the scores in the experimental group. it can be inferred from such closeness that there hasn’t been a big progress in the post-test of listening comprehension in the control group after being compared with the scores in the pretest scores. results of hypothesis testing in this section, the results of testing the hypothesis of the study have been presented and elaborated. in order to give a detailed analysis, attempts were made to take advantage of the results of the study as evidence to determine the rejection or support of the hypothesis. in addition, the rejection or support of the hypothesis is justified by explaining the consequences of such rejection or support, i.e. what would happen if the hypothesis of the current study is rejected or supported. before analyzing the hypothesis, it is repeated below: h0: audiolingual-based versus communicative language teaching-oriented techniques do not have any effect on iranian intermediate efl learners’ listening comprehension ability. the results of the descriptive statistics of the groups indicated that the experimental group outstripped the control group on the post-test measure of listening comprehension test. in order to explore that whether this difference between the groups is large enough to reject the null hypothesis at the significance level of .05, an independent-samples t-test was conducted. upon reviewing the results of the t-test data analysis procedure concerning listening comprehension instruction of two groups, it was revealed that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group after the listening comprehension intervention indicating that the instruction of listening comprehension via clt techniques was quite successful in enhancing the students’ listening comprehension. therefore, the hypothesis of the study was rejected at the significance level of .05. this study endeavored to examine the effect of using alm-based versus cltoriented techniques on iranian efl learners’ listening comprehension ability. listening comprehension goes beyond the simple interpretation of vocal sounds. due llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 507 to this, it must be known as an intricately active process that demands listeners to combine the heard materials with their current knowledge (rost, 2011). teaching styles of the behaviorist method like ‘listening to repeat’ method of the audio-lingual time were central in the past because of misconception about listening known as passive activity, which led to few classroom instruction. in the contemporary time, listening is acknowledged as an active process, which is crucial to l2 learning, be worthy of teaching, and systematic development. hence, the common method is ‘real-life listening in real time’, which comprises communicative tasks (morley, 1999). through comparing the mean value of listening comprehension for the experimental group before and after the instruction via clt, it was indicated that iranian efl learners’ performance on listening comprehension test was improved greatly after the treatment and this reveals that the instruction was effective in enhancing learners’ listening comprehension ability. this finding has been supported by the study of abo rizk and hassan (2005), indicating that that there were statistical significant differences between the performance of the experimental group who used computer program before and after the experiment in favor of the post-test. the finding also showed that the mentioned program had a considerable impact on efl learners’ listening comprehension improvement. by observing the mean value of listening comprehension for the control group before and after listening comprehension instruction via alm, it was revealed that the control group showed a small degree of improvement in iranian efl learners’ listening comprehension. according to the findings of this study, the mean value of the control group in the post-test is far lower than that of the experimental group. this indicates that although two groups had almost the same mean value on the pre-test, the experimental group outperformed the control group on the post-test of listening comprehension skill. this result is supported by the study of khedidja kaouter and mechraoui (2015) who contrasted between listening through podcasts and the traditional listening method and the impact of these two modes on vocabulary improvement. a pre-test and post-test design was used. learners were assigned randomly to the experimental group (podcast listening) and control group (traditional listening method). the results displayed that both the experimental and control group had significant vocabulary progress. the results also demonstrated that the experimental group had higher improvement compared with the traditional teaching method group. the findings obtained from the paired-samples t-test in the experimental group represented that there was a statistically significant increase in listening comprehension scores from pre-test to post-test. that is to say, iranian efl learners’ listening comprehension performance via clt techniques was statistically significant prior and after the intervention. the findings obtained from the paired-samples t-test in the control group also showed that there was a statistically significant increase in listening comprehension scores from pre-test to post-test. that is, the listening comprehension instruction via using alm was also statistically significant. this result seems to match well with wang’s (2004) and isik and yilmaz’s (2011) findings, indicating that learners in the experimental group which received multimedia-aided instruction scored llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 508 significantly higher than the control group which received traditional language instruction. the result of this study is also consistent with the previous research (namaziandost, bohloulzadeh, & rahmatollahi, 2017), investigating the effect of podcast on iranian learners’ listening comprehension skill. the participants of this study were non-randomly divided into two groups: control and experimental groups. the experimental group was taught listening comprehension through using podcasts while the control group was taught using traditional teaching method of listening. data were analyzed by paired and independent samples t-test. the findings obtained from this research demonstrated that the experimental group outperformed the control group in improving iranian learners’ listening comprehension ability. in addition, an independent-samples t-test was carried out to compare the impact of two types of listening comprehension instructions on iranian efl learners’ listening comprehension skill. a significant difference in scores was observed for the experimental and control groups. based on the above finding, it was revealed that the experimental group performed significantly better than the control group in the posttest measures of listening comprehension which shows the great impact of listening comprehension instruction via clt techniques on the learners’ listening comprehension improvement. this finding is in accordance with the finding of abbasian and movahedfar’s (2016) study, examining the effect of call on learners’ listening comprehension. 30 efl learners were randomly assigned into two groups: the experimental and comparison groups. the experimental group received 10 sessions of instruction using call, while the comparison group was exposed to traditional teaching method. based on the t-test analysis of the post-test results, it was indicated that there was a significant difference between the groups; that is, the experimental group outperformed over the comparison group in improving listening comprehension. this result implied that the application of call has a great effect on learners’ listening comprehension progress. furthermore, the findings obtained from the correlation coefficient between the pre-test and the post-test scores of the experimental and control groups represent the significant difference between the scores of the pre-test and post-test in the experimental group. the finding also reveals that the scores obtained from the pre-test and post-test of listening comprehension in the control group are closer to each other than the scores obtained from the experimental group. therefore, it is concluded that there has not been a considerable progress in the post-test of listening comprehension in the control group after being compared with the scores in the pre-test of listening comprehension. finally, an independent-samples t-test was performed to examine that whether this difference between the groups is large enough to reject the null hypothesis. the t-test data analysis procedure indicated that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group after the listening comprehension intervention, meaning that the listening comprehension instruction via clt techniques was quite successful in improving iranian efl learners’ listening comprehension ability. thus, the hypothesis of this research was rejected at the significance level of .05. conclusion llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 509 this study was an attempt to examine the effect alm-based vs clt-oriented techniques on iranian efl learners’ listening comprehension skill. the findings showed that iranian efl learners’ listening comprehension was improved more when clt techniques were used than when alm was used. this implies that the greater the amount of clt techniques used by efl teachers in their listening comprehension classes, the better their learners’ listening comprehension skills would be. according to the findings, it was represented that the use of various clt techniques helps efl learners to improve their listening comprehension skill and that the use of these techniques in the process of listening comprehension provides interesting input for facilitating listening comprehension skill. based on the obtained findings, it was indicated that there were significant differences in the listening scores between the experimental group which took clt listening activities and the control group which took alm listening tasks. this finding reveals that the impact of using clt techniques on improving listening comprehension skill is much greater than that of using alm techniques. teaching listening comprehension skill combined with clt techniques can be more useful to all efl learners than traditional methods because the use of clt techniques can meet the needs of different learners with different abilities much better than using traditional teaching methods. teaching listening comprehension by using clt techniques help efl learners to be interested in the target subjects because they increase their motivation through using different interesting and motivating techniques that can lead to the learners’ progress. teachers should be aware of their learners’ needs and skills by using different tools in teaching listening comprehension skill in order to attract their attention to the teaching subjects. teachers should be trained in using clt techniques to exploit their benefits in listening comprehension. moreover, the choice of clt techniques should be appropriate to the level of learners’ proficiency. the techniques should be matched to learners’ interests and their background knowledge so that they can improve 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language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 597 graduate students’ motivation regulation strategies in facing academic writing amid covid-19 pandemic kristian florensio wijaya and niko albert setiawan sanata dharma university, indonesia kristianwijaya500@gmail.com; niko.albert.setiawan@gmail.com correspondence: kristianwijaya500@gmail.com doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i2.3142 received 22 february 2021; accepted 29 october 2021 abstract to be more proficient and self-regulated, l2 academic writers, the deployment of motivation regulation strategies should be incorporated at the commencement of academic writing learning enterprises, particularly during this pandemic situation. according to previous studies, the establishment of robust motivation regulation strategies will potentially help l2 academic writers to better manage the ongoing writing learning dynamics and cope with varied upcoming challenges. specifically, this study was conducted qualitatively by lending support from qualitative content analysis in order to offer more overarching findings derived from actual events experienced by the participants. to comply with this objectivity, two research instruments were also utilized in this study namely the likert-scale questionnaire and open-ended interviews. further, the likert-scale questionnaire was administered via google forms to be filled out by 36 english education master students from batch 2018 and 2019, and the open-ended interview inquiries were sent through whatsapp application in order to obtain the responses from the three random selected interviewees. results from this study revealed that the majority of english education master students had successfully become more competent and resilient academic writers through five major streams of motivation regulation strategies namely interest enhancement, performance self-talk, mastery self-talk, self-consequating, and environmental structuring. keywords: motivation regulation strategies, academic writing, graduate students, covid-19 pandemic introduction due to the outbreak of covid-19 pandemic since the beginning of march last year, all of the workforces are commissioned to undergo all of their working stuff at home in order to degrade the widespread of this disease. without exception, educational sectors also bear a huge brunt from this pandemic since online learning trajectories are offered as one of the efficient solutions for educators and learners to continually experience meaningful learning dynamics as they experienced in classroom learning situations before. in elt enterprises, there are various learning issues hampering the conduciveness in this learning mode due to mailto:niko.albert.setiawan@gmail.com llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 598 the lack of learners’ interest, motivation, parents’ support, and availability of internet connection. allo (2020) discovered that the majority of efl learners in toraja christian university enjoyed online elt processes. meanwhile, most of them extended extensive complaints due to the unstable and absence of internet connection. similarly, atmojo and nugroho (2020) also found that the majority of efl university learners encountered serious impediments in their online elt dynamics due to teachers’ minimum experiences in designing appropriate and enjoyable learning materials for them. pertaining to the aforementioned elt issues caused by this unpredictable situation, it is worth highlighting here that graduate efl learners also experience similar learning obstructions, particularly in academic writing processes. generally speaking, writing is a cognitive enterprise that commissions learners to proactively regulate their thoughts in a sequential manner in the forms of qualified written products. zhang, zhang, song, and gong (2016) argue that efl writing activities address more demanding workloads for learners since they should be able to exert greater controls over their ongoing writing processes in terms of ideas, emotions, feelings, and motivation. in this vein, motivation regulation plays a crucial role for graduate efl learners to continue engaging in academic writing ventures as a higher degree of motivation regulation will lead them to preserve their positive attitudes, feelings, emotions, and interests toward the writing processes resulted in a manifestation of qualified writing products and enhancement of writing competencies. these positive writing values are in harmony with the theory of motivation regulation propounded by bosolo and hidi (2007) asserting that motivation regulation will enable learners to cultivate their positivity toward ongoing writing processes resulting in high-quality text creations. through the activation of motivation regulation, graduate efl learners will also be able to overcome a wide array of academic writing obstacles since they have transformed into more proactive self-initiators willing to double their efforts, perseverance, and motivation to accomplish the targeted tasks in the light of self-regulated behaviors. it can also be stated that graduate efl learners possessing a higher level of motivation regulation tend to recursively equip themselves with more suitable learning strategies rewarding them to assist in coping with various learning challenges. all of these beneficial values are inextricably associated with motivation regulation theory devised by zimmerman and schunk (2008) who claim that efl learners will automatically be more self-regulated knowledge seekers when they have entrenched more potent motivation regulation strategies into their learning dynamics. in a similar vein, wolters and benzon (2013) also believe that efl learners will be better in controlling their learning processes when incorporating motivation regulation strategies functioning to cultivate, preserve, and foster their particular interests in varied subject specific-fields. specifically, in order to be more self-regulated academic efl writers possessing more robust motivation, learners have to engage continuously in intensive cognitive enterprises alike planning particular learning objectives, determining some specific strategies to foster their motivation, monitoring the chosen learning strategies, and appropriately adjusting to other learning strategies efficient for targeted learning contexts (engelschalk, steuer, & dresel, 2017). in this theory, they mentioned that through conscientious learning planning, monitoring, and evaluating activities, efl learners will consciously construct llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 599 better learning engagement and stronger motivation since they have determined to accomplish every single learning task in order to successfully achieve their learning objectives. in a similar tone, wolters (2003) also states that motivation regulation will allow learners to design their own learning goals eventually guiding them to inculcate more powerful motivation in order to attain those wellplanned objectives. to a lesser extent, six prior studies have investigated the paramount role of motivation regulation strategies in various elt specific-fields like reading, writing, and grammar. in this section, the researchers will concisely overview the significance of the six prior studies successfully donating notable contributions to elt areas, particularly, academic writing realms. the first study was conducted by umamah and cahyono (2020). they revealed that efl university learners frequently apply motivation regulation strategies in their expository essays prone to produce more gratifying writing scores compared to other counterparts occasionally implementing motivation regulation strategies in their writing processes. secondly, arniatika (2019) suggested efl teachers implementing pecha-kucha strategies in speaking learning activities in order to amplify their motivation in these communicative language enterprises. in another study, diasti and mbato (2020a) found that the majority of undergraduate efl learners had been able to accomplish their thesis writing punctually when their internal and external motivation were continuously nurtured by motivation regulation strategies. further, diasti and mbato (2020b) also discovered that the majority of graduate efl learners were able to constantly read a great number of journal articles when their positive emotions, feelings, and particular reading interests had been amplified by their lecturers. mbato and cendra (2019) advocated efl educators to intensively provide more meaning-making moral support for their learners to continue writing undergraduate thesis in order to corroborate their motivation regulation and self-regulatory behaviors. in the last study, mukti (2017) unearthed that the majority of undergraduate efl learners had ingrained a robust motivation to learn grammar. on the contrary, they still underwent serious hindrances in cultivating their motivation to learn this subject for a better purpose. thus, this study recommended efl educators to clearly locate particular activities potentially motivate or demotivate learners’ interests in learning grammar. none of these studies have touched upon specific motivation regulation strategies internalized by graduate efl learners in facing academic writing amid covid-19 pandemic. to fill this gap, this present study was conducted to specifically investigate particular motivation regulation strategies incorporated by graduate university efl learners in facing academic writing amid covid-19 pandemic. to fulfil this study objectivity, one research problem was addressed namely: (1) what are the specific motivation regulation strategies applied by english education master students in facing academic writing amid covid-19 pandemic? motivation regulation the substantial components of motivation regulation have been investigated enormously worldwide by prominent educational psychologist researchers (kim, yoon, & branch, 2018; miele & scholer, 2018; schwinger & pelster, 2012; wolters & hussain, 2015). furthermore, wolters (2003) connotes motivation regulation as specific thoughts, actions, and behaviours utilized by learners to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 600 continually cultivate their perseverance, efforts, and commitment to accomplish varied given learning tasks. with a similar perspective, wolters and benzon (2013) subdivided six major components of motivation regulation strategies commonly harnessed by university efl learners namely regulation of values, regulation of performance goals, self-consequating, environmental structuring, regulation of situational interests, and regulation of mastery goals. the first strategy denotes learners’ proactive engagement to design more enjoyable learning enterprises useful for them. for instance, learners attempt to hone their communicative competencies in the target language in order to obtain more decent vocation in their future lives. the second strategy deals mostly with learners’ potent controls over their learning dynamics in order to attain more fruitful learning outcomes. for example, learners work harder to rehearse their academic writing skills in order to achieve more gratifying writing scores. in selfconsequating, learners will double their efforts, persistence, and determination to accomplish particular learning tasks successfully in order to gain self-rewards for themselves. one tangible example of self-consequating is learners planned to hang out with their fellows after accomplishing their thesis writing. through environmental structuring strategy, learners will be able to exert more powerful controls over their learning circumstances in order to get the best results of their learning. the example of this strategy application is some learners prone to do some learning tasks in the library in order to concentrate accomplishing those tasks successfully by eliminating unintended disruptive events. learners are more likely to stay on their learning processes when they implement regulation of situational interest in their learning since a higher degree of enjoyment allows them to learn the subject-specific fields more efficiently. for instance, learners can incorporate various captivating games into their vocabulary learning processes to memorize some difficult words. in the last strategy, learners will transform into more proficient and self-regulated academicians since they bravely challenge themselves to discover a wide variety of challenging conceptions in their specific fields. overall, through the full utilization and cultivation of motivation regulation strategies, efl learners will be able to redouble their efforts, persistence, interests, commitment, and motivation to reach their desirable learning achievements, outcomes, and competencies resulting in the tangible manifestation of self-regulated academicians. these learning merits are congruent with the benefits of motivation regulation strategies mentioned by schwinger and pelster (2012) clearly stating that efl learners infusing motivation regulation strategies tend to be better knowledge disseminators, strategy planners, and decision makers. the pivotal role of motivation regulation strategies in efl writing ventures as mentioned previously, efl writing ventures require learners to communicate their thoughts, ideas, and conceptions meaningfully in the forms of written texts in order to fulfil readers’ expectations and globalized writing regulations. due to the demanding nature of efl writing processes, efl learners are obliged to induce more robust controls over their ongoing writing processes in terms of strategies usage, emotions, feelings, motivation, and interests with the purpose of generating more gratifying writing products. mohamed and zouaoui (2014) revealed that the majority of efl learners encounter serious hurdles in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 601 their writing learning dynamics like lack of motivation, strategies, and emotional controls when faced with ample writing impediments. hence, it is advisable for efl educators to intensively provide mutual assistance for their learners to consistently manage their writing progress in order to yield high-quality writing products by the end of the writing sessions. from this perspective, it can be surmised that in order to breed proficient and self-regulated efl writers, educators need to continually cultivate their learners’ motivation in order to judiciously select any kinds of appropriate strategies rewarding for amplifying their eagerness and perseverance to proceed those arduous writing journeys. manchon (2007) mentions that the mutual interplays among cognitive, metacognitive, and motivation variables should be activated at the commencement of efl writing voyage in order to enable learners to be more inspired to accomplish their given writing tasks successfully. although some previous studies had highlighted the key importance of activating both cognitive and metacognitive strategies in efl writing processes (lin, zhang, & yeng, 2017; andrade & evans, 2015; troia, harbaugh, shankland, wolbers, & lawrence, 2013), it is indispensable for efl educators to ceaselessly activate, nurture, and corroborate their motivation in writing in order to reach their desirable learning outcomes successfully through the full accomplishment of varied writing tasks. wolters (2003) asserts that the majority of proficient efl writers generally try to orchestrate their ongoing writing learning dynamics through careful-planning, monitoring, and profound learning reflections endowed with a higher degree of motivation regulation strategies. given the importance of motivation regulation strategies in efl writing enterprises, teng and zhang (2016) revealed that a great number of efl learners in china are confronted with huge writing barriers in terms of possessing minimum english writing conventions knowledge, a small degree of writing motivation, and low level of writing confidence. in this study, they further concluded that most efl learners in china indispensably require more than just a set of cognitive and metacognitive skills but also motivation regulation strategies as well in order to improve their overall writing competencies in the target language. all of these suggestions are in concord with the relationships of motivation regulation strategies and writing achievements adduced by oxford (2015) along with zimmerman and schunk (2011) stating that efl learners possessing a higher level of motivation regulation are more liable to employ a wide array of learning strategies worthwhile to improve their academic performances and achievements. concerning this paramount matter, it is wellsuggested here for efl educators to internalize motivation regulation strategies at the outset of writing learning enterprises since this construct heavily influences other indispensable learning variables beneficial for supporting other psychological elements forming by learners in terms of cognitive, metacognitive, and self-regulated behaviours (zimmerman & schunk, 2008). method the researchers run this study qualitatively with the support of qualitative content analysis to yield some renewable insights taken from the participants’ tangible life experiences. this nature of qualitative content analysis is inextricably associated with krippendorff’s (2004) theory of qualitative content analysis llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 602 stating that through qualitative content analysis, researchers are able to generate some new findings in relation to in-depth phenomena descriptions recited by the participants. this present study was conducted at the english education master study program of sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia. furthermore, 36 english education master students derived from batch 2018 and 2019 were invited to take part in this study. specifically, these participants have involved intensively in varied academic writing projects for 2 years in order to be eligible to graduate from this study program by publishing at least 1 qualified research writing in one targeted national journal article. during the data gathering processes, there were 28 out of 36 participants who filled out the online questionnaire. this matter occurred since this online data gathering process required the participants to record their responses voluntarily without any coercion from the researchers. further, two research instruments were also utilized in this study namely the likert-scale questionnaire and open-ended interview questions. the likert-scale questionnaire consists of 10 statements delving about english education master students’ motivation regulation strategies in facing academic writing amid covid-19 pandemic. this first research instrument was distributed to the targeted participants by using google forms. the second research instrument is categorized as open ended interview questions in which 10 follow-up inquiries were being asked to obtain more reliable information with regard to specific motivation regulation strategies incorporated by the participants in confronting academic writing in the midst of covid-19 pandemic. dornyei and taguchi (2009) describe that the nature of open ended questions is not followed by tangible response options but they deliberately give more freedom for the participants to share their life experiences in detail. to fulfil this objectivity, the researchers planned to invite 3 interviewees randomly to participate in this interview section. the interview was conducted through online written documents. for the data analysis, each gathered data will be delineated narratively in the light of relevant theories, findings obtained from prior studies, and selected excerpts taken from the interviewees. findings and discussion congruent with above-mentioned conceptions on the critical importance of motivation regulation strategies in academic writing enterprises amid covid-19 pandemic, this section provides more obvious portrayals, depictions, and exemplifications of specific models of motivation regulation strategies incorporated by english education master students in confronting varied academic writing tasks. two major themes emerged from the participants’ responses collected with the support of the online likert-scale questionnaire namely motivation regulation strategies which boost learners to strive harder to attain more satisfying academic writing achievements and the impetus to be more resilient l2 academic writers through intensive utilization of motivation regulation strategies. all of the findings will be expounded in detail by lending some support from prior relevant research findings and theories postulated by experts. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 603 figure 1. the maximization of motivation regulation strategies to obtain gratifying academic achievements (97% participants agreed) as shown above, figure 1 clearly exhibits a higher degree of agreement toward the maximization of motivation regulation strategies to obtain gratifying academic achievements. a great number of agreements shown by the research participants is not surprising at all since university, particularly graduate efl learners are demanded to be more self-regulated academicians who are better in controlling and redoubling their learning efforts in order to attain more satisfying academic achievements. this conviction is congruent with the theory of motivational regulation strategies proposed by zimmerman and schunk (2008) stating that efl learners frequently implementing a wide array of motivational strategies tend to exhibit more positive learning attitudes like persistence, commitment, and determined learning objectives. in line with this core conception of motivational regulation strategies, this set of affective strategies is also worthwhile to be internalized in academic writing learning enterprises since learners will be able to cultivate their potent learning efforts, persistence, and motivation through varied learning circumstances where they are capable of exhorting a wide variety of learning strategies to accomplish the targeted writing tasks and showing a higher level of perseverance to overcome upcoming writing barriers in order to generate more satisfying academic writing achievements. this argument is in agreement with the major finding discovered in previous motivation regulation strategies study conducted by engelschalk, steuer, and dresel (2017) in which the implementation motivation regulation strategies worked as a proactive engine for efl university learners where they are able to apply various appropriate learning strategies, expend more persistent learning efforts, and cope with diverse learning impediments. all of these conceptions are in agreement with the three excerpts of interviewees below: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 604 [interviewee 1: i am quite familiar with it. i have learnt that in my graduate study. my answer is absolutely “yes”. writing is not an easy thing for me. it needs strong motivation to finish what i have started. therefore, doing some motivation regulating strategies is central during my academic writing and learning journeys.] [interviewee 2: yes, i am familiar with the motivation regulation strategies; i learned that in the course of english education master’s program. i think that motivation regulation strategies play a crucial role in my academic learning journeys because without the good regulation i cannot continue and motivate myself to keep writing the paper.] [interviewee 3: yes, i am familiar with motivation regulation strategies because i learned about them in the course. motivation regulation strategies played a crucial role in my academic learning not only in academic writing but also in my learning journeys. with good regulation strategies, i could accomplish my paper and motivate myself to keep writing.] in correlation with the major findings revealed by this first research theme, it can be surmised that the lecturers had successfully ingrained more robust motivational regulation strategies at the commencement of academic writing ventures. it is predominately showcased that the majority of participants have gained more exhaustive self-awareness during engaging in academic writing enterprises in terms of conscientious topic selections, real-life writing topics, the intention to surpass other learning companions, self-determination to yield more qualified writing products, and honing the targeted writing competencies continuously. from these significant improvements with regard to cognitive, metacognitive, and affective skills, schwinger and otterpohl (2017) suggested efl educators worldwide introducing their learners with a highly-subset of motivation regulation strategies at the onset of academic writing learning dynamics in order to make them become more accustomed to regulating their motivation in a long term learning period and diminish their demotivated learning behaviours. moving forward to the grains of findings found in this first major theme, it can be discerned that all participants devoted their agreement to the first and second findings focusing on the essentialism of selecting captivating writing topics and correlating those selected topics with their real-life basis. specifically, these two consecutive themes pertain to one of the six streams of motivation regulation strategies as proposed by wolter and benzon (2013) in a previous chapter namely interest enhancement. interest enhancement connotes learners’ capabilities in connecting their particular interests with the targeted learning tasks in order to raise a higher level of motivation to accomplish those given tasks. teng, yuan, and sun (2020) state that interest enhancement can potentially boost learners’ learning motivation to make significant progress toward their learning tasks for they have chosen some specific learning interests attracting them most. further, it cannot be denied that through the activation of interest enhancement in academic writing processes, learners will establish, reinforce, and infuse more llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 605 robust learning motivation driving them to attain the specific learning objectives through the successful accomplishment of multivariate learning tasks. this belief is in harmony with the main finding revealed by prior motivation regulation study conducted by engelschalk, steuer, and dresel (2016). they advocated learners to activate interest enhancement at the beginning of writing processes in order to foster their writing competencies more intensively in the light of sturdy establishment of motivation regulation. furthermore, concerning the third and fourth findings, we can observe that 26 out of 27 participants showed a higher degree of agreement toward the importance of self-determination in outperforming other learning companions and producing good quality of writing products to achieve more satisfying scores from their lecturers. these above-mentioned motivational components represent performance self-talk strategy. through this motivational trajectory, learners will be able to augment their motivational levels significantly when dealing with various academic writing tasks. this conviction is able to be reassured since learners are extremely motivated to obtain more fruitful external learning outcomes constituting the exhibition of better learning performances compared to others and the attainment of satisfying academic achievements rewarded by their lecturers. based on this perspective, sirois and pychyl (2013) believe that performance self-talk strategy will enable learners to annihilate any kinds of demotivated learning behaviour due to their stronger learning perseverance to outdo other learning peers and attain continuous academic appraisals from their teachers. however, the path to be more proficient and self-regulated efl academic writers is not as easy as conceived since learners should instil a higher degree of perseverance and commitment to forge their academic writing competencies intensively to outperform other learning companions and achieve good scores from their lecturers. harris, graham, macarthur, reid, and mason (2011) hold a strong belief that to be more advanced efl writers, learners need to improve their targeted writing skills constantly in the light of proactive regulations of cognitive, affective, social, emotions, and motivational states. in order to embody this positive writing learning outcome, it is worthwhile to be suggested for efl learners to infuse more powerful controls over their external motivational states in terms of exceeding other learning counterparts’ performances and striving more persistently to gain more gratifying academic scores. presumably, the inducement of these personal external motivational states will direct learners to display specific intended learning behaviours in which they can fully degrade their demotivated learning behaviours. this perspective is in concord with the theory of performance self-talk postulated by engelschalk, steuer, and dresel (2017) arguing that learners consistently activating their performance self-talk will magnify their motivational levels into the utmost assisting them to foster their learning performances and attain more satisfying scores from their teachers. from this baseline of perspective, three interviewees also articulated similar arguments as follow: [ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 606 interviewee 1: as what i have written before, remembering the big goal will let me focus on the final result. in addition, emotional support from friends and family are important to encourage me in my writing process. if we talk about the blockages, they can be external and internal.] [interviewee 2: first, grade, i need to have a good grade for the subject, and i also have things to accomplish, sending the paper to journal and get it published so i could graduate from the program. second, i want to make my writing skill better, that’s why i continue to write academically.] [interviewee 3: the motivation is always about the grade and passing the courses. until i realize that it’s not about the grade anymore. it’s about how to be a better writer of academic papers. i can improve myself to continue to write an academic paper and learn from my mistakes.] again, as we can discern in the ultimate finding revealed by this first theme, continual explorations toward various academic writing conventions and practices is of notable importance in sustaining learners’ specific behaviour to achieve substantial learning outcomes in the upcoming future. this assumption is evidenced in the last finding where all participants consented to practice their academic writing skills continuously in order to be more skilful efl writers consistently yielding significant contributions toward the targeted subject-specific fields throughout their writing products. this last motivation regulation strategy denotes mastery self-talk. as noted before, through mastery self-talk, learners will be endowed with robust motivation, commitment, and resilience in accomplishing various learning tasks for their learning realm has been extended not only to temporary learning outcomes in the forms of performances, achievements, and graded but also long-lasting learning outcomes beneficial for their future lives. schwinger and pelster (2012) propound that mastery self-talk and goal setting strategies will substantiate learners’ cognitive, affective, and motivational states efficiently in which they will persistently contend to improve their desirable learning competencies which are believed to be rewarding for their upcoming life matters. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 607 figure 2. the full internalization of motivation regulation strategies transforming learners into more resilient l2 writers (74% participants agreed) in figure 2, we altogether can observe that the full internalization of motivation regulation strategies can potentially transform learners into more resilient writers. this kind of rewarding learning reward has been a communal belief within globalized elt frameworks, particularly l2 academic writing learning enterprises. this claim is supported by some theories and previous findings discovered by some experts regarding the pivotal role of motivation regulation strategies in shaping learners to be more resilient academicians who do not easily give up while encountering myriad learning obstacles. wolters (2011) postulates that highly self-regulated learners possessing a higher degree of motivation regulation are prone to identify manifold learning obstructions precisely in order to devise a set of learning strategies suitable to accomplish those hurdles successfully. in the same line of argument, reeve, ryan, and deci (2018), in their study of motivational regulation strategies among university efl learners, also revealed that motivational regulation strategies when being incorporated effectively, will direct learners to deploy more robust selfdetermination in coping with devastating academic learning barriers. wolters and benzon (2013) who conducted a profound investigation on the relationships between efl learners’ autonomous motivation and motivation regulation strategies also unearthed that there was a tight-knit relationship between learners’ autonomous motivation and motivation regulation strategies where those who frequently implement this bunch of strategies are more liable to preserve their motivational and autonomy states harmoniously in order to be better strategic planners and wiser decision makers capable of handling unsavoury learning impediments. all of these delineations have been evinced by the three excerpts of interviewees as follow: [interviewee 1: when i face some obstacles during my academic writing, i usually think of my general goal. for example, when i lacked motivation during my thesis writing, i thought of my goal that i had to finish my study on time. i wanted to make my parents happy llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 608 and never wanted to make them down. finally, i could finish my writing successfully and on time.] [interviewee 2: yes, because i already set those specific strategies to confront the hurdles. the strategies are used to make me solve the problem and continue to write.] [interviewee 3: yes, because writing is tough and those strategies keep me doing the work. even it is also a burden that i have to focus on and write about. but it always makes me feel like making progress and enriching my skills in writing.] in the first strand of finding unpacked in this second research theme, we are able to clearly notice that 26 out of 28 participants consented to explore various academic writing conventions for the improvement of their writing qualities along with skills. to restate, this first finding is subsumed in one of the six streams of motivation regulation strategies namely mastery self-talk. thus, by activating this long-term motivation strategy, these learners will continually safeguard their motivation, perseverance, efforts, and commitment to attain their desirable learning goals. this rewarding learning merits is inextricably associated with zimmerman’s and schunk’s theory (2011) of motivation regulation and mastery self-talk strategies postulating that efl learners determining specific learning objectives, establishing stronger learning commitment, and dedicating continual learning efforts will tend to achieve fruitful learning outcomes at the eventual journey of learning dynamics since they have transformed into highly selfmotivated knowledge seekers and disseminators. in conformance with this delineation, it is also interesting to note here that giving self-rewards and providing some self-consequences after the accomplishment or failure of writing projects will also bring about significant influences for learners’ internal motivational states, self-determination, and mentalities. this assumption is clearly evidenced by the second and third findings wherein 27 out of 28 participants agreed to give self-rewards after accomplishing their academic writing projects. while there were only 10 participants who were willing to address some selfconsequences due to the failure of their academic writing projects accomplishment. these two findings refer to a self-consequating strategy in which learners possess further propensity to provide specific self-appraisals or selfpunishment due to the tangible outcomes derived from their learning projects. the essential role of self-consequating strategy in maintaining learners’ motivation regulation is obviously represented by a prior study of motivation regulation strategies held by hadwin, jarvela, and miller (2011). they advocated learners self-consequating themselves after obtaining particular learning objectives in order to be better in regulating their ongoing learning processes in the light of firmer motivation regulation. the key role of self-consequating strategy is also closely interlinked with the beliefs held firmly by schwinger, steinmayr, and spinath (2009) as well as wolters and benzon (2013). they mutually shared some commonalities emphasizing that self-consequating strategy if it is carefully driven by efl learners, will reinforce and spur their existing motivational states into more robust establishment since they work out their specific learning tasks llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 609 zestfully to attain those self-rewards and elude themselves from attaining those taxing self-consequences. concerning the third finding, the majority of participants strongly disagreed to provide self-consequences when they experience failure in their academic writing processes. perhaps, it is due to their willingness to induce healthier intrinsic motivational controls over their academic writing learning progresses only through self-rewards in order not to discourage themselves for not continuing the ongoing academic writing processes due to the availability of self-consequences. this temporary assumption is tightly interwoven with the theory of intrinsic motivation propounded by garn and morin (2021) arguing that a good quality of internal motivation should be a friendly supporter for the development of learners’ learning autonomy, actions, and motivation by having them regulate their intended behaviour properly without being suppressed by any kinds of consequences. eventually, the fourth and fifth findings where 27 and 14 participants consented the important role of specifying particular writing objectives and reducing writing disruptive events respectively clearly showcased that environmental structuring strategy is one of the external efficient motivational strategies supportive for the creation of independent learners insistently struggling to reach their desirable learning outcomes. more importantly, during the environmental structuring processes, learners will also strengthen all of their learning efforts, strategies, styles, and commitment in the lens of conducive learning circumstances. in accord with academic writing enterprises, the key of this ultimate strategy utilization depends mostly on how learners committed to accomplish the given writing tasks in the view of learning vicinities completely supportive for assisting them to stick to their goal-oriented and dynamic process occurring in their specific writing ventures. put differently, successful writers are the figures who proactively create more pleasant, positive, and enjoyable writing learning environments in which their motivation and learning autonomy continually thrive. all of these rewarding academic writing learning merits are in line with the theory of self-consequating strategy invented by grunschel, schwinger, steinmayr, and fries (2016) together with garn and morin (2021) mentioning that environmental structuring strategy will provide better learning assistances for learners to decrease academic procrastination habits and redouble their learning efforts to fully accomplish varied learning projects by means of the projection of conducive learning vicinities. pertaining to the equal importance of this strategy to the establishment of specific academic writing learning objectives, jager, schotanus, and themmen (2012) along with kim et al. (2018) also give more accentuation on the indispensable needs for efl educators to commission their learners to set their particular writing learning goals in order to better plan, monitor, and evaluate the tangible outcomes of their writing products in accordance with the specific motivation regulation strategies they incorporate simultaneously. through the effectiveness of these writing goals, they also added that the creation of carefully-designed goals will also bring about significant impacts toward their autonomous motivation and motivation regulation behaviours in tandem with mastery goal orientations. all of these aforementioned basic tenets of motivation regulations are granted by these three excerpts of interviewees as follow: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 610 [interviewee 1: thinking of the big goal, especially related to my future and family, boosted my motivation a lot. the external motivation sometimes plays a key role in boosting someone’s motivation. if we focus on the big goal, we will be motivated almost all of the time because we have the vision of our future goal.] [interviewee 2: i always look back into my motivation. why did i write for the first time? then, i will take a break if i have hurdles, just a very short break, after that i will continue to face my problem and continue to write.] [interviewee 3: my strategies do influence my academic writing performances, progress, and achievements because they help me to monitor and manage my emotions and also motivation allows me to recognize my problems while i’m writing and use my strategies to withdraw when i’m overwhelmed.] conclusion taken as a whole, it is conceivable that the majority of english education master students had successfully tackled a wide array of challenging academic writing tasks by utilizing five major streams of motivation regulation strategies namely interest enhancement, performance self-talk, mastery self-talk, self consequating, and environmental structuring. contrarily, based on the findings mentioned above, there were still a substantial number of students who do not impart self-consequences due to the failure of their academic writing projects and view conducive learning environments as one of the paramount factors determining their academic writing success. partially, this is probably caused by various external factors like not being able to withstand suppression situations through self-consequences and global distractions derived from other fascinating activities such as watching youtube videos, hanging out with friends, and playing with mobile phones. thus, it will sound better for efl educators to start introducing the importance of giving self-consequences and distancing writing learning dynamics from varied disruptive events by training learners to embark regulate these internal and external motivational factors at the onset of academic writing learning ventures through small workshops or simple engaging presentations. since this study was conducted by involving 36 english education master students derived from two batches; 2018 and 2019 years with only 28 students who were willing to voluntarily filled out the online likert-scale questionnaire, it is well-suggested for future researchers to conduct correlational motivation regulation studies emphasizing on distinctive variables involving this affective learning strategy such as emotions, feelings, cognition, metacognition, and mastery goal orientations. references allo, m. d. 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(2011). motivational sources and outcomes of self-regulated learning and performance. handbook of self-regulation of learning and performance, 5(3), 49-64. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 582-595 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 582 students’ perspectives on the teachers’ written corrective feedback in online professional narrative writing class *prema gupita sukha1 and listyani2 1,2universitas kristen satya wacana, salatiga, indonesia premagupita0908@gmail.com1, listyani.listyani@uksw.edu2 *correspondence: premagupita0908@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4659 received 15 may 2022; accepted 7 october 2022 abstract this research aimed to find out students' perspectives on the teachers' written corrective feedback in online professional narrative writing classes and discover the types of the teachers' written corrective feedback that professional narrative writing students prefer to help them revise their writing. thus, the research questions of this study were (1) what are the students' perspectives on the teachers' written corrective feedback in online professional narrative writing class? and (2) what are the types of the teachers' written corrective feedback that the students prefer to get to help them revise their writing in the professional narrative writing class? the participants of this study were thirty-four (34) students from three online professional narrative writing classes at universitas kristen satya wacana. this study was conducted from september until december 2021. also, the data collection instruments used open-ended and closed-ended questionnaires and interviews. the findings showed that the participants had positive and negative perspectives toward the teachers' written corrective feedback in the online professional narrative writing class. then, the most preferred type of the teachers' written corrective feedback was indirect feedback since the participants believed it could help them revise their essays. the findings of this study were expected to be useful for teachers in giving effective written corrective feedback. keywords: online professional narrative writing class, students' perspectives, the teachers' written corrective feedback introduction writing is an activity to share ideas on paper. according to anggraini (2018), language students find writing a skill that is difficult in language learning since english has rules and structure that is different from the students' native language. hence, it is difficult for them to pour their ideas into english writing. in indonesia, english is learned as a foreign language (efl). indonesian and english have different sentence structures, syntax, and spelling that make the students feel difficult to convey their ideas in english writing. so, to master writing skills, the lecturers need to design activities that encourage the learners to improve their writing skills. many activities can be used to practice students' writing skills. one of the activities often used in writing class is writing paragraph essays. mailto:premagupita0908@gmail.com mailto:listyani.listyani@uksw.edu mailto:premagupita0908@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4659 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 582-595 583 in writing essays, the lecturers usually give written feedback to make it easier for the students to revise the errors in the essays. it will help the students to improve their writing skills. brookhart (2008) as cited in anggraini (2018) said that learners have useful information to know their position in learning and what they should do through good feedback. there are three types of feedback: oral feedback, written feedback, and visual or demonstration feedback. also, there are two types of written feedback: directly written feedback and indirect written feedback. in giving feedback, the lecturers have their own decision on what kinds of feedback will be used. this piece of research hopefully contributes different findings that will complete the existing studies. hence, this research gave more insights to the lecturers about students' perspectives and the types of written corrective feedback that students preferred. giving written corrective feedback according to the types that students preferred might be helpful for the students to improve their essays. two research questions were addressed in this study: 1. what are the students' perspectives on the teachers' written corrective feedback in the online professional narrative writing class? 2. what are the types of the teachers' written corrective feedback that the students prefer to get to help them revise their writing in online professional narrative writing class? this study was expected to help the lecturers improve their feedback to be appropriate for the professional narrative writing students' needs. thereby, the feedback may help the students enhance their writing skills and performance. literature review feedback feedback is commonly associated with the teaching and learning process. according to rofiqoh and chakim (2020), feedback in the teaching area refers to the teacher's response to the achievements, behaviors, and attitudes that the students have. however, feedback is not only focused on the students' achievement. it is an essential part that focuses on the learning process. feedback during the learning process helps the students gain better achievements, behaviors, and attitudes. the students need to get corrections on their behaviors, attitudes, and achievements to aid in assimilating what they have learned. it also checks students' results in learning. as stated by kauchack and eggen (1989) in rofiqoh and chakim (2020), feedback gives cognizance of the students' current behavior and can be helpful to raise students' performance. keeley, smith, and buskist (2006), as cited in listyani (2019), conducted a study involving 313 students who were evaluating 3 instructors. keeley et al. used factor analysis to evaluate the contributions of each of these behaviors listed to overall teaching effectiveness. they found that there were 28 behaviors contributing to teaching effectiveness. ten of these behaviors were being approachable, encouraging and caring, open-minded, a good listener, happy/ humorous, professional, giving constructive feedback, building good relationships, being respectful, and understanding rofiqoh and chakim (2020) categorize feedback into teachers' feedback and peers' feedback. teachers' feedback is the feedback that the teachers give. the teachers respond to the students' work, achievements, and behaviors. then, peers' llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 582-595 584 feedback is the feedback that the other students provide. it means that the students react to their friends' work, achievements, and behaviors. this study will only focus on teachers' feedback since the limitations of time and space. teachers need to provide complete information about the students' work, achievements, and behaviors in giving good feedback. it is done to make the students understand what they have to do. anggraini (2018) said that the students could enhance their ability after knowing what to do and how to set it up. hence, good feedback given will encourage the students to improve their skills. corrective feedback there is a term related to giving feedback in language learning: corrective feedback. corrective feedback is given when the students make errors in their learning process, such as misusing the target language. according to the teaching point of view, corder (1967) in anggraini (2018) stated that errors give information on what the students need to learn. so, the teacher has to concentrate on correcting the errors. also, chen, lin, and jiang (2016) stated that corrective feedback is a way that teachers use to correct any students' errors or grammar errors that happen in a second language (l2) learning. it means that corrective feedback tends to relate to the writing linguistic aspects. according to anggraini (2018), there are two types of corrective feedback: written corrective feedback and oral corrective feedback. written corrective feedback is the feedback that identifies some errors in writing which does not follow the rules of the target language. meanwhile, oral corrective feedback is the feedback that identifies some errors in speaking to correct the linguistic forms used. it means that written corrective feedback can be found in writing class, while oral corrective feedback can be found in speaking class. because there are several types of corrective feedback, the research will deal with written corrective feedback. written corrective feedback anne (2017) explained that in 1996, truscott argued that written corrective feedback (wcf) can only contribute to explicit, knowledge of a language. and that this knowledge is irrelevant to actual language acquisition. however, researchers have recently claimed that according to several theoretical approaches, we may expect writing and moreover wcf to help improve second language acquisition in writing class, the teacher often uses written corrective feedback in the learning process. according to shao (2015) in pabur and liando (2018), written corrective feedback is the correction of grammar and writing errors. written corrective feedback is one of the important ways to enhance writing accuracy. as ferris (1999) stated in pabur and liando (2018), written corrective feedback helps develop students' writing skill accuracy so that it should not be ignored. ignoring the linguistic errors in students' writing will be impacted the whole of students' papers. there are two types of written corrective feedback: direct corrective feedback and indirect corrective feedback (hosseiny, 2014). direct corrective feedback is the feedback that indicates the errors and provides the correct linguistic form. meanwhile, indirect corrective feedback is the feedback that only shows the errors without giving the proper linguistic form so that the students will discover the correct answers to the errors by themselves. in showing the errors in indirect llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 582-595 585 corrective feedback, the teacher uses various forms such as giving underline, giving circles, giving codes, and according to sheen (2007) in wicaksono (2017) that providing highlights can be a way to indicate the errors. writing class in language learning, four skills have to be learned which are reading, writing, listening, and speaking. according to brown (2000) in hamied and emilia (2016), in producing writing, the author needs to have the ability related to some writing procedures, which are brainstorming, formulating ideas, and fixing the writing. those procedures prove that writing requires a process, not an instant outcome. from those steps, it seems that writing is not an easy thing to do. moreover, writing using english is done by students in which english is their foreign language, such as indonesian students. therefore, it will be challenging to do. writing skills are not a natural skill. however, it is learned through a sequence of practice in formal instructional settings or other environments (nam & seong, 2020). therefore, providing a writing class can become a platform for the students to practice writing english. also, according to oster (1989) in seo and kim (2020), creating creative writing exercises done by teachers in the writing class enhances the students' writing ability. for example, they are writing paragraph essays and writing stories. afterward, in writing class, the learning is stressed in the writing sequence, which is prewriting, writing, and rewriting (han, 2013) so that the students will get used to practicing producing english writing. professional narrative writing class professional narrative writing is one of the classes offered in the english language education program (elep) at a private university in central java. according to elep, uksw (2020), in the professional narrative writing class, the students are encouraged to fulfill their professional necessities and future jobs through narrative writing. professional narrative writing is taught using various communicative activities. through some kinds of communicative activities, the students comprehend the structure and linguistic features of narrative writing and exercise their narrative writing skills. moreover, in the professional narrative writing class, the teacher provides several exercises, including vocabulary exercises and grammar exercises, to enhance the students writing skills (english language education program, 2020). professional narrative writing class has some learning objectives that the students need to achieve. the first learning objective is that the students are expected to understand the concept of narrative text, both structure, and linguistics features. second, the students are expected to write english narrative texts to complete their professional needs as students and future teachers. third, the students can conquer the four skills in daily/academic contexts. for the fourth learning objective, the students are expected to write their own narrative story in the format of a digital story. the last learning objective is the development of students' grammar and vocabulary in english (english language education program, 2020). so, in the professional narrative writing class, the students will be taught how to write narrative texts and be encouraged to use grammar and vocabulary correctly. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 582-595 586 teacher online feedback coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) has been known by almost everyone globally because it has spread fast in nearly all countries worldwide. according to bbc (2020) in efriana (2021), in march 2020, the world health organization (who) announced that covid-19 is a universal pandemic. covid-19 impacts most life fields such as economics, politics, education, and tourism, and the phenomenon encourages change in those aspects. one of the changes is the emergence of new policies, such as the work-from-home policy where most employees of government institutions do not come to the office. they do their work online (efriana, 2021). "in the education sector, the government through the ministry of education and culture in all countries has implemented a learning policy, namely learning from home" (efriana, 2021). learning from home policy brings up online learning terms. efriana (2021) stated that online learning could be defined as distance education that integrates both electronic and internet-based technology in the learning process. also, allen and seaman (2007) in efriana (2021) said that teachers and students do not face directly in online learning. the teacher and students have to use technology to do the learning process. online learning encourages teachers and students to be creative to achieve learning goals. one of the efforts to achieve the learning goals in online learning is by providing teachers with online feedback. teachers' online feedback is one of the innovations in online learning. according to pan and shao (2020), online teachers' feedback can be defined that the teachers using network technology to give feedback on the students' learning and give directions on the learning process. through online teachers' feedback, the students can access the feedback given everywhere and are not limited by time. as stated by ozkara and cakir (2018) in pan and shao (2020) online teacher feedback could help the teacher organize the feedback given so it will be easier for the students to understand the feedback given. moreover, larmuseau, desmet, and depaepe (2019) in pan and shao (2020) stated that online teachers' feedback could make the students feel supported and have a good connection with the teachers so that the students will be motivated in online learning. previous research some previous research has been done to investigate students' perspectives on written feedback in writing classes. the first previous research was done by iswandari (2016). the researcher investigated students' preferences for written corrective feedback in writing class, and the types of errors students prefer to correct. the participants were 31 second-semester students from group d of the paragraph writing class in the english language education study program, sanata dharma university. the qualitative research implemented both open and closeended questionnaires in gathering data. the research findings were that the majority of the participants preferred indirect written corrective feedback that indicated and located errors. also, the participants preferred grammatical, vocabulary, punctuation, and spelling errors that were corrected than content and organization. the second previous research has been done by anggraini (2018). the researcher investigated the students' perspectives toward teachers' written corrective feedback on students' writing in the paragraph writing class. the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 582-595 587 participants were 17 second-semester students of the paragraph writing class in the english study program at jambi university. the research used a qualitative design, especially a descriptive qualitative study. in gathering data, the researcher used purposive sampling and interviewing. there were some findings of this research. first, the students considered that the teacher's written corrective feedback was valuable and helpful. second, the students needed clear information about their errors, including what the errors are and how to fix them so that they could easily revise the errors. another piece of research was conducted by tursina and chuang (2016). the study involved forty (40) ncyu students and twenty (20) ut students. they were divided into four big groups and received two types of written feedback. they were direct corrective feedback in endnotes and indirect corrective feedback in endnotes. students' responses to feedback preferences were then analyzed. the study found that low-performing students who received direct corrective feedback performed better than low-performing students who received indirect corrective feedback. high-performing students, no matter what kind of feedback was received, performed equally well. the last previous research was done by zhan (2016). the researcher investigated student perceptions, teacher perceptions, and actual teacher performance toward written teacher feedback. the research participants were one writing teacher and 62 writing students from a university in china. the research used qualitative methods, and the instrument were questionnaires and interviews. the findings of the study were that most of the participants felt it challenging to revise essays based on teachers' written feedback to some extent, the participants preferred to be given feedback on organization, vocabulary, content, and grammar, and then the participants wanted feedback about expressions and word choice problems. in summary, feedback is a way to respond to students' behavior, attitudes, and achievement in the learning process. the feedback can be given by both teachers and students in the class. the aim of providing feedback is to increase the students' performance in learning. in giving feedback, there is a term written corrective feedback. written corrective feedback is the feedback that aims to correct linguistic errors in writing. so, written corrective feedback is used in writing class. there are two types of written corrective feedback which are direct feedback and indirect feedback. direct feedback shows the errors in writing and gives the correct linguistic forms. while indirect feedback only gives clues or codes in the wrong part without providing the correct linguistic forms. method the context of the study this research was conducted in semester i of the 2021/2022 academic year in professional narrative writing class, at english language education program (elep), faculty of language and arts (fla), of universitas kristen satya wacana using a mixed method. participants the research participants were three groups of thirty-eight (38) students who took professional narrative writing class in semester i of the 2021/2022 academic llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 582-595 588 year at the english language education program (elep), faculty of language and arts (fla) of universitas kristen satya wacana. however, there were four students out of the thirty-eight target participants who did not fill out the questionnaire, so there were thirty-four (34) students who filled out the questionnaire. then, the interviews were conducted with five students from the end of december 2021 until the beginning of january 2022. data collection instruments two instruments were used in collecting the data, which were the combination of close-ended and open-ended item questionnaires and semistructured interviews. the questionnaire was used to find out the students' perspectives on the teachers' written corrective feedback and the types of the teachers' written corrective feedback that students prefer from all of the participants. then, the interviews were used to find out richer data and clarify the questionnaire answers that need to be dug to make clear results. this was in line with creswell's (2008) statement, the researcher has two instruments where the first instrument has a primary aim to collect one form of data and the other instrument will give supportive information data. the questionnaire used google forms and the link was shared with the participants using whatsapp messages. the interviews were conducted online with five participants via whatsapp voice notes. findings and discussion the data for this study were collected from both the participant's answers to the questionnaire and interview. based on the answers, three emerging themes were found in this research: good perspectives on written corrective feedback, negative perspectives on written corrective feedback, and methods of giving written corrective feedback that students preferred. positive perspectives on written corrective feedback improving students’ writing accuracy increasing writing skills was the positive perspective that most participants agreed on. in addition, the researcher found that 33 of 34 participants (97%) agreed that the teacher's written corrective feedback improved students writing accuracy. the participants had a reason that they were helped in choosing vocabulary and using appropriate grammar from the feedback. the reasons were stated by participant 3 and participant 13. excerpt 1: "yes, it can be, feedback from lecturers can improve writing skills because the feedback is not only about sentences that are less efficient but also about grammar that is correct or not and vocabulary that is appropriate or not with the sentence used." (participant 3/interview on december 31, 2021). excerpt 2: "lecturer corrects my essay and grammar i use, so i know which parts of the essay and grammar that need to be improved. so that it can add to my insight both in grammar and my ability in writing." (participant 13/questionnaire on november 8, 2021). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 582-595 589 it can be concluded that the participants' writing skills could be enhanced through the teachers' written corrective feedback. as noted by hartshorn (2008) in iswandari (2016), students' writing accuracy, including overall structural accuracy, can be enhanced by written corrective feedback. moreover, the feedback gave insights on choosing vocabulary based on the context. also, it made the participants understand grammar correctly in their essays. helping students in revising essays the teachers' written corrective feedback helped the students in revising their essays. the statement was agreed upon by 32 out of 34 participants (94%). there was a reason why the feedback helped the participants. based on the participants' answers, the reason was that from the feedback, they knew where the mistakes were, so the participants could revise their essays easily. it can be concluded that the teachers' written corrective feedback helped the participants revise their essays. sari (2017) stated that the teacher helps the learners fix their writing by informing their errors using the teacher's written feedback. furthermore, the participants knew the mistakes and could revise them easily through feedback. motivating students in revising essays in the interview, the researcher was curious whether the interviewees were motivated to revise their essays after getting feedback. then, the researcher found that all of the interviewees (100%) were inspired to revise their essays by the feedback given. below are the two statements from participant 3 and participant 5. excerpt 5: "because from the feedback we know what is wrong, and feedback can also make us more excited and motivated to improve our essay." (participant 3/interview on december 31, 2021). excerpt 3: "feedback is very motivating because with the feedback, i can find out which ones are lacking, which ones need to be revised, and the intent of writing essays is less clear. so i'm motivated to improve. also, feedback from lecturers makes me more understand how to make a good and correct essay." (participant 5/interview on january 6, 2022). thus, it can be concluded that the teachers' written corrective feedback motivated the participants to revise their essays since, through the feedback, the participants knew which was the wrong part and what needed to be fixed. also, the feedback made the students understand how to make better essays. as stated by sari (2017), making better writing can be motivated by the teachers' written feedback. appreciating students' hard work the researcher discovered the participants' feelings toward the teachers' written corrective feedback during the interview. the data showed that 4 out of 5 interviewees (80%) stated that they were happy in getting the feedback. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 582-595 590 thereby, it can be concluded that written corrective feedback can appreciate and reward learners' hard work (yuliawati, harmanto, mustikawati & maghfiroh, 2021). moreover, the feedback made them happy since they felt appreciated, and it was a manifestation of the lecturers' sense of care. the data showed that 33 participants agreed that the teachers' written corrective feedback helped them increase their writing skills, revise their essays, and motivate them to improve their essays. also, the participants who got the teachers' written corrective feedback felt happy because it was a form of appreciation, and it showed the teachers' concern. therefore, it can be concluded that most of the participants (33 participants) had good perspectives on the teachers' written corrective feedback which is in line with shultz's (1996) statement in rosdiana (2016), learners have positive perceptions toward corrective feedback. this finding was in line with listyani and kileri’s research (2021). they conducted qualitative research through in-depth interviews with six academic writing students. some students had positive perceptions of teacher feedback, while others showed negative ones. from another piece of research on 76 writing students, listyani (2021) also found a similar thing. there were students who had positive, negative, as well as mixed responses to teacher feedback. negative perspective on written corrective feedback there was only one negative perspective on the teachers' written corrective feedback. the negative perspective was that the teacher's written corrective feedback made the students confused. the researcher found that 10 out of 34 participants had the same negative perspective. the participants thought that the teachers' written corrective feedback was confusing since it was not understandable. besides, the participants were confused in understanding the feedback given since the teachers only gave highlights or marks in the wrong parts without providing any other comments or explanations. also, the teachers gave unclear clues. in conclusion, even though 33 out of 34 participants agreed that the teachers' written corrective feedback enhanced their writing accuracy, helped them revise the essays, and motivated them to revise them. however, 10 of them stated that sometimes they were confused by the feedback given since the teachers gave unclear feedback and only gave clues on the wrong parts without providing any other additional comments, so the students could not understand the idea from the feedback given, which would hinder the students in producing better essays. this is in line with anggraini's (2018) statement that the unclear information in the feedback is ineffective since the students could not get the points of the parts that need to be revised. types of the teachers' written corrective feedback that the students preferred in this study, the students' perspectives toward the teachers' written corrective feedback and which types of the teachers' written corrective feedback the students preferred were also investigated. according to yuliawati, harmanto, mustikawati, and maghfiroh (2021), teachers can use two types of written corrective feedback: indirect feedback and direct feedback. the researcher asked the participants to choose teachers' methods in giving written corrective feedback in the questionnaire. the participants could choose more than one method. the methods were: (1) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 582-595 591 underlining, circling, or coloring in the wrong part of the essay (indirect feedback), (2) using codes in the wrong part of the essay, e.g., wf letters for the wrong form, ww letters for the wrong words (indirect feedback), and (3) correcting the wrong part of the essay directly (direct feedback). after getting the results from the questionnaire and interview data, the researcher analyzed the types of written corrective feedback that the participants preferred, whether indirect feedback or direct feedback. the results are shown in figure 1 below. figure 1. methods of giving feedback that students preferred indirect feedback in the questionnaire, two options were provided for the indirect methods used by the teacher that the participants preferred in giving written corrective feedback. according to mufanti (2016), as cited in yuliana et al. (2021), indirect feedback is the feedback where the teacher only provides clues in the issue found without correcting the errors, so the students have to think about how they will revise it by themselves. the methods were underlining, circling, or coloring in the wrong part of the essay and giving codes in the wrong part. for example, wf letters for the wrong form, ww letters for the wrong word, and ro letters for run-on sentences. of those methods, the giving codes method was the most preferred. there were 26 out of 34 participants who chose the method as shown in figure 4 above. they thought that giving codes in their essays would make it more effortless to revise their essays. also, it encouraged the participants' independence in revising their essays. besides that, 19 out of 34 participants also preferred written feedback by giving underlines, circles, or highlighter. they thought that underlining, circling, and highlighting would be easier for them to find the wrong parts of their essay. thus, it can be concluded that the 26 participants chose to be given code in giving feedback on their essays, and 19 participants preferred the feedback with underlining, circling, and highlighting their essays. it indicated that indirect feedback was the most preferred type of feedback. since indirect feedback helps learners think independently, as stated by aswell (2000) and ferris (2002) in chen, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 582-595 592 lin, and jiang (2016), indirect corrective feedback engages a great cognitive process. it encourages the students' self-reliance in thinking. direct feedback in the questionnaire, the researcher provided an option of the method used by the teacher that the participants preferred in giving written corrective feedback to indicate direct feedback. according to mufanti (2016) in yuliana et al. (2021), direct feedback is when the teacher suggests errors and gives the correct forms for the errors found. the method was to correct the wrong part of the essay directly. the researcher found that 18 out of 34 participants chose the way as shown in figure 4 above. they thought that giving the correct answers to the errors found in their essays would help them learn from the correct forms. also, it allowed the students to produce a perfect essay. it can be concluded that 18 out of 34 participants preferred to be given direct feedback. according to the participants' opinions, direct feedback enabled them to produce good essays and helped them in knowing their errors. therefore, they would not make the same errors. chen, lin, and jiang (2016) stated that direct corrective feedback encourages the students to understand their errors effectively through the correct forms given. table 1. methods of giving feedback that the students preferred types and methods of giving feedback indirect feedback direct feedback underlining, circling, or coloring in the wrong part of the essay using codes in the wrong part of the essay correcting the wrong part of the essay directly participants’ initials p.3, p.4, p.7, p.9, p.10, p.11, p.12, p.13, p.14, p.15, p.17, p.18, p.19, p.20, p.21, p.22, p.23, p.27, p.29 p.1, p.3, p.5, p.6, p.7, p.8, p.9, p.10, p.12, p.13, p.16, p.17, p.18, p.19, p.20, p.22, p.23, p.24, p.25, p.26, p.27, p.28, p.29, p.30, p.31, p.32 p.2, p.3, p.4, p.7, p.9, p.11, p.p.12, p.13, p.15, p.17, p.18, p.19, p.20, p.21, p.27, p.30, p.33, p.34 in conclusion, 45 participants (71%) preferred indirect feedback, and 18 participants (29%) preferred direct feedback, as shown in table 1 below, so indirect feedback was the most preferred type of teacher's written corrective feedback chosen by the participants. through indirect feedback, it would be easier for the students to revise their essays because some clues and codes indicated the errors. indirect feedback also helped the students know what errors occur in their essays and encouraged them to think independently about how to fix the errors. this is in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 582-595 593 line with the statement from ferris (2003), frantzen (1995), and lalande (1982) in hosseiny (2014). indirect feedback gives a lot of advantages for the long-term writing development of the students than direct feedback. conclusion this research aims to find the students' perspectives on the teachers' written corrective feedback in the professional narrative writing class in the english language education program at universitas kristen satya wacana through openended and close-ended questionnaires and interviews. there were two research questions in this study, (1) what are the students' perspectives on written corrective feedback in online professional narrative writing class? and (2) what are the types of written corrective feedback that the students prefer to get to help them revise their writing in the professional narrative writing class? the research questions have been answered and drawn in the following conclusions based on the findings and discussion above. the first finding in this study was the students' perspectives toward the teachers' written corrective feedback. there were 33 participants (97%) who had good perspectives on the teachers' written corrective feedback. they agreed that the teachers' written corrective feedback helped them increase their writing skills, revise their essays, and motivate them to improve their essays. also, the participants felt happy since they considered the teachers' written corrective feedback as the teachers' appreciation and the teachers' concern for them. then, ten participants (29%) had a negative perspective toward the teachers' written corrective feedback. they were confused by the feedback given. the participants could not get the idea from the feedback since the teacher only put clues on the wrong parts without providing any other additional comments. therefore, when the participants could not get the point of the elements that needed to be revised, they could not produce better essays. the second finding was the types of teachers’ written corrective feedback that the students preferred. indirect feedback was the most preferred type of teachers’ written corrective feedback chosen by 31 participants (91%) than direct feedback selected by 18 participants (53%) only. the participants liked indirect feedback because some clues and codes indicated the errors, which would help them revise their essays. also, those clues and codes that indicate the errors could foster the participants to fix their errors independently. aridah’s (2016) study also found a similar thing. written corrective feedback still plays an important role in improving the quality of students’ writing. the researcher believed that the results of the study would be helpful for teachers, especially writing teachers. however, this study had some limitations. first, this study was conducted on a small scale. there were only 34 participants involved in this study. the researcher hoped that other researchers could conduct similar research to find out the students' perspectives and types of teachers' written corrective feedback most favored by students from other areas such as listening, speaking, reading, and grammar classes. also, there was a limitation in the data collection method. the interviews were conducted online by using voice notes via whatsapp, so there were no face-to-face interviews. it made the researcher get limited interview results. future researchers can use close-ended and open-ended questionnaires and face-to-face interviews if it is possible to get richer data. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 582-595 594 references anne, w. 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(2016). written teacher feedback: student perceptions, teacher perceptions, and actual teacher performance. english language teaching, 9(8), 73-84. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v9n8p73 https://doi.org/10.15858/engtea.75.2.202006.69 http://repository.unima.ac.id/bitstream/123456789/274/1/no.%2024%20gces%2020%0918%20proceeding%20-%20pabur%20%26%20liando.pdf http://repository.unima.ac.id/bitstream/123456789/274/1/no.%2024%20gces%2020%0918%20proceeding%20-%20pabur%20%26%20liando.pdf https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.9118 https://jurnalmahasiswa.unesa.ac.id/index.php/43/article/view/33435/30357 https://jurnalmahasiswa.unesa.ac.id/index.php/43/article/view/33435/30357 https://www.neliti.com/publications/217635/students-perception-toward-written-corrective-feedback-in-writing-classroom https://www.neliti.com/publications/217635/students-perception-toward-written-corrective-feedback-in-writing-classroom https://doi.org/10.24042/ee-jtbi.v10i2.1752 https://doi.org/10.15858/engtea.75.1.202003.119 http://jurnal.unsyiah.ac.id/eeic/article/view/15894/11885 https://doi.org/10.24071/ijels.v3i2.1065 http://dx.doi.org/10.22460/project.v4i6.p1083-1093 https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v9n8p73 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 395-409 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 395 indonesian efl teachers teaching reading to english young learners in indonesia and thailand *sibakhul milad malik hidayatulloh1 and sugirin sugirin2 yogyakarta state university, indonesia12 sibakhulmilad.2021@student.uny.ac.id1 and sugirin@uny.ac.id2 *correspondence: sibakhulmilad.2021@student.uny.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4515 received 7 april 2022; accepted 22 september 2022 abstract among myriad research on teaching reading on english young learners, little has been discussed the practice within two different socio-culture settings. indeed, the success stories of teaching reading to young learners with different social and cultural circumstances will be able to offer insight and new perspectives of teaching reading to eyl for researchers, mainly english teachers. this study aimed at narrating and exploring the process of teaching reading within two different countries, indonesia and thailand. this study invited two indonesians efl teachers who teach english to young learners in indonesia and thailand. underpinning the narrative research design, this study narrated the experience of the participants from interview process triangulated by their narrative framework and teaching reading materials. from the obtained data, the findings were presented using four major themes: teaching experience, the students, teaching reading, and teaching reading materials. the result revealed that the participants had some similarities and distinction aspects. teaching technique that the participants used could be said as the similar aspect of the participants. meanwhile, teaching materials could be said as the integral factors underlying the differences. furthermore, organizational system and community around participants played significant role in affecting the differences and similarities. keywords: english young learners, narrative research, teaching reading introduction "english should be taught starting from junior high school to higher education" (national education system act, 2003). even though the act said so, the need for english for young learners is inevitable (hestetræet, 2018; parker & valente, 2018; shin & crandall, 2018). the rapid development and the high demand for globalization accelerate the need to be faster than before. as mentioned by kachru (2005), concentric circles of world englishes are divided into three parts: inner, outer, and expanding circle country. along with thailand and china, indonesia can be found as the expanding circle where english is taught and used as a foreign language. nevertheless, english is commonly used in business and other bilinguals' collaborations among expanding circle countries due to worldwide international competition. consequently, to prepare its generation, english is taught mailto:sibakhulmilad.2021@student.uny.ac.id1 mailto:sugirin@uny.ac.id mailto:sibakhulmilad.2021@student.uny.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4515 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 395-409 396 starting from primary school as the complementary subject. the following level is accommodated as the compulsory subjects, i.e., junior and senior high school and higher education. in succeeding the english learning, reading plays a crucial role as the macro skill. in particular, young learners, reading and listening skills are strengthening each other to play as an input. several studies in second language acquisition discovered that 'reading while listening' has a satisfying influence since it contributes to the comprehension and fluency of the learners (chang, 2009; chang & millet, 2015; mestres & pellicer-sanchez, 2018). consequently, the interest in teaching reading for young learners has been growing as a major issue in english language teaching to young learners (elt-yl). research on elt-yl persists in obtaining the attention of scholars and has been a scholarly debatable topic among scholars in l2 in last five years; for instance, inter comprehension focusing on plurilingual proficiency and ef-yl reading skills (arenare et al., 2021), selfassessment in development reading and writing eyl (liu & brantmeier, 2018), strategy instruction and clustering in developing eyl reading (razı & grenfell, 2020), ict in teaching reading eyl (spanou & zafiri, 2019), metacognitive strategy to teach reading eyl (teng, 2019), and multimodality in teaching young learner reading (wulan et al., 2019). reading is currently used not only for expanding language power and vocabulary (sadiku, 2015), but also for fostering language development in early age (ismail & yusof, 2018). reading activity cannot be presented as a means of learning, but it tends to be a part of the crucial development of learners’ learning process. reading plays a crucial role to offers entrance places for young learners in experiencing language learning (scott & ytreberg, 2004). even scholars found that children’s literacy and speech start to develop before schooling stages, the prior condition, children are sensitive to speech since prenatal stages (moon et al., 2013; partanen et al., 2013). consequently, reading is also presented as a tool throughout their cognitive growth development process. furthermore, the reputation of reading for young learners has gained scholars’ attention. for instance, teng (2015) mentioned the notion of providing a conducive classroom environment to reading literacy. three years after his idea, the notion of process-based reading was proposed as the learning process which requires students to read for realistic goals including several stages: reading, reflecting, reporting, and discussing (teng, 2018). in another sense, niklas et al. (2016) researched the appropriate time for parents to introduce their children to reading before being preschooled. more than a hundred children’s parents were asked when they started to introduce reading and how often they gave the reading. surprisingly, half of the parents conveyed that they introduced reading to their children from six months old. consequently, the parents’ habits impact the children’s linguistics competencies. therefore, the notion of ‘the sooner, the better’ was evidenced by (niklas et al., 2016). the aforementioned research suggests that introducing books and reading to young learners, even very young learners, indeed contributes to language development and provides an advantageous home-based linguistic setting. further, the aforementioned research on teaching reading indicates that reading skill is crucial to be taught to eyl. besides, the number of research on teaching reading to eyl also indicates that finding suitable teaching reading strategy is still going on around the world, in particular efl context. for instance, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 395-409 397 in thailand, maipoka and soontornwipast (2021) investigated the post-effect and views of intensive and extensive reading to primary school' students in thailand. in grece's context, the use of ict as a supporting aspect to teach reading to early learners had been researched by (nikolopoulou et al., 2019). in the chinese context, wong (2018) explored the interconnection between reading-writing towards the students' writing ability. in the indonesian context, anisa (2019) used folklore as the reading material for fostering extensive reading among primary students. a literature review generates several documented investigations in the asian contexts. for instance, wulan et al. (2019) captured a novice teacher teaching reading using multimodality to young learners in indonesia. by conducting a narrative inquiry research design, the findings showed that multimodality was not only for teaching reading in teyl. indeed, it could be used to assist teacher in giving fruitful and various learning experience to eyl for macro skills in english. teng (2019) researched and described the influence of metacognitive among fifthgrade students in hongkong toward their reading skill. at the end, this research highlighted the possibility of metacognitive instruction to increase english young learners’ reading literacy. maipoka and soontornwipast (2021) did experimental research on the influence of extensive and intensive to young learners reading performance. the result revealed that students perceived benefits of intensive and extensive reading instruction by changing their reading habit. even though the research and experiment from previous research appeared to be valuable, however, little has been discussed the practice of teaching reading to eyl in different socio-culture settings. most prior studies further were focused on the finding teaching reading method to eyl which neglected teachers’ experiences in teaching reading in eyl context. indeed, studies of teachers’ practices in teaching english young learners in efl countries seems to be valuable and crucial study in the context of teaching reading to eyl. to fill this gap, this study aims to narrate and compare the teaching of reading for young learners used by two indonesian efl teachers in two different countries, thailand and indonesia. given this consideration, it is possibly substantial to listen to teachers' voices and experiences of how they handle and form their teaching style to teach reading for young learners within two different setting, condition, and socio-culture. hence, the research question is presented as follows: 1. what experiences of teaching reading to young learners do indonesian efl teachers have in thailand and indonesia? 2. to what extent is the difference? by doing so, this study is able to reveal the practice of teaching reading in two different settings. the findings, then, are able to give significant implications for future teachers particularly eyl teachers in teaching reading both in indonesia and thailand. method research design the main focus of this study is to narrate the nuanced story from indonesian efl teachers teaching reading in the different socio-culture settings. in accordance with its objectives, the narrative inquiry research design is the suitable design since it will capture prominence to people experience and capture both general and specific pictures of life experience (connelly & clandinin, 2004; ary et al., 2010). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 395-409 398 furthermore, as mentioned by its name, narrative inquiry is a qualitative research approach based on which the researcher will be able to capture and present the human lived experience narratively (abrar, 2019). as a result, clandinin et al. (2007) authored narrative as “the study of experience as story” (p.22). besides, the wide range used of narrative among multidisciplinary research underpins narrative inquiry as a broadly accepted research design that engenders understandings and assists numerous interpretations of the phenomenon being explored. in another sense, as the researcher, we understand that stories and life experiences can be subjective. however, by scrutinizing the perspective, condition, and life experience under phenomenon using in-depth data analysis supported by additional supporting data, will be able to find the meaning among the complexities of the story being shared. research participants in selecting the participants, we considered their feasibility and capability. prior to that, they needed to have been learnt and taught teaching english for young learners. this point becomes crucial since this study's focus is to find out their experience and exploration of teaching reading to young learners. besides, the participants' willingness is also essential because the research focus will explore their ‘personal’ experience and avoid their inconveniences in sharing their stories. finally, two efl teachers were elected in this study. they were ayu (pseudonym) and tio (pseudonym). the detailed information can be seen as follows: table 1. demographic information of participants name place of teaching teaching subject number of teaching class experience of teaching educational background ayu (pseudonym) thailand english six classes (grade 1st – 6th) 2 years bachelor of english education tio (pseudonym) indonesia english six classes (grade 1st – 6th) 2 years bachelor of english education data collection and instruments to obtain the data, three data types were used in this study. the data were teachers' stories, teaching materials, and narrative frames (barkhuizen & wette, 2008). teachers' stories were obtained by conducting an in-depth interview for 4560 minutes as the primary data. then, the interview result was supported by the teaching materials and the narrative frame, which the participants filled. bahasa indonesia was employed since it provided conformability for them to express their thought and idea. in interviewing the participants, we tried to minimize our mimics, reaction, and empathy to avoid the participants' flow and conformability. to assist the next step, the interview processes were recorded to analyze data. data analysis the data were analyzed to find the pattern, relevant event, and expression to construct the several themes. a bottom-up, inductive, and emergent data analysis llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 395-409 399 approach was used to accommodate the analysis process. then, the obtained data were re-written in the form of a story as the nature of narrative inquiry research approached (conelly & clandinin, 2004). then, to maintain the validity, the retold story was sent back to the participants to check whether the story was in line with their sharing experience or not. as for the teaching materials, it used to see the types of materials such as the text types and the task. by seeing the teaching materials, the possibility activities in the class could be recognized. lastly, in presenting the finding, the data were presented by providing some themes related to each participant's story findings and discussion within this section, we try to retell the shared story from the participants, ayu and tio, regarding their experience in teaching reading to young learners. since the nature of narrative inquiry of studying the topic being discussed through participants’ narrative views, therefore, each participant’s narrative is presented through the story of each participant divided into several themes. the themes include teaching experience, the students and teaching reading, and teaching materials. tio’s story: teaching experience tio has been learning english for more than a decade. when he was in secondary school, he never thought about being a teacher. however, time flies and tio entered an english education department as the professional stage of learning in higher education (he). throughout his experience as a student, he had barely dared himself to teach. the first experience of his teaching experience was teaching in senior high school as an internship teacher from his department’s internship program for a month. as his first-time teaching, he prepared everything, including the material and the lesson plan (rpp), for three months throughout the coaching process. after finishing his experience, he had a chance to teach an english course near his house. he taught a group of young english learners for four months. a few weeks after finishing his teaching in an english course, he got a chance to be an english teacher in the elementary school where he was in elementary school. since his starting point of teaching experience, he finally got the position as an official english teacher in a school with its components (principal, vice principals, schoolbased curriculum, and kinds of stuff). the students tio was interested on how the students would look like. at the same moment, he was also interested in teaching skills in the english classroom. theoretically, he knew the fundamental theories of teaching english skills from his lecturers. he knew how to run a class using some approaches in teaching english especially in teaching reading based on the textbook. when he met his students for the first time, he felt slightly stunned because the conditions were far from his expectations. he described his students by dividing them into two big categories: students grade 1-3 and students 4-6. further, he argued that teaching reading students in grades 1-3 seemed like drawing without a pattern; meanwhile, teaching reading to students in grades 4-6 would like drawing with a pattern. in another sense, teaching reading in grades 4-6 was easier than in grades 1-3. further, he wrote llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 395-409 400 “when the first time i teach them, i got the problem with the vocabularies with students to grade 1-3 since i did not explore their english level” (tio’s narrative frame). starting from that point, he tried to map his teaching style. particularly in teaching reading to grades 1-3, he introduced the way to read and the meaning. for instance, he read the sentence and translated it in bahasa indonesia, and then he told the meaning of each word separately. he also invited the students to follow his pronunciation. besides, he broke a sentence into several words then asked students to read the words one by one. finally, the words were arranged into the original sentence. meanwhile, in grades 4-6, he got the problem with students’ ability to read the sentences correctly. he explained that sometimes students could not read a whole sentence, mostly caused by their pronunciation. besides, students in these grades also got problems understanding the text's context. consequently, tio read the meaning and explained the context using the students’ native language, bahasa indonesia. however, there was one similarity recognized by tio. he identified all of his students have focus distraction. students in grade 1-3 would be distracted by playing in the classroom, meanwhile students grade 4-6 would be distracted by the learning duration. to get around those conditions, he tried to give refreshment to his students by playing games or just sharing story if he recognized his students were no longer focus. teaching reading in his teaching process, reading is never stand alone. tio explained that reading is mostly integrated with writing and sometimes speaking. since he has mapped his students’ capability and problem, he implemented different way in teaching, especially teaching reading. further, in teaching reading to students grade 1-3, he tried to ask the students to follow what he has said. tio would read the sentences word by word then his students will repeat after him. tio argues that this was the possible way to give students input about english. besides, students in grade 1-3 are just to start learning how to read in their first language. to some extent, tio would re-read some difficulties word until his students can read in right way. throughout the process, he also gave the meaning of the word in bahasa indonesia. by doing so, tio hoped that students were not only know how to read but the meaning as well. furthermore, distinct teaching reading method was employed by tio in students grade 4-6. drilling was no longer used. moreover, the focus was not only to know how to read and meaning each word, but also know what was stated in text. tio knew his students’ lacks, therefore, the focus was to boost students reading sentence and context. he would ask his students to read a long sentence under his supervisory. then, when his students did an error, he would stop them and gave them how to read it correctly. after that, he asked students what the sentence talked about. finally, tio and his students discussed the sentence and the text together. in short, he focused on two learning processes in which for students grade 1-3 vocabulary focus and grade 4-6 was the sentence focus learning. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 395-409 401 teaching reading materials furthermore, teaching material that he used was the english teaching module provided by the school. since it was provided, he taught the students using what was mentioned in the book. for reading, the skill was integrated with writing skill namely written cycle. in short, students were given a text then they had to fill the comprehension question and did the following task related to writing. the example can be seen as follows: figure 1. tio students' reading section and task in interview process, he said that he never used any additional material except from the module. even though the topic was not familiar for students, he kept going in using and explaining the content. to bridge students’ confusion towards unfamiliar topics, he used jokes and some assimilation to give students and understanding. “…when i got something which is difficult to be explained, i try to make joke and some connection with the topic being discussed such as connecting with students’ experiences, so they will understand the context easily” (tio’s interview excerpt) furthermore, as the researcher, we had a chance to check the content of the module especially for reading. the topics of content were about family, hobbies, daily activities, special places, food, home, and holiday. most of the topics were closely related with the indonesian culture and heritage such as holiday at taman mini indonesia indah (tmii), borobudur, and many places in indonesia. below is the example of reading section in students’ english module: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 395-409 402 figure 2. tio’s english module reading text ayu’s story: teaching experience english has been a chosen subject for ayu since she was in junior secondary school. she decided that english as her higher education major is concrete evidence of her intention. becoming a part of the english language education department students made ayu more serious with english. she joined some competitions and internal organizations. her first teaching experience was not from the internship process. instead, her lecturer invited her to join community service on teaching young learners in one of orphanages in yogyakarta. her teaching experiences were continued by the internship process in teaching senior secondary school students for a month. finishing her teaching experience as an internship teacher, ayu was offered by her senior to teach english young learners in nakhon ratchasima, thailand. she is now teaching in thailand as a foreign teacher through the intensive english program (iep), the private program initiated by several primary schools in thailand. as this report was written, ayu has been teaching in thailand for more than a half year teaching english for grades 1 to 6 in one of the primary schools in nakhon ratchasima province, mueang district, thailand. along with her teaching in thailand, she still devotes herself as an english volunteer in an "islamic boarding house' (pondok pesantren) in riau, indonesia, online. she teaches english every thursday night for one and a half hour teaching and learning process. the students in thailand, ayu is placed on teaching english for grade 1st until 6th. she shared her students' conditions as sociable and proactive students. each classroom consists of 20-30 students from around the district. since the school is located on a military base, the students' parents are primarily soldiers. about the language, ayu teaches her students entirely using english. she is plotted with one teacher's assistant (ta) from school to help ayu when her students got the language barrier. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 395-409 403 "when i teach, i will have one local teacher to help me like managing the classroom, translating my english to thai, and helping me when i got some difficulties throughout teaching-learning process." (ayu’s interview excerpt) at first, she thought that the teaching-learning process would ruin her days since she knew nothing about the thai language. however, the reality is contradicted. she finds her students can follow her teaching even though she uses english most of the time. still, the language barrier is the main problem that she needs to face when teaching the lower class (grade 1st-3rd). when it comes to teaching grades 4th until 6th, her job will be easier. the role of ta in her class will be decreased since her students have sufficient english capability to follow the teaching-learning process. another thing she shared about her students is their activeness. for ayu, providing students' participation is not challenging planning. she described the students as curious, responsive, and polite students. for instance, they often ask something outside the material being discussed. in addition, their curiosity about ayu, who is a muslim from indonesia, also attracted their attention to ask about her life and conditions in indonesia. when asked a question, ayu's students respond quickly and sometimes even fight. besides, ayu explained that there is one habit that her students always do when asking for something or permission for something, namely salam wai, cupping both palms of her hands on her chest accompanied by a slight bow. ayu admits that the students here can accept her as her teacher even though she is a minority. her students' warmness makes ayu have no problem with the adjustment between herself and her students. teaching reading the school that ayu is working at now emphasizes improving students' communication skills. speaking is the main point of her teaching speaking. however, pursuing to be a good teacher, ayu argued that speaking needs to be accompanied by other skills such as reading and listening. therefore, she taught reading as a means to support students' speaking skills. since the main focus of teaching-learning activities is to boost students' communication skills, ayu decides to focus on the students' pronunciation and understanding in some context. furthermore, ayu often gives her students to follow after her speech in the classroom, especially for lower grade class. this way is applied since the students need to be given a general picture of the english word. besides, she also pays attention to how the students' knowledge on how they know the part of a word. "in the class, i ask my student to spell a word that i have given to them; for example, book is spelt b-o-o-k." (ayu’s interview excerpt) when the students seemed okay with that way, then ayu would give another way to teach her students. she would write or show a sentence part by part. then, she gave her students an understanding that the sentence is constructed using some word. for instance, "i will go to the stadium", then ayu will break down the sentence into "i-will-go-to-stadium", followed by her students' repetition. further, for the higher grade, she tried to present reading using incomplete sentences and allow students to complete the sentences. in this way, ayu assumes llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 395-409 404 that her students will be able to grasp meaning, form sentences, and finally understand what is being discussed in the context of sentences. in addition, ayu also often teaches reading by asking her students to come forward to the class reading the text in the book. she did this with 5th and 6th graders. while her students were reading, she would pay attention to their students' pronunciation. teaching reading materials as for teaching materials in reading, ayu directly used the provided book from the school. an international book provided by oxford is presented as the learning guideline. furthermore, reading activities shared by ayu will never be stand-alone as an independent skill. she shared that mainly reading will be accompanied by productive and less receptive skills. however, in some cases, ayu tried to refresh her students by providing other sources such as the passage from the internet, songs, videos and powerpoint presentation. "for grade 1 until 3, i use some simple texts in the textbook, for grade 4, i prefer to add some reading materials from internet, while for grade 5, i try to give them with more complex reading materials followed by filling the blank for grade 6" (ayu's narrative frame) even though ayu is from indonesia, she has no problem with understanding the materials presented in the textbook. she shared that the reading materials tended to be general discussion and topic. the book's topics are mostly 'western-oriented", proven by the discussion about the big bang, eiffel, liberty, new york, and several european iconic landmarks. the book that the school uses is english time by oxford university press figure 3. ayu’s materials for teaching reading above is an example of a reading activity that is integrated with listening skills. recognizing the pattern of reading activity, vocabulary mastery also will be included in the reading activity. towards the presented example above, ayu llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 395-409 405 mentioned that she would read the text then follow with her students. then, she would try to give some new vocabulary to her students by collaborating with the ta. figure 4 ayu’s students' reading materials to this point, we have narrated two efl teachers teaching in indonesia and thailand. spotting the response from tio and ayu, they are distinguished by their interest and motivation on teaching. in some studies, motivation on teachers plays a significant role in their teaching and learning in terms of experience and process. for instance, learners’ motivation, self-directed learning, and willingness to learn are influenced by teachers’ cognition (glas et al., 2021) and teachers’ closeness (fallah, 2014). nevertheless, it can be used to generalize facets since thommen et al. (2021) found that teachers’ motivation and teaching quality had blurred interconnection. besides, the different atmosphere of teaching between the participants leads into different quality of learning. there was a positive relationship between classroom atmosphere and its factors which influence the learning quality (ofoghi et al., 2016). another distinction point found in the teaching materials between tio and ayu. tio’s students’ reading materials tended to be authentic materials in which the topics discussed were related to students’ lives. the topics are closely related to the indonesian context. in another sense, ayu’s teaching materials tended to be general with worldwide scope as the discussion or even abstract (i.e. solar system). theoretically, tio’s materials should provide better results in teaching reading since arikan and taraf (2010) and mara and mohamad (2021) found that authentic materials can positively impact students reading and vocabulary improvement. however, abstract materials can also improve students, proven by ayu’s experience. recognizing their distinction, organizational culture became integral factor in the materials and teaching-learning process (fitria, 2018). despite the distinctions, the similarity between tio and ayu can be noticed from their technique of teaching reading. the findings found that drilling became the most used technique for teaching reading to eyl. the following techniques were keyword approach, read aloud, and fill in the blank. drilling, furthermore, has been a wide discussion in terms of reading skills by some scholars (hempenstall, 2009; muchlisin, 2015; swanto & din; 2014). the current findings seemed to strengthen that drilling, among massive technology used, still exists as a preferable teaching technique, particularly in reading to eyl. as the alternative, keyword approach and read-aloud can be applied to give students refreshment throughout llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 395-409 406 their teaching-learning process. another similarity can be recognized when the use of technology is less used. even though eyls tend to be ‘digital native’ nowadays, both teachers decided not to expose technological use due to some reasons, including lacks facilities, organizational system, and community agreement. lastly, we believe that teachers’ beliefs as the internal factors of teaching play an integral role in distinguishing the teaching process. teyl teachers’ beliefs control teachers’ teaching practices which may be affected the effectiveness of lesson design and contextual teaching practices (hadiyanti & yolanda, 2020) conclusion the current research aimed at finding and exploring teaching reading to eyl within two different countries in southeast asia, indonesia and thailand. this study undergone using retrospective, narrative frame and teaching materials from the participants. the different socio-culture was noticed as the factors different teaching reading. students and teaching materials are recognized as the noticeable factors in teaching reading. however, the most used technique between teaching reading in indonesia and thailand have same tendency. drilling is still becoming the most-used technique followed by keyword approach and read-aloud. furthermore, this study offers a novelty for future teachers particularly teaching reading for eyl both in indonesia and thailand. by knowing the conditions, future teachers are expected to be ready in developing the teachinglearning technique and materials. however, the result of this study cannot be used to generalize the community around the participants, furthermore, the country where the participants are working. therefore, future researchers may develop larger amount of data as quantitative research design to see the wide range of this current topic discussion. additionally, knowing the real practices by observing teachers’ teaching process is also needed to see whether teachers’ beliefs match with their practices or not. references abrar, m. 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(2019). an autobiography of novice teacher in using multimodality for teaching reading to young learners. international journal of language teaching and education, 3(1), 78-87. https://doi.org/10.22437/ijolte.v3i1.6963 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2021.101514 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-018-9820-2 https://doi.org/10.22437/ijolte.v3i1.6963 23 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 23-37 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia learners’ preferences of multimedia resources in an extensive listening program dimas setyawan1, francisca maria ivone2, nunung suryati3 1,2,3universitas negeri malang, indonesia correspondence: dimass6179@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.3690 received 16 september 2021; accepted 16 march 2022 abstract extensive listening has gained popularity in the past few years due to its benefits for foreign/second language learning. it improves language learners’ listening skills in a less stressful way because they can choose topics based on their interest or do the activity simply for enjoyment. also, in the implementation, students may choose any multimedia resources in extensive listening activities. in this descriptive study, students’ preferences of multimedia resources used in extensive listening activities were explored. in addition, aspects of the resources they found easy and challenging and why they choose them were also investigated. research data were collected from 109 learners’ extensive listening journals over a semester. results of the data analysis indicated that there are 17 types of multimedia resources used by the students. most of them selected the listening materials based on their interests and curiosity. moreover, the speakers’ accent and speech rate, and limited vocabulary are aspects some students found challenging. further studies may want to compare types of resources used and reasons for choosing them by high and low proficient listeners. how learners used the resources may also be of interest to future researchers. keywords: extensive listening, extensive listening journal, multimedia resources introduction listening is one of the keys to sustaining effective communication in daily life, and it is also a crucial element of language learning. in learning a second or foreign language learning, listening skill needs to be mastered to facilitate understanding of spoken discourse (richards, 2008). for example, in learning l2, learners may start developing their receptive skills, i.e., listening and reading, which are then followed by productive use of the language by using it in spoken and written forms. this is also the case in foreign language learning. learners who cannot listen well will face difficulties in the latter stages of their language learning that require more complex patterns of language acquisition (rintaningrum, 2018). http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt mailto:dimass6179@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.3690 24 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 23-37 listening plays a vital role in communication as it is said that out of the total time spent on communicating, listening takes up 40-50%, speaking 25-30%, reading 11-16%, and writing about 9% (mendelsohn, 1994, as cited in gilakjani & ahmadi, 2011). moreover, listening is one of the most important skills among the other language skills because it is the first step in learning a language, and everybody has done that since they were babies. we listen to our father, mother, sister, and others until we reach the stage where we can speak our first word, and soon we can communicate with others. mastering english as a foreign language, including listening skills, takes much time and needs a proper learning method. many foreign language learners struggle to improve their listening skills because they only practice the skill in the language classroom. when outside of the class, they seldom hear people speak english in their surroundings. intensive and extensive listening listening activities that students do in language classes mostly take the form of intensive listening activities. renandya (2011) defines intensive listening as an approach that is still widely used in the foreign or second language classroom and instrumental and helpful for beginner and intermediate learners. the activities focus on intense practice involving pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. intensive listening has a format that usually consists of three steps: pre-listening, while-listening, and post-listening activities. also, students are expected to achieve some goals but not in a fun way because the teacher chooses the materials. the aural texts used in intensive listening focus on specific topics. they are usually only used in a very short period before the whole class moves on to the following topic of discussion. in order to be able to improve listening skills, there are many ways that efl learners can use; one of them is by conducting extensive listening. ivone and renandya (2019: 237) describe extensive listening as “a language teaching and learning approach that encourages language learners to be exposed to a large amount of easily comprehensible and enjoyable materials presented in the target language over an extended period.” another definition comes from renandya (2012: 2), who explains that extensive listening is “all types of listening activities that allow learners to receive a lot of comprehensible and enjoyable input.” in extensive listening, students do listening activities by themselves for pleasure and in a leisurely way. besides, they can do the activities outside the language classes without the influence of the teacher. on the other hand, not all listening activities outside of the class can be called extensive listening. extensive listening strives on overall understanding, therefore common listening activities like listening for specific information, listening for the precise words of a phrase or expression, and listening for details are not included. extensive listening materials there are plenty of extensive listening materials learners can use to improve their listening skills, especially in this era. everything is easy to access. these things called the internet and social media can be the best options for learners to access aural texts in their multimedia formats. one of the popular trends among generation z is listening to podcasts. learners can access podcasts easily from their phones by using many kinds of applications. listening to podcasts can be 25 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 23-37 very fun for learners because they can choose the topic they want to listen to. also, they can listen while doing another activity. the benefit of listening to podcasts for language learners is that they can replay the track as often as needed if they miss something from the conversation. in addition to listening to podcasts, listening to songs can also help learners improve their listening skills. when listening to music, language learners do not only express their feelings; they also have the chance to listen to words and expressions repeatedly. this activity can build language learners’ vocabulary. another popular extensive listening activity beneficial for listening skills and vocabulary development is watching movies. watching movies in the target language, learners have access to visual, aural text, and written text simultaneously. thus, it allows learners to learn language skills such as listening, reading, speaking, and writing (kusumaningrum, 2015). according to king (2002), movies are invaluable and rich resources for language learning because they present colloquial english in real-life contexts rather than artificial situations, a chance of being exposed to different native speaker voices, stress, accents, and dialects. vlogs have also become a notable trend nowadays. a person who creates vlogs is called a vlogger. vlogs are easily found on online platforms, such as youtube. vloggers have the freedom to make their own content about whatever they want, regardless of its controversial topic. the benefit of watching vlogs is almost the same as watching movies because learners will have the chance to listen to native speakers of the target language with different accents. unlike vlogs that use informal language, lecture videos can also be used as resources for improving listening skills, especially for academic purposes, because they contain academic and formal language. one widely used website that presents lecture videos is ted talks. according to takaesu (2014), ted lectures are used as resources in academic speaking and listening courses. ted talks allows the audience to choose from many kinds of topics, such as social issues, gender and sexuality, education, psychology, and many more. therefore, learners can choose a topic based on their interests to widen their knowledge and develop their listening skills. similarly, news can also be beneficial for foreign language learners. however, listening to the news is not an easy task. budyana, basuki, nurlaela, and nagari (2018) explain that learners must know the main points to capture news content. this is why listening to the news requires a variety of abilities. there are three abilities required to listen to news content, i.e., concentration, understanding content, and precipitator information. the ability to concentrate is used to prevent someone from easily missing the news that followed. the ability to understand the content is needed to capture and digest the content in the news. the ability to precipitate information must be possessed by someone to understand the meaning of the news. besides all the resources mentioned previously, language learners can explore many other resources, knowing they have easy access to all platforms on the internet. they only need to choose resources that will make them enjoy doing the extensive listening activities. 26 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-16 benefits of extensive listening largely, extensive listening benefits language learners because they do comprehensible and exciting listening activities. according to bozan (2015), learners perform extensive listening activities for pleasure or enjoyment. moreover, the activities are motivating because learners can choose the material to listen to by themselves. given a chance to choose texts they are interested in, learners can improve their listening skills and, at the same time, enjoy the learning process. furthermore, extensive listening encourages learners to listen to aural texts to fit their listening proficiency level. “in extensive listening, learners may choose any listening sources and materials that they find suitable for their english proficiency, are highly enjoyable for them, and not very difficult for them to understand” (vo, 2013: 30). thus, they do not need to stop and replay the texts to understand them because they are within their comprehension level. another benefit of extensive listening highlighted by ivone and renandya (2019) is that it develops listening fluency and automaticity in recognizing spoken text. learners can get acquainted with words used in various narrow topics. the frequent encounter with words used in narrow topics and repeated practice help them become more fluent listeners. as learners are more relaxed in extensive listening, their confidence in listening to texts in the target language also increases. in addition, benefits that learners get from extensive listening are obtaining vocabulary and knowing more about using stress, intonation, and pronunciation correctly. many researchers have studied the development of listening skills, especially in various extensive listening contexts. destatama (2018) reported a positive correlation between learners’ habits of watching english movies and their listening achievements. extensive listening plays a role in improving learners’ listening comprehension as having regular and frequent input of listening in english is considered a hobby. akbar (2018) conducted a study that investigated extensive listening, and listening strategies showed that almost all elt students agreed that extensive listening activities contribute to their listening proficiency development. extensive listening, though beneficial, is not free from challenges. according to zeng (2007), there are a total of ten listening problems experienced by students when practicing listening. those listening difficulties are speaking rate or speech rate, distraction, inability to recognize words they knew, new vocabulary, missing subsequent input, nervousness, sentence complexity, background, knowledge, anxiety, and frustration. the last one is unfamiliar pronunciation. in akbar’s (2018) study, some of the problems were encountered in students’ listening practice; they had problems with comprehending unknown words and new vocabulary, context unfamiliarity, fast spoken language, sentence complexity, and accent unfamiliarity. in an attempt to describe the experience and challenges elt students encounter in an extensive listening program, the current study looked into students’ preferences of multimedia resources used in extensive listening activities. thus, this study aims to identify the type of multimedia resources used by learners, the aspects they find easy or demanding from the resources, and why they choose them. furthermore, the current study focused on self-directed 27 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-16 listening for pleasure done by learners outside the scheduled classroom meetings and reported in their extensive listening journals. the study was conducted to answer the following research problems. 1. what types of multimedia resources are used by learners from advanced listening classes in their extensive listening activities? 2. what aspects of the multimedia resources do learners find easy to listen to? 3. what aspects of the multimedia resources do learners find difficult to listen to? 4. what are their reasons for choosing the multimedia resources for extensive listening activities? method the purpose of this study is to describe the types of multimedia resources used by students in their extensive listening activities, aspects they find easy and difficult from the listening material, and also why they choose them. hence, a descriptive study is the adopted design for this research. the study involved second-year students of the elt study program in a public university in malang. the students were enrolled in the advanced listening courses in the 2019/2020 academic year. there were four classes that conducted intensive and extensive listening programs during the semester. the total number of students in the four classes was 109. all of the students in these four classes participated in the research. they were invited to report on what they did during the weekly extensive listening sessions, which they which they completed outside of class. a weekly intensive listening journal was employed to collect the information from the students. the journal listed the types of audio/video resources the students listened to or watched, the aspects of the audio/video resources that they found easy and difficult, as well as the reasons they chose the audio or video resources. the journals were all written in the english language. there were four open-ended questions in all. the design of the extensive listening journal utilized in the study is shown in table 1. a google form was used to collect the students’ weekly journal. table 1. listening journal blueprint no. variable indicators 1. resources types of audio/audiovisual used in extensive listening (e.g., movies, news, podcasts, etc.) 2. undemanding aspects aspects that the learners think they are easy to understand in the audio/audiovisual selected. 3 demanding aspects aspects that the learners think they are difficult to understand in the audio/audiovisual selected. 4. consideration reasons of choosing multimedia sources data from the google form were downloaded into an excel spreadsheet. the students' responses to the open-ended questions were then categorized into types and aspects, and the frequency of occurrence was calculated. the frequency of occurrences of certain multimedia categories, as well as reasons for selecting multimedia resources for extensive listening, and factors that hinder and promote 28 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-16 comprehension, were then transformed into percentages. finally, each percentage derived from the data was analyzed, concluded, and applied to the four study topics. findings and discussion thomas (2000) and brown et al. (2010) stated that because the fundamental challenge in communication is the ability to listen well, it is important to identify students’ listening preferences. the study attempted to identify foreign language learners’ listening preferences and experience by examining the types of multimedia resources used by the second-year english department students in their extensive listening activities and aspects that make the aural texts easy or difficult to comprehend. types of multimedia resources the students in the study used audiovisual media a lot more often than audio media in their extensive listening activities. analysis of the listening journal showed that there are 167 instances (10.58%) in which the respondents reported to use audio resources and 1412 occurrences (89.42%) of the use of audiovisual as aural input in extensive listening activities. overall, there are 17 types of multimedia resources used by the students during the 16-week extensive listening program. the data analysis result shows that the students repeatedly used movies as multimedia resources with a total of 814 occurrences (51.55%) in one semester. on the other hand, interview video, song, and game walkthrough are the most rarely selected resources, with only one instance (0.06%) each. use of youtube videos, news, and podcasts are also frequently reported in the students in the listening journal. occasionally, the students watched cooking programs, vlogs, audiobooks, and radio programs for pleasure (reported 10-21 times over the semester). details of the multimedia resources used by the students can be seen in table 2. table 2. multimedia resources used by students over a semester (n=1579) no. resources types responses f % 1 commercial comedy programs 1 0.06 2 game walkthrough 1 0.06 3 interview videos 1 0.06 4 songs 1 0.06 5 documentaries 5 0.32 6 english lessons 6 0.38 7 cooking programs 10 0.63 8 vlogs 15 0.95 9 audiobooks 21 1.33 10 radio programs 21 1.33 11 live speeches 46 2.91 12 ted talks 52 3.29 29 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-16 13 tv programs 95 6.02 14 podcasts 125 7.92 15 news 148 9.37 16 any kind of youtube videos 217 13.74 17 movies 814 51.55 total 1579 100.00 from the findings, 17 types of extensive listening multimedia resources opted by students are revealed. movies and any kind of video content on youtube were more preferable to listening to or watching other types of resources. from the many movies reported in the students’ weekly journals, it can be concluded that the students enjoyed watching movies during their extensive listening sessions. this also meant that they preferred audiovisual over audio-only type of extensive listening resources. similarly, previous studies conducted by lindgren and muoz (2013) and peters (2018) showed that l2 learners enjoy watching tv and movies, and listening to music when learning language outside of the classroom. the finding highlights the issue of multimodality in foreign language listening. multimodality plays a vital role in learning english as a foreign language (winiharti & karjo, 2017). they stated that students need to be exposed to multimodal input to learn a language faster and more efficiently. also, students will find it easier to watch audiovisual than audio-only texts because when exposed to more than one modality, they can maximize their performance compared to when they are given access to a single modality. mayer's multimedia learning theory and paivio's dual coding theory both argue that displaying information in both verbal and picture formats might boost learning, implying that viewing may be preferable for language learning than reading or listening only activity (feng & webb, 2020). access to audio-only or text-only calls language learners to listen or read very carefully and concentrate fully on one single input. on the contrary, watching videos can make the aural input more comprehensible because they have access to other types of information such as pictures, move, gestures, and text. correspondingly, ivone and renandya (2019) suggest that when it is hard to find extensive listening materials that fit learners’ comprehension level, learners can use any aural text and conduct listening-while reading, watching-while-listening, and simultaneous watching, listening, and reading to make the texts more comprehensible. aspects students find easy from the listening material there are 14 aspects the students found easy from the listening resources they used in the extensive listening sessions. table 3 presents the summary of these aspects. the students had different aspects they found easy; some found it easy to understand the familiar content, while others had no idea which aspects of the resources they found easy and thus gave no answer to the question. nonetheless, two of the most frequently mentioned features the students found easy are everything about the aural texts and the content of the texts. on many occasions, the students found familiar words/easy vocabulary (185 instances) and multiple aspects (105 instances) of the aural texts easy to deal with. 30 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-16 they also often found the plot/storyline, explanation, accents, voice clarity, clear pronunciation, and slower speech rate made the aural input easy to listen to. however, only one to two percent of instances point to the main ideas, subtitles, and topics as aspects that made the aural texts easy to comprehend. aspects the students mentioned in their extensive listening journals as contributing to making aural texts easier to comprehend are all concerning text characteristics (i.e., familiarity of topic, content, vocabulary, expressions, and good text structure with clear plot and main ideas, and subtitles) and interlocutor characteristics (i.e., voice and pronunciation clarity, familiar accent, and speech rate). text relevance is a major issue to the students in the study. they consider topic and content familiarity important in making aural texts comprehensible. accordingly, aural text selection needs to consider topic familiarity because lack of background knowledge hinders comprehension (anderson & lynch, 1988) and it significantly affected listening comprehension at any level of proficiency (schmidt-rinehart, 1994). in addition to topic and content familiarity, clear plot, main ideas, and explanation also support aural comprehension. table 3. aspects students find easy (n=1487) no. aspects responses f % 1 familiar expressions 6 0.40 2 clear main ideas 16 1.08 3 availability of subtitle 22 1.48 4 familiar topics 26 1.75 5 speakers talking slowly/slower speech rate 60 4.03 6 clear pronunciation 67 4.51 7 clear voice 67 4.51 8 familiar accents 73 4.91 9 clear explanation 77 5.18 10 plot/storyline 87 5.85 11 multiple aspects (vocab, accent, etc.) 105 7.06 12 familiar words/ vocabulary items 185 12.44 13 familiar content 327 21.99 14 everything is easy to understand 369 24.82 total 1487 100.00 another text characteristic stressed in the findings is lexical familiarity. students found it easier to listening to and watch resources that contain familiar vocabulary and expressions. learners with limited vocabulary potentially misinterpret and misunderstand what they hear or see due to inability to recognize words or expressions used in the texts. this is in support of the study by izzah and keeya (2019) that revealed that the many listening challenges faced by indonesian efl learners include lack of lexical knowledge. in listening context, this is intensified because listening is fast, variable, with blurry word boundaries that need to be processed in real time (renandya & farrell, 2011). moreover, it 31 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-16 contains substantially more incomplete sentences and shorter idea units, includes various disfluencies and self-corrections as well as more colloquial expressions, involves face-to-face interactions, influences by stress, intonation, pitch, and volume, as well as accents and background noise (chang, 2012). in extensive listening, therefore, it is advised to use aural texts which are within the listeners’ proficiency and comprehension level (ivone & renandya, 2019), more preferably, those that contain 95% familiar vocabulary (waring, 2008). aspects students find difficult from the listening material table 4 details the aspects students found difficult when listening to their chosen aural texts. the data analysis results highlight that some of the challenging aspects the students found when listening to multimedia resources of their choice fit the aspects they found making resources easy to comprehend. for instance, common and uncommon words/vocabulary items and slower and faster speech rate and content/context and accent familiarity play substantial roles in making aural texts easy or difficult to comprehend. three of the most frequently mentioned reasons that make the aural input difficult to comprehend were uncommon words/vocabulary items, unfamiliar content, and fast speech rates. rarely did the students (1-3% instances) think that unclear voice, unfamiliar expressions, and unclear pronunciation hindered aural comprehension. some minor aspects (less than one percent occurrence) that contributed to making aural texts harder to comprehend were unclear plot, incomplete explanation, unclear main ideas, and unfamiliar topics. in many cases (21.29% instances), the students did not find any aspects that made aural comprehension challenging. students often find words or vocabulary items unfamiliar to them because they have never encountered them before. webb’s (2008) study revealed that when language learners read texts that contain rich contextual clues comprehend the texts better. his findings suggest that the quality of the context has a great impact on text comprehension. thus, language learners may want to use aural texts containing rich contextual clues. table 4. difficult aspects (n=1503) no. aspects responses f % 1 subtitle makes it harder 1 0.07 2 unfamiliar topics 3 0.20 3 unclear main ideas 4 0.27 4 everything is hard to understand 7 0.47 5 incomplete explanation 7 0.47 6 unclear plot/storyline 10 0.67 7 multiple aspects (vocab, accent, etc.) 21 1.40 8 unclear voice 34 2.26 9 unfamiliar expressions, idioms, etc. 34 2.26 10 unclear pronunciation 47 3.13 11 unfamiliar accent 108 7.19 32 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-16 12 speakers talking too fast/fast speech rate 202 13.44 13 didn’t find any difficulties 320 21.29 14 unfamiliar content 332 22.09 15 uncommon words/vocabulary items 373 24.82 total 1503 100.00 the findings reveal that accent familiarity, as well as voice and pronunciation clarity are interlocutor characteristics that influence listening comprehension. in addition, the importance of speech rate was also emphasized. the students reported that in some cases, the speakers’ accent was little bit unclear and too fast to be understood. this is inevitable because the students opted for authentic materials that vary in terms of level of difficulty. some students may find the speakers’ accents familiar but others may find them more challenging. major, fitzmaurice, bunta, and balasubramanian (2005) report that esl listeners scored lower on a listening comprehension test using ethnic and international dialects than on one using standard american english in a study that looked at the effects of regional, ethnic, and international dialects on listening comprehension. a number of studies have found that accent familiarity is one of the elements that affect auditory comprehension, and that new accents can impede or even prevent l2 listeners from understanding what they are hearing (major, et al., 2005). however, because language learners are likely to encounter a variety of native and non-native accents, the necessity to expose learners to a diversity of accents in the context of esl/efl education must be recognized (major, et al., 2005). besides, it is more beneficial to be able to comprehend a variety of accents than it is to be able to comprehend a single native accent (jenkins, 2006). quite a few students noted in their listening journals that faster speech rates made it difficult for them to grasp the listening content because the presenters spoke too swiftly. a normal speech rate is one at which listeners can typically understand a text without difficulty, whereas a threshold rate is one at which understanding begins to rapidly deteriorate (rubin, 1994). fujita (2017) stated that fast speech rate negatively affected learners’ listening comprehension. griffiths (1990) discovered evidence that speech rate faster than 200 w.p.m. is difficult to grasp for lower-intermediate learners. he discovered that at 127 w.p.m., this level of student performed best. higher proficiency learners will find faster speech less problematic. when interlocutors speak not within the normal rate, it is hard for language learners to comprehend aural texts especially when the input comes in the form of audio-only. thus, they need additional input to enhance aural comprehension. the input can be visual or textual. for instance, liou (2000) reports that effective listeners used l2 transcripts more frequently than ineffective listeners who used the replay function more often than transcripts. similarly, students in ivone’s (2017) study considered transcripts the most useful and frequently used help options when performing online listening on websites. additional visual input works similarly, so using audiovisual resources in listening is recommended because fast speech rate can be supplemented with additional visuals, such as animation, gesture, facial expression, etc. that benefit aural comprehension. 33 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-16 reasons students choose the listening material it is shown in table 5 that the students have various personal reasons for choosing specific multimedia resources in their extensive listening activities. there are six motive categories they mentioned as the reasons for choosing the multimedia resources for extensive listening activities, i.e., for enjoyment, random selection, friends/teachers’ recommendation, personal needs, curiosity, and based on their interests. the main reason for choosing a multimedia text is the students' personal interests (54.65% instances). for example, one student wrote that he chose the text because he watched the animated movies since he was a kid and he really liked it, other students stated that they chose it because the movie is their favorite, so they watch it over and over again, and some said that it was because the movies have characters they really liked. curiosity was the second most frequently mentioned reason for choosing a multimedia text for extensive listening (28.75%). the students said, for instance, that they heard about the texts they are interested in, but they did not know the entire content, so they decided to watch the movie. some of them also stated that they were interested in the thumbnails in youtube or the videos' trailer, and some simply wrote that "it seems interesting." personal needs and recommendation from friends/teachers were quite popular reasons given by the students. they were mentioned 100 and 95 times, respectively, in the extensive listening journals. some students chose the audio or video resources based on their personal needs; some choose the selected videos because they wanted to improve certain things in them such as improving confidence, developing critical thinking, cooking skills, etc. in 55 instances, random selection was mentioned as the reasons for choosing the extensive listening texts. twelve times in the journals, the students did not specifically state reasons. instead, they wrote for enjoyment. table 5. students’ reason (n=1579) no reasons responses f % 1 students do it just for enjoyment 12 0.76 2 students choose randomly 55 3.48 3 recommendation from friends/teachers 95 6.02 4 personal needs 100 6.33 5 curiosity of the students 454 28.75 6 based on students’ interest 863 54.65 total 1579 100.00 the last research question to answer in the study is students’ reasons for choosing a specific multimedia resources for extensive listening purposes. the findings revealed that most students choose the resources based on personal interest, curiosity, and suggestions given by others. all of these are valid grounds for choosing materials for extensive listening. students' motivation in learning is essential, and it also plays a part in the development of students' thinking abilities. they are more likely to pay attention, digest information more effectively, and 34 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-16 focus on deep structure rather than superficial elements when they are engaged in what they are listening to. a strong interest is one of the most powerful reasons for learning english, since without it, all tasks will be completed less successfully and efficiently. students will pay greater attention to something if they are interested in it, and they will enjoy doing it. in order to reach a goal, both learning and motivation are necessary. learners develop new information and abilities as a result of learning, and motivation encourages them to continue the learning process (wimolmas, 2013). listening texts should match learner objectives and interests, and entail self-selection and assessment in order to be relevant (rost, 2002). in terms of l2 listening, this means that learners should be given a say in the selection of listening materials. this is in fact, one of the main principles of extensive listening. another finding from the data indicates that some students chose the topic because it sparked their curiosity. curiosity for a topic will not be evoked, according to pluck (2011), if there are no knowledge gaps discovered or if the participant believes they already know the knowledge. furthermore, it is thought that curiosity develops greater the closer an individual feels to acquiring knowledge, and that when information gaps are filled, there is a pleasant sensation of fulfillment. furthermore, curiosity and memory are interconnected. learners recalled more of what they learnt when their interest is stimulated, showing that increasing students' interest might be a powerful incentive for learning. conclusion the research uncovers what language learners do during extensive listening sessions outside of the classroom by analyzing the sorts of resources they utilize and why they choose them. the study also confirms previous research and theories in listening comprehension, showing that text and interlocutor characteristics such as topic and lexical familiarity and familiar accents, and appropriate speech rate are all strongly linked to the more comprehensible aural text. there are a variety of reasons why students prefer audiovisual materials to their aural equivalents. however, it is encouraging that the students select from a wide range of listening materials based on their unique needs and preferences. students should have the option to pick what they wish to listen to and watch during their listening for pleasure sessions since they will only be motivated to listen more and more if they are interested in the texts. this will increase their willingness to take responsibility of their language acquisition in the long term. when selecting resources they are interested in, learners must also ensure that they are appropriate for their level of comprehension. as a result, students must use materials that are easy or very easy to comprehend. many of the comprehensive listening materials utilized by the students in this research, on the other hand, are not graded and were not created with language learners in mind. the majority of them are in the form of films. therefore, the students can adopt listening and viewing tactics that make auditory material more intelligible, such as doing listening-while-reading or watching-while-reading, to ensure that what they listen to or see is appropriate for their level of comprehension. 35 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-16 references akbar, d. d. 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63 english and tagalog vocabulary of preschoolers: a contrastive analysis bethany marie cabantac-lumabi1 and jeremie monter maleon2 1far eastern university, manila, philippines 2malayan colleges laguna, philippines blumabi@feu.edu.ph1 and jmmaleon@gmail.com2 correspondence: blumabi@feu.edu.ph https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4494 received 29 march 2022; accepted 29 april 2022 abstract in philippine schools, the standard use of english and tagalog is emphasized; code switching is discouraged. therefore, parents of children who are exposed to and are trying to learn either of these languages, their l2 mind distinguishes correct usage of its features to avoid confusion and acquisition difficulties. considerably, the english language acquisition in the philippines is both influenced by nationwide use of the language in the households and communities, and exposure to information technology; both are deemed necessary in english literacy and prestige. consequently, this case study contrasted the lexical and contextual features of l1 and l2 learned vocabulary words of pre-schoolers (male and female) to recognize their l2 acquisition difficulty and contextual cues as perceived by the parents of the subjects based on children’s personal, cognitive, and cultural attributes. through qualitative method using the contrastive analysis hypothesis established by lado (1957), this study supports the interlanguage of english and tagalog; children can acquire lexical and contextual l1 and l2 prior to their formal schooling. keywords: contrastive analysis, english and tagalog vocabularies, language acquisition of preschoolers introduction it was claimed that the philippines is ‘a nation of fifth graders’ because there are approximately 7 million filipinos who cannot count and 17 million with below par in reading comprehension based on a unesco report in 2013 (alicias, 2015). recently, a senate inquiry on the decline in english proficiency of filipino students asserts the need to assess present curricula in elementary and high school and encourage training and other learning approaches in reaction to the mtb-mle mother tongue-based multilingual education (mb business, 2021). apparently, there is a myth that learning two languages will confuse a child (johnson, 2021), which may affect his/her english proficiency eventually. for this reason, children should develop a strong foundation in their l1 (either english or mailto:blumabi@feu.edu.ph mailto:jmmaleon@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4494 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 63-81 64 filipino) and gradually be introduced to their l2 (either english or filipino) (alicias, 2015). studies reveal that the bilingual policy implementation would help develop the communicative competence of students both in english and filipino languages. to strengthen this, the recent implementation of the mother tongue based – multilingual education (mtb-mle) curriculum highlights the cognitive development of the student’s l1 to address linguistic discrimination and increase students’ achievement through english education ( dumanig, 2019). contextually, the technological development has a profound effect on language learning and acquisition. in a number of research delving into the effects of media to language acquisition, it has already been noted several times how improvements in multimedia and information technology have changed the children's learning. for example, a study on the effect of digital platform in english language acquisition is recognized significant (tridianti, 2017). in the philippines, the english language acquisition, aside from exposure to information through technology, is also affected by the widespread use of the language especially in parts of the society, where literacy and prestige are present and deemed necessary. these are the usual reasons why parents often feel the need to enrol their children in private schools, as well as teach their children english at an early age (reyes, 2018). apparently, the theory of second language acquisition by stephen krashen (1985) posits that language acquisition occurs through the understanding of messages through receiving “comprehensible input.” it highlights the importance of literacy skills like listening as the learner’s second language acquisition happens, when plain sentences are used and encountered in contexts. likewise, krashen further explained that the learner would eventually develop other language skills such as speaking and grammar rules usage provided that the correct type and enough input is provided. this was attested by psycholinguistics professors, that for a child to fully obtain a language, he/she only needs approximately 30 percent of his or her daytime exposed to a language (reyes, 2018). moreover, safitri and hakim (2018) claimed that children’s language acquisition of words or sentences is enhanced by sound. their claim is supported by several other studies that provide evidence suggesting that devoting literacy skills such as listening can yield significantly higher levels of oral language proficiency (saunders, 2013). furthermore, one of the hypotheses in krashen’s theory, i.e., the acquisitionlearning theory explains that ‘learning’ is less important than ‘acquisition’. l2 acquisition is the product of subconscious process that takes when a child is regularly involved in meaningful interaction or natural communication using the target language. in connection with cummins’ (1991) interdependence hypothesis, the contextual factors are as equally significant as the cognitive resources and individual factors in the l2 acquisition of children whether at home or in school. the amount of time and kind of exposure to the second language in context define the rapidity and success of their l2 acquisition. in other words, bilingual children carry their cognitive resources, particularly their l1 proficiency, to their l2 acquisition, which involves contextualized (i.e. conversational) and decontextualized (i.e. academic) language. for cummins (1991), the comparison of languages or crosslinguistic relationship through academic proficiency presents llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 63-81 65 the cognitive attributes of the learner’s li and l2 proficiencies, while the crosslingual relationship of interactional style involves his/her personality (p. 84). meanwhile, the decline in l2 proficiency involves specific age of the language learners upon acquisition. in lenneberg’s (1967) critical period hypothesis (cph), the age of an individual’s first exposure to a second language (l2) and his/her ability to attain native-like proficiency in l2 are associated. it was evidential in the subjects (chinese and korean native speakers) of johnson and newport (1989, cited in schouten, 2009), who were exposed to english between the ages of 3 and 7 and showed constant performance like native speakers. for this reason, pre-schoolers are observed for the contrastive analysis of the current study. undeniably, the acquisition of a language is evidentially a product of dynamic, recurring, and multifaceted learning. in the first six years of a child’s life, learning and changing in language acquisition is working to acquire than any other cognitive ability. the language being acquired is the language used for interaction with the child regardless where it is coming from (i.e. adults, playmates, media, etc.). children, who were surrounded by conversation in the normal households, will acquire the same language that was used around them. their regular interaction with speakers of more languages is their easy means to acquire two or more languages at the same time (linguistic society of america, 2021). currently, the nationwide language in the philippines is filipino which comprise of many tagalog words, but since english is also used as the second language in the country, filipinos mix these two languages. although it is easy for these languages to merge (taglish) in the speech of most filipinos, learned filipinos know that these languages differ in many ways. in schools, the standard use of these two languages is emphasized; code switching is discouraged. therefore, parents of children who are exposed to and are trying to learn either of these languages, their l2 mind distinguishes correct usage of its features to avoid confusion and acquisition difficulties. likewise, as an austronesian language, tagalog, is primarily used as first language in the philippines by roughly 27 million people (nationalencyklopedin, 2007). influences from other languages such as spanish, english, malay, indonesian, chinese, japanese, arabic, persian, and others, are evident in generally used loan words (baklanova, 2004). moreover, the language is a syllable-timed language and has a simple phonological system; languages like english, spanish, and indonesian have influenced its phonological and lexical features. the vowel inventory of tagalog is three vowels in native words and five vowels in spanish words. meanwhile, tagalog has either cv or cvc syllabic structure (potet, 1995). in addition, according to collins (2014), most tagalog words are bisyllabic followed by trisyllabic mostcommon words. unlike english, tagalog is more morphologically complex as it extensively uses particles, prefixes, infixes, suffixes, and circumfixes to determine parts of speech, aspect, and voice. this explains why tagalog has over 100 prefixes, a few infixes, and only two suffixes. for example, the inflection ka is attached to a verb to signal completion. there are also reduplication or repetition of parts of the root word to indicate a verb tense (ramos, 1971). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 63-81 66 as a second language, english it is utilized as a language of instruction in the philippines. looking into its morphology and lexicalsemantic aspects, most english words are monosyllabic such as eye, ear, mouth, nose, one, two, three, four, five, six, arm, bell, goat, car, dog, cat, hat, mom, dad, day, night, etc. derivations happen through wordformation processes such as affixation. lexical rules of english are also fluid because instead of strict laws, l2 learners would have to depend on memorization and contextualization to figure out possible systems and structures as the language lexicon has a lot of irregularities (moscow state linguistic university, n.d.). considerably, media (i.e., films and videos) provide l2 young learners with authentic and varied language used in reallife and relatable situations as they are recreated for scenes; the simulated scenes in films can lead to the emulation and the natural flow of speech that is being demonstrated (donaghy, 2014). in fact, they are often recommended resources to teach language as they provide symbolic models for language learning. according to most cognition theories, it is believed that humans acquire knowledge through rich physical and social interaction with their environment. the interaction in a context leaves traces of learning through different modalities, i.e., auditory, visual, haptic, etc., and it provides a way for information to be consolidated in the brain through the increasing and strengthening of neural networks which support learning (vulchanova, et al., 2017). moreover, the social interaction with the child’s environment involves the sociological factors perceived by the parents which are contributory element to the l2 acquisition of their child. it was recognized in the sociocultural theory, expounded as triangle of concepts (larsenfreeman, 2011), that the teacher, learner, language culture, and context interplay in the language learning and education. thus, sociological factors were considered in this case study. consequently, this study contrasted the lexical features of l1 and l2 learned vocabulary words of pre-schoolers. specifically, it presented qualitative evidence on the lexical and contextual features of the english and tagalog vocabulary words of the subjects in terms of form, meaning, and connotation. and it described the sociological factors that contribute to the recognized l2 acquisition difficulty and contextual cues as perceived by the parents of the subjects based on children’s personal, cognitive, and cultural attributes. method this study was qualitative designed to collect data from a single subject of male and female pre-schooler. in the conduct of this qualitative case study, oneon-one interview with the subjects’ parents using open-ended questions relative to their observation on their children’s l2 acquisition using their l1. it is known that a qualitative study is a research design intended to collect and analyse human experiences through in-depth interview and naturalistic observation (çetinavcı & topkaya, 2012). the proponents of this research are filipino english teachers in the higher education. they found interest to look into the vocabulary of pre-schoolers, specifically one filipino male and female ages 5 years old, who have been exposed to the english language at a very young age. the pre-schoolers’ l1 is english and their exposure to the language is assumed to be the cause of their llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 63-81 67 identified difficulty in acquiring filipino vocabulary and consideration in understanding, which in their case, is their l2. both children grew up exposed to englishspeaking and code-switching families and they have already acquired knowledge of the language to communicate in english than tagalog prior to formal schooling. the parents of the subjects attested to have witnessed their children’s difficulty in acquiring filipino vocabulary, which is their l2. moreover, the proponents also conducted a preliminary observation to name possible sociological factors that have affected the l2 acquisition. ethical considerations were employed since the parents of the pre-schoolers voluntarily participated in the case study. they were assured of the confidentiality of their and their children’s identity and the ca results would be used for reference only. as mentioned, the study used contrastive analysis on the pre-schoolers vocabularies in english and filipino. contrastive analysis (ca) looks into how a learner’s first language (l1) influences the acquisition of a second language (l2) in order to find the areas of development in the learning of the target second language. specifically, the contrastive analysis hypothesis (cah) by robert lado (1957) which contrasts two languages to predict the linguistic features that would be encountered as easy or difficult in second language learning. the analysis is simply done by comparing the first language (l1) of a learner with the target language (tl); specific linguistic features should be determined for a more focused analysis. anchored on cah, this study utilized the lado’s (1957) suggestion on comparing vocabularies which are the form, meaning distribution, and connotation with the vocabulary of the native language. qualitatively, the proponents analysed the vocabularies in two ways for male and female pre-schoolers to understand the specific descriptions of the data. for the female subject, cah was analysed to identify the l2 acquisition difficulty and for the male subject cah was analysed to identify the contextual influence of l1 in learning l2. both vocabulary words were then organized in tables for the analysis of their lexical and contextual features (i.e. form, meaning, and connotation) as suggested by lado (1957). qualitative analysis identified similarities and/or differences among the lexical and contextual features of the l1 and l2 vocabulary items. findings and discussion subject one (s1) vocabulary the first subject (s1) of the case study is a female preschooler who learned english before tagalog. her english vocabulary was already functional even before she learned tagalog in kinder school such as terms used to refer to colors. she uses english to address her family members and to express herself. figure 2 shows the recurring english words of s1 according to her parent (respondent). table 1. recurring english vocabulary words of s1 english words form meaning syllabifica -tion letter sequence pronunciation connotation 1 mommy bisyllabic cvccc /mɑmi/ (noun) a female parent; used to address mother llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 63-81 68 mother 2 daddy bisyllabic cvccc /dædi/ (noun) a male parent; father used to address father 3 why monosylla bic ccc /waɪ/ (conjunction ) the origin, reason, or intent; (noun) reason or cause; (interjection ) used to express disapproval, surprise, or irritation used to express disapproval, surprise, or irritation 4 what monosylla bic ccvc /wʌt/ (pronoun) often used to ask for repetition of an utterance; (adjective) used as a question to ask about something; (adverb) used to introduce prepositiona l phrases in parallel construction used to ask for repetition of an utterance 5 please monosylla bic ccvvc v /pliz/ (verb) to make someone happy or satisfied; (adverb) used to politely ask for something or to emphasize an appeal used to politely ask for something or to emphasize an appeal 6 okay bisyllabic vcvc /oʊˈkeɪ/ (noun) endorsement or approval; (adjective or adverb) all used to say "all right" llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 63-81 69 right; (verb) approved or authorized 7 no monosylla bic cv /noʊ/ (noun) an act or instance of refusing or denying; (adjective) in no respect or degree — used in comparisons used to refuse something disliked 8 yes monosylla bic cvc /jɛs/ (noun) affirmative reply; (adverb) used as a function word to express approval or understandi ng used to confirm or to agree on something 9 mine monosylla bic cvcv /maɪn/ (pronoun) that which belongs to me; (noun) a pit or excavation in the earth used to express ownership 10 you monosylla bic cvv /ju/ (pronoun) term used to pertain to persons or an individual person; used to refer to someone being addressed in a conversation used to refer to a person being addressed it can be deemed from the table 1 that majority, i.e., seven out of the ten recurring english words, are monosyllabic. these monosyllabic vocabulary words are functional words used to express thoughts and feelings. meanwhile, the bisyllabic words are those used to address or refer to the child’s parents. the recurring vocabulary words have varying vowel sounds that display the apparent reduction of vowel sounds in english such as in the words what and daddy; there are also words with vowels when spelled but are silent when llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 63-81 70 pronounced such as in the words mine, please, and you. the diverse sequence of letters also shows the inconsistency between english spelling and pronunciation. it can also be noted that each word at least has one vowel sound though the sound is represented by a consonant such as in the words mommy and daddy when spelled. table 2. recurring tagalog vocabulary words of s1 tagalog words form meaning connotation syllabification letter sequence pronunciation 1 lolo bisyllabic cvcv /lɔlɔ / (noun) family member; grandfather used to address grandmother or elderly woman 2 lola bisyllabic cvcv /lɔla/ (noun) family member; grandmother used to address grandfather or elderly man 3 kuya bisyllabic cvcv /kuja/ (noun) elder brother; polite expression for an older man used to address unknown, older man 4 "nani" bisyllabic cvcv /nɐnɪ/ (noun) godmother used to address her aunt 5 labas bisyllabic cvcvc /lɐbas/ (noun) outside used to refer to the outside of a house 6 hangin bisyllabic cvcvc /haŋin/ (noun) wind; air used to refer to wind blowing from fan, outside, or own mouth 7 ayaw bisyllabic vcvc / ɐjɐw/ (verb) to reject or refuse used to express dislike 8 ha? bisyllabic cv /ha/ (interjection) what is it? used when something is not understood 9 "dawala" (dalawa) trisyllabic cvcvcv /dɐwala/ (adjective) two used to express two 10 sino bisyllabic cvcv /sino/ (pronoun) who; word used in asking questions about persons used to ask who llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 63-81 71 meanwhile, table 2 illustrates the lexical features of the recurring tagalog vocabulary words of s1. from the table, it can be seen that all the words are bisyllabic. four out of the ten words are used to refer to or to address relatives or people while six are used to express the child’s feelings and common ideas related to her environment. the letter sequence reveals the prominent consonantvowel pattern of tagalog. moreover, the pronunciation of the words shows the approximate equal prominence of each syllable in every word as well as the shortage of reduced vowels in tagalog. the recurring english and tagalog vocabulary words of s1 suggest apparent differences between english and tagalog in terms of lexical feature that is form. the behaviouristic approach to l2 acquisition assume that l2 acquisition is affected by habits learned in the l1. the learned habits interfere with the l2 acquisition. this implies that the learned form of english words by s1 is what is causing the interference in learning tagalog words. this is apparent, for example, in the confused pronunciation of the only trisyllabic tagalog word in table 2, dalawa. s1 reverses the consonants /l/ and /w/, pronouncing the word as dawala. unlike english, tagalog is a syllable-timed language and has a simple phonological system; languages like english, spanish, and indonesian have influenced its phonological and lexical features. the vowel inventory of tagalog is three vowels in native words and five vowels in spanish words. meanwhile, tagalog has either cv or cvc syllabic structure (potet, 1995). in addition, according to collins (2014), most tagalog words are bisyllabic followed by trisyllabic mostcommon words. as for english, looking into its morphology and lexicalsemantic aspects, most english words are monosyllabic such as eye, ear, mouth, nose, one, two, three, four, five, six, arm, bell, goat, car, dog, cat, hat, mom, dad, day, night, etc. derivations happen through wordformation processes such as affixation. lexical rules of english are also fluid because instead of strict laws, l2 learners would have to depend on memorization and contextualization to figure out possible systems and structures as the language lexicon has a lot of irregularities (moscow state linguistic university, n.d.). the hierarchy of difficulty by stockwell, bowen, and martin claims that when the features of the contrasted languages are similar, positive transfer occurs; while in cases of different features, negative transfer shows, causing difficulty of acquisition. and in cases of no relation between features, zero transfer takes place. for the case of bilingual s1, the identified l2 acquisition difficulty demonstrates negative transfer, and this is caused by the differing features of the l1 (english) and l2 (tagalog) in terms of form. subject two (s2) vocabulary the second set of vocabularies is from a male preschooler whose l1 is english with minimal l2 (filipino) vocabularies. the l1 vocabularies were identified and grouped into true and false cognates to understand how l1 proficiency is brought in l2 acquisition. according to dangan (2006), true cognates words are described to be similar in form, pronunciation and meaning. while false cognates words have similar form and pronunciation, but llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 63-81 72 with completely different meaning. linguistically, cognates are words with the same derivation as another or from the same original word or root. table 3 presents the true cognates vocabularies of the male subject. the english vocabularies are arranged alphabetically and contrastively analyzed with their similar filipino counterparts in reference to google translate and english dictionary. table 3. true cognates vocabularies of a male subject english tagalog dictionary meaning biscuit biscuit a small round bread with baking powder, baking soda, or sometimes yeast bus bus a large, motored vehicle usually as public transport carrying many passengers on a fixed route driver driver a person who drives a vehicle ipod ipod a lightweight electronic gadget for playing and storing digital files. laptop laptop a portable computer that can be used while traveling papaya papaya an elongated tropical fruit with edible orange flesh (ripe) or green (unripe) and small black seeds pizza pizza a flat round or square dough baked with tomato sauce, cheese, meat, etc. as toppings which originated in italy sticker sticker an adhesive label or notice, generally printed or illustrated tilapia tilapia a freshwater fish living in many areas usually grown in ponds for food tricycle tricycle a vehicle similar to a bicycle, but with three wheels: two at the back and one at the front. it is evident in table 3, that the male subject’s specific vocabularies in l1 technically share the same form and meaning in l2. the ca vocabularies were acquired by the male pre-schooler through his professional parents who hardly speak filipino with the male subject even in challenging situations (i.e., scolding, advising, and instructing) on a daily basis. this finding supports the claim of magno (2009) that parents greatly influence the teaching of the child in speaking english. undeniably, the early years of the child spent with the parents plays a crucial role in the english language acquisition of the child. a child ages 1.5 years old can naturally form a language as he/she communicates with the parents in different ways (p. 138). furthermore, the male subject’s masculinity and preferences are evident on vocabularies relative to vehicle (e.g., bus, driver, and tricycle), food (e.g. papaya, pizza, and tilapia), and playing items (e.g. sticker, laptop, and ipod). and it is very noticeable that the specific vocabularies were all nouns. based on the similar finding of lucas and bernardo (2008), the noun bias in english was associated with the noun prevalence in the caregivers/parents’ utterances and its initial position in the caregivers/parents’ utterances. moreover, different associations between salient positions in the adult utterances and children's vocabularies in english and tagalog were highlighted. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 63-81 73 table 4. false cognates vocabularies of a male subject english filipino pronunciation dictionary meaning connotation blocks /blaks/ a hard solid material with flat surfaces on each side, commonly rock, stone, or wood a sensory construction toy made of colourful rectangular plastics brief /brip/ of short duration male’s underwear cowboy /koboy/ a man, typically riding horse who kettle group of mammals (i.e. sheep, goats, etc.) as a livelihood in the western us and as represented in novels and the west not picky or choosy in any matter such as place, food, fashion, etc. doubledeck /dobol-dek/ something, especially a bus, that has two floors or levels a reference to a bunk bed gummy /gami/ viscous; sticky a small, sweet, fruitflavoured candy made from gelatine and shaped like a bear. jeep /dyip/ a small four-wheel drive vehicle used by the military a public transport for smaller number of passengers which represents a part of philippine culture space /speys/ an vacant or unoccupied area or lot available for use the outer space, also called as “kalawakan”, where the solar system is found traffic /trapik/ vehicles moving on a road or public highway slow or immovable line of vehicles on a road on the other hand, table 4 alphabetically presents the false cognates vocabularies of the male pre-schooler where l1 (english) has influenced l2 (filipino) because they share similar form and pronunciation, but the male subject uses the vocabularies in completely different meaning because of their connotations. as observed and validated by parents, the male subject uses the following l1 vocabularies in the connotative context of l2 as associated by his environment. this substantiates the significant findings of dita (2009) that the explanation of the subject in the vocabulary measure revolved around the functions of the word over general appearance. in relation to interdependence hypothesis (cummins, 1991), the false cognates of the male subject were based on contextual meaning dependent on the immediate communicative context (i.e., interaction with the languages in the environment). it is interpreted that male subject’s proficiency in l1 (english) is carried in learning and acquiring l2 based on the connotation or contextual cues. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 63-81 74 according to the male subject’s parents, most of the english vocabularies (i.e., blocks, cowboy, double deck, gummy, jeep, traffic, and space) are usually uttered by playmates in the neighborhood and people in the household; and/or present in the children shows he watches on television and videos on youtube. therefore, this validates that english language acquisition is formed through socialization process which is a combined involvement of the child, the members of the household (specifically the parents), multimedia (i.e. television, internet, etc.) others (i.e. peers), environmental cues, and seeking assistance (magno, 2009). sociologically, children nowadays today grow up surrounded with media that provide them instant gratification. instead of waiting for something that requires time and patience, such as communicating with parents or adults, media accessibility is often instant, and options are immediately available through a few clicks. through the tracked codes, apps and websites like youtube can instantly provide recommendations for viewing. this means that they reflect the interest of the viewer using their app (lafrance, 2020). conclusion the observations and contrastive analysis on the case of the pre-schoolers present significant evidence and interpretations of the lexical and contextual features of their l1 and l2 vocabularies. first, the observed l2 acquisition difficulty of female s1 is explained through the analysis of her recurring english and tagalog vocabulary words. results suggest the apparent differences between the english and tagalog in terms of form. thus, it is recommended that future researchers look into how l1 morpho-lexical specifically phonemic awareness among pre-schoolers relate to their l2 acquisition in order to determine specific factors that contribute to either ease or challenge their l2 acquisition. second, the observed l1 proficiency of male s2 is clearly utilized in acquiring l2 vocabularies in context. the male pre-schooler’s early exposure to l1 gives him a better position to identify sound variety of english and tagalog in philippine context. the tagalog connotation of the male s2’s l1 vocabularies carries the culture and uniqueness of philippine english. hence, the interplay of the code choice and current sociolinguistic environment with the existence of the parents, peers, media, and others is the unique language acquisition context strategic for strengthening the english proficiency and tagalog variety. indeed, this study supports the interlanguage of english and tagalog; children can acquire l1 and l2 prior to their formal schooling. in fact, the result and discussion of this study provide remarkable areas to examine other aspects of language acquisition of a larger sample size of pre-schoolers in the presence of their guardians and caretakers, aside from 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(2017). editorial: language development in the digital age. frontiers in human neuroscience, 11, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00447 https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/a420198219/gps?u=phmcl&sid=bookmark-gps&xid=763f2d5b https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/a420198219/gps?u=phmcl&sid=bookmark-gps&xid=763f2d5b https://coconuts.co/manila/features/mind-gap-philippines-language-isnt-words-class/ https://coconuts.co/manila/features/mind-gap-philippines-language-isnt-words-class/ https://doi.org/10.21009/ijlecr.031.06 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 337 incorporating inclusive assessment principles and universal design for learning in assessing multicultural classroom: an autoethnography sisilia kusumaningsih the university of montana, the united states correspondence: sisilia.kusumaningsih@umontana.edu doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.3656 received 3 september 2021; accepted 20 october 2021 abstract teaching a multicultural classroom has always been challenging for educators. with the rush toward global standardization, there is a concern that uniformity in education will sacrifice students’ freedom in expressing their skills and knowledge. this problem can be seen in the way students are being assessed. the rapid growth of standardized tests and the demand to meet yearly progress thresholds are tangible examples of how assessments may limit the way students demonstrate their learning attainment. this article aims at presenting several alternatives teachers could take to implement universal design for learning (udl) and inclusive assessment principles in assessing multicultural classrooms. this analytic autoethnography study yielded three themes: providing options of assessment forms, providing accommodation in conducting assessments, and using the strength-based language in assessment feedback. keywords: universal design for learning, inclusive assessment, multicultural classrooms introduction the emergence of globalization in the last two decades has shifted the way societies perceive the dissemination of knowledge. instead of celebrating the uniqueness of each student’s culture and integrating it into education, the current education system attempts to create uniformity or homogeneity. educators strive to meet the global standardization that serves as a benchmark for quality education throughout the world. there has been a rampant spread of standardized tests to assess students’ competencies in a particular subject. consequently, “schools serving multicultural students are often compelled to narrow the curriculum even further to boost test scores” (volante, 2008). the widespread use of such tests provokes a continuing debate among educators and raises the ultimate question of how to boost students’ scores without sacrificing multiculturalism in classrooms. it is fundamental for teachers to revisit the ultimate goal of multicultural education when determining how to assess learning. multicultural education should encompass creating equity for students from diverse cultures (nieto, 2012). teachers may set one common goal llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 338 in each class instruction but may not limit the ways students achieve the goal. multicultural education opposes the idea of a ‘one-size-fits-all’ system. multicultural education needs inclusive assessment practices, which rely on both quantitative (e.g., test scores) and qualitative data (teacher’s notes on student progress, feedback from teammates when students do group work) (cuseo, 2015). “student achievement, whether defined as fixed scores or progress over time, is a way to estimate educational effectiveness” (baker, 2013, p. 88). student assessment gives a wide perspective of how effective the learning process is for both the students and the instructors. through assessments, instructors are able to monitor students’ growth and evaluate their teaching approaches. “inclusive assessment and feedback processes are essential if the diversity of our students is to be recognized, value, and supported” (morris et al., 2019, p.445). however, providing assessments that yield qualitative data in multicultural classrooms has become more challenging when the yearly progress thresholds are indicated by students’ standardized test scores. it is undeniable that learning success frequently is measured by quantitative data only, assuming that students with higher scores have a better mastery of learning materials. this paper discusses several alternatives of assessments and feedback processes for diverse classrooms, especially in language teaching contexts. tangible practices in providing assessment based on universal design for learning (udl) and inclusive assessment principles are discussed. what is universal design for learning? universal design for learning (udl) emerged from the architectural concept of universal design initiated by ronald mace in 1998. universal design was initially intended to address individuals with disabilities and focused on designing accessible spaces to meet the americans with disabilities act (ada) requirements. in the current learning context, udl advocates inclusive learning and encourages teachers to provide different learning modalities for all students. one illustration to help us understand how udl works is probably by imagining the function of a ramp. a ramp is designed to ease all people with or without disabilities to access or navigate through areas of different heights. a man in a wheelchair, a pregnant woman, a muscular guy carrying heavy stuff, and a child who loves running can all enjoy the benefit of a ramp. in other words, just like a ramp, udl is intended to ease all individuals in achieving their learning goals. it is designed to facilitate all learners, despite their ability, disability, age, gender, cultural, and linguistic background (cast, 2018). in addition, cast (2018) details the fundamental principles of udl, which include multiple means of engagement, multiple means of representation, and multiple means of action and expression. in line with the characteristics of performance-based assessments, udl intends to provide students with numerous options in gaining knowledge and demonstrating their knowledge attainment. one example of udl implementation in assessment is providing students with readaloud tools when engaging students in computer-assisted testing (cat) to minimize the barriers for students with vision impairment and reading disabilities. another example of the implementation of universal design for learning is providing students with two or more options of assessment formats. in assessing english language learners' (ells) ability to understand the plot of a literary llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 339 work, for example, a teacher might assign students to submit a written book report for those who love writing or a podcast for those who prefer to speak. other students might choose to draw and record their voices when they explain their drawings. “this flexibility provides relevance and contextualizes the information, which are both hallmarks of supporting culturally diverse students” (orosco & klingner, in rao &torres, 2017). what are the principles of inclusive assessment? welch (2000) interestingly explains the concept of inclusive assessment by stating: “it would be unfair to keep glasses from those who need them and equally unfair to make everyone wear glasses; it is my job, as a teacher, to make sure everyone gets the help they need and that help will be different for each student” (p. 38). this notion is similar to the key principle of udl. both udl and inclusive education respect the students’ strengths and different needs. inclusive assessment encourages the use of “different evaluation methods to assess student achievement.” (cuseo, 2015, p. 2). implementing inclusive assessment principles is deemed practical to improve both validity and equity of evaluation because it provides balanced numerical and non-numerical data. the use of numerous evaluation methods in inclusive assessment enhances the validity of assessments in a way that the limitation of one test type is more likely to be compensated by another evaluation system (cuseo, 2015). similarly, inclusive assessment improves equity because it allows students to demonstrate their ability through different assessment formats to accommodate their various skills and learning styles. students who have an anxiety disorder, for example, might feel higher pressure when they have to work on a set of norm-referenced tests within a particular time limit. consequently, they might not perform well. kaur (2006) mentioned that one of her respondents stated: “i don’t like the discomfort and anxiety i have to face in the class during exam and evaluation time” when responding to the interview about norm-referenced test implementation. those students might enjoy the benefit of having a take-home assignment and thus, perform much better. educational policies committee and the affirmative action/cultural diversity committee (1995) propose that a multicultural education considers three factors that affect students’ learning style: socialization process, sociocultural tightness, and ecological adaptation. an culturally inclusive assessment thus, should consider how characteristics of the society, the condition of the environment where students live, and the learning styles are bonded. for example, students who live within a community with a strong social bond and highly valued collectivism will enjoy the activities and be assessed in groups. conversely, students from the community with less tight social bonds prefer to have an individual assessment. hence, providing numerous forms of individual and group assessment in a multicultural classroom is fundamental to accommodate the students’ characteristics. why do we need more than just norm-referenced tests in multicultural classrooms? banks (2013) believes that multicultural education is “education for freedom” (p. 9). education must be perceived as an effort to enrich every individual. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 340 however, studies showed that the widespread use of standardized tests at schools pushes teachers to implement test-based curriculum enactment that limits the flexibility of the instruction and assessment (murral, 2002; darling-hammond & wise, 1989). “many teachers feel that they have to sacrifice student creativity and interests by teaching test-taking strategies within a test-oriented curriculum” (bush, 2005, p. 334). in brief, taking a shortcut by teaching and learning to prepare for the tests means taking the freedom out of learning. allman et al. (2004) argued that the purpose of standardized tests, which are norm-referenced, is to compare “the students’ performance on the test to the performance of other similar students who have taken the same test (the norm group)” (p. 3). the data obtained from a norm-referenced test is intended to inform how a particular student performs in comparison to the norm group or other similar test-takers rather than to inform a student's learning. while normreferenced tests could be a valuable tool to “diagnose students’ weaknesses in academic performance, they are not useful in determining a student's overall academic capacity in student learning, critical thinking, and higher-order reasoning skills." (bush, 2005, p.332). more specifically, norm-referenced tests are designed to satisfy the discrimination index, meaning half of the total test takers should answer the questions correctly, while the other half answer the questions incorrectly. as stated by salkind (2017), the group that responded to the question correctly is in the upper half that took the test, which eventually results in a discrimination index of 1.00, and the norm group scores “will fall perfectly into a bell curve” (p.105). therefore, it is worthy to note that norm-referenced assessment might include questions that are not part of the materials. the congruence of learning materials and questions is not the primary consideration in this type of test. it creates more barriers for students because when there is a discrepancy between assessment and the materials delivered in the instruction, students’ success in learning is unlikely (segers et al., 2001) on the other hand, it is undeniable that teachers “may put their professional reputation and status at risk because of punitive sanctions they can experience if the test scores of their students do not increase between testing cycles” (banks, 2013, p.9). for example, in the united states, schools are required to meet the adequate yearly progress (ayp) criteria. in the united states, public schools that do not meet the ayp benchmark, “as reflected in mandated improvements in test scores, are labeled as failing and are eventually taken over by the state” (volante, 2008, p.12.). this issue created a dilemma between meeting the benchmark criteria and focusing on different ways students learn. despite the dilemma, allman et al. (2006) remind teachers to distinguish between coaching and cheating in preparing students to succeed in assessments. a teacher who attempts to coach the students will focus on teaching the content and skills covered in the tests. they will provide different types of assessments to prepare students for success and ensure that they have qualitative and quantitative data to determine students’ progress. on the other hand, cheating focuses on the test-based curriculum enactment by implementing a drilling method and asking students to do the tests simulation repeatedly. while it is true that the success in standardized tests is arguably because of the familiarity with the test format over time (linn, 2000; popham, 2001), test-based teaching sacrifices the culturally responsive llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 341 practice. despite their different cultural/linguistic backgrounds and learning strengths and weaknesses, students must do the same assessment format. why do we need performance-based assessments? coelho (2012), in his study about language and learning in multicultural classrooms, found that performance-based assessments create more inclusive education. this assessment is open-ended, and thereby, provides more opportunities for students to incorporate their prior knowledge and skills in various ways. more specifically, performance-based assessment demands students to be able to justify their answers. therefore, it requires a high-quality product or performance where correctness is not the only criterion measured (center for innovative teaching and learning, 2019). as stated by ambrosetti and cho (2005), performance-based assessments “place the responsibility of learning on the students and provide the opportunity for them to engage in activities that embrace their various learning styles and multiple intelligences” (p. 59). tanner (2001) believed that performance-based assessment helps teachers to be more aware of the interconnectivity between students backgrounds and what happen in the classroom, so that “some of the disadvantages that culture and language minority students must shoulder” can be neutralized (p. 28). in providing performance-based tasks, teachers need to be culturally aware and guide the students to “compare, relate, or apply what they know to new information and experiences” (goodwin, 2000, p.7). hence, the performance-based assessments will be more accommodative than traditional assessments that require students from diverse backgrounds to work on the same tests. gielen et al. (2003) proposed two important reasons for implementing performance-based assessment: construct validity and consequential validity. construct validity refers to the degree an assessment measures what it is supposed to measure, while consequential validity describes the effects of assessment on instruction and student learning. both construct validity and consequential validity are measured under specific criteria. construct validity is demonstrated in the appropriateness of a task to reflect the competencies that need to be assessed, the content of the task that represents a real-life problem of the knowledge domain assessed, and the resemblance of thinking process in real-life problem solving ( gulikers et al., 2004). based on those principles, it is believed that performancebased assessments have higher construct validity for measuring competencies than norm-referenced assessments. the second reason for implementing performance-based assessment is its consequential validity, which can be seen through the alignment of instruction, learning, and assessment (gulikers et al., 2004). if students are to evaluate a descriptive paragraph, for example, a performance-based assessment will most likely ask students to read an authentic brochure from a zoo that describes the animals living there. they will then be asked to demonstrate their understanding by creating a mind map that summarizes the information in the paragraphs before writing their own descriptive paragraph. this example shows how performancebased assessment is more open-ended and more aligned with the input. rather than asking students to answer multiple-choice questions about a descriptive paragraph and what features need to be in the paragraph, performance-based assessment requires students to engage in paragraph writing. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 342 allman et al. (2004) assert that “performance-based assessment requires students to produce a product or demonstrate a process, solve a problem involving several steps, or carry out an activity that demonstrates proficiency with a complex skill” (p. 38). this type of test offers an open-ended model and forms that allow students to work both individually and in groups. the assessment may vary, from a personal essay, an in-pair presentation, a group discussion to a community project. furthermore, allman et al. (2004) recommend selecting performance-based tasks that correspond to the real environment outside the classrooms. in brief, there are two main principles in creating and conducting a performance-based assessment that must be considered, which include the authenticity of the task and the variety of the assessment forms. method this inquiry is in the form of an analytic autoethnography study. autoethnography can be defined as an approach that “describes and systematically analyzes (graphy)” the researcher’s “personal experience (auto) to understand cultural experience (ethno)” (ellis et al., 2011, p. 273). in other words, this approach puts a researcher at the center of an inquiry. as a research method, autoethnography combines the tenets of autobiography and ethnography (ellis et al., 2011) due to its nature that is centered on the self, autoethnography oftentimes is considered as “uncontrolled, subjective and anecdotal” (clark & gruba, 2010, p. 166). despite the criticism, etherington (as cited in clark & gruba, 2010) believes that this approach value and “legitimate the inclusion of the researchers’ self and culture as an ethical and politically sound approach” (p. 166). to make the analysis more objective and specific, other scholars introduced analytic autoethnography, wherein researchers present theories and former research findings to support the reflection (anderson, in canagarajah, 2012). based on that notion, this study does not only present the practices in implementing udl and inclusive assessment principles but also links those tangible practices to the former studies. findings and discussion reflecting upon my experiences as both a student and a teaching assistant at one of the universities in the rocky mountain area, three themes emerged in the analysis: providing options of assessment forms, providing accommodation in conducting assessments, and using strength-based language in assessment feedback. providing options of assessment forms the first theme to emerge in the study was providing options, which is mainly based on the udl key learning principle. by giving options, teachers gave students opportunities to submit their assignments/ tasks for feedback in multiple representations. echoing the third principle of udl, the practice of providing choices in assessment requires multiple media of communication and different types of technology. one example that stood out the most in my reflection is the option to turn in the assignment in numerous forms (e.g., storybook designed through story jumper, podcast/ted talk, poster, etc.). reflecting on my experiences llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 343 of using story jumper, i believe this app is an excellent tool to teach literary works in the target language. students will have an opportunity to integrate images, texts, and sound in one storybook. allowing students to work with such kind of application is beneficial because it provides both multi modalities and scaffolding for students. students with language impairment, for example, might enjoy the benefit of the different options of illustration to help them express the ideas in written forms. more specifically, cowan and cress (in ezeh, 2021) posit that “considering the importance of giving the second language (l2) learners diverse opportunities to create and represent meaning that support multimodality are critical for 21st century linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms” (p. 1). additionally, the bookmaking application, such as story jumper, provides students different modes to present their works and bridges language skills and digital literacy (ezeh, 2021). in addition to incorporating technologies, it is suggested that teachers include cultural content into the assessment criteria. for example, the story that is presented must demonstrate social justice or inclusivism. teachers might also require that the literary works written must cover some arguments or thoughts from minority groups. this type of assessment allows students to explore multicultural issues. as explained by nieto (2012), one of the levels of multicultural education is promoting respect by exposing students to “different ways of approaching the same reality” so that “they would expand their way of looking at the world.” (p. 394). by providing options for students to present their works, a teacher has demonstrated how a goal can be approached in numerous ways and how an issue can be addressed from different point of views. another example of performance-based assessment at the [name of the university] that incorporates the udl principles is the use of comprehension constructors and double-entry journals in reading assessment. instead of asking students to work on multiple-choice questions, this reading assessment allows students to express their understanding of the texts in charts. in their summary, students write ‘so what?’, which will then guide them to conclude in what way the content of the reading is beneficial for them. as mentioned by tovani (2004), "designing comprehension constructors is a constant process of matching content, readers, and goals" (p.78). this constructor serves as a practical formative assessment that facilitates readers in connecting the different ideas in the text (e.g., how one idea in a text will support other main ideas). unlike normreferenced test that is more rigid and requires one correct answer, this type of assessment allows teachers to see students’ various perspectives in interpreting texts. oftentimes, different cultural and linguistic backgrounds affect the readers’ interpretation of texts. the comprehension of a text will depend on readers’ “individual perspectives and background -because meaning and structure of a text are not inherent in the print but are invited by the author and imputed to the text by the reader” (liu, 2014, p.1089). similar to a comprehension constructor, a double-entry journal requires students to compare and contrast the ideas discussed in texts in two different columns. this assessment will be suitable for assessing students’ ability to understand argumentative essays or to compare and contrast two different types of texts. double entry journal emphasizes the importance of creating connections between text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-the-world (tovani, 2004). in line llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 344 with the principle of performance-based assessment, particularly the authenticity principle, double entry journal demands students to link the text to the issues in a real-life context. when analyzing a text about dakota pipeline issue, for example, students were asked to outline the points that justify both native americans’ perspective and the government stands. students should collect additional information from other articles and list the reasons to justify the people’s decision to refuse the pipeline construction. they were then required to list the reasons to justify government’s decision in building the pipeline access. at the end of the evaluation, students could think-pair-and share their ideas and brainstorm the possible solution to mediate the issue. both comprehension constructor and double-entry journal manifest the udl principle to support executive function (e.g., helping students set goals, self-regulate, and develop strategies) (rao & torres, 2017). the strength of providing more options and more performance-based assessment is that it will give students more autonomy in learning. students enjoy the benefits of having the freedom to express their understanding. however, this type of assessment is more prone to teachers’ subjectivity. unlike multiple-choice questions, which ease teachers in determining the correct or incorrect answer, performance-based assessments do not explicitly show what is right or wrong. it reflects the depth of students’ understanding of a particular lesson unit and shows how each student interprets the knowledge they attain. therefore, it is imperative to prepare rubrics that inform teachers about the detailed criteria and aspects being assessed. being clear on what is expected from each assessment will be the key to the success of the performance-based assessment. provide accommodation in conducting assessment the second theme that emerged in the study was to provide accommodation in conducting assessments. while performance-based assessments provide more information on students’ attainment than norm-referenced tests, we understand that the implementation of b oth tests is not an either-or situation. both tests serve different purposes, and teachers need to assess students with different types of tests. when implementing both types of assessments, especially the normreferenced one, teachers could provide accommodation to support students from diverse cultures and linguistic backgrounds. providing accommodation means making adjustments to how students are taught and how they will be assessed. allman et al. (2004) define accommodations as the adaptation made “to the way students are instructed and how they are tested.” accommodation and modification are frequently used interchangeably. however, these two terms serve different meanings. unlike modification that changes what students learn and what is being assessed, accommodation expects students that need support (e.g., students with disabilities, ell learners in english speaking countries) to master the same learning content and achieve the same objectives as other students. sometimes teachers hesitate to provide accommodation because of the assumption that providing accommodation means underestimating students’ competence. it is important to note that by providing accommodation, we still set the bar high for all students, but we need to adjust the way we help them achieve the goal. some forms of accommodations implemented at [name of the university] and at my workplace are giving additional time for students to accomplish the task, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 345 including paraprofessional/peer partner/tutor to assist them in finishing the assignments, and simplifying test instruction. for example, students who have dyslexia in my classroom would be given extra time to work on their reading tests. they also had an opportunity to work one-on-one with a tutor when they work on their assignment. the accommodations provided in my classroom were in the form of direct and indirect linguistics accommodation. direct linguistic support refers to adjusting the language complexity of the assessment, which can be rarely implemented when the construct being tested is the language proficiency itself rivera and collum (2004). a tangible practice of direct linguistic accommodation for ells is a linguistic simplification, which encourages concise and straightforward language/word choices in test items/test directions without altering the construct being assessed (rivera & collum, 2004). providing the help from tutor/paraprofessional is another example of direct linguistic supports. meanwhile, indirect linguistic support refers to the adjustment of the environment wherein the assessment is conducted. giving additional time belong to the indirect linguistic support. the strength of accommodation is that the assessment will be designed and adjusted to the students’ needs and conditions. parents, students, and paraprofessionals must be involved when teachers are to design the appropriate accommodation. one of the challenges in providing accommodation is the time constrain. arranging a plan and determining the time that will work for all parties are not easy tasks. another challenge might come from the students’ families. jenkins (1969) argues that parents have different past school experiences, relationships with the children, and values and goals. those aspects may affect their attitude towards schools and their perspectives on the importance of schoolfamily relationships. some families might prefer not to be involved in the meetings to design the accommodation for the students the use of strength-based language in assessment feedback another theme yielded from the reflection is the implementation of strengthbased language in self-assessment and peer feedback. udl encourages teachers to provide options for feedback. alternating between self-assessment, peer feedback and teacher feedback will be one of the manifestations of this principle. to make sure that the feedbacks given are respectful and inclusive, it is necessary to use the strength-based language. one example of using strength-based language in providing feedback is by implementing tootling in my classes. the basic principle of tootling is focusing on the positive aspects of every action or behavior and expressing the concerns towards the negative ones in a sympathetic manner. many scholars conducted studies on the implementation of tootling in inclusive classrooms and proved that tootling impacted students’ disruptive behavior decline. cihak et al. (2009) describe tootling as “a term that was constructed from the word ‘tattling’ and the expression ‘tooting your own horn.” as opposed to tattling, tootling encourages students to observe their peers’ actions and prosocial behaviors and express concerns in a sympathetic way. adapting tootling to assess students’ knowledge attainment might be one alternative to engage students in giving constructive feedback to their peers. to implement tootling, i provided one llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 346 box for each student to place all tootles received from their classmates and teachers. assessment and tootles might be given at the end of every unit of the lesson. i asked students to either summarize the main point of the unit's content or write an essay to demonstrate their understanding of the topic discussed in the unit. students then have to express their opinion on the materials' content and connect the important points from the lesson with their daily life contexts. for example, students were asked to describe a public figure that inspired their lives upon learning a lesson about describing people.' in addition to write a description, they have to provide criticism on the materials. for example, a student may write: “while mentioning someone’s religion in a descriptive text is a common thing in indonesia, it is considered as unnecessary or probably impolite in another culture.” upon writing a description and criticism, every student must read one or two works of their peers and write tootles in given cards. each tootle must elaborate the strength of each writing and some constructive comments on the aspects that need improvements. we need to help our students create a counter-question whenever they make a judgmental comment without considering the culture and perspective of others. instead of writing, “it is unnecessary to mention the character’s religion in the descriptive text,” students are expected to write, “i noticed that you discuss the character’s religion in your description in an interesting way. in my culture, religion is considered as something personal and we rarely discussed it. thus, i have some questions regarding the……..” by doing so, students learn not only from textbooks or the teacher but also from their peers. students will also have an opportunity to share the knowledge of the language aspects and deepen their understandings of their own culture by seeing it from the perspective of others. one challenge that teachers might face is to ensure that all students provide appropriate feedback and criticism towards their peers’ works. since one student might receive two or more tootles from their classmates, there is a probability that one classmates’ suggestions or feedbacks contradict the other classmates’ comments. to overcome this problem, teachers could provide feedback that summarizes all tootles given to every student to help students conclude the information they received from their peers. furthermore, it is essential to discuss the points that need some improvements in tootling. even though providing feedback and summarizing tootles might be time-consuming, it will help teachers learn from students and understand them better. conclusion assessing a multicultural classroom is a complex process because teachers must ensure that the tasks mirror students’ uniqueness. implementing udl principles and using an inclusive assessment lens could be helpful for teachers when assessing multicultural classrooms. overall, this autoethnography yielded three key themes that teachers should consider in providing udl-based and inclusive assessments. those three themes include providing options of assessment forms, providing accommodations in conducting assessments, and using strength-based language in assessment feedback. these three themes lead to a conclusion that teachers could advocate the inclusive assessment practice by llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 347 reducing the barriers for culturally and linguistically diverse students and adjusting the environment wherein students undergo the assessment. references allman, c., beech, m. & thomas, j. 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(2008). equity in multicultural student assessment. the journal of educational thoughts, 42(1), 11-26. retrieved on on january 9, 2021, from http://www.jstor.com/stable/23765469 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 250-262 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 250 teaching strategy in enriching the efl students’ vocabulary through literature andi farid baharuddin1, sahril nur2, adi isma3 sawerigading university of makassar, indonesia1 state university of makassar, indonesia2 sulawesi barat university, indonesia3 andifaridbaharuddin@gmail.com, sahrilfbsunm@unm.ac.id, adi.isma@unsulbar.ac.id correspondence: andifaridbaharuddin@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4105 received 3 january 2022; accepted 13 may 2022 abstract vocabulary acquisition is one of the important elements that can support the students’ language proficiency. it helps students to follow and enjoy the teaching content delivered by their teachers. the educator of the efl context, particularly at lower secondary school, attempts to design the teaching material which is oriented to enrich the students’ vocabulary acquisition. the research discovers that various ways can be used to build students’ vocabulary. one of them is literature. therefore, this research aims to investigate can english literary works be integrated with the teaching strategies to develop the efl students’ vocabulary. to observe it, the researchers use library research to find and analyze some sources (e.g. articles, proceedings, books) as the collected data, which discuss enriching english vocabulary through literature. the result shows that two things must be considered if teachers would like to incorporate literary works in their content. 1) types of literary works used by teachers to enhance their learners’ vocabulary, 2) teacher’s teaching strategy to make the efl learners memorize the unrecognize words. keywords: efl students, english literature, english vocabulary, teacher’s teaching strategy introduction vocabulary plays a crucial role in expressing ideas. besides, vocabulary can be expressed through both written and oral language. having various vocabulary can be a guide for students to read and understand the textual sources e.g. books, articles, essays, etc. it can also help people to obtain information written on the news media. vocabulary acquisition also helps people to maintain a good interaction that affects their social network. therefore al-dersi (2013) states that mailto:andifaridbaharuddin@gmail.com mailto:sahrilfbsunm@unm.ac.id mailto:adi.isma@unsulbar.ac.id mailto:andifaridbaharuddin@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4105 https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4105 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 250-262 251 the more vocabulary people have, the better they communicate with their interlocutor. besides, utilizing vocabulary in communication depends on the social situation (baharuddin et al., 2021). it is because language is inseparable from the speakers’ social or academic background. for instance, people who present their research material at a particular conference or a scholarly seminar will express thousands of academic vocabulary rather than utter everyday words. on the other hand, when they socialize with their friends at the restaurant, café, or gym place, they prefer using general vocabulary rather than the academic lexicons which are usually used informal communication. the linguist indicates that in language studies, this phenomenon is called sociolinguistics (lomotey & csajbok-twerefou, 2021). furthermore, bagiyan et al. (2021) state that the use of vocabulary in communication represents the speaker’s social class level. they argue that in a real interaction, the language receivers might rate or at least guess the senders’ social identity, whether they are from the upper social class or the opposite class, through their vocabulary use. this means there is a significant difference between those who are in the upper social class and bottom class in applying vocabulary for their communication (hardini & sitohang, 2019). moreover, the use of vocabulary also can relate to the political interest of politicians in persuading their voters (thomas & wareing, 1999). this case can frequently be seen through the speech of a politician or presidential candidate to win the presidential election which is broadcast on the national tv program. this situation pushes all candidates to enrich numerous vocabulary which are powerful, persuasive, and agitative to campaign their program in front of the public. these all explanations above inform the readers how important vocabulary are in expressing thought and speech especially for those who study for academic purposes. in english language teaching (elt) field, transferring english content should consider the learners’ vocabulary acquisition (nation & mecalister, 2010). it indicates that teachers should apply need analysis (na) approach to discover their students’ strengths or lacks such as the learners’ grammatical understanding or learners’ vocabulary acquisition. if teachers perceive that students are lack vocabulary, then teachers should focus on enriching their students’ vocabulary while at the same time delivering their teaching content (lestari & isma, 2019). ensuring students’ have sufficient vocabulary is important, because how can they receive the teaching content/information if they just have minimum words. besides, it might hamper students to vocalize their notions whether in or out of class. that is why, cahyono & widiati (2015) argue that vocabulary, in the ell field, is the crucial ingredient for receiving the english curriculum. improving students’ english vocabulary either for the l1 or l2 students, certainly, have a different method with the english as foreign language (efl) students (august et al., 2005). the latest type of english student should be taught with a unique teaching approach when desire to enrich their learners’ words. one of the recommended ways to build the efl students' vocabulary is by applying either an intensive reading or an extensive reading of the literary works (gibson, 2016). however, in providing the appropriate literary works as the reading llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 250-262 252 passage, the teacher should be more selective in giving types of literary works that are suitable to their learners’ level. therefore, from this case, the researchers focus on elaborating some points which are objectified as the research problems as follow; 1. what types of literary works are effectively used by the teacher to enhance the english students’ vocabulary? 2. what are the teachers’ teaching strategies to make the english learners memorize the unrecognized words? literature review teaching strategy in improving students vocabulary andi & arafah (2017) states that the pedagogical model depends on the teachers’ ability in delivering the teaching content. many teaching instruments can be applied for improving students’ vocabulary. the teaching model can be seen as follow; a. baharuddin et al. (2021) perceive that a good instrument that is recommended to use for vocabulary enhancement is english songs. by using song teachers might train students’ ability in recognizing new vocabulary written in the lyric based on their learners’ favorite song. b. hashemifardnia et al. (2018) claim that to enrich students’ vocabulary, teachers might use picture books. c. sari & aminatun (2021) explain that movies could be another effective instrument in building vocabulary for foreign language learners. from the three above instruments, it can be perceived that there are both advantages and disadvantages things gained by english learners if teachers apply them. for instance, by using the song as a pedagogical instrument, students are not only obtaining vocabulary but also training their listening and pronunciation skills. furthermore, constructing teaching content for enriching vocabulary through the picture book is also good advice, because it can train students’ memory to memorize the vocabulary of objects shown through books. the last, applying movie scene basically can represent both previous instruments, because while acquiring lots of words produced by the movie character, students also train their listening sharpness. these are the benefits that students can gain if teachers apply these instruments in their pedagogical content. nevertheless, using these three instruments also have some lacks which the researchers perceive as a critic of these three teaching tools. for instance, using the song for vocabulary enhancement, cannot train the learners’ grammatical ability. because, in the song lyric there are many grammatical mistakes, idioms, and slang that can hamper the young learners to understand the context of vocabulary use (squires, 2019). therefore, enriching students’ vocabulary through english songs is not effective for academic purposes. thereafter, integrating the picture-book expected to increase students’ vocabulary is renowned for the elementary school context or especially for the efl primary students’ level. yet, it is ineffectual for the efl intermediate students’ level. finally, incorporating movies in designing pedagogical content for vocabulary development is surely favorable when there is a targeted language subtitle of the conversational sentence. however, if the teacher continually utilizes llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 250-262 253 this instrument on their pedagogical content, then students will always be dependent on using subtitles for gaining unfamiliar vocabulary instead of guessing the meaning from its context. therefore, the researchers, in this point, argue that one of the effective instruments for enriching vocabulary either for young learners or intermediate learners is applying literature. through literature, students can gain numerous and varied vocabulary that can support their academic purpose (arafah & kaharuddin, 2019). because, in literary work, provides some linguistics variable e.g. morphology (lexicon and vocabulary), syntax (grammatical form), semantic (meaning of words), and pragmatics (meaning in socio-cultural context). the explanation of literature is comprehensively elaborated in the below point. defining literature and literary work the definition of literature is varied. it can be perceived through some literary experts’ explanations. baharuddin & arafah (2021) define that literature as an imaginative writing art that seeks to portray the author’s social and political circumstances. sturges (2010), on the other hand, states that literature is an art that contains comedy purposed to entertain people. it means that literature is an enjoyable instrument that can amuse people. furthermore, feinberg & willer (2019) enhance that literature also describes the moral value that can be educative media for the literary readers. this statement amplifies that in literary content, there is a social message and ethics that can be shown through the characters’ conversations. for instance, the conversation between the older character who often time express a wise term or beautiful words to the youngest character who obey and respect the older character. this certainly indicates the social ethic when interacting with the respected or older person in real life. literature also can be a good approach to increase the readers’ critical thinking (bobkina & stefanova, 2016). in gaining information written in the literary text, readers might sometimes correlate the characters’ social circumstances in the literature to the readers’ real situation. readers might wonder some critical questions by stating “is the story true? does this story relate to my situation? what should i do if i were the character in this story?”. therefore, reading literature consciously or unconsciously will automatically trigger the readers’ curiosity. moreover, in foreign language teaching, many teachers utilize literature to develop the foreign language students’ vocabulary. it is because, literature consists of numerous types of vocabulary from everyday words to academic words (ferey & brown, 2004). this means literature could also be described as language teaching media. from all of these literary experts’ explanations, it can be concluded that literature can provide various insights such as increasing critical thinking, knowing social ethics through the story, and enriching new vocabulary. types of literary work the type of literary works consists of three works i.e. prose, poetry, and drama (pradopo, 2011). prose regards the literary story which does not need to consider rhyme. the story represents the author’s thoughts which describe social phenomena, experience, ideology, etc. prose should consist of some intrinsic llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 250-262 254 elements such as character, plot, setting, and theme. the prose could be exemplified as fiction, novel, short story, autobiography, and others. furthermore, poetry also refers to the art of writing style which is concerned with rhyme and tone (simecek & rumbold, 2016). poetry has a similar idea with prose which is also concerned about the author’s thought authority. it can be a medium for vocalizing ideology, social phenomena, and even critics. however, this type of literary work does not need some intrinsic elements as prose. poetry strictly uses beautiful words, that seek to represent the author’s feeling, instead of paying attention to grammatical forms. this is what a literary expert called “poetic license” (veling, 2019). the last type of literary works is drama which also relates to performing art (dewi, 2017). the drama concerns social reality that depicts human life e.g. conflict, emotion, relationship, etc. nevertheless, the story is demonstrated on stage where people can watch it directly. this is the distinction between drama and other types of literary work. method research design the design of this paper is library research. in conducting this library research, the researchers apply qualitative research methodology to gather information or related sources as a research data procedure. besides, the qualitative methodology used in this research also helps the researchers to investigate how literary works are applicable and objectified as a pedagogical strategy for enriching the efl students’ vocabulary. instrument furthermore, in collecting data, the researchers firstly separate two types of data i.e. primary data & supporting data. the primary data represent the idea of using literary works as a teaching instrument in enriching the efl students’ vocabulary. it can be gained from scholarly journals e.g. articles, proceedings, and previous research which have a relevant topic with this research. another type of data i.e. the supporting data refers to some additional sources e.g. books, articles, and literary texts which support the argument of this research in answering the research problems. data analysis after gaining both primary and supporting data, the researchers seek to analyze them with several variables. those variables analyzed for the result of this research are linguistic aspects, social or moral value, and entertaining aspects. by elaborating on these three variables, the researchers expect that it can be presenting the advantageous things for integrating literature for pedagogical content. so that the learners are not only obtaining a variety of vocabulary for supporting their academic purpose but also gaining other benefits beyond the vocabulary enrichment. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 250-262 255 findings and discussion as has been discussed before, many scholars have demonstrated some pedagogical instruments for building the efl students’ vocabulary. those instruments have strength and lack. therefore, this research proffers another teaching instrument that effectively can develop more vocabularycabu that might be applied for the students’ academic purpose namely literary works. to elaborate more detail about it, these research results are separated into two substantial parts i.e. 1) what types of literary works are effectively used by the teacher to enhance the efl students’ vocabulary? 2) what are the teachers’ teaching strategies to make the english learners memorize the unrecognized words? types of literary works effectively used by teacher to enhance the efl students’ vocabulary fundamentally, all types of literary works can be used for vocabulary enhancement (mart, 2018). it is because literary works provide thousands of words whether it is general vocabulary or academic vocabulary. for instance, teachers might apply poetry for enhancing their learners’ english words. this case is reasserted by özen & mohammadzadeh (2012) that poetry is the most powerful instrument for building efl students’ vocabulary. özen & mohammadzadeh state as follow; “ …, it is verified that the learners enhance more extensive vocabulary knowledge by means of poetry-based vocabulary teaching activities” (özen & mohammadzadeh, 2012, p. 70). the above statement clarifies that by using poetry in the teacher’s teaching content, students can gain more vocabulary which is useful both for teaching and learning activities. besides, özen & mohammadzadeh argue that one of the reasons why poetry is still recommended to be used for the efl teaching content is due to the simplicity of the sentence which allows the efl students to recognize and become familiar with the words. in poetry, most written texts are shorter than prose, so students do not have to spend much time reading words (simecek & rumbold, 2016). moreover, deepa & ilankumaran (2018) presume that through poetry students can gain beautiful and romantic words which is a good social capital for practicing their communicative competence to their special relationship. in other words, it can be proper for maintaining their communication with their lovers, friends, etc. nonetheless, there is an unfortunate thing if poetry is used for the students' vocabulary enhancement i.e. the existence of poetic license terms. this term means poetry writing is an authority of authors whether they want to write their poetry using the syntactical form or not. therefore, at some point, applying poetry is sometimes ineffective especially if the teaching content tries to combine vocabulary enhancement and grammatical form (ariyani, 2019). despite that, snowber (2005) surely believes that using poetry as a pedagogical instrument in a foreign language context can help students to sharpen their listening skills. because, when a student expresses their favorite poetry in front of their classmate, then their classmate can listen attentively to every word vocalized by the student. besides, if this teaching instrument is linked to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 250-262 256 phonetics, as a part of linguistic aspects, the student also can materialize the pronunciation of words when expressing the poetry due to its rhyme and rhythm that also relate to the english accent (khaleghi et al., 2020). by vocalizing the words loudly, the teacher can notice whether students spell or misspell the words. both points mean a teacher can assess their learners' ability both for the listening skill and words pronunciation. furthermore, in transferring the english content, especially for enhancing students’ vocabulary, drama is also presumed as a crucial instrument (ilyas, 2016). in the language skill teaching context, drama provides both productive and receptive skills that can be possessed by the efl students. it is because drama regards the performing art which shows language practicing on the stage. educators, who incorporate drama in their teaching content, can invite their students to involve in the drama showcase. so that can be practicing students' productive skills (particularly for speaking skills) and receptive skills (listening skills). moreover, by applying drama as a teaching method, students will have varied benefits such as being good at acting as a drama character (creativity), able to increase critical thinking, understanding the value, etc. these things can be seen as follow; “…, its effectiveness in english language teaching and its relation with improving language skills (reading, listening, writing, speaking) and language component (vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, etc). besides this, studies on drama in efl could be connected to the teaching of democracy, critical thinking, and creativity,…” (ilyas, 2016, p. 205). the above statement shows that applying drama for the language skill context is complex. it is applicable to train the language skill both productively and receptively. however, if drama is used to enhance students’ vocabulary, then it is slightly difficult, especially for the efl young students. therefore, the last type of literary works (prose) is a great approach for developing the efl students’ vocabulary. prose, especially novel or short story, is a literary text which contained a story (based on the author’s psychological perception, imagination, and social circumstance) and it is written with varied vocabulary and language grammatical form (setyowati & sukmawan, 2018). arafah & kaharuddin (2019) furthermore state that one of the logical reasons why studying english using prose fiction is enjoyable is because it provides some intrinsic elements such as character, plot, theme, and setting (nevertheless, this research just focuses on elaborating character, plot, and theme). for example, through character, the efl students who are also objectified as literary readers can learn some discourses from the main character (protagonist) or the opposite character (antagonist). besides, from the character, learners gain that the goodness that exists in the protagonist character's inner will always defeat the evil character. so that students will be enthusiastic to continue their literary reading. furthermore, through literary plot students can follow every scene or occurrence inside of the prose (novel or short story). according to tevdovska (2016), psychologically this situation motivates students to finish the story due to its interesting plot of the literary prose. in other words, if students are motivated and also curious to see what happens from the conflict situation to the climax llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 250-262 257 scene, students/readers will continually fasten their reading. tevdoska objectifies that this situation is one of the benefits that students can gain from learning english through literary prose. the third element of literary prose intrinsic is the theme which is importantly discussed in the elt. theme simply refers to a central topic, the main idea of works, and the message. the theme does not only come from the author’s authority. the theme also can be interpreted and developed by readers (kurtz & schober, 2001). it means through critical thinking, readers can determine the theme of their reading. in regards to the ell, students can independently choose what kind of literary prose or story they want to read. this means, if students are interested to read about the romantical issue in literary prose, then they can have the story which talks about that e.g. novels of madame bovary written by flaubert gustave (originally published in 1856), it ends with us written by colleen hoover (2016), forgiving paris written by karen kingsbury (2021), etc. on the other hand, if they are interested to have political and social discourse in the story, then they can read the novel animal farm & 1984 which both written by george orwell (1945 & 1949), a novel of hard time written by charles dickens (1854), etc. by providing both of these themes to the english learners, teachers can train their students to be independent in doing their extensive and intensive reading. from the intrinsic elements of literary prose explanation above, it can be reiterated that integrating prose in elt provides many outputs for students such as enthusiasm, motivation, and interest-based on the literary themes. these three things are factors that encourage students to read. the consequence of reading literary work a lot will make them acquire numerous vocabulary and grammatical understanding. therefore, it can hypothesize that to enhance the efl students’ vocabulary, teachers might utilize prose as a type of literary work in their teaching content. however, this does not mean that other types of literary works cannot be used in increasing students’ words. teacher’s teaching strategies to make the efl learners memorize the unrecognized words in the language teaching process, the teacher plays an important role in planning, delivering, and assessing the teaching material. djigic & stojiljkovic (2011) utter that these three things should be unified as a teaching management strategy. however, at this point, the researcher just focuses on elaborating two strategies i.e. planning and delivering the teaching material. planning the teaching material for the vocabulary enhancement in planning the material, the teacher should analyze the students’ needs in terms of lacks, necessities, and goals (nation & mecalister, 2010). by analyzing the students’ needs, the teacher can design the teaching content based on their learners’ skill level or their type of needs. besides, conducting the na approach will inform the teacher about students’ personalities. djigic & stojiljkovic (2011) argue that knowing students’ personalities is important to build good communication emotionally between teachers and students. besides, concerning teaching planning, cerit (2011) states that planning/preparing material is the notable teaching strategies to deliver the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 250-262 258 teaching content. he furthermore states that in planning the teaching content, the teacher can do preservice-class to investigate every obstacle that has been hampering students to follow the subject e.g. lacks learning facilities, lacks of language competence, or lacks learning motivation. to conduct the teaching planning, the teacher might do several important strategies i.e. observing (using questionnaires) and interviewing. observing (using a questionnaire) is a good way to seek numbers of percentages of learners’ learning satisfaction. the numbers of percentages will inform teachers who like or do not like the previous teaching method. if the teacher perceives that most students do not like the previous teaching method, then it will be the appropriate way to transform the teaching style. furthermore, the second strategy is also required to design or plan the teaching material. this strategy aims at inviting students to express their thought, idea, or suggestion in planning material through interviews. widodo (2017) perceives that this strategy is a chance for both teachers and students to negotiate the teaching model. widodo also argues that this strategy is opposite to the classic teaching model where the teacher is the only one who plans and designs the teaching curriculum. in negotiating the teaching content, both teachers and students deserve the right to voice their educative agendas where they can plan the topics of the subject, conduct the learning process, and evaluate it. widodo furthermore states that by conducting this model, especially in planning the teaching material, students are motivated to follow the lesson because the content is based on their interests. for example, in terms of vocabulary enhancement, teachers and students can negotiate what kind of literary work that can be used for a class activity. learners can give a variety of suggestions and teachers can decide those students’ suggestions. the researchers perceive that if this mothed is integrated with the teaching plan, students are easier to memorize the words because they can follow the content gradually. delivering the teaching material for memorizing vocabulary as has been mentioned in the previous point that in transferring the teaching content, both teacher and students should negotiate in designing the lesson. in terms of vocabulary enhancement, if both teacher and students agree in selecting a particular story of literary work (drama), then the teacher can encourage students to practice the act of character in the story, scene of the story, reading the characters’ conversation in the story, and even message of the story. afterward, teachers can make a drama showcase to make them apply and memorize all the new words that they acquire. miccoli (2003) states that this activity above is a good strategy that can help students to memorize all the new words. he furthermore gives an additional perspective that drama is an applicable art that is not only increasing and helping students to memorize the vocabulary but also can train their confidence when expressing the words in front of the public. in addition, to help students to memorize their english vocabulary, the teacher can also ask students to apply extensive reading. jacobs & renandya (2015) state that in doing extensive reading, students are asked to pay attention (concentration) and focus on the literary text that they are reading. extensive reading leads students to read a lot. students can select the reading topic based on llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 250-262 259 their interests. for example, students can choose what genre of the novel they would like to read. it could be a romantical topic, social prose topic, religious topic, etc. the researcher enhances that to make students memorize the new vocabulary, the teacher should integrate the technological devices (e.g. computer, laptop, or mobile phone) and internet access in their teaching content (ratika et al., 2021). as has been known that the rapid development of technology and the internet help both teacher and students to conduct e-learning especially during the covid-19 pandemic. anas (2019) states that teacher plays a crucial role in encouraging students to have technological knowledge (tk). through tk, students can operate both technology and the internet to find out some sources related to their lesson. students also can become independent learners in improving their vocabulary. for example, through their smartphone, they can access some english learning strategy videos on youtube or any channel. besides, through their mobile phone, they can also download english literature applications on the playstore that can provide many literary works in terms of prose, poetry, and drama script). conclusion vocabulary acquisition is one of the important elements that can support the students’ language proficiency. having numerous english words can help students to follow each of the lesson sessions in every meeting. in the elt field especially at the secondary school level, the efl teachers have been trying to design the teaching curriculum and their content which is oriented to enrich students’ vocabulary. some teachers apply song or picture-book in their teaching content. however, the above result shows that employing literature/ literary works (prose, poetry, and drama) in the teacher’s teaching material is positively effective to improve students’ vocabulary. moreover, the use of literature in teacher’s material not only enhances students’ vocabulary but also students know the context of expressing the words. besides, they also can gain other benefits, out vocabulary enrichment, such as reading comprehension skills, the message of the story, and cultural understanding. references al-dersi, z. e. m. 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(2017). constructing and negotiating agency and identity of english language learners: teacher-learner driven esp materials development in the indonesian secondary school context. electronic journal of foreign language teaching, 14(2), 233–249. https://doi.org/10.1080/1358684x.2016.1230300 https://doi.org/10.1080/13611260500107424 https://doi.org/10.1017/s0047404518001112 https://doi.org/10.1108/00220411011023661 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.10.041 https://doi.org/10.1515/ijpt-2018-0029 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 484-496 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 484 senior high school teachers’ challenges and coping strategies in teaching literature in online environment erina andriani sanata dharma university, indonesia correspondence: andrianierina@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.3598 received 16 august 2021; accepted 3 october 2022 abstract the teaching-learning process in indonesia was mostly done online due to the covid-19 pandemic. this sudden shift caused challenges for efl teachers. aside from providing linguistic lessons, efl teachers also struggled in providing literature lessons, as it had distinct ways of teaching from linguistics. however, only a few studies researched the teachers’ challenges in teaching literature online and the ways they solved them. therefore, this study aims to explore the teachers’ challenges in teaching literature in an online environment and their strategies to deal with them. this study used a narrative inquiry method and the data were gathered with a semi-structured interview from senior high school teachers. the results showed that the teachers faced challenges with their technology uses, including internet, websites, applications, and gadgets; students, including their internet, understanding, and participation; and subject delivery, including material adjustments, students’ interests, and accessible activities. teachers’ strategies were: having asynchronous classes, posting materials ahead, utilizing whatsapp, helping students’ technology experience, assisting their online learning, providing accessible learning activities, using familiar literary works, and giving less demanding activities. this study can help the teachers to identify their challenges in teaching literature in an online environment and find the solutions. keywords: challenges, coping strategies, online learning, teaching literature introduction the curriculum for english classes from elementary schools to high schools in indonesia does not only intend to improve students’ linguistic but also literary knowledge. both approaches are interrelated in improving students’ language proficiencies. the literary approach promotes skills that benefit students’ linguistic skills (hassan, 2018). conversely, the linguistic approach is essential in understanding literary works and getting the literary discussion going (gabriel, 2020). however, schools in indonesia still lack literary approach emphasis compared to the linguistic approach. though the attempts of including literary texts have been done, the emphasis is not on the literature content or literary https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.3598 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 484-496 485 discussion, but as a media for language activities that focus on linguistic approach (hassan, 2018). efl teaching, both linguistics and literature, is even more difficult now that students learn in an online environment. due to the pandemic covid-19, learning activities in indonesia are done online. this was a new challenge for students and teachers, as this situation happened suddenly and schools were not prepared since remote classes were rarely integrated in schools (atmojo & nugroho, 2020). both teachers and students are limited in their interactions, technology uses, and online learning experiences (bao, 2020; efriana, 2021). that results in teachers emphasizing efficient and effective learning that target important language skills, such as reading, speaking, writing, and listening. literary teaching lags behind due to the unequal emphasis on the testing system, which becomes the teachers’ problem and concern (gabriel, 2020; joshi, vinay & bhaskar, 2020). teaching literature in senior high school online and its challenges teaching literature in efl classes can promote the students’ language use and let them learn english in context. in literature, the students can discuss the intrinsic and extrinsic values of a piece of literature (manzolillo, 2016). depending on how teachers arrange the activities, literary teaching may encourage students to practice their language skills, such as reading, writing, speaking, listening, vocabulary, and grammar to decipher the intrinsic values of the passage and communicate their findings (hassan, 2018). in integrating the external values, the students can also learn in historical, social, biographical, or cultural social, biographical, or cultural contexts in finding the meaning of the chunks or overall passage (manzolillo, 2016; hassan, 2018). in the process, the development of critical thinking, analytic skill, cultural awareness, and communication are among the benefits of learning literature for efl students. though teaching literature also aims to improve students’ language proficiency, like teaching linguistics, teachers find it more challenging. in teaching literature, students may find difficulties if they lack language skills (hassan, 2018; işıklı & tarakçıoğlu, 2017; hussein & al-emami, 2016). in addition, the lack of sources, students’ lack of reading interest, and cultural barriers hinder the students’ learning (hassan, 2018; mohammed, 2017). to assist the students’ literary learning, teachers need to apply different approaches than teaching linguistics, which may be challenging as they lack training (mohammed, 2017). teachers need to carefully select approaches in teaching literature and provide suitable materials and activities. though recently, teachers face even more challenges in teaching literature due to the sudden change to online learning. since 2020, most schools in indonesia have converted the learning into online learning, which elicited teaching challenges in various aspects. the pandemic covid-19 affected various factors, including education (rahardjo & pertiwi, 2020). the teachers face new challenges as they are not prepared for online learning due to the sudden change (atmojo & nugroho, 2020). in teaching efl in an online environment, the challenges revolve around the teacher, including student, subject, and technology (atmojo & nugroho, 2020; işıklı & tarakçıoğlu, 2017; gabriel, 2020). teachers need to consider their own technology skills, subject delivery, and accessibility for their students in online literary teaching. in technology uses, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 484-496 486 teachers may lack the practice and experience in providing classes in online learning (ahmad, 2016). those are the crucial step for teachers in online learning (raja & nagasubramani, 2018; efriana, 2021; lestiyanawati & widyantoro, 2020). teachers may also find challenges in providing engaging activities with good time management, assessment, teaching media online, and literary works (efriana, 2021; hassan, 2018; hussein & al-emami, 2016). especially in providing the literature, teachers need to pay attention to text that enhances learning at the proper level, suits students’ age and interest, have unfamiliar diction, grammar, or figure of speech (hussein & al-emami, 2016). regarding the students, they may not have the technology needed for learning online (wahab & iskandar, 2020), or they do not have the access to the internet (nashruddin, alam, & tanasy, 2020). even though teachers can provide learning, if the students have such problems, they may have comprehension and affective troubles, teachers lose control of learning, distant feeling, and the learning objectives are not achieved (chun, kern, & smith, 2016). applicable teaching strategies to overcome challenges in teaching literature online to overcome those challenges, the teachers need to tackle their problems with an online teaching environment. related to technology uses, the teachers can first select a few the materials and media online that they think are interesting and use simpler platforms like whatsapp (guler, 2016; cetinkaya, 2017; mbukusa, 2018), video conference (lestiyanawati & widyantoro, 2020), and google classroom (azhar & iqbal, 2018), before exploring more platforms, so they do not get overwhelmed with the vast options on the internet (efriana, 2021). if there are problems with students’ attendance and behaviour, as the efl teachers lack control in an online environment, they need to be proactive in contacting the students and collaborate with the counselling teachers in finding the students’ problems (efriana, 2021). teachers then can modify the activity delivery to keep the students’ participation. in the online environment, teachers need to adapt new strategies to create engaging and accessible literary learning. the core principles for literary teaching need to be simple, student-centered, realistic, collaborative, meaningful, reflective, and applicable (efriana, 2021). those principles emphasize peer interaction, active participation, personalization, and a higher thinking process (miller, 2014). teachers can adopt several approaches like information-based, personal response, language-based, cultural-based, moral-philosophical, paraphrastic, and stylistic (mohammed, 2017) to provide the focus, more specific learning objectives, and the room to give the engaging learning activities accordingly. as for the activities, online discussion, collaborative assignments, and combining online and offline learning are effective to assist literary teaching (manzolillo, 2016; bao, 2020). they facilitate an online learning community, less reading-heavy, and require less internet access for video conferences. the teachers can use youtube, digital literature, film adaptation, or video games for the learning materials (almurashi, 2016; handayani, youlia, febriani, & syafryadin, 2020; kaba, 2017; škobo & dragičević, 2019), as they can help students’ interest and understanding and give more accessible literary sources. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 484-496 487 studies were conducted to find the challenges that emerged due to the online learning system. atmojo & nugroho (2020) studied the teachers’ reflection on their practices and challenges in online efl teaching, resulting in the applications they used, the use of synchronous and asynchronous learning, and challenges from student, teacher, and parent aspects. gabriel (2020) used a survey to find the challenges in ict gadgets for teaching literature online, resulting in challenges about students’ ict uses and material resources. kaba (2017) shared the contribution of technology in teaching literature and the online applications that the teachers could use to teach literature. this study wanted to find the senior high school teachers’ challenges in teaching literature online and the ways they coped with those challenges. studies about students’ and teachers’ challenges have been conducted to evaluate and better the online learning program. teachers found challenges in an online teaching environment regarding their technology uses, the students’ problems in attending online classes, and material sources and deliveries (gabriel, 2020; joshi, 2020; atmojo & nugroho, 2020). as the teachers face challenges in their online teaching and go through trial and error, the teachers will acquire new teaching skills and strategies. even after the pandemic, they can utilize those skills as online learning opens up a new teaching environment and schools have started the foundation to integrate and develop it. for example, teachers may use digital text sources or online literary discussions (manzolillo, 2016; kaba, 2017; handayani et al., 2020). though there are quite some studies about efl teachers’ challenges in online teaching, the studies about teachers’ reflections on their challenges on specifically teaching literature and their strategies to solve them are not widely researched. therefore, this study aims to explore the efl senior high school teachers’ challenges in online literary teaching and their view on postpandemic literary teaching. the research questions posed in this study are “what were the senior high school efl teachers’ challenges in teaching literature in an online teaching environment?” and “how did the senior high school efl teachers cope with their challenges in teaching literature in an online teaching environment?” method this study used the qualitative method to gain in-depth data about teachers’ challenges in teaching literature online and the way they cope with those challenges (creswell, 2012). the participants were three senior high school teachers who taught in tangerang selatan, did online teaching, ever taught literature topics online, and made classroom delivery specifically in literature aspect, selected using purposive sampling (creswell, 2012). the teachers were between 24 to 30 years old, all of them are female teachers. the focus of this study was the experiences of the teachers themselves, thus the use of narrative inquiry, which let the teachers reflect on their teaching experiences (merriam & tisdel, 2016). the data were gathered in early june 2021, using a semi-structured interview, based on the theory from atmojo & nugroho (2020), gabriel (2020), lestiyanawati & widyantoro (2020), and efiana (2021). the reflective questions were about the teachers’ online literary teaching challenges, concerning the teacher, student, subject, and technology aspects, as well as how they coped with those challenges. the interview lasted around one llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 484-496 488 hour. the interview results were then transcribed, and then were coded and tabulated, and then were discussed based on their themes. findings and discussion the research questions for this study are “what were the senior high school efl teachers’ challenges in teaching literature in an online teaching environment?” and “how did the senior high school efl teachers cope with their challenges in teaching literature in an online teaching environment?” this section shows the results of participants’ reflections on their challenges and strategies in teaching literature online. senior high school efl teachers’ challenges in teaching literature in an online teaching environment the participants shared their reflections in teaching literature online as senior high school teachers. in their experiences, they shared the challenges in three categories, including technology, student, and literature class delivery. some challenges were experienced by all three teachers, while they also shared some challenges of their own. the participants first shared their challenges in using the online technology for teaching, as it was a new case for them. the challenges that teachers faced were: (1) could not utilize the features in google suites properly, (2) often have confusions in using google meet or zoom, (3) finding the most suitable, attractive, and interactive online platforms for the literature topic delivery, (4) the platform for the students to submit their work. those challenges were faced by all participants. aside from those challenges, each teacher had some challenges on their own, as presented below: p01: “sometimes i could not connect to the internet properly, and my laptop often lagged and i did not know what exactly was the reason, was it my laptop or internet or what.” p02: “i often felt unsure if the students follow the class as they often got silent in the google meet and not activating their camera and mic. sometimes i also had to check if the students could hear me properly.” p03: “though we had stories in books, i wanted to give them more interesting stories from youtube or sources like that, but sometimes i struggle to find the stories with the topics that i needed, but with suitable level of language, sometimes too easy or too long or something like that.” “i was also often asked to make material videos, but using powtoon or prezi was a bit confusing.” teachers’ challenges in technology are caused by their low experiences in presenting fully online classes. due to covid-19, teachers were demanded to make a sudden shift to online learning, which they had little experience on (rahardjo & pertiwi, 2020). this caused the teachers’ lack of preparation in their knowledge of the online platforms and the tools to deliver the class (ahmad, 2016; lestiyanawati, & widyantoro, 2020; raja & nagasubramani, 2018). that llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 484-496 489 results in less preparation on the gadget, internet, and class delivery platforms, like google classroom, meet, zoom. the sudden shift also made the teachers low preparations in their teaching, especially in exploring the websites that can enhance online learning, including the material, classroom activities, assignments, or assessments (efriana, 2021; hassan, 2018). therefore, even if the teachers knew the websites they could use in their classes, they could not use or present them well as it took time to select, create, or adjust them for participants’ classes’ needs, especially in making them available to everyone in the class. aside from their issues in presenting online classes, the participants also shared their challenges in the student aspect. in relation to the students’ conditions, the teachers’ challenges included: (1) students were often late, passive, or absent from the conference meetings, (2) students often had troubles with their gadgets, (3) students often did not have internet quota, (4) students sometimes had confusions in accessing the platforms that the teachers used, (5) teachers often had troubles in keeping the students’ motivation and participation in learning, especially in submitting the tasks, (6) teachers found it difficult to assess the students’ understanding and their work originality. teachers also had their own issues: p01: “i sometimes found some students’ submissions, like stories or comments to be similar. it’s okay if they worked together and therefore had the similar ideas, because right now peer teaching will be helpful, but i hoped they added something more unique of their own.” “i also had students who struggled to buy internet data for meetings, because those took more quota than chats.” p02: “the students sometimes could not upload their tasks, especially the videos of their drama or monologues.” “when in zoom meetings, students sometimes had troubles in switching shared screen, so some time was spent to explain them how.” p03: “the students often logged out of breakup rooms and could not get in.” teachers’ challenges regarding their students also included students’ technology experience and also their behavior in online classes. the students also faced similar challenges as the teachers in using the technology for online classes. the student’s first issues were either the gadget or the internet, in line with nashruddin et al. (2020) and wahab and iskandar (2020). that might be caused by the parents’ economic state or their location (atmojo & nugroho, 2020). the other issue was that the students were confused about using the software or websites, as they also lacked the experience in using those for online learning purposes (raja & nagasubramani, 2018). therefore, the students might have difficulties accessing sites or submitting their work. in addition, the workload might become an issue in online learning (rahardjo & pertiwi, 2020), since teachers compensated for the lack of class meetings with assignments. both caused students’ late submission. the teachers also had difficulties in knowing students’ understanding. the online learning process is different from face-to-face classes, so students might have comprehension problems (chun et al., 2016), but llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 484-496 490 the teachers might find it difficult to notice it directly. those issues the students faced might cause negative emotions and might lead to low motivation and participation. in this case, teachers had challenges in maintaining the students’ emotions as well, because they were distant, so teachers had limitations in interacting with students (chun et al., 2016). in their online teaching experiences, the participants also had challenges in presenting the literature materials and activities. the teachers’ challenges in presenting literature-related activities included: (1) giving interesting and engaging literary lessons and activities, (2) utilizing the suitable approaches to further help students’ understanding, (3) assigning the proper tasks that would be accessible and encourage the students’ motivation, (4) deciding what to be assessed and making sure students focused on them in their tasks, (5) encouraging the students to read the stories or watch the videos and understanding them, (6) encouraging the students to give their opinions about the stories, (7) encouraging the students to relate the stories to their life, (8) encouraging the students to create literary works, (9) letting them gain knowledge about english through literature materials. aside from those, some teachers also mentioned their own challenges: p02: “not sure what kind of literary woks the students would enjoy.” “i wanted my students to notice the unique things in the stories, like culture, or figurative language uses, that they might want to comment on, but maybe we tended to get fixated in the linguistic aspects, so they noticed about the grammar more, but that is also fine.” p03: “how to spark the interest in reading, as not all students liked reading.” “it’s kind of difficult to make them unite for the submission platform. some might be fine with youtube, some chose instagram stories while others didn’t, some students’ file size was big and they didn’t know how to make that smaller, so their internet data became a problem, etc.” “sometimes the students’ compositions were repetitive, or had unsuitable vocab, or grammar, but giving individual feedback sometimes was not as effective as in face-to-face.” teachers’ lack of experience in online learning also affected the literature class delivery. the teachers lacked the knowledge in presenting the literature materials from online sources. it was challenging as teachers had to adjust their materials with the students’ preferences, knowledge, and the learning objectives (hussein & al-emami, 2016). therefore, teachers had to find the best approach for teaching literature to accommodate their issues. however, also they had difficulties in determining the approach in their teaching, because of the lack of experience so they did not know what would work in their class (ahmad, 2016). determining the approach was even more difficult because of students’ low understanding and interest in literature, as those caused issues for the students to start learning literature and practicing or creating compositions (hussein & alemami, 2016; işıklı & tarakçıoğlu, 2017; hassan, 2018). therefore, the participants also had issues in motivating them in learning in an online environment, giving the activities that elicited students’ interest in literature, and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 484-496 491 develop their language proficiencies at the same time, in line with hassan (2018), mohammed (2017) and gabriel (2020). the teachers faced challenges in teaching literature in an online environment. their challenges were caused by the lack of experience as they faced a sudden shift to online learning without proper and adequate training. the challenges included their own technology use, the students’ issues in undertaking online classes, and the issues in teaching literature without face-to-face meetings. senior high school efl teachers’ strategies in coping with their challenges in facing their challenges in an online classroom, the participants found ways to manage them. the participants shared their strategies in dealing with challenges regarding technology, student, and subject delivery. some similar strategies were implemented by all three teachers, while they also shared their own strategies. the participants came up with strategies to deal with their technology problems. their strategies in facing the issues regarding technology were: (1) spent more time learning and trying out the features of the online platforms, (2) on asynchronous meetings, teachers used the time to browse more websites that could be used in learning, (3) asked the other teachers or students about some features in google classroom, google meet, or zoom, (4) first tested the websites for exercises or tests, like google forms or kahoot! before using it in class. in addition, teachers shared their own strategies: p01: “i posted materials in google classrooms ahead so if i had troubles with my connection or laptop near my schedule, the students still could access the materials.” “because my students sometimes had internet problems too, i divided the students in groups and we had whatsapp group call or vidcall for each group, so they didn’t have to wait in zoom or gmeet rooms for their group’s turn.” p02: “i reduced the gmeet and utilize whatsapp. students can just write or voice note their comments on something, so it solved our internet and participation problems.” “i used to be confused with whatsapp features as well, but i learnt myself, and sometimes my student taught me to mention, adding group info, reply, or when documents there was expired” p03: “sometimes i assign the students to find youtube story videos that they liked, whether the topic was from indonesia or other countries, but still using english language, and they could present them in gmeet.” the teachers’ challenges in technology included their lack of experience and appropriate tools. the teachers’ strategies by having asynchronous classes, reducing conference meetings, posting materials ahead, and utilizing whatsapp (manzolillo, 2016; bao, 2020; cetinkaya, 2017; mbukusa, 2018), could help teachers’ and students’ problems regarding the internet and tools, as less meetings reduced the need to use internet, and simple communication applications required llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 484-496 492 less internet data. regarding their low experience in using technology, teachers spent more time exploring the features of websites, seeking help from others, and testing in advance, to gain more experiences in their spare time, and become more familiar with their tools and websites, especially the most essential ones. this is in line with efriana, (2021) that teachers can perform better in an online class when they get used to it. regarding the students, the participants had some ways to manage their challenges. in assisting and dealing with students’ problems, teachers’ strategies included (1) reducing the synchronous video conference meetings for the whole class, (2) reminding the students’ deadline in groups or personally, (3) provide detailed instructions in accessing several websites for activities or testing, (4) using plagiarism checker, (5) reducing the number of graded assignments for literature, (6) increasing the sharing and discussion activities. p01: “i assign different topics or different types of literary works for students, so they still could discuss things but their work won’t be too similar.” “i reduced zoom meetings and switched to wa or line, whatever require less data and more accessible. they could learn the materials offline and have discussion or ask questions on zoom.” p02: “i made sure students made very short videos so the size was small, and they did not need to edit things if they did not know how, and they could send to wa as last resort.” p03: “i reduce the tasks to be submitted because it made the students felt burdened with workload in online classes, so i just let them have discussion and sharing in class time in gmeet or wa.” “i didn’t force the students to have group discussion in conference, so they would not be troubled with signal lost and logged out of breakout rooms. they could chat or call.” “i used like project learning, so i gave one main project for groups for them to work on together, making a short drama video, and an individual task.” the participants’ strategies related to students were to help their technology experience, assist their online learning, and provide accessible learning activities. the teachers knew the students’ limitations in the technology and internet, so they utilized individual, offline and asynchronous forms of learning, gave instructions to reduce confusion, and adjusted the file size for assignments, in line with manzolillo (2016), bao (2020), and atmojo and nugroho (2020). in addition, by reducing the synchronous meetings, teachers also employed flipped classroom where the students studied the materials outside the classroom meetings and discussed them in the video conference. it promotes students independent, autonomous and liberate learning (maharsi, wijayanti, & astari, 2021). in assisting the students, they approached the students individually and reduced the workload. they did it to reduce the students’ stress, increase their motivation, and creating a sense of togetherness (atmojo & nugroho, 2020). teachers also provided more accessible activities. project-based could help the students explore the materials and using their creativity in the assignments (atmojo & nugroho, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 484-496 493 2020), while varying the topics for individual assignments let the students have discussions, as peer learning, to promote a sense of community. increasing online discussion reduced the number of individual assignments and promoted their interaction and participation in class, while still made them practicing english and critical thinking (manzolillo, 2016). the participants also found strategies and managed to cope with their literature subject delivery. in teaching literature, teachers used some strategies, including: (1) using stories that they might be familiar with at first, (2) presenting the students’ video creations in the class meetings, (3) also including literary works that students already knew to reduce reading tasks, (4) giving tasks in form of compositions or commentary, (5) including reflections on the english knowledge they gained from videos or stories. aside from those strategies, the teachers also deployed several other strategies in their respective classes, including: p02: “at first, i picked some students to tell their favorite genres or stories, in film or youtube, then asked others who also liked that, and used them to browse similar stories and discussed about them.” p03: “i sometimes asked about the novels or comics that became popular films, like harry potter, marvel, joker, etc. and how they are different. it’s okay if they talked about indonesian movies, too. then, the class discussion flows around those films.” “i also included something like pantun or rap song with rhymes when the students felt difficulties in creating poems, some felt excited to make the rhymes.” participants dealt with their challenges in teaching literature by using literary works that students knew and less demanding activities. the students were attracted to speak up more if they were familiar with the literature discussed in the class. that made the activities in their learning time online more student-centered, meaningful, realistic, and applicable (efriana, 2021). aside from discussing the literary aspects, they could also practice and evaluate their english knowledge in the discussion, either in the impromptu speech, chat bubble, or their project presentation (mohammed, 2017). teachers also used the native form of poem pantun and popular type of song rap. by also implementing familiar forms of literary compositions like pantun or rap, it helped students’ understanding, students felt challenged in composing their poems, and they could practice their vocabulary or grammar (mansoor, 2013). in addition, by using videos as literary sources, like youtube or films, it reduced reading task and was more interesting for the students, which led to higher achievement (almurashi, 2016; škobo & dragičević, 2019). to deal with their challenges, teachers employed strategies in their online teaching experiences. those strategies included the preparations before the class started, adjustments for the number of synchronous meetings, open whatsapp chats for questions, and adjustments for the material sources, assignments, and assessments. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 484-496 494 conclusion this study explored the senior high school efl teachers’ challenges in teaching literature online and their strategies to deal with them. the teachers faced challenges regarding their technology uses, students’ challenges, and literature subject delivery. regarding their own technology uses, teachers’ challenges included their internet, the use of websites and applications for teaching, and their gadgets. regarding their students’ challenges, the challenges were their internet, understanding, motivation, and participation. regarding their subject delivery, the challenges were learning sources and materials, the students’ interests in literature, and the activities accessible for all students. to cope with their challenges, their strategies included having asynchronous classes to reduce conference meetings, posting materials ahead of time, using whatsapp for classroom discussion, helping students’ technology experiences, assisting their online learning, giving accessible literature-related activities with less workload, and using literary works that students knew. 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(2020). teacher’s performance to maintain students’ learning enthusiasm in the online learning condition. jelita, 1(2), 34-44. retrieved from https://jurnal.stkipmb.ac.id/index.php/jelita/article/view/63 https://doi.org/10.5430/jct.v7n2p112 http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3090217 https://doi.org/10.33019/berumpun.v3i2.40 https://jurnal.stkipmb.ac.id/index.php/jelita/article/view/65 https://doi.org/10.21839/jaar.2018.v3is1.165 https://doi.org/10.7251/zrsng1901084s https://jurnal.stkipmb.ac.id/index.php/jelita/article/view/63 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 45-62 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 45 gazing at ‘the-you-know-who/what’ in whatsapp: deixis used in online learning amid covid-19 pandemic ahmad sugianto1 and ahmad bukhori muslim2 1,2universitas pendidikan indonesia ahmadsugianto@upi.edu1, abukhmuslim@upi.edu2 correspondence: ahmadsugianto@upi.edu https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4485 received 19 march 2022; accepted 29 april 2022 abstract whatsapp, as one of the most powerful and ubiquitous social media platforms, has become one of the promising tools utilized for english online learning during the current crisis, covid-19 pandemic. nevertheless, interacting effectively via this platform might be challenging for messages communicated to this platform might have more than one meaning that is likely to result in misunderstanding among the users. thus, understanding deixis, known as one of the interactional phenomena in which language and context can be figured out, is invaluable. nevertheless, to the best of the writers’ knowledge, studies concerning the use of deixis with respect to whatsapp for english online learning are still left underresearched. therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the deixis employed during online learning via a whatsapp group. the method utilized in this research was a descriptive study. besides, the participants comprised 23 postgraduate students and an instructor from an english education study program of one university in bandung city. the data were taken from the artefact in the form of an online chat archive. based on the data analyzed, the findings revealed that all the types of deixis encompassing personal, social, discourse, place, and time deixis were found in online learning through the whatsapp application. in this regard, the person(al) deixis (46%) was the most frequently used deixis, followed by social (39%), discourse (8%), place (5%), and time deixis (2%), respectively. moreover, the appropriate and effective use of deixis by the instructor was found to influence students’ engagement and critical thinking ability. besides, the whatsapp feature, emojis, was found to be utilized along with the deixis, as well as it assists in providing some emphasis, understanding of the messages conveyed, and showing respect or compliment among the participants. keywords: covid 19 pandemic, deixis, online learning, pragmatics, whatsapp introduction whatsapp is one of the most powerful and popular applications used in recent time. it constitutes one of the social media platforms through which an individual interacting, sharing, discussing, and communicating ideas, messages, and resources with other people. in addition to its use in social interaction and mailto:ahmadsugianto@upi.edu mailto:abukhmuslim@upi.edu mailto:ahmadsugianto@upi.edu https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4485 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 45-62 46 communication, it has some advantageous use for facilitating the teaching and learning process. a number of studies have revealed its efficacy in the distance or online learning, such as its familiarity or user-friendly for students, the flexibility to handle various file formats ranging from text, images, audio, and video, interactivity, portability, and accessibility, namely its use is not limited by time and space, and it is also considered to be economical or can be used with a lowcost budget, as well as provides more interactions with the instructor, in other words, increasing teachers' availability for students, and anonymity or privacy constitutes another strength of whatsapp if it is used for peer assessment, and enable students to develop their english skills and increase their engagement, enthusiasm, motivation, achievement, and learning autonomy as well as build their confidence and self-discipline and create positive rapport with their teacher. (alshammari, parkes, & adlington, 2017; annamalai, 2015; bouhnik & deshen, 2014; gon & rawekar, 2017a; güler, 2017; hamad, 2017; hershkovitz, elhija, & zedan, 2019; kartal, 2019; keogh, 2017; kheryadi, 2017; mpungose, 2020; nitza & roman, 2016; rosenberg & asterhan, 2018; saritepeci, duran, & ernis, 2019; susilo, 2014). moreover, the current situation, i.e. the covid-19 pandemic, has led to a lot of shifts in human's life around the world, including education, and particularly in indonesia. as mandated by president jokowi widodo that all the activities including teaching and learning process should be moved to online learning (minta masyarakat tenang, presiden: saatnya bekerja, belajar, dan beribadah dari rumah, 2020). the use of whatsapp is, therefore, worth trying to facilitate the students’ online learning since it is one of the most ubiquitous and beneficial applications. moreover, the use of whatsapp in online learning can be considered essential to facilitate the interaction between students and teachers. to create effective interactions and communications between teachers and students through whatsapp, teachers are required to take account of some facets. to begin with, even though there is a credence that communicative competence is caused by the role of pragmatics in english as a foreign language context, particularly in the indonesian context, some challenges still emerge. such challenges were induced by the ground that it does not have a priority in the indonesian efl teaching context (suryoputro & suyatno, 2017). similarly, pragmatics, as bardovi-harlig and mahan-taylor (2018) encapsulate, has a particular issue in language teacher education that is still found to be less taken into account in comparison to the other areas of language. this is a quite challenging issue since a word is likely to have more than one meaning or various, which is because of the context or culture in which the language is used (putri, 2020; rispatiningsih, 2020). such a case also works to deictic words or expressions due to a particular context in which it is used. additionally, in the learning and teaching process, as xi, liu, and wang assert, the dynamic use of language can be known by understanding the deixis used in the interaction between teachers and students (2016). it is due to the fact that deixis does not only have the roles associated with grammatical constituents, but it can show different meanings that the words have (dylgjeri & kazazi, 2013). moreover, the use of deixis is considered to be the foundation of the way communication since it can be used to indicate grammatical markers leading to the cohesiveness of a discourse (morales, 2011). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 45-62 47 conceptually, deictic words or expressions or simply called deixis (another synonymy is indexicals), stems from a greek word (deiktikos), meaning using language as a means for ‘referring, ‘pointing’, or ‘indicating’ (levinson, 1983; lyons, 1968; o’keeffe, clancy, & adolphs, 2011; yule, 1996). in addition, kress, ogborn, and martin (1998) define deixis as a 'locational/navigational system' which functions to show or refer to a certain event of the interaction occurring. lyons (1968, p. 276) asserts that there are two types of features or aspects associated with deixis, namely ‘relative to the time and place of utterance’. additionally, fillmore (1966, p. 220) mentions another feature besides the two aspects aforementioned, that is, ‘the identity of the speaker and the intended audience’. moreover, as it has to do with pragmatics, the conception relates to contextuality. in this regard, hanks (2019) argue that the use of context is emphasised, and the meaning is made in case there is the same 'referential object' in the lenses of participants. furthermore, deixis is divided into several types. basically, it is divided into three classifications, namely person(al) deixis, time or temporal deixis, and spatial or place deixis, as levinson (2006) reveals that deixis has to do with the ‘grammatical property’ involving ‘person, tense, place’. in addition to this classification, harman (1990) divides these three types of deixis based on the proximities of the utterance at the time of speaking, summarised in table 1 below. table. 1 types of deixis (harman, 1990, pp. 233-235) proximal medial distal personal pronoun i, me, myself, we, us, ourselves you, you, yourself he, him, himself, she, her, herself, it, itself, they, them, themselves possessives my, mine, our, ours you, yours his, hers, its, their, theirs demonstratives this, these that, those the, it, them locatives here there at that place time adverbials now, today, this week then, yesterday, last week at that time, the day before, the previous week tense present past past perfect the types of deixis proposed by harman above is based on brugmann’s proposal, that is, inch-deixis associated with the proximal deixis in which the utterance is conveyed near to the speaker or first person as it is communicated, du-deixis having to do with medial deixis in which the utterance is near to the hearer or the second person at the time of speaking, and jenner-deixis with respect to distal deixis refers to the utterance that is away from the speaker and the hearer and thus having to do with non-participant or third person (fillmore, 1966; harman, 1990). visually, these three types or categories of deixis are illustrated in deictic circle represented in figure 1 below in which the jenner-deixis/distal deixis signed with the blue colour circle located in the first layer, the dudeixis/medial deixis is located in the second layer circle with the light green colour, and the red core or centre circle associated with the du-deixis/proximal deixis. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 45-62 48 figure 1: deictic circle (harman, 1990, p. 233; https://www.eltconcourse.com/training/inservice/discourse/deixis.html) in addition to the trinocular deixis classification comprising person, time, and place deixis above, levinson (1983) proposes two more deixes encompassing discourse deixis and social deixis. to bear in mind, some scholars have different terms for the first two deixes, such as temporal deixis for time deixis and spatial deixis for place deixis, despite its names distinction, yet the concept is regarded the same (yule, 1996). to begin with, the person(al) deixis has to do with 'grammatical categories' concerning a person that can comprise first person (e.g. i, we), second person (e.g. you), and third-person categories (e.g. he, she, it, they) (levinson, 1983, pp. 68-72). the following is the example: he went to bandung yesterday. in addition, time deixis has to do with grammatical categories of time, three aspects of tenses, i.e. comprising present, for instance, now, then, soon, or recently, past, for instance, yesterday, or last week and future, for instance, tomorrow, or next week (pp. 73-79). in an utterance, it can be illustrated as follows: tari was riding her bike yesterday. furthermore, place deixis has to do with the location which is pointed or referred. there are two types of place deixis, comprising proximal in which the object is near to the speaker(s) (e.g. here; this) and distal in which the object is far from the speaker(s) (e.g. there; that) (pp. 70-81). the following is the example: jakarta is 110 km away from here. discourse deixis has to do with text or some expressions in some utterance. some signal or transitional words may indicate discourse deixis such as anyway, but, therefore, in conclusion, on the contrary, still, however, well, besides, actually, all in all, so, after all, and this or that (pp. 85-87). the following is the instance: that was the scariest experience i have ever had. the last type of deixis, social deixis, has to do with 'social situation' or 'social relationship which can be indicated by the use of particular polite pronouns or titles of addresses (pp. 89-91). the following is the example: prof. hamied will teach us this semester. in addition to the types of deixis above, there are several things to ponder with respect to the concept of deixis. to begin with, words can be regarded as llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 45-62 49 deictic in case they have a variety of meanings associated with a particular context influenced by time and or place (khalil, 2020). thus, shared knowledge or common ground is required to be taken into account to ensure whether one word or expression can be regarded as deixis or other mere forms of reference (huang, 2007). moreover, person(al) deixis is considered to have the most prevalent deictic expressions used apart from the other types of deixis (p. 154). however, the other type of deixis, for instance, proximal deixis, which is one of the types of place deixis, is also important to consider, as lyons and onoughi (2020) point out based on some studies, due to its power to engage the people to read the messages conveyed. meanwhile, social deixis is regarded as essential since its use can be inspected either in direct or indirect interaction (khalil, 2020) as well as its use can be used to identify the social status, the relationship between the interactants or the addressee or the entities being addressed talked about (zulyanputri, indrayani, & soemantri, 2020). additionally, such cases, as drawn upon lyons' (1968) honorific dimension, associated with the relative status or degree of intimacy between the participants can also be indicated by the way the participants use the personal pronouns, for instance, as found in french, german, russian, italian languages that the second person singular pronoun is commonly used to address someone with an equal or lower rank or status. moreover, to bear in mind, one thing that should be drawn attention from discourse deixis is this type of deixis should be differentiated from anaphoric or cataphoric reference. in this case, (o’keeffe, clancy, and adolphs (2011) assert that anaphoric references are used to navigate the 'preceding noun phrase' whereas discourse deixis is used to figure out the meaning of a thought communicated by a clause, sentence, paragraph, or the entire text. in detail, diessel (1999, p. 103) provides the descriptions of the differences between anaphoric reference and discourse deixis shown in table 2 below. table. 2 distinctions between anaphoric references and discourse deixis (p. 103) anaphoric (tracking) demonstratives discourse deictic demonstratives they are associated with the preceding noun phrase the referents have to do with propositions/speech acts they assist in navigating the discourse participants they make connections between two units of discourse the referent might commonly still appear in the following discourse the referent might not appear in the following discourse. only anaphoric anaphoric and cataphoric apart from its concept, deixis has been the variable investigated intensively and vastly by numerous scholars, including indonesian scholars. for instance, many of them conducted scrutiny of the deixis in relation to films (ainiyah sili, & ariani, 2019; dwipayani, subagia, & suarjana, 2020; saputri, 2016; sasmita, hardiah, & elfrida, 2018; siregar, 2020; wiguna, anggraeni, nuramalia, & sadikin, 2018) , song lyrics (anggara, 2017;nisa, asi, & sari, 2020), comics, novels, speech, news or newspaper (haloho & johan, 2020; kusumaningrum, 2016; pranata & rahmat, 2020; rahayu & kurniawan, 2020; van thao & herman, 2020; wibowo & nailufar, 2018). albeit there are numerous inspections concerning deixis, the scrutiny on teaching and learning were found still to be limited (yulfi, 2017). in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 45-62 50 addition, particularly, the discussions of the scrutiny from the context of efl classroom in indonesia were still found to be limited (jumaedah, saleh, & hartono, 2020; mayori, putra, & suarnajaya, 2020). moreover, the scrutiny in association with online learning was left uninvestigated. therefore, this study is willing to fill the gap left by the previous studies, which in this case it has to do with online learning. albeit such investigation having to do with online learning had ever been conducted by haas, carr, and takayoshi (2011) inspecting instant messaging, namely itext, dostálek (2020) scrutinising two internet forums comprising the video game world of warcraft forum and bodybuiliding forum, and hikmah and ramli (2019) investigating virtual learning of a youtuber, the present study attempted to scrutinise one of the most popular applications, i.e. whatsapp of which feature is different from the applications they used. whatsapp provides a feature that is possible to make an interaction between teacher and students as in the real class involving many participants, namely through whatsapp group. thereby, conducting an investigation on deixis in online learning, in this case via whatsapp group, is in demand and worth scrutinising. method a qualitative study was employed. in this study, the researcher acted as the instrument through which the data were collected and analysed (miles & huberman, 1994). besides, this study tried to scrutinise the deictic words or expressions employed in online learning using the whatsapp application for a course with the code name qda. moreover, the subjects comprised 23 postgraduate students and a male instructor of an english education study program in one university in bandung city. the demographic of the students revealed that their ages ranging from 23 to 31 years old. also, they have some teaching experiences in various levels started from the elementary to university levels ranging from one year of teaching experience to more than five years of teaching experience. moreover, the instructor had more than twenty years of teaching experience in college or university. the participants were chosen based on some grounds, namely, the ease of access to obtain the data and the participants’ cooperativeness to be involved in this study. moreover, the data source derives from the artefact (hamied, 2017), i.e. in the form of an online chat archive in a whatsapp group. furthermore, a content analysis in which the data were analysed based on the deictic framework advocated by levinson (1983), encompassing personal pronoun deixis, time deixis, place deixis, social deixis, and discourse deixis was employed. the use of the framework was based on the ground that it is one of the foremost frameworks in deictic expression analysis; thus, based on the credence and rationale, this framework is also expected to work with the present study. besides, the data were taken from the online chat archive of the whatsapp group. there were eight sessions, but only one session was taken as the data source, namely the online learning chat archive dated may 16, 2020. these were taken based on some grounds. first, the chosen chat archive was selected based on the credence that it was the chat archive of which session filled with more interactions between the instructor and students in comparison with the other chat archives since at that time the material was focused on the discussion of a new llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 45-62 51 material associated with the discussions of the tasks submitted by the students in the previous meeting. moreover, all the teaching and learning process was conducted in english then. another ground was the time constraint. after the online chat was determined to be analysed, a codebook comprising the utterance, deixis, types of deixis, and reference was created to facilitate the identification and classification process of the deixis used. then, these data were tabulated and presented in percentage using a chart to show the frequency of the occurrences of each type of deixis and its percentage. moreover, to make sure the trustworthiness of data analysis, some techniques were employed. in this regard, peer debriefing was employed (creswell, 2014). the data analysed were consulted with a colleague having the expertise in pragmatics study. moreover, concerning the ethical issue, some requests letters of the participants’ consents in regard to the data from the online chat archive were sent and provided to the participants. findings and discussion based on the analyses of the data taken from the chat archive, it was found that all the types of deixis were found during the online learning conducted via the whatsapp application. table 1 shows the number of types of deixis found. table 3. types of deixis in whatsapp personal deixis time deixis place deixis discourse deixis social deixis total f*) 254 12 25 42 215 548 *) f: frequency table 3 above indicates that personal pronoun deixis was the most frequently used in whatsapp with 254 occurrences (46%), followed with social deixis with 215 occurrences (39%), discourse deixis with 42 occurrences (8%), place deixis with 25 occurrences (5%), and time deixis with 12 occurrences (2%) respectively (see also figure 2). figure 2. types of deixis in whatsapp in this regard, in terms of the personal pronoun deixis, it was found that all the types of personal pronoun deixis were found. for instance, the first singular person pronoun deixis comprised i, my, me (‘waalaikumsalam, alhamdulillah i'm llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 45-62 52 blessed, sir.’ or ‘this my first time in coding the data’); in terms of first plural personal pronoun encompassed the use of we, us, our (‘we will have our makeup class’); both of these types of first personal pronoun were employed by the instructor and the students. meanwhile, in regard to the second singular and plural personal pronoun, the use of you; similarly, these ones were also encountered to be used by the instructor and the students. nevertheless, the students only used the second singular personal pronoun, which was only addressed to the instructor. particularly when they want to ask some questions or express their gratitude to the instructor, 'thank you very much pak for the knowledge. meanwhile, the following is the instance of the use of the second singular personal pronoun 'are you with me?’ furthermore, concerning the third personal pronoun, it was found that both the third singular and plural personal pronouns were encountered during the online learning using whatsapp. in this case, the third singular personal pronoun found encompassed it, this, he, she, his, and her. meanwhile, in terms of the third plural personal pronouns found comprised they, them, and their (‘what are they?’). in addition, social deixis, which is the most frequently employed deixis after personal pronoun deixis, encompassed class, sir, and pak. in this regard, the class were found to be employed by the instructor (e.g. 'dear class’), whereas the deixis sir and pak were utilised by the students (e.g. ‘no sir but i use the table. is it ok, sir?’ and ‘thank you very much, pak, for the knowledge). following social deixis, discourse deixis was also employed by both the instructor and the students. for instance, the discourse deixis was indicated by the use of some deictic words such as this, that, but, still, however, and so. furthermore, place deixis, both in terms of proximal and distal deixis, were also found in the chat. in this regard, the proximal deixis was indicated by the use of this, and the distal deixis as shown by the use of that. the last one, the time deixis, which is the least deixis found in the chat, encompassed the deixis such as now, next week, and last week. the findings mentioned above were corroborated and challenged by some previous studies. for instance, in rahayu's (2018) study, it was found that all the students employed most of the deictic expressions; however, in her study, there was no discourse deixis found; in this case, she argued that it was because of some students' errors. therefore, based on this notion, it can be interpreted that most of the students involving in the present study had adequate grammatical awareness. moreover, it was found that the instructor, instead of using 'you’ he tried to use ‘we’ as he was describing some notions related to the materials learned; such use may indicate the instructor’s attitudes toward students. in this regard, it might be interpreted that the instructor tried to position himself the same as the students. such a finding can be considered as a strategy and a condition that is intended to build a rapport between students and teachers (ekasriadi, artawa, & sutama, 2021; xi, liu, & wang, 2016). also, it can be interpreted that the use of the plural first person deixis may also be used to indicate an identity of an individual, as found by rispatiningsih (2020). therefore, based on the finding of the present study, it may be interpreted that the instructor was trying to position himself as a learner although he had actually had got the expertise in the area taught. thereby, it can be indicated that the promotion of teaching as life-long learning was also conducted by the instructor characterised by the way he positioned as individual learning with their students (nieto, 2000). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 45-62 53 moreover, the abundant use of personal pronoun deictic expressions was also found in previous studies (astria, mujiyanto, & rukmini, 2019; jumaedah, saleh, & hartono, 2020; mayori, putra, & suarnajaya, 2020; ningsi, ramli, & saputra, 2020; shim, 2014; yulfi, 2017). in their studies, it was found that both the english teachers, both the native teacher and indonesia's teacher, were encountered to use personal pronouns frequently. based on this finding, it can be interpreted that the personal pronoun deixis was the most commonly used in the classroom, both of which is conducted in an offline setting or online setting. moreover, such findings concerning the person deixis indicate that the flow or transmission of messages in terms of knowledge or idea occurs during the teaching and learning process as (hasanah, mujiyanto, and rukmini (2021) assert that the person deixis is used for knowledge or idea delivery from speaker to audience. furthermore, the next interpretation has to do with social deixis. in this regard, the use of social deixis, most of the encounters could be categorised as relational social deixis (levinson, 1983), which were induced by the relationship between the students and the instructor. meanwhile, another factor was due to the educational aspect (surono, 2018); in this regard, for instance, a student was found to mention one of the references used by addressing the author of a book discussed using prof. (i.e. 'not really, but i ever read them at a glance in prof. hamied's book, sir'). the use of prof. in this utterance can also be implicitly interpreted to have a social class dimension included in education (zulyanputri et al., 2020). in addition, findings associated with the number of occurrences of social deixis, particularly those that were used by the students, such as pak or sir, might indicate that the students had high respect to the instructor, which could be indicated by its numerous numbers, namely the second most frequently used and found in this study. moreover, it also provides the evidence, as lyons (1968, pp. 275-276) asserts, that albeit 'egosentric' constitutes one important aspect associated with deixis in which the role of participant, i.e., the speaker surpasses the hearer since the centre is always associated with the speaker, yet the statusrelation can also above par of the participants' roles. this finding follows the finding of a study by mujiyana and rukmini (2019) who also found the same address as conducted by a student to a teacher. this finding also indicates that the type of language used online learning using whatsapp is mainly formal language (savyanandaru & yuliasri, 2017), which is also emphasised by megawati (2021) that the formal language including the formal deixis is required to be taken into account in an online learning setting because it is also considered to be a formal situation as the face to face learning setting. nevertheless, the deictic expression sir according to surono (p. 323), was influenced by social class/status. based on this finding, it can be interpreted that some of the students might not have known yet the difference between the addresses which were appropriately used by their instructor, while students might have an adequate understanding of such addresses. moreover, this finding concerning social deixis has provided evidence that understanding this type of deixis is pivotal, as weil, hayes, and capurro (2011) point out, because it can develop individuals' social and intellectual performance required to socialise with other people. next, the discourse deixis in this study could be found in both the instructor and the students' utterances. for example, “for this, we need to go to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 45-62 54 the second step of coding...” which in this regard, in utterance, refers to the proposition posed by the instructor concerning 'reducing some codes which are similar'. the other example posed by one of the students, in this regard, the discourse deixis, is preceded by a conjunctive word, such as “so did i sir, this my first time in coding the data”. this is in line with what levinson (1983) asserts that some conjunctive words may indicate discourse deixis. meanwhile, another example shows that the conjunction appears after the discourse deictic word, such as "that's almost similar though”. based on these findings indicate that the discourse deixis may be followed or preceded by a conjunctive word or even may not be followed or preceded by a conjunctive word. also, it should be noted that it must be differentiated from anaphoric demonstratives that may be similar since its use of the demonstratives such as this and that. to bear in mind, sidnell and enfield (2007) elaborate the demonstratives based on several functions, namely exophoric and endophoric uses; the former has to do with physical entities or referents, whereas the latter is associated with entities beyond the physical things. additionally, çokal (2019, p. 243) asserts that to figure out whether or not a demonstrative is regarded as discourse deixis, an individual should take into account both the 'grammatical structure and the informative content of a text'. in other words, not only the structure but also the meaning or the aim beyond the structure are crucial to determine whether demonstratives belong to discourse deixis or just merely an anaphoric demonstrative. diessel (1999, pp. 113-114) clarifies this issue by mentioning that anaphoric demonstratives are considered to have rerents and connections with a noun phrase, whereas the discourse deixis has to do with meaning or what he calls as 'propositional content or illocutionary force of an utterance. moreover, the other interpretation has to do with the place deictic expressions. in this regard, it was found that both distal and proximal deictic expressions were used in the chat. nevertheless, the proximal deixis surpassed the distal one. based on these findings, it indicates that the locations that were referred by most of the teachers and students were relatively near to them. as its definition, distal means far from the participant, and proximal refers to a near deictic expression used from the participant (grundy, 2008). nevertheless, the findings are different from the study conducted by friginal, lee, polat, & roberson (2017), who found more various place deixis, for example, not only the use of 'that' and 'this', but they also found the other deictic words, such as 'here' and 'there' in the classroom setting. despite the different results, the present study also follows their study in terms of the quantity between proximal and distal deixis, that is, proximal deixis was found to be more than the distal deixis (pp. 123-125). such findings indicate that the way the place deixis is used is likely to be influenced by the mode of learning employed. in this case, face to face learning in comparison to online learning by making use of the whatsapp application has more advantages to explore more place deixis. in addition, the time or temporal deixis was found to be the least deixis found in the present study. this finding is contradictory to the study conducted by shim (2014), who found that the least one is discourse deixis. meanwhile, mayori, putra, and suarnajaya (2020) found in their study the least deixis found was social deixis. additionally, in the present study, the time deixis was employed as the instructor communicated to the students to introduce a topic, for instance, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 45-62 55 “we will discuss it today.” or it was used as the instructor tried to provide a discussion concerning a certain procedure of material learned, e.g. “now, the last step is how we can write or develop a story from these categories to answer our research question.”, or it was used as to part with the students, for example, “see you next week.” or as the instructor discussed the task done in the previous meeting, such as "together with the one sent last week.” interestingly, all the temporal or time deixis encompassed past, future, and present time, and this type of deixis was found only in the utterances communicated by the instructor. based on this finding, it can be considered that the instructor has a well-planned and well-implemented teaching and learning process, which encompassed three stages introducing, whilst, and closing. moreover, the findings also reveal that by making use of the deictic words or expressions, some consequences were obtained. in this regard, for example, the classroom interactions became more dynamics and engaging if they were used by the instructor effectively. such findings can be indicated by the way the students, for instance, responded to the teacher question, "how do you feel after this first exercise?" such a question making use of the second personal pronoun deixis had successfully drawn the students' attention resulting in their various responses. in this regard, for example, some students felt uncertain whether they had done the exercise well while the others were found that they thought the exercise had made them ease to analyze research data. additionally, the finding also uncovers that the use of deictic words or expressions by the instructor can be used to promote the students' critical thinking ability, i.e. the students were required to respond to the instructor question filled with deixis thoughtfully. thus, based on this finding, the instructor's role in using the deictic word should be taken into account, and it can be accommodated by integrating it into the question as sugianto and andriyani (2021) assert that the use of the instructor's question, particularly in whatsapp group is crucial to make the online learning become more interactive and engaging. the present study also indicates that online learning, particularly using whatsapp, had a positive impression on the students shown by their active participation (sugianto, 2020; sugianto, prasetyo, andriyani, & nurdiana,, 2021; sugianto & prasetyo, 2020). moreover, to make use of deixis effectively, some recommendations for teachers are required to ponder, such as promoting teacher professional development that can leverage teacher language awareness, which in this regard, encompassing two main domains if associated with the use of deixis, namely 'analyst domain' having to do with the knowledge concerning the language and 'user domain' having to do with the proficiency of the target language and the norms associated with pragmatics (hansen-thomas & langman, 2017). finally, the present study reveals an interesting finding, that is, the use of emoji appeared along with a particular type o deixis during the online learning taking place both by the instructor and the students. for instance, the students’ use emoji of (folded hands) are frequently followed with the social deixis, e.g. “yes, sir ” or “noted pak ". meanwhile, the use emoji of (thumbs up) was sometimes employed by the instructor to indicate his response or feedback to the students’ answers. the uses of such emojis are required to be taken into account since these can be used to provide some emphasizes on the expressions being uttered by the participants as they were using the whatsapp platform. also, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 45-62 56 it was used by the participants, particularly the students using the folded emojis to show respect to the instructor. these types of emojis may also be used to compensate the weakness, like the use of gestures that are essential to face to face learning, for it can assist to promote the students' remembrance of a particular message conveyed (farsani, 2015) as well as provide the emphasis on the meaning of messages sent that lead to the participants to have an understanding about the messages (chairunnisa & benedictus, 2017), that the online learning has particularly that which was mediated by whatsapp. conclusion based on the findings aforementioned, this study reaches some conclusions. first, all the types of deixis encompassing personal pronoun, social, discourse, place, and time deictic expressions were found in online learning through the whatsapp application. in this regard, the personal pronoun deixis has gained the most prevalence in online learning through whatsapp (46%). the use of a particular personal pronoun is regarded crucial for it can show the identity or status of the participants, as in the present study revealing the plural personal pronoun indicates that he positioned himself the same way as the students meaning that he was also a part of the learning process and hence conducting the learning process together with the students. next, this type of deixis is followed by the other type of deixis, namely social deixis (39%). the use of this type of deixis is useful since it can assist to indicate the status or the relationship between the participants. the use of this type of deixis was found to be followed by a particular emoji by students, such as folded hands, indicating their respect to the instructor. next, the other deixis found encompass discourse deixis (8%), which was encountered in the instructor and students’ utterances and can be indicated with or without a conjunctive word. furthermore, the other type of deixis found has to do with spatial or place deixis place (5%), in which the proximal place deixis outnumbered the distal place deixis. moreover, the least type of deixis encountered was temporal or time deixis (2%), encompassing past, present, and future tenses indicated or signalled with particular time adverbials. the other conclusion is deictic words or expressions could be used to facilitate the students' online learning, particularly at the higher education level, i.e. promoting the students’ engagement or critical thinking ability. another conclusion of this study has to do with the use of one of the features of whatsapp, namely the use of emoji that can be used along with the deictic words or expressions that are beneficial for students for it assists in providing the students with the understanding of the messages conveyed or as a way to show their politeness to the instructor. moreover, the present study poses some recommendations for future studies, i.e. scrutiny with other online platforms or applications are preferable to be used for future studies, particularly that enable the interactions between students and teachers to use more than one mode, that is not only language but also, for instance, gestures proven to be beneficial in face to face learning such as fostering and amplifying a remembrance of a particular register (farsani, 2015), which is delimited in whatsapp; thus, online video conference platform can be a worth researching topic for further studies. moreover, the other areas of pragmatics such as speech acts, politeness, implicature vis-à-vis the online llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 45-62 57 learning can be the alternative and invaluable topics to be scrutinised for future studies. references ainiyah, k., sili, s., & ariani, s. 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(2020). the correlation between social deixis and social class in a speech by nobel prize winners: a sociopragmatic study. let: linguistics, literature and english teaching journal, 10(1), 23. https://doi.org/10.18592/let.v10i1.3611 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 364 procedural essay writing: students’ problems and strategies septina ambarwati and listyani listyani satya wacana christian university, salatiga 112017012@student.uksw.edu; listyani.listyani@uksw.edu correspondence: listyani.listyani@uksw.edu doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.3371 received 11 may 2021; accepted 29 october 2021 abstract language learners living in the expanding circle certainly face probems that may not be encountered by their counterparts in the inner or outer circle. one of the problems these learners face is in the field of writing. they also need special strategies in overcoming these problems. this study was done to investigate the problems faced by students in writing procedural essays as well as the strategies to overcome the problems. this study attempted to answer two research questions: what problems do students face in writing procedural essays? and what are students' strategies to overcome the problems in writing procedural essays? this study used a qualitative method. to collect the data, the researchers used two instruments, which are open-ended and close-ended questionnaires and interviews. the participants of this research were 27 students from batch 2020 who took procedural writing class in the 2020/2021 academic year. the results of this research showed that there were three problems faced by students in writing procedural essays. those problems were problems of topic development, problems with vocabulary, and problems with grammar. the result also indicated the most strategies used by students to overcome the problems, such as receiving feedback from teachers, making an outline, and asking friends for help. keywords: writing, problems, procedural essay, strategies, procedural writing introduction writing has played an important role in english language learning. through writing, students can express their ideas, opinions, thoughts, and feelings into written form. the writing activity is not only done by students in writing class, but in other classes like reading, speaking, and listening, writing activity would be needed. however, writing in english is not easy. according to richards (1990), writing is believed to be the most difficult skill for efl students in language learning (as cited in najmi, 2015, p.474). writing could be very challenging for students to learn if they have limited vocabulary and grammatical knowledge. having no interest and poor ideas of the topic might also cause difficulty in the writing process. harmer (2001) stated that the students can become very frustrated in writing activities when they do not have the words or grammar to be expressed llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 365 (as cited in habibi, wachyuni, & husni, 2017, p.97). moreover, the lack of writing practice might be the common challenge in writing english. in the english language education program (elep) in a private university in central java, indonesia, writing an essay has become one of the commonly found activities in many courses. basically, essay writing in english education program is used for assignments or final assignments. procedural writing course is one of the writing classes in this study program. in procedural writing class, the students are expected to be able to write two types of procedural essays. a previous study about students’ problems in writing essays was done by rahmatunisa (2014). in the study, she found out that there were three main problems faced by students in essay writing. the first problem was linguistic problems, which were related to the grammatical structure, vocabulary, and word choice. the second was cognitive problems. the cognitive problems that students faced in writing include problems of spelling, punctuation, and organization. the last was psychological problems, which focused more on student’s behavior, such as lack of motivation, lack of self-confidence, and writing anxiety. different from rahmatunisa’s study, which focused on students’ problems in writing argumentative essays, this study focused on students’ problems and their strategies in writing procedural essays. this study focused on writing and investigated students’ problems and their strategies in writing procedural essays. the study was limited to writing implemented in procedural writing course at english language education program (elep), universitas kristen satya wacana. therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the problems faced by students of english education programs and their strategies in writing procedural essays, especially in procedural writing courses. hopefully, the result of this study could be useful for students who need to write procedural essays. through this study, students could know the strategies to overcome the problems, and teachers could know the problems which were faced by the students in writing and help them to solve the problems. then, this study was aimed to answer the research questions: (1) what problems do students face in writing procedural essays? (2) what are students’ strategies to overcome the problems in writing procedural essays? literature review the definition of writing in learning english, there are four basic skills that need to be achieved by students. those skills are listening, reading, speaking, and writing. writing is one of the productive skills that need to be emphasized in learning english. according to al asmari (2013), writing is a language skill that is very important for academic success. in other words, writing is essential because without good writing skills, students will not be able to express themselves or communicate well. in addition, batalla (2019) explained that students’ writing ability is crucial to their academic performance because writing ability plays a great part in many activities, such as examinations, assignments, and reports. writing is an activity that requires the ability to compose words into sentences. then, the students need a lot of efforts to do this activity. before writing, students need more time to think of an idea. nunan (2003, as cited in novariana, sumardi, & tarjana, 2018, p.216) stated that writing is the process of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 366 thinking to construct ideas and think about how to express and arrange the ideas into a good statement and clear paragraph. for many writers, writing is a way to express ideas, feelings, and thoughts into written form. here, mcmahan et al. (2016), as cited in toba, noor, and sanu (2019) also claimed that the aims of writing are to express the writer’s feeling, and for entertaining, informing, and persuading the readers. therefore, in the writing process, the students must have enough ideas and need to think about how their ideas can be understood by the readers. from the explanation, it could be concluded that writing is the process where the writers put their ideas, thoughts, and opinions into meaningful sentences. the definition of procedural texts there are various types of english texts that should be learned by students. one of them is procedural texts. in the english language education program (elep) in a private university in central java, indonesia,, there is a writing course called procedural writing. this writing course equips the students with knowledge and skills in composing procedural texts. in procedural writing classes, the students are introduced about two types of procedural text. those are directional and informational. according to anderson (1997, as cited in artyani, bharati, & sofwan, 2014, p.131), procedural text is a piece of text that is designed to inform the reader about how to do something. in general, there are three definitions of procedure text. first, procedure text is a text that gives the reader instruction on how to make something or how to do a particular activity such as cooking recipes and rules of games. second, procedure text is a text that explains how something works; for example, how to use a camera. the last is that procedure text can be a text which deals with human behavior (murtisari & sumakul, 2017, p.1). prasetya (2017) also states that the purpose of procedure text is to show how something works through a sequence of steps or instructions which enable the readers to achieve the result. then, it could be concluded that procedure text is a text that describes how to do something by using a sequence of steps or actions. problems in writing courses since english in indonesia is considered as a foreign language, writing in english becomes a challenging task for efl students. hence, there are many problems that students encounter in writing courses. abu (2001, as cited in alfaki, 2015, p.46) said that for native and non-native speakers, writing is a complicated skill because the writers have to balance some issues related to content, organization, purpose, audiences, vocabulary, spelling, punctuation marks and mechanics. for many efl learners, writing is the most difficult skill to be mastered. so in the process of writing, the students have to pay attention to their skills in generating, planning, and organizing. among the many problems the students face in writing, one of them is related to vocabulary like word choice. when writing in english, many students are confused about choosing the appropriate word based on their writing context. reynolds & anderson (2015) as cited in kao & reynolds (2017), mention that even when writers find that they can use proper words to express their ideas, they find themselves using a limited number of words or phrases again and again. it llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 367 means that in the writing process the students tend to use the english words that they already know. according to al-khasawneh & huwari (2013), there are four reasons behind the weakness of writing, such as lack of general understanding, lack of grammatical knowledge, less practice, and educational background. due to limited grammatical knowledge, many students are often afraid of making errors while writing in english in the classroom. thus, students are unable to write down their ideas well, and it will affect their writing quality. moreover, lack of writing practice also becomes one of the reasons why students face difficulties in writing courses. since writing is not an easy activity, students have to practice writing continuously. this statement is also supported by alfaki (2015), who explains that students must take the responsibility for their learning, so that in order to become a good writer, the students need to do a lot of practice. another problem that students face in writing courses is that they do not have any ideas to start writing. sometimes, the topics given are too difficult for students. then, students will be unable to write anything on their paper. byrne (1988:2), as cited in alfaki (2015) believes that most writers are less likely to generate good writing if they have to write something they are not interested in. students are not motivated to write in english if the topic seems unfamiliar to them. davis (1998, as cited in alfaki, 2015, p.47) also suggests that students will be encouraged to write if they are given a writing task that helps them to be motivated. students’ strategies in procedural writing course for efl students, learning to write in english is very important because the aim of writing is that students can communicate with others in a written way. however, writing in english is not easy. many students faced difficulties when they were asked to write in english. therefore, the use of strategies in the writing process is crucial for improving students' writing ability. there are writing strategies that students can use in the writing process. those are planning, revising, and editing. graham and perin (2006, as cited in al asmari, 2013, p.131) state that writing strategies instruction involves the strategies for planning, revising, and editing the writing compositions. before writing, the writers can start planning by creating an outline. then, planning can be defined as a process when the writers start to think or brainstorm about ideas or topics for their essay writing. planning will also help the students to generate ideas or topics that interest them. if the students choose the topic that interests them, it will be easier for them to write. chai (2006, as cited in al asmari, 2013, p.131) emphasizes that generating a writing plan will be beneficial for the writers before they start writing a composition. similarly, maarof & murat (2013) explain that students need to know how to brainstorm to generate ideas and plans by making good outlines before they start writing. the second strategy in the writing process is by revising what has been written. abdullah (2009) believes that the key to producing good essay writing relies on the types, the amount of strategies, and the regulation of the strategies used to generate ideas or revise what has been written. revision is a vital strategy for the students during the writing process. toba, et al (2019) explained that revision is the process of reorganizing the ideas that have already been written in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 368 order to make it stronger by adding missing information, correcting spelling mistakes, and even deleting the ideas until getting clear. in the revising stage, the students have to reread each paragraph so that they can make some revisions by adding or removing words or phrases. by doing revisions, it helped the students to reflect on what has been written on their paper. the last strategy is editing their draft. in editing, the students have to edit their writing and focus on correcting errors such as word choice, spelling, punctuation, and grammar. as chien (2010), claims that the skilled students in his study focus on revising and editing their writing (as cited in maarof & murat, 2013, p. 48). in editing, it is important for students to edit their writing very carefully. besides, to get the best result in writing, the students can ask for feedback from their teacher or their friends. issacson (1996, as cited in almukdad, 2019, p. 301) believes that the role of teachers' feedback is crucial for the students to reinforce new learned skills and correct recurring problems. method context of the study the research was conducted in english language education program (elep) in a private university in central java, indonesia, in procedural writing classes. it was conducted in the second semester for the first-year students. the research focused on investigating the students’ problems in writing procedural essays as well as their strategies to overcome the problems. participants the participants of this study were the first-year students of the english language education program (elep) who took procedural writing class in the second semester of the 2020/2021 academic year. the first-year students were chosen because it would be their first experience in writing procedural essays. besides, if the participants were taken from senior students, they might have forgotten the moments and their experiences in procedural writing class. the study was conducted in all three classes of procedural writing course as the researchers needed to collect enough data from the participants. the total number of participants for this research was 27 students. for the interview, the researchers used purposive sampling where the five students were selected because they were willing to do the interview and easy to contact. methodology this study was conducted by using a qualitative method. the qualitative method was chosen because the researchers wanted to get profound answers regarding students’ problems in writing procedural essays as well as their strategies to overcome those problems. since the study was conducted in the pandemic situation of covid-19, the researchers distributed the questionnaires to students of procedural writing course by using the google form. to collect the data from the interview, the researchers used whatsapp calls and a voice recorder. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 369 data collection instruments to collect the data, questionnaires and interview protocols were used as research instruments. the questionnaire was divided into two sections; closeended and open-ended. for close-ended questionnaires, a likert scale with four options like strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree was used. furthermore, the reason for using open-ended questionnaires was that the researchers wanted to know more deeply about the students' problems in writing procedural essays as well as their strategies to overcome their problems. the questionnaire was adapted and developed from al-khasawneh & huwari (2013); al-seyabi (2014); alfaki (2015); raoofi, binandeh, & rahmani (2017); toba, noor & sanu (2019). the following were parts of the instrument adopted from their studies: table 1. list statements of possible problems students faced in essay writing. no statements adapted from 1. my biggest problem in writing is not having enough ideas about the topics that the teacher asks us to write about. al-seyabi, 2014 2. i find it difficult to write english without any practice. alkhasawneh & huwari (2013) 3. i find it difficult to write because i still lack grammatical knowledge. alfaki, 2015 4. i have problems in selecting suitable words because i still lack vocabulary knowledge toba, noor, & sanu ( 2019) table 2. list statements of possible strategies students used in essay writing. no statements adapted from 1. i prepare an outline before i write an essay al-seyabi,2014 2. i revise my writing to make sure that it includes everything i want to discuss in my writing. raoofi, binandeh, & rahmani (2017) moreover, semi-structured interviews would be used in this research. this instrument was selected because it allowed the participants to be free in answering questions. using semi-structured interviews, the researchers could get rapid answers and ask for clarification and further explanations from the participants (belkhir & benyelles, 2017). data collection procedures the researchers followed some procedures to obtain the data. firstly, the researchers contacted the course coordinator and the lectures from procedural writing class through gmail in order to ask their permission to conduct this study. then, by using google form, the questionnaires were distributed to the participants. after the participants had finished filling out the questionnaires, they were selected for the interview session. the 5 participants were selected by looking at their answers in the questionnaire and their willingness to be interviewed. besides, the interviewees were taken from the students who faced llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 370 many problems writing procedural essays based on the result of the questionnaires. findings and discussion in this chapter, the researchers presented the result of data analysis as an answer to two research questions. the discussion section is divided into two themes. the first section discusses the problems faced by students in writing procedural essays. the second section discusses the strategies used by the students in overcoming the problems in writing procedural essays. problems faced by students in writing procedural essays based on the result of the questionnaire, there were some problems that students faced in writing procedural essays. the researchers categorized the statements of the problems into three sub-themes. those are problems of topic development, problems with vocabulary, and problems with grammar. the discussion about those problems would be explained below by adding some excerpts from the interview result. problems of topic development the first problem faced by students in writing procedural essays is the problem of topic development. according to the students' responses in the questionnaire, they had problems in deciding the topic, writing on an unfamiliar topic, and writing an essay with the topic they were not interested in. therefore, about 18 students agreed that they had a problem in deciding the topic for the essay. it happened because they were often confused about choosing the appropriate topic for their essay. since there were a vast amount of possible topics, students could only choose one for their essay writing. as one of the students explained: (excerpt 1) “since there are various topics, sometimes i get confused to decide which topic is suitable for my essay.” (interview session/ student 3/ february 28, 2021) the other participant, student 4, stated something different from student 3. (excerpt 2) “…as we need to work in pairs in writing procedural essays, sometimes for deciding the topic, i had to discuss it with my friend to make sure whether the topic we chose is appropriate or not……..sometimes when we have already decided on the topic for the essay, we also found it challenging to write a thesis statement in a correct way.” (interview session/ student 4/ february 28, 2021) excerpt 1 and excerpt 2 clearly explained that the students had problems deciding the topic for their essay because there were various topics, and they had to discuss the topic with their pairs. besides, even when they had managed to choose one topic for their essay, it was not easy to write. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 371 then, the result of the questionnaire (see figure 1) also revealed that 25 students found it difficult to write an essay if they did not understand the topic and 23 students agreed that they had difficulty writing an essay with the topic they were not interested in. the students believed that the topic they chose would affect the result of their writing. this can be seen from the following statement from student 2. (excerpt 3) “so, writing an essay with an unfamiliar topic will affect my writing result, and i need to put more effort into understanding the topic…. writing an essay with a topic that is not interesting to me will also affect my writing. since i do not really like the topic….. it will be difficult for me to write an essay." (interview session/ student 2/ february 27, 2021) problems with vocabulary vocabulary became the second problem faced by students in writing procedural essays. based on the students’ responses in the questionnaire, about 19 students agreed that they had problems in writing essays because they still lacked vocabulary knowledge. the students explained that writing an essay could be very challenging for them if they only knew a few words in english. also, 21 students had problems in choosing appropriate vocabulary when writing the essay. the student explained: (excerpt 4) “i found it difficult to write because my vocabulary is limited…i did not know some words in english” (interview session/ student 1/ february 27, 2021) the other student also explained: (excerpt 5) “vocabulary is important for essay writing then, due to limited vocabulary, my writing process is getting stuck." (interview session/ student 2/ february 27, 2021) problems with grammar another problem faced by students in writing procedural essays was grammar. based on the result of the questionnaire, about 19 students agreed that they found it difficult to write the essay with correct grammatical (see figure 3). the students explained that in essay writing, grammar has become something important. so that lack of grammatical knowledge could lead the students to face difficulty in the writing process. this can be seen from student 2’s statement: (excerpt 6) “in my opinion, grammar is important in writing the essay because later on, it affects the result of the essay…..but i am not really confident about the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 372 grammar skill that i have so far…. i am afraid of making mistake.” (interview session/ student 2/ february 27, 2021) one of the students, student 5, also stated: (excerpt 7) "since my grammar is still poor, i am not able to write in a good way" (interview session/ student 5/ march 5, 2021) based on excerpt 6 and 7, it could be seen that the students had less confidence about grammar skills and how it could affect them in writing procedural essay. thus, the students need to be more careful in writing the essay because if they made a grammar mistake, their writing would be misunderstood. the result of the questionnaire also revealed that 18 students have problems in composing english sentences due to lack of grammatical knowledge (see figure 3). as two students explained in the following statements: (excerpt 8) "it is because...i have been using bahasa indonesia for the very first time…….so it would not be easy if in english" (interview session/student 3/february 28, 2021) (excerpt 9) "i have not passed basic grammar class, so i do not really understand the grammar…. i have to check my grammar, whether it is correct or not." (interview session/ student 4/ february 28, 2021) students' strategies to overcome the problems in writing procedural essays according to the student's responses in the questionnaire, there were certain strategies that might help them overcome the problems in writing procedural essays. those strategies were made an outline before writing, checked on their writing before submitting, learned from teachers' feedback, and asked some friends for help. in this finding, the researchers only focused on discussing the most common strategies used by students in writing procedural essays. receiving teacher feedback about 27 students agreed that they liked receiving the teachers' feedback on their writing. they assumed that teachers' feedback could be an effective strategy to overcome the problems in writing procedural essays. besides, the students could learn from the given feedback and improve their writing. this can be seen from the following statements from three students. (excerpt 10) "it helped a lot because we could know the mistake and know how to correct it" (interview session/ student 3/ february 28, 2021) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 373 (excerpt 11) "so, the lecturer always gives feedback… like on the sentences which are not effective or incorrect grammar… so it could be corrected again." (interview session/ student 2/ february 27, 2021) (excerpt 12) "so if we had done with the first draft, we submitted it and then received feedback… the lecturer corrected the draft and gave suggestions… so that the final draft would be good." (interview session/ student 4/ february 28, 2021) making an outline another students' strategy is making an outline. the result of the questionnaire revealed that 25 students agreed that preparing the outline before writing could help them overcome the problems in writing procedural essays. as two students explained in the following excerpts. (excerpt 13) "for me, it helped. since we had to make an outline first, we knew what we were going to write later on." (interview session/ student 5 / march 5, 2021) (excerpt 14) "so by outlining we knew the steps, and what we were going to write after this, it would be more organized." (interview session / student 4 / february 28, 2021) asking some friends the next strategy was asking some friends. about 17 students chose this strategy to overcome their problems in writing procedural essays. the students explained that with the help of their friends, they could improve their writing. as one of the students stated: (excerpt 15) "....there were some of my friends whose grammar was better than mine, so i asked my friends to correct the grammar…..and i found it easier to work on the essay" (interview session/ student 2/ february 27, 2021) discussion from the findings on problems related to topic development, it could be seen that the students had problems in writing essays if they were not familiar and not interested in the topic of writing. besides, when students had selected the topic, they realized that they could not write anything on it. this explanation is in line with pablo and lasaten's (2018) statement that students have difficulty that leads them to lack confidence in writing about the topic. it implies that students need to be familiar with the topic first before they write their essays. then, yugianingrum (2010), as cited in al badi (2015), suggested that students should also select what interests them in writing so that they can focus on the quality of their writing. in other words, it is important for students to select the topic of writing that really llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 374 interests them. here, figure 1 is the diagram that shows the problems of topic development. figure 1: student’s questionnaire answer about the problems of topic development next, based on the research findings dealing with vocabulary problems, it could be concluded that students had problems in word choice due to a lack of english vocabulary. students found themselves having a limited number of words because they did not know some words in english. as a result, they could not find the appropriate vocabulary to write. this finding is in line with al seyabi’s (2014) statement that the biggest problem in writing an essay is choosing the right words to express the idea. similar to rababah (2003)’s opinion, as cited in al-khairy (2013), students often lack the appropriate vocabulary when writing. as a result, they were unable to express their ideas accurately in their writing due to their limited vocabulary. as support, figure 2 showed that students had problems related to vocabulary, taken from the result of the questionnaire. figure 2: students’ questionnaire answer about the problems with vocabulary llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 375 dealing with grammatical problems, it was shown that about 19 students experienced writing problems because their understanding of the grammar was still poor. the students often struggled with grammar because they realized that the structure of bahasa indonesia and english were different. this result is in line with afrin's (2016) finding that grammatical weakness is the main problem faced by students, so there is no doubt that an understanding of grammar is necessary for writing english. besides, it is also in line with the result of darus and ching’s (2009) study that the most common errors that students committed were basically grammatical, and it happened because when writing the essay, students were very influenced by their first language. figure 3 showed that students had problems related to grammar; it was taken from the result of the questionnaire. figure 3: students’ questionnaire answer about the problems with grammar about the strategies to overcome the difficulties, from student 2, 3, and 4's statements, it could be concluded that teacher feedback was essential for the students to solve their writing problems. besides, the students could know their mistake from the feedback, and it could help them not repeat the same mistake again. this is consistent with issacson (1996), as cited in al-mukdad (2019) who believed that the role of teachers' feedback is crucial for the students to reinforce newly learned skills and correct recurring problems. according to the students' statements on making outline as another strategy, it could be concluded that making the outline before starting to write the essay was absolutely important. it allowed the students to plan and organize their ideas so that they knew what needs to be done in essay writing. this is in line with al fadda (2012), as cited in al badi (2015), who assumed that preparing an outline before starting to write, and following the writing stages such as planning, writing, and revising might help the writer to perform better in writing. asking some friends became another strategy that the students did to overcome their problems. student 2 clearly explained that to overcome problems in writing, she asked some friends who understand more about grammar. based on the statement above, suggestions from friends could also help the student make some improvements in writing. therefore, this is in line with yastibas and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 376 yastibas' (2015) study that peer feedback could reduce students' anxiety because it allowed them to work collaboratively with other friends so that the students could learn from each other. therefore, as shown in the research findings of the study, it could be reported that students had problems in writing procedural essays. based on the result of the study, the students had problems in determining the writing topic, selecting appropriate words, and composing english sentences. it can be concluded that language problems still became the major issues that these procedural writing students struggled with. hence, the first thing that needs to be done to help the students overcome the problems in writing procedural essays is to give feedback to improve their writing. since feedback is considered an effective strategy to overcome writing problems, it is suggested that teachers should always provide feedback to their students as much as possible. the student participants also stated that they had limited vocabulary and had difficulty composing english sentences. then, to enrich their vocabulary, the students should use their time to check the dictionary to look up the meaning of difficult words. at the same time, the teachers could help the students by introducing them to a wide range of important words that could be used in essay writing. moreover, the teachers could also help the students by providing the writing materials that encourage them to improve their writing. considering that the first-year students of the procedural writing courses still had problems writing procedural essays, the teacher should encourage the students to practice writing activities as much as possible, even in their free time. besides, there is no doubt that good writing depends on the mastery of grammar, so the students should be given many opportunities to practice writing in the target language. conclusion this research found out that there were three problems experienced by students in writing procedural essays. the first problem experienced by students was problems of topic development. in this problem, the students faced difficulties, such as deciding the topic for their essay, writing an essay with unfamiliar topics, and writing an essay with the topics they were not interested in. the second problem was problems with vocabulary. the students faced this problem due to lack of vocabulary knowledge, and they also had difficulty in choosing appropriate vocabulary. the last was problems with grammar. the grammatical problems might come out because the student's understanding of grammar was still poor, and they found it difficult to compose english sentences. this research also examined the strategies used by students to overcome those problems. those strategies were receiving feedback from the teachers, making an outline before writing, and asking some friends for help. the students felt that these strategies could help them to minimize their problems and improve their essay writing. therefore, the result of this research was expected to benefit the students when they had to write the procedural essay. however, this research has limitations. this research only focused on students' problems and strategies in writing procedural essays. future researchers hopefully will explore teachers' strategies to overcome the problems faced by students in writing procedural essays. also, another limitation is the instruments llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 1, october 2021 377 used in this research. the students’ data were collected through questionnaires and interviews. thus, the findings reflected more on language problems and did not include enough essential writing aspects. future researchers can collect data through writing 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(2015). the effect of peer feedback on writing anxiety in turkish efl (english as a foreign language) students. procedia social and behavioral sciences, 530-538. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.07.543 ( retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net on march 10, 2021) http://150.107.142.43/index.php/english/article/view/1513 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/erjee/article/view/113 http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/jltr.0801.24 http://doi.org/10.21093/di.v19i1.1506 https://www.researchgate.net/ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 142-152 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 142 comparing lexical density in teacher talks: elementary school and higher education level *nyak mutia ismail1, marisa yoestara2, and sitti jamilah3 1,2serambi mekkah university, indonesia 3universitas terbuka, indonesia nyakmutiaismail@serambimekkah.ac.id1, marisa.yoestara@serambimekkah.ac.id2, and sittijamilah@ecampus.ut.ac.id3 *correspondence: nyakmutiaismail@serambimekkah.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.4971 received 7 august 2022; accepted 22 march 2023 abstract teacher talk must be specific, clear, concise, and comprehensible for students as the target interlocutors. this study aimed to characterize lexical density in teacher talks of elementary school teachers and university lecturers during teaching. a qualitative descriptive technique was used involving lexico-grammar analysis from an sfl perspective. the subjects of this study were three elementary school teachers (6th-grade teachers) and three university lecturers (english lecturers) who were voluntarily recorded during their teaching time; once for each. hence, the object of this study is the transcriptions of teacher talks from these six research subjects which were then analyzed using documentation techniques of data analysis namely selection, categorization, classification, identification, and verification. the results show that the lexical density used in elementary school teacher talk is 42.65% (low) and that one employed at the university level is 36.76% (low). unexpectedly, the rate for elementary school is somewhat higher than that for the university level. this case appears to have an intervening aspect because the elementary school is an international school. it is learned that an educational institution—regardless of its level—with a distinct learning target would certainly influence the lexical density employed in the teachers’ spoken discourse during classes. keywords: elt, lexical density, systemic functional grammar, spoken discourse introduction the primary objective of language instruction is to improve the communicative ability of the students. communication competence is the capacity to generate interactions with other people or simply to be able to respond. the interaction may appear to be an easy task, but numerous hurdles must be overcome for students to develop their language skills. menegale (2008) discovered that teachers commonly continue to dominate class discussions. it is the most typical and traditional classroom practice that occurs during the teaching and learning process. this is further supported by the findings of ryu and sung (2005), who found that teacher talk dominated the majority of the teaching and mailto:nyakmutiaismail@serambimekkah.ac.id mailto:marisa.yoestara@serambimekkah.ac.id mailto:sittijamilah@ecampus.ut.ac.id mailto:nyakmutiaismail@serambimekkah.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.4971 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 142-152 143 learning process in the classroom. the investigation revealed that the teacher adopted and utilized elicitation, response, and feedback in a systematic manner. therefore, the pupils lacked sufficient time and opportunities for expressing and exploring their ideas and expressions. according to yanfen and yuqin (2010), the success of teaching is dependent to a great part on the method in which teachers communicate with learners—or the way the teacher talk is utilized. organizing simple and easy-to-understand discourses during the teaching and learning process is an essential component of teaching a foreign language, and teacher talks not only determine how well they presented their topic but also ensure that students would learn effectively. it is understood that teacher talk was crucial to the teaching and learning process in the classroom. consequently, teachers might utilize teacher talk to engage their students, such as by posing questions and providing comments. the active engagement of students in the classroom rises as a result of receiving feedback on their contributions. teachers are not suggested to employ complex terminologies. technical language is difficult for learners to understand. due to the language's intricacy, there is a propensity to not understand it at all. written text and spoken text have a difference in density. written texts often have a dense lexicon, but this does not always mean the reader will understand. most do not, especially students. on the other hand, spoken text is then understood to be easier to pick up, particularly in the teaching and learning process (mufidah & wenanda, 2017). lexical density and word content are connected linguistically. as it is well known, vocabulary can be divided into content terms and function words depending on their purpose. thornbury and slade (2006) state the content word has meaning and referent, while the function word has a function in the formation of grammar. communication between teachers and students is essential in english learning, specifically, and in all learning processes in general. it denotes the process of exchanging information, opinions, ideas, recommendations, and experiences. it emphasizes the importance of communication between instructors and students in the classroom (sukmawati, 2018). it is critical in encouraging pupils to attain their english learning objectives. teachers can examine their students' learning growth by observing the quality of interaction between instructors and students, as well as between students and their peers. shomoossi et al. (2008), classroom engagement can help foreign language learners develop the level and quality of their language more easily and quickly. it implies that a conversation can affect their language learning process. since language students in a classroom can use the target language for a variety of different purposes, including talking to the teacher and other students, one way to understand students' language is to look at how they use it to communicate during lessons, which has a big impact on how their language skills develop (stubbs, 2002). so, teacher talk is important because it is a way for teachers to interact with their students while teaching and to organize classroom activities (yanfen & yuqin, 2010). they also say that repetitions, prompts, queries, and explorations are some of the ways teachers often talk to get students to interact more. in teaching and learning activities, teachers play key roles as language models for pupils to copy. according to arrumaisa et al. (2019), talks during the teaching process need to be tied to socio-cultural elements. language and sociocultural components of relationships can be explained to lead to the outcome llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 142-152 144 of social agreement and; an increase in language competency which can be achieved or learned through the social environment; the language is utilized for social interaction; and the act of language is impacted by language norms that apply in a certain language community. under this circumstance, it cannot be denied that a teacher engages in certain communication and verbal actions during the teaching process, such as explaining materials, asking and answering questions, and providing instruction. these all will undoubtedly assist students in doing similar things while performing classroom interactions designated by the teacher. consequently, teacher talks should be explicit, clear, simple, and easy to comprehend. in concern to this term, systemic functional grammar has a theoretical perspective under the sub-concentration of the lexico-grammar concept. from the standpoint of sfl, lexical density, and grammatical intricacy are common qualities that characterize language complexity (halliday, 1994). while lexical density is a frequent element of written language and scientific discourse, grammatical intricacy is the complexity of spoken language (halliday, 2004). the complexity of written language is defined by lexical density, whereas the complexity of spoken language is defined by grammatical intricacy. as a result, no style of communication is more complicated than the other; rather, each is complex in its way. spoken language is dynamic and complicated, but written language is stagnant and thick. however, this study employs the lexical density to spoken discourse, which is teacher talk to see the extent of density employed by elementary school teachers and lecturers. in certain forms of spoken discourse, a large number of content words may also be present, but they are dispersed throughout several clauses as opposed to written discourse, where they are densely packed (nichols, 2009). simply said, lexical density is a measure of how informative and understandable a text is. lexical items are nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs (halliday, 2008), while grammatical items are pronouns, determiners, finite verbs, and some classes of adverbs. lexical density is measured by the ratio of the total lexical items to the total ranking clauses (johansson, 2008). a higher percentage of lexical density shows that the text is rather hard to understand and becomes less informative for the listeners. the following is provided an example of a high and low percentage of lexical density. example 1: the fast black dog jumped quickly over the fat rabbit. the lexical words (nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs) are in bold and underlined. there are precisely 7 lexical words out of 10 total words. the lexical density of the sentence above is therefore 70%. example 2: he told her that he loved her. the lexical density of the above sentence is 2 lexical words out of 7 total words, for a lexical density of 28.57%. this kind of sentence is mostly found in spoken discourse where context is supportive of the pronouns employed. this kind of sentence is almost impossible in a written text. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 142-152 145 at the level of discourse semantics, the adoption of lexical items conveys meaning or experience about the world realized as a register variable of field, which governs the ideational metafunction of language, just as lexical density helps compress meaning in a grammatical structure (jorgensen & phillips, 2002; saragih, 2013). according to studies, printed writings have a higher density than spoken messages (eggins, 2004). written language has a higher lexical density than spoken language. this is unsurprising that written language is more explanatory and will naturally contain more information-bearing, lexical terms, and more words to give further details to an object or concept. in addition, spoken language is extremely context-dependent and depends on nonverbal clues, reducing the number of lexical words necessary to express an idea. the reader is encouraged to check this out when they are performing a reading. the average lexical density of the reading materials examined was around 55%. however, it is not necessary at all when they are listening as context provides every detail needed. the average lexical density of the interview transcripts examined is around 45%. the most potential problem rising in this term is that most students do not understand what their teachers or lecturers are trying to convey (mulyati, 2013). there are several reasons showing students seemingly do not understand a lesson, namely: they may not have background knowledge of the lesson in particular or in general, and they may have communication issues regarding language being used during the explanation because too high and technical terms can be challenging for students, they may be not interested in the subject being explained because the subject is not relatable, or relevant to their current necessities and situation, the teachers may be unprepared, or other external factors can also take place, such as a disability, stress, hunger, homelessness, family issues or social or/and cultural isolation. the actor currently being highlighted in this study is the potential problem in terms of communication issues, especially those regarding teacher talks during the teacher or lecturer’s explanation. there have been various studies conducted on the topic of teacher talk. first, is a study by afifah et al. (2017). the study aimed to determine the types of teacher talk utilized by english teachers during classroom interaction and to determine how students viewed teacher talk in the classroom. the population of this study consisted of 162 seventh-grade students; after which were chosen using purposive sampling, 32 students were decided to be taken as the sample. the data was gathered by observation and questionnaire. the results of this study demonstrated that the teacher utilized several types of a teacher speaking while asking questions and providing comments. regarding the students' perceptions of the teacher's talk, the students agreed that the teacher uses all of the feedback except for ignoring it. solita et al. (2021) also conducted a study on teacher talk. this study shed light on teacher talk categories and the frequency of teacher talk employed in the classroom. using a mixed-method approach, this study was conducted in bengkulu with the data in the form of a documentation video conceiving classroom teacher-student interactions. the result shows that the highest frequency of teacher talk employed in the classroom was questioning— around 55.6% and the least employed were correcting without rejection and criticizing student behavior. this implies that indirect influence was more engaged compared to direct influence. another study was also conducted by xiaollt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 142-152 146 yan (2006) in a chinese university regarding the use of teacher talks in the classroom. the study tried to find out variables that have been impacted by the use of teacher talk so that teachers can put advanced portrayals to their talks in the classroom. the results revealed several factors that are influenced; they are learners’ opportunity, the provision of comprehensible input for language learners, and meaning negotiation. from those studies presented, it has been found limited research results on the topic of lexico-grammatical analysis in teacher talks. consequently, this study was aimed at finding out the data of such analysis in teacher talk which is eventually stated as the research novelty presented in this study. moreover, this study is considered significant because of two reasons; they are the theoretical and practical reason. theoretically, the results can later add to the dynamics of lexico-grammatical analysis inter-disciplinarily in its implementation with elt pedagogy or teaching and learning in general. practically, the results can be as a knowledge reference for teachers or lecturers to switch their language registers when teaching different levels of learners. besides, future researchers can also benefit from the results as additional readings in case they have similar research interests as the one spotted in this study. thus, from the rationale above, the following research question has been formulated: what is the level of lexical density in teacher talks performed by elementary school teachers and university lecturers? do they employ different level of density because of different level of learners—young learners and adolescent learners? method as the objective of this study is to characterize lexical density in teacher talk of elementary schools and university lecturers, the authors employed a qualitative descriptive approach. specifically speaking, qualitative descriptive usage in this study is seen as a social phenomenon that occurred in classroom engagements. the descriptive qualitative approach promotes the describing process and analyzing phenomena or circumstances (creswell, 2012). a descriptive technique was used to seek lexical density and other related issues like the distribution of content words in the introduction section of the thesis proposal written by english graduate students. there were 6 teachers altogether involved as the subjects in this study—three of them were elementary school teachers and the other three are university lecturers. they were recorded for one meeting for each and their teacher talk is presented as the object of this study. the data analysis was going through these steps: selection, categorization, classification, identification, and verification. the lexical density level was determined by using ure’s (1971) lexical density level as shown below. table 1. lexical density level (ure, 1971) no lexical density percentage 1 ≥70% very high 2 61-70% high 3 51-50% moderate 4 41-50% low llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 142-152 147 the table above clarifies that if the average percentage of discourse is between the range of 41-50%, it is categorized as low-density discourse, or in other words: the discourse is easy to comprehend. as the average percentage increases, the density is also considered to increase. it is learned that a discourse with 51-50% of lexical density can be moderately understood, and so on (ure, 1971). findings and discussion the result of the analysis is provided in the table below. the table provides data from six respondents with certain codes, namely ele-1 for elementary school teacher number 1, and so on; and uni-1 for university lecturer number 1, and so on. table 2. overall results subject’s code lexical words non-lexical words lexical density level (ure, 1971) remark ele-1 14 18 43.75% low low ele-2 18 24 42.85% low ele-3 12 17 41.37 % low total 14.66 19.66 42.65% uni-1 18 22 45% low low uni-2 16 31 34.04% low uni-3 15 33 31.25% low total 49 86 36.76% the table above demonstrates that, at a glance, both levels have a low lexical density in total which are 42.65% for the elementary school level and 36.76% for the university level. this means that they utilized the spoken discourse which is easily understandable by their students. of all respondents, ele-2 used the highest density, which is 43.75% on average. this respondent employed 14 lexical words and 18 nonlexical words. then it is followed by ele-2 with 42.85% and ele-3 with 41.37 %, respectively. it is rather explicit that the average elementary school teacher's talk is lexically denser than those employed by university lecturers—per se both are categorized as low density. uni-1 employed 45% of lexical density, which is the highest density of all; she used 18 lexical words and 22 nonlexical words. uni-2 later followed with a percentage of 34.04%, with the use of 16 lexical words and 31 nonlexical words. last, the least dense teacher talk is the one performed by uni-3 with a percentage of 31.25%, with the use of 15 lexical words and 33 nonlexical words. all this makes the average of 36.76% for the university level. this is in line with ramadhan’s (2017) finding stating that in spoken discourse, the lexical density is low when the grammatical intricacy is high; which is the other condition with written discourse. however, this is in contrast with keumala et al. (2019) who found that teacher talks employed by two teachers in acehnese high school were highly dense. there the first teacher in class a was 63.66% and in class, b was 66.52%, while the second teacher in class a was 71. 74% and in class b was 68.12%. despite its high level of lexical density, they see the teacher talks as productive talks which can initiate students’ comprehension, creativity, and problem-solving ability. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 142-152 148 below are provided excerpts from the respondents. ele-1.17: “we need to eat healthy food, okay? ok. now i want you to give the paper and sit on your chair now. here! done? ok, next. you need to think yesterday that you see your friends, what did they eat? what did they eat yesterday at school lunch? and today, what also do they eat? i call everyone, open your book. ok. page 65, activity book page 65. okay? done? there a chant, then decide and write your favorite menu there. khalid, ok? please behave yourself! i not, go outside from here. i want you to write down your favorite menu, is that healthy or unhealthy? it’s up to you. i don’t know your menu. now i give you 2 minutes. do it!” ele-1.17 is the code for elementary teacher number 1, and token number 17. the excerpt above shows that english was used as the delivering language. there are 55 lexical words in the sentences. there were 112 words in total; so that, the lexical density is 49.10%. ele-2.24: “this is a plane, okay? look at this, i underline it on the whiteboard. the boys using is this and the father reply is this. you got it? so when i ask you, what is this? this is a marker. what is that? that is a pen. do you understand?”. ele-2.24 is the code for elementary teacher number 2, token number 24. from the excerpt above, it can be seen that english was also used as the delivering language. there are 12 lexical words from the sentence chunks. there were 50 words in total; so the lexical density is 24%. the analysis was not made per sentence as in spoken language; there is no clear partition between one sentence to another. hence, the analysis was made through chunks produced by the teachers and lecturers. ele-3.13: “you ask to check the homework and then number 4 is good and would leave. number 4 exercise 3, if you ask exercise 3 because it is your own opinion. how many question circle? exercise 3, 1, 2, 3, check. did you answer exercise 4?” ele-3.13 is the code for elementary teacher number 3, token number 13. the excerpt shows that there are 17 lexical words from the sentence chunks. there were 45 words in total; so the lexical density is 37.77%. uni-1.102: “bukankah itu menjadi topik utama? kenapa? karena tembakau itu membawa penyakit yang mematikan. coba. coba ini dulu, ditelaah. mana kalimat pendukung? mana ide pokok?” uni-1.101 is the code for university lecturer number 1, token number 101. the excerpt shows that the lexical density is 54.16%—which is considered moderate as there are 13 lexical words from the sentence chunks and there were 24 words in total. indeed, uni-1 has the highest total percentage of all. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 142-152 149 uni-2.157: “tapi sekarang aja kita uda bisa belajar tanpa teacher, ya kan, karena pandemik. jadi kita hanya belajar melalui dunia maya secara online. bisa jadi kedepannya kita, anak-anak kita, akan diajarkan oleh robot. apa namanya? artificial intelligence. itu kita ngomong soal education sama technology-nya. jadi harus banyak membaca. so, this is the result from your speaking skill. eeeerrr before i ask you to send video, when you record your video, errr i think you put your concept on your mobile phone.” uni-2.157 is the code for university lecturer number 2, token number 157. the excerpt shows that the lexical density is 43.58%—which is considered moderate as there are 34 lexical words from the sentence chunks and there were 78 words in total. uni-3.140: “iya kan? nah, berarti caranya adalah anda pertama discuss tentang ini. dibaginya ya, dibaginya langsung ya. karena nanti di introductory-nya ada caranya. ini kita harus parafrase, ketika parafrase, itu maksudnya bagaimana? gimana? parafrase itu gimana? apa itu parafrase? okay?” uni-2.157 is the code for university lecturer number 2, token number 157. the excerpt shows that the lexical density is 30.76%—which is considered moderate as there are 12 lexical words from the sentence chunks and there were 39 words in total. from the excerpts provided above, there are two clear actualities. first, the delivering language used in elementary school was english. this school was indeed an international school using the cambridge curriculum which has a high demand for the learning product. in addition, the use of english as delivering language was compulsory for all teachers and all subjects at this school. meanwhile, university lecturers, used the indonesian language as delivering language in their classes, per se the major being taught was the english department. minor code switching and code mixings were employed, though. this was presumably because there is no demand to use english as delivering language in the classroom at that university even though the major is the english department itself. second, the percentage of lexical density portrayed by elementary school teachers was higher on average compared to that of university lecturers—42.65% for elementary school and 36.76% for university level. this signifies that the spoken discourse used by the elementary teachers was more complex and more difficult to understand than that of university lecturers. revisiting the level of education, it needs to be thoughtfully considered for university lecturers to employ a bit higher lexical density to their students as implied by keumala et al. (2019) that higher lexical density has a benefit in initiating comprehension, and critical thinking, as well as creative and solutive thinking. university students are considered to have qualified and mature cognitive ability to process such information from higher lexical discourse. in other words, this condition can be overcome by young learners in elementary school, then adolescent learners at the university will also be able to cope with it, suppose. as pillow (2008) supports that young learners already have four cognition abilities or knowledge: knowledge of mental states, knowledge of occurrence (of a certain activity), knowledge of the organization, and knowledge llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 142-152 150 of epistemology which all can be achieved through cognitive and social activities supporting each other, being engaged hand-in-hand. indeed, adolescent learners bear more than these abilities. the results that have been discussed above, it amplifies several essential implications that need to be acknowledged in teacher talks, particularly by teachers, lecturers, or teaching instructors in general. initially, teachers should pay attention to the portion of the talks. more teacher talks lead to teachercenteredness making students less active in the learning process. abundant teacher talks in the classroom can decrease students’ motivation (maftoon & shakouri, 2012; setiawati, 2012). harmer (2007) further supports that in an effective learning environment, teacher talks should be lessened and student talks should be expanded. later, the teacher should improve teaching techniques that are more student-centered involving more questioning which later leads to drilling and exercises. this promotes active learning to some significant degree. next, the result of this study can increase teachers’ awareness of teacher talk produced by them because teacher talks are taken as a model by students (ismail et al., 2022). teachers need to be more aware of their classroom discourse since students frequently use it as a model for what they should learn both explicitly and implicitly. consolidating that teacher talk can provide a positive learning environment, teachers can be more thoughtful and aware of the use of the talk. the benefit of teacher talk is that it can foster a friendly, supportive environment in the classroom, inspire students to come up with more intricate, meaningful activities, and ultimately help them achieve a far better level of course mastery. the teachers get the opportunity to apply the theories they have studied during this phase. teachers should continue to apply the theories of teaching and learning in the classroom in their proper and decent contexts. conclusion from the result, it is learned that the use of lexical density in teacher talk at a different level of education (elementary school and university level) are both low. it is 42.65% for elementary school and 36.76% for university level. what comes as surprise is the fact that the percentage for elementary school is slightly higher compared to that of university level; this indicates that the language used is denser despite it being targeted at young learners. an important intervening factor is presumably the school itself which is an international elementary school. higher-level of teaching materials is possibly applied. this study has both strengths and limitations. the strength is highlighted in the research urgency of studying the lexical density level of teacher talk. it can help teachers understand a possible factor that can bias students’ understanding, which is their discourse during the material explanation process. hence, this can be a good reflecting point for teachers. on the other hand, this study is not without limitations. since there were only two educational levels involved, the result cannot be moderately generalized. it is expected that teacher talks from another level such as preschool teachers and high school teachers will also be investigated by potential future researchers. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 142-152 151 references afifah, n., yusnilita, n., & resiani, v. r. (2017). an analysis of teacher talk in english classroom interaction of the seventh grade students of smpn 23 oku. english teaching journal, 8(2), 7-28. arrumaisa, e., rusmanayanti, a., arapah, e., & mu’in, f. (2019). the teacher talks in teaching reading comprehension. lingua educatia, 1(1), 2941. creswell, j. w. (2012). educational research: planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4th ed.). boston, ma: pearson. eggins, s. (2004). an introduction to systemic functional linguistics (2nd ed.). london: continuum. halliday, m. a. k. (1994). an introduction to functional grammar (2nd ed.). london: arnold. halliday, m. a. k. (2004). the language of science. london: continuum. halliday, m. a. k. (2008). complementarities in language. beijing: the commercial press. harmer, j. (2007). the practice of english language teaching. harlow: longman. ismail, n. m., moriyanti, m., & kurniadi, s. (2022). standard implicature in teacher talks. in n. m. ismail, a. h. ummah, & r. h. chaniago (eds.), communication today volume 1 (pp. 61-78). banda aceh: syiah kuala university press. johansson, v. (2008). lexical diversity and lexical density in speech and writing. lund university: lund university press. jorgensen, m., & phillips, l. (2002). discourse analysis as theory and method. london: sage publications ltd. keumala, m., fitrisia, d., samad, i., & gani, s. a. (2019). am i getting my point across? microstructure of english classroom discourses by acehnese teachers. studies in english language and education, 9(1), 78-93. https://doi.org/10.24815/siele.v9i1.20954 maftoon, p., & shakouri, n. (2012). the concept of power in teacher talk: a critical discourse analysis. world applied sciences journal 19(8), 1208-1215. menegale, m. (2008). expanding teacher-student interaction through more effective classroom questions: from traditional teacher-fronted lessons to student-centred lessons in clil. ca’ foscari university of venice, italy. mufidah, z., & wenanda, d. (2017). kepadatan leksikal buku ajar muatan lokal bahasa madura untuk kelas vi sekolah dasar. prosodi, 11(2), 109-118. mulyati, a. f. (2013). a study of teacher talk and student talk in verbal classroom interaction to develop speaking skill for young learners. journal of english and education, 1(1), 1-10. nichols, j. (2009). linguistic complexity: a comprehensive definition and survey. in g. sampson, d. gil & p. trudgill (eds.), language complexity as an evolving variable (pp. 110-125). new york: oxford university press. pillow, b. h. (2008). development of children's understanding of cognitive activities. the journal of genetic psychology, 169(4), 297-321. https://www.researchgate.net/journal/studies-in-english-language-and-education-2355-2794 https://doi.org/10.24815/siele.v9i1.20954 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 142-152 152 ramadhan, m. r. (2017). lexical density and grammatical intricacy in written and spoken texts (unpublished master thesis). universitas sumatera utara, medan, indonesia. ryu, y., & sung, k. (2005). teacher talk in an efl university classroom. english teaching, 60(1), 41-68. saragih, a. (2013). discourse analysis: a study on discourse based on systemic functional linguistic theory. medan: state university of medan. setiawati, l. (2012). a descriptive study on the teacher talk at eyl classroom. indonesian journal of applied linguistics, 1(2), 33-48. shomoossi, n., amouzadeh, m., & ketabi, s. (2008). classroom interaction mediated by gender and technology: the language laboratory course. novitasroyal, 2(2), 176–184. solita, r., alamsyah, h., & lubis, a. a. (2021). teacher talk in english foreign language classroom. journal of english education and teaching, 5(2), 303-316. stubbs. m. (2002). words and phrases: corpus studies of lexical semantics. oxford: blackwell publishing. sukmawati, n. n. (2018). teacher talk in teaching english for young learners. jurnal varidika, 30(1), 62-72. thornbury, s., & slade, d. (2006). conversation: from description to pedagogy. cambridge: cambridge university press. ure, j. (1971). lexical density and register differentiation. in g. e. perren & j. l. m. trim (eds.), applications of linguistics (pp. 443-452.). cambridge: cambridge university press. xiao-yan, m. a. (2006). teacher talk and efl in university classroom (unpublished mater thesis). chongqing normal university, chapingba, china. yanfen, l. & yuqin, z. (2010). a study of teacher talk in interactions in english classes. chinese journal of applied linguistics, 33(2), 76-86. english language teaching, curriculum and material development llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 758-761 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 758 book review: english curriculum and material development title : english curriculum and material development isbn : 978-602-9312-26-3 author : pryla rochmahwati, m.pd publisher : stain po press page : 96 pages zul astri universitas muslim maros, indonesia correspondence: zulastri17@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.5160 received 13 september 2022; accepted 20 october 2022 this textbook, entitled "english curriculum and material development," covers a variety of subjects in 11 chapters. it is good for educational practitioners who are always in touch with the curriculum and syllabus. this book was written by a lecturer at the ponorogo state islamic institute named pryla rochmawati. it consists of 4 main parts, namely curriculum and syllabus, component of curriculum, curriculum in indonesian context, and material development. however, here i will briefly explain one by one the chapters contained in this book. chapter 1 discusses the concept of curriculum and syllabus, including its definitions, the different, kinds of syllabus, and their importance in language teaching. chapter 2 examines a component of the curriculum called need analysis. it discusses the definition, purpose, and targets, as well as the steps and techniques for doing a need analysis. chapter 3 is concerned with the conceptualization of aims, goals, and objectives. chapter 4 discusses assessment and testing, emphasizing the how and why of assessment and testing. chapter 5 covers materials as a component of the curriculum. this section discusses the basis for material design, the material blueprint, and the origins of materials. chapter 6 focuses on the teaching concept, which encompasses the roles of institutions, teachers, the teaching and learning process, and the application of curriculum through lesson plans. chapter 7 examined the concept of evaluation. it discusses the approaches, purpose, and procedures used in conducting curriculum evaluation. chapter 8 discusses the curriculum and syllabus in the indonesian context. chapter 9 discusses the sma/ma english curriculum, including the syllabus and lesson plans for this grade. chapter 10 focuses on the smp/mts level curriculum, including the syllabus and lesson plans for this grade. finally, chapter 11 examines the concept of material development in english language teaching. this textbook is intended to augment the teaching and learning processes in the english curriculum and material development course, as well as to encourage students to be active and motivated learners. part one of this book highlights the definition of curriculum, the definition of https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.5160 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 758-761 759 the syllabus, the difference es, the kinds of the syllabus, and the importance of curriculum in language teaching. in this chapter the author shows the different definitions between curriculum and syllabus where the two words sometimes confuse us as the reader, then the author explains several types of syllabuses based on the theory of brown (1995) along with examples of each of which according to brown there are 7 kinds of syllabus namely structural syllabus, situational syllabuses, topical syllabuses, functional syllabuses, notional syllabuses, skillbased syllabus and the last the is task-based syllabus. with this material, the reader can understand more about the types of syllabuses. furthermore, the author also describes the importance of curriculum in language teaching, which says that an effective curriculum offers good impressions on many sides. it provides administrators, teachers, and students with a good impact. part one presents the basics of the difference between curriculum and syllabus and, outlines examples of syllabi and their importance in the learning process. the material in this part is certainly very important and is very appropriate to be placed in the first chapter because the material presented is the basis for understanding the material in the next chapter. part two of this book consists of 6 chapters discussing needs analysis, aims, goals and objectives, assessment and testing, materials, teaching, and evaluation. part two of this book starts from chapter 2 which discusses need analysis which includes explaining the definition of need analysis, the purposes of need analysis, the target of need analysis, and also the steps and techniques for conducting need analysis. in this chapter, the author explains that the term needs analysis is related to activities to collect information that will serve as the basis for developing a curriculum that will meet the needs of a particular group of students (iwai, et al, 1999), then the material is continued with an explanation of the material, targets, and steps in carrying out need analysis. i think the order of writing the material by the author has been done systematically. chapter 3 in this book is still part of part two which discusses aims, goals, objectives, and the importance of goals and objectives. this book describes 3 types of objectives according to bixler. they are cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. and what's interesting about this part is that each explanation is accompanied by an example so that the reader can understand it well. chapter 4 of this book discusses the curriculum components related to assessment and testing. this chapter explains the meaning of assessment and test according to experts and also the decision in carrying out testing which is divided into 4 namely proficiency decisions, placement decisions, diagnostic decisions, and achievement decisions. besides that, this chapter also explains test designs, students’ knowledge of the questions, and matching tests for decision purposes and also at the end of the chapter we can find two sub-chapters that discuss adopting, developing, and adapting language tests and also about organizing and using test results which discusses several steps that can be taken after having developed a test to be used in groups of students. continuing the previous chapter, chapters 5 and chapter 6 discusses the curriculum components related to materials and teaching. these two chapters certainly cannot be separated from one another and the order of presentation is correct because where there is material, after that there must be a teaching and learning process. chapter 5 discusses the framework of material design, material llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 758-761 760 blueprints, and also about the origin of the material which is the same as making an assessment, in the manufacture of materials there are also adopting materials, developing materials, and also adapting materials. meanwhile, chapter 6 outlines the teaching and learning process, the role of institutions and teachers, and also about the application of curriculum through lesson plans. the last chapter in part two is still discussing the curriculum components related to evaluation. in my opinion, the material on "assessment and testing" should be juxtaposed with evaluation material, such as the presentation of material in the book nation and macalister (2010) because, in my opinion, these two things cannot be separated from each other. where there is an assessment and after that there must be an evaluation. this chapter discusses the approaches to evaluation, the purpose of evaluation, and procedures used in conducting curriculum evaluation which is listed in 6 steps starting from 1) aspects of the curriculum to be evaluated, 2) choosing an appropriate evaluation design/method, 3) data collection, 4) identify the sources of information/data, 5) analysis of information, 6) reporting of information. this material is practical and can be applied by related to curriculum making part two discusses the components of the curriculum starting from need analysis, adopting, developing, and adapting materials and assessment to the curriculum evaluation stage so that readers can understand systematically because it is presented quite well. part 3 consists of 3 chapters that discuss the development of the curriculum in indonesia starting from 1947 to the 2013 curriculum (revised edition). then continued with the development of the english language teaching syllabus in indonesia which started from 1984 to 2013. as a reader with an english teacher background, of course, this material provides a wide range of thoughts and views regarding the development of the english language syllabus in indonesia but lacks in this part is the absence of presenting concrete examples that can show the differences between each syllabus from the beginning of its development. maybe this can be input for the author for the development of material contained in the future. the last two chapters in this part discuss the syllabuses and lesson plans for sma/ma level and smp/mts level. in my opinion, these two chapters were not very well prepared when presented in this book because chapter 9 uses the indonesian language whereas the whole book should be in english. then, in chapter 10, there is no presentation of the material so the author looks unprepared in presenting the material as a whole. in this part, the writer discusses the concept of material development based on the expert, namely tommlinson (2004) who said that material development is something done by writers, teachers, or learners to provide sources of language input and promote language learning. furthermore, tomlinson also discusses the principles of developing materials which of course will be very useful for both formal and non-formal teachers. this section also explains the types and characteristics of teaching materials and developing materials. in this section, several methods of developing materials are explained by experts such as tomlinson, jack c. richards, dick and carey, and also finney. the author states that all models might be applicable and well employed in developing language instructional materials. however, modifications can be made to the syllabus/material development model to suit particular instructional needs, purposes, and available resources. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 758-761 761 this book provides material that is very suitable for use by educators or people involved in curriculum development. the material is presented systematically in this book which starts from the basic theory of the curriculum and syllabus and then the final chapter presents practical steps in conducting curriculum design and in material development. however, there are also shortcomings in this book, namely that there are chapters that do not seem to be too mature to be presented in the material, namely chapters 9 and 10. in the future, the author can develop the writing of this book perhaps by making a new edition that contains more complex contents and is accompanied by concrete examples so that it can be used by education practitioners as one of the guidebooks in developing curriculum, syllabus, and materials that will later be able to realize an interactive teaching and learning process which is one of the goals of writing this book. references bixler, b. (2006). writing educational goals and objectives. retrieved from http://med-fom-clone-pt.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2012/05/writingeducationalgoals-and-objectives.pdf brown, j. d. (1995). the elements of language curriculum: a systematic approach to program development. the modern language journal, 80(4), 532–533. https://doi.org/10.2307/329733 iwai, t., kondo, k., limm, s. j. d., ray, e. g., shimizu, h., & brown, j. d. (1999). japanese language needs analysis. retrieved from http://www.nflrc.hawaii.edu/networks/nw13/nw13.pdf nation, i. s. p., & macalister, j. (2010). language curriculum design. new york & london: routledge. tomlinson, b., & masuhara, h. (2004). developing language course material: relcportfolio series 11. singapore: relc publisher. http://med-fom-clone-pt.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2012/05/writingeducational-goals-and-objectives.pdf http://med-fom-clone-pt.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2012/05/writingeducational-goals-and-objectives.pdf https://doi.org/10.2307/329733 http://www.nflrc.hawaii.edu/networks/nw13/nw13.pdf llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 54-68 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 54 an analysis of the negotiation of meaning and form in natural efl classrooms: a case study among pre-service teachers paulina chandrasari kusuma1, christina eli indriyani2, and *tia xenia3 1,2,3unika atma jaya, indonesia paulina.cs@atmajaya.ac.id1, christina.eli@atmajaya.ac.id2, and tia.xenia@atmajaya.ac.id3 *correspondence: tia.xenia@atmajaya.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.4799 received 22 june 2022; accepted 7 march 2023 abstract the present competence of language learners influences the process, particularly in modifying the input to ensure the exact level of comprehensibility they can manage. it involves the negotiation of meaning (nfm) and form (nff). teachers need to pay attention to how frequently both processes occur in classroom interaction and whether the teachers use this situation to enhance students’ language acquisition. thus, this study aims to seek information concerning the negotiation of meaning and form in the natural classroom setting involving student teachers in a practicum program. to reach the objective of this study, two research questions will address: (1) do negotiation of meaning and form take place in student-teacher-student interaction in a natural efl classroom setting? (2) how do the student-teachers use negotiation of meaning and form strategies in the efl classroom? mixed method research will be employed by analyzing the utterances and conducting interviews. the analysis of the study reveals that firstly, nfm and nff are two common occurrences in the student-teacher interaction in the natural efl classroom under study; secondly, the strategies used by both nfm and nff covered the negotiation processes with various moves and long’s (1996) types of signals embracing confirmation check, clarification request, and comprehension check in certain circumstances. eventually, this study brings profound implications in two areas, namely the design of a teacher training curriculum and the teaching pedagogy. keywords: efl, efl student teacher, negotiation of form, negotiation of meaning introduction successful communication between interlocutors involves a process of negotiating meaning as a strategy to achieve mutual interchangeability. in second language acquisition (sla) theory, negotiation of meaning appears as a process when “two or more interlocutors identify and then attempt to resolve a communication breakdown” (ellis, 2003, p. 346). in a classroom setting, “negotiation of meaning is generally defined as conversational modifications or adjustments taking place in interactions when learners and their interlocutors experience difficulty in understanding messages” (hartono, 2017). thus, mailto:paulina.cs@atmajaya.ac.id mailto:christina.eli@atmajaya.ac.id mailto:tia.xenia@atmajaya.ac.id mailto:tia.xenia@atmajaya.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.4799 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 54-68 55 negotiation of meaning as one of the communication skills takes an essential role in successful classroom interaction and l2 acquisition (bitchener, 2004). the present competence of the language learners influences the negotiation process, particularly in modifying the input to ensure the exact level of comprehensibility learners can manage. employing the notion of comprehensible input, long (1996) argues that input can be more comprehensible through the nfm process. the negotiation involves modification and restructuring of interaction, the listener’s request for message clarification and confirmation; then the speaker may repeat, elaborate, or simplify the message (pica, 1994; long, 1996). about the process above, the existence of input and negotiation can be seen in classroom interaction. hence, negotiation of meaning can be promoted in an english classroom when the teacher constructs an interactive learning environment with appropriate communication tasks (lengluan, 2008). seeing that nfm and nff are interrelated, teachers need to pay attention to how often both processes take place in classroom interaction and whether the teachers make use of this situation to empower students’ language acquisition. the problem is sometimes teachers forget that the negotiation process in learning a second language (l2) is as necessary as learning the first language. another thing that might be arguable is “teacher-student interaction does not provide as favorable an environment for negotiation of meaning and form as does student-student interaction” (shim, 2007). negotiation in l2 classrooms may be due to the lack of strategy of the teachers to build the interaction or lead the nfm and nff processes. studies on nfm and nff have been conducted massively, but most of them focused only either on nfm or nff. shim (2007) conducted an analysis of nfm between an english teacher and students in face-to-face interaction and computermediated communication interaction. utterances indicating the speaker had problems in comprehension constituted the primary analysis. another study conducted by hwang (2010) researched nff across l2 proficiency levels. this study looked at the employment of negotiation about form by a pair of advanced english l2 users engaged in collaborative composition tasks and compared their negotiation with that of a beginner english l2 pair. it can be seen that research on the negotiation of meaning and form is frequently detached. also, those studies that have been conducted in negotiation about meaning or form contexts have rarely dealt with the teachers and their proficiency. the previous studies have rarely asked the more difficult question of whether the teacher’s and learners’ negotiation about both meaning and form is conducive to l2 learning and whether the teacher has qualified proficiency in exploring this area. therefore, the present study is conducted to provide insights into these unexplored areas with innovation. instead of experienced teachers, pre-service teachers, or student teachers (the two terms will be used interchangeably in this research) would be appointed as the subjects of the present study due to measuring their capacity as teacher candidates and capability in interaction with the students. as discussed above, the recent study attempts to seek information concerning the negotiation of meaning and form in the natural classroom setting involving student teachers in a practicum program. in particular, this study focuses on trifold issues as follows: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 54-68 56 1. identifying the occurrences of negotiation of meaning and negotiation of form in the context of a natural efl classroom with student teachers during their teaching practicum 2. investigating the strategies implemented by student teachers to induce negotiation of meaning and form in classroom interaction. the result of this study is expected to give benefits, to at least, three parties, namely efl students, efl student teachers, and teacher educators. efl students are expected to get a clearer understanding of classroom interactions and to increase their involvement in activities generating nfm and nff valuable for their language acquisition. meanwhile, this research could help student teachers develop their teaching competence relevant to the acts of nfm and nff, which are considered influential for students learning. eventually, it might enlighten teacher educators on techniques for managing class interaction provision for student teachers in their preparation for becoming efl teachers. to become a well-trained language teacher, the pre-service teacher must be competent in the four areas of teaching namely exhibiting attitudes to promote learning and genuine human relationships, commanding information on the topic to be taught, managing teaching skills to encourage student learning better, and commanding theoretical knowledge of learning and human behavior (afalla & fabelico, 2020). the last deals with, among others, knowledge in the field of second language acquisition which comprises concepts of input, output, and interaction. input and output are required to push learners in the development of the language system and communicative purpose which leads to interaction. interactions, in particular, are generally manifested in the form of negotiation of meaning and negotiation of form which are believed to contribute significantly towards second/foreign language acquisition and learning through offering mutual understanding and solutions to communication problems. thus, mastery of such a notion among pre-service teachers is obligatory. negotiation of meaning negotiation of meaning (nfm) indirectly contributes to learners’ language acquisition because it is perceived as a prominent process of learners’ awareness toward the target language and the developmental process of learners’ language proficiencies (foster&ohta, 2005). during the negotiation process, the learners are provided with sufficient input which is the target language. the learners get the opportunity to make comprehensible input and modify the output by receiving messages and producing words. krashen (1985) supports that language acquisition is gained when language learners can process language-containing input slightly above their current level of comprehending the language itself so that they can increase their language developmental level. this is in line with fuente (2002) as cited in hartono (2017) who argues that promoting language acquisition through negotiation is necessary since the learners try to understand structures or words beyond their current level of competence and eventually incorporate their l2 production. furthermore, the process of nfm comprises four interrelated moves proposed by doughty (1996), as cited in nakahama, tyler, and lier’s study (2001), namely trigger, signal, response, and reaction. a trigger is “an utterance or part of an utterance that is not understood” (doughty, 1986, p. 48). it can be in a form of a llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 54-68 57 lexical item, phonetic error, language complexity, or task complexity. a lack of comprehension can be seen from a signal. it is identified with the confirmation check, comprehension check, or clarification request. then, when the interlocutors try to follow up and repair the problematic utterances, it is mentioned as a response. it covers repetition, expansion, reformulation, or even the use of the first language (l1). the final process is a reaction in which it is a response to the repair like exclamation, non-verbal, or correction. within the nfm, there are also possibilities of communication breakdown triggered by something incomprehensible in which the learners recognize an inadequate linguistic rule system (mackey et al, 2000 & lier et al, 2001). negotiation of form as a part of communication, the negotiation of meaning is highly related to the negotiation of form (nff). long (1991) characterizes this term as “an instructional treatment that overtly draws students’ attention to linguistic elements as they arise incidentally in lessons whose overriding focus is on meaning or communication” (pp. 45-46). through nff, students notice the utterances they produce and build their awareness when the interaction happens. to improve the accuracy of students’ output, teachers can make use of four interactional moves proposed by lyster and ranta (1997); those are clarification requests, repetition of error, metalinguistic clues, and elicitation. those interactional moves focus on form aiming for both accuracy and mutual comprehension (lyster, 2002, p. 243). for an in-depth exploration of the meaning and form of negotiation processes, the signal is specified in the instructional structure as the relevant parameter. the instructional structure of conversation (long, 1983) includes three features as the strategies for negotiating meaning and form such as comprehension checks, clarification requests, and confirmation checks. comprehension checks are made to establish whether the utterance(s) has been understood. this process is usually formed by tag questions, repetition, and any expressions to check comprehension. confirmation checks are designed to ask for confirmation to ensure whether or not the preceding utterance(s) is understood or heard correctly. last, clarification requests are used to clarify what is uttered. eliciting clarification might be indicated by the expressions like “i don’t understand,” but not limited to wh-questions, yes/no questions, and tag questions. method to reach the objectives, mixed-method research will be employed. mixedmethod research was adopted in this study since this study will look for the involvement of the participants in data collection and seek to build rapport and credibility with the individuals (creswell, 2003). quantitative research will be employed to answer the first research question aiming at seeking the identification of the occurrences of negotiation of meaning and negotiation of form. meanwhile, the answers to the second and third research questions which deal with strategy investigation and pedagogical implications will be qualitative research. the participants of this study are twenty student-teachers of the english language education department at the atma jaya catholic university of indonesia. they had taken a microteaching course and were equipped with pedagogical theories and skills. passing this course, they were required to have an internship llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 54-68 58 program embedded in the teaching practicum course in several partnering schools in some areas of jakarta. during their practicum, these student teachers are to conduct english lessons in previously assigned classes. for individual teaching reflection and performance evaluation, their teaching act is video recorded. to answer the first and second research questions, the utterances of studentteacher interactions during the english course serve as the data gained from the transcribed teaching videos. the data are obtained from each participant’s two teaching videos intentionally selected from their last two teaching performances (out of their eight videos). the selection of the last two videos is based on the supposition that student teachers’ final performances may provide the best and nearreal teaching proficiency they have developed through the practice feedbackreflection stages they have undergone during the practicum sessions. the research instrument is a table covering the negotiation process taken from doughty (1996) and three negotiation strategies proposed by long (1983). the table consists of three columns. the first column is the negotiation process containing trigger, signal, response, and reaction. the second column is the utterances of the interactions containing the strategies such as confirmation check, clarification request, and comprehension check. the other one contains the number of occurrences. the data are collected in six months. the videos are collected from the participants as a part of their report after they conducted the internship program. subsequently, the videos are transcribed and analyzed. after the data are analyzed, the questionnaire will be distributed to all the participants. the data are directly gathered in the form of written responses. the utterances from the transcribed videos are classified based on the negotiation of meaning strategies and put into the table. the tally is used to see the occurrences. the frequency of the occurrences is counted based on the tally and converted into a percentage. based on each strategy, the collected utterances will be analyzed to find out how the participants use the strategy. to analyze the questionnaire, the responses are categorized to see the challenges of each strategy. findings and discussion the occurrences of nfm & nff responding to the first issue investigated in this research which inquires about the occurrence of negotiation of meaning (nfm) and negotiation of the form (nff), the data show that in the context of the study, i.e efl natural classrooms, nfm and nff take place during the classroom interactions, involving student(s) and their in-training teacher. this, somehow, shows that the two phenomena may take place not only in deliberately set-up teaching contexts but also in normal classroom situations. partly, this finding also helps answer a question of some researchers in the area of second language acquisition concerning the possibility of language interaction analysis in less controlled conditions which is out of the sla research tradition (foster, 1998). from the transcription of the thirty-five (35) teaching recordings, there were identified seventy-three (73) circumstances of negotiation of classroom discourse. table 1 below specifically displays the frequency of occurrence between the two. the difference in frequency is illustrated lucidly by the figures in the table. negotiation of meaning outnumbers negotiation of form occurrences with 52 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 54-68 59 incidences or 71.23 % of the total discourse, whereas negotiation of form only reaches 21 incidences or approximately 28.77%. it means that students and the (pre-service) teachers in the classrooms engage in the interactions for the meaning of negotiation purpose more than in one(s) for form negotiation. three arguments supporting the recent research findings embrace: firstly, negotiation of meaning is wider in its coverage of the area requiring negotiation or comprehensible input. in the present study, negotiation of meaning occurs when students encounter new vocabulary and when students ask for vocabulary meaning to reach a clear understanding of each other and/or mutual interchangeability. secondly, negotiation of meaning results from teachers’ instructions which are not considered comprehensive or which are indeed unclear. thus, it yields negotiation and requests from the students to the teacher to settle the hurdles. the last argument may relate to the fact that the occurrence of negotiation of form is limited to the context of grammar teaching and learning or in other circumstances where students ‘notice’ certain unknown form(s) or grammatical item(s). the aforementioned assertions are in alignment with pica (1987) and richards and schimidt (2002) who propound that negotiation of meaning will take place in a condition where a listener’s signals to the speaker’s message are not clear and followed by the speaker and listener’s work on linguistic resolution over the impasse. table 1. the occurrences of negotiation types occurred in classroom discourse negotiation of classroom discourse frequency percentage (%) negotiation of meaning 52 71.23 negotiation of form 21 28.77 total 73 100 table 2. the occurrences of negotiation of meaning (nfm) process signal confirmation % clarifi cation % compre hension % total % t-s 1 6.67 2 9.09 11 73.33 14 26.92 t-s-re 8 53.3 13 59.09 2 13.33 23 44.23 t-s-re-ra 4 26.67 6 27.27 2 13.33 12 23.08 t-s-re-re 2 13.33 1 4.55 0 0 3 5.77 total 15 28.85 22 42.3 15 28.85 52 100 the quantity of nfm and nff has also become the concern of this study because it makes the teachers realize how the interactions last and recognize the gap in students’ language competencies. table 2 presents the number of occurrences of nfm in the efl classroom. it shows that all moves of the negotiation llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 54-68 60 process appeared in student-teacher interactions. the processes consist of trigger (t), signal (s), response (re), and reaction (ra). however, in some conditions, the process did not cover the interrelated moves which evoke curiosity if the target is achieved. the finding of the analysis shows that the most frequently used process in the interaction is tsre at 44.23%. the other processes include t-s, t-s-re-ra, and t-s-re-re reaching much smaller occurrences. t-s, which was the second most frequently employed in student-teacher interaction, brought in 26.92 % of overall negotiation processes. this was followed by t-s-re-ra at 23.08%. those processes appeared in all signals namely clarification request, confirmation check, and comprehension check. different from the moves mentioned above, t-s-re-re was only found three times in the entire process that existed only in certain signals like confirmation checks and clarification requests. in addition to the process of negotiation, it could be interpreted that in each process the utterances show different types of signals. from the utterances, clarification dominated by the t-s-re process gained the most number of signals, at 42.3%. meanwhile, confirmation and comprehension shared a similar number of frequencies of 28.85%. eight (8) confirmation signals dominated t-s-re processes and eleven (11) comprehension signals occurred in t-s. interestingly, both confirmation and clarification were dominated by the t-s-re process, whereas comprehension was dominated by t-s in which the process ended with the teacher’s explanation without any response from the students. the teacher did not make sure whether the explanation was understood. table 3. the occurrences of negotiation f form (nff) process signal confirmation % clarification % comprehension % total % t-s 2 12.5 0 2 66.67 4 19.05 s 1 6.25 0 0 0 1 4.76 t-s-re 6 37.5 2 100 0 0 8 38.1 t-s-re-ra 6 37.5 0 1 33.33 7 33.33 s-re 1 6.25 0 0 0 1 4.76 total 16 76.19 2 9.52 3 14.29 21 100 concerning the occurrences of nff, the study figures out the findings related to each process and signals in the utterances. the classroom teacher-student interactions produced five (5) types of moves covering t-s-re, t-s-re-ra, t-s, s, and s-re. the frequency of t-s-re and t-s-re-ra was not significantly different. t-s-re gained 38.1 % and 33.33%, respectively. it is evident from table 3 that ts-re and t-s-re-ra achieved far higher than the other three processes in which the quantity even did not reach 20% of all occurrences. t-s only reached 19.05%, while s and s-re shared the same proportions at 4.76%. it can be seen from the table that llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 54-68 61 the interactions tend to be dominated by the processes that have complete moves or at least three moves. the other three lowest occurrences contained only one or two moves, and the interactions did not always start from trigger. as found in nfm, the negotiation process of form also covered the three types of signals: confirmation check, clarification request, and comprehension check. among those signals, the confirmation check accounted for the most occurred negotiation process as the percentage was the highest at 76.19%. it was significantly different from the occurrences of the other two signals. the comprehension check and clarification request only appeared three times (14.29%) and twice (9.52%), making the gap among signals employed in the interactions widen significantly. the confirmation check took place in all processes, while the comprehension check only appeared in t-s and t-s-re-ra. the least frequency of signal showed that the clarification request belonged to t-s-re. the implementation of negotiation strategies to answer the second research question of this recent study, the analysis of the data seeks to obtain information on the implementation of classroom negotiation discourses both for meaning and form purposes. the following sections subsequently discuss each type of negotiation in a more detailed way. negotiation of meaning in a language classroom situation refers to an occurrence where interlocutors, in this case, student(s) and or teacher, conduct interactional work to arrive at mutual understanding when there is a communication problem during the instructional activity. inherent in the negotiation of meaning phase, are a pair of crucial elements, i.e. the process of nfm itself and the signal. this research data analysis reveals that both process and signal characterize the negotiation of meaning in the student teachers’ efl classes. it is further explored that in the process of their nfm, the majority of teachers and students in the study go through the trigger (t), signal (s), response (re), and reaction (ra) stages, which generally compose the nfm process. interestingly, these four moves do not appear in a constant sequence and frequency, but there are variations in the order and the kind. a couple of examples of this ‘irregularity’ of sequence consist of t-s and t-s-re (see the examples taken from the efl class interactions below). additionally, triggers that usually appear as an initial stage in nfm are not all initiated by the teachers, but occasionally by the students. example 1 teacher: based on this definition, do you think that the photo and the caption should complement each other? (t) student: yes. teacher: and why do you think so? student: should what? (s) teacher: complement each other. complement itu saling melengkapi. why? (re) example 2 student: saturday or wednesday? (t) teacher: saturday itu. student: wednesday itu apa? (what is wednesday?) (s) teacher: *gasps* lho? llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 54-68 62 example 1 shows that the process of nfm embodies three moves, i.e trigger (t), signal (s), and response (re). the trigger produced by the teacher results in a student’s signal for negotiation of meaning which is subsequently followed by a response from the teacher. nevertheless, the teacher's response does not seem to generate any reactions from the students. meanwhile, the situation illustrated by example 2 demonstrates a briefer route of nfm, in which the process merely embraces a trigger produced by the students and a signal. similar to the process of negotiation in nfm, the data analysis demonstrates that the entire types of signal (clarification request, confirmation check, and comprehension check) mark the interaction for meaning negotiation with the dominance of the classification request category. the variety of signals that appeared in the interlocutors’ speech denotes that the speakers take them as communication strategies to resolve a lack of understanding or communication problems. moreover, they display that speech modification occurs during social interaction in efl classroom contexts. this supports doughty and pica (1985) who claim that foreign or second language learners tend to employ different strategies in the negotiation of meaning during the interaction. the instances of clarification request, confirmation check, and comprehension check in the negotiation of meaning are as follows: clarification request examples example 3 t: for example, henry, do you like using iphone? and you answered me not only you like using iphone, but you also like using android. do you get it? s: repeat it again, miss. example 4 t: this one is easy. s: orientation. apa bedanya sama yang atas? (what’s the difference with the above?) t: actually, these are two different facts. ini tanggal lahirnya, ini tempat lahirnya. but those two are orientation confirmation check examples example 5 s: want to show. t: show what? s: his test example 6 t: you can act it out with words but without the word itself. s: using the word? t: expressing the word! comprehension check examples example 7 students : barely itu kayak… teacher : i barely earn enough. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 54-68 63 students : minimum. pas pasan. teacher : barely itu almost not, sama kayak hardly. jadi hardly bukan dengan keras yah. hardly itu, hardly, barely artinya almost not. jadi kalo ada i barely earn enough, artinya i almost do not earn enough. ... example 8 student: sir, itu artinya apa? i nggak ngerti. yang contohnya “i either like cats or dogs”. teacher: this is just an example kan. that means i will only like one of the two. jadi saya suka kalau nggak anjing, kucing. antara anjing atau kucing. the investigation of the form negotiation strategies includes the process of negotiation and the signals used in the interactions since both are interrelated in achieving the targeted meaning. based on the analysis of the utterances, it can be seen that the complete process covers the four moves; trigger (t), signal (s), response (re), and reaction (ra). an example of this process is as follows. example 9 student : he had joined. (t) teacher : he had joined, he joins or he joined? (s) student : he joins. (re) teacher : he joins the opera club. (ra) this finding is in line with doughty’s and pica’s (1986) proposal on the negotiation sequence. they, in this regard, incorporate a trigger, a signal, a response, and a reaction opportunity for the learners to process utterances in the foreign language which become more comprehensible. nevertheless, not all interactions contained those four moves and were begun with trigger. there were different sequences with incomplete moves that might exist in the negotiation. the following examples demonstrate those various sequences. example 10 student : we can go camping. (t) teacher : we can go ato we could go? (s) student : we could go. (re) example 11 student : she did not give up. (t) teacher : she had not given up or she didn’t give up. (s) example 12 student : zero conditional can use will, right? (s) teacher : depends, whether it is a fact or not. (re) example 13 teacher : the iceberg or icebergs. (s) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 54-68 64 as stated in section a, t-s-re became the most dominant occurrence which mostly appeared when the students conveyed a sentence containing inappropriate tense and then the teacher tried to confirm or clarify it. the process can be seen in example 10. the lack of this interaction was the teacher did not give reinforcement toward what students had responded. thus, this situation evoked curiosity if the student’s answer was already correct or not. similarly, example 11 represents an incomplete process of negotiation. the difference between examples 10 and 11 was pointed out in the existence of reaction following the signal. the reaction was unavailable in example 11, so the interaction did not reach the ultimate goal which is understanding form. in this situation, there were neither correct answers nor further questions generated by the teacher and the students. these insights are likely perceived as a direct consequence of using optional information in natural circumstances (palma, 2014) and students’ different language competencies or socio-cultural backgrounds. observing the phenomena of how the negotiation is formed, it can be seen that the signal move always took place in the interactions as the stage following trigger or as the initial stage. it is proved in examples 9-13. for example, 9-11 signal was preceded by trigger which is considered a common negotiation process. on the contrary, examples 12-13 showed signal came in the first place and ended with response or remained nothing. although it did not employ trigger in the beginning, signal in this situation appeared after several interruptions which made the trigger and signal not directly connected. furthermore, the signal might also be initiated by the student or teacher depending on the individual who needs clarification or confirmation of the targeted language features. to operationalize signals, long’s (1983) confirmation check, clarification request, and comprehension check are discovered in this study. it was found that the participants, mostly student-teachers, used those three types of input modification as nff strategies in performing the gap in students’ comprehension of certain linguistic features. moreover, the students benefited through this process in terms of making comprehensible input. among those three strategies, the confirmation check was majority utilized by the teacher because of its existence in almost all types of formed processes. in contrast, clarification request was adopted only in certain types of processes and comprehension check as well. clarification request was found only in t-s-re, while comprehension check was in t-s and ts-re-ra. the confirmation check in nff is illustrated in the following excerpts: example 14 teacher : if it didn’t rain the whole day, we… students : we can go camping. (t) teacher : we can go or we could go? (s) students : we could go. (re) example 15 s: oh! jona and… (t) t: both jona and… (s) s: both jona and… nico, they are boys. (re) t: both jona and nico are boys. (ra) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 54-68 65 both examples 14 and 15 have similarities with the initiator of the confirmation check. in example 14, the teacher raised a question to measure students’ comprehension of the appropriately used grammar in the sentence. meanwhile, in example 15, the teacher repeated the initial part of the sentence and then the conversational activity provided the students with opportunities to produce utterances by creating a sentence using suitable phrases. interestingly, both examples show different styles on the confirmation check like question and repetition which were still acceptable. the two styles, therefore, benefited to trigger further communication and encourage students to talk (masrizal, 2014). another type of signal utilized in the nff is clarification requests which were only found in the t-s-re process. when the student mentioned a specific term like ‘participle’, the teacher asked for clarification about the meaning. however, the clarification was delivered in indonesian which had not been obvious the teacher’s intention to switch the language. eventually, the conversation was ended by the student's response. the excerpt is presented below. example 16 student : par-ti-ci-ple. (t) teacher : apa itu? (s) student : verb three (re) following the two previous signals that occurred during the negotiation process, the comprehension check was revealed only in a few interactions; 2 were in the t-s process one was in the t-s-re-ra process. one of the comprehension check extracts is provided as follows. example 17 student : would took.. (t) teacher : would take, would ga boleh pake took lagi. (s) would take our parents out more often. and what about number 2? the conversation began by mentioning the phrase ‘would took’ which was considered a trigger. the trigger showed the student's incomprehension about morphological items so that the interlocutor, in this situation was the teacher, recognized it and then tried to fill the gap by giving the signal of how the sentence should be constructed. unfortunately, there were neither responses nor reactions following the conversation to express a better understanding of the discussed features. the findings of the present study indicate that nfm and nff appeared in natural efl classroom discourse. although it appears naturally, the process of negotiation meaning and form becomes an important indicator to pursue comprehensive communication in foreign language learning. concerning the importance of nfm and nff as communication strategies, two pedagogical implications are proposed. first, efl student teachers are necessary to raise their awareness of the importance of employing nfm and nff in classroom interaction to ensure comprehension which leads to foreign language acquisition. second, it is best to design a teacher training curriculum that allows the teacher candidates to acquire and practice the techniques and strategies that generate the acts of nfm and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 54-68 66 nff. this is possible by integrating overtly the theories of nfm and nff techniques/strategies and their implementation in several teaching subject courses, such as language teaching methodology, classroom-interaction as well as microteaching. conclusion this study confirms that the natural classroom interactions generated the possibility for the interactants to negotiate in exchanging information without selecting certain activities or tasks. when engaged in the teaching-learning activities in the classroom, they included the use of trigger (t), signal (s), response (re), and reaction (ra) with various moves. although those existed in the employed process of negotiating meaning and form, the utterances did not always adopt a complete move. for instance, t-s-re, consisting only of trigger, signal, and ended in response, appeared to be the most used process in negotiating meaning and form. interestingly, not only were the processes incomplete moves but in negotiation of form, they did not always start from trigger. inside the signal process, to achieve mutual interchangeability, the interactants employed the confirmation check, the clarification request, and the comprehension check to negotiate meaning and form. however, both negotiations shared the different most used signals. in negotiating to mean, both the students and the teacher mostly tended to ask for clarification, while in negotiating form, checking confirmation became the most frequently used. the current research revealed that in natural classroom interactions, the process of negotiation appeared in certain circumstances. in the negotiation of meaning, the interactants tended to use strategies to make meaning comprehensible. besides, the instructions given by the teacher were not clear became the circumstance where this negotiation strategy appeared. another factor contributing to the occurrences of nfm has something to do with the student’s language proficiency, specifically vocabulary mastery which might bring communication breakdowns. on the contrary, in the negotiation of form, this communication strategy was employed by the interactants when they were dealing with the accuracy and the precision of the language forms to make meaning and forms interrelated. moreover, this strategy appeared the most when the teacher and the students dealt with sentence forms and certain tenses without interrupting the flow of communication. the negotiation of meaning and form sequences appearing in the interactions shows the involvement of students and teachers in the conversations. the more the sequences appeared, the more the interactants were engaged in. this process of negotiation involves the modifications of output that result not only in mutual understanding but also in students’ language acquisition in which they can modify their performances. therefore, the student teachers must raise their awareness of the importance of employing nfm and nff in classroom interactions and practice the techniques and strategies that generate nfm and nff. the teaching subject courses must be able to equip the students with this awareness and the skills to trigger the negotiation to happen through language teaching methodology, classroom interaction, and micro-teaching. since studies on nfm and nff within a more natural setting are still small, this study suggests similar future research on llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 54-68 67 the fields, especially those which involve larger populations and more various activities. 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(2007). negotiation of meaning between an l2 teacher and students in face-to-face interaction and cmc. english teaching, 62(3), 265-288. https://doi.org/10.24815/siele.v1i2.1829 https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244014535941 https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/8.1.3 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1994.tb01115.x llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 474-483 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 474 investigating employability skill gaps among english major students in algeria ahmed mehdaoui ibn khaldoun university, algeria correspondence: academictiaret@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4912 received 18 july 2022; accepted 30 september 2022 abstract as english plays an increasingly important role in today's job market, several studies have shown a direct correlation between english and employability. in algeria, many algerians believe that good english skills can help them get better jobs. however, in today's 21st century, as studies have proven, college graduates are more employable if they have skills that meet the demands of the modern workplace. the question that arises from this study is whether algerian students majoring in english have the skills that will enable them to pursue successful careers. as far as we know, few studies address skill gaps among algerian major students. therefore, this study aims to examine the discrepancies between the skills that algerian english major students are taught in comparison to the set of skills required for employment. to address this, this work applied a quantitative approach using a questionnaire administered to 40 undergraduate students from the department of english at ibn khalodun university in tiaret, algeria. key findings of this research revealed a gap in teamwork and research analysis skills, which are top-notch competencies for employers. keywords: algeria, employability skills, english major, skill gaps introduction given today's competitive labor market and 21st-century employment demands, the skills needed in the modern workplace have changed in most industries. university graduates applying for all types of 21st-century jobs must possess certain skills, such as communication skills, problem-solving, critical thinking, and the ability to interact with people from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds if they are to increase their chances of landing a rewarding job. these skills are referred to as "employment skills" that are most valued and sought after by today's employers. among these skills, english is regarded as one of the abilities that students should develop the most. this is so because the majority of modern international commercial transactions call for english. even in nations where english is not an official language, many employers believe that english is crucial for jobs, according to english at work (2016). thus, english provides people with a variety of opportunities in nations where it is not their first language. mailto:academictiaret@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4912 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 474-483 475 in algeria, for instance, the majority of algerians place a high value on english and believe that having proficient english will help them land jobs in important positions with multinational corporations. improved employability, according to the algerian government, may be best attained through the vigorous implementation of english education in the country (euromonitor, 2012). because they are aware that a degree in english studies is a flexible field of study that does not directly relate to particular vocations, many algerian students prefer to pursue this degree. unlike some university majors, like engineering, which lead to employment in engineering only, graduates of the english major succeed in a variety of business professions, including teaching, librarianship, management, sales, and marketing, and other fields where business materials often use advanced and technical english. since many algerian students tend to believe that majoring in english will help them find employment after graduation, it is critical to know whether the skills that algerian students the english major receive qualify them to succeed in these common professions. according to di paolo & tansel (2015), english teaching and learning is “likely to be successful if the knowledge and skills that students learn reflect the demands of employment in local industries." seen in this way, english major students who are armed with the employability skills such as communication, collaboration, creativity, problem-solving, and information analysis are well prepared enough to thrive in today’s world economy knowledge. in light of such, our study asks, do the algerian english major students have the skills that qualify them to pursue successful future careers? studies investigating skill gaps among university students in some countries help them make efforts to bridge the gap between society, economy, and education. in the algerian context, similar studies addressing the gap among algerian english students are scarce. thus, the goal of this research is to investigate the algerian english major students' perceptions of the importance of employability skills. examining their perceptions of the employability skills and their satisfaction with them will help identify the gaps between the skills they are taught in comparison to the set of skills required for employment. to achieve this aim, the undergraduate english major at ibn khaldoun university is used as a case study in this study, and the following questions serve as its guiding principles: 1. what is the perception of english major students at ibn khaldoun university of the skills that employers seek from graduates? 2. what are the most important employability skills that are lacking in them? finally, this study aims to provide background information to help english major students and efl teachers understand the value of employability skills in the english classroom. employability skills: meaning and importance employability skills is a term used interchangeably with several related terms such as soft skills, generic skills, 21st -century skills, non-technical skills, competencies, transversal skills, and career skills (silva, 2009; economou, 2016; burns, 2017; ruuskanen, et al. 2018; joynes et al., 2019, among others). according to the employability skills for the future (dest, 2002, p. 1), many terms are used in different environments to describe general skills that all employees may have. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 474-483 476 the allen consulting group report (2006, p. 11) refers to the terminology used across sectors, industries, and countries as follows: they are also known by several other names, including key skills, core skills, life skills, essential skills, key competencies, necessary skills, and transferable skills. however, the industry’s preferred term is employability skills. although these terms may take on different meanings in different contexts, they have all evolved based on or incorporating business and industry needs and refer to individual skills and abilities that are valued in the labor market (pritchard, 2013). that is, as individual job performance is measured in terms of skills and abilities, employability is established as the following: the skills, knowledge, and competencies that enhance a worker’s ability to secure and retain a job, progress at work and cope with change, secure another job if he/she so wishes, or has been laid off and enter more easily into the labor market at different periods of the lifecycle (international labor organization, ilo, in brewer, 2013: 6). concerning the skill sets that are needed in the workplace, numerous guidelines and taxonomies have been produced to describe what the skills are. as far as humanities sciences are concerned, including english major, the 2017 british academy report cited the following as “the right skills in the arts, humanities, and social sciences”: 1) communication (communicating effectively), 2) collaboration (working with others to achieve common goals), 3) research and analysis (doing research and analyzing information and data using technology where appropriate, and taking decisions), and 4) attitudes and behaviors (including problem-solving and creativity). these skills, deemed crucial to humanities and science graduates for future uk workforce, closely match those identified by ilo , written by brewer (2013, p. p, 10-11): 1) learning to learn (think, organize, process, and maintain information, interpret and communicate information, manage own learning, etc.), 2) communication (competent in reading, write to the needs of an audience, write effectively in the languages in which the business is conducted, listen and communicate effectively, read, articulate own ideas and vision, comprehend and use materials, including graphs, charts, displays, etc.), 3) teamwork (interact with co-workers, work within the culture of the group, plan and make decisions with others and support the outcomes, work in teams or groups, respect the thoughts and opinions of others in the group, lead when appropriate and effectively, lead when appropriate, give and accept feedback, etc.), and 4) problem solving (think creatively, identify and solve problems, adapt to new circumstances, suggest new ideas to get the job done, etc.). as can be seen, the list of skills needed by job seekers is long. however, due to the nature of each business, sector, and job, not all these skills are required for every job. nevertheless, as ruiters (2013) notes, because workplaces are generally highly collaborative, teamwork and communication skills are essential. similarly, the council of industry and higher education (2008) points out that most employers consider both communication and teamwork skills as the core of any business. the reason for this is that effective collaboration generally requires effective communication between team members. for example, when team members demonstrate excellent communication, they will be able to collaborate successfully. interestingly, this is an area where english major graduates can excel. therefore, when english major graduates communicate effectively, they will gain llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 474-483 477 extra competitive advantages over those who have only traditional skills. rees et al., (2007, p. 12) demonstrate this point by stating that “english graduates are highly employable when they can combine the benefits of their academic study with skills both common to other subjects and distinctive to english.” so far, these skills are not investigated among english major students. nevertheless, many surveys present the value of english in many workplaces like business, tourism, oil industry, management, sales, and marketing as well as other fields (economist, 2012; english at work, 2016)). similar studies found that proficiency in english provides a better opportunity for individuals to get stable and better jobs (dustmann & fabbr, 2003; lowden et al., 2011) found that english is highly rewarding for its users in the workplace. this is because english provides a particular context for developing employability skills. a business expert, steve strauss, confirms this point as follows: i run a small business and the people i hire do various tasks -seo, project management, social media, and so forth. for my money (literally and figuratively), for my needs, and i suggest the needs of smallest businesses, english majors are easily the top choice when it comes to getting the type of teammate who can make us all better, as they say in basketball. why, because they’re smart, critical thinkers, bold, good writers, and easy to work with (the huff post, 5/ 23/13, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hiring-english majors_b_3484409/amp). career path for english majors (2013, p. 33) added that english majors possess “a unique set of talents that can be applied to corporate positions, which emphasize critical thinking, personal relations, problem-solving, and excellent written and oral communication skills.” the reason is that an english major is a versatile academic discipline that is shared with other modules as part of combined or joint programs like literature, literary theory, creative writing, culture studies, communication, and others, which can be applied in various fields like journalism, entertainment, tourism, marketing, etc. with this in mind, the skills that an english major study can offer are similar to those cited previously by ilo (2013) in the core skills for youth employability and the british academy (2017) in the right skills for arts, humanities, and social science. this includes 1) oral and written communication, 2) problem-solving, 3) teamwork and collaboration, and 4) research and analyzing information and data using technology where appropriate. operated properly, this combination of skills is a site where english major students can underpin successful participation in job performance and life. in a nutshell, this section provides an overview of the importance of employability skills and, by extension, to english major students. the following section sets out the methodology used in the study whilst establishing the link between the skills employers need and the skills english major students feel are important to gain. method participants and data collection to find the relationship between the skills employers seek and the skills that the students majoring in english gain at the university, 40 english major undergraduate students from the english department at the ibn khaldoun university of tiaret took part in the study. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 474-483 478 concerning the research purpose, questionnaires were used. the questionnaire was designed for the students to know their attitudes toward the learned english skills about their future careers. regarding the design form, the measurement scale used in the questionnaire is a likert-style 5-point scale. in the first part, the students intended to check the students' awareness of their employability skills using a five-point likert scale (1 very important, 2important, 3 less important, 4unimportant, 5neutral). the second part concerns the respondents' satisfaction with the knowledge and skills they receive in the university using a five-point likert scale (1strongly agree, 2 agree, 3 strongly disagree, 4disagree, 5neutral). some studies showed a lower response rate when using an online questionnaire; therefore, to avoid such the questionnaire was administered to the respondent class. findings and discussions presentation of the results students’ perception of the english major career outlook in an open-ended question, students were asked to state their opinions about the job opportunities offered by the english major degree. almost most students cited a teaching career as the most available option offered by their degrees. few students mentioned translation as another option, though translation is not part of their field of study. very few concluded that their english degree would help them work in the tourism sector. because of their lack of awareness of the job opportunities offered by their english major degree, it can be said that they may lose many job opportunities. students’ perception of the skills sought by employers students were asked to indicate the skills and capabilities they considered important for employers when recruiting graduates. table 2 below captures the top skills that students considered important for employers when recruiting graduates. figure 1. students' perception of the skills sought by employers 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% reading and writing good grades communication skills problem solving teamwork research and analysis reading and writing good grades communic ation skills problem solving teamwork research and analysis very important 72.5 20 35 22.5 12.5 27.5 important 27.5 40 57.5 22.5 22.5 40 less important 2 27.5 7.5 15 32.5 17.5 not important 7.5 30 7.5 neutral 5 5 7.5 10 7.5 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 474-483 479 when students were asked to consider which skills are important to employers, the majority consider good grades in exams and having good skills in reading, writing, and speaking more important for employers (72,5٪and 27,5٪ rate reading and speaking as very important and important), and 60٪view good grades as important for employers. the most important employability skill sought by employers, according to the respondents, is communication skills (35٪ very important and 57, 5٪ important, which makes 95, 5٪ in total). the second employability skill students perceive important for employers when recruiting graduates is problem-solving (22, 5٪ rate it as very important and 72, 5٪ rate it as important, making 95٪ in total). skills like analyzing information, and data and making decisions are also considered important for employers (27, 5٪ rate very important and 40 rates important = 67, 5٪). the last skill sought by employers, according to the students, is teamwork skills. the results confirm that students still consider some areas of academic skills more important than the non-academic ones. this should be unsurprising; however, since the assessment of foreign language students’ competence has always been related to their ability to read, write and speak well. skills and satisfaction table 4 below captures students’ satisfaction with the skills development, using a 5-point scale: strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, and strongly agree. my training develops my ability to: figure 2. students' perception of the skills they possess to assess students’ level of employability skills development, they were asked to rate the level of their satisfaction. as graph 2 shows, the 2 top skills were: communication and problem-solving. the least skills that students believe they did not develop during their studies were teamwork and research and data analysis. this 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 coommunicate effectively solving and analyzing problems working with others… researching and analysing… coommunicate effectively solving and analyzing problems working with others successfully as a team member researching and analysing information and data, and using technology strongly agree 27.5 12.5 10 7.5 agree 35 27.5 20 25 strongly disagree 5 15 17.5 12.5 disagree 22.5 35 32.5 30 neutral 10 10 20 25 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 474-483 480 means that students think that they do not possess adequate competence in teamwork and research analysis skills. this result is compatible with the data in graph 2 when students rated teamwork as the least important skill sought by employers. discussion analyzing the skill gaps after reviewing and analyzing the data, it can be noticed that there is a correlation between students’ perception of the most important skills sought by employers (figure 1) and the level of these skills they believe they developed during their english studies (figure 2). in terms of skills sought by employers when recruiting graduates (shown in graph 1), students think that good grades and integrated skills like reading, grammar, and writing would be the most important for employers. because businesses in algeria are still carried in french, this should not be surprising. as teaching is the only the most available career on offer after graduation, as students responded to question 1, english major students in algeria work hard to obtain good gaining on modules on expense on gaining life skills and knowledge. admittedly, good grades are still necessary; however, they are not enough to secure a job (koc & koncz, 2009). the adecco group (2020) stressed this point by saying that employability skills should be prioritized over academic ones. the second highest important skills for employers, according to the students, are communication and problem solving. the most important skill for employers is teamwork, while students placed it on the lowest rank along with research analysis. interestingly, this perception does not appear to be confined to employers who regard teamwork skills as a top priority. in terms of students' satisfaction with the employability skills, they feel they developed during their training, communication, and problem-solving ranked the top skills. the reason is that the english language embraces diverse modes of communication, oral, written, and mixed. besides, since communication is the benchmark that signals any english learner’s competence, students probably often work profusely toward enhancing their communication skills. the skill gap remains in teamwork and research analysis. students not only perceive teamwork to be of higher importance for employers, but they also feel that they do not possess its competence. this; whereas, mismatches the business needs. as the workplace environment is highly cooperative, employers expect employees to work with others effectively (ruiters, 2013). analyzing information and data, which involves gathering, analyzing, evaluating, and presenting information using technology where appropriate, is also ranked at a low position of students’ gain. this is puzzling; however, especially if we consider that, in modern times, most research and media interactions are written and communicated in english, in which english finds diverse opportunities to conduct studies, find information, complete tasks, and communicate findings. finally, it seems too early to conclude that our research found that the main skill gaps among english major graduates, participating in this study exist in terms of teamwork and research analysis skills. why? it can be observed that communication makes up the top skill that students claim to gain during their training. however, communication essentially overlaps with other skills. for llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 474-483 481 instance, as brewer (2013) notes, functioning effectively in teamwork needs good communication. when team members demonstrate excellent communication, they will be able to collaborate successfully; however, if they do not, they will face difficulties in working together. additionally, if there is a backbone to the development of problem-solving, it is most certainly communication. due to the individuals’ differences of ideas in the workplace, conflicts may arise in any team environment. the lack of communication may only create tensions among the team; knowing how to communicate when such a conflict arises; nevertheless, can encourage the team to work through the problem. this leads us to think about how students consider communication skills. there is a problem with how communication is understood. this problem is found in a study by cukier (2003) about skill shortage in canada, which found differences between employers' and students’ perceptions of understanding communication skills. according to this study, while 90% of the students assessed their communication skills as excellent, only 30% of employers agreed. this is because students tend to associate communication with their ability to speak fluently and write essays; however, employers associate communication with employees’ ability to communicate effectively; i.e., conveying information clearly and accurately, expressing agreement, disagreement, and opinion, talking and sharing their ideas and suggesting solutions to problems and so on. therefore, further research on differences in employers' and students in perceptions of how skills understood are needed. conclusion and recommendations the present topic of employability skills among english major students investigates the relationship between the outputs of english skills delivered to the english major students in algeria vis a vis to the skills required in the current labor market. based on the findings gathered from the participants at the department of english at ibn khaldoun university, this research detected a skills gap in teamwork and research and analysis, though critically not decisive for the reason of students' and employers' differences in perceptions of how skills are understood. yet, the skills gap among graduates has been found in various studies. therefore, as a general recommendation, the efl curricula should ensure to close any skill gap to equip graduates with the necessary job skills to increase their opportunities for 21st -century jobs. ignoring part of these skills could create great gaps and limitations in recent graduates who aspire to get a job and compete in an increasingly complex world. to achieve this, teachers must take action to shorten the skills gap. this can be achieved through the implementation of different teaching approaches, such as project-based learning, group discussion, selfdiscovery, online learning, etc. finally, our research does not assert to be conclusive findings. future research is called forth to test the problem of mismatch between the english output and the labor market demands in other algerian universities. other studies on employers' and students' differences in perceptions of how skills are understood are also needed. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 474-483 482 references academy, b. 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(2008). graduates employability. london: the council of industry and higher education. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10051385 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 379-394 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 379 speaking accuracy, fluency, and beyond: indonesian vocational students’ voices *anastasia nelladia cendra1 and eric sulindra2 1,2widya mandala surabaya catholic university anastasia.cendra@ukwms.ac.id1 and eric@ukwms.ac.id2 *correspondence: anastasia.cendra@ukwms.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4579 received 25 april 2022; accepted 22 september 2022 abstract speaking mastery has been known as the benchmark of language learning, yet many students still find it difficult to speak with great accuracy and fluency. to widen the knowledge and fill the gaps in the existing research, this present qualitativedescriptive research is to investigate how vocational students see accuracy, fluency, and other psychological-related aspects in speaking as well as collecting some suggestions to create a better speaking class. by distributing questionnaires and conducting semi-structured interviews, the present research revealed that the participants were slightly more inclined towards accuracy compared to fluency, which may result in the inhibition of risk-taking. moreover, some psychologicalrelated challenges such as feeling nervous, unconfident, and afraid to make mistakes were prevalent among the participants which affected their speaking performance negatively. finally, the participants yielded some suggestions for a better speaking class, which include assisting students in four stages of speaking and providing appropriate feedback. keywords: accuracy, fluency, psychological-related challenges, speaking introduction in the realm of learning english as a foreign language, speaking skills – among other skills – become one of the most important skills to master. it is the skill that allows the learners to initiate and maintain a conversation with other people (firman, 2012). in roosdianna, munir, & anam's (2018) work, speaking skill is even considered the benchmark of whether or not language learning is successful. a language learner will also most likely be judged upon the mastery of speaking skills as it will give a glimpse of their language ability in a real-world situation (brown & yule, 1983). similarly, the learners themselves will also evaluate whether they have been successful in mastering the language based on how they perform in speaking (leong & ahmadi, 2017). the complexity of speaking as a skill to be mastered when learning any foreign language has been greatly researched and well-documented. in their work nasri, namaziandost, & akbari, (2019) described speaking as a “mind-boggling” procedure because the speakers have to both send and receive information using verbal cues while at the same time paying attention to the non-verbal cues. shumin mailto:anastasia.cendra@ukwms.ac.id1 mailto:eric@ukwms.ac.id mailto:anastasia.cendra@ukwms.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4579 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 379-394 380 (2002) noted that speaking is a complex process as it comprises many aspects such as verbal communication which is related to linguistic ability, non-linguistic elements such as body language and gesture, and other paralinguistic aspects, such as word stress and sentence intonation when they are communicating orally. accuracy and fluency, and beyond when talking about speaking competence, the terms accuracy and fluency come to the surface (firman, 2012; karimy & pishkar, 2017; roosdianna et al., 2018; vigoya, 2000; wang, 2014). in short, the former refers to the ability of the learner to use correct grammar, intelligible pronunciation, and appropriate diction, whereas the latter refers to the ability of the speakers to smoothly and continuously (firman, 2012). in general, language learners are considered to have adequate speaking competence if they can speak both accurately and fluently (roosdianna et al., 2018). this means that they should be able to construct grammatically correct sentences and utterances, select appropriate word choices following the context of the speech or utterances, and use intelligible pronunciation while also maintaining the smoothness, speed, and rhythm when speaking. in particular, accuracy in terms of speaking deals with “the extent to which the language produced conforms to the target language norms” (yuan & ellis, 2003). therefore, accuracy deals with many linguistic-related factors, such as good pronunciation, diction, and grammar of the target language. vigoya (2000) suggests that students with good speaking accuracy should be able to pronounce words correctly with appropriate intonation and stress patterns, use vocabulary to respond to the stimulus appropriately depending on the context, and conform to the morphological and syntactical patterns. fluency, on the other hand, is a little harder to define. lennon (1990) suggests that there are two meanings for the term fluency. in a broader context, fluency refers to the overall language proficiency. fluency brings a huge contribution to the image of successful language learners (karimy & pishkar, 2017) – when they are fluent, they are most likely proficient. however, in a narrower sense, fluency appears to be related to speaking flowingly, or even at the speed of the native speakers of that target language without too many pauses, hesitations, self-corrections, language fillers, and so on (lennon, 1990). in this case, fluency deals with more the mechanical skills, such as the use of pauses, the speed, rhythm; the language use, such as being coherent and reasoned; as well as the judgment skills, which is the ability to speak appropriately depending on the contexts (vigoya, 2000). beyond the technical aspects of speaking that define speaking mastery, psychological aspects also play important role in one’s performance in speaking english. students who see speaking english with a positive attitude tend to show better strategy use compared to those who have a negative attitude (toomnan & intaraprasert, 2015). specifically, research has shown that psychological aspects such as a lack of motivation and self-confidence, anxiety, and inhibition (aziz & kashinathan, 2021) are commonly found in language learners. furthermore, trinh & pham (2021) pointed out that “pressure to perform well, being overpowered by better students, fear of making mistakes in front of the class, and fear of criticism or losing face” can also influence learners’ performance in speaking (p. 42). interestingly, research has shown that despite having decent linguistic skills, students face psychological challenges when speaking, such as “low self-esteem, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 379-394 381 higher anxiety, and low motivation” which display significant difficulties when asked to speak and vice versa (leong & ahmadi, 2017). this finding corresponds with park & lee's (2005) study that reported a negative relationship between anxiety and learners’ speaking performance; the higher the anxiety level they have, the lower score they get. teaching speaking many language learners often find speaking difficult or even daunting to master. this is especially true for elf learners who generally have limited exposure to the target language outside of the classroom (navidinia, mobaraki, & malekzadeh, 2019). moreover, other various factors can also inhibit students speaking mastery. roosdianna et al., (2018) reported three factors that can inhibit students’ speaking competence, namely lack of confidence, limited vocabulary, and too much topic to talk about. because of its complexity, it becomes a responsibility for educators to help students navigate themselves in the stream of these challenges. they should “investigate the factors, conditions, and components that form the basis of effective speaking” (derakhshan, khalili, & beheshti, 2016, p. 183). a case in point, nasri et al., (2019) suggest using more spoken languages inside the classroom while also providing ample opportunities for the learners to develop their speaking skills while roosdianna et al., (2018) recommend using more fun activities to assist students in developing their speaking skills. furthermore, karimy & pishkar (2017) suggested considering the learners’ level when deciding to focus on accuracy or fluency first as generally more advanced learners will need to focus more on the accuracy, yet the fluency should not also be ignored. to holistically improve students’ accuracy and fluency relatively at the same time, however, wang (2014) recommends four step-pedagogical methods that can help language learners to speak better: before – while – after – and extension practice. before learners speak, the educators should prepare the learners to have sufficient knowledge and vocabulary to speak as well as some strategies to lessen their nervousness. while the learners speak, they should be given appropriate time and space to develop their fluency. the accuracy focus should be done after speaking – they should be offered opportunities to notice and correct the language use. then, learners should be encouraged to practice extensively to speak more fluently and accurately. furthermore, to help ease participants' psychological challenges, educators should also make sure to create a safe learning experience for students to speak. when the environment is safe, “non-threatening and non-anxiety frightening” (pratolo, habibie, & setiawan, 2019, p. 32), the learners will likely feel more comfortable speaking. in particular, aziz & kashinathan (2021) emphasize that educators build positive rapport with the learners to encourage them to speak. they should also give praise to students, remind them not to be stressed, and make them feel happy in class (leong & ahmadi, 2017). the educators also need to be aware of how students react when making mistakes in speaking in front of their classmates (pratolo et al., 2019) the corrective feedback given to students’ errors also has to be put into consideration when teaching speaking. while research has shown that corrective feedback positively affects learners’ speaking mastery (e.g. gamlo, 2019; shariq, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 379-394 382 2020), there is still a possibility that learners can feel embarrassed (atma & widiati, 2015). furthermore, the educators should also be aware of the when and how of giving the feedback to avoid learners being worried about making mistakes (leong & ahmadi, 2017). tasdemir & arslan, (2018) reminded educators to be mindful of varied preferences when it comes to the types and timing of the corrective feedback. regarding the timing, research has pointed out diverse findings. on one hand, a number of studies (e.g. ananda, febriyanti, yamin, & mu’in, 2017; gamlo, 2019) reported that students preferred that the feedback should be immediate to ensure that the learners do not forget and reinforce the correct form; whereas other studies (ölmezer-öztürk & öztürk, 2016; papangkorn, 2015; tomczyk, 2013) reported that students in their research preferred the corrective feedback be given after the speaking performance to both avoid any interruption which can lead to learner’s demotivation and prevent a disruption to the speaking flow. regarding the types, mengke (2016) has found that indirect or implicit feedback (such as repeating the error or interaction modification) might trigger their consciousness when speaking to higher-level students; however, giving direct feedback – explicitly correcting the mistake is more preferable for beginners (mengke, 2016). on a side note, that explicit feedback given to students’ performance may enhance students’ accuracy but negatively affects their fluency; on the other hand, feedback given implicitly can assist students’ fluency but is not as effective for their accuracy (shirani, 2020). looking at these different preferences and benefits, educators need to be ready to meet learners' individual feedback preferences (see tasdemir & arslan, 2018) and the level of the learners (see mengke, 2016) whenever giving feedback. the present research for the context of this research, university students majoring in office administration in a vocational faculty in indonesia, speaking english is one of the main communication skills that is compulsory to master. for students in vocational faculty, being able to communicate orally using english will prepare them to face a real-world situation where they are expected to be able to communicate both for interpersonal or transactional purposes with their colleagues and clients from other countries. graduates of this vocational faculty are indeed expected to be active language ‘users’ (practice-based) who use the language rather than just someone who understands the rules of the language (theory-based) compared to graduates from an academic-based institution (see sudira, 2012). regrettably, students being too afraid to make mistakes in speaking is still a common phenomenon in the context of this research. based on our day-to-day observation, many students in our classroom shutter or are even not willing to speak during speaking activities in the classroom because they fear making grammar or pronunciation mistakes. unfortunately, this phenomenon can result in a lack of fluency in their speech. thus, it becomes intriguing to see how students see a speaking performance, especially related to the technicality of accuracy and fluency and other factors such as psychology. it is also captivating to see how students would suggest making make their speaking class better at assisting them to speak more fluently and accurately. to date, there have been many studies about teaching accuracy and fluency, especially related to the speaking teaching methods (e.g. derakhshan et al., 2016; llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 379-394 383 nasri et al., 2019; nilsson, 2012; pineda, 2016; roosdianna et al., 2018; wang, 2014) and corrective feedback (e.g. mengke, 2016; shirani, 2020). a great deal of research has also tapped and discussed psychological factors in speaking (e.g. aziz & kashinathan, 2021; leong & ahmadi, 2017; park & lee, 2005; toomnan & intaraprasert, 2015; trinh & pham, 2021). however, to the best of our knowledge, there is still limited research done to bring forth how students themselves as language learners see accuracy, fluency and how, in their opinion, the psychological challenges affect them to deliver an accurate and fluent speech. therefore, to widen the knowledge of this research topic and add new literature, this research is to explore how students in vocational faculty see a speaking class, especially to tap deeper into how they see accuracy and fluency in speaking english as a foreign language as well as how other psychological-related factors influence their speaking performance. moreover, this research also wants to bring forward students’ suggestions related to the methodology and technique of teaching speaking to assist them better. method this current research uses the descriptive-qualitative method as it aims to provide an in-depth and holistic description of the object under study rather than drawing a conclusion from a series of numeric data (see ary, jacobs, sorensen, & razavieh, 2010). by examining qualitative data, this research aims to explore and examine how vocational faculty students see english speaking class, specifically how accuracy, fluency, and psychological aspect mean for their learning while also collecting students’ suggestions related to the methodology and technique of teaching speaking. to provide a comprehensive picture and bring forward students’ voices related to the topic, this research used a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. the questionnaire, which was distributed to all students majoring in office administration of a vocational faculty in indonesia, consists of likert-scale statements which were adapted from torres’ (1997) work (as cited in vigoya, 2000). the questionnaire also includes several guiding questions to help uncover students’ thoughts about speaking english as well as how they perceived accuracy, fluency, and other psychological aspects in speaking as well as their suggestions for better speaking classes. thirty-two students voluntarily participated in this research. in addition, to provide more data and understanding, semi-structured interviews with 6 (six) students were also conducted. these students were chosen with a purposeful sampling based on the data from the questionnaire to represent the holistic picture of the topic. all interviewees were given a pseudonym. all collected data was examined and organized inductively from the bottom up until certain themes emerged (see creswell, 2007). to analyse the data, the researchers also conducted three-step coding, and: open coding, axial coding, and selective coding (ary et al., 2010) in which the results are presented in the form of a thick description. the emerged themes are discussed by comparing with the result from the previous studies. findings and discussion the findings of this research are presented under four subtitles. the first part is to provide a brief description of how the speaking class is conducted in the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 379-394 384 context of this research. this includes the speaking tasks as well as how students perceive them. the second part discusses how students see accuracy and fluency, including students' “ideal self” of an english speaker described and their challenges in mastering how to speak the english language fluently and accurately. the third part discusses psychological-related aspects as perceived by students in speaking. the final part presents students’ suggestions for a better speaking class. students and their speaking classes the study found that the participants experience both monologic and dialogic speaking tasks in their classes. the participants mentioned various tasks that they have experienced in their study, ranging from simple individual tasks to complex group tasks. all the tasks were related to business. for the monologic tasks, the participant mentioned speaking tasks such as reading graphs and doing a presentation on a company's competitive advantages company rules and regulations, and organization structure. for the dialogic task, the participants mentioned making a conversation about certain topics, – such as making plans and schedules, arranging a business trip, as well as negotiating – and having a meeting. hence, it can be seen that the participants had various speaking task types. in doing those speaking tasks, the participants demonstrate various feelings, ranging from positive to negative feelings. table 1 presents the common feelings the participants mentioned when asked how they perceive speaking tasks. table 1. common feelings towards speaking task feelings common feelings number of mentioned positive getting more confident 16 happy/proud 4 challenged 2 negative nervous 6 not confident 6 afraid 4 as shown in table 1, the participants mostly had positive feelings toward speaking tasks. the majority of the participants mentioned that they were “getting more confident” over time. this shows that as they progressed through every speaking task, the participants were able to gain more courage to be brave in speaking. a case in point, participant 32 mentioned that she felt “not confident and afraid in the beginning but as the time goes by, the fear subsided, and the confidence grew”. in addition, the participants also mentioned other positive feelings, such as feeling “happy/proud” and “challenged” when they are speaking. despite quite a lot of positive feelings mentioned, several participants still mentioned some negative feelings towards the speaking task. some of them reported that they felt “nervous”, “not confident”, and “afraid” whenever they had to speak in english. for instance, participant 4 shared how she felt “nervous and unconfident” because she was “afraid to go blank and mess up the performance.” similarly, in the interviews, the participants also shared various dominant feelings they experienced whenever is time for them to have a speaking performance. anne, for instance, shared that she felt “nervous and hesitant … but llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 379-394 385 proud of herself even if the performance was not perfect.” similarly, brooke mentioned how she felt “nervous but happy” when speaking. going further, some other interviewees also reported negative feelings whenever they are expected to speak. camila shared that the feeling of being “tensed and afraid to make mistakes” was still dominant whereas fiona felt “unconfident” when she had to speak. related to this matter, research has found that positive feelings, in this case, self-confidence have a significant correlation to speaking achievement (tridinanti, 2018). that is, students who are more confident in themselves tend to perform better in speaking. therefore, cultivating these positive feelings is a necessity to encourage students to learn to speak better. furthermore, despite positive feelings being dominant among the participants of this research, educators should acknowledge that a number of negative feelings towards speaking english are still present especially when research in a similar context, indonesia, has found that speaking anxiety is common for language learners (see jannah & fitriati, 2016). they found that students are afraid of making mistakes and getting ridiculed, shy of the feeling of inadequate english ability, as well as anxious about the attention they get when speaking. these forms of negative feelings, such as speaking anxiety, can derive from “communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation” (damayanti & listyani, 2020, p. 152). therefore, having found some common negative emotions in speaking english, educators need to be attentive to students’ feelings and find a way to help them be more comfortable talking in the target language (see coutinho dos santos, veiga de souza, & vélez-ruiz, 2020). accuracy, fluency, and students’ challenges to gain information related to students’ thoughts about accuracy and fluency, we first asked the participants to describe what is an “ideal speaker” of the english language for them, the participants mentioned several characteristics. table 2 sums up the common characteristics of an “ideal speaker” as perceived by students. table 2. “ideal speaker” as perceived by students elements characteristics number of mentioned accuracy-related having good grammar 8 accurate pronunciation 7 vast vocabulary and diction 4 fluency-related speaking flowingly 8 easy to understand 3 adapting to the context 3 others understand what others say 5 confident 2 referring to table 2, the participants mostly mentioned characteristics related to speaking accurately to describe their “ideal speaker”, namely having good grammar, accurate pronunciation, vast vocabulary, and diction. to mention some examples, participant 6 mentioned that a good speaker is someone who is able to “speak with appropriate vocabulary and correct pronunciation with a good grammar” whereas participant 30 shared a good speaker is someone who can “choose the correct diction and pronounced it correctly.” llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 379-394 386 furthermore, the participants also mentioned several fluency-related characteristics that describe their “ideal speaker.” the characteristics include being able to speak flowingly, using language in such an understandable manner and the ability to adapt the speaking to the context. participant 24, for example, shared that a good speaker for her is someone who can “directly speak using english without having to think too much.” similarly, participant 5 regarded a good speaker as someone who can speak “really flowingly with such easy-to-understand” language use. going further, when asked about their thought on the importance of accuracy and fluency in english speaking, the majority of the participants considered both accuracy and fluency important for their speaking performance. when asked to rate the level of importance of the following speaking elements, the participants showed relatively the same score for both accuracy and fluency elements with the accuracy element showing a slightly higher score, as shown in table 3. table 3. students’ rate on the importance of accuracy and fluency elements details average σ accuracy pronunciation, intonation, stress pattern 4.6 0.55 diction 4.4 0.75 grammar and sentence structure 4.3 0.65 fluency speech speed, pauses, rhythm 4.2 0.79 coherence, reasoning, and meaningfulness 4.0 0.73 judgment to adapt to the context and audiences 4.4 0.56 the numbers shown in table 3 align well with how participants responded to the open-ended questions shown in table 4. when the participants were given the definition of accuracy and fluency and asked to give their opinion about the importance of those elements in english speaking, most of the participants considered both elements as either very important or important. however, similar to table 3, slightly more numbers of participants viewed accuracy as slightly more important than fluency. table 4. students’ view on accuracy and fluency rate accuracy fluency very important 15 13 important 12 15 neutral 2 2 not really important 3 2 these findings resonate well with the interview data where the students have various opinions about accuracy and fluency. when asked about her opinion on accuracy and fluency, diana mentioned that while both aspects are important, she feels accuracy is somehow more important. she shared her thought that the students generally need to master the “foundation of the language” before they learn to speak fluently. camila, on the other hand, thought that fluency should come first. she shared that “foreigners often do not care about grammar” and highlighted the importance of fluency. going further, in their effort to achieve their speaking mastery, the participants reported various challenges in relation to speaking accurately and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 379-394 387 fluency – where most of them are related to accuracy. table 5 sums up the participants' common accuracy and fluency-related challenges in speaking. table 5. students’ common challenges in speaking (accuracy and fluency related) challenges details numbers of mentioned accuracy-related grammar 18 vocabulary/diction 18 pronunciation 15 fluency-related twisted tongue 2 mimicking foreigners’ accent 2 looking at table 5, it is quite apparent that the participants mostly mentioned the challenges related to speaking accuracy. the most common ones are problems with speaking with grammatically correct structure and appropriate diction. participant 15, for instance, mentioned how she felt she did not have enough “grammatical knowledge” that she needed to produce accurate utterances, whereas the participant also mentioned how she found it difficult to recall “the appropriate diction” to compose her sentences when speaking. moving forward, challenges with speaking with correct pronunciation was also reported by many participants. participant 9, for example, shared that she was oftentimes “clueless on how to pronounce certain words” because she rarely “heard those words.” other than problems related to the accuracy, a few participants also shared that they also had fluency challenges in speaking in english, especially related to their “twisted tongue” and trying to mimic a native speaker’s “accent.” regarding this matter, participant 9 shared her thought that she felt it hard to speak english because she has “indonesian people’s tongue” hinting that her tongue is not designed to pronounce english words fluently”. from these findings, it is safe to say that the participants of this research arguably put more emphasis on speaking accuracy. while the participants acknowledged that both accuracy and fluency were important, they rated a slightly higher rate for accuracy. furthermore, the participants mentioned more accuracyrelated characteristics when describing their ideal speakers, such as having good grammar, accurate pronunciation, and appropriate word choice. the participants also mentioned way more accuracy-related challenges than fluency-related challenges, suggesting that they considered speaking more on being accurate. the present finding is similar to what has been found by krystyna droz´dzial -szelest (2011). when the participants of the study were asked if they focus more on speaking accuracy or fluency, the majority of the participants were preoccupied with speaking accuracy. not wanting to make mistakes becomes the main reason for this tendency. however, the finding of the present research is quite the opposite of what trinder (2013) reported. in her study, most participants agreed that being accurate is not the priority in spoken language, which in turn reflects on their willingness to take a risk. the participants of this study, for example, indicated that is okay to guess when not knowing the meaning of certain words. therefore, drawing from these previous studies, it is safe to say that while it is quite normal for students to focus more on accuracy, fluency should not be neglected. focussing on accuracy may help the students to be more aware of their language structure to avoid grammatical and pronunciation mistakes indeed. however, being too focused llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 379-394 388 on accuracy may inhibit the students from risk-taking, which is important in language learning. psychological elements in speaking when discussing challenges in speaking, the participants went further to share their other challenges that are outside the realm of accuracy and fluency. rather, those challenges are more related to the psychological aspects of speaking. these other challenges are summed up in table 6, as follows. table 6. students’ psychological related challenges in speaking challenges details numbers of mentioned psychological-related nervous 10 feeling unconfident/doubtful 9 afraid to make mistakes 5 other reasons 3 from table 6, it can be seen that the participants mentioned psychologicalrelated challenges. these challenges include – but are not limited to –nervousness, lack of confidence, and fear of making mistakes when speaking. for instance, participant 12 shared how she was “haunted by nervousness” whenever she was asked to talk in english. similarly, participant 13 also mentioned that she felt “not confident which caused [her] to lose focus.” in addition, it is also quite common that the psychological-related challenges also influence how they perform in relation to both speaking accurately and fluency. a case in point, participant 31 shared how she felt “nervous” she had to talk in english which in turn caused her to “overthink grammar and pronunciation and forget the appropriate vocabulary.” in the same boat was participant 24 who felt “afraid to make pronunciation mistakes” which subsequently caused her to “choose another diction that is not appropriate for the context.” the data from the interview also supports these findings. there are several psychological-related challenges that the interview respondents have experienced, such as: being nervous, insecure, not confident, fear of making mistakes in grammar, diction, and pronunciation, fear of not knowing how to respond (ideas drain), fear of critics (in the speaking performance). these challenges are all coming from the inside of the students. one most possible factor that contributes to these challenges is that they are not ready or they just simply feel they are not – to perform speaking activities in the target language. no being or feeling ready is indeed a common phenomenon in speaking. a great body of research has reported these challenges (see aziz & kashinathan, 2021; kara & ayaz, 2017; trinh & pham, 2021). this feeling of not being ready to speak in english causes what is then called psychological related challenges such as nervousness, anxiety, insecurity, unconfident, and fear of making mistakes. these feelings created significant challenges in oral production. moreover, the awareness of them not being a native speaker of the target language in turn may create anxiety before speaking, feeling of insecurity, and fear of making mistakes (see ilyas, putri, & nurani, 2021; jejo, 2020; pratolo et al., 2019; tulgar, 2018). therefore, it becomes imperative for educators to address this phenomenon, especially when psychological challenges may greatly affect llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 379-394 389 students' performance in speaking (see leong & ahmadi, 2017; park & lee, 2005). suggestions for better teaching methods when asked about how the educators can help them do better in the speaking class, both concerning accuracy and fluency or even beyond, the participants proposed several suggestions. table 6 presents the four most common suggestions posed by the participants. table 6. students' suggestions for speaking classes students’ suggestion numbers of mentioned more english exposure/practice 13 provide more feedback 7 create a safe and collegial learning atmosphere 7 utilize more fun activities 5 as seen in table 6, the most prevalent suggestion for a better speaking class is providing students with more english exposure or practice, both to enhance their accuracy and fluency in speaking. the participants felt that is the best way to be skillful in using english spoken language. in particular, participant 10 pointed out how “using full english in class when speaking is hard, but it will help [her] in the class.” by the same token, participant 12 suggested more english practice using a group “discussion to discuss a certain topic” more often, whereas participant 28 suggested “more conversation practice” to enhance her speaking skills. another common suggestion presented by the participants is to give more feedback on the speaking performance. participant 17, for instance, suggested that the educators are to “remind [her] when [she] made grammatical or pronunciation errors” in speaking. likewise, participant 11 suggested that her “mispronunciations should be corrected” by the educators whereas participant 9 wanted the educators to give them “suggestions” on how to improve her overall speaking ability. moving further, the participants also proposed some suggestions that are more relevant to their psychological factors in speaking, namely providing them with a safe learning atmosphere and utilizing more fun activities in class. related to creating a safe learning atmosphere, participant 17 reminded the educators to be “more patient” in guiding the students. similarly, participant 9 suggested that the educators do not “corner the students” because their minds “could go blank” when they panic while participant 32 suggested a less “tensed situation” so that students can be more confident when speaking. furthermore, related to fun activities in class, as suggested to use more “speaking games” (participant 2), “movies” (participant 19), or “videos” (participant 25). participant 26, in particular, mentioned that by employing more fun activities in class, the students can “enjoy” the speaking class more. the result of the interview strengthens the aforementioned data. there are some points suggested by the interview respondents to be accommodated in a ‘constructive’ speaking class. they are warming up activities; relaxing learning atmosphere or safe learning environment; encouraging corrective feedback which is not discouraging; summary of speaking performances including evaluation, speaking tips, and tricks; more examples (videos, recording, samples of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 379-394 390 conversation); small-group learning; more target language exposure: outside class activity independent activity; extra target language engagement. these suggestions from the participants can be grouped into four phases of speaking activities: pre-speaking, whilst-speaking, post-activities, and extensive activities (see wang, 2014). in the pre-speaking phase, educators should be able to provide ample warming up activities and examples such as videos, recordings, or conversation samples to help them be familiar with the context of the speaking classes (cf. nasri et al., 2019; navidinia et al., 2019). by giving the students more exposure to how the target language, the students can be more prepared to speak. in the whilst-speaking phase, educators should encourage and maintain a relaxing and safe learning atmosphere for the students (cf. batyrova, 2021; derakhshan et al., 2016; fauzan, 2014; trinh & pham, 2021). creating such an environment helps students to become more comfortable speaking and not afraid of making mistakes, by, for example, letting them to speak freely first without interruption or correction. this way, educators can encourage students to speak fluently (see shirani, 2020).. in addition, at this stage also, educators can divide the students into several small groups learning to practice their speaking skills with their peers (derakhshan et al., 2016). in the post-speaking phase, corrective and encouraging feedback is the main point of participants’ suggestions. however, there are some differences in their feedback preferences (see tasdemir & arslan, 2018). in the interviews, five out of six interviewees prefer explicit feedback, meaning that they wanted the educators to explicitly tell them which parts of their speaking needs improvements. the respondents mentioned that they need explicit feedback so that they can know for sure what they need to improve without causing too much confusion. brooke, for example, preferred direct feedback because she feared that “what [she] thought is right differs from [her] lecturers.” however, one interviewee, diana, preferred implicit feedback because she felt that implicit feedback feels less attacking. a learner who chooses this kind of feedback usually perceives it as less embarrassing or stressful for the learners (yoshida, 2008). in terms of the timing, five interviewees favored feedback be given at the end of their speaking performance. for instance, diana preferred this type of feedback as she would be hesitant to continue if the feedback were given in the middle of the performance. on the other hand, one interviewee, eloise, preferred feedback be given directly after she made a mistake to ensure she knows “exactly where the mistake is” so that she can correct it immediately. as students’ preference for the type of feedback given to the speaking performance differs, it becomes educators’ responsibility to try to cater to these diverse preferences, both in the types of the feedback and the timing (cf. sakale, 2019; tasdemir & arslan, 2018). this finding resonates well with the work of sakale (2019) and tasdemir & arslan (2018) who remind educators to consider the timing and types of the feedback. in the last phase, the extensive activities which take place outside class activity or independent activity, educators are to provide opportunities for the students to have extra target language engagements. this can be done by, for instance, assigning students with speaking projects outside the classroom or by having them form a small group of speaking communities in which they can llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 379-394 391 practice freely outside the classroom walls. these activities are to provide the language learners with supportive and good interaction (nilsson, 2012). conclusion speaking skills have been known as an indicator of showing how competent a foreign language learner is, especially in terms of whether they have the ability to speak accurately and fluently. the present study has shown how the students of vocational faculty tend to give more attention the accuracy compared to fluency, which can possibly lead to less willingness to risk-taking if it is not treated carefully. the present research has also found that psychological challenges, such as being nervous, unconfident, fear of making mistakes, and a feeling of not being ready to perform oral production affect the speaking performance. furthermore, students’ suggestions for a better speaking class which are categorized into four phases – before speaking, whilst speaking, after speaking, and extensive practice – have also been presented. although the present research has provided more literature on speaking activities, especially from efl students’ perspective, the result of this research cannot be accounted for as a generalization because of its specific and limited number of respondents. the researchers hope that future research can tap more into this issue with broader and more participants as well as dig deeper into to what extent the psychological challenges in speaking affect efl speaking performance. references ananda, d. r., febriyanti, e. r., yamin, m., & mu’in, f. 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(2003). the effects of pre-task planning and on-line planning on fluency, complexity and accuracy in l2 monologic oral production. applied linguistics, 24(1), 1–27. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/applin/24.1.1 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 38-44 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 38 gazing at the body as a locus of competence: implications for language education setiono sugiharto doctoral program in applied english linguistics faculty of education and languages atma jaya catholic university of indonesia correspondence: setiono.sugiharto@atmajaya.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4466 received: 11 march 2022; accepted: 11 april 2022 abstract it is well-established that the notion of language competence often bandied about in english language teaching scholarship owes much of its allegiance to the chomskyan tradition, which privileges mind over body and other materiality. tracing this tradition to its root, one may surmise that the infamous chomskyan competence has been the sustenance of cartesian linguistics as the neo-platonic philosophical tradition known for its condemnatory arguments against body in the pursuit of knowledge. basing on the idea of somaesthetics initially proposed by richard shusterman, i argue in this conceptual article that english language teaching landscape needs to embrace insights generated by current research and theorization on the pivotal role of the soma (the living body) as a source of competence in facilitating communicative practices. i will first discuss the notion of somaesthetic, and then demonstrate that research in language teaching and language acquisition scholarship (albeit limited in numbers) has long been inspired by this body philosophy. implications for english language teaching will be offered. keywords: chomskyan tradition, communicative practices, language competence, somaesthetics, soma introduction in english language education, the extolled notion of language competence has indubitably been associated with the chomskyan linguistics as the epitome of the ‘cognitive revolution’ (atkinson, 2012). competence, conceived from this school of thought, is a mental grammar and a product of creative mental processes generated ad infinitum by the mind. it is therefore individualistic, rationalistic, abstract, and logocentric. consider, for example, the following remarks by chomsky (1965) that has constituted the locus classicus of modern linguistic theory: “any interesting generative grammar will be dealing, for the most part, with mental processes that are far beyond the level of actual or even potential consciousness; futhermore, it is quite apparent that a speaker’s reports and viewpoints about his behavior and his mailto:setiono.sugiharto@atmajaya.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4466 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 38-44 39 competency may be in error. thus, a generative grammar attempts to specify what the speaker actually knows, not what he may report about his knowledge (p. 8). the powerful ramifications of this contention which have been feverishly embraced in english language pedagogy include the followings:  competence is a key construct, and performance is subservient to competence (hence the dichotomy competence vs. performance)  language resides in intellectu (solitary mental activity)  language is a pre-given entity  there exists an idealized native speaker tracing its very root of this idea of language competence, one can arguably link it to its lineage –platonic philosophical tradition, which elevates the status of mind (competence or knowledge of language) as a source of knowledge, and relegates the body (performance or use of language) as distorting the pursuit of knowledge. because of the predominant influence of the chomskyan tradition in english language teaching, competence in the english language is construed as the ability to produce (to speak and write) language which approximates english native speakers at best, and precisely sounds like them at worst. competence in this chomskyan sense has been prevalent, most notably in the mainstream second language acquisition (henceforth sla) scholarship (see atkinson, 2010). long’s oft-cited (1997) assertion that “most sla researchers view the object of inquiry as in large part an internal, mental process: the acquisition of new (linguistic) knowledge” (p. 319) reflects the chomskyan orientation to language as mental grammar. that is, language is considered autonomous or selfstanding (canagarajah, 2018 b), devoid of its socio-cultural forces. furthermore, this orientation treats mind and world as separated (atkinson, churchill, nishino, & okada, 2007). so dominant is this orientation in sla scholarship that sla research has clung to the ‘linguistic cognitive paradigm’ (ortega, 2014) as their conceptual framework. this conceptual article argues that as language education has focused almost exclusively on competence as an abstract and mentalistic entity (hence the predominance of linguistic cognitive paradigm), there is the need for language education to consider body as a key locus of language competence. drawing on the idea of somaesthetic or body consciousness proposed by shusterman (2008), the article shows that (based on current research and theorization in english language education), the body can serve as a vital site and locus of meaning making, which in the end can enable language users to achieve successful communication. the article concludes by offering implications for english language education. theory and application gazing at the body: a perspective from somaestethics among the many argumentations proposed by the body theorists and philosophers such as michel foucault, merleau-ponty, and simone de beauvoir, amongst others (for a comprehensive review and critiques of the works of these body philosophers, readers are referred to shusterman (2008)), richard shusterman is probably the one who has taken a further step to elevate the relegating status of body and to defend it against the neo-platonic critiques of the bodily values. not only has he been attempting to vehemently resuscitating the vital role of the soma (the living body), but he has also been calling for more attention to the study of somaesthetics defined “as the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 38-44 40 critical meliorative study of one’s experience and use of one’s body as a locus of sensory-aesthetic appreciation (aesthesis) and creative self-fashioning” (shusterman, 2008, p. 19). the interchangeable use of the notions of soma and body throughout the article is intentional, but both refer essentially to the meaning as living, sentient body rather than body as a mere object. they are meant to be leib and not körper to use the german terms. it is important to highlight here that by the phrase ‘critical meliorative study’, shusterman wishes to emphasize the practical sides of somatic philosophy, namely the capability of “both in stylizing one’s self and in appreciating the aesthetic qualities of other selves and things (shusterman, 2008, p. 2). this philosophical outlook of the living body certainly carries relevant bearings to the way body can (re)construct and (re) produce knowledge –the contention that has been inveighed against by the neo-platonic tradition. for shusterman, the body forms a vital dimension of our identity, for it functions as the instrumental medium of our perception in understanding the world. as he remarks: it (the body) [italics mine] forms our primal perspective or mode of engagement with the world, determining (often unconscious) our choice of ends and means by structuring the very needs, habits, interests, pleasures, and capacities on which those ends and means rely for their significance (shusterman, 2008, p. 3). this remark can only be understood if we cling to the idea of somaesthetics as something practical (hence practical somaesthetics), rather than as something abstract, and mere theoretical or concpetual. in fact, among the other branches of somaesthetics adumbrated by shusterman, it is practical somaesthetics that constitutes a key premise in his body philosophy. somaesthetics in this perspective is then “concerned not with saying but with doing [italic in original]…” (shusterman, 2008, p. 29). aside from practical somaesthetics, shusterman (2008) also mentions other types of somaesthetics which include analytic somaesthetics and pragmatic somaesthetics. the former deals with the descriptive and theoretical aspects of bodily perceptions and practices, and the latter is concerned with the normative and prescriptive characters of the body and various methods used to enhance somatic improvement. many body scholars have, in fact, applied somatic practices in formal education like in dance education (bresler, 2004; stinson, 2004), art education (davidson, 2004), and music education (bowman, 2004) with the aim of demonstrating the possibility of bodily instruction in the school curricula and of emphasizing the innumerable values of embodied pedagogies. more importantly, the inclusion of the formal bodily instruction reflects an intellectual endeavor to fill the void of the absence of embodied knowledge in educational institutions (bresler, 2004). although shusterman (2008) does not explicitly accentuate the role of the soma as a locus of language competence, we can nevertheless expand this practical aspect of somaesthetics to the way linguistic knowledge is (re) constructed and (re) produced in any communicative setting. as we will see in the subsequent section, the expansion of bodily role in meaning-making is often accompanied with the notions bearing such names as alignment and assemblage. this accompaniment, it should be noted, does not by any means, render the notion of somaesthetics less significant in its role as the prime locus of language competence. body as a locus of competence: evidence from several studies scholars in language education in general, and sla in particular have become increasingly cognizant of the vital role of the body as a potential locus of meaning making in communicative llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 38-44 41 events (see atkinson, 2014; atkinson, et.al, 2007; canagarajah, 2018 a; canagarajah, 2018 b; nishino & atkinson, 2014, amongst others). although in their studies and theorization these scholars do not specifically attribute body as the sole entity contributing to meaning making, they do acknowledge it as a site where competence resides. aside from the acknowledgements of both bodily and cognitive competence, scholars have been attempting to show an integrated, expansive and embodied perspective of sla and language education in general by embracing an assemblage of socio-material worlds and spaces, an emerging paradigm that has radically shifted the traditional cognitivist sla to a more social-material-oriented sla. in light with the latter orientation, various sla studies (and english language studies as well) have ensued, bearing various names such as sociocognitive approach (atkinson, 2014; atkinson, et.al, 2007), sociocognitive alignment (nishino & atkinson, 2014), spatial repertoires (pennycook & otsuji, 2015; canagarajah, 2018 a), new materialism (canagarajah 2018 c; see also kim & canagarajah, 2021). atkinson, et.al (2007) investigated the acquisition of english grammatical constructions by a high school student tutored by her aunty, attempting to find out what external factors, apart from cognitive attributes, could contribute to the acquisition of these constructions. in their study, they showed that their research participants named ako (a high school student) and tomo (ako’s aunt) exhibited a dynamic coordination and alignment with socio-material worlds in the former’s attempt to acquire english grammatical constructions. this coordination is not limited to the mind as a source of knowledge, but to the bodily orientations and other materiality, such as books, tables, chairs, pen, and other worlds’ materiality. the results of this study demonstrated that language acquisition and language learning are a convoluted process encompassing a multidimensional alignment with “a rich array of sociocognitive tools and affordances” (p. 184), the most part of which includes a bodily dimension. in another study, nishino and atkinso (2015) further applied the sociocognitive theoretical framework to second language writing, suggesting that language production (i.e. academic writing in this case) is intricately embedded with sociomaterial environment such as bodies and other semiotic systems. in other words, writing, as they argue, is “co-constructed social activity rather than a solitary cognitive act” (p. 40). applying the sociocognitive paradigm in how two japanese writers (tomo and masa) jointly composed an academic prose, the authors found out that writing activities of these two participants are inseparable from “mind-body-world ecologies” (nishino & atkinso, 2015, p. 39). an intricate web of multidimensional facets is involved in the writing activities and potentially contributes to the meaning making during the process of writing. from this perspective, cognition is seen not as an “independent category”, but as an “emergent result of and tool for” [italics in original] integrated mind-body-world activity (nishino & atkinso, 2015, p. 51). a study of embodied cognition related to the mind-body-space has been insightfully conducted by canagarajah (2018 b). using interview data elicited from the chinese stem (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) scholars, canagarajah has revealingly shown that language competence claimed by these scholars in the interview data are the results of their strategic alignment with the surrounding spaces, multimodal resources and other material affordances. for example, rather than claiming the value of verbal resources and proficiency, the interviewees in the study attribute their competence as a result of their relying on the body language or gestures and visuals such as images and pictures in formal classroom presentation. obviously, the notion of competence in this sense stands in stark contrast with that construed by the chomskyan paradigm as purely cognitive and mentalistic in nature. from this contemporary perspective, competence is redefined in light of one’s creative communicative strategies of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 38-44 42 assembling one’s self with different kinds of material objects and entities distributed within certain spaces, with both the entities and spaces playing a pivotal role in meaning making (see also pennycook & otsuji, 2015; canagarajah, 2018 a). while all of these studies integrate cognition with body, material worlds, semiotic resources, and spaces, all of which constitute an assemblage, we can argue here that it is the body that still serves as the key locus of competence; materials, semiotic resources and spaces, albeit crucial, only play a subservient role in contributing to meaning. they are made ‘alive’ through the enactment of the consciousness of the soma or living body, without which these facets will be of little value. it is the body (through the sensory-perception) that controls and governs the inanimate materials by imbuing them with agentive capacities to ‘act’ and ‘intra-act.’ consider, for example, an elementary school learner (picture 1 below) who is concentrating on doing her homework. as can be seen here, learning is inextricably ecologically embedded and entangled. the material objects such as the computer, the mouse, the keyboard and the books are assembled, made alive, and hence gaining functionality due the learner’s consciousness of using the body parts in infusing agentive capacities to these objects. as such, thinking and understanding (i.e. the cognitive part) of the lesson assigned as homework is further enhanced by the alignment and assemblage of these different inanimate entities. the human-non human interaction here constitutes what clark (2001) calls “the whole caboodle”…: the brain and body operating within an environmental setting (p. 142). the product of comprehending what is being learnt is therefore not solely due the functionality of the brain, but because of the continual and repeated assemblage of mind and socio-material worlds. this product, as clark (2001) further contends, is as result of “…the embodied, embedded agent in the world. the naked biological brain is just a part (albeit a crucial and special part) of a spatiality and temporally extended process, involving lots of extraneural operations, whose joint action creates the intellectual product (p. 142). picture 1. an elementary learner is doing her school assignment conclusion the shifting orientation of sla from the purely linguistic cognitive paradigm to sociomaterial-cognitive orientation certainly has far-reaching implications for language education as well as language learning. first, language learning and teaching are always ecologically embodied and entangled within complex and convoluted multidimensional facets. as every facet is always in alignment resulting in an assemblage of different material affordances, it is getting difficult to determine that mind/brain alone is the sole locus of language competence. there are cases where llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 38-44 43 verbal resources (as a product of cognitive competence) alone are of little help in enhancing communication, and must therefore be aligned with other multimodal resources, materiality and space (hence spatial repertoires), so as to effectively attain communicative goals (see for example canagarajah, 2018b, 2018c). second, the role of body aesthetics in entanglement and alignment with other semiotic resources, spaces, and material affordances need to receive considerable attention by language teachers. as has been demonstrated in the studies reviewed above, the body as the core source of competence immensely contributes to meanings in communicative settings by infusing the agentive capacities to inanimate entities, therefore making these entities gain functionality. similarly, body as an individual living entity autonomous from other entities has nonlinguistic and non-propositional ‘bodily knowledge’– ‘as a way of knowing the world through the tactilekinesthetic experience of our bodies’ (sousa santos, 2018, p. 93). this is the ‘corporeality of knowledge’ which is not “mobilized on the basis of reasons, concepts, thoughts, analysis, and arguments (sousa santos, 2018, p. 97). given the importance of this body aesthetics, what language teachers and students need to be cognizant of is the consciousness of the body as the key locus of all perception. finally, the radical paradigmatic shift in orientation in sla and language education compels us language teachers to equip students not only with language awareness and rhetorical differences across languages, but also with strategic communicative practices. contrary to the linguistic cognitive paradigm where native like proficiency has been seen as the ultimate goal of language acquisition, the goal of language education under the new sla orientation should no longer be the attainment of proficiency of the standard variety per se. as pennycook (2014) has argued, the goal of language education, “may be less towards proficient native speakers…, and to think instead in polycentric terms of resourceful speakers” (p. 15) [italics in original]. in other words, it is speakers’ resourcefulness in aligning themselves 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(2004) my body/myself: lessons from dance education. in l. bresler (ed.) knowing bodies, moving minds: towards embodied teaching and learning (pp. 153-168). dordrecht: kluwer. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amx041 https://doi.org/10.1111/weng.12301 https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12464 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.15404781.1997.tb05487.x https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2014.11.002 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 514 influence of teaching experience on teachers’ level of use of critical thinking youssouf laabidi faculty of educational sciences, madinat al irfane, rabat, morocco. correspondence: laabidi.youssef@hotmail.fr doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i2.3719 received 27 september 2021; accepted 29 october 2021 abstract critical thinking is very important in the area of education, because it is an essential tool for solving problems and making good decisions. through applying critical thinking in learning, students can become creative in discovering the best method of learning and organizing their work. therefore, critical thinking is not an educational choice and all learners should be taught to think critically. the primary objective of this paper is to study whether teaching experience played a role in teachers’ level of use of critical thinking. the quantitative method was used. the respondents of the study were moroccan english high school teachers. a questionnaire was used to collect data from teachers. both the online version and the paper-based version of the questionnaire were used to gather data from the participants. a total of 423 questionnaire were collected from the respondents. the statistical package for social sciences (spss) version 19 was used to analyze the data. the findings reveal that teaching experience significantly impacts teachers’ level of use of critical thinking. this suggests that there is a connection between teachers’ effectiveness and years of experience. keywords: critical thinking, impact, high school, teachers, teaching experince introduction the ability to think is often regarded as one of the primary aims of education at different level. marzano, brandt, & presseisen (1988) say that thinking can be considered as an implementation of metacognition, creative thinking, and critical thinking and that there are unlimited lists of thinking processes. along the same lines, beyer (1997) proposes that educators can enhance the quality of learners’ thinking by offering them favorable circumstances to take part in the kinds of thinking to be developed. critical thinking is described as a multidimensional construct that necessitates skills, reasoning, and selfregulation (bensley & murtagh, 2012). critical thinking is not a recent notion. ‘‘ throughout nearly 300 years of policymaking in the united states, educators have promoted eight broad goals of schooling: basic academic skills, critical thinking and problem solving, social skills and work ethic, citizenship, physical health, emotional health, the arts and literature, and preparation for skilled employment’’ (rothstein, wilder, & jacobsen, 2007, p. 8). according to williams (2005), ‘‘critical thinking is important in all academic llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 515 disciplines within democratic education, but it is indispensable in the field of teacher education’’ (p.164). as critical thinking is an essential feature in intellectual development, knowledge acquisition, and knowledge utilization in individuals, instructors are supposed to cultivate learners’ critical thinking skills. (wangensteen, johansson, bjorkstrom, & nordstrom, 2010). recent studies propose that critical thinking should be introduced into the whole curriculum with explicit instruction of critical thinking rules being taught to students at the beginning of the course to take advantage of innate thinking chances as well as constructing thinking classrooms (alan bensley and spero, 2014). the point to make here is that studies into the teaching of thinking indicate that the enhancement of thinking profits more when educators offer explicit instruction, rather than just develop thinking without direct instructions (abrami et al. 2008). according to bataineh and zaghoul (2006), critical thinking abilities can be taught and learnt well by offering suitable instruction, and, to reach this goal, educators should be trained in such skills (p. 38). taking the same line of thought, sadler (1989) stated that critical thinking skills are essential skills for developing learners’ academic performance, and for the best learning results it is crucial to offer explicit instruction in the system. besides, experimental research has proposed that explicitly teaching thinking skills enhanced adult learners’ abilities to critically analyze course content and arguments (penningroth, despain, & gray, 2007). literature review before going any further, it is important to mention that dewey (2009) asserts that it is hard to define thinking and thought, the product of thinking, because “everything that comes to mind, that goes through our heads, is called a thought” (p. 1). lipman (1989) defined thinking as : “ the conscious processing of experience ” (p.5). in the same sense, marzano, brandt, & presseisen (1988) state that thinking has numerous elements, like focusing skills, information-gathering skills, remembering skills, organizing skills, analyzing skills, generating skills, integrating skills and evaluating skills. al-atoom et al. (2007) further contend that an individual’s thinking is influenced by the style of their childhood, motivation, abilities, and educational level, which all strengthen the uniqueness of every individual’s particular reasoning. chaffee (1988) probes the relationship between thinking and critical thinking by providing their definitions. chaffee (1988) states that “thinking is our active, purposeful, organized efforts to make sense of the world” whereas “critical thinking is making sense of our world by carefully examining our thinking, and the thinking of others, in order to clarify and improve our understanding” (p.5). dewey (1933) affirms that “critical thinking is clearly something to do with thinking, but again it is not all the process of thinking. like reflection, it implies more detail than the generic term of thinking” (1933 as cited in moon, 2008, p. 25). the origin of critical thinking dates back to plato. philosophers like socrates, plato, and aristotle considered critical thinking as the ability to ask questions, test, and think about ideas and values (mcconnell, 2008). indeed, there are diverse views about critical thinking since it is a complex concept and involves complex activities and mental processes that are not easy to describe and measure (vacek, 2009). the significance of critical thinking can be historically traced to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 516 1933 when dewey said that the main goal of education is learning to think. dewey (1938) stated that learning to think is the primary aim of education. alqasmi (2006) states that, although critical thinking started with socrates over 2,500 years ago, it is john dewey who is often regarded as the founder of the modern-day tradition of critical thinking. this is affirmed by ennis (1993), who cites dewey’s (1910) work ‘‘how we think’’ as the seminal work in modern critical thinking which identifies it as a major educational goal. al-qasmi (2006) underlines the idea that bloom (1956) was among the earliest writers on modern critical thinking theory. many teachers and researchers have declared that engaging in critical thinking demands pertinent skills and dispositions (giancarlo et al. 2004). facione and facione (2008) outlined critical thinking skills as an interactive, reflective, reasoning process of making a judgement about what tobelieve and what to do. along similar lines, burke et al., (2007) suggested that cognitivists have tried to classify thinking skills by “using hierarchal frameworks. these frameworks differ in terms of terminology and in whether they are purely cognitive skill frameworks or include metacognitive and effective skills and dispositions whilst research on thinking would benefit from further conceptual clarification ” (p.2). various scholars contend that the cognitive skills and mental abilities included in critical thinking such as interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation, and self-regulation are at the core of critical thinking (facione, 1990). in this respect, pascarella and terenzini (1991) reveal that thinkers who employ cognitive skills do some or all of the following: identifying basic affairs and expectations in an argument, recognizing essential relationships, making correct inferences from data, deducing conclusions from information or data provided, interpreting whether results are justified on the basis of the data given. numerous educators frequently do their best to involve learners in critical thinking activities (tempelaar, 2006), and learners rarely employ critical thinking skills to answer complex, real-world problems (bartlett, 2002). pinkney and shaughnessy (2013) state that “educators must teach critical thinking because critical thinking is a skill which makes people fully human” (p. 351). “the more clear and explicit instructors are about what they want students to learn, the more likely it is that students will succeed in learning” (mcphail, 2005, p.65). during the 1970s and 1980s, it was proposed that there was a connection between instructors’ effectiveness and years of experience (murnane & phillips, 1981). indeed, research concerning experienced teachers revealed that experienced teachers are usually familiar with the content they teach, and act differently in the classroom than novice educators do (wolters & daugherty, 2007). the level of experience and knowledge may have an influence on teachers’ ability to teach (murley, keedy, & welsh, 2008). for instance, tschannen-moran and hoy (2007) asserted that experienced educators may promote higher selfefficacy as a result of the sincere favorable outcomes they experience with learners in the classroom. some scholars have contended that critical thinking improves as the result of experience or as a logical result of a college education and /or experience (gellin, 2003). previous studies indicated that differences do occur between novice instructors and those instructors who are more experienced with reference to pedagogical knowledge, classroom management, problem llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 517 solving, decision making, and sensitivity to classroom affairs (palmer, stough, burdenski, & gonzales, 2005). semmar and fakhro’s (2009) research explored how elementary school educators in qatar could strengthen learners’ critical thinking skills in their classrooms. a critical thinking skills’ questionnaire based on bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives, cognitive domain, was used to examine educators’ frequency of making use of particular critical thinking activities. results revealed significant differences between public schools and private ones on the application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation levels, but not on knowledge and comprehension. no significant differences were noticed between the two types of instructors, based on years of teaching experience. another academic investigation proposes that experience may help with effectiveness although some experienced educators typically become less active later in their careers (chingosa & peterson, 2010). wolters and daugherty (2007) noted that educators with more years of experience felt more confident in their capability to make use of instructional and assessment practices that would aid even the most difficult learners. hattie (2009) makes a distinction between experienced and expert instructors, proposing that experience alone is not adequate to determine effectiveness. method this study aims to answer the following research question: are there any statistically significant differences between teachers’ use of critical thinking with respect to teaching experience? based on this research question, one independent variable and one dependent variable were discovered. the independent variable involves the demographic variable, gender, and the dependent variable includes teachers’ level of use of critical thinking in teaching practice (dv). the study used a quanitative approach to assess the impact of teaching experience on teachers’ level of use of critical thinking. 423 respondents took part in this study from different moroccan high schools. the questionnaire was used as a data collection instrument to gather information. pilot testing of the questionnaire was conducted in this study to examine the instrument using participants' comments (creswell, 2012). admittedly, all datagathering should be piloted ‘‘to check that all questions and instructions are clear and to enable the researcher to remove any items which don't yield usable data’’ (bell, 1999,p.84). conducting piloting is beneficial in the sense that it helps to discover any vagueness of the questions or any confusion (creswell, 2012). the pilot study of the new instrument was carried out with 30 english language high school teachers. the high school instructors were invited to fill out and evaluate the instrument. they were asked to complete the questionnaire and return it with their feedback and comments. the copies of the questionnaire were handed back to the researcher. based on questionnaire responses and problems that emerge after the pilot study, numerous modifications were made to simplify items on the questionnaire. the questionnaire was distributed and sent via emails to many teachers to reach high response rates from participants. the mail facilitated ‘’quick data collection, often in as little time as 6 weeks from the first mailing to the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 518 conclusion of data collection. a mailed questionnaire is economical because it involves only duplication and mailing expenses’’ (creswell,2012,p.383). descriptive and inferential statistics were employed in this study to analyze the quantitative data. the data was analyzed using the “statistical package for the social science” (spss) to obtain research statistics. the procedures that were employed to analyze the data involved in the following statistical measures: means, standard deviations, and one-way anova. ethical issues ethics “define what is or is not legal to do or what moral research procedure involves” (newman, 2003, p.19). johnson (2008 p, 101) proposes that ethics are ‘‘principles and guidelines that help us uphold the things we value’’. in this research, three central ethical points were considered. firstly, the researcher clarified the aims of the research, the questions, instruments, and the length of time it would take. therefore, all the respondents approved that they realize the objective of the study, why they were chosen. the participants have a right to know that the data gathered from them is kept confidential (oates, 2006). secondly, participation was voluntary and anonymous. thirdly, the participants’ privacy and confidentiality of data were well protected by using numbers to returned instruments. in this regard, the investigator has a responsibility to obey the rights, needs, values, and desires of the participants. (creswell, 2009). protecting the anonymity of the participants of this study can be done by ‘‘assigning numbers to returned instruments and keeping the identity of individuals confidential offers privacy to participants’’ (creswell 2012, p.926) findings and discussion teachers' demographic characteristics : gender distribution of the participants 423 english language high school teachers participated in this study. as shown in figure (4.1), 62,65% were male (n=265) and 37,35% were female (n= 158). figure : 4.1. gender distribution of the participants llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 519 response frequencies for participants’ teaching experience the findings indicated that (25%) of the participants had more than 25 years of teaching experience. additionally, (16%) of the participants had between 16 to 20 years of teaching experience. in fact, the results showed that most english language teachers have been in the field of teaching for a long time. figure : 4.1. response frequencies for participants’ teaching experience to explore whether there is a significant difference between teachers’ level of use of critical thinking and teaching experience, one-way anova tests were implemented. certainly, one-way anova was employed in this study because we are interested in comparing the mean scores of more than two groups. in other words, it was performed to detect whether there are significant differences in the mean scores on the dependent variable across more than two groups. in this regard, it is necessary to state that in order to identify where these differences exist, post-hoc tests should be used. this research aimed at examining whether teaching experience played a role in teachers’ level of use of critical thinking. to this end, a one -way anova was run in order to discover any feasible difference. the results of the data analysis displayed that the first group of respondents who had less than 5 years of experience achieved the highest mean (m=3.12 ; sd=0.85). another highest mean was obtained by participants who had more than 25 years of experience (m=2.80 ; sd=0.54). on the other hand, the lowest mean was attained by participants who had teaching experience between 16 and 20 years (m=2.35 ; sd=0.48). in the light of the results provided, one can conclude that teachers who had less than 5 years of experience seemed to use critical thinking more than the other groups. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 520 table 4.1. descriptive statistics of teachers’ teaching experience teaching experience n mean std.deviation std.error less than 5 years 57 3,1237 ,85163 ,11280 5-10 years 100 2,4375 ,70037 ,07004 11-15 years 49 2,5867 ,75455 ,10779 16-20 years 58 2,3526 ,48625 ,06385 21-25 years 55 2,4936 ,56822 ,07662 more than 25 years 104 2,8038 ,54165 ,05311 total 423 2,6330 ,69520 ,03380 figure : 4.3. means plot for teaching experience and teachers’ level of use critical thinking to further examine whether the teaching experience of the participants affects their level of use of critical thinking, the means plot was created. according to the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 521 results of the means plot, participants who had less than 5 years of experience scored higher (m=3.12 ; sd=0.85) than the other groups. a one-way between-groups analysis of variance was conducted to study the effect of teaching experience on teachers’ level of use of critical thinking. effectively, participants were divided into six groups according to their teaching experience (group 1: less than five years; group 2 : 5-10; group 3 :11-15 ; group 4 : 16-20 ; group 5 : 21-25 ; group 6 : more than 25 years). the results indicated that the sig.value is (p=0.000) which is less than 0.05 (p=0.003<0.05). therefore, there was a statistically significant difference in the mean of participants’ teaching experience with respect to their level of use of critical thinking. certainly, the null hypothesis that asserted that there are no statistically significant differences between teachers’ level of use of critical thinking and teaching experience was rejected because the sig.value (p=0.000) is less than 0.05. along similar lines, to discover the effect size for this finding, the eta squared should be calculated. cohen (1988) suggested the following measures to interpret the strength of eta squared : 0.01=small effect ; 0,06=moderate effect, 0.14=large effect. the magnitude of the differences in the means was a moderate effect (eta squared=0.12) (somewhat large). another way of expressing this point is that 12% of the variance in teachers’ level of use of critical thinking is explained by teaching experience. table 4.2. one-way between groups anova for teaching experience and teachers’ level of use of critical thinking the post-hoc tests were carried out to find out which group is different from other group. indeed, the statistical significance of the differences between each pair of groups is well represented in table (4.3). according to the results of the post-hoc tests, group 1: less than 5 years is statistically different from the other groups. anova sum of squares df mean square f sig. between groups 26,315 5 5,263 12,355 ,000 within groups 177,637 417 ,426 total 203,952 422 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 522 table : 4.3. post hoc test (tukey) for teaching experience and teachers’ level of use of critical thinking (i) teaching experience (j) teaching experience mean difference (i-j) std. error sig. 95% confidence interval lower bound upper bound less than 5 years 5-10 years ,68618* ,10832 ,000 ,3761 ,9963 11-15 years ,53695* ,12715 ,000 ,1729 ,9010 16-20 years ,77110* ,12173 ,000 ,4226 1,1196 21-25 years ,63005* ,12336 ,000 ,2769 ,9832 more than 25 years ,31984* ,10756 ,037 ,0119 ,6278 5-10 years less than 5 years -,68618* ,10832 ,000 -,9963 -,3761 11-15 years -,14923 ,11381 ,779 -,4751 ,1766 16-20 years ,08491 ,10772 ,969 -,2235 ,3933 21-25 years -,05614 ,10957 ,996 -,3698 ,2576 more than 25 years -,36635* ,09141 ,001 -,6281 -,1046 11-15 years less than 5 years -,53695* ,12715 ,000 -,9010 -,1729 5-10 years ,14923 ,11381 ,779 -,1766 ,4751 16-20 years ,23415 ,12664 ,436 -,1284 ,5967 21-25 years ,09310 ,12821 ,979 -,2740 ,4602 more than 25 years -,21711 ,11309 ,391 -,5409 ,1067 16-20 years less than 5 years -,77110* ,12173 ,000 -1,1196 -,4226 5-10 years -,08491 ,10772 ,969 -,3933 ,2235 11-15 years -,23415 ,12664 ,436 -,5967 ,1284 21-25 years -,14105 ,12284 ,861 -,4927 ,2106 more than 25 years -,45126* ,10696 ,000 -,7575 -,1450 21-25 years less than 5 years -,63005* ,12336 ,000 -,9832 -,2769 5-10 years ,05614 ,10957 ,996 -,2576 ,3698 11-15 years -,09310 ,12821 ,979 -,4602 ,2740 16-20 years ,14105 ,12284 ,861 -,2106 ,4927 more than 25 years -,31021 ,10882 ,052 -,6218 ,0013 more than 25 years less than 5 years -,31984* ,10756 ,037 -,6278 -,0119 5-10 years ,36635* ,09141 ,001 ,1046 ,6281 11-15 years ,21711 ,11309 ,391 -,1067 ,5409 16-20 years ,45126* ,10696 ,000 ,1450 ,7575 21-25 years ,31021 ,10882 ,052 -,0013 ,6218 *. the mean difference is significant at the level 0.05 level. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 523 discussion although there is a special importance that is given to the critical thinking issue as the aim of educational systems, there is no motivation to assess learners think critically and make use of this ability in their lives (maleki, 2007). many institutions neglect the teaching experience of teachers and concentrate on transferring information. therefore, this study tends to uncover the impact of teaching experience on teachers’ level of use critical thinking in teaching practice. critical thinking is one of the skills people might own to enhance lifelong active learning roles (gibby, 2013). jackson, (2006) confirmed that critical thinking ‘‘implies we are open to all aspects, and willing to see issues from a multitude of views, always questioning and challenging the current state’’ (p.3). this part will discuss the findings obtained from the research question and connect it with literature in an attempt to reveal how and why the results present new understandings about critical thinking practice in moroccan high schools. a one-way anova was conducted in order to find out whether teaching experience affects teachers’ level of use of critical thinking. the findings revealed that the sig.value is (p=0.000) which is less than 0.05 (p=0.003<0.05). hence, there was a statistically significant difference in the mean of participants’ teaching experience with respect to their level of use of critical thinking. effectively, the null hypothesis indicating that there is no statistically significant differences between teachers’ level of use of critical thinking and teaching experience was rejected because the sig.value (p=0.000) is less than 0.05. to determine the effect size for this result, the eta squared should be calculated. cohen (1988) proposed the following measures to interpret the strength of eta squared : 0.01=small effect ; 0,06=moderate effect, 0.14=large effect. the magnitude of the differences in the means was a moderate effect (eta squared=0.12). teacher experience significantly correlated with the actual use of critical thinking. obviously, experienced teachers are usually less ready to integrate critical thinking into their teaching. several studies have been carried out with experienced and inexperienced teachers in order to see from what perspectives there are some differences between these two groups of teachers with regard to the use of critical thinking in their classes. as discussed before, the results of this work revealed that teaching experience affects teachers’ use of critical thinking in their classes. this finding is parallel to a study by palmer, stough, burdenski, & gonzales (2005). they reported that differences do occur between novice instructors and those instructors who are more experienced with reference to pedagogical knowledge, classroom management, problem solving, decision making, and sensitivity to classroom affairs. indeed, teaching experience is developed over time and educators who have taught for a long time are knowledgeable about various teaching issues. this is simply because they can relate prior knowledge to new experiences. contrary to the findings of the current study, semmar, and fakhro’s (2009) research examined how elementary school educators in qatar could strengthen learners’ critical thinking skills in their classrooms. the results showed no significant differences were discovered between the two types of instructors, based on years of teaching experience. it is worth stating that many researchers content that only practice in critical thinking is not enough in becoming experienced teachers. the idea of experienced and inexperienced teacher should be examined in terms of motivation, cognitive llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 524 structure, personal point of views, and mecognition (ge & hadre, 2010). metacognition, for instance, is one of the most important variables influencing learning and teaching. there has been much debate about the concepts metacognition and critical thinking. the primary aim here is to examine the possible relationship between the two terms. according to van der stel and veenman (2010), metacognition has been conceptualized as one of the most pertinent predictors of achieving complex higher order thinking processes. in fact, kuhn and dean (2004) emphasized that metacognition is what allows a learner who has been taught a specific strategy in a specific problem situation to get back and use that strategy in similar but new circumstances. it is essential to teach metacognitive skills in the educational system, because they assist learners, enhance higher order thinking process and boost their academic success ( larkin, 2009). this study contributed to the existing body of research regarding the use of critical thinking in moroccan high schools. also, will lay the ground for further research on critical thinking and will contribute to the literature on critical thinking implementation in moroccan high schools. this type of research is pertinent to teachers and students in that the results could be used to enhance teachers’ teaching practices and students learning. similarly, this research sought to contribute to the knowledge base on critical thinking in morocco by attempting to examine teachers’ practice of this important notion in their classes. recommendations for future research based on the results of this study, and taking into account the strengths and limitations of this work, the need for additional research is necessary. the suggested ideas for future studies include: 1. the target population for this study are teachers working in public schools. conducting a comparative study to examine the differences or similarities among teachers teaching critical thinking at private and public schools is useful. such research could help to discover if one group of teachers would be more open to the use of critical thinking in the institution where they work than another. 2. the period of training could be an essential variable in determining the effective implementation of critical thinking in education. hence, the determination of an ideal length of the course is necessqry. indeed, a study should be conducted to explore the question of how long it would take to train teachers to use critical thinking in their teaching. 3. the ministry of education should set up a committee concerned with assessing the level of use of critical thinking in education. 4. in order to understand the development of critical thinking over the three years in high school, a longitudinal study would be effetive for investigqting the performance of teachers in classrooms and difficulties hindering their use of critical thinking over the different years from common core to second year baccalaureate. conclusion this study contributed to the existing body of research regarding the use of critical thinking in moroccan high schools. it studied teachers’ level of use of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 525 critical thinking in their classes. besides, it examined the impact of teaching experience on their level of use of critical thinking in education. the findings of this research showed clearly that teaching experience significantly impacts teachers’ level of use of critical thinking. based on the results of this research, it is necessary to mention that participants should be provided with teaching materials to teach critical thinking. however, it should be noted here that simply providing critical thinking resources does not ensure satisfactory use of this important skill in education. thus, it is highly recommended to inform teachers about the significance of critical thinking in teaching and learning in addition to offering them adequate training. besides, training needs to be an ongoing process, not a one-off event. through the continuing training sessions, teachers will surely be more conscious of the advantages of critical thinking in students’ learning. also, this ongoing training will speed up the rate of teachers’ level of use of critical thinking in their classes. the study carries several important theoretical implications related to the integration of critical thinking in moroccan high schools including: 1. teachers need to be trained in how to integrate critical thinking in their classes. good training is required to help educators broaden their knowledge of their students as learners and help them think critically. 2. the curriculum cannot stand in isolation of learners’ needs. hence, it must reflect all the changes. in other words, curriculum developers should bear in mind that all learners are unique and they come from different backgrounds. this means that when designing learning programs, these professionals need to make sure they take into account numerous elements about students including their needs. 3. another essential implication is that teachers should avoid the view that only specific learners are able to think critically. admittedly, teachers’ negative views towards students’ ability to think critically can hinder their motivation, achievement and might impact their academic performance. teachers must know that emotional support plays a pivotal role in helping students learn academic knowledge and skills. references abrami, p. c., bernard, r. m., borokhovski, e., wade, a., surkes, m. a., tamim, r., and zhang, d. 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(2007). goal structures and teachers' sense of efficacy: their relation and association to teaching experience and academic level. journal of educational psychology, 99, 181. llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 language and language teaching journal http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 30 student’s perceptions on simulation as part of experiential learning in approaches, methods, and techniques (amt) course marselina karina purnomo sanata dharma university marselinakarina@yahoo.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2017.200104 abstract simulation is a part of experiential learning which represents certain real-life events. in this study, simulation is used as a learning activity in approaches, methods, and techniques (amt) course which is one of the courses in english language education study program (elesp) of sanata dharma university. since simulation represents the real-life events, it encourages students to apply the approaches, methods, and techniques being studied based on the real-life classroom. several experts state that students are able to involve their personal experiences through simulation which additionally is believed to create a meaningful learning in the class. this study aimed to discover elesp students’ perceptions toward simulation as a part of experiential learning in amt course. from the findings, it could be inferred that students agreed that simulation in class was important for students’ learning for it formed a meaningful learning in class. keywords: students’ perceptions, simulation, experiential learning, amt course introduction approaches, methods, and techniques (amt) course is the first course that prepares the students to be future english teachers. according to buku panduan akademik program studi pendidikan bahasa inggris universitas sanata dharma yogyakarta (2012), this course is included in kelompok mata kuliah berkarya (mkkb) or known as content courses that introduce elesp students of sanata dharma university who are in semester 4 to learn concepts and principles of certain approaches, methods, and techniques. through this course, students are prepared to teach using different approaches, methods, and techniques. moreover, this course invites students to learn how to apply those approaches, methods, and techniques by doing simulation which is based on a real-life classroom. furthermore, learning through simulation is a part of experiential learning. according to kohonen, jatinen, kaikkonen, and lehtovaara (2011), experiential learning includes various interactive activities through which participants are able to learn from each other’s experiences. those interactive activities are: 1) personal journals and reflections, 2) portfolios, thought questions and reflective essays, 3) role plays, drama activities, games, and simulation, 4) personal stories and case studies, 5) visualizations and imaginative activities, 6) models, analogies and theory construction, 7) empathy-taking activities, story-telling, sharing with others, 8) discussions and reflection in cooperative groups (p.23). it can be seen llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 31 from the list that simulation is indeed a part of experiential learning. keeton and tate (1978) state that experiential learning refers to learning in which a learner is expected to be in touch with the realities being studied (as cited in kolb, 1984, p.5). in amt course, students are to learn the application of approaches, methods, and techniques being studied based on a real-life classroom in order to experience it directly. according to lewis, wentworth, reinke, and becke (1974), simulation is an imitation of reality in an artificial situation (p. 2). in this study, simulation is used as a learning activity in class to represent real-life classroom situation in order for students to practice how to apply the approaches, methods, and techniques being studied. thus, students have knowledge of the application of approaches, methods, and techniques which are useful and helpful when they are about to teach later on. the fact that this is the first course that prepares the students to be future english teachers and that this is the first time students learn how to apply certain approaches, methods and techniques make students' understanding of this course matters the most. for those reasons, this study would like to address one research question, namely what are elesp students’ perceptions toward simulation as a part of experiential learning in amt course? in order to answer the research question, the writer conducted a survey. the instrument used to gather the data was questionnaire which consisted of 28 close-ended statements and 2 open-ended questions. the questionnaire was distributed to every fourth semester students in elesp who were taking amt course in the academic year of 2016/2017. the data were analyzed by applying likert scale. there were four scales which were used, namely “strongly disagree”, “disagree”, “agree” and “strongly agree”. the writer omitted “neutral” option in order to know the exact answer from the participants whether they agreed or not. perception altman, valenzi, and hodgetts (1985) state that perception is the way stimuli are selected by a person so that they can be meaningfully interpreted (p. 85). referring to the theory, the writer implies that perception is a process where a person selects some stimulus in order to be interpreted into a meaningful information. nevertheless, assael (1995) state that what a person perceives or interprets might be different compared to the perception of other people. a person’s awareness and acceptance of the stimuli play an important role in the perception process. receptiveness to the stimuli is highly selective and may be limited by a person’s existing beliefs, attitude, motivation, and personality. individuals will select the stimuli that satisfy their immediate needs (perceptual vigilance) and may disregard stimuli that may cause psychological anxiety (perceptual defense) (as cited in borkowski, 2005, p. 54). based on assael’s theory, it can be seen that every person perceives things differently based on his goals, needs or motives which lead to either a positive or negative perception. referring to the previous theory, the writer presents theories on factors affecting perception in order to know the factors affecting elesp students’ perceptions toward simulation as a part of experiential learning in llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 32 amt course. according to altman, valenzi, and hodgetts (1985), there are four factors affecting individual’s perception of a certain thing, namely 1) selection of stimuli, 2) organization of stimuli, 3) the situation, and 4) the person’s selfconcept (pp. 86-91). selection of stimuli is the first factor affecting individual’s perception. selection of stimuli is where an individual only focuses on a small number of stimuli. therefore, he perceives things differently for he tends to choose specific cues, filters, etc. the second factor influences perception is an organization of stimuli. this factor focuses on whether the mind is able to arrange the information to become meaningful or not. after an individual selects the information, the mind will try to put them together in a meaningful way based on his experience. another factor affecting an individual’s perception is the situation. this factor gives big impact to an individual’s perception of certain thing. the individual’s familiarity with, expectations about the situation and also what his or her experience influence what that individual perceives. the fourth factor affecting an individual’s perception is self-concept. self-concept is how a person feels about, perceives, and sees himself as an individual. every person has different selfconcept on themselves which is why it will affect their perception of the world around them and will cause different perception from one another. experiential learning according to keeton and tate (1978), experiential learning is learning where the learners are expected to be in touch with the realities being studied (as cited in kolb, 1984, p. 5). learning through simulation as a part of experiential learning allows the students to learn not only from reading theories, books or related references but also to experience directly how to apply the approaches, methods, and techniques based on a real-life classroom. in addition, kolb (1984:42) state that the model of experiential learning consists of two dimensions, they are prehension dimension and transformation dimension (as cited in kohonen, jaatinen, kaikkonen, and lehtovaara 2001, pp. 27-28). prehension dimension refers to the way the individual grasps experience. afterward, transformation dimension refers to how experience is transformed through reflection and active experimentation. according to kolb (1984), those two dimensions of experiential learning produce “four orientations to learning”, namely 1) concrete experience, 2) abstract conceptualization, 3) reflective observation, 4) active experimentation (as cited in kohonen, jaatinen, kaikkonen, and lehtovaara, 2001, pp. 28-29). concrete experience focuses on feeling over thinking by involving personal experiences. next, abstract conceptualization focuses in learning by thinking and manipulating abstract symbols. after that, reflective observation focuses on understanding the meaning of ideas through careful observation by focusing on how things happen based on someone’s thoughts, feelings, and judgments in seeing things from different perspectives. thereafter, active experimentation focuses on learning by action, with an emphasis on getting things done. students are expected to learn how to change situations and take risks in order to meet the goals. llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 33 simulation according to l. jones (1983), simulation is a representation of a series of real-life events (p. 1). in this study, simulation represents a real-life classroom where there is a teacher applies certain approaches, methods, and techniques in a classroom to teach his students. similarly, guetzkow (1963) states that simulation has two essential features which must appear before an activity could be considered as a simulation, they are; 1) it must represent a real situation, 2) it must be operational, an ongoing process (as cited in ellington, addinall, and percival, 1981, p. 16). based on the previous theory, it can be seen what needs to appear in an activity to be addressed as a simulation. however, there might be some questions about teacher’s role in the class. hertel and millis (2002), state that the instructor, who is the teacher himself, is to help and to be both helper and facilitator instead of judging or testing the students (as cited in coffman, 2006, p. 2). moreover, hertel and millis (2002) also state that simulation will provide students the opportunity to get involved and participated in real-life experience which will make them become more aware as active participants (as cited in coffman, 2006, p. 3). since students have the chance to directly experience how to apply the approaches, methods, and techniques being studied through simulation, it encourages them to be more active as participants. additionally, l. jones (1983) state that simulation is divided into three distinct phases, namely preparation, simulation, and follow-up (p. 3). those three phases are done by following these 5 steps, namely 1) preparation in class, 2) preparation at home, 3) simulation, 4) follow-up at home, 5) follow-up in class. referring to the theory, the writer intends to figure out whether the simulation in amt course is based on those steps or not. furthermore, brumfield (2005) state that the results of using simulation are not only to help students in the education but also to enlighten students in finding how to apply certain issues or concepts (as cited in coffman, 2006, p. 3). it improves students’ skills in solving some issues and applying certain concepts since simulation allows them to apply the theories and relate them to the real-life context. discussion table 1 is presents the students’ perceptions toward the concept of perception and factors affecting perception on simulation in amt course. the table consists of 9 statements covering the concept of perception and factors affecting perception. table 1. students’ perceptions toward the concept of perception and factors affecting perception on simulation in amt course no. statements 1 2 3 4 sd d a sa 1 you think simulation makes the learning in class meaningful 0 (0%) 2 (1.36%) 81 (55.47%) 63 (43.15%) llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 34 2 you think simulation done in class is important for your learning 0 (0%) 1 (0.68%) 89 (60.95%) 56 (38.35%) 3 you think simulation can make you achieve your goals in this class 0 (0%) 6 (4.10%) 102 (69.86%) 38 (26.02%) 4 you have a hard time in understanding the simulation 5 (3.42%) 100 (68.49%) 33 (22.60%) 8 (5.47%) 5 you can understand the application of approaches, methods, and techniques being studied through simulation 1 (0.68%) 10 (6.84%) 113 (77.39%) 22 (15.06%) 6 you think facilities used in this course support you to do the simulation 3 (2.05%) 19 (13.01%) 102 (69.86%) 22 (15.06%) 7 you think the class’s situation supports you to conduct simulation 1 (0.68%) 27 (18.49%) 98 (67.12%) 20 (13.69%) 8 you believe that through simulation you can pass this course with good grade and deep understanding 1 (0.68%) 22 (15.06%) 103 (70.54%) 20 (13.69%) 9 you believe that simulation implemented in this course can improve your ability in teaching 0 (0%) 3 (2.05%) 93 (63.69%) 50 (34.24%) note: sd: strongly disagree, d: disagree, a: agree, sa: strongly agree from the results of table 1, it can be seen that there are few negative perceptions toward the concepts and factors affecting perception toward simulation in amt course. students agree that facilities in class and situation of the class do not support them to conduct the simulation and sometimes they have a hard time in understanding the simulation. referring to the open-ended questions, students state that situation of the class is too noisy for students are busy with themselves to pay attention to the simulation. likewise, facilities in class also need to be improved for sometimes it is hard for them to find a marker. students also state that sometimes they have difficulties in understanding the simulation since the simulation does not cover the theory from the book and students who are to do the simulation are not well-prepared. in that way, the data from the open-ended questions present the reasons behind the negative perceptions found in the close-ended statements. however, from the result of table 1, the writer discovers that students tend to have positive perceptions toward simulation in amt course. it can be seen from the results of the close-ended questions in table 1 that most of the students agree with the statement that simulation is important for it makes the learning in class meaningful. students agree that through simulation they are able to achieve their goals which are to understand the application of approaches, methods, and techniques being studied. furthermore, students agree that simulation improves their ability in teaching and also facilitates them in obtaining deep understanding llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 35 toward the course. referring to the open-ended questions, the students state by doing simulation they know how to implement some techniques, to use different methods, and to implement the materials in the class. most of all, students state that simulation facilitates them in achieving their goals which are to understand more about the approaches, methods, and techniques being studied and to check whether their teaching is good or not. thus, through open-ended questions, the readers can see the reasons behind the positive perceptions found in the closeended statements. next, in order to further study the students’ perceptions toward simulation, the writer presents table 2 which is about students’ perceptions toward learning through simulation as a part of experiential learning in amt course. in the table presented below, there are five statements covering the definition of experiential learning and its’ four orientations. table 2. students’ perceptions toward learning through simulation as a part of experiential learning in amt course no. statements 1 2 3 4 sd d a sa 10 you are encouraged to learn approaches, methods, and techniques by practicing through simulation instead of only reading theories 6 (4.10%) 18 (12.32%) 72 (49.31%) 50 (34.24%) 11 you think simulation can help you to involve your experiences in the learning process 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 102 (69.86%) 44 (30.12%) 12 you can learn more about the approaches, methods, and techniques by observing other group’s simulation 1 (0.68%) 15 (10.27%) 94 (64.38%) 36 (24.65%) 13 you think simulation helps you to understand more about the theories of approaches, methods, and techniques being studies 0 (0%) 9 (6.16%) 94 64.38%) 43 (29.45%) 14 you think simulation provides opportunities to practice the application of approaches, methods, and techniques you have learned in real-life classroom 0 (0%) 3 (2.05%) 105 (71.91%) 38 (26.02%) note: sd: strongly disagree, d: disagree, a: agree, sa: strongly agree from the results of table 2, the writer discovers that students have positive perceptions toward learning through simulation as a part of experiential learning in amt course. based on the data, the writer can infer that through simulation, students are able to involve their experiences in the learning process, learn more about the application approaches, methods, and techniques by observing other group’s simulation, understand the theories of approaches, methods, and techniques more, and experience the application of approaches, methods, and techniques instead of only reading the theories. referring to the open-ended llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 36 questions, the students state that simulation encourages them to learn by involving their experiences in using those approaches, methods, and techniques to teach in a real-life classroom. in addition, they also obtain a better understanding of the theories for they need to understand it first before implementing the theories in the simulation. therefore, the data from the open-ended questions presents the reasons behind the positive perceptions found in the close-ended statements. to be more precise about students’ perceptions toward simulation, the writer presents table 3 which is about students’ perceptions toward the implementation of simulation in amt course. in the table presented on the next page, there are 14 statements covering the definitions of simulation, the role of the teacher, in simulation, simulation’s phases, and simulation in education. table 3. students’ perceptions toward the implementation of simulation in amt course no. statements 1 2 3 4 sd d a sa 15 you think simulation implemented in this course is based on a real-life classroom 0 (0%) 30 (20.54%) 97 (66.43) 19 (13.01%) 16 you think simulation can be conducted to represent the real application of approaches, methods, and techniques being studied 0 (0%) 12 (8.21%) 120 (82.19%) 14 (9.58%) 17 you think simulation makes you more active in class 2 (1.36%) 19 (13.01%) 87 (59.58%) 38 (26.02%) 18 you think that by doing simulation you get motivated to learn more 1 (0.68%) 25 (17.12%) 83 (56.84%) 37 (25.34%) 19 you think that simulation helps you to practice how to be a teacher. 1 (0.68%) 1 (0.68%) 75 (51.37%) 69 (47.26%) 20 you think simulation can enlighten you about your function as a teacher later 2 (1.36%) 8 (5.47%) 89 (60.95%) 47 (32.19%) 21 you think the lecturer of this course helps you solve your difficulties without judging and testing you. 4 (2.73%) 21 (14.38%) 79 (54.11%) 42 (28.76%) 22 you think that simulation always begins with a preparation in the class. 1 (0.68%) 23 (15.75%) 82 (56.16%) 40 (27.39%) 23 you think through simulation you are encouraged to be well-prepared by reading related books or references at home. 4 (2.73%) 16 (10.95%) 87 (59.58%) 39 (26.71%) 24 you think the amount of time to do the simulation is enough 3 (2.05%) 39 (26.71%) 90 (61.64%) 14 (9.58%) llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 37 25 you think the written work at home helps you to extend your understanding of the approaches, methods, and techniques being simulated. 7 (4.79%) 40 (27.39%) 86 (58.90%) 13 (8.90%) 26 you think the follow-up discussion after the simulation extends your understanding of the approaches, methods, and techniques being simulated. 0 (0%) 3 (2.05%) 108 (73.97%) 35 (23.97%) 27 you have deep understanding of this course through simulation 0 (0%) 25 (17.12%) 107 (73.28%) 14 (9.58%) 28 you think simulation done in class enables you to apply the approaches, methods, and techniques properly 0 (0%) 19 (13.01%) 106 (72.60%) 21 (14.38%) note: sd: strongly disagree, d: disagree, a: agree, sa: strongly agree from the results of table 3, the writer discovers that there are several negative perceptions from the students toward the implementation of simulation in amt course. students agree that the situation of the class should be improved and also that the amount of time to do the simulation should be added. referring to the open-ended questions, students state that situation of the class in the simulation should be improved for students do not act like real students. furthermore, students state that they need more time to do the simulation. in that way, we can see that the data from the open-ended questions elaborate students’ negative perceptions toward the simulation which later could be considered as suggestions to improve the implementation of simulation in amt course. despite the fact that there are several negative perceptions, it can be inferred from the results of table 3 that most of the students’ perceptions toward simulation are positive. the writer discovers that the phases of the simulation done in class are the same with the supporting theory. first, simulation implemented in class always begins with a preparation in class. second, students get to prepare the simulation by reading related references or books at home. however, most of the students think that the time to do the simulation is not enough. then, there is follow-up at home by doing written work on the question about the discussion of the materials being simulated and follow-up at class after simulation where students accept feedback from the lecturer. from the data, the writer can also imply that students agree that simulation enlightens them about the function of a teacher, motivates them to learn more, helps them to practice to be a teacher, and facilitates them in obtaining better and deeper understanding. the writer also discovers that the lecturer acts as a facilitator who helps students by giving feedback instead of judging them. referring to the open-ended questions, students state that simulation motivates them to find the best method to teach, to conduct productive class, to master the materials before delivering them to the students and to have loud voice volume and good eye contact as a teacher. additionally, students state that they become more active as participants in class through simulation for they are motivated to learn how to be good teachers. furthermore, llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 38 students state that they always obtain feedback from lecturers which they use to improve themselves. therefore, students can achieve deeper and better understanding of amt course and can apply the approaches, methods, and techniques properly. conclusions based on the research findings and discussion, it can be seen that more than 80% of the students have positive perceptions toward simulation as a part of experiential learning in amt course. there are several conclusions that can be inferred from the research findings and discussion. first, students are motivated to be more active and to learn more by learning how to apply approaches, methods, and techniques instead of only reading theories. second, the students have the chance to involve their personal experiences in learning how to be teachers and how to function as teachers based on real-life classroom. third, the students have deep understandings of this course through simulation. fourth, students are able to apply approaches, methods, and techniques properly. therefore, it can be concluded that students agree that simulation is important for it makes the learning in class meaningful. based on the research findings, the writer would like to suggest the lecturers of amt course to set some rules to encourage students to be more serious and to pay attention to conduct and learn the simulation, to give more examples on how to simulate certain approaches, methods, and techniques in order for students to be able to do the simulation properly, to always check whether the simulation represents a real-life classroom or not in order for students to get accustomed to being a teacher, to consider adding extra time to do the simulation. next, future writers are suggested to focus more on the different implementation of simulation between one class and another in order to know the reasons and objectives behind it. references altman, s., valenzi, e., & hodgetts, r. m. 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(1993). what is survey research? in p. a. glasow (eds.), fundamentals of survey research methodology (p.1-1). retrieved november 14, 2015 from www.uky.edu/~kdbrad2/epe619/handouts/surveyresearchreading.pdf http://perpustakaandeajulia.weebly.com/uploads/1/8/2/6/18261275/a_handbook_of_reflective_and_experiential_learning_-_theory_and_practice.pdf http://perpustakaandeajulia.weebly.com/uploads/1/8/2/6/18261275/a_handbook_of_reflective_and_experiential_learning_-_theory_and_practice.pdf https://www.vste.org/documents/vj_2006_02.pdf http://www.suza.ac.tz/saris/download/132376585119680689-research-methodologymethods-and-techniques-by-cr-kothari.pdf%202.pdf http://www.suza.ac.tz/saris/download/132376585119680689-research-methodologymethods-and-techniques-by-cr-kothari.pdf%202.pdf http://healthadmin.jbpub.com/borkowski/chapter3.pdf http://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/pubs/docs/cb_february_14_2012.pdf http://www.uky.edu/~kdbrad2/epe619/handouts/surveyresearchreading.pdf llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 596-615 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 596 identifying compositional instruments in a bilingual picture book for language learning *nisa hanum mufida1 and harni kartika ningsih2 1,2universitas indonesia, indonesia nisa.hanum01@ui.ac.id1 and harni.kartika@ui.ac.id2 *correspondence: nisa.hanum01@ui.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4696 received 30 may 2022; accepted 10 october 2022 abstract bilingual picture books are one of the materials in joint-reading activities between adults and pupils. when using picture books, adults face difficulty conveying meaning from the book to children. therefore, this paper investigates the compositional elements of a bilingual picture book and provides an understanding of exploring a picture book to create meaningful reading activities. this case study employs a multimodal discourse analytical approach to understand the placement of the visual resources and the dual text of a bilingual picture book entitled kina punya teman baru. the result shows the compositional instruments tend to attract the reader's focus on the characters and the continuity of the storyline. the tendency of using co-located backgrounds along with the simple bull eye focus of images directs readers to the actions and emotions experienced by the character. visual elements in a bilingual picture book are put in a contextualized setting offering readers the to explore the particular image. this bilingual picture book uses indonesian as l1 and english as l2. the composition of the verbal text layout indicates that this bilingual picture book is intended for pupils speaking indonesian and are willing to learn english, but they still require scaffolding in accessing the language being learned. keywords: bilingualism, efl learning, multimodal analysis, picture books, social semiotics introduction the scope of picture book research tends to focus on two kinds of topics. first, the interaction between adults and children in joint picture book reading activities (strouse et al., 2018). such research can be identifying the interaction between pupils and adults in an online class (lestari & arfiandhani, 2021) or discuss how parents use a picture book before the classroom (yanthi et al., 2018). secondly, the investigation of features developed in picture books to support children’s language learning (strouse et al., 2018). those studies focus on the investigation of the influence of the picture book medium on children's creativity (putra et al., 2022) and image-text relation in a picture book to help teachers work with multimodality (de oliveira et al., 2018). https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4696 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 596-615 597 in indonesia, a study about joint-reading picture book activities showed that parents commonly choose bilingual indonesian-english picture books over monolingual ones (yanthi et al., 2018), a relatively common parental decision in a multicultural country. they are aware of the potential of bilingual language acquisition through picture books. using picture books as reading materials could initiate english as a foreign language for children (lestari & arfiandhani, 2021). by reading bilingual books, children can compare texts, develop metalinguistic skills, and pay attention to the features and structures of different languages (sipe, 2000 in hadaway & young, 2018). therefore, these studies prove bilingual picture books have succeeded in achieving their goals as learning materials for didactic purposes (hadaway & young, 2018). the study related to parent-child interaction using bilingual reading material showed positive results. these activities can help the development of children's linguistic capacity and children’s ability to express the hidden moral values from the story (ulwiyah, 2019). however, difficulties are coming out to accompany such positive results. yanthi et al. (2018) reported some of the challenges faced by parents in the activity of reading picture books with their children. these challenges include children’s difficulties to focus and concentrating on reading activities due to boring stories, parents’ difficulties to convey meaning from picture books to their children, and most parents finding it hard to get the right and good quality picture books. moreover, the cause of the challenges getting complicated to overcome is the undertrained parents in picture book reading activities. although parents' training in reading picture books for children is considered insufficient, there is indeed an awareness among parents to create an interactive dialogue with children involving the visual elements of a picture book. in yanthi et al (2018), for example, parent-child talks often center around object size differences within a picture book. similarly, lopatovska et al (2016) stated that children were also able to master extensive knowledge of visual literacy elements, such as color, shape, and line through picture book reading; they have the opportunity to understand more abstract features such as perspective and focus. others believe that high-level literacy skills will not develop unless these skills are taught to pupils directly (avgerinou & ericson, 1997 in arizpe et al., 2018). this indicates that parent-child interactions in a picture book reading activity have the potential to develop high-level literacy skills. therefore, to create more meaningful reading activities with children, we need to build awareness of the characteristics of picture books, especially how the placement of visual and textual elements is organized in a book. considering the use of a bilingual picture book to assist potential readers in creating an efficient reading activity, the overarching goal of this study is to examine the compositional elements of the visual and verbal text of l1 and l2 in a bilingual picture book. literature review since this study explores the placement of visual and textual elements of the bilingual picture book, here is the relevant literature from the previous studies exploring the arrangement of those elements of the picture book in several languages. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 596-615 598 visual and verbal elements of bilingual picture books most studies of compositional elements of picture books examine the relationship between verbal and visual texts and how these two types of texts create meaning. the compositional meaning refers to the coherences of textual organizing concerning co-text and context. these compositional meaning elements include three main features layout, frame, and focus (painter et al., 2013). based on qiu (2019), the integrated layout of visual and verbal text in chinese picture books tends to portray the joyful atmosphere of the protagonist in celebration of chinese culture. this layout merged the verbal and visual text on a single page, where the verbal text overlaid the visual text. this composition indicates the unity of the verbal and visual text. in addition to guijarro & sanz's (2008) study of english picture books, the absence of frames indicates no social distance between verbal and visual texts to create compositional unity. as for the focus, this feature was used to attract readers’ attention, especially toward the main participant or the main character. previous studies mentioned that protagonist characters tend to be placed in centrifugal focus (guijarro & sanz, 2008; qiu, 2019; martínez-lirola, 2020). as the main character, the protagonist is placed in the center of the page. other than focusing on the character, visual elements also can attract readers to focus on the setting of the story. in a japanese picture book, visual elements placed on the setting area encourage readers’ attention to engage in the adventure of the storyline (puspitasari, 2021). according to these previous studies, visual elements located in a high-focus area tend to create direct relationships with the readers (koutsikou & christidou, 2019). so, whether visual text focuses on the main participant or setting area, all the visual elements are composed as a unity to create a meaningful storyline. then, the readers can easily engage with picture books. predominantly, bilingual picture books contain narratives in two languages, l1 as the main language and l2 as the translation. bilingual picture books can be presented in various formats using local languages, national languages, and numerous languages for learning (hadaway & young, 2018). in indonesia, bilingual picture books using the local language as l1 and the national language as l2 are constantly being attempted. this can be seen from the digitally published books from the 10 dongeng nusantara project. there are gajah wong (soebardjo, 2021) written in javanese and indonesian; and perempuan pembawa api (ideo & rahman, 2021) written in rote dengka and indonesian. meanwhile, bilingual picture books that use the national language–indonesian as l1 and foreign language english as l2 are commonly found. for instance, pascal’s hairstyles (ng & verdi, 2015), an award-winning picture book published within stories from the heart, is a collection of seven adorable tales by clara. different from monolingual picture books, verbiage layout in bilingual picture books requires a distinct consideration, particularly in terms of its verbiage layout. in certain cases, the layout of l1 and l2 are thus detached on different pages or only adjusts the gap on one single page. the order of layouts suggests the status of a specific language (daly, 2020), even from the order of verbiage in the title (daly, 2017). in bilingual picture books, languages with minority status are positioned to be l1. furthermore, the text layout in a bilingual picture book also determines the author's target audience (daly, 2020). nevertheless, this may be an llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 596-615 599 entire decision of the author taking into account the predominance of the reader. it’s also possible that some authors give equal status to both l1 and l2 in the book. theoretical framework this study also draws on two theoretical frameworks, that is the theory of the compositional instrument in the picture book (painter et al., 2013) and the information value theory (kress & van leeuwen, 2020) for comprehending the verbiage layouts of the picture book. compositional instruments of picture books this study used the compositional instrument of the picture book as the analytical framework (painter et al, 2013). each of the instruments has more specific sub-features. in terms of layout, painter et al (2013) consider the relationship between visual and verbal text on the page with sub-features namely [integrated] and [complementary]. integrated features show verbal and visual text joined together on the same page of a picture book. verbal text in this feature can appear in the form of speech bubbles, thought bubbles, and noise. these verbal texts can be overlaid into the visual text [subsumed] or simply shared the white space background with the visual text [co-located]. in addition, verbal text can be put on the block shape so it looks more prominent than the visual text background. the block can be a particular object [experientially rationalized] or simply a colored text box [ambienced]. as for the complementary features, the verbal and visual text have their respective places on a page. the two elements are put separately based on axis, weight, and placement. the most basic choice of frames is determined based on the existence of frames in picture books. the [bound] option depends on the presence of framing tools such as margins and lines. margin has a variety of types, such as colored margins [ambiance margins], full margins that enclose the visual text [surrounded], and margins that surround half of the visual text [limited]. whereas, visual text can be completed within the margins [contained] or exceed the margin [breaching]. the [unbound] option indicates that the visual text has no border other than the edge of the page. the background of the visual text can be fully contextualized or partially decontextualized. the option of [decontextualized] usually consists only of participants [individuated] with symbolic attributes and minimal setting [localized]. the main category of focus in the picture book is [centrifocal] and [iterating] options. focus [centrifocal] typically points out only one element in the center [simple]. this simple focus can be extended with additional elements on a circular pattern or triptych. focus can be arranged polarised on a diagonal and orthogonal axis. the element on each axis can be balanced or unbalanced. this focus can be reinforced with participants’ gaze [+deictic vector] and the reflection of the visual element [mirroring]. as for [iterating], the focus shows repeated visual elements on a single page. these visual elements can be aligned and scattered. information value this study used the concept of information value by kress & van leeuwen (2020) as an explication tool for verbal text layout. kress & van leeuwen (2020) categorizes the placement of textual elements based on certain zones. the zones are llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 596-615 600 centralized pattern, horizontal polarised, and vertically polarised as in figure 1 below. figure 1. the dimension of visual space (kress & van leeuwen, 2006, 2020) in a centralized form, the layout is divided into center-margin areas. the core information of the visual elements puts in the center, while the additional information puts on the margin surrounding the nucleus. in a horizontally polarized form, layout elements are divided into left and right zones. on the left side, the text element contains the given information. the reader already knows and feels familiar with the information. therefore, the information placed on this side becomes the starting point of shared messages that are reasonable and already proven. while on the right side, the text element contains new information, so readers may have not known the information beforehand. such information which has not been received and agreed upon by the readers requires special attention from them. on the right side, the information contains a debatable issue. in vertically polarised form, the layout of visual elements divides into top and bottom zones. at the top, the textual element indicates ideal information. this element gives information that is emotive and manifests a possibility. this site contains general information. as for the bottom side, the information indicates something real. the information is more practical and shows something that already happened. on the bottom side, information is more specific and simple (kress & van leeuwen, 2006, 2020). figure 2. the dimension of combination information value (koutsikou & christidou, 2019) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 596-615 601 each of these zones constructs a dimension of information value. at the top, right, and center zone, the visual elements show high information value, and at the bottom, left, and margin zone, the visual elements depicted low information value. but, the layout of verbal texts on a single page of a picture book can be a combination of two zones. the combination of these zones produces different information values. the value of the information consists of low, medium, and high. in detail, koutsikou & christidou (2019) develops a combination of these information values in figure 2. method this study is qualitative, employing a multimodal discourse analytical approach to analyze a digital bilingual picture book as a case study. multimodal discourse analysis (mda) is a relatively new approach that has evolved to see how language from various modes creates meaning (o'halloran, 2011). multimodal discourse analysis is a key concept to understanding the composition between those various modes within multimodal texts (painter et al., 2013). in this study, we examine how a bilingual picture book makes meaning by considering the visual resources and their relation to dual texts. data in focus the data in this study focused on an indonesian and english picture book entitled kina makes a new friend (kina punya teman baru, or kptb for short) written by ayunda and illustrated by honesta. this bilingual picture book was selected for several reasons. first, the book is based on the influence and experience of the author and illustrator of the book. ayunda is an education activist who has worked in the creative and entertainment industry, placing her fame in the indonesian context. honesta is an illustrator who has experience in storytelling and book-related projects. her illustrative designs can be seen on the covers of the lost language by claudia mills (2021) and shelter by christie matheson (2021). secondly, this book uses human representation in the illustration. picture books with human main characters are considered to be more attractive to potential readers (larsen et al., 2017; zohrabi et al., 2019). kptb narrates a story of the three children getting involved with friendship issues at school. the storyline revolves around kina who befriends anya. their friendship however begins to fall apart when a new student named lulu comes along. kptb is published in a paper-based format, though it’s also accessible through the google play book apps. the digital format is similar to a paper-based book format in that a high level of interactive tools is not fully available. the digital features in the kptb are limited to zooming and bookmarking, so no read-aloud feature or other interactive modalities are available despite being published in a supportive platform. data analysis the investigation of the data was carried out following the unit analysis of the picture book. these unit analyses are categorized based on inter-image relations on a single page, page to page, and across page turn. analysis of layout and frame was completed following these three units. meanwhile, the analysis of focus and information value use across page turn units. this unit examines the visual text as llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 596-615 602 a whole from verso to recto pages. the pagination of this unit analysis can be seen in figure 3 below. a. within a single page b. from page to page c. across a page turn figure 3. unit analysis following inter-image relations in the picture book findings and discussion findings through this section, the patterns of compositional instruments of the bilingual picture book are derived from dominant findings. we found that kptb dominantly integrates verbiage and image layout using white space as the background. even though the background used is primarily white, the image leans on contextualized circumstances with a less depicted frame. as for focus, kptb puts verbiage and image on the polarised vertical axis to make it easy for potential readers. meanwhile, the composition of bilingual text tends to fill the top-left of the spread considered to have a moderate value. the explanation of each finding will be described further as follows. layout the layout is the place in a picture book where the verbiage and image were arranged to interact in a particular way to conceive meaning. therefore, the layout in kptb was embodied in three spaces. there were within a single page, from page to page, and across page turn (a double-spread). patterns of layout in the data involve both integrated and complementary layouts. the dominant layouts are [integrated] features with 76.9%, followed by [complementary] by 23.1%. the details can be seen in table 1 below. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 596-615 603 table 1. patterns of layout features layout integrated complementary total noise subsumed co-located facing descendin g white space ambiance equal/adjacent image privileged 1 3 10 6 2 4 26 3.8% 11.5% 38.5% 23.1% 7.7% 15.4% 100.0% the [integrated] features indicate that visual and verbal text is in a unified arrangement whether on a single page or in a spread. the two texts are arranged on a page to create shared meaning. specifically, the integrated layout is dominated by the [integrated: co-located] feature. the feature shows that the verbal text is blended into the visual text, yet the verbal text in the [integrated: co-located] still has status rather than the [subsumed] one. also, the verbal text is not separated from the visual text as in the [complementary] feature. in the [integrated: co-located] feature, verbal and visual texts share the same white space background. verbiage is put on a particular side among the background elements to support the readability of the narrative. based on the categorization from painter et al. (2013), the [co-located] feature is used only to show verbal and visual text in the same white space. however, the findings in the data depict more variations. verbal and visual texts are not simply placed over the white space, but rather involve more colors as a space such as yellow, blue, pink, and brown. therefore, to distinguish the verbal text within the white space and colored background, the use of [co-located] features is expanded by adding new subcategories. there are [integrated: co-located: white space] and [integrated: co-located: ambience]. an example of the [integrated: co-located] feature in the data is presented in figure 4. figure 4. schematic representation of [integrated: co-located: white space] figure 5. schematic representation of [integrated: co-located: ambience] the [co-located: white space] feature was employed on the first page of the picture book. the white space would like to direct the readers to focus on the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 596-615 604 introduction of kina, the main participant. later, the white space was utilized to expose the identity of the new participant (lulu). also, white space is a practical background to describe the excitement. the excitement shows the happiness surrounding lulu when she starts as a new student or when kina and her friends have a meal together during break time. based on these findings, the use of white space avoids the complete depiction of the visual elements in the setting so that readers can focus on the actions and feelings portrayed by the characters. the [co-located: ambiance] feature invites readers to read verbal and visual texts simultaneously. even the verbiage and image blend in one page but the verbiage is in the readable space. in figure 5, the yellow space was used to explain the character of a new participant. the verbiage describes lulu as a new student who has dark curly hair and beautiful eyes. moreover, the use of colored space also supports the ambiance and feelings created for participants. the dark blue colored background causes a mysterious effect on the participant. the olive-colored background fits to support the streaked ambiance. adding to this context, white space is used on the following page to support the plot through the color changing of the circumstance. other than that, along with decontextualized setting, the colored space also keeps the built-up of the storyline. as in figure 5, the pinkcolored space was a background for kina entering the new passage of the plot. therefore, the colored space background tends to invite the reader's focus on the characteristic of the participant and the atmosphere to strengthen the action that happened to the participant. figure 6. [integrated: instated: subsumed] besides the [co-located] feature, the findings in the data also show [subsumed] and [noise] features. in the [subsumed] feature, visual and verbal texts merged on the same page. the circumstance can be a set of elements or imaginative effects as shown in figure 6. the [subsumed] feature was utilized to depict the intimacy and the joyful feelings of the participants. the subsumed verbal and visual text can direct the readers to focus not only on the participant but also on the contextualized setting as a wholeness. the [noise] feature shows non-language sounds such as "whoopsies!" and "ooops!". the noise feature comes up with the [co-located: ambiance] because the verbal and visual text on the page is overlaid onto the olive space background as in figure 5. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 596-615 605 figure 7. [complementary: descending/image privileged] the [complementary] features are differentiated based on the axis of the verbal and visual text compositions. it can be [descending] and [facing]. approximately 15,4% of the descending patterns are more commonly found than facing. the [complementary: descending] shows a sequential order, while the verbal text puts above the visual text on the page. the visual text is displayed on the frame and separated from the verbal text. in this feature, visual text tends to dominate the page. therefore, based on the weight of the visual text, this feature can be accompanied by a [privileged image] feature. figure 7 shows an example of the [complementary] feature in kptb. figure 8. [complementary: facing/equal/adjacent] the [complementary: facing] indicates visual and verbal texts separately standing next to each other. a visual text is located on the left side of the spread and verbal text is on the right. the weights of the two texts in this feature are balanced. therefore, the [facing] feature can be followed by the [equal/adjacent] category. the complementary layout exposes the distance between verbal and visual text along with the full contextualized circumstances as shown in figure 8. the usage of complementary layout in kptb would like to invite readers to focus on visual and verbal texts subsequently. in some cases, the image is the main focus because it has more space to depict participants' activities. framing in general, framing features depend on the existence of a boundary within the page. in kptb, the frame has diverged into two features, [bound] and [unbound]. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 596-615 606 the [unbound] predominates at 77.7% over the [bound] one. details of the findings of the frame are shown in table 2. table 2. patterns of framing features framing bound unbound total framed surrounded contextualized decontextualized experiential frame contained breaching localized individuated 1 2 3 12 8 1 27 3.7% 7.4% 11.1% 44.4% 29.6% 3.7% 100.0% the [unbound] feature does not determine the visual text by any kind of frame, including margins. the image has no limits other than the edge of the page. the [unbound] feature indicates that image and verbiage are within a single unit of information. both are not separated. the [unbound: contextualized] feature predominates in kptb with 44,4%. the visual text in this feature was constructed in full context. as shown in figure 6, two participants play under the blanket with full imaginative elements in the background indicating kina’s bedroom. moreover, the usage of white space also allows full contextualized circumstances. the [unbound: contextualized] demands readers to pay attention to visual elements in the setting that support the story. this feature directs readers to recognize visual elements in a particular circumstance, such as classrooms, libraries, and canteen. therefore, the reader is required to focus not only on the actions and emotions experienced by participants but also on specific elements in the background. this study also found the [unbound: decontextualized] feature. in the [unbound: decontextualized], the visual text background generally uses white space, though this [decontextualized] feature also appears within the colored background (ambiance space). one of the most important substantives in decontextualized pages is the usage of minimal settings and symbolic attributes. moreover, in kptb, the [decontextualised] feature shows more specific categories, [decontextualised: localised] and [decontextualised: individuated]. the [decontextualised: localised] feature was found 29,6% in kptb, more than the [decontextualised: individuated] feature. the minimal setting in [decontextualized: localized] is depicted as fallen leaves, scattered food, and imaginative effects. an iconic element is also attached to the participant alike a volleyball as in figure 5. meanwhile, in [decontextualized: individuated], the visual text consists of only participants without any additional setting elements. this feature is found only on the first page of the picture book (see figure 4). in that passage, the author begins the story by introducing the main participants. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 596-615 607 figure 9. [unbound: decontextualized: localized] both [decontextualized] categories have a role to attract the readers to focus on the information about the participant on the page. the circumstances are created minimally so that the reader remains focused on the participant's expressions and emotions. besides that, using the minimal setting in a clear background offers the reader to look at the particular icon such as a snippet hand on the setting as in figure 9. in that context, the snippet hand guides the reader in turning the page to let them know the owner of the hand wants to help kina. on the next page, the identity is revealed and it's lulu. the [bound] feature shows that visual and verbal text is limited by margins or frames. this feature indicates that visual and verbal elements are confined within certain limits. furthermore, the [bound] features in kptb are also divided into specific features, [surrounded: breaching], [surrounded: contained], and [framed: experiential frames]. the [surrounded] feature depicts the image bounded by a white margin on all four sides. the presence of this margin also separates the verbal text from the visual. in kptb, there are more [surrounded: breaching] features than the [surrounded: contained]. the [surrounded: breaching] was found at 11,1% followed by the [surrounded: contained] with 7,4%. some visual elements on [surrounded: breaching] intentionally cross the margin. as for the [surrounded: contained], the image is within the margins. both [surrounded] categories require the reader to focus on the participant’s activity within the margin. the boundaries are framing certain actions and explicate the sequence of events as illustrated in figure 7. first, the margins are limiting the leg, so that the reader can focus on kina that slipped because of the wet floor. second, the margins confine the face of the participant with some scattered foods, breaching the limitation. in this case, the reader is invited to focus on the consequences of the action from the first frame. the [breaching] feature portrays the excessive action experienced by kina. moreover, [breaching] also shows the joy effect felt by the participants. the picture shows the joyful kina because she did not lose anya and got lulu as her best friend. the last feature in [bound] is [framed: experiential frame]. the existing visual element is depicted as an indirect frame for the participant. as illustrated in figure 5, the doorway frames lulu indirectly. the frame separates lulu from the dark blue space around her. in addition, the door frame further emphasizes lulu as an upcoming student. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 596-615 608 focus in compositional features, the focus has a role in providing a pulse of information in a particular pattern within the page. in general, focus in kptb divides into two types, [centrifocal] and [iterating]. the [centrifocal] focus places the image centered, while the [iterating] focus puts visual elements repeatedly on a spread. in kptb, there are more [centrifocal] features than [iterating]. over 90% of the features were in a [centrifocal] focus, while the [iterating] was just at 1,6%. both of these features can be a group of visual elements. therefore, the focus is designed to direct the readers to the visual element highlighted on a spread. details of the focus are shown in table 3. hereafter, some of the findings will be described more specifically. table 3. patterns of focus features there are two forms of centrifugal focus, centered and polarised. the centered focus has one focal point at the center of the page, whereas polarised has two focal points on one page. the [centred] focus features in kptb are [centred: simple], [extended: circular], and [extended: triptych]. then, [polarised] focus features found are [polarised: diagonal], [orthogonal: vertical], [orthogonal: horizontal], [polarised: +deictic vector], and [polarised: mirroring]. typically on a spread, not only one focus feature is encountered, yet the [polarised] focus can also appear along with the [centered] focus. the [polarised] focus is the most commonly found feature with 66,7% because it involves placing verbal and visual text. this feature creates two focal points on a page. these two focal points are arranged on a diagonal, horizontal, and vertical axis. in kptb, the [orthogonal: vertical] is the most expected feature with 33,3%. the composition of the focus entails the verbiage and image. the focal points in this feature are put in sequential order from top to bottom. verbiage is located above the image, while the image fills the center of the page. this feature usually appears along with the [centered: simple] as on the first page of kptb. further, the [orthogonal: horizontal] puts verbal and visual text side to side as shown in figure 8. horizontal focus can involve two verbal texts located on the right and left sides of the spread as in figure 6. as for the [polarised: diagonal] focus, verbal text and participants usually are placed on a diagonal axis. all three polarised foci indicate two equally important focal points. moreover, the three polarised foci are delivered along with [+deictic vector] and [mirroring] features. as can be seen in figure 8 verso, there is a combination between [polarised] and other features such as [+deictic vector]. the [polarised: diagonal/+ deictic vector] shows kina's eye gaze towards the bunny doll. in that image, the [+deictic vector] is composed diagonally with direct intention. another [+deictic vector] feature gives indirect intention between participants. the eye gaze comes from lulu and anya on the left side to kina on the right side. lulu greets kina by waving her focus centrifugal iterating total centered polarised aligned simple circular triptych diagonal vertical horizontal + deictic vector mirroring 13 2 5 5 21 7 8 1 1 63 20.6% 3.2% 7.9% 7.9% 33.3% 11.1% 12.7% 1.6% 1.6% 100.0% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 596-615 609 hand but kina ignores her. there are double polarised elements on the spread. the eye gaze links the polarised elements within a focus group on verso to a participant on recto. this [+deictic vector] gives indirect intention between participants. in the [mirroring] features in kptb, an image and the shadow are placed vertically. this shadow emphasizes the ‘mysteriousness’ of the newcomer as in figure 5. approximately one-fifth of all findings are dominated by focus [centered: simple]. this focus depicts a participant in the center of the page. a simple focus can serve as an effective way to present and describe a new character together with the minimal setting as in figure 5, the yellowish background. a simple focus can also consist of a group of participants. this focus [centered: simple] describes a close relationship between participants. the center of the page is filled with two participants hugging each other. this focus aims to emphasize information about a participant's identity and emotions through a bullseye of facial expressions. figure 10. comparison between [centrifocal: centred: triptych] and [iterating: aligned] image in [simple] focus can be expanded to create extended focus. a [extended] feature involves more than one visual element as the main focus. in kptb, an extended focus of simple is dominated by [extended: triptych] feature with 7,9%, while [extended: circular] found at 3,2%. the [extended: triptych] invites the reader to focus on the center of the visual element and the two additional elements that flank both sides. this additional element is an extension of the middle element. in kptb, the mediator in a triptych can be an iconic element such as a lunch box or rabbit doll. these two elements support the storyline and the participant's needs. in addition, the mediator part of the triptych can be the main character. as in figure 10, the main participant in the middle is surrounded by supporting characters. in [extended: circular], visual elements are arranged circularly so that the reader focuses on the center area. as in figure 5 above, spilled food is arranged in a circular pattern so the reader can focus on the verbiage. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 596-615 610 moreover, this feature also highlights the side element where the main participant was surrounded by supporting characters. different from the [extended: triptych], focus [iterating: aligned] displays a repetitive arrangement of several participants as illustrated in figure 10. three participants were standing in parallel facing the reader while holding each other's hands. this feature is intended to create a warm atmosphere at the ending part of the story. the images show friendship, togetherness, and happiness among the participants. information value the verbal text layout of l1 and l2 within the spread in kptb occupies high and moderate information values. the dominant verbal text layout occupies a moderate value of 55.2%, while a high value is 44.8%. the moderate information values require the verbal text to be set in the top-left, center-left, and bottom-right of the spread. meanwhile, high information values put verbal text on the top-right and center-right of the spread. all the verbal text layout findings are shown in table 4. table 4. patterns of information value information value high value moderate value total top-right center-right top-left center-left bottom-right 10 3 14 1 1 29 34.5% 10.3% 48.3% 3.4% 3.4% 100.0% verbal text on the center-right spread indicates high information value. as shown in figure 8, such a layout represents the realization of the central-new structure. as the text occupies the central position, the verbal text becomes the center of information within the spread. the verbal text enhances the interpretations of visual text on the left page. in addition, the verbal text on the right page presents new information for readers. the information contains unexpected results, assumptions, or approval from previous actions. on the recto page of figure 8, the text placed on the center-right explains an assumption why kina can't be friends with anya any longer. text layouts with moderate information values tend to be placed on the topleft dimension. this layout represents an ideal-given structure. verbal text on the ideal structure indicates general information which is realized and expanded by visual text. moreover, the given structure means that the verbal text contains information already known by the readers before. this information is a result of the previous page. in a spread, it doesn’t only consist of one verbal text layout. verbal texts in the top-left dimension can appear along with the verbal texts in the top-right and bottom-right dimensions as in figure 11. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 596-615 611 figure 11. the information value of bilingual text composition a combination between top-left and top-right layout dimensions indicates moderate-high information value. therefore, the reader needs to pay more attention to the right page where the major event happened. as illustrated in figure 11, the verbal text on the left spread contains general information that triggers the reader to move to the next page. meanwhile, the image on the left elaborates the verbiage using particular settings that support the next actions. on the right page, the topright layout refers to an ideal-new structure. general information on verbiage is restated by the image. the image on the right page can also be arranged based on the sequence of events as in figure 7. the combination between the top-left and bottom-right verbiage layout indicates moderate-moderate information values. both information within the spread has equivalent information values. therefore, verbiage on the spread adequately attracts the reader's focus from left to right. moreover, verbal text in the bottom-right layout infers a real-new structure. verbal text within this layout contains something new and more specific. in kptb, the verbiage on the left page gives a sign about an upcoming student, while the verbiage on the right explains detailed information about that student. in this case, we can see the continuity between verbiage and image composition. in addition, a combination verbiage layout between center-left and top-right also means moderate-high information value. the center-left layout refers to a central-given structure. in this case, the core messages on the layout are expanded by the image. verbiage and image re-emphasize the consequence from the previous llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 596-615 612 page. then, on the right page, there is new information provided by the verbiage that is supported by an additional element on the setting. discussion this study explores the compositional elements of the visual and verbal text of l1 and l2 in a bilingual picture book. in kptb, the pattern of the layout tends to integrate visual and verbal text on a page and set the verbal text in a noticeable space. the verbal text also becomes complementary to the visual text depicted in boundaries. as for framing, kptb tends to use the non-boundaries feature. images fill the entire page until the edge. nevertheless, there are also images confined by a margin or an experiential frame like a doorway. to attract the reader's focus, the composition of verbal text and image tends to be polarised vertically. images fill more space in the center of the page. therefore, this centered image can also be expanded by other elements as in a triptych. sometimes the focus of images emphasizes using the character's eye gaze or mirroring to create a shadow. the compositions of bilingual text layout not only use one dimension but also a combination of moderate and high value. as the findings suggest, the arrangement of layout, frame and focus assist the readers in focusing on specific visual elements emphasized as the main issue of the plot. the tendency of using co-located backgrounds as the layout signifies a focus on the actions and emotions experienced by the participant. meanwhile, the colocated layouts with colored backgrounds further intensify the atmosphere and feelings of the participant on the page. this result contrasts with qiu's (2019) findings in a chinese picture book that subsumed the image and verbiage on a page. the readers barely focus on a specific element but all the elements on the page. nevertheless, in line with qiu (2019), the subsumed layout in kptb also played a role in expressing the happiness of the participant. more than that, subsumed layout in kptb illustrates the sense of intimacy between participants within the contextualized setting. the full contextualized setting in kptb generates the tendency of an unbound frame. instead of closing the distance from the reader, this non-existent frame feature creates compositional coherence between verbal and visual texts (guijarro & sanz, 2008). the potential reader should focus on those two elements simultaneously. therefore, the contextualized feature also offers the readers an opportunity to explore visual elements in the context of the school setting. in addition, the minimal setting within the decontextualized background keeps the reader's focus more on reading the expressions and emotions experienced by participants. the focus within kptb tends to be polarised vertically by involving verbal and visual text. in this focus, the image is simply placed in the center of the page. again, the focus in kptb invites the readers to concentrate on the actions experienced by the participants. nevertheless, the focus also offers the readers to comprehend the indirect intentions, the ambiance of bonding and closeness created by the aligned participants, and the exaggerated action in certain situations associated with the breaching frame feature. aside from focusing on major actions, the verbal text layout in kptb enables the readers to understand the plot in continuity. the tendency has shown that the verbiage layout is displayed in moderate dimensions. the verbiage within this llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 596-615 613 layout delivers general information that is expanded and supported by the image. therefore, the image and verbiage were completed by each other. in kptb, verbiage from english and indonesian was composed consistently. the layout of the two languages is constantly placed in unity without being separated by image, line, or other limitations. the placement consistency of english-indonesian verbiage is maintained by the translation of noise elements in both languages. although translation is not the scope of this study, this finding is roughly related to the verbal text composition of kptb. hence, the verbiage is treated equally without distinguishing the font and its size for each language. in addition, in line with the placement behavior of bilingual books in daly's study (2020), the minority language in the study, which is english as a foreign language, was placed as l1 or the language in focus on the verbiage, whereas indonesian as the national language was put as l2. this may suggest that the target audience of kptb pupils speaking indonesian and are willing to learn english, yet they still require scaffolding in accessing the language being learned. conclusion the compositional analysis of the digital bilingual picture book shows the pattern of visual and text placement on the page and its intended purposes. elements on the page were placed using white and colored backgrounds with varieties of circumstances to support the action and emotions of the participant and the plot. the focus between image and verbiage was composed using combinations of features to guide the reader's focus on essential parts of the story. the consistency of verbiage layouts and their value elaborate the image deliberately. furthermore, by understanding these aspects, the potential readers expect to achieve high-level literacy goals. by addressing the inclined pattern of layout, frame, and focus found in the english-indonesian picture book, it can be a tool for parents and teachers to create efficient joint reading activities. the understanding of compositional meaning in a bilingual picture book is desired to make it easy for parents to convey meaning to potential readers. the picture book reading activities are not only to look at the pictures and read the narrative but also to understand what happens on a spread comprehensively. therefore, the joint activity of reading picture books is no longer monotonous and boring. regarding selecting good reading materials, it is suggested that parents start by reviewing several 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(2019). interpersonal meanings in children’s storybooks. iranian journal of language teaching research, 7(2), 39-64. https://doi.org/10.30466/ijltr.2019.120697 https://doi.org/10.21512/lc.v15i1.6990. https://doi.org/10.21512/lc.v15i1.6990. https://doi.org/10.21512/lc.v15i1.6990 https://doi.org/10.21512/lc.v15i1.6990 https://jurnal.unej.ac.id/index.php/abdimayuda/article/view/30176/10828 https://jurnal.unej.ac.id/index.php/abdimayuda/article/view/30176/10828 https://doi.org/10.3968/11444 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00050 https://doi.org/https:/doi.org/10.31539/joes.v2i2.949 https://doi.org/10.23887/jpbi.v5i2.13475 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 200-217 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 200 the application of samr model and self-efficacy on critical thinking and procedural knowledge herlia alfiana1, hari karyono2, and wawan gunawan3 1,2,3university pgri adi buana, indonesia herlia.alfiana@gmail.com1, hari.karyono@unipasby.ac.id2, and wawan.gunawan@unipasby.ac.id3 correspondence: herlia.alfiana@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.3893 received 17 november 2021; accepted 11 may 2022 abstract the use of e-learning presents new challenges for students in terms of improving their critical thinking skills and procedural knowledge in grammar learning. as a result, lecturers need a specific framework while creating an e-learning course. the application of samr model is a solution. one of the most dominant traits among students is and self-efficacy. the level of student self-efficacy was controlled in this study to measure the effect of using the samr model. this study uses a quasi-experimental design with a factorial design. this study involved 152 students in the experimental and control groups. the research analysis technique was tested using manova. the results and conclusions show that: (1) the samr model has a significant effect on students' critical thinking skills and procedural knowledge; (2) self-efficacy significantly affects students' critical thinking skills and procedural knowledge; and (3) a combination of learning models and self-efficacy has a significant effect on procedural knowledge, but does not significantly affect critical thinking skills. this study contributes and improves the quality of e-learning implementation techniques, particularly in the area of english learning. keywords: critical thinking, procedural knowledge, samr model, self-efficacy introduction the only way to deliver education at all levels during the covid-19 pandemic is to use online learning or e-learning (retnaningsih, 2020)this includes studying at university level (mukhalafatun & hanan, 2020). as a result, it is reasonable to conclude that e-learning should be implemented. to face these challenges, lecturers need to adapt to appropriate learning delivery methods for implementing e-learning. there is a learning model that is extensively used by educational practitioners and can be applied to e-learning, namely the samr model (hamilton et al., 2016; sockalingam & liu, 2020). in indonesia, the samr model is also being applied to implement e-learning (ayu et al., 2021; zainal, 2020). mailto:hari.karyono@unipasby.ac https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.3893 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 200-217 201 in its application, this model has two functions. the first function is as a measuring tool for technology integration into learning (bradley, 2020). second, the samr model is used as a guideline for designing technology-based learning (izza & rusydiyah, 2020). the use of the samr model as a measuring tool is carried out by placing learning activities on the samr model hierarchy ladder (dwiono et al., 2018; handoko, 2020; pfaffe, 2017). in this function, the samr model is not used as the basis for learning design. the samr model as a tool is used to develop questionnaires and assessment guidelines through observation (kihoza et al., 2016). the results of most studies show that the use of technology in learning is limited to technology as a substitute for traditional tools (martin, 2020). in other words, the integration of technology into learning only reaches the level of substitution and augmentation (budiman et al., 2018; dwiono et al., 2018).. this is because the samr model is not used as a guide in designing learning (tunjera & chigona, 2020).. the samr model, in its function as a framework for designing learning (howlett et al., 2019), is used in designing learning activities (djiwandono, 2020) and evaluating student learning (castro, 2018). various disciplines use the samr model to design learning, both in the field of language learning (azama, 2015; lievens, 2018) and in other fields (kriek et al., 2016; nakapan, 2016; zhai et al., 2019). in learning english, the samr model is also used to design learning (harmandaoğlu baz et al., 2018; indratno, 2017; jati, 2018) and evaluate the achievement of students' english skills (lobo & jiménez, 2017; shouman & momdjian, 2019). in the research of giangiulio lobo and lara jiménez (2017), the samr model was used to design the evaluations for grammar. meanwhile, in the djiwandono study (2020), the samr model is used to design learning activities for vocabulary. unlike previous research, this study adopts the samr model as a framework for designing english online learning in universities to improve critical thinking skills and procedural knowledge in the grammar area. critical thinking is one of the important goals in higher education (cruz et al., 2020) and can be taught or trained (ennis, 2018; siburian et al., 2019). these skills also affect student learning outcomes (fatmawati et al., 2019) in english courses (dehghayedi, 2020). english proficiency can be viewed in terms of procedural knowledge (gunawan et al., 2019). procedural knowledge indicates how students process information obtained from understanding concepts to perform procedures for analysing and interpreting (fardan, 2017). these two skills are interconnected because, to solve problems, critical thinking skills (wechsler et al., 2018) and procedural knowledge are needed (wuryaningrum et al., 2020). based on the results of observations in classrooms with expository learning, self-efficacy is one of the student traits that dominates in impacting learning. selfefficacy is a belief in one's own abilities (bandura, 1997; peers et al., 2020; shiau et al., 2020). this certainly affects how confident students are (fryer & ogabaldwin, 2017), especially in using technological equipment, including software used in online learning. this then affects how students participate in online learning with various challenges and affects how students complete their assignments. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 200-217 202 thus, the purpose of this study is to find out: (1) differences in critical thinking skills and procedural knowledge between students who follow the samr model and expository strategies; (2) differences in critical thinking skills and procedural knowledge between students who have self-efficacy levels: low, medium, and high; and (3) the interaction between the samr model and selfefficacy on critical thinking skills and procedural knowledge of students. method in this study, a quasi-experimental design was used. a quasi-experiment involves an experimental group and a control group, where individuals are not randomly assigned to a group (creswell & creswell, 2018). the research design used a pretest-posttest control-group design. the two groups, namely the experimental group with the samr model and the control group with the expository strategy, were given a pretest, but only the experimental group was given experimental intervention, then both groups were given a posttest (leavy, 2017). the type of experiment in this research is a factorial design. the factorial design is used because this study also considers other independent variables, often called moderator variables in research, namely the self-efficacy variable. the treatment unit used is a factorial of 2×3. the research was conducted at one of the universities in surabaya in november 2020-january 2021. the research population was 683 students. the sampling technique used is the cluster sampling technique. this study used a sample of 2 experimental classes totaling 77 students and 2 control classes totaling 75 students. the level of english self-efficacy of the entire sample from both groups was measured before the learning started. to measure the level of students' english self-efficacy, the english self-efficacy questionnaire developed by sağlam & arslan (2018) was used. then the students' self-efficacy scores were categorized into three categories, namely high, medium and low (bandura, 1988; indrawati et al., 2020). the pretest and posttest instruments given to students are based on the tests of critical thinking skills and procedural knowledge of grammar developed by alfiana et al. (2021). prerequisite tests were carried out on the data obtained. prerequisite tests include normality and homogeneity tests. the normality test was carried out using the shapiro wilk test because the research sample was less than 200 (psaradakis & vávra, 2020; yap & sim, 2011). the homogeneity test was carried out by testing the variance using the levene test method. after the prerequisite test is done, the next step is to test the hypothesis. hypothesis testing was carried out by using the multivariate analysis of variance (manova). findings and discussion normality test results the normality test was conducted to determine whether the research data obtained was normally distributed. the results of shapiro wilk's normality test are presented in table 1. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 200-217 203 table 1. normality test results data group group significance critical thinking skills experiment 0.111 control 0.106 procedural knowledge experiment 0.055 control 0.09 the data is declared normally distributed if the significance value is more than 0.05. from table 1, the data in all data groups is declared normal because the significance value obtained is greater than 0.05. homogeneity test results a homogeneity test was conducted to determine whether the data variance of the two groups was homogeneous or heterogeneous. if the two groups have the same variance, then the group is said to be a homogeneous group. the data is said to be homogeneous if the data test produces a significance value greater than 0.05. table 2 shows the results of the homogeneity test using the levene test. table 2. homogeneity test results pre-test post-test critical thinking skills 0,059 0,099 procedural knowledge 0,176 0,074 based on table 2, it is known that the significance value of the four data groups is more than 0.05, so all data groups are declared homogeneous. manova test the data tested in the hypothesis test is data on the level of self-efficacy, critical thinking skills, and procedural knowledge in both groups who have participated in samr and expository learning. the test decisions are taken by comparing the obteained level of significance. if the significance value is less than 0.05, then h_0 is rejected so that h_1 is accepted (sig < 0.05). the results of the manova test are in table 3. table 3. manova result independent variable dependent variable type iii sum of squares df mean square f significancy learning model critical thinking skills 4240.19 1 4240.19 43.59 0.000 procedural knowledge 3235.63 1 3235.63 29.05 0.000 self-efficacy critical thinking skills 8608.25 2 4304.13 44242.00 0.000 procedural knowledge 9019.06 2 4509.53 40.28 0.000 learning model selfefficacy critical thinking skills 714.56 2 357.28 3.67 0.028 procedural knowledge 494.64 2 247.32 2.21 0.113 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 200-217 204 based on the results of the manova test, the significance value between the learning model and critical thinking skills is 0.00, where the value is less than 0.05 (0.00 < 0.05). these results indicate that there are differences in students' critical thinking skills based on the applied learning model. in other words, there are differences in the mastery of critical thinking skills between the samr and expository learning groups. this conclusion is supported by the comparison of the higher samr group mean scores. table 4 is a table of differences in the average value of critical thinking skills: table 4. means differences in critical thinking skills group critical thinking skill means samr 71.8 expository 71.6 the significance value between the learning model and procedural knowledge is 0.00 (0.00 < 0.05). the conclusion is that there are differences in students' mastery of procedural knowledge based on the application of the learning model. this conclusion is supported by the average value of procedural knowledge, as shown in table 5. table 5. means differences in procedural knowledge group procedural knowledge means samr 74.9 expository 74.6 the level of significance between self-efficacy and critical thinking skills is 0.00. so it is evident that h_0 is rejected because 0.00 is less than 0.05. thus, it is proven that there are differences in critical thinking skills between students with low, medium and high levels of self-efficacy. then, the significance value between self-efficacy and procedural knowledge was 0.00. thus, there are differences in the mastery of procedural knowledge based on the level of selfefficacy. to find out the interaction between the learning model and self-efficacy on the two dependent variables, it can be answered by looking at the manova test results with consideration of decision making. if the significance value is more than 0.05, then h_0 is rejected. from the manova test, it was concluded that the combination of learning models and self-efficacy on critical thinking skills had no interaction because the significance value obtained was 0.028 (0.028 < 0.05). meanwhile, the combination of learning models and self-efficacy on procedural knowledge has an interaction because the significance value obtained is 0.113 (0.113 > 0.05). discussion comparison of critical thinking skills and procedural knowledge in samr and expository learning groups based on the results of research data analysis, there are differences in the mastery of critical thinking skills and procedural knowledge between students who take samr and expository learning. a comparison of the mean scores between the samr group and the expository group showed that the samr group had a higher mean score. this is because the samr model that has been carried llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 200-217 205 out at all levels provides opportunities for students to use critical thinking skills (handina et al., 2020; warsen & vandermolen, 2020). the application of the samr model in this study is a series of learning activities that emphasize the use of technology (bauder et al., 2020), which can increase the active role of students in learning (barquero & arce, 2020). therefore, this model is suitable to be applied because in the implementation of online learning, the role of the lecturer is not as optimal as during face-to-face learning. so that students learn more independently. in addition, online learning relies heavily on the use of technology. therefore, the application of the samr model that emphasizes technology integration in learning is the right solution (wills & baker, 2017, 2018). by playing an active role in the learning process, students form their own knowledge. before starting learning, students are given information about the material to be studied and directed to learning resources that can be used to study the material. so that students have time to study the material independently. then, at the virtual meeting, students can discuss what they have learned. thus, students' procedural knowledge of grammar is better than the expository group, which only receives material from the lecturer. so, learning based on the use of technology is proven to be able to increase knowledge mastery (y.-t. chen et al., 2019; pirttimaa et al., 2017; zulnaidi & zakaria, 2012). from the lowest samr model hierarchy, namely substitution, to the highest, namely redefinition, it emphasizes the use of technology (zhai et al., 2019). the students involved in this research have knowledge of the use of technology and have no difficulty using it. however, students do not understand how to use technology to learn grammar and direct their learning. so, it is necessary to design samr learning activities with the use of technology that helps students do their learning in a directed manner. the application of the samr model in technology-based learning supports deep learning for students, thus leading to an increase in critical thinking skills (c. chen, 2020; franco, 2019; shouman & momdjian, 2019; syawaludin et al., 2019). when students carry out learning activities in the learning transformation category, they use critical thinking skills more (azama, 2015; wahyuni et al., 2019), because at this stage, students not only understand but use the knowledge they have acquired to create a work. at the substitution level, students use technology to learn grammar. students learn grammar with digital learning resources, namely ebooks, online articles, and learning videos provided on the learning management system and whatsapp groups. most students use smartphones and only a few use laptops. in other words, students do not experience problems accessing the material presented in digital learning resources because students can access the material anytime and anywhere. after studying the material independently, students' understanding was measured by using the quiz feature on the website. this learning activity is included in the augmentation stage. in addition, in order to improve procedural knowledge, students also take advantage of the grammar check feature when learning to compose sentences in english. this feature exists in word processing programs and websites used by students. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 200-217 206 the level of modification in the application of the samr model also has an effect on increasing students' procedural knowledge and critical thinking skills. students are formed into groups of 5 to 6 members. each group has a project, which is to study and explain tenses material by way of presentation. when studying tenses material, students learn the use of these tenses, how to compose sentences with a predetermined pattern, so that sentences are arranged correctly according to grammar rules. by doing this activity, students form their own procedural knowledge. self-formed knowledge is longer remembered (rokhmawan, 2018; widiasari & sumantri, 2020) than that given by the lecturer as in expository strategies. another learning activity at the modification stage is the evaluation of learning developments carried out by students together with lecturers. this activity is carried out by converting practice questions into gamified quizzes by utilizing google forms and kahoot. from the quiz, the lecturer gave feedback on students' performance. this evaluation allows for structured and directed learning because students know what needs to be mastered and what has not been mastered. this makes it easier to determine learning targets to achieve learning goals. it can be said that the samr model is easy to adapt because it is clear and simple, so that it can be interpreted with various techniques to achieve learning objectives (batiibwe et al., 2017; froemming & cifuentes, 2020; green, 2014). in contrast to the expository strategy, which is dominated by the role of the lecturer, the samr model in its application is more dominated by the active role of students. as in the redefinition stage, learning activities emphasize the active role of students in showing the achievements of their learning. this is done by creating work that is not possible without the role of technology. because learning is done online by relying heavily on technology, the creation of digital works is an appropriate equivalent. therefore, at the end of the lesson, students create works in the form of videos and digital letters that will be sent to themselves in the future. in making videos, students use computer programs a lot, namely programs to take pictures for videos, such as games and powtoon programs, video editing programs, etc. the selection of the program used is not determined by the lecturer. likewise, the display, duration, content, etc., are entirely determined by the student. as a result, the work produced by students is varied. some of the learning videos are made in a powtoon presentation format. however, there are also stories with animations whose videos are taken from games, such as gta. as for writing letters, students use programs for drawing, word processing programs, etc. this work also produces various forms. some students only write. but there are also those who make drawings using programs for drawing, such as sketchable, sketchbook, etc. after finishing writing the letter, the letter is sent to the lecturer through the learning management system for evaluation. then the student sends the letter through the futureme.org website and determines what year the letter will be sent back. so, it can be concluded that the application of the samr model enriches the student learning experience by utilizing technology (bauder et al., 2020). by giving students the opportunity to create works, they can also be given the opportunity to show their learning results in a preferred way, although the form of evaluation in the form of practice questions still exists. however, making llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 200-217 207 work can help reduce boredom in learning evaluation. this is due to making students' work more enjoyable, rather than working on questions continuously. it can be concluded that the implementation of the learning process that was passed by students from the experimental group with the samr model and the control group with the expository strategy were different in their learning activities. in the expository group, students also learn by using technology. however, the use of this technology is not maximized in order to achieve the best learning outcomes. expository learning is more centered on the lecturer with full learning resources from the lecturer. while in the implementation of samr learning in this study, students were given the opportunity to study independently by using a variety of digital learning sources so that they were more suitable for each student. samr learning also departs from learning designs that prioritize the use of technology (zhai et al., 2019; zhang et al., 2020). so, in this technology-based learning, the results of achieving students' critical thinking skills and procedural knowledge differ between the samr learning group and the expository learning group. comparison of critical thinking skills and procedural knowledge of students with low, medium and high levels of self-efficacy the results of the manova analysis in the discussion of the previous chapter stated that there were differences in critical thinking skills between students with low, medium and high levels of self-efficacy. before joining the learning process, the average value of the experimental group with a low level of self-efficacy was 53.3. while in the medium group, it is 66.7. then in the high group is 76.4. so, it can be said that before participating in the learning process, the medium group had higher mastery of critical thinking skills than the low group and the high group had higher mastery of critical thinking skills than the medium group. after following the learning process, the average value of critical thinking skills in the low group is 66.7. meanwhile, in the medium self-efficacy group, the average value of critical thinking skills obtained after participating in the learning process is 79. finally, in the high group, the average value obtained is 89. so, when students go through the learning process, they master thinking skills. between groups of low, medium and high self-efficacy levels, they have different mastery of critical thinking skills. the results of data analysis also show that there are differences in the mastery of procedural knowledge between groups with low, medium and high levels of self-efficacy. this is supported by the difference in the average value of procedural knowledge in each group both before and after going through the learning process. before participating in the learning process, the experimental group with low self-efficacy scores had an average score of 50. while the moderate self-efficacy group scores an average of 68. then the high self-efficacy group gets an average score of 80. so, from the average value, it is evident that the moderate self-efficacy group has a higher mastery of procedural knowledge than the low self-efficacy group. in addition, the high self-efficacy group has a higher mastery of procedural knowledge than the moderate self-efficacy group before participating in the learning process. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 200-217 208 before and after participating in the learning process, there were differences in the mastery of procedural knowledge in the low, medium and high self-efficacy groups. this can also be seen from the comparison of the average values of the three groups. after following the learning process, the average score for the low self-efficacy group was 66.7. furthermore, the moderate self-efficacy group has an average value of 80.2. then, the high group had an average score of 92.7. this also proves that although in each group there is an increase in value after participating in the lesson, the middle group has a higher average score than the low group. likewise, the high group obtained a higher average score than the medium group. self-efficacy is not only being aware of the abilities you have, but also knowing how to use those abilities in a situation (bandura, 1997; peers et al., 2020; shiau et al., 2020). in other words, self-efficacy describes how students believe in their own abilities and these abilities are used to face challenges to obtain an achievement. thus, the level of self-efficacy affects how students use critical thinking skills and procedural knowledge. they have to face challenges in learning in order to obtain good results. in the learning process, self-efficacy affects student learning behavior (schweder, 2019). students with high levels of self-efficacy tend to try, exert more effort, and attempt to complete tasks even when faced with challenges (bandura, 1993; tan et al., 2020). students with high levels of self-efficacy tend to have good english learning achievements compared to students with lower levels of self-efficacy (y. chen, 2020; teng et al., 2018). self-efficacy supports independent learning (bai & wang, 2020; gan, liu, et al., 2020). students with high levels of self-efficacy are better able to manage their own learning. in the learning process, students tend to be active, determine targets or goals, choose and use appropriate strategies to complete tasks (gan, hu, et al., 2020; zimmerman, 2008). in addition, students with high levels of selfefficacy see difficulties in completing assignments not as obstacles but as challenges (bandura, 1993; vattøy, 2020). english self-efficacy (al-hamed, 2019; sağlam & arslan, 2018) describes how students with confidence in their competence in english are able to read, write, listen and speak in english. the self-efficacy questionnaire given to students covers all english skills in an integrated manner. this means not only certain aspects, but english self-efficacy as a whole. therefore, the level of selfefficacy of each subject in this study shows english self-efficacy as a whole. students who are able to speak well in english do not necessarily master grammar well. students can express what they want to convey well, but do not pay attention to grammatical elements. likewise, students who are able to understand spoken english well do not necessarily master grammar well. therefore, grammar is the most difficult study in learning english (agust et al., 2019; i. indrawati, 2017). however, in facing this challenge, students with high levels of self-efficacy make more efforts to improve their english skills (sardegna et al., 2018). this is evidenced by the fact that students with high self-efficacy levels provide better learning outcomes than students with low self-efficacy (y. chen, 2020; rohatgi et al., 2016; wilson & narayan, 2016). so it can be said that self-efficacy is a strong llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 200-217 209 predictor of student academic success (chao et al., 2018, 2019; sun & wang, 2020). between self-efficacy and critical thinking skills, it is proven that there is a positive or related correlation (nuraeni, 2019; nurazizah & nurjaman, 2018). in line with this, in this study, the results of data analysis showed that there were differences in the mastery of critical thinking skills based on the level of selfefficacy. however, both self-efficacy and critical thinking skills play an important role in higher education (saputro et al., 2020). in this study, self-efficacy was placed as a moderator or controlled variable in the study (hadiwijaya et al., 2015). this means that self-efficacy is considered as a student characteristic in going through the learning process. meanwhile, in several studies, self-efficacy is placed as an achievement to be improved in learning (listiani et al., 2019; muhammad et al., 2020). critical thinking skills and procedural knowledge are the achievements studied in this study. in other words, in this study, both are positioned as targets in learning, where the learning objective is to improve these two skills. these two skills are the result of learning from students, where the achievement of mastery is influenced by the level of self-efficacy based on the results of data analysis. interaction between samr model and self-efficacy on critical thinking skills and procedural knowledge the results of the hypothesis test show that there is no interaction between the learning model and self-efficacy on critical thinking skills. the learning model is a treatment or treatment given to students as research subjects. meanwhile, selfefficacy is a characteristic of students as learners, which affects how students manage learning and complete their assignments. these two combinations of variables proved to have no effect or interaction on the mastery of critical thinking skills. this is because both the learning model as an independent variable and self-efficacy as a moderator variable stand alone in influencing critical thinking skills as the dependent variable (utami et al., 2017). before learning, students' critical thinking skills from the experimental and control groups were measured through tests. the results of the pretest showed that there were different values between groups with low, medium and high levels of self-efficacy. thus, the level of self-efficacy affects the mastery of critical thinking skills (nuraeni, 2019; nurazizah & nurjaman, 2018) even before learning. then, after learning, hypothesis testing data strengthens the relationship between the level of self-efficacy and critical thinking skills (gurcay & ferah, 2018). the level of self-efficacy affects critical thinking skills in both groups. this is supported by the results of the pretest and posttest, which show the difference in the average score on the mastery of critical thinking skills based on the level of self-efficacy in the two groups. that is, the level of self-efficacy affects the mastery of critical thinking skills regardless of the learning model and learning strategies used (dehghani et al., 2011; gurcay & ferah, 2018; nurazizah & nurjaman, 2018). at the time of learning, students in the experimental and control groups with moderate and high self-efficacy were more active in virtual meetings. students with moderate and high self-efficacy were more active in answering and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 200-217 210 conveying their knowledge than students with low self-efficacy. in addition, students are also faster at doing quizzes than students with self-efficacy characteristics. in dealing with questions that rely on critical thinking skills, namely the types of grammar accuracy analysis questions, students with moderate and high self-efficacy use more strategies or methods, namely by analyzing the adverbs of time and subject in sentences. based on data analysis in hypothesis testing, it shows that there is an interaction between the learning model and self-efficacy on the mastery of procedural knowledge. this is because the application of the samr model in the learning process enriches the learning experience of each student (bauder et al., 2020) in the experimental group. this means that every student with low to high self-efficacy levels has the same opportunity for samr learning. all students in the samr learning group are given the same opportunity to be involved in the learning process in every learning activity that can help improve their mastery of procedural knowledge. each student is given the opportunity to study grammar materials with their preferred learning resources, namely digital textbooks, audio and video learning. each student learns grammatically correct english sentence structures independently and discusses them with lecturers in virtual meetings. in addition, by using the google form and the futureme.org website, students also have the opportunity to learn how to compose english sentences with a grammatically correct structure. student participation in technology-based learning has an influence on the mastery of procedural knowledge both in groups with low, medium and high levels of selfefficacy (y.-t. chen et al., 2019; pirttimaa et al., 2017; zulnaidi & zakaria, 2012). conclusion the critical thinking skills of students who study with the samr model are higher than the group of students who study expository because samr learning enriches the learning experience by utilizing technology. learning activities specifically designed to improve critical thinking skills are more diverse. procedural knowledge in samr learning is higher because samr learning allows students to learn sentence structure with various forms of learning resources. in addition, students also get equal opportunities in various learning activities designed to strengthen their mastery of procedural knowledge. the mastery of critical thinking skills in students who have low, medium and high levels of self-efficacy is different because the level of self-efficacy affects student learning behavior. students with higher self-efficacy use more strategies to work on questions and assignments, so their critical thinking skills increase. mastery of procedural knowledge based on the level of self-efficacy is different because self-efficacy affects student engagement in learning. students with higher levels of self-efficacy are more active in learning, actively answer questions, and put in more effort, so that students' mastery of procedural knowledge increases. there is no interaction between the learning model and the level of selfefficacy for critical thinking skills, because the level of self-efficacy affects the mastery of critical thinking skills regardless of the learning model used. another finding is that there is an interaction between the learning model and the level of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 200-217 211 self-efficacy in procedural knowledge. all students from the self-efficacy level in the samr learning group are given the same opportunity to be involved in the learning process in each learning activity so as to increase their mastery of procedural knowledge. each student is given the opportunity to study grammar material with a variety of preferred learning sources, namely digital textbooks, audio and video learning. the limitation of this research is that the learning in the two research groups both utilize technology. however, the difference is that samr learning is designed by taking into account the optimal use of technology for effective learning. the implication of this research is that the samr model is effectively used to design online learning. thus, the suggestion for further research is to combine the application of the samr model with other learning models to design more effective online and face-to-face learning. references al-hamed, h. s. 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(2012). the effect of using geogebra on conceptual and procedural knowledge of high school mathematics students. asian social science, 8(11), 102–106. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 447-460 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 447 the implementation of virtual peer mentoring in micro teaching classes caecilia tutyandari1, christina lhaksmita anandari2, and *priyatno ardi3 1,2,3sanata dharma university, indonesia tutyandari@usd.ac.id1, lhaksmita@usd.ac.id2, and priyatnoardi@usd.ac.id3 *correspondence: priyatnoardi@usd.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4213 received 19 january 2022; accepted 29 september 2022 abstract this study aims to explore the implementation of virtual peer mentoring in micro teaching classes and to identify common teaching aspects assessed by peer observers. employing an online observation form and focus group discussion, data were collected to address the research questions. the participants were 59 english language education students enrolled in three classes of micro teaching. every student was assigned to do an observation on their peer teacher and give feedback on their performance. at the end of the semester, nine student teachers, representing the three micro teaching classes, were invited to a forum group discussion. the current research findings suggest that peer virtual peer mentoring is perceived positively by the participants. breakout rooms in the zoom platform are a useful tool to give them more personal interactions, especially when sharing the result of observation. even though giving feedback virtually is a challenge for the student teachers, they appear to see the activity as a valuable process. when observing and commenting on their peer teachers, they also do self-evaluation and reflection. their peer teaching performance is a way to assess their performance. furthermore, other findings reveal common teaching aspects observed, namely linguistic aspects, pedagogical skills, and communication skills. keywords: efl, mentoring, student teachers, virtual peer mentoring introduction school teachers and university lecturers should possess a number of professional aspects, i.e., pedagogical knowledge, knowledge of the specified content, knowledge of educational psychology, and teaching competencies. according to presidential regulation number 14/2005 about teachers and lecturers in indonesia, educators should possess four competencies, i.e., personal, social, pedagogical, and professional. these qualities of competence are interconnected and need to be continuously explored and developed to become professional and qualified educators. with this in mind, teacher education programs should prepare and equip their student-teachers with sufficient pedagogical knowledge and opportunities for them to increase their teaching competence through hands-on experiences in teaching and school administration. these invaluable experiences will help shape the students in mailto:priyatnoardi@usd.ac.id mailto:priyatnoardi@usd.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4213 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 447-460 448 their ability to cope with various challenges, be it personal challenges (e.g., selfefficacy, motivation, and commitment), or external challenges (e.g., school rules, classroom management). unfortunately, hands-on experiences of visiting schools and teaching the students were impossible to be done due to the pandemic era. as a result, all teaching-learning activities were switched to the online setting in a very short time. these abrupt changes gave a tremendous impact on how the teaching-learning activities were conducted. in a very short amount of time, all educators from all levels had to switch from offline to online learning. they were forced to relearn how to teach in the online setting. due to this so-called disruption, any means of support and guidance for educators and/or student teachers are imperative. research showed that the existence of a positive support system for student teachers from the education programs and their peers helped them to cope with new situations and would influence their self-efficacy (tutyandari, 2020). such situations of course have become one of the major concerns within the teacher training programs. in sanata dharma university, particularly, this concern is in line with one of the strategical issues for research topics, i.e., transformational education to enhance nation competitiveness in the digital era (pendidikan transformatif untuk meningkatkan daya saing bangsa di era digital, p. 10). therefore, the main focus of this research is to investigate the virtual peer mentoring activities among the student teachers in the micro teaching classes by addressing the process of virtual peer mentoring implementation and the identification of teaching aspects commonly assessed by peer observers. mentoring is an essential activity to support professional development in various fields, including teacher education, as suggested by prior research. traditionally, mentoring refers to a guidance program between more experienced and less experienced/new people in the profession (ragins & kram, 2007). in the development, mentoring occurring among peers has also been considered an important way to support early career people (ruegg, 2015). furthermore, due to the advancement of technology, mentoring is not only implemented in a face-toface mode but also conducted virtually. this pandemic has strongly pushed teacher educators in many places, including indonesia, to facilitate a guidance program for their prospective teachers in an online mode. reviewing important findings from the previous studies about peer mentoring, it is apparent that further investigations are necessary to be conducted to add more knowledge and practices. furthermore, not much research on peer mentoring has been explored within indonesian contexts. therefore, the current research would like to dig into more information about virtual peer mentoring in the context of efl student teachers who are undertaking an undergraduate teacher education program in indonesia. literature review teacher preparation to become a teacher, someone should go through complex pathways where multiple factors are interconnected and interdependent. not only are academic knowledge and skills required, but also personal and social aspects contribute to the success of this long journey to be a teacher. gustems-carnicer (2019), for example, shows the influence of stress among teacher education students and avoidance llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 447-460 449 coping strategies on their academic achievement. experiences student teachers have gone through in teacher education may also bring an impact on their self-efficacy as revealed by clark and newberry (2019). this investigation emphasizes the important roles of teacher educators and mentor teachers in strengthening student teachers’ self-efficacy. therefore, the process of preparing future teachers matters. darling-hammond (2000) strongly suggests that teachers’ confidence and success are related to their education. furthermore, darling-hammond (2006) recommends that teacher education should ensure strong coherence among courses, between courses and practices, as well as the relationships between student teachers and teaching practicum supervisors. mentoring throughout the years, the word “mentoring” has been experiencing a shift in meaning (mullen & klimaitis, 2021). the changes are needed to ensure the relevance between the teacher education programs with the current situation in the education world. mentoring is one of the most important aspects/elements in developing the student teachers’ professionalism. according to ragins and kram (2007), mentoring was generally defined as one of the learning models in which an expert guided the novice. nowadays, the meaning of “mentoring” has been expanded. mentoring is no longer between expert and novice per se. on the contrary, peer mentoring is now considered an important way to develop professionalism, even for experienced teachers. bressman, winter, & efron (2018) reveal that teachers who have been working for several years may suffer from burnout and frustration. mentoring programs that are adjusted to experienced teachers are considered necessary. there has been other research related to mentoring, including group mentoring huizing (2012) identifies several kinds of group mentoring that have emerged from some research, namely peer group, one-to-many, many-to-one, and many-to-many. furthermore, ambrosetti (2010) identified some roles of the mentoring processes from the point of view of the mentors and the learners. some of the roles of a mentor were to build good communication skills, give suggestions and criticism, be a good co-worker, and give good examples. other than that, a mentor should have the ability to create a supportive atmosphere to ensure the learner’s eagerness to explore, learn, and practice. additionally, best practices of mentoring suggest that to obtain effective mentoring, this activity should be conceptualized and planned well to ensure optimum implementation (stoeger, balestrini, & ziegler, 2020). other research on teacher education programs also showed the positive impacts of mentoring on the development of the student teachers’ teaching skills (capan & bedir, 2019; cavanagh & king, 2020; matney, 2018). dixon et.al (2012) also shared a similar result in that mentoring could strengthen the student teachers’ professional development. to be more specific, see et al. (2014) stated that the use of mentoring model between an experienced teacher and a novice teacher has given a significant improvement in the novice teacher’s pedagogical and content knowledge. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 447-460 450 peer feedback feedback is one of the important components of the learning process. the effects of feedback in learning, be it coming from peers or experts, have always been intriguing to investigate. according to hattie and timperley (2007), feedback on someone’s understanding or appearance can come from a number of sources, such as parents, experienced teachers, friends, or self-reflection. wisniewski et. al (2020) reported that feedback affected someone’s cognitive and motoric abilities. for example, ruegg (2015) once investigated the differences between feedback from peers and teachers. the result showed that the feedback coming from peers tends to be less specific compared to feedback coming from teachers. however, the interesting part was that there was that the participants also realized that peer feedback helped them in improving their performance. gurer (2020) showed a similar research result, i.e., peer feedback was one of the interactive learning models that could strengthen their bond as classmates. these research results have provided a good portrayal of the positive impacts of feedback in the learning process. therefore, this research would apply the peer feedback activities in the micro-teaching class. virtual peer mentoring virtual mentoring has been an interesting field to be investigated in some areas, such as leadership, medical school, and teacher education program. ohlson (2012), for example, claims that virtual leadership mentoring program in which student leaders assist at-risk students has positively influenced three aspects, namely academic achievements, attendance, and school suspensions. virtual peer mentoring also occurs in the medical field to give support to new students (merrick, hodgson, hagan, & mbaki, 2021). the findings show positive responses to the program. however, the results also indicate some challenges, such as the inexistence of face-to-face interactions, limited knowledge of geographical and local contexts, and limited use of technology. reese (2015), based on the mentor’s reflections and interviews, suggests some benefits of virtual mentoring, including less demanding than traditional mentoring in terms of time, opportunities to develop leadership skills, as well as self-reflection. prior studies have suggested that virtual peer mentoring can be a potential strategy to be implemented in the teacher education program, especially on the stage of teaching practicum. some best practices of virtual peer mentoring have been identified in the field of engineering faculty, which might be applicable in teacher education. for example, members of the group should share a common goal and similar stage of career; the participants should know each other (faber, smith-orr, lee, bodnar, strong, & mccave, 2017). some good practices, benefits, and challenges of virtual peer mentoring have been identified previously (see faber et al., 2017; merrick et al., 2021; reese, 2015). they become the conceptual framework used to prepare the research instruments and analyze the data of the current study. method the researchers employed the qualitative approach in this research to gain some understanding of the phenomenon of peer mentoring in micro-teaching classes. ary et.al. (2010) emphasized that qualitative research could help llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 447-460 451 researchers describe and analyze the phenomena, events, social activities, attitudes, trust, perceptions, and thoughts both in individual or group settings. therefore, by using qualitative research, the research processes focused on the peer mentoring activities in the micro-teaching classes. settings and participants this study took place in three micro-teaching classes in the english language education study program (elesp) of sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia during the even semester of the 2020/2021 academic year. fifty-nine students enrolled in the classes were included as the participants. micro teaching is a four-credit hour course offered to third-year students. the course aims to equip the students with teaching skills so that they are ready for teaching english in real classrooms. research instruments and data collection procedures data were collected through observation and focus group discussion (fgd). first, an observation sheet was used to gather students’ feedback on their peer performance. there were three major teaching aspects in the observation sheet, namely opening, main teaching activity, and closing. the opening part included how the student teachers hooked students’ interests and motivate their students to learn. the main teaching activity consisted of material understanding, the use of teaching methods, techniques, and models, the use of learning resources and media, assessment, and language use. the closing part emphasized how the student teachers encouraged their students to reflect on the learning processes. the students filled out the observation sheet twice, namely in the mid-term exam and in the final exam. second, the researchers conducted a two-hour video recorded focus group discussion (fgd) with 9 participants on 24 september 2021. the major points of the discussion included students’ perceptions of the peer mentoring activities, aspects commonly observed by the students, and challenges faced by the students. the aim of the focus group discussion was to get additional and supportive information related to the implementation of peer mentoring activities. data analysis techniques the data from the observation sheet and focus group discussion were analyzed. first, the results of the focus group discussion were transcribed. second, the data in the transcript and observation sheet were grouped into categories. the researchers also reduced the data by deleting the information which was not related to the research questions. lastly, the coded data were corroborated from one source to another source to build a thick description. findings and discussion this chapter presents the results of the data analysis to address the research questions. as stated previously, this study aims to elaborate on the implementation of virtual peer feedback in micro-teaching classes and to explore the teaching aspects commonly observed by peer observers recorded in the observation forms and interviews with some student teachers. accordingly, the discussions of the current findings are organized, respectively. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 447-460 452 the implementation of virtual peer feedback in micro-teaching class procedures of virtual peer feedback the peer feedback took place in micro-teaching classes. the procedures of the implementation of virtual peer feedback were conducted in three phases, namely preparation, implementation, and evaluation & reflection. first, in the preparation phase, the preservice english teachers learned the aspects that they would observe. the aspects included english language skills, pedagogical skills, and communication skills. the student teachers also familiarized themselves with the given rubric to get clearer pictures of the aspects to be assessed. they discussed the rubrics in small groups so that they got the same understanding of the given rubric. the next phase is the implementation of virtual peer feedback. the students worked in small groups consisting of 4-6 students. in the groups, each student performed a 30-minute teaching practice. the other students observed and assessed their peer’s teaching practice. while observing the teacher, they filled out the online feedback form. after the students performed the teaching practices, they accessed the feedback given by their peers. they are given some time to ask for and give clarification about the feedback. this phase enabled the students to evaluate and reflect on their teaching performances based on the feedback given by their peers. student teachers’ perceptions of virtual peer mentoring the students had experienced virtual peer mentoring for one semester. in the focus group discussion, they articulated their perceptions on the implementation of the peer mentoring program. based on the data, their perceptions were classified into three major themes, namely benefits, attitudes toward giving feedback, and preferred modes of feedback. first, the virtual peer mentoring program benefitted the students. the program encouraged them to learn from their peers and improve their teaching performance. the feedback given by their peers encouraged them to reflect on their teaching practice. vira and bayu admitted in the focus group discussion: i learned from my friends who performed excellent teaching practice. while observing my friend, i also thought about some ideas that can be implemented in my teaching practice so that i could perform better. (vira) i could compare my friends’ performance with my performance. i could also reflect on my friends’ performance to make my teaching performance better. (bayu) second, the students articulated their attitudes towards giving feedback. some students admitted that they felt uneasy giving feedback to their friends. they were afraid that their feedback would influence their friends’ final scores. tia admitted in the focus group discussion: i love giving comments to my friends but i am afraid if my comments will affect their final score. (tia) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 447-460 453 lastly, the students also express their opinions about their preferred mode of giving feedback. the students liked spoken feedback better than the written one. the oral feedback directly given to their peers enabled the students to know if their feedback was accepted by their peers. if they needed further clarifications, the students could also give the clarifications as soon as they received the feedback. one of the students said: if the feedback is orally delivered, i can give more detailed feedback. (joe) teaching aspects commonly observed by student teachers in virtual teaching practice this section provides the identification results of the teaching aspects that are commonly assessed by the observers towards their peer teacher. as stated previously in the research method section, to address the second research question, the results of the open-ended part of the observation form and focus group discussions. the aspects of peer feedback emerging from the thematic analysis are categorized into two major themes, namely language proficiency, and pedagogical skills. in the discussions, those two key aspects are elaborated into several subthemes. linguistic aspects language proficiency appears to frequently occur in the observation sheet as exemplified in the following quotes. there are three common elements mentioned in the observation, namely grammar, and pronunciation. grammar grammar accuracy is one of the indicators that shows someone’s proficiency in the target language. being proficient in english should be a quality that an english language teacher should have. for example, the following quote comments on a student teacher’s spoken language when delivering a lesson. it is interesting to see that the observer does not only underline the error (we will going. …) but also provides the correction (we are going to … or we will …). there were so many things that need to be improved. first, the grammatical accuracy and vocabulary. for example, paul said ' we will going...' instead of saying ' we are going to... or we will...", then, for the vocabulary, he was using a lot of indonesian vocabularies instead of english. (p25) pronunciation similarly, pronunciation is another important element that an english language teacher should have. a teacher’s accuracy when pronouncing a word is another language element that is assessed by a peer observer as shown in these quotes. in my opinion, he need improve the pronounce by reducing filler. (p91) i found some wrong pronunciation. (p28) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 447-460 454 …maybe the pronunciation. teacher should pay attention to the pronunciation like "event". (p97) fluency in addition, speaking fluency has also grabbed a peer observer’s attention as indicated in the next quotes. some student teachers might have experienced speaking difficulties when doing the teaching practicum. the [spoken language] is standard and easily understood but sometimes is not fluent. (p269) the media is interesting to be seen but the fluency of speaking should be improved. (p275) pedagogical skills this theme refers to some important aspects related to classroom practices. it is mainly taken from the recorded open-ended observation form. teaching-learning activities teaching and learning activities are important aspects of the teaching practicum. peer observers are able to assess the appropriateness and effectiveness of the planned strategies that their peer teachers perform. the following examples show how peer observers see their peers’ performance when doing the teaching practicum. it is necessary to shorten some activities so that students do not get bored with activities that are long enough. (p193) however, i personally believe that the learning plan you developed would fit the asynchronous class better. to avoid chaos in students' collaboration and to follow each student learning pace. (p84) he should be more able to attract the attention of students to be active in learning or make learning more fun and not boring. (p131) interactions a teacher should have the ability to build good interactions and communication with students. in this section, there are three aspects of interactions found in the descriptive data. they are eye contact, student-teacher interaction, and studentstudent interaction. the first and second quotes describe that the student teachers did not always look at the camera when practicing online teaching. eye contact is an important aspect of communication that a teacher should be aware of. looking at someone’s eyes is a way to interact with others. she doesn't often see the us at camera but looking down, but her attention is still with us (p275) i contend and suggest that the teacher needs to keep her eyes on the camera frequently. (p281) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 447-460 455 the other aspects to be assessed by peer observers are the way student teachers engage peer students and how they facilitate student-student interactions as seen in the next quotes. erika is unable to get her students to be actively involved in learning activities and looks like a teacher centric, so that there should be added some questions or activities that provoke students to dig up information from the material being taught. (p166) adding activities that can encourage student-student interactions. (p71) learning materials a teacher should have the ability to select the right materials for every lesson. good teaching and learning material should be able to support the attainment of the predetermined goals/objectives of the lesson. furthermore, it also should suit the students’ level. the following example is the feedback that indicates the inappropriateness of the lesson materials. [should] pay more attention to the determined purpose. the video used [in the class] was not suitable for recount texts for senior high school. [should] pay more attention to students’ understanding…the difficulty level of the last exercise was high…don’t show the key answers to students because it could decrease students’ understanding and disturb their concentration. (p.150) teaching media another aspect to be assessed is the use of teaching media, which are essential for the teaching and learning processes. feedback emphasizes the necessity to prepare interesting and engaging visual tools as shown below. what needs to be improved is the learning media. [they] can be made more attractive (ppt) so that students can understand the material more easily and are not bored. (p39) the utilization of learning sources and media was less varied. (p205). time management feedback on time management frequently appears in the observation form. it includes how to manage the whole lesson or specific parts of the teaching and learning processes. time management is not really good, it is better to reduce theory and increase practice with students so that it is easy to understand for them. (p56) time management: if there are students who don't respond then don't wait too long (p58) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 447-460 456 communication skills the findings identify some teaching aspects which relate to individual performances. they include enthusiasm, voice, facial expression, confidence, and gestures. enthusiasm it is interesting to find out that in the online mode of teaching and learning activities, the teacher’s enthusiasm can also be sensed by some observers. as i have said in the class, i personally feel like your excitement was not as active and positive as usual. (p83) the excitement of the teacher needs to be improved. i feel like the teacher doesn’t give her all energy to the students. this resulted the students to be quite not active and keep silent in some part of the learning process. however, there are still few of students that are still active in the class to help the learning process going out smoothly. i think that is the main thing that needs to be improved by the teacher. (p33) voice the teacher’s voice is also an important element in the teaching and learning processes because it potentially affects the clarity of lesson delivery. this element, which includes pace, volume, and pause, has grabbed some peer observers’ attention as revealed in the data. [it] would be better not in a rush when giving an explanation. there were some parts [of the lesson] which [the teacher] read very fast. (p108) i think everything is good, but sometimes the teacher's voice suddenly becomes small and sometimes it can't be heard. maybe the volume is turned up even more. (p129) before asking the students, the teacher needs to wait for a while so can give the students time to manage the sentences in answering (p275) facial expressions the way teachers express themselves may influence the class atmosphere including in a virtual meeting. teachers with a lot of smiles are considered friendly and positively affect the teaching and learning processes. she needs to be more expressive. (p1) her facial expressions when teaching was so charming, full of smiles, like no problem at all. (p37) confidence a good point revealed from the data is about teachers’ confidence. confidence can be observed in some ways including the way someone speaks. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 447-460 457 maybe [he] can try trusting himself more, students were enjoying his teaching method so i thought it would be better not to say something like "i'm sorry if it gets boring again" (p60) gestures a teacher’s movement including gestures is also important for a teacher. it can help teachers to emphasize what is being explained. what needs to be improved is gesture, because gesture can be used for students to better understand about the materials and the purpose/ meaning from the teacher instruction. (p40) discussions as stated earlier, the current research intends to describe the implementation of virtual peer mentoring in micro teaching classes and to identify common teaching aspects assessed by peer observers. prior research suggests that peer mentoring is indeed a potential strategy to provide support for student teachers during teaching practicum (ruegg, 2015). there has been some evidence claiming that mentoring is a key element of a teacher’s professional development (hattie & timperley, 2007). both traditional and virtual peer mentoring share similar benefits and challenges for both mentors and mentees. mentoring is implemented with the consideration that student teachers need continuous and various support during their formation phase to be professional teachers. furthermore, mentoring benefits both mentees (e.g., sharing ideas and professional practices) and mentors (e.g., networking and opportunities to reflect) (hansford & ehrich, 2005). when the pandemic struck the world, there have been some adjustments in the process of supporting student teachers in conducting teaching practicum, including how to conduct mentoring. initially, mentors and mentees were sides by side to communicate feedback. after the attack of the pandemic, mentoring in micro-teaching classes should be conducted virtually. peer mentoring is believed to have some influence on student teachers’ professional development. prior research has strongly recommended the application of peer mentoring as a strategy to improve both teaching skills and personal aspects (see dixon et al., 2012, see et al., 2014). furthermore, peer mentoring turns out to benefit both mentors and mentees. in micro-teaching classes, all student teachers are enrolled in the english language education program and have known each other for a while. faber et al. (2017) argue that one condition peer mentoring can be more effective is group members should share a common goal; in this study, the participants are those who are prospective english language teachers and have been classmates for about three years. therefore, peer mentoring appears to be doable in this context. furthermore, this study also reveals interesting perspectives of the fgd participants. even though giving feedback to their peers is not easy for them, they have a positive perception of the activity. observing and providing feedback to peers can also be used as self-reflection and self-evaluation. in other words, peer mentoring benefits both peer mentors and mentees. the findings of the present research reveal some common feedback given by peer observers. student teachers’ appearance when conducting the teaching practice llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 447-460 458 is the focus of observation. the frequently occurring data are categorized into three aspects of teaching: linguistic aspects (such as grammar accuracy and pronunciation), pedagogical skills (such as learning activities and time management), and communication skills (such as eye contact and gestures). conclusions this study explored the implementation of peer mentoring activities in micro teaching classes. based on the findings, the researchers draw two major conclusions. first, the implementation of online peer feedback was carried out in three phases, namely preparation, implementation, and evaluation. the students perceived that during the implementation they learned from their peers’ teaching performance. however, some students also felt uneasy to give feedback because they were afraid that the given feedback would influence their friends’ scores. the participants also admitted that they preferred oral feedback to written feedback. this mode of giving feedback provides them with ample chances for clarification. second, in the process of giving feedback, the students paid attention to teaching aspects, namely linguistic skills, pedagogical skills, and communication skills. the feedback could help the students to improve their teaching skills and personal aspects. recommendations as this study only focused on the implementation of online peer mentoring and common feedback given in the peer mentoring activities, future researchers need to scrutinize how the teacher students improve their teaching skills over time due to the feedback given by their peers. it is also crucial to investigate how the students deal with their peers’ feedback. to gain in-depth analysis, a case study or narrative inquiry can be employed. references ambrosetti, a. 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(2020). the power of feedback revisited: a meta-analysis of educational feedback research. frontiers in psychology, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.03087 https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14537 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.03087 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 367-378 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 367 strategic reading intervention for left-behind learners in the philippines *jordan miranda pocaan1, lyndon lucila bailon2, and jean pauline trilles pocaan3 1sorsogon state university, philippines 2bicol university, philippines 3university of santo tomas-legazpi, philippines pocaan5@gmail.com1, llbailon@bicol-u.edu.ph2, and jeanpauline.trilles@ust-legazpi.edu.ph3 *correspondence: pocaan5@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.5078 received 23 august 2022; accepted 21 september 2022 abstract education for all means no one should be left behind; thus, teachers should provide effective strategies for struggling readers. the “one-size fits all strategy” further divides the gap between the slow and advanced learners. this study used a quantitative observational research design to determine the reading ability of 30 struggling readers in terms of word recognition, reading comprehension, and reading speed using reading stories, dolch's basic sight words and the phil-iri manual 2018. the study develops strategic reading intervention materials to support teachers and students during the remedial programs. the pre-tests revealed that the reading ability of the struggling readers was at a frustration level. furthermore, the develop strategic intervention reading materials used in remedial programs were composed of 4 parts: learning content, learning task guide, assessment guide, and enhancement guide. the post-tests show that the participants reading ability progressed to instruction and independent level after the remedial program. it was concluded that determining the student’s present ability is beneficial to develop effective intervention materials. it was suggested that the school leaders and program specialists should develop faculty and student support programs ideally to uplift the student’s literacy. keywords: left-behind learners, reading intervention, reading comprehension, reading speed, word cognition introduction education facilitates social mobility and is essential for evading poverty (ferguson & roofe, 2020). access to education and school enrolment rates at all levels, especially for females, have increased substantially during the previous decade (united nations educational, scientific, and cultural organization institute for statistics, 2021). however, more than half of all children and adolescents globally do not exceed mailto:pocaan5@gmail.com mailto:llbailon@bicol-u.edu.ph mailto:jeanpauline.trilles@ust-legazpi.edu.ph mailto:pocaan5@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.5078 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 367-378 368 the minimal criteria of reading and arithmetic competency (united nations, 2021). the global competitiveness for the best quality education relies on the country's economic strength (hazelkorn, 2014). many economically capable students prefer to enroll in developed countries for their studies (yang et al., 2019). nevertheless, the most common expectation for developing and least developed countries in terms of education is lack of quality or low quality (peng et al., 2014; pocaan, 2022). essential skills learned in schools, such as reading and writing, are considered a fundamental necessity (sukma et al., 2017); likewise, children in primary grades are expected to acquire specific competencies of these skills (collins, 2018). learners require tailored language assistance to promote academic reading comprehension (brooks et al., 2021). the classroom environment and the teachers' approach must be conducive to learning (anagün, 2018). furthermore, such education systems' ideal goals and expectations interfere with the different considerations (scott-clayton, 2015; jenkner & hillman, 2004). specifically, in the philippines, the deterioration of quality education is constant due to problems faced by the country (orbe et al., 2018; durban et al., 2012; galang, 2021). in reading, arithmetic, and science, 15-year-old filipinos performed worse than other programme for international student assessment (pisa) 2018 participants; moreover, the philippines and the dominican republic scored 340 and were considered the lowest (organisation for economic co-operation and development (oecd), 2019). this alarming result needs immediate action to ensure filipino learners are not left behind. although the department of education (deped) vows to improve the quality of education (deped) through the implementation of the edukalidad (deped, 2019), the cooperation of the parents is significant since it is considered their obligation (akemoglu et al., 2021). moreover, emphasis on remedial programs for slow and nonreaders are also necessary. the findings and reports suggest that every educator and education leader needs to develop effective student support programs to secure student achievement in reading. thus, the present study aimed to employ effective strategic reading intervention materials for remedial programs to provide teachers with adequate materials for struggling readers. the study output may help increase the number of proficient students in the country. framework of the study learning is a dynamic process involving students, educators, and learning. teachers may create an atmosphere conducive to the efficient learning of their students if they are aware of the interrelationships between the components that impact learning. thus, the potential to learn is a dynamically complicated system that seeks equilibrium. biggs (1996) developed the presage-process-product (3p) model to illustrate the interactions between instructors and students depending on their expectations for teaching and learning. the 3ps model describes the arrangement of learning-related elements at three separate times. individual states of being that precede the teaching process constitute the paradigm. the first stage of biggs' model is the presage stage, which happens before learning, followed by the process stage, which occurs during llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 367-378 369 learning, and finally, the product stage, which is the consequence of learning. in connection with the study, the presage displays the pre-test results on the reading ability of the struggling readers in terms of word recognition, reading comprehension, and reading speed. the process displays the implementation of the remedial program using the developed strategic reading intervention materials, while the product is the results of the post-test that illustrates the improvement of the learners' reading ability. identifying the present status of the learners in solving learning problems requires scientific investigations that primarily identify the problem's nature. it provides a better understanding of developing suitable interventions that target specific goals for the students' beneficiaries. strategic reading interventions may support students' reading improvement and as an effective tool in remedial programs. figure 1. adaptation of presage-process-product model research aim the study aimed to provide effective intervention to aid students reading ability; specifically, the study sought the following objectives: 1. determine the reading ability of grade 6 struggling readers; 2. develop strategic reading intervention materials to be used in a remedial program to improve the reading ability of grade 6 struggling readers; and 3. determine the reading ability of grade 6 struggling readers following the implementation of strategic reading intervention material. method research design the study used a quantitative observation approach to analyze the participants' reading ability before and after implementing the developed strategic reading intervention materials. the quantitative observation approach is an objective method of data analysis that uses numerical and statistical characteristics to quantify study variables (mohajan, 2020). the observation technique considers the study variables in terms of amount, which was connected with quantities such as scale (heinze et al., 2018). context of the study the study was conducted in one big school in albay. the school annually provides remedial programs for struggling readers to avoid being left behind. in connection, the study utilized the developed strategic reading intervention material in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 367-378 370 the remedial program to determine the reading improvement among the participants. moreover, the study participants were the 38 grade 6 struggling readers aged 11 to 14 and were purposively selected using the 3 types of students in nederveld's (1967) "the effective remedial reading program." regarding selection, 184 grade 6 pupils from 5 sections underwent reading tests. the results were subjected to scrutiny to identify the qualified students. the criteria were reading achievement, reading potential, grade placement, and chronological age. moreover, the study used the school form 1 to identify the participants' chronological age. furthermore, the study used reading stories, dolch's (1936) basic sight words, and the philippine informal reading inventory manual (phil-iri) manual 2018 (education, 2018) to assess the participants' word recognition, reading comprehension, and speed. moreover, the study utilized basic sight words in the word recognition test, while the reading comprehension, which includes the speed test, was a three-page test composed of a 375-word reading selection that had to be read silently and orally by the participants. table 1. participants groups based on nederveld’s 3 types of students group reading ability number of participants group 1 reading achievement is below grade placement, reading potential and chronological age 13 group 2 reading achievement is below grade placement and chronological age 17 group 3 reading achievement is below reading potential but at grade level and chronological age 10 data gathering and analysis the study underwent several phases of the data gathering process. it involves the collection and analysis of the pre-test and post-test results. after determining the participants’ groups, the study provides a pre-test to measure the participants’ reading ability. through the oral reading of tales, paragraphs, and dolch's fundamental sight words, the participants' word identification and comprehension abilities were assessed. moreover, the reading comprehension test consisted of 4 parts: literal, interpretative, creative analysis, and application and creation. to measure reading speed, the participants engaged in oral reading of 220 words and silent reading of 375 words. the study used descriptive statistics such as mean score and standard deviation to quantify the reading ability of each group. furthermore, after implementing the developed strategic reading intervention material, the post-test with the same assessment was conducted to measure the participants’ improvement. table 2. adapted scoring criteria for word recognition and reading comprehension reading ability classification of reading ability frustration instruction independent word recognition 89-below 90-96 97-100 reading comprehension 58 below 59-79 80-100 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 367-378 371 table 3. scoring criteria for reading speed based on number of words for grade 6 learners reading ability classification of reading ability slow average fast reading speed 160-below 161-189 190-above formula for assessing word recognition: 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 𝑁𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑢𝑒𝑠/𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑁𝑜 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑥 100 formula for reading comprehension: 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑒ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑥 100 formula for assessing reading speed: 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑒ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 𝑁𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒 ethical considerations permission to conduct the study was granted by the school principal and school superintendent through a response from the letter of research undertakings introduced to the respective offices. arrangements were also made to meet research governance requirements. moreover, the participants signed an informed consent form, which discussed the study background and observation procedures, confidentiality, benefits from participation, voluntary participation, and consent. results the reading ability of the participants table 4. pre-test results of the participants in word recognition and reading comprehension groups n word recognition reading comprehension level mean score std. dev. level mean score std. dev. group 1 13 frustration 77.60 3.10 frustration 19.70 6.71 group 2 17 frustration 71.56 1.71 frustration 21.33 4.16 group 3 10 frustration 84.56 1.12 frustration 39.88 4.23 based on table 4, the pre-test results of participants in word recognition and reading comprehension indicate frustration. group 1 has a mean score of 77.60 for word recognition and 19.70 for reading comprehension. moreover, group 2 has a mean score of 71.56 in word recognition and 21.33 for reading comprehension. lastly, group 3 has a mean score of 84.56 in word recognition and 39.88 for reading comprehension. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 367-378 372 table 5. pre-test results of participants’ reading speed groups n oral reading silent reading level mean score std. dev. level mean score std. dev. group 1 13 slow 74.70 6.71 slow 81.40 4.15 group 2 17 slow 90.22 6.18 slow 81.89 2.23 group 3 10 slow 96.13 4.91 slow 86.63 1.54 according to table 5, the participants were classified as slow readers. group 1 has a mean score of 74.70 in oral reading and 81.40 in silent reading. furthermore, group 2 has a mean score of 90.22 in oral reading and 71.89 in silent reading. moreover, group 3 has a mean score of 96.13 in oral reading and 86.63 in silent reading. strategic reading intervention materials for the remedial program table 6. proposed strategic reading intervention materials parts components teaching strategy learning content composed of competencies, learning objectives, topics, short instruction, phonetic readings, short stories with relevant designs, e.g., drawing of animals, objects, and colors, and video presentation. small group and one-onone tutoring learning tasks guide composed of tasks and sub-tasks, the students were conditioned with question-and-answer activities and corrected the wrong responses. small group tutoring and one-on-one tutoring assessment guide composed of scoring rubrics and item tests. teacher-assisted assessment; individual and group enhancement guide composed of refresher activities and assessments based on the students’ difficulties reflected in the assessment. small group tutoring and one-on-one tutoring learning materials the intervention used colored modules, illustrations, printed manipulative drawings, a portfolio, marker, video presentation, and powerpoint presentation. table 6 shows the summary of the proposed strategic reading intervention material. the proposed strategic reading intervention materials were assessed using the evaluation rating sheet for print resources based on the guidelines and processes for learning resources management and development system (lrmds) assessment and evaluation v1.0 by the deped (2019). the materials were evaluated by the field experts and showed very satisfactory results. furthermore, the strategic reading intervention was composed of 4 parts: the learning content guide, learning tasks guide, assessment guide, and enhancement guide. moreover, the teaching strategies employed while implementing the materials were small group tutoring, one-on-one tutoring, and assisted individual and group assessment. it also used significant learning materials such as colored modules, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 367-378 373 illustrations, printed manipulative drawings, a portfolio, marker, video presentation, and powerpoint presentation. the advisers used the materials during the remedial sessions in the third and fourth quarters of the school year 2020-2021. reading ability of the participants after the implementation of strategic reading intervention material table 6. post-test results of participants’ word recognition and reading comprehension groups n word recognition reading comprehension level mean score std. dev. level mean score std. dev. group 1 13 instruction 94.40 2.24 instruction 73.40 4.90 group 2 17 independent 98.44 1.07 instruction 88.44 3.80 group 3 10 independent 99.06 1.25 independent 91.69 2.39 according to table 6, the post-test results of participants’ word recognition and reading comprehension show improvement. group 1 has a mean score of 94.40 (instruction) in word recognition and 73.40 (instruction) in reading comprehension. on the other hand, group 2 has a mean score of 98.44 (independent) in word recognition and 88.44 (instruction) in reading comprehension. meanwhile, group 3 has a mean score of 99.06 (independent) in word recognition and 91.69 (independent) in reading comprehension. table 7. pre-test results of participants’ reading speed groups n oral reading silent reading indicator mean score std. dev. indicator mean score std. dev. group 1 13 average 172.30 7.39 average 178.80 9.22 group 2 17 average 187.33 4.08 average 188.78 3.88 group 3 10 average 188.81 5.21 average 194.75 4.18 based on table 7, the participants’ mean scores also show improvement in reading speed. group 1 has a mean score of 172.30 in oral reading (average) and 178.80 (average) in silent reading. while group 2 has a mean score of 187.33 (average) in oral reading and 188.78 (average) in silent reading. finally, group 3 has a means a score of 188.81(average) in oral reading and 194.75 (average) in silent reading. discussion reading ability of grade 6 struggling readers although it was expected that the participants' reading ability was at a frustrating and slow level, the mean scores showed their problematic status in reading. the results of the participants' pre-test were strong evidence that although education in the country is free and accessible, many students still struggle with learning acquisition. a similar study by tomas et al. (2021) revealed that most of the examined 4216 learners were at the frustration level in english reading ability. in addition, the world bank's report showed that 10 to 22 percent of grade 4, 5, and 9 pupils in the philippines scored "at llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 367-378 374 or above minimal competency" across all three global assessments (graham & kelly, 2018). the participants' frustrations in word recognition, reading comprehension, and speed can also be associated with low economic status; provided that the study was conducted in a public school, most students belonged to low-income families. according to the findings of a machine learning (ml) study conducted by the dr. andrew l. tan data science institute (altdsi), the majority of the filipino students who scored poorly in reading comprehension on the programme for international student assessment (pisa) in 2018 (haw et al., 2021) came from low-income backgrounds where family and school environments do not promote growth mindsets (pabalate, 2021). the existence of bad health, a lack of interest in reading, a lack of orientation and training to teach reading, and the frequent absence of students may have further consequences for the findings (tomas et al., 2021). the study results and similar related study findings suggest immediate actions by the school leaders and educators to formulate effective school interventions and support programs that help struggling students not be left behind. strong reading abilities improve scholastic performance and self-image. furthermore, reading literacy is a fundamental necessity for success in the 21st century. strategic reading intervention materials for the remedial program through the assistance of the school's principal and class counselors, the developed materials for strategic reading intervention were effectively implemented in the remedial program for struggling readers. the materials acted as instructional tools for the duration of the program. it enables instructors to focus on student needs using premade materials, activities, and evaluations. the participants progressed by comprehensive or focused tutoring in the developed strategic reading materials. the materials improved the pupils' phonemic awareness, allowing them to develop materials segment and manipulate phonemes provided orally before going on to print. it also facilitates the decoding process, which teaches learners letter-sound correlations and word patterns. students use the information to decode as they segment and combine letter sounds to construct words. in addition, it separates lessons on high-frequency words from typical phonics lessons so that kids are aware that they must memorize certain words while reading sentences. in addition, the materials instruct students on the six syllable types and require them to divide lengthier multisyllabic words into syllables and legible pieces. lastly, it directly teaches spelling patterns to pupils and supplements their reading engagement with spelling activities. students' difficulties with text comprehension arise from fundamental deficiencies in their literacy abilities (sabatini et al., 2014). all pupils need a methodical scope and sequencing that teaches each phonics ability using controlled text, beginning with the simplest and graduating to the most complicated (glazzard & stokoe, 2017). lastly, employing strategic interventions that target the students’ needs enhances the students’ learning and achievement. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 367-378 375 reading ability of grade 6 struggling readers following the implementation of strategic reading intervention materials the implantation of the developed strategic reading intervention materials shows progress in learners' reading ability across the groups. reading intervention is a very successful approach to enhancing a student's reading abilities since it encourages the development of strong readers and confident writers (finnegan & mazin, 2016). from frustration and slow reading, the participants progressed from instruction to independent reading ability. it implies that a planned program that targets the students' needs is adequate for such a duration. the combination of varied teaching strategies and planned programs positively affects learning. a plethora of information suggests that pupils who cannot read effectively by the age of eight or nine, when the focus in school shifts to reading to learn rather than learning to read, often struggle to catch up socially and academically with their classmates (tomlinson, 2017). certainly, inquiry and shared methodologies are now available to assist teachers in developing a variety of intervention strategies, from generating literacy-rich classrooms to implementing vital entirety group and direct learning strategies that can help pupils become optimistic, competent, and self-reliant readers (helmz & katz, 2016). conclusions and recommendations the study's main objective is to develop and implement strategic reading intervention materials for remedial programs to support struggling readers improve their reading ability. determining the status of struggling readers through observation and tests provides ideas and areas that need to consider in developing teaching intervention, and students support programs. the findings of the study underpin the following: (1) struggling readers were on frustration level and slow reading ability; hence, poverty, poor health, a loss of enthusiasm in reading, a lack of orientation and training to teach reading, and pupils' frequent absences may have further implications for the results; (2) teaching experience is a significant factor in developing effective learning materials; (3) a well-planned student support programs with research-based learning materials is effective in enhancing students reading ability. educators should consider struggling readers an opportunity to explore other effective teaching methodologies rather than as a burden. the students' reading progress relies on their learning strategy and teaching approach, and strategies used by the teachers also greatly influence their performance. moreover, educators should avoid using the one size fits all teaching strategies and curriculum as it assumes all students learn in the same ways. to guarantee the success of every student in school, society as a whole should embrace the idea that no student should be left behind. with the aid of the community, every teacher's commitment to cultivating every student's mind might be positively progressive. school-community cooperation that provides vital support services to students' academic aspirations also contributes to nation-building. students employ competencies learned in school to assist people of the community. furthermore, school-community relationships contribute to all learners' overall quality of 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(2021). sdg 4: ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. united nations. retrieved from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2019/goal-04/ yang, y., li, j., wu, x., wang, j., li, w., zhu, y. i., ... & lin, h. (2019). factors influencing subspecialty choice among medical students: a systematic review and meta-analysis. bmj open, 9(3), e022097. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2019/goal-04/ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 244-254 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 244 developing assessment instruments for english literacy in blended learning for junior high school students eka anastasia wijaya1*, ni made ratminingsih2, and i g a lokita purnamika utami3 1,2,3universitas pendidikan ganesha, indonesia ekaanastasia28@gmail.com1, made.ratminingsih@undiksha.ac.id2, and lokitapurnamika@undiksha.ac.id3 *correspondence: ekaanastasia28@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5073 received 19 august 2022; accepted 29 march 2023 abstract this research intended to develop assessment instruments for english literacy in blended learning. the study employed survey, observation, interview, and document study as the methods with a questionnaire, observation checklist, interview guide, and school document as the instruments to collect the data framed within rnd design with the 4d model by thiagarajan et al. the developed instruments were categorized as ‘very high validity’ and ‘very good’ for their content validity (1.00) and product quality (96% and 98%) by the two judges. it indicates that assessment of learning, assessment for learning, and assessment as learning combined with authentic materials are necessary to improve the learning process as well as the students’ english literacy skills. it also implies that english teachers need to highlight the use of assessment for learning and assessment as learning since those assessments lack attention previously. keywords: assessment instruments, blended learning, english literacy introduction nowadays, students are required to have english literacy (khairuddiniyah, 2017). literacy means the skills of being literate represented by four basic english skills in the real context (keefe & copeland, 2011; mulia, 2016; rintaningrum, 2009). meanwhile, english literacy is a set of english skills that could help students to apply their knowledge in real life. however, the result of pisa (argina et al., 2017; ayunin, mirizon, & rosmalina, 2019; dewantara et al., 2019; rosana et al., 2020) and preliminary observation and interviews indicated that literacy in indonesia still becomes a problem. the students were not prepared with the essential skills that could be seen from the lack of basic english skills. moreover, in the context of buleleng regency, the students could not even read english announcements or instructions properly. they also lack tips on listening to english announcements in public places. it is also found that they also lack self-confidence in expressing their opinion. mailto:ekaanastasia28@gmail.com mailto:made.ratminingsih@undiksha.ac.id mailto:lokitapurnamika@undiksha.ac.id mailto:ekaanastasia28@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5073 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 244-254 245 related to that facts, argina et al. (2017) found that the learning evaluation or the assessment is considered one of the causes of indonesian stagnant position in pisa. it is because the national examination as the general assessment process in indonesia only assesses the students' recognition knowledge instead of analysis. nurdiana (2020) also found that there is a lack of english teachers’ knowledge especially about assessing the students’ language performance. therefore, it affects the assessment process. moreover, the preliminary observation and interview done as part of the situational analysis indicated that english teachers in bali have not focused on the use of assessment for learning and assessment as learning in the class. on the other hand, the teachers only emphasized the use of assessment of learning in the form of the multiple-choice test. in line with the covid-19 pandemic, it required teachers to do the teaching and learning process in the form of blended online learning. besides, little attention is given to the issue of developing assessment of learning, assessment for learning, and assessment as learning instruments to assess blended english literacy learning. based on the above review, the learners could improve their english literacy by using the appropriate assessment. in this case, it seems appropriate to develop those three kinds of assessment instruments for junior high school students to improve their english literacy learning. the focus of this study is limited to developing those three kinds of assessment instruments to assess english literacy in the context of blended learning for seventh-grade students in semester two as part of a larger research. based on the explanation above, the formulated research questions are: 1) what are the needs in developing assessment instruments to assess english literacy in blended learning for grade 7 semester 2 in buleleng regency? 2) how are the assessment instruments developed? 3) how is the quality of the developed assessment instruments? method research design this research applied research and development (r&d) with the 4d model (thiagarajan et al., 1974). the 4d model itself contains the define, design, develop, and disseminate stages. this model was used because the study was product oriented with qualitative and quantitative analysis. besides, this model has systematic and simple stages that could help to solve the research problems in line with the student’s needs and characteristics. however, the disseminate stage is excluded in the context of this research and it will be continued in the following year due to time limitations as part of a larger research. in the define stage, the needs analysis of assessment instruments to assess english literacy in blended learning was done. it was done to know the problems, especially the literacy program and the assessment. further, the blueprint and assessment instruments were developed in the design stage, followed by the next stage, namely the develop stage. this stage developed the product in the form of assessment instruments. population and sample the population was all of the junior high school students in bali. further, the sample was chosen using the multistage cluster random sampling technique. in this llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 244-254 246 sampling technique, the researcher chose the sample from the population using smaller groups at each stage, for example, based on geography (cities or states) (singh & mangat, 1996). this sampling technique was used to collect data from a large group to avoid time-consuming. the researcher divided and selected the population into clusters and selected some clusters in the first stage. the first stage, which was area or cluster sampling, resulted in twelve schools from the southern and northern parts of bali. therefore, six schools both from the southern part of bali and the northern part of bali were chosen through a multistage cluster random sampling technique. it was followed by using a simple random sampling through a lottery to choose two schools. in this case, smp negeri 1 singaraja and smp negeri 6 singaraja were chosen as the sample. those schools were selected based on the sample criteria, which are public junior high schools in buleleng regency. furthermore, as part of a larger research, seventh-grade students from those public junior high schools were chosen as the sample. data collection technique the data collected in the define stage were obtained through a survey method with a questionnaire, observation method with a checklist and rubric as the instruments, interview method with an interview guide as the instrument, and document study. moreover, it is followed by the design stage, in which the researcher designed the blueprint and the product draft. furthermore, the develop stage was done, and it used expert judgment to find out the product quality. data analysis technique the data were qualitative, especially for the first and the second research questions, and quantitative data, especially for the first and third research questions. in this case, the qualitative data were observation results, interview results, document analysis results, and questionnaire results. the data were analyzed qualitatively by interpreting the result of observation, interview, document analysis, and a questionnaire about the needs analysis of assessment instruments and the development process. further, the data were interpreted based on the related theory to answer the first and the second research questions. besides, the result of the questionnaire also perceived quantitative data, especially about the needs analysis. further, the data about the quality of the developed assessment instruments were analyzed quantitatively by classifying the instruments’ quality with certain criteria. findings and discussion define stage in this research, the first stage was done in developing the product called the define stage, in which the needs analysis was done toward the assessments used by the teachers to assess english literacy in blended learning. it was done to know the problems, especially the literacy program and the assessment. hariyadi and yanti (2019) stated that the main purpose of needs analysis is to match the perceptions, beliefs, and expectations of the teachers or other stakeholders with the learners’ needs. moreover, the needs analysis process in this research and development used thiagarajan's theory about the aspects of the defined stage and brown's theory about the domain of analysis. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 244-254 247 the needs were analysed through present-situation analysis. the result of the needs analysis reflected these two things 1) the necessities of developing an assessment of learning, assessment as learning, and assessment for learning; 2) the necessity of developing assessment instruments that included authentic materials. therefore, assessment instruments that cover real-life tasks and procedures were developed in this research by using the needs analyzed before as the basis for designing the products. in line with the necessity of developing those three assessments, it could be assumed that those three assessments are important in the learning process. the necessities themselves come from the nature of those three assessments that could not be separated from the principle of conducting blended learning assessment. it is supported by yuliyana, rochmiyati, and maulina (2021), in which one of the principles for conducting blended learning assessment is including self-reflection as the assessment to reflect learner-centered. besides, it is important to ask the students' opinions as input on how to assess blended learning. this principle could be seen in assessment as learning. moreover, the other principle is how the assessment could encourage students to develop skills and provide feedback from the teachers (yuliyana, rochmiyati, & maulina, 2021). this principle is following the characteristic of assessment for learning. concerning the assessment of learning, the assessment has to be designed in line with the learning objectives. it is supported by yuliyana, rochmiyati, and maulina (2021), in which the other principle for conducting blended learning assessment is the assessment used must be aligned with the learning objectives. besides, it is also important to consider the necessity of developing assessment instruments that include authentic materials. fithriyah (2015) stated that authentic materials are needed in learning english to help the students to have direct experience with the target language in real situations as much as possible. therefore, authentic materials could facilitate the learners in learning the target language. sianipar, ansari, and eviyanti (2018) have the same opinion, in which authentic assessment obliges the students to show real-world performance to show their knowledge and skill. it aligns with the developed assessment instruments in this research, which emphasize literacy or real-world task. in addition, authentic materials could be applied to beginner to advanced learners (fithriyah, 2015). therefore, developing assessments with authentic materials for junior high school students could help the students in learning english. it is also said that authentic assessment could be the alternative to avoid assessment that only emphasizes comprehension tests (surya & aman, 2016). the developed assessment instruments in this research consider using authentic materials to avoid assessments that only assess the student’s comprehension. in line with that, tosuncuoglu (2018) supported that authenticity is one of the principles of assessment. the authenticity could be presented by including contextualized components and real-world assignments. it is in line with the purpose of this study, in which this study developed assessment instruments that included authentic materials. design stage the second stage in developing the product is called as the design stage. in this stage, the blueprint for developing the assessment instruments was designed. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 244-254 248 the blueprint used bloom’s taxonomy as the guideline to choose the action verbs in proposing the indicators. octoria et al. (2016) stated that assessment is done to determine the student's learning outcome which could be classified into three domains proposed by bloom called bloom's taxonomy. those three domains of learning are cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. in line with that, it is said that the assessment in kurikulum 2013 should consider authentic assessment that includes affective, cognitive, and psychomotor (hutapea, lubis, & adisaputera, 2020). the cognitive domain is related to how students acquire, proceed, and use knowledge. meanwhile, the affective domain refers to students' behavior and attitude during the learning process. the psychomotor domain refers to student's skills during the learning process. bloom's taxonomy includes six levels ordered from the simplest level which is a requirement for the most complex level (bloom et al., 1956). in addition, the six levels in bloom's taxonomy are considered the levels of skills required in classroom situations (prasad, 2021). orey (2010) added that the domain in bloom's taxonomy is clustered into six subsequent thinking levels. the first three levels belong to the lower-order thinking skills (lots) consisting of remembering, understanding, and applying. meanwhile, the next three levels belong to the higherorder thinking skills (hots), consisting of analyzing, evaluating, and creating. koksal and ulum (2018) have the same opinion, in which bloom’s taxonomy is hierarchical. therefore, it is possible to see the lower level at the higher level. as part of a larger research, the researcher was instructed to design the blueprint for creating assessment instruments to assess english literacy for seventhgrade junior high school students, especially in the second semester. there were four chapters for grade seven in the second semester. the blueprint for developing the assessment instruments itself consists of basic competency, indicator, topic, type of assessment, and mode of learning. in this case, the researcher used the basic competency given in the syllabus to design the indicators. the researcher proposed a minimum of two indicators for each basic competency. moreover, the researcher adjusted the type of assessment used with the indicators to maximize the learning process. furthermore, the researcher also added the mode of learning for each assessment instrument developed. the assessment instruments could be applied either offline or in online learning depending on the situation. the researcher added a barcode to ease the user in using the developed assessment instruments for online learning. besides, the user could also use the developed assessment instruments in the form of a printed book for offline learning. the researcher could use any suitable online platform such as quizizz, schoology, edmodo, google classroom, google meet, zoom, etc., for online learning depending on the needs and situation. the researcher only focused on creating assessment instruments for the cognitive and psychomotor domains based on the basic indicator given in the syllabus. therefore, the indicators created in the blueprint follow the hierarchy of cognitive and psychomotor domains. the cognitive domain is classified into six hierarchies, called remember (c1), understand (c2), apply (c3), analyze (c4), evaluate (c5), and create (c6) (ahmad & hussin, 2017; nurdiana, 2018; octoria et al., 2016; oktaviana & susiaty, 2020). as the same with the cognitive domain, the psychomotor domain is classified into five hierarchies, called imitation (p1), manipulation (p2), precision (p3), articulation (p4), and naturalization (p5). based on the syllabus, the basic competency in chapter 5 until chapter 8 is varied from llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 244-254 249 c2 (interpret), c3 (identify), and c4 (compare) for cognitive domains. meanwhile, the basic competency in chapter 5 until chapter 8 belongs to p3 (capture meaning and compose). therefore, the researcher designed the indicators at the same level or above the level with the basic competency. it is supported by krashen's theory (1982), in which the transfer knowledge needs to be above the student's current knowledge (i + 1). after designing the blueprint, the researcher also designed the draft of the assessment instruments. it is important to design the draft of the assessment instruments to align with the required competency. octoria et al. (2016) have the same opinion, in which the assessment should use techniques that are suitable to the competencies. the techniques could be a test, observation, homework, exercise, paper, project, performance, portfolio, oral questions, etc. develop stage the last stage in developing the product is called the develop stage. in this stage, the draft of the product was established into the final product by considering the blueprint designed before. in this research, the researcher developed the assessment instruments for grade seven in semester two that consist of four chapters. the product was created using microsoft word software by the researcher. the researcher also made the assessment instruments as creative as possible by including colorful backgrounds and topic-related images. furthermore, the assessment instruments were designed by following the topics and the characteristics of a good assessment. therefore, the developed assessment instruments could assess the student's english literacy skills. after developing the product, the product was judged by two expert judges. the preview of the final product could be seen in the following figures and the final product could be scanned in the barcode given. figure 1. cover of book chapter figure 2. example of aol llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 244-254 250 figure 3. barcode of the final product the researcher chose self-assessment as well as peer assessment as a type of assessment of learning used, in which assessment as learning includes the students dynamically in the assessment process (lam, 2018). besides, self-assessment allows the students to observe their learning, achievement, and progress (mutch, 2012). further, peer assessment could assist the students to monitor their learning from the perspective of their peers in the form of feedback. dann (2014) added that the feedback given in the assessment as learning could support the students’ learning. the other students, as a peer, could give feedback on assessment as learning. the feedback from a peer could ease the students to monitor their learning since it is given by the same age. further, the researcher chose performance assessment in the form of reading, writing, speaking, and listening tests as the types of assessment for learning used. the designed assessment for learning is expected to provide feedback for the students (sardareh & saad, 2013). oyinloye and imenda (2019) supported that assessment for learning is considered a strategy to improve instruction and learning since the nature of assessment for learning is continuous. padmadewi and artini (2019) said that assessment for learning could help teachers deal with assessing the student’s progress. the developed assessment for learning instruments was designed to help the student’s progress. unconsciously, it also helps the teachers to monitor and assess the student's progress. for the assessment of learning, the researcher designed a summative test alongside another chapter to be given at the end of the semester (final test). mutch (2012) supported that assessment of learning assessment summarizes and outlines the students' achievement at a period. this assessment will be given at the end of the learning process at a certain unit (lee & mak, 2012). in conclusion, the type of assessment of learning used is a summative test consisting of a complete test and a short-answer test conducted at the end of the semester. in this case, assessment of learning could be used to review and report the students' achievement at a period (lee & mak, 2012; mutch, 2012). moreover, the types of assessment for learning used were reading, writing, speaking, and listening test. lam (2018), mutch (2012), sardareh and saad (2013) stated that assessment for learning could be used to improve the learning process through feedback given. further, a study by oyinloye and imenda (2019) revealed that the assessment for learning approach significantly affects the learners' performance compared to learners with normal instruction. meanwhile, the types of assessment as learning used were self-assessment and peer assessment. in this case, assessment as learning deals with the students' thinking, feelings, actions, and motivation related to the learning process (lam, 2018). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 244-254 251 content validity and product quality after the product was developed, it is important to check the quality. the data could be seen in the results of the expert judge's form. the researcher used gregory’s formula to find out the criteria for content validity (candiasa, 2010). table 1. gregory’s formula expert 1 irrelevant relevant expert 2 irrelevant a = 0 items b = 0 items relevant c = 0 items d = 10 items content validity = 𝐷 𝐴+𝐵+𝐶+𝐷 = 10 0+0+0+10 = 1.00 (𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑦) the formula above indicated that the content of the developed product was qualified as ‘very high validity’ with a score of 1,00. meanwhile, the researcher used the criteria and the formula below to classify the product quality. the formula (expert 1) p = ∑𝑥 𝐼𝑀𝑆 x 100% p = 48 50 x 100% = 96% (very good) the formula (expert 2) p = ∑𝑥 𝐼𝑀𝑆 x 100% p = 49 50 x 100% = 98% (very good) note: p = percentage of product quality ∑x = total score from an expert ims = ideal maximum score the percentage and the formula above indicated that the quality of the developed product was qualified as ‘very good’ by the two judges with percentages of 96% and 98%. in developing a product, it is important to check its quality. therefore, the researcher also developed the instrument to check the product’s quality. in this case, there were two judges as the expert on the content and the quality of the product. the results of the content validity and product quality indicated that the developed product was in the ‘very high validity’ and ‘very good’ criteria. for the result of content validity, judges 1 and judges 2 gave scores of 94% and 96% that classified into ‘very high validity’ within a range of 81% 100% belongs to ‘very high validity’. meanwhile, judges 1 and judges 2 gave scores of 96% and 98% for the product quality that classified as ‘very good’ within a range of 81% 100% belongs to ‘very good’. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 244-254 252 in line with the results and discussion above, there are implications as the logical consequences from the conclusion of the research. this study could give impacts by applying the developed assessment instruments in the classroom, both in the context of offline and online learning. in other words, the developed assessment instruments integrated the use of technology that is suitable for today’s conditions. the developed assessment instruments consisted of summative tests as part of the assessment of learning, performance tests as part of the assessment for learning, also self-assessment and peer assessments as part of the assessment of learning. in this case, this study emphasizes assessment for learning and assessment as learning that is neglected by most english teachers. therefore, english teachers could emphasize the use of assessment for learning to improve their teaching. besides, the students could also improve their learning through assessment as learning. in conclusion, english teachers could use this study as a suggestion to develop blended assessment instruments and to give emphasis to those three assessments that could improve the teaching and learning process. conclusion this study developed assessment instruments (assessment of learning, assessment for learning, and assessment as learning) integrated with authentic materials. the process of developing the product used the 4d model by thiagarajan et al. with a limitation, which is up to the third stage, the develop stage. the last stage, which is the disseminate stage, will be continued in the following year as part of a larger research. therefore, the researcher intends to give suggestions for the further researcher to consider the weakness as the basis for further research. besides, further research needs to continue this study to the disseminate stage. moreover, for english teachers, it is suggested that english teachers should implement those three assessments in the teaching and learning process by considering their importance. the teachers could use this study as a guideline to develop their blended assessment instruments. besides, it is suggested to emphasize the use of assessment for learning and assessment as learning to help the teachers and the students to improve the teaching and learning process from the assessment given. references ahmad, t. s. a. s., & hussin, a. a. 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(2021). blended learning assessment instrument for elementary school. edunesia: jurnal ilmiah pendidikan, 2(3), 668-676. https://doi.org/10.51276/edu.v2i3.189 http://doi.org/10.25273/jipm.v9i1.5638 https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/108689 https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1797/1/012063 https://doi.org/10.24815/jpsi.v8i2.17468 https://doi.org/10.21831/reid.v2i1.6540 https://doi.org/10.51276/edu.v2i3.189 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 529 an analysis of english teachers’ written feedback in primary students’ report cards pauline widyastuti and y. g. harto pramono widya mandala surabaya catholic university, indonesia pauline.widy@gmail.com; harto@ukwms.ac.id correspondence: pauline.widy@gmail.com doi: 10.24071/llt.v24i2.3880 received 29 september 2020; accepted 29 october 2021 abstract this study analyzed teachers’ written feedback to explore how well the teachers’ written feedback corresponded to the principles of evaluation and the extent to which their written feedback was aligned with the students’ numerical scores in the report cards. this study collected 112 written feedback from 5 teachers and the corresponding numerical scores in the students’ report cards from one of the private primary schools in surabaya. the teachers’ written feedback was analyzed based on the principles of evaluation. the results of the analysis indicated that none of the teachers wrote feedback which met the criteria of an ideal feedback covering praise, criticism, and suggestion equally at the same time. all teachers only gave praise mostly to very good and excellent students; they almost never gave criticism and suggestion to them. to the low achieving students, the teachers mostly gave criticism and suggestion, and almost never gave any praise. in regard to the alignment between the teachers’ written feedback and the students’ numerical scores in the report cards, the finding indicated that the teachers’ written feedback was well aligned with the students’ numerical scores. keywords: teachers’ comments, teachers’ feedback, students’ numerical scores, students’ report cards introduction in every semester of a school year, students, especially in elementary schools, receive progress and final report cards that present their progress of learning activities from their schools. the goal of the report card is to inform the students and parents regarding the students’ academic and behavior achievements, social performances, and progress in the school (brualdi, 1998). every school has its own rules with respect to the format and the content of the report card, which often include comments/feedback in every progress and final report card. in both progress and final report cards, the students will get the record of their academic achievements written in a numerical format for each subject and written feedback for general or specific areas of learning. written feedback in the students’ report card is seen as an informational device for the students to facilitate their improvements. hyland & hyland (2006) suggest that written feedback should llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 530 include a lot of information which will help the students to improve their learning. teachers must be aware that effective feedback may increase the students’ motivation and self-confidence as learners. on the contrary, feedback which gives too much criticism will make the students lose their motivation and selfconfidence as learners. in addition, it is essential to take a careful action in composing comments and feedback for report cards since it will reflect the numerical scores written in the report cards. this study was intended to analyze the english teachers’ feedback written in their students’ report cards. the analysis was to investigate (i) how well the teachers’ written feedback in the students’ report card correspond to the principles of evaluation, and (ii) the extent to which the teachers’ written feedback is aligned with the students’ scores in the report cards. the written feedback analyzed in this study was limited to those found in the report cards of the students in grade 1 to 5 of a private primary school in surabaya applying cambridge curriculum for their english lessons. the feedback was analyzed based on the principles of constructing ideal feedback. assessments assessment is a learning process and it covers a broad aspect in the teaching and learning processes (brown, 2006). more specifically, assessment is the action of gathering the information of a student or group of students to know them better (buttler & mcmunn, 2006). it may include tests which measure the students’ knowledge or competencies. it may be categorized as informal and formal assessment, formative and summative assessment. informal assessment occurs during the teaching and learning process. informal assessment can vary in forms. these can include unintended comments, responses, and feedback. it can also include tasks or projects, which were not recorded as a fixed result. a teacher can also include judgements about the students’ competences observed during the teaching and learning process. while formal assessments are systematically-designed to measure the students’ repository of skill and knowledge of certain subjects. formative assessment is aimed for assessing or evaluating the students’ learning progress in forming or building their competencies and skills and helping students’ growth. this formative assessment is not only for individual assessment but can also be used for group assessment (tamah and wirjawan, 2019). grouporiented formative test is related to a way to develop the students’ learning and assessing the students by shifting from individual test to group assessment. brown (2006) states that all types of informal assessment are formative. it is expected that the teachers’ feedback aims to develop the students’ competences, skills, and abilities, whereas summative assessment is meant to measure and summarize what the students have learned during the teaching and learning process. summative assessment is used to see how well the learners have met the objectives. functions of report cards according to shafer (1996, pp. 9-10) the importance of writing a report card for the students may include: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 531 1. building home-school connections report cards are a tool to build communication between the teachers and the parents regarding the students’ development and achievement. through report cards, parents are able to analyze their children’s growth through the scores and comments. report cards also help the parents to determine the weaknesses and strengths of their children, in specific areas of learning. 2. document growth through childhood report cards will be kept by parents until their children grow up. the documents they keep will be opened by them and they are going to see their grades and also comments given from their past teachers. 3. inform families about children’s learning report cards are written based on the students’ learning processes inside the classroom. it reports the learners’ achievement during the lesson and learning activities. comments in the report card can help the parents understand the students’ strengths and weaknesses in certain areas of learning. 4. help the children grow as learners report cards also help the children reflect on their achievements that they have made. the learners can also improve in some areas that he/she has not excelled. 5. reach shy, quieter children quiet learners usually get less attention than the active learners. reports can be a tool to reach out to shy or quiet children. through teachers’ comments, the parents will be able to pay attention to the weaknesses and strengths of their children. 6. recognize each child’s unique qualities some learners excel only in non-academic subjects, which are not covered by numerical scores. report card comments assist the parents and the children to feel appreciated. feedback according to heritage (2010), feedback is a form of assessment which is aimed for developing the students’ learning. feedback can vary and come from a lot of different sources. in this study, feedback and comments are used in the same way. referring to hattie and timperley (2007), feedback is considered as information provided by an agent (e.g., teacher, peer, book, parent, self, experience). a teacher can provide corrective information, a peer can provide an alternative strategy, a book can provide information to clarify ideas, a parent can provide corrective information and encouragement, and a learner can see the answer to evaluate the correctness of a response. feedback is also a tool to build a home-school connection for reporting the students’ growth during teaching and learning (dickinson & law, 2016). teacher’s feedback might negatively impact the students’ confidence throughout their learning if the teacher is not aware on how to give the feedback effectively (burke & pieterick, 2010); but according to kluger and denisi (1996) both positive or negative feedback is beneficial in the students’ learning. feedback has various functions such as: advice for improving the recent tasks, reporting grades, the teacher’s action to describe expertise, diligence, etc. (carless, 2006). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 532 written feedback style of the teachers can be influenced by some factors (hyland & hyland, 2001). the ways teachers construct feedback can be influenced by their belief systems, social context where the teachers are working, other factors which include the students’ ability, type of tasks, and in what phase the feedback is given. there are some considerations to be made in writing comments or feedback which are collected from several sources (heritage, 2010): 1. feedback should assist the students’ information about their performance during the lesson and describe what the students can achieve and cannot achieve. 2. feedback informs the students about the quality of the students’ work along with advice on how to improve their performance. 3. feedback should be precise and connected to the learning goals. 4. feedback should include suggestions to improve the performance rather than showing the correct answer. 5. feedback should correspond with the students’ cognitive needs. 6. feedback should cover verification and elaboration. verification is the judgment of whether the answer is correct and elaboration is the informational aspect or message which gives the clues to the students and will direct them to the right answer. 7. feedback should be given after the students finish the tasks given. in addition, nicol (2009) states that written feedback should be: 1. understandable: expressed in a language that suitable for students. 2. selective: commenting on two or three things that the student can do something about. 3. specific: pointing to examples in the student’s submission where the feedback applies 4. timely: provided in time to inform the next piece of work 5. contextualized: framed with reference to the learning outcomes and/or assessment criteria 6. non-judgmental: descriptive rather than evaluative, focused on learning goals not just performance goals. 7. balanced: pointing out the positive as well as areas which need improvement. 8. looking forward: suggesting how students might improve subsequent assignments. 9. transferable: focused on processes, skills and self-regulatory abilities. some feedback can impact the students negatively, and therefore, teachers should avoid feedback which may lead the students negatively (heritage, 2010). general feedback such as “good girl” or “great effort” were less effective for selfimprovement of the students (burnett & mandel, 2010). praise, criticism and suggestion in written feedback written feedback has three main functions: praise, criticism, and suggestion; when given effectively, feedback will build an excellent teaching atmosphere (hyland and hyland, 2001). there are some functions of praise: (a) praising the students’ achievements or work might reinforce students’ self-esteem (hyland and hyland, 2001), (b) praise shows a positive acknowledgement to someone for some aspects such as characteristics, attribute, skill, etc., and thus, praise should llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 533 not only give simple agreement but also deep or specific responses (holmes, cited in hyland and hyland, 2001), (c) praise statements express positive teacher affect (surprise, delight, and excitement) and are essential for those students who need more encouragement and reinforcement (daiker, 1989), and (d) praise will compliment the quality of or convey appreciation to the students’ achievements (daiker, 1989). according to brophy (cited in o’leary and o’leary, 1977) quality praise should have contingency, specificity, and sincerity/variety/credibility. contingency includes how the teacher reinforces on the students’ achievements or behavior. contingency leads the students to interpret that they have done something which deserves to be praised. in addition, the quality of teacher praise should have specificity which points out precise achievements the students achieve both in academic achievement and behavior. specific praise will encourage the students more than general praise such as ‘good job! etc. the last aspect of quality teacher praise is sincerity/variety/credibility. teachers’ praise should sound sincere and the content should depend on the situation and the preference of the students being praised. elbow (2007) states that sincerity is one style or voice. sincerity is needed in praise to convince the students of their achievements during the lesson and encourage them. criticism is defined as an expression of dissatisfaction or negative comment. criticism refers to negative teachers’ feedback on students’ achievements or behavior (brophy, 1981). criticism will mainly focus on the failure of achievements expected. an example of criticism that occurs in the teachers’ written feedback on the students’ writing: “this is actually a little bit too long. your conclusion was a bit weak. the essay is rather middle-heavy. there is possibly too much information here.” (hyland & hyland, 2001, p. 197) in the above example it is clear that a criticism focuses on the unachieved expectations without giving further advice for accomplishing the goal of the lesson. praise and criticism, according to herbert (cited in hyland & hyland, 2001), could not be separated since these two aspects form a politeness structure in a conversational routine. these aspects avoid the conversational from intimidating. hyland and hyland (2001) state that comments should consist of not only praise and criticism, but also offer suggestions. written feedback could offer suggestions if they include the modals need to, could, and should, hypothetical would and the verb try. feedback or comments which are lacked of these aspects are generally referred to criticism. they declare that suggestions are different from criticism. suggestions have positive advice for remediation. they involve a solution for improving the accomplished action, which can also be called “constructive criticism”. it is emphasized that good written feedback should have those three elements equally. based on the discussion above, it is concluded that there are three specific criteria which teachers need to consider when writing feedback for their students, i.e., praise, criticism, and suggestion and each of the criteria has indicators as presented in table 1. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 534 table 1. indicators of ideal written feedback (compiled from: hyland & hyland, 2001; brophy, 1981; nicol, 2009) method the study is a principle-based evaluation that evaluates written feedback made by teachers in students’ report cards to investigate how well they correspond to the principles of ideal feedback and compare the written feedback with the numeric scores given in the students’ report card to see the extent to which the written feedback is aligned with the students’ scores. the teachers’ written feedback was analyzed based on the instrument as presented in table 2. the instrument was adapted from table 1. table 2. indicators of ideal written feedback (adapted from: hyland & hyland, 2001; brophy, 1981; nicol, 2009) the adaptation was by removing the indicators contingency and credibility. the reason why these two indicators were removed was due to the limited access to interview the students to confirm the contingency of the teachers’ written feedback. while credibility needed the researchers’ daily observation of the teachers inside the class that could not be done during the study. then, two additional instruments were developed by the writer for analyzing the written feedback as seen in table 3 and table 4. the instruments were made in accordance with the related literature previously discussed. table 3 was made based on hyland and hyland’s suggestion (2001), i.e., the teachers’ written feedback can be classified into praise, criticism, and suggestion. furthermore, heritage (2010) states that the feedback should be commenting on the students’ achievements, for instance behavior and academic achievements. some feedback might give general appraisal which belongs to miscellaneous. table 4 shows the categories indicators praise contingency specificity (academic/behavior achievement) sincerity/variety/credibility criticism dissatisfaction or negative comment specificity (academic/behavior achievement) suggestion advise for remediation (key word: need to, could, should, would, and try) specificity (academic/behavior achievement) categories indicators praise specificity (academic/behavior achievement) sincerity/variety criticism dissatisfaction or negative comment specificity (academic/behavior achievement) suggestion advise for remediation (key word: need to, could, should, would, and try) specificity (academic/behavior achievement) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 535 teachers ’ code rate of score range of score students ’ code teachers’ comment written feedback category praise suggestions criticisms academic behavior miscellanious academic behavior miscellanious academic behavior miscella nious teacher a (ta) e 92-100 a1 a2 a3 a4 ... vg 86-91 a5 a6 a7 a8... g 77-85 a9... p 76 a10 ... ni <76 a11a24 total total per category teacher b (tb) b1-b24 ... teacher e (te) ... e1-e24 school standard score rate that was used to compare the teachers’ feedback with the score rate the students had to see the alignment between the teachers’ feedback and the students’ numerical scores in their report cards. table 3. teachers’ comment classification table 4. scoring rate (school’s rate score standard) rate of score range of score excellent 92-100 very good 86-91 good 77-85 pass 76 need improvement < 76 code description: ta-te : teacher a-e e : excellent vg : very good g : good p : pass ni : need improvement a1 – a24 : students 1-24 from teacher a b1 – b24 : students 1-24 from teacher b c1 – c24 : students 1-24 from teacher c d1 – d24 : students 1-24 from teacher d e1 – e24 : students 1-24 from teacher e llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 536 the data include teachers’ written feedback and students’ numerical scores found in students’ report cards collected from a primary school in surabaya, which is implementing cambridge curriculum, especially for english lessons. the data were collected from 5 english teachers teaching grades 15 in that school. each teacher was represented by one class per grade which consisted of more or less 25 students. in total, the data covered 125 students’ scores and written feedback from 5 english teachers. findings and discussion how well teachers’ written feedback in the students’ report card corresponds to the principles of evaluation referring to the principles of ideal feedback suggested by hyland & hyland, 2001; brophy, 1981; nicol, 2009 as seen in table 2 an ideal written feedback covers praise, criticism, and suggestion equally. the distribution of praise, criticism, and suggestion from each teacher can be seen through in table 5. table 5. teachers’ written feedback distribution teachers’ code total of students praise criticism suggestion praise, criticism, suggestion, ta 23 23 (100%) 7 (30.4%) 14 (60.8%) 6 (26.08%) tb 21 21 (100%) 0 21 (100%) 0 tc 23 23 (100%) 2 (8.6%) 16 (69.5%) 2 (8.69%) td 24 21 (87.5%) 5 (20.83%) 17 (70.83%) 3 (12.5%) te 21 21 (100%) 3 (14.2%) 18 (87.5%) 1 (4.76%) from table 5, it can be seen that all teachers were concerned with giving the students more praise rather than criticism or suggestion in their report cards. most students got praise from the teachers, then followed by suggestion and criticism. it also means that the teachers’ written feedback did not have three aspects (praise, criticism, and suggestion) equally. therefore, the result of the study can be concluded that all teachers’ written feedback was not aligned with the principles of ideal feedback as suggested by hyland & hyland, 2001; brophy, 1981; nicol, 2009 (see table 2). praise concerning “praise”, there are some characteristics to consider, i. e., specificity, sincerity, variety, etc. as presented in table 2. table 6 classifies “specificity” included in all teachers’ praise into “academic”, “behavior”, and “miscellaneous” aspects. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 537 table 6. specificity distribution of teachers’ praise teachers’ code total of students praise specificity academic behavior miscellaneous ta 23 23 (100%) 13 (56.5%) 19 82.6% 15 (65.2%) tb 21 21 (100%) 1 (4.7%) 21 (100%) 0 tc 23 23 (100%) 19 (82.6%) 20 (86.9%) 5 (32.7%) td 24 21 (87.5%) 11 (45.83%) 17 (70.83%) 1 (4.17%) te 21 21 (100%) 17 (80.9%) 4 (19.04%) 0 table 6 indicates that the majority of teachers’ praise was more concerned with “behavior” aspect and only two teachers were concerned with “academic” aspect. below are examples of each teacher’s “praise” which shows “specificity” in “academic”, “behavior”, and “miscellaneous” aspects. teacher a academic long and short vowel mastery: “…comprehends long and short vowel o sound very well…” reading with expression: “…she reads with expression…” “…read a story with expression…” behavior participation: “…participates well in class discussion …” “…always participates in class discussion…” “…willing to participate in class discussion…” performance: “…has nice handwriting…” “…speaks confidently…” “…she is a cheerful and an active student…” manner: “…he is courteous and shows good manners in the classroom…” “…well-mannered, highly motivated and strives to achieve the best result…” “…accepts the recommendations of peers and acts on them appropriately…” miscellaneous: “…keep on trying…” “…i’m proud of having you in my class…” “…you can do it…” “…keep up your good work…” “…keep it up…” llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 538 “…it’s a pleasure to have you in the class…” “…keep your great effort…” “…keep on trying. you can do it…” teacher b academic english skill: “…has the ability in most english skill…” behavior participation: “…actively joins in oral work and listens attentively…” “…has shown progress to actively participate in class discussions…” “…is listening more carefully to the instructions…” performance: “…works well in programs that are structured to her level of ability…” “...is a capable student who can produce some pleasing work...” manner: “…is eager and enthusiastic…” “...tries to listen carefully to the teacher’s instructions...” “…works well and can be trusted to carry out a given task competently…” teacher c academic reading comprehension: “…has good reading comprehension skills…” writing skill: “…writes well-structured stories…” “…his writing is very well organized…” behavior participation: “…participates actively in class…” “…responds well to the ideas of others and reports back clearly…” performance: “…is confident when he has to present in front of class…” “…is also a confident speaker…” manner: “…listens attentively in class…” “…can express her ideas clearly to the class…” miscellaneous: “…keep it up…” teacher d academic four english skills (speaking, writing, reading, and listening): “…her writing task is her best achievement…” “…speaks english very well and uses it very often, his/her writing and reading comprehension are good…” llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 539 behavior participation: “…shows great effort in class activity…” “…can be very attentive when it comes to getting the information about the lesson….” performance: “…i hardly ever seen her/him has any problems in english lesson nowadays…” “…has done very good job in english…” manner: “…has proved herself to be an independent and a responsible girl/boy…” “…is attentive and independent student in class…” teacher e academic grammar mastery: “…comprehends grammar…” “…comprehends figurative language…” writing skill: “…always displays her best writing results throughout the year…” reading comprehension: “…did reading comprehension excellently …” “…comprehends passages…” listening skill: “…is able to fill in the blanks during listening comprehension activities…” “…can answer questions during listening comprehension activities…” behavior participation: “…always gets involved in class discussions and his opinions toward a problem brought up in the class…” “…actively participates in class discussions by answering the teacher’s question…” performance: “...is a good listener and quick learner...” “...can use the allocated time wisely...” from the examples above, each teacher considered “specificity” in writing “praise” in their written feedback as suggested in table 2. another criteria of praise is “variety”. “variety” in teachers’ praise occurs when the teacher combines two or more specific skills for one student in their comment. “variety” also includes the variation of specific skills being commented from one to another student. the result of the study showed that most teachers’ praise was concerned with the students’ behavior achievement but only some of them included “variety” as one of the characteristics of praise. below are examples of each teacher’s praise which included “variety”. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 540 teacher a “…and enjoys reading with expression. he also has a good knowledge of the basic elements of grammar…” “…has a nice handwriting. she participates well in class discussion…” “…always participates in class discussion… speaks confidently in a variety of situations…” teacher b “…actively joins in oral work and listens attentively. she tries to listen well and follow the instructions carefully…” “…is eager to contribute and participate in all activities. she is a capable student who can produce some pleasing work...” teacher c “…has good reading comprehension skills and writes well-structured stories…” “…writes well-structured stories and…responds well to the ideas of others and reports back clearly…” “…listens attentively in class… is also very confident when he/she has to present in front of class…” “…listens attentively during english… is also a confident speaker, and has shown great improvement and willingness to speak louder…” teacher d “…his/her spelling is getting better and he tries to speak english in class…” “…his/her involvement in speaking is always very good and his/her assignments receive good scores…” “...has proved herself to be an independent and a responsible girl/boy, ... shows great effort in class activity...” teacher e “…comprehends grammar and figurative language and always displays her best writing results throughout the year.…” “…wrote an interesting paragraph and did reading comprehension excellently throughout the year…” eventhough the teachers fulfilled the requirement of “variety” in “praise”, some teachers used the same expressions over and over to praise several students. from the data collected, teacher a’s praise varied from one student to another and was not monotonous. teacher b’s praise was moderately various. some of her feedback was the same for one student and another. teacher b’s behavioral praise was monotonous since the same praise was given to several students although she sometimes combined 2 or more behavior praise in one feedback. teacher c’s praise was lack of variation. she tended to repeat the same praise for some students. teacher d’s praise had some variations. she gave variation in praising the students. while most of teacher e’s praise was concerned with llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 541 students’ academic achievements, and the majority of them combined 2 or more skills. regarding “sincerity, based on the interview with the teachers, teacher a stated that her written feedback was sincere to all students because she tried to be neutral in commenting each student in their report cards, while teacher b stated that her written feedback was sincere although there was some similar written feedback found in the students’ report cards. the similarity of the written feedback was to make it easy for the teacher in giving written feedback to some similar students’ achievements. teacher c stated that her written feedback was sincere. she gave similar written feedback to some students because she classified the students’ achievements based on similar achievements and progress in the class. classifying the students’ achievements made it easier for her to give written feedback. teacher d said that her written feedback was sincere to all students. she gave the written feedback based on what happened in the class and based on her daily observation. teacher e said that her written feedback was sincere by giving each student different written feedback although sometimes she gave similar praise to some students. in conclusion, most teachers’ praise was specific in pointing out the students’ achievements. another criteria of good “praise” is “variety” which was only fulfilled by three teachers. the other two teachers’ praise did not vary and mostly repeated the same expression for most students. “sincerity” of the “praise” was asked to each teacher since it was personal. all teachers varied the praise by combining two or more skills in one comment. two teachers did not give a lot of “variety” to their praise. the students from these two teachers tended to receive the same expression from one to another student, while three teachers met the criteria of “variety” in “praise”. in conclusion, only three teachers met the criteria of good “praise” while two other teachers failed to meet those criteria. suggestion concerning “suggestion”, it should consider such characteristics as advise for remediation (key word: need to, could, should, would, and try) and specificity. regarding specificity, it can be seen in table 6. table 6. specificity distribution of teachers’ suggestion teachers’ code total of students suggestion specificity academic behavior miscellaneous ta 23 14 (60.8%) 3 (13%) 9 (39.1%) 3 (13%) tb 21 21 (100%) 4 (19%) 19 (90.4%) 2 (9.5%) tc 23 16 (69.5%) 1 (4.3%) 15 (65.2%) 1 (4.3%) td 24 17 (70.83%) 3 (12.5%) 15 (62.5%) 3 (8.3%) te 21 18 (87.5%) 6 (28.5%) 12 (57.1%) 0 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 542 from table 6, most of the suggestions were more on “behavior” aspect rather than “academic” aspect. all teachers’ suggestions met the criteria of good suggestions in terms of specificity. the second criteria of good suggestion is advise for remediation (key word: need to, could, should, would, and try). all teachers had used the advise for remediation by using the keyword mentioned, as follows. teacher a “…need to speak more loudly and confidently …” “…need to listen more carefully to the teacher's explanation…” “…needs to develop a louder and more expressive voice…” “…needs to read a lot in order to improve her vocabularies…” “…needs to have more courage when presenting in front of the class…” “…needs to show greater determination and speed when doing his tasks…” teacher b “…need to recheck her work carefully …” “…need to take more care her written work to present her best effort.…” “…need to share ideas confidently…” “...need to check the spelling...” “...need to apply capital letter and punctuation knowledge ...” “...should check her work more carefully...” “...should listen attentively...” “...should remember not to rush,” “...should use capital letters...” teacher c “…need to double check her answer before submit…” “…need to always keep her focus and apply herself fully to achieve her true potential…” “…need to be more confident when she produces any kind of work…” “…need to manage her time wisely, so she can finish her task on time…”. teacher d “…need to be more involved in class discussion …” “…need to work on is to be more involved in a class discussion.…” “…needs to practice more in his writing skill.…” “…needs to lessen his talking habit in class…” “…needs to put more effort in speaking…” “…needs to encouraged to listen and pay attention in class…” “need to lessen some careless mistakes on his works…” “need to encouraged to listen and pay attention in class…” “…should believe on herself and her ability…” “…should start to pay more attention to teacher’s explanation…” “…should be more open about something that he doesn’t understand…”. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 543 teacher e “…need to learn to lead her group members and make sure that all members work …” “…need to learn how to deal with friends when an issue comes up …” “…needs to follow the english class rules …” “…needs to read instructions before completing her worksheets …” “…needs to give her presentations in front of the class confidently…” “…needs to do her work seriously, so that she can finish on time…” “…needs to be brave when sharing her ideas to her peers…” “…needs to do his tasks seriously, so he can submit them on time…” “…needs to listen to the teacher’s explanation and carefully read instructions…” “…needs to carefully read paragraphs…” “…needs to do his worksheets and projects seriously…” from the example above, all teachers had used the proper keyword for showing the advise for remediation to their students. in the suggestions, it was found that teacher b and teacher c were not spesific enough in pointing out what aspect the students need to improve. it can be concluded that teacher b’s and teacher c’s suggestions did not meet the criteria of ideal suggestion while the other teachers’ met the criteria of ideal suggestion. criticism concerning “criticism”, it should consider such characteristics as dissatisfaction or negative comment and specificity as presented in table 2. regarding of “specificity”, it can be presented in table 7. table 7. specificity distribution of teachers’ criticism teachers’ code total of students criticism specificity academic behavior miscellaneous ta 23 7 (30.4%) 1 (4.3%) 7 (30.4%) 0 tb 21 0 0 0 0 tc 23 2 (8.6%) 1 (4.3%) 1 (4.3%) 0 td 24 5 (20.83%) 3 (12.5%) 4 (16.67%) 0 te 21 3 (14.2%) 2 (9.5%) 1 (4.3%) 0 from the distribution in table 7, it can be seen that most teachers seemed to avoid using “criticism” as one aspect of the written feedback for the students. even one teacher did not include criticism in her written feedback. the total number of criticism was not more than 7 students and most of the criticism was concerned with the behavior achievement. another criteria of ideal criticism is dissatisfaction or negative comment. for example: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 544 teacher a academic “…read slowly…” behavior “…sometimes daydream instead of staying on task…” “…do something unnecessary thing or play by himself…” “…takes a long time to finish his work…” “…daydream and lose concentration on what he is supposed to be doing…” “…has trouble focusing on the teacher’s instruction…” teacher c “…always feels nervous when he has to present in front of class...” (behavior) “…often he forgets capital letters and punctuation...” (academic: writing skill). teacher d academic “…her lack of confidence often get in her way in improving her speaking skill…” “…he rarely joins the english conversation in class …”. behavior “…sometimes she hesitates to share her opinion…” “…can be easily distracted by everything that is happening around him. this cause him losing his focus on doing his works well.…” “…he can do better as long as he stays focused on his worksheets…” “…he has so much to keep up in this semester…” teacher e “…sometimes she is hesitant with her own ability. …” “…struggles to understand english lesson this academic year…”, this can be concluded that all teachers’ criticism met the criteria of ideal criticism. it contained negative comment but not intimidating the students since the criticism was attached to suggestion. according to the teachers, they gave more “praise” to “excellent” students because they had mastered the skills learned in the classroom. those “excellent” students did not deserve any “criticism” as they had mastered the material given very well. another reason why the teachers gave more “praise” to the “excellent and better” students was that the space available in the report card was limited for the teachers to write their comments. the space was enough to write only 3 sentences at the most. this is why most teachers focused on giving “praise” to the “excellent and better” students. likewise, the students with “need improvement” received less “praise” but more “criticism” since the teachers only focused children’s weakness that their parents needed to understand what to improve. the teachers also stated that they changed the “praise” into motivational or encouraging words/phrases for the “need improvement” students, since the “need improvement” students did not have good llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 545 achievements to be praised. for the “need improvement” students, it was easier for the teachers to point out the students’ weaknesses rather than their strengths. as mentioned before, an ideal feedback covers “praise”, “suggestion”, and “criticism” equally in each of the feedback for each student as suggested by herbert (cited in hyland & hyland, 2001) that praise and criticism could not be separated since these two aspects form a politeness and avoid intimidation. the finding of this study indicated that none of the written feedback fulfilled the criteria of ideal feedback. a similar result was found in the previous studies, for example the study conducted by glover and brown (2006). another good criteria of ideal feedback is that the teachers’ “praise”, “suggestion”, and “criticism” should consider “specificity” which points out precise achievements the students achieve both in academic and behavior aspects. in regard with “praise”, four teachers mostly gave “praise” relating to the “behavior” aspect, except only one teacher was concerned with the “academic” aspect. based on this result, it showed that the teachers’ feedback was still lacking in relating to the feedback in terms of the academic aspect. it implies that the teachers were not aware of this aspect and that, as a result, their feedback was mostly related to “behavior” aspect. specifying feedback relating to “academic” aspect could make the feedback effective, as suggested by heritage (2010) that feedback should assist the students’ information about their performance during the lesson and describe what the students can achieve and cannot achieve. furthermore, hyland and hyland (2001) suggest that praise should not only give simple agreement but also deep or specific responses. by specifying the feedback, it is easier for parents in getting the information of their children’s strength and weakness in english lesson. written feedback also helps teachers to deliver specific message which cannot be represented by students’ numerical scores to parents as safer (1996) states that comments in the report card can help the parents understand their children’s strengths and weaknesses in certain areas of learning. concerning “praise”, good praise should also have specificity, sincerity and variety. the result this study showed that all teachers were specific in praising the students. they pointed out academic or behavior achiements of the students in their written feedback. the result also showed that the teachers were sincere in giving their comments. even though some teachers gave similar expressions in their comments, they still gave comments sincerely. according to the result of the interview with the teachers, the reason why some students received similar comments from the teachers was that they had the same achievements. by so doing it was easier for the teachers to give comments because the teachers classified and categorized the students based on their achievements. some teachers also stated that they had quite alot of students to be commented. using the comments format made it easier for them to give their students comments. related to “variety”, the result showed that two teachers failed to fullfil this aspect. their written feedback did not vary from one student to another even though they combined the two academic/behavior aspects in one written feedback. these two teachers’ written feedback was monotonous since they classified the same students’ achievements. regarding “suggestion”, based on the result, all teachers’ “suggestions” met the the principles of ideal feedback as stated by hyland and hyland (2001) that llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 546 the written feedback could offer suggestions if they include the modals need to, could, and should, hypothetical would and the verb try. suggestions have positive advice for remediation. all teachers in this study used most of the keywords stated above, some suggestions were directly stated without any keywords. they also gave positive advise for remediation in their “suggestions” and gave alternatives for the parents/students to improve the unachieved goals. concerning “criticism”, the result showed that teachers seemed to give very minimum criticism in their feedback. none of those teachers gave more than 7 criticism in their feedback, one out of four teachers even did not give any “criticism” in her feedback. praise and criticism, according to herbert (1990) as cited in hyland & hyland (2001), could not be separated since these two aspects form a politeness structure in a conversational routine, meaning that “criticism” without “praise” are considered as intimidating. the extent to which the teachers’ written feedback is aligned with the students’ scores in the report cards teacher a referring to table 3 about the scoring rate presented in chapter iii, there are 5 scales of scores used by the school, i.e., (i) excellent, (ii) very good, (iii) good, (iv) pass, and (v) needs improvement. based on these scales of scores, it was found that the majority of the students in class a got excellent scores (65.22%) and only 1 student (4.35%) needs improvement (did not pass) (see table 8). so this class was an excellent one. table 8. percentage of class a’s scores in each scale scale of score range of score number of students % excellent 92-100 15 65.22 very good 86-91 5 21.74 good 77-85 2 8.70 pass 76 needs improvement < 76 1 4.35 total of the students 23 100 in regard with the alignment of teacher a’s feedback with the students’ scores, it is presented in the form of percentage (see table 9). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 547 table 9. percentage of class a’s scale of scores in each type of teacher’s feedback scales of scores praise suggestions number of students academi c behavior miscellanio us number of comments number of students academic behavior miscellanio us number of comments excellent 15 11 (30.55 %) 15 (41.66%) 10 (27.77%) 36 (80%) 6 (40%) 1 (14.28%) 4 (57.14%) 2 (28.57%) 7 (15.55%) very good 5 2 (28.57 %) 2 (28.57%) 3 (42.85%) 7 (50%) 5 (100%) 1 (20%) 4 (80%) 0 5 (35.71%) good 2 0 2 (66.6%) 1 (33.33%) 3 (50%) 2 (100%) 1 (50%) 0 1 (50%) 2 (33.33%) pass needs improveme nt 1 0 0 1 (100%) 1 (33.33%) 1 (100%) 0 1 (100%) 0 1 (33.33%) based on table 8 and table 9, all students who scored “excellent” (15), “very good” (5), and “good” (2) in their report cards got “praise” in their feedback from teacher a. it means that for those students teacher a’s feedback was very well aligned with their scores in their report cards. because the students’ scores were very good, they got “praise”. those students also got “suggestions” and “criticism” but very few. for the student who scored “needs improvement” in his/her report card also got “praise”, “suggestion”, and “criticism” in his/her feedback from teacher a. in this case, “praise” for poor students was meant to encourage him/her, while “suggestion” and “criticism” were more essential to be given for his/her special attention. overall, it can be said that teacher a’s feedback was very well aligned with their students’ scores in their report cards. based on these scales of scores, it was found that the students in class b who got excellent scores (42.85%) and very good (47.61%) were almost equal, no one in this class got needs improvement (did not pass) (see table 10). so this class was a very good class. scales of scores criticism total of students total of comments number of students academi c behavior miscellanio us number of comments excellent 3 (20%) 1 (50%) 2 (66.7%) 0 3 (6.52%) 15 46 (100%) very good 2 (40%) 0 2 (100%) 0 2 (14.28%) 5 14 (100%) good 1 (50%) 0 1 (100%) 0 1 (16.66) 2 6 (100%) pass needs improvement 1 (100%) 0 1 (100%) 0 1 (33.33%) 1 3 (100) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 548 scales of scores criticism total of students total of comments number of students academic behavior miscell anious number of comments excellent 0 0 0 0 0 9 19 (100%) very good 0 0 0 0 0 10 22 (100%) good 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 (100%) pass needs improvement table 10. percentage of class b’s scores in each scale scale of score range of score number of students % excellent 92-100 9 42.85 very good 86-91 10 47.61 good 77-85 2 9.52 pass 76 needs improvement < 76 total of the students 21 100 in regard with the alignment of teacher b’s feedback with the students’ scores, it is presented in the form of percentage (see table 11). table 11. percentage of class b’s scale of scores in each type of teacher’s feedback scales of scores praise suggestions number of students academic behavior miscellani ous number of comments number of students academic behavior miscellanio us number of comments excellent 9 0 9 (100%) 0 9 (47.36% ) 9 (100%) 1 (10%) 9 (90%) 0 10 (52,63%) very good 10 1 (9.09%) 10 (90.9%) 0 11 (50%) 10 1 (9.09%) 9 (81.81%) 1 (9.09%) 11 (50%) good 2 0 2 (100%) 0 2 (33.33% ) 2 (100%) 2 (50%) 1 (25%) 1 (25%) 4 (66.67%) pass needs improve ment llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 549 scales of scores praise suggestions number of students academic behavior miscellanious number of comments number of students academic behavior miscellanious number of comments excellent 2 1 (20%) 2 (100%) 2 (100%) 5 (100%) 0 0 0 0 0 very good 16 15 (50%) 13 (43.33%) 2 (6.67%%) 30 (68.18) 12 (75%) 0 12 (92.30%) 1 (7.69%) 13 (29.54%) good 2 0 2 (100%) 0 2 (33.33%) 2 (100%) 2 (50%) 1 (25%) 1 (25%) 4 (66.67%) pass 1 0 1 (100%) 0 1 (50%) 1 (100%) 0 1 (100%) 0 1 (50%) needs improvement based on table 10 and table 11, all students who scored “excellent” (9), “very good” (10), and “good” (2) in their report cards got “praise” in their feedback from teacher b. it means that for those students teacher b’s feedback was very well aligned with their scores in their report cards. because the students’ scores were very good, they got “praise”. those all students also got “suggestions” but not “criticism”. teacher b did not have students with “pass” or “need improvement” scores in their report cards. teacher c based on the scales of scores, it was found that the majority of the students in class c got very good (69.56%) and only 2 students got excellent scores (8.69%) (see table 12). no one from this class got need improvement (did not pass). so this class was a very good class. table 12. percentage of class c’s scores in each scale scale of score range of score number of students % excellent 92-100 2 8.69 very good 86-91 16 69.56 good 77-85 4 17.39 pass 76 1 4.34 needs improvement < 76 total of the students 23 100 in regard with the alignment of teacher c’s feedback with the students’ scores, the finding is presented in table 13. table 13. percentage of class c’s scale of scores in each type of teacher’s feedback llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 550 based on table 12 and table 13, all students who scored “excellent” (2), “very good” (16), and “good” (2) in their report cards got “praise” in their feedback from teacher c. it means that for those students teacher c’s feedback was very well aligned with their scores in their report cards. because the students’ scores were very good, they got “praise”. those students who got “excellent” score did not get any “suggestions” or “criticisms” from teacher c. while “very good” students got all “praise”, “suggestions”, and “criticisms” although it was not equally addressed. on the other hand, “good” students did not get “criticisms” from teacher c. teacher c did not have any students with “need improvement” score. it can be concluded that teacher c’s feedback was also very well aligned with the students’ score in their report card although not all students got all three aspects “praise”, “suggestions”, and “criticism”. teacher d based on these scales of scores, it was found that the majority of the students in class c got very good (41.67%) and only 3 students got excellent scores (12.5%) (see table 14). only one student from this class got need improvement (not pass). so this class wa a very good class. table 14. percentage of class d’s scores in each scale scale of score range of score number of students % excellent 92-100 3 12.5 very good 86-91 10 41.67 good 77-85 9 37.50 pass 76 1 4.17 needs improvement < 76 1 4.17 total of the students 24 100 in regard with the alignment of teacher d’s feedback with the students’ scores, it is presented in the form of percentage (see table 15). scales of scores criticism total of students total of comments number of students academic behavior miscellanious number of comments excellent 0 0 0 0 0 2 5 (100%) very good 1 (6.25%) 0 1 (100%) 0 1 (2.27%) 16 44 (100%) good 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 (100%) pass 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 (100%) needs improvement llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 551 scales of scores praise suggestions number of students academi c behavior miscellani ous number of comments number of students academic behavior miscellani ous number of comments excellent 3 2 (40%) 3 (60%) 0 5 (83.33%) 1 (33.33%) 1 (100%) 0 0 1 (16.67%) very good 10 7 (58.33%) 5 (41.67%) 0 12 (48%) 7 (70%) 1 (12.5%) 5 (62.5%) 2 (25%) 8 (32%) good 9 1 (11.11%) 7 (77.78%) 1 (11.11%) 9 (47.36%) 8 (88.89%) 2 (20%) 8 (80%) 0 10 (52.63%) pass 1 1 (50%) 1 (50%) 0 2 (100%) 0 0 0 0 0 needs improvement 1 0 1 (100%) 0 1 (25%) 1 (100%) 0 1 (100%) 0 1 (25%) table 15. percentage of class d’s scale of scores in each type of teacher’s feedback based on table 14 and table 15, all students who scored “excellent” (3), “very good” (10), and “good” (9) in their report cards got “praise” in their feedback from teacher d. it means that for those students teacher d’s feedback was very well aligned with their scores in their report cards. because the students’ scores were very good, they got “praise”. those students with “excellent” and “good” scores did not get any criticism from teacher d. on the other hand, those students with “very good” scores got all three “praise”, “suggestions”, and “criticism”. for student who scored “needs improvement” in his/her report card also got “praise”, “suggestion”, and “criticism” in his/her feedback from teacher d. in this case, “praise” for poor students was meant to encourage him/her, while “suggestion” and “criticism” were more essential to be given for his/her special attention. overall, it can be said that teacher d’s feedback was very well aligned with their students’ scores in their report cards. teacher e based on these scales of scores, it was found that the students in class e got very good (28.57%) and good (28.57%) equally, only 3 students got excellent scales of scores criticisms total of students total of comments number of students academi c behavior miscellani ous number of comments excellent 0 0 0 0 0 3 6 (100%) very good 5 (50%) 2 (40%) 3 (60%) 0 5 (20%) 10 25 (100%) good 0 0 0 0 0 9 19 (100%) pass 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 (100%) needs improvement 1 (100%) 1 (50%) 1 (50%) 0 2 (50%) 1 4 (100%) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 552 scales of scores praise suggestion number of students academi c behavior miscellanious number of comments number of students academi c behavior miscellanious number of comments excellent 3 2 (66.67%) 1 (33.33%) 0 3 (50%) 3 (100%) 0 3 (100%) 0 3 (50%) very good 6 5 (83.33%) 1 (16.67%) 0 6 (50%) 6 (100%) 3 (50%) 3 (50%) 0 6 (50%) good 6 4 (66.67%) 2 (33.33%) 0 6 (42.85%) 5 (83.33%) 3 (42.85%) 4 (57.14%) 0 7 (50%) pass 4 4 (100%) 0 0 4 (50%) 3 (75%) 2 (66.67%) 1 (33.33%) 0 3 (37.5%) needs improvem ent 2 2 (66.67%) 1 (33.33%) 0 3 (60%) 1 (50%) 0 1 (100%) 0 1 (20%) scores (14.28%) (see table 16). in addition, two students (9.52%) from this class got need improvement (not pass). table 16. percentage of class e’s scores in each scale scale of score range of score number of students % excellent 92-100 3 14.28 very good 86-91 6 28.57 good 77-85 6 28.57 pass 76 4 19.05 needs improvement < 76 2 9.52 total of the students 21 100 in regard with the alignment of teacher e’s feedback with the students’ scores, it is presented in the form of percentage (see table 17). table 17. percentage of class e’s scale of scores in each type of teacher’s feedback scales of scores criticism total of students total of comments number of students academic behavio r miscellanious number of comments excellent 0 0 0 0 0 3 6 (100%) very good 0 0 0 0 0 6 12 (100%) good 1 (16.67%) 0 1 (100%) 0 1 (7.14%) 6 14 (100%) pass 1 (25%) 1 (100%) 0 0 1 (12.5%) 4 8 (100%) needs improvement 1 (50%) 1 (100%) 0 0 1 (20%) 1 5 (100%) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 553 based on table 16 and table 17, all students who scored “excellent” (3), “very good” (6), and “good” (6) in their report cards got “praise” in their feedback from teacher e. it means that for those students teacher e’s feedback was very well aligned with their scores in their report cards. because the students’ scores were very good, they got “praise”. those students who got “excellent” and “very good” scores got “suggestion” too but not “criticism” from teacher e, but for “good” scores students, they got “praise”, “suggestions” and “criticism”. for student who scored “needs improvement” in his/her report card also got “praise”, “suggestion”, and “criticism” in his/her feedback from teacher e. in this case, “praise” for poor students was meant to encourage him/her, while “suggestion” and “criticism” were more essential to be given for his/her special attention. overall, it can be said that teacher e’s feedback was very well aligned with their students’ scores in their report cards. in conclusion, all teachers’ feedback in the students’ report cards was very well aligned with the numerical scores given. the teachers were aware with the feedback they wrote for describing their students’ actual performance that the students who performed very well deserved praise from their teachers and, on the contrary, the students who did not perform well had to be given relevant feedback. especially regarding the weak aspects the students were having had to be addressed accordingly in order that the students concerned were aware of their weaknesses and that they were expected to pay a special attention for improving their particular aspect of performance. students’ numerical scores in their report cards represented their actual performance as well. therefore, students’ written feedback had to be aligned with their numerical scores. the alignment between these two aspects had been shown by all the teachers, as the subjects of this study. even though some of the students did not get three complete aspects of feedback, “praise”, “criticism”, and “suggestion” equally, the alignment between the students’ numerical score and written feedback was maintained. all the “excellent” and “very good” students got “praise” from each teacher as a reward for their best performance and achievements during the semester and some “suggestions” to improve more for the next academic year. few of the “excellent” and “very good” students got “criticism” from the teachers as they did not deserve any criticism. likewise, the alignment between students’ numerical scores and their written feedback from their teachers among the “need improvement” students were also very well shown by the teachers. all of them got “criticism” and “suggestion” as they deserved them. they also got “praise” that made the feedback an ideal one because the feedback contained all three aspects (“praise”, “criticism”, and “suggestion”) equally. the “praise” for the “need improvement” students aimed at giving motivation and encouraging them to do better in the next semester/academic year. the “criticism” and “suggestion” are essential for the “need improvement” students since “criticism” points out their weakness, and “suggestion” gives them advice to improve the unachieved specific skills. the second objective of this study was to find out the extent to which the teachers’ written feedback was aligned with the students’ score in the report card. based on the findings of the present study, all the excellent and better students who had ‘excellent’ and ‘better’ scores in their report card got “praise”. it showed that the students’ numerical scores and the written feedback/comments llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 554 from the teachers were well aligned. the excellent and better students’ scores deserved “praise” on the written feedback/comments from their teachers. however, it is suggested that the excellent and the better score achievers also be given “suggestion” and “criticism” although as minor ones. the findings indicated that among five classes, there was only one student, the ‘excellent’ score achiever, who was given “criticism” as if the excellent students were all perfect. ideally they were not only given praise because praise and criticism could not be separated since these two aspects form politeness and avoid intimidation. concerning the “need improvement” students, they received more “suggestion” and “criticism” than “praise”. in this respect, a similar result with the “excellent and better” students was also found in the “need improvement” students, i.e., the teachers’ written feedback was well aligned with the “need improvement” students. in this regard, the “need improvement” students received more “suggestion” and “criticism” than “praise” as the essential points the students had to be concerned with. however, “praise” should be given to the “need improvement” students as well which is aimed to make them feel happy and encouraged to learn. there must be a particular positive aspect in the “need improvement” students that can be recognized and appreciated by teachers to maintain their motivation in learning. conclusion written feedback in student report cards is to inform the students and their parents about their strength and weakness in the subject. for teachers writing feedback in their students’ report cards is not an easy task to do. in order to make an ideal feedback, teachers need to consider the principles of ideal feedback in making their written feedback. it is also essential to make feedback aligned with the numerical scores. the teachers in this study failed in implementing some of the principles of ideal feedback. all the teachers’ feedback did not meet the principles of ideal feedback which covers praise, criticism, and suggestion equally. however, the second finding of the study showed that the teachers’ feedback was well aligned with the students’ numerical scores. all the “excellent” students got “praise”, while the “need improvement” students got more “criticism” and “suggestion” than “praise”. this study is expected to be inspiring for english teachers in indonesia to see how well they write feedback for their students, especially feedback written in their report cards. since report cards help parents to determine the weaknesses and strengths of their children in specific areas of learning and will be kept by parents until their 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(1977). classroom management: the successful use of behavior modification (2nd ed). oxford: pergamon press selig, w. g. (1973). the effects of contingent praise and token reinforcement on the classroom behavior of emotionally disturbed primary students. doctoral dissertations. university of massachusetts amherst. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 24, no. 2, october 2021 556 shafer, s. (1997). writing effective report card comments. new york: scholastic tamah, s. m., & wirjawan, j. v. d.(2019) assessment-oriented formative test. the international journal of innovation and learning, 26(1), 66-81. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-22 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 1 investigating esp present-day thorny shortcomings at ibn khaldoun university of tiaret in algeria ammar benabed ibn khaldoun university, tiaret, algeria correspondence: ammar.benabed@univ-tiaret.dz https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.3969 received 16 december 2021; accepted 28 april 2022 abstract the study investigates present-day situation of esp teaching/ learning in four selected faculties at ibn-khaldun university namely science and technology, electrical engineering, commercial sciences and informatics and mathematics. in these professional loci of pedagogical activity, most of the teachers who are in charge of esp are egp or elt teachers. the ultimate objective of this investigation is to assess and/or measure the (in)effectiveness of the current system of teaching/learning english for specific purposes in the aforesaid faculties. to attain that, the four faculty deans and 8 teachers were interviewed, and 120 students were addressed a questionnaire. this would allow us to update and analyze a diversified set of data in terms of nurturing and structuring a rigorous educational engineering approach that results in a reasoned implementation. the results obtained revealed all stakeholders are fully aware of the importance of english language teaching, especially in the light of the current worldwide bets. the data also unveiled a set of thorny gaps characterizing the implementation of the subject such as less motivating syllabus content, teachers’ lack of theoretical insightful knowledge as regard esp founding tenets supporting its teaching, the total absence of periodic training, lack of appropriate means and students’ indifference. keywords: constraints, esp teaching methodology, learner-centered approach, needs analysis, register analysis introduction during the last decade and on, english language teaching/learning has continuously evolved under the influence of the current worldwide policies which aim at promoting new skills to enable university graduates to work and communicate competently and internationally. regarding these globalized imperatives, it is crystal clear that english teaching/learning with its cultural dimension is at the heart of tertiary educational queries and transformations. in this context of paradigm shift, this linguistic and cultural mastery has become an essential asset to ease student mobility and access to the global labour market. abiding by such a new paradigm, the algerian university, like other universities, is currently hit by the winds of necessary going through a series of necessary mailto:ammar.benabed@univ-tiaret.dz https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.3969 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-22 2 systemic metamorphoses, in order to the requirements of national and international citizenship and workplace. to cope with these pressing demands, english language teaching/learning has been introduced in their canvasses, and its teaching effectiveness has been revisited, endowing students not only with morpho-syntactic and lexical or declarative knows mastery but with field-skills and competencies to make them international proficient communicators as well. indeed, the mastery of several foreign languages, mostly english, is becoming an essential transversal competence for smooth professional integration. being conscious of its importance, especially the shift from general to specialized paradigms in english language teaching (terauchi, noguchi, &tajino, 2019), algerian tertiary education stakeholders have integrated english language in all specialties, viz., medicine, biology, science and technology, informatics, electrical engineering, commercial sciences, judicial and political sciences, etc. and at different levels, i.e., ba, master and doctorate. thereby, not only has the english language module become mandatory, for attendance is included in tutorial grading, but it can be determinant in the student’s success or failure too, due to the accredited coefficient and credit emphasizing its enforceability. it is worth highlighting that algerian universities and institutes have witnessed an enormous and unprecedented increase of the number of enrolled students in different faculties, especially scientific, technical and economic ones whose relentless progress soon generated a persisting demand for esp learning. becoming an umbrella term, esp covers a wide range of interests and approaches to student-centred learning. yet, this growth of students’ cohorts and educational infrastructures has not been simultaneously accompanied by an adequate development of the teaching specific-field contents, catering for each specialist’s needs. differently couched, the salient tenet of esp is “tell me what you need english for and i will tell you which english you need.”(hutchinson, 1991, p. 8). being the starting point, this principle denotes that esp is an approach to language teaching that is oriented/dedicated to meet the student’s needs, i.e., mainly directed on the basis of specific corpora for each field. literature review english language worldwide hegemony within the prevalence of english language use in all fields of nowadays information-driven society, new conceptions as regards curricula, methodology and implementation have been imposed. in fact, english has become an utmost medium of instruction (emi) because it operates in multifarious ranges of institutional and professional fields of academic, economic and political kinds. in short, it is used for development and international communication in all countries all over the world. thus, it is worthy to note that the rush behind learning this language for different purposes has exponentially mushroomed/proliferated among all categories of people, viz., scientists, students, businessmen, lawyers, etc. each of which has a specific purpose to attain. these demands and requirements have resulted in the proliferation of a new aspect of english language teaching/learning; viz., english for specific purposes (esp), i. e., lingua franca of the modern world. in response to this persisting and peremptory request, governments throughout the world have llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-22 3 undertaken aspirational instructive changes integrating english more profoundly into their educational curricula in order to endow/equip their learners with the language mastery of the most worldwide used and sought-after language, viz., english. in accordance with the new english language approach, it is required that any esp course should systematically obey a set of preconceived and identified objectives relying on needs analyses which in turn enable esp teachers to scrupulously discern the learners’ objectives behind learning english language. different from english for eap, esp curricula are to be meticulously elaborated and tailored to cater for precise requirements. in other words, once involved in an esp environment where students need to learn english for specific purposes, teachers are required to define by means of needs analysis the type of english course to be taught, the content to be selected, the forms to be presented, the teaching methodology to be implemented, and finally, the set of communicative functions and skills to be mastered by the students and assessed. esp: genesis and definitions it is in the sixties that esp has grown to become one of the functional subsets of applied linguistics, in general, and of teaching english as a foreign language (tefl), in particular (hutchinson and waters, 1987). it focuses on relating the teaching/learning process to learners’ needs (widdowson, 1981).with reference to esp literature, the latter tends to foreground learners’ needs and background the learning and knowledge needs of the teachers. in fact, an increased interest has been fostered as a result of the new status gained by english as a global language. this has led to a rapid expansion of concern as regards its learning among different people all around the world, including algeria. such type of english language teaching/learning came into being and gradually developed into multifarious language approaches relying principally on the learners’ needs to respond to the specific academic, professional or occupational objectives. esp has taken a quite lengthy time to mature/to be fit for use so as to expect a clear idea about its meaning and implementation among its community. initially, it has been defined to be simply devised for english teaching for any purpose than could be specified.(anthony 1998, p. 9-10). afterwards, a much more precise definition was assigned to it as being used in academic studies or its teaching for vocational and professional purposes. (ibid. p. 9-10). in this vein, munby’s definition of esp (1978) in connection with its courses relying on the analysis of the students' language needs has been stated as follows: those where the syllabus and materials are determined in all essentials by the prior analysis of the communication needs of the learner, rather than by non-learner centered criteria such as the teacher' s or institution' s predetermined preference for general english or for treating english as part of general education. (p. 2) referring to the above definition, it is worth-noting that students’ comprehensive needs analysis should take the supremacy over other concerns which are prioritized in other types of english language teaching such as syllabi, institutional objectives and competences to be attained. in other words, the role of needs analysis in esp course remains undeniably pivotal. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-22 4 in fact, the advent of this type of english has oriented teaching/learning objectives towards purely utilitarian purposes. in this regard, mackay and mountford (1978) have stated that “esp is generally used to the teaching of english for clearly utilitarian purpose.” (p. 2). such utilitarian purpose requires a learner-cantered approach via which the teaching/learning process is systematically directed by specific needs of specific learners. for the sake of a successful learning occurrence, esp teachers are required to proceed first by needs analysis to identify the learners’ vital requirements and needs, and determine the skills they need to develop and bring about successfully. in fact, hutchinson and waters (1987) have considered learning needs as what the learner needs to do in order to learn; meanwhile benesch (2001) has perceived that these needs are associated strictly with target situation demands. differently couched, esp teachers are compelled to unveil what students want in terms of effective and latent/expected needs that they are supposed to experience during the teaching/learning process. in this regard, hutchinson and waters (1987) have noted that "esp is an approach to language instruction in which all decisions regarding content and method are based on the learner's reason for learning." (p. 19) in the same vein, richards & rodger (2001) saw: esp as a movement that seeks to serve the language needs of learners who need english in order to carry out specific roles (e.g. student, engineer, nurse) and who need to acquire content and realworld skills through the medium of it rather than master the language for its own sake. (p. 107) referring to the above quotations, esp teachers are supposed to consider as objectively and accurately as possible why learners need english.(kennedy and bolitho, 1984).this objectivity is manifested by analysing those needs that have been identified as imperatives (necessities), deficiencies (lacks) and desires (wants) that can lead to a strategy with pre-set goals. for much precision as regards the concept ‘needs’, hutchinson & waters (1987)have made clearer distinction that needs consist of two things namely target needs and learning needs. target needs deal with what learners need to do in the target situation. target needs include three useful terms that is necessities, lacks, and wants. necessities are the type of need which is determined by the demands of the target situation. it means that what learners have to know is how to function effectively in the target situation. lacks are gaps between the target proficiency and the existing proficiency of learners. lacks can be organized only after teachers or course designers already know the needs of learners. want concern with the awareness of needs that specify the esp situation. awareness is a kind of perception which may vary according to one’s viewpoint. when learners have a clear idea of the necessities of the target situation, and they already have a particular view of their lacks, it does not automatically suit with the perceptions of other interested groups like teachers, course designers or sponsors. therefore, ideal ants must reflect all the groups interested in implementing esp. learning needs refer to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-22 5 what knowledge and abilities learners will need in target situation. if the starting point in esp is called “lacks” and the destination is necessities and wants, the way to go from the starting point to destination is called learning needs. (p. 7) by reference to the above concepts framing, learners and their needs remain at the core of any syllabus design. any decisions as regards syllabus contents; linguistic competencies, functions, notions, themes, situation and interlocutors are bound to rely on the learners’ needs. therefore, for a successful esp learning/teaching, the esp syllabus content should be cautiously justified in terms of relevance/pertinence and learners’ motivational prospects. although esp definitions appear to be manifold, they intersect in some common elements, viz., needs and expected purposes either academic or professional. distinctly, as regards esp, actual language operative usage for specific professional purposes takes precedence over other aspects of language learning, shaping esp evolution into a comprehensive and universal entity. that being so, with such growing demand for esp courses and diversity of usage to comply with those field-specific needs, multifarious approaches to teaching/learning esp have emerged. esp teaching approaches/needs analysis evolution/modification esp researchers (hutchinson & waters, 1987; mumby, 1978) have highlighted various models of needs analysis each of which identifies esp needs and teaching approaches from a different standpoint. among these models of needs, we list the following, namely register analysis, rhetorical/discourse analysis, target situation analysis, skills-centred approach and learning-centred approach. register analysis approach to esp (approximately 1965-1974) at the early beginning, the register analysis (henceforth ra) was adopted by esp researchers. the latter pointed out that language varies according to different people who use it, and according to various purposes which it is intended for. these, allegedly, fall into two types: the first one has to do with different users, i.e., dialects, and the second one has to do with different uses; i.e., registers. thus, different registers can be categorized according to their language systems. the ra focuses mainly on the lexical and grammatical features of professional registers. hutchinson and waters (1987) have claimed that: operating on the basic principle that the english of, say, electrical engineering constituted a specific register different from that of, say, biology or of general english, the aim of analysis was to identify the grammatical and lexical features of these registers. (p. 9) in fact, and according to the quote, the register analysis approach to esp attributed priority to language forms on which the syllabus is founded, that is to say restricted to lexical items and grammatical structures that are clearly identifiable. for halliday, mcintosh andstrevens (1964), have registered hints to “a variety of language distinguished according to use.” (p. 89). the term distanced itself from the hypothesis that the english language of a particular subject differs from others as regards lexico-grammar. it is acknowledged that any esp course llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-22 6 design focuses first and foremost at elaborating a syllabus content that would accord primacy to only linguistic forms that students would use in their field. this is the structuralist and formalist scholars’ viewpoints that gave a particular attention to linguistic features, viz., phonology, syntax and semantics at the detriment of sentences and utterances. criticized for being sentence-based and form-focused, and merely descriptive and not illustrative, and on the pedagogical aspect, register analysis the comparative studies in esp, focusing on registers that were fairly congruent, revealed no variance among their users. these studies findings were significant because they disclosed the inadequacy of the register analysis approach by itself. it became clear that grammatical, phonological and lexical features were insufficient indicators of what students would really be capable of saying and writing. therefore, the register analysis approach was abandoned for the rhetorical or discourse analysis. rhetorical or discourse analysis approach to esp (approximately 1974-1980) as regards the discourse approach, the focus shifted from the sentence level to speech recognition with natural language understanding to produce languageunderstanding systems. that is to say, the emphasis is put on the way spoken sentences merge creating meaning and on discourse communicative values, surpassing the lexical and structural characteristics and level of the discourse. hutchinson and walters (1987) have seen “register analysis had focused on sentence, grammar, but now attention shifted to understanding how sentences were combined in discourse to produce meaning.” (p. 11). coherent sentences are the basic building chunks of discourse. schiffrin (1994) asserted that “consistent with the definition of discourse as language above the sentence, many contemporary structural analyses of discourse view the sentence as the unit of which discourse is comprised.” (p. 25). indeed, appropriately coherent sentences in a natural enunciation play a pivotal role in discourse formation. that is to say, meaning cannot be gleaned outside a context that sentences cohesiveness and coherence ensure its consistency (cook, 1989). to sum up, the gist of the discourse analysis relies on language forms, functions and linguistic features. in view of some shortcomings, such as communicative events and members sharing communicative purposes that swales (1990) has defined as genre, led to a new approach namely genre analysis (ga). this paradigm shift from discourse to genre analysis includes specific aspects such as cultural and situational which have not been taken into account hitherto. target-situation analysis approach to esp -approximately 1980-1987) target situation analysis (tsa) was first introduced by chambers (1980), who has defined it as “communication in the target situation”(p. 29). the main objective behind any esp course is to enable students to perform suitably in target communicative situations. relying on mumby’s (1978) communication needs processor (cnp), chambers (1980) has attempted to determine what students need to be able to do in english as a result of the course. then, the tsa can be defined as a planned process to discern and identify the perceived language needs and students’ expected objectives by the end of the courses. these predetermined llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-22 7 learning outcomes are attained by means of well-selected activities. in this vein, hutchinson and waters (1987) have defined tsa as “to take the existing knowledge and set it on a more scientific basis, by establishing procedures for relating language analysis more closely to learners' reasons for learning.'' (p. 12). within the frame of the tsa, the target situation identification is first prioritized over the linguistic features of the specific situation as regards syllabus designing. in the same line, hutchinson and waters have pointed out that “esp course design process should precede by first identifying the target situation and then rigorous analysis of the linguistic features of that situation.'' (p.12) the tsa approach has been qualified as ‘coming of age’ for esp, viz., all that had been done prior to tsa was regarded as being very much done in a fragmented way; non-comprehensive method. within the tsa approach, analyses were systematically and methodologically arranged; the target needs and level of performance are identified by determining the final outcome of the target situation. according to dudley-evan and st. john (1998), tsa “includes objective perceive and product-oriented needs.” (p. 124). above all this, the concept of needs analysis that tsa relied its approach on was criticized for its plain definition. thus, in order to make up for this deficiency, a three-dimensional set of needs is to be taken into consideration to glean enough information about the student and his learning environment. the combination of 1) learner’s learning needs analysis (lacks), 2) the strategy needs analysis (how they wish to learn) (allwright, 1982) and 3) means needs analysis (educational environment) (swales, 1989) could provide an insightful, adequate and complete definition of needs analysis as regards esp courses within the tsa framework. skills and strategies-centred approach as an extension of the research to develop the esp course for the sake of meeting the requirements and enabling students to communicate properly using the language, skills, functions and structures, etc., the skills-cantered approach came to palliate the previous approaches shortcomings, orienting focus to skills. a brief overview of the previous needs analysis attempts shows that both ra and da focus was principally put on the surface forms of language. besides, tsa approach has not actually changed much in regards to the student’s needs that are chiefly analyzed from surface linguistic characteristics viewpoints. hence, the sca proponents viewed necessary to direct the focus to thinking process that governs language use. in this vein, hutchinson and waters (1987) have argued that “the principal idea behind the skills–centred approach is that underlying all language use there are common reasoning and interpreting processes, which, regardless of the surface from, enable us to extract meaning from discourse.” (p. 13) the core idea that can be drawn from the quote of the esp pioneers above is that there are common logic and interpreting processes which enable us to extract the meaning from the discourse regardless of the surface forms. for the sake of skills and strategies development, the sc approach relies mainly on two receptive skills, viz., reading and listening. it involves designing well-thought activities requiring students’ processing the texts as they would do in real world, using authentic situation required skills and strategies, allowing understanding llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-22 8 (literal), decoding (inferential) and constructing meaning (critical thinking) from the text through a process. by the end of the course, students should have developed other skills such as building new specialized vocabulary, interacting within teams, reading specialized materials which tend to make students better processors of information. learning-centred approach (1987--) different from the sca, the lca tends to focus on language learning instead of language use. in other words, it gives priority to those educational bases, viz., methodology and learning processes rather than linguistic basis. according to hutchinson and waters (1987), all the approaches mentioned so far, were fundamentally defective in that they were all grounded on descriptions of language use, whether it is for ra and its form description or sca and its underlying processes. both concentrated on describing what students do with language. hutchinson and waters (1987) had a different concern: our concern in esp is not with language use —although this would help to define the course objectives. our concern is with language learning. we cannot simply assume that describing and exemplifying what people do with language will enable someone to learn it [...]. a truly valid approach to esp must be based on an understanding of the processes of language learning. (p. 14) the above quote redirected the focus from language use to language learning. language learning denotes the active process through which students communicate their thoughts, experiences to establish relationship with others, and endeavour to make sense and order of their world. the teachers’ role as regards the language learning is of a paramount responsibility. they are, indeed, supposed to help students develop and apply processes for comprehending, composing, and responding in a variety of situations within the classroom and beyond. doing so, students’ critical and creative thinking and learning nurture thanks to reflection, speculation, creation, analysis and synthesis. in fact, effective language learning enables students to develop their metacognition, i.e., reflecting upon and controlling over their own thinking and learning processes. in fact, the lca highlighted the students’ needs and interests’ significance and their effective consideration so as to enhance their inducement, thus succeeding swift and high quality learning processes. it is worthy to point out that the finality is not only the reached competence, but the pathway taken by the students to reach this competence. in recent years, a new vision has extended the esp scope of research, namely the content language integrated learning (clil). the latter consists of a program in which students learn a subject and a second language simultaneously. differently couched, it is a form of instruction which combines content teaching and language teaching. it is well-known as a ‘dually-focused approach’ that gives equal attention to language and content. (mehisto, marsh, &frigols, 2008). thus, the clil, whither the curricular content is taught through the medium of a foreign language, can be described as an educational approach serving primary, secondary and tertiary students. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-22 9 the rise of esp in algerian tertiary education over the last decades, esp has, in fact, gained much concern as an important subject matter discussed and debated nearly in all world countries, where it plays an important role in tertiary education. with regard to the algerian context, where priority has been allotted to the french language-booty of colonialismfor various purposes, viz., educational, professional and administrative, there is a new tendency towards english language learning on part of the teachers and the students-specialists of other disciplines. this is what was noticed during the last few years at ibn khaldoun university. they both have personal incentives and reasons behind english language learning. the former, i.e., teachers, attempt to take advantage from bulk data for research purposes to reach a larger audience around the world, besides the acquisition of oral communication proficiency, facilitating their participation in international conferences, colloquiums and thus contributing to the effulgence and the awards lists of the algerian institutions. similarly, the latter, i.e., students, strive to learn the english language, seeking to gain a certain english proficiency level needed for both oral communication and written production. however, teachers in charge of esp courses are in perplexity as regards the type of language to teach, i.e., whether they are supposed to teach english for commercial sciences, technology …etc., or vice-versa to teach commercial sciences, technology, etc., in english. in most cases, algerian esp teachers are not specialists in students’ professional fields, except for few of them who graduated from doctoral school of languages for specific purposes (edolas) [1]. thus, the struggle of most of them is more than too cumbersome, as long as they have to master the field-specific discourse and the subject matter. in addition, they are assigned a range of tasks such as syllabi designing, teaching materials selecting and outcomes evaluating, requiring additional methodological and organizational skills and competencies which, in fact, they stand in need of. in this regard, basturkmen (2010) viewed that teachers may find themselves dealing with content relating to an occupation or subject of study that they themselves have little or no prior knowledge of. indeed, they may realize that they have much less knowledge and experience in this subject than their students. so, how prepared are algerian esp teachers to teach an often challenging new task? for the sake of clarification, algerian esp teachers, appointed in different faculties, are called upon to respond to the students’ communicative and linguistic needs, enabling them to grasp the field-specific discourse. in so doing, the students’ satisfied needs enable them to empower their communicative skills and to solve practical communicative problems. more precisely, it is a beforehand preparation for the future workplace communicative activities such as writing and presenting reports, conducting interviews and negotiating work issues. in other words, the esp course should encompass the type of english that algerian esp students need to learn; the one that trains and prepares them for success first in academic and professional contexts later on. [1] creation of the doctoral school of esp for magister and doctoral trainings in esp llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-22 10 to do so, esp teachers are required to identify esp students’ needs and their analysis, a regular and perpetual tailored teaching material development, its suitable implementation and, of course, pertinent assessment procedure. one of the esp teachers’ liabilities is teaching material development either from scratch or adapting the already existing learning and authentic materials. being an ongoing process, esp teachers are supposed to conduct evaluative reviews so as to adjust materials overtime in accordance with implementation outcomes, current trends in the field, or research findings. in this vein, stoller and al. (2006) believed that such practice is desirable because "documents that undergo this evaluative review and revision process are likely to serve student and faculty audiences more effectively than documents that do not." (p. 175). it goes without saying that esp courses ongoing correction is a must to comply with each and every learning situation, for the latter is singular. in fact, language learning should not be regarded as such without its practical impact on its learners. in this vein, basturkmen (2006) pointed out that “language is learnt not for its own sake or for the sake of gaining a general education, but to smooth the path to entry or greater linguistic efficiency in academic, professional or workplace environments.” (p. 18). the linchpin around which the aim of esp courses revolves is to render those students – specialists of other disciplinesprofessionally specialised thanks to english. empirical part to conduct this survey and for the sake of generating enough insightful and valid data, we opted for a mixed-method approach, viz., quantitative and qualitative instruments. out of conviction, the use of these different instruments would enable us to conduct a more holistic and valuable survey. research method and instruments for the sake of triangulation and thereby glean diversified and more actionable insights in connection with the issue under investigation, viz., investigating esp present-day thorny shortcomings/gaps from students’, managers’ & teachers’ perspectives, we addressed three sample populations to collect well-informed feedback, helping to provide active recommendations. population the participants in the present study are esp master 1students (n= 120), teachers in charge of esp teaching unit (n=8), and faculty managers-deans (n=4) at ibn khaldoun university of tiaret. the sample size was selected on the basis of a convenience sampling system that enables students and teachers to take part in such study. the targeted members are all master 1 students who have been studying esp for three years; during ba graduation course. this assumes that they are likely to be more aware of their needs and the prospects behind esp learning. esp teachers and deans are also screened by the survey relying on the fact that they are well-positioned to provide useful data about students’ english language needs and the pretended skills to be attained. they could provide assertive and perceptive response for the sake of well-informed course designers to set clear-cut goals and specific objectives for any suggested course. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-22 11 research instruments questionnaire the questionnaire is used to glean responses on the issue under investigation from 120 non-english-majored master 1students. it consists of eleven (11) question-items, including demographic variables, intents behind english learning and prospects and suggestions. before the main survey was conducted, the question-items were subjected to piloting phase. in fact, this helped test, refine and re-order the survey content. interviews the second data collection method applied in this survey to answer the research question is a semi-structured interview directed to four deans and eight teachers. this choice stems from the fact that it allows the interviewer to delve deeply into personal issues, thus having an impressive great deal of flexibility. it also allows the interviewee a certain degree of power and control throughout the interview (nunan, 1991). the researcher relied on this method as it gives data that are open-ended, more accurate and genuine as answers without blocking the interviewees or leading them to answer in a certain way. results students’ questionnaire findings section one: respondents’ personal data table 1. informants’ age ranges faculties ≥ 20 21-22 23-24 25-26 ≤ 27 science & technology electrical engineering commercial sciences informatics &maths 00 00 00 00 04 03 02 03 06 22 23 26 10 05 05 11 00 00 00 00 total 00 12 77 31 00 % 00% 10% 64.16% 25.83% 00% the numerical data in table 2, related to age brackets, reveal that few (10% n= 12) of the surveyed students are aged between 21 and 22. third of the whole sample, i.e., 31 representing 25.83% have an age varying between 25 and 26. the rest of the sample, i.e., 77 (64.16%), is 23-24 years old. it is believed that age factor, among others, may play a significant effect on students’ academic motivation and performance. in fact, many variables play an important role to students’ academic performance. for the surveyed sample, the age factor is there and can be considered as being an asset, yet, students’ motivation should be developed along the teaching/learning process. table 2. informants’ sample distribution according to gender faculties f % m % science &technology 06/20 30 14/20 70 electrical engineering 10/30 33.33 20/30 66.66 commercial sciences 09/30 30 21/30 70 informatics & maths 16/40 40 24/40 60 total 41/120 ------- 79/120 ------- % 34.16 -------65.83 --------- llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-22 12 the statistical data as regards the targeted sample distribution according to gender demonstrate that males outnumber females, i.e., 79 (65.83%) are males but only 41 (34.16%) are females. as regards science and technology and commercial sciences, males are heavily dominating these specialties by 70% for each. besides, the two other ones, viz., electrical engineering and informatics and math are invaded by males, id est, 66.66% and 60% respectively. despite, it is commonly reported that nowadays worldwide tertiary education is heavily feminized; for the surveyed sample, males exceed females. it is also acknowledged that females are significantly outnumbered by males in scientific and technological fields, resulting in a large gender gap. however, female students have the bias towards humanities. it has been proven that males outperform females on most measures of visuo-spatial abilities, which have been implicated as contributing to sex differences on standardized exams in mathematics and science. an evolutionary account of sex differences in mathematics and science supports the conclusion that, although sex differences in math and science performance have not directly evolved, they could be indirectly related to differences in interests and specific brain and cognitive systems. all in all, the perceived gap in educational experience and performance of male versus female subjects among students cannot be explained only by their abilities (individual differences), but also to some extent by cultural transmission of gender stereotypes (li 1999; nguyen and ryan 2008; robnett 2016; spencer & al., 1999; tiedemann 2000; watson & al., 2017). table 3. informants’ distribution according to specialties faculties students science & technology 20 electrical engineering 30 commercial sciences 30 informatics & math 40 total 120 the data above demonstrate the target sample affiliation. given the reduced number of master’s students in science and technology, only a group of twenty (20) students has taken part in the survey. for electrical engineering and commercial sciences, a group of thirty (30) students is selected for each specialty. among informatics & math master students, a group of forty (40) is targeted by the investigation. it can be noted that apart from informatics and math, the number of students is very limited in master 1 in the other three specialties. it is worldwide acknowledged that though being important in our society today, sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics (stem) seem to be deserted by nowadays generations. section two: respondents’ intents behind english language learning table 4: informants’ attitude towards english language learning yes no 120 00 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-22 13 the responses to the close-ended question n°4 show that all surveyed students confirm the great significance of the english language for their studies. the esp students unanimously acknowledged the importance of english proficiency because it affects their academic and future professional objectives. in today’s globalized world where english is the most widely used as a medium of communication and instruction in all higher educational institutions, a high level of proficiency is of paramount importance for students’ future professional development. the challenges of the present-day globalized worldwide society requires not only students who are experts in their respective areas but also who can communicate with others in english. thus, significant changes have been imposed on academic curricula contents of world universities with the intent to train students for the world market requirements. table 5: informants’ intents behind english language learning drawing on the gleaned data (cf. table 5) from question-item 5, one can notice that nearly all surveyed students (98.75% 100% for females and 97.56% for males) attest that they intend to draw benefits from the huge amount of scientific researches. besides, 92.50% (100% for females & 85.36% for males) consider english language learning as a pass allowing them establish contact with people all over the world. job opportunities and further studies gained nearly the same percentages, viz., 82.50 (64.10 for females & 100% for males) for the former and 81.25% (76.96% for females & 97.56% for males). travelling as intent behind english language learning gained 68.75% (38.46% for females & 97.56% for males). it is worth highlighting that the number of scientific papers written in english has largely outweighed the number of papers written in researchers’ native language. thus, having a ‘good’ proficiency of english is incredibly important for esp students to draw benefit and acquire information from these scholarly documents. in fact, english proficiency allows them to have an easy access to the world’s electronic retrieval system where huge amounts of academic data are stored. besides, being used as lingua franca by people from all around the world, english can help students travel to and communicate with all people from different countries. for further studies, thousands of school, institutes and colleges around the world offer programs in english, and even grant scholarships. thus, the mastery of english enables them to get an opportunity to find an appropriate school and course that matches their needs. intents rank f % m % % c) draw benefits from the huge amount of scientific researches 01 39 100 40 97.56 98.75 e) access to establish contact with people from all over world on the net 02 39 100 35 85.36 92.50 a) open up better job opportunities 03 25 64.10 41 100 82.50 b) pursue further studies easily 04 30 76.92 35 85.36 81.25 d) can travel everywhere 05 15 38.46 40 97.56 68.75 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-22 14 table 6. informants’ assessment of their proficiency in english options f % m % total excellent 00 00 00 00 00 very good 00 00 03 07.31 03.75 good 00 00 05 12.19 06.25 average 36 66.66 48 72.72 70.00 weak 18 33.33 10 15.15 23.33 question-item 6 is asked to enquire about the targeted students’ extent of proficiency at english. the students’ self-assessment reveals that more than twothirds of the sample, i.e., 70% (66.66% for females & 72.72% for males) considers their proficiency level as being average. twenty-eight students (18 females & 10 males) judge their level at english weak. only three males (03.75%) estimate that they are very good at english, and five males (12.19%) assess their english level as being good. students’ self-assessment is worth considering. in fact, students’ involvement in such a process helps them develop specific learning skills that could be useful for future professional competence. besides, it may assist them to become more aware of and feel more responsible for their own learning. factually, this process helps students develop metacognitive skills that contribute to a range of important competences. table 7. informants’ skills degree of difficulty skills rank f % m % total % writing 1 38 97.43 39 95.12 96.25 speaking 2 36 92.30 32 78.04 85.00 reading 3 31 79.48 27 65.85 72.50 listening 4 30 76.92 25 60.97 71.25 with reference to the collected answers (cf. table 7), it is worthy to notice that the productive skills are too difficult for esp students, where 96.25% (97.43% for females & 96.25% for males) of them confirm that writing skill remains far too difficult and 85% (92.30% for females & 78.04% for males) acknowledge that speaking skill is arduous. as regards the other two receptive skills, they are not in a better situation. in fact, 71.25% (76.92% for females & 60.97% for males) admit that the listening skill is strenuous. similarly, 72.50% express concern about the reading skill difficulty. generally speaking productive skills, viz., speaking and writing appear to be more challenging not only for the esp students but for all efl/esl learners as well. these two skills have many differences from the viewpoint of form and features, but they are regarded to have the same goal which is self-expression. the attainment of such self-expression-communicative oral and written competences and their improvement is a journey, not a destination. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-22 15 table 8. informants’ opinions about time allotment to english session options number % sufficient 30 25.00 reasonable 15 12.50 insufficient 75 62.50 the question-item 8, enquiring about the time-on classroom period assigned to english session, aims to collect the esp students’ opinions as regards the time factor sufficiency or insufficiency. the results above reveal that 62.50% (n=75) attest that the time duration allocated to english session is insufficient. in contrast, 25% (n=30) stipulate that it is sufficient. while only 12.50% (n=15) assert that the time duration is reasonable. it is acknowledged that time-on classroom period is one of the key factors of the learning process. yet, time allocation estimation is generally related to the level of proficiency to be attained. thus, students’ needs analysis and their intents behind english language learning are determinant indicators easing both the extent of proficiency to be achieved and the time duration to be allotted to the english language sessions. (cf. levels of proficiency cleveland & al. 1960, pp. 250-1) table 9. informants’ syllabi contents evaluation options s c& tech elect. eng. commercial sc. inf. & math very interesting 00 00 00 00 moderately interesting 05 (25%) 08 (26.66%) 06 (20%) 10 (25%) uninteresting 15 (75%) 22 (73.33%) 24 (80%) 30 (75%) for the sake of collecting informants’ appreciations about the syllabi contents and their compliance with students’ needs, the above data show that the informants unanimously (100%) assert that the syllabi contents are not very interesting. yet, more than 25% and less than 27% in the four faculties believe that the syllabi contents are moderately interesting, whereas more than 75% and equal to 80% consider these contents utterly uninteresting. esp learning material choice should be subjected to students’ needs analysis, and the methodology of its implementation should be different from that of egp. students’ feedback and a closer look into esp syllabi contents should be welcomed. in the respect of adequacy, tomlinson (2011) provides some basic principles of good learning materials such as novelty, variety, attractive presentation, appealing contents and confidence developing. besides, he added other principles such as relevancy and usefulness, self-investment, readiness for acquisition, authentic use, opportunity for use, etc. to sum up, the development of esp teaching material should start with needs analysis, course content determining, syllabus plan writing, materials development and task devising, course and materials evaluating. it is worthy to point out the distinctive roles between egp and esp teachers. the formers feel secure because they are the exclusive providers of knowledge that students do not possess, thus they (students) become mere llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-22 16 recipients. in the case of the latter, students master the knowledge of their subjects that are very often totally unknown to the teacher. thus, esp teachers are required to adopt a new teacher-students relationship paving the way to the role of mediator, and of another more skilled one who endeavors to render the english language accessible to the students. table 10. informants’ english comprehension and production yes no comprehension 110 (91.66%) 10 (8.33%) production 00 120 (100%) enquiring about students’ receptive skill (comprehension) and productive one (writing) mastery, the collected data reveal that 91.66% (n=110) of the surveyed students attest that they understand english texts, whereas 08.33% (n=10) report that they are unable to do so. for the productive skill, all of the students (120) recognize that they are incapable of writing english by their own. it is widely acknowledged that the productive skill (writing) remains too hard and challenging task for non-native learners. it requires a long process, besides it is a personal and individual activity. this productive skill requires a process that consists of several steps (prewriting, drafting, revision, editing and publishing) to be meticulously followed which might appear boring to students. in this vein, hyland (2019) stated that learning to write in fl or sl is not a simple matter. in fact, being a specific skill, efl learners need to master linguistic aspects and attitudes, especially the willingness/readiness to practise endlessly the process of writing. section three: suggestions and prospects it is worthy to point out that only few informants suggested some hints. they all insist on the selection of appropriate teaching materials catering for their specific field, and the use of nicts. traditional ways of teaching, according to them, are no longer beneficial. interviews esp teachers the main purpose behind this interview is to provide the esp teachers with the opportunity to voice out their concerns, to reveal the difficulties encountered and to express suggestions if any. question-item 1: what university degree do you hold? most of the targeted esp teachers (75% n=6) are ba degree holders who have an important professional experience. the rest, i.e., 2 (25%) are ma degree possessors. question-item 2: how long have you been teaching esp? as regards their experience as esp teachers, three (3) assert that they have been teaching esp for 8 years, whereas the others, i.e., 5 have an experience ranging from 3 to 5 years. question-item 3: what is your professional status? all of the surveyed teachers who are in charge of esp course are contract teachers. it is obvious that field-specialized teachers are unavailable. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-22 17 question-item 4: do you have a stable professional status? apart from the ma degree holders, all ba owners are secondary school teachers. they teach english at the university as extra hours. question-item 5: have you ever followed any training course on esp teaching methodology? they unanimously confirm that they have never benefited of training sessions on esp courses. question-item 6:is egp different from esp? all of the teachers acknowledge that english for general purposes differs from esp. question-item 7:what differentiates them? only two teachers could provide a clear answer to this question. t1 one says that esp focuses on students’ needs and intents behind learning english, which are considered as supreme value. that is to say esp is learner-centered approach. t2 makes the difference from the viewpoint intents behind learning. for him esp is a learner-centered approach via which learners learn the language to acquire some specific corpus of language and skills, whereas egp is a language-centered approach, focusing on language learning covering all language skills for the purpose of success in examinations. question-item 8: what does esp syllabus content selection require first? all of the interviewees believe that knowing learners and their needs is the first step preceding any selection of esp-based learning materials/teaching specificfield contents. question-item 9: what actually precludes your esp class performance? t1 states that esp course designing is one of the hurdles, because it is an ongoing process that requires regular updating to be able to respond to daily requirements. this is, in fact, onerous, efforts demanding and time consuming. t2 considers students’ demotivation as a serious handicap. t3 believes that the learners’ level disparity is a substantial impediment that needs to be taken into consideration. t4 elucidates that some esp students lack the mastery of the english micro skills that are the underlying support for any effective improvement. the development of these skills requires time, efforts and motivation on part of the students. t5&t6 think that needs identification and analysis require a certain know-howto-do so as to be precise and concise. t7 sees that one-hour and a half per week is not enough to improve and attain the predetermined objectives. if we want a hands-on experience, time allotment should be reviewed to allow exposure to and practice of the target language. t8 relates that the knowledge of the micro and macro skills of english is not enough to reach the expected objectives. he added that training is needed. question-item 10: for a successful esp course, what would you suggest? all surveyed teachers constitute themselves as training applicants, for they consider esp courses as a daunting task regarding both teaching material design and methodological implementation. besides, they mostly insist on the hourly volume insufficiency to make the targeted specific linguistic corpus and communicative skills workable. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-22 18 interview results from the above answers, it can be deduced that theoretically the surveyed few teachers are well-versed in the esp issue, yet deficiencies remain at the level of the practical aspects. all of the teachers in charge of the esp teaching unit are part-time contract egp teachers who have never been trained on esp course features and requirements. thus, their training seems to be a key factor for esp teaching/ learning satisfaction. in short, esp teachers’ training course should undoubtedly rely on a thorough needs analysis. deans’ interview similarly, the managers were involved for the sake of more clarification on the current state of esp teaching/learning in their respective faculties. 1. how many teachers are in charge of the esp teaching unit? owing to the reduced weekly hourly volume, the four faculties have two teachers each.similar to all transversal teaching units, esp course is allotted one-hour and half per a week, that is to say forty-two hours a year. 2. are they field specialized? they all acknowledge that these teachers are not specialized in esp. the subject is mostly unfamiliar to these teachers. they should possess certain skills to succeed in teaching esp courses and satisfy the changing needs of these courses. 3. have esp teachers ever followed periodic training sessions? they unanimously deny any training sessions for these teachers. 4. what is their status? these teachers are contract teachers. owing to the dearth of field-specific skilled teachers, these auxiliary teachers are recruited to help our faculties with their knows. in fact, it is a survival solution waiting for the best. 5. what are the intents behind english language learning? they all attest that virtually the intents behind esp teaching/learning unit are to respond to students’ specific needs and equip them with competencies/skills enabling them to operate appropriately in different situations. differently couched, it is supposed to endow them with a certain english proficiency allowing them to use the language whenever needed. 6. do you think the objectives are attained? the deans unanimously think that the pretended objectives are not yet reached. for them, if there is no students’ written and/or spoken english production, the objectives remain highly unlikely, at least in the time-being. 7. what precludes/prevents these objectives attainment? all interviewees (deans)report that many challenges and problems are encountered. the first and most significant issue is the scarcity/dearth of specialized esp teachers who should not only be proficient in standard english, but also knowledgeable in technical field. besides, teachers should have a thorough understanding of the students’ needs, difficulties, learning objectives and preferred learning styles. therefore, they are obliged to resort to egp teachers because no alternative is available. according to them, the latter actually do their best to meet the issue requirements. they added that the lack of means, especially the nicts that are supposed to provide the esp class with authentic documents, hardens the situation. they also mentioned that in some cases the students’ lack of readiness and predisposition as regards the importance of the language hardens llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-22 19 the teachers’ tasks, i.e., students’ attitude towards esp course should change to the positive one. 8. for the sake of better all-round esp course learning, what would you suggest? all deans confirm that the most prominent flaw/dysfunction as regards esp course effectiveness is the lack of field-specialized teachers in charge of such teaching unit. thus, for them teacher training is an urgent necessity so as to be able to make needs analysis, syllabus design, material writing from scratch or adapt the available one and evaluation, i.e., to obtain esp features and requirements. deans’ interview results the deans’ opinions analysis shows that they unanimously confirm that in the absence of field-specialists, they are obliged to recruit part-time egp teachers. they (deans) are well aware of the intricateness of the task for these teachers. they believe that the latter are in need of training sessions relating to the founding principles of esp features and requirements, and to hone their existing competencies to serve the target language in an esp perspective. such teachers’ professional development opportunities for esp teachers are totally ignored in the algerian context. in fact, an adequate training course can make all the difference for teachers’ performance. data analysis and interplay the gleaned data from different quantitative and qualitative instruments reveal that esp teaching unit lacks much attention and collaboration on the part of teachers, institution, and students, each within the limits of his capacities and responsibility. first, the institution is supposed to provide these teachers with a training program, equipping them with necessary skills to identify students’ needs, design appropriate teaching contents or adapt the available ones. second, teachers in charge of esp, being experienced in teaching fl/sl english, are supposed to exploit their professional background in teaching the language, finding convenient ways to adapt to esp teaching issues. besides, they need to search for content specialists for help in dealing with esp issues. in the absence of training programs, they should implement self-training model; published papers on esp can be a source of inspiration for them. their success relies on selecting motivating texts that trigger students’ inducement and motivation. in so doing, esp teachers can generate a more productive atmosphere that eventually leads to better comprehensive all-round learning. third, students are supposed to come to esp class with a specific focus for learning, subject matter knowledge and well-developed learning strategies. they should be well-disposed to focus on meaning in the subject-matter field. in fact, they are expected to make a real contribution to language learning process. to wrap it up, students’ beliefs and attitudes should change to the positive towards english language learning. conclusion the current study has revealed that esp course at the level of ibn-khaldun university needs much more support and attentiveness, aiming at reviewing its llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 1-22 20 organization and implementation efficiency for a successful prospective change. comparatively to egp, esp teachers are required to accomplish multifarious daunting tasks that create serious challenges. from students’ needs analysis to adapting the existing material or creating new one from scratch, esp teachers encounter serious problems, especially when they are devoid of any initial and continuous training. in fact, training and retraining remain an absolute right for the sake of rendering them well groomed in the field so as to meet students’ needs. the shift from egp to esp status, the case of all surveyed teachers, requires additional skills which render the task harder and more complex for them. it seems that in the midst of the excessive focus on students’ needs, their intents behind english language learning, tasks to be selected and methodology to be implemented, the pivotal agent in the teaching and learning process-the teacher and his traininghas been neglected. a comprehensive and successful esp course requires a training course where esp teachers concerns, needs and deficiencies are earnestly considered. for the sake of arranging a full-fledged quality esp course, the involvement of professional experts in the study field remains of utmost significance. besides, i personally contend that a stable professional teaching identity is equally important for esp teachers. without addressing these aforementioned shortcomings, the esp teaching in the algerian tertiary context will remain ineffective and inconsistent. all in all, esp teacher problems should be reconsidered from a holistic approach, otherwise all prompt compartmentalized/ fragmented solutions such as e-learning, hybrid-learning, and professional development remain too insufficient to comply with the numerous depicted imperfections. references allwright, r. l. 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(eds.), english for academic and technical purposes: studies in honor of louis trimble (pp. 1-2). london: newbury house. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 691-708 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 691 dealing with critical incidents: experiences of turkish novice efl teachers hatice saliha çukur anadolu university, turkey correspondence: haticesalihacukur@anadolu.edu.tr https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4946 received 28 july 2022; accepted 19 october 2022 abstract moments causing teachers to stop and think about their teaching are called critical incidents and reflecting on them can be a way of gaining insights into their practices and contexts. however, critical incidents are underexplored in the turkish efl context. thus, this qualitative case study aimed to understand the types of critical incidents encountered by six turkish novice efl teachers who all graduated from the same english language teaching program, their ways of dealing with these, and how this affected them. data obtained from reflective journals and a focus group interview were analysed thematically. the results revealed critical incidents related to multiple sources, mainly due to students’ behaviors. moreover, teachers' strategies varied from addressing the student to acting as the authority. these critical incidents affect novice teachers in various ways, such as questioning their language teacher education and teaching competence, which were discussed in this study along with implications and directions for future studies. keywords: critical incidents, novice teachers, turkish efl context introduction teachers encounter many incidents throughout their teaching careers and develop their own strategies for coping with them. however, these coping strategies do not develop overnight, and teachers need to reflect on their experiences and analyse their practices to be able to make good judgments during these incidents. although years of experience help teachers develop techniques and routines for getting through incidents, there can always be new problems that leave even the most experienced teachers baffled. besides, while incidences may occur frequently, critical incidents (cis) that “trigger insights about some aspect of teaching and learning” (richards & farrell, 2010, p.13) and are significant events that teachers reflect upon are less frequent in a teacher’s career. these moments in a teacher’s career are “vividly remembered” (brookfield, 1995, p. 84), and teachers need to identify, study, and, more importantly, reflect on what it means for their beliefs and values about their practices (farrell, 2008). the ability to reflect on such occasions is essential to becoming good practitioners and continuous growth, especially for teachers who are at the beginning of their professions (romano, 2006, p. 947). furthermore, by examining their cis, teachers mailto:haticesalihacukur@anadolu.edu.tr https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4946 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 691-708 692 can form an awareness of themselves, their students, and their practices (richards & lockhart, 1994). furthermore, what is critical to an experienced teacher may not be for a novice teacher (farrell, 2008). according to richards (2010), experienced teachers have a range of strategies for classroom management and previous experiences to refer to when dealing with problems, thus, define cis differently compared to novice teachers (molani et al., 2021). critical incidents in english language teaching the literature reveals various studies that focus on the types of cis language teachers encounter (atai & nejadghanbar, 2016; atai & nejadghanbar, 2017; esmaeli & afzali, 2020; farrell, 2008; pourhassan & nazari; 2021; putri & kuswandono, 2020). in the iranian efl context, atai and nejadghanbar (2016) collected the cis of in-service teachers through reflections via blogs to share with their colleagues and came up with six categories. the main categories of cis were behavior, language proficiency, clashes, individual difference, class participation, and teachers’ unpreparedness. the most frequently mentioned cis were related to behavior, thus, the authors suggested emphasizing behavioral incidents is needed in second language teacher education (slte) programs. esmaeli and afzali (2020) also came up with six categories and 14 subcategories of cis after analysing 15 iranian efl teachers’ narrated cis. these categories were language skills and competence, heterogeneous classrooms, materials, mother tongue, testing issues, and teaching l2 (second language) cultural aspects. this study also revealed that productive strategies used during cis differed for each teacher, as each ci can be interpreted and responded differently (farrell, 2008; shapira-lishchinsky, 2011). in a different efl context, putri and kuswandono (2020) categorized high school indonesian efl teachers’ cis, and these were: students’ misbehavior, smart student, and self-improvement. in the young learners teaching context pourhassan and nazari (2021) analysed five major categories related to young learners: collegial nonconformity, learner behavior and engagement, learner parent behavior, teacher knowledge, and teacher-learner emotional tie. regardless of their changing categories, cis happen, and the important thing is to develop the flexibility to deal with them, and such resilience can be achieved by reflecting on cis (dixon & byrne, 2011). teacher reflection on critical incidents in educational contexts, reflecting on cis can be helpful for teachers’ professional development and identity constructions (woods, 1993). several studies conducted with efl teachers show that reflecting on cis is crucial, as it helps them gain awareness of themselves (molani et al., 2021), and their contexts (atai & nejadghanbar, 2016; richards & farrell, 2005). reflection also influences teachers' image of themselves and helps in defining their roles regarding other individuals in their school communities (babaii, et al., 2021). in the mexican efl context, lengeling and mora pablo (2016) investigated eight novice english teachers’ reflections on their cis and concluded that each participant had a unique way of reflecting on their cis. the authors put forward that these reflections led to the analysis and examination of their underlying principles llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 691-708 693 and methods of their practices. similarly, tripp (1993) discussed how analysing cis could be the basis for improving teaching. in the iranian efl context, babaii et al. (2021) and karimi and nazari (2019) conducted studies on language teachers and suggested that thinking on cis increases peer reflection as well as expands their classroom management skills and contributes to their professional development. furthermore, according to putri and kuswandono (2020), some of the cis high school english teachers encounter in the indonesian efl context led them to improve their professional knowledge. coming from the same context, wijaya and kuswandono (2018) observed that cis affected three teachers’ professional goals of developing and becoming good teachers. concentrating on both novice and experienced teachers’ reflections on their cis, molani et al. (2021) carried out a study with 40 iranian efl teachers, and the findings suggested that there is a difference among practitioners’ views on cis based on their teaching experiences. significance and purpose of the study after reviewing the related literature, it is proven that asking teachers to identify cis and how they decide to respond to these incidents can promote reflectivity in teaching and contribute to teachers’ professional growth (karimi & naziri, 2019; lengeling & mora pablo, 2016; molani et al., 2021). in addition to these, it is important to acknowledge how context can be a determining factor for cis, which are underexplored in the turkish efl context. therefore, it can be beneficial for turkish in-service teachers to identify the sources of cis in their contexts through self-reflection. furthermore, as teachers begin to develop techniques and context-bound strategies for coping with cis through experience, it can be of interest for prospective teachers and other novices to learn the experiences of novice efl teachers when dealing with cis. thus, the purpose of this study is to answer the following research questions to understand how novice turkish efl teachers deal with the cis they encounter in their teaching contexts in their first year of teaching and how they reflect on their cis. 1. what sources of cis are mentioned by turkish novice efl teachers in their teaching contexts? 2. what are the strategies turkish novice efl teachers use to deal with these cis? 3. how do turkish novice efl teachers reflect on their cis? method context and participants this study was conducted with six turkish novice efl teachers. convenient sampling was used for the selection of participants who were easily accessible and willing to participate (dörnyei, 2007). all the participating teachers had graduated with a bachelor’s (ba) degree from the same english language teaching (elt) department of a state university and were in their first year of teaching as in-service efl teachers. thus, according to farrell’s (2009) definition, they were all novice teachers. during their slte, the participants took two courses focusing on classroom management, english language teaching methods i and classroom management llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 691-708 694 which aimed to prepare these teachers to maximize student learning by dealing with behavior issues in the classroom. in addition to these courses, as part of slte, participants completed a teaching practice course at practicum schools for two semesters. however, due to covid-19 pandemic, all of them had to complete this course online, which eliminated these teachers’ chances of practicing what they had learned and experiencing real-life classroom management. additionally, throughout their practicum experience, all participants had kept reflective journals as a course requirement, which included reflective questions related to the cis they observed or experienced. in terms of demographic information, all the participants were females aged between 22 and 23. three of them were working at private schools, while the other three worked at state schools. in addition, the teachers worked with different age groups from young to teenager and adult learners. detailed information about the participants’ backgrounds and teaching contexts is presented in table 1 below. table 1. participant information participant gender age teaching context student profile teacher education t1 f 23 public school teenagers ba in elt t2 f 22 public school teenagers ba in elt t3 f 22 public school teenagers ba in elt t4 f 22 private school teenagers ba in elt t5 f 22 private school young learners ba in elt t6 f 22 private university preparatory school adult learners ba in elt research design and instrument the current study adopted a qualitative case study research design, which allows research of a phenomenon through participants’ understanding of their experiences (merriam, 2009). the participants were asked to keep reflective journals about their critical incidents for data collection. according to gil-garcia and cintron (2002), keeping and using reflective journals can improve teachers’ professional development. the participants were encouraged to write about any details regarding the cis and were free in terms of the reflection format. for guiding purposes, they were given the following prompt questions similar to the questions they had answered during their practicum: what happened? when did it happen? how did you react? how did you feel? who was there with you? how did they react? the second instrument for data collection was a focus group interview, where all the participants are present at the same time. the researcher decided on conducting a focus group interview, as it is a useful way of collecting data when the interviewees are similar and cooperative with each other, and due to the limited time of the study (krueger, 1994; morgan, 1988; stewart & shamdasani, 1990). in table 2. below, the research questions and the corresponding data collection and analysis methods are given. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 691-708 695 table 2. research questions and corresponding data collection methods research question data collection method type of analysis purpose rq1: what sources of cis are mentioned by turkish novice efl teachers in their teaching contexts? teachers’ reflective journals qualitative thematic analysis using nvivo to identify the sources of cis rq2: what are the strategies turkish novice efl teachers use to deal with these cis? teachers’ reflective journals qualitative thematic analysis using nvivo to identify teachers’ coping strategies for cis rq3: how do turkish novice efl teachers reflect on their cis? focus group interview qualitative thematic analysis using nvivo to investigate what thoughts and feelings novice efl teachers have when reflecting on their cis, and whether they believe any factors influence their cis’ sources and the coping strategies they use. data collection and analysis procedure figure 1. data collection and analysis procedure teachers’ reflective journals were collected over a month. as they had already experienced keeping a reflective journal during their teaching practice course, participants were not given any special training on this matter. the teachers were free to use any convenient tool for keeping their journals. participants sent their journals, which they agreed to write in english, to the researcher either as a word document or as photographs of their journal pages. next, the date and time were arranged for the focus group interview. due to her busy schedule, one of the participants (t2) could not join the interview. the interview session was conducted in an online group created by the researcher through a popular messaging application, and participants used voice and chat messages during the session. the language used during the session was turkish for the teachers to be comfortable when speaking together and expressing themselves. however, there was occasional code-switching to english. the focus group llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 691-708 696 interview lasted around 90 minutes. the session started with a critical incident analysis using tripp’s (1993) model. after the critical reflection on the incident, participants were interviewed about how they were affected by critical incidents and their opinions on keeping a reflective journal on them. once the focus group interview had been transcribed, written data from reflective journals and the transcription were uploaded and analysed through thematic analysis using nvivo 12 (qsr international) software. according to braun and clarke (2006), “thematic analysis is a method for identifying, analysing, and reporting patterns (themes) within data” (p. 79). after the researcher was familiar with the transcribed data, first, the data was coded and sorted into organized categories and the recurring themes mentioned the most by the participants were grouped. during the analysis of teachers’ reflective journals for the sources of critical incidents, existing studies in the literature (e.g., atai & nejadghanbar, 2016; esmaeli & afzali, 2020; pourhassan & nazari, 2021) were used for referencing and identifying themes as well. by constant comparison of the collected data, the final themes emerged. next, to ensure the reliability of the themes, thirty percent of the reflective journals were shared with an independent researcher. the initial intercoder reliability was calculated as 81.25% using the formulation below (miles & huberman, 1994), which is a considerable agreement according to hallgren (2012) lastly, a consensus was reached by discussing. the data collection process can be seen in figure 1. findings rq1: what sources of cis are mentioned by turkish novice efl teachers in their teaching contexts? the study first investigated the sources of cis teachers encountered in their contexts according to their reflective journals (rj). the results of the data analysis revealed four main sources of cis. the sources can be seen in figure 2 below. figure 2. sources of critical incidents llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 691-708 697 in table 3 below, the names of the teachers who mentioned which sources for the cis they encountered in their rjs, as well as how many times they were mentioned can be seen. out of all the sources, “student behavior” was mentioned the most (n=16). it was followed by, “colleague behavior” (n=2), and lastly “teacher well-being” (n=1). each of the categories with their subcategories are elaborated on in the following section. table 3. frequencies of sources of critical incidents sources of critical incidents frequency teachers student behavior 16 t1, t2, t3, t4, t5, t6 colleague behavior 2 t5, t6 teacher well-being 1 t3 student behavior cis that fell in this category included an act of misbehavior from the students’ ends, such as interrupting the flow of the lesson, distracting other students, fights, and conflicts between students, and not following the classroom rules that existed. within this category, three subcategories emerged as well: individual (n=11) and whole class misbehaviors (n=3), and conflict between students (n=2). these three categories were created because it was apparent that some of the critical incidents stemmed from one student’s acts mentioned above, some cis were caused by the whole class’s act, and lastly, some of them were caused by fights between students. for example, cis caused by an individual student’s misbehavior can be seen in the extract from t6’s journal: one of the students just randomly stood up and started walking around and talking to his friends. he also played his newest song for them to listen to. i was teaching at that moment. i stopped talking and looked at him to stop. he did not understand it, and he just looked at me and continued. (t6, rj) the second extract taken from t3’s journal refers to a conflict between students leading up to a ci. two of my students in the classroom started arguing about race. one of the students (sa) said to the other student (sb) that sb was kurdish. sa said it like it was an insult. so, sb got angry, and they kind of started a fist fight. most of the other students chose a side and wanted sa and sb to fight. only one or two of the students tried to calm them with me. (t3, rj) colleague behavior this category refers to the teachers’ interactions with their colleagues, partners and how they led to incidents that were perceived as critical by the participants. two cis shared by two teachers fell in this category. for example, in her rj, t5 expressed that another colleague interrupted her lesson to get into an argument with one of the students, which led to a ci, disturbing her and other students: one of the students was not ready for the lesson. he was walking around the class, trying to talk to his friends even though the whole class was ready to greet me before starting the lesson. the class teacher was around the classroom, and she saw his behavior by coincidence. she immediately came llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 691-708 698 into the classroom and started to shout at him. she told him to pack up his stuff and leave the classroom. when he did not do it, she packed everything up and threw the bag out of the classroom. she told him that he would not be able to study in this school anymore. then, they left the classroom and shut the door. i and the whole class were in shock. (t5, rj) meanwhile, t6 was disturbed by her colleague, who was the partner teacher during their speaking class, when he started talking about inappropriate topics in an unprofessional manner with the students and made her feel uncomfortable: we were sitting outside with our students, and my partner started talking inappropriately. he started talking about his alcohol consumption, his sexual life, and alcohol use. he also talked about how he beats people proudly. he also commented that he and a few of the students in that group smoke some weed together inside of the uni. i was so shocked that at first, i acted like i did not hear any of them. after that, i got up and left. i felt disgusted. i did not feel safe. (t6, rj) teacher well-being this last category refers to the cis that occurred due to the teachers’ unexpected mental and physical changes in the classroom. for example, in this study, one teacher’s reflection included an accident where she had almost fainted. she expressed feeling unwell at the time of the incident, and the addition of whole class misbehavior triggered her condition to get worse. i was having a very busy day. my last two lessons were the most difficult class in the school. i told them i was tired and asked them to be gentle toward me. of course, they were not. they talked, used bad words toward each other, and mocked the ones who tried to participate in the lesson. at the end of the lesson, they came to my desk to take their phones which were in a box. i told them to come and take their phones one by one, but they came all together. then, i kind of fainted. i said kind of because i did not totally faint. i tried to go outside to take a breath. but i could not walk properly, so i fell. the students got scared and went to the other classes to get help. other teachers came and made me drink some water and took me to the garden to breathe. i felt awful and exhausted. a little embarrassed too. i felt like i fainted, but now i think it was a medical condition i had zero control over. (t3, rj) rq2: what are the strategies turkish novice efl teachers use to deal with these cis? the second research aim of this study was to investigate what strategies novice efl teachers use to deal with the cis they encounter in their contexts. the analysis of teachers’ rjs revealed three main categories for these strategies. as seen in figure 3, these categories were: “addressing the student”, “acting as the authority”, “modifying the lesson”, and “ignoring the conflict”. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 691-708 699 figure 3. teachers' strategies for dealing with critical incidents in addition to these, table 4 below represents how frequently these strategies were used and by which teachers. according to this table, the most used strategies were addressing the student (n=8), followed by acting as the authority (n=7), ignoring the conflict (n=2), and modifying the lesson (n=1). these categories are explained in detail with example extracts in the following sections. table 4. frequencies of teachers' strategies for dealing with critical incidents dealing with critical incidents frequency teachers addressing the student 8 t3, t5, t6 acting as the authority 7 t1, t2, t3, t4 ignoring the conflict 2 t5, t6 modifying the lesson 1 t4 acting as the authority this category included strategies teachers use that remind the students about who the authority belongs in the school and were used during cis stemming from student misbehaviors and conflicts between students. for example, in the following extract, t1 told the students to remember their places, otherwise, they would face consequences: i was walking to class, and i saw their classroom teacher. she complained about the students and came to the class with me. she told one of the students that she wanted to see his mother. then she left class, and the student kept complaining. i told him to stop talking, as i wanted to start my lesson, and he would not stop. then i told him that i also wanted to see his mother, and he said, "do see her". he was, like, shouting at me. i did not like his behavior at all. i asked "how could you talk to me like that? how dare you?" i was angry. "i don’t care about your ego. you cannot talk to me that way. if you do, i will make you regret it." i cannot stand when students talk to me like i am not their teacher. in this school, students do not respect their female teachers, especially the boys. when we threaten them somehow, they seem to be more respectful. i hate it, but that is the truth. (t1, rj) addressing the student this category refers to incidents where the teachers had to address the student by confronting them due to the ci, either in the classroom or after the classroom in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 691-708 700 private, sometimes using “i” language, empathizing with the students, and trying to get their attention by looking at them until they notice and stop the behavior, calling out student’s/students’ names to get their attention, and trying to explain the situation and the reason to do/not to do something calmly, showing empathy towards’ student’s feelings. in the following extract, t5 shared how she addressed the student who was causing the incident: one of the students showed his middle finger to one of his friends. not only me but also other students saw it. a couple of them laughed. i was going to ignore it at first, but i saw some of the students found it funny. i went next to his desk and held his hands kindly. i made him show his little finger. i asked him to laugh at it and explain what it means. i waited almost a minute repeating the same question, but he kept silent. then, i made him show his ring finger and told him to laugh at it. he did not react. i made him show his middle finger. at first, he refused to do it, but i made him do it. i told him to explain what it means. he said it means a bad word. i kept asking what it meant till he answered. i did the same with the other fingers. he and the ones who laughed got ashamed and saw me very angry. they stopped after that incident. (t5, rj) modifying the lesson this category refers to teachers’ decision to modify the rest of their lessons or activities to cope with their cis. for example, in the extract below, t4 explains how she changed her lesson plan to confuse the students and stop them from interrupting the lesson: my students were talking to each other loudly, standing up and wandering around the class, throwing different items at each other as if i were not there. i waited for them to stop again but this time, when i realized that they were not going to stop and it would not be easy for me, i wanted to make them confused. i told them to put their head on their desk and be in a sleeping position. they stopped talking and asked each other questions like “what? wait what?”. i repeated my sentences, and they started to do that one by one. i waited about 2 minutes to make them snap into the mood. after that, i told them that i was going to touch a student and that student would be the vampire, and after choosing the vampire, i told him to wake up and choose a student to kill. it was a classic murder mystery game, and even the sleeping position made them surprised and interested. it was a different lesson, and obviously, i could not have my actual lesson from our book, but it was a different idea for dealing with the chaos in the class. i was happy with my unusual idea/resolution, but at the same time, i knew that it was not a permanent solution as well. however, i think it is great to be an unpredictable teacher. (t4, rj) ignoring the conflict this strategy refers to the moments the teachers were shocked or uncomfortable during a ci to respond, thus, they ignored the conflict. in this study, the two times this strategy was used were during cis caused by interactions with colleagues. for example, when t5’s lesson was interrupted by her colleague, the colleague did not leave a chance for her to intervene, thus, t5 had to ignore what llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 691-708 701 was going on. in t6’s previous ci, she expressed getting up and leaving the environment because she did not feel safe due to her colleague’s behavior. rq3: how do turkish novice efl teachers reflect on their cis? figure 4. teachers' reflections on their critical incidents the final research question investigated how cis are reflected upon by these novice efl teachers. as seen in figure 4 above, the themes that emerged were teacher experience, changes in relationships, and teacher education. each one is elaborated on in the following sections. teacher experience when reflecting on their cis and their sources, some of the teachers associated inexperience as one of the reasons for their cis. in the focus group interview (fgi), according to two participants, experienced teachers have the time to develop handling mechanisms for cis, and their identification of cis may be different, therefore, experience is crucial for knowing how to react. critical incidents are related to experience. when i talk about them with experienced teachers, they already developed a handling mechanism for this stuff because they have been through all of them. so, they (cis) are definitely related to novice experience. (t4, fgi) however, t4 added that, as it is her first year of teaching, she is in a trial-anderror period, and because she is aware of this, she tries to go easy on herself during her cis. on the other hand, t3 expressed her thoughts on experience like this: i believe experience is very important. however, no matter how much experience we have, the new generation will always be different. so, we will have some issues in every phase of our career, but our way of handling them will be different. (t3, fgi) lastly, two of the participants did not believe being a novice teacher was a reason or a solution for cis. they reported that experience is only one of the factors, however, the more important thing is to be able to maintain a good relationship with llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 691-708 702 the students. no matter how many years of experience you have, you may not know how to handle a specific situation. at one point, it is not about your experience but about the harmony you have with the students. (t6, fgi) related to their novice experiences, all the participants reported questioning their teaching competence. for example, t5 explained that although she questions her teaching competence and classroom management skills, she also acknowledges her progress. there were days when i thought i was not a good teacher and could not manage my class. i still question my competence when there is a critical incident. i think about why i was not able to handle it. however, if i could handle a ci well and take it under control without it affecting my lesson, i think to myself “i did very well and i am making progress”. (t5, fgi) furthermore, t3 explained that teaching is a challenging job, so it is important to go easy on themselves. i think teaching is the job for me, but sometimes we need to allow ourselves time to breathe and remember that we are human. teaching is a very difficult job because dealing with people is the hardest thing. (t3, fgi) changes in relationships one of the things these novice efl teachers mentioned when reflecting on their cis affected them, they mentioned changes in relationships, both between students and colleagues. for example, t6 realized from studying her colleagues’ and students’ relationships, that students may try to take over the lesson by getting friendly with the teacher: before, i used to be sweet and go easy on them. now i started to make sure they know i am not their friend, before approaching me. once i realized this, i tried not to spend too much time chatting with them outside of the classroom. (t6, fgi) furthermore, t6 reported that her relationship with her colleague changed as well after the ci she had with them. when we were with our students between classes, i noticed how he was talking with the students. after that, i started not to let him interfere with my lessons. even though we are partners and can comment on each other’s lessons, at one point i realized everyone should control their own lesson. (t6, fgi) another realization and change happened for t3 when almost fainted, and she changed her mind about letting the students know about her well-being and decided to share about these things in her future classes. i learned that i need to share with the students if i am not feeling well. maybe if they had known how busy my day had been, they could have behaved differently. i realized that no matter how naughty our students are, they are also human. (t3, fgi) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 691-708 703 teacher education the participants also had some things to say about their experience keeping reflective journals on their cis and how it affected their professional development. overall, most of the participants had positive feelings about reflecting on their cis except for one. moreover, the critical analysis activity they did at the beginning of the was also favored. i think even writing reflective journals and taking notes about our teaching in any way helps us see ourselves, so it was very beneficial. i thought about what i could have done differently. i think training like this would be very effective. (t4, fgi) you can see whether your reaction was reasonable or wrong. if i was passive at that moment, i think “i could have said something constructive”, or sometimes i find my reaction “too aggressive” and think “i should not have done that”. (t6, fgi) on the contrary, t1 did not think reflecting on her own cis through a journal helped her much. however, she believed reflecting on other teachers’ cis and analyzing them as an outsider helped provide teachers with experience. writing cis did not help me much, but they made me realize what i already knew. as a teacher who received a good education, i was not happy with my reactions, so it once again made me feel bad and regretful. (t1, fgi) another thing participants mentioned regarding their previous slte was the content of their english language teaching methods course. according to t4, it was helpful because there were example incident analyses but added that if they had been done in smaller groups, it would have been more beneficial. t6, to the contrary, thought the incidents they analyzed did not cover any of the incidents that could lead to critical ones in her context, so she found the course unhelpful. furthermore, t1 believed the examples were irrelevant to the turkish efl context and found it more effective to analyze incidents other turkish teachers had in their efl contexts. in that course, we did not analyze anything that actually happened. for example, being happy to carry out a lesson with only three students, as t3 mentioned, or yelling back and forth with the studentwe have both been through these cis, but we never talked about these in that course. most of the things we saw may happen in foreign teaching contexts, but not in turkey. that is why i think analyzing these cis could be helpful. (t1, fgi). lastly, based on the analysis of rjs, it was seen that the participants only reported cis associated with negative moments. thus, their definitions of cis were interrogated during the fgi. two of them defined ci by connecting it to negative moments in the classroom, while two others believed cis could be both negative and positive. one teacher, contrastingly, thought cis could be positive as well but added that she mostly associated them with negative ones. for me, critical incidents are moments when my lesson flow gets interrupted, the other students get distracted, they do something i find disrespectful, or do something that puts a student’s health in danger. (t5, fgi) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 691-708 704 incidents that interrupt a planned lesson flow are critical, but i think they can be either positive or negative. (t3, fgi) i mostly associate cis with negative things, but i agree with others that it does not have to be unpleasant only. (t1, fgi) discussion this study aimed to investigate how turkish efl teachers who graduated from their slte programs at a state university in turkey face, deal with and reflect on their cis. for this aim, data obtained through reflective journals of these novice teachers and the focus group interview was analyzed using thematic analysis. through this analysis, this study revealed the sources of cis turkish novice efl teachers face in their teaching contexts. the most recurring theme as a ci source was student behavior, which included conflicts between students, whole and individual student class misbehaviors. this finding coincides with other studies in the literature that undesirable learner behaviors are one of the most recurring ci sources (e.g., atai & nejadghanbar, 2016; karimi & nazari, 2019; molani et al., 2021; pourhassan & nazari, 2021; putri & kuswandono, 2020). moreover, in the current study, these cis were reported by teachers working with young, teen, and adult learners. among the participants in this study, one novice teacher was working with young learners (t5) and one with adult learners (t6). according to the findings of pourhassan and nazari (2021), when investigating cis of young learner efl teachers in the iranian context, teachers with young learners report different cis compared to the teachers with and learners. meanwhile, in this study, both the sources and dealing strategies t5 and t6 reported were the same; student and colleague behavior, which they dealt with by addressing the student. however, their manners when addressing their students changed; while t5 approached students with more emotion and focused on the teacher-learner emotional tie when trying to reason with them, t6’s addressing was more direct. this finding contradicts other studies in the literature (e.g., pourhassan & nazari, 2021; shapiralishchinsky, 2011) since this study shows that similar cis can happen in both young and adults. however, teachers should beware of how they address these situations when dealing with young learners. in response to the second research question, this study investigated novice efl teachers’ coping strategies as well. as told by shapira-lishchinsky (2011), how teachers respond to cis can change on an individual level. in the current study, the most used strategy was reminding the students of the teacher’s authority, which was only used by the teachers working with teenagers, however, it was used the most by t1. when reflecting on her cis during the fgi, t1 shared her dissatisfaction with her reaction but believed that she had to use authority due to her school’s environment. meanwhile, in another teacher’s experience, t3 explained how the ci was resolved after she had stopped acting as the authority and calmly addressed the student. t3 also added during the fgi that keeping herself together when approaching cis was a sign of gaining experience and believed it was possible to reason with teenage students since they were more mature compared to young learners. based on t1 and t3’s experiences with acting as the authority, the strategies teachers turn to when dealing with cis are related not entirely to the age of their students but also to their school environments. it can also llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 691-708 705 be drawn that, to survive in their teaching contexts, sometimes teachers’ beliefs about how cis should be maneuvered may clash with the reality of their teaching contexts. this study also investigated how teachers defined cis and reflected upon them. karimi and nazari (2019) argued that, although the term “critical” may be used to express negative experiences, the critical experience can be both negative and positive. based on thiel’s (1999) explanation of teaching “highs” and “lows”, which referred to positive and negative teaching moments, teachers in karimi and nazari’s (2019) study reported some teaching highs as well as teaching lows. meanwhile, no positive cis or teaching “highs” were shared in the current study. when investigated, the participants’ answers were divided on whether cis could be both positive or negative and only negative. however, even the teachers who believed in “teaching highs” did not report such cis in their reflective journals. this could be due to the limited time allocated for keeping journals, and that teaching “highs” were less recurring during that time. another explanation is that teaching “highs” were not as significant as teaching “lows” for these novice teachers, which supports francis (1995). alongside sharing their definitions of cis, the teachers also shared their thoughts and feelings regarding their cis, their sources, and the coping strategies they preferred. for some teachers, teaching experience was seen as the key to developing dealing strategies for cis. furthermore, as shared by one of the participants, experienced teachers view cis reported by novices as usual incidents that they can handle easily with the coping strategies they have developed throughout their careers. this view of novice teachers aligns with previous studies that suggest that experienced and novice teachers view and judge incidents differently (e.g., farrell, 2008, molani et al., 2021). however, not all participants believed that experience was the solution to dealing with cis and shared that although experience may grant teachers the flexibility to manage a ci, some are related to context and student profile. thus, with the changing generation and school environments, unexpected cis that can shake even the most experienced teachers can still happen. therefore, reflecting on cis is still needed for experienced teachers as well. when teachers shared their thoughts on reflecting on cis, almost all participants believed that it would improve their teaching, which is in line with other studies (e.g., babaii et al., 2021; karimi & nazari, 2019; woods, 1993). moreover, the participants favored the idea of sharing these cis and analyzing them together as they experience similar incidents in the turkish efl context, which can also add to their professional growth (nejadghanbar, 2021). regarding gaining awareness of themselves, which is another reported benefit of reflection on cis (molani et al. 2021), the only participant in this study who did not favor reflecting on her own cis expressed that she did not approve of her approach to cis. in a way, this participant gained awareness about her teaching. the participants had something to say about their shared slte experiences as well. according to these teachers, the courses about dealing with student behaviors related to the turkish efl context should be delivered in smaller groups. furthermore, regarding the examples they analyzed in their classroom management-related courses, two participants shared that they had never experienced anything resembling those examples in their contexts. this means that llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 691-708 706 the courses they took in their undergraduate years failed them by not preparing them for the realities of their teaching context. as suggested by molani et al. (2021), some cis are context-related, and teachers in different contexts may interpret these differently. therefore, incorporating more context-related cis in slte programs in turkey can offer prospective teachers not only a glimpse into their futures as language teachers but also encourage them to develop their own strategies early on in their careers (esmaeli & afzali, 2020). lastly, by enabling prospective and in-service teachers to reflect and analyze incidents together, slte programs can help them “to construct their own knowledge about teaching” (goodell, 2006, p. 240) and increase reflective thinking and sharing among peers as well (babaii et al., 2021; karimi & nazari, 2019), which can also prevent novice teachers from feelings of being ineffective or insufficient. conclusion this study investigated the cis reported by turkish novice efl teachers, their coping strategies, and how they reflected on their cis. as teacher reflection is an important research area, and teachers’ reflections on cis in the turkish efl context are scarce, this study may open an interest towards focusing on and analyzing cis for preand in-service efl teachers in this context. based on the result of this study, turkish novice efl teachers require better pedagogical training within real teaching contexts to mostly overcome their feelings of inadequacy in dealing with student behaviors. this study had some limitations as well. first, due to its case study design, the number of participants was limited, and as only qualitative data was collected, the findings of this study cannot be generalized to the whole turkish efl context and the experiences of whole novice teachers. moreover, due to the limited time allocated for data collection, the participants could keep reflective journals for one month. over a longer period, these teachers can encounter different types of cis. future studies could explore the experiences of turkish novice teachers in a longitudinal study and focus on any developments in teachers’ coping strategies. thirdly, due to convenience sampling, all the participants in this study were females, which limited the generalizability of the results. as gender could be a factor in identifying cis, future studies in the turkish context should investigate this area with a more balanced sample. lastly, once again due to convenience sampling, the participants in this study, although having similar teacher education backgrounds, had different teaching contexts. although it was not within this study’s scope, future studies could investigate the differences or similarities in various teaching contexts regarding cis. references atai, m. r., & nejadghanbar, h. 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(1993). critical events in education. british journal of sociology of education, 14(4), 355-371. retrieved on july 26, 2022, from https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1392882.pdf https://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2021.1913578 https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.521 https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2021.1907751 https://doi.org/10.25134/erjee.v9i1.3778 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2006.04.019 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2010.11.003 https://doi.org/10.15408/ijee.v5i2.10923 https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1392882.pdf llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 350-358 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 350 an analysis of silent consonants in the 2nd semester students’ pronunciation brigitta rosemarie1 and yohana veniranda2 sanata dharma university, indonesia1,2 brigitta.rosemarie98@gmail.com1 and veniranda@usd.ac.id2 correspondence: veniranda@usd.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4249 received 21 january 2022 ; accepted 10 may 2022 abstract this research aims to analyze the mispronounced words with silent consonants in the 2nd semester students’ pronunciation and to analyze the difficulties that the students face in pronouncing words with a silent consonant. this is a survey research. the researcher used tests and interviews as the instruments in gathering data. the respondents are the 2nd semester students of pbi sanata dharma university of the academic year 2020/2021.the results showed that there are 3 silent consonants that are not supposed to be pronounced but were pronounced by the 2nd semester students. those are silent /l/, /s/ and /b/. the reasons are because of the different language accents, the comprehension of vocabularies, and the inconsistency in english pronunciation. the researcher also collected some additional information about the students’ awareness of pronunciation, their familiarity with silent consonants, and their understanding of phonetic transcription. the implication and suggestions are for english language learners, teachers and lecturers, and future researchers to develop the teaching-learning method of pronunciation. keywords: english language learners, phonotactics, pronunciation, silent consonants introduction english pronunciation is inconsistent. it proves in words with silent /gh/, the word brought pronounced /brɔːt/, however, the word drought pronounced /drɑːft/. the reason why english words are inconsistent because english words have been adopted from many languages tat preserve the original words. english words are also hard to predict which makes the second language learner are challenged to learn pronunciation. this research would like to see the second semester students of pbi students after they took pronunciation ii subject and see their awareness of pronunciation. according to umera-okeke (2008), “at the early stage of writing, say as early as the eighteenth century, people did not concern themselves with rules or accepted practices. the general feeling then was as long as the writer’s meaning was mailto:brigitta.rosemarie98@gmail.com1 mailto:veniranda@usd.ac.id mailto:veniranda@usd.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4249 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 350-358 351 understood, spelling did not matter.” (p. 65). from that background, english language learners have a problem in predicting the pronunciation of words, especially for unfamiliar words. inconsistency might also be influenced by the origin of words and phonotactics as the english language was influenced by some other languages from different countries through history (tambunsaribu & simatupang, 2021). this research uses phonotactics as the basic theory to prove the impact of silent consonant in english pronunciation. this research has two research questions; what words with a silent consonant are mispronounced in the 2nd semester students’ pronunciation? and, what difficulties do the students face in pronouncing words with a silent consonant? those research questions are related to the 3 foundation theories, phonotactics, silent consonants, and pronunciation. literature review linguistics and phonology linguistics is the basic theory to learn a language. according to edward finegan (2012), “linguistics can be defined as the systematic inquiry into human language— into its structures and uses and the relationship between them, as well as into its development through history and its acquisition by children and adults. the scope of linguistics includes is language structure and language use.” (p.22). to understand and produce the words correctly, learners should be aware of linguistics in language. as a second language learner, learning l2 is quite challenging because the l1 and l2 sometimes are different. for example, indonesian-english language is very different. it is also the challenge for teachers and learner to learn english with very contrasting background. linguistics has branches from the smallest system to the biggest, such as phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. this research focuses on the phonology system to understand deeper the phonotactics and the silent consonants. according to (roach, 2000), “phonology describes the way sounds function within a given language or across languages, whilst, phonology is about the physical production and perception of the speech sounds” (p. 104). phonology tells that combination of sounds could be an actual word and what combination of sounds could not be an actual word. the position of the sound in the word and the sounds that nearby affect the contrastive consonant and vowels in language and how the pronunciation. phonotactics phonotactics is the study of how phonemes are allowed to combine in a particular language. according to (kivisto-de souza, 2015), “phonotactic awareness in the l2 can be defined as l2 phonological knowledge at the phonotactic domain, including knowledge about the l2 syllable structure, the permissible and impermissible sound combinations, as well as knowledge about their distribution” (p.104). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 350-358 352 through pronunciation, english language learners could analyze the pattern of words and how to pronounce the words, however, english has inconsistency in it. phonotactics also answer the reason why the speakers slip while they pronounce some words sometimes. that is because the pattern of the consonants is not common. silent consonant a silent consonant is a consonant in a particular word that does not correspond to pronounce. the researcher found the historical background of silent consonants which explained by groom (1957) as follows: “attempts to refashion our spelling, to bring certain words into visible relation with the classical tongues, were made under the influence of the renaissance, rime was refashioned in rhyme, to reveal its connection with rhythmus. the form of scissors and scythe is a perversion of the middle english sisours and sithe, due to the erroneous notion that they are connected with the latin scindo. and the spelling island is an equally mistaken alternation of the native iland, due to its imaginary relation with isle and insula” (p. 156-157). so, the expert assumed that silent consonants have been the result to produce the refashion of english spelling. nosiroval and o’ktamove (2021) stated that silent consonants are found in english as well as many french words..strausser and paniza. (2007) says, “there are no rules that we can apply to words with empty letters [;] you just have to use them and remember their spelling.” the researcher collected the list of silent consonants words that have been taken from many sources which were mentioned in llt journal edition, veniranda, (2004, p. 108-110). the researcher also adds a list of silent consonant words and the table of silent /d/ and /ph/ which doesn’t mention yet, and the words have been taken from the internet. the researcher does not mention the silent /r/. it is because silent /r/ is tricky to discuss in the analysis. in certain accents, /r/ is still pronounced, and in the historical non-rhotic consonant, the /r/ is deleted in certain positions. according to giegerich (1992), “a non-rhotic accent is one which does not accept /r/ to occur in syllable rhymes.” (p. 301). the experts found there was some “loss of consonants” which have been rechecked in hornby’s and jones’ dictionaries. wyld (1927) found that many of words are not described as having lost the consonants. for example, friendly, husband, blind, and diamond are listed under “loss of /d/”. other examples, attempts, honest, prospect, wristband, and text are put under “loss of /t/”. however, the researcher still mentioned the words of silent /t/ and /d/, because those are some words that still silent in /t/ and /d/. for example, castle, whistle, ballet, listen, and gourmet, in silent /t/, and wednesday, sandwich, edge, bridge, and gadget, in silent /d/ (p. 211-217). brook (1963) says silent consonants also appeared when there is a double consonant in a word. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 350-358 353 “a consonant may be omitted from a group. the middle consonant of a group of three often disappeared in old english, as in el(n)boga ‘elbow’. the loss of consonant was especially common when the group of three consonants included a double consonant, as sende (earlier *sendde), the original word is sendan means to send; cyste (earlier *cysste), the original word is cyssan means to kiss. a similar loss of middle consonant of a group has often taken place in pronunciation in modern english, although the lost consonant has generally remained in spelling, as in christmas, postman, often” (p. 82). silent consonants become more challenging to be pronounced for english language learners, as also mentioned by dhea (2021), djurayeva (2021) and indrayadi & irawan (2021). according to sedanand et al. (2004), “silent consonant letters constitute one of the problem areas for the pronunciation of english words. to solve some of the problems of the learners, a few spelling sequences containing silent letters are discussed below: a. b is always silent in the spelling sequences mb and bt occurring in the wordfinal position: comb, numb, bomb, limb, debt …. b. d is always silent in the spelling sequence dj: adjective, adjunct, adjacent …. c. g is silent in the spelling sequence gm or gn: phlegm, gnarl, champagne, sign, gnat, gnaw .... d. h is silent in the spelling sequence gh in the word-final position: ghost, ghetto, aghast, ghastly, ah, eh, oh. e. k is always silent in the word-initial spelling sequence kn: kneel, knee, knob, knight, knave, knowledge, knife, knock.” (sedanand & jindal, 2004). pronunciation pronunciation is an act of producing speech sounds. according to cook (1996 as cited in pourhosein gilakjani, 2016), “pronunciation as the production of english sounds”. pronunciation is more than listening and repeating sounds. james (2010) cited in the journal english pronunciation instruction: a literature review, states that some basic levels can be understood by an acceptable pronunciation. “the first level is what the speaker saying is not understandable to people. second, what the speaker is saying can be understandable to people but the speaker’s pronunciation is not acceptable to listen to because he/she has a strange and heavy accent. the last level is people understand the speaker and the speaker’s english is acceptable to listen.” (p. 2). thus, the goal of pronunciation is not to pronounce like natives, but intelligible pronunciation should be the real purpose of oral communication (lascotte, meyers & tarone, 2021). for example, the english language learners should know how to pronounce some similar words (e.g. word and world, correct and collect, right and light) to make sure that the listener could get the message clearer. galante (2021) and pennington (2021 mentioned the purpose of teaching pronunciation is intelligibility and comprehensibility. nikam (2021) mentioned the importance of selecting llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 350-358 354 different vocabulary for different groups of learners when teachers decide to teach pronunciation. research method this research focused on the students’ pronunciation in the consonants that have not to be pronounced but were pronounced by them. in collecting the data, the researcher used survey research through pronunciation test and interview as an instrument. the test and interview were conducted by zoom (teleconference). the researcher tested 42 words from 14 consonant syllables. the respondents were the 2nd semester students of pbi sanata dharma university of academic year 2020/2021. the researcher assumed that the respondents have learned silent letters in pronunciation ii subject. in analyzing the data, the researcher used qualitative research as a method. in pronunciation test, the researcher tested 30 list of words and 5 sentences that consist of 12 hidden silent consonant words. the researcher calculated the total number of respondents divided by the number of total respondents and times 100% to find the percentage results. in the interview, the researcher used qualitative research as a method for processing the data. the researcher asked 5 open ended questions which are related into the second research question. the questions are the difficulties of pronouncing words with silent consonants, the respondents’ confidence in pronouncing words with silent consonant, the importance of pronunciation for english learners, the respondents’ familiarity in silent consonants, and the respondents’ understanding of phonetic transcription. findings and discussion the researcher collected the findings through pronunciation test and interview. the researcher wants to discuss about the words with silent consonants are mispronounced by the 2nd semester students. form the pronunciation test results, there were 1134 recorded words which counted from 42 chosen words which pronounced by 27 respondents. table 1. silent consonant silent consonant accumulation correct incorrect total % total % /gh/ 59 73% 22 27% /b/ 45 56% 36 44% /l/ 42 52% 39 48% /g/ 65 80% 16 20% /t/ 54 67% 27 33% /h/ 79 98% 2 2% /ph/ 53 65% 28 35% /s/ 47 58% 37 46% /k/ 79 98% 2 2% /n/ 79 98% 2 2% /w/ 63 78% 18 22% /d/ 70 86% 11 14% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 350-358 355 /p/ 56 69% 25 31% /c/ 80 99% 1 1% average 62 77% 19 23% the table shows that there were 27% of respondents mispronounced the words in silent /gh/, 44% of respondents mispronounced words with silent /b/, 48% of students mispronounced the words with silent /l/, 20% respondents were mispronounced words with silent /g/, 33% respondents mispronounced words with silent /t/, 2% of respondents mispronounced words with silent /h/, 35% students mispronounced words with silent /ph/, 46% students mispronounced words with silent /s/, 2% of respondents mispronounced words with silent /k/ and /n/, 22% of students mispronounced words with silent /w/, 14% of students were mispronounced the words with silent /d/, 31% of respondents were mispronounced words with silent /p/, and only 1% of respondents were mispronounce words with silent /c/. so, the total is, there were 23% of students mispronounced the words with silent consonants. meanwhile there were 77% students were correctly pronounced the words with silent consonant. answering the first research question, what words with a silent consonant are mispronounced in the 2nd semester students’ pronunciation? the researcher formulated the research problem and the result which produced that there were 3 most silent consonants that highly mispronounced. there are silent /l/, /s/, and /b/. mahapatra (2017) said, “silent letter is an informal term for a letter of the alphabet (or a letter combination) that is usually left unpronounced.” (p.3032). the researcher found some words are not similar between the letters and the pronunciation. it proved when the researcher found that there were some respondents find difficulties in guessing the unfamiliar words or got slip in some words. the interview results, the researcher formulated 5 questions which are related to the research problem, what difficulties do the students face in pronouncing words with a silent consonant? that research problem would be answered from the interview questions: the difficulties of pronouncing words with silent consonants, the respondents’ confidence in pronouncing words with silent consonant, the importance of pronunciation for english learners, the respondents’ familiarity in silent consonants, and the respondents’ understanding of phonetic transcription. the researcher highlighted the respondents’ reasons into 3 big points. first, the difference of first and second language. in the indonesian language, the pronunciation of words is similar to the letters. meanwhile, in english, some words have different letters and pronunciations. that showed the discrepancy from the one to other words. phonotactics theory answered the reason why the respondents slipped which made the speech errors when they pronounce some words. it is also connected to the habit of reading the pattern of the indonesian letters which made them hard to adapt to the english letters’ patterns. furthermore, english seems to have borrowed some words from other languages and the pronunciation might more or less follow the origin of words which shows that english has inconsistency in pronouncing words. second was the respondents’ comprehension of vocabularies. in the interview, the respondents admitted that they found difficulties in words which are rarely to use. in other factors, the researcher belief that there are some words which are inconsistent llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 350-358 356 to be pronounced which make them confused. according to strausser and paniza (2007) on the website silent letters in english, “there are no rules that we can apply to words with empty letters [;] you just to use them and remember their spelling”. that theory and the data collection showed that the 2nd semester students of pbi sanata dharma university were less practicing and exploring vocabularies. last, the researcher summarized the questions of pronunciation, silent consonants, and phonetic transcription in one point. rahmania and mandasari (2021) stated that learning pronunciation needs process and steps to be fluent and understandable. it was a good start that the 2nd semester students of pbi sanata dharma realized that pronunciation was so important. almost all of the respondents were familiar with silent consonants. it was proven when the respondents could mention the words by adding the silent consonants. the respondents who were familiar with silent consonants affirmed that the lecturers taught in semester 1 and 2, and asked them to practice a lot about silent consonants. the researcher also found several students who had motivated to develop their comprehension about pronunciation and silent consonants by themselves. they learned from the textbook, applications of silent consonants, and joining courses outside the class. meanwhile, the other respondents who were unfamiliar with silent consonants admitted that they rarely used some vocabularies and had less practice. conclusion in conclusion, the 77% of the students in pbi sanata dharma university could pronounce silent consonant words correctly. meanwhile, the rest of students found difficulties in language and vocabulary while they pronounced silent consonants. the researcher also found the benefits of understanding pronunciation focusing in silent consonant. for students, pronunciation is an important feature to shape their english skills. for teachers and employers, pronunciation is the main weapon of communication especially in the working world. the researcher recommends the 2nd semester students of pbi sanata dharma to be more aware in pronunciation especially in silent letters. english teachers and lecturers can facilitate students with learning media to improve the student’s speaking skill and they should be the best role model for their students. for the future researchers who are interested in this topic, they might take the topic about silent vowel in pupil’s pronunciation. references dhea, a. (2021). an error analysis of students' pronunciation silent letter at the second semester of english education raden intan state islaamic university of lampung in academic year of 2019/2020 (a doctoral dissertation, universitas islam negeri raden intan lampung). djurayeva, y. a. (2021). enhancing english pronunciation in learning process. academic research in educational sciences, 2 (cspi conference 2), 302-306. finegan, e. (2012). language: its structure and use (6th edition ed.). wadsworth: wadsworth publishing. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 350-358 357 galante, a., piccardo., e. (2021). teaching pronunciation: toward intelligibility and comprehensibility, elt journal. ccab060, https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccab060 giegerich, h. j. (1992). english phonology: an introduction. cambridge: cambridge university press. gilakjani, a. p. (2016). what factors influence the english pronunciation of efl learners? modern journal of language teaching methods (mjltm), 6(2), 314-326. groom, b. (1957). a short history of english words. london: macmillan. hornby, a. s. (1974). oxford advanced learner's dictionary of current english. oxford: oxford university press. indrayadi, t., & irawan, y. (2021). indonesian efl students' difficulties in recognizing english letters. qualitative report, 26(11). james, r. b. (2010). teaching pronunciation gets a bad r.a.p: a framework for teaching pronunciation. hankuk: university of foreign students. jones, d. (1974). english pronouncing dictionary. london: the english languge book society (elbs) and j.m. dent and sons ltd. kivisto-de souza, h. (2015). phonological awareness and pronunciation in a second language. dissertation (ph.d in applied linguistics), 505p. lascotte, d., meyers, c., & tarone, e. (2021). voice and mirroring in sla: topdown pedagogy for l2 pronunciation instruction. relc journal, 52(1), 144154. mahapatra, d. p. (2017). the problem of silent letters in esl teaching and learning. 5(4). retrieved from www.ijcrt.org nikam, s. j. (2021). teaching pronunciation to undergraduate students: an application of questionnaires in phonetic studies. ilkogretim online, 20(5). nosiroval, d., o’ktamove, m. (2021). how to pronounce silent letters in english and french. общество и инновации, 2(4/s), 712-716. journal home page: https://inscience.uz/index.php/socinov/index pennington, m. c. (2021). teaching pronunciation: the state of the art 2021. relc journal, 52(1), 3–21. https://doi.org/10.1177/00336882211002283 rahmania, a. h., & mandasari, b. (2021). students’perception towards the use of joox application to improve students’pronunciation. journal of english language teaching and learning, 2(1), 39-44. roach, p. (2000). english phonetics and phonology. cambridge: cambridge university press. sedanand, k., & jindal, d. v. (2004). a practical course in english pronunciation. phi learning pvt. ltd. retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/silentletter-pronunciation-1692097 silent letters in english: a to z rules, published on sep 7, 2019 by the channel english with max https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtefaeutzhi (retrieved 21 january 2022) silent letters in english from a-z | list of words with silent letters | english pronunciation,published on apr 25, 2018, by the channel 7esl learning english https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kciotbcha-o&t=115s (retrieved 21 january 2022) https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccab060 https://inscience.uz/index.php/socinov/index https://doi.org/10.1177/00336882211002283 https://www.thoughtco.com/silent-letter-pronunciation-1692097 https://www.thoughtco.com/silent-letter-pronunciation-1692097 https://www.youtube.com/channel/ucbugiwfddcyckfjnk55ldmw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtefaeutzhi https://www.youtube.com/channel/ucpdqgxju7hqegbwzliei7zw https://www.youtube.com/channel/ucpdqgxju7hqegbwzliei7zw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kciotbcha-o&t=115s llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 350-358 358 silent letters learn the rules and improve your english pronunciation!, published on mar 9, 2018, by the channel oxford online english https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpo6svboalk (retrieved 21 january 2022) silent letters: useful list of words with silent letters. (2018). retrieved from 7esl: https://7esl.com/silent-letters/ strausser, j., & paniza, j. (2007). painless english for speakers of other languages. barron's. retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/silent-letterpronunciation-1692097 tambunsaribu, g., & simatupang, m. s. (2021). pronunciation problems faced by indonesian college students who learn to speak english. european journal of molecular & clinical medicine, 8(2), 759-766. umera-okeke, n. (2008). spelling and phonetic inconsistencies in english: a problem for learners of english as a foreign/second language. 64-83. veniranda, y., & gunawan, j. (2004). silent consonants in english. llt journal, vol. 7 no. 2, 7(2), 103-121. wyld, h. c. (1927). a short history of english. london: j. murray. https://www.youtube.com/channel/ucnbespp8rykmhuliybudizg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpo6svboalk https://7esl.com/silent-letters/ https://www.thoughtco.com/silent-letter-pronunciation-1692097 https://www.thoughtco.com/silent-letter-pronunciation-1692097 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 671-690 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 671 thirty-two years of corrective feedback in language teaching and learning: a review of the literature rizgar qasim mahmood salahaddin university, erbil, iraq correspondence: rizgar.mahmood@su.edu.krd https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4805 received 22 june 2022; accepted 19 october 2022 abstract corrective feedback has been one of the controversial topics in second language acquisition, l2 learning, and teaching. corrective feedback could be in written or oral forms. much has been written and published on this debatable topic. the purpose of the current study is to review the most cited published articles from 1990 to 2022. reviewing research on cf has several benefits. first, researchers who are interested in investigating cf gain access to a synthesized and chronological review of the topic, and it provides insights to conduct future research on cf from different perspectives and theories. secondly, l2 teachers can gain a clear understanding of cf, and learn about different methods and strategies for providing it to their learners alongside the results and conclusions from the previous studies. finally, it is a readymade review for those who cannot obtain the available studies on cf, and they have the access to refer to the previous studies once they conduct further research on cf. keywords: corrective feedback, grammatical accuracy, l2 learning, writing accuracy introduction the purpose as an efl learner and now efl l2 university instructor, i have got interested in investigating corrective feedback (cf) while i was working on my ma project in the usa. after returning to my teaching career, i taught research writing class and communication (i.e., reading and writing). there, my interest in learning more about cf was increased. i wanted to learn more about how much has been published on cf and what results and conclusions other researchers have reached and found. as i was reading, i thought writing a paper on reviewing previous studies can benefit my knowledge on the topic and those who are also interested in investigating cf. i decided to collect those studies which have been cited the most from the last thirtytwo years. after collecting the studies, i started reviewing them based on some criteria: the context, the participants, the used tools to collect data, the findings, and conclusions. in the final section, i have briefly mentioned the conclusions i have reached and proposed some suggestions for future directions on cf. mailto:rizgar.mahmood@su.edu.krd https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4805 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 671-690 672 theory review of selected articles in this article, i thoroughly review the existing literature on wcf in the last thirty-two years up to 2022. the main reason for providing and reviewing this long history of wcf in the research world is to obtain a very deep and comprehensible understanding. another reason for looking into previous research on wcf is to have a clear direction for future studies. therefore, i have decided to divide this literature based on decades. searching for the available research on wcf, one can collect research on wcf even before the 1990s, but as time passes, as an efl/esl learner, and now, as a second language acquisition researcher, reviewing thirty-two years of research on wcf makes the current study one of the few studies to map out what has been done and found on wcf. theory application corrective feedback: from 1990 to 2000 the ultimate goal of l2 teachers is to help to improve their learners’ writing skills and accuracy. thus, both researchers and teachers have been researching to achieve this goal. here, the first reviewed article was on types of written feedback (wf) on the development of second language writing skills (kepner, 1991). in her study, the researcher conducted the study on spanish intermediate-level participants. the participants received two types of feedback on their written journal entries for eight assignments; message comments and surface error corrections. the results showed that providing the mentioned types of cf neither improved nor enhanced the quality of l2 students’ writing. after some years, truscott (1996) conducted a study entitled “the case against grammar correction in l2 writing classes”. he argued that grammar correction has to be abandoned. although he stated that grammar accuracy is important, he provided evidence from previous research that cf has little or no effect on enhancing learners’ writing abilities. truscott suggested that instead of wcf, “accuracy is improved through extensive experience with the target languageexperience in reading and writing” (p. 34). however, after truscott’s (1996) case against cf, ferris (1999) carried out a study as a response to truscott (1996). she responded to truscott’s statement that “grammar correction has no place in writing courses and should be abandoned” (1996, p. 328) is premature and overly strong” (p.2). she also provided evidence from other studies (e.g., ferris, 1995) that cf can and does help some students’ writing abilities. in the study by ferris (1995), the researcher found that in a semester-long esl composition class, the participants were taught how to identify, prioritize, and correct their errors. the results showed that most of the learners were able to correct their errors successfully. after the published article by ferris (1999), once again, truscott (1999) published another article in response to ferris (1999) because she had rejected truscott’s case against grammar correction. truscott put forward his responses and argument against what ferris (1999) had said in her research. based on the above-reviewed studies, some llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 671-690 673 researchers are advocates for cwf; whereas, some others such as truscott strongly against it. after investigating wcf from one narrow lens without basing it on any theoretical frameworks, nassaji and swain (2000) stepped out further and conducted a study on corrective feedback in l2 from a vygotskian perspective. they investigated whether negotiated help is more effective for the learner’s zone of proximal development (zpd) or randomly provided help. the participants of the study were efl korean learners. the results showed that explicit cf was more effective when the learners were provided with random help. in addition to that, the results also revealed that the help that is provided within the zdp was more effective than the help provided randomly. corrective feedback: from 2001 to 2010 after wcf had been investigated to some extent, from 2001 to 2010, wcf and its types have been researched extensively. ferris and roberts (2001) attempted to examine the degree how which explicit wcf should be given in l2 writing classes. the study was important because research on types of wcf was scarce. in their study, 72 university esl students were observed to investigate their self-edit. the results showed that the two groups who received cf significantly outperformed the no-feedback group. regarding, how much the feedback has to be explicit, two groups received “codes” and the other group “no-codes”, the results showed that there were no significant differences among the groups. hence, we can see that cf worked with esl students when the types of provided cf were selected. in another research, havranek (2002) examined when cf is most likely to succeed. he researched 207 learners with different proficiency levels. the results showed that some factors affect the success of cf, and among those are both situational and linguistic factors play an important role, but one of the most important factors is learners’ contribution to the correction sequence. learners have to be able to correct the error once cf is provided with it. since their responses to each other on the efficacy of wcf, truscott, and ferris have conducted more research on the same topic. in 2004, ferris wrote research on cf and the debates related to it and its current and future position of cf. in her study, ferris outlined the available research on cf and how much they help learners to improve their writing accuracy. in the same study, she believed that more longitudinal studies were necessary because the ones she reviewed were not adequately provided evidence of the usefulness of cf. from 2007 to 2009, several studies have been selected such as (bitchener, 2008; bitchener & knoch, 2008; bitchener & knoch, 2009a; bitchener & knoch, 2009b; ellis, 2008; ellis et al., 2008; ellis, 2009; truscott, 2007; truscott & hsu, 2008; sheen, 2007). in each of these studies, the focus is on the effectiveness of wcf to improve learners’ writing abilities and the types of cf that teachers would provide. for example, in the study by bitchener (2008), he attempted to investigate and gather evidence in support of wcf. after the participants received different types of cf, the results showed that those who received cf had their accuracy outperformed the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 671-690 674 controlled group which did not receive any cf. furthermore, bitchener and knoch (2008) conducted another study on the value of a focused approach to wcf. once again, those students who received wcf performed better than those who did not. this result gave evidence to support the claim (bitchener, 2008) that wcf can be effective in improving learners’ writing accuracy. as mentioned before, the studies from 2007 to 2009 have mostly investigated the types of wcf. for instance, such studies by ellis et al. (2008), sheen (2007), bitchener & knoch (2009a), and bitchener and knoch (2009b), these studies have either focused on direct and focused and unfocused wcf or the contribution of wcf to language development. the results of these studies showed a positive attitude towards wcf as a means to be used for writing accuracy among learners. on the other hand, two important studies were conducted by ellis (2008; 2009); one was on the typology of wcf, and the latter one was on the relationship between cf and teacher development. in his first study ellis (2008) explained different types of cf such as direct, indirect, focused and unfocused, metalinguistic cf, using codes, electronic cf, and reformulation. for each type, ellis has explained with details and examples. in the other study, ellis (2009) provided a comprehensive review and suggestions for how cf can be used for teacher development. for example, he has focused on “(1) whether cf contributes to l2 acquisition, (2) which errors should be corrected, (3) who should do the correcting (the teacher or the learner him/herself), (4) which type of cf is the most effective, and (5) what is the best timing for cf (immediate or delayed)” (p.1) and some pedagogical usages of cf in the classroom. interestingly, the last study that i am reviewing here is by truscott (2007) and truscott and hsu (2008). although all the above-mentioned studies have confirmed that cf has benefits for learners’ accuracy improvement, the study by truscott, (2007) indicated that “we can be 95% confident that if it has any actual benefits, they are very small” (p.255). in addition to that, truscott and hsu (2008) conducted their study to investigate the benefits of cf on learning. the participants were divided into two groups; the first group wrote an in-class essay and revised it in the next class based on the provided feedback (i.e., underlining the errors), but the second group did not receive cf. after the collected data was analyzed, the results showed accuracy improvement. later, the participants were asked to write a new narrative after one week. the results revealed no significant difference between the two groups; rather, they were identical. thus, before moving to review further studies, further investigation is necessary to dive more into the two-fold of cf: as being effective or not effective. in an extensive body of research written and published in 2010, twelve of the most cited studies are reviewed in the current literature. amrhein and nassaji (2010) investigated the preferences of students and teachers towards wcf. both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. the most popular choice (93.9%) among the students and the teachers was mark all errors. the results show that there was a significant difference in the amount of cf between the students and the teachers. most of the teachers thought it is better to mark only the errors that interfere with communication. while the students preferred that teachers mark all major errors. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 671-690 675 regarding the types of feedback, the students preferred explicit cf; that is; teachers correct their students’ errors. on the whole, both teachers and students believed that wcf is a learning tool. not all the studies regarding cf in 2010 were practical ones. for example, ferris (2010) published an article reviewing l2 writing research and cf in second language acquisition (sla), and its intersections and practical applications. in her article, ferris (2010) reviewed previous studies on cf with a section on direct and indirect cf. furthermore; she tackled how cf can be reformed and provided based on a variety of methods. one of the important studies that were published in 2010 was by bitchener and knoch (2010). in their study, the researchers attempted to investigate if written corrective feedback (wcf) can raise the accuracy level of advanced l2 writers. the participants received three types of wcf: linguistic explanation, the indirect circling of errors, written meta-linguistic feedback, and oral form-focused instruction. the results showed significant differences between the treatment groups. they improved their accuracy level after they received wcf. furthermore, santos et al. (2010) investigated two types of wcf: reformulation vs. error correction. the conclusions showed that there was a positive effect of wcf on both noticing and uptake. in a similar study by storch and wigglesworth (2010), the researchers attempted to investigate learners’ processing, uptake, and retention of cf in writing. the participants were asked to work in pairs and compose a text based on a given graph. two types of feedback were provided; either “the form of reformulations (direct feedback) or editing symbols (indirect feedback)” (p.303). the findings suggested that learners’ attitudes, beliefs, and goals alongside cf played an important role in improving writing accuracy. although much research had been published from the 1990s to 2010, more research was published and questioned the effectiveness of cf. for instance, storch (2010) published an article entitled “critical feedback on written corrective feedback research”. in her article, the researcher raised some questions such as “are researchers and l2 writing teachers now any wiser about the efficacy of wcf?” (p.29); the researcher reviewed some articles at that time and concluded that there is a necessity for more robust research. for example, for cf to be more effective, wcf has to be provided in more authentic classrooms where cf can incorporate it with the instructional program. observations from previous studies indicate that researchers have been researching cf (either written corrective feedback or oral corrective feedback) to provide more effective approaches for giving wcf and enhancing learners’ writing abilities or oral communication skills. in three studies (e.g., evans et al., 2010; evans, hartshorn, & allen tuioti, 2010; hartshorn et al., 2010), the researchers examined the nature of wcf. for example, evans, hartshorn, and allen tuioti (2010) attempted to investigate practitioners’ perspectives on wcf. the results presented that wcf is commonly practised by experienced and well-educated practitioners. furthermore, hartshorn et al. (2010) investigated the effects of dynamic cf on learners’ writing accuracy; opposite the results of some previous studies, the results llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 671-690 676 showed that writing fluency and writing complexity were not affected by wcf, but the writing accuracy of the participants was significantly improved. finally, in the study by evans, hartshorn, mccollum, et al. (2010), the researchers provided l2 writing teachers with a paradigm for understanding the wcf. the researchers have attempted to contextualize wcf and illustrated three variables to gain a better understanding of wcf, and they are learner variables (i.e., motivation, learning style, goal, and l1), situational variables (i.e., teacher, physical environment, and socioeconomic conditions), and methodological variables (i.e., instructional design, what is taught, and how it is taught). although much research in 2010 was conducted to investigate written corrective feedback and its types, three studies on oral corrective feedback (ocf) were carried out (e.g., ellis, 2010; sheen, 2010a; sheen, 2010b). ellis (2010) did not investigate the effectiveness of ocf; instead, he proposed a framework based on the previous studies on ocf. whereas, sheen (2010a2010b) investigated whether there are any differences between oral corrective feedback and written corrective feedback on learners’ accurate use of english articles. the results showed that all the groups which received cf significantly performed better than the controlled groups. in her study (sheen, 2010b); the researcher examined the role of oral and written corrective feedback in sla. she mentioned several theories such as cognitive, sociocultural and psychological theories of sla support cf. furthermore, she presented those studies which support the effectiveness of oral cf in l2 learning. finally, she dedicated a section to talk about the types of cf which are the most effective. she reviewed several articles in that regard with their results and conclusions. corrective feedback: from 2011 to 2015 although much research was conducted from 1990 to 2010, from 2011 to 2015 a massive body of research on corrective feedback was published, and i am reviewing some of the most cited ones in this review of the literature. chu (2011) examined teachers’ cf on college students’ oral accuracy, and the results showed that cf had positive effects on learners’ oral accuracy improvement. in another study by ferris et al. (2013) on wcf for individual l2 writers, the participants were asked to write four essays and revise them after receiving wcf (i.e., they were given focused wcf, revision, and one-to-one discussion about errors). the conclusions suggested that teachers have to use more fined-tuned approaches to give wcf. furthermore, ferris (2012) published an important study on wcf in l2 acquisition. in her study, she started with the definition of wcf and provided a timeline of a historical overview of wcf. she, furthermore, provided a table of references regarding students’ errors and teachers’ feedback from 1930 to 2012. afterwards, more studies were conducted on cf and its types. for example, farrokhi and sattarpour (2012) attempted to examine the effects of direct wcf on learners’ grammatical accuracy. the results revealed that focused wcf was more effective than unfocused wcf. similarly, marzban and arabahmadi (2013) investigated dynamic wcf on learners’ accuracy, fluency, and complexity. the results showed that there was a significant difference between the treatment groups and controlled groups, but regarding the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 671-690 677 effect of wcf on writing fluency, the treatment group appeared not to be affected by wcf. regarding the learners’ writing complexity, the results showed that their writing complexity was affected but not significantly. research on cf is circulating mostly around certain topics such as its effects on learners’ writing accuracy, and the effects of certain types of cf on written or oral skills. several studies (e.g., (alimohammadi & nejadansari, 2014; ebadi, 2014; fazilatfar et al., 2014; hosseiny, 2014; jokar & soyoof, 2014; shintani & ellis, 2013) investigated focused and unfocused (i.e., direct or indirect) on learners’ writing accuracy. the results showed that metalinguistic explanation improved explicit knowledge, and the participants’ syntactic and lexical complexity were improved. the conclusions also revealed that explicit cf was more effective to improvement in grammatical levels. in parallel, stefanou and révész (2015) investigated the effectiveness of direct cf in acquiring articles for generic and specific plural references. the results showed that there is an advantage to receiving direct cf. furthermore, frear and chiu (2015) examined the effect of focused and unfocused cf on writing accuracy. the participants were efl university chinese learners of english in the taiwanese context. the results showed that a single episode of indirect feedback is insignificant. in a similar study, kang and han (2015) attempted to examine the effects of wcf on l2 writing accuracy. the conclusions indicated that wcf directs learners to gain greater grammatical accuracy, but some other variables can affect this outcome such as learners’ proficiency, the setting, and the genre of the writing task. much research has been written dealing with either written corrective feedback or oral corrective feedback, but the study by sobhani and tayebipour (2015) investigated the effects of both oral and wcf on learners’ essay writing. the results presented that the three types of cf (i.e., oral: focused and unfocused, wcf: focused) were significantly effective; whereas, unfocused written cf was not that effective. in another study, han and hyland (2015) examined the effects of wcf and learners’ engagement with wcf. the findings suggested that teachers have to understand learners’ backgrounds at a deep level in terms of their beliefs and use wcf strategies carefully. providing corrective feedback mostly has been investigated to find out if it is effective on learners’ writing accuracy such as in paragraphs and essays, but nguyen et al. (2015) examined cf to teach email requests. data was collected from vietnamese efl learners. the results indicated that the treatment group outperformed the controlled group. furthermore, those participants who received meta-pragmatic feedback significantly improved compared with the group which received direct feedback. in addition to that, rummel and bitchener (2015) investigated the effectiveness of wcf on lao learners’ beliefs and uptake. the study took seven weeks with advanced vietnamese learners. the target grammatical feature was the simple past tense. the results indicated that the participants who received wcf improved in using the target structure significantly. also, the results showed that learners’ beliefs impacted the participants’ linguistic accuracy because those who received their preferred wcf types were more successful than those who did not. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 671-690 678 so far, most previous studies on cf have been conducted with learners in classrooms, but an important study by shintani (2015) dealt with the effects of computer-mediated synchronous and asynchronous direct corrective feedback on writing. the results showed that synchronous corrective feedback created an interactive writing process as the oral corrective feedback. both synchronous corrective feedback and asynchronous corrective feedback assisted the learners to notice the errors, but self-correction was more effective and successful. as can be observed, an abundance of research on corrective feedback (cf) in l2 writing has been published by prominent researchers in the field. still, the fundamental question of to what extent wcf, oral cf, and types of cf enhance learners’ writing fluency and accuracy has not been answered. thus, more research has been conducted in different contexts. therefore, it is necessary to review more studies on that controversial topic. corrective feedback: from 2016 to 2022 as observed, corrective feedback has been one of the controversial topics in l2 teaching. more research is published each year to investigate cf. although cf has a very long history (i.e., more than five decades), more research has been published. still, the conclusions and results from previous research indicate that more investigations are needed to investigate cf from different theoretical lenses. atmaca, (2016) investigated teachers' and students’ perceptions towards wcf in an efl context. the results showed no significant differences between the groups, but the results from the open-ended questions revealed some differences. furthermore, the conclusions suggested that teachers should explain their expectations from the beginning of the classes not to make misunderstandings between the teachers and the students. most published studies on wcf are about the effectiveness of wcf and its types. for example, aghajanloo et al. (2016) conducted their study to examine how much teachers’ cf is effective in focusing on some types (i.e., focused direct cf, unfocused direct cf, focused indirect cf, and unfocused indirect cf). the results showed that those participants who received the cf outperformed those who did not. regarding the effective types of cf, the results illustrated that unfocused directive cf has to be the focused type and be used as an important learning tool. although cf research is more focused on wcf, there are studies on oral corrective feedback (ocf). yang (2016) investigated learners’ preferences for wcf concerning their cultural backgrounds and their proficiency levels. the study was carried out in a chinese efl context. the learners were given ocf on “phonological, lexical, grammatical, and pragmatic errors” (p.75). the results suggested that metalinguistic, explicit cf and recast were the most preferred types of cf among the learners. teachers try to utilize effective tools to help their learners to master their language skills. communication is not apart from the important language skills. therefore, corrective feedback can be given on any aspect of learning the target language. for instance, tavakoli and zarrinabadi (2016) attempted to investigate explicit and implicit cf on learners’ willingness to communicate. the participants were iranian efl low-intermediate groups. the results indicated that llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 671-690 679 explicit cf did not influence the participants’’ willingness to communicate, but explicit cf increased the effects. on the whole, explicit cf increased learners’ willingness to communicate and confidence. much research investigated learners’ preferences for cf in different contexts. researchers and l2 teachers believe that understanding learners’ preferences can facilitate teachers in choosing the more effective types of cf upon providing it. chen et al. (2016) published their study to investigate learners’ preferences for wcf in china. quantitative and qualitative data were collected from participants whose proficiency levels were intermediate, advanced-intermediate, and advanced. the results showed that error correction was favourable among the participants, and they wanted comments on content and grammar. overall, the results suggested that wcf is also seen as a valuable learning tool in efl contexts. although much research was published on the benefits of cf and its types, researchers attempt to investigate cf in different countries and contexts to have valid data to give more evidence either against providing cf or in favour of it. for example, park et al. (2016) examined the benefits of indirect cf among korean efl learners. the participants’ proficiency levels were beginner and intermediate, and the results were compared to learners’ prior language exposure. the results showed that learners could self-correct more than a third of their errors. the results also suggested that language teachers have to consider individual learner differences. similarly, tangkiengsirisin and kalra (2016) studied the perfections of thai learners towards direct and indirect wcf. the results showed that the group which received direct cf improved significantly compared to the group which received indirect cf. from the beginning of writing on cf, the focus has been on the utilization of cf to improve learners’ l2 skills (i.e., more on writing and grammatical accuracy), very little has been written on how cf can be used for teacher development. in this regard, lee et al. (2015) conducted a study on teachers’ attempts at feedback innovations in the writing classroom. the study was carried out with two secondary teachers in hong kong. they participated in a writing teacher education course. the results showed that the teachers could not implement the cf fully due to some environmental factors from the school such as inadequate time, and they were not supported by the school. many factors affect language learning such as internal factors and external factors (mahmoudi, 2015), but not much research was conducted on how factors such as writing anxiety and motivation affect learners’ self-evaluation judgment of corrective feedback. in a study by tsao et al. (2017), the researchers investigated how anxiety and motivation predict learners’ judgment of corrective feedback. the results showed that learners were motivated to reach a higher level of their proficiency, and it also showed that (37%) of the participants showed anxiety when trying to learn how to write in english. it is probably true that a bulk of research has been written on cf; therefore, reviewing published articles might make the reviewer see similar studies with the same topic but in different contexts. sermsook et al. (2017) attempted to investigate how teachers’ cf affects learners’ grammatical improvement in an efl context. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 671-690 680 they concluded that, based on previous studies, both direct and indirect cf either written or oral is beneficial for learners. similarly, kurzer (2017) explored dynamic written corrective feedback (dwcf) in improving learners’ writing skills in a multilevel class. the results indicated that dwcf can be used as an effective pedagogical tool in writing classes to improve learners’ linguistic accuracy. on the other hand, the results of the study by tan and manochphinyo (2017) indicated that for subject-verb agreement indirect cf was more effective than direct cf. as mentioned above, it is important to consider learners’ preferences for cf and their beliefs before providing cf. this is also confirmed by the finding in the study by han (2017). the conclusions suggested that when providing feedback, teachers should consider learners’ beliefs because learners’ engagement with cf is dependent on three main factors, namely, “person-related beliefs, task-related beliefs, and strategy-related beliefs” (p.9). not much research investigated the interaction between teachers’ feedback and students’ preferences, but the study by irwin (2018) attempted to examine the types of relations between the teachers' cf and learners’ preferences. the results showed that the teacher was the main source of addressing the learners’ preferences. it also indicated that upon providing cf, the teacher was mostly the centre of the class, not the learners. the conclusions suggested that teachers must consider their learners’ preferences when giving cf. researchers and l2 teachers have been investigating to find effective strategies to provide feedback; direct/focused and indirect/unfocused, comments, metalinguistic feedback, using codes, and many more. this way of research has been going on for more than four decades. still, more and more research is published each month with either similar results/conclusions or vice versa. several studies (e.g., karim & nassaji, 2018; tang and liu (2018; benson & dekeyser, 2018) attempted to investigate different types of feedback (i.e., indirect coded cf, direct and indirect comprehensive cf, metalinguistic cf) with l2 learners to check their writing accuracy. all in all, the results and conclusions revealed that learners’ writing accuracy was improved significantly. furthermore, zheng and yu (2018) examined wcf with lower-level chinese learners, and how much they engage with the process. the results showed a positive engagement, but it does not help the learners to improve their writing accuracy. in a similar study, han (2019) investigated some factors that help learners to engage with wcf. the analyzed data were collected from students’ writing, verbal reports, interviews, field notes, and class documents. the results showed that the students perceived cf as an opportunity for the learning process and to enhance learners’ engagement with wcf. with circumstances changing, l2 teaching methodology might also change to be more suitable for learners and teaching atmospheres. in 2019 due to the spreading of covid-19, most of the teaching classes were offered online or in a blended way. it was the time that sarré et al. (2019) conducted a study to investigate the impact of different types of cf to enhance learners’ writing accuracy in an experimental blended learning efl course. the study was carried out in france. the participants were asked to write several pieces of writing with a controlled group with no given llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 671-690 681 feedback. the participants received unfocused indirect feedback with metalinguistic comments. computer assistance was also used. based on analyzed data, the results showed that the groups which received the cf performed better than the group with no feedback. throughout the history of l2 teaching, much has been written on cf (i.e., written or oral). researchers have been investigating the issues, effectiveness, benefits, the disadvantages of wcf in different countries and contexts. l2 teachers wonder how much cf has to be provided: more is better or less. recently, lee (2019) published a study entitled “teacher written corrective feedback: less is more”. in her paper, the researcher argues that “more written corrective feedback is not better, but instead less is more” (p.1). the researcher argues that comprehensive written corrective feedback (cwcf) is problematic for both teachers and students. she believes that it takes too much time and hinders the teachers to focus on other important issues in writing, such as context, organization, and genre. furthermore, providing feedback to a pile of students’ writing papers affects the teacher emotionally and psychologically, and sometimes, teachers have to be rash to give feedback. the teacher might give illegible and inaccurate wcf. then, what is worse than that when the students cannot understand teachers’ feedback? furthermore, giving too much feedback and selecting students’ errors with red ink is overwhelming, and it confuses and discourages students to improve and utilize the given feedback. therefore, based on the illustrated reasons, lee (2019) believes that less feedback is more effective. one of the main factors for providing cf is to increase learners’ oral or written accuracy. researchers are interested in investigating cf for the improvement of grammatical accuracy. boggs (2019) and kim and emeliyanova (2019) attempted to investigate the role of cf in increasing learners’ grammatical accuracy. the data was collected (i.e., survey and interviews, timed writing essays) among korean efl university learners in academic english writing classes, and intermediate-level english learners enrolled in an intensive english program in the usa. the findings showed that the groups which received the feedback increased in grammatical accuracy compared to the controlled group, but through giving metalinguistic reflections, the results revealed no significant grammatical accuracy among the treatment groups. research (e.g., lee, 2019) showed that cf might affect teachers' and learners’’ psychological and emotional aspects. thus, it is crucial to understand how cf works on other parts of the mind such as the working memory of learners. in this regard, li and roshan (2019) conducted a study on the relationship between working memory and the effects of four types of wcf (i.e., direct corrective feedback, direct corrective feedback plus revision, metalinguistic explanation, and metalinguistic explanation plus revision). the participants were asked to write three writing tasks and took two working memory tests. the results showed that there is a relation between the complexities of working memory with the effects of metalinguistic corrective feedback, whereas; there was a negative predictor of the effect of direct feedback on short-term memory. in another study by mao and crosthwaite (2019), llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 671-690 682 the researchers examined (mis)beliefs of teachers in practising wcf. the researchers collected data from five chinese teachers to investigate how much their cf practice aligns with their beliefs. the results indicated that there was an alignment between giving wcf and teachers’ beliefs. the participants also commented that they believed that they had given more indirect feedback in the class compared to the amount of feedback on learners’ writing papers. they also expressed some other issues such as time constraints and the amount of workload they had misaligned with their beliefs towards wcf practice. however, the study by eckstein et al. (2020) was conducted on the effects of dynamic wcf and feedback timing on graduate students. the researchers investigated how the given feedback impacts grammatical accuracy and lexical complexity. the results showed that neither providing timing feedback nor late feedback influences students’’ writing accuracy, but timely feedback influenced the participants’ writing fluency and writing complexity. the controversy of providing cf is still a hot topic among researchers and l2 teachers. for that reason, conducting more research is a way to find more evidence on cf. generally, learners receive feedback either too much or less, but how much it enhances their writing skills and accuracy. the crucial point is how much they use the feedback they receive from their teachers. does asking them to work and use the given cf help them to reach improvement? in this regard, ekanayaka and ellis (2020) conducted a study to investigate the add-on effect of asking learners to revise upon receiving cf. the participants were efl students in sri lanka. they were asked to compose three writing tasks. the results showed that the group which received cf improved their writing accuracy. on the whole, whether having a chance to revise the writing task or not, receiving feedback assists learners in improving their writing skills. an interesting study (e.g., kartchava & mohamed, 2020) was conducted to investigate the use of gestures in corrective feedback. the data was collected by observation and interview, and the participants were two english for academic purposes (eap). after the data collection, the teachers watched short extracts from their lessons. they were asked about the reasons and motivations behind the use of their gestures in class. the results showed that eap teachers actively used gestures while providing cf. furthermore, the justification for using gestures was facilitating the role of cf in learning. to review the published research from 2021 to 2022, i have tried to review the studies which have the most citations. for this purpose, a selective group of research has been reviewed. as observed above, cf has been researched extensively. yet, more research investigating the same or little difference is available. cao (2021) investigated the effects of wcf on young learners’ writing accuracy. once again, the participants were chinese efl learners. the participants received as they were asked to describe a picture and blank-filling task. wcf types were provided (i.e., direct corrective feedback and metalinguistic cf). the result showed a positive effect of cf on the learners, but the result was not significant in the delayed post-test. regarding, the direct and metalinguistic cf, the results showed that they were statistically effective and significant in both tests. in a similar study, bozorgian and yazdani (2021) conducted their study on iranian efl learners. they received llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 671-690 683 different types of wcf (i.e., direct only, and direct with metalinguistic explanation). overall, the results showed a positive effect of cf, and learners’ writing accuracy was improved (see cheng & zhang, 2021). furthermore, mahmood (2021) investigated the effects of wcf and its types on university kurdish efl learners. they received explicit and implicit wcf. the results revealed that the participants were not fully aware of the benefits of wcf, and regarding the preferred types of wcf, the results showed that the participants were in favour of both types (i.e., explicit and implicit). on the other hand, zhang and hyland (2022) investigated the effects of three types of wcf, namely, automated, peer, and teacher feedback. the researchers wanted to examine the level of engagement. the results showed that the students actively engaged with the three types of cf; the provided cf encouraged the learners to be more motivated on revising their writing tasks. conclusion discussion, limitations, and future directions as read from the existing literature throughout decades, corrective feedback has always occupied a corner in the area of l2 research and teaching. to answer the first inquiry; where have we reached? i believe that we as researchers and l2 instructors are in a loop, that is, like a pendulum; we are coming back and forth. research has investigated the effectiveness of cf and its types available in the 1990s, 2000s, and up to 2020s. results showed that cf can be beneficial or provide no significant effect on l2 learners, no matter what or where the context is. therefore, i firmly believe that not much has changed or reformed from the beginning of researching cf to the current time. when i say limitations, i do not mean limitations for not being able to find previous articles or sources. i mean by “limitations” those factors that affect researching cf and the factors which influence the results and conclusions of cf. several factors can be mentioned such as time constraints, teachers’ lack of knowledge on the usages of cf, focusing cf from one angle and not looking into it from different perspectives such as looking at a diamond from all sides, the school or institute authority on teachers to demand them completing the selected curriculum and class materials, a large number of students/learners in classrooms, psychological and sociological factors on both teachers and learners, and lack of teaching facilities in some contexts, especially, efl contexts. i believe that considering the above factors while conducting and investigating cf can provide more accurate, reliable, and beneficial outcomes for researchers and l2 teachers on a variety of more effective strategies upon giving cf. conducting research on cf following previous titles might not take cf scope into any different circumstances. i believe cf has to be incorporated into teaching material alongside textbooks and supplemental materials. what i mean is to train l2 teachers and learners to understand the hidden power of cf and how cf can be used as a “game-changer” in teaching l2 because games such as chess have been the main analogy for human language (aitchison, 2004). therefore, future research could be on examining cf from the perspective of a variety of theories such as sociocultural llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 671-690 684 theory, activity theory, cognitive theory, or to carve out a new model for providing corrective feedback (i.e., currently, i am working on one). furthermore, cf is not bounded to one or two language skills (such as writing and grammatical accuracy). all the macro and micro-skills (i.e., pronunciation, listening, reading, even teacher education and teacher development) of the target language can be incorporated with cf and investigate how cf works on them. references aghajanloo, k., mobini, f., & khosravi, r. 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accepted 9 may 2022 abstract blended learning requires digital technology transformation for lecturers and students, up-to-date teaching methods, flexible learning processes, the effectiveness of time, space, budget, learning motivation, learning autonomy, all of which contribute to improving student learning achievement. however, current empirical research results do not support the claim that blended learning improves students' english proficiency and learning autonomy. evidence shows that the blended learning has an effect on students' english competence, learning autonomy, motivation, and ict literacy. for this article, the effect of blended learning in esl/efl was investigated and defined. this study is a quantitative explanatory research type with a pre-test and post-test design. the research participants were 198 students from the department of primary school teacher education, universitas katolik indonesia santu paulus ruteng. seventy-four participants were chosen as samples using a random sampling method. data was taken by test and non-test, and data was then analysed by a software program called spss 22.0. twelve blended learning sessions, including six sessions in face-to-face settings and six sessions, are done virtually through the zoom application. the results show that blended learning strengthens english student competence (the mean score on the post-test = 82.57), learning autonomy (88.57%), learning motivation (80%), and ict literacy (71.43%). keywords: blended learning, efl, english course, esl, teaching introduction students still need the assistance of all stakeholders in the learning process. through this learning process, academic achievement and humanistic values are continually strengthened for enhancing students’ better bright future. educators are continuously expected to display creative learning approaches in promoting academic and non-academic outcomes for students. this concept is in line with the main task, namely, educating, teaching, guiding, directing, training, assessing, and evaluating students' learning progress in each academic unit (makovec, 2018; syarifuddin, 2015; www.jdih.kemenkeu.go.id, 2005). the educator's main task is to facilitate the teacher to display four competencies inherent in the teaching profession, namely pedagogical mailto:sebastian.pradana@gmail.com mailto:ronybarera@yahoo.co.id mailto:sebastian.pradana@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4159 http://www.jdih.kemenkeu.go.id/ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 132-148 133 competence, personality, social competence, and professional competence. professional competence reflects the mastery of teaching material comprehensively, including its assessment. pedagogical competence, which focuses on educators' ability to apply pedagogical knowledge in teaching. social competence highlights encouraging students to become character persons who can live in harmony with others (bautista & ortega-ruíz, 2015; beijaard, meijer, & verloop, 2004). these four competencies are the key factors that lead to excellence in educational values and students' character (hindun et al., 2020; juniantari, dewi, & devi, 2017). all education stakeholders do not expect stagnation in a learning process; instead, they want all students to excel and become individuals who excel in every area of life. teachers are continually encouraged to present innovative english learning methods that are appropriate to meet student achievement goals (darong., 2021). the learning method innovation is an adaptive and solution step from the english teacher to support each competency's learning outcomes (intarapanich, 2012; lakshmi, devi, & aparna, 2020; munzaki, suadah, & risdaneva, 2016). these learning methods are mostly in line with student learning styles and modern digital technology advancement. teachers mainly consider three types of student learning styles in implementing learning methods: visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic learning styles (awla, 2014; gilakjani, 2012; widayanti, 2013). visual learning styles rely solely on visual abilities, auditory focuses on hearing, and kinaesthetic expects direct demonstrations to understand the issue. learning interactions are very often adapted to the demands of developments in digital technology. the result of this technology has driven the presence of a digital-based learning paradigm. this paradigm transforms the perspective and methodology of learning, giving students the largest possible space to access information sources individually, without time and space limitations (al-maqtri, 2014; arkorful & abaidoo, 2014; mathew, sreehari, & al-rubaat, 2019). digital-based learning is an ideal option for learning english today. learners are central to the learning process, a source of knowledge information, greater accessibility, and improved digital skills (cai, 2012; kim, 2014; menggo, midun, & pandor, 2021). based on this argument, blended learning is an excellent solution as it can accommodate variations of student learning styles and the demands of advancing digital technology. in reality, blended learning is evolving in line with advancements in information technology, computers, audio, audio-visual, and mobile learning. it emerges as a form of constructive criticism of the monotony of students whose learning process is still conventional, that is, face-to-face in classrooms. however, this conventional learning is still required in the development of a student's affection. in addition, blended learning is a learning innovation that adapts to shifting patterns of human interaction and the advancement of information, communication, and technology (ict) (abdullah, 2018; zhang & zhu, 2017). blended learning provides a range of benefits that contribute to the innovation of teaching methods and improvements in student learning patterns. the strengths of blended learning include improving the digital literacy skills of lecturers and students, composing content of teaching materials that are in line with current standards, unlimited sources of information, responsible and enthusiastic students, accommodating differences in educational learning styles llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 132-148 134 and flexibility in space and time (jeffrey, milne, suddaby, & higgins, 2014; khan, qayyum, shaik, ali, & bebi, 2012). this advantage can promote the improvement of students’ academic and non-academic achievements. in the context of studying english as a second language (esl) or a foreign language (efl), it is also proven and the use of blended learning may enhance students' english proficiency (damayanti & sari, 2017; ginaya, rejeki, & astuti, 2018). these researchers explain that the implementation of blended learning in english courses could boost language and non-language skills. the english language skills referred to include listening, speaking, reading, and writing, while non-language skills are related to a more engaging and meaningful classroom atmosphere, strengthening students' critical thinking skills and developing students' digital literacy skills. indeed, problem-solving is one of the requirements of 21st-century education. educators aim to teach critical thinking, communication, and collaboration among students to help students manage the challenges of competing in an increasingly complex world (ndiung, sariyasa, jehadus, & apsari, 2021; zubaidah, fuad, mahanal, & suarsini, 2017). critical thinking skills enable students to use complex thinking systems in interaction, make correct decisions, and overcome several problems in the learning process (kızıltoprak & köse, 2017; runisah, herman, & dahlan, 2016). however, it does not mean that blended learning does not encounter a number of challenges in its application. lecturer digital skills, understanding the substance of blended learning, student initiative, policies for implementing blended learning by the government or university management, and the availability of information, communication, and technology infrastructure are issues that are urgently addressed by all higher education stakeholders (apandi & raman, 2020; daud & ghani, 2019). the data findings from the above studies focus on the effect of applying blended learning to certain language skills or language components. latest empirical studies have not confirmed the study data related to the effect of blended learning on the improvement of integrative english language skills and the challenges of implementing blended learning at certain educational levels. this gap prompted researchers to undertake this study. learning english for non-english students department in the indonesian context is still integrative, namely the introduction of english learning geared towards achieving four language skills, namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing. the achievement of these basics english skills must be supported by the knowledge of language components, such as pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. in order to achieve these integrated english language skills, students are expected to acquire four skills and three language components in a reasonable manner (masson, 2013; menggo, 2021; sadiku, 2015). for these demands, it is necessary to innovate teaching methods, such as blended learning. referring to the descriptions, research findings, and gaps above, the analysis of the effect of blended learning in english courses is quite interesting to study. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 132-148 135 review of literature concept of blended learning and ict literacy blended learning is a technique that many educational practitioners have recently explored due to the adaptation of a massive digital transformation in the learning process amid the covid-19 pandemic. digital technology empowers english-language lecturers to continue learning in circumstances of covid-19 spread. in reality, blended learning is also known as a hybrid learning concept that combines face-to-face learning with online learning. however, several researchers have recently changed the term blended learning. blended means a mix or combination, while learning is instruction. thus, blended learning is a learning activity that combines or combines face-to-face learning and online learning (colis & moonen, 2001; graham, 2006). other experts define blended learning as not a combination of two pure methods. blended learning is only a combination of student-centred learning methods and online education as a supplement to face-to-face learning, not a full learning approach (garrison & vaughan, 2008). moreover, stracke (2007) explained that blended learning is a method used by utilizing advances in computer technology in a learning process. face-to-face meetings are considered conventional learning since learning activities take place directly in the classroom. in contrast, online learning takes place outside the school with the use of advancements in digital technology. the combination of these two learning concepts can be shown in figure 1 below. + = figure 1. a conceptual model of blended learning (adapted from graham, 2006) figure 1 confirms that blended learning allows lecturers to learn in two different forms, i.e. offline or face-to-face learning in the classroom and online learning or face-to-face learning in cyberspace. english lecturers are challenged to understand blended learning, so there is no stagnation in the implementation process. blended learning is closely linked to the digital literacy skills of lecturers and students since it is in line with the demands of industrial revolution 4.0. digital literacy skills, including information literacy, media, and information and communication technology literacy (trilling & fadel, 2009, p. 45). information literacy is the ability of students to access information accurately (sources of information) and efficiently (in time), assess information before forwarding it to others (bury, craig, & shujah, 2017; nizam, musa, & wahi, 2010). media literacy is linked to students being able to choose and expand media to help them communicate effectively. moreover, ict literacy can evaluate and identify digital media suitable for english learning (bahadorfar & omidvar, 2014). as part of this review, it only addresses digital media in education, specifically the zoom application. ict has played a vital role in the english teaching context. ict offers endless solutions for online learning blended learning face-to-face learning llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 132-148 136 learners and educators to access authentic resources to assist their english learning outcomes. several digital technology media can be used in enhancing english competence, namely zoom, skype, youtube, and many more (hariry, 2015; hennessy, ruthven, & brindley, 2005). blended learning in esl/efl class the characteristics of blended learning should be entirely comprehended by the lecturers so that there is no stagnation in its implementation. the attributes of blended learning include: (1) lecturers are capable of carrying out the learning process in two modes, lecture directly in the classroom as well as provide additional explanations through online learning; (2) instruction can be done faceto-face learning and online learning; (3) students are offered two forms of learning (offline and online); (4) lecturers are already competent in two different modes of the learning process; (5) students are taught in advance about the use of such applications in online learning; (6) the availability of ict infrastructure in educational institutions; and (7) student-centred learning processes (medina, 2018; lalima & dangwal, 2017). these characteristics highlight that blended learning cannot be carried out holistically at all levels of education based on various arguments. in other words, blended learning has several requirements in its implementation, such as the ability of lecturers to apply two learning models; the motivation of lecturers to adapt to advances in digital technology; the availability of ict equipment owned by universities, lecturers and students; the willingness of students to accept the burden of the two models; as well as a flexible schedule of learning activities (albiladi & alshareef, 2019; ma'arop & embi, 2016). this prerequisite is not that complicated if there is a common commitment between stakeholders to execute it. as a result of this commitment, until now (especially in the situation of the covid19 pandemic), blended learning has become the dominant learning method applied at all levels of education, including higher education. using blended learning has multiple benefits, all of which lead to student language acquisition and affective values (adas & bakir, 2013; ghazizadeh & fatemipour, 2017; sheerah, 2020; shivam & singh, 2015). researchers argue that (1) enhancing the digital literacy skills of lecturers and students; (2) students have two knowledge transformation spaces (offline and online); (3) promoting increased student affective values (learning motivation, responsibility, discipline and autonomy); (4) up-to-date teaching material; and (5) students can practice communicating in english with native english speakers from various countries. those benefits are a positive influence of blended learning in english as a second language (esl) or a foreign language (efl) class. these advantages encourage english lecturers to pay careful attention to implementing blended learning in their educational process. a variety of steps may well be implemented by a lecturer in the implementation of blended learning, as follows: 1. discuss with students the concept of blended learning. 2. discuss with students the types of applications used in online learning. 3. negotiate with students on the amount of classroom meetings and online learning sessions. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 132-148 137 4. communicate with students to set a timetable for classroom instruction and online learning. 5. determine which materials used in classroom learning and online learning. 6. define the material content of each language skill taught in classroom setting and online learning. 7. compromise on the roles of lecturers and students for classroom instruction and online instruction. 8. decide the form of assessment to be carried out in accordance with the objective of each language skill learned. a number of advantages above encourage lecturers to apply blended learning in esl / efl classes. the efl is known, english as a foreign language, and the esl is referred to as english as a second language. before determining between efl and esl, it is necessary that there are distinctions between the foreign language and the second language. in the sense of studying the language, efl belongs to all those who study english in non-english speaking countries, and esl references all who learn english in countries where english is used as an everyday form of communication and is officially used (harmer, 2007; peng, 2019). the data in this study were taken from the efl context but still contributed to the esl perspective. method research type this study is a quantitative explanatory method of research with a pre-test and post-test design. this design was employed because the authors involved two different subject groups and compared the effect of the implementation of a particular learning method (cohen, manion, & morrison, 2007, p. 276). in the context of this research, the researchers explored the effect of blended learning in two research groups. these two groups were randomly chosen from six classes, one as an experimental group and one as a control group (bungin, 2005, p. 127). population and sample the study population was 198 first-year participants from six classes who participated in english subjects at the elementary educational program, universitas katolik indonesia santu paulus ruteng. a random sampling technique was used to choose 74 students (two classes) as samples from the total population. research instruments the test is used to assess the english competence of the respondents. the test referred to refers to the concept of a test developed by brown (2004, p.118), which accommodates four basic english skills. each skill has a maximum score of 25 and a minimum score of 5. the final score is the accumulation of four basic english skills. thus, each respondent receives a maximum score of 100 and a minimum score of 25. whereas, non-test in the form of a questionnaire created in google form. this instrument aims to determine students' perceptions of the implementation of blended learning for 12 meetings, namely six times for face-to-face learning and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 132-148 138 six times for virtually meetings through the zoom application. non-test in the form of a questionnaire created in google form. this instrument aims to determine students' perceptions of the implementation of blended learning for 12 meetings, namely six times for face-to-face learning and six times for virtual meetings through the zoom application. the authors created all of the questionnaire items and then validated for accuracy and constructed validity by three experts from universitas katolik indonesia santu paulus ruteng upon being administered to the participants. the questionnaire had 15 items in the form of a closed-ended question and used a five-point likert scale-a higher score reflecting strong relationships. the scale ran from 1 to5, with 1 suggesting strong dissatisfaction and 5 indicating strong satisfaction. analysis of data the data were examined by the t-test, which was followed by the assumption test, which included the normality test and the variance homogeneity test, using the spss 22.0. these data are then interpreted and narrated by the researchers. findings in this part, the researchers focus only on the presentation of data from two research classes, both in the experimental class and in the control class, as well as data related to respondents' perceptions of the implementation of blended learning. the data from the two classes pointed to are described in detail in the tables and charts given. table1. average scores of pre-tests class n mean median sd variance min max experimental 37 63.64 65 7.03 49.51 50 75 control 37 62.70 60 6.19 38.32 50 75 table 1 above shows that the two research classes are equivalent since the mean scores are almost the same, or there is no significant difference. the normality test results and the variance analysis confirmed the experimental group (p = .083) and the control group (p = .072). the data seem to be normally distributed based on these results. the variance homogeneity test (p = .359) shows that the two classes in this analysis have a homogeneity variant. blended learning is used for twelve meetings; six face-to-face learning sessions and six online sessions are conducted using the zoom application. this division is based on an agreement at the beginning of the lecture between the lecturer and participants. after that, a post-test was administered. in table 2, the results of the post-test can be found. table 2. post-test results class n mean median modus sd variance range min max experimental 37 82.57 85 90 6.83 46.69 25 65 90 control 37 77.83 80 75 6.29 39.63 25 65 90 the data in table 2 were checked for normality and variance homogeneity. researchers used the kolmogorov-smirnov test for data normality testing. the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 132-148 139 significance value for the experimental and control groups' english competence is p = .167, ns and p = .084, ns, which indicates that the population sample data is normally distributed. the data homogeneity test findings reveal a significance value of p =.347, assuming that the classes are synonymous. furthermore, the hypothesis is tested using the t-test. the use of blended learning in english courses, first-year students in the primary school teacher education study program, universitas katolik indonesia santu paulus ruteng, positively affected the experimental class. this argument is evidenced by the difference in the mean scores of the two groups on the post-test. table 3. gain score results class n score ideal min max average experimental 37 100 0.29 0.75 0.35 control 37 100 0.13 0.75 0.27 it can be shown in table 3 that the findings of the experiment were better than those of the control group. the comparison between the two groups can be represented in diagram 1 below. figure 2. average result of gain score the results of the average gain score have been verified by t-tests. the result of the t-test shows that tob = 19.00, while tcv = 1.684. based on the predetermined criteria, these results indicate that blended learning has an effect on english competence. the implementation of blended learning also has an impact on students' positive perceptions regarding learning autonomy, learning motivation, and increasing ict literacy. each of these points can be illustrated in diagram 2 below. figure 3. students’ perception llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 132-148 140 discussion blended learning affects improving the english language skills of first-year students majoring in primary school teacher education, universitas katolik indonesia santu paulus ruteng (table 2). this finding affirms a number of previous researchers that blended learning can improve students' listening and speaking skills (ehsanifard, ghapanchi, & afsharrad, 2020; rahmawati, 2019; sholihah, permadi, & umamah, 2018). additionally, these researchers claim that the use of blended learning not only has an effect on improving listening and speaking skills but also other learning components that can enhance student learning progress, such as a more interactive and meaningful classroom atmosphere, exercises listening and speaking independently, increasing learning motivation, and improving students' ict literacy. in learning english as a second language or a foreign language, listening and speaking skills play an important role in real interactions. speaking is the ability to convey thoughts, concepts, or views orally (harmer, 2007; larsen-freeman, 2003), while listening is a skill that not only listens but also understands, interprets, and responds to the utterances it hears (lindsay & knight, 2006; yavuz & celik, 2017). students are more careful in understanding the text and discourse contents in a number of texts being taught. reading comprehension is a skill that cannot be removed in learning english, and blended learning can facilitate students' reading comprehension (lamri & hamzaoui, 2018; rahman & iwan, 2019; rombot, boeriswati, & suparman, 2020). these researchers highlight that blended learning promotes students to understand the contents of different forms of reading text. this positive effect is affected by blended learning, which has flexible learning times, digital and non-digital texts, and utilizes relevant digital media to understand certain texts' content fully. paragraph writing is the main focus of writing skills in the english courses of this study. students are instructed to be able to develop three types of paragraph writing, such as narrative, descriptive, and persuasive. with blended learning, students can meet the accuracy of several assessment aspects for paragraph writing, such as ideas organization, structure, word choice, and mechanics (alghammas, 2020; mabuan & ebron, 2017; suastra & menggo, 2020). the use of blended learning has been proven to improve writing skills in previous research (altameemy, alrefaee, & alalwi, 2020; muhtia, suparno, & sumardi, 2018). they claim that blended learning encourages students to recognize and create paragraph writing that is suitable for writing skills assessment rubrics. the use of blended learning is proven to be able to boost students' language skills. the four languages skills must be owned proportionally by students, and therefore lecturers are expected to be able to integrate them into a learning process (ristati et al., 2019; umar, 2021). harmer (2007) also highlighted that students' english competence is assessed by four language skills and is supported by three language components (grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation). language skills and language components should be taught in an integrated way, not separately. this definition is in line with the assessment of the english language skills of students who are not majoring in english, which should be carried out in an integrative way for the four basic english skills (brown, 2004, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 132-148 141 p.118; mckay, 2006). this integrated assessment is in line with english competence measurement for students majoring in primary school teacher education in indonesia (kemenristekdikti, 2012). data also indicate that the implementation of blended learning for the students of first-year at the primary school teacher education department has a positive impact on increasing learning autonomy (88.57%), learning motivation (80%), and ict literacy (71.43%). these results are consistent with previous research, which found that implementing blended english learning improves both language and non-language skills, such as learning autonomy, learning motivation, and increasing ict digital literacy (derlina et al., 2020; nguyen et al., 2018; pardede, 2012; sari, rahayu, apriliandari, & sulisworo, 2018). autonomy and motivation are two variables that contribute to student learning success. these two variables are internal factors that allow students to change their learning patterns to achieve the expected learning targets (phuong & vo, 2019; üstünlüoglu, 2009). motivation is an essential attribute for learning english because it maximises students' learning effort and responsibility (al qahtani, 2013; long, ming, & chen, 2013; hong & ganapathy, 2017). students' motivation should be taken into consideration in the teaching process. the learners are likely to have a strong encouragement for learning english, practising english independently, and being capable of critical thinkers (al-tamimi & shuib, 2009; anjomshoa & sadighi, 2015). learning autonomy is also one of the implications for the use of blended learning. students are regularly motivated to pursue the concept of independent learning in their fields actively. by having excellent learning autonomy, students can monitor and evaluate their learning outcomes. students who have a high level of learning autonomy will try to complete tasks or assignments by relying on them according to their abilities. thus, autonomous learning can be understood as learning practices based on motivation, preference, and responsibility to learn (haris, 2011; reinders, 2010). ict skills are also one of the issues that contribute to the orientation of 21stcentury education (bahadorfar & omidvar, 2014; menggo, suastra, budiarsa, & padmadewi, 2019). ict literacy is students' ability to analyze and select the types of digital technology media applicable to help english learning outcomes. a variety of digital technology media in promoting english competence is zoom, whatsapp, electronic dictionary, skype, podcast, youtube, webex, and many more (bicen & kocakoyun, 2013; koo, 2016; mubarak, wahdah, ilmiani, & hamidah, 2020). these modern technological platforms are much more fun and engaging, promoting student participation and learning in a meaningful way. additionally, these resources foster and facilitate student autonomy, particularly on using the zoom application. ict literacy is a skill that cannot be removed in blended learning. this skill assistance can ensure students' english competency, learning motivation, initiative, learning autonomy, and flexibility in implementation (abbasova & mammadova, 2019). as gaballo (2019) noted, the role of ict literacy is crucial to the achievement of english language learning. ict literacy is the current language learning trend, both educators and students (hockly & dudeney, 2018). they claimed that digital media is very flexible, cost-effective, useable, and accessible to all stakeholders. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 132-148 142 conclusion and implication this study focuses on the effect of blended learning in the english course of students majoring in primary school teacher education. relating to the effects of current data analysis, the researchers can conclude that blended learning positively affects students' english language skills. additionally, blended learning also contributes to learning autonomy, motivation, and increasing students' ict literacy. blended learning is applied in twelve meetings, consisting of six face-toface learning sessions and six online learning sessions using zoom. although these findings are limited to english courses for first-year students majoring in primary school teacher education, blended learning to other subjects is not excluded. it is recommended that lecturers apply this method by considering ict infrastructure availability at their educational institutions. educational institutions are responsible for students' knowledge, english skills, and humanistic values to ensure that they meet super-complicated global competition. educational institutions have an important place in transforming character education, knowledge and skills, and digital literacy for the broader society's life. the rapid advancement of technology provides extensive opportunities for all individuals to access various information, knowledge, and skills so that digital literacy mastery is a mandatory choice for students. acknowledgements thanks to the rector of the universitas katolik indonesia santu paulus ruteng, who facilitated this research. references abbasova, m., & mammadova, n. 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2022; accepted 18 may 2022 abstract many researchers have examined the implementation of the promotion method toward the agency principle of multicultural theory. however, little has examined the corrective feedback in promoting the tenet. given the corrective feedback, the learner will be less used of their reflective thinking to promote themselves as an agent. therefore, this study aimed to promote learners' agency by eliminating the corrective feedback in writing class and encouraging learners' reflective thinking. three non-formal intermediate learners writing ability is analyzed in this study. the material given was following the syllabus of the course which is expressing of obligation and prohibition. there were three tasks given in this class. the first task is an individual project, the second is a group project, and the third is an individual project. after the learner finished the task the researcher analyzed the learner's writing improvement by analyzing the frequency and the variation of the lexical used and the grammar detail. using primary trait scoring, the findings pointed out that the writing ability of the learners improved both lexically and grammatically. besides, the findings also supported that language produced by the learners is complex, dynamics, and more individual. it is expected that this research could be a consideration for educational stakeholders to select the appropriate method for the learners. keywords: agency, corrective feedback, multicultural, reflective thinking introduction the multicultural theory has developed nowadays due to its appropriateness to the globalized world of nowadays state, which requires a more encompassing, ecological, and social framework account as a complement (larsen-freeman, 2018 p. 59). the core of the teaching and learning process based on this theory is social relationships and political realities occurring through the interactions and relationships between learners and teachers (nieto, 2010). agency or coconstructed learning is described as one of the basic concepts of multicultural theory. the agency concept explains that the process of learning is not to expend thoughts but to form and re-create them (freire in nieto, 2010). practically, learning is not merely a state of transmitting knowledge, but rather encouraging the learner to be a more critical thinker. according to this mailto:sahnaznatasya.2021@student.uny.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4416 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 338-349 339 tenet, the learning process should be in the form of mutual discovery by students and teachers. by working together both teacher and learner can reflect, theorize, and create knowledge. the center on reflective questions triggers learners to consider distinctive alternatives, address taken-for-granted truths, and to gotten to be more critical thinkers. it is important to acknowledge that learners can make their designs with implications, employments and to extend the meaning potential of a given word. it is not fair to internalize a ready-made framework (larsen– freeman, 2012b). it is better to obligate oneself in an action; the more likely one is to advance. more vitally, the agency joins motivation to activity and characterizes a bunch of ways taken by learners (lantolf & pavlenko, 2001, p. 145). lier (2008) in (larsen–freeman, 2012b) pointed out three main compositions of agency in language classrooms: self-regulate capacity action from the learner, the socially interceded nature of the sociocultural setting, and a mindfulness of one's duty for one's acts. bown (2009) uncovered that the awareness of learners' agency and the conviction in them viably exercising that agency can engage learners to successfully oversee their learning. reflexive/reflective thinking enabled language learners' agency and identifies learners' stories as supporting this considering when instructors exchange with learners almost what the learners have composed (gao, 2013) in larsen–freeman, 2012b). reflective learning is depicted as the method of inside looking at and investigating an issue, activated by an encounter, which makes and clarifies meaning in terms of self. it leads to a change in conceptual perspective (boyd & fales 1983). kohonen in cooke (2013) stated that the concept of individual or peer self-evaluation in a cooperative learning environment is the key to expanding learners' certainty who can celebrate the act of fruitful communication with their peers. the hypothesis utilizes fundamental and esteems on learners' subjective encounters, attitudes, and sentiments concerning their learning. it is recommended that by improving the learners' see of themselves and their creating capacities; they may get to be way better learners. li (2020) formulated some principles to promote greater learner agency in language learning. it is described as the changes from instructing the target language to instructing education abilities, from educating the target culture to making lessons socially important to students, from centering on giving language input to advancing interaction within the language, from going to last products to students as makers of language, and from planning for exams to conducting locks in evaluations. in the language classroom, the agency is needed to be encouraged in any skill including writing. writing skill is still being regarded as a problematic issue for second language learners. it is regarded to have complicated aspects that should be fulfilled by the learners. harmer (2001 & 2007) described the use of lexical things, accentuation, content arrangement, spellings, and sentence structure as conventional issues in writing. besides, broughton, brumfit, flavell, hill, and pincas (2003) indicated the four sorts of issues related to creating english writing aptitudes. these incorporate mechanical issues with the script of english, issues of the exactness of english language structure and lexis, issues relating the fashion of composing to the requests of a specific circumstance, issues of creating ease and consolation in communicating what must be said (p. 116). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 338-349 340 hyland (2003) highlighted the cultural and learners diversity aspect in writing instruction. it is stated that each writing process is associations and social. it communicates socially recognized reason, reflecting a certain kind of relationship, and recognizes an engagement in a given community. it implies that writing cannot be evacuated down to a set of cognitive or specialized capacities or a framework of rules as it were. writing the second language isn't only a matter of activity to compose and reexamine but too an accentuation on that there are parallels within the composing forms of first and second language writers, recognized by their bilingual and bicultural foundations and especially their earlier encounters as writers and learners. besides, in the writing teaching and learning process, it must be considered that learners have characteristics and personal factors that can influence their procurement of l2 composing aptitudes. person dissimilarities influence how learners learn, how they react to instruction, and how they advance to make strides in their composing. their bilingual, bicultural, and biliterate encounters can disentangle or ruin writing in different ways. they may have distinctive conceptions of information, self, and writings which negate with teachers' directions practices and judgments of quality. in any case, culture joins as well personally to language, explanatory styles, learning inclinations, and understandings of information, writings, and character. therefore, it is suggested that learners' social components ought to be recognized as a potential source of clarification for writing differences and utilized to recognize various ways of making implications. an endorsement of changed composing can encourage cross-cultural understandings and offer assistance to see that composing difficulties are not issues characteristic in understudies themselves. besides, these understandings can strengthen teaching practices that make such contrasts explicit to students. to improve learners writing skill many researchers argued that corrective feedback must be given. as resumed in budianto et al (2017), corrective feedback leads to a positive result since it can progress the language improvements for l2 of efl learners and efl. however, hyland (2003) stated that a few researchers have questioned the viability of instructor criticism as a way to improve students' writing. as cited in hyland (2003), sommers (1982) revealed that much-written input is of destitute quality and regularly misjudged by students, being as well dubious and conflicting first language writing. besides, it is often dictator, formalist, and harsh (connors & lunsford, 1993 in hyland, 2003). comments oversee to be centered on form instead of substance and reactions can suitable, or take over, student writings by being as well mandated (sommers, 1982). zamel (1985: 86) in hyland (2003) suggested a similar view in esl contexts stating that the teachers misinterpret student's writings, conflict in their responses, make self-assertive adjustments, compose conflicting comments, give a dubious suggestion, force unique rules, and benchmarks, react to writings as fixed and final items, and once in a while make content-specific comments or offer specific techniques for changing the writings. besides, the teachers overwhelmingly see themselves as language teaching as a whole rather than focusing on writing. it is suggested that written feedback can be effective if it reinforces the patterns through modeling the sort so that it gets to be a portion of the method of learning to write a class instead of an llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 338-349 341 unconstrained reaction to error. trusscot (2007) summarized that the leading assessment is that adjustment includes a little destructive impact on students' capacity to compose precisely, and he was certain that if it has any benefits, they are exceptionally little. it is proven that improvements produced by students are very constrained, indeed when useful unessential components are not directed. and these undesirable comes about likely overestimated the achievement of corrected groups, particularly in language structure errors. mustafa (2012) proved that the students mostly responded negatively regarding the efficacy of feedback. the students pointed out that the feedback they recognized did not create their writing abilities, nor did it deliver unused information. the students accepted that the nature of the feedback delays the viability of criticism. it moreover found the students' disappointment with the feedback in terms of adequacy and practices. the given criticism did not accomplish the anticipated long-term points of students. in short, corrective feedback has an insignificant effect on learner writing instead it give some disadvantages to the learning process. ellis (2008) identified that direct corrective feedback involves minimal internal processing from the learner, thus, it may not lead to long-term learning. latifah et. al (2019) revealed that direct feedback is less effective than indirect feedback to escalate learner’s’ writing ability in terms of content aspect and language use aspect. moreover, cook (2012) in the multicompetence theory explained that error is not a mistake when a learner fails to conform to the language of monolingual native speakers. learner error is not viewed as deficient from the l2 users' level of language proficiency rather it is viewed as different. in short, an error is a unique feature that the learners have. it has been generated from their background both cognitively and sociocultural. even lasagabaster & sierra (2005) demonstrated that a noteworthy rate of the teacher's error-correction moves went unnoticed by the learner. it may lead to one of the foremost disappointing errands for foreign-language a teacher which is adjusting the same errors time and again. one possible clarification may well be the distinctive recognitions that instructors and students have of the foremost satisfactory adjustment of errors. in any case, in numerous conditions instructors do not create nor advance enough the methodologies those students already have. it makes the opportunity to advantage from their past linguistic information is lost. moreover, the given direct feedback may lead the dependency on the teacher to improve their skill rather than find herself or himself to explore. it somehow contradicts the tenet of agency which requires reflective thinking. many have explored the issue of corrective feedback for the learner. some also have claimed that there are some advantages and disadvantages of direct corrective feedback. however, the only limit has correlated the use of corrective feedback with the concept of agency. considering the fact above, the researcher examined the elimination of direct corrective feedback in promoting learners’ agency aspect. method the context of the research is in a non-formal language classroom in indonesia consisting of three intermediate students with the researcher as a teacher as well. the intermediate learners were selected due to their ability in performing llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 338-349 342 reflective thinking. the detailed analysis such as how each learner improved and how the learners performed the language will be analyzed. before the research was conducted, the teacher used to conduct a monolingual class in which the learners are forced to produce english as l2 both spoken and written. the teacher always gave direct corrective feedback to the learner. however, the teacher observed that there was no significant improvement in the learner's writing ability both grammatically and lexically. it may be due to unnoticed significant feedback from the teacher or the different learner perception toward the feedback. the material given is following the syllabus of the course which is expressing of obligation and prohibition. there were three tasks given in this class. the first task is an individual project, the second is a group project, and the third is an individual project. after the learner finished the task the researcher analyzed the learner's writing improvement by analyzing the frequency and the variation of the lexical used and the grammar detail. primary trait scoring developed by lloyd-jones (1977) was employed to analyze the learners writing improvement. it gives advantages in providing a clear, comprehensive description of a student's writing ability for a certain rhetorical task. normah (2006, p.212) explains this scoring method is suitable for classroom use because the teachers were given the chance to construct the rubrics depending on what trait they wanted to test on the students". this scoring according to salmani (2014) only focuses on a single aspect of writing and goes into detail in that particular aspect. the vocabulary used and grammar issues are the focus of this research. and the teacher only makes the rubric regarding the issues. findings and discussion in this part, the description is divided into task analysis and learners' analysis. task 1 the teacher first gave a simple task for the students to measure the previous writing mastery under the topic of obligation and prohibition. in the first task, the learners were instructed to write do's and don'ts related to the prevention of the corona virus spread. it was applied to promote aspects of the community to make learning more meaningful and to provide authentic material for the learners since it is related to their life. lansford (2014) stated some advantages of authentic materials which are assisting learners for the 'real' world of communication, directing the learners within the requirements for a specific setting, persuading learners to communicate since they offer assistance make communication 'real'. the result of this task is that all the learners used must and mustn't to express obligation and prohibition in their 10 sentences. in doing the task, the learners are asked to write down the unknown vocabulary and they independently found the english in a dictionary for the unknown words. the learners demonstrated their character of agency to behave autonomously. they demonstrated a capacity like a construct of behavior and capabilities which allows learners to take responsibility for their learning (vanijdee, 2003, p.76). besides, they performed the act of reflective learning which provides learners with an arranged opportunity to examine their learning (verpoorten, westera, & specht, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 338-349 343 2011 in chen, et al, 2019). and they have applied specific strategies in new tasks and. (hwang, wu, & ke, 2011 in chen, et al ,2019) jiao (2005, p.28) pointed out some advantages of an autonomous learner. they are improving the learner's motivation and making learning more effective, providing learners with a chance to expose english communication in a nonnative setting, giving the personal needs of learners at all levels, and generating an enduring impact. after the first task finished, the teacher started to give exposure of the obligation and prohibition expression to the students using video showing do's and don't during corona as well as the reading passage. the video exposure is chosen because it can encourage simulation. it does not only provide feedback when students can watch themselves and evaluate their performance but also assists students to feel more realistic ( harmer, 2001) besides, it can generate ideas for learners in writing (harmer, 2007: 144). it is expected that by using video students can process the input audio-visually so they can write based on what they have seen and heard. after showing the video and discussing the content of the text, the teacher with the students made a list of some expressions of prohibition and obligation obtained from both video and reading text. the learners were asked to note down and memorize the expressions discussed. this step may acknowledge as a step to accommodate the concept of agency. by working together both teacher and learner can reflect, theorize, and create knowledge. task 2 in the following days, the students in the group were asked to make a poster of do's and don't during the pandemic. from that project, the student can construct meaning together. the group-worked project has been chosen due to its effectiveness in improving the learners' writing ability (pamularsih, 2014). its effectiveness may result from some advantages deliberated from a group-worked project such as providing a variety of learners' backgrounds and experiences, stimulating creativity, reminding material better, giving greater satisfaction, and more easily understanding (burke, 2011). besides, this group project also aimed to apply the agency principle from centering on giving language input to advancing interaction within the language as pointed out by li (2020). table 1. lexical frequency in task 2 expression frequency (%) must 8 mustn’t 3 have to 2 are forbidden 2 to be allowed 2 don’t 1 in this task, the student still made some grammar errors such as: 1. the faulty in modal use in this task they wrote down: you must wearing mask llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 338-349 344 this mistake related to the use of modal occurred once from the 8 sentences they used. they write present participle instead of a based verb for following the modal. 2. articles in two of their 18 sentences they produced: you must wearing mask you wasn't allowed to go to mall. it is indicated that the article before mask and mall was also missed. 3. subject and verb agreement they also wrote: drinking alcohol are forbidden. drinking other people's bottle or glass are forbidden. you wasn't allowed to go to mall. you wasn't allowed to go to school. those examples above showed learners' mistakes in the subject and verb agreement in a sentence. the teacher reflected that the use of the word wasn't allowed for subject you is caused by the learner's overgeneralization of the use to be+ allowed. brown (2000: 95) pointed out that to generalize implies to induce or determine a law, rule, or conclusion, ordinarily from the perception of a specific example. it showed that the learner makes an overgeneralization in the use of being. the teacher then reflected that the exposure of subject and verb agreement is needed. to be noted in this research, the teacher did not give any corrective feedback to the learners of their mistakes. it followed the concept of agency in which it is believed that learners have linguistic competence and the teacher acknowledged it. it focuses on the whole person, specifically the cognitive and affective needs of the learner to evaluate their work. it was the realization of how the teacher encouraged the learner's reflective thinking. in this group activity, the learners constructed the language together affecting vocabulary improvement performed by the learners. it showed from the learners had already used the word crowd without checking the dictionary. besides, the learner was proved to associate to produce the language in this group activity as well. task 3 the next task is an individual task in which the learners were asked to make a rule of what thing they like to encourage the student identity in the classroom. besides, it is expected to give an impact on the learner. the effect is accomplished when materials have a self-evident impact on learners, that's when the learners' interest, intrigued, and consideration is included. if this has triumphed, there's more chance that a few of the languages within the materials will be taken in for preparation (tomlinson, brian, 2011). the teacher offered the learners topic to choose to make rules for something that they were keen on. the teacher first has already identified the students' characteristics and interests. learner's needs were considered as well. to increase achieving impact, the teacher ought to comprehend as much as conceivable almost llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 338-349 345 the target learners and to pull in their consideration (tomlinson, brian, 2011). based on the learner need observation the teacher assumed that student a was interested in business; student b was interested in history including world war; student c was keen on laying online games. therefore, in this task, the teacher provided choices for the student to make a rule in a world war, new company, or new online game. student a wrote five obligations and five prohibitions in his new company. he made his name as the company name. the lexical frequency of student a production can be seen in table 2. table 2. student a lexical frequency in task 2 expression frequency (%) have to 2 must 1 to be allowed* 2 not + present simple 1 don’t have to 1 can’t 1 student b wrote rules for nuclear war as he was interested in historical topics and war. he produced eleven sentences with more varied modal use modal use. the lexical frequency of the student b production can be seen in table 3. table 3. student b lexical frequency in task 2 expression frequency (%) (to be) allowed* 4 must 2 aren’t permitted 3 must not 2 student c wrote five obligations and five prohibitions in his new company as well instead of making rules for a game. he said it was easier to do than think about a rule in a new game. from this, it can be seen that the learner made the communication that most comprehensible for them if they were given choices. it may give a positive effect that the learner has a chance to decide and regulate what they do during the learning process. the lexical frequency of the student b production can be seen in table 4. table 4. student c lexical frequency in task 2 expression frequency (%) can 3 cannot 2 must not 1 to be allowed* 3 from the three meetings conducted by the teacher, the teacher found a more varied expression that the learners use in producing the language. from the first meeting, the learners only made use of 2 types of lexical which are must and must llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 338-349 346 not. in the following days, the learners proved to use the more varied expression. the learner lexical improvement can be seen in table 5. table 4. student lexical frequency improvement this task can be used as an engaging assessment conducted by the teacher based on the principle of agency pointed out by li (2020). it is said that to promote the tenet of agency there should be a change from preparing for exams to conducting engaging assessments. therefore, rather than using a template of the exam the teacher tended to use this task as the assessment in learner writing ability. analysis of learners’ writing improvement student a in the second meeting, he came up with the idea to write you must wearing mask. from the sentence, it can be seen that he still used the present participle after a modal. in the third meeting, he can produce must maintain order must use identity card it shows that he began to realize the use of modal must that should be followed by a based verb. in addition to that in the third meeting, he produced longer sentences than in the first meeting. he put more prepositional phrases to expand his idea in writing. student b initially, student c performed monotonous lexical in producing the language, he merely used the expression of must and mustn't. in the second meeting, he had the idea to use the expression of to be forbidden. then, in the third task, he performed to be not permitted in which the teacher has never given the exposure related to the word. however based on his experience he can use the expression as well. it shows that language development is complex (larsenfreeman, 2006). besides, he performed reflective thinking by relating new knowledge to previous understandings (hwang, wu, & ke, 2011 n chen, et al (2019). it can be identified that he has the previous word and implemented it in the task given. during a reflective activity, learners can develop reflective expression frequency (%) task 1 task 2 task 3 must 8 8 3 mustn’t (must not) 6 3 3 can 3 cannot 3 have to 2 1 not have to 1 do not 1 9 (to be) allowed 2 (to be) forbidden 2 (to be) permitted 3 total sentences 15 19 26 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 338-349 347 thinking skills by (1), his writing has also developed in terms of complex sentences. in the first task, he only produced simple sentences. but in the third task, he could convey a complex sentence. he also produced more prepositional phrases to deliver his idea. student c in the beginning, he has already performed well related to grammatical accuracy. however, in the third meeting, he sometimes missed the grammar detail such as you not allowed borrowing money to company. you not allowed make a drinking 11.00 pm until 01.00. from the sentences above he missed the use of to be before the word allowed. however, in the same task, he wrote you are allowed to wear other clothes. it means that he sometimes has already made one right grammatical sentence but he just did not pay attention to grammar detail to perform the meaning-making. besides, in the third task, he produced the word can which had never been exposed before in these three meetings. it showed that learner has their own choice in making meaning. it can also be identified that individual characteristics influenced the production of the language. as resumed in abas, s. (2018). moreover, it is also congruent to carrio-pastor (2020) which proved that the use of modal in writing academic diverse based on the writer's mother tongue. the writer tended to use some processes from their mother tongue. conclusion the elimination of the corrective feedback can make the learner become more reflective thinking and be an agent of their learning process. in this research, it is proved that even though the corrective feedback was not given the leaner can still enhance their writing performance. this research has also proved that language is a complex system based on individual characteristics and background. besides, to promote the learner agency the teacher has to consider some aspects such as method and material that can encourage the agency and reflective thinking to achieve the improvement in l2. even though this study has resulted positively, more exploration of that issue is still highly needed. the significance of the writing improvement made by the learners treated with and without feedback should be compared to identify the issue in depth. references abas, s. 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(2003). thai distance english learners and learner autonomy. open learning, 18(1), 75-84. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 122-131 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 122 the effect of enhanced extensive reading to the incidental english preposition acquisition tia xenia1 and christiana dwi prisilia anjani2 1,2unika atma jaya, indonesia tia.xenia@atmajaya.ac.id1, and christianadwi98@gmail.com2 correspondence: tia.xenia@atmajaya.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4440 received 2 march 2022; accepted 9 may 2022 abstract the english prepositions are still problematic for efl learners since the existing knowledge of their first language hinders them from understanding the use of english prepositions. this study investigated the incidental english proposition acquisition through the enhanced extensive reading. a total of 16 indonesian university learners of english as a foreign language participated in this study. the treatment lasted for four weeks and initiated with the pretest. two weeks after the treatment, the posttest was administered, followed by distributing questionnaires to find out the factors influencing them in doing the posttest. the results showed a significant improvement in the students' incidental acquisition of the targeted english prepositions after they received repeated exposure to the english prepositions through enhanced extensive reading. the factors influencing the improvement of their incidental acquisition involve their existing knowledge of the english prepositions and their built intuition in decision making. it is hoped that teachers and educational institutions are encouraged to add extensive reading to their curriculum. keywords: english prepositions, enhanced extensive reading, incidental learning introduction learning a language is about enhancing skills and working knowledge of its linguistics features, including phonology, lexis, syntax, semantics, and graphology. those features involve the language components that need to be acquired by language learners to be proficient language users. however, understanding them is not an easy task. it still becomes a challenge for many english as a foreign language (efl) learners, especially when they are dealing with english prepositions. a preposition demonstrates a relationship from one word to another in the sentence. according to walker (1982, p.123), the preposition demonstrates how a noun or pronoun, and sentence parts are connected. the relationship acts to connect objects, time, and location. each english preposition can convey multiple meanings depending on the context. since the english prepositions are taken to be polysemous, it makes language learners find learning prepositions difficult. they have to be aware of the appropriate meanings and usage when used in specific https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4440 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 122-131 123 contexts. for instance, english preposition, according to rice and kabata (2007, p.455), has multiple senses such as allative, locative, temporal boundary, addressee, dative or object, dative of action, perceptual target, conceptual target, experiencer, purpose, accompaniment, result, exchange, and comparison. in addition, the challenges of learning english prepositions can be accounted for by several factors. first, the different prepositional systems between the first and english languages influence the learning process. for example, the preposition in the indonesian language, di, can be expressed in english by the prepositions in, at, on that denote different meanings depending on the contexts. students must be aware of which appropriate english prepositions will be used the best. it must share the same meanings as those conveyed in indonesian sentences. given another context in which learning english prepositions is challenging, spanish preposition por can be transferred into for, through, by, and during (lam, 2009, p.2). second, the functions of english prepositions lead to confusion in which they indicate time and place and abstract situations. for example, the english preposition, in, can be used to tell the time in this phrase, in november. however, it can also be used to tell a place like in this phrase, in the post office, and to tell the abstract situation like in this phrase, in love. the problems faced by efl students are supported by chrisentia's study in 2019, in which the english prepositions function differently and convey different meanings that appear to be unrelated to one another. last, english has more than 60 prepositions. it has a greater number than other languages (koffi, 2010, p.297). that adds to the reasons why learning english prepositions is difficult. in short, it all brings to the notion that english prepositions are complex and challenging for language learners to comprehend this language element. concerning the factors of the complexity of english prepositions, the next question will be more intriguing. is there any other alternative to gain acquisition of english prepositions without conscious purpose? incidental learning might answer this question. it defines learning without any intention to learn while attention is focused on doing something else (schmidt, 1994). it is similar to implicit learning proposed by ellis et al. (2009), in which learners do not realize that learning has taken place and they are not aware of what has been learned. even though they are learning without awareness, this learning process can result in incidental acquisition because of the continuous exposure to target input. incidental acquisition, according to ellis and shintani (2010, p. 608), is defined as “learning of one second language (l2) feature without intention while attention is focused on some other aspect of the l2 such as semantic meaning.” therefore, to answer the previous question, incidental acquisition of english prepositions can be fostered by extensively reading aiming for pleasure (ellis & shintani, 2010) and communicative inputs like conversation and interaction (pica, 1994). learners who read extensively are exposed to input-rich and enjoyable learning that can help them incidentally gain vocabulary development, reading comprehension, reading fluency, writing skills, listening and speaking skills, and grammatical competence. as cited in renandya (2007), carrell and carson (1997:49-50) illustrated that in extensive reading people read vast amount of material or longer readings for general comprehension by putting an emphasis on the meaning of the reading rather than on the language. besides, bamford & day (2004) added that in extensive reading, they read for enjoyment and are allowed to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 122-131 124 change what they read if the material is not interesting or too difficult. it is different from intensive reading in which teachers choose the readings that are normally short with close guidance to find detailed information found in the text. “the aim of intensive reading is to help students obtain detailed meaning from the text, to develop reading skills, and to enhance vocabulary and grammar knowledge” (renandya, 2007, p.135). intensive reading is normally followed by some comprehension questions to help students obtain detailed information. some studies have widely investigated the effect of input on incidental gains through extensive reading. pigada and smith (2006) figured out in their study that extensive reading helps students expand vocabulary, improve spelling and meaning, and acquire grammatical knowledge. bell (2001) claimed that extensive reading could significantly work on learners’ reading speeds. lai's study (1993) showed that after summer reading program for 4 weeks, learners show great comprehension in reading, read fast, and develop their writing skill. in their case study, cho and krashen (1994) showed that extensive reading motivated learners to read and improved their ability to speak and understand everyday english. to conclude, language learners receive greater awareness from a wide range of reading texts. they are exposed to the enjoyment of reading for pleasure that accelerates the incidental acquisition of linguistic features, vocabulary knowledge, output activities, and grammar. since incidental acquisition can be facilitated not only through extensive reading but also through conversation and interaction, this present study attempts to investigate whether extensive reading equipped with communicative output activities (enhanced extensive reading) could also contribute to students’ incidental grammar acquisition, especially in this case, specific feature: english prepositions. enhanced extensive reading is reading for pleasure, followed by post-reading activities done by students and teachers after reading. bamford and day (2004) mentioned some post-reading activities involving predicting content based on the title, vocabulary journal, discussion, and oral presentation. these mentioned activities aim to encourage students to respond creatively to the text and motivate them to focus on the information in the text. wahjudi (2010, p.92) reported that “through a variety of post-reading activities, students are expected to recycle certain learning aspects of language skills and components so that their communicative competence can be developed well.” similar studies have been conducted by song and sardegna (2014) and altakhanineh & ibrahim (2019). song and sardegna (2014) examined whether enhanced extensive reading influenced the twenty-four students' incidental acquisition of english prepositions in korea's third year of secondary school. the results showed that they reached significant gains in acquiring english prepositions. in one semester, the participants were divided into a regular instruction group and an enhanced extensive reading instruction group. in this study, pre-and postachievement scores were obtained, and it shows that the experimental group experienced improvements in noticing and correcting wrong prepositions and constructing correct prepositions. in contrast, the group that did not receive the additional instruction reached minor improvement only in noticing wrong prepositions. then, it was followed by a retrospective interview in which the responses revealed five factors influencing the acquisition of english prepositions through enhanced extensive reading, such as increased reading comprehension, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 122-131 125 vocabulary knowledge, frequent encounters of prepositions in meaningful contexts, increased intuition for preposition use, and opportunities for using the new input in output activities. in short, their study showed that enhanced extensive reading can effectively contribute to efl secondary schools' incidental acquisition of english prepositions. the study conducted by altakhanineh and ibrahim (2019) justified the influence of post-reading activities to help the students in the united arab emirates incidentally learn english prepositions. this study examined their incidental acquisition of english prepositions. the students were treated by doing reading comprehension exercises and then pre-and posttest were administered to examine the effectiveness of post-reading activities. the participants were divided into two groups, experimental and control groups, in which the students engaged in reading comprehension exercises and did not engage in the exercises, respectively. this study showed that reading by post-reading activities followed in the more significant incidental acquisition of english prepositions. therefore, this study attempted to investigate the enhanced extensive reading on the students’ incidental acquisition of english prepositions in, on, at, in extensive reading class. this study was conducted to answer the following research questions: 1. is there any significant improvement in the students’ incidental acquisition of the english prepositions, in, on, and at, after they received enhanced extensive reading? 2. what influences the improvement of their incidental acquisition of the english prepositions, in, on, and at? method the study used pre-experimental design with one group pretest posttest approach. a total of sixteen students aged 18-20 years participated in this study. the participants of this study were first-year students in the english language education department, atma jaya catholic university of indonesia. they took an extensive reading course once a week for 100 minutes. in this extensive reading course, the students selected the provided reading articles they liked to read, predicted the content of the articles based on the title, discussed questions prepared by the lecturers of this class, prepared a vocabulary journal, and presented the vocabulary list and the content of the reading articles. adapting ten principles by bamford and day (2004), this course allowed the students to select and read their own graded non-fiction readings from magazines that were provided by the lecturers with wide range of topics at their own pace, aimed only for pleasure and information, required them to complete follow-up activities to monitor and figure out how the students understood and experienced the readings. it was different from intensive reading in which teachers provide comprehension questions to help students gain the detailed information. the data of this study were the scores obtained from the pretest and the posttest and the students' responses from the distribution of the questionnaires to figure out what influenced their improvement on the incidental acquisition of english prepositions in, on, and at. the instruments of this study were the question items about the targeted english prepositions that were adapted from song and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 122-131 126 sardegna (2014). the test items were taken from the reading articles used in the course and divided into three parts, namely notice, notice+know, and notice+produce. in part a, notice, the participants were asked to decide whether the prepositions in the sentences were correct or incorrect. they were instructed to write “i don't know” if they were clueless. in part b, notice+know, they were asked to fill in the blank by choosing the appropriate prepositions from the provided options. in part c, notice+produce, they were asked to analyze the short reading passage, identify the incorrect prepositions in the text and correct them. the test items in the pretest and the posttest were identical in format, but the items were scrambled to prevent them from remembering. the purpose of having three parts in the administered tests was to have different difficulty levels, starting from noticing to producing. moreover, there was a significant time difference (seven weeks) between the pretest and the posttest to make it hard for the students to remember any items in the test. the posttest was administered two weeks after the instructions to measure the retained knowledge. the other instrument was the open-ended questionnaire to determine the factors influencing their incidental acquisition. it was distributed after they completed the posttest. the pretest and posttest data were analyzed using the wilcoxon signedrank test due to the small number of participants. also, the open-ended questionnaire was analyzed by categorizing the students' responses into factors influencing their decision to answer the posttest. findings and discussion the pretest was administered to determine the students' acquisition of the english prepositions in, on, and at before the treatment. then, the scores in the pretest were compared to those in the posttest. table 1 presents descriptive statistics for the students' acquisition in the pretest and posttest. before the treatment, the mean average of the pretest was only 51. after four-week treatment, their acquisition of in, on, and at increased almost 30% shown in the mean average of the posttest that reached 66.25 with a mean difference at 15.25. wilcoxon signed rank test was conducted, and the results showed that the improvement of the students' acquisition of the english prepositions in, on, and at in the pretest and in the posttest was statistically significant (z=-3.516, p<.05). table 1. a comparison of the pretest and the posttest scores pretest mean (sd) posttest mean (sd) z (post-pre) p 51 (10.17) 66.25 (12.47) -3.516 .000 in order to find out the students' levels of preposition knowledge from noticing to producing, each part of the preposition test and the effect sizes were examined using the wilcoxon signed-rank test. cohen's (1988) conventions were used to interpret the effect sizes. if the effect size is .10, it is considered small. .30 is medium, while .50 is large. table 2 presents the descriptive statistics for the students' acquisition based on the levels of preposition knowledge, the wilcoxon test of difference, and the effect size. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 122-131 127 table 2. a descriptive statistic, wilcoxon test, and effect size of the difference between pretest and posttest scores in each type of preposition knowledge preposition knowledge type pretest mean (sd) posttest mean (sd) z (post-pre) p cohen’s d part a: notice 60 (12.469) 71.87 (9.105) -2.390 .01 6 0.69 part b: notice + know 52.31 (12.783) 64.06 (13.660) -2.861 .00 4 0.76 part c: notice + produce 36.87 (23.012) 61.87 (25.876) -3.015 .00 2 0.84 table 2 shows a significant difference between pretest and posttest in each type of preposition knowledge performed by the students. in part a in which the students were asked to decide whether the prepositions in the sentence are correct or incorrect, it indicates that there is a significant improvement in this type of preposition knowledge (z=-2.390, p<.05) with a large effect size (r=.69). in part b, in which the students were asked to fill in the blank with the correct preposition, the result shows a significant difference between the pretest and the posttest (z=2.861, p<.05). it was supported by the observed standardized effect size reaching 0.76, indicating that the difference between pretest and posttest in this type of preposition knowledge is large. interestingly, part c, where they were asked to find incorrect prepositions from the reading passage and expected to be able to correct them, shows improvement significantly (z=-3.015, p<.05) with a large effect size (r=.84), indicating the magnitude of the difference between pretest and the posttest in this type of preposition knowledge is considerable. above all, the improvement of the students' acquisitions in english prepositions in, on, at is statistically significant. this study proves that the students can learn the english prepositions in, on, and at incidentally by extensive reading instructions and post-reading activities. the findings of this study support the results in song and sardegna (2014), in which the students experienced significant improvement in all three sections with large effect sizes of more than .80. similar to song and sardegna (2014), this present study also shows the scores in the third section (notice+produce) in which the level of difficulty in the notice+produce section is more challenging than the others show the most significant improvement. it indicates that the incidental learning through enhanced extensive reading instructions gave greater effect on the students' knowledge to identify the incorrect prepositions in the reading passage and on their knowledge to correct them and replace them with appropriate prepositions. besides, the result of this study is in line with the findings of resketi and bagheri (2014) that investigated the use of enhanced extensive reading to efl learners' incidental acquisition of english phrasal verbs. in their study, the english phrasal verb acquisitions of the students treated using enhanced extensive reading were then compared to the results of the control group treated using unenhanced extensive llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 122-131 128 reading. the results show that the enhanced extensive reading improved the students' acquisition of english phrasal verbs incidentally. the improvement outperformed those who received unenhanced extensive reading instruction. this study can also support the findings by aka (2020), indicating that unconsciously students are giving close attention to the language forms, although their emphasis is on comprehending the text. it is also evident that the post-reading activities could improve the students' acquisition of english prepositions in, on, at. even though this study did not compare the group results with the enhanced extensive reading instruction to those without its post-reading activities, it can support the study conducted by altakhanineh & ibrahim (2019). their study shows that reading with post-reading activities gave more significant effect than reading without ones in the students' incidental acquisition of english prepositions. through this study, it can be said that combining pleasure through extensive reading and post-reading activities like predicting content, vocabulary journal, discussion, and oral presentation (barmford & day, 2004) is effective to enhance the students' incidental acquisition of english prepositions, in, on, and at. postreading activities in class allow interactions between text and students or students, making communicative inputs possible. the results of this study are in line with ellis & shintani (2010), mentioning that reading for pleasure can foster english preposition acquisition and with pica (1994) arguing that communicative inputs like conversation and interaction can increase incidental acquisition. wahjudi (2010, p.92) reported that “through a variety of post-reading activities, students are expected to recycle certain learning aspects of language skills and components so that their communicative competence can be developed well.” the results gained from distributing questionnaires show that the improvement of their incidental acquisition of the english prepositions, in, on, and at is influenced by their knowledge of the prepositions and their intuition on which appropriate prepositions should be used. the students know the function of english prepositions in, on, at. they mentioned that in, on, and at are used to give detailed information about time and place. even though they know the basic concept of english prepositions, they still have problems differentiating one another. the following samples were taken from student c's responses and student a's of the questionnaire. “i know about prepositions, commonly we use prepositions to show a relationship in space or time or a logical relationship between two or more people, places, and also things.” (student c) “i’m able to answer it but not all of it because there are some question that made me confused because i don’t know well about english prepositions and the difference to using on and in because what i know is they have the similar signal in the sentence.” (student a) the other factor influencing the students to use appropriate english prepositions is their intuition involved. this point conforms to song and sardegna's (2014) findings that the increased intuition for preposition use becomes the factor affecting llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 122-131 129 acquisition. this result is supported by plessner & czenna (2008), who mentioned that “incidental learning will most likely produce intuitive decisions.” in this study, the students were exposed to books they read for their extensive reading class and exposed to the comprehensive inputs gained from its post-reading activities. according to krashen (1985), the students will understand grammar if they are exposed to enough comprehensible input. the results are interesting. whereas the differences between one english preposition and another still confuse the students, the increased intuition leads them to the decision-making in answering the question items in the posttest. the following sample was taken from student b's responses to the questionnaire. “i don’t know. because i feel it is more suitable to use that preposition in the questions.” (student b) that extensive reading and its post-reading activities become evident in improving the students' english preposition acquisition. it shows that they allow the students to get exposed to a large quantity of comprehensible input that helps increase their linguistic knowledge. the comprehension hypothesis was proposed by krashen et al. (2018), stating that people acquire the components of language, the “skills” such as vocabulary and grammar, when they gain comprehensible input. then, they added that “the evidence for the compelling input hypothesis are the numerous cases of unexpected improvement in the language without conscious effort, but merely by being very interested in reading, or watching films and television programs” (krashen et al., 2018) as cited in ng et al., (2019). the study conducted by celik (2018) shows that extensive reading makes the readers aware that the uses of prepositions do not match their first language, so they have to learn them as they are in the target language. aka (2020) added that learners exposed frequently to the target grammar items could notice a grammatical rule in her study. this frequent exposure significantly contributes to their incidental grammar acquisition. conclusion in conclusion, it is proven that extensive reading instructions significantly improve the students' incidental acquisition of the english preposition, in, on, and at. the post-reading activities also affect their linguistic knowledge. the improvement of their incidental acquisition is influenced by their understanding of english prepositions and their intuition to decide the appropriate english preposition use. the incidental acquisition of the targeted english prepositions can be fostered through repeated encounters in their extensive reading and communicative inputs gained through post-reading activities. however, there are two study limitations in this study. the first limitation is the subject's size, which was only 16 participants. the results of this study cannot be generalized, and further research must be conducted to figure out the impacts of enhanced extensive reading instruction on efl learners. that this study did not compare the results between extensive reading treatment only and extensive reading with its post-reading activities becomes another limitation that the further study can research this. it is hoped that this study will benefit teachers and encourage educational institutions to add enhanced extensive reading instruction in their curriculum. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 122-131 130 references aka, n. 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(2006). vocabulary acquisition from extensive reading: a case study. reading in a foreign language, 18(1), 1–28. retrieved on june 9, 2020, from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ej759833.pdf plessner, h., & czenna, s. (2008). the benefits of intuition. in h plessner, c betsch, t betsch (eds.), intuition in judgment and decision making (pp. 251265). new york: lawrence erlbaum associates. renandya, w.a. (2007). the power of extensive reading. relc journal, 38(2), 133-149. 10.1177/0033688207079578 resketi, b.m., & bagheri, b. (2014). efl learners’ incidental acquisition of english phrasal verbs through enhanced extensive reading vs. unenhanced extensive reading. international journal of foreign language teaching & research, 2(8), 33-42. retrieved on june 11, 2021, from http://jfl.iaun.ac.ir/article_558753_a0b1c9b6d4fec6e5ab8383f06051b56f.pdf rice, s., kabata, k. (2007). cross-linguistic grammaticalization patterns of the allative. linguistic typology, 11, 451-514. retrieved on june 11, 2021, from https://sites.ualberta.ca/~srice/pubs/ricekabata2007.pdf schmidt, r. (1994). deconstructing consciousness in search of useful definitions for applied linguistics. aila review, 11, 11–26. retrieved on november 22, 2021, from https://nflrc.hawaii.edu/pdfs/schmidt%20deconstructing%20consciousn ess%20in%20search%20of%20useful%20definitions.pdf song, j., & sardegna, v. g. (2014). efl learners' incidental acquisition of english prepositions through enhanced extensive reading instruction. relc journal, 45(1), 67-84. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688214522623 wahjudi, a. (2010). interactive post-reading activities that work. bahasa dan seni: jurnal bahasa, sastra, seni, dan pengajarannya, 38(1), 84-92. retrieved on june 22, 2021, from http://journal2.um.ac.id/index.php/jbs/article/view/58/31 walker, b.l. (1982). basic english grammar. baltimore: media materials. http://dx.doi.org/10.15639/teflinjournal.v30i2/171-186 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1994.tb01115.x https://doi.org/10.1177%2f0033688214522623 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 739-753 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 739 reading anxiety of efl learners in indonesian rural schools: a quantitative study heri mudra1 and timothy mckinnon2 1institut agama islam negeri kerinci, indonesia 2the intelligence advanced research projects activity, usa mudraheri@gmail.com1 and timothy.mckinnon@iarpa.gov2 correspondence: mudraheri@gmail.com1 https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.5221 received 1 october 2022; accepted 20 october 2022 abstract the purposes of this current study were twofold. first, it attempted to find out the level of reading anxiety among efl learners in rural schools. second, it sought to determine whether there is a statistical difference in reading anxiety between rural efl learners across gender and level of study. seventy-seven efl learners from several rural indonesian schools were involved in completing a 27-items efl reading anxiety inventory (eflrai). the findings revealed different levels of top-down, bottom-up, and classroom reading anxiety among rural school learners. regarding the statistical differences across gender, it is found that male learners outperformed females in terms of top-down and bottom-up reading anxiety. however, female learners offered a better understanding than male learners. meanwhile, in terms of study grades, it is stated that freshmen learners are more dominant in experiencing reading anxiety than junior and senior learners. in short, reading anxiety has different levels among different efl learners. in addition, differences occur when each learner with different gender and study grade experience anxiety in reading. keywords: efl learners, reading anxiety, rural schools introduction reading skill is essential in developing knowledge and understanding among efl learners. reading enables efl learners to explore an unknown topic and deepen their investigation of it (walczyk & griffith-ross, 2007; cain & oakhill, 2014). moreover, creative and higher thinking skill is needed to develop reading comprehension (anaktototy & lesnussa, 2022). to achieve this level, the learners must indulge in various reading sources, including journal articles, newspapers, magazines, novels, and even poems. the learners can understand a reading text by scanning, skimming, analyzing, and concluding information from the text. such reading subskills allow the learners to highlight deeper exploration of a text and thus develop their reading achievement. in this case, the efl learners must perform correctly to determine whether their reading skills are mailto:mudraheri@gmail.com mailto:timothy.mckinnon@iarpa.gov mailto:mudraheri@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.5221 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 739-753 740 higher regarding comprehension of various reading texts (schiefele et al., 2012; spörer & schünemann, 2014; schaffner et al., 2014). in general, efl learners in rural schools have similar tasks to urban efl learners regarding reading comprehension. every efl learner needs to be involved in several reading activities based on a centralized curriculum designed by the central government. reading in the curriculum requires efl learners in rural schools to follow every step of reading activities, including brainstorming, scanning, skimming, analyzing, and making conclusions about reading text. however, not all efl learners can complete such activities as some of them feel worried about the term reading and text. such feeling leads to anxiety as a psychological attitude that can demotivate and motivate efl learners to succeed in their reading comprehension (zhao et al., 2013; lien, 2016; katzir et al., 2018). meanwhile, anxiety toward reading affects efl learners’ level of understanding of a text. in addition, learners with anxiety toward reading have the lower reading ability. such reading anxiety has to be responded to by the efl learners by encouraging themselves as struggling readers whose task is to enhance comprehension of the text (ismail, 2015). regarding anxiety toward the reading of efl learners, there have been many previous studies discussing similar focus, including reading anxiety in urban schools (zhao et al., 2013), relationships between reading anxiety and other variables (alkhateeb, 2014; awada & ghaith, 2017; chow et al., 2017; katzir at al., 2018), validity and reliability of reading anxiety (zoghi & alivandivafa, 2014), the impact of reading anxiety (lien, 2016), systematic literature on reading anxiety (piccolo et al., 2016), and survey on reading anxiety (ismail, 2015). the previous studies focus on reading anxiety in terms of the correlational, survey, and experimental studies on various variables. however, little study has been conducted on a descriptive study concerning efl reading anxiety in rural schools. therefore, this current study was undertaken to determine efl learners’ reading anxiety in rural schools. to focus, this study was conducted under the questions: 1. what is the level of reading anxiety among efl learners in rural schools? 2. is there a statistical difference in reading anxiety between rural efl learners across gender and level of study? literature review definition of anxiety anxiety generally refers to an uneasy feeling leading to fearful and dreadful thoughts before or during something (hettema, 2008; craske et al., 2009). as for the example, it is expected that a learner faces a difficult task at school before attending a class, taking an exam, or coming to a particular answer to a question. fortunately, anxiety can be helpful for learners as it helps them focus on their lessons and task. however, learners with anxiety disorders face the long-time effect of anxiety which impacts their minds during a lesson (jungbluth et al., 2011). in a learning context, anxiety disorders negatively impact learners’ feelings during the study as the disorders stay longer inside their minds. anxiety disorders are categorized into several types, including panic disorders (i.e., fearful feeling that suddenly attacks the mind repeatedly but lasts quickly as the mind is under llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 739-753 741 control), phobia (i.e., intense fear toward something with little impact, such as encountering new classmates, performing in front of classmates, and the like), social anxiety (i.e., feeling of worry about being judged by the others), and obsessive-compulsive anxiety (i.e., a fearful feeling which leads to the repeated deed) (patrick et al., 2010; pelissolo et al., 2011; hz, 2022) l2 reading anxiety in general, speaking skill among efl students has become a focus of various studies. meanwhile, it is different from reading skills not commonly discussed in many occasions of previous studies. speaking as an oral performance is a skill requiring l2 students to perform their oral competence in front of the class to be openly evaluated by both l2 teachers and students. unlike speaking, reading skill is enacted by an individual l2 student whose task is to find the meaning of content and develop the implied meaning of a reading text (rajab et al., 2012). working individually toward stated and implied meaning in reading activity has impacted the emergence of l2 students' anxiety (nelson et al., 2013). reading anxiety in the context of foreign language refers to fearful feelings when efl learners are faced with reading activities in terms of l2 texts. l2 reading anxiety is one of the types of foreign language anxiety which leads to worrying feelings during an oral performance (horwitz et al., 1986). the rationale of reading anxiety is to determine comparative concepts of text decoding and the meaning of a text to run the actual process within an l2 reading text. as a consequence, it is noted that such a process leads to comprehensive development, which allows l2 learners to acquire english as a foreign language. anxiety in l2 reading among learners is identified as anxiety when they are asked to complete reading tasks, but they do not perform well in cognitive comprehension (zoghi & alivandivafa, 2014). as the learners lack such cognitive performance, they seem challenged with negative self-control and self-evaluation, which eventually negatively impact reading performance. there have been some fascinating results of previous studies on l2 reading anxiety. horwitz et al. (1986), for example, sought to investigate thirty students who studied japanese, russian, and spanish who suffered from foreign language anxiety. as for the result, it is stated that the emergence of anxiety in using a foreign language significantly impacts how l2 students perform in their target language in the classroom. reading performance is determined by the level of anxiety they experience (grills et al., 2014). in this case, l2 students with lower anxiety levels in reading skills seem to enact proper reading performance compared to those with higher reading anxiety. in addition, complicated procedures in reading performance affect l2 students' level of anxiety in the understanding text of comprehending meaning. l2 reading anxiety can be caused by several related factors, including specific linguistic elements, material differences, and distinctive features of the curriculum. procedures or steps in english writing activity are entirely different from those experienced in l1 writing of the learners (piccolo et al., 2016). the difference ranges from their first language's sound pronunciation and grammatical system. for many l2 learners, reading presented in the form of texts is very complicated to understand as the l2 learners' pronunciation of a word is different llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 739-753 742 from its writing symbol. moreover, the use of uncommon vocabulary in a text increases l2 learners' anxiety toward such l2 reading (meer et al., 2016). regarding cultural impact, it is noted that learners whose reading system of first languages is not similar to that of l2 feel anxious about the content or meaning of such a text. understanding a text in english means that the l2 learners need to be indulged in its culture because if not, they are faced with anxiety toward every kind of reading activity (commeyras & mazile, 2011; joubert et al., 2013; rezaabadi, 2017). on the other side, knowing l2 cultures enable the learners to enhance their better comprehension of the world they live in and the l2 knowledge they learn. therefore, l2 learners are expected to build a basic sense of l2 culture to understand various reading types and avoid misinterpretation of the meaning of reading texts (chiu & chow, 2010). to learn l2 culture, the learners are provided with novels, magazines, short stories, poems, and newspapers. learning english in rural schools learning english in l2 reading has been integrated into curricular content in urban and rural schools. downes and roberts (2017) define a rural school as an academic institution consisting of less than six hundred learners more than five kilometres from an urban area. it is found to have more insufficiency than schools in urban areas. in terms of english learning, rural schools are commonly known for their various weaknesses and strengths (febriana et al., 2018). regarding rural schools in indonesia, it is noted that factors such as the geography of rural areas, multilingual communities, and different economic statuses influence the l2 teaching and learning process (luschei & zubaidah, 2012). in indonesia, local dialects consist of more than seven hundred kinds, which shapes this country to deal with learners' multilingual languages. however, english is not a part of these languages. generally, l2 learners in rural schools face challenges in learning english as communication in l2 is difficult for l2 teachers and learners. the position of english as l2 in rural schools is assumed to be useless if measured based on positive impacts on their daily lives. consequently, this assumption has led to a lack of either internal or external motivation to learn english. support from parents has also become a problem for l2 learners in rural schools as they are not motivated to learn english compared to other skills such as basic writing, reading, and math (holguín & morales, 2016). in short, learning english in rural school contexts needs to be accommodated through self-motivation and parents' support, which allow l2 learners to indulge in english learning more effectively. moreover, the lack of infrastructure or facilities is another critical factor to be addressed in learning english in rural schools (moulton, 2001). such factors include worse internet signals and electricity, lack of classroom teaching and learning equipment, lack of learning resources, and lack of motivated support from headteachers or principals (febriana et al., 2018). on the other hand, beliefs about teaching english in rural schools because of l2 teachers are considered to be problems in learning english for l2 learners. such beliefs are much related to how english instruction is carried out in an unstable situation, including in the covid-19 outbreaks, which cause l2 learners to learn with a lack of online learning sources. this issue, finally, yields some challenges that require l2 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 739-753 743 teachers to work hard with teaching strategies to accommodate positive pedagogical beliefs toward teaching english to rural school learners. method participants this study employed 77 efl learners from several rural schools in indonesia, consisting of male (26%) and female (74%) learners. the rural efl learners had different study grades, such as freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. the age of the learners was from 16 to 18 years old. the objective of such selection was to highlight significant differences among learners with different grades and gender. to select the participants of the study, informed consent was provided as a viable option for the candidate of the participants. eighty-three consents were sent to the participants via email and whatsapp. however, 77 informed consents were received, while the rural efl learners did not return the remaining six forms. instrument concerning the instrument, this descriptive study employed a 27-items efl reading anxiety inventory (eflrai) developed by zoghi (2012). this scale was validated as a proper instrument to measure reading anxiety among efl learners. eflrai consists of three subscales, including top-down reading anxiety (e.g., it is worrying to me when the ideas expressed in the text are culturally unclear), bottom-up reading anxiety (e.g., it bothers me when i encounter many words whose meanings are unclear), and classroom reading anxiety (e.g., it worries me when the instructor calls on me to translate a piece of an english text into our first language.). eflrai is a 4-point likert scale ranging from totally disagree (1) to agree (4). moreover, eflrai has a higher stratified alpha (α=.90), considered highly reliable for a developed instrument (zoghi & alivandivafa, 2012). data collection to collect the data, 77 efl learners from several rural schools were asked to sit in several classrooms during the data collection. eflrai, as the only questionnaire, was distributed to the efl learners, and they were asked to complete the questionnaire for 150 minutes. it is noted that the participants needed much time to consider appropriate responses to each questionnaire statement. after the allocated time, 77 questionnaires were received and collected as raw data. concerning the ethical consideration of data collection, 83 informed consents were sent to the rural efl learners to be read and signed as formal evidence of involvement throughout the study. seventy-seven informed consents were signed, describing that the efl learners indulged themselves in giving information during the descriptive study. such consents were directly returned via email and whatsapp replies after one-week distribution. data analysis after collecting the data, the next step was analyzing the data based on the proposed research questions. this data analysis was to determine the percentages or means of the collected data. descriptive analysis was undertaken as it led to an llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 739-753 744 appropriate quantitative description of the levels of reading anxiety among rural efl learners. a t-test was utilized to measure whether there was a significant difference in reading anxiety across gender, age, and level of study. to run each statistical analysis more properly, spss 25 was employed. findings and discussion findings this session presents the findings of both research questions one and two. the first question investigates the reading anxiety level among rural school efl learners. this focus was determined through descriptive statistics in terms of percentages for each item of the questionnaire. meanwhile, the second question intended to describe whether there was a statistical difference in reading anxiety between rural efl learners across gender and level of study. in this case, an independent t-test was employed to determine the answer. (rq1): what is the level of reading anxiety among efl learners in rural schools? the level of reading anxiety was determined by percentages of top-down, bottom-up, and classroom reading anxiety. each sub-indicator of reading anxiety provided the results of descriptive statistical analyses. table 1. top-down reading anxiety no statements percentages td sd sa ta 1. i do not feel at ease when the title of the text is unfamiliar to me. 11.7 29.9 31.2 27.3 2. it is worrying to me when the ideas expressed in the text are culturally unclear. 22.1 10.4 10.4 57.1 3. i get upset when i lack the previous knowledge about the ideas expressed in the text. 11.7 9.1 64.9 14.3 4. i worry when i cannot get the gist of the text although no new vocabulary items or grammatical points exist in the text. 9.1 15.6 13 62.3 5. when i cannot recognize minor ideas (details) of the text is worrying to me. 6.5 11.7 66.2 15.6 6. i am nervous when i cannot spot the main idea of a certain paragraph. 5.2 55.8 14.3 24.7 7. it bothers me when i cannot express my opinions or feelings about the text. 10.4 11.7 66.2 11.7 the above table reveals that top-down reading anxiety among efl learners in indonesian rural schools varies. the learners found it difficult to understand a text through its title (31.2%). the cultural approach is paramount in comprehending a text. the absence of its approach leads the learners to a situation in which they lack comprehension toward understanding text content (57.1%). therefore, schemata allow efl learners to grab more profound ideas of the text content to understand a text. however, the learners’ positive attitude decreased as they were not equipped with some previous knowledge about the topic (64.9%). the learners’ struggle to interact with the text was disturbed by their own llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 739-753 745 grammatical and lexical competencies in comprehending a text (62.3%). similarly, a doubtful attitude toward self-understanding skills eliminated the learners’ expectation to be involved in a more profound understanding of the text (66.2%) in terms of written or oral expressions (66.2%). however, 55.8% of efl learners did not concern with their competence in comprehending meaning from a particular paragraph within the text. table 2. bottom-up reading anxiety no statements percentages td sd sa ta 8. i feel uneasy when i cannot figure out meanings of unknown words. 6.5 75.3 0 18.2 9. it bothers me when i encounter a lot of words whose meanings are unclear. 9.1 7.8 66.2 16.9 10. i get upset when i cannot figure out the meaning of a word that i feel i have seen before. 6.5 61 10.4 22.1 11. it bothers me when i feel unable to look up a word in the dictionary. 9.1 13 20.8 57.1 12. i get confused when the word that i know has a different meaning in the sentence. 11.7 9.1 45.5 33.8 13. i get upset when i come across idioms that are unfamiliar to me. 7.8 9.1 35.1 48.1 14. it makes me feel uneasy when an unfamiliar is made up of several parts or syllables. 7.8 14.3 45.5 32.5 15. i feel worried when the unknown word is difficult to pronounce. 3.9 36.4 50.6 9.1 16. i am nervous when a certain sentence is long and has a complex structure. 28.6 42.9 11.7 16.9 17. when a certain sentence is grammatically unfamiliar is worrying to me. 5.2 46.8 36.4 11.7 18. it bothers me when a passive voice is used in a sentence. 3.9 51.9 32.5 11.7 19. i feel upset when the tense of a certain sentence is unclear to me. 5.2 42.9 40.3 11.7 20. i worry when i am unable to recognize different parts of speech such as adjectives, adverbs, or connective words. 2.6 41.6 9.1 46.8 21. i get confused when what i know about a grammatical point does not make any sense. 10.4 16.9 35.1 37.7 as for bottom-up reading anxiety, it is noted that two opposite perceptions responded to by the rural school efl learners, including positive and negative attitudes toward basic understandings of words. for example, 75.3% of efl learners were unaware of their lack of comprehension of the meaning of words in a text. furthermore, they were confident that longer sentence containing complicated structures was involved in their awareness of basic understandings of such grammatical rules (42.9%). it leads them to another certainty that complex grammatical rules indulged in a sentence were becoming understandable (46.8%). the passive sentence was considered a basic structure that needs some deep comprehension from the efl learners (51.9%). in this case, the efl learners were confident that they could cope with problems with words and their types, complex sentence structure, and meaning of words. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 739-753 746 on the other hand, the efl learners believed they felt worried about words with unclear meanings (66.2%). it is similar to the fact that the learners failed to search for the meaning of words in the dictionary (57.1%). the doubt arose when the efl learners could not compare different meanings of words used in context (45.5%). the use of idioms is one of the examples for this case, and the meaning of the idioms is simply doubtful for many learners (48.1%). moreover, the learners felt it challenging to build their competence in comprehending chunks of words or word morphemes (45.5%), and they could not pronounce some words they had never been acquainted with (50.6%). this problem leads to a lack of ability to compare different parts of speech (46.8%) and build good sentences (37.7%). table 3. classroom reading anxiety no statements percentages td sd sa ta 22. it bothers me when the instructor calls on me to read out. 11.7 20.8 41.6 26 23. it worries me when the instructor calls on me to translate a piece of an english text into our first language. 7.8 32.5 28.6 31.2 24. when the instructor asks me reading comprehension questions is worrying to me. 6.5 35.1 32.5 26 25. it upsets me when the instructor chooses uninteresting texts to read in class. 3.9 28.6 40.3 27.3 26. it makes me feel uneasy when the instructor corrects my pronunciation or translation mistakes. 14.3 31.2 39 15.6 27. i am nervous when the instructor uses english as a medium of instruction and hardly ever makes use of our first language. 26 31.2 31.2 35.1 in the classroom, reading anxiety emerged as the efl learners struggled to attend reading activities. 41% of efl learners were disturbed by the teacher’s command that they were to read a text aloud. however, several efl learners (32.5%) chose to translate sentences into their language. reading aloud was not a proper choice for the learners, but they tended to read a text silently (35.1%). on the other hand, enthusiasm for reading was influenced by the type of text during the reading activity. if there is a text that is not engaging, the learners become less enthusiastic about reading and comprehending the text (40.3%). fortunately, the efl learners (39%) allowed their teacher to correct their mispronouncing sounds and use english as a language for their learning in the classroom (35.1%). (rq2): is there statistical difference of reading anxiety between rural efl learners across gender and level of study? table 4. independent t-test result of reading anxiety across gender sub indicator gender m sd t df sig. (2-tailed) tra male 16.35 1.98 -2.39 40.32 .019 female 17.79 2.41 bra male 37.95 2.94 -1.16 38.12 .248 female 38.95 3.4 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 739-753 747 cra male 17.05 2.01 0.4 36.19 .689 female 16.85 2.2 based on the above table, it is noted that female efl learners (17.79%) dominated the implementation of top-down reading anxiety. meanwhile, 37.95% of female learners outperformed male learners regarding bottom-up reading anxiety. however, male learners (17.05%) were more anxious regarding reading anxiety in the efl classroom than female learners (16.85%). as for significance, the gender difference was configured to be statistically different (.019) among those of bra (.248) and cra (.689). table 5. independent t-test result of reading anxiety across level of study sub indicator age m sd df sig. (2-tailed) tra freshmen 18.26 2.02 74 .027 junior 17.54 2.68 senior 16.18 1.38 bra freshmen 39.11 2.9 74 .336 junior 38.93 3.69 senior 37.69 2.57 cra freshmen 17.42 2.54 74 .220 junior 16.49 2.07 senior 17.24 1.71 regarding the level of study, freshmen (18.26%) outperformed junior and senior efl learners in terms of top-down reading anxiety. the first-year students were also dominant as their bottom-up reading anxiety was higher than that of junior and senior efl learners. moreover, their classroom reading anxiety was also higher (17.42%) than junior and senior learners. meanwhile, it is noted that the level of study was significantly different (.027) in terms of top-down reading anxiety. discussion this current study reveals various levels of reading anxiety among rural efl learners, including significant differences in their reading anxiety across gender and level of study. as for the first result, it is noted that the efl learners have severe problems with their self-understanding skills in reading english texts. self-understanding refers to learners’ ability to empower themselves to comprehend a specific object or target. in the reading context, rural efl learners cannot improve their strategies to increase their textual understanding to get a more profound meaning of an english text. the problem is that self-understanding has been problematic in learning english, such as reading comprehension. it requires efl learners to comprehend every context of a text they are engaged. it is in line with the findings of ismail (2015), which state that to understand an l2 text, it is a need for efl learners to trigger their specific reading skills, including scanning and skimming for deeper meaning. in addition, zoghi and alivandivafa (2014) stated that basic skills in reading are as crucial as metacognitive reading llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 739-753 748 skills because both are interrelated in comprehending a text. the lack of each skill decreases rural efl learners’ ability to get involved in another. however, since top-down reading skill allows rural efl learners to begin reading from the title, it is necessary that each part of a text has to be comprehended as a holistic meaning. it is because piccolo et al. (2016) found that failure in reading a text systematically encourages anxiety in comprehending more texts in the future. to avoid such problems, rural efl learners need to be aware of the importance of a positive attitude toward reading skills. according to rajab et al. (2012), such an attitude empowers the learners’ self-confidence to eliminate factors that cause anxiety in reading. reading attitude can also lead to negative feelings about reading, which causes reading anxiety. grills et al. (2012) show that reading anxiety is a severe obstacle for efl learners in rural schools as they lack the vocabulary and grammar to understand a given text. in short, top-down reading skill is essential for rural efl learners as a better understanding of its procedure can be a proper solution to decrease reading anxiety. in terms of bottom-up reading, the source of anxiety is mainly influenced by rural efl learners’ lack of awareness of reading. awareness in learning english has a vital role because when every efl learner is aware that they are in the middle of comprehending a text, they are positively motivated to investigate the meaning of the text. however, in the findings of katzir et al. (2018), it is stated that awareness is not the only factor that causes anxiety in reading a text. it appears to be influential for rural efl learners whose learning burden decreases their motivation to comprehend the text. another issue addressed is whether rural efl learners need basic grammatical competence and several vocabulary during text reading and comprehension. similarly, lien (2016) assumed that reading anxiety among efl learners is caused by a lack of awareness of the use and usage of grammar and short vocabulary. moreover, text meaning cannot be constructed without proper knowledge and practices of grammatical competence and vocabulary mastery of the rural efl learners. the problem of vocabulary mastery in reading a text has been considered a classical finding among many researchers on reading skills (cain & oakhill, 2014). vocabulary is paramount in building the meaning of an l2 text, enabling l2 readers to investigate the content as a whole. in l2 classrooms, vocabulary mastery begins with how literal meaning is constructed and defined based on the l2 dictionary. at an advanced level, an efl learner should be able to conceptualize a word by referring it to an authentic context. for zhao et al. (2013), reading anxiety emerges because rural efl learners cannot accommodate the complicated use of various vocabularies in an l2 reading text. to solve such obstacles, understanding how a word is structured and constructed should be enhanced through the view of morphology as the core study of word construction and meaning (phillips et al., 2014). along the same line, a study by li and kirby (2014) proved that vocabulary needs to be started from the beginning level, such as the morphology of words and meaning. this step is followed by a further level of meaning construction, including pragmatics in learning to build meaning based on a particular context. to conclude, rural efl learners can avoid reading anxiety by improving the quality of vocabulary understanding used as a tool to construct the meaning of an l2 reading text. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 739-753 749 in the classroom, reading anxiety among rural efl learners emerges when they cannot apply methods in translating a text from english to indonesian or vice versa. such anxiety encompasses available strategies in translation that have been implemented during pre-reading activities (sriyono, 2022). lee et al. (2015) suggested that constructive reading is determined by efl learners’ competence in understanding and translating a given text, enabling the learners to read successfully. xenia and anjani (2022) offered extensive reading to construct efl learners’ competence in understanding both grammatical and content knowledge in reading activities. however, a study by unrau et al. (2014) shows that efl learners with learning difficulties have a lower motivation to follow every systematic reading step, which cannot be individually managed before holistic meaning is determined. it should deal with various strategies of each efl learner to motivate themselves in learning english (limeranto & subekti, 2021; retnowaty, 2022). anxiety that emerges with top-down, bottom-up, and classroom reading is considered a general problem among rural efl learners who involve themselves in various reading activities. as for gender difference, it is noted that there is a different situation between male and female efl learners in terms of fear of reading skills. female efl learners are found to be more anxious compared to male learners. this phenomenon seems conditional as either male or female efl learners can outperform each other in l2 reading anxiety. moreover, the characteristics of each efl learner need to be concerned with the level of anxiety in l2 reading skills. on the other hand, different grade of study expands related factors of reading anxiety among efl learners in rural schools. it is noted that first-year students have a higher level of reading anxiety than junior or senior efl learners. learning l2 reading through long-term experiences is essential in reducing reading anxiety. furthermore, grammar, vocabulary, and metacognitive awareness competencies are believed to affect rural efl learners’ problems in reducing their reading anxiety (limeranto & subekti, 2021). to deal with this, reading strategies and internal reading motivation are needed to contribute to reading skill development. this solution allows each learner of different gender and grade to develop their reading skills, automatically reducing their reading anxiety. conclusion reading anxiety emerges in each step of the reading activity, including prereading, whilst-reading, and post-reading activities. efl learners in rural schools who are expected to participate in reading activities need to be aware of such anxiety as its decreases learning motivation and disturbs the reading development of the learners across gender and grade of study. although it is not easy for many efl learners to cope with such anxiety, it is noted that some strategies should be followed, including reading in terms of top-down and bottom-up skills. such skills are essential to monitoring the quality of rural efl learners’ reading development. on the other hand, factors influencing reading anxiety have been managed to be a typical problem for learners who learn how to begin reading a text and construct the deep, holistic meaning of an l2 text. in short, the reading anxiety of rural efl learners is defined as a fearful feeling toward reading an l2 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 739-753 750 text and its meaning. such anxiety can be solved by applying bottom-up and topdown reading activities across different gender and levels of study. references alkhateeb, h. m. 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(2014). efl reading anxiety inventory (eflrai). journal of psychoeducational assessment, 32(4), 318–329. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282913513686 https://doi.org/10.1080/02702711.2013.836582 https://doi.org/10.1598/rt.60.6.6 https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4440 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2013.12032.x https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282913513686 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 387-402 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 387 personal deixis used in malcolm x’s “the ballot or the bullet” speech fakhirah gobel1, kartin lihawa2, and *hasanuddin3 1,2,3universitas negeri gorontalo, indonesia gfakhirah@gmail.com1, lihawa.kartin@yahoo.com2, and hasanuddin@ung.ac.id3 *correspondence: hasanuddin@ung.ac.id3 https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.4268 received 23 january 2022; accepted 26 april 2023 abstract this study aims to observe and describe the types of personal deixis used in malcolm x’s “the ballot or the bullet” speech using the theory of yule (1996). in collecting the data, this qualitative descriptive method was used by watching the video documentation, downloading the transcript, and reading the script that contain personal deixis in the speech. the theory of miles and huberman (1994) was used in this study as the steps to analyze the data which consists of data reduction, data display, and data drawing. the result of this study found out there was 662 deixis that consisted of three types of person deixis which are first-person, second-person, and third-person divided into 14 types of personal deixis use, i.e 222 first-person deixes, 211 second-person deixis, and 229 third-person with secondperson deixis you (174 times use), they (84 times use) and we (79 times use) as the most often used type in the speech. in addition, malcolm x used personal deictic expressions as a way to motivate and influence the african-american community in empowering the important philosophy of black nationalism against the racism issue of the african-american community in the 20th-century era. keywords: malcolm x, personal deixis, reference, the ballot or the bullet speech introduction humans used language to communicate with one another. through language, human transfers ideas and thoughts in every job in life. moreover, in a situation of uttering human thoughts, it constantly depends on the contexts of utterance use and sentence meaning that what is being talked about on every occasion. furthermore, communication will be clearly understood between the speaker and listener if the occasion and context of the utterance are appropriate. also, the study of the context of utterance, sentence meaning, and its relations among them are called pragmatics. concurring to levinson (1983, p.1), pragmatics is the ponder of the interpretation of a language and the setting in which they are being utilized. according to levinson (1983, p.9-10), pragmatics study is divided into 5 following subparts, namely deixis, presuppositions, speech acts, and conversational implicatures. one of the issues within the pragmatics study is deixis. deixis is an important component in linguistics particularly in pragmatics. as a result, it is crucial to observe deixis because, in the way of interaction between mailto:gfakhirah@gmail.com mailto:lihawa.kartin@yahoo.com mailto:hasanuddin@ung.ac.id mailto:hasanuddin@ung.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.4268 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 387-402 388 the speaker and listener, the contextual information is necessary and all the speaker’s and listener’s utterances must be clearly understood. however, if the listener could not discover the contextual information of the speaker, the listener could be misinterpreted which may cause misunderstood information of the speaker. importantly, the researcher is intended observing malcolm x’s speech as the object of this research. here, the researcher is interested to find out how the use of personal deixis by malcolm x as one a famous figure and activist of the africanamerican rights movement in delivering his thoughts on the topic of discrimination of racial problems in america. then, the researcher chooses the ballot or the bullet speech by malcolm x because this speech proposed a revolution in the way to live better lives of the african-americans by giving his sees and thinks to solve the term of human rights problem. the researcher also found an issue regarding the use of personal deixis the researcher needs to listen to the speech several times and look for the background information of the african-american civil rights movement that is related to the speech to identify the deixis reference of the speech. by this understanding, it could be said that the issue of deixis while listening to a speech the misinterpreted because of devoid regard for the contextual information of an utterance such as the speaker, the addresses, the time, and the place of utterance could have happened. so, the listener of the speech should discover the context of utterances such as the speaker, the address, time and place, or even several factors that are related whether it's historical, social, or political factors. thus, the researcher decided to conduct this research entitled 'personal deixis used in malcolm x’s “the ballot or the bullet” speech. every paragraph should be single-spaced with indentation in each paragraph. this section also elaborates on the literature reviews/theoretical construct of the research. you should tell readers the kinds of research, journal articles and books you use in analysing your data. pragmatics pragmatics bargains with the meaning of the expression in verbal interaction between the speaker and the audience. to outline, within the interaction of individuals the speaker and the audience convey ideas, data, and messages within the words or expressions within the articulation. hence, in this circumstance, pragmatics takes apart the consideration of the relevant meaning and the elucidation of individuals, how specific setting influence the meaning, and how the audience draw reference approximately what is said within the articulation. also, griffith in ilmi et.al. (2018, p. 13) defines that pragmatics stand as a piece of equipment in significative communication. moreover, pragmatics is the study of how a modification setting of articulation may alter the meaning of the articulation itself. another, the study of pragmatics was clarified by (morris, 1938, as cited in szabó et al., 2005, p. 8) who said that pragmatics is the connection between the subject, the setting, and the expression of language. also, pragmatics is the study of humans’ utterance meaning that seems similar to semantics. however, they are in contrast to the principle rules of nature. according to yule (1996, p. 9), one traditional distinction between pragmatics and semantics which semantics is the study of conventional linguistics llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 387-402 389 forms and truth-conditional things in the world. on the other hand, pragmatics is a context-dependent relation between linguistics forms and the users that are related to its linguistics forms. in addition, gazdar in gutzmann et al. (2014, p. 7) gives the captured concept differentiation between semantic and pragmatic through the gazdar-formula in table 1. the conventional, constant and truth-conditional are concerned with semantics. however, pragmatics deals with conversational, context-dependent and non-truth-conditional problems. therefore, in uttering speech, the researcher concludes that pragmatics is the study of human language that relies on the sense of utterance and that contrasts with the philosophy of semantics. table 1. concept differentiation semantic pragmatic conventional conversational constant context-dependent truth-conditional non-truth-conditional source: (gazdar in gutzmann et al., 2014) the nature of deixis the expression of pronouns, like you, he, we, and adverb like now, here, there are clearly cannot look at the reference meaning to the real concrete expression of circumstance. since of this, the meaning of articulation depends on the setting of articulation, however, the meaning is dynamistic. jaszczolt in farah et al. (2018, p. 74) states that deixis is a grammatical word used to pointing a person, time, and place that comes from the old greek language. moreover, according to grundy (2013, p. 23) deictic are lexical items which encode context. furthermore, linguistics form to pointing an object is called deictic expression which is also known as indexical. according to yule (1996, p. 9) all deictic expressions’ interpretation depends on the speaker and listener context of utterance. types of deixis there are five categories of deixis that states by verschueren (2004) which are person deixis, place deixis, time deixis, discourse deixis, and social deixis. while grundy (2000) has the same opinion and defines types of deixis into 5 categories, as follows person deixis, time deixis, place deixis, discourse, and social deixis. besides, lyons (2000) categorizes deixis only into two types which are discourse deixis and social deixis. personal deixis personal deixis is the utterance that shows personal pronouns, it could depend on who the speaker is. additionally, individual deixis is the deictic expression that underlines the first and second personal pronoun (verhaar, 1993, as cited in sriagung et al., 2017, p. 4). other than yule in purba et al. (2015, p. 3) clarifies that individual deixis comprises of three parts division such pronoun for, to begin with first-person (i), second-person (you), and third-person (she, he, it). examples: i went to the hospital yesterday llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 387-402 390 you must go now! based on the example above, the word "i" indicates the speaker of utterance categorised as the first person, and the word "you" is categorised as the second person which indicates someone who was pointed out by the speaker in the conversation. first-person hutauruk in astria, et al. (2019, p. 4) focuses that, to begin with, the firstperson deixis is the grammaticalization of the speaker that referents to himself or both speaker and a bunch of individuals with the speaker who communicates in plural pronouns. the first-person deixis is divided into personal pronouns, namely singular pronouns (i, me, myself, mine) and plural pronouns (we, us, ourselves, ours). examples: we must go now! i have a class today the pronoun we and i are the first-person deixis, the word i refers to the speaker that points out back to himself and we can be referred to as the speaker and addresser only or speaker with other(s) such as in speech. yule (1996, p. 11) divides the situation into 2 kinds in indicating the word "we" which are called "inclusive we" and "exclusive we". to begin with, "inclusive we" implies that the reference refers to the speaker and addresser who is being pointed out, and secondly, "exclusive we" implies that the addresser is not included. to conclude, first-person deixis may be a syntactic term used throughout the discourse to pose as the speaker second-person yule (1996, p. 11) characterizes second-person deixis as utilized in indicating the speaker's reference to the addresser within the discourse. the pronoun "you" is the pronoun that is frequently utilized to coordinate the second-person deixis. moreover, yourself, yourselves, your, yours are also identified as an addressee of second person deixis. example: you are invited to my birthday party tomorrow. the word “you” is the second person that communicates indirectly with the speaker or someone who invited the listener to talk with the person. third-person levinson in kusumanigrum, et al. (2016, p. 76) states that the third-person of deixis is the reference to not one or the other speaker nor addresser of articulation. the deictic expression of third-person deixis is essentially referenced as the speaker or addresser that more often than not suggests the sexual orientation that the articulation refers to. it incorporates the pronoun he, she, him, himself, her, herself, it, and theirs. it can be seen by gedutytė in asri, et al. (2019, p. 4) who said that third-person deictic is the determinative individual pronouns which are they, she, he, and it. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 387-402 391 example: she is the most beautiful girl who i ever met. the word “she” is third-person deixis and the person who is being addressed in the utterance by the first and second person. place deixis place deixis selects with the expression of the area or participant's place within the discourse occasion (levinson, 1983, as cited in kusumanigrum et al., 2016, p. 76). according to buhler in purba, et al. (2015, p. 5) place deixis is characterized by the indicative language, particularly a place or location. "there are a few deictic words that are "here, there, this, and that." here and this indicates that the articulate region of the speaker is similar to the speaker or it is called proximal and "there and that" suggests that the speaker's area is far from the speaker or distal. the example of spatial deixis that is the most utilised are "this" and "here" for indicating close things, and "that" and "there" for indicating distant things., grundy in sari, et al. (2015, p. 4) explains many more examples of place deictic words, as follows: here, there, where, hence, thither, whither, whence, hither, left, right, up, down, above, below, in front, behind, come, go, bring, and take. examples of place deixis can be seen in the following: that is my book look at this branded bag i am happy to be here he lived here last month here is the proximal term of place deixis, here means the current location of the speaker. the interpretation of here could be different in different contexts which depends on who the speaker is and the place utterance been uttered. as a result, place deixis is a grammatical word that is used to show the participant's place in the speech event. time deixis time deixis suggests that the deictic expression point via language demonstrates time within the expression. time deixis too known as temporal deixis. buhler in purba, et al. (2015, p.4). there are several examples of time deictic expressions: "now, then, tomorrow, this time, that time, seven days ago, two weeks from now, last week, and next april". in addition, (levinson, 1983, as cited in kusumanigrum et al., 2016, p. 4) state that time deixis is the moment of the utterance being utter, to begin with, is some time recently the minute of articulation, the moment is at the time of expression and the final is after the time of articulation. in addition, yule in sari, et al. (2015, p. 5) states that the present tense is the proximal shape of temporal deixis, other than the past tense is the distal form of temporal deixis. in english, these three sorts of time deixis are called by tense which shows present tense, past tense, and future tense. examples: i will leave tomorrow llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 387-402 392 she lives here now we live there then based on the example above, it could be explained that “now”, “then”, and “tomorrow” as the illustrations of adverbial time according to yule in rahayu et al. (2015, p. 3). discourse deixis levinson in kusumanigrum, et al. (2016, p. 5) explains that discourse deixis is concerned with the use of expression within some utterance to refer to some discourse that contains in the utterance. moreover, (levinson, 1983, as cited in kusumanigrum et al., 2016, p. 5) states that discourse deixis is the encoding of the reference discourse in the utterance of speaking taking place. moreover, schiffrin (1990, p. 247) states discourse deixis as the expressions that show the articulation that contains in the discourse could be a reaction to or a continuation of, some parcel of the earlier discourse'. examples of such words and phrases of deictic expressions are but, therefore, in conclusion, to the contrary, still, however, anyway, well, besides, actually, all in all, so, after all, etc. levinson in abdullah, et al. (2015, p. 6) explains that discourse deixis provides backward or forward expression in utterance to another reference, for example, ‘the concert was amazing’. the way using of expression to mention earlier entities in the utterance has the same concept as anaphora. however, schiffrin (1990, p. 245-246) defines the differentiation between deixis and anaphora as from the situation in which is pointing. deixis appears in an internal talk (non-linguistics world) which is known as context. meanwhile, anaphora anchors in an internal talk (linguistics world) which is known as text. for example: i was born in america and i have lived here/there all my life. based on the example above, “here” and “there” is proximity vs. distance: here could be a proximal deictic, showing that the speaker is found in america at the time of speaking; there's a distal deictic, demonstrating that the speaker isn't found in america at the time of talking. reference yule (1996, p. 17) reference of linguistic forms known as reference expressions have been split into several instances, such as proper pronouns, definite or indefinite noun words, and pronouns. according to french (1979, p. 8), a reference is a description to enable the audience to point out to a person or a thing in a conversation. besides, suyono in rosmawaty, et al. (2013, p. 58) argues that whether the relation or reference/reference shift depends on who the speaker, time, and word was pronounced, a word is said to be deixis. it can be assumed that the movement of a reference deixis depends on the environment. speech llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 387-402 393 mulyana in purba, et al. (2015, p. 6) states that speech is an articulation of somebody in front of individuals with a great structure and way in arrange to convey a piece of information expecting to impact, illuminate, to influence a certain topic. according to gregory cited in purba, et al. (2015, p. 6) there are several types of speeches, which are: a. entertaining speech for the assembly of people offers amusement or division. it should be pleasant, agreeable, and comfortable to tune in to. b. an introduction speech is a strategy for showing a modern person to a bunch of people. c. presentation speech includes basic facts, requirements, and accomplishments, d. an acceptance speech is tricky since it will sound grateful without being syrupy and sound laudable without being self-centred. e. praise speech or promotes an individual, meeting, instinct or opportunity. more often than not, it does have fantastic vibes. f. inspirational speech is about combining optimistic emotions to make people feel stimulated, empowered, and motivated. additionally, there are two more sorts of speech to impact and speech to motivate (gregory, 1990, as cited in purba et al., 2015, p. 6speech to influence the way of thinking is to encourage the listener through the speaker of speech himself to have the same thoughts. too, according to gregory in purba, et al. (2015, p. 6), there are two kinds of specifically prominent discourse classification that impact people in the manner of embracing such knowledge and motivational speech to offer few more spirits or action to inspire them to do or avoid doing specific tasks. method this research utilized a qualitative descriptive method which to observe the types and reference meaning of personal deixis in malcolm x’s “the ballot or the bullet” speech. the sources of data in this research are in the transcript speech of malcolm x’s “the ballot or the bullet” which was downloaded from the internet. the data of the research are collected by doing the following steps 1) downloading the transcript of the speech, 2) watching the video documentation, and 3) reading the transcription of the speech. in analyzing the data, the researcher used the theory of miles and huberman (1994) which consists of data reduction, data display, and data drawing. this research will be focused on an inspirational speech in the 20th century delivered by malcolm x entitled the ballot or the bullet. equally important, "the ballot or the bullet" speech was delivered on april 12, 1964, at king solomon baptist church, detroit, michigan by human rights activist malcolm x that known for his strong argument towards the discrimination of white men in the africanamerican community. because of that, he was renowned as a radical figure against white liberal society and moderate black leaders. therefore, the researcher decided to choose that speech to be the object of study because the selected speech was interesting and delivered by a famous radical african-americans activist figure that tried to utter his thought about racism in america. findings and discussion llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 387-402 394 after the researcher collected the data by watching, reading, observing, and classifying the types of personal deixis used in the script of malcolm x’s speech in the 20th century titled the ballot or the bullet, here are the tabulation used the types of personal deixis which appears in malcolm x’s the ballot or the bullet speech, as indicated in table 2. table 2. personal deixis frequency in malcolm x’s “the ballot or the bullet” speech table 2 shows that malcolm x was most dominant used second-person you, a total of 174 times appear, next followed by the deictic word they total of 84 times used, last, the deictic word we in third position as the most dominant deixis word used with 79 times used despite the use of another type a deictic word in the speech. therefore, it could be seen that malcolm x first emphasized the speech throughout the second-person you or the addresser in the speech which was the africanamerican minister. it is because the speaker was delivering the speech to the listener to show inequality due to racial discrimination that happened to the africanamericans community. in delivering this speech, malcolm x also described their enemy in this case was described as the third participant in the speech that used the deictic word they. as the second dominant used by malcolm x, the deictic word they show their competitor due to the issue of racism. moreover, the speaker used the deictic word we as the third dominant used in this speech to show that the issue of racism happened in his community of african-americans which means he also got the supremacy of the white man in america. he wanted to say that they feel the same struggles no exception for him and to bring out their affinity as in the same community who got the discrimination in america to fight for their rights. the researcher finds out in malcolm x’s “the ballot or the bullet” speech used a deictic personal word that consisted of first-person, second-person, and thirdperson. based on the table in research findings, the researcher discovered the deictic word second-person you, third-person they and first-person we as the most frequently used in the speech. first-person deixis (i) types of personal deixis deictic words frequency of time used total first-person i 60 222 me 16 my 14 we 79 us 22 our 31 second-person you 174 211 your 37 third-person she 3 229 he 60 him 21 they 84 them 14 it 47 total 662 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 387-402 395 “i am a muslim minister”. (the ballot or the bullet, par.4/l.1/) the pronoun i above is determined as a deictic word that is determined as subject singular first-person. according to the theory of azar (2002, p. 132), the deictic word i applies as a subject singular pronoun that pointed to the speaker himself. further, the deictic word i in the first data above, considering the speaker of utterance that the speaker was malcolm x, then it could be seen that the deictic word i indicates that the speaker of the speech refers to himself which is malcolm x. malcolm x was representative and obey muslim african-american minister that is the majority in the society, this can be seen from the previous discourse where he mentioned his personal belief was islam. therefore, the function of the word i in the sentence above is as a subject singular form of the first-person deixis. it is because the deictic word is placed at the beginning of the utterance and stands before a verb, it also refers to one only person which is the speaker who is malcolm x. first-person deixis (me) “how you gonna tell me you’re a second-class citizen? they don’t have secondclass citizenship in any other government on this earth”. (the ballot or the bullet, par.27/l.6) the word me indicates a first-person singular that stands as an object in the sentence according to the theory of azar (2002, p. 132). moreover, me in data 05 above described the representative of the black american community who got discrimination against in america that pointing over himself in the speech which is malcolm x. malcolm x as the speaker in the speech was asking the listener here indicates as the negros to describe to him what the term second-class citizen was. because he believed that there is no such term in any other community on this earth. similar to that statement, malcolm realized that the african-american community was being this second-class citizenship in america which refined the term of 20thcentury slave. so, he was using the deictic word me in pointing back over himself which becomes the representative of the african-american community followed by the verb “tell” that was preceded by the subject you in the utterance. first-person deixis (my) “the senators who are filibustering concerning your and my rights, that’s government”. (the ballot or the bullet, par.60/l.4) the utterance above is said by malcolm x who stands as the speaker of the speech. my is categorized as a singular possessive adjective according to the theory by azar (2002), this deictic expression belongs to the first-person deixis in the form of the first pronoun i. the deictic word my considered a deictic expression whenever it is pointing over someone’s belongings particularly the ownership of the speaker in the utterance. because of that, the deictic word my in the data above refers to malcolm x’s rights as the speaker of the speech who got taken his and africanamerican community rights as a human being in america. malcolm x was pointing llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 387-402 396 out the government as being filibuster towards the listeners’ rights, but not excepting his rights as an african-american. malcolm criticized the government of america regarding the rights of the citizen and that every citizen must get fair services without seeing their race, religion, status, and colour. hence, all citizens deserved freedom of speech and must be protected rather than being filibustered by the government of america. first-person deixis (we) “we own and operate at least the business in our community”. (the ballot or the bullet, par.11/l.2) the deictic word we above applied as deictic expression inclusive we that pointing to the speaker and the audience who attend the speech which is the africanamerican community. the speaker used inclusive we rather than exclusive we, it is because based on the contexts of utterance use, the speaker pointed to himself and the listener who attend the speech the african-american community; to show they were a union of the african-american race. malcolm x wanted to acknowledge himself as also the listener who comes from his race the african-american that they were a group of people who do not have their own business in the community. because of that, he wanted the race to start empowering the economic philosophy of black nationalism by building a business in their community. as a result, the reference meaning of the deictic word we above refers to the speaker and the audience who has the same community as the listener which is the africanamerican community that did not have their own business in the form of firstperson subject plural (azar, 2002). first-person deixis (us) “we have a fight that’s common to all of us against an enemy who is common to all of us.” (the ballot or the bullet, par.5/l.3) in observing the utterance, the deictic word us that said by the speaker which is malcolm x, it is referred to the audience or people whom the speaker has been talking with including the speaker himself. moreover, from the context of utterance used it could be seen that the speaker declined malcolm x and the audience of the speech which is the african-american community that their race had an enemy who was familiar to them which was the white man. further, the application of the deictic word us in the data above seems like pointing to the addresser including the speaker himself as in the same community as the addresser and receiving the verb “fight” in the utterance. therefore, it could be considered that the deictic word us pointing towards more than one addresser as in the form of plural personal deixis also functioned as the object in the discourse. the speaker was telling the addresser about their african-american community problem which the racism issue where this problem seems to be a common thing in their community that was done by people whom they know which is the americans. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 387-402 397 first-person deixis (our) “but if we keep our religion at home, keep our religion in the closet, keep our religion between ourselves and our god”. (the ballot or the bullet, par.5/l.3) in the utterance above, the speaker applied the deictic word our in pointing to religion that belongs to the listener who attends the speech also including the speaker himself that believes in god. however, in this case, the addresses are not having the same religion as the speaker because the speaker was a muslim minister, meanwhile, the listeners of the speech are the christian minister. moreover, the speaker tended to use the deictic word our to refer to the religion of every person who attend the speech including himself although they have an indifferent religious background. despite this, the speaker and the addresser are having a common thing which is their belief in god. because of this, the speaker applied the deictic word our in order pointing their common thing which is their belief towards the god whom they believe. second-person deixis (you) “you can’t sing up on freedom. but you can swing up on some freedom”. (the ballot or the bullet, par.21/l.1) in considering the context of utterance use, the utterance was represented by the african-american community. from the data above, it could be seen that the deictic expression you in the data refers to the person whom the speaker talking to. the deictic word you was used by the speaker to describe the black americans that they were not gaining their freedom as citizens in america. thus, malcolm x persuaded the listener of african-americans to do some swinging. then, it could be determined that the deictic word you in the utterance above is a second-person deictic you that pointed to the address of discourse according to the theory of yule (1996, p. 10). again, it is applied as a subject since the deictic word is placed at the beginning of the utterance, also referent to the addresser of the speech was the audience that more than one person who comes from the african-american community. malcolm x was telling to the listener, therefore, that the deictic word is in the form of subject plural personal deixis. second-person deixis (your) “it was the fact that you threw 80 percent of your votes behind the democrats that put the democrats in the white house”. (the ballot or the bullet, par. 40/l.4) the context of utterance used determined that the deictic word your pointing to the voice of an african-american minister who got fooled by the legislation where they were practised gave 80% of their voices to the american politicians which the democrats. despite this, the practice of vote promotion by africanamericans prejudices them in the constitution. it is because the democrats only seek their vote in the election. after got their benefits, they explicitly executed filibustering in political rights for the black americans in the constitution to keep llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 387-402 398 the african-american minister as uncivilized people practiced racial discrimination in america. third-person deixis (she) “…because she is hypocritical power behind it”. (the ballot or the bullet, par. 27/l.3) the utterance above was uttered when the speaker was talking about american colonialism due to the second-class citizenship which the africanamerican community. then, the speaker which is malcolm x used the deictic word she is pointing to america and symbolized america as a motherland or a country that has controlled power due to the issue of hypocritical in black american ministers. american government played hypocrisy on the promise of the independence declaration that all human kinds have the same equality, however in reality they were like nothing in the society of america. in observing the utterance above, the researcher found out that the deictic word she in the utterance came before a verb, then it could be determined that the deictic word she above functioned as the subject of utterance. besides, the deictic word she in the utterance above also functioned in a singular form. it is could be seen by the address that refers to america which stands for the whole country. third-person deixis (he) “he created problem. he’s the criminal!” (the ballot or the bullet, par.61/l.6-7) the deictic word he functioned as third-person deixis because it is pointing to the other participant in the utterance. the utterance above was uttered by malcolm x that referring to the united states of america as the control power of the racial discrimination issue towards the african-america. malcolm has explicitly criticized the americans for that problem. for this reason, malcolm x used the deictic third-person word he to replace the antecedent noun, uncle sam. thus, it can be said that the deictic third-person word he used in the second utterance above refers to uncle sam as denoting the united states of america. third-person deixis (him) “but singing didn’t help him to become the heavyweight champion of the world. swinging helped him”. (the ballot or the bullet, par.21/l.2-3) the deictic word him above is indicated as a third-person deictic word, it is because it points to an address to the third parties of gender male in the utterance. also, it denoted an object in the utterance, it can be known from the position of the verb “helped” that stands before the deictic word him. moreover, the information of the deictic word in the utterance above describes anaphorically in the previous line (lines 1-2): “you can’t sing up on freedom. but you can swing up on some freedom. [cheering] cassius clay can sing. but singing didn’t help him to become the heavyweight champion of the world. swinging helped him. [applause]” llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 387-402 399 in the discourse above, we can see that the noun pronoun is cassius clay or known as muhammad ali. hence, the deictic word him denotes the antecedent in the utterance that refers to cassius clay or muhammad ali. muhammad ali was an african-american professional boxer who successfully got his freedom until he becomes the heavyweight champion of the world. because of that, the speaker of the speech triggered the listener by giving a speech that the african-american race shall give some standing for their liberty third-person deixis (they) “they’re not getting it by singing, ‘we shall overcome’. no, they’re getting it through nationalism.” (the ballot or the bullet, par.26/l.2) malcolm x used the deictic word they in referring to people in africa and asia who got their independence by doing nationalism, not by singing the song “we shall overcome” to gain their independence in their country. hence, malcolm criticized the listener the african-americans to bring out their freedom by expressing their black philosophy of nationalism. third-person deixis (them) “you put them first and they put you last.” (the ballot or the ballot, par.41/l.5) based on the context of the utterance above, it is addressee to the democrats that unfair in threatening the african-american community whom they always got discrimination in the society of america. this information is described anaphorically in the previous discourse (line 2): “the democrats have been in washington, d.c. only because of the negro vote. they’ve been down there four years. and they’re – all other legislation they wanted to bring up they’ve brought it up and gotten it out of the way, and now they bring up you”. from the discourse above, it could be determined that the word them refers to the democrats that had been living in washington, d.c. indeed, the speaker used the deictic word them in referring to the democrats in the government of america, it is because the democrats were consisted of more than one person inside the democrats itself and functioned as the third party in the utterance who are not the speaker nor listener of the speech. also, the deictic word them in the utterance above also functioned as an object of utterance, it could be seen from the position of the word them placed after the verb “put” that will be received by the object them in utterance as an object third-person in plural form according to azar (2002). because of that, the speaker used deictic words them in pointing out the democrats that chomped the black americans for their goods in election time. the black americans gave their support by giving their vote, however, at last, they would be thrown away by the white politician of democrats. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 387-402 400 third-person deixis (it) “and it expanded and it expanded until today it’s where it is right now”. (the ballot or the bullet, par.15/l.3) in utterance above, it is referent to the gender-neutral thing that needs to settle up into large operation. the information about the deictic word it above mentioned in the discourse below: “now this is what you and i – general motors, the same way, it did not start out like it is. it started out just a little rat-race type operation.” based on the discourse the word it referent to general motors, known as a distributor vehicle corporation in america that was considered as one of an underestimated businesses, but the business continues to grow rapidly until become a famous one today. deictic word it utterance above is considered as a subject of third-person deixis expression since it is used to describe gender-neutral that is in the form of singular. it could be seen by the deictic expression stand it in the first utterance and applied in describing general motors as one corporation which means it is a singular subject in the discourse. hence, the speaker tends to use the deictic word it to describe something in this case general motors that need to be set up into a large corporation. conclusion based on the result of analyzing data that has been done, the researcher found out that malcolm x used personal deixis, such as first-person (222 data), secondperson (211), and third-person (229) as many in total 662 data in whole speech for about 52:47 minutes. so, it could be defined that among three kinds of personal deixis analyzed by the researcher, second-person deixis expressions you are the most dominant used in malcolm x’s “the ballot or the bullet” speech and followed by deictic word they as the second dominant use, lastly deictic word we as the third dominant deictic word used by the speaker. the researcher considered that malcolm x more dominant used secondperson you deixis more in delivering his speech because the speaker wanted the listener the african-american community to realize the problem of equal rights in their community against the americans and asked them for doing some standing to fight for it. and, the use of the deictic word they by the speaker is to describe the third parties in the speech in this case is the most pointing to their enemy which is the americans. further, the deictic word we in the speech is in inclusive we which means it is pointing to the speaker himself including the other participant whom the listener in this case is they were in the same community which the africanamerican community. equally important, deixis takes part in the study of pragmatics which is the way to interpret deictic expression that relates to the context of utterance used such as who the speaker is, when the utterance has been uttered, who the listener is, and where the utterance taking place. indeed, interpreting the meaning of a deictic word depends on context since the different contexts of utterance use will determine different meanings. for this reason, the researcher realized some similar deictic words be able to referent towards different objects in discourse, yet interpreted has llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 387-402 401 a different referent. then, it is important to notice the contextual information in determining deictic words in discourse. after conducting this research, the researcher suggests that other researchers who are interested in conducting research regarding the same topic about deixis expression fill the gap by observing the other objects such as in a comic, in an interview, or in a conference to make a different object from other previous research that usually in a song, in a novel, and a movie. also, the researcher suggests the next researcher who wants to conduct a topic about deixis used a pragmatic approach to observe the denotative and connotative meaning of its deixis by discussing the other types of deixis whether place, time, social, or discourse. references abdullah, m. 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(1996). pragmatics. oxford: oxford university press. https://www.ijhssnet.com/journal/index/2066 https://doi.org/10.31002/transformatika.v11i2.208 https://doi.org/10.1515/text.1.1990.10.3.245 https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199552238.003.0017 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 365-378 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 365 efl speaking student readiness to use mobile-assisted language learning muhammad mugni assapari1* and rosyadi hidayati2 1,2universitas islam negeri mataram, indonesia mugniassapari2021@uinmataram.ac.id1 and rosyadihidayati@gmail.com2 *correspondence: mugniassapari2021@uinmataram.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5240 received 7 october 2022; accepted 19 april 2023 abstract in recent years, mobile-assisted language learning has been on the rise as an instructional approach. while some innovative media platforms have been highly studied, thus, this study focused on how students' readiness and learning outcomes the use of mobile phones to facilitate individualized instruction in public speaking as part of an english as a foreign language course. data were collected from (n=42) students in non-english department classes who participated in this study. they were asked to answer an online questionnaire that surveyed their readiness and outcomes using google foam in their speaking skills. all participants performed two class projects aimed at aiding them in exploring mobile-assisted language learning using their own mobile devices. however, the students self-reported some opportunities and benefits for english foreign language learners (efll) among these mall users. the results of this study suggest that efl-speaking students' readiness affects mobile-assisted language learning. teachers should consider students' motivation, attitudes, and technology skills when creating mobile-assisted language learning programs. instructors should also train and motivate pupils to use mobile-assisted language learning resources by improving their technology skills. furthermore, need for further technical support and facilitating students' mastery of speaking performance. keywords: efl speaking, mall, mobile learning, readiness introduction even though many studies have focused on the student's readiness to use mall-mediated efl speaking skills in various settings and academic levels, in recent years, language learning has been investigated by researchers using various mobile devices such as mobile phones (wong, chin, tan, & liu, 2010). to evaluate students' readiness for mobile assisted language learning (mall) in an efl speaking class mobile assisted language learning (mall) is recognized as a potentially significant way of language acquisition(cheon, lee, crooks, & song, 2012). interest in mobile-assisted language learning (mall) has increased in academic and scientific communities due to technology development and the need to facilitate learning (lan, 2022). mobile devices have gradually mailto:mugniassapari2021@uinmataram.ac.id1 mailto:rosyadihidayati@gmail.com2 mailto:mugniassapari2021@uinmataram.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5240 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 365-378 366 evolved into language teaching and learning tools (grant, 2019; lan, 2022). considering the significance of mobile-learning adoption, more research must be undertaken on influencing higher education students' acceptance of m-learning. (cheon et al., 2012). traditional and mobile learning are two very different approaches to education. mobile learning can be done anywhere and at any time, while traditional learning is often constrained by hours of formal schooling. traditional learning is classified as non-private, whereas mobile learning is classified as private (kheider et al., 2015). in addition, mobile technologies are rapidly expanding the scope of non-formal education (i.e., informal education) by offering flexible and on-demand access to rich digital materials. in recent years, with the application of mall which is administered by nearly all indonesian schools and universities, the implementation of mobile learning discussion is no longer limited to extension or supplementary activities for instruction but has become the main instructional strategy in efl learning. most of these researchers found that students may be more creative when learning a language if they use mobile devices that are portable and can connect to the internet. for instance, it has been demonstrated that mobile assisted language learning (mall) and anxiety are related. in other words, using mobile devices to study a language can reduce language learners' anxiety and encourage them to communicate in public. shamsi et al., (2019) and gilanlioglu, (2019) in an english oral-training course hsieh, huang, and wu (2017) mall has provided new approaches to the language learning process (mccarty, stao, & obari, 2017), writing (andújar-vaca & cruz-martínez, 2017; andujar, 2016) and listening and speaking (ahn & lee, 2016). the learning platform chosen for digital learning also contributes to the effectiveness of instruction discussion and how the learning process will be carried out. while the digital education discourse has been promoted as a driver for revolution and reform, it has caused several obstacles (selwyn & facer, 2013; selwyn, 2010; thomas, 2017). many studies have been conducted to investigate the idea of incorporating mall to support teaching and learning activities in efl speaking classes. the mall integration has benefited speaking class by providing tools for lecturers and students to give, receive, and respond to feedback to improve their communication skills. few studies have examined the impact mall has on learning how to speak or write in a foreign language (kim & kwon, 2012). other researchers (chinnery, 2006; kukulska-hulme, 2009) have examined and explored mall, but only incidentally as part of more extensive studies examining computer-assisted language learning, although mall varies from other computer-based learning in some respects. holbah, (2022) states the prevalent learning ideas utilizing technology-mediated sources such as c/mall contributes to fla, and the findings assist researchers in determining the efficacy of these devices and methods in enhancing language competence among learners. mall can alter how languages are taught and learned. this research aims to determine whether students are ready to use mall in an efl speaking class. recent advances in computer assisted language learning (call) and mobile assisted language learning (mall) have made significant strides in second language acquisition (meghdari et al., 2021). technology does not influence educational practice, nor is it likely to be a deciding factor in casual learning. this study adapted (hubbard, 1988, 2006, 2011) integrated framework for call llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 365-378 367 courseware assessment will provide a framework for analyzing mobile-based esl software's design and evaluation criteria. in this study, i will investigate how mall, as a technology-based learning tool, provides an innovative teaching and learning process in an efl speaking performance class. it will examine how students use its feedback features and whether they are prepared to use the facilitation strategies provided in practice performances. literature review mobile assisted language learning (mall) mall as mobile technologies have advanced, so have advanced language education applications (yang, 2013). netbooks, laptops, ipads, tablets, cell phones, smartphones, digital cameras, mp3 and mp4 players, personal digital assistants (pdas), and e-readers have gained widespread popularity, especially among young people (teresa, 2011). mall is a way of teaching and learning that incorporates mobile phones or other handheld devices with wireless connectivity, including mobile phones, pdas, and tablets (khubyari & narafshan, 2016). nevertheless, with the appropriate pedagogy, mobile learning can be just as effective as face-to-face learning, they contend, and they prefer to refer to mlearning as the beginning of the end of classroom learning (cherian & williams, 2008). the available research indicates that m-learning is increasing worldwide (dudeney & hockly, 2012). a study in the context of indonesian higher education found that mall facilitated ubiquitous learning. they found that carrying a cell phone encouraged pupils to study anywhere and at any time. using their mobile device, they accessed instructional materials (lee, lee, & kweon, 2013). mobile phones have considerably improved the teaching and acquisition of abilities such as listening, reading, speaking, writing, grammar, and vocabulary. mall studies within the context of english language acquisition helped pupils acquire foreign language components and abilities. the availability of mobile phones for language learners has greatly aided education. using mall to improve efl speaking implementing mall in efl learning environments has yielded significant research findings and positive results in recent decades, notably in vocabulary acquisition (burston, 2013; ko, 2019), reading (hendriwanto, h., & kurniati, 2019; lin, 2014) writing (chen, carger, & smith, 2017), and listening and speaking (xu, dong, & jiang, 2017). in addition to the four skills of speaking, reading, listening, and writing, speaking is regarded as the most important and remains the most challenging skill for students of english to master (jaelani, & adung, 2022). prior study indicates that mall helps second and foreign-language learners acquire language skills and linguistic knowledge. (rajendran & md yunus, 2021). nonetheless, several studies investigated efl learners' acceptance of mall for language learning (hsieh, huang, & wu, 2017), mall has been well-received by students since using mobile devices for language study is viewed as both practical and straightforward. the studies also demonstrated that the acceptance of mall by learners affects their attitude and feedback toward the future use of mobile llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 365-378 368 devices for educational purposes. listening and speaking are essential language skills for efl learners and the foundation of their communicative abilities. (cohen, 2012). however, this is different in elt contexts characterized by limited exposure to english. learners are typically provided with decontextualized learning resources and assignments, despite having few opportunities to listen to actual english or speak english in daily life. as a result, they rely primarily on traditional teaching methods, which may diminish their motivation to learn in some situations (hwang, shih, ma, shadiev, & chen, 2016; sato & obari, 2017). mall consists of some characteristics thought vital to promote meaningful learning activities (zain & bowles, 2021). the implication of efl for using mall the technology for mobile-assisted language learning is portable and readily accessible. the phone is the most common mobile device, followed by ipods, pdas, tablet pcs, and mp3 players. using mall also helps students improve their communication and collaboration skills in efl (bozdoğan, 2015). the utilization of mall applications permitted the development of interactive digital learning experiences. significant access to information and communication tools is required to create an immersive environment. (liu, scordino, geurtz, navarrete, ko, & lim, 2014). students assumed that mall use for efl study could occur anywhere and at any time (pratiwi, nariyati, & sudirman, 2020). teaching english speaking using mobile learning in efl classes english speaking is used in a speech community and prepares them for the real world when they leave the classroom. utilizing mobile phone applications in the english teaching and learning process, particularly in teaching speaking, prompted students to demonstrate their communication skills (machmud & abdulah, 2018). the performance of students taught using a mobile phone application was superior to those taught using conventional methods. it has been demonstrated that video positively affects pupils' english-speaking scores. during the first semester of the speaking performance class, students were trained to speak using mobile phones. every class segment, under the instructor's guidance and supervision, focuses on speaking practice. using mobile phones in this class helps pupils talk more effectively, and the instructor can easily watch them. students can use mobile devices to compose, examine their vocabulary, and modify their work. method participant the study included 44 efl students from non-english education departments in a speaking performance class. in the first semester, males and females between the ages of 17 to 20 participated. the participants were those prepared to speak using mall, such as smartphones, ipads, and mobile phones. purposive sampling was conducted using the names of students enrolled in the first semester. in the first semester, there were approximately 135 students, and the researcher selected 44 of them based on their readiness in speaking performance using mall and feedback. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 365-378 369 table 1. information of participants name pseudonym gender age total name pseudonym gender age total ar female 18 ak male 18 br female 18 bk male 17 cr female 18 ck male 17 dr female 18 dk male 17 er female 18 ek male 18 fr female 20 fk male 17 gr female 20 gk male 20 hr female 17 hk male 19 ir female 18 ik male 19 jr female 18 22 jk male 17 22 kr female 18 lk male 18 lr female 20 mk male 17 mr female 20 nk male 19 nr female 20 ok male 20 or female 19 pk male 17 pr female 18 qk male 18 qr female 18 rk male 18 rr female 19 sk male 18 sr female 18 tk male 20 tr female 18 uk male 18 ur female 18 vk male 17 vr female 17 wk male 20 wr female 18 xk male 19 data collection the roles of mall in english language teaching (elt) investigate the participants' readiness and need regarding the use of mall in speaking performance, then move on to appropriateness and preferences of mall by academic levels and teaching roles, as well as teaching and learning tasks and language skills. the likert scale was then used to analyze this study. research participants were asked to score their opinions on a five-point scale questionnaire. utilizing a range of factual scores, the result was transformed into a range of mean values on a scale from 1 to 5. data analysis furthermore, online questionnaires are used to collect data using google forms. these are participant information and frequency of daily mobile device use, the study collected data on three aspects: students' readiness for mobile learning, their usage of mobile devices in the classroom, and their perceptions of using mobile devices for learning purposes. both qualitative and quantitative data were gathered. the quantitative data obtained through the questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive statistics in spss software. the qualitative data from open-ended questions were counted and sorted based on how frequently they were mentioned. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 365-378 370 findings and discussion this study investigated students' readiness to use mobile phones as well as the implementation of a speaking performance feedback activity. this study followed 46 first-semester students who practiced using mall. this study's findings provide an overview of the use of mobile phones in classroom activities and students' readiness to use mall, including learning outcomes and the role of peer feedback in teaching english speaking performance. their students' perceived usefulness of mobile learning influences their speaking performance positively. as a result, only a few studies investigate students' readiness for mobile phones and learning outcomes, this study seeks to learn more about the impact of learning outcomes provided on students' speaking performance when using mobile-assisted language learning. the student's readiness to use mobile phones for discussion facilitation was determined using calculation and descriptive analysis. their recommendations were considered and then distributed to the participants. the interview section discusses the reliability of the questionnaire. table 2. analysis of the questionnaire's reliability no. questionnaire part statistical test used reliability 1 students’ readiness using mobile assisted language learning technology cronbach alpha 0,831 2 students’ outcomes using mobile phone in speaking performance cronbach alpha 0,759 3 learners’ perceptions about mobileassisted in speaking performance cronbach alpha 0,774 students’ readiness using mobile-assisted language learning to evaluate the students' preparedness for using mobile applications, specifically smartphones and mobile phones, to improve their vocabulary and speaking skills, a descriptive statistical analysis was conducted using frequency, mean, and standard deviation measures. the responses collected from the participants were analyzed using the spss 24.0 software. the questionnaire was coded using a specific procedure, where a score of 5 indicated "strongly agree," 4 indicated "agree," 3 indicated "neutral," 2 indicated "disagree," and 1 indicated "strongly disagree." table 3. students’ respondents on mobile learning readiness no items n mean mode sd 1 i am interested in enhancing my english skills through mobile learning. 42 1.98 2 0.749 2 motivated to study a foreign language, i use mobile-assisted learning. 42 1.22 2 0.593 3 mobile-assisted learning is customizable, allowing me to learn wherever and whenever i want. 42 1.64 2 0.485 4 mobile-assisted learning in efl speaking performance can help me improve my knowledge and 42 2.07 2 0.677 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 365-378 371 language-speaking skills. 5 the use of mall can help me develop skills (for example, speaking, reading, writing, listening, and vocabulary). 42 2.21 2 0.813 6 mobile learning allows me to be more active in english learning. 42 2.31 2 0.680 7 mobile learning can help in the creation of an authentic language-learning experience. 42 2.29 2 0.708 table 2 results of learners' readiness to use a mobile phone application to learn to speak. most students agreed that mobile-assisted language learning through speaking activities was an enjoyable way to learn, and mobile phones were convenient tools for academic engagement. this high level of agreement suggests that the students were positively inclined towards using mobile devices to assist in their language learning, indicating a favorable level of readiness. students’ outcomes on using mobile-phones students in their outcomes provide the second aspect of discussion facilitation strategies. table 4. students’ outcomes using mobile phone in speaking performance no items n mean mode sd 1 mobile phone tools for developing speech skills are very effective. 42 2.17 2 0.660 2 i feel the positive impact of every lecturer using a tool in the form of a smartphone or mobile phone when teaching english. 42 2.19 2 0.671 3 students can be motivated to learn english with the help of mobile phones. 42 2.05 2 0.623 4 with mobile phones, students are highly confident in verbal and written communication. 42 2.21 2 0.682 5 the time given to do the speaking task is very effective. 42 2.50 2 0.804 table 3 shows the outcomes of learners who used a mobile phone application to learn to speak. the students' perspectives on the outcomes of their mobile speaking performances indicated this. question 1 students' responses are very effective in helping them develop speech skills (m=2.17). other students respond that every lecturer using a tool in the form of a smartphone or mobile phone when teaching english has a positive impact on them (m=2.19). the other responds that mobile phones can motivate their students to learn english. (m=2.05). question 4 students are very comfortable communicating verbally and in writing using mobile phones (m=2.21). the time allotted to complete the speaking task is very effective in the final question (2.50). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 365-378 372 the implication of mobile-learning students’ outcomes students' needs and outcomes, as well as curriculum standards, should be prioritized when implementing a mobile learning system. school authorities in indonesia, particularly in higher education institutions, even though m-learning is widely accepted as an effective educational tool and is being used in some schools, many indonesian tertiary and higher education institutions still need to incorporate it into their curriculum. as a result, the full potential of m-learning has yet to be realized in these institutions. critical to the success of mobile learning is the impact of mobile technologies on both instructors and students. (bhuasiri, xaymoungkhoun, zo, rho, & ciganek, 2012). after they finished practicing, the lecturer instructed them to locate a peer and provide feedback in terms of evaluation for the lack of their friends' speaking and suggestions. the mobile learning system class activity the subsystems for mobile phone broadcasting and classroom management are presented in figure 1 for this mobile learning system. some service providers connect classrooms to wi-fi institutions, a service for high-educational networking, or cable networks. figure 1. students’ classroom activities mobile learning mobile learning, also known as m-learning, can significantly impact learners' performance in english language learning. mobile learning, or m-learning, can substantially affect english language learners' performance(talan, 2020). mobile learning has been found to have a significant impact on learning performance. mobile-assisted language learning (mall) tools have emerged as an effective method for improving students' listening abilities (linh & vu, 2021). according to studies, mobile learning is an effective method for promoting autonomous and personalized learning. however, it requires students to be responsible and motivated to improve their academic performance (klimova, 2021). moreover, students' self-regulated learning (srl) skills can significantly impact their language learning performance in mobile learning contexts. a study found that efl students who utilized mobile learning aids had enhanced srl skills, which positively affected their academic performance (seifert & har-paz, 2020). finally, mobile learning can impact positively the academic performance of efl students, particularly in the development of their listening skills, promotion of autonomous and personalized learning, and improvement of their srl skills. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 365-378 373 wi-fi institutions especially when incorporated with wi-fi institutions, mobile learning has demonstrated promise for enhancing english language learning performance. moreover, mobile-assisted language learning (mall) tools, particularly for listening skills, have grown in popularity in the digital era as they enable blended interaction and personalized learning experiences (li, 2022). therefore, integrating mobile learning with wi-fi institutions can provide students convenient access to learning materials and tools, personalized learning experiences, and opportunities for blended interaction, significantly improving their english language learning performance. collaborative learning collaborative learning was a method of instruction in which students worked together to attain a shared learning objective. conversely, mobile learning refers to delivering educational content such as mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. due to the convergence of these two approaches, mobile collaborative learning (mcl) has emerged, in which students can collaborate with their peers using mobile devices. it has been demonstrated that the educational use of mobile devices increases students' interest and motivation in courses, resulting in positive attitudes (bağcı & pekşen, 2018). students interact with the lecturer mobile learning is a contemporary instruction technique that utilizes mobile devices to access educational content and engage in learning activities. several studies have investigated the effect of mobile learning on academic achievement, motivation, and instructor-student interaction. sung, chang, and liu, (2016) suggest it is hypothesized that the design of learning scenarios and mechanisms for eliciting questioning and explanation strategies can improve students' cognitive elaboration during mobile device-based activities. similarly, a study by demir and akpinar (2018) found that students had positive attitudes toward mobile learning and valued it as a technique that could significantly boost their motivation. student speaking numerous researchers have examined the effect of mobile learning on students' oral communication skills. according to kusmaryani, musthafa, & purnawarman (2019), mobile applications positively affect the verbal abilities of english language learners. many students preferred to practice speaking through the content of english films on mobile applications, according to the study. mobile learning has the potential to substantially influence students' speaking ability, cognitive elaboration, and learning motivation. researchers and practitioners should consider incorporating mobile learning into languagelearning curricula to improve students' speaking performance and overall learning experience. a comparison of research studies on student readiness for using mobileassisted efl speaking performance reveals that students who utilized mobile learning aids had enhanced self-regulated learning (srl) skills, which positively affected their academic performance (seifert & har-paz, 2020). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 365-378 374 moreover, mobile applications have been found to positively affect the verbal abilities of english language learners (kusmaryani, musthafa, & purnawarman, 2019). however, it is essential to note that mobile learning requires students to be responsible and motivated to improve their academic performance (klimova, 2021). studies have also shown that designing learning scenarios and mechanisms for eliciting questioning and explanation strategies can improve students' cognitive elaboration during mobile device-based activities (sung, chang, & liu, 2016). therefore, incorporating mobile learning into languagelearning curricula can provide opportunities for students to improve their speaking performance, srl skills, and cognitive elaboration. conclusion in this study, we observed students’ reediness and outcomes of the use of mobile phones in the speaking class done by indonesian efl learners in the first semester. this study examined mall, a prospective educational technology for mobile learning in educational settings. this study is essential for implementing mall to facilitate english language learning in the context of islamic higher education in indonesia (ell). because mobile devices are prevalent in indonesia, mobile learning is an appropriate and effective option. gadgets among indonesian students. as a result, we examine their students' responses to feedback via mobile learning. in general, this study demonstrates that pupils positively influence the outcomes of their work, which benefits them in developing their speaking skills and making recommendations when they encounter difficulties. mobile learning allows students to practice english effectively and collaboratively by encouraging vocabulary, and pronunciation, and checking grammatical errors. m-learning encourages students to recheck and evaluate their vocabulary outcomes to achieve english mastery. even though mall 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(2021). mobile-assisted language learning (mall) for higher education instructional practices in efl/esl contexts: a recent review of literature. call-ej, 22(1), 282–307. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315225418 https://doi.org/10.1109/icalt.2012.30 https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.311 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 18-30 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 18 click: interactive app for reading comprehension francisco o. esgrina, jr.1 & richie jake g. generale2 1,2cotabato foundation college of science and technology (cfcst), philippines foesgrina@cfcst.edu.ph and francoisfoe@gmail.com *correspondence: foesgrina@cfcst.edu.ph https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26n1.5626 received 26 december 2022; accepted 6 march 2023 abstract for the past decades, technology has been used as a revolutionary aid for education. with recent innovations, it served as a new platform for learning. since the stirring of the covid-19 pandemic and the series of global lockdowns, an increase in mobile use has been observed. it solidifies technological innovations grounding as a mode of learning. this study was conducted using the close-group tutorial employing the accomplish reading application as an intervention for remediation among slow learners of primary-grade english. it employed the experimental design where it compared the preand post-intervention test results. indeed, the use of a mobile interactive application is an effective strategy to enhance the comprehension skills of the pupils as observed in their improved and increased test scores. keywords: interactive reading app, reading comprehension, reading remediation, slow readers introduction technology had been foreseen as a promise towards a better future and a better society (us department of education, 2017; oecd, 1998). it has proven its use as it was at the forefront of human advancement considering that this civilization’s modern accomplishments are technological– even permeating education (johnson & wetmore, 2021), and ushering in a new age in education that sparked a revolution (collins & halverson, 2010). focusing on education, technology revolutionized and opened up further possibilities for better education (raja & nagasubramani, 2018). with the understanding of the technology and education’s relationship, teaching professionals acknowledge technology in curricular development (falloon, 2020; sabzian et al., 2013; black, 1998). with this, the department of education (deped) pursued the integration of technology into the philippine education system (deped order 23, s.2004). studies have shown that technological integration (through computer-aided education) has significantly improved the effectiveness and quality of education (ghavifekr & rosdy, 2015; cingi, 2013). mailto:foesgrina@cfcst.edu.ph mailto:francoisfoe@gmail.com mailto:foesgrina@cfcst.edu.ph https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26n1.5626 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 18-30 19 mobile technology and the internet expanded the potential of technology, resulting in digital learning/e-learning, which made education more accessible and understandable (al rawashdeh et al., 2021; magdalene & sridharan, 2018). there are few studies regarding the use of mobile apps for reading comprehension (maulida et al., 2021; klimova & zamborova, 2020; agustini et al., 2018), but there are currently no studies on the use of apps for reading comprehension in the context of slow english readers among the basic primary graders. this study would like to test the assumptions that technology-based education could be significant for students’ learning. as a further inquiry, could these mobile apps be effective in comprehension development? thus, this study tested technology (in the form of a mobile app) as an advantage in the learning process producing a desirable outcome for the teaching-learning environment. specifically, the researchers conducted a close-group tutorial focusing on the use of ia as a platform for the reading comprehension development of grade 6 remedial pupils of brgy. makalangot, arakan, cotabato. statement of the problem this research explored the use of an interactive app (ia) as a teaching tool in improving the reading comprehension of pupils under remediation. specifically, this study addressed the following: 1) identify the level of the pupils’ reading comprehension before the use of ia in the tutorial program; 2) describe the level of the pupils’ reading comprehension after the use of ia in the tutorial program; and 3) compare the pupils’ performance before and after the use of ia in the tutorial program. theoretical framework this study is anchored on operant conditioning (also known as instrumental conditioning) by skinner (1935) which proposes a method of learning employing rewards and punishments for behaviour. operant conditioning associates a behaviour and a consequence (whether negative or positive). in this study, we are associating ’gamification’ and its immediate feedback as a positive condition for learning. gamification introduced the concept of developing software into a game for a specific purpose, especially in non-entertainment contexts. gamification has been applied to many industries, but we will focus on the gamification of learning content for education. studies about gamification have been varied but studies see a positive effect on the use of gamification in education depending on the context (seaborn & fels, 2015). thus, hypothesizing that using ias will promote learning, furthermore, on reading comprehension. this study is also based on the two factor theory of motivation by herzberg, mausner, and snydermann (1959) which proposes two factors affecting motivation: motivator factors and hygiene factors (alshmemri et al., 2017). motivator factors are those that lead to satisfaction and motivate people in attaining a goal while hygiene factors are factors that lead to dissatisfaction when absent. in this study, we will treat ia as a motivator factor that would increase the likeliness of learning. thus, ia will act as a positive condition for the learners as something that they can manipulate and be familiar with (as a technology-based learning platform). it llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 18-30 20 will also act as a motivating factor that would increase their likelihood to learn using educational apps just the way they would use their gadgets for entertainment. research paradigm this study is conceptualizing that ia is the independent variable that affects the dependent variable: the pupils’ reading comprehension. the figure below shows the schematic presentations of the variable that will be highlighted in the study. the variables include the ia and pupils’ comprehension levels as measured by reading tests. ethical consideration the researchers processed the collected data with strict secrecy to protect the respondents' and informants' personal information and identifying traits. they also made certain that the data were not manipulated, which might bias the findings, and that the respondents participated willingly rather than being forced or pressured. following the five key ethical principles of ethical research: a) informed and voluntary consent; b) confidentiality of information shared; c) anonymity of research participants; d) beneficence or no harm to participants; and e) reciprocity (halai, 2006), respondents had the freedom to participate (or not participate) or withdraw from the study (at any time) without penalty for whatever reason: discomfort, personal reasons, etc. most importantly, they established a trustworthy connection with the participants to ensure that their replies were not shared with others (hammersley & traianou, 2012). following criteria and avoiding plagiarism, guidelines given out by authorities before beginning research are critical, and if data is shown to be incorrect, it is my obligation to fix it (miller et al., 2012). the researchers also properly cited several writers who were quoted in support of this study. following the completion of this interactive app pupils’ comprehension level pre-application reading test postapplication reading test dependent variable independent variable figure 1. the schematic presentation of the study, “click: interactive app for reading comprehension”. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 18-30 21 survey, the researchers presented some mementoes to the respondents to express heartfelt gratitude for their participation and support of this research. method this study operated using a quantitative research design in data gathering and presentation of the study’s results. the quantitative research design analyzed the numerical data, which are the test scores of the participating pupils, garnered during the conduct of this study. specifically, the researchers used a pretest-posttest experimental design in conducting the research – using a mobile app as the intervention of the study. a pre-test and post-test were conducted before and after the intervention was used. the difference between the two data points (pre-test & post-test scores) will be the basis for the analysis and conclusion of this study to measure the effectivity of the app on the participants. the researchers conducted this study at the barangay hall of makalangot, arakan, cotabato, philippines. the researchers piloted a remedial (tutorial) program held on january 18 to 21, 2022 and february 21 to 24, 2022 at the said location. the respondents of the study were grade-6 public school pupils undergoing a reading remediation program. since the philippine informal reading inventory or phil-iri, a diagnostic examination annually conducted by deped was not conducted due to the health restrictions of the covid-19 pandemic the participants were chosen through convenience sampling (from the 30 pupils who are near the area) and pupil selfreporting that they have reading comprehension difficulty. to further filter the participant data, only those who scored 6 points (developing level) and below (during the pre-test) were recorded for data analysis. this study used a reading comprehension test questionnaire, adopted from manis (n.d) from dailyteachingtools.com, composed of 10 items per conduct and a postevaluation form. this study used the ‘accomplish reading’ app developed by offutt (2019) as the ia which can be installed on android tablets and computers (through android emulation). the app has six parts (part a to part f). each part consists of 8 subsets. parts a and b have 10 passages to read per set. parts c to e have 5 passages in each set while part f has 4 passages per set. this study employed convenience sampling to select the participants, in which geography and the dilemma of the covid-19 pandemic were considered. thus, only those who were available to participate in the program and had the following conditions were considered as the participant pool: have undergone a remediation program; have self-reported having reading comprehension difficulty; have basic decoding (reading) skills; and have attained below passing score during the pre-test (having scored below 7 points). procedures during the planning stage, the researchers browsed for useful apps for the study which focuses on the development of reading comprehension, of which at the time of this conduct, apps pertaining to reading comprehension were not many (aside from the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 18-30 22 test apps designed as a review app for language testing systems). dr. jane offutt’s (2019) accomplish reading app was selected as the intervention of the study. the researcher started by determining the levels of the pupils using a pre-test, after which they also prepared the necessary materials like printed reading comprehension test sheets and the gadgets needed for the study. afterwards, they installed the app on tablets and laptops through android emulation. with the assistance of their class adviser, the participants were pre-grouped and divided into batches of five (numbers vary from each batch). the researchers implemented a two-day program per batch. on the morning of the first day, the researchers administered the pre-test and let the pupils answer parts a and part b of accomplish reading app. the researchers let the pupils answer parts c and part d in the afternoon. the pupils answered part e of the app on the second day of the program, while part f was left optional. this setup was repeated for the succeeding batches of pupils. mean was used to show the average test scores of the pupils before and after the intervention. the researchers used t-test to analyze the diagnostic test scores of the pupils before and after the application of ia in the remediation program. the statistical tool tested whether the pre-test scores and post-test scores were significantly different. findings and discussion accomplish reading ® app this section shows how accomplish reading ® app by offutt (2019) works. figure 2. six parts of accomplish reading app accomplish reading ® has six parts, each with a unique challenge: part a “does it make sense?” – identifying if a sentence makes sense. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 18-30 23 part b “do they have the same meaning?” – comparing sentences’ similarity. part c “does the title sentence match the meaning of the paragraph?”– comparing the title sentence’s relation to the main paragraph. part d “the disappearing title” – comparing the relation of the title to the paragraph, but the title disappears. part e “the disappearing paragraph” – compares the relation of the paragraph to the title, but the paragraph disappears. part f – “does the underlined sentence make sense?” – relating the sentence according to the context in the paragraph. figure 3. part a: question 8 figure 4. part a: question 1 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 18-30 24 the app presents a situation (a short reading passage) for the student to read, analyze and answer. the student may choose from two options: yes (agreeing with the situation) or no (disagreeing with the situation). figure 5. wrong answer choosing the right answer allows the reader to continue. if the reader selects the wrong answer, an error message will prompt the reader to re-read the question for a certain amount of time. figure 6. right answer upon completion, the scores will be recorded to specific user data. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 18-30 25 results level of pupils’ reading comprehension before the use of ia table 1 presents the comprehension level of the participants before the intervention was used for them during the tutorial session. table 1. participants’ comprehension levels before the intervention mean descriptive equivalent pre-test scores 3.00 beginner legend: 9-10 highly proficient 7-8 proficient 5-6 developing 3-4 beginner 0-2 poor highly proficient has a good understanding of what he/she is reading proficient comprehends most of what he/she is reading developing understands some of what he/she is reading beginner barely understands what he /she is reading poor does not understand what he/she is reading clearly, the pre-test scores of the participants showed a mean score of 3.00. it has the descriptive equivalent of a “beginner” level. this means that before the intervention was conducted, the participants have a low comprehension level and could barely understand what they are reading. furthermore, this states their low proficiency in reading and validates the necessity for remediation in terms of reading comprehension. this is to be expected as it is a condition to include the data of the participants who were at a ‘developing’ comprehension level or lower. this affirms that the participants have a reading comprehension difficulty that may be due to pupils’ developmental delay, poor vocabulary, lack of confidence to practice reading in class, poor motivation from teachers and parents to help develop their interest in reading, lack of pre-reader books in school and at home, lack of library, teachers' inadequate knowledge of phonemic awareness strategy of teaching reading, and lack of reading club could all contribute to low reading comprehension (nanda & azmy, 2020; mohammed & amponsah, 2018; spencer & wagner, 2018; iqbal et al., 2015). with the conduct of a remedial program, it is imperative that both reading fluency and comprehension may improve (mangila & adapon, 2020; almutairi, 2018; balinas et al., 2017). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 18-30 26 level of pupils’ reading comprehension after the use of ia table 2 below shows the comprehension level of the participants after the intervention was used for them in the tutorial session using ia. table 2. participants’ comprehension levels after the intervention mean descriptive equivalent post-test scores 7.65 proficient legend: 9-10 highly proficient 7-8 proficient 5-6 developing 3-4 beginner 0-2 poor the post-test scores of the participants after the tutorial session using ia are described as “proficient”, with a mean score of 7.65. this means that the participants have a higher comprehension level when the post-test was conducted. this implies that the pupils understood what they were reading. furthermore, this suggests that there is a positive increase in the pupils’ comprehension levels after the intervention was implemented. this post-test mean score level is comparably higher than their pre-intervention test scores. furthermore, these hint at the positive effect of the intervention, which is the app, on the comprehension levels of the pupils. this result is similar to the studies conducted by several authors (hicks, 2018; wanzek et al., 2017; richards-tutor et al., 2015) where they agreed that there was an improvement in the reading comprehension of pupils who underwent intervention activities. significant difference in the pupils’ reading comprehension levels before and after the use of ia table 3 shows the correlated difference between the pre-test scores and the posttest scores of the participants. table 3. significance of the difference between pre-test and post-test scores of the participants variables t value df p-value significance pre-test – post-test -11.11 19 .00 significant the table shows the difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of the participants which shows that there is a significant difference between the two variables. the results show that the t value is -11.11, with a different value of 19 and a p-value of .00. this means that there is an improvement after the intervention was implemented and that the use of ia is effective. indeed, interactive or mobile apps nowadays could be exploited by both teachers and learners for the teaching-learning process. aside from the fact that mobile apps are a novelty and fun to use, they could help teachers and learners perform their tasks with ease, reliability, and efficiency (demir & akpinar, 2018; etcuban & pantinople, 2018; rezaei et al., 2014). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 18-30 27 conclusions after the analysis of the data, this study found out that the pupils have a beginner comprehension level before the use of the intervention in the tutorial program which indicated that they barely understood what they are reading. in comparison, the pupils attained a proficient comprehension level after the use of the intervention in the tutorial program which indicated that they comprehend most of what they read. this entails that the pupils’ post-intervention diagnostic test scores increased compared to their preintervention diagnostic test scores. furthermore, the t-test shows that there was a significant difference between the pre-intervention test scores and post-intervention test scores. based on the findings, it is affirmed that ias have a considerable impact on pupils' reading comprehension indicating that they have improved during the intervention. the use of the app develops reading comprehension and is an effective platform for learning. it can be assumed that the success of the app as an intervention is affected by its design and content. furthermore, it is possible that independent of the app utilized in this study, well-designed apps could boost the likelihood of the learner to progress in learning. the study recommends that ias be used to promote learning and, in this case, develop reading comprehension. as a result, pupils and educators are encouraged to embrace technology to improve the learning environment. furthermore, educators must be positive about the use of technology under the right conditions. administrators and software developers are advised to invest in the platform and further develop the software/apps. learning could be improved much further with technological advancements. also, allotting more support for access would be recommended. future researchers should conduct similar studies with a larger sample size and over a longer period of time to assess the long-term impacts. it is also advised to investigate the content of the applications and how they will affect the learning process. qualitative research (i.e. phenomenology) is recommended to further examine the insights on the use of mobile applications as experienced by the participants. a similar study is also recommended for students who do not have access to technology-based education. references agustini, s., wardhani, n. p., kurniawan, m., & amalina, e. n. 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(2017). effects of a year long supplemental reading intervention for students with reading difficulties in fourth grade. journal of educational psychology, 109(8), 1103-1119. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000184 https://doi.org/10.1177/0014402915585483 https://10.0.16.208/jltr.4.4.684-692 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2014.09.006 https://doi.org/10.1080/00221309.1935.9920088 https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654317749187 https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000184 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 346-364 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 346 effects of peer teaching on grammar learning: does it enhance learner autonomy? satrio dewantono1 and elisabet titik murtisari2* 1,2universitas kristen satya wacana, indonesia satriodewantono25@gmail.com1 and elisabet.murtisari@uksw.edu2 *correspondence: elisabet.murtisari@uksw.edu https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5333 received 4 november 2022; received 19 april 2023 abstract peer teaching has been widely applied in university settings to assist language learners. however, concerns have been raised about the potential impact on learner autonomy as this teaching method involves a more able learner tutoring a lowerlevel one. despite this, little attention has been given to examining this issue. for this reason, this qualitative study investigates whether peer teaching can help foster tertiary efl students' autonomy in isolated grammar learning, which may serve as more intensive training to improve metalinguistic knowledge and grammar competence within restricted time frames. based on reports from 29 survey participants and 11 interviewees, the study finds that peer teaching can promote learning autonomy, with students engaging in various activities to enhance their learning during tutoring and/or the peer teaching program. participants reported improvements in learning motivation, subject understanding, problem-solving skills, and monitoring and evaluating skills. however, some students, especially those with lower abilities, appeared to be more reliant on peer tutors in constructing their knowledge, providing self-study materials, and frequency of grammar selfstudy. this study provides crucial qualitative findings that shed light on the effects of peer teaching on learner autonomy, particularly for efl teacher education students' grammar learning. keywords: grammar, learner autonomy, peer teaching, tertiary efl students introduction grammar competence is vital for tertiary students learning english as a foreign language (efl) to communicate effectively. to assist with the challenge of learning various structures within a limited time frame, isolated grammar courses are typically provided within communicative language programs. relying primarily on the “focus on forms” method, such courses may help students to recognize grammatical forms and meanings more quickly. additionally, they can aid learners gain explicit grammar knowledge, which is essential for their future careers as english language professionals, particularly as efl teachers. however, with factors such as l1-l2 linguistic differences and complex abstract concepts of grammar, many efl students often find grammar learning difficult. to deal with this issue, mailto:satriodewantono25@gmail.com mailto:elisabet.murtisari@uksw.edu2 mailto:elisabet.murtisari@uksw.edu https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5333 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 346-364 347 peer teaching has been implemented to help students in learning the language aspect (mulatsih, 2018; murtisari, puspitasari, & setiamunadi, 2020). the teaching method has long been recognized as a beneficial supplementary means to help learners with learning difficulties. research has reported improvements on both the metacognitive (de backer, van keer, & valcke, 2012; stigmar, 2016; velez, cano, whittington, & wolf, 2011) and academic aspects of the students involved in a peer teaching program (arco-tirado, fernández-martín, & fernández-balboa, 2011; asgari & carter, 2016; bowman-perrott, demarín, mahadevan, & etchells, 2016). offering a more individualized way of learning, peer teaching may also fill in significant knowledge gaps that regular teaching with the faculty teachers cannot deal with (murtisari et al., 2020), which may be empowering for the assisted students. despite all the reported advantages of peer teaching, there has been concern that such learning support might lead to students’ dependence on their tutor’s assistance (murtisari, et al., 2020; mynard & almarzouqi, 2006). during tutoring sessions, less able learners may be reluctant to build their own understanding of the lessons through active participation and rely largely on the tutors’ explanations (murtisari et al., 2020). despite this issue, little attention has been paid specifically to the effects of such tutoring to the students’ learning autonomy. often utilized to reduce drop-out rates (bohórquez, rodríguez, & gonzález, 2019; muller, shacham, & herscovitz, 2017), the potentials of peer teaching to promote learner autonomy have yet to be a main concern. achieving a greater academic outcome is still the main objective with little regards to the role of learner autonomy in its success. having the vygotskian and piagetian theories highlighting the importance of cooperation as the underlying foundations of peer learning (velez et al., 2011), peer teaching is likely to have impacts on learner autonomy. given the issue described above, this study aims to examine whether peer teaching enhances learner autonomy in terms of students’ evaluation and reported behavior. specifically, the research seeks to identify the activities that students engage in during peer teaching sessions that contribute to autonomous learning, and to evaluate its effects on learner autonomy. the findings of this research could inform the development of peer teaching programs that may promote learner autonomy. literature review grammar learning grammar is a fundamental aspect of english. it not only serves as a set of rules that one should apply accordingly, but also as a means of meaning making (murtisari, salvadora, & hastuti, 2020; richards & reppen, 2014). however, it is often debated whether grammar should be taught or not, with contra arguments likely to be rooted in krashen’s comprehensible input theory (larsen-freeman, 2015). despite this, there is a growing consensus in the field of second language acquisition that a combination of implicit and explicit methods can enhance the learning of grammar for l2 learners. this view suggests that these methods are complementary, as argued by scholars in the field such as ellis (2016) and spada and lightbown (2008). supporting schmidt’s noticing hypothesis (1990), newby (2006) contends that explicit declarative knowledge can also contribute to a person's llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 346-364 348 language acquisition. although this knowledge may not be immediately applicable in communication, it can improve a learner's ability to notice language patterns and can become part of their internal language learning process. therefore, in efl contexts, where learning time and l2 exposure are often limited, explicit instruction can be highly useful in promoting l2 learning. research has shown that both teachers and students perceive explicit grammar instruction, primarily associated with the focus on forms approach, as "necessary and effective," despite being unpleasant (jean & simard, 2011, p. 467). despite the crucial role of grammar, the learning of grammar is commonly perceived as a daunting part of an efl student’s language acquisition journey. according to grauss and coppen (2015), the challenges in grammar learning may result from complex interactions between different aspects: grammar features (the complexity of certain forms), the learner (e.g., motivation), the pedagogical arrangement (e.g., teaching approaches/methods), and the teacher (e.g., teaching style). furthermore, in an efl context where students' l1 grammar differs significantly from english, the learning process can become even more challenging. tertiary efl programs also add pressure as students generally have limited time to master various grammatical forms and reach a post-intermediate level by graduation. therefore, it is crucial to address such difficulties to assist students learn grammar more effectively. while learning grammar can be demanding, there are various strategies that students can use to make it easier. cohen (2010) identifies four types of such strategies: cognitive, metacognitive, social, and affective. metacognitive strategies involve learners deliberately attempting to supervise and manage their learning (cohen, 2010), and therefore are closely linked to learner autonomy. using metacognitive strategies, students can perform autonomous learning of grammar (stephen & singh, 2010) by planning, monitoring, and evaluating it to control its progress. learner autonomy learner autonomy is often defined as the ability to take responsibility for one’s learning. this includes determining the goals, deciding the content and method of learning, monitoring the learning progress, and evaluating the learning achievements (holec, 1981). research suggests that learner autonomy yields positive effects on learners’ academic outcomes. for example, in hu and zhang’s study (2017), students who participated in a learner autonomy program performed better on a post-test than on a pre-test. furthermore, autonomous learning is an ability that can be developed through natural or formal learning processes, rather than being an innate gift (holec, 1981). it is critical to note that as a socio-cultural concept, learner autonomy does not take place in isolation but rather within an interdependent socio-cultural context (lamb, 2017). this aligns with bergen's concept of autonomous learning, which includes both independent work and cooperative acts with others (dam et al., 1990, as cited in lamb, 2017). learning within an environment that encourages peer interaction and collaboration is therefore beneficial for the development of learners' autonomy. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 346-364 349 as grammar learning is a substantial undertaking, pawlak (2017) emphasizes the importance of promoting autonomous learning for grammar acquisition. he argues that learners need to learn grammar independently outside formal environments to achieve adequate mastery of grammar. simply familiarizing oneself with rules and completing exercises is insufficient to be able to apply grammar in spontaneous communication. to achieve this, learners must develop explicit and implicit grammar knowledge, which can be facilitated with learner autonomy. this approach can be particularly helpful in efl settings, where exposure to the target language is limited in and out of the classroom. although learner autonomy has the potential to promote grammar learning, there has been a lack of research on this specific issue. typically, autonomy in grammar learning is examined within the context of students’ writing skills, which normally draws on the focus on form approach (e.g., nazari, 2014; vickers & ene, 2014). here, learner autonomy is seen to promote students’ l2 writing skills by enhancing their grammatical accuracy. this can be achieved by noticing and selfcorrecting grammatical errors in their writing in comparison to the writing model produced by native speakers of the language (nazari, 2014). however, as english grammar involves complex abstract mechanisms, peer teaching focusing on specific forms may assist efl students to better understand the semantic and pragmatic aspects of rules and how to apply them in context. peer teaching peer teaching or tutoring is frequently described as a practice in which more knowledgeable learners help those who are less able. it goes by different terms, including peer-assisted learning, reciprocal peer teaching, near-peer teaching, and supplemental instruction (dawson, van der meer, skalicky, & cowley, 2014). one of the most prominent theories in this area is vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of learning, which emphasizes the importance of active participation from peers, adults, or teachers with better knowledge to assist the learning process (velez, et al., 2011). by assisting less able learners with the support of their peers, peer teaching places its basic foundation on sociocultural theory. peer teaching has been shown to aid students learning. a study by colver and fry (2016) demonstrated that students from across academic subjects who received peer tutoring were reported to obtain significantly better grades in the subject compared to those who did not. the participants revealed improved understanding, completion of assignments, and increased confidence. the positive effects of peer teaching might be attributed to its nature which provides more opportunities for learners to ask and respond to questions, more focus on tasks, and greater chances for practice and feedback (bowman-perrott et.al, 2016) and draws on mutual respect and openness to others’ ideas (o’sullivan & cleary, 2014). the tutors’ ability to provide easy-to-understand explanations due to a similar knowledge base is also found to be a significant factor in the success of peer teaching (cornwall, 1980, as cited in stigmar, 2016). apart from its well-known impacts on students’ academic outcomes, research has also shown that peer teaching improves learners’ social skills, such as their confidence and how to relate to others (topping, 2001, as cited in miller, topping, & thurston, 2010). riese, samara, and lillejord (2012) contend that peer teaching’s social benefits may result from the peer interactions during tutoring. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 346-364 350 according to the authors, such tutoring interactions are characterized by four different traits. first, they employ negotiation tasks, which allow tutors and tutees to decide what they want to do. second, the talk is characterized by questioning and meaning-making. third, they allow disagreements between tutors and tutees as peer tutoring provides a less formal learning environment. last, there is a utilization of mediational means such as concrete tasks, tutoring session rules, and traditional tools such as whiteboards, books, and pencils. such interactional traits may ultimately enhance students’ learning. while positive results have been found in studies that examine peer teaching in language learning (arthurson, 2021), research on grammar-focused peer tutoring is still limited (e.g., mulatsih, 2018; murtisari et al., 2020). previous studies have mostly investigated grammar as part of the tutoring of language skills such as writing (e.g., kim, 2018; snyder, nielson, & kurzer, 2016; winder, kathpalia, & koo, 2016). in mulatsih’s study (2018), peer tutoring was shown to enhance grammar learning by allowing students to study more intensively and gain a better understanding of grammatical forms. however, the potential issue of students becoming overly reliant on tutors (murtisari et al., 2020) warrants further investigation. peer teaching and learner autonomy while peer teaching has been shown to have positive effects, there are concerns that it may create a dependence among tutees. mynard and almarzouqi (2006) found that 60% of tutors reported tutees relying on them as a common issue. tutees would ask for extra sessions before tests and even requested tutors “to do their homework” (p.18). however, murtisari et al. (2020) argue that mynard and almarzouqi did not clearly explain what they meant by dependence. while requesting additional sessions could be problematic, it may not necessarily indicate dependence. nonetheless, murtisari et al. (2020) found that some tutees relied heavily on their tutors to explain concepts instead of trying to develop their own understanding. such reliance may have resulted from rote learning strategies that promote passive learning (menezes & premnath, 2016). as a result, students who are used to receiving knowledge may struggle to be active participants in the learning process. another possible reason is tutees may find the subject matter too challenging so they cannot participate in knowledge construction. however, other research, albeit limited, has also shown that peer teaching is beneficial to promote learner autonomy. stigmar (2016) found that such tutoring may improve one’s self-regulation, which “includes elements of motivation, selfefficacy, time management, goal setting, metacognition, self-reflection, and organizational skills” (p.132). supporting this, bohórquez et al.’s (2019) study demonstrated that students involved in a peer teaching program improved their selfconcept of autonomy by moving to a more practical, goal-oriented, and collaborative view of it. collaborative activities such as “active questioning, explaining, monitoring, and regulating in the learning process” (stigmar, 2016, p.131) can further enhance students’ autonomous learning. with this in mind, the present study investigates the effects of peer tutoring on efl students' learner autonomy in grammar learning based on students’ reports. by exploring this issue, we seek to gain more insights into the potential benefits llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 346-364 351 and challenges of peer teaching in efl contexts, which could inform pedagogical practices and advance our knowledge of language learning. research method context of the study this qualitative research aims to explore whether or not peer teaching may enhance learner autonomy in grammar learning based on students’ evaluation and reported behavior. in order to answer this question, it has the following two subsidiary queries: 1. what specific activities related to learner autonomy do students engage in during the peer teaching sessions/program? 2. how do students evaluate the effects of peer teaching on their autonomy in grammar learning? this study was conducted in an english education program at a private university in central java, indonesia. the program implemented peer teaching to assist undergraduate students taking basic and intermediate grammar courses to improve their understanding of class lessons and provide more opportunities for practice. the tutors were mostly thirdand second-year students and selected based on their communication skills and grammar knowledge. a short preparatory briefing was conducted for the tutors, but no specific guidelines or strategies were given before their teaching, and, therefore, the tutoring methods may have varied among the tutors. flexible learning sessions were provided in small groups of no more than four students, with one-to-one tutoring available upon request. as encouraged, students generally grouped with those of similar levels and could have multiple sessions within a week. participants this research involved 29 indonesian efl learners consisting of 27 first-year students and 2 repeating fourth-year students who took the basic or intermediate grammar course during the period from august 2019 to august 2020 and had joined the peer teaching program within an offline, face-to-face setting. eleven of the participants who agreed to give more information were selected to participate in follow-up interview sessions. to represent different groups of students with relative abilities, the following gpa ranges were used to select the students: low: x≤2.50, lower mid: 2.50<x<<2.75, upper mid: 2.75≤x<.3.25, and lower high: 3.25≤x<3.50. the 11 participants were given initials to protect their privacy and confidentiality, as shown in table 1. table 1. interviews of the participants’ backgrounds student gender age academic year gpa f f 18 2019 low v f 21 2017 low g m 20 2019 low d f 18 2019 lower mid n f 19 2019 lower mid h f 19 2019 upper mid llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 346-364 352 sm f 19 2019 upper mid m f 19 2019 upper mid s f 21 2019 lower high p f 19 2019 lower high a m 21 2017 lower high data collection in the present study, data was collected using a questionnaire and semistructured interview protocols. both instruments were piloted and revised before administration. the questionnaire consisted of 19 close-ended and two open-ended questions, developed based on holec's definition of learner autonomy (1981), and was administered online through google forms. it also collected demographic data that included students’ gpas, gender, and batch year. in contrast, the interviews were conducted online through google meet to collect more in-depth data, and several follow-ups were performed to clarify the results. data analysis the data obtained from the close-ended questions was converted into percentages, whereas those collected from the open-ended questions and interview transcripts were examined using content analysis. to conduct the content analysis, the first researcher read the material repeatedly and worked with the second researcher to categorize the data. the categories were then coded and verified for accuracy by a colleague through independent cross-checking. any discrepancies were resolved through mutual review. the results of the interview were subsequently used to complement the questionnaire findings. findings and discussion the present study’s findings strongly suggest that peer teaching may enhance learner autonomy in grammar learning. for ease of reading, this section is divided into parts, each addressing one subsidiary research question. activities related to learner autonomy students engaged in during the peer teaching sessions/program overall, the survey demonstrates that the students reportedly performed various activities contributing to autonomous learning during the peer teaching program (table 2). table 2. learner’s autonomy reflection during the peer teaching program questionnaire item percentage strongly agree and agree s tr o n g ly a g re e a g re e n e u tr a l d is a g re e s tr o n g ly d is a g re e 1. while joining peer tutoring, i decided on the topic discussed in the tutoring sessions more appropriately. 10.3 58.6 31.0 0.0 0.0 69.0 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 346-364 353 2. while joining peer tutoring, i chose the activities in the tutoring sessions. 10.3 51.7 37.9 0.0 0.0 62.1 3. while joining peer tutoring, i decided on the learning method for the tutoring sessions. 6.9 58.6 31.0 3.4 0.0 65.5 4. while joining peer tutoring, i tried to figure out the grammar rules by myself. 0.0 58.6 34.5 6.9 0.0 58.6 5. i tried to re-explain what i had learned from my discussion with the tutor in the tutoring sessions. 0.0 62.1 31.0 6.9 0.0 62.1 6. during the peer tutoring program, i tried to review feedback from the tutors independently. 24.1 58.6 17.2 0.0 0.0 82.8 7. during the peer tutoring program, i analyzed the grammatical errors that i made in the tutoring sessions by self-reviewing the lessons. 17.2 62.1 17.2 3.4 0.0 79.3 as shown in table 2, the two activities that received the highest positive responses from students were analyzing tutors' feedback and reviewing errors or mistakes made during peer tutoring. 82.8% and 79.3% of students agreed or strongly agreed, respectively. this indicates that peer teaching is beneficial for enhancing learners' ability to reflect on their mistakes and increasing their motivation to improve their weaker areas through feedback. in addition, deciding on tutoring session topics received the third-highest positive response (69%), suggesting that peer teaching also helps students plan their grammar study effectively. however, the activities that reflect knowledge construction (statements 4 & 5) obtained the lowest means of responses (respectively 2.86 and 2.83 out of 4, not shown in the table). only 58.9% of students agreed that they figured out the grammar rules on their own during peer teaching. interestingly, 6.9%, who both had low gpas (2.00 and 2.46), categorically denied having figured out the grammar rules by themselves. these low-achieving students also reported not reexplaining the grammar concepts that they had learned during the peer teaching sessions, which seems to show some reliance on the tutors for knowledge construction. these findings align with murtisari et al.’s (2020) study, which found less proficient learners tended to depend on their tutors’ explanations rather than developing their concepts of grammar items by reading the learning materials themselves. these findings suggest that peer teaching may not encourage less able learners to take an active role in grammar knowledge building. it is possible that the students’ learning llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 346-364 354 skills or attitudes may have hindered their active engagement, but more research is necessary to confirm this. students’ evaluation on how peer teaching affects autonomy in grammar learning the data from the survey and interviews demonstrate that students generally had positive views regarding the effects of peer teaching on their learning autonomy. table 3 shows students’ responses to the survey in terms of their planning, monitoring, and evaluating skills through such tutoring. most students reportedly gained improvements in the areas with nearly all of the statements receiving substantial positive responses. almost 90% or more of the participants agreed or strongly agreed with each statement, and none of them chose ‘disagree’ or ‘strongly disagree’. all the students even believed that the tutoring assisted them to figure out areas of grammar that they found challenging. table 3. planning, monitoring, and evaluating aspects of learner autonomy affected by peer teaching in grammar learning questionnaire item percentage strongly agree and agree s tr o n g ly a g re e a g re e n e u tr a l d is a g re e s tr o n g ly d is a g re e 2. by joining peer tutoring sessions, i can decide the materials that i need to learn the most. 20.7 69.0 10.3 0.0 0.0 89.7 3. by joining peer tutoring sessions, i can keep track of the progress of my grammar learning. 13.8 79.3 6.9 0.0 0.0 93.1 6. by joining peer tutoring sessions, i can figure out the areas of grammar that i find difficult. 37.9 62.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 100 7. by joining peer tutoring sessions, i can figure out the areas of grammar that i am good at. 6.9 82.8 10.3 0.0 0.0 89.7 8. by joining peer tutoring sessions, i can figure out the best way for me to learn grammar. 17.2 72.4 10.3 0.0 0.0 89.7 supporting the above findings, one interviewee (student h) expressed the belief that peer teaching played a key role in enabling her to monitor her own learning progress, which is an essential aspect of autonomous learning. according to student h, participating in tutoring sessions helped her to identify the areas where she needed the most improvement. this suggests that peer teaching can aid learners in evaluating their own understanding of the subject matter and prioritizing their llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 346-364 355 learning accordingly. additionally, student h revealed that she often employed grammar exercises as a means of assessing her learning, and would sometimes request further exercises from tutors to test her comprehension. sometimes i asked my tutors for exercises, or after the tutoring session i asked for exercises and i filled them in [on my own]. [i also checked] whether the answers i had made to the items in the [class] materials were correct. besides comprehension, peer teaching was also reported to help six interviewees evaluate their learning strategies. students d, m, s, and v pointed out that joining peer teaching guided them in finding the most suitable learning strategies. student v, for example, stated that: i was able to know the most suitable and effective learning strategies for me. previously, when i studied, i only opened my textbook and read it. but after joining peer teaching, i took notes on important things and searched for exercises. and if i didn’t understand, i asked the tutor and took notes. the students shared various reasons contributing to their ability to evaluate learning strategies in the interview sessions. student m, for example, mentioned that learning in a comfortable environment with her tutor had helped her develop her learning strategies as she could comfortably ask questions related to how to study certain items. additionally, students g, h, and sm mentioned that their tutors often gave suggestions on how they should learn certain grammar topics. in other words, the tutors had also taken up the role of mentoring. furthermore, student f mentioned that the tutors’ abilities to recognize the characteristics of their tutees helped them adjust to the tutees’ learning strategies. this finding aligns with zhang and bayley’s study (2019), which found that the tutors were able to identify the tutees’ current proficiency and tailor their teaching style to match. in addition to improving planning, monitoring, and evaluating skills, peer teaching was also shown to enhance the students’ conceptual skills. as table 4 demonstrates, the majority of the survey participants (75.9%) believed that peer teaching improved their abilities to develop their concepts of grammatical items. table 4. peer teaching affects the ability to develop grammatical concepts questionnaire item percentage strongly agree and agree s tr o n g ly a g re e a g re e n e u tr a l d is a g re e s tr o n g ly d is a g re e 4. by joining the peer tutoring sessions, i am able to define (develop the concepts of) grammatical items in my own way. 10.3 65.5 24.1 0.0 0.0 75.9 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 346-364 356 in the questionnaire, four students noted that the tutors' explanations were more detailed compared to those of their lecturers. in an interview session, student d mentioned that the tutors' in-depth explanations helped her remember the grammar concepts more easily. another interviewee mentioned that a good rapport with the peer teachers contributed to their understanding. a smaller age gap between the tutors and tutees allowed for a friendly learning atmosphere, which confirms alrajhi and aldhafri's (2015) finding. they found that a smaller age gap resulted in a closer relationship between tutors and tutees, leading to a higher level of positive self-concept and greater academic attainment. furthermore, two survey participants in this present study mentioned that having a smaller number of students in each tutoring session helped them to have better comprehension of the material. the faculty had set a maximum of four students per session, which allowed for more time for grammar explanations and discussions. this finding is consistent with mulatsih's (2018) research, in which one student stated that learning in a group of fewer than six people created a better environment for discussion. while most students had positive views about the effects of peer teaching on their learning autonomy, a significant number of survey participants remained uncertain about how much tutoring affected their ability to define grammatical concepts in their own way (24.1% neutral). this finding suggests that further investigation is needed in future research to identify potential factors contributing to this uncertainty. previous research shows that students may struggle to understand grammatical concepts due to their complex and abstract nature. examining a similar tutoring program, murtisari et al. (2020) found that some students had significant knowledge gaps, making it difficult for tutors to explain things to them. additionally, some students did not engage actively in knowledge construction (ibid). however, the present research strongly revealed that peer tutoring helped promote students' problem-solving skills, as shown in table 5. according to illés (2012), problem-solving skills and decision-making are essential aspects of autonomous learning. table 5. students’ perceptions on peer teaching improvement on problem-solving skills questionnaire item percentage strongly agree and agree s tr o n g ly a g re e a g re e n e u tr a l d is a g re e s tr o n g ly d is a g re e 5. peer tutoring improves my problemsolving skills. 17.2 82.8 0.0 0.0 0.0 100 as shown in table 5, all students, regardless of their gpas, agreed (82.8%) or strongly agreed (17.2%) that peer tutoring improved their problem-solving skills. when asked why they believed this to be true through an open-ended question, they identified three main factors. the first factor was an improved understanding of grammar (62%), which allowed them to tackle more complex grammatical problems. some students elaborated on this point by explaining that tutors often llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 346-364 357 provided alternative explanations of grammar concepts that were easier to understand and remember. in addition, one interviewee (student d) also noted that improved grammar comprehension boosted her confidence when approaching grammar tasks and allowed her to focus better while studying independently at home, demonstrating enhanced problem-solving ability. with the explanation i’d received from my lecturer, sometimes [i] still asked my friends [about the lesson]. but after joining the peer teaching sessions, i could understand things better [even] on my own, and i did not ask [them] anymore. secondly, 14 survey participants mentioned that peer collaboration in peer teaching created a comfortable learning environment that enabled them to have extended opportunities to ask questions and have discussions. being in the same group with peers of a similar knowledge base was influential in creating “a more acceptable comfort zone” (zhang & bayley, 2019). the students reported being able to discuss grammatical problems with their peers within the same group. one survey participant even mentioned that they could ask more freely because the tutor was their friend. from this safer learning environment, students could receive suggestions on their grammatical problems which would enhance their problemsolving skills. furthermore, three survey participants mentioned that their tutors provided them with explicit steps to solve grammatical problems, which made the task easier for them. however, while such strategies can have positive effects, they can also lead to dependency on the tutor. webb and mastergeorge (2003) noted that relying on explicit problem-solving steps rather than seeking a deeper conceptual understanding could indicate low motivation or inability on the part of the learner. therefore, tutors should identify students' characteristics before adopting a directive approach (srivastava & rashid, 2018). in addition, the study also looked at the frequency of students' grammar study, which can be an indicator of their autonomy. as shown in table 6, most students had positive responses to statements about the effects of studying grammar frequently. table 6. students’ views on peer teaching effects to independent study at home questionnaire item percentage strongly agree and agree s tr o n g ly a g re e a g re e n e u tr a l d is a g re e s tr o n g ly d is a g re e 1. by joining peer tutoring sessions, i can schedule my grammar study more effectively. 17.2 69.0 13.8 0.0 0.0 86.2 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 346-364 358 2. by joining peer tutoring sessions, i can monitor the frequency of my grammar study. 6.9 69.0 24.1 0.0 0.0 75.9 3. peer tutoring increases the frequency of my independent study at home. 13.8 65.5 10.3 10.3 0.0 75.8 the results of the study indicated that the most positive feedback was received in relation to the planning and monitoring of students' grammar learning progress (statements 1 & 2). the majority of students (62.1%) reported meeting their tutors at least twice a week, with an additional 13.8% meeting more than twice a week. these findings suggest that peer teaching has helped students to effectively structure their study habits, as evidenced by the data presented in table 7. moreover, the implementation of peer tutoring has resulted in students allocating more time to study automatically. notably, the survey revealed that four students were motivated to engage in more peer tutoring due to the supportive interactions and conducive learning environment it provided. table 7. students’ frequency of peer teaching sessions questionnaire item percentage once a week twice a week more than twice a week other how often do you study with your tutor? 20.7 62.1 13.8 3.4 in terms of the frequency of self-study (table 7), most students also believed that peer teaching had favorably affected their independent grammar learning (75.8 %). their responses to an accompanying open-ended question revealed that it had improved their frequencies of independent study for three main reasons: learning motivation (14 students), increased subject understanding (7 students), and tutors’ support (4 students). further examination of these reasons, as discussed below, reveals that peer tutoring can act as a scaffolding tool that helps students enhance their learning autonomy: learning motivation according to spratt, humphreys, and chan (2002), learning motivation is a prerequisite for the development of learner autonomy. the survey conducted in this study found that the most frequently cited reason (48%) for improving students' study frequency was students’ enhanced learning motivation. moreover, during a follow-up interview, student s reported that peer teaching had helped her overcome her previously low motivation to study independently. she acknowledged that prior to joining the peer teaching program, she had been lazy and seldom studied on her own. however, after participating in peer teaching, she became more aware of her responsibility to study grammar independently, even after discussing the lesson with her tutor. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 346-364 359 as for the effect, i myself felt like i had more of a desire to study [grammar] further. […] before joining peer teaching, i thought that i did not need to review [the lesson] after studying it in class. after joining the tutoring sessions, i thought that i still needed to study more to get a better understanding of the lesson. so, it was very helpful; it motivated me to get a better grade. this finding reinforces the outcomes of bohórquez et al.'s (2019) study, in which students reported that they often pursued further learning on topics covered with their tutors independently. it implies that peer teaching can foster learners' autonomy in mastering grammar. furthermore, the present study's survey and interview participants indicated that the motivation they received often came from the motivational support and assistance provided by their tutors. verbal motivation and the sharing of experiences in dealing with similar grammar difficulties were cited as influential factors in helping students learn more independently. the tutors also occasionally provided small rewards, such as ice cream or chocolate bars, for high achievement on grammar tests to increase students' motivation. as student f stated: for example, before tests, the tutor often said that if we scored high on the tests and passed the minimum score requirement, he would give us a reward. it made his tutees become more motivated to study at home and review [the test materials]. tutors’ support during the interviews, two participants (participant v and d) noted that the peer teaching was less formal and more flexible than traditional classroom learning. as a result, the tutors were able to establish open communication channels with their tutees outside of the sessions, providing learners with support whenever they encountered difficulties during self-study. additionally, the informal setting allowed tutors to incorporate humor into their teaching, which helped create a positive attitude towards learning grammar. this was exemplified by student h: it depends on the tutor. my previous tutor was kind and friendly, so the teaching sessions were not too tense. sometimes we joked and laughed, but it also became serious when he was giving us motivation. so, we became happier when learning [grammar]. during the interviews, participants g, f, d, m, n, p, and sm reported that tutors not only provided immediate assistance for students during self-study but also gave additional learning materials for their tutees to study at home. however, there was a negative trend among students who often relied on tutors to search for additional learning materials. out of the 11 students interviewed, 7 (students f, h, sm, d, s, n, m) admitted to not looking for supplementary materials themselves. instead, they either asked their tutor or only used exercises provided in the textbook. four of these students (students f, h, sm, d) also admitted that they were capable llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 346-364 360 of finding study materials but tended to be unmotivated to do so. some students stated that their tutors had already prepared additional materials, so they did not see the need to search for them. although this reliance on tutors may hinder students' planning skills, it could also provide scaffolding for students with lower proficiency. the additional study materials provided by tutors could act as scaffolding for students who have difficulties finding appropriate materials or knowing where to look. students who did not explore additional materials on their own also mentioned that their tutors gave them extra exercises to do outside of the peer teaching sessions, which increased their study time at home. overall, the provision of additional study materials by tutors could help weaker students study more effectively, even if it means they may rely on tutors for support. while this trend may not be ideal, it is important to acknowledge that some students may struggle to find suitable study materials on their own. it was noted that three of the seven interviewees (students s, n, and m) expressed concerns regarding their ability to find additional grammar study materials. for instance, student s stated that she was unfamiliar with grammar learning websites that provide grammar exercises, and therefore, she didn't know where to look for additional materials. similarly, student n had difficulties finding appropriate materials and exercises that matched the textbook's explanations provided by the faculty. lastly, participant m mentioned that she found it hard to locate suitable study material and would rather stick to the faculty's textbook. given these challenges, it was suggested that tutors could assist weaker students in studying more effectively by providing them with additional study materials. increased subject understanding besides motivation, 24% of the survey participants and seven interviewees (students g, m, v, s, p, h, d) believed that their improved subject understanding from peer teaching made them more motivated to do more self-study. this echoes the finding that satisfying learners’ need for competence helps learners to shift toward more independent learning (hu & zhang, 2017). one survey participant pointed out: before joining peer teaching, i honestly did not really study [grammar] regularly. when i was taking basic grammar course, i actually did not find too many difficulties. i only had several problems in some chapters in the course. [however], after joining peer teaching, [...] my desire to learn increased and i started to work on my difficulties. while increased understanding of grammar was found to motivate some students to study more frequently, one participant mentioned in an open-ended questionnaire response that understanding the lesson during the peer teaching session actually led to a decrease in their individual study time. this was because they allocated their self-study time to peer teaching, and also mentioned feeling lazy. similarly, another student mentioned in an interview that they would rather not have additional independent study sessions if they already understood the lessons from peer teaching. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 346-364 361 furthermore, several students with lower gpas did not believe that peer teaching affected their independent study frequency, as they lacked motivation (2 students) or believed they already had enough understanding of the subject matter (2 students). additionally, one interviewed participant (student a) reported no change in their motivation to conduct self-study sessions. he mentioned that finding answers to grammatical problems on his own was sometimes difficult, so he preferred study sessions with a more knowledgeable peer. conclusion in conclusion, this study suggests that peer teaching can enhance various aspects of learning autonomy, despite concerns that it may cause tutees to become dependent on their tutors. in addition to sharing their engagement in activities that may enhance their autonomy during tutoring sessions, participants also reported improved abilities in planning, monitoring, and evaluating their grammar learning. these skills are essential for autonomous learning. peer teaching was found to have the greatest impact on students' skills evaluation, influenced largely by the practice of analysing tutors' feedback. the implementation of peer tutoring also helped students enhance their conceptual skills in grammar learning, problem-solving skills, and study frequency. however, drawbacks were observed, including low engagement in grammar concept construction, dependence on tutors' provision of self-study materials, and unimproved frequency of grammar self-study, especially among students with lower gpas. despite this, some level of reliance on tutors may be necessary for less able learners, and appropriate supervision can help guide them towards becoming more autonomous in their learning. overall, this study highlights the potential benefits of peer teaching in small groups of tutees with similar abilities over a flexible term, which can promote grammar learning while fostering learner autonomy. to further enhance the effectiveness of such programs, tutors would benefit from additional training to empower their tutees and facilitate knowledge construction. future research could expand on these findings by comparing student autonomy before and after a peer teaching program and gathering additional data, such as tutors' and tutees' journals and observations of tutoring, to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the effects of peer teaching on autonomy. this knowledge can inform the design of more effective peer teaching programs that foster learner autonomy and facilitate language learning. references alrajhi, m. n., & aldhafri, s. s. 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accepted 24 march 2023 abstract there has been an increasing demand for undergraduate students to do their scholarly research and publish the finding in the form of articles in their final year of study. the importance of writing publishable articles is a repeated and step-bystep process to maintain self-confidence in writing articles. in other words, many students struggle to publish their articles because the rate of successful articles can be affected by the common mistake made. therefore, this qualitative study aimed to find how undergraduate students perceived confidence in writing publishable articles since they may still have difficulties in writing articles. the researcher used thematic data analysis to summarize data points. this study applied criterion-based sampling as a technique to determine the sample. the total number of participants was 8 students. this study focused on english language education study program (elesp) students in semester 8 at sanata dharma university who once joined a conference and published their articles. data were collected from interviews, focus group discussions (fgd), and document analysis. the findings showed that most elesp students faced some challenges in writing articles. the challenges experienced frequently by students were the use of grammar and vocabulary. nonetheless, the results showed that elesp students utilized some online tools and benefited from feedback from other parties to increase their confidence in writing articles. keywords: academic writing, confidence, perception introduction writing is an important thing not only for education but also for other fields. in the education field, students can achieve some beneficial things through writing like mastering the english language and other disciplines. for efl (english as a foreign language) students who study at university, doing scholarly research and publishing the findings in the form of articles are some of the most important academic activities. in addition, research has also become an important tool for human progress. the development of this 21st century is oriented in research toward a better life to achieve sustained growth (magulod et al., 2020). writing a publishable article needs a repeated and step-by-step process accompanied by evaluation because mailto:marianamari7524@gmail.com mailto:chosakh@usd.ac.id mailto:chosakh@usd.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5407 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 153-167 154 every success can happen because of self-confidence if the students analyze it very accurately. it has been a major part of research in various fields (alam et al., 2021). researchers who prepare manuscripts appropriately will be helped by outlining the structure of the research. the key to success in a writing publishable article is starting from the paper’s form (magulod et al., 2020). this study has two research questions; the first question is about students’ perceived confidence in writing publishable articles and the second is about how elesp students solve the perceived challenges in writing publishable articles. these two research questions are answered by self-editing theory. self-editing is also called an initiated activity for students because it provides a critical step in reviewing their writing (li & hegelheimer, 2013). in the process of writing an article, sometimes students commit some errors and therefore they do cross-check to convince themselves that their writing is correct. according to novianti (2017), the main challenges that are faced by efl students are implementing grammar in writing articles including subject-verb agreement and combining some sentences to make a good paragraph. in this case, students seek solutions by using their initiative to find strategies to correct errors. once the students do self-editing in writing articles with positive results, they feel confident with the result of their articles because it has been through various processes. despite the importance of writing publishable articles for efl students in the final year of study, writing an article has still become an onerous skill for them. according to magulod et al. (2020), the rate of successful articles can be affected by the common mistakes made by the researchers such as referencing, length of the pages, the structure of the research, language structure, readability, lack of focus, and plagiarism. therefore, many students struggle to publish their articles. some common problems, such as some mistakes in the article standards, troubles with the language, and limitedness, were encountered in the publication (magulod et al., 2020). the previous studies agreed that the importance of writing publishable articles is a repeated and step-by-step process to maintain self-confidence. however, none of the preceding studies have gone into further depth on the specific process undergraduate students take to retain their self-confidence in writing publishable articles. to bridge this gap, this study addresses elesp students’ perceived confidence in writing publishable articles at sanata dharma university since they may still have difficulties in writing a well-prepared article that will be published and read by the readers. method this study focused on the efl students’ perceptions of writing publishable articles. according to kognisi et al. (2021), perception is the way someone evaluates something “perception produces the views of something” (p.10). this study had two research questions; the first question is about students’ confidence in writing publishable articles and the second is about how elesp students solve their perceived challenges in writing publishable articles. in the process of writing an article, sometimes students commit some errors and therefore they do cross-check to convince themselves that their writings are correct. in this case, the utilization of various digital tools shows the following quality indicators of the academic paper, namely: grammar quality, similarity index, and readability index (magulod et al., 2020). according to muchtar (2021), grammar, as a component of language, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 153-167 155 provides a function to construct sentences and regulate the use of language. in other words, grammar quality is essential for successful academic writing because it allows the writer to express ideas accurately, clearly, and correctly. in addition, the term "readability" was used in the 1920s to indicate the ability in reading a text. in the 1980s, educators applied the readability criterion to measure the complexity of textbooks. the educators developed a way to anticipate the difficulty level of a text by using vocabulary issues and sentence length (khairova et al., 2019). meanwhile, the similarity index means the percentage of text in a published manuscript that duplicates text in a repository (kodandarama et al., 2020). hence to get the percentage of similarity and readability index, the researcher implements the different online tools and necessary revisions. therefore, the use of grammar and plagiarism checkers can provide a betterquality paper. an online grammar checker can be efficient and effective for improving grammar accuracy. grammar processing programs with spelling and grammar checkers have existed since the mid-80s (cavaleri & dianati, 2016). in writing an academic paper, it is easy to get a lot of resources and cheat from them without citing. therefore, the use of a plagiarism checker is to save the copyrights from violation for the publishers, but some publishers who are using some antiplagiarism soft-wares over the internet need more effort to detect the plagiarism or cannot be detected at all (nabee et al., 2020). in addition, this study was designed to explore students’ perception of writing publishable articles by applying the qualitative descriptive study. thus, the study's type was descriptive, because the data were not enumerative, but rather oral and written words (nugrahanto & hartono, 2020). according to yusuf et al. (2021), qualitative research is defined as a study that focused on understanding social phenomena from the perspective of the participants. it was useful for researchers to know the who, what, where, and how (hunter et al., 2019). the data for the research were collected from eight undergraduate students who joined undergraduate conference 2021 by utilizing criterion-based sampling, to get qualified candidates in gathering the data (turner, 2010). the researchers chose these 8 students because they had the qualifications: the students in semester 8; the students who joined a conference “undergraduate conference 2021”; the students’ papers that were accepted for presentation and publication. in collecting the data, there were some data gathering techniques for collecting the data in this study such as document analysis, interviews, and focus group discussion (fgd). according to bowen (2009), reviewing information gathered using various methods, is effective in helping across the data and reducing the influence of any biases that may occur in a study. as a kind of triangulation, the document method is commonly used in collaboration with another qualitative research method for gathering the data. in this study, the researchers collected the data from the reflections of the respondents via an online platform google forms. the respondents were expected to answer a brief question about the process of writing an article in at least one paragraph. the researchers used a semi-structured interview as the second data-gathering technique. according to adams (2015), a semi-structured interview is simple and descriptive. the researchers used openended questions because they allowed the respondent to express their ideas on a topic and seem to be effective in describing attitudes, beliefs, and actions. as a result, its available responses become limitless. the researchers also used the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 153-167 156 interview blueprint in order to design questions based on the study purposes. after conducting individual interviews, the researchers gathered data through focus group discussion (fgd) to discuss a topic in the study together and see the other perceptions. according to schulze et al. (2022), focus groups are used to acquire qualitative data. they entail a concentrated conversation among persons who are knowledgeable about the issue of interest. to obtain people’s interpretations, opinions, and perspectives, participants communicate their ideas and concerns in their language. then, the researchers decided further the themes were emerging after the process of data analysis is already done. this study used the thematic data analysis technique. thematic analysis is a technique for analyzing or describing qualitative data that requires seeking throughout a data set to identify, analyze, and report kiger & vaprio (2020). the thematic analysis focuses on individuals’ meanings and experiences to gain insights into reality (kiger & varpio, 2020). hence, the researchers also utilized the application nvivo 12 as a tool to analyze the data. in this case, the researchers used a type of code in nvivo called theme node, to code the data. according to allsop et al. (2022), coding means the process of assigning the codes to participant words for classification and identification. there are two essential parameters in nvivo 12 such as references and files. references themselves mean the specific meaning is referred to. meanwhile, files mean a database record from a single person or source, with each authoritative source recorded in a distinct file (campbell, 2020). in this study, the researchers used passages as the alternate descriptions for references and two alternate descriptions for files like interviewees and documents. findings and discussion this section aims to discuss the results of the data and the findings of this study that have been conducted on 8 elesp students at sanata dharma university by using the qualitative method. the data was obtained through interviews, document analysis, and focus group discussion (fgd). this section discussed further the themes emerging after the process of data analysis is already done: 1) the understanding of writing an article, 2) the decision-making to solve problems, 3) the positive impact of online tools, 4) the confidence in self-worth the understanding of writing an article several elesp students in their final semester at sanata dharma university had experience in writing an article. as explained in chapter 3, most elesp students who participated in this study had some experience in joining several conferences, especially undergraduate conferences 2021. as some respondents pointed out: i joined uc 2021 at sanata darma university and elesp conference 2021 at brawijaya university. (participant 2, ais) i joined uc 2021. (participant 3, kfk) i joined two conferences such as lltc 2021 and uc 2021 as a presenter. (participant 8, vda) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 153-167 157 some elesp students were not only joining one conference. they also joined other conferences like elesp conference 2021 and lltc 2021. moreover, elesp students in the final semester should have at least one article they wrote. before starting to write an article, elesp students drafted plans as the expectation in writing an article. there were certain things that elesp students seemed to do in planning the study: i decided on a topic that interested in. then, i decided on the target to collect the data. i also made some research questions. after i finished making those research questions, i discussed them with my lecturer. (participant 6, pyvl) first i found out what i was interested in; education, literature, or linguistic field. then i decided on the topic that will be discussed. i collected a lot of references that could strengthen my arguments. after i found the topic, i decided on the respondents and observed the respondents in order to gain the data accurately. (participant 2, kfk) my article was started by looking at the topic that appealed to me. i also searched and read a lot of literature related to my topic. i compared some of those references; some aspects i compared were the research purposes and the research questions. after reading and comparing several references, i thought of research questions that i could develop and had not discussed in previous studies. (participant 2, ais) it was evident that elesp students seemed to do certain things in planning the study such as determining the topic, reading the literature, and deciding the target. after elesp students expected their articles, elesp students started to write the article. according to magulod et al. (2020), in writing publishable articles, the researchers should follow a format called imrad (introduction, method, result, and discussion). in this case, elesp students understood the steps in writing an article: there were some steps on how to write an article such as research background, theoretical framework, methodology, result and discussion, and conclusion. (participant 3, kfk) based on the statement above, it was evident that elesp students knew the steps and processes of how to write an article properly. not only that, but some elesp students also had experience in joining conferences to present and publish the result of their articles. the decision-making to solve problems this section examined the ways that elesp students identified as problemsolving and supporting their academic papers and the difficulties of writing academic papers. it found that elesp students experienced problems with grammar. the issue of grammar was identified as problematic for elesp students who participated in the study. on many occasions these students found that they seemed to be confused about the correct use of grammar in their articles: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 153-167 158 i was not really sure about my grammar because i didn’t quite understand some parts of grammar. (participant 7, vrada) the grammar that i used was different from the grammar used to write an article. i meant that i was still confused about whether i used formal or informal grammar. (participant 6, pyvl) i used inappropriate grammar and spelling in my article. that’s all my challenges in writing a article at that moment. (participant 2, ais) on the other hand, there were also students in the study who expressed confusion about how to elaborate their sentences using the correct tenses. according to cavaleri & dianati (2016), grammatical accuracy can help researchers to express ideas clearly, and accurately. however, sometimes undergraduate students are still struggling to develop their papers and their linguistic choices may not always be accurate cavaleri & dianati (2016). in this case, students may have difficulties with common grammatical errors like not putting the main verb in each sentence, lack of pronoun agreement, ambiguous use of pronouns, punctuation, and inconsistent use of tenses cavaleri & dianati (2016). from elesp students’ experiences, it was found that: i think at that time i had trouble with my tenses. in this case, i often forgot to add (s/es) in the last verb when i was using the present tense. (participant 3, kfk) i was still confused with my tenses if i used past tense then i continued to use the present tense. sometimes, i also repeated my words many times. (participant 5, ngp) i wrote with the wrong tenses like i wrote a sentence using the present tense then suddenly i used past tense in the next sentence. (participant 7, vrada) i often didn’t put the punctuation in the right way because my sentences were very long. (participant 2, ais) there were some grammatical errors. i thought the most grammatical errors that happened in my article where i made some inconsistent sentences, the use of the inappropriate subject-verb agreement, the use of inappropriate verbs, and the use of inappropriate prepositions. (participant 5, mab) apart from grammar, elesp students also experienced difficulties in vocabulary. they found it necessary to enrich their vocabulary because they sometimes had difficulty deciding the appropriate words to complete the sentence they wrote. i repeated words many times in my sentences. hmmm, i think i should enrich my vocabulary too. (participant 5, ngp) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 153-167 159 i faced difficulties in creating the title because i often didn’t put the appropriate words in the title so i needed to revise it many times. (particiant 6, pyvl) mostly, it wasn’t good if we used the same words in our sentences, right! however, sometimes i did it so i overcame this problem by looking for the other words in thesaurus. (participant 8, vda) this finding appeared to indicate that elesp students found some kinds of unpredictable obstacles and challenges in their writing processes. in this case, writing an article is a complicated process. al-badi (2015) states that writing an academic paper requires “careful thought, discipline, and concentration”. on the other hand, elesp students pointed out some ways to cope with the challenges of writing an article. some elesp students stated that they appreciated comments as they knew what was correct and what needed to be improved. i also needed feedback from other researcherss or my adviser in order to overcome the problem. (participant 2, ais) i also had a problem tabulating the data but my adviser helped me to solve the problem. he gave me some feedback. (participant 1, abb) i conducted my research in the group so i would find the solution by discussing together with my group members. (participant 7, vrada) i was utilizing an online tool grammarly and asked for feedback from someone who has good knowledge of grammar. (participant 4, mab) i did cross-check with my adviser i meant i asked for his feedback to know whether my context was correct or not. (participant 3, kfk) and if there were no grammatical errors, i would make sure my grammar again through peer-reviewed with my friend who had good skills in writing. i also asked my adviser to give me his feedback according to my writing. therefore, i needed feedback from other parties in order to make sure that i had the right sentence structure or not like from my adviser or maybe my friend. accordingly, i could solve my problems and face challenges in writing an article. (participant 6, pyvl) elesp students in the study saw an improvement from when they found some comments and suggestions from any parties like their adviser, friend, and relative. according to lee & schallert (2008), students do peer feedback from experts or researchers in the university with publications in reputable articles to provide feedback for the improvement of the articles. the feedback itself becomes a popular way to guide students, especially those who learn the language for improving their writing. this finding appeared to indicate that elesp students had some difficulties in writing an article like grammar and vocabulary. in this case, elesp students not llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 153-167 160 only relied on their writing skills but also solved the problems from peer-reviewed. based on the feedback, they could pick the appropriate action to solve the problems that happened during writing an article. the positive impact of online tools according to magulod et al. (2020), the utilization of various digital tools shows the following quality indicators of the academic paper, namely: grammar quality, similarity index, and readability index. elesp students in the study further expressed that they were not only relying on their ability and others’ feedback but also utilizing online tools to support their article: the first reason i used those apps was efficiency. those apps were useful to check my article because they gave corrections quickly. (participant 2, ais) honestly, i corrected my grammar efficiently by using online tools because they marked grammatical errors automatically. i thought those online tools were trustworthy. actually, i saw the review from the user first to see whether those online tools were trustworthy or not. then, i decided either used those online tools or another one. (participant 3, kfk) i was sure with my grammar but not 100%. i often rechecked my writing and if there were something wrong then i would fix it directly. i also used some online tools to help me check my writing. (participant 5, ngp) the reason was that i needed those apps and webs, i felt like i was not really confident with my ability. (participant 1, abb) the use of online tools was beneficial to ensure the quality of an article and enhance the confidence of the researchers to submit the article. it was shown from three instruments: interview, focus group discussion, and document analysis. elesp students confirmed that the use of online tools was not only for solving problems but also for increasing their confidence in writing an article. in addition, there was a large amount of technology that surrounds scholarly activity. in this case, there were several tools that elesp students used a lot such as google docs, google scholar, grammarly, and turnitin. google docs most elesp students in the study, who found difficulties in writing an article with appropriate words and correct grammar, confirmed that they used google docs to facilitate them in writing. it automatically suggested the appropriate word. students didn’t need to take time in reading the whole text to identify the grammatical errors. they simply needed to find the underlines which indicated that the word or sentence was incompatible. as the following quotation showed: i used google docs to write down my article. it provided suggestions if i used inappropriate words or incorrect grammar. (participant 8, vda) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 153-167 161 actually, i put my text into google docs to make sure whether there was a grammatical error or not. in other words, i used google docs to check my grammar automatically so if there were any grammatical errors, they would be highlighted or underlined. (participant 7, vrada) i used the tool google docs to check my grammar so i thought i had 80% confidence in my writing. (participant 3, kfk) google scholar to find the literature, elesp students also used some websites or platforms. most elesp students in the study collected the literature from the online tool google scholar. according to magulod et al. (2020), the reason why students used google scholar was that it was an online platform for scholarly literature that was free to use. it had many kinds of literature including articles, theses, abstracts, books, and websites. this type of platform provided intellectual articles from all over the world. google scholar also efficiently examined publications, citations, and authors. it tracked down the original links to the articles. it also provided the advantage of following up with the latest breakthroughs in many study areas. from the elesp students’ experiences in the study, it was found that: i got the references from some online tools like eric and google scholar but mostly i used eric to obtain the references. (participant 2, ais) when i was in semester 5, i had an opportunity to learn how to quote and reference. as i know, google scholar also provided the reference in the form apa style so i just copied then pasted it to my article. (participant 4, mab) there were some websites that i used like google scholar, researchgate, and scribd.id. (participant 1, abb) i collected the literature from google scholar and some books from the library. (participant 8, vda) grammarly along with many other websites and platforms, grammarly was designed to check submission write-ups. according to magulod et al. (2020), this platform automatically scanned errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, word choice, and capitalization. it also provided the underline that suggested auto-corrections for some grammar issues. based on the advantages of grammarly, elesp students in the study seemed to utilize an online tool grammarly in writing an article: i was sure with my writing because at that time i also utilized grammarly to ensure my grammar and clarity. i quite believed in grammarly, as well as my writing skills. so i was confident in my writing if i felt i’d written it correctly and there was no red line in my writing. honestly, i was quite sensitive when it came to grammar if there was a grammatical error. i would make sure again my grammar by myself so i was quite confident with that. (participant 3, ais) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 153-167 162 i felt like i was not really mastering my writing skills. i meant that my grammar was not really good. therefore, i utilized on online tool grammarly in writing my article. (participant 4, mab) i checked my grammar by using both grammarly and google docs. sometimes, i also checked it manually. (participant 3, kfk) of course, i used an online tool grammarly to help me check errors in grammar then i fixed them manually. (participant 6, pyvl) several elesp students were optimistic about using grammarly in writing their articles. most of them used grammarly to detect grammatical errors in their article. they felt confident in their writing if the result of grammarly indicated no grammatical errors. furthermore, they not only used grammarly to check their writing but they also rechecked it manually after they had already checked through grammarly. turnitin the majority of elesp students in the study utilized computer softwarebased detection to check their similarity index, instead of manual detection. from a wide variety of platforms, there was one tool that elesp students used extensively to check plagiarism. based on the data gathering, most elesp students in the study used turnitin as a plagiarism scanner in writing their articles: i used turnitin to check the similarity index. (participant 3, ais) i usually used turnitin to check my similarity index. i also used a web seo magnifier but i thought turnitin was more trustworthy than seo magnifier to check plagiarism. (participant 3, kfk) i thought turnitin was the best tool because it could be used to check plagiarism effectively. (participant 4, mab) i also used both applications mendeley and turnitin to make sure that i didn’t plagiarize the text. (participant 8, vda) some elesp students also confirmed the view that they used some online tools other than turnitin like seo magnifier and mendeley. elesp students used those online tools to prevent plagiarism with each function of them. according to medaille et al. (2021), mendeley as a citation management software could be used to arrange the sources. in general, many students put citations besides paraphrased texts then they could simply make references and cite a text. meanwhile, turnitin and seo magnifier was equally plagiarism scanner. according to magulod et al. (2020), the percentage of the similarity index was calculated using a plagiarism scanner. in this section, the researchers found that elesp students utilized some online tools to check their writing and overcome some difficulties. most of them stated that the use of online tools was very effective in helping them to write an llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 153-167 163 article. additionally, the use of online tools also increased their confidence in writing an article. there were several online tools that elesp students frequently used like google docs, google scholar, grammarly, and turnitin. those online tools were mostly used to check their grammar and similarity index. meanwhile, they used google scholar to find the relevant literature. confidence in self-worth most elesp students in the study were optimistic about their articles. in this case, elesp students had their way on how they improved their writing accordingly. they would be sure of their writing when they were already finished reviewing their writing through self-editing. according to li & hegelheimer (2013), self-editing was also called an initiated activity for students because it provided a critical step in reviewing their writing. such elesp students who felt confident with the result of their articles pointed out: i was really confident with the result of my article because i thought it was like a reward for me. i felt like i could finish something complicated. in my opinion, i had finished my article with great difficulty so i was confident with it even in my paper there was a shortage. (participant 3, kfk) after i made my paper, i felt like i was more organized because in writing a article i should have made an outline, introduction, discussion and result, and conclusion. in other words, i was a type who worked something to get to the point but in writing papers i had to follow requirements. i also felt confident with my article, if i practiced more and more. i felt like it was not as difficult as it first seemed. (participant 1, abb) i was confident in my ability in writing articles. however, i thought there was another thing that i could improve later. (participant 8, vda) the experience illustrated that elesp students in the study had accomplished something complicated with their efforts such as overcoming the difficulties in writing an article. the finding confirmed razack et al. (2021) claimed that writing confidence was the belief in oneself and writing skills. it could refer to how individuals feel about themselves, their efforts, and their skills. some elesp students found that they gained a lot of knowledge about how to write an article properly. it seemed that they were brave enough to try new things and not be afraid to do anything wrong. yet there were also elesp students who were hesitant about the results of their articles. according to wells (2020), many students experienced writingrelated anxiety. sometimes, they were anxious about work overload, a due date, the content, research, grammar, paraphrasing, and citation. it could be negative thinking for the writers in capturing ideas and composing. on the other hand, some elesp students in the study further explained that they lacked confidence in their ability to write an article: not really, i was writing and presenting an article in the conference then i felt accomplished but it didn’t make me felt like more confident with my writing llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 153-167 164 skills. i thought maybe it could be the length of the paper was only 6-7 pages. (participant 2, ais) i was not sure about my ability in writing an article because i faced many problems in the process of writing my article. (participant 7, vrada) i was not really confident with my article because the writing was not as simple as i imagined. i realized that good writing needed consistency in reading but realized that i was lazy. (participant 4, mab) there were also students in the study who claimed that they had a lack of selfmotivation in writing an article. elesp students in the study discovered that they needed to read widely to comprehend and understand more complicated academic literature. however, they struggled with self-motivation which led them to lack confidence in the result of their articles. this section briefly explained elesp students’ confidence in their ability in writing an article. most of them were confident with the result of their articles. they had written an article according to the guideline. though there were some difficulties they could overcome the problems. they also benefited greatly from writing an article. however, not all elesp students felt confident about their articles, some students had doubts about their articles because they were unsure of their ability in writing and they lacked the motivation to read a lot of literature. conclusion this study was presented to find out elesp students’ perceptions of their confidence in writing articles. there were two research questions. the first question formulation was about how elesp students perceive their confidence in writing publishable articles. based on the results of the study, most elesp students in the study were confident in writing articles. they had written an article before and therefore they knew the steps in writing an article. in joining a conference, elesp students in the study needed to present and publish their articles. accordingly, they must have followed the requirements for writing publishable articles. most of them found that they became convinced at some point to finish something complicated in their ability in writing. they benefited greatly from writing articles. however, some elesp students in the study also doubted their ability in writing and therefore they were not writing articles maximally. apart from recognizing the steps in writing an article, they also expected some difficulties they would face during writing an article. based on the results, elesp students in the study found some difficulties in writing an article like the use of correct grammar and word choices. most elesp students had difficulties with tenses during writing an article. they were confused about the use of present and past tenses in a paragraph. sometimes, they also wrote a sentence with inappropriate subject-verb agreements, inappropriate verbs, and inappropriate prepositions. meanwhile, elesp students in the study always repeated a word in some sentences during writing an article, and therefore they struggled with the use of appropriate words. accordingly, they felt that they should have enriched their vocabulary. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 153-167 165 in addition, the next findings of the second question formulation about how elesp students solve those difficulties in writing publishable articles showed that most of the students benefited from peer feedback and utilized some online tools in writing articles. elesp students in the study stated that they could divide the appropriate action based on the feedback that they found to solve the challenges in writing articles. furthermore, it also improved their articles and writing skills. meanwhile, elesp students also utilized some online tools to support them in writing articles. there were several tools that elesp students used a lot like google docs, google scholar, grammarly, and turnitin. in their opinion, the use of those online tools in writing an article was more efficient instead of manually. moreover, the use of those online tools could prevent errors that happened during writing an article. references adams, w. c. 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(2020). politeness strategies in lecturer-students classroom interaction at the biology class sanata dharma university. 443. proceedings of the international conference on science and education and technology (iset 2019), 727–731. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.200620.148 https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159x.2020.1755030 http://journal.unilak.ac.id/index.php/jieb/article/view/3845%0ahttp:/dspace.uc.ac.id/handle/123456789/1288 http://journal.unilak.ac.id/index.php/jieb/article/view/3845%0ahttp:/dspace.uc.ac.id/handle/123456789/1288 https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088308322301 https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.11.9 https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.82.1.92 https://doi.org/10.34050/elsjish.v4i1.12747 https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.12.14 https://doi.org/10.5220/0007175608130817 https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.200620.148 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 153-167 167 razack, h. i. a., mathew, s. t., saad, f. f. a., & alqahtani, s. a. (2021). artificial intelligence-assisted tools for redefining the communication landscape of the scholarly world. science editing, 8(2), 134–144. https://doi.org/10.6087/kcse.244 schulze, l., trenz, m., cai, z., & tan, c.-w. (2022). conducting online focus groups practical advice for information systems researchers. proceedings of the 55th hawaii international conference on system sciences, 7, 3085–3094. https://doi.org/10.24251/hicss.2022.380 turner, d. w. (2010). qualitative interview design: a practical guide for novice investigators. the qualitative report, 15(3), 754– 760. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2010.1178 wells, a. (2020). writing confidence and self-identity: a phenomenological study of the lived experiences of first-year composition students that self-identify as “bad writers" (doctoral dissertation). kennesaw state university, georgia. https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/seceddoc_etd/25 yusuf, y. q., mustafa, f., & iqbal, r. m. (2021). an inquiry into grammatical errors in writing committed by high achieving efl students. international journal of language studies, 15(2), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.6087/kcse.244 https://doi.org/10.24251/hicss.2022.380 https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2010.1178 https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/seceddoc_etd/25 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 408-410 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 408 book review: understanding second language acquisition title : understanding second language acquisition isbn : 034090559x (isbn-10) 978-0340905593 (isbn-13) editor : bernard comrie and greville corbett publisher : new york, routledge, 2008 page : 320 pages manna dey north south university, bangladesh university of portsmouth, united kingdom correspondence: deymanna113@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5953 received 24 february 2023; accepted 26 april 2023 abstract lourdes ortega's "understanding second language acquisition" was first published by routledge in 2008. lourdes ortega is an internationally renowned scholar in the field of second language acquisition and applied linguistics. her work has been instrumental in advancing our understanding of the learning and acquisition of second languages. lourdes ortega’s understanding second language acquisition is an excellent resource for anyone interested in the study of second language acquisition (sla). the book provides an in-depth exploration of the key concepts of sla and offers a comprehensive overview of current research, theories, and approaches. it is a valuable resource for both language educators and students alike. keywords: implications, language acquisition, learning, motivation, teaching in understanding second language acquisition, ortega provides an in-depth analysis of the processes involved in sla. she starts with a brief overview of the history of sla and its theoretical foundations, then moves into a discussion of the most important issues and topics in the field. she examines the different approaches to sla, including the use of language transfer, the role of input and output, the role of motivation, the importance of context, and the impact of interactional and individual learner variables. ortega also covers the role of technology in language learning, the importance of assessment, and the implications of sla research for language teaching and learning. in this book, ortega brings together a wealth of research and information to provide readers with a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the field. she has included numerous examples and activities to illustrate key concepts and to help mailto:deymanna113@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5953 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 408-410 409 readers understand the complexities of sla. the book is also well-organized and written, making it accessible to both experts and beginners. understanding second language acquisition is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in sla. it is a comprehensive, well-researched, and up-to-date guide to the field, and provides an excellent introduction to the key concepts and theories. it is also an invaluable resource for language educators, as it provides insight and guidance into the best practices for teaching and assessing language learners. one of the most positive aspects of ortega's work is her commitment to research-based teaching practices. as such, ortega has developed a comprehensive approach to second language learning that is informed by a range of interdisciplinary and research-based theories and methods. this includes an emphasis on the need to create meaningful and authentic language learning experiences, as well as the importance of providing learners with a supportive learning environment. ortega's research also provides insight into the complex relationship between language, cognition, and social context. she highlights the importance of understanding how language is used in everyday contexts, as well as examining the role of culture in language learning. this helps to create a more nuanced picture of second language learning and provides teachers with valuable information that can inform their teaching practices. furthermore, ortega's work has been instrumental in advancing our understanding of the teaching of second languages. her book, understanding second language acquisition, provides teachers with a comprehensive overview of the research and theories surrounding second language acquisition. it also offers practical advice for teachers on how to create effective language learning environments and materials. overall, the positive aspects of lourdes ortega's work are undeniable. her commitment to research-based teaching practices and her exploration of the complex relationship between language, cognition, and social context are invaluable contributions to the field of second language teaching and learning. her book, understanding second language acquisition, provides a comprehensive overview of the research and theories surrounding second language acquisition and offers practical advice for teachers on how to create effective language learning environments and materials. as such, her work has been instrumental in advancing our understanding of the learning and acquisition of second languages. in her book, understanding second language acquisition, lourdes ortega provides an in-depth analysis of the various theories, concepts, and research regarding how a second language is learned. although she provides a comprehensive overview of this field and has been praised for her contributions to the field, some researchers have raised issues about certain aspects of her work. one criticism of ortega’s book is that it does not provide enough practical advice for language teachers. many researchers have argued that the book is largely theoretical and does not offer enough information on how to apply the theories and concepts to the classroom. for example, ortega does not provide concrete advice on how to design lesson plans or how to use technology to support language learning. this has led to some criticism that the book is not suitable for language teachers. another criticism of ortega’s book is that it does not discuss the role of culture in second language acquisition. while ortega does discuss the importance of being aware of the learner’s first language, she does not explicitly discuss the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 408-410 410 role of culture in learning a second language. this is an important factor to consider when learning a language as culture can influence the way a person learns and uses a language. for example, some learners may have difficulty understanding idioms or slang if they are not familiar with the culture. finally, some researchers have argued that ortega’s book does not adequately address the role of motivation in second language acquisition. while ortega does discuss the importance of motivation, she does not elaborate on how to motivate learners or how to create a positive learning environment. this is an important factor to consider when designing language teaching curricula as motivation can have a significant impact on the success of language learning. overall, while ortega’s book provides an invaluable overview of the various theories, concepts, and research regarding second language acquisition, some researchers have raised issues about certain aspects of her work, such as her lack of practical advice for language teachers, her omission of the role of culture, and her lack of discussion of the role of motivation. in conclusion, lourdes ortega's book, understanding second language acquisition, is a comprehensive text that provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the field of second language acquisition. it is an excellent resource for language teachers, researchers, and learners alike. not only does it offer an accessible introduction to the theories and research findings in the field, but it also provides invaluable insights into the complexities of language learning and the importance of both individual and contextual factors. it is written in an accessible style that is both informative and engaging. overall, the book is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in learning more about language acquisition. it provides an important foundation for those who are just entering the field, as well as invaluable information and perspectives for those who already have some knowledge of the topic. it is a book that should be on the shelves of any serious language learner, teacher or researcher. reference ortega, l. (2008). understanding second language acquisition (1st ed.). london: routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203777282 https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203777282 llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 language and language teaching journal http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 133 vocabulary enhancement of female esl learners through short stories: a rural/ urban perspective naseer ahmed lahore garrison university, lahore, pakistan naseerahmed159@yahoo.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2017.200207 received 5 july 2017; revised 30 august 2017; accepted 27 september 2017 abstract teaching english has progressed rapidly with the changing requirements of society. current study has not only the purpose of testing vocabulary enhancement by short stories but also monitors its effects on rural and urban population at secondary level. present study utilizes pre-test, post-test experimental design. before the commencement of study, 50 students took their pre-test from rural site and 50 students took their pre-test from urban site. only those 20, 20 students were selected from both sites whose accumulative score was almost the same. after this, five short stories were taught to both groups for five weeks with the same methodology. after the completion of coaching, a post-test was conducted. marks of pre-test and post-test of both rural and urban groups were compared to see difference in learning. data was analyzed statistically by using spss 20 for windows. analysis of data proved that urban group had statistically significant improvement as compared to rural group. keywords: short stories, vocabulary building, esl, elt introduction language learning is of prime importance in almost every walk of life. without sufficient vocabulary, one faces difficulty in the expression of views. a lot of work has been done to devise different novel and interesting teaching methodologies to improve vocabulary. use of literature in language teaching has been appreciated by a lot of researchers especially by maibodi (2008) and vaughnetal (2004). nasreen (2010) further strengthens this view by saying that “short-stories” will create a marked difference in the process of language teaching and improving vocabulary. students in pakistani schools are taught english from the very first class but most of graduates are unable to use english fluently and correctly which is the result of rote-learning system. to cope with this situation, a number of changes are being introduced in the field of education which is quite evident from the conversion of urdu medium schools into english medium by government of pakistan. waqas (2011) further supports it by saying that punjab government has felt the importance of english language by making it a compulsory subject from class one. government teachers are regularly trained to teach english efficiently. present study is designed to do a comparative analysis of rural and urban students regarding vocabulary enhancement through short stories. it was hypothesized for mailto:naseerahmed159@yahoo.com llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 134 the present study that short stories will prove to be an effective tool in vocabulary enhancement of both rural and urban students. it was also to be tested that for which group this methodology was more suitable. moreover, it is an effort to reduce tension and anxiety among students as it is really useful not only for teachers but also for students, parents and policy makers to use new techniques in language teaching. number of vocabulary items learners must know many researchers have tried to estimate the number of lexical items that native speakers of any language know to assess that how many words other than non native speakers must know to learn the language. for a native speaker, this estimate varies between 12,000 to 20,000 words depending on the level of education (goulden, nation and read, 1990). exposure of a few words can lead to greater comprehension for non native speakers. for instance, the students who have the knowledge of most frequent 20,000 words would be able to understand almost 80% of the words in an average text and if the knowledge of words is 50,000, then learner’s understanding is increased to 88.7% (francis and kucrera, 1982). for spoken language 1,800 words make up over 80% of the spoken corpus.( mc carthy and carter, 2007). vocabulary enhancement through short stories short stories are also considered to be very powerful teaching tools especially for vocabulary enhancement. according to pesola (1991), storytelling gives more fruitful results with young language learners than anyone else. isbell (2002) further elaborates it by saying that children enjoy only those stories which include repetitive phrases and unique words. meyer (2000) is also of the view that stories contain culture load which refers to the way in which language and culture are related and the amount of cultural knowledge which is required to understand meanings in order to participate in activities. students should know not only the words but also cultural background and they should learn the vocabulary in context. short stories also help children to recall or reread the story to build their conceptual knowledge. stories help learners to develop concepts about new words, print and books as well as evaluating students current language levels (morrow, 2001). students’ language proficiency is also developed with the help of such practices. richgels (2000) is of the view that story recall provides students with an opportunity to organize the sequence of events, to utilize the vocabulary items present in the story and to expand children’s comprehension of the world as well. story recall is not only a research tool for the researchers as it gives a large amount of data to gain insight into learner’s comprehension processes (goodman, 1982) but also an instructional strategy that has the potential to improve many literary skills. attitudes towards vocabulary enhancement through short stories it is proved by research that students have a positive attitude towards short stories methodology. maibaodi (2008) conducted a study on learning english through short stories on 200 female adult, persian speaking university undergraduates and found that they showed positive attitude towards short stories. erakaya (2003) is of the view that short stories enable the students to engage all llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 135 the four skills of english language. lao and krashen (2000) conducted a study between two groups. the results of first group showed their improvement through reading literary texts and the other group showed results of non literary texts. oster (1989) also affirms the importance of “literature by saying that literature helps students to write more creatively” (p. 85). nasreen (2010) also conducted a study on higher school level students and found a positive response of research population towards this strategy. khatib (2011) conducted a study at allameh tabataba’i university iran with 24 students in one group and 21 in other group. this study suggests that short stories remained effective in improving student’s linguistic skills regardless of the way used to teach to students. kirkgoz (2012) conducted a study on 21 turkish university students regarding their responses towards short stories. the findings of this study suggested that short stories contribute a lot in the overall understanding of the students. strodt-lopez (1996) used short stories to improve comprehension skills of the students. findings signify the importance of short stories. pardebe (2012) also used short stories on indonesian students to improve their linguistic proficiency and the findings of this study suggested that utilization of short stories improved students’ language proficiency. murdoch (2002) is of the view that short stories enhance the linguistics and paralinguistic competence of the students. ellis and brewster (1991) are of the view that stories motivate the students towards learning english as a foreign language. the research question is “does rural/urban setting affect vocabulary enhancement and to what extent can vocabulary be enhanced through short stories in rural and urban settings?” method as mentioned earlier that out of 100 students, only 40 selected students of class 9th participated in this study. out of these forty students, twenty belonged to rural site i.e. gg high school shergarh district okara and twenty belonged to gg high school hujra shah muqeem district okara. it was kept in mind that accumulative score of both groups in pre-test was almost the same which showed that students of both groups were almost of the same intellectual level. pre-test, containing 10 mcqs out which five were related to antonymous and 5 were related to synonyms. the lexemes were selected from the textbook of class 8th that has been read by both rural and urban students. post-test also contained same number of questions on the same pattern that was used in pre-test. the difference was that now the content of the post test was selected from the short stories which were taught by the researcher. before the actual start of the study, formal consent of the students was sought. 100 students took pretest and the result of pre-test marks enabled the researcher to select twenty students from rural and twenty from urban site. on the very first day of commencement of classes, every student was provided with a short story and it was read aloud in the class room. students were asked to underline unfamiliar words while reading and they were explained these difficult words with the help of tpr (total physical response) along with contextual clues, key word method. one week was spent on each story. short stories were available in the class room for students. their availability in the classroom facilitated the llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 136 students for self study. the rest of the four short stories were taught to both rural and urban group students through the same methodology as explained above. at the end of the whole intervention, all the students appeared in a very formal posttest session at their respective sites. findings and discussion results of pre-test showed that mean score and standard deviation in pre-test for rural group were 6.80 (2.419) and for rural group mean score and standard deviation were 6.60 (1.429). these results showed that both groups had almost the same results. the detail of this data is showed in table 1. table 1: mean score and standard deviation in pre-test of both groups variable group no. of students mean score std. deviation pre-test rural 20 6.80 2.419 urban 20 6.60 1.429 results of independent samples t-test proved that there was no significant difference in the pre-test mean scores as t (38) = 0.352, p = 0.727, α = 0.05. post-test marks of both urban and rural groups showed that there was an improvement in the mean score and standard deviation of both groups. mean score and standard deviation for rural group was 7.65 (1.089) and for urban group, mean score and standard deviation in post test were 7.85 (0.988). so increase in mean score of post-test for rural group was from 6.80 to 7.65 (difference = 1.00) and this increase for urban group was from 6.50 to 7.85 (difference = 2.35). table 2 and 3 proved that both groups had performed better than before. table 2: mean score and standard deviation in post-test for both groups variable group no. of students mean score std. deviation post-test rural 20 7.65 1.089 urban 20 7.85 0.988 llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 137 table 3: mean change in test-score for both groups variable pre-test post-test change post-test rural urban rural urban rural urban 6.80 6.50 7.65 7.85 0.85 1.35 post-test results proved that rural group had improved much more in its mean score of post-test. further analysis of improvement in post-test of both groups was conducted by using paired samples t-test. paired samples t-test revealed that there was a statistically significant difference in post-test score of rural group as t(19), p = 0.163, α = 0.05. paired samples t-test revealed that there was a significant difference in the pre-test and post-test marks of urban group as t(19) = -2.37, p = 0.01, α = 0.05. it clearly proves the hypothesis that location has an effect on the learning of the students. so, it can be concluded that in terms of statistical significance, urban group had improved much more than the rural group. all this change was due to the change in location of school. short stories for vocabulary enhancement proved to be effective for both rural and urban groups but there was a significant difference in improvements of rural and urban students. one possible reason was the past exposure of urban students to short stories in the form of rhymes having short stories in them that they used to have at the beginning level of school. for rural students, it was quite a new methodology due to which they couldn’t perform like urban students. it may also be concluded that we can have wonderful outputs from students by introducing short stories from the very beginning level at school. all the possible steps were taken to provide controlled environment to both rural and urban groups of this study. hard copies of short stories were provided to each student but before leaving the classroom, after lecture they were asked to submit these copies. so that no group member can have any help from her home. this was done because urban students might have some help from their parents or tuition teachers but rural students are commonly not provided with such type of guidelines. so students were asked to do everything at their own honestly and were prohibited to seek any type of help except teacher. it was also tried at researcher’s level best that all the rural participants should belong to purely rural areas. same precaution was also taken into account for urban group. most of the participants of this study found vocabulary enhancement through short stories an interesting methodology. these were the core after effects of this methodology. yet there was a significant difference between the outputs of rural and urban groups. conclusion rural students expressed a wish that this methodology should be introduced from the primary level. in an informal session, they said that teachers should be properly trained by government for successful implementation of this strategy. it llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 138 can be concluded that vocabulary enhancement through short stories is an effective methodology and it enhances vocabulary of urban secondary level students more than the rural secondary level students. government should take steps to introduce literature for language teaching not only at secondary level but also at the beginning level. references ellis, g., & brewster, j. (1991). the storytelling handbook: a guide for primary teacher of english. hamond swath: penguin. erakaya, r. o (2003). benefits of using short stories in the efl context. asian efl journal, 1(3). goodman, m. (1982). retelling of literature and the comprehension process. theory into practice, 21(4), 300-307. isbell, r. (2002). telling and retelling stories learning language and literacy young children, 57 (2), 26-30. khatib, s. (2011). applying the reader response approach in teaching english short stories to efl students. journal of language teaching and research, 2(1), 151-159. kirkgoz, y. (2012). incorporating short stories in english language classes. novitas royal, 6(2), 110-125. lao, c. y and s. krashen (2000). the impact of popular literature study on literacy development in efl: more evidence for the power of reading. system, 28, 261-270. maibodi, h.a. (2008). learning english through short stories. iranian journal of language studies (ijls), 2(1), 41-72. meyer, l. (2000). barriers to meaningful instruction for english learners. theory into practice, 39(4), 228-236. morrow. l. m. (2001). literary development in the early years: helping children read and write (4 th ed.). boston: allyn and bacon. murdoch, g. (2002). exploiting well-known short stories for language skills development. iatefllcs sig newsletter, 23, 9-17. nasreen, (2010). improving vocabulary through short stories at higher school level (pgd thesis, punjab university). oster, j. (1989). seeing with difference eyes: another view of literature in the esl class. tesol quarterly, 23 (1), 85-103. pesola, c. a. (1991). culture in the elementary foreign language classroom. foreign language annals, 24 (4), 331-346. richgels & mcgee, l. m., (2000). literary beginnings: supporting youth readers and writers (3 rd ed.). boston: allyn and bacon. vaughn,s., & hickman, p.(2004). story book reading: improving vocabulary and comprehension for english language learners. atahe reading teacher, 57(8), 720-730. waqas, s.a. (2011). the status of english language teaching in pakistan. elt weekly, 3(88), 10-19. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 324-334 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 324 indonesian students’ perceptions of english medium instruction titik puspitasari1 and cita nuary ishak2* 1,2universitas negeri malang, indonesia mstitikpuspita@gmail.com1 and nuarycita@gmail.com2 *correspondence: nuarycita@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5762 received 22 january 2023; accepted 12 april 2023 abstract there has been an increasing trend in indonesian higher education to run international programs. as a result, english for medium instruction (emi) has started to be implemented in several departments at indonesian universities. to successfully implement emi classes, lecturers and students do play significant roles. this paper aims to gain insights into students’ perceptions of emi and the challenges they faced in terms of understanding the subject content. using convenience sampling, 35 undergraduate students of the international psychology program (ipp) at a private university in indonesia were selected as the participants of the study. we used an explanatory sequential design using questionnaires and interviews as the instruments to collect the data. the findings revealed that the majority of the students have a positive perception of the implementation of emi in their classes. however, its implementation also posed some challenges such as difficulties in comprehending lectures and the lack of ability in using english to conduct classroom discussions. the findings suggested the need for training before emi courses that help students increase their english proficiency level as well as lecturers to improve their emi pedagogic competence. keywords: english medium instruction, international program, perception, psychology students introduction as internationalization has become a major world phenomenon, all countries apply different policies and different internationalization degrees (kyrychenko, 2018). following the same trend, indonesia began to realize the importance of internationalizing education, which prompted the government to change its education policies to meet the needs. gradually, many indonesian higher education institutions are starting to keep up with this trend by opening up their international programs. they do so by implementing english as a medium of instruction (emi). its implementation is certainly seen as a way to secure a brighter future in global competition. over the past decades, emi has been researched due to its growing popularity. for emi to become successful, two inseparable aspects play an important role, namely, policy and practice in particular. on the policy front, policymakers mailto:mstitikpuspita@gmail.com mailto:nuarycita@gmail.com mailto:nuarycita@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5762 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 324-334 325 and stakeholders must first design specific regulations for implementing emi. in his recent work, alhamami (2021) stated that a clear higher education emi policy will bring many benefits to institutions, teachers, and students. unfortunately, there is no written specific regulation of emi in indonesian higher education (simbolon, 2018). therefore, there is an urgent need to design an emi policy to standardize the results and maximize its benefits. as for the emi practice in particular, the roles of practitioners and students are crucial since they are the ones who directly deal with emi in the class. zhang (2017, p.1) found that the student participants in their study consider the following major factors which contribute to emi class effectiveness: “the lecturers’ english proficiency, personality, commitment to students and teaching, teaching approach, and language use”. these studies pointed out that higher education institutions must consider the attitudes and behaviors of all relevant parties, including students, lecturers, and decision-makers when developing their emi policy. further undermining the practice, several studies have witnessed the actual implementation of emi. al-hakim (2021) argues that as emi increases english exposure and engagement, it significantly increases students' and teachers' english proficiency. emi also increases the motivation of students and teachers in the learning process to deal with the demands of english used concerning work. hence, it can be said that emi benefits both students and teachers with a more comprehensive input. it shows them not only more complex linguistics but also subject content with a more global view. in addition to its benefits, al-hakim (2021) also adds that emi implementation faces several challenges in practice that can hinder the learning process. to better implement emi and maximize its results, it is necessary to conduct a more in-depth analysis of the possible challenge from the practitioners' point of view. following this suggestion, the present paper attempts to examine the practice of emi, particularly by looking at the implementation of emi in the international program of psychology, at the department of psychology, universitas muhammadiyah malang (henceforth ipp-umm). specifically, emi at ipp-umm has been implemented in one particular classroom every year since the academic year 2020. the class usually consists of 20-30 students who had passed the test of academic english proficiency (taep) with satisfactory results, greater than 327. taep is a test developed by the umm language center for admission testing and student placement. the test applies to the toefl framework. based on our preliminary observations at ipp-umm, the majority of lecturers and students reported that challenges and obstacles persist throughout classroom teaching and learning, even when they perceive emi as highly beneficial. we found cases where some lecturers complained about the difficulty of quickly understanding certain specific english dictions related to psychology. some others acknowledged that the emi pedagogy was somehow problematic for them. they specifically pointed out that the need to use correct grammar has somewhat hindered their teaching, which caused them to pause several times while explaining the subject content. such remarks are in line with what was stated by coleman et al. (2018) about the limited english proficiency of some emi teachers and their fear of making language mistakes in front of their students. they argued that these challenges may stem from their lack of emi pedagogical competence in specific disciplines. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 324-334 326 from the students’ perspectives, some of them reported that they are prone to use code-switching and code-mixing of english and bahasa indonesia in the class. they either automatically insert or change some english words into bahasa indonesia whenever possible. this is because they are not accustomed to using english in their daily life outside the class. the same problem was evident in ibrahim’s (2001) study, which found that low english proficiency is the cause of inefficient and ineffective emi classes. hence, this language issue can delay or even hinder the successful implementation of emi in providing students with exposure to english and a broader view of the subject content. the present paper aims to seek deeper insight into the students’ perceptions of emi practice and the challenges they face in terms of comprehending the subject content. the results derived from this paper can be used as a significant evaluation point for future improvement of emi, particularly in the context of indonesian higher education. as an example, in the psychology department, umm, where this study takes place, all students are required to complete an evaluation assessment for each class they have taken at the end of each semester. unfortunately, no section particularly evaluates the emi implementation. the findings of this study may contribute to additional field reporting on emi practice. therefore, the present paper intends to answer the following questions: 1. what are ipp students’ perceptions of emi practice in their class? 2. to what extent does emi class pose a challenge to content comprehension for ipp students? literature review english as a medium of instruction macaro et al. (2018, p.37) define emi as “teaching a subject (other than english) in a nation where english is not the primary language spoken by the populace”. breeze and roothooft (2021) referred to the concept of teaching a specific subject in a non-english-speaking country using english as a medium and without a clear language learning objective. it is implemented in formal education to ensure that students are exposed to the english language. al-hakim (2021) further argued that english language instructional programs (emi) are educational programs that teach subjects in english intending to inadvertently infect students with english. for the implementation, it is expected that the increased interaction in english during educational activities effectively improves students' english proficiency. many researchers have studied the impact of emi on higher education in nonenglish-speaking countries. in the thai context, for example, the study by wilang and nupong (2022) found that the benefits of emi include improving students' english proficiency and making higher education more competitive to meet growing local, national, and international requirements. in a similar line, phuong and nguyen (2019) also found that emi provides four clusters of benefits. these are cognitive benefits, resource availability, increased exposure to and opportunities to learn english, and increased employment opportunities for students. through emi, students can access resources that aren't available in their mother tongue and hence, increasing employment opportunities for students. the benefit of emi was also evident in another context. denman and almahrooqi (2019) found that teachers and students in oman’s higher education llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 324-334 327 institutions recognized english as the language of science and technology, and believed that more exposure to the language could increase the student’s chances of securing suitable employment upon graduation. having this positive attitude towards english and holding the view that english is key to social and professional mobility, the teachers and students associated emi with the development of social and professional skills. however, their study also pointed out some challenges of emi, such as “limiting student course content understanding and family communication about their studies” (ibid, p.317). apart from its benefits, emi does pose several challenges for teachers and students as classroom practitioners. for teachers, the integration of content and language has become a challenge in the classroom. corrales et al. (2016) found that some emi teachers employ code-switching and purposely slow down their teaching to accommodate their students, who are primarily non-native english speakers. from the students’ side, galloway and ruegg (2022) study found that students had difficulty understanding lectures, taking notes, and conveying subject matter content. similarly, joe and lee (2013) mentioned that in non-speaking english countries, concerns about emi have been raised such as the difficulty in lecture comprehension and ineffective interaction between lecturers and students. these language challenges reported by both teachers and students indicate the lack of language proficiency necessary to ideally run emi. students’ perception in the teaching and learning process, it is important to note that learning is not a product or result. lamatokan (2018) states that learning is an active process involving the evaluation of learning experience, knowledge acquisition, and construction. he argued that a learning process has a lot to do with the learner's responsibility to learn. learners can choose what to learn, when, and for what. in choosing what to do with their learning, students rely on their view of perception. hafrizal et al. (2021) maintained that learners’ positive and negative attitudes are rooted in their perception of certain objects or matters. it is this perception that drives a psychological process to respond and influences the willingness to understand certain objects. they further argued that each student may have a quite different perception of the same thing because each individual observes an object differently. thus, investigating learners’ perceptions can be a useful start to achieving an ideal teaching and learning process. as perception is a key factor that helps students learn in the classroom, pane et al. (2022) define perception as a process through which individuals can process positive or negative cognition responses through their five sensory experiences. it is obtained through the stages of selection, interpretation, and response. in the context of education, each student's perception can be very different depending on his/her various factors. this suggests that perception is the ability to see, understand, and interpret stimuli to produce interpretations. a student's perception of the class is important in the teaching and learning process because it shapes how the learner responds to learning. getting information about how they perceive the learning process can be an important factor in the success or failure of a particular instructional design in the class. perceptions build people's beliefs and actions. ibem et al. (2017) added that students learn more llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 324-334 328 effectively when they perceive the learning environment as positive. positive and negative influences both play a role in academic success and failure. method this study used an explanatory sequential mixed design. ary et al. (2018) present it as a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches in multistep research. it aims to provide the relevant information necessary to understand the research question more efficiently. creswell and cheryl (2017) explain its steps that started with quantitative data gathering, which was then followed by qualitative data collection to illuminate or elaborate the previously obtained quantitative results. this design has the advantage of clearly identifying quantitative and qualitative parts, benefiting both the readers and those designing and conducting the study. after collecting and analyzing quantitative data, the researchers gathered and proceeded with the qualitative data. the participants of the study consisted of 35 international psychology program (ipp) students of varying study levels. of these, 15 were in their fifth semester and 20 were in their third semester. they were selected because they are students of the first two ipp classes since the program was established in 2020. first, participants were asked to self-assess their english proficiency and the results were as follows: 25% rated their english proficiency as poor, 36% rated it as good, 27% rated it as very good, and 12% rated it as very good. even though the selfassessments of english proficiency are not completely accurate, they may provide a rough idea about the general proficiency level of the ipp students. the data from the test of academic english proficiency (taep) were also collected as the general overview of students’ english proficiency. with the help of google forms, an online questionnaire survey was created and posted on their whatsapp (wa) group class. the questionnaire survey consisted of three parts. the first part collected students’ background information such as participants’ gender, grade point average, and year of study, followed by the second part which collected students’ perception toward emi covering teaching and learning environment in the class, content comprehension, language issues, and emi effectiveness. the questionnaire survey was adapted and adopted from yang's (2017) and tanjung et al.’s (2021) questionnaires on students’ perception of emi. using a four-point likert scale, the participants were asked to select one of the following four options: strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree. then, the final section was an open question that asked the respondents to share any thoughts they had regarding their experience with emi. to get in-depth information, semi-structured interviews were also conducted with four students presenting each class. the four interviewees were selected from their responses to the questionnaire. informed consent was given to the interviewees. we also developed an interview guideline to help us with follow-up questions which were made based on the questionnaire results. the data from the interview were then transcribed, checked, coded following lineberg and koorsgard (2019), and eventually interpreted following milles et al.’s (2013) framework. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 324-334 329 findings and discussion students’ perception of emi as can be seen in table 1, the first eight items of the questionnaire, which show 0% strongly disagree replies, demonstrate how positive responses predominated the survey's results. in response to the statements "i am very passionate about studying psychology in english" and "i like learning the courses and conducting the projects in english in my classes," 97.2% of students scored very positively on items 1 and 6 (m = 4.11 and m=). 71.5 percent of respondents to item 2 (m = 3.79) agreed that "the emi runs well in every course." according to the statement of items 3 and 4, 54.5% of students can grasp the information offered in english by the lecturers and 50% of students were positive that all of their lecturers utilize english to teach/explain the course in my classrooms. the results of item 7 and item 8 (m = 3.84) then demonstrate that 82.8% of students were favorably inclined if they actively participated and spoke english in my classes to interact with the lecturer and friends and that 85.8% of students believed that emi courses had improved both their oral and academic english. table 1. psychology students’ perception of emi question item sa % a % d % sd % 1. i'm very enthusiastic about studying psychology in emi class. 14.2 83 2.8 0 2. the emi runs well in every course. 0 71.5 28.5 0 3. all of my lecturers use english to teach/explain the course in my classes. 0 50 50 0 4. i can understand the materials delivered in english by the lecturers. 31.4 54.4 14.2 0 5. the sources to study in my study program are available in english (such as books, audiobooks, journals, etc). 85.7 14.3 0 0 6. i enjoy learning the courses and doing projects in english in my classes. 37.1 60.1 2.8 0 7. i actively participate and speak english in my classes to interact with the lecturer and friends. 28.5 57.3 14.2 0 8. emi courses help me improve both my verbal and academic english. 0 82.8 17.2 0 the questionnaire's findings as seen in table 1 largely concur with certain students' opinions gathered through the interview session. some students claimed that the emi program is good since it provided them with content comprehension benefits. it is supported by findings from al-hakim (2021) which revealed that emi encourages the development of student’s cognitive aspect, which is beneficial for their academic competence. students’ access to information about psychology from the source has also increased their enthusiasm for learning english. phuong and nguyen (2019) have also added that the students praised the usefulness of emi programs in giving them a favorable setting to learn english in addition to an abundance of english-language resources. additionally, they have become more active english speakers in the emi classroom discussions. even though the lesson is taught in english, a student has proven that the majority of students can follow llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 324-334 330 along with the lecturer's explanations of the material. they claimed that some of the program's teachers have international degrees and that the majority of them speak english well. the students also further claimed that the lecturers' or the students' usage of emi in class were still partial. the conclusion of qiu and fang (2022) that students' and teachers' lack of preparedness for emi courses and their belief that language acquisition played a role in emi courses may have influenced their choices for instructional behavior may have led to somewhat incomplete emi implementation. the majority of the lecturers spoke both indonesian and english in the lesson. even though some lecturers didn't use english entirely when presenting the content, they still pushed their students to do so by making use of english learning resources and assigning projects in the language. although it is done to prevent misunderstandings, all tasks must still be completed in english. challenges in the implementation of emi class the results derived from the questionnaire as shown in table 2 indicate that nearly half of the students (48.6%) agreed that emi has grown to be the primary cause of the difficulty in understanding the content. it is then contrasted by the finding of item 2 which showed that more than half of the students (65.8%) argue the fact that the textbooks and other sources are in english is mostly to blame for the difficulty in understanding the content. the majority of students (65.8%) believe that their language skills are sufficient for understanding the information in books and lectures in english. furthermore, 72% of students disagree, saying that they must first spend some time learning the language before they can comprehend the material. more students (71.4% and 65.8%) corresponded that communication difficulties between lecturers and students hinder discussions and interactions. due to their inadequate understanding of the material that they learned in class, they were unable to participate fully in peer discussions, or those with the lecturer. lastly, 56.5% of students accepted that they frequently use resources in their native language (bahasa indonesia) to understand the material studied in english. table 2. the challenges encountered by psychology students during their emi classes question item sa % a % d % sd % 1. using english medium instruction (emi) is the main reason behind the difficulty of content comprehension. 0 48.6 51.4 0 2. difficulty in comprehending the content is mainly caused by the fact that textbooks and sources are in english. 0 34.2 65.8 0 3. my linguistic proficiency is adequate for comprehending content in books and lectures in english. 34.2 31.6 34.2 0 4. it takes me sometime to understand the language first and then grasp the content. 0 28.5 43.5 28.5 5. language barriers discourage discussions and interactions between lecturers and students. 28.6 71.4 0 0 6. i cannot communicate effectively with the lecturer or express my ideas clearly in english. 34.2 65.8 0 0 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 324-334 331 7. i have difficulty in participate in lecture discussion because i cannot understand the content of the lesson sufficiently to ask and answers questions. 0 54.6 43.4 0 8. to understand content studied in english i often use resources in my native language 0 56.5 43.5 0 the questionnaire results were also confirmed by the results of the students’ interviews. difficulties in comprehending lectures in emi were claimed as one of the most common issues raised by students who rate themselves as having insufficient english proficiency. some who pose very good english pointed out how the lecturers’ incompetency in providing the class with full emi has hindered them in maximizing their content comprehension. it is also proven by phuong and nguyen (2019), who stated that the failure in subject content mastery is provoked by the unfulfilled requirement of meeting the minimum standard of english proficiency for emi classes. with regards to challenges in comprehending textbooks/ course materials, some students claimed that they had already posed sufficient english for the needs of content comprehension. they also highlighted the challenges of content comprehension on emi as the result of the incapability of both lecturers and students in discussing certain topics, as seen in the following excerpts. the hardest part of learning is probably communication, especially with lecturers. sometimes i or my lecturer misunderstood something in conversation (student 2). some students can understand when the lecturers explain the lesson, while others don’t. approximately 60% of the classes can be understood by students with good english skills. others with poor english language skills can only understand approximately 40%. (student 6). overall, the students who participated in this study have experienced some content comprehension challenges in emi classes. among those challenges, comprehending lecturers and discussing the subject in english have been the most significant ones. this particular challenge confirms denman and al-mahrooqi’s (2019) findings. furthermore, the success of emi in giving students greater topic comprehension depends heavily on both the lecturers and the student's english proficiency. these findings support simbolon’s (2021) suggestion for better emi preparation. she argued that it is essential to provide lecturers teaching emi with english proficiency as well as pedagogy training (ibid). in a narrower scope, the findings of this study have provided some information about the ipp students’ perceptions of the emi programs at umm. to maximize its merits and minimize its flaws, the program's administrators may want to re-evaluate how emi programs are run. conclusion this study aims to understand the psychology department students’ perceptions of emi implementation and of the challenges they encountered in emi class. the results of the quantitative and qualitative data analysis point out that, in general, students have a good perception of their emi classes in terms of the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 324-334 332 availability of resources, instructor sessions, and improved english abilities. however, they have also encountered several difficulties that are mostly the result of both students’ and lecturers’ lack of english language proficiency. some challenges have also been drawn from how some lecturers tend to switch to their native language, highlighting the need to improve their emi pedagogy in the classroom. to acquire a better understanding of emi, it is advised that additional studies be carried out on a bigger scale and using a range of research instruments. for instance, students in emi classes from a higher level of study could be the focus of future research. this could aid researchers in gaining a better understanding of emi programs and in figuring out whether emi can eventually improve students' english proficiency and broaden their subject knowledge over the years. additionally, it is also useful to carefully analyze how subject lecturers view emi, as their perspectives on the pedagogical abilities required in emi classrooms might provide insights for a better implementation of emi in indonesian higher education. references alhamami, m. 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(2017). what makes an effective english-medium course in china? experiences and perspectives of international undergraduates. relc, 49(3), 353–368. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688217691815 https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2019.1707769 https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1203.03 https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315618623-2 https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688217691815 llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 language and language teaching journal http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 55 breaking the silence: utilizing pecha kucha to promote students’ speaking skills aloisius wisnu mahendra sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia aloisiuswisnu.mahendra@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.210106 received 12 october 2017; revised 10 january 2018; accepted 23 february 2018 abstract this study aims to report the utility of pecha kucha in promoting students’ speaking skills in the general english course. as english known as the international language for communication, indonesians expect to master english in order to broaden their future career opportunities. most of them seek for english courses providing various communicative activities with the hope that they can improve and sharpen their speaking skills. although the course has been designed for communication purpose, some students still are not be able to express their ideas freely during the speaking activities. they may feel afraid of making grammatical errors resulting to their low speaking performance. to facilitate students’ learning and encourage them to practice their speaking skills, pecha kucha has been utilized during the course. the study was conducted in the language institute of sanata dharma university in 2017. recorded learning activities utilizing pecha kucha and field notes were collected through the classroom teaching-learning practices. semi-structured interviews were also conducted to explore the findings and the analysis. the findings shows that the students actively engage with the utilization of pecha kucha by being able to explore their ideas and practice their speaking skills, and enjoy the learning process eventually. keywords: pecha kucha, speaking skills, general english course introduction english, as the international language, has a significant influence worldwide. its influence as a language for communication has spread in various fields such as in transportation, commerce, tourism, banking, technology, and diplomacy among non-native speakers recently (brown, 2007). this situation triggers indonesians to learn english in order to cope with the globalization. since english is important for traveling, studying, banking, and even applying for jobs, the need of learning and mastering english for communicating internationally becomes an influential force for indonesians nowadays. the people expect that learning english can help them to be able to communicate with others. regarding to the necessity of learning english, many indonesians look for and take english courses to sharpen their english use, focusing on communication. all of them expect to be able to speak english after finishing the course. freeman (2000) stated that knowledge got by the students from learning a llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 56 language through listening, reading, and writing is insufficient because the students have to be able to speak as the implementation of the knowledge. freeman’s (2000) statement supports richards and rodgers (1986) who perceive that language learning is learning to communicate to convey meaning. these two thoughts strengthen the belief of language and language learning and reflect what students need in learning the language. although the course has been designed for promoting students’ communicative skills, learning problems may appear during the process. there is a tendency that the students will find difficulty to develop their speaking skills due to the anxiety of making grammatical errors. in fact, communication is more flexible in conveying meaning (richards & rodgers, 1986). moreover, freeman (2000) agrees that activities designed suing communicative approach put emphasis on students’ speaking fluency over the accuracy. the aim is to create language use often through students’ trial and error (finocchiaro & brumfit, 1983; freeman, 2000). thus, because of the flexibility of language learned for communication, students are expected to be able to convey what they actually want to say. considering students’ learning problem, instructors have essential roles to help students enhancing their learning. the instructors help the students in any way that motivates them to work with the language (finocchiaro & brumfit, 1983). any media which helps the students is accepted, varying according to their age, interest, etc. (richards & rodgers, 1986). therefore, facilitating students’ learning is the responsibility for the instructors to make meaningful learning that is possible to overcome students’ difficulty and correspond to students’ needs. in this paper, pecha kucha is introduced as one of the learning media used to promote students’ speaking skills. through the utilization of pecha kucha, students are more independent to express their ideas, while the instructors play as facilitators of students’ learning (freeman, 2000). thus, this study aims to explore how the utilization of pecha kucha promotes students’ speaking skills in the general english course aimed for communicative purposes. speaking skills language is now generally seen as a dynamic resource for the creation of meaning (nunan, 1989; finocchiaro & brumfit, 1983 & cf sari, 2017). it is a way for ideas expressions as well as for knowing others’ ideas. for many students, the ability to produce speeches is important in the language use. when students speak, they use speech to express meaning to the others (spratt, 2005) freeman (2000) states that knowledge obtained from learning a language through listening, reading, and writing is insufficient because students have to be able to speak as the implementation of the knowledge. therefore, unlike the other skills, speaking always happens in a real situation around the students where the person that the students are talking to is waiting for them to speak right then in the actual communication (bygate, 2001). in the speaking practice, fluency and acceptable language is the primary goal, while accuracy is judged not in the abstract but in context (richards & rodgers, 1986; freeman, 2000). making grammatical errors during speaking practices is considered acceptable, since language is created by students often llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 57 through trial and error (finocchiaro & brumfit, 1983). regarding to students’ errors, instructors help students in any way that motivates them to work with the language. providing students with assistance may result to their better performance since the instructor is able to know what students’ difficulty is and how to overcome them. in this study, the researcher acknowledged that the utilization of pecha kucha would focus on promoting students speaking skills in term of fluency and content development, leading to meaning production. acceptable language was also essentially considered since negotiation of meaning might occur during speaking practices (freeman, 2000). pecha kucha the name of pecha kucha is taken from the japanese words, meaning ‘chit chat’. it was first introduced by two japanese architects in 2003, in the form presentation. the presentation is designed in a simple format where images are displayed within time constraints. the images advance automatically and the speakers will talk along to the images. pecha kucha requires the use of less word and more images which are relevant to the topic (zharkynbekova et al., 2017). liker (2004) supports that visual approach is more efficient since an image is worth a thousand words. moreover, the integration of technology in pecha kucha has changed the nature of instruction and learning. technology promotes socially active language in multiple authentic contexts due to its accessibility, flexibility, connectivity speed and independence of methodological approach (gonzalez, 2009). it inspires students’ positive thinking and communicative skills in social practice to enhance their communication capacity as well (shyamlee & phil, 2012). instructors are exploring pecha kucha, as digital learning media, to make learning more effective and engage students actively. in this study, pecha kucha is proposed to assist students and to promote their speaking skills. the researcher focused on how students’ develop their speaking fluency and content without being anxious to make grammatical errors. method the study was conducted in language institute of sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, within the center of english for international communication (ceic). the course focuses on english learning for international communication. the course levels are designed by referring to common european framework of reference (cefr) (council of europe, 2001). in addition, the study involved two participants representing two different levels. the participants were invited by the researcher and given inform consents. the participants’ name were pseudonym. furthermore, it should be noted that the researcher was the participants’ course instructor. having multiple relationship with the participants allowed the researcher to explore participants’ point of view and experiences towards a certain situation (kenyon, 2017). interview is well recognized as a method to gain subjective opinions, beliefs, and feelings towards a certain issue or topic that individuals experience (ary et al., 2010; atkinson, 2001). in this study, the researcher used semistructured interview. this type of interview permits a greater flexibility and llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 58 responsiveness to expose issues for the participants (ary et al., 2010). the interview took about 40 minutes for each participant and it was aimed to obtain information about participants’ perception after the utilization of pecha kucha as one of the learning media. in order to gain rich answers from the participants, the interviews were conducted using participants’ second language, which is indonesian. therefore, all the interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. in addition, the researcher also recorded the learning activities utilizing pecha kucha and took some notes focusing on students’ engagement to the utilization of pecha kucha and their speaking performance. the data obtained through interviews were analyzed by using data analysis technique in qualitative approach (straus & corbin, 1998). this was because the data gathered were in form of written texts, which were interview transcripts and notes. in qualitative research, data analysis means “a systematic process in searching and arranging the data to come up with findings” (bogdan & biklen, 2007, p. 147). “it involves working with the data, organizing them, breaking them into manageable units, coding them, synthesizing them, and searching for patterns” (bogdan & biklen, 2007, p. 147). in this study, the researcher coded the result of the interviews and the notes taken during the classroom practices. “coding is a process of marking a segment of data (usually text data) with descriptive words, or category names” (johnson & christensen, 2008, p. 534). moreover, the researcher generated two categories to make the analysis easier by sorting the collected data so that the material bearing on a given topic can be physically separated from other data (bogdan & biklen, 2007). the categories were ’my mind is free’ and ‘act it out.’ the researcher explored each categories on the findings. findings and discussion the finding consisted of a short description of the utilization of pecha kucha in the classroom and the participants’ stories about their’ needs of taking the english course, their’ problems in learning english, and how the utilization of pecha kucha could help them to promote their speaking skills. the stories were described in two categories, namely ‘my mind is free’ and ‘act it out.’ during the general english course, the researcher as well as the instructor often used pecha kucha in some levels to facilitate students to learn a certain topic. for instance, the topics were describing people, places, feeling, or things, telling interests, stating opinion, agreeing or disagreeing, and even presenting a certain issue. the instructor often designed pecha kucha in powerpoint or video format. the design could be 20x60, meaning that there were 20 images and each image would be displayed in 60 seconds. the students would talk about what was being displayed on the screen in 60 seconds. however, the instructor often modified pecha kucha to be more communicative learning media. in this way, the instructor would assign the students to work in pairs to practice using pecha kucha. while one student talked about a certain image, the other would listen and ask some questions or give comments to his/her partner so that they would have time for chit-chat by responding to the questions or opinions. of course, the instructor took control of pecha kucha to give pause to the displayed image and llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 59 let the students have chit-chat. the class would be lively because the students enjoyed the learning process. toni shared his learning experiences when he joined the english course. he came with a goal in his mind and expectations towards the course. he expected: “i hope i can learn and improve my english so that i can speak as fluent as a hollywood actor in a movie. like peaking in indonesian, my parents want me to be able to speak english as if i speak in bahasa in a daily conversation.” toni’s goal and expectations reflected his need of learning english. for him, speaking was the primary skills that he needed to master. as he was an economics department student, toni believed that being able to speak english would be the power to support his career in the future. to respond to this notion, he told: “i have a plan to work in a big company or institution whether it is a governmental institution or an international company. to achieve that, i must be able to master several languages and the most influential language for international communication is english.” regarding to his need of learning english, toni found that the english course had provided various communicative activities focusing on the practice of speaking skills. he agreed that the best way to learn a language was learning how to use it in a context (finocchiaro & brumfit, 1983). this belief affected his engagement towards speaking activities implemented by the instructor. he described: “i like speaking group activities or language games during the course. they are interactive activities to exercise my speaking skills. we can engage and enjoy the learning process if we can use the language directly through such activities in the classroom.” although the course and the activities had been designed to promote students’ speaking skills, however, in some cases there was still difficulty experienced by the students during their learning, toni emphasized that the major difficulty he faced was being afraid of making grammatical errors while speaking. in the interview, toni shared: “i think that grammar sometimes makes me crazy. usually when i speak with people who have better english than me, they correct my sentence structures while i speak to them and make errors. it seems that the communication is not flexible because there is such a wall limit my mind to think what i want to say.” toni’s problem appeared to be a common problem faced by indonesians when learning english. this situation encouraged the instructor to help the students to overcome their problem as well as to promote their speaking skills. then, assisting students with learning media could be helpful for their practice (smaldino, lowther, & russell, 2008). during his learning in the course, toni llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 60 found pecha kucha as one of the learning media prepared by the instructor to exercise his speaking skills. towards the use of leaning media, including pecha kucha, toni explained: “there are some media used by the instructor to assist the learning process such as videos, images, songs, and even the printed media like cards and board games. they are unique and represent their own usefulness depending on how the instructors can use the media effectively … so far, i am excited to a media called pecha kucha. there are some pictures displayed on the screen and i must speak about the pictures in a limited time.” toni told that pecha kucha was a simple media to design. however, beyond its simplicity, he believed that pecha kucha had a power to promote his speaking skills. he could explore his ideas about what he knew and what he had experienced to demonstrate the images since one images might represent a hundred or even a thousand words to tell (liker, 2004). moreover, the utilization of pecha kucha affected toni’s speaking performance in the classroom. he felt free to construct his ideas and speak along the images since the language and the meaning he conveyed was acceptable. toni found his speaking skills were accommodated and he could minimize his speaking difficulty through the utilization of pecha kucha. “my major problem in speaking is being afraid of making grammatical errors. when i speak normally, sometimes i think whether my grammar has been correct or not. this makes me uncomfortable and unfree to speak. however, … when i used pecha kucha, i feel that i am free to express my ideas without being afraid to make errors. when the instructor display the image, i need a few seconds to see it. then, the only thing i need to do is speaking and speaking because i only have one minute to talk.” toni’s engagement with pecha kucha illustrated the flow of his ideas to give meaning to the images displayed. the choice of the images that was relevant to the topic of the lesson strengthened the utilization of pecha kucha as the learning media promoting students’ speaking skills. furthermore, toni shared his positive feeling towards the modification of pecha kucha into a more communicative media for learning. during the interview, he demonstrated: “when i speak about the image in one minute, my friend will listen to me and he is allowed to ask questions related to what i have told to him. i do the same thing when my friend has the chance to speak. this is fun since we can practice our listening and speaking skills as well.” overall, toni’s experience reflected his engagement with the utilization of pecha kucha in classroom learning practices. utilizing pecha kucha for learning media gave spaces for toni to master english in accordance to his goal in joining the course. as toni had strong belief about what language was and how to learn it, he prioritized his learning on speaking practices. this was in line with the activities designed by the course which emphasized on the students’ speaking llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 61 skills. although toni had experienced a speaking anxiety due to making grammatical errors, pecha kucha was able to facilitate his performance. toni found his mind is free to explore his ideas as well as to improve his speaking skills. dina was a physics education student. she joined the english course to improve her speaking skills in order to prepare for english proficiency test held by the university. the test required non-english department students to be able to communicate in english. fortunately, dina could pass the test. this situation triggered dina to explore herself more in her future career. as she oriented herself as a teacher in the future, she shared: “seeing the phenomenon that english is also important for classroom instruction, i believe that learning english will support my career as a teacher in the future. since the demands of asean economic community also require people to have good skills, being able to speak english, as the international language, makes me feel more confident to compete with others.” regarding to her goal, dina found that the english course and its learning activities were useful for promoting her speaking skills. she focused on selfconfidence improvement while undergoing speaking activities. this was because she found a problem on how to deal with nervousness when she spoke using english. once, she stated that her nervousness came due to the anxiety of making errors, specifically in using correct structures. “my major problem in learning english is maintaining self-confident while speaking. during my internship, sometimes my friends interrupt me while i am speaking and give correction to what i say. i think that is good for my improvement; however, their interruption often makes me nervous and feel doubtful to continue my talk since i have lost my words. this makes me uncomfortable and i prefer to be silent then.” like toni, dina shared the same difficulty during speaking practices, affecting to her confidence. however, dina demonstrated positive feeling towards the way she learned english in the course. she was interested in the instructors’ teaching methods and the media used in the classroom. as she wanted to become a teacher, she learned english by engaging herself with classroom activities to experience the use of a certain method and media implemented by the instructors and building her self-confidence to speak in english as well. once dina talked about the learning media, she mentioned about pecha kucha. she told that she had practiced using this media for several times during the course. during the interview, dina shared more about her positive perception towards pecha kucha. she believed: “pecha kucha is a good media to assist my speaking performance. this provides me the opportunity to speak throughout the moving images for several seconds. i do not even think what the best structures used to talk along the images are. for me, the content that i can deliver to is more essential.” llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 62 as dina practiced her speaking skills through pecha kucha, she reflected her performance. in the interview, she told that she could minimize her problem in speaking, which was being not confident due to the anxiety of making errors. this was because she had broaden her point of view about learning english in which negotiation of meaning existed (freeman, 2000). “sometimes i feel pessimistic and nervous when i speak with somebody who has good english. however, i can minimize those feelings when my instructor utilize pecha kucha and i get the turn to speak. although it is not easy to construct ideas and deliver them in a limited time, i feel more confident because i do not afraid of making mistakes. i can confirm whether my friend understands my talk, and i will try repeat in another way that is easier to understand.” furthermore, dina expressed her opinion about the speaking practice and her plan after she experienced using pecha kucha. she tried to focus on the content delivery and fluency over the accuracy while speaking. developing those two aspects of speaking might result to her self-confidence during her speaking practice. in this way, she shared: “i think pecha kucha can facilitate my need of speaking. in my opinion, speaking is not only deal with fluency, but does the content of speaking also. in this way, i emphasize on the content delivery. since pecha kucha requires me to speak only for several seconds, i should make my speaking content concise. this is essential for me as internship teacher in delivering learning materials. maybe i will use pecha kucha also in the classroom to present a certain physics topic.” dina’s experience demonstrated the utility of pecha kucha in promoting her speaking skills. once she shared about her problem in learning english, dina found that pecha kucha could minimize her anxiety of making grammatical errors and perform well in the speaking activity. she had her confidence to explore herself by conveying her ideas towards the images. moreover, dina found that the utilization of pecha kucha would be useful to be implemented when she explained a certain topic to her students in the school. she would be able to create concise presentation and act confidently to explain the materials using pecha kucha. conclusion utilizing pecha kucha as a learning media gives some benefits towards students’ speaking performance. the two participants involved in this study shared their experiences in learning english through the utilization of pecha kucha. toni revealed that pecha kucha helped him to explore his ideas freely and overcome his anxiety of making grammatical errors. this impacts on toni’s speaking content development in which the focus is on conveying meaningful sentences within the time constrains. on the other hand, dina shared that she felt more confident when she practiced her speaking skills through pecha kucha. the utilization of pecha kucha in the learning activity reduces her nervousness due to llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 63 the possibilities of making errors, especially in term of grammar. dina’s sellconfidence gives positive influence to her performance as she is be able to say what she intends to say. moreover, the utilization of pecha kucha can meet toni’s and dina’s expectation of learning english during the course. as they need to improve their speaking skills, they engage with the learning process and practice their english through pecha kucha. in addition, this study gives a framework for future researchers to conduct further investigations towards the utilization of pecha kucha in more formal occasions of speaking activities such as presentation, short talk, and public speaking. the future researchers are possible to explore students’ autonomy learning since the students design their own pecha kucha presentation format and they are the speakers of their talk. references ary, d., jacobs l. c., sorensen, s., & razavich, a. 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(1989). designing task for the communicative classroom. cambridge: cambridge university press. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 64 patel, m.f, & jain, p.m. (2008).english language teaching: methods, tools, and techniques. jaipur, in: sunrise publishers and distributors. richards, j. c. & rodgers, t. s. (1986). approaches and method in language teaching. cambridge: cambridge university press. sari, c. (2017). speech acts and the different perspectives on the meaning of “very sorry” in the letter on hainan island incident. llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching, 20(1), 15-21. retrieved from http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt/article/view/405/351 smaldino, lowther, russell. (2008). instructional technology and media for learning. new jersey: pearson prentice hall. spratt, m. et al. (2005). the tkt (teaching knowledge test) course. cambridge: cambridge university press. strauss, a. & corbin, j. (1998). basics of qualitative research (2 nd ed.). thousand oaks, ca: sage. zharkynbekova, s., zhussupova, r., & suleimenova, s. (2017). exploring pecha kucha in efl learners’ public speaking performances. 3 rd international conference on higher education advances, 189-198. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 language and language teaching journal http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 116 the role of students’ motivational self-regulation in structure iii thomas wahyu prabowo mukti sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia thomaswpm@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2017.200205 received 4 june 2017; revised 10 july 2017; accepted 25 september 2017 abstract one of the important factors that influence the language learning, especially learning the basic rule of a language, is motivation. many studies have tried to find out the correlation between motivation and self-regulation with the students' academic performance and they find out that both motivation and learning language are correlated so much. thus, this paper specifically tried to find out the role of students’ motivational self-regulation with the students’ learning strategy. this research employed quantitative approach by employing survey method using observation sheet, questionnaire, and interview on some participants. the results of this study showed that the students’ motivation was high but they cannot selfregulate themselves. keywords: motivation, motivational self-regulation, structure iii introduction nagy (1995) states that learning english as a foreign language is not the same as when people learn other subjects. it is not only a matter of learning vocabulary, structure, listening or speaking skills but also sociocultural. language attitudes, cultural stereotypes, and even geopolitical considerations are the sociocultural factors that affect the second language learning (gardner & lambert, 1972). further, nagy (1995) considers that learning a foreign language involves more than only the language skills but it also requires the learners to adapt to the culture of the language itself. considering the fact that learning language is not the same as learning other subjects, language learning requires motivation and self-regulation in the learning process in order to be successful in mastering the language. gardner (2007) ponders that motivation can play an important role in learning a second language. further, gilakjani, leon, and sabouri (2012) even consider “motivation as the heart of learning and teaching activities” in the class (p. 9). by having the motivation to learn a language, the students will be able to self-regulate themselves since based on lett and o’mara (1990) and gardner (2000), one of the most influential factors that affect students’ self-regulation is their motivation. students will be able to manage and control their effort on the classroom academic tasks (pintrich & de groot, 1990, p. 33). moreover, students will be mailto:thomaswpm@gmail.com llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 117 able to maintain their cognitive engagement in the task that makes them be able to perform better (zimmerman & pons, 1988, p. 8). however, students’ motivation is often neglected by teachers (gilakjani, leong & sabouri, 2012, p. 9). they add that teachers often forget that all of the learning activities success depends on the students’ motivation. in this sense, students control the flow of the classroom. they consider that without students’ motivation, there is no spirit for learning in the class. similarly, dornyei (2005) identifies that teachers may do not realize that even prodigies cannot accomplish long-term goals without motivation. teachers nowadays should consider that motivation, especially selfmotivation, is important in learning english. in addition, they have to be able to notice that motivation is continuously changing because of a variety of internal and external forces (dornyei, 2001). thus, it becomes clear that the internal monitoring, filtering, and processing mechanisms that learners employ in this dynamic process will have an important role in shaping the motivational outcome (dornyei, 2005, p. 65). besides, there are three components of motivation that should be considered, namely an expectancy component, which includes students' beliefs about their ability to perform tasks, a value component, which includes students' goals and beliefs about the importance and interest of the task, and an affective component, which includes students' emotional reactions to the task (eccles, 1983; pintrich, 1989). motivation is needed by efl students who learn grammar because it is considered as one of the most important components in learning a language. grammar is the structural foundation of learning a language (zhang, 2009; wang, 2010; subasini & kokilavani, 2013). further, wang (2010) considers that with a good knowledge of grammar, students can improve their english proficiency. nevertheless, grammar is considered as a powerful undermining and demotivating force among l2 learners. students perceive that grammar is a problem and they are difficult to relate grammar to their lives (nawaz et al., 2015, p. 2). the conditions may make the students lose their motivation in learning english. the students may feel less interested in learning grammar so that it affects their academic performance. this condition may also affect the way students learn and it will also affect their achievement. therefore, this study tries to propose the role of students’ motivation self-regulation that closely relates to students’ self-regulated learning in academic performance in a structure iii class. based on the research background above, this study addresses one research question: what are the roles of students’ motivational self-regulation in students’ learning strategy in structure iii class? motivation motivation is something that prompts, incites or stimulates action. motivation leads to the initial stages of an action (gilakjani, leong & sabouri, 2012, p. 9). it means motivation is related to the arousing initial interest and turning it into a decision to engage in some activity. the need to maintain this state of arousal, to determine someone to make the necessary effort to complete an action is also of great importance (gilakjani, leong & sabouri, 2012, p.9). furthermore, williams & burden, (1997) see motivation as a state of cognitive llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 118 and emotional arousal that leads to a conscious decision to act and keep intellectual and/or physical effort. similarly, gardner (1985) sees motivation is a combination of effort plus desire to achieve a goal plus favorable attitudes towards the goal to be accomplished. in short, motivation is something that stimulates people to act for the goals they set and keep the effort for reaching the goals. pintrich and de groot (1990, p. 33) propose a model that pictures students’ motivational components that may be linked to the three different components of self-regulated learning. the components are (a) an expectancy component, which includes students' beliefs about their ability to perform task, (b) a value component, which includes students' goals and beliefs about the importance and interest of the task, and (c) an affective component, which includes students' emotional reactions to the task. those three components will be discussed below. first, the expectancy components are linked to students' metacognition, their use of cognitive strategies, and their effort management (pintrich & de groot, 1990, p. 34). some studies suggest that students who believe they have capability of learning languages and performing tasks will engage in more metacognition, use more cognitive strategies, and are more likely to do a task better than students who do not believe they can perform the task (fincham & cain, 1986; paris & oka, 1986; schunk, 1985 as cited in pintrich & de groot, 1990). second, the value component of student motivation involves students' goals for the task and their beliefs about the importance and interest of the task (pintrich & de groot, 1990, p. 34). this motivational component is related to students' reasons for doing a task. the research suggests that motivated students who understand the importance of the activity they do will engage in more “metacognitive activity, cognitive strategy use, and effective effort management” (pintrich & de groot, 1990, p.35). third, affective component is related to the students' affective or emotional reactions to the task (pintrich & de groot, 1990, p.35). there is a variety of affective reactions that might be relevant to the affective components the most important in the school context is the students’ anxiety (wigfield & eccles, 1989) while the anxiety itself is linked to “students' metacognition, cognitive strategy use, and effort management” (pintrich & de groot, 1990, p.35). in summary, the writer would like to emphasize three components of motivation affect students’ academic performance. the components are expectancy component, value component, and affective component. those motivational components were linked in important ways to student cognitive engagement and academic performance in the classroom (pintrich & de groot, 1990). self-regulated learning self-regulated learning is a process that assists students in managing their thoughts, behaviors, and emotions in order to successfully navigate their learning experiences (zumbrunn, tadlock & roberts, 2011). this process occurs when student's purposeful actions and processes are directed towards the acquisition of information or skills. zimmerman (1990) states that self-regulated learners face llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 119 the tasks in the school with confidence, diligence, and resourcefulness. he also emphasized that self-regulated learners are aware when they know a fact or possess a skill and when they do not. further, self-regulation is considered to be an important aspect of student learning and academic performance (corno & mandinach, 1983). pintrich and de groot (1990) consider that there are three components related to students’ classroom performance. first, self-regulated learning includes students' metacognitive strategies for “planning, monitoring, and modifying their cognition” (boekaerts & corno, 2005, p.207). second, self-regulated learning also includes students' management and control of their effort on classroom academic tasks. it focuses on how students are able to do a difficult task or block out distractors in order to maintain their cognitive engagement in the task that makes them enable to perform better (corno, 1986; corno & rohrkemper, 1985 as cited in pintrich & de groot, 1990). third, self-regulated learning also relates to the actual cognitive strategies that students use to learn, remember, and understand the material (pintrich & de groot, 1990). different cognitive strategies will help foster active engagement in learning and it will help students reach higher levels of achievement (pintrich & de groot, 1990). motivational self-regulation related to the motivation and self-regulated learning, dornyei (2005) highlights the importance of learner self-regulation by integrating the learners’ proactive involvement in controlling the various aspects of their learning. he also underlines that self-regulation also includes motivation as one of the most important components. thus, he defines the correlation of motivation and selfregulation as the motivational self-regulation. the focus of the motivational selfregulation is on “the ‘whole’ person and how they control their own motivation, emotions, behavior (including choice, effort, and persistence), and their environment, has been a welcome addition to research on academic selfregulation” (dornyei, 2005, p.91). it means that students’ self-regulation and motivation are interdependent and they affect students’ academic performance. it is assumed that students who have motivational self-regulation are able to maintain their motivation and keep themselves on task and they are expected to learn better than students who are less skilled at regulating their motivation. it can be understood since learning is the effortful process with a lot of obstacles may interfere students’ initial motivation. therefore, students’ ability to keep in control with what they are doing or their goals should be considered as an important indicator for self-regulated learning (wolters, 2003). in addition, ushioda (2003) argued that the function of motivational self-regulation is to help learners to adapt motivational belief systems and engage in constructive and effective thinking to regulate their motivation. it means that by having motivational self-regulation, students will be able to maintain their motivation so they will engage in the task and reach their goals. in summary, the motivational self-regulation plays important role in students’ academic performance. by having the motivational self-regulation, students will be able to maintain their motivation to reach their goals. they also llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 120 will be able to find the cognitive strategy that will help them to analyze their learning and understanding the right method for their learning. method this research employed quantitative methods in order to collect and analyze the data. specifically, it is survey research. surveys enable the researcher to find out the major attitudes and opinions of a group of people toward some issue (ary, jacobs, sorensen, razavieh, 2010, p. 351). there were three steps the writer employed to conduct this research. first, the writer observed one of structure iii classes in english language education study program. in this observation, observation sheet was used for generating the general knowledge of the students’ motivation (ary, jacobs, sorensen, razavieh, 2010, p. 351). the focus of this observation is to observe students’ attitudes directly in the class. second, after observing the class, the writer distributed questionnaires to all students who attended the class. the questionnaire consisted of fifteen statements related to the factors that make them motivated to learn, the strategy(s) to learn and how they manage their effort in learning. further, the questionnaire also helped the writer to assess the students’ attitudes toward structure iii class by presenting a set of statements related to their attitudes and their strategy they employed in structure iii class. (ary, jacobs, sorensen, razavieh, 2010, p. 351). third, the writer interviewed four participants in order to know the motivation of the participants and the way they regulate their effort, emotion, and strategy to learn. the writer recorded the data into transcripts. the data from the interviews were analyzed by using creswell’s (2009) qualitative data analysis by using qda miner®. they were organizing and preparing the data for analysis, reading all the data, coding, representing the data in qualitative narrations, using the coding to generate categories or themes for analysis, and interpreting the data. findings and discussion in this subchapter, the writer will combine the results of the observation, questionnaires, and interviews. here are the analyses of the findings: the role of the students’ motivational self-regulation on the students’ academic achievement in this chapter, the writer would like to elaborate the students’ attitude, selfregulation, the motivational self-regulation and how those factors affect the students learning. students’ attitude in structure iii gilakjani, leong & sabouri (2012) state that motivation is related to the arousing initial interest and turning it into a decision to engage in some activity (p. 9). gilakjani, leong & sabouri (2012, p. 10) and that the need to maintain this state will determine someone’s effort to complete an action. it means that students who have motivation can be observed from their actions and attitudes in the class. in order to know the students' attitude that also determines their motivation in the llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 121 class, the writer employed observation sheet, questionnaire and interview guideline. the students’ attitude in the class was good. it can be observed from the observation (please refer to appendix 1) that i did on 16 november 2016. most students show their enthusiasm by doing every task in the class, answering lecturer’s questions, paying attention to their lecturer's explanation, asking questions when they do not understand the lecturer’s explanation. however, it should be noted that not all students showed their enthusiasm in the class. the writer found that some students were sleeping in the class, some students did not participate in the class activities and answer the lecturer’s questions. moreover, from the questionnaire statement number 11 which is “i always feel motivated in learning grammar both in the class and in my house/boarding house”, only 34% students felt motivated in learning in the structure iii class. in summary, the students' attitude in structure iii class was good. it can be seen from the observation results that show students were quite enthusiastic in following the class activities. however, some students did not have the same enthusiasm as other students. to conclude, more than 80% students were enthusiastic in following the class activities which indicates that students were motivated in learning structure iii, a subject that considered to be the hardest subject by them. students’ motivation and motivational self-regulation in structure iii the components proposed by pintrich and de groot (1990, p. 33) to indicates the students'' motivation in learning in the class. they are (a) an expectancy component, which includes students' beliefs about their ability to perform task, (b) a value component, which includes students' goals and beliefs about the importance and interest of the task, and (c) an affective component, which includes students' emotional reactions to the task. those three components will be discussed below. first, students showed that they believe in themselves that they are capable of passing the structure iii class. through the questionnaire, as can be seen in figure 1, i discovered that 44% students believe that they will be able to get an a in the class while 22% students do believe that they will get an a. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 122 figure 1. students’ expectancy furthermore, the data from interviews also indicate that students have high expectancy. rdi state, “kalau berdasarkan lihat nilai-nilai kemarin, kayae bisa dapat a (if i consider my previous scores, i think i can get an a).” however, md, dta and gpa stated that they only expect a b and they felt that they were pleased with it. from the fact above, the writer concludes that actually, students believe in themselves but they do not expect an a as their final score. they believe in their effort and the expectancy is mostly influenced by their quizzes and midterm test scores. second, the results of the questionnaire and interview show that students have their own reasons for doing the task (pintrich & de groot, 1990, p.34). based on the statements number three and four (“i learn english because i like the language and the culture” and “i learn english because i believe that english will be beneficial for my future”), the writer found that students actually have their own goal in learning structure iii. the data can be seen on the next page: figure 2. students’ goal llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 123 based on the data from the questionnaire, it can be concluded that most students have their own goal in learning structure iii. it may vary from the personal growth (statement number 2) until the functional use (statement number 3) but most students learn grammar for the functional use. in addition, the interview results strengthen the students’ goal on the functional use. md states, “iya. karena kita mungkin ngajar di smp sma kan? smp itu tenses sudah belajar, terus kalimat aktif pasif juga udah. terus di sini kita juga ngulang disitu tapi lebih dalam konteksnya. (yes. we will teach in junior or senior high school, right?. in junior high school, they have learned tenses, active and passive sentence. we learn here but in deeper context)” when she was asked whether she will be a teacher or not in the future. in summary, the students’ reasons in learning grammar were mostly about the functional use since someday they will be teachers thus they believe that they need to master grammar. third, it is related to the students’ affection in doing tasks and/or tests. there is a variety of affective reactions that might be relevant to the affective components the most important in the school context is the students’ anxiety (wigfield & eccles, 1989). md and gpa stated that they felt that they were not really enthusiastic about doing tasks or preparing for the tests. however, rda states, “aku tu malah nunggu-nunggu saat tes tu lho mas.kaya aku tu bener-bener kaya fell in love sama structure (i am actually waiting for the test. i think i fell in love with structure.)." moreover, dta stated that she was afraid of doing the test. she was afraid of making mistakes that actually led her to make mistakes. in brief, students’ affections were different one to another in doing tasks and/or tests and it was reflected through the way students prepare and do the tasks and/or tests. from those explanations about the students’ motivation, the writer could also relate it to the self-regulated learning and motivational self-regulation. first, the students’ motivation leads students to have the strategies for planning, monitoring, and modifying their cognition (zimmerman & pons, 1988). it can be seen from the students’ learning strategy to prepare quizzes or tests. from the questionnaire data, 78% students agree that learning grammar is hard, so they need a strategy(s) in order to understand it (questionnaire statement number 6). it means that students are aware and they should have a strategy to learn. it also shows that they are motivated to learn. however, students did not have their own schedule to learn grammar. it was only 16% of the students who had the strategy to learn grammar. moreover, from the interview, all of the participants only learned before they have quizzes or tests. it means that students had the motivation but they did not manage themselves to learn more and have a better strategy. second, the students’ motivation makes students able to manage and control their effort on classroom academic tasks (pintrich and de groot, 1990). from the observation, the writer could observe that some students tried to always listen to their lecturer. though, some students did not pay attention to their lecturer. some even slept in the class. md and dta admitted that they were sleepy in the class. gpa even underlined that the lecturers’ method in teaching grammar is monotone and it demotivated him. it means that students did not really put their effort into learning in the class although they are motivated in learning grammar. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 124 in summary, after considering the students’ attitude, motivation and the way they self-regulate themselves, the writer could conclude that students have a high motivation in learning grammar but some students could not really self-regulate themselves both their learning strategy and motivation. they know that they needed to learn harder on structure iii but they did not manage themselves to learn more and have a better strategy to learn. as stated by dornyei (2005, p. 91), the focus of the motivational self-regulation is on the ‘whole’ person and how they control their own motivation, emotions, behavior (including choice, effort, and persistence), and their environment. some students could not manage their motivation into action that affects their way of learning. therefore, students still need to manage their effort and persistence in learning grammar. conclusion in conclusion, the writer concludes that students’ motivation in learning grammar is high. however, they were demotivated for many factors and they also could not manage their motivation into action. in addition, some students were still not able to regulate their learning and motivation. those factors affect the students’ learning strategy. for the lecturers who teach structure or grammar class, they should consider the factors that make student motivated and demotivated, how to manage the students’ motivation into action and how to help students regulate their motivation and learning strategy. references ary, d., jacobs, l. c., sorensen, c., & razavieh, a. 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(2011). encouraging self-regulated learning in the classroom: a review of the literature. metropolitan educational research consortium (merc), 1-28. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 language and language teaching journal http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 147 reading habits in digital era: a research on the students in borneo university firima zona tanjung, ridwan, and uli agustina gultom borneo university, tarakan, indonesia english_zone@borneo.ac.id, ridwan.fkipubt@gmail.com, and ulie_goeltoem@yahoo.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2017.200209 received 19 june 2017; revised 21 july 2017; accepted 24 september 2017 abstract this research aims to explore the current reading habits of university students. moreover, it aims to determine the effects of widespread use of the internet and other digital resources in reading habits and to give some possible recommendation to improve students’ reading habits in the digital era. the research design was descriptive survey research. the instrument of the research was questionnaire, which is based on akarsu and dariyemez (2014) and chauhan and lal (2012). the participants of the research were 320 students studying in six majors in faculty of teachers training and education at borneo university. they were selected through the cluster random sampling. the questionnaire involved six categories, namely demographic information, frequency of items read, contents of online reading, online activities, content first clicked when online, and techniques to develop reading habits. all research data was analyzed using spss statistics 22 program. keywords: reading habits, university students, digital era introduction nowadays, the easy access to digital media is a big challenge for reading habits. it gives an impact for everyone unexceptionally students. certainly, students need technology in the form of internet to share, discuss, and process the information simultaneously. their comfort of using technology e.g. smart phones or tab makes them prefer these devices than printed document. additionally, it is a new kind of reading habits at which efl students preferred internet-based reading than paper-based one (shen, 2006). further, internet enable people to learn something through rapid process and expect the contents in a concise and easy to digest format (verma & malviya, 2014). related to two previous statements, it can be considered that internet is popular among younger generation. moreover, the numbers of these people are increasing significantly because they can gain information and entertainment easily through this media (shahriza & hasan, 2007). particularly, the shift of paper-based reading to internet-based reading is related to students’ preference and motivation. they can have easy access to the source of information if they use digital resources. for example, as students, books are very important for them to have. however, today the way to get the information not only from printed version but “it can be through accessing mailto:english_zone@borneo.ac.id mailto:ridwan.fkipubt@gmail.com mailto:ulie_goeltoem@yahoo.com llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 148 electronic book at which they can save and then it can be taken anywhere with ease (akarsu & dariyemez, 2014)”. thus, considering the explanation, this paper focused on answering following research questions: what are the major trends of reading interests and reading mediums of university students in faculty of teacher training and education at borneo university tarakan? how influential is the digital media on students’ reading habits? and what are possible suggestions in order to improve students’ reading habits in the digital era mainly at the university student level? method design of this research was descriptive survey research. this research aimed to make careful descriptions of educational phenomena so the researchers made use of both quantitative and qualitative approach. related to the research objectives, the researchers used one-shot survey design at which the research instrument or tools given to the participants. the participants of this research were all university students from six majors in faculty of teacher training and education at borneo university tarakan. they were second year students. most of them have studied english language around 8-10 years. the research procedure was displayed in figure 1. figure 1. steps in descriptive survey research (adapted from lodico et al., 2010) the researchers used a questionnaire to get the data of this research. the questionnaire was adapted from the work of reading habits questionnaire (akarsu & dariyemez, 2014), and the study result of chauhan and lal (2012) titled ‘impact of information technology on reading habits of college students’. the questionnaire was made online so that the students could respond it easily, anytime and anywhere. the questionnaire was launched in bahasa and edited several times due to the suitable translation from the original version. it was part of considering the various background of departments from the participants involved in this research. from 480 students who were expected to respond the questionnaire, there were 320 students who gave their response. the number of participants was reduced because of the multiple response given by the same participants and the llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 149 number of students who were not active/taking leave of absence at the time the research being conducted. findings and discussion the major trends of students’ reading interests and reading mediums in faculty of teacher training and education at borneo university tarakan. table 1. demography of respondents aspect of demography frequency percentage gender male 74 23.13 female 246 76.87 total 320 100 age under 20 years old 306 95.63 22-23 years old 13 4.06 24-25 years old 0 0 26-27 years old 1 0.31 total 320 100 due to the data collected, the gender who enrolled in faculty of teacher training and education were unbalanced at which the number of female students were greater than male ones. there were 246 females and 74 males. they were dominantly in the age of under 20 years old. table 2. time spent on accessing internet daily hours frequency percentage less than 1 hour 51 15.94 1 – 3 hours 105 32.81 3 – 6 hours 88 27.50 more than 6 hours 76 23.75 total 320 100 the above result showed that students mostly accessed internet every day because it enables them to gain information faster, cheaper, and more conveniently. it is supported with the result of finding stated by shahriza & hasan (2007) that younger people are more familiar with the information and entertainment in a digital format. certainly, they do not like to spend much time without getting what they want to know. thus, using internet is considered as one of the ways to obtain information instantly without spending much time on topics they do not want to explore. it is easily done by inserting keywords and the information available all at once. table 3. number of magazines the students read in a year llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 150 number of magazines frequency percentage none of magazines 70 21.88 1 – 4 magazines 147 45.94 5 – 9 magazines 66 20.63 more than 9 magazines 37 11.56 total 320 100 as shown in table 3, most of students (45.94%) read 1-4 magazines, 20.63% read 5-9 magazines, and 11.56% read more than 9 magazines. none of them (21.88%) read any single magazine with a vary of reasons, e.g. they do not like reading magazines, there is no magazine, have no interest in reading magazines. table 4. number of novels the students read in a year number of novels frequency percentage none of novels 44 13.75 1 – 4 novels 142 44.38 5 – 9 novels 78 24.38 more than 9 novels 56 17.50 total 320 100 considering the result in table 4, most of students (44.38%) read 1-4 novels, 24.38% read 5-9 novels, and 17.70% read more than 9 novels. none of them (13.75%) like to read any novel with a vary of reasons, e.g. they do not know, they never read any novels, they do not like reading novels, there is no any new novel, etc. table 5. frequency of items read reading n mean std. deviation participation level newspapers 320 2.12 0.57 sometimes magazines 320 1.88 0.53 sometimes text books 320 2.6 0.65 often novels 320 2.36 0.76 sometimes emails 320 2.08 0.68 sometimes online information 320 3.03 0.79 often table 5 showed that the range of mean values were from 2.08 to 3.03. related to the available result, the least frequent number of the items was reading emails and the most frequent one was reading online information. the number of respondents who read newspapers, magazines, novels, and emails were included into the level of sometimes. meanwhile, textbooks and online information were frequently read. particularly, it indicated that they had a purpose in reading. hence, indirectly there was a relationship between students’ choice of reading materials and their reading purpose. as university students, they chose textbooks and online information as llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 151 the materials they often read. in addition, respondent chose reading online information frequently because they liked to get fast and current information. table 6. priority of reading materials the students read when online reading material mean priority online news 2.82813 1 food/nutrition 2.7875 2 joke 2.58438 3 health information 2.54688 4 story and novel 2.45625 5 sport 2.45313 6 movie review 2.44688 7 fashion 2.40938 8 sale information 2.25 9 journal articles 2.24375 10 comic strips 2.19688 11 job information 2.1125 12 e-books 2.0375 13 emails 1.98125 14 weather forecast 1.9625 15 online magazine 1.95 16 horoscope 1.6625 17 the first priority of reading materials mostly chosen by the respondents was reading online information, followed by food/nutrition, then joke etc. this results pointed to the high rate of reading for general information (online news), in this sense, the students tend to read for pleasure/entertainment or for the purpose of grabbing rich of information for the sake of their own (top of five priorities related to their daily life matters) rather than reading for the academic purposes (reading journals or e-books). surely, it is very contrast with the previous finding at which students chose textbook. however, getting back to the priority, they preferred choosing their daily needs fulfilment (both physically and mentally) to academics needs. table 7. online activities activities yes (%) no (%) i listen to music 76.56 23.43 i play games 38.75 61.25 i look at photos 86.87 13.12 i read all kinds of information 94.37 5.62 i shop online 40.62 59.37 i use msn 42.18 57.81 llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 152 messenger i check my email 51.25 48.75 i chat with friends 96.87 3.12 i downloaded movies 59.06 40.93 the frequent activity done by the respondents was chatting with friends (96.87%). it was followed by reading all kind of information (94.37%) and looking at photos (86.87%). next, the respondents stated that that they listened to music (76.56%) as their activities during online. from the number of activities done during online, students can be given some advices to do their activities in purpose of improving reading skills e.g. read all kinds of information and write the summary or key points of each, check and reply their emails, or facilitating their reading and writing skills simultaneously e.g. chatting with friends. table 8. content first clicked when online category percentage % art and humanities 12.50 business and economy 9.06 computers and internet 21.56 education 17.81 entertainment 19.69 government 0.31 health 3.44 news and media 5.94 recreation and sports 3.13 regional 0.00 science 0.31 social science 0.00 society and culture 0.94 facebook 5.31 the most frequent content first clicked when the respondents were online being about computer and internet (21.56%). then, it was followed by entertainment (19.69%) and education (17.81%). this result is interesting because majority of the respondents, as the university students, did not put education as the content first clicked when they were online. instead, they chose about computer and internet then entertainment. indeed, it strengthens the possible reason previously stated that they had a purpose of being entertained during surfing on internet. to sum up, the respondents can be encouraged to access not only computer and internet or entertainment but they can be encouraged to access education as it is connected directly to their daily life as students. though the number of respondents for accessing education content was still in the third place llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 153 but it may become different if the lecturer makes use of some applications or make group on sites such as edmodo as the media of learning and sharing so the students can develop their reading habits on education content too. table 9. techniques to develop reading habits techniques n yes yes (%) no no(%) parental guidance & encouragement 320 223 69.68 97 30.31 motivation by teachers 320 273 85.31 47 14.68 reading materials about hobbies and interests 320 308 96.25 12 3.75 consistent use of dictionary 320 192 60 128 40 daily newspaper reading 320 99 30.93 221 69.06 book reading 320 287 89.68 33 10.31 visiting libraries 320 216 67.50 104 32.50 well-prepared reading material 320 217 67.81 103 32.18 studying to improve vocabulary knowledge 320 304 95 16 5 the most frequent technique to develop reading habits was reading materials about hobbies and interests (96.25%). hence, by providing many reading materials about hobbies and interests around the students’ corner in the university, the respondents can be more motivated to develop their reading habits. then, the technique in the second place was studying to improve vocabulary knowledge (95%) followed by book reading (89.68%). the respondents were still confident that these techniques could develop their reading habits. the more they read, the more vocabularies they master. the numbers of frequency became smaller for the options consistent use of dictionary (60%) and daily newspaper reading (30.93%). it was possibly connected to the speed and space needed to access by the respondents. as millennial generation, they preferred to use media that can access any information fast without time limit. that finding is supported by shen’ survey results (2006) at which efl students’ reading habits have shifted from paperbased to internet-based reading. related to the result of questionnaire, the respondents, studying in faculty of teacher training and education from a variety of departments, often enjoyed reading online information and textbooks. particularly, it is closely related to the use of gadget among students such as smart phones or tabs which are simply exploited to access the current online news. next, besides they often read online news, they also frequently read textbooks. it indicated that students did their reading in purpose. as the university students, they preferred reading materials related to their needs in daily academic life. further, related to the content first clicked when they were online, the llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 154 respondents chose online news. the least popular items to choose was online magazine and horoscope. for the least popular item here, online magazine got more attention because in the previous questions, the respondents frequently chose reading 1-4 magazines. hence, the use of internet for reading magazine was less popular than reading magazines in the printed version. considering all findings being displayed, the students of faculty of teacher training and education from various background of departments had particular level of reading habits. it is shown from the results at which they prefer reading online news and other types of reading materials. yet, they also have had some preference on choosing media of reading items such as printed magazines rather than the online ones. thus, it can be inferred that they have certain level of reading habits and also reading medium based on their preference simultaneously. to answer the question about the widespread use of internet, the discussion is started from the duration of online surfing done by the students of faculty of teacher training and education. related to the result, they spent their time between one up to three hours a day. because these duration is average, the lecturers must consider it in order to make use of internet as the medium for developing students’ reading habits. the ways can be done are through making group on sites, discussing more on the information, contents available online, maximizing the use of virtual class available in the university, and giving task sent via email. hence, the use of internet will be fruitful as reading tool for students. additionally, during their online surfing, they did activities such as chatting with friends (96.87%), reading all kind of information (94.37%), looking at photos (86.87%), and listening to music (76.56%). due to the activities done by the respondents, the lecturers can give recommended websites that enable students to improve their reading skills align with their reading habits. later, related to the results of contents of reading materials being accessed, students had various texts to read. therefore, they have used internet not only for obtaining information from the same sources every day. they like surfing different websites to get diverse materials. associated with the length of online time the students have every day, it can be a consideration for lecturers to stay connected and provide wide opportunity to students to use internet as the medium of learning through the task given or online discussion. besides, all activities they always do can be directed to support students’ reading habits. thus, students should be given about what do’s or dont’s when online is needed in the purpose of increasing the effectiveness of using internet among students. reading skill has been challenged today by the existence and the popularity of internet. nowadays, students feel more comfortable to read information instant through their smart phones or other digital sources. shen (2006) stated that efl students’ reading habits have shifted from paper-based to internet-based reading. considering the popularity of internet among youngsters as the highest numbers of internet users, several possible recommendations can be done in order to improve students’ reading habits in the digital era. first, their reading habits should be developed by integrating the use of communication or digital devices in classroom activities. here, the responsibility llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 155 of lecturers is very important because they can give motivation to the students as it was represented in the questionnaire result (85.31%). lecturers play a significant role to direct and supervise students in accessing the online sources of reading appropriate with their needs as youngsters and scholars. second, as reading connected to other skills in language such as listening, writing, and speaking, it is meaningful to inform students that they may have various ways of interacting with their classmates. one of them is through chatting live on some sites such as facebook or other sites that enable them to do so. the topics they have to discuss with their friends may vary appropriate with their interest. certainly, the topics of discussion can be taken from any sources. this activity, precisely, combines multiple skills to practice such as listening and speaking. the other thing is lecturers may give students task of taking different reading online texts aligned with the learning materials and ask them to write their understandings in the form of argumentative essays or any other types of writing. thus, they can have benefit from their reading activities in order to improve writing skill. third, the possible recommendation to improve students’ reading habit is organizing events related to reading especially done by academic institutions. the events may be in the form of “study circle, debate clubs, seminars, essay competitions, quiz competitions (akanda, hoq, & hasan, 2013)”. for example, if language department organizes poem reading competition, the committee can open the opportunity for the youngsters to compete and read poems aloud in front of public. certainly, it is to develop the youngsters’ self-confidence. besides, it can also develop their reading habits. the more contests being organized; the more participants especially young generation get involved in the effort of making reading as part of their culture. moreover, the habits of youngsters can be more developed through games. it will be fun and meaningful for them to participate and try their best. in short, the participants will read a lot and use all information they have to compete in the reading competition. hence, unconsciously, it is one of the alternative things can be done to develop their reading habits. as well as organizing reading contests, the fourth recommended thing is providing more books available to students around their environment so that their interest in reading can be increased (akanda, hoq, & hasan, 2013). not only books, the students are also provided with the interesting and various content of the reading materials. hence, lecturers should make use of texts, pictures, and any other texts to be discussed inside or outside class. it is also to minimize students’ boredom on same materials being used along the class session in one semester. fifth, students will pay their attention on reading materials which are accessible in anytime and anywhere. thus, the easy access to websites and other online sites enable them to keep their interest in reading. it is as recommendation for the policy makers in university to provide more online access and books for students. moreover, all educators at the faculties in the university can hold reading campaigns by inviting more influential or inspiring figures so the students will be more attracted to participate in the reading events. the campaigns can be in the form of reading week, reading hour (akarsu & dariyemez, 2014). these activities are recommended to be held in and out of the classroom. therefore, the students llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 156 will not consider reading as the only thing they have to do in the classroom during teaching learning process but it is the activity that they need to do as part of their daily lives. as the final recommendation, it is very needed to attract youngsters or y generation in the effort of maintaining balance in the use of gadgets and traditional reading. together, librarians and educators warn about the effect of “time eating machines” that can influence the youngsters themselves (loan, 2009). if they pay more attention on those machines, it will influence the education systems reorganization (akarsu & dariyemez, 2014). thus, the optimal use of technology and traditional reading should be kept balance so students are not addicted to the devices at all. yet, they can determine when, where, how, and what they read appropriate with their reading purposes and the availability of the medium. overall, all aspects should participate actively in the effort of developing reading habits starting from the students themselves, educators, librarians, figures, and society. the support they bring, particularly, will give an impact on creating indonesian future generation having strong literary power. conclusion as this article has outlined, the advances in technology alter people interest on reading from printed version to digitalized one. they prefer using gadgets to read information every day. it is supported by the length of their time accessing internet which is approximately one up to three hours a day. nevertheless, they also have had some preference on choosing reading medium such as printed magazines rather than the online ones. thus, it can be said they have particular level of reading habits and reading medium based on their preference simultaneously. the use of technology in the classroom can be a consideration for lecturers to stay connected with their students. but realizing the widespread use of internet as part of technology advancement, lecturers should explain what do’s or dont’s when students search for information. it has to be done in the purpose of increasing the effectiveness of using internet as reading medium among students. active participation in the effort of developing reading habits should be done by all elements starting from the students themselves, educators, librarians, figures, and society. without the cooperation among those elements, reading is never part of the culture. yet, if it is considered seriously and supported wholly can bring a good impact for bringing reading not only as habits but also culture mainly in faculty of teacher training and education at borneo university and broadly in indonesia. references akanda, a.k.m., ali, e., hoq, k.m.g., & hasan, n. (2013). reading habit of students in social sciences and arts: a case study of rajashahi university. chinese librarianship: an international electronic journal, 35. retrieved on august 20, 2017 from http://www.iclc.us/cliej/c135ahh.pdf llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 157 akarsu, o. & dariyemez, t. (2014). the reading habits of university students studying english language and literature in the digital age. journal of language and linguistic studies, 10(2), 85-99. retrieved on may 20, 2016 from: dergipark.ulakbim.gov.tr/jlls/article/download/.../5000078393 chauhan, p., & lal, p. (2012). impact of information technology on reading habits of college students. international journal of research review in engineering science and technology, 1(1), 101-106. retrieved on may 15, 2016 from: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.300.7473&rep=re p1&type=pdf loan, f. a. (2009). impact of new technology on reading habits: a glimpse on the world literature. unpublished manuscript. retrieved on may 21, 2016 from: http://eprints.rclis.org/20084/1/ncert.pdf lodico, m., spaulding, d., & voegtle, k. (2010). methods in educational research: from theory to practice. san francisco, ca: john wiley & sons, inc. shahriza a.k.n., & hasan, a. (2007). reading habits and attitude in the digital age: analysis of gender and academic program differences in malaysia. the electronic library, 25(3), 285-298. retrieved on may 20, 2016 from:https://www.researchgate.net/profile/nor_abdul_karim/publication/2 20677317_reading_habits_and_attitude_in_the_digital_age__analysis_of_ gender_and_academic_program_differences_in_malaysia/links/55e6aefd08 aec74dbe74f078/reading-habits-and-attitude-in-the-digital-age-analysis-ofgender-and-academic-program-differences-in-malaysia.pdf shen, l. (2006). computer technology and college students’ reading habits. chia-nan annual bulletin, 32, 559-572. retrieved on may 20, 2016 from: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.526.1818&rep=re p1&type=pdf verma, jyoti, & malviya, v. (2014). the impact of internet and digital media on reading habit. xxiv national seminar of the iaslic, 50. retrieved on may 20, 2016 from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234264060_the_impact_of_inter net_and_digital_media_on_reading_habit llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no.1, april 2022, pp. 214-227 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 214 strategies to overcome foreign language speaking anxiety in indonesian efl learning contexts kristian florensio wijaya cita hati christian international school, indonesia correspondence: kristianwijaya500@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.4450 received 7 march 2022; accepted 28 march 2023 abstract during the taxing l2 communicative enterprises undergone by indonesian efl learners, language teachers are heavily instigated to erect a more critical standpoint in picking up the most appropriate speaking learning approaches, strategies, and activities working best for the entire learners. this document analysis study was run to profoundly investigate 20 previous foreign language-speaking anxiety literature concerning the contributing factors and probable strategies that can potentially alleviate this psychological phenomenon. two alleviating foreign language speaking anxiety strategies were proposed as follows: (1) the internalization of more innovative l2 speaking learning activities and (2) the existence of more enjoyable l2 speaking learning circumstances. at the end of the subsection, the researcher expectantly hoped prospective indonesian efl speaking learning experts, practitioners, policy-makers, and educationalists to promote a more positive speaking classroom atmosphere, constant speaking learning guidance, and various contextual speaking learning materials to progressively minimize learners’ foreign language speaking anxiety as well as foster their l2 communicative competencies into a greater level. keywords: document analysis, foreign language speaking anxiety, indonesian efl learning contexts introduction it is doubtless to say that humankind civilization will not thrive prolifically in terms of technology, health, and education without the presence of laudable communicative skills, particularly in this global age. through varied communicative enterprises, human beings are capable of conveying their intended messages verbally to other interlocutors. this core communicative aspect is closely interlinked with the theory of speaking propounded by subekti (2018) averring that in the light of robust communicative competencies, people are capable of addressing specific ideas, perspectives, and opinions clearly to others enabling them to hone their cognitive, affective, and social skills concurrently. in efl learning enterprises nowadays, speaking is one of the indispensable skills that should be fully mastered by second language learners. learners’ speaking aptitude can determine their future engagement with the working world. mailto:kristianwijaya500@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.4450 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 214-227 215 in other words, proficient efl speakers will have wider opportunities to succeed in the working realms due to their fully-gained trustworthiness toward their saying. suparlan (2021) avows that the particular efl learners’ keenness on communicative competencies can potentially determine the extent to which they strive and thrive as prospective professional workers. in sharp contrast, an unfavourable speaking learning journey can greatly diminish efl learners’ motivation, confidence, and commitment to becoming more proficient target language communicators. this debilitating learning situation takes place since the learners possess a higher level of foreign language speaking anxiety. mulyono (2019) frankly confess that uncontrolled foreign language speaking anxiety can exceptionally influence efl learners’ existing speaking performances, achievements, and motivation impactful for their continual communicative growth. learners ingraining a higher degree of foreign language speaking anxiety are more liable to communicate less owing to the excessive perturbation, negative emotions, and incapability in amplifying their self-confidence. all these above-mentioned probable factors are tightly interwoven with the theory of foreign language speaking anxiety proposed by durdukoca and atalay (2019) strongly suggests efl learners progressively mitigate their foreign language speaking anxiety by inculcating more robust self-confidence, resilience, and positive emotions in order to transfigure into more competent l2 communicators. furthermore, there are three potential aspects that are responsible for the significant elevation of efl learners’ foreign language speaking anxiety namely cognitive, affective, and performance factors. in the first factor, efl learners can probably infuse an excessive growth of foreign language speaking anxiety when they are not familiar with the topics addressed by their teachers. when learners are not able to master the specifically-given topics, they are more prone to lose their speaking learning interest leading to unsatisfactory speaking performances. this obstacle is mutually interlocked with the theory of kasbi and shirvan (2017) asserting that the selection of an unfamiliar topic can greatly affect efl learners’ speaking performance since they are not able to utter a wide variety of enlightening ideas in line with those topics leading to low speaking performances. hence, language teachers are strongly recommended to address speaking topics that are suitable for learners’ particular speaking proficiency in order to constantly maintain their motivation, self-confidence, and commitment to showcasing gratifying speaking performances. mouhoubi-messadh (2017) argues that when efl learners have familiarized themselves with the specific topics imparted by their teachers in terms of speaking mastery levels, they will be more committed to productively producing various ideas in their talks boosting their speaking performances. the second factor deals mostly with affective aspects in which efl learners’ speaking motivation should be invigorated with the actual presence of more enjoyable, better-facilitated speaking learning environments, and a positively-sound speaking learning atmosphere. based on these aforesaid requirements, language teachers are highly recommended to allow learners to autonomously select a vast range of topics arousing particular interests in order to magnify their speaking learning motivation to the utmost levels. this action is in conjunction with mukminin et al., (2015) declaring that the continual presence of pleasurable speaking learning circumstances is crucially pivotal for language teachers intending to elevate their learners’ l2 communicative competencies since llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 214-227 216 they are more empowered to disseminate their thoughts at a higher level of confidence. it is also worth saying here that more intimate and positive rapports can potentially guarantee the gratifying speaking performances displayed by efl learners. the majority of worldwide efl learners are not brave enough to utter their ideas toward their learning companions and teachers due to the inducement of constant negative perceptions in which they are extremely afraid of being judged, humiliated, or derided by other learning community members. therefore, gradual positive speaking learning environments, as well as immediate moral support, are deemed crucial owing to the fact that these learners will be able to confidently express their verbal words in the presence of others. all these above-explained means are in line with muslem et al., (2019) belief that continuous positive responses, appraisals, and atmosphere need to be nurtured in l2 speaking learning vicinities in order to maximize learners’ communicative target language learning competencies, confidence, and motivation into the utmost levels. moving forward to the performance factor, globalized language teachers are strongly prompted to be more conscientious in selecting speaking learning that directly impacts their learners’ speaking performances. given such a perspective, language teachers should avoid applying public speaking enterprises at the onset of l2 communicative learning activities endured by developing efl learners. since public speaking activities can bring about a higher level of foreign language speaking anxiety to these developing efl learners, language teachers have to better address this learning activity toward proficient l2 speakers. this action needs to be undertaken due to the higher degree of maturity and proficiency having been possessed by advanced efl learners. anandari (2015) highly advises modern language teachers to incorporate varied speaking learning activities that are harmoniously appropriate with their learners’ speaking proficiency, needs, and interests to consolidate a higher level of speaking motivation along with confidence residing within them. pertaining to those aforementioned conceptions, language teachers are simultaneously propelled to design more collaborative speaking learning enterprises for those beginner l2 speakers in order to efficiently augment their willingness to communicate by using the target language with their trusted learning counterparts. while they are integrated with other learning companions sharing identical speaking learning competencies, needs, and interests, these developing l2 speakers will opt to develop their communicative target language competencies into the utmost potential since they can sustainably provide ample technical as well as moral support toward their progressive speaking development. all these contentions seem identical with zhang and rahimi (2014) repudiating that a more solid collaborative efl speaking learning networking can potentially impede an excessive foreign language speaking anxiety infused by learners where they can confidently, proactively, and responsibly share their particular thoughts with other reliable learning communities members with the actual existence of pleasurable speaking learning environments. there were five relevant studies having been conducted in concord with the above-delineated study theme. the first study was run by eddraoui and wirza 2020) discovering that a considerable number of indonesian university efl learners had more tendencies to avoid l2 speaking learning situations compared to moroccan university efl learners due to the constant restlessness in making unintended llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 214-227 217 mistakes. in another study, erdiana et al., (2020) strongly prompted globalized language teachers to promote a friendlier speaking learning atmosphere for diverse university efl learners in order to help them become more strategic, competent, and life-long target language communicators. thirdly, hutabarat and simanjuntak (2019) highly recommended language teachers infuse more robust positive speaking learning behaviours within learners to gradually mitigate their excessive foreign language speaking anxiety. gumartifa and syahri (2021) revealed that a substantial number of indonesian university efl learners having been exposed to more facilitative speaking learning circumstances tended to replace their foreign language speaking anxiety with a constant willingness to communicate by using the target language. in the last study, ningsih et al., (2018) uncovered that an overwhelming majority of indonesian university efl learners who have infused a higher level of speaking confidence, aptitude, and endeavour are those who are fully supported by the authentic integration of hands-on l2 speaking learning materials. although the research results of these prior studies appear to provide parallel evidence with the above-mentioned study theme, none of the previous related studies has examined the prompting factors of foreign language speaking anxiety in indonesian efl learning contexts by utilizing a document analysis approach. hence, this present small-scale qualitative study attempted to fill this methodological gap by reviewing prior 20 scientific articles harmonious with the major theme. by doing so, all potential research findings can pave more enlightening ways for language teachers to internalize effective learning strategies progressively alleviate excessive foreign language speaking anxiety experienced by indonesian efl learners. to that end, one particular research problem guided the current trajectory of this study namely: (1) what are the specific strategies that can overcome foreign language speaking anxiety in indonesian efl learning contexts? efficient l2 speaking learning activities to improve efl learners’ l2 communicative competencies to the utmost potential, language teachers are commissioned to constantly train them on producing more well-structured talks, utilizing a vast array of appropriate verbal expressions, and fluently uttering their thoughts in a more comprehensible manner. burns (2019) asserts there are three paramount aspects of transfiguring efl learners into more proficient l2 target language speakers namely fluency, accuracy, and comprehensibility of their speech productions. for this reason, language teachers need to integrate various hands-on l2 speaking learning activities in the presence of heterogeneous learners. the first activity they can incorporate is storytelling. with the support of storytelling activities, efl learners can foster their self-confidence, motivation, and resilience to intensively express their thoughts by using the target language. this positive advantageous value occurred since learners are required to creatively and engagingly deliver a wide variety of english stories by paying more profound attention to speaking accuracy, fluency, tone, intonation, body movements, and facial expressions. this suggestive advice seems in accordance with sadighi and dastpak (2017) proposing that one of the effective speaking learning dynamics that can potentially enhance efl learners’ speaking proficiency, confidence, and motivation is through storytelling where they are welltrained to innovatively integrate a vast array of indispensable verbal along with nonllt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 214-227 218 verbal communicative skills in their performances like fluency, accuracy, tone, intonation, body movements, and facial expressions. another applicable l2 speaking activity that can be fully incorporated to enhance efl learners’ speaking skills is drama. since the central concern of drama is to entertain the targeted audience by accurately displaying appropriate acting and language expressions manifested in vivid stories, efl learners significantly improve their l2 communicative competencies due to the continual exposure to productive speech productions observed by a large number of audiences. chou (2018) unearthed that a substantial number of efl learners have progressively transformed into more confident, mature, competent, and decent target language communicators after being exposed to drama activities where they thoroughly foster all indispensable l2 verbal and non-verbal communicative aspects in the light of favourable interchanging dialogue practices with other players. factors causing excessive l2 foreign language speaking anxiety there are a vast array of factors causing the inducement of excessive l2 foreign language speaking anxiety as proposed by yahya (2013) namely not being well-prepared for targeted speaking learning activities, undergoing a higher level of restlessness toward language teachers’ speaking evaluations, and negative perspectives toward speaking enterprises. all these factors are also invigorated by other affective factors experienced by efl learners like feeling afraid of speaking in front of a large audience, judging themselves for not being competent enough to share their thoughts in the presence of other learning community members, and constantly experiencing repeated failures in their past speaking learning enterprises. these debilitating l2 speaking apprehensions are markedly supported by tien (2018) forthrightly avowing that efl learners will have narrower opportunities to transfigure into more competent, confident, and mature l2 speakers when they are still inhabiting constant negative feelings together with emotions toward the related speaking activities. the stagnant development of l2 communicative competencies is also responsible for the continuous nurturance of excessive foreign language speaking anxiety. psychologically speaking, efl learners possessing a higher level of foreign language speaking anxiety are more tend to elude themselves from various learning situations demanding them to utter their thoughts verbally resulting in underdeveloped l2 communicative competencies, unsatisfactory speaking performances, and sparse speaking learning engagement. in a similar vein, damayanti and listyani (2020) unearthed that most indonesian university efl learners underwent constant discomfort when it comes to apparent speaking learning activities since they felt unsure of their existing l2 communicative capabilities directing them to become helpless, demotivated, and passive target language speakers. ultimately, it is also principle to comprehend that a formal l2 speaking test can make learners dwell in an excessive level of foreign language speaking anxiety. admittedly, efl learners cognizant of the upcoming speaking test are more inclined to experience uncontrollable speaking apprehension since they are extremely afraid of being evaluated, criticized, and judged by their language teachers impacting their final scores in their speaking classroom contexts. this negative speaking learning outcome had gone more taxing when efl learners llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 214-227 219 merely deem this designated speaking test as one of the major sources of stress rather than precious opportunities to foster their l2 communicative competencies into the utmost potential. dealing with such issues, these highly-anxious efl learners will prematurely depart from their ongoing speaking learning activities for there is no robust reference point after accomplishing particular speaking enterprises. all these contentions are harmoniously aligned with öztürk and öztürk (2021) strongly prompted globalized language teachers to arrange their specificallygiven l2 speaking tests by conscientiously pondering on the communicative circumstantial suitability undergone by their learners in order to help them begin to obviously discern the interconnectedness of those particular speaking tests with the further advancement of their prospective l2 communicative competencies growth. method this current small-scale qualitative study was conducted with the support of a document analysis approach to unearth specific renewable insights from the presented literature. 20 prior foreign language speaking anxiety studies had been run to highly motivate indonesian efl teachers to promote more positively-sound speaking learning environments to progressively negate excessive foreign language speaking anxiety possessed by learners. speaking specifically, there were 2 major underlying principles of selecting those previous 20 foreign language speaking anxiety investigations in indonesian efl speaking learning contexts. firstly, there was still a dearth of profound awareness inculcated by our efl teachers regarding the importance of identifying specific factors provoking foreign language speaking anxiety. secondly, indonesian efl teachers were still grappling to discover a wide array of effective solutions that can progressively alleviate excessive foreign language speaking anxiety. by conducting this present small-scale qualitative library study, some practical findings can potentially pave renewable grounds for indonesian efl experts, practitioners, policy-makers, and educationalists concerning the potential factors inducing the development of foreign language speaking anxiety to devise more efficient, favourable, and meaningful speaking learning enterprises in a longterm trajectory. for the data analysis processes, each most-appeared prior finding generated by prior 20 foreign languages speaking anxiety literature was subcategorized into particular themes and substantiated by relevant argumentations to produce more robust research findings. primarily, there were 2 main specific themes yielded from an exhaustive data analysis namely: (1) the internalization of more innovative l2 speaking learning activities and (2) the existence of more enjoyable l2 speaking learning circumstances. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 214-227 220 findings and discussion after exhaustively analysing all 20 selected foreign language-speaking anxiety literature, some specific categorizations had been stipulated. these definite clusters were materialized in harmony with the proposed study theme above. these 2 specific themes were: (1) the internalization of more innovative l2 speaking learning activities and (2) the existence of more enjoyable l2 speaking learning circumstances. table 1. the internalization of more innovative l2 speaking learning activities theme 1 authors the internalization of more innovative l2 speaking learning activities abrar (2018); anandari (2015); hanifa (2018); manipuspika (2018); mukminin et al., (2015); said and weda (2018); subekti (2018); sutarsyah (2017); tridinanti (2018); yaniafari and rihardini (2021). one of the effective probable solutions language teachers can incorporate to degrade learners’ foreign language speaking anxiety gradually is through the invention of more innovative l2 speaking learning activities. this term refers to the contextual, worth-applying, and variegated beneficial speaking learning dynamics integrated within diverse-wide ranging classroom contexts. based on the abovementioned studies, language teachers are highly motivated to internalize selfreflection activities during the post-speaking activity. through this in-depth reflection, efl learners will be more capable of devising a vast range of appropriate speaking strategies in their upcoming learning enterprises. as a result, they will potentially transfigure into more confident target language speakers and expeditious problem-solvers. these contentions are paralleled with the finding of anandari (2015) highly recommended language teachers to better minimize three faucets of foreign language speaking anxiety discovered within indonesian university efl learners namely fear, shyness, and discomfort, language teachers are advocated to implement a self-reflection approach to enable learners to profoundly identify their particular speaking strengths along with weaknesses, become more effective problem-solvers, and transform into more confident l2 speakers. another underlying principle accentuating the conception of innovative l2 speaking learning activities is the mutual collaborative networking established among learning community members. in this context, learning community members denote language teachers and learners. this proactive action needs to be undertaken by them to progressively diminish a higher level of foreign language speaking anxiety. speaking specifically, constant foreign language speaking anxiety experienced by efl learners is heavily influenced by cognitive, affective, and performance factors. hence, language teachers are expectantly hoped to minimize this indelible psychological phenomenon to a moderate level by working more collaboratively with learners concerning the possible effective speaking strategies, activities, and approaches worthwhile to be applied in the prospective l2 communicative learning venture. this conception is tightly interwoven with hanifa (2018) averring that it is crucially important for language teachers to thoroughly gain more exhaustive insights into three potential main domains causing indonesian university efl learners' foreign language speaking anxiety namely cognitive, affective, and performance factors. by pondering more conscientiously on these llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 214-227 221 three aforementioned matters, language teachers will be able to work hand-in-hand with their learners in devising varied effective learning solutions to reduce an existing foreign language speaking anxiety. as expounded before, efl learners, particularly indonesian oftentimes infuse a low level of confidence, motivation, persistence, and desire to utilize the target language in both formal and informal communicative events. these debilitating speaking learning outcomes can be attributed to adverse speaking learning surroundings, obsolete speaking learning materials, and teacher-centred speaking learning approaches that resided in their daily-based l2 communicative practices. with this in mind, language teachers should ingrain a more robust willingness to integrate more supportive speaking learning enterprises in the presence of diversewide ranging learners. after imparting more positive speaking learning dynamics, they are also commissioned to create more student-centred speaking learning activities where all learners can escalate their targeted l2 communicative competencies to the utmost potential. these above-explicated arguments are manifested in the study of mukminin et al., (2015) believing that to successfully ingrain more potent confident, motivated, persistent, and highly desirous speaking learning characters within indonesian efl learners, language experts, practitioners, policy-makers, and teachers are strongly advised to internalize more facilitative speaking learning climates for multivariate learners wherein they can transfigure into more proficient l2 communicators. worthy of note is that more studentcentred speaking learning activities should also be accentuated by language teachers to elevate their l2 communicative competencies into more advanced development. a further paramount ingredient that can potentially promote more innovative l2 communicative enterprises is the tangible presence of facilitative speaking learning instructors. becoming more supportive speaking learning facilitators does not merely deal with the comprehensive mastery of discipline-specific practices but also the extent of suitable speaking strategies, approaches, and activities. as transformative speaking learning instructors can engender all these renewed speaking learning processes, learners will have a higher degree of probability of obtaining more gratifying speaking learning achievements in the future. this aforementioned conception is in agreement with said and weda (2018) arguing that since there is a mutual interplay between indonesian university efl learners’ foreign language speaking anxiety with speaking learning achievements, language teachers should rejuvenate their current roles as supportive speaking learning facilitators capable of devising variegated strategies, approaches, and activities that can potentially guide learners to attain more fruitful speaking learning achievements. the contrast diversification among proficient and developing l2 speakers predominantly underlies their particular foreign language speaking anxiety level. it can also be phrased that highly-anxious l2 speakers are failed to exhibit laudable speaking performances due to the uncontrollable perturbation existing within them. in contrast, highly-confident l2 speakers successfully exceed all the expectations desired from them highly affected by the scant development of anxious feelings. based on this premise, language teachers need to incorporate more hands-on speaking learning practices where all learners can intensively mobilize their utmost speaking skill potentials and gradually alleviate the existing foreign language llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 214-227 222 speaking anxiety. by taking this action, learners can transform into more confident, competent, and independent l2 speakers. sutarsyah (2017) unveiled that it was proved that an overwhelming majority of indonesian university efl learners possessing a lower level of foreign language speaking anxiety tended to outperform other learning companions inculcating a higher level of foreign language speaking anxiety. hence, language teachers should be able to address more authentic speaking learning dynamics where learners have broader opportunities to significantly improve their speaking skills and gradually lessen their foreign language speaking anxiety. table 2. the existence of more enjoyable l2-speaking learning circumstances theme 2 authors the existence of more enjoyable l2 speaking learning circumstances damayanti and listiyani (2020); hermagustiana et al., (2021); irawan (2018); mahmud, (2018); mulyono (2019); rachmawati and jurianto (2020); subekti (2018); suparlan (2021); wahyuningsih and afandi (2020); weda and sakti (2018). the magnification of proficient l2 communicative competencies, willingness, and confidence also impinges on the presence of more favourable speaking learning vicinities. in indonesian efl speaking learning contexts, a predominant number of learners are afraid of negative judgments, possess a low quantity of vocabulary mastery, not preparing their speaking performances well, and underestimate their speaking skills. all these four aforesaid factors prompt highly-anxious efl learners to abandon their speaking learning journeys prematurely since they disregard these long-term processes to transform into more proficient l2 speakers. contrary to these potential negative side-effects, one of the meaningful speaking learning strategies worthwhile to be utilized by language teachers while immersing their learners into the actual l2 communicative rehearsals is through the existence of more enjoyable speaking learning environments. by realizing this kind of speaking learning circumstance, language learners will become more confident to hone their l2 communicative competencies sustainably. all these above-explained perspectives are also worth interpretative by damayanti and listiyani (2020) uncovered four major factors amplifying indonesian university efl learners' foreign language speaking anxiety namely fear of negative evaluations, lack of vocabulary knowledge, having limited speaking preparations, and undervaluing their speaking competencies. to overcome all these aforesaid issues, language teachers are highly recommended to bring about a more enjoyable, positive, and meaningful speaking learning atmosphere where all learners are confident enough to speak. the mounting pressure of carrying out such an impressive speaking performance becomes more taxing when it touches upon learners' unwillingness to articulate their specific thoughts in the light of the target language. while comforting this detrimental speaking learning behaviour, language teachers are strongly discouraged from forcefully urging their learners to speak by using l2. instead, they have to revolutionalize their current speaking learning environments into more supportive ones to relieve learners' stress resulting in the striking enhancement of speaking competencies. this suggestive advice is in harmony with the finding of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 214-227 223 irawan (2018) propounding that since a higher level of foreign language speaking anxiety can constantly prevent indonesian efl learners from uttering their thoughts verbally and confidently to other interlocutors, it is worth suggesting for language teachers to design more stress-free speaking learning practices and promote more supportive speaking learning vicinities for learners in which their speaking abilities can thrive more prolifically. for a long trajectory, more pleasurable l2-speaking learning environments are also lucrative in invigorating learners’ willingness to utter their thoughts, ideas, and opinions by utilizing the target language more productively. this positive speaking learning outcome took place since learners are freely allowed to forge their l2 communicative competencies with trusted learning companions. armed with this collaborative speaking learning enterprise, they have not merely transfigured into more competent speakers but also open-minded academicians highly desirous of disseminating a wide array of information to other learning counterparts. this enjoyable speaking learning characteristic is decisively corroborated by the finding of mahmud (2018) asserting that to maximize indonesian university efl learners' speaking performances to the utmost potential, language teachers are highly encouraged to bring about more pleasurable speaking learning circumstances and invoke more collaborative speaking learning enterprises amplifying learners’ l2 communicative together with social competencies simultaneously. furthermore, it is also reasonable to be assumed here that the availability of enjoyable l2-speaking learning enterprises is of crucial importance in infusing a higher degree of long-lasting awareness within learners to develop their communicative proficiency into greater potential. this commendable speaking learning behaviour occurred since learners have been fully supported cognitively, affectively, and performatively by speaking learning facilitators to show their best versions of speaking performance. again, the eventual speaking learning enjoyment has a tight-knit relationship with supportive roles expended by speaking learning instructors. without having this basic premise in mind, l2-speaking learning enterprises will potentially turn into daunting, frustrating, and dispiriting productive language exposure that is unforgettable for multivariate efl learners. this ideation is relevant with subekti (2018) articulating that it has been an underlying premise that language teachers need to cast a higher degree of attentiveness and supportiveness toward the gradual speaking learning progress undergone by highly-anxious indonesian university efl learners. by embodying this action, these struggling learners will be more capable of exerting more substantial dominance over their foreign language speaking anxiety progressively transfiguring them into more lifelong l2 speakers constantly desirous of elevating their speaking skills. taking into consideration the essential role of pleasurable l2-speaking learning surroundings, it is worth recommending for language teachers in this global age to internalize more variegated, technological-based, and engaging l2 communicative learning exposure for diverse learners. all these triadic components can work as one of the major driving forces functioning to enrich learners’ l2 speaking learning experiences. these increasingly-expanded l2 communicative competencies will simultaneously become more robust when language teachers promote positively sound speaking classroom learning climates in which overarching learners are desirously willing to solidify the targeted speaking skills llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 214-227 224 autonomously without depending extensively on their continual teachers’ guidance. this last piece of more enjoyable l2 speaking learning circumstances inducement is evinced by wahyuningsih and affandi (2020) postulating that it is worth advocating for modern language teachers to devise more sophisticated, technological-oriented, and captivating speaking learning activities amid varied speaking learning impediments confronted by their learners to cultivate richer l2 speaking experiences. equally important, language teachers can also internalize anxiety-free speaking classroom surroundings where all learners can comprehensively sharpen their l2 communicative competencies both inside and outside of the formal learning contexts. conclusion bearing all these findings, explications, and conceptions in mind, the educational stakeholders holistically comprehending the factors prompting excessive foreign language speaking anxiety are language teachers. on account of this educational accountability, language teachers are highly encouraged to incorporate a wide variety of ground-breaking in their diverse-wide ranging l2 communicative classroom contexts. conducive-friendly speaking classroom vicinities, intensive speaking learning supports, and meaningful speaking learning materials are worth pondering before commencing the specific l2 speaking learning situations to progressively mitigate a higher level of foreign language speaking anxiety infused by learners and address more fruitful speaking learning outcomes in terms of performance together with academic achievements to be obtained by them as priceless communicative exposure rewards. important, two major specific deficiencies have to be spotted in this current small-scale qualitative study. since the obtained findings were solely derived from a small number of research samplings, more cautious interpretations are equally needed in other l2 speaking learning cases conducted in this archipelago to fully avoid the research results in generalizability that may not be applicable in particular productive language learning vicinities. further, the enrichment of research instruments is crucially pivotal for prospective researchers desirous of replicating this existing study. future researchers are openly welcome to run a more profound investigation of personalized learning strategies worth applying by indonesian efl learners in reducing their foreign language speaking anxiety. by turning more in-depth attention to this research scope, language teachers will be assisted to design more captivating, enjoyable, and contextual l2 speaking learning enterprises gradually resulting in a more exponential elevation of the targeted learners’ target language communicative competencies. notwithstanding the above-delineated shortcomings, the obtained research results unfolded in this present study had shed a little enlightenment for indonesian efl speaking learning experts, practitioners, policy-makers, and educators on devising more planful, meaningful, and fruitful speaking learning activities by adeptly taking a critical stance toward the specific l2 communicative processes in 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(2014). efl learners’ anxiety level and their beliefs about corrective feedback in oral communication classes. system, 42(1), 429–439. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2014.01.012 https://doi.org/10.21093/di.v18i1.880 https://doi.org/10.33394/jollt.v9i2.3321 http://dx.doi.org/10.21093/ijeltal.v1i2.14 http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejel.v0i0.2041 https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijels.v.6n.4p.35 https://doi.org/10.12973/eu-jer.9.3.967 https://doi,org/10.1088/1742-6596/1028/1/012100 https://doi.org/10.30762/jeels.v8i1.3058 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2014.01.012 llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 language and language teaching journal http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 1 learner motivation in esl learning strategies and gender role satrio sugeng prihantoro, rahma widyana and ezra putranda setiawan sekolah budi utama, yogyakarta, indonesia satrio_prihantoro@yahoo.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.210101 received 21 november 2017; revised 16 january 2018; accepted 23 febuary 2018 abstract language learning strategy is one of the main factors that help determine how well our students learn a second or foreign language (oxford, 2003). research has shown that more effective language learners use more and better learning strategies than poorer language learners (rubin, 1975; stern, 1975). this research investigates the difference in esl learning strategies used by students with different levels of esl learner motivation and how gender plays a role in both. strategy inventory of language learning (sill; oxford, 1990) and english language learner motivation scale (ellms; ardasheva, tong and tretter, 2012) were used and adopted to measure english language learning strategies and english language learner motivation, by employing 65 male students and 75 female students from budi utama junior high school as participants. the data analyzed showed that there was significant difference in esl learning strategies used by the students with different levels of esl learner motivation but there is no significant role of gender in esl learner motivation and esl learning strategies. keywords: esl, gender, learner motivation, learning strategy introduction according to the survey of ef english proficiency index (2016) in english language ability, indonesia is ranked 32 out of 72 countries. this survey also shows that there is a positive correlation between the level of english ability and the level of economic income, quality of life, business environment dynamics, connectivity and innovation. research related to english as a second language (esl) is a field that will continue to be studied because of the importance of english in the aspects of global life. many studies have shown that successful language learners use more learning strategies than those who are unsuccessful (rubin, 1975; stern, 1975). the language learning strategy is one of the main factors determining the success of language learning and plays an important role in the learning process (oxford, 2003). learning strategy is a way of regulating cognitive ability to obtain good grades or academic achievement (salovaara, 2005). in conclusion we can state that learning strategies are needed in the learning process, not least in the esl learning process, known as the language learning strategy. griffiths and carrol (2003) point out that early in its development, research on language learning strategy aimed to identify or classify the types of language mailto:satrio_prihantoro@yahoo.com llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 2 learning strategies or focused on the relationship between their use and achievement in or mastery (level) of english (green & oxford, 1995). subsequent studies have concentrated on factors influencing the use of language learning strategies, such as motivation, both intrinsic and extrinsic (chang, 2005), (khazaie., z. m & mesbah. z, 2014), language learning targets, career orientation, age, gender and anxiety ( ehrman & oxford, 1990), (randic & bobanovic, 2006). an important factor that is highlighted in the use of learning strategies is the motivation of learners. oxford (2003) suggests that according to some studies, the use of learning strategies is significantly linked to motivation. according to chang (2005), motivation is one of the factors that has a relationship with the use of language learning strategies. motivation is a force that can encourage someone to do something, it can come from outside or from within the individual. this study will explore the strategies and motivation of the learners, specifically esl learning strategies and esl learner motivation. based on previous studies, the researchers hypothesized that there is a significant difference in the use of esl learning strategies at a low, medium and high esl motivation level. besides esl learner motivation, another factor to be studied in this research is gender. the term gender is distinguished from sex. sex refers to the biological dimensions of a man and woman, whereas gender refers to a sociocultural dimension of a man and woman (santrock, 2002). numerous studies have looked into gender as a factor affecting language learning strategies in different cultural backgrounds. some have found that learning strategies are used more frequently by women than men (oxford, 2003; zeynali, 2012). however, there are also studies that show the opposite, such as zamri's study (as cited in zeynali, 2012), which shows that men are more likely to use learning strategies than women, or even the results of chang and chou's study (as cited in zeynali, 2012), which shows no significant difference in the use of language learning strategies based on gender. the hypothesis in this study and the inconsistency of previous research results relating to gender roles in the use of esl learning strategies raises the question: does gender have a significant role in esl learning strategies and esl learner motivation? if esl learner motivation has an influence on the use of esl learning strategies and gender has no strong significant role in esl learning strategies, it can be assumed logically that gender also has no significant role in esl learner motivation. similarly, if esl learner motivation has an influence on the use of esl learning strategies and gender has a significant role in esl learning strategies; it can be assumed logically that gender has a significant role in esl learner motivation. esl learning strategies oxford (1990) defines a language learning strategy as an action performed by the learner to assist in the acquisition, storage, retrieval and use of information; the act is specific and aims to make the process of learning languages easier, more effective, fun and self-directed. more specifically, oxford (1990) classifies language learning strategies into two types, namely direct strategies and indirect strategies. oxford explains that the direct strategy involves the use of languages studied directly to facilitate the learning process. direct strategies consist of llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 3 memory strategies, cognitive strategies, and compensation strategies. indirect strategies consist of metacognitive strategies, affective strategies, and social strategies. indirect strategies provide indirect support in language learning in many ways: focusing attention, planning, evaluating, controlling anxiety, seeking opportunities, enhancing cooperation and empathy. although the classification of oxford language learning strategies seems to be divided into two types, direct and indirect, both types along with the six categories of learning strategies are interrelated and supportive of one another. oxford (1990) likened the direct and indirect linkage of strategies to an actor performing onstage with a backstage director. both are mutually cooperative and inseparable. it is this connection that explains why previous theories have confirmed that successful language learners use more and varied strategies than unsuccessful language learners (rubin, 1975; stern, 1975). an explanation of the relevance of the six learning strategies can be seen in figure 1. figure 1. interrelationships between direct and indirect strategies among six strategies group source: oxford, 1990, p. 15 language learners can combine all of these strategies, so the process of learning the language becomes easy, enjoyable and varied. language learning strategies used will have an affect on the learning outcomes of related languages (chamot, 2004). the more language learning strategies chosen and flexibly used contextually by language learners, the more it will assist in the success of language acquisition (oxford, 1990; chamot, 2004). esl learner motivation in a general sense, esl learner motivation can be defined as the dynamically changing cumulative arousal in a person that initiates, directs, coordinates, amplifies, terminates, and evaluates the cognitive and motor processes whereby initial wishes and desires are selected, prioritized, llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 4 operationalised and (successfully or unsuccessfully) acted out (dörnyei & ushioda, 2011). still according to dörnyei and ushida (2011), language learner motivation represents a unique situation even in motivational psychology; language has a very unique role both personally and socially. language, as an integral part of ones existence, covers almost all mental activity. language is the most important element in our communication system and is also a tool of social organization. in the context of a foreign language as well as a second language, language has an additional function: it allows entry into the social, cultural and material arrangements of the native speakers of that language. an important factor in the use of learning strategies is the motivation of learners. oxford (2003) quotes from several studies show that the use of learning strategies is significantly linked to motivation. dörnyei, z. & csizér, k (1998) have convincingly shown that motivation in the esl context is a powerful variable. chang (2005) explains that motivational variables have a great influence on the use of language learning strategies. highly motivated learners use more learning strategies than lower motivated learners. the existence of motivation in a student will allow the student to overcome all obstacles encountered in the learning process; the primary way to do this is to use learning strategies. research on the motivation of language learners is still based on the grand theory of motivation, namely self-determination theory (sdt) from deci and ryan (1985). the development of self-determination theory in learning, especially second language acquisition (sla), was advanced by noel (as cited in ardasheva, 2012). noel divides sdt into seven aspects: 'amotivation,' three types of intrinsic motivation, and three types of extrinsic motivation. the three types of intrinsic motivation are: a) intrinsic motivation arising from stimulation, for example when a person wants to learn a language because of its aesthetic beauty when he/she hear it; b) intrinsic motivation arising from attainment, i.e. a person experiences positive feelings when he/she succeeds in understanding something difficult in the context of the new language; and c) intrinsic motivation arising from a desire to acquire new knowledge. for extrinsic motivation, noel's three types are: a) extrinsic motivation because of values, such as a personal goal to become fluent in more than one language; b) extrinsic motivation arising from internalized internal pressure ('inteorjection setting'), such as the feeling of wanting to avoid guilt or the desire to impress others; and c) 'external settings' or behaviors driven by external factors, such as punishment, reward or praise. the last aspect of sdt is 'amotivation,' which is the opposite of intrinsic and extrinsic factors in motivational orientation. amotivation refers to situations where one sees no relationship between his/her actions and their consequences. consequence is seen as something beyond one's control, so that there is no motivation to continue with an activity like learning a foreign language (deci & ryan, 1985). this study specifically uses english learner motivation variables, based on seven aspects of noel, but summarized and simplified by ardasheva, tong and tretter (2012) into three factors, namely: external regulation, introjected regulation and intrinsic motivation. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 5 gender the term gender is distinguished from sex, in which sex refers to the biological dimensions of a man and woman, whereas gender refers to the sociocultural dimensions of a man and woman (santrock, 2002). in many studies related to language learning strategies by learners from different cultural backgrounds, it was found that learning strategies were used more frequently by women than men (oxford, 2003; zeynali, 2012). from the description of language learning strategy variables and language learner motivation, gender becomes one of the variables attached to the profile of a language learner. thus, although many previous studies have examined the variables of language learning strategies and the motivation of language learners in terms of their gender, the fact remains that there are differences in the results of existing research regarding its relevance. some have found differences in the use of esl learning strategies and motivation of esl learners (oxford, 2003; zeynali, 2012), but others have not (zamri, 2004; chang, 1990; chou, 2002 as cited in zeynali, 2012). from theories and results in previous studies regarding the use of esl learning strategies and esl learner motivation, this research constructs the hypothesis that there is a significant difference in the use of esl learning strategies at low, medium and high esl learner motivation levels. as for the inconsistency of gender roles with esl learning strategies from previous studies, this study will answer the question: does gender have a significant role in esl learning strategies and esl learner motivation? method the population in this research consists of students at smp budi utama during the 2016/2017 academic year. budi utama school is a member of the association of tri-lingual schools in indonesia (perstibi), in which english is used as a secondary means of instructional and communicative language. perstibi schools also utilize native english speakers as members of the faculty and the learners are encouraged to use english both inside and outside of the classroom environment. due to these factors, the subjects, consisting of 65 male and 75 female learners are adequately classed as esl as opposed to efl (english as a foreign language) learners. before performing validity and reliability tests on the measuring instrument used, the researchers conducted back-translation on all measuring tools both for english learning strategy and learner motivation. back-translation is a method of adapting and verifying a measuring instrument by first translating it into a second language and then back into its original language. after the translation was matched and its consistency confirmed, the researchers conducted validity and reliability tests on the measurement method. the inventory tool of the language learning strategies used in this study refers to the strategy inventory of language learning (sill version 7.0 for esl/efl learners; oxford, 1990). “the sill is a standardized measure with versions for students of a variety of languages. it has also been used in studies that correlate strategy use with variables such as learning styles, gender, proficiency llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 6 level, and culture” (chamot, 2004, p. 16). nevertheless, the researchers tested the validity and reliability of the sill again. after omitting 9 items from the original 50, we obtained the value of item validity coefficient range from 0.212 0.716. from the alpha cronbach reliability test, the scale of language learning strategy has a reliability coefficient value of 0.981. the data collected with sill shows both the level of use of the esl learning strategy on the overall total of six learning strategies as well as the use of esl learning strategies in each of its strategies. level of use of esl learning strategy is divided into 3 levels; high (score range: 3.5-5.0), medium (score range: 2.5-3.4), and low (score range: 1.02.4). the scale used to measure the motivation of learners in this study is the adaptation of english language learner motivation scale (ellms) owned by ardasheva, tong & tretter, (2012) which is an adaptation and simplification of the language learning orientations scale-intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation subscales (llos-iea) developed by noels, ka, pelletier, lg, clément, r., & vallerand, rj. ellms is used to measure esl learner motivation at an elementary and junior high school level. ellms includes a series of sdts, such as; intrinsic motivation (6 points of statement), introjection regulation (2 points of statement) and extrinsic regulation (4 points of statement). due to the fact there are only two questions dedicated to determining introjection, the compilers of ellms recommended (via correspondence) that the researchers add two additional items to the introjection regulation section using the questions in llos-iea.. this scale is chosen because ellms is designed for elementary and junior high school students. after the validity test, esl learner motivation scale has a value of item validity coefficient range of 0.299 0.585. due to all 14 items being stated as valid the researchers chose to include all items. from the reliability test conducted, language learner motivation scale has a reliability coefficient of 0.832 (reliable). categorization of the esl motivation learner levels was based on mean and standard deviation. categorization of scores was ordered into three levels: low (x <32.7), medium (32.7 ≤ 51.3) and high (51.3 ≤ x). the data for the hypothesis that there is a difference in the use of esl learning strategies in terms of esl learner motivation was analyzed using annova for normal distributed learning strategies, and kruskal-wallis non-parametric tests for non-normal distributed esl learning strategies. then the question of whether gender has a significant role in esl learning strategies and esl learner motivation was answered by analyzing the data using chi-square and t-test. findings and discussion differences in the use of esl learning strategies in terms of esl learner motivation the result of data analysis shows that there are different uses of esl learning strategy employed by esl learners with low, medium and high motivation level. the results of calculating the uses of esl learning strategies employed by students with low, medium and high motivation levels can be seen in table 1 below. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 7 table 1. esl learning strategies based on their esl learner motivation note: the numbers in the table are the mean ± standard deviation (std deviation) table 1 shows that memory, cognitive, metacognitive and social data are normally distributed. the test statistic shows the f value for the analysis of variance; when f> 3.06 then h¬0 is rejected at α = 5%. average comparisons were made with the least significant different method at α = 5%. whereas in the compensation and affective strategy the data is not normally distributed, the test statistic shows the value of χ2 for kruskal wallis non-parametric test; when χ2> 3.84 then h¬0 is rejected at α = 5%. average comparisons were made by the mann-whitney non-parametric test at α = 5%. the results show that there are indeed differences in the uses of esl learning strategies employed by students with low, medium and high esl learner motivation. furthermore, significant differences were found only in the low and medium vs. high groups, there was no significant difference in the esl strategies between low and medium esl learner motivation groups. this result confirms theories from previous studies that there are indeed significant differences in the use of learning strategies at low, medium and high esl learner motivation levels (dörnyei, z. & csizér, k, 1998; chang, 2005; oxford, 2003). gender roles on the use of esl learning strategies and esl learner motivation data was tested using chi-square to see the difference in frequency of the usage of esl learning strategies in men and women. the results indicate that the difference in the use of esl learning strategies only appears in the use of memory strategies, whereas in the 5 other learning strategies there is no significant difference. the results of the analysis can be seen in table 2 below. esl learning strategies * esl learner motivation statistic test low medium high score level score level score level total 92,2 ± 27,1a 108,4 ± 20,6a 135,3 ± 19,7b 34,509 aspect (standardized score) memory 1) 1,82 ± 0,67 a low 2,39 ± 0,56b low 2,97 ± 0,62 c medium 21,101 cognitive 1) 2,06 ± 0,86 a low 2,74 ± 0,57b medium 3,38 ± 0,69 c medium 22,367 compensation 2) 3,13 ± 1,17ac medium 3,13 ± 0,91a medium 3,77 ± 0,84 c high 15,113 metacognitive 1) 2,62 ± 1,23 a medium 2,94 ± 0,74a medium 3,78 ± 0,61 c high 26,719 affective 2) 1,72 ± 0,90 a low 2,16 ± 0,67a low 2,61 ± 0,73 c medium 14,810 social 1) 2,57 ± 0,89 a medium 2,52 ± 0,68a medium 3,23 ± 0,71 c medium 17,079 llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 8 table 2. gender differences in esl learning strategies table 2 shows that in both men and women, there is no significant difference in the use of cognitive, compensatory, metacognitive, affective and social strategies. this is shown by the absence of significant interaction (p> .05) in these five esl learning strategies. the only difference exists in the memory strategy where the significant value of chi-square test strategy memory was (0.32 <.05). this research shows that there is no difference in the usage of esl learning strategy between men and women. additionally, the difference in motivation level of esl learners in men and women was tested using an independent t-test. the difference in esl learner motivation rates in men and women can be seen in table 3. table 3. esl learner motivation based on their gender the motivation of esl learners in men and women was compared using the t-test under the assumption of normal distribution. assumption checks were performed using the kolmogorov-smirnov test. it obtained a sig. value of 0.094 and 0.200, which is greater than the 5% significance level, and indicates that the data represents a normal distribution, so that requirements are sufficiently met for a t-test to be performed. the independent t-test obtained sig value. of 0.244> 5%, therefore it can be concluded that there is no difference in the average esl learner motivation of male and female students. from the results of this study it can be seen that gender does not play any significant role in the use of esl learning strategy and motivation level of esl learning strategies gender total sig. chi-square testmale female memory low 33 23 56 .032 medium 22 41 63 high 10 11 21 cognitive low 16 10 26 .189 medium 33 40 73 high 16 25 41 compensation low 14 8 22 .208 medium 22 30 52 high 29 37 66 metacognitive low 9 11 20 .771 medium 29 29 58 high 27 35 62 affective low 43 43 86 .333 medium 16 27 43 high 6 5 11 social low 19 24 43 .922 medium 28 32 60 high 18 19 37 gender n score of motivation level of motivation average sd low medium high male 65 48,98 9,49 4 (6,2%) 31 (47,7%) 30 (46,2%) female 75 50,72 8,05 1 (1,3%) 37 (49,3%) 37 (49,3%) total 140 5 (3,6%) 68 (48,6%) 67 (47,9%) llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 9 learners. in other words, gender has no influence on the use of esl learning strategy and esl learning motivation level. this result confirms the results of previous research; however, the chi-square analysis performed in the research also indicates that women tend to use more esl memory learning strategies than men. additionally, although there is generally no significant difference, it is true that more women use esl learning strategies than men (a disparity of 1.8% according to the total scores). conclusion results of this study confirm the previous studies which state that there are significant differences in the use of esl learning strategies in esl learners with low, medium and high motivation levels. thus, the researchers suggest that esl educational institutions and learners explore more instruments that can be used to improve esl learner motivation, so that learners can optimally use esl learning strategies. the results of this study also found that gender does not play a role or influence esl learning strategies and esl learner motivation, so it is better for educators to avoid the stigma or prejudice that men tend to lack in motivation and use fewer learning strategies. in addition, esl learning settings should also focus more on creating environments that motivate students because this research indicates that only in a group of high esl learner motivation can we significantly see the difference in the use of esl learning strategies. the researchers also recommend that research should be conducted on subjects from more diverse ethnic and geographic backgrounds and with wider age ranges to determine whether the results will remain consistent. in indonesia, there are a number of schools that use english as a second language as opposed to treating it as a foreign language. therefore, in regards to esl, it is both possible and practical to expand this study. however, the researchers suggest that study on language strategy variables in the context of efl – as opposed to esl – is similarly needed within indonesia in its efforts to increase its ranking on the ef english proficiency index (2016), which is currently a dismal 32 out of 72 countries. references anonymous. (2016). ef english proficiency index: comparing english skills between countries. retrieved from ef website: http://ef.co.id/epi/ ardasheva, y., tong, s., & tretter, t. r. (2012). validating the english language learner motivation scale (ellms) to measure language learning motivational orientations among school-aged ells. learning and individual differences, 22(4), 473–483. chamot, a. u. (2004). issues in language learning strategy research and teaching. electronic journal of foreign language teaching, 1(1), 14-26. chang, h. h. (2005). the relationship between extrinsic/intrinsic motivation and language learning strategies among college students of english in taiwan (unpublished master’s thesis, ming chuan university, 2005). llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 10 deci, e. l., & ryan, r. m. (1985). intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. new york: plenum. dörnyei & ushioda. (2011). teaching and researching motivation. britain: pearson education limited. dörnyei, z. & csizér, k. (1998). ten commandments for motivating language learners: results of an empirical study. language teaching research, 2(3), 203-229. erhman, m. e. & oxford, r. (1990). adult language learning style and strategies in an intensive training setting. modern language journal, 74(3), 11-27. green, j. m. & oxford, r. (1995). a closer look at learning strategies, l2 proficiency, and gender. tesol quarterly, 29(2), 261-297. griffiths & carol. (2003). patterns of language strategy use. system, 31, 367-383. doi: 10.1016/s0346-251x(03)00048-4. khazaie., z. m. & mesbah. z. (2014). the relationship between extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation and strategic use of language of iranian intermediate efl learners. theory and practice in language studies, 4(1), 99-109. oxford, r. (1990). language learning strategy: what every teacher should know. new york: heinle and heinle publishers. oxford, r. (2003). proceedings of gala (generative approaches to language acquisition): language learning styles and strategies. retrieved from http://web.ntpu.edu.tw/∼language/workshop/read2.pdf randic, n. a. & bobanovic, m. k. (2006). language learning strategies in different english as a foreign language education levels. journal for general social issues, 9(22), 226-300. rubin, j (1975). what the ‘good language learner’ can teach us. tesol quarterly, 9, 41-51. salovaara, h. (2005). achievement goals and cognitive learning strategies in dynamic contexts of learning. (unpublished doctoral dissertation, university of oulu, 2005). santrock, j. w. (2002). perkembangan masa hidup. jakarta: erlangga. stern, h. h. (1975). what can we learn from the good language learner?. canadian modern language review, 34, 304-318. zeynali, s. (2012). exploring the gender effect on efl learners’ learning strategies. theory and practice in language studies, 2(8), 1614-20. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 175 the effectiveness of grammar tutoring program based on students’ feedback batch 2016 elesp maria vincentia eka mulatsih sanata dharma university mv_ika@usd.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.210206 received 18 january 2018 ; revised 23 march 2018; accepted 28 september 2018 abstract in some elesp speaking and writing classes, many students failed to meet a standard of good grammar & pronunciation. therefore, two kinds of tutoring program were held namely grammar tutorial and pronunciation tutorial to improve students’ skill. those programs have run for about six months, but some people questioned whether those programs were effective or not. as an effort in dealing with that phenomenon, this paper will discuss the effectiveness of grammar tutorial as one of the programs. the data were mainly taken from observation, interview, and questionnaire, and were presented qualitatively. in addition to that, this paper also shows some good practices that can be applied in the future tutoring programs. based on the result of the analysis, grammar tutorial was effective due to the fact that 84% of the students agreed that this program helped them to improve their skill and to understand more about the grammar materials. keywords: effectiveness, grammar tutoring program, students’ feedback introduction many ways have been done to make students understand the materials that have been given in class such as having interactive multimedia for teaching (astuti, et al., 2018), having a literary work as a learning material (mulatsih, 2018), developing problem-based learning (isrokijah, 2016), implementing moodle-based learning (wulandari, 2016), conducting a game session (kapp, 2012), implementing reflective learning (brockbank & mcgill, 2007), finding students’ motivation (skinner & belmont, 1993), having additional time for service learning (sax, 1997) , conducting a tutoring program (hock, et al., 2001), joining peer review or peer learning program (chism, 1999), and etc. as one of the efforts in reaching the goal, peer teaching or peer learning has also been started by many practitioners for about four centuries. osguthorpe and scruggs (1986) proposed the effective method to improve handicapped students learning ability by having students as tutors in class. for a big class, peer instruction was proposed so that every student took part in the learning process (crouch et al. 2007). tutoring program could bring many benefits and disadvantages. harper (2016) conducted a research about tutoring program which involved 91 children from grade one until grade eight. this tutoring program was conducted in small group. statistic data showed that there was a significant improvement of students’ skill in reading, spelling and counting. however, there was no progress in understanding llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 176 sentences. different from harper, wu (2016) analyzed the labeling system in tutorial program toward learning result and students’ motivation. although tutoring program increased students’ self-efficacy and confidence, it turned out that the labeling system did not improve students’ understanding. there were some benefits of conducting tutoring program, but some practitioners argued that it could not reach the best level of students’ understanding. although tutoring programs have been done for long time, some people still underestimated the effectiveness of these programs. not only did some researchers claim that the tutoring program was not effective, some lecturers of elesp sanata dharma university also thought the same after the implementation of the first tutoring programs. the tutoring programs of elesp (grammar and pronunciation) itself started in the odd semester 2016. these programs were directed due to the fact that many students made some mistakes in writing and speaking english. for some cases, they did not even meet the minimum requirements of a good sentence. some words were also mispronounced. this problem also sustained to the draft and defense of an undergraduate thesis. as stated before that after the first period of grammar tutoring program, some lecturers said that this program still did not help students a lot and it was not effective, it was crucial to know more from students’ perspective about the effectiveness of the program due to the fact that they were the participants who experienced this program. considering that matter, this paper will answer two main questions: to what extend does grammar tutoring program help students? and what are the positive and negative tutees’ feedback that can be considered for future tutoring program? method the concept of this tutoring program was adapted from king’s peer teaching that was written in 2002 and o’donnel’s peer learning that was written in 2014. king proposed that the peer teaching consisted of a group of students with a tutor who would help their difficulties. the importance lied in these several aspects such as cognitive, interaction, knowledge development, context and its integration. not only king who had a research in relation to peer teaching, some previous researches also dealt with tutoring program (angelova, 2006; briggs, 2013; narayan, 2016; ander, et al., 2016; colvin, 2007). while colvin (2007) argued that there was a lack of social awareness in peer tutoring that could lead to misunderstanding and power struggle between tutor and tutee, other researchers angelova (2006); briggs (2013); narayan (2016); ander, et al. (2016); tended to still conduct the peer teaching or tutoring program due to its’ benefits. ander, et al., (2016) had a randomized controlled trial of the match/saga tutorial in chicago. their tutorial program has increased students’ math grade and decreased the chance of failing in their math course as stated below. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 177 the tutorials improved math grades by 0.58 points on a 1–4 point scale, a sizable gain compared to the average math gpa among the control group of 1.77 (or essentially a c minus average). we also found that the tutorials cut in half the chance that students failed their math course (ander et al., 2016, p. 10). briggs (2013) also showed the improvement of students’ competence including some ways for conducting peer teaching. moreover, two researches from angelova and narayan proposed some strategies and factors that could lead to an effective tutoring program. angelova (2006) showed some learning strategies for dual language learners in an english-spanish peer teaching class. they were repetition, scaffolding with cues, codeswitching, invented spelling, use of formulaic speech, and non-verbal communication. narayan (2016) underlined some factors that affected the effectiveness of peer mentoring. there were mentoring session, maintaining mentees, mentor time table, room allocation, mentor workstation, mentor attitude, attributes, role, previous mentoring experience, communication with support staff and mentor (p. 9). but, none of those previous researches tried to gather the effectiveness of tutoring program based on students’ perspective. thus, this paper would reveal that topic based on students’ feedback. findings and discussion this qualitative research began with pre-test for measuring students’ basic competence of grammar. during the program, there were some observation steps for the method of tutoring. the questionnaire was distributed in the last meeting of the program and it mainly asked whether tutoring program has helped students or not based on the likert scale from one to four. because of the fact that many students did not attend the program continuously; the questionnaire was distributed to those students who mostly came to the tutoring program. there were 45 students who continuously took part in the program. the written feedback for better improvement was also provided in the questionnaire sheet. after analyzing the result of the questionnaire, there was an interview session with some students who came regularly to the grammar tutoring program. the implementation of tutorial program generally, the concept of tutoring involves at least two learners (one who has good ability for understanding the given knowledge and the other one who has less ability) who spend their time to study together. the one who has better competence will help the other one so that the tutee can understand the materials well. technically, grammar tutoring program was done with 24 tutors from selective students from batch 2013 & 2014. six lecturers took part in the process. there were three steps of selection: administration selection, written test, and interview test. in the administration selection, the candidate should have at least 3.5 for his gpa and a score for all grammar subjects. the written test was toefl test, and the interview dealt with the candidate’s motivation, tutoring or working experience, and teaching method. the students who joined this program were from batch 2016 who got b, c, d, e, f score and from batch 2015 who got c, d, e, f score in the grammar subject. this program was considered as an additional class of grammar subject. thus, this llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 178 program was compulsory for those students. there were six classes and each of them consisted of 12 students with two tutors. one tutor helped six students. this program was regularly held on saturdays at 09.00 10.00 for 13 meetings. before this program started, there was a briefing for the tutors. during the process of this program, there was a guidance process from the coordinator of this program. students’ feedback toward the implementation of tutorial program this section is the compilation among six parts, namely the result of pre-test as the background of students’ competence level, the result of observation, result of questionnaire, interview, positive feedback and weaknesses of grammar tutoring program based on tutees’ feedback. due to the goal of this research that is the effectiveness of grammar tutoring program based on tutees’ feedback, this paper does not provide the comparison between pre-test and post-test results. the consideration deals with many interventions from other subjects that increased students’ ability. there were structure, speaking, listening, writing, and pronunciation classes that also distributed toward students’ competence of understanding english. in conclusion, the measurement of the post test would not be objective due to the fact that there was not only tutoring program held at that time. the chart below is the specific result of grammar pre-test. the chart above showed that mainly students’ competence was under 51%. the data confirmed that most students needed more effort to increase their competence to gain a better result. the mean of the pre-test result was 43.56% (17.4265 correct numbers out of 40 numbers). this was also the strong reason of conducting grammar tutoring program. based on observation in tutoring classes, some tutors applied open discussion, only two tutors had a lecturing method. the discussion led to dynamic and lively atmosphere while the lecturing with so many questions to be asked dominantly by tutors made an intense class. for the communication, tutors spoke bahasa indonesia to explain grammar materials. most students asked question to tutors and tutors also asked whether students had a difficulty in certain grammar topic or not. students also gave feedback that there should be some fun activities during the tutoring program; such as games, tips and tricks session for students of elesp. the tutoring method should vary in at least three meetings. most of the tutoring classes did some exercises from a specific grammar book that was also used in the lecturers’ classes. first, students did those exercises individually then they might ask the difficulty that they faced if their answer was incorrect. some students did not come on time 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 pre-test result 0% 25% 26% 50% 51% 75% 76% 100% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 179 and there were some technical problems, such as the availability of some rooms, the man who was in charge for opening the room door was late, and some rooms were in the third floor. those were the causes why some students delivered their opinion about the consistency of the starting time. from the questionnaire sheet that used likert scale one to four (1 is for those who strongly disagreed, 2 is disagreed, 3 is agreed and 4 is for those who strongly agreed), most students agreed that grammar tutoring program has helped them to improve their competence, to study intensively, to understand about grammar more. the mean of their agreement that the program has improved their competence was 3.373611 (84.34%), the program has given them a chance for studying intensively was 3.413889 (85.34%), and the program has made them understand more about grammar was 3.397222 (84.93%). below is the chart of the distribution of their agreement. from the data above, none of the students strongly disagreed that grammar tutoring program did not help them for their understanding and competence. there were only three who disagreed that this program helped them to increase their competence. two participants disagreed that this tutoring program made them study intensively and increased their understanding. it means that the result of the questionnaire tends to reflect the positive feedback from the students. students still wanted the grammar tutoring program to be continued. from the interview session, all interviewees said that this program was effective, even one interviewee confidently said that this program was very effective. the effectiveness of grammar tutoring program was seen from different reasons. first, it increased students’ understanding about grammar. second, tutors helped students in facing their personal difficulties when they studied at home and when they did not understand grammar materials in class by having a discussion session. third, tutors gave similar exercise to the one in the class and guided students intensively by showing the way on how students should do it and sometimes the tutors’ way was more easily understood. below is one of the transcriptions. “when i had a difficulty about grammar material, i could ask the tutor and tutor helped me to face and solve it. i could understand more quickly. discussion was the good practice of this program. but, it would be better if the discussion forum had less student no more than six students. 0 5 10 15 20 25 help to improve their competence study intensively increase their understanding distribution of questionnaire result 1 (strongly disagree) 2 (disagree) 3 (agree) 4 (strongly agree) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 180 too many students made some could not focus. so i suggest that there should be additional number of tutors.” table 1. the summary of students’ positive feedback result of observation  discussion was a good practice  students actively asked some questions result from questionnaire  84.34% students agreed that this program increased their competence  85.34% students agreed that they could study intensively during this tutoring program  84.93% more understood grammar materials result of interview  the program was effective  it increased students’ understanding  it helped students in facing their individual difficulty  there was an intense guidance beside positive feedback, students also delivered some suggestions during interview process. they were about additional time, number of tutors, and the need of strict regulation because some students did not come in time. “although this program is compulsory one, some students came late and sometimes they only signed three times out of thirteen.” the result of the interview was the same with the written feedback on questionnaire sheet. students might write their opinion freely. five students marked that grammar tutoring program should be continued in the following semester, and three students wrote that this program helped them to study again the materials that had been given in the grammar class. the implementation was good based on six students’ written feedbacks. furthermore, they also added the weaknesses of this program that needed to be improved and some suggestions. seven students wrote that the time allotment could be extended into one and a half hours. an hour was not enough to discuss the materials deeply for them. in this case, there were two students who explicitly wrote that each material should be discussed more deeply. they also proposed that the day of grammar tutoring program should not be on saturdays. weekdays were efficient enough since some of them lived far away from campus, and they needed to go to campus on saturdays only for tutoring program. on the weekend, some wanted to go to their hometown, and some argued that they needed to spend their time hanging out with their friends. there were nine students who claimed that the day of the tutoring program needed to be changed. no wonder that a student wrote the decreasing of the number of students who came to tutoring program. one of them also suggested that there should be additional tutors so he could study in smaller group. only one student thought that the program started too early in the morning. conclusion basically, students showed their good appreciation for grammar tutoring program. this result is taken from the analysis of questionnaire, students’ written feedback and interview. these are the some good points of conducting a grammar llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 181 tutoring program: students could tell and discuss their difficulty in the grammar subject with their tutor, students agreed that the program helped them to increase their competence and understanding, students agreed that they studied intensively during the program. however, there were some suggestions from students to make next tutoring program run better such as increasing the number of tutors, extending the time duration for tutoring, having a strict regulation, avoiding saturday as tutoring day and having a smaller group discussion. in a nutshell, elesp grammar tutoring program was effective based on students’ opinion, and they needed it in the following semester too. references ander, r., guryan, j., & ludwig, j. (2016). improving academic outcomes for disadvantaged students: scaling up individualized tutorials. report prepared for the brookings institute. washington dc: brookings institute. angelova, m., gunawardena, d., & volk, d. (2006). peer teaching and learning: co-constructing language in a dual language first grade. language and education, 20(3), 173-190. astuti, f. k., cahyono, e., supartono, s., van, n. c., & duong, n. t. (2018). effectiveness of elements periodic table interactive multimedia in nguyen tat thanh high school. international journal of indonesian education and teaching (ijiet), 2(1), 1-10. brockbank, a., & mcgill, i. (2007). facilitating reflective learning in higher education. mcgraw-hill education (uk). briggs, s. (2013). how peer teaching improves student learning and 10 ways to encourage it. retrieved on 1st march 2017 from http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/peer-teaching/ brockbank, a., & mcgill, i. 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(2014). cognitive perspectives on peer learning. routledge. osguthorpe, r. t., & scruggs, t. e. (1986). special education students as tutors: a review and analysis. remedial and special education, 7(4), 15-25. sax, l. (1997). the benefits of service: evidence from undergraduates. educational record, 25. skinner, e. a., & belmont, m. j. (1993). motivation in the classroom: reciprocal effects of teacher behavior and student engagement across the school year. journal of educational psychology, 85(4), 571. wu, e., & yang, s. c. (2016). examining the impact of online labeling on tutoring behavior and its effect on the english learning and motivation of low-achieving university students. computer assisted language learning, 29(2), 316-333. wulandari, m. (2016). moodle-based learning model for paragraph writing class. llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching, 18(2), 73-90. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 language and language teaching journal http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 75 listening class and moral education stella prancisca and m. ainur rizqi tanjungpura university, pontianak, indonesia stellaguru123@gmail.com and ainurrizqi89@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.210108 received 22 january 2018; revised 12 february 2018; accepted 12 march 2018 abstract since some students including in my class become more self-oriented and less aware on group, there is a need to integrate online teaching material which contains moral values in society into english language course. we believe that english language teaching, in some extents, could facilitate this necessity. a good choice of material, for example, is not only beneficial to promote students’ language skill, but also could inspire students to become a better individual. this paper aims to propose online teaching materials as alternative for teaching moral education. to limit its scope, the material is used only for teaching listening in the efl classroom. the benefit is two folds. first, it is expected to directly improve students’ listening skill. second, the material could be used indirectly to implant moral values to the students where the emphasis could be placed on the indonesian values of group and society. the paper concludes by echoing a call for further research specialised in a classroom action research. keywords: moral values, listening comprehension introduction a growing body of report reveals that students today experience a certain degree of moral degradation, in particular having received negative effects of globalization. in indonesia, it is quite common to find several students involved in some aggressive behaviors such as student brawls, drug abuse, and cyberbullying. in my classes, indeed, such cases are not found this far. yet, we observe that some students seem to have less respect to peers and teachers, become less responsible on their assignments, more selfish, and less collaborative. one of the example, some students tend to work alone even when they have been put in a group. some others, in addition, seem reluctant to work with other students that they are not very close with. they will only work with their cliques and are seemingly not happy if the teacher finds a new group for them. since indonesia is well-known by its unique moral values and diverse social cultures, it is important to re-emphasize moral education into school subjects, including in english language. this sort of subject is expected to nurture students to become better not only as an individual but also a member of society. the education, thus, should concern with something which promotes indonesian values for example about respect, honesty, helping each other, groups and society. sari (2013) even reminds us that today’s debate is no longer about the importance of teaching moral values but directed on how to integrate it into classroom mailto:stellaguru123@gmail.com llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 76 teaching. we believe that english language, in some extents, can bridge this necessity by providing appropriate materials to encourage students’ moral, social and cultural awareness while at the same time increasing their english language skill. the present paper aims to propose online teaching materials as alternative for teaching moral education. to limit its scope, the material is used only for teaching listening in the efl classroom. the benefit of this online materials is two folds. first, it is expected to directly improve students’ listening skill. second, in the indirect fashion, the material could be used to implant moral and cultural values to the students where the emphasis could be placed on the indonesian values of group and society. we shall begin this paper by defining what moral education really means. after that, we highlight several characteristics of language learners in indonesia and briefly discuss how these characteristics influence us in choosing materials in the classroom. as the focus of this paper is online material, we also present multiple benefits that it offers for our efl class. since we use www.englishspotlight.com as our online teaching material, we therefore justify our reasons for choosing the website and how it can fit to indonesian learners, especially learners in this context. following this, we discuss ways to integrate moral values into efl teaching through online teaching material. although there has been ample research reporting the use of online material for efl class, little information can be found regarding its use on moral education. we, then, elaborate how this material can be beneficial not only for students’ language skill but also for their morality. finally, we conclude the paper by summarizing the key points and offering recommendation for researchers in the future. theory understanding moral education moral education is frequently used to define school activities which encourage students to play their roles properly both as individual and as a community member (mergler and spooner-lane, 2012). researchers (e.g. mergle & spooner-lane, 2012; saidek, islami, and abdoludin, 2016) point out that the term has been used interchangeably, ranging from values education, character education, personal education, civic education, and religious education. apart from their differences, they all have something in common in which they guide individuals to distinguish ‘good and bad’ in generally accepted values of a society. for the sake of consistency, this research uses moral education throughout the paper to avoid ambiguity among the readers. while researchers still have various names for moral education, they seem to somewhat agree when referring to what can be classified as good moral/character. lickona (1991, cited in akin et al., 1995) mentions that good moral means when someone knows the good, desires the good, and does the good. akin et al (1995) add by introducing six pillars of characters, i.e. trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, justice and fairness, caring, and citizenship. if they could be translated in details, they would involve honesty, not cheating, responsibility, llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 77 unselfishness, community service, etc. similarly, indonesian government acknowledges these values in the form of pancasila. in 2010, the minister of national education called for the need of embedding moral education in school (so-called character education). the hope of indonesian students to grow and live with the spirit of pancasila and religious values became the basis triggering the emergence of this plan. pancasila, as the national ideology, should be put forward covering the values of goddess, humanity, unity, citizenship, and social justice as the basis. the ultimate goal is to create people who are not only intellectually strong, but also strong in character and morality. the characteristics of english language learners in indonesia despite triggered by multiple factors, we believe that students’ characteristics play a part in determining the success of english language teaching. according to marcellino (2008) indonesian students are often described passive, silent, and obedient. adi (2011) also puts that indonesian students are not brave enough to interrupt their teachers as they are expected to answer positively and be obedient to what the teachers are saying. in addition, students today are contaminated by the negative effect of technology. the use of online chatting and social media, for example, decreases the amount of time they spent to chat with ‘real’ peers. everyone seems busy with their gadgets. they look enjoy playing games or their gadget rather than talking to teachers or classmates. gradually, this phenomenon can be negative for the students’ moral growth since it may lead them to become more selfish and less caring about their surroundings. in our personal beliefs, students should be encouraged to interact and use the language that they learn. it can be achieved by creating a communicativebased classroom activity in which it could stimulate the students to use the language in a real practice. teachers can apply cooperative and/or collaborative learning approach encouraging the students to work together to solve problems. however, if the students are passive or only talking in their cliques, it is difficult for the teachers to gain maximum benefits of such activities. therefore, there is a need to apply strategies or material which can stimulate students to work together in the classroom. online materials in listening comprehension of many attempts to make elt classroom alive, the selection of teaching materials can be taken into consideration. in listening class, cahyono and widiati (2009) believe that a good listening material is a key factor to determine the success of listening instructions. however, they continue that the source of material for students is limited. therefore, we propose the use of www.spotlightenglish.com as an alternative material in teaching listening comprehension. it constitutes a free-access website which provides students with a wide range of topics such as science, education, culture, religion, and so forth. the audio file could be downloaded or listened directly from the website. one of the popular features of the website is ‘listen & read’, a 15-minute audio which is delivered to imitate radio broadcasters’ style. using www.spotlightenglish.com can be beneficial in several ways. first of all, the recording is brought in a natural way (radio-like). furthermore, it is http://www.spotlightenglish.com/ llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 78 supplemented with a musical background allowing its listeners to feel relax and calm during the listening session. undeniably, listening can be quite stressful for some students, especially if they fail to recognize certain words which prevent them from understanding the content. researchers (elkhafaifi 2005; bekleyen 2009) assert that students who suffer general language anxiety are potentially to experience a certain degree of anxiety in listening. they agree that this two type of anxieties correlate negatively with the students’ achievement. therefore, the presence of a relaxing music in the listening is expected to lower their nervousness, making them to feel more comfortable in the classroom. ultimately, it is hoped to increase focus of the students so they can optimize the benefits, for example in form of a better comprehension or higher test results. second, the speed of the material is rather slow. although hayati (2010) claims that a natural speed delivery would be slightly better to improve listening comprehension, earlier studies (e.g. blau 1990; nation & newton 2009) suggest that low speed delivery can be more helpful for students at the basic level english proficiency. considering the status of english as a foreign language in indonesia, the use of low speed audio might help students understand the message better. the slower recording could assist the learners to take time in processing input messages in the brain. moreover, the audio is accompanied by a script. thus, students can listen carefully how broadcasters deliver particular words as they are reading the script. they can compare their own pronunciation and check whether they have used a correct pronunciation or not. nevertheless, it should be noted that the decision to pick slow recording should carefully consider the level of the students. if the students in the class are in advance levels, there is no slowing needed. the next benefit that teachers may gain from using the website is regarding its accessibility where the content is free of cost. everyone can listen to the audio directly from the website or download it to be listened at home without paying any dollars. students can access the website at any time and listen to the audio file to train their listening skill. as the result, teachers not only can use it in the classroom but also can have students to work collaboratively at home without the presence of the teacher. the students may be assigned a collaborative project from which they can use the language. on top of that, this free access allow students to be more independent leading them to become autonomous language learners. finally, materials in the website contain positive social values which are good for students’ moral development. as mentioned earlier, the website has various topics in which a teacher can easily download for classroom materials. in this research, materials related to culture, religion, society seem to be more appropriate considering our main purpose for moral development. students can be selected interesting materials where they can consciously or unconsciously learn from it. the rest of this paper will focus on this issue, particularly practical examples to use this website. theory application in this section, we are going to discuss step-by-step how an online material can be used to promote both students’ listening proficiency and moral values. we llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 79 offer practical classroom activities as well as reasons underlying the activities. to start with, teachers can select moral-related materials. akin et al. (1995) recommend that teachers could provide students materials which provoke their sense of community service. after that, teachers can stand up in front of the classroom and invite students to mention what they know about the topic before listening (brainstorming activities). unlike intermediate/advance learners who can translate word by word from what they hear, beginner learners greatly rely on their prior knowledge (schemata) to help them guess the content (nation and newton 2009). hence, students could be asked to explore as many as possible words or phrases to get them familiar with topic. teachers can draw a main circle with the topic placed within the circle. then the teachers draw other smaller circles containing related vocabularies or words mentioned by the students. the next step is activities that students do whilst listening. as they are listening to the audio, they can be provided with a listening’s script so they can read how exactly a word is pronounced. this is helpful because it gives the students enough time to process the language word-by-word in the brain. it allows them to discover the meaning of the words and identify its linguistic aspects, such as grammar. nation and newton (2009) correctly claim that if students want to be successful in listening, they must pay more attention on the linguistic aspects rather than solely on their schemata. in addition, by providing the script, it is hoped that the students can follow the plot of the listening and grasp its general moral values better. having given a chance to listen, students are requested to do some comprehension tests. the students can be handed out with various types of activities. in our context, we frequently employ oral close test, filling in the gaps, and other questions requiring short answers from the students. another type question which requires longer and debatable answers can be also implemented by requesting students to have a discussion with their peers. harmer (1998) highlights that this sort of question is just as crucial as other short answer questions. the possible reason is because it demands the students to infer what they hear. it enables us to verify that the students’ understanding is not at a surficial level. it has been mentioned at the beginning that the purpose of this research is to enhance students’ moral development through education. in addition to moralrelated materials, generating discussion activities at the end of listening can properly support this goal. it is in this session where students can learn some examples of good moral values. before the discussion begins, teachers can remind the students to behave well and introduce the values of respect, honesty, responsibility, group, and society. most importantly, teachers can demonstrate these values, for example by modelling useful phrases to interrupt other discussion members. the discussion also reflects a pretty good example of working collaboratively. in the group, the students can exchange ideas. they not only interpret certain moral values from their own perspective but also can hear other students’ voices. in order to effectively embed moral values in this activity, teachers should be able to play their roles. experts (akin et al 1995; mergler and spooner-lane llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 80 2012) underline that the best way to teach moral education, one of them, is through modelling. mergler and spooner-lane (2012, p. 72) argues that “the behaviors a teacher models to students in the classroom send powerful messages about what is and is not acceptable ways of behaving. during the discussion, teachers can show the element of respect by listening enthusiastically to their students. teachers can also endorse the use of cooperative learning to promote the elements of caring on group and society, for example by encouraging the students to help each other. finally, when the discussion has ended, teachers may have the students conduct an extra project. this is in line with akin et al’s (1995) suggestion, where students should be encouraged with extracurricular, projects, or community services. they may observe their social environment to see a link between what they learn from the discussion and the practice. in this final activity, teachers can insert other elements of good characters mentioned previously. the teachers, for instance, can have students apply the principles of honesty in their work. they should give honest data and avoid negative data manipulation. further, the students should uphold the element of responsibility. each students must be responsible with their individual and group task. in a group, they should also ensure that they can accomplish the project/observation on time. conclusion living in the mid of globalization era means that students can easily access either positive or negative information from their gadget. to protect students from its negative effect, teachers play a vital role to help them develop their good characters at school. the aim is to create individuals who not only shines in their academic achievement, but also have good manners in society. the use of appropriate materials is considered important in this paper. we propose an online material which offers multiple benefits both for students and teachers. not only expose students with reasonable speed, such a listening also contains some moral values which can be transferred as the result of the listening. most importantly, the teachers can embed and emphasis moral education following the listening, i.e. during discussion section. however, the paper is still limited in a number of ways. one of the example, it does not present data which stems from an empirical perspective. all judgment and claim made in this paper are still based on a theoretical basis. therefore, there is a need to conduct further research which, for instance, empirically examines the effectiveness of www.spotlightenglish.com to develop both listening proficiency and morality. secondly, the research could be also directed to assess students’ thought during the learning activities, especially concerning with the explicit ways of teaching moral education. we recommend further research to focus on classroom action research since it is capable of checking students’ progress on certain classroom activities while at the same time its qualitative data can be used to investigate students’ perspectives about the integration of moral education during listening activities. http://www.spotlightenglish.com/ llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 81 references adi, s. s. (2011). communicative language teaching: is it appropriate for indonesian context? international journal of instructional technology and distance learning, 8(12), 81-88. akin, t., dunne, g., palomares, s., & schilling, d. (1995). character education in america's school. california: innerchoice publishing. bekleyen, n. (2009). helping teachers become better english students: causes, effects, and coping strategies for foreign language listening anxiety. system, 37, 664-675. blau, e. k. (1990). the effect of syntax, speed, and pauses on listening comprehension. tesol quarterly, 24(4), 746-753. cahyono, b. y. & utami, w. (2009). the teaching of efl listening in the indonesian context: the state of the art. teflin, 20(2), 194-211. elkhafaifi, h. (2005). listening comprehension and anxiety in the arabic language classroom. the modern language journal, 89(2), 206-220. harmer, j. (2008). how to teach english. elt journal, 62(3), 313-316. hayati, a. (2010). the effect of speech rate on listening. creative education, 2, 107-114. marcellino, m. (2008). english language teaching in indonesia: a continous challenge in education and cultural diversity. teflin, 19(1), 57-69. mergler, a. g. & spooner-lane, r. (2012). what pre-service teachers need to know to be effective at value-based education?. australian journal of teacher education, 37(8), 66-81. nation, l. s. & newton. (2009). teaching esl/efl listening and speaking. london: routledge. saidek, a. r., islami, r., & abdoludin. (2016). character issues: reality character problems and solutions. journal of education and practice, 7(7), 158-165. sari, n. (2013). the importance of teaching moral values to the students. journal of english and education, 1(1), 154-162. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 228-243 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 228 when the wall speaks: social semiotics analysis of (covid-19)-themed murals in indonesia sri hariyatmi king mongkut university of technology thonburi, thailand correspondence: sri.hariyatmi@mail.kmutt.ac.th https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5783 received 24 january 2023; accepted 28 march 2023 abstract this study aims at analyzing how the meaning-making of semiotic signs is manifested on (covid-19)-themed murals in indonesia. four murals with covid-19 themes derived from different sources on the indonesian website were used as the main data for this study. drawing on kress and van leeuwen’s representational, interactive, and compositional function of social semiotics, the analysis reveals that (1) the murals adopt the four processes in narrative representation, (2) the gazes are categorized as offers images and the use of long shot in the images suggest objectivity and social distance, (3) the messages are delivered in given-new and real-ideal pattern and the absence of frames in the murals indicating that the visual and verbal modes lock together to create the sense of unity between the image and written modes to construct and deliver the message by integrating the existing knowledge to reinforce new information. thus, the current study contributes to the multimodal studies of how visual and written expression construct the meaningmaking process. keywords: compositional, covid-19, image, interactive, murals, representational introduction “there are many other modes of meaning, in any culture, which are outside the realm of language”halliday wall paintings used by the artist to express their emotions are believed to be one of the oldest forms of art that are only “a short step from the caves of lascaux” (kordic, 2015, para 1). etymologically, murals are derived from the latin word murus meaning wall. mural, this study refers to a large painting done on the outside wall of the building that is usually incorporated into many public spaces (heidenry, 2014). from the prehistoric cave paintings at lascaux grotte in france depicting life in the old stone age era to the modern form of murals in today’s society, wall paintings or murals are the signature of the artist’s cultural expression to weave their artistic skills and depict life activities, scenery, religious traditions, social or political related issue during the period when these cultural artifacts are produced (ibid, 2015). mailto:sri.hariyatmi@mail.kmutt.ac.th https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5783 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 228-243 229 murals, as one example of public art, use imagery that can improve public space as well as the community’s sense of belonging while disclosing social, political, and cultural issues that might exist in a particular community (stevenson, 2016). the function of arts after all is to reflect the reality of interaction between people and their social environment (sanabria, 2013). as a form of public art, murals produce images with a decipherable verbal message that is inclusively present for public consumption (mcauliffe & iveson, 2011). mural making, therefore, is designed by incorporating the concepts of the public in its production (young, 2014). as such what is happening in society can be a source of inspiration for artists and their work is produced to respond to what happens in their society (courage, 2017). as such, art functions as a means of interaction among people and a media to adopt the changes that took place in society or the environment (arbuto, 2009). the existing studies on murals range from describing the benefit of murals to society (e.g., bengtsen & arvidsson, 2014; drescher, 2009) to how murals are perceived as a means to promote socio-economic development (e.g., lees & melhuish, 2015; markusen & gadwa, 2010). other studies conducted on the issues of murals as an avenue for the artists’ aesthetic cultural expression (halsey and pederick, 2010); local subculture self-expression (halsey and young, 2006), artists or public political expression (e.g., delgado and barton, 1998; howze, 2008; skinner and jolliffe, 2017); a reflection of cultural identity (fletcha, et al. 2017); means to control identity and social relations as well as to appease community (merriam, 2011). the complexities of murals’ existence and their relationship with the public domain also become of topics in previous studies. among the few are the tension of ownership between public and private (young, 2013); the protection of murals (hansen & young, 2018), and the mural-related policies (shwartz & mualam, 2020). these studies are salient in providing the benchmark to understand, describe, and address some murals-related issues. murals are believed to be the expression of a society that acts as a reminder of the existential message about what is happening during a particular time (nora, 1997). in the pandemic era, murals have become a significant communication mode within public life to express what is happening in society (mcewan et al., 2022). as such, murals that are created to respond to the pandemic can be a means to increase public awareness and encourage them to change their behaviors (tasamba, 2020). murals are, therefore, a powerful mode of a campaign to reduce the effect of the pandemic (pleyers, 2020). other related studies on the relationship between murals and the pandemic are the role of street art during the pandemic (mcewan et al., 2022); the production of street art database responding to covid-19 (shirey & lawrence, 2021); the uk street art and mask-wearing (mcewan et al., 2022). nonetheless, the study on (covid-19)themed murals in the indonesian context are still rare. this study is expected to fill this gap and investigate the meaning-making of murals produced during the covid-19 pandemic in indonesia. the central concern of this study is to discover the answer to how the meaning-making process is ascribed to the murals and how the interactive and compositional meanings are constructed in them. what distinguishes the murals in this present study from other murals in different studies is that the selected murals here are produced in a particular cultural background (indonesia). murals, as irvine (2012) argues are place specific. they depict the https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s1877916619302164#bib20 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 228-243 230 situation of a particular place and therefore the model and design are related to that specific site. thus, the present study uses the following research questions as guidelines to organize the discussion: 1. how are the semiotic modes used in the (covid-19) themed murals in indonesia to construct their meaning? 2. how are the interactive meanings constructed in the murals? 3. how are the compositional meanings represented in the murals? literature review existing literature on murals as there are many forms of street art including murals and graffiti that somehow seem interchangeable, the distinction between murals and graffiti should be made. murals are generally considered as a form of street art due to the granted consent from the property owner (collins, 2018) where the murals are painted or scribbled directly on the wall (soedarjo, 2022). unlike mural that has legal permission for their creation, graffiti is associated with vandalism (mollinel & clavelm 2016) as a form of resistance to reject the mainstream culture or to express political resistance to challenge the hierarchal system taking place in public spaces (farnia, 2014). in the absence of legal permission, graffiti tends to be associated with illegal marking on the private or public sphere (ten eyck, 2016), in the form of “tagging” or “throw up” that usually uses ink or aerosol that is sprayed on public space (ferrell, 1993). consistent with the difference between murals and graffiti discussed by these previous studies, the investigatedmurals in this study are created legally as part of the indonesian government’s efforts to raise awareness about the danger of covid-19 and to encourage indonesian to follow the health measures to flatten up and avoid covid-19 infection (projo, 2021). the present study differs from its predecessor in the way that it tries to unfold the meaning-making of covid-19-based murals in indonesia. the murals under the present study were created during the covid-19 pandemic which affect the life of indonesian people. as such, it might be worth saying that murals could be understood as a cultural expression to express community feelings towards a certain issue, it is interesting to discover how the murals under the present study are used to depict the social reality of indonesia in responding to the global pandemic. kress and van leeuwen’ social semiotic kress and van leeuwen’s visual grammar discusses different “multimodal” groups and argues that a particular modal is a source of interpretation that is influenced socially and culturally. as kress and van leeuwen argue, multimodal is a text that involves “various semiotic modes in the design of a semiotic product or event along with a certain manner in which these modes are combined” (kress & van leeuwen, 2006, p.25). thus, to obtain meaning, the incorporation of various semiotic elements including the visual and verbal characteristics in a text is needed as they create potential meaning within a specific social setting (jewitt & oyama, 2001). visual grammar of kress and van leeuwen emerged from hallidayan’s social semiotics on systemic functional grammar (sfg). in his sfg, halliday proposes the idea that language functions as a social semiotic, and its role is to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 228-243 231 “make sense of our experience and act out our relationship. (halliday, 2004, p.23). hence, sfg views that “a language is a source for meaning making and meaning resides in a systemic pattern of choices” (ibid, p.23). in sfg, halliday introduced three meta-functions of language and defined them as ideational, interpretational, and textual. inspired by halliday’s framework, kress and van leeuwen (2006) develop three meta-functions of images, which are: representational, interactive, and compositional. the present study aims to investigate the representational, interactive, and compositional meaning of the selected murals adopted in the study. representational function the narrative and conceptual process in representational function differs in the way that the two structures investigate how the relationship between the participants of a single image is associated with each other. the conceptual process shows static traits and characterizes “ the stable, generalized, and timeless essence of participants (kress & van leeuwen, 2006, p. 59). the narrative process, on the other hand, describes the “unfolding actions and events, the process of change, transitory spatial arrangements” (ibid). in the narrative process, there are “represented participants” that shows the relationship between components of the image. represented participants (rps) can be people, places, or things that are connected by a vector, an imaginary line shaped by components in the image function as an action verb in the language. the vector is created by the (rps) which is called an “actor”. the one that the vector is done is termed the “goal” (ibid). there are four processes in narrative representation which are actional, reactional, verbal and mental, and conversion process. the actional process shows the acts that are done by the actor. on the other hand, the reactional process is created by the direction of represented participants’ glances. while the verbal and mental process is shaped by thought balloons and bubbles. lastly, the conversion process includes the transformation of the (rp)s circumstances in the image (feng & espindola, 2013). interactive function kress and van leeuwen (2006) propose two different types of participants related to the interaction taking place between them in visual communication which is (rps) (the individual, places, and things/ issues portrayed in texts or images) and interactive participants (the producers of the image and the viewers). in interactive participants, they use images or any kind of visual to communicate. some of the communication in interactive participants take place directly when the producer and the viewer are physically present and engage in in-person communication. however, some communications involve indirect interaction where both the viewers and the producers are absent from each other (kress & van leeuwen, 2006). therefore, the social meanings are encoded by the producers and the viewers decode them by analyzing the angle from which they can see the rps, social distance, and point of view. the image act can be investigated from the rps gaze direction whether the gaze is directed at the viewers (demand) or not (offer). the second dimension of interactive function is the social distance that is influenced by different sizes of framing: close-up, medium, or long. lastly, the interactive function is related to the point of view that consists of two types: subjective, where llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 228-243 232 the image has a central perspective, and objective, the image without a central perspective (kress & van leeuwen, p. 114-130). compositional function the compositional function has framing, information value, and salience as its three main features to investigate the meaning of composition (kress & van leeuwen, 2006, p. 181). information value is associated with three main areas: the placement of elements to the right or left; top and bottom; and center and margin. the left side means the given information, something that the viewer is familiar with and accepts as the point of departure for the message. the right side, on the other hand, is the new information. it is something unfamiliar to the viewer, therefore it needs special attention (ibid, pp. 179-185). the next important dimension is salience. this dimension creates differences among elements because it makes some elements presented as more attractive or significant than others. size, sharpness of focus, color, or cultural aspects are features that indicate salience (ibid, pp. 201-203). finally, framing is the last thing that connects the representational and interactive meanings. when there is framing, the viewers and the image are disconnected from each other. whereas the absence of framing is an indication of involvement between the image and the viewers (ibid, pp. 203-204). as a theory that focuses on the relationship between image and its social function, kress and van leeuwen (2006) is a suitable method to investigate the combination of image and written text in the selected murals to reveal the meaningmaking of the mural’s creation and its social implications within the indonesian context. thus, the purpose of this study can be achieved. method data collection this study is qualitative in design to investigate the meaning-making of (covid-19)themed murals in indonesia. the data adopted for this study are murals with covid-19 themes in indonesia. the selected murals were derived from different websites in indonesia by using google image search and covid-19 murals in indonesia as the keywords. the murals were chosen based on the criteria that they consist of visual images and written expressions to explore the relationship between signs and meanings they depicted. there are 40 murals with covid-19 theme collected within two and a half hours of search. as some of the collected images either have overlapping messages or only depict visual expressions, four are selected to be used in this study. the source of each mural in this study is written under each mural to make it easy for the readers to access the website where the murals were obtained. the four selected murals were chosen simply on my native understanding of the indonesian context related to the issue of education and cultural beliefs that integrated into the covid-19 related issues such as mask-wearing, social distancing, stay-at-home encouragement, and issues related to online school as a result of lockdown due to the pandemic. data analysis once the selected murals are compiled, content analysis of the narrative representation, interactive dimension, and compositional function of kress and van llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 228-243 233 leeuwen (2006) is adopted to investigate how the meaning-making process of the selected murals is produced and to explore the interactive and compositional meaning of the murals within indonesian society. a thick description of the process in this research including the data collection, how it is analyzed, and the acknowledgment of my background knowledge of indonesian culture is expected to provide trustworthiness for this study. findings and discussion analysis of semiotics modes in the (covid-19) themed murals in indonesia this sub-section will present the construction of meaning-making on the selected murals under study. the semiotic codes used in this study's (covid-19) themed murals are analyzed based on their representational meaning that can be derived from the analysis of the depicted action, the represented participants (rps), and the multimodal used in the murals to deliver the meaning-making process. the following discussion of the four selected murals in this study is categorized based on the four representational meanings in the social semiotic theory of kress and van leeuwen. actional process the following mural is found on the wall of “bukit duri”, a village located on the outskirt of jakarta. it depicts s a man with a mask and gloves holding a red and white shield trying to stop the coronavirus cells from attacking him. the caption says: “to protect is better than to cure”, the literal meaning of the indonesian proverb “sedia payung sebelum hujan” that shares a similar meaning with the english proverb “an ounce of protection is worth a pound of cure” assists the viewer’s imagination to decode the meaning of the man’s action. figure.1.https://web.facebook.com/thebruneian.news/photos/a.384568341954695/ 925070281237829/?type=3&_rdc=1&_rdr as explained earlier, the actional process portrays the action acts of the agent. the agent in this image is represented by a man with a mask, gloves, and holding a shield. put differently, the man in figure 1 represents indonesian as he puts a pin of the indonesian flag on the right pocket of his shirt. here, he is depicted in a state of defense as shown by the shield trying to stop the attack covid-19 cells. the way the https://web.facebook.com/thebruneian.news/photos/a.384568341954695/925070281237829/?type=3&_rdc=1&_rdr https://web.facebook.com/thebruneian.news/photos/a.384568341954695/925070281237829/?type=3&_rdc=1&_rdr llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 228-243 234 man squinted his eyes at the image sent a message that the man uses all his strength to fight the attack of coronavirus cells. using his shield, he pushed the massive attack of coronavirus cells that accelerated at full speed as depicted by the white lines in the image. the shield itself could be interpreted as an umbrella, the metaphorical object “sedia payung sebelum hujan” used in the proverb. another worth noting point is that the lettering of the word “protect”, and “cure” are capitalized to emphasize that protecting themselves from getting infected from covid-19 is better than curing them from getting covid-19. therefore, the capitalization of protecting and cure is used to express the importance of the message to the viewers. reactional process figure.2 is a mural created on the wall of a small road in “cimahi”, a city located in west java, indonesia. the mural emphasizes the significance of social distance and mask-wearing in preventing the spread of covid-19. the caption says: “wear your mask! keep social distancing” said by the coronavirus cell. figure 2. https://news.detik.com/foto-news/d-5234830/mural-edukasi-bahayacovid-19-dan-dbd-di-cimahi/3 in the reactional process, the interactions are usually framed by demonstrating the "direction of the glance” by the (rps). in this type of interaction, the reacters who perform the gaze “must necessarily be a person, or human-like animal, a creature with visible eyes having visible pupils, and capable of facial expression (kress & van leeuwen, 2006, p.67). here, the reacters are two popular types of indonesian ghosts that look terrified and float away from the coronavirus cell that is personalized as a human-like creature with feet and hands glaring and yelling at the two ghosts. the two ghosts are the reacters who do the looking. they look at the angry-looking coronavirus cell that glares and yells at them for not wearing masks and keeping a social distance. the first ghost looks terrified which makes s/he tightly close his/her eyes so as not to see the cell again. the second ghost also looks panic-stricken and floats away from the coronavirus cell. her eyes and mouth are widely open showing how scared she is that she is accidentally caught without a mask by the coronavirus cell. https://news.detik.com/foto-news/d-5234830/mural-edukasi-bahaya-covid-19-dan-dbd-di-cimahi/3 https://news.detik.com/foto-news/d-5234830/mural-edukasi-bahaya-covid-19-dan-dbd-di-cimahi/3 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 228-243 235 the combination of all the elements in this mural reflects an implied meaning about the stubbornness of indonesian who, despite knowing that social distancing and mask-wearing would help them from getting covid-19, yet they still being stubborn to do these two essential preventive measures. the symbolic message here is that people should keep social distancing and wear masks and not belittle the danger of coronavirus. when even ghosts who are not made of flesh and blood are afraid of coronavirus, this virus is, therefore, more dangerous for people. that is why they should wear masks and keep social distancing to avoid getting infected by the virus. unlike figure 1 which adapts a shield that might make the viewers associate it with the captain america shield, figure 2 uses a pure image that belongs to indonesian society. the two images used in figure 2 are “pocong” and “kuntilanak”, two famous ghosts in indonesia. the decision of the mural’s creator in figure 2 shows that the creator is aware of how to deliver a message by integrating the existing cultural background shared by indonesians. parodying how the coronavirus cell yelling at the two ghosts for not wearing masks and keeping social distancing, the mural tries to encourage indonesian society not to forget to practice social distancing and putting on their mask. speech process and mental process the following mural is created in jakarta and can be categorized in speech and mental processes where the verbal and mental processes are created through “bubble and balloon thoughts” that connect the thinker or speaker to what is going on in their mind. however, the dialogue and thought balloon’s content is not directly embodied but facilitated by a “reactor” or “senser” (in the case of a thought bubble) or a speaker (in the case of a dialogue bubble) (kress & van leeuwen, 2006, p. 68). figure 3. https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2021/08/06/en-direct--les-derniersdeveloppements-sur-le-coronavirus. as can be seen from figure 3, the mural portrays a student sitting alone and being bored for not being able to study on-site due to the lockdown. the caption in the bubble says: “i’m tired of online class!!!”. the caption in this mural plays a crucial role in delivering the implied meaning of the mural. the verbal text, as barthes argues anchored the polysemous nature of the image in the mural. when https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2021/08/06/en-direct--les-derniers-developpements-sur-le-coronavirus https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2021/08/06/en-direct--les-derniers-developpements-sur-le-coronavirus llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 228-243 236 the text is absent, the meaning from the image boring schoolboy sitting alone; supporting his chin with the palm of his left hand; tired eyes gazing somewhere without focus and his right hand resting on his lap would be hard to decipher. the viewers would have a diverse understanding as the image opens to different interpretations. thanks to the message that it helps the viewers to “fix the floating chain of the signified” (barthes, 1997, p. 39). the text enables the viewers to understand the intended possible meaning of the image in the mural. some symbols of equations in math are written on the caption which strengthens the difficulties of studying online. math is used in the mural as math is one of the scariest subjects for most indonesian students. the lettering is capitalized with modification of peace symbols inserted in the “a” and “o” probably saying that an online class is never as peaceful as an onsite class since most indonesian students cannot afford the resources they need to study online. for an online class, students need two main assets: gadgets and the internet. these two facilities are not a problem for school children from upper-middle-class urban families. unfortunately, students in rural or remote areas find that gadgets and the internet needed for an online class are luxuries that they do not necessarily have or afford. the visual information of a bored schoolboy is anchored by the caption saying he is bored with the online school reflecting the huge gap between the social economy and access to education in indonesia during the pandemic. conversion process the conversion process accommodates the transformation of the rps within the image. figure 4 below describes the conversion concept. figure 4 was created in depok, a landlocked city in west java that is located within jakarta metropolitan area when a comprehensive curfew was initiated in april 2020. figure 4. https://news.detik.com/foto-news/d-4977881/mural-pejuang-medismelawan-viruscorona here, the conversion process depicted in the image of coronavirus from being a microscopic cell at 0.10.5 µm size into a fireballs size visible to the naked eye attacking the earth’s atmosphere. whereas medical worker is symbolized by a regular job curing sick people into war hero with an angel’s wing fighting the meteoroid attack of coronavirus cell in their full ‘armor’, the personal protective equipment (ppe) to shield themselves from getting infected when they fight with https://news.detik.com/foto-news/d-4977881/mural-pejuang-medis-melawan-viruscorona https://news.detik.com/foto-news/d-4977881/mural-pejuang-medis-melawan-viruscorona llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 228-243 237 the attack and save lives at the same time. the caption says: “thank you warrior!” addressed to the medical workers having a direct war with the virus attack, and the second caption is intended to a general citizen to “fight covid-19 by staying at home”. the rps in this mural reflect how indonesian people change the concept of the virus from being dangerous to great danger as it attacks as fast as a meteoroid and spreads at extreme speed. in addition to that, indonesian people have changed their perception of medical workers who before the pandemic times are considered regular people who work at hospitals curing patients into a warrior on the front-line fighting coronavirus attack. for indonesian, warriors are mostly interpreted as people who have passed away fighting for indonesia’s independence at the time of the dutch or japanese colonialization. at the time of the covid-19 pandemic, however, the warrior has been used to refer to medical workers as they are believed is in a war with the virus. just like the warriors in the time of the war with the dutch, the medical workers are also in the war fighting with covid-19. another point to add is the victim of covid-19 that lays helplessly on the medical worker’s lap. this image is as if saying that the best thing to do for regular people in the war with coronavirus is to stay at home. otherwise, they would be infected and made the work of the ‘warrior’ harder. the last significant point is how the medical worker is depicted with the angel wing. one possible explanation of the conversion from a regular worker into a warrior with an angel wing is the sacrifice that the ‘warrior’ must go through in defending their country. they must be away from their family to fulfill their job that might take their own life. thus, only people with angel hearts can disregard their life and give their best in their duty. analysis of interpretative meaning the previous sub-chapter has discussed the representation of the interaction between the people, things, and places depicted in the selected murals to explore how the meaning-making of the murals is constructed. this sub-chapter would discuss the interaction between the producers and the viewers to investigate the construction of interactive meaning by participants. here, the interactive meaning will be analyzed through the gaze, social distance, and point of view. the gaze in figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 the (rps) address us, the viewers indirectly. in this case, as kress and van leeuwen (2006) argue, the (rps) are the object of the viewer’s inspection where the role of the viewers is of “invisible onlooker”. when an image does not have personal or “quasi-human” participants who directly look at the audience, it means that the image is ‘offer’. therefore, the (rps)in figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 are offered by the producers to the viewers for them to find information or contemplate. the four murals in this study show that all the rps are detached away from the viewers, and eye contact between them is absent. the rps direct their eyes on something other than the viewers. the rps in figure 1, squinting his eyes in the direction of his shield and the coronavirus cells attacking him. a similar interpretation can be made in the rps in the second figure. they disengaged from the viewers as they directed their gaze at the yelling human-like coronavirus cell. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 228-243 238 nonetheless, the rps in figures 1 and 2 direct the viewers into something that the viewers can see which is the coronavirus cells. the rps offer information about the danger of the virus. figures 3 and 4, however, show rps whose gaze looks at something that the viewers cannot see. in figure 3, the schoolboy’s eyes look tired and half-open gazing far away outside the frame. a similar issue can be found in figure 4. as can be seen from the image, the rps look like s/he indirectly looking at something that the viewers cannot see. his/her eyes are wide open but without any clues that make the viewers cannot follow where the gaze leads to. unlike the gaze of the rps in figures 1 and 2 which provide the viewers with an opportunity to look at the direction of their gaze, the represented participants in figures 3 and 4’s gaze do not give anything to see but contemplation on what might happen to the rps. nonetheless, their gaze at something else other than the viewers gives the viewers chance to look at the direction of their gaze, believing that the rps do not know that they are being looked at. therefore, the rps in the four figures could be considered offering themselves as an object that the viewers could scrutiny carefully to extract the meanings of the image. social distance the rps in the selected data are presented in a long shot. figures 2 and 3 are shown in long shots as they are mostly shown in a full figures. therefore, the viewers can see the rps as approximately life-size as if they are in their real size in the real world. as can be seen from figures 2 and 3, rps (the schoolboy and the two ghosts) are depicted in their full body where their head is positioned near the top of the frame and their feet are near the bottom of the frame. although figure.1 and 3 looks somehow depicted in medium shots, the viewers still can perceive the images as full-size images. this long-shot presentation might imply objectivity and some social distance between the rps and the viewers. it goes hand in hand with the meaning conveyed by the rps gaze which offers images as previously discussed in the gaze dimension. these four figures might signify that the rps are in their world separated from the world of the viewers. in the offer image, the rps are detached from the viewers and this message is reinforced by the long-shot presentation that also implies objectivity and social distance. point of view although the rps in figures 1,2,3 and 4 are objective images as they are all portrayed in long shots, the point of view used in the four figures demonstrates that the rps are closer to the viewers. the producer used a frontal angle in depicting the rps in the four murals in this study. this frontal angle gives the viewers a sense of involvement with the rps. the viewers are at the same level as the rps as none of the rps are seen from above or below. this indicates the absence of power difference between the rps and the viewers. that might be the reason why the producers use the frontal angle to depict the rps to obtain maximum involvement from the viewers. the producers do this as their way to involve the viewers in the rps’ world. for instance, in figures 1 and 2, the rps make the viewers feel the importance of protecting themselves against coronavirus by wearing a mask and keeping social distancing as protective acts are llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 228-243 239 better than curing them from getting infected. finally, the image in the selected data presents the rps at eye level, this strategy suggests that the relationship between the viewers and the rps is equal. the producers want the viewers to feel that the rps in the selected murals are part of themselves and that they are engaged in a similar situation and attitudes with the rps. no matter what the viewers see in the rps is inseparable from their world, something that they engaged with (kress & van leeuwen, 2006). compositional meaning compositional meaning is derived from how the rps are organized in the image where the organization includes the information dissemination, frame, and salience. the distribution of information would be discussed as the point of departure in analyzing the compositional meaning. the information that the producers intend to deliver to the viewers can be derived from the way they place the elements within the image where the viewers can find which information, they must pay attention to (moebius, 1986). as the selected data in this study shows, the new given pattern is mostly used by the producers. three of the murals (figures 1, 3, and 4) show how the new given pattern is adopted by the producers in delivering their message. figures 1, 3, and 4 verbal expressions filled the space of given whereas the visual images filled the space of new. the captions “to protect is better than to cure”; “i’m bored of online class.” and thank you, medical worker warrior. fight covid-19 stay at home” are presented as the point of departure of the message, as something that the indonesians are familiar with. the proverb “an ounce of protection is worth a pound of cure” is a familiar concept within indonesian society even before the global pandemic strikes in indonesia. therefore, using the proverb in the image as the given information would make the viewers digest the message easily. the same analysis goes for the caption on the third and fourth data, the viewers already know that online class has become problematic in indonesia and that the indonesians has come up with a new vocabulary for medical workers. the images filled the space of new shows that are yet to be known to the viewers. the image showing a man with a mask and gloves using his shield to fight coronavirus cells and the image of the medical worker in their ppe with angel wings on their back is the thing that the viewers should pay attention to. as the new message, those images can be considered as the issue that deserves more attention from the viewers. as the nature of new is contestable, the viewers might have a different interpretation of the issue; whether they interpret that masks and gloves would protect them from covid-19; or whether the medical warriors are becoming angels capable of fighting the pandemic attack and saving lives at the same time. unlike figure 1, 3, and 4 which use the given new pattern in delivering their message to the viewers, figure 2 use a real ideal pattern in its presentation. the caption in figure 2 “wear your mask! keep social distancing!” is placed on the upper section and the visual images of two indonesian ghosts are being yelled at by the human-like coronavirus cell in the lower section. this presentation reveals that ideally, people should follow and maintain health protocols such as wearing a mask and keeping social distancing but, many indonesian people still violate the protocol, and this might lead them of getting llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 228-243 240 infected by the covid-19. thus, the unity of visual and written expression (kress & van leeuwen, 2006) makes the intended message from the mural’s creator easily understood. the second aspect of compositional meaning is framing. the four selected murals in this study are presented without a frame. it means that the elements in the images are connected to present a “single unit of information” (kress & van leeuwen, 2006). the absence of framing in the four selected data shows the involvement and the cooperation of visual images and verbal expressions that engage with each other to give a sense of connectedness or a sense of unity between the images and the written expression. one possible explanation for the absence of a frame is that frames can be interpreted either as concrete lines that border some objects where these lines can be easily seen by the naked eye or a mental frame where that resides within the mind of the viewers. this mental frame is what the sociologist defines as a setting or background of a situation “within which the interaction occurs” (goffman & berger, 1985, p. xiii). as such, the selected murals in this study would be interpreted easily by the viewers even though they do not employ any concrete lines that border the objects. this occurred as the producer of the selected murals apply covid-19 as the theme of their murals. as a result, when viewing the selected murals, the viewers find that covid-19 is the given frame that provides the viewers with “the main focus of attention” (goffman, 1986, p. 201). they also incorporate the existing knowledge of indonesian people to bring new understanding about covid-19 related issues to raise awareness about the danger of covid-19 and encourage indonesian to stay vigilant and follow the covid-19 preventive measures to flatten the spread of the virus. putting all together, the absence of a physical frame of the selected murals is replaced by covid-19 theme as the mental frame or setting of the mural connecting all the elements within the image and the viewers. another aspect to consider in compositional meaning is size. this feature argues that the bigger the rps the more important they are. whereas the smaller rps are understood as less important (nikolajeva and scott, 2001). based on the size of the rps in the four selected murals in the study, it can be seen that the size of rps has the power to draw the viewers’ attention to the important message of the murals. most of the rps in the study are presented in a bigger size than other participants to show their importance. for instance, the man with the shield in figure 1 and the medical worker with his/her ppe in figure 4 are presented as bigger than the coronavirus cell to show that these rps are more important than the coronavirus cell. in the same vein, the image of the bubble thought in figure 3 is presented as at least as big as the bored schoolboy as the written message in figure 3 is important and therefore needs special attention from the viewers. conclusion this study aimed to investigate the meaning-making of (covid-19)-themed murals in indonesia by adopting kress and van leeuwen’s concepts of compositional, interactive, and representational meaning. the previous discussion of the selected murals shows that the visual and verbal expression of the murals is incorporated to construct and deliver certain meanings to society. each mural reflects certain knowledge that has existed within indonesian society and this existing knowledge is used to reinforce new knowledge to raise people’s awareness llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 228-243 241 about covid-19. in addition, the selected murals in this study are produced in public spaces that can be easily seen by society. a possible explanation of this strategy is that the (covid-19)-themed murals are created to ‘tell’ the indonesians to change how they view and act in responding to the pandemic and its related issue. three significant conclusions can be drawn from this study. first, the findings and discussion of representational meaning show that the murals in the study are adopting the four-narrative process, actional, reactional, speech and mental process, and conversion process. second, regarding the interactive function, the rps in the four murals are all categorized in offers image. in this type of interaction, the rps address the viewers by offering information, and the viewers are not required to accept or deny it. regarding social distance, the murals are depicted in a long shot which suggests objectivity and social distance between the rps and the viewers. nonetheless, although the two devices of interactional meaning, the gaze, and social distance reveal that the rps are distant from the viewers, the perspective/point of view is presented from a frontal angle. this strategy is used to create an involvement between the rps and the viewers and suggests that there is no power difference between the rps and the viewers. third, regarding the compositional dimension, the message is structured in a given new pattern except for figure. 2 which uses a real ideal pattern. the absence of frames in the selected murals demonstrates that the visual images and written expressions are linked with each other to provide a sense of connectedness between the image and the verbal expression. putting all together, the integration of three aspects of meta functions in the (covid-19) themed murals in this study is to create specific meaning for society. the limitation of this study is it only descriptively analyses the meaningmaking process of selected murals under the study based on the murals themselves. a more comprehensive study should be done by involving the ‘real’ viewers to elicit their perspectives about the meaning of the murals and how they perceive the construction of the meaning-making process in the murals. finally, the findings of this study are expected to contribute to the study of multimodal and understanding of how meanings are constructed and delivered within the different means of communication. references barthes, r. 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accepted 3 march 2023 abstract there have been pros and cons to learning grammar concerning second language acquisition. this paper aims to investigate hospitality and tourism (ht) students’ and workers’ perceptions of the significance of english grammar which has not been widely discussed. this article reports a mixed-method study that was conducted using an online survey and involving 50 ht students and 50 ht workers across indonesia. interviews with 2 human resource managers of international hotel chains were also performed to provide stronger validation. the findings revealed that ht students and workers do not hold a positive perception of learning grammar and should not comprehensively learn english rules since grammar mastery will insignificantly impact employability and career performance for most positions in that sector. however, it is suggested that those in higher positions learn the 6 most commonly used tenses to avoid misunderstandings that, to some degree, link to job promotions. results also suggest that teachers of esp for hospitality prioritize students’ speaking fluency, listening, and vocabulary comprehension using the clt and pbl teaching approaches. the research results are expected to build a more positive attitude toward english learning, thus fostering a better quality of human resources in the hospitality industry. keywords: english grammar, esp, hospitality, perceptions, tourism industry introduction grammar has never been neglected in any english learning curriculum, particularly english course curriculum in the indonesian qualification framework. substantially, when learning a new language like english, grammar mastery is set to be one major parameter for learning achievements. in consequence, the majority of universities in indonesia require their students to complete toefl itp or the like with a certain band score to earn a degree or as a graduation requirement. it is supported by the language development unit of iain palangkaraya (n.d.) that said, to date, the scores and certificates of toefl itp are made used by more than 200 universities in indonesia. in the test, there are three mailto:bomberrose@gmail.com mailto:s15200014@student.ubm.ac.id mailto:bomberrose@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5791 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 1-17 2 comprehensions tested: listening, reading, and structure and written expression. structure and written expression aims to evaluate test takers’ grammar competencies. it is considered crucial for english learners to master grammar due to the fairly different language structures between indonesian and english. according to batstone (1994), grammar is necessary to build effective communication and without an ability to use grammar in a variety of situations, communication would be seriously impaired. moreover, subasini and kokilavani (2013) mention that misunderstandings between people with different cultural backgrounds can be avoided by using correct grammar. many also say that using correct grammar can promote one’s credibility. it is, therefore, concluded that grammar may be the basic element to help learners communicate and build professionalism in the target language. grammar has been defined differently by many experts. there is, however, no universally unaccepted definition. the researchers here take the closest definition to the research topic. to have a clearer understanding of what grammar is referred to in this present study, the researchers use the definitions of grammar proposed by lado (1961) and harmer (2001). according to lado, grammar is a set of “language static rules that tell the students what should and should not say to speak the language of the socially educated class”. harmer has a corresponding notion about grammar which is the way of changing word forms and combining words into sentences in a language. in simple words, grammar refers to a study of the function of words, classes of words, and tenses in sentences. furthermore, in the prescriptive grammar of english, correctness is the notion that particular words, word forms, and syntactic structures meet the standards and rules prescribed by grammarians. despite the merits of mastering grammar, there are also controversies over grammar lessons. both students and teachers have different attitudes to grammar. there are several dismissive statements on the subject. the first one is that learners will acquire structures of l2 on their own and thus grammar does not have to be thought about (zhang, 2009). there are cases when learners can acquire second language grammar naturally without any intense grammar practice. for example, indonesian native speakers acquire proficiency in english on their own because of the frequent conversations with foreigners on various occasions and platforms, such as studying in international schools or having online english conversations. according to wilkins as stated in milton et al. (2010), “without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed”. in other words, for language learners, learning grammar is less important than acquiring vocabulary to be able to communicate in the target language. to some degree, intensive grammar courses are also believed to have negative impacts on efl learners. studying grammar too much slows down students’ speaking fluency because they are thinking much about language structure and rules making them afraid of making grammatical errors while speaking (sabah, bayar, mahmood, 2021). fluency in a language means speaking easily, reasonably quickly, and without having to stop and pause a lot. students agreed that studying grammar rules very insignificantly enhances self-confidence and speaking abilities and, instead, raises speaking anxiety. it is supported by djahimo et al. (2018) who assert that students’ anxiety in speaking english is the most common problem that happens in the efl learning context. some online english learning platforms, for llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 1-17 3 instance, englisheasypractice.com and languagetrainers.com, also suggest efl students, especially in conversation classes, not focus on grammar as it takes away the spontaneity and demotivates students to speak up. by learning the merits and demerits of grammar, students may have reasons not to learn grammar intensively according to their learning needs. students of the hospitality and tourism study program, for example, may not possess a strong eagerness to learn the complicated structure of english as much as students of the english language study program do, as they know their learning need is to at least be able to have basic english conversation skills with foreign guests or tourists. making some grammatical mistakes may not be a big issue for hotel employees as long as they are fluent and the utterance is still understandable. this is in line with current research which concluded that students of tourism and hospitality predominately necessitate english language abilities to communicate in their professional workplace (junita & nurdiana, 2019; lertchalermtipakoon et al., 2021). moreover, a study by gopal et al. (2021) concluded that “listening and speaking skills were perceived as mostly used by hospitality students to carry out their tasks”. being able to do effective two-way communication, where there is a sender (speaking) and receiver (listening), becomes the most fundamental skill that tourism and hospitality students need to possess. as english is viewed as a lingua franca, a worldwide communication tool, it is no doubt that english is highly needed for indonesian tourism professionals to communicate with foreign guests. the central bureau of statistics of indonesia (2022) revealed the number of foreign tourists visiting indonesia in april 2022 reached 111.600 due to the flattening curve of covid-19 cases and loosened travel restrictions. it has remarkably surged by 499.01% compared to the number of visits in april 2021. the majority of foreign travelers are from tiongkok, australia, singapore, the united states of america, and russia. there is also an increase of 9.08% for the national occupancy rate of star hotels in march 2022 which was 45.15% compared to the previous year. however, according to the 2017 english first english proficiency index (ef epi) in the jakarta post, with a score of 52.15, indonesia is below the asian countries’ average score and part of the low proficiency band category. it is assumed that the supply of english-speaking professionals in indonesia’s tourism industry cannot catch up with the increasing market demand. in addition, ht students' and hotel employees’ perceptions of the effectiveness of english lessons are not yet been extensively explored. categorically, there has been no academic investigation into the influence of grammar accuracy and mastery of ht students and employees on their future careers as professional hoteliers. therefore, this research specifically aims to examine the significance of english grammar mastery through the eyes of hospitality and tourism (ht) students and hotel employees. the pros and cons of studying grammar as an essential aspect of elt in the indonesian qualification framework, as elaborated above, make it more intriguing to be deep-dived. it is hoped the study can fill the gap between the qualifications hotel employees should possess and what they learn while in universities, to build a more positive attitude toward english learning for specific purposes and foster a better quality of human resources in the hospitality industry. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 1-17 4 english for specific purposes (esp) in the hospitality industry one of the strands of english language teaching (elt) is esp, referring to a language teaching approach in which all contents and materials are based on the learner’s reason for learning (hutchinson & waters, 1987). it is in line with strevens (1988) who states esp in english language teaching is designed to help a learner meet the specified needs and learn specific skills. concerning age range, lorenzo (2005) assures that “esp learners are usually adults who already have some acquaintance with english and are learning the target language to communicate a set of higher-level skills and to perform particular job-related functions”. in light of this, students or workers in tourism and hospitality learning english are also classified as esp learners. they possess a set of specific learning goals on what is needed most for their career in the hospitality and tourism industry (murniati & junita, 2021). hence, it is understood that learning materials for esp must be different from general english, designed to upgrade students’ english mastery in all skills and is usually taught in schools. students majoring in hospitality, travel, and tourism commonly have different learning styles compared to students from other programs (barron & arcodia, 2002). studies have indicated that students in those majors are attracted more to practical activities than theory and reflection; therefore, teachers or lecturers of hospitality students should give various instructions and teaching styles to increase students’ learning enthusiasm (lashley & barron, 2006). lectures on grammar, which are very theoretical-based, are usually monotonous if the teacher does not integrate them with student-student activities, which often occur in speaking activities. practical-based learning, thus, is more suitable for them. it is because, once hospitality students jump into the workforce, they are expected to have effective communication abilities, particularly with english-speaking hotel clients (kuppan, 2008). it is also supported by lin et al. (2013) that spoken tasks are found to bring significant positive effects on the language proficiency of hospitality college students and hotel employees in taiwan. the ministry of manpower of indonesia in the projection of manpower needs in companies based on competency in the tourism sector 2022 – 2025 declared that indonesian hotel employees should be able to communicate orally at a basic operational level. encouraging the students to speak english more frequently using communicative language teaching (clt), therefore, could be the most suitable learning approach for hospitality students who are learning english as it facilitates students’ english performance, raises their confidence, and enhances their communicative competence in tourism english (ho, 2020). it is now clear that the learning needs of ht students need to be narrowed down from general english materials to esp materials. method this present study employs a mixed-method research design by which the researchers use both qualitative and quantitative data for the analysis (creswell & clark, 2007). through a questionnaire, the researchers examine to what extent english grammar mastery is significant for ht students and hotel employees. ht students who participated in this research also do pay internships, while the hotel employees were once university students and/or are taking english lessons while working. moreover, their responses were expected to be heavily based on their llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 1-17 5 work experience at a hotel and, therefore, enhanced the data reliability. relevant questionnaire items were crafted and handed over to the concerned samples. in total, there were 100 respondents from two distinct groups who filled out the questionnaire as shown in the following table: table 1. sampling table sample population sample size hospitality and tourism (ht) students 50 hotel employees 50 because of the validity of the research results, 2 hotel human resource (hr) managers were interviewed through zoom. hr managers play a significant role in determining if job applicants are eligible to join the company and fulfill the required criteria. recruiters also possess the so-called “human resources skills”, such as interpersonal skills, recruiting, and effective communication, that help them carry out key responsibilities (robinson, 2022). the interview aims to see the possible justification for the questionnaire results and to get a closer look at to what extent grammar accuracy affects employability and career performance in the hospitality industry. findings and discussion as there has been controversy over teaching grammar to students of english of specific purposes (esp), in this case, hospitality and tourism (ht) students and hotel employees or the so-called hoteliers, the research attempts to reveal the fact about merits and/or demerits of grammar mastery from their perspectives. not only does the study highlight the role of grammar mastery at the entry level, but it also discusses its implications on career performance and employability in the hospitality industry. all respondents completely agree that they had ever taken english lessons whose teachers taught grammar and sentence structure, such as tenses, subject and verb agreements, and various pronouns. for the best display of survey results, this section is separated into 5 subsections based on the fundamental parameters of the questionnaire as well as interviews: ht students and hoteliers’ perceptions of english grammar teaching table 2. perceptions of english grammar teaching no. items likert scales (%) sd d n a sa 1. my teacher/lecturer taught english tenses and any materials related to english sentence structure. 4 16 80 2. grammar materials are complex and complicated. 11.5 11.5 3.8 46.2 3. the teacher/lecturer did not give me enough chances for me to practice speaking and implement the grammar materials. 19.2 23.1 19.2 38.5 4. i think i can learn grammar autonomously through youtube and other online learning applications. 3.8 7.7 34.6 11.5 42.3 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 1-17 6 notes: sd : strongly disagree d : disagree n : neutral a : agree sa : strongly agree looking at item 1 in the table above, 80% of the respondents agree that they had been taught grammar during the english lessons they took. three-quarters of the total respondents (item 2) also have the same opinion about how complex and complicated the grammar materials are. due to its complexity, teachers tend to spend more time giving explanations on the grammar rules and what should be done and avoided. from item 3, as many as 60% of the respondents feel that they do not obtain enough chances to hone their practical abilities in speaking or contextualizing grammatical theories in a real situation. meanwhile, english for the hospitality and tourism industry, as a branch of esp, should be less theoretical and instead endorse communicative language teaching (clt) to boost students’ confidence and communicative competence (ho, 2020). moreover, more than 50% of the respondents (item 4) agree that grammar knowledge can be perceived autonomously through more absorbing and fluid ways of learning, such as watching english youtube videos and using online language learning platforms. it is more like communicative teaching has been influenced by the development of technology (rerung, 2018). this indicates that most respondents in this survey do not possess a good impression of grammar learning activities in class. in traditional and general teaching contexts, english is usually taught with the teacher-led approach in which most decisions are made by the teacher. in consequence, the materials may not perfectly meet the student’s learning preferences and needs. english teachers of ht students and hotel employees should be more aware of learner autonomy which is more self-directed learning to achieve better learning outcomes. learner autonomy allows students to develop their learning strategies and decide what they want to learn using their preferred learning style (yang, 2016). hence, it is suggested that teachers also implement projectbased learning which is proven to promote learner autonomy (yuliani & lengkanawati, 2017). this teaching approach facilitates ht students to solve realworld problems collaboratively dynamically and engagingly while having more freedom to use their learning preferences to accomplish the project given. the steps in implementing the project-based teaching approach are shown in figure 1 below. it is worth noting that the step for teacher consultation and feedback should garner considerable attention for more positive learning outcomes. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 1-17 7 figure 1. project-based teaching strategies ht students and hoteliers’ perceptions of grammar rules table 3. perceptions of the grammar rules no. items likert scales (%) sd d n a sa 1. i find it hard to remember grammar rules, such as tenses. 3.7 18.5 18.5 29.6 29.6 2. i find it hard to implement the grammar rules i’ve learned in daily conversation. 3.7 11.1 44.4 11.1 29.6 3. when speaking in english, i think too much about grammar and worry about making grammatical mistakes. 3.7 14.8 22.2 18.5 40.7 4. grammar becomes a problem when i speak english. 7.4 14.8 18.5 18.5 40.7 5. the complexity of english grammar makes me afraid to speak english. 11.1 18.5 25.9 14.8 29.6 the questionnaire items above were designed to capture ht students' and hotel employees’ reflections regarding how difficult it is to implement grammar rules in real-context conversations. based on the data above, approximately 60% of the respondents agree that they find grammar rules hard to remember and, thus, hard to be implemented while speaking (items 1 and 2). this could happen for some reasons relating to english teaching methods, such as the ineffective way of teaching and lack of teaching variations. firstly, teachers tend to teach grammar without context which could lead the students nowhere. as one of the most difficult issues of language teaching, grammar rules are made easier if they are given in a context, such as teaching grammar through dialogues. in this way, students are exposed to the target language in an authentic or near-authentic setting, they see or hear the target language before having to focus on it (riddell, 2003). teaching grammar with context will help learners perceive the structures of the language effectively and help them remember the rules better. english teachers for hoteliers, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 1-17 8 however, should not throw an extra spotlight on grammar conventions so that students can build their self-confidence in speaking. secondly, it is no surprise that 40,7% of the respondents find it hard to implement grammar theories in daily conversation, while the other 44% are neutral about it (item 2). with limited variations in learning grammar, the students could be overwhelmed by the number of materials they need to remember since memorizing become one of the common methods. it is suggested that teachers nowadays employ learner-centered class activities much more often than teachercentered such as lecturing. using learner-centered instructions means students take on more productive roles, while the teacher facilitates the active learning experience for the learners. in the case of grammar learning, such activities allow more time for practicing the language thus making it an effective approach to teaching grammar. in a classroom setting, the teacher’s lack of deep knowledge about grammar could also create confusion, which mostly happens in junior to senior high school where most of the respondents experienced the study. in a nutshell, students’ understanding and ability to implement them are strongly influenced by teachers’ linguistic competence (dovalil & hanulíková, 2022). both problems that prevail in indonesia education’s curriculum synchronously relate to a statement of english grammar being difficult to learn and implement in daily conversation. that is in line with komara and tiarsiwi (2021) who assert that the monotonous teaching methods variation in the class going simultaneously with the teacher's imprecise explanation could develop a hindrance among the students who learn grammar. to learn a language means to speak the language. contrariwise, it is seen from the table above that the vast majority of respondents feel hesitant to speak english due to the fear of making grammatical mistakes (item 3). two of the respondents revealed that their english teacher prioritizes flawless grammar over fluency. to achieve the expectation, the teacher spent most of the allocated time explaining english tenses. three ht students who got to be interviewed added they fear getting humiliated, laughed at, and labeled unintelligent by the teacher and friends if they make grammatical mistakes while speaking. as many as 76% of the respondents see the complexity of grammar theories becoming a hurdle in speaking (item 5). a hotel employee added during the interview that speaking is the hardest language skill because she should not only think about grammar but also other speaking components, such as pronunciation, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension, all at once in a short time. learning from the determinants of students’ reluctance to speak english, students need more understanding as well as help from the teachers. teachers should be mindful of their attitude. discouraging teaching approaches create negative emotions, which in turn demotivates students to learn. tang and hu (2022) even suggest the administration train the teachers on how to show a positive attitude and follow encouraging teaching approaches to increase students’ motivation and confidence in english. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 1-17 9 ht students and hoteliers’ perceptions of how english learning should be table 4. perceptions of how english learning should be no. items likert scales (%) sd d n a sa 1. during the english lessons, ht students and workers should also be given speaking practice in balance. 2.6 21.1 76.3 2. ht students and workers should do listening practices more frequently than grammar. 2.6 2.6 44.2 60.5 3. english lessons for ht students and workers should be designed to be more practical than theoretical. 2.6 18.4 78.9 4. ht students and workers should be taught vocabulary more frequently than grammar. 2.6 5.3 10.5 21.1 60.5 in line with previous discussions, which questioned the respondents' impressions of how grammar is implemented in their english class, this section focuses more on how they think english classes for hoteliers should be. the result shows the vast majority of the respondents agreed that english teaching for hoteliers needs to be balanced with speaking and listening exercises (items 1 and 2). integrating speaking and listening skills is proven to facilitate english language learners’ communicative competence (tavil, 2010) which hoteliers need the most. although listening is a receptive skill in that the listener is receiving a message from a speaker, it does not mean that the listener is doing a passive task. for hoteliers, listening to foreigners’ requests and complaints carries out many purposes that they need to be full attention to, more than just listening to the language itself. they are listening to be able to do something else afterward. the speaker also should be less concerned with the language than with the message sent to communicate. in consequence, students should develop not only speaking but also listening skills to communicate with others. some respondents also stated that “listening and speaking practices for hotel workers are important because we mostly do 2-way communications with hotel guests and staff”. another respondent said, “listening abilities are necessary to comprehend what the guests are saying and avoid misinformation/misunderstanding”. thus, this finding fits gopal et al.’s (2021) research that listening and speaking skills were perceived as mostly used by hospitality students to complete their tasks. on item 3, more than 95% of respondents also consider english lessons for hospitality should be more practical. this response means that the respondents’ experience in learning english does not feel convenient. their perceptions could also give an insight into what english for hospitality should be like according to the learners; practice over theory. most respondents agree that ht students and workers need more speaking practice than theoretical-based english materials. the decision of respondents which leads them to overlook this comprehensive skill becomes rare to happen with a demand to be an intermediary of communication in the international context (hilliard, 2014). upon their previous awareness that considers speaking is more important than grammar, it is not unexpected 80% of the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 1-17 10 respondents share that hoteliers need to be accommodated with vocabulary enrichment. much research has proven that vocabulary has a close relationship with one’s communicative skills. teaching vocabulary therefore should not be separated from speaking and listening practices. teachers should provide esp for hospitality students with activities to teach vocabulary while enhancing the students’ listening and speaking skills. punzone and kildare (n.d.) suggest innovative ways to teach vocabulary, speaking, and listening integratively using youtube videos, dialogues, and presentations. ht students and hoteliers’ perceptions of the influence of grammar mastery on career performance and employability table 5. influence of grammar mastery on career performance and employability no. items likert scales (%) sd d n a sa 1. in the hospitality industry, grammar accuracy is not the benchmark for a successful career. 2.6 26.3 28. 9 42.1 2. when communicating with guests using english, grammar errors do not become a big issue. 2.6 10.5 13.2 21.1 52.6 3. based on my experience, grammar accuracy, and mastery is not prominent criterion in a hospitality job interview. 8.0 20.0 32.0 40.0 4. grammar errors are not the reason i get rejected 4.0 4.0 8.0 28.0 56.0 5. job promotion and performance in the hospitality industry have nothing to do with my grammar mastery. 8.0 20.0 24.0 48.0 the questionnaire items above are designed to know if grammar mastery has an influence on career performance and employability in the hospitality industry. looking at item 1 in the table above, 42.1% and 28.9% of respondents respectively strongly agreed and agreed that grammar accuracy is not the benchmark for a successful career in service residence work settings. for item 2, more than half of the participants also agreed that it is no big issue to have grammar mistakes when communicating with foreign guests. those claims also correspond with two hr hotel managers’ perspectives on this. in the interview, interviewee 1 and interviewee 2 stated: excerpt 1 grammar would be so much less important than fluency. in indonesian, our mother tongue itself, we also do not think much about it when talking. english grammar errors happen every day and it is no big deal, especially if they do not result in fatal misunderstandings. if otherwise happens and it has something to do with the timeline of events which is quite risky sometimes, for example, “my colleague works in my company” is different from “my colleague worked in my company”, i think we all would not mind asking for llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 1-17 11 direct clarifications as long as they have the ability to fluently express the intention. (interviewee 1, interview on december 15, 2022) excerpt 2 grammar mistakes play a very insignificant role in our industry. the first and foremost qualifications a hotelier should possess are the ability to speak and a good attitude. (interviewee 2, interview on december 10, 2022) english is a chronological language and it has three main time divisions; past, present, and future expressed by the tenses. from the data above, it is concluded that though grammar is not lit by the spotlights in the hospitality working industry, hoteliers should be more aware of the tenses. unlike the indonesian language, english puts much emphasis on tenses and chronological order to indicate when a particular action takes place. therefore, it is considered helpful to understand and be able to use english tenses in the right contexts to avoid misunderstandings. however, considering that ht students and workers are under the classification of english for specific learners (esp for hospitality), the english course should be goal-directed as they learn the language for work purposes, not because they are interested in it. in this case, the goal is to produce more active and confident english hotel workers, and therefore the learning activities must be using a practical-based rather than a theoretical-based approach. moreover, it will be an ill-considered decision for ht students and workers to study all english tenses. it is suggested that hoteliers or hotel job applicants focus more on the most commonly used english tenses according to spengler (2022), such as the simple present, simple past, simple future, present perfect, and present continuous. the following is the quick insights into the frequency of the use of the top 5 tenses: figure 2. most commonly used english verb tenses for item 3, almost three-quarters of the participants agreed grammar accuracy is not a prominent criterion in a hospitality job interview, and therefore it is not the primary consideration they got rejected or accepted from the application (item 4). 60%20% 9% 6% 5% 5 common english verb tenses simple present simple past simple future present perfect present continuous llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 1-17 12 the researchers found this in line with statements from interviewees 1 and 2 whose one of the duties is to interview the job applicants. the statements are as follows: excerpt 3 the basic necessities for every hotel position vary. for senior positions, we will put more consideration on work experiences, leadership experiences, and english verbal capabilities. for a lower position such as front desk agents, one will be prioritized over the others if he/she can speak other than english and indonesian. this however only happens in international hotel chains, so if one fulfills other criteria but fails to perform sufficient verbal english skills, they will still get rejected. regarding english verbal skills, it is more than enough if one is fluent and has the ability to quickly understand questions or do not ask us to repeat questions more than two times. (interviewee 1, interview on december 15, 2022) excerpt 4 to me, a job applicant is eligible for the position if he has sufficient knowledge about the job desc and the company, english speaking fluency if he is applying to an international chain hotel, and the logic of answers. (interviewee 2, interview on december 10, 2022) from the data above, it is understood that english communication skills, without putting extra highlights on grammar accuracy, is one of the criteria that job applicants can show off to win the recruiter teams’ hearts. for international hotel chains, this criterion is equally important as the other two criteria; related work experiences and leadership experiences, as the interview is done entirely in english. on the contrary, interviews in local hotel chains are mostly done in indonesian. moreover, it is also crucial that the job applicant can follow the flow of the conversation during the job interview by paying full attention to the questions being asked and avoiding asking to repeat the questions. for point number 5.72% of the total participants agreed job promotion and performance in the hospitality industry have nothing to do with their grammar mastery. nevertheless, one hotel talent recruiter has quite different perspectives on this. the interviewee’s statements on this are as follows: excerpt 5 hoteliers are expected to be very practical to english speakers. however, major grammar mistakes that can result in fatal misunderstandings and happen repetitively could shift our impressions of a worker, but this actually depends on the job position. the higher the position, the higher the expectations we have for them. this also applies to one to get a job promotion. (interviewee 1, interview on december 15, 2022) although both hr managers being interviewed agreed that fluency over grammar accuracy, in this matter, it is understood that grammar accuracy could be a hot spot to decide employee eligibility for promotions. however, this only happens if grammar inaccuracy results in fatal misunderstandings which frequently happens. this could be overcome by having the ability to clarify misinformation llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 1-17 13 that is closely related to having good speaking fluency and a wide range of vocabulary. for better esp for hospitality and tourism industry in the interview with hotel hr managers, the researchers asked them to order four language skills, which are speaking, writing, reading, and listening, from the most important to the least important one based on the necessity in the hospitality industry. from here, it is hoped to help esp for hospitality teachers better plan the teaching activities to cater to the student’s needs. the followings are their responses. excerpt 6 to me, the order will be: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. listening skills are actually as important as speaking because hoteliers must become good receivers for the guests. in case of lack of english speaking ability, a worker at least can understand what the guests are telling or asking and then refer the message to other coworkers who have better english than him. (interviewee 1, interview on december 15, 2022) excerpt 7 all language skills are important, but the most important one in our industry is speaking fluency. speaking and listening co-occur in real life. (interviewee 2, interview on december 10, 2022) meanwhile, the table below presents the most crucial language skills to master from the point of view of the ht workers and students through the questionnaire. figure 2. most important language skills to master by hoteliers one respondent through the questionnaire also expected english lessons for ht students to provide direct interactions and conversations with foreigners. regardless of the pronunciation or accent they use, the experience to interact with them will build more confidence and readiness for the real work setting. it is reasonable because students normally do not have the opportunity to communicate with foreigners, so when they do, they tend to change their attitude a bit. the hotel 55% 41% 4% 0% skills to master speaking listening reading writing llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 1-17 14 hr managers also suggest higher education institutions give wider chances for the students to do an internship at hotels. the more people they meet the more language exposure they expose to and the accent/dialect they are exposed to, thus shaping their ready mindset to work globally. conclusion from the data analysis above, the researchers could draw some crucial conclusions concerning english grammar in relation to ht workers and students. firstly, ht students and workers should not comprehensively learn english grammatical rules since grammar mastery will not give a significant impact on hoteliers’ employability and career performance for most positions. however, learning some most commonly used tenses, such as simple present, simple past, simple future, present perfect, and present continuous, is beneficial to avoid misunderstandings between staff to staff and staff guests, thus maintaining good impressions that, to some degree, links to job promotions, especially to higher positions, which could affect the top-down communication flow. it is worth noting that repetitive minor grammar mistakes may not bring any significant impacts on one’s impression, but repetitive major grammar errors may do because they can lead to misunderstandings. secondly, toefl itp scores/certificates are not crucial for both hotel job applicants and recruiters because the test does not cater to all the required skills that hoteliers should perform. therefore, for international hotel chains, it is a must that the job interview is done in english to see if the applicant performs with sufficient listening abilities and speaking fluency despite minor grammar inaccuracy. thirdly, the main focus of esp for hospitality is to develop learners’ listening and speaking skills, particularly speaking fluency and vocabulary. in consequence, teachers of esp for hospitality are suggested to implement approaches such as communicative language teaching (clt) and project based learning (pbl) to equip students with more hands-on experience with english theoretical concepts under discussion. esp for hospitality must spend most of the time with the language itself, in low-stress enjoyable situations, with more listening and speaking activities. this research still has some shortcomings that eventually delimit the researchers’ data analysis and interpretations, such as insufficient sample size due to the limited ability to gain access to the work setting of the participants and lack of prior relevant studies. it is hoped that future researchers can tap more into the issue of ht students' and workers’ anxiety about speaking english and investigate the effectiveness of clt or pbl as recommended teaching approaches for ht students. those would help both students and teachers to have a more positive attitude and better strategies for becoming more practical english users, thus escalating the quality of hotel service in indonesia. references apa itu toefl itp? dan mengapa menggunakannya? 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(2016). self-directed learning to develop autonomy in an online esp community. interactive learning environments, 24(7), 1629-1646. yuliani, y., & lengkanawati, n. s. (2017). project-based learning in promoting learner autonomy in an efl classroom. indonesian journal of applied linguistics, 7(2), 285-293. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v7i2.8131 zhang, j. (2009). the necessity of grammar teaching. international education studies, 2(2), 184-187. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v7i2.8131 llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 language and language teaching journal http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 94 language learning strategies used by junior high school efl learners melvina amir indonesia university of education, bandung, indonesia melvina@upi.edu doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.210110 received 12 january 2018; revised 13 february 2018; accepted 10 march 2018 abstract research on language learning strategies has been carried out since the 1990s in indonesia. these studies have covered the language learning strategies among senior high school and university students. there has been insufficient research that investigates junior high school and primary school students. the main objective of the study was to investigate the language learning strategies of junior high school students in learning english by finding out what learning strategies they employ most frequently according to the four language skills. data were collected using survey questionnaire distributed to 34 eighth grade students. they responded to the questionnaire adapted from language strategy use inventory by cohen, oxford and chi (2002). the adapted version of language strategy use questionnaire consists of 40 statements concerning the four major english language skills. they are listening, speaking, reading and writing. the responses were calculated through statistical analysis in terms of frequency, mean and standard deviation by using statistical package for social science (spss) 20 for windows. the findings revealed that the eighth graders of the junior high school in bandung were moderate users of strategies in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. these students were reported to use reading strategies the most while speaking strategies were used the least. the findings of this study indicate that the students had their own learning preferences and strategies in learning english. it is recommended that research on language learning strategies should not stop from investigation and exploration in order to help the learners to be successful english language learners. keywords: language learning strategies, junior high school students, english as a foreign language introduction nowadays, english has a status as an international lingua franca, and it makes scholars and educators have prompted to find out ways or methods to develop successful language learners. therefore, students need strategies in learning english in and out of classroom activities. language learning strategies help students to succeed in learning and developing their communicative competency. oxford (1990) stated that learning strategies are steps taken by students to enhance their own learning, and they are important for language learners because they are tools for active, self-directed involvement, which is essential for llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 95 developing communication competency. it means that learning strategies are individual; it will be different from one student to another. thus, each student has his or her own strategy in learning. the role of english language in the 21st century is very dominant. in this era, we are prompted to have good english language proficiency. the importance of helping students become more autonomous in their learning has become one of its most prominent themes. furthermore, in this 21st century, there is a gradual shift of typical classroom context. teachers are no longer the only source of knowledge. learners are demanded to be active and self-directed. in line with the purpose of the 2013 curriculum, the teaching and learning process is expected to support students to learn by finding knowledge and information by themselves. it can be concluded that language learning strategies would be important to assist students in learning how to learn. language learning strategies assist english language learners to master the materials independently, either individually or with others, where successful language learners make use of different types of learning strategies. fedderholdt (1997) stated that language learners who are capable of using a wide variety of language learning strategies appropriately can better improve their language skills because they are better equipped. low proficiency in english among students in indonesia has been a significant issue in our education system. this issue has become a long debate and a hot topic among researchers. a great number of students are unsuccessful in learning english. they do not know how exactly to learn it. meanwhile, in the teaching and learning process, language teachers only teach the language. they do not teach the learners how to learn it. in the 21st century, there is a gradual shift in language learning process, where students should be more active, independent or autonomous in language learning. related to learning english language, students are expected to be more active in learning english by implementing learning strategies. the use of appropriate language learning strategies will help the students to improve their english. in spite of the increasing popularity of research on learning strategies since the mid1970s, the topic of learning strategies is still a new research area in any educational levels in indonesia. in other words, lls was not popular and rarely discussed in indonesian literature. with reference to indonesian context, there is the insufficiency of research on lls employed by young learners. majority of research to date in indonesia has focused on secondary high school, particularly senior high school students (mistar, 2010; mistar & umamah,2015) and undergraduates, particularly among english major (lengkanawati, 1997; djiwandono, 1998; huda 1998; bambang,2000; mistar,2001, 2006; lengkanawati, 2004; johari, 2005; ras 2013). as reviewed above, very few studies have been done on language learning strategies for young learners or junior high school students. therefore, there are more possibilities to conduct a new research on language learning strategies among young efl students. it is hoped that this research will shed new lights on the knowledge of language learning strategies. concerning the issues above, this paper aims to investigate the llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 96 language learning strategies of the eighth grade junior high school students in bandung in learning english. before the 1960s, in the field of second language learning and teaching, many researchers had focused on teaching methods or strategies without concerning the learners. then, research interests shifted from the study of teaching method to the study of learner’s characteristics and the effects on second language acquisition. in the field of language learning, research in language learning strategies began in the 1960s. it was called good language learner (gll). it was then developed into language learning strategies (lls). good language learner studies focused only on what a good language learner did and which language learning strategies they chose in their language learning. since 1970s, the focus and findings of the language learning strategies have developed into a wider dimension such as factors influencing the learners. o’malley and chamot (1990) defined lls as “the special thoughts or behaviors that individual use to help them comprehend, learn, or retain new information” (p. 1). this definition tells us that lls can be either observable (behaviors) or unobservable (thoughts). lls also help students comprehend and learn new information. richards and platt (1992) stated that learning strategies are “intentional behavior and thoughts used by learners during learning so as to better help them understand, learn, or remember new information” (p. 209). according to oxford (1990) learning strategies are specific actions taken by the learners to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more efficient and more transferable to a new situation. strategies are especially important for language learning because they are tools for active, self-directed involvement, which is essential for developing communicative competence. in addition, embi (2000) defines lls as the plans and/or actions that learners take to enhance their process of language learning. three strategies are established, which are: a) learning strategies, b) communication strategies, and c) production strategies. method this research employed a quantitative descriptive research with survey method. the data collected was to find out the language learning strategies used by eighth grade junior high school students in bandung. the participants of this study were 34 eighth grade students in one public junior high school in bandung. they were beginners in learning english. in this study, a questionnaire was used as an instrument of data collection. questionnaires are the most frequently used method in current studies on language learning strategies. as mentioned by embi (2000), most surveys conducted in language learning strategies research are of behavior questionnaires and strategy inventory involving factor analysis. the instrument used in this study was the language strategy use questionnaire adapted from language strategy use inventory by cohen, oxford, and chi (2002). there are 40 statements about the strategies in learning english concerning four english major skills in the questionnaire. the subjects responded to the five-scales statements ranging from 1: never or almost never true of me, 2: usually not true of me, 3: somewhat true llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 97 of me, 4: usually true of me, 5: always or almost always true of me. thus, the highest mean possible is 5.00, while the lowest possible score would be 1.00. a mean score of 3.00 would be the midpoint. statistical analysis to calculate frequencies means and standard deviations are employed to identify the most frequently used learning strategies and the least used one. in this study, the researcher used statistical package for social science (spss) 20 for windows in analyzing the data. the descriptive statistics help to present the findings of the survey question in a form that is easy to understand. this research used descriptive statistics to analyze these variables. frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation were used. to find out the frequency of language learning strategies used, interpretation mean score was used. the responses from the students were divided into three categories. they are “frequently”, “sometimes”, and “never” based on the frequency of strategy use. the mean score for each item was then calculated and the frequency of use for each item was determined using the frequency ratings that were adopted from oxford (1990). findings and discussion the following section discusses the finding obtained from the study. table 1. listening strategies no strategy mean frequency 1 listen to talk show on the radio, watch tv shows or movies in english 3.1176 moderate 2 listening to people who are speaking in english and try to understand what they are saying. 3.2647 moderate 3 practice sound in the target language that are different from sound in my own language. 2.9412 moderate 4 pay special attention to specific aspect of the language. 3.1765 moderate 5 try to predict what the other person is going to say based on what has been said so far. 2.6765 moderate 6 listen for key words that seem to carry the bulk of the meaning. 3.2647 moderate 7 try to understand what i hear without translating it word for word. 3.2647 moderate 8 ask speakers to repeat what they said if it wasn’t clear to me. 3.6176 moderate 9 ask for clarification if i do not understand it the first time around. 3.6765 moderate 10 draw on my general background knowledge to get the main idea . 3.2353 moderate overall mean 3.2235 moderate table 1 illustrates the overall usage of listening strategies. as shown in table 1, the two highest mean score are for strategy number 8 and 9. the mean score are 3.6765, and 3.6176. this indicates that respondents tend to ask for clarification if they do not understand it the first time around and they also tend to llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 98 ask the speakers to repeat what they said if it was not clear for them. in addition, the results show that the respondents also used other strategies. they try to listen to the people who are speaking in english and try to understand what they are saying. they listen for key words that seem to carry the bulk of the meaning, and try to understand what they hear without translating it word for word. the two strategies with the lowest mean score are strategy number 3 and 5 (with the mean score of 2.6765 and 2.4912). this indicates that the respondents seldom try to predict what the other person is going to say based on what has been said so far and to practice the sounds in the target language that are different from the sounds in their own language. table 2. speaking strategies no strategy mean frequency 1 practice saying new expressions to myself. 3.2647 moderate 2 practice new grammatical structures orally in different situations to build my confidence level in using them. 3.0000 moderate 3 initiate conversations in the target language as often as possible. 2.6471 moderate 4 direct the conversation to familiar topics. 3.0000 moderate 5 plan out in advance what i want to say. 3.8824 moderate 6 ask question as a way to be involved in the conversation. 3.1765 moderate 7 try to talk about topics even when they are aren’t familiar to me. 3.1176 moderate 8 encourage others to correct errors in my speaking. 3.5588 moderate 9 ask for help from my conversational partner. 3.5294 moderate 10 make up new words or guess if i don’t know the right ones to use. 2.8235 moderate overall mean 3.2000 the second skill is speaking. the finding shows that the highest score is strategy number 5 with the mean score of 3.88 (plan out in advance what i want to say). the second highest is strategy number 8 with the mean score of 3.55 (encourage others to correct errors in my speaking.). the third highest mean score is strategy number 9 with the mean score of 3.529 (ask for help from my conversational partner). the strategy with the lowest mean score are strategies number 3 and 10 concerning making up new words or guessing if they do not know the right ones to use and initiate conversations in the target language as often as possible (with the mean score of 2.82 and 2.64 respectively). the mean score for this category is 3.20. table 3. reading strategies no strategy mean frequency 1 read as much as possible in the target language. 3.1176 moderate 2 try to find things to read for pleasure in the target language. 2.9118 moderate llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 99 3 find reading material that is at or near my level. 3.5294 moderate 4 skim an academic text first to get the main idea and then go back and read it more carefully. 3.6176 moderate 5 read a story or dialogue several times until i understand it. 3.6471 moderate 6 pay attention to the organization of the text, especially heading and subheading. 3.2353 moderate 7 make ongoing summaries of the reading either in my mind or in the margins of the text. 2.9118 moderate 8 make predictions as to what will happen next. 3.1176 moderate 9 guess the approximate meaning by using clues from the context of the reading material 3.4412 moderate 10 use a dictionary to get a detailed sense of what individual words mean. 3.8529 moderate overall mean 3.3382 table 3 shows the results of reading skill. the highest score is item number 10 with the mean score of 3.85 (use a dictionary to get a detailed sense of what individual words mean). the second highest is item number 5 with the mean score of 3.64 (read a story or dialogue several times until i understand it). the third highest is item number 4 with the mean score of 3.61(skim an academic text first to get the main idea and then go back and read it more carefully).these results show that respondents tend to look up words they do not understand in an english dictionary and would use an english-indonesia dictionary. in addition, the results also show that the respondents tend to try to skim the text. the items with the lowest mean score are items 2 and 27. the mean score of these items are 2.91. the results show that students do not try to find things to read for pleasure in the target language and make ongoing summaries of the reading either in their mind or in the margins of the text. table 4. writing strategies no strategy mean frequency 1 practice writing the alphabet and/or new words in the target language. 3.2647 moderate 2 plan out in advance how to write essays by writing an outline of the essay first. 3.3824 moderate 3 try writing different kinds of text in the target language. 3.3529 moderate 4 take class notes in the target language as much as i am able. 2.6176 moderate 5 find a different way to express the idea when i don’t know the correct expression. 3.2353 moderate 6 review what i have already written before continuing to write more. 3.7059 moderate 7 use reference materials such as a glossary, a dictionary, or a thesaurus to help find or verify words in the target language. 3.5294 moderate 8 wait to edit my writing until all my ideas are down on paper. 3.0588 moderate llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 100 9 revise my writing once or twice to improve the language and content. 3.5882 moderate 10 try to get feedback from others, especially native speakers of the language. 3.2059 moderate overall mean 3.2941 the last skill is writing. as the table shows, the highest score are items number 6 and 9 with the mean score of 3.70 and 3.58. the results show that the students use these strategies. they review what are written before continuing to write more. they also revise their writing once or twice to improve the language and content. the lowest score is item number 4 (take class notes in the target language as much as i am able) with the mean score of 2.61. the average mean score for this category is 3.29. table 5. frequency of language learning strategies no strategy mean frequency rank 1 listening 3.2235 moderate 3 2 speaking 3.2000 moderate 4 3 reading 3.3382 moderate 1 4 writing 3.2941 moderate 2 based on the data shown in table 5, reading strategies were the most frequently used while speaking strategies were used least frequently. the mean score for reading is 3.338 respectively. then, the mean scores for writing and listening are 3.294 and 3.223. finally, the mean score for speaking is 3.200 respectively. it can be concluded that, the eighth grade students have moderate frequency in using language learning strategy ranged moderately. it also means that they have their own learning preferences and strategies in learning english. this study investigated the learning strategies of eighth grade students by finding out what learning strategies they employ most frequently. the descriptive analysis demonstrated that reading (3.338) and writing (3.294) strategies are shown to be used most frequently while listening (3.223) and speaking (3.200) strategies are used less frequently by students. the most frequently used reading strategy by the students was item number 10; use a dictionary to get a detailed sense of what the individual words mean. the students are not high frequency users of the speaking strategy. thus, it could be concluded that they lack of vocabulary, self-confidence and practice. students learn english only in the classroom; they do not practice the language outside the classroom. as discussed above, the subjects of this study used reading strategies most frequently, followed by writing, listening, and speaking as the least used strategy. in addition, the eighth grade students have moderate frequency in using language learning strategies. these results seem to show that the eighth grade students have awareness and willingness in learning english. the findings of the present study were consistent with the study conducted by kaur and embi (2011) who claimed that reading strategies are the most frequently employed by the primary school students in malaysia. the most frequently used by male and female primary students was to use a dictionary to get a detailed llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 101 sense of what the individual words mean. furthermore, speaking strategies are used less frequently by the students. in contrast to this, the study by weng et all (2016) revealed that primary school students were moderate users of listening, reading, writing, grammar, and vocabulary strategies and low users of speaking strategies. as discussed above, though the eighth grade students had no special training in using the learning strategies, most of them were conscious in using learning strategies in learning english. they seemed to be aware of the importance of learning english and were applying some kind of measures to facilitate their own learning. as oxford (1990) suggest, learning strategies can be instructed to language learners. the findings of this study seem to imply that there is a need to instruct learning strategies more explicitly to english learners, especially for junior high school level because they are usually motivated to do well at school. according to oxford (1990), learner training is especially necessary in the area of second and foreign language because language learning in these contexts require active selfdirection on the part of the learners. in this case, the role of the teacher is needed significantly. embi (2000) believes that in learner training, teachers have several important roles to play. cohen (1998) proposed that teachers in the twenty-first century must reconsider the role of the teacher and change their belief-system to learner-centeredness. if they can offer a “strategy-based instruction” to language learners to accommodate individual learners in the classroom and meet their learning needs, then students can take more responsibilities in learning english and learn more independently even outside the classroom. as a result, learners can eventually develop their learning autonomy and achieve their learning goals. conclusion the present study is carried out in an attempt to investigate the language learning strategies used by young efl learners. the statistical analysis shows that the eighth grade students are generally moderate users of language learning strategies. the findings in the study also bring some pedagogical ideas for english teachers, among them is the importance of knowing learners’ language learning strategies. hence, teachers were expected to know not only how to teach but also how to learn in order to help the learners to be successful language learners to face the requirements of the 21st century learning. the followings are the contribution of this study and suggestions for future research on language learning strategies based on the present research study: 1. this present study has illustrated that there is an increasing need and a high demand of investigating language learning strategies used in learning a foreign language, especially in indonesian context. most strategy research in the past has concentrated on language learning strategies used in a first and second language. 2. there are only very few studied conducted on young efl learners. there are still many rooms/space for studies to be conducted at different levels and in different learning contexts (for example kindergarten learners, primary learners of different stream, university students and adults). it is also llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 102 recommended to conduct a comparative study on english major and nonenglish major students. 3. future studies can be conducted on studying the strategies used by successful language learners in order to help unsuccessful language learners to learn the language effectively and efficiently. there should be also studies on the ways to allow learners to be more autonomous in their own learning. in conclusion, there is still much work to be done on strategy research. the works on strategy research in the indonesian context itself is limitless. there are always some studies and research that can be carried out to understand the learning process in our learning. references afrizal, j. (2005). language learning strategies of efl university students at an indonesian private university (unpublished master thesis, national university of malaysia, 2005). cohen, a. d. & chi, j. c. (2002). language strategy use inventory. retrieved from http://carla.umn.edu/maxsa/documents/languagestrategyinventory_maxs a_ig.pdf cohen, a. d. (1998). strategies in learning and using a second language. london: longman. embi, m. a. (2000). language learning strategies: a malaysian context. bangi, mys: faculty of education. fedderholt, k. (1997). using diaries to develop language learning strategies. retrieved from http://jaltpublications.org/old_tlt/files/98/apr/fedderholdt.html huda, n. (1998). relationship between speaking proficiency, reflectivityimpulsivity,and l2 learning strategies. in w. a. renandya (ed), learners and language learning (pp. 40-55). singapore: seameo regional language center. kaur, m. & embi, m. a. (2011). the relationship between language learning strategies and gender among primary school students. theory and practice in language studies, 1(10), 1432-1436. doi: 10.4304/tpls.1.10.1432-1436 lengkanawati, n. s . (1997). contribution of learning strategies on language proficiency (doctoral dissertation, ikip bandung, 1997) lengkanawati, n. s. (2004). how learners from different cultural backgrounds learn a foreign language. asian efl journal, 6(1), 1-8. mistar, j & umamah, a. (2014). strategies of learning skill by indonesian learners of english and their contribution to speaking proficiency. teflin journal, 25(2), 203. mistar, j. (2011). learning strategies by indonesian senior high school efl learners. korea tesol journal, 10(1), 52-74 o’malley, j. m. & chamot, a. u. (1990). learning strategies in second language acquisition. new york: cambridge university press. oxford, r. l. (1990). language learning strategies: what every teacher should know. boston: heinle and heinle. http://carla.umn.edu/maxsa/documents/languagestrategyinventory_maxsa_ig.pdf http://carla.umn.edu/maxsa/documents/languagestrategyinventory_maxsa_ig.pdf http://jalt-publications.org/old_tlt/files/98/apr/fedderholdt.html http://jalt-publications.org/old_tlt/files/98/apr/fedderholdt.html llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 103 ras, f. (2013). outstanding students’ learning strategies in learning english at riau university, indonesia. retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ass.v9n12p20 richards, j. c., platt, j., & platt, h. (1992). language teaching and applied linguistics. london: longman. weng, p. l. p., yunus, m. m., emb (2016). proceeding of icecrs: successful language learning strategies used by successful year 5 esl learner. retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.21070/picecrs.v1i1.523. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 168-182 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 168 evaluating l2 vocabulary development features using lexical density and lexical diversity measures eihab abu-rabiah the university of utah, united states correspondence: aburabiah.e@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5841 received 1 february 2023; accepted 24 march 2023 abstract most of the research on lexical measures was conducted in english and conducted similarly in other languages without accurate adaptations to the language being tested. the first objective of this study is to identify differences between applications of lexical density and lexical diversity when tested as in english and when adapted to the language being tested. the second objective is to inspect the effect of acquisition time on intermediate-level second-language learners' lexical density and diversity. in a test-retest study over one year, arabic hebrew bilinguals (n=23) wrote argumentative essays, in which lexical density and diversity were analyzed according to two approaches; a conventional approach as in english and an adapted approach more aligned with hebrew linguistic features. in both approaches, lexical density was calculated as the number of lexical words in proportion to the total number of words and lexical diversity using the type-token ratio (ttr) and corrected ttr (cttr). findings reveal statistically significant differences between the two approaches and the adapted approach allowed for cross-language and interlanguage comparisons. although no significant increase in lexical density and diversity over the year was found, various patterns for lexical development were observed; at the second time point, students with the lowest level of lexical diversity substantially improved and more essays fell within the lexical density range of a typically written language. keywords: argumentative essays, arabic-hebrew bilinguals, language assessment, lexical measures, second language acquisition introduction most people acquire a second language (l2) at some point in their lives (klein et al., 1986). second language acquisition (sla) is the field dedicated to understanding the process of l2 acquisition, in both naturalistic and instructed contexts (ortega, 2014). within sla, the article focuses on the acquisition of vocabulary (lexicon), which is one of the most important aspects of this process (cameron, 2001). in general, vocabulary is defined as the words used by a particular person or all the words that exist in a particular language or subject (cambridge dictionary). words are the building blocks of language, from which larger structures are created, such as sentences, paragraphs, and texts. without them, there is no language mailto:aburabiah.e@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5841 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 168-182 169 (milton, 2009). vocabulary knowledge makes a great contribution to the four language skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening, and also can predict them (dakhi & fitria, 2019). it is central to communicative competence and either leads to successful communication or can prevent it (alqahtani, 2015; schmitt, 2000). furthermore, the acquisition of vocabulary plays an important role in the formation of complete spoken and written texts (read, 2000; nation, 2001). this knowledge of vocabulary is used as an indicator of academic skill and academic success (roche & harrington, 2013). since a lack of vocabulary knowledge is an obstacle to learning (alqahtani, 2015), learners see vocabulary acquisition as the main task in l2 acquisition and devote most of their time to expanding it (read, 2000). to assess the size of a learner's vocabulary, several quantitative lexical measures have been devised and used for over a hundred years (jarvis, 2013b). two of these measures are central to the research: lexical density and lexical diversity. the study's primary aim is to assess the applicability of these commonly used measures in testing vocabulary development in a language other than english. the study intends to investigate if the results obtained from these measures align with the unique linguistic characteristics of the language under analysis, or if the measures require modification to be effective. in other words, the objective is to determine the validity of applying the same methods used in english language research to another language with and without considering their distinct linguistic features, as well as testing the effect of acquisition time on lexical density and lexical diversity of intermediate-level second-language learners. lexical density lexical density is based on the distinction between content words and function words, which is a central distinction in studies on syntactic categories of natural languages (cann, 2000; corver & van riemsdijk, 2013). the main distinction is that content words provide the main semantic content of the sentence while function words connect content words (stubbs, 2002; ure, 1971). content words are also called lexical words since they include a lexical value (chanturidze et al., 2019; shi et al., 2006), and open-class words since they include most of the vocabulary in languages, and expand in different ways (abdalla, 2010; gordon & caramazza, 1982). function words are also called grammatical words since they include a grammatical value (richels et al., 2010; shi et al., 2006), and closed class words since they include a small number of all the words in languages and are very rarely expanded (gordon & caramazza, 1982; vejdemo & hörber, 2016). there is, however, no complete agreement between researchers on the components of the two categories. for many, content words include nouns; verbs; adjectives; and adverbs. the other parts of speech, including prepositions (above), conjunctions (therefore), quantifiers (most), pronouns (those), numbers (five), and determiners (the) are included in function words (demir-vegter et al., 2014; gkalitsiou et al., 2017; halliday, 1989; krejtz et al., 2016; lyons, 1968; perfetti, 1969). lexical density is "the density with which the information is presented" (halliday, 1989, p. 62) and is calculated as the percentage of content words out of all words featured in spoken or written texts (berman, 2008; halliday, 1989; malvern et al., 2004; ure, 1971). for example, in the sentence: "the door and the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 168-182 170 window are closed", there are three content words (door, window, and closed) out of seven words. therefore, the lexical density is 42%. lexical density quantifies the knowledge and ideas of a text: a denser text with a high percentage of content words contains more information than a text with a relatively high percentage of function words (johansson, 2008; michel et al., 2007). since content words convey the bulk of the semantic content of a text (berman et al., 2011), their use is an important indicator of textual richness and "information packaging" (johansson 2008). this measure is thus used to compare the linguistic development of speakers and writers in both l1 and l2 (laurén, 2002; linnarud, 1976). specifically, the development of the academic language of l1 and l2 writers can be measured (snow & uccelli, 2009). lexical diversity lexical diversity is "the range and variety of vocabulary deployed in a text by either a speaker or a writer" (mccarthy & jarvis, 2007, p. 459). it is indicated by the number of different words in a sample of speech or writing of a set length and how far repetition is avoided (malvern et al., 2004). the greater the range, the higher the lexical diversity (jarvis, 2013a, 2013b; mccarthy & jarvis, 2010). furthermore, lexical diversity is the most common measure in vocabulary testing. this is probably why it is also called lexical richness by some researchers (such as torruella & capsada, 2013). whereas by others, lexical richness is used as a general concept for different lexical measures, such as lexical diversity, lexical density, lexical sophistication, lexical originality, and more (johansson, 2008). this measure is also known as the lexical range, lexical variability, lexical variation, and lexical variety (crystal, 1982; engber, 1995; jarvis, 2002; yu, 2010). high lexical diversity indicates that the speaker or writer has a rich vocabulary and large repertoire, so he does not need to repeat the same types (berman & verhoeven, 2002; johansson, 2008). lexical diversity is found to be an indicator of the learner's linguistic competence and also of the stage in language acquisition (jarvis, 2013a; mccarthy & jarvis, 2010; nasseri & thompson, 2021). it also predicts the writing quality (yu, 2010). a speaker displaying high lexical diversity is judged positively, as he can convey complex messages (dillard & pfau, 2002). this capacity is therefore an important measure of linguistic and communicative ability. one of the simplest indices of lexical diversity is the type-token-ratio (ttr), which is calculated as the number of unique words (types) in a text divided by the total number of words (tokens) in the text (johnson, 1939). namely, tokens are all the words in a sample, including repetitions, while each distinct/different word is a type (mckee et al., 2000; youmans, 1990). for example, in the previous example: "the door and the window are closed", there are seven tokens and six types since the word appears twice. so, the lexical diversity is 85%. lexical diversity, therefore, increases as the number of types increases or as the number of repetitions decreases (lieven, 1978; mccarthy & jarvis, 2007). however, the main issue of ttr is that it is affected by the length of the text: as the text becomes longer, the lexical diversity decreases (hess et al., 1986; jarvis, 2002, 2012; koizumi, 2012; linnarud, 1986; malvern et al., 2004; mccarthy & jarvis, 2007). this is because as a text becomes longer, there will be a linear and constant increase in the number of tokens (since by definition every additional word llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 168-182 171 equals a new token), while the increase in types becomes slower as the length increases (mccarthy & jarvis, 2010). an explanation for this negative correlation is that our types are limited, while our tokens are not we have a limited number of word types available on a given subject, but can write or say infinite word tokens on the same subject (schlesinger, 2000). in addition, no text includes more than a handful of words that can be meaningful without repetition (mccarthy & jarvis, 2010). many researchers have proposed new indices to solve this issue, including carroll, 1992; johnson, 1939; mckee et al., 2000, mccarthy & jarvis, 2007; vidal & jarvis, 2020, but ttr can be used in texts of the same length. challenges in applying indices in english and hebrew and similar languages the definition of lexical density as the percentage of lexical words out of all words in a text (ure, 1971) and the definition of lexical diversity as the number of unique words in a text divided by the total number of words raises an initial consideration of what counts as a word. halliday (1985) preferred to refer to items rather than words. his doctrine sought to address situations where two or more orthographic words are needed to express one meaning or one idea, for example in expressions or verbal phrases such as switch off. this is correct in many languages, including english and hebrew. english, like some other languages, is relatively amenable to automatic lexical density and diversity testing of written corpora, since, broadly speaking, each word is orthographically distinct. hebrew, on the contrary, is a synthetic language, with orthographic properties that make automatic analysis difficult. a primary difficulty is that several lexical or functional items can be combined in one orthographic word: for example, the orthographic hebrew word שבכפרו (she-bekfar-o) means "which is in his village" and contains 3 function words and one content word. a second difficulty is that in hebrew several types can be combined in the same orthographic word. for instance, in the previous example, one orthographic word includes four types (which_is, in, his, village). the third difficulty is the fact that written modern hebrew is mainly non-vowelized. therefore, 25% of the words in hebrew are ambiguous if written separately. only context disambiguates many words in any written text. for example, the orthographic word ספר (sfr) has four definitions: two nouns: a book, a barber, and two verbs: to count and to tell a story. limitations and gaps of previous research so far, the vast majority of analyses of lexical density in english and all analyses in hebrew as l1 (berman et al., 2011; sarel, 1999; schlesinger, 2000) have counted only orthographic units, as an automated analysis was used. so, an orthographic unit that included a function and a content word or two function words was counted as one item only. we shall call this method the conventional approach of lexical density. in contrast, in the proposed adapted approach of lexical density that i suggest, each item is counted separately, even if orthographically incorporated in another orthographic word. this is especially essential since function words have an important role in the text: they carry grammatical information about the content words. this role is reflected in them whether they are written separately or attached to the word following them. in the conventional approach, the same function word that may llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 168-182 172 appear in two different ways is counted differently. this language difference has no semantic justification because if two words play the same role, whether semantic or grammatical, then why count them in one case and not in the other? in the adapted approach, the same function word is counted both when it is separated and when it is attached to other words. regarding lexical diversity, previous research on hebrew as l1 counts only one-word type in a single orthographic word, as is the case in english. in both languages, in most cases, types that consist of more than one orthographic word were not included. we shall call this method the conventional approach to lexical diversity. in my proposed adapted approach of lexical diversity, all the different types included in one orthographic word are counted. this is essential since types of function words are the most frequent types in languages, and in hebrew, many of them are written attached to other types in a single orthographic word. to conclude, the differences between the two approaches tested are: the conventional approaches count one function, content, or word type in any orthographic word, whereas the adapted approaches count all of the function, content, or word types in any orthographic word or that consists of more than one orthographic word. this study aims to fill these gaps of not fully adapting the two lexical measures for the language tested and evaluating the results' differences between the conventional and adapted approaches. methods research questions the research questions are: 1. how will the adapted approaches affect the results of the tested lexical measures? 2. what are the effects of acquisition time length on lexical density and lexical diversity? participants participants in the current study were arab high school students in northern negev, israel. the 23 participants were all native speakers of negev arabic; they all studied in the same advanced-level science-track class, at the same public high school. they all began instructing hebrew as l2 at the same age and had received the same amount of formal exposure to hebrew. procedure and corpus since longitudinal changes in l2 lexical usage can be tested by capturing changes in l2 of the learners (kim, 2021), the procedure of this study was a testretest of written essays performed by students in 11th grade and a year later in 12th grade. the participants watched an animated video called "bridge". the video, which features no spoken dialogue, shows two situations of two animals approaching each other from separate sides of a narrow bridge as they try to cross it. in the first situation, they are not willing to negotiate a compromise, so they both fall over the bridge. in the second, they do negotiate and therefore succeed in crossing. the video was given to help the students start the complex process of writing without, however, providing any linguistic help. it lasted less than three minutes, during which no discussion was conducted. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 168-182 173 afterward, the students were asked to write an argumentative essay dealing with the question: "are you willing to negotiate and reach a compromise to promote a common goal?". the task was performed under supervision, with the teacher ensuring that no one received any help. all students completed their writing in less than 90 minutes. the essays were not returned to the writers, and no feedback was given. in the final stage of this process, a corpus of 46 essays of approximately 7,000 running words was collected. analysis since there is no automatic analysis software in hebrew that allows for an accurate analysis of lexical density and lexical diversity, as i propose, i used one of the digital tools developed in the digital/computational humanities field. the tool is called catma (computer assisted text markup and analysis) (gius et al., 2022). lexical diversity and lexical density were calculated after manual annotation of the words in the essays using the catma tool. the main difference between measuring lexical density and lexical diversity is that the density is based on the word form or the word token. in contrast, the diversity is based on word types and lemmas. lemmas are made up of a headword and its inflections, all of which have the same part of speech. most other research on lexical diversity does not indicate which lexical units were used (treffers-daller et al., 2018). but following treffers-daller et al. 2018; jarvis & hashimoto 2021 and others, i indicate that i use lemmas. this measure was tested not only through the ttr formula but also through cttr, herdan's index, and uber's index. all of them were tested at the same length (first 80 tokens of every essay). but the lexical density analysis was conducted over the entire length of each essay since previous research does not indicate any effect of length on lexical density. the analysis excluded non-hebrew words, written either in arabic script or (rarely) in english. i follow zareva (2019) in excluding any lexicon external to the language studied. the proper names of people, countries, companies, and more were also excluded, following, for example, milton (2009). results and discussion lexical density as one would expect based on the different ways in which they are calculated, at both time points the results of both approaches differ considerably from the conventional approaches (p<0.0001) (see table 1). table 1. means, ranges, and standard deviations of lexical density by approach and time time 1 time 2 n=23 conventional approach adapted approach conventional approach adapted approach mean 0.52 0.40 0.52 0.41 range 0.20 0.15 0.24 0.15 standard deviation 0.06 0.04 0.05 0.03 paired sample t-test 0.0001*** 0.0001*** ***p <.001 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 168-182 174 it has been found that the most common words in the text are function words not only in hebrew but also in english and many other languages (gordon & caramazza, 1982; shi et al., 2006; milton, 2009; vejdemo & hörber, 2016). in hebrew, attached function words are as common as separate function words (berman & verhoeven, 2002; bolozky & berman, 2020). therefore, it is appropriate to deal with both groups similarly. the adapted approach ensures the counting of the most common word groups in hebrew texts. since this approach is given a more representative place for the function words compared to the conventional approach, the lexical density level in it is lower than the conventional approach, as shown in figure 1: figure 1. the adaptedand conventional approaches of lexical density at time 1 it has been found in previous studies on english that a lexical density of over 50% is usually produced in writing by native learners and not l2 learners (read, 2000). according to this, the adapted approach indicates values more similar to findings in english than the conventional approach. that is, the use of the adapted approach allows for cross-linguistic comparison, unlike the conventional approach which limits the comparison to one language only. regarding the acquisition time length effect, the mean of the values for the adapted approach at the two-time points is 40% and 41% respectively, showing a slight increase between periods. it is interesting to note, however, that the mean of the conventional approach values at both time points is 52%, with no increase whatsoever. the differences are not statistically significant (paired sample t-test (p> .05; .2002)) with a small effect size, cohen's d = 5.0 <.2002> 2.0)). while we generally might expect an increase in lexical density over time, studies often show it to be stable. therefore, this result is not particularly surprising, nor is it necessarily evidence that the students didn’t improve their lexical competence. it should be noted that the lack of increase in lexical density over time can be attributed to a sharp decrease in only three students' essays. these three experienced a relatively dramatic decrease against our expectations of vocabulary llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 168-182 175 development. according to the paired sample t-test, if these essays were not included in the analysis, there would be a statistically significant increase in the lexical density level of the rest of the class between the 11th and 12th grades. but if we examine the data from a different perspective, we may discover interesting findings. an important feature of lexical density is the ability to distinguish between different language styles, especially between spoken language and written language (halliday, 1985; laurén, 2002). according to ure (1971), the average lexical density in oral texts is less than 40% and ranges from 24% to 43%, while in written texts the average lexical density is higher than 40% and ranges from 36% to 57% (o'loughlin, 1995). figure 2. distribution of means of the adapted approach of lexical density as can be seen in figure 1, almost all the essays fall within that range at both time points (according to the adapted approach). however, it is notable that while at the beginning of the year, four out of the 23 essays were below 36%, by the second time point only a single student fell below that range. in other words, over time, more of the class falls within the range of lexical density that has been claimed to be typical of written language. this figure shows the general progress of the whole class in terms of lexical density, which we cannot see if we examine each student individually. if we examine the results of the lexical density according to the conventional approach at the two-time points, we see that six essays indicate values higher than 67%. whereas zero essays, according to the adapted approach. the tendency is clear: written hebrew essays tested according to the conventional approach indicate very high levels of lexical density, higher than average written texts in l1. the fact that these texts were written by l2 learners who have not reached an advanced level of proficiency weakens the validity of this approach since very high values are expected of l2 earners with a very high level of competence, as well as of native speakers. lexical diversity according to the paired sample t-test, the difference between the results of the two approaches of calculating lexical diversity according to the four indices: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 168-182 176 ttr; herdan's index; cttr; uber index is very statistically significant (p < .01; .0000) (see table 1 for ttr and cttr). table 2. means, ranges and standard deviations of lexical diversity by approach and time time 2 time 1 adapted approach conventional approach adapted approach conventional approach n=23 cttr ttr cttr ttr cttr ttr cttr ttr 3.58 0.50 3.65 0.58 3.56 0.50 3.64 0.58 mean 1.39 0.20 1.71 0.27 1.68 0.24 1.91 0.32 range 0.41 0.06 0.48 0.08 0.42 0.06 0.47 0.08 standard deviation of cttr 0.0001*** of ttr: 0.0001*** of cttr: 0.0001*** of ttr: 0.0001*** paired sample t-test ***p <.001 this finding is expected because, in the adapted approach, attached function types are counted, whereas, in the conventional approach, they are not. although the number of these types is small in any language (gordon & caramazza, 1982; vejdemo & hörber, 2016), their frequency is very high not only in english (shi et al., 2006) but also in hebrew (bolozky & berman, 2020) and many other languages. of course, frequency is a fundamental issue in examining lexical diversity. therefore, counting them allows for a more accurate examination of the diversity of the learner's vocabulary. regarding the acquisition time length effect, in both approaches of calculating the lexical diversity two indices (ttr; herdan's index) do not indicate any progress in lexical diversity even after a year of learning hebrew as l2 to arabic speakers. whereas the other two indices (cttr; uber index) indicate a small and slow increase that is not statistically significant. it is worth mentioning that in all indices there was a decrease in the range. at time point 2, the averages became more concentrated. meaning, in the 12th grade, the lexical diversity averages are similar to each other, more than in the 11th grade. similar findings have been reported in various studies, including kalantari & gholami, 2017, laufer, 1991, and vidal & jarvis, 2020. this lack of significant increase has two possible explanations: the first one is that an essential part of the acquisition of words in a language occurs during the initial stages of learning. therefore, at fundamental levels, a gap of one year is enough to assess a change in the lexicon, while a more extended period is needed at advanced levels. it has been found that lexicon development patterns are not always prominent if one does not look at long-term development (abu-rabiah, 2017, 2020a, 2020b, 2022). second, in some studies, older students use their writing within a limited but very familiar vocabulary or "playing it safe", which lowers the lexical diversity in their writing (laufer, 1991). although the general results show no significant increase in the lexical diversity of all students, a more focused examination of the data reveals an important finding. there is a statistically significant increase in lexical diversity in the essays of the five students with the lowest level of diversity in 11th grade. these students significantly improved their lexical diversity throughout the year. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 168-182 177 table 3. means, ranges, and standard deviations of lexical diversity by approach and time time 2 time 1 adapted approach adapted approach n=5 (st.2; st.5; st.7; st.12; st.19) uber index herdan's index cttr ttr uber index herdan's index cttr ttr 13.07 0.84 3.49 0.49 10.45 0.80 2.93 0.40 mean 2.44 0.03 0.46 0.08 3.19 0.05 0.83 0.1 range 1.12 0.01 0.19 0.03 1.21 0.01 0.31 0.03 standard deviation of uber index: 0.01* of herdan's index: 0.00** of cttr: 0.02* of ttr: 0.01* paired sample ttest *p <.05 **p <.01 they tried harder than the rest of the class to enrich their vocabulary. they realized that their vocabulary was scant compared to the other students from the teachers' feedback on the essays they were required to write during the year. the same finding of individual progress was documented in previous studies (laufer, 1991). regression toward the mean the common phenomenon in statistical measurements can also explain this increase. this is because when testing the same index (lexical diversity in this case) of the same population at different time intervals, there is a probability that the participants with high levels of lexical diversity at the first time point will have lower levels of lexical diversity the second time. in contrast, the students with low levels of lexical diversit y at the first time point will have higher levels of lexical diversity at the second time point (aburabiah, 2022). it is a regression of the two extremes toward the mean. a third explanation for this increase is that there is a broader possibility of improvement in a measure/skill/ability at a low-performance level than at a highperformance level. that is, students with a low level of lexical diversity have a greater scope for enriching their lexical diversity. in contrast, this possibility is more limited for those with a high level of lexical diversity already (abu-rabiah, 2022). conclusion although testing the vocabulary development reveals no significant increase in lexical density and lexical diversity, over one year of learning hebrew as l2 to arabic, various patterns for lexical development have been observed. first, the students with the lowest level of lexical diversity at time point 1 significantly improved their lexical diversity at time point 2. second, more student essays fell within the lexical density range of a typically written language at the second time point. this examination of hebrew vocabulary according to two approaches of lexical density and lexical diversity, one that is similar to english, and another which is adapted to hebrew linguistic features, found statistically significant differences between them. the conventional approaches show very high values that are mainly expected in the written language of skilled native speakers, while the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 168-182 178 adapted approach shows lower values that are more typical of second language learners. moreover, the adapted approach even allows for the comparison of research between hebrew and other languages and does not limit the comparison to studies conducted in the hebrew language only. this study comprised a relatively small number of participants (n=23) because all students who did not complete the task at both time points were excluded. the two major implications are: first before any test of a lexical index or a linguistic phenomenon in a new language, the principles on which it is based must be thoroughly understood and adapted accordingly to the language being tested. by doing this, there is a greater chance of comparing different languages since we are adequately testing the same index or phenomenon. it is not the case that if the technical implementation is similar between the languages, it is more accurate and better reflects the principles of the index. second, a period greater than one year is necessary to measure lexical development in a second language, especially in the intermediate stages, and an extended period of two or more years is recommended for the examination of the learners' writing. this study leads to two possible future directions. first, a comparison that assesses vocabulary development in heavily inflected languages like hebrew concerning analytical languages, with a focus on differences between lexical units: word forms, lemmas, flemmas, and word families (jarvis & hashimoto, 2021). second, distinguishing between proficiency levels based on the lexical units in such heavily inflected languages. acknowledgements this work is based on the author's ph.d. dissertation: acquisition of hebrew lexicon among negev bedouin high school students: an empirical account at bengurion university of the negev, under the supervision of roni henkin-roitfarb and roey j. gafter, to whom he is very grateful. this research was supported by the ministry of science and technology of israel [scholarship no. 3-16617], and by negev southern wind scholarship, the kreitman school of advanced graduate studies, ben-gurion university of the negev. references abdalla, f., robb, m. p., & al-shatti, t. 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(2019). lexical complexity of academic presentations: similarities despite situational differences. journal of second language studies, 2(1), 71–92. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0147924 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0147924 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 461-473 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 461 peer and automated writing evaluation (awe): indonesian efl college students’ preference for essay evaluation rita seroja br ginting1 and rahmah fithriani2, universitas islam negeri sumatera utara, indonesia1,2 ritaserojabr.ginting@uinsu.ac.id1 and rahmahfithriani@uinsu.ac.id2 correspondence: ritaserojabr.ginting@uinsu.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4879 received 10 july 2022; accepted 30 september 2022 abstract numerous studies have investigated the effects of peer evaluation (pe) and computerized writing evaluation (awe) on the writing products and attitudes of english as a foreign language (efl) students. however, few studies have compared student preferences regarding its application to essay evaluation. this research aimed to determine which method efl college students prefer for assessing the quality of their academic writing in english. students' utilization of feedback was determined through the distribution of a questionnaire. twenty english education students responded to the questionnaire. the open-ended interview was then administered to three students in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of their perspectives on these two evaluation methods. for data analysis, frequency count and thematic analysis were employed. students prefer peer feedback over grammarly, the awe software used in this study, for two reasons, according to the results. first, they consider their peers to be their true audience, and second, they place a higher value on their peers' feedback than grammarly's. however, grammarly also received high marks because students enjoyed using it to write. consequently, it is believed that combining these two strategies will result in the most essay writing progress. keywords: automated writing evaluation, college students, english academic writing, grammarly, peer evaluation introduction in recent decades, automated writing evaluation (awe) has become widespread in efl (english as a foreign language) writing classes. as a result, this topic has attracted a growing number of researchers worldwide. jiang & yu (2020) investigated the incorporation of awe in chinese efl students' l2 writing classes. in addition, barrot (2020) examined the use of awe in english as a second language (esl) and english as a foreign language (efl) writing in the philippines, and (liao, 2016a) investigated the use of awe to reduce grammatical errors in the writing of taiwanese students. the majority of their findings mailto:ritaserojabr.ginting@uinsu.ac.id1 mailto:rahmahfithriani@uinsu.ac.id mailto:ritaserojabr.ginting@uinsu.ac.idm https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4879 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 461-473 462 indicated that awe appears to improve students' writing in terms of grammar, structure, and meaning (barrot, 2020; jiang & yu, 2020; liao, 2016b). one prominent awe software that is currently widely utilized in writing classes is grammarly. grammarly is a digital writing tool that provides automated essay feedback by detecting errors in grammar, vocabulary, mechanics, and style. it is compatible with mac, windows, android, and ios devices and is accessible through popular web browsers such as chrome, safari, and firefox (barrot, 2020). an increasing number of empirical studies have demonstrated its straightforward usefulness in enabling students and academies to write with remarkable accuracy and evaluation speed (gao & ma, 2020; guo et al., 2021; hassanzadeh & fotoohnejad, 2021; jiang et al., 2020; li, 2021; link et al., 2020; waer, 2021). grammarly is beneficial for writing instruction, particularly during the revision and editing phases, as noted by barrot (2020). it can be used to detect instances of plagiarism during the revision phase, allowing students to eliminate duplicate content and properly attribute sources. while awe-assisted writing indicates the incorporation of artificial intelligence in language classrooms, other methods that rely on human cognition, such as peer evaluation, are still widely used in essay evaluation (pe). pe, also known as peer feedback, refers to any verbal or written comments made by classmates or group members (hyland & hyland, 2006). pe has also been the subject of investigation in efl writing classrooms. altstaedter (2018) examined the impact of peer feedback on efl writing and found that it significantly improved the quality of students' final drafts. furthermore, su & huang, (2021) found that chinese students enjoyed physical education, particularly when they were encouraged to provide feedback for their peers. pe is is also suggested in indonesia for monitoring the writing process, negotiating meaning, fostering collaborative learning, and enhancing audience awareness (fithriani, 2018, 2019; hentasmaka & cahyono, 2021; huisman et al., 2019; iswandari & jiang, 2020) both pe and grammarly are beginning to be used to improve the english writing skills of university-level students in indonesia. students provided constructive feedback and suggestions for improving the writing of their peers. the process of giving and receiving feedback motivates students to think critically, indicating that pe has a positive impact on english writing classrooms in higher education. (dewi, 2019; fithriani, 2018; hentasmaka & cahyono, 2021; iswandari & jiang, 2020). similarly, the research on the use of grammarly's feedback in the writing classroom appeared to have a positive effect on students' writing products, as it reduces the amount of time required to obtain feedback and reviews grammar, vocabulary, and sentence mechanics, thereby boosting students' confidence in their writing compositions (ariyanto et al., 2021; fahmi & cahyono, 2021; ghufron, 2019; karlina ambarwati, 2021; miranty et al., 2022). despite the proliferation of research on the effectiveness of pe and awe, particularly grammarly, these two modes of writing evaluation are typically discussed separately in the context of indonesian efl. in most cases, comparative research on awe and peer evaluation (pe) is disregarded. lai (2010) argues that the interaction between students' cognition and these two evaluative modes must be elaborated upon in the l2 description. additionally, shang, (2022) believed comparing these two sorts of evaluations, pedagogical efl writing consequences can be investigated in greater depth. students’ perceptions may have a significant llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 461-473 463 impact on their attitudes and behaviors concerning english writing, making it worthwhile to conduct research in this area. to fill this empirical void, this study is aimed to discover the preference of indonesian efl students between having their peers to give an evaluation on their writing or utilizing awe (in this case is grammarly) as a tool to correct their writing. to achieve this objective, the following research questions guide this study: 1. how frequently do students use pe or awe to evaluate their essays? 2. according to the students' perceptions, in what ways does awe differ from pe? eventually, it is anticipated that the findings of this study will aid educators in designing the optimal writing process and selecting an acceptable writing evaluation technique to complement efl writing instructions. literature review evaluation or feedback as part of writing process critical to the writing process is obtaining constructive criticism. idea generation (pre-writing); producing a first draft with an emphasis on content ("discovering" meaning/ideas); the author's second and third (and perhaps more) drafts to edit ideas and their communication; and a final draft to express the updated ideas. the author is motivated to complete the final manuscript by the reader's feedback on the multiple drafts. input from a reader to a writer that provides revision-related information in the form of comments, questions, and suggestions is referred to as feedback. through feedback, the author discovers where he or she has misled or confused the reader due to insufficient information, illogical structure, failure to develop ideas, or inappropriate word choice or tense (keh, 1990). recently, three major types of feedback have been utilized in writing classrooms. these areas include peer feedback, instructor comments as feedback, and automated writing evaluation (awe). peer feedback is also known as peer editing, peer critiquing, and peer evaluation. each categorization represents a distinct perspective on the input, most notably in terms of where along the continuum this feedback is supplied and its focus. hyland & hyland (2006) define physical education as any verbal or written comments made by classmates or group members. there are numerous benefits to incorporating peer input in any format. it is designed to save teachers time, allowing them to concentrate on providing more valuable instruction. it is believed that feedback is more relevant to the level of language development of the learner. with multiple readers, students can enhance their audience consciousness (i.e., readers other than the teacher). by analyzing the papers of others, the reader acquires writing expertise (keh, 1990). in addition, teacher feedback occurs when a teacher responds to a writer as a concerned reader, as opposed to as a grammarian or grader. instructors must differentiate between "higher order" and "lower order" concerns not only when commenting on final manuscripts, but also while offering written comments throughout the writing process (keh, 1990). several aspects of teacher feedback have been identified in the literature as motivating students to revise and improve their writing, particularly in an efl context. previous research indicated that instructor feedback would aid students in revising their written work and enhancing their writing skills for future success as the writing process progresses llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 461-473 464 (ferris, 1997). vardi (2009) reported that students improved in areas where they received frequent teacher comments (e.g., language and mechanics) compared to those who received little or no feedback (e.g., content and organization). additionally, automated writing evaluation (awe) provides timely, individualized feedback to enhance student writing skills (li, 2021; link et al., 2020). first, the correlation between automated and human grading of student writing (bridgeman et al., 2012); and second, the effects of automated analysis on student writing performance (jiang et al., 2020; ranalli, 2021). a recent study conducted by wang & brown (2008) revealed that human and machine marking are comparable. nonetheless, human–machine disparities remained. even the most sophisticated computerized essay grading systems may overlook important intrinsic qualities. there are currently a number of awe products, such as my access, criterion, and grammarly, that are widely utilized by english writers for essay evaluation. li (2021) utilized criterion error reports (the number of errors identified and classified by criterion) and found an increase in linguistic precision between the initial and final versions. lai (2010) evaluated the extent to which my access improved efl college students' writing skills. the majority of students responded positively to this awe strategy and appreciated the prompt feedback. nonetheless, they perceived some input to be predetermined, repetitive, and ambiguous. barrot (2020) concluded that grammarly is beneficial for writing instruction, particularly when it comes to revising and editing. peer evaluation versus grammarly from the perspective of feedback, pe has been extensively documented in english writing for esl/efl students in many countries. as an example, levi altstaedter, (2018) investigated the effect of peer feedback on efl writing and found that peer feedback significantly improved the final draft quality of students. huisman et al. (2019) investigated the effect of peer feedback on the academic writing of australian students and discovered that when students provided and/or received peer feedback, their writing improved significantly more than when they did not. moreover, su & huang (2021) also found that pe brought enjoyment to the chinese students, especially when they were instructed to give comments t their peers. in indonesia, pe is also being examined by some researchers to see its effectiveness both based on students’ perspectives or students’ writing performances. fithriani, (2019), for instance, investigated college english language education students to find out the benefits of written feedback. the findings indicated that written peer feedback assists students in improving their writing quality and abilities, encourages critical reasoning, and promotes learner autonomy. dewi (2019) found that english education students in indonesia tended to give constructive comments as their feedback when evaluating their peers’ essays. this finding illustrates that pe has a positive impact on students. additionally, hentasmaka & cahyono (2021) investigated the uptakes and outcomes of peer feedback by proficiency level. they discovered that peer feedback had a significant impact on students' writing, regardless of their proficiency levels, and that there was no significant difference in the number of responses and outcomes. iswandari & jiang (2020) examined 16 empirical studies of peer feedback in college efl to determine how peer feedback has been llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 461-473 465 investigated over the past decade. as a result, they discovered that the researchers tested four types of feedback criteria, and the majority of the research focuses on the students' perspectives on peer feedback. independent studies on grammarly, on the other hand, have only recently emerged (barrot, 2020; gao & ma, 2020; guo et al., 2021; jiang et al., 2020; link et al., 2020; waer, 2021; ariyanto et al., 2021; fahmi & cahyono, 2021; ghufron, 2019; karlina ambarwati, 2021; miranty et al., 2022)) and have exerted an increasing influence on the l2 writing field. barrot (2020), for instance, examined the integration of grammarly into esl/efl writing. it promotes students' use of their cognitive and metacognitive operations through noticing and provides effective grammar support in a variety of learning contexts, whether they involve international or domestic students or are adopted online or face-to-face. guo et al. (2021) examined 36 students at a prestigious chinese university to determine the efficacy of grammarly for efl writers. they found that the students’ grammatical errors were significantly decreased after they used feedback from grammarly to evaluate their essay. similarly, fahmi & cahyono (2021) examined 26 undergraduate students’ perspectives on the feedback given by grammarly and their teacher, and the results show that either students with low english proficiency or high english proficiency give positive attitudes towards this type of feedback. the effectiveness of peer response groups and automated writing responses in efl composition classes has been largely overlooked, particularly in indonesia, despite the limitations of previous reports. to date, research by lai (2010) who examined 22 efl taiwanese students is the first research comparing awe and peer evaluation to evaluate the students’ essays. the researcher examined it in three dimensions: product, process, and student perceptions. current research by shang, (2022) found that by comparing peer evaluation and online peer feedback, pedagogical efl writing consequences can be investigated in greater detail. therefore, it requires more elaboration about these two types of feedback experienced by indonesian students. based on previous research, the current study employed both pe and awe to examine their effects and utility in efl english composition classes in indonesia, as well as to determine whether students' opinions of these two types of evaluation changed over time. method this research employed qualitative research with a case study design because as ary, et al. (2015) stated a case study is appropriate for research aimed to find a detailed description and understanding of a case in one particular group. in this study, 20 indonesian university students majoring in english language education who have completed 16 weeks of english writing instruction were chosen. during those 16 weeks, this group was required by their instructor to receive both peer and grammarly feedback on their essays. therefore, in this study, they were investigated to find out their preference for peer feedback or awe to evaluate their essay. for data collection, questionnaires and interviews were administered to the class. the questionnaires were adapted from (lai, 2010) with minor modifications to investigate the frequency with which students used feedback to revise their drafts for specific types of revision. in lai (2010), the types of revision was adopted from my access while in this research the types of feedback were adopted from grammarly. responses to the items in this llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 461-473 466 questionnaire were to be given according to a 5-point scale: ‘seldom, not often, sometimes, often, always’. aside from the surveys, an individual interview with open-ended questions was undertaken to get particular remarks from the students on these two writing assignments. three students were chosen by the lecturer to check the data from the questionnaire. the collected data were then analyzed using two methods: frequency count for quantitative data on the frequency with which students used grammarly and pe feedback, and thematic content analysis for qualitative data on students' preference for awe and pe feedback. the researchers, who were also instructors of english composition, compiled the data and categorized the comments. in addition, member checks were conducted to ensure the validity and dependability of the data to be described and to determine whether the results of the questionnaire and interview matched or did not match. findings and discussion the objective of this study was to find out the efl indonesian students’ preference for the feedback given by grammarly and peers as the means of evaluating their essays. the findings are categorized into two quantitative and qualitative: first, the students’ frequency of using feedback from grammarly and peers to revise their essays; second, the students’ preference and perspective on grammarly and peers to evaluate their essays. both of the findings are described and discussed below: frequency in using feedback from grammarly and peer evaluation the frequency with which students used feedback from grammarly and peers was investigated to see the extent to which these two forms of evaluation were used differently. the results were then displayed in chart (figure 1) and tabular (table 1) form based on the total frequency count for each type of evaluation. figure 1. students’ frequency in using feedback from grammarly and peers from the data above, it can be noted that the 20 students generally reported positive impressions about these two sources of writing evaluation, with 57 percent of students occasionally using grammarly comments to rewrite their essays and 60 percent frequently using peer feedback. furthermore, the frequency of the types of revisions used most often by students when they receive feedback from grammarly and peers can be seen as follows: 57% 60% grammarly peer llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 461-473 467 table 1. types of revision and frequency in grammarly and peer evaluation no items evaluation n frequency (f) 1 correctness (cr) grammarly 20 61% peers 20 62% 2 clarity (cl) grammarly 20 59% peers 20 64% 3 engagement (en) grammarly 20 45% peers 20 66% 4 delivery (dl) grammarly 20 54% peers 20 64% table 1 displays the four fundamental types of revision received by efl college students from grammarly and pe. according to the frequency (f), the most popular revision frequency in grammarly was (1) cr, followed by (2) cl, (3) dl, and (4) en. throughout their revision, these students followed grammarly input on cr the most frequently, but en the least. contrary to the previous ranking, these students followed peer critique for revision on en the most, but on cr the least. the revision frequency of peer feedback was as follows: (1) en, (2) dl, (3) cl, and (4) cr. furthermore, higher mean pe scores suggested a much greater frequency of students’ reviewing with peer feedback. they used grammarly much less frequently to revise their writing. these results complement the findings of lai (2010), who reported significant differences (p 0.01) in the frequency with which students revised their essays with the assistance of peer feedback versus awe (my access). however, different from this study, lai (2010), found that the types of frequency in his research were content and development (cd), focus and meaning (fm), organisation (or), language use and style (lu), and mechanics and convention (mc) for my access and mc, lu, cd, or, and fm for peer feedback. in addition, the most recent research conducted by shang (2022) revealed that correctness (cr) and clarity (cl) were the students' top two objectives when using awe comments to evaluate their essay. according to the awe feedback evaluation, their grammatical accuracy has improved. preference in incorporating feedback from grammarly and peer evaluation students’ preference for grammarly or peer evaluation to evaluate their essays was investigated based on the analysis of data found in the questionnaire and interview. after the initial information was found in the questionnaire, the interview questions were designed to find deeper information. eventually, the reasons for their preferences were then described in more detail. the findings of a statistical analysis of students' perceptions of grammarly and peer review are shown in table 2 below. item 1, 2, 4, 6, and 10 elicited statistically varied replies from these students. on the basis of the mean scores, it is possible to conclude that students perceived their peers as a more authentic audience (item 1) and greatly valued peer feedback (item 2). however, they preferred using grammarly during the writing process (item 4), but they felt more confident about their writing after receiving peer feedback (item 6). consequently, it was reasonable for them to anticipate an increase in pe activities the following semester (item 10). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 461-473 468 table 2. students’ perception towards grammarly and peer evaluation no items evaluation n mean 1 i regard (grammarly/peer) as real audience grammarly 22 13.6 peers 22 15.6 2 i highly value the comments from (grammarly/peer) on my writing grammarly 22 15 peers 22 16.4 3 i adopt comments from (grammarly/peer) for revision grammarly 22 15 peers 22 15.2 4 i like writing with (grammarly/peer) grammarly 22 15.2 peers 22 14 5 i revise my writing more when i use (grammarly/peer) grammarly 22 14.8 peers 22 14.2 6 writing with (grammarly/peer) has increased my confidence in my writing. grammarly 22 15.4 peers 22 14.2 7 the essay scores (grammarly/peer) gives are fair. grammarly 22 13.8 peers 22 14.4 8 i feel (grammarly/peer) won’t avoid giving negative feedback for fear of hurting the writer. grammarly 22 13.4 peers 22 13.4 9 i enjoy (grammarly/peer) activities during this semester. grammarly 22 13.8 peers 22 13.8 10 i hope my teacher in writing class will continue peer revision activities next semester. grammarly 22 14 peers 22 15 based on the aforementioned questionnaire results, the researchers found that there were three. based on the aforementioned survey results, the researchers determined that there were three primary reasons why students preferred their essays to be evaluated by their peers rather than by awe, which can be described as follows: theme one: real audiences the first reason why efl learners in indonesia chose pe over awe is that they view their classmates as authentic audiences, whereas grammarly is merely a tool. this outcome backed social constructivism (d. et al., 1979; liu & matthews, 2005). peer scaffolding occurred when students worked in pairs (levine et al., 2012; o’neill & russell, 2019; storch, 2002), and peer evaluation increased interaction and co-construction of knowledge. in contrast, students in awe's virtual classroom were exposed to dehumanizing training with minimal peer contact. as seen by the students' self-reflections (table 2), peers were perceived as more authentic audiences than computers. peer reviews were advantageous because they promoted interactive social learning and raised audience awareness. this concept is also reinforced by the interview results listed below: for me, peers are the real audiences with whom i can communicate and discuss my reviewed essays. meanwhile, grammarly is only a tool managed by a machine to check general mistakes in my writing. i also cannot ask for further information about the given feedback. it is just me who accepts or denies the feedback (excerpt 1, interview). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 461-473 469 this finding is also supported by the frequency with which students utilize feedback from pe and awe, as seen in table 1. this summary reveals that around 13 pupils commonly adopted feedback from pe due to its engagement feedback (which makes the writing more interesting and effective). since then, only nine students have taken grammarly's advice on how to make their writing more interesting. i believe that in order to make my writing more interesting and effective, i should discuss with the reviewer the best strategy for delivering my writing without confusing the readers. compared to grammarly, i do not have a chance to negotiate the purpose of my writing for the application (excerpt 2, interview). similarly, lai (2010) discovered that 22 taiwanese efl college students viewed their peers as the true audience, as opposed to my access (awe). it is also supported by fithriani (2019), who found social interaction helped students extend their zone of proximal development (zpd), which at the same time encouraged them to improve their writing skills after providing feedback from peers. thus, it has been demonstrated that efl students prefer peer feedback to awe, as peer feedback is regarded as a genuine audience that may speak with students about their written essays. theme two: peer comment values commentary is deemed valuable if it has a substantial impact on the evaluation process for writing. according to the results of the survey (table 2), efl college students in indonesia place peer feedback above grammarly. the discrepancy in the mean scores is 1.4 points, which is the second largest in the table. the interview then investigates this circumstance in greater depth to determine the students' motivations. i believe my peers' comments were more valuable because they were not only showing me which part of my writing was incorrect, but they were also attempting to give me a solution on how to fix it. they were also willing to have a discussion with me to choose the best idea to evaluate my essay (excerpt 3, interview). different feedback systems may explain why kids prefer pe to awe, as seen by this condition. in writing studies, direct and indirect feedback mechanisms have been recognized and researched (chandler, 2003; ferris, 1997; van beuningen et al., 2008). the former consisted of recognizing an error and supplying the correct form, whereas the latter consisted of making broad observations without offering a particular solution. according to the frequency with which students used feedback (table 1), three-fifths of the indonesian efl learners in this study felt that automated feedback was too generic for revision; they would only use grammarly to assess the clarity and correctness of their writing. two-fourths of the students reported that they could not rely on grammarly to offer feedback on the quality of their writing. this issue was not identified during peer review, during which peers identified writing errors and discussed how to correct them. this conclusion was supported by research showing that students prefer explicit, direct feedback to indirect feedback (chandler, 2003; van beuningen et al., 2008). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 461-473 470 theme three: grammarly for writing process the strength of computer-generated feedback, including immediate holistic and analytical feedback of grammarly (barrot, 2020; fahmi & cahyono, 2021; karlina ambarwati, 2021; o’neill & russell, 2019; ranalli, 2021; waer, 2021), could not be overlooked despite the claim that pe was superior to awe in the current study. it can be seen in the questionnaire result (table 2) on average, students love to write with grammarly over peers during the writing process. it is also supported by the interview results, as follows: during the writing process, i would like to check my writing on grammarly first. it is fast and saves time. i also frequently write my essays directly to the grammarly page so that i can check the grammatical of my writing directly. writing with peers will be more hassle because i need to concentrate to generate my ideas into writing. afterwards, i can ask my peers to give me feedback on it (excerpt 4, interview). as barrot (2020) reviews, multiple researchers have discovered that grammarly facilitates faster feedback from writers. in addition, grammatical input is at the top of the list for essay revisions. grammarly's comments will greatly reduce the number of grammatical errors (guo et al., 2021). as shown in table 1, the two forms of feedback students use to rewrite their essays are correctness (cr) and clarity (cl). delivery (dl) and engagement (en) are the final two alternatives. therefore, it must be acknowledged that bringing about the necessary modifications to grammarly would be difficult, so we cannot fault awe for placing second. although often inaccurate, computer-generated feedback could motivate students and save writing instructors time. as stressed by matsumura & hann (2004), in order for student writers to achieve the maximum development in essay writing, it was essential to provide a variety of feedback alternatives. conclusion students' perspectives on feedback may significantly influence their writingrelated attitudes and behaviors. it is likely that students will not fully commit if they do not perceive the process as meaningful and beneficial. given this insight, it is critical for teachers to examine students' opinions of their preferences in using pe and grammarly to analyze their essays, as these perceptions play a significant influence in influencing the efficiency of their implementation. this study revealed that in the setting of efl in indonesia, college students exhibited generally positive sentiments toward these two modes of writing evaluation. however, they prefer to use feedback from their peers more to evaluate their essays than grammarly. the students frequently use feedback from their peers to check the correctness, clarity, engagement, and delivery of their writing. in addition, two main reasons to support their ideas are: first, they consider peers as the real audiences while grammarly only as a tool; second, the strategy of giving feedback by peers is considered to be more valuable since they give direct feedback to the writers. therefore, it is recommended that peer feedback is incorporated into the efl writing instruction more than awe. in this case, it is grammarly. however, grammarly also received positive points as the students like writing with this tool. therefore, it is believed that the combination of these two feedbacks could make the most progress in essay writing. therefore, it is suggested for future educators and researchers to examine whether this combination will have a more positive impact on students’ writing llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 461-473 471 performance so a more comprehensive framework can be achieved. this study could be replicated with a bigger sample size in order to increase the generalizability of the results. in the future, it would be interesting to do research that compares the perceived benefits of peer feedback and awe to how they affect student writing. this would help find out if what students think about the benefits of peer feedback and awe match up with what they actually get out of them. references ariyanto, m. s. a., mukminatien, n., & tresnadewi, s. 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(2008). automated essay scoring versus human scoring: a correlational study. contemporary issues in technology and teacher education, 8(4), 310–325. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccv058 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2016.02.007 https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2020.1743323 https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.211212.008 https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.3795 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2021.100816 https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2019.1629601 https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9922.00179 https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2021.2004389 https://doi.org/10.2143/itl.156.0.2034439 http://www.isetl.org/ijtlhe/ https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2021.1914062 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 149-159 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 149 an exploration on students’ public speaking anxiety: stifin perspective benni ichsanda rahman hz universitas islam negeri sumatera utara medan, indonesia correspondence: benni.ichsanda@uinsu.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4502 received 31 march 2022; accepted 10 may 2022 abstract the purpose of this research is to examine the level of public speaking anxiety among students based on the differences in human intelligence machine division: stifin (sensing, thinking, intuiting, feeling, and insting). this study involved 51 management students who took the english for specific course on their semester credits. this study employs a case study that is qualitative in nature. the data was gathered using a semi-structured approach. the data collected was then processed by using two methods: statistical calculations for quantitative data related to the results of filling out 17 public speaking anxiety scale (flas) questionnaires by students concerning their level of anxiety when performing a public speaking and constructive analysis for qualitative data related to the results of comparing respondents' responses. the results show that students in the insting personality have a higher average of public speaking anxiety: 51.60. students who are sensing have an average anxiety level of 49.25, whereas students who are thinking have an anxiety level of 47.50. in comparison, intuiting students have an average anxiety level of 48.66, while feeling students have an average anxiety level of 50.17. consider the implications, some suggestions are discussed to overcome the challenges.. keywords: anxiety, brain dominance, personality, public speaking introduction although there have been numerous studies on the relationship between personality and speaking ability factors (fazeli, 2011 in foroozandehfar & khalili, 2019), there has been no research on speaking ability factors based on the distinction of human intelligence machine. speaking ability is influenced by a number of variables, one of which is anxiousness (marwa & thamrin, 2016). various studies on anxiety in public speaking based on personality have been conducted (boroujeni et al., 2015; marwa & thamrin, 2016), but it is still inadequate in the context of it’s relation to distinction of human brain capability. there are some theories that divide human personality based on brain dominance. one of these is the stifin method for dividing the human brain's ability, which is being the topic of this study. stifin is a tool for determining a mailto:benni.ichsanda@uinsu.ac.id llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 149-159 150 person's genetic personality potential (dini, 2022 in poniman, 2009). the separation of the powers of the human brain by stifin was created in 1999, since the psychological analytical method pioneered by carl gustav jung, coupled with ned herrmann's theory of the whole brain concept and theory tiune brain, is more scientifically based in the stifin tests started by poniman (2009). the stifin technique is based on the stifin idea, which combines psychological, neurology, and human resource science theories (alindra, 2018). it is achieved by fingerprints scanning, in which fingerprints provide information about the nervous system's makeup, which is then analyzed and linked to certain brain areas that act as the main operating system and machine intelligence (rafianti & pujiastuti, 2017). stifin stands for sensing, thinking, intuiting, feeling, and insting (poniman, 2009), which are then these five types of personality known as intelligence machine (agung & rustandi, 2017, p.46), while the intelligence steering consists of introverts and extroverts (poniman, 2009). genetic personality in stifin is formed from a combination of intelligence engine and intelligence steering (dini, 2022). thus, there are 9 types of genetic personality, namely sensing extrovert (se), sensing introvert (si), thinking extrovert (te), thinking introvert (ti), intuiting extrovert (ie), intuiting introvert (ii), feeling extrovert (fe). ), feeling introvert (fi), and instinct (in) [(dini, 2022 cited poniman, 2009)]. this notion becomes the stifin genetic personality identification paradigm, in which only one dominant genetic personality is identified and developed (poniman, 2009). hz (2021, p.14) following the study of poniman & mangussara (2013) and mundiri & zahra (2017) further explains these five brain distinctions: 1) sensing has to do with the way they learn by remembering, how they play, how strong their muscles are, how often they study, and how they focus on their lessons. it also has to do with their own chemistry and how it affects their power with a stable social role and how much money they have. the best way to learn how to sense people is to look at other people. record how the best people do something, then do it the same way. they should do upcopy if possible. the more practice they have, the better their skills become. they start with a small amount and then add on little by little (hz, 2021, p.14). furthermore, when sensing individuals are pushed from the outside, they develop a more withdrawn and apprehensive temperament. they would, however, dare to attempt to maximize their existing power potential. even when it comes to speaking up, if they have been forged through disciplined training and experience, sensing feels most entitled to stand in the front row, despite their initial shyness (poniman, 2011). however, the component that most assist the sensing type master the lesson is repetition of practice questions: answering all types of questions from easy to tough or solving problems. this type of experience will always be a prerequisite for success. for the sensing personality type, the most successful method of learning is through trial and error. exercises that are repeated are an effective technique to maintain muscle memory. the more frequently they train, the more muscle memory is developed, resulting in increase in this type of talent (poniman, 2011). moreover, 2) thinking personality is so inclined to the throne with a social role in power, decisiveness, and independence that they have a computational learning style, serious habits, greatness in logic, a focus on friendship, the path to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 149-159 151 success by setting priorities, and blood type stimulus a (hz, 2021, p.15). the most effective method of developing thinking strategies is for students to make advantage of their left brain's ability to analyze. they observe a work process or task, then identify flaws, make improvements, and monitor the results. they continue to do so until they observe beneficial effects. they pore over the instructions, observing and mastering the structure and procedure. they next go through as much data as possible to fine-tune the analysis. poniman (2011) emphasizes that thinking people think positively and feel they can. they are also analytical, which means they think analytically about a system's pieces, like to debate and discuss, like to compete for something, and have a powerful and formal attitude. in addition, thinking type immediately functions in its regular effective style of working. this category treats work with a high standard of output. this type of operation must be efficient and precise. finally, the thinking individuals will oversee the process and organize the system so that the activities operate smoothly. otherwise, 3) intuiting people have a way of learning that is based on patterns and habits, and they are creative, classy, knowledgeable, and influential in words. this is because their social role is to be creative, classy, intelligent, and influential in words, and this is how they learn about the world and the world around them. the best way to learn how to read people is to use their right brain's ability to look for ideas and patterns, which is what you should do. ideas and patterns can be found in books, films, magazines, tv shows, and more. they can be found anywhere. they always try to find something new from what they have seen, heard, or read. these people look for patterns in the things they have learned so they can connect it with the information they want to learn more about. they have the most important thing: imagination and creativity (hz, 2021, p.15). in addition, 4) feeling tends to be blazing social and mood, as well as feelings of love as a result of their dysplastic constitution, dysplastic dna and blood type o stimulant. in order to develop a better sense of empathy, interacting with other people is the most effective method. they are motivated or enlightened by the experiences of others. they are more likely to engage in conversation with those who already have a firm grasp of the subject matter they seek to master. they select books, articles, or biographies that are relevant to them and investigate how they use the information (hz, 2021, p.15). poniman (2011) added that feeling are persuasive, tolerant, affectionate, communicative and good communicators, good listeners, considerate and able to take care of other people's feelings, and sympathetic. feelings individuals have the potential mental strength to hear the language of the heart of the other person with their power of deep breath. the feeling type's greatest asset is its ability to enhance others' feelings. thereafter, this personality gets to play the role of king-maker. this kind focuses on being a mentor and motivator for those they care about. as a result of their inherent calling, they prefer to help others reach their full potential. this type of galvanizer gives all they have until the point of exhaustion. ultimately, this type is content if its cadres achieve their goals. feeling persons are referred to as coaches because of their competence, and one of them even aspires to become the most expensive coach. comparable, 5) insting have a balanced dna between adenine, guanine, thymine and cytosine, a stenis physical constitution, adenine, guanine, thymine and cytosine, and their chemistry is water, therefore they tend to be happy with the social role of peace (peacemaker) and happiness. the greatest way for instinctive llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 149-159 152 people to learn is to respond swiftly and spontaneously to situations that demand knowledge. their freedom will help them learn. they use their abilities to help others complete work that requires knowledge to be mastered (hz, 2021). the insting person, according to poniman (2011), is a great spiritualist but also a fierce and temperamental individual, with sharp instincts and good prediction but doubtful and no principles (decisions easily changed) (not aggressive, confident in achieving something). this kind is also quick to respond and thorough, but less long term, honest, innocent, and naive. moreover, instinct people have natural desire to be happy all the time. as it is, they just like living in a place where they can be happy and not have to deal with problems. instinct likes a peaceful and calm situation without any confrontations. if the happiness is achieved, then these people start to play a role in multitasking. they always want to help other people. not even if they have to be number two in their partnership, this type does not really matter. what is important for this type is that it can be a partner for other types at a better level. this type does not want to be a target if they become number one. they prefer to be number two or being support system. meanwhile, stifin has been extensively researched in the context of its relation with other subjects (eg: (amri & rahman, 2020; rafianti & pujiastuti, 2017; yandri et al., 2021). however, specifically, the relationship between stifin and english language acquisition and english language competence is still not widely carried out, especially between english public speaking ability and brain dominance. at that point, in medan, there is one university that implements the entire division-based curriculum system, which is predominantly brain-based: based on stifin. all classes of students are classified into groups based on the type of intelligence they possess. students with right-brain dominance are placed in classes that are exclusively made up of right-brain people. students with left brain dominance, on the other hand, are placed in classes that are exclusively made up of left brain individuals. this constructivist approach, which has been in place for the past two years, is designed to ensure that students receive instruction that is customized to their individual talents and interests, as theorized by stifin. this institution is a vocational university that specializes in the topic of economic management. however, there are four english courses in the curriculum that begin in semesters one through four, respectively: basic english i and ii, conversation i and ii, business english, and english for specific purpose. these courses are offered in the first and second semesters of each semester. these series of english subjects are taught in stages from basic to advanced levels by lecturers who have also been assessed for their brain dominance. according to the syllabus for intermediate (namely: business english) and advanced (namely: english for specific purpose) courses, one of the course's outcomes is that students be able to communicate in the context of their professional life, and more specifically, public speaking. all students are taught and encouraged to develop the ability to deliver public speaking in the context of their work (e.g., corporate presentations), both in openly and digitally. otherwise, numerous challenges arise during the teaching and learning processes of this course. grammatical errors, pronunciation difficulties, and a dearth of vocabulary are all common problems. the issue is essentially about a single underlying issue: students' apprehension or lack of fearlessness whenever it comes to public speaking llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 149-159 153 in front of communities. most students were afraid, frightened, and worried when required to talk in front of the class, which, according to the author's views, is a small sample of the common society. all of these issues belong to one main issue: public speaking anxiety. studies on speaking anxiety have been conducted since five decades ago (tsang, 2020), which is started by mccroskey in 1977 who studied about the summary of theories and researches about oral communication apprehension. mccroskey (1977) defined communication apprehension as an individual's level of worry or anxiety in response to actual or expected conversation with another person or entities. even though, anxiety is a crucial component in the field of language that can have both a positive and a negative impact on a person's ability to communicate effectively (sutarsyah, 2017; yildiz, 2021). public speaking anxiety, as defined in the context of public speaking, is a combination of evaluative feelings regarding one's ability to speak in front of audience (daly et al., 1989). as an additional point of reference, hunter et al., (2014) following the study of bodie (2010), explained that public speaking anxiety is a situation-specific social anxiety that originates from the actual or expected enactment of an oral presentation. in practice, public speaking anxiety is the most common type of communication anxiety, and it is also one of the most extensively studied and researched communication constructs (lefebvre et al., 2018). anxiety can arise in educational settings from a variety of factors, including stress, depression, exhaustion, resource constraints, and apprehension about being evaluated (lefebvre et al., 2018). to put it in other words, students who have more competent oral communication abilities will indeed be effective in managing the anxiety that comes with public speaking situations (lefebvre et al., 2018). stewart et al., (2021) following the findings of bodie (bodie, 2010) stated that public speaking anxiety is a situation specific social anxiety that arises from the actual or anticipated enactment of an oral presentation. increased heart rate and perspiration are common physiological responses to anxiety, while trembling, rocking, and other adaptive behaviors are also common behavioral responses to anxiety (bodie, 2010, in stewart et al., 2021). thus, paucity of empirical of research on the relationship between stifin and english language acquisition and competence: particularly on the relationship between english public speaking ability and brain dominance, the purpose of this research is to examine the level of public speaking anxiety among students based on the differences in intelligence machine (in thic case: stifin). whether the students with sensing, thinking, intuiting, feeling, and insting personalities have significantly different levels of anxiety or not, or even whether these brain dominant traits have no association with public speaking ability, then were explored. method participants this study enrolled 51 students of the economic management universities in north sumatra province. samples were chosen from two classes of fourth semester students who took the english for specific purpose course on their semester credits. all of the participants went through a series of english subject on their previous llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 149-159 154 semesters, starting with basic english i and ii, english conversation i and ii, and progressing to business english. instrument this research is a case study that is qualitative in nature. the data was gathered by using a semi-structured approach. the data collected in this study was then processed using two methods: statistical calculations for quantitative data related to the results of filling out 17-question student questionnaires concerning their level of anxiety when performing a public speech, and constructive analysis for qualitative data related to the results of comparing respondents' responses. procedure of data analysis the researcher began by taking note of the different personality traits associated with brain dominance among students that were available through the university's academic division. following that, the researcher asked students to complete a foreign language anxiety scale (flas) questionnaire developed by bartholomay & houlihan (2016), which consisted of 17 questionnaire items to be answered on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest level of anxiety and 1 being the lowest level of anxiety (5 questions within score reversing: number 6, 7, 8, 16, and 17). table 1. flas scale the absolute maximum score is 5, and there are 17 questions to answer. this means that the highest maximum score is 85, while the lowest is 17. the more anxious they are, the higher their score will be. researchers divided the 85 score into three different groups according on their recorded levels of anxiety: low (1– 28), moderate (29–57), and high (57–85). it was subsequently determined the students' experiences and involvement in public speaking, as well as their practice, depended on which brain dominant type they possess, as well as how anxious they are about speaking in front of others. findings and discussion the data from the questionnaire on students' anxiety of public speaking are presented in the table below. table 2. the level of public speaking anxiety among students. level sensing thinking intuiting feeling insting ∑ % ∑ % ∑ % ∑ % ∑ % high (57-85) 4 25 2 13.33 2 33.33 1 20 moderate (29-56) 12 75 10 100 13 86.67 4 66.67 4 80 low (1-28) scale ranging description 5 extremely 4 very 3 moderately 2 slightly 1 not at all llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 149-159 155 according to the table, 25% of sensing students have high levels of public speaking anxiety, while none of the thinking students have high levels of public speaking anxiety. the following percentages are: 13.33% intuiting, 33.33% feeling, and 20% insting students who have high levels of public speaking anxiety. on the contrary, 100% of thinking participants found moderate levels of anxiety, followed by 80% of insting students who also reported moderate levels. a more in-depth analysis was completed. the entire number of responses to all of the survey questions was tallied up to arrive at the anxiety level of the participants. the table below shows the findings. table 3. average level of anxiety brain dominant type average level of anxiety level sensing 49.25 moderate thinking 47.50 moderate intuiting 48.66 moderate feeling 50.17 moderate insting 51.60 moderate sensing students have an average anxiety level of 49.25, while thinking students have an anxiety level of 47.50. in contrast, intuiting students have a degree of anxiety of 48.66, followed by feeling students who have a level of anxiety of 50.17 on average. insting students, on the other hand, have a higher average: 51.60. however, the majority of students in any brain dominant type are in the moderate range, not the high range, and the difference is not statistically significant. the esearcher also calculated each student's average score for each question from the replies they gathered via a questionnaire. table.4. students public speaking anxiety score statements score sensing thinking intuiting feeling insting giving a speech is terrifying 2.50 2.30 2.80 2.67 2.20 i am afraid that i will be at a loss for words while speaking 3.00 3.20 2.80 3.17 3.80 i am nervous that i will embarrass myself in front of the audience 3.06 2.80 2.73 2.67 3.20 if i make a mistake in my speech, i am unable to re-focus 3.06 2.50 2.53 3.00 3.00 i am worried that my audience will think i am a bad speaker 3.38 3.20 3.20 2.83 4.40 i am focused on what i am saying during my speech* 2.75 2.30 3.33 2.67 1.80 i am confident when i give a speech* 3.63 3.70 3.47 3.83 3.80 i feel satisfied after giving a speech* 1.75 2.30 2.60 2.50 2.00 my hands shake when i give a 2.56 3.00 2.67 2.83 3.20 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 149-159 156 speech i feel sick before speaking in front of a group 2.94 2.10 2.40 3.17 2.80 i feel tremble before giving a speech 3.38 2.70 2.80 3.17 3.20 i am anxious before speaking 3.38 2.70 2.93 2.67 3.20 my heart pounds when i give a speech 3.75 3.50 3.00 2.83 3.20 i sweat during my speech 2.31 2.30 2.93 2.83 2.60 my voice trembles when i give a speech 2.19 3.00 2.40 2.83 2.80 i feel relaxed while giving a speech* 2.75 3.20 2.93 3.17 3.20 i do not have problems making eye contact with my audience* 2.88 2.70 3.13 3.33 3.20 average 2.90 2.79 2.86 2.95 3.04 nb.* reverse score in its calculation thinking students have an anxiety level of 47.50, which put them as the lowest anxiety averagely among other intelligence machine, although the difference is not significant. this result is supported by the fact that the thinking individuals always have positive mindset that they feel they can do what being target, which in this case support the emphasis of poniman (2011). therefore, they will perform someting as better as they can in case the thinking type is immediately able to perform in its usual, efficient manner. they are analytical, which implies they are interested in analyzing a system's components and enjoy debating and arguing with others (poniman, 2011). as the name suggests, the work in this category is held to a high quality in which their operation necessitates speed and accuracy. they also do not care about what other think about them, which make them making decisions without any consideration about what will people think about them. students at insting intelligence machine, on the other hand, report the highest average anxiety level: 51.60, despite the fact that their apprehension is still of a medium intensity. this findings support poniman's (2011) assertion that insting individuals are indecisive and less convinced. to put it another way, their decisions are easily changed, as well as their lack of confidence and aggression. as a result of these variables, some people may not be confident to talk in front of the audiences, even if they are not aware of it. despite the fact that insting students are quick to react to a thorough question, their responses are not long-term, resulting in their being naive persons. moreover, according to table 4, the statement "i am worried that my audience will think i am a bad speaker" has the highest level of anxiety across all respondents, with a score of 4.40 from instinct students. in this circumstance, the students are extremely concerned and upset that they will be judged as incompetent speakers. this finding is consistent with poniman's (2011) hypothesis that instinct prefer to live in an area where they can be joyful without having to deal with problems. instinct prefers a pleasant environment free of conflict. consequently, they frequently avoid speaking in front of audiences in order to prevent disagreement with others. this result is in contrast to thinking students, as their lowest anxiety level, 3.20, corresponds to intuiting students, as thinking llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 149-159 157 persons are unconcerned about what others think of them, leading them to make decisions without regard for what others would think. an additional point of differentiation is found in the sentence "i am confident when i give a speech”. feeling students, on average, score 3.83 out of a possible 5.0 in this context. it is their chemistry as good communicators and good listeners that causes them to feel courageous; they are persuasive, tolerant, and affectionate; and this confirms the idea of poniman (2011). they have the potential mental strength to hear the other person's heart language through their deep breath in which the feeling type's greatest asset is its ability to enhance others' feelings, as well as, this personality gets to play the role of king-maker. they give all they have until they are exhausted, and they are considered as coaches as they are so excellent at what they should be doing. another important distinction is in the point of “i am anxious before speaking”. in this circumstance, sensing students possess the higher anxiety, where averagely they have 3.38, and “my heart pounds when i give a speech”, in which averagely they possess 3.75 that make sensing is the higher than others types. this anxiousness is in this case created by their lack of experiences, due to the fact that the students in this class, according to the author’s observation, have not been consistently engaged in the real public audience making their presentations. their potential brave tend to be expressed, in case they are brave persons, as explained by poniman (2011), that sensing individuals dare to attempt to maximize their existing power potential. even when it comes to speaking up, if they have been developed through disciplined training and experience, sensing feels most entitled to stand in the front row, despite their initial nervousness, if they push forward their main power: by employing process of trial and error. exercises that are repeated are an efficient way to retain muscle memory, which bring the more frequently individuals train, the more muscle memory is produced, resulting in increase in this type of potential. conclusion in this study, 25% of sensing students exhibited high levels of public speaking anxiety, while none of the thinking students did. these are the percentages: the anxiety encompasses 13.33% intuiting, 33.33% feeling, and 20% insting students. rather, 100% of thinking participants experienced moderate anxiety, followed by 80% of insting students. students in the insting personality, on the other hand, have a higher average of public speaking anxiety: 51.60. students who are sensing have an average anxiety level of 49.25, whereas students who are thinking have an anxiety level of 47.50. in comparison, intuiting students have an average anxiety level of 48.66, while feeling students have an average anxiety level of 50.17. furthermore, when it comes to the statement " "i am worried that my audience will think i am a bad speaker", instinct students have the highest amount of anxiety among all respondents, scoring 4.40 on average. furthermore, in the context "i am confident when i give a speech," feeling students score an average of 3.83 out of a possible 5.0. last but not least, when it comes to "i am anxious before speaking," sensing students had the highest anxiety, with an average of 3.38, and "my heart pounds when i give a speech," with an average of 3.75, making sensing the highest individuals in these circumstances. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 149-159 158 consider the implications, that both students and instructors need to work together to seek solutions to their anxiety-inducing situations. quite a strategies are proposed that students could use to completely overcome the challenges for insting students (as the most anxious), as well as to reduce the level of anxiety for other brain dominant types, such as: invariably practicing with peers, removing the fear of being giggled after giving a presentation, participating in speaking or presentation contexts, establishing friendly relationships with students, and beingmixed with high-level confidence students. instructors can also help students overcome their anxiety by developing programs to boost their confidence, encouraging them to speak in front of an audience and not be afraid of making mistakes, involving them in english speaking programs like debating, presentation, and conversation clubs, and asking them to come prepared to class. and most importantly, the lecturers must creating and developing suitable teaching syllabus, materials, methods and techniques, appropriate with the students' individuals characteristics, personality, and intelligence machine. references agung, b., & rustandi, d. (2017). ini gue banget: temukan kekuatan rahasiamu, jadilah apapun yang kamu mau. pt. elex media komputindo. alindra, a. l. (2018). kajian aksiologi metode stifin dalam pemetaan mesin kecerdasan manusia. jurnal filsafat indonesia, 1(1), 23–29. amri, m., & rahman, u. (2020). description of structural officers stifin test results of uin alauddin makassar. lentera pendidikan: jurnal ilmu tarbiyah dan keguruan, 23(1), 1–8. bartholomay, e. m., & houlihan, d. d. (2016). public speaking anxiety scale: preliminary psychometric data and scale validation. personality and individual differences, 94, 211–215. bodie, g. d. (2010). a racing heart, rattling knees, and ruminative thoughts: defining, explaining, and treating public speaking anxiety. communication education, 59(1), 70–105. boroujeni, a. a. j., roohani, a., & hasanimanesh, a. (2015). the impact of extroversion and introversion personality types on efl learners’ writing ability. theory and practice in language studies, 5(1), 212. daly, j. a., vangelisti, a. l., neel, h. l., & cavanaugh, p. d. (1989). pre‐performance concerns associated with public speaking anxiety. communication quarterly, 37(1), 39–53. dini, j. p. a. u. (2022). strategi pendidikan karakter anak usia dini menggunakan perangkat kepribadian genetik stifin. jurnal obsesi: jurnal pendidikan anak usia dini, 6(3), 1859–1872. fazeli, s. h. (2011). the exploring nature of language learning strategies (llss) and their relationship with various variables with focus on personality traits in the current studies of second/foreign language learning. online submission, 1(10), 1311–1320. foroozandehfar, l., & khalili, g. f. (2019). on the relationship between iranian efl learners’ reading fluency, their personality types and learning styles. cogent arts & humanities, 6(1), 1681347. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 149-159 159 hunter, k., westwick, j., & haleta, l. (2014). assessing success: a model for assessing the impact of a fundamentals of speech course on decreasing public speaking. communication education, 63(2). hz, b. i. r. (2021). public speaking. yogyakarta: k-media. lefebvre, l., lefebvre, l. e., & allen, m. (2018). training the butterflies to fly in formation: cataloguing student fears about public speaking. communication education, 67(3), 348–362. marwa, w. s., & thamrin, n. r. (2016). extrovert personality and its impact on studentsâ€tm argumentative essay writing skill. english review: journal of english education, 4(2), 267–274. mccroskey, j. c. (1977). oral communication apprehension: a summary of recent theory and research. human communication research, 4(1), 78–96. mundiri, a., & zahra, i. (2017). implementasi metode stifin dalam meningkatkan kemampuan menghafal al-qur’an di rumah qur’an stifin paiton probolinggo. jurnal pendidikan agama islam (journal of islamic education studies), 5(2), 201–223. poniman, f. (2009). stifin personality mengenali mesin kecerdasan anda. bekasi: pt. stifin fingerprint. poniman, f. (2011). penjelasan hasil tes stifin: mengenali cetak biru hidup anda. bekas: pt. stifin fingerprint. poniman, f., & mangussara, r. a. (2013). konsep palugada: apa lu mau gua ada. stifin institute. rafianti, i., & pujiastuti, h. (2017). analysis of students’mathematical power in terms of stifin test. infinity journal, 6(1), 29–36. stewart, b., broeckelman-post, m., & rossheim, c. (2021). making a difference: a quantitative study of communication center and basic course impact on publicspeaking anxiety, goal orientation, and motivation. communication education, 70(3), 307–326. sutarsyah, c. (2017). an analysis of student’s speaking anxiety and its effect on speaking performance. ijeltal (indonesian journal of english language teaching and applied linguistics), 1(2), 143–152. tsang, a. (2020). the relationship between tertiary-level students’ self-perceived presentation delivery and public speaking anxiety: a mixed-methods study. assessment & evaluation in higher education, 45(7), 1060–1072. yandri, h., sujadi, e., & juliawati, d. (2021). perencanaan karir siswa sekolah menengah atas dengan pendekatan konsep stifin untuk menghadapi perilaku kapitalisme di era revolusi industri 4.0. educational guidance and counseling development journal, 4(2), 58–65. yildiz, m. (2021). the factors causing english speaking anxiety on non-english major academics while using english as a medium of instruction. teflin journal, 32(2), 389–412. llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 language and language teaching journal http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 22 discouraging students’ academic dishonesty in flipped classroom lucia nino widiasmoro dewati ipeka jakarta lucia.nino.wd@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2017.200103 abstract flipped classroom presents teaching process at home through videos, handouts and listening passages before the class session. while in-class time is mostly devoted for questions and answers session, exercises, projects and discussion. the reason flipped classroom is needed for teachers in this era, simply because at the time students do the assignments inside the classroom, teachers would have the opportunities to observe students’ interaction, activities, improvement and even to solve students’ problem such as academic dishonesty. thus, the question would be: to what extent is the urgency of implementing flipped classroom as one solution to discourage students’ academic dishonesty in writing classes? the study is conducted by employing action research. the findings confirm that performing flipped classroom is essential in order to discourage students’ academic dishonesty while assisting the teacher to observe students’ development in writing classes. keywords: assignment, flipped classroom, academic dishonesty introduction students’ academic dishonesty is one of the massive challenges that teachers have been dealing with for years. due to technology development, the existence of students’ dishonesty, such as plagiarism, is increasing rapidly and barely impossible to avoid. then, an idea of switching the traditional or face-to-face classroom -where students usually be taught inside the classroom and be given assignments to finish at home as a measurement of their understandingto a completely ‘flipped’ classroom where students are taught at home and also finish their assignments inside the classroom so that they may get personal assistance and even observation from the teachers. by being observed and assisted during completing the assignment, it would be a turning point to minimize students’ academic dishonesty. flipped classroom was initially inspired by jonathan bergman and aaron sams in 2008 to overcome students’ absences in school. “basically the concept of a flipped class is this: that which is traditionally done in class is now done at home, and that which is traditionally done as homework is now completed in class.” (bergman & sam, 2012) starting with software to record teachers’ lesson, absent student could study any materials they had missed. nowadays, the idea of flipped classroom, not only to support absent students but also to encourage students exploring much mailto:lucia.nino.wd@gmail.com llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 23 information of the topic discussed before attending the class. employing flipped classroom is also beneficial for students to reiterate difficult information at home by themselves after the class because flipped classroom creates greater engagement and higher learning motivation between students and teacher. (tune et al, 2013) flipped classroom enables teacher to create or prepare videos and other materials before the class is started. students could access the materials at home such as video and handouts by retrieving them on class website or suggested sources. after the students are equipped with advanced knowledge needed, the teacher could assess students’ understanding at class by having questions and answers or giving them assignments. besides assessing students’ understanding, flipped classroom could also assist teachers to discourage students to ‘copy’ their classmates’ assignments or download them online. it is because at the time students do the assignments inside the classroom, teachers would have the opportunities to observe students’ interaction, activities, improvement and even problem. “in the flipped learning model, teachers shift direct learning out of the large group learning space and move it into the individual learning space, with the help of one of several technologies.” (hamdan et al., 2013, p.4) the basic concept of flipped classroom has been widely initiated in indonesia since 2000, started from competency based curriculum in which students are highly recommended to be independent learners. then, the latest curriculum, 2013 curriculum emphasizes more to character education rather than only focusing on academic achievement. meanwhile, at the same time, students’ learning independency is still being expected. flipped classroom provides opportunities for teachers in order not only to observe students’ academic achievements but also monitor students’ attitudes, behaviour, social relation and students’ characters development. academic dishonesty is one of major issues among students for years. cheating and plagiarism are only some examples of academic honesty violation that both teacher and students often deal with. “academic dishonesty includes behaviours such as cheating on exam, copying other students’ home work and assignment and plagiarism” (jensen, l. a et al, 2002). moreover, in this digital era when everything is easily provided and accessible by double clicking, unawareness of doing plagiarism can be something usual. educating students the importance of avoiding plagiarism during their education, especially for high school students, is something imperative because societies, for example universities, have strict rules and penalties for students who did academic dishonesty (baird, 1980). on the contrary, high schools where students study, be taught and be disciplined before studying in university, still considered academic honesty violations as trivial because the teachers still have not found the effective solution for educating the students about academic dishonesty, the effects, and particularly discouraging students to do it. to prevent students’ dishonesty, applying flipped classroom is very essential. the reason is because students sometimes are not aware that they commit plagiarism so that by providing individual assistance to observe students’ activities, problems and progress, teachers would have direct opportunities to help llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 24 students avoid academic honesty violation. davis (2012) stated desirable deterrent, such as asking students to not cheat, could prevent them doing academic dishonesty. besides, it does meet the education curriculum expectation of improving character education, such as honesty. those expectations are possible and could be done by allowing students to do the assignment in the classroom while teachers observing students’ behaviour personally to assess their honesty. method being a researcher who also happens to teach in classes contributes massive opportunity to observe students’ problem in the classroom. the teachers may also have opportunities of self-reflecting after the teaching and learning process. knowing the issues and the problematic situation occurred in the classroom encourages researcher to design a plan to improve concrete enhancement for both teacher and students. teachers might initiate the research in order to address any possible and effective solution towards the real issues in their teaching. one of effective methods discussed in this study is action research. teachers with enormous loads and responsibilities are sometimes unable to make time to conduct research. a teacher whose role is also as a researcher requires an effective methodology to manage the research while teaching. performing action research enabling and empowering teachers to broaden educational consideration, to develop and to evaluate their teaching role. “action research offers a valuable opportunity for teachers to be involved in research which is felt to be relevant, as it is grounded in the social context of the classroom and the teaching institution, and focuses directly on issues and concerns which are significant in daily teaching practice.” (burns, 2010). by conducting action research in classes, teaching learning improvements, students’ activities, teachers’ monitoring and evaluation become highly visible and observable. teachers find problem in their teaching and proceed to create solution by implementing theories and findings of the current research based on observation and reflection (hong et al., 2013) the action research study consists of six stages, namely, identifying an issue, planning a proposal, taking action, collecting-analyzing the data, improving the practice and summarizing-sharing the findings. findings and discussion the subjects in this research are high school students grade xi. prior to the study, the researcher studied the subjects’ awareness of academic dishonesty and subjects’ final writing. the data were collected and kept as the preliminary data. the study is to investigate to what extent is the benefits of applying flipped classroom in order to discourage students’ academic dishonesty. in order to achieve the purpose, several stages needed to be done, for example deciding on the topic to discuss. the topic that the students need to write is news report. news item is chosen as the main topic of the writing because students are familiar with the texts since they can be accessed and found almost everywhere. news item was also obligatory content to teach in 2006 curriculum. secondly, the subjects that were observed in this study are 131 xi grade students. llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 25 identifying the challenges in writing the researcher started collecting initial information by interviewing sample subjects on their understanding of academic dishonesty and their writing problems. the findings revealed that the sample subjects were still unaware of the kinds of academic dishonesty and the impact of doing academic dishonesty to some extent. the subjects also had difficulties in brainstorming, connecting their ideas and realising their vision into writing. lack of related information, poor time management, negligence of the impact of academic dishonesty, inability to elaborate and initiate main ideas to detailed information were some motives why students kept doing plagiarism. planning sets of teaching instructions and materials. after noticing the subjects’ issues in writing, the researcher employed flipped classroom approach because it is suitable to gain teacher-students learning engagement since it creates personal and individual assistance. table 1: timeline 1st month introducing the topic and text structure brainstorming library research mindmapping 2nd month how to avoid plagiarism drafting feedbacks final writing 3rd month analyzing the data during the planning stage, the teacher prepared a set of videos, presentation and handout which were going to be watched, read and done by students. the teacher also provided alternative way if the students needed further and repeated information before and after the class. preparing checklist feedback from peer and teacher is imperative during the forthcoming process in order to help completing students’ writing and to meet the expectation. taking action by doing flipped classroom during 3 months of teaching, the researcher did not only explain and demonstrate the text structure of news item but also explained what was academic dishonesty, the types of academic dishonesty, how to avoid plagiarism, including how to brainstorm ideas, conduct library research, write draft and also conduct peer feedback. the researcher also designed various supportive assignments for the subjects in order to enhance the awareness and avoid academic dishonesty during flipped classroom. procedures: the study lasted approximately three months, which was divided into two phases. the first phase went on for one month while the second phase lasted for two months. in the end of the second phase, the researcher collected the llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 26 data of subjects’ writing result while interviewing the subjects about their awareness of academic dishonesty and their difficulties during the writing process. the first stage: a constructed teaching plan was determined, the teacher divided the observation into pre-writing, during-writing and post-writing activities. the researcher arranged materials before students started writing. secondly, the teacher set some materials such as handouts and worksheet, also prepared supporting videos and presentation that students could watch or study before and after the class. the set of materials covered the text topic, an encouragement of avoiding academic dishonesty and the tips and tricks. in while-writing stage, the researcher only assisted the students during their writing. in case there were questions related to the topic and problem faced by the students, this stage is highly beneficial to give further explanation personally. although the students were given opportunities to decide their news topic and conducted independent library study, teacher could still provide full attention and observation since the writing process was done at class. in post-writing stage, the students were required to get feedback, suggestion and evaluation of their complete draft from their peer. the feedback was in form of checklist covering both oral and written suggestion. in this stage, the teacher also gave feedback and suggestion on students’ draft in order to help them understand and notice parts on their writing that they could improve. teacher also collected their improvement in form of score for data collection. when the subject had done the writing, the researcher could observe and analyze the efficiency of flipped classroom to discourage students’ academic dishonesty in writing news item. collecting-analyzing the data there are some data obtained to analyze and observe the effectiveness of teaching approaches in order to discourage students’ dishonesty. beside students’ portfolio which contained students’ writing, field notes, classroom observation and writing score, an interview was also conducted to acquire adequate data. the 1st data of flipped classroom implementation can be observed on table 2: table 2. students’ writing in drafting stage paraphrasing quoting citing 80% 86% 66% based on table 2, after the students were equipped and informed with academic dishonesty and steps of avoiding it, students could present their writing and supported source by paraphrasing and quoting appropriately. the number of students who can quote properly is high because students were also equipped by studying reported speech. the percentage of students who are able to paraphrase is also high although some of them still found it difficult to rewrite the statements with their own words. citing is still considered the most difficult thing to do for students because students were still unaware of the importance of mentioning the source of their data, picture, idea or statement. meanwhile, not mentioning the source in the end of news item is usually done for space efficiency reason. llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 27 improving the practice after the students were given positive and encouraging peer feedback and teacher’s feedback towards their writing, they were expected to revise their writing before they wrote the final draft. after finishing the final draft, the result was improved rapidly. the data can be seen on table 3: table 3. students’ writing after the feedback paraphrasing quoting citing 98% 92% 75% figure 1. students’ writing improvement chart students’ writing improvement can be seen in figure 1. most of the students showed prompt improvement in their writing by showing their awareness of discouraging academic dishonesty by mentioning the source when it was needed. percentage of students who did paraphrasing in their news item increased by 18%. the number of students who put quotation in their writing also rose up to 6%. while students who were highly aware of citing also enhanced from 66% to 75%. based on the students’ interview, besides being more confident in writing, students did learn the urgency of mentioning the source and avoid themselves from unintentionally commit academic dishonesty. summarizing-sharing the findings based on the data collection and discussion, the subjects’ paraphrasing accuracy and quoting in news writing are steadily improved. the subjects did extremely well from ingenuous to well-known writer. they learnt the urgency in mentioning the source to support their writing and avoid unintentional plagiarism. the subjects also learnt organizing ideas into well-structured writing. on the other hand, from the teachers’ point of view, action research does enable them to reflect on their teaching performance more scientifically and objectively. the roles that teachers accomplish through flipped classroom also vary from one circumstance to another. teachers are not only educators but also have roles as partners, organizers and motivators. discouraging academic dishonesty is possible when students’ initiative is equally improved. 0 50 100 150 paraphrasing quoting citing drafting final writing llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 28 the researchers shared the findings to another colleagues as a part of action research. the purpose is also to broaden self-awareness of avoiding academic dishonesty among practitioners, enhancing teaching practice through evaluation and contributing better writing development for students. conclusion this study explains the action research of the implementation of flipped classroom in writing classes. in return, the study enables teachers to have a better understanding of the importance in performing flipped classroom because of its’ contribution to discourage the students from committing academic dishonesty. although the study has not included massive subjects, more empirical studies, reflective evaluation from the similar studies and collaborative action research studies are necessary so that enormous implication can be observed to help the teacher shares awareness of the necessity to discourage students’ academic dishonesty at the earliest convenience. there are many efl learning theories used in the classroom and learning english is still considered essential to meet the curriculum expectation. furthermore, the technology development and information exposure that language learners nowadays are exceedingly familiar with could support students to enhance their writing skill and also other skills. therefore, it also becomes the teachers’ responsibility to keep encouraging students to write more, educating and raising awareness of academic dishonesty among students. the preparation for flipped classroom could be absolute but the implication is surely assuring. action research provides researcher with a tool by which they can directly identify the issues during the teaching and learning process and decide on the best solution and continuously test them in the teaching and learning practice. by integrating language theories into teaching practice, teachers may improve their teaching and enhance their understanding in teaching theories. teachers can assist the students to improve and teachers can certainly ensure their career development. references baird, j. s. (1980). current trends in college cheating. psychology in the schools, 17(4), 515-522. burns, a. (2010a). doing action research for english language teachers. a guide for practitioners. new york: routledge. butt, a. (2014). student views on the use of a flipped classroom approach: evidence from australia. business education & accreditation, 6(1), 33. brydon-miller, m., greenwood, d. and maguire, p. (2003). “why action research?” in action research london: sage publications vol.[1](1) july 2003 p9-28 bergman, j., & sams, a. (2012). flip your classroom. international society for technology in education, 20. burns, a. (2003). collaborative action research for english language teachers. ernst klett sprachen. llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 29 davis, s. f., grover, c. a., becker, a. h., & mcgregor, l. n. (1992). academic dishonesty: prevalence, determinants, techniques, and punishments. teaching of psychology, 19(1), 16-20. flumerfelt, s., & green, g. (2013). using lean in the flipped classroom for at risk students. educational technology & society, 16(1), 356-366. hamdan n, mcknight p, mcknight k, arfstrom km. a review of flipped learning: flipped learning network. pearson education, and george mason university.; 2013. www.flippedlearning.org/cms/lib07/va01923112/centrici ty/domain/41/litreview_flippedlearning.pdf?utm_source=hootsuite&utm_ campaign=hootsuite (accessed 10 august 2016) jensen, j. l., kummer, t. a., & godoy, p. d. d. m. (2015). improvements from a flipped classroom may simply be the fruits of active learning. cbe-life sciences education, 14(1), ar5. jensen, l. a., arnett, j. j., feldman, s. s., & cauffman, e. (2002). it's wrong, but everybody does it: academic dishonesty among high school and college students. contemporary educational psychology, 27(2), 209-228. ma, h., chen, z. y., & pan, z. y. (2013, august). a case study of collaborative action research: lexical chunk theory and its implication on reading performance. in 2013 international conference on applied social science research (icassr-2013). atlantis press. marzano, r. j. (2003). what works in schools: translating research into action. ascd. marzano, r. j., marzano, j. s., & pickering, d. (2003). classroom management that works: research-based strategies for every teacher. ascd. milman, n. b. (2012). the flipped classroom strategy: what is it and how can it best be used?. distance learning, 9(3), 85. roehl, a., reddy, s. l., & shannon, g. j. (2013). the flipped classroom: an opportunity to engage millennial students through active learning. journal of family and consumer sciences, 105(2), 44. rutherfoord, r. h., & rutherfoord, j. k. (2013, october). flipping the classroom: is it for you?. in proceedings of the 14th annual acm sigite conference on information technology education (pp. 19-22). acm. tucker, b. (2012). the flipped classroom. education next, 12(1) tune jd, sturek m, basile dp. flipped classroom model improves graduate student performance in cardiovascular, respiratory, and renal physiology. adv physiol educ 2013;37:316-320. http://www.flippedlearning.org/cms/lib07/va01923112/centricity/domain/41/litreview_flippedlearning.pdf?utm_source=hootsuite&utm_campaign=hootsuite http://www.flippedlearning.org/cms/lib07/va01923112/centricity/domain/41/litreview_flippedlearning.pdf?utm_source=hootsuite&utm_campaign=hootsuite http://www.flippedlearning.org/cms/lib07/va01923112/centricity/domain/41/litreview_flippedlearning.pdf?utm_source=hootsuite&utm_campaign=hootsuite llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 183-199 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 183 trends and outcomes in flipped learning-based instruction in teaching reading: systematic literature review *reski pilu1 and sahril nur2 1 universitas cokroaminoto palopo, indonesia 2 universitas negeri makassar, indonesia reskipilu.uncp@gmail.com1 and sahrilfbsunm@unm.ac.id2 *correspondence: reskipilu.uncp@gmail.com1 https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.4669 received 18 may 2022; accepted 24 march 2023 abstract despite the flipped learning growing popularity, empirical research to increase students' reading abilities is still lacking. the majority of research concentrates on students' impressions of the english language rather than particular language abilities. if there is, speaking, listening, and writing is dominant. this systematic literature review summarizes study findings on trends and outcomes of flipped learning-based instruction in teaching reading. the identification, screening, feasibility, and inclusion phase found thirty-one articles between 2015 and 2022 from the scopus database with a premium scopus account to access all sources without limits. the results showed that the research trend of flipped learning in teaching reading was less attractive to researchers than other english skills. it can be seen from the lack of publications from year to year and even tends to decline until may 2022. further research on flipped learning in teaching reading can enrich the literature on knowledge. in addition, flipped learning has positive outcomes in influencing students' performance, especially if combined with other methods. for future research, several different research scopes can be considered, such as creating models or designs to apply flipped learning to students' reading performance and comprehension. keywords: flipped learning-based instruction, systematic literature review, teaching reading introduction some educators advocate using an active and creative educational paradigm known as flipped learning, based on current advancements and breakthroughs in design and technology in active learning pedagogical techniques (birgili et al., 2021; lopes & soares, 2018). flipped learning, also known as inverted learning, uses online platforms to extend traditional three-hour learning beyond classroom time constraints (karabulutilgu et al., 2018). the most basic definition is a teaching method in which students study teaching materials before class and apply the content of teaching materials during mailto:reskipilu.uncp@gmail.com mailto:sahrilfbsunm@unm.ac.id mailto:reskipilu.uncp@gmail.com1 https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.4669 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 183-199 184 class (van alten et al., 2019). it devotes more in-class time to discussions, projects, and other forms of meaningful interactions (tohei, 2018). some researchers also conceive it as blended learning (arslan, 2020). fl method has been increasingly popular since the covid-19 pandemic began (santhanasamy & yunus, 2022). as a result, educators must adapt to quick changes in the educational system, mainly through flipped learning. along with this, research related to fl is increasing to present practical studies in the classroom. many educational institutions are using flipped learning, according to researchers. the usefulness of the flipped learning strategy in enhancing students' skills becomes a question. as a result, numerous scientific journals publish systematic review research (arslan, 2020; birgili et al., 2021; karabulut-ilgu et al., 2018; santhanasamy & yunus, 2022; turan & akdag-cimen, 2020). the benefits of flipped learning to increase students' speaking abilities were selfregulated learning, interaction, motivation, and accomplishment (santhanasamy & yunus, 2022). in several systematic reviews, yunus and santhanasamy (2021) focus on the flipped learning strategy to improve students' oral skills from 39 articles published between 2017 and 2020. arslan (2020) found one of the most reported advantages of flipped learning in this field is that it has positive effects on improving students' english skills in writing and speaking (arslan, 2020). according to birgili et al. (2021), flipped learning improves student performance and impacts cognitive, emotional, and soft skills (birgili et al. 2021). in more detail, in her review, bond (2020) discovered that the strategy strongly supports student involvement, with 93% of research noting at least one behavioural, emotional, or cognitive engagement component. in contrast, just 7% of studies revealed disengagement faces (bond, 2020). despite the flipped learning approach's growing popularity, empirical research on the flipped learning approach's ability to increase students' reading abilities is lacking. the majority of research concentrates on students' impressions of the english language rather than particular language abilities. if there is, speaking, listening, and writing abilities are dominant. as a result, this systematic literature review aims to summarize study findings on the benefits of flipped learning in developing reading abilities. this study aims to help policymakers, educators, and students comprehend the advantages and connections between the flipped learning method and reading skills. we seek to address the following two primary research issues using a collection of literature: 1. what are the research trends of flipped learning in teaching reading between 2015 and 2022 in terms of (a) year, (b) subject areas, (c) sources, (d) affiliation/ country or territory, (e) documents type, (f) variables, and (g) methods? 2. what are the research outcomes on flipped learning in teaching reading between 2015 and 2022 in terms of (a) results and (b) implications/recommendations? to answer these issues, we first review the literature on flipped learning, highlight critical subjects, and explore existing research strengths and opportunities for llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 183-199 185 further research. we also discuss how reversed teaching and reading learning are linked to beneficial learning results for students. method a systematic review is a literature review that aims to find all available data on a subject to minimize the impact of bias on the study's conclusions (arslan, 2020). authors select, place, and evaluate the research to answer formulated research questions (santhanasamy & yunus, 2022). this research identifies articles related to flipped learning in teaching reading in the scopus database, the most inclusive journal indexer with the highest impact factor and reputation. this study describes the distinctiveness of the flipped learning method when compared to standard learning techniques since it intends to examine the benefits of this strategy in teaching reading. the identification phase, screening phase, feasibility phase, and inclusion phase are the four phases involved. table 1. keywords used to find relevant articles databases keywords scopus title-abs-key "flipped learning and teaching reading." limit to the inclusion and exclusion criteria open access all ticked year all ticked (2015 to may 2022) author name all ticked subject area all ticked document type all ticked (article, conference paper) source title all ticked publication stage all ticked keywords teaching, flipped classroom, flipped class, flipped classroom model, flipped learning, flipped method, flipped, reading, reading comprehension, and critical reading affiliation all ticked funding sponsor all ticked country/territory all ticked source type journal, conference proceedings language english at the identification stage, we explore finding the most reliable, relevant, up-todate research using a premium scopus account to access all sources without limits. articles are identified through related keywords, as shown in table 1 heading 1. in phase 2: the screening phase, the articles are then filtered by title and abstract. titles are screened because they match the keywords used. after that, each article's abstract was skimmed and scanned. article abstracts are read while selecting articles that match the inclusion and exclusion criteria. it is accorded to xiao and watson (2019), stated that article abstracts were read to better determine the research topic's relevance. next, in phase 3: the eligibility phase and phase 4: the exception phase, articles are analyzed and checked for eligibility. table 1 heading 2 lists the inclusion and exclusion criteria for papers. only full-text articles are acceptable; limited pieces are not. in other words, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 183-199 186 the article selection process should be guided by the research topic. as a result, to construct high-quality research, inclusion and exclusion criteria must be used to remove book chapter articles, books, review and meta-analysis papers, and publications not published in english. this stage is essential because it allows you to perfect your search for relevant articles from flipped learning in reading. the prisma flowchart in figure 1 summarizes the details of the search procedure. figure 1. procedures for selecting articles findings and discussion the frequency of research related to flipped learning in teaching reading from 2015 to 2020 using the results of the vosviewer bibliometric analysis with three article search sources, scopus, crosreff, and google scholars, can be seen in figure 2. figure 2. vosviewer bibliometric analysis open access year author name subject area document type source title publication stage keywords affiliation funding sponsor scopus sources total population of articles (141 documents) final article for data synthesis (31 articles) all ticked, excepts (limit to): year: 2015 to may 2022 type: article, conference paper keywords: teaching, flipped classroom, flipped class, flipped classroom model, flipped learning, flipped method, flipped, reading, reading in c lu d e d e li g ib il i ty s c re e n in g id e n ti fi c a ti o n llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 183-199 187 figure 2 shows that flipped learning in teaching reading research is mainly carried out from 2018 to 2019 by looking at the larger circles on "flipped learning" and "comprehension." the darker the circle colour in the image indicates the time of research published in the past few years and vice versa. the light shows the more recent time. meanwhile, when paying attention to the series of curved lines in the image, "flipped learning" is related to "reading, reading comprehension, language skills, etc." it shows that research has been done by relating some of these variables. the small "reading" circle indicates that very little research has been done on the flipped learning variable. it provides information regarding the lack of related literature, so further research needs to consider this (flipped learning in teaching reading). thus, selecting an article using the four stages of prisma is presented in table 2. table 2. the articles' metadata no articles' metadata 1 reflianto, setyosari, p., kuswandi, d., & widiati, u. (2022). english teachers' competency in flipped learning: question level and questioning strategy in reading comprehension. international journal of instruction, 15(1), 965–984 (reflianto et al., 2022) 2 ahmed, a. a. a., kumar, t., iksan, m., subrahmanyam, s., kokhichko, a. n., hussein ali, m., mhaibes tuama, h., & sadat mousavi, m. (2022). comparing the effectiveness of massive open online course (mooc) and flipped instruction on efl learners' reading comprehension. education research international, 2022 (ahmed et al., 2022) 3 samiei, f., & ebadi, s. (2021). exploring efl learners' inferential reading comprehension skills through a flipped classroom. research and practice in technology enhanced learning, 16(1) (samiei & ebadi, 2021) 4 song, p. (2021). computer flipped classroom in critical reading of college english. journal of physics: conference series, 1992(4) (song, 2021) 5 yulian, r. (2021). the flipped classroom: improving critical thinking for critical reading of efl learners in higher education. studies in english language and education, 8(2), 508–522 (yulian, 2021) 6 lau, k. l. (2021). integrating e-learning into self-regulated learning instruction: a holistic flipped classroom design of a classical chinese reading intervention program. 29th international conference on computers in education conference, icce 2021 proceedings, 1, 503–509 (lau, 2021) 7 reflianto, setyosari, p., kuswandi, d., & widiati, u. (2021). reading comprehension skills: the effect of online flipped classroom learning and student engagement during the covid-19 pandemic. european journal of educational research, 10(4), 1613– 1624 (reflianto et al., 2021) 8 gok, d., bozoglan, h., & bozoglan, b. (2021). effects of online flipped classroom on foreign language classroom anxiety and reading anxiety. computer assisted language learning, 1-21 (gok et al., 2021) 9 wu, w.-c. v., hsieh, j. c., & yang, j. c. (2021). effects of flipped reading–writing constructivist instruction on efl learners' writing performance and intercultural sensitivity. asia-pacific education researcher (wu et al., 2021) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 183-199 188 10 öztürk, m., & çakıroğlu, ü. (2021). flipped learning design in efl classrooms: implementing self-regulated learning strategies to develop language skills. smart learning environments, 8(1), 2 (öztürk & çakıroğlu, 2021) 11 yang, c. c. y., chen, i. y. l., akçapınar, g., flanagan, b., & ogata, h. (2021). using a summarized lecture material recommendation system to enhance students' preclass preparation in a flipped classroom. educational technology & society, 24(2), 1–13 (yang et al., 2021) 12 mufliharsi, r., emzir, & mayuni, i. (2020). flipped classroom for reading enrichment: efl learners' participation. international journal of advanced science and technology, 29(4 special issue), 1744–1749 (mufliharsi et al., 2020) 13 bhavsar, v. m. (2020). a transparent assignment to encourage reading for a flipped course. college teaching, 68(1), 33–44 (bhavsar, 2020) 14 bassett, k., olbricht, g. r., & shannon, k. b. (2020). student preclass preparation by both reading the textbook and watching videos online improves exam performance in a partially flipped course. cbe life sciences education, 19(3), 1–9 (bassett et al., 2020) 15 lin, q. (2020). a study on the practice of private college english intensive reading flipped classroom based on production oriented approach. proceedings 2020 international conference on big data and informatization education, icbdie 2020, 267–270 (lin, 2020) 16 xia, j. (2020). exploring the application of english "reading-writing integration" in flipped classroom teaching based on spss. proceedings 2020 international conference on information science and education, icise-ie 2020, 642–646 (xia, 2020) 17 yang, c. c. y., chen, i. y. l., huang, a. y. q., lin, q.-r., & ogata, h. (2020). can self-regulated learning intervention improve student reading performance in flipped classrooms? international journal of online pedagogy and course design, 10(4), 1– 13 (yang et al., 2020) 18 aghaei, k., rajabi, m., lie, k. y., & ajam, f. (2020). flipped learning as situated practice: a contrastive narrative inquiry in an efl classroom. education and information technologies, 25(3), 1607–1623 (aghaei et al., 2020) 19 fernández, a. . (2020). a flipped learning experience on decoloniality: recreating a sociohistorical perspective on shunko by reading his story and watching his progress. hispania, 103(2), 161–166 (fernández, 2020) 20 hwang, g.-j., chen, m.-r. a., sung, h.-y., & lin, m.-h. (2019). effects of integrating a concept mapping-based summarization strategy into flipped learning on students' reading performances and perceptions in chinese courses. british journal of educational technology, 50(5), 2703–2719 (hwang et al., 2019) 21 tse, w. s., choi, l. y. a., & tang, w. s. (2019). effects of video-based flipped class instruction on subject reading motivation. british journal of educational technology, 50(1), 385–398 (tse et al., 2019a) 22 girmen, p., & kaya, m. f. (2019). using the flipped classroom model in the development of basic language skills and enriching activities: digital stories and games. international journal of instruction, 12(1), 555–572 (girmen & kaya, 2019) 23 miller, k., lukoff, b., king, g., & mazur, e. (2018). use of a social annotation platform for pre-class reading assignments in a flipped introductory physics class. frontiers in education, 3 (miller et al., 2018) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 183-199 189 24 lee, y.-h. (2018). scripting to enhance university students' critical thinking in flipped learning: implications of the delayed effect on science reading literacy. interactive learning environments, 26(5), 569–582 (lee, 2018) 25 tijai, n., & kanjug, i. (2018). using constructivism learning environment management system to flipped classroom and enhance an efl's english reading comprehension. icce 2018 26th international conference on computers in education, workshop proceedings, 582–587 (tijai & kanjug, 2018) 26 alhasani, h., mohd, f. w., & masood, m. (2017). the effect of flipped classroom with peer instruction on esl students' reading comprehension and engagement. proceedings of the international conference on ict, society and human beings 2017 part of the multi conference on computer science and information systems 2017, 27–34 (alhasani et al., 2017) 27 persky, a. m., & hogg, a. (2017). influence of reading material characteristics on study time for pre-class quizzes in a flipped classroom. american journal of pharmaceutical education, 81(6) (persky & hogg, 2017) 28 harris, e. a., thai, m., & barlow, f. k. (2017). fifty shades flipped: effects of reading erotica depicting a sexually dominant woman compared to a sexually dominant man. journal of sex research, 54(3), 386–397 (harris et al., 2017) 29 huang, y.-n., & hong, z.-r. (2016). the effects of a flipped english classroom intervention on students' information and communication technology and english reading comprehension. educational technology research and development, 64(2), 175–193 (huang & hong, 2016) 30 brown, c. a., danvers, k., & doran, d. t. (2016). student perceptions on using guided reading questions to motivate student reading in the flipped classroom. accounting education, 25(3), 256–271. (brown et al., 2016) 31 sage, m., & sele, p. (2015). reflective journaling as a flipped classroom technique to increase reading and participation with social work students. journal of social work education, 51(4), 668–681 (sage & sele, 2015) from the thirty-one articles in table 2, the findings of this review will display two main parts. the first part presents the results related to the first research question, the research trends in terms of (a) year trends, (b) subject areas, (c) affiliation and country, (d) documents type, (e) research variables, (f) research methods. in the second part, the results of the second research question present the data in terms of (a) research results and (b) implications and recommendations. the research trends the documents by year the distribution of research related to flipped learning in teaching reading in figure 3 shows an increasing dynamic trend. but as of may 2022, it only offers two publications. this review indicates that flipped learning with the reading variable is rarely done, even from 2015 until now, with only 31 articles published. it also shows that there is still little literature related to these variables. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 183-199 190 figure 3. the scopus' documents by year the documents by subject area the publication documents are based on the subject area, as figure 4 shows that flipped learning is in great demand in social science. when reviewing the articles one by one, it was found that 51.8% of the documents were researched in language education. the diversity of subject areas shown in figure 4 emphasizes that flipped learning can be applied in any field of scientific study. figure 4. the scopus' documents by subject area the documents by affiliation and country/ territory reviewing the distribution of publications by affiliation and country/territory, as shown in figure 5, shows that the author's affiliation is dominated by kyoto university from japan, national central university in taiwan, and malang state university, which is located in indonesia. meanwhile, writers from taiwan (n=6), the united states llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 183-199 191 (n=6), china (n=5), and indonesia (n=5) dominate the country or territory. both affiliates and territories that appear are representatives of 15. figure 5. the scopus' documents by affiliation and country/ territory the documents by type furthermore, figure 6 shows the document type of the reviewed articles, which are papers from journal articles (n=23) and conference papers (n=8). it becomes the inclusion criteria at the screening stage to select articles from both sources. the inclusion of conference papers is intended to increase the author's reading sources in conducting reviews, considering that few articles are entering the inclusion stage. figure 6. the scopus' documents by type the documents by research variables figure 7 shows some distributions of research variables flipped learning approach in both dependent and intervening. as shown, distributions for dependent variables have been structured and placed into five outcomes concepts. they are reading comprehension (n=15), reading performance (n=8), critical reading and thinking (=4), reading motivation and engagement (n=4), and reading anxiety (n=1). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 183-199 192 at the same time, there are many tools-assisted flipped approaches for intervening variables. for example, classroom intervention (n=2), peer instruction (n=1), summarization strategy (n=2), platforms (n=3), production-oriented approach (n=4), watching videos online (n= 3), self-regulated learning (n=2), reading instruction (n=6), computer-assisted (n=2), mooc (n=1), and question-level and strategy (n=3). figure 7. the documents by research variables the documents by research methods the distribution of research methods used in these thirty-one articles, as seen in figure 8, are qualitative (n=4), quantitative (n=21), and mixed method (n=6). there are narrative inquiry, observational research, and content analysis in the qualitative approach as study design. the survey, descriptive, and experimental research are for the quantitative approach, while action research and rnd are parts of the mixed method. figure 8 shows the researcher's tendency towards a quantitative approach while lacking interest in qualitative and mixed methods. in addition, surveys and descriptive studies also show researchers' lack of interest in the quantitative strategy and the rnd model in the mixed approach. this data informs that flipped learning researchers can consider several research methods that were less attractive to previous researchers. 15 8 4 4 1 dependent variable (y) documents question level and strategy mooc computer-assisted reading instruction self-regulated learning watching videos online production-oriented approach platforms summarization strategy peer instruction classroom intervention 3 1 2 6 2 3 4 3 2 1 2 intervening variable (z) documents llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 183-199 193 figure 8. the documents by research methods the research outcomes the positive influence of flipped learning on students' performance the whole article shows the positive effect of the flipped learning method on student performance. the sample articles that show a positive influence are as follows: "improving reading comprehension skills" (mufliharsi et al., 2020; reflianto et al., 2021, 2022; samiei & ebadi, 2021) and "reading performance" (bassett et al., 2020; bhavsar, 2020; wu et al., 2021) "critical reading," (song, 2021; yulian, 2021) "reading motivation," (bassett et al., 2020; brown et al., 2016; tse et al., 2019b) and "reading anxiety solution" (gok et al., 2021). for example, reflianto et al. (2021) worked on a study investigating the students' responses during the online flipped classroom learning process. they found that the student's reactions to the learning provided positive feedback for improving reading comprehension skills (reflianto et al., 2022). wu et al. (2021) investigated the benefits of a reading-writing relationship. the researchers discovered that the instructional design improved efl learners' reading results, sharpened their cross-cultural observations, and boosted their intercultural sensitivity (wu et al., 2021). song p. (2021) investigated the use of computer-based flipped classrooms in college english critical reading and discovered that replies to high-cognition questions positively influence students' essential thinking growth (song, 2021). bassett et al. (2020) investigated students' attitudes about the partial classroom flip, different aspects of the videos, and the in-class problem set. they found that reading and watching videos effectively delivered content outside class and affected students' motivation (bassett et al., 2020). at the same time, to explore the influence on language classroom and reading fears, gok et al. (2021) incorporated the flipped classroom approach into the "advanced reading and writing" course. their findings suggested that fl becomes a solution for very worried adolescents who require assistance with schoolwork and classroom engagement (gok et al., 2021). 4 21 6 reserch methods content analysis… observational research narrative inquiry 1 2 1 qualitative documents experimental research descriptive study survey study 18 2 1 quantitative documents action research rnd 5 1 mixed method llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 183-199 194 finally, the findings of the content analysis of the linked literature demonstrate that the flipped learning approach is a very effective teaching strategy in most studies regarding students' reading comprehension skills, performance, critical reading, motivation, and decreased anxiety. however, students must always be under the teacher's supervision as flipped learning allows students to learn independently. hence, the teacher's role as an external support system greatly supports the successful implementation of flipped learning. the flipped learning as a positive learning approach combining other methods several articles measure flipped learning and the application of other methods as an intervening variable. some of these methods show significant results in supporting the effectiveness of learning objectives through flipped learning. intervention strategies that attract attention are reading instructions and production-oriented approaches— reading material characteristics as reading instruction is one component that was positively correlated to study time for completing students' self-assessments. one of the significant findings from persky & hogg's (2017) study is that study time is much greater than predicted reading time-based on word count or page length. thus, instructors utilizing the flipped model need to account for student study time by using more than just how "long" the pre-class assignment is (persky & hogg, 2017). in terms of a production-oriented approach, there is reflective journaling. students must describe significant concepts from the text and remark on their application for this project. it may be utilized as a flipped classroom strategy to measure reading adherence while also providing opportunities for reflective subject processing. students may demonstrate their understanding and think about how they can apply it; this frees up classroom time for further in-depth discussion and practice (sage & sele, 2015). teachers may use guided reading questions to assist flip classrooms and encourage students to come to class more prepared and ready to handle the topic of the day (s). it gives additional time in class for active learning and problem-solving and allows students to participate in higher-quality class discussions (brown et al., 2016). in addition, there is a question-level and questioning strategy where the interventions applied are guided by reading questions and a transparent assignment. while "transparent" assignments explicitly describe how the task relates to the course's learning aims or thematic module and students' personal goals, such as career skills or hobbies. then there are transparent assignments, which include clear directions and defined accomplishment criteria, and, if feasible, examples of good work (bhavsar, 2020). a digital narrative is an artistic, creative, and aesthetic output made in a digital format utilizing the multimedia resources available to a storyteller. it can be used for teaching content by teachers in the education process and can by students during individual learning or digital story preparation. moreover, there are also platforms and computer-assisted functional tools in flipped learning classrooms, such as digital stories and games. in comparison, the emerging concept of game or gamification describes motivating participants through the addition of game elements. designing a game with a topic planned to be learned in a simple explanation or homework will llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 183-199 195 positively affect the participants' desire for participation, interest, attitudes, motivation, and success (girmen & kaya, 2019). from these findings, educators can take advantage of the application of the flipped learning approach by combining several teaching methods. many strategies can be used as intervening variables in supporting student achievement in reading performance. educators can try to apply it and see to what extent it affects students. conclusions the current systematic literature review on flipped learning in teaching reading from 2005-may 2022 includes 31 final articles for further analysis. the findings show that flipped learning research with reading as a dependent variable is less attractive to researchers than other english skills. it can be seen from the lack of publications from year to year and even tends to decline until may 2022, even though reading is also the primary skill that educators must consider in implementing flipped learning, especially during the pandemic and post-pandemic times. finally, the lack of literature on conducting research reviews limits the scope of the research reviewed. all articles that appear in that time frame with search keywords become a source of data in conducting research reviews. these findings can be used to add to the literature regarding the relationship between flipped learning and teaching reading. further research on flipped learning in teaching reading can enrich the literature on knowledge. in addition, several other research scopes can be considered, such as creating models or designs in the application of flipped learning to students' reading performance and comprehension. references aghaei, k., rajabi, m., lie, k. y., & ajam, f. 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http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 410 a retrospective narrative study of pre-service teachers' language barrier experiences in international teaching practicum *iswatun chasanah1 and sumardi sumardi2 1,2sebelas maret university, surakarta, indonesia iswatunchasanah@student.uns.ac.id1 and sumardi74@staff.uns.ac.id2 *correspondence: iswatunchasanah@student.uns.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4489 received 23 march 2022; accepted 22 september 2022 abstract the present retrospective narrative study reported in this article explores the international teaching practicum program has become a new trend in a lot of university-based english as a foreign language (efl) teacher education programs, particularly in southeast asian countries. this phenomenon led to the high demand for university-based efl teacher education programs of having international networking which aims to give more cross-cultural understanding and experience for the pre-service teachers in teaching efl abroad. this retrospective narrative case study aims to investigate the language socialization experiences and challenges of two indonesian pre-service efl teachers during the teaching practicum program in thailand. the data was collected through participants’ teaching practicum documents and semi-structured interviews. grounded in a retrospective narrative study and relational turning point events (rtpes) theoretical framework, this study is hoped to provide a better understanding of the efl teaching development, particularly for preparing preservice teachers for intercultural teaching practicum. keywords: international teaching practicum, language barrier, relational turning point events (rtpes), retrospective narrative study introduction the use of english in global society and communication has changed over time. this phenomenon increases the rapid growth of english learners globally while also increasing the demand for english teachers in the english as a foreign language (efl) setting. in asian countries where english is taught as a foreign language, most english teachers are trained inside their hometowns. hence, to internationalize non-native english-speaking teachers (nnests), universities across asia have engaged in cross-cultural immersion experiences worldwide. cross-cultural immersion experiences are an effective way to help pre-service teachers improve a broader and more global perspective (cushner, 2007; gay, 2010; mcallister & irvine, 2012; nieto, 2016). for instance, several universities in indonesia have an international teaching internship program in collaboration mailto:iswatunchasanah@student.uns.ac.id1 mailto:sumardi74@staff.uns.ac.id mailto:iswatunchasanah@student.uns.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4489 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 410-420 411 with various organizations such as governmental organizations and nongovernmental organizations. many studies on international teaching practice involved pre-service teachers which come from english as a second language (esl) communities or native english speakers (luk & lin 2019; lee 2009). besides, a few studies of pre-service teachers trained in the efl context undergoing their teaching practice in other efl countries are scarce in the literature. ulla (2019) conducted a study to explore 56 filipino english teachers’ experiences while teaching efl learners in bangkok. the data from this article was collected from an individual follow-up interview and a modified questionnaire. then, a qualitative content analysis was also used to analyze the data collected from distributed questionnaires and individual interviews. the result revealed that the participants showed a positive insight regarding being one of the nnests communities that teach english to efl learners in bangkok. another qualitative research from yulia (2019) found that six pre-service teachers from indonesia faced a significant challenge during their international teaching practice in thai primary schools such as difficulty communicating with efl learners, not being well-prepared to face the different language, culture shock, and classroom management. a study conducted in china by jin (2020) revealed that both chinese teachers and students showed how australian pre-service teachers can engage and motivate them to learn english. the data in this research were collected from an interview session with the chinese teachers and students directly in the school. this study tried to provide more information on how to develop global teacher education experiences and intercultural understanding. it also highlighted the potential gap between australian pre-service teachers’ and chinese students’ preparation regarding cross-cultural awareness. however, most international teaching research is restricted to discussing only pre-service teachers’ experiences in international practicums. particularly in any cultural exchange, all participants’ advantages and disadvantages are experienced (patrício, santos, loureiro, 2018). to further comprehend the implications of international teaching practicum and to address current research gaps, the purpose of this study is to concentrate on how pre-service teachers implement the use of the english-only language teaching approach into the efl community from another country. this research’s primary focus is to investigate the challenges faced by indonesian pre-service teachers on the use of the english-only language teaching approach in thai efl classrooms and the language barriers that happened during the learning-teaching process. moreover, in this study, the international efl teaching practice is defined as a beneficial program that engages and motivates indonesian pre-service teachers to develop their cross-cultural understandings and experiences from another culture and educational systems outside their own educational country. the program is conducted in a short-term international teaching program in different cultures, customs, curriculums, professional teaching practices, and students' behavior. based on the background mentioned above, this study seeks to answer the following research questions: 1. how are indonesian pre-service efl teachers cope with the second language barriers during international teaching practicum? 2. how are indonesian pre-service efl teachers experienced the relational turning point events (rtpes) during international teaching practicum? llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 410-420 412 method this study was grounded on a qualitative approach following a retrospective narrative study. richards (2003) expressed that qualitative research has two features, such as studying the natural setting of human beings in their ordinary context, everyday world, and seeking to understand the meaning of their perspectives and significance of these actions (p. 10). we explored the pre-service teachers’ experiences, which is the pre-service teachers who were positioned within the context of an international teaching practicum program and schools. we intended to investigate the challenges faced by indonesian pre-service teachers on the use of the english-only language teaching approach in thai efl classrooms and the language barriers that happened during the learning-teaching process. narrative inquiry is one of qualitative research (trahar, 2009). clandinin & connely (2000) mentions that narrative inquiry is used to understand the actual participants’ experiences. the narrative inquiry method also helps the researcher to obtain more detailed information about the process of pre-service teachers’ relationships and how they positioned themselves during the international teaching practicum. this narrative case study was conducted at a private university in indonesia. the university was selected because they successfully conducted an international efl teaching practicum for several semesters from the academic year of 2019/2020. in order to gain the data, there are two eligible participants from the undergraduate english language education program (elep) students who experienced as international pre-service teachers in thailand. these two preservice teachers have finished their international teaching practicum in 45 days with 25 hours of a teaching session in a week. the participants took a major in teaching english for young learners (teyl), they were assigned to teach young learners in different state primary schools in thailand. they were selected by the faculty representatives to do their international teaching practicum under the program collaborated with aiesec in thammasat university, thailand. further, these two eligible participants were given 25 hours of a teaching session in a week for 45 days of teaching practicum completion. they were required to write daily journal activities during the practicum, design a lesson plan for each meeting, prepare and create audio-visual aids (ava), and record their activities in the school as much as possible for the project reports and reflections. these two pre-service teachers were voluntarily participated in this research due to their consent in telling their experiences during their overseas teaching practicum to give an insight and reflection for the other pre-service teachers to try international teaching practicum abroad. prospectively before the participants participated on the data collection process, the researcher gave a brief explanation to the participants about the details and the purpose of this study, the confidentiality of the data, the participants’ job description in this research, and how all of the data storage were arranged. the consent has been obtained after the first meeting and the participants were willing to take a part in this research voluntarily without pressure to respond the researcher immediately. narrative inquiry was designed to gain the data for this research. this approach is a type of longitudinal research design where the data is collected after the fact (street & ward, 2012). this method was used for collecting the data in a form of daily teaching practicum journals that has been recorded by the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 410-420 413 participants. further, the data collection also included an individual follow-up interview. firstly, the researcher has reached the participants through a private whatsapp messenger platform to ask for permission to collect the data that they already recorded during their international teaching practicum abroad, respectively. secondly, the data which is presented in a form of daily teaching journals was compiled and shared through a google drive folder so that it is accessible for both the researcher and the participants. after collecting the abundant data, the data were classified into several parts by reading the daily teaching journals. last, the individual follow-up interview was conducted after the identification and classification process finished. to analyze the data, we use a coding method that consists of three analysis stages: (1) open coding, (2) axial coding, and (3) selective coding (saldana, 2009). firstly, in the open coding stage, we read the daily teaching journals of the individual participants and identify initial codes such as teaching english to thai young learners is challenging, home teachers’ expectations, and cross-cultural adjustment. secondly, in the axial coding stage, the initial code was re-examined and identified the relationship between each data to generate some categories. in the selective coding stage, the categories were combined into themes or sub-topic by choosing the related themes to the research topic selectively. findings and discussion in this section, we present the participants’ opinions towards language socialization experience during the international teaching practicum (itp) program. the discussion is divided into three themes which come up from the data collection of participants 1 (p1) and participant (p2) as can be seen in the following: cross-cultural adjustment this section shows how participants were trying to analyze and adapt with the students at the beginning of teaching session. the words respect, listen and understand came up as a signal of how the thai students were willing to give the participants as outsider teachers some space to adapt to the thai classroom culture. (excerpt 1) thai students respect their teachers when i teach even if i teach fully in english. they listen to the teacher while talking. (p1/ individual reflection) (excerpt 2) since i cannot use the thai language fluently, i have been using english to teach my younger and older students since the first meeting. then, i was teaching grade 2 of the primary school, the biggest number of students in the school. we learn color, same with the grade 1 but with different classroom activities. i also included a video to attract and make them understand more about the color palette in english. (p2/ individual reflection) (p1/ individual reflection) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 410-420 414 (excerpt 3) the last class is p.1/1, i was teaching about numbers. the purpose of this teaching is that they can write and read numbers such as one, two, and ten. at the end of the class, they could write the number but still could not read it. (p2/ individual reflection) home teachers’ expectations this section shows how participants were trying to adapt and fulfill their home teachers’ expectations from the beginning to the end of the international teaching practicum program. (excerpt 4) the english teacher assigned me to teach grade 6 today. she said that i need to teach the students the ‘conversation of occupation’ from their local english book. i and my students read the conversation together and pronounce the vocabulary. then, i gave the students the post-exercise, which is making a simple conversation. after that, the students came to the front of the class to present their works in pairs. i told them “it will be fine if you are mispronouncing the words, i appreciate your willingness to try it. don’t be shy”. the presentation went smoothly from the beginning to the end of the session, so that i can report today’s english class was great to my teacher mentor. (p1/ individual reflection) (excerpt 5) today, i taught grade 5 about greetings. i made material and conversation for them as my teacher-mentor assigned yesterday. i asked the students to read the material and had some conversations slowly because they had never spoken english before. it made them difficult for them to speak but i always give positive affirmations to engage their speaking confidence. i also divided them into some groups to practice speaking. further, i also speak in the thai language (a little bit) to helo my students in understanding my instruction. the students were more motivated when i repeat the instruction phrases in the thai language. however, i still want the students to have more english exposure during my teaching practice. (p2/ individual reflection) (excerpt 6) my third class for today was grade 5. we have learned about introducing themselves, i made ppt that includes many expressions to introduce themselves and the responses. but in one hour i just can't teach them four phrases such as “my name is…”; “i am ... years old”; “i am from …”; and “nice to meet you”, it was difficult for them to understand the rest of the expressions because they cannot read the alphabet, so i need to repeat like 5-7 times for one phrase to make sure that they are understood and know how to introduce themselves using english appropriately in the next meeting. as an additional classroom activity, i asked them to write how they introduced themselves on a piece of paper. at the time, the class was too crowded, and i should take a moment to have a negotiation with them to stay in their seats. it is a little bit tricky to handle the crowded class so that i switch the instruction to the thai language that i learned from the internet llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 410-420 415 and the local teachers. it helped me a lot to handle the class. (p2/ individual reflection) the quality and professionalism aided pre-service teacher professional knowledge to approach challenging students. however, international experiences are not always positive. the experience overseas, in many ways, is similar to the first time of teaching, in which the individual must deal with classroom management, instruction, and communication. these are challenges for preservice teachers. they must have other ways to interact with students and try to make students understand what has been conveyed. as we know that communication is very important between teacher and student. intercultural classroom management this subtheme shows how the preservice teachers were trying to mingle with the intercultural classroom. they were practically tried to manage the diverse classroom. (excerpt 7) today’s first-class was grade 5: i taught about ocean animals and their habitat. i was so happy when i asked the students about ocean animals using pictures, they can mention the ocean animal vocabularies in english. it means they understand about it. then, i also asked them to remember the vocabulary and asked them one by one. finally, i distributed the worksheet to the students. then, the second class was grade 2. i taught about colors using the guidance of their english book. first, i introduced the colors using origami papers. then, i read, and the students repeated together. finally, i gave instructions to write the colors in the books. during the assessment session, i always checked the students’ progress by strolling around the class. (excerpt 8) my schedule today was teaching grade 3. the topic is vegetables and fruits. i showed them several flashcards and asked them to spell and memorize the vocab. for the classroom activity, i asked them to work in a group and mention 10 vegetables and fruits that they remembered and knew. (p2/ individual reflection) (excerpt 9) today’s schedule was teaching grade 6. it was a sunny day here. i taught the same topic with the last meeting, that is "procedure text". some students can follow my explanation and instruction well but the rest was blank. i checked their homework and i reviewed the material again. i asked students to help me explain the material to their friends. i gave them homework too to check their understanding. (p2/ individual reflection) from the excerpts above, the pre-service teachers have felt positive experiences during their teaching practicum. this experience as an english teacher gave them motivation and increased their self-confidence. reality taught them that teaching is not only giving and explaining the material but they also should be a creative teacher to find some ways for making an interesting thing in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 410-420 416 teaching to make the student understand the material easier. in this international teaching practicum program, pre-service teachers learned about being a teacher in the school real life and it showed them that being a teacher is not an easy profession. there is a challenge experienced by pre-service teachers, it is language. there are some students who have difficulty understanding the interactions. concerning the pre-service teacher command of english, there are some students who still don't understand it because they don’t know english. the focus lens of this study is analyzing the language socialization experiences and challenges of two indonesian pre-service efl teachers during the teaching practicum program in thailand. the results revealed that most of the participants was facing difficulties in managing the intercultural classroom situation where the students and teachers’ first language was different. in the same vein, patrício et al. (2018) found that several studies examine socio-cultural elements of faculty mobility, such as the possible conflict between universities’ values and learning styles and the countries participating in exchange programs. the exchange program provides a gateway to new educational environments, a new perspective, and the chance to improve the quality of teaching, further research, and networking (hirsch, quartaroli, price, & allen, 2015). however, the participants' experience and degree of adaptation differ depending on the teaching planning and preparation, duration of stay, and previous academic experiences (patrício et al., 2018). besides, mcnamee and faulkner (2001) argue that the educational movement can be unsettling due to a cultural diversity between exchange participants’ background experience and the new environment. this kind of experience highlights the different workplaces and adaptation processes required in the host exchange country, including teaching-learning styles and the social life with students and colleagues. a teachers' socialization describes the effect of professional rules, teacher culture, and the school environment on teachers in professional organizations (deng, & yuen, 2011; killeavy & moloney, 2010). thus, for pre-service teachers, teaching practicum drives them to a transformational process from novice to expert teacher in the future (chou, 2011). in spite of the advantages of the international teaching practicum program, ateskan (2016) found that the culture and school environments in the united state of america were not common in turkey, specifically the safety and security issues around. a previous study conducted by zhou (2014) found that most chinese pre-service teachers got such a culture shock in american schools due to the portrayed behaviors of the students that the chinese pre-service teachers assumed as inappropriate and defined an indiscipline attitude. lee (2012) researched the english-only approach in korea in the efl learning context for young learners. he found that the english-only (eo) teaching approach should be re-evaluated due to the results showing that korean young learners were not so favorable towards eo’s use for the whole english class session. he suggests that the limited use of code-switching may make english input more comprehensible and facilitate learner efl acquisition much better. in responding to these issues, the ability of pre-service teachers to adapt to the local culture, people, customs, and the new environment for the teaching practicum is assumed as a significant issue that can determine the success indicator levels of the international teaching practicum program (kabilan, hallijah, nooraishah, anna, hairul, & mahbub, 2017). according to lin and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 410-420 417 chien (2011), teaching english as a foreign language (tefl) is focused on english studies from the teachers and english learners with a different first language (l1). corresponding to the results of this study, tefl’s proper understanding would be that it considers english as a medium of communication in the world of different communities, instead of considering it more as a lingua franca, or mainly an academic language. moreover, this study relies on docan-morgan and manusov’s (2009) rtpes (relational turning point events) theory to explore the connection of student and teacher to one another that recognizes that the student-teacher relationship changes over time. relational turning point events (rtpes) talking, the analysis from the excerpts shows that the participants were happy as they know that all of the local school community members were very helpful. it shows when the participants were fully facilitated with the teaching essentials, foods, and the teaching methods along with the local language to help them in codeswitching for at least the basic classroom language discourse. docan-morgan & manusov (2009) emphasize that the dialectical process is involved in studentteacher relationships indicative of change, they will be marked by relational turning events over their life course. previous research demonstrated relationships that develop such as positive and negative turning points (baxter & bullis, 1986, p. 490). docan-morgan & manusov (2009) found a positive turning point from students’ perspective in their studies, such as a course assignment’s discussion, college, independent study, internship, coursework, personal information, and teaching quality. they also found a negative turning point which gives an initial understanding of how the individual relationship may affect the teacher outcomes. further, rtpes give a starting point for an understanding of types of turning points (positive or negative) both student and teacher. however, the participants were well-exposured to the coss-cultural differences during their international teaching practicum (itp) program. it is in line with cushner and mahon’s (2002) study that found preservice teachers who came back from international teaching practicum are highly aware of cultural differences (cushner & mahon, 2002). further, the teacher training instituioin should consider this kind of international teaching practicum program for the efl pre-service teachers, they should increase their cross-cultural knowledge and the awareness of multicultural understanding through an international teaching practicum program. kabilan (2020) conducted a study of indonesian pre-service teachers who had their international teaching practicum in malaysian schools. the results showed that pre-service teachers face four major challenges during their teaching practicum in malaysia such as planning the lessons, language proficiency problems, cross-cultural differences, and the different curriculum used. conclusion this retrospective narrative study investigated and documented the language barriers come up during international teaching practicum (itp) experiences of two indonesian efl pre-service teachers in thailand. further, the study revealed that the language socialization among the international pre-service teachers and the local students was intensively developed in a good approach to make betterimprovised teaching. hence, the relationship between the teacher with the students, the home teachers, and the professional community was considered as an llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 410-420 418 important parameter to engage the confidence during the teaching and learning process in a different culture. their relationship does matter since they can help and guide the pre-service teachers to teach and adapt to the teaching cultures. the pre-service teachers gain many insightful and beneficial cross-cultural experiences as they can be interpreted from the individual daily teaching journals. they were enjoyed their first teaching experience in the international community where they never learned about the first language and cultures. however, the international teaching practicum experienced by the participants was quite challenging in some moments, particularly in the language socialization with the local school members and the people who lived in the guest house. the language barriers among the local school members with the preservice teachers happened since none of the participants are able to speak the thai language fluently and the locals had not much english language exposure during their life. after conducting this study, we learned how important it is for preservice teachers to acknowledge their socialization process in the professional community (e.g., local and international community) as it can influence their personal and professional identity development. in initial teacher education programs, exploring the identity, experiences, and beliefs should be discussed in detail on the teaching practicum preparation so that the student-teachers can aware of what they may encounter in the real-life teaching situation and, hopefully, be more prepared for the teaching and learning process (e.g., international and local teaching practicum). in sum, preparing student-teachers to critically think of those issues is needed and can be implemented through (1) classroom observation, (2) real-life classroom teaching simulation, and (3) discussion with the real teacher. this kind of preparation is needed to be conducted for both national and international teaching practicum programs to prepare the student-teachers to successfully incorporate and understand their personal and professional identity into the real-life school environment. references ateskan, a. 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(2014). chinese sojourn teachers’ perceptions of and experiences with k-12 u.s. students: implications for cross-cultural classroom management. in language teachers and teaching: global perspectives, local initiatives. new york: routledge. https://doi.org/10.1177/102831530151005 https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ej795210.pdf https://doi.org/10.1080/13583883.2017.1305440 https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230505056 https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412957397 https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-10.1.1218 https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688219879775 http://pkm.uika-bogor.ac.id/index.php/best/article/view/1077 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 434-446 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 434 exploring moral values in english coursebooks for university students in china jing wang nanjing university of aeronautics and astronautics, china correspondence: wendycfl@nuaa.edu.cn https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4937 received 27 july 2022; accepted 27 september 2022 abstract this article examines the representation of moral values in english textbooks designed for college students in china. guiding the analysis is a view of critical pedagogy. content analysis is employed to analyze the following questions: what moral values are embedded in the coursebooks for university efl students? do the coursebooks contribute to developing cultural awareness both of the target culture and the learners? could the moral issues in the coursebooks help develop students’ critical thinking? the study concludes that the studied coursebooks are imbued with moral and cultural values, which may be explored by teachers who could create opportunities to cultivate students’ critical thinking. key words: content analysis, english coursebooks, moral education introduction recently, discussions of moral education have become more prominent in the educational discourse as the ministry of education of china has called for the integration of moral education into every subject. moral education is no longer an optional extra as it is now a requirement. emerging from this background, there is an increasing amount of work in moral education emanating from china. researchers have discussed the possible integration of moral values into the curriculum (he, 2022) and proposed some frameworks (e.g., wen, 2021). xu (2021) proposed two approaches to develop teaching materials for morality cultivation in university english courses. as we move towards developing new materials, it is important to examine existing language textbooks used by college english students in china. however, there has been little consistent effort to do so from the critical pedagogy perspective. as gray (2013, p.2) proposes, “there is a need for more materials analysis to complement the work in the field of material development”. this article is just an initial step in analyzing moral values in textbooks for adult learners of english in china. mailto:wendycfl@nuaa.edu.cn https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4937 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 434-446 435 what is moral education in the efl context in china? moral education, also known as civil education, citizenship education or character education, has always been an aspect of school curricula in many countries. as stated by the guideline (2020), the basic tasks of moral education in china are to foster ethics and character, cultivate and practice core social values, promote exceptional traditional chinese culture and promote the development of whole person education. language teaching is basically and essentially moral (johnston & buzzelli, 2008, p.95). the efl classroom is “a natural place for instruction in moral education as the english language education discipline lends itself rather well to the dynamics of moral values” (shaaban, 2005). what to teach in the implementation of moral education in efl classrooms in china? in line with the guideline, the following three aspects are considered. moral values an important issue is whose values to teach. in an english as foreign language classroom, the values of the immediate environment might differ from the values of anglo-american societies (shaaban, 2005). china upholds a set of 12 core socialist values. they are national values “prosperity, democracy, civility, harmony”, social values “freedom, equality, justice, the rule of law”, and individual values “patriotism, dedication, integrity and friendliness”. the socialist values are valuable as they are long-established in chinese history and they embody the thoughts of the ancient chinese sages. in the present paper, the term values refer to principles, fundamental beliefs, and ideals which act as general guides to behaviour, including both chinese core values and universal values, such as honesty, responsibility, respecting others and so on. moral education and cultural identity culture is another important element in a language classroom, “as the site where young people and others imagine their relationship to the world; it produces the narratives, metaphors and images for constructing and exercising a powerful pedagogical force over how people think of themselves and their relationship to others.” (giroux, 2000, p.133) in other words, culture helps construct identities and shape moral values. due to the inseparable relationship between language and culture, culture learning is seen as an integral part of language learning (xiong et al., 2022, p.2). in the past years, “culture” in the english language classroom remained the cultural reality of “native english speakers.” in china, most teachers and coursebooks adopted the native english speaker model and its ideology (kirkpatrick, 2007). the dominant english culture will give students an illusion that their own culture is inferior to the english-speaking culture. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 434-446 436 to reinforce the learners’ self-esteem and cultural confidence, wen (2016) advocates china’s english language learners should acquaint with other cultures besides the culture of the english-speaking countries. she also emphasizes learners should learn to export chinese culture. in this process, students may realize that every culture has its uniqueness and cultural differences are appreciated. as curdt-christiansen and weninger (2015) state, “texts are not neutral transmitters of information”. bori (2022) points out “language coursebooks are not innocuous tools to learn a language but have wide-ranging political implications as they are bearers of potentially powerful messages to create meanings about the world”. in other words, the cultural knowledge and values portrayed in the textbook produce ideological consequences. hence, whether textbooks give balanced representations of different cultures is a concern of researchers (xiong et al., 2022, p.4). thongrin (2018) proposes textbooks should combine students’ own culture with others’ cultures. thongrin (2018) believes approaching both cultural contents can help learners not only “appreciate the beauty of their cultural heritage, but also understand others in wider societies. both local and global cultures integrated into elt materials are greater cultural resources for morality content.” moral education and critical thinking the ultimate aim of moral education is to cultivate moral, well-educated and ethically reasoned citizens who can participate effectively in their society. moral education does not mean indoctrinating or implanting moral values in learners’ minds. in a foreign language classroom, learners are expected to grow with not only linguistic competence but also the capacity to exercise judgement in matters of morality and ethics and to make informed decisions about their future lives. to achieve this goal, it is necessary to integrate critical thinking into moral education. critical thinking for freire was “not an object lesson in test-taking, but a tool for self-determination and civic engagement” (giroux, 2020, p.178). freire (1970, 2005, p.72) believed that critical pedagogy was not banking education. with banking education, he claimed, education “becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor.” in his opinion, one should not accept passively certain norms just because they are prevalent in his surroundings. he should make a critical and independent judgment on his own. (freire,1970,2005) in the efl context, it requires that language teaching goes beyond the simple presentation of grammar and vocabulary. in language learning, though remembering things is important, it is “not sufficient for being a truly educated person—a person who can use what he or she has learned previously to learn new things and to solve a variety of academic and non-academic problems.” (raths, 2002, p.235) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 434-446 437 the study textbook materials as the major resources created to facilitate language learning, they could be informative, instructional, experiential, eliciting and exploratory (tomlinson, 2012). however, as gray (2013, p.3) states, “they are also cultural artefacts from which meaning emerges about the language being taught, associating it with particular ways of being, particular varieties of language and ways of using language, and particular sets of values. at the same time, they are also ideological.” drawing on the critical pedagogy theories on the role of textbooks, the study tries to find out answers to the following questions: 1. what moral values are embedded in the english textbooks used? 2. do the coursebooks contribute to developing cultural awareness both of the target culture and the learners? 3. could the moral issues in the coursebooks help develop students’ critical thinking? the purpose of the case study is to examine the moral values in the english coursebooks designed for use in university efl classrooms in china. the textbooks under investigation are produced by one of the two renowned foreign language publishing houses in china for university non-english majors. they were compiled by renowned professors around the country. in this study, the two books are currently used by freshman students in our university. a theme-based approach was adopted by the editors. each textbook consists of 8 units. each unit in the book is made up of four parts. the first part introduces the topic through listening tasks aimed to prepare students for some background information followed by some blank-filling exercises. the second part calls for students to work with a reading text on the topic. content questions are followed to check the comprehension of the text. in this part, the keywords and phrases selected from text a are recycled through a variety of exercises like vocabulary, cloze and translation activities. part three is a home reading task, consisting of a text, a multiple choice task and a translation exercise that is intended to help students understand the text. speaking and writing activities related to the theme of the unit constitute the fourth part of each unit. method content analysis is adopted to analyze the textbooks under investigation. content analysis is a research tool “for making replicable and valid inferences from texts (or other meaningful matter) to the context of their use” (krippendorff, 2004, p.18). pingel (2010) distinguished a deductive approach from an inductive approach to start an analysis. in this research, the author adopted the inductive approach. content in this study refers to both the reading texts and the exercises in the coursebooks. the first step is a close reading of the texts and the learning tasks. the researcher read through the two selected textbooks to sketch out the overall llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 434-446 438 presentation of moral values in textbooks. then, through the use of the textbooks and discussion with colleagues, a set of moral values incorporated in the textbooks were found. the data analysis started with the content of the reading texts, the followingup questions and exercises are then examined and analyzed to find out whether they are suitable for teachers to construct the moral meaning and engage learners with the possible moral elements. findings and discussion the results of the content analysis revealed that several moral values are embedded in the reading texts. as shown in table 1, values are present throughout the textbooks, especially in the reading texts. they could be divided into three categories, i.e. moral values about relationship with oneself, moral values about relationship with others, and moral values about relationship with nature. moral values table 1. moral values in the textbooks unit /book excerpts from texts implied moral values category 1/1 “i did my best to avoid showing pleasure, but what i was feeling was pure delight as this demonstration that my words had the power to make people laugh. in the eleventh grade, at the eleventh hour, as it were, i had discovered a calling.” excerpted from “writing for myself” pride selfrelationship 2/1 “we hung out on the same corner when we were single. and then, when we were married, we used to go to each other’s house now and then. but for the last 20 or 30 years it’s been mostly just christmas cards.” excerpted from “all the cabbie had was a letter” friendliness relationship with others 3/1 “at the moment, the public is in two minds about science. it has come to expect the steady increase in the standard of living that new developments in science and technology have brought to continue, but it also distrusts science because it doesn’t understand it.” excerpted from “public attitudes toward science” the understanding of science relationship with others 4/1 “tony trivisonno came to america seeking the american dream. but he didn’t find it he dream, hard work selfrelationship llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 434-446 439 created it for himself. all he had were 24 precious hours a day, and he wasted none of them.” excerpted from “tony trivisonno’s american dream” 5/1 “he was a perfect type a, a workaholic, a classic, they said to each other and shook their head — and thought for five or ten minutes about the way they lived.” excerpted from “the company man” work-life balance selfrelationship 6/1 “it’s not difficult to understand and admire miss maynell’s wisdom. the true nature of a heart is seen in its response to the unattractive.” “tell me whom you love,” houssaye wrote, “and i will tell you who you are.” excerpted from “a valentine story” love relationship with others 7/1 “if life is about the survival of a species — and intelligence is meant to serve that survival — then we can’t compare with pea-brained sea turtles, which were here long before us and survived the disaster that wiped out the dinosaurs. still, it is comforting to realize that other species besides our own can stand back and assess the world around them, even if their horizons are more limited than ours.” excerpted from “what animals really think” harmony with other species on the planet relationship with nature 2/2 “yet i feel nothing more than a passing whim to attain the material things so many other people have. my 1999 car shows the wear and tear of 105,000 miles. but it is still dependable. my apartment is modest, but quiet and relaxing. my clothes are well suited to my work, which is primarily outdoors...in spite of what i don’t have, i don’t feel poor. why? i’ve enjoyed exceptionally good health for 53 years...i also cherish the gift of creativity.” excerpted from “a life full of riches” money and happiness selfrelationship 3/2 “my dad’s a nice man. nobody could possibly believe that he isn’t. yet he’s... well, he’s always doing these stupid things that end up really embarrassing one or more of kids.” generation gap relationship with others llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 434-446 440 excerpted from “father knows better” 4/2 “on line, i find myself attacking everyone in sight. i am bad-tempered, and easily angered. i find everyone on my mailing list insensitive, believing that they’ve forgotten that there are people actually reading their wounding remarks. i don’t realize that i’m projecting until after i’ve been embarrassed by someone who politely points out that i’ve attacked her for agreeing with me.” excerpted from “a virtual life” netiquette relationship with others 5/2 “from the age of 14, michael did just that. he began a very careful training program. he worked out every other day with weightlifting, with some kind of running work on alternate days.” excerpted from “true height” hard-work, dedication selfrelationship 6/2 “no one was ever born knowing calculus. a woman can learn anything a man can, but first, she needs to know that she can do it, and that takes a leap of faith. it also helps to have selective hearing.” excerpted from “a woman can learn anything a man can” gender roles selfrelationship 7/2 “that tolerance for change also represents deeply rooted ideas of freedom. danish scholar otto jespersen wrote in 1905, “the english language would not have been what it is if the english had not been for centuries great respecters of the liberties of each individual and if everybody had not been free to strike out new paths for himself.” excerpted from “the glorious messiness of english” tolerance for change relationship with others 8/2 “the roadsides, once so attractive, were now lined with browned and withered vegetation as though swept by fire...no witchcraft, no enemy action had silenced the rebirth of new life in this stricken world. the people had done it themselves .” excerpted from “silent spring” environ mental awareness relationship with nature as revealed in the above findings, quite a few moral values are incorporated in the reading texts, though not explicitly stated. these values are mostly universal values such as friendliness, hard work, and environmental awareness, which are also an integral part of china’s core social values. for example, in book 1, unit 1, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 434-446 441 text a is taken from russell baker’s autobiography growing up. in this text, russell baker was faced up with what at first sight seems like a dull piece of homework. however, much to his surprise, it leads him to discover a hidden talent and what he would become in his future life. he found something that makes him feel proud. growing up is a journey of self-discovery and self-worth. after reading the text, students are encouraged to write a short piece of writing “how i came to be good at...”. the task is intended to help the students to find out their strengths, be happy with who they are and to understand who they are. culture content it is generally accepted that efl textbooks contain elements of the target culture. the examined textbooks encompass a range of english-speaking cultures with two exceptions. the art of eating spaghetti is a non-english speaking country's cultural content but expressed in english. and the ten inventions that have changed the world addressed the inventions all around the world, including china’s four great inventions. as table 2 indicates, prime attention is given to the target culture. regarding source culture, there is a limited resource of learners’ own culture in these two books. it is mainly because the selected text materials are extracts from written works of english-speaking writers. obviously, a textbook is unlikely to cover everything. as cortazzi & jin (2001, p.210) point out, “the learning of culture and the development of intercultural skills depend in large part on how the textbooks are used in the classroom”. there is a resolution. supplementary materials could be brought in by the teacher or even the learners themselves. the teacher could invite students to tell china’s story with some scaffolding. we can find a counterpart of almost all the cultural elements in table 2 in chinese culture. it is a chance for students to introduce chinese culture in english, “describing and reviving the traditions of such cultures is necessary to help the cultural members to strengthen their local identities”. (zheng & gao, 2019) canagarajah (1999, p.188) observed teachers could develop appropriate methods to encourage students to explore intercultural differences. there is one text in book 2 which could help raise learners’ awareness of intercultural issues. in the text, the writer reflects on a visit to china and gives his thoughts on different approaches to learning in china and the west. this text could serve as a good departure for teachers and students to compare and reflect on similarities and differences with that of another cultural group. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 434-446 442 table 2. cultural content in the textbook unit/book culture content culture type 1/1 the art of eating spaghetti international culture 2/1 halloween target culture 3/1 the top 10 inventions that have changed the world international culture 4/1 american dream target culture 6/1 the origin of valentine’s day target culture 1/2 learning, chinese style vs. western style intercultural 2/2 salvation army, bell ringer target culture 4/2 english accents and dialects; target culture 6/2 the stereotype of women in american society target culture 7/2 the history of english target culture above are the cultural elements in the background information or the texts, while in exercise, it is noteworthy that language sense enhancement in part two of each unit entails an english poem and some quotes from philosophers and writers which are theme-related. e.g. unit 2, book 1 cites cicero’s “ a friend is as it were, a second self.” and shakespeare’s “a faithful friend is a medicine of life” and so on. in some sense, poems and quotations are cultural products which are richly embedded with cultural values. these poems and quotations can often give strength and insights to students. critical thinking to enhance students’ critical reflection on the world, abednia & crookes (2019) believe the most common way is “through classroom discussions based on critical questions.” the analysis of the current coursebooks reveals that the comprehensive language practice in part four of each unit in the textbooks is a potential resource for cultivating students’ critical thinking. in this part, 2 or 3 theme-related questions are raised to prompt critical thinking. for example, in unit 3, book 1, the first task in part four is a group discussion, students are required to discuss the following: 1. in what way has science changed the world we live in? give examples. 2. in what way is science a good or bad thing? give examples. based on the discussion, learners are encouraged to write an essay on “how science changes our lives?” there are obvious moral issues involved in the development of some scientific techniques. by involving students in sharing their views and understandings, the teacher encourages learners to consider diverse perspectives on the given topic. while the post-reading activities in part four create some chances for developing criticality, the content questions after each text seem to be questionable from the critical pedagogical perspective. they are mainly comprehension llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 434-446 443 questions testing understanding of the text, such as what was he doing at...? how do they come to know each other? students are required to get some details from the texts. it seems to be not sufficient for developing critical thinking skills. wu & navera (2018) notice there is “complexity in the characters and the way they act, and this is a pedagogical opportunity to discuss values in the classroom” therefore, discussion on the behaviours of the characters might encourage students to explore moral values. for purpose of illustration, we take our analysis of unit 5, book 1 as an example. in this unit text, john blanchard happened to see the notes pencilled in the margin of the book he borrowed from a florida library. he was so attracted to them that he tried hard to locate miss maynell’s address and finally succeed in corresponding with her. a romance was budding through the mail. they scheduled to meet at central station. miss maynell would wear a red rose on her lapel and john blanchard would hold a book that was to identify him to miss maynell. to put a test to their love, miss maynell begged a plain woman to wear the rose while she (a beautiful young lady) walked past john blanchard asking him “will you go my way?” john blanchard was in a difficult situation and he had to make a choice. such a scenario was provocative, the teacher could pose questions like: what would you do if you were mr blanchard? to follow the young beautiful lady or the middleaged woman? at the end of the story, such questions could be raised, e.g. would you feel offended if you were put on such a test? would you like to test your love? why or why not? such questions could serve as opportunities for value education as they could engage students emotionally and they could generate a discussion on the characters’ behaviour in the text. through discussions with group members, students could make their judgments and hence develop critical thinking simultaneously. the findings of this study suggest that the texts themselves could be explored for cultivating learners’ critical thinking through challenging dialogues that the teacher may stimulate. these questions could be evocative but do not directly impose certain views on students. conclusion in this increasingly value-laden world, classrooms are not value-free zones. neither is english language classrooms. as highly consistent with the targets of moral education, the english language classroom is a potential platform where values can be effectively communicated. we identified universal values pride, kindness, responsibility, and honesty as well as chinese core social values such as “harmony, freedom, equality” in the examined textbooks. these values are mostly transmitted through written representations. they are not directly taught but are embedded in the texts. in this case study, moral values correspond to the values upheld in chinese society. this suggests that textbooks can serve as potential materials for moral education. it should not necessarily be about completely new llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 434-446 444 content in the textbooks. the values may be stated implicitly in the teaching materials, but they can be elicited and tackled with students in the classroom. as for the cultural content, though little importance is attached to chinese culture due to the sources of the teaching material, it could be supplemented by the teacher or even the learners themselves. regarding the development of critical thinking skills, it could be found in certain learning activities. however, there is not sufficient discourse analysis of the reading materials. the study suggests we could go beyond the basic content questions and guide students to understand values embedded in the texts and critically analyze them. it is up to the teachers to find out what values are ingrained in texts and how they are constructed. in brief, we can conclude the examined coursebooks can serve as a springboard, with teachers as the moral agents, learners can dig into issues that interest them. further research could focus on methodologies and classroom strategies that assist students to explore, discuss and act on values relevant to what they are learning. acknowledgements the author received financial support from college of foreign languages, nanjing university of aeronautics and astronautics of grants program [no. jy12202002]. references abednia, a. & crookes, g. v. (2019). critical literacy as a pedagogical goal in english language teaching. in gao x. (ed.), second handbook of english language teaching (pp.1-21). new york: springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58542-0_14-2 bori, p. (2022). representation in coursebooks: a critical perspective. in j. norton & h. buchanan (eds.), the routledge handbook of materials development for language teaching (pp. 123-135). london: routledge. canagarajah, a. s. (1999). resisting linguistic imperialism in english teaching. oxford: oxford university press. cortazzi, m. & jin, l. x. (2001). materials and methods in the efl classroom. in hinkel, e. (ed.), culture in second language teaching and learning (pp. 196219). shanghai: shanghai foreign language education press. curdt-christiansen, x. l., & weninger, c. (2015). introduction: ideology and the politics of language textbooks. in curdt-christiansen x. l. & weninger c. 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(2018). elt materials as sites of values education: a prelimunary observation of secondary school materials. in h.p. widodo et al. (eds.), situating moral and cultural values in elt materials (pp.51-68). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30424-3_8 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30424-3_8 http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip41042 https://doi.org/10.1080/07908310508668742 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63677-1_9 https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261444811000528 https://doi.org/10.13564/j.cnki.issn.1672-9382.2021.02.008 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 434-446 446 english language education. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63677-1_4 xiong, t., feng, d., & hu, g. (2022). researching cultural knowledge and values in english language teaching textbooks: representation, multimodality, and stakeholders. in xiong, t., feng, d., hu, g. (eds.), cultural knowledge and values in english language teaching materials. singapore: springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1935-0_1 xu, j. f. (2021). 高校英语课程教学素材的思政内容建设研究 [developing university english teaching materials for morality cultivation]. 外 语 界 foreign language world, (02),18-24. zheng. x. & gao. y. h. (2019). promoting intercultural competence in english language teaching: a productive bilingualism perspective. in gao x. (ed.), second handbook of english language teaching. cham: springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58542-0_11-1 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63677-1_4 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1935-0_1 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 277-294 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 277 using gestures: intentional teaching gestures as an l2 facilitative tool naomi wilks-smith rmit university, melbourne, australia naomi.wilks-smith@rmit.edu.au correspondence: https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4549 received 14 april 2022; accepted 12 may 2022 abstract gestures used for classroom pedagogical purposes, or intentional teaching gestures (itg), are often used in second language (l2) programs, however, little is known of their impact on l2 learning. therefore, this study of students’ use of itg was carried out to address the impact of itg on l2 learning in a primary school context. the research approach combined a naturalistic inquiry in a case study school with mixed methods to investigate students’ use of itg and patterns of use. this article examines the data relating to students’ use of itg in two oral language tasks. findings reveal that more students used itg when orally telling a narrative that had been introduced to them with itg and when viewing itg. students used itg to demonstrate meaning and to support language retrieval and itg use often preceded oral production. the findings highlight the cognitive role of itg in language recall and as the primary mode of communicating meaning when there is a gesture-word mismatch. learners’ use of itg provide insights into their stage of language development and their language gaps and are useful as a diagnostic tool for teachers. the findings contribute practical understandings towards language teaching pedagogy and practice. keywords: gesture, intentional teaching gestures, language learning, language teaching, second language introduction learning a second language is a compulsory aspect of primary school education systems throughout australia, and in many other parts of the world, and a common key aim of these second language programs is to generate student proficiency in the target language. in order to do this, many programs are delivered in the target language in order to increase students’ exposure to the language being learned and to provide a context that encourages learners to actively use the language themselves. amongst a range of teaching strategies to support student learning of the new language is the use of intentional teaching gestures, or itg. these are gestures that have been designed as a pedagogical tool for the teaching and learning of an additional language in a school context. one itg is used synchronously with the oral production of each word and the form of the gestures remain consistent. there are systems of intentional teaching gestures that have been developed by method developers and some teachers mailto:naomi.wilks-smith@rmit.edu.au https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4549 https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i1.4549 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 277-294 278 have developed their own sets of gestures that they use consistently in their classrooms for a range of pedagogical purposes. despite the widespread use of itg in language programs, there is limited empirical evidence of the impact of itg on students’ language learning. this study was designed to investigate the impact of intentional teaching gestures on the learning of japanese as an additional language in one private school in melbourne, australia. the guiding research questions for this study are: research question 1: to what extent do students use itg when storytelling and doing story retell? research question 2: what patterns of gesture use emerge when students tell stories in japanese? this article specifically focuses on students’ use of itg and explores students’ production of itg in two different narrative tasks as well as compares students’ use of itg with and without viewing itg. patterns of students’ use of itg are also explored alongside their production of japanese. the aim of this study is to understand the impacts of gesture use by students when learning a new language to provide empirical data in order to make informed choices about teaching methods and to inform teaching pedagogy and practice. given the widespread use of gestures as a pedagogical tool in second language classrooms, this study is of significance to teachers and learners and offers a rationale for the implementation of intentional teaching gestures into classroom second language programs. findings reveal the pedagogical implications of students’ use of intentional teaching gestures whilst learning l2, including the circumstances of use and patterns of gesture use. the findings can provide evidence to inform teachers’ decisions of l2 classroom teaching methods and practical strategies that can be implemented into the classroom to enhance learning. literature review the role of gestures with second language (l2) learning has been of increasing research interest since the late 1990s. gesture use by l2 learners has been identified as serving a communicative function together with oral language and as a form of ‘mime’ helping overcome a lack in l2 vocabulary (gullberg, 1998; kendon, 2004; quinn-allen, 2000). second language learners have also been found to use gestures to elicit words, support clarity of communication and signal lexical searches (gullberg, 2006) performing both a communicative and cognitive function for l2 speakers (gullberg, 2010). gestures have also been found to support l2 comprehension (mori & hayashi, 2006), particularly when ‘message-carrying gestures’ occur with speech (harris, 2003). learners often rely on teachers’ gestures in second language classrooms to comprehend what they are saying in the target language (calbris, 1990) and teachers often use gestures to prevent the need to use the first language (l1). research has shown that students scored higher on l2 comprehension tests when they had viewed gestures (ludvigsen, 2008) and viewing gestures supported l2 listening comprehension, particularly for the lowest proficiency learners (sueyoshi & hardison, 2005). gestures accompanying speech have been found to support l2 word learning (kelly, mcdevitt & esch, 2009; kushch, igualada & prieto, 2018), the learning of l2 expressions (quinn-allen, 1995), learning and performing a play (ulbricht, 2018), and learning and recalling a story (porter, 2016). each of these studies, across different languages and contexts, demonstrate a positive impact of gestures on second language learning and contribute towards our understanding of the impact on learners’ l2 production. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 277-294 279 learners’ use of gestures have been found to support their learning in a range of ways. information present in learners’ gestures can demonstrate their understanding of concepts (domínguez, 2005) and learners’ knowledge of l2 (van compernolle & williams, 2011). learners’ use of gestures with language have also been found to support fluency (mccafferty, 2006). these studies explicitly identify the impact of learners’ own use of gestures on their learning. a number of empirical studies have connected gesture research with theories of encoding such as the ‘dual encoding theory’ (paivio & csapo, 1973), which suggests that learning is more effective when presented through at least two modalities, such as through visual and verbal modes. studies in l1 have found that words presented with gestures are recalled more (riseborough, 1981) and are strongest when learners perform gestures themselves when learning new words (engelkamp, 1991) and using gestures then supported the retrieval of words that had been presented with gestures (woodall & folger, 1985). it is also suggested that performing gestures influence the way l2 is stored in memory (wagner cook & goldin-meadow, 2006) and that gesture use leads to better l2 recall, regardless of whether students choose to use gestures or were instructed to gesture (wagner cook, yip & goldin-meadow, 2010). this collection of research identifies the role of gesture on lexical retrieval. the ‘information packaging hypothesis’ (kita, 2000) suggests that gesture plays a role in the conceptual packaging of information for speech and as a mode for thinking (kita, 2000). second language speakers often use gestures as a planning tool for the language that they are about to produce (gullberg, 1998) and this shows that gesture production has an internal function for l2 speakers. this suggestion has been supported with empirical evidence from l2 learning contexts, where gestures have been shown to support learners’ mental processing and construction of l2 speech (kim, 2010; negueruela & lantolf, 2008). the view that gestures are part of the thinking and speaking process (mcneill, 1992) sees gestures as integral to meaning making and communication. the theory of ‘embodied cognition’ (glenberg, 1997) also provides a theoretical underpinning for the study of gesture. it suggests that physical actions play a role in cognitive processing and that language and action are encoded in memory together (glenberg, 1997; kaschak & glenberg, 2000). gesture has also specifically been connected with the theory of embodied cognition (barsalou, 2008). it is suggested that language connected with gesture leads to stronger memory traces and this is done when learners gesture during language encoding which makes a connection between the gestures and the words (engelkamp, 1991). this process is claimed to ‘lighten the load’ of cognitive processing (goldin-meadow, nusbaum, kelly & wagner, 2001). these theories suggest that embodied encoding through gestures with language lead to stronger memory traces and learning than just hearing or saying language. the research discussed demonstrates a positive impact of gestures for language learning, however, much of it has focused on spontaneoous naturally occurring gestures or culturally specific gestures and not a system of intentional teaching gestures that were designed as a classroom pedagogical tool. therefore the specific impact of itg that are widely used across l2 programs still needs to be more fully understood. so the focus of the current study on the impact of itg on japanese second language learning aims to add to this field of research. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 277-294 280 method participants the participants of the study were 170 primary school students across ten classes learning japanese as an additional language as part of their compulsory education. the students were from a girls’ independent school in melbourne australia. the school was selected for the study because the students had not been exposed to intentional teaching gestures prior to the study which provided a context from which to investigate the implementation of intentional teaching gestures. additionally, the teacher of japanese was interested in participating in the study to find out about the impact of itg in their teaching context. the study involved one teacher of japanese that taught all of the primary school classes through the medium of japanese. the teacher is the only teacher of japanese in the primary school. ethics approval was granted from the university of melbourne ethics committee to carry out the study. the college principal and head of junior school also gave written approval for the research to be conducted at the school, and consent forms were collected from the parents of the student participants and from the teacher of japanese. research approach the study is a naturalistic inquiry within a case study school (stake, 1995; yin, 2009, 2012) reflecting ecological validity of classroom-based research. a mixed methods design was employed to address the individual research questions according to their specific focus (teddlie & tashakkori, 2011). the integration of quantitative and qualitative data allows for the varied research questions to be addressed. the first research question, to what extent do students use itg when storytelling and doing story re-tell? sought to discover quantifiable differences in itg use by students in each narrative task. the second research question, what patterns of gesture use emerge when students tell stories in japanese? sought to find out about students’ use of itg, and a thematic analysis of transcription data provided qualitative evidence for this aspect of the study. data collection method data collection involved two narrative tasks, ‘storytelling’ and ‘story re-tell’, that were used to elicit students’ oral language and investigate their gesture use. storytelling involved students in telling an original story. students were provided with a collection of magnetic picture cards that they could use as stimulus to create a story with. the cards also included blank cards that could be used to represent any additional language that students wanted to use. students constructed stories visually with the picture cards and were given time to rehearse their stories individually before orally presenting them. this was done at two time periods of the research, five weeks apart. story re-tell involved re-telling a known story six weeks after learning the story in class. two stories were used, one each school term over two school terms and students participated in one of these tasks depending on the class they were in. for story re-tell, students were provided with a textless picture book, and were given time to look through the book to remind themselves of the story and rehearse the story individually. then students presented the story re-tell. following the story re-tell with the textless picture book, students were asked to do an additional story re-tell of the same story, the second time looking at the textless picture book whilst also viewing the researcher perform the itg for the story, as had been done when the students had learned the story in class. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 277-294 281 data analysis each narrative was video recorded, and each word, part-word or utterance that each student produced, and each itg they produced was transcribed. this data enabled the quantity of itg produced by students to be determined for each story task for each student and provided transcription data (language and gestures) for thematic analysis of patterns of students’ gesture use. findings and discussion students’ use of itg the data presented in this section is of students’ itg use when undertaking story tasks after learning japanese with itg and addresses research question 1, to what extent do students use itg when storytelling and doing story re-tell? students’ use of itg was determined by counting the number of students in each year level who used itg for each story task, storytelling and story re-tell, each school term. table 1 presents the number of students in each year level who used itg across two stages of storytelling in each school term. table 1. number of students using itg when storytelling number of students using itg when storytelling at stage 1 number of students using itg when storytelling at stage 2 prep term 1:1 student out of 12 = 8.3% term 2: 0 out of 14 students = 0% term 1: 0 out of 10 students = 0% term 2: 0 out of 14 students = 0% year 1 term 1: 3 students out of 17 = 17.6% term 2: 1 student out of 19 = 5.2% term 1: 3 out of 17 students = 17.6% term 2: 0 out of 18 students = 0% year 2 term 1: 1 student out of 17 = 5.9% term 2: 0 out of 16 students = 0% term 1: 3 out of 15 students = 20% term 2: 2 out of 14 students = 14.3% year 3 term 1: 2 students out of 21 = 9.5% term 2: 0 out of 14 students = 0% term 1: 1 out of 20 students = 5% term 2: 0 out of 12 students = 0% year 4 term 1: 1 student out of 20 = 5% term 2: 1 student out of 16 = 6.3% term 1: 0 out of 20 students = 0% term 2: 2 out of 17 students = 11.8% the data shows that the percentage of students who used itg when storytelling ranges from 0% to 20% between year levels and school terms whilst the actual number of students using itg ranges from 0 to 3 students from each year level each term. overall, a very small number of students used itg when storytelling in japanese. table 2 presents the number of students who used itg during the two story retell tasks; story re-tell with the textless picture book and story re-tell with the textless picture book whilst viewing itg. table 2. number of students using itg when doing story re-tell number of students using itg when doing story re-tell (with book) number of students using itg when doing story re-tell (with book whilst viewing itg) prep term 1: 3 out of 11 students = 27.3% term 2: 3 out of 13 students = 23.1% term 1: 5 out of 11 students = 45.5% term 2: 8 out of 13 students = 61.5% year 1 term 1: 7 out of 14 students = 50% term 2: 6 out of 18 students = 33.3% term 1: 12 out of 14 students = 85.7% term 2: 13 out of 18 students = 72.2% year 2 term 1: 5 out of 16 students = 31% term 2: 3 out of 14 students = 21% term 1: 7 out of 16 students = 43.8% term 2: 9 out of 14 students = 64.3% year 3 term 1: 11 out of 19 students = 57.9% term 2: 5 out of 13 students = 38.5% term 1: 15 out of 19 students = 78.9% term 2: 6 out of 13 students = 46.2% year 4 term 1: 5 out of 17 students = 29.4% term 1: 9 out of 17 students = 52.9% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 277-294 282 term 2: 9 out of 16 students = 56.3% term 2: 10 out of 16 students = 62.5% the data shows that between 21% and 57.9% of students across all year levels used itg during the story re-tell with the book (left column). actual numbers of students ranged from 3 to 11 students in each class for this task. for the second story re-tell task where students re-told a familiar story whilst viewing the book and the researcher performing itg (right column), between 43.8% and 85.7% of students across all year levels produced itg. this represented between 5 and 15 students from each class. these findings show that more students produced itg themselves in the story re-tell tasks compared with storytelling, with the greatest quantity of gestures being produced by students during the story re-tell whilst viewing itg task. this indicates that the viewing of itg appears to generate an increase in students’ own itg use. previous findings using this broader data set showed that the quantity of oral language that students could produce in japanese increased when doing story re-tell and the greatest quantity of oral language was produced by students when doing story re-tell whilst viewing itg (wilks-smith, 2022). the current findings now add that students’ use of itg increased markedly during story re-tell and particularly so when viewing itg. this suggests an association between viewing and using itg as well as an association between increased use of itg by students and increased oral language output. when interpreting this data a number of points should be considered. it is possible that story re-tell elicited more gesture use by students because this task involved the re-telling of a known story that was introduced to students with itg, so the recollection of the story may have also involved the recollection of the gestures. by contrast, storytelling involved students’ own construction of original stories. when considering the two story re-tell tasks, it needs to be noted that the greatest use of itg by students occurred when they were viewing the researcher perform itg so some gesture use may have been stimulated by copied gesture production. despite this, no oral language cues were provided to students so regardless of whether students’ itg use was self-initiated or copied, students’ oral production increased whilst their use of itg increased. story re-tell recreates the learning experience of students when they were first exposed to the story, the new language and itg. it is possible then that by reactivating the original learning experience, eliciting visual and embodied memory, that more gestures, and more japanese, was recalled. the second story re-tell which included students’ viewing the researcher perform itg may have provided an additional memory cue that further stimulated students’ use of itg and japanese. it is possible that performing a second story re-tell led to students recalling more of the story and more gestures due to a practice effect, however, the video recordings of students’ stories showed that their production of japanese strongly connected with their viewing of the researcher’s itg and therefore related to their viewing and use of itg rather than to doing the task a second time. patterns of itg use this section presents the data relating to the patterns of gesture use by students when doing story re-tell and addresses research question 2, what patterns of gesture use emerge when students tell stories in japanese? the first of two themes involving students’ use of itg is ‘use of itg without a word’. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 277-294 283 use of itg without a word within this theme, there were five different ways that were identified in which students used itg themselves without accompanying the gesture with a word. 1. itg without a word expressing the meaning of a word 2. itg without a word providing additional information 3. itg without a word preceding production of a word 4. itg without a word giving emphasis to the word 5. itg without a word highlighting when students are having difficulty with that aspect of language. the following formatting style in table 3 was designed to provide as much information as possible about students’ oral language, including what the student said in japanese, and in english if english was used, as well as when they used itg. this key will support interpretations of the results that follow. table 3. key to interpret ‘students’ use of itg’ excerpts (e) a word with an (e) next to it indicates that the word was said in english and was therefore transcribed in english. あおむし highlighted words show that the appropriate itg was performed as the word was said. (あおむし) highlighted words in brackets show the appropriate itg was performed without verbalising the corresponding word. あおむし(＝ちょうちょ) an = sign means that the itg was performed whilst saying a noncorresponding, incorrect word. the first way that students used itg without a word was when an itg was unaccompanied by either a japanese or english word but expressed meaning. the following excerpt in table 4 depicts this. table 4 . ‘students’ use of itg (without a word) expressing meaning’ excerpt two-k-13 sr-t2+ (itg) (year 2 student doing story re-tell while viewing itg) あおむし は （おなか）が いたい です。 translation: the caterpillar had a sore (stomach). table 4 is an excerpt from the transcription of a year 2 student’s story re-tell while viewing itg. it shows that the student used an itg to express おなか ‘onaka’, stomach, without saying a word in either english or japanese. the student’s use of itg demonstrates their intended meaning and knowledge of this aspect of the story, provides additional meaning to the student’s telling of the story and allows the story to proceed without interruption due to an unknown japanese word. it also avoids a switch from japanese to english. such a use of itg demonstrates to the teacher that the student intends to communicate this meaning but cannot recall the l2 word and therefore indicates the student’s ‘point of readiness’. in this way, itg provides a diagnostic function for the teacher, revealing the learner’s current learning state, or point of readiness, that can be used to inform future teaching. the next excerpt in table 5 shows when itg without a word provides additional information. the following excerpt shows this occurring when itg is used in place of a single word within an utterance. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 277-294 284 table 5. ‘students’ use of itg providing additional information’ excerpt one-s-04 sr-t5+ (itg) (year 1 student doing story re-tell while viewing itg) でも、 おいしい おむすび は ころころころりん す… を （あな の なか）に はいり ました。 translation: but, the delicious rice ball wen… rolling, rolling and entered (inside the hole). table 5 is an excerpt from a year 1 student’s story showing an additional phrase, あな の なか ‘ana no naka’, meaning ‘inside the hole’, being inserted into the utterance through the use of itg. without this information, a listener would not know where the rice ball had entered. this use of itg supplies supplementary information to the re-tell, giving a more thorough account of that part of the story. the student’s use of itg demonstrated that they knew these details of the story and had the knowledge of japanese syntax to insert this phrase into the correct place in the utterance. this sort of demonstration of students’ language knowledge provides the teacher with important information about what they know and what they need to learn in japanese. the following excerpt in table 6 shows use of itg without a word preceding production of a word. table 6. ‘students’ use of itg preceding production of a word’ excerpt one-t-07 sr-t2 (itg) (year 1 student doing story re-tell) あおむし は five (五) 五 オレンジュ を たべました。 translation: the caterpillar ate five(e) (five) five oranges. this excerpt shows that a year 1 student first produced the word ‘five’ in english, followed by the itg of the number five and then produced the japanese word for five. in this excerpt, we can see the following sequence of english, itg, and then japanese. this suggests that the use of itg may play a role in recalling the word in japanese. this is of value to second language teachers as there may be merit in encouraging students to use itg to support l2 recall. it also shows that close observation of students’ use of itg can serve as an indicator of gaps in target language and can assist teachers to provide targetted teaching to support students’ learning. another itg without word use involves giving emphasis to a word. the following excerpt in table 7 shows this. table 7 . ‘students’ use of itg giving emphasis’ excerpt two-c-16 sr-t5+ (itg) (year 2 student doing story re-tell while viewing itg) (でも) おむすび は ころりん すっ を … は。 translation: (but) the rice ball rolling down… ‘o’ ‘wa’.. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 277-294 285 in this excerpt, a year 2 student used only one itg ‘でも’, ‘but’, throughout her whole story. the impact of this strategic use of itg made a strong point of ‘but…’ in the story, and therefore gave emphasis to this aspect of the story, through use of itg. the section of the story which precedes the excerpt involves the man preparing to eat a delicious rice ball. the student’s emphasis of ‘but’ via itg shows that what follows is unexpected and significant to the story. a further type of wordless itg use involves itg highlighting an area of difficulty, as shown in the following excerpt in table 8. table 8. ‘students’ use of itg highlighting an area of difficulty’ excerpt four-c-02 sr-t5+ (itg) (year 4 student doing story re-tell while viewing itg) （ペコペコ です）。 translation: (he’s hungry). the excerpt in table 8 shows that the year 4 student produced the ‘he’s hungry’ concept through the use of itg without saying anything in japanese or english. this suggests the student did not recall the relevant words in japanese but did recall the story meaning. the use of itg in this instance shows how failure to acquire or recall target language vocabulary for concepts understood can be compensated by itg use, without a switch to english. as a pedagogical device, itg draws the teacher's attention to this use of itg as an indication of students’ target language gaps. such use of itg also identifies students’ individual point of readiness indicative of the student reaching a point in which they are ready to learn the new target language word. the presentation of data now turns to focus on the second theme, gesture and word mismatch. gesture and word mismatch the second theme, gesture and word mismatch, identifies a mismatch in meaning between the simultaneous production of an itg and a target language word. this mismatch of itg and a word was found to arise in five different ways: 1. words with different meanings 2. words which share the same itg 3. particles 4. verb tenses 5. words preceding the correct word. the first excerpt in table 9 presents the first of these ways, students’ itg and word mismatch between words with different meanings. table 9. ‘mismatch of words with different meanings’ excerpt four-a-04 sr-t2+ (itg) (year 4 student doing story re-tell while viewing itg) げんき（＝おいしい）おいしい です 。 translation: feeling well (=delicious). it is delicious. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 277-294 286 table 9 is an excerpt from the transcription of a year 4 student’s story re-tell showing that the student said “it’s feeling well…” (a single word in japanese, ‘genki’) while producing the itg for ‘delicious’ and then added “…it’s delicious”. whether the student intended to say ‘feeling well’, or ‘delicious’ was unclear from the mismatch, however, the subsequent addition of “it’s delicious” clarified that the meaning communicated via itg was the intended meaning. as also shown in the previous theme, the use of itg preceded the production of the intended word that then resulted in the student producing the correct word and completing the utterance. this suggests that meaning is often first learned through the observation of itg and is a predictor of later oral production. with a mismatch, it is difficult to determine if a students’ intended meaning is held in the word or the gesture, however, the subsequent production of a word that was first produced in itg, indicates that the intended meaning is often held in the itg. mismatches of this kind can inform teachers of student learning needs and point of readiness. teachers need to particularly attend to students’ use of itg because the gestures are conveyers of meaning, and since meaning can be portrayed through itg prior to its verbalisation, as in cases of itgword mismatch, it is important to understand that the itg is usually the more accurate source of the speaker’s intended meaning. another way that mismatches of itg and word occurred were where two words share the same itg. the following excerpt in table 10 demonstrates this. table 10. ‘mismatch of words which share the same itg’ excerpt three-s-22 sr-t5+ (itg) (year 3 student doing story re-tell while viewing itg) ねずみ は おじいさん に きん（＝おかね）を あげました。 translation: the mouse gave gold (=money)to the old man. the excerpt in table 10 shows a year 3 student’s mismatch between saying “gold” and using the itg for ‘money’ when re-telling the traditional japanese story of ‘the rolling rice ball’, in which the mice gave the old man money. both gold and money, as well as friday, ‘money day’, are expressed with an identical itg, but the words are not at all interchangeable. the excerpt shows that the student used the correct itg for ‘money’, in accordance with the story, and demonstrated knowledge of that part of the story, even though the incorrect word was stated. the root of the meaning which the itg symbolises is the same for ‘gold’, ‘money’ and ‘friday’. this shared meaning is an important feature of japanese, however, this example of gestureword mismatch shows how easily these words could be confused by students when they share the same itg. this highlights the need for each itg to be unique and relate to one single word. a further mismatch of itg and word involves japanese particles. the following excerpt in table 11 demonstrates this. table 11. ‘mismatch of particles’ excerpt two-k-01 sr-t2+ (itg) (year 2 student doing story re-tell while viewing itg) あおむし は chrysalis-oo が(で) sleep-oo を たべました。 translation: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 277-294 287 the caterpillar ate a sleep (in) the chrysalis. this excerpt shows an itg-word mismatch of japanese particles. one particle was said while a different one was demonstrated with itg. such a mismatch may indicate the student’s uncertainty about which particle to use and has pedagogical value for teacher-insight into individual students’ point of readiness and current level of language ability, in this excerpt specifically with japanese particles. the mismatch of itg and word was also identified between the verb tense verbalised and the itg demonstrated. the following excerpt in table 12 illustrates this. table 12. ‘mismatch of verb tenses’ excerpt prep-g-08 sr-t5+ (itg) (prep student doing story re-tell while viewing itg) ころりん （あな）に(＝の) に はいりましょう(＝ました)。 translation: rolling in(=’s) (hole) entering(=ed) in. table 12 identifies that a mismatch occurred between a prep student’s verbalisation of ‘entering’ while using itg for ‘entered’. this may indicate the student’s uncertainty about whether the action in the story was proceeding or past, or may identify the student’s developing knowledge of verb tenses in japanese. the correct tense for this part of the story is past tense, ‘entered’, that the student produced using itg, so, interestingly, this demonstrates again that the meaning portrayed with itg was the correct and intended meaning. the final instance of mismatch was when a students’ word preceded the correct word being produced. the following excerpt in table 13 demonstrates this. table 13. ‘mismatch of words preceding the correct word’ excerpt three-w-04 sr-t2+ (itg) (year 3 student doing story re-tell while viewing itg) ペコ（＝まだ）… あお…ペコペコ（＝まだ）です（＝ペコ）。 translation: hung (=still)… cater…it is(=hungr..) hungry (=still). the excerpt in table 13 identifies that the student could express their intended meaning in japanese, however, produced a number of itg-word mismatches and had difficulty producing a clear utterance. following several itg-word mismatches, the student was later able to successfully produce both itg and words synchronously saying まだまだ ペコペコ です。, meaning ‘he was still hungry’. following this, the student said the phrase again using itg for the first two of the three words and then later gestured all three words while saying the same phrase. the final time the phrase occurred in the student’s story, they said the utterance correctly without any use of itg. itg was used when the student was grappling with producing the required target language and their use of itg gradually dropped as the learner was able to produce the utterance. this demonstrates the role of itg as a support for l2 retrieval and production, particularly during moments of difficulty. these findings will now be discussed and related to the literature. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 277-294 288 discussion the data showed that when students were individually telling their self-created stories, in the storytelling task, between zero and 20 percent of students used itg. when doing story re-tell of a familiar story however, significantly more students used itg. when doing story re-tell whilst looking at the textless picture book, between 21 and 57.9% of students used itg. then when doing story re-tell again, whilst both looking at the textless picture book and the researcher’s production of itg, between 43.8 and 85.7% of students used itg. this shows a difference in students’ use of itg between the two tasks, storytelling and story re-tell. it is possible that this difference occurred because story re-tell involved students in re-telling a known story that was introduced to them with itg and therefore may have evoked students’ memory of the itg and influenced their own production of itg. in this way, the language encoding environment with the increased level of input with itg matched the retrieval environment and facilitated students’ own use of itg. this relates to krauss’s ‘lexical access theory’ (1998) which identifies the role of gestures in supporting speakers to retrieve language and the ‘lexical retrieval hypothesis’ (rauscher, krauss & chen, 1996) which identifies the role of gestures as helping speakers retrieve language needed during speech production. the findings from the current study also show that a much greater production of itg occurred when students viewed the researchers’ itg in addition to viewing the book. it is likely that the viewing of itg in this task would have stimulated students’ own production of itg, however, despite students’ use of itg potentially being copied production of itg, no oral language prompts were provided to students. a previous study with this broader data explored students’ viewing of itg during story re-tell and found that students’ production of japanese increased when viewing itg (wilkssmith, 2022), so the current data focusing on students’ use of itg now extends from that and highlights the correlation between students’ increased use of itg and increased production of japanese when viewing itg. these findings relate to previous research that found that when children use gestures, they could recall more l2 words (sueyoshi & hardison, 2005; kelly, mcdevitt & esch, 2009) and the quantity of language that they produced also increased (sauer lebarton, 2010). research has also found that children who were told to gesture recalled more information than children who were not told to gesture (stevanoni & salmon, 2005) and more detailed story descriptions could be verbalised when using gestures (rauscher et al., 1996). the findings from the current study expand on this collection of literature with specific evidence of the impact of itg use by primary school students when learning japanese as an additional language. two themes of data related to the patterns of students’ itg use when doing story re-tell, specifically, the ways in which they used itg without accompanying their gesture with a word, and ways in which they produced a mismatch of itg and word. within the first theme, there were five ways in which students produced itg without a word; itg without a word expressing the meaning of a word, providing additional information, preceding production of a word, giving emphasis to a word, and highlighting when students are having difficulty with that aspect of language. the current study found that students used itg without a word to express meaning that they could not express verbally in japanese. when students produced itg without a word it showed that they knew where to say the word in the utterance, according to the conventions of japanese, even when they did not know or recall the word. when students’ oral production is not at the same level as their receptive understanding, itg llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 277-294 289 can be used to signal understanding and communicate meaning. this use of itg demonstrates students’ ‘point of readiness’, providing an insight into their language skills and areas of need. such use of itg reveals when students need a word and are ready to learn it, and this allows language teachers to provide words that students need at the precise time of need. the finding that itg can be used to express meaning connects with previous research that found that early l1 speech is supplemented with gestures to communicate more meaning (ozcaliskan & goldin-meadow, 2005) and that gestures can support communication when verbal skills are not sufficient (kidd & holler, 2009). previous research in l2 contexts found that gestures can be used to express meaning that cannot be expressed verbally in the additional language (gregersen, olivares-cuhat & storm, 2009). the finding that students’ use of itg without a word often preceded their production of a target language word connects with a range of literature from first language acquisition research. in early first language development children use gestures prior to oral language (goodwyn, acredolo & brown, 2000) and the gestures are seen as a predictor of soon-to-emerge speech (calbris, 2011; iverson & goldin-meadow, 2005; ozcaliskan & goldinmeadow, 2005). primary school-aged students also use gestures in l1 oral narratives and explanations to support their developing linguistic skills (alamillo, colletta & guidetti, 2013). information expressed using gestures without speech can indicate when a learner is “on the verge” of their next stage of learning development (goldinmeadow & wagner, 2005). the findings of the current study also showed that students used itg without a word to add emphasis to their narrative such as by putting stress on an element of meaning. it also identified that students’ use of itg can signal their l2 difficulties. this finding adds to previous research that found that gesture use can overcome limited oral language ability (gullberg, 1998) and support l2 proficiency (gullberg & mccafferty, 2008). the current findings expand on this by identifying that itg was used whilst students were having l2 production difficulties but decreased in use when the language of need was recalled. this type of gesture use identifies itg as providing an internal scaffolding function for students when needed that is then discarded when it is no longer needed. the second theme involved five kinds of mismatch of itg and word; between words with different meanings, words which share the same itg, particles, verb tenses, and words preceding the correct word. these gesture-word mismatches can indicate students’ language knowledge, aspects of difficulty and their individual ‘point of readiness’. when teachers are perceptive to students’ itg use, they can use the information contained in the gestures to provide differentiated instruction to these students. this highlights the potential role of gesture-speech mismatches as a diagnostic tool for teachers. these findings follow from earlier research that identified that when students’ gestures and speech do not match, they would benefit from additional teaching support (breckinridge church & goldin-meadow, 1986) and add specific details about the knowledge that can be gained from students’ itg use. of particular note, the findings identified that when there is an itg and word mismatch, the meaning intended by speakers appears in itg. this shows how important it is for teachers to attend to learners’ gestures because meaning is not only held in the gestures, but can hold meaning when there are gesture-speech mismatches. students’ deployment of itg, in gesture-speech mismatches, supports subsequent oral production and this adds to the growing evidence that gestures play a cogntive role in l2 oral production. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 277-294 290 pedagogical implications there are a number of pedagogical implications deriving from this study. firstly, the knowledge that itg production by students can support them to express meaning, particularly in circumstances when their oral language capabilities in the target language are limited, shows the pedagogical value for students in using itg as an important mode of communication. therefore, it is recommended that teachers encourage l2 learners to use itg. also, because students’ use of itg increased when they viewed itg, it would be worthwhile for teachers of languages to use gestures themselves as an additional source of meaning for students and as a strategy to cue students’ oral language. another important practical implication of the findings refers to the diagnostic contribution of itg. students’ use of itg provides an insight into the cognitive process of learning l2 and is a window into their current l2 knowledge and ‘point of readiness’. observations of students’ deployment of itg can show what students know and what they are having difficulty with, and this provides useful diagnostic information for teachers to tailor their teaching to specific student needs at their precise time of need. insights can inform future teaching strategies including points of individual intervention. the benefits of viewing and using itg should be shared with students so that they are informed to make learning decisions about their own use of itg. students’ knowledge of the benefits of viewing itg could encourage their in-class focus on teachers’ itg as a language cue and support. knowledge of the benefits of itg use could encourage students’ own use of itg to support them to communicate meaning when they are struggling verbally, as a cognitive tool for language production and to support retrieval. conclusion this article reported on data relating to learners’ use of intentional teaching gestures (itg) when learning japanese as a second language in a primary school context. findings showed that students produced more itg when doing a story retell of a known story compared with creating their own original stories (storytelling) in japanese. it is suggested that students were more likely to use itg when doing story re-tell because the story was introduced to learners with itg and therefore evoked learners’ memories of the gestures. this suggests that exposure to the target language with itg may play a cognitive role in l2 memory and recall. a further difference was found when comparing the two story re-tell tasks; with and without viewing itg. when students viewed itg during story re-tell, they produced more itg themselves. this finding is particularly important when related to the previous findings with this broader data set that showed students’ increased oral language production when doing story re-tell (compared with storytelling) and when viewing itg when doing story re-tell (wilks-smith, 2022), because it now shows that students’ use of itg increased alongside increases in japanese l2 production. it is therefore recommended that teachers use itg to support learners’ l2 memory and recall and that they encourage students to also use itg to support their own target language production. a number of patterns of student itg use were identified relating to the ways in which they used itg without a word, and ways in which they produced a mismatch of itg and word. these patterns of use showed that itg was used by students to communicate meaning not expressed in speech, to provide additional information, and to give emphasis to a narrative. students’ use of itg without a word often preceded the verbal production of a word and therefore offers teachers insight into students’ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 1, april 2022, pp. 277-294 291 stage of language development which is useful to inform future teaching practice. itg deployment without a word and a mismatch of itg-word signals points of language difficulty, also providing important diagnostic information for teachers that can be used to address individual language learning needs. teachers are therefore recommended to observe students’ itg use to maximise it’s potential to inform teaching pedagogy and practice. the overall findings highlight the pedagogical role of itg as a language teaching and learning tool, in particular, the importance of students’ own production of itg to facilitate the language learning process. a limitation of the research is that it was conducted in only one school, with only female primary school learners, with l2 japanese, with one system of itg and using only two types of oral narrative tasks. although the findings provide valuable information for the teacher of japanese in the school, and may also be relevant for other language teachers using itg, the results cannot be assumed to be transferrable to other teaching contexts, so further research is recommended to explore the impact of itg more broadly. references alamillo, a., colletta, j., & guidetti, m. 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(2010). gesturing makes memories that last. journal of memory and language, 63(4), 465-475. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2010.07.002 wilks-smith, n. (2022). increasing second language production with gestures. itl international journal of applied linguistics, 173(1), 18-57. https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.20008.wil woodall, w., & folger, j. (1985). nonverbal cue context and episodic memory: on the availability and endurance of nonverbal behaviours as retrieval cues. communication monographs, 52, 319-333. https://doi.org/10.1080/03637758509376115 yin, r. (2009). case study research: design and methods (4th ed.). thousand oaks, ca: sage publications. yin, r. (2012). applications of case study research. thousand oaks, ca: sage publications. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2010.07.002 https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.20008.wil https://doi.org/10.1080/03637758509376115 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 520-535 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 520 the efl teachers’ perceptions of learner autonomy and its development in an indonesian context *dwi agustina1, margaret gleeson2, and gillian hubbard3 1pekalongan university, indonesia 2,3victoria university of wellington, new zealand tina50@yahoo.co.id1, margaret.gleeson@vuwu.ac.nz2, and gillian.hubbard@vuw.ac.nz3 *correspondence: tina50@yahoo.co.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4801 received 22 june 2022; accepted 5 october 2022 abstract creating long-life learners has become a long-term educational goal in many educational settings including indonesia. an initial step towards this goal is to develop autonomy in students. currently, learner autonomy or independence in learning has been promoted in higher education through the concept of merdeka belajar (freedom of learning) by the minister of education and culture. in high schools, the 2013 curriculum has also emphasized learner autonomy development. thus it is necessary to look back at how teachers perceived the concept of learner autonomy long before the concept of merdeka belajar was introduced. this article reports a quantitative study that investigated english teachers’ perceptions of learner autonomy and its development in indonesia. this study was conducted in 2014 using a questionnaire and involved 145 high school english teachers in magelang regency, central java, indonesia. the findings revealed that these indonesian teachers held positive perceptions of learner autonomy and strongly supported psychological elements of learner autonomy. these efl teachers also showed strong support for social aspects of autonomy. these junior high school teachers perceived social interaction and cooperation as important for promoting learner autonomy in the indonesian context. keywords: elt, learner autonomy, perceptions introduction policies for developing autonomous learners with “the capacity to take charge of [their] own learning” (holec, 1979, p. 3) have become a focus of interest for research and practice in language teaching and learning internationally (benson, 2009). creating independent citizens is also a goal of the national education system in the constitution of the republic of indonesia. currently, this particular goal is being promoted by the programs of merdeka belajar (freedom of learning) introduced in higher education in 2020 in which university students are given the right to study any subjects they want to learn from various study programs available in their universities or other universities under the program of mbkm. mailto:tina50@yahoo.co.id mailto:margaret.gleeson@vuwu.ac.nz mailto:gillian.hubbard@vuw.ac.nz mailto:tina50@yahoo.co.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4801 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 520-535 521 interestingly, in high schools, the same educational goal for promoting learner autonomy has been found in the 2013 curriculum which describes clearly that: learning processes should be conducted in an interactive, inspiring, creative, pleasant way [which also] challenge, motivate the learners to actively participate and give adequate spaces for [students’] initiation, creativity, and autonomy based on learners’ talents, interests and physical as well as psychological development (ministry of education and culture, 2013). learner autonomy has emerged as a new feature in this curriculum, although the directive to teachers to create independent citizens has been a goal for national education since 2003. the 2013 curriculum indicates a new direction within the teaching and learning processes in high schools in indonesia. teachers are required to follow some new principles in organizing the teaching and learning activities. these principles are described in regulation no. 65/ 2013 (appendix one). principle nine of this new curriculum highlights learning which emphasizes the cultivation and creation of lifelong learners and shows the emphasis on promoting learning as a life-long endeavor. principle one illustrates a shift away from students as knowledge receivers to students as the ones who discover the knowledge. principle 10 recommends giving models, building the will to learn, and developing learners’ creativity, and principle 12 applies the principle that learning and teaching can occur outside the traditional classroom. finally, principle 14 recognizes the value of individual differences and cultural backgrounds. these particular principles are intended to lead to the development of learner autonomy. for these principles to be implemented in english classrooms in indonesia, english teachers need to emphasize learner autonomy. the long-term goal in indonesia of developing learner autonomy is to develop lifelong learners, but there are other beneficial effects of developing learner autonomy in language classrooms. the language learning of autonomous learners is believed to be more effective (benson, 2011) because learners with a high level of autonomy can conduct the learning more efficiently and outside the classroom, they manage to apply the knowledge and skills obtained in the classroom for their independent learning outside the classroom (little, 2009). the study of autonomy is a work in progress since increasing numbers of practitioners contribute to research on learner autonomy every year (benson, 2011, p. 18). nonetheless, work on teachers’ perceptions or beliefs about encouraging learner autonomy, as reported in this paper, is a recent development. borg and al busaidi (2012a) looked at english teachers’ perceptions of learner autonomy at the language center of sultan qaboos university in oman and found that teachers were very positive about learner autonomy, believing that learner autonomy would enhance students’ language learning. similarly, lai, gardner, and law (2013) found that teachers at the university of hong kong were very positive about selfdirected learning which reflected their belief in learner autonomy. using a similar instrument to that designed by borg and al-busaidi (2012a), in thailand, wichayathian and reinders (2015) reported that tertiary teachers in their study agreed that learner autonomy positively affects language learning and contributed to language learners’ success. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 520-535 522 while illés (2012) claims that assisting language learners to develop selfreliance and autonomy should be the task of language education, it may not be easy to realize in practice. culture is blamed for the limited success in developing learner autonomy in asia where teachers’ efforts in developing learner autonomy may even be regarded by students as teachers neglecting the responsibilities of a ‘good’ teacher (2012). teachers may not be fully prepared to promote learner autonomy. english as a foreign language (efl) teachers in japanese high schools felt unready to foster learner autonomy even though they perceived its importance (nakata, 2011). this reluctance to introduce learner autonomy may have arisen, as trebbi (2008) suggests, from teachers’ concerns about loss of control and inefficient learning which may affect students’ achievement in examinations. benson (2000) argues that language teachers face policy constraints, institutional constraints, and ideological constraints about learning which reduce their capacity to give freedom to learners. to sum up, developing learner autonomy is a complex business. it not only relates to culture but also to teachers’ readiness, teachers' concerns, and contextual factors that influence teachers’ beliefs. the complexity of developing learner autonomy has not reduced the growing interest in promoting learner autonomy. on the contrary, learner autonomy is attracting increasing attention in asia (nakata, 2011) where the educational traditions and culture differ from those in the west. in southeast asia, the concept of learner autonomy has been introduced in vietnam, malaysia, thailand, and indonesia. in vietnam, learner autonomy has been set as an important educational objective, particularly in international universities where it was found that providing socially mediated support helped vietnamese learners to take control of their learning (humphreys & wyatt, 2013). in thailand, autonomy is also seen as an important feature of distance english learning (vanijdee, 2003). in malaysia, efforts to develop learner autonomy have also been made through learning contracts which were found to increase student involvement in making learning choices (ismail & yusof, 2012). in indonesia, the introduction of learner autonomy in both tertiary and secondary schools has led to little research. one recent study was conducted in tertiary education by myartawan, latief, and suharmanto (2013). however, how learner autonomy is perceived in the indonesian secondary school context remains unclear. in indonesia, the 2013 high school curriculum which supports autonomy development requires teachers to teach using a scientific approach. with this approach, teachers are required to facilitate their students’ active learning through the learning stages of observing, questioning, associating, creating, and finally communicating. this approach to teaching which has learner autonomy as an essential component, and the expectation that teachers will develop learner autonomy regardless of their teaching context may challenge english teachers. as little research has been done about autonomy in indonesian high schools and very little is known about the promotion of learner autonomy in indonesia, the writers were interested to study how efl teachers in indonesia perceived learner autonomy and its development. in addition, as the concept of merdeka belajar has been very popular these days, it is necessary to look back at teachers’ perceptions about learner autonomy llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 520-535 523 far before the freedom of learning received much attention. thus the writers would like to bring back the past study on teachers’ actual perceptions about learner autonomy and its development in an efl context. this study adds to the literature on teachers’ perceptions of learner autonomy, a research area that has not received much attention in the indonesian context in particular and in other efl contexts in general. literature review looking back to the theory of learner autonomy, there are various definitions available in the literature. holec’s definition of learner autonomy presented early in this paper is one of the most frequently cited in the literature (benson, 2001). even so, different scholars emphasize different aspects of autonomy. benson redefined autonomy as “the capacity to take control of one’s learning” (p.47). in applied linguistics learner autonomy is regarded as the “capacity for active, independent learning” (dickinson, 1995, p. 167). little (little, 1991, p. 4) defines learner autonomy in terms of the capacity for detachment, critical reflection, decision making, and independent actions. many different terms for autonomous learning appear to refer to the same thing (broad, 2006). in practice, the term ‘autonomous learning is regarded as synonymous with independent learning (murase, 2015) and self-directed learning (ciekanski, 2007). the term ‘autonomous learners’ also suggests strategic and self-regulated learners (weinstein, acee, jung, & dearman, 2011). from these definitions, it is clear that autonomy involves learners’ capacity to take control and responsibility for their learning and use this skill to undertake further independent action. promoting learner autonomy in language learning is important for several reasons. the main reason is that learner autonomy promotes life-long learning (egel, 2009). little (1995) argues that those having autonomy in learning tend to achieve their learning targets and tend to maintain a positive attitude towards their learning in the future. autonomous learners are motivated and reflective learners and their learning are efficient and effective (little, 2009). crabbe (1993) gives three arguments for why autonomy is desirable: ideological, psychological, and economic. the ideological argument refers to people’s right to exercise choice and learn something based on their own choices. the psychological argument suggests that people can learn better especially when they are responsible for their learning activities and their activities of learning are also more meaningful, permanent as well as focused; while the economic argument contends that society has insufficient resources for fulfilling everyone’s personal needs in every area of learning and therefore people must fulfill these needs themselves. autonomy has the potential to alleviate language classroom constraints such as insufficient numbers of textbooks (kuchah & smith, 2011). in kuchah and smith’s case, students demonstrated autonomy by using texts they sourced themselves for group learning. also, there has been some discussion about aspects of autonomy. benson (1997) proposes three: technical, psychological, and political. he argues that a technical understanding of learner autonomy means “the act of learning a language outside the framework of an educational institution and without the intervention of a teacher” (p.19). within the psychological version, learner autonomy refers to “a capacity – a construct of attitudes and abilities – which allows learners to take more llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 520-535 524 responsibility for their learning” (p.19); and the political aspect, learner autonomy relates to “control over the process and content of learning” (p.19). oxford (2003) adds sociocultural perspectives of learner autonomy which emphasize “social and interaction as a major part of cognitive and language development” (p. 85). each version has a different emphasis depending on our perceptions of the concept of autonomy. smith (2003) identifies two further versions held by teachers. the weak version considers autonomy to be “a capacity which students currently lack (and so need ‘training towards’), and /or identify it with a mode of learning (for example, self-access) which students need to be prepared for” (p. 130). the strong version holds that “students are, to greater or lesser degrees, already autonomous, and already capable of exercising this capacity” (p. 131). these understandings of autonomy may lead to different teaching practices. teachers feel the need to develop students’ strategies for working autonomously if they perceive their students to have weak autonomy, while if teachers feel that their students have strong autonomy, they may give tasks that require learners to continue to learn autonomously. there may be different strategies for promoting learner autonomy in different contexts (fisher, hafner, & young, 2007). dam (2000) for example, suggests the need for teachers to provide an atmosphere of learning and also an environment that makes it possible for the students to get involved in their learning. the teacher should encourage students to reflect on their learning, on understanding the learning process and the function of language, and on using learning forms that enable them to take control of their progress (dam, 2003). teachers can also promote learner-centeredness by sharing responsibilities for initiating learning activities explicitly, or implicitly providing activities that foster autonomy (nakata, 2007). in addition, teachers can increase students’ confidence by allowing students greater control (chun lai, zhu, & gong, 2015). this requires teachers to provide students with guidance on how to learn (broad, 2006; reinders & white, 2011). such research illustrates the idea that learner autonomy is the result of an ‘interactive process where the teacher increases students’ autonomy through giving more control over both the learning content and process (little, 2007: 26). literature also shows how collaboration among students may contribute to the development of autonomy in language classrooms. little (2008) argues that the human capacity for performing autonomous behavior grows through interacting with other people. in the language classroom, autonomy development is enhanced through social interactions with teachers or friends (murase, 2015). independent learning needs not to be learned in isolation and some autonomous students prefer collaborative learning (fisher et al., 2007). studies undertaken in the asian context endorse the value of interdependence and group work for promoting learner autonomy (smith, 2001). whether this applies in indonesian contexts or not is still unknown and so this study aimed to fill this gap in the literature. teachers seem uncertain of the value of independent learning (fisher et al., 2007). their perceptions of autonomy may be confined to “institutional and classroom learning arrangements within established curricula” (benson, 2008: 15), and exist only within the classroom. feryok’s (2013) findings appear to support this llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 520-535 525 teacher perception that belongs in the classroom. she found that autonomy was understood by the teacher as occurring when students showed accountability for their learning and shared control of classroom activities. this study also illustrated the ability of autonomous learners to create meaningful activities to support the acquisition of grammatical forms and to construct opportunities to use target items. this suggests, therefore, that teachers’ tasks should allow learning opportunities for students and should facilitate students’ use of those opportunities (cotterall & crabbe, 2008). method this paper reports quantitative results from a mixed methods design in which a survey and case study were used to capture teachers’ perceptions and practices of developing learner autonomy in indonesian high schools. the survey formed the first stage of the mixed methods study and provided baseline data showing teachers’ conceptions of autonomy during the early stages of implementing the 2013 curriculum. this survey was followed by a multiple case study to further investigate teachers’ perceptions and classroom practices. this article however specifically reports the results from the statistical analysis of the survey. to investigate teachers’ perceptions of learner autonomy and its development this study asked the following research questions: a. how do efl teachers in indonesian high schools perceive the concept of learner autonomy? b. how do these teachers believe that learner autonomy can be promoted? the survey was conducted in magelang regency, central java indonesia from july to september 2014. within this regency, there is a world heritage site named borobudur temple, known as the biggest buddhist temple in the world, where both domestic and international visitors come every day and where english is used to support tourist activities. these authentic learning resources (the tourists and advertising literature) are accessible to students and may support students’ autonomous language learning outside the classroom. using krejcie and morgan’s (1970) sample size formula, for a population size of around 200 english teachers, the recommended sample was 132. this sample was obtained using convenience sampling, so the only selection criterion was the participants’ willingness to participate voluntarily in this study (johnson & christensen, 2012). there was equal opportunity for every english teacher in the regency to participate as we distributed information sheets and consent forms to every school in magelang. there are 21 districts in this regency and 100 schools were targeted for this study. however, the survey distribution coincided with the accreditation period and the curriculum implementation process which meant that 21 schools declined to participate. thus, the final 145 participants in this study came from 79 schools. those participants were all indonesian and they came from diverse schools: state; ma’arif (islamic); muhammadiyah (islamic); catholic; christian; and other private schools. borg and al-busaidi’s (2012a) questionnaire was used for the first section of this survey and distributed to the research participants in their schools. it aimed to categorize teachers’ general perceptions of learner autonomy. this would enable llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 520-535 526 comparisons with previous studies that used the same questionnaire (borg & albusaidi, 2012a; wichayathian & reinders, 2015). permission to use this questionnaire was obtained through personal correspondence with borg in 2014. the questionnaire consisted of 37 items with five responses scaled from strongly disagree to strongly agree (muijs, 2004). the questionnaire was presented in english and indonesian and the respondents could choose the version they preferred. the questionnaire took 20 – 30 minutes to complete and the teachers were given a week on average to complete it. to protect the identity of the participants, teachers were not obliged to provide their details unless they wished to participate in the next stage of the study. once the survey was done, spss 22 was used to perform a descriptive and inferential analysis. through descriptive analysis, the frequency distribution was presented. this showed not only the number of respondents selecting each option given on the rating scale, but also the percentage of the sample representing this number (thompson, 2009). in the inferential analysis two non-parametric tests were used, the mann-whitney u and kruskal-wallis tests, to compare scores of the groups of teachers according to the independent variables ranging from age to school distances. the last analysis was factor analysis which allowed me to discover “where different variables address the same underlying concepts” (borg and albusaidi, 2012: 560). this showed which items in the survey went together with one another statistically. the findings in this article are confined to descriptive statistics analysis. findings the findings of the study are presented based on the percentage of teachers selecting each option on the likert scale as the survey instrument. the teachers’ perceptions of learner autonomy can be seen in the following table. table 1. the teachers’ responses to the questionnaire adopted from borg and al-busaidi (2012a) no. statement s tr o n g ly d is a g re e d is a g re e u n su re a g re e s tr o n g ly a g re e 1. “language learners of all ages can develop learner autonomy” .0% 2.8% 11.8% 60.4% 25.0% 2. “independent study in the library is an activity which develops learner autonomy” 0.7% 2.1% 11.0% 54.5% 31.7% 3. “learner autonomy is promoted through regular opportunities for learners to complete tasks alone” .0% 0.7% 4.8% 53.8% 40.7% 4. “autonomy means that learners can make choices about how they learn” .0% 2.8% 11.8% 61.1% 24.3% 5. “individuals who lack autonomy are not likely to be effective language learners” .0% 12.4% 32.4% 48.3% 6.9% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 520-535 527 6. “autonomy can develop most effectively through learning outside the classrooms” .0% 4.1% 33.8% 48.3% 13.8% 7. “involving learners in decisions about what to learn promotes learner autonomy” .0% 2.1% 9.7% 55.9% 32.4% 8. “learner autonomy means learning without a teacher” 9.0% 43.4% 20.0% 19.3% 8.3% 9. “it is harder to promote learner autonomy with proficient language learners than it is with beginners” 9.7% 36.6% 23.4% 25.5% 4.8% 10. “it is possible to promote learner autonomy with both young language learners and adults” 1.4% 0.7% 2.8% 60.7% 34.5% 11. “confident language learners are more likely to develop autonomy than those who lack confidence” .0% 1.4% 2.1% 51.4% 45.1% 12. “learner autonomy allows language learner to learn more effectively than they otherwise would” .0% .0% 7.6% 57.9% 34.5% 13. “learner autonomy can be achieved by learners of all cultural backgrounds” 0.7% 10.3% 20.0% 47.6% 21.4% 14. “learner autonomy is promoted when learners have some choice in the kinds of activities they do” .0% 3.5% 15.3% 60.4% 20.8% 15. “learner autonomy cannot be promoted in teacher-centred classrooms” 2.8% 12.4% 20.0% 48.3% 16.6% 16. “learner autonomy is promoted through activities which give learners opportunities to learn from each other” 0.7% 0.7% 3.4% 69.7% 25.5% 17. “learner autonomy implies a rejection of traditional teacher-led ways of teaching” 0.7% 35.9% 22.8% 31.0% 9.7% 18. “learner autonomy cannot develop without the help of the teacher” 0.7% 17.2% 21.4% 49.0% 11.7% 19. “learner autonomy is promoted by activities that encourage learners to work together” 0.7% 3.5% 6.9% 65.3% 23.6% 20. “learner autonomy is only possible with adult learners” 20% 45.5% 22.1% 10.3% 2.1% 21. “learner autonomy is promoted by independent work in a self-access centre” 2.1% 16.1% 34.3% 42.0% 5.6% 22. “learner autonomy is promoted when learners are free to decide how their learning will be assessed” .0% 19.4% 20.1% 52.1% 8.3% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 520-535 528 23. “learner autonomy is a concept which is not suited to non-western learners” 19.3% 52.4% 17.9% 6.9 % 3.4 % 24. “learner autonomy requires the learner to be totally independent of the teachers” 2.8% 50.3% 27.6% 16.6 % 2.8% 25. “co-operative group work activities support the development of learner autonomy” 0.7% 2.8% 2.1% 58.6% 35.9% 26. “promoting autonomy is easier with beginning language learners than with more proficient learners” 2.1% 31.3% 36.8% 25.0% 4.9 % 27. “learner autonomy is promoted when learners can choose their own learning materials” 0.7% 11.0% 23.4% 52.4% 12.4% 28. “learner-centred classrooms provide ideals conditions for developing learner autonomy” .0% 3.4% 6.9% 54.5% 35.2% 29. “learning how to learn is the key to developing learner autonomy” .0% 4.1% 3.4% 66.9% 25.5% 30. “learning how to work alone is central to the development of learner autonomy” 0.7% 2.1% 2.8% 64.1% 30.3% 31. “out-of-class tasks which require learners to use the internet promote learner autonomy” .0% 2.1% 8.3% 56.6% 33.1% 32. “the ability to monitor one’s learning is central to learner autonomy” .0% 0.7% 7.6% 63.4% 28.3% 33. “motivated language learners are more likely to develop learner autonomy than learners who are not motivated” .0% 1.4% 4.1% 51.0% 43.4% 34. “the proficiency of a language learner does not affect their ability to develop autonomy” 6.5% 46.8% 19.4% 20.9% 6.5% 35. “the teacher has an important role to play in supporting learner autonomy” 0.7% 2.8% 5.5% 56.6% 34.5% 36. “learner autonomy has a positive effect on success as a language learner” .0% 0.7% 1.4% 55.9% 42.1% 37. “to become autonomous, learners need to develop the ability to evaluate their own learning” .0% .0% 3.4% 67.6% 29.0% the indonesian teachers as the respondents in this study expressed positive perceptions toward learner autonomy as most teachers opted for “agree” and “strongly agree” in most survey items. teachers showed the strongest support for item 36 where 98% expressed their agreement or strongly agreed that learner autonomy has a positive effect on the student's success as language learners. this result was in agreement with those from borg and al-busaidi’s (2012a) and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 520-535 529 wichayathian and reinders’ (2015) studies, showing teachers in indonesia also have positive perceptions of learner autonomy and its effect on language learning. nearly two third of the respondents (71.7%) disagreed that learner autonomy is a concept that is not suited to non-western learners. as the respondents in this study were all non-western teachers, this result signaled that they perceived that their non-western learners could benefit from developing autonomy. these two survey items indicate that these indonesian teachers perceived learner autonomy as a concept important for language learning achievement and the majority of them felt that it suited non-western learners such as indonesian students. furthermore, the survey items had ten constructs, and to investigate how teachers perceived the promotion of learner autonomy, this article presents the results of the constructs relating to the technical, psychological, social, and political dimensions of learner autonomy (benson, 1997). technical perspectives often deal with learning activities conducted outside the class. by indicating agreement with this dimension, teachers signaled their understanding of the importance of independent learning outside lesson time for promoting learner autonomy. psychological perspectives here cover the mental capacity which allows autonomy to develop. by giving support to this dimension, teachers illustrated their belief that students need mental attributes such as confidence and motivation before their autonomy can be developed. this may also mean that teachers perceive a need to develop these attributes in their students before they can achieve autonomy. social perspectives involve the role of cooperation and social interaction in fostering learner autonomy. the political dimension relates to the act of giving students choices or involving learners in classroom decision-making. by giving support to this dimension teachers indicated that the promotion of autonomy should be done by allowing students to determine some aspects of their learning. the mean for each dimension was calculated and then the comparison of the means was presented to show the order from the highest mean to the lowest mean. in this study, the means obtained were 3.85 for the technical dimension, 4.27 for the psychological dimension, 4.17 for the social dimension, and 3.88 for the political dimension. this result suggests the teachers prioritized these four dimensions from psychological, social, and political, to technical (which had the least support). figure 1 presents a comparison between this and the original study: 3.88 4.17 4.27 3.85 1 2 3 4 5 political social psychological technical mean levels of support for four orientations to learner autonomy (agustina's study) mean llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 520-535 530 figure 1. mean comparison of the four constructs in this current study and borg and al-busaidi’s studies the mean comparison above illustrates a significant difference. in the original studies, teachers’ strongest support was for the psychological dimension, the political dimension, the technical dimension, and then the social dimension. both the teachers in borg and al-busaidi’s study and the indonesian teachers had the highest mean for the psychological perspective of learner autonomy. teachers in both studies agreed that learners needed certain mental attributes to develop learner autonomy. in marked contrast to borg and al-busaidi’s study where the social dimension of autonomy had the lowest mean (3.3), in the indonesian context, the mean was significantly higher (4.17). these different findings signal contrasting underlying beliefs about the promotion of autonomy held by teachers in indonesia. discussion although teachers in this study indicated positive perceptions about the role of learner autonomy in general, in terms of its promotion their responses suggested stronger support for both psychological and social perspectives than for technical and political perspectives. this means that teachers perceived students’ mental attributes as important for the development of learner autonomy. in addition, indonesian teachers regarded cooperative work or group work as an important strategy for promoting learner autonomy. this contradicts the findings of the original study where the participants indicated the least support for social perspectives of learner autonomy. the finding from this study supports the claim made by little (1991) and kohonen (2010) that within the process of developing learner autonomy social interactions are required. the finding also supports the idea that learner autonomy should be understood as a ‘social capacity’ developing through ‘interdependence’ rather than ‘independence’ (benson and cooker, 2013: 8). this study supports the growing idea that group-based approaches to developing autonomy may be more suitable for asian contexts than individual learning. this contrasts with borg and al-busaidi’s participants who appeared to value individual work over group work, given the higher mean for the technical perspective (3.93) than the social perspective (3.3). the teachers in my study had the lowest belief in the technical and political perspectives of learner autonomy suggesting that indonesian teachers regarded giving students choices about their 4.2 3.3 4.2 3.93 0 1 2 3 4 5 political social psychological technical mean levels of support for four orientations to learner autonomy (borg and al-busaidi's study) mean llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 520-535 531 learning, and allowing them opportunities to learn outside the classroom were less necessary for developing learner autonomy. a possible explanation for these teachers did not prioritize the political dimensions of learner autonomy may relate to the ages (12 to 15 years) of their students who were much younger than the university students taught by the teachers in borg and al-busaidi’s study. conclusion this study reveals that efl teachers in indonesian high schools held positive perceptions of learner autonomy and its positive effect on students’ language learning. it is striking that a significant majority (98%) of the teachers believed that learner autonomy suits eastern learners. these indonesian teachers were familiar with teacher-centered approaches and yet valued the western concept of learner autonomy in language learning. the indonesian culture and educational tradition did not seem to be a barrier to the development of learner autonomy suggesting that this regency of indonesia is a favorable environment for implementing the new curriculum principles of learner autonomy. while these findings show that a particular group of asian efl teachers showed commitment to promoting learner autonomy, it is also important to note that these teachers gave the strongest support to the use of cooperation, collaboration, and group work rather than promoting individual work. this might link to their learners’ age or to other factors which were not captured through this survey. this is a limitation of the study. even so, this study presents the beliefs and understanding of a statistically significant number of 145 indonesian teachers and thus contributes to an evolving understanding of secondary teachers’ perceptions of learner autonomy. further research may also need to be conducted to study university teachers’ perceptions about learner autonomy as it is currently supported by merdeka belajar programs so that the development of learner autonomy in higher education can be captured well in indonesia particularly when the freedom of learning has become the icon in the indonesian education system. 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(2015). a teacher’s perspective on autonomy and self-access: from theory to perception to practice. innovation in language learning and teaching, 0(0), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2015.1103245 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 520-535 535 appendix one: the principles of teaching and learning activities (minister of education and culture of republic indonesia in regulation no. 65/ 2013) 1. from students as the ones receiving the knowledge to students as the ones discovering knowledge; 2. from teachers as the only learning resource into multi-resources based learning where the teacher becomes one of the learning resources. 3. from textual approach into a process [approach ]for strengthening the use of scientific approach 4. from content based learning into competence based learning 5. from partial learning into an integrated learning 6. from learning which emphasises a single answer to learning with multidimensionality correct answers 7. from verbalism learning into applicative skills 8. increasing the balance of hard skills and soft skills 9. the learning with emphasises the cultivation and creation of life-long learners 10. the learning which applies the value of giving models, building the will and developing learners’ creativity in the learning process 11. the learning which takes place at home, at school and in the society 12. the learning which applies the principle that everyone is teacher, everyone is learner and everywhere is class. 13. the use of information and communication technology to enhance the learning efficiency and effectiveness 14. the recognition of individual differences and learners’ cultural background llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 200-213 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 200 native-centeredness in the english language teaching materials: a multimodal critical discourse analysis on indonesian elt textbooks’ cover hilarius raditya priambada purba universitas internasional batam, indonesia correspondence: hilarius@uib.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.4647 received 11 may 2022; accepted 27 march 2023 abstract this is a multimodal critical discourse analysis of three indonesian english language teaching textbooks. the study focused on the representation of the visuals on the cover to describe english as an international language paradigm in indonesia. this study was a qualitative study where the data were presented in the form of a narrative story. the researcher also employed themes to answer the research questions. the result showed that the orientation of english language teaching in indonesia was native-centeredness where correctness was the focus of the process. meanwhile, the practice would not prepare the student to have crosscultural communication where english was used as the lingua franca. the result was likely to be in accordance with the latest study on indonesian teachers’ perspective of the eil paradigm which showed reluctance. keywords: elt textbooks, multimodal critical discourse, native-centeredness introduction a language shares the power that dominates people and society (fairclough, 1989). meanwhile, english has been the language for intercultural communication (jenkins, 2014; kachru, 1990; kirkpatrick, 2010) so the language has power in many domains, one of which is education, which makes people aware of the need of maintaining english for their communication. the need to develop the language has been acknowledged as a must to be able to communicate in cross–cultural contexts where people do not share the same lingua-cultural background and english is the only option to facilitate the process (jenkins, 2014; kirkpatrick, 2010; seidlhofer, 2011). the study of critical discourse analysis or critical language study in educational domains is, somewhat, significant as the study provides information about the educational policy and the practice of language teaching and learning as the implication (fairclough, 1989). this is in line with (ishikawa, 2016; jenkins, 2014; kirkpatrick, 2010; spolsky, 2004) who suggest that the status and the spread of english as an international language throughout the nations bring the language power in the maintenance of educational policy. likewise, in indonesia, the language has no specific status in the indonesian administrative domain, but the language has been included in the curriculum as a subject to learn and has been developed as one of the prerequisites in the educational domain (mistar, 2005). mailto:hilarius@uib.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.4647 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 200-213 201 moreover, through the analysis of the discourse that is employed in the educational domain, critical language awareness will result in the process that gives a significant role in deciding the objective of language teaching and learning as well as developing the suitable method to fulfill the ends of its process (fairclough, 1989). the discussion about the status of the language has to come into consideration that the development of english all around the world has undergone a long journey before its status as an international language (crystal, 2003). english has been developed as a lingua franca to facilitate communication between people who do not share the same linguistic, cultural, and national background (holliday, 2009; jenkins, 2014; kirkpatrick, 2010; seidlhofer, 2011; widodo, 2016) so that the means of communication that is to facilitate transactional needs can be fulfilled (griffin, 2012; mehl, 2017; osborn et al., 2012; subekti, 2019). the spread of english has initiated the legitimacy of its status as a global language (baker, 2015; crystal, 2003) and the emergence of the new varieties of english that is known as world englishes (kachru et al., 2006; kirkpatrick, 2010; mesthrie & bhatt, 2008). the need incorporates the language in language teaching and learning (galloway & rose, 2018; matsuda, 2003) is considered beneficial in way that the learning can facilitate the student to be more aware of the development of the language, able to have a cross-cultural understanding and communication and prepare the student for the globalization where english plays a pivotal role in the process. indonesia, in the development and the spread of the language, has been classified as a nation that belongs to the expanding circle (kachru, 1990, 1992; kachru et al., 2006; sadeghpour & sharifian, 2019). this consideration comes up as english has no special status in the country. however, the country still retains english as the language to be covered in the national curriculum as a subject to learn (mistar, 2005). following the fact aforementioned, the recent curriculum in indonesia has been designed to assist the student in the english proficiency process by also considering the global need (renandya & widodo, 2016b; widodo, 2016). meanwhile, indonesian education, based on the study by (hariri et al., 2019), has a negative perception of english as an international language and the development of world englishes as the result of the spread of the language throughout the world. the need to encourage the student to be more aware of the kind of varieties developed in different nations has been initiated by some scholar (franssisca & subekti, 2022; galloway & rose, 2018; isbell & crowther, 2022; matsuda, 2003; olatoye, 2022; sadeghpour & sharifian, 2019; shin et al., 2011) s in the accordance to the need to face global competition where the people have diverse backgrounds as well as the many varieties of language in the contact. this study explores the issue of english as an international language by studying the image or portrayal in the english language teaching textbooks employed in the elt process in indonesia. the researcher shows how the current condition of english language learning in indonesia is depicted by the image on the cover of the book. the covers of some textbooks in indonesia show how indonesia, in general, perceives the language and how this country wants the elt process to be undergone. by looking at the textbooks that are employed in the process of teaching and learning, people can obtain information on how the new curriculum is implemented and how to run the recently developed curriculum for the sake of desirable outcome fulfillment (setyono & widodo, 2019). this is in line with (griffin, 2012) promoting that communication or discourse is not value-free in a llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 200-213 202 way that contains the meaning that needs to be conveyed by giving the stimulus to result in the desired response as what is projected by the communicator. previous studies regarding english as international language have been conducted to see the cultural representation and the multicultural issues framed from the contents within the textbooks (setyono & widodo, 2019; shin et al., 2011). however, a recent study studies the portrayal of how the english language textbooks in indonesia endorse the issue of english as an international language where the monolithic standard of american and british english are rejected (jenkins, 2014; kirkpatrick, 2010; sadeghpour & sharifian, 2019; sharifian, 2013; widodo, 2016). the eil paradigm also embraces the pluricentric view to hold the cross-cultural understanding as what eil is projected. this study comprises “how do the textbooks portray the english as international language paradigm in their covers?” and “what are the possible teaching practices as the implication of the visuals in indonesian english language teaching textbook covers?” as the research questions that guide the research. it is hoped that the portrayal of the eil paradigm and the possible development of the implication of the paradigm deployed by the covers. the study promotes multimodal critical discourse as a tool of analysis. critical discourse analysis language, power, and ideology have been seen as factors to convey the nature of critical discourse (fairclough, 1989). in so doing, critical discourse analysis is a method and theory developed to obtain the endowed meaning behind the text that also holds ideology and political views (machin & mayr, 2012). this analysis comprises the production and reception of the texts as well as how the social and cultural construct is exhibited as the means of the use of language in the communication process (machin & mayr, 2012). indeed, a language shares its power to facilitate communication and emphasize meanings. on the other hand, the use of english as the language for communication has also been a realization or evidence of the power of the language and the status that is acknowledged all over the world (crystal, 2003). therefore, a discourse, in the process of its production and reception has transmitted the power (machin & mayr, 2012). in conclusion, cda is a study comprising the relationship between power; how it is implemented and negotiated through discourse (fairclough, 2012). the word “critical” in critical discourse analysis complies with the reason and the way discourses are produced and the possible ideological meanings or the powerful interests behind the discourse due to the process of describing and focusing on the detail of the linguistic features (machin & mayr, 2012). multimodal critical discourse analysis meanings are not necessarily depicted in the use of language in the form of written or spoken but also it is represented through visuals or images. this is in line with (machin & mayr, 2012) who suggest that other semiotic modes also provide meaning. similar to words, visuals or images can also contain or be seen in denoted and connoted view as suggested by barthes (1973, 1977) as cited by (machin & mayr, 2012) which is called iconography. a representation of things can be a simple depiction of a specific event, people, place, or thing as it is. this view is denoted by looking at the image or visual. but, the picture can also suggest the abstract ideas llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 200-213 203 behind the represented visual or image. in this way, the picture is employed to connote ideas or concepts. thus, a connoted view is about the way ideas and values are communicated through the representation of a thing(s). another element that needs to be considered is “attributes” (machin & mayr, 2012). discovering the values or ideas of visuals or images demands a clear observation of various objects found in the pictures or simply known as attributes. the objects must, in such a way, help in making the meaning by considering how they are represented. in doing so, the need for breaking the objects down is demanded which conveys the meaning of every object in isolation. the other element is the setting. the setting determines the general ideas of visuals that can connote discourse, its value, identity, and action (machin & mayr, 2012). furthermore, it needs to also consider the “salience” or prominent thing in the visual (machin & mayr, 2012). this way of analyzing is attempted by doing a clear examination of the composition of the features that are, by will, made to stand out. the reason for making the object “stand out” is to promote the symbolic value of the object. in so doing, there are aspects to indicate salience. they are: 1. a potent cultural symbol that symbolizes value held by culture or society. 2. the size that indicates the importance of objects; the bigger, the more important 3. color in which the more important thing will have more saturation or contrast in the object. 4. the tone that in a such way works in the same way with the use of color 5. focus that emphasizes the specific level of importance of the object by considering the perspective. 6. foregrounding that creates the importance of the object by considering the placement of the objects; front, back, left, right, etc. 7. overlapping also works the same way as foregrounding which indicates the placing of the object over other objects; whether they are placed in front, side by side, and so on. moreover, a strong proposal by (machin & mayr, 2012) states that there is no neutral way of representing a person in any language. this means that due to the representation of a person, there is a tendency to describe aspects of identity in a way they are related to a certain discourse. in other words, the way in representing someone or a person is done to give a frame to emphasize a particular identity. for example (taken from (machin & mayr, 2012) (p.77): 1. muslim man arrested. 2. the father of two daughters arrested. these two sentences may refer to the same person, but the way they frame or emphasize the idea is different in a way that example number one represents one’s ‘otherness’ by putting one’s personal identity and the other doesn’t. this phenomenon is called “representational choices” that deliver the associations of values, ideas, events, or activities (machin & mayr, 2012). the most represented thing means the most influential thing that leads to a certain emphasized idea. below are the representation strategies in visual communication (machin & mayr, 2012). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 200-213 204 1. positioning the viewer concerning people inside the image in defining the relationship of people inside the image, it demands a close observation of several aspects, they are: a. distance: distance in an image depicts social relations. the closer the distance is the closer the relation, likewise the case in a real life. b. angle: the angle of seeing something relates to the engagement of people in contact. 2. individualization and collectivization a. individuals and groups the image that represents the individual in isolation may suggest that the idea is completed by only putting one person in a certain situation, condition, or event. although the representation of individualization may suggest various interpretations, the image of people in isolation is a depiction of a single subject dealing with a certain condition that comes as the emphasis of the idea. on the other hand, when the image represents a group of people or collectiveness, it indicates that they come from a homogenized group or they are supposed to be “homogenized”. it creates a sense that they belong to one group, they are from the same background, or they are not separable. b. generic and specific depictions in depiction of a picture or image, it could represent individuals or specific people. people in the picture can be depicted as native american, jewish, or black. however, the picture could also suggest the depiction of a typical native american, jewish, or black person. the specific depiction happens to represent the stereotype representation by looking at the way they dress, look, and the way people, in an exaggerated way, are described through their physical features. c. exclusion in this way of depicting someone, it needs to also consider the other ways of not representing other characters. the possibility of representing other characters may suggest different connoted meanings of a visual. we need to think about the reason these omitted characters are excluded from the picture. english as an international language the spread of english throughout the nations results in the notion of “english as an international language” (crystal, 2003) and makes the language the common shared language or lingua franca. the spread and the status of the language have made a language for accommodation in a cross-cultural setting the power shared the language (crystal, 2003; jenkins, 2014). in recent years, the spread of the language to all-region in the world has shaped the language to make such acculturation and adjustment so that the language can facilitate the people in their communication as the development of language acquisition is considered as the media of communication between people in which the process will end up to goals accomplishment (crick, 2017; griffin, 2012; herrick, 2008; mehl, 2017). in line with this, the new variety of the language has to come to consider as the effect of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 200-213 205 the spread which then produces the phenomena of world englishes (jenkins, 2014; kirkpatrick, 2010). english monolithic is a term to describe a standard english based on its origin; england and america or anglo institutions of global hegemony (pennycook, 2007). people have to consider how english is localized and challenge this view in a way to see the diversity in the language by considering the use of the language in the inner to the expanding circle (kachru et al., 2006). the local varieties show the identity of the speaker as well as the various regions and nations where english is used. method this study explored the portrayal of english as an international language phenomenon where a monolithic view of “standard” english is rejected (jenkins, 2014). this paradigm holds the belief that identity should be embraced in the language. the study attempted to do critical discourse analysis on the covers of several english textbooks in indonesia to find the representation of english as an international language either acceptance or reluctance. the study employed a multimodal critical discourse analysis proposed by (machin & mayr, 2012). this study was a qualitative study where the data are represented in the form of words or narratives. the researcher generated two themes (miles & huberman, 1994) to answer the research questions of the study. they are (a) english language teaching textbooks in indonesia representing the reluctance of english as an international language paradigm and (b) indonesia is not ready yet to penetrate the eil pedagogy in the implemented curriculum. the first theme was to answer the first research question and the second theme was to answer the second research question. this study analyses three english textbooks in indonesia. one book is published by the indonesian ministry of education and culture for grade vii and two books are published by a private publisher; one for grade vii and the other one for grade ix. the researcher chooses these three books because they represent the best topic of this study which is about native-centeredness in the english language curriculum. findings and discussion the findings of this study were presented by employing the generated themes. the findings are represented as follows: english language teaching textbooks in indonesia are representing the reluctance of english as an international language paradigm the visuals in the english textbooks in indonesia represented that the country was not ready yet to include the eil paradigm in the pedagogy. the researcher only focused on the connoted meanings as being portrayed by the covers. below mentioned are the representations of the cover of the textbooks and the connoted meaning. there were one slogan and three big pictures on the cover. “when english rings a bell” could be divided into two interpretations. the first one was by considering the slogan as one clause and the other one was by considering it as a phrase “rings a bell”. the first interpretation could be represented as the condition that english is the “guest” who came from a different place and to be able to be in, he needs to ring a bell. however, ringing a bell is not a habit of indonesian; people llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 200-213 206 usually knock the door or greet when being a guest. ringing a bell could represent how indonesia should do what the guests “usually do” even when the “host” was indonesia. here, the orientation was that the host should adapt to the habit, culture, and norms of this “foreign guest”. this view was rejected by the eil paradigm that “glorifies” the inner circle country as the one who set up the “rule” or what socalled “standard”. second, when it comes to the phrase “ring a bell” means “sound familiar” (cambridge dictionary, 2019). to make it sound familiar is to be able to adapt, adjust and “legitimize” whatever english brings. there was no reflected attempt to include the indonesian culture or at least other cultures than english in the teaching. figure 1. the representation of the english textbook’s cover by kemendikbud ri secondly, the globe was a representation of the global condition, the spread of the language, and the importance of the language. in today’s context, english has been considered the global language (crystal, 2003) where the language is considered important to be mastered. it also implied that english equalled the “world” which was why many hands, the second image, held and carry “it” on the head. it was such hegemony that the language was the symbol of honor and dignity. many people carried “the globe” on their heads so that other people may see clearly that they upheld the language. many hands with different skin colors indicated many races and nationalities that tried to make the “globe” a place on the high by upholding it; the representation of hegemony of the language. such hegemony, in the eil paradigm, is rejected as there is also a need to promote local context and varieties as the result of the language spread (ishikawa, 2016b; jenkins, 2014; pennycook, 2007). on the other hand, the representation of the american continent was also the main focus of the globe as it was represented clearly on the globe and put in the center (machin & mayr, 2012). america belongs to the inner circle country (kachru, 1990) and is considered as one standard english in the efl paradigm. this represented that the upholding movement was also to glorify america as a remarkable country in making english become an international language because of the power of the country (crystal, 2003; holliday, 2009) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 200-213 207 cover of the textbooks and connoted meanings figure 2. representation of globe and hand from the english textbook’s cover by kemendikbud ri secondly, the globe was a representation of the global condition, the spread of the language, and the importance of the language. in today’s context, english has considered the global language (crystal, 2003) where the language is considered important to be mastered. it also implied that english equaled the “world” which was why many hands, the second image, held and carry “it” on the head. it was such hegemony that the language was the symbol of honor and dignity. many people carried “the globe” on their heads so that other people may see clearly that they upheld the language. many hands with different skin colors indicated many races and nationalities tried to make the “globe” place on the high by upholding it; the representation of hegemony of the language. such hegemony, in the eil paradigm, is rejected as there is also a need to promote local context and varieties as the result of the language spread (ishikawa, 2016b; jenkins, 2014; pennycook, 2007). on the other hand, the representation of the american continent was also the main focus of the globe as it was represented clearly on the globe and put in the center (machin & mayr, 2012). america belongs to the inner circle country (kachru, 1990) and is considered as one standard english in the efl paradigm. this represented the upholding movement was also to glorify america as a remarkable country in making english become an international language because of the power of the country (crystal, 2003; holliday, 2009). figure 3. the representation of “oxford english dictionary the last was the “oxford english dictionary”. the use of this kind of dictionary asserted the “standard” that people should fulfill in the process of learning. in the efl paradigm, people would consider the british english variety as the standard variety of the language. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 200-213 208 figure 4. the second english textbook’s cover from erlangga publisher the second textbook represented native-centeredness as the only focus of the book. england belongs to the inner circle country and the origin of the language (crystal, 2003; kachru, 1990). one of the reasons for the spread of the language is also because of british colonization (crystal, 2003). the publisher might think that the best way to represent english was also to represent the “origin” country. meanwhile, english has undergone such a process that makes it belong to everyone as a global language, lingua franca, and a language for inter-cultural communication (crystal, 2003; holliday, 2009; jenkins, 2014; pennycook, 2007; sharifian, 2009). thus, it was not quite representative of the current situation if english was only seen as the inner circle belonging or all about the inner circle country. the spread of the language demands a further discussion of how the language can facilitate cross-cultural communication, the pedagogy that supports the current situation, or at least the acknowledgment of the implication of the spread of the language such as world englishes. the case might show different outcomes when the cover also attached the other countries as they also developed english in the communication process. this coincided with the “excluded” as a strategy to see the possibility of the discourse and its implication (machin & mayr, 2012). figure 5. the english third textbook’s cover from erlangga publisher the third book was a book developed for a third-grade student in junior high school. on this cover, there was an excerpt “practice your english competence” as the focus of the book as it was put on the center (machin & mayr, 2012). here, the excerpt might only be the title of the book. however, the other focus of the book llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 200-213 209 was also the collectiveness of the subjects (machin & mayr, 2012). collectiveness indicates that the subjects belong to one group and are not separable. this meant the need to use language between people all over the world. figure 6. the depiction of coloured boy in the third textbook’s cover however, the representation of a colored boy was also put in the center, to be exactly below the “practice your english competence”. considering the representation of identity in visuals by (machin & mayr, 2012), the boy here represented a pivotal role in showing the idea. by putting the boy in the center of the group, the focus was on the boy. this was the kind of person that was related to the excerpt in the book as they were placed on the same overlapping element (machin & mayr, 2012). this boy was placed in the back and surrounded by white friends. when someone or something is put on the back it might indicate the importance of the object/ subject. besides, the white kids surrounding the boy also represent that english was in our surroundings. the gap between the boy and the kids was also seen that was different from the gap between the whites. this indicated that the “standard” which was represented by white kids and “non-standard” which was represented by a colored boy was real and demanded consideration. the way they clothed also represented the gap between non-standard and standard. the more colorful the standard that means attraction and the more “plain” or “innocent” the non-standard was also considered as a “broken-variety” (hariri et al., 2019; young & walsh, 2010). figure 7. the depiction of the colored boy on the third textbook’s cover (2) the above image was about a white boy putting his pen on a colored boy’s book. this movement was likely to be the activity when someone teaches; directing the learner to the book, making notes for them, and showing the example. the way the colored boy held the book was also significant in the way it faced the white boy’s direction which showed the activity of showing something or asking something. this, in the eil paradigm, showed that the orientation of the language llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 200-213 210 is still the inner circle country. the us and uk are the only standards to look upon in the process of language acquisition (ishikawa, 2016b). indonesia is not ready yet to penetrate the eil pedagogy in the implemented curriculum this theme was in accordance with the second research question about the possible teaching practices as the implication of the visuals in indonesian english language teaching textbook covers. (machin & mayr, 2012) suggest the possible implication can be exhibited through the discourse employed. following the data aforementioned. the possible english teaching practices in indonesia will hold the native standard english or simply native-centeredness. the implication of the practice is the view of correctness as the focus. cross-cultural communication issues will not be discussed as the focus of eil pedagogy. language creativity and identity representation will not be a focus on teaching the language. the language will always perceive as a foreign language that holds no pluricentric view in the practice (baker, 2015; ishikawa, 2016a; jenkins, 2014; pennycook, 2010). the reluctance to include the other varieties as they are considered broken english will also become a possible practice in english teaching in indonesia. this is in line with (hariri et al., 2019) who discovered the tendency in classifying english varieties other than uk or us as broken english. the study also reflects the reluctance of indonesian english practitioners to include them in the pedagogy. this reluctance brings the student to a serious stake when they are expected as close as the native in using the language. there will be an underestimation of people whose english is very accented as their local languages dominate the way they pronounce the word. by considering at the current structures of indonesia curriculum “kurikulum merdeka” in indonesia as stated in sk kepala bskap no. 8 tahun 2022, the focus of learning process in on the ability to employ all skills (reading, speaking, listening and writing) within a wide range of text. the focus of learning is then neglecting the need of using the language within an intercultural communication that may involve native and non-native speaker interactions as well as the interaction between non-native speakers. besides, the focus doesn’t consider the need to put local contexts that students may find those materials relevant and familiar to them as how the concept of communicative language teaching suggest (renandya & widodo, 2016a). meanwhile, this second research question was only a prediction of possible practices in indonesia. the discussion was employed by considering the analysis of the first research question. conclusion in this study, the researcher attempted to find the hidden agenda, value, and/or ideas by looking at the visual or image (multimodal critical discourse analysis). (fairclough, 1989) suggests that hidden meaning can be found in the use of discourse. this is supported by barthes (1973, 1977) as cited by (machin & mayr, 2012) who propose that discourse can denote and connote. this study found that the covers of some english textbooks in indonesia held “native-centeredness” as the desirable practice and outcome. the representation of some symbols in the covers revealed that this reluctance might result in the non-pluricentric view in the practice that held the monolithic standard of the inner-circle countries as the only standard to refer to in the process. the trends of the eil pedagogy demand the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 200-213 211 process to realize new shifts in the pedagogy (sharifian, 2009). the process should cover metalinguistic awareness rather than grammar mastery, focus on strategies rather than rules, negotiation rather than correctness, language as a hybrid rather than language as homogeneous, language as changing rather than language as static, l1 as resources rather than l1 as a problem, and so on (canagarajah, 2006 as cited in (sharifian, 2009) (p.232). further study is hoped to also consider the content of the textbooks implemented in indonesia to confirm whether or not the cover shows the best representation of the contents. references baker, w. 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(2010). which english? whose english? an investigation of “non-native” teachers’ beliefs about target varieties. language, culture and curriculum, 23(2), 123–137. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908311003797627 https://doi.org/10.30813/jelc.v11i2.2609 https://doi.org/10.21512/lc.v13i1.5155 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22464-0_6 https://doi.org/10.1080/07908311003797627 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 50 language learning strategies in english as a foreign language classroom in indonesian higher education context firima zona tanjung universitas pendidikan indonesia zona_borneo@upi.edu doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.suppl2106 received 8 february 2018; revised 2 march 2018; accepted 4 april 2018 abstract indonesian university students are not well-familiar with language learning strategies (lls) as they are dependent on their lecturers. this condition also gets worse because the students still have low level of proficiency although they have already been learning english for multiple years. there have been many researches on students’ lls related to the four language skills and gender but there is a high need of studying the students’ lls regarding their age in the indonesian higher education context. this research aimed at investigating students’ language learning strategies related to their ages and providing some steps to make teaching program more effective by considering students’ lls and their age as well. this research utilized descriptive survey research design. the participants were 122 english department students at one of public universities in borneo island, indonesia. the instrument was sill questionnaire. all the collected data were analyzed statistically. the findings show that students mostly used metacognitive (m=3.857), cognitive (m=3.707), and compensation strategies (m=3.563). the students’ different age led them to select and implement different strategies. some steps to optimize students’ learning strategies are through inserting lls instruction in the curriculum of teaching program, implementing certain models of strategy instruction, and developing lecturers’ awareness of designing instruction at which one of the methods that can be employed is eclective methods. considering all findings, it can be concluded that although indirect strategies get higher means of preference from the participants but they do not only focus on using indirect strategies. they combine those with direct strategies. further, to make students more successful on their learning, the institution including lecturers and the academic community should take part in the effort of teaching learning strategies. this provides future research area that emphasizes on designing lls instruction regarding students’ age and level of their education. keywords: learning strategy, university students, age introduction in conducting teaching-learning process, the power of lecturers and students must be equal. they share materials to be constructed and result in the form of knowledge (freire, 1970). however, the knowledge construction between llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 51 lecturers and students would not run well as long as the lecturers who make an effort solely to engage the students in learning process. thus, students are also needed to be actively engaged through making use of some strategies in learning the materials taught by the lecturers. on the contrary, in indonesian context, mainly for efl program, students are not well familiar with learning strategies and dependent on their lecturers (aunurrahman, kurniawati, and ramadhiyanti, 2013). in fact, they should play their important role in obtaining and sharing the information regarding the effective teaching-learning process. one of the challenges they have is they do not recognize their learning strategies, even make use of appropriate learning strategies to have sufficient proficiency. the root of that challenge is because they are not taught formally about learning strategies. thus, although indonesian students have already been learning english subject for multiple years, they have low level of proficiency (lie, 2007; marcellino, 2008; imperiani, 2012, larson, 2014; oktaviyanti, 2017). there are many studies and researches having been focused on the language learning strategies (lls) such as lengkanawati (1997) who focused on the use of learning strategies being done by groups of students, umamah (2008) then novitasari (2009) and mistar and umamah (2014) who focused on the research on students’ learning strategies for speaking skills, aunurrahman, kurniawati, and ramadhiyanti (2013) who focused on studying students’ learning strategies as they learn english mainly for reading skill, setiyadi, sukirlan, and mahpul (2016) who focused on students’ learning strategies for the four skills in english, and last oktaviyanti (2017) who focused on students’ learning strategies and teachers’ characteristics. considering many earlier researches focus on students’ learning strategies and gender, it is found that there has been no research which emphasizes on the relation between lls and age. therefore, this research examines those two variables -students’ lls and age-, how they are related each other in lls preference. lls has been defined by many theorists. the first definition puts forward by rubin (1981). she states that lls is “the techniques or devices that a learner may use to acquire language”. further, oxford (1990) defines that lls is “specific method/technique employed by individual learners to facilitate their comprehension, retention, retrieval, and application of information in second or foreign language”. then, according to brown (2000), strategies is “specific methods of approaching problems or task, modes of operation for achieving a particular end, planned design for controlling and manipulating certain informations”. next, it is stated as well that lls is “a conscious mental activity that contains a goal or intention, an action to reach this goal, and a learning activity” (cohen, 2007). from these four theorists then learning strategies is utilized consciously in order to help students acquire the second or foreign language they are learning about. then, the age of students is considered as one of the factors that influence the selection or choice of learning strategies they use when learning language. it is stated that the more mature students, the more various learning strategies they use (devlin, 1996). this research aims at investigating the students’ lls in learning english viewed from the available demographic information particularly their ages in an llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 52 efl teaching program in the indonesian higher education context and providing some steps to make teaching program more effective by considering students’ lls and their age. regarding the purpose of the research mentioned previously, the research questions are addressed as the followings: 1. what are the students’ language learning strategies in learning english as their foreign language during efl teaching program in the indonesian higher education context? 2. what are learning strategies frequently used by university students regarding their ages? 3. how do lecturers cope with students’ various language learning strategies especially with large class setting which is commonly found in the indonesian higher education context? this research focuses solely on the investigation of students’ language learning strategies related to the students’ ages. hence, this research practically benefits lecturer of the higher education institution to identify their students’ learning strategies and determine various learning tasks and activities, select and implement the appropriate teaching methods and models of lls instruction based on students’ learning strategies preference. to sum up, the result of research can portray the students’ learning strategies, their strategies based on their ages, and the steps to make the teaching program more effective and efficient in the indonesian higher education context. previously, there are definitions and explanation related to lls and age. however, to be specific, the operational definition of the language learning strategies (lls) in this study refers to the conscious methods, techniques, activity, or devices that a student utilize from preparation, process, and evaluation of their learning so they can acquire language and achieve the learning goals altogether. the students’ lls covers memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, affective, and social strategies. moreover, age is not only specifically related to period of time someone has lived but it also connects with the length of his or her time to study english language (oxford, 1990; devlin, 1996). the students’ age is identified into several range; they are “under 20 years old”, “21-22 years old”, “22-23 years old”, “24-25 years old”, and “26-27 years old”. these two operational definitions are used continuously in the latter discussion of this article. literature review undeniably, each student has their own learning strategies. however, students will get difficult to be independent on their learning if they do not recognize, plan, manage, and evaluate their learning process. kumaravadivelu (2006) states that students experience more meaningful and practical learning if they know how to learn. it means that if the students recognize the way to learn materials provided by the lecturer then they are going to have different experience. positively, they consider the learning contents to be challenging and meaningful for them. moreover, the students are well-planned to “monitor their learning success” and improve their “learning potentials” (kumaravadivelu, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 53 2006). to keep the ideal condition as mentioned earlier is not an easy thing to do because lecturers have to be role model in introducing the new strategy and certainly make more efforts on giving chances for students to have “multiple practices” in order to develop their language learning autonomy (chamot, 2008). related to the effort of recognizing students’ learning strategies, there are four major classification successfully constructed by rubin (1981), o’malley, chamot, and walker (1987), and oxford (1990). rubin (1981) focuses on two processes which contribute directly and indirectly to learning. meanwhile, o’malley, chamot, and walker (1987) highlight the three types of learning strategies. they are metacognitive, cognitive, and social/affective strategies. then, oxford (1990) classifies the strategies into direct and indirect strategies. direct strategies are the “strategies involving mental process and directly influencing the target language” and indirect strategies are “those supporting and managing language” but not directly concerning the target language (oxford, 1990). in addition, the direct strategies cover memory, cognitive, and compensation whereas the indirect one emphasizes on metacognitive, affective and social strategies. generally, oxford’s classification covers all learning strategies constructed by the previous theories. moreover, the figure 1 shows that the six strategies are correlated each other and contribute the learning both directly and indirectly. therefore, oxford classification and her theory about learning strategies are widely accepted to be used in most researches. figure 1. inter-relationships between direct and indirect strategies (oxford, 1990) several researches about the learning strategies that is related to students’ age have been conducted and reported. the studies which are closely relevant to the present work are oxford (1990), devlin (1996), and lee and oxford (2008). three of them reported about the students’ age, the period of studying second or foreign language, and the learning strategies they use. mostly, the mature age utilize metacognitive strategies rather than any other strategies (devlin, 1996; lee & oxford, 2008), while the students with different age use different strategies to learn language (oxford, 1990). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 54 in accordance with the literature review and previous relevant research reports, the researcher carries out the research about university students’ preference on learning strategies which is associated to their age and the years they have already spent for studying the language. method this research emphasized on the kinds of language learning strategies used by the university students and the kinds of language learning strategies used by the university students regarding their age as well. thus, in order to answer the research questions, the researcher made use of descriptive survey research design. it was adapted from the research design by lodico et al (2010). the steps were identifying a research topic, reviewing the literature, developing research questions, determining the questionnaire being used, selecting participants, administering the survey, analyzing and interpreting the survey results, and having final research result. the participants being involved in this study were the students of english department from one of public universities in borneo island, indonesia. they were the first, third, fifth, and seventh semester students. there were 127 out of 320 students who responded the online questionnaire. it was due to the multiple responses sent by same participants and number of students who were not active/ taking leave of absence and other students who did not send their response as being informed, the researcher recalculated the exact numbers of participants and found there were 122 students whose information would be used in this research. the data in this research were collected by employing a questionnaire. the strategy inventory for language learning (sill) questionnaire (oxford, 1990) was used to investigate students’ learning strategies. in total the sill questionnaire has 50 items and each subcategory consists of cognitive, memory, metacognitive, compensation, affective and social strategies. the fifty items uses likert scale at which there are five points that represent certain response. point 1 is “never or almost never true of me”, point 2 is “usually not true of me”, point 3 is “somewhat true of me”, point 4 is “usually true of me”, and point 5 is “always or almost always true of me”. further, the researcher asked the participants to give the needed demographic information such as names, age, gender, and the semester they were taking when responding the questionnaire. additionally, for the age, the researcher used range starting from “under 20 years old”, “21-22 years old”, “2223 years old”, “24-25 years old”, and “26-27 years old” in order to make the classification easily done. considering the use of questionnaire, the researcher analyzed the instrument’s validity and reliability as well. it was found that all items were valid since the ro > the rt or the ro of each item was higher than .178 (n = 122). moreover, the reliability gained .94. therefore, the items were valid and reliable. next, in this research, there were two independent variables to focus on namely students’ learning strategies and age. as being stated earlier, this research investigated the students’ language learning strategies and kinds of language learning strategies used by the university students regarding their age. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 55 for collecting the data, the researcher administered the questionnaire and made it available in the online version. it was to make the students flexible in answering and submitting the questionnaire. the questionnaire had been posted since october 30 th , 2017. the students were given two weeks for accessing and filling out the questionnaire. the form itself had to be filled out at one-time access so the students could not leave the form before all required items were chosen. the collected data then were downloaded in the excel format to be used for further analysis. all the entry data were analyzed statistically. to answer the first and second question, descriptive statistics was utilized in order to find for the means, standard deviation, and the rank for each learning strategy being chosen by the participants. the results of mean score for each item then were categorized into high use (usually used (3.5-4.4) & always or almost used (4.5-5.0)), medium use (sometimes used (2.5-3.4)), and low use (generally not used (1.5-2.4) & never or almost never used (1.0-1.4)) (oxford, 1990). in providing the answer for the last question, the researcher reflected on the result of two previous findings and found the theories or research result that support the researcher’s viewpoint. findings and discussion there are two sections being highlighted in this part. they are findings and discussion. the findings focus on the demographic information, the overall descriptive statistics of all items available in the questionnaire, the frequency of each item, the frequency of strategies regarding students’ age. later, the finding results are discussed in detail in order to answer the research questions. table 1. the participants of research based on their semester semester f* m** total 1 st semester 5 3 8 3 rd semester 32 11 43 5 th semester 27 11 38 7 th semester 23 10 33 total 87 35 ʃ = 122 * = female, ** = male table 1 shows that majority of the participants were female (71.31% out of 122 students) and male (28.69% out of 122 students). this is due to the imbalance gender distribution of the students in english department. out of 122 participants, 35.25% were from the third semester students, 31.15% were from the fifth semester students, 27.05% were from the seventh semester students and the rest 6.55% were from the first semester students. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 56 table 2. the participants of research based on their age age f* m** total under 20 years 26 9 35 20-21 years 55 17 72 22-23 years 6 7 13 24-25 years 1 1 2 26-25 years 0 0 0 total ʃ = 122 * = female, ** = male table 2 shows the age distribution of participants. out of 122 participants, 28.68% were students with the age of under 20 years old, 59.02% were students with the age between 20-21 years old, 10.66% were students with the age between 22-22 years old and the rest 1.64% were students with the age between 24-25 years old. thus, the dominant age of participants was the age between 20-21 years old (59.02%). table 3. the descriptive statistics of all items item. statement mean sd memory 1 i think of relationships between what i already know and new things i learn in english. 3.72 0.76 2 i use new english words in a sentence so i can remember them. 3.76 0.91 3 i connect the sound of a new english word and an image or picture of the word to help remember the word. 3.68 1.04 4 i remember a new english word by making a mental picture of a situation in which the word might be used. 3.30 1.03 5 i use rhymes to remember new english words. 3.07 1.17 6 i use flashcards to remember new english words. 2.53 1.14 7 i physically act out new english words. 3.23 1.00 8 i review english lessons often. 3.28 0.86 9 i remember new english words or phrases by remembering their location on the page, on the board, or on a street sign. 3.26 1.04 cognitive 10 i say or write new english words several times. 3.61 1.03 11 i try to talk like native english speakers. 3.90 0.96 12 i practice the sounds of english. 3.98 0.89 13 i use the english words i know in different ways. 3.64 0.88 14 i start conversations in english. 3.34 1.01 15 i watch english language tv shows spoken in english or go to movies spoken in english. 3.96 1.05 16 i read for pleasure in english. 3.43 0.92 17 i write notes, messages, letters, or reports in english. 3.14 1.04 18 i first skim an english passage (read over the passage quickly) then go back and read carefully. 3.46 0.97 19 i look for words in my own language that are similar to new words in english. 3.41 0.97 20 i try to find patterns in english. 3.31 0.95 21 i find the meaning of an english word by dividing it into parts that i understand. 3.52 0.94 22 i try not to translate word-for-word. 3.63 1.03 23 i make summaries of information that i hear or read in english. 3.19 1.05 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 57 item. statement mean sd compensation 24 to understand unfamiliar english words, i make guesses. 3.48 1.04 25 when i can't think of a word during a conversation in english, i use gestures. 3.94 1.01 26 i make up new words if i do not know the right ones in english. 3.60 1.00 27 i read english without looking up every new word. 3.09 1.02 28 i try to guess what the other person will say next in english. 3.44 1.00 29 if i can't think of an english word, i use a word or phrase that means the same thing. 3.80 0.88 metacognitive 30 i try to find as many ways as i can to use my english. 3.88 0.91 31 i notice my english mistakes and use that information to help me do better. 3.99 0.96 32 i pay attention when someone is speaking english. 4.33 0.78 33 i try to find out how to be a better learner of english. 4.28 0.78 34 i plan my schedule so i will have enough time to study english. 3.27 0.96 35 i look for people i can talk to in english. 3.86 0.89 36 i look for opportunities to read as much as possible in english. 3.55 0.95 37 i have clear goals for improving my english skills. 3.50 0.98 38 i think about my progress in learning english. 4.02 0.92 affective 39 i try to relax whenever i feel afraid of using english. 3.93 0.99 40 i encourage myself to speak english even when i am afraid of making a mistake. 3.95 0.89 41 i give myself a reward or treat when i do well in english. 3.22 1.23 42 i notice if i am tense or nervous when i am studying or using english. 3.54 0.96 43 i write down my feelings in a language learning diary. 2.71 1.26 44 i talk to someone else about how i feel when i am learning english. 3.32 1.20 social 45 if i do not understand something in english, i ask the other person to slow down or say it again. 4.23 0.81 46 i ask english speakers to correct me when i talk. 3.61 1.31 47 i practice english with other students. 3.92 1.01 48 i ask for help from english speakers. 3.47 1.11 49 i ask questions in english. 3.37 0.88 50 i try to learn about the culture of english speakers. 3.62 1.05 table 3 shows the overall descriptive statistics of participants’ response. the learning strategies mostly chosen is metacognitive, mean = 4.33 and the least one is memory, mean = 2.53. table 4. the frequency of language learning of memory strategies item statement mean sd strategy 1 i think of relationships between what i already know and new things i learn in english. 3.72 0.76 high 2 i use new english words in a sentence so i can remember them. 3.76 0.91 high 3 i connect the sound of a new english word and an image of the word to help remember the word. 3.68 1.04 high 4 i remember a new english word by making a mental 3.30 1.03 medium llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 58 picture of a situation in which the word might be used. 5 i use rhymes to remember new english words. 3.07 1.17 medium 6 i use flashcards to remember new english words. 2.53 1.14 medium 7 i physically act out new english words. 3.23 1.00 medium 8 i review english lessons often. 3.28 0.86 medium 9 i remember new english words or phrases by remembering their exact location. 3.26 1.04 medium table 4 shows the frequency of participants’ response regarding the memory strategies they used. the item number 2 gains 3.76 or as the mostly utilized strategy. they like to use new english lexical items into the form of syntax in order to help them remember what words they have already learned. table 5. the frequency of language learning of cognitive strategies item statement mean sd strategy 10 i say or write new english words several times. 3.61 1.03 high 11 i try to talk like native english speakers. 3.90 0.96 high 12 i practice the sounds of english. 3.98 0.89 high 13 i use the english words i know in different ways. 3.64 0.88 high 14 i start conversations in english. 3.34 1.01 medium 15 i watch english language tv shows spoken in english or go to movies spoken in english. 3.96 1.05 high 16 i read for pleasure in english. 3.43 0.92 medium 17 i write notes, messages, letters, or reports in english. 3.14 1.04 medium 18 i first skim an english passage (read over the passage quickly) then go back and read carefully. 3.46 0.97 medium 19 i look for words in my own language that are similar to new words in english. 3.41 0.97 medium 20 i try to find patterns in english. 3.31 0.95 medium 21 i find the meaning of an english word by dividing it into parts that i understand. 3.52 0.94 high 22 i try not to translate word-for-word. 3.63 1.03 high 23 i make summaries of information that i hear or read in english. 3.19 1.05 medium table 5 shows the frequency of participants’ response regarding the cognitive strategies they used. the item number twelve gains 3.98 or as the mostly chosen strategy. students prefer to practice their english whether it involves the practice during the teaching learning process or any kinds of activities they do outside the classroom. table 6. the frequency of language learning of compensation strategies item statement mean sd strategy 24 to understand unfamiliar english words, i make guesses. 3.48 1.04 medium 25 when i can't think of a word during a conversation in english, i use gestures. 3.94 1.01 high 26 i make up new words if i do not know the right ones in english. 3.60 1.00 high 27 i read english without looking up every new word. 3.09 1.02 medium 28 i try to guess what the other person will say next in english. 3.44 1.00 medium 29 if i can't think of an english word, i use a word or phrase that means the same thing. 3.80 0.88 high llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 59 table 6 shows the frequency of participants’ response regarding the compensation strategies they used. the item number 25 gains 3.94. students do not only focus on their speaking but simultaneously, they also make use of gestures at the time they cannot forget or do not know what lexical items they should produce during conversation. table 7. the frequency of language learning of metacognitive strategies item statement mean sd strategy 30 i try to find as many ways as i can to use my english. 3.88 0.91 high 31 i notice my english mistakes and use that information to help me do better. 3.99 0.96 high 32 i pay attention when someone is speaking english. 4.33 0.78 high 33 i try to find out how to be a better learner of english. 4.28 0,78 high 34 i plan my schedule so i will have enough time to study english. 3.27 0.96 medium 35 i look for people i can talk to in english. 3.86 0.89 high 36 i look for opportunities to read as much as possible in english. 3.55 0.95 high 37 i have clear goals for improving my english skills. 3.50 0.98 high 38 i think about my progress in learning english. 4.02 0.92 high table 7 shows the frequency of participants’ response regarding the metacognitive strategies they used. the item number 31 gains 3.99. students know that they make a mistake and use that kind of experience in order to do betterment for their english language. table 8. the frequency of language learning of affective strategies item statement mean sd strategy 39 i try to relax whenever i feel afraid of using english. 3.93 0.99 high 40 i encourage myself to speak english even when i am afraid of making a mistake. 3.95 0.89 high 41 i give myself a reward or treat when i do well in english. 3.22 1.23 medium 42 i notice if i am tense or nervous when i am studying or using english. 3.54 0.96 high 43 i write down my feelings in a language learning diary. 2.71 1.26 medium 44 i talk to someone else about how i feel when i am learning english. 3.32 1.20 medium table 8 shows the frequency of participants’ response regarding the affective strategies they used. the item number 40 gains 3.95. to be frankly, most students put their high effort on keep saying something although they get worried about making mistake. table 9. the frequency of language learning of social strategies item statement mean sd strategy 45 if i do not understand something in english, i ask the other person to slow down or say it again. 4.23 0.81 high 46 i ask english speakers to correct me when i talk. 3.61 1.31 high 47 i practice english with other students. 3.92 1.01 high 48 i ask for help from english speakers. 3.47 1.11 medium llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 60 49 i ask questions in english. 3.37 0.88 medium 50 i try to learn about the culture of english speakers. 3.62 1.05 high table 9 shows the frequency of participants’ response regarding the social strategies they used. the item number 47 gains 3.92. for the social strategies, students mostly practice their english with other students. it is closely connected with the frequent affective strategy they use at which they keep struggling to speak although the mistakes are commonly done. table 10. the frequency of language learning used by university students strategies mean sd strategy use rank memory 3.319 0.998 medium 6 cognitive 3.542 0.981 high 4 compensation 3.563 0.998 high 3 metacognitive 3.857 0.909 high 1 affective 3.447 1.094 medium 5 social 3.707 1.034 high 2 table 10 shows the frequency of participants’ response regarding the overall strategies they used. the frequent strategy is metacognitive which gains 3.857. meanwhile, the least strategy is memory and it reaches the mean of 3.319. table 11. the frequency of language learning used by university students’ age age n memory cognitive compensat ion metacognitive affective social < 20 35 3.36190 3.67551 3.51904 3.86349 3.57619 3.85238 rank 6 3 5 1 4 2 20-21 72 3.31018 3.47321 3.63194 3.86728 3.42592 3.68981 rank 6 4 3 1 5 2 22-23 13 3.37606 3.67032 3.43589 3.95726 3.35897 3.55128 rank 5 2 4 1 6 3 24-25 2 2.83333 3.28571 3.25 3.33333 3.08333 3.41666 rank 6 3 4 2 5 1 ʃ = 122 table 11 shows the frequency of participants’ response regarding students’ age. the strategies are various from one range to another range of age. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 61 figure 2. lls of students with the age of under 20 years old figure 2 shows that metacognitive is the most frequent strategy used by the students who are categorized as students with the age of under 20 years. the orders of frequent strategies used, then, are social, cognitive, affective, compensation, and memory. figure 3. lls of students with the age between 20-21 years old figure 3 shows that metacognitive is the most frequent strategy used by the students as well. frequently, the 20-21 years old students also make use of the other strategies such as social, compensation, cognitive, affective, and memory. figure 4. lls of students with the age between 22-23 years old figure 4 shows that students with the range of age between 22-23 years old apply metacognitive as their language learning strategy. moreover, they have cognitive, social, compensation, memory, and affective. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 62 figure 5. lls of students with the age between 24-25 years old figure 5 shows different strategy as the frequent one to be used. it is social strategy. then, the other strategies such as metacognitive, cognitive, compensation, affective, and memory are in the next order. this following point focuses on the discussion of three available research questions. all discussion is presented briefly based on the findings previously described. 2.1 the students’ lls in learning english regarding the given responses, the university students, who take english education as their major, use dissimilar learning strategies frequently. they utilize all six strategies simultaneously. however, the most frequent learning strategies is metacognitive. thus, they can determine what learning plan they are going to have and evaluate it together as they are also university students who have already had many learning experiences in making use of certain strategies to get better achievement. this finding is in line with the previous research findings of oh (1992), sheorey (1999), and salahshour, et al. (2013) at which students make use of metacognitive strategy to have fixed preparation, control, and evaluation for their own stage of learning language (graham, 1997; zare, 2012). on the contrary, it proves that o’malley, et al. (1985) report about asian students’ learning strategy is memory strategy cannot be fully accepted because indonesian students, including as part of asian context, utilize metacognitive strategy more frequently. the next preferred strategy used by the participants is social strategy. related to their level of education, social strategy is very common because substantially they have to converse and cooperate very often during teaching learning process inside or outside the classroom. for this kind of strategy, students are purposely to create more interaction with other people so they can enhance their proficiency in english (gerami & baighlou, 2011) or enrich their vocabulary (alhaysony, 2012). in short, social strategy is taken into account as one of strategies for learning english. moreover, the university students think that through practicing their language skills with other people, their language skills can be improved continuously. another strategy used by the participants is compensation strategy. they utilize this strategy because it allows them to guess the meaning of texts they are reading about or dialogues they are having with, make use of gestures to help llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 63 them deliver the message to their partners in conversation, or make up new words if they do not know the correct words to utter. the previous explanation directly refers to aunurrahman, kurniawati, and ramadhiyanti (2013) research result that compensation strategy is one of the frequent strategies used by college students. as shown earlier in findings, it can be stated that students use a combination of indirect and direct learning strategies namely metacognitive, social, and compensation strategies. thus, it conforms oxford (1990) report that indirect and direct strategies are interrelated each other since students generally combine them in the process of learning language. 2.2 the frequent learning strategies basrd on ages to answer the question about the frequent learning strategies used by university students regarding their ages, the explanation starts from the younger age to the older ones. the students with the age of under 20 years old, the age of between 20-21 years old, and the age of between 22-23 years old belong to the groups of university students who make use of metacognitive strategy frequently because they can plan, control, and evaluate their learning process. briefly, this strategy is considered to empower students to have more opportunities in planning the whole process of their language learning. unlike the earlier mentioned group, the students with the age of between 24-25 years old prefer using social strategy. they employ this strategy because they learn english through asking frequently on every occasion they get difficult with the words which should be used, practicing the language regularly, and learning the culture of english speakers continuously. additionally, due to the data, there are some interesting points about the frequent strategies used by the university students. the first point is the similarity of learning strategies but different position. as being known, the students with the age of under 20 years old, those with the age between 22-23 years old and those with the age between 24-25 years old have same strategies to learn english. nevertheless, they share dissimilar position for social and cognitive strategies at which for the first group of age put social and cognitive as the second and third frequent strategies whereas the second group of age put cognitive as the second strategy followed by social strategy. differently, the third group of age put social as the most frequent learning strategy and rank metacognitive and cognitive strategies in the latter positions. on the other hand, the students with the age between 20-21 years old use compensation as one of the strategies since the other two strategies (metacognitive and social) are also utilized by the other groups of age. hence, it can be stated that students from different groups of age share similar use of learning strategies at which they likely combine indirect and direct strategies and utilize them interchangeably regarding the task or specific skills they are concerning about. there is no trend of mono strategy (direct strategies or indirect strategies repetitively) as they have already been learning english for multiple years. however, their different kinds of strategies mainly for some strategies show that they utilize them in purpose. additionally, the reasons that underline students’ preference can be researched for further confirmation. as matter of fact, students especially those whose age are in the early of 19 up to 25 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 64 years can strengthen the previous discussion that the use of combined indirect and direct strategies and its practices which are done interchangeably. 2.3 lecturers’ strategies and students’ various language learning strategies learning strategies is very important for students. it can improve their autonomy as learners. moreover, it benefits university students because the generation, who will lead the future of one nation, they have to be independent not only in obtaining information but also in managing information they’ve got. as part of asian and world community, indonesian university students should prepare, manage or control and evaluate their learning process. thus, learning strategies is one of crucial things to recognize, use and improve in order to reach high achievement theoretically and practically (in all four language skills). to have those ideal conditions, lecturers should play their roles effectively in the process of developing students’ awareness and improving the learning strategies they have already been using. considering the need of teaching learning strategies, followings are several stages that can be implemented to help students aware of and utilize their own strategies optimally to learn english. first, lecturers and the academic community at the department can discuss and evaluate their instruction right before and after the teaching program runs for a semester. it is very important since it can provide the information about students’ progress. moreover, through these kinds of activity, the lecturers and the community can consider about inserting lls instruction in the curriculum (weinstein & underwood, 1985; brown, 2000; yang, 2002; cesur, 2011; gerami & baighlou, 2011), considering the course overview, course content, instructional methods, and evaluation data (weinstein & underwood, 1985), and implementing it for teaching-learning process inside or outside the classroom. it is fruitful as indonesian students are dependent on their lecturers (aunurrahman, kurniawati, & ramadhiyanti, 2013). therefore, after they are taught about lls then it is expected that they become independent and more responsible for selecting appropriate strategies related to the set of their learning goals. more importantly, brown (2000) states that teaching lls can enable students to develop autonomy and self-regulation and they result in students’ language proficiency. second, the stage for implementing lls instruction is through the usage of certain models. chamot (2008) states that there are three models such as styles and strategies-based instruction (ssbi), cognitive academic language learning approach (calla), and the model proposed by grenfell and harris. the ssbi model (cohen, 1998) put the lecturers as the helpers of their students to learn new strategies regarding their learning styles. hence, this model emphasizes on effective lecturers’ role. on the contrary, lecturers and students have equality in playing their roles using the calla model during the teaching-learning process (chamot, 2005). meanwhile, the grenfell and harris model (grenfell & harris, 1999) asks students to be more independent as they have wide chance to make identification and determination on their own learning strategies. certainly, all those models are applicable. however, related to the university students’ needs, the calla model is feasible because it conforms the purpose of making them more autonomous and self-regulated (brown, 2000). another consideration is that indonesian class size is large so if the students are taught well using the calla llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 65 model then the students do not have to be directed all the time. in fact, they can do evaluation and self-reflection simultaneously. third, lecturers are required to have awareness in designing their instruction (hakan, 2015). it is quite necessary because it affects students’ improvement not only their proficiency but also their preference on learning style so the meaningful and practical learning is created. related to the idea of instructional design, lecturers can consider about using eclective methods (weinstein & underwood, 1985). this method is applicable because in designing methods, there are two things have to be taken into account namely students’ competency and proficiency (sadiqah, 2015). further, lecturers should be aware that there is no single method which works effectively for all members of learning group (li, 2012). therefore, if the lecturers are aware of their students’ proficiency and understand what learning strategies they use for language class they enroll then lecturers get easier in order to determine the methods they use during teaching-learning process. the key, then, is on recognizing the students’ needs and learning strategies, setting the learning goals together, developing suitable materials, formulating the available methods to be applicable for all, giving treatment to the students, and evaluating the teaching program. overall, students and lecturers should create cooperation and collaboration in teaching-learning process since the learning does not belong to the students themselves. lecturers have to expand their understanding on students’ uniqueness mainly for their learning strategies. being aware is not enough, hence lecturers must learn, select, and create their own instructional methods and use particular models to teach language and language learning strategies simultaneously. in short, lecturers must be creative as it implicates on their students’ motivation, selfesteem, and learning success (richards, 2013). the more support lecturers have to help students apply their strategies in learning, the more successful indonesian university students in achieving their english proficiency. conclusion as this article has outlined, the most frequent learning strategies used by the university students are metacognitive, social, and compensation strategies. hence, they prefer direct strategies to the indirect ones. however, it cannot be considered to be totally direct because they still combine it with the indirect strategies. moreover, students with particular age utilize different strategies. the more mature them, the more various and frequent certain strategies they use. they must have purpose when selecting or making use of those strategies. in order to familiarize learning strategies among the university students in indonesia, the lecturers and the academic community in the department can make some efforts as follows: 1) inserting teaching language learning strategies in the curriculum by putting high consideration on course overview, course content, instructional methods, and evaluation data, then ask the students to implement their strategies not only for teaching-learning process inside but also outside the classroom; 2) implementing lls instruction through the usage of certain models such as ssbi, calla, and the model proposed by grenfell and harris; and 3) developing lecturers’ awareness in designing instruction that meets students’ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 66 needs and one of the methods to be taken into account is eclective method. overall, the conclusion of this research leads to future research area which emphasizes on designing lls instruction regarding students’ age and level of their education. references alhaysony, m. 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(unpublished thesis), fkip unisma, malang. weinstein, claire e. & underwood, vicki l. (1985). learning strategies: the how of learning. in judith w. segal, susan f. chipman, robert glaser (eds.). thinking and learning skills: relating instruction to basic research, pp.241-58. london, lawrence erlbaum associates, pub. yang, n. (2002). integrating portfolios into learning strategy-based instruction for efl college students. iral, international review of applied linguistics in language teaching, 41(4), 293-325. zare, p. (2012). language learning strategies among efl/esl learners: a review of literature. international journal of humanities and social science, 2(5), 162-169. llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 language and language teaching journal http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 40 infusing culture in english learning: an attempt to preserve cultural heritages in jayapura municipality, papua wigati yektiningtyas & james modouw cenderawasih university & ministry of education and culture, republic of indonesia wigati_y@yahoo.com & james.modouw@kemendikbud.go.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2017.200105 abstract papua is rich with cultural heritages: hundreds of vernacular languages, tribes, folklores and other unique traditions. unfortunately, these heritages are not recognized by the young generation anymore. modernization, technology, and new comers are assumed as the background. as the capital of the province, jayapura is the most influenced place for the changes. as an attempt to re-introduce and preserve the ancestor’s cultural heritages, cultural infusion in learning english (as one type of learning) is regarded important. from seven tribes living in jayapura, as the first step, sentani is chosen as the priority. this paper discusses english learning materials by infusing sentani culture. folktales are chosen as learning materials for elementary school students, malo 1 for junior high school students, the procedure to make kayi/ifa 2 for senior high schoo students. this infusion hopes that young generation is able to learn english as well as to acknowledge one of the cultural heritages of papua. they can be strongly rooted in their culture and respect others’ culture. keywords: cultural infusion, cultural heritages, sentani, english learning introduction besides its unique and beautiful geography, papua is also rich with cultural heritages. there are about 275 vernacular languages (sil, 2005), hundreds of tribes, thousands of folklores and other unique traditions spreading in the interior, north and south coastal areas. unfortunately, these heritages are not recognized by especially young generation anymore. modernization, technology, and new comers are assumed as the background. television and gadget have distracted young generation from listening to parents’ or grandparents’ folktales telling. they also prefer modern dances, songs, films to traditional dances, paintings and carving. without blaming the new comers to papua or mixed marriage, their coming influences the use of local languages. bahasa indonesia is then used as the communication language. it is a common phenomenon that happens in papua to see sentani children cannot speak in sentani language, biak children do not recognize their folksongs, or serui children that do not like eating their traditional food. mailto:wigati_y@yahoo.com llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 41 as the capital of papua province, jayapura is the most influenced place for the changes. as an attempt to re-introduce and preserve the ancestor’s cultural heritages in jayapura, cultural infusion in learning english as one of learning materials is regarded important. there are seven tribes living in jayapura: tobati, enggros, kayu batu, kayu pulau, nafri, skow and sentani. as the first step, sentani is chosen as the priority. compared to other tribes, sentani’s folktales, oral poems, proverbs, folk songs, paintings, carving, traditional food, traditional architecture and dances are still preserved, especially by old generation and people who stay in islands in sentani lake and villages. it means that the data can still be obtained. there are also some schools that can utilize the learning materials. sentani society lives in some islands in sentani lake and villages in the edge of the lake, jayapura. they speak in sentani language with three dialects: eastern, central and western sentani dialects. in the islands, almost all children can speak sentani language (hartzler, 1992). in some villages in the edge of sentani lake, only some children can speak sentani language, and children who live in town cannot speak the language at all. as english lecturers who focus on teaching literature and as education experts, we challenge ourselves to infuse these cultural heritages in english learning. this is also closely related to a twenty five year interaction with the sentani people who complained about the young generation, especially those who live in town who are getting more ignorant to their cultural heritages. also, from the experience with the students’ practicum in junior high school and senior high school, it is proved that english learners in those schools are trapped with difficulties, boredom and cultural alienation. we are dreaming to produce contextual learning that is friendly to the students. the main idea of this writing is how these sentani cultural heritages can be infused and introduced/reintroduced to learners of english and why infusion is needed. this paper aims at exploring the sentani culture that is suitable for the english learners: elementary schools, secondary schools and senior high schools and analizing the reasons why cultural infusion in learning english is needed. by having the contextual learning materials, it is hoped that young generation is able to learn english comfortably as well as acknowledge one of the cultural heritages of papua. hopefully they can be strongly rooted in their own culture and respect others’ culture: they can act locally and think globally. method this research is a qualitative one, obtaining the data from the field utilizing observation and interview with the participants. since sentani has various folklores, we had to select the genre of folklore that could be adopted for the english learning materials, the selection included an ondofolo, tribal chiefs, english teachers (senior high school, junior high school and elementary school teachers), 6 students (2 high school students, 2 junior high school students and 2 elementary school students). the data selection prioritized on the data sources (which one could be adopted and which one could not be adopted), participants’ availability, curriculum, and students’ interest. from the discussion, it was llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 42 concluded to adopt folktales for elementary school learners, which was malo (bark painting) for junior high school students, and kayi/ifa (traditional boats) for senior high school students. there were 5 participants who helped with the data of folktales, malo and kayi/ifa. the data were collected in january 2016 in asei island, kampung harapan and kampung waena. from the interview, five folktales were collected, seven malo paintings and the information about how to build kayi/ifa could be obtained as well. the data were collected in mixed language, sentani and indonesian languages. after consulting the curriculum, the data was then translated into english based on the learning purposes. folktales were rewritten and translated for elementary school learning materials, using very simple vocabulary. malo was designed as “descriptive” learning materials for junior high school. kayi/ifa were used as examples to explain procedural texts for senior high school. the materials were then tried out in schools to check the students’ responses and feedback. the materials was taught in sd ypk pulau asei, smpn 12 yoka and sma pgri yabansai for six meetings. discussion stressing on the friendly, creative, innovative, motivating, encouraging and interesting classroom practice and after long observation and deep interviews with various people, finally folktale, malo, and kayi/ifa were chosen as the alternative materials to learn english in elementary school, junior high school and senior high school. compared to adults, children are naturally good language learners. according to language acquisition theory, they can learn faster than adults. psychologically, they are not stressed when they make mistakes as well. but it is important that they have to be exposed to natural learning setting and special teaching practice. in the case of sentani children, they prefer materials closer to their tradition and socio-cultural life. one of the friendly materials for them is folktales. mostly, elementary school students like folktales since some of them listen to the parents’/grandparents’ tale telling. empirically, they were enthusiastic and motivated when they listened to sentani folktales telling and read the folktales that have been rewritten in simple language. this is also the strong reasons of choosing folktales as teaching materials for teaching english for elementary school students: their motivation, enthusiasm and emotional ties are the strong foundation for the students to learn. this is in line with lazar’s (2002) argument that teaching english using literature is motivating and encouraging since it has different style of writing and authentic use of language (esp. in local language), and it can be used as an access to cultural background and vocabulary expansion. one example of adapted folktales used as english learning materials for grade vi in sd ypk pulau asei is “ondofolo habu”. originally, the tale is long and complicated and written in past tense but for the teaching purpose, the tale was written simply and shortly as follows. ondofolo habu is a good leader in asei. he lives in big house with an obae. llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 43 his wife is good too. he has three children. he has one son and two daughters. ondofolo habu likes hunting. his wife likes cooking and painting malo. the son likes fishing with his ifa and the daugthers like gardening. they are friendly. they like to help people. people love them. from the tale above the students learned (1) reading aloud, (2) retelling, (3) writing, (4) vocabulary and (5) sentani culture. reading aloud helped the students to see the accurate connection of oral and printed language. it was good media for them to have reading and pronunciation practice. having the similar sounds in sentani phonology helped them in pronouncing some words like v (in lives, love) f (in wife), th (in three), sh (in she, fishing), gh (in daughters) easily. with continuous practice, they can become good speakers with perfect pronunciation. reading aloud also sharpened other students’ listening. they were drilled in sharpening memory, guessing the words’ spelling, as well as inferring words’ meaning. in classroom practice, after asking a student to read a sentence aloud, other students were asked to listen and asked them to retell what they had listened. it was a nice retelling practice. it was also awesome since some students retold the sentence in their own words, and interestingly they created their own sentences. the class was active since everybody in the class was competing to create their own sentences. for example, a student said “ondofolo habu is friendly”, another said “ondofolo habu is happy”. a student said “his son likes eating”. another said “his son likes drinking”. the activities encouraged the students’ enthusiasm and confidence. in the writing activity, the students were asked to write a simple sentence using the vocabulary in the tale. this activity is not only helping the students in practicing using new words, but also practicing good english structure. when they were asked to write a sentence using the word “love”, some sentences were created, i.e. “i love my father”, “i love my mother”, “i love my sister”, “my brother loves me”. some students were good enough in identifying the subjectpredicate agreement, like “my brother” and “loves”. some creative students wrote the sentences on cards and gave them to their parents. mrs. mo (30 years) once told us that she was happy and touched when her son gave her a card saying “i love my mother”. this experience was good energy that improved the quality of relationship among children and parents. besides, this also encouraged the parents to pay more attention to their children learning progress. for the students’ vocabulary acquisition, games were used. the games focused on distinguishing noun, verb and adjective. this was also good media for the students to interact with teachers and classmates. the short tale above was also a good medium to introduce sentani culture. some words like obae, malo, kayi, ifa were introduced to the students. since sd ypk pulau asei grade vi was a homogenous class, it was a bit easy to explain to them about the meaning and the function of obae (traditional meeting room, llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 44 owned only by the big tribal chief), malo (bark painting that are only found in pulau asei) and ifa (boat used by men). according to the tribal chief of pulau asei, even though the words sound simple and ordinary, their infusion in teaching-learning process was important since outside of pulau asei, sentani children cannot speak sentani language anymore. the infusion is a prevention that helps the students to know and respect their culture. the tale also told about the labor division for father, mother, boy and girl. this helps the students to develop mutual respect to parents/sister/brother and male/female friends. they were introduced to the gender equality from the beginning as well. this also helps them to develop their character and personality. picture 1. asei island, one of the tiny islands in lake sentani, a place where some cultural heritages can still be found. there is an elementary school here where the teaching materials were tried out (march 31, 2016; photo: wigati modouw) malo (bark painting) is a good materials to be discussed since in papua, bark paintings are only found in pulau asei and they almost extinct as well. not many people, especially young generation and people who live in town, recognize them. discussing malo means introducing one of papuan cultural heritages. when the materials was tried out in grade 12 of smp 12 yoka, there were three steps used. they are (1) displaying the bark paintings to the classroom and giving short reading about it, (2) asking a malo painter to come to the class to explain the process of painting malo using indonesian, and (3) taking the students to asei pulau. empirically, using malo as the teaching materials is the most interesting one since the students were very active interacting with their classmates, teacher, painters and people in the island. the teaching focus was description utilizing speaking and writing skills. in step one, the teacher brought some malo paintings to classroom and give an example of short description of malo painting as follows, malo painting uses bark as the canvas. traditionally it was only female who painted malo. but after word was ii, malo was also painted by male (howard, 2000). nowadays, malo paintings are only found in asei island. malo paintings utilize barks from various trees, i.e. kombouw, matoa, and sukun tree. but kombouw tree is the favourite one. it has good texture. malo is made manually. the bark is cleaned, pounded and dried under the sun. llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 45 after it is dried, the painter paints on it using natural pigment. sentani people only use three colors. they are white from lime, black from charcoal, and red from clay or plants. the motives are animals as their totems and their fragments. picture 2. malo painting (agus ongge’s private collection) the students were given time to see and learn the painting: the shape, material, motives, colors. then the students were given time to read the description. from the experience, they could produce interesting sentences in written and orally since they had time to see, touch, learn and read the article about malo. these activities were enriched by the presence of a painter who explained and demonstrated how to paint it (step 2). the students are motivated and freely asked the painter, i.e. “how many days you can finish a painting?”, “why do you only use three colours?”, “why only red, white, and black?”, “is it ok to use other colors?”, “when did you start painting malo?”, “who taught you?”. the conversation was done in indonesian but it helped the students in widening their knowledge about malo. then in step 3, they students were brought to the island in a scientific tour. they were happy to go there. in the island they could see the process of pounding and drying the bark. they could also see some painters painted different kinds of motives. in the island they interacted not only with the painter but also with the tribal chief and island people. they creatively asked various questions, i.e. “how to cut the tree down?”, “what kinds of tree used for malo?”, “who cut the tree?”, “how many people cut the tree?”, “who brought the tree from the woods to the village?”, “how many motives of malo?”, “how many colors used for painting malo?”, “do you sell malo?”, “where do you sell it”, ”who buy it?”. afer the site visit, in class, the students can confidently do writing and speaking about malo descriptively, helped by the questions they raised to the teachers, painters, elders, and tribal chiefs. related to natural disaster in papua like flood, bush fire and landslide, choosing the materials about the process of building ifa/kayi (sentani traditional boat) is interesting. it deals with how people cutting down trees as the main materials to build the boat. sentani people had their own wisdom in choosing the trees and the method of cutting them down from which the students can learn that preserving nature is important and illegal logging is not appropriate. focusing on speaking and writing skill, the materials was tried out in sma pgri waena. the students were challenged to tell and write the process of llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 46 building kayi/ifa. kayi is a sentani traditional boat used by women in sentani for fishing and carrying harvest from the garden. it is also used for common transportation. while ifa is only used for men to fish. the shape is smaller than kayi. in the past, both kayi and ifa and also oar were decorated with carved ornaments in various motives. this art is called ohomo. by choosing kayi/ifa in english language classroom, the students did not only learn the language, but also the local wisdom beyond the boat building and other traditional arts. the teaching activities were divided in two steps. step one was conducted in classroom. the students were given time to watch a video on the process of building boat cooperatively, starting from the process of cutting a tree down in the woods (picture 3), making the boat cooperatively in the woods (picture. 4), and pulling the boat from the woods to the village (picture 5). picture 3. cutting the trees down in the woods picture 4. building the boat by making the big hole on the tree in the woods picture 5. pulling the boat from the woods to the village while watching the video, the students were asked to write free simple sentences about the video they watched, helped by some vocabulary. in the beginning of the class, the students were informed that they had to write a short paragraph on the process of building a traditional boat guided by the video. the information in the video was enriched by the students’ visit to asei island (step 2). in the village, the students could see the process of cleaning and carving the boat with various motives. in the village, students were able to develop their knowledge of building boat they watched on the video by asking some questions to the builders, carvers, elders, tribal chiefs i.e. “what tree was used to build a boat?”, “how many people involved in cutting the tree down?”, “how long is the llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 47 process of building a boat in the woods?”, “how do you carry the boat to the island?”, “does each tribe have its own motives?”, “does each motif have meaning?”, “are female allowed to carve too?”, “what colours are used for carving?”, “do you sell the boat?”, etc. in classroom, the students and the teacher discussed various things: the essence of the video, the result of interviews in the island and the project they have to do. giving time for the students to watch the video and free interpretation about the video’s essence and taking them to the island motivated them to create a short composition creatively. they could also present their writing supported by pictures and video they made themselves in the island. they said that they like the learning method since they can learn the language in a different way and the culture without burden. the elders in the island were also happy seeing young generation learn their culture. why infusing culture in english learning? having emotional tie for the students in dealing with the teaching materials is the first reason of infusing culture in english learning for elementary school, secondary high school and senior high school students in jayapura municipality. the students were happy learning their own tradition. they learned about themselves. this motivated them to learn english, even when the materials are made a bit difficult (see also lazar, 2002). various facts have proved that students in jayapura have been alienated from the materials in their textbooks. it is a bit hard for them to learn folktales or culture from other tribes, since they are not familiar with the natural environment, places and cultural objects. the different concepts of houses, transportation, clothes, etc create alienation that hinder them in learning english as well. by infusing their own culture in english learning, preserving culture could be involved at once. empirically, from the folktale given in class, they students were motivated to seek more tales, ask more details about malo, kayi and ifa and other cultural heritages from their parents/grandparents. two participants, mrs. mo (66 years) and mr. ao (72 years) said that since some parents/grandparents did not know much about their culture, they asked their friends, tribal chief, or ondofolo. interestingly, the people in the island were busy preparing themselves for the possible questions from the children/grandchildren. thus, the children can learn more culture and the parents relearn their culture as well. the tribal chief said that it was also a good “awakening” for the people: they were finally aware that they have been ignorant of their own cultural heritages. from the children, they sharpened their cultural awareness (tomalin, 2014). infusing culture in english learning is an attempt of promoting local wisdom for young generation. from malo and kayi/ifa they could learn how to cut down trees and respect nature since they were informed by the artists and the elders that sentani people were very careful in cutting down trees. they always selected trees that could be utilized and if they cut it down, they planted a new tree as the replacement. from these materials, they did not only learn english language but also learned about ecological sensibility: learned how to conserve their natural surroundings. llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 48 involving culture in english classroom can be used as character building media. from the moral lessons in the folktale(s), malo and kayi/ifa, the students can learn the importance of being proud of their identity, being honest, helpful, cooperative, loving, brave, discipline, hard working, and respectful to god, people and nature. using culture in english learning is important to sharpen the students’ identity as well. in the era of globalization there are some problems with uprooted generation who are ashamed of their own culture. culture in classroom helps them feel proud of their own culture. conclusion from the culture infusion in english learning classroom in jayapura municipality, the students did not only learn english language but they were also motivated to learn sentani culture from which they could also learn other cultural heritages, local wisdom, and identity. this can also be used as character building and cultural preservation. involving artists, parents, elders, and tribal chiefs in classroom activities did not only make the teaching-learning process unique, interesting, and motivating, but also develop their cultural awareness. this involvement also made them aware that education is not only schools’ responsibility, but theirs as well. it is true that infusing culture in english language classroom did not change the students’ character instantly and automatically. it needs time. but empirically, from the students’, parents’, elders’, tribal chiefs’ responses, the infusion will slowly help them to be proud of their own cultural identity and motivated to preserve culture for the next generation. it is suggested that adoption of other cultural heritages for english teachinglearning materials, involvement of parents, elders, tribal chief and cultural teaching methodology can be widely and comprehensively developed. references danandjaja, james. (2002). folklor indonesia: ilmu gosip, dongeng, dan lainlain. jakarta: pustaka utama grafiti. ha r t zl e r , m a r ga r e t . 1 9 9 2 . “ a b r i e f p h o n o l o g y o f t h e s e n t a n i ” , a f e u ye a r i i i n o . 4 . j a ya p u r a : p e r c e t a k an u n i ve r s i t a s c e n d e r a w a s i h . lazar, gillian. (2002). literature and language teaching: a guide for teachers and trainers. cambridge: cambridge university press. omrod, j.e. (2009). psikologi pendidikan membantu siswa tumbuh dan berkembang. jakarta: erlangga. santrok, j.w. (2009). educational psychology. new york: mcgraw hill int. tomalin, b. 2014. “making culture happen in english language classroom”. www.teachingenglish.org.uk yektiningtyas-modouw, w. (2011). helaehili dan ehabla: fungsinya dan peran perempuan dalam masyarakat sentani papua. yogyakarta: adicita karya nusa. yektiningtyas-modouw, w., et. al. (2009). “folklor sentani: panggalian kembali kearifan lokal masyarakat” (laporan hibah kompetitif penelitian sesuai prioritas nasional batch iv). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 572-581 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 572 register categories (field, tenor, mode) of the text hieronimus canggung darong universitas katolik indonesia santu paulus correspondence: hieronimusdarong@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4724 received 6 june 2022; accepted 7 october 2022 abstract this study is concerned with the employment of systemic functional linguistics (sfl) theory in analyzing a speech text. the selected text was reconstructed into some clauses and sentences and subsequently was analyzed in terms of its field, tenor, and mode. the results of the analysis have shown that the register category of the field of the text is the action of america’s change. the tenor as the realization of the interpersonal meaning of the text was the establishment of an intimate relationship that enables the orator to gain support from the audience. meanwhile, the mode of the texts is categorized as spoken mode because the texts make use of simple nominal groups. further studies need to cope with other ways of examining field, tenor, and mode as proposed by sfl theory. keywords: field, mode, sfl, tenor, text introduction understanding text cannot be obtained solely from the grammatical and lexical constructions building the text, but also from the social context, in which the text is expressed. this means that the meaning of the text is tightly related to the context in which it is produced. besides, the meaning of the text is also revealed based on how words, phrases, or even clauses are used in the text. words, phrases, and clauses in question are not only used to refer to things but also have other functions such as highlighting the concern, the creation or confirmation of the relationship between people and their social context, and the mode of the texts. in practice, there have been many studies regarding the text. for example, the studies focus on the psychological, linguistic, and cognitive aspects of the speaker or writer (bao, zhang, qu, & feng, 2018; määttä, puumala, & ylikomi, 2021; navarro, macnamara, glucksberg, & andrew, 2020). such aspects are beneficial for the message conveyed by the speaker or writer in certain texts. differently, other studies focused on the approach and framework to reveal the message employed by the writer in a text (ahmed, 2020; boch, 2020; brookes & mcenery, 2019; fetzer & bull, 2012; schumacher, hansen, velden, & kunst, 2019). the approach and framework distinctively view the text following the goal of the analysis. meanwhile, other studies were concerned with word choices and performative acts (bu, connor-linton, & wang, 2020; hopke & simis, 2016; horváth, 2017). the word choice and its lexical relation influence the cohesiveness of the text. mailto:hieronimusdarong@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4724 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 572-581 573 in addition to the mentioned studies, following the theory highlighted by halliday 1985, the structural pattern used in a certain text might determine the mode of the text. in this respect, the construction of the nominal group is an essential element for the mode of the text in question (andersen, emilie, & holsting, 2018; kelly, 2020; moragas-fernández, calvo, & capdevila, 2018). focusing on interpersonal relations or intimacy, other studies revealed that the modality is of benefit to controlling the distance and commodity exchange among participants involved in certain speech event intimacy (ademilokun, 2019; darong, 2021; gusthini et al., 2018). as such, the modality used, as confirmed by halliday and eggins 1994, significantly contributes to the tenor representing the interpersonal function of the text. however, referring to sfl theory, there are three meta functions of language namely ideational or experiential function (field), interpersonal function (tenor) and the textual function (mode) (briones, 2016a, 2016b; jitpranee, 2018; lim, 2018; martin & zappavigna, 2019; potter, 2016). the studies in question were concerned only with tenor and mode. yet, theoretically, the field, tenor, and mode as the realization of the three metafunctions of language exist simultaneously in a text. therefore, this study extends the previous studies by involving the field as the realization of the ideational function of language by taking a speech text as the sample of analysis. methodology this study belongs to a qualitative design utilizing discourse analysis. a selected ex-us presidentfirst obama’s victory speech text was the datum to analyze. the reason for choosing obama’s victory speech was the consideration of obama as the first american president who received many awards. this 44th us president has a total of 123 awards nationally and internationally. one of the most prestigious awards he received was the nobel peace prize or nobel peace prize in 2009. launching the official website of the nobel prize, the award was given to obama because of his extraordinary efforts and dedication to strengthening security diplomacy, (https://news, and okezone.com/read/2022/01/19/18/2534587/2presiden-as-ini-kantongi-segudang-prestasi-obama-raih-123-penghargaan). this achievement provoked the researchers to investigate his ideology, efforts, commitment, imagination to his nation and this globe. one way to reveal this is by analyzing one sample of his speech which is his first victory speech representing those features in question. as such, this descriptive qualitative research was used to seek and describe the employment of register categories namely field, tenor, and mode through the structure of language in his speech from which experiential, interpersonal meaning, and textual meaning were revealed. the text was modified into some sentences and clauses from which the text is made up. the modified text was then, analyzed in the context of field, tenor, and mode. to know the field of the texts, the transitivity showing the major process being used and the lexical strings of the text should be analyzed. meanwhile, tenor which refers to the negotiation of social relationships between the participants (speaker and audience) was examined through the analysis of mood, modality, and pronoun used. eventually, the mode was revealed to know the channel of communication, whether or not the text is spoken or written, through nominal group analysis. all these ways employed the theory of systemic functional linguistics https://news/ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 572-581 574 (eggins, 1994; halliday, 1985) to unpack the connection between the grammatical system and the social context of the speech text under study. findings and discussion it should be emphasized that the goal of this analysis was to uncover the register category of field lexical string analysis, tenor (modality), and mode (nominal group analysis). the following tables illustrated respectively the data of such three registers. table 1. lexical string number of lexical strings total number of lexical relations the longest string lexical string associate with process types rep syn co-hyp 39 121 america material process 98 20 3 rep : repetition syn : synonym co-hyp: co-hyponymy there were 39 lexical strings in this speech text. most of the strings were short ranging from 2 to 4 items. based on the diagram of the lexical string of this text; there were 14 longer strings consisting of 5 to 15 items. they were string 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 10, 11, 12, 14, 23, 24, 26, 37, and string 38. first, string 1 labeled “anyone” was concerned with those who still wonder about the power of democracy and the power of america. the speaker gave a reflective question to the audience about what and how they feel and should be. this string was, furthermore, followed up by the second string 2 labeled “doubts” which similarly emphasized the same thing to the audience in particular and america in general which was also shown in string 3. it was labeled “america” as the third string. as these questions were delivered, the orator confirmed that there must be an answer that identified with the label “tonight” in string 4 as the fourth. the fifth longer string was string 9 labeled “tell (told)”. this string consists of 9 items. it has to do with the answer given in the previous strings (clause 2a, 2e, 3a, 4c). besides, it is concerned with the honor of the speaker’s partner who spoke out for the victory (clause 11b, 11c) and the power of history in the past (clause 59b, 63c, 64d, 69b). meanwhile, the sixth longer string was string 10 which was labeled “achieve”. this sixth string bears 6 items dealing with the achievement in the past, present, and tomorrow of america. it was also an appreciation of governor palin’s achievement and an honor to be appreciated by the speaker (clause 10b). in addition, it emphasized a personal appreciation for the speaker’s family relating to his victory. the seventh string was string 29 labeled “do (did)”. it refers to the actions conducted by americans, used to be, at present, and in the future. in some other parts of the text, it was found that there were 5 items of the use of the word “change” that, in turn, in this analysis are put as the eighth string. this is the mission of the speaker four years ahead of his leadership. the ninth string is considered as a long string is string 14 labeled “receive”. it has to do with an appreciation of what has been achieved by his opponent and a fraternity (clause 6). it moreover, is regarded as an honor of him, for the hard work of his team (clause 19f) and a great expectation in the future under his power llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 572-581 575 (clause 34a, 34c, and 35b). then, the tenth was a string labeled “watch(ing)”. this string bears 8 items. it is about the speaker’s personal feelings toward his grandmother that already passed away (clause 14b, 52a), the symbol of changes that are metaphorically described in the figure of ann copper (clause 64c, 65b, 67d, 75, 77c, and 78). the eleventh longer string was string 24 labeled “make/ made”. it bears 6 items and was concerned with the speaker’s personal honor to his family and his team that made him who he is (clause 14b, 19c). it also has to do with his plans and attitude toward the differences (clause 25e, 37c) and concerns with the change (clause 52a, 64c, 65b, 67d, 75, 77c, and 78). the twelfth string is string 26 labeled “know”. it bears 7 items and has to do with the speaker’s consciousness toward his personal and professional life as a newly elected president of the us. his appreciation is regarded as to the contribution of his family in his victory and professional commitment toward the challenges and change of america in the four years ahead. the thirteenth string is string 37 labeled “those” referring to americans. eventually, the last longer string is string 38 labeled “ann cooper”. it refers to the old woman in the past. it is intentionally introduced by the speaker for the sake of change in america. it is important to note that the longest string was string 3 labeled “america”. it bears 15 items. however, there are still many other short strings that were found somewhere around in this text. those strings are ranged from 2 to 4 items. they are string 5 labeled “answer”. it bears 4 items and has to do with the string 1 and 2 about the reflective questions given to the audience and those who were watching and hearing the speaker’s victory speech. string 7, 8, and 9 were concerned with those who commit and surely trust to the existence of democracy as well as the change of america no matter the differences are and will be. the differences are strongly assembled in one sense of being united by the states. the sound is quite similar to the value carried out in string 13. it is labeled with “come” and refers to the change in america. another other short string found in this text was string 15, labeled “senator mccain’, the opponent in the election. the speaker raised him as a brave and selfless leader regardless of being foe as the campaign did. his honor was further proven in string 17 labeled “congratulate”. it refers to the speaker’s attitude and appreciation of the equal right as a citizen and being successful in political chance. on the other side, the speaker also was concerned with the hands that goes with him in the campaign by saying thanks (string 18 labeled “thank “and bearing 2 items), particularly the elected vice president joe biden (string 19 labeled “my partner” bearing 3 items). string 20, labeled “new puppy” refers to the speaker himself. it bears 3 items. string 21, labeled “look forward” consists of 2 items. it refers to the speaker’s expectation to work with and a commitment to go hand in hand with the change. the other strings that were closely related to each other were string 22 labeled “grow up”, string 25, labeled “grateful”, string 27, labeled “ built”, string 28, labeled “ this victory”, string 29, labeled, “working man and woman”, string 30, labeled “young people”, string 31, labeled “not so young people” and string 33 labeled “ happen”. each of them has different numbers in terms of items, that is 3, 2,3, 4, 2, 3, 2, and 2. all of them were concerned with how the speaker got a great victory in the election. it is quite different from strings 34, 35, and 36 bearings respectively 2, 3, and 2 items. the labeled word “remember”, “have” and “a man” refers to the request of the speaker to remind the challenges which already and will llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 572-581 576 probably appear in the past and some years ahead (clause 46a). it was also about the values that are undergone by america both contributed by the republic as well as the democratic party. these values must be shared by all american regardless of the differences they have. finally, the last short string found in the text is string 39 consisting of 3 items. it is labeled “restore”. it has to do with the request of the speaker to all americans for the sake of restoration of the economy, peace, and security as well. by and large, the lexical string analysis of the texts under study clearly shows that the text mostly consists of short lexical strings confirming the main concern of the text, that is, america (change) as the field of the text. as highlighted by sfl theory (eggins, 1994; halliday, 1985), one way to determine what is being talked about in certain texts is the lexical writing utilized by the writer. in this context, america is the longest string which then, is regarded as the concern or what is being talked about in the speech text. table 2. mood, modality, and pronoun analysis mood number total clause 246 declarative n p 239 97.15% imperative n p 5 2.03% interrogative n p 2 0.81% modality will 18 must 4 can 22 may 2 should be going to pronoun i 26 we 45 you 14 n : number p : percentage regarding the data in table 2, the declarative clause is the most used in terms of frequency. the dominance of declarative in the text indicates that the text focuses on giving information. a political speech, as a dilly carrying on a political mission, is vital and apparent for the addresser to give information and demand services. on one hand, the addresser hopes to offer certain messages to the audience showing his political attitude and assumption. on the other hand, the orator tries to demand and arouse the audience to take action to follow his or her ideology. therefore, complete declarative clauses generally dominate in political speech. as such, a negotiation of commodity exchange through declarative clauses appears as the orator’s strategy. this is in line with the previous study revealing that there is a negotiation of the text focus which, in turn, is considered a proposition employing an extensive demonstration of declarative statements used (roy randy y. briones, 2016). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 572-581 577 concerning the number of modalities, it indicates that “will” is mostly used in both texts. it indicates that the text is concerned with the strong expectation and toughness of the speaker to do the actions involving plans and promises for america’s future. the use of “must” is regarded as the pressure of command and shows obama’s firm determination to reach the goal. in the meantime, the use of “can” conveys a belief and encouragement of obama and americans to believe in themselves and do everything for america. both refer to the power of togetherness to go to the bright future of america. obama involves the audience or americans in their text. it is considered a strategy of keeping a close distance between obama as the orator and the audience (tenor). by and large, the use of modalities such as will, can, must, and may found in the text is regarded as a discourse move to keep the interpersonal relationship between the speaker and audience. this reflects the findings which highlight the modality aspect and its functions in intimacy. in this regard, modality is of benefit to controlling the distance of the participants involved in certain speech events (ademilokun, 2019; gusthini et al., 2018). table 3. nominal group analysis no pattern total 1 t 166 2 dt 102 3 et 7 4 nt 11 5 ct 3 6 tq 7 7 dtq 39 8 det 8 9 dct 6 10 etq 1 11 ndt 1 12 ntq 4 13 dnt 1 14 nte 2 15 ntnt 1 16 detq 11 17 dctq 3 18 dect 2 19 tqqq 1 20 dtqq 4 21 dctqq 2 22 deedt 1 23 detqq 1 24 detqqq 1 the analysis of the nominal groups of the text shows that most nominal groups of the text are categorized as one-word nominal groups. it is supported by the fact that the one–word nominal group bears 166 in number. it consists of the most number among other types of nominal groups found. these one-word nominal groups are represented by the central thing (t element) which appears in the number in question. furthermore, the use of the nominal groups mostly has to do with the participants both human and non-human. in the meantime, concerning the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 572-581 578 modifiers used to modify the t element, that of one-word nominal groups, other nominal groups are constituting mostly one modifier. these nominal groups are realized through the structural pattern of 3 premodifiers and 1 postmodifier; dt (102), et (7), nt (11), ct (3), and tq (7). the last (tq) is regarded as the use of a qualifier whose clause modifies the t. it should be kept in mind that the use of q is to give a further definition of the t element both by phrase and clause, (halliday, 1985). for example in clause 4a, [[those who have been told]]. all tq patterns use clauses as modifiers. besides, other nominal groups in the text can be differentiated based on the types and number of modifiers. they are used to extend the head nouns (t elements) and are represented by those consisting of two words. these nominal groups are pre-postmodifier as illustrated in the structural pattern dtq (39), det (8), dct (6), etq (1), ndt (1), ntq (4), and dnt (1). the dtq structural pattern is mostly concerned with the use of qualifiers in which the phrase modifies the t element (head of the noun) except in clauses 4a, 11b, 60, 63d, 64a, a69b, and 4a. the structural pattern of etq found in clause 24 a, does not use the phrase but clause as a qualifier. in the meantime, the structural pattern of ntq as found in clause 40b is similar to those of other dtqs. other types of nominal groups found are longer than other nominal groups previously mentioned. these types are expanded by three to five classifiers and constructed in the structural pattern of ntnt, detq, dctq), decq, dect, tqqq, dtqq, dctqq, deedt, detqq, detqqq. from the constructions in which modifier appears, most of them constitute clauses as modifiers which in turn are considered as qualifiers except for the structural pattern of dctq and detq in a few clauses (3d, 44, 52e, 55d, 56a, 65c, and 83c). as such, all of them belong to the phrase of qualifier as the modifier. hitherto, most of the nominal groups are simply consisting of a central thing (t element) or bearing one or two pre or post-modifiers. however, there are still several complex nominal groups. it is because their length covers more than two preor post-modifiers. besides, they are considered complex because of using both phrases and clauses as qualifiers in addition to having modifiers, which can be in the forms of classifiers, epithets, and numeric. such complex nominal groups of the text are not only because of the length of the structural pattern but also of the use of lexical items constituting phrases and clauses as well. since the most nominal groups found in the text are simple, the text under study belongs to the spoken mode. it is due to the use of simple nominal groups consisting of the head noun or t element only and the ones involving the use of one or two simple modifiers making up each text. this corroborates the previous study saying that the simple word choices and clause constructions are of benefit to the spoken mode of the text (andersen et al., 2018). conclusion the race to become president of the u.s. is a long and demanding one. there is always a great deal of enthusiasm and exhilaration surrounding the candidates, but sometimes there are candidates that seem to attract more attention than others, contestants that seem to shine brighter than the others. it is not only because he is really of himself (being a model) but also due to the language used in his political speech text touching the attention of the audiences language function through llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 572-581 579 words, phrases, and clauses construction play important roles in the promotion of desired philosophies as well as ideology. based on the results of the analysis, the lexical string of the speech text is mostly short. the longest string confirmed and support the main concern of the text, that is, america. as such, the field of the texts under study is about the activities done by the speaker, audience, and other participants for america’s progress. meanwhile, the tenor of the text is concerned with the efforts to keep a close relationship with the audience. the intimacy is close utilizing the modality used in the text. ultimately, the mode of the text belongs to spoken mode as the employment of a simple nominal group by the orator. viewed from sfl theory, 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(2020). grammatical conformity in question-answer sequences: the case of meiyou in mandarin conversation. discourse studies, 22(5), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445620916371 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 403-407 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 403 book review: multimodality in english language learning title : multimodality in english language learning isbn : 978-0-367-72553-2 (hbk); 978-0-367-72556-3 (pbk); 978-1-003-15530-0 (ebk) editor : sophia diamantopoulou and sigrid ørevik publisher : new york, routledge, 2022 page : 280 pages ahmad sugianto universitas pendidikan indonesia, indonesia correspondence: ahmadsugianto@upi.edu https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5144 received 8 september 2022; accepted 26 april 2023 abstract multimodality has been one of the prominent and burgeoning fields and phenomena in english classrooms. it is based on both the credence which is proven by scholarly evidence that english language learning and instruction will be significantly and effectively delivered if more than one semiotic resource or mode is used. lots of scholars across the globe have taken part in portraying such significance and effectiveness of multimodality concerning english classrooms. diamantopoulou and ørevik (2022) have conflated sheer studies from various distinguished authors providing ‘fresh’ outlooks of the use of multimodality, particularly in english as an additional language (eal) context across the globe. the use of multimodality in eal is concisely discussed from various lenses, from its salient perspectives, and pedagogical practices through assessments. thus, this book is recommended to those who are concerned and willing to capture the latest trajectories of the use of multimodality pertaining to eal by its par excellence as well as the matter at hand. keywords: english as an additional language, english language learning, multimodality, social semiotics, systemic functional linguistics multimodality—a term coined firstly in the mid-1990s (jewitt, bezemer, & o'halloran, 2016) foregrounds the notion that the way individuals make meaning or communicate does not hinge upon language solely but also is resonated by the other semiotic resources such as images, sounds, gestures, etc.—has been a burgeoning academic field in the recent decades. such proliferation is by the advancement of technology that goes hand in hand with social, economic, and cultural values, issues, and development (kress, 2010). moreover, this flourishing mailto:ahmadsugianto@upi.edu https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5144 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 403-407 404 multimodality phenomenon has also successfully drawn scholars' and researchers’ attention, particularly those who are in the english teaching and learning domain, to take part in studying, scrutinizing, and ‘celebrating’ it. in this respect, multimodality in english language learning, which constitutes a follow-up to the scholarly work and rigorous observations under the research group named textbased english language learning (tell) at the university of bergen, serves the readers the delineations of the recent inspections and theoretical perspectives of multimodality. the issues raised in this volume are mainly discussed within the english as an additional language (eal) domain. the book comprises eighteen chapters which are structured into five main parts. to begin with, part i focusing on multimodality in the teaching and learning of eal: overarching perspectives consists of five chapters. the first chapter, written by the editors of the book, sophia diamantopoulou, and sigrid ørevik, provides a brief overview of the contents of the book, the contexts in which the studies of the remaining chapters were conducted, the underlying tenets thrusting on the investigations, and the fundamental theories regarding multimodality discussed in the book, namely halliday's (1978) systemic functional linguistics (sfl) and multimodal social semiotics. following on from the discussions, staffan selander elaborates on the basic framework that is design-theoretic and multimodally orientated in association with teaching and learning in the eal context. next, eva maagerø and elise seip tønnesen highlight multimodal literacy in the eal context, starting from the discussions of literacy, vygotsky's sociocultural approach to related key terms and metalanguage of multimodal literacy, such as affordances, modes, bottom-up and top-down approaches, and the principles of cohesion encompassing congruence and divergence; they end the discussions by pedagogical implications as a consequence of discerning multimodal literacy. additionally, andrew burn proposes a framework to construe the ‘grammar’ of computer games utilized in english learning, particularly for year 8 in a uk context; the framework was adapted from kress and van leeuwen's (2006, 2021) grammar of visual design, consisting of representational, interactional, and compositional metafunctions. the last chapter of part i, written by bessie mitsikopoulou, addresses the issue considering the two efficacious policy designs manifested in a large-scale exam and the national curriculum in greece context, i.e., greek state certificate in language proficiency (known as kpg) and integrated foreign languages curriculum (iflc), to facilitate multimodal and digital literacies. furthermore, part ii, under the theme making sense of multimodal texts in the english classroom: literary and cultural understandings of texts, encompasses three chapters. first, akisha pearman and arlene archer discuss the construal of semiotic resources within video series called shaping angola, which is used to develop the teaching methodology of angolan eal teachers and is drawn on local resources. the artifact was investigated within the social semiotic theory (hodge & kress, 1995) and the grammar of visual design (kress & van leeuwen, 2006, 2021). the next chapter, written by anja synnøve bakken, addresses the multimodal affordances of the film resources, such as speech, gestures, facial expressions, and the like. the film artifact entitled the help was used to facilitate critical literacy required in the norwegian national curriculum, particularly carried out at primary and secondary levels. this film was investigated within three main llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 403-407 405 issues, i.e., representation of gender and race, the viewer's position, and the viewer's contribution to meaning. another chapter was written by hege emma rimmereide, investigating the affordances of three graphic novels, i.e., persepolis, noughts & crosses, and the arrival, as a means of developing students' critical visual literacy and intercultural understanding for secondary school students by utilizing kress and van leeuwen's (2006, 2021) grammar of visual design, bhabha's (1994) notion of third space or a space that facilitates the understanding between self (oneself) and other (world) and bakhtin's (1981, 1986) dialogic space/polyphony/heteroglossia that facilitates interactions among the authors/illustrators, the texts, and the readers. akin to part ii, part iii within the scope of multimodal texts for english teaching and learning: language pedagogies and didactics is divided into three chapters. to begin with, fei victor lim and weimin toh propose a metafunctional framework drawing on kress' (2010) multimodal social semiotics and halliday's (1978, 1994) sfl to analyze an educational app, metamorphabet, to teach children some alphabets and vocabulary. they advocate four types of meanings, namely representational meaning (divided into classificatory, analytical, and realism systems), interactional meaning (consisting of attention, participation, gameplay, and activity systems), and compositional meaning (classified into three types of systems, i.e. architecture, pathway, and cohesion) with another additional meaning, i.e. discourse semantics (encompassing senses, world, and events systems). the next chapter is written by sompatu vungthong, emilia djonov, and jane jorr. they used systemic functional multimodal discourse analysis and bernstein's (2003) theory of pedagogic discourse encompassing instructional and regulative discourses to investigate the way two english language teachers utilize speech and gestures in two primary classrooms situated in thailand implementing tablet-based instructional materials. the last chapter in part iii was written by aud solbjørg skulstad. she points out some theoretical notions associated with meaning as a choice about genres, options, and constraints regarding the contexts, which based on the functional theory, consist of the context of a situation, context of culture, and intertextual context; she also asserts that the use of technology resonates the way multimodal texts are produced, and she ends the chapter with the inspections of tasks prompts of five english textbooks for students’ multimodal text productions. next, part iv expounding on learners’ production of multimodal texts is divided into three chapters. in this regard, xiaoqin wu and louise ravelli go through an interactive classroom practice at the tertiary level mediated by the use of a whiteboard to transduce speech into writing. the result of the transduction is analyzed within halliday's (1978) social semiotic theory, particularly using martin and rose's (2007) taxonomic relations and logico semantic relations in terms of the ideational meaning, and martin and rose's (2007) periodicity in terms of textual meaning as well as kress and van leeuwen's (2006, 2021) compositional meaning encompassing information value, framing, and salience systems. next, rumiko oyama demonstrates a multimodal pedagogic model to teach reading literary texts through drawing, i.e. condensing the information grasped from texts into pictures. another chapter is written by anita normann. using interpretive phenomenological analysis (ipa), she scrutinized student-teacher experiences in making meaning through digital storytelling. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 403-407 406 lastly, there are four chapters in part v untangling the issues concerning the way to assess learners’ multimodal texts. to begin with, germán canale discusses formative assessments associated with recognizing students' multimodal text production in the context of an eal classroom in montevideo, uruguay. following on from the discussion, maria grazia sindoni, ilaria moschini, elisabetta adami, and styliani karatza discuss a framework to assess students' multimodal text and intercultural competence, delineated into four intertwined aspects, namely 'multimodal orchestration, digital technologies, intercultural communication, and transversal skills. moreover, mari carmen campoy-cubillo and mercedes queroljulian discuss modified common european framework reference (cefr) descriptors to assess multimodal listening comprehension, particularly using online informative videos. the last chapter written by sigrid ørevik focuses on developing a framework. it is used to assess students’ multimodal text production. she developed an assessment grid that includes several aspects encompassing ‘relation between modes or semiotic resources, clarity of message (divided into several aspects, such as coherence, clarity, and intertextuality), and originality and creativity’. to sum up, multimodality in english language learning is worth reading. it is because it provides insights into recent conceptual frameworks and perspectives as well as studies in this area. besides, the burning issues in question or topics discussed in this book might be an inspiring point of departure to conduct further studies for scholars and researchers having interests in multimodality. furthermore, to some extent, this book complements another recent book on the same topics by joyce and feez (2019), entitled multimodality across classrooms: learning about and through different modalities. both two books have some similar topics or issues in question, such as multimodal literacy and multimodal assessment. nevertheless, in comparison with joyce and feez’s book discussing multimodality within various disciplines, the present authors, sophia diamantopoulou and sigrid ørevik, limit the contexts to the eal context only. albeit such a limitation emerges, some topics raised in this book might also be beneficial to be conducted in the other area, for instance, the metafunctional framework for an educational app developed by lim and toh in this book might also be used to scrutinize another educational app in the other discipline. it is inevitable for several proponents and scholars of multimodality drawing their theoretical frameworks on social semiotics to work with discourses from other disciplines, for instance, o’halloran (2005) in mathematical discourse, doran (2018) in terms of physics and mathematics, guo (2004) in biology, o’toole (2004) in architecture, etc. moreover, the book offers several benefits that might not be found in another volume. for instance, the topics are discussed in various eal contexts, i.e. from primary to tertiary school levels situated in countries deriving from five continents; consequently, it brings comprehensive or at least adequate representations and portrayals of the practices of the current multimodal pedagogy in the eal contexts. in addition, in the initial pages of the book, there are brief descriptions of the contributors of each chapter, encompassing information about their bio, affiliation, and research interests, and even some of them provide open researcher and contributor id (orcid) link; such descriptions allow the readers to discern and know the contributors’ expertise. besides, the discussions in some chapters are presented with some excerpts, such as images, tables, interview transcriptions, or llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 23, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 403-407 407 graphs; such excerpts are useful because they can help the readers to grasp the problems in question. in addition, the last pages of the book provide an index that might be useful for readers to locate some key terms or words throughout the book. however, if the publisher was considering a reprint of this book, one change could be a 'glossary’ to give the readers aid to comprehend the meanings or definitions of the keywords having to do with topics or issues in question and offered in the book. references bakhtin, m. m. 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(2007). working with discourse: meaning beyond the clause (2nd ed.). london: continuum. o’halloran, k. l. (2005). mathematical discourse: language, symbolism, and visual images. london: continuum. o’toole, m. (2004). opera ludentes: the sydney opera house at work and play. in k. o'halloran (ed.), multimodal discourse analysis: systemic functional perspectives. london: continuum. https://doi.org/10.7560/720466 https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315638027 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 69-91 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 69 english materials development for an undergraduate communication study program: a need analysis in indonesian context *henda harmantia dewi1, sibakhul milad malik hidayatulloh2, sukarno3, aryanti eka lestari4, ifti luthviana dewi5, and dyah setyowati ciptaningrum6 1,2,3,4,5,6universitas negeri yogyakarta, indonesia hendaharmantia.2021@student.uny.ac.id1, sibakhulmilad.2021@student.uny.ac.id2, sukarno.2021@student.uny.ac.id3, aryantieka.2021@student.uny.ac.id4, iftiluthviana.2021@student.uny.ac.id5, and dyah_ciptaningrum@uny.ac.id6 *correspondence: hendaharmantia.2021@student.uny.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5208 received 30 september 2022; accepted 6 march 2023 abstract need analysis (na) is one of the initial steps in developing learning materials. in the english for specific purposes (esp) context, it is an essential asset to identify learners’ needs and determine the areas they are lacking. thus far, na particularly in communication science program (csp) in indonesia has not been widely explored. in university y, the csp students are lacking english language learning materials. therefore, this mixed-method study aims to explore the results of na for developing such materials. the data were gathered through document analysis, lecturer and alumna interviews, along with student surveys. the results revealed that students' learning needs focus on the desire to improve their english proficiency, particularly in speaking and grammar, for career orientation. moreover, the materials should be compiled with text types that support the achievement of the goals e.g., advertisements, reports, narrative and argumentative texts that are preferable to be taught through a bl delivery method. these materials should also be actualized in activities that can accommodate three learning styles, namely visual, audio, and kinesthetic, with more emphasis on the first. the implication of these findings will be helpful to create a more effective english class based on the current demands. keywords: communication study program, english for specific purposes, need analysis introduction the urgency to master english has been increasingly heightened due to the rapid development in science, information, and communication technology. english, as a lingua franca, has become a minimum employment requirement in the 21st-century era (poedjiastutie et al., 2018) and skills to survive in global mailto:hendaharmantia.2021@student.uny.ac.id mailto:sibakhulmilad.2021@student.uny.ac.id mailto:sukarno.2021@student.uny.ac.id mailto:aryantieka.2021@student.uny.ac.id mailto:iftiluthviana.2021@student.uny.ac.id mailto:dyah_ciptaningrum@uny.ac.id mailto:hendaharmantia.2021@student.uny.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5208 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 69-91 70 development (hariyanto et al., 2022). the growth of communication and media has also resulted in the necessity of having good communication skills as ways of fulfilling the needs of political, educational, social, and business purposes both locally and globally (bajari, 2017). these situations are evident that english communication skills are highly needed by students in tertiary education, especially by those majoring in communication study program (csp). they are expected to be professional communicators. all things considered, english has become musthave skills that needs to be taught because it is intertwined with the qualifications of students' future careers. the indonesian government has issued a policy stating that english must be taught in higher education (he) to prepare future generations for the globalization era (kemdikbud, 2020). english, therefore, must be accommodated appropriately by specifying the materials in english for specific purposes (esp) to deal with global demands. not only does esp integrate the acquisitions of disciplinary knowledge and professional expertise, but also takes professional practice into account (musikhin, 2016). esp materials, such as textbooks, have roles as comprehensible input for students and as tools to maintain their ongoing knowledge (crawford, 2002). hence, authentic and meaningful learning materials are needed to support students with the necessary skills to prepare them at academic and professional levels. unfortunately, creating effective materials is a complex process as it requires to need analysis (na) to specifically fulfil students’ needs in one context (graves, 2000). on the ground of the importance of na in esp settings, several attempts have been made to investigate the issue, especially in he. in asian countries, several studies that concentrated on english for industrial design (adzmi et al., 2009), healthcare professionals (mustafa et al., 2017), and the tourism industry (kholidi et al., 2022) were conducted in the malaysian context. moreover, the ones for engineering students (kim, 2013) and flight attendants in south korea (kim & jin, 2017), tourism courses in japan (wagner, 2021), business administration in thailand (jitpanich et al., 2022), and manufacturing students in china (luo et al., 2022) have also been investigated. in indonesia, similar studies have been reported in the contexts of midwifery (hariyanto et al., 2022), pharmacy (syakur, zainuddin, et al., 2020), medical students (rinawati et al., 2022), agricultural students (hajar & triastuti, 2021), and non-english study program (ekayati et al., 2020). these studies have provided important information on the requirement of conducting a na for the success of teaching english in various programs. although the issues have been extensively studied in the last decade, the existing literature indicates that research focusing on na, especially in the csp has not been widely explored, particularly in the indonesian context. meanwhile, based on the data presented by the he database (pd-dikti), social sciences is one of the top three whose student distribution is higher than other programs (pd-dikti, 2020). the csp, categorized under the social sciences, has also been getting more attention due to the increasing trend of social media and mass media (bajari, 2017). to respond to these phenomena, the english educational practices in university y’s csp need to be revisited. based on the preliminary observation, it was found that the study program did not have any compiled and organized esp learning materials llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 69-91 71 that were based on students’ needs. there was only a separate compilation of files, including materials, tasks, and worksheets. it then likely led to the difficulty of fulfilling students’ future needs, not to mention the possibility of missing important parts as they hardly got access to the whole materials. thus, this study aims to explore the results of the na for developing english material in the csp. this work will generate fresh insight into facilitating esp teachers of csp with the results of needs analysis based on students’ needs, necessities, lacks, wants, and learning needs. literature review the national policy of english in higher education the he curriculum in indonesia has undergone several changes from 1994 to 2022. primarily, students' learning outcomes prioritized the achievement of science and technology mastery known as a content-based curriculum (kbi). thenceforth in 2000, indonesia reconstructed its curriculum concept to a competency-based curriculum (kbk). moreover, in the 2002 era, curricula prioritized competency achievement as a form of effort to bring education closer to the labour market and industry (kaimuddin, 2015). after that, the 2012 curriculum underwent a slight shift by providing a measure of equality with learning outcomes to maintain the quality of graduates known as the he curriculum (kpt). the changes are in line with what was stated by richards (2017) that factors shaping the curriculum's nature include the focus on learners, social reconstruction, academic rationalism, efficiency, and cultural pluralism. finally, the recently implemented curriculum named emancipated learning (merdeka belajar kampus merdeka) provides wider opportunities for students to be able to explore and develop their talent interests outside of their major field. above all, the changes are also supported by the rapid development of students and company needs. they should acquire both receptive and productive english skills to fulfil the designed tasks in their current study and future career (alibakhshi et al., 2022). in addition, over the past decade, an abundance of reports has been announced in the u.s., japan, australia, england, scotland (caena & redecker, 2019), and other countries about the demand for stronger learning to meet the obligations of life, occupation, and citizenship in the 21st century (darlinghammond et al., 2019). those requirements need to be fulfilled through na in designing the esp curriculum and materials to support the goal stated in the national policy. therefore, the developments of the curriculum aim to create he graduates who are not only competitive at the international level but also have qualified capabilities. english for communication science program english in csp is designed not only for academic objectives but also for students' future careers. its starting point is the concept that language is an essential component of how students live and what they do in society. language is more than just a medium for social engagement, but also plays a part in students' social construction (mccourt, 2003). this is the critical explanation of the sociolinguistic llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 69-91 72 context. it serves as the foundation for many language-learning systems, including english language teaching (elt) in the csp. furthermore, in most universities in indonesia, english is offered only two credits or more for non-english majors (rokhyati, 2013). it is commonly found that english lessons are presented as a mandatory course for all programs/mata kuliah umum (mku) in various amounts of credits. for instance, rokhyati (2013) studied numerous curricula at ten he institutions and discovered that some universities provided two credits for english while others allocated three to five credits, depending on the university's internal policy. even though there is no restriction on deciding the objectives of elt, it has been found that elt functions as a means of preparing students to boost their english proficiency. need analysis for esp to date, there is no strict regulation on whether and how english teaching should be carried out in indonesian he. commonly, english is either taught in general as english for academic purposes or based on the major as esp. richards and schmidt (2010) define esp as an english course or program comprising content areas and objectives that regard the specific needs of a certain group of students. this is based on the idea that different groups of students should have distinct needs depending on their backgrounds (margana & widyantoro, 2017). that is, learning materials, including textbooks, used to teach esp should be made different from those used for general english. unfortunately, previous studies (margana & widyantoro, 2017; rahayu et al., 2020; syakur et al., 2020) have shown that esp has not gained wide recognition in indonesia. one of the indicators is the limited credit assigned to the course. moreover, existing textbooks used in either vocational high schools or non-english departments are yet to be based on proper na. na is one of the initial steps of developing learning materials in general. in esp, doing na is crucial that hutchinson and waters (1987) consider the step a “minimum of an esp approach to course design” (p.54). na results are an essential asset for esp teachers to identify learners’ needs and determine the areas they are lacking (alsamadani, 2017). the absence of na and the failure to address its results in developing a syllabus and learning materials will likely lead to the production of inappropriate materials and the failure to achieve desired impacts on learners (darici, 2016). therefore, materials designers should conduct na accordingly. conducting na requires a thorough consideration of many aspects. hutchinson and waters (1987) suggest conducting na by considering learning needs and target needs. learning needs are related to why learners take the course, how they learn, available resources, and course settings. meanwhile, target needs consist of necessities, lacks, and wants. necessities are what learners must know to function effectively in the target situation. simply put, necessities concern what graduates need in the future. thus, to gain an understanding of the necessities, graduates and experts in the fields can be involved in the na to complement students’ thoughts on what should be considered in the course (moattarian & tahririan, 2014). meanwhile, lacks are what learners already know in the target situation. it would be useful to decide which of the necessities the learners lack. lastly, wants are what the learner wants to learn. however, rahman (2015) points llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 69-91 73 out that wants may not necessarily be the learners’ actual need to succeed in the target situation. students’ views about necessities, lack, and wants might also be subjective. hence, a comprehensive understanding of the three aspects as a whole and from different perspectives is necessary. method research design this study belongs to mixed method research as both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed. specifically, the researchers employed a convergent mixed methods design by creswell (2015). its primary basis is that one data type provides additional values to compensate for the limitations of the other form, and that gathering both results in a more complete understanding of the research subjects. setting and participants the research was conducted in march 2022 at the csp of university y in yogyakarta. the participants were the class of 2020 and 2021. they were selected because they had completed and/or were currently taking the course in the fourth semester when the course was mandatory to be fulfilled. the convenience sampling technique was used in the study to select participants who were ready and available (creswell, 2015) as well as competent and reliable. the population was around 240. furthermore, the researchers opened the survey for two weeks, obtained the data from this period, and collected 41 answers. additionally, to acquire more comprehensive target needs data, the course lecturer was involved along with the alumna to enrich information related to students’ needs from the employee’s perspective. data collection technique the data were collected from four different sources. they documented two semi-structured interviews, and surveys. firstly, the only document in the form of the english module handbook (rps) was obtained from the course lecturer. it included a course description, course objectives, course progression, and references. no specific modules were available to support the rps. secondly, a semi-structured interview was conducted with the course lecturer and an alumna. the interview questions with the lecturer were following the domains of curriculum development principles by macalister and nation (2019). they are linked to (a) environment analysis, (b) needs assessment, (c) principles of language teaching and learning, (d) goals of the course, (d) materials content, format, and sequencing, (e) assessment, and (f) evaluation. meanwhile, the interview questions with the alumna were following a framework adapted from li (2014). the domains in the framework are related to (a) the reason why the language is used, (b) the way it is used, (c) the content areas of the courses, (d) the time when the language will be used, and (e) the place where language will be used. third, the survey questions were adapted from hutchinson and waters (1987) framework of na. the domains of question are related to (a) learners’ demographic information, (b) english proficiency, (c) target needs (the learners’ necessities, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 69-91 74 lacks, and wants), and (d) learning needs. a total of 16 questions were in the form of short answers, likert-scale, and checkboxes. previously, those instruments were reviewed by peers and two lectures thrice. the peer review was conducted during classroom discussions. at the end of the discussion, expert validation, through feedback, was conducted by the lecturers. they, who are also the experts, are experienced in teaching syllabus and materials development for years. finally, the instruments were then revised based on the discussion results. this step was considered legal in the validation process (kratz & strasser, 2015). peer review constructs the reliability of the dataset and promotes its perceived value more than any other factor. therefore, the instruments being used in this paper are accepted based on the validation process. data analysis method once the data were obtained, they were analyzed to discover the students’ needs. firstly, the rps was analyzed using content analysis. the analytical procedure includes finding, selecting, appraising, and synthesizing data (bowen, 2009). they entail the process of skimming, reading, and interpreting. the framework to analyze the rps is following the adaptation of brown and lee's (2015) format of a lesson plan, the partnership for 21st-century learning (stehle & peters-burton, 2019), and bloom’s taxonomy. the incorporation of the 21stcentury learning models frameworks are consisting of goals, objectives, materials, equipment, procedures, 21st-century learning models (knowledge construction and self-regulation, collaboration, real-world problem solving, skilled communication, use of information and communication technology [ict] for learning), and assessment. the analysis was conducted in the initial stage to help the researchers with the interview and survey questions. as bowen (2009) suggests, the information contained in documents can indicate some questions to ask and situations to observe. afterwards, the results of the interview with the lecturer and alumna were analyzed thematically following braun and clarke (2006). it comprises six steps (1) familiarizing with the data, (2) generating initial codes, following the domains of macalister and nation (2019); (3) searching for themes; (4) reviewing themes; (5) defining and naming themes; and (6) producing the report. furthermore, the alumna gave some additional information through clarification after the interview with the lecture had been conducted. next, the results from the survey were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. as the questions comprised many types of questions, they were analyzed using spss to see the percentage of the most frequent answers. frequency distributions were used to assess properties of the distribution of scores (field, 2009) such as mean, median, and mode and to find information about students’ demographic data. furthermore, their written responses were used to support the quantitative ones. findings and discussion the findings from document analysis, questionnaires, and interviews will be combined and presented in this section as they complement each other. presenting llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 69-91 75 them separately might result in missing important information. to get a comprehensive understanding of the setting, the current situation of english in the csp will be elaborated on first. then, students’ learning needs which deal with their underlying reasons for taking the course will be examined. following are the results of na categorized into necessities, lacks, and wants. current situation of english in csp the csp of university y offers english courses for two terms. the first is called bahasa inggris and is given during the first term. it is considered mku and worth 2 credits. the course is expected to equip students with general english knowledge and skills. whereas the second is called english for academic communication (eac) and is given during the second term. it is considered as mata kuliah program studi (a mandatory course for a specific program) and worth 2 credits. it is expected to facilitate the development of student’s skills in their fields. this research focuses on the latter as the course is supposed to concentrate on esp which still needs to be improved. to provide context, the contents of the syllabus for eac are more specific and related to communication studies. as stated in the course description section of the syllabus, the course highlights three skills: vocabulary, reading, and writing. furthermore, there are four learning outcomes to be covered in sixteen meetings. they are: students can (1) explain and apply terms and vocabulary related to communication studies; (2) understand and analyze english texts published in mass media; (3) construct sentences/texts for news, press conferences, and production scripts for media; and (4) show curiosity, discipline, critical thinking, and active participation in lectures. those outcomes are further divided into nine suboutcomes. to gain a further understanding of the current situation of english teaching and learning in the csp, the syllabus and learning materials were analyzed using a framework of document analysis. the summary of the document analysis results can be seen in table 1. table 1. syllabus and learning materials analysis results llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 69-91 76 some crucial aspects of the document analysis results are summarized in table 1. first, listening and speaking seemed to be disregarded. some activities required students to make use of their speaking skills (e.g., question and answer sessions, discussions), but there were no speaking materials identified from the syllabus. whereas, listening was not addressed either as tasks or materials. secondly, detailed information such as target vocabulary and language features were barely found. such information is needed so that students are aware of what is expected from them in the learning. additionally, information about equipment and ict tools needed also could not be identified. after all, there are some missing parts from the syllabus. in terms of learning materials, a separate compilation of files was used. they were not bent into a complete file which requires the students to gather and order the mashed-up files themselves. this problem led to a risk that the students would miss some parts as they hardly get access to the whole materials. moreover, the materials were unstructured and not systemic. they were not written in a scaffolding cycle or with other approaches. they were not arranged based on cognitive levels of bloom’s taxonomy, which has to begin with lower-order thinking skills, i.e., remembering, understanding, and applying, to higher-order thinking skills, i.e., analyzing, evaluating, and creating. generally, the tasks required students to jump into creating steps without trying to begin with the more manageable tasks as a preparation. besides, the tasks were mostly done individually. apart from being monotonous, such activities did not support collaboration as one of the 21st-century skills. last, the assessments for the course were not clearly defined. it was mentioned that there would be some oral quizzes and written tests. students were also supposed to have a midterm and a final test. however, there was no elaboration on how the tests would be administered, especially for the midterm. although it was later clarified in the interview with the teacher that the students were required to write an opinion essay for the final, it is still necessary to put such information in the syllabus as guidance for students. additionally, complementary documents such as assessment rubrics were also not available. hence, the syllabus needs to be complemented with more detailed information and necessary attachments. students learning needs students' learning needs deal with the reason why they take the course, how they learn, what resources need to be available, and when as well as where the course takes place (hutchinson & waters, 1987). thus, students’ learning needs are closely related to the target need and are often mixed. for this reason, this section points out their rationale for enrolling in the course and their resource need, whereas the concerns that are not mentioned here will be elaborated on in the other subsections in detail. following are the summarized reasons collected from the students’ surveys. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 69-91 77 table 2. reasons for taking the course since this subject is worth 2 credits, the results are expected to show that students tend to improve their english skills only after completing one of the graduation requirements. however, from the survey, most of the students (97.6%) revealed that they took english courses to improve their english skills. the second most selected reasons include the need to support their future careers (68.3%) and to complete graduation requirements (61%). meanwhile, few of them reasoned that they were learning english to equip them with the necessary skills to continue their studies in the graduate program. interestingly, it can be seen that they are already aware that improving their english skills has become a necessity. in addition to these reasons, the resources for learning are included in the learning needs. this covers the lectures’ competence and attitude toward esp, materials, and aids. according to the interview result, the lecturer has been teaching english in csp for three years. he was involved in a team to develop the syllabus and curriculum that can meet the criteria of international standards. what has been developed is then applied in this course. therefore, it seems that the lecturer has a background and competence in teaching esp. from this finding, it can be indicated that the majority of students took the course based on their will without any force. this also means that they have already had the awareness that improving their english skills is essential for particular reasons, especially for pursuing a career. furthermore, the lecturer as one of the available student resources is assumed to be capable of providing facilities for students to improve their english skills. thus, this finding can be used as a benchmark in setting the objectives of the course. students’ lacks the researchers utilized the survey to identify students' lack of basic english skills such as listening, reading, speaking, writing, grammar, and vocabulary. when reviewing and analyzing the results, the spss program was utilized to depict the results of students' lack. the researchers employed four distinct levels of reference to display students' skills: unsatisfactory (1), satisfactory (2), good (3), and very good (4). the categorization is determined using the common european framework of reference for languages (cefr), with unsatisfactory for language competency level a2, satisfactory as level b1, good for level b2, and excellent for level c1. previously, their level of english proficiency was also assessed. based on their toefl score, they were in the low intermediate level, with the score ranging from 420 to 480. their level is referred to in the cefr mapping study and interpretation, in which the range of 460-543 is lower intermediate (ets, 2022). table 3 summarizes the result of students' language skills, organized from receptive to productive skills. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 69-91 78 table 3. students’ language skills from table 3, it can be concluded that the students have a satisfactory level of receptive skills as proven by their scores in listening and reading sequentially on their mean (m= 2.59) and (m=2.39). on the other hand, their productive skills are divided into two levels: satisfactory and unsatisfactory, in which the writing skills are on m=2.00 while speaking skills are on m=198. for other skills, their vocabulary is at the satisfactory level (m= 2.49), and their grammar is at the unsatisfactory level (m=1.83). furthermore, these findings corroborate the result of the alumna interview. even though making grammatical errors is expected when using english, the alumna stated that correct structure utilization is critical. all in all, the students' speaking skills need to be improved as well as their grammar skills. additionally, the learners should be assisted with exercises to improve their speaking abilities. as a result, the presence of the materials can compensate for those two shortcomings. students’ necessities students' necessities have been decided by the urgent needs of planned circumstances which impair students' mastery of skills in those situations. they are not only considered for the need to master english language proficiency but also as a provision for them after graduating from the university. this part has been divided into two necessities: a) learning materials and b) 21st-century skills. learning materials the questionnaire required the respondents to give information on learning materials they would like to learn. the results of the questionnaire are supported by the result of the alumna interview to see the materials’ relevancy in the workplace. both results revealed that the materials provided in the rps were quite in line with students’ wants. however, the text type and focus desired by students were not mentioned in it. thus, to decide on the learning materials, students were asked to choose more than one among fourteen options, depending on their preferences. table 4. learning materials: text types llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 69-91 79 detailed information about the text type chosen by students is provided in table 4. it can be inferred that the greatest demand, by far, is for advertisement text (75.6%). then, the majority are also interested in learning reports (73.2%), and narrative and argumentative texts (63.4%). the text types mentioned are in line with the experience of the alumna. in the workplace, advertisement text is needed to make a company and products branding, report texts are useful to make a business report and press release, and narrative as well as argumentative can support the skills of writing journalistic works. thus, these results suggest that the materials development needs to provide topics about an advertisement, report, narrative, argumentative, and other types of texts supporting the content of materials. in addition to deciding the text types used in the course, the focuses discussed during the lesson are also crucial to be selected. it provides engaging and interesting learning activities as well as authentic and meaningful for students. the more related the focus to the workplace, the greater students applied their abilities acquired from the lesson. the focuses that need to be learned by students are presented in table 5. table 5. learning materials: focus table 5 presents the evidence of the focuses desired to be studied during the lesson. what is interesting about the data is that almost all students thought that mass media (95.1%) needs to be learned. this result is followed by journalism (87.8%) and mass communication (82.9%). interestingly, the opinion essay (56.1%) as the main project mentioned on the rps is not the most desired focus. nevertheless, it must be comprised in the learning media on the consideration of the lecturer and alumna. overall, the results indicate that the focuses required by students are in line with the alumna's experience in the workplace. the most related focuses to the company's job are journalism and mass media. in addition, the alumna also mentioned that headline is crucial to support skills needed for work in the communication field. however, even though the most voted focuses are mass media, journalism, and communication, other focuses e.g. headlines and opinion essays are important to be taught. furthermore, english skills are also needed to make a formal speech at ceremonial events. formal english for business and corporate including vocabulary, expression, and grammar will be very helpful for them to deal with the cv. the lesson on making a cv for seeking a job is also suggested to be attached to the course. thus, it is important to provide basic skills in journalism, business english, and cv in the rps for equipping students with the skills needed in the workplace. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 69-91 80 21st-century skills the current learning needs of students are not only mastering knowledge and skills of learning materials but also other skills supporting their future careers such as 21st-century skills. it braces their english proficiency to be applied alongside other skills required in their future workplace. the needs for 21st-century skills for students in learning english are depicted below. table 6. 21st-century skills in terms of 21st-century skills, table 6 presents that most of them, just under two-fifths, perceive communication skills as the most important aspect of their study program. moreover, a little over one-quarter think that critical thinking skills should be placed as the second most important, whereas just over fifth select creativity to be less important than critical thinking. finally, collaboration is at the bottom of the table with a percentage of 12.2%. as a result, the activities in the developed materials are expected to support the students to improve their 21stcentury skills to equip and ensure them to thrive in a world where change is constant and learning never stops. students’ wants learning preferences three of the survey’s aims are to solicit information about students’ learning styles, the use of instructional media, and preferences for learning activities. in this part, they were allowed to choose more than one answer. table 7 summarizes the percentage of the three aforestated indicators. table 7. students' preferences for learning styles, activities, and instructional media table 7 shows that three options of learning styles were provided for them to choose from based on what they thought was effective. the top half of the table reveals that just over three-quarters of the respondents prefer the visual learning style. meanwhile, the difference is almost equally split between auditory and kinesthetic learners, with only 2.4% more of the former giving the auditory a slight llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 69-91 81 majority. this shows that most of them enjoy learning english visually such as through videos, images, graphics, etc. nonetheless, they also appreciate learning through audio and hands-on experiences as these are parts of auditory and kinesthetic learning styles. these results also correspond with the outcome of the instructional media. the bottom left half of the table reveals that more than four-fifths of them favour the use of videos while 63.4% prefer games. as the auditory style places second, the results also coincide with the instructional media in which just over half of them would like the integration of audio in the process. it is then followed by the interest in using websites because 48.8% choose such an option. the most surprising aspect is that the use of modules is preferable to e-books. it is proven by the fact that 39% select modules while 29.3% vote for e-book. lastly, powerpoint places the second bottom just before e-book with a percentage of 36.6%. although websites, modules, powerpoint, and e-books are still selected, the percentage is not as high as the top three media, i.e. videos, games, and audio. furthermore, the table also includes information about students’ preferred learning activities that need to be incorporated into the academic instructions. the data indicates that a significant number of students (68.3%) choose discussion as the most preferred activity. likewise, a little over half of them favour role-playing which seems to be part of kinesthetic learning, which is surprisingly recognized as the least favourable style. a closer inspection also reveals that group and pair work are side-by-side, signifying the importance of collaborative learning in the process. a percentage of 43.9 prefer group work while another 39% favour pair work. besides, the group project is in fifth position, with a percentage of 34.1%. it is not surprising that lecturing and presentation are among the bottom three of the least preferred activities. finally, internet surfing is only selected by an insignificant amount of around 2%. from these results, the developed materials should accommodate visual learning without neglecting other types of learning styles as the different types are still chosen. moreover, the materials should also provide learning activities that students mostly enjoy, such as discussion, role-play, group work, pair work, and class projects. however, other types of activities cannot be ignored as long as they can improve students' english proficiency. to highlight, the most selected activities are expected to facilitate their different learning styles. mode of instruction in selecting the mode of instruction, students were asked to choose only one option. whereas, for the technology integration, they were allowed to choose as many as eight choices, depending on their preferences. table 8 presents the percentage of the results. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 69-91 82 table 8. mode of instruction the results of the students’ survey supported the ones from the document analysis and the course lecturer’s interview concerning the implementation of blended learning (bl). the data in table 8 indicates that 61% of the students prefer to use the bl. bl is placed top of the list, with 34.2% more compared to the online mode, making bl the majority. a little over one-quarter of them choose online whereas a small minority of students, 12.2%, vote for offline mode. however, these results are essentially not counterintuitive considering the mode that has been implemented for more than two years due to covid-19. thus, they seem to have been used to being in the bl environment. they are no longer interested in having only-offline classes, as proven by the lowest percentage. however, instead of supporting the bl system that was proposed by the study program (synchronous and asynchronous online learning), they tend to prefer having the combination of bl in the form of offline and online-learning modes. some of them asserted that the use of bl could accommodate the strengths of each of the modes while in turn covering up each other’s weaknesses. in the offline session, the materials could be delivered online. however, when the students needed more assistance with the lesson, in-person learning could facilitate the process more effectively. besides, the students could be encouraged to practice more when they were in in-person learning. likewise, specific technology integration that they would like to use in the process is also found. the data reveals that it is more desirable for them to use laptops or personal computers (pc) and utilize social media e.g. youtube. the percentage of both of these aspects is equal in which the majority of the students, 90.2%, select these choices. the results are also in line with the findings of students’ preferences and instructional media to which visual style is preferable. moreover, internet browsing is still highly selected by a significant proportion of students, 78%. this is in agreement with the results of instructional media but contradicts the ones from learning activities in which internet surfing is the least preferable. then, a large proportion of them, 73.2%, choose online applications such as duolingo, quizziz, kahoot, etc. to be incorporated into the process, supporting the findings that games are favoured. besides, learning management systems (lms) and online meetings are still selected. lms is chosen by a large number of students while online meetings are selected by over two-fifths of them. surprisingly, english books and chat apps are poorly favoured because only an insignificant number of students choose them. in addition to all of the results, the alumna interview revealed significant findings that support the survey. commenting on technology integration, the alumna asserted that google trends can be incorporated into several topics in the study program such as headlines or journalistic topics for search engine llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 69-91 83 optimization (seo). therefore, students can write a headline of particular news and it can be easily detected in a google search. it is part of understanding the characteristics of online media that need to be learned. as for youtube, even if it is not utilized in the classroom, youtube recommendation videos or channels can be given to help students learn autonomously. overall, these results indicate that bl, as in the combination of offline and online, is highly favourable. during the online session, many technological devices can be incorporated into the educational practices such as the use of laptops/pcs, social media, online apps, lms, and more importantly online meetings. that being said, changing the mode of instructions from offline into a bl approach does not necessarily mean that all applications or platforms need to be entirely integrated. yet, the decision in their integration should be based on the necessity and their roles in optimizing the teaching-learning process which in turn achieves the objectives of the lesson. discussion the outcomes of this study reveal the csp students’ necessities, lacks, wants, and learning needs that are beneficial for esp teachers to develop improved english learning materials. to fulfil the demands of teaching english in csp, those categorized findings proposed by hutchinson and waters (1987) are discussed and connected to the learning goals and objectives, materials, activities, equipment, as well as assessment. they were analyzed by comparing the ideal esp teaching condition with the actual situation and adjoining the 21st-century urgency skills to prepare students after graduating from university in the globalization era. incorporating 21st-century demands into materials development considering the findings, the researchers attempt to synthesize the first discussion on presenting the goals and objectives that must be provided as the primary teaching-learning activities. furthermore, various factors are considered while determining them, including the outcome of target needs, students' necessities, lacks and wants. students' perspectives on 21st-century skills are also included while formulating goals and objectives. the findings revealed that students intend to learn english to improve their english abilities to have a better career in the future. some scholars captured the tendency to learn english for future employment orientation. for instance, dirgeyasa (2018) found that students at nautical academy intend to learn english to prepare for their future job. anam and rachmadian (2020) also captured the future career orientation in learning english for the tourism program. these studies emphasize that the goal of english learning for future career preparation needs to be established, including in csp. furthermore, this current research also gained the needed 21st-century skills possessed by csp students. among four skills, students are expected to sharpen their communication and critical thinking skills. this finding, to some extent, enriches the discussion of the presentation of 21st-century skills in csp. nevertheless, the two other skills, creativity and collaboration can be utilized to achieve the primary goal of elt in csp. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 69-91 84 since the goals of this course are to achieve academic objectives and students' future careers, the text types and topics have to be relevant to the workplace. previous studies have reported that some of the csp fields are science journalism, public relations, communication management, marketing communications, broadcasting, and advertising (bajari, 2017). it is interesting to note that those fields of this study are in line with the student’s preferences to learn, they are about mass media, journalism, and mass communication. this finding confirms that the csp students have an awareness of the necessity of selecting topic materials. advertisement, reports, narrative and argumentative texts are some of the text types that might facilitate them to obtain a deep understanding of english which is related to those fields. consequently, those focuses will be suitable to be discussed in the english course materials to give them beneficial insight for their future career and to prepare them for facing the real workplace environment. this study has found that the majority of students have a visual learning style. thus, the presented materials need to be visually oriented to facilitate their learning process. moreover, this need is highly correlated to their most selected topics which are advertisements, video reporting, posters etc. felder and soloman (2000) proposed that visual learners have the finest experience in remembering what they see. in line with them, bogamuwa (2017) also stated that visual learners like to obtain information from visual stimulation. therefore, providing pictures, diagrams, mind maps, films, demonstrations and other visual representations helps the learners to understand better. despite the fact that most students are visual learners, the students who have auditory and kinesthetic learning styles cannot be neglected. for auditory learners who tend to have a sense of listening, the integration of audio into the learning process may help them comprehend the content (ishartono et al., 2021). in addition to avoiding monotonous learning delivery, some of the materials should be delivered by involving other learning styles to give students the opportunity to get a variety of learning. a study has evidence that providing different ways of presenting materials may attract students to actively participate in the course and lead to gaining better experience (ferrer & kirschning, 2014). to sum up, all the students' learning styles must be facilitated to achieve successful learning process in regards to learning activities, the survey results indicated that students' primary activities in english classes include discussion and role-playing. students can utilize the opportunity of discussion to convey their perspectives by sharing ideas. the involvement in role-playing activities might also provide opportunities for speaking practice. since a number of studies found the impact of a role-play (flora & sukirlan, 2021; rojas & villafuerte, 2018) and discussion (bohari, 2020; kaharuddin & rahmadana, 2020; mohammed & ahmed, 2021) can enhance the speaking skill. by noticing so, students can be given activities such as discussing both local and international issues as well as doing a simulation in daily activities. finally, students are expected to learn english effectively and efficiently through the aforementioned activities. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 69-91 85 facilitating 21st-century learning in the communication science program about the 21st-century demands, teaching and learning, in general, should be continuously updated and upgraded to equip students with the knowledge and skills required to face those demands. updating and upgrading the existing education process can be done in various ways, such as by providing relevant learning materials and carefully deciding how they will be delivered. the fact that students favour the combination of online learning and face-to-face meetings is interestingly potential based on literature. according to dakhi et al. (2020), this type of bl is the answer to the weaknesses of each learning mode. when the two modes are combined into a bl, benefits from each can also be obtained. they also mentioned that bl is suitable for 21st-century learning. the potential likely stems from the fact that bl implementation is inseparable from technology integration in education, which is widely associated with the promotion of 21st-century skills. thus, regardless of the possibility that students’ preference for bl is influenced by their experiences during the covid-19 pandemic, that mode of instruction is potential in itself. furthermore, if the csp is about to address students’ wants to implement bl, some adjustments in the equipment such as technological tools needed for the teaching and learning process are inevitable. nevertheless, switching to bl does not necessarily mean integrating all available applications, websites, or other technological tools. an assumption that technology can be a panacea for all issues in teaching and learning, or what is termed “technocentrism” by papert (1990), is counter to the idea that technology is supposed to be a means of enhancing teaching and learning instead of being the focus of the process. thus, the decision on ict integration should be based on the necessity of the tools and their roles in optimizing teaching and learning. another consideration is the availability of the technology itself for students. the na results related to students’ favourable technological tools can be used as a reference which indicates the tools available to them. it is crucial to be considered since the digital divide is among the challenges in ict integration. in addition to the fact that some places do not have adequate internet service, some students still view personal computers and laptops as a luxury, which makes them dependent on mobile devices to assist in learning. additionally, it has been observed by suryani and muslim (2021) that some indonesian students occasionally skip class during online learning because of the digital divide phenomenon. although most of the students participating in this research seem to have access to personal computers and laptops, closer examination of the availability of technological tools is needed so that the digital divide will not hinder teaching and learning. in short, any ict integration in the classroom should be based on the necessity and consideration of available resources. in addition to previous materials development components, the assessment process also contributes significantly. it is divided into assessment for learning that seeks evidence to decide students’ needs, learning that focuses on students’ self and peer-assessment, and learning to determine whether learning has happened (cheng & fox, 2017). consistent with the literature, these results indicate that the assessment process accomplishes its requirements. the formative assessment was provided by giving oral quizzes, written tests, vocabulary-building tasks, and text llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 69-91 86 recognition. conversely, the summative assessment can be noticed when learners were given mid-term (uts) and final-term (uas) tests. however, the detailed information about the activity in the uts was not clearly stated and the uas assignment was only to concentrate on written skills through an opinion essay task. ideally, the assessment process integrates the entire english skills (brown & lee, 2015) and facilitates learners to receive valuable knowledge, give their mastery records, and help them self-monitor (mcmillan & turner, 2014). contrary to expectations, the result indicates that speaking and grammar skills are less promoted. that is, the assessment elements require the main improvement on its skills-based assessment specifically on the english spoken and structured abilities as well as 21st-century skills. conclusion the present study suggests that some considerations need to be taken into account in designing esp learning materials including determining students’ learning needs, lacks, necessities, and wants. these aspects are crucial because they are linked to the basic requirements of an effective english course, such as learning goals, language skills, learning materials, learning preferences, learning media, and mode of instruction. it is found that student's learning needs focus on the desire to improve their english proficiency, mainly for future career orientation. this desire is also reflected in their lack of speaking and grammar. as the career fields of csp graduates resonate with mass media, journalism, and mass communication, the ability for language production, especially through spoken language, becomes significant. on an important note, grammar is also one of the underpinning skills in speaking, resulting in a substantial correlation between both. therefore, the goals of the course should be designed by focusing on these skills to facilitate students with the necessary linguistic and communicative competencies to strive in the field. moreover, esp materials should be compiled with text types around the field to support the achievement of the goals. the texts include but are not limited to, advertisements, reports, and narrative and argumentative (opinion) texts. furthermore, the principles of elt and materials adaptation ought to be based on bloom's taxonomy and should promote all 21st-century skills in general, as well as communication and critical thinking in particular. these materials should be actualized in activities that can accommodate three learning styles, namely visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic, with an emphasis on the first one. that is to say, learning media such as videos, games, and audio can be used. besides, it is also suggested that the classroom delivery model is in the form of bl. in carrying out the bl, then, ict needs to be integrated into the activities. for instance, pcs/laptops can be utilized to watch videos on youtube, browse materials on the internet to self-study, and play games on platforms such as quizziz and kahoot. to highlight, the decision in the integration of those ict tools should be based on the necessity and their roles in optimizing the teaching-learning process. finally, assessment rubrics should be clearly defined to ensure the achievement of the graduate learning outcomes. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 69-91 87 it is unfortunate that the study did not include a wider scope of participants. therefore, it is recommended that further research be conducted to investigate the csp needs from a broader context. to see the more relevant needs regarding the 21st-century era, the study could be repeated by examining the perspectives of alumni and user companies. developing esp materials as the results of na is intriguing and could also be usefully explored. references adzmi, n. a., bidin, 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pre-service english language teachers’ beliefs monica ella harendita universitas sanata dharma monica.harendita@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2017.200106 abstract pre-service teachers undergo an important phase, called teaching practice, before plunging in the ‘real’ teaching. thus, the experiences and what they do during the practice can be an interesting subject to study. in this light, this case study attempts to gain more understanding on the beliefs of some pre-service teachers with regard to learning and teaching, as well as to see the influence of their beliefs on their practices. the data were gathered from reflective journals and observations. the findings show that the participants held some beliefs in regard to teaching and learning. first, they believed that mutual respect should be maintained in classroom. second, interrelated with the previous belief, for the participants, meaningful learning requires active participation. third, the participants believed that learning should be motivating. fourth, the participants held a belief that as a teacher they have flexible roles. hopefully, the results of this study will be beneficial in informing teacher training education in order to prepare and assist their students better as future teachers. keywords: pre-service teacher, teaching practice, teachers’ belief introduction for years, universitas sanata dharma has become a reputable and notable university offering teachers training and education. formerly founded as ptpg (perguruan tinggi pendidikan guru) sanata dharma in 1955 and transformed to fkip (fakultas keguruan dan ilmu pendidikan) in 1958 and to ikip in 1965, the institution has finally transformed to be a university since 1993. in its development as a university, universitas sanata dharma has opened up 29 study programs, including three master’s programs. form the 29 study programs, eleven (11) are under teachers training and education faculty. it implies that teachers training and education remain to be the heart of the institution in reinforcing its role among higher education providers in yogyakarta in particular and indonesia in general. therefore, aiming to be a teacher, one might opt to pursue his/her studies in universitas sanata dharma. in the same vein, parents who wish their children to become teachers may be interested in sending their children to universitas sanata dharma to gain knowledge and skills to be future teachers. of eleven study programs offering teachers training and education in different subjects, the english language education study program (elesp) has become one of the most well-known study programs in universitas sanata dharma. the study program itself has been established since 1955, confirming its position as one of the oldest study programs in universitas sanata dharma. a number of its llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 50 graduates have now served as teachers across indonesia. some of them even have worked overseas in the educational field, such as being teachers or lecturers. undoubtedly, pre-service teaching practice becomes one of the important phases that a teacher candidate should undergo. however, in light of the preparation provided by teacher education, stuart and thurlow (2000) argue that novice teachers were not adequately prepared in their undergraduate programs to face varieties of challenges in classrooms. thus, pre-service teachers may find difficulties in their teaching practice. as a result, a number of studies have been conducted to capture the complexities happening in that phase, such as research on pre-service teachers’ experiences, the gap between theory and practice, and pre-service teachers’ beliefs. in this regard, studies on beliefs have resulted in significant contribution in teacher training education. clark-goff (2008, p. 42) argues that “studying preservice teachers’ beliefs is also important because it has received insufficient attention in empirical educational research.” considering that the omnipresent studies on teachers’ beliefs have made a significant contribution, the researcher believes that there should be more studies on pre-service teachers’ beliefs and practices done among pre-service teachers from universitas sanata dharma. such studies may gain more knowledge on how student teachers cope with their pre-service teaching practice and thus the university can assist them better. therefore, this research aims at answering 1) what are the beliefs held by some pre-service english language teachers’ with regards to teaching and learning? and 2) how do their beliefs influence their teaching practice? this literature review sets out some important constructs and theories with regards to pre-service teachers’ beliefs to help the researcher answers the research questions. this part is divided into three sections: (1) the concept of belief and the importance of experience, (2) review of related studies on pre-service teachers’ beliefs, and (3) categories of pre-service teachers’ beliefs. clark-goff (2008) states that studies on teachers’ way of thinking started in the late 1970s and early 1980s. since 1990s, it has become more widespread in educational research. however, it is tough to define the word ‘belief’ clearly. because beliefs are so inherent to teacher behavior and student learning, beliefs have become a common framework of exploration in educational research. even so, a widely accepted explanation of “beliefs” is still rather indefinite. beliefs are typically defined in relation to knowledge and behavior and are recognized as value-laden (borg, 2001, as cited in clark-goff, 2008, p.3). in line with the above mentioned argument, pajares (1992, p. 1, as cited in clark-goff, 2008, p. 23) states that belief is a “messy construct” and as a result, the term belief is often used interchangeably with attitudes, values, perceptions, theories, and world view. zheng (2009) states that “beliefs are often defined as psychologically held understandings, premises, or propositions felt to be true” (p. 74). incecay (2011, p. 29) states that “beliefs govern people’s behaviors”. in other words, beliefs can determine someone’s actions. with regard to teachers’ beliefs, ‘belief’ can be defined as what directs teachers to do certain actions in their teaching practices. furthermore, vartuli (2005) maintain that “for teachers, beliefs llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 51 hold such influence because they are “the heart of teaching” (p. 82, as cited in clark-goff, 2008, p. 4). although cabaroglu and roberts (2000, as cited in clark-goff, 2008, p. 7) contend that “beliefs are inflexible”, beliefs connect to experience in two ways. clark-goff (2008) maintains that “while experiences are fundamental to initial belief development, they are also critical to belief change” (p. 38). past experience might have certain impact on people’s beliefs. as a consequence, their beliefs may govern people’s subsequent behaviours. the beliefs may be maintained until ones experience fundamental occurrence that results in belief change. thus, experience becomes a crucial part in belief formation. in this vein, pre-service teaching practice gives an opportunity to student teachers to experience what ‘real’ classroom teaching is like. prior to the teaching program, they have had a set of beliefs which will be reflected from the way they teach. in this regards, fullan (1991, p. 296 as cited in stuart & thurlow, 2000, p. 119) state that “the relationship between prior beliefs and program experience is crucial, complex, and not straightforward.” a number of studies have been conducted to explore pre-service teachers’ beliefs’. johnson (1994, as cited in incecay, 2011) argues that there are three assumptions that have underlain research on teachers’ beliefs. first of all, teachers’ beliefs have an impact on their perception and judgment. therefore, they will affect their actions as well as what they say in the classroom. second, beliefs influence how teachers teach in the classroom. third, it is essential to understand teachers’ beliefs’ in order to enhance teaching practices and teacher education programs. teachers are hoped to be agents of change as they play an important role in helping educate students. in this vein, pajares (1992) and richardson (1996) argue that in order to prepare teachers as agents of change, teacher educators need to start with an understanding of the beliefs that become the grounds of their decision making (as cited in stuart & thurlow, 2000). stuart and thurlow (2000) argue that pre-service teachers’ beliefs about what it takes to be successful teachers seem erroneous and simplistic. they state further that pre-service teachers “frequently do not understand the importance of challenging their beliefs” (stuart & thurlow, 2000, p. 114). for them, “liking children is sufficient” (lasley, 1980 as cited in stuart & thurlow, 2000, p. 114). also, teaching is seen as merely a process of knowledge transmission (pajares, 1992, as cited in stuart & thurlow, 2000, p.114). thus, pre-service teachers should question their beliefs critically. failure in doing so will result in the maintenance of the status quo. it has to be noted also that student population and condition have altered, and thus existing beliefs regarding teaching and learning may not fit well any longer (stuart & thurlow, 2000). hence, pre-service teachers need to revisit their beliefs and keep reflecting on their beliefs. a study done by incecay (2011) on teachers’ beliefs reveals some findings related to ideal language learner, ideal language teacher, and ideal english classrooms. with regards to ideal language learner, the participants emphasize on social characteristics of language learner. for the participants, an ideal language llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 52 teacher plays his role as a supporter, facilitator, and moderator. when asked about ideal language classrooms, the participants emphasize the authentic materials. another categorization has been set by calderhead (1996, as cited in zheng, 2009). the categories include beliefs about learners and learning, beliefs about teaching, beliefs about subject, beliefs about learning to teach, and beliefs about self and about teaching role. method this study mainly adopted qualitative research. in particular, the researcher adopted a case study. mertens (2010) states that as part of qualitative approach, a case study is defined by the object of the study rather than by a certain methodology. in addition, case studies “may be defined by the characteristics of the group” (cohen et al., 2000, p. 182). thus, a case study seems to fit this study well. all the participants share similar characteristics in a sense that they all were pre-service english language teachers from universitas sanata dharma. also, they were doing teaching practice in the same high school. this research was conducted in the english language education of sanata dharma university in the even semester of 2014/2015 academic year. the participants were four students (three females and one male) conducting microteaching ii or program pelatihan lapangan at sma bopkri 2 yogyakarta in the even semester of 2014/2015 academic year. this research employed some instruments. the first instrument was reflective journals. each of the participants had to write the journal after they finished teaching. they could also write their journal anytime after an observation or other school activities. the second instrument is observation. as their advisor, the researcher observed the participants’ teaching practices and assessed them. each of them was observed once. the observations were conducted in february and may. the third instrument was planned to be a focus group discussion. however, due to the time restriction – the researcher took a maternity leave and the participants were out of town for holiday and kkn (kuliah kerja nyata) – the focus group discussion has not been done. as a substitute, the researcher emailed them some questions as a follow up to the reflective journals. the steps were as follows. first, each time the participants finished teaching, they wrote a reflective journal. guided questions were provided. next, students submitted the journals to the researcher. after that, the researcher observed the teaching practice of each participant. then, the participants wrote the answers to the reflective questions given by the researcher via email as a follow-up to the reflective journals. lastly, the researcher analyzed the data from both the reflective journals and the observation notes. findings and discussion before presenting the findings, the researcher would like to give short descriptions of the teaching practice programs done by the participants. all the four participants undertook their teaching practice or ppl (program pengalaman lapangan) at sma bopkri 2 yogyakarta. the participants’ teaching practice period differed from one to another depending on the duration that they had llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 53 chosen. two participants, jingga and delima (pseudonyms), did their full time practice from january – march 2015 and the other two, surya and dara, did their part time teaching practice in january – april. as they were enrolled in full time teaching practice, jingga and delima went to the school six days a week, while surya and dara went to the school three days a week and thus their teaching period was longer than jingga and delima’s. during their ppl, the participants not only taught english lessons but also did some administrative work. they should also allocate time to be teachers on duty and also to get involved in school activities, such as students’ contest/competitions. in short, they were to experience what a ‘real’ teacher does at school. after reading their reflections and observing their teaching performance, the researcher did thematic analysis to figure out common and significant themes regarding their beliefs and the influence to the teaching as explained in the following section. mutual respect should be maintained in classroom in their reflective journals, the participants illustrated their nerves as ones who had not had any formal teaching experiences before. most of the participants still struggled with tension in the class since they faced various characteristics of students. one of the pre-service teachers, jingga, thought the situation in the class was ‘very tense’, yet she was finally accustomed to it. she also acknowledged the role of the english teacher as a figure that the students respected. “at first, the class situation was very tense for me but i was finally used to it. the students were quite active and some of them loved to make noise so the class became very noisy. however, i could still handle the class because the english teacher was there.” (jingga) besides respect for teachers, jingga also underlined that in teaching and learning process, students should respect each other. she would think that if a student performs in front of the class, the others should pay full attention. therefore, when this ideal image did not exist, she considered that things were not right. it was also experienced by surya who reminded the students to pay attention to what he said. “a challenge that i faced in this meeting was the fact that there were some students who did not pay attention to their friends who were presenting. i also advised all the students to respect their friends’ performances.” (jingga) “the challenge for me was that some students were busy with their cell phones. there were students who fell asleep in the middle of the lesson. i should try my best to make them pay attention to the lesson i give.” (surya) while jingga put an emphasis on respect for teachers and respect for others, delima emphasized on her responsibility to respect and appreciate the students’ performances. she thought that she at first focused too much on the evaluation so that she forgot to pay attention to the students. llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 54 “the challenge i faced today was that i focused too much on the evaluation rubric, so i often merely heard their voices but i did not pay attention to them…… i faced the challenge by minimizing to jot down unnecessary things in the evaluation and by respecting and appreciating what they were presenting…. what i learned from today’s activities is to appreciate the students’ performances by paying attention to those who were telling stories and clapping my hands for their hard work.” (delima) respect seems to be a big issue when discussing pre-service teachers. at times, as pre-service teachers, the participants often felt powerless as they were ‘just’ pre-service teachers who did not have full control over the class. they saw themselves as inferiors compared to the in-service teachers. as a result, they did not dare to set strict rules and give punishment to the students if the students misbehaved in the classroom. in light of this, dara enunciated her disappointment to the students’ behaviours. “because they knew i was a pre-service teacher, they did not pay attention to me and looked down on me” (dara) dara’s feeling of disappointment was understandable. during the observation, the researcher found some students do inappropriate deeds in the class. for example, many of the students were busy with their cell phones when the participants were teaching. when i confronted one of the participants (dara) about this situation, she told me that it was certainly uncomfortable for her to see that the students did not respect her. however, she could not do anything because their in-service teacher tolerated such behaviours. it put her in inconvenience because in one hand she wanted to forbid the students to do anything but to listen to her. on the other hand, she seemed powerless and thought that she did not have the capacity to do that because she was ‘just’ a pre-service teacher. in other words, the class was not hers to control. she did not own the stage as she was just a stunt woman. learning should be motivating motivation is a familiar notion that becomes a huge concern in teaching and learning. considering that the participants taught english language as a foreign language, it was then become more challenging for them to make the students motivated and interested in learning the language. the participants agreed that as teachers, they should raise the students’ motivation so that the students could engage better in the teaching and learning process. thus, avoiding boredom was considered crucial. most of the participants attempted to motivate the students by providing interesting and engaging materials and activities. “i have provided some explanation on news item. furthermore, i also provided some exercises and films to interest them.” (dara) surya, who was the only male pre-service teacher among the participants, tried to maintain the students’ interest by playing some songs before the lesson started and asking the students to fill in the blanks using the words they heard. llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 55 “i asked the students to listen to a song and do ‘fill in the blanks’ task. then, i asked the students to read the lyrics altogether and gave models to students on how to pronounce the words correctly.” (surya) during the observation, i also witnessed that the participants tried to make use of multimodality. in addition to visual aids, they provided aural resources, too. the participants used attractive power point slides, videos, songs, and games so that the students were involved in their teaching and learning activities. when the students were motivated, the participants themselves felt that the class atmosphere was ‘alive’ and it was substantial for the success of teaching and learning, as stated by jingga. “the learning atmosphere became alive because the students were enthusiastic about the media” (jingga) based on what the participants wrote and the observation, the belief that motivation is the key to teaching and learning was clear. however, some of the participants seemed to simply think that giving the students some fun was good to make the students motivated. the findings reflected stuart and thurlow’s (2000) argument, stating that pre-service teachers’ beliefs about what it takes to be successful teachers seem erroneous and simplistic. what seemed simplistic from the teaching activities was that ‘fun teaching is ultimately important in successful teaching’. yet, they did not directly relate ‘the fun’ to the materials/topic the students were learning. for instance, before teaching, surya always played some songs, gave a sheet of paper containing missing lyrics, and asked the students to fill in the blanks with the words they heard. to some point, the activities were quite fun and could increase the students’ motivation. the activity, however, was not followed up by another activity which connected anything in the song (the language, the story, etc) to the lesson. therefore, there seemed to be a missing link which might make the students fail in understanding the lesson better. the fun activity then became less meaningful. in short, although all the participants agreed that motivation was a key in successful learning, not all succeeded in creating meaningful activities. learning requires active participation closely related to motivation, active participation was highlighted by the participants as one substantial element. most of the participants complained about the noisy class when they were teaching. the fact that the participants were preservice teachers who seemed not to have full authority to control the class made the situation worse. as a result, instead of paying attention and participating actively, the students opted to talk with their friends. “as usual, the situation in class xd was not conducive at all to study. lots of them were busy with their cell phones and only a few paid attention to me.” (dara) in line with dara’s remarks, surya and delima considered that it was challenging for them to make the students participate actively. llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 56 “what’s challenging for me was that some of the students were busy with their mobile phones. some even fell asleep. …. the students refused to keep their mobiles away. (surya) “what’s challenging was to see that some of the students were just lying down and did not do their tasks.” (delima) the noise that the students made and their reluctance to engage in the learning process might be due to the status of the participants as pre-service teachers. in her journal, jingga articulated that the students were not noisy when their teacher was in the class with the participants. yet, if their teacher was not present and it was only the participant who taught them, they began to be very noisy. for delima, however, the absence of noise in the class was not always a good and expected situation. “today the class was silent. nonetheless, the meaning of silence was ambiguous. were they silent because they understood what i explained? or were they silent because they did not understand what i delivered…. when i asked the students, no one answered.” (delima) it becomes apparent that silence was not the only thing the participants expected in the class and it was not a sign of successful teaching and learning. the participants saw that active participation, where students were engaged in the class discussion and answered the teachers’ questions, to be an interesting experience. “what’s interesting for me was that the students actively participated in the learning process.” (delima) “what’s interesting was that the students became more active (in the learning process).” (jingga) teachers have flexible roles “i was not being my true self when i was teaching.” (dara) what dara stated represented different roles and positioning that the participants had as pre-service teachers. for the participants, in a way, teaching was like acting. when they were in the class, they acted as if they were on the stage. thus, what they did to the students depended on the roles that they were playing. most of the participants believed that teachers are not just academic-bound. instead, teachers should also nurture aspects such as teacher-student relationship. the participants have an ideal image of how their relationship with students should be. they believed that they should be able to make friends with the students. “as usual, i started the lesson with having chit-chats with the students of xe and being closer to them.” (dara) llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 57 dara wrote that kind of reflections many times in her journals. for her, it was important to begin the lesson with activities that would put the students at ease and not tense. she attempted to position herself as a friend to the students. by doing so, the students would feel that dara was not a stranger and therefore the students would be more likely to get involved in the lesson. another participant, surya, also affirmed that positioning himself as the students’ friend would also give him benefits in return. the students would not feel intimidated by the teacher and the teacher could win the students’ heart. “we can win the students’ hearts by not behaving as a teacher, but as their friend.” (surya) similar to dara’s remarks, jingga’s reflections also depicted how she tried to be a friend to her students. she thought that it was fascinating to know various characteristics that the students had. “what’s interesting was to know different characteristics of the students.” (jingga) however, at times, the participants experienced conflicting identities or roles when teaching. dara, for example, wrote in her journals that she insistently tried to be close to the students as a friend. yet she also admitted that she needed to be firm so that the students paid attention to her. “i needed to be firm so that the students did not look down on me.” (dara) for her, playing with different roles was a must depending on the situation. to ill-mannered students, she had to be firm. however, she was also friendly and fostered the students. “firmness is needed by a teacher. however, not being too strict should be in a teacher’s soul. too wide gap between a teacher and her students will make the students reluctant to ask.” (delima) “i‘ve learned a lot to be a patient and not authoritative teacher. yet, i have to remain firm and discipline.” (dara) at last, the participants maintained their flexibility in the class. depending on the situations, a teacher should wear different ‘masks’ and play various roles. it strengthens the study done by incecay (2011) which found that an ideal language teacher plays his role as supporter, facilitator, and moderator. conclusion in their journey to be teachers, the participants undertook a compulsory program called ppl (program pengalaman lapangan), where they taught at schools as pre-service teachers. during the program, the participants applied what they had learned in the classes. thus, it was interesting to study the beliefs that the participants had since what they did in the classroom might be reflections of certain beliefs. llt, issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 1, april 2017 58 the findings showed that the participants held some beliefs in regard to teaching and learning. first, they believed that mutual respect should be maintained in classroom. as pre-service teachers, they seemed not to gain respect from some of the students. the participants were reluctant to force the students to abide by the rules because they felt that they did not have the authority. as a result, instead of paying attention their teachers, the students were busy with their mobile phones. not only that the students should respect the participants as their teachers, but the students should also be respected by the teachers. if there are any students performing in front of the classroom, the teacher should pay attention to them and give feedback as appreciation. second, the participants believed that learning should be motivating. thus, when teaching, they provided the students with various media that could appeal the students. third, for the participants, meaningful learning requires active participation. the participants expected the students to engage in their learning and not to keep silent and be occupied by their mobiles. fourth, the participants held a belief that as a teacher they have flexible roles. theirs should be sensitive to the situation in the class. on one hand, they attempted to be close to the students as friends. on the other hand, they should also be strict and firm with regard to classroom rules. to sum up, this small-scale study has sought to understand the beliefs of some pre-service teachers and the influence on their teaching. it is hoped that the results can inform the study program to prepare the students better before undertaking their teaching practice program. to gain more insight in the area of teachers’ beliefs, future researchers may focus on how pre-service teachers continually revisit their beliefs. references clark-goff, k. (2008). exploring change in preservice teachers’ beliefs about english language learning and teaching (doctoral dissertation). retrieved from https://repository.tamu.edu/bitstream/handle/1969.1/etd-tamu2705/clark-goff-dissertation.pdf?sequence=1 cohen, l., manion, l., & morrison, k. (2000). research methods in education. thousand oaks, ca: sage publications. incecay, g. (2011). effects of learning beliefs of pre-service teachers at an english as a foreign language certificate program on their practice teaching. turkish online journal of qualitative inquiry, october 2011, 2(4) mertens, d. m. (2010). research and evaluation in education and psychology: integrating diversity with quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods (3 rd ed.). london: routledge falmer. stuart, c. & thurlow, d. (2000). making it their own: preservice teachers’ experiences, beliefs, and classroom practices. journal of teacher education, 51(2). zheng, h. (2009). a review of research on efl pre-service teachers’ beliefs and practices. journal of cambridge studies, 4(1). https://repository.tamu.edu/bitstream/handle/1969.1/etd-tamu-2705/clark-goff-dissertation.pdf?sequence=1 https://repository.tamu.edu/bitstream/handle/1969.1/etd-tamu-2705/clark-goff-dissertation.pdf?sequence=1 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 421-433 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 421 self-perceived english accents of tertiary-level learners for professional and daily purposes nermin punar özçelik tarsus university, turkey correspondence: nerminpunar@tarsus.edu.tr https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4817 received 27 june 2022; accepted 23 september 2022 abstract globalization brings linguistic globalization together into modern life, with a great increase in the use of english as lingua franca (elf) for various purposes all around the world. in recent years, there has been a rising number of publications focusing on elf and its components, such as identity, accents, etc. nevertheless, a question remains whether there is a difference between the use of english accents for daily and professional use of tertiary-level learners, who use english both in daily life and close to using english in their immediate future professional life, and its effects on the communicative competencies of the learners. hence, the central intention of this study is to determine the self-perceived english accents of tertiary-level learners, and it is of interest to analyze the effect of self-perceived accents on their communicative competence for daily and professional purposes. data, collected from 105 tertiary-level learners majoring in different departments at a state university in turkey with a survey and a focus group interview have demonstrated that learners prefer british, followed by american english as ideal accents; however, they also care about the properties of accents, mostly intelligibility, for both language use. additionally, learners emphasize the importance of a native-like english accent for professional purposes and believe if they have a native-like accent, they will establish effective communication by gain reputation and prestige in their future careers. keywords: communicative competence, daily language use, elf awareness, selfperceived english accent introduction it is clear that globalization, defined as the expansion, deepening and acceleration of interconnectedness throughout the world in all aspects of modern life by held and mcgrew (2007), leads the way in bringing all nations together in various aspects; such as trade, culture, or language. the effect of globalization on language might be explained by the term ‘linguistic globalization’ which is the use of english as a mediator to connect people who have different mother tongues as a lingua franca (smokotin, alekseyenko, & petrova, 2014). the above term linguistic globalization is similar to the english as lingua franca (elf) definition posited by seidlhofer (2005, p.339). she defined elf as the action of communication in english among people with different first mailto:nerminpunar@tarsus.edu.tr https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4817 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 421-433 422 languages. it is obvious from these definitions that english has turned into a prevailing language throughout the world for communication. to be able to understand to a greater degree the issue of elf, which is a most accepted term to refer to the use of english as a communication tool (house, 2002; seidlhofer, 2001), there is a need to cover kachru’s (1992) three circles of english. according to the kachru, the users of english in the world can be illustrated with three concentric circles; the inner circle consists of the native english speaker countries such as the uk, the usa, etc., outer circle consists of the countries who use english as their second languages such as india, nigeria, etc. and expanding circle consisting of the countries who use english as their foreign language such as turkey, china, russia, etc. albeit the number of users of english in these three circles is reviewed, it is seen that the number of english users in the expanding circle countries outnumber the english users in the inner-circle countries, as a result of globalization. since the number of english speakers is becoming higher and higher, another aspect related to english language teaching, which is pronunciation, comes into the stage. jenkins (2008, p.200) claims that the objective of english language learners may not be having a native-like accent, so they may only intend to communicate in an intelligible way, which is important in communication (wang & jenkins, 2016). therefore, jenkins (2000) came up with a list of pronunciation features, lingua franca core (lfc), to give importance to intelligible communication in her book titled “the phonology of english as an international language”. for years, even if english language education has aimed to make learners have a british accent or american accent (dauer, 2005), language learners may not necessarily need to have a specific kind of accent, rather they may follow lfc to establish intelligible communication with other speakers in english. due to globalization, as mentioned above, the english language has been widely used for communication in different contexts such as professional lives, or daily lives, which are two different concepts in the english language learning process. while daily english language refers to the use of common daily expressions, which do not include technical terms and consist of simple language structures, professional english language refers to a kind of language including technical terms, sector/expertise specific communication, and writing skills. based on the nature of professional english language use, it might be more stressful or significant for learners to get a better english accent for communication. on the other hand, daily english language use might not be so significant for learners that they may believe in communicating effectively somehow. here, it is important to mention the case of english in universities in turkey. according to the tepav report (2015), most of the universities in turkey are turkish medium; however, only a few have 30% english medium for some departments such as medicine, economics, engineering, etc. mostly for professional reasons. the report claims that mixed-medium teaching, which consists of english and turkish together such as 30% english medium programs, is not so effective due to the high preference and transmission of the turkish language of both students and university staff. on the other hand, another problem might be related to accent preference, and correspondingly, the awareness of elf in terms of both english language lecturers and learners. akçay (2020) carried out a study with 78 non-native english lecturers, and 214 english learners at a state university in turkey to find out their perceptions llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 421-433 423 of native and non-native english accents and elf. the results showed that even if they knew elf, they already preferred to adopt native-like accents such as british or american rather than non-native accents, and due to this preference, they had hesitations to communicate with their non-native accents. accent, defined as “the way of speaking that indicates a person’s place of origin and/or social class” mcarthur, 1992, 9), is one of the most challenging aspects of effective communication in english (gluszek & dovidio, 2010). not having a native-like accent can make learners demotivated or more anxious; nevertheless, to manage to communicate successfully in english, language learners should be less anxious and more motivated (leong & ahmadi, 2017). so, the way of feeling less anxious can be paced with elf awareness. therefore, even if university students in turkey are not exposed to english in their daily lives, they will face english in their immediate future business life. for these students, it is useful to know where the way is to communicate effectively. for effective professional communication, it is necessary to know whether an accent is important to them, or whether a distinctive native-like accent is important to them. in this way, it may become more efficient to prepare tertiary-level learners for their professional life soon. however, not only the english for professional life but also their use of english for daily purposes is worth investigating in terms of communicative competence. on the grounds of the effect of globalization, the use of english for various purposes has increased, enabling contradictory issues for researchers. as an illustration, the ownership of english has been attracting considerable interest due to the increase in the number of people who speak english. boonsuk and ambele (2019) carried out a study to examine the perceptions of thai english learners in a university on the ownership of english. in the conclusion of this study, the participants reported that all the people who use english for communication could not only hold the right of owning english but also could use english in a way of their preference beyond maintaining the native speaker norms. the result of this study is also in line with other studies proving non-native english speakers creatively use english depending on the context (widdowson, 2003; jenkins, 2007; cogo & jenkins, 2010; seidlhofer, 2011; kaur, 2009; mauranen, 2012; wang & jenkins, 2016). since the number of people who are non-native english speakers from the expanding circle, according to kachru’s three circles, outnumbers the people who are native english speakers in the modern world, the preferences of people for english accents have become an important issue for researchers (pilus, 2013; wang, 2015; fang, 2016). one of the recent studies on the investigation of english learners’ accent preferences has been carried out by kung and wang (2019). the participants of this study were chinese english learners and most of them showed a bias towards the native-speaker norms of british or american english, showing a bias against non-native speaker norms of chinese english, which is in line with what jenkins (2003) reports. another recent study has been conducted by huang and hashim (2020) with again chinese tertiary-level english learners on the topic of examining their perceptions of different english accents and the relationship between these perceptions and their identities. the results of this study, as well, demonstrated a positive incline of learners toward native english norms with a native incline towards non-native english norms. a study administered to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 421-433 424 malaysian english learners also showed a similar result, by indicating the preferences of learners for native accented english (ahmed, abdullah & heng, 2014). on the other hand, the study carried out by norman (2017) reported a different result. the swedish participants of this study reported that it was not significant to have a native-like english accent. to date, emphasis has been placed on the self-perceived accents of learners, with scant attention given to the effects of self-perceived english accents of tertiary-level learners majoring in different departments on their communicative competence in terms of professional and daily language use, especially in turkey. the analysis of the relationship between self-perceived english accents and the communicative competence for professional and daily language use might be considered important in the sense of training and raising awareness of english as lingua franca of the turkish tertiary-level learners, since if the learners are aware of elf, they might not be concerned about their accents to communicate with others for both professional and daily purposes. to extent of the aim of this study, it has been seeking to answer the following research questions: 1. what accent do the tertiary level learners aim for when speaking english for professional and daily purposes and why? 2. is having a native-like english accent important to acquire for professional and daily purposes according to the tertiary level learners? 3. does self-perceived english accent impact tertiary level learners' communicative competence for professional and daily purposes? method research design the main purposes of the present study are to identify tertiary-level learners’ self-perceived english accents and to explore the impact of their self-perceived english accents on their communicative competence in terms of professional and daily english use. according to the aims of this study, to be able to get a better understanding of the topic, a qualitative research design has been administered by quantifying the data (creswell, 2012). research context and participants the population of the present study consists of all the tertiary level learners in the research site, which is one of the state universities in the southern part of turkey. the state university is a highly new one and it has only seven faculties (economics and administrative sciences, aeronautics and astronautics, engineering, health sciences, technology, applied sciences), and eight departments (political science and public administration, management information systems, aerospace engineering, energy systems engineering, automotive engineering, finance and banking, international trade and logistics, mechanical engineering) and in total it has 812 graduate learners (258 female, 554 male). out of eight departments, three of the graduate programs (management information systems, aerospace engineering, and mechanical engineering) are 30% english medium instruction programs, and they have one-year english language preparatory education. the idea behind including different departments for the present study is that all the learners come from various social backgrounds with different points of view llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 421-433 425 on english and its importance. additionally, some of the graduate learners are in the 30% english medium programs, which means they study or will study their departments somehow in english. hence, it is believed that selecting participants from different departments with different backgrounds will be accurate representatives in pursuance of the aims of the present study. the participants are chosen by convenience sampling design due to their accessibility, availability, and their voluntariness to participate in the study (dörnyei, 2007). since the present study has been carried out under the covid-19 pandemic conditions, it is hard to reach the participants. hence, out of 812 graduate learners enrolled in the research site, only 105 of them completed the online survey and were considered participants in the study. table 1 and table 2 demonstrate the demographic information of participants. the focus group interview was carried out with five volunteer learners from three different departments on google meet, lasting approximately 30 minutes long. table 1. departments of the participants department n % political science and public administration 4 3.81 management information systems* 27 25.71 aerospace engineering* 34 32.38 energy systems engineering 0 0.00 automotive engineering 3 2.86 finance and banking 18 17.14 international trade and logistics 14 13.33 mechanical engineering* 5 4.76 total participants 105 *30% emi departments table 2. gender of the participants gender n % male 64 60.96 female 42 40.00 total participants 105 data collection procedures as a data collection tool “english accent for professional and daily purposes survey” [modified version of norman’s (2017) survey] is administered to the participants by an online document. in the modified version of the survey; the mother tongue has been changed according to the turkey situation, and it has been added some open-ended questions related to the topic. additionally, unlike the original survey, the questions related to speaking confidence have been eliminated for the present study, since it is focused on only communicative competence. the survey has included two questions related to demographic information of learners (gender and departments); nine questions are related to accent perceptions of learners, and the others are related to the communicative competence of learners. as qualitative data collection, a small-scale focus group interview has been carried out on an online meeting platform with volunteer participants. all the interview questions are to get more detailed answers to the open-ended questions llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 421-433 426 on the pre-administered survey, so the interview was semi-structured. the focus group interview lasted about 40 minutes. as part of the data collection procedure, the first step was to modify the available survey under the research site, and it was transferred into an online form document to be able to send to the population. the modified version of the survey has been sent to two language experts for translation in terms of inter-reliability of it, which is a necessary way to measure the level of agreement between raters. according to cohen’s kappa value for interrater reliability, the agreement was 95%, so it showed a great agreement between language experts. then the survey has been sent to the university’s ethics committee for approval, and after getting the approval, the survey has been sent to all tertiary-level university learners who are majoring in different disciplines. the survey was both in english and turkish, to be sure that learners could understand all the statements clearly. when the quantitative results have been collected via the online survey, the volunteer participants have gotten into contact with the researcher, and the volunteer participants created a focus group and have been administered an online interview to be able to get a deeper understanding of the present topic. data analysis the analysis of survey results has been carried out with the calculations of descriptive analysis and frequencies. the answers to open-ended questions and interviews (which are recorded and transcribed) are analyzed by content analysis following a bottom-up approach by noting the themes that occurred. the findings of the study will be handled based on research questions. findings and discussion the purpose of this study was to find out the self-perceived english accents of tertiary-level learners and their effects on their communicative competence in terms of daily and professional english language use. to be able to find the answers to research questions, the present study used descriptive analysis, including frequencies of the answers to survey questions. at the beginning of the survey, tertiary level learners were asked to specify their gender, departments and proficiency in english. gender and departments were shown in table 1 and table 2 in the participants section. on the other hand, out of 105 learners, 80 of them (76.19%) reported their english was average level, 17 of them (16.19%) reported not being good, and only 13 of them (12.38%) reported having a good level of english. it shows that the majority of learners find themselves adequate to communicate in english. all the other results will be explained comprehensively under the title of related research questions in the following section. what accent do the tertiary level learners aim for when speaking english for professional and daily purposes and why? the first research question of the present study aimed to find out the english accent preferences of tertiary-level learners while speaking english for both professional and daily purposes, and the reasons for these preferences. as the first step, learners were asked to identify their ideas on the ideal english accent, so 30% of them claimed that english speaking should sound like a british accent, 23,68% of them preferred the american accent, while 5,27% preferred other accents llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 421-433 427 including turkish, australian, or indian, etc. this result is in line with the study carried out by jenkins (2007), rindal and piercy (2013), kung and wang (2019), huang and hashim (2020), and akçay (2020) in terms of non-native english speakers’ accent preferences; non-native learners mostly prefer british and american english accents due to their reputation. on the other hand, 40,78% of learners did not report any english accent, rather they claimed how english accent/speaking should be. therefore, the results showed that 23,68% of the learners would prefer intelligibility which is significant for language speakers (wang & jenkins, 2016), and this result may also be supported by other studies (ren, chen, & lin, 2016; norman, 2017; boonskuk & ambele, 2019). additionally, other learners claimed that fluency was important in english (5,26%), english speaking/accent should be at b2 or c1 level (7,89%), and the words should be easy to pronounce, etc. (3,95%). the results, so far, have shown that the learners not only prefer an ideal accent for themselves (british, american, etc.) but also care about the properties of accent (intelligibility) and the level of proficiency in english. table 3 demonstrates the learners’ ideal english accent preferences in detail. table 3. ideal english accent preference of learners preferences n % accents american 18 23.68 british 23 30.26 turkish 1 1.32 others (australian, indian, etc.) 3 3.95 accents’ sounds intelligible 18 23.68 fluent 4 5.26 b2/c1 level 6 7.89 others (perfect, easy to pronounce, etc.) 3 3.95 total participants 76 100 since the present study focuses on both aspects of english language use; daily and professional, other questions, as well, were asked to the learners to be able to shed more light on the handled issue. when asked their aim for an accent for daily english language use, 25.96% of them aimed for a british accent, and 19.23% aimed for an american accent, 8.65% aimed for turkish, while 25.96% of them did not aim to sound a certain accent. the rest of the learners (19.23%) claimed they just harmonized the accents they heard from their connections. on the other hand, when asked their aim of accent for professional language use, 25.96% of them aimed british accent, 17.31% aimed american accent, 7.96% aimed turkish accent, and 29.81% did not aim for a certain accent, while 18.27% of them mixed the accents. the results show that in both aspects, non-native tertiary level english speakers mostly aim to sound like british, followed by american, while speaking english. the probable reason for this preference, according to the learners who were in the focus group interview, is the reputation of these two accents around the world, the belief towards the owners of english, the standard idea of the ones who use british or american english knows better english (kung & wang, 2019). the learners were also asked to report their way of choosing english accents while communicating, and 24.27% reported that they adopted the accent from the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 421-433 428 interaction with tv series, movies or online games (mostly british and american english), 22.33% reported they chose the accent that they thought sounded just like them, 16.50% adopted the accent of their teachers, 10.68% adopted the accent they were exposed by social media, 4.85% adopted the accent with the interaction of different sources such as expert opinions, books, etc. on the other hand, 21.36% did not report any way for choosing an accent, since they did not have a certain accent. similarly, some studies, as well, show that learners are under the influence of tv programs, teachers, and social media while adopting a certain accent (kung & wang, 2019). is having a native-like english accent important to acquire for professional and daily purposes according to the tertiary level learners? the second research question focused on whether acquiring a native-like english accent is important for professional and daily purposes according to tertiary level learners. therefore, the tertiary level learners were asked whether english for daily and professional use is different from each other. 96,85% of them reported that they were different from each other. they claimed that while english for daily use should be easy to understand, simple, and short, english for professional use should be certain, detailed and have no room for error. on the other hand, according to the learners, the professional language includes more technical terms and more rules; however, daily language use has few rules and if a mistake has occurred, it might be compensated easily in daily language. for the rest of the learners, 3.15% claimed there was no difference between daily and professional english use; they claimed if they could speak english for daily use, they could also speak for professional purposes as well. 50% of the participants of the present study speak english with a non-native turkish speaker only less than once a month, while 13.46% a few times a week, 10.58% once a week, 15.38% a few times a month, and 10.58% once a month. it shows that these learners are not exposed to and do not use english so much. on the other hand, for daily english use, 55.24% of them cared a little, 24.76% did not care at all, and 20% of them cared a lot about how they sounded or what accent they use. these frequencies differ in the case of professional language use; 46.15% cared a little, 28.85% did not care at all, and 25% cared a lot about how they sound or what accent they use. according to 53.92% of the learners, a native-like english accent was not important for daily language use; while 46.08% of them put importance on it. the learners believed that not accent but intelligibility is important for daily english use. nevertheless, according to 69.31% of the learners, a nativelike english accent was important for professional language use to be able to establish effective communication, prestige, seriousness, and mastery; while 30.69% did not consider an accent as important for professional language use. due to globalization and the increase in immigration, contact among different nations has increased so far, and english is used as a lingua franca between native english speakers and non-native english speakers (gluszek, newheiser, & dovidio, 2011). therefore, the learners will be in contact with other nations for their professional purposes. the learners who are aware of this situation believe that having a nativelike english accent will be beneficial for them in terms of better communication (wasserman, 2008), and feeling more professional and sophisticated (kung & wang, 2019). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 421-433 429 the learners were also asked to report which part of english (vocabulary, grammar, accent, etc.) was necessary for both daily and professional language use. for daily language use, 75.25% of them reported vocabulary, 6.93% accent, 11.88% grammar, and 5.94% others (practice, grammar plus vocabulary, all of them, etc.) are significant in terms of establishing better communication. on the other hand, for professional language use, 52.48% of them reported vocabulary, 25.74% grammar, 14.85% accent, 6.93% others (“professional language includes lots of parameters”, grammar plus vocabulary plus accent altogether, practice, etc.) are significant in terms of effective professional communication. the participants in the focus group claimed that it was useless to choose one aspect for both communication types since language use did not consist of only one aspect, rather they believed the combination of all parts of language enables speakers to carry out effective communication. does self-perceived english accent impact tertiary level learners' communicative competence for professional and daily purposes? the last research question focused on the effect of self-perceived english accents on tertiary level learners’ communicative competence for professional and daily purposes. in terms of daily language use, most of the learners are not exposed to or do not need to speak english. they only face english speaking in english courses or games. on the other hand, in terms of future professional life, almost all of them were aware that they would need english a lot since it is necessary for their profession, and they would be in touch with foreigners in the future while running their businesses. to be able to illuminate this research question, the learners were asked some questions such as “if someone with a native accent of english, a nonturkish, or someone you spoke english with abroad would understand that you do not have english as your first language because of your accent, would you care?”. in conclusion, 52.04% of the learners reported they did not care how they sound claiming no oddity of having a turkish accent while communicating, 29.59% of them reported they did not care at all, while 13.27% of them reported they care about a little, and 5.10% care a lot. a similar result was found by norman (2017), the learners claimed no worry about how they sounded, they only cared about what they said was transferred. when the learners were asked whether the people who are native english speakers or non-native english speakers could understand them better if they had a native-like accent, 75.51% of them claimed yes, while 24.49% of them reported no. the ones who said yes reported that they could express themselves better, they might sound more intelligible, and they could have a clear pronunciation when they have a native-like accent; hence, the other individuals who are native english speakers or other people who use english as a foreign or second language could understand them better. on the other hand, the ones who said no reported that it depends on people; however, there was no relationship between native-like english accents and intelligibility, so the accent did not matter in terms of understanding by others. 70.10% of the learners believed that no matter whether you have a native-like accent, it is more important to be able to express yourself with ease, while 29.90% put more importance on sounding like a native speaker, no matter if you have some problems while expressing yourself. 58.76% of the learners claimed if they had a llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 421-433 430 certain accent, they would have more advantages while communicating with a native or non-native english speaker, due to the intelligibility of their accent and having better communication skills. on the other hand, 19.59% of them claimed if they had a certain accent, they would have some disadvantages due to the confusion of accents and differences in pronunciations. 21.65% of them believed accent did not influence communication. when all the answers to the survey questions have been taken into consideration, it is believed that more than half of the learners do not care about how they sound while communicating in english for daily and professional purposes; however, some of them care about it and they believe that if they speak english with british or american accent, they will establish effective communication. this caring is more important in professional language use since they claim that having a native-like accent will give more benefit to them in terms of gaining prestige from other businesses. conclusion as a result of globalization, the use of english as a lingua franca has gained acceleration, so people around the world are exposed to and use english more than before. in parallel with this, the tertiary level learners are the ones who may use english for daily purposes and are close to using english for professional purposes in near future. the present study aimed to find out the tertiary level learners’ own english accent perceptions, and their influence on communicative competence in terms of both daily and professional language use. the study focused on three research questions; accent preferences of tertiary-level learners, the importance of having a native-like english accent for professional and daily language use, and the effect of accent on communicative competencies of tertiary-level learners in both aspects. the data was obtained by a survey and focus group interview and analyzed with frequencies. the results of the study showed that the majority of the learners preferred british, followed by american english for both daily and professional language use. they believed that if they had a british or american english accent, they would sound better to the other speakers. on the other hand, the other majority of the learners did not aim to sound like a certain accent, instead, they focused on intelligibility, which means they only cared about expressing themselves in any way without putting any importance on accent. according to the learners, daily and professional english use differed from each other, for instance, daily language might be simpler and shorter, while professional language might be error-free and more detailed. the learners put more emphasis on the importance of a native-like english accent for professional purposes and they believed that if they had a nativelike english accent, they would have more benefits in terms of professional life since they could show mastery, gain prestige, and sound more sophisticated. all in all, they elaborated on the importance of intelligibility rather than a certain accent. just like the other studies, the present study has some limitations such as the number of participants. since the study was carried out during the covid-19 pandemic, it was hard to collect online data from the participants. nevertheless, even if they may not be generalized due to the limitation, the present results might be important to researchers interested in elf, elf awareness, english accents and english teachers. further studies may be carried out to shed more light on the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 421-433 431 reasons for these preferences and it may be beneficial to conduct some comparison analysis between daily language speakers and professional language speakers. on the other hand, as a result of the focus group interview, it was understood that the learners had the benefit of exposing different english accents in terms of understanding these accents better. so, it might be more useful to expose english language learners to the different accents and apply the lfc offered by jenkins (2000) to make them more aware of various english accents. with the help of this awareness, they may have a better self-perceived accent and their communicative competence may not be influenced by the accent at all, since they will know the importance of intelligibility rather than the accent while communicating, and they will follow the basic rules of pronunciation rather than the rules of certain english accents, such as british or american. references ahmed, z. t., abdullah, a. n., & heng, c. s. 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(2014). the phenomenon of linguistic globalization: english as the global lingua franca (eglf). procedia – social and behavioral sciences, 154, 509-513. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.10.177 tepav, t. (2015). the state of english in higher education in turkey. british council. wang, w. (2015). teaching english as an international language in china: investigating university teachers' and students' attitudes towards china english. system, 53, 60-72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2015.06.008 wang, y., & jenkins, j. (2016). “nativeness” and intelligibility: impacts of intercultural experience through english as a lingua franca on chinese speakers’ language attitudes. chinese journal of applied linguistics, 39(1), 38-58. https://doi.org/10.1515/cjal-2016-0003 wasserman, s. j. (2008). accent and intelligibility: an investigation of selfperceived communication abilities of non-native english speakers. detroit: wayne state university. widdowson, h. (2003). defining issues in english language teaching. oxford: oxford university press. https://doi.org/10.1075/aals.8.09sei https://doi.org/10.1111/1473-4192.00011 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.10.177 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2015.06.008 https://doi.org/10.1515/cjal-2016-0003 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 379-386 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 379 the problem of teaching english in elementary school-based on teacher involved: exploring teacher's perspective zulfikar noor 1*, addinul kamil harahap 2, and utami dewi 3 1,2,3universitas islam negeri sumatera utara, indonesia zulfikar.noor@uinsu.ac.id1, addinulkamil.harahap@uinsu.ac.id2, and utamidewi@uinsu.ac.id3 *correspondence: zulfikar.noor@uinsu.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5708 received 7 january 2023; accepted 26 april 2023 abstract english-teaching problem is an important issue that has been discussing and in diverse contexts around the world, including english teacher problems, students, assessments, curricula and textbooks, and the various variables that contribute to effective english as a foreign language (efl) teaching, for this reason, the purpose of the study is to explore 10 participants’ perspective in issues of teaching english in elt classroom. this descriptive qualitative study investigated how teachers perceived the english teaching issue based on the teachers involved. data were collected using a questionnaire that includes a single primary question about the use of teaching-english issues that were raised by teachers. this study came to three main conclusions: (1) teachers' emotional control. (2) personal experience of teachers. (3) the teacher's interest in the character of the pupil. (4) teaching staff accountability. finally, problems with teaching english should not be understated because they have a significant impact on how well students learn the language in elementary schools. to continuously improve their teaching skills without becoming complacent, teachers must be aware of their shortcomings. keywords: english teachers’ problem, issue of english teaching, teacher professional development introduction english-teaching problem is an important issue that has been discussing and in diverse contexts around the world, including english teacher problems, students, assessments, curricula and textbooks, and the various variables that contribute to effective english as a foreign language (efl) teaching (akbari, 2015; ali & walker, 2014; noom-ura, 2013; rahman et al., 2019). an extensive study on english teaching problems has been conducted in thailand noom-ura (2013) discussed the problem of teaching english as a foreign language in general issue. also based on teaching speaking problem assessment in bangladesh (ahmed, 2018; islam et al., 2021) and learning in south africa malebese and tlali (2019). a similar issue exists in the context of indonesia specifically (gultom, 2015; songbatumis, 2017; utami & astuti, 2021; yulia, 2013). mailto:zulfikar.noor@uinsu.ac.id mailto:addinulkamil.harahap@uinsu.ac.id mailto:utamidewi@uinsu.ac.id mailto:zulfikar.noor@uinsu.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5708 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 379-386 380 there are still far too many widespread issues at schools that have not yet been resolved. both internal and external factors, as well as teachers' perceptions of their difficulties teaching english, can all be considered contributing factors. lack of specialized training for teachers in the field of study pennington and richards (2016), which the principal should facilitate, a large number of students in the class making it unproductive (hidayati, 2018; malik et al., 2021), the numerous assignments given by each teacher in the field of study, ineffective study hours malik et al. (2021), inadequate textbooks, curricula and other factors prevent teachers in the class from implementing innovative learning techniques jon et al. (2021). the teaching-english problem has been discussed in some general earlier studies related to this topic, as it is mentioned by (gultom, 2015; sarihuddin, 2013) reveal that kinds of english language teaching (elt) problems in indonesia such as students’ lack of motivation, poor attitude toward language learning, big class size, unqualified teachers, cultural barriers for teachers to adopt the new role of facilitator and teaching frequency also meters. the various analyses jon et al. (2021) provided an explanation of the english language instruction used in indonesia, the approach used was a qualitative library research design, which necessitated that the author gathers the relevant object materials from earlier studies on related english language teaching. the english curriculum, english teaching techniques, students' attitudes toward english, and teachers' difficulties teaching english in indonesia are some of the sources used in this study. the study's findings show that students are rarely motivated to learn a language because of how difficult it is, how inadequate the resources are, and how little time and opportunity there is for practice. the english subject in indonesia for the elementary school level is very important as it is stated that the english subject in elementary school is one of the elective subjects in the independent curriculum in minister of education and culture no. 67 of 2013. the decision that linear english at the elementary school level (sd/mi) is legally included under number 56/m/2022 regarding recommendations for how to implement the curriculum in the context of learning recovery. the decision states that contrary to what was stated in the previous curriculum, namely the 2013 curriculum, that is why in the future there will be many challenges that will be faced by english teachers to implement good learning in class because the writer in this research needs to explore the problems experienced by the teacher to avoid mistakes that have the potential to be repeated later some issues related to the problem of teaching english comes from prior, (2019) showed in their study that the emotion of teachers can affect classroom activities and teacher professionalization (burić & frenzel, 2019; dumančić, 2018) revealing teachers’ boredom and anger could bring negative teaching effect in elt classroom. bad performance of teachers in delivering material and teaching classroom management (geng et al., 2019; rinantanti et al., 2019), less concern of teachers for their students’ personalities mcgrath and van bergen (2019) and impact of undisciplined teachers mercader and gairín (2020). however, there hasn't been much research that specifically addresses the issues with english learning in the classroom brought on by the teachers themselves. for this reason, the researchers here concentrate on investigating the issues with english learning in elementary school classes, particularly those brought llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 379-386 381 on by the teachers themselves and the need for teachers' professional development. at least two questions were addressed in this study, the first of which was what difficulties english teachers, particularly those brought on by the teachers themselves, encounter in the classroom. what are the specific teacher's professional development requirements concerning english teaching issues? the findings of this study should be able to explain the difficulties english teachers face in the classroom, particularly those brought on by the teachers themselves, and guarantee that elementary school teachers' needs for professional development are met. method this descriptive qualitative study investigated how teachers perceived the english teaching issue based on the teachers involved. since the authors discovered some intriguing problems regarding english teacher problems teachers' professional development needs, participants in the study were chosen at random from a group of ten english teachers from various schools in medan, indonesia. three criteria were used to select the participants. (1) having more than three years of experience; (2) teaching english in an elementary school in indonesia; (3) and having earned a degree in english education. according to the authors, the majority of english teachers believed that one of the issues with teaching english originated with the instructors. in addition, the researchers discovered that english classes received lower grades than the other subject classes. it appears that the professionalism of instructors is influenced by problems they encounter while instructing english. as a result of their inability to perform at their highest level when teaching english in the classroom, teachers' difficulties with the language negatively affect students' learning outcomes. as a result, the authors selected these institutions to investigate the students' difficulties in english-language instruction and to ascertain their views on the demands placed on teachers' professional development needs (binmahboob, 2020; hamad, 2017). the primary source of information for this study was teachers' perceptions, so the authors used a questionnaire to learn how they felt about the issue of english language instruction based on the teachers who were directly affected and the need for professional development. to understand teachers' opinions about the difficulty of teaching english based on those who are involved and their needs for professional development, a questionnaire with open-ended questions was distributed. findings and discussion participants in this study answered questions about the problem of teaching english based on teacher involvement and teachers' professional development needs on a questionnaire. there is only one open-ended question only focused on the teachers' problems that arise in their classes. the question is mention at least 5 difficulties that you as a teacher face when teaching english to students—problems that you have created yourself! after examining the questionnaire responses, commonalities that are thought to be significant and useful to this study emerged. additionally, the key themes that emerged from this research were (1) teachers' emotional control, (2) teachers’ knowledge, (3) teacher's concern for student llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 379-386 382 personality, (4) teacher accountability in teaching. below is a discussion of these ideas. teachers’ emotional control emotions are mental states caused by neurophysiological changes that are variously linked to thoughts, feelings, behavioral reactions, and a level of pleasure or annoyance. prior (2019) mentioned in their study that teacher identities, classroom activities, and teacher professionalization are fundamentally influenced by emotions. starting with this problem, i discovered that many teachers also struggled with emotional control. they claimed that when teaching english classes, their emotions, such as boredom, spiritlessness, laziness, and anger, were frequently uncontrollable. the teachers acknowledged that their spiritlessness and boredom were caused by the school's environment, which remained the same every day. while boredom is regarded as a depressing emotion (deactivating in terms of activation), it has a negative emotional valence dumančić (2018). they encountered the same people there, including students, other teachers, the school's cleaning staff, and security personnel. teachers spend each day in the same location, which is unique to the school setting and is therefore always visible. the second feeling, laziness, despite having the capacity to act or exert oneself, being lazy is a disposition against activity or effort which appeared when the teaching process that the teachers, in this case, mentioned occasionally occurred because of several issues that students brought about, which undoubtedly had a significant impact on their attitudes and motivation. examples of these issues include overactive students, students who were constantly noisy in class, students who refused to complete their assignments, and disobedient students, all of which occurred continuously and repeatedly in class. the last emotion experienced by teachers was anger. anger is a negative emotion brought on by an unfair or cruel incident that has occurred. this incident was not particularly serious; rather, the teachers were merely irritated with the students for failing to grasp the straightforward lesson they had taught. it is only natural for a teacher to experience this if it repeatedly occurs and many things happened in their class which did by students also made teachers got anger. performance of teaching english materials the next issue is about teaching material this is kind of problem that teacher much commented even all of them graduated from english education program in the collage and having more than three years experiences in teaching english but this problem still could not be handled by them, there are variation external factors happened which mentioned by the teachers such as ever-changing curricula, irrelevant textbooks, and inadequate school facilities, of course these problems can result in problems that are broken down as follows: here were the teachers mentioned their problems related about teaching materials such as grammar, writing, listening and speaking that they could not handle during teaching process namely: lack of understanding of material, sometimes not preparing material, presenting material in a way that was not optimal, less creative in developing material, having difficulty explaining material, lack of strategy when delivering lessons, and teachers were looking for references from many sources. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 379-386 383 teacher's concern for student personality based on teachers' perspectives, i discovered in this research that students' behavior during the learning process was another significant issue. in this instance, the teacher said that they were aware of this particular issue within themselves. teachers openly acknowledged that they were unable to give each student their undivided attention in a consistent manner. a few of the teacher confessions i was able to gather were could not pique students' interest, was unable to pay attention to each student individually, and was less skilled at handling students who were disinterested in completing their grammar assignments. teachers were less assertive with students who frequently disrupted class, occasionally favoring only smart students, and being unaware of students' interests. according to teachers, classes typically had between thirty and thirty-five students, and a teacher might manage more than three classes per week, which equated to twelve hours of lessons per week that the teacher had to handle independently. teachers' discipline in teaching english the final problem i found in this research involved teacher discipline. teachers claimed that they were still unable to maintain discipline in their daily lessons. teachers are to blame for this kind of issue because they rarely use english with their students when teaching speaking lessons, making it difficult for students to learn new words from them. teachers are also less strict about punishing students who do not use the english language in class. additionally, they claimed that their lack of preparation before class prevented them from paying attention during the lesson. additionally, they did a poorer job of encouraging students to learn before or after class. this case revealed that teacher emotional control is the thing that really important to handle teachers without controlling our emotions we as a teacher could not handle class maximally related to the study by prior (2019) has explained that teacher professionalization, classroom practice, and teacher identities are all fundamentally influenced by emotions. this result shows the emotions that teachers cannot control the first is about spiritlessness and boredom. dumančić (2018) explained in their study that in english as a foreign language (efl) classroom there are six separate categories—subject matter, students, tasks and activities, student assessment, teaching aids and materials, and teaching methods—were used to group various sources of boredom. but i found unique and different kinds of causes of boredom that teachers felt boredom and spiritless because of the school environment which is always the same every day. the laziness emotion of teachers mentioned in this result was because they could not manage their students in the classroom while teaching process according to this finding i can conclude that that thing happened also because there are so many student behavior that they make repeatedly and continuously without stopping which in the end results in a lazy and unprofessional attitude from a teacher who deals with them happened. teachers got angry in this next issue because of getting many things that happened in their classroom during the teaching process specifically which came from students, overactive students did not want to do their assignments, being noisy in the class, and so on, it is related to the study that has discussed by burić and frenzel (2019) the term "triggers of teacher anger" refers to interactions with students and includes things like breaking classroom rules, being rude and haughty, disrespecting the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 379-386 384 teacher and peers, acting aggressively, and obstructing learning objectives with inappropriate behavior. sweating, headaches, a rise in blood pressure, and an increase in heart rate were all described as physiological symptoms of teachers' experiences with anger. additionally, teacher performance is a major problem in elt classrooms. according to this result, teachers confess to having a lack of understanding of the material, sometimes not preparing the material, ineffectively presenting the material, being less creative when developing the material, struggling to explain the material, lacking a strategy for teaching, and looking for references from a variety of sources. these themes were also mentioned by rinantanti et al. (2019), who suggested that factors affecting teachers' performance, such as overcrowded classroom conditions, inadequate facilities and learning resources, curriculum and government policies that are out of step with students' needs, family background, and family support, as well as the student's cultural background, may contribute to the student's poor performance of english learning achievement in papua. according to this finding, teachers should be concerned about students' personalities. many teachers admit that they don't pay enough attention to their students because of the large class size and heavy teaching load they bear. this is especially true of students who struggle to understand what they are learning, as demonstrated by geng et al. (2019) explained the fundamental qualities of teachers, such as empathy, compassion, understanding, flexibility, tolerance, and love of children, as well as the competencies and skills required for classroom management, as well as whether the teaching profession suits them. in their study, mcgrath and van bergen (2019) found that two groups relate to teachers' concern for their students: the first cluster included teachers' compassion/empathy, emotion control, perspective-taking, regret, and attachment behavior. the second cluster included concepts like tolerance of behavior, forgiveness, and behavior attributions. according to the findings of this study, teacher discipline is a form of professional development. teachers admitted that they sometimes lacked focus while teaching english classes and that they were not always firm in dealing with rowdy students in speaking classes. these barriers should be overcome by teachers' academic discipline because mercader and gairín (2020) stated that the academic discipline of university professors is one of the most important factors in ensuring that students behave in class. conclusion in the context of elt, teaching problems are significant problem because they have a significant impact on the elt process and a very broad scope. after examining the participant teachers' questionnaires, this study only discusses problems with english teaching in a specific area. i can conclude that numerous issues with teaching english in the classroom involve both the teacher and outside factors that have a significant impact on teacher professional development in elt classrooms. teachers must be aware of their weaknesses as teachers to continue to improve their teaching abilities without feeling satisfied. the teaching-english problem is a problem that should not be undervalued because it has a significant impact on the effectiveness of learning english in elementary schools. to further our understanding of this type of problem, i would advise another researcher to focus their research on issues like teacher boredom, teacher behavior, and teacher llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 379-386 385 performance. another idea might be how to address the issue as an english teacher in the classroom, in which case reading the study's findings would be fantastic. references ahmed, m. k. 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(2019). teacher anger: new empirical insights using a multi-method approach. teaching and teacher education, 86, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2019.102895 dumančić, d. (2018). investigating boredom among efl teachers. exell, 6(1), 57–80. https://doi.org/10.2478/exell-2019-0006 geng, j., jong, m. s.-y., & chai, c. s. (2019). hong kong teachers’ self-efficacy and concerns about stem education. the asia-pacific education researcher, 28(1), 35–45. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-018-0414-1 gultom, e. (2015). english language teaching problems in indonesia. proceeding: 7th international seminar on regional education, 3, 1234-1241. hamad, m. m. (2017). using whatsapp to enhance students’ learning of english language “experience to share”. higher education studies, 7(4), 74-87. https://doi.org/10.5539/hes.v7n4p74 hidayati, k. h. 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(2021). identification of barriers and challenges to teaching english at an early age in indonesia: an international publication analysis study. linguistics and culture review, 5(1), 217–229. https://doi.org/10.21744/lingcure.v5n1.1485 mcgrath, k. f., & van bergen, p. (2019). attributions and emotional competence: why some teachers experience close relationships with disruptive students (and others don’t). teachers and teaching: theory and practice, 25(3), 334–357. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2019.1569511 mercader, c., & gairín, j. (2020). university teachers’ perception of barriers to the use of digital technologies: the importance of the academic discipline. international journal of educational technology in higher education, 17(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-020-0182-x songbatumis, a. m. (2017). challenges in teaching english faced by english teachers at mtsn taliwang, indonesia. journal of foreign languange teaching and learning, 2(2), 54-67. https://doi.org/10.18196/ftl.2223 noom-ura, s. (2013). english-teaching problems in thailand and thai teachers ’ professional development needs. 6(11), 139–147. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v6n11p139 pennington, m. c., & richards, j. c. (2016). teacher identity in language teaching: integrating personal, contextual, and professional factors. relc journal, 47(1), 5–23. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688216631219 prior, m. t. (2019). elephants in the room: an “affective turn,” or just feeling our way? modern language journal, 103(2), 516–527. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12573 rahman, m. m., islam, m. s., karim, a., chowdhury, t. a., rahman, m. m., seraj, p. m. i., & singh, m. k. m. (2019). english language teaching in bangladesh today: issues, outcomes and implications. language testing in asia, 9, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40468-019-0085-8 rinantanti, y., bin-tahir, s. z., & aminah. (2019). the impact of efl senior high school teachers’ performance in papua, indonesia toward the students’ english learning achievement. asian efl journal, 23(3), 431–447. sarihuddin, s. (2013). the implementation of the 2013 curriculum and the issues of english language teaching and learning in indonesia. the asian conference on language teaching 2013, 567–574. utami, r. p., & astuti, u. p. (2021). efl teachers ’ problems and solutions in teaching english to students with intellectual and developmental disability. ijeltal indonesian journal of english language teaching and applied linguistics, 6(20), 173–188. yulia, y. (2013). teaching challenges in indonesia: motivating students and teachers’ classroom language. indonesian journal of applied linguistics, 3(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v3i1.186 https://doi.org/10.21744/lingcure.v5n1.1485 https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2019.1569511 https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-020-0182-x https://doi.org/10.18196/ftl.2223 https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v6n11p139 https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688216631219 https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12573 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40468-019-0085-8 https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v3i1.186 llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 language and language teaching journal http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 139 teachers’ and students’ perception on the frequent test: vocabulary course elizabeth wulan wahyuningtyas and fransiska selvy wulandari sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia elisabeth.wulan03@gmail.com and selxaveria@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2017.200208 received 16 december 2017; revised 30 june 2017; accepted 5 august 2017 abstract through frequent test, students have higher self-motivation to understand every material in order to make them prepared in attending frequent test. this paper aims to see the teachers’ and students’ perceptions on frequent test. in addition, as the further finding, the writers will focus on the benefits of frequent test. the paper is an observation paper that focused on students ‘and teachers’ perception through frequent test, and its benefits. the finding shows that both of the teachers and students show the positive perspective toward frequent test. thus, frequent test is beneficial to both, the teachers and the students in learning process, even though there are also the negative effects. keywords: teachers’ perception, students’ perception, benefits, frequent test introduction the classroom activity needs both of teachers’ and students’ participation to reach the learning objectives. teachers make some material design and classroom activity design to help the students master every material. especially, in this digital era, teachers try to make more and more interesting material design, which can increase the students’ interest. quiz, drill, and test are such tools which can help teachers measure the students’ performance and understanding. thus, those tools also can help students to have more motivation. in this paper, the writers concern on the use of frequent test as a classroom activity. frequent test is a test formation given every week or every two weeks, which helps students to master the materials part by part. geist and soehren (1997, as cited in gholani & moghaddam, 2013, p. 36), conclude that frequent test or test gives some advantages and meaningful effects on learners’ performance. through the frequent test, the students have more motivation to understand and master the materials because they will undergo the frequent test in the following meeting. the teachers will have such a tool to measure the students ‘learning progress. when the teachers find that the students’ mark is decreasing, they can make such a review of the materials and make the further explanation to help the students. however, frequent test takes the teachers’ time in making the questions and burdens the students. usually teachers prefer testing the students after they finish the material (summative assessment) rather than giving the periodic or frequent test (formative assessment). from the background above, there are three research mailto:elisabeth.wulan03@gmail.com llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 140 questions formulated such as what are the teachers’ perceptions toward the frequent test? what are the students’ perceptions toward the frequent test? and what are the benefits of frequent test (toward the student)? perception according to romanov (2007), perception is including senses, feelings, ideas, thoughts, and theories. it is people’s capability to see the variation. on the other word, perception can be one’s opinion, belief, and thought of something. one’s perception can be influenced not only by interests but also other motives and desires (vernon, 1972, p. 178). it means that one’s perception can be persuaded by internal and external factors. vernon also said that ‘perception is never instantaneous’ (p. 32). that statement indicates that one cannot make or create her or his perception of something without thinking about that thing. it intends that one needs to think it first before making the perception. based on xiao & carless (2013, p. 16), students’ perception is divided into two, negative and positive feelings. “negative feelings mainly arise from three aspects: pressurized school life and heavy workload; perceived negative sentiments following from unsatisfactory or disappointing results; and discouraging conversations with teachers.” therefore, positive feelings mostly come from achievement and pleasant feeling, such as satisfying mark, teacher’s and friends’ support (p. 16). xiao & carless (2013, p. 1) also say that “educational and social context in which the students are studying influence the experience and perception.” the disagreement with peers may change their perception toward school. there are many cases, which result on the students’ hatred toward certain lesson because of their trauma toward the teacher. thus, the students’ hatred happens for years. huhta et al., (2006 as cited in xiao& carless, 2013, p. 3), find that students’ perception was “complex and multi-faceted in that they expressed varied emotions during a single episode and over time.” students revealed different roles within a series of repertoires: hard-working or lazy, skilled or unskilled, cool or nervous, lucky or unlucky.” students are unstable in their age; they change frequently because of their emotional condition and their surroundings. their mood drives them to be interested or uninterested in such case. however, teachers have to be able to give the students some test variation to avoid the boredom. teacher’s perception is such an important factor to enhance and influence the teaching learning process. according to yu (1986 as cited in srakang & jansen, 2013, p. 50), teachers’ perceptions influence what teachers do both inside and outside the classrooms.” in addition, barcelos (2000, as cited in srakang & jansen, 2013, p. 50) finds that language educator’s perception will affect the language that the educator practices in teaching learning activity. thus, the teachers’ perspectives determine their attitude inside and outside the classroom. inside the classroom, teacher is the energy activator for the students, so the teachers have to be able to maintain his or her own perspective. when the teachers do not show their interest in the class, the whole class’ feeling will be affected. it results in the uninteresting teaching learning process. moreover, srakang & jansen (2013, p. 50) say that educator have to be careful of what they think and trust when doing the teaching learning activity. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 141 meaning that the educators’ perceptions are the base to build the judgment and decision making for the educator. based on srakang & jansen (2013, p. 50), “teachers’ perceptions have played a crucial role in teaching and learning processes due to the fact that they not only influence teachers’ actions and teachers’ decision making but also provide significant insight into aspects of education.” teachers ‘decisions influence the students’ future. when teachers have a bad perspective toward the students or class, they will possibly say something, which will hurt the students and probably kill the students’ motivation to learn. test in a simple word, test is a tool to measure someone’s capability, skill, and knowledge that occur at particular times in a curriculum (brown, 2003, p. 3). in a test, teacher give some questions related to the materials which given to measure the learners’ degree of understanding and capability to accept what is being learn. besides, brown said that a test measures performance, but the result stated the learner’s ability (p. 4). in the test, teachers are willing to know the learners’ level of understanding and their ability of processing the new materials. according to brown (2003, p. 5), test can be implemented in many forms and its own guideline, such as multiple choices with prescribed correct answer, essay, and writing prompt with a scoring rubric, oral interview based on a question script and list of the expected response, and so on. again, brown mentioned two types of test, formative and summative assessment (p. 6). based on brown (2003, pp. 6-7), formative assessment is an assessment that evaluates learners in the ‘processes’ of forming their performance and ability to help learners continue the growth process and summative assessment aim to measure or summarize the overall ability that learners have gotten. it is usually implemented in the end of the chapter or semester. besides, in a test, there is a factor called learners’ rater reliability. it is in line with how students deal with the situation around them, such as fatigue, bad day, anxiety, temporary illness, and other physical or psychological factors. frequent test according to bertrand (1962), tests are media used to measure and evaluate the growth and development of children. it is in line with frequent test that aims to monitor the development and growth of learners. frequent test is a test that given every week or once in two weeks in a course. it attends to measure the development of learners in the process of learning. through frequent test, teachers are able to measure learners’ ability in understanding the new materials and evaluate how well learners accept it. frequent test also help learners memorize the materials for longer period and help them ready for the next test (johnson & kivineimi, 2009, p. 29, as cited in gholani & moghaddam, 2013, p. 36). zarei (2008, as cited in gholani & moghaddam, 2013, p. 37) states that frequent test supply motivation for learners to attend the class. besides, wilder (2001, as cited in gholani & moghaddam, 2013, p. 36) in his study also concludes that learner’s attendance increased 10% when the frequent test is held. mostly, learners will not lose their chance in a test, so they will come and prepare for any tests. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 142 method this paper is a qualitative study on teachers’ and students’ perception toward the frequent test. based on ary, joacobs, & sorensen (2008, p. 29), qualitative study concerns on “getting an absolute picture and deeper understanding rather than the analysis of data which presented in numeric form”. moreover, in qualitative study, the writers also pointed on understanding the social phenomena from the perspective of a human participant in a natural setting (p. 21). the phenomenon that would be discussed in this paper is related to the perceptions of frequent test, teachers’ and students’ perception. the instrument of this paper was questionnaires. the writers distributed the questionnaires to the participants. there are 12 scaled questions (likert scale) to the students, and 12 scaled questions and 2 open-ended questions to the teachers. in the questionnaire, the scales are also five; (1) strongly disagree, (2) disagree, (3) uncertain, (4) agree, and (5) strongly agree. based on wiersma (1995, p. 318), likert scale, usually has five scale which represent a set of related response and the participants will give their response by checking a point (letter or number) representing a point on the scale. based on mcdonough & mcdonough (1997, p. 176), open-ended questions give space to the participants to extend information and their point of view in detailed. the participants of this study are 15 english language education study program (elesp) students, vocabulary course lecturer and 3 english education master’s program (eemp) students (who work as teachers) who implement and undergo the frequent test in their classroom activity. the elesp students were first semester who experience the frequent test in vocabulary course. findings and discussion based on the findings gained from the participants, the writers will elaborate teachers’ perception toward frequent test. the first is that frequent test is beneficial for the teachers and the students. geist & soehren (1997, as cited in gholani & moghaddam, 2013, p. 36) say that frequent quiz has an advantage and effect on learner’s performance. according to gholani & moghaddam, (2013, p. 37), frequent testing is advantageous because trough giving the frequent quiz, school have the chance to collect the useful information about the students’ performance. the participants assume that frequent test may help both teachers and students in monitoring and evaluating self-performance learning process. in addition, it is one of effective way to help the students mastering the materials part by part. the participants argued that if the teachers do not use frequent test, teachers would give too much burden for the students because they will study the whole material at once and the learning ends up ineffectively. the second is that frequent test may burden the students even though there are so many benefits of frequent test. “frequent testing might also become tedious for students and decrease students’ interest in the material and learning in general” (gholani & moghaddam, 2013, p. 37). if the teachers cannot create different kind of the frequent test, it may make the students be bored to do the frequent test. therefore, teachers should be able to create different types of the questions for the frequent test so that the students will be interested in. besides that, frequent test is llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 143 sometimes time consuming and burden the teachers in creating and marking the students’ works. according to gholani & moghaddam, 2013, p. 37: too much testing does not lead to fruitful and lifelong learning because teachers put their focus only on the test and teach to the test, providing the students only with the amount of information they need to do well on the test. because teacher teach to the test and students read to the test, learning does not last for a long time. it means that the teachers should be able to deliver the materials with proper method and then the students will be able to put the materials in the long-term memory. therefore, the learning process will be meaningful to both, the teachers and the students. table 1 presents the percentage of students’ perception toward the frequent test. the data gathered based on questionnaire. table 1. students’ perception toward the use of frequent test no. disagree uncertain agree 1. agreed the existence of frequent quiz 6. 67 % 33.33% 60% 2. frequent test is time consuming 53.33% 13.34% 33.33% 3. frequent test is burdensome 33.33% 46.67% 20% 4. frequent test is an effective learning method 53.33% 46.67% 5. frequent test give the positive benefits 100% based on the students’ point of view, mostly the participants agree with the existence of frequent test (60%). there were only 33.33% of the students who are uncertain about the existence of frequent test, and there are 6.67 % of the participants who disagree of the existence of frequent test. from the students’ point of view, there are some supporting reasons why they agree of the frequent test. firstly, according to dustin (1971, as cited in gholani & moghaddam, 2013, p. 37), one of the benefit of frequent testing is making the extrinsic motivation for the learners, since the learners who want to gain the good mark make some effort and spend lot of time to equip the quiz. frequent test is time consuming, considers that the students have to prepare themselves to be ready to face the upcoming quiz. however, 53.33% of the participants disagree with the statement saying that the frequent quiz is time consuming. while 13.34% of the participants are uncertain, and 33.33% of them are agreed that frequent test is time consuming. the participants do not realize that as a student, they tend to enjoy preparing the frequent test and forget how long they spend their time to study every week. secondly, there are 20% of the participants who agree that frequent test is such a burdensome activity. it can be burdensome because they have to llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 144 understand and memorize the material in order to make themselves be ready for the frequent test, which come once in a week or once in two weeks. dustin (1971, as cited in gholani & moghaddam, 2013, p. 37), believes that “stress is reduced through frequent testing”. dustin’s word is proven by the participants’ answer. there are 33.33% of the participant who disagree and 46.67% of them are uncertain that frequent test is such a burdensome activity. the material tested in the frequent test is part by part, so the students will not face too much material. frequent test sometimes used by the teacher to help learners to master the material little by little. thus, there are 53.33% of the participants who consider frequent test as the effective learning method, and there are 46.67% of the participants who are uncertain about it. the last, all of the participants (100%) agree that frequent test give them the positive benefits in teaching learning process. from the questionnaires that were distributed to the teachers and the elesp students, the writers found the benefits of giving and receiving or doing frequent test. in this part, the writers will elaborate findings of the study. this part is decided into two; teachers’ point of view and students’ point of view. teachers’ point of view on teachers’ point of view, there are several benefits from the participants gained by giving the frequent test to the students. firstly, by giving frequent test, teachers may help the students to build self-motivation in learning. one of the ways to that is by giving additional score to the diligent and hardworking students. at first, students do it and get good results because of the rewards given by the teachers but then, the students will be able to motivate themselves to always do the best to grab the great score. according to zarei (2008, as cited in gholani & moghaddam, 2013, p. 37), frequent test is a good source of motivation that let the students to do good preparation for the test in order to get good upshot. unconsciously, it will make the students perform better in their learning so that they can gain good score for their own. dustin (1971, as cited in gholani & moghaddam, 2013, p. 37) says that one of the benefits of frequent testing is making the extrinsic motivation for the learners, since the learners who want to gain the good mark make some efforts and spend lot of time to equip the quiz. besides that, frequent test can make students more diligent or enthusiast to come to the classroom. some studies (clump, bauer, & alex, 2013; jones, 1984; wilder et al., 2001, as cited in gholani & moghaddam, 2013, p. 37) found that frequent test could increase students’ attendance to the class. it is because students need to attend the entire class so that they will get the whole materials given and then, they will be able to do frequent test well. in addition, they will not lose one chance to gain good grade by attending the frequent test. secondly, the teachers can easily monitor the students’ performances in learning. frequent testing can give the beneficial advisory of the school performance toward the students (bangers-drowns et al., 1986; standlee & popham, 1960, cited in gholani & moghaddam, 2013, p. 37). teachers may know how much the students understand and when the teachers find that they did not perform well, the teachers will review the materials again. in addition, the llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 145 teachers can help students to monitor themselves which part of the materials they do not understand yet. it is one of the characteristic of independent learning. students’ point of view the first benefit is that frequent test can motivate the students to study harder than usual. 10 of 15 students (66.67%) assume that frequent quiz may help them to motivate themselves to learn the materials harder than usual they do. zarei (2008, as cited in gholani & moghaddam, 2013, p. 37) said that students will do good preparation for frequent test and it is a good motivation and also, it can motivate the students to come to class. however, some of the students (20%) agree that frequent test increased their attendance in the class, 53.33% students are uncertain about that and the rest (26.67%) disagree with that. then, the second benefit is that frequent test is able to help the students to learn and understand the materials part by part. most of the students (86.67%) agree that frequent test help them in understanding the materials given in the class gradually. based on standlee & popham (1960, as cited in gholani & moghaddam, 2013, p. 37), frequent test covers small number of materials to be learned by the students so that they are able to understand deeply and meticulously. furthermore, students may take shorter time to study the materials because they do not learn the whole materials at once but part by part. so that, the students apprehend the materials for longer period and help them more to the bigger exam (johnsom & kiviniemi, p. 29, as cited in gholani & moghaddam, 2013, p. 36). some students (33.33%) assume that frequent test still takes longer time to study the materials and 9 from 15 students (60%) are uncertain about that and then the rest (6.67%) agree with that. the third benefit is that frequent test may help students to evaluate their performance in order to develop their performance in learning process so that they will get better mark. most of the students (73.33%) agree that frequent test helps them to develop their self-evaluation in learning process and the rest (26.67%) are uncertain about that. besides, there are 7 from 15 students (46.67%) agree that frequent test is able to help them increase their mark and the rest (53.33%) are not sure about that. mcdaniel, wildman, & anderson (2012, p. 19) say that learners who do not attend the test or take fewer test have significantly smaller score on exam than the learners who attend the entire test. conclusion both of teachers and students have the positive perspective toward the frequent test. frequent test is good to be implemented by the teachers in the classroom. it is beneficial to both, the teachers and the students, in creating the effective and meaningful learning. even though, sometimes, the teachers and the students will take more time in making the questions, in preparing self to do the frequent test, and in marking the works. however, frequent test may help the teachers and the students in developing learning process. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 146 references ary, d., jacobs, l. c., & sorensen, c. 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(2013). illustrating students’ perception of english language assessment: voices from china. relc journal, 44(3), 319-340. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 134-141 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 134 duolingo spanish users: discussion boards use over time tom neuschafer jersey shore area school district, united states correspondence: tneuschafer@jsasd.org https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5767 received 23 january 2023; accepted 21 march 2023 abstract spanish is one of the most popular foreign language subjects among learners, as there are currently 142 million users who have used duolingo to learn spanish. the spanish language is projected to see even greater increases in the united states, both academically and demographically. the current research question asks, “how do individual duolingo spanish users use discussion boards over time among highly engaged, moderately engaged, and lower engaged users?” this study of duolingo spanish users is compared to a previous study about how highly engaged, moderately engaged, and lower engaged duolingo german users use discussion boards over time. the results of the analysis showed that there were three themes: (1) highly engaged users make comments over a longer period of time over many years and have the highest proficiency in the spanish language; (2) moderately engaged users make comments over a relatively shorter period of time during the duration of their studies; (3) lower engaged users are more likely to engage in the discussion boards socially about tangential topics over the span of months. the results of this study may inform researchers and educators on how discussion boards may facilitate language learning skills and spanish knowledge to increase proficiency. keywords: discussion boards, language learning, usage over time, user type introduction duolingo is widely used as a free language learning software to study spanish. spanish is one of the most popular foreign language subjects among learners, as there are currently 142 million users who have used duolingo to learn spanish (curry, 2021). spanish is spoken by 460 million people as their native language (thompson, 2021), while 100 million have partial proficiency in spanish as a second or foreign language (lacorte & suarez-garcia, 2016). online, spanish was considered the second most important language on wikipedia by the number of visits in 2016, while it was in fifth place in 2014 (rhodes & puhfal, 2014). it is also the second most popular language used on facebook and twitter after english. as such, the spanish language is projected to see even greater increases in the united states, both academically and demographically (cho & castañeda, 2019). in 2016, approximately eight million students studied spanish as a foreign language, or 20.3 million globally (rhodes & puhfal, 2014). the center for applied linguistics reported that approximately five million students studied spanish https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5767 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 134-141 135 during elementary, secondary, and vocational education in 2014 (rhodes & puhfal, 2014). more recent data is not available as of the date of this publication because this study is repeated every 10 years (lacorte & suarez-garcia, 2016). duolingo uses gamification, scaffolding theory, and artificial intelligence to create dynamic, engaging, motivational, and personalized learning experiences for its users (jiang, rollinson, plonsky, & pajak, 2020; yakaeva, salekhova, kuperman, & grigorieva, 2017). there are 159 spanish units in the course, otherwise known as “skills” within the spanish “tree.” users can progress onto more difficult skills as they demonstrate proficiency in easier skills, which is aligned with scaffolding theory (wood, griffiths, & parke, 2007). this is a strength of the software because it supports users’ learning goals in proficiency in common words and phrases, the enunciation of speech, and echoing (yakaeva et al., 2017). duolingo also provides users with the opportunity to engage in asynchronous discussion boards, which allow them to share their questions, knowledge, and concerns with other learners (neuschafer, 2021a). discussion boards may benefit users’ language acquisition and skills (chang, pearman, & farha, 2012) because duolingo mainly teaches learners how to construct grammatically correct sentences and phrases, while it does not show users how to speak with social appropriateness or with culturally relevant information (neuschafer 2021a, 2021b). using discussion boards may help users engage in more immersive foreign language learning (kessler, de costa, isbell, & gajasinghe, 2021), in line with sociocultural learning (vygotsky, 1978) and intercultural competence (deardorff, 2006; neuschafer, 2021a, 2021b). the current study builds upon prior studies on duolingo’s discussion boards using netnography (neuschafer, 2021a, 2021b). the current research explored publically accessible discussions using the guiding question, “how do individual duolingo spanish users use discussion boards over time among highly engaged, moderately engaged, and lower engaged users?” this study of duolingo spanish users will be compared to a previous study about how highly engaged, moderately engaged, and lower engaged duolingo german users use discussion boards over time. neuschafer (2022) found that: (1) highly engaged users make comments over a longer period of time over a span of many years and have the highest proficiency in the german language; (2) moderately engaged users make comments over a relatively shorter period of time during the duration of their studies; (3) lower engaged users are more likely to engage in the discussion boards to engage socially about tangential topics over the span of months (neuschafer, 2022, p. 4). the results of this study may inform researchers and educators on how discussion boards may facilitate language learning skills and spanish knowledge to increase proficiency. methods this study used netnography to examine duolingo spanish discussion boards over time, per differing engagement levels. this type of qualitative methodology is unique to studies that examine online communities (costello, mcdermott, & wallace, 2017). kulavuz-onal (2015) postulated that netnography is beneficial in llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 134-141 136 studying the culture of online language learning communities. netnography is an appropriate methodology for examining the research question because it allows researchers to analyze online data on publicly available discussion board posts in a naturalistic setting (heinonen & medberg, 2018; kozinets, dolbec, & earley, 2014). in addition, netnography is useful for identifying and contextualizing the ideas, questions, thoughts, and concerns among users through interactions on duolingo discussion boards (delaney, kummer, & singh, 2019). discussion boards two participants were selected at random for three levels of engagement as highly engaged, moderately engaged, and lower engaged. a total of six participants were selected out of a total pool of 18,281 spanish users. users who commented on discussion boards more than 151 times were called highly engaged users. moderately engaged users commented on discussion boards between 51 and 150 times. lower engaged users commented on discussion board posts fewer than 50 times. the comments analyzed were originally made during the years 2016 and 2022. five discussion boards were selected for each participant, for a total of 30 boards to analyze. data analysis the analysis used netnography to examine users’ discussion board comments on duolingo spanish board forums. kozinets (2010) described netnography in six steps: (a) coding; (b) noting; (c) abstracting and comparing; (d) checking information and refining; (e) generalizing; (f) theorizing. in the first step of coding, the researcher drew codes and categories from the discussion board comments on 30 boards. noting was used to create reflective memos on the margins of the notetaking medium. abstracting and comparing were used to identify similar phrases, patterns, relationships, shared sequences, and differences in the data. abstracting involved the construction of categories to identify distinctions or discrepancies (kozinets, 2010). checking and refining filters and isolates information so it can be easily interpreted for patterns, differences, similarities, and processes (addeo, paoli, esposito, & bolcato, 2019; discetti & anderson, 2023). generalizing was used to explain how the findings of the sample may be relevant for the greater population of spanish users (kozinets, 2020). finally, theorizing was used to draw conclusive themes about the cumulative data. findings and discussion the current study examined discussion postings using the following research question, “how do individual duolingo spanish users use discussion boards over time among highly engaged, moderately engaged, and lower engaged users?” additionally, this study compared the findings to a similar study on german discussion board users over time (neuschafer, 2022). two participants were highly engaged in spanish board discussions and had an average total of 740 comments. moderately engaged users had posted 102 total comments on average. lowerengaged users posted 42 times on average. similar to the findings in neuschafer (2022), the spanish board users made similar types of comments over time within users. additionally, the frequency of engagement was associated with the content of the comments at high, moderate, and lower levels. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 134-141 137 the results of the netnography showed that there were three themes: (1) highly engaged users make comments over a longer period of time over a span of many years and have the highest proficiency in the spanish language; (2) moderately engaged users make comments over a relatively shorter period of time during the duration of their studies; (3) lower engaged users are more likely to engage in the discussion boards socially about tangential topics over months. similar to neuschafer (2022), the content that was characteristic of the users’ engagement level did not change over time, but engagement level was associated with the type of content of the comments within users. theme 1: highly engaged users the highly engaged users commented 151 times or greater and included two users who made an average of 740 comments. five discussion boards were analyzed per user, with 10 discussion boards in total. user 1 was active on duolingo between the years of 2017 and 2022 and made 823 comments. overall, highly engaged users made comments over a longer period of time over many years and showed the highest proficiency in the spanish language. the post engagement for user 1 was 36 total months and 22.86 months on average. this user reached level 25 (the highest possible level) on duolingo as of the date of this publication. this user was particularly prolific on duolingo, having taken 12 courses, with five courses having reached level 25. user 1 was a plus user (paid account) and did not appear to be a native spanish speaker. user 1 was an avid learner on the platform, but their comments indicated that they were not a native spanish speaker. a self-professed “grammar nerd,” user 1 primarily used the discussion boards to offer grammatical assistance and tutoring for other users, which may have also helped the user consolidate their own spanish skills and proficiency. user 1 would also comment on the cultural context about appropriate word usage, such as those that are appropriate in spain versus other spanish-speaking countries, and appeared to greatly enjoy learning new languages. in a 2021 discussion board post called, “él está comprándoles los boletos para sus cumpleaños” (he’s buying them tickets for their birthdays), user 1 explains why another user is not correct in their interpretation of the skill: no. your own argument contradicts itself. as you said, possessive adjective, like all adjectives, change based on whether the noun they modify is singular or plural. the word cumpleaños, like most of the spanish compound nouns using that form, ends in s and can be either singular or plural. the way to tell, therefore, whether it’s intended to be singular or plural is to look at the possessive adjective, or article. el or su cumpleaños means the or his/her/your/their birthday. los or sus cumpleaños means the or his/her/your/their birthdays. but since everyone only has one birthday his/her or singular you make no sense. user 1 also gave background information about learning languages and spoke to another user about visiting mexico, as seen below. the user explains their interest in grammar, which may help explain why they are so prolific on the duolingo discussion boards: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 134-141 138 i am a self pronounced (or maybe self diagnosed) grammar nerd, so many people do not know or need to know some of the terms i use. but understanding the difference between the subject, direct object, indirect object and object of a preposition is one element of grammar that is essential to learning a new language in any academic environment. you can pick it up if you are in an immersed environment, like you did in english, but on duo or in a classroom you’ll get lossed (sic) if you don’t. congratulations on the trip. depending on where you are going, be careful to stay out of the more touristy areas. i don’t know what percent of mexicans, in general, speak english, but in the tourist-related industries, they essentially all do, and you will be bombarded with it rather than spanish. user 2 made 657 comments and was active on duolingo between the years 2018 and 2022. their post-engagement was 22 total months, with an average of 8.6 months. user 2 primarily made english comments and was more uncertain about their spanish studies compared to user 1. user 2 appeared to make comments that expressed uncertainty to obtain explanatory responses from other users. unlike the german discussion board users, who were highly engaged, the highly engaged spanish users were not native speakers. user 2 made many english comments to socialize with other users. although user 2 was not as proficient in spanish as user 1, they nonetheless offered helpful information to other users. for example, in a 2020 discussion board post titled “hace más o menos un año que viajé al extranjero” (it’s been approximately a year since i traveled abroad), user 2 tells other users that duolingo accepts another version of a correct answer to an item: “it’s been more or less a year since i traveled abroad” is also accepted.” in a post titled “segun el pronóstico, hoy va a ser un diá nublano” (according to the forecast, today is going to be a cloudy day), the user also comments in english: “i think they’re expecting us to translate “un dia.” overall, user 2 used the discussion boards to communicate in english to express uncertainty about their skills, while user 1 demonstrated mastery of spanish as a foreign language. these results differ from german users who were native speakers (neuschafer, 2022); however, the spanish board users who were highly engaged also did not change the types of comments made over time. theme 2: moderately engaged users moderately engaged users made between 51 and 150 comments. user 3 made 102 total comments and was active on duolingo between 2020 and 2021. their post-engagement was 17 total months with an average of 6 months. this user also completed level 25 of the spanish course. this user’s goal was to gain contextual information from other users and primarily used the discussion board to express gratitude by saying thank you or rewarding helpful users with the duolingo currency, or “lingots.” a post was titled, “no vaya al hospital hoy, la veo in mi consultorio” (don’t go to the hospital today, i’ll see you in my office). in this post, another user commented, “lo or la is used for usted when usted is the direct object as it is here you can see a person directly ... they are the direct object of ver.” user 3 replied, “helpful! thanks k****h. a lingot for you!” user 4 commented 102 times and was active on duolingo between the years 2016 and 2021. user 4 did not have a spanish course badge and appeared to be a llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 134-141 139 proficient speaker. in a post titled, “segun el pronóstico, hoy va a ser un diá nublano” (according to the forecast, today is going to be a cloudy day), user 4 briefly responded to a question posed by another user: “i’m still a bit confused when to use estar and when to use ser when discussing the weather. how is the weather uses estar, but certain conditions require ser?” user 4 responded, “ser un día nublado, estar nublado https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/17456637”. overall, moderately engaged users did not change the content of their comments made over time, in line with this pattern in german discussion board users. theme 3: lower-engaged users lower engaged users were more likely to engage in the discussion boards socially about tangential topics over months. these users posted 50 times or fewer. user 5 commented 45 times and was active on duolingo between 2019 and 2022. their post-engagement was 16 total months and 3 average months. this user completed level 25. this user only used the discussion boards to ask questions about grammar and check if duolingo’s answers were incorrect. in a post titled, “compramos un kilo de papas y estamos conciná de papas y estamos concinándolas” (we bought a kilo of potatoes and we’re cooking them), user 5 playfully responded, “it may seem silly but grammatically are we cooking the potatoes or the kilo?” in line with the german lower-engaged users (neuschafer, 2022), the spanish users communicated in english and made light-hearted comments to socialize with other users and gain additional help from other users. user 6 made 35 posts and was active on duolingo between 2020 and 2021. this user completed level 25. their post-engagement was 13 total months and 2.69 average months. user 6 expressed light-hearted comments that appeared to criticize duolingo in english. in a post titled, “el programa de enseñanza de idiomas es excelente” (the language teaching program is excellent), user 6 responded, “the irony here is excellent.. similarly to the german lower engaged users, spanish users at this engagement level also used the discussion boards to communicate in english and use the boards to socialize and post light-hearted and humorous comments. conclusion the researcher analyzed duolingo spanish discussion board posts to understand how comments change over time at highly engaged, moderately engaged, and lower engagement levels. the research question was, “how do individual duolingo spanish users use discussion boards over time among highly engaged, moderately engaged, and lower engaged users?” the results of the analysis showed that there were three themes: (1) highly engaged users make comments over a longer period of time over a span of many years and have the highest proficiency in the spanish language; (2) moderately engaged users make comments over a relatively shorter period of time during the duration of their studies; (3) lower engaged users are more likely to engage in the discussion boards socially about tangential topics over the span of months. similar to neuschafer (2022), the content that was characteristic of the users’ engagement level did not change over time, but engagement level was associated with the type of content of the comments within users. these results replicated a study by neuschafer (2022), which examined this research question among duolingo german users. the results showed that the level of engagement is related to the content of the comments over llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 134-141 140 time, while the content did not change among users over time. these findings may help educators and researchers understand how discussion board users engage with others to tutor, socialize, and develop greater proficiency in a foreign language. references addeo, f., paoli, a. d., esposito, m., & bolcato, m. y. 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(2017). content and language integrated learning: language scaffolding and speech strategies. modern journal of language teaching methods, 7(9), 137-143. https://doi.org/10.15427/or002-06/2014sp https://doi.org/10.15427/or002-06/2014sp https://www.forbes.com/sites/soniathompson/2021/05/27/the-us-has-the-second-largest-population-of-spanish-speakers-how-to-equip-your-brand-to-serve-them/?sh=a2284ca793ae https://www.forbes.com/sites/soniathompson/2021/05/27/the-us-has-the-second-largest-population-of-spanish-speakers-how-to-equip-your-brand-to-serve-them/?sh=a2284ca793ae https://www.forbes.com/sites/soniathompson/2021/05/27/the-us-has-the-second-largest-population-of-spanish-speakers-how-to-equip-your-brand-to-serve-them/?sh=a2284ca793ae https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2006.9994 llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 language and language teaching journal http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 127 teachers’ understanding of learner autonomy in indonesian contexts: findings from high schools and their implications dwi agustina pekalongan university, pekalongan, indonesia tina50@yahoo.co.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2017.200206 received 29 june 2017; revised 1 august 2017; accepted 24 august 2017 abstract learner autonomy has become one of the main topics in the current research and conferences in indonesia. this suggests that learner autonomy has received more attention in indonesian contexts. however, there has been no space for discussions about the meaning of learner autonomy from high school teachers’ points of view. a multi-case study conducted by agustina (2017) has found diverse understanding of autonomy as reported by junior high school english teachers in magelang regency, central java, indonesia. this paper discusses those teachers’ understanding in a more detailed way along with the implications when the concept is understood differently. this paper supports agustina’s argument that the diversity in understanding and developing autonomy should be anticipated since teachers have different beliefs about autonomy. referring to agustina’s findings this paper proposes the need to consider the consequences of allowing the presence of various understanding of learner autonomy particularly when it is set as an educational goal. keywords: learner autonomy, multi-case study, secondary schools introduction with the increasing attention given to learner autonomy, conducting a research or publishing the work on this concept is one way to contribute to the local, national and international discussion within the field of learner autonomy. similarly, this paper intends to contribute to the field of autonomy by discussing the meanings of autonomy as understood by english teachers in agustina’s (2017) study. with more and more practices of developing autonomy in indonesian context, for example, ardi’s (2017) study, it is important to discuss what learner autonomy actually means and what teachers actually understand about it. however, there is not much discussion about the meaning of autonomy both in tertiary and secondary education in indonesia. this paper fills the gap in the discussion of learner autonomy by elaborating the most recent research findings. agustina’s study also shows that different ways in perceiving the concept of autonomy brought some implications on teachers’ classroom practices. this paper looks at each of the meanings of learner autonomy as understood by teachers along with its implications. the paper continues by mailto:tina50@yahoo.co.id llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 128 discussing the consequences of offering teachers great flexibility in understanding the concept of autonomy. diverse understanding about learner autonomy may present challenges to the achievement of the educational goal of creating autonomous learners set by the government of indonesia. different understanding may lead to different practices of developing autonomy which can be either similar or dissimilar to what is required by the curriculum set by the government. this suggests that uniformity in understanding autonomy may initially be required before teachers begin implementing the curriculum which highlights the development of learner autonomy. theory a number of definitions of autonomy can be found in the literature across the years although the earliest one was given by holec (1979, p. 3) where he defined autonomy as “the ability to take charge of one’s learning”. with the emphasis on the word “ability”, this definition focuses on what students can do to be responsible for the learning they are conducting. holec explained further that the ability of an autonomous learner includes the ability to decide the learning objectives, materials, evaluation and progression. little (1991, p. 4) proposes that autonomy is “a capacity-for detachment, critical reflection, decision-making, and independent action”. similar to holec’s definition, little’s definition covers learners’ ability to make decisions in their learning while also touches learners’ ability to act independently in learning. apart from those definitions, benson and voller (1997) give the examples of various uses of the term ‘learner autonomy’. they mention that autonomy can be seen as a situation (where the students learn independently without a teacher), as skills (which students can learn), as an inborn capacity, as an exercise of students’ responsibility over their learning, and as the students’ right to decide their learning (pp. 1-2). in this regard, learner autonomy has a range of meanings, covering not only skills, capacity, or responsibility, but also students’ right for learning as well as the situation for their independent learning. dam (2000) emphasizes that the development of learner autonomy can be enhanced through the involvement of the learners in their learning. dam adds that in autonomous learning, learners’ task is to maintain an active engagement to the learning and the awareness about it. benson (2011a) defines autonomy as “the capacity to take control of one’s own learning” because, for him, using the term “control” eases the research on this concept as the term “control” is more open to investigate than the term “charge” or “responsibility” (p. 58). huang and benson (2013) describe control as power to select and decide the learning aspects and implement them. benson (2013) also suggests that autonomy is reflected in autonomous language learning activities where learners have the control in their learning or particularly when they conduct outside-classroom language learning. based on the definitions above, learner autonomy is mostly associated with learners’ ability, responsibility, control, skills and engagement particularly in learning, in making decision and in acting or learning independently. among those associations, the notion that autonomy includes learners’ greater control in their learning has got huge agreement in the field (benson, 2011b). even so, llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 129 autonomy remains a multidimensional construct (benson, 2011b) and it is even a complex idea (huang & benson, 2013). thus, it is unlikely that we can use a sole definition to describe this concept. theory application with the availability of various definitions and descriptions of autonomy, those implementing the concept of autonomy may use different definition based on their own understanding of this complex concept. in indonesian contexts, agustina’s (2017) study has found various understanding along with some misconceptions about the concept of learner autonomy. the concept of autonomy has been introduced in the new 2013 high school curriculum in indonesia and agustina studied how high school english teachers perceived this concept. the data were collected through the use of likert scale questionnaire designed by borg and al-busiadi (2012). agustina also studied how english teachers’ perceptions about learner autonomy affected classroom practices. the study employed 145 english teachers in magelang regency, central java, indonesia. nine of the teachers were then purposefully selected for building a multi-case study about the implementation of learner autonomy in indonesian context. almost all respondents felt positive about the concept of autonomy as they expressed their agreement in the questionnaire that learner autonomy contributes to the success of students’ language learning. however the multi-case study revealed that english teachers had various understanding about learner autonomy and thus the way they promoted it in the classroom varied considerably. looking at agustina’s finding may help us to see the differences of understanding along with the implications for classroom practices. the followings are the findings of agustina’s study (p. 217) which reflects different beliefs and practices in developing learner autonomy in english classrooms in indonesian contexts: a. teachers believed that smart learners could conduct autonomous learning. some teachers strongly believed in the ability of their smart students in learning autonomously. the basic idea is smart students are able to conduct autonomous learning. this suggests that these indonesian teachers believed that learner autonomy is part of the inborn capacity that students brought even before they entered the schools. one of the teachers taught in a favorite school and the students in her school were good students who had passed elementary school examinations with good grades. her students also entered the schools through highly competitive selection processes. she perceived these students as smart since they could understand her when she used english in her classrooms. her teaching experiences convinced her that her students could conduct independent learning both inside and outside the classrooms. this belief led her to teach in such a way that more time was spent for students’ autonomous or independent learning. as an example, after she introduced the learning topic in one of the lessons, she asked her students to work together in groups to search the materials in the internet and then present the materials in front of the class. the students thus became the learning resources for their friends. after each group presented the materials, they sent the materials to the teacher and the teacher would use those llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 130 materials as the test materials in the following weeks. in this way, this teacher served more as a learning facilitator, manager of the class, as well as the evaluator of the students’ learning progress. this finding brings an implication towards the practice of developing autonomy. by perceiving that smart students could learn independently, teachers may not recognize the needs for students to keep learning how to learn. teachers may assume that students have already acquired the skills needed for autonomous learning activities. it is also possible that teachers perceive “not smart” students as having no ability to conduct autonomous learning. this affects the promotion of learner autonomy in the classrooms as teachers may only give independent learning tasks to those whom teachers perceive as smart students. b. teachers believed that when students learn autonomously, their workload would be alleviated. a number of teachers believed that they would be more relaxed when students learned independently. when students are autonomous, they can learn without a teacher. teachers thus believed that they only need to sit and observe the students. they assumed that they did not need to teach in front of the class anymore. they felt that the only times they should act was when students needed their helps. for them this meant the reduction of their work. i consider this kind of belief as an example of the misconception about the concept of learner autonomy in my study. rather than having the reduction of the workload, teachers obviously have new roles and responsibilities in facilitating students’ autonomy development. this has been specified by gremmo and riley (1995) that teachers have to acquire new professional skills to act as a learning facilitator, helper, and counselor. this finding suggests the lack of understanding of teachers’ roles in an autonomous class. teachers should be made aware of their new roles because developing autonomy in indonesian context is a new task in which teachers may need some training. without having sufficient understanding about learner autonomy, there is a risk that teachers let students learn the learning materials independently without proper guidance and monitoring. c. teachers believed that providing information to students would provide students with skills needed for independent learning. some other teachers believed that it was necessary for them to teach the students how to learn independently. holding this belief, teachers guided their students on what and how to do a particular task. in this sense, teachers perceived autonomy as learned skills. students could acquire the skills in the classrooms and then apply the skills for outside classroom learning activities. as teachers perceived autonomy as learned skills they may consider the need to be autonomous themselves before teaching their students the skills for conducting autonomous activities. those who did not perceive themselves as autonomous may feel hesitate in teaching students to be autonomous. this becomes something to consider when teachers are required to develop autonomy in their learners. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 131 d. teachers believed that students could complete out of class learning tasks such as homework. some teachers found that each of the tasks given to students could be accomplished well. this made the teachers believe that students had the capability to learn and work independently at home. besides, teachers believed that students were responsible in completing the task and finding ways to do it. therefore, teachers often gave homework after the lesson. the finding suggests that teachers see learner autonomy as the capacity to complete the task alone. learner autonomy was also seen as students’ responsibility to handle the tasks by using the resources they found themselves outside the class. the homework that teachers give can also be seen as an exercise for students’ responsibility. however, the more autonomy students need to develop does not mean the more homework they have to complete and this should be made clear to the teachers. e. teachers believed that autonomous learners could make decision over classroom materials, group sizes and learning activities. based on their teaching experiences, teachers found that students could decide the materials to learn, the learning activities to do, and the size of groups when they were about to work with their peers. the teachers perceived their students as having high level of autonomy. teachers could share the control over the learning materials and activities with their students. learner autonomy in this regard was closely associated with learners’ right to direct their learning. based on this finding, it seems that being autonomous means having the ability to decide what to learn and how to learn. seeing autonomy in this way may challenge teachers’ own capability in mastering the learning materials. when students have the ability to select what and how to learn, teachers may need to be ready to facilitate students’ learning. students may come with a completely new topic for the teacher and the teacher has to be ready to discuss this when students bring the topic in the class. the key to autonomy development for this kind of learner autonomy is thus teachers’ readiness and openness to cope with the new learning materials and activities conclusion the findings of the study reflect the notion that the concept of autonomy is complex. there are various meanings of autonomy both in practice and in theory. benson and voller’s (1997) theory has been reflected in agustina’s (2017) study findings where autonomy is perceived differently: as inborn capacities, as situation when students learn alone, as learned skills, and as students’ capability and responsibility in completing the task. the implications coming with these varied understanding of autonomy can be seen in the way learner autonomy is promoted as discussed above. allowing teachers to promote autonomy based on their own understanding about the concept seems to be the fair policy in the light of respecting teacher autonomy in enacting their teaching practices. however, it is necessary to set the boundary on what is considered as a misconception about the concept of autonomy and what is not. the misconceptions about learner autonomy should be minimized by providing sufficient information about what learner llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 132 autonomy means, what autonomy covers, what roles teachers should take in developing learner autonomy and how to promote autonomy in their classrooms. the findings of agustina’s (2017) study above also reflect the need for teacher professional development activities particularly prior to implementing the curriculum which supports the development of learner autonomy. professional development activities can help teachers to modify their beliefs about autonomy especially those which are not in line with the principles for promoting learner autonomy in classrooms. finally, it is also necessary to consider the present challenges when teachers hold a particular belief about learner autonomy so that their belief does not limit the promotion of autonomy in their classrooms. references agustina, d. (2017). a complex system of teachers’ beliefs and practices in developing learner autonomy in indonesian junior high school contexts: a mixed-methods study (doctoral thesis, victoria university of wellington, new zealand). retrieved from http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/handle/10063/6351 ardi, p. (2017). promoting learner autonomy through schoology m-learning platform in an eap class at an indonesian university. teaching english with technology, 17(2), 55-76. benson, p. (2011a). teaching and researching autonomy (2 nd ed.). harlow: longman. benson, p. (2011b). what’s new in autonomy? jalt, 15–17. benson, p. (2013). learner autonomy. tesol quarterly, 47(4), 839–843. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.134 benson, p. & voller, p. (1997). introduction: autonomy and independence in language learning. in p. benson & p. voller (eds.), autonomy and independence in language learning (pp. 1–12). new york: longman. borg, s. & al-busaidi, s. (2012). learner autonomy: english language teachers’ beliefs and practices (elt research paper 12-07). london: british council. dam, l. (2000). evaluating autonomous learning. in b. sinclair, i. mcgrath, & t. lamb (eds.), learner autonomy, teacher autonomy: future directions (pp. 48–59). harlow: pearson education limited. gremmo, m.-j., & riley, p. (1995). autonomy, self-direction and self access in language teaching and learning: the history of an idea. system, 23(2), 151– 164. https://doi.org/10.1016/0346-251x(95)00002-2 holec, h. (1979). autonomy and foreign language learning. strasbourg: council of europe. huang, j., & benson, p. (2013). autonomy agency and identity in foreign and second language education. chinese journal of applied linguistics, 36(1), 7–28. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/cjal-2013-0002 little, d. (1991). learner autonomy 1: definitions, issues and problems. dublin: authentik. http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/handle/10063/6351 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 304-313 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 304 how teachers in an informal english training institution treat young learners’ oral errors ihsan nur iman faris1 and dian budiarti2* 1universitas pendidikan indonesia, indonesia 2uin sunan gunung djati bandung, indonesia ihsan.nif@upi.edu1 and dianbudiarti@uinsgd.ac.id2 *correspondence: dianbudiarti@uinsgd.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5341 received 7 november 2022; accepted 5 april 2023 abstract corrective feedback needs to be used carefully to treat young learners’ oral errors as it should not inhibit learners from communicating. this study aims to investigate the use of corrective feedback strategies by informal english training center teachers in bandung. classroom observation and coding were used to collect and categorize data regarding errors committed by students and teachers’ use of corrective strategies. the study found that pronunciation errors (49%) were most frequently committed, followed by grammar (27%), vocabulary (20%), and the use of l1 (4%) errors. to treat those errors, the teachers apply corrective feedback strategies, which mostly were in the form of recast (46%) and elicitation (35%). other corrective feedback strategies such as explicit correction (11%), metalinguistic feedback (6%), repetition (1%), and paralinguistic signal (1%) were found less frequently. this study suggests teachers consider several factors such as types of errors, learning factors, and learners’ factors when deciding the corrective feedback strategies. keywords: considerations, oral errors, teachers’ corrective feedback introduction english for young learner programs should aim mainly to encourage children to speak english more confidently (alakrash & razak, 2021; harmer, 2007). since the improvement of fluency should be prioritized over accuracy, error correction should not be conducted excessively. nevertheless, corrective feedback needs to be given to boost learning and prevent repetitions of errors (ellis, 2009; gebhard, 2009; li, 2018). to ensure the provision of feedback does not inhibit learners from speaking, teachers need to understand how to give proper feedback to children. corrective feedback should not be addressed to every oral error made by learners since it may hinder the flow of communication or fluency which is the main objective of language learning (see, for example, chu, 2011; ok & ustact, 2013; shahini & shahamirian, 2017; widiati & cahyono, 2006). hilliard (2014) suggests that spoken languages are not as rigid as written languages. the focus on grammar is viewed as secondary as grammar acquisition will follow automatically when students are fluent enough to speak and able to formulate the rules by themselves mailto:ihsan.nif@upi.edu1 mailto:dianbudiarti@uinsgd.ac.id2 https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5341 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 304-313 305 (gordon, 2007). however, some experts see correction as necessary even in the early stages of learning as it can boost learning when given appropriately according to children’s affective and developmental stages (see for example ellis, 2009, 2017; harmer, 2007; lyster & saito, 2010; panova & lyster, 2002). this notion is also supported by ellis (2017) and chu (2011) suggesting giving corrective feedback to avoid fossilization. ellis (2017) further emphasizes that some errors, called global errors, should be treated since it hinders the understanding of messages, while others, local errors, can be ignored. the explanations show the intricacy and complexity of the giving corrective feedback process for children. teachers need to understand various factors such as children’s english learning levels, children’s characteristics, types of errors, and types of corrective feedback before deciding to give corrective feedback. the unique and complex situations in the classroom require teachers to understand various types of corrective feedback to treat errors. in general, corrective feedback is categorized into explicit and implicit feedback (ellis et al., 2006). lyster & ranta (1997) further categorize corrective feedback into (1) recast (2) explicit correction (3) clarification request (asking for reformulation) (4) error repetition (5) elicitation (eliciting the reformulation directly), and (6) metalinguistic feedback. panova & lyster (2002) and ellis (2009) add translation and paralinguistic signals to the list of corrective feedback strategies. of the strategies mentioned, metalinguistic feedback, elicitation, paralinguistic signal, and explicit correction belong to explicit corrective feedback strategies, while the rest belong to implicit corrective feedback strategies. some reports suggest that teachers favor the use of explicit feedback to correct children’s oral errors (choi & li, 2012; maolida, 2013). the preference might be due to the effectiveness of explicit corrective feedback in correcting and improving learners’ grammar understanding (ellis et al., 2006; rezaei & derakhshan, 2011) and their noticeability of students’ errors (granena & yilmaz, 2019; sheen & ellis, 2011). research on the use of oral corrective feedback to treat learners’ errors has been conducted in various contexts in indonesia. yusuf et al. (2017) found that the use of multimodal feedback effectively improves students’ understanding of the lessons. in terms of the type of corrective feedback used, fathimah (2017) found that implicit feedback, especially recast, was used more frequently by teachers to treat adolescent students’ oral errors. she further explains that the teachers use recast due to the type of errors, learning objectives, and learners’ relatively low proficiency level. input-providing strategy in explicit correction is viewed as effective in improving teenage learners speaking skills, especially when given in the scaffolding process since it indicates learners’ incorrect production while giving the correct ones at the same time (tersta, 2017). interestingly, despite students’ low proficiency, teachers in young learner english programs also use explicit corrective feedback to address kindergarten students’ oral errors. maolida (2013) suggests that young learners can understand grammar concepts better when grammatical errors are corrected explicitly. nevertheless, the research does not explain what specific types of corrective feedback are used to treat errors. further research needs to be conducted to investigate what types of corrective feedback are suitable for treating young learners’ errors as an inaccurate use of corrective llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 304-313 306 feedback types can inhibit learners from speaking and hinder the achievement of fluency which is the main objective of english for young learner programs. research investigating the types of corrective feedback teachers use to treat errors needs to be conducted as the findings can help teachers determine the appropriate strategy to correct their students’ errors (russell, 2009). much research has been conducted to reveal what general types of feedback teachers use to treat young learners’ errors, but research investigating how specific types of corrective feedback are used to treat particular errors is relatively scarce. this research aims to fill the lacuna by revealing what types of errors are committed by young learners and what corrective feedback strategies the teachers use. method this research was conducted in three english for young learner classes in one english training center in bandung. observations were conducted to collect the data from the site. the study observed the use of corrective feedback of three classes in the institution, namely ‘class a’, ‘class b’, and ‘class c’. each teacher in each class holds a bachelor of english education or english literature degree and has been teaching english at the site for at least six months. the class consisted of four to five students aged 7-12 years old. the class which lasted for 100 minutes per meeting was observed three times, making the number of classroom observations 12 or 1200 minutes in total. the instruments used to collect the data from the observation were video recording, audio recording, and field notes. after the data were collected, the data analysis process was conducted to interpret the sets of data. this study categorizes students’ errors based on lyster & ranta (1997) and yang (2016), classifying language production errors into pronunciation errors, grammar, vocabulary, and use of l1 errors. as for the corrective feedback strategies, this study categorizes the strategies mainly based on lyster & ranta (1997), ellis (2009), and panova & lyster (2002). they categorize corrective feedback strategies into recast, explicit correction, translation, clarification request, metalinguistic feedback, elicitation, repetition, and paralinguistic signals. the findings then are displayed in frequency and percentages. findings and discussion types of errors committed by young learners this study found that the types of errors the young learners committed the most frequently were pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and use of l1 errors, respectively. the details are as follows. table 1. distribution of students’ oral errors types of errors number of occurrences in each class total class a class b class c f % pronunciation 23 18 51 92 49% grammar 15 12 24 51 27% vocabulary 11 13 13 37 20% use of l1 4 2 2 8 4% total 53 45 90 188 100% llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 304-313 307 the table above shows that among the three classes observed, class c’s students committed more errors compared to class a and class b’s students, while the fewest average number of errors was found in class a’s class. the most frequent oral errors that the students commit are pronunciation errors with 92 occurrences (49%), followed by grammar errors, vocabulary errors, and use of l1 errors, which occurrences are 51 (27%), 37 (20%), and 8 (4%), respectively. this finding corroborates several experts (see, for example, aktuğ, 2015; brown, 2016; choi & li, 2012; yang, 2016) stating that phonological or pronunciation errors were committed the most frequently by young english learners. gordon (2007) suggests that the focus of most young learners’ classes on fluency and confidence development might correlate with the tendency of pronunciation errors to appear frequently in the class. moreover, the l1 transfer process might also influence pronunciation learning (gass & selinker, 2008). bahasa indonesia, students’ l1, is a phonetic language whose spelling and pronunciation tend to be similar (karlina et al., 2020). the habit of using the l1 might interfere with english pronunciations as english, a non-phonetic language, usually has spelling different from the pronunciation (gass & selinker, 2008). regarding grammar errors, they might occur frequently in young learners’ classes as teachers may ignore this type of error depending on the objectives and perspectives of the teachers on the importance of grammar. in general, efl young learners’ classes mainly aim to encourage students to communicate fluently and confidently (cameron, 2001; gordon, 2007); thus, grammar has not been viewed as the main objective of efl young learners’ classes since the learning of the abstract concept might inhibit students to speak openly. furthermore, gordon (2007) suggests that children will learn grammar eventually, after formulating the grammatical rules on their own and when their cognitive ability to understand the concept is ready. he (gordon, 2007) warns that the use of corrective feedback tends to be ineffective, or even harmful when they are given too frequently. the finding of vocabulary errors as the third most frequently found errors in this study is quite interesting as the limited numbers may imply that the students possess the understanding of grammatical behavior, collocations associations, registers, and associations of the vocabulary required to use the vocabulary accurately (nation, 1990; tiley & rentler, 2022; young-davy, 2014). the students may have enough opportunities to practice the words communicatively. considering that the students only learn in the classroom for about three hours a week, which in general is quite short, they may also use english outside the training, making their vocabulary use relatively accurate. the use of l1 error in this study is the least frequently found. firstly, this finding might be because not all l1 use in the class was considered an error. l1 errors were counted only when the use is unsolicited or responded to by the teachers. in other words, the categorization of l1 as an error depends on the commitment or requirement to use english in classroom activities. a discussion and casual conversation not relevant to the objective of the lesson might not be categorized as errors. therefore, the low frequency of l1 errors found in the study might be encouraged by the strict application of commitment to using english during the main activities. nevertheless, the use of l1 during activities in the classrooms might be due to students’ limited vocabulary (lyster, 1998; lyster & ranta, 1997; shin et al., 2020). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 304-313 308 teachers’ corrective feedback strategies this study categorizes teachers’ corrective feedback strategies into recast, translation, explicit correction, clarification request, metalinguistic feedback, elicitation, repetition, and metalinguistic feedback (ellis, 2009; lyster & ranta, 1997; panova & lyster, 2002). the frequency and percentage of each corrective feedback strategy are as follows: table 2. distribution of teachers’ corrective feedback strategies feedback strategy ms. rini mr. adi ms. dwinda total f % recast 18 16 54 88 46% elicitation 24 19 25 68 35% explicit correction 17 0 5 22 11% metalinguistic feedback 6 2 3 11 6% repetition 0 2 0 2 1% paralinguistic signal 0 0 2 2 1% translation 0 0 0 0 0% clarification request 0 0 0 0 0% total 65 39 89 193 100% of eight corrective feedback strategies, six categories were used to address students’ errors. recast was the most frequently used strategy, followed by elicitation, explicit correction, metalinguistic feedback, repetition, and paralinguistic signal. the finding echoes several experts (see, for example, ahangari & amirzadeh, 2011; brown, 2016; panova & lyster, 2002; sauro, 2009) reporting the predominant use of recast in the class for addressing students’ errors. a detailed discussion of each corrective feedback strategy is presented below. recast belongs to input-providing strategies giving learners the correct versions of their erroneous utterances. this study found recast to be the most frequently used with 88 occurrences (41.9%). the data also indicate that all teachers in the classes observed that recast is favored. however, being the most favored corrective feedback strategy does not make recasting the most effective in addressing the errors. sheen & ellis (2011) suggest that students tend to ignore recast as corrections as this strategy is often mistaken as confirmation of students’ correct utterances. lyster & saito (2010) suggest teachers be more explicit in using recast as a correction strategy to encourage students to notice their errors. elicitation is a corrective feedback strategy that encourages learners to correct their errors (lyster & ranta, 1997). this strategy belongs to explicit correction since it demands learners to stop and think about the correction. this study found elicitation as the second most frequently used corrective feedback with 71 occurrences (33.8%). the teachers mostly use completion, asking for students to pause before continuing their speech, as elicitation. unlike recast, elicitation is viewed as more effective in addressing students’ errors (behroozi & karimnia, 2017). this study found that 90% of the use of elicitation can encourage responses from students. according to ahangari & amirzadeh (2011), elicitation encourages students’ notice, which is an essential element in language acquisition. similarly, ellis et al. (2006) support the use of elicitation to address students’ errors as it can draw students’ attention to their erroneous language production. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 304-313 309 explicit correction is similar to recast as it provides inputs. however, it belongs to a different category than recast as it explicitly indicates that students commit errors by saying “no” or “incorrect” (lyster & ranta, 1997); thus, unlike recast, explicit correction can interrupt the flow of communication (sheen & ellis, 2011). interestingly, even though the explicit correction strategy requires students to stop and repeat the correct forms given by teachers, not all explicit correction in this study was followed by students’ uptakes (yilmaz, 2016). further investigation needs to be conducted to find the exact reasons, yet the possible explanation for the absence of uptakes despite the provision of correct inputs is that students do not understand the correction or see the urgency of repeating the teachers’ correction as the communication has been understood. moreover, students might not give uptake since they are inhibited to speak after realizing that they commit errors (krashen, 1982). metalinguistic feedback is an explicit correction and output prompting strategy which requires teachers to give comments, information, or questions that can serve as clues for students to correct their errors (lyster & ranta, 1997). this strategy might be more suitable to correct grammar errors as they can act as minilessons (hashemian & farhang-ju, 2018). nevertheless, this strategy might not be suitable for correcting young learners’ errors as the grammar explanation is too abstract (cameron, 2001). in this research, metalinguistic feedback was used only 11 times, but it generated almost 90% correct answers from students. the finding confirms taipale (2012) suggesting that output-prompting strategies such as metalinguistic feedback are effective in addressing students’ oral errors. repetition as a corrective feedback strategy is different from recast as it does not provide correct forms as inputs (lyster & ranta, 1997). teachers attempt to draw students’ attention to their errors by rising and stressing the intonation when repeating the errors. as for paralinguistic signals, the corrective feedback strategy uses gestures and facial expressions to indicate that students have committed errors (lyster & ranta, 1997). these two strategies were not used frequently by teachers most probably because they were considered ineffective. katayama (2006) suggests that repetition and paralinguistic signals are ambiguous; thus, students rarely take them as forms of feedback and input. panova & lyster (2002) suggest that translation is specifically used to treat the use of l1 error. the use of this corrective feedback strategy is easy to notice as it uses a different code. this corrective feedback strategy might be suitable for young learners whose vocabulary is still limited. nevertheless, teachers should not overuse this corrective feedback strategy since it might discourage learners from using the target language. storch & wigglesworth (2003) suggest that teachers sharing l1 background with students might indicate that the use of l1 is acceptable when using this corrective feedback strategy. conclusion this study investigated the oral errors committed by young learners and what corrective feedback strategies teachers use to correct the errors. the study found that students committed pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and the use of l1 errors. of all the types of errors committed, pronunciation errors were found the most frequently, followed by grammar, vocabulary, and the use of l1 errors. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 304-313 310 the teachers in this research used six of eight types of corrective feedback strategies: recast, elicitation, explicit correction, metalinguistic feedback, repetition, and paralinguistic signal. of all the corrective feedback strategies, recast was used the most frequently due to its non-intervening and input-providing nature. from the findings on the oral errors committed by the students, the teachers can reflect on their own students’ oral errors and then plan the corrective feedback strategies which are suitable for treating the most-frequently errors committed by their students. teachers then can consider the findings of corrective feedback strategies used by the teachers in this research to reflect on their efficacy in addressing the students’ types of error. the rate of uptake on certain types of error can be used as the basis for determining which corrective feedback is suitable for each teacher’s condition. this research did not investigate which particular strategies were effective in addressing certain oral errors. thus, future research needs to analyze what corrective feedback strategies should be used to treat certain errors. more investigation on reasons why teachers prefer a certain type of corrective feedback strategies also needs to be conducted to get a clearer picture of which corrective feedback strategies should be used to treat learners’ oral errors. references ahangari, s., & amirzadeh, s. 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(2017). multimodal feedback provision in improving pre-service teachers’ competence. indonesian journal of applied linguistics, 7(2), 239-246. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v7i2.8126 https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263115000212 https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v7i2.8126 llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 language and language teaching journal http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 104 communicative language teaching through speaking activities designed in a textbook maryska firiady sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia ikacax89@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.210111 received 12 october 2017; revised 2 february 2018; accepted 15 march 2018 abstract in pursuing the alignment between the goal of communication purpose and communicative approach, six new textbooks were designed to facilitate teachinglearning activities in center of english for international communication (ceic) at language institute. only an impressionistic overview was conducted as a preuse evaluation due to limitation of time and resources. thus, the writer attempted to do an in-depth pre-use evaluation of the recently revised textbook. this research aimed at investigating the activity variations and types of communicative language teaching (clt) activities presented in the revised textbook used for teaching level 1 students. the speaking activities in the textbook were analyzed using littlewood’s (1981) theoretical framework on suggested communicative activities. the results showed that the textbook has various learning activities accommodating clt activities, pre-communicative activities, structural activities, listening activities, vocabulary building activities, and reading activities. the clt activities found in the textbook were differentiated between functional communication and social interaction activities. functional communication activities specifically sharing information with restricted cooperation, in the form of class surveys and information gaps were dominant compared to other activities. keywords: communicative language teaching (clt), pre-use textbook evaluation, functional communication activities, social interaction activitiesa introduction materials development is one of the most important skills in teachers’ professional development. it is an essential part of teachers’ tasks at the language institute of sanata dharma university (lisdu). teachers are expected to not only develop their own materials but also understand the underlying principle of language learning and put these theories into practice (tomlinson, 1998; schon, 1981 as cited in nahrkhalaji, 2012; cf. lelita, 2016). during the project of curriculum reform in the center of english for international communication (ceic) at lisdu, a pre-use evaluation of the revised materials aims at making the best use of the textbook that is going to be piloted next year. the rationale to conduct such an evaluation is to pursue the match between the ceic name, goal, approach, materials and evaluation. the mailto:ikacax89@gmail.com llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 105 goal of the ceic course is to enable students to communicate actively in english through integrated skills for the purposes of daily communication, interaction with the global community and for professional purposes (ceic curriculum and syllabus document, 2017). in an attempt to achieve that communication goal, communicative approach or communicate language teaching (clt) is highlighted. clt proposes the goal of communicative competence is achieved through the principles of communication, task-based and meaningfulness (richards, 2001). curriculums should provide opportunities to engage students in meaningful language use when they are learning (hayes, 2014). amid the curriculum reform, it is necessary to align the goal of the course with the learning activities and assessment. the term “alignment” refers to creating coherence between the essential components of an educational system: intended learning outcomes (i.e., curriculum objectives), assessment, and learning activities through a mechanism to address the teaching as a whole process (jiang, 2013). one possible practical way to achieve that alignment is through assessing the learning activities or the method and content (jiang, 2013). reflecting on that point, further analysis is needed to report how clt is accommodated through the new revised textbook. an impressionistic overview of the textbook in order to find general strengths and weaknesses of the textbook (cunningsworth, 1995) has already been completed. however, there is limited in-depth research on textbook content, particularly analysis scrutinizing the approach and the learning activities. this research was aimed at examining learning-activity variations and what kinds of clt activities were found through speaking activities in the new revised textbook designed for level 1 students. the purpose of this research was to contribute significant data for materials development projects at ceic as well as to provide empirical consideration in designing the teachers’ book or for further revision. the research question was: what types of clt speaking activities were found in the textbook? textbook evaluation practicality consideration is one of the benefits that teachers derive when they use textbooks to teach (gebhard, 1996; graves, 2000; richards, 2001). it introduces teachers and students to the subject contents and the methodology (brewster, ellis & girard, 2004). thus, through analyzing the textbook, teachers can actually gain insight into the approach used in the learning. teachers’ dependency on textbooks (skierso, 1991) provides the rationale to conduct textbook analysis in order to make the best use of it, or to provide suggestions for further revision of the textbook (mukundan, 2007). impressionistic overview and in-depth evaluation are two suggested general approaches for textbook evaluation (cunningsworth, 1995). impressionistic overview is commonly done by teachers to see the general content of the textbook, but it is a less reliable method to see the match between the content and the requirement of the teaching or learning situation (cunningsworth, 1995). in the context of the language institute, an impressionistic overview was already completed through several meetings of material revision, in which some teachers quickly evaluated the revised content through discussion. however, the ideal llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 106 approach is the combination of both an impressionistic overview and an in-depth evaluation (cunningsworth, 1995). using a checklist is common in textbook evaluation. various areas of evaluation can be covered on the checklist. brown (2007) for instance, provides criteria including the goals of the course, the background of the students, approach, language skills, general content, quality of practice materials, sequencing, vocabulary, general sociolinguistics factors, format, accompanying materials, and teachers’ guide. other checklists, such as cunningsworth’s checklist (1995), cover the areas of aims and approaches, design and organization, language content, skill, topic, methodology, teachers’ book, and practical consideration for evaluation. the presence of approach and speaking skill criteria in both brown’s (2007) and cunningsworth’s (1995) checklist indicates the significance of conducting an evaluation of these aspects. communicative language teaching the goal of communicative language teaching is to develop students’ communicative competence in the target language. the target language is both the means and the goal (littlewood, 1981; kumar, philip & kalaiselvi, 2013). common characteristics of clt include information gap, choice, and feedback (johnson & morrow, 1981 as cited in freeman & anderson, 2011). information gap refers to situations of sharing information in which someone knows particular information whereas the interlocutor does not know this information. choice means that the speaker has options in what to say and how to say it. meanwhile, feedback refers to a purposeful information exchange, in which the speaker gets her expected feedback from the listener. other characteristics of clt activities according to nunan (1989) are rehearsal to the real world, skill use, and fluency/accuracy. three principles underlying activities in clt are communication, task-based and meaningfulness (littlewood, 1981). in other words, clt activities must engage students to interact and use the language form they learnt for meaningful communicative purpose. there are various types of teaching and learning activities in clt. however, each type should involve students in the communicative process with information sharing, negotiation of meaning and interaction (richards & rodgers, 2001). it can include text-based materials which enact pair work or role play, task-based materials such as jigsaws, cue cards, activity cards, authentic materials (richards and rodgers, 2001), scrambled sentences, language games, and picture strip stories (freeman & anderson, 2011). littlewood’s (1981) book provides a practical guideline for teachers to apply clt techniques. major activity types in clt are differentiated between functional communication activities and social interaction activities. functional communication activities are based on the principle that teachers should create situation in which students can practice how to deal with information gaps and problem solving. the functional communication activities are classified into four categories: sharing information with restricted cooperation, sharing information with unrestricted cooperation, sharing and processing information, and processing information. examples of these activities include identifying pictures, discovering identical pairs, discovering sequences or locations, discovering missing llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 107 information, discovering missing features, discovering secrets, discovering differences, following directions, reconstructing story-sequences, or pooling information to solve a problem. social interaction activities can be in the forms of conversation or discussion sessions, dialogues and role-play, simulation, or debate. these activities put the emphasis on the social context in which students are expected to consider their choice of language and social acceptability of the language produced. method this research aimed to contribute to material development as well as to promote in-depth pre-use analysis on a particular aspect in the recently revised textbook. the data was taken from the revised materials used for teaching level 1 students in ceic. level 1 is equivalent to a1 level in cefr, in which the students are on the level of understanding and using familiar everyday expressions to interact with others if they speak slowly and clearly. level 1 students have a lack of linguistic competence in terms of vocabulary and grammar. after the course is finished, they are expected to be able to communicate in basic familiar daily expressions such as asking and answering question related to personal details. the analyzed sample materials consisted of fourteen lessons designed for fourteen meetings. this research focused only on analyzing revised materials for one out of six levels as the preliminary study. in order to get richer data, this research was also limited to a analysis of the types of clt activities based on suggested activities by littlewood (1981). the data was obtained from the syllabus and revised materials documents. in analyzing the data, a checklist was used to classify the types of clt speaking activities found in the textbook into functional communication and social interaction activities. if the activities did not belong to these classifications, they would be classified into pre-communicative, structural practices (littlewood, 1981), or skill-based activities in order to find the most and least recurring activities. in order to achieve validation of the data analysis, academic coordinators with authority over the academic program in ceic were invited to conduct and discuss the data analysis through the same checklist and method. findings and discussion the sequence of each lesson of the analyzed textbook is established through a title mostly followed by objectives, snapshot, language focus, word power, a series of practices, and hotshot. the title represents the topic that is going to be discussed. in lesson 1 for example, the title “hi, my name is sean” introduces the topic, covering greetings and self-introduction. then the objectives of the lesson were presented in points. the learning-activities for each lesson begin with the snapshot part as warming up activity to introduce students with the topic. language focus is a section containing explanations of the grammar or expressions in each lesson, while word power is a section specialized in vocabulary building activities. learning activities, including the main activity for each lesson, are presented through a series of practices named practice one, llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 108 practice two etc. the last part of each lesson is named hotshot, and functions as the post-activity. each lesson contains six to nine activities. the analysis was focused on snapshot, series of practices, and hotshot, which contain integrated speaking, listening and reading activities. the sample of the new revised textbook contains 102 activities in total. table 1 showed types of activities found in the textbook. functional communication activities were dominant, with the highest percentage of 23.5%, followed by structural and listening activities with 20.6% for each activity. social interaction activities got 14.7%. less dominant activities were vocabulary building activities with 12.7% followed by pre-communicative activities with 4.9%. reading activities had the lowest percentage of 2.9%. table 1. the percentage of activity variations found on the revised textbook it was noteworthy to notice the activity variations found in the textbook. listening activities were a big proportion of this revised textbook. the writer found the distribution of exercises needs to be consider. lesson 2 for example has four listening activities, whereas there are not any listening activities found in lesson 11. vocabulary building activities in the textbook refer to activities that focus on developing students’ vocabulary. although there is already a section that discusses vocabulary in word power, the percentage for these activities was slightly under as that of social interaction activities. eight out of thirteen vocabulary exercises were found in the snapshot part. it indicated that teachers might start most lessons by vocabulary exercise, even though these activities consisted of many variations, such as asking students to explore vocabulary from the first letter of their nicknames, listing things in their bags, competitive games in which students explore as many words starting with a particular letter as possible, and matching pictures with their vocabulary. decaricco (as cited in ketabi and shahraki, 2011) mentions that in clt vocabulary is not a primary concern due to emphasize on fluency over accuracy. vocabulary is not taught separately, but serve only as a support for functional language use. reading exercises had the smallest portion in this textbook. only three out of 102 reading activities were found. the elaboration for pre-communicative and structural activities was discussed further in the discussion session. from the perspective of clt, learning activities should accommodate both students’ linguistic and communicative competence (littlewood, 1981). table 2 kinds of activities total of activity percentage functional communication activities 24 23.5% social interaction activities 15 14.7% pre-communicative activities 5 4.9% structural activities 21 20.6% listening activities 21 20.6% vocabulary building activities 13 12.7% reading activities 3 2.9% total 102 100% llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 109 specifically explained the types of functional communication activities found in the textbook. the results as presented in table 2 showed that the recurring information gap activities found in the textbook were sharing information with restricted cooperation. the most activities included class surveys, discovering locations, and discovering secrets. class surveys were dominant. in total, there were nine activities asking students to interview their friends and write the results. one example was taken from practice three of lesson 1. after reading a dialogue and practicing it with their friends, the students are asked to interview their friends and write the results of the interview in the provided table. restricted cooperation was made by showing an example of what questions need to be asked and what the expected answer should be. the other example was found in practice six of lesson four. similar to the previous example, after having a dialogue practice followed by a listening and reading exercise, the students are asked to interview their classmates and write the results in the provided table. discovering missing information or locations were the other purposes in information gap activities found in the textbook. for instance, in practice five of lesson three, student a and student b have different information concerning certain numbers. the students then take turns to mention the number, and then write it down on the provided crossword in order to find the hidden message revealed if they finish the task. in lesson eight, discussing the topic of telling locations of public buildings or places, students are involved in three practices in which they have to locate a certain building based on the information from their partner. students work in pairs, and each student has information that the other does not know. the other variation of this information gap activity was discovering secrets which was presented in the form of games. one example was the hotshot activity of lesson six. students are asked to work in pairs and hide something in their pocket. they are asked to guess what the thing hidden by their friend is through asking yes-or-no questions. here the cooperation between the two students would be restricted through only asking and responding to yes-or-no questions. five out of six activities of this type were presented as hotshot activities, which functions as post activities. table 2. the percentage of functional communication activities kinds of activities total of activity percentage sharing information with restricted cooperation: class survey/discovering missing information discovering locations discovering secrets 9 4 6 18.6% sharing information with unrestricted cooperation 2 2% sharing and processing information 3 2.9% total 24 23.5% llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 110 the next activity found was sharing information with unrestricted cooperation. in this type of activity, teachers have less control over the information and responses that students produce. an example of this activity was found in practice five in lesson one, in which students are asked to make a conversation without any cues. the students have the freedom to structure the conversation and give responses to what is said. this is in line with natural communication outside the class, in which the questions and the responses are more spontaneous and less predictable (littlewood, 1981). the other activities found were sharing and processing information. through this type of activity, the students are expected to not only share the information but also analyze or evaluate the information they get. an example was found in practice one of lesson three. in this activity, students are asked to form a single line based on their age. the students not only use the language to communicate in questioning and answering questions, but also process the information and then make physical movements in order to complete the task. two other activities of this type were presented as communicative games in the hotshot section in lesson seven and lesson ten. social interaction activities were also found in the textbook. table 3 showed the percentage of each activity type. table 3. the percentage of social interaction activities kinds of activities total of activity percentage dialogue and role play 7 6.9% conversation and discussion session 8 7.8% total 15 14.7% the recurring activities of this type were conversation and discussion sessions followed by dialogue and role play. an example was found in practice four of lesson ten, in which students are asked to play the role of a reporter working at red carpet event and interview an artist to discuss the attire they are wearing. the other activities found under the underlying approach of social interaction activities were conversation and discussion sessions. although these activities do not involve any information gap, they fulfill the criteria of providing students with opportunities to express their self and experiences by using the foreign language they learn. an example of this activity type was in practice two of lesson seven in which students describe their house and furniture and then share the information with the class. the results showed that this revised textbook provided various activities that include functional communication activities, social interaction activities, precommunicative activities, listening activities, vocabulary building activities, reading activities, and structural activities. variation of activities was beneficial to keep students motivated to go through the lessons. the activities that were not clt activities were classified based on the focus of the activities. five activities found were pre-communicative activities. littlewood (1981) used the term pre-communicative to refer to activities such as cued dialogue, llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 111 drills, or question and answer activities that have a purpose to prepare students with the required skills for communication but do not necessarily require students to perform communicative arts. thus, the focus of this activity is to produce an acceptable piece of language production. similarly with example mentioned in littelewood’s (1981) book, an example of a pre-communicative activity found in this textbook was practice four of lesson seven. in this activity students work in pairs. student a asks “where are the crayons?” and student b answers “they are in the drawer.” there is no structured situation provided by teachers and both students have already known the location of the things. therefore this kind of activity is considered artificial and not functional (littlewood, 1981). nonetheless, this activity can serve as a drill practice that can prepare students to produce grammatically correct information and to use this linguistic competence when communicating. structural practice in the forms of drilling activity can actually serve as precommunicative activity if it is done orally related to a certain context (littlewood, 1981). however, the writer found that structural activities focusing on grammar exercises or sentence creation lack spoken practice. activities classified into this category were purely written grammar practices such as completing the dialogue and the sentences with grammatical items. grammatical practices stemmed from structural approach which focused on the students’ mastery of the grammatical items. in mareva & nyota’s (2011) study related to clt application in zimbabwe, structural approaches were still dominantly used due to the teachers’ lack of knowledge of what clt is and conservatism, even though the curriculum recommended a clt approach. teachers indeed need to be aware of avoiding structural approaches focusing on memorization of grammatical rules and drills. nevertheless, the use of structural approaches must not always be avoided. thompson (2011) mentions that one most persistent and damaging misconception of clt is that clt does not teach grammar. according to littlewood’s (1981) underlying principles of clt, through this approach, teachers should be able to develop both students’ linguistic and communicative competence. in designing the activities on the textbook, awareness of to what extent the activities can facilitate students’ communicative competence is important, so that the trap of using a fully structural approach is avoided. however, structural activities can serve as an input to prepare students for communicating fluently. in order to response the structural activities found in the textbook, a retrospective approach, in which the grammar rules are discovered by the students after they do communication practices should be used (thompson, 2011, kumar, philip and kalaiselvi, 2013). the results indicated that the communication activities most accommodating functional purpose were sharing information with restricted cooperation. students’ limited linguistic competence was the main consideration in choosing such activities. doing class survey activity is one way to facilitate students to at least interact with their classmates in the context of the classroom. the structural activities and exposure of dialogues serve as scaffolding activities to lead the students to be able to practice their speaking in conversation. littlewood (1981) suggests that as the linguistic ability of the students improves, the information gap llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 112 activities can be extended to processing information activities, in which students are expected to evaluate or analyze information for problem solving activities. one characteristic of clt, authentic materials, was absent in the textbook. this might be due to the consideration of the difficulty level of the authentic materials, as well as time and resource limitations. for beginner students, the use of unsimplified authentic materials may lead to students demotivation, whereas the process of simplification itself is another challenge for teachers since it cannot be simply shortened without losing its authenticity (guariento and morley , 2001). conclusion communicative language teaching activities can take many forms. however, in order to understand more about clt, teachers need to consider to what extent they have accommodated students’ need for communicative competence. this can be investigated through scrutinizing activities designed for learning activities. the results of this research showed that the revised textbook already provided a variation of activities such as speaking activities, listening activities, vocabulary building activities and structural activities. nonetheless, this textbook still needs further improvement in terms of the proportion of structural activities, so that grammar exercises are not dominant. in order to avoid the dominance of grammatical approaches, the writers of the teachers’ book should emphasize inductive grammar teaching and modification or variations of the series of practices to make the activities more communicative. it is also noted that several clt activities found in hotshot sections should be made the main activity for the lesson. although the linguistic ability of the students is still limited, the materials can be designed as more complicated tasks that can give the students more exposure to sharing information with unrestricted cooperation or sharing and processing information. dialogue practice should also be added with more specific social contexts to make it as similar as possible with real-life conversations. this research had several limitations. first, there was no interview with the authors of the textbook. their point of view can provide more insight into the rationale of selecting certain activities in this textbook. secondly, the sample was only taken from one textbook for one particular level. in order to get a holistic perspective as to what extent the textbook in ceic has accommodated clt, five other revised textbooks also need to be analyzed with a broader area of evaluation, including other skills such as listening, reading and writing. further research especially the post-use textbook evaluation was also strongly recommended. references brown, h. d. (2007). teaching by principles: an interactive approach to language pedagogy (3 rd ed.). new york: longman. cunningsworth, a. (1995). choosing your coursebook. oxford: macmillan heinemann. freeman, d. l. & anderson, m. (2011). techniques & principles in language teaching. oxford: oxford university press. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 113 gebhard, j. (1996). teaching english as foreign or second language. ann arbor, mi: the university of michigan press. girard, d., ellis, g., & brewster, j. (2003). the primary english teacher’s guide. london: penguin english. graves, k. (2000). designing language courses: a guide for teachers. boston: thomson heinle. guariento, w., & morley, j. (2001). text and task authenticity in the efl classroom. elt journal, 55(4), 347-353. doi: 10.1093/elt/55.4.347 hayes, d. (2014). factors influencing success in teaching english in state primary school. london: british council. retrieved from https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/e324_factors_influe ncing_success_in_teaching_english_in_state_primary_schools_final%20v 3_web.pdf jiang, l. (2013). aligning a course. linqed. retrieved from http://www.linqed.net/media/21688/a-guide-for-producing-an-alignedcourse.pdf ketabi, s. & shahraki, s. (2011). vocabulary in the approaches to language teaching: from the twentieth century to the twenty-first. journal of language teaching and research, 2(3), 726-731. doi: 10.4304/jltr.2.3.726-731 kumar, n., philip, p., & kalaiselvi, a. (2013). the application of clt to teaching english as a second language-an assessment of practice in india. international journal of humanities and social science invention, 2(5), 2429. retrieved from http://www.ijhssi.org/papers/v2(5)/version-3/e252429.pdf lelita, y. (2017). a study on students’ learning strategies and self-efficacy in speaking i class in elesp of sanata dharma university. llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching, 19(1), 61-70. retrieved from http://ejournal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt/article/view/312/267 littlewood, w. (1981). communicative language teaching: an introduction. cambridge: cambridge university press. mareva, r., & nyota, s. (2012). structural or communicative approach: a case study of english language teaching in masvingo urban and peri-urban secondary schools. international journal of english and literature, 3(5), 103-111. http://www.ijhssi.org/papers/v2(5)/version-3/e252429.pdf llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 41-53 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 41 assessing the impact of convergent thinking ability on english speaking proficiency tasnova humaira brac university, bangladesh correspondence: tasnova.humaira@bracu.ac.bd https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5232 received 5 october 2022; accepted 6 march 2023 abstract speaking in english is an important skill to master to gain an upper hand in a person’s academic and professional life. different countries, where english is considered to be a foreign language, are emphasizing developing english language learning and teaching strategies to gain the status of globalization. to achieve this goal, english speaking skills play a crucial role as it is an effective mode of communication to connect with the world. this created an immense need to research how to develop the speaking skills of students studying at the university level. therefore, this study researched the impact of convergent thinking ability to enhance english speaking proficiency among students. the instrument used to obtain the results are—remote associates test (rat) and speaking proficiency english assessment kit (speak). at the end of the research, it was determined that if the education sector focuses on developing students' convergent thinking ability then the process of enhancing english speaking proficiency becomes easier. keywords: convergent thinking, english, speaking proficiency introduction the english language is a significant language of the world and it is the official language in a large number of countries (al-eiadeh, al. sobh, al-zoubi & al-khasawneh, 2016). it has spread, as a dominant language, extensively because of its high demand in important fields of this globalized world, such as international media language, scientific research, international communication, technology, tourism, etc. (al-eiadeh, al. sobh, al-zoubi & al-khasawneh, 2016). for example, asian countries, as an important part of globalization, have accepted english as their second language or a foreign language (choi & lee, 2008). asian countries like bangladesh, korea, japan, and china give high priority to english language teaching and learning in their foreign language policy because, proficiency in this language has the role of a gatekeeper of individual career or welfare as a national development (choi & lee, 2008; powell & powell, 2010). furthermore, english language proficiency has a major function in an individual’s growth, thus english language education in asia focuses extensively on all four skills, speaking, listening, reading, and writing (powell & powell, 2010). accordingly, different researchers have shed light from different perspectives to enhance english language teaching and learning from an asian context, for mailto:tasnova.humaira@bracu.ac.bd https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5232 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 41-53 42 example, abanador, buesa, remo, and manibo (2014) found that english language teachers in asia are evolving to facilitate learner-centered classrooms and help students to become lifelong autonomous learners. moreover, borg and alshumaimeri (2019) indicate that teachers can develop autonomous learners by setting achievable course objectives and ensuring learners’ motivation for improved english language proficiency among students. despite different research conducted to identify different factors that affect different skills in the english language (moser, zhu, nguyen & williams, 2018), there is a gap in the research area of an individual’s cognitive thinking ability in relation to english speaking proficiency. haseli and rezaii (2013) focused on the application of critical thinking in the educational practices of higher education institutes in bangladesh. however, the relationship between convergent thinking and english speaking proficiency has never been investigated in the bangladeshi context. bangladesh is one of the largest populations in the world to be learning english as a second or foreign language (hamid & honan, 2012). researchers also suggest focussing more on english at the tertiary level in bangladesh as language plays an important role in developing a dynamic workforce in the country (rahman & pandian, 2018). english at the tertiary level requires more focus because the english language teaching policy has always suffered due to the uncertainty of the fundamental status of english in the country (chowdhury & kabir, 2014). in addition, according to rahman and pandian (2018), the lack of certainty is further intensified by the three different education systems present in the schools of bangladesh: general education, madrasah (religious) education, and englishmedium education. to minimize the language proficiency discrepancies created by different education systems, tertiary education should emphasize enhancing communicative language rather than the grammatical structure of the language (farooqui, 2014). research conducted by aziz (2018) finds that most tertiary students face difficulties communicating by speaking in english. thus, it is essential to conduct thorough research to improve english language speaking proficiency from the context of bangladeshi tertiary level, so that the students can develop personally and for the nation. this research aims to study the relationship between bangladeshi students’ convergent thinking ability and their english speaking proficiency. literature review english language speaking skill all four skills of the english language are unique to each other and all are equally important to achieve competence in the language. sadiku (2015) terms speaking as “when you have words read, ideas are written and thoughts heard, all you need is to expressyour speaking skill.” that is, speaking determines the expressiveness of a person and this skill is highly regarded for communicative purposes. furthermore, speaking fluency of individual points to his or her overall competence in the language because, speaking skill includes the correct use of vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, listening, pronunciation, etc. in a controlled manner which conveys meaningful ideas to others (matin, 2013; nunan, 2003; harmer, 2001). speaking proficiency is imperative for human beings to interact and connect with fellow beings (yonsisno, 2015). in addition, enhanced speaking skills are beneficial for both speakers and their work organizations, as it llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 41-53 43 helps in job interviews, interacting with international clients, business presentations, ceremonial speaking activities, etc. (osborn, osborn & osborn, 2019. research by zaremba (2003), indicates that in the process of recruiting new employees, speaking and communication skills are often given high regard ahead of work experience, motivation, and academic credentials. thus, it is important to focus on improving the teaching and learning process of speaking skills (trent, 2009; zhang, 2009; bailey & nunan, 2005). luoma (2004) and richards (2003) mention that spoken discourse can be both planned or unplanned consisting of several composed ideas involving reciprocity and at times involve variation in speaking purpose and context. bygate (2009) mentions that to achieve proficiency in speaking, studying the knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, listening, pronunciation, etc. is not enough rather it is required to apply the knowledge effectively in communication. this notion of using language for communicative purposes is supported by the concept of communicative competence. there are several models present for communicative competence, among which bachman’s model of communicative competence (1990) is more comprehensive and adds substantial value to the provision of effective language use (amirian, moqaddam & moqaddam, 2017). communicative competence bachman (1990) mentions in his communicative competence model that the general characteristics of the language users (gender, nationality, ethnicity, cognitive style, etc.), their topical knowledge, and their language ability affect the communicative language ability and linguistic performance of the learners (amirian, moqaddam & moqaddam, 2017). furthermore, the model diversifies itself into a multi-faceted one by adding the strategic competence, which is defined as having a “set of meta-cognitive strategies, which can be thought of as higherorder executive process providing a cognitive management function in language use” (amirian, moqaddam & moqaddam, 2017). that is, the strategic competence of bachman’s model implies the application of individual application of their metacognitive principles (planning, achieving, controlling, and correcting) on several forms of language activity, likereception, interaction, production and meditation (bagarić & mihaljević djigunović, 2007; amirian, moqaddam & moqaddam, 2017). one major strand of strategic competence is the ability to solve problems (suh & seshaiyer, 2016), thus strategic competence can be considered to be in line with convergent thinking. convergent thinking ability convergent thinking includes the process of distinguishing the best possible solution to a problem or issue by using deductive reasoning (lee & therriault, 2013; webb, little, cropper & roze, 2017). this aforesaid concept of thinking is a type of creative thinking (holt, 2015). the classic definition of convergent thinking is provided by guilford (1950) asmoving linearly and logically toward a single solution. the whole concept of convergent thinking can be made clear by understanding its different functions like assembling information, identifying the known, reapplying set techniques, and preserving the already known (cropley, 2006). as convergent thinking and strategic competence include a similar cognitive process of problem-solving ability, thus convergent thinking can have a substantive llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 41-53 44 relationship with language proficiency, more specifically speaking proficiency as it is directly related to communication competence. several studies identified a definitive relationship between convergent thinking and several areas of pedagogy. previous studies a study conducted by mather, jones, and estes (2014) tried to determine the relationship between convergent and divergent thinking and verbal analogy. the result of the study indicates that convergent and divergent thinking positively affects the verbal analogy of individuals. this study also sheds light on the connection between analogical reasoning and creative cognition. hajesfandiari, mehrdad, and karimi (2014) identified that convergent and divergent thinking tasks have a positive effect on teaching articles to efl learners. moreover, it was found through the same research that convergent thinking tasks are more effective because students learn better by presenting examples and appealing to their previous knowledge for reaching the best possible solution rather than brainstorming and coming up with different solutions. marashi and tahan-shizari (2015) found in their research that convergent thinking tasks promote better participation and motivation from students because they can initiate their writing with sufficient input which in turn helps them to come up with new ideas and motivation to be active in their learning process. the study also suggests elt teachers use convergent thinking tasks to make learners participative and boost their creative learning. another study by azimi, behjat, and kargar (2016) represents the finding that iranian efl learners’ reading comprehension shows remarkable improvement when convergent and divergent thinking tasks are employed in the class. in addition, the authors also suggest that teachers can yield positive results in the language learning process by designing convergent thinking tasks for different language skills like reading, writing, listening, and speaking. current study this study tried to determine the relationship between students’ convergent thinking ability and their english language proficiency. in the context of this research, convergent thinking is students’ ability to use logic and analytical thinking to narrow ideas to the one best-suited idea. considering the aforesaid definition of convergent thinking, this research used the remote associates test (rat) which is not only widely used to determine convergent thinking but also used to study insight, problem-solving, and creative thinking in different research (kajic & wennekers, 2015). on the other hand, the speaking proficiency english assessment kit (speak) was used to determine the english language proficiency of students. this study aimed to use the collected data from rat and speak to answer the following question: “do students with convergent thinking ability have better english language speaking proficiency?” methods participants the study used 140 undergraduate freshers, from a private university in bangladesh as participants. the participants in the present study included both males and females between the ages of 18-20. all the students in the study have llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 41-53 45 completed their 12 years of school education and the english language was a compulsory subject from class one. to control discrepancies, homogeneity was maintained by only using the participation of students who are all in their first semester. furthermore, more than 30 participants were used, as it was suggested by groom and littlemore (2012) that the minimum sample size of experimental or correlational studies is 30. it is important to keep in mind that the students are not all from the same department, however, they all are attending the same english language course in their university and all of them are in their first semester. instruments remote associates test (rat) remote associates test (rat) (mednick, 1962) was employed to determine students’ convergent thinking ability. previous research has identified positive correlations between rat scores and different indicators of convergence creativity (aiello, jarsoz, cushen & wiley, 2012; storm, angello & bjork, 2011). the test was produced based on the associative theory of creativity where participants need to solve rat items by identifying a link among words that lacks any obvious relation among each other. for instance, participants are required to analyze the three words: light, birthday, wax, and identify the fourth remotely associated word (answer: candle) (lee, huggins & therriault, 2014). lee, huggins, and therriault (2014) reached a consensus in their research that rat is a convergent thinking measure and reported a spearman-brown reliability coefficient of r = .92 and r = .91 from two separate samples. the test consists of 30 items and the participants are allowed to use 40 minutes to complete it. the test takers' score was the correct number of answers. speaking proficiency english assessment kit (speak) to measure the speaking proficiency of the participants, the speaking proficiency english assessment kit (speak) was administered among the participants. in response to the requirement of developing an oral proficiency measure, educational testing service (ets) designed tse and its institutional version speak. is a standardized instrument developed by educational testing service (ets)? according to brown, fishman, and jones (1990), tse/speak is an appropriate speaking proficiency instrument. also, a study conducted by clark and swinton (1980) found positive correlations between tse scores of instructors and students’ evaluation of instructors’ communication abilities such as lectures, understanding students’ questions, and interaction with students. data analysis data analysis for this research used descriptive statistical analysis and correlational statistical analysis. to describe the profile of participants, the mean score of convergent thinking ability, and the mean score of speaking proficiency, descriptive analysis were utilized. additionally, the correlational statistical analysis was used to analyze the relationship between students’ convergent thinking ability and students’ english speaking proficiency. moreover, the multiple regression method was implemented to identify the effect of convergent thinking on english speaking proficiency. this study used the spss program version __ to analyze the data collected from the participants. only selective data were used for analysis to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 41-53 46 ensure the quality of the data. the data was screened by not including the respondents who lacked to give full cooperation while responding to the questionnaire. findings and discussion descriptive analysis demographic analysis of respondents this research selected 140 responses in total, among which 92 respondents were female (65.7%) and 48 respondents were male (34.3%). the participants are all in the age group of 18-20 years. the demographics of the respondents are explained in the following table: table 1. demographic analysis of respondents (n=140) demographic frequency % gender male 48 34.30 female 92 65.70 age 18-20 years old 140 100 convergent thinking ability for this study, the mean score was calculated for convergent thinking ability using the remote associates test (rat) scores derived from the respondents of this study. this research used a modified version of amiruddin, ngardiran, zainudin, and ngadiman’s (2016) mean interpretation range. originally, there are three categories of mean interpretationlow (1.00-2.33), moderate (2.34-3.67), and high (3.68-5.00) (amiruddin, ngardiran, zainudin & ngadiman, 2016). however, this research modified the scale to a suitable range that accommodates 30 points; the interpretation used are: very low (0.00-5.99), low (6.00-11.99), moderate (12.00-17.99), high (18.00-23.99) and very high (24.00-30.00). the mean value of convergent thinking ability is at high levels, that is m=18.53 and sd=3.45. the data are showcased in the following table 2: table 2. convergent thinking scores convergent thinking mean standard deviation level convergent thinking score (male) 17.79 4.09 moderate convergent thinking score (female) 18.91 3.07 high overall score 18.53 3.48 high the above data indicate that female students aged between 18-20 years have higher convergent thinking abilities than male students. thus, it can be said that females are prone to be better at methodologically solving problems, compared to the male gender. however, it is important to point out that, according to the data of this study, males are not significantly behind in the score of convergent thinking. the insignificant difference between males and females in terms of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 41-53 47 creative thinking is supported by other studies conducted by chan (2005), kaufman (2006), and volf and tarasova (2013). english speaking proficiency similar to convergent thinking ability, the data were used to derive the mean score of the two constructs of english speaking proficiency, which are fluency and accuracy. again, the modified version of amiruddin, ngardiran, zainudin, and ngadiman’s (2016) mean interpretation was used. in this case, the range of mean interpretation was set to accommodate 10 points; the interpretation used are very low (0.00 1.99), low (2.00-3.99), moderate (4.00-5.99), high (6.00-7.99) and very high (8.00-10.00). the data from 140 respondents show that fluency (m=3.59; sd=0.76) while speaking is better than accuracy (m=4.35; sd=4.45) among bangladeshi firstsemester university students. the data is represented in the following table 3: table 3. speaking proficiency score speaking proficiency mean standard deviation level accuracy 3.59 0.76 high fluency 3.83 0.56 high overall score 7.42 1.21 high the third table of this research conduce that bangladeshi students are slightly more fluent in english speaking than they are accurate. though in the case of both accuracy and fluency, the students are at a high level. however, this data does not depict the level of accuracy and fluency among all bangladeshi students aged between 18-20 years. the participant’s speaking scores are exclusive to a high level, because, they are already enrolled in a prestigious university in bangladesh, where they had to get selected through an admission exam. this selective group of participants will not affect the findings of this research, because, the study is focused on understanding the speaking proficiency of students about convergent thinking ability. the next part of the paper will focus on the core part of the research, which is to define the relationship between convergent thinking ability and speaking proficiency. the relationship between convergent thinking ability and english speaking proficiency the correlation relationship between convergent thinking ability and english speaking proficiency is depicted in figure 1 below: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 41-53 48 figure 1. relationship between speaking proficiency and convergent thinking ability the pearson correlation parametric statistic is used to understand the relationship between convergent thinking ability and english speaking proficiency and the result is perceived as linear because the graph shows a value of r2=0.816 which indicates that 81.6% of the speaking proficiency score is directly contributed by the convergent thinking ability score of students. the result concludes that it is important for students to have convergent thinking ability, not just for methodological thought process or to be a better problem solver, but, also to enhance speaking proficiency. this part of creative thinking skills will aid students to assemble all their language proficiency factors and provide output through speech. moreover, the indication of the result that convergent thinking skill is essential for enhanced speaking proficiency is supported by another research where it was found that bilingualism and convergent thinking are positively related to each other (hommel, calzato, fischer & christoffels, 2011). relationship between convergent thinking ability and speaking proficiency constructs (accuracy and fluency) according to wang (2014), speaking competence has two constructs accuracy and fluency which together determines the level of a student’s communication ability in english. analysis through pearson correlation shows that the correlation coefficient value between the scores of accuracy and convergent thinking ability is r2=0.794, which means that 79.4% of speaking accuracy is affected by convergent thinking ability. the figure below shows the linear relation between speaking accuracy and convergent thinking ability. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 41-53 49 figure 2. relationship between speaking accuracy and convergent thinking ability in addition, when the relationship between fluency and convergent thinking ability was analyzed, it showed that the pearson coefficient value is r2=0.682 and it is interpreted as the idea that convergent thinking ability influences 68.2% of an individual’s speaking fluency. the figure below shows the relationship between convergent thinking ability and speaking fluency. figure 3. relationship between speaking fluency and convergent thinking ability llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 41-53 50 the pearson coefficient relationship draws on the scenario that convergent thinking ability has more of an effect on students’ accuracy while speaking than it does on fluency. this might be the case because accuracy includes correct pronunciation, vocabulary use, and accurate grammar, and possessing convergent thinking ability helps students to assemble all these factors to produce speech accurately and logically. conclusion it is important to conclude the paper with the major finding that developing convergent thinking ability in students is important to ensure better speaking proficiency. with this understanding, teachers can design their activities to incorporate convergent thinking tasks 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(2009). reading to speak: integrating oral communication skills. english teaching forum, 47(1), 32-34. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 language and language teaching journal http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 94 scope ambiguity in the jakarta post headline articles published in may 2015 hernita ratna aulia sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia hernita.ratna@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2017.200203 received 12 december 2016; revised 30 june 2017; accepted 20 september 2017 abstract as an international language, english has an important role in many aspects of human life. the language has been practically utilized in mass media to provide current information for the people. printed mass media, as one of the examples, is the topic of this study, newspaper in particular. this study has two purposes, i.e. to find out the scope ambiguity which appears in the articles of the headlines and to analyze the cause of the scope ambiguity. the data of this study are 65 articles taken from the online headlines of the jakarta post published in may 2015. the result shows that there are 6 scope ambiguities caused by quantification, 4 scope ambiguities caused by coordination, and 7 scope ambiguities caused by quantification and coordination. overall, there are 17 scope ambiguities found in the jakarta post’s headline articles. keywords: headlines, ambiguity, scope ambiguity introduction english has played a very important role “as the international language of nonenglish language speaking people and of people who speak english only as a foreign language” (sasaki et. al, 2006, p.381). it helps people all over the world communicate, and according to widyanti & yulia (2013), people are able to express their opinion, intention, and thought through language. this is supported by sharifian (2009) who says that ”…english has ‘traveled’ to many parts of the world and has been used to serve various purposes (p.1). in addition, “english can be used effectively in the mass media of communications to galvanize the populace into participating in national development, through the adoption of a level of language intelligible to the majority of the people who are consumers of mass media products through reading information as news published in the mass media” (owolabi & nnaji, 2013, p.4). mass media can take many forms, such as audio, visual, or printed. this study concerns with discussing the printed mass media, particularly newspaper. recently, english newspapers have been commonly found in the countries where english is not the native language. in indonesia, for instance, the jakarta post is one of the newspapers written in english. it shows that english is widely used all over the world. the most important part in the newspaper is undoubtedly the headlines, appearing in the very front page of the newspapers. generally, any mailto:hernita.ratna@gmail.com llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 95 kinds of newspapers have headlines. “newspaper headlines will be functionally defined as relevance optimizers which means that they are designed to optimize the relevance of their stories for their readers” (sperber & wilson, as cited in dor, 2003). in other words, successful headlines are those which involve the readers’ understanding. “a headline does not tell an accurate story if its language is ambiguous, open to more than one interpretation” (bremner, 1972, p.11). theory a newspaper headline is a phrase providing a brief summary of the content of the news in a newspaper. a headline is very helpful as it helps readers get fast and clear idea about the news without reading the text. ”in journalism and desktop publishing textbooks, headlines are viewed as a riveting short-cut to the contents of newspapers. this means that, in principle, headlines seek to perform two functions: (a) summarize and (b) attract attention to the full-text newspaper article” (ifantidou, 2009, p.699). another definition of headlines comes from dor (2003) who states that newspaper headlines are commonly characterized as “short, telegram-like summaries” of the news. thus, it is important for a headline to be brief and understandable. dor (2003) further states that: obviously, some newspaper headlines do provide what seems to be a summary (or abstract) of their stories, but the general theoretical conception…seems to be too narrow, for at least three complementary reasons. first, … ‘quality newspapers’, do not always summarize their stories. … some headlines even contain material which does not appear in the news item itself. second, the traditional notion of headlines-assummaries definitely does not capture the function of headlines in more popular newspapers, and especially in tabloids. the third reason to reject the traditional conception is the simple fact that headlines seem to have an additional, pragmatic function, beyond the semantically-oriented function which is supposed to be captured by the headline-as-summary analysis (p.3). in relation to the circumstance above, ifantidou (2009) says the same thing that headline writers often violate the characteristics of a good headline: ‘be clear, easy to understand, and unambiguous’. they attempt to create memorable headlines by being purposely ambiguous, less clear and less easy to understand. according to wasow et.al (2005), “ambiguity is a semantic property. semanticists argue over exactly what meaning is, but it surely involves associating expressions in a language with something else, such as things or events in the world, mental representations, sets of possible worlds,…” (p.1). schvaneveldt and meyer (1976) mention that there are a lot of english words which have two or more distinct definitions and that they are called ambiguous words. to find out the meaning of those words, contextual cues provided by other words are used to determine the intended meaning. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 96 theory application as mentioned by saeed (2009), there are at least three types of ambiguity namely lexical, structural, and scope ambiguity. scope ambiguity results from the use of quantification which is not clear. saeed (2009) states that “one important feature of natural languages…is quantification. all languages have strategies for allowing a proposition to be generalized over ranges or sets of individuals. in english for example quantifiers include words like one, some, a few, many, a lot, most and all” (p.311). this idea is supported by kurtzman and macdonald (1993) stating that “this ambiguity concerns quantifier scope, and it can arise when two or more noun phrases (nps) in a sentence contain a quantifier term such as every, some, a, many, or a few in the determiner position” (p.243). for instance, (1) many people went to the exhibition. (2) most people went to the exhibition. (3) all people went to the exhibition. saeed (2009) declares that “the relationship between the quantifier phrase and the rest of the formula is described in two ways: the quantifying expression is said to bind the variable in the predicate expression; and the predicate expression is said to be the scope of the quantifier” (p.313). when the use of the quantifier in a sentence is not clear, the ambiguity appears, as seen below. (4) two students have two cars. it cannot be obviously concluded whether one student has one car or one student has two cars. this ambiguity results from the use of quantifier two which is not clear. the example of ambiguity above is caused by the quantification. hurum (1990) says that “natural languages contain a variety of ‘logical operators’ which interact with each other to give rise to different types of ambiguity. the logical operators recognized by the scoping program include quantifiers, coordinators and negation” (p.58). the following example shows the scope ambiguity caused by coordination. (5) bob will run or walk fast the above sentence may mean that bob will either run fast or walk fast. however, it may also mean that bob will either run (without considering the speed) or walk fast. it can be said that this ambiguity involves the use of coordinating conjunction, such as or, and, etc. finally, here is an example of scope ambiguity caused by negation as given by hurum (1990, p.58). (6) john didn't meet jane or mary (7) ¬ [[john met jane] v [john met mary]] (8) [¬ [john met jane] v ¬ [john met mary]] llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 97 sentence (6) may mean that john didn't meet either jane or mary (7) or that he didn't meet at least one of them (8). this study firstly attempts to discover scope ambiguity appearing in the newspaper articles of the headlines. secondly, it aims to figure out what causes scope ambiguity in the articles. according to hurum (1990), scope ambiguity is caused by the unclear use of quantification, coordination, and negation. the data of this research are headline articles of the jakarta post published on may 2015. they are gathered randomly in the website of the jakarta post. overall, there are 65 articles to analyze. firstly, the headline articles are analyzed to identify scope ambiguity appearing in the texts. secondly, they are classified based on the causes of scope ambiguity, i.e. quantification, coordination, and negation. finally, the analysis of those ambiguities is presented in discussion. the analyses represent the type of scope ambiguity (quantification, coordination, and negation). thus, not all of the scope ambiguities found in the articles will be analyzed in the discussion. however, the whole data containing scope ambiguities are presented in the table in appendices. this discussion provides the analysis for two types of scope ambiguity, i.e. scope ambiguity caused by quantification and coordination. in addition, the analysis in this discussion also covers the ambiguities involving both quantification and coordination. the third type of scope ambiguity, which is caused by negation, is not presented or analyzed here because this type of ambiguity does not appear in the headline articles of the jakarta post. the first scope ambiguity to analyze is those related to quantification. as what is mentioned by hurum (1990), quantification is the first cause of scope ambiguity. the article hundreds of children in siberut have no access to education tells about the condition of education life in siberut in which students get no easy access to go to school. they have to walk for many hours to reach the school. they sometimes take small motorized canoes. the coordinator of the education and culture division of the citra mandiri mentawai foundation (ycmm) has run forest schools since last year as a solution to overcome the problem. scope ambiguity caused by quantification is found in this article which can be seen in the following. (9) these students must leave their home village and stay at a relative’s house in saliguna to prepare for the national exams. there are two interpretations that can be drawn from sentence (9). it can firstly mean that each student, who has to leave his village, has his own relative’s house and that he has to stay there to prepare for the national exams. however, it can also mean that those students have to stay in the same relative’s house because of the quantifier a. according to kurtzman and macdonald (1993), a relative’s house has “wide scope” and these students has “narrow scope,” there is one particular house where the students must stay. other examples of scope ambiguity caused by quantification are: llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 98 (10) during his visit to ambon, maluku, on thursday, president joko “jokowi” widodo reiterated his plan to disburse rp 100 billion (us$7.6 million) to 98 cities in the country for infrastructure projects that suited local characteristics. (11) jokowi made the remark as he started a five-day visit to several provinces in eastern indonesia, namely maluku, north maluku, papua and west papua, which have long been considered the country’s backwater regions. both of the ambiguities above appear in a headline article entitled jokowi tours eastern regions of indonesia. this headline article is about president joko “jokowi” widodo who visited several provinces in eastern indonesia, namely maluku, north maluku, papua and west papua. during his visit, he declared that he was going to disburse a certain amount of money to 98 cities in the country for infrastructure projects, such as markets, roads, bridges or ports, and other projects. in sentence (10), scope ambiguity is caused by the quantified noun phrase 98 cities. it can be interpreted that the amount of money (rp 100 billion) is going to be given to each city. it means that the government should provide rp 9800 billion to improve infrastructure in the eastern indonesia. however, the article does not clarify whether rp 100 billion is going to be disbursed to an individual city or 98 cities altogether. if the 98 cities are given the total of rp 100 billion, it means that each city will receive around rp 1 billion. kurtzman & macdonald (1993) argue that “quantifier terms have been of substantial interest to linguists and philosophers of language, largely because,…quantifier terms contribute to the expressive capacity of natural language by making possible the expression of generalizations about variously sized sets of individuals” (p.245). in sentence (11), scope ambiguity occurs as a result of the quantified noun phrase several provinces in eastern indonesia. kurtzman and macdonald (1993) state that this ambiguity arises when two or more noun phrases in a sentence contain a quantifier expression such as every, some, several, a, many, or a few in the determiner position. what is ambiguous in sentence (11) is whether the fiveday visit was for each individual province or whether the five-day visit was for those provinces. the former means that the president spent 15 days to visit maluku, north maluku, as well as papua and west papua. meanwhile, the latter means that the president spent five days only to visit those three provinces. the next type of scope ambiguity to analyze is those involving coordination. there are only 2 examples of this kind of scope ambiguity found in the headline articles. (12) with well-designed ventilation and lighting, the market remained cool and bright despite being crowded with thousands of vendors. (13) pembayun, who completed most of her education abroad, has served as president director and president commissioner of pt madu baru, pt mataram mitra manunggal, pt yogyakarta tembakau indonesia and pt yarsilk gora mahottama. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 99 the above sentences are ambiguous. wasow et al. (2005) declare that “an expression is ambiguous if it has two or more distinct denotations – that is, if it is associated with more than one region of the meaning space” (p.1). this idea is supported by gillon (1990) who states that “an expression is ambiguous if the expression has more than one meaning” (p.4). sentence (12) can be interpreted in two ways. firstly, the market remained cool and bright with well-designed ventilation and well-designed lighting. on the other hand, it can also mean that the market remained cool and bright with well-designed ventilation and lighting. so, it is only the ventilation which is well designed. sentence (13) is rather complicated to interpret. it can be said that pembayun is both the director and president commissioner of those all companies. in the meantime, another interpretation can also be drawn. she might be a director of only some of the companies mentioned and a president commissioner of only some of the companies mentioned. according to schvaneveldt and meyer (1976), the intended meaning can be determined by relying on the cues provided by other words in the text. however, the meaning cannot be identified because there is no information or cues given in the text. it involves a problem of “how to handle the scoping of multiple copies of the same operator which may occur when the operator is embedded inside a coordinated expression” (hurum, 1990, p.59). finally, the examples below show ambiguities related to the scope of quantification and coordination. in other words, the use of quantifiers and coordination in the following sentences is not clear and that it causes scope ambiguity. (14) she thought that jokowi was a popular member of the indonesian democratic party of struggle (pdi-p) as shown by his successful two terms as mayor of surakarta and later winning the governorship of jakarta. (15) the parking lot was transformed into long lanes of booths and two stages were installed at the end of the street and in front of the shopping center. as mentioned before, scope ambiguity can arise because of quantification and coordination (kurtzman & macdonald, 1993; hurum, 1990). in sentence (14), two terms as mayor of surakarta and later winning the governorship of jakarta can be interpreted in different ways. it firstly means that jokowi had become mayor of surakarta twice and then, he won the governorship of jakarta. another interpretation is that the two terms refer to his being mayor surakarta and the governor of jakarta. the similar case can be seen in sentence (15) in which the use of quantifier expression two is not clear. it might mean that there are two stages built at the end of the street and that there are other two stages built in front of the shopping center. on the other hand, it might also mean that there is only one stage built at the end of the street and that there is another stage built in front of the shopping center. conclusion this paper attempts to discuss scope ambiguity as seen in the online headlines of the jakarta post. it has two aims, which are to discover scope llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 100 ambiguity in the headline articles as well as to identify the cause of the scope ambiguity. based on the theory mentioned in the introduction, scope ambiguity is caused by the use of quantification, coordination, and negation which is not clear. in collecting the data, the researcher randomly gathered headline articles from the website of the jakarta post. overall, there are 65 headline articles to analyze. in analyzing the data, the researcher firstly analyzed the scope ambiguity appearing in the articles. secondly, the researcher identified the cause of the scope ambiguity and classified the ambiguities based on the three causes (quantification, coordination, and negation). some of the scope ambiguities are analyzed in the discussion to represent each cause of the ambiguity. meanwhile, the whole data are presented in the table in appendices. the result shows that there are 6 scope ambiguities caused by quantification, 4 scope ambiguities caused by coordination, and 7 scope ambiguities caused by quantification and coordination. the third cause of scope ambiguity, which is negation, is not discussed here because this type of scope ambiguity does not appear in the headline articles of the jakarta post. references bremner, j. b. 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(2013). a study on modals used in text your say of the jakarta post. a journal on language and language teaching, 16(1), 11-21. doi: http://doi.org/10.24071/llt.2013.160102 http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156913306779147326 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 31-40 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 31 enhancement of ecoliteracy for language learners using song lyrics *kezia c. y. rantung 1, y. m. s. widiasmoro 2, and *novita dewi 3 1,2,3sanata dharma university, indonesia keziarantung84@gmail.com1, johaneswidiazmoro@gmail.com2, and novitadewi@usd.ac.id3 *correspondence: novitadewi@usd.ac.id3 https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5437 received 28 november 2022; accepted 3 march 2023 abstract this study explores song lyrics to use in language teaching to enhance students’ ecoliteracy while developing their language competency. today’s language teaching goes beyond language proficiency and capability to address such emerging issues in society as ecological crises. the inclusion of authentic teaching materials like song lyrics may motivate learners to be proficient as well as ecoliterate. the methods used in this research includes data selection, i.e., song lyrics from kepalspi, navicula, and burgerkill that can be utilized in elt; data analysis consisting of paraphrasing, speculating, and interpreting of the song lyrics; and evaluating their thematic and linguistic appropriateness for classroom use. the results show that, first, the five-song lyrics reveal ecological problems like deforestation and biodiversity loss that the singing artists lament and call for preventive actions. secondly, song lyrics may offer imaginative use of language that can enable learners to think critically and creatively, hence useful language teaching materials. keywords: ecoliteracy, language teaching, song lyrics introduction no damage is irrevocable except ecological damage. environmental destruction, mostly human-made, has continued to rage in the post-pandemic world. the decline in the quality of human life and that of the natural and social environment are interconnected. climate change, global warming, and social and environmental injustices remain the big challenges near the third decade of the 21st century. as it is, a total paradigm shift should be made mandatory in the world of education towards ecohumanistic pedagogy. nowadays. education is even more entrusted with global consciousness-raising. it should promote ecological insights, environmental ethics, awareness of nature conservation, and other important values to the learners. speaking in celebration of world teachers’ day, two elt authors ceri jones and katherine bilsborough called for ecoliteracy in language learning. ecoliterate language learners are prepared to use their holistic ability to participate in creating a sustainable society (jones & bilsborough, 2021). at the more parochial level, the implementation of sustainable education in indonesia is underway but more works need to be done. numerous studies on the mailto:novitadewi@usd.ac.id mailto:novitadewi@usd.ac.id https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5437 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 31-40 32 theory and practice of environmental education in indonesia concur that ecological literacy should be best planted as early as possible (e.g., harlistyarintica et al., 2017; purwanti, 2017; paradewari, et al., 2018; wirawan, 2019). scholarly works on the wealth of contemporary and traditional works of literature with environmental perspectives are also plentiful (e.g., suwandi, et al., 2017; sukmawan & setyowati, 2017). however, sustainable education has yet to be made a top priority and explicitly stated in the curriculum. for example, the kkni (kerangka kualifikasi nasional indonesia) or iqf (indonesian qualification framework) does not mention sustainable environmental issues. based on the national qualification, the desired moral and ethical competencies to accomplish by indonesian learners can be summarised as follows. 1. devotion to one all mighty god 2. possession of excellent morals, ethics and personal identity in carrying out her/his duties 3. pride and love toward her/his nation and faith in world peace 4. an ability to work in teams and attest compassion to social, community and environmental issues 5. valuing diversity in culture, vision, beliefs and religion as well as appreciating patent and property rights 6. respecting law enforcement and demonstrating spirit to put priority to national and public needs. (directorate general of higher education ministry of education and culture of the republic of indonesia, 2012, p. 25). if at all, environmental concern is articulated in priority # 4, namely the ability to work in teams and to attest compassion to social, community and environmental issues. it is important that ecohumanism be made a strategic choice. the implementation of education from elementary to tertiary level should ensure that the new generation gains ecological awareness through integrating earth care issues with the ideology, faith, and noble values that the students live by. consequently, authentic curricular resources are necessary to help educators address crucial issues of the day such as environmental damage and its ensuing ecological and social impacts. the aim of this study is therefore to propose song lyrics to use in language teaching in order to achieve a sustainable goal, i.e., integrating environmental issues while targeting language competency. here, song lyrics are treated as representative social objet d’art for textual analysis, hence methodologically in line with the teaching of language and literature. integrating ecological issues in language teaching in addition to developing interpersonal skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening, language teaching should foster critical thinking and civic engagement. students may become eager learners when they find personal connections in what they learn and their day-to-day lives. as they learn, students should be made aware that nature sustains life with which they are motivated to live a life that benefits people and the environment. an ecoliterate person is a whole person with ecological understanding whose hands-on civic participation helps llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 31-40 33 create a sustainable society and celebration of creation (mcbride, 2013; orr, 2015). orr speaks of ecoliteracy as the formation of attitudes. he writes: if literacy is driven by the search for knowledge, ecological literacy is driven by the sense of wonder, the sheer delight in being alive in a beautiful, mysterious, bountiful world. (orr, 2015, p. 23) like any teaching, character education is inextricably linked to elt (mambu, 2015; dewi, 2019). formation of ecoliterate learners, accordingly, should be made a curricular priority in today’s teaching. fostering character education and environmental ethics by way of literature to language learners is deemed necessary. critics spoke persuasively of the power of literature to address social issues since literature gives context-specific and fresh literary devices such as metaphors, imagery, and symbols to charm and motivate learners (thornton & cruz, 2013; davis, 2015). more specifically, no cultural product is more authentic, contextspecific, and easily reached than songs to utilize in language learning (kennedy, 2014; wolff, 2015). kennedy has this to say further: “song lyrics can be used in the language classroom as valuable examples of literary texts. song lyrics are poems set to music.” (2014, p. 303). the use of songs in language teaching is not only entertaining but also strategic to engage students in problems outside the classroom like the destruction of the environment, climate change, global warming, ecological injustices, etc. it is important to make class activities more relevant and realistic to students’ day-to-day lives including earth care. what follows is further elaboration on the value of music as a cultural artefact in promoting environmental messages. revisiting studies on the power of music the study of fernández (2017) examines a number of song lyrics from the english band, the cult using ecocritical lenses. this charismatic, mystical, and mysterious rock band led by ian astbury voices concerns on socio-political injustice, calling for human rights and freedom, as well as environmental protection. the entire discography of the cult includes references to the universe which is also an area of interest for every member of the band. central to the work of fischer (2021) is the contribution of music to environmental issues. the study highlights the ecological potential and relevance of the song lyrics of the australian rock band nick cave and the bad seeds. this melbourne-based band founded in 1983 by nick cave emphasizes the close relationship between plant health and human well-being through their songs. fischer’s study has proven the ecological forces inherent in nick cave’s songs. meanwhile, larsen (2018) conducts an ecocritical analysis of the song lyrics by jethro tull, a rock band from england. the album songs from the wood, released in 1977, celebrated paganism, forests, and the natural environment. larsen uses the criteria established by the leading ecocritical critic, lawrence buell. larsen’s findings: there are violations of environmental ethics committed by humans as depicted in jethro tull’s songs. their songs help to raise awareness of environmental abuse. while the wealth of studies above takes lyrics of western songs as the formal object, the song lyrics of indonesian rock or heavy metal bands have not been llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 31-40 34 studied much. only several rock bands gain scholarly attention like navicula (moore, 2010; pramundito, 2019) and marginal (prayogi, 2018). this present research is to continue the argument on the power of music in advocating environmental preservation. it attempts to fill in the gaps left in the previous studies by examining the song lyrics from kepal-spi, navicula, and burgerkill that can be utilised in language teaching. method this research is of qualitative-interpretative type using song lyrics as data. following kennedy (2014), it treats song lyrics as examples of literary texts, i.e., poems set to music to use in language teaching. data used include song lyrics by three indonesian rock bands, i.e., kepal-spi, navicula, and burgerkill. except for songs written by kepal-spi, all song lyrics are in english and ready to use for analysis. the translation kepal-spi’s song lyrics is done by the researchers. table 1 shows the data used for analysis. table 1. song lyrics as primary data song title artist source “jaga kampung” kepal-spi https://id.cafelagu.me/downloadmp3/kt1 kbefftvk/kepal-spi-jaga-kampung-fullalbum “balada peladang” kepal-spi https://id.cafelagu.me/downloadmp3/kt1 kbefftvk/kepal-spi-jaga-kampung-fullalbum “harimau! harimau!” navicula https://www.songlyrics.com/navicula/hari mau!-harimau!-a-tale-of-the-lastsumatran-tiger-lyrics/ “do it yourself is dead, now we do it together” navicula https://www.songlyrics.com/navicula/doit-yourself-is-dead-now-we-do-ittogether-lyrics/ “undamaged” burgerkill http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/burgerk ill/adamantine.html#1 to analyse the five song lyrics, this study employs the steps suggested by timpane (2001). each line and stanza of the lyric is read to understand the use of diction, metaphor, structure, and its literal meaning. after analysing the language and content of the lyrics, the next step is speculation – what does the text say? the final step is to interpret the meaning. findings and discussion lamentation of violence toward nature it is hard to separate ecological problems from human beings’ actions since it takes what sastrapratedja called “ethical issues” (2015, p. 169) to act justly instead of pushing nature into destruction. “balada peladang” [the ballad of the farmer] by the music group kepal-spi laments the lack of environmental ethics of the logging companies that destroy the forest and the lives of the local populations. the song opens with a disclaimer: “beratus-ratus tahun kami sudah berladang / sebelum indonesia terlahir ami sudah berladang” [we’ve spent hundreds of years farming/ before indonesia was born; we had already farmed] (1-2). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 31-40 35 the next five lines repeatedly declare the routine activities seen in country life people as “fishing in the river”, “hunting animals in the woods” (3-4); they perform slash-and-burn sufficiently, claiming that they make farming as their habitual livelihood. the singing artists continue: datangnya pabrik perambah hutan, menjarah hutan dan menghabiskan seluruh alam kami jadi kambing hitam (8-10), to be translated and interpreted as a reproach: when logging companies arrive, not only do they loot the forest but also make the local people scapegoats should a disaster occur. unlike the companies, local people are aware that nature is not the repository of natural resources to serve human greed. here we see that the depiction of violence toward nature is present in the lyric. indeed, indonesia has contributed to the global crisis due to deforestation, the use of non-organic, engineered products, environmental pollution, and the sociocultural impacts thereof (hunga, 2013). the song is thus a warning as well as a lamentation. this song shows concern about people with power who have done wrong to nature and the less fortunate others by playing the blaming game. for language learners, this song lyric is rich with figurative language, for example, the repetition of “kami” [we] in lines 3-7 and the metaphoric use of “scapegoat” (10). the farmers are aware that all things are interconnected. water, plants, soil, animals, and people depend on each other to survive on this planet, to use pope francis’ words, “our common home” (2015, p. 2). similar to kepal-spi, the lamentation of the violent destruction of nature and the loss of biodiversity is the point made by navicula. “harimau! harimau! (a tale of the last sumatran tiger)” is one of navicula’s famous songs taken from their album titled love bomb. different from kepal-spi with their songs written in indonesian, navicula released both indonesian and english albums. the following lyrics can be readily used in elt class. to quote the lyric in full, tired tones leading the way no unknown foliage falls away claws create fear dominates near the end nature strives to change do you care i'm longing for home as i face the future all alone harimau! sumatera skies colored in red guns to fangs... fury takes today people cheer as angels cry by this bullet i have learned to fly i need someone to love as i face the future all alone harimau! harimau! examining agency is important to deal with this song lyric. the speaker is a tiger or harimau being chased as shown by its bracketed title – a tale of the last sumatran tiger. the tiger in the story is perhaps a victim of the endangered animal llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 31-40 36 trade. saying “tired tones leading the way / no unknown foliage falls away”, the speaker claims its familiarity with the sumatran forest (1-2) that is now no longer the tiger’s habitat. harimau cries, “do you care i'm longing for home / as i face the future all alone.” (5-6). another threat to the tiger’s habitat is forest burning as evident in “sumatra skies coloured in red.” (8). the tiger is a lone creature wandering out of the forest to save itself from extinction. the tiger’s cry is repeated near the end of the song: i need someone to love / as i face the future all alone / harimau! harimau! (12-14). next, to elucidate the song lyric, one must be knowledgeable about the plight of the tigers in their habitation. according to fauna & flora international (ffi), there are 400 sumatran tigers left on this planet. this subspecies is on the iucn red list of threatened species. the near extinction is caused by either tiger trafficking or the retaliatory killing of tigers that had harmed people or livestock. finally, what we can interpret from navicula’s tiger story is that everything that lives on earth is interconnected. every creature must take care of each other. the last three lines – i need someone to love / as i face the future all alone / harimau! harimau! – send the message of the interdependence of all life. humans and nature are important to sustain life on earth. in addition to its environmental message, “harimau! harimau!” is useful for language learners as it is rich in figurative language, for example, the use of synecdoche “claws” and “fangs” to refer to sumatran tigers. another example is the two rhyming lines –people cheer as angels cry / by this bullet i have learned to fly– that can be used to teach metaphor and paradox. the pairing “people-angels” and “cheer-cry” accentuates the violence done by human beings toward nature. the closing line is useful to teach paradox to efl students. the word “bullet” that connotes with killing, death, extermination, etc. is self-contradictory when juxtaposed with the phrase “learn[ing] to fly”. in this way, the students sharpen their language awareness while shaping their ecological attitudes. petitions to care for nature humans play an important role in maintaining the balance of nature. this message is clear in the three-song lyrics discussed in this section. to begin with navicula, “do it yourself is dead, now we do it together” can be easily recognized by an ecoliterate person as the song is a call for earth care. the first stanza declares the speaker’s support for forest conservation as follows. friends from the forest are calling me i'm hearing them scream they want to be free i want to stand with them and the tall trees for it will be gone tomorrow (1-4) navicula is quick to point out that our planet and all creatures living inside are burning and immediate action is crucial to stop further damage. the lines “it’s wrong to believe there’s time to act tomorrow / today is now tomorrow” (7-8) show the urgency of environmental protection. global warming has become a reality. climate change is triggered by irresponsible human activities. it affects all life on earth, including air, food chains, water cycles, plants, animals and other living beings. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 31-40 37 the song title reflects the comradeship of people and nature represented by, respectively, the speaker and the forest. the following stanza explains peoplenature solidarity, thus: dead trees marking my way, it all disappears, that's why i'm here i keep finding my way, so that one day my darling we'll walk through the green (11-12) the rest of the song is an advocacy for earth care. next, a stronger appeal comes from the second song discussed herein. in 2018, burgerkill released an album titled adamantine. the album contains one song called “undamaged” which one can interpret as an appeal to care for nature. no word “don’t” is used in the song since the petition is stated in three declarative sentences as follows. you cannot destroy what you did not create you cannot destroy what you did not create you cannot destroy what you did not create (1-3) prohibition not to destroy things is clear in the song lyric. the modality “you cannot” repeated three times strengthens this appeal. various creatures on earth are given by nature for free – a gift from the creator to use for people’s needs, not people’s greed. meanwhile, the third song lyric “jaga kampung” from kepal-spi is another petition for environmental protection. the song title loosely translated “protect your village”, is an appeal not to destroy the inherited land from the ancestors – a gift from the creator. the speaker in this song begins with a what if question: pabila suatu saat nanti tanah-tanah di kampungmu tlah habis / diambil oleh pabrik dihilangkan hutanmu apa yang hendak engkau lakukan / [if one day the land in your village is gone, taken by the factory; and the forest is cleared, what will you do?] (1-2). this question is immediately answered thus: kurasa takkan ada lagi nyanyian syukur petani diladang anak-anak bermain di antara pematang mungkin semua tinggal pematang (3-6) [i think no more farmer’s song of praise in the field no more children playing in the ridge maybe all is lone rice field] the song artists further address capital owners not to take over the ancestral land saying “enough is enough”. if only they have a conscience, the lyric continues, they would not destroy god-given, irreplaceable forests and mountains. multinational companies often take advantage of the local people, hence the petition. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 31-40 38 in addition to examining the language used, language learners may also learn to be ecoliterate. they may interpret that there is a power relation by the use of the word “tuan” [respected sir]; and the power relation is not simple either because the natural environment also becomes the victim. as stated in laudato si’, technological and economic developments that hardly make a better world and quality of life cannot be considered progress (francis, 2015). the pope has repeatedly reminded us that the loss of biodiversity means a decrease in the quality of human life as well as social decline. the damaged environment can no longer be repaired but can only be conserved to prevent further damage. here kepal-spi uses the imperative “jangan” meaning “do not” to express concern and an invitation not to harm nature. it can be said for now that the three song lyrics above send the same message that people play an important role in maintaining the balance of nature. systematic natural destruction is done by living creatures called humans, hence the petition to stop further damages. conclusion this research has shown that song lyrics become useful means of awareness raising. deep reflections on the impact of environmental pollution and natural disasters are found in the five-song lyrics by kepal-spi, navicula, and burgerkil. two main themes emerge in the song lyrics discussed, i.e., the lamentation of natural disasters and advocacy for nature conservation. as shown from the analyses of the lyrics, the three indie group bands demonstrate a commitment to the care of nature. this research has also shown that through the use of symbols, metaphors, stylistics, and other literary devices, the song lyrics offer useful teaching materials for language learners. the lyrics of the songs are more than just words; 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(2017). environmental messages as found in indonesian folklore and its relation to foreign language classroom. arab world english journal, 8(1), 298-308. https://doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol8no1.21 thornton, s. j., & cruz, b. c., (2013). teaching social studies to english language learners (2nd edition). new york: routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203094167 timpane, j. (2001). poetry for dummies. hoboken: john wiley & sons inc. wirawan, a. k. (2019). metode atm (amati, tulis, modifikasi) untuk pembelajaran menulis puisi berwawasan lingkungan. hasta wiyata, 2(1), 30-41. https://doi.org/10.21776/ub.hastawiyata.2018.002.01.04 wolff, g. j. (2015). the motivating magic of songs in the efl classroom. jalt 2015:the language teacher, 39(1). https://doi.org/10.37546/jalttlt39.1 https://doi.org/10.24071/sin.v12i2.1904 https://doi.org/10.20961/jdc.v1i2.17622 https://doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol8no1.21 https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203094167 https://doi.org/10.21776/ub.hastawiyata.2018.002.01.04 https://doi.org/10.37546/jalttlt39.1 llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 language and language teaching journal http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 158 errors and corrective feedback in writing: implications to our classroom practices maria corazon saturnina a. castro university of the philippines, quezon city, the philippines mcsacastro@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2017.200210 received 6 july 2017; revised 30 august 2017; accepted 29 september 2017 abstract error correction is one of the most contentious and misunderstood issues in both foreign and second language teaching. despite varying positions on the effectiveness of error correction or the lack of it, corrective feedback remains an institution in the writing classes. given this context, this action research endeavors to survey prevalent attitudes of teachers and students toward corrective feedback and examine their implications to classroom practices. this paper poses the major problem: how do teachers’ perspectives on corrective feedback match the students’ views and expectations about error treatment in their writing? professors of the university of the philippines who teach composition classes and over a hundred students enrolled in their classes were surveyed. results showed that there are differing perceptions of teachers and students regarding corrective feedback. these oppositions must be addressed as they have implications to current pedagogical practices which include constructing and establishing appropriate lesson goals, using alternative corrective strategies, teaching grammar points in class even in the tertiary level, and further understanding the learning process. keywords: writing, errors, corrective feedback, classroom practices, teaching strategies introduction academic writing is not easy. it is cognitively complex as it tests the student’s ability to use a language and to express ideas in that language. for second language learners, academic writing is more complicated as they go through different stages of acquisition of the different elements of the second language (l2) and make errors reflective of the second language acquisition (sla) processes. corder (cited in james, 1998) defines errors as the result of some failure of performance. dulay, burt, and krashen (1982) state that errors are the flawed side of a learner’s speech or writing. an error is any deviation from a selected norm of language performance, no matter what the characteristics or causes might be. there have been a number of error taxonomies presented in second language (l2) literature. corder (1973) classified errors into four categories: omission of some required elements; addition of some unnecessary elements; selection of incorrect element; disordering of elements. james (1998) noted that errors may be interlingua, i.e., mother-tongued influenced. these are mailto:mcsacastro@gmail.com llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 159 errors resulting from the learner indulging in a literal translation from l1 to l2. the target language may also cause intralingua errors. the learner may also resort to some communication strategiesbased errors such as approximation and circumlocution errors. lastly, induced errors are errors that result from the language situation rather than the learner’ s incomplete competence of the target language or the interference of the mother language. corder (1967) argued that making errors is part of second language (l2) developmental stage. if errors are inevitable and integral part of l2 learning, how would teaching practitioners treat errors specifically in writing. error correction is one of the most contentious and misunderstood issues in both foreign and second language teaching. until the 70’s, l2 writing was primarily for language practice—that is to say, manipulate grammar forms, learn and use new vocabulary items (ferris and hedgecock, 2005). teachers paid a lot of attention to accuracy and error correction was a major component of writing instruction. however, there was a paradigm shift after this period and composition teachers focused on the process of writing. discovering ideas, drafting, revising was given importance and students were empowered to make decisions about refining their own work. composition instruction entered a “period of benign neglect of errors and grammar teaching” (ferris, 1995). a number of scholars also pointed out the limitations of the process approach. the reality is, as many of us have observed even in our own classes, that students’ accuracy does not automatically improve by itself (eskey, 1983). there is still a need for teacher instruction and intervention. inevitably, this observation resulted in a renewed interest in error correction and grammar instruction even at the tertiary level. in the university of the philippines, despite varying positions on the effectiveness of error correction or the lack of it, corrective feedback remains an institution in the general education (ge) writing classes. given this context, this action research endeavors to survey prevalent attitudes of teachers and students toward corrective feedback and examine their implications to classroom practices. this paper poses the major problem: how do teachers’ perspectives on corrective feedback match the students’ views and expectations about error treatment in their writing? this major inquiry is further broken down into the following subproblems such as what are the dominant positions of teachers regarding corrective feedback? what approaches do teachers adopt to correct errors in the students’ writing? do students find value in corrective feedback? what specific corrective feedback do students find helpful in their writing? and in what ways do students find corrective feedback helpful in their writing? method faculty members who taught writing classes during the 1st semester of school year 2016-2017 at the department of english and comparative literature of the university of the philippines were surveyed. these faculty members ranged from instructor to full professor rank. their teaching experience ranged from three (3) years to thirty-seven (37) years. all have handled english 1, 10, 30 which are the writing courses in the university. english 1 is basic college english and it tackles basic grammar, usage, and composition skills in english. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 160 english 10 is college english and it focuses on the writing and critical reading of forms of academic discourse essential to university work. lastly, english 30 is english for the professions and it concentrates on principles and the uses of writing in english in the various disciplines/professions. one hundred (100) students enrolled in the three writing classes participated in the survey which was administered between september-november, 2016. findings and discussion to determine the dominant positions of teachers regarding corrective feedback, two related questions were asked of them: do you think that errors in writing must be corrected? and do you think that every error must be corrected? if your answer is no, state your reasons and write down what types of errors must be corrected. table 1. number of respondents: 15 faculty question yes no 1. do you think that errors in writing must be corrected? 100% 0% 2. do you think that every error must be corrected? 20% 80% the results of the survey show that all the teachers agreed that errors must be corrected; however, majority believe that not every error must be corrected. the reasons for not correcting all errors range from affective concerns to pedagogical/teaching issues. they observed that students get discouraged when they see their papers full of marks. too many corrections can also prove overwhelming and counterproductive to revision. for the pedagogical issues, not a few shared the idea that students must eventually learn to identify, correct their errors, and rely “on their sense of language.” teachers must point out or correct errors that are glaring and repetitive and this strategy may involve identifying just top three types of errors. the students must be allowed to find and correct their own errors with minimal intervention on the part of the teacher. some faculty also noted time management issues. correcting all errors of 25-27 students in one class can be time consuming and may veer the attention away from content. all errors, therefore, can be corrected in stages across several writing sessions. one young faculty highlighted the variety of english that students are familiar with. she argued that “errors that are considered acceptable features of the variety of english that the student is immersed in need not be corrected.” this pedagogical position actually calls for not only a more tolerant view of “errors” but, of a more comprehensive understanding of the socio-cultural dynamics involved in the teaching of english. those who answered that all errors must be corrected pointed out the primary responsibility of the teacher to exhibit a “certain standard of llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 161 english.” according to her, “details matter as many people still judge one’s credibility and intelligence based on his/her proficiency in english.” like the faculty, the students also believed that all errors must be corrected but unlike the faculty, 80% of the students said that all errors must be corrected (see table 2). the students strongly believed in the value of error correction and have specific reasons why all errors must be corrected. for most of them, error correction raises the awareness of the students of grammar forms resulting in the improvement in the knowledge of the language structure and of the composition itself. errors, grammatical or otherwise, can distort the idea/message that students want to convey. the communication of thoughts and the comprehensibility of the composition can be dramatically improved by addressing morphological and syntactic weaknesses. in addition, the students also expressed apprehension that uncorrected errors would have impact on their future. some of them articulated that “learning the rules of grammar through corrective feedback would be helpful throughout their careers as employers prefer employees who are proficient in the language.” while many expressed that corrective feedback is really meant for them to improve their language skills, some argued that error correction is primarily the professor’s responsibility and that “withholding correction is equivalent to refusing to teach.” table 2. number of respondents: 100 students question yes no 1. do you think that errors in writing must be corrected? 100% 0% 2. do you think that every error must be corrected? 80% 20% those who answered that not every error must be corrected share the opinion of most of the faculty that correcting every error can be cognitively and affectively counterproductive. one student wrote that too many corrections can be “disheartening.” for most of these students, the teachers must just guide /advise students but allow them to discover and correct their own errors. the students and the faculty were also matched in the belief that only fossilized and repetitive and global errors must be pointed out. global errors are those that affect the overall sentence organization of a text. they are the ones which are likely to have a marked effect on comprehension (ellis, 2008). the respondents articulated that they should be allowed to address their own stylistic issues that can be reflected in word choice, sentence structure (e.g. passive vs active; loose vs periodic structures) or even in the variety of english preferred by the student. this argument potentially moves students toward the idea of independence and learning autonomy. given these results, it is important for teachers to give feedback that will encourage rather than dishearten the students to analyze their llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 162 own errors and self-correct. however, this task is easier said than done. it entails the teacher’s recognition of the fact that students possess various levels of english even if they are all labeled l2 learners. the students’ level of proficiency will have an impact on how well they can understand and apply the corrective feedback. it may not be effective nor feasible to simply point out without explanation an error (e.g. by merely encircling errors). to find out what approaches do teachers adopt to correct errors in the students’ writing and what specific feedback do students find helpful in their writing, two related questions were asked: 1. for the teachers: in correcting errors, what kind of corrective feedback do you give? direct feedback__________________ indirect feedback_________________ both___________________________ if your answer is both, which type of feedback do you think is more helpful to the student in revising the error/s and why? 2. for the student: what kind of corrective feedback do you want your teacher to give you? direct feedback__________________ indirect feedback_________________ both___________________________ if your answer is both, which type of feedback do you think is more helpful to you in revising the error/s and why? eighty-six percent of the faculty provide both direct and indirect corrective feedback. direct feedback means that the instructor provides the correct linguistic form and the students are merely expected to copy the teacher’s suggested correction. on the other hand, indirect feedback occurs when the teacher simply indicates that an error has been made and leaves it to the student to correct the error (ferris, 2011). the faculty, however, noted that indirect feedback is more helpful to students as they are more challenged to process—think, compose, revise. direct feedback is done only for commonly committed errors (e.g. sv agreement and verb tense). they also expressed the perception that students prefer both types of feedback. this perception acknowledges the fact that learners have different learning and writing strategies, levels of proficiency, and goals in writing. giving both direct and indirect feedback provides wider issues that llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 163 teachers can focus on. one noted that “too much direct feedback can be overwhelming; while all indirect can be confusing.” both types of feedback allow the teacher to provide a range of comments from grammatical to vocabulary, content, organization, even the cultural context of the composition. direct feedback works well with the grammar items while indirect feedback is found suitable in addressing issues in style and organization. in effect, simultaneous attention is given to form and content as well as local and global errors. studies have shown that l2 learners improve on both content and form during revisions. they are aware of their linguistic deficiencies and are motivated to address writing problems that have been pointed out (hedgecock & lefkowitz, 1994). the students were aware that their teachers provide direct and indirect feedback; however, majority preferred direct feedback. the students also conveyed the notion that students, in general, prefer direct feedback. convenience is basically the reason for the preference. “the correct answer is given right away” and students know exactly what to improve on. according the some, “solution is given; and time is saved.” studies in sla have acknowledged the benefits of direct feedback. lalande (1982) noted that clear, explicit feedback can actually help students master the structure of language. however, self-editing strategies can be achieved through “guided learning and problem solving.” a different scenario was presented by ferris (2006). ferris found out that direct feedback led to more correct revision than indirect feedback. because students find direct feedback easier and faster, positive results may be seen from one draft to another, to the final paper. however, she also found out that throughout the semester, the students who received primarily indirect feedback reduced their error frequency substantially than those who received direct feedback. lalande (1982) noted that the cumulative effect of indirect feedback resulted in overall accuracy. needless to say, the goal of the writing instruction influences the type of feedback the teacher opts to provide. it is apparent that the teachers in the study preferred the type of feedback that would lead the students to think for themselves, develop their own editing styles and strategies, and overcome their language deficiencies with minimal intervention. the mismatch between what type of feedback teachers provide and what students prefer can lead to a dilemma. how can the use of direct feedback not lead to laziness and overdependence on teachers’ markings? what circumstances would make direct feedback appropriate? ferris (2006) noted that there are at least three circumstances in which teachers may consider giving direct feedback: 1) when students are at beginning levels; 2) when errors are untreatable (untreatable errors are idiosyncratic in nature and requires acquired knowledge of the language to self-correct. examples are idiomatic expressions, word choice); 3) when the teacher wishes to focus the student’s attention on particular error patterns. since the ge students are already in the tertiary level, what the teachers must consider would be the level of proficiency. for students whom the teachers have identified at low-proficiency, direct feedback may be more beneficial until they are deemed able to self-correct. these students are also more likely to commit repetitive errors. studies in sla posited that the input of the teacher has llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 164 demonstrated to aid learner’s acquisition of the target forms (ellis et al., 2008). the teacher may opt to prioritize frequent errors and provide direct correction targeting identified weak areas of specific students. gradually, direct correction can transition to partial indirect correction—that is to say, erroneous part may be pointed out and metalinguistic information can be given instead of the correct form. later on, grammar instruction, which may involve students identified to commit similar errors or the entire class, can be planned or adopted to address areas of difficulty. to determine the importance of corrective feedback to the students, they were asked the question: in what way do students find corrective feedback helpful in their writing? it is heartening to know that the students indicated openness and positive attitude toward corrective feedback. for them, corrective feedback raises their language awareness; their critical thinking is also exercised when processing their teacher’s comments. once they become aware of choices available to them, they are encouraged to review and critique their own compositions by looking for ways to refine their lexical choices and check their grammar accuracy. for them, lexical analysis combined with renewed syntactic awareness would impact on the precision and readability of their compositions. beyond immediate revision concerns, the students also highlighted the importance of corrective feedback in their future workplaces. while it is important for them to produce error-free texts, it is equally important to develop innovative writing techniques and control their academic language for professional uses. conclusion one implication of the study is that something has to be done regarding the mismatch between the expectations of teachers and students in the type of corrective feedback that teachers should provide. ultimately, the goal of corrective feedback should be toward learner autonomy. teachers should explain corrective feedback philosophies and strategies (i.e., which errors to address; how errors will be corrected; when errors will be corrected) so students will be able to manage their expectations and even their anxieties in receiving feedback. teachers should also set realistic goals. marking every error is stressful and teachers eventually experience burnout; in addition, corrective feedback is not expected to eliminate all errors. this condition led one teacher to suggest correcting errors across different writing assignments—that is to say, for teachers to do selective correction in various writing activities until all errors have been identified and addressed. teachers must also recognize some issues that relate to second language acquisition (sla). errors made by students reflect different types and levels of linguistic knowledge. truscott (1996) argued that different types of errors need varying treatments in terms of error correction. it would be beneficial to both teachers and students if the teachers would make themselves familiar with sla theories that can support correction strategies. grammar issues and correction would then be put in perspective. teachers must provide a broad range of commenting strategies. they can request more information, address grammar, style, organization. these various llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 165 instructional feedbacks should inform students of the location and nature of their errors while providing encouraging feedback. this strategy engages the students and motivates them to take an active participation in writing instead of simply copying the teacher’s correction. in effect, two issues in corrective feedback can be addressed—the affective and the pedagogical. the survey showed that most of the errors found in students’ composition are grammar errors. grammar correction can be complemented by grammar instructions even in the tertiary level. however, unlike in elementary and high school, supporting grammar instruction must be brief, focused, and based on students’ needs as determined by diagnostic tests and other writing assignments. depending on the teacher’s evaluation, grammar instruction can be given to individual students or small groups during conferencing or to the entire class. some errors may be too complicated and may not be addressed through written feedback. conferencing, therefore, may be more effective. the teachers must consider student willingness and ability to understand and cope with conferencing dynamics. as teacher-student relationship adds a layer of stress or awkwardness on the part of the student, teacher-student can be relaxed so teachers can ease the transformation of students from passive to active participants in conferences. in a study by sheppard (1992), it was noted that students who negotiate meaning in a teacher-student conference are likely to be accurate in their use of language that those who are drawn to repair techniques (e.g., direct feedback). some teachers indicated peer evaluation as an alternative mechanism for feedback. theoretical perspectives in both sla and writing have acknowledged the benefits of peer evaluation but teachers must caution against actual problems, the most common of which is, the students not knowing what and how to correct. peer evaluation works well within the context of students who have similar levels of proficiency but the reality in the classroom is, students have varying levels of abilities as writers. slower students may benefit from the more advanced students. unprepared students, on the other hand, might find the process of collaborative correction helpful or intimidating. what is important though is for teachers to reevaluate the goals of using peer evaluation in their own classes, the general attitude of students, and the procedure used in peer evaluation. the results of the study should make teachers re-evaluate their perspectives in corrective feedback. teachers need to shift their students’ focus as well as their own. it is understandable that students want feedback but they should also know that for long term goals, direct feedback may not be as effective as indirect feedback. the teachers, on the hand, must begin to address differing perspectives in providing feedback by arming themselves with pedagogical and theoretical issues in sla and corrective feedback. this way, they will have a better understanding of language processes and more significantly, of their own teaching. references corder, s. p. (1981). error analysis and interlanguage. oxford: oxford university press. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 20, no. 2, october 2017 166 dulay, h., burt, m., & krashen, s. (1982). language two. oxford: oxford university press. ferris, d.r. (2011). treatment of errors in second language student writing (2 nd ed.). ann arbor, mi: the university of michigan press. ferris, d.r., & hedgecock, j.s. (1998). teaching esl compositions: purpose, process, and practice. upper saddle river, nj: lawrence erlbaum associates. hedgecock, j.s., & lefkowitz, n. (1994). feedback on feedback: assessing learning receptivity in second language writing. journal of second language writing, 3, 141-163. james, c. (1998). errors and language learning and use: exploring error analysis. new york: pearson longman. lalande, j. f. (1982). reducing composition errors: an experiment. modern language journal, 66, 140-149. sheppard, k. (1992). two feedback types: do they make a difference? relc journal, 23, 103-110. truscott, j. (1996). the case against grammar correction in l2 writing classes. language learning, 46, 327-369. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 555-571 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 555 teachers’ attitudes towards code-switching in ethiopian efl classrooms arega temesgen 1 and eyasu hailu 2 1 madda walabu university, ethiopia 2 addis ababa university, ethiopia aschallew.temesgenn@gmail.com 1 and tusaye11@gmail.com 2 correspondence: aschallew.temesgenn@gmail.com 1 https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4954 received 31 july 2022; accepted 6 october 2022 abstract code-switching or the use of l1 in teaching english is a pervasive and inevitable phenomenon in ethiopia where teachers and students who own the same first language. nevertheless, researches carried out on the teachers’ attitudes to pedagogical code-switching in ethiopian context are scarce. this study, therefore, was designed to explore the attitudes of efl teachers towards code-switching and seek their views on why code-switching should be used in english classrooms. this study employed a qualitative case study design where data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with five english teachers who were purposely selected from two secondary schools. the results revealed that the four teachers supported code-switching whereas one of the teachers had a different stance. all five teachers believed that code-switching should be used in a limited, selective, and purposeful way only when necessary. furthermore, the results generally indicated that teachers had positive attitudes towards code-switching regarding academic, classroom management and socializing purposes although they had different stands on the specific functions of code-switching. based on the results, it is possible to suggest that as code-switching is part and parcel of classroom discourse, teacher training programs should incorporate it as an effective instructional strategy. keywords: attitude, code-switching, foreign language, first language, target language introduction in bilingual and multilingual communities, it is often the case that people often code-switch from one language to another in their daily conversations. for this reason, linguists (gardner-chloros 2009; wardhaugh & janet, 2015) consider codeswitching as a common and inevitable phenomenon in bilingual and multilingual communities. similarly, kamwangamalu (2010) states that code-switching can occur both in a formal or informal context; its occurrence in both domains is determined by the context of the situation and the communication needs of the interlocutors. the findings of most studies that investigate the alternation of language in teaching mailto:aschallew.temesgenn@gmail.com1 mailto:tusaye11@gmail.com2 mailto:aschallew.temesgenn@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4954 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 555-571 556 english indicated that code-switching is a prevalent circumstance in both bilingual and multilingual educational contexts (üstünel, 2016). although code-switching is a common worldwide phenomenon, most of the early researches which emphasized code-switching, aimed to explore the purposes of code-switching in the united states in multilingual social settings. early investigations regarding code-switching were largely quantitative and centred on bilingual education programs for minority students alone (martin-jones, 1995). in other words, prior studies on code-switching focused on situations outside of the efl classroom or deals with speakers whose proficiency is better than that found in the efl classrooms conducted in the united states. furthermore, the pioneering research on code-switching mostly focused on the sociolinguistic, psychological and syntactic aspects of language in social contexts (blom & gumperz, 1972). similarly, poplack (2001) argued that code-switching, which is a feature of bilingual communities worldwide, has only begun to receive the attention of scholars in the last few decades. it was only after the 1980s that researchers started to conduct studies on codeswitching in a natural setting (auer, 1998). similarly, after the mid-1990s, researchers have begun to examine several issues related to teachers’ use of codeswitching or l1 use in bilingual or multilingual educational contexts around the world (greggio & gil, 2007). however, code-switching or first language use in l2 classrooms remains a contested and unresolved issue among researchers, teachers and students. on one side, proponents of english-only argue that code-switching is detrimental to students' learning, and should be avoided at all costs. this ideology of banning l1 was tied with the grammar-translation method (shin et al., 2019) in this regard, macaro (2001) argues that an ideal language learning and teaching environment is created in the target language, and l1 should be used minimally if not completely excluded. some researchers believe that code-switching reflects teachers' lack of proficiency in l2 or the target language (boztepe, 2003; probyn, 2009). on the other side, proponents of code-switching or bilingual approach have questioned and challenged this monolingual assumption on the ground that l2 is better learned and taught through l2 itself. in this regard, a new language should be taught with the help of students’ first language since it is inevitable whether permitted or not (cook, 2010). the proponents of code-switching have argued that the exclusion of a first language in educational settings is not supported by empirical evidence in cases where the teacher and the student have a shared tongue (medgyes, 1994). this suggests that avoidance of teachers’ use of l1 in l2 classrooms is a futile attempt. similarly, the realities of the classroom situations have made various researchers do new studies and reexamine the role of l1 in efl classrooms (yavuz, 2012). as a result, polio and duff (1994) argue that a good efl classroom may not necessarily involve the sole use of l2 only, but also the incorporation of l1 if it is justifiable. this implies that the use of l1 in a classroom setting becomes a bane rather than a boon if it is used appropriately. as the controversy surrounding the use of code-switching in l2 classrooms has gained attention, many researchers have conducted different studies on the issue of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 555-571 557 classroom code-switching in varied contexts. these researchers have investigated the types, amount, functions, effects, factors, and attitudes of code-switching in a wide range of contexts. however, there is still little research on code-switching in ethiopian efl classrooms, especially at the secondary school level despite a plethora of studies on classroom code-switching in efl classrooms internationally. so far, studies investigating code-switching in l2 classrooms have been only a few and used questionnaires as the main instrument to find out the teachers’ views on classroom code-switching (andualem, 2019; wondinum, 2019; yinager & boersma, 2018). the common denominator of these studies was that all of them were conducted with content subjects. moreover, they were conducted at the tertiary level. interestingly, these researchers suggested that in-depth interviews should be undertaken to know the perspectives of the teachers regarding this subject. to our knowledge, there is no detailed qualitative inquiry that investigated teachers’ perceptions of their codeswitching practices. given such research lacunas, this study aimed to explore the attitudes of efl teachers towards their code-switching practices. therefore, with this aim in mind, we tried to answer the following research questions: 1. what are the attitudes of english language teachers towards the use of codeswitching in efl classrooms? 2. what are the teachers’ perspectives on the purposes for which codeswitching should be used in efl classrooms? literature review the views of teachers on l1 use in foreign language classrooms have been studied extensively over the years in different contexts. one such study on teachers’ attitudes towards l1 use in l2 classrooms was a research project carried out by macaro (2001). having conducted surveys and interviews with teachers, macaro (2001) concluded that teachers held three positions towards classroom codeswitching: the “virtual position” in which the teacher believes that l2 should be the only medium of instruction. in other words, l1 has no place in the classroom and should be banished from the classroom as it has no pedagogical value.; the “maximal position” argues that as there are no perfect teaching and learning conditions, and sole use of l2 is unattainable, teachers should mad use of little l1 with regret as the last resort for different pedagogical purposes. finally, those who are in favour of the “optimal position” assert that l1 use in l2 classrooms has some pedagogical benefits, but teachers are cognizant of the advantages and disadvantages of using codeswitching in the classrooms, and they use it with no remorse. another seminal study on both teachers' and students’ beliefs was an internetbased questionnaire survey conducted by levine (2003). the survey aimed to give an account of what was going on in foreign classrooms in terms of the distribution of l2 and l1 use. this was a likert scale questionnaire which was completed by 600 learners and 163 teachers from the usa and canada. the responses of the teachers were compared to those of the students on each question. in terms of the quantity of l1 use in efl classes, although the rates of the teachers differed from those of the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 555-571 558 students, the overall results suggested that the first language was used in the efl classrooms extensively. a research study carried out by al-nofaie (2010) in saudi arabia revealed that the teachers had, overall, positive attitudes toward code-switching. furthermore, the results revealed that teachers chose to use code-switching in certain situations and for specific purposes. though the teachers underscored the pros of code-switching in efl classrooms, they argued that “the excessive use of arabic may hinder learning english” (al-nofaie, 2010, p.73). in the same way, other researchers (adriosh & razi, 2019; copland & neokleous, 2011; jogulu & radzi, 2018; mahmud, 2018) argued that teachers endorsed the use of code-switching in l2 classrooms. for example, mahmud (2018) explored teachers’ perceptions toward code-switching in bangladesh. he discovered that teachers were positive about l1 use in the classroom as long as it is used prudently. he also noted that the use of l1 cannot be avoided in cases where either the learners are competent in english or not, or either l1 is permitted or prohibited in an english classroom. however, excessive use of l1 may hamper students’ language learning. a study by ngoc and yen (2018) revealed that the teachers code-switched in their classrooms and they tended to codeswitch in different circumstances including “grammar explanations, vocabulary explanations, giving instructions, management, improving relationship with students, cross-cultural explanations and humour” (p.25). moreover, all teachers admitted the important roles of using l1 in efl classrooms, and nearly all of them claimed that they preferred to speak more english in the classroom as they believed that the use of english only during the lessons can enhance their students’ learning. debreli {2016) also found that efl teachers were in favour of code-switching in classrooms. however, these teachers were not able to use code-switching in foreign language classrooms when the students were proficient in l2 use. this may imply that the use of teachers’ code-switching varies according to the situation. similar results were also reported by (acar, 2020; inal & turhanlı, 2019; nguyen &vu, 2019; tan & low, 2017). research findings have also shown that teachers hold negative attitudes towards classroom code-switching despite its extensive use. copland and neokleous (2011) found that most teachers were anti-l1 use and described l1 use as a barrier that interferes with foreign language learning rather than an important pedagogical asset or tool for making language learning more effective so that it should be avoided and limited as far as possible. cheng (2013) also investigated the perceptions of teachers toward code-switching in efl classrooms. the results of the study revealed that teachers were against the usage of code-switching as they thought that the rules of school would be breached if they code-switched. moreover, teachers objected to the use of code-switching as code-switching is indicative of and associated with teachers’ language incompetence or deficit. in this regard, inbar-lourie, (2010) states that those who support complete avoidance of l1 consider code-switching as language interference. mahdi and almalki (2019) reported that most of the teachers had not advocated using l1 in the efl classroom. moreover, they revealed that the major motive for teachers to be reluctant to the application of code-switching was there was llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 555-571 559 little or limited chance for students to practice the target language. in contrast to teachers' contrastive views regarding the use of code-switching in a classroom setting, a study by burat and çavuşoğlu (2020) demonstrated that most of the teachers had a neutral attitude towards using code-switching in efl classrooms; they chose to use code-switching when the need arose. similarly, song (2009) found that teachers had generally a neutral attitude towards code-switching although there were teachers who held positive to negative attitudes. as the foregoing discussion shows teachers had divergent views towards codeswitching. for instance, polio and duff (1994) indicated that there was no consensus on teachers' attitudes toward the use of ll. regarding teachers' attitudes towards ll and l2 use, the results varied considerably as to why they did or did not use the l2 more often. those who favoured the use of the l2 did so for different reasons. two of them believed that such use was effective, and another two had theoretical convictions for conducting classes rich in l2. however, the other six teachers were ambivalent about the use of code-switching in their foreign language classrooms. on the other hand, macaro (2005) stated that there is a near consensus among teachers of all levels that l2 should be the main language for l2 classroom instruction. thus, it is possible to say that code-switching or l1 use as a teaching strategy has been either praised or discouraged although the merits of l1 inclusion in efl classes outweighed the demerits (kaymakamoğlu & yıltanlılar, 2019). method research design to investigate the teachers' perceptions of code-switching in detail, a qualitative case study was selected to answer the research questions posed for the following reasons. firstly, the aim was on a specific phenomenon, which was code-switching in efl classrooms. we intended to understand this phenomenon in-depth within its natural environment without any manipulation of behaviour. secondly, this study did not aim to generalize its findings so that we would not require to recruit a large sample size. thus, a qualitative case study was deemed to fit for this study to obtain an intensive, holistic description and analysis from the teachers on their perceptions of code-switching (yin, 2018). context of the study in doing any research, the choice of the site is one of the key steps as it is going to be the source of the data to be gathered for the intended study. furthermore, it could affect the “research design, for example, the type of data that can be collected and the degree to which we can generalize our findings” (lanza, 2008, p.75). for this reason, two secondary schools found in the south wollo zone of the amhara region were selected purposefully for the following reasons. firstly, we were familiar with the selected area in general and the schools in particular. this helped us to get access and develop relationships with students, teachers and administrators of the schools. secondly, the site was close to us. this was very important to get easy and frequent llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 555-571 560 access to the school’s understudy. thirdly, there was not any research work conducted in the schools in general and the present kind of research in particular. participants the research participants of the current qualitative case study were five english language teachers from two public secondary schools located in the south wollo zone of the amhara region. accordingly, a total of five english teachers, three male teachers from sayint secondary school and two (one male and one female) teachers from ewa secondary school were purposely selected and referred to by the pseudonyms alemu, belay, dereje, tigist and habtamu as the main aim of the research was to get teachers who could give rich information about classroom codeswitching to maximize what can be learned (dörnyei, 2007). furthermore, the determinant factor in non-random sampling is the researcher's judgment as to who can provide the best information to achieve the intended objectives of the study so that researchers can choose participants who may have the relevant information and who have the willingness to share it with them. for these reasons, the selection of five teachers was done in consideration of the following parameters. firstly, the teachers should have either a b.a degree or above in english language teaching and they should have at least five years of working experience. fortunately, the four teachers except for dereje were ma holders. secondly, they had the interest and willingness in cooperating with us. thirdly, teachers should teach at schools where code-switching was rampant. data collection according to richards (2009), interviews are valuable to research participants since they can give insights into people’s experiences, beliefs, perceptions, and motivations which cannot be done with surveys. likewise, codó (2008) mentioned that the interview is a flexible technique for collecting data from research participants about their views, values, and attitudes to their language use. since the objective of this study was to determine the opinions of efl teachers on language use, and codeswitching, in efl classrooms, a semi-structured interview, which is versatile, was employed to obtain detailed responses from teachers and allow the researchers to address the research questions (bryman, 2012). thus, a semi-structured interview was conducted with the five participating teachers to probe into their perspectives on classroom code-switching. we conducted the semi-structured interviews in english, audio recorded and transcribed. we also took notes as a supplement to audio recordings. although it was considered that the use of amharic would forestall any problems in terms of clarity of communication, the teachers preferred to be interviewed in english as they were professionals in the field. hence, the research employed this method as it was deemed to be appropriate for the present investigation. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 555-571 561 data analysis bryman (2012) states that clear-cut rules have not been developed on how to analyze qualitative data. the research aims and the type of data collected play an important role in deciding the types of methods to be employed. as researchers, we had to be aware and choose an appropriate method which fits the type of data and research objectives. thus, given the nature of the study, we chose thematic analysis for analyzing the gathered data. for braun and clarke (2006) thematic analysis is a way of identifying, analyzing and reporting patterns across a data set. similarly, marshall and rossman (2016) state that thematic analysis includes “organizing the data, immersing oneself in the data by reading and re-reading it, generating categories and themes, coding the data, offering interpretations, searching for alternative understandings, and then presenting the findings” (p.403). researchers may follow different steps in the analysis of qualitative data. therefore, in analyzing the data, we tried to take into consideration the steps put forward by marshall and rossman (2016). however, we did not exactly follow their steps as thematic analysis is not a linear method but rather a recursive one where the analysts move back and forth when necessary throughout the stages of research. findings and discussion the objective of this study was to examine efl teachers’ attitudes regarding the use of code-switching in efl classrooms. with this objective in mind, semistructured interviews were conducted with the teachers who took part in this study to get their perspectives on their code-switching practices and to elicit their views on classroom code-switching. accordingly, in what follows, the results obtained regarding research questions 1 and 2 are explained in detail. four of the teachers who partook in this study welcomed the utilization of codeswitching in efl classrooms. according to them, code-switching is an inevitable linguistic phenomenon in english classrooms where teachers share the same linguistic and cultural backgrounds. however, all of them believed that english should not replace amharic, and amharic should not be used at the expense of english. in other words, the use of l2, in this case, english, should be maximized. this suggests that the use and non-use of code-switching depend on several factors. in this regard, alemu stated: switching from english to amharic is an effective teaching strategy to help students of varying english proficiency levels easily understand english lessons. in my classroom some students have varied proficiency levels in english and using english only is not realistic because lowachiever students might not understand english. from the above excerpt, we can safely deduce that code-switching plays a crucial role in the teaching-learning process, especially since it is a valuable tool for students whose english level is not good, but its use depends on the student's level of english proficiency and the desired learning objectives of the lesson. similarly, belay llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 555-571 562 thought that when teachers and students have the same l1 in common and with students who have a rudimentary knowledge of english, code-switching should be used provided that it is used systematically, selectively and judiciously. in other words, belay was the view that code-switching may hinder the students’ language learning and development if used excessively and unwisely. similar to alemu and belay, dereje had generally positive attitudes towards classroom code-switching. he was of the view that it is acceptable for english teachers to code-switch when there was a need. besides, he reported that it is unfeasible to dismiss from english class where students have a different level of english proficiency except with well-versed students. this was what he said: some teachers avoid code-switching while teaching since they believe that avoiding code-switching makes language learning better. for me this is unacceptable. as an english teacher, who has nine years of experience, i use it when students encountered difficulties in understanding english. thus, i do believe that code-switching is more important. however, the female teacher, tigist, had mixed perceptions/feelings towards teachers’ use of code-switching. she favoured as well as opposed code-switching. she said that amharic is not allowed to be used in all cases; therefore, she mentioned circumstances in which it can be used. she contended: code-switching has its own merits and demerits as there are two sides to every coin. to me, code-switching should not be used in some situations, particularly in speaking lessons, but we can use it in giving directions and managing misbehaved students. tigist was the view that code-switching should not be used whenever one wants. although tigist had mixed feelings about code-switching, she was in favour of code-switching especially for giving instructions and reprimanding students. this shows that her perception of code-switching varies according to the specific functions of code-switching. thus, teachers should know when and why they use codeswitching. despite the pros and cons of code-switching, it is still an undecided issue in its use in l2 classrooms. in this regard, habtamu held a negative attitude towards codeswitching even though he used amharic in english classrooms. he believed that the language classroom is the main place where students can have exposure to english, and if code-switching is used in classrooms, students cannot have a good model for learning english. he expressed his concerns as follows: in my class, i do not want to use code-switching in teaching english because if i use it, the students will always expect me to use it so students will heavily depend on my code-switching. therefore, i use gestures and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 555-571 563 pictures to help students understand english. i use amharic when i am hundred per cent certain that it is helpful. from the above quote we can conclude that, unlike other teachers, habtamu believed that code-switching in english classrooms should not be used. if it is used, it should be the last option when other strategies failed especially in teaching english to students whose level of english proficiency is below the standard as the use of codeswitching will make students dependent on their teacher. the teacher further explained that amharic is counterproductive for proficient students, english should be maximized and students should be exposed to english so that they would develop their language skills. in short, this teacher had the strong belief that english lessons should be conducted only in english, and a mixture of english and amharic should not be employed in delivering english lessons. while the four teachers in their interviews cautioned that code-switching should not be used excessively, they also highlighted specific purposes for which the codeswitching should be used to enhance english learning. when asked when, and for what purposes, they used code-switching in their classrooms, the participants had various reasons and perspectives towards using or avoiding code-switching in their english classrooms. the four teachers believed that code-switching had to be used for three major functions academic, managerial and social functions. however, habtamu believed that code-switching should not be used for these functions except for explaining abstract and difficult english words. in the following extract, we will present the stances of each teacher. to begin with alemu, he maintained that in a context in which teachers and students have the same first language and cultural background, like the present study, a code-switching is an important tool. alemu further said, “i use amharic for giving instructions, expressing sympathy, explaining difficult vocabularies, expressing humour, giving praise, and talking about off-topic tasks which are not directly related to the lesson.” although alemu used code-switching for three major functions, he believed that code-switching should be mainly used for academic reasons, especially to explain complicated vocabulary and grammar. for alemu, it was impossible to use english exclusively when there were students below the mediocre as they could not understand him. he thought that the language ability of his students was a decisive factor that determine his use or non-use of code-switching. therefore, it was tenable to say that alemu was pessimistic about using english exclusively to accomplish the teaching and learning process, especially when he had to teach new words and difficult expressions to his students because he believed that students became content when he explained the lessons in amharic. he also added that his code-switching in the classroom was culturally-bounded. sometimes there were no right words in english to explain a concept, so code-switching to amharic was the only viable option. like alemu, belay believed amharic had to be used in the efl classroom when it is necessary within limits. he believed that code-switching had to be used to explain abstract concepts, check comprehension, discipline students, praise students, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 555-571 564 and explain grammar and vocabulary. belay strongly believed that code-switching had to be used as a means of socialization. in short, belay was the view that codeswitching had to be used in efl classrooms for many purposes, especially with less able students. in other words, belay was pro-l1 if it was used systematically. this suggests that banning the use of l1 can discourage students from language learning and learning would not take place if amharic was not permissible, especially with students who were weak at english. the teacher’s responses seemed to confirm that code-switching is an integral part of a foreign classroom. similar to alemu and belay, dereje believed that code-switching had to be used in english classrooms. he stated that there would be more benefits compared to drawbacks if the l1 is used systematically and judiciously. although he was positive about using amharic to facilitate and enhance the student's comprehension, he was concerned about not relying too much on amharic, as this may have negative effects on the teaching and learning of english. this implies that code-switching is beneficial only if given in small amounts. if used frequently, it would not result better. rather, it could upset the english language instruction. when we asked dereje he told us that he used code-switching for, especially thought that the use of code-switching was more effective for classroom management. as dereje noted: i use code-switching when the need arises especially when there is a problem with classroom management. i believe that amharic is more effective than english to deal with classroom management problems. in addition, i usually use code-switching for giving classroom instructions. if students misunderstand instructions, they may not understand the entire lesson. in such a situation, it is wrong not to resort to amharic. therefore, from the above extract, it is possible to say that the use of codeswitching in one situation is more important than the other situation. that was the reason why the teacher chose amharic when it came to giving classroom instruction and disciplining students. dereje further explained that when students face problems in understanding the lesson, the use of code-switching is very indispensable, especially with rural students who have not had little opportunity to learn english outside the classroom. moreover, the principle of using english only in efl classrooms often places the teachers in a difficult position. using english only in a classroom, in theory, is possible, but in practice, the reality is quite different. whether one likes it or not, code-switching is a pervasive reality that cannot be avoided in ethiopia where english does not have official status. it was evident from the interviews that not all the teachers were pro-l1. in this study, habtamu argued that code-switching should not be used in classrooms except explain difficult vocabulary. he seemed to hold a belief in what macaro (2005) calls a maximal position which posits that the target language should be used as much as possible in teaching a foreign language. in the interview we held with him, he claimed that english teachers should be role model for content subject teachers and their students. he saidː llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 555-571 565 students might not pay attention to english, and they may depend on my help in classroom activities and wait until i codeswitch. they cannot practice english in the classroom as it is the main place where they can have exposure to english. i believe l1 should be banned from the classroom. from the above quote, we can infer that the teacher was not in favour of amharic use in english classrooms because the classroom is the primary place in which students get enough input. besides as students rely on his code-switching, amharic should be prohibited from english classrooms. the teacher’s insistence on english only may be shaped by the belief that allowing learners to use amharic would deprive learners of opportunities to learn english which is needed to access other subjects. although habtamu had unfavourable attitudes towards using codeswitching, he did not deny the fact that there may be justifiable pedagogical reasons for code-switching between english and amharic especially in explaining vocabulary. like habtamu, tigist was unhappy and strict as regards the application of codeswitching during english lessons. what made her different from habtamu was that she partially admitted that code-switching is important for disciplining students and explaining vocabulary. although this teacher tended that english lessons should be conducted in english, a blend of amharic and english should be avoided. she went on to say that the lack of an english-speaking environment, the inability to use english out of school and the fact that the presence of more than fifty students made the application of code-switching as a teaching strategy inexorable and necessary to help her low-achieving students. thus, the teacher felt guilty for using amharic when she was supposed to use english only as english was the legitimate language in the classroom. in summary, the two teachers mentioned in the interview that it was best to use english only in the classrooms. besides, they viewed educational code-switching as undesirable as these teachers felt that it would result in undesirable language use amongst students; yet the crux of the matter was that they had to codeswitch to amharic in teaching english. therefore, to them, it was not reasonable to dismiss the l1 entirely from the classroom if the topic was too difficult despite their negative attitudes to code-switching. they acknowledged the importance of conducting lessons in english only while teaching but realized that it was not practical to do so throughout because using english only would hinder students’ access to the content taught. teachers, therefore, code-switched to enhance students' understanding of concepts but stated that they were careful not to overuse amharic as they were concerned that learners need to be able to express themselves adequately in english. discussion as stated earlier, the main objective of this study was to determine efl teachers’ attitudes regarding the use of code-switching in efl classrooms. with this llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 555-571 566 in mind, we tried to provide a comprehensive picture of efl teachers’ perceptions of l1 use in l2 classrooms. concerning the first question, almost all the teachers generally agreed that code-switching should be used wisely and judiciously in efl classrooms in believing that it facilitates students’ target language learning. similar to the present study, different researchers (adriosh & razi, 2019; copland & neokleous, 2011; jogulu & radzi, 2018; kaymakamoğlu & yıltanlılar, 2019; schweers, 1999 ) reported that teachers had positive attitudes towards codeswitching, and it should be allowed in classrooms as it is a beneficial strategy in facilitating the learning process. moreover, the five teachers unanimously approved that the target language, in our case english, should be the main language although they contended that code-switching is inevitable in classrooms with teachers and students who have a first language in common. this is in line with levine (2011) who contended that total rejection of l1 use in l2 classrooms is undesirable, unrealistic, and untenable. although the four teachers were generally in favour of code-switching, one teacher, named habtamu had a different stand. he believed that code-switching should not be used except in the teaching of vocabulary as it inhibits the target language acquisition. habtamu objected to the use of students’ mother tongue as he believed that the use of english only increases the chance of exposure to the target language. he felt guilt for his use of code-switching. this is compatible with the views of the researchers who advocate a monolingual approach and l2-only use. cheng (2013) indicated that teachers had negative perceptions of code-switching as they equated it with linguistic incompetence. most of the teachers thought that sometimes the use of l1 should be minimized even in situations where it might scaffold learning since code-switching decreases the practice of the target language in the class. thus, we can conclude that teachers either opposed or favoured codeswitching as a teaching strategy provided their reasons and both were right in their way. however, both thought that it is hard to avoid l1 use in a context where teachers and students share the same tongue. as regards the second research question, teachers believed that code-switching should be used in different situations for various reasons. the four teachers accepted the fact that code-switching should be used for three major functions: academic, classroom management and social functions. studies carried out by (acar, 2020; debreli, 2016; inal & turhanlı, 2019; kaymakamoğlu & yıltanlılar, 2019; ngoc & yen, 2018; nguyen & vu, 2019) disclose similar results. for instance, ngoc and yen (2018) found that teachers tended to code-switch when they explain grammar and vocabulary, give instructions, discipline students and inject humour. by the same token, acar (2020) found that teachers had the propensity to use l1 for cracking jokes, building social bondage, greeting students, solving classroom management issues and discipline problems, applying a contrastive approach to support students’ understanding, delivering instructions or making announcements, attracting students’ attention and letting students ask questions. moreover, nguyen and vu (2019) discovered that teachers believed that code-switching should be used for “explaining grammar points, clarifying difficult concepts, checking students’ comprehension, and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 555-571 567 dealing with students’ misbehaviours, saving time, motivating students, and accommodating students’ low english proficiency levels" (p.66) analysis of the data demonstrated that the participant teachers were predisposed to use l1 in their english lessons for various purposes and reasons. however, one had to note that there were differences in the teachers’ attitudes towards specific functions of code-switching. for instance, alemu believed that code-switching should be primarily used for academic purposes, especially in explaining complicated language items. this is consistent with tan and low (2017) who reported that teachers had primarily positive attitudes toward code-switching for academic purposes than other functions. on the other hand, belay had a strong tendency to use amharic as a means of socialization. still the other teacher, dereje prioritized the use of code-switching for giving classroom instruction and disciplining students. dereje thought that the use of code-switching was more effective in main the order of the class. habtamu also only found it beneficial when he practised code-switching for elucidating difficult vocabularies. overall, the results of this study align with studies conducted by other researchers. for instance, yıldız & yeşilyurt (2017) indicated that teachers had the belief that the use of the first language is more important especially to explain a new vocabulary and grammatical points. furthermore, they claimed that l1 plays a pivotal role in managing the classroom and building friendly relationships with students. conclusion although extensive studies have been conducted in different contexts, the use of code-switching in efl classrooms remains a controversial issue in which there has not been a consensus among researchers, teachers, and students. accordingly, the present study determined teachers’ attitudes towards the use of classroom codeswitching in english classes in ethiopia and sought their views concerning the purposes for which code-switching should be done in english classrooms. the results overall indicated that teachers were in favour of code-switching. however, one of the teachers baulked to apply code-switching and objected to the use of code-switching other than explaining vocabulary. all in all, despite differences in their views towards code-switching, all of them asserted that it is hard to avoid the employment of codeswitching in classrooms with students who have the same linguistic background as their teachers and struggle to understand english, but its use depends on the student's level of proficiency in english and the needs of students. moreover, all teachers agreed on the limited, judicious, and systematic use of amharic for varied purposes in efl classrooms though what is judicious is questionable and elusive. the study indicated that teachers favoured classroom code-switching mainly for three main functions: academic, classroom management and socializing functions. however, the attitudes of teachers varied according to the specific functions for which codeswitching should be used. the results of this indicated occasions during which teachers deemed the use of code-switching helpful. however, the current study is not free from limitations. first, as is common with most qualitative case studies, we do not claim that the findings of this study can be generalized to all efl teachers in ethiopia due to the small sample llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 25, no. 2, october 2022, pp. 555-571 568 size. to generate a more adequate picture of teachers’ attitudes towards codeswitching, more extensive research on the topic should be conducted with wider sample sizes and teachers who have different social, linguistic and cultural backgrounds in different schools. thus, researchers should conduct a study on the attitudes of students so that the results from the eyes of students can be compared with that of teachers for deciding to code-switch or not to code-switch. third, since the study was solely confined to interviews and qualitative data, a questionnaire could have been used for better triangulation of data. finally, the reasons why teachers had positive and negative attitudes towards code-switching were not thoroughly investigated. further research is needed to address this issue which may eliminate teachers’ concerns regarding the drawbacks of classroom code-switching. references acar, s. b. 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(2018). case study research and applications: design and methods. los angeles: sage publications, inc. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2019.1684928 https://doi.org/10.21315/km2017.35.2.6 https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ej1191733 https://doi.org/10.7176/rhss/9-21-04 https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v10n1p84 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 169 student-writers’ claims in hortatory argumentative essays: an appraisal study in convenience writing marwito wihadi, eva t. sujatna, ypsi soeriasoemantri, and eni karlieni universitas padjadjaran, bandung marwito16001@mail.unpad.ac.id, evatuckyta@unpad.ac.id, ypsi.soeries@yahoo.com and karlienigs@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.210205 received 18 january 2018; revised 30 march 2018; accepted 2 september 2018 abstract working on writing argumentative essay instructions has been practices in a non-formal language learning settings. yet, its students’ pursued claims are not fully explored as an evaluativion of how student-writers interact as conveying arguments with the readers. investigating the linguistic resources on which they develop and evaluate these, two selected english language essays were looked into regarding to exploitation of macrostructures in them. subsequently, they were captured within the framework of appraisal theory as to emerge various trends relative to the employment of engagement resource types, combined with the other resources in confirming claims: graduation and attitudinal ones. it was pinpointed that the essays were low-graded notifying substantial numbers of monoglossic resources with low-considered attitudinal items. they failed to recognise other voices and alternative positions. their construction of evaluative meanings provided feedbacks, enhancing classroom teachers’ awareness of typical features in genre-based instructions. keywords: argumentative, hortatory, essays, appraisal theory, low-graded introduction writing an argumentative essay is a challenging task for any students, let alone in english. they are much expected to be aware of the precise functions of grammatical aspects but also of the typical features of such writing genre. students with excellent command in syntactic structures and lexicon in english are possible to complete argumentative essays considered ineffective and inadequate relative to their persuasiveness and/or coherence organization noticed by numerous native instructors (serevino, 1993a in ho, 2011). that is the fact that argumentative genre is the one apt to be dialogic in nature and demanded a high level of interaction (thompson, 2001). these demands are substantially ignored by instructors merely focusing on prescriptive grammar while at the same they do not adequately self-capitalize with “metafunctional eyes” so as to identify the strength and weakness of their writing, extending students’ awareness of rhetoric and linguistic to construct a persuasive and objective in arguing a case (promwinai, 2010). in a number of well-established language institutions, the practice of how to compose an argumentative essay, therefore, has been a solid and reliable endorsement regarding with student service excellence; in other words, argumentation comprises the prime text type in academic writing often examined by standardized english tests (toefl and ielts) for scholarship grants or promotions. yet, rare internal study to reflect year-practices of genre-based instructions is applied as an evaluative framework leading to the understanding of interactive construed stances the student-writers have made up. this study of interpersonal resources employed by students mailto:marwito16001@mail.unpad.ac.id mailto:evatuckyta@unpad.ac.id mailto:ypsi.soeries@yahoo.com llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 170 has been a following one researched by a number of scholars to discern the success of argumentative writing completion (wu, 2007; promwinai, 2010; jalilifar & hemmati, 2013; liu, 2013). however, it constituted typical settings prevalently conducive to the convenient writing in that it had a less than 10 students in the class cordially invited to have any time outside class writing conferences. referring to the umbrella of systemic functional linguistic (sfl) comprising three metafunctions – social functions of languages-(halliday, 1994), this study merely focused two low-graded essays on interpersonal metafunction in which it has the clause as the core resources (graduation, attitude and engagement) for expressing meanings. it aimed to pinpoint, by employing appraisal theoretical framework, the tendency of the employment of engagement resources accompanied by the other two ones: graduation and attitude. the next part taps the precise theory employed and the particular essay genre studied. appraisal theory and hortatory essays it is argued that texts are negotiated so that making meanings with each others are construed; therefore, text is possibly deemed authentic products of social interaction (eggins, 2005). in the forms of clauses, it is realized by three concurrent meaning kinds: ideational (experiential and logical processes in a text), interpersonal (writer’s attitude and role relationship with readers), and textual (organizational and unfold text fashion) (halliday, 1994). in particular, it is further explained that the interpersonal metafunction is the participatory function of language in which the speaker’s meaning potential as “an intruder” is represented making use of the language in both “expressing his own attitudes and judgments and looking for influencing the attitudes and behaviors of others” (halliday, 1978). appraisal theory initially developed by martin (2000) caters a precise framework for seeking the interpersonal meanings beyond clauses. according to martin & white (2005), appraisal expressed by lexical choices is located as an interpersonal system at the level of discourse semantics. furthermore, as analyzing a text, it needs to investigate appraisal (thompson, 2004). referring to martin & white (2005) and martin & rose (2007), three interacting domains are prevalent in appraisal resources, namely graduation, attitude and engagement. graduation is concerned with the strength of feeling: adjusting the degree of evaluation (force) and adjusting the degree of boundaries (focus). attitude is concerned with evaluation types: feelings (affect), judgment of behavior (judgment): and evaluation of things (appreciation) (martin & white, 2005). the affect is further split into in/security, dis/satisfaction, dis/inclination, un/happiness. judgment values in which we evaluate people and their behavior in a negative or positive way are split into social esteem and social sanction. engagement is concerned with positioning the writer regarding with the value position being put forward and regarding with the potential responses to that value. its diverse resources are used by the writer to adjust and negotiate the arguability of utterances. this can be monogloss and heterogloss. monoglossic utterances simply voice self-evident propositions, the writer’s only belief, with no acknowledgment with the multiple voices (white 2008b in promwinai, 2010). on the other hand, heteroglossic ones, extended to projection, modality and concession, confirm that his/her own view is just multiple prevalent views whose tone is available for dialogic alternatives (ibid). projection, later, is a grammatical resources for attributing words and ideas to the write’s source so that he/she explicitly assigns the responsibility of opinions to sources deriving from the expert of the field (martin & rose, 2007). subsequently, modality setting up a semantic space between “yes” or “no” is either employed to argue about probability or frequency of proposition (modalisation) or to argue about the obligation or inclination of proposals (modulation) (eggins, 2004). halliday (1994) proposes four types of modality, namely usuality, probability, obligation llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 171 and inclination. eventually, concession, a resource for counter-expectancy, is a feasible stance to adopt as acknowledging and countering possible alternative propositions/views for an inexperienced writer (wu, 2007). thus, such concessive conjunctions as but, even if, although, however, in fact, still, even, indeed are noticeably found in the writer’s utterances. in line with argument genres, coffin (2004) proposes there are four argument genres based on the writer’s aims as well his/her argument about the world, that is analytical exposition genre, hortatory exposition genre, analytical discussion genre and hortatory discussion genre. the term “analytical” is differed from “hortatory” in that the earlier is an exposition persuading the readers that the thesis is well formulated, and the latter is an exposition persuading the reader to carry out as the thesis recommends (martin, 1985 in promwinai, 2010). moreover, socially “exposition “genre aims to persuade the reader’s to a certain point of view where the social goal of a discussion is to hold up two or more points of view, furthermore argue for one point over the others. consequently, the four arguments comprise divergent stages in accordance with their purposes. in a similar vein, the hortatory exposition has its own goal to put forward a point of view and recommend a course action as well as denotes a typical staging: thesis (recommendation) + argument plus evidence + (counterargument plus evidence) + (reinforcement of thesis) + recommendation (coffin, 2004, p.236). in details hyland (1990) presents explicit rhetorical structures for an argumentative essay together with its specific elements: (1) thesis makes up (gambit), (information), proposition, (evaluation) and (marker); (2) argument comprises marker, (restatement), claim and support; (3) conclusion owns (marker), consolidation, (affirmation) and (close). in sfl tradition, thesis stage is labeled “elaboration” phase, the optional marker in the stages is termed the “preview” phase, and an obligatory marker in argument stage is referred to the “hyperclaim”. appraisal theory and a particular genre of argument in an essay, therefore, are more or less adequately elaborated. method ten participants in high intermediate 4, having been instructed on how to prepare a seven paragraph argumentative essay hortatory exposition in midst of completing the course book as well as invited to have post writing conference outside at any convenient time, submitted their paper. only two essays were selected on the basis of instructor’s recommendation: these were the best one in his views. later, they were rated employing a scale from a combined assessment version: the composition profile consisting content, organization, vocabulary, language use and mechanics (jacobs et al., 1981) and the organization plan for an argument comprising and replacing the previous version, namely “introduction, presentation, of writer position, summary of opposing views, response to opposing views and conclusion (ramage, et al., 2012). besides, the replaced ‘content category” was added “audience awareness” as a part of it. the total score for the highest proficiency is 100 and the lowest is 34. to clear it up, the essays are categorized high graded if they are 63 or higher. conversely, those graded below 62 belong to low graded. selected essays titled stay away from botox and tarung derajat for life were graded by three experienced and qualified lecturers proven from their academic backgrounds (masters degree in english education) and with minimum five year teaching experiences in teaching hortatory exposition argumentative essays in a full-fledged and accredited english courses from three different universities lecturing academic writing: argumentative essays. their scores were combined and divided by three. beforehand, they were handed in the combined llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 172 assessment version just a reminder that they employed the same combined one. within the framework of appraisal theory, then, the researcher needs to be aware of three as reading and analyzing the data: reading position, top-down or bottom-up analysis and double-coding analysis (martin & white, 2005). in this study, the researcher took a compliant reading position as he shares cultural likeness and hold many ideational values with the student-writers as conducted in the previous studies as well (liu & thompson; 2013; jallilifar & hemmati, 2013). furthermore, the researcher approved of employing the bottom-up analysis in which it begins with realizations and pursuing back to the ‘mood’ of the text (ibid). eventually, the researcher should be aware of double coding, particularly in attitudinal analysis. it is argued that double-coding is permitted as attitudinal items are semantically interconnected at times, and they are sometimes simultaneously interpreted in two divergent ways (martin & rose, 2003). findings and discussion tapping the aims of the research, it was figured out that the scores of the two selected essays were 56, meaning that they were categorized into low-graded essays abbreviated lges employing the purposefully combined essay assesments. table 1: deployment of appraisal categories in low-graded essays lges attitude affect judgment appreciation engagement heterogloss monogloss graduation force focus total legs 1 8 19 12 18 22 26 13 118 legs 2 11 21 15 19 29 34 11 140 total 19 40 27 37 51 60 24 the above table depicted general description of interpersonal resources in which they were exposed in a number of appraisal categories: attitude, engagement and graduation. both student-writers employed the sub-category of attitude, judgment, more than the other two subcategories (affect & appreciation), in line with the study conducted by jallilifar & hemmati (2013). likewise, the number of sub-category of graduation, force, was also used by the student-writers more than that of focus. this corresponds to the research of jallilifar & hemmati on low-graded essays of kurdish undergraduate students (ibid). in terms of how student-writers interacted with the readers as well as consider the potential alternative views, it was the fact that monoglossic utterances were still more dominant than heteroglossic ones. such typical characteristics of novice writers are short of awareness to take into account alternative opinions that the readers. as a matter of fact, they simply tend to self-claim, rather ignoring to acknowledge dialogic utterances to see the potential views from audiences (white 2008b in promwinai, 2010). the findings of this appraisal category were compatible with other studies (wu, 2007; jallilifar & hemmati 2013). in the depth analysis of the sub-category of attitude: affect, it was notified that these lge made use of dis/inclination and un/happiness to back up the stated thesis more preponderantly than in/security and dis/satisfaction: using botox on face gives some negative effects and joining tarung derajat has some benefits. the following were the utterances of sub-categories of affect: (1). botox can damage (affect > security) body organs;(2) botox can make addicted (affect > security); (3) botox wastes (affect > inclination) people’s money; (4) joining tarung darajat makes you used to reacting fast> + inclination); (5) it increases (affect >+ happiness) health, mental and physical; (6) it adds (affect > + happiness) your income. the preponderance of the first two subcategory effect (inclination and happiness) were found dominant in the study carried out by jalilifar & hemmati (2013). later, the expressed affectual items were articulated in the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 173 such verbs as damage, make, increases, adds, wastes in which contrary to the fact the nominalized items were presented in a foregrounded way encountered in high graded essays (lee, 2008; liu, 2013; jalilifar & hemmati, 2013). the other two sub-categories of affect: judgment and appreciation, it was found out that both social esteem and social sanction values were prevalent in judgment. yet, the earlier ones were more preferable than the latter ones. both essays, though, valued in-animate/non-human in which the judgment were employed to: botox and tatung arafat. afterwards, the student-writers highlighted the employment of appreciation as things which were worthwhile or worthless. in fact, the significant appreciation was more frequent in number in that the encoded valuations were explicitly construed in the forms of advantages and disadvantages. such findings were justified that the appreciation of valuations were preponderantly existing stemming from the level of students’ proficiency (lee, 2008). taking into account of the number of monoglossic resources deriving from the table, it was inferred that the student-writers availed less room for other voices as well as alternative positions. in the few times text analysis of heteroglossic resources, the projection was of no prevalence at all in that the student-writers did not cite any resources as external voice or extra-vocalizing so as to assign the responsibility for opinions to academic experts (martin & rose, 2003). like in the study of liu (2013), these low graded essays employed profound numbers of pronoun item, thus much possibly that selfcitation to get an authorial self taking responsibility about the text was prompted. the other two sub-types of heteregloss, namely modality and concession were noticed and came up in following examples: (1) they can do anything to be more beautiful like famous actresses; (2) if they do not use botox, they can express their feelings; (3)for example men may be want to have six pack body…; (4) may be you are bored with teaching, you can try to join the competition to show your skills. the modality used was monotonous in syntactic structures as the student-writers was short of the repertoire of expressions revealing the degree of “yes” or “no” position. they still consider the chance of introducing additional voices and possibility as cited by martin & rose (2007) arguing that modality opens a space for negotiation, inviting the circulation of views surrounding the case. to anticipate readers’ certain expectations, the student-writers barely did as revealed in their written in the essays. only one were exemplified: (1)the second benefit of joining tarung darajat is it increases health…in fact, people want to have a nice body; they failed to respond to what the other voices or alternatives were availed by the readers/audiences. concerning the use of concessions, they put in a particular paragraph in which they refuted in the half section of it. the other ones were very rare if not considered total ignorance to anticipate divergent readers’ expectations. the eventual finding of the graduation was that these low graded essays did exploit grading resources in spite of rarely intergraded with the attitudinal resources. the state was opposite to the findings in the previous study (liuu, 2013; jallilifar & hemmati, 2013). in general, what was found on this research substantially corresponded with the earlier one in the same subject. conclusion this study attempted to explore how the student writers whose essays were graded low deployed the resources of appraisal, then figured by appraisal framework, in argumentative essays, hortatory exposition. analysis of low graded essays is necessary to find out the favored appraisal uses compared to the previous study of high graded essay apt resources. the precise assessment employed to grade an argumentative essays intentionally integrated aspects on how the (student)-writers interacted with the audience llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 174 and claimed their arguments. as revealed in findings, the employment of monogloss was preponderantly prevalent so that self-citing was relied upon, arguably weak. subsequently, considering the other alternative voices as well as anticipating the readers’ expectation was rare in numbers. the grading values and attitudinal resources noticed in low graded essays were not profoundly connected. despite its limit to two essays in nonformal academic context, it uncovered then the real practices of appraisal resources employment as an academic introspection of deployment” metafunctional” eyes that the instructors have to undertake. references anonymous. (2007). working with discourse: meaning beyond the clause. (2 nd ed). london: continuum. coffin, c. (2004). arguing about how the world is or how the world should be: the role of arguments in ielts tests. journal of english for academic purposes, 3(3) ,229246.available[online]:http://oro.open.ac.uk/378/1/eapj_for_respository.pdf. accessed on june 25th, 2016. eggins, s. (2005). introduction to systemic functional linguistics. (2 nd ed). london: continuum. halliday, m.,a.,k. (1978). language as social semiotic. london: edward arnold. ho, v.l. (2011). non-native argumentative writing by vietnamese learner of english: a contrastive study. p.hd thesis: washington, dc. halliday, m.a.k. (1994). an introduction to functional grammar. (2 nd ed). london: edward arnold. hyland, k. (1990). a genre description of the argumentative essay. relc journal, 21(1), 6678.online[available]https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249768757_a_gen re_description_of_the_argumentative_essay.accessed on may, 11th 2015. jalilifar, a. & hemmati, a. (2013). construction of evaluative meanings by kurdishspeaking learners of english: a comparison of high-and low-graded argumentative essays. issues in language teaching, 2(2), p.57-84. jacobs, h., zingraf, s., wormuth, d., hartfiel, v.f., & hughey, j. (1981). testing esl composition: a practical approach. ma : newbury house publisher. lee, s.h. (2008). attitude in undergraduate persuasive essays. prospect, 23(3), pp 43-58. liu, x.(2013). evaluation in chinese university efl students’ english argumentative writing: an appraisal study online[available]http: // www.reading.ac.uk. acessed on november , 7 th 2016. martin, j.r. (2000). beyond exchange: appraisal systems in english. in s. hunston & g. thompson (eds), evaluation in text: authorial stance and the construction of discourse (pp. 142-177). oxford: oxford university press. martin, j.r., & rose, d. (2003). working with discourse: meaning beyond the clause. (1 st ed). london: continuum. martin, j.r.,& white, p. (2005). the language of evaluation: appraisal in english. london: palgrave. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249768757_a_genre_description_of_the_argumentative_essay https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249768757_a_genre_description_of_the_argumentative_essay http://www.reading.ac.uk/ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 272-289 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 272 efl students’ challenges in writing research proposals yustinus calvin gai mali universitas kristen satya wacana, indonesia correspondence: yustinus.mali@uksw.edu https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5296 received 29 october 2022; accepted 30 march 2023 abstract this qualitative study delves closely into students’ challenges of writing specific sections (i.e., introduction, literature review, and method) of their research proposal and coping strategies to deal with those challenges, specifically in online learning environments amidst the covid-19 pandemic. data were garnered from six indonesian efl undergraduates taking a research design course at a private university in central java, indonesia. selected based on the intensity sampling technique, these students were involved in an in-depth semi-structured interview session with the researcher to share their voices on the writing challenges and coping strategies as well as parts of the course they found useful and practical suggestions for class improvement. the data analysis results indicated that writing a good research proposal might be challenging for the research participants, considering the various challenges they experienced when writing sections of their research proposal. different coping strategies to deal with those challenges, useful parts of the course and suggestions for class improvement were presented and discussed in the discourse of the reviewed literature. the paper ends with some directions for future research. keywords: challenge, efl writing, research proposal writing introduction in indonesian higher education contexts, such as those in english language education programs, writing a research proposal is a prerequisite for undergraduate students to start their actual research, collect their research data, write their thesis, and eventually finish their studies. the research proposal also functions “as a research plan and helps the students gain an important focus of their studies and find the research directions to proceed” (cited in wang & yang, 2012, p. 324). however, writing a good proposal might be a challenging task for the students, given their little experience in conducting research (yeh, 2009) and their difficulties in writing academically in their foreign language, i.e., english (alharbi, 2019; altınmakas & bayyurt, 2019; diasti & mbato, 2020; harahap & syarif, 2022; jabali, 2018; zulfikar, 2016). writing a proposal might be more challenging due to the covid-19 pandemic, a situation when this study was carried out; the pandemic causes the sudden instructional change from face-toface to online learning, where students are often confronted with technological mailto:yustinus.mali@uksw.edu https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5296 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 272-289 273 barriers, lack of student-teacher interactions (hazaea et al., 2021), lack of students’ motivation to follow class sessions (atmojo & nugroho, 2020), high internet costs, noisy and disturbing learning environment at home when following synchronous online class sessions (rahiem, 2020). with similar online learning conditions, learners’ little experience in doing research, and difficulties in writing academically, in january-april 2022, the researcher had the opportunity to teach a research design course that prepared english as a foreign language (efl) undergraduates to write their research proposal. in this study, the researcher was interested in exploring possible challenges the students encountered in writing sections of their research proposal and any strategies they used to cope with those challenges. besides, the researcher wanted to hear the students’ voices about the most useful parts of their research design course and practical suggestions for future improvement of the course. this paper now continues with a brief literature review on parts of a research proposal, examines previous studies on challenges and coping strategies to deal with those challenges, and informs empirical gaps in the literature as a base to formulate research questions for this study. parts of a research proposal a research proposal discussed in this study focuses on three main parts (following bloomberg & volpe, 2019, pp. 52, 54, 56). the first one is the introduction. it explains the purposes of the study, describes issues or problems to be explored (or called the problem statement), the need for conducting the study (or called the need statement), research questions that will guide the study, and the benefits of conducting the study. the second part is the literature review. it is logically organized by subtopics related to the purpose of the study and keywords in the research questions. in each subtopic, the researcher synthesizes findings across previous studies and compares those research findings. the synthesis will then help the researcher highlight empirical gaps, debates, or shortcomings in the literature and provide a rationale for conducting the study. the third part is the research design. it describes and justifies the selection of all aspects of the research design and procedures used in the study, such as research setting, research participants, data collection instruments, and data collection and analysis procedures. in the context of this study, these three parts were written following the american psychological association (apa) 7th edition format. challenges of writing parts of a research proposal several research studies have discussed the challenges efl undergraduates face in writing the parts of their research proposal. for example, in the introduction part, some indonesian researchers teaching in universities (e.g., harahap & syarif, 2022; pardede, 2019; suryatiningsih, 2019; zulfikar, 2016) agreed that describing issues or problems to be studied was a challenging task for the students. another challenge was writing a well-developed and coherent paragraph explaining those research problems (zulfikar, 2016). writing a welldeveloped and coherent paragraph seems to be a typical challenge efl students face in academic writing (alharbi, 2019; bian & wang, 2016; husin & nurbayani, 2017). as what chinese efl undergraduate in bian and wang's (2016) study said, “i had to keep changing the sequences of paragraphs to ensure llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 272-289 274 a logical sequence” (p. 25). in a study involving seven taiwanese college students majoring in english, yeh (2009) highlighted possible challenges related to students’ ability to read for research, including finding useful sources and choosing parts of the sources relevant to their research. in a more recent year, pardede (2019) reported that in writing the literature review section, the indonesian efl undergraduates found it challenging to obtain current and relevant literature related to their research topics and report findings of the previous studies in light of the research questions. meanwhile, some challenges in writing their method section were giving detailed descriptions and justifications on the research paradigm, data collection instruments, and research protocols. that said, pardede (2019) assumed that “many of the students were unable to implement the concepts they had learned in research methodology textbooks” (p. 121). in terms of the literature review and method sections, what pardede (2019) found in his study aligned with those of suryatiningsih's (2019) study. strategies to cope with the challenges possible strategies to cope with the challenges in writing the proposal were reported in the literature. for example, in writing research problems in the introduction, two indonesian undergraduates in zulfikar's (2016) study found it helpful to read other people’s work and see patterns used by the authors to write their research problems. those students said, “i read journal articles to identify the pattern on how to develop research problem (student 1); i see a sample of people’s work to look for the pattern, so then i can identify my way of developing research problems (student 2)”. zulfikar (2016) also reported that some students found it helpful to consult their peers and mentors about ways to formulate their research problems. in line with zulfikar, wang, and yang (2012) also reported the essence of providing spaces for students to discuss their research with their classmates. as the social constructivist theory believes, learning is a social activity, and the knowledge growth of students is primarily a result of their interactions with other students (aljohani, 2017; mali, 2021b). in dealing with the challenges, pardede (2019) suggested special training that facilitates the students to produce a sound research proposal; yet, pardede did not clarify in more detail what kinds of training he meant. learning from wang and yang's (2012) study, seeking support from students’ research supervisor might be a possible coping strategy; as a student said, “i am not active enough to discuss my study with my supervisor. i am afraid of wasting her time. but i think a discussion with my supervisor is very important” (p. 337). empirical gaps in the literature the following may be said about the literature reviewed in the previous sections. first, in discussing the challenges and possible coping strategies in writing the research proposal, some studies (e.g., harahap & syarif, 2022; zulfikar, 2016) seemed to focus their exploration only on writing the introduction section. that was perhaps because of the nature of their publication in a conference proceeding where authors usually were required to write fewer words than when they published their article in a journal. a more in-depth study was conducted by pardede (2019) and suryatiningsih (2019). they classified their llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 272-289 275 findings into specific sections of a research proposal, such as challenges in writing the intro, literature review, and method sections. however, the results were mainly in percentages, giving no space for students’ voices. besides, there were no in-depth discussions on the coping strategies that the students could use. the strategies that pardede (2019); suryatiningsih (2019) presented at the end of their paper sounded like general ideas without any supporting details. second, although their research findings might be relevant to the purposes of this study, alharbi (2019); bian and wang (2016); husin and nurbayani (2017); yeh (2009) only talked about efl undergraduates’ experiences in dealing with academic writing in general. third, the researcher could tell that all the reviewed previous studies were conducted before the covid-19 pandemic when the classroom instructions were still conducted in face-to-face classrooms. the proposal writing experiences might differ from those undertaken amidst the pandemic through an online learning environment. last, regardless of the similar research objectives and in-depth discussions on the efl students’ experiences in writing their research proposal, wang and yang's (2012) study was conducted in a graduate school setting, which might indicate that an in-depth exploration of the efl challenges in writing a research proposal and coping strategies to deal with the challenges, specifically in undergraduate study context is still limited in number. therefore, as an attempt to respond to those empirical gaps and with the backgrounds of the study in mind, the researcher approached this study qualitatively to “understand a particular point of view from the perspectives and experiences of those involved” (ary et al., 2019, p. 391) and to answer the following research questions: 1. what challenges did efl indonesian undergraduates encounter when writing parts (i.e., introduction, literature review, and method) of their research proposal? 2. what strategies did the undergraduates use to cope with those challenges? 3. which part of the research design course did the undergraduates find most useful? why? 4. what practical suggestions do the undergraduates have for improving the course in the future? all these research questions will situate the efl undergraduates (i.e., the research participants of this study) as “storytellers” (kozleski, 2017, p. 24) who can share their voices in more detail than the numbers or percentages. besides, answers to research questions 1 and 2 should enrich what harahap and syarif (2022); pardede (2019); suryatiningsih (2019); zulfikar (2016) discussed in their study and benefit efl lecturers who are supervising efl undergraduates’ proposal writing. as this study’s context was in an online learning environment amidst the covid-19 pandemic, answers to research questions 1 and 2 should also contribute to the conversations in the literature, which mainly discussed the research proposal writing or academic-related experiences before the pandemic. then, answers to research questions 3 and 4 might be practical inputs for course improvement and the pursuit of quality instructions and necessary support for the students in their proposal writing process, points that were less discussed in the previous studies. esfandiari et al. (2022) and probst et al. (2016) believed that llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 272-289 276 without hearing students’ voices and expectations, it is difficult to know how instructors can improve their courses and meet their students’ learning needs. method research context the researcher conducted this research in his six-credit research design course in the english language education program at a private university in central java, indonesia (henceforth called elep). in this course, students learn basic concepts of research (e.g., different types of research, research problems, research question, research method, sampling, and methods for data collection and analysis). at the end of the semester, students must write a research proposal exploring issues in english as a foreign language (efl) teaching and education and present it orally to their research proposal supervisor and examiner. more specifically, the course took place on tuesdays and wednesdays mornings (i.e., 120 minutes each) for the 16-week semester (january-april 2022) and was joined by fourteen students. due to the increasing number of covid-19 cases in central java, indonesia, at that time (also reported by muh, 2022), the regular class sessions were primarily conducted synchronously via zoom meetings, including the proposal consultation sessions done in zoom breakout rooms. the face-to-face meetings were only conducted three times approaching the end of the semester to discuss the final format of the research proposal and prepare the students’ proposal presentation. research participants six efl students in a research design class at elep participated in this study (see table 1). they were in their third year of undergraduate study at elep. the participants were selected using intensity sampling (by ary et al., 2019) as they “exhibit different levels of the phenomenon of interest to the researcher” (p. 383). in this research, three students made good progress in writing their proposals, while the others made slow progress in completing their proposals. this heterogeneous group of students was expected to provide the researcher with rich experiences in the student’s research proposal writing process. table 1. the demographic information of the participants no name sex age progress 1 rianti female 21 good 2 siska female 21 3 lidwina female 20 4 laura female 21 slow 5 sandra female 20 6 vincent male 24 note: the researcher used pseudonyms to conceal the participants’ real identities. data collection instruments and procedures the researcher used two research instruments. the first one was the students’ research proposal written in google docs, which was shared with the researcher at the beginning of the semester. with the access, the researcher could give feedback and see the (good/slow) progress (for brief descriptions, see table llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 272-289 277 2) that the students made in writing sections of their proposal, such as the introduction (submitted on the first week of february), the literature review (submitted on the first week of march), the method (submitted on the last week of march), and the first draft of the complete proposal (submitted on the second week of april). table 2. the students’ progress when writing their research proposal sections good progress slow progress qualities that the researcher observed: introduction it has clear descriptions of global-local related issues/problems around the research topic, research goals, why the research needs to be conducted, research question(s) to explore, and benefits of the study; relevant literature was used to support arguments made in this section; has minor grammatical errors. vice-versa literature review it is related to the problem statement, purpose, and research question(s); is logically organized subtopics; it synthesizes findings across previous studies and compares various research findings; highlights empirical gaps, debates, or shortcomings in the literature; has minor grammatical errors. vice-versa; additionally, some reviewed literature was not related to the purpose of the study and the formulated research question(s). method it describes and justifies the selection of the research design, such as research setting, research participants, data collection instruments, and data collection and analysis procedures; relevant literature was used to support the justifications; it has minor grammatical errors. vice-versa note. descriptions presented in this table were adapted from bloomberg and volpe (2019, pp. 52, 54, 56). the second research instrument was a semi-structured interview, which enabled researchers to gain insight into their participants’ experiences (aydin & yildiz, 2014; mali & salsbury, 2021). before the interview session, in the first week of april 2022, the researcher emailed the participants to briefly explain the purpose of this study and invite them to participate in the interview. in the email, the researcher presented a list of questions to discuss in the interview so that the participants had some time to see the questions and prepare their answers days before the interview session. the actual interview was conducted in the second week of april 2022 with strict health protocol, such as maintaining social distancing and wearing masks during the interview session. each participant interview lasted around 20 minutes. following the previous researchers (e.g., abdurahman & rizqi, 2020; mali & salsbury, 2021; puspita & mambu, 2020), the interview was conducted in the participants’ first language (i.e., bahasa indonesia) so that they could answer the interview questions in detail without experiencing any language barriers. with the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 272-289 278 permission of the interviewees, the interview was audio-recorded using a smartphone and transcribed verbatim for content analysis. to ensure the truthfulness of the research findings (as believed by ary et al., 2019), the researcher emailed the interview transcript (i.e., in a microsoft word file) to each participant and let him/her review the transcript, identify any inaccuracies, add some answers, or delete some words, if necessary. all the participants responded to the email and confirmed that the transcript was what they wanted to say. no revisions were required. data analysis procedures the researcher used dawson's (2009) content analysis method to analyze the interview data. at first, the researcher read the interview transcript carefully (i.e., around 3500 words, presented in a microsoft word file) several times to be immersed in the data. secondly, the researcher highlighted and coded the relevant texts related to the research questions. following mali's (2017); safdari's (2021) content analysis results, the researcher then organized the codes into some tables as answers to the research questions. some interview excerpts related to the codes were also presented as supporting data. the researcher translated those reported interview excerpts from indonesian into english. finally, some commonalities of the good and slow-progress students’ experiences in writing their research proposal were discussed and placed in the discourse of the reviewed literature. limitations of the study the findings presented in the next section should be considered given these limitations. this study might be biased as the research participants were the researcher’s students in the research design class. with this student-teacher relationship, the participants probably felt uneasy about giving too honest answers or necessary criticisms (e.g., for improving the course) during the interview session. therefore, some stories might remain untold. besides, the researcher did not aim to generalize the findings of this study to broader contexts, as this study was based on a relatively small number of research participants from an english department at one university in an indonesian efl context. findings the findings will be presented in order of the research questions. the code, iw, in the interview excerpts means an interview. challenges that efl students face when writing parts of their research proposal the students faced various challenges when writing their research proposal. as shown in table 3, most students regarded organizing writing ideas coherently as the main challenge in writing the introduction. lidwina and laura, for example, said: i know what to say, but i cannot organize my ideas well. i find it challenging to do it. (lidwina, iw) when i write my introduction section, my ideas are not well connected. i am confused about how i can write them coherently. (laura, iw) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 272-289 279 another main challenge was to find relevant references to support their arguments written in the introduction session. vincent reported: the hard thing is to find relevant sources to support what i write in the introduction. at first, i felt that some articles were related to my topic, but they were not. (vincent, iw) some other challenges mentioned in the interview session were finding a research topic, issues/ problems around that topic, and justifying why students need to study that topic. table 3. the most common challenges when writing sections of the research proposal no sections/ challenges (arranged in ranked order) introduction 1 organizing writing ideas coherently 2 finding supporting references 3 finding a research topic 4 writing a problem statement 5 writing a need statement no literature review 1 finding supporting references 2 understanding the content of articles 3 motivation to write no method 1 not sure about which research method to use 2 lack of background knowledge about the research method 3 deciding the number of research participants 4 deciding the research instruments to use meanwhile, for the literature review section, finding supporting references was perceived to be the main challenge, as laura, lidwina, and siska said: it is not easy to find a specific definition of a term. i need to spend hours finding some articles that i can use to define that term. (laura, iw) my challenge is to find previous studies related to my topic of online listening. i think that is a pretty new topic that many researchers have not discussed frequently. (lidwina, iw) i find it challenging to get articles that are related to all definitions that are in my study. another issue was looking for previous studies specifically relevant to my research. my study is in an efl context; after i read many parts of an article, i discovered that the article’s context is in esl. i have found many articles, but the contexts are different from my study. (siska, iw) another challenge was also to understand the contents of articles that the students read, as what vincent and sandra experienced: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 272-289 280 sometimes, i feel confused when reading ideas written by the authors. the ideas are difficult to understand, and the authors use too advanced vocabulary. (vincent, iw) i read some articles that use complex language; what does the author want to say? (sandra, iw) the motivation to write was another challenge when writing the literature review part. siska clarified her situation: when i wrote my literature review part, i once informed you that my work might be interrupted by external factors that affected my writing motivation. i did not open my file for around two weeks. even two days before i consulted with you, i had not written anything in my literature review part. it was still empty. (siska, iw) dealing with the method section, the researcher found that the main challenge was unsure which research method to use. vincent, for example, had this question in mind: “should i approach my study quantitatively or qualitatively?” (vincent, iw). another challenge was due to a lack of background knowledge about the research method, as siska said: the biggest challenge was because of my lack of knowledge. i do not have any basics of the research method. many terms about research methods sound new and unfamiliar to me. i have not heard anything about them. therefore, when i write the method section, i get confused, such as when writing my research characteristics, sampling, and instruments. i am not sure about them. (siska, iw). meanwhile, another challenge was deciding the number of research participants and instruments. how efl students deal with those challenges in dealing with the challenges in writing the sections of the research proposal mentioned in the previous part, the students said several possible strategies in the interview session; all of them are listed in table 4 below. table 4. the strategies to deal with the challenges in writing sections of the research proposal no sections/ challenges possible strategies introduction 1 organizing writing ideas coherently reading journal articles to see how authors write their intro section, including academic vocabulary, phrases they use receiving the lecturer’s feedback about what to include in the intro section looking at seniors’ thesis as a writing model 2 finding supporting references looking for articles in the free-access database 3 finding a research topic having a thesis consultation with the lecturer to talk about possible topics students have in mind llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 272-289 281 4 writing a problem statement reading journal articles to see how authors write their problem statement receiving the lecturer’s feedback to explore possible problems around the student’s particular research topic obtain examples of problems statements from the lecturer 5 writing a need statement reading journal articles to see how authors write their needs statement obtain examples of need statements from the lecturer no literature review possible strategies 1 finding supporting references exploring more various databases (i.e., other than google scholar) receiving the lecturer’s feedback about which articles to review in the previous study sections using a website that enables a student to download an article for free looking at an incoming email from campus telling journals and databases subscribed by the university sharing references with friends discussing with classmates about keywords to use when searching for articles on the internet spending more time finding relevant articles 2 understanding the content of articles finding other articles that are easier to read translating the text (i.e., using google translate) reading the articles several times 3 motivation to write finding support from friends finding support from family members no method possible strategies 1 not sure about which research method to use reading related references to learn the method used by previous researchers discussing with classmates about what method to use having a thesis consultation with the lecturer to talk about the method 2 lack of background knowledge about the research method reading related references to learn the method used by previous researchers 3 deciding the number of research participants having a thesis consultation with the lecturer to talk about the participants discussing with classmates about the research participants discussing with classmates what method they use 4 deciding the research instruments to use having a thesis consultation with the lecturer to talk about the instruments the most useful parts of the course as shown in table 5, the students favored face-to-face classroom sessions in the first place. when asked about the reasons, they said: • i could ask questions to my friends sitting next to me directly (lidwina, iw); • i could be more focused on writing my proposal during the class session without any distractions from my smartphone (siska, iw); llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 272-289 282 • we can have more time to ask questions to the lecturer and get immediate feedback from the lecturer (rianti, iw); • i feel more confident when talking and asking questions directly to my lecturer face-to-face; in the zoom session, i was not comfortable asking questions as some of my friends might think why i asked those simple questions (laura, iw); • we can ensure that all students listen to the lecturer’s classroom presentations and understand what to do with their proposal (sandra, iw). table 5 the most useful parts of the course no the most useful parts of the course (arranged in rank order) 1 having a face-to-face (offline) classroom session 2 having a consultation session with the lecturer 3 the lecturer asks students to pay attention to writing accuracy (e.g., punctuation, the use of capital or small letter) 4 discussing feedback given to students’ work in a classroom session some students found it helpful to have a consultation session with their lecturer. lidwina and rianti, for example, said: in the consultation session, we are free to ask our lecturer about things to improve our proposal. our lecturer can then provide personalized feedback on our questions or challenges. (lidwina, iw) the consultation time allows us to talk to our lecturer openly about our problems when writing the proposal and discuss possible solutions for those problems. (rianti, iw) meanwhile, vincent found it helpful when the lecturer asked his students to pay attention carefully to their writing accuracy in the research proposal, such as punctuation and the use of capital or small letter when writing certain words (vincent, iw). another useful part of the course was discussing the feedback in a classroom session, as it enables the students to learn from each other’s mistakes and then recheck their research proposal (rianti, iw). practical suggestions for future course improvement most commonly, the students suggested that the future research design course be held face-to-face. another thing was to provide writing templates for students. lidwina, for instance, reported how the writing template helped her to write the method: the lecturer gave us a writing template displayed on his powerpoint slides. given this template, i can develop my writing more easily when finding ideas from journal articles later. just paraphrase some sentences from the journals and combine them with the template. (lidwina, iw) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 272-289 283 sandra also said: i feel helpful when i can see the writing template. i do hope that my lecturer can provide us with that template. not all students can understand when my lecturer explains what to write in our proposal. some might still be confused about what to write. looking at the template might help us. (sandra, iw) as shown in table 6, other suggestions were for the lecturer to explain the learning materials slowly and not discuss the same thing repeatedly (e.g., ways to write end-text references following apa 7th format). table 6 the practical suggestions for the course no suggestions for future course improvement (arranged in rank order) 1 having face-to-face class sessions 2 providing writing templates for students 3 explaining the materials slowly 4 not discussing the same thing repeatedly 5 reminding students taking the course not to be too busy with nonacademic activities outside the class additionally, the lecturer can remind his students not to be busy with nonacademic activities outside the class when taking the research design course. lidwina confessed: i cried several times during this semester. there are many activities from the students’ organization: attending meetings and preparing presentation slides for the meetings. i feel so tired and stressed. i cried. i hope you can tell students to do fewer non-academic-related activities outside the class when taking this course. (lidwina, iw) discussion the findings indicate that writing a research proposal might not be easy, considering the students' challenges. for example, in writing the introduction section, organizing writing ideas coherently becomes the primary challenge revealed in the interview session. this finding accords with that of alharbi (2019); bian and wang (2016); husin and nurbayani (2017) about challenges in writing a well-developed and coherent paragraph. finding supporting references is another challenge commonly faced by students when writing literature review sections, as pardede (2019) found in his study. therefore, yeh's (2009) concerns about students’ challenges in finding useful sources are still relevant today. meanwhile, when writing their method section, the students commonly felt unsure about which research method to use, the number of research participants, and the research instruments to use. these findings were similar to efl undergraduates’ challenges in writing the method section, as revealed in pardede's (2019) and suryatiningsih's (2019) study. reflecting on all of these findings, the researcher could say that the challenges in writing parts of the research proposal in a face-toface and online learning environment are alike, except for the low motivation to write the literature review sections during that pandemic situation and online learning as what siska mentioned in the interview. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 272-289 284 while the study has revealed many strategies the students used to deal with the challenges, the researcher would like to highlight some commonalities. first and foremost, students need writing models or templates to guide them in writing sections of their research proposal. as frequently mentioned in the interview, the writing models might be obtained from journal articles related to the student’s research topic. reading the templates might enable the students to learn how the writers, for example, write their intro section and follow writing organizations and “patterns” (zulfikar, 2016, p. 181) that the writers use to talk about problems related to their topic and why they need to conduct their study. secondly, a thesis supervisor, as also discussed in wang and yang's (2012) study, has a crucial role in the success of the student’s proposal writing as the students need sufficient time to talk to their supervisor individually, share their writing problems, and expect personalized feedback and solutions for their problems. this feedback is vital because “it helps undergraduates know their current level and think of what they should do to progress in their researchrelevant knowledge” (cited in saeed et al., 2021, p. 1). therefore, to ensure quality conversations and feedback for the students, the researcher supports altınmakas and bayyurt's (2019); wang and yang's (2012) view that those teaching the research proposal class should be the ones who have background experiences related to academic writing, research, and publications to help efl students grasp the academic english writing conventions. thirdly, the findings indicated the essential place of technology in the student’s writing process, such as using databases (e.g., google scholar, ebsco) and websites to search for related articles and google translate to translate some texts that are difficult to comprehend. as observed in the previous studies, technology integration in research proposal writing seemed to be missing. therefore, the findings of this study might be a starting point for further discussion in the literature about how far and what types of technology can support efl undergraduates in writing their research proposal. that discussion should respond to iglesias-pradas et al.'s (2021) view about the need to integrate digital technologies into educational processes, especially after the pandemic is over when there will be exponential changes in practices and aspects of teaching and learning. last, in support of zulfikar's (2016) and wang and yang's (2012) arguments, the students might need external support from friends and family members to enhance their motivation to write their research proposal. as revealed in the interview, friends become someone with whom the students can share references, discuss issues they have in writing the proposal, boost their motivation to write, and ask for feedback on what they write. spaces for having a supportive conversation with classmates should be given more attention in the context of research proposal writing. that said, writing a good research proposal is not a solo effort of a student. considering the various challenges in writing their proposal, the students find having face-to-face class sessions helpful. why? they can focus more on listening to the lecturer’s classroom talk and experience a more supportive learning environment than those in online sessions. they can also discuss with friends and have the lecturer’s presence to give immediate feedback for their llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 272-289 285 questions. can these qualities also be present in an online synchronous class to support efl students in writing their research proposals? conclusion in conclusion, writing a research proposal seems to be a challenging task to do by the six efl undergraduates involved in this research. however, they have used various coping strategies to deal with those challenges. as also concluded from this study, to complete the research proposal successfully, the students need to make multiple efforts (see also mali, 2021a) to work on their proposal, maximize the potential of technology, and have emotional support from and supportive interactions with their lecturer, friends, and family members. this study also highlights the place of technology in the student’s proposal writing process. based on the findings and discussions of this study, the researcher would like to propose the following recommendations for lecturers teaching a similar course. first, talk openly to your students and emphasize the essence of effort (e.g., can be seen in table 4) as a key to writing their research proposal well; that said, “downplay the role of intelligence, memory, and luck” (peacock, 2010, p. 191). second, provide various writing templates for your students. the templates are in the form of writing excerpts that your students can follow, for example, on how to justify why they should conduct their research, summarize and synthesize findings of the previous studies, and explain their method. the excerpts can be taken from articles you have read, your publications, undergraduate theses written by your previous students (i.e., who got an a for their thesis), or some websites. for some references, you might find the following sources helpful in developing writing templates for your students: • telling problems and need statements of research (see alsied & ibrahim, 2017, p. 145); mali, 2021b, pp. 6-8; 77-78; widodo & rozak, 2016, p. 229) • writing research purposes, research benefits, and research questions (see renandya et al., 1999, pp. 37-41) • summarizing and synthesizing results of the previous studies (see altamimi & shuib, 2009, pp. 33-36) • writing the method section (see newcomer, 2017, pp. 5-7; pratiwi, 2018, pp. 18-23) • looking at a collection of academic phrases (read graff & birkenstein, 2007 or visit https://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/) third, spend sufficient time with each of your supervisees so they can talk to you personally about their research proposal writing progress and receive your support and personalized feedback on any of their questions or concerns. to do so, you might consider using regular class sessions more to have that individual conversation with your students. your presentation on classroom materials can be video-recorded (e.g., using zoom or screencast-o-matic) and watched outside the class sessions by the students at their convenient time. fourth, use some class sessions to practice using technology that can support the writing process, such as llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 272-289 286 how to search for relevant articles in google scholar or databases more efficiently. perhaps, some students might also want to practice some applications to help them minimize grammatical mistakes in their writing (e.g., using grammarly, prowritingaid), analyze their research data (e.g., using atlas. ti), and generate end-citations following apa 7th format (e.g., using mendeley). that said, lecturers teaching research design courses should also be willing to explore and learn various techniques that might help their students in their proposal writing process. last, try to create a supportive learning environment where students can feel safe when asking questions during class sessions and see their interactions with the lecturer and classmates as opportunities to improve their proposal. in closing, the researcher would like to propose the following directions for future research to follow up on the present study. exploring factors that motivate students to write and complete the research proposal with their best effort amidst the covid-19 pandemic might be worth conducting. it will also be fruitful to explore the extent to which the lecturers’ personalized instructions and conversations with their students impact the progress of students’ proposal writing. besides, as this study was only joined by six efl undergraduate students in a private university in indonesia, a more extensive dataset involving lecturers teaching a research design course and more efl students from different universities in indonesia or overseas or different educational levels (e.g., master or doctoral students) to answer the same research questions would improve this research. this study has revealed a list of strategies to deal with challenges when the students write their proposals (see table 4). however, it remains unknown which strategies work best. it might be answered by conducting survey research with a close-ended questionnaire and a follow-up in-depth interview. with an awareness of the writing challenges and an understanding of the right strategies to deal with those challenges, research proposal writing should be an enjoyable process for students. references abdurahman, n. h., & rizqi, m. a. 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1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 language and language teaching journal http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 65 implementing concept mapping technique to improve students’ descriptive writing ability rubiyah, maria teodora ping, and syamdianita smp negeri 21, mulawarman university, and mulawarman university, samarinda, indonesia rubiyah_syakirah@yahoo.com, mariateodoraping@fkip.unmul.ac.id, and syamdianita@fkip.unmul.ac.id doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.210107 received 29 january 2018; revised 20 february 2018; accepted 15 march 2018 abstract this classroom action research aimed at investigating the implementation of concept mapping technique to improve students’ descriptive writing ability. the research was conducted in two cycles at smp negeri 21 samarinda, with 37 seventh grade students participating. in this research, there was one teacher researcher who implemented the technique and there were two collaborators who did the observation. the data were collected both quantitatively and qualitatively by using writing assessment, interview guide, observation sheets and field notes. the findings showed that: 1) there was an improvement in the students’ descriptive writing average scores at the end of the second research cycle; 2) the implementation of the concept mapping technique was done properly by the teacherresearcher; 3) the concept mapping technique delivered through collaborative working improved the participation of the students in the teaching and learning process. since all the criteria of success in this research were fulfilled by the end of the second cycle, it could be concluded that this classroom action research was successfully implemented and the technique proposed could very well improve the skills being targeted. keywords: concept mapping technique, descriptive essay, writing ability introduction writing has been regarded as a difficult skill to teach and learn both for the teachers and students in the efl context. it is so because writing entangles several components such as mechanics, content, organization, language use, and grammar which have to be considered. as bryne (1993) in razmjoo (2012, p. 19) argued, writing is the most complex language skill which requires the students to have appropriate cognitive strategies, verbal information, appropriate motivation, knowledge of writing conventions, and knowledge of how to put into practice. when talking about the process of teaching-learning writing to efl students, efl teachers, particularly in the indonesian efl context, indeed face a number of problems in the writing class. some teachers’ anecdotal experiences reported that when they asked their students to write, the ideas were less and the structure was not clear. moreover, not all the students seemed to enjoy the writing class because they were not familiar to writing due to the less writing activity in mailto:rubiyah_syakirah@yahoo.com mailto:mariateodoraping@fkip.unmul.ac.id mailto:syamdianita@fkip.unmul.ac.id llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 66 the english class, less motivation, or it was simply not their hobby. in a preliminary study done by rubiyah (2014), her junior high school students were observed to face some difficulties even in writing a simple composition, particularly in generating their ideas and developing those ideas in a logical order. thus they felt unmotivated to learn more. this phenomenon called for a suitable technique in teaching writing. one of the techniques which might be an appropriate solution would be the ‘concept mapping technique (cmt)’. therefore, in this current study, under the framework of classroom action research, cmt would be implemented and its relative potential for helping students generate ideas and develop them into a composition would be further investigated. the theory of concept maps a concept map is a way of representing relationships between ideas, images, or words in the same way that a sentence diagram represents the grammar of a sentence, a road map represents the locations of highways and towns, and a circuit diagram represents the workings of an electrical appliance. in a concept map, each word or phrase connects to another, and links back to the original idea, word, or phrase. concept maps are a way to develop logical thinking and study skills by revealing connections and helping students see how individual ideas form a larger whole. furthermore, concept maps are graphical tools for organizing and representing knowledge. according to novak and canas (2006), there are some characteristics of concept maps: (1) they include concepts, usually enclosed in circles or boxes of some type, and relationships between concepts indicated by a connecting line linking two concepts, (2) words on the line, referred to as linking words or linking phrases, specify the relationship between the two concepts, (3) the concepts are represented in a hierarchical fashion with the most inclusive, most general concepts at the top of the map and the more specific, less general concepts arranged hierarchically below, (4) having a focus question to construct concept maps, (5) providing the context to understand some situation or event through the organization of knowledge in the form of concept map, (6) the inclusion of cross-links. these are relationships or links between concepts in different segments or domains of the concept map. cross-links help us see how a concept in one domain of knowledge represented on the map is related to a concept in another domain shown on the map. furthermore, novak and canas (2006) add three important features of concept maps namely: (1) the hierarchical structure that is represented in a good map; (2) the ability to search for and characterize new cross-links, and (3) adding the specific examples of events or objects that help to clarify the meaning of a given concept. normally these are not included in ovals or boxes, since they are specific events or objects and do not represent concepts (see figure 1). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/idea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/image http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/word http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sentence_diagram http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/circuit_diagram http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/circuit_diagram llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 67 figure 1. the structure of a concept map (adopted from novak and canas 2006:02) novak and canas (2006) define concept as a perceived regularity in events or objects, or records of events or objects, designated by a label. the label for most concepts is a word, although sometimes symbols such as + or % are used, and sometimes more than one word is used. meanwhile, propositions are statements about some object or event in the universe, either naturally occurring or constructed. propositions contain two or more concepts connected using linking words or phrases to form a meaningful statement. sometimes these are called semantic units, or units of meaning. in addition, according to martin (2006), a concept map is a top-down diagram showing the relationships between concepts, including cross connections among concepts, and their manifestations whereas white (2011) states that a concept map presents the relationships among a set of connected concepts and ideas. it is a tangible way to display how mind "sees" a particular topic. by constructing a concept map, one reflects on what one knows and does not know. in a concept map, the concepts, usually represented by single words enclosed in a rectangle (box), are connected to other concept boxes by arrows. a word or brief phrase, written by the arrow, defines the relationship between the connected concepts. major concept boxes will have lines to and from several other concept boxes generating a network. there are four major categories of concept maps as distinguished by their different format for representing information. these categories are spider concept map, hierarchy concept map, flowchart concept map, and system concept map. in this study, the researchers would focus on hierarchy map which would be appropriate with the students' writing difficulty in expressing and generating ideas coherently. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 68 concept mapping technique according to brown (1994, p. 51), a technique is any of wide variety of exercises, articles or devices used in the language classroom for realizing lesson objectives. while, freeman (2011: xi) argues that technique is the behavioral manifestation of the principles. therefore, concept mapping can be considered as one of the techniques in teaching writing because it is a teacher's specific action carried out in the classroom to achieve the purpose expected. this is supported by wycoff (1991) who argues that concept mapping, also known as semantic mapping, clustering, or webbing, has gradually been developed as one of the effective techniques in generating ideas for writing. in addition, avery, baker and gross (1997) states that concept mapping is a graphic representation or picture of one's thoughts, ideas, and attitudes towards a key concept. a concept map presents the relationships among a set of connected concepts and ideas. miller (2008) proposes seven steps of implementing concept mapping technique in writing, as follows: step 1: deciding the general topic which is printed in the centre of a piece of paper with a circle or square drawn around it. step 2: considering ideas related to the general topic (a process called "brainstorming") and writing them on a separate piece of paper. step 3: selecting the words and phrases that fit in best with the general topic and support the main ideas. step 4: writing these words or phrases on around the circle or square that contains the topic, circling them or drawing a square around them then connecting them to the main topic with a line. step 5: repeating the process of brainstorming and branching for each of the circled subtopics until there are enough ideas and information to write about. step 6: using the concept map to organize writing. ideas which are closely connected on the concept map should be closely connected in the writing as well. step 7: referring to the concept map often while writing, as it is a visual representation of the points and how they are connected. in line with the above mentioned steps, fahim and rahimi (2011, p. 2) mention the following important aspects that should be considered to construct a concept map: 1. the first stage of concept map construction is specifying the main idea of the concept map together with the words indicating the concepts which should be incorporated in the concept map 2. the types of relationships between and among concepts should be specified. 3. the concepts should be arranged from the most general to the most specific. 4. the concepts which are horizontally related will be connected. the same will be done for the concepts which are hierarchically related. 5. some connective words will be utilized to clarify the relationships. method the design of this study was collaborative classroom action research (car), which emphasized on the cycle of meeting as teaching learning process in the llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 69 classroom. the specific objective of this research was to improve the students’ ability of writing descriptive composition through concept mapping technique (cmt). this research was conducted at smp negeri 21 samarinda and involved three teachers, one as the teacherresearcher and two as the collaborators. the subjects of the study were 37 seventh grader students who were previously observed to have difficulties in writing, especially in developing their ideas. the main writing activities in the research procedures could be elaborated as follows: table 1. writing activity procedures stage focus teacher's activities students' activities pre-writing activities activating the students' prior knowledge and introducing the technique. 1. explaining to the students about descriptive writing briefly and showing an example of composition about "a person/place/thing". 2. introducing concept mapping technique (cmt) to the students. 3. asking the students to learn the sample descriptive text based on a concept mapping draft. 4. dividing the students into some groups consisting of four or five. 5. asking the students to discuss and decide for an interesting topic appropriate with the theme of "describing people/place/thing". 6. asking the students to make a list of concepts and ideas related to the topic. 7. asking the students to generate the concepts and ideas into a concept mapping in hierarchy form. 8. asking the students to connect the concepts and ideas between one to another by using linking lines or paying attention to teacher's explanation. paying attention to the technique introduced. learning and analyzing an example of composition based on a concept mapping draft. forming their groups. discussing and deciding a topic. making a list of the concepts and ideas. generating the concepts and ideas into a concept mapping. connecting the concepts and ideas that put in the boxes by using linking arrows. llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 70 arrows and giving label on them. whilst-writing activities implementing the concept mapping technique to improve the students' writing ability. 9. asking the students to write a descriptive composition on the basis of concept mapping made. each students write two or more sentences in a group. 10. asking the students to construct the sentences into a simple descriptive composition. 11. encouraging the students to help each other, monitor, and provide assistance if necessary. 12. give feedback in terms of format, mechanic, content, organization, and grammar. 13. asking the students to revise their writing based on the feedback given by a teacher. 14. asking the students to make correction or editing. writing a descriptive composition on the basis of concept mapping made. constructing the sentences made into a simple descriptive composition. helping each other in writing and constructing a descriptive composition. asking for feedback. revising their writing result based on the feedback given by the teacher. making correction or editing. post-writing activities measuring the students' descriptive writing ability 15. suggesting the students to rewrite their composition. 16. asking the students to submit their descriptive composition. rewriting their composition neatly and legibly. submitting their descriptive composition. there were three particular criteria of success to be achieved in this research. the first criterion was related to the quality of implementation of concept mapping technique which would be measured through the observation of the teacherresearcher’s performance done by collaborators and an interview done with selected students. this criterion of success would be deemed achieved if the teacher was rated as having a good performance all throughout the cycle and the students showed positive attitude towards the teaching learning process. the second criterion was related to the improvement in students’ descriptive writing scores, which would be measured by using the school’s ‘minimum criteria of llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 71 learning outcome (kkbm), which was 75. it means that if there were more than 75 % of the students got 75, the action research conducted would be considered as successful. the last criterion was related to the students’ participation, which would be measured through observation checklist and field notes. if 85% of the students were observed to be actively participating during the teaching and learning activities using concept mapping, the research could be considered as successful. moreover, the instruments used in this research were observation checklist (including the teacher’s performance checklist and the students’ participation checklist), interview guide, field note, and writing prompt sheet as well as writing assessment rubric. before the car was conducted, a preliminary test was carried out. the results of the preliminary test indicated that the students had difficulties to produce descriptive composition particularly the second paragraph in the body where they should describe persons, places and things clearly. also, the five aspects of writing were not mastered by the students. the average score of preliminary test was only 65.22, which put them into the low category. findings and discussion after the concept mapping technique was implemented, the students' descriptive writing scores gradually improved. in each meeting in the two research cycles, the teacher-researcher always monitored the students' progress and weaknesses by providing feedback related to how to generate concepts and ideas first, how to put them in a concept map from the specific to general ones, as well as how to link between one idea to another using verbs or conjunction. in the writing stage, the teacher-researcher guided the students to develop their ideas based on the concept map they had constructed. the teacherresearcher also provided themes that were close to the students' environment. it was one of the researcher' strategies to facilitate the students to describe something clearly and also to encourage the students’ motivation in learning writing. furthermore, the researcher also guided the students to describe something using vivid words using to be, has/have, and noun phrases in sentences and to divide the composition into two parts; identification and description(s). in the first action stage, although the students still had some mistakes in writing including format, organization and grammar-sentence structure, they seemed to understand how to generate their concepts and ideas in a concept map during their pre-writing stage. moreover, the results of writing assessment at cycle 1 revealed that the students' mean score had an increase of 7.35 points or 11.27%. it improved from 65.22 in preliminary assessment to 72.57 at the end of cycle 1. this result was moderate, but unfortunately the criteria of success had not been achieved yet. there were only seventeen students who gained the score 75 and above whereas the other twenty students failed. thus, the researchers and collaborators then decided to provide more practices to write english at school and continued to the next action research cycle. in the second cycle action stage, the students had already mastered the basic of pre-writing stage through concept mapping technique well. however, some llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 72 students still had difficulties in using appropriate linking words and they sometimes forgot to develop their concept map or to put one or more ideas in their writing. here, the teacher-researcher helped remind the students to develop the ideas for their composition from the concept map they had already made. it was done so that their writing had a good organization and their intention was clear in order to be understood by the readers. in addition, the students could distinguish generic structures in descriptive writing but some of them could not put it in a good format yet. for instance, there was no title, no new line of each paragraph, and no margins on both sides. in fact, format was also important for the readers to attract their attention on people, places and objects being described. fortunately, for the mechanics aspect almost all students utilized them well. moreover, the content of writing was good enough. the students seemed to try hard to describe topics in details. eventually, by the end of the second cycle, the average score of the students reached above the criteria of 75; i.e. 80.27. there were 30 students (81.08%) who were successful to achieve the minimum criteria of learning outcome above 75. the following graph illustrates the improvement of the students' average scores on descriptive writing from preliminary study, cycle 1 to cycle 2. figure 2. the students' descriptive writing average scores the findings of this study showed that the implementation of concept mapping technique by the teacherresearcher could improve the students' writing ability in writing descriptive composition. the teaching aspects in each meeting of the two research cycles had been done well and as planned by the teacher researcher. the teacher firstly presented the materials about descriptive composition and concept mapping technique in each meeting. it was conducted so the students had enough understanding of the writing aspects. the teacher's 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 preliminary cycle 1 cycle 2 descriptive writing llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 73 performance in teaching learning activity was always evaluated by the collaborators. the teacher accepted the suggestions given and upgraded her performance in the next meeting. some of the suggestions included the language of instructions in writing prompt and learning collaboratively. after getting the feedback, the teacher used simpler and clearer instructions as well as asked the students to participate actively in discussion, respect each other and do their task with a high sense of responsibility. from the observations recording the students' behaviors during the study, it was revealed that the students were motivated to follow the lessons. it was supported by the interview results conducted with nine students selected from different ability levels. the students admitted they enjoyed the lessons using concept mapping technique and they preferred to work their task collaboratively. furthermore, they could share, help and discuss each other in generating ideas and develop them in descriptive composition using concept mapping technique. constructing concept mapping by incorporating to some extent cooperative learning activity could build interaction among the students, increase their participation in the teachinglearning process and encourage their motivation to learn writing better. conclusion based on the findings of this research, it could be concluded that the students' writing ability particularly in writing descriptive composition improved after the implementation of concept mapping technique. this particular technique can be potential when implemented well to solve the students' main problem in generating concepts and ideas to write a composition as well as increase their participation in the class. therefore, it is recommended that teachers try to make the best use of this technique to assist their students to write compositions, not only in descriptive genre but also in other text genres. references avery, p. g., baker, j., & gross,s.h. (1997). “mapping” learning at the secondary level. the clearing house, 70(5), 279-285. brown, h. d. (1994). principles of language learning & teaching (3 rd ed.) united states: prentice hall. fahim, m. & rahimi, a. h. (2011). the effect of concept mapping strategy on the writing performance of efl learners. journal of academic and applied studies, 7(5), 357-360 . retrieved on september 10 th , 2013, from http://www.ijiet.org/vol7/894-t004.pdf. freeman, m. h. (2002). cognitive mapping in literacy analysis. los angeles: ebsco publishing. miller, l. (2008). using concept maps to facilitate writing assignments. retrieved on september 15 th , 2013, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/253358282_using_concept_ map_to_facilitate_writing_assignment llt, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 1, april 2018 74 novak, j. d. & alberto j. c. (2006). the theory underlying concept maps and how to construct them. retrieved from http://cmap.ihmc.us/docs/theory-ofconcept-maps.php razmjoo, s. a. (2012). on the effect of cooperative writing on students’ writing ability, wtc, self-efficacy, and apprehension. world journal of english language, 2(2), 19-28. rubiyah. (2014). implementing concept mapping technique to improve the students’ability of writing descriptive composition of the seventh graders at smp negeri 21 samarinda. (unpublished thesis, mulawarman university, 2014). white, h. (2011). how to construct a concept map: department of chemistry and biochemistry. retrieved on september 20 th , 2013, from www. udel/chem/white/teaching/concept map.html llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 1 obama’s remarks on trayvon martin’s death seen from cda viewpoints: an example of authentic academic writing material listyani satya wacana christian university listyani@staff.uksw.edu doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.suppl2101 received 20 december 2017; revised 5 februari 2018; accepted 1 june 2018 abstract racism and all its problems like injustice, inequality, discrimination, and so on, have become an interestingly never-ending topic to be discussed along the history. even in america, a country which is so rich with its fighters of racial discrimination and injustice, this problem still occurs here and there. no matter how hard these heroes speak up their voices, this problem remains unsolved, or, at least, not entirely solved. one event, for example, happened on february 26, 2012 in sanford, florida, the united states of america. the victim was a young man named trayvon martin; an afro-american high school student. george zimmerman shot this seventeen-year-old teenager, which led to death. zimmerman was a 28-year-old hispanic american man. at that time, he worked as a watchman coordinator in the neighborhood. martin temporarily stayed there. obama, who was then the president of the united states, made a speech on martin’s death. this paper analyzes barack obama’s speech from discourse analysis viewpoints, as well as the ideological and cultural discourse contained in the speech. in the text analysis, some significant aspects are discussed based on my understanding of sfl (systemic functional linguistics), that is, the aspects of connections, like mode, tenor, and field. another central issue to be discussed in this paper is the ideological and cultural aspects of obama’s remarks upon trayvon martin’s death. this speech can be a very good example of how an argumentative writing appeals so many people and makes them sympathize with the victim of the shooting. through this paper, i hope that my own understanding of discourse analysis will be deepened, and readers will also gain some new horizon and knowledge of discourse study in general, including the cultural and ideological analysis of the text under study. i also hope that more convincing speeches of the authentic world like this one can benefit students of academic writing. keywords: authentic materials, academic writing, cda, obama’s speech introduction understanding a text, be it spoken or written, is an important part of discourse analysis. a speech or an oration is considered as spoken discourse, which is delivered in public. in this paper, i chose barack obama’s spontaneous oration upon the death trayvon martin. he was a seventeen-year-old teenager mailto:listyani@staff.uksw.edu llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 2 with african-american blood. martin was shot by zimmerman, a hispanic, which finally led to his death. the main reason behind the selection of this article is because i am particularly interested in obama’ speeches, which, to a great extent, have impressed so many people in and outside his home country. another reason is because as we know, the us is famous for its great figures of justice and equality for the african-american people, and also for the hard struggle of its heroes. up to this moment, these heroes still struggle for justice and equality in the land where multi-racial ethnicities and nationalities live. we can name great people who are persistently struggling against racism like martin luther king, james cone, the founder of black liberation theology (fresh air, 2008), oprah windfrey, also barack and michele obama. those two reasons have inspired me to analyze this article. seen from the content, this speech can be a good authentic material for academic writing class, in which students can learn about some important academic writing features as well as skills. for example, students can learn about common fallacies that may be found in the speech, like bandwagoning (everybody has the idea that…), appeal to ignorance (lack of evidences), overgeneralization, either-or thinking, hasty generalization, ed-hominem (attacking the opponent’s personality instead of the issue), or false analogy (kemper, et al, 2012). another way of using this speech is by asking students to know what they are up against, or how to take a stand (smalley, ruetten, & kozyrev, 2012; dollahite & haun, 2012). they also can learn about other writing skills, like summarizing, paraphrasing, quoting, or referencing. in short, there are many rich lessons students can get about academic writing skills and knowledge from this speech. theory this speech was originally delivered by obama as personal remarks in an unscheduled statement to the media on july 19, 2013 (cohen, 2013). at that time, president obama himself came to the podium to address the case of trayvon martin. he talked about race problems, and “stand your ground laws” in the speech (terkel, 2014). here is the outline of the speech (bump, 2013). altogether, there are 44 paragraphs in the speech. table 1. the outline of the speech paragraphs 1-3 introduction paragraphs 4-5 the legal process of the case in general paragraphs 6-13 personal opinions on racial problems paragraphs 14-20 african-american community paragraphs 21-25 reflective statements and questions about african-american boys paragraphs 26-34 concrete things that can be done about state laws paragraphs 35-42 hopes on better conditions for african-american boys paragraphs 43-44 closing due to the limitation of space, this paper will only cover the issues of connections, like “mode”, “tenor” and “field”. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 3 referring to martin and rose (2004, pp. 242-243), register analysis in sfl (systemic functional linguistics) deals with a dimension which involves tenor, mode, and field. tenor concerns with relationships between interactants; while the one dealing with social activity is called field; and mode is related to the role of language. the table below, cited from martin and rose’s (2004), will clarify. table 2. metafunctions metafunction content notes interpersonal tenor role relationship ideational field social actions textual mode part of language details of tenor, mode and field form the text will be discussed below. tenor, field, and mode together form the register of a text. they may be called register variables as well (martin & rose, 2004, pp.243-244). now i will discuss the variables one by one. mode according to martin and rose (2004, p.244), there is one important variable that mode has, that is, “the amount of work that language is doing related to what is going on”. martin and rose further took an example of vincent lingiari’s speech in which there are exophoric references referring to people, places, and things. they are materially present. the important white men refers to the whites, us refers to aboriginals, and here refers to this land where the afro-americans suffer from discrimination. the important white men are giving us this land ceremonially, ceremonially they are giving it to us. it belonged to the whites, but today it is in the hands of us aboriginals all around here. this kind of text is called context dependent, because we cannot process the participants’ identification without any information from the situation. the key resource, which “unties” texts from situations, is the grammatical metaphors. this is due to their power to reconstrue activities as things. hence, they break the iconic connections between linguistic and material activity. it will further transform social action into abstractions (martin & rose, 2004, p.245). referring to obama’s speech, we can see how mode is used in paragraphs 8-12. i tried to present some intriguing statements from the speech. you know, when trayvon martin was first shot, i said that this could have been my son. another way of saying that is trayvon martin could have been me, 35 years ago. and when you think about why, in the african-american community at least, there's a lot of pain around what happened here, i think it's important to recognize that the african-american community is looking at this issue through a set of experiences and a -and a history that -that doesn't go away. there are very few african-american men in this country who haven't had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. that includes me. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 4 there are probably very few african-american men who haven't had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars. that happens to me -at least before i was a senator. there are very few african-americans who haven't had the experience of getting on an elevator and a woman clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she had a chance to get off. here we can see how the exophoric references referring to people, places, and things are materially present. tenor the key variables in tenor are, martin and rose claim (2003, p. 248), power and solidarity. they are the “vertical and horizontal dimensions of interpersonal relations”. this “power variable is used to generalize across genres, as far as equalities and inequalities of status are concerned”, as martin and rose mention in their book, working with discourse (2004). according to martin and rose (2004, p. 248), in postcolonial society, it is claimed that there are five dimensions of inequality: generation, gender, ethnicity, capacity, and class. generation refers to “inequalities” which are related to maturation. gender refers to “sex and sexuality-based difference”. ethnicity concerns with “racial, social, and cultural divisions”, while incapacity refers to “disabilities of any kind”. class refers to “distribution of material resources”, and it becomes the most fundamental dimension, since postcolonial economic order depends on it. social semiotic coding orientations are manifested through “physical embodiment” and also “semantic style”. the ways they work are culturally specific. in most texts, power and its relation to field must be carefully considered (martin & rose, 2004, p.248). citing from poynton (1985), martin and rose (2004, p. 248) state that reciprocity of choice is a critical variable in power. “social subjects of equal status construe equality”. it is done by having access to the same kinds of choices. subjects with unequal status will take up different kinds of choices. solidarity, which is the horizontal dimension of tenor, is used to generalize across genres. there are two principles that poynton (1995) suggests: proliferation and contraction. proliferation is the idea that the closer someone is to someone else, the more meanings she/he has to exchange. sharing feelings is a kind of critical resource for a relationship. therefore, proliferation is powerful. contraction refers to the amount of work which is needed to exchange meanings. it also refers to the idea that the better someone knows someone else, the less explicitness is needed. where there are cultural differences, contracted realization can be particularly excluding (in martin & rose, 2004, p.250). in obama’s speech, solidarity can be seen in paragraph 19, in which obama calls african-american people as “black folks”. this is partly because obama is a part of the african-american society, and he did experience things that were discriminating as he told in paragraphs 10-12. also at the end of the speech, obama did not address his audience as “ladies and gentlemen”, but, “guys”. this is due to his position and power as the president of the states, and he was addressing this speech to his people. obama also address americans as “folks” (para.22). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 5 field the last variable of register is field. it concerns with a set of “activity sequences, which are oriented to some global purpose within institutions, family, community, or society” (martin & rose, 2004, p. 252). the sequences, the figures, and the taxonomies of participants together create expectations. this will be the basis for identifying fields. we have to consider expectations about what is going on. distinctive sequences, martin and rose (2004, pp. 252-253) claim, implicate distinctive events. events implicate distinct participants, in relations to one another based on the compositions of a certain field. we can then explore different domains in life (differences between every day, technical, and institutional domains), and the apprenticeship. this is important to understand cultural differences related to communication. field in obama’s speech can be seen from several domains in life as described in the following table. table 3. field in obama’s speech african-american people african-american community (para.9) african-american men (para.10) african-americans (para. 12) african-american boys (para. 20) black folks (para. 19) trayvon martin this (para.8) the context of culture and situation in the united states the speech delivered by obama was a personal response upon the death of an african-american young boy, by a hispanic-american, george zimmerman. the event took place on february 26, 2013. the context of situation and culture – which is the continuing problem of racism in the us, is presented below. as widely known, racial discrimination has been a big issue in the states. this has started since the slavery era. native americans, african-americans, asian-americans, and latin-americans were the ones who suffered most from the heavy burden of legal sanction (jordan, 2013). on the other hand, europeanamericans, especially anglo-americans had privilege in terms of literacy, voting rights, citizenship, and some other aspects. in the mid twentieth century, racial discrimination was banned in a large scale. it then began to be seen as socially unacceptable, and morally inappropriate. however, racism in politics still continues, and this can be reflected in socioeconomic inequality. the form of discrimination is indirect, and “racial stratification” still continues in housing, education, and governance (jordan, 2013). theory application how the text is produced as a social practice this text is full of ideological contents. obama expressed his deep concern llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 6 on the case of the shooting of martin and also about the challenges faced by african-american people in america in a wider context. this problem is an example of the never-ending problem of racism in america. as widely known, this problem rooted from slave era in the seventeenth century up to the 1960s. it was in the middle of the 20th century when racial segregation was banned. it also began to be considered as “socially and morally unacceptable”. racism is reflected in socioeconomic inequality “racial stratification” continues and takes place in many aspects of life including housing, education, and government (jordan, 2013). seen from the social function, this text which was originally a spoken speech by the president upon the death of a young african-american boy is loaded with several significant messages. first, this text shows obama’s bravery in bringing up the matters of racial issues, african american discrimination problems to be specific, which have been going on for many centuries. this is a kind of reflection on the on-going racism in america (para 16). he also talked about injustice that often happens to africanamerican people in the us (para 9, 10-12). he was not afraid that this speech would become an obstacle for winning another election. he had no worries at all, and he was not afraid of losing public sympathy. instead, he freely and bravely criticized the system of law in florida, also the state and local government (para. 26-34). secondly, besides showing obama’s bravery, this speech also reveals his intelligence. this is shown by the fact that he was able to make this personal, unscheduled speech. i assumed that obama had little time to prepare this. yet, he critically could see the matter of martin’s shooting from social and judicial points of view, which were quite objective, despite the fact that he was an africanamerican man himself. asking his fellow people to move forward and live in unity is another wise and brilliant side of his leadership (para. 35-42). thirdly, this text shows obama’s great ability to empathize for the victims of injustice in america, by identifying martin as his son and himself. he could brilliantly use language to make public picture this vividly. this can be found in paragraph 8, “you know, when trayvon martin was first shot, i said that this could have been my son. another way of saying that is trayvon martin could have been me, 35 years ago. what the text is about as mentioned previously, this text, originally a spoken speech by barack obama as response of the death of a young african-american boy, treyvon martin, talks about racism problems which is still happening in the uncle sam’s country up to now. to make the discussion clearer, i presented the background of the shooting and a short biography of obama below. as mentioned above, trayvon martin was a seventeen-year-old african american teenager who was shot dead on february 26, 2012. he was shot in his temporary residence in sanford, florida, by george zimmerman, a hispanic. zimmerman was the neighborhood watch coordinator in that area. zimmerman shot martin to death, and martin did not have any weapon. police came several minutes after the shooting took place. zimmerman was arrested but then released after several-hour investigation. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 7 the police chief explained that there was not adequate evidence to refute “zimmerman’s claim of having acted in self-defense. he further stated that zimmerman “had a right to defend himself with lethal force” (robles, 2012). after flows of thousands of protesters, zimmerman was arrested and investigated. he was finally charged with murder, and the jury acquitted him of “second-degree murder” and “manslaughter charges” on july 13, 2013. this reminds me of a novel by alan paton, cry, the beloved country (1948). this novel tells a story about a man named stephen kumalo. kumalo was sorrowfully grieving of losing his own son, absalom who was arrested and then hung to death for murdering arthur jarvis, a white man, who ironically was an anti-racism activist in south africa. it is told that absalom killed jarvis accidentally for self-defense, as he was afraid and shocked to see jarvis when burgling into jarvis’ house. no matter how absalom told the truth to the court about his innocence, he was convicted guilty of murdering jarvis who was a white man. jarvis was a kind of dream figure for the oppressed african people; someone who could be a solution for injustice in the land of south africa. he died paradoxically in the hands of a man he stood for. paton beautifully wrote about kumalo’s hopes that someday, freedom will come to south africa, though he may not experience it, “kumalo knows that he will die long before peace comes to south africa, because there is so much fear among the people.” (cry, beloved country, chapter 36). obama’s short biography born on august 4, 1961, barack obama was a darling son of barack obama sr. and ann dunham. both parents were students at the university of hawaii. obama’s father returned to kenya after leaving for harvard, and his mother then remarried an indonesian oil manager. they moved to jakarta when he was 6. returning to the states, obama was brought up by his grandparents. attending columbia university did not make obama happy because of the high racial tension. then, obama went to harvard law school in 1990. he was elected “the first african-american editor of harvard law review”. he then worked in chicago on voting-rights legislation, representing the victims of housing and employment discrimination. in the meantime, he began teaching at chicago law school. it was when he met michelle robinson, and the love story continued to marriage. she became obama’s fellow attorney. in 2004, he was elected the us senate as a democrat. four years later, he got a chance to run for president. january 2009 was the time when he began his service as the 44 th president of the us. he was then reelected in november 2012. ideologies represented in the text: discourse, culture and ideology according to martin and rose (2004, p.15), both ideology and power are interrelated. they run through language and culture. they position people within social context where they can have more or less power. ideology and power can either open wide or make people’s access to resources of meaning smaller. they further state that up to now, the most outstanding example was apartheid in south africa and its ideological divisions. racism in the united states is, in my horizon, another interesting example of the issue of ideology and power. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 8 in line with martin and rose, fairclough (1992, p. 23) in his book, language and power, mentions that “language is one strand of the social”. he states, “all linguistic phenomena are social, but, not all social phenomena are linguistic”. fairclough states further that discourse involves “social conditions of productions and social conditions of interpretations”. social condition in this case is inter-related to the three levels of social organization, namely the level of social environment – where discourse occurs, social institution – which constitutes a wider matrix for discourse, and social levels as a whole (1992, p. 25). since language is related to social practice, people thus must analyze not only the text or the process of production and interpretation of the language. they must also see more deeply the relationship among the text, processes, and social conditions as well. there are three dimensions of discourse: description, interpretation, and explanation. description concerns with “formal properties” in the text; while interpretation deals with “text and interaction”. explanation concerns with “relationship between interaction and social context” (fairclough, 1992, p. 26). in a capitalist society, fairclough (1992) claims, economic production is the place where “social classes start”, and the capitalist’s power largely depends on the ability to control. “ideological power” is significant to the economic and political power. it is the power to project whether someone’s practices are universal and common sense. the significance exists because it is exercised in discourse (pp. 32-33). power relations, fairclough explains, exist between social groupings in institutions. there are also power relations between men and women, and also between young and old, which have no connection to institutions. in reality, there is no transparent connection between class relations. however, class relations define the nature of society, and have basic influence of the society (p. 34). “power relations are always relations of struggle”, fairclough asserts. social struggle happens between various social groupings. examples to this are relations between men and women, employers and workers, black and white, young and old, and so on. class struggle is an important property of social system. it can be more or less intense, and can appear in any social developments. any kind of power exercise takes place under social struggle (1992, p. 34). discourse types and orders vary across cultures. white middle class “gatekeepers” are “likely to constrain discourse types which can be drawn on the dominant cultural groups” (p. 47). fairclough concludes that discourse is where power is exercised and enacted. there are also power relations behind discourse. in all cases, power is “won, held, and lost in social struggle”. talking about “power in discourse”, fairclough claims that discourse is the place where power resides. in terms of “power behind discourse”, discourse is the stake of power. fairclough adds that it is the control over discourse orders that becomes the powerful mechanism to sustain power (pp. 73-74). jorgensen and phillips (2002, pp.60-64) strengthen the idea of relationship between discourse and social and cultural development in social domains. it is famous as critical discourse analysis (cda). citing from fairclough and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 9 wodak, jorgensen and phillips (2002) mention five common features of cda as follows. the first is about the character of the social and cultural processes and structures. it is partly “linguistic discursive”. it is partly through every day life’s “discursive practices” that social and cultural change take place. the aim of cda, jorgensen and phillips (2002) further state, is “to shed light on the linguisticdiscursive dimension of social and cultural phenomena”. the second feature is discourse is a form of social practice. it constitutes the social world, but it is also constituted by other social practices. in cda, languageas-discourse is a form of action that people can change the world through. besides that, as jorgensen and philips (2002) claim, it is a form of action, which is socially and historically related with other social aspects. the next feature is cda engages in “concrete linguistic textual analysis” of language use in social interaction (jorgensen & philips, 2002). language use should be analyzed in social context. another feature is discourse functions ideologically. discursive practices certainly contribute to the creation of unequal power relations between social groups (social groups refer to social classes, menwomen relations, ethnic minorities and majority relations). the last feature is that cda should be understood as critical approach, which is politically committed to social change. based on the theories above, i would like to say that this speech of obama contains some ideological aspects, which are very deep and profound. the ideologies presented here are how racism still continues and becomes unavoidable in american society, which is known to be fighting earnestly against racial discrimination. the second ideology is the president’s efforts to awaken the nation’s awareness of the danger and disadvantages of racism. the last one is the president’s hopes for a better america. besides all those values, this speech is also very rich of academic writing features if both students and lecturers dig it deeper. students can learn how to summarize, how to paraphrase, how to start with what others are saying, how to defend one’s stance, and learn about common fallacies as well. conclusion analyzing an article is not an easy thing to do. we have to consider so many aspects beside the text itself, like the background of the article, the socio-political conditions at the time of writing. this field has tremendously gained an important place in educational research. this paper is an effort how i tried to see an article from discourse points of view. this has increasingly become an interesting phenomenon and it attracts may interest too. it is expected that from this study, we gain better and deeper understanding of discourse analysis and also our comprehension of the systemic functional linguistics (sfl) gets better. the last is to say that we wish any reader of this paper also can gain something valuable, including lecturers and students of academic writing who are in search for authentic materials as model texts in their class. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 10 references anonymous. (2008, march 31). black liberation theology. in its founder’s words: interviews. retrieved from www.npr.org anonymous. (n.d.). biography of barack obama. retrieved on september 17, 2013, from http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1682433/bio anonymous. (n.d.). president obama talked about race, profiling and stand your ground laws. retrieved on september 17 th , 2013, from http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/19/politics/obama-zimmermanverdict/index.html anonymous. (n.d.). shooting of trayvon martin. retrieved on september 17 th , 2013, anonymous. racism in the united states. (2013). retrieved on october 4 th , 2013, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/racism_in_the_united_states bump, p. (2013, june 19). obama’s surprise speech on race: matin could have been me. retrieved on october 11 th , 2013, from http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/07/obama-gives-unexpectedspeech-race-trayvon-martin-could-have-been-me-35-years-ago/67391/ cillizza, c. (2013). president obama’s remarkably personal speech on trayvon martin and race in america. retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/07/19/presidentobamas-remarkably-personal-speech-on-trayvon-martin-and-race-inamerica/ cohen, t. (2013). obama: trayvon martin could have been me. cnn politics. retrieved on november 22 nd , 2016, from http://edition.cnn.com/2013/0/7/19/politics/obama-zimmerman/ dollahite, n. e. & haun, j. (2012). source work: academic writing from sources. boston: national geographic learning. eggins, s. (1994). an introduction to systemic functional linguistics. london: printer pubisher. fairclough, n. (1992). language and power. london: longman. from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/shooting_of_trayvon_martin halliday, m. a. k. & matthiessen, c. (2004). an introduction to functional grammar. new york: oxford university press. jorgensen, m. & phillips, l. j. (2002). discourse analysis as theory and method. london: sage publication ltd. kemper, d., sebranek, p., & meyer, v. (2012). write source: students’ edition. orlando: houghton mifflin harcourt. linda, g. & wigaell, p. (1995). making sense of functional grammar. north south wales: antepodean educational enterprises. martin, j. r. and rose, d. (2004). working with discourse. london: little, brown, and company (inc.). paton, a. (1948). cry, beloved country. london: jonathan cape. smalley, r. l., ruetten, m. k., & kozyrev. (2012). refining composition skills. toronto: nelson education ltd. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1682433/bio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/racism_in_the_united_states http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/07/obama-gives-unexpected-speech-race-trayvon-martin-could-have-been-me-35-years-ago/67391/ http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/07/obama-gives-unexpected-speech-race-trayvon-martin-could-have-been-me-35-years-ago/67391/ llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, suppl, june 2018 11 terkel, a. (2014, august 8). obama calls for review of ‘stand your ground’ laws after trayvon martin verdict. huffpost. retrieved on november 22 nd , 2016, from www.huffpost.com wang, x. grammatical concepts and their application in foreign language teaching: theme and rheme. retrieved on november 14 th , 2013, from http://www.scribd.com/doc/24271137/theme-rheme llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 llt journal: a journal on language and language teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 183 the role of local culture in english speaking classes girindra putri dewi saraswati, hartoyo and amida fadwati semarang state university girindraputrids@mail.unnes.ac.id, hartoyo3000@yahoo.com and amyfadwajr@gmail.com doi: doi.org/10.24071/llt.2018.210207 received 16 january 2018; revised 2 march 2018; accepted 13 september 2018 abstract this paper aims at finding out a model or a concrete picture of the role of local culture in intercultural communication teaching embedded in english speaking classes. specifically, this paper studied the first-year-students’ studying speaking in english department of universitas negeri semarang and lecturers lecturing speaking lesson in the same university. the study design, method, and approach implemented in this study, respectively, were case study, qualitative, and interdisciplinary. in addition, data were collected through observation, interview, and documentation study, and were validated by using triangulation technique. the collected data were analyzed using interactive model, comprising data reduction, data presentation, and verification. results showed that the knowledge of culture, both native and foreign one, was embedded in teaching speaking classes of firstyear-students in universitas negeri semarang. the local culture itself served as benchmark and departing point of teaching intercultural communication to students. by acting as a benchmark, local culture gave students a standard of what considered acceptable and not acceptable both in native and foreign culture. while as a departing point, local culture served as the initial knowledge of students before getting to understand the concept of international communication further. for teaching speaking in general, local culture which was used as a ground to introduce intercultural communication would be beneficial for teachers to teach polite oral english communication which was acceptable for speakers coming from various nations. keywords: intercultural communication, local culture, speaking introduction english in modern era focuses its usage on the issue of english as a lingua franca (efl) where english is seen as the international language for communication. although england, the united states, or australia are usually used as the benchmark of any english test or the development of english language in general, however, the goal of teaching english is now focusing on how to use the english politely, instead of using the proper english grammar or learning to apply the dialect. seidlhofer (2011) mentioned that elf is a communication tool used by people who are not using english as their native language, but more as the language to bridge communication between people who need to communicate or interact with other people with different cultures and languages. in a simpler definition, english mailto:girindraputrids@mail.unnes.ac.id mailto:hartoyo3000@yahoo.com mailto:amyfadwajr@gmail.com llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 184 as a lingua franca (elf) is a term referred to a communication tool between people from various langauge background (jenkins, 2003). in its implementation, elf turns out to be more than just how to use the language. it also means using the language with proper knowledge and culture mastery. having a perfect ability in mastering the vocabulary and grammar in english without the support of the ability in interpreting and mediating culture gap between speakers will become a problem in intercultural communication (neff & rucynski jr., 2013). even, the msitakes in grammar or structure of english is considered understandable, while the mistakes in chhosing wrong topic or using inappropriate diction and topic of conversation can be considered as rude (bardoviharlig, 1991; crandall & basturkmen, 2004). from this issue, therefore, the trend of english teaching in modern era tends to discuss about problems related to culture gap mediation in english intercultural communication. the culture mediation in english communication is known as cross cultural communication or intercultural communication. some experts differ the meaning of each term to cross-cultural which tends to be defined as cultural learning between nation where two or more different cultures are compared, while the intercultural underlines the interaction between people who have different cultural background (baker, 2012; koester & lustig, 2015). the ambiguity between the definitions let some other researchers to treat the terms in simlar way (see gu, patkin, & kirkpatrick, 2014; neff & rucynski jr., 2013). for this research purposes, i will tread cross-cultural and intercultural communication in similar way, considering that both terms have the definition that communication happens as the result of an interation between speakers with different langauge and culture. therefore, in this study, the interaction will be referred as intercultural communication (nayono, 2013 & rudianto, dkk., 2015). supporting the previous definition by experts was hopson, et al. (2012) who stated that cross-cultural or intercultural communication has to be built simultaneously with mutual benefit, adaptive, understanding, interactive, dependable, and supported by all lecturers. surely, to establish the ideal situation just like what is hoped by previous experts in the field of intercultural communication is not easy. in its relation to this, in teaching and learning english, initiative of the lecturers is needed in teaching the theory on how to mediate cultures in intercultural communication. mediating the culture is a big challenge to the teacher, lecturer, or practitioner in english language teaching, specifically for the teachers who teach english in efl country where english is taught as foreign language, like in indonesia. the condition where the class is mostly occupied by local learners are the challenge for the lecturers since the source of information related to the culture of target language is considerably limited. whereas, to support the teaching of intercultural communication needs material input both from local and target culture. in addition to the intercultural communication which becomes the center if the present research, the term is actually understood as the transfer of language between different language and culture. the term intercultural communication also refers to the communication between people from different ethnic, social, and culture, or in other words, it is the conversation berween the minority and dominant cultures llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 185 (arent, 2009). culture in english is distinguished between small ‘c’ and big ‘c’. capital c in culture means covers the general culture, like, music or literary works, while small ‘c’ means the discussion of communication norms between speakers (gill dan čaňková, 2002). in oral english speaking classes in indonesia, the norms tend to learn about the native user of english culture’s norm. therefore, in this study, intercultural communication means the learning of cultures as a result of the meeting of two different cultures or more during the conversation takes place. in teaching and learning english the understanding of intercultural communication reflects an overview that a learner of english as a foreign language has to have the knowledge of the local culture as well as the native one (kramsch, 1993). in other words, the learning of intercultural communication of a language is defined as a way to develop the ability of a learner to negotiate meanings behinf a language or culture to face the multicultural world (ho, 2009). more specifically, the aim of learning that is containing and teaching the knowledge of intercultural communication is used to sharpen the knowledge and understanding of a learner towards the way of communicating and negotiating cultures between speakers from different cultures. this attempt is done by helping learners to be aware in understanding every forms, implementation, and limitations of culture in intercultural communication. the most important also is to teach the learners to bring the understanding to the real english communication between culture in a flexible and purposive way (baker, 2012). in addition to this is the local culture itself. from the previous definition, we can infer that the intercultural communication is the ability which is taught in order to develop the relationship between cultureswhich is reciprocal between the native and foreign user of english (chi & suthers, 2015). therefore, local culture gives more contribution towards the knowledge of custom and norms as well as knowledge for the mediation of cultures in teaching the language (lin, et al., 2002). here, mckay (2002) also delivers that the teaching of local cultures to the english classroom teaching can improve the knowledge of learners which later will be useful in practising intercultural communication. canagarajah (2006) in hopson, et al. (2012) in his research about norms in intercultural communication delivers that most of the research in english gives more emphasis on the implementation of the classroom teaching, i.e. the teaching of cultures, the materials, textbooks, as well as the teaching teachniques. there were quite little research explaining more about how to negotiate local cultures in english teaching (canagarajah, 2006 in hopson, et al., 2012). it means, the local culture influences the intercultural communication since the knowledge of local cultures will be useful in oral culture negotiation. this is supported by barker (2012) which delivered that local culture is one of the important supporting component in the implementation of intercultural communication teaching in the classroom because, if it is used for communication, the knowledge of culture may reveal the differences between cultures and taboos in different cultures that may support the process of negotiation formation between two foreign speakers. generally, about the integration of culture in teaching english in elt, neff & rucynski (2013) had previously learned that the role of culture in teaching english is crucial. previous study had been done researching about japanese student who llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 186 studies english in one of the university in japan. it was found out that the communication misunderstanding between native speaker and the japanese student happened because the ability of english had by the students is not supported by the mastery of culture had by the students. to overcome this, neff & rucynski had attempted to develop some detailed and completed teaching activities, with roleplay as the teaching technique. it was claimed that it was succesful to help students to master the culture contained in the language. another previous study by zeff (2016) studied about the teaching strategy of intercultural teaching in speaking classes, which specifically learns about greetings. in this study, the researcher asked the students to create a journal which told about the cultural gap in greetings which the students got both directly and from television. he also further explained about contextual assignemnt he gave to the students which would give the opportunity for the students to do problem solving. usually the assignment is given in role play, so the students can act as if they came from different countries and tried to have and bridge communication between cultures. in indonesia, the research about culture in teaching english had been done by kirkpatrick (2015) by doing collaboration research with some researchers in indonesia which specifically studied about english textbook used in some schools in indonesia. results show that english textbook in indonesia focuses on showing and introducing indonesia local cultures. however, how the local culture differs with the native cultures and how it is similar hasnot been discussed, let alone the way to bridge the cultural gap. a suggestion was derived from the kirkpatrick’s research telling that the factor of english lecturer or teacher is important. teachers who have the spirit of pluralism and sensitively open with cultures are needed to teach culture in elt specifically in oral english. eventhough, some previous study had already attempted to learn the teaching of cultures embedded in oral english teaching, however, the role of local cultures in the classrom itself had never been studied before. therefore, the aim of the present study is to find out how the local culture take part in the teaching of speking skill in the english department of universitas negeri semarang. specifically, what is the role of local culture teaching in teaching speaking in this university. method the research approach the research implements the interdisciplinary approach, combining the knowledge between the ability of using oral english and the knowedge of intercultural communication. method used is qualitative which naturally observes people and link it to the environment where they live, the interaction between people, and the interpretation they have to the world (nasution, 1996). the research design this study employs the case study as its research design. the aim of the case study is to gain the detailed result in its relation to a specific case and relates it to the theory that has been existed before and also the results cannot be generalized (bryman, 2012). here, we specifically employed the intrinsic case study. it is chosen since the researcher wants to understand the case deeper. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 187 location and target of the study the research site in this study is in the english department of faculty of langauges and arts of universitas negeri semarang. the target is specifically about knowledge of local culture and its role in teaching intercultural communication in english speaking classes by using previous theories by mckay (2002) and baker (2012). data collection technique the data collection technique uses in this study is observation, interview, adn documentation study. observation was done during the classroom teaching was held. while, the interview was given to 6 key informants and 9 supported informants. the 6 key informants were 3 lecturers and 3 students decided by the reseracher based on the backround of each subject. the three lecturers have different teaching experience duration. informant 1 has been teaching more than 10 years old, the second informant has been teaching for 5 to 10 years old, and the last has been teaching for less than 5 years. while the students also have different criteria. student 1 is a freshman who never teach any english toany students. student 2 is a freshman but has been having the teaching experience from private teaching, and student 4 who has been given the international communication teaching for almost a year. while, the supportive informants are selected randomly. data validation technique the data validation technique implemented here is triangulation which was explained by denzin and lincoln (2000) as a set of heuristic tool for researchers. the data triangulation comprises the source data trianguation based on previous claim from the researcher, researcher triangulation which learned from previous researchers, theory triangulation which studies the research result based on previous theory delivered by experts, and methodology triangulation which uses various method to study a single problem. the data analysis technique the data analysis technique in this research implements the data analysis technique by nasution (1996) by analyzing the natural learning phenomena. it is also in line with miles and huberman (1992) which uses the interactive model comprising data reduction, data presentation, and verification. findings and discussion from the observation and interview results, the study found that both the lecturers and students have already had the same views about the role of local cultures in english speaking classes in universitas negeri semarang. both of them agree that local cultures should exist to provide them with an understanding before they are asked to learn how to mediate cultures. both agree that although the local culture teaching is significant, however, all lecturers do not teach the local culture exsplicitly but implisitly. the statement is also agreed by the students. the implicit teaching of local cultures is also affected by the availability of the textbook which mainly provides the students with the knowledge of target culture, i.e. formal and informal speech, expression, gesture, etc. while discussing about the target culture, then local culture teaching is given implicitly as the comparative variable, so the discussion can appear in the classroom. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 188 the challenge of the local culture teaching in the classroom faced by the lecturer is more to the difficulties in defining whose local culture they need to teach in the classroom. having different island and pleces, indonesia also has different cultures with different norms attached to it. what is considered polite in one island or place in indonesia is considered rude for someone else living outside the region, let alone the norms of culture in the world. this problem is then mediated by the decision of acknowledging the cultures or norms which are followed or obeyed by most of the students in the classroom. both lecturers and students hope that there will be more explicit teaching of local cultures, so the learning to mediate culture gap is clearer. especially for students who have experienced teaching, the knowledge of how to mediate cultures is useful for them to teach communicative english for their students. it is because in explaining about the norms of using polite oral english, sometimes the students of theirs will also ask the similarity between local and foreign cultures and also explanation about how to be polite eventhough the cultures of the speakers are not the same. to underline this, both lecturers and students think that the textbook and materials given to teach the students give more focus on the culture of native speakers, while at some point, the students themselves actually do not really understand about their local culture. the idea of teaching local cultures to the students is actually derived from the thought that the students need to understand their culture first before attempting to mediate their cultures with the foreign one.under the umbrella of realizing the aim of english to be used as a lingua franca (jenkins, 2003; seidlhofer, 2012). classroom teaching, usually in speaking classes often teach the students how to be polite in other country while neglecting whether what is considered polite in another country is also considered the same in the students’ native country. therefore, in this study, it formulates that the functions of local culture teaching are useful in two major reasons; local culture may serve as a benchmark and departing point of teaching intercultural communication. thus, students will have had the standard of what is considered polite or impolite in their own countries, before learning other cultures and trying to mediate the gap between the two cultures. the second use of teaching local culture to students is actually to realize the teaching of intercultural communication itself. the goal of oral communication in english is no different as to have the similar understanding between two speakers both in terms of the information delivered or the way it communicates in a polite way. results of the study are in line with what had been delivered by mckay (2002) that the teaching of local cultures to the english classroom teaching can improve the knowledge of learners. it is later will be useful in practicing intercultural communication. intercultural communication may exist when both speakers understand each other and attempt to respect to other cultures while also respect their own cultures. if the students keep being taught by using the foreign cultures, they will be consiedered as polite in other countries but sometimes neglect that their politeness is not acceptable in their own county, this way, intercultural communication hasnot achieved yet. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 189 conclusion the study attempted to study the role of local culture in speaking classes. the data were collected by observing the class, interview, and documentation study. results showed that the knowledge of culture, both native and foreign one, was embedded in teaching speaking classes of first-year-students in universitas negeri semarang implicitly. the local culture itself served as benchmark and departing point of teaching intercultural communication to students. by acting as a benchmark, local culture gave students a standard of what considered acceptable and not acceptable both in native and foreign culture. while as a departing point, local culture served as the initial knowledge of students before getting to understand the concept of international communication further. references arent, r. (2009). bridging the cross-cultural gap: listening and speaking tasks for developing fluency in english. retrieved from http://www.press.umich.edu/titledetaildesc.do?id=302593. baker, w. (2012). from cultural awareness into intercultural awareness. elt journal, 66(1), 62-70. oxford: oxford university press. bardovi-harlig, k., et al. (1991). developing pragmatic awareness: closing the conversation. elt journal, 45(1), 4-15. oxford: oxford university press. bryman, a. (2012). social research methods. oxford: oxford university press. chi, r. & suthers, d. (2015). assesing intercultural communication competence as a relational construct using social network analysis. international journal of intercultural relations, 48, 108-119. elsevier. crandall, e. & basturkmen, h. (2004). evaluating pragmatic focused material. elt journal, 58(1), 38-49. oxford: oxford university press. denzin, k.n. dan lincoln, y.s. (2000). a handbook of qualitative research 2nd edition. thousand oaks: sage publications. gill, s & čaňková, m. (2002). intercultural activities. oxford: oxford university press. gu, m., patkin, j., & kirkpatrick, a. 2014. the dynamic identity construction in english as lingua franca intercultural communication: a positioning perspective. system, 46, 131-142. el sevier. ho, s.t.k. (2009). addressing culture in efl classroom: the challenge of shifting from a traditional to an intercultural stance. electronic journal of foreign language teaching, 6 (1), 63-76. hopson, m.c., hart, t., & bell, g.c. (2012). meeting in the middle: fred l. casmir’s contributions to the field of intercultural communication. international journal of intercultural relations, 36, 789-797. elsevier. jenkins, j. 2003. world englishes: a resource book for students. london: routledge. kirkpatrick, a. (2015). teaching english across culture: what do english language teachers need to know how to teach english. ea jornal, 23(2). koester, j. & lustig, m.w. (2015). intercultural communication competence: theory, measurement, and application. intercultural journal of intercultural relations, 48, 20-21. elsevier. http://www.press.umich.edu/titledetaildesc.do?id=302593 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 21, no. 2, october 2018 190 kramsch, c. (1993). context and culture in language teaching. oxford: oxford university press. lin, a. wang w., akamatsu n., riazi a.m. (2002). approaching english, expanding identities, and previsioning the field: from tesol to teaching english for globalized communication (tegcom). journal language identity education, 1 (4), 295-316. mckay, s.l. (2002). teaching english as an international language. oxford: oxford university press. miles, m.b. & huberman, a.m. (1984). qualitative data analysis. translated by: tjepjep rohendi rihidi. jakarta: penerbit universitas indonesia. nasution, s. (1996). metode penelitian naturalistik qualitatif. bandung: tarsito. nayono, s.e. (2013). pengenalan pemahaman lintas budaya: introduction to crosscultural understanding. delivered in pre-departure training studi lanjut luar negeri dosen uny. yogyakarta, indonesia. neff, p. & rucynski, j.jr. (2013). tasks for integrating language and culture teaching. english teaching forum, 2. retrieved from americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/51_2_4_neff_rucynski.pdf.. nurdin, r., syam, t., & harahap, m. s. (2016). komunikasi lintas budaya wisatawan asing dan penduduk lokal di bukit lawang. jurnal simbolika: research and learning in communication study, 1(2). seidlhofer, b. (2011). understanding english as a lingua franca. oxford: oxford university press. zeff, b.b. (2016). the pragmatics of greetings: teaching speech acts in the efl classroom. english teaching forum, 54(1), 2-11. united states department of state: bureau of educational and cultural affairs. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 290-303 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 290 a case study of efl blended learning based on superstar learning system in china mei wan nanjing university of aeronautics and astronautics, china correspondence: may7609@nuaa.edu.cn https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5794 received 25 january 2023; accepted 4 april 2023 abstract the main goal of this study is to propose and develop a pedagogical approach to blended learning in an undergraduate course and evaluate the implementation process and the satisfaction of the students. with the help of the research instrument like class observation and questionnaire, a case study method is adopted in this research in order to find answers to the following questions: how should teachers do with online course design in a blended learning environment? how should teachers carry out teaching practice in a face-to-face class? can efl learners improve their learning competency through superstar learning system -based blended learning? first, the researcher reviews the literature related to the current situation of college english teaching and learning in china, the concept of blended learning, and an overview of the superstar learning system. next, outlining the online course design for the book the researcher is using in her class and practising one of the texts are described. the design is then evaluated using a questionnaire given to 179 participants. survey results show that blended learning based on superstar learning system can provide a flexible and dynamic learning environment and improve students’ learning competency. contents of online courses must be designed according to students’ needs and must be developed for all components of blended learning. the results also show students’ overall satisfaction is high. keywords: blended learning, learning competency. superstar learning system introduction face-to-face classroom teaching used to be the trend before the year 2003 when college english curriculum requirements (trial) drafted by the ministry of education of the people’s republic of china was about to regulate college english teaching. with the ongoing reform, higher education learning mode is surely being impacted, which was going to shift from a teacher-centred approach to a studentcentred one and computer-assisted teaching mode was going to be adopted to support this process (gao, 2012). since researchers believe that “college english teaching assisted with information technology can greatly improve teaching quality and efficiency” (luo, 2021, p.230), the adoption of new ways is being constantly looked for in order “to improve education quality, enhance student engagement, and manage knowledge resources” (prifti, 2022, p.120). mailto:may7609@nuaa.edu.cn https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5794 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 290-303 291 current situation of college english teaching and learning in china college english is a compulsory course in china and students are supposed to improve their learning competency within 1 or 2 years of college study. as the college english curriculum requirements (cecr) stipulates, the ultimate goal of college english teaching is to improve students’ language application abilities, especially listening and speaking, that is to say, applying language knowledge to practical use. at the same time, it should enhance students’ ability to autonomous learning, and improve their comprehensive cultural qualities in order to meet the requirements of social development and international communication (cecr, 2007). despite decades of efforts, how to improve students’ learning competency remains a brain-racking problem for policy-makers, professors, teaching practitioners and students as well. since the teaching focus changes from exam orientation in high school to ability orientation in university, many freshers can’t adjust to the new pace of college life. wang & wang (2011) investigated that many freshers are weak in english communicative abilities, they have limited language knowledge and they don’t know how to use new learning methods and a new way of thinking to adapt themselves to the new challenging teaching requirements and teaching mode. entering into university, many students don’t have a clear goal and don’t know how to study even though “they have a high expectation but low investment in english study, a systematic study plan is rarely seen” (sun, 2016, p.248). wang also said that “blending information technology with foreign language courses and constructing an appropriate language teaching internet ecology can help to improve teaching quality and promote the reformation of teaching contents and teaching methods, consequently stimulate students’ learning interest and enhance learning effect” (wang & wang, 2011, p.10). concept of blended learning some researchers believe that blended learning is a learning activity that integrates face-to-face learning and online approaches to instruction (colis & moonen, 2002; garrison & kanuka, 2004; graham, 2006; macdonald, 2008). researchers holding this view believe that the combination of online teaching platforms and traditional face-to-face teaching increases the interaction between teachers and students, breaks the traditional single classroom mode and makes the two complementary advantages, which is worthy of widespread promotion. some researchers explain that blended learning is only a method which is used by making use of the advances in computer technology in a learning process. and only those learning with 30 % to 79% (allen et al., 2007) or more than 25% (means et al., 2013) of the teaching content carried out online can be called blended leaning. other experts regard online education as a supplement to face-to-face learning, not a full learning approach, and therefore blended learning is not a simple addition of two learning modes or a simple integration of information and communication technologies with face‐to‐face approaches (walker & keeffe, 2010). the amount of technology used in blended learning becomes a demarcation from the stage of technology application to the stage of technology integration. as the stage developed into “internet+ phase” (feng et al., 2018, p.14) more researchers were concerned with the outcome of blended learning, agreeing that blended learning was student-centred learning (goodyear & dudley, 2015). the development of llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 290-303 292 information-based technology and the use of a learning platform are indispensable for blended learning. at the same time, there is no doubt that the effect of the implementation of blended learning is decided by the lecturers’ literacy in information technology as well as their teaching competence. overview of superstar learning system as stockwell (2016) said that learning based on information communication technology like the internet was convenient, ubiquitous, interactive and individualized, which was beneficial to language learning. superstar learning system (sls) is a learning platform designed by superstar company in china, which is a system for course learning assisted with the courseware, knowledge dissemination and management sharing (liu, 2022). sls is flexible to use since it consists of three terminals: a livestream terminal, a mobile phone terminal and a computer terminal. needless to say, livestream terminal is used for online teaching when the situation requires so. since the operation of this livestream terminal is not as convenient as other livestream teaching platforms, it is not discussed in this study. both the mobile phone and computer terminal can be used online and offline. they each have an activity library, in which various activities can be carried out, such as attendance (check-in), select, in-class tests, discussion, quick answer, questionnaire, group task, vote, rate, and feedback. and the function of resources like course resources, a question bank, an assignment bank and a test bank can also be found in both terminals which can facilitate blended learning to a great extent. though most of the built-in functions are the same on the mobile phone terminal and the computer terminal, they each have their distinctive features and can be utilized in full length on different occasions. the mobile phone terminal offers other accessible functions like a whiteboard, timer, live video, and synchronic classroom which are found on the computer terminal. different from the mobile phone terminal, the computer terminal is usually used by practitioners to prepare for their online course design due to its user-friendly alignment interface and enormous storage capacity to store resources. thus, the two terminals can complement each other and be used in a blended learning environment. sls is open to teachers, students and all the other users without any charge from 2015 on. like many other learning systems, sls plays an important part during the pandemic to help many institutions to carry out online learning after the lockdown policy was carried out. this learning platform can enhance students’ learning interest, attitude and academic achievements and a teaching mode based on a superstar learning system can produce a golden course (liu, 2022). to implement college english blended learning, the type of learning platform used for online learning should be agreed upon by both teachers and students. taking all the factors in mind, teachers should design the course and organize the teaching contents in a smart way on the learning platform so that students can achieve a better learning outcome through a blended learning mode. method this study adopts a case study research method and sls is the platform under investigation which is used for blended learning. data analysis started from course design on this learning platform. the researcher designed the course according to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 290-303 293 content and language-integrated learning philosophy and then she carried out her teaching practice to participants in her classes for one semester. the researcher observed students’ learning performances in the class and then sent a questionnaire with 10 questions to the researcher’s students by the end of that semester. two questions about their gender and major were included and 8 questions about their sls using experience and attitude toward blended learning were included in the questionnaire. the questionnaire which was given to the participants intended to find out whether blended learning based on sls had really benefited the participants and it also tried to find out what were the problems that needed to be investigated further. the study population was a mass of 179 first-year college students from the researcher’s 5 classes at the researcher’s university. the course was from the 2022 to 2023 autumn semester and it took 16 weeks. findings and discussion online course design online learning should be sustainable and instructional activities should be more hybrid because effective design and instructional strategies for online courses can help to encourage participation in courses (baldwin, 2019). yet, the current english learning in chinese universities can’t assure continuous and sustainable study through students’ college life, which in turn affects students’ level and their improvement in english application abilities (qiao et al., 2010). superstar company has collected sufficient samples all over china during the pandemic. they analyzed the data collected and the stability of the platform and then recommended a six-step teaching procedure to teachers, which is shown in figure 1. figure 1. six steps to carry out online learning based on sls from this recommended online teaching procedure, it is implied that “the investment in upfront planning of a course is critical to constructing a comprehensive plan of instruction” (gibson & dunning, 2012, p.209). based on a careful analysis of students’ needs and course requirements, the researcher designed the following course plan. it is believed that multiple and meaningful cultural materials will be more welcomed and more appreciated by students if provided online before class rather than during class or after class (raes et al., 2015). • construct the course • supplement resources step 1 • add students in the course • send learning tasks step 2 • students' autonomous learning step 3 • student-and teacher q&a step 4 • send assignment step 5 • learning supervision step 6 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 290-303 294 therefore, the adoption of content and language-integrated learning is suitable for the targeted students as far as the sls was taken into consideration. the researcher had carefully designed the course on the “chapter” interface with the following 5 parts: learning objective, skill, cultural background, courseware, and unit test. and the following table shows how the researcher designed the “chapter” for the coursebook she was teaching during the semester. because the use of a textbook is common in college english teaching in china and the teacher is usually suggested to adopt the teaching objectives provided in the relevant teacher’s manual, the researcher has accordingly acknowledged the suggested specifics of teaching objectives (ji et al., 2014) to facilitate her description of the overall course design. since the specifics of the courseware section and unit test section are not suitable for table description, thereby only specifics about learning objectives, skills and cultural background are presented in this study. table 1. course design on sls “chapter” interface text and title section specifics 1 writing for myself learning objective i. grasp the main idea (the essence of writing is to write what one enjoys writing) and structure of the text (narration in chronological sequence) ii. appreciate the narrative skills demonstrated in the text (selection of details, repetition, coherence) iii. master the key language points and learn how to use them in context iv. understand the cultural background related to the context v. express yourself more freely on the theme of growing up after doing a series of themerelated reading, listening, speaking and writing activities vi. write a letter of congratulations in an appropriate way skill i. how to write a letter of congratulations ii. what is coherence and cohesion cultural background the pain of growing up; introduction to john lennon 2 all the cabbie had was a letter learning objective i. grasp the main idea (never delay expressing your true feelings to a friend) and structure of the text (developing a story around a letter) ii. appreciate characteristic features of spoken english as demonstrated in the text (spoken english is much more informal than written english) iii. master the key language points and learn how to use them in context iv. understand the cultural background related to the context llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 290-303 295 v. express yourself more freely on the theme of friendship after doing a series of theme-related reading, listening, speaking and writing activities vi. write a personal letter in an appropriate way skill i. how to write a personal letter ii. what is simile and metaphor cultural background i. what is friendship ii. examples of great friendship 3 public attitudes toward science learning objective i. understand the main idea (to ensure the survival of human civilization, measures must be taken to help the public understand science) and structure of the text (introducing a topic, developing the topic with supporting details, drawing a conclusion) ii. appreciate the style differences between narrative writing and expository writing iii. grasp the key language points and learn how to use them in context iv. understand the cultural background related to the context v. express yourself more freely on the theme of understanding science after doing a series of theme-related reading, listening, speaking and writing activities vi. write an expository essay about how science changes our lives skill how to write an expository essay cultural background introduction to stephen hawking 4 tony trivisonno’s american dream learning objective i. understand the main idea (tony trivisonno) realized his american dream through his own efforts) and structure of the text (one part telling the story of tony’s life and the other giving the author’s comments on it) ii. learn to describe a person by his/her characteristic features, together with supporting details which demonstrate the features iii. grasp the key language points and learn how to use them in context understand what is american dream and what is chinese dream and learn to contrast them iv. understand the cultural background related to the context v. express yourself more freely on the theme of the american dream after doing a series of themerelated reading, listening, speaking and writing activities vi. write a narrative in the third-person singular about the story of tony trivisonno llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 290-303 296 skill i. how to write a narrative ii. how to describe a person cultural background introduction to american dream and chinese dream 5 the company man learning objective i. grasp the main idea (the author tries to define a typical workaholic in the american corporate world with the story of phil) and structure of the text ii. appreciate the writing strategy and style demonstrated in the text (to set the tone of irony by choice of words, selection of details, use of quotation marks, etc.) iii. master the key language points and learn how to use them in context iv. understand the cultural background related to the context v. express yourself more freely on the theme of work to live or live to work after doing a series of theme-related reading, listening, speaking and writing activities vi. write a letter of sympathy or condolence in an appropriate way skill i. how to write a letter of sympathy or condolence ii. what is irony cultural background relationship between work and life 6 a valentine story learning objective i. grasp the main idea (the way one reacts to unattractive people reveals one’s true character) and structure of the text ii. appreciate the narrative skills demonstrated in the text (switching between tenses, change in narrators), the use of rhetorical devices (simile and metaphor) and the use of informal language in conversations iii. master the key language points and learn how to use them in context iv. understand the cultural background related to the context v. express yourself more freely on the theme of romance after doing a series of theme-related reading, listening, speaking and writing activities vi. write a letter of invitation and acknowledgement in an appropriate way skill how to write a letter of invitation and acknowledgement cultural background introduction to saint valentine’s day llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 290-303 297 7 what animals really think learning objective i. understand the main idea (some animals seem capable of thinking when it is in their own interests to do so) and structure of the text (introduction, 3 subheadings to give 3 supporting examples, conclusion) ii. appreciate the importance of examples in exposition iii. grasp the key language points and learn how to use them in context iv. understand the cultural background related to the context v. express yourself more freely on the theme of animal intelligence after doing a series of theme-related reading, listening, speaking and writing activities vi. write an essay about animal intelligence using relevant examples skill i. how to write an expository paragraph with examples ii. what is anaphora cultural background introduction to animal intelligence 8 fable of the lazy teenager learning objective i. understand the main idea (teenagers’ idleness and ignorance will seriously affect both themselves and society in general) and structure of the text (two parts—the author’s concern and his proposed remedy) ii. learn how to write a cause-and-effect analysis iii. grasp the key language points and learn how to use them in context iv. understand the cultural background related to the context v. express yourself more freely on the theme of educational problems after doing a series of theme-related reading, listening, speaking and writing activities vi. write an essay about the use of computers in schools using cause and effect skill what is cause and effect cultural background educational problems in china and the world since the ability of autonomous learning is emphasized in cecr, it then becomes a concern for teachers when they practice blended learning. the above table showed a detailed course design on sls for the sake of students’ autonomous learning. all the supplementary materials in language, skill and cultural background were provided, which “created a real or nearly real learning environment” (shao, 2018, p.61) and aimed to improve students’ integrated learning competency. as zimmerman has discussed self-regulated learning, the online course required by the researcher guides students to know where, when and what to learn. by learning the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 290-303 298 assigned tasks and discussing with fellow students, students can finally know how to learn and why to learn. offline teaching practice blended learning is a seamless amalgamation of carefully selected online modules with face-to-face instruction (francis & shannon, 2013). a nationwide survey conducted by wang & wang (2011) showed offline face-to-face class is still dominating though the mode of online autonomous learning is trendy. in order to better illustrate how the researcher has carried out her college english blended learning in reality, the study takes one specific class, text 4, for example. text 4 is a fictional narrative story about an italian immigrant called tony trivisonno who went to america to seek his american dream. compared with other great american industrialists, tony’s affairs were tiny. yet, his vision, determination, self-control, optimism, self-respect and integrity finally won him respect. not only himself but also his family and friends finally moved to america and settled down there. before the face-to-face classroom lecture, students were required to preview the text online with the aid of materials provided by the researcher on sls. at the beginning of the class, the researcher began the class by showing a video clip from the great gatsby, which students were required to watch before class. and a discussion about american dream was carried out and the topic was already provided in sls “discussion” section. to consolidate students’ understanding of the concept of the american dream, a listening audio was played and students listened and answered questions based on the audio material. afterwards, the researcher guided students to do a theme-related blank-filling exercise in the textbook to see the essence of the american dream. after this bridge-in part, the researcher sent a vocabulary check through sls mobile phone terminal, which took a few minutes. following this, the results of this vocabulary check were projected onto the screen through the projection function installed on the mobile phone terminal. the researcher explained the errors made by students and further explained some important language points. during the process of explaining the text, classroom teaching time was mostly spent on background introduction, text analysis, sentence explanation and many class interactions. in the whole process, sls was used several times. take the “quick answer” function for example. when a question was thrown to the students, the researcher sent a “quick answer” message on the mobile phone terminal. students who were ready to answer the question could click the button and stand up to answer. in the second-class period, another learning objective—how to describe a person—was to be achieved. since students had already learned how to describe a person from the text explanation, therefore, the researcher sent the question “who is tony trivisonno and what made him successful?” to students through the “discussion” function on sls. the answers were also projected and shared in the class. in the latter half of the second-class period, the researcher explained the chineseto -english translation assignment to students. through this assignment explanation, students learned some translation strategies, proper names, differences between words like “maintain” and “sustain” and most importantly, students got to know the concept of the chinese dream and they also knew how to compare and llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 290-303 299 contrast. at the end of this class, an in-class test was sent through sls to students to summarize what they had learned. after-class assignment about the differences and similarities between the chinese dream and american dream was given and students were required to submit their homework to sls before the due time. during the whole process of classroom teaching, the researcher and students used the mobile phone terminal of sls several times, which met the basic requirement for blended learning, namely, integrated traditional learning, e-learning with mobile learning (hu &wang, 2019), which had greatly improved class interaction and students’ participation. (liu, 2022) questionnaire survey results and discussions after a questionnaire survey was distributed through the “questionnaire” function in sls to a total number of 179 students by the end of the investigated semester, 179 valid questionnaires were recovered. among the investigated students, 145 were male students and 34 were female students. 173 students were majoring in natural science and engineering while 6 were majoring in humanities and social science. 132 students didn’t use sls in their high school, which accounted for 73.74% and only 47 students used sls in high school. it showed how important it was to instruct students to use the designated learning platform. the survey results are shown as follows. table 2. questionnaire survey of students’ feedback on college english blended learning based on sls questions in the questionnaire options number of people (%) did you use sls before you entered the university? what functions of sls do you use most? which terminal do you often use to access sls to study? yes no for class interaction for online preview and review computer mobile phone 26.26 73.74 50.84 49.16 7.26 92.74 which part of the chapter section do you use most? learning objective skill cultural background courseware unit test 11.73 2.79 5.59 13.97 60.34 which function on the mobile phone terminal do you use most? check-in select quick answer in-class test questionnaire vote discussion chat room 20.67 4.47 6.7 23.46 3.35 8.38 13.97 18.99 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 290-303 300 whether the course design has helped your learning competency? yes no 91.06 8.94 whether you have improved your learning competency in college english blended learning based on sls? yes, in learning method yes, in learning attitude yes, in learning efficiency no 64.8 15.64 12.85 6.7 whether college english blended learning poses challenges? yes, more self-discipline is needed. yes, more time and energy should be devoted. yes, the practitioner needs to be more careful about the teaching design. no, there is no difference between traditional learning and blended learning. 68.72 17.88 6.7 6.7 the above questionnaire survey results show that 50.84% of the students use sls mainly for class interaction while 49.16% of them use sls mainly for class preview and review, the ratio of which is almost 1 to 1. the result indicates that sls provides more possibilities not only for online autonomous learning but also for offline face-to-face classroom interaction. the result also shows that only 7.26% of the students access the sls from the computer terminal while 92.74% of them access sls from the mobile phone terminal. this result reminds the teacher that when he/she designs the course on the learning platform he/she should make it more accessible and easier to recognize on the mobile phone terminal. and it also reminds the teacher that not all the functions on the system should be utilized in order to avoid confusion or distraction. as for the functions installed on the mobile phone terminal, 18.99% of the students use the chatroom function on the mobile phone terminal, altogether 81.01% of them use other functions which can be only activated by the teacher, which suggests that chinese students are somewhat passive recipients of knowledge. at the same time, even though students use the learning platform for different purposes, as many as 60.34% of the students use online learning only for the unit test, which reflects chinese students’ strong consciousness of exams, which is partly attributed to the exam orientation of the educational system. despite the fact that only 26.26% of the students use sls in their high school, 91.06% of them have expressed a positive attitude towards the researcher’s course design after using sls and 93.3% of the population say they have improved their learning competency through blended learning. however, one thing that cannot be overlooked is among all the improvements the students have made the least one is learning efficiency. as low as 12.85% of the students have expressed a positive attitude toward learning efficiency. the explanation, for this reason, can be found in the challenges we are facing: blended learning requires more self-discipline and devotion of time. both parties, especially students, need to be self-disciplined and devote more time to blended learning. without them, blended learning may not be as effective as practitioners imagined. therefore, in further studies, researchers llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 290-303 301 could explore more helpful and meaningful solutions to improve students’ selfdiscipline and devotion. conclusion since college english course is an obligatory course in any higher education in china, students’ english learning competency is highly demanded. with the advance of information technology and the dramatic change in learning mode caused by the pandemic in recent years, blended learning for college english classes becomes very necessary. it is very important to select a suitable learning platform to bind teachers and students together before class, during class and after class. the platform should not only help students with their online autonomous learning but also facilitate face-to-face in-class interaction. sls is user-friendly, easy to access and easy to operate and it is a great help to blended learning. yet, blended learning doesn’t simply mean the combination of teaching tools, the combination of online and offline learning, it also implies the hybrid of different teaching methods, different assessment methods and changes in learning habits. in the implementation process of college, english blended learning, the teacher has more responsibilities to guide, motivate and supervise students since many students are not very selfdisciplined, consequently a well-designed course on the learning platform is crucial, which may increase or decrease students’ learning interest, learning attitude and learning efficiency. in a word, the ultimate goal of any teaching practice is to enhance students’ learning competency and efficiency. blended learning or not, it should be effective student-centred learning, which can make students competent in this learning era. acknowledgement the author received financial support from college of foreign languages of nanjing university of aeronautics and astronautics of grants program (program no. wy2207) and support from nanjing university of aeronautics and astronautics of grants program (program no. 2020jykx-64). references allen, i. e., seaman, j., & garrett, r. 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(2011). on the state of college english teaching in china and its future development. foreign languages in china, 8(5),4-11,17 https://doi.org/10.13564/j.cnki.issn.1672-9382.2011.05.011 https://doi.org/10.13564/j.cnki.issn.1672-9382.2010.05.005 https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2013.823930 https://x.nuaa.edu.cn/ https://doi.org/10.16550/j.cnki.2095-9214.2016.31.202 https://doi.org/%2010.1080/07294360903277380 https://doi.org/10.13564/j.cnki.issn.1672-9382.2011.05.011 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 255-271 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 255 english language teachers’ continuous professional development obstacles *abrar kedir mohammed1 and hailu gutema2 1addis ababa science and technology university, ethiopia, 2addis ababa university, ethiopia kedirabrar@yahoo.com1 and hailug.232@gmail.com2 *correspondence: kedirabrar@yahoo.com1 https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5912 received 13 february 2023; accepted 29 march 2023 abstract the goal of this study was to investigate the needs for and barriers to the ongoing professional development of elementary school english language teachers. data collection techniques included surveys, interviews, and classroom observations. surveys of 64 randomly chosen english language teachers in primary schools were used to get the quantitative data. in order to verify the information gathered from the surveys, interviews were done with principals, trainers, and volunteer english language teachers who took part in the surveys, which included surveys, interviews, and classroom observations. surveys of 64 randomly chosen english language teachers in primary schools were used to get the quantitative data. in order to verify the information gathered from the surveys, interviews were done with principals, trainers, and volunteer english language teachers who took part in the surveys. the data were analyzed using a quan-qual approach. the statistical analysis of the data was primarily concerned with calculating descriptive statistics, specifically the means and percentages of the survey items. the results revealed that primary school efl teachers need in-service professional development training to improve their english language proficiency skills and pedagogic knowledge. the interviews with principals and trainers supported the results found in the surveys. moreover, the teachers encountered obstacles in engaging in a continuous professional advancement scheme. keyword: continuous professional development, efl teachers, needs, obstacles introduction teachers' attitudes, objectives, and motives are significantly influenced by their ongoing professional growth. villegas-reimers (2003) indicates that teachers' opportunities for professional development have a substantial impact on their beliefs and behaviors. in-service training procedures must be given priority in order to accomplish this. according to richards and farrell (2005), teachers' professional development is a long-term objective and a growth area for their knowledge of teaching and of themselves as instructors. it aims to meet teachers' individual objectives as well as organizational objectives. mailto:kedirabrar@yahoo.com mailto:hailug.232@gmail.com2 mailto:kedirabrar@yahoo.com https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5912 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 255-271 256 ethiopian efl teachers must participate in ongoing professional development programs. this will help them keep up with the rapidly changing fields of knowledge, science, and technology. to be able to teach successfully, non-native english teachers must have attained a certain level of competency in the target language (richards, 2011). this signals that english language teachers need to have the ability to use the language fluently and accurately, along with their knowledge of the subject and skills in delivering their lessons. however, scholars such as bachman and palmer (1996) argue that ethiopian english learners and teachers have neither the opportunity nor a realistic purpose for "target language use," which nevertheless is one of the fundamental preconditions for language proficiency development. understanding the situation, the ministry makes it clear that an english language teacher should be aware that practically all ethiopian pupils learn english in a hostile atmosphere that does not help their language acquisition. teachers must do this by establishing situations in the classroom that promote language usage and practice (moe 2013) and giving appropriate feedback towards improved or adjusted methodologies. distinguishing the situation, english language teachers should create a conducive learning environment through their mastery of english language skills, pedagogy, and subject matter knowledge because mastery enables students to effectively learn and practice the target language skills. to better meet the needs of students and provide a successful education, teachers must participate in ongoing professional development trainings (cumming, 2011; tomlinson, 2004). english language teachers have more obvious needs for professional development. the ministry of education considered ongoing pd for in-service teachers as a career-long process of improving teachers’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes toward the local context, particularly classroom practice. to sustain the program, it was envisioned that all schools would implement a school-based (need-based) cpd program specific to content and subject matter methodology (moe, 2008). however, scholars such as valladares and roux (2014) have criticized the practice as being largely removed from the realities of the classroom. teachers return to their old habits after completing the courses since the approaches and strategies have lost their relevance. the in-service professional development (pd) programs in our nation, according to eba (2011), are generic and unsustainable, and heugh et al. (2007) noted that in addition to strong evidence about teachers' lack of english proficiency, the causes were a lack of adequate training. eyasu et al. (2017) further pointed out that many teachers do not join the teaching profession willingly because of its low level of pay and low infrastructure as compared to other professions. this can have a great impact not only on english language teachers but also on the quality of education. but as bailey (2001) noted, teachers cannot be forced to grow. they must be prepared to make that decision. research findings also indicate the same, as mentioned earlier (eba, 2010; heuge et al., 2007; and eyasu et al., 2017). therefore, based on the review of the relevant literature and the researcher’s observations and insights, this study intends to answer the following questions: 1. what are the obstacles that primary english language teachers face during their professional development training or in-service training program? llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 255-271 257 2. what are the professional development needs of primary english language teachers? literature review assessment of teachers' needs for professional development the need assessment is essential to identifying the teachers' professional development gaps because in-service teachers may have a variety of needs that must be met by participating in ongoing professional development programs. information is gathered in a particular educational setting. as a result, determining the specific needs of teachers allow them to actively participate in the process of updating and upgrading their knowledge. it's possible that not all efl teachers share the same expertise in teaching the target language. thus, it is essential to identify the teachers' actual requirements in order to carry out in-service professional development activities effectively. the idea of need is viewed in the following way by academics: the measured difference or gap between two conditions—the "what should be" or desired status of an entity and the "what is" or its existing state—is what altschuld (2004) defines as "need" as a word. similarly, watkins et al. (2012) write that "describe needs are simply the differences between your current achievements and your desired accomplishments" (p. 21). thus, needs most commonly represent discrepancies between one's ambitions and the results of one’s current performances. in the same way, needs can signify an accumulation of success when current achievements surpass the desired accomplishments, thereby possibly suggesting an excess of resources going toward the results. it is also an essential phase to weigh efl teachers’ necessities (subject matter, pedagogic, and language proficiency related) in designing and implementing in-service training activities because need assessment is the process of identifying needs, prioritizing them, using the information obtained to make needs-based decisions, allocating resources, and implementing actions within organizations to resolve problems underlying high-priority needs (altschuld, 2004). according to richards and nunan (1994), needs analysis serves many purposes in english language teaching. it can be used to define and set up goals, objectives, and content for programs. it can also provide information for reviewing and evaluating already-existing programs. need analysis offers a way to get a larger input into the content, design, and implementation of language programs. as a result, researchers (jafari & mahadi, 2013) advise against using certain teaching techniques and methods. they must be creative and come up with effective teaching strategies that work for them. it implies that educators must be flexible and cautious enough to employ a variety of pedagogical strategies. their professional demands must first be satisfied in order to accomplish this. obstacles to continued professional growth teachers must be inspired to participate in professional development in order for it to be successful. if obstacles are thoroughly recognized and removed, this is feasible. the difficulties may be administrative, personal, or institutional. day (1999) argues that professional development cannot be imposed; rather, it is the teacher who actively develops rather than the teacher who is passively developed. the author also makes it llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 255-271 258 clear that externalized change is likely to be superficial, token, and transient. resistance will occur if the teachers feel that the professional development activities are useless. little (1993) also discussed challenging issues with the creation of professional development plans. the first of them is the extreme complexity of the reform tasks being suggested, together with the relative lack of tried-and-true ideas and policies, and, as a result, the propensity to use early-stage experiments as models. the third issue is the mismatch between the need for reform and the prevalent professional development paradigms, lack of support for an inquiry and problem-solving paradigm based on knowledge generation due to the dominance of a training paradigm based on knowledge consumption. finally, a problem with the social arrangement of teachers' labor in schools is the relative neglect of teachers' opportunities to learn during the paid workday and work year and their participation in a wider professional community. the author stated obstacles to professional development include mismatching training needs with policy and assurance criteria, failing to provide opportunities for teachers to work, and other issues. little (2003) draws the conclusion that pd success won't also be effective if it fails to create and preserve political will because people and institutions will eventually depend on it. in general, eyasu et al. (2017) and workneh and tasew (2013) discovered that pre-service teachers are screened and trained by students who are unable to learn in preparatory classes, resulting in teachers who are not actively working in the teaching profession and instead seeking quick ways to live their lives. additionally, it is impractical to hire a large number of teachers with diverse requirements because inservice training for efl teachers in ethiopia is offered using a top-down, predesigned strategy that expects all participants to participate in the same program. method the study was conducted based on a pragmatic mixed-methods design. pragmatic schools of thought know that knowledge is a philosophical view that arises out of actions, situations, and consequences rather than antecedent conditions. mixed methods open the door for the researcher to use multiple methods, different world views, and different assumptions. (creswell, 2003). samples were selected randomly from the addis ababa city administration and akaki sub-city primary school english language teachers. a non-probability sampling strategy was used for quantitative data and a random sampling strategy for qualitative data. six of the 25 total primary schools in akaki were randomly selected. ethiopian efl teachers' in-service continuous professional development programs were examined in order to produce the items discussed in this study. a questionnaire and interview were employed to collect data for the study. self-designed questionnaires (appendix a) were prepared to examine teachers' needs and difficulties in their teaching-learning context. a pilot study has been conducted to check the appropriateness of the design and procedures that will be followed in the main study. the samples for the pilot study were purposively chosen from five primary schools' english teachers in one primary school. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 255-271 259 it was conducted with similar samples as the main research for both quantitative and qualitative designs. findings and discussion quantitative results table 1 shows the responses of teachers regarding their needs for ongoing professional development. table 1. efl teachers’ professional development needs n mean frequency (%) std. deviation agree neutral disagree develop my english language proficiency 64 4.38 55 (85.9) 3 (4.7) 6 (9.4) 1.125 develop my ability to speak in english 64 4.19 54 (84.4) 5 (7.8) 5(7.8) 1.046 develop my reading ability in english 64 3.91 48 (75) 5 (7.8) 11 (17.2) 1.244 develop my ability to listen to english 64 4.14 50 (78.1) 6(9.4) 8(12.5) 1.120 develop my writing ability in english 64 4.05 50(78.1) 7 (10.3) 7(10.3) 1.151 improve my knowledge of grammar of the english language 64 4.11 51 (77.7) 3 (4.7) 10 15.6 1.174 develop my ability in pronunciation 64 4.27 52(81.2) 7(10.3) 5(7.8) 1.067 develop my knowledge of vocabulary 64 4.09 51(77.7) 6 (9.4) 7(10.3) 1.126 employ active teaching methods 64 3.98 56 (87.5) 5 (7.8) 3 (4.7) .753 have knowledge of the english language teaching methods and techniques 64 4.2 53 (82.8) 7 (10.3) 4 (6.2) .957 use course books properly 64 4.11 50 (78.1) 9 (14.1) 5(7.8) .934 design writing activities 64 3.97 53 (82.8) 4 (6.25) 7(10.3) 1.076 prepare reading activities 64 3.94 50(78.1) 5 (7.8) 9(14.1) 1.126 prepare vocabulary lessons 64 4.05 55(85.9) 5 (7.8) 4 (6.2) .933 prepare speaking activities 64 3.95 50 (78.1) 6 (9.4) 8(12.5) 1.126 design literature lessons 64 3.92 47 (73.4) 9 (14.1) 8(12.5) 1.091 design listening activities 64 3.91 47 (73.4) 8 (12.5) 9(14.1) 1.186 prepare students for national exams 64 4.32 53(82.8) 6 (9.4) 5(7.8) .984 prepare, quizzes and tests 64 4.09 52 (81.2) 7(10.3) 5(7.8) .938 develop my literature knowledge 64 4.17 53 (82.8) 2 (3.1) 9(14.1) 1.054 develop research skills 64 4.05 50(78.1) 8 (12.5) 16 (25) 1.006 use technology for teaching 64 4.25 50(78.1) 8 (12.5) 6 (9.4) .997 manage classroom 64 4.02 52 (81.2) 5 (7.8) 7(10.3) 1.016 the teachers' demands for ongoing professional development in a variety of competencies were shown by the mean scores in the aforementioned table 1 (languagerelated and pedagogic needs). 85.9% of respondents felt that they needed to improve their english language proficiency (4.38), which is crucial for effectively presenting a lesson to pupils, as seen in the table above about the language-related needs of primary school english language teachers. this revealed that the majority of the participating teachers perceived or felt a fundamental need to improve their english language abilities.it is obvious that efl teachers’ proficiency in the target language is crucial to llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 255-271 260 using it for various communicative purposes. in almost the same way, the participants (84.4%) approved developing their speaking skills (4.19). similarly, 81.2 percent of the respondents agreed to develop their pronunciation (4.27). the average values of the respondents' responses about developing listening skills (4.14), the structure of the english language (4.11), vocabulary (4.09), writing skills (4.05), and reading skills (3.91) also indicated the teachers’ in-service professional development needs in the areas. therefore, it could be said that the average values clearly revealed the respondents’ approval of updating their knowledge of english language skills and coping with the up-to-date movements in language teaching areas. participants in the survey expressed their willingness to improve their pedagogical knowledge needs through participation in professional development programs.therefore, 87.5% of the respondents described themselves as being in need of active teaching methods skills, and 82.8% of them said that they needed to develop their knowledge of english language teaching methods and techniques. in almost a similar way, 78.1% of the participants agreed to improve their ability to make appropriate use of course materials. thus, it could be deduced that the teachers’ agreement to equip them with expertise and knowledge in their lifelong learning the average values of statements about the teachers’ pd needs in designing speaking (3.95), vocabulary (3.92), literature (3.97), writing (3.97), listening (3.91), and reading (3.94) lessons demonstrated that many respondents claimed to have developed pedagogic knowledge, meaning that teaching methods that help to prepare lessons with respect to subject matter content the majority of respondents and 82.8% and 81.2% of participants agreed that teachers' skills in preparing students for national exams (4.32) and quizzes (4.09) needed to be improved. this indicated that the teachers needed to develop their language testing skills. many of the participants also agreed to develop their academic knowledge. thus, the mean values of the responses to develop literature knowledge were 4.17. teachers' willingness to arm themselves and adapt to current changes in language teaching and learning domains can be seen in their scores on the research skills (4.05) and use of technology for teaching (4.25) quizzes. on one pedagogic skill (classroom management), the participants (81.2%) described their agreement as exemplifying that many of the teachers desired to update their skills in administering students while conducting teaching in the classroom. therefore, it may be argued that the majority of primary efl teachers required ongoing training in language competence abilities, teaching methodology, testing, lesson preparation, and classroom management. table 2. professional development obstacles items n mean frequency (%) std. deviation agree neutral disagree imposition on cocurricular school activities 64 3.05 30(46.9) 6(9.4) 38 (59.4) 1.419 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 255-271 261 lack of support from the school 64 3.56 39 (60.9) 8(12.5) 17(25.6) 1.153 lack of incentives after training 64 4.05 52 ( 81.2) 5(7.8) 7(10.3) .983 lack of incentives during training 64 4.03 49 (76.6) 10 (15.6) 5(7.8) .959 insufficient incentives during training 64 3.83 46 (71.9) 9(14.1) 9(14.1) 1.062 insufficient incentives after training 64 3.84 48 (75) 5(7.8) 11 (17.2) 1.101 lack of cpd opportunity in the school 64 2.83 24 (37.5) 11 (17.2) 29 (45.3) 1.254 unclear cpd selection criteria 64 3.19 32 (50) 6(9.4) 26 (40.6) 1.355 overloaded classes throughout the year 64 3.73 45 (70.3) 3 (4.7) 16 (25) 1.493 duration of cpd is not suitable 64 3.8 46 (71.9) 2 (3.1) 16 (25) 1.275 shortage of school budget 64 3.81 48 (75) 3(4.7) 13 (20.3) 1.220 lack of colleague motivation 64 3.02 29 (45.3) 9(14.1) 26 (40.1) 1.279 professional development programs are not need based 64 2.77 18 (28.1) 14 (21.9) 32 (50) 1.205 impracticality of professional development activities 64 3.64 40 (62.5) 7(10.3) 17(25.6) 1.200 lack of spare time 64 3.28 24 (37.5) 12 (18.7) 28 (39.1) 1.303 personal financial problems 64 3.52 36(56.2) 11 (17.2) 17 (26.6) 1.234 lack of personal motivation 64 3.05 31 (48.4) 4 (6.2) 29 (45.3) 1.090 the descriptive statistics from the above table 2 revealed that the respondents’ significant professional development challenges were institutional. they included a lack of incentives both during and after training (76.6% and 81.2%, respectively). the average means for items 3 (4.05) and 4 (4.03) indicated that teachers' desire to participate in the cpd program appeared to be based more on the benefits they stand to receive than on their level of expertise in the field of english language teaching. in the same way, insufficient incentives after training (75%), a shortage of school budget (75%), insufficient incentives during training (71.9%), the unsuitability of the duration of cpd (71.9%), overloaded classes throughout the year (70.3%), a lack of support from school (60.9%), personal financial problems (56.2%), and unclear cpd selection criteria (50%) revealed the majority of the teachers’ obstacles in their in-service ongoing professional development activities. the average mean values ranged from 3.52-4.05, which indicated the participants’ agreement with the challenges that discouraged them from engaging in the in-service training schemes. it was also observed that the respondents' consensus was that the imposition of co-curricular activities (46.9%) was their biggest obstacle to ongoing professional development training. the respondents also agreed to the training obstacles related to lack of interest and spare time. thus, many of the teachers also agreed that lack of personal motivation (48.4%), lack of colleague motivation (45.3%), and lack of free time (37.5%) seem to be the main barriers preventing teachers from participating in ongoing professional llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 255-271 262 development activities. the participants described their dissatisfaction with the challenges related to the training contents. the majority (62.5%) of teachers agreed that the impracticality of professional development activities impeded their participation in professional development trainings, and few respondents (28.1%) said that professional development programs were not need-based. therefore, the statistics in table 4 showed that the most common challenge that the majority of the participants approved of was related to the institution, which was finance (lack of incentives during and after trainings). interviews professional development needs in addition to other talents, the english language teachers emphasized the growth of macro-language abilities. they discussed the importance of speaking, writing, listening, and reading skill development. the requirements for macro language skills the teachers discussed improving their speaking, writing, reading, and listening skills. for instance, e2 and e3 comment on the contents of the training activities as they were not prepared specifically to address the english language teachers’ target language proficiency needs. it was clear from the excerpts that the teachers expressed a desire to improve their english language proficiency, which can be met through specific (tailored) in-service ongoing professional development schemes. however, the provided training activities lack content in terms of scope and relevance and are rather general. teaching skills needs the respondents’ expressions depict a concern over the limited cpd practices in their schools. they tended to accept that the training schemes are conducted as though they are additional activities that do not focus on the efl teachers’ desire to improve their english language proficiency and pedagogic skills. therefore, the teachers explicitly stated that they need ongoing professional development trainings that specifically satisfy their target language use (english language proficiency) and teaching skills. professional development challenges teacher interviewees believe that activities that have no direct relation to the teaching of the english language negatively impact their career renewal processes. in relation to this teacher (e3) and (e4), the impediments they expressed were time constraints, overload in classes, materials, overburden in extracurricular activities, and administrative work. they also stated that the inaccessibility of technological materials in the schools contributed a lot to the shortcomings of their career renewal practices. the teachers also pointed out their grievances with the absence of support and unavailable skill training programs in their schools. all five interviewed english language teachers indicated the unavailability of training in the school: llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 255-271 263 the respondents’ views seem to depict that the schools do not create a conducive environment for efl teachers to develop their profession. they rather focus on routine activities, which do not give specific opportunities to update the teachers’ language proficiency as well as practical knowledge of teaching methods. lack of government support the teachers emphasized a lack of support from their school, and the cpd activities provided by the government are not satisfactory or present. the support they get from school is not encouraging them to update their english language teaching and professional knowledge. the teachers also expressed their feelings about the students’ passiveness and background, the contents of prepared professional development activities, and the delivery methods that impeded their engagement in professional schemes. moreover, they mentioned that the in-service training activities are general and not specific (tailored). as a result, these have a negative impact on teachers who participate in ongoing professional development training programs. trainers’ interview language proficiency needs the trainers distressingly conveyed their worry and mentioned that the english language competency of their in-service english language teachers had declined. they described the teachers’ inefficiency in writing and speaking skills as distressful. in relation to this, t4 said the teachers under his supervision (trainees) focused on grammar and vocabulary while they were teaching students. it shows that the in-service efl teachers have difficulties using the target language (english) to deliver lessons in the teaching-learning process. similarly, t2 expressed his dissatisfaction that most of the in-service trainees have problems speaking the language. the trainer's description of in-service efl trainees' english language proficiency is not encouraging. he mentioned that the majority of the trainees have difficulty with productive skills. the teachers even do not show interest in speaking or writing due to their inefficiency in using the target language. however, education and training policy (1994) stated that teachers at all levels of education (from kindergarten to higher education) are required to have the necessary teaching qualifications and competency in the medium of instruction. the other interviewee (t3) explained that the in-service trainees' poor english language proficiency is caused by a variety of factors. these include the trainees' educational backgrounds, how they entered the teaching profession, and other factors that may be linked to the degrading english language proficiency in the speaking and writing skills of the in-service primary efl teachers. language proficiency is essential for meeting policy requirements, improving the quality of education, and communicating with pupils. considering that it is the end result of the teaching-learning process, one of the elt trainers, t1, explained that the in-service trainees were using the vernacular language because of target language proficiency problems: "the trainees are using their mother tongue because their english language proficiency is poor." target language proficiency problems: "the llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 255-271 264 trainees are using their mother tongue because their english language proficiency is poor." (t1). the trainers' verbatim evidence shows that english language teachers in elementary schools are lacking in macro abilities, notably in productive skills, which are essential for presenting instructional content in the classroom. skills in speaking, writing, listening, and reading are required. although vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation are required for language teachers, the elt trainers focused on the listed macro-abilities. obstacles the trainers identified several professional development challenges for in-service efl teachers. the most important of which are the teachers' interests and living standards. teachers’ interest in english teaching, there are various factors that hamper el teachers' ability to use the target language. among the challenges, the trainer participant (t3), for example, viewed one obstacle as the teachers’ interest. he claims that the teachers entered the teaching profession not because they wanted to be english teachers, but as a means of transportation. this implies that the teachers’ academic background in the high schools is poor or very poor. that is why they could not join other professions. the teaching profession has become the least popular, and therefore the teachers’ interest in the career is not rewarding. in other words, t4 also stated that the teachers do not respect their work (they do not have an interest in the teaching profession) and shift their field of study. thus, the responses demonstrate that most teachers join the teaching profession because they have no other option. they enter the field of work without enthusiasm. they only intend to use it for survival and as a place to stay until they land their ideal profession, not to become specialists in it. as a result, the explanation provided by the elt trainers suggests that the country's educational system as well as trainees’ interests are barriers to teachers' professional development. it could be deduced from the trainer’s opinion that teachers joined the teaching profession just to get a job. this would imply that teachers would not consider remaining in the profession to develop their professional knowledge throughout their career. living standards the trainees mentioned that the teachers’ living standards are not as encouraging because of lower payments or unattractive salaries. t3 and t2 said that the teachers’ lives are not attractive enough to encourage them to remain in the teaching profession and/or at least develop their teaching profession academically and pedagogically. as a result, low pay rates demotivate teachers because they make it difficult for them to meet their basic needs while also dealing with the ever-increasing cost of living. to summarize, based on the trainers' verbatim, it could be argued that there are numerous causes for efl in-service teachers' professional growth challenges.they llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 255-271 265 may be in the form of financial, institutional, or human barriers. the interest, drive, and educational background of an individual can all be sources of personal challenges. the trainers' verbatim revealed that the majority of the teachers entered the field as a transition since they did not meet the requirements to learn preparatory education. as articulated by the trainer interviewees, the majority of the in-service efl trainees’ living standards are not encouraging, and they lead a desperate life that could degrade the teachers’ interest. therefore, they are looking for other options, and many teachers are learning about other fields. principals’ interview english language proficiency needs the principals emphasized the necessity for comprehensive training to address the english language deficiencies of the teachers working in their schools. they recommended that the in-service training should put an emphasis on teaching strategies and target language proficiency, which encompasses speaking, listening, reading, and writing. in line with this idea, p2 pointed out: (actually, there are complaints about english language teachers... they do not have an adequate command of english, even if we encourage the teachers to develop their language skills through launching weekly english-speaking days. the principal interviewee (p3) expounded the problems by explaining the mismatch between the teachers’ efficiency and the design of the text book. in this regard, p3 expressed his view on the teachers’ difficulties in using the language as follows: the text books are designed to engage students actively, but the teachers do not teach in a learner-centered way. this may relate to the teachers’ teaching ability and poor command of english. the other participant, p1, also indirectly described the teachers’ english language ability as poor. he stated that the teachers are afraid of teaching in the higher grades in the school: teachers should teach all grade levels but should avoid teaching students in grades seven and eight. in these grades, they are off-teaching. the principal’s words indicate the primary efl teachers have problems using the target language (english) to deliver the lessons in the classroom. in contrast, the ministry of education (2013) established domains of national standards for english language teachers.that is, teachers need to have professional english language skills and professional knowledge. according to the document, english language teachers who are unable to use the language correctly in speaking and writing as well as who lack the necessary knowledge and awareness of the english language's vocabulary and grammar expectations of them are unable to effectively teach english in schools. in order to help students get the desired level of english language proficiency, all english language teachers should possess sufficient english language skills and knowledge that are appropriate for the cycles and grade levels they teach in classrooms (moe, 2013). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 255-271 266 professional development challenges the principals emphasized the contextual restriction that english is a foreign language in our nation and that the sole option is a classroom, even if that option can frequently be swapped for the mother tongue. however, such types of tailor-made opportunities are scarce. regarding the unavailability of english language teachers’ specific training, p2 stated that: (there is no tailored training for english language teachers but general training on teaching and learning.) the other participant (p1) pointed out the influence on the design and implementation of training in the school. he described the significance and practices of the school's training as follows: the in-service training provided at the school is not as good as it could be. the topics to be worked on are selected by the school administration. the teachers are not seriously involved in the training; it is only for reporting. p1 went on to say the following about teachers' daily routine school activities: "teachers are only involved in daily routine school activities." they lack even the understanding of how to read for professional development. several teachers report having difficulty communicating in the english language. however, p2 also voiced his concern over teachers' enthusiasm for academic preparation and job choice. (some teachers use their time in the classroom as a stepping stone to more fulfilling careers in other fields such as science, technology, engineering, and business.) in the same vein, p3 stated that: i do not believe that all teachers choose to enter the teaching profession. after a particular amount of time, they left their jobs... it might be connected to their effectiveness and performance, in my opinion. their recruitment process had its own factors as well. the training schemes provided in schools, according to p4, are "not need-based" because teachers are not planning and participating on the basis of their own gaps. similarly, p3 said the following about the standard of instruction and teachers’ attendance in the summer program: (the duration of the summer training program is very short; knowledge gained from experience is greater.) in the same vein, p2 expressed his views on the in-service summer training: (when i see the summer program, i think it is not that effective for getting knowledge due to time constraints and overloaded courses.) the other principal concluded that teachers participate in the program for promotion purposes only. with regard to this, p1 viewed the program as follows: "the teachers attend the summer upgrading program for mere certification and promotion purposes under the guidance of certification." in conclusion, principals of primary schools in ethiopia have expressed concern about the level of english language proficiency among efl teachers. they hypothesized that top-down selection criteria, a short time frame, a lack of sufficient llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 255-271 267 and sustainable training, and teachers with weak educational backgrounds could all be contributing factors. discussion it was shown that the majority of primary english language instructors (84.9%) had a high desire to improve their proficiency in fundamental language abilities, as indicated by the mean value of 4.38 for english language proficiency need. the discovery is relevant to richards' (2017) description of the proficiency of english language teachers in language instruction. he made it clear that understanding of the subject matter, teaching techniques, and the capacity to teach and use english are all necessary for competence in teaching english as a second language. this ability is typically seen as being influenced by the teacher's linguistic skills. the findings complement getachew, eba, and zeleke's (2019) study on the professional development requirements for primary efl teachers. their findings show that the teachers' speaking, writing, grammar, and vocabulary skills require professional improvement. according to the literature study, teachers of foreign languages must possess subject-matter expertise, which comprises a variety of components. these include teachers' fluency in the target language and understanding of the target language's structures and qualities, as well as their knowledge of pedagogy, curriculum, and syllabus, cultural knowledge, and second language acquisition theory (richards et al., 2017). the success of language education relies heavily on the professional development of english language teachers (baily, curtis, and nunan, 2004). hence, it is found that those in-service primary efl teachers need specific, tailored training that could help them improve their english language proficiency and pedagogic knowledge. the survey results showed that the majority of teachers concurred that their progress in professional development activities is hampered by a lack of incentives both during and after training. and it appeared that no significant efforts were being made in the schools to address this issue. their lives and careers are not rewarded by it. the trainers' interviews also revealed that the teachers are living in extreme poverty as a result of the increased cost of living. as a result, they are uninterested in becoming teachers, which causes the teachers to pursue other careers. the findings support herzallah's (2011) investigation of elementary efl teachers in gaza. he discovered that the primary barriers to professional advancement are money and financial concerns. according to the literature, when carrying out professional development activities, unanswered queries regarding the training's purpose may arise. additionally, it was noted that these primary efl teachers' current expertise was acquired through the teacher education program they attended (as they were foreign language speakers). the educators were unable to articulate their wise choices. reimers (2003) clarifies, however, that in addition to preserving personal fulfillment and financial gains, the chances for teachers to participate in pd have a substantial impact on teachers' attitudes and practices, on students' learning, and on the implementation of educational innovations. it is also suggested that when professional development opportunities are llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 255-271 268 well-designed, they assist teachers in mastering content, honing their teaching abilities, evaluating their own performance and that of their students, and addressing changes in teaching and learning that are required in the classrooms (darling-hammond et al., 2009). therefore, it is important to comprehend and encourage the professional development of teachers' knowledge in light of their experience and how they react to their working environments. additionally, the studies by eyasu et al. (2017) and workneh and tasew (2013) demonstrate that students who are unable to learn in preparation classes are evaluated and educated to become pre-service teachers. as a result, the teachers are not working in the teaching profession with enthusiasm but are instead looking for quick fixes for their problems. additionally, the trainers' verbatim descriptions of in-service teachers' preparation for teaching english were evident in their statements. conclusions the study participants’ english language proficiency (speaking skills) is not in a position to promote students’ achievement in the target language. the participants stated that they need more professional development training. as a result, needs analyses must be conducted in order to create programs and professional development courses that meet the specific needs of teachers, and it is recommended that in-service cpd trainings for primary english language teachers be systematic during the preparation and implementation processes, taking into account and addressing the teachers' specific needs. it should also be participating in the procedures and focusing on the appropriate desires of the teachers. the ministry of education should set practical and specific (tailored) cpd programs for efl teachers and follow the schemes' practicality through different mechanisms, such as evaluative assessments, both progressively and at the end of the programs. furthermore, when recruiting english language teachers for primary schools, the ministry should establish criteria for the teachers to pass proficiency tests in advance. for successful efl teachers’ professional development, schools should create a supportive environment, which is crucial for continuous improvement. incentives and reasonable support trigger teachers’ motivation to participate in training activities that help them upgrade their language and teaching skills and promote students’ achievement. it was noted from the findings that the participant teachers seemed to have no interest in the teaching profession; and it was also confirmed from the interviewees’ verbatim that many of them have been attending other fields to change their profession. this shows the need for the government to consider teachers’ interests in advance and find ways to make the teaching profession, as it is called, a "golden profession" by maintaining the teachers’ benefits and securities. references abebe, w., & woldehanna, t. 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(2017). professional development needs of primary efl teachers: perspectives of teachers and teacher educators. professional development in education, 43(2), 293-313. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2016.1156013 https://ijpe.inased.org/makale/288 http://www.unesco.org/liep https://doi.org/10.1596/978-0-8213-8868-6 https://doi.org/10.1596/978-0-8213-8868-6 https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2014.944671 https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2016.1156013 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 92-114 llt journal: a journal on language and language learning http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/llt sanata dharma university, yogyakarta, indonesia 92 teacher talk in a british sitcom: insights from embodied actions to classroom interaction competence *ahmad sugianto1, and fazri nur yusuf2 1,2universitas pendidikan indonesia, indonesia ahmadsugianto@upi.edu 1, and fazrinuryusuf@upi.edu 2 *correspondence: ahmadsugianto@upi.edu https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5788 received 24 january 2023; accepted 8 march 2023 abstract teacher talk is one of the essential elements through which learning opportunities for pupils are facilitated. nevertheless, to the best of the researchers’ knowledge, investigations regarding the ways a native teacher illustrated in a british sitcom utilizes embodied actions that influence opportunities for learning characterized as classroom interaction competence are found to be limited. thus, the present study aimed at unfolding the native teacher talk concerning the ways the teacher uses embodied actions along with verbal language to provide learning opportunities illustrated in a british sitcom. by utilizing a conversation analysis approach, the artifact, namely a british sitcom entitled mind your language, was scrutinized. the findings revealed several embodied actions involving gesture, facial expression, and gaze accompanying the teacher's talk significantly facilitate and mediate the students’ learning. also, the skills and systems constitute the most frequently occurring mode whereas the least frequently occurring mode was the classroom context mode. lastly, the study arrived at conclusions that the use of embodied actions is necessarily required for its significant functions and use for teacher talk that lead to classroom interaction competence. keywords: british sitcom, classroom interaction competence, gaze, gesture introduction teacher talks and embodied actions, such as gestures, gaze, and facial expressions, have been deemed to have significant roles in l2 classroom interactions. in this light, as goodwin (2000, p. 1499) asserts, talk and gesture have mutual relations with each other, i.e. they work together in “a larger sequence of action and embodied participation”. bear in mind, participation itself is an essential feature associated with language classrooms (sert, 2015). hence, the variables such as teacher talk and embodied actions (e.g. gesture, gaze, and facial expression) are the integral parts of classroom interactional competence (henceforth cic) which turn out l2 learning. given the scholars’ notions above, going through teacher talk along with embodied actions in l2 classroom interactions is claimed undoubtedly worth doing. mailto:ahmadsugianto@upi.edu mailto:fazrinuryusuf@upi.edu mailto:ahmadsugianto@upi.edu https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v26i1.5788 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 92-114 93 to begin with, the present study focuses on a british sitcom entitled mind your language: the first lesson (allen, 1977) through which classroom interactions are endeavored to be examined. there are several studies investigating the film, for instance, romadlani and wijana's (2022) scrutiny of the functions of humor in the film, lasekan's (2021) study on a teacher evaluation system to assess the effectiveness level of the teacher in the film, nalkar (2021) revealing error analysis of the interactions, and istiqomah (2017) associates her investigation with translation study. albeit the film has attracted some scholars and researchers, the study of the film regarding the use of the native teacher’s embodied actions along with teacher talks to facilitate the opportunities for learning under the conversational analysis (henceforth ca) approach was found to be scarce. to bear in mind, ca as the approach to investigate embodied actions (also known as embodied mode, see jewitt, bezemer, and o'halloran (2016, p. 116)), such as gesture, gaze, and facial expressions in pedagogical practices have been the interests of researchers recently. some studies reported its significant roles and functions in l2 learning practices, e.g. the use of gestures concerning repair in l2 learning (seo & koshik, 2010), gestures to achieve intersubjectivity (belhiah, 2012), and laughter and smiling to manage various responses (looney & he, 2020). based on the studies above, the use of embodied actions along with teacher talk can be considered to have significant roles that promote and mediate learning opportunities. consequently, it is deemed to be one of the essential features of l2 cic (sert, 2015, 2017). additionally, cic whose concept derives from interactional competence constitutes an essential aspect of classroom interactions. it is because, through this ability or competence, the learning opportunities are facilitated or mediated (walsh, 2006b, 2006a). moreover, in terms of cic, the teacher talk is characterized by four different micro-contexts known modes. each mode has its particular interactional features or interactors that are necessarily required to converge with the pedagogical goals at the moment the talk-in-interaction occur. to begin with, the first mode is called managerial mode with the main emphasis on ‘setting up the activity’ with its particular interactures consisting of a single extended teacher turn, the use of transitional markers, the use of confirmation checks, and the absence of learner contributions; next, materials mode with its emphasis on the use of teaching materials, such as text, tape, or other materials, and with the interactures encompassing the predominance of irf patterns, extensive use of display questions, form-focused feedback, corrective repair, and scaffolding; following managerial mode and material mode, there is classroom context mode which is concerned with the elicitation feelings, opinions, attitudes, and so on with its interactures are the use of extended learner turns, shor teacher turns, minimal repair, content feedback, referential questions, scaffolding, clarification request; the last mode is called skills and sytems mode with the emphasis is on subject content, skills, and knowledge with typical interactures involving the use of direct repair, scaffolding, extended teacher turns, display questions, teacher echo, clarification request, form-focused feedback (walsh, 2011, p. 113 & p. 213) furthermore, because the present study underscores the use of embodied actions concerning cic, discerning the category system of the embodied actions is necessarily provided. there are several proposals advocated by scholars. the present study, however, mainly discusses the types of gestures based on mcneill's llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 92-114 94 (2005) classifications or category system. it was selected because it has been widely adopted by scholars (kendon, 2004, p. 99). additionally, mcneill (2005) argues that his proposals are facilitative, namely, make ease the occurring gestures coding. in this light, gestures can be coded and classified into four types, i.e. iconic gestures concerned with portraying the concrete images of entities, metaphoric gestures dealing with presenting the abstract images of entities, deictic gestures having to do with pointing either by hand, head, nose, elbows, feet, etc., and beats associated with the gestures used in tune with the rhythm of speech, such as flickings of the hand up and down or back and forth (pp. 38-41). the iconic gestures, metaphoric gestures, and beats above in his latest work belong to what he calls the gesticulation continuum (i.e. the gestures that are necessarily required to be accompanied by speech) and deictic belong to pointing which sometimes occur in combinations with those in gesticulation, and another type is emblem in which the presence of speech or language is optional for it resembles with the occurring speech and it has cultural bound meaning (mcneill, 2000, pp. 1-2; 2012, pp. 8-18). along with gesture, another prominent concern regarding embodied action has to do with the gaze. in general, in terms of pedagogical discourse, as peng, zhang, and chen (2017) suggested, there are two types of gazes, i.e. engaged and disengaged gazes. the former can be divided into the gaze that is directed at the specific student(s), the whole class, or classroom objects, and the latter refers to the gaze that has no vector or is not directed to the entities mentioned beforehand or it may simply direct to the speaker’s self (pp. 13-14). in addition, the present study which highlights the use of embodied actions concerning teacher talk and cic is claimed to be worth scrutinizing. it is an attempt to answer the call for analyzing the embodied aspects of language use and learning by applying ca regarding multimodality or what lilja (2022) calls multimodal ca. besides, going through the artifact, the british sitcom, mind your language: the first lesson (allen, 1977), depicting the classroom interactions in which the participants come from various cultural backgrounds is significant. it is, as tellier and yerian (2022, p. 119) note, “most research on pedagogical gesture has focused on its informational and evaluative functions, but how gesture serves to multiparticipant interactions also merits more investigations”. informed by the previous studies above, dealing with the importance of teacher talk as well as embodied actions in classroom interactional competence that is useful to provide learning opportunities, the present study was aimed to contextualize and go through how the native teacher portrayed in the british sitcom employs his talk along with embodied actions to manage and provide learning opportunities. more importantly, it is claimed that the present study tried to fill the voids left by the previous investigations above. in this case, it is intended to address and answer the following research question: in what ways do the native teacher talk along with embodied actions create opportunities for students’ learning? method a ca approach was employed to investigate the artifact, the british sitcom. it is because, as kasper (2006) asserts, it can be used to go through and portray the ways learning opportunities undertaken in classroom interactions occur. in this study, the focus is on the way the teacher in the artifact employs embodied actions to facilitate the pupils’ learning. in this regard, the artifact entitled mind your llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 92-114 95 language (allen, 1977). in addition, the first episode, the first lesson (i.e. started with brown coming to the class to meet his students 00:04:30-00:13:53 to 00:15:3100:22:32 on which he left the class), was selected. the selection of the artifact was based on some grounds. to begin with, it was encouraged under the researchers’ rigorous and judicial views, examinations, and judgment (fairclough, 2003; hermawan & sukyadi, 2020; sugianto, 2021). in this light, the episode was worth scrutinizing since it tells about brown, the english native teacher, who sees and teaches his students for the first time. the first meeting in a classroom is deemed to be crucially important in which the first impression is generated (levy, 2004). additionally, the film can be a reflective means for managing, mediating, and facilitating the classroom interaction in which the students derive from various cultures and languages background. in this regard, this is reflected by the way brown manages and conducts classroom interactions with his students (lasekan, 2021). thus, it was also expected to give insights related to the way classroom interactions were conducted, particularly in the context of adult learners with various cultural as well as languages background. moreover, the procedures for conducting the present study follow the principles advocated by jewitt, bezemer, and o'halloran's (2016) proposals. in this case, they consist of ‘stay close to the selected clips’ and ‘slow down’(p. 90). the former refers to the way to obtain rigorous and adequate findings of the artifact (the clip or segment of the video) by observing or watching it many times and the latter refers to how a researcher tries to get detailed or specific events to support the findings which can be tracked it through the transcription. additionally, the transcription system follows walsh's (2006a, 2006b, 2011) and sert's (2015) system (see appendix 1). moreover, the data were analyzed from the unique to the general, as burawoy (2009, p. 21). in this case, an episode or segment that provides illustrations of the phenomenon attracting the researchers was transcribed and analyzed first to come up with generalizations (jewitt et al., 2016, p. 100). this is a typical procedure of the ca approach which involves a specific transcription and analysis of small fragments or strips of an interaction (approximately up to 30 seconds) illustrating the phenomenon in question or of interest (p. 138). moreover, to get the detailed transcription, elan 6.4 (max planck institute for psycholinguistics, 2022) was employed. it was employed because each detail of the clip of video can be tracked back frame by frame or even pixels by pixel. additionally, to provide a vivid depiction of the findings, some pictures portraying the essential embodied actions in the selected segments were also provided along with the transcriptions (lilja, 2022). lastly, some extracts through which the teacher talk works together with embodied actions to facilitate students’ opportunities for learning were interpreted and consulted based on the notion of teacher talk proposed by walsh (2006b, 2006a, 2011) along with the category system for gestures advocated by mcneill (2005) and peng, zhang, and chen's (2017) analytic framework of gaze. the findings were also corroborated or challenged by the relevant theories and previous related studies. to bear in mind, consulting the findings with the relevant theories and previous related studies are also considered the techniques used in the present study to ensure the trustworthiness of the findings, that is, in this regard it is called building referential adequacy (guba, 1981). another technique used is by utilising peer debriefing (guba, 1981; sugianto & prastika, 2021), that llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 92-114 96 is, the results were examined and checked thoroughly by the researchers’ colleague having the expertise in the english language teaching area. moreover, regarding the ethical issue, the screenshots or images taken from the clips were transformed into a sketched format (sert, 2015) as well as credits using proper citations were used. findings the following are the findings related to the artifact, i.e. mind your language, the first lesson, concerning the native teacher talk, brown, associated with the use of embodied actions to facilitate the students’ learning. the findings unravel that brown utilized several embodied actions including gestures or facial expressions in companion with some interactions. there are 14 extracts of the classroom interactions highlighted and through which the combinations of multimodal resources or embodied actions work together with the native teacher talk to accommodate opportunities for learning that constitute one of the essential features of cic. extract 1 figure 1. teacher embodied-echo (allen, 1977) 1 brown : i am pleased to meet you all. +deictic gesture: left hand supine with circular motion 2 ali : we are also pleasing to be meeting you. +head wooble 3 brown : i am brown. +left hand supine 4 ali : = oh, no. 5 brown : (3) 6 ali : you are committing a mistake. 7 brown : (1.5) mistake? +raising eyeborows and turning his head to the right 8 ali : yes, please. you are not brown! we are brown! you are white. +head wooble +raising eyebrows +deictic gesture: right index finger 9 brown : … my name is brown! i'm your teacher. +deictic gesture: pointing to himself + deictic gesture: right hand supine and circular pointing to ss 10 giovani : ah, you proffessori. +deictic gesture: left hand supine pointing to brown 11 brown : yes. extract 1 above shows there are several gestures used by both brown and his students. in this light, most of them were in the form of deictic gestures. besides, supine gestures were also found in this extract. next, teacher echo was also employed by brown as he tried to clarify ali’s utterance that mentioned brown had said something wrong. ali’s utterance was followed up with a teacher echo and embodied actions (i.e. raising eyebrows and turning his head) as well as with raising intonation. this embodied teacher echo was followed up by ali to clarify his previous utterance. moreover, emblems were also found., i.e. head wobble. 1 2 3 4 5 6 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 92-114 97 extract 2 figure 2. teacher’s use of embodied instruction (allen, 1977) 12 brown : would you all like to sit down! +using deictic gesture by pointing to the chair, the palm is downward +gazing at some ss 13 ss : (2) 14 brown : sit down! +gazing at the chairs +pointing to the chairs +combining beats and iconic gesture presenting the act of ‘sit down’ +half squat 15 ss : (1) +turn their bodies and walk towards their own chairs extract 2 above shows embodied actions employed as brown gave some instructions to his students. in this case, deictic gestures using a prone hand in which the palm is downward as he told them to sit on their chairs. knowing the students did not react to his instructions indicated by the silence for around 2 seconds, he then provided the other gestures, namely beats combined with deictic and iconic gestures (prone hand with his right hand and half square repeatedly). seeing such gestures along with the instructions, the students went back to their chairs. there were also some gaze shifts, namely from gazing at the students to gazing at the classroom objects (the chairs) as he gave the instructions to the students. extract 3 figure 3. teacher’s uses of embodied echo and confirmation checks by facial expressions and pointing (allen, 1977) 16 brown : and what is your job? +writing on the book 17 max : … i walk with sheeps. +one palm gripping the other hand behind the back 18 brown : (2) you walk with sheep? +raising eyebrows 19 max : (2) 20 brown : a shepherd! you work on a farm? +beats; right hand supine pointing 21 max : =no, no, no! not farm. 22 brown : but you said you work with sheep. +deictic gesture: right hand supine to max 23 max : no, no! sheeps. big sheeps (making a sound like a ship horn). +iconic gesture: extending hands horizontally +iconic gesture: extending hands vertically while blowing a horn 24 brown : … ah, ships. +nodding 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 92-114 98 25 max : yes, sheeps, tonkers. 26 brown : (2.7) tonkers? ah, tanker? +(gazing at the left) +deictic: pointing with right index finger 27 max : right. i walk in office. +nodding 28 brown : thank you. +writing on the book in extract 3 above, some gestures and gazes as well as facial expressions were employed while brown was interacting with one of his students, named max. in this interaction, brown was asked about max’s job. to make sure max’s responses regarding the job, brown used several embodied actions. in this case, for instance, he raised his eyebrows to confirm a word that max uttered (‘sheep’ which should be ‘ship’). to clarify his answer, max did some iconic gestures, such as extending his hands horizontally indicating a big ship, and vertically while he was making a sound like a ship horn. another way to clarify max’s response was embodied echo. in this case, brown used gazing to the left showing that he was uncertain about max’s response (‘tonkers’ which should be ‘tankers’ associated with a type of ship). then, brown clarified it with a deictic gesture by using his right index finger as he guessed what max tried to convey. extract 4 figure 4. teacher’s use of embodied content feedback (allen, 1977) 29 brown : and your name? 30 anna : anna schmidt! jairman au pair. 31 brown : ah, the usual german efficiency. 32 anna : jairmans are always efficient. 33 taro : not so. (5) japanese much more efficient. +raising right hand +standing up +bowing 34 anna : =nein (feeling upset), jairmans are zer best. +turning her head to taro +circular motion 35 taro : japanese make much better terevision and camelas +taking and showing the camera +right hand supine to the camera +left hand holds the camera 36 brown : please, please, let's have no racialism (crossing the right hand). +right forearm crossing, prone 37 in this class, all are equal. +deictic: right hand pointing the floor +beats +gazing at taro 1 2 3 4 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 92-114 99 extract 4 above shows the other significant use of gesture as brown was interacting with his students. in this case, there was a conflict between anna, a german student, and taro, a japanese student. they debated about which country was better and superior. knowing this, brown advised anna and taro to stop the debate by using a metaphoric gesture, namely crossing his right forearm. brown also used a deictic gesture by pointing his right hand to the floor which was in tune with the phrase ‘this class’. beats were also employed by brown as he tried to convey his utterance, for instance as he said ‘all are equal’. besides, in this segment, brown's gazes’ were mainly engaged with his students, particularly anna and taro. extract 5 figure 5. teacher’s use of embodied elicitations (allen, 1977) 38 brown : your name? 39 jamila : (responding in hindi) 40 brown : what is your name? +deictic gesture: right hand supine pointing to jamila 41 jamila : … (responding in hindi) +holding her right ear. 42 brown : me, jeremy brown! you? +deictic gesture: to himself +deictic gesture: right hand supine 43 jamila : … (responding in hindi) +deictic gesture: right hand supine: index finger and thumb to brown +shaking her head +holding her chin 44 brown : max, anna schmidt, giovanni cuppello! you? +deictic gesture: index finger +deictic gesture: index finger +deictic gesture: index finger +deictic gesture: index finger 45 jamila : (responding in hindi, walking to the front of the class, showing the chalk) +deictic gesture: index finger to herself +deictic gesture: index finger to the students mentioned +touching her forehead 46 brown : yes, yes, write your name down! good, good. +nodding +deictic gesture: using his book to point the board 47 jamila : (pushing brown so as to he moved backwards; then writing her name). 48 brown : no good! i need your name in english. +shaking his head +crossing his left hand +beats 49 jamila : no good? +shaking her head and right hand 50 brown : no good. +shaking his head +crossing his left hand 51 jamila : (responding in hindi and showing a piece of paper) 52 brown : aha, certificate of registration! jamila ranjha. housewife. +opening and reading the paper 1 2 3 4 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 92-114 100 53 : thank you. +writing on the book in the segment shown by extract 5 above, several gestures were also employed, particularly as brown tried to elicit one of his student’s responses. in this case, brown was trying to ask one of his students coming from india, named jamila. nevertheless, jamila did not get the question asked. then, brown used deictic gestures using a supine hand to himself and the students to elicit jamila’s response concerning her name. the other gestures were also employed by brown, for instance, metaphoric gestures indicated by the way brown shook his head and crossed his hand showing his disagreement about jamila’s response (i.e. she wrote her name in hindi). in this extract, brown’s gazes were directed to his students and also to the objects in the classroom (such as the certificate of registration jamila brought and brown’s book). extract 6 figure 6. teacher’s use of embodied explanation (allen, 1977) 54 brown : right, now we will start by learning a few basic english verbs. +beat: open palms +beat: open palms +hands clenched 55 and firstly, we will take the verb 'to be' +beat: open palms +gazing at board +deictic besture: right hand: index finger 56 ss : ta be. to be 57 brown : i am english, you are chinese. he is ltalian! she is french +deictic gesture: pointing to himself +both hands supine +beats; gazing at su-lee +deictic gesture: both hands supine +deictic gesture: both hands supine +gazing at giovanni in extract 6, the interaction has to do with the lesson learned, i.e. ‘to be’. some gestures were utilized by brown as he delivered and explained it. they for instance consist of beats as he made ‘to be’ into chunks. also, the beats were accompanied by deictic gestures as he gave examples of ‘to be’ accompanied by its subjects. he provided examples of the use of ‘to be’ by referring to himself and the students. nevertheless, some engagement with students was also built by brown through his gazes at the students as he gave examples. 1 2 3 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 92-114 101 extract 7 figure 7. teacher’s use of embodied actions for a transitional marker, representing action, and feedback (allen, 1977) 58 brown : all right. (nodding) 59 now i'll go round the class +circular motion of index and middle fingers 60 … and ask you each to give me a sentence using the verb ‘to be’ +beats: pressing his fingers and thumbs together (both hands) +pressing fingers and thumb 52 :taro, 'i am'. +deictic gesture: pointing taro with right index and middle fingers +beats: both hands supine 53 taro : ah, so (6) i amo very happy to be learningo english. +raise his right hand +standing up, walking to the front two steps and ojigi or bowing his head +beats: deictic gestures with his left hand to himself 54 brown : very good! +nodding +making fists in extract 7, some gestures along with the speech were employed by brown. to begin with, where for example a nod accompanied by the transitional word ‘all right’ was found. besides, metaphoric gestures indicated by circular motions of the index and middle fingers as he said ‘go round the class’. also, he used beats accompanied by piercing hand gestures by pressing his fingers and thumbs as he told the students what they were required to do. he also used deictic gestures by pointing using his right index and middle fingers to give students their turn to give the example of using ‘to be’. in addition, he also used the nod followed by fists as he gave feedback by complementing the student’s response. lastly, in this segment, the gazes used were mainly directed to the student instructed and asked. extract 8 figure 8. teacher’s use of embodied direct repair (allen, 1977) 55 brown : giovanni, 'he is'. +gazing at giovanni +raising hands; piercing hands +beats: both hands supine 56 giovanni : … he isada fool. +standing with the hands-on-hips 57 brown : good, but not isada! +narrowing and closing his eyes + both hands suppine 58 he is a fool +beats: pressing his fingers and thumbs together (both hands) 59 giovanni : … yes he is a fool. +gazing at max +nodding +touching max’s left shoulder 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 92-114 102 extract 8 shows the way brown was interacting with one of his students, named giovanni, from italia. in this segment, brown used direct repair accompanied by embodied actions as the student gave responses. he used piercing beats and piercing hands to specify the instructions, i.e. giovanni was instructed to make an example using ‘he is’. following giovanni’s mispronounced response, brown provided direct repair accompanied by narrowing and closing his eyes as well as beats with piercing hands. the engagement was also built by brown through his gazes that were directed to giovanni. extract 9 figure 9. teacher’s use of embodied feedback (allen, 1977) 60 brown : max, 'she is' +gazing at max +pointing +left hand suppine 61 max : (4.5) she is beautiful! she is wonderful. she is... (danielle is getting upset) +gazing at daniella +standing up and leaning forward 62 brown : yes, yes, thank you max! that will do (smiling and pointing) +raising right hand: supine +beats: nodding extract 9 shows the interaction between brown and his student, named max. initially, brown instructed max to give an example of the use of ‘to be: she is’. this instruction was followed by the left-hand supine gesture. knowing that max gave exaggerated responses about the word ‘to be: she is’ describing danielle which made her got upset, brown told him to stop. as brown did it, he also used embodied actions such as raising right-hand supine and beats nodding as well as with his facial expression indicated by his smile. in this segment, brown’s gaze was directed at max. however, max’s gaze was found to be focused on danielle. extract 10 figure 10. teacher’s use of embodied explanation and instruction (allen, 1977) 63 brown : juan, 'it is'. +gazing at juan +beats: both hands supine 64 juan : por favore? +gazing at brown 65 brown : it is. +beats: both hands supine 1 1 2 3 4 1 5 3 2 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 92-114 103 66 juan : (2) por favore. +standing up and walking two steps towards brown +right hand suppine 67 brown : lt is raining. +beats +left hand up and down +gazing at the window 68 giovanni : (speaking in italian) it is raining. +gazing at juan +righ hand supine +gazing at the window 69 juan : … (speaking in spanish). +gazing at the window and back to giovanni +pointing the window with right hand supine +shaking his head 69 giovani : no, no, it is raining. +pointing to the window with his right hand supine 70 juan : … [(speaking in spanish)]. +pointing with his both thumbs, index, and middle fingers suppine to the window and himself +gazing at the window then at juan +raising hands supine 71 giovani : [speaking in italian)] it is raining. +gazing at to the front of the class and back at juan +right hand supine 72 brown : =we'll skip you for the moment. +both hands supine +gazing at juan 73 juan : por favore? +one step towards to brown +gazing at brown 74 brown : lt doesn't matter! sit down. +beats: prone hand pointing to the juan’s chair in extract 10, some embodied actions were also found to be used by brown as he tried to explain and give instructions to one of his students. in this light, a student of his, named juan, was instructed to give an example using ‘it is’. this instruction was accompanied by supine hand position and beats making the phrase ‘it is’ into chunks. seeing juan did not understand the instruction, brown used beats with metaphorical gestures, i.e. left hand moving up and down, while he was also seeing the window. these gestures were conducted as he said ‘it is raining’. nevertheless, juan was confused because it was not raining then. knowing this, giovanni tried to help juan to make the sentence. however, juan got upset because it was not raining. then, brown tried to instruct juan to sit down. the instruction was accompanied by embodied actions such as beats and deictic gestures indicating that juan was instructed to go back and sit on his chair. there were two directions of brown’s gazes in this segment, i.e. the gaze was directed at his student, juan, and that which was directed to the object in the classroom, i.e. the window. extract 11 figure 11. teacher’s use of embodied feedback (allen, 1977) 1 2 3 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 92-114 104 75 brown : su lee, 'it is'. +gazing at su lee +beats: pressing his fingers and thumbs together (both hands) 76 su lee : (1) it is duty of evely citizen to overthlow lmpelial warmongers. +standing up +raising hand; beats=holding a book with right hand 77 so say chairman mao. +putting her right hand down +sitting down 78 brown : (2) yes, well that's his opinion! good, good. +nodding +pointing: index finger in extract 11, brown interacted with a student, named su lee. she came from china. to begin the instruction, he used piercing hand gestures with beats that specify the instruction into chunks. the instruction told her to make a sentence using ‘it is’. directly, su lee gave a sentence using ‘it is’ while she was holding up her book. hearing her response, brown was silent and gave positive feedback using nods and deictic gestures. moreover, in this segment, engagement was built by brown through his gaze. extract 12 figure 12. teacher’s use of embodied feedback and instruction (allen, 1977) 79 brown : danielle, 'we are'. +gazing at danielle +walking towards danielle +hands clenched together +beats: both hands supine 80 danielle : we are lucky to 'ave such a good handsome teacher. +beats: right hand supine +lean forward 81 ss : [aah] 82 singh : [(making a circular motion with both hands)] 83 brown : [quiet please!] +gazing at the other students +crossing hand with left hand 84 : very true. no, i mean thank you. +gazing at danielle +nodding +shaking his head +both hands supine extract 12 shows the interaction between brown and danielle, a french student. in this light, he asked her to make a sentence using ‘we are’. the instruction was accompanied by the embodied action using a supine hand position. seeing and hearing the students made noise, he warned them to be quiet. such a warning was combined with crossing his left hand. then, he also gave feedback on her response by nodding. however, being aware that her response was not appropriate, he then shook his head instead. in addition, he appreciated her response 1 3 2 4 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 92-114 105 with both hands supine. in this segment, also the engagement and her attention were drawn by brown’s gaze. extract 13 figure 13. teacher’s use of embodied wait-time and feedback (allen, 1977) 85 brown : ali, (2.4) 'you are'. +gazing at ali +beats: pressing his fingers and thumbs together (both hands) 86 ali : (standing up) (4) 87 brown : you are … +both hands supine +making circular motion 88 ali : you are waiting for me to speak an answer +beats: left hand supine 89 brown : well done! +nodding +pointing with right hand: index finger in extract 13, brown was illustrated to have interactions with ali, a student from pakistan. ali was instructed by brown to give an example using ‘you are’. this instruction was accompanied by beats using piercing hand gestures which made ‘you are’ into chunks. some wait time with intense brown gaze, about 4 seconds, was given to ali. knowing ali did not respond, brown followed it up by saying again ‘you are …’ followed up with supine hands and circular motions. ali eventually said something using ‘you are’. this was complimented by brown orally and using nods and pointing his index finger to ali. extract 14 figure 14. teacher’s use of embodied feedback, scaffolding, and instruction (allen, 1977) 90 ali : unfortunately, i am not understanding the question. +eyebrows rise and fall +eyebrows rise and fall 91 brown : (2) i want you to give me a sentence using 'you are'. +touching his forehead +beats: both hands supine +beats: both hands supine 92 ali : i am +nodding 93 brown : no, not 'i am', 'you are'! for example, you are from pakistan. +gazing at the left side and back at ali +crossing hands +beats: both hands supine +beats: both hands supine +right hand supine 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 92-114 106 94 ali : i am from pakistan +beats: nodding 95 brown : yes but now use 'you are' +beats: both hands supine +beats: pressing his fingers and thumbs together (both hands) 96 ali : but i cannot say you are from pakistan because you are not, are you? +eyebrows rise and fall +eyebrows rise and fall 97 brown : repeat after me you are english +pointing his index finger to ali 98 ali : no, i'm not! i'm from pakistan +beats: shaking his head 99 brown : what am i? +staring hard at ali 100 ali : you are confusing me. +head wobble +droopy brow extract 14 provides a depiction of the interaction between brown and ali. in this interaction, ali was found to be confused about the instruction given by brown. some scaffoldings were given by brown to ali using speech and gestures, for instance, brown’s hands crossing as he told him not to use ‘i am’ which was followed up by giving him the other example of a sentence using ‘you are…’. but still, ali was confused. again, brown instructed ali to repeat the utterance said by brown which is accompanied by a dectic gesture using the index finger. nevertheless, ali still did not repeat the sentence. knowing this, brown got upset and he used high intonation using a referential question ‘what am i?’. lastly, ali was still confused. in this segment, engagement was built by brown through his gaze. extract 15 figure 15. closing the lesson by giving homework to the students (allen, 1977) 101 singh : you are stupid poof. +gazing at ali +beats: clenching his fist 102 ali : =don't you call me poof! +turning back his body +gazing at singh +pointing his left index finger to singh 103 singh : poof. +clenching his fist 104 : [(ali approaching singh and getting to fight; the other ss trying to separate them)] 105 brown : [(ringing the bell) [sit down!] sit down, please! 106 quiet! 107 there's really not much more we can do until you all get your text books! +giving books to ss 108 but what i would like you to do is some homework. +giving books to ss 1 3 4 5 2 llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 92-114 107 109 alright, i want you each to write an essay. 110 a short story about your life here in england. +both hands supine 111 the things you do, the things you like. +beats: both hands supine 112 (taking his book) i’ll see you all (taking his suitcase) on wednesday (opening and closing the door). extract 15 was the last segment of the lesson in which brown ended the lesson. in this case, seeing ali could not answer brown’s question appropriately, singh was insulted by uttering something rude to him. singh’s rude utterance was also accompanied by his gesture, right-hand fist. knowing this, ali lost his temper while he was also pointing his left index finger at singh. immediately, ali approached singh and was about to fight him. knowing this, the other students tried to separate them. also, brown took and rang the bell on his desk and told them to sit down. besides, he also gave them some textbooks while he also told them about the homework. some supine hands and beats were used as he told them the homework. then, he quickly took his book and took his suitcase, then leave the classroom. lastly, based on the analysis of the extracts above, in terms of the interactions and the modes used during the classroom interactions, some figures were obtained. these are summarized in table 1 and table 2 below. table 1. figures regarding the interactures of the teacher talk interactures total (in percentage) scaffolding 7 (13.7) direct repair 5 (9.8) content feedback 10 (19.6) extended wait-time 5 (9.8) referential questions 0 (0) seeking clarification 9 (17.6) confirmation checks 1(1.96) extended learner turn 4 (7.84) teacher echo 1 (1.96) teacher interruptions 2 (3.92) extended teacher turn 2 (3.92) turn completion 0 (0) display questions 0 (0) form-focused feedback 0 (0) table 2. figures regarding the modes used during the classroom interactions modes total (in percentage) managerial 14 (46.7) materials 1 (3.3) skills and systems 15 (50.0) classroom context 0 (0.0) llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 92-114 108 based on the figures shown in table 1 above, in terms of interactures, on one hand, content feedback was found to be the most occurring interactures found in classroom interactions. this is followed by seeking clarification and scaffolding. on the other hand, turn completion, display questions, and form-focused feedback were found to be the least feature of the talk in the classroom interactions. moreover, in terms of modes, skills, and systems mode constitutes the most mode used followed by managerial, materials, and classroom context. discussion the data provides the portrayals that the native teacher used several embodied actions to create opportunities for students learning. in this light, the embodied actions used influence the way the students learn english. for instance, embodied echo was found as brown repeated ali’s contribution in line 6 saying that brown had done or said something wrong; this was followed up with several seconds of silence and with brown’s facial expression, i.e. rising eyebrows which was in tune with teacher echo or the utterance that was repeated by brown, but with different intonation (higher intonation) meaning he was asking in line 7. such embodied echo using his facial expression indicated by his eyebrows rising successfully attracted ali to contribute more to the talk. this finding is corroborated by guaïtella, santi, lagrue, and cave (2009) who found that the movement of eyebrows had roles to attract and sustain a listener’s attention. in this light, it was followed by a question. similarly, a similar function related to eyebrow rise was also found in ali’s speech in line 96 which accompanied a question tag. however, the present study also found that the use of a facial expression, such as eyebrows rise and fall, is required necessarily interpreted based on the context in which it occurred for it might result in a different meaning from the previous one. it was, for instance, shown by ali’s speech, still in the same line (line 96). it was found that ali’s eyebrows rise as he tried to say ‘cannot’. this finding is in line with gander's (2018. p. 115) study mentioning that eyebrows rise or frown was used to indicate nonunderstanding. however, she also revealed that a frown was used to show having a sufficient understanding of the problems in question (p. 161). in the present study, accordingly in line 96 ali’s frown accompanying the word ‘cannot’ is necessarily and preferably interpreted as a sign of ‘non-understanding’, which in this case it shows that ali was confused about the instruction given by brown then. in addition, embodied teacher echo was also found in line 50 which converges with brown’s utterance “no good”. in this case, using his head shake and left-hand crossing, he repeated jamila’s utterance “no good?”. in this instance, the teacher embodied echo uttered in a fall intonation functions as a confirmation of jamila’s utterance uttered with rising intonation indicating a question (halliday & greaves, 2008). in another instance, the teacher echo was uttered in another way, i.e. using a rising intonation “(2.7) tonkers? ah, tanker?” (line 26) as brown was responding to max’s utterance regarding his job. the instance shows that some seconds of silence followed with “tonkers?” pronounced in rising intonation which simultaneously emerged with a disengaged gaze (peng et al., 2017) indicating a surprise and signifies a question. to bear in mind, the embodied teacher echo using rising intonation indicated by a disengaged gaze (sideways glance) in this line was not regarded as a display question in which the answer has already been known by the teacher (walsh, 2006a, 2011) or a rhetorical question (biezma & rawlins, llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 92-114 109 2017). instead, it can be considered as a referential question in which the answer is not known yet by the teacher (walsh, 2006a, 2011) which can be known by the question “ah, tanker?” which follows it, indicating that brown has just known or realized the answer at the moment after he threw the first question. the use of the referential question, as walsh, (2011) asserts, is preferably suggested because it can be used to cope with reticent students. also, it is regarded as an embodied seeking clarification for brown also utilized a deictic gesture through pointing with his right finger toward max. such a seeking clarification, according to walsh (2002) is required to be taken into account to create opportunities for students’ learning. moreover, the other embodied action has to do with the feedback given. the embodied action that converges or works in synch with the native teacher feedback in the present study, therefore, is called embodied feedback. the embodied feedback, for instance, encompasses nod. in line 53 as brown responded to taro’s answer concerning the use of ‘i am’. the other instance are line 62 when brown reacted to max’s answer to the use of ‘she is’, line 78 as he responded to su lee’s answer about the use of ‘it is’, line 84 regarding danielle’s response in concern with the use of ‘we are’, and line 89 as ali answered using ‘you are’. all the embodied feedback is positive content feedback showing that brown agreed with his students’ answers (stubbe, 1998) concerning the use of particular ‘to be’ in a sentence orally. additionally, some of the nods are considered to accompany the feedback including compound backchannel (cutrone, 2019, p. 15), for instance, the nods that come out simultaneously with the utterance “yes, yes, write your name down! good, good” (line 46) indicating that brown was supportive of the actions conducted by one of his pupils (jamila). besides, it indicates that brown gave support and opportunities for jamila to continue her turn during the interaction (schegloff, 1982), i.e. in this case, it has to do with the action to introduce herself by writing her name on the board; hence it can be considered to give more space for the student (in this case, jamila) in the classroom interaction. nevertheless, keep in mind, the feedback given is necessarily required to be specific (sugianto et al., 2021) and meaningful (yusuf et al., 2017) to avoid misunderstandings that will hinder the students’ performance. in the video, for instance, a misunderstanding happened due to the lack of specificity and meaningfulness of the feedback provision, i.e., instead of writing her name in english jamila wrote her name in hindi which was unintelligible for brown. in addition to the supportive embodied feedback above, there are also some other ways of the embodied feedback function. in this regard, rather than providing positive embodied feedback, brown gave negative embodied feedback which was followed with a teacher echo. it happened as he followed up on jamila’s misunderstanding as she tried to introduce herself. line 48 explicates such embodied feedback, i.e. head shake followed up with crossing his left hand, he simultaneously uttered, “no good! i need your name in english.” however, this negative embodied feedback followed by a teacher echo “no good” (line 50) successfully elicited jamila’s appropriate response, namely, she gave a certificate of registration in which her name was written in english. from this, it can be arguably considered that immediate negative embodied feedback is required during the classroom interaction for it has significance, namely to locate the student’s weakness as she/he is unable to identify it by her/himself (yusuf et al., 2017, p. 243). llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 92-114 110 the other embodied action that emerges with the teacher talk that facilitates students’ learning during classroom interactions has to do with scaffolding. in this case, for instance, scaffolding explicitly was given by brown in lines 57, 67, 93, and 97. in this case, he did some modeling by providing some instances related to the lesson learned. for example, in line 57, by using deictic gestures, both hands supine, he pointed to himself and his students while he also said “i am english, you are chinese, he is italian, she is french”. the other embodied action used by brown was the iconic gesture in which he tried to give illustration to geovani as he modeled the use of ‘it is'. in this case, as he said, ‘it is raining’ he moved his left hand up and down to illustrate the word ‘raining’. similarly, in lines 93 and 97 modelings were used as brown explained the use of ‘you are’ to ali which was underscored by the use of deictic gesture, i.e. right-hand supine gesture. most of the instances above involve engaged gazes, particularly at the students that are supposed to elicit responses concerning the particular uses of ‘to be’. in addition to the gaze at the students, brown’s vector of gaze was also directed at the window as he interacted with juan, particularly as he tried to give the illustration of ‘raining’. these findings above suggest that gaze constitutes an essential element during classroom interactions since it functions to make ‘more personal dyadic interaction’ (haataja et al., 2021) which leads to creating more engagement between the teacher and students for some affective messages such as care, sincerity, and attention through which motivating students can be discerned and communicated (peng et al., 2017). thus, in the present study, the way brown used his gaze is interpreted that he had full attention and sincerity to teach them for mostly his gaze was directed at them. furthermore, interestingly, most of the embodied actions shown by the teacher’s palm(s) are open. it indicates brown’s attitudes toward the students during classroom interactions. in this regard, it shows that he is being honest and open with the students (kuhnke, 2007). such an open palm embodied action leads them to feel comfortable for it is considered to be a non-threatening gesture ( pease & chandler, 1988). the interactions accordingly became livelier and more dynamic. it is also arguably recommended for it can promote the content taught to students (wang, 2014). moreover, some modes during classroom interactions were found. in this light, skills and systems mode and managerial mode were found to be the most frequently occurring modes during the interactions respectively. meanwhile, the material mode was found to be the least mode found, and there was no classroom context mode was found in the classroom interaction. the findings above partially follow ghafarpour's (2017) study, particularly in terms of the finding regarding classroom context mode, whereas in terms of the finding associated with the number of the material mode found in the present study was found to be contradictory with his study. such a finding was because the episode of the investigated film mainly discussed the lesson associated with the use of ‘to be’. accordingly, it is suggested that more contexts or settings, which in this regard involve more episodes of the film, are necessary to be taken into account for future studies to provide a deeper understanding and fruitful data concerning the modes used. llt journal, e-issn 2579-9533, p-issn 1410-7201, vol. 26, no. 1, april 2023, pp. 92-114 111 conclusion based on the findings aforementioned, the present study reached some conclusions. one, some embodied actions accompanying the teacher talk had some influences and functions during classroom interactions. for instance, a teacherembodied echo indicated by the teacher’s eyebrows rising together with a question posed contributes to gain students’ attention and participation. the other embodied action, such as embodied feedback in which the teacher's feedback was accompanied by nods, provides more emphasis for the verbal message uttered by the teacher, namely by providing more support and opportunities for the students to have more turns during the exchange. rather than positive feedback, the present study also supports negative embodied feedback to facilitate the students’ learning. next, embodied scaffolding through modeling and some uses of gestures such as deictic and iconic gestures, and engaged gaze was found to be useful particularly in discerning and communicating the teacher’s affective stance or attitudes towards the students and the classroom interactions take place. another conclusion has to do with the mode found, i.e. the classroom context mode constitutes the least mode whereas the skills and systems context constitutes the most frequently used mode. lastly, involving more episodes of the film are suggested for future researchers to deeper findings regarding the context mode used by the teacher. also, the present study suggests that the use of teacher-embodied action accompanying the teacher talks is necessarily required to be taken into account by teachers as they deliver the interactions for it can facilitate and mediate the students’ learning which is one of the essential aspects for classroom interaction competence. references allen, s. 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(2017). multimodal feedback provision in improving pre-service teachers’ competence. indonesian journal of applied linguistics, 7(2), 239–246. appendix transcription system (sert, 2015; walsh, 2006b, 2006a, 2011) /ok/ok/ok/ : overlapping or simultaneous utterances by more than one leaner s(s) : student(s) [ ] : overlap between the spearkers = : turn continues, or one turn follows another without any pause ? : indicating slightly rising intonation . : indicating slightly falling intonation , : indicating a continuation of tone … : pause of one second or less marked by three periods (4) : silence; length given in seconds ? : rising intonation-question or other correct : emphatic speech: falling intonation ((4)) : unintelligible 4 seconds: a stretch of unintelligible speech with the length given in seconds paul, peter, mary : capitals are only used for proper nouns under : indicating the speaker emphasis on the underlined word + : marking the onset of an embodied action t organizes groups : editor’s comments (in bold type)